#and these flawed people can do wonderful things and also harmful things

[beannoss]

SxF read along volume 2! (part 4)

Specifically on the moral and ethical worldbuilding in SxF.

I wanted to bundle these flashbacks of Anya's about Yor's lesson to her with fighting:

Both Yor and Twilight operate knowing the impacts and boundaries of the power they wield, one day I’ll write all my thoughts about this being fundamental to the wholesomeness of SxF, but it’s so nice to see it plainly articulated so early on too

👀👀👀 I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Yor and smiling and wondering how often maybe her smiles aren’t… entirely true… and anyway I’m 👀👀👀

… not me feeling like a dummy for trying to puzzle out Yor’s guiding principles from her actions throughout SxF when she just fuckin’ states them from the beginning 😂🫣

In all seriousness, Yor does practice these throughout as regards her contract killing... Endo does this very carefully threaded weave of SxF's internal ethics, how he keeps Yor and Twilight on the 'good' side of grey, where the lines in the sand are regarding antagonists, villains and cruelty. A fair bit of that threading is done with Yor and Twilight specifically, in how they do the morally dubious (at best) things they both do. It's also a careful balance, philosophically, because the only reason there is any sort of moral argument for Garden and WISE is because Ostania is implicitly facing a moral crisis, which is most especially demonstrated through the SSS...:

(I should have highlighted 'surveilling the public' above too; oversight!) This is also such a chilling panel:

Back more directly to the topic at hand, there is a marked difference between the work Yor and Twilight are shown doing, and this introduction of Yuri:

I think potentially one of the trickiest things with navigating SxF is that the internal ethics need be judged by the internal matrices we're shown. Twilight isn't really akin to a real world spy: he can change his face, body shape and voice within seconds, and it's clear that he and WISE are invested in some level of protection of innocent people who get caught up in their missions (or at least mitigation of harms, if Twilight's comment that WISE would look after Yor and Anya post-Strix is indicative). Yor isn't really akin to a real world contract killer: never mind running faster than cars, she can just stand in the middle of the road on one leg and kick a car hard enough it veers into a streetlamp, and otherwise her targets, at least, are consistently shown to be individuals or groups that would, by rights, be brought to criminal trial and that they are not indicates a clear failing in Ostania's criminal justice system. Which makes sense, when we see the explanation of the SSS above.

WISE and Garden are only an ethical option when the SSS is the main arbiter of justice: the SSS's fundamental model is flawed, because it is demanding its citizens see one another as inherently suspect, to surveil one another and ultimately to turn on one another. If the metrics for traitor-of-the-state are things like being a single woman and having extramarital affairs, then what makes for the truly traitorous is diluted to such an extent as to essentially be meaningless. The SSS aren't looking to implement justice; their goal is clearly control under the spurious declaration of order. Control and order are not justice; they are reiterations of power and oppression masquerading as justice and safety, leaving instead a void. And into that void of justice and safety step groups like Garden and WISE, and, jumping ahead for a moment, even the way Olka Gretcher's crime family was described demonstrates them stepping in where the government failed (and the Gretcher successor reneging on that role).

I wish I'd snapped some of the statements from/about WISE in the first volume, but I also tend to think SxF's primary exploration of the intersection of morality and justice is going to be in the contrast between the choices made by the Briar siblings and the potential inevitable clash between Garden and the SSS. And the intersection of morality and safety may well play out between Twilight and Donovan Desmond, and the choices they each make. To that, choice overlays everything, and the contrast of the exercise of power.

[traumacatholic]

I have conflicting feelings about catholicism and christian orthtodoxy as institutions but I’m very fond of your blog

Thank you very much, I appreciate your kind words and I hope you have a wonderful day!

[charliedawn]

Hello again! •^ ^• I was wondering if you could do Hannibals reacting to reader that's sensitive? Like if you yell at them they'll cry and they used to get bullied because there a cry baby. But because there so sensitive there clingy! If not I get it have a good day/night :3

Take this ->🍫🎂🍬

Author: Munch Munch. Thank you for the snack. 👍

Hannibal Lecter Sr. :

At first, he would find your sensitivity inconvenient. He’s used to strength, resilience, people who know how to take care of themselves. But the first time he accidentally raised his voice at you—watching you flinch, your eyes welling up—he would feel something unexpected: guilt.

He’d kneel in front of you, tilt your chin up with infinite care, and wipe your tears with his thumb.

"You must never cry because of me," he would tell you. "Only fools cry when they are being attacked, little lamb. I will correct that flaw in you, make you stronger. Just never cry in my presence again."

Also, you would make him think of the little sister he lost at a young age. From that moment, your clinginess would be welcome. When you seek him out, clinging to his coat, to his sleeve, to his hand—he would let you, even encourage you quietly. You’re not weak in his eyes. You’re something rare, like a pearl formed out of pain. Something he must keep and protect. He would turn you into his perfect companion.

Hannibal Lecter Jr. :

Hannibal Jr. would immediately understand you. Maybe too well.

When you start crying, even over small things, he won’t mock you or get impatient. He would just calmly sit beside you, offering you a handkerchief, letting you cry it out while staying close—silent, solid, safe. He would never raise his voice at you intentionally. In fact, if someone else did, he’d correct them in a way so chillingly quiet that nobody would dare upset you again.

If you cling to him afterward, desperate for comfort, he would hum softly and rub your back, whispering against your temple:

"It’s alright, love. I am here. Cry all you need. They hurt you before. They won’t ever again."

You’d be like a beloved stray kitten he adopted and that he refuses to let the world harm anymore.

Morgan Hannibal :

Morgan would struggle at first. He’s sharp-tongued and sarcastic—he’s used to tough people giving it back to him. The first time you cried when he teased you too roughly, it would leave him dumbfounded.

He would freeze, panic clear in his wide blue eyes, and immediately backpedal, awkwardly trying to apologize even if he doesn’t know how.

If you cling to him, he wouldn’t dare push you away. He’d just awkwardly wrap his arms around you, swearing under his breath and hating himself for making you sad. He would tap your back awkwardly before attempting to smile reassuringly at you.

Over time, your clinginess would become something he craved. You would find him deliberately starting little ‘accidents’—spilling something, stubbing his toe—just to coax you into hugging him. Or if he found you crying ? Well…

"If you’re gonna cry," he’d smile down at you, "at least cry here. On me. I can take it."

If it was because of someone else ? Yep. Goodbye. He would hunt whoever made you cry and turn them into human sashimi.

Kevin Hannibal:

Kevin would be the worst and the best about it.

At first, he’d probably tease you, because he doesn’t understand how badly it hurts. "Oi, tears already ? Haven’t even started yet !"

But the moment he realized your history with being bullied—how much the words genuinely hurt you—it would wreck him.

You clinging to him like a lifeline would make him fiercely protective. If you sniffle and cling to his sleeve or jacket, he’d ruffle your hair (gently) and mutter,

"Yeah, yeah, alright, hang onto me. Anyone tries to mess with you again, I’ll bloody end them, alright ?"

Expect tight, tight hugs and messy kisses on your forehead whenever you get overwhelmed.

Peter Hannibal:

Peter would cry with you. No joke. The first time you burst into tears, he would just lose it emotionally right beside you. Big, teary, sniffly hugs.

You two would be clinging onto each other like two over-soaked teddy bears.

He wouldn’t even let go once you calmed down—he’d just hold you, petting your hair, rocking you back and forth.

"You’re perfect the way you are," he’d whisper against your ear, choked up. "Anyone who hurt you before…they didn’t deserve you. They were just mean. Do you want me to kill them ? Because I would. I mean…if you want to."

If you’re clingy, he’s even clingier. You’ll basically be a walking tangle of limbs, kisses, and murmured reassurances wherever you go.

[theoddest1]

Let's Actually Talk About The Issues With Vivziepop

Okay, first off, hello you beautiful people! Sorry about this foreboding title, but I needed to catch y'all attention on this so I can break down the issues that I and many have with "Hazbin Hotel" and "Helluva Boss" creator, Vivienne Medrano. Now I am sure you all on here are already aware of at least a couple of the controversies that revolve around this particular creator and if you have seen my posts floating around already, some have been greeted with the problems surrounding her social media presence and just her overall as a person. I know seeing another callout on her seems very very tiring at this point, but I felt that a lot of the current callouts missed key details that were not at all addressed or properly delved on. I plan on shedding light on my issues with her and I hope you get where I am coming from when I say that she sucks.

BULLYING

Okay, I am starting off with Vivienne's blatant use of bully mentality, her agreeing or encouraging her fans to call people who see flaws in her works sub-humans or harass those who find issue or simply jest about her works trademark cussing and and overcrowded designs. She has had this issue for YEARS and refuses to grow up and act her age despite many telling her, even her own fans at times, that she shouldn't be acting so unprofessionally. Clearly, she doesn't care and thanks to her fanbase caring more about her feelings than her being better she feels as though she doesn't need to change or do better. This goes for her friend group as well, who defend her tremendously and act as though she is never in the wrong. Name one time a friend of hers called her out for acting childish, I'll wait.

Now, you're probably wondering, "Wtf could they have done to warrant such a response?"

Criticism...That's all they did. (White Text is random peeps they would speak with or maybe mutuals)

Keep in mind...they used to be a fan as well. They were also a minor at this point

But, Viv doesn't care, this person's critical yet harmless tweets about her shows is what lead to her painting them in a horrible light and making them out to be someone who has attacked her personally and as "nasty".

Rich coming from Viv since she is completely fine doing exactly that for "Ava's Demon". Not only does she criticize it, she takes a shot at the creator as well, but GOD FORBID others do the same towards her.

And according to someone who knew her well, it's all cause they felt creeped out by her.

Her hatred for criticism is so prominent that Ima makes that a section of its own. But let's get back on the topic of bullying.

Vivienne has a fanbase filled to the brim with pushy and overall annoying individuals who have harassed, threatened, disrespected, and wished harm on many people, all cause someone had a negative thing to say about Vivziepop's mid af show. One of the earlier known instances is the one revolving around a MEME of all things.

This was what started it all, and it led to both parties blocking each other and people being mad pushy and calling them an idiot and the like over their opinions. Now look, their take and you're opinion on said take is fine so long as you stay respectful and humane about it all, but don't dogpike someone all cause they think HH sucks. And while Viv can not control her fanbase, for they are not a hivemind (some of y'all act it tho, ima keep it real) she is seen here ENCOURAGING the behavior. Tell me how someone who doesn't even like your trash ass show has the sense to tell people not to harass others, someone with a smaller following, but not your grown damn near 30 year old ass?

Oh, but people wanna act like she can handle criticism, is a sweet person, and grew from her past experiences. Fam, she was 27 in this screenshot [December 16, 2019] and has shown no change from 2013 to fucking 2024. Over a decade of the same petty ass behavior, and keep in mind, according to several of her old friends and workers, she is worse behind close doors. WORSE. She's already acting like she got no damn sense out in the open, imagine behind closed doors.

Last but not least, a glimpse into her outright blatant slander towards Dollcreep, a once good friend of hers that she even visited and spoke with frequently!

She stated that they fetishized pedophilia yet according to the victim and friends of the victim who were once friends with Viv as well, Viv actually threatened to end their friendship if he hadn't drawn NSFW art of her character and his character having sex [Addi was 15 at the time this was drawn]

On top of that, she liked the post, something she didn't need to do. The art also depicted things she had regularly drawn on her own. Addi being tied up forcefully, being sexualized, being harmed to some degree through bondage, etc. The claim that she forced DC to draw this out is backed up by her own art depicting similar elements. Also, if my memory serves me well, Viv and Doll were 17-18 years old [Doll was 17 Viv 18] and have a 1-year age gap. The way Viv frames things here is as if DC was way older and imposed some sort of power over DC, which sources say otherwise. If anything, Viv had a LOT of control throughout all of this drama, which deserves its own section.

I'll be making posts that talk about the different issues regarding Viv, so one post isn't too long (this one is already lengthy enough) and that you can just pick at one post targeting certain issues around this creator.

[teaboot]

What are "transmasc" and "genderqueer"?

I just woke up so bear with me, but like

Western society has invented this idea of "man" and "woman", right? And we SAY it's actually real, and based on tangible things like sex characteristics- primary, like dicks n' hoo-has- and secondary, like tiddies an facial hair an cellulite.

Well, it turns out that those things ain't divided "correctly" into the man and woman categories all the time.

People with dicks sometimes get tiddies, people without dicks sometimes grow beards and chest hair, beauty standards like "woman thin and hairless and short with small nose and tiny feet" and "man tall and muscular with a beard and broad shoulders" aren't appearing in nature the way we say they should.

(These gendered standards also change over time, but that's a different post.)

What's more, some people have multiple primary characteristics, and it's not even super rare! (Again, worth a different post, and not one I'm really in a position to make.)

So, we say that we didn't just "invent" two exclusive boxes to sort a wide variety and spectrum of characteristics into by pure brute force, but evidence says otherwise. So do we change the rules of our society to fit that evidence?

No, we pick something else to support our beliefs.

Learning about genes and DNA and chromosomes came much later in the game, so most people's grasp of it is this: Men have XY chromosomes, women have XX chromosomes, and no matter what your body is shaped like, that determines which box you go in. Whatever you look like should be padded or amputated or shaved away until you fit in your box.

Except.... we now know that people who outwardly appear to be the perfect ideal poster children of "man" and "woman" are living full, natural, healthy and unbothered lives totally unaware that they have the "wrong" chromosomes. No visibly "mixed" characteristics at all. So there goes that idea out the window.

Unless we say that no, our invention which is fact still holds up- there's just a few mutants and freaks and dysfunctional anomalies that just sort of happen sometimes, like factory flaws that wouldn't exist if things were running as they should.

So what do we do with factory flaws? We "fix" them. Or pressure them to fix themselves. Or, if they can "pass" one way or another, shove them into that box and tell them to shut up about it. Don't fit into either? Then pick one, and make yourself fit.

But... then, if we can pick... if hairy women with flat chests and small hips can shave themselves down and throw on some padding and powder her face to be accepted.... why can't anyone else?

Or, if that same "woman" went, fuck it, cut his hair short and embraced all the "man" characteristics, went by different pronouns and stepped into the "man" box... wouldn't that be okay, too?

And, he'll, what if they changed nothing about themselves and decided to opt out? We've proven that these "universal facts" don't *actually* exist and exceptions are everywhere, so fuck it, right? "Man" and "woman" don't really mean anything tangible anyways, so why not do what makes you happy?

And since, again, evidence shows that "man" and "women" aren't perfect binary boxes with perfect binary traits- why bother living up to those traits at all? Why can't someone assigned to the "woman" box live in the "man" box with long hair and heels on? If I makes him happy, what's the harm?

We don't like this, though, because when you build two boxes that contain the whole world, and people start escaping, or slipping out to live in the one they like more, or switching, or building their own, people begin to wonder why they're living in boxes at all. If we even need boxes.

And the people who maintain the boxes tell us, it's because the boxes are safe, and the boxes are natural, and the boxes have been here exactly as they are since the beginning of time anyways, and NO, they aren't just terrified of life outside the shelter of the box, you're the weird one.

Meanwhile, if we really looked into it, I imagine we'd find more people who don't fit their box criteria, or don't even like their box, at least as often as we find people who do.

Transgender means "someone who isn't in their assigned box".

Genderqueer means, "someone who isn't in their assigned box", but in a the same broad way that "transgender" is- Maybe a him, maybe a her, maybe both, maybe a they, perhaps a xey, and sometimes some of us move around.

I say I'm genderqueer, 'cause that fits me, but "Transmasc" to me personally means, "I know I'm not a woman, and I'm closer to the "man" box, but I'm happier wandering outside the "man" box than I am stepping fully inside. (Dysphoria is part of that, but again, in my opinion it's not vital to the experience.)

And I'm not one for destroying those two boxes entirely- they bring joy to a lot of people.

Just, you know. Maybe making more, different boxes. And maybe little camps out between them. And not treating people who roam the wilderness instead like rabid animals. Is the thing.

Long answer

[lavendermatchastrife]

i saw ur requests are open!! can we get some fluffy headcanons for cloud? maybe how he would be at the start of a relationship? or maybe how he would confess and how the relationship wpuld be?

Ofc lovely!! Tysm for the cloud request, I literally am going through it and need him bad

•

Lover Boy

Summary: head over heels? he can’t get enough of you!!

Warnings/tags: none (mild angst, lil suggestive, and some cursing but that’s it)! Just Cloud fluff <3 ambiguous timeline but before advent children, canon-divergent, could be thought of as a point in time prolonging the events of the main story :), cloud strife x reader

A/N: I have seen ALL of my other requests/DMs!! I am not ignoring yall, I’ve been very very sick (the ER is scary) and trying my best to recover! I will start responding this week and coming weeks hehe, my requests are still open btw so pls send more. this is so fun and drafting ideas to the responses has really helped take my mind off of things <3 enjoy, comments/likes/reblogs are much appreciated but definitely not required :3 also I did not proofread this and I decided to hate punctuation today :)

•

- Cloud is the type that is a little dense at first, however, once he realizes his feelings; it’s like he can’t stop thinking about it.

- it’s a bit hard getting close to him. he tries his hardest to keep people away but he just can’t help but be drawn in by honest, kind, genuine people. When he loves, he loves deeply. Platonic or romantic, once you’re his person that’s it.

- he acts like a hard ass, like he’s aloof and indifferent, which to most, is hard to be around; but to you it doesn’t seem to phase you. That’s what initially attracts him to you, you don’t pry him for answers. You don’t stick your nose into his business if it’s clear that he doesn’t want to talk about something. But that doesn’t mean that you don’t express your concerns as well as your growing affection towards him.

- Cloud is the type of person that would develop feelings for a close friend. Given all of his history, and trauma; he would need a partner that is understanding to his unique and often unpredictable nature. If he’s triggered, he doesn’t want to make his partner uncomfortable or potentially harm/scare them. He’d also just be more comfortable putting his feelings out there for someone that he trusts.

- being with someone that can reassure him, and bring him comfort when it’s appropriate would do wonders towards his self esteem and self image. He thinks himself a burden, especially considering everything he’s ever had to do and witness. He blames himself for a lot of past grievances, and often isolates himself as a form of repentance.

- that doesn’t bother you; and you slowly chip away at the walls he’s built over the years

- you’re just so easy to be around, he finds himself being vulnerable around you. yet it doesn’t scare him like it normally would. You accept his baggage, flaws, and even his attitude with open arms and a kind forgiving smile.

- that isn’t to say that you let him treat you rudely, or talk to you in certain ways. Just because you’re understanding, and caring, doesn’t mean you’re so soft that you can’t stand up for yourself. If he’s in a mood, and comes at you sideways you make sure to shut it down immediately.

- that doesn’t happen often, for all of his snark and sass he just can’t bring himself to push you away.

- he tries at first, before you become an item; to push you away. To paint himself as a tough man, a damaged man, a complicated man. He tells you to stay away, to not get caught up with a man like him. But you, of course, don’t listen.

- why the hell would you? You can see past the front he’s putting up. You know he’s a soft and sweet man beneath all of that tough skin. Him being handsome does help, though.

- you greet him happily when you see him, brush your fingers along his arm and back affectionately, bring him cool drinks and little snacks just to show him that you think about him

- and he realizes that he does the same for you. takes you into consideration that he normally wouldn’t do with someone outside of his inner circle. Maybe it’ll be subtle things like being a little more gentlemanly. holding a door open for you. handing you a jacket when you shiver. guiding you with a soft hand along the small of your back during a walk or an errand

- things will develop into late night chats, when you’re left alone with your thoughts and he happens to be around

- he walks you home often, the excuse is that it isn’t safe at night, but everyone knows that he just can’t be away from you for too long. It’s written on his face, plain as day, that he can’t get enough of you and just can’t bring himself to part with you so soon

- he loves to give you rides on his bike when you need to get out and clear your head

- he enjoys gifting you with the rare flower, a confection, a book he thinks you’d like

- cloud spending money on someone? Cloud acting…shy?

- when he realizes that he has feelings for you his ears blush pink in your presence. His eye contact is held for a little too long and it’s just a little too intense. (Forgive him, he’s just a little ND, he doesn’t know what appropriate eye contact is, much less with the person he likes 😔) and he leans a little more into your friendly touch

- he’ll scuff his shoes around you, you’ll twirl a piece of your hair around a finger with a coy smile on your face

- it’s sickeningly sweet to witness the both of you flirting so obviously to everyone else, yet neither of you know that the other holds mutual feelings. Not until Tifa takes him to the side after hours at the bar.

- he’d just gotten back from walking you home, he’d returned from a mission hours before, and just wanted to spend more time with you. you’d held his arm and it hadn’t phased him. While he wasn’t a fan of skinship, most of the women he’d been around threw him around so he was used to touch at that point. He figured it was lighthearted and friendly, and didn’t think anything of it

- Tifa made him a glass of something sweet, and didn’t waste any time. Asked him if he was serious about you, and if he knew what was going on between the both of you. Or at least if he heard the rumors surrounding his ambiguous relationship with you.

- because friends don’t tightly embrace each other, arms wrapped around each other firmly, heads buried in a shoulder and atop a soft head of hair; after Cloud had been away on a long mission. They don’t lean in, noses practically touching, and whisper “I’m happy you made it back safe, welcome home.”

- home? Was this home to cloud? No, but he was realizing that you were.

- his heart would race when Tifa would bring up the way you looked at him when he wasn’t paying attention to you. How his gaze would follow your form as well, especially when you’d laugh and smile at a random man’s joke or compliment towards you

- was he jealous? He’d never thought of himself possessive, he didn’t even know that he’d clench his fist at the sight of you getting on with someone that wasn’t him

- after his talk with Tifa he’d play it off, but accept his feelings nonetheless

- he’d feel himself undeserving of them, of a tender and sweet love. Hell, he didn’t think he even deserved to even sit next to you at the bar.

- but the thoughts of monopolizing your time, of keeping your smile to himself, begin to consume him. Once he’s aware of his feelings, it becomes hard not to just reach out and touch your shoulder. He wants to touch you for some reason, he wants to caress your cheek, he wants to embrace you the way lovers do.

- he doesn’t think himself a man of many desires. He’s a ‘SOLDIER’ (ex 😑 first class 😶) and a merc, damn it. what is he doing staring at you longingly? Dreaming of your warm lips on his? Using any and every excuse to be alone with you?

- it gets to be too much when he overhears your gossiping with Tifa one day. Sighing longingly into a glass of lemonade, about a man that confessed to you. You didn’t want to be with him, but you’d been single for so long; should you just say fuck it and go on a date with him?

- Tifa asks about your feelings for Cloud, and before you can answer, he dramatically enters the room, and asks if you want to take a little walk.

- and who were you to deny Cloud? The literal light of your life, the man of your dreams. With heart eyes you follow him out, and Tifa silently cheers you on

- once you’re enough away from the bar (you realize you’re heading towards his apartment), he gets right to the point.

- finding solace in your friendship and cozy embrace is what makes him confess, it gave him the bravery to be honest with his feelings regardless of the outcome. He had to trust you with his heart, because you’d done nothing to make him doubt you.

- the way cloud confesses, it’s not one for the corny romance novels you hoard. It isn’t something out of a fairytale. There’s no heavy rainfall that surrounds you, there’s no firm embrace, he doesn’t even look you in the eye. Just continues walking.

- “I respect you, and cherish your company,” he leads, and slowly he reaches for your hand as he continues on the path to his apartment, “there’s no point in keepin’ this from you, so I’ll come out with it. I love you.”

- your breath catches in your throat, and you don’t dare to look at him. Were you dreaming?

- “you don’t hafta return my feelings. I just thought you should know.” His head is straight on, a firm look is set in his brow, and as you chance a glance at him, you think to yourself that he’s the most beautiful man you’d ever seen. His sincerity and his raw confession, well it made your heart soar. This was his way of putting his own heart on his sleeve, just for you. Giving a piece of himself away, that he wouldn’t usually dare to trust someone with before.

- “I love you too.” Your voice was soft and you squeezed his hand even softer.

- the way you look at him, he doesn’t have a chance to even begin to doubt you.

- you don’t do anything big, like announce that you’re partners or anything like that. You don’t even really confirm a relationship, but there’s of course a change in your dynamic. It’s something unspoken, your commitment, but that’s usually what Cloud is. Unspoken, yet pure devotion.

- once your love is laid out in the open, his affection triples. He’s definitely awkward, it takes a while for him to be more talkative and be as touchy feely as you, but he’s trying I swear

- he holds an arm out for you when you walk around together; regardless of where you’re at. Pulls the chair out for you when you go out to eat. Stands up when you enter the room. Smiles when he sees you, audibly chuckles even if the joke you tell him isn’t funny, initiates conversation more

- and he initiates skinship himself, now too

- he gently tucks a piece of hair behind your ear. Holds your hand, doesn’t matter if there are other people around. Why should that matter? He’s yours, you’re his, and he’ll do what he damn well pleases

- you start to touch him more as well. it was light and friendly in the past, but now with your confirmed mutual feelings it’s more intense and obvious. Definitely, it has a more romantic undertone.

- You hug him when you see him, which was rare before, but now it’s every time you first greet him for the day and before he leaves to do this and that.

- you seem more worried when he takes on missions and merc work. You pace your apartment and 7th Heaven, longingly stare at the door to the bar, wait for him to come back while practically on your toes.

- and when you kiss for the first time? He can’t get enough. He’s clumsy, you’re eager, and once just won’t cut it

- he really enjoys intimacy, whether it’s you seated in his lap or him hugging you from behind. A kiss on the cheek, a few pecks here and there, or even heavy make out sessions. He just needs you close to him. He needs to feel you. He feels in those moments, your souls are touching, your minds are connecting, you truly understand each other, it makes him feel whole

- he’s inviting you over to his apartment, not that there’s much to do in his small home. Maybe it’s to cuddle, maybe it’s to talk, maybe it’s for something more sensual and vulnerable. Regardless of the reason, he just craves your presence. Craves your touch. Craves your very being near him or on top of him (it’s usually on top of him)

- he’s a man starved of affection :( please kiss him often, hug him as much as you can, tell him how much you love him any chance you get

- he really does enjoy it all

- PDA isn’t really his thing but for you he’s okay with it. Verbalizing his feelings, that isn’t his thing either, but he’d rather make himself a little uncomfortable if it meant that you knew just how much he cared for you

•

a/n: hehe I hope you enjoyed this! If you’d like a full fic, well don’t you worry; I’ve had a full length Cloud Strife fic in development for a year now and plan on publishing it soon!! Like I said earlier, my requests are still open so pls don’t hesitate to slide into my DMs 🫦

[lilislegacy]

The way haters just boil Annabeth's character to just insulting Percy and not seeing theres more to her really shows how much they dont get her. Honestly Percy would hate them for this...

thanks for the ask @emilia9622!

agreed completely. like if you want to dislike a character, go for it. but don’t lie to yourself. don’t base it all off of one thing or flaw and make it 100x bigger than it is.

for instance, i don’t like luke. but it’s for a multitude of reasons. he knowingly betrayed all his friends several times, fought a deadly war against them, and intentionally poisoned the camp. he was percy’s first friend at camp and was a mentor to him, but had no issues lying to him and deceiving him. he literally was fine with the idea of 12 year old little percy being dragged down to tartarus. he also let annabeth be kidnapped and forced to hold up the world. when he finally saw thalia alive, he fought her and tried to harm her. yes i know that there is very complex trauma and history that led to all his actions, and i really do feel so bad for him, but i can’t respect someone who betrays his close friends like that. no matter what. i could go on and on, and don’t get me started about him having romantic feelings for annabeth… UGH. but that said, i understand why people love his character. he’s complex and has a lot of really good history. he also has a wonderful, yet tragic, redemption at the end. he really deserved better. i don’t have love for him, but his character deserves love. i’m happy that there are people to love him so that i don’t have to, because i have personal reasons for not liking him. i think luke is an amazingly well written character and i think rick wrote him beautifully. the truth is, besides the singular part where he admitted he had feelings for annabeth, i wouldn’t change anything about him or his story. so personally, i don’t like him, but i think he’s a great character and objectively, i can see why people love him.

it’s okay to dislike a character. but don’t pick their biggest flaws, strip away all the good parts of the character, and fool yourself into believing that’s all they are. (and then continue to go on tumblr and scream about how toxic and terrible the character is 🙄)

this is what “people can’t handle complex characters” actually means. people often throw that phrase around. people say that about readers not liking jason all the time, but the truth is, people are fully entitled to not like jason. it doesn’t make sense to me, because i LOVE jason. he’s my cutie patootie. but the people who dislike him simply don’t like him. they don’t usually make him out to be someone he’s not, they just don’t like him for who he is. they often just don’t find him interesting enough to break down the more complex parts of his character. it breaks my heart, and i don’t understand, but that’s okay. they just don’t like him. there’s nothing else to it. most annabeth haters, however, make her out to be someone she’s not and then proceed to hate on that one self-generated version of her. it’s so toxic. THAT is not being able to handle a complex character

no, annabeth is not perfect. if she was, she would be unrealistic, and people would hate her for that too. yes, she has excessive pride. she tends to think herself above others, and yes that even includes percy at times. but you know what? she admitted to having that issue all the way back in book 2. she was literally 13 when she explained to percy what hubris is and how it’s her biggest downfall. she’s a self aware queen. she knows it’s an issue and she works hard to correct it in little ways and make sure the people around her, especially percy, know she values them and their opinions. anyone who read the heroes of olympus series unbiased and got to read her POV knows that annabeth holds percy in the highest regard. she respects the hell out of him. even though sometimes she says things that aren’t nice, she doesn’t truly feel that way and always corrects it in some way. she’s not selfish, she’s just tragically intelligent, and it naturally gives her a bit of a complex. it wouldn’t make sense if it didn’t.

and i love her for it. the fact that she has a real flaw that can affect relationships, but that she is self aware of and actively works on, makes her legit one of my favorite characters ever. she’s SO realistic.

but people take that one flaw and make it her whole character. they call her cold and harsh, when in reality she’s one of the most warm and sensitive people in the series. she takes care of her friends. she’s strong and she’s often the leader, but it’s because she’s so loving and kind all the time. she works hard and looks out for everyone. she makes friends fast for a reason. she’s a wonderful person. she’s so, so sweet, and it breaks my heart that people choose to take that away from her.

anyway, sorry i just word vomited so much. basically i agree 100%.

[rachamemories]

I hope it doesn't sound offensive because I really do not mean harm. I have looked through your account with books you read and I have been wondering how do you manage reading such heavy topics, especially with mental health issues?

I'm asking because I'm also struggling with mental health and for me sometimes even reading fluffy fiction can be upsetting. I was wondering if you have some coping mechanisms or maybe just a different outlook on the subject

Reading about history, war, antisemitism and darker topics doesn't hurt me because I view it as understanding mindsets that directly impact how people view/treat me in the world. It's a comfort for me to know where the thought processes come from, the sources of lies and the whole unhinged body of text they're attached to, and how old they are. How irrational and flawed humans are, myself included.

It makes me feel better mentally to understand that there's things I can't personally fix. There's people I can't have "done things a better way" with. Me doing my best to be kind doesn't cancel out someone who lives in a different reality where my kindness is a manipulation to them on the basis that I'm inherently evil.

I view it as a way for me to protect myself. It gives me confidence to call things like antisemitism what they are when I experience them because I know what it is and exactly where each part of it comes from. It doesn't make the events feel any better, but it helps. I also view learning about the past of my culture as my personal way of paying respect to those who came before me, I think we all have different personal and beautiful ways of doing that ❤️

[everestgale]

I SLIDE U SMITTEN ACROSS THE FLOOR FOR THE CHARACTER ASK STUFF -OWL

SMITTEN OUR BELOVED...

[Send Me a Character and I'll List Ask Game]

favorite thing about them

Smitten is so full of love! And he is so open about his love! He loves the Princess no matter what she looks like, no matter what she does to you, how much hurt she inflicts on you. He will always love her! He is so passionate, so devoted to her, even to his own detriment-

Yes, my favorite thing about Smitten is how absolutely deranged and passionate he is. No, I am not sorry /lh

least favorite thing about them

This is less "least favorite thing about him" and more about disliking how some people misunderstand him as possessive and malicious in HEA. He is unhealthy and flawed, and he caused harm, absolutely, but he is not doing anything in HEA from the place of malice, and I will die on that hill <3

favorite line

"Oh, just you wait and see! My vengeance will echo the depths of my bereavement!"

brOTP

I really like the Grey Brothers (Skeptic + Smitten), I like the idea of them having a weird sibling-ish bond, but in a "distant sibling who you don't talk to much because you two are so different... but it's nice to chat and catch up sometimes, and you are still there for each other if you really need one another" kind of way.

OTP

Ironically, I don't actually ship Smitten all that much... who am I kidding, the answer is CheatedSmitten, and I really need to draw more of them when my wrist recovers, or I will EXPLODE-

(If you'd like a reason, a friend wrote a very nice description on how this ship would play out, and I've been rotating it in my head for a few weeks. Smitten, the kind of person to extend his heart wide open, but also to probably wonder if he will ever be enough after he disastrously failed with HEA... and Cheated, the guy who repeatedly failed over, and over, and over, and over, someone who would understand this feeling of not being enough- Okay, I gotta stop, otherwise it will take over this whole post)

nOTP

Definitely not a nOTP, it's just that out of popular Smitten ships, I have a very hard time imagining Smittunist (Smitten/Opportunist), and it's entirely because of how I designed and how I write both of them. In fact, I actually really like seeing how other people write and/or draw that ship!! So it's decisively a "me" and "my designs/interpretations" problem 💔

random headcanon

People-pleaser Smitten. You can see it throughout this entire post, I'm very deep in the "people-pleaser Smitten" headcanon mine, and I can't get out of it /lh

unpopular opinion

Once again, don't know how unpopular it is, but I think specifically in the Unknown Together ending, where Smitten knows that she left with the Long Quiet, while he would be sad for a while over the fact that the Princess is gone, he will eventually bounce back, accept the fact that she is happily with "the big guy" somewhere, wherever that might be, and then choose to extend his over-the-top loving self to other people (mainly, his fellow voices) <3

...this is specifically for the Unknown Together endings. If we're talking about A New and Unending Dawn... well, we get an entirely different Smitten.

song i associate with them

It's more of a mixed HEA + Smitten song, but there is no other song that I associate with Smitten more than this one, so "Predator" by The Crane Wives it is!

"What were you thinking? Shouldn't you know better? You took advantage of another anxious people pleaser"

I'm kind of obsessed with how these lines fit well as HEA singing about Smitten... but also as Smitten singing to the Long Quiet, or rather, you, the player, for choosing to stay in the cabin and create this "Happily Ever After" ending... only to be dissatisfied with it.

favorite picture of them

This is what happens when the character we're talking about is a disembodied voice who has no canon design. So! How about my favorite drawing of him, which is this illustration with the Damsel. Look at them! They are so happy :]

Ignore the fact that it's part of the illustration set and in the rest of the illustrations they are not so happy, that's not what the question was asking!

[arcane-ish]

Revisiting the season 1 "is Silco a bad parent" discourse

It seems that sometimes people come across my season 1 metas and liking them and it's pretty fun for me to "re-find" some of my old stuff that way.

I like to think I still stand by a lot of if even if a lot of theories about how things get disproven.

Anyway, I think it's very interesting in retrospect how central and heated the "Is Silco a bad father" discourse was in season 1. (It was very much the "is Caitlyn a war criminal" of its day)

One aspect that I think made it differently is that "being a war criminal" is usually a relatively distant concept for most people.

While if you listened deeper you could sense a lot of personal stories and very different takes on what makes a good or bad parent.

Looking back, it does feel like maybe a lot of it was the Vi&Cait side of the fandom versus the Silco&Jinx side of the fandom with a lot of people in the middle weighing in, because it is an interesting question and again ones relationship to a parent being something where everybody can bring something to he table.

In the end season 1 is very structured around Vi. She's by the character by far with the most screentime. And season 1 is pretty much about her quest to retrieve her sister.

Vi has a certain, harsh way of perceiving Silco and Silco and Jinx. And I wonder if at least some of the discourse was a lot about validating Vi and validating Vi's quest. Because if Silco is an awesome parent and Jinx is happy, then Vi's quest is basically useless, right?

For the record, I don't think Vi fans were overall about proving that Silco is evil and Vi has to smite him. Even in season 1 I think there was generally a lot of fandom discourse support for the idea that Vi has to accept that her sister is changed and that she can't just blindly cling to the past. But there's still investment in the idea that she is at least partially right.

On the opposite. To me it does feel like on the Silco&Jinx side (even though people will always say they understand that their charas do bad things) it did feel like there were genuinely people who wanted an edgy "Silco and Jinx never did anything and are perfect and everybody else drools" take by the show. Again, just like with the Vi side, not all. Plenty of Silco fans who also get that he was a flawed father even if he was genuine. Just saying the "Silco and Jinx should burn the world down without resistance as an awesome powercouple and/or father&daughter duo" also existed and who were longing for a portrayal where everybody who opposed Silco turns out to be more evil than him or comes around and sings his praises to validate Silco.

Which brings me to:

I think a big reason why I was less disappointed with season 2 than some others is because I always saw myself squarely in the middle of this discourse.

For me that looked like that: For a lot of the accusations typically levelled against Silco I was usually a lot more on the "Silco side" of things than on the "Vi side".

That a lot of the things that are happening are dark, but dark that make sense for the setting. ie having Jinx be violent, encouraging her to fight, not seeking help for her mental illness, that always seemed like a fairly natural part of the setting to me. And on the whole manipulating front, seeing it more as "Silco projects his own trauma/fear/paranoia, his messed up feelings about Vander onto Vi" rather than he is intentionally manipulating (though I do think there was an element of "Silco is scared of Jinx leaving him and wants to tie her to him at all costs" rather than just a clean mangnanimous "Silco thinks Vi is dangerous and wants to protect Jinx from harm")

But at the same time: I also had genuine bugbears with his parenting.

When I look at my old post one thing that I pointed out was that it feels off to me that Jinx doesn't have peers her age. She interacts mostly with Sevika and Silco. The closes to her age is probably Thieram and he's scared of her. Back then I reserved judgement. Because we don't know for sure how Jinx felt about it. Maybe since she killed her brothers she never wanted to be around friends anymore out of fear of killing them. Though I still think that as a parent Silco should have pushed back on that. Especially since imo the Enemy music video suggests that in the past Powder did like playing with other children, at the very least Ekko. So to me season 2 was extremely validating when we see that as soon as Silco is gone from her influence the first thing Jinx does is attach herself to a young girl and be really playful and kid like with her. And season 2 suggests that having Ekko forgive her did mean something to her. (and depending on whether you consider it canon or not, Jinx writing "home" on top of the firelight base when she has been there like once is just gutting)

There's also the fact "Silco is just projecting his trauma rather than manipulating" to me is a seriously deal. Even if that means that he isn't manipulating "he can't see beyond his trauma enough to be a good parent" is still a serious parenting issue. (for the record: Vander has very similar problems in his parentage) If you had a parent who is a narcissicst or a drug addict or bipolar and that did have an affect on the parenting style, you would still file that under having a bad/less than ideal childhood even if that parent tried.

And the core effect of this trauma/paranoia is that Silco does not respect what Vi means to Jinx and is not really engaging with Jinx about it. And no, he did not know Vi was alive, but he did lie about Vi just being there for the crystal (when from his conversation with Vi in the Shimmer addict scene he KNEW that Vi was there about Jinx). Not to mention he immediately moves to try to get rid of Vi and attacks her rather than even just subtly try to figure out how Jinx feels about it. Again in a perfect parent world, even if he irrationally feels that Vi will hurt Jinx, the good parent thing would have been to talk to Jinx, express his fears and let Jinx choose how she wants to handle the situation. Support her through it, catch her if Vi really does end up hurting her.

But then I generally often feel like I have a very different take on Jinx and Silco's relationship. Like… if you see Silco and Jinx as a pair, a duo… you can see in season 1 that Jinx isn't fully happy with him? Like the underlying message of season 1 is that even though she was with Silco and she cared for him, she was dreaming of being with Vi the entire time. She wanted to abandon Silco and run away with Vi. She kept, remembered and activated the flare when she realizes that Vi is alive/around. She yearned for Vi while she was gone, was always doubtful of Silco's world, completely thought Silco was capable of lying to her. She cares about him, but she does not fully believe the things he's telling her, she clearly thinks of him as somebody to take with a grain of salt, yes even before the Shimmer maker he doubt him even more.

For the record, I don't buy the Silcofan take Jinx and Silco were 100% happy and he a completely reasonable parent till all the stressors of season 1 Act 2 happened. IMO I buy what Jinx says to Vi in the dinner scene in 1x09, the deep tiredness and frustration. And I don't think that Jinx would assume so easily that he would lie even pre Shimmer if he hadn't given her the vibe before. And we see her pushing back and rebelling a little bit not just against his restriction but against the lies he tells himself before all that.

(it probably helps that my fandom of Silco was always more on the "he's this beautiful, chaotic, tragic, compelling, ingenious mess" rather than "he's so cool and badass". Like a lot harder on the "Silco makes a freaked out face during the rat experiments" than just "Silco does sexy sauntering")

Again, if you "ship" Silco and Jinx as a narrative pair, even if just a platonic one, maybe you were rooting for the story to validate Silco fully. Yes, Jinx strayed and tried to "cheat" on Silco with Vi, wanted to leave him, wanted to run off with Vi, but he was right all along, Vi didn't care for her and choose the enforcer over Jinx. And the happy end will be Jinx understands Silco's love for her and knew he as right all along and be gung go, either wanting to kill herself because she loved him so much or dedicate her life to continuing his life's work.

And maybe the Vi side thought that with Silco being dead it would be a "ding dong the witch is dead", yes Jinx is now even further in her darkness but maybe season 2 can be the search to retrieve her and everybody can at least see what horror he has wrought and how he destroyed Jinx's life if it turns out she cannot be saved.

The thing about season 2 is that if refuses to validate either the "Vi side" or the "Silco side"

And my theory that this really frustrated both sides, especially if they fought for fervently post season 1 about whose perspective is right.

While for me, it felt like a natural continuation of what I already saw in season 1. Jinx genuinely cares for Silco, but she wasn't fully happy with him, their relationship was genuine, but also layered and complex.

She grieves for him, but the moment he isn't there she acts very differently. She does tons of things that weren't and maybe couldn't easily have been part of her life when he was still around. Her position towards his goals, towards the fight, towards Zaun,towards violence is mixed. She connects with Isha, with Vi, with Ekko. She doesn't denounce Vi or Vander to praise Silco.

For the frustration of the "Vi side", she never denounces Silco either. And even worse, like, here you could say, okay, maybe Jinx is just strong enough to resist Silco's influence, especially now that he's gone, but he was still bad for her, but the show imo by adding Silco to the AU does take a stand against that Silco was just a bad father and a malignent influence. If Silco was just full on bad, why would he still be part of Jinx's life in the other AU, where it is hinted that Silco is very much part of many things being better in that AU. To me that alone is a strong proof that they don't see Silco as just a bad thing that has to be fought. Heck that episode textually has Ekko saying outright that maybe he wasted his time fighting/hating Silco and Jinx as part of a general message about forgiveness and embracing people.

And about all people being messy and flawed and you should still embrace them.

And from a Jinx fan point of view? That's great actually

Season 1 is being spent with Silco and Vi metaphorically fighting over Jinx. From their point of view, it would be most desirable if she chose one and decried the other.

But from a Jinx point of view? It's actually great that she doesn't have to choose. Because Jinx is a cool and awesome character who can have deep and layered and complex and loving relationships with Silco and with Vi and with Vander (and gain new ones with Isha and Jinx). She doesn't have to give one up to properly love the other. She can love all these people in her own way and at the same time, there can be complexity and flaws in all those relationships too.

Because again, Jinx is a complex character with many sides to her and many relationships to her.

And just like the show in the end refuses to make a hard choice between Powder versus Jinx, it also refuses to choose between these relationships. Doesn't see the need to push any of them to the dirt, just lets her keep and at the same time lose all of them.

I think that ultimately, why, even though I see many flaws on season 2, I can still find something to love about it. Because to me Jinx is the throughline, the emotional core as the journey of a young woman searching her place, figuring herself out, choosing her path.

(please note that I'm a staunch believer in the "Jinx Lives" theory and that clouds every and all reads on season 2 I have)

In the end, imo the juxtaposition of Silco and Vi was a pretty cool move of season 1. Most fandoms fight primarily about romantic shipping, who should date whom, who is whose OTP.

Structurally, in season 1 Vi is the main character and even though she might have flaws (maybe too brash, too narrow minded, too emotional), she comes across as the more traditional heroic character.

At the same time, she is on a quest that is impossible. She wants to retrieve a sister who doesn't exist anymore. She wants things to not change, but that can't be avoided. She has a quest given to her by her dead father figure, but maybe that quest isn't just impossible, maybe it isn't what she should be doing in the first place?

And the fact that Vi is structurally the hero but maybe she's also kind of wrong I think opened up this narrative space of "okay, if Vi is not right, that maybe who or what is?"

I get that the show answering that question with "everybody is flawed, those relationships an co-exist" isn't a satisfying answer for everybody who wanted clarity, but I can just reiterate, from my Jinx fannishness point of view, I think it's pretty great.

[1moreff-creator]

What are some dynamics (in terms of like, foils/parallels) that you enjoy in DRDT?

you’re staring at a forest and asking me for every tree i like. do you want me to write another 28k word post /lh

I jest, of course, but not about the number of interesting foils in this series. It does a fantastic job tying everyone into several key themes in ways that make their dynamics endlessly enriching for my silly little character parallel-loving brain. So, uh, get ready for a long-ish post?

CW: One mention of self-harm, self-loathing

Teruko-David: I mean, you gotta start at the center, yeah? David’s the closest thing to a “main antag” we have, and it’s no wonder; the guy’s built like a standard DR protag, obviously he’s gonna have a cool dynamic with the actual protagonist. 

These two could breathe a bit weird and somehow parallel each other doing it, that’s how much this foil permeates both their characters. From their fatalistic outlooks on the world (“my luck will always be terrible, I’ll always be betrayed” vs “people can’t change, the world sucks”), the ways they hide their feelings (Teruko was more distrustful than she first presented herself as, but cares about people more than she shows during most of CH2; while David has an entire different persona up to 2-11 and then pretends to be worse than he actually is), the self-loathing (Teruko refuses to think she could be a good person, David has the whole “inhuman” thing going on), down to the oddball sibling figure (Terubro “I know nothing about you” Tawaki vs Diana “I’m not even sure you exist” Chiem).

There’s their feelings about Xander and Min, too, which are all over the place. Obviously we all saw in 2-12 how much the British twink fucked both of them up severely, with Teruko rejecting any positive or yearning feelings she may have had about Xander (you can’t hide the cactus scene from us girl) while David vehemently defended him from any criticism. On the other side, Min is less of a narrative poltergeist (for now; XF-Ture exists), but she still comes up with them, with David calling her pathetic eleven episodes after Min hugs Teruko and Teruko’s internal monologue gives away how much she cares about the Student. 

And these parallels play into their weird-ass dynamic very well, because their beefing is founded on their similarities and their differences, out of projecting their self-loathing to someone similar at the same time they hate each other because of their disagreements on things like Xander. Crazy stuff.

Xander-Min: Mentioning these two second because they’re also Eternal Parallels. There’s almost not a single thing about these two that isn’t somehow reflected on the other. If you projected them onto each other’s direction, you would get no perpendicular component. Get it, ‘cuz they’re completely parallel- That is, by far, the nerdiest joke I’ve ever made, I apologize.

But come on. Their attitudes towards fate (the Rebel fighting it and Min resigning herself to the XF-Ture thing), the whole “holding on to the past vs wanting to move on from the past” thing, the similarities between how they actually feel about the education system (they have issues with it) contrasted with the things they actually do in respects to that (Min is still the Ultimate Student, but Xander dislikes that), their already mentioned contrasting connections to Teruko and David… Just, absolutely everything about them is a meaningful contrast. And it comes into play a lot, with their eternal beef being born largely out of these parallels. They’re awesome.

Teruko-Ace: Pretty topical for post-CH2. Ace’s entire arc is sort of a reflection of Teruko’s, yet taken to the extreme because of one particular point of contrast; Ace feared death, Teruko doesn’t think she can die. But he still basically serves as a demonstration of all the flaws in Teruko’s all mindset; the feeling of unchangeable fate, the complete lack of trust, all the good stuff. It basically allows an exploration of Teruko’s mindset from an outside perspective, which makes it easier to see the flaws in it.

Ace-Nico: Also topical, these recap foils go kinda insane. Their motives for murder, their contrasting talents (love for animals on Nico's side and fear of horses on Ace's), the way they relate to the rest of the cast, Ace's persecution complex vs Nico actively disliking how much Hu defends them, etc., it’s all very fun to see play out. 

Ace-Levi: The one who doesn’t care but protects others and tries his best to be a good person so he can be accepted in society without having issues, vs the guy that acts like an asshole because he’s scared of caring too much and he thinks the only way he can get out alive is by being the only one to survive. This leads to a fundamental misunderstanding between them that causes some of the most doomed yaoi of all time, which is the whole “Levi getting frustrated at not understanding Ace.” 

Arei-David: You’ve presumably watched 2-13, so I don’t think I need to explain all the awesome stuff that’s come from their shared themes of “good people” and self-betterment and all that. Not to mention, David’s little breakdown over Arei trusting the letter of the only friend she had being presumably born from the way he saw Xander as the only friend he had. Shit goes crazy.

Arei-Eden: Recap foils… Good people… The choice to be kind… Etc… Woah :O

Teruko-Charles: Ah, Teru’s recap foil. This one’s basically opposite of Ace’s, where Charles used to be sort of like Teruko acted in CH2, but later became a bit friendlier, if still somewhat prickly. Basically, if Ace highlights Teruko’s character traits from CH2, Charles post CH1 serves as more or less the “end goal” in a way. It goes beyond that, too, with the whole memory issues (prosopagnosia vs childhood amnesia) and, again, mysterious siblings (Terubro and Elliot what are your deals), so it’s always neat to rotate these two in the brain.

Veronika-Levi: We really don’t know too much about Vero, which always makes it a bit harder when analyzing these dynamics, but they already got some interesting points of contrast. Neither of them are particularly concerned about the deaths of the others, at least post-CH2 (Levi doesn’t grieve and Vero actively laughs at Ace’s death), but it comes from almost opposite ends of perspective. Levi doesn’t understand others because he doesn’t feel much empathy (if any at all), while Vero seems to treat the others not as people, but almost as characters to be analyzed (that’s the impression I get, at least), which makes her come off as very good at reading people but also occasionally causes her to see them as sources of entertainment first and foremost. Not to mention there’s also the fact they’re both very different people than they were in the past (Levi was some form of delinquent and now is a good person, Vero used to be outdoorsy and then no longer was). Wow that’s… more than I thought there was- How am I finding more interesting foils just by writing more???

Hu-Levi: I kinda talked about this in my CH2 PT2 analysis so read that ig.

J-Rose: A pair of recap foils who haven’t had too much yet, but a lot of their themes, in particular about fate and privilege and stuff, are pretty noticeable with them, so this is always a fun dynamic to consider.

Levi-Arturo: More recap foils, this one’s fun because of the dead family member :) Also things like their talents being related to aesthetics and both doing the things they do for a better life.

Veronika-Hu: This one’s kinda more hypothetical, since Vero in particular hasn’t had as much direct focus as other characters yet, but that’s part of what makes them fun. Past history of self-harm (even if brought on by very different feelings) is just the first of many parallels they could have, and it’s fun to see the contrast between Hu defending Nico to the ends of the Earth and Vero talking about how much she likes Arturo because of how awful he is. They’re really silly.

David-Whit: All the recap foils are fun, but I've always struggled to see this one in particular. Partly because I feel like I know less about Whit than I know about Mai :v Still, certain things like Whit ignoring anything that upsets him which connects to David constantly lying about his real feelings for his fans, which is probably what leads to David's outburst at Whit in the second trial.

Teruko-MonoTV: Because fate. Really this is here plainly because it’s just a funny as hell dynamic to even consider lol.

Teruko-Mai: Have they interacted? Has Mai had enough screen time to truly determine that this parallel truly exists? Do we even know a single theme that Mai’s character touches on for certain? No and it doesn’t matter! Because these two are clearly connected somehow and the whole “someone dearly loved - someone dearly unloved” thing makes me ill. Mai is getting mentioned in this post and you're not stopping it.

Mai-Whit: Fuck it! “We tend to idolize the dead” dynamic!!! It's very speculative, but this one’s just fun to ponder even if we have even less idea of what could be going on between the two than with Mai-Teruko.

Anyways ready for a few themes that run through a lot of characters?

David-Levi-Nico-Rose: The “feeling disconnected from the rest of humanity’s experiences” gang!!!

Min-Rose-Hu-Veronika-Arturo: The “wants to move on from the past” gang!!!

Min-Arei-Teruko-Ace: The “trying to fix mistakes” gang!!!

Teruko-David-Eden-Arei-Levi-Xander: The “what makes a good person?” gang!!!

Teruko-David-Xander-Min-J-Whit-Ace-Rose-MonoTV-Probably everyone else: Fate!!!!

And there’s more than I’m probably forgetting because I can’t possibly check every conceivable connection between these guys. At least I hope I covered most of the major ones. Thanks for the ask, these dynamics are always fun to think about!

[kghnzen]

persona 5's portrayal of sexual harassment: what i liked and what could be done better – SPOILERS FOR MOST OF THE GAME! TW for mentions of SA+pedophilia!

felt like talking about this because i can't find anyone summing up all my thoughts.

first, ann's character:

what i liked: i thought the writing of the initial arc and introduction to ann's character was really well done; her emotions were reflective of a teenager in her position, with the guilt she felt and the subsequent (or arguably, everpresent) anger. shiho also faced this abuse and almost tried to k!ll herself because of it, which is crazy realistic. also, the nude model thing wasn't that bad. especially in royal, the jokes at her expense came off more like "haha ann, this weird guy wants you to model for him nude" and less like, "i WISH ann would get naked!" (although i did hate morgana's whole thing about "preserving her chastity, but he's generally protective of her so i'll let it slide.) i think that the whole strategy she had to unlock madarame's door was cute and witty, especially how we get to see her dorky acting. she can be used for jokes without it being about her body and that's awesome!!

what i wish was done better: what i most hate about this arc is what happened to ann's character throughout the main story afterwards. if you choose to pursue her confidant seriously (which i think every player should with every confidant but i digress) you will get a wonderful storyline about a girl who wants to become stronger for herself and her friends – if you don't, you just get a character who was taken advantage of at the beginning, and who's situation is then callously poked fun at time and time again afterwards through the narrative. all the times ryuji and morgana ogle her only take away from the message of her character from the first arc. and don't get me started on how hard they nerfed ryuji during the middle of the game – guy who hates scumbags is made to act like one every business month... time and time again, ann is shown to be either outcast or taken advantage of for her looks, and then her own teammates, her closest friends, are used for gags at her expense. for what? cheap laughs? there are way better ways to implement comedic scenes (cough cough everything yusuke does)

next, ryuji's character:

what i liked: everything about the shinjuku scene in royal. these queenie ass gay guys pull up and try to turn ryuji into a drag queen, and joker, tired of ryuji's incompetence, is like... yeah dude rock that shit. morgana is like, "hope he discovers himself..." i think it's fucking hilarious and an accurate representation of shinjuku's nightlife (at least, the presence of drag queens is accurate.) next, i love his attitude towards the girls in his team... mostly. he treats them fairly and like a member of the team, albeit a little cheeky in his interactions with them (often wanting to talk to joker about how he "sees" them as "girls." i honestly find no harm with that, it isn't overstepping any boundaries, just guy talk portrayed realistically. in the end he always sees them as people, not just the abstract concept of "girl," and is able to maintain a connection with them as people, which i think lends to his good naturedness. even the maid scene i didn't mind – he's a teenage boy, of course he's curious. there's definitely flaws in this but that's for the next section.

what i hated: everything about the shinjuku scene in vanilla. unlike it's royal counterpart, vanilla's shinjuku scene has ryuji getting felt up and ogled, while joker finds the whole debacle funny. as the player i seriously wanted to help him get out of the situation, but the game doesn't let you cause it's just for laughs. if it's for laughs, why am i not laughing?? the other issue with this scene was the fact that the people doing this were gay guys in shinjuku, presumably queens or something? this is portraying gay/trans characters as pedophilic FOR LAUGHS, which is extremely harmful and the worst queer stereotype, even if they are just npcs in a minute long cutscene. i greatly appreciated the change to dialogue in royal. i also hated how they had him (and morgana) treat ann sometimes. i talked about this in ann's section, but by watering down her character to Hot Bod, they're also watering down the guy's characters to primitive man seeing boobie for first time. ryuji actively hates kamoshida for his treatment of students, including the sexual harrassment. it goes against half of the points against him that were made in the first arc. not to mention, he's a total mama's boy. i honestly find it out of character for him to be so rude to ann; to think she's attractive? sure, to objectify her? girl he's known since middle school and fights against and has a sibling-like bond with? absolutely not. side tangent, morgana also would never in my mind. i mean, he calls her Lady Ann... that's such high respect! just watering down characters all around for no good reason, ESPECIALLY in the dessert car scene, ugh.

last, joker's relationships with older women:

what i liked: nothing. besides the friendship. but i'm not talking about that, i'm talking about the romance routes...

what i despised: okay i don't have much first hand experience because i refuse to romance persona characters (idk, the mcs are all gay to me, even as kotone, i couldn't romance a man, this is only tangentially related though, let's move on) but anyways, the fact that women twice the minor character's age are available to romance and he still can't partake is preposterous... get my boy a cigarette. jokes aside, takemi being able to drug him and having that be played off as a joke is just horrible and is actually sexual assault. it's the most explicit the game has gotten in portraying that and it's... for jokes. and meant to be seen as enjoyable. yeah okay... i'm having the time of my life.. (Sarcasm.) in any case, i fucking love takemi and wish she wasn't turned into a weirdo. the guinea pig jokes are funny!! i like it when she teases him!! the issue is that the teasing becomes more than teasing!! which is scary! same goes for ohya and kawakami, although i like them a bit less. i do think joker has valuable friends and allies in all three of these women, and the option to romance them almost ruins it for me. it's crazy that cougars are more acceptable than gay romance.

tldr; ann and ryuji's characters were nerfed + we should be allowed to romance yusuke ❤️❤️❤️ thank you for reading if you stuck around this long. would love to hear more thoughts. byebye!

[blasphemousclaw]

tanith for the character list thing?

MY GIRLLLL

• favorite thing about them

I love how she occupies this position of power as the proprietress of the Manor, the consort of a demigod, and she’s the sole person in charge of operating their cult movement (since Rykard doesn’t seem to do much except kill eat and sleep these days) and yet she comes from such a humble background as a dancer from a foreign land… she projects this image of ruthlessness and strength, but she actually has really deep insecurities about herself that start to come out during Rya’s quest? her greatest fear is that she’s always been weak, and that Rykard always knew that… I think she clings to the entire structure she’s built up at the Manor because she’s afraid of feeling powerless, maybe because she felt powerless in her past? also her mask is sexy

• least favorite thing about them

I just wish she had more content! the dlc introduced the Dancer of Ranah with almost an identical face to Tanith, which implies Tanith was the same kind of Dancer? was she actually an expert swordswoman who gave up the lifestyle to run a cult with a demigod? I NEED TO KNOW

• favorite line

“Dear Rykard, please find purchase within me, I wish to be your serpent; your family.” eating your beloved’s corpse is what true love looks like <3

also it’s super long but her speech about the Volcano Manor’s goals is really good; you can tell she’s tailored her and Rykard’s goals to appeal to the Tarnished and get them fired up against the Erdtree… queen of public speaking

• brOTP

her relationship with Rya is so sweet and also so emotionally complicated, like they love each other so much but Tanith lies to her about the truth of Volcano Manor and the circumstances of her birth and shatters that trust… :(

I also feel like Tanith would’ve had a great dynamic with Bernahl?? there’s this implication that he’s her most trusted Recusant; he never got eaten by Rykard even though Tanith feeds all the greatest champions to him, and Bernahl seems to know everything about Rykard and his mission after we kill him… and there’s also the fact that he uses a really important weapon to the serpent cult, and it’s implied that he goes to Farum Azula to challenge Maliketh, which was seemingly what Rykard was originally gonna do? so Bernahl and Tanith must have shared their plans and secrets with each other… I wonder if he was the “precocious” guest Tanith mentions having long ago whom we remind her of if we show up to the Manor unannounced?

• ОТР

TANITH/RYKARD. OBVIOUSLY. I won’t write a whole paragraph about them because I already talked about their relationship here

• nОТР

Patches LOL I know he’s trying to keep Tanith from destroying herself and remind her that she has other things in life to live for but what if I WANT her to destroy herself because of her undying love for her serpent god husband who’s prophesied to devour the entire world! like what’s sexier than this!! STAY OUT OF THIS PATCHES

• random headcanon

she braids Rya’s hair to match her own hairstyle :,)

• unpopular opinion

I’m never going to police the kind of content people want to make and enjoy, but it really bothers me when I see serious analysis of the game’s story and interactions with my own content that are like “Tanith is such a good mother!” and “this family is so wholesome!” when the actual story involves her making really questionable decisions that ultimately harm Rya’s wellbeing? there’s no doubt that Tanith loves Rya more than anything, but she’s lied to her about the Manor’s true purpose and the circumstances of her birth for her whole life, and then asks us to drug her so she forgets the truths she’s learned? like… it’s kind of baffling to me how these things are never talked about. I just think it’s such a huge disservice to Tanith’s character to smooth over all the flaws in her relationships, because her flaws are what make her so interesting to me… loving someone doesn’t always mean you’re doing what’s best for them!

• song i associate with them

ok I’m so sorry but I never know how to answer these questions because I only listen to instrumental music so I guess I’m just gonna pass 🙈

• favorite picture of them

I think this one is by @/Zlofsky2nd on twitter? she’s so pretty

also this image I edited

[princeblue]

I think we may have talked about this before over discord a bit, but what are your favorite zenitsu ships & duos? Any zenitsu related stuff you know how it is

I’m always happy to yap about Zenitsu!!!! My other blorbo, my other son, my other fave that I love to genderbend.

Honestly my favorite Zenitsu dynamic will always be him becoming the Uzui’s son, whether it’s through (accidental) adoptive means or through biological means. I think that after some time and getting to know the real people underneath the flashy and panicked exterior, Zenitsu & Uzui would bond over having an elder male figure they are expected to/want to live up to and having complicated relationships with their brothers.

Plus, I think Zenitsu deserves three moms who take care of him because he canonically was an orphan until his gramps took him in so that has to fuck with you.

Other than that, I’m actually a big on both tanzen and inozen, I think the dynamic of both are fun, I have bookmarks of both and even some bookmarks of inotanzen, they’re like a snack I forget I like until once a year where I go onto a binge reading of them and I go “okay that’s enough” and the process repeats.

However with that being said, I think Tanjirou and Zenitsu have a critically underdeveloped and undervalued relationship, the manga pushed inozen and their importance to each other a lot. But it oftentimes felt like there was a duo in a trio which sucked, because Zenitsu was there from the start too, he cared too, he even pushed Tanjirou out of the way from Daki’s attack in S2, putting himself in harms way for Tanjirou, even though with his speed, he could have safely gotten to a safer area.

But his instinct was to still protect his friend, likewise, I think Tanjirou’s ability to hold Zenitsu accountable to his actions should have been displayed in a less jokey manner, just like I think Zenitsu’s ability to make Tanjirou act like an actual pissed off teenager who hits his friend when he’s annoying are two things that can and should coexist. Inosuke was a wildcard who needed help assimilating back into society, and Tanjirou as a character who is established to be a caretaker and provider was the perfect person for this.

BUT, Tanjirou gets way too lost in taking care of others, it’s… basically his fatal flaw. Is that he’s willing to do anything for everyone, and Zenitsu doing things to make Tanjirou act like the sixteen year old he is is crucial to his mission actually, to take a break from the weight of it all, of Nezuko on his back, from the dirt underneath his nails that he had to bury his family with. And Zenitsu gets way too lost in his fears, his anxieties, he’s short sighted and will do anything for a quick get out. Tanjirou having confidence and faith in him (something Zenitsu himself acknowledges back in s1 before the rui confrontation) would boost his ability to be more reliable through the roof.

And then just again with the accountability thing, Tanjirou would absolutely hold him to it — but he’d have a very hard time doing it because Zenitsu is also 16? And his gramps found him when he’s 14? That’s only two years of being held accountable for his actions and responsibilities. Of course he’s gonna soo… unserious about a lot of things — and that silliness is exactly what Tanjirou needs.

And that’s why I always write Zenitsu & Tanjirou together in my fics because I am making up for lost time the manga doesn’t show us.

But tldr: Zenitsu & Tanjirou are a critically unrelated duo and I think they would have made for a good yin&yang dynamic in the manga which they have repeatedly done with multiple characters.

I think I kinda talked in circles about this, I’m a little eepy rn but I was excited to answer the question cuz I love talking to my friends and about Zenitsu, but it will always make me sad that he had the potential for many great dynamics and obviously had the setup for an arc that never got delivered, because I think he’s a wonderful character, you just have to dig around in it a bit lol.

(If there’s typos in this shh)

[silverflameataraxia]

Let me preface this post by saying that I do not ship Elriel, nor do I think they'll be endgame, but I do see some similarities between their ship and Nessian, which makes me wonder how SJM could write one off as "toxic," while thinking the other one is "healthy".

Az puts Elain up on a pedestal of perfection, but...so does Nesta with Cassian. Granted, Az's version is more disgusting as he can't stand his scarred hands ruining Elain's immaculate skin. Nesta can at least touch Cassian with no problem, but she still sees Cass as this perfect male and everything he does is perfect and good, while viewing herself as this abhorrent wicked monster. There's such an imbalance in their relationship because of it. We frequently see Cassian pissed at Nesta (oftentimes he's the most furious with her), but we never see her angry with him. She accepts his treatment of her because she views him as perfect and she doesn't think that she deserves to be treated any better. When Cassian lashes out and hurts Nesta's feelings, she wants to apologize to him. When Cassian hurts Nesta, he victimizes himself rather than owning up to his cruelty. Cassian punished Nesta when she displeased him, but we never see Nesta displeased with Cassian, and we know no one would ever let her punish him if she was. The only flaw that Cassian sees in himself is that he's a low-born bastard. When one half of a relationship thinks they're a fucked up mess and thinks the other half is sheer immaculate perfection, the relationship is doomed to be perpetually toxic.

Az doesn't feel worthy of Elain, but neither does Nesta feel worthy of Cassian. She said that on the very last page of her book. At least Az is surrounded by people who constantly reinforce his own self-worth. Nesta is surrounded by people who are constantly reinforcing to her that she's not worthy of Cassian. The narrative is written around Nesta needing to sacrifice in order to be deemed worthy of love, of Cassian. Even Cassian only finds Nesta "worthy" of being in awe of when she sacrifices her powers to save Feysand's lives. I've never seen this concept of needing to "earn" love, or needing to sacrifice to feel worthy of someone, played out in anything but toxic relationships.

Az reduces everything to the mating bond, but so does Cass. Rather than Az listing out the reasons he wants to be with Elain or the things he likes about her, all he talks about is the mating bond. He spent 500 years waiting for the mating bond to click in with Mor, only to shift focus to Elain when his two brothers were mated to Elain's two sisters. But everything boils down to him wanting a mate. The same can also be said about Cass. He never thinks very highly of Nesta, never has anything nice to say about her, but yet he still continues to pursue her. His actions can all be reduced back to the mating bond because when Cassian actually has a chance to care about Nesta - to prioritize her and her feelings - he doesn't. Yes, he resisted the Crown's control to not harm her, but I'm convinced that that's because he physically couldn't harm his mate, not because he has deep feelings for Nesta. I think Nesta nailed it when she mentioned that Cassian was blinded by the mating bond. Not that Nesta doesn't deserve to be loved, but that Cassian loves the mating bond, not her. Cassian could have put Nesta's fears to rest by saying he loved her and listing the reasons he loved her, but he didn't. He's had plenty of chances to prove that he loves her beyond the mating bond, and yet he hasn't.

Az hasn't planned a future with Elain and only has sexual fantasies about her. The only real difference here is that Cassian does want a future with Nesta, but yet I can't understand why. He agrees with Mor that Nesta's a wicked monster who would thrive in the CoN, he never says he loves Nesta, never even thinks the word "love" in relation to her, he never lists out any attributes that he likes about Nesta except that she's fierce and loyal. But yet he loves to fuck her. He never spends any time talking about why he wants to be with Nesta, but he spends so much time and energy talking about her breasts, her cunt, her ass, and how her hands/mouth/cunt would feel around his cock. All he ever talks about is Nesta in the physical sense, but there's never any emotional intimacy between them. He even reduces the mating bond to only the physical by saying it made him want to fuck her for a week straight. Nessian may have promised each other forever, but their relationship is purely physical.

Az didn't stick up for Elain. I 100% agree that when Rhys said, "If you need to fuck someone, go to a pleasure hall and pay for it, but stay away from her," that Az should have done something more than snarl. He could have said, "Watch it," or "Don't talk about her like that," but he didn't. And let's not forget that it was Az who stood up for Feyre when Tamlin insulted her, and it was Az who stood up for Nesta when Amren insulted her. His lack of sticking up for Elain definitely shows that he doesn't have any deep feelings for her, but yet Cassian never sticks up for Nesta. The IC constantly insult Nesta and Cassian says nothing. Rhysand routinely threatens to kill Nesta and Cassian doesn't even snarl, let alone shut that shit down. So, if Az not sticking up for Elain means that he doesn't have strong feelings for her than how does Cassian not sticking up for Nesta mean that he's madly in love with her? If Cassian can't stick up for Nesta, can't protect her from Rhysand, and can't even say he loves Nesta then my bet is that he doesn't have strong feelings for her and that he's blinded by the mating bond. He's in love with the concept of having a mate, but he's not in love with his mate.

I don't foresee Elriel being endgame, but I'm also not convinced that Nessian is endgame. I don't see how one can be written as toxic, but the other is deemed healthy. Nessian may be mates, but that's not an excuse for Cassian's behavior.

[bestworstcase]

Thanks for your response ala Ruby & Yang, great stuff!

Idle aside, but do you have any thoughts on Yang's role as the sort of black sheep of the family by dint of Raven associations?

Cos like, Tai overtly favors Ruby, projects Raven onto Yang, resents Raven being rough up and is bad enough about reminders of her Yang feels she has to apologize for his negative reactions. Let alone his... Everything else.

Then there's Qrow who doesn't seem to interact with Yang over much at all and one of if not their most major interaction. Involves him straight up saying he thinks she's either a liar hurting people for fun or "crazy".

I recall someone I was chatting with wondering: Imagine doing everything you can to keep your family from breaking apart & being compared to the woman who left you when you were a baby?

Cos I do wonder how Yang feels about all that given she seems to downplay and or try to work around her family's issues when she can. Let alone what it says about the adults in the room.

smth i think about a lot is the way yang’s narrative about her childhood shifts between v2 to v5

’cause in v2 it’s: “it was tough. ruby was really torn up, my dad kind of shut down. it wasn’t long before i learned why…” all to provide context for this anecdote about putting ruby in a wagon and running away to find her mother. and then her conclusion is “my stubbornness should have gotten us killed that night.”

and while there is a degree here of yang framing the story to emphasize the point she wants blake to understand, it’s also very obvious in her delivery that the emotional reality of this memory for yang is “the time my stupidity and stubbornness almost got me and ruby eaten by grimm”—when she was [checks notes] like five, six years old, and regularly left at home unsupervised.

but in v5, it’s: “my mom left me. ruby’s mom left too. tai was always busy with school, and ruby couldn’t even talk yet; i had to pick up the pieces. i had to pick up the pieces. alone.”

aside from the telling slip (tai, not dad)—yang centers her own feelings and the harm this situation did to her this time. which is something she’s always felt but i don’t think she could have brought herself to say it out loud to anyone during the beacon arc, because it was pressed down under the guilt on display in burning the candle, the feeling of having been inadequate and too stubborn and too selfish and and and–

coughs quietly. “my stubbornness should have gotten us killed that night.” / “you were predictable. and… stubborn. and maybe a little boneheaded.” yang’s narrative about the wagon incident—which happened when she was five or six!—pinning the blame on the thing tai imagines to be her fatal flaw is…probably not coincidental. yang in v4 after a year of being loved by her team and supported by mentors like glynda / oobleck / port has the perspective to know that tai doesn’t know what he’s talking about; but as a small child who’d just had a terrifying near-death experience with her baby sister… 😶

it definitely had a big impact on the way yang sees herself

BUT i do read qrow's talk with yang in 3.8 pretty differently ->

because the context is: yang saw mercury attack her and struck back in self defense, then had like a dozen synthetic soldiers point guns in her face, then looked up and saw the replay footage of herself walking over to shoot a boy who was just kneeling on the ground. and some of the most powerful authority figures in the world are pushing this narrative that stress and adrenaline "clouded her judgment."

like this would make anyone doubt their sanity. bc holy shit.

yang, though...a couple weeks ago, yang after being knocked unconscious woke up and blearily saw someone she thought was her mother walk away from her and disappear in a flash of red light. she hasn't mentioned it to anyone, because it's just so bizarre—yang doesn't know about raven's semblance yet—she must have just been seeing things. right?

aside from raven (who isn't here) and yang (who believes she hallucinated), the only other person who knows that yang saw her mom on the train is qrow, because raven told him about it. he also knows that:

tai insisted on not telling yang ANYTHING about her mother, and qrow respected that up until now; so yang doesn't know about raven's semblance and can't make sense of what she saw.

salem's infiltrators are the same people who attacked amber, and qrow didn't get a good look at them because they seemingly vanished into thin air—pretty damn good chance that one of them has a semblance that manipulates what you see.

ozpin wants #2 kept secret, so yang has some very powerful people actively trying to convince her that she's crazy. ironwood is straight up gaslighting her.

qrow also—based on the first thing he says, which is "why'd you do it?"—seems to consider it a possibility that it is what it looked like but yang did have a good reason, and i actually do not think that is an outrageous thing for qrow specifically to think. because qrow was emotionally abused as a child, and he knows yang, and in the event that yang really did suddenly turn around and punch a guy who was kneeling on the ground, why would she do it?

glances at shay d. mann. well. maybe this kid has been harassing her? maybe he said something horrible or threatening to her and in the heat of the moment she just snapped? maybe "he attacked me, i saw him attack me" isn't really a lie per se, she's just scared that "he's been picking on me ever since he got here and he made a disgusting remark and i just couldn't take it anymore" won't be taken seriously? as in, he did attack her—verbally/emotionally.

it's probably worth asking, at least!

so, qrow leads with "why'd you do it?" in case there is some invisible reason justifying the apparent action. yang says "you know why." qrow goes okay, well, i only know what i saw, so you're either lying (i.e., yang had a reason she now isn't telling) or crazy (i.e., yang saw something different from reality that was very real to her).

she says "i'm not lying." qrow believes her: "crazy, got it."

at this point, he knows the most probable explanation is that one of salem's infiltrators fucked with her head. the inner circle's gaslighting doesn't sit right with him; he's not going to buck ozpin by telling her the truth outright, but he wants to make sure yang knows she isn't losing her mind. he also has all the info needed to guess that yang is actually really really scared that she might be crazy.

which is why he kicks off the wall and begins to pace around. the language he uses sounds dismissive, but his tone is mild and his body language implies "let's talk about it, let's figure this out."

leading to:

YANG: Who knows? Maybe I am. QROW: And here I thought your dark-haired friend was the emo one. YANG: I saw my mom. …I- I was in a lot of trouble, took a pretty hard hit. But when I came to, the person attacking me was gone, and I thought I saw… her. Her sword. Like the one in you and dad’s old picture. QROW: You’re not crazy, Yang. That was your mom, alright. Let me guess—she didn’t say a word, did she? YANG: How did you know that? QROW: I don't see my sister very often, but she does try to keep in touch... whenever it suits her. YANG: Wait—you mean you talk to her? That was real!? QROW: Yeah, she found me. Had a tip from my most recent assignment and wanted me to give you a message.

it's really telling that yang responds to him this way. 'cause we've seen how yang acts when she feels dismissed or belittled:

TAI: Well, "normal" is what you make of it. YANG: What is that supposed to mean? Do you want me to just pretend like nothing happened? I lost a part of me. A piece of me is gone. And it's never coming back. TAI: You're right. It's not coming back. But that doesn't have to stop you from becoming who you wanna be. You're Yang Xiao Long, my sunny little dragon. You can do whatever you put your mind to. So whenever you're ready to stop moping, and get back out there? I'll be there for you. YANG: I– I...

she freezes and shuts down! her teachers have to come to her rescue!—but when qrow goes "crazy, got it" and suggests she's being "emo," yang blurts out her big secret. i saw my mom. to me that suggests a level of trust and understanding that isn't there with tai: qrow says stuff like "okay, so you're crazy" and "here i thought your friend was the emo one" but what he means is "hey, i know something's really bugging you, tell me about it," and yang picks up what he's putting down.

it's akin to how ruby goes "did you miss me? DID YOU MISS ME??" and qrow's like "nope" and they both laugh. or the back-and-forth ribbing between him and the girls in 3.4. there's this layer of mild ironic meanness in the way qrow converses with his nieces that all of them are fluent in, and in this scene he's using that mode to signal that "crazy" is not off-limits, that it's okay to talk about openly.

crucially, there's a code-switch in the middle of the conversation: as soon as yang gets real and says "i saw my mom," qrow reflects that seriousness back to her. you're not crazy, that was your mom, she found me afterward and told me about it. it was real. you're okay. qrow's ability to do that—to shift into a more serious mode when irony isn't appropriate—is why yang can have this rapport with him that she doesn't have with tai, because tai isn't... being ironic when he says mean or dismissive things to her.

anyway, qrow passes on raven's terrible message and then kind of annotates it: "raven's got an interesting way of looking at the world that i don't particularly agree with, and she's dangerous." (which is a very diplomatic way of saying he thinks raven is full of shit. lol.) but then he connects this whole conversation about raven back to what happened after the match: "you're a tough egg, kiddo. don't let this tournament thing getcha down. you had a slip-up; sometimes bad things just happen."

implicitly: yang isn't crazy. what she saw on the train was real, a product of raven's personality and her semblance. sometimes bad things just happen. qrow believes that yang had the experience she says she did when she punched mercury. he doesn't know why she had that experience—yang doesn't either!—but he knows she isn't just "crazy." sometimes things that seem crazy are actually real.

remember what he tells the girls in 3.4? "you may be acting like huntresses, but you're not thinking like one." same thing here. he's telling yang, hey, you're not crazy, you know what you saw, but you don't know what or who caused you to see it. "you cut off the head of the king taijitu, but now the second head's calling the shots."

hint, hint.

it's subtler than the hints qrow drops for ruby in 3.12, but very much in the same vein, and yang is plenty smart enough to figure it out. she might... not have? in the couple of hours between this conversation and everything going to straight to hell, but if they'd had literally just one more day, just long enough for the wheels turning in yang's head to click together with what ruby heard from velvet about coco hallucinating during her and yatsu's 2v2 against emerald and mercury, she would've had it.

more... generally, i've never gotten the sense that qrow projects raven's flaws onto yang in the way that tai does; qrow is definitely a lot closer with ruby than yang, but i think that has less to do with favoritism on qrow's part than it does ruby thinking he's like the COOLEST uncle ever and wanting to use a scythe like he does.

'cause like, qrow isn't their parent, he doesn't live with them, he's not responsible for raising these kids like their dad is, so while he obviously did contribute to fucking them both up because: alcoholic, ultimately there just isn't the same degree of betrayal or emotional abandonment; he's not their dad. both times yang talks in detail about her childhood, it's "my mom left, ruby's mom left, tai wasn't really around, ruby couldn't even talk, i was alone"—she doesn't mention qrow. there isn't that deep hurt, that feeling that qrow is someone who left.

when he isn't drunk, yang seems to feel pretty okay around him, and qrow likewise treats her... honestly a lot better than tai does:

he stops by their dorm in v3 to hang out with both his nieces; yang is fully in sister mode—cheers for ruby to beat him until ruby loses, immediately shoves her out of the way like "my turn!! >:D"—and qrow ribs them both, takes ribbing from both of them in good humor, tells both of them "you two are gonna go far."

qrow nicknames to show affection; ruby is "pipsqueak," yang gets "firecracker."

we only see qrow's goodbye to ruby, but in 5.4 yang indicates that qrow came to talk to her before he left, too. she also has complete trust that he's keeping the promise he made to look after ruby.

yang, as noted, opens up to him about seeing her mom; she's also shocked that he's still in contact with raven and indignant that he didn't tell her sooner, but—unlike with tai—she doesn't seem surprised that qrow is willing to talk about raven in general.

which tracks with what tai says in 4.11: "despite asking him numerous times not to, i know qrow told you where you're mother's been at these days"—meaning, this was a point of contention between him and qrow. behind the scenes, while tai refused to discuss raven at all, qrow was going okay well, let me tell her then, she deserves to know. and then ultimately he just bit the bullet and told her behind tai's back. i wouldn't be surprised if it turned out qrow had been straight with yang that her dad wanted to be the one to tell her the important stuff, and he wanted to be respectful of that, but raven wasn't an off-limits topic.

general contrast between yang-tai and yang-qrow dynamics; for example both of them say almost verbatim "you've got a long way to go before you're ready for the real world" (3.4/4.4). from tai it's belittling, he's insulting her; from qrow, it's meant to encourage, it's "remember you're still new to this, you'll make mistakes, just keep learning, keep trying." (rwby does stuff like this all the time, refracting an idea in different directions to highlight contrasts between characters; ozpin's advice to ruby vs port's advice to weiss is another example.)

a lot of qrow's resentment toward raven is centered on her abandonment of yang: "did you know yang lost her arm? [...] rhetorical question, i know you know. it's just obnoxious that you'd bring up family and then carry on like your own daughter doesn't exist. [raven: "i saved her."] once. because that was your rule, right? real mom of the year material, sis." like he is PISSED on yang's behalf that raven won't even try.

my impression is that qrow—although a) often away on long missions in far away places and b) an alcoholic who sometimes got blind drunk and became a burden yang and ruby needed to take care of—when he did manage to be there, made a serious effort to connect with both of them. he ended up being closer to ruby bc she wanted to learn scythe-wielding, but i do think qrow would've trained yang too (or instead) if the girls had different combat interests.

and while his relationship with ruby has a mentorish aspect, i don't get the sense either of the girls see him as a parental figure: he wasn't part of their household, he traveled a lot, his alcoholism in combination with tai's neglect eroded the adult-child boundaries because they had to be responsible for him as often as the reverse. he's a friend who also happens to be related to them. and that's especially true for yang, because he wasn't her teacher.

(i know it's a... pretty common headcanon / fanon that qrow lived with them, but i really don't think that's supported by the text? whenever ruby or yang look back on their childhoods, the family unit is always them + tai, and qrow isolates himself out of fear that his semblance will injure those he cares about. plus ozpin sending him all over the place as the one member of team strq still active. it makes way more sense to think he lived alone, and visited when he had the chance. which is the main reason i'm WAY softer on him than on tai, 'cause qrow wasn't in a caretaker/parent role; at most he was an occasional babysitter. so while his incidents of turning up drunk on the doorstep contributed to the harm... it's like, it would absolutely have been better for them if qrow were sober, but that wouldn't have changed anything about their home life. they'd just have somewhat easier relationships with qrow.)

TO WRAP THIS BACK AROUND TO THE QUESTION, tai is unfairly judgmental and harsh with yang bc he projects his idea of her mom onto her; yang also has a better relationship with her mom's brother than she does with her dad. how do these two dynamics interact? how does yang feel about hearing from tai that she's too branwen, so to speak, while also getting along better with the branwen side of her family? how might that fuel her desire to find raven?

if her uncle treats her better than tai does, then... maybe her mom would too, if only yang could reach her?—obviously it's not rational, but like. i don't think five year old yang put her baby sister in a wagon and ran away to find her mom because she thought she would ask "why did you leave me?" and then get her answer and go home. as yang grew older and developed a more realistic perspective it shifted to "i just need to know why she left" and she projects that backward onto herself as a child, but at the time what she wanted, what she was looking for, was someone who would take care of them.