#while remaining a demon

[saryasy]

it's funny. I keep making all these posts defending Aziraphale and it's because there's this annoying trend in the fandom to villainize him while simultaneously woobifying Crowley, so there's a need for more Aziraphale perspective

but I was thinking, if we stopped looking at fandom for a minute, and just regarded Aziraphale as a character, how would I criticize him or his choices?

then I realized I wouldn't cos my wife did nothing wrong in her life

[just-null]

CAT BOYS CAT BOYS

[moeblob]

Shockingly I named some OCs recently and fleshed out the deity lore a bit for my "guess i'll marry the demon lord?" plot.

Solei has existed since near the start but Mehra and Valdas are new to the concept and all three? Petty. They're technically the Trio of Peace cause that's kinda their goal and duty to their world but really, Trio of Pettiness is suitable as well.

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

Wei Wuxian and Narrative Agency – Part One

For Xiantober Day One: Genius… albeit stretching the prompt so it refers to MXTX and MDZS itself, but at the end of the day it’s still about WWX – so no harm done!

(Part Two | Part Three | Full version on AO3)

The narrative is a very active player in MDZS’ story. How it presents information, what it chooses to show and omit, often reflects important facets of its themes and characters – Nie Huaisang, for instance, is so good at hiding behind his mask that not even the narrative can hold him accountable; the present day’s storyline as a murder mystery and the slow reveal of information about the past both prompt the reader to think critically about the truth of events, when the importance of thinking critically is an important theme; and the dangers not thinking critically (and instead basing conclusions on rumours without much evidence) are shown by tricking unquestioning readers into the very same trap the cultivation world falls into, as the information given by the title, summary and in-universe rumours – which contradicts how we see actually Wei Wuxian act – turns out to be false.

But nowhere do I love this trait more than in its treatment of Wei Wuxian – and, more specifically, in its way of emphasising his agency. We’re not just told how much his active choices define his character, and we’re not just shown this in-universe through his personality, worldview and the events he causes. I’d argue that this aspect goes a step further, and shapes the structure of the out-of-universe narrative as well.

There are two main ways this happens: one, in how the aspects of Wei Wuxian’s life that are shown and hidden directly tell us what’s important about his character (which is good writing but isn’t necessarily tied to this shaping of the narrative), which is what we’ll explore today; and two, how what’s shown and hidden reflects what Wei Wuxian himself prefers to dwell on, resulting in the narrative respecting his own thoughts and feelings on matters (which very much is tied to it). We’ll explore this at a later date.

But as for now – let’s explore my favourite aspect of MDZS.

(Here, narrative agency will be considered the ability of a character to meaningfully influence their events and the story they’re in.)

Tragedy, Circumstance, Choice

If we simply look at Wei Wuxian’s backstory in a vacuum, it seems almost typically tragic. His  parents died in circumstances beyond his control, he was left alone as a child with nobody to care for him, he was forced to grow up fending for himself on the streets, he was faced with abuse when he finally was taken in… as with all typical woobies, everything simply happened to him, and none of it was good. It’s just another example of the lack of agency being used for sympathy points, right?

…Except there’s one problem with that idea. We don’t actually see any of this.

It would’ve been easy to start the flashbacks during these times. We’re telling the story of Wei Wuxian in (largely) chronological order, and these are likely important experiences for him! But instead of starting in his street days, or evenat the moment Jiang Fengmian took him in*, we start at the lectures in the Cloud Recesses. That’s not even something mentioned in, and therefore something that’s able to disprove, the rumours at the start of the novel. So why is this the case? 

Well, there are multiple reasons – the main one being that MDZS is also Lan Wangji’s (and Wangxian’s) story, and having the flashbacks open with their first meeting is very satisfying. But I want to focus on something else.

This period doesn’t have to be shown, because what happens to Wei Wuxian, especially out of his control, isn’t what’s important about his character.

We’re not even at Lotus Pier here, where Wei Wuxian certainly has more agency than he would’ve had as a young child, but where the harm caused by Madame Yu is still completely out of his control. Here, he has agency! Though there are consequences, he is free to act, and what happens to him is a result of those actions and not of circumstance. Yes, he gets punished more than others who also take those same actions (due to classism); yes, it’s not his choice to be picked on by Lan Qiren in class (yet look how he responds, twisting the situation to his advantage and ending up tricking Lan Qiren into letting him leave, which is what he wanted to do. He is not at all helpless here!); yes, these choices have been influenced by his learned mindset from Madame Yu that punishment is arbitrary and will happen anyway, so you may as well do what you want regardless. But there is cause-and-effect here. It’s not circumstantial tragedy.

Therefore, instead of our first impression of past!Wei Wuxian being that of an unfortunate woobie, it’s of someone who has the freedom, ability and will to choose and act (and that’s after these initial tragic events have taken place). This is compounded by the fact that before we see any of his backstory, we get a similar impression of him in the present day.

If the purpose of his tragic past was to earn him sympathy points, to make us pity him due to how much he was influenced by events out of his control, this would’ve been a terrible way of going about it… and it’s this that betrays the true reason for its existence. Because now, the flashbacks instead show us how little these tragedies define who he is! From the very start, Wei Wuxian isn’t someone defined by circumstances out of his control, but rather by who he is as a person and by what choices he makes in the present day (which is both a mindset in-universe, and a nice little out-of-universe detail that lines up! Because out-of-universe, this means he’s not defined by sympathy points from a backstory, but rather by his great character writing… aka, by who he is as a person and what choices he makes). And this refusal to be defined by tragedy is a conscious choice on his part, too – but we’ll explore that more later. 

The important thing is that this idea of Wei Wuxian isn’t because of what exists in his past, it’s because of what parts of his past are shown to us (as well as what he chooses to do, with agency, in the present). 

Now, if this relationship between what’s displayed and what’s omitted was just a one-time thing, I might’ve considered it a cool detail or a nice way to establish a character, but not something the narrative is actively focusing on. But it’s a pattern that continues throughout the flashbacks. What, arguably, are the two other most important times in Wei Wuxian’s life where he doesn’t have enough agency to meaningfully influence his circumstances? His three months in the Burial Mounds (before escaping – he managed to assume some control of the circumstances but not enough to substantially reduce his suffering in his time there), and his loss and death during the First Siege. And we’re not shown either of them! We skip to when Wei Wuxian has emerged from the Burial Mounds and is torturing the Wens, or we skip to the present day – both times he has agency once more, because, again, what he’s like without it doesn’t matter enough to be shown. 

Furthermore, I’d argue this does actually contrast the other tragic events we see in Wei Wuxian’s later life. Things do go horribly wrong, but it’s either due to choices he knows the consequences of (see: rescuing the Wen Remnants in the first place), or instances where he still has some ability to act in the situation and influence it within the limitations. If he’d had no ability to influence circumstances at Qiongqi path, he would have died in the ambush; if he’d been unable to do that at Nightless City, he would’ve died then, too (of course Lan Wangji helped him escape as well). The attention drawn to him losing control of his actions in both instances is very interesting, but intentional or not, it’s still his actions influencing the plot. And that influence happens to be detrimental. The very ability to act and influence, at a base level,  is not taken away (though, of course, that doesn’t make these events any less tragic).

So, so far, the narrative seems to be telling us that the ability to act and choose is key to Wei Wuxian’s character. And it’s doing it through omitting his moments without agency in favour of instead showing us his moments with it. 

Let’s see if this is echoed in the text itself before we go further – because even with this pattern, nothing would end up mattering if Wei Wuxian’s agency wasn’t actually that important to the story itself. But thankfully it is, and that first impression we get of Wei Wuxian in the Cloud Recesses turns out to very much be accurate! Though there are defining circumstances out of his control that occur, such as the massacre of Lotus Pier, the majority of the important events of his life are due to his own choices. He didn’t happen to be forced to cease traditional cultivation and solely use guidao, didn’t happen to lose his Golden Core in a fight with Wen Zhuliu or due to some force in the Burial Mounds, it was his own choice to give it and his spiritual powers away. He didn’t tragically happen to get targeted by the cultivation world, it was a result of him acting on his morals and protecting the Wen remnants (a choice which he was fully aware of the implications of). He isn’t a protagonist to whom things simply occur, and that activeness and agency is my favourite thing about him. 

That’s not to say that the times Wei Wuxian doesn’t have agency, or feels like he doesn’t have any, don’t exist at all, either – but they are rare enough to have attention directly drawn to them in his internal narration:

Or else what could he do? He could do nothing. He was powerless. Lotus Pier had been destroyed, both Jiang FengMian and Madam Yu were gone, and Jiang Cheng had disappeared as well. He was the only one left, alone, with not even a sword in his hands. He didn’t know anything, he couldn’t do anything! For the first time, he discovered how little his power was. In front of something as large as the QishanWen Sect, it was the same as a mantis trying to stop a chariot. - Chapter 59, EXR translation

(And even in this circumstance, note that he still does force himself to act – to carry on searching for Jiang Cheng, to place his faith in Wen Ning – and does accomplish his goal (albeit with the help of others)! So even in dire situations, he isn’t simply passive. This is actually also the case with his time in the Burial Mounds, almost certainly the First Siege, and even his days on the streets as well (Chapter 20: he did actively fight with dogs to get food despite their danger and his growing fear of them, rather than just waiting and hoping to somehow receive some more). He can’t influence or immediately influence his circumstances, but that doesn’t stop him from trying.)

Overall, although they do influence him, Wei Wuxian is very much who he is in spite of his circumstances, not because of them. We’re shown the importance of his agency both in-universe by the major impacts his choices have on himself and the plot, as well as by narrative presentation – important periods where he lacks the ability to meaningfully influence anything are often mentioned but not directly shown, which suggests that such moments and circumstances aren’t as important to understanding Wei Wuxian’s character as moments where he does have this agency are. And I’d argue this works very well. Depending on the version of the story you consume, you may end up having different interpretations as to how much circumstances were at play nearer the end of his life – but nobody comes out of MDZS thinking about Wei Wuxian, the poor bearer of yet another generically tragic backstory.

(Part Two | Part Three | Full version on AO3)

—

*We are shown this moment in more detail in Chapter 23… but even then, it’s through the framing of Wei Wuxian remembering Jiang Yanli’s narration, not through a flashback proper or even him remembering the experience itself!

[spaciebabie]

🌻go wild

yeah so people write wukong and macaque as touch starved and yeah they totally are but i dont think that most people write about/convey how deeply they are touch starved. from my very limited research (so dont take this as gospel (i plan on doing more)) monkeys are always touching up on each other in social groups. its a primary method for bonding. now i think wukong is less touch starved than macaque since he's on flowerfruit mountain surrounded by other monkeys. they probably all groom him and he grooms them they play they have their social dynamics but its always from a place where hes the ruler of them all in the social heirarchy so they all kind of have to do that. monkey society rules. so he suffers from a different kind of touch starvation where hes kind of been bombarded with it by his monkeys but its not 100% genuine yk? he'll always have their affection b/c hes their king but idk...maybe he wants someone he sees as an equal to be affectionate with.

now macaque has suffered from extreme isolation for hundreds of years probably and we know from Research™ (a la that one (cruel) study where scientists separated baby monkeys from their mothers to See What Would Happen) that this has probably fucked him up really bad. not as much as it would have if he were an infant monkey but that kind of isolation is detrimental. like no wonder hes snappy, distant, suspicious of others. he doesnt know how to act in these new social situations. and hes lacked one of the IMPERATIVE ways monkeys keep their sanity. just constant touching and grooming of each other and SOCIALIZING. this boy would CLING to ANYONE who offered him even the tiniest hint of affection. hed BEG for it its so fucked up. at first i thought that maybe it wouldnt be w/in his character, but doing outside research has made me realize it may be even more in character for macaque to be touchy than wukong. i can see macaque becoming really distraught if someone rejected his quite frankly, need for affection. it could be so interesting. someone who he comes to expect to always provide affection just. saying no once and how hed probably snap over it.

not even like. in a romantic sense either. monkeys just like touching each other. honestly something churning in my head rn is wukong and macaque reconciliating and then taking turns grooming each other out of respect + generally being cuddly completely platonically. its enthralling actually. not to mention completely in line w/how ive been imagining macaque and wukong. these boys do NOT kiss its all nuzzling and cuddling and maybe playful biting. ive also been reading up on (macaque specific but ive read it can also apply to other species of monkey) monkey behavior in general and like. ough. them just cooing and chittering at each other having conversations while grooming or laying around. lip smacking at each other affectionately. ouuuuagh. their own special little language nobody else understands. i read that macaques are especially cuddly w/one another after a fight. so like. macaque and/or wukong have some sort of end of the world fight deal and one of them comes over to the other to seek comfort. god its everything. we havent even factored in mk who regularly displays this comfort after battle behavior w/wukong.

i also think that exploring how their instinctual monkey behavior has mixed w/the behavior that they have learned mortals find acceptable. b/c. there's plenty of monkey behaviors that would make mortals eyes pop out of their heads if wukong or macaque were to do them around them LOL

monke.

[shih-coulda-had-it]

my original tengu torino AU... the studio ghibli hodgepodge AU...

[estellardreams]

Some Prisoner Trio related stuff that idk where else to put.

First was actually a scrapped two parter because I literally didn't know where I was going with this. I think I was gonna go down the idea of "King Red gets so sick of TT Red resisting that he just starts flat out scarring him however he could (my first thought went to ice ocean water)" but then I just... Forgot. Oops.

Second... Post Prisoner Trio. These three are SCARRED. And this is only scratching the surface, quite literally.

If you had to base the time frame these three were under... My mind instantly went to at least two years under King Red. And YIKES did it get brutal.

Unsurprisingly Macaque got the least amount of damage. Sure the fillet became an issue from time to time but he usually did the work. Meanwhile Wukong and Red continuously resisted, and since King Red probably hates Wukong WAY MORE than his past self, especially after the monkey king killed his parents, then suffice to say he took most of his brutality out on the stone monkey.

And third... A small assortment of doodles. Including timers on the longest each has had their fillet activated.

Red once got three days, to the degree his body went numb to the pain and headache.

Wukong had the wreck of an entire WEEK to deal with. Absolutely sucked.

And Macaque only got an entire day once due to legitimately covering for Wukong so the two wouldn't get caught after purposefully sabotaging one of the King's devices. Wukong still took the fall for it, but for being the accomplice he still got a pretty extreme punishment.

And for the small doodle of TT Red trying to sleep... Well, I remembered that one ask I read on TT Red indulging in very cutesy stuff to not make himself like King Red. And while stuck in their current position he had an extremely hard time sleeping through the pain.

So... Wukong, knowing full well that the object couldn't be used to break them out but would still be quite "embarrassing" for someone like King Red to have around in his fortress, decided to grant TT Red's request of receiving something cutesy to help him sleep through the night.

That just so happened to be a Fluttershy doll (mlp looks so cutesy doesn't it? Also if Red probably had to choose his favorite would've most likely been between Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. But Fluttershy is absolutely NOT who he sees himself relating to (he actually does but doesn't know it) and chose that pony in particular. It's also the most soft looking main character there is).

[DKR and TT Red belong to @purble-turble]

[britcision]

The funniest thing about realizing that Thistle would legally own his dungeon through squatter’s rights is that Mithrun wouldn’t

You gotta be on the property 7 years, Mithrun only made it to 5

Personally I choose to believe this is why the demon seems to have kept most of the dungeon lords for less than 7 years each, Thistle “Get In This Fucking Book And Shut Up” who lasted 1000 years is an outlier who shouldn’t be counted

[beastsovrevelation]

Warrior Nun characters and their perfect fragrance

Ava: Angel by Mugler

Lilith: Inexcusable Evil by Toskovat

Beatrice: Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana

Camila: Ego Stratis by Juliette has a gun

Adriel: Noir Extreme by Tom Ford

Mother Superion: Jazz Club by Maison Margiela

Jillian: Baccarat Rouge 540 by Maison Francis Kurkdjian

Mary: Wood Sage & Sea Salt by Jo Malone

Yasmine: Vanille Antique by Byredo

Michael: Luna Rossa by Prada

[whyamiherewhosummonedme]

As a bona fide DMC enjoyer for about however long it's been since DMC4SE released. Gotta say. Not sure how I feel about the new anime?

Spoiler alert below, some thoughts

Objectively, this series is fucking amazing. The team behind it very clearly love and adore DMC. This whole show is a loveletter to the games, the characters, and the world. But it felt... I don't know? Maybe it's just because it's a new universe. An animeverse as an alternative to the gameverse. And like. The characterization is all incredibly on point. Like. Yeah, Lady would join the military if Arkham died there and then. Yeah, she is fucking racist as hell. Yeah, Dante is a disaster in every single way and she even points out his usage of humor to cover his insecurities. Yeah, Vergil is the storm that is approaching (WHICH IS SO FUCKING FUNNY. HE SAYS THE FUCKING LINE. IT'S BEYOND FUNNY.) Yes, I WOULD fuck the White Rabbit in every single form.

But. Idk. I see people talking about the ending being off and I agree very much. It throws Lady's characterization, which has been great so far if not my preferred kind of Lady (and not my preferred Dante at the beginning but that's just because I am a demonic Dante enjoyer). Vengeful Lady is better than racist Lady in my humble opinion and I wish they had more of that. Could've just had Arkham involved somehow idk. But like. Her whole thing is learning to understand, but she... Doesn't. Instead, she condemns Dante to imprisonment and Hell/Makai to the full force of American colonialism (AMERICAN IDIOT BEING PLAYED OVER THAT SCENE CRACKED ME UP. PERFECT BTW. If it weren't for the butchering of Lady in those last couple, like, 30 seconds that allowed it to happen I would consider it one of the best parts). And then it's implied afterwards that Vergil... Joins Mundus of his own free will. Which. Yknow. Uh. Well. Erm.

(Also ngl I'm kinda pissed at using the fall scene for the White Rabbit. Like. No!!!! He has no personal connection there!!!!! I know it's a fanservice cameo but it doesn't mean anything like that!!!!!!!! THAT'S FOR VERGIL MAKING A DECISION THAT WILL HAUNT BOTH BROTHERS THE REST OF THEIR LIVES)

But yeah uhhhh. Mixed feelings about the animeverse. Maybe just because it's new and I'm not used to there being any kind of alternate DMC universe aside from the reboot that never happened fuck you, maybe it's because it left off on a cliffhanger and the story's nowhere near finished yet (still miffed abt the cliffhanger tbh. Like. DMC shouldn't end on cliffhangers, it should end on "and then everything was calm for a while" timeskips that let Dante get more wrinkles), maybe it's just me being confused as to why they gave Agni and Rudra actual heads

But yeah. Mixed feelings.

I'm gonna go play DMC5 again now

[assassinhomecreedstuck]

i cant believe ive played world of warcraft for 20 years

[suranastair]

Wren Lavellan ⚖️

🟩 Age || 29/30 (Inquisition) - 40/41 (Veilguard) 🟩 Lineage || Elf 🟩 Pronouns || She/Her 🟩 Identity || Pansexual 🟩 Class || Mage 🟩 Specialization(s) || Knight Enchanter 🟩 Romance || Cullen 🟩 Besties || Dorian, Varric, Solas, & Josephine 🟩 Frenemies || Vivienne

[demonic-x-sorcerers]

❝ You. What's this Halloween thing all about? ❞

- from Sukuna

"M-me?" Shukaku and Rioto were on the scene and right now, Rioto was nervous trying to keep himself together as he felt huge cursed energy from this guy, or rather...huge is an understatement. Rioto wonders who this guy is talking to. "I..." Rioto begins to hesitate, he should know this question but something got caught in his throat. He has to answer! If the other demon generals were here. They know what to do and probably answer. However, they are not here as each one is elsewhere except for Shukaku being at his side. Leaving it up to him to answer as he is the best person for the job, "Actually...I can answer that question." Shukaku said with a mustered smile, "Well~" How to talk to a powerful guy with an evil aura around him about Halloween. Shukaku needs to think fast and keep it short so he can take Rioto out of here or maybe stick around.

"It's a holiday. A festive event for the harvest season where people dressed up as monsters of any kind, go to parties, go to fun events like going to haunted houses or scaring others. With parents, they take their children to do trick n' treating to get free delights such as...." What's the word for it? "Confectionery. It's a way to celebrate the supernatural and respect the concept." The tanuki informs him. "Right, Rioto?" "Yes...Shukaku...it is as you said." Rioto said, looking down without looking at Sukuna. Rioto hopes that the answer will suffice.

@ofcursedenergy

[icharchivist]

Go off queen

It's your blog and you should be able to talk about whatever you want after all

aww thank you 🥺 i appreciate it <33

i do really not like spreading negativity esp when it's on a topic i have strong feelings about, and let's say the D.A fandom especially tends to be. extreme about the way it reacts to people disagreeing with them.

And look. I'm not immune to it because sometimes i get caught up by the genuinely rancid vibe in the fandom as well, and i think those games are designed for us to have strong feelings to start with.

but it also means i don't want to go too deep into controversial thoughts because i genuinely don't want to get to a point where i'll see someone screenshot my posts to dunk on it and say i'm the reason media literacy is dead and why the fandom is so toxic (citing things i've actually seen on said blog, for instance though not directed at me but at takes i've seen taken out of context. except i knew the context so knew this was a bad faith argument.).

Like can't even dislike shits in peace in here.

[quietwingsinthesky]

the way the beginning of s10 tries to push dean & sam being equally dark falls so flat with how sam is. literally just doing the same job they’ve always done. and demon!dean is Pathetic and his on-screen kill count is one douchebag and a bunch of demons that normal dean would have killed anyway.

but actually, i think the best way to fix this would have been keeping demon!dean as he is and making it so that sam genuinely does go dark side getting him back. sam sacrificing multiple people to demon deals on purpose. sam torturing and killing not just demons but other hunters who he knows are on dean’s trail. sam trying so hard not to dose himself with demon blood again, but he gets desperate, he takes a drink, and by the time he catches up with dean, he’s powerful enough to trap dean like a mouse before dean even realizes how dangerous sam has become. demon!dean getting loose later and thinking he’s hunting sam through the bunker only for the tables to turn when it’s sam hunting him, sam dragging a knife across his throat and taking his blood while dean struggles and fails to fight him off. sam dragging dean back telekinetically to the dungeon and waiting to cure him until cas is there to heal the fatal wound sam put in him.

if we have to make a big deal about sam being “just as bad” as demon!dean. i think he should have been much, much worse, actually.

[crehador]

brother crab's summer 2024 hopes and dreams expectations

weirdly light season for me but a lot of this stuff looks very promising so

continuing from spring: karasu wa aruji wo erabanai & yozakura-san chi no daisakusen

i expect yozakura will continue to be some good mild fun, and who doesn't like a bit of good mild fun every week

karasu is getting better and better tbh, the intrigue!! the court intrigue!!! i'll have more to say about it once it's complete, but definitely looking forward to continuing with this one into the summer

returning series: oshi no ko, nier, sengoku youko

oshi no ko i'm sure will continue to be good, what else needs to be said

nier!! is probably the returning series i'm most excited for. it is of course a video game adaptation and has all the hallmarks of one (this is not usually a good thing) but imo it's one of the better video game adaptations out there, i really enjoyed the first season and look forward to the second

sengoku youko... i will be COMPLETELY honest i really enjoyed the first season and i forgot to finish watching it lol. i still have like. i think three eps to go. so i will finish that!! before the second seasons starts!!!

because while i don't think it's necessarily a super outstanding series, it was a lot of fun, it got wildly better at a certain part (iykyk), and i've heard it'll get even better from here on out. congrats on not getting biscuit hammered also

new picks: delico's nursery, bye bye earth, isekai shikkaku

besides nier, delico's nursery is probably THE top series i'm looking forward to next season because HOLY SHIT it looks like it's going to be terrible 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 in a way that i absolutely adore. i mean maybe it'll be good. but i am so hyped for some hot garbage. i love garbage

bye bye earth i'm picking up solely for the cast. need my suwabe fix. no other thoughts or expectations. haven't even read the summary. there are animal ears? we'll see

isekai shikkaku (the dazai osamu gets isekai'd show) is kind of funny because it hasn't even started yet and has already disappointed me. it looked so much more compelling to me when the cover image was this (from the manga)

and then it got some more... typical-isekai looking covers that i don't vibe with as much, but i mean. we'll see. maybe it'll be fun. it's kamiyan. i'm overdue for a kamiyan show

that is, somehow, literally all that's on my confirmed planning list! just... just eight things? that's so so so few (compared to my past seasons in recent years)

i guess there are a bunch of others i might pick up after checking out an episode or two. even if it's only for the cast. like i have negative zero interest in isekai suicide squad but the cast... we'll see

tl;dr NIER AND DELICO'S NURSERY HYPE!!!!!!