#thematic parallels everywhere

[starcurtain]

Female Guidance in Aventurine's Life

One thing I haven't seen discussed in much depth yet, but which I think is especially interesting, is the consistency of female guidance in Aventurine's life: Every single person who we have seen on screen offering Aventurine assistance or making a positive difference in his life is female (with one exception, yes, I'll get there).

Under the read more cause it's longggg:

Before even diving into his family, let's just get the obvious out of the way: Aventurine is, at least supposedly, blessed by a goddess. The very origin of his good fortune--be it actual blessing or curse--comes from the literal "mother goddess" who watches over him. This is one of the only instances in Star Rail where a god character is specifically given a gender, and Gaiathra is not ever ambiguous. She is the classic female fertility goddess with all the trappings of other famous triple goddess figures of the real world. Aventurine's personal belief in the goddess may be shaky, but he nevertheless continues to treasure his people's faith. Thus, at the core, we can say Aventurine is a character who is guarded by the most quintessential mother figure possible.

Now, with the most obvious out of the way:

We know that Aventurine's father died before Aventurine was even born, and therefore he would not have any memories of his father, leaving him to be raised by his mother and sister.

Both women clearly made an enormous and lasting impression on Aventurine; they haunt every single one of his memories of Sigonia and are the key elements of the family Aventurine longs to return to. While he flirts with the concept of death as a way to see his family members again, it was also his mother and sister who instilled in him any sense of self-worth and meaning to his existence, the only things keeping him from giving up on living. His mother believed him to be blessed; his sister insisted to his face that not even the only remaining remnant of their mother had any value in comparison to his life.

It is for his sister that Aventurine first begins expressing a self-sacrificial nature, and from his sister that this self-sacrifice is reinforced when she uses herself as a shield to help him escape massacre at the hands of the Katicans.

It is also from his sister that Aventurine learns many of the deeply meaningful actions he holds onto to the present day, despite having been so far removed from his own culture.

Conversely, every one of Aventurine's early negative experiences on screen appear to have been driven (at least primarily) by men.

Although the Katican tribe of course would have both men and women, the tribal societies on Sigonia appear to be on the fairly traditional side, with Aventurine's mother staying at the camp with her child while his father was the one to go out and hunt for offerings for Gaiathra. This is also supported by Aventurine asking Jade to take him to her "chief" later on. Therefore, it is likely (although of course not guaranteed) that a majority of the Katicans' army was male, and that Aventurine's early experiences with outsiders consisted almost entirely of indiscriminate pillaging and massacre at the hands of what the Avgin viewed as savage, invading warriors. In separate instances, Aventurine was traumatized by these warrior figures three times--first with the loss of his father, then his mother, and then finally his sister.

And even their hope, supposed to come in the form of the "men in black" from the IPC, completely abandoned them, leaving Aventurine once again betrayed by masculine figures that were supposed to be there to protect him. Led by Oswaldo Schneider, another cruel male authority figure, the Marketing Department of the IPC permitted the wholesale slaughter of Aventurine's people--something which we know Aventurine is now aware of.

Then, of course, the next piece of Aventurine's backstory we're given is his male slave master. I don't really need to say anything about this, do I? This man violated Aventurine's human dignity and bodily autonomy, and forced Aventurine's hand in a life or death battle for which Aventurine still punishes himself mentally, even years in the future.

In part to escape the difficulty of his situation and rise to a position where he would have enough resources to--he thought--help his people, Aventurine joins up with the IPC. But when he attempts to make contact with a powerful man in the organization, Diamond, he is instead met by a woman, Jade, who against Aventurine's own expectations determines that she will raise Aventurine up (or use him as a tool, depending on how you currently choose to interpret Jade's motivations), granting him wealth and status beyond his imagination.

(And this line in particular is interesting, because you can take it one of two ways: 1) Aventurine comes from a patriarchal planet that traditionally put men into positions of power [thereby making his own slavery an emasculating act, aligning him further with disenfranchised women]; thus, he is making the assumption that to get anywhere in this organization, he will need to work with a man; or 2) He actually was counting on Jade taking his bet and helping him right from the beginning, because Aventurine perceives women as inherently more likely to protect and aid him than men would be.)

In the end, Jade does exactly as she claims she will, launching Aventurine into a position of power while also closing golden handcuffs around his wrists. She positions herself not only as his supervisor, but as his advocate and ally. She entrusts him with her Cornerstone, a sign of significant faith in his abilities. She even seems to be keenly aware of his bias towards the mother figure, referring to him as "child" in their conversations.

Whether this is genuine or a manipulation tactic can certainly be debated (and I'm not inclined to think at this point that Jade is a genuinely good role model or selflessly supportive person in Aventurine's life), but whatever the case, women are the only people Aventurine even remotely considers to be "in his corner."

We see this even earlier, in Aventurine's call to Topaz. Like with the example of his mother and sister, Aventurine trusts in Topaz's ability implicitly, and considers her above anyone else when it comes to completing the mission in Penacony.

Although of course we don't know if Aventurine has any other friends or allies among the Strategic Investment Department, it seems very likely that Topaz, yet another woman, is the one he is closest with. At the very least, she is the only IPC character (so far) that Aventurine has a complimentary voice line for, one that shows his respect for her talent:

Over and over again, the story aligns Aventurine with female figures in positions of authority, and demonstrates that he is comfortable (although maybe not too comfortable, in the case of Jade) with relying on them and trusting their judgment, just as he did with his mother and sister.

And this pretty much goes off the charts in Penacony, where Aventurine has more involvement with the female cast than virtually any other non-female character (even the Trailblazer!). We set the pattern off right away, with Aventurine immediately being placed into a negotiation situation with Himeko, respecting her role as the Express's leader and working to get himself aligned with the Express by acquiescing to her request for support.

Then there's the fact that Aventurine is the one who finds Robin's body, an event which, although he didn't let it show too much, was almost certainly traumatic for him, given the violent death of his own sister.

Next, twice in Penacony's story, we see Aventurine seek out Sparkle for information. He may not personally like her and her comments may be both racist and dehumanizing, but Aventurine does rely on her--being the only character explicitly seeking her aid, which no one else in Penacony seems to want.

In 2.0...

And in 2.1.

Now, say it with me, guys: Aventurine built an entire portion of his grand plan around the idea that if he looked pathetic enough, a female character would absolutely come and help him. And sure enough, the women come through for him, always! Sparkle gives him the exact last clue he needs to confirm his belief that he could use "Death" to reach the true Penacony, sealing the deal for the rest of his plan.

His plan which also hinged significantly on Black Swan's involvement too, another woman that he views as, if not trustworthy, then at least intelligent and hyper-competent.

Contrast all this, of course, with the treatment Aventurine receives at the hands of Sunday, the lone opposing male character he faces in Penacony.

Sparkle implies that Sunday would humiliate Aventurine in an unmistakably sexual and degrading way, and Sunday himself professes this same desire to see Aventurine humiliated.

Then we're "treated" to the moment in which Sunday uses the Harmony's (or perhaps actually the Order's?) power against Aventurine, in a scene which is supposed to reflect an interrogation but is also, very clearly, another nonconsensual violation of Aventurine's bodily autonomy and dignity by a man. While ostensibly seeking confirmation of the Cornerstone ruse, Sunday instead subjects Aventurine to unnecessary questions about his past on Sigonia, which recall and force Aventurine to re-endure memories of his trauma.

Even if this is what Aventurine prepared himself for and planned to have happen, the pain he experiences is very real, and he suffers both the physical and emotional consequences of Sunday's assault all the way up to his "Death" and possibly even beyond.

(Also, Sunday fans please don't get too up in arms with me for this; I also like Sunday! It's okay for characters to be morally grey!)

I think there's one other interesting example I would bring up here too, and that's Aventurine's conscious decision to weaponize his own masculinity against the Trailblazer. Through the 2.0 and 2.1 Trailblaze missions, Aventurine deliberately acts in an off-putting manner to the Astral Express crew, particularly the Trailblazer, in order to build up to the 2.1 climax where the Trailblazer is supposed to view him as an unrepentant villain and attack him without hesitation.

In order to achieve this uncomfortable, villainous effect, what does Aventurine do? Exactly what other men have done to him.

This is especially apparent if you're playing Stelle because of the ingrained societal taboo of a man entering a woman's personal space without consent, but even as Caelus, it is very clear that Aventurine is leveraging behaviors typically used to show dominance: In a complete 180 to all Aventurine's other body language in the game (normally quite withdrawn, frequently in defensive postures with his arms crossed or hand behind his back, almost always standing several feet away from other people), Aventurine violates the Trailblazer's personal bubble, looming over them (Caelus was sitting in this cutscene, lol), forcing eye contact, and commanding the space while informing them that they will have no choice.

For someone who was hunted, enslaved, had his movements restricted with chains, and due to his own slight stature has very likely been towered over by others who were intentionally asserting their power over him all his life, it is clear that Aventurine associates dominant, typically more masculine-coded physically-imposing behaviors with discomfort and even villainy.

Any girl who has ever had a man loom over her like this will realize very quickly: Aventurine wanted to make himself scary so he made himself act more like a bad man.

(Yes of course I know "not all men." I'm not saying every man behaves in this domineering way or that women cannot be domineering too, obviously, just that Aventurine had a very specific image in mind when constructing a "villainous persona," and the physically controlling tactics most typically used by aggressive men toward women was his immediate go-to.)

But where does that leave Dr. Ratio, the one male character actually on Aventurine's side?

Frankly, I don't want to derail my post about how intensely Hoyo chose to hammer on the message of "Women will protect you" in Aventurine's story with a discussion about a mlm ship, but the take-away here is going to lead in that direction anyway--so yes, Dr. Ratio is the exception.

What is interesting is that he does not come across as an exception at first, and in fact initially appears as another male character being rude and dismissive to Aventurine. Like, there are still people out there calling Ratio an unrepentant racist for this one.

Of course, it's later clarified that this is an act--likely even these insults were scripted specifically to give Sunday's spying ears the "insight" he needed to exploit Aventurine during the interrogation.

But even though it is an act, Aventurine still has noticeable trouble putting his faith in Ratio. He does genuinely doubt him a few times, despite knowing that they are working together to fool the Family.

Even his voice line about Ratio confirms that he doesn't think Ratio particularly cares for him; rather, he thinks Ratio simply tolerates him because he's slightly less unintelligent than those around them.

Ultimately, the entire act with Ratio ends up being a mirror of the real scenarios Aventurine has been experiencing with men his whole life (at least as far as we are shown his life). Men abandon him to fend for himself (unwillingly, like his father, or willingly, like Diamond leaving Aventurine to deal with Penacony alone on the inside). Ratio keeps leaving Aventurine completely alone. Men attempt to humiliate him and violate his boundaries (like Sunday and his slave master). Ratio insults Aventurine's appearance and intelligence repeatedly. Men betray him (like Oswaldo Schneider and his men leaving the Avgin to die). Ratio "betrays" him.

I'm not saying when Aventurine devised the plan for their act, he consciously drew up a list of all the ways men had hurt him in the past and had Ratio re-enact them one by one, but like... that's what happened, whether or not Aventurine intended it.

And okay, the shrinking scene in Dewlight Pavilion was just for fun and probably only slightly fetishy, the devs promise; yes, it was supposed to be a joke! ...But it's also not a mistake that this is yet another instance of a male character in a glaringly metaphorical position of power over Aventurine. Aventurine's tiny in this scene! He's completely vulnerable! He's in a dangerous position and the male character could very much hurt him in this moment.

But Ratio doesn't. (In fact, his line here is supposed to be sarcastic, very ha ha--but also, what is Ratio really saying? "I won't do anything to you without your express consent." What a good guy.)

Virtually everything negative that we see in 2.1 is Ratio doing these things as an act at Aventurine's own request. He doesn't actually disdain Aventurine; his own voiceline about Aventurine reinforces that he sees Aventurine as talented and intelligent.

Whatever you think he was apologizing for in their early scene, he's the only person we're ever shown in-game apologizing to Aventurine at all.

He worked hard to "betray" Aventurine but only as he was instructed to do, and immediately checks in on Aventurine's well-being afterward, even urging him to give up the plan if it becomes too much to handle.

And then, of course, there's the note: "Do stay alive. I wish you the best of luck."

After this point, it cannot be denied that Ratio is unequivocally on Aventurine's side, wants to help him, and is not doing so out of any sense of self-gain but largely because he is a good person who simply cares about Aventurine's fate. By the end of 2.1, it can no longer be doubted that Ratio is the exception to the "gender rule" of Aventurine's life, which--the story shows us again and again--was that guidance, protection, and care for Aventurine come from women, while men repeatedly represent dismissal, betrayal, or pain.

Ratio is, at least as far as Aventurine's story shows us, the proof that men can be good, that things are not as black and white in Aventurine's life as they might appear, and that--if you do choose to ship him with or see Aventurine as attracted to men--his attraction could be validated (and potentially reciprocated) by a male figure who would not bring additional harm to Aventurine's life. Aventurine makes the final decision to live after seeing Ratio's note--the exception to the rule ultimately proves to be the last piece needed to keep him alive.

But I promised I wasn't going to derail my own post about w o m e n, so let me get to the final point, and the one I really wanted to talk about: Although Ratio gets virtually all the credit for "saving" Aventurine in the fandom, Aventurine was actually saved by, you guessed it, another woman.

Not going to lie, the reason I started this post was specifically because I wanted to talk about how Acheron and Aventurine's dynamic was completely unexpected but actually fits flawlessly with the theme of feminine guidance in Aventurine's story.

Despite the fact that Aventurine made Acheron's life much harder and actively used her as a chip in his grand gamble, she doesn't blame or chastise him for those actions. Although she expresses some incredulity that Aventurine is actually that lucky, she then turns around and congratulations him for his ingenuity, immediately supporting him despite the fact that they don't even truly know each other.

Then it gets even more interesting. Acheron, who frequently hits her companions with deep and sometimes very emotionally fraught questions, asks Aventurine: "Have you never wavered?"

We as players know for a fact that Aventurine is constantly wavering, constantly doubting himself, his luck, and whether he'll even live--or even wants to live--to see tomorrow. But we also know that Aventurine is not forthcoming about those truths, refusing to express them to anyone, even himself. The only way we hear those dark truths is through his "future" self (who by the way, is once again another male figure cutting Aventurine down--of course it's himself but it's also, from the player's perspective, once again reinforcing the message that he isn't going to find safety or kindness in an adult male presence). Aventurine almost constantly deflects and diverts when his emotions or struggles are brought to the fore (unless he's divulging them for the specific purpose of allowing someone else to weaponize them). "I'm fine," he says, like a lying liar who lies.

But he doesn't lie to Acheron.

He chooses to be completely candid with her, to lance open the deepest wound of his life--that he can win and win and win and still have lost everything. The glitz and the glamour has all been stripped away here, at the end of everything, and Aventurine finally feels safe enough to admit that he fears he has absolutely nothing in his life worth living for.

And then, we get this direct parallel: Aventurine looks to Acheron, the woman now before him, for guidance, for explanation, exactly as he looked to his sister in the past.

He needs help, he needs answers, and he is continually seeking that help from the female figures in his life, whose support and kindness echo the lost care of his mother and sister.

"Go where you should be," Acheron tells Aventurine, guiding him across the river of death just as his sister insisted that he flee through the rain toward life.

Look guys, Acheron's even the one who reminds Aventurine to look at Ratio's note in the first place because apparently being an emanator of Nihility gives you x-ray vision, but my girl just gets no credit at all for being Aventurine's real savior, come on now!! Yes, Ratio's note was the final reminder Aventurine needed that someone would be waiting for him on the other side, but Aventurine would never have even gotten to the point of being willing to read that note if Acheron hadn't stepped in and provided him an answer to his question.

She feeds him back his own answer: "Why does life slumber? To rehearse the death for which we are not currently prepared." It is Acheron who reminds Aventurine that giving into the Nihility is pointless, and that rather than simply embracing a meaningless death, it is up to humanity itself to find and make meaning by living. It's this, not Ratio's note, that Aventurine gives as his reason for choosing to go on when asked by his own younger self. It's Acheron's words that finally give Aventurine an answer--why do we live just to die? Because there are people we can still make proud. Because when we go into death, we should do so with our heads held high, having achieved our own sense of purpose in this life.

Ratio gave Aventurine a promise: Someone is waiting for you to come back.

But Acheron gave Aventurine a reason: If life is inherently meaningless, doesn't that just mean you are free to give it meaning yourself?

She saved him, as women have been saving him all his life.

Anyway, this has already been horrendously long, but really what I wanted to say is that I think it is absolutely fascinating how consistent Aventurine's writing is when it comes to portraying where his support comes from and who he seeks guidance from. (Psst, just in case you still haven't figured it out, it's women!) In virtually every instance we are shown, we see the message reinforced that women are Aventurine's greatest allies and role models, while male figures are continually positioned to intentionally or unintentionally let him down and cause him distress.

"But women playing the supporting role to a male character is nothing new, Star, why are you so excited by this?"

Because the role women are playing in Aventurine's life is not the subservient supporter and emotional crutch role that female characters all too often play to male counterparts. None of the women in Penacony or Aventurine's past were there to do the emotional labor for him, to be a trophy or prize, or to cater to his needs. They don't exist solely to help him fulfill his character motivations; they aren't following him around waiting for his next request as their only role in the plot.

Instead, with Aventurine's story, we almost have an inversion of gender roles, where the male character eschews the stereotypical "men are leaders, fighters, and stoic heroes" archetype. Instead, no matter how hard he tries to hide it and keep a stiff upper lip, it is clear from 2.0-2.1's story that Aventurine is a deeply insecure, lonely, and explicitly traumatized survivor of genocide, slavery, and exploitation. Unlike most male characters, who are very rarely portrayed as genuine victims--because come on, shouldn't men be strong enough to fight back? Shouldn't men be able to shrug it off when they are hurt, emotionally or physically? (Of course I'm rolling my eyes here!)--Aventurine is belittled, humiliated, emasculated, and victimized on-screen, roles almost exclusively reserved for women, for whom surviving victimization in fiction is seen as noble.

Meanwhile, the women in Aventurine's life take on the roles traditionally given to male characters. They're both emotionally and physically his protectors. Aventurine's sister gave her life to guard his safety; Acheron ensured he could safely pass beyond the river of Nihility into the Primordial Dreamscape. They give him the tools necessary to succeed where he could not succeed on his own. His plan could never have gotten off the ground without Topaz and Jade entrusting their Cornerstones to him. The knowledge and capabilities of the women around him--not their "feminine charms"--are what allow them to help keep Aventurine on the right path even though he does waver. Even women who disrespect him, like Sparkle, still play a positive role in his life, able to provide him insight gained with their own intellect and talents.

When he has no one to rely on and doesn't know what to do, Aventurine is able to continually turn to the women around him, asking for and receiving not servitude or fawning, but their genuine wisdom and guidance.

tl;dr: If nobody else has him, Aventurine knows this random woman he met two minutes ago on the street will have him, because the women in his life literally never let him down.

(It's just so, so good, and ultimately, it should be very clear why Aventurine's story is as popular with women as it is! A+, Hoyo!)

[dropespeon]

i Need to write something about dcmk because i just have so many thoughts and nothing i've read has done it for me but I do not know what. But I need to write Something

[sellensand]

Miquella's secret disability?

Recently I've been working on a massive post about all the thematic parallels between Elden Ring and George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire (books), in order to prove that GRRM's involvement in the story has been greatly underestimated.

Minor spoilers for A Song of Ice and Fire (books) ahead.

Specifically, I was thinking about Miquella and Bran Stark, and the concept of spiritual trees and blood trees in general (the Erdtree/Haligtree in ER and weirwood trees in ASOIAF). Those of you who have read the books know what I'm talking about: trees who are people, people within trees, trees whose sap and leaves resemble blood... (check out @miquella-everywhere's Blood of a Demigod post btw, fantastic stuff and very ASOIAF-coded to me, because I'm an insane person).

When we talk about Miquella, we tend to focus a lot on the whole Miquella is St.Trina business, which is super interesting indeed and goes on to confirm the intrinsic duality of Empyreans. However, this aspect of Miquella's character is so fascinating that we seem to be blinded to many other lore bits that may very well be hiding in plain sight.

While researching for my ASOIAF post, I've come to realize that every single depiction of child Miquella that we have seen so far is either sitting or laying down.

And the promotional DLC image is even more interesting. Miquella is indeed riding Torrent (or some other spirit steed) like a girl, that's true. But also like an albinauric archer. These ladies are seen roaming Ordina, the very gate to the Haligtree, and they ride because they can't walk...

I'm not sure if this has ever been discussed before (please let me know if it has), but it's honestly driving me insane.

Can Miquella walk? Or are there more Bran Stark simillarities than I previously anticipated?

[dorianbluee]

The Third Man and IWTV S2

Hello, hello. I am a film nerd (specifically noir). This is gonna be a long post! After the third episode, I noticed some really interesting parallels the episode three, especially visually, has with the film The Third Man.

Set in post-WWII Vienna, the 1949 film follows Holly Martins, an unsuccessful American author, searching for his childhood friend, Harry Lime, who offered him a job there. Quickly, Holly gets pulled into a web of deceit after finding out that Harry is dead. Meanwhile, the city has been divided into districts overseen by Britain, the US, and Russia, meaning that no one can pass through it without facing scrutiny. Holly wanders the bombed-out streets of the city, trying to find out how and why his friend got murdered. In a twist, Holly discovers that Harry was never dead, and has been secretly navigating the torn up city through the sewer system the whole time. Harry had been watching Holly throughout everything.

That remind you of anyone? The scene of Louis and Armand in the sewer, though not a literal chase, bears a visual and thematic resemblance.

In this scene, Armand exerts a startling amount of power over Louis in a cat and mouse game of whether he should live or die. Their back and forth dialogue and the lighting scheme both bear resemblance to the dark but fast-paced mood of film noir.

Though Harry puts on a tough face, he's a dead man walking. He's on the run from everything he's done and Holly and him can't see eye to eye. His actions and past are a shadow over everything, and he has to go underground to hide from them.

Louis, similarly, is followed everywhere by the shadows of his past. Armand is not far behind, his powers meaning that they he can see into Louis' troubled psyche. In this scene they are adversaries, but the power always lands squarely back with Armand. Unlike the ending of the The Third Man, Louis lives after their chase. Harry Lime, especially given the strictures of the noir genre, had to die for the story to have its narrative arc.

Louis and Armand come back to the surface world, uneasily. This subverts noir endings, which makes sense -- they are vampires, bound by different tensions. Armand's love of Louis triumphs, just as Holly's friendship for Harry isn't enough. But, there's disaster that follows for both pairs nonetheless.

[wafflebloggies]

the long con - part 1/7

a Don't Feed The Muse crossover story. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

*

The con was coming to an end.

DIGIVID, the largest annual convention for digital content creators in the Southern United States. Three days of booths, networking, merch, watchathons, speeches, special previews, presentations, weird food, crowded spaces, fun.

Fun in theory, anyway. For Mark Mayhew, it had been three days of a brand new kind of purgatory. Unavoidable, self-inflicted, endless.

“...honestly, we couldn’t choose, so like for our first video we just put all our favourite movies into a picker thing and it turns out Watchmen came out the exact same year as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and I know, they’re totally different movies, but then we were like, wait, there’s some parallels here...”

Mark was certain by now that the con had been a terrible idea. True, if he’d had the time all over again, there were several big, pressing reasons why he would still have made the same choice, but only a couple of them were fit to explain to anybody else. Even if he’d known how frankly- miserable- it was going to turn out to be, he probably still would have chosen to go, but knowing this didn’t make it feel like any less of a mistake, or change the fact that he would have given almost anything, right now, to not be stuck in the middle of it.

“...and the whole ship metaphor they cut from the movie, and like, Flint’s invention basically has the same thematic purpose as Veidt’s EDBE? We kept saying ‘eeby-deeby,’ it took us like, twenty takes…”

It was almost incredible to him, as he stood in silence, how alone it was possible to feel in such a big crowd. The main convention hall was hot, airless, busy. Even though some people were already packing up, here at the end of the third day, plenty of bodies still shuttled back and forth in clogged little streams whenever they found the space to move, elbow to elbow between the double rows of human backs shutting out the tables, the crowded booths. It was easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer press of people, the talk and the noise. If Mark had only walked in alone, twenty minutes ago, and spent the time silently trying to make his way from one side of the massive space to the other, he would already have been more than a little agitated, ready to leave.

“...and he has all these shell companies, like all these theatres that play alien invasion movies all the time, to subconsciously prepare people? And when you look at Meatballs, you’re actually getting lowkey bombarded with fast-food imagery the whole time right up to when he turns on the machine...”

Mark had been in the hall for hours, and he was done. Currently, he was standing in a small pocket of space in a very nicely put-together booth belonging to a fairly well-known ASMR channel, watching a conversation happen right in front of him that he had about as much share in as an exiled Martian had in a conversation backstage at NASA. Yes, he’d started this conversation, he’d introduced himself, he’d started to steer the topic in a useful direction… and then Anthony had happened. Anthony Williams had turned up with his big, friendly grin and his busted paper carrier bag full of leaflets and merch which had been shedding everywhere since Friday and his completely distracting, distracted self, and now…

“...actually the biggest audio problem we have is my cat, Blaze, when we film at my house she’s got a real thing for the fluffy boom whatever on the mic, she wants to kill that thing on sight, right Mark?”

“Yeah,” said Mark, in the same way a corpse will twitch if you electrocute it. Anthony, who was too into the conversation to notice his friend’s thousand-yard-stare, carried right on going.

“Yeah, so we have to shut her in my parents’ room, but then I feel so bad, and she yells so loud in there it picks up on the video! So we usually record at Mark’s, but with our Parasite video...”

And so on. And on.

Not that the ASMR guys seemed to mind. People always seemed to open up and respond to Anthony quicker and with far more warmth than they did with Mark alone, which added another layer of frustration to the silent, invisible war he was fighting against himself. If Anthony could only have understood, and been focused, if Anthony could have been trying like he had been, these last three days, they might have found a sponsor already.

A sponsor, a partner, a collab, anything, anything to make the whole weekend feel worthwhile, instead of a painful waste of time.

Mark could tell that these guys had lost focus completely. One of them was still chatting quite happily with Anthony about God alone knew what, relaxed and disengaged, and the other was already moving away, eyes on a new bunch of visitors. There was no way Mark could steer this back the right way again now. Even though, at the bottom of his heart, he’d known it was a lost cause before Anthony had joined them, the tide of bitterness ebbed higher as he listened to the conversation wander so far wide of the point.

He must have looked distant enough for a party of people trying to use the booth as a short-cut to mistake him for an unconnected bystander, because as he stood there they pushed gently between him and Anthony, widening the gap as they passed through. On impulse, he went with it, let them nudge him and his whole parcel of garbage feelings to the side, let the general stream of the crowd push him out of the booth.

Without waiting to see if Anthony had noticed, he started shoving his way towards the main exit at a quicker pace. It was a relief to just move, without Anthony winding along just behind him, getting distracted at an average rate of once every four booths. Through the whole weekend, every time Mark was just trying to get from A to B, every time Anthony spotted something which made him want to stop and take a closer look, he would reach forwards and pat Mark on the back of his right shoulder. By this point, three days in, the feeling was starting to evoke a kind of Pavlovian response in Mark, knowing that every time he felt that light touch he would have to stop and stand and wait, getting hotter and more squashed and more impatient by the second, until Anthony was done, and by now just the feeling of Anthony’s hand on his shoulder had become a button that hiked his blood pressure, his heart, his temper.

By all appearances, Anthony had enjoyed the weekend a great deal. He got on with everyone he met, he was absolutely down for talking with new people on a vast range of subjects (with absolutely no practical application towards growing the channel whatsoever) and with his usual unbounded enthusiasm he seemed happy to keep going for as long as the con lasted.

Which wouldn’t be for that much longer. The hall was crowded now, sure, but already not as bad as it had been on the previous two days. Mark could see stalls and tables beginning to clear as their owners began to pack away. Pressing towards the main door, he had a sharp and ghastly vision of the convention hall as a vast interconnected series of nodes, bright and promising, each shutting down and turning black and dead as he touched them, came into contact, even approached them at all. Each booth, each prospect, each point of hope-

(nobody is going to want to work with you.)

He couldn’t feel normal, he couldn’t relax for a second, when on the one side the enormous thundercloud of dread loomed and on the other… something nobody here could understand, something he barely understood, something that lurked at the bottom of his stomach like a squishy leaden bowling-ball, the part of him that whispered that he really was just torturing himself for no reason, because what he had been granted out of the blue was, could be, his miracle. That it had been pointless coming here at all, that he was wasting time, wasting precious time not just ditching any other blighted and unreliable possibility and reaching for it with grateful hands-

“Mark!”

Unaware up until that moment that he’d stopped dead in the heaving crowd, Mark started and looked back as Anthony shouldered through the general stream of people, a small, willowy splotch of red flannel and concern. He felt Anthony’s hand on his shoulder again, guiding, steering him forwards and sharply left into a faster-moving stream of people that quickly swallowed them both and spat them out on the other side of the main doors. He wasn’t even aware of how much he’d just wanted the fresher air outside the hall until they were out in the gigantic hub of a lobby, the atmosphere so much lighter and cooler just from the fewer bodies and the bigger space, the vaulted metal-and-glass ceiling lined with great sheets of striped tarpaulins like a vast circus tent, shaded against the fading July sun.

He gulped several big breaths, realised his eyes were watering from the heat in them, the blur of colours and the crazy nimbus around each far-distant light, and angrily dragged his glasses from his face, looking down to clean them on his T-shirt as Anthony arrived by his side.

“Hey, you just dis- are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” said Mark, putting on his usual wry, flat, deadpan tone with difficulty, like a familiar sweater that suddenly felt too small. “You sure you’re done? You didn’t have any more hilarious cat stories to tell them? ‘Cause you all seemed to be getting on great.”

“Uh… yeah? They seemed like cool guys.” Anthony never usually minded Mark’s sarcasm, but finding the sharp end of it directed so pointedly towards himself clearly threw him. He shrugged, uncomfortably.

Good, thought Mark. Be uncomfortable. The thought wormed sharp and slimy through the back of his head, and it left him feeling ashamed. He didn’t want Anthony to be miserable just because he was, as if making Anthony feel awkward or hurt could make him feel any better about himself. He wasn’t that shitty a friend.

At least, he didn’t want to be.

Anthony looked down, shuffling through his bulging paper bag full of garbage, the thing he’d been stuffing every sheet, pamphlet, sticker and card he’d collected the whole weekend into as if it was as big as a lending library. He pulled out a couple of stickers from the top. “Here, they gave us a couple of these.”

Mark took the stickers. They were the window-clinger kind, for cars. He didn’t want to put any stickers on his car. They would be a pain in the ass to peel off, if-

(when)

-he had to sell it.

“Thanks, Anthony. Using my car to advertise someone else’s YouTube channel instead of our own, that’s a really proactive move there. Real four-D chess strats.”

“I, um… I just thought they’d look neat.”

“Yeah,” sighed Mark. “I know. Come on, let’s go find somewhere to sit.”

*

Even though it was getting towards evening, there weren’t too many people in the food court seating area, and half of the kiosks still had their metal hatches pulled down. At a long, near-empty table, sticky and spotted from a day of crumbs and wipe-downs, Mark dropped into a chair across from Anthony, always easy to spot in his bright red-check flannel, who was already halfway down a container of loaded chilli wedges.

He shrugged his backpack into the darkness under his feet and back-kicked it under his chair, and set his styrofoam carton on the table. Following the trend of the whole weekend, he hadn’t had as much luck with the food options as Anthony, whose potato wedges looked pretty good, apart from the whole ‘drenched in meat’ thing. His vegetarian lasagna looked like a slab of undercooked doormat in half an inch of thin red soup.

There were no real quiet places anywhere in the hall, but the food court was at least a little quieter, only a couple of other people at this table, eating alone. Mark tried to let himself relax, as much as he could, forcing himself to untense joint by joint as if his skeleton was an IKEA diagram strictly controlled by his mind, but only got about as far as his elbows before giving up.

Anthony grinned at him. Mark attempted to smile back, didn’t point out that he had a speck of chilli cheese on the tip of his nose, and ate a couple of bites of lasagna. The best that could be said about it was that it held no surprises- it tasted exactly how it looked. His phone buzzed, and he checked it hurriedly, trying to look preoccupied enough to dodge any conversation, to at least catch ten minutes worth of peace and silence while they ate.

He got maybe two minutes, because by then Anthony had wolfed down enough chilli to have taken the edge off his appetite, and wanted to talk.

“What happened back there, anyway? I just looked round and you were gone.”

Mark shrugged. “They weren’t going to give us anything,” he said. “Before you came over, I managed to give them our card, but really, I could just kind of tell they weren’t going to bite, so, like…”

With some trouble, he could make himself see that what had just happened wasn’t Anthony’s fault. He had known those guys weren’t interested, just like all the others. He’d known it in his gut before Anthony had even shown up, and with just a little distance he could see that clearly and admit it, and know that it wasn’t fair for him to put the blame on Anthony at all-

“Wait, that’s why you were talking to them?”

-for almost five seconds.

“Yes,” said Mark, trying to keep his voice, down, for all that it mattered. “Yes, Anthony, that is why I was trying to talk to them, before you-”

“But they’re nothing to do with our channel!” Anthony looked genuinely confused. “They do 3D print projects, they do that ASMR printing thing-”

“I know, what they do, Anthony,” said Mark, barbing every comma as if it was a physical thing, something pointy he could flick against Anthony’s forehead. “It doesn’t matter, they get two hundred K views per video, we could do something-”

“Come on, Mark,” Anthony drooped back in his chair, rubbing his face, obliterating the chilli cheese with his palm and pushing his curly mop of hair out of the way. His legs slid forwards on the tiles and his heels bumped into Mark’s toes. Mark pulled back and tucked his legs under his chair like a curling bug, hooking both feet tightly around its front legs. “You’ve been doing this the whole weekend, the mobile game people, the wallet people, the deodorant people, the freaking- weird pillow things people-”

“You think we can just wait for someone to come to us? That’s not how it works-”

“This isn’t how it works, Mark,” said Anthony. Now he leaned forwards, pushing his chilli to the side, all earnestness, his freckly face an open book urging Mark to hear him. “I’m just being realistic. We’re a really small channel, we don’t need sponsorships, it’s okay if none of these guys want to work with us yet. Maybe if we get bigger it’ll happen, fine, but you can’t force it, you’re just making-”

“When are we going to get bigger, Anthony? When? How long? When is our first sponsor going to come along and ask us? Another six months?”

“Maybe-”

“A year? Two years? I don’t have-”

“Maybe not at all!”

“-I don’t have that kind of time!”

Mark had almost yelled over his friend, but he’d heard him perfectly well. Although he knew exactly what Anthony meant, although it was only echoing his own thoughts, the words still stopped him dead.

“Maybe never,” said Anthony, quieter. “Look, you know I love our stuff, I love the channel, I’d love it if it got as big as those ASMR guys one day, are you kidding? But I’d be fine if we never got any more subscribers than we already have, I’d do it if we got like three views a video. It’s just supposed to be for fun, Mark! Remember the first time we uploaded and we got like, twenty views? We got pizza to celebrate!”

“That’s… that was different.” Mark did remember, and the memory made his throat tighten and his eyes prickle. It didn’t feel like a long time ago. The summer they started the channel, leapt into making videos as soon as term ended. That summer, back when his dad was only normal-crazy, back when Theo’s acceptance letter was stuck right on the front of the fridge all month, back when the thing that sucked the most in the world was the prospect of having to miss the second half of summer for some stupid family cruise.

That summer. Before everything went to shit.

Anthony pushed a finger against the smeary tabletop, drawing a big invisible circle, tapping a small dot next to it. “We have to think of it like, there’s hundreds and thousands of people here who have a channel, and you know it’s only a tiny, tiny percent of a percent that ever get big enough to get sponsorships and stuff. You know that. We were never doing this for sponsorships. I mean, I’m not, and- we’re on the same page, right? This is like when you wanted to do that video reading negative comments-”

“Okay, that? That stuff works. People love hate-comment videos. We’d easily get twice as many views as our last video, and we wouldn’t even have to write a script-”

“We don’t even get hate-comments- we’ve had like, one! Even if we did get a bunch for some reason, why would we even want to focus on that shit?” That’s just going to make it seem like we don’t care about the people leaving us good comments, and then we’d just look like assholes!”

“We don’t have to wait for real ones.I could make some fake accounts, or- or something. Who cares what we look like-”

“I do,” said Anthony. “And so do you, Mark.”

He sat back, as if he’d made a really good point, and gave Mark his best knowing look, which made him look about as sly and full of deep psychological understanding as a first-grader’s spelling primer.

“I know you, and I know the channel means way too much to you, for you to really want to screw it up like that just for a bunch of views.”

(It’s not about what I WANT!!)

In the real world, where screaming at the top of one’s lungs is unacceptable mealtime behaviour, Mark swallowed and looked down at his lasagna.

“It’s not like that’s why we’re here,” said Anthony. “This was just supposed to be fun. I mean… it was supposed to be.”

His tone of voice made Mark look up, quickly. Anthony was still watching him, and he looked worried. Not just worried, but uncertain, sympathetic. Mark felt his stomach lurch. He knew that look, because he’d found himself on the receiving end of it a lot lately, from a lot of different people, all for mostly the same reason. He hated it. He hated the pity, the pointlessness of it, the unwanted obligation of knowing someone felt bad for him when he never asked them to, wouldn’t ask them to, because they couldn’t do a single thing to help. Seeing it in Anthony’s guileless hazel eyes was worse than seeing it in the face of a stranger, because-

(he could help he just doesn’t want to)

-it cut deeper, somehow. Mark shut his eyes hard for a second. Hard white light, clean surfaces, the pervasive smell of disinfectants and sickness and waiting, and the voice, thin and drowsy and blurry with sleep and painkillers, but the same, the same well-loved voice-

(It sounds great, honey. You two go have a good time. You’ll have fun.)

“Sure,” said Mark, to his lasagna. “Fun.”

There was a short silence. Anthony clearly wanted to say more, probably to the same purpose, but he knew Mark well enough to recognize when he was being shut down. He shifted uncertainly in his seat, picking at a bit of cracked decal on the front of his t-shirt. Mark picked up his spork again.

“You know,” he said, casually, drawing small deliberate lines across the top layer of his gross lasagna, just like someone might do when they were absolutely unbothered and totally not trying to force the issue, absolutely not so wound up to the point that their usual sharp, smooth-running voice was fracturing into bits and pieces of sentences like grammatical shrapnel, “if you ever felt like- you were kind of done with this whole thing, with the- the channel, I’d completely understand. It’s been a... stressful weekend, right? It hasn’t really worked out like we wanted it to, and I can tell you’re not really into it, I... I wouldn’t be mad.”

He coughed, poking holes in the lasagna like he was trying to seed a miniature lawn. He hadn’t even eaten three bites, but it felt like it was stuck in a big ball in his throat.

“If- if you were feeling like, ‘You know what, I’m over this stupid YouTube thing, but I don’t want to disappoint Mark!’ I’d get it. Really, you wouldn’t be disappointing me, or- letting anybody down, I’d be- I’d be fine with just- running it on my own.”

He looked up, barely daring to hope. “If that’s how you were feeling... you could hundred-percent just tell me.”

Anthony leaned across the table, putting a hand on Mark’s arm, stopping the nervous movement of the spork mid-jab. His face was encouraging, wholly sincere.

“Mark,” he said, with serious emphasis, “I love our channel. I’m never going to be ‘done.’ I’ve got you, buddy. You don’t have to worry about me- I am never gonna just leave you to do it on your own. Okay?”

Mark looked at him, helplessly. Anthony smiled, his beautiful Anthony smile, nothing but sunshine and freckles, a smudge of chilli cheese and a total absence of doubt. He squeezed Mark’s arm, gently.

“We’ve had a long day,” he said. “I’m gonna go back to the room, get some packing done. Take your time, okay?”

And with that, and another quick, reassuring grin, he grabbed his raggedy paper bag and the rest of his chilli, and was gone.

Mark sat there for a little while as if he’d been hit with something heavy around the back of the head, looking at the place where Anthony had been. After a moment or two, he screwed his eyes very tightly shut, jabbed his spork into his lasagna so it stuck there like an upright little sail, put his face down in his hands and made a noise like a high, muffled nearly-silent scream.

[invested-in-your-future]

So basically there is and was discrimination in Remnant because it is in human nature to feud against each other even when they're supposed to be united against one great enemy?

If to go more metaphysical - discrimination exists because people don't always commit to fighting it and pat themselves on their backs as having solved it.

Discrimination and oppression isn't an ON/OFF button - it's a sliding scale with shifting targets. The awful truth is that the majority don't really extinguish it as unacceptable - instead, they merely force it down towards their "acceptable" tolerance levels.

Remnant had/has monarchies, and Remnant has starvation and slavery, not to mention corporations and class divide (again, the Schnee family existence already proves that). Faunus had to fight for their rights, and there was an entire Great War thing where one Kingdom attempted to snuff out freedom of expression.

No matter how one looks at it, "there's no discrimination in Remnant" makes no sense as it's everywhere - character backstories, whatever little bits of worldbuilding are given, and so on.

It's rooted in cultures, myths, and history, and it doesn't just disappear with the fall of Mantle or White Fang would literally not exist, let alone Schnees would not have all the power, Cardin wouldn't be a bully picking targets based on racism or masculinity and so on.

But the world acts like it's all solved. The Great War is over, the heroes have beaten the bad guys, the Faunus get a pat on the back(and a shoddy island with an insulting name), and the world decides everything is fine now. The parallels to our world are right there.

So, does it mean that humanity is predisposed to behavior like that? Are we doomed to keep repeating the same cycles as some seek positions of power only to divide everyone into "us and the others"? Is humanity inherently destructive and hopeless, or is there a chance to learn from the past and grow as a species?

Well, that is something the show had to actually explore (but it didn't), considering it's inbuilt into everything - even the dumb two gods subplot.

But it didn't. The writers just said, "there's no other discrimination".

So as far as the show is concerned - one of the main thematic elements of the entire show doesn't matter and doesn't exist.

Now, in terms of what I am attempting to do - the idea within the ask is something my version of Salem would believe - that all systems inherently devolve into chaos and are destined to self-destruct.

The relation between the concepts of beginning and the end is an element within the bigger cosmology of the setting, so she's not necessarily wrong, as this version of Salem barely needed to do anything for Remnant's civilizations to keep messing up - no relics or gods used within the narrative for it. Her role and approach to things also nicely tie into the fairytale aspect of the setting and the fairytale tropes and stereotypes Salem embodies. Part of her goal is the need to prove to Ozpin (for specific reasons) - that there's no point in what he is doing.

[completeoveranalysis]

[11]

Ok ok ok I’m all for this but I’m not sure I follow. 

Mokona asks if the integrity of time and space is coming apart due to Evil Wolverine shenanigans, and Yuuko says yes. This thematically and chronologically matches up the parallel conversation they had in Tsubasa, noting that reason itself was coming apart due to Evil Wolverine. 

That part I get, but the reason Mokona asks this is because the time frame Kohane received the feather doesn’t match up with when the feathers were scattered. 

Which like, was already the case across the multiverse wasn’t it? Time flows differently everywhere, so sometimes the feathers showed up a hundred years before we the readers see the world at all, but it was all technically at the same time. Like in Fai’s world, when the feathers showed up who knows how long ago, but when he shows up in Tsubasa it’s only moments after we see the feathers get scattered in the first place. 

So is THAT the product of Evil Wolverine as well? Or is that just the normal universe schedule, and Kohane received the feather even more out of sync than other people?

I suppose it depends entirely on when the feather actually showed up, which we don’t particularly know I think? How do you even track time in xxxHolic?

BUT. 

I SUPPOSE, ALL THAT ASIDE, we can just not pay attention to the specific details that I’m not sure we have and just focus on the important things, such as:

Time and space are falling apart

And

Sakura’s feathers show up to people who want to protect others

WHICH… TRACKS?

Actually that’s an amazing detail to throw in here unprompted. I’m mentally going over all the ones I can remember and it does seem to be the case. I especially like how this echoes with Fai discovering his one in the wild, while trying to protect the townspeople, and using the other to create Chii, who he used to protect his brother and later Ashura. 

NEAT.

[kravisaweeb]

okay ive just been thinking about bkdk wayy too much recently (when am i not, though, honestly?) and i just Have to dump my thoughts somewhere. these are my own personal opinions and if you don't agree 100% (or at all) that's perfectly fine!

it's kinda Long and Rambly so beware lmao

so ive been reading more bkdk meta (of course) and like, i have so many conflicting feelings cause. y'all, no amount of evidence and logic and reasoning and thematic and narrative parallels and development and arc conclusions and build-up and Everything will make a weekly shonen jump main title gay. that's My opinion as a terribly bitter cynic, and it is in no way meant to rain on other people's parades (if you think they will be canon, you are more optimistic than i and are making the world a sweeter place). I've just been burnt too many times, i don't really expect anything from mainstream media At All—only indie content gets my unfiltered hype and hopes—and whenever things do shake up differently from what i thought, it's a nice surprise! cause the alternative is, This Mountain of Evidence and Development... and then oops get hit with the straightification beam on the last second.

"but it would be so unsatisfying! and completely out of nowhere! and just plain out of character! and ignore so much development! and it wouldn't make any sense at all with what has been established in the story!" Yeah. i know! im as angry and annoyed and disappointed about it as anyone. and yet, so many fucking times, that's how it goes. it would be terrible, and weird, and completely against everything that's been set up, and yet it would happen anyway. this is true even for things that are not shipping-related—ask game of thrones how it ended. cause executives are Executives everywhere, including the "west", which is """"supposedly"""" more liberal (lol, lmao). people with money that make all the decisions force creatives to comply, or fight with tooth and nail and blood and sweat and tears into allowing them to make the story they DO want to make. so it's really hard for me to see it in any other light, when i have seen it happen so many times before.

and yet.

And Yet. i cant help but think, but wonder—what is it all for then, anyway??

i can honestly say, taking off my shipping goggles for a moment, bkdks platonic relationship has ended. it really ended two years ago, culminating when bkg took a bullet for him, and then was cemented when he apologised, you know, to trample down any doubts. there we go, narrative concluded! from rival to best friend. all loose threads tied in terms of their relationship. if that's how it had ended, how it had stagnated, remained in stasis, with this New Dynamic the new canon going into the final battle then show over. yeah. typical shonen bestie stuff. it would have ended and i would have gone "oh they were in LOVE fr" forever, but knowing that people who were like "this is what besties are like! this is what siblings are like!" also had as much of a claim to their interpretation as mine (even if i didn't personally agree w it lmao)

BUT IT DIDN'T STOP THERE and i have to ask why???? WHY is it more central i Don't Get It. i dont understand? i really dont get it cause.... why? bkg is important to deku, yes. other people are also important to deku (all might, his mom, his other friends, civilians, any lost pet he has to kill himself over cause he is a Good Caring Shonen Protag). that has been established for forever. so i don't rly understand the necessity to further highlight that One part of his personality (caring about kacchan) to motivate him into fighting the Big Bad Villain, when 1. he would've fought the villain anyway cause that's what heroes do, and 2. it could have been a generic "you hurt my friends!!" and like lump in more people there, like in the first war arc where several people got hurt (aizawa, gran torino, etc).

but No! you hurt that guy. that guy, that while he was dying, the villain, textually, explicitly says, "i am hurting you because it will make deku angry and sad, since you are his most important person" (that's almost a fucking quote im basically QUOTING here). and it's like, what? lmao wait. what?? why???

what is it building up towards?? i dont get it. it's not going to build up to the apology/their relationship being mended (what we thought would be the climax of the whole thing), cause that already happened. there's no "oh my god if kacchan dies he'll never get to say sorry!" stakes, or "oh my god if deku fails he'll never be able to be friends with kacchan again!" stakes, cause like, that already did happen though. i mean i know obviously in real life, you do things for people just for their sake, not because of what it will mean for your narrative arc. but this is a made up story and thus needs storytelling reasons for shit to happen. so what is the reason for deku needing to be pushed, needing to be backed into a corner, over kacchan dying? why did bakugo have to die (had to get FRIDGED, it's a trope and everything), if not so that his death would fuel dekus rage (which we were told explicitly was the reason why)? why, out of everyone on the battlefield, out of everyone in the CAST, did it have to be bakugo, the one to make deku Lose It?

i mean we know why, but still. what? is it really, textually, canonically That?

i just don't get it. and secretly, deep deep inside, i really hope we get to find out soon

[nelyoslegalteam]

Assigning Each Son Of Feanor A Grand Relic From The Adventure Zone: Balance Because There’s Seven Of Each Of Them And Also I Do Not Want To Be In This Work Meeting Right Now

Maedhros - The Bulwark Staff. The Relic of abjuration, the school of protection magic. Created out of pure, fierce determination to protect one’s family, the Bulwark Staff allows its wielder to cast powerful spells of shielding. Perfect for the consummate older brother whose entire thing is very much about holding the line (see: all of the emotions I have about Himring as a concept), and also the parallels between Maedhros and Lucretia are so much. They’re both such Bright Clear Line people, taking it all on themselves to see the mission out and stand in the way of the existential horror threatening everyone, and the worst things they do are driven by such a genuine desire to do what they feel they must for the people they care about the most. (For those familiar with both, does it surprise anyone that I love Lucretia so much also?)

Maglor - The Temporal Chalice. The Relic of divination, allowing its wielder control over the flow of time, it sways and corrupts with a promise: You will have the power to undo your greatest mistake. Heavily associated with decisions and regrets, it would be quite wonderfully reflective of Maglor, whose awareness of how wrong his actions are, clear regret of them, and yet simultaneous inability not to continue down the path decided for him is what makes him most compelling.

Celegorm - The Gaia Sash. Okay this one is low-hanging fruit, but it fits so extremely well. The Relic of conjuration, the Gaia Sash gives one the ability to create, control, and communicate with nature. Celegorm deserves godlike plant-bending abilities. As a treat. Let him have this. I also definitely have feelings about Merle being this wonderfully irreverent cleric, specially chosen by the God Of Nature across every universe, and Celegorm’s whole deal as a chosen/paladin of Orome.

Caranthir - The Phoenix Fire Gauntlet. Powers-wise, the Relic of evocation is the most straightforward of the seven, and I feel like that fits Caranthir very well. Lup is associated with fire on a literal level, yes, but also because she’s warm, she’s the connection point for the whole group, and I can see this on Caranthir too, being the one to befriend the dwarves and the humans and to establish this empire of connections everywhere, and Lup’s bright, fierce protective rage is such a good interpretive filter for Caranthir’s fiery temper. Also, the imagery of the Gauntlet burning everything around it down into a perfect circle of black glass just fucks severely on him.

Curufin - The Oculus. Curufin needs to be associated with the Relic whose ability involves summoning illusions so powerful that its wielder can make them reality, because he is a smith and a creator and this aspect is very fitting for him. Curufin also needs to be associated with the Relic of illusion for thematic being a pale imitation of Feanor reasons. Curufin also needs to be associated with Davenport, the character who loses his entire sense of self with the mission because his entire sense of self IS the mission, even if these things happen in extremely different ways.

Amrod - The Animus Bell. The Relic of necromancy, capable of tearing a soul from its body. Thematically perfect and wonderfully dark for the character called the Fated, and as I am a crispy Amrod truther at heart, the associations with violent, abrupt, unfair, being quite literally torn away by death, are in fact very necessary.

Amras - The Philosopher’s Stone. The Relic of transmutation, capable of turning anything into anything else. It’s nothing if not a metaphor for the way that Taako masks, tries to mold himself in wherever will fit him while remaining deeply convinced of the extremity of his isolation, having lost his twin and having become lesser for it. I am a crispy Amrod truther, and extremely obsessed with Amras also as a character who feels like half a person after losing his twin, and transmutation is so wonderfully reflective of the undefined nature of his place in the narrative.

[angelasycamore]

fucking epiphany after replaying unwound future for hours and now i cant sleep

gonna legitimately maybe write an analysis piece about how the prequels as background unintentionally make the context of the tension in layton and luke’s friendship we see in unwound future even more thematically intense because they’re afraid to be vulnerable with each other, and it’s a lack of vulnerability that ultimately culminates in a FEAR OF LOSS which stems from recent (or recently shoved to the forefront) grief related to loss of a soulmate (girlfriend OR!! BESTIES!!) and being forced to see her everywhere (luke being introduced to flora shortly after aurora’s death, hershel LITERALLY seeing claire everywhere). these two are parallels each other and i know we all say layton is nothing but the people he’s lost but luke is. Also nothing but the people he’s lost, less in a death way a lot of the time, but UF already showed he’s mortified of people leaving him (layton, flora) and the prequels only add more devastating evidence (arianna, emmy, aurora) and it preoccupies him so much because he’s so selfless that these people are his entire life

oh and both of them centrally take this out on flora. <3 so that’s another parallel

[dwreader]

Do you have any insight on what the posters from the season 2 sets might mean?

Hi, if you're talking about these (x,x,x) I don't think they mean anything until we see if they even make it into the shots cause sometimes set dressing is just there to fill the space and not even clearly visible once we see the finished product. I'd say unless we see a scene where Louis is like LOOKING intensely at one of the posters or if they are very clearly highlighted in the background they're just worldbuilding props to help establish time and place, which is 1946-47. Sometimes posters are chosen for their color schemes as well and what the director wants the palette to be in the shot. None of them really stick out as OBVIOUS thematic parallels with s2 except maybe Children of Paradise which is about a woman and her crew of suitors.

also thank you to the anon who pointed out these set pics with extras (x, x) which like same thing I think extras are just background and the costumes are probably just stuff they had lying around from chevalier which also filmed in prague. The only thing they need to be is period accurate which looking at the potato quality pics and zooming in really hard at some of the dresses puts the time period in the late 1790s. Lestat is clearly on stage in character and in the audience there are a few ladies wearing empire waist on the far right (I think?? my eyes are straining to see) which is a post-revolutionary style and that tracks with the est. 1795 date for the theatre. Other than that, idk lot of tricorn hats which I LOVE and it does look like almost everyone in the outside pic is wearing a hat which is ACCURATE CAUSE NO ONE WOULD BE OUTSIDE WITHOUT A HAT ON THATS LIKE BEING HALF NAKED !!!! all the women are in updos and most of the men are in stockings/shoes and not boots (except that one guy but he could be a cab driver for all we know). The real question for ME is going to be if they will allow Lestat to be in stockings/shoes most of the time or are they gonna do the leading man thing and have him wear manly riding boots everywhere even in formal settings. Usually background costumes are the most accurate in film/tv but for the leads they always try to make them look more attractive by modern standards.

[thienvaldram]

The Book of the Snowstorm – Readthrough/Review Part 3

I'd chain post but Idk how and I already did parts 1 and 2 seperately.

Anyway here we go...

Framing Story (Scene 6-8)

So Auteur may actually be here, which is concerning although I suspect it may not be that simple. Like how the snail tries to read something only to realise that it’s just… not relevant. Meanwhile Coloth’s still in the MFS and gets given a story from Starlight Endeavours which is a nice way to segue into that story when it’s so far outside the Third Universe. Also lmao 'The Doctor' reference.

Still Proceeding

If the other SIGNET piece was a character piece on Aoife, this was a full SIGNET story, albeit a short one. Xana for one thing was fun, as were the rest of the cast though I’m not as familiar with them as I would like (I’ll have to look into Night of the Yssgaroth at some point), the simple premise works effectively to justify Perkins’s seeming change of heart at the end and the references to Doctor Omega and Professor X were fun. I can see why this group got a series.

Abstract Tales

A story in a few parts, the framing of a party of conceptual entities in a fictional space is fun and using Remembrance as an excuse to tell smaller stories is a good idea.

Tale the First

So first of all this is about the Toymaker right? Like the Doctor Who Toymaker from Doctor Who, cause its said she vanished from her Workshop which aligns with the Toymaker escaping into the Third Universe in Wild Blue Yonder.

Edit: I have been informed that no this isn't and I'm reading too much into it, whoops.

Second of all, it was fun, simple but fun. I like the imagery of the various worlds and it evokes similar child-like world/genre hopping stories like Nightmare Before Christmas or the Lego Movie.

Tales the Second

Hello Auteur, long-time no see (not really). I must admit I didn’t see the ‘parallel Universes’ thing coming, even in spite of Auteur’s minor comment on the dream mark being a fracture in reality. Fascinating civilisation though, and Auteur’s being as manipulative as ever (he really did try a lot of plans to get back into the Third Universe didn’t he?) Moxx was a fun character too, prone to Auteur’s manipulations but not wholly subservient to them.

Tales the Third

Well now I know where the Mecharons are from, I was thinking they were another offbrand Cybermen created for this story (I see you Cyberons and raise you a Cryptopyre) but no apparently they’re an established thing (Well ok they’re from another story written by Lupan and Aristide but still). Simple story but it works, seems to at least thematically fit with what little I have seen of Jenny Everywhere from the earlier story.

[onewomancitadel]

There is much more paralleling, reference and foil to Ozlem than what I've just provided above for demonstrative purposes. I intend to do a rewatch to really gather everything together but you can as always see more under my Reverse Ozlem tag. Plus, once you see it, you can't unsee it. Lol.

This is more or less my working approach to Reverse Ozlem as it relates to Knightfall:

The null hypothesis

There's nothing to it. Any visual, conceptual, emotional, thematic paralleling is purely coincidental. This is the usual refrain from the sceptic; to make the case it's not null you need to be demonstrating that the text employs visual, conceptual, emotional, and thematic paralleling. RWBY is up to the gills with it that the exercise is left up to the reader. It really can't be overstated that it's everywhere in the story. Characters like Penny even proclaim 'it'll be just like Beacon!' when Atlas is sort of like Beacon and then sort of isn't. They know, we know. Anybody trying to argue otherwise is probably operating from a position of bad faith. The harder and more realistic argument is to what degree it is being used. I generally lean towards the most straightforward interpretation and pay attention to what's meaningfully being said and communicated without stretching it too hard. Easier said than done, but this is also why I write out posts like this; sometimes you just see what you want to see, and when you have a hammer everything is a nail.

So, null is probably the least likely, but it's worth getting out of the way. Ozma reincarnates and Salem is undying; their problems are everybody else's in a metaphorical and literal way repeating over the story. Of all the poetic ideas in the story, Ozlem is the biggest deal, so anything referencing, paralleling or reprising Ozlem in any way is doing significant things for the story.

2. Subversion

Jaune/Cinder is a subversion or reprisal of Ozlem which is a negative one. 'Subversion' here is used in the sense that the set-up is that you'd generally expect the relationship to be redeemed based on the stakes set out in the story and the other relationships which reprise and redeem Ozlem - e.g. Blake/Yang (-Blake/Adam), Ren/Nora, Ruby/Oscar, etc. In this case the treatment of Cinder should in some way be contrasting with Salem in that Cinder's treatment is for some reason unsympathetic. I don't know why they'd do this, but it's the only explanation I've got. As I mentioned in the other post, the subversion also operates under the idea that in the specific enemies circumstance - unique to Jaune/Cinder right now outside of Emerald/Mercury - the relationship cannot be redeemed. So there's a limit put on it. It's appreciating one aspect of the relationship, but Jaune's not meant to be with Cinder. Whomever he does end up with should instead answer Ozlem in a different way (e.g. Ozma moving on from Salem). Again probably expecting less sympathetic treatment of Cinder here and really similar potentially even goes for Salem. I would again be expecting there to be some specific statement about Salem and why Salem is specifically villainous and narratively punished (even if redeemed in some small way).

To really motivate this interpretation you'd need to establish why Cinder's redemption won't be a thing, or won't be a strong idea, and why Salem (who famously can't be killed) will have a nonviolent resolution which is also one that doesn't reprise her connection with Ozma in any way. There are a lot of working variables but the ultimate statement is that at least for Jaune and Cinder, the relationship can't be fixed. There's some upper limit on it.

I don't really know why the average audience member would be meaningfully expecting Jaune/Cinder, though. There's no expectation to subvert. So they would need to go to pains to establish it romantically as being in question (e.g. onesided romance or star-crossed 'toxic' romance as examples), and then refute it.

3. Reprisal/redemption

This is the one I keep circling back to. It's the cleanest. It's the simplest. Ozlem is lovers to enemies and Knightfall is enemies to lovers. Straight-up uncontested redemption, romance, paradigm shift of the story, utilising Jaune's Semblance and Cinder's Maiden power in a unique way, Jaune ends up with the Fall Maiden type dramatic irony. It's elegant. Everyone wants to be them. Jaune and Cinder are meaningfully connected just not in the way people expected. It's the complete set-up for how Ozlem is overall dealt with in the story. It's the missing component. It's the bit that solves everything. The visual, conceptual, emotional, thematic paralleling has a job to do and it's doing it beautifully. If Ozlem is romantic then so is Jaune/Cinder and it was the secret story there all along no one noticed, which is playfully thematically relevant.

You can see which one I lean towards because the thirdmost one is the most straightforward. It's uncomplicated. It's a little ironic. It's unexpected but it makes sense. Why frame Jaune/Cinder like Ozlem and vice versa and separately put their characters through what Ozlem have gone through (Grimm curse and all) if you're not going to do something with it?

[winkle-pickers]

🥳, 💭, 🤖 (tried to pick ones that weren't done before lol)

Moon Moon my dear Moon ♡ (￣З￣)

🥳 Why did you start writing fanfic?

I was eleven and had so many feelings about Donkey Kong 64 that I wrote poetry for the first and only time in my life. My first ever entry to fan fiction DOT NET is a Donkey Kong 64 angst poem about how Funky Kong and the other shopkeeper NPCs probably get really lonely when Donkey Kong and friends are not in there buying coconut grenades.

💭 What inspires you and your writing?

Just being like, really, embarrassingly, earnestly authentic. That comes first for me before any technical, stylistic or thematic considerations.

Having done music in various professional contexts for so long, it's really hard to play in a totally unconstrained way where I'm not keeping a running tally of notes-to-self and things-to-improve and technical minutiae in my head. Which is fun, and I really genuinely enjoy the geekery of being a musician! But I also needed an artistic outlet where I could spew my feelings about everything absolutely everywhere with abandon 😂

So I guess I'm inspired by all the usual things, love and nature and trauma and thematic parallels and les blorbeaux, but when I express those things through writing words it's not nearly as structured, process-oriented, or revised as it would be if I was writing music about it.

🤖 Are non-fandom friends aware that you write fanfic?

Yes. I've told people this on first dates! It's a good litmus test. I would never give out my AO3 to just anyone per se, but my friends are all very aware and very supportive of how much time I spend dissecting spiky card game people in my head.

[gourde]

Talking about trans headcanons and the only thing a character needs to be trans is if you want them to be. That's it! No evidence required. Sonic is transfemme because that would be sick as hell. Hobie and Link are both gender paradoxes (Even though people don't talk about Hobie being a gender paradox enough he is EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE!!! TRANSMASC TRANSFEMME NON-BINARY GENDERQUEER AGENDER WHATEVER!!!) every single Claymore in Claymore are trans women (It also works with the underlying themes very well as a bonus). Basically trans people are everywhere and come in so many shapes and sizes trying to justify why a character could be trans based on physical traits is just kind of strange to me. Do it because of thematic parallels like with Jennifer in Teenage Robot even though she wasn't written to be trans she is DRIPPING with trans swagger and rizz. Do it because you want this character to be trans!!!!

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

Another ask for you!

What do you think of Xue Yang? Since you asked me the same thing.

Xue Yang, Xue Yang, Xue Yang...

He’s one of the people I really like as a character, but really don’t like as a person. I find him so, so interesting throughout the Yi City arc, especially motivation-wise. He seems to be driven by one of the typically villainous motivations at first, that being non-proportionate revenge, but as that arc continues we see that his feelings are changing and that motive becomes like more of a mask to himself – he’s trying to convince himself he’s doing this for revenge, he’s trying to convince himself the only emotion he feels towards Xiao Xingchen is hate, even when there’s clearly more to all that, because it being anything else would completely destroy this idea of himself he’s built up in his head. There’s a really good meta about the motivation behind his actions trying to make Xiao Xingchen a ‘bad’ person, and it’s all so interesting!

Like you said, he has a chance to change, but doesn’t take it when the cards are on the table. I think it’s almost shifting responsibility off himself? Like how he refuses to accept that he’s at fault for Xiao Xingchen’s death, instead blaming everybody else. I feel like he almost thinks “well, I’m a bad person, that’s just who I am and it’s not my fault” and wants that to absolve him of blame.

And the thing is that none of his conflicting motivations and depth make him any better of a person! At the end of the day, he’s still killing and torturing innocent villagers, he’s still making Xiao Xingchen kill unknowingly when finding out would and did drive him to suicide, he’s still the reason that he died, he still killed Song Lan and A-Qing in horrible ways. It plays into the ‘love is an action word’ theme explored by @rynne in the meta I reblogged – he may have these conflicting feelings towards Xiao Xingchen, and I’d argue that some of it was a twisted love, but that does NOT make him a good person and does NOT make their dynamic healthy, because at the end of the day, his actions are what they are. You can’t choose what to feel, but you can choose what to do with that, and what Xue Yang continues to choose because of this mindset and absolution of blame is not the right thing to do at all. And none that means that his life with the Yi City crew would have been happy if Song Lan hadn’t turned up, because making somebody do something completely against their morals without their consent is not okay, whichever way you cut it. He wanted and had a fantasy of living a happy life, but again, his actions didn’t match up to that and were ultimately what caused that fantasy’s downfall. 

And another thing that makes him interesting, from a narrative standpoint, is the thematic parallels are everywhere, especially between him and Wei Wuxian. Like you already said, they had a similar childhood – both grew up poor and on the streets, for example, both went through circumstances that could have made them want to enact revenge, both are very smart and talented. But the thing that separates them is their choices, and that Wei Wuxian chooses to move on and be kind, whereas Xue Yang traps himself and is consumed by his resentment (and chooses that even when feeling other things). I also saw another post a while ago pointing out the parallels between Wei Wuxian being willing to give up a hand for his sect and Xue Yang destroying his clan for his finger, which has stuck with me. There are definitely parallels with other members of the cast if you search for them, but him as a parallel to Wei Wuxian is what sticks out the most.

So yeah, he’s a very interesting character, and I’d agree with you when saying he's probably the most interesting main antagonist. The gap between what he feels and convinces himself he feels and what he does is so interesting to explore, and you don’t really see that with anyone else (...I mean. Of course Shen Qingqiu in SVSSS exists, but that’s a post of it’s own. It is interesting comparing them though, especially since their choices are practically opposites – they both try to convince themselves they don’t care about somebody they clearly do care for, but whereas SQQ always chooses even impulsively to protect LBH, XY does... all that).

As a person, though? Well, that’s self-explanatory.