#it’s not necessarily correct

[sulevinen]

listen guys, i’m finnish, you expect me to immediately know anyone’s gender? i grew up thinking A.A milne is a woman and tove jansson a man. even if i see a picture of said person i’ll still just be like damn tove sure was one handsome man. it’s not my fault finnish pronouns don’t do gender

[wowowwild]

I had to re-read aa4-1 for research purposes and... It is devastating how badly Apollo does not want this to be true. I see everyone say how he doesn't care at all about Kristoph, but genuinely it seems to me that he just keeps hoping that Kristoph will come up with some sort of explanation to make everything better. Even at the "Et tu, Justice?" line, he's not just asking Phoenix to testify bc he can, he doesn't have a choice. And while he's cross examining Phoenix, he's still referring to himself and Kristoph as a unit, and actually seems pretty prepared to turn on his client until Phoenix forces Kristoph to take the stand. I think the part that really secured this reading for me is "... Well Mr. Gavin? (Come on, say something!)" This is the last chance they have where Kristoph could turn it around, but he can't. And after the judge says he's sorry he had to see this day come Apollo's "Mr. Gavin... ?" reads to me as if he really can't believe it.

Now I'm not certain he cared about Kristoph as a person, but I do interpret his reactions as caring that Mr. Gavin, his boss who hired and pays him, committed a murder and is now being arrested.

There are points where I interpret it as him getting swept up by whoever happens to be standing next to him. I think this is reasonable considering the situation. The man who mentored you vs your long time idol is complicated. Which side do you choose? So he chose to follow the facts and the evidence.

I dunno, I just felt like crying about it after everything, and I can understand the popular interpretation, I just personally interpret it differently. (And I like this option bc it is more fun to explore.)

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

I love it when c!BorealTrio is just like

c!Phil and c!Techno about c!Ranboo: "Ranboo is our friend who we would fight the world for to keep safe and happy. He is one of few people in this world we would entrust with our and lives." (Even if one of them, not naming names, won't admit it)

And then c!Ranboo's like: "Ah yes, my neighbors! Friendly acquaintances! They sure have been awfully nice to me, practically a total stranger! I can't imagine what it would be like if they cared about me on a personal level :]" (aka: I love these two but I'm sure they just kinda tolerate me)

And then not a single one of them ever catches on

[tangledinink]

I just saw another ask calling Gemini au Donnie afab, and obviously he does have XX chromosomes in your au (or the turtle/mutant equivalent at least?), but if afab means assigned female at birth and Donnie and Leo were assigned male at birth by Big Mama.... Does that technically make the two of them amab trans men???

Or.... amak? assigned male at kidnapping?

LMAO yeah. I always grapple with the terms because I'm like. WELL... THEY TECHNICALLY... WEREN'T ASSIGNED FEMALE AT BIRTH LMAO,,,, they're both, technically speaking, amab, so yes, they are in fact both amab trans men lmao.

And they weren't TECHNICALLY kidnapped... so... amaa? assigned male at... adoption??? u w u

[whimsicmimic]

also thinking about how legato is a really good example of how it can be really easy for survivors of abuse to escape one abusive situation, only to fall into another abusive situation

[starflungwaddledee]

please draw captain vul realistic birdman next

piece of cake. captain on deck!

[say-hi-intrepid-heroes]

.

[redgoldblue]

i just think the primary basis of any napollya fic, no matter how you approach it, has to be that Napoleon is down so so bad. 'going to hell for someone' is small potatoes compared to just how fucking deep below the ground he already is every minute of the day. Love is an ocean and he's having a civilised conversation with the anglerfish about Illya's hair and eyes and sense of humour and intelligence and voice and frankly the anglerfish are tired of hearing it.

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

That scene towards the end of the S3 trailer

The one where Shadow is running to save Sonic from disappearing

What if by that scene, the main conflict is changed? Nine is no longer actively trying to get ahold of Sonic, to drain the paradox prism energy from him. Just like Shadow and his focus on saving Green Hill over the Shatterverse before, he concedes that *nothing* will exist if they can't fix the paradox prism (assuming that the crew comes to the conclusion that they need to fix the paradox prism to have a chance at fixing the rapid breakdown of the shatterverse).

What if after episodes of fighting Nine and avoiding having his prism energy taken from him, Sonic gives himself over willingly. Nine has just realized how far he took things, how tunnel visioned he became on a goal with the sacrifice of things (and a person) he cared about. What if he feels guilty, resolved to help fix the universe they live in before anything else, and Sonic *asks* him to drain the energy this time?

And no matter what Shadow or Nine or anyone else says, no matter how uncertain doing so would make Sonic's fate uncertain and put it at stake, they can't refute the argument. Doing this could kill him (just like back on Ghost Hill, when Sonic asked for Nine to give him energy to match that of the prismatic titan), but is there any other way to save the shatterverse?

I'm not sure what the answer is myself, but perhaps they hope so. They're running out of time, and if they can't fix it, all of them will die. So, they all form a plan.

What if Nine feels this guilt as he drains the prism energy from Sonic? What if he feels more awful (and a little jealous) when it's up to Shadow to ultimately save him (because Shadow's the only other one who can move quite as fast)?

What if Shadow runs and runs, desperate too to make sure that Sonic won't die? What if he's frustrated at Nine and Sonic (because why did it have to come to this?), but also frustrated at himself (because maybe if he could have been there with Sonic, or maybe if he was the one searching the shatterspaces before, maybe he could have stopped all this before it went too far, maybe he could have kept Sonic safe from this fate)?

What if Shadow enters that shatterspace with Sonic in his arms, hoping so badly he'll pull through, trying not to think about what'll happen if he doesn't?

And what if Nine is the next to enter the shatterspace, arriving before anyone else? What if Nine watches Shadow hold Sonic's barely existing form and feels a pang of jealousy, and a waterfall of guilt. What will he do if Sonic doesn't pull through?

[no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist]

Juliette, the Girlboss Trope, and Structural Change

From what I’ve observed, stories with “girlboss” protagonists tend to be less likely to critique existing power structures and end up focusing more on slightly tweaking surface level aspects of them to allow the protagonist to prove themselves within the context of the existing system. To me, this is extremely interesting within the context of These Violent Delights because Juliette is arguably initially set up to fulfill this archetype. Because she is a girl, her claim to the status of heir is questioned by those around her more than it would be otherwise. She feels more pressure to be ruthless and to do whatever she can to earn the respect of those around her. Toward the very beginning of These Violent Delights, she threatens to kill Tyler when he attempts to upstage her, saying that she will kill him before she lets him take her heirdom away from her. Without knowing that These Violent Delights is a Romeo and Juliet retelling, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect Juliette to become the leader of the Scarlet Gang and somehow fix things from the inside at the end. She is well set up to be the Strong Female Protagonist ™ who takes what is owed to her and is hardened and kickass and ruthless and doesn’t let interfering men get in her way. 

But importantly, regardless of how much Juliette initially knows it, this is a facade. The image of the hardened ruthless heir may be one that Juliette encourages, but it is a heavily distorted reflection of who she truly is. Because at her very core, though she was raised to be the heir of the Scarlet Gang and therefore should be the literal personification of the continuation of the blood feud, that is not who Juliette is. Throughout the duology, her main motivation is protecting those she loves. At first, she believes that she can do this by working within the existing system. She tries to legitimize herself as heir within the existing power structure of the Scarlet Gang. However, the Scarlet Gang Juliette is set to inherit is one built upon a foundation of fractures that legitimizes its existence through the perpetuation of the blood feud to the extent that to solve the blood feud, or even seek to calm it, would be a violation of its very nature. The Scarlet Gang could never accept a leader that sought to do this, nor could the White Flowers, who equally rely on the blood feud as a source of power, accept the figurehead of their rival gang as an ally. To do so would be a fundamental betrayal of the nature of these two groups. Thus, Juliette must choose between legitimizing her position as heir, bringing more suffering upon the people and city she loves in the process, and giving up her position as heir and forfeiting her power. 

But if Juliette forfeits her power, who does she forfeit her power to? After all, if she merely walks away, the blood feud will still exist. The refusal of one person to fall in line cannot topple an entire system. The answer comes back to Tyler who, unlike Juliette, truly is meant to represent the continuation of the blood feud. He feels the need for vengeance and hatred at his core, and is constantly suspicious of Juliette, recognizing her lack of loyalty though it is incomprehensible to him. Ultimately, there was never room enough for both of them. When Juliette threatened his life in These Violent Delights, she did so out of fear of him usurping her place. Little did she know, he already had. In representing the longevity of the blood feud, Tyler, not Juliette represents the longevity of the Scarlet Gang. While she was the heir in name, he embodied the very lifeforce of the gang. In a way, he almost represents the Juliette that could have been. And that is precisely why Juliette had to kill him.

Though Tyler’s death is foreshadowed by Juliette’s initial threat in the first book, when she shoots him in Our Violent Ends, it is not the callous, unfeeling kill of an heir pushing aside the final obstacle before claiming their rightful place at the top. Instead, it is Juliette’s final severance from the vicious cycle of the blood feud and the illusion of her status as heir. She recognizes that the power she would wield as the future leader, or even the true heir, of the Scarlet Gang stakes its legitimacy in the continuation of the blood feud, and therefore, she would lose legitimacy as a leader if she were to act against the blood feud. This is further demonstrated when Lord Cai tells her that she can choose between dying a White Flower and being heir following his discovery of her relationship with Roma, representing her direct defiance of the blood feud, and her murder of Tyler, representing her sabotage of the longevity of the blood feud and her rejection of her status as heir.

By this point, Juliette has established that she cannot live as a part of the blood feud. She put a bullet through its heart, firing on her own kin to do so. Because the blood feud has no future, she can no longer pretend to occupy the role of heir. But at the same time, in killing Tyler, she has rejected her place within the blood feud. She cannot die a Scarlet, and she cannot die a White Flower because she refuses to be either. In the end, it is not her and Roma’s apparent deaths that aid the end of the blood feud. Instead, it is their rejection of its perpetuation through their rejection of their statuses as heirs. Their continued survival after their apparent death and the birth of their daughter stands in direct defiance to the division brought on by the blood feud. Though, as is further explored in Foul Lady Fortune, this division is still very present, Roma and Juliette’s continued survival both acknowledges that the kind of change required cannot be brought about by the efforts of one titular protagonist, no matter how world ending their sacrifice, and gives hope for a better future. Unlike the girlboss protagonist, Juliette rejects the status quo and achieves her goals by rejecting power. Instead of seeking to be the figurehead of change, which would also be extremely ahistorical, she does her part and steps back, acknowledging that as a singular person, she does not and should not have the power to fix everything. In the end, she watches from the outskirts of Shanghai, and though she is doomed to forfeit her place within her home to protect the people she loves, she is safe enough to live with her husband and raise her daughter and use her remaining connections to do what she can. Because in the end, one person cannot fix everything, no matter how powerful they are. And the spark of hope represented by Juliette and Roma’s continued survival and the birth of their daughter as well as the protection offered by their weapons ring is enough. 

[lulu2992]

While I’m at it, in 2015, I also made a video compiling the different endings of BioShock 2, and I’ve decided to finally upload it!

So there are 8 endings in total. I call them:

1.1 – A

2.1 – A

1.2 – B.1

1.2 – B.2

2.2 – B.1

2.2 – B.2

1.2 – C

2.2 – C

I also made two visual representations, a table and a diagram, of how to get them:

The text version of this and what Eleanor says in each ending is under the cut :)

Part 1

1.1: Eleanor forgives and saves Sofia Lamb.

Condition: Delta rescues all the Little Sisters; Delta spares at least one person among Grace Holloway, Stanley Poole, and Gilbert Alexander.

"And then, Father, the Rapture dream was over. You taught me that evil is just a word. Under the skin, it’s simple pain. For you, mercy was victory. You sacrificed, you endured, and when given the chance, you forgave. Always. Mother believed this world was irredeemable, but she was wrong, Father. We are Utopia, you and I, and in forgiving, we left the door open for her."

1.2: Eleanor hates but saves Sofia Lamb.

Condition: Delta harvests at least one Little Sister; Delta spares Grace Holloway, Stanley Poole, and Gilbert Alexander.

"And then, Father, the Rapture dream was over. You taught me that right and wrong are tidal forces, ever-shifting. To survive in Rapture, Father, you took what you needed from the innocent. But, when the guilty posed no further threat, you simply walked away. I wanted Mother dead. But, broken as she was, how could she hurt me? Now, she will grow old and die, knowing that I rejected her."

2.1: Eleanor loves but drowns Sofia Lamb.

Condition: Delta rescues all the Little Sisters; Delta kills Grace Holloway, Stanley Poole, and Gilbert Alexander.

"You taught me that justice is a contract: once broken, it can never be mended. You sacrificed so much to preserve the innocent. But, to the guilty, you offered no mercy. I loved my mother, and I never wanted to hurt her. But with what she did to us, she gave up the right to exist. My hands were shaking when I did it… But you were there to steady them."

2.2: Eleanor hates and drowns Sofia Lamb.

Condition: Delta harvests at least one Little Sister; Delta kills at least one person among Grace Holloway, Stanley Poole, and Gilbert Alexander.

"And then, Father, the Rapture dream was over. You taught me that innocence is chrysalis, a phase designed to end. Only when we are free from it do we know ourselves. You showed me that my survival, my joy, are all that matter. I indulge, nothing else exists."

Part 2

A: Eleanor is at peace and hopeful. Delta dies but willingly lives on in Eleanor.

Condition: Delta rescues all the Little Sisters.

"The Rapture dream is over. But in waking, I am reborn. This world isn’t ready for me, yet here I am. It would be so easy to misjudge them. You are my conscience, Father, and I need you to guide me. You will always be with me now, Father: your memories, your drives… And when I need you, you’ll be there on my shoulder, whispering. If Utopia is not a place, but a people, then we must choose carefully, for the world is about to change. And in our story, Rapture was just the beginning."

B: Eleanor is in doubt...

Condition: Delta rescues at least one and harvests at least one Little Sister.

"You made a monster of me, Father, but I wondered why you saved the others. You left me in doubt. Didn’t you want me to be like you? I knew I could save you, but if you felt regret, if you wanted me to choose for myself, I would have to let you go. To let you die."

Delta chooses to sacrifice himself and not live on in Eleanor. Eleanor is alone and unsure about her future. "The Rapture dream is over. And in waking, I am alone. Mother, I left behind, and you chose to die rather than to have me follow you. But you gave me the greatest gift of all, something I have never had: my freedom. There is no name for what I am, but the world is about to change. I thought we would seize it together. Yet, as I sat there with you, I wondered if even I could be redeemed. Your sacrifice gave me hope. But, Father, wherever you are… I miss you."

Delta chooses to save himself and live on in Eleanor. Eleanor is evil. "You may not have wanted me, Father, but you defined me. You chose to survive, no matter the cost, and I will not let your instincts go to waste. The Rapture dream is over. And in waking, I am reborn. You’ll always be with me, Father: your memories, your drives... When I need you, you’ll be there, whispering from my shoulder. There is no name for what I am, but the world is about to change, and with your help, they’ll never see me coming."

C: Eleanor is a monster. Delta dies but unwillingly lives on in Eleanor.

Condition: Delta harvests all the Little Sisters.

"The Rapture dream is over, and in waking, I am reborn. You may not have wanted me, Father, but you defined me. You chose to survive, no matter the cost, and I will not let your instincts go to waste. You’ll always be with me, Father: your memories, your drives... When I need you, you’ll be there, whispering from my shoulder. There is no name for what I am, but the world is about to change, and with your help, they’ll never see me coming."

[a-candle-for-sherlock]

Nobody told me Holmes in Sherlock and Co explicitly self-id’s as adhd and autistic from the first minute, or that he has DID! Do we ever find out where the traumatic split came from?

[syn0vial]

yes, jango genuinely and absolutely loved boba as a son. yes, he also left boba posthumous instructions to seek out dangerous individuals with the express intent of destroying his trust in others by exposing him to harm and possibly death at their hands.

understanding jango's character means understanding that he would not even REMOTELY consider these two facts to be contradictory <3

[uglywhitefatherfigure]

random thought but I find it curious how many people consider he/him to be the only correct pronouns to use for togata. is he canonically trans? yes! do i refer to him with he/him and consider that to be correct? yes! does he canonically want to be referred to as male? not really…

you can definitely make the point that togata’s aversion to being referred to as male comes from not believing that anyone could truly see him as male and that under different circumstances he WOULD want to be referred to with he/him (and this is an analysis I think is true) but I think that to erase togata’s view of his own presentation and declare that he canonically uses he/him is to do a disservice to his character

[homoeroticvillain]

you would not believe the world building i do in my head and hardly ever post

[visenyaism]

gevvy officialy based for hating drizzt everbody cool hates that poster boy "good dark elf"

gevvy hates drizzt do’urden because during her come up she was constantly getting compared to him as like “the other famous good drow” and thinks he’s an annoying sanctimonious liberal because she has a way more complicated not 100% negative relationship with menzoberranzan and her family. drizzt do’urden doesn’t like gevvy because he doesn’t like being compared to a deeply unserious commercial popstar and also he thinks she’s a crypto lolth follower