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what hurts about angel crowley is not even just that he used to be an angel. it's the fact that in that one scene, even though it's just him and aziraphale, you can tell that he's so different from the rest of them.
aziraphale is very obviously wary, cautious and maybe even a little standoffish, and he's so concerned about breaking heaven's rules. crowley on the other hand is so innocent and excited the whole time and he's not afraid of anything, and he doesn't see the harm in being inquisitive, rightfully so.
and also, aziraphale at that point in time, and i assume all the other angels as well, are in that small little box where they think everything that they make has to have a purpose to advance heaven's plan: when crowley makes the stars aziraphale is like "okay... but what's it for though?" but why does it have to be for anything? crowley made them because he genuinely loves them, because it brings him joy, because he sees the beauty in things.
it's exactly these things that set him apart from the other angels that caused him to fall. and they're such human traits too. the curiosity, the passion, the want to create things just because they can be created. anyway that's what hurts thanks for coming
#fearandhatred#fearandmeta#don't talk to me ever again#also all my meta posts sound like i'm dunking on aziraphale so hard but i promise that is not the case#this IS a flaw of his though but that is exactly what will contribute to his character arc.#finally seeing how these harmless and maybe even desirable traits that heaven looks down on IS the problem#good omens#good omens season 2#ineffable husbands#aziracrow#crowley#aziraphale#angel crowley#good omens meta
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Would you ever consider writing about a different path Ice and Mav could take, one where they choose to leave the Navy and pursue a more open relationship and civilian life? Thinking it would be easier but maybe the sacrifice to their careers brings its own challenges?
(hi, jan 2024 me here, this was an ask that I answered when it was sent in in May 2023 & didn't post because I felt I actually answered it fictionally in the "icedad" one-shot the week after [and you can obviously see how these thoughts affected the writing of other pieces like "tremors & aftershocks"], but I still mostly agree with this take [though it's a little overgeneralizing] & I think it sums up a lot of my final "meta" modern-military-theory thoughts on ice & mav & their relationship, so im posting it now before I post the compacflt masterpoast)
see,… the thing is, i just… can’t see that happening!! i have no idea how to write that!!! Maybe i really do have a lack of imagination. But i can’t see that happening for a number of reasons. So short answer, no.
Long answer (and it’s long):
1. lame reason to start out, but it, uh, it’s canon that ice ends up at O-10 and mav ends up at O-6. not saying that im beholden to canon obviously (my mav ends up at O-7 and my ice ends up alive) but I do base my characterizations of them on the implications of the political struggles of both their careers so… taking away ice’s fourth star is basically starting from square one wrt my characterization of him. which is a lot of work. i could start from the beginning with a top gun 1986 ice who knows he’s gay—that would be a fun AU (i think other people than me have definitely done that better, though—I’m a one-trick pony). So if that’s what you mean then disregard the rest of this post. but if what you mean is a divergence from my existing work (i.e. homophobic/rank-climbing ice&mav) then… yeah, can’t see that happening, for further reasons below.
2. wrt my characterization of him: it’s based on a broad historical overview of armed service officers and the expectations of their careers. in my view, high-ranking officers aren’t after power—or maybe they started their careers wanting power, but somewhere down the line, it just becomes an expectation. if you do everything right and follow all the rules, you are expected by the institution to lead, whether you want to or not. That’s just the pipeline. at some point you start losing agency. which is what I mean when I keep saying ice doesn’t have a choice in advancing his career (besides the meta fact that this is fanfiction and canon demands that he have 4 stars lol)—high ranking military officers are continually and continually groomed for bigger and better positions; and the longer they spend in the military, the harder it is to leave that lifestyle for something else. And with ice’s canonical (and characteristically INTEGRAL, as I mentioned a week or so ago) refusal to rebel against the wishes of the navy as an institution, plus this historical expectation to lead placed upon the shoulders of excelling officers, I really do think ice is destined for four stars & nothing less, even if it gives him chronic depression. It’s his highest priority not because he wants it to be, but because…it just is. that’s how the institutionalized system of advancement in the military works. it just is. it has to be.
3. I mentioned in this post that I can’t ever see a foot in the door with them talking about their relationship unless maverick dies and is resurrected, and I feel the exact same way about them & their retirement plans. There’s a lot that ice and mav don’t talk about: the biggest one is obviously Goose’s death, the foundation of their relationship; but also their love for each other obv, what they did to rooster, AND their careers, which have to end at some point. Them talking about everything is totally inevitable, it was gonna have to happen eventually before they died, and I think one foot in the door MIGHT have been them eventually talking about retirement (someone sent in a prompt asking for this exactly & i am brainstorming it furiously) but before the Navy FORCES them to retire… i think they would studiously avoid talking about it. For a couple reasons: a) what does retiring with each other mean? living in the same house until they die together? hard to do if you’re just good friends. talking about retirement is tantamount to talking about Them. and b) what are they gonna do outside the navy? Ice has a lot of options, as I mentioned in the slider one-shot—general/flag officers are SUPER sought after in leadership/intelligentsia/management positions post service, so maybe if he were offered a crazy cool civilian position somewhere in San Diego in like the 2000s he would quit the navy for it… but what about maverick? I have no idea what a non-navy mav would do. Civilian airline pilot? Hoo boy. I think he’d hate that. I could maybe see emergency helicopter pilot, lol, or race car driver (i just watched days of thunder can you tell?) but none of the above offers the institutionalized honor the navy does (that, as a reminder, he *killed people* to obtain in the first place). I suggested his test piloting expertise would make him an attractive technical advising candidate to A&D companies like Boeing, LockMart, GD, etc. so that might be one option. But it might have been kind of a touchy subject for him before he racked up the expertise he’d need for those high-level civilian positions… the navy was kinda his only option. So they wouldn’t talk about it because it might hurt his feelings.
4. The biggest reason: again… open rebellion like rocking the boat by quitting the navy to be in an open long-term gay relationship, in upper mil brass ranks, and even retired upper mil brass ranks, just… isn’t done. And REALLY wasn’t done in the 2000s, when i think the scenario in this ask is positioned. And it’s not like “oh but whatever who cares about the navy, ice and mav are in love, they deserve to be happy no matter what, they should do what they want, fuck the navy…” no. Ice and Mav care about the navy. Clearly. Canonically. By necessity. The military requires cohesion and on some level repression of individuality & personal expression to FUNCTION, even when you’re retired. Yes, maverick certainly strains against that repression (which is why you Could spin top gun as an anti-military franchise if you were desperate enough), but he rebels through his ACTIONS (stupid plane maneuvers) not through his personal IDENTITY. his personal identity (headstrong overtly masculine white male pilot, whether gay or straight who cares) is NEVER challenged throughout the franchise (i.e. no one really challenges his masculinity specifically) & his personal identity does not POSE a challenge to the navy. Both he and ice in their outward-facing personal identities really fit in quite neatly to the navy’s overarching identity & contribute to the navy’s cohesion in a way that is favorable to both their careers and the establishment. Lack of imagination or not… i can’t see a universe in which Ice and mav would actively WANT to rock the boat and wreck the navy’s cohesion and their reputations for an open relationship and definitively rebellious personal identities, with the obvious caveat being Maverick’s death recontextualizing both their priorities (yes we’re in love AND we’ve finally proven ourselves to be ultra-capable officers regardless of our sexuality so no one has a license to judge us anymore etc.).
And also, they’re not enlisted seamen. Nor are they mediocre officers who have the luxury of fading into obscurity. Things are different when you’re that high in the ranks, and when your job publicly matters more. sorry, but even post DADT (probably until about biden’s election), an open relationship would end their careers. They might not be fired, but they’d never be promoted again. Too much of a liability getting subordinates to still respect them, from the higher-ups’ perspective, especially if there are other qualified candidates who fit the navy’s core identity better. Like—sorry. This is such a jaded oversimplification. But if you rock the boat like that (i.e. break the service’s united front to be individualistic in a way that does not match the service’s overarching identity), from the perspective of your officer peers, you simply are a bad officer. Being an open individual in a job where you are required to fit in and represent your service is not your job. You are not doing your job well. Straight-up. Even if you’re retired. I met US Army 4-star gen. David Petraeus (retired obv) in February—he led the successful-ish surge in iraq and Afghanistan in the mid-2000s—and he’s STILL a laughingstock for his disastrous affair with his biographer a decade ago, even after he retired from AD service. That’s what people remember him for, not the fact that he was one of our only successful commanders in any of our Middle East campaigns.
Something like that might be one of ice and mav’s worst fears—being known for their affair/scandal instead of the institutionalized honor they’ve fought and killed for. That kind of thing just Isn’t Done. It's bad taste. You have to keep it quiet. If you’re an officer representing the service, you have to represent it well & according to the service’s preconceived identity, even in retirement. (see, for another shitty example of "not fitting in" even in retirement, Lt. gen. Mike Flynn [his whole scandal is actually kinda geopolitically relevant to my fic if you squint lol] whom everyone fucking hates)
To summarize: i hope I’m not mischaracterizing your ask when i reframe it like this—would you ever write ice and mav without the institutionalized pressure to advance in rank and conform to institutional norms?
and yes, I would (and will if you ask—it looks like this: ice & mav meet & fall in love & it’s boring and fine. end of story), but I guarantee you someone else already has. I’m all about interrogation of institutional norms here. And i think until maverick dies & comes back from the dead, there is absolutely no *REALISTIC* incentive for ice & mav to leave the navy and/or have an open relationship. Like it’s just not possible. Idk how else to say it.
#which is like the whole point of my fic right. this is exactly what im trying to say with the story as a whole#these are flawed institutions stuck in their ways and ice as an officer REPRESENTS that flawed institution stuck in its ways#until real life (maverick dying) gets in the way and makes him reevaluate his priorities#and the truth is—his 1st priority (loving maverick) is absolutely incompatible with his 2nd priority (advancing his naval career)#for the reasons listed above#so he quits!#but just because he quits doesn’t mean he doesn’t still represent the navy! that’s the curse of officership#per the slider oneshot: You can’t ever retire once you get any stars.#unfortunately in a realistic world Ice really DOES owe the navy his discretion. that’s how it works.#tom iceman kazansky#pete maverick mitchell#top gun#top gun maverick#icemav#asks#edts notes#the thing with petraeus though is that his affair was notable bc he leaked a bunch of classified info to her#so not the best example but it was still cool (in like a oh you’re a historical figure sense) to meet him so I’m bragging abt it#(see tweet I just added)#additionally: the military is changing! in this universe it would be young upstart officers like rooster/hangman who contribute#to the liberalization of military officer culture!#but that kind of change Is Not happening in the 50s-60s cadre of upper level officers. At all. Ice included.#anon let me know if this wasn’t what you meant in your ask.#& feel free to disagree/argue with me this is just my view#lol the DOD just banned drag shows in the military#^ these tags are 7 months old now
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── 𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐑
𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: a soft day on the beach for a swordsman and mermaid. they're really not as odd a pair as they sound.
𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: zoro x mermaid!reader
𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1.3k
𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭: mermaid!reader, continuation of this fic, fluffy shenanigans, requested
Having a human boyfriend wasn’t as hopelessly romantic as the girls in your pod made it out to be. Sure, the idea of star-crossed love was appealing, and the physical nature of human boys was certainly something to admire. But really, you didn't care much for human men in the carnal sense—Zoro was your exception.
Usually, you were nothing but doting on him, flaws and all, and he did the same for you. The pair of you slouched together, brooded together, gossiped together, napped together. You both wore the other’s sensual markings dotting your skin with pride, flaunting them even.
But sometimes, tensions do rise.
You watched as Nami and Robin headed down from the ship to the sandy beach down below, wanting nothing more than to join them, but you would find it much more enjoyable if your swordsman joined you. But all Zoro wanted to do was sleep.
You stood over him, fangs peeking out as you bit your lip. “Everyone’s gone down to the beach.”
He grunted in reply, eyes shut contently. Narrowing your eyes, you stepped sideward and let the rays of sun you’d been blocking hit his face. Zoro contorted uncomfortably, blinking up at you. “Huh?”
“I’d like to swim with you,” you stated simply.
“Why?”
“Because it’s fun.”
He rolled his eyes and shifted away from the sun. “Hard pass.”
The deck went dangerously silent aside from the far off sounds of the sea, so he wasn’t all too shocked to crack one eye open and find you fuming over him. “Something wrong?”
“Yes!” You huffed and crossed your arms. “My boyfriend won’t swim with me, his beautiful, amazing, awesome mermaid girlfriend.”
He gave you a single sigh, and you knew you had him hook, line, and sinker. A pleasant smile spread over your face as Zoro heaved himself to his feet, barley sparing you a glance even as he slung an arm around your shoulder. He sported a scant grin, so he wasn’t too frustrated. “Can we go on a walk after?”
“Oh, so now you’re contributing?” You nuzzled into his side and stepped onto the soft sand. “Yeah, we can go on a walk.”
Zoro’s cheeks dusted pink, chin ducked like he wasn’t a big romantic under all that muscle. But you knew the truth, even when Sanji pleaded with you to see sense and leave the mossheaded swordsman. Like you’d ever listen to the stupid cook anyway.
“Thanks,” you murmured into his skin, kissing his hand draped on your shoulder. “I could’ve gone without you, but I didn’t want to.”
Your bluntness always warmed his heart, even when your words came out less than tender as they just did. He kissed your temple briefly, Zoro’s attention caught by Luffy and Usopp splashing each other in knee deep water. A bright laugh left you and you were gone, fleeing his side to bound into the ocean. Ten seconds later, you yelped, falling head first into the lapping waves, a vibrant tail flipping up where your feet should be.
Chuckling after you, Zoro waded in to just below his knees, arms folded over his chest. Your soaked form floated through the shallows, arms gliding your way through. He watched with amusement as your ducked underwater and raced at Usopp’s legs, clamping your hands around his ankles and sending the poor guy leaping back to the beach. That’s when he bellowed out a laugh. Your eyes darted to find him in an instant, warmth spreading from fin to face as his smile consumed you whole.
Laugh fading, Zoro’s eyes fluttered open to your hot-cold gaze. You always bit at him harshly when he said you’re an open book, but it’s the truth—Zoro loved being able to tell what you’re thinking, never having to make complex deductions like he often does with everyone else. And though it made his skin feel warm and tight, he could see now exactly the depth of what you felt for him. Something in that was immensely assuring.
He shed his shirt in one motion, hurling it back on the sand and trudging to meet you in deeper water. Standing over you, he let slip a warmer smirk than usual. Your eyes peeked up over the water, smile warped below the surface. The water lapped at Zoro’s chest as your hands reached for his shoulders, and you dragged yourself up in his body to hang off his neck, nose inches away from his own.
“Hey, sailor,” you giggled.
He huffed a laugh. “Hey, fish.”
You swept your tail around his legs, curling around his limbs till he nearly toppled over, your lips a stiff line. “Careful, Zoro-Mine.”
His eyes took on a darker tone, the name you’d gifted him some months ago capturing his attention wholly. Zoro nosed at your cheek, humming softly. “Walk?”
“I’ve barely cooled off!” You snorted, pushing his face away as you slipped right through his arms, ducking underwater and darting off before his hands could catch you. You emerged at Nami’s side, scaring her out of her skin, a laugh stifled by your pruning fingertips.
Maybe an hour rolled off your shoulders before you scanned the area for your swordsman, finding him sitting atop the powdery sand with his eyes set on the horizon. Zoro practically glared at the sky, so much so that he didn’t notice you dragging yourself up the shore till your soft grunts of effort met his ears. Jolting to attention, Zoro reached to scoop under your arms and pulled you closer, resting you between his legs. He leaned his head on your temple, your body melting into him as his warmth spread to your cold skin.
“Ready?” he mumbled. You nodded gently, and when the sun dried out your scales and made them retreat into your skin, Zoro clutched your hand to alieve that familiar sting all through your body. Your tail parted down the middle and formed two ever-awkward legs. By some ancient magic neither of you understood, your clothes sparkled to existence along your skin.
Zoro gripped your hands and rocketed you off the ground, relishing in the little laugh you gave when you landed on your feet. You called over your shoulder absently mindedly, not entirely caring if the others heard you, eyes fixated on Zoro alone. “We’ll be back before dark!”
You faintly heard Nami’s, “Yeah right,” before you led Zoro into the forest with a slight skip.
Having a human boyfriend could be exciting at times. Zoro never frowned at your questions, always ready with a reply whether he really knew the answer or not. He could toss you over his shoulder and race you through the trees (and somehow you always win despite your fawn-like legs).
You just broke through another low-hanging branch when Zoro caught your hand, swinging you around into his chest. Bubbling laughter, you flashed a fanged smile up at him, gaze swallowing him whole. Zoro traced your cheek with a fingertip, simply admiring your expression as it softened into one of blissful content.
With a shake of his head and a gentle grin, Zoro slung his arm over your shoulder and started to walk back to the beach. “Let’s just walk back, yeah? I don’t have the energy to lose another race.”
You chuckled into his shoulder. “Sure. I don’t care to win anymore anyways.”
(The fact that he always let you win hung in the air, unspoken and tender on your heart).
Time slipped right through your hands, and soon enough the sun dipped below the treeline up above. You watched it disappear through the dense branches. “Nami was right. We’re gonna be late.”
Zoro’s shrug shook your body. “She’s usually right, but she doesn’t need to know that.”
“So… we should stay out all night to scare her instead?” He cast you a smile. “Read my mind.”
Having a human boyfriend could be annoying too, sure. At times their kind perplexed you, turning you around till you didn't know left from right. Yet the only ones who held you steady were on that crew--Zoro's crew.
Zoro was human, and he couldn't help it, and you found yourself caring less and less with every day that went by, till he was no longer your human boyfriend, but simply Zoro-Mine, who happened to be human.
And with every day that passed, you lost the title of mermaid girlfriend in his mind as well, and became only yourself, who happened to sprout a tail when he took you up in his arms, ran out to the moonlit ocean, and tossed you squealing back into the waves.
𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭:
@100520s @murnsondock
#roronoa zoro x reader#roronoa zoro#zoro x reader#zoro roronoa x reader#opla zoro x reader#opla!zoro x reader#zoro fluff#zoro x you#zoro x y/n#zoro x yn#roronoa zoro x you#roronoa zoro x y/n#one piece fanfiction#one piece x reader
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Siciria Analyzes The Most Complex Stick Figures Known To Man (part 1)
SPOILERS FOR AVA / AVM / INFLUENCER ARC SERIES
READ AT UR OWN RISK
Also here's part 2
I was rewatching Influencer Arc Ep 1 because the music slays, and the fight choreography is just awesome.
*cut to Siciria chilling*
But then I noticed this;
So, to those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, I noticed that Blue just kind of waits there for a moment before going in to help Red. I wondered why, because throughout the series, these stick figures are shown to have really quick reaction times in these kinds of moments.
But then it hit me; it's about personality.
So then I decided to do a deep analysis of Blue's character, which is probably going to be the first of five parts (maybe even more) where I deep dive into everyone's traits and flaws and whatnot.
-
Here goes...
So, we've seen Blue as more of the pacifist assistant. He likes plants, netherwart, potions, and cooking. You don't really see him being the first to instigate something, or the star of a fight. Heck, even in the Raid episode, it's more focused on Yellow and the command block staff than him.
But we do see more of an aggressive trait as well, in that sometimes, he acts without thinking.
LIKE THE LAVA. HE DIDN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT AND JUMPED INTO STICKING LAVA. WOW. WOWOWOW. WOWOWOW.
But, what startles me, is that even though he'll self-sacrificially jump to save someone, and follow someone without thinking, and needs someone to ground him (usually Yellow), there are also times where he just freezes. Like in the Influencer Arc. He freezes when Red is getting beat up by the clones, before shooting at them. His brain takes a second (hehe) to catch up.
And here, too. Yellow is making a plan, where Blue's emotions are overriding any sort of thought.
...BUT AT THE SAME TIME, we also see those two things coalesce together for the better. We see him take action instead of freezing, and actually think about what he's doing as well. And this moment in the battle against the King goes kind of unnoticed, in my opinion, since there were so many hard fighting sequences and emotional stakes.
LIKE WHAT THE STICK. HE LED AN ENTIRE VILLAGE INTO WAR, AND THEY WERE ACTUALLY ABLE TO HOLD THEIR OWN AND CAUSE THE PILLAGERS TO RUN AWAY WITH ABSOLUTELY NO CONTEXT OR PRIOR TRAINING (albeit before they came back with the evoker and illusioner)
But we also don't talk about how much he assists everyone else. Like here. Green would have gone flying twice if Blue didn't have the presence of mind to brace him.
I saw a comment under the video calling Blue the MVP of the fight against Greenscreen. And while I do harbor the opinion that everyone contributed a lot to the win (and don't really agree with the comment, as Green, Yellow, Red, and Second contributed so much too), you can't deny that he assisted everyone frequently during the fight, and was a key part of success.
Blue's character arc is something we don't really talk about much as a fandom, but there are truly some moments which are, like, really cool.
And the most important one of all, of course.
Bluecifer "Elsa" Blonde. (my fanmade name, tell me if u like it!)
#slayqueen
EDIT AS OF 9/24/24:
There's also something else I noticed. Blue is shown to be able to keep track of a lot of things at the same time as well, like the positioning of his friends in a battle, and enhance them properly. He knows exactly what they need and can deliver it to them.
In the Witch, when he arms himself with potions and starts fighting, he has the presence of mind to turn his friends into animals that can stop the witch. For example, when Red is about to strike, he turns him into a golem for it to pack more punch. It's truly amazing, because he was able to pinpoint that that was about to happen before it did.
And even with himself, when the witch started shapeshifting, he did too. He knew exactly which mob would combat which, and he might have won if he hadn't run out.
#ava blue#fan analysis#analysis#avm blue#ava influencer arc#influencer arc#animator vs animation#animation vs minecraft#animator vs minecraft#color gang#green screen#irislunace#siciria analyzes
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Welcome Home; I'm Home
Alhaitham/Reader
Being in a relationship is hard. It requires constant work and sharing vulnerabilities you never thought you'd indulge in. Both parties need to constantly choose one another, despite their flaws. It's a good thing that you choose Alhaitham, even when his blunt nature rears its ugly head.
a/n: have a lil alhaitham hurt/comfort, as a treat :)
wc: 1.4k
The silence that filled your home was deafening.
Though, you supposed that anything would be quieter compared to the explosive argument that broke out between you and Alhaitham.
It started out as an ordinary conversation. You’d been telling Alhaitham about your plans for your day off; all the while you fluttered around the kitchen, preparing breakfast for the both of you. He hadn’t been contributing much to the conversation, but you didn’t think much of it. You weren’t sure exactly what it was that caused him to snap, but as soon as he’d let out a long sigh, you knew something was wrong.
Pausing your ramblings, you turned away from the coffee you were brewing, tilting your head to the side. “Habibi? Are you okay?”
Soft mutterings were the only thing that you could hear, almost as if his sleep-deprived consciousness were attempting to filter his thoughts even after they left his lips. Frowning, you moved closer, gently brushing the silver bangs away from his face. “What was that?”
“Too loud,” He spoke up, an irritated scowl appearing as he swatted away your hand, “Would it be so terrible to have some peace and quiet for once?”
You blinked, letting your hands fall to your sides as you dealt with the sudden surprise. Leveling an unimpressed look at the man before you, you crossed your arms across your chest. “Don’t take that tone with me, Alhaitham.”
Alhaitham mirrored your attitude, leaning back in his chair, “Don’t treat me like a child. I already have to deal with dozens of people droning on about things I don’t care about at the Akademiya, I don’t need to hear about it in my own home.”
Running your tongue against the front of your teeth in annoyance, you spoke up. “Oh, excuse me. I didn’t know that it was so terrible to want to talk to my lover before they leave for work,”
“Picking a fight first thing in the morning?” He questioned, rolling his eyes as he got up from his spot, “Very mature of you, Habibti.”
“I’m picking a fight?” You exclaimed, feeling your voice grow louder as you followed him into your shared bedroom, “You decided to have an attitude with me this morning and suddenly I’m the one who’s picking a fight? Maybe if you were a ‘mature’ enough adult to just say what your problem is I wouldn’t be bothering you!”
Turning sharply, he pointed a finger at you. “You are the problem. I thought I made it clear that I didn’t want to talk, but you just kept going. Do you think I care about what fruits you’re going to pick up at the market? Or how you’ll organize the library?”
You watched in silence as Alhaitham grabbed a seemingly random book from the pile on his nightstand before heading out of the shared space and to the front door.
“You know what? I hope you have back-to-back meetings and no time to read that stupid book of yours!” You yelled out, only to be met with the harsh sound of the front door slamming.
That was several hours ago.
Deciding that you wouldn’t let Alhaitham’s outburst ruin your day, you continued with the rest of your day. In the time after your fight, you had gone to the bazaar to grab some staples and some fresh cherries that caught your eye, had a wonderful lunch by yourself, and you had managed to clean a bit around the house. Since the menial tasks you’d set out to do didn’t completely calm you down, you’d also started rearranging Alhaitham’s library by color, knowing that he’d have to deal with the inefficient organizational system for the next few weeks before he’d inevitably fix it all himself.
Once you’d finished your petty act of defiance, you found yourself curled up on one of the loveseats, casually flipping through your light novel as you felt the remnants of your earlier agitation fade. Just as you were turning the page, you heard the lock of the front door turning, the creaking of the door a familiar noise in all of the chaotic silence that surrounded you.
Though, rather than feeling the rush of warmth and contentment fill your chest, you felt nothing but the bitter silence that continued to linger after your argument.
You refused to look up, opting to continue your reading, even when you heard hesitant footsteps drawing closer. Eventually, you felt the cushions beneath you dip, a warm presence at your side. Long fingers moved in your peripheral, hesitating slightly before settling by your waist, tugging lightly at your shirt.
A silent question, allowing you the opportunity to pull away if you wanted.
Sighing, you closed your book, setting it down on the table in front of you before looking down at the hand grasping at the hem of your shirt. Slowly, you moved to tug his hand off, intertwining your fingers together. There were many things that you’d wanted to say; part of you, the uglier side, wanted to continue your argument, wanting nothing more than to make him feel as bad as you had earlier. After all, it was unfair of him to take his anger out on you.
However, the better part of you, the one who loved the man beside you dearly despite all his faults, despised the hesitance in Alhaitham’s posture, as if you’d leave for good if he weren’t careful enough.
You wanted to let him know that though you were still hurt, he didn’t need to be scared.
“Welcome home,” You said instead, running your thumb across his knuckles.
He stared at you momentarily, studying your expression in silent contemplation. In the end, he simply let out a wisp of a laugh, squeezing your hand. “I’m home.”
A tense silence filled the air, both of you wanting to start the conversation, but neither of you knowing how to. Eventually, you settled on the familiar. “You pissed me off today.”
If Alhaitham was shocked at your candidness, he didn’t show it, instead nodding solemnly as he listened. “I know. I’m sorry,”
“If I was annoying you, you should have just told me,”
“You weren’t annoying me,” When he noticed your furrowed brow, he sighed in annoyance, though you knew it was aimed at himself for not being able to express how he was feeling, “I started feeling overwhelmed. One moment I was waking up, and the next I felt my head pounding and my ears aching.”
Looking smaller than you’d seen him before, he looked away, quietly mumbling, “It was too loud.”
For a short while, it was silent between the two of you. Both of you sat still, with the exception of Alhaitham’s fingers twitching against your hand, a nervous tick you’d learned about during your first year of dating.
Eventually, you huffed affectionately, moving your unoccupied hand to flick his forehead, instantly rubbing your thumb against the reddening skin to soothe it. “Next time just tell me how you’re feeling instead of acting like I can read your mind,” Squeezing his hand, you narrowed your eyes, “I won’t be as kind if you act like this again.”
He nodded his head again, untwining your hands in favor of leaning forward, letting his head come to rest on your chest. Pressing a gentle kiss to your heart, you felt his arms wrap around your waist. “I will. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap.”
You returned his affections, your arms hugging his shoulders, pulling him closer. “I didn’t mean to make you overwhelmed,”
“I know.”
“I got cherries today,” You mumbled in his hair, feeling him hum against your skin in response, “I also rearranged your library by color.”
You felt him laugh, fingers coming to pinch the fat of your hips, “I suppose I deserved that,”
After that, the two of you fell silent, this time merely enjoying each other’s company. You ran your hands along his back soothingly, feeling for the first time today that you could finally breathe in your own home. Your chest felt light, and you could only imagine how the man before you was feeling.
After a short while, Alhaitham propped his head against your chest, peering at you with inquisitive eyes.
“Hm?” You questioned, brushing the bangs away from his face.
A few more seconds went by, the man in front of you deciding on whether or not he should interrupt the peaceful air surrounding the two of you. Eventually, he settled on a question.
“Are we okay?”
You pursed your lips, observing the way Alhaitham’s fingers danced across your back, another nervous tick. Pressing a kiss to his forehead, you smiled.
“We will be,”
i feel like i would have some of the most awful fights with this man, he should be lucky he's pretty and i happen to like pretty things/j
#genshin impact x reader#genshin x reader#alhaitham x reader#alhaitham x you#al haitham x reader#al haitham x you#alhaitham angst#genshin angst#genshin fluff#alhaitham fluff
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I really like the theory that the winners of each season of the Life SMP help to create the theme for next one, but I've always thought that it makes more sense for the Runner Ups to create this instead. I don't know if anyone has published this yet, but here's my own thoughts <3
Hear me out!!!!
The truth of the games are that there are no winners, not really. And the watchers would know this and use it to their advantage. Instead of using the winners they would use the person in second place as there is no true reward for winning the games.
First Case: Third Life-Last Life, GoodTimesWithScar. The man who saw his own lives slipping away as fast as he could count them. The guy who fell to his lack of care and acted as though he had a million lives left to live. He would've won if he had more chances, which is exactly why he chose to give everyone more chances at living. To be granted more lives, and he of all people to receive the highest amount.
Second Case: Last Life-Double Life, RenDog. The man who bound his life to serve LDShadowlady, whose own life fell to Scott who won through the strength of his alliance with Pearl. RenDog saw how his own alliance crumbled through the whims of BigB and Cleo, how he would've devoted himself to Lizzie if she hadn't turned red. So he created the shtick of Double Life to keep alliances strong and loyal. To ensure that even as reds, you're not alone. For everyone to have a chance, the act of a truly honorable man.
Third Case: Double Life-Limited Life, Scott, the man who defeated The Scarlet Pearl. She was left alone and desolate, and something wicked this way came from the reminder of her witchy brilliance. That nobody could trust anyone, not truly; she was Scott’s soul bound, and they rejected each other. He created Limited Life so in this new world where the reward for killing others is so sweet, you are forever reminded of your own transience. Watch your time, he commands, and keep track. Watch the sands of your hourglass fall and fall and fall and show everybody who you become between life and death. Show whether the reminder changes you. Never forget that killing someone is a reward and to ally with somebody you are devoting your life to them: as you are reminded constantly, death is imminent and it will show your true colours.
Fourth Case: Limited Life-Secret Life, ImpulseSV. The runner up of Third Life and Limited Life and in both universes, betrayed. He refuses to allow himself to truly trust another again. As a reminder of his pain, he says keep your secrets, or there will be punishment and failure. To win is to trust yourself and not to reveal your true ambitions. For the man with strong alliances and a powerful sense of loyalty, the reminder is necessary. You can never truly trust anyone. Not really. Not after the sting of their betrayal is felt for all of life to come, he will never let his trust to be flawed again. And the best way to know this is to never trust at all.
The argument can be made that they forget their own contribution to the games before they start. The only thing to watch for now is what Pearl will command to create the next season...
#secret life smp#trafficblr#traffic smp#grian#goodtimeswithscar#impulse sv#rendog#last life#last life smp#double life#double life smp#trafficblr theories#third life smp#third life#ldshadowlady#pearlescentmoon#scott smajor#lizzie ldshadowlady#just a lil theory!!! not trying to downgrade anybody elses
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Clarification I definitely should have done ever since season 4 and the Ladynoir conflict started escalating, but hey, let's just get it out:
There are reasons why I'm harping down so badly on Miraculous' Girlboss feminism and defend Adrien as much as I do.
To get the feminist (in-universe) explaination out of the way first:
I would be lying if I said that I like the direction the show has taken Marinette's character and the story in general. But regarding her specifically I simply have to say that most of my problems with her are how she is written as Ladybug, Guardian, and especially leader & partner. Not in her civilian self. Hence why you won't find that alot on my blog, only when it contributes to the overarching double standards problem from s4 I take issue with.
I simply cant deny it, Ladybug is a kind of leader I just came to not be able to respect alot anymore in how she operates most things bc she doesn't really ever look passed how things look & stand for herself, and what SHE needs & wants. Marinette is a very low empathy person in the sense that she struggles putting herself in other people's positions, or remembers considering that at all.
But that's not the reason why I can't respect her as leader. I have ADD, that would be really hypocritical of me.
What leaves me unable to respect her as leader though (& honestly kinda even wanting Alya to take her position) is the fact that the show doesn't see much wrong with Maribug doing that.
They don't properly depict this as flawed leadership she actually NEEDS to grow out of by making up for her shortcomings by, for example, making other people her official co-leaders. Instead the show since s4 (& kinda s3) will proceed to put it's feminist foot down if Maribug isn't actually in the end 100% correct and "totally girlboss justified" in any given case - with CN & authorities specifically - no matter the context. Ergo she's barely ever truly improving her weakpoints in partnership skills for example & continues doing the same mistakes over n over.
like she genuinely would benefit from having Chat Noir as her co-leader too, not just Rena Rouge. But no. The neurodivergend low-empathy girl can't have a high-empathy boy co-leader bc apparently thats misogynistic now, huh ?
Again, I have ADD and I'm also a woman. In fact, I actually have alot in common with Maribug (hence why it hurt so much once s4 took her away from me), so forgive me when I still say: I am NOT going to lower my standards of my believe that neither of those aspects get to be an excuse on everyone else's expense regarding LEADERSHIP (which I do also am in the position of in my life).
And I repeat: LEADERSHIP. Not Marinette herself as a person necessarily & esp not her civilian life.
People always say that her critics wouldn't be so hard on her if she were a man, but I strongly disagree. In my experience, if Marinette were a boy people would actually draw a line nowadays and call out that Mariano is too stuck in his own head to be a good leader (& partner). And maybe even demand that he shouldn't be in that position anymore either at all or until he's in a better head space.
Bc with male characters people are actually drawing lines now in important factors when it comes to power & the accountability coming with it, bc in the end being in change means it ain't about you
Hence why e. g. Steve Rogers (Captain America) was then a fucking fugitive from the law when shit got real in the MCU. They had to do that bc of his leadership morality not being able to exist well within a corrupted & complex law system under fire and attack. My man's an amazing battle leader, but the MCU did VERY well leaving taking care of all kinds of social & political matters to Tony Stark. This kind of nuance ain't Steve's strength. Marinette & Steve are actually a EXTREMELY similar type of leader and it's interesting that I don't exactly vibe with him too much either in that regard, but like him as person the way I did Marinette. So for me it's definitely an issue with their type of leadership.
But the mainstream female leader characters are often still "too female" to get held to the same regular standards bc telling a female leader character in a complicated and not entirely beneficial situation & position 'yeah, it's sucks but you're not the center of the universe'' is now more often than not still "too mean/ sexist"
again, Steve was made an outlaw for a reason and you can bet if he had been a Stephanie people would have made all her struggles about sexism & called the 'outlaw leader' route after Civil War misogyny, merely bc "society doesnt respect women". This is whats happening with Maribug & it clashes with her leadership style.
Hence why there AREN'T ALOT of mainstream female leader characters. And if we get some, most of them are narratively defined by how powerful & in control they are for THEIR OWN BENEFIT and it being depicted as 100% right & just in general (like with Marinette) which goes against what a normal leader should be, so alot of people don't like them (ignoring the actual sexist people for a sec)
The first Wonder Woman movie for example was so well-received for a reason. They did it RIGHT (& may I please also recommend Wakanda Forever? Fuck, that movie was GOOD)
--
But yes, it's notably how Maribug treats Chat, who is supposed to be her partner and friend, that I take alot of issues with.
And yes, I would say the same if LB were male and CN female. Ladynoir is so rooted in toxic femininity that this "partnership" (or just the entire LS) the way it is could NOT exist today in gender bend. S4 and the s5 finale in particular are unthinkable in gender bend and they sold it as "justified female empowerment" & "unparalleled loving treatment" from Ladybug's side Chat Noir needed to learn to be GRATEFUL for.
All while, and I will never stop stressing this: the show has never stopped writing Marinette to treat Chat Noir as if he basically just spawns into existence once he puts on the mask. He's HALF a human being. Even once she falls in love with him in s5.
This is the fundamental and deep seeded problem of where my issues come from here. It never stands in question if Adrien views Marinette and Ladybug as full human beings, but the other way around that very much is the case. In whatever way it's depicted. Yes this is a line I draw, especially because of the whole Sentihuman thing.
I personally am alot more like Adrien regarding Friendship and partnership (or what his character initially started out). They are heavy & meaningful topics for me. So seeing Marinette being utilized to girlboss all that into the ground with Chat Noir, esp in s4, while she apparently barely ever even noticed anything wrong with how she treats him in the first place as she literally replaced him with Alya/ Rena in everything but name
cause buring him under a wall of secrets & lies meant she can still 100% benefit from his eternal devotion by letting him believe she's too alone to be a partner anymore AT ALL. (Kuro Neko onwards and then NEVER stopped letting him think she's just as alone as he is. NEVER. She's still doing it in s5 while leaving him 100% isolated which was then his demise in the s5 finale.)
and gives Alya the deluxe partnership entirely on his expense, while barely ever sparing him even the most basic thought in anything; & by "Risk" then literally having them switch status. Rena is her actual partner she fully treats that way and he's merely her favorite temp hero with no rights, which Rena was previously.
And the only reason why Chat was treated with something resembling to fairness or dignity again in season 5 (& finally wasn't a rag doll for her every little mood anymore...) was because Maribug plainly had no other choice and had her team & position of power taken away by force while Alya renounced for her own safety. And yet she's still treating him as half a human being even by the end of S5. AFTER her character development. He's Chat Noir and that's where his existence ends in her leadership & friendship. CN and Alya in s5 are literally 2 halves of ONE PARTNER.
All that was painful to watch to say the least. Bc it's imo honestly a disgrace to friendship and partnership. I can't put into words how ashamed I would be of myself if I treated someone the way Marinette treats Chat Noir (again, HALF A HUMAN BEING).
Much less a friend I claim to love dearly and don't want to loose (another thing the MCU did better regarding Steve's fall-out with Tony over Bucky... I should really make that comparison post why Steve works for me & Marinette doesnt)
Just the mere fact that Marinette in "Elation" even told Chat "It doesn't matter who's underneath your mask" is honestly outrageous.
Because thats simply what it is for me. If s4 & 5 Marinette were portrayed from a similar morality angle to Emonette in the Paris special I would have much less issues with her. Cause thats ironically an angle female characters barely get & is mostly used to redeem the broken bad boys with a hidden heart of gold™.
Double irony: s1-s3 actually DID put civilian Marinette often into that angle, hence why I really liked her, but then s4 suddenly said "well, her methods & actions really dont matter. She's wrong, but actually not really; ergo she should get rewarded in the end. Always. But with a few exceptions. Here n there she loses to claim otherwise. But actually the world just needs to learn how right & amazing she is."
She makes countless mistakes but often either doesn't really learn from them anymore or they just don't "count" bc that's 'what makes her quirky & loveable', so having any issues with her now means you hate women. And she's a very flawed leader but actually never did anything wrong. Ever. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
I will be VERY blunt now: The moment you put a female character into the leader role the FEMALE aspect is supposed to be of secondary importance. And a leader, by the nature of the position, ALWAYS has to be questioned morally wise in my opinion bc of the fatal blindspots that will automatically occur in every leadership.
And it happened here too: Chat Noir's treatment. But they demanded that her being the (female) leader means she's OWED to treat him badly & gets to keep him as blindspot on HIS expense bc she doesn't like thinking about him existing as civilian person.
A leader is ALWAYS somebody who is NOT going to sit well with everybody regarding their approach. That's a normal instinct, and in fact it would be highly dangerous if that wouldnt happen at all. So if I, or other people, don't respect her as one that simply means she has an opposition the way every leader has & is being held to normal standards a leader should be held to, regardless of gender.
Sorry if you think thats sexist, but in my opinion that's a YOU problem. I personally respect female leaders too much to not acknowledge them as anything else but the potential threats they are. The same way I do with male leaders.
You're leader first, woman second. If you can't handle that get out of the leadership position (yes, oc that also applies the other way around). Feminism was about making sure that women cant be excluded from e. g. position of power just bc we're female. The goal wasn't to have yet another group of people stomp their foots, now claiming that they are OWED power once they wanna have it to feel powerful. But that's what Marinette was used to teach an entire generation of children, especially girls.
The last thing you will EVER get me to do is accept that I should be holding women - specifically for equality, female empowerment and leadership - to LOWER (moral) standards as I would the men in her position.
Buddy, I am NOT gonna fucking do that. Just the thought is pissing me tf off, and has ever since s4, cause it directly plays into the misogynistic thinking of:
"Women can't be given power, status or even too much focus as human beings because they're too irrational and immature to be able to then lay proper priorities & take rightful accountability for their shit like a man in power could; and not just scream and cry while playing the oppressed victim card the moment things don't work out & they aren't being given the special female treatment to let them mostly off the hook consequences wise.
Leading to everyone around them, especially the MEN, having to step up, do the work & basically babysit the women like children - while still having to give her the credit as person in charge - turning the women more or less into toddlers wearing a queen's crown"
Which, by all means, Adrichat in every dynamic of the love square by season 5, Gabriel at the end of "Recreation" and even Luka & Félix (& "thankfully" Alya too since s4) had to do for Maribug in alot of ways.
Pick up all of her slack in several major areas & catering to her while simultaneously having to still give most of the credit to HER or else they would be "mean to the female lead" (it's also telling that Alya is treated the best here, & goodness dont get me started on Su-Han...).
And with that out of the way, a few more meta reasons:
1) I'm NOT watching a damn documentary. Marinette is NOT a 14 year old, she doesnt exist & isnt based on a real person or story. She's a fictional main character and narrative tool, so forgive me for approaching this differently than a real life case.
and 2) in everything I watch I automatically look out for the narrative's blind spots and victims of the writings' favorites. I take it this seriously because this is career related for me.
Hence why I have barely ever liked a main character and ironically Marinette/ Ladybug was once one of the few exceptions (alongside Korra from Legend of Korra and Blitz from Helluva Boss)
Look, when I for example watch Helluva Boss or a Yugioh show I will automatically pay extra attention to how the female characters are being treated bc they are obviously treated worse by the writing and much more neglected and scapegoated than the male characters.
Meanwhile when I watch Miraculous and She-Ra, I do the opposite and pay attention to how the male characters are treated bc now they have the gender-biase against them.
And when I for example watch Avatar the last Airbender or Legend of Korra [and She-Ra, that show is great], then I actually get to be mostly fucking happy for once in my life jfc
I'm not going to elaborate too much more on this because I already named by my main point in the beginning: Chat Noir's - not even Adrien's, I mean CHAT NOIR - sometimes honestly awful treatment being the biggest moral and narrative blind spot of the entire show, and honestly where most of Maribug's problems then are also rooted in. Hence why I started focusing so much on Chat Noir since season 4. I look at the overall narrative and circumstances and look for the blind spots that needs to be solved to get to the core of the problem of this whole mess, to get effective results.
And that was and even by the end remained the fact that Adrichat is treated so badly, scapegoated in every possible way in the name of "feminism" and kicked out of the story where HE is at the core of most everything going on, just so the show can force Maribug into everything, make things about her that have no business being about her
Just so she can then be made to constandly turn around and scream, cry and stress about problems - and go about them in the least effective way - that wouldnt be there in the first place if she wasnt the main character of a story that isnt hers.
Mate, I dont know what to tell you here, but the fact that we are following Marinette Dupain-Cheng ,who has nothing to do with anything besides being the cool action girl, is and will always remain of the of core problems of this show. I WISHED that wasnt the case. But for the love of everything, Kagami would have made so much more sense as the female lead, but no.
Anyway, I will leave it at that now cause I already elaborate much further than I initially wanted to, I just wanted to finally have all this stated.
This Blog is not a full representation of how I lay priorities in (feminist) media in general, my view adjusts to the piece of media I'm watching.
And unfortunately, ever since season 4 Miraculous turned into a full blown extreme case and has only gotten better somewhat recently. So I will continue doing what I always do: focus on the fucking VICTIM whose bad treatment pulls down the whole show's quality, and here that's plain obviously Adrien Agreste/ Chat Noir.
And with all due respect: Die mad about it.
#miraculous ladybug#miraculous#Sexism in Miraculous#ml critical#Season 4 critical#Marinette's leadership is simply my main issue here#Marinette critical#My opinion on leadership#Ladynoir critical#Ml#adrien deserves better#Chat Noir deserves better#Marinette deserves better#And Ladybug DEFINITELY deserved better#I just miss loving this girl so much#I remember how happy I was that she was one of the few main characters I liked and also a female leader#And then s4 came around and took all that away from me#I just cannot respect her leadership 100% on Chat Noir's expense#Sorry for respecting female leaders too much to not drop my fucking standards bc Marinette doesnt like thinking bout Chat existing#That's shit leadership#And even worse partnership and friendship
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Undead Unluck ch.208 thoughts
[Beat Cute]
(Content: first impressions - Fuuko's parents, character analysis - Sean, lore - reincarnation mechanics, predictions - arc participants, thematic analysis - death and loss)
Okay, so I was right about the Union needing to replace members of Kaede's band, but I was NOT expecting it to be because Kaede hospitalized all of her friends!
With how ludicrously clumsy she is, I thought for a moment there that Kaede might have been a previous Unluck holder, but we know that can't be the case because Fuuko got it before Kaede died and Kaede wasn't present among the past Unlucks. Instead, I think it's more likely that Kaede was the reason that Fuuko was chosen as the next Unluck - she may have already been pretty good at dealing with and reacting to unlucky events, so the other holders might have thought she'd be able to handle whatever Unluck threw at her. They just didn't anticipate a plane blowing up
I'm really enjoying Kaede as a character pretty much right off the bat, there's a lot more flavor here than I was expecting. I kind of figured she'd be shy and quiet, and that's what would prevent her from performing, but instead she's bright and bubbly, always willing to throw herself into anything with a smile despite the fates clearly telling her not to. That little thumbs up she gives Fuuko's dad after accidentally choreographing a Jackie Chan fight scene was insanely endearing, this guy's got great taste
Fuuko's dad predicting and reacting to Kaede's antics gives us a solid impression of the kind of guy he is, too. He seems like the fastidious type, planning things out in advance to be prepared for anything, while also having the fortitude to press on even when he finds he was unprepared. I suppose one would need both of those traits to marry a woman who might accidentally send you to the hospital just walking forward to greet you
Beyond our new characters, this was a really good chapter for Sean, too, or at least seems to be setting up something really good for him. I like that his insecurity about his importance to the team hasn't just vanished after a few contributions, it's still a core part of his character to want to stand out and matter. Having his points redistributed over the rest of the team's, especially hearing that they're better to have on call for an emergency, is a great way for the narrative to revisit this concept. It probably doesn't help that Rip would actually have been the next reasonable option to drop, since previously Fuuko was dropping members from the top and had literally just booted Chikara and Enjin to bring in Top and Haruka, then dropped them to bring in Nico and Ichico. Though they have no beef this loop, Sean in L100 definitely hated Rip, and likely feels some kind of jealousy towards him here since he guy has two wives and he doesn't have a single girl that he knows of (rootin' for ya, buddy)
Of course, revisiting the roots of Sean's character flaws doesn't need to define his involvement in this arc, it just gave an extra layer to his presence this time around. By giving him a reason to be downtrodden, Tozuka necessitated a way to get him invested in this storyline, and fittingly that touches on his other root: the loss of his father. Julia thought that Sean was excited to help out because it might help him meet cute girls, but that's definitely just a cover. Sean knows exactly what it's like to lose your parents and only be able to reconnect with them via memories, so knowing that Fuuko not only lost her parents but has the chance to reconnect for real, it's natural that he'd want her to take advantage of it. In fact, in L101, he's the only member of the Union who understands what Fuuko's going through
Chikara's parents were saved, Tatiana's not a Negator yet and her parents will almost certainly be saved, Enjin got to cook for his mom like he always wanted, Phil didn't lose his mom...the loss of Sean's dad was completely unrelated to his tragedy, it was just something that happened in his life, and while I'm sure Fuuko would have liked to have prevented it, she likely just didn't have the information to do so. Narratively, this at least provides that point of connection between him and Fuuko, and I'm so glad we get to capitalize on it
Sure, Gina still lost her grandma, Void was still a street urchin, Shen was still an orphan, but they all have their own circumstances that make that a little bit different, and Gina's off helping with Tatiana in Russia, so Sean's easily the best choice to be present here
Julia's presence is to be expected since she hasn't awakened Unjustice yet and she needs as much screentime as possible to establish parallels and distinctions from Juiz. I also think this will be a good time to help us understand the difference between her circumstances, Juiz's and Fuuko's, since Juiz never had parents, Julia was retroactively assigned to parents, and Fuuko is retroactively parentless
Not only will that establish narrative connections, but it's looking like we're going to get a deeper understanding of the mechanics as well. By all logic, Sean's supposition that this is a New Game+ rather than literal time travel should preclude the need for Kaede and Mr. Izumo to procreate, and yet Fuuko's is Back-to-the-Futuring somehow. I have no idea what Tozuka's logic is here, but my best guess is that it's tied to either the Rule of Soul or Parents. Juiz, Victor and Andy would obviously be exempt from this, but Fuuko's soul may be tied to the world on the assumption that her parents will one day provide a vessel for that soul
In the event that the current Fuuko dies, she could well be reincarnated as herself within the same loop since her soul would be available, but perhaps by the mechanics of the Rule in question, there is an almost contractual obligation for her parents to at least be together in the first place? Or, since Fuuko is worried about time paradoxes, it's not that the Rule is endangering her, but her interpretation of it. She thinks that her parents not getting together could erase her, so while mechanically that makes no sense, it seems to make sense to her, and thus affects her regardless. I'm sure Tozuka will explain it, but for now I'm sticking with the theory that Fuuko's doing it to herself
As for the backing band Fuuko's going to throw together, I expect that this will go similar to the space mission where we're going to dedicate a chapter to picking three members rather than having the whole group participate. I say three because when Kaede discusses her band being hospitalized, we see three beds; what looks to be a male guitarist, a male drummer, and another female member, presumably a backup singer or dancer
As far as I'm aware, the only Union members we know have musical experience are Tella (who can't sing thanks to Untell) and Rip, who can play piano. I don't believe we know if anyone on the team is gifted in guitar or drums, though if I had to guess, Enjin strikes me as someone who might be able to do a mean drum solo
I think Julia's a must, since like I said she needs more screentime to get acquainted with the cast and audience, so to that I think it would be extremely funny if she was on guitar and said something to the effect of "it's like a violin you play with your fingers, right?"
I'm on the fence about whether Fuuko will be the third member, since she's near identical to Kaede and wouldn't want to distract from her performance, but it's also such a good opportunity for them to bond and I wouldn't want Tozuka to drop it. Maybe she'd use Nico's memory machine to hypnotize people to think they're the original backup band? Whatever the lineup ends up looking like, I'm sure I'll be able to write a whole post dedicated to it
The final thing I want to touch on is a line that Sean says that I think is meant to be the thesis statement for this arc, and arguably one of the series' greatest overarching themes: "You never know when or where will be the last time you see [someone]."
[TRIGGER WARNING: DEATH]
I think it's pretty self-explanatory how that relates to the theme of enjoying life, that you should spend time with the people you care about while you can and make the most of that time. It's so self-explanatory that I debated whether or not I should talk about it here, but...it's relevant to me right now
A friend of mine died this week. It wasn't exactly sudden, but it was also looking like it was going to be okay for a minute there, so I got a little complacent, I suppose. Reading this line immediately rang true with me. I'll never see that friend again, and I can't even remember what the last thing I said to him was. Did I make him feel like a friend, or was he worried that I was just humoring him? I'm sure at the end I wasn't even on his mind, I'm pretty sure we weren't close enough for that and he was more concerned with his wife, but still, I worry whether or not I treated him right in the time that I knew him
While we weren't super close, my family and his had a lot of plans for spending time together, and now they're just...gone. No more games, no more dinners...nothing. Even if we weren't close, we were trying to be, and however close we could have become, now we'll never be. It doesn't feel like a tremendous loss of what we had, but certainly of what could have been
I take solace in knowing that I did things to the best of my ability. I went out of my way to spend time with them when I could. I tried to make the most of my friendship with them with the time I had, it just got cut short by circumstances outside of anyone's control. I don't know what's going to happen next, but I feel like if nothing else Tozuka and the Union would be proud of me for how I tried to enjoy my time with my friend
Maybe that's a stupid thing to say. Maybe I'm being silly. But I've always believed that art is meant to be a way to explore our relationship with the world, and I really don't think any series I've experienced has done so much to prepare me to deal with loss. One Piece is close, of course, but I've gone on and on about parallels between UU and OP a thousand times by now
Anyway...I haven't really gotten the chance to talk about any of this out loud, and I don't think I've really gotten to process my feelings on it. I'm sorry to dump it on you folks who read this far, but also thank you to anyone who did
And to anyone else experiencing loss or grief right now, I hope that me talking about my experiences or reading Undead Unluck helps you process it too. Even if it's just me or a manga, I hope you can find peace through other people. That's certainly what Tozuka wants for us
Until next time, let's enjoy life
#undead unluck#fouryearsandananime#4y1a reviews#i wasn't expecting this chapter to make me get heavy but here we are
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@kxkarot continued from [ x ]
Vegeta's fingers dug into Goku's gi, he had sensed the tension in the taller saiyan, but he hadn't expected this, didn't think that the fool would actually snap. He's pushed before, prodded, knowing exactly where the sensitive spots were. it was like an instinct he couldn't shut off, a cruel part of him that lashed out, seeking to prove something, anything. But he hadn't anticipated the response to be this brutal. Yet here it was. In an instant the dam had burst, every jab, every dig that had been accumulated, had exploded and the calm, collected Goku was no more.
The vulgarity, so unlike him, was what had thrown Vegeta off balance. Goku never cursed like that, never directed that level of pure malice at anyone, especially not him. He barely had time to react, to brace himself, and now Goku's ki had erupted, the red godly energy radiating off him with an intensity Vegeta hadn't seen from him before. The sheer pressure and magnitude from the other saiyans power was suffocating and thick with unrestraint wrath. It wrapped around him like chains, tightening his breath, forcing his senses to stay hyper alert. His chest rose and fell with his own attempts to regulate his breathing, his heart pounded against his ribs as his body was trapped between the wall and Goku's blinding aura. Vegeta's muscles tensed involuntarily as Goku's words became sharper, more vicious.
For a second Vegeta's mouth parted, about to retort, but before he could utter a word, Goku's hand gripped his armor. Shock coursed through him as he was hoisted off the ground and slammed into the wall. The impact sending a shockwave though his body and splintering the structure behind him. He let out a snarl, his tail bristling as he felt the sharp of pain on his backside. The sheer dominance had stunned him into silence, his body however reacted instinctively struggling against the grip, attempting to break free and escape, but even as he attempted to push back, he found himself overpowered. He wasn't sure if it was the strength in Goku's hand or the fury in his voice that weighed heavier on him.
The irony wasn't lost on Vegeta as the memories of his own moments of weakness resurfaced, the times he had let his rage and pride cloud his judgment. But this time, he wasn't the one flying off the handle. No, he was the one facing the consequences of someone else's breaking point. A breaking point that he had contributed to.
The sudden impact of Goku's fist against the wall made Vegeta flinch. His body immediately tensing, stilling. The cracks in the wall mirrored the cracks forming in his composure, and for a moment, he believed Goku would actually follow through with the violence lurking in his eyes. He had seen that look before, when Kakarot faced enemies that threatened everything he cared for. He knew that rage, knew the way it could tear through reason and restraint. And now, it was all directed back at him. There was a time when Vegeta would have welcomed such a challenge, would have laughed at the very idea of Goku threatening him. But now, at this very moment, he fought to maintain control, to not show just how much Goku's words, his actions, had affected him. But it was impossible to ignore the the fear creeping in, the nagging realization that Goku, of all people, could kill him right then and there and it sent a chill down his spine.
Vegeta's teeth clenched as the verbal assault rained down on him, Goku's hold tightening with each accusation, the armor groaning and bending, molding into the taller saiyans hand. His words cut deep, bringing up old failures that nealy cost them everything and the truth behind the burdens laid onto the other gnawed at him. He had known those flaws, acknowledged them in the silence of his own thoughts, but hearing them from Goku, feeling them like daggers aimed directly at his pride, forced him to confront them in a way he hadn't before. He hated how Goku threw these events back in his face, hated how the idiot was right. The truth burned, leaving him exposed and vulnerable in a way he detested.
When Goku finally threw him down, Vegeta collapsed onto his feet, his legs catching his weight at the last second with a grunt. His back slid down the ruined wall, his breath ragged as his heart still pounded in his chest. He kept his head down, unwilling to meet Goku's gaze. His mind raced but no coherent thought formed only a jumble of emotions that he didn't have the patience to untangle.
Vegeta remained silent, unmoving, his eyes narrowing as Goku stormed off, the echo of the door slamming reverberated through the room, the sheer force of it enough to make the entire building shudder. The fury that had been building inside him had been extinguished, snuffed out by Goku's onslaught, leaving only confusion and a bitter, lingering sense of guilt. He wasn't used to this, feeling like he lost a confrontation without so much as fighting back, of being confronted in such a raw, personal way. It was as if Goku had peeled back every layer of defense, exposing everything Vegeta tried so hard to keep hidden, and now he was left to deal with the aftermath, alone.
He tried to reignite the anger, but it didn't come. There was no easy way to brush what had just happened, no simple retort that would make it all go away, he could still feel the heat of Goku's grasp, hear the fury in his voice, see the raw unfiltered pain in his eyes. It was a side of the saiyan he wasn't sure he ever wanted to see again, because it meant acknowledging things about himself that he wasn't ready to face.
Pride was supposed to protect him, shield him from weakness, but right now, it felt like a flimsy, useless thing, barely able to hold up under the weight of everything Goku had said. Slowly, Vegeta pushed himself off the ground, forcing himself to breathe, to steady his thoughts, but even as he did he knew this wasn't over. He'd knew he would have to confront it eventually. Confront Goku. But riight now, he didn't even know where to start. There was one thing he knew for certain something had shifted between them and he wasn't sure if it could ever go back to how it was before.
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initial thoughts on DCAS episode 20
^ reminder for everyone that this applies to these initial thoughts as well! it was quite the surprising sight to have pop up at the beginning of the episode, though.
... what is Emily's motivation to kill Trevor here, exactly? i guess she took a page out of Riya's book when it comes to pushing gays off of cliffs.
yayyyyyyy, they're finally getting along! :D
does framing people for theft and twisting their already broken ankles count as "working"?
i guess we do know from Aiden in Season 2 that Tom and Jake were the most popular players. it makes sense (especially given the grandparent context Ally goes into), but it was still quite surprising.
i really hope that Tom and Jake talk this out at some point, whether in the finale finale or in the tomjake miniseries, because the truth of the situation is that Tom's absence from Jake's life was contributing to his misery, which was apparently much greater than anyone expected. i know that Tom never intended it to be that way, but i'm also sure that his fooling around with lying about having a boyfriend wasn't doing Jake any favors. i just want to make sure that the inadvertent hurt that Tom caused Jake doesn't get swept under the rug.
haha, it's puns in visual storytelling :)
this is understandable. Riya can and will use your backstory against you.
.......................................sigh
this might sound like an odd critique given how much people love to dunk on DC's writing (especially in All Stars), but i actually think that the ONC writers don't have enough faith in themselves. i mean that in the sense that, across the season, they set up really compelling plotlines and rivalries between both Jake/Ally and Connor/Riya that people will naturally want to see fulfilled.
for Ally and Jake, just being here and being forced to work together after everything they've been through is already enough, especially when Connor's hopes are stacked on top of it as well. we're in it with the characters for the ride. so, we don't need more bits of fake drama, like Jake being petty and shocking Ally out of nowhere last episode, or Ally reacting stupidly to Riya's obvious lie, to keep up invested. we don't need a huge last-minute spectacle to feel like Ally and Jake working together is a big deal, because they've been subtly and slowly convincing us of that through the entire season. instead, diverting from the steady characterization to inject needless drama in is just going to convince everyone that nothing matters.
i don't know if this could be a miscalculated flaw from trying to account for the fact that any viewer could hop in at any time on youtube, or appealing to the youtube/tiktok algorithm, or an internal, insecure standard to insert drama into the show at any cost, but i hope that the writers realize how good they are at using heartfelt scenes to build up character dynamics across entire seasons and stop breaking character for silly plot twists in season 4. i have a lot of faith in the writers. i hope they can find that faith in themselves.
y'know, everyone keeps saying that...
OOH THE MOTION BLUR??? POP OFF ONC ANIMATION TEAM I SEE YOU
the "Ally, you're going there!" sign was so fucking funny
that's not very "i'll never work with or trust Riya again" of you, Grett
i literally said before Riya struck her pose, "i hope that Riya does the 'aren't you gay?' pose when it's her turn" and then she did! it's her signature move for a reason ;D
this is, like, the exact same spot and pose as when Trevor initially found Derek and Kristal kissing. i wonder if that was intentional. also, the Gay Thoughts Montage(tm) was really funny.
why would you do it like that? hasn't Trevor suffered enough...? (/j)
@venus-is-thinking pointed out the hilarity of Jake being the one to say this, as he's one of the two contestants who actually has been in the mines before. i guess it just goes to show how disorienting the bags were.
get his ass!!!
i KNEW Ally was going to make a minecraft reference as soon as Kristal explained the challenge. miiiiiiiiiiiiine diiiiiiiiiiamoooooooonds...
way to keep your eyes on the prize, queen.
we love money laundering!! (i think that's close enough to what money laundering is? also i'm joking, obviously.)
again, what is Emily's motivation here? i know it's technically "get the show canceled to embarass Kristal," but she really believes in that so strongly as to put the lives of six innocents-- including an eight year old-- at risk to do so? idk, i feel like Emily's character fell off the realm of reality into supervillain status. it's sad :(
boy, i sure am glad that we witness Riya and Yul pick up 10 gems in this scene! (/s /j)
very brave, Jake. i feel like this parallels something in s1, although i can't remember what. maybe it's just Alec protecting Fiore? that doesn't seem particularly relevant, unless Jake is also auditioning to be her dad.
James: wait... does that mean Jake and Ally are going to fall madly in love with each other? #rivalstolovers.
they look like paleontological fossils in there. the fuck happened to them?
somebody, quick, give them a miniseries! this is too good of a poster opportunity to pass up!
you have to make sure you strike a slay pose, even as you're dying.
props to the trailer for making it look like Ally was the one who sent the rocks to James' face instead of Riya. that was a fun setup and subversion of expectations!
see, Riya can and will use your backstory against you! i was kind of expecting her to do this to Jake, too, given the setup from earlier in the episode. i guess they might be saving that for the finale proper, though.
(check out the reblog for my thoughts on the ending, i ran out of images)
#disventure camp#dcas#dcas initial thoughts#disventure camp spoilers#btw i know jake is mlm only i was just joking around#i don't actually condone anyone shipping jake and ally because jake is not interested in women (thumbs up)
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One of the things that really immediately soured me on the show from the first trailer was that in the movie and book Louis being a slaveowner was a very subtle but very important part of his character and the whole movie's arc, because it removed him from the audience's moral standards even before he started killing anyone and it both foreshadowed and played into the theme that despite his superficial and egotistical angst he's kinna an asshole who needs to get the hell over himself, far from the pure and innocent victim of faie he feels he is throughout. It's only after he rejects Armand that he finally understands his problem and rises above the endless self-pity.
I had assumed that element had just been entirely done away with, but I'd learned that, actually, the show version of Louis was a pimp.
To explicitly put pimping on the exact same level as slavery he'd have to be actively committing acts of abusive that would peg him as completely loathsome from the jump with zero room to ignore it - as a slaveowner in the further past, the story actually COUNTS on the audience ignoring the really obvious evil bad thing because of the "man of his time" fallacy, that's what makes it subtle, it sneaks past the audience's biases to present something fucked up and then by the end it's like, what, you're surprised he's a hypocritical asshole? He owned slaves, that shoulda been a dead giveaway.
Like, I feel like pimping would be hard to depict as truly equivalent/"as bad" without making it much louder and in the audience's face with the fact that he's a dick in a way that wouldn't really work for his character, because his whole thing is that his dickishness comes with a disarmingly woobie-coded sheen.
But, even so, the writers did have that element in mind, they noticed how that part of his mortal life at the beginning of the narrative contributed to what the rest of the narrative went on to explore, and though I don't yet know exactly how it was executed, they clearly made the attempt to carry it into the radically changed circumstances of the show. That counts for a lot to me. Even if I end up thinking it's flawed in any number of ways, I without hesitation admit that when the trailer came out I was far too quick to write it off as the product of people who didn't understand or even didn't care about the story.
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I like how Sonic 06’s defenders and their arguments never conform or line up with one another, like each of them has a different interpretation and headcanon to the game’s plot and characters.
Some say the Time Travel works in X way, others say it works in Y way, and so on, even though it’s never outright stated in the game any of this, and their own theories have their share of inconsistencies and holes with what the game shows us. Then there are the ones who say Mephiles is a 400 IQ villain whose actions were all according to his masterful and sadistic plan (despite all the other characters becoming fucking dumbass for all the ass plot to happen), and there are ones who says he’s supposed to be a dumbass and a coward, even though Eggman in the end props him up like a master manipulator who trolled them all, so I’m not exactly sure if the game confirms this view.
There is never a consensus on what exactly is the case on these things and it’s so funny to me. Maybe someone could say that because the story is so complex, deep and masterful, one could draw many interpretations from it. Like, yeah, it’s totally not because everything in the story is poorly explained, established, shown and executed, making everyone have the chance to fill in the gaps with any kind of bullshit the game shows and establishes or even what it doesn’t show and establishes lol.
Surge might have dethroned him as my least favourite Sonic villain of all time (funny how it didn't really take that much effort beyond simply being as annoying as possible for my tastes...), but Leslie the Dark is still a shoddy result who similarly did not earn his fandom acclaim. Much like how my personal distaste for Frontiers doesn't mean I'm suddenly going to start fawning over '06, or any other game I consider too flawed to consider good in the unironic sense.
You can tell Mephiles was set up to be the ultimate mastermind, and that him failing to line up with that role was not intentional. Notice you'll get fans gushing over how brilliant he is, but once you point out the issues with him, then they'll switch gears and act as though his flaws were deliberately woven into his portrayal. Either that, or that you can't expect perfection from a Sonic story (which is hilarious since most fans make a big deal about how they care more about the story than the gameplay, to the point of excusing certain installments of their non-nitpick shortcomings if they find the story to be halfway decent). It's no different to claiming Scourge was always meant to be a parody, despite how he would frequently be presented as the biggest and baddest threat with no irony whatsoever: it's a lazy excuse to justify bad writing, and very obviously such.
The only reason you could give Mephiles for going out of his way to convince Silver to kill Sonic is that he couldn't do so himself for whatever reason... which goes out the window when he ends up doing the deed himself anyway. It's not like he was too busy either, since up to that point, he spent the rest of his time fooling around with Shadow in ways that didn't really contribute anything to his ultimate plan. Or that he could have teleported all the Chaos Emeralds to his destination from the start, since it turns out he can do that as well, with no reason provided in the game as to why he didn't do so beforehand. While you can write a villain whose indulgements might occasionally drift from their overall scheme, you need to be smart about it, and provide context that doesn't compromise the story's structure.
This is what happens when prioritizing cheap power level thrills overwrites the plotting. To my dismay, this would not be the last time it becomes an issue in a Sonic game. *looks at Frontiers' shortsighted milking of super forms*
The recent push to retcon '06 in general as secretly brilliant is always going to be an example of why I don't take a statement as gospel just because it's a popular one. Yes, '06 does have some moments worthy of praise, and some ideas did have potential, but that doesn't mean the final overall product is actually good. The humans still look uncanny. The world still leans too far into realism for realism's sake. The gameplay remains as broken as ever, and no amount of praise given to Project '06 will change that the original game remains broken. Elise's character being reevaluated and appreciated is nice, but she was still used poorly in the plot. Silver might be powerful, but on top of being made to piggyback off of Shadow's popularity (and the majority of his creative process being little more than "think Trunks"), he was ultimately portrayed as a total idiot, and the way they framed him beating Sonic was just as unearned as Mephiles' kill, and contributed to Sonic's poor treatment in the game as a whole. Do I even need to go on, given what game that nearly killed the franchise we're talking about?
It's frustrating for me because not only can I express fondness for a less than stellar product while also acknowledging its quality with no issue at all (I am fully trained in the ways of Enter the Dragonfly and its lip flapping muppet models), I also happen to love stories that deliberately keep some of the details ambiguous in a way that's satisfying and intriguing instead of coming off as a cop out. So for people to hold up '06 as an example of that offends me lol, especially after so many years of later games being beaten over the head because fans cried up and down about not settling for mediocrity.
So we won't settle for perceived mediocrity, but outright shit is fair game?
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🕯️(from Daryl)
What Rick thinks about Daryl.
Surprisingly enough, i think it didn't change much along the seasons. Rick knows Daryl is a good person. Full of problems and isolated, he is aware, but still a good person, and most of the times, he managed to have Daryl contribute to the team and stay on their side. Because Daryl is a lot driven by emotions, Rick did a great job at manipulating him in so many situations. Overall, I would say Rick was an asshole to Daryl so many times, mostly indirectly, by locking his brother on the roof and have Daryl go with him but use the trip to mostly recover the bag with the weapons instead of searching for Merle, let Daryl go search for Sophia on his own so many times despite being so dangerous ( he didn't offer to help all the times but also didn't stand against it). And when he decided to kick Carol from the group, it was pure injustice against Daryl, as well in Woodbury, when Rick tried to have Daryl abandon his brother (again) to escape with them instead. Later on, behind Daryl's back, Rick tried to use Merle to take Michonne to the Governor for a peace deal, but ultimately regrets it. That choice though leads to Merle's death.
Rick knows Daryl has a strong sense of justice, therefore, uses many moral arguments to convince the hunter to help him out. He also knows Daryl is alone and does what he can so he feels part of the group, giving him space when he needs but always being around to include him in tasks and such. Daryl probably is aware of all that, but he doesn't care, because he agrees with Rick's approach on decisions most of the time. It was inevitable though, how Rick became emotionally bound to Daryl, because well, he knows Daryl is aware how Rick himself can be selfish, manipulative and coldly use people; Daryl even so was always there for him, despite Rick's flaws. The huge trust and leadership support Rick gets from Daryl in the worst moments, probably the sheriff would never be able to explain it with words.
Rick and Daryl's bond gets deeper and they become each other's moderator of morals. Sometimes Rick is breaking the boundaries and starting to act too cruel, like on season 4-5, Daryl will try to hold him back. Daryl starts acting too cruel, Rick holds him back, and so on.
And it's in that dynamic that Beth ends up dead, and Daryl in a way blames himself for it- Rick had decided for a direct assault, where they would kill the main officers and rescue Carol and Beth, while Daryl and others from the group voted against it and chose to negotiate, which lead to Beth losing her life. Rick knows he feels guilty, but says nothing, he also feels guilty as the leader.
After that event, Daryl begun having a colder approach to decisions. Next time it happens the other way around. Daryll wants to explode the Sanctuary and Rick doesn't want to, they end up fighting and despite overcoming Rick, the sheriff manages to get rid of the explosives. It's interesting how Rick uses his manipulative sequence to try and convince Daryl. First he appeals to the moral sentimental idea, that workers who are innocent could get hurt. Daryl ignores that part. So Rick appeals to the battle strategy, that the workers could be potential allies. Daryl ignores it. So Rick resorts to fear, saying the workers could turn against them if Daryl did that. But Daryl ignores, so Rick tries with force, and despite being beaten down by Daryl quite quickly, he manages to ruin the explosives.
Then Daryl got taken by Negan, humiliated and tortured, and Rick, as failed leader, felt extreme guilt. Without Daryl (and Carol, Glenn and Abraham) he felt weak, lost, insecure and completely vulnerable. Negan took from Rick precisely the people who would rebel the most and give Rick enough impulse to fight back, and it worked for quite some time. Next time Rick managed to fight Negan and have a chance was exactly when he got Daryl and Carol back to fight with him. And it wasn't just a firepower situation, it was mainly an emotional situation. When Carl died and Rick lost his ground, Daryl was the one who lead the others to safety, including his daughter Judith. Daryl did everything and more for Rick.
The next time their conflict happened was with Negan's defeat. Rick chose to let Negan live, and again put many manipulative layers so people agreed with him. First the moral one, to not take a life (very hypocrite of Rick but that's just an excuse anyway), then for the fact he wanted to give the community an example and make sure Negan got behind bars (another excuse in a way because keeping Negan alive was always a risk so the Saviors could try and break in to rescue him), then the excuse he's trying to bring law and order back to a community where people can live together in peace (that's a good excuse, but Rick again, didn't need to keep Negan alive for it)- and the potential true reasons he spared Negan, because Carl asked him and maybe because he wanted to see Negan suffer in prison for a long time, and indeed kill the old, strong Negan as he rots behind bars and gets depression. Daryl doesn't swallow that though, as well as Maggie. That leads to Daryl betraying Rick, by taking him away from the destination he was supposed to, so Maggie got the chance to kill Negan, however, that leads to Rick's "death" on the bridge incident, what makes Daryl feel guilty and spend more than 7 years looking for his friend, while he also made sure his daughter was safe.
I believe Daryl's betrayal was really a huge surprise for Rick, who knows he also has been lying to himself and making excuses because he still just couldn't deal with Carl's death. But even knowing he was right, Daryl knows it was a bad decision and ironically, Negan ends up saving him and Judith in later seasons- all making Daryl rethink so much and isolate himself again.
I think Rick is aware of how much he pushed Daryl along their journey, and Daryl is aware of how much he let Rick push and use him, but both somehow are okay with that, Daryl is a much better person than Rick showed to be, on the moral and loyal spectrum, and maybe that's why at the bridge, Rick isn't revolted at Daryl- quite the opposite- he just looks proud and thankful towards his brother right before he vanishes in the explosion.
There were many issues that needed solving in the communities, such as living with the Saviors and the conflicts and grudges that still were present. Rick wasn't fully focused on that anymore though, he needed a break. He needed a break but also couldn't give the leadership up. Rick's awful when talking about his personal and emotional issues, and I guess Daryl couldn't see Rick needed a break, that he still hadn't headed from Carl's death. While Rick was trying to heal and build hopes for the future, Maggie and Daryl still were stuck in the hate of the past, and to not blame them, they would deal with the consequences every day, Daryl with the community problems and Maggie with raising her son alone, missing Glenn every day.
Maybe if Rick had a bit more of an emotional intelligence to open up and expose his wounds a bit more and show his emotional limitations, Daryl and Maggie would have understood him earlier, but Rick always kept showing he was alright and justifying his actions with morals or goals, while he was mostly focused on the development of the communities rather than the conflicts. He wanted peace and he wanted a future and indeed, if Rick hadn't vanished, the communities probably wouldn't have had so much problem with the wild winter, Eugene's projects would have received more attention and the Whispirers wouldn't have been such a big problem, since Rick could have negotiated with Alpha, formulated war strategies to deal with them (the Whispirers were very low on firepower) and even guided Alpha's horde away, since the sheriff already had experience with that beforehand.
This was a long one, tell me if you liked it. Feel free to comment / reblog 💗
@wexarethewalkingxdead
#character analysis#daryl dixon#twd daryl#the walking dead#twd#the walking dead daryl#rick grimes#rick twd#twd rick#wexarethewalkingxdead
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Tadadada! Here's the epilogue to my 'Overanalyzing beach Maiko' series.
Firstly, let's list some main conclusion theses:
1) Mai became interested in Zuko's problems after he directly mentioned his scar and his relationship with Ozai for the first time, so her final change of attitude does make some sense.
2) The basis for Zuko's irrational jealousy was Mai's annoyed facial expression after he criticized Ruon-Jian.
3) The context of Zuko's jealousy rampage actually leaves a loophole for not-possessive interpretation (yay).
4) Despite how badly Zuko screwed up, Mai somehow managed to screw up even more (yep, still sounds contr-intuitive).
5) Mai actually expresses herself all the time and her "childhood trauma" is a big bullshit.
6) Apart from his inner crisis, Zuko has to fix many problematic attitudes and personality settings before he'll become a decent romantic partner for anyone.
7) So does Mai.
Something like this.
And now, a bit of old good boring and inaccurate psychology lecture mistake correction.
I think that I misinterpreted Zuko's side of "bring me food" scene, actually. You see, I saw it as conscious submission in order to avoid conflict with Mai, but...
It actually looks more like Zuko genuinely didn't realize that Mai's demand was not okay. He wasn't exactly eager to please her*, but he also didn't see her attitude towards him as problematic.
(*Not catching Mai's "I'm hungry" initial hint is kind of an indicator of Zuko's cool-off towards her. I mean, acts of service is his typical way of showing affection, which makes his sudden cluelesness pretty notable.)
Basically, Mai and Zuko in this scene demonstrate opposite facets of locus of control problem. Simply put, they both believe that Zuko is responsible for something he really isn't - in this case, satisfying Mai's hunger.
Later, though, it's Zuko who believes Mai owes him something - namely, to give him affection and meet his emotional needs. In his head, he gives responsibility for his emotional well-being to Mai and scolds her when she "ignores her duty" by not being "passionate" enough.
(But while Mai doesn't owe Zuko anything formally, she made a mistake of severely underestimating Zuko's contribution into relationship and his real value for her. This resulted in her coldness and lack of gratitude in response to his affection, which is quite a big relationship screw-up.)
Okaaay, and with that part out of the way, it's time for my final personal reflections.
In general, I have no doubts I made lots of other mistakes during my analysis. I tried my best, but to dissect relationship conflicts correctly, you need to have good feeling of personal boundaries and empathy of your own. And... Well. It's not exactly my forte.
I compensate for some things with theoretical knowledge, but my mind is a mess, so... Yep.
I feel like I have to go and read more psychological theory after this.
Also, I kinda tried to do an entertainment out of this, and roasting format doesn't exactly mix good with being objective. So, yep. It seems I got some kind of useless Frankenstein monster in the end, lol.
And finally... Perhaps I had to make it clear much earlier, but...
I have nothing against Maiko shippers or Mai fans. Ta-da!
I'm sure they have a lot against me now though, pffft.
I realize what I wasn't exactly restrained in my roasting, so it's natural for you to dislike me. But my goal wasn't to tell you what your preferences are inadequate or something. I mean, I myself ship much more toxic problematic shit (and have a weak spot for all sorts of flawed characters). It isn't supposed to be about being rational. You like it, I don't, it's ok.
Dunno, maybe someone needed to hear this.
That's all, I guess. If you were reading this series - thanks for your attention. Despite everything, it was a rather interesting experience for me, and I hope you found something useful for yourself too.
I wonder what I should analyse next >:D
I ignore all notifications, but maybe I'll make an exception soon. Ta-da! What a cliffhanger.
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I have maybe stupid thought/question. It’s thought that changes into question. And it could be dumb so I choose anon option.
Let’s go! “it channels strength, in a way that is characteristic of shanks throughout the whole manga.” This got my attention because maybe I’m an idiot but a lot of those moments are shanks mask. He is playing big bad emperor, he needs to do it to protect his fleet. We see it more recently. I understood this that way. “mihawk isn't afraid of shanks, but he's still alert while approaching him”. That also. Tbh I always saw them as two close friends who occasionally spared for the title. But this looks weird to me now? I just thought shanks face is a joke because he is just hangover but acts like something big is going on. But your interpretation seems to be more into shanks is channeling his emperor persona. And yes mihawk is dangerous but I never thought he would attack shanks? He constantly is against that. I’m not sure why, can we trust him it’s only arm or something more? Does he care about shanks that much? Not attacking luffy would point to it. So if that’s the case why is shanks like that? Putting this strength face on? Sorry if it’s stupid.
it's not stupid at all, i see your point of view and all your questions are valid to me.
i think when talking about shanks we necessarily have to split between two separate readings of his character, and look at him from two different points of view: the one of the readers and the one of the other characters.
it's obvious that shanks has two sides to him; his emperor persona is in direct opposition to his sillier, more carefree side. when we see shanks in the manga, we always look at him from the point of view of other characters, mainly luffy, buggy or, like in the case we are talking about, mihawk. as the point of view varies, so does shanks's demeanor, depending on what type of relationship he has with said character. after a brief menacing introduction, and after luffy's wanted poster is revealed, we see a side of shanks that is adjacent to the one we see in luffy's flashbacks: mihawk is an old friend of his, so he invites him for a drink and makes space for him to celebrate with his crew. the air felt thick before mihawk mentioned luffy, but only because his visit was sudden and unannounced. don't forget mihawk was a warlord at the time, so of course shanks got defensive. they weren't exactly on bad terms, it's true, but they're both two affirmed figures now, so it's fair for them to be more cautious in the presence of the other.
if we hop behind the fourth wall and look for a non-diegetic explanation, then, it's more or less what i explained in my previous post. we, as readers, have a more global understanding of shanks. we know shanks puts up a front, an armor of sorts: behind his façade lies a more solemn version of himself, one that takes his place very seriously and appears more meditative and resolved. is this side of him a travesty, too? there's no way to know as of now.
i love how puzzling shanks is, it's my favorite part of his character. he's unpredictable, sometimes basically indefinite. it's not a character flaw, though. everything we know about him passes through other characters' visions, which contributes to the confusing outline the readers have of him. it's a tool that helps us know him without ever seeing his side of the story.
#i hope this answers all your questions#i admit there's a lot i still don't understand about shanks#but it's the intended purpose of his character. i think#star answers#star yaps#one piece#red haired shanks#shanks one piece#dracule mihawk#hawkeye mihawk#one piece meta
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I don't know if I can even say that One Post about Shinguuji is written embarrassingly because it's kind of hard to write long posts in an Entertaining Way while still being Serious and doing that thing where I over-explain everything out of fear of misunderstandings (but it actually causes people to overthink it, which causes misunderstandings). Whatever way I went about it in 2018 (holy shit) was probably fine to me at the time. And tumblr posts should NOT be perfect.
[content warnings: references to incest, abuse, sexual abuse, sexual assault]
Anyway, I still stand strongly by my theory that we're meant to understand that Korekiyo's sister is the one who killed Angie. Unfortunately, I think for some reason, a shitton of Korekiyo's characterisation was buried very deep between the lines, in tiny characters. I haven't played DRV3 in a long while, but I feel like he's possibly the worst example of that writing flaw.
At this point in time, I really can't view Korekiyo's situation of incest as anything but a case of him being a victim. I was just thinking about his Love Suite Event... (rewatches it for reference...) ... HOLY SHIT IT'S FORWARD.
...I was just thinking about his Love Suite Event, and the possibility that he, himself, hasn't known anything but this. If I recall, his Free Time Events (or Bonus Mode, you'll understand that this is my brainrot archiving Korekiyo memories, and not that I played the game recently) implied that he had experienced being bound himself.
(Screenshot from the Danganronpa Wiki on Fandom.)
...Right. (I am not a fan of Shuuichi but "I feel like that door should remain closed." is an objectively funny line.)
The rest is about being reunited with, assumedly, his sister, and the entire event is him describing things very vaguely. It's completely unclear - to me at least - what the practice he's referring to is. Obviously, this is on purpose.
[Placing a cut here in consideration of anyone who may need this post to be shorter on their feed.]
But my reading of Korekiyo (she's writing another Korekiyo post right now isn't she) is that of a victim of abuse who has not realised it's abuse. Personally, I view his insistence on the beauty of both the "beautiful and ugly" of humanity as something he's saying to reassure himself - a world-view he made himself adopt because the truth is much scarier.
In his fantasy, Korekiyo is the one in control. And I can't help but view his description of the other person's feelings - something ugly, that he cannot love, only toy with ("responding to out of simple curiosity") as a projection of how he views his own feelings, or has been made to think them as. Though of course this could be doubly, or solely read as a reference to him already considering his heart taken.
...And with my reading of it, of course the fact that he sees it as normal to stop Shuuichi from running away, might just be what has been hammered as normal to him.
(That does not make it right. The rest of the event puts it as though Shuuichi does fall under his charm, because it's not trying to be that dark, but the entire event is a horrible, inappropriate way to approach BDSM. My point is exactly this: this isn't healthy. It's a torturous reality that victims of abuse might turn out to be abusers themselves for lack of knowledge of anything else, or of where the boundaries between "abuse" and "normalcy" lie - and I don't shy away from reading Korekiyo's writing as such because I know Kodaka hasn't shied away from writing a grimmer version of this in a previous instalment.)
His final FTE, in which he describes being bound and whipped, contributes to my reading that he refuses to acknowledge he's being abused. Being in control in his fantasy could be an attempt to reclaim control over BDSM acts - but because it's not described as him consenting to a clear act with Shuuichi, and rather just a fantasy that lies in his mind, I mostly view it as... he doesn't have any other reference for how it's done.
To come back to his relationship with his sister, as I've explored in past posts, I view it in a similar lens: she was the one controlling him, and at the time of his death, he hadn't had the ability to get out of her control. (Most abusers disappear when they die, but she did not. See "I'm Glad My Mom Died" by Jennette McCurdy - in her very real experience, she struggled as a kid as she both loved and feared her mother, and as an adult, was able to put words on the fact that she'd been abused after her mom was gone. Obviously, Korekiyo's very loose writing of such a situation is not a good reference to learn about this type of abuse and its survivors at all.) Her lack of love - despite pretending she cared - for him was hinted at in his execution, although again, this isn't set in stone, as it could just be a case of Monokuma using her image to torture him.
All of this does nothing to change the crimes he committed - what it does is put his situation into perspective.
Of course, there's the matter of... "how much of this is headcanon, rather than reading between the lines?" and you may judge me however you like. (The most harshly the most you disagree with my takes.) I personally identify this as my reading of canon, so I wouldn't use the words "headcanon" or "theory", but because canon gives us so little, I veer into theory territory. My main wish is that the writing of Trial 3 had been a lot more transparent about Korekiyo's surprise to "how much their accusations [about Angie] sounded right". Korekiyo was one of Danganronpa's most obvious killers, and the trial could have done with some confusing or heart-tugging "wait, I really don't think I did it", before his sister gets here and convinces him to accept it. Similarly to the way Danganronpa 2's Trial 2 blurred the lines about Peko's culpability a bit, without making the player doubt it too much either... it's just good characterisation. From that point on, I think it would have been a lot easier for many players to question the position his sister had towards him.
Something I haven't mentioned here but that contributes to my assumptions is that the very reason incest isn't accepted as a form of regular love in our society, is that it's a high-risk situation for control imbalance, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse - or alternatively, it exists as a result of familial/child abuse. Real cases of incest have shown to exist with these reasons, rather than healthy love. It's with this knowledge that doubt is immediately cast on Korekiyo having genuinely been loved by his sister.
Of course, one could read it the opposite way - that he had an unhealthy obsession with his sister and was the one to abuse her - but to me, this is disproven by her act of pretending to embrace him before laughing at him during his execution, and the fact that she was the one to possess him and during the trial, he responded to her control/wants/orders (there was nothing to show he was acting on her behalf without her consent or knowledge; even a theory that she killed Angie to cause him to get caught doesn't hold water, since he was putting together Tenko's murder at the time, and finally, she made the damn uniform for him - it all comes back to the uniform in the end!!!1!).
But uuuh don't quote me on this or anything
#danganronpa#danganronpa v3#drv3#ndrv3#korekiyo shinguuji#korekiyo shinguji#jan essay#omg i remembered this tag
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