#dino doesn't think you sin

[sinvilles]

more thoughts: Clay and his alcoholism

to reiterate my first point from the last post:

I'm not concerned with whether any character in the series was "redeemed" or not. the show was cut in half, and so was every character arc. hence we end up with a show that got cancelled when all the main characters were at their lowest point of development in the narrative, and all the surrounding characters getting half developed to a point of mild satisfaction.

I don't think Clay is misunderstood in this fandom so much as misinterpreted. namely the overt focus on his abusive incidents and qualities drowns out any analysis about how and why they emerged in the first place. and the insistence on reading him through this over the top evil villain tunnel vision- Clay is an antagonist, in that his actions are in opposition to Orel's, but he's not a villain. I actually don't think there are designated villains in Moral Orel, just a lot of damaged, self destructive people who rationalize, deny and repress the harm they cause. humans, as Dino called them.

put succinctly, I think we often forget that Clay has a disease, that it is life-threatening, and no one around him is educated enough to see the warning signs- because drinking culture is so ingrained in their social circle that there's nothing to do but repress whatever harm it causes.

earlier on in the show, his drinking is less pronounced. This is not to say he didn't have a problem, because its clear from Help that his binging started early in their marriage. I do think there is a gradual descent beginning with him drinking the boozy milk in church, slowly until Bloberta calls him a "self-destructive alcoholic", and then a rapid plummet after he walks out on Christmas eve. This feels in line with a relapse.

I went back and forth on whether Clay had actually never touched a drop of booze before he met Bloberta- he lied about his father being dead, he must have been shitting her about "isnt drinking a sin?" because even he knows that his mother used to drink- and also the way he keeps on looks like someone who tried to stop before and that this is his relapse. but then he goes on about his "new found superpowers" and thanking Bloberta for helping him come out of his shell so it definitely seems like alcohol is providing him with a burst of sociability and extraversion that he otherwise didn't think he had in him before.

Clay genuinely believed that drinking was making him a better person. This is reinforced by what others say to him: by Bloberta saying "it makes us better people", or Danielle telling him, "you're better when you drink." The word "better" is used directly in his rant- he mimes the alcohol telling him: "I'll make things better, dear! drink me, put me inside you!" in the following dialogue, its very clear that he associates drinking with his relationship with Bloberta, and women in general. And also that the sex he has had with Bloberta might be less than consensual and not pleasurable for him. More on this later.

That's the rub of alcohol. You drink a little to feel good, and you do it until that amount doesn't do it for you anymore, and the tolerance builds up until you need to drink enough to black out, and being black out drunk is where your inhibitions completely disappear. Black out drunk means you might whip out your dick and piss on someone's computer- knew a guy who did it- does this mean you hate that person, or computers? no, just that your senses were no longer functioning to keep you from carrying out every insane impulse you have.

alcohol addiction isn't a moral failing, its a disease. Clay's true moral failing was that he wasn't responsible or mature enough to be left alone with his son in the wilderness. He wasn't a horrifyingly inept father in the past episodes, mostly just spanking Orel before asking him why he (impregnated women in their sleep/sold his piss for profit/did crack/stole his booze/etc). Then he imparts an entirely deranged moral because he feels like he needs to explain to Orel some justification for his punishment, which he might be doing to bond with him the way he used to bond with his mother.

Clay was not properly fathered (or mothered, for that matter), and is not equipped to be a good father. His version of fathering Orel is an attempt to undo the neglect of his boyhood- he is physically present in his life, "a boy needs his father" so he says, he converses with him- while he did spank him, he's never slapped him or battered him, which is interesting to note because Arthur only ever hit Clay in the face. The actual, major fuck up in his life happened when he was black out drunk.

Its notable that after the incident we get an episode of him reflecting on the death of his mother, and how he never got to go on that coveted hunting trip with his dad. the road to hell truly is paved with good intentions.

but he gets worse. He starts ditching work to drink. he ditches church to drink. he's calling up his situationship midday to drink. he has ditched the shot glass and is drinking his brown booze straight from the bottle now. this is ruining his friendships, his professional connections, even the barmaid hates him now. Because he can't reconcile his self-image with what he did to his child, his only narcissistic impulse is to deny it happened, lie about it, to himself, to the doctor, to everyone around him. Then when he can't deny it happened, he hides from his son out of shame, and avoids talking to him for 6 months, only speaking to him again when it becomes clear that his son has publicly sided against him. Right after that he emotionally regresses and becomes susceptible to the manipulations of a seemingly older woman. Clay is in the middle of a mental breakdown.

then the show gets cancelled.

of course they killed it. why would adult swim want to air a show where a character suffers from a realistic depiction of alcoholic dependency? one where a guy pisses his bed because he's too drunk to get up at night, one where a guy almost kills his child (not played for laughs)? the audience doesn't want to be told that they need to kick their habit. they'd prefer a mad scientist who can just grow himself a new liver any time he needs to replace it. Or a cartoon crow who gets into hi-LAR-ious out-RAG-eous hijinks because of his drinking. do you see what I'm saying?

I mean, what if Clay stopped drinking?

("Yeah, what if?")

there's this thing called withdrawal, where if your body is at the point where it is dependent on alcohol for stability, alcohol every day every hour, all year long- like Clay is- going cold turkey can actually end your life.

a caricatured depiction of withdrawal can be seen happening to Orel in the episode "Grounded"- he isn't just "going crazy", Church is an addiction that he needs to feed to feel normal. It's a very silly take on it, but the insatiable cravings, sweats, nausea, shakes, clamminess and the feelings of unmanageable suicidality are the same.

Other effects of alcoholic withdrawal include (not in order) seizures, hallucinations, acute anxiety, mood swings, tachycardia, and in worst cases delirium tremens. with the way Clay drinks he would definitely end up with pretty bad DTs.

And it goes on for at least 6 months.

when this happens, a person needs to be hospitalized. and knowing the medical staff at Martin Luther Hospital, I can understand why he would want to avoid it. I don't think he has the willpower to wait past shaky hands before he reaches for his next drink.

another part of overcoming an addiction to alcohol is community support- support from family, friends, spouses. this was described by Kabi Nagata in one of her memoirs as a kind of "foothold in the world" to keep the patient stable and focused. but as of the start of season 2, Bloberta doesn't care. Clay perceives Bloberta as not being on his side- if your own wife isn't on your side, what hope do you have needing her when you're vulnerable? fuck, even Clay isn't on his own side.

On Bloberta- I get the feeling she might have supported him to stop drinking earlier in their marriage. Or at least to get his drinking under control (as in, not publicly visible). Maybe before Shapey was born? but when he started again, she was through being "on his side" so to speak.

(and I do think his drinking has some correlation to his sex life. according to Bloberta, "when does he ever remember?" and based on what little Orel said in that one promo, Clay is never sober enough to be on top, like he so insists upon being the "right" way. in his rant Clay graphically describes PIV sex with open revulsion. call me crazy, but I kind of get the feeling he's gay.)

but the real reason I think he was triggered to drinking to excess, is Danielle.

its pretty clear from the get-go of season 2 is that Clay was carrying on an affair with him, at least an emotional one if not a physical one. and I can imagine that his attraction to Danielle unsettles him, to the point that he needs to reinforce his concept of masculinity with the markers of it; hiding in his little man cave and collecting hunting equipment- and drinking hard liquor to excess. Everything he accuses Orel of during the hunting trip- being sensitive, soft, a sissy- is just something he projects because he's insecure about it in himself. and the root of it is his fear of loving Danielle.

despite the humiliation he subjected himself to in Honor- him admitting that he loved Danielle was a brief moment of growth. albeit closeted, fearful, it was a revelation of what was really in him. closest comparable moment of honesty in the series was him admitting to Orel that his identity as a father is central to who he is, and without it he would be nothing. and then there's his academy award winning drunken rants.

where could his character have gone... I think leaving his family, aka Orel, aka forgoing his identity as a father, might be the best he could do. that and getting sober. but there's no getting sober without leaving his family, because he associates his wife with drinking. and there's no getting sober if you don't have a friend left in the world. it was sad to see him still with her in the final scene because they both really could've thrived in divorce.

[madewithangst]

SEVENTEEN as TTPD1 songs

Welcome to the TTPD x SVT series! — Below is the table of contents along with the list of members who I believe fit best with the TTPD songs. The way I chose the songs for them doesn't describe the members but focuses solely on who fits best in the story. I hope you enjoy this angst-filled world featuring 13 dorks!

I don't have a set order for which member comes first. Updates might be irregular due to the author's real-life commitments (sadly) lol. If you want to stay in the loop, please reblog this post and tag me!

scoups

fresh out the slammer - "i know who my first call will be to..."

jeonghan

fortnight - "And for a fortnight there, we were forever"

joshua

florida!!! - "I need to forget, so take me to Florida, I've got some regrets, I'll bury them in Florida"

junhui

but daddy i love him - "I know he's crazy, but he's the one I want"

hoshi

down bad - "I'll build you a fort on some planet, where they can all understand it, how dare you think it's romantic, leaving me safe and stranded"

wonwoo

my boy only breaks his favorite toy - "I'm queen of sand castles he destroys"

woozi

i can fix him (no, really, i can) - "But your good Lord didn't need to lift a finger, I can fix him, no, really, I can (No, really, I can), Woah, maybe I can't"

the8

so long, london - "And you say I abandoned the ship, but I was going down with it, my white knuckle dying grip holding tight to your quiet resentment"

mingyu

the smallest man who ever lived - "You hung me on your wall, stabbed me with your push pins, In public, showed me off, then sank in stoned oblivion, 'cause once your queen had come, you'd treat her likе an also-ran"

dk

loml - "Still alive, killing time at the cemetery, never quite buried"

seungkwan

i can do it with a broken heart - "you know you're good when you can even do it with a broken heart"

vernon

the torture poets department -"At dinner you take my ring off my middle finger and put it on the one people put wedding rings on"

dino - [x]

guilty as sin? - "They don't know how you've haunted me so stunningly, I choose you and me...religiously"

PSA: This is a work of pure fiction. Any names, events, times, or places mentioned are purely for entertainment and are entirely fictional (well, except for the names of the members).

© All copyrights for the title, lyrics, and concept of this work belong to Taylor Swift. The plot and dialogue of the story are entirely original and created by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or distribution of this work may result in legal action.

[thesupernaturalhouse]

Sooo, world building stuff!! Rewriting hells hiarchy, mostly for the hellborn cause I really don't see the difference between imps, hellhounds, and hellborn.....I don't get it, why is there a difference in ranks?? Idk, and I don't care, so I just merged them all

Cause I always thought imps were just the wrath rings hellborn while the hellhoudns were the gluttony hellborn. Again, I don't see a difference between the hellborn-

Anyways, small list of the rings respective hellborns in my au

Pride: cannibal colony

Wrath: imps

Lust: succubus/incubus

Gluttony: hellhounds

sloth: goat-candle

Greed: skeleton jesters & reptiles(snakes, sharks, dinos, etc)

Envy: deep sea fish

Are the cannibal colony hellborn? Apparently not, unless Rosie is the only hellborn out of the entire colony

But it makes a lot more sense if they were hellborn so :/ my canon my rules!!

Moving on, I guess technically merging them does change some stuff, I mean, not really, but like- the 'pounds' are just normal orphanages, some are shitty, some are good, it depends what ring their in; pride has the worst, gluttony has the best

Pride has the worst due to the sinners being around and, of course, distruction happens. Gluttony has the best because that's where the hellhounds originate, so they got more say over what happens; sloth is all about Healthcare so their for #2, Lust is #3 since consent/safety and all that, wrath is all about family so #4, Envy is #5, and Greed is #6. With pride be 7 ofc

Greed surprisingly has okay pounds, mainly because Mammon- despite being a shit employer, loves his niece, not that he'll ever admit it, and Charlie uses that to get him to do stuff; he claims he's just 'bribing her in advance'....he is not, but again, he won't admit it

Thats...literally the only diffrence and it barely makes a diffrence

Anyways, what I feel like people ignore with they critique the hierarchy that sinners are constricted to the pride ring, so they are only above the hellborn in said pride ring and even then it's only in terms of power

Which is part of the reason I hate it when people complain about sinners being above hellborn cause like...they are only confined to the pride ring, they are only above the hellborn in the pride ring and that's due to them getting powers/form based on their sins

It goes Lucfer; Lilith, Eve, Roo, Charlie; the 7 sins; Goetia (who don't have a native ring btw); hellborn

Add roo and eve cause i think their supposed to show up eventually, and I think they'd be on par with Lilith, tho Roo might be above them since she's the literal root of all evil, amd Charlie is probably above all 3 of them since she is part angle.....doesn't matter to much, ignore my ranting

Anyway, I got a little diagram in the works right now, so hopefully, you guys will see that soon, it just for fun and world building, I'll honestly probably have a chapter in the fic for an info dump about said world building as a B plot probably

[yanderelovlies]

Dino here! Not on my account because too lazy to log in. XD But for a request... How about the boys' reaction to y/n wearing a halloween costume that hits all of those types of taste. And I don't mean just general like wise, but also hits all the right kinks wise. >3c

Aaaahh Dino! I missed you 💕💕 and of course I can do that! It is spooky season after all. Though when you says boys I'm assuming Jack, Shaun, Ian, and nick?? (I hope so...)

Sunny Day Jack

🔪THIS FIC IS 18 + AGELESS AND BLANK BLOGS WILL BE BLOCKED 🔪

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I see Jack as a switch personally. His purpose to please his sunshine. He NEEDS them to need him. So he is willing to play whatever role you need him to.

If Jack is Dom in the relationship as stated in my Halloween special I really think he would get a kick out a sexy revealing ringmaster costume.

Somewhere deep down (*cough* Joseph *cough*) he likes to the idea of taming you. Of REALLY making you his. So when you dress up and act like your in charge he is more then ready to pounce.

Without even knowing it he is also really into over stimulation. See you writh, moan, and squirm cause of him does something to him. Needless to say you be the one in the Ring master costume, but Jack is the true master.

That being said if he is Sub he is like puddy in your hands. Especially if you put on sexy law enforcement costume. Something about a flashing badge makes him more submissive (and breedable)

Wanna experiment put vibrating bullets on his dick as you pound into him? Do it Wanna pull his hair causing his head to go back with ever thrust? Please do it feels amazing. Wanna use hand cuff and cuff his hands together or to the bed? Get ready for a sweaty, moaning mess on your hands.

Look he may throw around the prises, but this man has a prose kink of his own. So please call him your pretty boy as you pound him. He NEEDS to hear you say it.

Jack likes being a sub more then cares to admit. It's nice to let someone take over for a little while, and take care of him. He might to do it more often. (Vut not all the time because there is still that nagging feeling in the back of his mind that if he isn't in charge things won't go like he needs them to.)

Shaun

Daddy? Sorry. Daddy? Sorry.....ANYWAY Look it's no lie Shaun is Dom it feels more natural to him then being a sub. (But if you bat your eyes nicely me MIGHT consider it.) He also kinda basic in the aspect that a sexy cat costume really gets him going.

Something about your long sleeved leotard, accompanied by your fuzzy cats ears and tail, and knee high boots get his hard and ready to breed you to the fullest.

Leash and collar play FOR SURE. He likes to tug you closer to where he wants you by the leash. He said himself this man has a daddy kink, but I wouldn't put it past him to have a master kink 👀. Also keep in mind d he has a brat taming kink.

He isn't huge on bondage, but he indulges on occasion. See after he is done thoroughly fucking you he likes to have cuddles and aftercare. Rope and cuffs just make that process longer.

Shaun is the true master in this relationship, and he WILL breed you till you remember it.

Ian

Sub 100%. This man's pleasure is your pleasure, and he doesn't mind. Having the family he does it's not a wonder why he fell into the sub role so easily. That being said the costume that really Ian going would either be a sexy priest/nun or a sexy devil. The shame of comminting such sin with a member of the church or a devil turns him on immensely.

Ian really like bondage and whips. Bondage because the feeling of the rope wrapped around his body as you hold his hips and he brunches off your dick/strap-on make each orgasim that much more delicious. As for the whip...sin that's all.

He also has a mommy/daddy kink, and praise kink. Please call him your good boy, or tell him how pretty he looks taking your dick. It sends him to cloud 9 every time.

Letting go of things, and letting people take the reigns is second nature for Ian. So he has no problem letting you be the Dom in this relationship.

Nick

I'm sorry this man is Dom for fun. You see his favorite thing to do is let his partner believe is submissive, until they are the ones face down ass up as he pull the leash attached to your collar with each thrust.

Very much into bondage. You look so pretty tied for him it feels like he is unwrapping a gift from God. Overestimating is another big thing for him. He really likes to see how far he push it before you are BEGGGING him stuff you full.

I do wanna say thought he isn't all rough all the time. He will only push you as far you want him to, and makes sure a safe word is in place. Like the others Doms your security and safety is top priority.

That all being said Nick is a professional Dom so he is careful, efficient, and above all else loving. You are his top priority.

[eresia-catara]

So, not trying to assume that Dante wasn’t straight but were he and Guido more than pals?? 😭

Diversity win! Your failed-friar poet and heretical philosopher are tangled in a tragic bromance!

but really, look. look. none of us here is assuming anything okay? but. none of us here is saying he was straight either alright? We can speculate both ways, considering the great margin of interpretation that sources leave us, but this is tumblr dot com no one wants to hear why Dante could be straight, so here is why he could not be (based on the philological and critical skills of someone who has NO authority + lots of essays I've read),,, under the cut.

I personally think it wouldn't be an unfathomable interpretation, seeing as there are elements that point to that; but I prefer to proceed with order, so let's first analyse Dante and Guido individually, and then together (otherwise my speech becomes a confusing ramble).

So, if we want to focus on what Dante ALONE tells us about his sexuality, we don't have many solid arguments. In general, the topic arises through his Comedy:

as we know, he put sodomites in Hell (Inf. XV-XVI). In it, we find three politicians (XVI), whom he speaks to with the formal voi (in english it's a plural you), instead of tu (singular you) which is informal and in Hell is used to basically look down on the damned; furthermore, this act of respect is strongly enouraged by Virgil before he speaks to them, and Dante expressedly says that, if it hadn't been for the raining fire, he would've gotten closer to them to hug them. So we can see that there isn't the usual disgust or harshness. This voi is also used for Brunetto Latini (XV), his teacher from youth, whom we know for certainty was a sodomite (thanks to a sonnet Latini wrote). The two have an affectionate conversation and Dante shows to profoundly respect the man. About this behaviour, Boccaccio, in his commentary on the Comedy, writes that since Dante showed compassion towards those sins of which he himself felt guilty of, perhaps he was a sodomite too. Now, I am not usually inclined to believe Boccaccio when talking about facts, but this does seem at least reasonable.

what people often ignore is that Dante put sodomites in Purgatory too. And what is more astonishing, is that he puts them right before the garden of Eden (instead of towards the bottom, seeing as Purgatorio is the mirrored version of Inferno), together with heterosexuals. Basically, the sin becomes not sodomy, but lust. This implies that he saw sodomy as 1) a forgivable sin (not an obvious statement, considering the changing society at the time) and 2) just as serious as heterosexual lust. However, there is a contradiction with Inferno, where they are distinct and sodomy is a lot worse that heterosexual lust (the former, as I've said, is found in the canti XV-XVI, the latter in canto V). This could be explained through the fact that homosexuality implies a sin against nature, which the other one doesn't have, but then we circle back to Purgatory, where they should be put further down as they have technically sinned more. Things don't add up, and when things don't add up, especially with Dante who was obsessed with symmetries and symbology, it has to make us raise our eyebrows. Who knows what little theological game he played in his mind to get to this conclusion? But more so, why did he play in the first place?

From the social point of view, Dante was more traditional, which at the time meant being more accepting of homosexuality; in fact, it is towards the XIVth century that judges start burning sodomites at the stake, pressured by the burgeoisie which Dante despised, while before they usually only imposed a fine, and Florence in particular was more tolerant than the rest of Italy.

Now, with Guido things are different. We have objectively less material to work with, but what we have is less vague. First of all, Dino Compagni (politician, poet, writer, collegue of Guido inside the Commune for a while) in his Chronica tells us Corso Donati had given him a nickname, 'cavicchia', which can be interpreted as 'passive sodomite'. But sure, Corso was his number one enemy, of course he'd say that. Okay, but his wife's brother says the same, in a different way. Guido basically writes a poem about a shepherdess having sex with him and his brother in-law slips in and goes 'Look. just admit it was a guy. I talked to a guy who confirmed this.' But let's be picky and say he was joking. it's just satyre between family members. Okay. But then there's this correspondence with Guido Orlandi (a friend) in which they debate about a statement our Guido had made in a poem, with which Orlandi did not agree, and they insult each other. A critic once suggested there was a double meaning to the correspondence, because the terms used and the phrasing suggested a second layer of interpretation, that is, one in which Orlandi, among the many things, accuses Guido of being....a passive sodomite! Or...a bisexual man! (bi win!). If I remember correctly (forgive me I cannot check the exact words right now), he said something along the lines of 'when you can't get the ladies you turn to the men' or 'when you can't get the young men, you turn to the older ones', it depends on the interpretation, but anyway the preference for a passive role was in both. Yes, you could argue he was in need of insults, he made them up merely to be offensive! But the same insult from three different men, with three different relationships with Guido? Finally, going back to his shepherdess poem, he DID write that it was the shepherdess who led him under the tree, when usually it is the man! And mind you, this type of poem has a vast tradition in provencal poetry, there was a clear code to follow that Guido knew perfectly...and decided to ignore. And if we consider him an atheist and nobleman, he didn't even have religious or social motives to be against sodomy. Heck, he probably didn't giva a fuck.

So let's consider the final question: were Guido and Dante more than pals for life? It seems that Dante spent his 20s and 30s among queer men, in a notoriously queer space that is the literary field. It seems that the two most important figures in his life, two teachers, were not so straight, just like...who? Virgil? Dante knew Virgil's Bucolics full well, he knew Virgil was not straight. So is it a coincidence that we can make extensive parallelisms not only between Virgil and Guido, but also between Virgil, Guido and Brunetto Latini? All three of them teachers, poets, deeply admired and respected by Dante, none of them are judged, they were all benevolent towards him, all queer (specifically, two out of three are certainly queer). Dante himself says most of the damned in the circle of sodomites were clergymen and intellectuals. As I have said, there are no coincidences with Dante, that little freak calculated everything (I say this with affection). And if we shift towards Guido's perspective, the sonnet addressed to Dante 'I vegno il giorno a te infinite volte reads like a true break up poem. Guido says 'I come to you [Dante] infinite times a day but in a way that you can't see me', a.k.a. 'I think of you constantly even if you don't know it'. I mean. you can't really deny much with this statement. An important critic tried to interpret it as the god Love talking to Dante, but another respected critic accused a contradiction in the resulting meaning of the poem, with which I tend to agree (I will not dive into it because this post is already long), so the only redeeming hypothesis falls.

In the end we don't have exactly concrete proofs, but at the same time the fact that there are all these details, all these arguments that are coherent with each other, mathematically speaking, make it probable that not only this is a real, concrete question, but also that it could be the truth. Alas, we would still need more informations which we will likely not have :0

Hope this post helped! At the end of the day, no one can stop you from making love win on tumblr dot com 🌈

[dreamieparadise]

❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤍🖤 💖💔💕📖🏳️‍🌈💀

I took so long so I'm sorry, Jojo!! I'll include the questions with the answers ☆ ～('▽^人) Answers below because these are a lot of questions!

🧡: What is a popular (serious) theory you disagree with?

Imma be real, I don't really pay attention to fan theories...? Like...do we have any...well Jojo told me there was one about how Gokudera survived on the streets and that was really disgusting to me. :) I completely disagree this poor kid had to "sell himself" in order to survive, especially when the manga and light novel made it clear he was surviving through violence.

💛: What is a popular ship you just can't get behind, and why?

D18!!!! I can't get behind it because every iteration I see of it...Hibari never acts like himself? Like who is that! That's not Hibari ;A; like age gap aside and stuff, even when they're both adults he's so...unlike him. Just some blushing mewling beast. lol

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

I'm always surprised by how people forget that Gokudera is a sweetheart? The guy doesn't "like" but LOVE and so deeply too!! If you're someone he claims, he'll be more likely to treat you like he did Tsuna than, like, Yamamoto...I always wonder why folks don't think that? Gokudera is someone who is love starved in every sense of the word so if he fell for you than he'd drink you up like a man in the desert searching for water. He wouldn't be mean to you at all!! Also I love to think as the series progresses passed its end, Gokudera would soften and become sweeter with the rest of the gang as well. He is just awkward, angry and cautious. Like a street cat! He needs time!

💙: Which character is not as hot as everyone else seems to think?

I love how these questions are like... "let's start a fight!" lmao anyway, hmmm...who isn't as hot as everyone thinks...this is hard because KHR is full of such pretty people!! I feel like anyone I say, it'd be like...obvious and not an unpopular opinion? -thinks some more- um...Bel [decided to start a fight]

💜: Which character is way hotter than everyone else seems to think?

GOKUDERA HAYATO!!! BUT ALSO ZAKURO!!!!

🤍: Which character is not as morally bad as everyone else seems to think?

This is a funny one because I think instead of saying "not as morally bad" I see takes that soften them up instead? Hm, let's see...let's go with...bruh. lol THIS ONE IS ALSO HARD! Let's go with Squalo but only because he has some manners [he brings a gift when visiting! What a decent fellow!!]

🖤: Which character is not as morally good as everyone else seems to think?

DINO CAVALLONE! He is total scum but I keep seeing things about how he's super sweet and a wonderful guy? It's funny though, ahaha. Dino himself says he is scum! I think it's due to him having a strong sense of responsibility and obligation that has people thinking this though. Like how he calls Tsuna "family" or how civilians in his territory are the most taken care of. Cx

💖: What is your biggest unpopular opinion about the series?

Apparently it's the fact this series is misogynistic lol also not well written but the misogyny is the biggest sin for me!!!

💔: If you had to remove one major character from the series, who would you choose?

SHAMAL. Or rewrite him the way Jojo and I do! Because I'm not fond of sexual predator characters ok lol like stop groping people!!! ESPECIALLY THE MINORS? [If you're wondering we just take that part of him out but he is still a massive cheater and still a scumbag...]

💕: What is an unpopular ship that you like?

An unpopular ship I like...? Mimi x everyone. Okay, okay...I'll be serious... (¬‿¬ ) anyway...for canon characters, I really love Reborn x Colonnello! I actually don't know what is or isn't popular, tho lol I just hardly see this ship these days! I find them really funny. Another one...Hibari x Ryohei is another goldmine!!

📖: If you had to remove one book from the series, which would you choose?

One book from the series...let's go with Arc instead? lol if I had to remove one arc...yeah sorry Enma, I love you but the rest of your family can kick rocks so that Arc can go!!

🏳️‍🌈: Which character who is commonly headcanoned as queer doesn't seem queer to you?

huh, hm. Tbh a few but I'll go with Tsuna!! I really can't see it but I still love plenty of mlm ships with him. It's so cute! HIM AND TAKESHI THOUGH!!! ARUGH. Like when we diverge canon it's like...now it can happen!! Yay.

💀: If you had to choose one major character to die, who would you choose?

If I had to choose a major character? Tbh he is my fave villain in the series, I love Byakuran soooooo much! But he should not have returned lmao I say that even though I find present! Byakuran soooo much fun! But still!! He should stay dead!

[cyberpawn-arc]

meta: vale + pov on each of NC's different fixers

Vale Meta Discussion!!

Rogue Amendiares

   First thing's first, Rogue is one of the biggest badasses in Night City to Vale. Vale admires her resolve and her work ethic and the way she is runnin' the mercenary system of Night City with that same confident smirk on her face as she's had for decades. She's unstoppable and she's truthful, she's not gonna sit there and have you run in circles for cheap work. They're lucky to have her in their life and they want to prove to her that they've got the merc skills to pay the bills.

Dakota Smith

   Vale doesn't work with Dakota a lot due to the fact they aren't the biggest fan of the Badlands. It's too quiet for them, and they prefer how the business of the city kees raking eddies in on a more consistent basis for them. Even though they don't work together a lot, Vale has a lot of respect and trust for Dakota, as she has never gone behind their back.

Dexter DeShawn

   When V was a beginner merc, they saw Dex as the entry ticket to the major leagues. They were intimidated by the fact he was the gatekeeper of glory, his picks of the endless mercenary litter were legends in the making and they felt like everything was coming up roses for them and Jackie when Dex chose them for the Arasaka Heist. Ask V now? Dex was a coward. Always was. Never had the balls to do his own work.

Dino Dinovic

   V also thinks Dino is cool as fuck. Dino oozes that rockerboy charisma, the ooze that reeks of lots of drugs and blood and probably a fair amount of spit too. Even though Vale has never heard Dino play the bass in any band, Vale knows that they can trust him to handle a drink at a party or sneak them into some major bash thrown by Kerry or another rock legend.

Wakako Okada

   While Vale appreciates Wakako's honesty and bluntness, they've occasionally found themselves getting in trouble with her. She's got a certain way she wants shit done, and she doesn't want a messy, sloppy job that ends with Vale ruining every plan of stealth. What Vale makes up for in strength and charisma, they lack in stealth and subtlety. Even though they know they can complete any job she has for them, Vale is scared of her critiques.

Regina Jones

    Vale sees the ideal of healing those who are suffering from cyberpsychosis as a very noble and worthwhile mission to live on. They trust Regina as she’s willing to give them as much information as she knows before they risk their life to help an individual going through cyberpsychosis. With their empathy and Regina who hands them their tasks, they trust her and they love this mutual goal they’re working towards to try and heal the city and the people living inside of it.

Sebastian "Padre" Ibarra

    Given Padre’s past, Vale has always been the merc showing up asking if they would ever listen to a poor mercenary’s confessions about their job and the work they’ve done. He’s honest about salvation and sin and the teachings in an old book that Vale has never even thought about cracking open. Padre was actually the first Fixer Vale ever worked with! They were a punky teen who wanted to get into the mercenary work, and Padre was willing to have them deliver votive candles and food to those in Heywood he assists.

Muamar "El Capitán" Reyes

    As Vale is a Merc With a Heart, it feels as though Cap is a Fixer who really does genuinely care about Santo Domingo and its safety. They help Cap deal with nuisances trying to overthrow the local community balance and put families in danger. At the same time, Vale has made jokes about how Cap was a corpo rat! They think that shit is funny! They didn’t believe that the first time they were told that!!

Mr. Hands

    Vale isn’t as keen on Mr. Hands as they are some of the other Fixers. He’s more open on how he sees this all as business, as a money opportunity he needs to capitalize. He sees their kindness as an obstacle for his goals and they see his cold, calculating nature as an obstacle for the betterment of the city. They just wish they could level with him and have him share even a hint of his past to them. They want to understand him.

[hopeswriting]

ahh, your view on mukuro is so on point. i am super biased but i always felt that my precious psycho is very highly misunderstood. yes, he can be cruel and see the world in black and white, but it is not his choice, not like he was able to create his own opinion on mafia, family bonds or the world in general. he was created to be a monster by people who only viewed him as a potential weapon, and it is quite unfortunate that manga ended without an arc dedicated to him to allow him either a redemption or at least a better view into his real personality. the shimon arc and the arcobaleno arc helped a lot, but with the focus on so many other things mukuro's development was kind of lost. but i am so glad you do the analyzes and see him as a person with a lot of potential rather than a simple villain from the early arcs with few cameos. again, i am highly biased and will never stop thinking about him, his life and his personality. manifesting a manga only about him in the future kufufu

[either in reference to this post or this one.]

hi nonny, thank you for the ask!

you know what, personally i actually wouldn't say he's misunderstood per se. it's more like people don't care to see past the cruel boy who's willing to go to any lengths to achieve his goals, which i'd say it's actually fair too, because he is that cruel boy. unapologetically too. but i agree he's definitely more than that, and more relevantly here, like you said, he wasn't that boy once upon time and was made to become that boy. unfortunately almost everyone is all but too happy to judge him at face value without ever caring for the bigger picture.

(that said, i'd still say again it's still kind of fair of them, because like, mukuro has done some pretty damn terrible things, and to them specifically, but it doesn't make him any less of a nuanced, complex character, you know? which i think is one of the biggest appeal of his character.)

i also find it interesting how you said he sees the world in black and white. i've never thought about it before, but i have to agree with you he does. which is interesting because even if the mafia as a whole is obviously firmly and deeply in the black category, there's still people like the vongola first gen in it, like nono and all the moderate vongola bosses before him, like tsuna and dino, and like lancia and his family. lancia who looked after him and cared for him like family, and presumably was nothing but kind to him after his boss took mukuro in, and mukuro still (presumably) didn't hesitate to wipe them all out. by using lancia no less, and then he kept using him to do terrible things.

by which i mean, lancia's family taking him in could have been the start of some kind of healing process for mukuro, but of course it was never going to be enough to make up for what he went through, and at the end of the day they were still mafia too. which means they must have committed their fair share of sins too, and it's less that there are "good" mafiosi, and more like some mafiosi aren't all but too willing to use the excuse of being mafiosi to be the worst excuses of human beings on earth (see estraneo). so like, yeah he may see the world in black and white, but is he wrong seeing it that way? when it comes to the mafia at the very least? when the mafia does so much wrong on the daily for whatever "good" it might do once in a while?

and incidentally, i personally don't think mukuro was in need of a redemption arc at all tbh. i think what amano did, humanizing him by showing him to be more than the villain tsuna first faced and had to take down, giving him understanding by sharing his circumstances and making him go from villain to tentative ally that way was the right call. because mukuro's methods were wrong, for sure, which are explicitly condemned both by the characters and the narrative, but i don't think his motives were ever condemned in any way by either the characters or the narrative. because they shouldn't be.

i don't think mukuro ever needed a redemption arc or needs one by the time the manga ends, because he was never any kind of an irredeemable villain to begin with, not by a long shot. from all the khr villains, i actually think his motives are the most righteous ones actually. and like, objectively the most good ones too, you know? the mafia should be burned down to the ground, and i'd say the shame here is that we never got anywhere close to see that happen lol.

thank you, i'm glad you enjoy my analyses! 💕

[tokillamockingbird427]

I'm headcanoning their favorite animals and what animals match their vibes the best.

Rorke

Favorite: He pretends not to like anything, because he's "cool" tm, but this motherfucker loves horses. He is a horse boy.

Vibe: Poison dart frog. Like one of the blue ones. Small, but very potent. Deadly. Should have a caution sign taped to his terrarium.

Elias

Favorite: Might be a little out there, but butterflies. He likes the sort of symbolism they carry. You get close, look hard enough, they're ugly as sin. Backup to really appreciate them. Also, they were his wife's favorite. Since she loved them, he does too. To get really specific: The blue morpho.

Vibe: Elephant. Really strong and shit, kind of intimidating, but a gentle giant.

Hesh

Favorite: Riley. What? You asked his favorite animal, Riley is his favorite. If you meant species, you should have said that.

Vibe: Goldfish. People assume he's dumb, but he's actually pretty smart. Big boy in the right circumstances. Mildly invasive. Blub. Blub. Blub.

Logan

Favorite: He thinks wolves are so fucking cool. He doesn't care that they almost killed him, he fought a fucking wolf and won. That is such a massive ego boost.

Vibe: Lion. Fluffy and blonde. Sleeps a lot. can be very loud when he wants to be. Fucking adorable.

Merrick

Favorite: Dogs. He's been doing the "Dad Pat" and dogs since the ripe old age of 16. Really enjoys smaller dogs. Thinks weiner dogs are the stupidest and cutest things to exist.

Vibe: Grizzly bear. Besides the facial hair, he's big and strong. Heaven help you if you try to hurt his "cubs" because he will fucking destroy you and forget you within the next five minutes. People also forget he's omnivorous. Give him enough blueberries and he will die for you. Give him more, and he will kill for you.

Keegan

Favorite: Any shark, but his favorite is the goblin shark. Sue him. Sharks are so fucking cool, hey, you wanna hear some shark facts?!

Vibe: Black panther. Stealthy. Really good hunter. Also a big cutie if you're socialized with him. Very soft and cuddly. He just wants to nap in the sun. The "Ghost" of the forest. Hehe.

Ajax

Favorite: Sharks. Blame Keegan. His old favorite used to be dolphins, but Keegan ruined that for him by sharing too many facts. "Alex. Alex, why are you mad that dolphins suck? I "ruined" dolphins for you? Alex, dolphins have always been like that. Me telling you just erases your ignorance. Alex come back. We're not done hanging out, I have shark facts to share."

Vibe: Crow. Highly intelligent, likes to collect things, and if you are nice to him he will share the shiny things with you.

Kick

Favorite: Phoenix! What, you didn't say it had to be a real animal. He thinks the whole burning reincarnation thing is cool. He's also a big fucking nerd which is why he picked it.

Vibe: Hyena. People stereotype them as greasy scavengers and thieves, but they're remarkable hunters. Can and will bite you.

Neptune

Favorite: Whales. They think it's just amazing that an animal can be so large. They also like how majestic they are as an animal. And the noises are pretty cool. Click. Chirp. Whoop. People forget that they're carnivorous.

Vibe: House cat. Small. Purrs. Will nap near you if they feel safe with you. Hisses when people piss them off. Terrified of snakes.

And the Oc's, because I adore them.

Adonis

Favorite: T-Rex! The tyrant king of dinos! Hear my roar and cower!! Dead.

Vibe: Komodo dragon. Big boy. Very cool. Is a real threat so long as they want to be, so be careful. (Don't piss 'em off.)

Alvera

Favorite: She's partial to venomous snakes. Cobras she really enjoys. They look cool as fuck. Definitely not something to mess with.

Vibe: King cobra. Can and will fuck you up. Though shy and will avoid people if possible.

Sarah

Favorite: Cows. They're like big hooved dogs. And the calves are soooo cute. Did you know cows have best friends!? They even get stressed if separated from their bff.

Vibe: Deer. (Doe, a deer, a female deer~) A sort of elegant and mysterious thing of the forest. Very pretty. Will fuck you up despite any of the previously mentioned things.

Katar

Favorite: DRAGONS. You already know what they are, so he doesn't have to explain shit. You already know.

Vibe: Fox. Quick and clever. A little shit. Kind of smelly. People are trying to domesticate him with varying levels of success.

Claude

Favorite: Racoon. She didn't know what they were before, but now she does and they are the cutest little things. What do you mean I shouldn't feed them Angel? They're so cute. They deserve nice things. I don't like their hands though...

Vibe: Racoon. So fucking cute yet capable of so much mischief. Truly the best animal. Hands capable of crimes.

[romance-club-daily]

Can I ask which LIs you chose in each of the books you’ve played? I only ask because I’m spending my day playing Path of the Valkyrie and I don’t know who to pick 😂 I’m pretty new to this so figured it’d be hard to choose on all of the books

If it will help you, of course! Let's see!

Sails in The Fog: Sebastian all the way!

Moonborn: At first Viktor, but I like Max a lot more!

My Hollywood Story: After several replays, Ray~

Queen in 30 Days: Adam Huez, the bodyguard

Shadows of Saintfour: Derek, I wish we had more romantic scenes with him in the past.

Wave Patrol: Jake Brown, the lifeguard (and my favorite LI)

Seduced By The Rhythm: Brandon, I really liked his development through the story.

Chasing You: Alexander and Ellia (The first one is insufferable at first, in season 3 he gets better)

Heaven's Secret: Lucifer and Dino (again, the first one is a pain in the ass at first, but gets better).

Legend of The Willow: KAZU How I miss this guy, you have no idea 🥺 Jake aside, Kazu is my favorite one.

Rage of the Titans: Marshall, but he's not even a complete LI 🤡

On Thin Ice: I still didn't decide yet, but I like Brian's route for now.

Love From Outer Space: Todd! Miss him too!

Path of the Valkyrie: Ullr and Sagr 😩 Can't decide!

Arcanum: Robert Steltz! I just love this grump guy 😼

Heart of Trespia: Reinhold, but I would like to see King D'Mario route better, we practically never see him in the episodes.

Theodora: All of the LIs, I'm not kidding. This book makes you love all of them. But I'm in John's route for now.

High and Hell Water: Chand, this cutie pie. His route is so comforting 🥺

The One: I saw something spark between the MC and Evans 👀 Hope he's a LI too.

Dracula: A Love Story: Vlad, but I'm starting to like Noe's route better.

Sophie's Ten Wishes: Benedict and Diego, unfortunaly the last one doesn't have a lot of scenes.

Sins of London: Sherlock, but Gray and Glasthyn routes look good too 👀

Gladiator Chronicles: I think the same thing as Theodora, all LIs are wonderful. But I'm on Stortia's path.

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Mulholland Drive (Lynch, 2001)

This review contains spoilers.

David Lynch's Mulholland Drive was released in recent years by the Criterion Collection, that great home video company that's probably the OG of boutique labels, known for putting out acclaimed, significant or otherwise interesting films in really nice packages. (For some reason I had been thinking they put this out only last year until I actually looked it up. I guess my sense of time has been a little warped as of late, and as much as I'd like to tie this review into pandemic-era life, the fact is other labels have captured my attention lately, as can be evidenced by my embarrassingly large and extremely shameful Vinegar Syndrome haul from their Halfway to Black Friday sale from a few months ago.) Now, nobody in 2021 is going into this movie truly blind, but if I happened to pick up the Criterion cover and perused the back, aside from the list of special features and disc specs, you'd see the below (which I grabbed off their website):

Blonde Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia (Laura Harring). Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman’s identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project. David Lynch’s seductive and scary vision of Los Angeles’s dream factory is one of the true masterpieces of the new millennium, a tale of love, jealousy, and revenge like no other.

Now, this is a tough movie to evoke with only a blurb, but I'd say that does a pretty respectable job. I however do not own this release. What I do own is the barebones Universal DVD that was released a few months after the movie, back when going into the movie blind would have been far more likely. This is the description on the back:

This sexy thriller has been acclaimed as one of the year's best films. Two beautiful women are caught up in a lethally twisted mystery - and ensnared in an equally dangerous web of erotic passion. "There's nothing like this baby anywhere! This sinful pleasure is a fresh triumph for Lynch, and one of the best films of the year. Visionary daring, swooning eroticism and colors that pop like a whore's lip gloss!" says Rolling Stone's Peter Travers. "See it… then see it again!" (Time Out New York)

Now, the previous description probably couldn't fully capture the movie's essence, but this one makes it sound like an erotic thriller. (Could you imagine somebody going into this thinking this was like a Gregory Dark joint? I say this having seen none of his thrillers and only his hardcore movies, although I must admit an MTV-influenced Mulholland Drive starring, say, Lois Ayres is something I find extremely intriguing.) But you know what? Good for them. Among other things, this movie, with its two all-timer sex scenes, feels like one of the last hurrahs from an era when mainstream American movies could be unabashedly horny, before we were sentenced to an endless barrage of immaculately muscular bodies in spandex (stupid sexy Flanders) somehow drained of all sex appeal (god forbid somebody pop a boner...or ladyboner, let's be egalitarian here). I apologize if I'm coming off as a little gross, but having been able to barely leave the house for practically a year and a half, watching sexy movies like this is one of the few remaining thrills at my disposal. Please, this is all I have.

Now I suppose I should say something about the movie itself, but it might be a challenge given how elusive it is in certain respects (Lynch is notoriously cagey about offering interpretations of his movies) and, as a result, how heavily it's been scrutinized over the years. No doubt any analysis I offer as to the movie's overarching meaning will come off extremely dumbassed. What I will note however, is that for whatever reason, the scene I remembered most vividly is where Justin Theroux walks in on his wife with Billy Ray Cyrus, particularly the candy pink paint he dumps on her jewellery as revenge. We've been following Theroux, a movie director, as he's been having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, having had control over casting his lead actress taken from him, which he proceeds to process by taking a golf club to a windshield of his producers' car and then reacting as above when he finds his wife with the singer of "Achy Breaky Heart".

With his Dune having been notoriously tampered with by producers, I suspect there's a bit of Lynch's own experience in the scene with the producers, which plays like an entirely arbitrary set of rituals deciding the fate of his movie with no regard for his opinion or even basic logic. While I don't know how particular Dino DeLaurentiis was about his espresso, I did laugh. Now, taking the reading that the first two acts of the movie are a fantasy of Naomi Watts' character, who is revealed to be miserable and ridden with jealousy in the third act, the amount of time we spend with Theroux is maybe hard to justify. Is this perhaps her "revenge" on him, his romantic and professional success having been flushed away while he flounders in search of greater meaning to his arc? Aside from possible autobiographical interest, these scenes do play like a riff on the idea that everyone is the main character in their own story, and if the Watts and Laura Harring characters can be thought of as having merged or swap identities, then perhaps Theroux's arc is the remainder of that quotient. (Now, it's worth noting that aside from being insecure and arrogant, Theroux in this movie is a less stylish than the real Lynch. If Watts conjures the best version of herself in her dream, Lynch maybe doesn't want his dream avatar outshining him.)

Now why did the Cyrus scene stick with me all these years when other details had slipped? Mostly because I'd found it amusing, partly because of the extra specific image Lynch produces, and somewhat because of the casting of Billy Ray Cyrus. Now, I don't have any special relationship to the Cyrus' body of work, but Lynch's casting of him, with his distinct mix of bozo, dudebro and hunk, results in a very specific comedic effect. This is something Lynch does elsewhere in the movie, like when he has Robert Forster show up as a detective for a single scene. The Forster role is likely in part a leftover from the movie's origins as a TV pilot, but the effect is similar (albeit less comedic). Melissa George appears as a woman who may or may not be a replacement for Watts in some realm of reality. Other directors obviously cast actors for their screen presence and the audience's relationship to their career, but the way Lynch does it feels particularly pointed, as if he's reshaping them entirely into iconography. The effect is particularly sinister with the presence of Michael J. Anderson, with whom he worked previously on Twin Peaks, and Monty Montgomery as a mysterious cowboy who dangles the secret of the movie over Theroux's character.

Cowboys in movies are frequently heroic presences (see any number of westerns) and are otherwise innocuously stylish (I confess I've come dangerously close to ordering a Stetson hat and a pair of cowboy boots), but the presence of one here feels like a ripple in the movie's reality. A dreamy, brightly lit mystery set in Los Angeles should have no place for a cowboy. It ain't right. (It's worth noting that Lynch at one point copped to admiring Ronald Reagan for reminding him of a cowboy. Is this his expression of a changed opinion? I have no idea, but Lynch has never struck me as all that politically minded.) Neither is the hobo that appears behind the diner. Certainly hobos have made their homes behind diners, but this one's presence and the way Lynch produces him feel again like a ripple in the the movie's narrative. Jump scares are frequently knocked for being lazy and cheap devices to generate shocks, but the one here gets under your skin.

Now about the movie's look. This starts off like a noir, and the mystery plot on paper would lead you to think that's how the whole movie plays, but the cinematography is a lot brighter, with almost confection-like colours, than that would lead you to believe, at least during the daytime scenes. This is another element that likely comes from its TV origins, but it does give the movie a distinctly dreamlike, fantastical quality that a more overtly cinematic look, like the one Lynch used in Lost Highway a few years earlier, might not capture. This is one of the reasons I think this movie works better than that one, and there's also the fact that the amateur sleuthing that drives the bulk of the plot here serves as a more pleasing audience vantage point than the male anxieties that fuel the other film. I also would much rather hang out with Naomi Watts and Laura Harring than a charisma void like Balthazar Getty.

The manufactured warmth of the daytime scenes also results, like in Blue Velvet, in the nighttime scenes feeling like they're in a completely different setting, one which perhaps offers the key to unlocking the mystery, or at least revealing the phoniness of the movie's surfaces. I think of the evocative Club Silencio sequence, which comes as close as anything in the movie to laying its illusions bare. ("No hay banda.") But at times Lynch will throw in disarmingly childlike, inexplicable imagery, like the dancing couples against a purple screen in the opening, something that would seem tacky and amateurish elsewhere but feels oddly cohesive here. There are a number of directors whose work I admire for being "dreamlike", and putting them side by side they all feel quite distinct (you would never mistake a Lucio Fulci film for a Lynch), but they have the unifying idea of imbuing the tactile qualities of film with the truly irrational to really burrow into your subconscious. Other directors have made movies with some of the same elements as Mulholland Drive, but none have put them together in quite the same way.

[sayaka19fan]

Proof? Any court would take he was being under duress as a known child trafficking victim of exposed powerful criminal. They would love to have his testimony if it came to this he could negotiate pretty good deal and claim killing in self defense, all who could harm his case conveniently dead. He could also escape the law if any trouble occurs and criminal world as well at this point. He's smart. Others involved all who could potentialy go down manage to live on their terms in this universe.

Proof. Any court would easily think that making Ash his multimillionaire heir was some kind of harassment, wouldn't it? Nope. How did it come that he was the only child who received this special treatment? Did he win a lottery? Sorry, but he hasn't been chained all this time in a durgeon. Once you investigate, many witnesses could say they saw that Ash and Dino were in good terms. Blackmailed? Without talking about Blanca and Eiji it is impossible to prove. Also, all the evidence about the bananafish drug was gone.

Ash killed Arthur and his men because he started a war for territory, it wasn't plaine self defense. Dino didn't force him to do that. His escape could be used as evidence that he was Marvin's murderer too. Summing his murders would result in life imprisonment anyway, despite negotiations.

As I have already said, since canon Ash refused Blanca's offer to follow him in the Caribbean it strongly means that Ash doesn't want to spend all his life under cover. You might dislike it, but I understand it well. Yut-lung, Blanca and Sing were never arrested for murder, this is a fact. If you wonder why they managed to live on their terms in this universe, my answer is that their situation wasn't compromised and that's enough. Was you expecting me to talk about justice? I am not in the mood for that. All the alternative scenarios made in the fandom are fun and aren't definitely a sin. I enjoy them too. Do I think the ending was out of place, though? No, I don't. It was matter of fact and sensible that in the end Ash didn't make it.