#people have a really warped view of death and i don't like it

[ahoyimlosingmymind]

we can argue day and night whether or not Alden and Della were emotionally abusive, if the Vacker kid's lives really were perfect, if Fitz was just born with the coping mechanisms he has, or if they were created etc...

But here's the thing. When you take into consideration WHAT is valued in the lost cities, what is expected of imperfect people, all of the boundaries and barbed wire around what makes someone 'good'- nobody, and I mean NOBODY is coming out of that world emotionally unscathed.

Lord Cassius is not the only elf in the lost cities who cares about the status of himself and his children, and keeping up appearances. We know he has a warped view of his desire for Keefe to succeed being a form of love. We know how he has pathologized his self-absorbed need to keep his ego intact. He's a piece of shit. But part of the reason is that he values what his world has taught him to value. Prestige, sophistication, power etc...

There's a reason Mr. Forkle had to keep his twin a secret his whole life. A reason the Song Twins were rejected. Why Stina was raised to bite before assessing the danger. Because they were born 'imperfect' to their 'perfect' world's standards. They were born with the short stick. The scorn built in. There's a reason the school, Exullium, exists. For rejects, for people who don't meet the standard. Bad matches, being talentless etc... because their world rejects people who are 'chips' in the facade.

which means, that regardless of what you value, your world will punish you for anything that doesn't meet their quota. Sure, there's elves who choose their values over expectations (Dex's parents) but there's still a lifelong social punishment that comes with it.

Which means the threat of this punishment hangs over every elf's head. Which means that there are undoubtedly elves who adhere to values they don't agree with, solely out of fear of the consequences of choosing what they actually care about. This is their world. This is their lot in life.

And good luck trying to kill out this way of thinking and running the world, when elves live forever, and the people in power are the oldest elves in the world.

Now- imagine you're the Vacker's. You are the spitting image of what perfection is thought to be. You are renowned, watched- YOU ARE THE STANDARD. But even the Vacker's know they aren't perfect. Which means that regardless of how they feel about any of it, if they want to avoid scorn- they have to meet impossible requirements.

And to some parents, loving their kids means 'saving them' from that scorn. Which means heaping the expectations of the world onto their kids tenfold.

standards that are inherently abusive.

I don't think the Vacker's could come out the other side anything but emotionally abused. because the standards of their world. Because the standards they are held to, are so unrealistic, and the punishment for not meeting them is so heavy, the only way to meet them is to die a million deaths and not let anyone see that you are a corpse. You either become exactly what the world wants, or you fall, and everyone watches when you hit the pavement, and then they remark how ugly you look, and how you failed to even be appealing in death.

But guess what- that is your fate. Because it is impossible. And this type of pressure doesn't make diamonds, it creates kids like Fitz Vacker, who's fall from grace was inevitable. Because the standards were always impossible. No soul could meet them.

You can't come out of a world like that without some measure of emotional damage. It's a cycle.

Some elves choose to fight the power, but that resistance is futile when the power is literally ancient, with a relative scale for justice, and an 'objective' scale for judgement.

it just so happens that the Vacker's response was to melt their gold exactly into the shapes asked of them, regardless of how wrong it felt, and how much it hurt.

[eulogium-red]

i'd like to see more of the theme of "family" in overwatch. we see it a lot with ana & fareeha, ram & zen, brig/torb/rein/bastion, genji & hanzo. but those are the obvious ones between playable characters. the ones that are much more clearly written on the wall, even once-in-a-blue-moon players could pick up on. much else is hardly focused on despite how much family (or a lack thereof) has shaped many of the character's lives & identities for better or for worse

i don't like how martina & the unnamed reyes kid are only mentioned in passing, despite gabriel himself visiting often unannounced. clearly they were an important part of his life. clearly, family is an important part of his life — i'm very willing to wager that small passage about the death of his parents in declassified was written very intentionally. his complicated relationship with death, and how it was further affected by his own "death," & how he's now in some warped reversed position with his new family. but we don't get much more than a few voice lines about martina (is she even mentioned by name in-game orrr am i not remembering?)

i want to see how ashe manages the gang throughout the second omnic crisis. or perhaps we could see her mannerisms slightly change with bob. maybe instead of standing side-by-side with him as she is in the reunion cinematic, she puts herself more between him & potential unrealised threats. or maybe she subtly tries to nudge him under awnings whenever she spots ufos, weary they're housing subjugators — little things that are very intentional. maybe her demeanor tilts ever so slightly from confident but guarded, to guarded but confident.

i want to get a better picture of the role sam english played in fareeha's life just from playing the game, especially after ana's presumed death. i want to know more about their relationship other than the christmas dinner they had. i wonder how many players just assume fareeha's father died young, or assume the writers didn't care to write one at all? for a long time, i thought the former. i wonder what sam thinks of some of fareeha's closest friends — has he met cole & angela? what does he think of helix? we hardly even see fareeha's native heritage expressed other than the two skins off the top of my head

what about cassidy & echo? i know this is a more implied one, but cassidy was the first one to nurture her "childlike intelligence." even today, he guides her — he encouraged her to help winston&co at paris when he was still on the fence. one of the cutest things for me is her enthusiastically shouting "hello winston!" mid-battle, presumably not long after cassidy told her to say hi. she probably would've either way, but i also don't want to discredit the role cassidy has had on her development & i really do want to see more of them

or, speak of the devil, how winston views everyone at overwatch as family. how in watchpoint: gibraltar's 1st defense spawn, you can see the little beds he set up for lena and mei, how you can read an email as proof he got the blankets from a small kids blanket business. the way he keeps photos of the gang, years later. how vehemently protective he was of all their locations. i wish we could see it reciprocated a little more, i wish we could see individual sleeping areas for other heroes as the story progresses, or more items on his desk. & that's not even getting into hammond

& i don't think i can have a family post without mentioning dad 76 or how i desperately want to see benicio being the best supportive dad for lúcio more but honestly i'm getting pretty sleepy so either i'll add more later or someone can add more.

depending how you stretch the definition of family here, it can include other dynamics too. baptiste finding a new sense of belonging in the new overwatch, or mei braving the antarctic to not let her team's death go in vain & to help people who can still be helped — from jiayi and her team still on mars, to the people who now need her help on earth. i'd also argue hana's squad in korea. what are niran's siblings up to? are we gonna see more of efi & orisa? moreover, how are all these non-playable side character characters handling the invasion? i guess we got some texts between lena and emily

family is such a powerful motivator, but can also be really complicated, as seen with the amaris and shimadas + kiriko, i wish we got a similar amount of investment some other places too

a major theme of overwatch is moving towards the future, progressing in some way. & that looks different for everyone depending on their emotional readiness to do that, and what they view "progression" as. so it makes sense a lot of characters don't look back on those they lost along the way so much, at least not too openly (zarya comes to mind), but that's what can make their present relationships with others that much more worth preserving & seeing

probably an impossible ask of a game feeling the effects of layoffs that's primarily focused on pvp/bp/shop items but ykn

thank u for coming to my tedtalk

[always-a-king-or-queen]

there are literally so many reasons why we don't need a third Narnia adaptation

first of all, while they might not be the most accurate, the Disney movies are actually so good and, in my opinion, still manage to capture the heart and soul of the series and what it's truly about. The characters are each perfectly portrayed; the Pevensies act like actual siblings and yet love each other dearly and would die for each other even through all the petty arguments; the music creates perfect atmosphere and emotion and never fails to make me tear up or get shivers down my spine; and the CGI is honestly just absolutely stunning.

I really do not feel like we need another adaptation by Netflix.

Especially not through Netflix.

Netflix has already been known to mess up so many shows and movies by completely changing the source material or adding in unnecessary things that completely take away from the purpose of the story. I can already see them warping Narnia into something that barely even resembles the books, that strips it of its purpose and simply makes it about a fantasy world, nothing more. I've already seen posts saying that the new movies just can't end the way the books end, that heaven must be explained away, that Susan never forgets and falls down a dark path, that the faith aspect must be taken out so as not to offend new viewers.

Here's the thing.

If you take faith out of Narnia, you remove the very heart of the series. you remove the entire purpose. Because Narnia is entirely about faith, and trust, and Someone greater than yourself who sacrifices everything to save your own traitorous soul. the Disney movies did not shy away from portraying this faith as openly as possible. if anyone was offended, I've never seen proof. I have seen many nonbelievers talk about how much they were affected by Aslan's death, which goes to show that you simply don't have to be Christian to understand what Narnia is about, and to love and enjoy it.

So if these new remakes remove the faith aspect, then what is the point? four siblings go to a magical land and save it from a witch and befriend a talking lion with nothing special about him and live there as kings and queens and return home and live happily ever after? there is no sacrifice, there is no "he's not tame, but he is good," there is no creation, there is no redemption, there is no last battle, there is no "in your world, I have another name", there is no sister straying down a dark path because she has forgotten how to hope, and then returning because her story is unfinished and the road to heaven is paved with flowers that symbolize her name.

so then, what are you left with? Aslan is just a talking lion, nothing more. the stone table never cracks, the sun never rises. "That by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there" is forgotten entirely, because why would Aslan exist in our world if he is merely a talking lion in Narnia? Aslan's country is changed to be something else, and there is nothing about how Aslan suddenly no longer looks like a lion, and how the things that happened after are more great and beautiful than can be described. Edmund's life is never threatened because of his traitorous deeds; Aslan never offers his own life in place of a guilty boy, is never killed, is never resurrected.

the very core of Narnia is removed, and what you are left with is emptiness.

sure, it might make for a good fantasy story nonetheless. you might still have sweeping views and epic music and an intriguing plotline, but something will always feel like it is missing. like there is an empty hole, desperately needing to be filled.

of course, I don't know that all of that will happen; it's just speculation at this point. But I am fairly sure that it is safe to predict these upcoming movies as such. I highly doubt the producers will want to include the faith that shapes Narnia, because according to them, having a faith aspect means less viewers since too many people would be offended.

but if only they would look at the already wonderful existing adaptations, they would know that is simply not the case.

[wackpedion]

My Analysis of MSI's Royally Fucked

This is going to be a look into Mindless Self Indulgence's song Royally Fucked through the lense of it being about csa (child sexual abuse), if such themes are uncomfortable or triggering this may not be for you

before I begin, I will note that I will be using they/them pronouns to refer to the perspective presented in the song. This is because I don't know if Jimmy Urine is a victim of csa, I don't think he's ever commented on it and for all I know this is a song simply in the perspective/character of someone who did experience it, and its frankly not my business to speculate on his personal life and so I am keeping it ambigious when talking about the views expressed in this song.

Now let us begin, starting with the first verse:

They start off with cursing out some unnamed figure (likely their abuser), right off the bat painting a negative and hateful picture. And then there is the next line, which I think is very significant in setting the tone for the song

"Mom, Dad, why don't you finger me too?" Always sticks out to me when listening to the song, for how gross weird and especially overt it is. To me I think it signals a warped mindset they have from past abuse, that a similiar trusted adult authority figure has hurt them in the past and so such thoughts come to mind. If such a person has done something like that to them, why wouldn't there parents? It wouldn't be so abnormal or shocking.

Then follows the chorus, which is quite self deprecating.

The "I will never be young" line I think refers to how, as a child they never really got to be a child because of the abuse and trauma they suffered through, this is especially relevant to csa in where victims are subjected to adult things, and often told or made to feel more 'adult' (e.g. "you're so mature for your age"). And now having grown up to be an adult that window of time to be a child is closed and gone forever. They will never get to be young.

"I will never be loved" is a self deprecating thought that often derives from low self esteem, which is common among abuse victims. It is then followed by "I will never be wrong", which is a statement in relation to the past lines, stating that they won't or dont think these statements will be proven wrong. They won't ever be young, and they won't ever be loved, and they're not wrong for thinking that.

"I am royally fucked" refers to how they're fucked in the head from the abuse and trauma, and also how their current life is a mess because of the complications from all of that.

Onto verse two, it starts off with "love it, love it, love it, love it, you son of a bitch". To me it sounds like it's about how the perpretator took pleasure in the victims abuse, and how they hold further resentment for them for that.

Now this is where it gets interesting, "All of them dead now, let me be the same". I believe this has a sort of double meaning. For one the more literal one, in that the people who hurt and aided in their abuse are dead now, and they wish to die too. Suicidal feelings are common among victims of abuse. However I interpret this to be a sort of metaphor of sorts for moving on.

"All of them dead now" being that these people are gone, and they got to move on from what happened. Whether it be the more literal interpretation in that they got to leave what happened behind in/through death, or simply being gone and removed from the victims life and not having to suffer consequences for what happened, being as good as dead. The victim wants to be able to move past what happened too, "let me be the same", but is unable to, as shown by the line "fall on my knees" which invokes imagery of a broken down, vulnerable weak person.

The chorus follows and then there is this bridge

"Don't let them see me now, don't let them see me like this" expressing that they don't want anyone to see them as they are being now in the song, broken down and vulnerable. After this a final round of the chorus plays, reiterating their self deprecating thoughts.

And that concludes my analysis, I have been listening to this song on loop for several days and I wanted to put my thoughts down to share.

Some tags for the people who expressed interest in seeing my interpretation/analysis:

@ilovebeatingmywife @sourbombz @shinigamichan @infinitebearrreblogz @msi-obsessive

[hannigramislife]

what made/makes you fall in love with Akutagawa?

list as much reasons as you like!

asking out of curiosity. no pressure ask!

also please don't hold back anything if ever :DD

Hello friend!! Thank you for such a lovely ask!

Man, loving Akutagawa was such an experience– I imprinted on him as soon as I saw a video on tiktok, but that was like, a moment of interest only. I knew nothing about him other than his design was sick, so I had my eye on him before I gave Bsd another go.

Thing is, I had started Bsd like, three times, and every time I'd dropped it, because the first two episodes made me want to tear my hair out XD. I was not used to this kind of anime, to be honest; the tone and the characters threw me off. I gave it one last try because my friend swore up and down that Soukoku was like- an incredible ship. So I, like a good and intrigued friend, started it again, with great determination.

Akutagawa did me in instantly.

From the moment Kunikida showed his picture to Atsushi, I was like, "You have all my attention, I am listening, I am present, tell me more." And then he showed up, and like, introduced himself to his enemies?? With that soft voice of his?? Looking like the babiest baby to have ever babied??

I kept watching to see him again. And then, we got the scene where Akutagawa goes to meet Dazai in the dungeon, and boy, I already disliked Dazai 'cuz he was annoying, but once he did my boy like that?? I was like, "Well, I'm gonna love him then! Since you're a stupid asshole who can't see how great he is!"

And then it just– spiraled. I started liking him out of spite because I really disliked Dazai from the get-go, but the moments that I really started liking Akutagawa for real were small? When he apologized to Higuchi as soon as he woke up, when he admitted to himself that Atsushi had a point in "people need to be told they're worth something," when he told Kyouka he's happy for her, when Atsushi threw the fact that Dazai left him right at Akutagawa's face, but Akutagawa accepted it with grace, acknowledging the truth–

It takes an incredible amount of strength and bravery to be as honest with oneself and with others as Akutagawa is; he has a will of iron, an indomitable spirit that will shine even in the greatest dark. Where others would hesitate or run, Akutagawa will stand tall and fight, regardless of consequences, regardless of how difficult it is. And I don't mean just a physical fight– Akutagawa does not run when things get hard, it doesn't even occur to him as an option, he does not hide. He is 100% himself at any given moment, which is so admirable.

I don't understand how one can dislike Akutagawa; even as a villain, he is not cruel and he is not malicious. His life so far has greatly warped his view on things like death, and pain, and morality, turning him into violent man, but if Beast showed us anything, it is that just a tiny bit of kindness would have been enough for him to learn that there was value in living. He is blindly stumbling his way into a set of morals because no one took 5 minutes to straight up tell him there was more to life than survival. It took Beast Kenji all of one afternoon to teach Akutagawa that just because bad things happened didn't mean the good parts weren't just as important, if not more.

Akutagawa is such a special character to me, I hold him so dearly in my heart, because despite the amount of tragedy he has gone through, he blames no one and nothing, he rues no one and nothing, he has the dignity to accept everything that happens, and strives to grow in spite of life trying to beat him down and keep him there.

The only one who can beat Akutagawa Ryuunosuke is himself.

[silyabeeodess]

Twisted Wonderland Analysis: Rollo Flamme and Quasimodo Parallels

These thoughts hit me like a truck in the middle of the night yesterday and I've already talked about parallels with other TWST characters and Disney movie protagonists, so I'm going to spill them out in the cut below:

First, we need address a key difference between Rollo and Frollo: Rollo isn't actually a hypocrite like some people think. If there's one point that came up for the characters both in the game and in HoND, it's the idea of purity and how it can be distorted. Frollo saw himself as a pure being, a true follower of God that "saw corruption everywhere except within." He extended this warped view toward Quasimodo, constantly talking him down as a "deformed, ugly monster" that needed to be put in a place of subservience and repentance simply for existing--something that Quasimodo himself believed until he was able to interact with other people in order to mentally escape this abuse. Rollo's fits somewhere in-between: His sense of warped purity, in regards to magic, is his own doing. However, again, he isn't a hypocrite about it. A hypocrite is someone who commits acts against their supposed morality. In Frollo's case, he murders, ridicules, and lusts after others, going against the Word of God despite his so-called faith and always shifting the blame for his own sins onto other people. Rollo didn't commit any actual sin to begin with, and he didn't even have magic when his brother died--nor does he want it. He hates magic with a passion and sees powerful mages like Malleus as symbols for this hatred, yes, but those feelings also extend to himself even if he refuses to admit it. Frollo didn't hate himself: He thought he was always above others even when confronted by his own sin. As such, Rollo's backstory doesn't match Frollo's descent, but Quasi's beginning as a supposed "sinner by blood": Both are "monsters" in their own eyes.

To quote Idia during the battle on the belltower, "He doesn't even care that he's surrounded by fire lotuses. He just keeps blasting magic... (to Rollo) Aren't you just projecting? I think there's only one guy here you actually hate--yourself." Azul also backs this by saying, "It must have torn you up when your magic first manifested. You gained the very power that took your brother away, making you no different..." This is why Idia was able to connect with Rollo so strongly--not just as two people who lost loved ones, but people who also blame themselves for their deaths. Through their parallel, as well as the fact that Rollo was waiting in the belltower when the flowers took over the city--at the heart of all the destruction, right in what's metaphorically a burning fire waiting to consume everything... It's a clear sign of self-abuse/self-destruction. Rollo doesn't want magic to exist at all, including his own. While Rollo did use magic, he did so to ensure his plans succeeded likely with the intention of being the last man to fall. Quoting Rollo himself now as he was musing from the tower, "We will all be freed from that cold, dark despair (caused by magic)."

We don't really get enough interactions between Rollo and Yuu for a strong dissection on this, but I think this is also why he stresses Yuu's "purity" so much enough to talk to us about it directly. It's not like there's a shortage of non-magic users in TWST's world, but we're special to him because we come from a place completely devoid of magic: For him, it's like meeting an angelic messenger sent from Heaven. (Hint: Him telling us to "rest our tired wings."). As a result, Rollo comes to us for affirmation of his beliefs and when we don't give him that, he recoils. This follows Quasi's idealization of Esmeralda as an "angelic being." He saw her as a kind of salvation, a ray of "heaven's light," in a similar way to how Rollo sees Yuu. In the same pattern though, Esmeralda didn't give Quasi exactly what he wanted either, which partially led to him backsliding. In their case, Quasi expected romantic love as a kind of salvation when Esmeralda, not feeling the same, could only give him her friendship. This rejection made Quasi retreat back into his own head, stating "no face as hideous as his face was ever meant for heaven's light" once again. Even Rollo's rivalry with Malleus acts as an extension of this parallel, since Quasi had his own rivalry with Phoebus: Just like how Esmeralda ultimately chose Phoebus, Yuu is closest to, and of course sides with, Malleus.

On a smaller note, even Rollo's position during the battle is more fitting to Quasi than Frollo. In HoND, Quasi protected the belltower while Frollo stormed into it at the end of the film. In TWST, Rollo was protecting the belltower while the NRC students stormed in. It's just that the protagonist and antagonist positions have been flipped.

Speaking of the belltower, Rollo shares Quasi's connection to both it and Fleur City. The gargoyles adore him, explaining that "no matter the weather, he climbs this tall tower and polishes the Bell of Solice to a shine," and that "when [they] got wet and started growing moss, he scrubbed it off for [them.]" Rollo and Quasi were both caretakers for their belltowers and regarded them as sanctuaries. Rollo doesn't show any surprise either in that the gargoyles talk, which, yes, since he's a local he'd have a higher chance of knowing about their sentience more than our NRC boys; however, the way he talks to them in-turn is very natural--just like how Quasi talked to the gargoyles. Rollo didn't even seem to know that they were/consider that they would be in-danger, quote, "I cannot fathom why [Malleus] came to check on you." He might call them "rocks" too, but from his actions, it's clear that he does in-fact care. As for the city, while Quasi didn't initially get the chance to see it all himself personally, he did everything he could to understand it and the people who lived there in painstaking detail, even creating models of the individual villagers. Rollo shows that same love for his hometown, jumping from group to group and dropping tons of information as a guide to everything in it. He didn't have to do that for his plan to work: He easily could've distanced himself as the "busy president overseeing everything." It's just that, because he adores Fleur City, of course he's going to brag about it.

To recap, Rollo isn't a Frollo copy in the same way the others weren't copies of their respective villains. If anything, he's a version of Quasimodo had Quasi fully absorbed Frollo's brainwashing and abuse--someone who would've come to hate themselves and the world so much that they just wanted to see it end. Hopefully though, he'll take that invite by the gargoyles to talk through his issues and start truly seeing "heaven's light" now that he's finally gotten out of his own head a bit.

[esther-dot]

I was reading your comments about Jon's chivalry and protecting the vulnerable. This all brought to mind Jon's TV ending of stabbing Dany in the heart while kissing her. While we don't know whether or not this version of Dany's end is close to what will be the written version, it seems as though it's possible in part because of the Nissa Nissa legend. Jon doing that in the books (or something like it) would align with the Azor Ahai story, but in a warped sort of way, leaving events open to interpretation (as is usual with the prophecies and legends). But in any case, Jon killing a woman will be an act that is antithetical to so many of his values that it seems like it would come close to destroying him even if justified within Jon's universe. I wonder if Martin really plans to bring Jon this low, but also how it will be received. The optics of portraying such an ending for Dany given today's sensibilities could be viewed even more dimly than it would have been when Martin started writing the series?

(about this ask)

I'm so sorry that it's taken me this long to respond! I have finally reread some pertinent chapters to situate my thoughts.

First, I just want to acknowledge how upsetting this spec is to some, and remind everyone, no one wants this ending. We all think it's gross, we're just discussing the possibility, not merely because of the show, because it's an old theory. I looked around and saw posts about this starting in 2013 by Dany fans. So, the presence of this myth is substantial enough, even BNFs/Jonerys shippers felt like it had a strong chance of manifesting (although they believe Dany would willingly sacrifice herself) well before D&D committed their fuckery. I suppose all that answers your question. Man killing his lover is a gross trope, being forced to kill a loved one to save the world is overused, so now, I can't imagine anyone reading it and being happy about it.

In trying to look at the context in-canon Martin has created, he's taken it out of the strict man kills lover idea of the AA/NN myth, and is discussing the idea of sacrificing an innocent child to a god which fans have already compared to myth, Stannis & Shireen = Agamemnon & Iphigeneia. This sacrifice hasn't happened yet, but it's been confirmed as a Martin plot point. Stannis is already burning people alive, justifying kid killing, and Davos has already planted the Stannis=AA, kid=NN idea:

Davos was remembering a tale Salladhor Saan had told him, of how Azor Ahai tempered Lightbringer by thrusting it through the heart of the wife he loved. He slew his wife to fight the dark. If Stannis is Azor Ahai come again, does that mean Edric Storm must play the part of Nissa Nissa? (ASOS, Davos V)

Although, rather than this being a justified death, the fans will be horrified as we're meant to be. Davos' thoughts call into question the idea of killing another for your "magic sword":

A true sword of fire, now, that would be a wonder to behold. Yet at such a cost . . . When he thought of Nissa Nissa, it was his own Marya he pictured, a good-natured plump woman with sagging breasts and a kindly smile, the best woman in the world. He tried to picture himself driving a sword through her, and shuddered. I am not made of the stuff of heroes, he decided. If that was the price of a magic sword, it was more than he cared to pay. (ACOK, Davos I)

and Martin impresses upon us the value of each life:

"Your Grace," said Davos, "the cost . . ." "I know the cost! Last night, gazing into that hearth, I saw things in the flames as well. I saw a king, a crown of fire on his brows, burning . . . burning, Davos. His own crown consumed his flesh and turned him into ash. Do you think I need Melisandre to tell me what that means? Or you?" The king moved, so his shadow fell upon King's Landing. "If Joffrey should die . . . what is the life of one bastard boy against a kingdom?" "Everything," said Davos, softly. (ASOS, Davos V)

The talk of greater good/killing kids reminds me of AGOT in which Ned's story is inundated with the topic of child murder/protecting kids. We have Mycah, his memories of Aegon and Rhaenys, his promise to protect Jon, his guilt over his lies and treason bubbling up repeatedly, his fight against the assassination of Dany, his attempt to save Cersei's children from Robert...we all know, kid killing is wrong according to Martin, so we've already been told that this wannabe AA's actions are contemptible. The myth in which the sacrifice is happy to die, that sacrificing someone is heroic, it's being contradicted by what we're being shown in the Stannis storyline.

Now, while Stannis is being declared Azor Ahai, we're constantly being told he isn't. Jon calls the act a mummer's farce and comments on his cold sword and that is right before a Dany chapter, so the idea is, Dany is actually AA. @trinuviel is the first person I saw lay out the argument for that and contend that being AA is a bad thing (meta parts 1, 2, 3). People have said that Drogo kinda becomes her Nissa Nissa in that scenario. She burns him to get the dragons, and what are the dragons called?

"When I went to the Hall of a Thousand Thrones to beg the Pureborn for your life, I said that you were no more than a child," Xaro went on, "but Egon Emeros the Exquisite rose and said, 'She is a foolish child, mad and heedless and too dangerous to live.' When your dragons were small they were a wonder. Grown, they are death and devastation, a flaming sword above the world." He wiped away the tears. "I should have slain you in Qarth." (ADWD, Daenerys III)

That kinda makes us think, oh, the myth already has a canon counterpart, don't need to worry about it anymore. Only, we've also said Rhaegar impregnating a young Lyanna could be read as a play on Nissa Nissa, with him risking her life to get the prophecy baby, otherwise known as the third head of the dragon. And Jon is not only a kind of dragon, he repeatedly intones that fun little phrase about being a sword, and sometimes, that happens within an interesting context (for speculation purposes):

"I will." Do not fail me, he thought, or Stannis will have my head. "Do I have your word that you will keep our princess closely?" the king had said, and Jon had promised that he would. Val is no princess, though. I told him that half a hundred times. It was a feeble sort of evasion, a sad rag wrapped around his wounded word. His father would never have approved. I am the sword that guards the realm of men, Jon reminded himself, and in the end, that must be worth more than one man's honor. (ADWD, Jon VIII)

So, although there is one character that seems to be Azor Ahai (Dany), I am definitely open to the myth manifesting, or rather, being examined from multiple angles. IMO, that's what Martin is doing and we can use each variation to reassess what he's saying with it. We have Dany and Drogo (the official one/successful one), Rhaegar and Lyanna (not AA, but Jon is born), Stannis and Edric (denied), Stannis and Shireen (he will kill Shireen, but we don't know if he'll get what he wants and we do know he isn't AA)... lots of pics of a similar idea. To emphasize Stannis not being the dude and Dany being the "real" AA, we have that Jon passage and chapter transition:

Even though we have lots of contenders and commentary about this myth with the canon characters, none of it romanticizes human sacrifice, and all works towards the twist that what is said to be a hero/the weapon that will save people brings destruction. If we look back at it critically, Dany has a habit of accepting, or even causing, the suffering of others for her greater good, including sacrificing Mirri to get her dragons. We might even argue that Mirri is a Nissa Nissa for her, as Dany had taken Mirri under her protection before killing her to get dragons.

That being said, even though we're getting told this shit is bad in canon, the indictment of killing innocents and people who depend on you to protect them, it wouldn’t apply if someone were to kill Stannis or Dany. It isn’t on the same moral level as killing a child, or a spouse who loves and trusts you. It isn't the same as invading and then killing people who won't worship your god or accept you as a leader. It isn't the same as killing a slave, simply because, when their times come, Dany and Stannis will be guilty. After their actions, it would be justice for them to die. I think why other parts of the fandom entertain the idea of Dany as NN while also condemning us for entertaining it, is that Dany's vision does have her being grasped at by hands of her "children" and fans have this idea that she is sacrificing herself/her happiness for the greater good already, and in the AA/Nissa Nissa story, it does sound like she offers herself willingly for the tempering of the sword. So to them, it’s part of Dany’s heroism. Dany's death is inevitable to some, at the hands of Jon is ok, but her not dying a hero, that's unacceptable.

But thinking about how it's been discussed thus far, I can't imagine we're gonna get a romanticized version of the AA/NN myth in canon when so far, it's pretty dark/condemned. None of that precludes Jon killing Dany in what you described as a:

warped sort of way, leaving events open to interpretation (as is usual with the prophecies and legends).

which really sticks out to me as the important part of all this.

The idea that Jon might do it and characters recognize it as a tragic love story a la the myth, that fascinates me because of how Martin has written wild rumors into the story (rumors about Dany, Robb, and Sansa spring to mind), and some of us have written reality and what the public thinks into fic as two distinct things because it feels like a potential way the story might go. What is widely known to be true, like say, Jon being Ned's bastard, may not be the truth that we the readers come to know. There's no guarantee that Westeros will know what the readers know about past or future events. We may get a take on AA/NN, the characters in-world may not understand it the same way.

Jon is undeniably a hero, in a world where institutional corruption is rampant and ideals abandoned, he’s a standout in his values. We would expect, and we find, contrasts between him and these other characters (Dany, Rhaegar, Stannis), primarily, his practical actions that are about saving life/protecting life, even from Stannis, so the idea that he would abandon certain values, it's a tough one. The difference is, while Stannis, Rhaegar, and Dany were acting on these prophecies or visions or dreams, things we're repeatedly warned against trusting in the text, Jon would be taking action based on the fact that Dany is a mass-murderer, a threat to all of Westeros. It isn't a sacrifice to an unknown god for some promised mystical good, it's justice. The religious fanaticism wouldn't be a factor, the killing of an innocent wouldn't be a factor, killing a child wouldn't be a factor, killing to achieve a self-serving end wouldn't be a factor. All the things that have been criticized thus far aren't at play.

The moral quandary presented to the audience in AGOT is killing someone who might be a threat, but is a child at the moment, and Martin presents the sneaky assassination / child killing as abhorrent:

Grand Maester Pycelle cleared his throat, a process that seemed to take some minutes. "My order serves the realm, not the ruler. Once I counseled King Aerys as loyally as I counsel King Robert now, so I bear this girl child of his no ill will. Yet I ask you this—should war come again, how many soldiers will die? How many towns will burn? How many children will be ripped from their mothers to perish on the end of a spear?" He stroked his luxuriant white beard, infinitely sad, infinitely weary. "Is it not wiser, even kinder, that Daenerys Targaryen should die now so that tens of thousands might live?" "Kinder," Varys said. "Oh, well and truly spoken, Grand Maester. It is so true. Should the gods in their caprice grant Daenerys Targaryen a son, the realm must bleed." Littlefinger was the last. As Ned looked to him, Lord Petyr stifled a yawn. "When you find yourself in bed with an ugly woman, the best thing to do is close your eyes and get on with it," he declared. "Waiting won't make the maid any prettier. Kiss her and be done with it." "Kiss her?" Ser Barristan repeated, aghast. "A steel kiss," said Littlefinger. (AGOT, Eddard VIII)

which is all interesting context for Dany later being assassinated, especially because the first lesson Martin gives us on justice is one that Jon is there for, and then is reiterated in relation to Dany:

Ned had heard enough. "You send hired knives to kill a fourteen-year-old girl and still quibble about honor?" He pushed back his chair and stood. "Do it yourself, Robert. The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. Look her in the eyes before you kill her. See her tears, hear her last words. You owe her that much at least." (AGOT, Eddard VIII)

The convo about killing Dany with LF is about a bedding and before that it was presented in terms of a wedding gift, which makes me squint now knowing the AA/NN stuff:

Yes, it's awful, and I do understand, almost agree with you here:

But in any case, Jon killing a woman will be an act that is antithetical to so many of his values that it seems like it would come close to destroying him even if justified within Jon's universe.

but the way it might tie together the initial discussion of killing Dany and the eventual act weighs heavily with me when determining what Martin might do and why/why not.

The other suggestion is that Arya kills Dany. If having dragons is Chechov's gun for KL burning then Arya being a trained assassin feels like a Chechov's gun for killing Dany. But in that scenario, there is no conflict. No inner struggle. We spent so much of AGOT weighing the morals of killing Dany, it's hard for me to believe when the time comes, it's presented without any moral complexity. Arya is already able and willing to take a life, even when it isn't justified. It doesn't feel right to me that killing Dany would be a presented without an inner struggle, that it would be done easily, as easily as Arya now kills. TBH, it removes the drama if someone other than Jon does it because it will be so highly necessary and just when the time comes. Jon is really the only character who can make it squeamish because of the guy killing a woman thing and because it will be kinslaying.

There is a lot of talk about poison, so I think it's totally possible Arya tries to kill Dany with poison first, but I think Jon is more likely to be the one to successfully kill her, and in a way that calls to mind Ned's opinion on it, See her tears, hear her last words. That would allow Martin to make sure we see it as just/moral, bring home the Targ v Targ issue, and it shades Ned's decisions and values in a very interesting way.

After s8 fans said Ned was wrong to fight against killing Dany in s1, but Martin thinks he was right to object to killing children, so for the two Targ children he was protecting in AGOT (Dany and Jon) to come face to face and one kill the other prevents the conclusion that Ned was wrong. It was the same mercy, the same refusal to see the child of an enemy as an enemy, that saved the boy who will in turn save Westeros. IMO, it's a way to uphold the belief in mercy. I tend to think it’s also Martin’s way of addressing one his questions about his beloved LOTR (what about orc babies etc).

If another person ends Dany, we still get dead Dany, but it doesn't say anything interesting? Killing her wouldn't be a sacrifice on anyone else's part, she won’t be loved and she has to go. But, Jon, who so desperately wants to have honor, if he kills her, it's right as well as an egregious "sin." Ned dishonors himself to protect Sansa (and obvy was committing treason to protect Jon), it feels like coming full circle for Jon, who so wants to be worthy of being a son to Ned to follow his path there too. Also, one thing I expect we’ll keep tracking is kinslaying. Kinslaying comes up with the AA/Nissa Nissa issue in the Stannis storyline, so I do expect that to be addressed in Jon chapters:

We have the whole baby switch to assure us, Jon values human life a great deal. All the same, that involves a moment of cruelty on Jon's side, so Martin isn't interested in keeping him perfectly pure. He likes those moments where doing the right thing is very difficult, even compromising in some way. It's why, while we say Ned committing treason for Jon is a no brainer, Martin writes Ned tortured by it. He likes the inner turmoil over decisions, placing a societal good (honor) against another obligation or ideal and asking what is right.

I wonder if Martin really plans to bring Jon this low, but also how it will be received. The optics of portraying such an ending for Dany given today's sensibilities could be viewed even more dimly than it would have been when Martin started writing the series?

Despite all the ways I think it makes sense, yes, I def think this is one of those areas that if he had finished the series as quickly as he'd hoped, would have gone over better. Dany has dragons, therefore, she will be an overwhelming threat to Westeros, so it isn't like Jon will just randomly kill a woman, yet it's distasteful all the same. Martin is looking at things from the context of his story and the ideas he’s already introduced/talking about though which is why I can wince but kinda understand it. There are other issues where my sensibilities diverge from his, so didn’t like it on the show, I don’t like it for the books, still think it’s probably gonna happen. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[dross-the-fish]

I like your AU but some of your posts come off as kind of harsh on Adam. Are his crimes really worse than Victors?

While Victor may have very foolishly created an 8-foot-tall homunculus that he was in no way shape or form prepared to raise, said homunculus has canonically:

Burned down a house because he was angry that the tenants left after chasing him out, planned to kidnap a child because he thought maybe a child could be raised not to be horribly prejudiced against him. When he found out the child was a Frankenstein he killed that child, framed a woman for the murder of said child, harassed and coerced his creator to make him a wife, specified that the wife should be as ugly as he is so she'd have no choice but to be attached to him and only him, Victor rightfully said "That's fucked up, holy shit no!" then the homunculus went on to kill at least 2 more people that we know of, only to lead his creator on a long chase across the globe that ultimately resulted in his death.

And that's just the shit Adam did on screen. At one point he obtains dogs and guns and I don't think he went up to a store and bought them.

Adam is the definition of

You feel bad for him because at first he legitimately tried as best he knew how to be good and benevolent but it just wasn't working for him so he did a full on U turn and went back in the other direction at warp speed.

Victor was awful about Adam being ugly and he did assume before he actually knew the truth that Adam had killed William because Victor has some strong biases. He also maybe could have talked more to his family and friends about what was going on when they were in clear and present danger. but Victor hasn't actually committed that many crimes, he's just sometimes kind of a shitty person with shitty views.

This is also why I favor Adam as a character because holy Moses on a dump truck this guy needs character growth and a redemption arc and he needs it bad. Like every decision he makes I'm just sitting there going "oh, sweetie no. No, that's the worst thing you could possibly do in this situation. Please stop." but it's like watching someone set a train on fire, derail the train, then run it off a cliff, you just know there's no hope and everyone is going to die.

Anyway I love Frankenstein, it's my favorite, and the Creature is my favorite character.

[tosahobi-if]

Sorry to bother but I actually get a bit triggered by cannibalism's metaphors because of some things I've gone through. So could you maybe put a warning or maybe a tag so I can block it?

And, would this type of text be a recurring thing in the game?

I know it seems weird, the thing is the blood nor death it was triggers me but the idea of cannibalism tied to romance, because let's just say that in real life it often appears in very toxic relationships.

You don't have to post this, just hoping that maybe next time you can put a warning?

(And btw is not because you were really descriptive, it's more just the concept itself)

don't worry, you're not a bother! i'll be glad to tag it. i also do want to say that the concept of hunger as desire is a prevalent theme within the story. the mc is very much a traumatized individual with a warped view on relationships. they don't have any healthy examples to base their own feelings off of, so they fall back on what they do understand (which is base instinct) to express themself, whether romantic or not.

you can kind of think of it like a child that thinks the only way to get attention is through being disruptive or acting out. they don't know any better because they've never learned any better. they do, however, understand that most people don't seem to feel the same way they do, and that brings a whole plethora of complications with it. this is, of course, not to say that it's a healthy or a conducive way to approach relationships but i hope it helps to explain their mindset!

i think personal comfort is first and foremost when it comes to interacting with media. imo i do think the story might be triggering for you, but i'll do my best to update the content warnings, and i'm currently working on coding a visible cw toggle into the game. please take care of yourself, anon! ( ´ ▽ ` )

[odessa-castle]

NLTS might just be one of my favorite fics of all time. The characterizations, the banter, the tension - it's all 10/10 (and I loooove all the little nods to Shakespeare).

Your Cazador is truly menacing and has such a looming presence for a character who doesn't appear much on the page. You mentioned in an earlier ask that you deliberately built Cazador and Astarion's dynamic on the emotional language of intimate partner violence (which I think is so heartbreakingly accurate). If you feel comfortable, could you talk a little more about that choice, why you made it, and/or how it shaped your writing?

Beyond excited for part two!!

Thank you so much! NLTS has come to mean a lot to me, and I'm glad this story means something to other people, too.

As far as Cazador and Astarion's dynamic and IPV goes, I think I did mention in the tags that I had a lot to say on the subject, and I do, but I'm going to put it under a cut for fairly obvious reasons. Read on at your discretion.

So! Vampires. You can do a lot of things with vampires, and with the sire-childe relationship in particular. I'm not going to do a whole scholarly review here or anything, but suffice to say that it is inherently, to some degree, a relationship based on power and control, and the transgressive nature -- the blurring of boundaries between parent and lover, the interplay between sex and death, etc. -- is part of the horror and part of the appeal. Also, biting is sex, and the issues of consent arising from the former are extrapolated onto the latter. Again, there's a lot of room to play with metaphor here, depending on the story you want to tell, but if it's not kinda fucked up, then why even bother?

Astarion and Cazador's relationship is likewise one where a number of different lenses can come into play, depending on what you're interested in exploring. I do think one of the draws of Astarion's story is the way that it takes certain conventions that pop up around vampires and strips the layer of metaphor away -- Astarion's sexual abuse is explicitly a part of his story in a way that I (and many others) didn't expect to see presented so frankly. And I knew I wanted to do some of that metaphor-stripping myself when I wrote this.

The fantasy/supernatural elements let you really go to some extremes when you're writing about Astarion's abuse, and Cazador is awful enough that almost any horror you can come up with is something he'd plausibly do to Astarion. And there are some evil geniuses in this fandom. The things I've seen people do with torture and body horror, with mind control, with sheer sexual depravity -- chef's kiss. I love you guys. I don't think that's where my strengths as a writer necessarily lie, though, and it wasn't quite what I wanted in terms of either theme or tone for this story. I wanted both Wyll's and Astarion's loneliness and low self-worth to be grounded in something really emotionally recognizable, in part so they could recognize these things in each other, and I wanted to show off the...quieter moments of their trauma, almost. The critical voices they've internalized; their self-censoring and self-deprecation; the things they've normalized that really shouldn't be normal, actually.

I'm not going to get too deep into the nature of my interest in IPV. Suffice to say that I have both personal and professional experience in that area, and that like all artists, I bring pieces of myself into the things I create. What I can say is that I don't think I've ever encountered an IPV survivor who didn't experience some form of emotional abuse as part of that power and control relationship, and that a lot of survivors have talked about how that can be the hardest thing to recover from, because it gets so deep inside your head. It warps the way you view yourself; it distorts the way you see the world. You carry your abuser's voice with you, whether or not they're there. And it's not easy to make it go away. It's not easy to make the emotional conditioning go away, to disentangle the survival mechanisms you've had to develop once you no longer actually need them to survive. These things hold true with, like, basically every form of ongoing abuse, they're not necessarily unique to IPV, but they're a big part of IPV nonetheless. (And they're certainly things we see from a lot of the companions in-game, Astarion very much included. Gotta love how his immediate response to you initiating the breakup conversation is "did I do something wrong?")

I do know that discussions of the exact nature of Cazador's abuse of Astarion can get, uh, fraught. I do think Cazador's sexual objectification and possessiveness of Astarion are, well, text, and Cazador certainly uses other people as proxies to enact sexual violence on Astarion. I didn't include, and don't plan to include, any outright sexual contact between them on-page because I think the point comes across clearly enough without it (and because jesus, enough stuff happens on-page in NLTS, there needs to be a balance if I don't want to turn the story into one giant downer). For me, the crux of their dynamic lies in one of Astarion's first descriptions of Cazador: a man obsessed with power -- not political power, but power over people.

Cazador might think of himself as rational and in control of his own actions and passions -- a lot of abusers will tell you that they're just being logical, you're the one bringing your emotions into everything -- but in reality, he is obsessed with his control over Astarion. When he feels like that control is being threatened, he sees it as a direct assault on his own self-image and power and masculinity, and he takes it out on Astarion to convince them both that Astarion still belongs to Cazador. I don't think Cazador wants Astarion's love, necessarily; I don't think he knows what love actually is, anymore. I think he wants Astarion's true submission -- and he's never going to get that, because Astarion obeys him out of fear, not trust, and trust is what submission actually requires. (As is choice, which is also a thing that Cazador does not and will not give Astarion.) Basically, the closer Wyll and Astarion get, the more Cazador gets caught up in these dominance games, and those are ultimately him pissing on a lamppost rather than him accomplishing anything.

And I do write him as fixated on Astarion to a degree that he isn't with the other spawn. He doesn't really care about Dalyria taking Branwyn as a lover, for example, because whether rightly or wrongly, he doesn't perceive that as a threat to his control over her (or as a threat to his own self-image); he could tell her to stop, and she would, without him needing to compel her obedience. But Cazador doesn't feel as secure of his ownership over Astarion, for good reason, and that plus his sexual obsession makes him act Totally Normal about all this.

In NLTS, Cazador is, generally, not reacting to what Wyll and/or Astarion are actually doing. He's reacting to perceived threats to his ego, whether or not those threats have any basis in reality. Cazador breaks Astarion's rib because he wants to break Astarion's rib. It's not even sensible as a punishment, but it makes Cazador feel powerful, and it makes Astarion feel worthless. As I mentioned in an earlier post, he makes Wyll's gift to Astarion all about himself instead because it's a way of soothing his ego, and because, at that point, he's still thinking of Wyll as an easily-controlled dupe. Things change once Wyll duels Lord Andoril -- Cazador's proxy and mouthpiece -- over Astarion, and wins. It doesn't matter what Astarion did or didn't do. It matters that, to Cazador, someone publicly challenged his ownership of Astarion and got away with it, and Wyll is the kind of threat that (at this point) Cazador can't simply have killed and be done with it. The fallout for Cazador's business prospects isn't great, sure, but it's also not really what he cares about most. But really, the thing most getting in the way of Cazador's political ambitions in this story is...Cazador himself. Even if he'd tell you otherwise, because Cazador's not exactly self-aware.

This is also the point where Cazador being low-key annoyed that Wyll wants Astarion for something other than his body turns into Cazador becoming Big Mad about that fact, because Cazador cannot handle the idea of Wyll laying claim to some part of Astarion that he himself doesn't have access to. (Yes, this is a really fucked-up way for him to frame the fact that Wyll, you know, sees and values Astarion as a person. But well, Astarion is not and never has been a person to Cazador.) On some level, Cazador isn't wrong about this, either -- Wyll genuinely is a threat to his control over Astarion. But because Cazador is a petty, jealous little tyrant of a man who doesn't understand love, he catalogues this threat as Astarion offering his submission to another man. Astarion having his own autonomous wants and desires is, obviously, not something that crosses his mind. When Wyll is exiled, Cazador fully gives himself over to his inner green-eyed monster, and abandons all pretense of self-control or calculation. Cazador forcing Astarion to enjoy -- or well, take physical pleasure in -- his own rape is, among other things, Cazador trying to brute-force Astarion's submission.

The thing about power and control relationships is that the abuser never really feels secure in them. Nothing is ever good enough; everything can become a new ego threat. Cazador is alone, and he's miserable, and really, he's made himself that way.

One commenter really hit the nail on the head in Chapter 14: I was like "oh now wyll won't be a useful political tool," as if Cazador was some kind of evil political mastermind, rather than an evil horrible monster. There is, indeed, an evil political mastermind in NLTS -- but it's Enver Gortash, not Cazador Szarr. Gortash does more in half a chapter than Cazador does in basically the entire fic. In NLTS, Cazador is not a monster because he's a powerful and terrifying supernatural being -- although he is also that. He's a monster because he's a jealous tyrant who can't see past the tip of his own nose. And honestly, I think that makes for a scarier villain.

[merakiui]

I finally managed to read the newest 'death row undertow' Chapter! Although I'm a bit late, i wanted to share my thoughts with you on that chapter.

It was so bitter-sweet ;-; I knew that Marisa would die eventually, but reading Marisa and the reader bonding together and talking about how great of friends they would be and even visiting different places together in city only for Marisa to die in the end AND the reader having to WATCH her die. I was like "Nooooooooo", poor poor reader-chan ;-;

I was also wondering how Jade managed to capture Marisa in the first place? She said that Jade would take her to the doctor? What exactly happened between these two?

Oh, and the scene where Jade was choking/suffocating Marisa showed Jade’s unhinged and predatory side bouncing on his "prey." I really liked seeing this side of him. Honestly, it makes sense for him (and other Merfolk) not to have the same morals as we humans do. It's either "kill or be killed" world kind of thing. At the end of the day, even if you take away his claws or sharp teeth, he's still a underwater vicious predator.

I wanted to say more, but i don't want to make it longer as it already is, so I'll stop for now.

-🌸

🌸 anon, thank you so much for reading the latest chapter!!!! :D it was a sad, bittersweet one indeed. T^T I thought it would be even more painful if Reader was forced to watch Marisa, who is just out of reach, as she's killed by Jade. At least she tried to save her even if it was futile. >_<

I can't say much due to spoilers, but Jade choosing Marisa (a pregnant woman) as his next victim was fully intentional. It's meant to be a very petty dig at Reader, as if to say: "This was going to be you." It's very childish. ;;; but more than that it's Jade's silent expression of anger. He hides it well, but he was LIVID when he couldn't kill and eat Reader right away after kidnapping her. A furious Jade is not to be messed with. ;;;;;;;;; however, what happened between Marisa and Jade will be revealed at one point!!

I'm happy you could enjoy seeing Jade's unhinged side. He's just so,,,,, monstrous. I wanted to write him to be as cutthroat as possible in this chapter because his views (from Reader's pov) are so incredibly wrong and warped and in human society that is criminal. But in Jade's mind this is just the food chain at play. A natural order of the world: kill or be killed. Also, if he couldn't fill his fridge with more meat soon, he was on the verge of snapping (like when he almost takes a chomp out of Reader's leg). His hunger is debilitating.

It's a cruel reminder to Reader that there's really no reasoning with him and that there's nothing stopping him from doing these things to other people or even her if he finds out about her lie.

[crownmemes]

House Sentences, Vol. 9

(Sentences from House (2004-2012). Adjust phrasing where needed)

"Is that a favour to me or to you?"

"I said no, so stop asking me!"

"You're too much of a nice boy. Let's let the bad boy out for a bit!"

"I like being alone - at least, I convince myself that I'm better off that way."

"We're better off alone. We suffer alone. We die alone."

"If there's any chance that we can pretend this never happened, I'd be completely fine with that."

"Why the hell were you naked in the kitchen?"

"You know what happens when you interfere in other people's relationships?"

"I know you're worried about me, and I also know that that kind of unselfishness doesn't come naturally to you, but I don't want your help."

"I should have known that you weren't done sabotaging this."

"Well, at least you're actually taking responsibility for once in your life."

"You're successful, smart, and you attract everything that moves."

"You present yourself as not giving a damn about other people's emotions, but your actions indicate otherwise."

"I told you that I wanted to be happy, and I followed your advice. And instead, I'm just miserable."

"Whatever the answer is, you don't have it."

"I don't love you, so just accept it and move on with your life instead of making everyone miserable!"

"I love you. I wish I didn't, but I can't help it."

"Why do you have to analyze things to death? Why can't you just let it be nice?"

"I know you're screwed up - I know you are always gonna be screwed up - but you're the most incredible man I've ever known."

"It means a lot that you respect me enough to do this."

"Just to be clear, this whole little act isn't gonna work. I need an apology. Not flattery."

"I've come to realize that I love you even more than I thought I did."

"You led me into temptation, and I followed."

"If everybody lies, then trust is not only unfounded and pointless, it's fictional."

"Did you sedate my mother?"

"There's nothing worse than loving someone who's never going to stop disappointing you."

"You know, you turned out remarkably close to normal, considering the genes in play."

"I am not giving you advice just so you can distort it to suit your own warped world view!"

"You're really not good with nuance, are you?"

"If you're going to dress like an Italian hooker, at least let it be this year's Italian hooker."

"If you didn't want to be insulted, you wouldn't have invited me."

"If you're emotionally invested, you cannot make rational decisions."

"You lied to me and betrayed me. Do you think I really care what you consider a good idea anymore?"

"You know, I've got to tell you, there is bossy - which can be sexy - and then there's bitchy."

"Can I ask you a question? Are you insane or just stupid?"

"Haven't you ever done something in a relationship you wish you could take back?"

"I used to think the whole brooding thing was just part of your work persona, but now I know you need to lighten up."

"If I had to choose between saving everyone, and loving you and being happy, I would choose you. I choose being happy with you."

"You choose yourself over everybody else over and over again, because that's just who you are."

"So, you don't want to just avoid the issue? You want to avoid avoiding the issue?"

"When things go wrong, I don't want to hope that I'm not alone."

"Why don't you move back in with me? At least until you get back on track."

"What an ego. You think you're some sort of emotional paragon? You're my rock?"

[the-lord-of-the-things]

You mentioned that Zag is really resilient in your au ideas and stuff- how would Meli get through to him (if at all)? Through combat? Maybe by learning more about him and trying to appeal to his humanity? I'm hooked on the concept haha I hope you make more!

Ty so much! I'm glad people are loving my pain and suffering theorizing! I'll toss it under the cut since I'm gonna get into some spoilers for Hades 2, minor and major

It'd def take a little while- I imagine him being a fight, either a zone boss like for olympus or maybe a sort of random encounter fight (aka he'd be the latter once the last boss of the surface gets revealed to not be him lmao). You'd have to whoop him a few times just for the sake of making him fit on a mechanical level. It might be a lil clunky to explain but the way I see it, his recollection of the first game isn't gone, it's just overrode and mixed up with what he went through while trapped in time. Trying and failing to escape for all but an eternity. Throw in a heavy dose of manipulation from Chronos to top it all off, and Zagreus is left with a distorted view of what actually happened where there was no resolution or reconciliation to the initial betrayal of finding out about Persephone, just painful death after painful death. Almost like a bad end where you couldn't manage to beat the game now that I think about it. I haven't gotten it worked out completely what the trajectory is, but an important key is that he hasn't actually forgotten what really happened. He just finds way to try and '''rationalize''' any discrepancy to fit in the narrative Chronos has planted in his head. For example, he knows Melinoe is real, he remembers her being his sister, he just might try to explain it as her being a replacement of sorts. The problem there being that there's only so many explanations he could come up with. How would Melinoe be born if Persephone never returned to the underworld? Why would Persephone return if Zagreus never reached her? Why would she have abandoned him in the first place like his distorted memory (and Chronos) says she did? While I don't know the specifics of how it'd play out, I do think it'd end with Mel showing him the unfinished painting she has. Irrevocable proof that he was happy with her and their parents, even if Zagreus tries to deny it at first. But he knows she's right, deep down, he just needs to be reminded. One of the most fun parts of this whole mess, at least to me, is that the initial kernel of his warped viewpoint is still the fact that he was very much lied to by Hades and Nyx. Even if he was able to reconcile with them and Persephone in the end, it still happened, so he's not entirely wrong about what they did to him while he's deep under Chronos' control. I can definitely see an encounter with Hades after you fight Zagreus the first time where Hades admits he already knew what Chronos has done to his son, Zagreus having likely come to see him since being turned into Chronos' loyal servant. Where he admits to Melinoe that what Zag says is true, at least in part, and blames himself for planting the seed that Chronos was able to cultivate into such a deep and poisonous hatred.

[atlasofthestaars]

My personal headcannon for Bi-han:

1. He does not like public bath AT ALL ( it is exposed and out in the open to which in his mind, perfect for attempts of assassination when he’s supposed to be having his time to take his mind off and relax. Not only that, he just prefer his privacy )

2. Bi-han kind of reminds me of Lemon grab from Adventure time, they both lack empathy and compassion for others and also not willing to hear other’s out and get angry when they disagree with them. Another trait thay both share is that due to the absence of their caretaker throughout their life, they have no concept pf empathizing others and listening to people around them.

What sets them apart tho is that due to Bi-Han mother’s death, there’s no one to teach him the arts of empathy and compassion and the only individuals that can somewhat make him feel that way are Tomas and Kuai Liang. Whereas for Lemon grab, Princess Bubblegum’s feign ignorance and her lack of willingness to give him an insight on other’s understanding and compassion which made him a sour, narcissistic and high-stung individual

I see your points! I agree with the first point, I think he's definitely too stiff to want and relax in a public area like you said. I can imagine maybe he'd be fine with a hot springs time or a bath with his significant other, but for the most part I'd like to imagine he likes his privacy in such a vulnerable state.

The second one I don't really know Adventure Time too well, but I do remember Lemon Grab a bit. I am always going back and forth on whether Bi-Han lacks empathy and compassion or just has a twisted and warped view on life that the bits of empathy and compassion he does have is misguided and misplaced due to how he sees the world. For example, the idea that he wants to "set free" the Lin Kuei when there seemed to not really be any issues prior to that. Either way, I get your point!

[chronurgy]

13, 6 and 8 for your durgetash!

What's your personal favourite flavour that you find yourself gravitating towards? Not necessarily what sort of stuff you publish or smth, but what you personally consume like a starving man in a desert and rotate in your brain? The kinky shit, the domestics, the gore and horror attached to them, star crossed lovers vibes?

Ooo. Ooo that's hard. I think it's a combo of the gore and the horror and the terror and the want and the love and the sense of almost, almost hanging over the whole thing. Like one of those short stories that strings out this beautiful web of what can or might be and then sets it all on fire and leaves you wondering. There should be something there, whether it's love or need or obsession, but there needs to be something under all the layers. It should all be very disquieting.

What's the most wholesome hc you have for them? Something they did, a particular approach at bonding, just them being disgustingly soft once? Some good old hand in hand vivisection?

For Vesper and Gortash it's that they both genuinely like one another. They're startlingly well suited, they talk about each other's interests, they work on projects together. They push each other to greater heights. It's just that that isn't great for the rest of the world lol (and there's a fair argument that it isn't good for them either, though I think both of them are well beyond that point anyway)

How does each of them view death and dying? Does Gortash hold a similar approach to Durge or is Durges view on death a bit warped, to put it lightly?

I think Gortash sees his death as failure (both of bane and of his own ambitions). If he dies then he is nothing, has nothing (just like his parents said). I don't think he gives much thought to the meaning of death for other people. Death is useful, death is a tool, but he has no real sentiment towards it, it's just another state people might enter.

Vesper sees death as a boring inevitably for other people. Those people will die, either naturally, unnaturally, or as part of the plan. That's all there is to it, no need to fuss about it. I don't think they ever really think much about their own death beyond the one at their own hand at the end of the world. They don't really believe anyone else to be capable of killing them. I think they might see that final death as..... Respite, almost? It would be finished, the world dead at their hand. They succeeded, there are no more demands to be made upon them and perhaps they might be left alone to their studies (they know it almost certainly wouldn't work out like that). But that's all complicated by Gortash's existence because he shows them the world doesn't have to be a string of dull days with little to differentiate them, it can be something thrilling. And that makes that final death seem less appealing, less a respite and more an end to... well.... being alive, the whole world spread out before them for the taking.

[victoriacircuits]

I feel like they have one of the most beautiful relationships in the show.

I mean you start off in the very beginning of BLoSC, where Buzz is experiencing what it would be like for Warp to die. His mourning for his friend is so great, it causes him to act irrationally and to promise never to get close to anyone again. And he becomes reckless with his life, unwilling to take steps to protect himself. (I can't prove it but for me, it reads like Buzz has given up on life without Warp and that not only does he blame himself for his friend's death, he no longer values his own life.) But then when he is finally told that Warp isn't dead he can't come to terms with the fact that Warp is more partial to evil in his view of ethics.

Buzz finds out that he doesn't understand Warp at all, even though they have been best friends for 20+ years. It pushes distance between them.

The Movie ends with Warp defeated, and Buzz willing to fight beside people again, but their relationship doesn't end there.

Buzz continuously has to fight Warp again and again. You would think that Buzz would grow bitter, that he would hate Warp for what he did, but he doesn't. Sure they fight on opposite sides, but Buzz never once expresses hate towards Warp. Dislike for his actions, sure. But never hate.

Eventually, you get to Tag Team.

The episode that really splits open their feeling for each other.

Warp is incapable of admitting that he couldn't leave behind Buzz and lies about it. (If you think he can't drive stick, you are insane).

It's revealed that Buzz still has every intention of being Warp's friend again. But the episode ends with Buzz choosing his ethics over Warp when Darkmatter says that he won't change.

The best thing about this is that Buzz does not make that decision again when given the chance in Ancient Evil. He instead chooses to let Warp go and to pursue him another day.

Now it makes sense b/c at this point Buzz finally understands who Warp is. There was so much leading up to Buzz finally seeing Warp as himself and not what Buzz thought he was, or what Zurg wanted agent Z to be.

At this point, Warp has saved his life, thanked him for the help, and ignored Zurg's orders.

Buzz finally understands that there can be a gray area. Warp doesn't do evil for evil's sake, he does it to enrich his own life. He's really much more neutral rather than good or evil. He goes where the money takes him but isn't completely ruthless. He cares enough about Buzz to save him on several occasions and is willing to do good if it benefits him.

So essentially their relationship is about Buzz and Warp accepting each other's differences and respecting that they simply don't believe in the same things and that they can be friends despite this.

Aaaand then they had 42 be the final episode instead of Ancient Evil b/c god forbid we get some closure for these two.

The thing is that they are friends again by the end of Ancient Evil. And that's the cutest part, despite everything that happened, their friendship survived, even after it was destroyed, they rebuilt it.

And that's the real plot of BLoSC