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that-banana-headed-bovine · 4 years

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Knight Rider 2000

WARNING

This post contains spoilers for Knight Rider 2000, the 1991 film which attempts to expand on the canonical universe of Knight Rider (1982-1986). Key word, attempts. I know that this film came out almost 30 years ago at this point, but I also know that this fandom grows a little bit every day, and there will ALWAYS be people who haven’t seen every episode (myself included), let alone every movie! I happened to catch it on Charge! for Hoff's birthday (yes I'm hella late posting this LOL) with my good friend @trust-doesnt-oxidize, and boy let me tell you, it was… Something.

From here on out, I’m not holding back from sharing my impression of the film based on specific details from it, so if you want a spoiler-free viewing, go watch it and come back!! Or… don’t, it’s kind of awful. I can only think of one thing in canon that it may spoil, and even that appears in early Season 2 and is fairly minor, so if you are curious about it, I HIGHLY recommend watching it BEFORE reading this. The scenes with the most impact are touching because they come as a surprise, so even if you know the general plot of the film, I would recommend watching it first.

Also this is really rambley because I have a lot of emotions about this series and, by extension, this movie. I really don’t blame you if you click away here, but if you DO read it all the way through, I would love to hear anything you would like to add, agree or disagree!

OKAY! Knight Rider 2000 is a movie that exists! And I hate it!

The film sets up an interesting argument between two groups of people whose names I don’t remember because they were boring (except for Devon, I know his name at this point). In this interpretation of the “future,” gun control has been implemented to,,, some extent, I can’t entirely tell if there have been some policies implemented across the country or if it is all localized in this one city that even the Wikipedia page for this movie doesn’t bother to mention. And no, this city is NOT in California for once! Usually I would be happy to see a change of setting, but considering that everything in this film felt so foreign to the Knight Rider that we know, it would have been nice to at least have a familiar setting. Anyway, gun control stuff. The debate between whether these gun control policies are ethical or not is very interesting. Innocent people are dying because the wrong people have guns and the police are rendered useless when they themselves don’t have access to weapons. This argument happens to support my perspective on the issue, so I appreciated how it took a look at that side WITHOUT it sounding like we are crazy murderer people, but I digress. It makes sense that the ban happened in the first place, because much like how the main conflict in Pixar’s latest film Incredibles 2 revolves around society’s over-reliance on superheroes, I could see Knight Rider’s society becoming dependent on technology to save them. It can be easy to seem like the most advanced tech in that society is present only in KITT and KIFT, and to SOME extent that is true. However, Shawn does say that it is relatively common in this society for people to have memory chips in their brain. That counts for something. And the police DO have a defense mechanism according to the Wikipedia page for this movie, it’s just nonlethal.

So as you can see, I am very interested in the conflict this world sets up. I sure hope they expand on these conflicting ideologies throughout the film, giving us a clearer idea of why the bans were set in place AND giving us insight into what exactly has caused some revolt against it. That subject is seemingly timeless, and with how decently the introduction tackled it, I have some confidence that this film could pull it off in a tasteful way. Wouldn’t that be amazing? It’s some of the most serious subject matter Knight Rider has ever tackled. It’s so interesting!

Yeah they pretty much abandon that plot in place of a very, very bad copy of the original show’s “Hearts of Stone” (season 1, episode 14). Illegal guns exist and are bad, but we don’t really know why. I may know a little better if I had been listening closer, but I was trying to not get so bored that I missed Kitt’s parts!

At some point during this sequence, we are introduced to Shawn, a happy police officer who is happy to have a family on a happy birthday. And then she gets shot! Due to head force trauma rendering her unconscious, she’s sent to the hospital. She goes in for a risky operation that miraculously saves her life against all odds.

Then, Michael wakes up with Garthe Knight’s face and hears a great story about how one man CAN make a difference!… I mean what?

Jokes aside, it’s kind of amazing how much this very Michael-esque sequence comes across very differently. It’s almost the perfect example of why I don’t like this movie. The surgery is weirdly realistic for a Knight Rider entity. There’s blood and screens and surgeons and a sterile white room for operations. Michael woke up in a Medieval castle with one doctor and two random people he’d never met at his side. Shawn’s situation clearly makes more sense, but is it half as fun and whimsical? No, no it’s not. This whole film comes across as depressing to me, and it’s only worsened by what’s to come. Apparently, she had KITT’s CPU/Microprocessor/something sciencey implanted into her brain. That’s especially strange since all that I saw was a yellow liquid being injected directly into her skull! That’s a lovely image, and definitely gave me the idea that there was a full computer chip going in there??? (It may have actually been explained more clearly, and I just looked away because eek weirdly bloody operation scene) This caused her personality to do a full 180. So, Shawn is going to be fun, snarky, and full of personality like KITT is because they share memories now! Right? Right???

I think they tried to do that, but it came across flat. So flat. She speaks in a purposefully monotone, robotic voice and delivers downright mean comments that leave Michael and KITT scratching their heads. She seems to lack basic empathy until her own memories start flooding back, and at that point, the emotions she show seem so foreign to the character we see that it’s not remotely believable. You want me to believe that this robotic woman with -10 personality points started nearly crying after one string of memories, albeit a very traumatic one, entered her mind? This would have been believable if she was entirely changed afterwards, coming across as far more human, but that was only the case sometimes. It also would have been believable if the film had the same energy that the original Knight Rider show does, where suspending one’s disbelief is necessary to make it past the opening credits. However, this movie tries to be so grounded that the kind of dramatic beats that would work in the original seem forced here.

Shawn is not the only character who I take issue with, though. Let’s start with the most potentially problematic change from the usual canon in the entire film: KITT’s personality. I have very mixed feelings on how he is portrayed. If you’ve seen as much as a spattering of quotes from this movie, you probably could sense that KITT was… off. When KITT first comes on screen, he slams Michael with a wave of insults, and none of them come off as their normal joking around. However, I don’t necessarily have a problem with that because he has the proper motivation to be very, very upset. He is sitting on a desk as a heap of loosely connected parts that have just enough power to make the signature red scanner whir and make an oddly terrifying red light eyeball thing (Hal???) move. The first thing he hears is Devon nonchalantly saying something along the lines of, “I’m afraid he was recycled” to explain why KITT has been deactivated for OVER A DECADE and is not currently in anything that moves (my Charge! stream thing lagged at this point but @trust-doesnt-oxidize has since told me that Devon DID appear upset about KITT's being sold, but KITT likely wouldn't have heard that and what Devon said seemed to be moreso directed at HOW the chip was sold and not the fact that it was sold in the first place). KITT is justifiably mad, and if they had kept KITT’s actions in character while his emotions said otherwise, I would have no problem with it at all.

However, once KITT’s CPU is somehow implanted into Michael’s Chevrolet, KITT does not act in character. Shawn drives, not Michael, so it stands to reason that he would not necessarily listen to her. She stole his CPU, his life for over a decade. KITT does tend to listen to human companions, regardless of whether he is programmed to or not, but I can see where this would be an exception. However, Michael soon intercedes and essentially tells him to cut it out. Based on everything that the original Knight Rider told us, KITT no longer has a choice of whether to listen or not. Michael is ultimately the one who calls the shots because of KITT’s very programming. And yet, in this scene, KITT doesn’t listen to Michael and apparently gets so angry that he downright stops functioning. Because that happens all the time in the original series!

And if you’re wondering where I got the conclusion that KITT frustrated his circuits to the point where they could no longer work, he said that. KITT. Admitted to having feelings. In fact, he did not just admit to being angry in the moment. He told Michael that, while it may seem like he is an emotionless robot, he does have a “feelings chip.” A FEELINGS CHIP-

I am for recognizing KITT’s obvious emotions as much as the next guy. I think they are often overlooked when discussing his character. While I don’t think that real artificial intelligence will ever reach the level of human consciousness, the entire energy of Knight Rider comes from playing with this concept by portraying an AI character who clearly emotes interacting with a human who doesn’t seem to know that. But the thing that makes this show feel so sincere is that neither character plays too heavily into that trope. While not always knowing how much KITT feels and by extension hurting those feelings alarmingly often, Michael recognizes it enough to work in concert with KITT, apologize for his more major flubs, and consider KITT a friend. And KITT subverts the trope by never recognizing that he has feelings to begin with. He will say that he cannot feel sadness but, in the next breath, say that something upset him. He will say he cannot hold a grudge only to immediately rattle off a string of insults directed at the person he clearly has a grudge on. The show is magic in how these two characters display a subtle chemistry that always has room to grow because both characters are slowly coming to see each other for who they truly are and supporting one another along the way. From what I can tell, the original show never fully concludes that arc, and it may even start regressing after Season 1. However, we can feasibly see how Michael could slowly come to understand that KITT really does feel things just as much as he does. And we can imagine the relief KITT would feel knowing that Michael was never bothered by that possibility.

So, you can see where I have a big problem with KITT spelling it out so plainly. The audience gets full confirmation about what has been displayed to us through nuanced hints throughout the series, which sounds a lot more satisfying than it really ends up being in this film. But worse than an underwhelming conclusion to a thrilling story, Michael knows it plain as day. There is very little buildup to KITT admitting this. He barely even sounds moved. Instead, in this movie, the “feelings chip” is a fact of life that does not need to be covered up in the slightest. Michael himself doesn’t really… react. He just kind of nods along, as if he’s saying, “Huh, makes sense, alright.” After everything these two have been through, if there really was such a simple explanation for why KITT is the way he is… why arguments went south, why the mere mention of a Chevrolet was enough to get a seemingly jealous response, why inconsequential things like music taste and gambling were subjects of debate, why KITT had always acted so exaggeratedly dismissive when topics of emotional significance struck a chord, why every little sarcastic banter had a hint of happiness until it didn’t… don’t you think Michael would do something? Whether that something would be a gentle, “I always knew that, pal”; a shocked, “Why didn’tchya tell me sooner?!”; or even a sarcastic, disbelieving, “Yeah, right” is up to interpretation. But there would be something.

And yet, even that concept is flawed. We learn a lot from KARR’s inclusion in the original series, and what I take away from it boils down to a simple sentiment. FLAG never meant for their AIs to be human. I do realize that directly contradicts what Devon says within this film, but I see that as another way for the film to steer the plot in this direction, not as a tie in to the original. When Wilton says that one man CAN make a difference, he means that. He isn’t considering that KITT is just as much a person as Michael. He’s not seeing that, at the end of the day, teamwork is what makes the show work, even if Michael is the glue that holds it together. So, I think that to say that there is a “feelings chip” is to disregard the entire point of the original, that in this world life finds a way of inserting itself and that KITT’s (and KARR’s for that matter) humanity is an anomaly, not the rule. At the end of the day, KITT’s humanity can’t be explained away with science. And really, I don’t think it should be explained away at all. The show has had an amazing trend of showing us how KITT feels, in all its unorthodox glory, alongside private moments that had me sobbing like a baby. The movie should just be like a longer, more complex episode of Knight Rider… Although I cannot pinpoint exactly how it should be done in the context of this film, I know there are ways that Michael could have been shown that KITT feels rather than being told.

One last complaint, albeit a more minor one, is the idea that he has to listen to what Shawn says over Michael's authority. I have spent a decent amount of time thinking about this one point, which has caused a lot of the delay in posting this. There's multiple reasons why this flies right in the face of what is canon in the original series. Perhaps the most obvious of these problems is the fact that, in the original pilot episode, it's made very clear that KITT can't assume control of the Knight 2000 without Michael's express permission unless Michael is unconcious. Devon makes it quite clear in this episode that KITT is programmed specifically to listen to Michael, not just anyone who happens to be piloting the vehicle at the time. In case there was any doubt about this, KITT ejects two people who are attempting to steal him later in the episode (well, ok, later in the two-parter, I don't know if it was the same episode or not). The show isn't SUPER strict about this in future episodes, but it does at least acknowledge Michael's authority in a few pivotal moments throughout Season 1 (I can't comment on episodes that I haven't seen yet, but I suspect that this pattern continues). Of all the rules set up throughout the series, it actually seems to be the most loyal to this one. One moment that stands out to me is in Trust Doesn't Rust when KITT attempts to stop Michael from causing a head-on collision with KARR, but Michael then overrides him and the climax unfolds. If one of the most iconic moments in the series is caused by this one bit of programming, to throw it out in the film is to disrespect the basis of the original series.

Speaking of KARR, he provides yet another reason niglecting this detail is such a big problem. From what we can tell, KARR isn't programmed to one specific driver (at least, not anymore[?]), and so he can override anyone in the pilot's seat. This is something they seem to highlight in TDR as well, although not so plainly as the previous point. KARR ends up ditching Tony to gain speed and get an upper hand in the chase with Michael and KITT (although a scene they deleted would have made this a mUCH MORE SENSIBLE ACTION THAT R E A L L Y ISN'T A BETRAYAL but y'know what this post isn't about that) whereas KITT has to listen to Michael even to his own detriment. If this one feature is indeed one of the major things that separates KITT from KARR, the idea that Shawn can override all of that cheapens the original conflict between KITT and KARR.

...Well okay, let's be real, KARR was never that compelling as an antagonist to begin with because he's a LOYAL SWEETIEPIE-- I'll stop.

And finally, we have the biggest, most bizarre reason that this is a problem:

If Shawn can override Michael's authority, that means KITT can override Michael's authority.

Why? This would be the first time (outside of episodes where some sort of reprogramming or mind control was involved) in the series that KITT had not only listened to another human instead of Michael, but also listened to that person OVER Michael. The only difference I can see between Shawn and quite literally anyone else in the show's history is that Shawn has KITT's chip implant thing. If that's the reason her opinion has more credence than Michael's, then wouldn't that mean KITT's own opinion has that authority? If that is the case, literally every example I've gone through in the last couple of paragraphs is not just challenged but rather negated entirely.

The most frustrating thing about this scene is that it simply didn't have to happen. Michael could have gone along with KITT's plan, showing him (and us) that he does trust his former partner even after all these years. Shawn could have convinced Michael to go along with it using her... feelings chip. Blegh. Or we could have had a stubborn Michael force this scene to be delayed, likely improving the pacing overall. Maybe we could have even seen a frustrated and emotionally exhausted Shawn wait until Michael is not in the car and then plead KITT to give her the truth, no matter what Michael says. We have seen KITT control his actions without Michael's input plenty of times, and we could have seen some more of his humanity show through if he could relate to Shawn's struggles... after all, he too has missing memories because she has his chip. They're both going through a bit of an identity crisis. I'm sure that he could find some workaround in his programming to help her if Michael wasn't there insisting that he does not take this course of action.

But even after all of that fussing over what has been done wrong with KITT, I can’t deny that he is the heart and soul of this film. There was only one scene in this film that brought me near tears. I got more of an emotional impact from this one clip than I have from a lot of movies that are undeniably much better. Michael’s old-fashioned Chevrolet does not hold up in the year 2000, and it is clear that the usual car chase sequence won’t work as police vehicles quickly creep up on them. I was personally very curious what they would do here. I figured that KITT would find some way to outsmart the drivers of the police cars, maybe by ending up on an elevated mountain road that trips up the other drivers and causes them to waste time turning around and hopping on that same path. Or, maybe, KITT would access a road that’s too narrow for the relatively bulky police cars. However, it quickly becomes clear that this city is made up of wide roads on the ground. As KITT veers off the road and tells Michael to trust him, the I found myself having to trust him. This isn’t the way Knight Rider chases usually go, and with all these odds stacked against him, the only thing we can do is hold our breath. The way this scene is staged to send us into this just as blind as Michael is, frankly, genius. Water slowly creeps into the frame as a feeling of dread builds at the thought of what KITT might do.

Surely, we are led to think, he will knock into some boxes and turn right back around. Right? We’re reminded of the fact that this is not the Knight 2000, that there is no chance of this car floating. That if KITT does what he really seems to be doing, there’s no chance… but he wouldn’t, would he? This is the only action sequence in the film that had me at the edge of my seat, staring wide eyed at the screen. And then, the turn that you want so badly to come doesn’t, and you have to wonder what’s about to happen. What was KITT thinking? Won’t Michael and Shawn drown? And, most prominently in my mind, won’t KITT drown?

For a moment, this scene plays us into believing that, because magic FLAG science that is pretty par for the course, everything is fine. KITT explains that they have an airtight cab and over 20 minutes of oxygen. Everyone lets out a collective breath of relief. We see it in Michael and Shawn, and I know I felt myself relax.

And then there’s a flicker in the screen, and that pit in the bottom of my stomach came right back. Michael is confused, and KITT explains what we should have realized was inevitable. This is KITT sacrificing himself. He even goes as far as to let Shawn know that she can use any of his computer chips that she may need. This comes off as strange at first, but it goes to show that KITT is, at his core, the same kind soul we always knew. He acts angry because he feels betrayed, but given the choice, he will chose another person’s life over his own, always. Even the microprocessor that he is most frustrated over, the thing that seems to drive a wedge between him and Shawn, is just how he is expressing his hurt. Now, thinking it is the end, he offers it up freely, and Shawn doesn’t seem to know how to respond. KITT is calm as he says his final goodbyes. And this is the first place in the film that we get to hear the amazingly nuanced voice acting that William Daniels is so great at. KITT sounds collected and at peace with what is to come, but there are also subtle hints that he is at least a bit nervous, a bit sad. “I know. I guess this is goodbye.” He doesn’t want to leave his friends, but he knows that he has to for them to be safe. Even if the pacing of the film seems to actively try to undermine this moment, it stands out to me as an amazing scene, even if the reaction from Michael is underwhelming at best and the reaction from Shawn is… as much as can be expected from Shawn, but that’s not saying much. As far as KITT knows in that moment, these are his last words: “Michael, take care of yourself.” Down to the last moment, Michael is everything to him.

IjustwannamakeitclearquicklythatIthinktheirrelationshipisentirelyplatonicokthankyou

And I felt sad, big time sad. The movie up until that point was unbelievably boring to me, and this wasn’t a turning point where the movie suddenly became great. It was a moment so darn good that I almost don’t think the movie deserved for it to have as big of an impact as it did. But that shows just how powerful this universe is, how wonderfully honest these characters are. Even after being butchered practically beyond recognition, one scene in-character can still bring you to tears because you have connected with them so deeply throughout the TV series.

AND THEN DEVON DIED IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS :D

I don’t like Devon.

Devon was actually more tolerable in this movie than normal, and I can see where people who don’t hate him could be sad that he died I just,,, he has hurt or talked down to KITT and KARR so many times that I actually could not sympathize. What’s even more frustrating about that is that Devon’s death is the one that Michael got all sad over when KITT sacrificed his life for him and Devon got kidnapped randomly but okay go off movie you can’t ruin that scene for me. I knew going in that Devon died, but I was expecting them to spend a lot more time setting it up and making it as dramatic as possible. Nope, he just got a shot to the old air tanks I guess? My view of it is nothing more than that it’s a thing that happened.

OH AND DEVON DID PULL ONE HEINOUS ACT. He said that KIFT was better than KITT in every way other than that KITT has humanity. SINCE WHEN HAS DEVON GIVEN ONE SINGULAR HOOT ABOUT THE AI’S BEING ALIVE??? TELL KARR THAT??? HECK, TELL DEACTIVATED KITT THAT YOU WERE JUST FINE SELLING OFF AT AUCTION THAT?!?! Also also, KIFT DOES NOT C O M P A R E TO KITT. We are coming back to KIFT in a moment, don’t you worry. For now, I just. Low blow, Devon, low blow.

Michael was fine too, he played a weirdly small part and that felt off but everything he said seemed pretty in character. The most out of character parts were when he said nothing at all. OH AND WHERE HE WAS REPLACING BONNIE but that’s besides the point, no Bonnie OR April… no Bonnie OR April… I’m fine…

…

It feels like this movie wants you to forget that Michael exists because Shawn is here she’s more interesting, right? Right???

She’s really not.

So back to KIFT. My favorite part of KIFT is that pronouncing KIFT in your head sounds funny. It’s like “gift” but if the gift were actually an underwhelming villain of sorts that is overtaken in a garage, parked, by Michael either removing his microprocessor entirely or moving it to a Chevrolet.

I was surprised how not bad KIFT looked. I had seen stills from the movie that looked really uninteresting compared to the regular designs, and while I still agree to some extent, it was a lot more epic than I would have thought. Something about how the paint shines on it is captivating. I was genuinely happy when KITT was moved to the snazzy red vehicle, although a big part of that could have been how disgusting mint green looks with red. Seriously, including the red scanner on that bizarre seafoamy-bluey car (and yes, I do think it is a very pretty car by itself) was like when people say movies were “inspired” but in the opposite direction. And the scanner looked weirdly small? Was it just me?

Am I the only one who feels w e i r d just looking at this??

I think this is the most normal thing to be categorized as being in uncanny valley but there we go, I did it. It’s not right.

Anyway, as neat as KIFT looks, it is no comparison to the classic Knight 2000 or even Season 3 KARR. Red can be striking, but not when the classic scanner is also red. No contrast!

KIFT is absurdly easy to forget, and I don’t think that the car’s design has anything to do with it. KITT spends most of the movie piloting that car, and while it is not what we are used to, it doesn’t come across as super lame to me, either…or at least, not because of the design. The biggest problem with KIFT is, I think, simply his voice. His voice feels so out of place in the movie, and it’s so strange to me considering that Daniels’ voice is integrated just fine. The recording sounds too crisp, too clean. KITT’s voice always has a great deal of character, a very Earthy-sounding voice for an AI character. I actually think that this incongruity is purposeful, and it’s a very clever concept. We are supposed to recognize that KIFT isn’t human like KITT is. KIFT sounds out of place in the real world among real people; he’s too neat around the edges. It’s especially obvious when KITT and KIFT talk to each other. This is also mirrored by how KITT occupies a well-loved Chevrolet that has little imperfections that make it feel real whereas KIFT is in this red… whatever it is that feels like it comes out of a sci-fi film. This effect would have really worked if we had enough time with KIFT to understand his personality–or, more aptly, his lack of personality. What makes this not work is the fact that we spend practically no time with KIFT. We don’t get to hear what he feels he is programmed to do, we don’t get to hear him deliver the sort of lifeless lines that Shawn did that made her so unlikable, and we don’t even get to hear his voice more than 4-5 times. Every time comes as a shock, taking us out of the moment of the film. We could have gotten used to his crisp sound if he had spoken more, and we may have seen the actual plot significance of it. Instead, it pulls you right out of the movie.

Oh yeah, and the only line(s?) that KIFT delivers to KITT are full-on taunting… that’s not very lifeless of you KIFT.

Alright, just one last thing to really hammer home a point from earlier and conclude this whole thing. You know what I was saying about this movie lacking the whimsical nature of the TV show? Well, the final chase puts the icing on this oddly sullen crab cake.

Yes, crab cake.

Because the pinchy crab that is Shawn makes it quite painful to get this particular cake and icing doesn’t even belong on it anyway.

KITT is racing down the street in this bright red car that I just explained is thematically wrong for him to be driving tbh but whatever, he’s racing in it and comes up to a barricade of randomly stacked up cars.

Oh Yeah, we all know what is coming.

The music swells. Michael looks at the upcoming barricade with furrowed eyebrows and quietly asks KITT what the heck they’re going to do now.

OH YEAH, we definitely know what is coming.

And at last, for the first time in the film…

KITT veers off to the right and they drive on water. “It’s really sink or swim with you, isn’t it?” Michael asks, pretending that’s funny as if I am not still emotionally raw from that scene that happened an hour ago.

Apparently, KIFT had that one obscure feature from “Return to Cadiz,” the Season 2 episode where April forces KITT to follow KARR into the ocean on the hopes that waterproof wheels might work maybe, directly ignoring his many attempts to get out of it. Yay. I love references to That Episode. That Episode which baited me with an opening that looked like KARR could have been discovered underwater only to show me that not only was there no KARR, but KITT was going to be bullied into repeating what his brother did when he died. Wholesome. Lovely. Fantastic. And how did KITT know for sure that would work? KITT clearly still has some technical hiccups in his own CPU from Michael tampering with it, that was an awful lot of confidence to place in a maybe.

AND MORE IMPORTANTLY…

THIS MOVIE DID NOT HAVE A TURBO BOOST

A TURBO BOOST

I cannot believe that a movie based around Knight Rider did not have a turbo boost (or for that matter, the THEMESONG???). Like I am honestly still surprised by it. Almost every episode of the original show had at least one turbo boost, and there is a reason. The idea of a talking car jumping in midair, sometimes with Michael “WOO!”-ing like a girl, is so fantastically fun that nobody even tries to question how impossible it is. I think we all know how impossible it is, and that doesn’t matter, it is yet another thing that embodies the heart of this show.

And… not even one.

…

So yeah, that just happened. I think this is technically a small novel. Wow.

I know that I'm still missing a lot... I have a lot of thoughts about this movie, and if you for some reason want more please ask! I would also love to hear your thoughts on this! Do you agree with my analysis? Do you disagree entirely? Did you notice something that I failed to mention entirely? Pleasepleaseplease send ideas, I would love to hear them! Also know that, no matter how much I was disappointed by the movie itself, I am fully open to hearing your ideas about how to improve or expand upon it. I truly believe that this film introduced some great concepts, and I would absolutely adore seeing them reworked in a way that's more true to the original. Thank you for reading! :D

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onebloodsoakedlion · 4 years

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Things I hate in Gacha Life

Since I have been satirising this series, I’m gonna talk about a few things I hate seeing in Gacha Life videos and stuff:

1) The Hated Child If the Gacha comic I was making wasn’t already a good enough indicator, The Hated Child vids are one of my biggest pet hates. What happens in this video? Well, a mother gives birth to two or more children. She takes a look at each baby and suddenly decides that she hates one of them. From the moment it is born. Throughout the entirety of the hated child’s childhood, they are abused and tortured by their parents and siblings. Eventually, either through sheer luck or pity, one or more of the following occurs to compensate for the child’s suffering: - The Hated Child becomes royalty. - The Hated Child gains superpowers and/or becomes a hybrid. - The Hated Child becomes popular at school. - The Hated Child finds love. - The Hated Child’s family realises their mistakes and atone for their wrongdoing. Why do I hate this trope: It’s completely unrealistic, overdone and throws logic right out of the window. What to do instead: Make a more realistic story about child abuse! Maybe the parents are already assholes and all the kids are abused. Maybe the Hated Child has a proper disability (e.g. Autism, ADHD) and the parents are ableist little shits and/or don’t know how to take proper care of a disabled child. Maybe the child themself is an asshole and had it coming. Maybe the parents don’t even know how to take care of a child and/or cannot afford to raise one. There are many cases of child abuse irl and although they are unfortunate, you can take inspiration from them.

2) Text-to-speech This isn’t something I have covered as of yet in my comic, but I plan on doing so with my animatic. Text to speech is when you put a bunch of words into a generator and it generates audio of a person speaking the words. Since the good old days of Go!Animate, this has been very grating. Why I hate this trope: - The result is an emotionless robot speaking. It cannot convey emotion. It cannot sound happy, sad or angry. - TTS cannot deal with misspelt words, drawn-out words (e.g. “NOOOOOOOO!”) or made up words, opting to spell them instead. - TTS voices can often sound unfitting of the character they are used for, possibly due to a lack of variety. What to do instead: Do the voice acting yourself! Many decives nowadays are more than capable of recording your voice! Find a quiet room to record your voice. You can twist your voice to sound like someone else, or put on an accent. If you’re that unconfident in your voice acting skills, combine grunts, shouts and giggles with speech bubbles or subtitles a la Glitchtale, OFF and Fire Emblem. Or don’t use voices at all. My animatic teaser already uses voice acting done by ME.

3) One frame for walking What I mean by this is only using the first frame of the walkcycle to indicate a character is walking, like this:

Why I hate this trope: It’s just very lazy and sloppy. It looks awful. What to do instead: Use all four frames of the walkcycle! It’s not THAT hard. It only adds a few clicks to the video-making process!

4) Speech bubbles cropped out Speech bubbles, since they appear directly above a character’s head, can end up being cut out by the view if the character is too big, too high up on the screen, or if there are too many words. Why I hate this trope: Should be obvious. It makes things harder to read and understand. What to do instead: Make sure your speech bubbles can fit within the screen. If you can’t do that, adjust your character, speech bubbles, or get rid of the speech bubbles and either use your own speech bubbles that you draw yourself, or use subtitles.

5) People believing the most ridiculous of lies. Imagine being as school as normal... but then out of nowhere, your best friend runs up to you, accuses you of attempting to murder some random person you didn’t even know, and immediately stops being your best friend. You ask them where they even got that from and they say “BECAUSE [insert school bully’s name here] SAYS SO!” Why I hate this trope: Any sane person would take such things with a pinch of salt. An example using FE Fates characters: If Azama told Hinoka that Ryoma tried to murder Tsubaki, would she believe him? No, she would slap him hard in the face and say “My brother wouldn’t do that!”. What to do instead: Use more subtle rumours. Something that is easy to believe, and maybe have the bully use a mole, someone who is close to the victim, to deliver the message so it’s more believable.

6) Slow walking/acting. Yeah, you’re probably familiar with this one. Why I hate this trope: It wastes time, makes the story boring and I just want to scream “GET TO THE GODDAMN POINT” What to do instead: Use a variable framerate! Even the most basic of movie makers should allow you to make pictures show for a mere 1/10th of a second, which should be good enough to get an okay animation. Shotcut, for example, has a default 30fps video, which should be MORE than enough to make a decently-paced Gacha vid.

7) Assuming that every student with glasses is a NERD. ...Because apparently, glasses = nerd. Looks tell all. Why I hate this trope: Not all people who wear glasses are actually nerds. Some people might NEED glasses to actually have a normal fucking life! What about short-sighted people? My mum wasn’t even good at school and she always has to wear glass because she is short-sighted. My dad isn’t much better - being the long-sighted person that he is, he needs glass to read things. Reading isn’t nerdy, it gives you essential fucking information! Like how to cook a meal in the oven! Gods! What to do instead: Use better, more realistic indicators about whether someone is a nerd.

8) Self-defence being a crime Imagine that two kids decide to physically bully you. You fight back. You win. Guess what happens next? The principal gets involved and calls your parents, who ground you for a week, treating your reasoning of self-defence as a pathetic excuse. Why I hate this trope: You’re basically being forced to choose between being beaten to within half an inch of your life and being punished to within half an inch of your sanity. What to do instead: Have people listen to the person who beat the others up. They should hear their side of the story and consider it. If you really want the defender to suffer, give them a lighter punishment than if they started the fight themselves. If you really want to paint this person as the bad guy, have them obviously go too far (such as bashing up someone smaller than them who was simply poking them with a stick).

9) Skimpy clothing. Sometimes the girls tend to wear skimpy clothing, as in, wearing short shorts or baring their midriffs, even as students in school. Why I hate this trope: They’re usually KIDS, FFS! And THIS IS IN A GAME MADE FOR KIDS! Also makes no sense considering the school’s dress code - even on non-uniform days, my school NEVER allowed skimpy clothing. What to do instead: Show feminity ANOTHER way! Dresses, skirts, pink and frills are just a mere handful of ways to convey this, or failing that, use feminine facial features such as pretty hair and eyelashes. If you really must show some skin, save it for outside of school: At home or at the beach are some acceptable places to expose oneself. But don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean that everyone has to dress like Muslims, though.

10) No one noticing a character’s problems. In other words, people so blinded by lies and/or hate that they actually cannot tell that someone is being abused, bullied or suffering in any other way. Why I hate this trope: Because it makes everyone look like unempathetic assholes and only serves as a plot device for the character’s suffering. What to do instead: Have the character push people away, or be unable to recieve help due to circumstances other than no one offering it to them.

#Gacha Life #things i hate in gacha life #Cliche #tropes #Gacha Logic #why do people do this

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scarlettlawyer · 5 years

Text

Part 11 of my reaction/commentary to the Phantoms & Mirages Saga, the fanfic series by @renegadewangs

(Chasing Phantoms): Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

(Haunted Specters): Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

(Vanquishing Mirages): Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9

Vanquishing Mirages / Lifting Spirits: Part 10

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 1

At the very least, he could rest easy knowing that his first motorcycle lesson hadn’t been a complete disaster. The future looked promising.

ANY future looks promising when it has Motorcycle Simon in it

“Here, I brought you a sandwich.” “Is it chicken?”

Blackquill: [known bird lover, intense lover of birds pouring over bird documentaries in his spare time and cherishing Taka with all his heart]

The boy who would become the phantom, the moment he is presented with a sandwich: iS IT CHICKEN?

“But… People die when they are killed.”

ASDJHSDBKJS

A+ DIALOGUE THANK YOU I LOVE IT. GOOOSH I’M. SOMEBODY needs to compile a list of things this same person has said in this series. The above line. The courtroom jokes, the irony line… the “I’m aroace” line… The other things he said to intentionally turn Bobby against him post-phantomquill kissbait, throw in a bunch of other Lex lines too. The RANGE. THE SHEER RANGE. You could just do a list like that, show it to someone and be like “Yeeeaahh so ALL of these are essentially said by the same character in different stages of his life.”

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 2

Finally, there was a knock on the door and Lang led the way into the room. He looked irritable. He’d been giving off that air since before the surgery. Lex had a suspicion on what might be causing such irritation, but kept it to himself. Lang wouldn’t take his advice on matters like that anyway.

“Matters like that” I’M FGLKFGLKNGF

OKAY ALSO

I SOMEHOW MISREMEMBERED THIS AS BEING SOMETHING HE THINKS BACK BEFORE THE SURGERY BUT EITHER WAY IT’S JUST. GOLD.

The phantom – or the former phantom – Lex just sitting there doing his best to refrain from giving out romantic advice.

Someone younger than he’d expected. This man couldn’t be older than thirty- probably hadn’t even reached that age yet. […] this guy looked rather meek. He was lean; the sort of physique that made it seem like a strong gust of wind could blow him off his feet. His black hair was smoothed back with copious amounts of gel and his face bore overly kind features. A few sheets of paper and a notebook were clutched firmly under his right arm. Coupled with his neat black suit, dark blue tie and thick-rimmed glasses, he looked more like a door-to-door salesman than a therapist.

GEEEEE MEOWZY, GEEEE, SUCH DESCRIPTION, I WONDER IF HE’S AN IMPORTANT CHARACTER OR ANYTHING sdjnksdfknl.

Okay but back when I read this 1st time I was like. Well I seriously didn’t know WHY the hell this guy needed such a strong narrative focus on what he looked like. Like. “He’s the therapist. That’s all we need to know. He’s not important! Why do we care what he looks like! Why does it matter!” askjbsdkjnedskj just felt SO excessive just annoying that the narrative felt like it Cared so much about a random therapist character DFKDFKJ GOD I WAS A FOOL

AND ALSO UHHH

Like yes this fic post-bait was still promising and as superb as ever and had thrilled me with things like the music-listening thing BUT. I need you to understand that I was still very hurt over Fake Phantomquill and therefore, REALLY not in the mood for getting to know Sudden New Characters. The intense goodwill I’d built up for this series over three fics had been largely derailed at this point. I just… didn’t really care all that much about giving new characters a chance thanks to that new apathy. That, and the fact that this series genuinely felt like it was reaching the end at this point, with all of the Major Players already introduced. So how could any important character POSSIBLY show up now? Coupled with how Done I was after the phantomquill bait. SO YKNOW. Idiot that I am, I kind of breezed over the above paragraph a little impatiently without really taking anything in, like I read it but didn’t really ABSORB it or incorporate the physical description into how I pictured the character. I was just like “yeah ok he’s the therapist moving on? What’s next?” (BENNY I’M SO SORRY I WAS VERY MEAN). So yeah, my foolish logic: “series is almost over, all the important characters are introduced, therefore no character introduced at this point could possibly be important, therefore I don’t need to care about or pay attention to anyone new.”

…Like okay, I knew the story wanted me to see this new character as someone important and therefore pay attention to them, but I couldn’t understand why and therefore intentionally failed to pay much close attention almost out of spite.

But like. God. If I had actually bothered to take in anything about that physical description I would have actually NOTICED how handsome he is right from the start. Joke’s on me!

“[…] a person who’s supposed to have no emotions is incredibly interesting.”

[…]

Such an odd point of view was another thing that took Lex by surprise. All his life, people had called him a monster. A freak. A heartless robot or a demon. A Phantom. No one had ever considered his emotional state to be interesting. No one had ever considered it an honor to be sitting across from him. Who in their right mind would?

WHY WOULD YOU CALL ME OUT LIKE THIS

HELLO. SDKJNSFKJNSDKJ. ALSO THANK YOU SOMEONE ACTUALLY AGREES HOW INTERESTING THE LACK OF EMOTIONS THING IS.

But this is so funny it’s like the fic is takign aim at the fangirls. Me, a phantom fan: Hah… Yes… Who in their right mind would consider it an honour to be sitting across from him.. sdkjsdkjdsf

(Okay, that angle didn’t occur to me on 1st readthrough but now I’m just jokingly like “I feel so attacked” HAHAAH)

Most of the focus had been on Lex’s physical health and the way he was being treated, both on a medical level and on a personal level. Emotions could affect the body and Lex had to admit that recovery from his surgery was still going at a slow pace.

OH MY GOOOOOD FUUUUUDGE TH. BENNY IS SIZING HIM UP HE’S ASKING THOSE KINDS OF QUESTIONS FOR A REASON. GOD DAAAMN IT BENNY… Knowing the way he is being treated medically, things like that, can make it just that little bit easier! To! Make an attempt on his life! I’M

TFW u do ur job as a therapist but also as an assassin simultaneously.

No one else stopped by his room for hours on end. Not until it was time for the guard shift to rotate and Bobby Fulbright came strolling inside. Over the past week, it’d become painfully obvious that the Phantom’s attempt to crush the man’s cheerful attitude towards him had failed. That Bobby was still as overbearing as ever, acting as if that little incident involving Simon Blackquill hadn’t happened.

Idiot spy underestimated the power and strength of just HOW MUCH Bobby cares about him.

“Hahaha, that’s just like him.” Bobby nudged the wrapper towards the bin with his foot. “And just so you know, he’s single.”

BOBBY NO. THAT IS HIS THERAPIST. THAT IS YOUR THERAPIST,

Lex made sure to shoot Bobby the most emotionless expression he could still bring his face to ease into. It was funny how the surgery had messed with even that much. “It isn’t too late for me to end your life, you know.”

SDJKSDFNKJSDFKLNSDLNKSDLKN this & him saying this is so funny SEND HELP

The mark of Shelly de Killer.

OH. OKAAAY. I’D FORGOTTEN THAT THE FIRST ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT TAKES PLACE ON THE SAME DAY. BENNY WASTES NO TIME AT ALL… And it makes sense I mean. He got the info he needed to go ahead, so why wait? Oh my god..

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 3

…It’s terrible how much I kind of enjoyed Lex’s sudden downturn; what essentially was the prelude to and then became a vomit scene just because This man used to be the Unshakeable Phantom! LOOK AT HIM NOW. >:D

Plus he starts off soooo arrogant and overconfident at the beginning of the chapter as well before Lang is just like. “Lol. Looks like you didn’t actually kill Shelly and he’s after you.” Making the rapid nosedive that follows even more… It feels kinda weird to say “amusing”, but… IDK MAN THERE’S JUST INHERENT NARRATIVE APPEAL IN THIS LEVEL OF WEAKNESS AND VULNERABILITY AND WHAT HAVE YOU ON DISPLAY after a bout of confidence no less, from this character with this history specifically. Any other character and I’d be appropriately squicked out/feeling bad. I CAN BE VERY MEAN TO MY FAVE.

Also, “prayers to the porcelain god” is actually SUCH a good euphemism. Somehow… If I ever get the chance… I want to see if I can work it into saying it in real-life at least once. I don’t see any such opportunity arising anytime soon, however. :P

“Just send him in, it’s not like the day can get any worse,” Lex grumbled, clambering back onto his bed.

>:D

Benny shows up and it’s just pure dramatic irony. Re-reading is suuuuch a bonus.

What if they were endangering Benny by having him here?

OH MY G

“You’re a Snapple guy?”

I’M, I LOST IT AT THIS

Maybe he just wanted to be the one raising the questions- to be in control of the conversation. …Yeah, that was probably it. That was how the human psyche worked.

I’M?

“Of course. I don’t know how other people manage with their android phones. Snapple’s always got the upper hand,” Benny remarked, not even bothering to take his eyes off the screen.

Lex: Right. Have fun with your planned obsolescence, sucker.

IF A REAL LIFE MAN ACTUALLY SAID THIS TO MY FACE.. I GOTTA TELL YA… The sheer level of aggravating this is. XD. I DON’T KNOW IF I’D BE ABLE TO HOLD MYSELF BACK FROM SAYING SOMETHING.

Me internally if an IRL man said this to me: Oh so you’re insufferable and I probably won’t like you very much at all.

SDKJSDNKJSDNKJ

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 4

Bro. Bro I was suspicious of that coffee, man. And then when Lex drains it all, I was like “MMMM somehow… that feels like a mistake he’s going to regret.”

“Could there be any kind of poison in it that interpol could fail to detect?”

But, I didn’t suspect Benny of wrongdoing. I was suspicious of the coffee, but not Benny. I figured that if the coffee had been tampered with, Benny was completely unaware of it. But then, I forgot about it and put it out of mind after that when nothing too dramatic happened immediately after he takes the coffee.

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 5

“It’s fine.” Lex was embarrassed to hear that he’d taken on a rather squeaky tone.

Embarrassed… Embarrassed… Embarrassed…!

Yeeeees. It’s like I’ve waited 3 full fics and then some to see this man FINALLY be embarrassed. Feels good.

…Well this chapter certainly gets intense after that. :[

Now this second vomit scene is actually quite appropriately upsetting to read. OOF.

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 6

Bro just imagining that slowed-down music really IS super eerie, damn.

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 7

“Bobby Fulbright. I was under the impression that you were no longer allowed to be here.”

Gooood he STILL goes for the full titles all the time when “orienting” to the conversation, like he didn’t need to use any name at all here. I’m telling you, 1. This is his character trait, Lex and Phantom alike, and 2. It’s so Franziskan sdkjsdnkjsd.

Bobby sighed. It was like everyone around him realized his care for the Phantom was unwarranted. He himself realized it too, but that didn’t change anything. “I know. I’m just an idiot like that.” “Acknowledgment is the first step to recovery. Now take the next step and get out.” With that, Lex made to slide the headphones back over his ears.

UM rUDE xDDD

While the concept of him being aromantic had been cast into doubt ever since the surgery, he didn’t mean to dig much further into it. Unless he was somehow miraculously saved from execution, his sexuality didn’t matter. He would die just as he’d always lived; alone. The concept didn’t quite stop him from appreciating Benny’s handsome features, though. Or the way Benny kept smiling as if he wasn’t looking at a murderer.

Ohooooh my. Here we are! Precisely what connects back strongly to a lot of the stuff I discussed in my previous post but I couldn’t quite fit it in.

So like. I could very much see what was going on here. Mhm. Yes I did. We are getting implied Lex/Benny. And, confession time, but I MIGHT have stumbled across a post that heavily implied Lex/Benny back before I had ANY inkling of who Benny was… Back before Lex was Lex. So it meant absolutely nothing to me at the time, it simply DEEPLY confused me in the sense of “You’d think I’ve read far enough into the series and yet WHY can’t I make heads or tails of this post?” But, I quickly put it out of mind and temporarily forgot about it and was able to continue reading the text “blind”, but when Benny actually showed up… and Lex is Lex now… And Bobby’s all “He’s SINGLE 😉” I narrowed my eyes all like. Oh. Oh… There’s a certain way this could go. But I still thought “Hey. Maybe nothing will happen and neither of them will develop feelings, maybe it’s just like, a fun side-idea the author personally likes but didn’t put directly into the story- ohhhh and here it is hints on Lex’s side building up in the story. WELL THEN.”

It just felt like…

The author: [shipteases phantomquill, phantom/Athena (YES I KNOW THAT WAS A JOKE AND I AM INCLUDING IT ONLY AS A JOKE THAT WILL LENGTHEN THIS LIST), spyshipping, and even Freudian Phantombright (I AM ALSO INCLUDING THIS LAST ONE ONLY AS A JOKE)]

The author, after doing all of this: [whips out/ushers in their OC at the last minute to pair up with him]

Me:

DFJKSDLKSDKL

The above is a retooled version of a message I sent to my friend at the time – I hope the summary comes across as more of a comically condensed expression of frustration-at-the-time and not mean-spirited (mean-spirited is not what I want to be, I just exaggerate for comical effect is all, and I didn’t expect I’d be telling my feelings to the author directly ahhah..) But as already established? I was quite bitter over the now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t phantomquill, and so I was not particularly impressed at the time as a result… xDDD

I also just love how he, of all characters, seems to be the “launcher of a thousand ships” here… LOL

But of course, Benny is not technically an OC, is he? :P You can argue he’s merely an interpretation of a canon character from Dual Destinies – the courtroom sniper. Dskjdsjknsd

At the time it might have felt “ushered in”, but in reality, Benny has that connection to a “canon” character – the courtroom sniper – the further connection to ace attorney canon through being Shelly’s son, AAAND has already been very much intertwined in this series through “off-screen” references. He really is quite heavily grounded in the fic’s lore. And in Ace Attorney lore. Very, very clever and well-done. …Of course, I didn’t know any of this until the Reveal, so I remained unimpressed until then. Now post-reveal is a different story, and I came to intensely appreciate not only Benny as a character but also just how awesome the dynamic between Benny and Lex really is.

Shipping aside, you have the aroace business… I have actually previously come across a post on your blog where you stated you kinda felt bad for not keeping Lex aroace. I feel like this can easily get pretty thorny, and I want to kind of, as I stated in a previous post, analyse the text as an independent entity here – how I would judge/react to the text without any knowledge of or contact with the author or the context it was crafted in. Indeed, at the time of reading Lifting Spirits I didn’t have a clue what you may personally be or whether you were personally aro/ace or not and couldn’t make any assumptions either way.

There’s, I guess, two main ways to look at this… the phantom was effectively aroace and there was never any evidence suggesting otherwise. But with blocked emotions removed, it turns out the man is not aroace. You can treat “the phantom” and “Lex” as two separate entities in this regard.

But the phantom didn’t completely lack emotions. If Lex is not aroace… It stands to reason that EVEN IF there never was any evidence to suggest the phantom was anything but aroace, there was still the potential for small, limited amounts of evidence that he wasn’t to occur, even if such a thing did not happen to occur when he was the phantom. Which would make the phantom technically not aroace(?) but he simply never realised that. Hmm.

If there were a blanket consistency – if the phantom had experienced an extremely limited and probably outright warped sense of attraction or something like that – or if Lex was also aroace – then there wouldn’t be any “issue”. But as it is, it’s very easy to derive Unfortunate Implications from how it is set up, wherein the Emotionless Killer is aroace, but then he gets to experience proper emotions and becomes a “real person” who basically gets redeemed as that new person and all of a sudden… Only after becoming a “real” and “proper” human being he experiences attraction. It’s all too easy to feel like perhaps the message is that attraction is an integral part of the human experience – EVERYONE’S human experience.

And the flip that happens between the phantom and Lex in this realm further drove home what I perceived to be the massive distinction being made between the two and helped fuel much of my feelings surrounding what I discussed in the previous post. About how perhaps “the phantom” was being thrown under the bus to set up Lex as the good and better alternative. By treating them as two separate people, the connection is not TOO far away to feel as if the aroace aspect is attached to the phantom as part of what gets “thrown under the bus”, inherently attached to a villain seeing as it does not get carried over, inherently attached to emotionlessness – something necessary to be “cast aside” in order to fully complete a transition into a redeemable and “complete” human being.

I do know that none of this was your intent, and I sensed at the time of reading that it was not the author’s active intent as well, but not having enough background context at the time, I couldn’t entirely dismiss the possibility that perhaps it was a possible unintended predisposition bleeding through – nothing malicious in the least, mind you. But perhaps a subconscious assumption that every human being feels attraction and… idk. I wanted to believe the best of the work and the author but it was just, at the very least, an unintended implication that I could not entirely ignore. Being ace myself, it kinda stung, although I did keep that to a minimum until I could actually have more context.

I’m glad for being able to have access to additional context so that I can enjoy the work as it is to the best extent – if, for example, I did not have access to any information or additional context whatsoever about the author and the background under which the work was crafted in, I wouldn’t have been able to entirely shake the discomfort and it’s something small that would have continued to bug me long after I’d finished reading, if only for the fact that I would never have been able to know for sure if the writer was actually dismissing something like asexuality or not.

And Conflicted Thoughts/Feelings once again because, if we step back for a moment and look at this particular narrative thread as it exists in Lifting Spirits and its conclusion as a whole, I AM happy for Lex, it’s great that he gets to have a love interest, it’s a great ship, and the concept of the former phantom becoming attracted to someone and getting a crush is so so great…

What it ultimately comes down to, is that even if you can read Unfortunate Implications into the text regarding the aroace business, any such implications were not your intent. I much prefer reading a text in the most charitable way possible to enjoy it to the fullest possible extent, so that’s what I’ve ultimately done, given additional background info.

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 8

The complete role reversal of this chapter is so good… For months and months prior to ever beginning to read this series, I’d actually been working on a fanfic of my own, albeit for a different fandom. It also centres around inverted character dynamics and such as the central running theme to the extent that it’s even alluded to in the title… But this… The role reversal or transformation that Lifting Spirits centres around is so… It does it so damn well. Kind of makes me want to hold myself and my own fanfiction to a higher standard.

I had perhaps been a little bit suspicious of Benny prior to this chapter, but not much… And the end of the previous chapter had me VERY much like “OK… SOMETHING’S WRONG HERE… SOMETHING’S WRONG! WHAT IS THIS GUY’S DEAL?!” BUT omg this reveal

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 9

He’s the fourth heir to the lineage of De Killer, which means spilling blood is in his blood. It’s a shame, really, that he can’t stand the sight of it.

This chapter description is just so poetic. It’s like, the chapter description is not really separate from the fic itself – it’s just as artistically intertwined with the text. Absolutely GORGEOUS chapter description.

Oughhhhh Benny’s backstory and just. His whole character and the internal conflicts that he has and EVERYTHING is just so damn compelling WOW!

The glimpses into Benny’s past and home life are such a fascinating look into how vastly different his frame of references are… How very unique his perspective and positioning in the world is.

The Phantom… Benjamin had heard of this man, of course. An international spy. One who was so wanted that his father had been hired by at least five clients.

F-FIVE CLIENTS?! AT LEAST? LEGEND.

Okay this is quite interesting to think about too because I always figured that Shelly would only ever take on one client and have one target at a time, so that he could devote his full attention to the task at hand and uphold his end of the contract – his client has faith in him to do a job and to do a job well, so I figured a single-handed focus would be part of that. Under normal circumstances, this would present no issue. Why would it? Shelly’s very good at his job and tracking down an assigned individual target wouldn’t be too difficult. My impression is that a job would generally take maybe 2-3 weeks from the time of meeting with the client and the deed getting done, unless it’s exceptionally easy and the person in question gets taken out within the week.

But obviously the phantom presents a clear problem to that operational method. Shelly’s left with a target he has little to no leads on, no physical description, no name beyond the title, who could be anywhere and anyone. Job like that’s gonna take a little bit longer than three weeks. But Shelly is nothing if not a professional, and he’s more than happy to honour his client’s wishes if they want this guy dead, and he’s certainly not gonna give up or back down from the request…! I wonder if Shelly was in the habit of taking on multiple clients at the time or if he was forced to break from his standard method of operation, cause if he has no leads he has to wait until one turns up/keep searching indefinitely. And it kinda puts a huge damper on business to not accept any new clients for years on end. Maaaaan not being able to take the phantom out quickly & efficiently must’ve bugged the HELL out of him too. He’s made a commitment to his client, his (first) client is trusting him to take this guy out, and YEARS pass and STILL it hasn’t been done. Wonder what kind of dynamic that would have caused between Shelly and the first client.

I have no real doubt that Shelly actually had enough money to put business on hold for a few years if that’s what it meant to track down the phantom, if he wanted to. But it’s just not practical if he genuinely has 0 leads to go on for months on end, it makes more sense to be doing stuff in the meantime. PLUS, part of it would also be to ensure that the de Killer name does not fall into disuse and remains prominent in the minds of the public. To disappear for years only for calling cards to start showing up again… It just wouldn’t look particularly good for The Brand I suppose? The general public wouldn’t know the reason for the silence.

There’s not only that, but he accepts requests from multiple clients for the same target, hugely increasing his payout for a single job. I would have thought it’s possible that were someone to make a request that’s already been made, Shelly might be like “Ah, actually, you can’t select this particular individual”. And if years have passed with no success it begins to raise questions about the “ethics” of accepting further requests for the same person if part of the payment is being made in advance, which I’m sure it is. But then again – I’m sure there was no doubt in Shelly’s mind that he’d actually get him in the end. The length of time that passed didn’t matter. The job would be done, and he was never going to give up. He had multiple clients depending on him, after all.

I guess every time he got another Phantom request he’d sigh and internally be like “ADD THIS CLIENT TO THE LIST I SUPPOSE…”

Client: I want you to take out the phantom

Shelly, internally: Get in line

Dsjsdjh

Really though I’m very sure that the phantom’s difficulty to track down would have irked Shelly to no end. Not that he would necessarily let such sentiments show externally.

And while I’m speaking about this, I guess I will also address Benny being his son here as well. My reaction REALLY was “HIS FATHER??? HIS FATHER????”

I’ve never played DGS and I know there’s de Killer stuff going on in those game(s) and I don’t know if any light is shed in that series on how the lineage works – hm! It’s interesting to think about. One of the theories I’ve seen proposed is that the new de Killer establishes themselves as such by successfully taking out the previous de Killer – no familial relation. That has logistical issues of its own however but it was kind of the default idea that I’d gone with as I hadn’t really seen any others discussed.

Shelly’s unique job and his intense dedication to said job makes it very VERY hard for me to picture him not only establishing a relationship with someone but also fathering a child with someone… It’s quite hard for me to picture how it would work. How it would look in practice. And of course, in the Benny flashbacks, there is no mention of a mother. So I was a little bit like ????? on that front. And then you get the reveal practically at the VERY end of the fic that Benny is adopted, which makes plenty of sense. It is hard for me to picture Shelly as a father but I CAN see him adopting, caring for and raising an adopted child. A child that is to continue the proud de Killer heritage.

THE FACT THAT SOMEONE GOT MISTAKENLY SHOT BECAUSE THEY WERE ASSUMED TO BE THE PHANTOM BUT WEREN’T… OOF. Hope Shelly didn’t prematurely celebrate on that one. He might’ve already enlisted three clients wanting the phantom gone by that point and thought that he could FINALLY collect the rest of whatever money they owed him from them – that he could FINALLY reassure them that the guy was finally flippin’ DEAD. Perhaps only for the phantom to show up AGAIN some time later. (Shelly doing refunds? Dsjksdkj). Ok but on a serious note – I know he would’ve probably known it was not the phantom either immediately after/soon after the guy was shot. There’s things like No Mask and whatnot and probably the aftermath would have made it obvious it was the wrong person without the phantom needing to show up on Shelly’s radar once again. But OOF.

In March, a man had come to see Ben ‘Benny’ Volent, seeking counseling. A man who bore the name of Bobby Fulbright.

WHEN THIS REALISATION HIT ME… OH MY GOD? OH MY GOD? BOBBY FULBRIGHT HAD BEEN UNLOADING THE TRAUMA OF WHAT HE SAW… ONTO THE SON OF THE VICTIM! I CANNOT. THAT IS… NOT GOOD. Being so close to the murder victim can compromise the therapist’s ability to assist the patient at hand, so… conflict of interest! Benny had to sit there and listen to recounts that would have deepened his OWN pain. Bro I am SO sorry. WHAT a punch this was.

Agent Lang had mentioned a move to the federal prison right in front of Benny.

NO JOKE but back when that scene originally occurred I was just like “UMM should they REALLY be discussing this while the therapist is there?” Because I had found Benny to be a LITTLE bit potentially suspicious and. Hmm!

OKAY THE FUNNIEST PART – OR RATHER – THE MOST WACK PART OF THIS ENTIRE SITUATION IS JUST HOW MANY LEVELS OF “CROSSES THE LINE TWICE” IT IS.

Like. The realisations started pouring in for me, one after the other. First it was like “um, Benny counselling Bobby considering the circumstances is a conflict of interest that can potentially compromise his ability to remain objective and properly assist Bobby’s recovery”. THEN, hilariously enough, I was like “UM, IT IS HIGHLY UNPROFESSIONAL FOR BENNY TO ACT AS LEX’S THERAPIST – EXTREME CONFLICT OF INTEREST SEEING AS THE PHANTOM KILLED BENNY’S FATHER AND YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED PERSONAL BIASES TO GET IN THE WAY WITH HOW YOU SEE THE PATIENT”. This was coupled with how… awkward I found it earlier on for Bobby to even suggest, however jokingly, to Lex that Benny was single – how iffy it was for Lex to have developed feelings for Benny (cause if you got feelings for ur therapist that’s bad news for the therapy and Lex even seems to know this) or the possibility that perhaps it was on some level reciprocated, which would be highly unprofessional and further detrimental to the therapist-patient relationship.

BUT THEN I REALISED THIS WAS ALL MOOT AND COMPLETELY BLOWN OUT OF THE WATER ALL BY:

BENNY WAS TRYING TO KILL LEX THE WHOLE TIME ANYWAY.

So LITERALLY WHO CARES about conflict of interest or “professional conduct” here, I’M PRETTY SURE IT IS NOT IN THE LINE OF A THERAPIST’S WORK TO BE ACTIVELY TRYING TO KILL YOUR PATIENT.

And all I could do was laugh. This is the kind of crosses-the-line-twice funny, there’s just SUCH a cluster of professional breaches going on that it is OFF THE CHARTS and loops back around to being hilarious. You can’t even criticise ANYTHING specific about Benny’s conduct, there’s no point, because it is so BLATANTLY and obviously out of line, professionally and legally speaking, in its ENTIRETY. And then you realise his credentials were faked to begin with too, even though he’s genuinely studied the profession and is good at what he does. He’s walking around with faked qualifications ANYWAY.

Lex and Benny’s patient-therapist dynamic was stuffed to HIGH hell, inherently, far before it ever began. It was already compromised beyond belief. THE GUY’S QUALIFICATIONS AREN’T EVEN 100% LEGIT… >failed step one. It is SO wild and subsequently funny as a result. Benny got built up as such a good therapist too, and don’t get me wrong, he does seem to actually be good at what he does as I said. But then you go ahead and reveal all of this about him and it’s sooo… omg

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 10

Simon was about to turn away when he thought he saw it. Just for a fraction of a second. Were Alexander’s lips about to quirk into a victorious smirk? …No, that was ridiculous.

OOOHH MY GOOOOOD I HAD TOTALLY FORGOTTEN ABOUT THIS I SWEAR TO GOD………… I swear to god. Acting skills WAY too strong. He’s still got it. This man is way too powerful/skilled for his own good I swear to god.

Yes, he successfully got Benny to leave and he got out of the ordeal of being held at gunpoint unscathed. But he still had been terrified when going through that. Regardless of how things turned out it makes sense for Lex to be in shock and still be working out some of that fear. Because he HAD been genuinely terrified. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he is genuinely a little in shock during this scene but oh my god.. Because it makes sense for him to still be jittery and then I just. LEX. KINDA HATE THAT I MAYBE GOT A LITTLE WORRIED BECAUSE STILL BEING SHAKEN MAKES SENSE BUT ALSO CONFUSED AT THE EXTENT. On first and second readthrough.

Can’t really say too much else about this chapter right now it’s just sooo intense and riveting gosh.

For a split second, it seemed like Fulbright was so overcome with emotion he might try to pull Alexander into a hug as well. Luckily, Lang cleared his throat in such a loud manner that it was obvious he did so on purpose.

LANG HOW COULD YOU. “LUCKILY” MY FOOT.

Lifting Spirits, Chapter 11

His license was most likely a fake. Would any report compiled by him be worth a damn? And to think, Bobby Fulbright had spoken so highly of him.

WAIT I WAS ONLY JUST SAYING THIS EARLIER SDKSDKNS

Hey. I obviously knew this Mirage scene was coming this time around and yet it managed to somehow sneak up on me anyway. When I got up to it and read through it I just outright started crying. I did not cry on the first readthrough, I was completely dry-eyed. I GOT SUPER ATTACHED TO AND MORE EMOTIONAL OVER MIRAGE ON MY SECOND READTHROUGH OF THIS SERIES FOR A REASON.

Oh, something else that struck me on first readthrough about this scene was… The phantom always EASILY felt to me the far more “bad” person compared to Mirage. When compared to the phantom, Mirage always felt… well, it was easy for me to forget that she’s also done terrible things, that she’s also a criminal. She naturally just seemed like the waay better person – with SOME amount of a moral compass. So it was odd to suddenly have her being in the same room as Lex, no longer being contrasted against the phantom, but contrasted against Lex instead… Lex seems to actually have a much more proper moral compass compared to her now. He’s actually filled with remorse and regrets.

Mirage… still chose to kill people. She’s still herself, and that self is someone who didn’t have a bone sliver preventing her from understanding how much of a powerful impact death can have. It was odd… Lex knows internally how bad killing people is now. Mirage most likely still doesn’t really know… not only that, but… he would know that she doesn’t? I don’t know how to explain what I’m getting at here, but yeah.

Also:

“Why did you ask to see me?” he found himself asking. “…Why do you care?” She giggled, the sound of it rather strained. “Because we’re friends, you idiot.” “We’re not…-”

Me:

“You’d better pray the Phantom’s retrial leads to the death penalty. I’m being released next year, but I wouldn’t mind being tossed right back in here if it means I got to strangle Metis’s killer with these two hands.”

…N-NEXT YEAR?! BUT THAT’S… SO SOON… SOONER THAN I… THOUGHT… I FIGURED SHE HAD LIKE… MAYBE ANOTHER TWO YEARS LEFT… I DIDN’T REMEMBER HER SAYING IT’S NEXT YEAR.

[Thinks about this line and then Tracking Ghosts]

Oh my god… Can it PLEASE at least be the second half of the year I’m dying here… Like I KNEW she had to be released from prison eventually and. Yeah. I JUST THOUGHT WE HAD MORE TIME.

You know what’s funny? This line 100% didn’t faze me on first readthrough. Ahahaha. Why should it have? “You’d better pray the Phantom’s retrial leads to the death penalty” was, after all, my own train of thought at the time… HDHDFH. I was just kinda [nods] “at least someone around here’s got the right idea.” …AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

You completely missed me on the first go, but second time’s a charm. Ya got me. Ya got me with this line this time around. I am worried. :’)

#long post

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pip-personalispolitical · 5 years

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𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖑𝖆𝖘𝖙 𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖌𝖆𝖗𝖞𝖊𝖓

The last female characters in the show have essentially been reduced to three houses; Stark, Baratheon, Targaryen. These houses hold considerable power by themselves, coupled with their remaining matriarchs (because let’s face it, Jon isn’t running anything other than away from his feelings) they’re a pretty formidable bunch.

Disregarding the pitting of powerful women against each other in a totalitarian struggle for the throne in the vein of oh so trendy, female power, this week’s episode was rife with misguided notions of women, power and madness. Patriarchal tropes clung to the once fierce and pragmatic women, altogether terrifying and brilliant, and reduced them to poor plot twists and insanity.

It was predictable, and awful, highly entertaining and I hated it. I hated it because this has a massive audience that has huge influence on Western society, it should be commented on, especially when the fanbase is so intelligent and loyal and when it’s such a huge part of our soecity (Sorry, it is.)

𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔱𝔩𝔢 𝔡𝔬𝔳𝔢

I’m gonna get right into it. Full fledged, partially feminist but mostly just pissed off review of this episode and continuing storyline for The Mother of Dragons.

Sansa and Ayra are the only two female leads left unscathed by bouts of madness. They remain in the show, they are quiet and astute, or emotionally void and impossibly silent. Above all else the crucial performance of their femininity is intact, they are well-mannered and unobtrusive and that is seemingly why they are still there. Some of their power steams from utilizing the tropes of femininity to ensure they have stability and respect and maintain the little power they have.

Sansa is not only playing the Game of Thrones but the tiresome Game of Patriarchy. Seemingly internalising her struggles and extending gratitude to traumatic abuse as a means of betterment seems, at the least, in poor taste and at most, horrifically ignorant and damaging. The implications are that because of what a man did to her, she is a better person for it. I think she is better, and not “still a little bird”, only because of what the show keeps telling us is that she’s smart now, not showing us. You might even go so far as to say that Sansa is only granted trust and smarts because she learnt it from a male peer.

Sansa Stark has swallowed internalised misogyny down with her favoured lemon cakes; yes, she has learnt how to manipulate those around her and use her strengths to gain favour, all whilst being very pretty and very quiet. Except when it allows heror her family more access to power. You all know what I’m talking about - snitches get stitches, little dove. All the while claiming The Dragon Queen is an untrustworthy threat (Jon asked you to keep how many secrets? One? The same one your Father kept for...how many years? Oh. Yeah. In the words of Sandor Cleagane, fuck off.)

Thus, leading me - a rabid feminist and Targaryen loyalist - to believe that unless you play by the rules in Westeros, whatever you want is unattainable and you are unworthy and frankly, too damn emotional. The only way for these characters to survive is to shut up and play along.

And let’s keep in mind that all of these characters are white, the people of colour on the show can be the sweetest, most benevolent characters in the universe and they still get decapitated. Characters who aren’t “nice” or “good” and are people of colour are portrayed as savages, emotionless killing robots that are above all dispensable and grateful to their white saviour. Someone who spoke about this more eloquently and in depth is Raine (SP – my apologise I can only guess at it based on phonetics), who wrote into the Pod-Cast: A Cast of Kings (S8E5, 7 minutes in.)

Dany simply doesn’t play by these rules.

Being a Targaryen at heart, I wondered what it was that Dany was doing so differently to be considered such a threat, or a borderline mad queen, chasing after the impossible affections of the inhabitants of Westeros. Dany plays by Targaryen rules, she plays with fire and blood. Their trump card of entitlement (a hereditary bloodline that has mostly held male monarchs) that condemns her as power-hungry but serves male claimants as entitled.

Her overt assertions and unfiltered desire to reclaim this birth right, as many before her have, is suddenly chased by the idea of being deserving, a prerequisite that eludes the patriarchal figures in her family. This leads me to think it’s not what she’s asking for that is so unconceivable, but howshe’s asking for it that is so outrageous. Apparently, even Khaleesi can face issues of likeability[i].

𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔱𝔬𝔰𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔞 𝔠𝔬𝔦𝔫

These rejections of arguably patriarchal rules and the strong emotions of a woman are tediously wrapped up with notions of madness and hysteria, and prove disappointing for one of the most well written female characters in fantasy.

While we have to take into account the budget and time of the show, it feels breathless. The otherwise thoughtful and complex plotlines have been twisted to deliver shocking twists with little substance.

Dany’s previous actions in the show haven’t led to the web of whispers surrounding her, there is no reason for people to expect her to act like a mad queen up until this very last moment. To deny these people were doing so and lying to her face about it would be further gaslighting, so Tryion, in my book, did the right thing. Dany’s decisions have constantly been ridiculed, along with her sanity and emotional state.

In a defence of her actions, she has fought endlessly, scraped her way to the throne, sacrificed her time, her armies and her children to find herself left alone at the last moment? (Who can relate?) Her powerful allies have fallen, and those that claimed they would serve her do very little of what she asks. Seriously. Jon, you just couldn’t shut the fuck up for a second?! Starks and their honour, SMH. It is maddening.

Aside from it making no narrative sense (she has always avoided bloodshed and taken warnings about the mad king, her father, to heart) it just sucks seeing two of the best women reduced to Motherless tropes. Because Seven Hells, what is a woman if she is not reproducing? Insane!

As if the coin had been tossed and landed face down - Dany loses it within a split second. Hats off to Emilia Clarke because she sold it and the storm of emotions that ran across her face in milliseconds. This black and white contrast seems unfitting for a character that has faced each loss, personal and political, with tenacity, she has learnt from each of these losses. D&D have taken a survivor that has been gaslit, abused, groomed and baited and “made her mad with ambition.”

Additionally, it lends to the idea that women’s emotions are incomprehensible and irrational. We are told that in expressing anger we are inhibiting the ability to be heard - hello tone policing. This bout of madness is signalling her downfall, her failure to comply with a more docile femininity. Any woman with too much power will not be able to handle it and if she can she is mad and must be stopped. Period.

They failed to give her the credit she so deserved as she tried (and arguably failed) to grasp the politics of war. Worst of all, the scene played out so poorly that the audience had to be told this was her moment of “choosing violence,” like Cersei. The only way this was credible was thanks to Emilia’s performance and explanation in behind the scenes footage.

She explains how hurt Dany is, how angry and alone she is, and these feelings have culminated at a time she has gotten exactly what she wanted, and realised it’s not what she thought it would be. With liminal time, Dany grieves. Her grief is sorrow turned anger, anger turned dragon fire, dragon fire turned ash. It looks different to any other characters on the show and she has allowed it to kill her. And when you put it like that, it’s fucking traumatic.

It’s not like it’s nothing that pushes her over the edge, but in diagnosing Dany with madness, her agency is stripped from her. Dismissing her actions by saying it’s in her blood is implying it’s inevitable despite the great character growth and progress she has made. While the books clearly hint at this, the show does not...well, not successfully. It’s feasible and I’m not at all against the idea of her going mad, but the connotations of it seem reductive.

Daenerys could have been the most beautiful mad queen we’ve seen since Maleficent, reigning her vengeance on us with fire and blood, but D&D wrote off her brilliance with 30 minutes of relentless slaughter. Her power has always been something to fear, she plays the game she need not play to gain favour and credibility as a leader, and when playing by their rules fails her and she doesn’t feel like playing anymore (as it’s gotten her nowhere – does this remind you of anything? Patriarchy? Internalising misogyny?) she’s crazy.

The most irritating aspect of this all is that it has been written to further the narrative of do-gooder MoodiBoi of Westeros, Jon Snow. To add insult to injury, her sacrifices are motive for madness while Jon’s make him a martyr; an unwilling hero bound by the same strain of honour that has gotten both him and his uncle killed. Like, I’m bored?

𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔬𝔩𝔣 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔡𝔯𝔞𝔤𝔬𝔫

It’s undeniable, Ayra is a badass. She killed the fucking Night King. But for some reason, Daenerys isn’t granted the same nuance she is. Ayra is unforgiving and gritty, she is cloaked in darkness and weaponry and this darkness is welcomed. While Dany’s darkness is terrifying - perhaps simply due to the scale of devastation she is capable of - whereas Ayra’s is welcomed and accepted. Maybe it’s just too easy for Dany to sit the throne with dragons and is considered unfair? Like, I dunno, any white-het-cis man trying to attain a position of power and control.

Perhaps it is because Ayra’s power is overtly masculine, her power is demonstrated solely in her physical skills and capabilities, whereas Dany’s overt power is dragon fire, and flows, sometimes in reverse, between decision making, politics, emotions, bloodlines and betrayals. This is a character arc, it isn’t a clean narrative and that is why it’s so compelling. (Sidenote: let’s not disregard the ability to raise, bond with and fly fatherfucking dragons.)

Ayra undergoes numerous inescapable traumas, all early in life, but so does our darling Dany. The only difference is Dany strays from physical demonstrations of power. Her focus is not individualised, it’s pinpointed to political hotspots.

No, not all female characters have to express their power and emotions in the same way, nor should all female characters be powerful, but in a show with dragons, is it so far-fetched to have more than one successful female ruler?

𝔄𝔷𝔬𝔯-𝔞𝔥𝔟𝔶𝔢

It seems as though the show has room for only one type of ‘empowered’ woman: the power hungry one. Whether she uses cunning, childless violence or fire and blood, they all seek power. Enough to hold what they consider their claim, two of them have already paid with their lives for their loud and unrelenting anger, the third is most likely going to sit the throne, quietly, thankful for the years of gaslighting and abuse. Looking at you, Sansa Snarky.

The only praise I can sing is that this is actually a testament to her power and great restraint, it has taken 8 seasons of abuse, disbelief, dehumanising, control and betrayal for her to reach this point and use this force that she could have used moons ago. Which, judging by everyone’s shitty ideas and plans, she should have done anyway.

While Daenerys Stormborn isn’t perfect (er, hello white saviour/messiah complex) she is compelling and pivotal in the series. This woman isn’t inherently good or bad. The character is made of grey, shifting uncertainties and wavering moral, struck by tragedy and bloodlines - she is simply made of magic - Dany is, after all, the Mother of Dragons, and she deserved better.

𝔯𝔢𝔣𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔫𝔠𝔢𝔰

1] Likeability: I define Likeability as a set of performances that are highly gendered, and ensure the maintenance of the feminine by condemning behaviours exerted by non-males; typically being loud, having a sexuality (lol seriously) opinionated, successful and ambitious. I believe likeability sits on the axis of heteronormativity and femininity; or rather within the heterosexual matrix. They rely on each other for their respective maintenance. The highly feminine woman is more respected and well liked. It is a social currency women have to pay in order to attain certain things, such as respect or power.

2] https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/its-time-embrace-feminisms-anger

3] https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/09/how-pop-culture-tells-women-to-shut-up/502187/

4] A Cast of Kings: Available on all streaming sites. S8EP5 Review.

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oumakokichi · 7 years

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Any idea why Ouma hates robots so much? Besides just having fun at Kiibo's expense, he goes so far as to say he hates all robots and wish they'd all just disappear or get destroyed. Hating the monokumarz is one thing, but why did he apply it to all machines? Thanks!

I think there are a few reasons for it. The first one, likeyou said, is mostly for comedic purposes. He often makes a lot of thesecomments about robots or machines for the sake of really exaggerated comedy,particularly in order to push Kiibo’s buttons or earn a snippy (tsukkomi)comeback in response. But I think part of it is also just directed at the factthat the robots and machinery in the killing game are the main things keepingthem there.

To touch on the first point, I think many of Ouma’s commentsaren’t actually made in any real harm. Clearly if he actually hated robots ormachines or thought that someone like Kiibo “wasn’t a person,” he had plenty ofopportunities to either eliminate him or incapacitate him. We discover inChapter 5 that Ouma had far more tools than he let on, including the items he’dcommissioned Miu to make for him.

Many of these items could easily have put Kiibo out ofcommission for a while—even just standing in the area where the electric bombwent off after they opened the machinery bay in Chapter 5 was enough to makeKiibo feel like he was having the equivalent of a human allergic reaction. Theelectric hammers were designed “not to work on people,” so Kiibo was curious asto whether it would harm him or not, since it would all depend on whether Miusaw him as a person or as a machine when she was building it. Clearly, Ouma hada lot of options on-hand if he saw Kiibo as a real threat and if he had wantedto remove him from the game or honestly thought that he was somehow “less thana person.”

However, all Ouma knew was that Kiibo was simply… unnatural.He quite literally writes the character for “strange” next to his picture onhis whiteboard. His backstory doesn’t add up or explain why a robot would needto be there in the first place, and the more “memories” they uncover from theremember lights, the weirder it seems for a robot to be there at all,particularly as they were supposed to be selected for the Gopher Plan due to theirimmunity from the virus mentioned in Chapter 5. Ouma most likely piecedtogether that if their entire group’s purpose was really to land on a remote planet and repopulate it as the “Adamsand Eves of the new world,” then it made absolutely no sense at all for Kiiboto be with them.

I think he suspected that because Kiibo was a robot, he hadties to the outside world and to the killing game itself—a theory which wasultimately proven correct in the end, as Kiibo was essentially an audienceproxy. Since Ouma knew that they were being watched by an audience very earlyon (alluding to it even as early as Chapters 2 and 3), he probably did wonderif Kiibo was meant to serve that kind of role, which meant that Kiibo’spresence was highly suspicious and that he wasn’t someone Ouma could easilytrust, right off the bat.

But it’s also a fact that Kiibo’s role as an audience proxywasn’t something he did willingly, nor was he even aware of it until Chapter 6.He displays time and time again that he doesn’t have bad intentions and that he’san all-around fair and objective individual who simply wants to be thought ofas an ordinary high schooler like the rest of his classmates—something which Iwouldn’t doubt frustrated Ouma, since it would’ve probably been easier to planaround Kiibo if he had actually been an emotionless machine with no autonomy orfree will. But since he wasn’t, Ouma was aware that he was a “person,” even ifhe wasn’t a human being.

Many of Ouma’s most drastic “destroy all robots” comments ordigs at how “humans can’t just read memories off a hard disk” are oftenimmediately met with Kiibo’s own comebacks, whether it’s about suing Ouma forhis discrimination, or about how humans are really the ones who should bepitied for their irrationality. Kiibo is hardly one to just sit back and takeOuma’s bratty behavior; he’s very capable of standing up for himself, and it’spretty telling, I think, that Ouma often seems to expect these comebacks andusually just grins, rather than trying to make it into a serious argument.

I’ve always been a little baffled at how people seem to takemany of these comments of Ouma’s 100% seriously when they read like a manzaicomedy routine. Ouma says something obviously bratty and exaggerated and playsboke with his robo-discrimination comments, Kiibo gets angry and retaliateswith a tsukkomi, repeat. Kiibo’s line about “being good at comedy routines” inChapter 3 amused me quite a bit, since it’s actually pretty much what he andOuma do most of the time in their interactions. Angie even remarks early inChapter 2 during one of their back-and-forth sessions that they “seem like they’rereally getting along.” So I don’t think those comments are meant to be read asOuma genuinely being hostile or downright mean.

I do think it’s him at his brattiest, though. Ouma isn’tsomeone who likes to harm others or see them get hurt or killed, but it’sabsolutely true he loves pranking the shit out of them—too much, sometimes. Hecan be exasperating and annoying, and it shows whenever he starts behavingsuper childishly. The worst he’s ever really done to Kiibo is probably hittinghim in the VR world to be annoying, and even that was partially to showcase thefact that Kiibo could feel pain in the VR world the same way as anyone else,unlike in the real world (a fact that Kiibo himself was actually quite happyabout, once he got over his initial annoyance).

As for the second point I made, I think Ouma’s resentmenttowards the Monokumerz and other machines is more directed at the fact that themachines themselves are some of the biggest obstacles in keeping them all fromleaving the killing game. The Exisals are, after all, quite literally killingmachines used to enforce the rules. Having rules is one thing, but withoutsomething present to enforce them, the whole game would fall apart. The Exisalsprovide the perfect means to intimidate and force the characters intocontinuing the killing game, preventing them from stepping out of line in thesame way that the Monobeasts did in sdr2.

The Monokumerz and Monokuma are the direct link between thekilling game and the ringleader, with the Monokumerz capable of controlling theExisals while Monokuma (and the Mother Monokuma, specifically) were able tomonitor the surveillance footage and keep an eye on everyone throughout the school.The sophistication of their technology was exactly what made it so difficult togo against them—not even to touch on the fact that they kept providing thecharacters with new motives for murder the day after each trial, in order tokeep the game going.

It’s quite understandable then that Ouma wouldn’t enjoy theMonokumerz, Monokuma, the Exisals, or any of the machinery and technology thatwent into organizing and maintaining the killing game. On his whiteboard, heeven writes “annoying” next to the pictures of the Monokumerz: not only are allthe bears involved in ensuring that the killing game continues, but they alsotalk and act according to such an obvious script for the sake of “entertainment.”

I really doubt that Ouma meant any of his “all machinesshould get destroyed” comments seriously, but even if you do look at it from aserious perspective, it makes sense to some degree, considering the machineryfor the killing game itself was so incredibly advanced and difficult tocircumvent. Not only Monokuma and the Monokumerz, but the Exisals, the hiddencameras, the electric barriers, and even the dome itself were all far toodifficult for a bunch of high schoolers to fight back against normally, whichis exactly why Ouma wound up commissioning Miu to make inventions for him andthe others, as her talent was one of the only ones that could actually stand achance against the ringleader’s own technology.

Anyway, this is just my take on it! It’s possible otherpeople might read differently into his comments about robots and machines, butI’ve always taken most of his comments towards Kiibo specifically to be fairlybratty but harmless, while his comments towards the Monokumerz and Monokumausually come across as much more exasperated or bored. I hope this helps answeryour question, anon!

#ndrv3 #drv3 #new danganronpa v3 #kokichi ouma #ouma kokichi #ndrv3 spoilers //#my meta #okay to reblog #anonymous

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fuckedbykpop-blog · 5 years

Text

Heat | pt.3

Pairing: Yoongi x Hoseok // Suga x Jhope // Yoonseok // Sope // Jimin x Yoongi // Jimin x Suga // Yoonmin

Genre: Hybrid!au, angst, fluff, smut,

Words:

Warning: story line (with some angst), depressing shit, smut later.

A/N: ID LIKE TO CLARIFY THAT THE YOONGI AND JIMIN SCENE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE CONSIDERED CHEATING, GRACIAS.

~1 month later~

Yoongi surprisingly woke up before Hoseok did, which is completely weird considering Hoseok was more of the early bird. In the reflection in front of him, he noticed his red pajama shirt slightly fall off his shoulder. Don't get him wrong, it fits, it’s just that it was unbuttoned once....or twice...with love bites on his chest. His hair was messed up and his ears lay flat on his head because of the exhaustion that still consumes his body. He stretched his arms out and yawned quietly, his tail flicked agitatedly behind him. He plopped his arms back down on the bed and looked to his right to see his lover...

He looked like as if he was doing some weird karate pose on the bed...Hoseok tends to move a lot in his sleep.

Yoongi just stared at him for a while, his tail wrapped around his arm, he was needy. But he remembered that he couldn’t exactly get help with that considering Hoseok had to go to a very important meeting today. He bent down and started leaving playful kisses around Hoseok’s face, trying to wake him up. To his prevail, it worked as he saw Hoseok’s eyes flutter open before leaving a kiss on his lips, “wake up”

“Well, that’s certainly a pleasant way to wake up”, Hoseok mumbled, playfully grinning a bit, “Yoongi, what time is it?”, Hoseok rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

“11:45am”

“Oh.....OH SHIT!!”, Hoseok sprung out of the bed, running his hands through his hair, “I thought Seokjin would've told m-”

“Hoseok! You’re gonna be late for the meet-”, Seokjin barged in the room, catching Yoongi and Hoseok’s attention

“I know! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!”

Yoongi switched his attention to both males that were yelling across the room, his tail still flicking.

“I woke up rather late than usual, I apologize. Jimin kept me up because he needed attention, you know how I can't deny his cuteness”, Seokjin pouted

“I know, I know. I’m going to take a shower and get dressed. Just gather all the necessities and paperwork. I’ll be down soon”, Hoseok ordered Seokjin.

“Understood”, Seokjin bowed before leaving the room.

Hoseok looked at Yoongi, who was just sitting on the bed, staring at him, “do I have to go? I wanna stay here with you”

“Yes, you do”, Yoongi crawled off the bed and got off it, grabbing Hoseok’s hand, “I’ll shower with you if it’ll make you feel better”

Hoseok grabbed the smaller male into his embrace, “okay!”

“I can't breathe, please let go”, Yoongi muffled into Hoseok’s chest, which he complied to.

The whole time they showered, he clung onto Hoseok and wanted kisses. The whole time they dressed, he made sure to dress him because he just wanted his touch against him. He made sure to get lifted down the stairs just to keep contact before Hoseok had to go. He watched as Hoseok and Seokjin talked, Seokjin carrying a briefcase and a file of papers. Hoseok just had to go to an important meeting about a company he doesn't care about but his father needed him to. And from what Yoongi has heard about Hoseok’s father he didn't really like.

“Okay, Yoongi, I’ll be back later.”, Hoseok turned his head to see the hybrid getting up from the dining table seat. Yoongi wrapped his arms around Hoseok’s neck and gave him a chaste kiss.

“Okay..”, Yoongi pouted, his tail whipping behind him. Hoseok gave him a small smile before heading out the door with Seokjin. Yoongi went to go lock the door before turning to see a very empty house. It seemed so dead without Hoseok, “we had the same experience then..”

He walked to the fridge to see what was in it, there was food labeled “Jimin” “Yoongi” “Taehyung”, and “Hoseok”. Seokjin had his own separate food somewhere else in the fridge, and it’s usually in a large portion. Yoongi took his food and heated it in the microwave, watching the food spin. When he took it out, he decided that sitting at the dining table would be too boring so he went to go bother Taehyung. He walked up the stairs, to go up another flight of stairs to pull the lever. He walked up the stairs, food in one hand. Before he was about to poke his head out, his senses were tingling before quickly ducking. A bullet shot right beside the floor on the left side of his head. If he wasn't used to this by now, then what is he?

“Can you not shoot every time you're mad about losing? You're don't always have to be the best at everything”, Yoongi complained, stepping in Taehyung’s room. For a passionate assassin, his room was always neat, despite all the bullet marks. His guns were organized, his bed spread, shoes and clothes put away, and a small cactus on the window sil.

“It’s a habit”, Taehyung put his gun back in his drawer before sliding back down on the floor, looking up at his TV screen. Showing the start screen of Mortal Kombat. “I’m trying my best to stop that but I guess I’m not trying hard enough. “, Taehyung spoke emotionless.

“You could just like, punch a pillow”, Yoongi took a spoonful of the fried rice and chopped chicken, “It’s better than one of us having a bullet in ou head.”

“Yeah”, Taehyung removed his eyes from the TV and sat up on his bed, more so in Yoongi’s direction. He just stared at him as he pat a spot in front of him.

“That would be less creepy if you smiled more but who am I to talk?”, Yoongi shrugged, sitting on Taehyung’s bed, made of silk unlike his clothes. “Hoseok mentioned to Seokjin that he was going to size you up for proper clothes tomorrow, as all you wear is the same colored outfits”

“But that would make me stand out, my role its to not stand out”, Taehyung furrowed his brows.

“You might have a role but you're not going to be needed like that all the time”, Yoongi swallowed his spoonful of food, “you're a person, not a robot. People have expressions and lives. You can go outside and meet people, date people, and be yourself. You just haven't found that yet because you weren't raised for any of that. You were just raised to kill”

Taehyung just sat there quiet for a good minute, “Can you help me then? Be myself?”

“I can't do that for you as I’m not you, you have to figure it out”, Yoongi set his food on the night table next to him before facing Taehyung again. “What are something’s you love? Besides games and killing I guess”

“My hybrid ‘brother’..he wasn't really my brother, he was just a hybrid I trained with back when we were little. He passed because he got assassinated for being too weak” Taehyung balled his fist into his sweats, grabbing at the material, “I killed them all, I killed those who killed him at age 10. I buried him in the graveyard not too far from here. The only reason I escaped was by running into Hoseok’s house”, Taehyung looked down at his hands.

“When you say that he was too weak, what do you mean?” “He was too happy and cared too much about life. He got disciplined a lot and I did as well because I enjoyed his company. The only way to prevent that to them was by killing him. So that I wouldn’t recognize what joy was”, Taehyung started breathing heavily, he started freaking out a little as well, looking at Yoongi. He had tears at the brim of his eyes, “what is this that I’m feeling? My face is hot and my chest hurts”

“You're sad Tae..he was very important to you”, Yoongi mumbled

“I don’t like it”, a tear escaped Taehyung’s right eye, “he was only 6..”

“It wasn’t your fault”, Yoongi rubbed Taehyung’s arm, until Taehyung pulled him in to hug him.

Taehyung started to..cry. He cried in Yoongi’s shoulder as he held him tight. Yoongi wrapped his arms around Taehyung’s torso and put his chin on his shoulder, hushing him and telling him ‘It’s okay’. This went on for about 2 minutes before Taehyung broke the embrace, his face had tear streaks with some new ones coming down as well. He wiped them away and sniffled.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t felt this way in years”, Taehyung frowned, “I guess I only dealt with it by killing people or shooting things, hence why I was so quick to be Hoseok’s assassin.”

“Well you can quit that one and start anew. You don't have to be Hoseok’s assassin, you can be Taehyung. Stop using the guns and thinking about killing. Go outside, even on the patio is fine. Go find things you like, you don't always have to assassin”, Yoongi encouraged him, Taehyung nodded. “You obviously don't have to o it now, take your time.”

“I’ll keep that in mind..thank you Yoongi”

“No problem. By the way, go eat. Your food’s in the fridge. Haven't really seen downstairs often.

“I will, in a minute”, Taehyung calmed himself, inhaling and exhaling.

Yoongi quietly grabbed his food before waving Taehyung a ‘goodbye’ and heading down the ladder to the dead quiet house. He walked down the long quiet hallway, down the second flight of stairs, and into the living room area. His food had gotten cold but he was too lazy to walk to the microwave and heat it up so he just ate it how it was. He tried stalling by watching whatever was on the TV only to get sidetracked by thinking of Hoseok, wondering what was happening on his end.

Hoseok huffed a loud puff of air, impatiently tapping his foot on the floor. He sat in a room with stuck up people who had more to talk about this company. All the butlers sat on the other side of the room on the left, quietly holding their papers for whoever they're assisting. Hoseok twirled the finger on his room, looking around, he seemed like the only person out of place. Colored hair, a different colored suit besides the usual gray or black ones, and a frilled white shirt. He kept getting impatient by the minute, he was waiting for his father to walk in.

He heard all the murmurs across the room about him, of course he didn't give a damn, they just worked for the company or associated themselves with his father. He rolled his eyes and looked towards Seokjin, who was looking forward. “Time?”

“12:45pm”, Seokjin told him, giving a small smile, which Hoseok gave one back.

Within the next minute, his father walked in. Everyone stood up to bow to him while Hoseok just stayed in his seat, dreading everything. Eyes were on him, even Seokjin who was still in bowing position.

“Mr. Jung, please b-”

“Seokjin, what with the honorifics? Just call me Hoseok”, Hoseok sighed.

“There’s my favorite delinquent, Hoseok, how are you?”, before Hoseok could give him a smart remark, his father interrupted him, “You don't need to bow by the way, you could just sit there. I’ll just give pity on you, not learning from the best. If anything, I’m disappointed in Seokjin for not teaching you the proper manners. You could always get another butler. He’s letting you go on with your immature tactics. You can't go around being a rotten stubborn hooligan in this company”, Seokjin stayed in the bowing position until Hoseok’s father sat down as it was disrespectful, the harsh words hurting him deeply.

“Don’t talk about Seokjin like that. And if anything, you should've been the one teaching me, not him. But either way, he taught me far more things than you”, Hoseok furrowed his brows, biting his nail, giving off a strong aura.

His father bellowed a laugh straight from his stomach, “cute. Everyone may sit, we have more important things to talk about.”, he gave Hoseok a chilling look that gave Seokjin shivers down his spine. Unlike Seokjin, Hoseok wasn’t scared of his father, he’d rather his father give the company to someone else.

“Our percentage in stock has risen to 80%, but if anything, we need it risen more. People have bought 100 shares of Hybrid lingerie, 100 shares of tailored suits made of the richest wool, linen, silk, and fur, and our collaboration with Wrinrey’s Transports overseas has grown to 76%. But we need something more that the wealthy can find useful. Any suggestions?”, Hoseok’s father questioned his staff.

One of the stood up to present, “as more and more Hybrids being bought every year, maybe we should get in contact with the scientists behind the aphrodisiac drug, Dionysos, to see if we can-”

“For the last time, we are not making some kind of catnip for the hybrids. That’s why you bring them to a clinic to get these shots”, Hoseok’s dad interrupted the co-worker, who just bowed and sat back down, “anything else?”

Before any of them could say anything, Hoseok plopped his hands down on the table and stood up, “how about we create a better system for background knowledge of owners for the hybrids? Some of them could possibly be dying out of, I don’t know, malnourishment, abuse, anything perhaps dangerous. A system we let them go through, specifically for owners of hybrids.”, Hoseok inquired, his father looked rather shocked, mostly because his son actually got involved into one of his discussions.

“Wouldn’t you just need a lie detector for this kind of stuff? We’re not cops, we’re business men”, He bellowed, cueing everyone else to laugh.

“No actually, we need more advanced technology than that. It would be better for the safety for the hybrid. Maybe a product that if a hybrid is in danger, they can press something to signal the cops or paramedics”

His father looked at him...and smiled gently, “I’ll think about it. In the meanwhile, we need to come up with new and better things so that we can grow and be infamous. I trust that this won’t be a problem, right gentlemen?”

Everyone shook their heads and his father smiled, “good. On to the next one I suppose”

The meeting ended after an hour or so being in the crowded room. Hoseok packed away his papers with literally one thing written because he didn’t care for what the other co-workers had to say. Seokjin got out of his seat and walked over to Hoseok, bowing to him before greeting him and taking the briefcase.

“Why did you act so formal earlier?”, Hoseok questioned him, taking his trench coat from Seokjin’s arm and put it on.

“Mr. Jung, you know I can’t act however you want me to act with your father around, in which he is still in the same room with us”, Seokjin whispered into his ear

“Yeah yeah, you don’t work for him though, you work for me”, Hoseok genuinely smiled at Seokjin, they were about to walk out of the room until Hoseok’s father called him. He sighed deeply and turned around to face him.

“Hoseok! My favorite delinquent. I have come to announce to you that I’m hosting a party, specifically a hybrid party to celebrate my 50th birthday”, Hoseok’s father informed him.

Hybrid parties...he hated parties but hybrid parties is what he hated the most. Owners would brag about their hybrids and flaunt them around in the most expensive attire, with leashes on them as if they were slaves. Sometimes, cruel owners would make their hybrids crawl on all fours if the hybrid misbehaved. And of course there were private rooms for the owner and hybrid to have intercourse in, in case the owner was in the mood. That’s some of the main reasons. Another small reason is that some of the owners might look at a hybrid and be so angry at the fact that there’s isn’t good enough compared to someone else’s and try to kill them to just get the hybrid.

“I’m planning on getting a useful hybrid for you, maybe to keep you company considering you probably don’t have one”

Hoseok cocked an eyebrow, “Actually, I own one. Maybe you’ll get to see him if I even choose to come. I most likely won’t considering I might have more important stuff to do that day”, Hoseok didn’t mention names, especially Jimin, for the sake of Seokjin’s privacy.

“Well, you don’t really have a choice. I informed everyone that you’ll be making a speech about me and the company, to make us look good. Mostly me of course. Before you get upset, this all pays off in the end. You get my wealth after I wither away.”

“...I don’t care for the money..Seokjin, let’s go”, Hoseok turned around, eyebrows furrowed as he walked away. Seokjin bowed to Hoseok’s father before walking beside him.

“Would you like me to order a gift for him?”, Seokjin asked as they walked down the halls to the elevator

“I don’t really care, I don’t like spending time on his birthday. I’d rather take a hike off a cliff”, Hoseok huffed

“Yes, but its a necessity to get him a gift. It’s for his reputation of being respect-”

“Yes but I don’t care!”, Hoseok slightly raised his voice, causing Seokjin to flinch a little, that made Hoseok bothered himself as he doesn’t like taking his anger out on people, especially if it’s Seokjin. “I’m sorry, I..I just miss the boys...I need rest when I get home. You can relax too, spend some time with Jimin.”

“I appreciate the gesture Hoseok. And It’s okay to lash out on me”, Seokjin gave a small smile as Hoseok gave him an empty one.

“No, no. I shouldn’t have...but please, promise me, you’ll rest?”

Seokjin chuckled lowly, “I will”

As the elevator hit the first floor, they quickly walked out the building and into the car, Hoseok plopping down in the passenger seat as Seokjin took the driver’s seat. “I wonder what the boys are you to”

“Milking? Jimin, when the fuck did you and Seokjin fuck?”, Yoongi pushed his hair up and out the way with a headband as he had to get ready to help a currently horny Jimin. His tail was wrapped around his leg and he was biting his bottom lip, cheeks flushed, and gave little thrusts in the air.

“3 days ago, I didn’t bother him because he had to go with Hoseok today.” Jimin whined, “just help me, hyung”

“I will, don’t worry. We have enough time considering they are at the meeting still.”, he put his hands on the tops of Jimin’s knees, “what would you like today?”

“V-vibrator and you. I want contact”, Yoongi bored his eyes into Jimin’s lustful ones. It’s been a while since they had sex with each other, they sometimes did it as a performance for they’re old owners but when they had sex for themselves, they always felt good. It wasn’t anything weird for them obviously, they’d just have to be careful in case of breeding purposes. Yoongi gave him a small smile before leaving the bed to go in their metal box full of sex toys.

He pulled out a vibrating wand that has 6 different settings, strawberry flavored lube, and a condom until Jimin stopped him.

“You’re clean aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah. I don’t exactly top Hoseok”

“No condom, p-please.” Jimin rubbed his thighs together, Yoongi nodded before putting the condom back in the box. He walked back to the bed and dropped the things on the right side of the bed, hovering over Jimin.

“I know you needing to be milked is not severe as last time but I still would like to make you feel good, if you’ll let me”, Yoongi whispered by Jimin’s ear, making the Jaguar touch Yoongi’s chest.

“Of course”, Jimin reassured him, his cheeks getting hotter as Yoongi moved him up further on the bed so he could be in between Jimin’s legs. His feet on either side of him. Yoongi looked at the way Jimin’s tail was wrapped around his left leg, he traced his finger against it, causing Jimin’s breath to slightly hitch.

“I forgot how sensitive your tail is, I don’t understand how it so pleasurable to you”, Yoongi trailed his hands down Jimin’s inner thighs, past his pajama shorts, and on his waist.

“You never..tried to touch it? Hoseok doesn’t?”, Jimin asked, Yoongi shook his head. Jimin signaled for Yoongi to bring his tail closer to him, which he obliged to. Jimin slowly stroke it, looking at Yoongi’s face for any reaction

“..I don’t fee-”, he got cut off by a purr the emitted from him. “Oh..oh my”, he quickly removed his tail from Jimin’s grip, “I should start doing that. But right now, that isn’t my priority.”

Yoongi pushed up Jimin’s sweater to reveal his nipple piercings, it was a half moon nipple shield. Yoongi bent down and ran his tongue over the right one, causing the Jaguar to let out a shaky breath. He ran his gentle fingers through Yoongi’s raven locks as he sucked harder on the bud. He made sure to nip on it every once in a while before moving to the next one.

“Ahh...Yoongi”, Jimin mewled, gripping his hair, not too tight but enough to make Yoongi move. He trailed his lips on Jimin’s neck and left wet open mouth kisses, not trying to leave any hickeys. He did bite on the area however to emit a small chuckle from the Jaguar. He led the kisses down the crease of Jimin’s chest and slight abs. He always admired Jimin’s toned body, it was his third favorite part about him. The first being him in general, second being his full lips. He linked his fingers around the hem of Jimin’s silk pajama shorts, making sure not to hurt Jimin’s tail. He wasn’t surprised that Jimin wasn’t wearing underwear, what he was surprised about is that he wore a baby pink cock cage, precum leaking out the tip. When Yoongi looked up at him, Jimin shyed away. “Seokjin hyung liked it so I liked it”, his cheeks were so pink, “stop looking at me like that”

“But it’s cute”, Yoongi gave a small smile before furrowing his brows, “any idea where the key is?”

“Seokjin has it, he was going to take it off today”, Jimin still avoided eye contact with Yoongi who kept look at his caged cock, he closed his legs but Yoongi just opened it back open. He grazed his thumb over the opening of where the opening of Jimin’s slit, cause the Jaguar to let out a long whiny moan. He was more sensitive with the cock cage than he is normally, this was... a lot.

Yoongi’s eyes were blown out, he was growing harder and harder in this drawstring sweatpants as he laid his eyes on the movements of his thumb against Jimin’s slit. The Jaguar squirming against his touch, trying to rut against his hand.

“Hyung..please, it hurts..”, Yoongi automatically stopped his movements and saw the tears fall down Jimin’s cheeks.

“I’m sorry, baby boy”, Yoongi licked the precum off his thumb, tasting Jimin’s sweetness. He pulled off his shirt and undid his drawstring sweatpants followed by his boxers. His hard on slapped against his stomach, making Jimin lick his lips. He pushed Jimin further on the bed, scooting in between is legs, both of their tails wrapped around their own leg. Yoongi grabbed the vibrating wand and turned it on the first setting.

He placed it on the base of Jimin’s caged cock, making the Jaguar mewl.

“Ahh..Yoongi..”, Jimin ran his hands under his sweater to twist his nipples. Yoongi furrowed his eyebrows, not satisfied with the volume Jimin was emitting so he bumped it up to the third setting, making Jimin moan a little louder but he bit his lip to contain it.

“Baby boy, why are you being so quiet?”, Yoongi cooed at him, placing the vibrator on the top of his cock, making Jimin let out a squeaky whine, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

“T-Taehyung’s here”, Jimin stumbled across his words but managed to get it out.

“Don’t worry, he’ll understand.”, Yoongi rubbed the inside of Jimin’s thigh, “but I’m going to need to hear you”, Yoongi placed a small kiss on Jimin’s knee before putting the setting all the way to six.

Jimin’s eyes welled up with tears again as he let out moans and whines with Yoongi’s name mixed with it, he smiled to himself. Jimin tried to cover his mouth with both hands to muffle himself but Yoongi just gripped his hand around both the top of the wand and around Jimin’s cock. His hands flew to grip the sheet on the bed and let arousal take over his body. Tears fell down the sides of his face again because of the pleasure of being locked up for three whole days.

Yoongi kissed the tears away, tasting the salty liquid before going in for a slow sweet kiss. It contrasted from what they were actually doing, delicate yet sinful. They kept at it for a minute before Jimin started rutting against Yoongi’s hand more vigorously, he was close, poor baby was really needy. Yoongi took his lips off Jimin’s, admiring the now red swollen lips. Jimin’s mouth was shaped into an “O” as he stared Yoongi into his eyes. He grabbed Yoongi’s unoccupied hand and sucked on his middle and ring fingers, imitating as if he was sucking Yoongi off. Yoongi grabbed a little too hard and Jimin cried out, cum leaking out and getting on the vibrator’s head.

As he was getting down from his orgasm, Yoongi removed the vibrator and got tissue from the dresser to wipe the cum off it before placing the vibrator back on the bed. He threw the tissue in the garbage bin before putting his attention back on Jimin, who was still panting. He saw the little bit of cum that was on his cock cage and swiping it with his thumb before bringing it into his mouth. He then grabbed to strawberry flavored lube bottle, he saw the way Jimin’s eyes were trained on it.

He poured some on this fingers, leaning down to Jimin’s open legs to where his pink puckered hole is. He swiped his tongue against, making Jimin shiver a bit. He circled around his rim with his lubed up finger before inserting his index finger in, all the way to the knuckle. Jimin let out an ascending moan as Yoongi quickly found his prostate. After knowing Jimin for a very long time and having sex with him plenty, it wasn’t that hard to figure out what he likes and dislikes. After a minute of fingering his with one finger, he soon put in a second finger, making Jimin arch his back and grip the sheet next to him.

“Feels so good”, Jimin sobbed, switching between biting his bottom lip and letting out small puffs of air. Yoongi finally put in his third finger inside, thrusting his fingers hastily. Jimin started to squirm around, causing Yoongi to hold his hips down and attack his prostate.

“Tsk, Jimin, I thought you were better than that”, Yoongi scolded him as he kept at his pace. Jimin cried out as he tried to compose himself but he was just too sensitive.

“I-I can’t Yoongi”, He wailed, Yoongi soon stopped his movements and pulled his fingers out after a minute, watching his hole clench around nothing.

Yoongi didn’t say anything to Jimin, he just heard him sniffle and grabbed a few tissues to wipe the lube off. He then grabbed the bottle of lube again and handed it towards Jimin.

“Would you like to put it on for me?”, Yoongi offered Jimin the bottle, the Jaguar nodded quickly and took it from him.

As he was opening it to squeeze some on his palm, Yoongi grabbed the used tissues and throwing then in the garbage before hovering over Jimin’s torso so he can lube him up. Jimin grabbed Yoongi’s hard on with his two hands and started stroking him, Yoongi watched as his hands glided with ease, from the base, all the way to the tip. Jimin leaned forward a bit to give Yoongi a kitten lick on the tip, tasting both the lube and Yoongi’s precum, Yoongi would usually groan at the action but he doesn’t want Jimin to start focusing on Yoongi instead of himself. He stopped Jimin after a short while and went back in between Jimin’s legs. He grabbed the base of his cock and lined it up with Jimin’s rim, hooking his inner knees on his inner elbow.

He slowly pushed himself into Jimin, a long strung groan escaped the Jaguar’s mouth.

“so warm, Jiminie~”, he continued to push in until the base of his cock met Jimin’s backside before bottoming out. He let the Jaguar hybrid adjust to his size, he wiped the left over tears that pricked at the corners of Jimin’s eyes. He also handed his a few tissues to wipe the leftover lube off his hands so that there wouldn’t be evidence of fucking in the room. After a minute, Jimin started to move his hips, catching Yoongi off guard, making Yoongi’s hands to fly to Jimin’s waist. “Fuck..”

The Jaguar giggled below him, which quickly turned into a moan after Yoongi gave one hard thrust against his prostate. Yoongi started thrusting into the Jaguar at a moderate pace, using Jimin’s thighs as support. Soft whimpers released from him as he stared Yoongi through half lidded eyes. His sweater gave him sweater paws that rested on his chest as he didn’t know what to do with them. Blush spread on his cheeks as his whole body felt warm, he looked so vulnerable under Yoongi. He couldn’t touch his poor cock because of the cage in the way of his own pleasure. Yoongi looked at to where him and Jimin were connected, watching his cock get engulfed in Jimin’s warmth. He looked at Jimin’s face to see him get shy again.

“You look so gorgeous, baby. Why are you hiding yourself?”, Yoongi huffed, his eyebrows furrowed as Jimin covered his eyes with his arms, “Jiminie, move your arms.”, Jimin didn’t reply, he just kept whimpering. “Fine”, Yoongi stopped moving his hips, causing Jimin to stop whining and moving his hips but Yoongi pinned it against the bed. He grabbed the vibrator again and handed it to Jimin, “I need you milked so that you don’t hurt anymore. Put it on your cock. Don’t worry, I’ll continue”

Jimin nodded and grabbed it turned it on, feeling the vibrations throughout the toy.

“High”, Yoongi ordered

He raised the settings to the 6th. Without pulling out, Yoongi pushed Jimin further up the bed so that he can change his pose, holding onto Jimin’s waist while kneeling on the bed. Jimin put it on his cage, he started being more vocal but was struggling to keep it in place. He wanted to make Yoongi proud, even though Yoongi was, he gripped the top of the vibrator and his caged cock together to hold it in place. Yoongi gave a small smile before thrusting into Jimin fast and hard. The Jaguar cried out with pleasure as he was getting overstimulated, he enjoyed it, he liked the burn. As much as he would love more of it, Jimin was close. When the hybrids are in need of being milked, they cum quicker than their usual duration.

Yoongi can tell when Jimin is close, mostly by his voice, but also by the way the end of his tail flicks against his thigh. Yoongi trailed his right hand to roll Jimin’s nipple inbetween his his index and thumb, playing with piercing. Soon after, Jimin’s hips jolted as he started to ejaculate, most of it landing on his stomach, some getting on the vibrator again. The sounds that emitted from him were heavenly, Yoongi stopped thrusting and leaned down to kiss Jimin’s lips, grabbing his face. It was more of a lazy kiss between them as they were so fucked, during that minute of Yoongi in a trance, he didn’t hear hear Jimin whimpering still, he was confused and broke the kiss. He noticed that Jimin was still holding the vibrator against his cock. He chuckled and turned off the vibrator, removing it from Jimin’s grasp. He wiped what he could of the now cooled cum on the toy with a tissue, throwing it in the garbage bin.

Yoongi pulled out of Jimin, hissing as he fully got out, “You didn’t cum”, Jimin frowned, he thought he did a bad job.

“This wasn’t about me, you needed to get milked. Don’t feel sad”, Yoongi reassured him, “if it makes you feel better, you can join me in a shower. I know i took one today but I like the water”, he smiled, making Jimin return one. Jimin nodded and Yoongi lifted him up bridal style, making Jimin giggle.

He brought him to the shower and copied what Hoseok did for him during his own heat. He fully undressed the Jaguar, wiping the leftover cum off his stomach before turning the water to warm. He hopped in after Jimin and soaped up the loofah with lavender body wash and scrubbed all over his body, making sure to pay close attention the Jimin’s caged cock in case of dry cum that may have managed to get on it. He made sure to wash all the suds away, the smaller one copied the actions on Yoongi’s body. Still seeing that he was fully erect, he replaced the loofah with his hand instead, catching his attention, slowly stroking him.

“It’s bothering you that much?”, Yoongi questioned

“Mhm..”, Jimin looked up at Yoongi, “let me just get you off”, his ears propped up on his ears and his tail wrapped around his leg again.

Yoongi shook his head and sighed, “go ahead, I just wanted it to be about you”

“I know but I couldn’t just leave you like this”, Jimin mumbled

The water from the shower head hit against Yoongi’s back as Jimin and Yoongi looked down at the Jaguar stroking him. Yoongi was already close when he was fucking Jimin, it was going away until Jimin wanted to make him cum so he was bound to explode anytime soon. He rested his forehead on Jimin’s shoulder, Jimin left soft kisses on his head and ears as he continued pumping. Within a minute, Jimin felt Yoongi twitching in his palm. Yoongi let out throaty groan as he came in Jimin’s hands. Yoongi raised his head, panting, seeing Jimin licking the cum off his hands.

“You don’t have to”, Yoongi reassured him, he detached the shower head and brought it to Jimin’s hands, washing the cum away, “lets hurry up and get out of here”

After a few minutes passed, they got out the shower and dried themselves. Yoongi had to go back to his and Hoseok’s shared room to retrieve his clothes. As we went out to the hallway, Taehyung was at the dining table, eating his food while scrolling on his phone.

“Jimin needed miliking, huh?”, Taehyung questioned without taking his eyes off the device.

“Mhm”, Yoongi replied, walking up the stair to the shared room, taking out underwear, a white t-shirt, and pajama pants.

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