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rallamajoop · 6 months

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On Mia Winters, misogyny, and abuse

As should be pretty obvious by now, I love Mia Winters. I honestly think she’s one of the most compelling characters in this whole damn franchise.

But let me make clear: you don’t have to love her. Mia’s canonically done a lot of shady shit in her time, and her relationship with Ethan has real problems. There are perfectly viable interpretations where the only thing really holding it together is his own denial. Only I never seem to get to read any of those takes, because the most common characterisations Mia gets in fic are an irredeemable monster, or a cardboard cutout who exists only to be written out as quickly as possible. And to write Mia out to that degree doesn’t just do her character a disservice, it does Ethan a disservice, and a big one.

The amount of Mia-bashing I see out there in this fandom turns my stomach. It’s not just the slash fans who’d rather ship Ethan with another dude. I have seen Mia loudly bashed in tags on het or gen fic in which she does not even appear. I have seen male fans reviewing these games on youtube who treat her the exact same way. But it’s never more frustrating than when that hate comes from the same fans who’ll turn around and talk about characters like Chris or even Lady Dimitrescu (she who canonically abuses her and murders her servants, and, y’know, eats people without a shred of remorse) like they’re perfectly forgivable and have done no real wrong. And don’t get me wrong: I love Lady D, but I love her because she’s magnificently evil. Mia? Mia’s a whole lot more complicated.

But to really explain why this hate makes me so uncomfortable, I’m going to have to start with the start of Resident Evil 7, and Mia’s very first scenes in this whole franchise.

Let me quickly summarise the opening of that game. A man whose wife disappeared without explanation suddenly gets a message about her whereabouts. He travels to an isolated location, breaks in, and finds her. She denies ever sending him that message, and seems incredibly distressed that he’s there at all. They fight. It ends with him sinking an axe into her neck and shooting her several times with a handgun. But see, he didn’t do anything wrong! It was all self-defence! She started it! She was acting crazy!

If you didn’t spot it, the whole opening of RE7 reads uncomfortably like a story about a woman escaping an abusive relationship, then being tracked down and murdered by her ex.

Obviously, I am not here to tell you Ethan’s abusive. He’s not, we’ve got no reason to imagine he is. He was legitimately acting in self-defence.

But the fact the first thing Ethan has to do in this game is find the balls to kill his own wife ‒ that a whole new era of Resi games has opened with a sequence so easily read as a sympathetic justification for how a man might perfectly innocently track down his missing spouse and "have" to kill her – that made those opening minutes into by far the most uncomfortable part of this whole franchise for me. Shit like this really happens. I mean it, I will track down the fucking statistics on women who are murdered after trying to leave an abusive partner if I have to.

What happens to ‘Mia’ in the opening to RE8 isn’t much better: it's as textbook a fridging as any I’ve ever seen. Yes, it’s a fridging that gets retconned away later when she turns up alive, but the fact that’s even possible speaks to just how awful and confusing her death is. The game opens with Mia’s violent murder at the hands of this series’ longest running ‘hero’, and the event is framed entirely in terms of how awful it is for her husband. That's as frigid as a fridging gets.

The eventual reveal that the real Mia was just trapped alone in a cell being experimented on by a madwoman for god knows how long doesn’t actually make it better. The horror Mia goes through in both these games is a footnote, barely explored.

I bring these events up not to condemn the RE franchise, not to say that including these sequences was unconscionable, or that violence against women can never be shown in a horror title. A quick glance at my tumblr should demonstrate how much I adore these games. Tropes like fridging become problems only because they’re so ubiquitous they can come to define almost the only roles women get to play, not because any individual example is necessarily grounds for outrage. If anything, there’s just as much to analyse in all the hate thrown at characters like Ethan Winters (or his predecessor, Jonathan Harker) as a archtypical examples of sexism against men – backlash against the very idea of a male character in the disempowered role of horror victim, usually reserved for women.

But with this context in mind, my god is it uncomfortable to see people talk about Mia as irredeemable monster who deserves to suffer more. People who will valorise the likes of Chris Redfield, who didn’t even bother to stop to tell Ethan that’s not Mia, yet talk about Mia like being shot to death in her own living room was only what she deserved. That is just a whole load of yikes.

And given that both games open with Mia being violently killed by a male protagonist (twice in RE7, with the player in control), it sure is convenient how so many people have managed to ‘find’ the evidence that proves she’s the real villain. You don’t have to think too hard about Chris Redfield as a violent maniac or Ethan Winters being forced to kill his own wife if it’s okay to inflict violence on this woman. “Yes, but she shouldn’t have done [X]…” or even “But what if she’s the real abuser” is a narrative that gets thrown at real women in abusive relationships all the time – especially when the man is a friend of whoever’s casting judgement, or even a celebrity. Real world examples of this shit in the wild run the gamut from wild fan-takes on The Shining ‘proving’ that actually the abused wife was the ‘real’ abuser all along, right up to the ongoing hate campaign against Amber Heard. People don’t want to have to think badly of someone they admire, and will take any excuse to shift the blame. The stakes are infinitely lower when we’re talking about fictional characters, but the same pattern plays out.

And look, I do get it. It’s easy to go into these games and come out with a negative opinion of Mia. She’s the one who lures you into danger in RE7, acts all innocent, and then comes at Ethan with a chainsaw – and when you finally find out her big secret at the end, it turns out she was working for the people who created Eveline from the start! You’re really not given a lot of reasons to invest in Ethan and Mia’s relationship before she’s suddenly coming at him with a knife, and the fact she never does get to come clean to him in canon leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

It’s really easy to go into RE8, note all the glaring signs that Ethan’s relationship with Mia isn’t healthy, and draw your own conclusions about a woman we don’t hardly even see again for most of the runtime of the game. Half this goddamn fandom still seems to think Heisenberg is actually a lycan, ffs – most of what people think they know about Mia is more meme than fact, and the rest is pretty surface level. Basic media literacy is not exactly high out there in the tumblrweeds (let alone the rest of the internet).

But as for the idea that Mia’s responsible for all the horrors Ethan went through, people seem to forget that Mia herself went through so much worse. Ethan spent a day in the Bakers’ property, and a day in the village. Mia spent years trapped in the Bakers’ property, and days at least imprisoned in Miranda’s lab, knowing exactly how much danger her family were in, helpless to save them. She’s no innocent herself, but ye gods has she already suffered for her crimes.

So with all that out of the way, well, what’s the actual ‘evidence’ that Mia herself was abusive? No-one's coming into this one without some bias, but let’s at least give it a fair shake.

Right upfront, I want to recognise that in both fiction and reality, women can be abusers, and men can be victims. Abuse in heterosexual relationships is far more likely to occur with the man as the abuser, but the reverse does happen, and the fact culture at large can be so eager to cast the woman as the villain doesn’t make it any easier for the real male victims of abuse to get recognition and help. Society as a whole is still just really shitty about enabling or excusing real abuse.

But the idea that Mia was abusive has very little to back it up. Whatever you make of “her” interactions with Ethan at the start of the game, the fact remains: that’s not Mia, and the fact she’s acting so strangely is meant to be our clue that something much bigger than a little marital strife is going on here. Knowing all this doesn’t really make the scene where she’s violently executed less disturbing, but you can’t miss the hints we don’t yet know the full story.

So the question becomes, is there any evidence that the real Mia was abusive? I’ve dug into this one a bit before in my post about trying to figure out the timeline of exactly when Mia was replaced, but there are no definitive answers as to how long Miranda's been living in their house. To summarise a long post (and a surprisingly lively timeline of events from the days before the game begins): the most likely intent seems to be that Miranda’s been posing as Mia for less than a week, though a lot of the vibes of the scene give me the impression it’s been several weeks at least. Ultimately, that’s going to come down to your own interpretation.

The Mia mentioned in Ethan’s diary who blew up at him at the hospital could be the real Mia, but more likely isn’t: you can’t really use her to argue anything definitive, one way or another. The Mia from the flashback where Ethan gets the call from Rose’s doctor is the real Mia, but if you think getting upset when your husband brushes off your obvious distress over your daughter’s health makes you abusive, then nothing I say here is going to convince you otherwise.

The only ‘real’ evidence that Mia might be a problem is one line you might hear from Ethan while taking Rose to bed, and it is admittedly a red flag: your mother’s scary when she’s angry.

And to anyone whose whole hatred of Mia has been built backwards from this one line – especially anyone who’s grown up in a dysfunctional household themselves – hell, I get it. It is one really yikes thing for Ethan to say about his wife.

But in Mia’s defence, I can only point out that, well, yes, canonically, she is scary when she’s angry.

Oh, did I say angry? I meant fucking possessed.

And if Ethan’s bringing up the spectre of that time, even subconsciously, maybe that should be an even bigger clue that the Mia in this house right now isn’t Mia.

But what really shows this line for what it is is that we’ve seen the real Mia angry. We’ve seen her cold fury at Eveline, daring to go right back to asking ‘can we be a family now?’ within hours forcing Mia to assault her own husband with a chainsaw. We’ve seen her frustration at Ethan’s own denial, and we’ve seen her stalk out of the room when he blows off an important conversation for a call from work. We’ve seen her advance on Chris after he shut her down, demanding, Where is my husband? Where is my daughter?!

We have never seen her angry without real justification. Her anger is neither violent nor disproportionate. It’s consistently purposeful, focused, and contained. There is nothing scary about the real Mia’s anger, unless you’re threatened by the very idea she might have something valid to be angry about.

There is evidence of tension in the Winters’ marriage from before Miranda’s arrival, but it takes a very different form – most evident in the flashback scene where Ethan receives the call from Rose’s doctor. Far from Miranda’s brusque, dismissive copy of her, the real Mia is anxious and depressed, scared of what Rose’s results might reveal. Here, Ethan’s the one brushing her concerns aside (“We talked about this […] Rose is fine!”) He recognises there seems to be something Mia’s not telling him, says they should talk about it, but then immediately brushes the conversation off when he gets a call from work, while Mia storms out of the room.

You can certainly read Mia as a hypocrite here, getting angry at Ethan for not knowing things she’s deliberately kept from him. But it’s Ethan who decides a call from work is more important than a conversation with his wife – someone who is obviously distressed, canonically still on a regime of drugs after the traumatic events of RE7, very likely suffering PTSD along with Ethan, and maybe even some form of postpartum depression. We don’t know anything about Ethan’s work, so there’s no point in speculating about how much he ‘needs’ to take that call. Mia’s no clear villain here – quite the opposite.

Personally, I tend towards taking this scene as evidence that Mia has tried to talk to Ethan about what really happened to him, but hasn’t managed to get him to face the truth. For all that Ethan supposedly wants to talk about the past, it’s a defining plot point that he’s badly in denial himself.

Or they could both be at some fault here: Ethan unwilling to face the truth, while Mia is reluctant to force him to face something she knows will hurt him and bring him distress. Even when Mia says outright that she ‘tried to keep this a secret, but…’ to Chris at the end of the game, the implication is as much that she’s tried to keep it a secret from people like Chris, who might decide Ethan is dangerous. She’s lied to protect him before, and if she’s still lying to him about her past with the Connections, then the fact that knowing the truth will hurt Ethan is obviously among her reasons. Protecting Ethan has always been among Mia’s top priorities ‒ even at her own expense.

The only other real hints we get about Mia’s inner life come from the glimpses of her we get in Donna’s domain. But I’m hesitant to read too much into these, given how unclear it is how much is just a manifestation of Ethan’s own anxieties. If anything, the ‘Mia’ in these scenes almost seems to have some far worse secret than simply having not told Ethan something he really ought to have put together on his own, and I’d kind of love to see that explored too – at least as long as that goes somewhere more interesting than round umpteen of ‘and that’s why Mia sucks’.

But my point here isn’t that you have to read any of these scenes the same way I do. I do think it’s important to recognise that nothing written for a game like RE is truly character-driven; scenes exist to serve the plot far more than to reflect consistent character motivations or hold up to fridge logic (which, let’s face it, is the real reason for most of Chris’ horrific behaviour in this game, let alone anyone else’s). The result is rarely super consistent, and leaves ample space for multiple interpretations of anyone’s motivations. Regardless, the idea there’s any hard evidence that Ethan and Mia’s relationship is dysfunctional, or that whatever’s wrong is Mia’s fault alone, is going to be incredibly hard to justify.

Any assertion that Ethan and Mia are somehow on the verge of divorce also needs to be weighed against the masses of evidence of how much they love each other – the number of times Mia has said she loves Ethan, up to and including (yes, I’m bringing this up again) how ready she is to die for him in RE7. Her speech to Chris at the end of RE8 states explicitly that being together with Ethan and Rose is the only thing that matters to her. “Mia, I’m sorry, I love you,” are some of the last words Ethan ever speaks – and I can’t help but read into how the moment he finally pushes Rose into Chris’ arms so they can get away with him weighing them down is right after he learns that Mia is alive, and thus implicitly that Rose won’t be alone if Ethan doesn’t make it. And good god does that scene break my heart every time.

It’s worth recognising that the fact Ethan and Mia love each other doesn’t inherently mean their relationship is healthy, or that you have to love them together as much as I do. Like I said up top, you don’t have to like Mia, and you don’t have to justify not liking her if you don’t. I would genuinely like to see fics where Mia and Ethan’s supposedly-necessary break up feels in character. Where Ethan loves her but just can’t deal with the resentment and the fallout over all the lies she told him, where he's been clinging to his 'happy ending' with Mia after surviving the Bakers so hard he can't face the fact things just aren't working, or where he’s having to face that their relationship only ever really worked because she was away so much. It will break my heart, but fiction is allowed to do that.

But god, it would be nice if people could just take the bashing below an eleven around this place. The number of times I’ve had to sigh and back-button out of reading something, because yet another author has decided to project their own hatred for Mia onto the husband who’s still reeling from watching her being violently murdered in front of him… it gets fucking old, y’know?

I would really like to think that in the year of our lord 2024, fandom would be a bit past this thing where they bash the canonical female love interest in the name of shipping the hero with another dude. People will bend over backwards to try and cast Heisenberg and Chris as guys who really care about consent and worry about Ethan getting hurt, because heaven forbid anyone be caught shipping something slightly problematic. And yet misogyny still somehow gets a pass.

You do not have to love Mia. You don’t even have to like her. But ye gods, the hate she gets is baseless and absurd.

Hasn't this poor woman suffered enough?

(And on that note, I promise I am finally done soapboxing in defence of Mia Winters, thank you for bearing with me for this long.)

#Mia Winters #Ethan Winters #mithan #Resident Evil Village #Resident Evil #Resident Evil 7 #RE lore #meta #Mia Winters week

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deconstructthesoup · 5 months

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I've been thinking about this lately, so, here's my Slay the Princess ships and why I ship them:

Witch x Damsel, aka Sleeping Briars: There's just something that's so compelling about the two "fairytale" vessels---aka, a witch and your classic damsel in distress---who can both lead to some of the most romantic routes in the game. The dynamic between a devious little prankster who has serious trust issues and can't let anyone get close as a result and an adorable sweetheart who trusts everyone and falls in love way too fast is really interesting to me, and I think they'd actually be pretty good influences on each other.

Adversary x Razor: Two ladies who love fighting, bloodshed, and pain in general? The potential is right there. They're different enough that there's some dimension, but they're similar enough that their dynamic would be killer. Literally.

Spectre x Stranger: Honestly, I just think that they're both very charming and would probably get along really well, but there is something to be said about them being the two Vessels you get when you don't really give the Princess a chance---either if you kill her without hesitation and get Spectre, or if you refuse to even meet her and get Stranger. They're both lonely and scattered, and maybe they'd find something in each other.

Thorn x Wild (Wounded): There's something really sweet and intimate about two people who've hurt and been hurt finding comfort in each other. Idk, I think it's nice.

Burned Grey x Drowned Grey: It's... it's right there. The duality is right there. The wedding gown and the funeral gown, the fire and the water---it's right there.

Prisoner x Skeptic: This is really the only Voice/Vessel ship I've got on my list, and it's because in my opinion, it's the most grounded. Prisoner is arguably the most human out of all of the vessels, and Skeptic's whole thing of picking things apart and looking at everything from a different angle feels like a pretty reasonable response to the insanity of the construct. Her cynicism combined with his suspicious attitude could make for a really interesting dynamic, and I think they'd balance each other out well.

Contrahero: Come on. Come on. They're perfect. The first time I saw the Stranger ending, my head was already buzzing with "they're staying in the cabin? Together? Married couple! Married couple!" thoughts. I'm far from the only person in the fandom who sees how amazing the dynamic of the intrepid knight and the goofy little jester is.

Smitten x Cold: The dynamic between the dashing romantic who lives off of passion and feeling and the tired and quiet soul who seems to have cut himself off from emotion altogether is too compelling to ignore. The tension just writes itself.

Stubborn x Opportunist: While these two seem pretty different at first glance, I think the fact that both of them are voices who don't know when to quit speaks wonders as to how they might bounce off of each other. One of them solves problems through fists and fighting and the other solves problems through words and deceit---and I think that creates a pretty interesting duo.

Huntcheat: @tai-janai got me hooked. It's actually pretty damn adorable, I dunno what else to say.

(Also, Nightmare is aromantic in pretty much every one of my AUs, and Paranoid is aroace more often than not)

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animentality · 9 months

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You know, if you think about it… there’s something powerful about durgetash existing entirely in body language and implications. If it was stated out loud, especially by Gortash, there’d be a lot more question of “does he really mean it, or is he lying?”. It could be easily tossed aside as a manipulation tactic on his part. But when half the reason we ship it is based on little smiles and the tone of Enver’s voice when he talks to Durge? Well, how can you even question it being real. You can’t call it manipulation because he’s not getting anything out of acting like a lovesick fool. It comes off as he just can’t help himself but show a glimpse of what used to be between you. And the letter of forgiveness is compelling because it’s not a flowery, out of character confession of capital-L-love. It’s not basic and cringey and it doesn’t erode the monster that is the Dark Urge. It simply forces us to ask ourselves how deep that admiration for a chosen of a sworn foe has to go before it’s necessary to repent for it. Everything makes sense as soon as you ask the question “why would Durge feel the need to beg forgiveness in the first place? Surely simple admiration is harmless enough?”. Put together with that lovesick smile you get walking into the coronation? Everything falls into place, even for some of the normies once they get that far, and the game never needs to say a word.

you are preaching to the choir, anon.

I find it so intoxicating precisely because it has such small evidence... and yet that evidence is honestly kind of powerful nonetheless?

like on the surface level, yeah it's one note and a couple of lines and one scene... but.

orin literally has a note in her room specifying that you "worshipped" the other Chosens and I know she's not talking about Ketheric, who seems to view you with mild irritation.

plus he lives pretty far away.

the prayer of forgiveness is nuts too, because I simply don't believe you'd pray to your parent/god for forgiveness for anything short of blasphemy. and what is blasphemy for the child of murder?

why it's cherishing life. a life, specifically.

the life of your rival.

and like... EURGH, orin's stupid line about how Gortash has always known how to "leave you twisted in his cords" or something like that, like, the fuck do you mean by that, bitch??

and just... that one scene... he just prowls around you like a cat in heat.

he's so happy you're back.

and he isn't lying to you! that's honestly the most confusing and wonderful thing about it.

he is telling the truth about your relationship and he's telling the truth about wanting to rule the world with you, just like you promised.

he's the world's most dedicated and loyal boyfriend, who was never happy with your replacement and always wanted you back.

it's a fucked up thing they had.

it was also tender and sweet and oddly wholesome, considering how they both had a degree of respect and fondness for one another.

and that's why durgetash lives rent free in my head and heart.

it exists in the margins, as something quite imaginary, and also quite real if you actually stop and look.

it's a work of art, crafted by us, elaborated upon by our work, from scant evidence.

we were given scraps, but as starving mad creatures, that was enough to fuel us through the winter, and now we all bark for blood.

#durgetash #dark urge #enver gortash

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englishsub · 8 months

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fic writer meme!

i was tagged by @microcomets and @cairoscene :) thank you friendz

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

22, which is both more and less than i expected.

2. what's your total ao3 wordcount?

529,320

3. what fandoms do you write for?

i've branched out in recent years; like my fellow taggers, i write for fewer fandoms that i'm in. food takes ages to cook and even longer to actually commit to. i started with mdzs/cql and tgcf before moving to shl/tyk, though now i mostly write trigun and video game fic.

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

爱不释手; never let me go

总有一天; a place to hide (can’t find one near)

花无百日红; the flower that withers

在此恭迎夷陵老祖; to yiling laozu, the great and venerable

蓝色生死恋; a blue love (to live and to die for)

me 🤝 cair wangxian monopoly

5. do you respond to comments?

not usually - if the comment jumps out in some way or asks a question about podficcing i might, but i generally don't. i read every single one and hold them close to my heart, though.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

LOL it's an open ending but the implications are pretty clear - 美丽的日子; beautiful days

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

most of them end happy, except when they don't :)

8. do you get hate on fics?

not really. i did for a stint back in 2021 when that anon was going around but it was honestly very funny for me.

9. do you write smut?

sometimes.

10. do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you have written?

just the one time, not usually. it was a threadfic - a mdzs/tgcf crossover where wwx was raised by hualian instead of the jiangs.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

yeah. the good ole ctrl+f+replace of names. i remember they even stole my author's note. i'd said something to the effect of "i have to go study..." (i was in high school) and they added "which i didn't even end up doing..."

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

yes and i think fic translation is so cool!

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope.

14. what's your all time favorite ship?

EVER?

pirates of the caribbean will/elizabeth.

but it's honestly a rotating rotisserie throughout life of my fav ships depending on what i'm hungry for at a given moment. it's 2024 and i'm back in ff7 hell, for instance.

15. what is a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

歃血; blood oath, and it pains me deeply to admit. not because i have any measure of anxiety about returning to it, or feel any pressure, but because it genuinely had one of my favorite premises and setups, was super gory and horrific, and i'd packed in every crazy trope i love into the outline. i was really excited about. then the fandom imploded and i can't look at it anymore.

she's my white whale. i'd finish it for @megafaunatic alone.

16. what are your writing strengths?

atmosphere. payoff. saying things are like other things. i understand this is annoying for some people though, which is fair.

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

i put off every single sex scene in a fic until i had written everything else, such that i had to sit and write 10,000 words, spread across three scenes, of sex. worst week of my life.

internal logic, because i think it's so obvious in my head that i forget to explain it in words on the page.

i think i always can improve on character voice. that's an eternal work in progress.

18. thoughts of writing dialogue in another language in fics?

it's cool. probably good to consult a native speaker if writer of the fic doesn't speak it, though?

19. first fandom you wrote for?

christ. harry potter, by hand, in pencil, in an a5 notebook.

20. favorite fic you have written?

recency bias compels me to say by the time the apocalypse began, because i worked my ass and head off for it, and i ended up really happy with how it turned out. sci-fi's not really my wheelhouse.

i have a huge soft spot for my clj arranged marriage fic, 双命; twin fates, because i had such a blast writing it. and 总有一天; a place to hide (can’t find one near) will always be special to me, because it was like taking a huge, glittering, orgasmic shit.

i believe quite a few people have already been cross-tagged but i will tag you guys again for fun: @yuebings @cafecliche @dcyiyou @vinelark @floofyfluff @ziusik

#i love these ask memes

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quillkiller · 22 days

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bellatrix pls xx

(ask game)

mwah thank u claude <3

favorite thing about them

i always tend to be the most compelled by oldest sibling-characters and that’s one of my favorite things about bellatrix aswell.. like her undying loyalty to family and especially her sisters, even if the loyalty is flawed and unhealthy, is very deeply special to me. i read a post lately about how bellatrix never used violence against her own family even if her family ended up using it against her. even after azkaban, after years of torture and dementors, she never layed a hand on. she always prioritized her family, despite it being in fucked up and harmful ways .. makes me Sick

least favorite thing about them

honestly maybe nothing ?? i think she’s one of the most interesting female characters in the hp series. she marries but never had children and ended up more powerful and demanding more respect than her husband ever did. she was voldys right hand man, despite being a woman .. she wasn’t heir to anything at all but becomes the most feared black family member of all ?? i think thats very interesting. i suppose i could be boring and say that my least favorite thing is that shes a ’death eater’ but that would be a lie :/

favorite line

"You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain - to enjoy it - righteous anger won't hurt me for long - I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson—” <- cunty

brotp

bella & sirius but in like a really fucked up way. in a sirius was bellas favorite cousin way and she hates him more than anything and sirius misses bella because he knew her before her name caused fear to whoever spoke it. they would play quidditch together and play fight and bella was his cool older cousin and sirius was the heir who looked up to her.. they absolutely excluded their other siblings during holiday festivites or whatever and teamed up. i Think

otp

quillkiller <3

notp

any ship with a man. bella is a lesbian to me 🤍

random hc

i think she’s kinda.. gross ? i dont think she brushes her teeth regularly and often gets knots in her hair because she doesnt like brushing it. she was the kind of teenage girl who hated her ’evolving’ body and puberty and how men started looking at her differently and how she became a ’girl’ against her own will

unpopular opinion

young bellatrix was just a pretty normal teenage girl. like yeah she was prejudiced and narrow-minded, but i really believe she was just a teenage girl who loved her sisters and laughed a lot. i dont even tend to think she was that against andys relationship with ted at first and the coin really flipped when she understood that andy was going to choose him. to bella their relationship was just a fling, bella had them too, and then when it really came down to it they would fulfill their duties and do whats expected of them. sort of hogwarts being their rumspringa shdhfjsjf if that makes sense ? <- people tend to think bella was just born crazy or evil as if it isnt in the canonical text that azkaban is what deteriorated her mental state. like yeah she wasnt a good person before that, but she was also. a person. who made those choices and had to live with them and committ to them. i dont think she just Chose to submit to voldy without second thoughts. she wanted to and she was going to do it, but she had sisters she loved and has been hurt in her life and theres just NUANCE !!!!!!!!

song i associate with them

#im not doing the picture thing…. 🤍#bella #claude tag #asks

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stillness138 · 8 months

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Since there won't be any more expansions (and i'm a chronic procrastinator), i updated my personal top 10 Gwent card arts into a top 20, including the few sets that came since then and shuffling things around a bit.

It's a long one, hence the cut.

Personal top 20 Gwent card arts:

20: Bone Talisman by Bogna Gawrońska It's still the most festive looking thing i like. My beloved blue-and-bright red fidget spinner. I really can't explain my weird attachment to it any other way; i generally tend to like the item arts, maybe it's the collector brain, maybe it's because after Homecoming and most of the expansion sets since later 2019 onwards, these base set trinket adjacent arts became more prominent to me among a lot of new, more dramatic and bleak character and scenery art.

19: Ceremonial Dagger by Katarzyna Bekus The entire set of strategem arts from Merchants of Ofir is honestly packed, but the dagger is the one i found myself putting in my in-game profile the most. Maybe it's the item hoarder brain again, maybe it's the color scheme i find relatable if that makes sense, most likely it's the premium helping a bunch to make that choice too. The background weirdly fascinates me. Does it have anything to do with The Spiral? I have never attempted to really assign any logical meaning to the strategem arts, they're clearly more symbolic than anything, but it still makes you wonder.

18: Ard Gaeth by Katarzyna Bekus Somewhat related, here's another piece of wonky multiverse lore. And once again, it's the color that first grabs attention; the contrast of teal and this dusty red. Then one starts realizing the implied size and scope, the birds help with that, apart from being a cute composition detail. The shattery effect makes it look volatile, unstable, dangerous. Ominous. Which ultimately makes it fit with the rest of the Wild Hunt archetype in more than just lore.

17: Coup de Grâce by Lorenzo Mastroianni There are two wolves in me, one loves bright colors, the other actually enjoys a lot of the bleaker scenes. Although to be fair, Lorenzo Mastroianni is a big contributor to that. And it's no wonder, when he casually drops stuff like this. It's almost symbolic, lot less than strategems but certainly more than other, straightforward "war sucks" Gwent art. How do you visually represent something sad in a way that makes it hard to look away not just because of the tragedy but because of the beauty put into making that image? You ask Lorenzo Mastroianni, the modern classical artist, to do it.

16: Viper Witcher by Valeriy Vegera I once described Valeriy's art as "where Lorenzo uses a tight color palette, he uses every pencil in the case". This one is perhaps not as obvious an example, the whole piece has a very unified atmosphere especially from afar, but still, there are so many colors especially in textiles and skin. They're harder to register sometimes but it's how Valeriy does texture and shading. And somehow, he bridges the bleak and the colorful world too. Admittedly, this card also had to be here because mr. Viper is my son, and the voicelines are done by an actor with the nicest, smoothest bass i've heard since Peter Steele.

15: Naglfar's Crew by Anton Nazarenko I was surprised by how much i ended up liking this one. It's the implications, i think; enchanted to laboriously upkeep this monster of a ship, this 'and if you see it emerge from a breach in the sky, you know you're fucked' symbol of death and decay. It's dark in a way i find compelling, i guess.

14: Serpent Trap by Marta Dettlaff Back to the bright ones, i liked this art ever since i discovered it as Nature's Gift in post-Midwinter beta. The card saw play in Scoia'tael spell decks, and to me it became linked to Francesca Findabair for their shared spectral snake thing. But that all aside, the art is just so pretty. Vibrant, yet not oversaturated. And like the item arts, needed to balance out the cool and badass and the dramatic and tragic. Looking at it now, another point comes to mind; it's still grounded? The way Gwent art at large is grounded compared to other card games. Like it's not trying so hard (both this piece and the game's art in general). That's refreshing.

13: Chort by Bartłomiej Gaweł It reminds me of the first game's main menu. The Witcher 1 main menu is, to me, one of the most accurate representations of this universe, its atmosphere. Even if the "you kill cows, you get ambushed by the fucking baphomet" is a meme game mechanic, something about it is...witchery. Superstition, folk legends, and ultimately, monsters. Or that's my takeaway, anyway. But the Chort art, beside being on the more rare side in-game, has always weirdly drawn me in.

12. Oneiromancy by Lorenzo Mastroianni This was the Novigrad expansion key art before they turned it into a card, and i sure am glad they did. Lorenzo can get a bit weird, as a treat, someone said. Are they Condwiramurs and Corinne? Possibly! But i'll abstain from the schizo theories now. It's a gorgeous, well composed and executed surrealist piece. Inception if it had strong palpable atmosphere.

Denis Villeneuve > Christopher Nolan. but Lorenzo beats both

11: Funeral Boat by, you guessed it, Lorenzo Mastroianni One final yippee for the last card set. And my god it's beautiful. Tight composition can get surprisingly hard to coordinate and make decisions for, but this is so well-balanced. The left end of the boat is closer to the frame, but right side has the most noticeable color, the character's face, and of course the bird to even it out. As if to defend the title i gave him earlier, Lorenzo references Isle of the Dead in a way that, even if symbolic, fits into the universe perfectly. Someone stop me before i start rambling about similar concepts in different mythologies.

10: Dana Méadbh (now the token spawned by Call of Harmony) by Anna Podedworna The most famous Gwent artist enters the list. With a piece made around two, when you think about it very bold choices. The goddess of nature and life, glowing with inhuman light in a black and barren forest. Obscured by thin, bare tree trunks. But to make her emerge and stand out, that was necessary. And it's working wonders. A lot of the Scoia'tael faction is obviously green, all kinds of green, but even a simple choice like making it pop out of black makes the card art stand out among others.

9: Circle of Life by Oleksandr Kozachenko It has everything i usually look for in Gwent art; nature, color, atmosphere. A certain tranquility, perhaps. A little bit of story - the orange badge is the Kerack coat of arms. It's that environmental storytelling thing gamers keep talking about, complementing the character and faction drama of the rest of its card set.

There's a slightly changed, extended version, too, and somehow it's even better.

8: Gezras of Leyda by Bogdan Rezunenko As much as i tend to dunk on Bogdan for having played Blasphemous once and making it his entire personality, Gezras is easily the best school founder card art of the set. Once again, the choice to have these prominent arts on the more symbolic side paid off, and the result is a stalking nocturnal animal out for revenge, backed by a giant image of what simultaneously did him irrepairable harm and gave him the means to defend himself. The premium doesn't disappoint either.

7: Rioghan the Undying by Daniel Valaisis To nobody's surprise, the atmosphere, once again, got me hooked. I love the cold color, the dramatic flow, the big imposing silhouette of a ship in the background. Poor boy is the picture of misery. It's pure melancholy (something not that common in the Skellige faction by the way, which is a point in favor of Funeral Boat too), that i, of course, am inevitably drawn to.

he's just like me fr...

6: Witches' Sabbath by Michal Lisowski Did i craft this card already or not? The realist's complaint towards near-greyscale card art. I share this sentiment, if only for the comedy of it, but with a few notable exceptions, and this piece is the main one. The Robert Eggers comparisons were made already i'm sure, but it really is a take on the last good Witcher 3 quest with a dramatic, more dreamy, or you could say cinematic quality ramped up to 11. Gone is the fanservice present in the game and the unnecessarily grotesque depictions of fatness of other parts of this card set, and what remains is a beautiful, ominous callback to folklore and classical art.

5: Tinboy by Valeriy Vegera This is a baroque painting. The drama. Tinboy doesn't take that scarf off, ever. And here this poor soul is, their last will to live dragging it off him. On purpose? On accident? Probably both. The pattern marking Tinboy as a gang member staining with blood of a victim, something something symbolism. All in Valeriy's signature 'which pencil should i pick up next' style. Underrated piece.

4: Lara Dorren by Toni Muntean They finally got our girl. And once again, despite heartbreak, it's gorgeous. Soft, sweet colors with a necessary hint of melancholy (the lighting suggests it's sunset?), and a pure, painted quality without the need for texture assets. A scene like this is better left a comparatively simple and laid back tribute. Beyond the technicalities, i also really, really applaud Toni for the outfit design. This is the Aen Elle princess, dressed well but for the weather. And the fact her mostly blue clothes with yellow sleeves mirror Cregennan's yellow jerkin with blue details, and her red brooch above the heart might, beside contrasting with the blue, very well reflect his fatal wounds... well. As much as death on card art isn't always done the best, Lara is represented together with that which mattered to her the most. Despite being categorized among the Wild Hunt, she remains herself.

3: Lydia van Bredervoort by Igor Klymenko The joy i felt when this was the art of Lydia they managed to get into the game. It's easily one of the best contest pieces and on par with the best Gwent has to offer - it has mood, and that ever present air of groundedness, realism, and in that, unfortunate tragedy. But similarly to Lara, it shows Lydia being her own person; doing what she loved and was good at without sight of Vilgefortz despite her being known as his ever loyal assistant. Likewise, it doesn't sensantionalize her condition, but references it in a subtle, tasteful, and even clever way. I also love her dress and the overall color palette. Igor understood.

2: Eldain by Anna Podedworna Couldn't help it, this asshole has me in chokehold and he's enjoying it. In my defense, this piece highlights everything Anna is known for, because she's damn good at it. Incredibly sharp main subject of the piece contrasted against a blurry background, which allows for insane details like the strings extending from the top of the lute. To add more fun to it, Eldain isn't even in the absolute foreground, but the piece is still composed smart, so he remains the main focus. His silly red collar on mostly green helps. On top of all that, the art tells a little story, something Anna often does too, and in this case it delightfully sums Eldain up. It's also the best premium in the game.

look at his little red ears from sitting against the sun aww

Honorable mention: Lake Guardian by Anton Nazarenko Like the following #1, this card has sentimental value to me as my second card reveal and artwork i made my best emote of. It was a perfect match, bird gals and all. It's a Sirin, bringing in a more obscure but not unwelcome mythology reference to the universe. And I love her vibrant, marble-like eyes.

1: Dol Blathanna Sentry by Lorenzo Mastroianni ...remains my favourite card art since that fateful day sometime in January 2018. I was just discovering what there was to know about Witcher, downloading Gwent in the first place out of need for more content as i was slowly reading through the first book. Gwent has done a lot to explore and build on this universe, and it has helped me contextualize a lot of things early on. I remember scrolling through the deckbuilder, seeing this art, and being struck by its mood, this aura of secret and wonder. "Oh, so this is what Dol Blathanna looks like..." It's quintessential older Lorenzo. Very much admitted brush work, fog, tight color palette. The little specks of blue in flowers and face paint work just right. Maybe it's a reference to Arthurian myth and Avalon, maybe to Greek myth and Hades, or maybe, as is often the case and was the case later (or earlier in this list), both. It spoke to me and my sense of wonder back then. It speaks to me when i search for comfort now.

now, time to tear Karol Bem to shreds in the top 20 least favourites xd

#shut up elis #the witcher #gwent: the witcher card game #fingers crossed tungle doesn't obliterate the links

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dirtyoldmanhole · 4 months

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i think another reason why rev!route gunter/corrin specifically is so compelling to me - (how many are we on krad, 23?)

- is that you can very legitimately read it as the canon ship in revalation, specifically. yeah yeah yeah, his supports are greyed out, whatever (truthfuly doesn't even matter when you play the version with unlocked supports or use the in-game library).

it's the .... i hesitate to call it subtext when you've got whatever the hell is going on in ch25/ch26, ha. but more than that it's the symbolic, thematic, explicitly continuously layered importance of their dynamic. he's there in the very first scene with corrin, he's there in the very last scene, the gut-punches of scenes involve him or echo him somehow. the game very literally falls apart storytelling wise if you don't put gunter (+azura/arete/mikoto/anankos, all of who are honestly more my favorites than the playable cast) at the center, and i think that's a large part of why most folks bounced off of rev because it wasn't about the sibling royals.

see - my general otp archetype falls into the category of 'no way in hell would become canon' (too Weird with power dynamics, too kinky) -- with pretty much the sole exception of hellsing (integra/alucard).

and like, i'm a shipper for life. i don't have the time or energy or fucks to sit through 32453 episodes of a mediocre show or game or whatever just to settle with crumbs. i served my time there, these days i'd rather waste my time drawing/writing exactly the kind of Freak Ass Ship (and stories) i like and chilling in the corner feeling fed and oh so satisfied.

i honestly was not ever expecting my favorite game series to drop in with this kind of ship dynamic, but it did. and holy hell it stuck the landing.

#freak ass chemistry so intense nintendo had to grey out the supports. :3 #it's kind of funny b/c i get the sense most gunter/corrin shippers prefer CQ (which i get for obvious reasons re: gameplay).#but oh my godddd revelation's story has my heart and soul.

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self-aware-sawtrap · 5 months

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1, 7, 9 for Saw ask game

favorite male character: adam or rigg. adam i think for the same reasons everyone likes him. he’s a loser and i want to cut him up into little pieces and examine him under a microscope 💛. rigg’s kind of the saving grace of saw iv for me. he’s super underrated by the fandom and i honestly think I’d be better off explaining in a longer post why i like him so much. the shortest possible version is that i think he’s one of the most compelling saw protagonists because his story kind of has the same themes of justice and what circumstances can push people into violence that hoffman’s did in saw v, but i generally find him a much more likable and grounded character than hoffman. of course likability isn’t always a necessity in this franchise but i do think in this case it made him a more compelling character. i don’t really like saw iv and i wish he’d gotten more time for his story to play out, but as the movies are I just find him a very charismatic and intriguing character. most underrated character of all time.

do i have any ships: I do! not really anything surprising or rare, just chainshipping and shotgunshipping. I think those two and coffinshipping are the most popular in this fandom, but I don’t really like coffinshipping. truly no offense to people who do because I totally get the appeal, it’s just not for me.

favorite movie: saw x! I know this isn’t a super unpopular opinion since this one did pretty well critically, but I have seen people criticizing it a lot on here? and I agree it’s not fundamentally that different from the rest of them, individual saw movies exist more as a play on a formula than a completely new experience each time. but in my opinion, this is the best one. john & amanda’s relationship is my favorite part of these movies so of course I liked seeing their relationship in a slightly less active state of decay than it is in iii. visually this is my favorite saw film except for maybe ii. also medical horror is such a good direction for this series to take and i love seeing a full movie dedicated to it. and I appreciate everything about cecelia kudos to the writers for bringing john back just to reveal that he had a sexy evil archnemesis. and kudos for making her just as much of a bastard as he is. my only issue with this one is the yellow mexico filter, which i can’t and won’t defend. and while that in itself is completely worthy of criticism this one’s definitely my favorite.

#saw #saw franchise #sawposting #sawtism #ask game #saw x #adam stanheight #daniel rigg #saw iv #long post

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rriavian · 7 months

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Shipper Tag Game

Tagged by @seiya-starsniper <3

What ship were you completely obsessed with as a teenager, but now you don't care about anymore?

I don’t think there are any actually! I’m pretty consistent and will usually circle back to a ship every couple of years 😊

Which ship would you consider your first one?

This is tough, I don’t think I actually remember. Though I think last time I answered this question I mentioned Lord of the Rings because of Aragorn/Arwen

Your first fanfic was about which couple?

My secret anon identity means I can’t answer this honestly – but the first one I’ve written without being anonymous is Corintheus

Do you remember the first couple you saw fan art of?

Long long time ago so not quite sure actually, might be a ship from Harry Potter

Have you ever gotten into ship discourse?

Nope! I try and stay away from it—though I never hide my opinions, I just don’t really engage too much in ship discourse. People are always going to have differing opinions over pairings, and I’ve seen it get very ugly in fandom spaces.

Did you use to have any NOTP or have one currently?

Oh I have a fair few, but usually they are ships I was previously neutral about. Some of them are also things I've previously shipped. My NOTPs are pretty much all results of a not so pleasant fandom experience, so I don’t really talk a lot about what they are. I’m a multishipper so the only time I actually have a NOTP is when a ship is overwhelmingly represented in a way that I just can’t get on board with.

Who were the last couple in the last fanfic you read?

Corintheus 😊 which is definitely what I’m most known for haha, so probably not a surprise

Currently, do you have any OTPs?

As I said…I am a multishipper, and I’ve never really had an OTP. It’s not a concept I really resonate with? Especially with fanfic because for me it’s all about the exploration of possibilities, and I can very much ship multiple things at once. I care more about interesting/well executed characterisation and well written relationship dynamics.

Is there any couple that, to this day, that you are extremely mad about not getting into?

Not really, because if I’m not into a ship in at least some way (or neutral/open to the possibility) then there is usually a very, very good reason.

Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they're kind of interesting?

Hmm. Maybe Desire/Unity? But it’s not that I ever really disliked them, more that there are some obvious consent issues within it that initially made me not really consider the ship too closely. The more I see others exploring it the more I’ve found them interesting 😊

Do you have any ship that, in the past, would have been considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?

I don’t think so actually! Though I’m probably forgetting something

What is your favourite crack ship?

Ooh I’ve read a lot of bizarre stuff. Hmm. It might have to be a certain ship that @writing-for-life introduced me to (if you know what I’m talking about it will need no further explanation haha)

What is the couple you read the most fanfics about?

I’m still anon in a lot of fandoms so I can’t actually answer this question too honestly. I haven’t actually been reading that much recently (very focused on writing at the moment)

What do most of your ships have in common?

Equality…in some fashion they are each other’s match. Which sounds like a strange thing to say for Corintheus but it doesn’t necessarily have to be in physical strength/power.

I also ship a fair few ‘enemies to lovers’ ships. Probably for the above reason! It’s the intimacy of it I think. Also the complexity, I like ships where the dynamic is compelling but not necessarily easy to pull off in a fic, because that usually means more thought is put into the execution of it. If that makes sense? And I am very much all about the execution when I read/write.

What do you absolutely hate in a ship?

Butchering characterisation just to play out a binary sex dynamic. Mostly this presents as overt feminisation of the one character who is designated to be ‘weaker’ for reasons both untrue and usually very offensive. Which sounds harsh but it’s something I utterly despise. Folded into this is also one character ‘fixing’ the other character, especially when this involves that character giving up something important/integral to who they are. I see it so much in published fiction as well and it’s just not for me at all.

I also really don’t like it when unhealthy behaviours are romanticised (usually to ‘fix’ one character) or miscommunication when it’s not something silly like accidentally buying your partner the wrong type of coffee because you were so tired you misheard a word.

#shipper tag game #thanks for the tag!#this has been in my drafts for ages!#so sorry I'm late!

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jiangwanyinscatmom · 1 year

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For the game. I picked a lot 🫣

1, 2, 8, 10, 16, 17, 19, 23, and 25.

Please and thank you 😊

Hope you are doing well!

1. the character everyone gets wrong

Wei Wuxian, especially from topping Wei Wuxian fics, they make him downright cruel for some reason like this somehow turned into Erha and Taxian-Jun made a comeback. (Being a dick on purpose is not sexy or cool yawn)

2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

Answer previously: Wangxian wouldn’t switch… because their very dynamic has already been a subversion of what the usual danmei couple is sexually. Lan Wangji is made to be seen as the maidenly pretty one that is shy, while Wei Wuxian is seemingly the charming player and flirt who is vastly more outgoing. Intrinsically their sexual dynamic as a strict bottom and top plays into what is supposedly more right to them, and basically shattering that by making Wei Wuxian the one who prefers to bottom and very much letting Lan Wangji be the do-er. It feels like otherwise it’s not them or at least, very hard to write believably with them swapping sexual roles.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

There is no such thing as morally grey Wei Wuxian as that very definition is to do seemingly good things while having ulterior motives with the lack of actual respect or care to others.

10. worst part of fanon

Fandom Jiang Cheng, no he is not Wei Wuxian's brother, neither of them ever say the words "you are or like my brother" to each other, no he is not ever going to plan a wedding for Wangxian, he's a homophobe who went on a tirade because they hugged and they aren't miserable like him and he thinks they're making light of his pain yada yada. No he does not need further contact with Wei Wuxian as he did the best and most unselfish thing he could ever do in his life by finally not holding what all he supposedly did for Wei Wuxian to trap him. No he is in no way Lan Shizui's uncle nor even his damn shishu because he kicked Wei Wuxian out of the sect and Lan Shizui doesn't even respect him aside from the bare minimum why would he ever want to call that man an uncle.

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Straight boy Wei Ying is annoying, and dare I say a fetishized trope to make him terrible when he literally has nothing against anyone gay in book and it's really just the normal display of comphet from someone raised in a traditional home.

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

Lan Wangji and Jin Ling bonding. I really like the idea of Jin Ling being scared witless of Lan Wangji but also very adamant to be praised by him and secretly fangirling in his room after he get a "well done" by him.

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

Ahhhhhhh mmmmmm.... I don't think I have any honestly.

23. ship you've unwillingly come around to

Hahahahahahhahaha, Taxian-Jun x Liu Qingge. (No seriously I REALLY like this idea and gotta work on my idea for it)

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Wangxian were disrespectful in the ancestral hall, or Wei Wuxian in the supervisory office was meant to be judged/he shouldn't have fought back against THREE THOUSAND people out to kill him because they made up lies about him.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #svsss #scum villain

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ante--meridiem · 7 months

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I really liked the idea of ship classification ask game based on that post, but honestly I don't know what fandoms you've been into lately, cuz I'm just back on tumblr after a big hiatus xD

So I'll formulate my question like this. What about the quadrant thingy for the four popular ships from the fandom you've been in the longest?

(From my tags here)

Hey!! Thanks for biting! I think the fandom I've been in longest is tma? I don't know exactly which 4 ships are most popular for it so I'll try to do it as "for each category I pick the most popular of the ships that clearly (to me) belong there".

Also some clarification on how I interpret things, based on other people's responses to the post it seems like a lot of people are taking "makes sense" as "proximity to canon" where I was seeing it as either "yeah I can see what personality compatibility these characters would have" or "I could see how the situation they're put in could be made easily shippy even if canon doesn't follow up on that". So "makes sense, doesn't compel me" doesn't mean "canon but boring" here, it means "I see the vision but am not that enticed by it". Meanwhile very many actually canon ships fail to make sense to me.

So with that said

Makes sense, compels me: jonelias (Elias' "shaping Jon for his own ends" thing could easily be developed into fascination/obsession; Jon's hunger for answers and desire to regain some control over his life could easily be developed into hunger for the person who can give him those things)

Makes sense, doesn't compel me: wtgfs aka georgie/melanie (on first impression I did think this came out of left field and didn't make sense but on further reflection I do see where it's coming from? Georgie has an established pattern of being interested in people more prone to boldness/acerbicness/need-to-dig than she is, between Jon and Alex (I think that's the name of the girl from her statement who I thought it was fairly heavily implied she had some level of crush on), and it makes sense for her to be drawn to/admire those traits because she wants to be more like that herself; meanwhile it makes sense for Melanie to go for someone capable of a more grounding/calming presence who continued to respect her when her reputation was damaged. Nothing canon does with them really compels me but hypothetically someone could do something with them that does; I think I read one fic once where I did find their dynamic interesting.)

Doesn't make sense, compels me: gertrudeagnes (they only interacted once and we didn't even get to see it directly, and there's nothing in their personalities that immediately indicates compatibility, but they both have strong personalities that could mix and clash in interesting ways and I'm pretty intrigued by the possibilities)

Doesn't make sense, doesn't compel me: jonmartin (rather than redo one of my many rants about them I'll just say that I can see that the intention with them may have been a similar kind of complementary personalities thing to what made me now concede that Georgie and Melanie do make some amount of sense, except that Georgie and Melanie admire the traits the other has that they lack and would want said traits for themselves, while Jon and Martin mostly show frustration/disdain/disinterest towards each other's complementary traits.)

#ask game #breathing-and-stuff #The Podcast #thanks for the ask!

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the-meat-machine · 1 year

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wait WERE they both horny about it??? i don't remember seeing anything like that in the comic (talking about the ship ask) ((the uucest part))

(referring to the caliborn/calliope part of this post about caliborn ships)

oh yeah, i absolutely stand by that statement. i would say that all evidence suggests that caliborn is definitely horny for calliope, and calliope is probably attracted to him too

i'm gonna start with a quote from aranea's explanation of cherub sexuality here, because it provides some important context:

In the case of our heroine, she was the good half, and the day of her predomin8tion was in a sense the day her 8rother died. And though it was to her 8enefit and personal growth, 8ecause of this loss she would always live with a sense that something was missing. Every sexually mature cheru8 lives with this feeling. It drives them to seek out another cheru8 similar to the half they lost, the part of their 8eing which they grew up in perpetual conflict with. The desire to travel the universe in hopes of reigniting that conflict is very important to their species. It's the force which compels them to procre8.

cherub romance is based in hatred, and specifically in a desire to experience the same sort of conflict they did with their "other half". to me this strongly implies that it's common - maybe even expected - for a cherub to be attracted to their other half

of course, just because this is true for cherubs in general doesn't necessarily mean it's true for these cherubs. but… i think it is

let's start with caliborn, because he's waaaay more obvious about it. he says that calliope will make a breathtaking corpse. he even fucking slips up and says that he's going to "mate with her". i don't think there's any doubt that he's horny for her

the question of whether calliope feels the same way is more ambiguous, but i think there's good evidence that she does

like, at the beginning of her chess game with caliborn she's playfully antagonistic in a way that seems calculated to piss him off (though in this case it doesn't because he knows he's actually the one winning). it honestly comes across as pretty flirtatious to me

and then there's… ok, well, first of all, bear in mind that the knights in their chess set fucking look like this:

that's just. that's a cherub in mating form. this chess set is downright pornographic. who gave this to a child. (gamzee did. thanks gamzee.)

anyway. while calliope still thinks she's winning, she interjects this little aside:

UU: knight to d6. UU: look oUt! i'm coming for her. UU: i think she's langUished behind the front lines long enoUgh, woUldn't yoU say? UU: time to shake things Up. move her, or take my knight. UU: yoU know yoU want to take her. jUst look at her there. what a cheeky intrUsion. slithered right into yoUr palace and made herself comfy. maybe she'll lay an egg once she's finished her feast. ^U^

and, like, hoooooooooooly shit, calliope, that is FILTHY. you have moved your highly erotic chess piece into caliborn's territory, taunted him to "take her", and just to complete the sexual analogy, decided to bring fucking eggs into the conversation too. god damn

and, ok, caliborn doesn't really react to this, so maybe at the time this pesterlog was written this wasn't intended to be quite that filthy. but still

the chess match later ends like this:

uranianUmbra [UU] began cheering undyingUmbrage [uu] UU: FUCK THIS!!!!!!!!!!! UU: i don't know why i bothered hUmoUring yoUr vile Underhanded rUbbish! UU: I HATE YOU. JUST SOD RIGHT OFF TO HELL, PLEASE. uranianUmbra [UU] ceased cheering undyingUmbrage [uu]

undyingUmbrage [uu] began jeering uranianUmbra [UU] uu: HEY THERE. BE CAREFuL. uu: A GuY COuLD GET THE WRONG IDEA. AND MISTAKE YOuR OuTBuRST FOR SOMETHING. uu: CALIGINOuS. uu: THAT WOuLD BE MOST uN"SISTERLY." DON'T YOu THINK. uu: ANYWAY. BY THE LOOKS OF THIS MESSY BOARD. uu: I'M GOING TO ASSuME YOu FORFEITED THE MATCH. undyingUmbrage [uu] ceased jeering uranianUmbra [UU]

uranianUmbra [UU] began cheering undyingUmbrage [uu] UU: yoU are disgUsting. UU: i really loathe yoU, and no, NOT IN "THAT WAY!" UU: i am not going to talk to yoU for a while. probably a LONG while. UU: i only hope i can overcome my contempt for yoU when it comes time to play oUr game. bUt i am not holding my breath!!!!!!!!!!!

yeah, calliope claims here that she doesn't hate him "that way", but honestly, considering everything else she said and did throughout the match, it comes across as denial more than anything. and think about it - even if calliope were attracted to caliborn, would she ever admit it to him and give him the satisfaction of knowing it for sure? hell no.

(also once again caliborn is DEFINITELY flirting here by taunting her for her "unsisterly" feelings. horny horny boy)

so, there's all of that. there's also some indirect evidence in the conversation where calliope tells roxy that she's a cherub. during this chat, calliope says that she doesn't experience red romance, but that she can have caliginous romantic feelings. the way she says it doesn't sound hypothetical, either. she's not just talking about what's typical for cherubs - she seems to be confessing that this is how she, personally, experiences romance. and she acts ashamed enough of it that i think that if she'd never felt caliginous feelings for anyone, she'd want to say so; she'd want to be able to distance herself from it.

but… if she's had caliginous feelings before, who were they for? who does she feel enough contempt for to be attracted to? her friend group is pretty small, and she likes all of them. the only person she hates is, well… caliborn.

i think that this is something that she would never, ever be willing to confess to anyone, not even roxy. she's already ashamed enough of her species. how could she possibly confess to an attraction that she doesn't think humans could ever understand, that breaks human taboos, that means that she's attracted to someone everyone rightfully thinks is scum? no, this is a secret she'll take to her grave and beyond.

so anyway, yeah. tl;dr: caliborn has the hots for calliope, and calliope probably has the hots right back. qed

#uucest #calcest #meatmeta

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