#weepingrebelshark

[dragynkeep]

think I've been shadowbanned, but to light the match that burns Tumblr down: Bumblebee for the ask game?

send me a ship & i'll make it problematic.

canon legit already did this for us but off the top of my head : emotional manipulation, white saviourism, racism in the relationship, infantilizing yang's disability, lack of communication, toxic as all hell, emotional co-dependence out the wazoo. also yang shoved her into a table so clearly physical abuse too huh :// [/j]

[veliseraptor]

I wish you would write a fic where the Chang were hardcore Wen supporters or something, so Xue Yang is known as a war hero but a feared and shady one in the manner of Wei Wuxian post Sunshot.

I feel like I would be interested in a serious take on this, potentially, but the way my brain is going with it is just "oh my god I feel like Xue Yang would be so mad honestly." because okay, sure, people are fine with him killing them all, that's great, they think he's cool now, but (a) I don't think Xue Yang particularly cares about society thinking he's a hero, except in the tangential benefits it might get him, and (b) they're okay with it for the wrong reasons.

great! cool! it's fine that he killed the Chang because they were on the wrong political side, everyone's happy about that, but do they give a fuck about his own personal grievance that was the entire point he did it in the first place? nope! nobody cares about that, do they! it only matters because it serves the political ends of ~actually important people~ because until something matters to ~important people~ then who gives a fuck, right >:(

and I think that would just really piss him off. like, on the one hand it's kind of funny that people think he's a war hero or whatever, that people are grateful he did this thing that he did for his own personal gratification, but he's choking on the absurdity that is the ways in which their appreciation just proves everything he's ever thought about the priorities of the cultivation world and what people think matters.

but yeah I do find it kind of interesting how much Xue Yang doesn't really care for public acclaim or recognition. he's not particularly invested in status or legitimacy the way that Jin Guangyao or Su She are. some of that is because he's just straight up given up on that as something that he even has a chance at or a stake in, but some of it is just that...it's not what he needs! and I don't think he'd find it particularly satisfying to receive, particularly if he felt like everyone was still missing the fucking point.

[fincalinde]

Thoughts on Wen Qing?

I did already discuss WQ here, but I've dredged my brain for further opinions and here goes.

I think it's important to remember that while WQ is at the pinnacle of her field and is capable of doing things no other doctor has ever done, she is not WWX.

WWX is your classic maverick, a trope based more in fiction than reality: he invents a new school of cultivation and does all sorts of experiments in a haphazard and artistic way that signals his peculiar genius. WQ on the other hand, while not wholly recognisable as a modern scientist, is a more grounded character. She still seems to be developing her theories alone, which is what you'd expect in fiction where it's easier to have one character rather than a group of researchers making breakthroughs, but her approach is organised and relatively scientific. She hasn't been doing unregulated experiments: she has written an essay arguing that a core transfer is a theoretically possible procedure, but hasn't proceeded with any practical experimentation because she can't obtain consent from any living subjects.

Of course she does ultimately do the core transfer between WWX and JC without JC knowing, so it's not as though she adheres to modern medical ethics, but that's consistent with the culture she's operating in. It's not ideal that JC isn't informed, but the donor (WWX) is the one risking death and the one who will lose their core, which is absolutely essential to being a member of the jianghu and being above average people and their worldly concerns. It's not necessarily a good thing, but it makes sense that this would be at the forefront of everyone's minds.

WQ must very much want to be the first person to successfully perform such a procedure, even if she can never take credit for it, and probably never thought she'd get the opportunity to make an attempt. Though we're not explicitly told so, that desire must logically be a factor in why she ends up going against her own initial inclination and performing the procedure. I think it's telling as to her own personal priorities and principles that she resists strongly at first and only changes her mind at the urging of WWX, and it ends up being thematically apt too. After the core transfer, after the war, WQ ends up living at the Burial Mounds with WWX, aligning herself with his values and his way of operating—and in their final moments together, she immobilises him without his consent and sacrifices herself for his benefit without letting him have a say in the matter.

[unofficialadamtaurus]

I have to say something I'm really annoyed isn't brought up more when it comes to Adam and militancy is that the Faunus Rights War was an actual thing. This isn't like our world's civil rights movement which is watered down into some purely pacifistic thing, it's openly acknowledged that violent, large scale insurgency was what prevented the literal ethnic cleansing of Faunus. Adam and Sienna would have a massive, war shaped example, within living memory, of how violent action has been not only a valid strategy to preserving their peoples' rights but also the pretty much only successful one.

From Blake's own mouth the violent tactics were working. Yeah, they inspired fear, but when there's no other option you take what you can get. That fear response in the humans saved faunus lives.

For some, there is never an excuse to meet violence with violence. I am not a part of that group. Do violent things, expect a violent response - especially if a global war waged over those violent things is a story your grandparents can swap around the dinner table.

[attackfish]

Evil Ursa AU where she is all on board with slaughtering everyone who blocks Ozai seat on the throne, acting as his hand in the shadows? I'm pretty sure such a personality and Ozai's would clash, but there's the slim possibility they'd like one another (while also enabling each other's worst tendencies).

I have a long standing policy against evil Ursa prompts or prompts where Ursa favored Azula, etc. because I have this persistent problem where I get periodic bouts of people who do not like my reading of canon and characterization, asking me for prompts that they are hoping will somehow force me to write the characterization they agree with. This never ends well, and on more than one occasion, the asker has responded to me turning them down by going and talking about how horrible I am by name. I really don't understand this, because like, if you don't like the way I write characters, why are you asking me to write those characters?

I know that this ask is not in that vein, because I've interacted with @weepingrebelshark-reactivated enough to know that's not how they act. So I actually want to talk a little bit about why I don't think this type of AU works. This has much less to do with Ursa's characterization than with Ozai's. The asker themselves mentions that even evil, Ursa's personality could clash with Ozai's. I don't think they're wrong, but that's not the way I would put it. Ozai is not a particularly complex character, but he is deftly characterized to be a certain kind of terrible person that are not in fact that rare in the real world. He's not just "evil", he's an insecure sack of shit, who takes his fears and self-doubt out on everyone around him, and seeks status to prove to himself and to everyone around him that he isn't worthless. This characterization comes out much less in his official actions as firelord than it does in his interactions with his family.

We have heavily implied in the show that his father abused him, that he favored Iroh over Ozai and was cruel and dismissive of his younger son in profound ways, that left Ozai resentful, and also covering up a deep well of insecurity. Ozai's relationship with his wife and children is equally revealing. Azula's words with regards to her uncle make it very clear that Ozai talks smack about his brother around her all the time, while Ursa and Zuko's reactions show that he does not do this around them. I'm writing an essay that goes more in depth about what this means for Azula, but for now, suffice it to say that this is a sign that Ozai is using her as a surrogate companion in ways she is definitely not old enough to handle. When this happens, it's because a parent doesn't have another companion. It's because they either have no ability to find an adult companion to talk to, or because they are afraid to, so they use a child who is under their control, and who can't reject them.

Ozai is not seeking companionship from his wife. Part of this is because he bitterly resents her, for reasons that have very little to do with her, and much more to do with the situation of how they got married, which is to say, his father deciding to use them both in a breeding project. Likewise, it was not Iroh who was given a backcountry actress from a family of disgraced nobodies for a bride. It was Ozai. I find it hard to believe that Ozai wouldn't see this as a snub, as his father forcing him to marry a low status woman. This has nothing to do with who Ursa is as a person, and even if she were Ozai's ideal wife, she would have to work against this massive preexisting disadvantage.

But what is Ozai's ideal wife? The fact that he seeks out Azula as a surrogate companion also means he isn't seeking out intimate friends. Azula, as a child, is someone he can control, and who doesn't know enough about the world to see through his self-aggrandizing. Ozai resents and fears his father, resents and scorns his brother, resents and is cruel toward his wife, resents and dismisses his son, and uses his daughter as a companion he can control, as a supply of affirmation and even adoration. This paints a picture of a man who cannot have a relationship with an equal, who must either be under someone's power, or have them under his, and any relationship he has with anyone in his power is going to be somehow deeply abusive. He wouldn't be be receptive to a co-conspirator. He doesn't want someone who shares his agenda. The best wife, as far as he's concerned, is one who looks up to him, is in awe of him, buys into the self-serving lies he tells himself, and parrots them back to him. Anything else, including a woman who takes an active interest in scheming to put him in power, is too much of a challenge to his self image. She could see through him to the pathetic weakling his father convinced him he secretly is.

But even if Ursa were perfectly in awe of and submissive to him, he would eventually lash out at her, and take his anger and fear out on her, because there is no way for anyone to perfectly manage his fears and insecurities for him. When coming up with ideas, it's really easy to put things in terms of, what if XYZ character were evil, instead of good, and then we have to step back and think about what it actually means to be evil and good, and how to make a realistic character who does bad things, or wants to achieve destructive ends, before we can even consider how that changes how everybody acts around them. But in this case, none of that matters. Any kind of change to Ursa's personality and actions is almost beside the point. The dynamics of Ozai's nuclear family are entirely shaped by his power and his fears.

[isekaithatplease]

Do know any Webtoon/manhwa which has the FL or ML be a commoner or ex-slave (discluding Beware the Villainess) and/or seeks to actual fix class issues and slavery?

Honestly- I can’t think of any of them right now that fully addresses that (at least on the manhwa side of things). Most of them just kinda like sticking with the whole ‘elite class’ thing (both characters coming from high status).

I do know that the fl in Stanning the prince was an ex-slave at some point in her life. I also do know that there are some manhwa where the fl or the ml are animals (Yes I am serious XD), so I’m not sure if that technically counts? If you’re interested I could maybe suggest one for you there.

I’ll ask around on reddit to see if there’s any good solid recommendations for things like this, as the reddit is usually pretty good at finding/recommending manhwas with specific topics/issues.

[redmoonslice]

Adam, when it comes to the Faunus and how some are more Faunus passing than others (e.g., Ilia) have you had to deal with tensions in the WF because of that?

“Somewhat at first even if some had rough times when trying to get used to that, especially in Ilia’s case even... though that was something to settle. Till telling others to at least figure out the subtle differences of a human’s scent and other Faunus.” having dealt with that for a few days till the matter was settled and getting the others back in order again for the whole disruption, “I found myself being leery of her at first honestly, if it wasn’t for a keen sense of smell I likely think she be a human trying to attempt in breaking in the group.” finding that to be a bit funny but then again he couldn’t help but have mixed feelings of ones that had that kind of thing for passing to be human just about. Giving a low hum when thinking back to how those days were rough and how he give the other a cold shoulder at first even, “Despite the whole passing thing, I could say it makes for easier spying though. Given it comes in handy when scoping out anything as well, least in my personal opinion... despite my hatred for humans.” giving that a slight pass since it did pay off to have few Faunus passing as humans and how that helped at times, “I do admit it be difficult when coming across ones that are like that in the group, at least no one was murdered when I was around so that’s a good thing I guess. Then again most of us have varying degrees of hatred for humans and such.” honest of that part since most of the Faunus did have that least ones he knew somewhat and worked alongside with.

[dragynkeep]

TW: non con, child sa and incest

Oh boy, I think what's being referenced is the MIsts of Avalon. It was a 'feminist' retelling of King Arthur that's been criticised for not being very feminist, being against Christian supremacism while at the same time degrading it in favor of presenting paganism as superior, and, most importantly whitewashing incest and paedophilia. Now, that last point gets especially bad when it came out years after the author's death that she sexually abused her daughter and knew her then-husband had raped multiple children (he was also a part of a group that seeks to legalise paedophilia). She was also apparently had a female partner (who her daughter refers to as a stepmom) who didn't interfere with the above. I'm not saying the daughter doing down the tradfam/homophobia pathline is good in anyway but like...

i—

what the fuck.

[dragynkeep]

Confession: while I find both Alicent and Criston very hot, I cannot say the same for any of the Targs. Like, Matt Damon, babe, they made you a blonde. Not even sexy golden blonde, but the grossest silvery shade ever.

banned from our blog / j

[dragynkeep]

Man, all the talk about sex positivity has left me thinking of how I recently reblogged a few sexual art posts only to delete them as I was overcome with irrational shame. Conservative upbringing strikes again

this is like 3 months old forgive me but we all struggle with it! make the baby steps you can & it becomes easier <3

[fincalinde]

Let's say Meng Shi despite being in her 30s (I think) catches the interest of some wealthy dude when Meng Yao is in his early teens/preteens, who proceeds to fall in love with her, buy her freedom and offers to give her and her son a nice place of their own to live in or her and him to move into his place, with her becoming an official concubine and him maybe being patroned by him to join a local cultivation Sect. Would a Meng Shi who doesn't have the horrible knowledge that her son would be left stuck on the streets with nothing after her death, who may not even be dead if she gets medical aid, send him to go to his father if he's living comfortably? Would Meng Yao's standing be any higher in the eyes of society or would Meng Shi's former as a sex worker always loom down on him?

MS is indeed in her thirties when JGY is in his early teens! I think my answer applies even if JGY is under the age of ten, though.

It's not that I don't think it's interesting, but I don't find this scenario convincing for two reasons:

Reason 1: We have no evidence there are men, rich or otherwise, in the Yunping area (or however far her 'fame' spread) willing to marry a prostitute with a child, no matter that her accomplishments exceed even those of the daughters of noble families.

Reason 2: Even if there is at least one man, rich or otherwise, in the Yunping area (&etc.) willing to marry a prostitute with a child, due either to her beauty, her accomplishments, her personality or all three, MS would not accept him. If a wealthy man offers to make her his concubine and financially support JGY, it cuts off the possibility of JGS returning to elevate her as he promised, and by extension legitimising JGY. By accepting such an offer, MS is improving their lot in the short term while denying her son his birthright in the long term.

Though there are theoretically different reads possible in terms of whether MS knew how unrealistic her hope for JGS' return was, JGY himself talks about it as though she was sincere. He refers to all the excuses she used to make for JGS, and either she believed them herself or she was concealing her own doubts in order to shore up her son's faith. But either way there's no indication that she wasn't honestly and steadfastly committed to the hope of JGS returning.

The thing is, introducing the idea that there was some nice man out there who could have given her and JGY a comfortable life undermines the central conceit of these characters: their agonising lack of options, which informs why they are so steadfast in their pursuit of legitimacy. They are single-minded because they are owed, yes, but also because it is their only way out.

I'm not trying to make a statement about the real world by pointing this out; I'm just pointing out the fact that I consider this AU difficult to execute because it changes a fundamental assumption of the worldbuilding. Giving MS and JGY some faceless benevolent patron isn't just a tweak to the trajectory of their lives, but a change to the very fabric of the society in which they're living. Canonically MS and JGY are denigrated and treated as inferior and contaminated their entire lives, and JGY has to fight harder and be better than anyone else to claw his way to what should have been his birthright—and even then his gains are tainted by his cruel and selfish father.

My feeling is that introducing any scenario where MS and JGY have better options than remaining in the brothel is a risky thing to do because it tends to come with the underlying assumption, conscious or unconscious, that they could have done things differently. There's an implication, again I don't think intentional, that things might have been better for MS and JGY if they had let go of their 'ambitions' i.e. their right to hold JGS to the promises he made. And there is nothing in canon to indicate that is true.

[fincalinde]

Deciding to be mean to poor JGY: what if Xichen died shortly before Nie Minjue did? Flavours of pain for JGY can be him being killed by NMJ during a qi deviation or him tripping and breaking his neck by falling down Koi Tower's stairs in front of JGY. Aside from horrible pain for JGY, NMJ Lan Wangji, how would this factor into NHS' plans? If NMJ had killed Xichen, well, that's a stain on his legacy that NHS would be furiously trying to fix and would make him gate JGY more, but even in the accident scenario, what would his revenge be like without having one of the main parts in breaking Xichen's trust for JGY? Would he find some other way to break JGY?

This is a difficult one because there's very little that can take down Zewu-jun. Let's say for argument's sake that NMJ does kill him during a qi deviation, which I think is vanishingly unlikely. In life NMJ has the edge on LXC in terms of sheer power, but LXC is a much more refined and capable cultivator. He has a far greater variety of techniques at his disposal that more than compensate for the fact that NMJ has access to more raw power.

But all right, there's been a freak accident, NMJ's first act when he suffers the qi deviation is to try to murder JGY so let's say he misses and beheads LXC or something (oh my god). What this functionally means is several things:

JGY's life is even more miserable

Let's get the obvious out of the way first. JGY is still going to snap and take down his father and he's still going to become Chief Cultivator and by hook or by crook get those watchtowers built. It's just going to be harder without the personal friendship and support of LXC and he's going to feel even more alone and constantly scared and angry.

NHS is fucked

I actually don't see much evidence that NHS is particularly focused on NMJ's reputation. He's obsessed with destroying JGY and JGY's legacy and everything JGY holds dear, but he doesn't seem to do much work in regard to rehabilitating NMJ's image (which frankly isn't as dented as it should be considering the way he goes down with the qi deviation and all the murders). NMJ is probably seen in a roughly similar light to canon, with the addition of the tragedy of him taking out his own sworn brother, which can be gleefully dissected by the masses over a cup of wine.

NHS will still cotton on that JGY had some involvement in the qi deviation when NMJ's corpse breaks out of its tomb. He will still begin his investigations and his revenge plan. But the reason he's fucked is...

Wangxian are fucked

Have fun running around doing whatever you want without xiongzhang to shield you!

[fincalinde]

What if Meng Yao had died taking down WRH? Plus points if his last words were something heartbreaking for Lan Xichen and Nie Minjue. Outwardly, it looks like everything is great if you hate JGY! He's dead, but he hasn't done any of JGS' dirty work and the shitshow that led to, he's now a martyr hero etc. But obviously things are going to not be great as JGY wasn't the root of all evil and JGS is still up and running.

The Nie and the Jin would have ended up at war, that's what would have happened.

Like, this is not even ambiguous. If JGY kills WRH and dies in the act, presumably because WRH gets in a retaliatory blow as he goes down, there is another war in the jianghu within a few years.

I don't think I'm going to win the plus points for heartbreaking last words, since LXC isn't present when JGY kills WRH and NMJ is unconscious/so out of it he doesn't witness the moment either, but maybe I can make up for that by pointing out that if JGY dies in the act of killing WRH then NMJ is going to come to and see them both dead and still think JGY is a traitor. Then LXC is going to arrive and have to explain things through his own grief.

But anyway. No JGY means no recruitment of XY to the Jin. It means less expert handling of the Jiang to undermine the JC-WWX relationship while WWX is in exile, and it also means JZX doesn't end up at Qiongqi Path. There's a sliver of opportunity here for the Twin Heroes to limp along for a while longer. Hurrah!

Except there's also no mitigating influence on the Jin-Nie conflict. JGS is going to press on with his thick-faced attempts to become Chief Cultivator. He's going to press on with his experiments in demonic cultivation and he's going to keep undermining JC and demonising (ha!) WWX. And it's all going to be done with a hell of a lot less finesse. Which is going to enrage NMJ further. NMJ thinks the Wenmants need to be taken down and he's not hugely interested in the internal politics of the Jiang, but he sees the Jin power grab and he hates it. And because he's NMJ he doesn't think about the most productive way to deal with that. He goes straight to yelling and waving his sabre around.

There's a key line (EXR translation, Chapter 106): "To this father of mine, I once had hopes as well. In the past, as long as it was his command, whether it be to betray Sect Leader Wen or protect Xue Yang or remove anyone who disagreed, no matter how foolish it was, how hated I'd be, I'd obey regardlessly."

NMJ is a massive thorn in JGS' side. NMJ is toast. But because JGS lacks JGY, he lacks the means to take out NMJ effectively and the result is that sooner or later tensions between the two sects are going to boil over. NMJ, almost incapable of nuance at the best of times, is degenerating further thanks to the exacerbation of the sabre spirit by several years of intense warfare. Cleansing can only do so much and buy him so much time—remember, the vast majority of his violent outbursts in canon are prior to being exposed to the piece blended with an extract from the Collection of Turmoil. This is a recipe for open conflict.

As for who wins that war, my money is on JGS. He can easily paint NMJ as the aggressor since he just has to hold his ground until NMJ makes the first move. JC is busy rebuilding the Jiang, and in this scenario while LXC is NMJ's friend he is not his sworn brother as the sworn brotherhood was proposed by LXC for JGY's sake. LXC also has a lot on his plate and would likely attempt to mediate rather than join any fighting. Remember, in this divergence the Lan are rebuilding without rivers of Jin gold!

For the majority of the other clans, while they won't be huge fans of JGS they are also trying to recover from a devastating war and won't be too enthusiastic about NMJ disturbing the peace. There's a bit of NPC discussion about this where they observe the same few people are competing to be CC and NMJ is the main obstacle for JGS to lock down the position. Even if it's a cold war rather than one with actual battles, the Jin even without JGY just have too much momentum and the fact is that NMJ is going to die in the near future and NHS is in no way equipped to continue his vendetta.

Of course JZX is still alive, but even if JGS pops his clogs within ten years or so, his son will pretty obviously make a terrible clan leader. JZX means well, but he has no idea what's going on around him. He is simply not up to the task, even though he's obviously preferable to JGS. But by the time JGS dies of dissipation or old age or whathaveyou, the task of straightening out the Jin is going to be even more gargantuan. And, as JGY himself rightly points out, WWX is still running around as a loose cannon about to go off at any moment. And when that situation blows up in everyone's faces, JZX might well still end up dead.

So that's what I think we'd end up with: the Nie led by an unprepared NHS, the Lan without financial backing for their rebuilding efforts, and the Jiang still mired in their own rebuilding and the WWX PR nightmare. JGS is going to end up as Chief Cultivator, just by far less elegant means, and there will be no one to take him down and extirpate corruption in the Jin and instate a watchtower programme to benefit remote and dangerous areas. The outlook is pretty bleak.

[fincalinde]

How much would it take for Xichen to reach a point where he'd be prepared to kill Nie Minjue to protect JGY?

Ouch, big question.

There are many possible scenarios here but my short answer is: if LXC is in a situation where he is able to see NMJ's deterioration clearly, then yes I think he would be prepared to kill NMJ to protect JGY.

My longer answer is that it's extremely difficult to execute a scenario where LXC kills NMJ to protect JGY and has no other motives at play. What I mean by this is that if LXC is able to recognise that not only is NMJ terminally ill and dangerously unstable and violent even by the standards of their own society, and if all other measures have failed, he could absolutely reach the point where he views killing NMJ as the option that offers the least overall harm.

It's been said before by others better than me, notably @confusion-and-more, but of LXC and NMJ, NMJ is much less able to productively engage with the world as it really is. LXC, on the other hand, sees more clearly than most the difficult realities that must be taken into account. Just look at their conversation after Langya where NMJ is outraged and LXC agrees JGY has acted wrongly but points out that it's difficult to make a judgement call in complicated circumstances.

I won't get into this too much because this answer would spiral out of control, but I don't see how anyone can look at LXC, a man who killed the person he was closest to in the entire world because in that moment he believed it was the right thing to do, and think that he is not capable of doing to NMJ what he did to JGY. The key difference is that in JGY's case LXC is holding incomplete information and the new information he's gained has been delivered in a fashion that is disingenuous to say the least. It also takes NHS' lie to actually get him to the point of killing JGY in response to what he believes to be an attack. Meanwhile for NMJ, what would get LXC to that point is not a lie but the awful unvarnished truth.

I could speculate on what it might take to nudge LXC towards a more accurate assessment of NMJ's threat level and prognosis, but oh look, turns out I already did.

[unofficialadamtaurus]

Head empty, just imagining Adam with a Higabana motif rather than a rose one.

Would the higabanas necessarily fit his Beast allusion? No. Would they be cool as hell? Yes.

For the uninformed:

[unofficialadamtaurus]

On the next Adam is Suffering AU idea: Adam somehow gets his mask ripped off in public, with news filming shortly after Ghira's fall as the leader but before he showed his brand to Blake. Now everyone nows something so private to him, which he'll be very pissed at. The SDC also has some bad publicity.

I alluded to something like this in Odds of Survival using an OC. Tl;dr a guy escaped an SDC mine with horrific scarring, went public at the urging of others, and got absolutely buried by the SDC's limitless resources and merciless PR.

The bad publicity wouldn't do much to the SDC. Adam would be pissed ofc, but honestly I don't think it would have a huge impact on his character - he'd just start off every interaction angry in anticipation of pity thrown his way. He'll probably try to get revenge on whoever ripped off his mask, at least.