#i mean i know i did this on purpose to an extent bc it would be a fun challenge

[angelhound]

.

[1800-page-not-found]

Being drunk and complaining how you think your bf/gf is prettier than you (genshin men+women x fem reader) PART 3

ITS THE HARBINGERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Not doing scaramouche cuz i already did in part 2

Dottore, Columbina, Sandrone x reader (seperate)

TW: implied unhealthy relationship (for dottore bc that man does not treat anyone like a human being, i have mixed feelings about that guy), and id like to state that i do NOT support toxic relationships.

Making another part for the other harbingers bc im really sleepy rn and I just wanna give you guys something because I havent posted in a long time.

The next part contains Pantalone, Tartaglia, Arlecchino x reader (seperate)

Maybe i'll do Signora, Pierro, and Capatino? but Capatino wears a mask??? wtv lol

Please note that you may not like "[name]"s personality, as it may differ from yours.

You had met Zandik when he was a scholar at the Akademiya, before he was expelled for his crimes and immoral acts. Fortunately, unlike the last girl who had fancied him, Sohreh, he did not mutilate your body, because somehow in that rather small and close to non existing heart of his, was you.

But unfortunately, you could not escape his unhinged mindset. You relied too much on the Akasha System. When he did get expelled, you followed with him. After all, thats what the Akasha showed which was best for you. Hundreds of years went by, and he became a powerful harbinger. He still gave you freedom, to some extent. So how did you wind up at his office, crying and drunk?

"Zandik" You cried.

You were ultimately weak in the mind due to your heavy dependency that Dottore had created for you. He smiled as you cried into his shoulder, dampening his clothes.

"Yes dear? What happened for you to come crying to me?" He was your white knight.

You quickly learned that somehow, dottore would always save you, relieving you of your agony. Like he did with the ruin machines when they found Sohreh's body.

"O-one of your clones said you didn't love me and you had another woman…" you hiccup in between your words.

"My dear, do not fret, there are no other women in my life besides you. Why would I require someone else? Those clones can be quite troublesome, and not all of them are friendly. I apologize for their behavior." He soothed you, patting your back. 'Yes, yes...let it all out,' he thought. His clones were doing well, their original sole purpose was to create insecurities and confusion in your mind.

"But-But, I'm not even that pretty, even you're prettier than me! Theres plenty of women who are better than me-what if you dont love me one day?" You mumble, your head still lying on his shoulder.

"Darling, I have to say, I am surprised by your irrational behavior. My affection for you is undeniable, and the fact that you would suggest otherwise is quite hurtful..." Your eyes widened.

Oh, how could you hurt him like that?! After everything he's done for you?...

"No-no! I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt you, I-"

"Do you trust me [name]?" He cuts you off.

"Huh? Of course I do!"

"Good, now please can we move on? If we continue to talk about this, my heart will ache even more." He starts to make an expression that he knows will make you feel guilty. You've really fallen deeper into the rabbit hole now.

--------

Columbina had saved you at your lowest, and you had devoted your every fiber of yourself to her. You decided to get stronger, your sole motivation being paying back your benefactor. Well, that was until the angel-like harbinger said you could pay her back by forming a relationship with her.

You did start off as friends, but that slowly spiraled into a more intimate relationship. You promised to be there for her whenever and wherever, but really, does the harbinger who's ranked third really need protecting?... I mean, you're so much weaker than her, how can you protect her when she's in danger?

That thought slowly grew in your mind-you can't help but just let it all out when drunk on the fine vodka Columbina had brought back for you and her to enjoy...until well, you drank the whole bottle.

You stared at the empty bottle in your hand that once held the highest quality of vodka.

"[name], my dear, what's on your mind?" Columbina spoke softly, her voice sounding like a lovely melody in your ears.

"Mmmm...I don't wanna bother youuu..." You dragged out your words, slurring your speech.

Columbina stood up from the couch and took the bottle out from your hands and gently placed it on the glass coffee table, making a small 'kling' sound. She sat back down and held your hands, which were rather cold so she decided to warm them up.

It was strange how she always kept her eyes closed, but no matter what always aware of her surroundings. This only increased your insecurity, after all, only one with great strength could do such things...and you couldn't.

"[name]." She let go of your hands and placed hers on your cheek, and kissed you softly. "Your thoughts will never be a bother all right? I'll always be there to protect you and be by your side." She smiled at you warmly.

You started to cry, the alcohol heightening your emotions. "That's-that's the thing!" You let out a sob, wiping your tears. "I-I don't want to just rely on you, I want you to rely on me too! But, I'm so much weaker than you and, and you excel in everything! You're smart, strong, independent, and so, so much prettier than me and everyone, you deserve so much better than me I-" Your rant was cut short when Columbina kissed you again softly.

"Oh, [name], I never knew you felt this way, I want you to know that I rely on you every single day, there is not a single moment where I don't rely on you. I know you probably don't believe it, but you make me feel so happy. I don't care if you think that I outshine you, because in my eyes you're the most beautiful and amazing person in the entirety of Teyvat. You're perfect in my eyes just the way you are, and no one else can take that spot." Her voice really soothed you, and as she spoke, you stopped crying.

"R-really? You mean it?..." You sniffled, wiping your tears off your face.

"Yes, now please, there's no need to cry anymore alright?" she kissed your forehead and held you in a warm embrace on the couch.

"Mhm…alright, thank you, I love you…" You rubbed your eyes, tired from crying and fell asleep in Columbina's arms.

Once you were sound asleep, Columbina picked you up, carrying you in her arms bridal style and set you gently on the bed, making sure you're comfortable before crawling into the bed and cuddling with you.

The next day, you woke up, eyes puffy and not a single memory of last night. When you asked your lover, she just giggled and walked away, leaving you confused.

--------

Sandrone was an interesting character. When you first met, you had actually died. Well more like on the verge of death. Somehow, for some reason, she had saved you, as she had basically turned you into part automaton.

You were supposedly her 'puppet', but, puppets don't act this human. You were crazy for confessing your love to her, the harbinger who was known for only caring about her own works, and having a god awful personality to come with it.

Well, fortunately for you, you did count as one of her works, so perhaps that was the reason why she accepted your confession and you two started being in a relationship?...you still couldn't wrap your mind about this, you were really happy to say the least.

Today, you had practically begged her to come with you to have a picnic and stargaze. She was being quite stubborn. But of course, she couldn't outmatch your own stubbornness and you, thus she gave in.

You were so excited, yet here you were, sitting on the blanket, extremely drunk. You smiled at her, all giggly and bubbly as you wrapped yourself around her arm, hugging her.

Sandrone sighed and frowned, she stopped her work just for this? I mean, it was you... (She'd never admit to loving spending time with you, she's gotta keep her reputation up... but everyone knows, even you, that she has an extremely soft spot for you (and only you.))

"[name]...quit staring at me like that!" sandrone flicked your forehead, earning an 'owwww' from you.

After recovering from the ferocious attack, you laughed and smiled. "But you're just sooooo pretty! I can't keep my eyes off you, the prettiest girl in Teyvat!"

You lowered your voice to a whisper "I think you're prettier than me, all the other harbingers, and the Tsaritsa- Ow!"

She slapped the back of your head. "I will not allow you to speak of her majesty the Tsaritsa like that, [name]!"

She crossed her arms and turned her head away from you, looking angry.

Although, her words seemed to contradict her statement just now. She spoke quietly under her breath, "plus, youre the most prettiest girl in Teyvat, [name]..."

You perked up, perhaps having heightened senses was a good thing. "I heard that!" You shouted and smiled. "You really think that-"

"W-what?! No! You must be imagining things!" She yelled back at you. "Damn it, I shouldn't have heightened your sense of hearing too! Ugh!"

All you did was laugh teasingly at her frustration and embarrassment getting caught being nice, specifically to you. Until you blacked out from the alcohol. That reallllllllyyyy freaked her out, as she frantically carried you back home. (Well, the only reason she showed her 'nicer' side was really due to the only witness being her modified automaton.)

You had slept for a whole day before waking up at noon, with a god awful hangover, causing you to throw up.

(Sandrone ordered one of her machines to take care of you in secret and report to her every hour about your status.)

[sickgraymeat]

Bonnie was not assigned a gender at birth but her concept of gender is so heavily based on her perception of human society and the narratives she creates around its ruins like. She is a woman by her own definition, informed by her interpretations of old human stuff, because who else could have defined “woman” for her???? Being a woman, to her, means being powerful and creative and taking care of your loved ones. Not to mention, there’s no way that little tadpole nub just grew into a human shape!!!!! She made herself look like her perception of a human woman/girl On Purpose!!!!! Gender is a puzzle and a series of observations, just like everything else about people and relationships and society. So like. Yeah when she first encountered the expectation that women/girls should have boyfriends, she trashed those magazines for her rat to shit on like any ambitious tween lesbian piece of gum would!!! But then someone she created herself reinforced that expectation, and then so did so many other people, and maybe she thought she had no choice or maybe she felt guilty or maybe she was just tired.

But again. We are all just fucking playing with little dolls in the game of life or whatever. Some more than others (……………… yeah Bonnie lol) BUT LISTEN gender is obviously a construct that we understand first and foremost through observation BUT our (or at least 20th century/PW’s generation’s) human perception of gender and the characters’ observations and interpretations do it are so goddamn important to every single character in this show. They are all performing a role and a big part of that role is gender. Once again BMO is the most flexible about this performance because BMO is the most childlike (emotionally/mentally youngest in this case bc obvs many children develop awareness and self consciousness around gender roles very very young) and therefore the least bothered by society’s expectations!!! Just like in real life!!!!

To start out, all Bonnie knows of femininity and womanhood is that mothers are women, and princesses are girls, and mothers and princesses are powerful and caring. And then she finds out that girls and women are supposed to have boyfriends, and that seems really wrong to her, but she has to be a girl/woman because she is a mother and a princess to the extent that she understands those roles!! Meaning not 100% in line with the human definition (mothers don’t raise their children the mammal way, princesses are inherently the highest rulers of their kingdoms) but rather based on her perception of it. Which like GET THIS!!!!! Our perceptions of human definitions of gender and societal roles ARE the definitions of those things!!!!!!!!! I wanna scream abt it it’s so fuckign interesting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway tangent but in conclusion Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum is the most transgender character ever to NOT actually have any gender assigned at birth to be transing (unless the MG whispered it to her ig) and that’s just how cool she is!!

[wrongcaitlyn]

Do you have any headcanons for the canon pjoverse???

oh my GOD DO I?? I HAVE SO MANY it's hard to even keep track of them all bc tbh i forget which ones are canon or not canon

in general i've put a *lot* of my hc's into my fics, specifically my because i'm a mirrorball series which is basically my version of will's backstory (even though a large amount of it was disproved by tsats... i'm just ignoring that bc it's already engrained in my head even though i did enjoy tsats)

i also think i share quite a few of the popular hc's of the fandom, just because i'm actually pretty new to it (read the pjo series in like september of 2022 i think? and then hoo and toa immediately after) and i consume fandom content to an unhealthy extent

HOWEVER here are some things i feel very strongly about

will is a swiftie. i think this is canon bc rick mentioned it during the tsats book tour i think?? or maybe cotg?? not sure but i DO think he said it at some point

and also his favorite album is fearless like he's that album's number one stan im sorry there's no other answer

nico can cook like rlly well

LEO NICO AND WILL FRIENDSHIP i know that leo lives at the waystation now. but. BUT. i'd like to think that he'd visit chb every once in a while and they'd be pretty good friends

adding on to that, aroace leo. caleo what? nope. leo is aroace and he was in denial and i actually wrote a whole fic about it because i just feel very VERY strongly about this

i just love the idea that even before toa, apollo was more present in his kids' lives than other gods. like, showing up in dreams and stuff. even if it came from a different purpose, like wanting to show off his poetry or music or whatever, he wasn't completely absent from their lives

i very much like the idea of will and nico sort of stepping up to be the "leaders"-ish of chb once percabeth leave for new rome. i mean, will already sort of is one with him being the head medic and also having seniority over a lot of the campers, and nico being a child of the big three like percy

percabeth returning to chb to create a sort of new rome type place for older demigods to live!! so they do not feel like they're going to die young immediately when arriving!!! bc they are children!! and deserve to live long lives!!!

i have a *lot* of thoughts about will and his trauma, but one of the main things i believe about him is that his fatal flaw is putting others before him and overworking himself. i think that being pushed into the head medic position from such a young age sort of emphasized this, though i also think (from my ideas of his childhood) that he was kind of always taught to put other people and other jobs at a higher priority than himself

nico dies first. i know i was just talking about them living long lives and i think that ends up being true, but also nico is a demigod child of hades and i think around his 30s would already be way longer than anyone would expect. anyway, i think that he dies first, simply because i cannot put that boy through any more, and i know i could say the same thing about will after having lost so much as well, but i think that the idea of nico being right at the entrance of the underworld by the river styx to welcome will once he dies (bc nico's the ghost king/prince of the underworld and isn't confined to elysium) is a very comforting thought

those are the main things i can think of right now just off the top of my head, but if there's any specific parts of canonverse that you'd like my thoughts about, feel free to ask! this didn't really cover a lot of like the general pjo/hoo timeline and it was mainly solangelo centric but likeee these are just things i thought of first! thank u for the ask!!

[xjulixred45x]

I know your requests are not open. But this is for when they DO open. Sorry if this is not aloud and if it isn’t then pls do let me know so I do not make any mistakes further.

What about a collector x reader (platonic ofc) but the reader is one of the archivists who’s trying to mend things with the collector?

Mh...fine, just bc A- i have a Soft spot for Toh and SPECIFIC the Collector and B- i think i have a concept for this.

(but btw,GUYS, THE REQUESTS ARE CLOSED, DO NOT REQUEST MORE WHILE THEY ARE CLOSED, PLEASE AND THANK YOU)

I think it depends a lot on whether Collie got along with this Archivist!Reader before the "incident" or whether he is willing to make amends with them. Obviously he wouldn't be willing to fix things with his sibilings who sent him to Earth just to get rid of him, but with Archivist! reader, there may be possibilities.

First of all, what could have been their dynamic with Collie? maybe something similar to Blue Diamond from Steven Universe and Pink Diamond (Collector), but way healthier, I mean, Archivist!reader didn't really have much time for The Collector but they tried to do what they could to keep him happy and entertained.

Maybe they were the ones who read to Collie before bed😭 and that's why he got into the habit of sleeping with a story from the book we see in the special. Perhaps even this Archivist!reader has taught The Collector how to use the spell to turn living beings into puppets (although for another purpose, of course). in general being a figure, although somewhat absent, well-intentioned compared to his other sibilings.

However, one day Collie simply... disappears and Archivist! reader does not know what happened, but as soon as they learns about his interaction with the titans and the power they have, they becomes terrified for the child's safety. so it probably helps to a greater or lesser extent in its disappearance.

imagine their reaction when The Collector simply disappeared/was trapped ☠️ similar to Blue Diamond, Archivist! reader sinks into a great depression for Thousands of Years, mourning the loss of their younger brother.

for the events of the series the other archivists are tired of Archivist reader's sad and poor performance since the incident, so they tell them to go to earth for a while to "get some fresh air" in the hope that they will change their attitude a little.

but surprise surprise, not only when wandering around the planet Archivist! reader realizes how much the world has changed (the witches, the near destruction of the world, A TITAN IS STILL ALIVE) but The Collector IS BACK.

I like to believe that Collie knows when his siblings are around, so when Archivist! reader arrives on Earth he somehow feels that he has to go and/or starts looking for them, which could lead to a pretty nice reunion and even Something sentimental, since we come, Archivist! Reader thought he would never see his little brother again.

although The Collector definitely has many doubts that he wants answered in order to forgive his favorite brother. Although I think he himself could realize that they didn't really participate in his disastrous trip to Earth, it doesn't mean that Collie didn't have fights with them. mainly because of the titans issue.

Archivist!reader may have a difficult time accepting his fault in that matter, but more than anything because his head has been quite battered by his other brothers and because unlike Collie they have not gone through a process where they understand the importance of mortality, Surprisingly, The Collector will have to be the one to guide them this time.

Collie really wants his brother to come to his senses and see the damage they did, for them to fix it together, for things to be like before but better! Even if he is partly angry with them for the incident, he still loves them by having good memories with them.

Let's say Archivist!reader comes to his senses (less traumatic than Collector, but he does it) and accepts not only the bad things he did, but REALLY tries to fix the damage he did to the Boiling Isles. I don't think to the point of fighting with the other Archivists, but he would definitely separate himself from them.

in that case, I can definitely see Collector not only forgiving them, but also welcoming them back into the archives, in the end they both have what they needed in the first place, Archivist! reader to a new point of view of things, beyond of what they can "file" and Collie has his brother :3

I can see Archivist!reader much more present not only in Collie's life in general, but also in his games, now that they are not busy, they can play whatever he wants! They wants to make up for all the lost time, although they doesn't object to just catch up while Collie show them the islands.

Imagine that Archivist!reader collapses when they tell Collector a bedtime story again after so long 😭 since they are so happy to have him again after so many years of silence (even Collie could get sentimental too) .

definitely Archivist!reader becomes quite overprotective of their little brother, almost to the point of a helicopter parent. They stop when they realize they're overstepping their boundaries, but the trauma of The Collector's disappearance is still fresh, so he can't really be that upset (although the subsequent meetings with King are definitely a bit weird).

In general, I think they could go back to being the sibilings they were before but even better, after all now they have all the time in the world to make up for what they lost.

Shares, reblogs and comments are very welcome!

again, PLEASE DO NOT ASK FOR ANY MORE REQUESTS WHILE THEY ARE CLOSED, if you want a request, DO IT WHEN THEY ARE OPEN PLEASE. This is for a mere matter of MY COMFORT, thank you.

[thefirstknife]

speaking of the unveiling, and bc im interested in hearing more of your thoughts on it, ive always been of the opinion that even as a parable or a metaphor or allegory or whatever you want to name it, because of the nature of the setting and how destiny largely tends to approach its own metaphysical "rules" in conjunction with its various narrators, that just because something is a metaphor doesn't necessarily mean it isn't also literal? if that makes sense. maybe it's leftover from when i was more of an elder scrolls girlie, but in my mind the two are not as mutually exclusive as one would think when it comes to fantasy/scifi especially in settings like destiny. there could very well be a "garden" and a "game" but exactly what and where (i believe these maybe more metaphysical concepts than physical and im open to being completely wrong) could be something completely inaccessible to human understanding if it even exists at all. that being said, im with you in wondering why everyone is getting angry over what i thought was kind of obvious.

Yeah, absolutely! I really love how Brookes phrased it:

“Unveiling is a parable. It is effectively a religious text. And how much of that is propaganda, how much of that is myth, how much of that is fact is deeply unclear in the nature of the text.”

Note how he never said it isn't real or literal. He said that we just can't know how much of it is myth and how much of it is fact due to the nature of the text. Most notably, due to who is telling it; the author being a biased party that is selling us a pitch to sway us to its side is super important.

If Unveiling is the result of the Witness peering behind the Veil and, well, witnessing the origins of the universe and therefore coming to a conclusion that everything is meaningless and that there is no greater purpose or a specific goal, the way the Witness would then try to present these origins of the universe would be painted by its conclusions. It has to make sense, the Gardener has to be meaningless and it has to prefer purposeless complexity over anything else and therefore the way the universe was constructed has to reflect that. So the Gardener and Winnower have to fight in a garden where everything was fine until the Gardener decided to make a change and that's why the universe exists as it does. And of course, don't forget that a part of the pitch is also to make us believe that the Gardener is not the right way to follow.

So an interpretation of these incomprehensible events would always to an extent fit the narrator. That means that we're basically dealing with a single interpretation of events that transpired which are impossible to factually see and measure. Someone else who looks at the Veil and uses it to see everything about the history of the universe will probably come to a different conclusion and will tell a different story based on the same events.

All terminology in the text is also very deliberately structured for human readers. There are references to big and small things that are specifically about only humans so this text would not work on any other species; it would have to be altered. This is immediately suspect because it shows that this was written for us and isn't just something that sprung out of nowhere fully formed with facts.

Among the references; the flower game which is literally just Conway's Game of Life (you can play it here btw) and it's a conscious reference since it mentions specific terminology from the game; the whole thing about the protein p53 which specifically calls it by our human terminology; the Cambrian Explosion which references geological eras and evolution of our planet; and super interesting reference to a specific individual, philosopher Jakob Böhme which is mentioned in two different pages. Someone did a deep dive into his philosophy in regards to the Veil because the Unveiling explicitly says that "he was right and it matters more than anything." Here's a really neat post about this on reddit if you want to dive into complex philosophical stuff.

These are hints that the author of the text is trying to put things into words that would make sense to us, humans, and that would additionally sway us to believe that the author is correct. So if you're trying to explain the origins of the universe to a human that you also want to sway to your position, you would naturally have to create a mythology that a human would be able to digest and believe.

I do believe that there's facts in Unveiling, as I've noted some like for example the Vex in my post about it. How do we explain existence before existence to a human and make them believe us? Use familiar terminology (garden, gardener, winnower, vex), construct a myth that neatly answers all questions, sprinkle references and facts about the real human history to show that the author is familiar with what they're talking about and then write in a way that's approachable.

So yeah. Something must've been there before the Big Bang. Our human brain really struggles to conceptualise this and humanity has been trying to figure it out since the dawn of time; through religion, philosophy, mysticism, science and all combinations of those. It might be literally impossible to figure it out and explain something like "initial singularity," especially in a way to make some humans decide that your story is interesting and worth following you for.

It's much simpler to boil it down to a "garden" with some relatable characters who are playing a game and get into a fight. It's easier to explain that the Vex may have preceded the existence of the universe by just saying that they escaped a garden where two cosmic beings fought over a game. This "place" (if we can call it that) might still exist, but by the virtue of being outside of our comprehension, it's easier to describe it as a garden with characters and a tree and some strange lifeforms. It's certainly more captivating than reading about real theoretical physics like for example this (as incredibly fascinating as it is, a lot of it will absolutely fly above people's heads, including mine).

The point is, the story could absolutely still be based on facts, as Brookes said, we just don't know what those facts are. The text itself is not telling ONLY facts because that's not its purpose, not to mention that it's easier to explain and entertain people by giving a cool myth with fundamental forces of physics and existence being shown through personifications who talk and argue and fight. People taking those personifications literally has always been weird to me because the text itself tells us they're allegorical. It's admitting that it's trying to explain things that are difficult to explain and is using a way for us to conceptualise this (showing itself as a benevolent entity that is eager to give us information), while also using this conceptualisation to weave its own propaganda in it at the same time.

Some of this will clear up soon. I'm very eager to find out if we'll ever get more of the Traveler's perspective on any of this. I would love to hear the Traveler say something at some point again. That would probably help us do our best to figure out more about what's fact and what's myth, but even that would be biased, in a way, even if the Traveler is the Gardener; the Gardener would still be telling us its own view of things. But another perspective would definitely help. Either way, it's a fascinating piece of text and an interesting dive into some really intriguing scifi concepts. I'm definitely not expecting some substantial 100% provable fact on how the universe began, as that question exceeds what a video game story can tell us, but will there be something that fits the setting? Some sort of an answer, as close to the truth as possible? Maybe!

To close this off, I always liked the story about the origin of the universe of the species called the Tiiarn, as told to Caiatl by her childhood mythkeeper, the psion Ahztja:

"Imagine the universe as swirling chaos," Ahztja said softly. Caiatl closed her eyes and saw it. "Among the chaos stands Irkyn La, the First Host, who blinks herself into existence with the First Thought: chaos must come to order." Caiatl saw a creature, tremendous beyond belief, in her mind's eye. "And so to satisfy the First Thought, which would become the First Law, Irkyn La consumes the chaos of the void and gives birth to the ordered universe." Caiatl opened her eyes, and they were bright with intrigue. "That is how the Tiiarn would say the universe began," Ahztja said. Caiatl looked at the toy in her hands, and then back at Ahztja. "Where does this giant woman live?" "The Tiiarn would say she is the very fabric of the universe. When you look to the sky, when you look out into space, you are looking into Irkyn La's mouth."

Who knows, maybe there's some truth to this myth as well.

[roobylavender]

a random thought but i really am very obsessed with how deeply committed bruce is to his love of people and to the extent that it’s a regular divide between him and talia. not that she is without love, no, hardly so, but love will never come before principle for her in the sense that the principle does stem from love, but from a selfless love, not a selfish one. and i use these two descriptors purely as a means of analyzing perspective, so selfless and selfish not necessarily as moral indicators as they are often used today but merely as expressions of whether you’re acting for the sake of others or for yourself. talia is someone repeatedly acting at expense to herself for the sake of others. she gives her child away, she ends her marriage, she doesn’t say a word about it again for years despite having the chance, she takes on a high level espionage mission without speaking a word to her ex-lover, maybe to protect herself, maybe to protect him. whether those were worthwhile decisions to take is certainly debatable, but she acts near strictly from a perspective of caring about others and the world first. bruce is comparatively a very selfish person. every victim an extension of his own trauma, every grief taken to heart, every desperation for companionship so heavily internalized that he ends up pushing people away bc at some point he can’t bear to take them down under with him in his sorrow. it’s funny that he tries to be the rational voice in a room bc up to a point he is, but he also cares too much about his own personal affairs to be that way consistently

and in light of all of that i am thinking about the conversations he and talia must have in that alternate universe where damian is normal and newly revealed to both of them as a concrete concept in their lives, for bruce as the son he never had and for talia as the son she gave away, come back to them by way of fate. why did you never tell me you didn’t actually miscarry. why did you never tell me you had a son and you gave him away. why did you pretend like it was over when it never was. why did you look me repeatedly in the eyes over the years like there wasn’t something more that was there. when you said you couldn’t talk about it before i boarded a plane back home i held my tongue. when you let yourself be beaten within an inch of your life bc your city was falling to pieces i held my tongue. when my father took the contingency plans you made and used them to turn your friends against you i held my tongue. when i worked for a man who would for all intents and purposes use the knowledge of my relationship with you against you i held my tongue

how can bruce, a person so wrapped up in his love for people, not understand the number of sacrifices that talia has had to make for his own sake. her repeated protection of him, of his sanity, of his sanctity, is simultaneously her greatest crime and her greatest benevolence to him. she carried that grief of loss for years and years bc of how important bruce is to her. and bruce loves her, loves damian, too much to even begin to understand what love means outside of the parameters of his own feelings for them. that is his dilemma writ large wrt people he loves. that he can’t see the extent of what they do for him, bc he loves them too much and doesn’t know how to get out of the sheer grief and possessiveness of it

[noihavenosanitythanksforasking]

so I finished link click s2 yesterday and i'm losing my mind

So imma ramble

alrigh so when powers are activated, the user's eyes turn a different color. cxc's/whoever he is possessing(?) turn gold, Li Tianchen's turn red, (I assume smth happens to tianxi's eyes too, but it could just be that she needs to have her eyes closed as thats the only way we see her. Though it could be that her eyes turn milky like Qiao Ling's do after tianxi's death). Anyways so when lu guang activates his power his eyes turn blue. But allegedly, he's been going into the past over and over again to try and save cxc. This is confusing to me. If Lu Guang has been through this timeline multiple times over and over, would he not know whats going on already? Even if things do change every timeline, after going through a certain amount of times an incredible amount of time, its easily plausible that the changes that would occur wouldn't be too hard to predict. Like Lu Guang said multiple times in season 1(i forget where) time has these node things which i think of as like check points in time. The way the explanation made sense in my head was almost like some sort of binary code. The Node either happens or not. So with this reasoning if lu guang when through the time line enough times to create every possible combination of these happened or it didn't happen moments, he would be able to "predict" the future. (that would also mean that lu guang is suuuper old because there are so many of these checkpoints that could happen in 4 years) Anyways, at this point im not sure what i believe about lu guang's ability anymore. If he's gone through the timeline so many times, couldn't he just have the knowledge of whats going to happen in each photo through his connection with cxc? His eyes turn blue, and we see flashes of the photo, but how do we know that its not just his memories from a past timeline.

Speaking of memories from a past timeline. Does qiao ling have all Lu guangs memories? That wouldn't make sense at all and if she doesn't why did she see the one of cxc dying? Was it because it was particularly traumatic? Why that particular one because allegedly cxc has died multiple times.

also-

my current theory about the death thing is that the node isn't necessarily for one person, but just a death in general. For example, in this timeline, Li tianxi died and cxc lived. but if cxc died would tianxi also die? in the scene where cxc is trying to talk emma out of unaliving herself, lu guang gets all surprised that it seems to be working(also side note, talk about trauma. give the boy hope and snatch it away) but she ends up dying anyways. What if the only way to save someone from dying in the past is to kill someone else. So if emma lives, cxc would have to die. And bc cxc is a self sacrificial idiot I could see him doing that to save someone else, possibly on accent but i could see on purpose too. (Lu Guang ofc wouldn't let him do this cause he's in love with him but i digress)

Which leads me me to another idea, which is the scene where Lu Guang gets stabbed right.

He was not expecting that from what I can tell. But he accepted it. Almost like he was thinking that maybe him dying in this time line would save cxc from death. It didn't work, bc he survived but still. Lu Guang getting stabbed must have been a node he hadn't come across before, which means that he had to go in blind for the entirety of season 2. This contradicts my Lu Guang power theory but that wasn't a super strong theory anyways so idk.

One of my main questions is why the hell wouldn't lu guang just do smth about tianchen before it becomes a problem. Even if he didn't come across the node of him getting stabbed before, he would still know whats going on to some extent and be able stop it right? Unless my idea about cxc sacrificing himself was the real main issue. (which will make me cry if thats true i will not survive)

Also last side note, where did lu guang originally come from? If he just popped up in their lives because he was trying to save cxc, how did they meet originally?

simple answer: he's god.

idk if any of that made sense.

[alonelystargazer]

nanami for the character bingo?

Hi thanks for the ask!

Got bingo on the first one but not the second one

warning: I just wrote a whole essay on Nanami beneath the cut

OUGHHHH I love Grade 1 Jujutsu sorcerer Nanami Kento, y'all don't understand. I think I'm more known for being a Choso lover and hell yeah I am, but Nanami was my first love in JJK, back when I first watched it in 2021 and my love for him persists and is everlasting.

To me, he's a perfect example of what a jujutsu sorcerer should be: selfless, dedicated to protecting the kids, being a role model to them, and fights to the extent of his ability.

Which is why I have a visceral hatred for Mei Mei, who's the antithesis to him. I don't even wanna know what Nanami would think about if he ever found out about who she was "behind the scenes". And she may have been the person who introduced the idea of going north or south, but I still hate her ass, and I hate that she got to vacation in Malaysia (where Nanami should've been) while everyone else suffered in Shibuya.

Anyway, I find him so relatable too. We're the same age, we can be irritable and easily annoyed, I also hate working overtime (and capitalism in general lol), love food, and are always tired. I will find it a personal offense if someone calls him boring!

Also, I don't understand why some people wanna make him out to be some aggressive, dominant man. He's reserved but he's not cold-hearted or mean or anything like that. The hair pulling scene did so much damage bc that man would not treat you that way in bed, he's gentle and kind and attentive. He only acted that way in that scene bc Haruta killed his colleagues and attacked Nobara, of course he would get angry!

The loss of his classmate and friend Haibara when they were teens changed the trajectory of his life, and I'll never get over the fact that the person he saw just before dying was Haibara. I may have my shipper goggles on when I see them, but we can still infer they had a close friendship that deeply impacted him to the very last day of his life.

And this may be controversial, but Nanami served his purpose in the story and he died at the right time. I was devastated when he died, but I can understand that he fulfilled his role and that it's better be died when he did in Shibuya than to keep him around and water down his character just bc he's popular or bc Yuji needed him. I'm glad he's resting now and gets to read all the books he wants on a beautiful beach with his bf haibara hehe

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

dan and 13s relationship is funny bc, okay im definitely probably making the doctor slightly more hostile than she is/would be in canon bc of whump purpose circumstances (shes mean when shes being poisoned) however, it still is the case that they have had like, two conversations one-on-one in canon? at the end of 13x2 when theyre gonna save yaz - the extent of which is "this is a trap. we have to get yaz. do as i say" - and then eotd "she like likes you"

theres a few more where they have a conversation with other people also there. if we take those into account it's like:

1 - end of 13x1 "sorry heres your house. also im now involving you in saving the universe nope not optional sorry again"

2 - end of 13x2 "karvanista im taking your guy"

3 - still end of 13x2 "we're saving yaz. this is definitely a trap. do as i say"

4 - 13x3 "sorry youre lost in your own timestream but im fixing it dont worry"

5 - end of 13x3 "do as youre fucking told i told you to do as youre told rule 1 do as i say!!!"

*interlude where dan lives 3 years of his life in the 20th century* this would not have happened if he hadnt gone with the doctor in 13x2. becomes good friends with yaz tho. he has had well counted 5 interactions with the doctor. you can barely call them conversations. hes mostly just been ordered around. even jericho has spent more indepth time with her being stuck in that house surrounded by angels. 5 interactions. now 3 years with yaz. okay just wanted to make that clear. back to the program

6 - 13x6 "hi dan, since youve had such a great time in my blue box and also coincidentally do not have a house, wanna come spend some more time in my blue box? oh i also have yaz here that might be convincing"

7 - eotd first time dan initiates. "i'll go distract that second dalek while you two figure out how to solve all this"

8 - eotd second time dan initiates! on a roll! "she like likes you". or perhaps the more important point: "you know exactly what youre doing with her"

9 - lotsd "your clothes oh my god what are you thinking". first conversation that feels like it involves all three of them and is not two-of-them-talking-and-one-standing-by. gives a GREAT impression of the doctor-companion hierarchy at play. "yaz did you dress dan up like this??"

10 - lotsd "dont diss dan, dans my mate!" echoing yaz in eotd. another good picture of the doctor-companion hierarchy

the fic im writing is set between lotsd and potd so this is the space im interested in rn but for the sake of completeness:

11 - potd dan iniating for the third&last time: "im out ✌️"

so heres my interpretation of their relationship right. i think 13x5 is a tipping point. before 13x5 they Do Not know each other. at all. dan is barely more than another "lad who ive not even met yet". shes met dan, but thats kind of it

up to 13x5 the only interactions dan has with the doctor are being ordered around and being invited on board. this is also still true up to 13x6 but by then he has extensive secondhand experience of her through yaz

crucial that for the doctor in 13x6 wrt dan nothing has changed. he has a fairly good impression of who she is at this point, i think. their firsthand interactions on the other hand still only consist of ordering around and being invited on board

so 13x5 first flipping point. second flipping point is eotd because now dan starts iniating conversations, and not just conversations but really like kinda deep ones too. seeing as their interactions up to that point consisted of "do as i say" and "come aboard my tardis" this must really, like, threedimensionalise both of them to each other. bc so far both of their impressions of each other are mainly through yaz. dans idea of the doctor is through yaz and to the doctor i think dan is mostly just a friend to yaz

but here in eotd they start getting glimpses of each other firsthand, or at least the doctor gets some of dan, dan had already some of the doctor (see: ordered around), and i think this is why i tend to gravitate to making 13 fairly hostile toward him. it's also bc i put her in vulnerable positions where she will be more hostile to everyone, but i also can imagine he poses a bit of a threat to her. the first real thing he ever said to her was directly attacking like her main emotional defenses that shes held for 5+prison years years. i dont think she would be overtly hostile, i think she'd just make sure to keep yaz between them as a buffer, not to be in a room alone with him

similarly i cant imagine dan has all that great of an impression of her! he met her psychologically not in a great place, not exactly nice to anyone really, shes ordered him to shut up and follow more than shes had a real conversation with him, AND hes seen yaz Like That for 3 years and then the doctor Like That for a week and immediately decided to intervene. i dont think he thinks shes nice! because she hasnt really been

so the point im trying to get to is - idk if i had one but - they both have a close relationship with yaz, but i dont think theyre like, comfortable roommates necessarily. i think theyre friendly, sure, but i also think they have never really been in a room alone together. i think they keep yaz as a buffer between them and then are polite and friendly, but i dont think they like each other, actually. at all. i cant imagine they do.

and if youre thinking about scenes where the doctors vulnerable, which i do bc i like using the space between lotsd and potd to upset her, then i think they both would try to make sure that dan never has to see her in distress. like i think you could make a comparison between the scenes at the end of 11x2 where first the fam sees her super upset and then when yaz comments on it in the tardis she brushes it off and the fam kinda takes that as a boundary that they try not to cross (until like s12 comes around and it becomes almost impossible bc things are so obviously wrong) AND the scenes in eotd where first dan is like "do something about yaz" and then when yaz asks about what the doctor meant abt her actions catching up with her, the doctor looks at dan there and goes ":) nothing :)"

anyway i dont have a real point this is just vibes bc of course i put them in a room alone together and made them talk so i had thoughts. dont know if theyre good. but their relationship is fucking weird. honestly like if dan is a doctor mirror then youve got the doctor here going "do not get emotionally involved with me!" and dan going "i wasnt planning on it!"

everything dan says in his goodbye to the doctor he actually says to yaz. like you should just swap them out. because yaz is the doctor to his companion. dan&doctor is not a doctor-companion relationship thats the core of it. but then the question is, what the fuck is it

i'll end with this shot i just randomly paused on bc it captures my feelings on the situation fhjhgjkhg

who the fuck are you

[mini-jiminie]

What an extremely heteronormative take. Leave room for doubt because they are two men, in a famous band? They can’t possibly be actually together surely?! That’s kinda homophobic not going to lie. If these two men were a man and a woman there would be no doubt. No rationality. Hickey gate would be just that. And no, they knew exactly what they were doing.

Fact of the matter is, they are a closest queer couple and won’t behave in the same way as you or I, not only that but yes, they are extremely famous. Think about it logically, for a decade they have had the protection of the band, they go on hiatus, there is no group work, they have to remain separate in the eyes of the public, not to give themselves away. You get hardly any interaction in public. That’s on purpose. 100 pecent with reason. You think they are going to post about what they do together? No. Notice the difference between the other members, Jimin saw Hobi and Yoongi and probably Joon at the company a lot. JK wasn’t there, when he was he went to see Jimins dance practice and we got the bb.

Hobi’s enlistment , k army deduced they’d been together the night before drinking, so no that’s not a reunion hug. It’s just a really beautiful hug. They’d seen each other at a group meal days before jk made his Jimin centric live after saying he missed him. Time means nothing to these two. Same as in the doc, jk striding in saying long time no see, and they’d literally been at the concert together all day. They absolutely saw each other in chp2 but it was mostly private. You’d really have to be dumb to think otherwise. Where do you think the enlistment and travel show came from? Thin air? Oh I know, I’m distant from this person but let’s enlist together for kicks Be for real please.

Every decent relationship is based on friendship, that’s they key to longevity. It’s what you are left with in the end. No relationship is going to be ott passionate all of the time, so you saying platonic moments is ridiculous. Of course they are mostly platonic moments, because that is normal, and because they are in a glass closet. The beauty of love lives in the mundane. Take the show, they just wated to spend time together. They are being normal travelling around as freely as they can but the point is that they are doing it together.

You and others are being extremely naive if you think they are going to make out or such things on camera to satisfy your whims, is that what you need for them to prove their relationship to you? They can’t possibly be real bc they don’t act like lovers? Because that’s what you’re saying reading your opinion. Again, your heteronormativity is showing. Trying to be rational is giving queer erasure.

I’ve always said you have to have a functional mature brain to get these two, but also put it into context. Seems you fall short.

Anon, I'm gonna need you to take a big breath and take a step back. What I'm most surprised about is your absolute vehement insistence that they are, for sure, 100% together. I'm sorry but, I wasn't aware that you were joining them on their candlelit dinners by the sea. Are you living in their walls perhaps?

As I keep reiterating in my posts - a point YOU chose to skim over :) - I am completely open and welcoming to the idea of them being together. I'm also ok with them not being together and not knowing the true extent of their relationship because, repeat after me:

we are fans. outsiders.

Also, I know something like joint enlistment isn't a light topic. Do I have to write every single one of my thoughts out for you? Where did I say jkk never met during chapter 2? I said they spent more time apart than they usually did in previous years because jm was busy working.

Never have I claimed that my opinion was truth. It's my subjective opinion and I literally don't know why you're so bothered about it. Also, me saying there's a possibility that jikook might not be together is suddenly homophobic? Ok cute!

[rachelfoleyisntdead]

didn't the connections just want Evie as a weapon/ tool to end all wars (I need to check that file in 7) and Miranda wanted a replacement for Eva hence why she decided to dig up her dead daughter and give them tissue samples (high key even if Miranda brought Eva back the poor kid would never ever be good enough Miranda has had 100 odd years of putting the child on a pedestal)

also Alan Droney (Director* douche who transported Evie with Mia... again the connections sent two 2 people to transport Evie without the treatments needed to keep her stable will that ever not be a problem for me and something i don't see other people mentioning at all?) was posing as a father figure to Evie who rejected her and Evie wanted Ethan to be daddy instead of Jack when he turned up which made Jack mad and Ethan has no idea what he's on about and of course rejects her as well

*in game they call him that and Mia is a caretaker

basically I hope Evie finds people in the conciousness of mold who know everything about her whilst not being directly affected by her violence and help her out (mold therapy group is a idea near and dear to my heart)

As far as the Connections go--tl;dr i went and did some research which is why this took a bit to answer, but yeah, it looks like the Connections DID always plan to use Evie... but Miranda didn't just provide mold, she also provided DNA of her daughter for use in Evie's creation. This, combined with the fact that rose is a 'perfect Eveline' and Eveline's name being so close to Miranda's daughter (Eva) are contet clues that Miranda wanted Eveline made so she could do what she tried with rose. Meaning Eveline's original 'true' purpose was to become Miranda's daughter, but she was 'imperfect'. Because of the emphasis on rose being 'perfect' and Eveline being 'imperfect', I think you make a great point about how ultimately, Eva probably wouldn't have been good enough. None of the 4 Lords were, despite all their power, Miranda still made them feel like they weren't enough to please her.

(side note: this whole 'Miranda was working with Connections!!!' feels very like it was decided after the fact/making it up as they go along. But this interpretation makes it make more sense, at least to me.)

iirc (and someone can feel free to correct me), Mia and her partner were posing as Mia's parents specifically to avoid arousing suspicion when they were transporting her. They weren't intended to be actual parental figures to her. But she was a heavily sheltered child, likely lonely, so she wasn't going to understand it was fake.

We know Evie latched onto Mia as a mother figure, I don't know if she latched onto the guy as a father figure, though. She killed that guy because he essentially rejected her, yeah. If she did see him as a father figure, it was not for very long and it was not to the extent she latched onto Mia (which is intentional--you're not really supposed to care about that guy, so Evie likely didn't either). She also let Ethan 'defy' her much longer than she did Alan.

Evie did use Mia to lure Ethan, though. re7 is explicit about that, bc when Mia is lucid, she tells Ethan she didn't send him the video--meaning Evie was controlling her. Evie wanted Ethan as a father figure because her 'mom' should be married to her 'dad'. I don't think she ever saw Jack as a father figure, because he had adult children her 'mother's age, and because those children (Lucas and Zoe) would likely have been rivals for his love. It's easier for her to play house with Mithan as her parents, and the Bakers as extended family.

Infected!Jack was jealous, yeah, because Ethan was essentially going to replace him as the male head of the family, but Infected!Jack is not the real Jack. Those feelings and actions came from the false family hierarchy that Eveline set up, in which she is both the head of the family and the treasured only grand-child (which is why her rapid aging works as such a good twist; a lot of southern families have an old matriarch like that, and many of them also have a darling granddaughter who is adored).

tbh I don't really care what happens to Evie in the mold matrix, it's just upsetting to me that people call a child irredeemable and deserving of death. Like... they can't see Eveline as the tragedy she is. But Lady D and Heisenberg get praised to high heaven.

[akechi-stole-my-heart]

Wondering if the reason people make the thieves out as uncaring after 11/20 is because the game itself moves on too quickly from it? Not saying I haven't kind of fallen into that take myself, though not like harshly, just felt they didn't act like they cared *enough* as in it should have been shown more. Because of the way the game's social sim works, you don't get the thieves checking in on/visiting Akira whilst he recovered like you might see in a fic and it can just go straight back into the confidant ranks of helping people with their problems, with no special dialogue or anything to ask how he's doing beforehand; so I feel like that contributes to the takes a lot, especially when one hasn't replayed in a while (sorry your post gave me thoughts on how people get to that take in the fandom, like I think the plan sucked for other reasons such as "Surely someone would notice the lack of a body?" but that's a bit besides the point)

Yeah I think you're absolutely right about that. The structure of the game doesn't let the Thieves care about Akira afterwards. There's also a bit of dialogue during the plan explanation when Akira says "I'm just glad I didn't die" and no one responds to it, which is...kind of baffling. But that doesn't mean the Thieves don't care about him, it means the writers at Atlus made a weird choice. And we know that because we see in that same scene that all of them were very worried for their leader's safety, and like I mentioned before, Makoto herself says she's glad he made it out safe.

The structure of the game kind of fucks over Akira and makes the Thieves look like worse friends in general, too. He helps them throughout the confidants, and then they "stop hanging out" after that, once they all say they want to start helping him out like he helped them. So we don't ever get to see their friendships become reciprocal. But like, that doesn't mean they actually stopped hanging out in-universe. It's a limitation of the play style.

That all said, I do think there is a valid interpretation you can come to which is that the Thieves don't know Akira was traumatized, or the extent of the danger, because he never talks about it. He's overly selfless and doesn't ever talk about his issues, so I could totally see that happening, and it's my personal interpretation. But that doesn't mean the Thieves are terrible friends for failing to read between the lines like that. It's on Akira for refusing to communicate.

And you can even say that they should have been more concerned for him afterwards, and that they put him on too high of a pedestal and think of him as utterly infallible, especially after he escapes with his life. They're kids, and Akira did just survive the impossible.

Or maybe they try not to bring it up on purpose because they don't want hurt him by talking about it, but letting it fester just hurts Akira more and makes him feel like they don't care.

Point is, there's lots of ways to take this strangeness in the game and make it into interesting fic content to explore. There's absolutely a discrepancy going on and exploring that is super valid and interesting. But turning it into "the Thieves are ambivalent and selfish and completely blind to their leader's suffering" takes that way too far. And like...why do people want to do that? Well, at least in the cases I've seen, the answer is twofold.

First of all, there's a section of the fan base that really hates Makoto. This is mostly common among Akechi fans from what I've seen. I think it's a combination of misogyny and the fact that Makoto can be obnoxious sometimes with her defense of the police, which is especially egregious in this situation. Like, the police beat up her best friend, and she still wants to join them. That can read as callous...if you don't understand her as a character, but I digress. (Someday I should write a Makoto defense post bc yeah. People are very stupid about her.) Point is these people like making up reasons to dislike her even more, which is where I think the whole "the plan was her idea and just an ego trip" thing comes from.

And the other reason is that there are a lot of shuake shippers who really, really want Akechi to be Akira's only "true" friend who "really" understands him. Which like...is true to a certain extent, they do have a special bond and Akechi is the only confidant that doesn't ask Akira to fix something for him, etc etc. But them having a special bond DOES NOT EQUAL all of Akira's other friends being terrible friends who suck and DON'T understand him. There's room for nuance here! You can like the toxic ship between rivals without making it less toxic because actually he's the only one who REALLY respects and loves Akira.

Like, he shot him in the head, guys. Let's not delude ourselves here.

But yeah. I'm pretty sure these two sections of the fanbase are specifically Akechi stans, and so they twist actual parts of the game to make Akechi look better and the Thieves worse. They almost like, take Akechi's perspective to a certain extent? Akechi doesn't like Makoto, and Akechi thinks the Thieves are bad friends (maybe, presumably, we don't really know, but he definitely doesn't really like them all that much and he definitely thinks they idolize Joker too much), and these Akechi stans agree with him. Which is baffling to me. Maybe he has half a point, sure, but Akechi is also REALLY stupid and frequently wrong.

And like, to be clear in case anyone who doesn't know me sees this, I say all this as an Akechi stan (look at my username) and shuake shipper.

In conclusion, I do think there is something to be said about how the confidants are written to be unequal, the Thieves don't check in on Akira enough, and the idolization they very much do have for their leader! These are real things that could make for really interesting conflict in fic. But it can happen without villainizing the Thieves or saying they just straight up don't care about their leader. Which is an obvious lie.

I think most people do agree with me nowadays, I've seen a pattern of recent fic and fandom people talking about how this villainization is stupid and going out of their way to make it clear the Thieves do care, so that's good. It was mostly a thing in early fandom that disliked how Akira was treated by canon (valid), wanted to give him conflict in fic (very valid, I love Akira angst), and wanted to make Akechi the "better friend" (???) who understands Akira better than the others (technically true, but it's complicated).

(As for the body thing, Sae said she made sure no one would check the morgue, so you're not supposed to think about it I guess. Makes me wonder about the people who would have taken his body to the morgue, though. Like, did they not report the missing body to anyone? Idk, maybe Sae paid them off too, lol.)

[incorrect-koh-posts]

i know this is random, but i ask bc you're a KoH expert: i never understood the choice to have Imad appear as the servant when he and Balian first meet? i guess it makes for a surprise when he returns (tho tbh would the scene be significantly different if we already knew Imad's true status?) but what even was the point of it narratively? was it just a misunderstanding on the christian side? did Imad himself promote the idea?? why?? for fun?? for the drama?? any ideas?

Honestly I can only speculate here as well. I mean, the script is easily the worst part of KoH, and much as I love Imad as a character, he doesn't make much sense (or any at all) narratively.

Anyways, I did some digging and found this horrid little movie tie-in book on archive.org. The two measly paragraphs dedicated to Imad give no reasons for his weird game of hide-and-seek whatsoever, and, in my opinion, only make his character more contradictory:

"Another character invented for the story's purpose is the young Muslim knight Imad, Saladin's confidant and commander of his cavalry. He serves as a kind of Arab counterpart to Balian: similar in age, intelligent, honorable, and humane. He is the first person Balian encounters after the shipwreck that lands him on the shore of Palestine, and Imad escorts the Frenchman into Jerusalem. Although he hides his true identity from Balian then, it's revealed when they meet later in the story. While Imad is fictional, his name (and to some extent his character) is an homage to the eloquent Muslim chronicler Imad ad-Din, who accompanied Saladin on his expeditions and reported on the Battle of Hattin. In the screenplay Imad is described as 'scholarly' in appearance, and we might imagine that he will one day set down his own history of Saladin's campaigns."

What I gather from this is that Imad was mainly there for plot convenience reasons, both to provide a little narrative twist and to drive home the fact to sceptical Western post-9/11 audiences that such people as honourable Muslims do exist. *audible gasp*

So I'd say that in Imad's case, the features of the character and the film's ideological undercurrent probably took precedence over logic or narrative cohesion. Like, how would Imad even know that there was a Christian guy on his land when Balian, the way the movie frames it, only arrived via shipwreck perhaps a day ago? Do people report back to him that quickly so that he can think of unnecessarily elaborate ways to disguise himself? It's alllll for the drama, baby.

I suppose the whole thing was meant to show how crafty Imad is and how much foresight he possesses. But the levels of foresight needed to act like he did in that scene would probably equal prophetic powers, which is not what I imagine they were going for, lol. Like so many things in this film, this could have been handled much better.

But then again, the entire Imad character is just a baffling creation to me. I never understood why they didn't just make him entirely fictional, call him Nasir or Imad or some other cool name and keep the allusions to the historical figure out of it completely. Historical Imad ad-Din wasn't exactly a paragon of nicety, after all. Homie wrote about the mass rape of women and girls and made it sound like an achievement, so - dear Ridley Scott, my dude - I'm not sure this is the sort of guy one should be paying homage to in this day and age. On top of that, he was born in 1125, which means that by the time the events portrayed in KoH occurred, he would have been so old it would have made Salah ad-Din look like a spring chicken in comparison.

So yeah, the way I see it, logic really took a bit of a holiday here. As did historical accuracy (not that that is anything surprising in this dear trainwreck of a movie).

[vermillioncrown]

Fuck you and your writing. What the hell. How tbe fuck did you make a tasteful brothel scene, how the hell did you manage to do all this shit. This chapter was fuckin heart wrenching. I wanted to see WWX get fucked up and then he did and it wasn't satisfying, but it was good writing and i liked it regardless. God. How the hell did you do this shit. What the fuck.

:^) thank you, i hit my target :^) :^)

=

because i really, really cared about getting the exact flavor of this chapter right, so much so that it took over a year.

the brothel scene is so important in what it means in the fic, which is more than showing that zyx fucked. or that zyx fucked a girl for real. or to do some questioning of sexuality.

(which i think i had to go through the five stages of grief when someone excitedly talked about it like having sex means someone is no longer aspec like... every day i am confronted by the fact we all coexist with vastly different perspectives on reality, and these realities are all true to some extent, sigh)

it's also not about being edgy and buying hookers, getting drunk, and all that.

so without using prostitution, nightlife, and sex as a prop and just being real with it, i hope that it doesn't come off goofy, edgy, or objectifying. the perils of trying to convey complicated feelings without therapy speak in-fic, and being really honest in someone's motivations and reactions (bc, unavoidably, it IS an SI).

the brothel scene and its whole fallout was so important, in fact, that i rewrote the entire order of the chapter. originally, the scenes were supposed to be in chronological order. logical, but it just felt like a boring recounting of events. sure, the events are fresh and we wanna see what zyx-mess happens next, but it's just a bunch of 'and then, and then, and then'. works for interlude chapters (ch8, ch15), but this really isn't one.

seguing, i learned a lot from how i wrote bil. dbd will never be as lean as bil, but it reminded me that when i drafted the fic, i focused on certain developments and ideas for a reason. also, since it's a chapter that doesn't involve too many canon characters, which let's be real that's usually the reason we stick around these kinds of fics, it needed to have purpose and be clear about what feeling it's trying to convey

even at the cost of simplicity in order of events

it would have been so difficult to keep the type of upset that zyx is feeling through a chapter that spans months, develops two interpersonal relationships, has a big oopsie, in chronological order without a too-angsty tone. too many periodic reminders would feel jarring and obtrusive, and exaggerate it. and that's also just not how zyx (i) deal with upsets, thank you adhd

and like, doing that for 10k+. (eternally i thank my readers for their patience and willingness to read so much bc people don't read fanfic for deep analysis and extra hw...) that's too much.

=

the second most important scene is the wwx duel, you got it. (i'd lump the lxc duel there, too bc those two are kinda related)

(sometimes i worry i made wwx too annoying. but then i talk myself back--it's always perspective. wwx isn't doing more than he already did in canon. we just have someone who can articulate how they feel about what he does, and he's not the main narrator of dbd.)

we get to a very clear demonstration of zyx as a character--it's more or less "i have no mouth and i must scream". here's your chance to be violent. you know you want it. do it. act out, make yourself heard.

zyx doesn't do it.

and you know what? i will be honest, truly honest here: i am sorry if you can instantly clock why zyx is the way they are, because for real 'recognition of the self in the other'.

lack of satisfaction--when you know what you wanted all along was for something to have never have happened at all, would punishment (displaced punishment) satisfy you? would it fix you? sometimes it helps, just for a moment. but i've answered this question enough times that i know i'd rather have never had to ask that question in the first place.

=

tldr: it's because it's a chapter about emotional honesty, and i as the author was really fucking honest and tried my fucking best to convey that.

[tokimekiinversion]

gonna do this yumejoshi twitter thread! (not all of them but some of them) (actually wait nevermind i just did all of them)

1. briefly introduce your yume ship! is it romantic, platonic, familial, or something else?

mmm we are so in love it is doki doki love romantic kiss kiss mwah

2. how did you and your comfort character(s) meet?

i watched monogatari!

3. what is the dynamic between you and your comfort character(s)?

they tease me and mess with me a lot and say funny things and i laugh bc they are funny. we do... physical affection i give them kisses all the time. they are also a little mean... and try to get me to fall down a dark path. but its not that serious and probably doesnt work anyway since i just dont do things i dont want to. also, to some extent, this video. im the one on the right. and it would be more like, ougi is reading a book and smiling but yeah.

4. how would you and your comfort character(s) describe each other?

me describe ougi: the best. amazing. wonderful. brilliant. wise. super cool. love of my life. beautiful. adorable. impish. rude. fun. funny. beloved. hot 😳. sinister. scary. creepy. (<- good things) and more!

ougi describe me: cute. foolish. teasable. admirable. bubbly. considerate. thoughtful. kind. pleasant. easy. boobs

5. who is better at cooking?

neither of us are ace chefs but ougi is more swift when following recipes. so i would ask them to make food and then they make it bad on purpose to force me to get faster and better at cooking. grrrr...... annoying 💢......... but i wouldnt mind that much because i'd get to COOK FOR THEM YAAAAAAAAY NOURSHING OUGI and it would probably make me a better more confident cook too

6. who is better at organizing?

ougi. this has no footnotes

7. who is more athletic?

also ougi. they ride that bicycle. i do nothing....

8. who tends to lose track of time more?

probably me more, but i bet ougi would get lost in a good book (prolly mystery novel) and sit up to stretch and its 4 hours later

9. who gets tired faster?

probably also me with my lack of good physical practice.... ugwah.... ougi should take care of me when im tired........... wah....................

10. who gets more excited about special occasions (birthdays, holidays, etc)?

easily me. although i would get more excited for events for them than mine. they wouldnt really get excited for either. but they would make sure to celebrate my birthday and stuff of course.

its like this:

i am the one who makes their birthday and such a special occasion... because i refuse to let it not be!!!!!!!!!!!! because they are the best and deserve nice things and should be celebrated😌

11. who is better at planning surprises/keeping secrets?

this is also ougi. have you seen that poker face?

also id be good at keeping secrets normally but they would just know anyway and make me tell them. also also if we were playing a prank together i would be the one trying not to crack up like 95% of the time. and the other 5% is we're both trying not to

12. what is something about you that your comfort character(s) don’t know?

mm... not much! probably random details and anecdotes. basically, whatever they don't ask about, or anything not important

13. what is something about you that ONLY your comfort character(s) know?

well if i said it would defeat the point! tryna get me to spill my secrets...

14. what are three ways in which you have changed since meeting your comfort character(s)?

im smarter and happier and much cooler

15. what are three ways in which your comfort character(s) have changed since meeting you?

HOPEFULLY, if they are not being an OBSTINATE LITTLE SHIT some of my love for them will have rubbed off and they like themself more now :) they are also happier, because obviously i don't make them anything but happy 😌✨ also they'd get even more insufferable. i can't not spoil them 😭

16. what is your favourite thing about your comfort character(s)?

everything! well, there's parts i like more. and they shouldnt be so hard on themself but. everything!

17. what is your comfort character(s)’s favourite thing about you?

they'd say boobs to mess with me >:( but it's not true 😇 they like my excitability and my kindness

18. what is your favourite moment featuring your comfort character(s) in the media they come from?

GWEH.

the gweh is just.... its just..... its everytihng

19. do you have alternate universes of your yume ship? tell us more about them!

welll...... unless u count me in naoetsu as au then no...................

20. what nicknames do you and your comfort character(s) have for each other?

oho?

i actually was tryna think up nicknames for ougi once but its hard bc their name is short already. i just kinda call em whatever comes to mind. they can be ougi, they can be my beloved, they can be my precious little thing, they can be the oug. the ouger, even. its what it is

ougi doesnt have nicknames for me they just call me by my name tho.

21. if you had to describe your yume ship with one song, which song would it be?

gwah theres a few of these.... hmmmmm.......

invisible touch is too perfect to not include

the bird and the bee - my love

mad head love - kenshi yonezu

and ill even put...

mitski first love late spring

arms tonite mother mother

some of it is describing the relationship more in general and some of its more about my feelings..... well thats okay too

22. where do you want to be with your comfort character(s) in three years?

🥺

i want us to be happily married and in love........ and i want to have raised my devotion levels and number of tributes 😌✨

23. if there was a book written about you and your comfort character(s), what would the title be?

going by the series' usual naming convention......... sakumonogatari (錯物語).