#i dont condone what hes done but i watch intrigued

[wolfythewitch]

Someone please explain why some people like Agamemnon? Like I'm seriously confused. Wasn't he a rapist, also had his daughter sacrificed

Maybe I have wrong sources. /gen

Idk about the rapist bit, I don't know enough about his lore. As for the daughter, he did sacrifice his daughter to appease the gods yeah, but he's a complex guy, and it wasn't clear cut. he isn't exactly my favorite but he intrigues me in that he does so many wrong things out of arrogance or reverence for the gods or a sense of duty, and it's like watching a man who's doomed by the narrative actively try to fight it and only pushing himself closer. His bloodline being cursed is also a funky addition to that, and a possible influence on his actions if you allow. He's deeply flawed and makes so many mistakes, but you can't deny that he doesn't care

I think that's the one thing about Agamemnon discourse I dislike, that people say that he didn't care for Iphigenia at all to have sacrificed her. The thing is that love he had for her is what made it a sacrifice, otherwise it wouldn't be anything more than a bull or bird sacrifice. The tragedy of it is that a child is killed for war, a man chooses to be king over being a father, a mother loses a daughter, and the curse of a bloodline continues

[obscureoperations]

Genuine question: how do you feel about Martin when the film hints very heavily that he kind of non-consentually has sex with his victims after making them go to sleep? He talks about it to the radio guy and it's something that people don't really acknowledge with him a lot. I'm just curious

Im just going to put it out there, (this is the first and last time I will address this topic) and Ive been almost anticipiting this sort of question since mentions of the novelization has come across the board. I do not condone rape. I do not condone necrophilia. I do not condone inscest, or any of the themes that might have come up in this floating link. This blog is most likely going to stay just as it is seeing as how, I created it after watching the movie. The movie.

The one thing I really liked about the movie is the fact that it left alot of things up to interpretation. In my opinion alot of his answers were pretty vague. From what we can gather in the movie... he pretty just lays with them while they are asleep. Beneath the clothes. How I took it was that was his version of intimacy. Hense the ( I've never really done it before) So to be blunt, he's never had sex ultill Mrs Satini. With anyone conscious or not. Granted thats not nescessarily model behavior, but is anything he does in the movie exactly condoned? The tresspassing, sedation, the undressing his victems. This is nothing new...We all have seen it right? We're talking about the same film?

Like I've said, I've been waiting for a question like this since I've read that god awful link. I dont feel any partucular way about the novel represention of Martin. No real surge of emotion besides, intrigue towards the actual psychological aspect and vague disgust. more like (wow thats fucked bro... why'd you do that?) Then why do I refer to it as a god awful link... well its almost like we're talking about two completely different characters here. Hell, I reffered to it to a friend as " Martin but in a funhouse" Thats how distorted and disjointed I found thisdepiction of Martin, nothing at all like the character that I write for.

Anyways, I hope this answers your question anon, and was actually concise. ( I didnt get out of work till past midnight and i've only just woken up.. so Im a little bleary)

[notthatiwilleverwriteit]

I don't know if I'm the only one, but I love she li character. I'm totally against what he's done to mo and he should be held accountable, but I still love his character and want to know more about him. His first fight with he tian, I was so curious to know why he seemed to enjoy it and even licking the blood from his lip, from then on I wanted to know his story. And I dont think he should be paired up with someone in the story it would ruin his whole esthetic. what are your thoughts about him?

Hello, dear anon!

This answer could weird out some people, so...Uh. Consider yourselves warned, I guess? It’s pretty much downhill from here on.

I’m sorry it took me so long to get to your ask. Thank you for your patience!

Do I have thoughts about SL? ...Let’s just say “a lot” is the answer:

My favorite 19 Days character(s)

My favorite 19 Days chapter(s)

SL’s bracelet

SL’s lip piercing

SL and ships:

My 19 Days NOTP (why I don’t ship MGS and SL)

My thoughts on SL and JY

My thoughts on SL and JY (vol. 2)

My thoughts on SL and HC

My thoughts on SL and Cuntou (Buzzcut)

My thoughts on SL’s sexuality

SL and MGS’s story:

Backstory revelation

SL and MGS’s development (the beginning vs. the train station scene)

That’s quite a reading list, but if you’re interested in my SL-related thoughts and mullings, I recommend checking out those previous posts. It’s possible I will repeat some things I’ve already talked about but this time I’m not going to give an overall brief summary. It would probably end up being anything but brief.

“I'm totally against what he's done to mo and he should be held accountable, but I still love his character and want to know more about him.”

This is partly why I’m hesitant to say I love SL’s character because I feel like I have to follow that with a small disclaimer that no, I don’t condone his behavior. I find him endlessly intriguing, complex, and layered. Every time he appears I never know what will happen and he always instantly steals the scene for me. I’m drawn to his darkness and disturbed, impossible-to-predict ruthlessness.

In addition to that, my “love” for him also goes deeper. I always feel like a weirdo talking about this but I see some of myself and my own shortcomings in SL’s character. Jealousy and envy. The misery loves company mentality. I don’t go around manipulating and threatening people but on some morbid level, his character allows me to go to that dark place and almost relish in all the disturbing thoughts I can muster. To me, some of the rawest and primitive parts of human nature are embodied and amplified in his character.

“His first fight with he tian, I was so curious to know why he seemed to enjoy it and even licking the blood from his lip, from then on I wanted to know his story.”

SL almost enjoying the fight and licking the blood are interesting notions that I haven’t really thought of before (ch. 184):

I’m glad you brought this up because I’ve been wanting to talk about SL and fighting ever since MGS mentioned how SL had a reputation of being “very vicious in fights” (ch. 319). I saw people thinking that was because of his Guillain–Barré syndrome. And sure, I’m not saying that couldn’t be the reason or a part of it. After all, we don’t know how far along his treatment was by that time. If you don’t feel pain as well as others, I can imagine you’re more fearless in fights.

However, I think his “viciousness” was more about SL’s overall nature. I mean, he picked up a heavy whiskey bottle and smashed someone in the head with it and didn’t seem to even blink. He was unpredictable and didn’t shy away from taking things further than probably most kids his age. Nothing was really off-limits for SL and whoever opposed him could never know what his next move would be. If you’re fighting someone and they lick their own blood - looking like they’re almost savoring the taste - I think you might want to start coming up with an exit plan. SL has a disturbing, cold-blooded aura as a fighter, and cruel, dirty violence is his style.

I’m also interested in MGS mentioning SL had transferred schools. We don’t know if he already had group-affiliations in his new school but imagine if he didn’t. Did he take over a group as an outsider by vicious violence? Did he make his own group from scratch?

“I dont think he should be paired up with someone in the story it would ruin his whole esthetic”

I don’t personally ship SL with anyone “in canon” as in I don’t think he has canonical romantic/sexual feelings for anyone in the comic. I don’t interpret his possessive behavior with MGS as romantic jealousy. Nor do I think he’s interested in JY in a romantic way. That being said, I do believe anyone is free to ship whatever they and however they want, so I don’t know about “shouldn’t be paired up with someone”.

But I think I get what you mean. I think if he had romantic feelings for someone we’re familiar with in the comic it would skew his character. “Interrupt” him, in a way. I’m not saying SL couldn’t be in a romantic relationship or even love someone but I’m not sure if that kind of “side-track” would quite fit how his role in the story has been built up so far. I would love to see more sides to him, but romantic love would feel too forced. It would kind of make me tilt my head and go “huh?”.

I feel the same way about his redemption. Again, I would love to know more about him and what’s going on in his head and heart and life general. What made him like this and what makes him tick. But I don’t know if I want him to be redeemed that way in the boys’ eyes. I kind of want him to stay as the villain to them. If they somehow started to see SL from a different light, it would kind of make his character “hollow” and crumble in on itself.

As far as my ships for SL go, I ship him with Cuntou (MGS’s Buzzcut friend) and HC. However, those ships are purely “AUs” in my head in a sense that I know they have no base in canon. I basically run with the characters and the scenarios build for them are for my own self-indulgence.

Because I couldn’t really give you any new “thoughts” but a reading list instead, let me try to make it up by raving about some of my favorite SL panels:

“We are here” (ch. 178):

I’ve always wondered what kind of an underling SL is. He might be the leader of his own group at school, but even SL must have a boss. Especially given that organized groups are heavily based on hierarchy and seniority.

But I can’t help but wonder how that kind of power dynamic works with SL. What do his superiors think about him? Do they know about his disturbing, unpredictable side? Do they feel like they have control over him? Have they ever taken advantage of his vicious side and kind of “let him loose”? Does his boss know how to handle him? And what about SL’s POV: Does he respect his superiors or just does what he’s told? What could make his obedience stop? What he would do if his superiors insulted him or somehow screwed him over?

Either way, I’m fascinated by seeing SL in a submissive position, taking orders from someone else.

“Jian Yi? Is it...” (ch. 179):

The thing I love about this panel is the tempo/rhythm/whatever-you-call-it of SL’s words. I can hear how he said them in my head. Where he paused and let there be a moment of silence that kind of rearranged the dynamic of the situation. JY had barged in and momentarily stolen the flow and control. He went all out talking back to SL and pointing him and being all JY-y. That little tilt of SL’s head, that short pause he had kind of flipped it back SL being in control. When he says “Jian Yi? Is it...” it has a dangerous vibe. As in, “Are you really sure you want me to notice you?”. That is a question asked by someone who’s mentally in control of the situation.

I can hear those speech bubbles in my head.

“Lick it clean for me” (ch. 203):

Do I even need to justify why I love this panel?

Aside from the obvious, I love this panel because it gives me strong “zero fucks given” vibes. I doubt SL was expecting JY to obey him but saying that kind of stuff fits his character perfectly. Unpredictable and difficult to tell if he’s being serious or not.

Thrown out (ch. 249):

This panel will never not amuse me. Every time I see them being thrown out like that, especially SL, I hear a “Pew!” bing in my head. Like the nurse had flicked them with her middle finger and thumb and shot them out of the room.

Pouring Coke (ch. 267):

Another panel that makes me think about SL being in a submissive position, overpowered. The idea of overpowering and submitting his kind of crazy fascinates me. A part of me wants to see him dominated, sullied, and made to take it. (Just to make sure I’m not misunderstood, I don’t mean “it” in a sexual way.) Like, I imagine the carbonated Coke stinging in his eyes. It’s more foam and fizz than actual liquid as it pours down his face. It makes him uncomfortable and wanting to try to wipe it off with his shoulder when the trickles slide down the side of his neck but he can’t. When Coke is spilled like that it goes from a nice, enjoyable beverage to a sickly sweet, sticky substance that kind of grosses you out.

This is a panel that always makes me think of shipping SL with HC.

[...I warned you it would get weird.]

Wandering in the hospital (ch. 294):

If you weren’t weirded out enough yet...

Every time I see these panels I’m reminded of being like that as a child. I remember my grandparents sometimes had to stay at the hospital when they got sick. When I went to visit them with my mom I had this habit of wandering off by myself. I could walk the ward through multiple times and just...kind of...be morbidly interested in watching the sick people in their beds. And of course, as a kid, I had no problem with openly staring at them, too. The sicker, the better. I wanted to see tubes going in and out of body orifices, wounds and stitches, bandages that have that faint shine of blood seeping through on the back when they’re due to a change. If you gave me an old person just laying in bed with their mouth open and not even being in this world anymore because they’re so old and ill, you could just sit me down and go take care of whatever parents need to take care of.

I’m not saying SL was like that but him silently wandering off always reminds me of how I was a kid.

Encounter (ch. 294):

I’ve talked about this panel quite a lot already, so I won’t go into it more in this answer. But I will say it’s probably my most favorite panel of the whole comic.

“I almost forgot” (ch. 317):

As weird as it sounds to point this out when talking about SL’s character, but I think SL was lying in this panel. Although, I guess a better way to put it would be to say it wasn’t his “usual” lying. I think he was lying about forgetting he had given MGS the piercings to make it look like he didn’t care about such trivial matters. That violating MGS like that and basically marking him as his property hadn’t meant anything to him. Seeing MGS wear HT’s earrings irked him but he’s lying about it. MGS inching further and further away from SL’s grasp is getting to him but I think this was the first time he’s trying to hide it.

Because I believe he remembers piercing MGS. I bet he remembers it vividly.

I think this panel and the way he lashed out at HT with the knife without having any regard for the consequences are interesting details that maybe SL’s mask is slipping. He’s getting more out of control. Almost desperate, I would say.

So yeah, I would say I have a few thoughts about SL.

Thank you for your question, dear anon! And for your patience as well.

[faceofpoe]

The Terms of Surrender

I stole (with permission) an AU premise from @kookookarli​ for this, whose delightful Conqueror!Washington is definitely worth a read.

http://kookookarli.tumblr.com/post/159878474525/whamilton-are-you-scared-dont-be-ill-protect  An AU in which Alexander served, and was defeated, with the British.

Kind of a dark!pre!Whamilton thing going on here? I guess?

(Don't mind me, I'm just feeling my way around in this fandom and desperately wishing I understood this site better)

Yorktown, 1781

“I understand,” Washington peered down at the stoically impassive face of the young colonel before him, “that you have declined the terms of surrender and refused to evacuate the city."

The man sighed, dark eyes drifting restlessly about the camp, milling with activity. “Evacuate to where?” he asked softly, bluntly. “Long, grueling months at sea and a country I’ve never known?”

His brows shot up in an instant. “You’re a loyalist?” The question earned him a faint huff of breath, practically derisive, and his eyes narrowed. “A mercenary?”

Cornwallis’s chief of staff being anything other than regular army was nigh unfathomable. And by the decidedly more derisive snort which greeted that question, he seemed to be moving further from the mark.

Still, the colonel’s answer proved hardly adequate clarification. “I, like so many others in this wretched war, found myself victim to circumstance.”

“The British compelled your service?”

“The colonials rejected it,” he hissed back, sharp fire in his eyes at odds with the stoicism, bordering on disinterest, anyone had yet seen from him. “Despite my frequent speeches and writings against the Crown, against the Tories, the Sons of Liberty found me suspicious because I would not condone the lynching of a respectable man at King’s College.”

Oh – now wasn’t that intriguing. “You’re the boy who saved Myles Cooper.”

“I suppose I ought have let him hang,” he huffed.

“I am hardly an advocate for mob violence, young man, have a care.” And young he was, once one could see past the keen intelligence in his eyes, the lines carved in his face by the grueling years of a brutal war, the station afforded him by the rank on his pristine uniform; an officer to be treated with dignity.

And yet – he’d refused his most important order. And the only one that truly mattered, for his immediate prospects.

“What is your name?”

He tipped his head up, all haughty pride. “Lieutenant Colonel Hamil-”

“No,” Washington cut him off sternly. “You refused the retreat, your rank is forfeit. What is your name?”

Pink rose in the boy’s cheeks. His eyes narrowed, his frame vibrating with angry tension. “Alexander Hamilton. Sir.”

“Where’s your family from?”

“Unimportant. Sir.”

The crack of a hand across his face took young Mister Hamilton clearly by surprise; slower on the uptake than Washington would have credited him for. Outrage in his eyes and blood shining on his lower lip and front teeth, he opened his mouth to voice his protests. “Your war,” Washington cut him off, again, “is over, Mister Hamilton. You refused the honorable conclusion to it and, in so doing, forfeit your station and any and all courtesies usually therein afforded. Now,” he watched the play of furious frustration across that red face, “Do you hail from New York?”

“The Danish West Indies.” Washington blinked at that in surprise, and Hamilton’s bloody lip curled derisively. “I’m just a bastard orphan immigrant, Your Excellency.”

“Perhaps we ought just ship you right back.”

Hamilton caught his eyes and leaned in and said softly, utterly sincere, “In truth? I think I’d rather you just showed me to the hangman’s rope and be done with it.”

“Either option would be something of a waste. You’ve not much the build of a soldier, but I suppose,” he let his eyes drift up and down the boy’s form, openly assessing, “that Lord Cornwallis must have kept you around to some useful end.”

He bristled. “Sir -”

“Take off your coat.”

The frustration in Hamilton’s demeanor shifted from outrage to something more peeved and sullen, and it had the effect of making him seem even younger still; a petulant child. “You’ll not even spare my pride,” he grumbled, as he slid his arms from his sleeves and tossed the offending crimson garment to the ground, “and grant me an honorable execution as an officer of the Crown?”

“As I said,” Washington allowed his annoyance to come through in his tone and on his face at needing to repeat himself, “I expect that’d be something of a waste.”

“The colonies didn’t want my loyalty back in ‘seventy-five, you think you can buy it now?”

“Heavens no – haven’t you heard, the colonies are quite bankrupt.”

His jaw worked tersely. “Earn my loyalty, then?”

“No, Mister Hamilton,” he leaned forward and murmured right into his face, “I do not speak for the colonies in this; only for myself.”

He laughed, a speck of spittle crossing the scant distance between; Washington remained unmoved. “You, sir, oughtn’t expect to earn it, either.”

And Washington watched him for a long moment, until Hamilton began to fidget under the scrutiny. “No, Mister Hamilton,” he repeated softly, and then tilted his head to murmur by his ear, close enough that the boy shivered from the caress of hot breath on his skin, “I intend to claim it.”