#you can't be saved at all

[moistvonlipwig]

Cordelia's Black-And-White Thinking

A post by @kyliafanfiction got me thinking about this but I didn't want to derail her Xandelia post since these thoughts are purely Cordelia-related.

I think Cordelia is actually a very black-and-white thinker but a lot of people don't conceptualize her that way because fandom tends to equate 'black-and-white thinking' with 'thinking killing is always wrong'. I've talked before about how Cordelia is an extremely pragmatic person in a lot of ways who is very much willing to kill humans and to support Angel in killing humans, even in AtS S3 when certain fans claim she's too 'soft' and 'nice' (*eyeroll*). So some people may interpret that as her being a less black-and-white thinker than, say, Buffy, who has an ironclad rule about killing humans being always wrong.

However, I think that's a misunderstanding of what it means to be a black-and-white thinker. Black-and-white thinking is not about not being willing to compromise on general, widely-held principles; it is about not being willing to compromise on your own principles, and often extends to judging harshly those who betray those principles. By these standards, yes, Buffy is a black-and-white thinker, but so is Cordelia; it's just that 'don't kill humans' is not one of Cordelia's core principles. Her core principles, instead, are that Lying Is Bad and, consequently, Betrayal Is Bad.

Cordelia has always held that the truth is better than a lie even if the lie would be nicer. In Buffy, this tends to manifest as her being brutally honest to the point of tactlessness and sometimes outright cruelty (as she would say, "tact is just not saying true stuff"). In Angel, she grows out of some of her crueler instincts but retains the role as truth-teller of the group who says what the others don't want to hear and, importantly to this discussion, clashes with her friends when they choose a nice lie over the harsh truth. In S3, while she shrugs off the possibility of Angel killing Holtz with the equivalent of "whatevs, kill him, I hate that guy," Cordelia objects quite strongly to Angel's plan to lie to Connor about going to see Holtz. She ends up being right, largely because Connor is also a black-and-white thinker who is also triggered by lying, but no one ever said black-and-white thinking was mutually exclusive with being correct. And in early S4, even without her memories, amnesiac Cordelia would rather hang out with Connor who admitted that he tried to murder her than with the Fang Gang and their wacky dishonest hijinks.

Cordelia also reacts very negatively to betrayal, more so than other characters do. She doesn't forgive Xander for cheating on her until he buys her the prom dress she coveted, while Oz forgives Willow and even starts dating her again. She doesn't forgive Angel for firing the team and his various other S2 sins until he buys her clothes to make up for the ones he gave away, while Wesley and Gunn forgive him much more easily. She doesn't forgive Harmony for trying to kill her, while Wesley happily hires her in S5 and Angel preemptively forgives Harmony's final betrayal in "Not Fade Away". Her feelings on Wesley in late S3 are a little unclear (my kingdom for a scene between them during this time period!) but she does make it clear that she is at least uninterested in his feelings while Angel still needs her help, while Gunn and Fred are more open to the idea of reaching out to him. She doesn't forgive Wolfram & Hart for any of the things they've done to her and her friends and finds the Fang Gang's decision to join them baffling, while the Fang Gang, minus her influence, were willing to give them a chance.

In fact there is only one person who Cordelia never seems to judge for their betrayal of her and/or her friends and that's Connor. He is the only person that she never speaks negatively of after a betrayal. After he tries to kill her, after he tosses Angel in the ocean, after witnessing all of his actions in S4 including the murder of the virgin girl in "Inside Out", she still wants to see him in "You're Welcome" and appears to hold no grudge against him. In fact, in yet another moment that demonstrates her black-and-white view of honesty, she reacts quite harshly to the news of what Angel did to Connor with the mind-wipe, even though Connor himself comes to see it as a kindness. Why does Connor get her endless forgiveness? Well, because he's her son. Or surrogate son. However you want to put it. She loves him like a mother and plays a motherly role in his life. She may not necessarily have thought of herself as his mother in S3, but that's what she was. And even the most black-and-white thinkers can learn to see in shades of gray for their children.

[blackwoolncrown]

I get it, I really do, but I feel like ppl w decision paralysis related to Gazans are also suffering from a kind of non-malignant egotism

"who do I decide to give it to? everyone needs help! I can't help them all!"

You're not the only person they're asking!!!!!

If you choose one person to help that day, a bunch of other ppl choose others

stopping to overthink your inflated importance as an individual versus one in many is what's giving you paralysis

the more you burden yourself as an incapable hero the less you all act as a group-- which is the exact answer you're looking for

fkn close your eyes, scroll on OOB and donate to whoever you click on first

you're not god, it's not your job to save everyone

JUST DO SOMETHING

[cubbyhole-for-flea-bee]

Macaque spent the whole season Big-Damn-Hero-ing and was NOT happy about it xD

[kathaynesart]

REPLICA PLAYLIST

MUSIC UNDER CUT

I have been receiving requests for any songs that inspired Replica, so here, have my personal playlist. Sorry it’s not Spotify/Soundcloud but they don’t have some of these songs available so uh… guess you’re stuck with YouTube vids. For fun I'll include my personal titles for them (which might give a few hints of what to expect in the future/end).

Replica Main Theme - “Die for You” by Grabbitz Like Father Like Son Like Brother (Omega and Shelldon) - "As Above So Below" by Alistair Lindsay Mikey's Theme / The 1st Vision - "Suzume no Tojimari" by Nanoka Hara Military (Mad) Dogs / Central Park Colony - "Imperium" by Madeon Shanghai - "Icarus" by Madeon Boom Goes the Donnie-mite (Mikey/Donnie vs the Sweeper) - "The Red Zone" by Mitsuoto Suzuki The Day the Sky Bled Red - "7 Seconds Till the End" by Nobuo Uematsu Going Out Like a Boss (Raph and Leo) - "Agape" by Nicholas Britell Remembering the Right Way (Mikey and Leo) - "The Souls of Many" - by Alistair Lindsay Mystic Hands / The 2nd Vision - "Am I Dreaming" by Metro Boomin x A$AP Book 2 Trailer - "Sea Dragon" by Covet 7 Years Later - "Iron" by Woodkid Leo's Theme / Attack on the Labor Camp - "Ego Death" by Polyphia Omega's Theme - "Touch" by Daft Punk Flat Lines (Omega Alone) - "Die Toteninsel Emptiness" by 1000 Eyes Spear - "Monsters" by Tommee Profitt Final Protocol - "The Kraken" by Katie Dey Rise / Epilogue - "Close in the Distance" by Masayoshi Soken & Tom Mills

I will admit, it's a little embarrassing since you can easily see the patterns of what I've been listening to for the past year or two. I swear I listen to more than just videogame OSTs, these songs just jive well with the story and I often find lyrics distracting when brainstorming scenes. Regardless, the music I listen to is such an important part of my creative process and some of these songs really defined the scenes I now have locked in my head. So I figured it was only fair to give them the credit they're due.

I will continue to add to this playlist, and will note in comic updates when one of these songs is applicable!

[sunderwight]

What if the plant body hadn't worked out, and the Holy Mausoleum solution had actually taken a long time to sort of "fix" Shen Qingqiu's body and fully call his soul back to it, so that hundreds of years passed and civilization in PIDW/SV world progressed to the point of something like the "modern era"?

Imagine Luo Binghe trying to delicately introduce his shizun to such strange concepts as smart phones and credit cards, while Shen Qingqiu is just desperately trying to figure out how dumb he should play this. Would it be believable for him to get everything on the first try? There have to be some differences between what he knows and this world's versions, right, because of the demons and cultivators and things? Right?? But it's not like any of this actually IS difficult for him to grasp!

Luo Binghe: Shizun already discerned how to type using a keyboard...?

Shen Qingqiu, sweating bullets: what, like it's hard?

[juniemunie]

[Abandoned by the Lightners, his heart became cracked with hatred.]

Hitting a lil' too close to home?

[unicornpopcorn14]

Chuuya's reaction to Dazai getting hurt during the Lovecraft fight has always been so interesting to me...

Because it's the kind of worry you'd never expect from a character as gruff as Chuuya, who had displayed nothing but hostility towards Dazai so far. Usually, characters that are labelled as "angry" or "anger issues" (which Chuuya is much more complex than that but you get my point) act more as a tsundere type of way when the one they "don't care about" gets hurt. And show their care in very, very subtle ways (ex. their eyes widen, their mouth parts and closes again, etc) before putting up their front once more.

Chuuya, however, is open, and vocal about it. His worry is clear not only to us, but to Dazai himself, the one he shouldn't be displaying the concern to (as per the cliche). Shouldn't it be some sort of secret that Chuuya does care? Isn't that what skk's dynamic has been shaping up to be until now?

I'm telling you- the way my mind blanked when Chuuya just casually.... showed concern not once, but twice, was a sight to see.

Besides, the context makes it much more confusing, because Dazai isn't some rookie, and Chuuya knows that more than anybody. He was the youngest executive in Port Mafia's history, of course he can handle a hit or two. Of course he'd seen him handle a hit or two, sometimes without batting an eye.

Heck, Chuuya himself was hurling Dazai like a ragdoll in their reunion, which was their last meeting. And you could argue that he was going easy on him, but Dazai has mostly withstood the same damage (as far as I could see), and Chuuya was as bitter as ever.

So that kind of contradicts both what we knew of Chuuya so far, and how their dynamic was shaped to be. I mean, that just makes Chuuya a hypocrite, yeah? What makes him care now, all of a sudden? What makes him care at all?

Well, to me, this backasswards reaction implies one (or more) of the following:

- Dazai rarely got physically hurt during their partnership and thus this is an unexpected thing for him to see (during a mission).

- The four years of separation made Chuuya unsure of how much Dazai can withstand physically now. Also the fact that he isn't in the mafia anymore, aka fighting enemy organizations on the weekly, would naturally make Dazai lose his touch in a way, what prompts Chuuya's reaction.

- Dazai getting taken off guard took him off guard which led to panic. Especially since the situation was (momentarily) out of their depth. Seriously wtf even was Lovecraft?

- During the dungeon scene Dazai was an enemy, while in the Lovecraft fight he was as an ally. The difference might be significant to Chuuya.

- This has always been Chuuya's reaction to Dazai getting hurt regardless of the situation.

- "Only I can hurt him like that" ahh logic

- Asagiri was still experimenting with their dynamic and thus there are some inconsistencies.

This scenario didn't play out again (after their reunion) for me to exactly determine which one is more plausible, but it is 100% canon for Chuuya to shamelessly show his concern and run to Dazai to check on him before properly dealing with their opponent, which I find to be such an appealing layer to their dynamic, and a good spin on the type of character he gets stereotyped as.

Bonus: Dazai also becomes a softy when Chuuya's hurt, especially post corruption. Dead Apple alone displays that multiple times.

All in all, Skk are doing a terrible job at maintaining their 'hostile' and 'antagonistic' relationship post their reunion. Freaks.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

You ever have those moments where an idea just... won't leave your head?

[caffichai]

@praxinas warlock Harlow, for the very last day of Artfight 2023!

I love the Eliksni armor from Season of Splicer and the aesthetic, just in general

[taxinealkaloids]

i love the tower princes. i love that there’s absolutely no way in hell that this friendship is even remotely good for either of them. love that they assuredly are making each other SO much worse with every second they spend together. 

[moistvonlipwig]

okay but when connor said that he didn't care that jasmine had maggots all over her face because looks didn't matter to him after growing up in a hell dimension...he was kind of a feminist king for that let's not lie 🤔

[collophora]

Fics rec of the week, and especially if you like well-written Wrecker, is the entire work of @electrikworm on AO3 In order:

The Batch have a terrible day

Human Shield

A peaceful moment

(But go read the others too)

[icewindandboringhorror]

On average, what is the total MONTHLY amount that you spend on dining out*?

*(This doesn't only count going out to restaurants, but also stuff like picking up fast food to bring home, getting a coffee on the way to work, getting a premade sandwich from a grocery store deli during lunch, buying a quick snack from a convenience store or food cart whilst walking somewhere, ordering a pizza or any other food to be delivered to your home, etc.)

*(If you often dine out in groups/as a household: calculate and divide the costs so that you get a Per Person average. This is for YOU individually, NOT the total household/group costs)

(I'm sure polls similar to this have been made before (very common topic), I just haven't personally seen one that I can remember, so, I was curious to do my own! I was discussing this with a group of people today and it was very interesting to see how widely the number varied between individuals. :0c )

(Reblog for bigger sample size if you can, and feel free to explain your answer in tags if there's anything extra to add!)

[phoenixcatch7]

I get that calling white lotus lbh a sticky little 'sheep' is a canon translation and stuck in the fandom now anyway, but I do feel the intended spirit of the original word wasn't the sheeple/dumb herd animal that's more common in the western world, but instead something actually conveying sweetness, innocence, purity and youth - lamb.

Famous for being utterly adorable and following around their mothers, gambolling in sunny meadows, curly white wool shining.

And NOW we can talk about black sheep/wolf in sheep's clothing metaphors.

[ruporas]

all I wanted was to save them... (ID in alt)

[geneticdriftwood]

persephone's in hell; a rooftop conversation

for @mysterycitrus

persephone's in hell, @mysterycitrus // white winter hymnal, fleet foxes // assorted dc comics