#but I couldn't disagree more when people call it peak writing

[syruubi]

Man its been weeks and I’m still soured by the conclusion to Fontaine’s main story. I'll just rant here

There were a lot of things I didn’t like about it (Arlecchino's altruism being played straight, Traveler being out of character, the lore exposition ass-pull with the prophecy slates, the weird logic about how destroying a Gnosis could potentially wake up the Heavenly Principles but not fucking destroying an Archon Throne when Celestia forced everyone to fight a GODDAMN WAR TO ESTABLISH THEM-) but the biggest offense to me was how Furina was handled. This was marketed as the grand finale of the arc, the climax with Furina at the center of it all. And she got shafted. Big time. Furina had no agency in the plot whatsoever, nothing she did had any effect on how things turned out, and she didn’t even have the dignity of fully understanding why it all had to happen that way.

(Also I will preface this with yes Furina and Focalors are technically the same person with the same origin, but after the split Furina lost all her memories as Focalors. They are two separate consciousnesses with different experiences, and therefore I will treat their individual choices as their own)

I’ve seen people try to argue that no, she chose to take on this role knowing she would suffer, that she didn't HAVE to go along with it. And she was even working by herself to solve the prophecy without relying on Focalors, she wasn’t a puppet/pawn! But the thing is she was essentially in a hostage situation. If she didn’t do things exactly as dictated by Focalors people would DIE. Like there is a reason why criminal punishments are lighter when it’s found the perpetrator was coerced into it! And her researching how to avoid the prophecy changed nothing about the outcome, she could have sat around eating cake and the story would have word for word turned out exactly the same. All that information served to do was highlight her suffering and draw the audience’s sympathy. That's what I mean about her not having agency, it's not about her ability to act as an individual but how her actions had an effect on the overall plot. None of her choices outside of the role designated by Focalors did anything to change the situation for better or worse.

And to top it all off she didn’t even understand WHY this all had to happen. Why do people dissolve in the Primordial water? How does her pretending to be an Archon play into solving the issue? Why can’t she confide in anyone? What the hell is Focalors even doing? She doesn’t learn the answers to any of these until after everything was over, and not even from Focalors’ own mouth, it was relayed to her by Neuvillette.

Speaking of Neuvillette, I’m not gonna lie I’m sorta annoyed at his existence because it felt like Furina was shafted for him. Everything is very tilted in Neuvillette's favor. He gets his powers back, full control over Pneuma/Ousia, final say in trials, the ability to hand out Visions, and just straight up the ability to manipulate life itself. And okay all these things were his to begin with lore-wise, whatever, but he also becomes the "lore important" character after this at Furina's expense. Furina doesn't have her memories as Focalors, she can't tell us anything about how the world works, about Celestia, about what happened 500 years ago. Even though other Archons didn't give us much either for one reason or another, they at least HAVE that knowledge, and are therefore guaranteed to have involvement in future events with the Abyss and Celestia. Furina at the moment, doesn't. Neuvillette has it now. And all that talk about Focalors judging Celestia? Also Neuvillette's job now. And it feels like it was all stolen from Furina from a story-telling perspective because again, she didn't know of the plan to return his powers. She didn't even get to explicitly agree with her other self that he should have them back. The writers really seemed to go out of their way to place him on a pedestal at Furina's expense, which irks the hell out of me.

There are some opportunity for future interludes to turn the current state around, and they probably will since Furina is still being marketed as an Archon, but as it stands I want Fontaine to be over so we can move on to the next disappointment.

[nounpolycule]

This thing for me is fine hate Rose people are entitled to their own opinion, but Dan is the hill to die on?? Dan is peak character writing and representation?? Dan??

Also, the "try liking a character that gets actual sexism and racism on the daily" is getting to me. What does that even mean?? This is talking about working class characters? The way they said it implies that Dan goes through racism and sexism everyday? Dan??

Yeah, honestly I couldn't give two shits about people hating Rose? People have been talking about how Rose is boring and a bitch and too stupid and so on for longer than I've known the show existed (a bit over a decade at this point), and they'll be saying the same shit until the end of the fandom's existence. I take issue, however, with acting like everyone who disagrees with you about a dumb (affectionate) little sci-fi show is stupid, especially when you're actively insulting them.

And yeah, there's like a lot to be said on the concept of "representation" in general. Other people have articulated this better than I ever will. If you focus too hard on a character being "representation", somewhere along the way, you lose the "character" part. Not every character that fits the same demographic(s) as you is going to feel like they match your experiences 100%, and they shouldn't! If no one person's experiences are universal, how can we expect a character to portray universal experiences without losing that piece that makes them feel more like a character than a plot device being used for diversity points? It's good to have diverse characters! I'm not joking when I say Jack Harkness was a stepping stone in realizing I'm a lesbian - would it have taken me less time to realize if I'd had Bill to look up to when I was 13? Would I have felt comfortable with myself at a younger age if I'd seen a lesbian character on my favorite show? I can only hope that that's what happened for people younger than me! But, at least to me, you lose something when you focus on "good representation" over diverse good characters.

The thing about looking at Rose through the lens of representation is that... that's not what she was designed to be? Her experiences inform her character, but her story isn't about that background. Sure, call her bad representation. She was never intended to be representation. It's not a fucking gotcha. She's a character first.

And with Dan... I can't see him as serious commentary. His house gets shrunk as a joke. His house stays shrunk as a joke. We do not see the ramifications of him losing his house, I don't really see that as commentary on poverty or homelessness when we don't actually see what happens to him afterwards. I won't tell anyone they can't see themselves in his character or situation, but to say that everyone should universally agree that he's more relatable is literally bringing us back to square one of "this character resonates more with me and therefore they are better universal representation and if you disagree you're just a basic bitch that needs to grow up." It's not productive. Besides, isn't the point of representation supposed to be that the more a particular marginalized experience is portrayed, the more likely it is that someone will find something that resonates with them?

And as for talking about Rose being a disservice to Dan... I haven't seen anyone comparing Dan and Rose aside from OP. I won't say it doesn't exist, clearly we do not run in the same circles, but it's not something I see at all. Though if we want to get down to it - yeah, I see my experiences (admittedly as an American) more in Rose than Dan. And that's okay. I'm a young adult who has barely left home whose experiences of being poor are colored by that - of course I'm going to see myself in the 19 year old still living with her mom than the 50-something year old who is living on his own. But that doesn't mean I can't respect people who feel differently.

As for "try liking a character that gets actual sexism and racism on the daily", I can only assume that they were talking about Yaz. But of course, as you said, the placement makes it sound like it's about Dan. It's a really weird place to start talking about Yaz, especially since they didn't actually mention her by name and she wasn't being discussed prior. And they did block my friend for pointing out that actually experiencing racism and such is worse than being a fan of a character that is treated that way by fans so... take that as you will.

Also no part of main tagging these posts (including one that begins "rose tyler is so fucking boring"), calling Rose fans "basic bitches" (again - whether or not you think calling Rose a bitch is misogynistic - calling real people, at least some of whom are women, bitches because they disagree with you is, in fact, misogynistic), and saying "#rose stans are so easy to wind up #just say you don't like her or she's bad rep #and they start crying and shitting themselves #it's so funny" reads as attempting to have a discussion about these characters in good faith. It's just so clearly deliberately trying to start shit. Like grow up, it's 2023, get a hobby less reminiscent of a middle school bully.

Also like. You didn't mention it at all but I will talk about Rose's ending (especially looking at Doomsday specifically) being 1. a punishment rather than a reward, and 2. really horrifying to me, actually (from a power imbalance perspective, not just a Rose fan perspective) until I'm blue in the face. And also I do find it funny that someone said that "Rose Tyler and Charlie Bucket are a fantasy, that if you work, behave and are good at heart, you will get the ultimate treasure in capitalist society, capital." Like first of all I know it was someone on the pro-Rose side that brought it up, but I don't think the Charlie comparison is worthwhile at all. Second of all, I love her but what part of Rose's story is her working and behaving and that's how she ends up rich? Babe didn't work for money (though she did work to be undercover for what, a week?) onscreen a single day after the Doctor blew up her job. Since when is Rose "jeopardy friendly" Tyler known for behaving? And if half of your point is that she's a bitch... well that kills "good at heart" a bit, doesn't it?

[smiles4voltron]

A HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO maddemonheart!!

maddemonheart (Thank you for being my friends and being so amazing! I hope you like this! :D)

This is the tale of Harri and Lunra’che’s first encounter. 

Lunra’che belongs to maddemonheart

Harri and Ruru belong to me

“Ruru?” Harri inquires

Taking a sip of her drink, she swirled in within her palm, “Yes?”

“Who…. Who is that?”

Turning her head, Ruru peaked over the young prince’s shoulder to where he was motioning. He seemed caught in a daze at a black and red haired Coeihn across the road. He was looking through a shop window, examining a few of the sold items within. Dressed in ripped clothes, silver markings lined his body.

Ruru recognized him instantly, frowning, “Oh… That’s Lunra’che,” she says.

“You know him?”

“Kind of? We went to school together for several years. I wouldn’t say we’re friends though. He’s kind of… rude,” she shrugs uncaringly. “We don’t really have a problem with each other at least.”

“He’s rude?”

“He’s got an attitude~” she wiggled her eyebrows.

“What does that mean?”

She sighs, “Harri, I told you, I just know him from school. He is really anti-social. He doesn’t like people or anything really. He’s a prankster- that is all I know. He used to pull a whole lot of stuff back in school that got him into a lot of trouble. He just- I dunno. I would say he isn’t a bad guy, but I don’t actually know if he is or not. He’s never really shown me otherwise so you would have to talk to him yourself to figure out what kind of person he is.”

“Oh.” Harri nods.

Taking a sip of her drink, she found the two of them fell into silence. Frowning, she glanced back at the young prince. He was still staring at the grumpy Lunra’che, mesmerized.

 “...Harri,” she grumbles.

“Huh?”

“You think he’s cute.”

Harri steps back, startled, “Wha- well I mean- look at him!” he motions to him. “He’s so- beautiful!”

“I’m not disagreeing- everyone thinks he’s beautiful. Black hair, silver marks- the red eyes are kind of weird,” she shrugs. “Like blood-”

“Like roses.” Harri smiles.

Ruru purses his lips, “...You and me both thought of very different things from the color of his eyes,” she concludes.

Harri chuckles, “Lunra’che,” he notes. “That is a nice name,”

“Yeah yeah- let’s not make a thing out of this,” Ruru rolls her eyes. “Come on short stuff,”

“Don’t call me short,” Harri huffs.

Ruru lifts her hand to show their height difference. “Short.”

“I’m still growing!” the prince insists!

“That or you got your height from your Papa,”

Harri considers that “Papa was small for a Coeihn.” he sighs, “I hope I at least get a little taller.” Making their way across the street, he may or may not have purposively pushed through the area of the crowd that would lead them straight to Lunra’che.’

“Harri, no,” Ruru groans, “He really isn't a friendly fella,”

“I’m just going to pass by him. I wanna see his eyes more,” Harri grins. “It’s all in the name of science,”

“Science,” she scoffed. Harri has always been like this, honestly, so she shouldn’t be surprised. Eyes just fascinated him with the different colors they could have. Of course, most Coeihns tended to have white or light gray eyes, there had been an increase in the different colors within children lately.

Usually considered birth defects, the difference in eye color often made you thought of as weaker than most. That was proven to be false on some occasions, but the overall sense seemed to be confirmed.

Regardless of this, Harri loved eyes. So, of course, he would be interested in the emo kid with red pupils. 

Deciding she might as well push for a conversation to let Harri have his fill, she lifted her hand, “Hey Lunra’che. Long time no see,”

He frowns, turning to her with a budding scowl. Taking a moment to examine her slowly says, “Ruru?”

“In the flesh. It’s been a while. How is your new school?”

He grumbles, “Hell.”

“Fun,”

The awkward silence falls between them. Positive Harri should have been satisfied by now, she nudges him forward.

Just as they were about to go on their merry way, Harri opened his big mouth, “Your eyes are beautiful,”

Sweet Parlog this prince was going to be the death of her, Ruru decided

Blinking once, then twice, Lunra’che raises an eyebrow, “Excuse me?” he questions the prince sourly.

“Your eyes,” Harri steps forward, smiling, “I like their color. Like the sky during the setting sun...”

Lunra’che’s eyes widened, stepping back when Harri entered his personal bubble. Momentarily caught off guard, a sight Ruru never saw, he struggles to combat it for a few seconds. Growing in his anger he points at Harri, “Who the hell are you?”

“Harri,” he holds out his hand. Lunra’che doesn’t offer his hand back, his eyebrows furrowed. “I apologize for disturbing you,” he tells him honestly, his princely nature breaking to the surface. Ruru had always thought he was too much of a gentleman for his own good. “I’ve just never seen red eyes before now- I couldn't’ resist wanting to get a closer look,”

Lunra’che makes a funny face, as if he thought Harri was insane- or some strange pervert, “What are you- some weirdo?”

“Hey,” Ruru points at him warningly, “Don’t be mean to him.”

“Or what?”

“I think you know very well what will happen,” Ruru cracks her knuckles. “So don’t be an ass-”

“Ruru,” Harri scolds her, “It’s fine. I’m the one who disturbed him.”

“Harri…” Ruru frowns but lets it go. 

Glancing back at him, Lunra’che tilts his head, “Harri…” he repeats the name, “As in- the Prince?”

“That would be me.”

Lunra’che opens and closes his mouth. Not sure how to comment, he simply shrugs, “Okay then…” It wasn’t like just anyone could meet the prince, so he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to feel honored or something.

...Yup no, not feeling any different.

Bowing his head once again, Harri tells him, “My Papa once told me something about the color red.”

“Fascinating,” Lunra’che rolls his eyes sarcastically, ready for this conversation to be over 5 minutes ago. Prince or not, he has stuff to do. 

Harri continued regardless, his eyes shining, “He told me that red is the color of life. It is our blood, our passion, our shame- red is everywhere. It is in both our fear and our love.” With a strange look, looking nostalgic at the thought of his deceased papa, he says, “You’ve got yourself some very special eyes there, Lunra’che,”

The other two Coeihns stared at their prince quietly, neither knowing if they should speak or just leave the conversation at that oddly poetic verse.

“That is just what he said though- take it as you will,” Harri adjusted his hood and glanced at the clock tower, “It’s getting late. We have to hurry and met up with Alba,” he tells Ruru. “Goodbye Lunra’che-”

“It’s Ash.”

“Huh?” Harry pauses. 

“I like to go by Ash,” he glances away

“Ash,” Harri repeats, “Nice to meet you.” Turning, he calls for Ruru to follow.

“Oh uh-” She snaps out of her daze and nods, “Yeah,” Stepping around Lunra’che, she gives him one last look before heading down the street. If she looked back, she would see him still standing there, staring at his feet.  

(Ughhhh. This feels horrible. I’m sorry if I messed this up maddemonheart! ;-; I’ve only gotten to see the picture and basic description of Lunra’che- So I hope he isn’t too out of character or whatever. But I had a lot of fun writing this and I really hope you had a wonderful birthday!!)