#rejoice kars! you too can suffer!!!

[zeravmeta]

jjba is one of those series thats like deeply and profoundly beautiful in near indescribable ways but also you cant take it too seriously because the series itself circles the wagon and takes itself SO serious it becomes ridiculous. and thus its incredibly genuine despite everything

[pillarmenarevoregods]

Ask: Macro/Micro Vore Pillar Men and Joseph Joestar

First off, I am so so SO sorry for how long this took. Both real life responsibilities and the double standards I hold myself to about creating “quality content” meant my answer to this prompt sat in a half-finished state for a long time. I figure I should just post what I have now and hope it’s sufficient. 

@delcaty007​ (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Macro/Micro Vore, Multiple Pred Scenarios, M/M, Non-fatal, Unwilling, Fearplay, Mentions of Digestion)

I had several ideas for this, and kind of debated which ones were worth fleshing out (or at least what I’d have the time/motivation for). This might not be fully fleshed out stories, but I hope it’s cool still.

I’m writing this in a premise of post-Battle Tendency, through some means, the Pillar Men come back to seek revenge: Kars is brought back from space, Esidisi and Wamuu are revived, and Santana is out of the Speedwagon vaults. BUT they are 30 feet tall and have no idea why/how that happened. They also find many of their abilities missing, BUT also can be in the sun! Yay! And then they find out the hard way that they can’t digest anything. Joseph’s gonna be stuck in a couple different belly jails.

I decided to write these in the order that Joseph fought the Pillar Men in canon. These can technically be independent scenarios of each other, or you can imagine it as the pillar men taking turns sending Joseph down the hatch if you want. I hope you enjoy!

Santana

He sure remembers how annoying that little primitive named Joseph Joestar was to him, and he’s going to find out what happened to him

He quickly learns about the events that transpired with his fellow Pillar Men and knows Joseph is alive

He actually wanted to seek out that Major Von Stroheim asshole first, because of well… I wouldn’t blame him. However he finds out Stroheim died and well, a little disappointing, at least there’s still JoJo to seek out

Once he locates him, Santana literally plunges his hand into the roof of Joseph’s home and grabs him

Joseph attempts to hamon him, but is shocked that… it no longer affects the pillar man. And how did he even get this large?

Santana smirks, considering it dumb for JoJo to even try using hamon when he’s literally outside in the daylight, unharmed.

Deep booming chuckle, “You idiot primitive…” and he starts squeezing Joseph in his hand, thinking it’ll be satisfying to feel his bones snap.

THEN his stomach gurgles and he has a better idea

Without another word, he quickly pops Joseph in his mouth, tilts his head back and swallows him faster than Joseph can process what just happened.

Joseph goes down Santana’s throat in shock, thrashing, trying to climb his way back up, but the muscles of Santana’s esophagus are no match and pull him down to his doom.

Joseph lands on what seems to be trees, brush, and random animals (still alive). It seems like Santana tried swallowing a LOT of different things

Somewhat to his relief, Joseph notices that nothing has really digested.

Santana, on the other hand, can’t care less about what’s happening inside his stomach. He has that annoying JoJo right where he belonged. The weight in his stomach and the occasional minor sting of attempted hamon only tickled a bit. 

Joseph wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and Santana likewise said nothing when meeting back up with the other Pillar Men.

The first thought on their minds was to find Joseph too, and Santana had to press his tongue in his cheek at knowing that he simultaneously got to stick it to Kars by eating his “mortal enemy” before he could.  

Esidisi

He remembers how he died, and while on one hand respects Joseph for winning against him, isn’t going to pass up the opportunity to get his own revenge

Finds Joseph out on a solo boating trip (convenient, right?) and all Joseph can see is some massive force swimming in the water rushing towards him

Esidisi rises up like a colossal beast, picking Joseph’s boat out of the water

“JoooJooo, it’s been a while, huh? What, like 10 years?” Esidisi makes sure to smile wide and show off his sharp teeth, bringing the small boat in his hand closer to his face.

Joseph probably pisses himself (let’s be real), screaming “OH MY GOD” or “HOLY SHIT,” which is music to Esidisi’s ears, causing him to belt out laughing.

“Didn’t think you’d see me again, didya?!” Joseph doesn’t even have a response, he’s just thrashing and yelling at this point

“You remember our conversation about the Art of War, yeah? Well I hope you do. Sun Tzu told me one more bit of advice that has truly been the most beneficial to me...”

He lifts Joseph up above his face, “’Keep your friends close, your enemies even closer.’” before dropping Joseph in his open mouth.

Esidisi hums in appreciation as Joseph flails on his tongue before jerking his head back and giving a thorough swallow to send him down.

He places his hand over his stomach, relishing in the sensation of pounding helplessly at his stomach walls, and feeling confident that he can go back to Kars to report that JoJo has been “taken care of.”

After a long while of walking and swimming through the ocean, he notices Joseph was still active inside him. He would have started digesting by now, right?

Esidisi figures all that physical motion may be disrupting digestion, so he finds a coast to sit on and waits it out, occasionally making small remarks to the man inside him

Gets frustrated and cries eventually because why won’t he digest?? Esidisi at first accepted that there were caveats to being alive again and being able to see the Sun finally, but come on

He already couldn’t use his blood vessels, couldn’t absorb the only advantage he had was being giant and still being able to contort his body, and now he can’t even digest someone he’s eaten?

Joseph meanwhile is yelling and pounding on the stomach walls, trying to hamon his way out. Esidisi is very pleased to see that the hamon is ineffective inside him, in fact it just tickles a bit.

The little pounding and yelling and screams eventually become annoying, though. Esidisi has some important pondering he needs to do on what his new life is now, and the squirming noisy human in his stomach keeps distracting him.

He sits down somewhere to ponder whether the trade-offs are worth it, has to tell Joseph, “Shut up and let me think!”

Wamuu

When Wamuu “woke back up” and noticed his masters had, too, one of his first thoughts was strangely where Joseph Joestar was currently.

He wondered whether Kars had succeeded in killing him and taking ascended as the Ultimate Being.

However, when he saw Lord Kars, also made giant by whatever spell or curse has brought them all back to life and made them 30 feet tall, Wamuu could quickly assume by the tantrum he was throwing that Joseph had also defeated him in some way.

While Wamuu didn’t exactly WANT Joseph to defeat himself or Lord Kars, he still believed in a fair fight and that a winner should be able to keep their victory.

Hearing Kars and Esidisi plot together to find Joseph and enact revenge on him (hell, even Santana is making comments about finding “that annoying JoJo”), Wamuu realizes if he wants to ensure his opponent could keep his honor, he’ll have to find the Joestar before the other Pillar Men did.

While locating him, Wamuu picks up and swallows a bunch of humans (he’s a nervous eater, he needs to snack under pressure you know?)

After several hours of the humans still pounding and yelling inside of his stomach, he realizes something was off… they should have been digesting by now, yet they’re still alive and active

Wamuu thinks it’s only fair to spit them up and let them go. He’s a little embarrassed and tactfully apologizes to these humans, “I did not expect for you to still be alive. Please forgive me, if I had known you weren’t going to digest I wouldn’t have swallowed you in the first place.” Thanks good guy Wamuu, very reassuring.   

When he does find Joseph (on a camping trip in the middle of the woods, alone…), he kneels down in a clearing just as Joseph is about to approach that area.

Boy is he surprised to see a giant man kneeling in the normally empty field, especially a man he killed 10 years ago… but giant

“JoJo, we meet again.” Queue the “OH! MY! GODDD!” and trying to runaway classic Joseph Joestar style

Wamuu picks him up like an ant between his fingers and brings him closer to his face.

“I am doing this for your own good, JoJo.” and he opened his mouth wide, held a squirming yelling little Joseph over his mouth and dropped him in, tossed his head back and swallowed.

Unfortunately Wamuu forgot to tell Joseph that he wasn’t going to die,  only places his hand unconsciously over his stomach, kneading his thumb into the area Joseph is pounding at 

When meeting with his Masters (who were unsuccessful at finding Joseph… gee I wonder why) still has his hand over his belly, trying to sooth the commotion inside.

Kars even asks if Wamuu is ill, to which Wamuu responds with “I ate something that isn’t agreeing with me.” Well, he’s not wrong

He will have to let Joseph out… eventually. But right now he just wants to keep him safe and hidden. When that will be? No one knows - especially not Wamuu or Joseph....

Kars

Oh, this man is NOT happy. All that time in space, going slowly insane? Yeah, he has it in for Joseph Joestar.

Just shortly after he stops thinking, he finds himself rapidly pulled back to Earth and suddenly much larger than he remembers being before.

It takes him a bit to gain all his thoughts back, but of course he’s elated once he realizes his companions are back as well.

After rejoicing the return of Esidisi and Wamuu (maybe at least a little happy to see Santana again, as well), he went about pursuing his new important goal

Joseph Joestar needed to feel the fear and despair he himself felt while drifting through space. He decided he wouldn’t kill him… yet.

He needed to see Joseph suffer the same way he had, killing him too quickly would just end that fun.

Kars wanted to take Joseph down in the most humiliating way - it’s only fair after being defeated in front of his enemies in such a humiliating way.

Joseph happened to be at his work office, doing business as usual in his life free of being a hamon warrior

Therefore, it was absolutely unexpected when a giant hand plunges through the glass pane window, grabs Joseph off-guard and holds him tightly in front of the face of the man in his nightmares.

In fact, he seriously just thinks he’s dreaming. Joseph covers his eyes and yells, “I’m dreaming! This is a dream! I’m going to wake up now in three, two, one…..”

Kars waits a beat for dramatic effect before hissing “Zero.” He licks his lips, being able to sense the pure dread and terror of his prey. Oh, it’s making him absolutely giddy

“I want you to know what it feels like, JoJo… To have all your hopes and dreams unfairly stolen from you.” Kars raises him high above his head, and watches the little man squirm. He’s definitely finding this cathartic.

“I drifted through space, not knowing if I’d ever escape that torture. All of my accomplishments going to waste, because of you! I believe it’s only fair, JoJo, that I give you a taste of what I experienced.”

Without much effort, he casually tosses Joseph high up in the air (but not too hard, because he doesn’t want Joseph to actually go into space

As Joseph falls back down from the sky, Kars waits with his mouth wide open and snaps his jaw shut once the screaming man lands in his mouth.

He doesn’t wait long before swallowing, while focusing on ever little sensation of his enemy wriggle down his throat. Finally, he’s conquered the Sun AND Joseph Joestar.

Even after several hours and realizing his stomach wasn’t digesting his prey, Kars accepted that it was poetic justice in a way that Joseph would remain alive, trapped for an indefinite amount of time in his stomach, just like he had been trapped in space

[z-paladin]

“...But that is a treasure! Rejoice, 'Cars'! You, too, can suffer!"

My brain wouldn’t let me stop thinking about Light Dancer Kars just fucking fortnite dancing and I needed to make everyone else in this subfandom fucking suffer.

[ouroboros-panacea]

Stone [石头]-Discoveries-[2/?]

Summary: [JJBA x HNK] "Phosphophyllite, my name is Phosphophyllite." Such is your useless life, no matter how many changes you make, how strong you become. Your life will still simply be a tragedy, and you, forever useless. The tale of a gem who suffered because of change, and an ancient being who wanted to change. An odd friendship it'd be. Rebirth seems more like a curse than anything. It would be nice if this didn't end with tragedy. {Disclaimer- I don't own hnk or jjba}

<Previous Chapter> <Next Chapter>

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Kars.

His name was Kars.

Short and simple, yet unique..

Phosphophyllite wasn’t sure if that was the case for him, but she at least knew that he was dangerous. He'd easily be able to smash her up into small, jagged pieces of, well, her. She didn't know why she'd break like glass instead of turning into a floppy, wide-eyed corpse, like the faces of the ground she stood upon just moments back. But it felt right to know she'd disappear like that.

To disappear from the world.

Strangely the thought of it didn’t scare her as much as it should've.

In fact, relief was all she felt in her non-existent heart.

So she kept staring.

At him.

Kars stared at her.

She stared back.

Seeing as the other child wouldn’t speak to him, he decided to initiate the much needed conversation himself.

“Your name then?”

He was met with silence.

Dull eyes peered into his own.

She could've been easily mistaken for a standing corpse, with the pale white pallor of her skin and lifeless mint green eyes.

She hadn’t answered him yet though. 

How rude, seeing as he already gave his own name to her. Still, he waited for her. The silence wasn’t that bad anyways, he was patient enough.

The question hung in the air for a few more seconds, until Phosphophyllite realized Kars had asked her a question. Eyes widening by a fraction, she straightened up from her previous hunched over posture. Her mouth opened-her eyes gaining a hint of light in them-prepared to speak, and a small whisper came out.

“My name? It’s Phosphophyllite.”

They were both anomalies to each other, a mystery in one way or another.

Yet they had both taken up the role of the "villain" in their respective tales, their own timeline.

But was this not a time for rejoicing? (Not that they would know). To be given a second chance in life was a beautiful thing.

Yet now there were new balls to juggle.

One small mistake would lead to the same bad end again.

Phosphophyllite?

What a strange name.

It was excessively long, almost uselessly so. It seemed more like a title than a name.

But he couldn't judge, some of his own had stranger names than that. So he accepted it. Wasn't that hard to do so anyways.

But now he really needed to know how on Earth did this possibly human child end up here in the first place? Why did she look so.. different from the other humans he's seen?

Normal humans didn't wear such strange clothing, covering their skin in a skin tight way. Most of them merely just threw a piece of cloth over their body and that was deemed as clothing. Nothing more, nothing less. Though there had been some particularly different people...experimenting? Yes, yes, experimenting with their newly found ore and time.

It didn't even remotely look like this Phosphophyllite's "Clothes".

Another curiosity was her hair. Whenever any moonlight hit parts of it, the mint green strands seemed to solidify and crystallize into chunks of imitation hair, except with minerals. It would almost sparkle, which was weird because hair should not sparkle and catch the light like that. Yet in the dark it looked very much like normal human hair-with it's wispy strands sticking out at out angles and the original vibrant mint dulling down in the shadows.

Then he looked down to her arms, and spotted what looked like...hairline fractures? On a human arm, which was made of flesh and flesh did not crack like fragile gemstones. Then he blinked and they were gone, a golden sheen covering any part of Phos' body that had fractured.

Curiouser and curiouser.

He needed the answers to the flurry of questions inside his head, right now, and what better way to do so than simply asking?

“Let us get straight to the point, shall we? So how did you get here?”

“I..I'm not sure my myself. I only remember waking up to a horrible smell…” She answered. Phosphophyllite did remember fragments of other supposed memories, but she didn’t quite think they were rather relevant to the question he asked. Would simply babbling about shattering gems, Lunarians (What were those actually? All she remembered was burning hate and a cold, cold acceptance), and...something about hardness, toughness-The components of her daily life?

These "memories" felt personal, in no way did she want to tell this stranger. An image of a pale white being in wispy robes (or was it a formal suit?) was brought to her mind as she slowly got to "know" Kars. Somehow, this made her trust him even less with this image in her mind. But 

'Well, that was helpful.' Kars thought. 'Possibly complete and total memory loss, judging from her state.'

He decided to ask her another question, though the most likely outcome would be a negative as well. Even then, it was worth a try. You'd never know what happened from actually trying something, sometimes they would yield results, others not so much.

The "not so much" was applicable to this one.

“Then, where did you living before you found yourself here? Was it somewhere near here?"

“I’m sorry, but I can’t remember...maybe I could stay with you for now? I don’t think I have anywhere else to go…I'll try not to be a bother and help with anything you need. So can I stay with you for a while?" Again, Phosphophyllite could not tell him anything (About a world where she wasn't there, gone because of her).

'She's kind of gullible' That single thought echoed through Kars' mind. But he had focus on the decision on hand right now-to allow this human to tag along with him and back to the rest of kind, where there was a possibility that his current object of curiosity would get killed or eaten. Or to just dump her here and forget about this "encounter". Option 2 seemed safer for her...so...

...Nah. Since when did he, Kars, care about a measly mortal? All he needed was just a couple of weeks to observe this specimen, it shouldn't be too hard to guard her from the rest. Besides, he could always ask (read: blackmail) Esidisi into helping him. The decision was settled, the human would come with him, and stay with with him. Until she outlived his interest.

While within Phosphophyllite's mind, was a mental debate between three.

'He's way too pushy, what's up with him?' One voice chimed, whiny and childish.

'Wait a bit, he may be useful.' Said another, soothing and calm like glacial ice. Yet there were undertones of confined madness.

'.....' The presence of the third was felt, yet not heard. They did not see any reason for them to input their opinion for now-It didn't matter to them anyways, nothing ever did. All they did was "observe".

'Well...he looks kinda weird too. What's with the skirt? Amirite you sad sack!'

No answer.

'Oi, pay attention to cute little me~' Again voice number 1 punched through the silence.

'Quiet down! You're going to give us both a headache with all the racket you're making!' Number 2 quickly interjected before 1 could say anymore.

Nothing useful came from the third. So Phos decided to go with the much more helpful advice of the second. Not like it was a particularly hard choice anyways. Wasn't like she could just go up to someone and comment on their interesting fashion choices.

"Ok"

Wait what. What happened? Why did he say ok? Did she get lost in her own thoughts or something? Her confusion must've been as clear as day on her near bone white face-Droopy mint green eyes widening to an almost comical degree, her lips parted in question.

To Kars, it told him that she may not be the sharpest in the head. But wasn't that better? She'd be easier to manipulate and use.

"Didn't you listen? I agreed to your little request, you can stay with me until you regain your memories or something. Now let's go, we're wasting time by staying here." Swiftly, he grabbed her thin arms and started to tug her in the direction of his home. Well, community to be more exact but it wasn't like Phosphophyllite needed to know.

Oh. That made more sense now. But man was this guy fast, and he tugging way too hard.

Phos made no sound of discontentment in front of him, but silently protested against his rough treatment.

Like would it kill the guy to slow down and let her walk?

Distinct sounds of cracking started to blast in her mind as Kars basically dragged her out of the rest of the bodies, the distance from her body and her arm fraying the invisible threads that held her limbs in place. Struggling to keep up the pace, she half ran half walked, her feet tripping along the grass like a newborn foal. Then her left foot caught on her right, and she crashed to the ground with the grace of a thundering oaf. The part of her arm in Kars' hand broke clean off, gravity pushing her down so she fell flat on her face. Phos could hear her face shatter, and felt her limbs become fragmented pieces of gem. All in all shocking the young pillar boy in front of her, his violet eyes screaming out the surprise he felt. Kars saw what looked like a clear indicator of the fact that Phosphophyllite was in fact not human, and his interest spiked almost tenfold. 

While on Phosphophyllite's side...

Ah.

She screwed up.

Majorly.

Oh well.

Time to face the "consequences" and see what happens.

-Chapter two end-

[everythingsouthasian]

My two cents on Bin Roye the drama Pt. I

*********SPOILERS GALORE*********

This interesting review of Bin Roye the movie (it was a lot more than just the movie, some great insights on South Asian films and filmmaking, go have a read!) triggered this post, so please bear with me.

It’s been a while since I saw both the movie (a really crap print) and the drama. I started out by watching the drama and then the movie and both had their pros and cons. I haven’t had the fortune of reading the novel so I’ll have to work with the Hum TV crew’s interpretations. 

Now, for the main article, the author of the post says:

There is a juicy concept at the film’s core - the love of your life chooses to marry someone over you, but then through a twist of fate is left with no choice but to end up with you regardless. Do you rejoice, finally fulfilling your lifelong desires, or do you admit to yourself that you are second best, a charity case, a logistical necessity?

Yes, the movie does, to a large extent, purport this. But if one were to carefully watch the drama and then the movie, the said “juicy concept” will essentially change altogether. From the drama, it is unequivocally clear that it is all about Saba Shafiq, our bratty and mischievous heroine, who gets embroiled in miseries of her own making. Everything that is said, felt, and reasoned is from her point of view. She is the driving force, the pilot, the hero in this adventure. As much as people want to make it all about Irtiza (Humayun Saeed fans), it isn’t. If it were his narrative, then the end product would be more boring than as it currently stands.

The film’s core focuses on Saba and her obsession with Irtiza. “Aapki mohobbat mere liye saza ban gayi (my love for you became the curse of my life),” she claimed in the climax scene. As her cousin and best friend since childhood who, to some extent, misled her with actions and words that lie in the grey area of care and love, Irtiza is not necessarily the villain on the show, but he is one to her. In their childhood, such adulation on Saba’s part to Irtiza can be attributed to childishness; but with age, when it only seemed to heighten, layers of complexity get introduced, not only to these feelings but also to the sanity of the person it affects.

Saba’s life revolves around Irtiza’s. She learns to make coffee, just like the one her mother makes that Irtiza loves, and cook and do all things homely just so she can get married and be the acquiescent wife to the person she loves with all her heart, i.e., Irtiza. 

(x)

“Jo mera hai, bas wo mera hi rahe (what’s mine should remain mine),” is what she wishes for in Eid. Irtiza then leaves her to go to study in the US where he meets her elder sister, Saman, whom he develops feelings for that are different from those he harbours for Saba. Even at this point, the narrative only glosses over Irtiza’s characterisation, not offering any reasoning for his choices or decisions. What’s shown of him is in context to Saba -- he cares for her in a way he doesn’t care for anyone else, she is still his best friend who gets to know first of his feelings for Saman, etc. Saba starts hating her elder sister for stealing Irtiza from her, for taking away a piece of her heart. 

Here’s where her obsession begins to take shape: 

“Aur har wo cheez jo use pasand hai, woh main apnaa chuki hoon. Tum meri jaisi mohobbat toh karke dikhao usse (The things he [Irtiza] likes, I’ve already accepted with all my heart. Try loving him the way I do).” 

For Saba, her time after Saman relocates to Pakistan is a hellhole, a ticking time bomb, acquainting with brand new feelings of jealousy bordering in on malice, all of which are alien to the naïve her. And evidently, she hates to realise this side of hers. 

(x)

And this is partially why she distances herself from Saman. Saba doesn’t WANT to feel this way for her sister. But her obsession with this idea of love for Irtiza is evoking the worst in her. “Amma, iss dil ka kya karoon mein, jo koi baat nahi sunta, baghawat karne ko kehta hai (Grandma, what do I do of a love that refuses to see sense and only wishes to rebel)?”

This pent up negativity reaches a crescendo when she curses her sister with death so that she can be reunited with her love, Irtiza (Mahira SLAYS in this sequence). 

(x)

This scene captures the essence of the movie -- the rock bottom people can hit for love -- Saba, the amiable, naïve, and straightforward girl demands God to take her sister away so that she can be happy, she can be with the person that was always supposed to be hers, all this confession in front of her grandmother!

Saba’s life goes downhill from here. She builds a fort around herself so high that even an eagle would find it challenging to pass. She turns hostile to people who love her because she is miffed with her life and her circumstances. The love of her life has moved on but she is stuck in the past. In order to regain some semblance of routine in her life, she enrols in college and even reestablishing ties with her sister, who now lives in the US with her husband, but she still bears a grudge toward Irtiza. He on the other hand is unable to fathom the 360 degree change in his best friend’s attitude. Try as he might to coax reasons out of her for it he meets with stern rebuttals. Saman and Irtiza even try to set her up with one of his best friends’ brother, who falls for her, but she voices out her disapproval strongly time and time again without providing concrete reasons. This leaves the entire family distressed.

[sparklyjojos]

The latter half of Light Dancer Kars’s speech from Jorge Joestar, that by some miracle made it into All-Star Battle.

Rough translation (via Buddy Waters):

“(...) My flesh may not be able to die, but my life is as fragile as it was before, and can be snuffed out so easily! You, who are another 'me'! You are not special! You share the same sadness I feel! But that is a treasure! Rejoice, 'Cars'! You, too, can suffer!"

[snowfallsdowngloriouslyuponme]

People of Character

(From 2-10-08)

char·ac·ter /ˈkærɪktər/ Pronunciation Key Pronunciation[kar-ik-ter] –noun 1. the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing. 2. one such feature or trait; characteristic. 3. moral or ethical quality: a man of fine, honorable character. 4. qualities of honesty, courage, or the like; integrity: It takes character to face up to a bully. 5. reputation: a stain on one's character. 6. good repute. 7. an account of the qualities or peculiarities of a person or thing.

Bible Verses on Character:

Ruth 3:11 "And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character." Proverbs 12:4 "A wife of noble character is her husband's crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones." Proverbs 31:10 "A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies." Acts 17:11 "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the scriptures everyday to see if what Paul said was true." Romans 5:3-5 "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." 1 Corinthians 15:33 " Do not be mislead: "Bad company corrupts good character." So what is it about this thing called, character? How important is character to you! Do you see it everyday? Is it easy to find and acknowledge or do you have to look for it? Is it right that all persons should strive to be people of character? What does character look like? These are many questions asked about such an elusive word and action and/or quality of a person. 

Well I know for sure that God wants people of character. Those who have great hearts who are willing to serve. Those who show the love of Christ in their everyday life. Those who care for others. Those who show humbleness to others. Those who do good but don't seek praise or attention. Hand in hand with humbleness! 

Character can show many sides too, such as the following. It is part of a person's reputation and name, both of themselves and of Jesus. It produces perseverance and patience! A person of character struggles yet perseveres through adversity, hurt, hate, evil, loss, and death. For a person to be of good character is not first nature for human beings. Our first nature is to sin, ever since the fall of man. It is only because of God that we can be people of great and noble character. You can see character in action through the way people live their life, how they deal with life's situations! Integrity, honesty, and courage can be seen by the changed person. When we become Christians we become equipped with all the tools to succeed and help others. Those who are not saved will notice something about these particular men and women. They will say, that person is different from other people I know, in a good way. Character produces good morals, values, ethics, and self-control towards people and issues in life. God blesses those people who are of Character. Pray that the Lord would grant you to be a person of character. Don't just pray it once, do it everyday and work on, because it doesn't come easy but the rewards are worth it. It is also pleasing to the Lord!

[sparklyjojos]

Do you think JJN makes a dichotomie between religion/faith and science/logic? With Dio+Pucci on one side and Kars+Jorge on the other?

(oh wow, that’s a deep question I didn’t expect to get, thank you anon)

I wouldn’t say it’s a clear-cut divide.

On one hand, you could look at the novel and say that there’s a dichotomy, that the narration glorifies logic and isn’t favorable to religion/faith, especially organized religion (I mean… Dio Jesus… the mothman-related mass suicides and other events with people blindly following what they believed in felt like a biting commentary too).

But on the other hand, I really don’t think there’s a dichotomy or conflict between faith and logic in this book, as much as they seem to carefully interact and support each other. The conflict is more about how humanity’s drive to find out How Stuff Works or Why Does X Happen, which propels both science/logic and religion/faith, is not bad by itself, but can lead to very, very bad things, especially if the correct premises lead to wrong conclusions. As in, believe what you want, but even then please don’t forget to fact check. And maybe don’t restart the universe because some vampire dude dressed up like Jesus.

(read more for super long thoughts on faith vs logic, a whole lot of tangents – like, half the post’s a tangent – and me rambling about this book’s concepts of Faith and Meaning and Stories and pretty much trying to explain What I Think This Book Is All About. Also Terry Pratchett’s there for some reason.)

JJN is built around the concept of the Beyonds, which are pretty much personal gods shifting the universe’s narrative to theirprotégé’s favor. They do exist, and the one character who’s unflinching in his faith in them from the start and taken for delusional by other characters, Tsukumojuku, is the one who’s ultimately right. English Jorge survives specifically because he listens to him and starts believing in his Beyond. But also Tonpetti’s prophecies hold true, Kars confirms the existence of souls, and almost everyone and their uncle in the English Jorge part are presumably Christian, though they may not be particularly practicing. When Pucci uses the Bible to interpret the phrase ”fig tart” to mean Kars, this interpretation is true.

So, point number one: faith is not something that’s bad or wrong by itself, or something that only the antagonists have.

Science and logic is found on both sides, too. Pucci is an astronaut, after all. For the chapter or so when Funnier Valentine’s around, he’s the logical, calculating villain with a spaceship and a gun, who ultimately gets defeated by some emotional teenager who struggles with basic algebra but is burning with spirit.

Kars is a bit complicated, because while he sure is a lot more on the logic/science side of the equation, he also appreciates the human tendency to make up stories, and their not-very-logical drive to care about one another. He’s actually super quick to start believing in the Beyond, too, pretty much as soon as he sees Jorge’s memories. But then again he also often chastises other characters for believing in things, so… I guess he’s just being the usual mess of a person that he is. I’ll come back to him later in the post.

(a tangent, but now that I think about it… one of the things I love about canon Kars is that he’s put firmly on the “nature” side in the nature vs science conflict (most obvious when he fights cyborg Stroheim), though he’s sort of a scientist on his own. The striking thing about JJN Kars for me was that not counting that one paragraph where he has wings, he *never* transforms using animal parts. It’s all very machine-like. I wonder how it relates to him being away from Earth life for so long, and his character development.)

—

Now, the thing about Japanese Jorge is that he connects both of these things: logic and faith.

He’s a detective, someone who thinks deeply and analitically about the world, connects facts, always searches for the logical solution to a problem, and is “doubtful by occupation”. Even his favorite genres seem to be mystery and SF. He doesn’t seem to be a follower of any religion. [EDIT 26/12/17: I may have fucked up here – now I remember Jorge yelling “Namu-Amida-Butsu!” near the end of the book, which may suggest him being some sort of Buddhist.]

But he’s also the one to believe that everything has meaning, that everything happens for a reason, and that various events are the universe’s signs for him (well, they are, but he doesn’t know that Beyonds are a thing at that point). He argues with Rohan that mere synchronicity is not a thing, that the random connections are never random. He’s the one to say that Light Dancer Kars’s “fake, meaningless” existence does in fact have meaning when our Kars is baffled as to why. This situation repeats with parallel Kosaku – when Jorge is happy that Kosaku could protect his family, Kars asks “Why are you so hang up on a fake man from a parallel world?”.

Maybe there is a sort of a logic/faith conflict between the teams of Kars&Jorge and Dio&Pucci (though in the end it seems to be more like “logic+belief” against “ignorant belief”)… but there is also a bit of a complicated logic/faith conflict between Kars and Jorge themselves, at least when it comes to the Meaning of Things.

Possibly because of Jorge’s deep belief in that meaning, and because as a happily adopted child he understands that being “not fully the real thing” doesn’t actually matter, he seems to be pretty much immune to existential angst from the very start. Especially when compared to the walking talking Existential Karsis by his side. What’s Jorge’s answer to Tsukumojuku asking: what if you’re the fake one, a copy, a substitute, not the true detective, not the true Jorge Joestar?

Fine, I’ll be the fake, whatever. Your friend, this other Jorge Joestar, he can be the real one, it’s cool. Ha ha ha. It won’t change who I am. Why should I care?

Have I mentioned that I love Jorge yet? I love Jorge.

—

The book goes strong with the idea that Everything Has Meaning – in part because we give it meaning, because it’s a human thing to do. We like to, perhaps need to think we have an important role to play, that we’re a main character in our own story, that everything happens for a reason, and maybe even that there is something up there looking out for us. If we were to rely just on cold dead logic, what appeal is there to life? There has to be a deeper meaning. Whatever it is for us personally, it’s important. Faith is important, sometimes even in completely improbable things. As Penelope said:

Really crazy things happen in this world. And if something this crazy can happen, miracles, dreams, hopeless desires… all of those things might come true, too.

Still, searching for this meaning, for the connections between events, may turn destructive, especially when connected to strong emotions like fear. When the people on La Palma fear that the dreadful night from years before may happen again and thus “create” the Mothman, when Pucci clings to the belief that the metal plate that killed his family had fallen from space – even if it wouldn’t be physically possible – because it fits the narration in his head, when English Jorge and Lisa Lisa create a monster simply by expecting a monster to exist, they fall victim to the human tendency to make up stories, string the events of our lives into a narration, and expect new events to follow that narration.

And yet, for all their “side effects” – for all the confirmation bias, and maladaptive defense mechanisms of some Wounds, and being prone to manipulation – we need to have stories, and to see our own meaning in them.

As English Jorge learns, to believe in Beyond means to believe that you are the main character of your own story. And that means you aren’t helpless, you don’t have to lie down and wait for others to save you. You can break out of the locked room made by your own fear. You can act, and your actions matter.

— 

Having meaning is so important to us, that if what you thought was your meaning is taken away from you, it’s deeply terrifying. Even Tsukumojuku is unsettled when his Beyond leaves him. But he’s perfectly fine when he understands hiss role in the Beyond’s plan, even if it’s a grim one.

As for characters who couldn’t deal with loss of their meaning that well, we have two different alternate Karses who’d been told they and their worlds are fake. One of them (the single braid one) turns his shock and fear to wrath and rampages through the world, thirsty for blood of Funny Valentine, yelling “So you’re the one who created this world? I did not give you permission, and I will not allow it!”, a roundabout way of expressing “if I don’t matter, I’d rather not exist at all”.

The other is the Light Dancer Kars. After discovering he’s not “real” and doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, he intends to commit suicide. But just seconds before it, he stops, and instead dances. He makes a mandala out of light, and tells our Kars and Jorge that he understands why he’s been clinging to life for so long, and that he can see our Kars is not special and feels the same sadness that he does (which begs the unsettling question: could this mean that our Kars, and the entire loop of universes from the novel, are all fake as well, though maybe a little closer to the “true” universe than the Light Dancer’s world is? Probably not… though it’d explain the disrepancies between the book and canon, and would actually be a fitting plot twist). At the end, the Light Dancer tells our Kars to rejoice in his suffering, or even: to rejoice because he may suffer.

Our Kars is lost in thought after that. Something unsaid has happened between the two, some sort of quiet understanding. You could argue how it influenced our Kars, and Jorge for that matter. Even if our Kars is doomed to forget the Light Dancer minutes later via Bites the Dust… there still was a point to the Light Dancer. Maybe because Jorge remembered him. Or maybe solely because he existed. He had meaning, even if logically he shouldn’t have mattered.

And the mandala that the Light Dancer makes, his overall attitude, and the possible reference to the First Noble Truth? That’s some heavy Buddhism influences. And thus we wrap around to the “Kars is on the logic/science side and not at all on the religion/faith side”, and say, well… maybe not that one particular Kars.  [EDIT 26/12/17: also, all Stands of Our Kars have three heads and six arms, and Jorge notes they look like Ashura statues]

But our Kars is not all that very logical himself. Just like in canon he’s still a massive hypocrite. For all his talk about how utterly stupid and deadly exposing himself to outside forces during atmospheric entry would be, he sure has no problem doing exactly this and almost dying mere kilometres away from Earth, just to save three humans he’d known for all of four hours, seemingly without any reason other than “just because he could”.

After all, this is the kind of a guy who’d launch himself into a rock wall and bounce off it several times like a pinball just so a bunch of tiny, short-lived, meaningless flowers may live just a little bit more. And then he’d go play the cold calculating chessmaster who doesn’t care about anyone or anything.

And that’s why we love him.

—

If I had to sum it up, I’d point to what Funny Valentine says after revealing Jorge is a Singularity.

Feel free to doubt as you like. You thought a while before answering, right? Do as you always do, and don’t let those wheels stop spinning. I don’t want you to have faith in me. I want you to have faith in yourself. I want you to believe that there is no one who can take your place.

Think critically, but still have faith. Have faith, but still think critically.

And that is it, pretty much.

—

—

(and now for something completely different)

I joked before about how Pratchett-like this book gets at times just because of narrativium and weird names (“Darlington Motorize” is only a step away from “Adora Belle Dearheart”, and don’t let me get started on “The Funniest Valentine was the first person in history to be named The”). But it also really did feel like I was reading something that came from the same place as Hogfather, with similar commentary on the nature on humans as story-telling animals and their burning need for both logic and faith, and giving meaning to things around them.

(And supernatural beings gaining life solely because you believe in them. And physics-breaking powers working simply because they seem like something that would work in a story. And a protagonist facing the villain armed with just a fire poker and the sheer power of belief. And–)

I’m mentioning this because I thought about some cool Hogfather quotes to end this post with, to show what I think may also be a theme in JJN.

Also just because I can and if you haven’t read the Discworld novels, then what are you doing with your life.

HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.“Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—”YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.“So we can believe the big ones?”YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

.

“Now… tell me…”

“WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU HADN’T SAVED HIM?

“Yes! The sun would have risen just the same, yes?”

NO.

“Oh, come on. You can’t expect me to believe that. It’s an astronomical fact.”

THE SUN WOULD NOT HAVE RISEN.

(…)

“Really? Then what would have happened, pray?”

A MERE BALL OF FLAMING GAS WOULD HAVE ILLUMINATED THE WORLD.”