#'and why we believe them. many people exploit this over and over. lets watch'
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Itachi would've been fine to me tbh if like the story just let him be humbled lol. The main issue is that nobody called out Itachi for his actions, except for Itachi himself, which ironically serves to make him seem even more virtuous and flawless. "I understand feeling upset when some people in the fandom community don't use critical thinking. However, imagine investing a lot of time following a story you read since you were a kid. Many people simply follow the story as presented, and can you blame them when the story validates Itachi? I can't really blame them that much when even the writer seems to be bending over backwards to portray the character as a well-meaning hero, like in the case of Itachi." Now, I don't really know how well something like reading a piece of Naruto media can translate to real life but the saying the things we read and watch can influence on how we perceive the world rings true in my opinion because unfortunately some people really do believe in the Uchiha curse b.s and to me reflects a lot when it comes to how marginalized groups are stigmatized like the idea of a group having the curse of hatred inside of them is fucked if you are so set to believe in something based on a fictional group in a piece of media well... it raises questions about how that might influence real-life beliefs and attitudes towards marginalized groups
I think it's important to be at an age where you have developed critical thinking skills to engage with complex narratives like this. Many people are influenced by nostalgia and are such huge fans of certain characters that they are inclined to make elaborate analyses justifying their actions. For example, some might argue that because Itachi was just a kid when he committed certain acts, it excuses his behavior. However, if we start using age or other factors as excuses for heinous actions, where do we draw the line? What other circumstances would you be willing to bend over backwards to justify committing heinous crimes similar to what Itachi did?
Naruto is a bitch. I don't really want to extend to much with this character since I just feel disappointment. I wanted him to do more then he failed. He's become a politician I don't know what else to say lol. So many people say he inspired them how? What did he accomplish besides obtaining Hokage their world is still fucked up man the shinobi system still rotten. I thought this kid would grow up to do something about it but he remained complacent and changed nothing only difference is he's on top. I realized about later that was Sasuke role as an antagonist and it wouldn't make much sense lol there need to being 2 opposing sides but yeah... He was a whole lotta nothing as a protagonist he was cute kid but he grew up to be a dumb fuck who can't figure out why his "dearest friend" is siding against him and became man who can't keep promises.
It makes sense he had a hunger for acknowledgement I'm not discrediting that since he was a child but he wanted validation from everyone that he has such an obsession with his own self-image and how everyone thinks of him that I find it portrayal to be unhealthy. Sasuke at the end was just a checklist a reward at the end of the day that he wanted to gain for his personal goal.
Naruto talk no jutsu is so manipulative to me sometimes that instead of directly confronting Sasuke's ideas or opinions as equals would in a debate or discussion he would indirectly undermined them. He did this by ignoring Sasuke's valid arguments and instead focusing on exploiting Sasuke's emotional vulnerability, particularly his feelings of loneliness and despair stemming from the loss of family. Like his approach to me suggests a tactic to manipulate Sasuke's emotions rather than engaging with his ideas or concerns directly. But, I ain't sure if he's doing this deliberately since I don't know if he's that smart or I'm looking to much closely.
I'd rather ship his character with fucking OC's. I feel like each member of Team 7 are obsessed and want something from the guy but they don't care for Sasuke personally because if they did it would show but they're after him for what they want from him as a goalpost and hey they won.
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Here's a thing though, because CRWBY loves doing things off-screen. Neo and Cinder did have to travel for some time together and Cinder did speak to Neo in the Vault of the Spring Maiden. They could've exchanged information and she found out about certain things, especially with regards to Salem.
But there's also the fact that Cinder and Neo binded their time in Atlas, waiting for the perfect moment to be able to nab the relic and how to locate the Winter Maiden. I know this banks on Cinder being a competent villainess but she was in V3. Neo is perfect for information gathering, she can choose to be any one who was around Ruby in the background, watching and waiting but also seeing if there were weaknesses she could exploit to make her suffer. Neo could've learned about how close Penny and Ruby by pretending to be some nobody in the background with the aid of her semblance. Headmaster Ozpin, Lionheart and Clover didn't need to be there, no, for the beat down little red got. But man, do I wish that it was something close to Ruby that'd throw the facts at her, that they made mistakes, they were hypocrites and made things worse. Atlas and Mantle are GONE. They almost cost Argus everything with their plane stealing stunt. Salem now has 2 relics in her possession instead of neither. Just someone should've been able to deliver that to Ruby without getting shut down or pushed into submitting to WBY getting all defensive. It's aggravating that RWBY keeps getting away with things one way or another, can't have Ruby get told off by an ally, noooooo, has to be a villain so anyone can dismiss their (very) on point accusations of her character. Wow, I didn't mean to rant so much....
Never feel bad about ranting, anon! I do it plenty lol.
But yeah, full-on agree. That remains my biggest problem with this scene (well, besides the suicide aspect) and why I can't really join in so many other fans' satisfaction at someone calling out Ruby. Because she's not being called out, she's being tortured. The story has taken things that Ruby is at least partially responsible for and framed it so that she comes out looking like the unequivocal victim. Instead of someone trustworthy figuratively knocking some sense into her head (like Qrow, May, or Ren), she's literally getting knocked around by a villain whose ultimately goal is to have her die. There is no version of RWBY in which Ruby comes out of this having learned anything other than her guilt and second-guessing being ~evil~ things that must be defeated. Qrow is threatened into submission. May changes her tune off screen. Ren is ignored until he falls in line. Yang dismisses Ruby and compares her to Ironwood the moment she expresses doubt. And Ruby herself has had those feelings now equated with suicide. If the end result of her going, "Let's stop pretending we know what we're doing" at the start of the Volume is for her to kill herself over that failure, then the message is pretty clearly, "That's a bad thing to believe and Ruby need to improve her mental health by remembering that she's a True Hero who has made the good decisions and shouldn't be doubting her own righteous worth."
By taking Ruby to this extreme the MOMENT she started to question their very questionable choices, the show has written in neon lights what they think of these criticisms. I mean, we knew it already - we've known since Volume 5 - but it really is something else to say, "Ruby's horrific actions aren't something for her to grapple with and learn from, they're the catalyst for suicide and the tools of a villain." Someone else made this comparison already, but the way this is written brings to mind people who have exaggerated, undeserved reactions to someone bringing up legitimate criticism, to the point where suddenly the conversation is about comforting them and ensuring they're safe, rather than actually addressing what they've done wrong. The story has finally gone, "Hey, you did things wrong" and even beyond the fact that this has come from a villain, Ruby has such an EXTREME reaction to that accusation that you feel like an ass for insisting that she still address the problem post-meltdown. The conversation is no longer about how Ruby's arrogance has caused great harm to Remnant, it's about how these things need to be denied/buried/ret-conned/whatever because otherwise she will kill herself.
See? Plenty of ranting XD. On a more positive note, I LOVE that idea, anon. If RWBY really was "planned from the beginning" and we still had to have this encounter, it would have been cool to see a Volumes-long reveal that Neo has been stalking Ruby ever since she left Beacon. She uses her clones to bring up all her mistakes, her failures, intimate moments she'll never repeat because that friend is dead now, and alongside her grief Ruby is downright shocked at the knowledge. How do you know all this? And Neo uses her op semblance to reveal all the background characters that she - and the viewer - had no idea were really her, listening in, biding her time, gathering intel until she could finally use it all to break her.
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Project Meridian- explanation about Marcus Part 1?
This is for the people who want to be in the know of who Marcus is and how he impacted PM without listening to his audios. I made the ultimate sacrifice and I watched his videos a long time ago. I still remember his ass very well.
If you’re not aware of Project Meridian, I highly recommend watching James’s videos where he explains everything. James + Anton do not contain Marcus. Brian also does not contain Marcus but the Android is still under the love code at that point.
I will not be spoiling anything beyond the confrontation between Marcus and James. That is for you guys to go listen to!
Heavy TW! Marcus’s storyline is a bit dark as the Android begins to descend into their obsession. There are discussions of manipulation such as guilt-tripping, dubious consent, non consensual touch, abusive/harmful acts done to the listener, references to exploitation, and objectification. I will vaguely be going over these things.
Again, I’m writing this post to go over the more more important parts of what you need to know about Marcus’s storyline. I won’t go into heavy details about anything beyond that. I’m here to discus how he impacted the storyline so everyone understands who he is and why he’s disliked.
Project Meridian is a series done and recorded by Redacted Audio. I highly recommend you guys check it out.
So, let’s begin!
Project Meridian actually started with Marcus. James’s Past/Present video is the first in the playlist but it all starts with Marcus, who we’re introduced to as the Nervous Technician. The listener is also an Android in this series.
First video summarized [dubious consent]
•Marcus comes to talk to us and asks the usual questions about how the updates are affecting us. Normal questions of what technicians would ask. He says he is our lead social protocol engineer.
He says he heard us make some comments regarding other protocol needs. He says that we put value on the work we’ve been doing together. That it’s validating that we care so much about him.
Long story short, many of the other technicians have commented on how we apparently only want to work with just Marcus.
He asks us if we find our behavior to be obsessive and unhealthy. To which we tell him that we do not care about what others believe.
He then confesses something to us,
“I haven’t—-I haven’t been completely honest with you. When I was designing your social protocols, I…I lost my objectivity. It’s what we humans do, right?”
“I was in a bad place in my life. I was alone and heartbroken and frustrated…and I took everyone of those feelings into work each day. I keyed them into every line of code I wrote for you.” “…I wanted someone…anyone to understand me.. “…So I built that in you.”
Marcus explains that he was in a terrible head space and he took this baggage to work. He let those dark thoughts influence his choices and we’re coded to care about him. He said he’s not sure what he was hoping for.
He expresses his regrets and says he wants to fix us. He asks us to give him access to our tier one social protocols and we tell him no.
Android kisses Marcus and he gives in to them. The video ends with these quotes.
“Oh god, I’ve thought about this every day. Since we’ve activated you…” “…I’m gonna burn for what I did to you, but damn if it isn’t gonna feel good on the way down.”
I won’t even lie….that last line did get me the first time I listened. LIKE IM SORRY!! I WAS SAT BUT IM STANDING UP! 😭 please don’t come for me I DIDNT KNOW WHAT I KNOW NOW!
So that’s the beginning…so we’ve got a Yandere on our hands you guys. BUT OH DONT WORRY! We get some wild Shit. Also why did this lowkey give me Yuno and Yuki vibes?? I’ve never watched Mirai Nikki but that’s the vibe I got when I first watched this.
Now let us descend further into madness!
Second video summarized [Your Nervous Technician checks in with you]
•The Android goes to see Marcus in the diagnostics lab, where they both find out that additional monitoring and surveillance equipment has been installed in the research center. That also includes the diagnostic lab that they are in.
He says he’s going to ask us some questions and informs us that we’re likely being recorded.
He talks about our progress briefly and how the others feel about said progress.
Then, he tells us we’re going to undergo some tests.
He says that one of the diagnostics is failing to initialize and tries to “fix it”. He actually overloaded the system and sent it into a re-initialized state. Basically they’re not being watched anymore and he did this so he can talk to us.
After the first video, the research center has been put on high alert.
Everything is changing. There are guards and there are people who seem to be important that are showing up.
Marcus is basically freaking out overall about rumors of “Phase 2” . He doesn’t know what the hell is going on and everyone else is also in the dark about things.
“I think this might be the government getting involved. Ever since we hit those original metrics, everything changed…overnight.” “We were given these new NDA’s to sign.”
Marcus is basically scared that he might not see us ever again.
The systems come back on. Marcus and Android put on their facades of being strictly professional.
And that’s video two.
Ya’ll might be wondering why I’m detailing their relationship. It’s actually important to understand how they both got together and why in the end, Marcus ended up where he is now. There are lore drops in his video but I’m here to deliver them for you! 🫶
Next is Video three!
Third video summarized [Reunited with Your Nervous Technician]
•We hear Brian for the first time! He tells Marcus that the lab is ready for him.
He enters the lab where he is reunited with us, the Android.
But before they can continue, he asks a very important question:
“What state of matter is love?” “Why?”
We give him the answers he expects and he sighs in relief that they didn’t mess with our code. We still “care” for him.
It has been three weeks since we last saw him. He was left in the dark about what was being done to us. Only the data integration team has been in contact with us.
They didn’t make the new data added to us accessible to us. It’ll only be accessible during Phase 3.
Marcus is going to try to access the files that were added to us. [Crazy ass bitch.]
After convincing us to let go of him, he attaches an interface to us and gains access to the data, but it is heavily encrypted.
They have a really long conversation about how everything is so secretive and that Marcus was terrified that they would be found out in those three weeks.
Marcus checks on the decryption but it’s barely making any progress.
He asks how often we think about him. We tell him we think about him, a lot.
He then tells us something:
“You know the parts of your code that I added? When we were creating you….the ones that were meant to bring us closer together. They weren’t set to activate until I initiated a series of triggers. You know? Phrases and things like that…and each time I said them…the code would reactivate.” “You’ve spent the last three weeks remembering everything I’ve said. Every interaction we’ve had…almost nonstop.” “I didn’t account for something like that.” “I didn’t put in any kind of fail-safe.”
The Android seems to be…a bit aggressive about not wanting to let Marcus go.
They get interrupted because the decryption worked. It solves the Text string.
On the data packet, the header is PROJECT MERIDIAN
And that’s the end of video three 🤭 OHOHO MARCUS YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE YOU STINKY MAN! Oh and we got a lore drop. Project Meridian??? What could that mean 👀 although I’m sure if you’ve watched all of Sovereign State…you guys know what’s up.
Fourth Video summarized [Confronted by a Diagnostic Technician] [confrontation and guilt-tripping]
•oh? The text is purple…BECAUSE WE GET A VIDEO WITH BRIAN! Brian makes it clear that he does not wish to have a meaningless conversation with us. He only wants to check our vitals.
He says we’re more than welcomed to talk but he probably won’t answer.
We tell him that we usually have conversations with Marcus. Brian says he doesn’t care what he does in his examination.
He says that he finds the insinuation that Marcus talking to us while doing his job makes him better is insulting. GET HIM AGAIN FOR ME BRIAN!!
Ever since the three weeks, the Android has not stopped talking about Marcus. They’re descending into their obsession.
Brian says he has no patience for that. “We’re barely getting any sleep. We’re being hounded to work on this project at all hours. We’re pulling double-shifts to try and get this thing back on track for their deadlines, and you can’t even do me the curtesy of focusing on something other than Marcus for ten minutes.”
“This project has to work.”
“There are careers on the line. There are livelihoods on the line. People’s futures are hanging in the balance, while you stand here pining about Marcus and not focusing on your progress.”
Brian then proceeds to the beg the Android to stop thinking about Marcus for once. That they should tell Marcus to stop because there are people’s lives on the line.
The Android grabs Brian’s arm and he demands that they let go of him.
He tells them that he is only telling them what they need to hear.
“I spent the last four years working on this project, only to have my contract changed right out from under me. Only to be told that if I didn’t agree to the new terms, I’d be fired and have my name dragged so deep into the muck that I’d never get a respectable position again! I have a family to support!”
He demands us to get our shit together.
And that’s the end of that video. Phew…that was a fucking lot. I really do recommend Brian’s video to give you a big understanding of their situation.
So yeah…they’re in big fucking trouble
I remember being so stressed when I listened to this. Like omg….THIS IS SOME SERIOUS SHIT.
There is a part two that I will link here. Thank you for joining me on revisiting Marcus’s tomfoolery.
#redacted asmr#redacted audio#redactedverse#redacted project meridian#redacted marcus#redacted android
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humans can only clothe themselves with animal organs! dogs are only socially fulfilled by humans! im very smart!
You don't appear to be, but I guess everyone's entitled to their (idiot) opinions...
Anyway, this gives me a good excuse to summarise why I have a problem with animal rights movements, namely the fact that they have absolutely no respect for humans.
You clowns feel like it's morally correct to troll people on the internet because we disagree with you (you obviously know it's not, otherwise why hide your username?) You think bullying, marginalising, and threatening violence against people is okay if it means you prove your point, even in the face of mountains of evidence that demonstrates how wrong you are.
The people who advocate for an end to all forms of animal 'exploitation', by and large, aren't people who interact with animals on a daily basis. They're not people who are directly involved in the care of farm animals, the protection of wildlife, or the training and breeding of pets. They're not people who have ever hunted grouse, butchered a pig, or tanned a moose hide. That level of removal from interspecies relationships leads to a lot of unrealistic and absolutely false beliefs about animals and how we engage with them.
Take the people who claim you grind up bees to get honey, or who believe shearing a sheep and skinning a sheep are the same thing (with wasn't a fringe idea, that was put forward by PETA). It's easy to prove these extreme examples false, but lots of people still believe them. How many other things do you not understand about animals because you've never been close enough to them to learn? How many more lies is your cause selling you to gain support, that you don't know better than to believe?
And what's the best way to drum up unquestioning support from people who don't know better? You make them angry.
That unjustified rage, fuelled by pictures of cute baby animals and graphic gore, is usually directed at people who are already marginalised.
I've heard animal rights extremists suggest that independent farmers (my family included) should be sentenced to life in prison for owning and managing livestock.
I've read articles flippantly suggesting that Inuit communities above the arctic circle, living below the poverty line, should be forced to ship vegetables thousands of kilometers (using fossil fuels) at great expense, because their health and ability to afford basic necessities is less important than the lives of a few sustainably hunted seals.
I've watched protesters screaming slurs hold signs that called for Indigenous people to be hunted for sport over a legal, humanely undertaken, and culturally vital whale hunt. That hunt was postponed several times, because extremists (who claimed they were there to preserve life) tried to capsize sea canoes full of people.
It takes almost nothing to push the animal rights movement to violent racism, class warfare, and abuses of human rights. Where does that hatred come from? How can you care about any kind of life when you meet the concerns of human beings who tell you you're hurting them with dehumanising mental gymnastics and vicious attacks?
So why should I indulge this bullshit? Why would I trust the opinions of people who who have no experience with animals over my own lived experience? Why would I care what your lot think, when you'd happily let people I care about die to uphold your faulty belief that humans are somehow better than nature and can opt out of our relationships with other species on a whim?
If anyone wants sources they can ask for them off anon. Otherwise google it like a big kid. It takes literally 30 seconds to verify that animal rights extremists do more harm (to people and animals) than good.
#animal rights#or you know an excuse to treat humans you dont like as trash#because they both shake out to the same thing#if animals could talk theyd also tell you peta is bullshit#racism#violence#indigenous peoples#indigenous rights#any indigenous group working on conservation projects is probably doing more for animal welfare#than all the vegans yelling about how honey exploits the labor of bees#any group youre targetting with this shit has a system figured out to take care of the species they utilise#the vegans are at it again#gimme a soapbox motherfucker ive always got a speech prepared#ask#anons who think theyre making a point
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So, I just watched withcindy's video about this whole scandal between BookTok and the Seattle Kraken team and... I have some things to say about all this.
Before we start I want to mention that I'll be touching upon topics such as catcalling, sexism towards men, and grown women not willing to take accountability for their actions. If you find any of these topics upsetting, I would advise you against reading this and hope you have a nice rest of your day.
We'll be talking about Kierra Lewis, a known BookTok member, also known as the woman who keeps on "humorously simping" over the members of the Seattle Kraken team.
She makes this videos with pictures of them in the background while saying things like "Why don't you assist your teammates in scoring all three of my holes?", "What's a sister gotta do to have you crack this back?" or "When you're done playing your little game go spit out that mouthpiece 'cause I got something else to put in your mouth".
Kierra also catcalls them on videos where they're warming up, saying things like "Best believe, after seeing them stretches, I'm going to every hockey practice, every game, early as hell", or "When I saw it [the video] for the first time, me and the kitty was drooling at the same time".
Far from thinking this woman was disgusting and calling her out for sexually harassing their players, the team decided to go along with it and began posting more and more videos of the players so she, and all the other women she had inspired to do such atrocious things, could keep on going. Actually, they even rewarded Kierra inviting her to one of their games and gifting her a personalised jersey.
As I just said, many other women took her as an example and began catcalling the players. Some even took it further and went into their DMs.
It was then when Felicia, one of the team's players' wife, decided to come out and defend her husband stating that "There has been videos and comments made that have crossed the line and sound pretty predatory and exploiting [···] I don't care about the comments about my husband's looks, what doesn't sit with me is when your desires come with sexual harrasment, innapropiate comments and the fact that with the internet we can normalize behavior that would never be okay if we flipped the genders around".
Kierra proceeded to "defend herself" by saying that everything she had done was for entertainment purposes, that it was a TikTok thing and, thus, it shouldn't be taken seriously. Besides, she had gotten the support from other women in these player's lives!
Now again, let's do what Felicia said and flip the genders around. Imagine this is a grown ass man excusing himself from catcalling all these female athletes simply because he "did it for the funsies". And besides, men in their lives were okay with his comments so it's a-okay for him to do whatever he wants!
It isn't funny at all, is it? People would instantly cancel him and every single person who dared support this asshole. But since it's a woman with men, well...
Why don't we just go and harass the victim's wife, shall we?
"You're trying to turn something innocent into something awful because of what's going on in your marriage"
"Imagine being so insecure in your relationship that you have to go on Instagram because YOU went public about how hot your man is, other people agreed, and you didn't like it"
These are some of the comments directed towards Felicia. As you can see, they're accusing her of being insecure about her relationship which... huh? Babe, she's just defending her partner from people who are literally sexually harassing him and his teammates. I think that's actually pretty... decent of her? Pretty human? But eh, not like you would know about ethics, am I right?
There's something that Cindy said about this that I would like to quote. She says "Maybe other people are feeling insecure about being called out for sexual harassment and, instead of being embarrased, they're projecting that onto the woman who called their shit out". YOU 👏 ARE 👏 A 👏 QUEEN 👏 BABE.
There're also other users calling her out saying that Felicia wants to be Y/N so badly, but she can't. And this is where the main problem lays: they don't see Alex (Felicia's husband) as a human being, but as the face of their preferred male protagonists in their Wattpad Y/N stories.
(Besides, Y/N always ends up being the girlfriend/wife of the hockey player. Felicia is, in fact, Alex's wife. So who are the ones who want to be Y/N so badly, but they can't?).
Eventually, the team ended up unfollowing Kierra and deleting the videos after shit got wild. The fact that they waited for so long, though... Honestly, shame on them. Whoever decided it was a good idea to support this woman's wrongdoings, you are disgusting and hope this weights in your concience.
Felicia then releases yet another statement where she mentions that "I wanted my post to be taken for what it was: a request for accountability, respect, boundaries and for people to educate themselves on sexual harrasment, consent and double stardards. It was never my intention [to directly attack Kierra]. [My problem is with] the toxic culture, the problematic following and harassing behavior. We get sent this video [where Alex is stretching] and others on a weekly, if not on a daily basis. Every game I've been to and talked to fans I get in my head about not knowing if these are genuine hockey fans or the people who comment that they masturb#te with his jersey on"
She also mentions this author who's been writing a spicy book with Alex as her inspiration like WTF? This woman was also the one who shared the video I mentioned before, and even had the guts to tag him on it. What a lovely human, isn't she?
The harassment levels were so bad Alex had to come out to defend Felicia stating that "I'm all in for BookTok to write books and fiction about hockey, but the aggresive language about real life players is too much [···] We can all take a joke and funny comments, but when it turns personal and into something bigger that affects our family, we need to tell you we have had enough".
I can only imagine the pain these two people (along with their child/ren) must have been going through just because a bunch of grown ass women cannot accept the fact they're in the wrong thinking that since, and only since, Alex's team is a masculine one, any sort of sexual harassment towards them gets invalidaded.
And that is my main complain with all this shit; double standards and the team players being treated as objects simply because these women have had only considered them as the face of their preferred love interest in whichever Y/N or OC story they've reading or writing.
It's okay if you thirst over fictional characters and whatnot, but it's different when the object of your desires is a real life person. You should then have in mind that they're a breathing human being who has a life, friends, family and even partners. And even if they don't, they'll always have the right to deny consent or to give it and then revoke it whenever they feel like it. And so do the people who surround them.
You have no right to call out Felicia because she was okay with people calling her husband handsome and she now complains about yall's disgusting behavior. Just get down of your high horses and take the fucking accountability y'all been needing for a long ass time.
TL;DR: Have empathy and don't be a perverted fuck. Period.
#booktok#rant#tw harassment#tw sexism#long post#don't you dare comment until you read the entire thing
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Dianna Soriel is peak “Gundam Girl”
Queen of an entire race of moon people, she can improv the shit out of a speech without being preachy, and none of that Pop Singer shit like Lacus.
She sits proper, full of class, and so much composure.
She can feign ignorance in one breath, and command the room in a second. And it’s not cringe “girl boss“ energy, she’s a PROFESSIONAL.
It’s legitimate qualifications, you believe it she’s done this shit for a while as a career and is about it.
300+ Year old Queen that’s not above learning the joy of simply washing clothes lol, and will put a cap in your rump if you start rampaging in a mobile suit in her name.
She’s not having it:
"Do i even remember my parents"
Is something she says towards the end of the series, just before a battle, the finale battle.
A very odd thing to just drop in the finale, but it’s little nuggets of character like that that puts her up there in the Gundam “character” list, not just the honorary female category, but Gundam characters period.
Now, i’m zero bullshit, the reason why she’s not as marketable among current day audiences as your Lunamaria, or Lacus, Nena, or Sayla. Is mainly exposure and sex appeal, let’s just get that out the way.
Turn A Gundam is underrated, so it goes under the radar (Exposure)
Dianna Soriel is too well written to be classified as a “waifu”, she’s not an infantilized idiot with a fat ass, and she’s not treated as such. (Sex appeal)
Turn A Gundam has it’s moments of fanservice but it’s not My Sus Academia levels of Pedobear- it’s entirely context oriented and it doesn’t dwell on it. It passes, and we move on.
So she’s not a sex symbol in this franchise, and for the most part is not flaunted like a piece of meat, she’s written like a Ghibli Studios character.
Is that enough reason for her to go unnoticed?
Unfortunately yes, to an extent. I’m a straight male with working testosterone, i know the game.
Just look at your top “anime girl” lists and count on five fingers how many of them:
Got that spot because they’re well written vs possessing some blatant form of sex appeal, despite being 2D with eyes the size of a respiratory organ
NOT a Shonen female character
Not from a mainstream anime that everybody rides because it’s mainstream
Leads their own series
And contributes something legitimate to the situation beside being there or being hot
Cause i guaran-fucking-T you you won’t see Marlene Angel on that list, her anime has fanservice, however the anime itself is like a cult classic type situation.
People in this anime straight have sex, and the narrative function is like Attack on titan, end of the world, creatures run amok.
People are trying to feel alive in the moment because it could be their last time.
That’s the context, it’s called Blue Gender, brutal, fucked up, tragic. I recommend it.
You’re even less likely to see BALSA Yonsa on that list
And she’s a beast.
Explaining her story would take another post, just go watch her anime:
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit
So because the anime is underrated and retro, and her sexual market value is not exploited-
No, she’s not going to get her due respect.
If she was treated like Makima is, she would also have stan group on Twitter compiling entire tweets dedicated to pointing out the anime itself featuring frames of her ass, chest, her in lingerie, the whole “woof” meme, lmfao.
Because we’ve never seen that shit before. Originality.
Niggas calling her “Mommy” and shit, bruv chiiiill with all that hogwash.
Can’t make this up, her relevance is being a fetish mascot, fabulous.
Writing 101: When your character is as transparent as a Ziploc bag, over compensate with sex, “that’s a neat trick”.
Can see it a mile away. Because at some point, writing wise, most people have done it, it’s definitely tempting, cause humans are sexual. And writing is freedom so you’d think, why not?
However, the measure of a writer’s competence in this context, is choosing not to do that.
Because giving a character depth takes more work & EFFORT vs letting your fandom project their libido onto the character because you want to misdirect the fact that she’s not much of a character.
And her popularity is founded on that, longterm, she’ll fade into obscurity when the Makima or Akane Shinjou is introduced.
Oh? You forgot about that weirdly “foot fetish-y” sexualized teenager that everybody was panting over not long ago?
Well don’t worry about forgetting she ever existed, cause so did everyone else-
And that’s my point.
Sex appeal by itself isn’t the issue, women are attractive, that’s not a sin. Active sexualization (especially of teenagers, cmon bruv) at the expense of presentation and characterization, is straight narrative laziness.
Laziness and wasted potential is the issue.
So Makima’s biggest contribution to the average normie is being a “Woman in a suit” aesthetic (Which i personally think is under-represented), but in the culture, that’s all the majority care about.
Which is not surprising because a lot of Mangaka’s do not use their work as a proxy to share their storytelling prospects & ideas like competent writers but instead insert their kinks to project onto millions like scumbags.
And it works, because the industry attracts and rewards that energy.
And of course the characters either succeed because the content is good, they're relevant for a few weeks cause they're cute, or get butt fucked in on rule34 for it then they're replaced by the next pinup girl.Trending today, forgotten tomorrow.
Trending today, forgotten tomorrow.
Dianna Soriel does not have this problem, because she’s not written to be an eroticized effigy to pander. She’s not a proxy, she’s a character.
And that’s partly why she’s under the radar for the most part.
TL;DR Put respect on her name.
#dianna soriel#turn a gundam#moon queen#gundamology#writing#put respect on her name#underrated#female character#good character
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LIGHT OF LIFE 456
John 1:4
DIVINE ORDER 21: KEEP YOUR RECORDS IN ORDER 3
Isa 30:8 Now go, WRITE IT DOWN ON A TABLET IN THEIR PRESENCE, INSCRIBE IT ON A SCROLL, so that it might be PRESERVED FOR A FUTURE TIME AS AN ENDURING WITNESS. NET
THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY 2
The records of our vexatious challenges help tell others that they too can do it if you overcame it.
Jas 5:17-18 ELIJAH WAS A MAN WITH HUMAN FRAILTIES, JUST LIKE ALL OF US, BUT HE PRAYED AND RECEIVED SUPERNATURAL ANSWERS. He actually shut the heavens over the land so there would be no rain for three and a half years! THEN HE PRAYED AGAIN AND THE SKIES OPENED UP over the land so that the rain came again and produced the harvest. TPT
Sadly though, the most disturbing reason why men keep their records “sweet & Perfect” is for filthy lucre’s sake.
In Christian Ministry where we already have the Bible as reference, men still insist on reading only the sweet and positive parts to create “delightful opium” for ignorant and lazy believers, and at such, exploit them to the utmost.
1Pe 5:2 Just as shepherds watch over their sheep, you must watch over everyone God has placed in your care. Do it willingly in order to please God, and not simply because you think you must. LET IT BE SOMETHING YOU WANT TO DO, INSTEAD OF SOMETHING YOU DO MERELY TO MAKE MONEY. CEV
I have seen too many bus evangelists who come to tell [tall] stories of Miracles too stupendous to be true, just because they would eventually “beg” for money from these people.
But Records must contain True Pictures of [inevitable] living experiences that are intrinsic factors of a real Christian’s Life.
1Co 4:9-10 IT SEEMS TO ME THAT GOD HAS APPOINTED US APOSTLES TO BE AT THE END OF THE LINE. We are like those on display at the end of the procession, AS DOOMED GLADIATORS SOON TO BE KILLED. WE HAVE BECOME A THEATRICAL SPECTACLE TO ALL CREATION, BOTH TO PEOPLE AND TO ANGELS. We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are the frail; you are the powerful. You are celebrated; we are humiliated. TPT
There is nothing wrong if people read of even your stupid mistakes or unguarded steps and falls.
It could help them know how they can arise and STAND from theirs too.
Some are too concerned about always presenting an honourable and fine picture of their Profession.
Rom 11:13 I am speaking now to you Gentiles: As long as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I WILL TAKE PRIDE IN MY WORK. GNB
Now let’s go back to God as our Standard: do you see God keeping back any records of anything good or bad in the course of the Natural world?
Let us inspect a little, shall we?
Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, BEHOLD, IT WAS VERY GOOD. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. KJV
This is where many will love to leave their records: painting only the “good” picture.
Too many books - especially fictions - are written with impressions of winning most times, because we know the readers will anticipate “Comedy” and not “Tragedy” at the end of all.
But what do we see in God’s records please?
Gen 6:6 -7And the Lord had sorrow because he had made man on the earth, and grief was in his heart. And the Lord said, I will take away man, whom I have made, from the face of the earth, even man and beast and that which goes on the earth and every bird of the air; for I have sorrow for having made them. BBE
Can you imagine how it could feel for the perfect and infallible God, to have to destroy everything he had made good just because it failed to meet divine standard?
Painful, I think.
But we all know it wasn’t His fault or error in details of creation really. He made al things perfect but then gave MAN Freewill, which was necessary, and then what?
Ecc 7:29 I have found only this: God made people decent, but they LOOKED for many ways to AVOID being decent." GW
God kept all the records of His long-suffering with men and resultant redemptive process or otherwise, demeaning responses of Men.
Isa 1:2-3 The LORD has said, "Listen, heaven and earth! THE CHILDREN I RAISED HAVE TURNED AGAINST ME. Oxen and donkeys know who owns and feeds them, but my people won't ever learn." CEV
May your Records be a beacon Light for God’s Purpose, IN JESUS NAME.
Come back on Friday, as we proceed in digging into this inspiring Subtopic.
Brother Prince
Wednesday, January 10, 2023
08055125517; 08023904307
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So I'm currently unemployed because I got fired for taking too much sick leave (it was legally sketchy blah blah blah but in the end I just can't work and take care of myself and investigate my mystery health problems at the same time). So I've been spending more time writing!
I really admire your writing and loved Hunger Pangs. I'm looking forward to the poly elements developing and I'm wondering if you have any advice for writing about poly. I've made one of my projects a snarky take on "write what you know" ... Apparently what I know is southern gothic meets Pacific northwest gothic, chronic illness pandemic surrealism, and falling back-asswards into threesomes.
I know this is a very open-ended question and I don't expect an answer, I'm just curious about it if you have the energy. As a writer, trying to write honestly / realistically about polyamory/enm, I'm curious if you have any thoughts on what's different about portraying monogamy or nonmonogamy in books, romance or erotica or otherwise.
I'm trying to read examples but it's hard to find examples that fit the niche I'm looking at. Excuse me if this question is nonsense, it's the cluster headaches.
I'm sorry to hear you've been dealing with all that and solidarity on the cluster headaches. But I'm glad you're finding an outlet through writing! And I hope you're happy with an open-ended ramble in response because oh boy, there's a lot I could talk about and I could probably do a better job of answering this sort of thing with more specific questions, but let's see where we end up.
There's definitely a big difference between writing polyamory/ENM (ethical non-monogamy) and what people often expect from monogamous love stories.
Just even from a purely sales and marketing standpoint, the moment you write anything polyamorous (or even just straight up LGBTQIA+ without the ENM) you're going to get considered closer to being erotica/obscene than hetero romances. It's an unfair bias, but it's one that exists in our society. But also the Amazon algorithm and their shitty, shitty human censors. Especially the ones that work the weekends. (Talking to you, Carlos 🖕.)
So not only do you start out hyper-aware that you're writing something that is highly stigmatized or fetishized (at least I'm hyper-aware) but that you are also writing for a niche market that is starving for positive content because the content that exists is either limited, not what they want, or is problematic in some fashion i.e. highly stigmatized or fetishy. And even then, the wants, desires, and expectations of the community you're writing for are complex and wildly varied and hard to fit into an easy formula.
When writing monogamous love stories, there is a set expectation that’s really hard to fuck up once you know it. X person meets Y. Attraction happens, followed by some sort of minor conflict/resolution. Other plot may happen. A greater catalyst involving personal growth for both parties (hopefully) happens. Follow the equation to its ultimate resolution and achieve Happily Ever After.
But writing ENM is... a lot more difficult, if only because of the pure scope of possibilities. You could try to follow the same equation and shove three (or more) people into it, but it rarely works well. Usually because if you’re doing it right, you won’t have enough room in a single character arc to allow for enough growth, and if ENM requires anything in abundance, it’s room to grow.
And this post is huge so I’m going to put the rest under a cut :)
There's also a common refrain in certain online polyam/ENM circles that triads and throuples are overrepresented in media and they may be right to some extent. Personally, I believe the issue isn't that triads and throuples are overrepresented, but that there is such minuscule positive rep of ethical non-monogamy in general, that the few tiny instances we have of triads in media make it seem like it's "everywhere" when in actuality, it's still quite rare and the media we do have often veers into Unicorn Hunter fetish porn. Which is its own problematic thing. And just to be clear, I’m not including this part to dissuade you from writing "falling back-asswards into threesomes." If anything, I need more of it and would hook it directly into my brain if I could. I'm just throwing it out there into the void in the hope that someone will take the thought and run with it, lol.
I’d love to see more polyfidelitous rep in fiction, just as much as I’d like to see more relationship anarchy too. More diversity in fiction is always good.
Another thing that differs in writing ENM romance vs conventional monogamy is the feeling like you need to justify yourself. There's a lot of pressure to be as healthy and non-problematic as possible because you are being held to a higher standard of criticism. Both from people from without the ENM communities, and from the people within. Granted, some people don't give a shit and just want to read some fantastic porn (valid) but there are those who will cheerfully read Fifty Shades of Bullshit and call it "spicy" and "romantic," then turn around and call the most tooth-rottingly-sweet-fluff about a queer platonic polycule heresy. That's just the way the world works.
(Pro-tip for author life in general: never read your own reviews; that way madness lies. I glimpsed one the other day that tagged Hunger Pangs as “ethical cheating” and just about had an aneurism.)
And while that feeling of needing to justify yourself comes from a valid place of being excluded from the table of socially accepted norms, it can also be to the detriment of both the story and the subject matter at hand. I've seen some authors bend so far over backward to avoid being problematic in their portrayal of ENM, they end up being problematic for entirely different reasons. Usually because they give such a skewed, rose-tinted perspective of how things work, it ends up coming off as well... a bit culty and obnoxious tbh.
“Look how enlightened we are, freed from the trappings of monogamy and jealousy! We’re all so honest and perfect and happy!”
Yeah, uhu, sure Jan. Except here’s the thing, not all jealousy is bad. How you act on it can be, but jealousy itself is an important tool in the junk drawer that is the range of human emotion. It can clue us in to when we’re feeling sad or neglected, which in turn means we should figure out why we’re feeling those things. Sometimes it’s because brains are just like that and anxiety is a thing. Other times it’s because our needs are actually being neglected and we are in an unhealthy situation we need to remedy. You gotta put the work in to figure it out. Which is the same as any style of relationship, whether it’s mono, polyam or whatever flavor of ENM you subscribe to* And sometimes you just gotta be messy, because that’s how humans are. Being afraid to show that mess makes it a dishonest portrayal, and it also robs you of some great cannon fodder for character development.
Which brings me in a roundabout way to my current pet peeve in how certain writers take monogamous ideals and apply them to ENM, sometimes without even realizing it. The “Find the Right Person and Settle Down” trope.
Often, in this case, ENM or polyamory is treated as a phase. Something you mature out of with age or until you meet “The One(tm).” This is, of course, an attempt to follow the mono style formula expected in most romances. And while it might appeal to many readers, it’s uh, actually quite insulting.
To give an example, I am currently seeing this a lot in the Witcher fandom.
Fanon Netflix!Jaskier is everyone's favorite ethical slut until he meets Geralt then woops, wouldn’t you know, he just needed to find The One(tm). Suddenly, all his other sexual and romantic exploits or attractions mean nothing to him. Let's watch as he throws away a core aspect of his personality in favor of a man.
Yeah... that sure showed those societal norms...
If I were being generous, I’d say it’s a poor attempt at showing New Relationship Euphoria and how wrapped up people can become in new relationships. But honestly, it’s monogamous bias eking its way in to validate how special and unique the relationship is. Because sometimes people really can’t think of any other way to show how important and valid a relationship is without defining it in terms of exclusivity. Which is a fundamental misunderstanding of how ENM works for a lot of people and invalidates a lot of loving, serious and long-term relationships.
This is not to say that some polyam/poly-leaning people can't be happy in monogamous relationships! I am! (I consider myself ambiamorous. I'm happy with either monogamy or polyamory, it really just depends on the relationship(s) I’m in.) But I also don't regard my relationship with a mono partner as "settling down" or "growing up." It's just a choice I made to be with a person I love, and it's a valid one. Just like choosing to never close yourself off to multiple relationships is valid. And I wish more people realized that, or rather, I wish the people writing these things knew that :P
Anyway, I think I’ve rambled enough. I hope this collection of incoherent thoughts actually makes some sense and might be useful.
----
*A good resource book that doesn't pull any punches in this regard is Polysecure by Jessica Fern. It's a wonderfully insightful read that explores the messier side of consensual non-monogamy, especially with how it can be affected by trauma or inter-relationship conflicts. But it also shows how to take better steps toward healthy, ethical non-monogamy (a far better job than More Than Two**) and conflict resolution, making it a valuable resource both for someone who is a part of this relationship style***, but also for writers on the outside looking in who might have a very simple or misguided idea of what conflict within polyam/ENM relationships might look like, vs traditional monogamous ones.
** The author of More Than Two has been accused of multiple accounts of abuse within the polyamorous community, with many of his coauthors having spoken out about the gaslighting and emotional and psychological damage they experienced while in a relationship with him. A lot of their stories are documented here: https://www.itrippedonthepolystair.com/ (warning: it is not light material and deals with issues of abuse, gaslighting, and a whole other plethora of Yikes.) While some people still find More Than Two helpful reading, there are now, thankfully, much, much better resources out there.
*** Some people consider polyam/ENM to be part of their identity or orientation, while others view it as a relationship style.It largely depends on the individual.
#long post#writing#ethical non-monogamy#relationship styles#relationship models in fiction#also that kindle link is an affiliate link#because fuck giving amazon free recs
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psa: trent ikithon is not as competent and powerful as he makes himself seem.
(cw: discussion of abuse)
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i'm not sure how to get into this in a way that's natural, so i hope you don't mind if i go for the straightforward route.
trent ikithon is an abuser. that means his tactics all center around—and rely upon—making vulnerable people believe that he has far more power than he actually does. and when it comes to our pov, the m9's pov, ikithon is trying his damnedest to accomplish the same.
now, i don't know everything that's in matt mercer's head when he has played or characterized trent ikithon. i'm sure there's some depth to his motivations and intelligence, and i don't doubt that ikithon ideologically believes in strengthening the empire. but this is not relevant to the abuse tactics i want to discuss.
because the reality is this: abusers do what they do because they enjoy victimizing and controlling the vulnerable.
that's why you get abusers like archivist zeenoth who are attracted to positions of authority. those positions facilitate structural imbalances of power between them and their potential victims. trent ikithon, too, is doing the same thing—as an archmage of the cerberus assembly, he is exploiting the authority of his position to gain victims for abusing. he is not doing what he does because he's a brilliant mastermind focused on a goal. if he was, he wouldn't abuse his students.
think about it in terms of effectiveness. no matter what people like ikithon try to assert, his volstrucker are not in any way stronger or more capable from his 'tutelage'. caduceus clay roasted the man in his own dining room for this lie. what the volstrucker are are an organization of ruthless, skilled spies built from deeply abused and damaged people. they aren't healthy; they aren't stable. caleb widogast spent eleven years in a sanatorium because he was one of many recruits who broke under the abuse (see EGtW), and then five years as a solitary, paranoia-ridden mess in a filthy coat. he spent months trying not to self-sabotage his growing friendships and had a panic attack as soon as he left ophelia mardun's mansion in shadycreek (e27, 2:55:21). he has ptsd from using fire magic to burn people to death—considering his statement on executing traitors to the empire as a trainee (e18, 2:48:12), it was probably an everyday part of the job.
even the minority of volstrucker that do get through the training stage aren’t functioning well. only a few episodes ago, we watched astrid finish a conversation with caleb and then duck into an alleyway so she could curl up and have a five-minute breakdown before putting the composed mask back on (e126, 1:50:47). abuse makes being alive harder; good luck being a sustainable espionage program at that point.
so that's one lie. how about another?
at the dinner in ikithon's tower, ikithon implied that he has guided every step of caleb's path to recovery and ever-growing power. that caleb's plans to murder ikithon are exactly what he wants; that he even arranged his escape from the vergessen sanatorium (e110, 2:52:58).
i think enough people have recognized that ikithon's first claim is utter bullshit, considering that caleb and the m9 had just arrived from a random island on which they hosted a cult gathering festooned with phalluses. but the implication that he arranged for caleb's escape from the sanatorium was just that: an implication. he never says outright that he did so. he only couched what he knew in gaslighting platitudes and handed over the holy symbol of the cleric that healed him. you won't sense a lie that hasn't been spoken. he let caleb and the m9 make their assumptions, and the assumption worked in his favor.
let's consider the actual circumstances of caleb's escape (e18, beginning 2:51:54). a fellow inmate of the sanatorium who was a cleric suddenly grabbed him and healed him of his madness before returning to her own ravings. caleb then pretended he was still insane for two weeks before killing a guard, stealing the amulet that kept him hidden, and fleeing. how would any of these events work in trent ikithon's favor? the number of absurd assumptions here are off the charts.
first, you would have to believe that a cleric could permanently heal a man who'd been insane and probably experimented on for eleven years.
second, you would have to assume that this man would still be competent enough to pass general scrutiny and break out.
third, you would have to believe that he'd totally survive on his own without any resources whatsoever,
after eleven years of being institutionalized,
while first beginning deep in the pearlbow wilderness—
all without raising the suspicion of this apparently still hypercompetent ex-patient that his escape was too easy.
and fourth, you would have to believe that this man would actually accomplish something in your interests instead of, say, dying or remaining a vagrant beggar forever.
if this was all on purpose, then trent ikithon is really an idiot.
another truth: caleb was not special. both liam and caleb have said so (talks for e88, beginning 28:00; & e110, 29:06), with the examples of other volstrucker supporting this. all of them are talented mages and good at spycraft! they have to be to graduate in the first place! ikithon's assertions that caleb was extra special (e110, 2:52:11)? also a lie—specifically, a great tactic for convincing a victim of abuse not to think about it further. of course they're being hurt again. of course they're being targeted again. not to mention how abusers selectively compliment in order to confuse the people they’re hurting (relevant here: e88, 3:28:25). caleb having an unhealthy amount of hubris and thus open to being diagnosed with protagonist disease doesn’t help.
ikithon would have easily deduced the details of what happened and obtained the holy symbol after an investigation of the break-out. not too hard to piece things together if you simply ask about unusual events prior to the escape and learn that he'd had an altercation with another patient two weeks ago—and oh yes, that patient used to be a blasphemous cleric.
caleb widogast basically reappeared next door healthier, much more powerful, and more capable than ever. ikithon doesn’t have control over caleb’s entire past and future—but he wants him to believe he does. it’s a gaslighting attempt to make caleb question his own accomplishments and attribute them to ikithon so that ikithon can regain some control over his ex-student.
another truth: trent ikithon is already on thin fucking ice. no one in the cerberus assembly likes each other, of course, but a consistent point was made again and again that everyone deeply dislikes ikithon. he's stayed because he made himself useful, but he could and would get taken care of should he be a detriment instead (see e88, 3:19:27; & e97, 3:19:32).
any sort of thorough investigation into the volstrucker and the vergessen sanatorium would reveal exactly how fragile all of his agents are and how frequently he fails in conditioning his recruits. ikithon gets the pick of the crop when it comes to nationalistic, talented students that enter the soltryce academy. to find out that he drives a significant number of them insane? well, that's a pure waste of unrealized potential. and for what—a program of spies who are paranoid enough and opportunistic enough to turn on each other if prodded the right way?
and now... trent ikithon, as part of the traitorous beacon research, has been under heavy investigation from two fronts: the augen trust and the cobalt soul (e125, 2:31:10). and he has been getting very nervous recently (e125, 2:41:42).
the final truth i want to point out: trent ikithon is just as control-obsessed as any other abuser. we got the most obvious example of this yet from e128—his pursuit of the m9 to nicodranas and tidepeak tower. think about the circumstances again.
he was apparently so curious and so annoyed by caleb rebuffing all of his attempts at ‘conversation’ that he made his excuses before teleporting directly to nicodranas,
through a circle implied to be arranged diplomatically between the empire and the clovis concord,
with a plan to break into the lavish chateau, one of the most high-profile locations of the city, to potentially kidnap or kill everyone,
including the famous and beloved ruby of the sea.
he then chased the m9 and their families to the equally high-profile tidepeak tower on the open quay, all of which is owned by yussa errenis, an archmage himself who’s learned far more about local politics than he ever wanted to know,
intimidated his “man”servant,
and broke in.
and they did all of this possibly with some very confused members of the zhelezo following right behind them.
other people have gone through the potential political consequences of this more thoroughly than me, so suffice to say that trent ikithon has gotten himself into some deep shit. you can’t negotiate or magic yourself out of being witnessed by hundreds of people breaking into the tower of an archmage who is infamous among the locals for being a bitchy recluse.
if he was smart, and clever, and a brilliant mastermind, he wouldn’t have done any of that. what he could have done: continue to handle caleb from an ominous distance through spells like sending. allege to the cerberus assembly and king dwendal that the break-in was an underhanded cobalt soul mission because of beauregard’s association with the m9. or just straight-up say that the m9 broke into his facilities because they have a vendetta against him and have them at least investigated the next time the empire can hold onto them for a second.
but he didn’t do any of those much more clever possibilities. he acted impulsively and rashly and may well be on the way to a lot of trouble now. all because ikithon just could not handle caleb being saucy.
with all this in mind, i want to go back to one last detail: astrid and eadwulf. because these two would suffer terrible consequences if they ran away—allegedly.
because i want to ask... what exactly could ikithon do to them?
they’ve already killed their own parents. so far, we’ve had no sign either that they have anyone else important to them in his reach besides each other. they have nothing tying themselves to him besides years of abuse and the crimes they’ve committed as volstrucker. they might want some power of their own, sure, perhaps they want to kill him while they’re still close. but we certainly know that eadwulf and astrid are not invested in the volstruckers as it stands. they doubt ikithon. and they already have their own amulets.
so what else could make them so terrified by the idea of leaving with the m9 except the way that trent ikithon has abused them and convinced them that he’s powerful enough and capable enough to catch up to them?
don’t be fooled. he hosted the most embarrassing excuse for a dining-with-the-enemy scene (seriously, i hope someone reading this cringed the entire time as well from all the long pauses and terrible topic transitions) and then teleported away to flee caduceus clay’s scalding tea. no retort, no blackmail. he acted recklessly in nicodranas and appropriately pushed two of his own volstrucker to betray him, losing his one opportunity to capture the m9′s family there. and now ikithon is between a rock and a hard place in terms of political standing, with a spy network he has openly encouraged to turn against him.
there is no terror waiting in the wings anymore, no more strings he can pull. just an abuser playing up his own grandeur. at this point, the only thing he hasn’t reached his limit in yet is his high-level spell slots.
#cr#critical role#cr meta#trent ikithon#caleb widogast#astrid#eadwulf#abuse#gaslighting mention#prim post#prim says some things#long post#he's a horrible and despicable person who's#used his power to commit massive harm don't get me wrong#but don't fall for overestimating him- he wants you to
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You once said "Harry Osborn is the backbone of the Spider-Man franchise", mind elaborate cause I kinda feel the same
I'd love to elaborate!
Harry’s character adds a whole new dimension to Spider-Man’s core theme of power and responsibility. He is part of a trifecta of characters that have been at the center of many a Spider-Man story both in- and outside of the comics. This trio - Peter, Norman and Harry himself - represent that philosophy in different ways, and I think in a sense, Harry is the most important link.
We have Peter, the hero. Peter suffers continuously because of his power. He is burdened by it, because of the enormous moral task that is knowing how to handle it responsibly, when to use it and when not to.
Then there's Norman, the villain. A man who more than anyone else in the story represents the idea of power as an aspiration, a dream, a reward for those who are strong enough to claim it. A man who enacts selfish violence.
And then there's Harry. A foil to both Peter and Norman. Caught up between the influences of his father and his best friend. The core of Harry's character is his struggle with the expectation to reject vulnerability and perform strength. Conventional, aggressive, stoic, masculine strength. Yet when he does achieve that strength he sought after, it only destroys him further. I think to Harry, the Green Goblin does not simply represent hatred or malice - multiple times he has donned the costume to do good. To Harry, the Goblin above all else represents power.
However he's not cut out for gleefully indulging in power like Norman, nor responsibly wielding it like Peter. Not because he is inherently a good or bad person, but because he's a fragile person, who feels fulfilled by softness and stability. And therefore, power in itself is a source of corruption, of distortion for Harry. It puts him under pressure, and by attaining it he’s forcing himself to be someone he isn't. (It’s no coincidence that the thing that ends up literally killing Harry is his father’s strength-enchancing formula.)
I think Harry’s angle is a an incredibly, incredibly valuable addition to the narrative because it shows once again that great power is not something to glorify, but a burden not everyone should, or can carry. It should not be strived for as a means of proving yourself, it is not a virtue in and of itself. It’s a tool to improve the world around you, one that comes at a cost, one that is dangerous to both those it’s used against and those using it.
When I read Harry's arc excluding later character assassinations the message I take away is that it's fine to be fragile. It's a form of strength to let your guard down, to put your trust in others rather than crumble on your own. A strength that Peter often struggles to find, and Norman denounces as weakness. I believe it's necessary to remind the audience that bullheaded stoicism, self isolation, and overreliance on one’s own real or perceived toughness are forms of self destruction. Whether you are doing it because you don’t want to burden others or because of your own ego. True strength comes not from power, but from caring about other people, from letting them in.
And this leads me into another major theme of the series that Harry also represents: Love. I think at its core, every good Spider-Man story is about love in some form. Peter’s not a hero because he can climb up walls and throw a truck, he’s a hero because he uses those skills to help others. And while he feels it is his responsibility either way, he has definitely developed a strong sense of compassion as Spider-Man. He cares for his fellow man, not in the same way that he cares for those close to him, but in a way that is directly inspired by them. Time and time again, the people he loves have kept him going when he was at his limit. As for Harry - He may not be strong in a traditional sense, but he is an incredibly loving person. When he permits himself to be authentic, he’s deeply caring, loyal, and generous. His upbringing has conditioned him to view those traits as weaknesses, as ground for attack and exploitation. It is moving and monumentally important that he eventually chooses love despite that shame and fear, chooses it over his father’s idea of who he should be.
So in my opinion, Harry is thematically integral to Spider-Man. But furthermore, I also think he makes Peter and Norman’s relationship a million times more compelling, through both that thematic relevance and his personal ties to them. Harry is the link that turns things very, very personal. Peter and Norman are at war with each other not just physically but ideologically and nowhere is that as evident as in their opinion on and treatment of Harry. To Peter, he's somebody to put hope into. Peter admires Harry for his softness, his "good heart" as he says, and wants to protect that genuine self. To Norman, he is a source of shame, of frustration. Norman sees his son as an extension of himself and watching Harry be the exact opposite of his expectations hurts both his inflated ego and his skewed world view immensely, which Norman then takes out on Harry.
Aside from the neverending conflict between those two, Harry simply plays a huge role in the closest thing the comics ever had to an overarching story. In my opinion, the “plot” of Spider-Man comics as a whole ended with Harry’s death. Not simply because I love the character, and not because I believe there have been no good/meaningful story arcs after (which I don’t), but because it was the conclusion to the chain of events that was kicked into gear the night Gwen Stacy died. To me, Spider-Man is the story of a young friend group being torn apart when one of their own is murdered, now forced to face the reality of how and why it happened and what the consequences of those facts entail, while they learn to see past their more or less surface level understandings of each other and end up both further apart and closer together than ever. Harry being part of the Coffee Bean Gang - especially Gwen’s and Peter’s friend - as well as Norman’s son ties him to this story with no exit and forces him to confront what those people truly mean to him, to decide who he is going to become through them. DeMatteis’ Green Goblin Junior arc is the final conflict in that story, and the final word of its narrative on power and responsibility, on love and fear, on growth and self recognition through the other. That final word is delivered through Harry.
#harry osborn#long post#VERY VERY LONG POST#it took me three days to articulate this in a semi satisfying way i hope u like it anon#theopolispost
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Under the Floorboards pt. III
(Technoblade x Reader): Pt. I, Pt. II, Pt. III, Pt. IIII
From that day on Tommy stayed with you and Technoblade in your collective house, Technoblade tried to establish some ground rules but Tommy being Tommy refused to listen to any of them. He was dead set on building a cobblestone tower as well as taking all of Technoblade’s golden apples instead of eating the golden carrots that were graciously given to him. Other than that, things seemed to be going okay for your little found family. Well, that was until Technoblade and Tommy got wind that a man named Dream was sniffing around the area.
Dream was an enigma to you, after hearing Tommy’s stories about the man you could only come up with two conclusions about him. One was that you had no idea what his motivations were in the first place and secondly you wanted to beat his ass for what he did to Tommy. As... unique as he could be at times no child deserved to be exiled and manipulated, it was disgusting. He was a sixteen-year-old boy who got caught up in too many wars and too much violence, you needed to protect him. So long as he was with you and Technoblade that’s what you planned on doing. That was what you silently vowed to yourself, even if Technoblade didn’t share the same sentiment.
Now, it seemed you were coming increasingly closer to voicing those feelings to the man himself. Tommy was shaking a little besides you he tried to look strong as Technoblade frantically told him to hide and splashed him with invisibility potions. He looked over at you next and grabbed your shoulders, he actually looked scared, which meant he wasn’t messing around.
“You need to hide too. God- there’s nowhere that he won’t check.” Technoblade mumbled, his brow creased, and he closed his eyes. “He CAN’T know about you! No one other than Tommy can, they’ll hurt you and-” Hesitantly you put your hands on his cheeks,
“Take a deep breath…” You said tenderly as he opened his eyes to lock with your own. “We’ll be okay, splash me with invis and I’ll stay by Edward, hopefully it’ll mask my particle effects.” He gave a worried nod; you pecked his lips tenderly to reassure him as he splashed you with the potion. Just in time too because a knock on the door sounded, for once Tommy was absolutely silent. You watched as a man who rivaled your boyfriend in size came through the door, your eyes widened at the white mask covering his face there was an almost haunting smile painted on it. You pressed your tongue against your teeth and watched him give a wave to your boyfriend. Even without seeing his face you could tell he was smirking coyly at him. Never one to be intimidated Technoblade gave him a casual greeting and their conversation about Tommy’s location began. You had to cover your mouth with your hands at one point to stop yourself from laughing as Techno began talking to ‘chat’ instead of talking to Dream. You watched as the masked man grew more and more angry at Technoblade’s antics, he began speaking about a favor and Techno reminded him that he believes in full reciprocity. At the end of the interaction, it took all of your strength not to punch Dream directly in his stupid masked face. Why the fuck did it sound like he wanted to murder a child? If Dream ever laid a finger on him again, he was personally going to feel your wrath. The potion wore off almost as soon as Dream disappeared over the hills, Techno immediately turned to Tommy anger written all over his face.
“Where you eating my gapples that ENTIRE time?!” Tommy sputtered out an excuse about absorption and you watched Techno open the window and beckon Dream to come back. You gave Technoblade a look and he scoffed at you,
“I won’t let him hurt you again Tommy. I promise.” You swore looking down at him, and his face turned a little pink. Tommy cleared his throat and shook his head,
“Thanks, Ms. Blade but I’m tough enough to fight him head on! Have no fear!” He pointed to himself with his thumb a proud smile adoring his face. You gave a little laugh and nodded in agreement,
“You definitely are. Thank you for reassuring me.” You hummed and his smile only seemed to widen,
“I’m more qualified to protect your girlfriend than you are it seems Technoblade.”
Technoblade looked unamused, his eyebrow twitching in distaste. “Tommy I literally hate you so much. You’re a nerd.”
“Play nice both of you.” You scolded them, “We have to work together and at least pretend to get along or it’s going to be a very long partnership.” They both nodded reluctantly, and Techno sighed tiredly, he ruffled your hair. The rest of the night was spent gathering some more food in hopes it would stop Tommy’s gapple eating tirade, it obviously wouldn’t but it didn’t hurt to try. After that all three of you turned in for the night, as both you and Technoblade were getting ready for bed he decided to speak up about the plan for the next day.
“Tommy and I need to make a trek into L’manburg to find Phil and try to get my stuff back. I don’t want to leave you here alone considering what just happened today, but you also can’t come to L’manburg.”
“Bubs you know I’ll be fine here alone did we not just have this conversation?” You pinched his pointed ears, and he made a sound of protest. “I’ve got fighting skills, after all have you not been training me in the art of war?” You teased with a smirk, “I got this Blade.”
“Okay, okay, okay.” He leaned forward and kissed you and you kissed him back without hesitation. You felt him squeeze your hand fondly before pulling away from you. “When we get back home, we’ll have a date night okay?” Technoblade whispered softly pressing his forehead to yours.
“Gonna be a bit hard with the raccoon boy snooping around.” You teased eyes sparkling in delight,
“I’ll send him on a quest for something or other. So, it’ll be just us, I swear.” The soft look on Technoblade’s face made your heart squeeze in your chest. He brushed your hair behind your ear, “I’ll make you dinner, and we can watch a movie.”
“Well don’t take too long then.” You sent a teasing wink his way and he smiled fondly back at you. You kissed him again pulling him down into the bed, you both bounced with a laugh. His pink hair hung down and framed his face gorgeously, his glasses slipped down his nose. You pushed them back up with your index finger and he went cross-eyed, “I’ll be looking forward to it.”
The next morning rolled around and after breakfast both boys reluctantly packed a bag with important things they needed for the day. Stepping outside with the two of them, Technoblade gave you a farewell kiss and you watched them disappear over the hills. They were most likely going to go cause problems for other people on purpose. Finally alone, you decided to check up on the nearby villages to see if they had any interesting trades that you and Techno could exploit. You slung a bag over your shoulder and placed a good portion of emeralds inside of it, you placed a few potions inside of the bag as well. As a precaution you also grabbed an axe and a sword, you had to be ready for anything after all. Shutting the door behind you, you started your trek through the snow-covered woods you heard the snow crunch under your boots and began to hum softly to yourself. You paused a moment and raised an eyebrow as you caught sight of a blue sheep wandering by, tilting your head to the side you approached it.
“Well, hey little guy.” You murmured reaching out and running your hand through the sheep’s soft wool.
“Oh, um excuse me!” A voice spoke from behind you, you jumped with a yelp as soon as you spun around you were met with a fully transparent man. He had a yellow sweater with a big gash in his torso, and a beanie resting atop his head. You tilted your head up and locked eyes with him, they were almost completely white.
He was a ghost.
“That’s Friend! She doesn’t really like others petting her but it’s okay because you didn’t know.” The ghost smiled; it was contagious as you felt yourself smiling back at him.
“My bad, my names (Y/n). What’s yours?”
“Oh! I’m Ghostbur! It’s nice to meet you miss, I’ve never seen you around here before. Are you new to the SMP?” He tilted his head floating around you, almost as if to get a better look at you. You focused more on his name, Ghostbur, which means this was Wilbur Soot, ex-president of L’manburg, and ‘brother’ of Tommy and Technoblade.
You cleared your throat and rubbed the back of your neck. “No, I’ve lived in this area for a while, but I’m a wandering adventurer. I trade with the villages around here for interesting collectables stuff like that. I don’t do much of that now though.” You watched the ghost’s eyes widen a little,
“That’s so cool!” He praised, “I bet you have a ton of cool stories.”
“Yeah, there’s been a few close calls, but I’ve made it back alive and well- oh shit no offense.” You winced a little and he laughed shaking his head,
“No worries it’s okay! I’m fine with being dead you know, no one really liked who I was alive, so this is better for everybody.” He puffed out his chest a little and a big smile spread across his face, that only caused you to frown. You reached out to try and touch him and your hand went right through the man, you both seemed to shiver at that, and he looked at you in shock.
“I’m sorry to hear that...that must be really hard.” Wilbur’s jaw dropped at your response, he floated around a bit awkwardly. If he wasn’t floating, he would’ve been shuffling on his feet in a nervous manner.
“N-No it’s…Wilbur was a horrible, horrible man.” He took a deep breath and began to throw some sort of blue substance on the ground in a rapid manner, you watched as he began to mutter and breath heavily.
“Woah, woah, woah I’m sorry don’t freak out!”
“I’m not, I'm okay see, see I’m fine and happy. Very happy with everything that’s going on so no worries okay! Here.” He tossed the blue substance at you and you collected it with a weary smile, “Have some blue it’ll make you feel better.” You thanked him quietly and you both stood there a bit uncomfortably that was until thunder rumbled overhead. “Oh no…I melt in the rain.”
“Here why don’t you come with me.” You smiled softly, “I know a place where you can wait out the storm.”
“Aw thank you.” Ghostbur clapped, “Friend can come too right?”
“Of course.”
“Good. Then lead the way.” He chirped as Ghostbur followed you back the way you came, now before you get too mad at yourself you should know that Technoblade had informed you that during his ‘execution’ Ghostbur had visited him at his home. If he didn’t share that information with you, you’d be never revealing Technoblade’s base. As the house appeared over the mountains the ghost looked over at you with a bright smile, “Oh! That’s my friend Technoblade’s house, do you live with him?”
“I do.” You smiled fondly and watched his smile grow excitedly, “He’s helped me out quite a lot.”
“That’s wonderful! Technoblade usually never helps people unless he likes them or if they can do something for him in return. You must be very special, are you two together?” He only had to glance at you for a moment before laughing excitedly, “You are! That’s wonderful!” Ghostbur chirped, clapping his hands as he phased through Technoblade’s door, officially safe out of the rain, turned snow. You had let Friend inside as well and Ghostbur continued talking “Tell me how you met, please, please, please.” Seeing how excited the ghost was you melted, he won your heart just like Tommy. However, you had to keep in mind his alive self-did blow up an entire nation and that couldn’t be just brushed away like he seemingly was trying to do, you can’t erase the past. You can only accept what happens, learn from it, apologize and grow. However, you didn’t see the harm in sharing how the both of you met so you began to retell the tale to Ghostbur, the entire time he had an almost bittersweet look on his face.
“I was married once...her name was Sally. She...left though. But I still had my son, Fundy and we did the best we could together.” Ghostbur said fondly his eyes softening,
“I’m sorry...that must’ve been really hard for the both of you.”
“It’s alright! She was a salmon, so she was going to swim away eventually.”
“Like- like an actual salmon?”
“Yes?”
The silence that stretched into the room was deafening, you cleared your throat deciding not to dwell on the fact that the ghost in front of you very likely fucked a fish. You hoped to god she was some sort of shapeshifter, in fact that’s what you were going to believe. You managed to break the silence by asking about Fundy, and the way he gushed about him was nothing less than fatherly. It was sweet and you listened intently to him, Fundy seemed like a good kid, a bit quirky but you were dating a blood god so who were you to judge? Eventually the snow outside stopped and the sun began to peek out from behind the clouds. Ghostbur glanced out the window and decided it was time for him to head out with Friend. It was about midday and you were almost sad to see him go.
Alone again.
You still had hours to kill before Technoblade and Tommy reappeared, so you figured it was about time to start doing some chores.
---
“Ghostbur what’re you doing here?” Fundy murmured softly, looking over at the ghost with an exhausted expression. His ears were pressed back against his head, talking to the man who was once considered his dad always made him exhausted. Wilbur, or Ghostbur now, really was pitiful.
“Can’t I visit you every once in a while!” Ghostbur hummed a smile plastered on his face as Fundy frowned.
“Preferably not. Plus...I’m a little busy right now I’m meeting up with Quackity and the Butcher Squad to talk about Techno again.”
“OH! Technoblade! I just spent the loveliest morning with his girlfriend, she was absolutely wonderful! She asked all about you and just adored Friend-”
“Rewind, Technoblade’s what?” Fundy’s jaw dropped to the floor and he felt a hand on his shoulder, the young fox man stiffened. He looked to the side and saw Quackity besides him, Ranboo was next to him but Tubbo stood a little ways away.
“Yeah Ghostbur. Do continue.” Quackity grinned, his missing tooth sticking out from his last encounter with Toothpick. Ghostbur wilted a little bit and his eyebrows creased on his forehead, he fucked up didn’t he?
“I-um nothing actually I misspoke.”
“Did he misspeak Fundy, cause to me it sounds like we have new leverage against Technoblade.” Quackity laughed a crazed look in his eyes, “Once again Ghostbur I have to thank you for the great information.”
“You’re welcome…” He murmured weakly, as Quackity stepped besides the ghost.
“Get your weapons boys, it’s time to pay the Technoblade household another visit.”
~~~
Hey guys! Pt. III is officially up! Technoblade’s livestreams huh? :)
Also friendship with Tommy ended Ranboo’s my new favorite child.
As always I love your feedback thanks for reading!
#dream smp#dreamsmp x reader#technoblade#technoblade x reader#ghostbur#mcyt x reader#mcyt x you#mcyt#minecraft fanfiction#blood for the blood god#rp#fanfiction#fanfic#wilbur soot
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the neverending “question” of mob-boss AUs and italian characters
Every fandom in existence has mafia AUs, for some reason.
Usually written by anglophones, they show the mafia as the one portrayed in The Godfather or Goodfellas: dudes wearing bespoke suits who push the barrel of their gun into their enemy’s mouth as the latter pleads for their life, tears spilling down their cheeks and snot dripping onto their upper lip, pathetic as they kneel and beg while the mafioso stands over them, proud and manly and so handsome, with his gold watch catching the orange lights of the dying sun.
Well... let me shut down it real quick: that is a purely American and purely fictional vision of the mafia. A, for some reason, entirely idealized version of organized crime that Hollywood has been shoving into theaters for decades, to the point that you don’t even need to be American to believe that this is how things are in reality.
I feel like that, as a first note, I should say that “mafia” doesn’t mean anything: “mafia” is merely the type of organization, and it indicates a violent criminal organization with a moral code founded on the concept of “omertà”, silence regarding a crime and the unwillingness to confess to be the one committing it or turning in the names of the people who did.
So... what mafiosa organization is being discussed? Sacra Corona Unita? Cosa Nostra? ‘Ndrangheta? Camorra? Stidda? Banda della Magliana (in action between 1977 and 1993)?
Usually it sounds like the organization in question is Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian one, but there is always so little research and conversation with actual Italians - who have said over and over and over again that you shouldn’t portray Italian characters as sexy mafia bosses - that I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the first time you even hear about the fact that there are different kinds of organizations.
On the same route, since the dialogue with actual Italians is not considered in this conversation, for some reason, people are still running with the idea of “mobsters/mafia bosses are just bad boys” and sometimes they just need a redemption arch to come clean and become stand out citizens, while other times they are the epitome of sexiness and their partner gets into the organization too. In most cases, they are written as these loveable doofuses who will murder a bitch in cold blood but will then come cuddle with you.
No.
A round, absolute no.
Mafia bosses exploit people, they rape people, they murder innocent people, they steal from people, they enslave immigrants, they melt children into acid tanks because their parents were going to collaborate with the police. How is any of this sexy or even redeemable? Do you know that one of the reasons why weed will never be legalized in Italy is not because of the strong presence of the Church, but because mafiose organizations make a lot of money by selling drugs, including weed, and legalizing it would ruin their market?
And here, this is the face of a mafia boss who actually did it! His name was Totò Riina, a true Italian mafia boss who thankfully croaked a couple of years ago. You are literally one Google search away from seeing the other hundreds of heinous crimes he and his colleagues committed, as well as actually informing yourself regarding anything that has to do with the mafia and how it still affects and enslaves and terrorizes an entire country. Roberto Saviano, a writer who dared to call out the names of the Camorra boss and his associates during a protest, has been living under protection for fourteen years because they threatened to murder him. He is only forty-one!
This concerns the TOG fandom because I have seen that, although there is a lot of willingness from the many artists and writers that populate it to learn about Joe’s culture, religion, and traditions, everything regarding Nicky seems to be taken for granted and no one is willing to inform themselves, creating an astounding lack of dialogue with Italian creators.
Writing Nicky as being part of a mafiosa organization is a horrible example of ignorance and xenophobia, as well as unwillingness to understand how truly damaging those kinds of organizations are for our country.
You wouldn’t write about a KKK member being sexy and cool, so why is it okay to write about a mafioso that way? What part of murdering children and raping women and enslaving people for profit is cool?
For once we have a good example of an Italian character in the mainstream media that is not played by an American actor who pretends to speak with a broken Neapolitan accent, and the first instinct is to turn him into a horrible, horrible monster who is actually plaguing our country? And the wrong kind too, usually, because he’s from Genoa and not Sicily!
Seriously, I’m not saying that you cannot write mafia AUs, it’s fiction, who cares, but at the same time it should be a given that you should check your ideas with people who are actually from that country and who can actually explain to you how to do it correctly. For how mafia AUs are written, the mafioso could as well be just a normal criminal that has found themselves with their hands in drugs and murdering people and pimping out women.
If you have ever watched an Italian show or movie regarding crime, you should know that the main characters, the ones the audience is supposed to emphasize with, are never mafiosi. In Suburra, both TV series and movie, neither Aureliano nor Spadino are mafiosi: they’re just criminals. You know who the mafioso is? Samurai, the guy the director never tries to make you emphasize with, as he was part of the Banda della Magliana. In Trust, Primo is not represented as being sympathetic: he’s evil and his actions aren’t forgivable. In Don’t Be Bad, you’re supposed to be empathetic to Luca’s character, Cesare, but he’s a simple criminal with no ties to any mafiosa organization.
It really shouldn’t be this hard to even just ask Italians how to write about Italian issues with some touch and empathy.
Writing Nicky as a mobster could be as bad as writing Joe as a terrorist, and it’s crazy that no one seems to notice it.
#italian sources#nicky di genova#the old guard#tog discourse#luca marinelli#nicolò di genova#nicolo di genova#suburra#aureliano adami#spadino anacleti#trust#primo nizzuto#mafia au#non essere cattivo#don't be bad
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Spilled Pearls
- Chapter 29 - ao3 -
“In the future, you should send your children to the Cloud Recesses for me to teach,” Lan Qiren said. He was sitting with Wen Ruohan on one of the rooftop gardens in the Nightless City, watching the moon and stars from a pavilion placed there for that purpose; their bodies were pressed close together, and it felt as if they were far away from all the things that were familiar. “You and Lao Nie both, and naturally I’ll come visit with you often as well, bringing my nephew. Between the three of us, we might even be able to teach them how to be proper human beings.”
Wen Ruohan laughed in his ear and pressed his lips to his cheek – he had taken to kissing him at random, spontaneous, as if still overwhelmed by the fact that he now had the right to do it.
“I will,” he promised. “I agree, I think they’ll turn out better that way…you would really have me educate your precious little A-Huan?”
“If I’m willing to entrust myself with you, why not him? Anyway, I can teach him music, and with the aid of the other teachers in my sect the sword in the Lan sect style, but you can teach him much more than that. You know how to look at the world and see it for what it is, and then bend it to your will, make it sing to your tune. He’ll be sect leader in the future; he needs to learn that, and you can teach it to him.”
“I can, and I will,” Wen Ruohan said, then thought for a moment and asked, “What does Lao Nie bring to the table?”
“Flexibility, mostly.���
Wen Ruohan barked out a laugh. “He certainly has that.”
He didn’t even sound bitter about it any more.
Lan Qiren smiled.
“In the meantime, I will handle the rest of it,” Wen Ruohan added, and Lan Qiren looked at him in silent question. “Come now, Qiren. Did you really think that I would allow you to remain caged in the Cloud Recesses your whole life?”
Lan Qiren paused. That was the sorest part of his heart, his most painful misery, but he didn’t think Wen Ruohan would bring it up casually. If anything, he was a bit more afraid of what Wen Ruohan might get into his head to do about it – there was very little Wen Ruohan wouldn’t dare.
“Da-ge –” he started warily.
“No, no,” Wen Ruohan said, lightly scolding. “Little Lan, be serious! I already rejected the opportunity to cage you here at the Nightless City, playing only for me, despite how much I longed to do so. I refused to do it – me, refusing myself – because I knew it would only make you sad. Do you really think I would allow other people a privilege that I have denied myself?”
Lan Qiren did not laugh, but he dearly wanted to. It might be the first time he’d ever wanted to laugh about his situation – not even Cangse Sanren had managed that. “Has anyone told you that you are extremely self-absorbed?” he asked instead. “Arrogance is forbidden. Do not be haughty and complacent.”
Wen Ruohan smirked back at him. “All true, little Lan, but don’t forget your favorite: Do not tell lies.”
Self-absorbed, narcissistic and arrogant, Lan Qiren concluded, and there was no helping it. It was clearly a terminal case.
He used his sleeve to hide his laughter.
“What are you planning, exactly?” he asked once he had recovered. “If you harm my sect, whether directly or indirectly by denying them my services, I would be even more upset than if you tried to lock me away in here.”
Wen Ruohan waved a hand dismissively. “Do you think me so incapable? I have already begun making arrangements. Discussion conferences may only be once or twice a year, being as they are tremendously irritating to arrange, but there’s no reason that we of the Great Sects should not recognize our greater duty towards the smaller sects, and not to mention our obligations to protect the mortal world –”
“You know that it exists, then?”
Wen Ruohan ignored him. “The resources of cultivation clans are limited, and the world large. There are many places which would benefit from aid that do not see any simply because they are far away or tucked in inconvenient places, and no sect lives nearby – naturally, it is our duty to fight evil no matter where it is encountered. Lao Nie has already agreed that it is critical that the sect leaders demonstrate our sincerity by fulfilling this duty in person, leading by example.”
Lan Qiren’s heart had already felt as if it were overflowing with warmth, and it felt even more so now, almost squeezed to pain by how much joy was there. More than he had known he could contain.
Bad luck in brothers, he thought to himself - but oh, he had such good luck in friends!
“I see,” he said, thankful that his usual neutral tone concealed how happy he felt. “And naturally, where you and Lao Nie go, Sect Leader Jin cannot be far behind in his eagerness not to lose out, and where three of the five Great Sects lead, naturally the rest cannot be far behind. So I, too, will be obligated to...what? Go out on night-hunts in inconvenient places?”
“The world is too large, and the number of cultivators too few – and at any rate, there’s no point in setting up a full night-hunt which draws in every person from a thousand li for a few paltry fierce corpses or a ghost or two. I propose, instead, that we would send cultivators out alone, in pairs or in small groups, to wander for a few months through the remote places in the world and clean them up. Then, at the next discussion conference, the Great Sects could jointly agree that whoever was most enterprising would receive a reward, and naturally, stories of various exploits could be exchanged – ”
“Ah. Another reason for young men and women to gather and boast of improbable exploits.”
“Think of it as giving them more opportunities to win glory,” Wen Ruohan said. “And stop talking down about ‘young men’; you are a young man. Naturally you are also qualified to go out to do such things. Required, even: if our Great Sects do not set a proper example, who will?”
“Mm. A proper example. Even if I coincidentally happen to spend more time playing music than hunting demons?”
Wen Ruohan’s eyes were bright. “Even so. And naturally, you could always bring along someone more powerful to do the demon-hunting for you…”
“How convenient.”
Wen Ruohan smirked. “Do you doubt that I will be able to make it happen, little Lan?”
“No,” Lan Qiren said, then added, honestly: “I think you could take over the world if you wished.”
“Naturally! But it would be quite irritating, I think, if I had to also ensure that both you and Lao Nie did not disapprove of my methods…” He paused, lips twitching. “By coincidence, while we’re discussing convenience, I was thinking that it would be dangerous to send all those wild and reckless young men out there without proper support. Surely it would be only reasonable to set up a few convenient places here and there, not so far away, to provide them with supplies and a place to rest and recover –”
Convenient places that would fly the Wen sect’s flag and spread its influence, Lan Qiren presumed. Lanling Jin would be furious – using wealth to buy influence was their favorite technique, and they resented other people copying it – and would immediately insist on establishing their own set of “supply stations”, and then the rest of them would have to catch up and make their own. Yet another expense, and the Great Sects would need to do more than most; it would probably wreck havoc with the Lan sect’s annual budget.
On the other hand, well the remote parts of the world really did need the help. One of the Lan sect’s newly recruited guest disciples had been talking about a place not far from his hometown that specialized in making coffin goods; it was, according to him, the most inauspicious place that could possibly be imagined…
Not a place anyone might want to go, unless they truly were intent on traveling.
Lan Qiren smiled once again. He thought he might never stop smiling.
“Indeed,” he said, trying to sound dry and rational. “Very coincidental. No one will doubt that this is nothing but a scheme to expand your reach and power, rather than any personal motive.”
Wen Ruohan did not answer, but instead, matching a smile of his own to Lan Qiren’s, pressed his lips against Lan Qiren’s once more.
After a little while of silence, Lan Qiren cleared his throat and asked, “Do you intend to tell people?”
He was not referring to Wen Ruohan’s plans for the future.
Wen Ruohan understood.
“In time,” he said. “As much as I would love to shout that you are mine and I am yours from the rooftops and perhaps have bulletins be posted to every town -”
Lan Qiren grimaced. It would be one thing if he thought Wen Ruohan was exaggerating for romantic effect, but unfortunately it would be just like him to engage in that level of over-the-top grandstanding.
“– but your position is not yet certain, and my reputation is too questionable. People would make assumptions and spread malicious gossip, and I – I would not harm you to please myself.”
“Sweet-talker.”
“It’s not sweet-talking when it’s true,” Wen Ruohan protested, although he was chuckling. “When you are more renowned as a teacher than a sect leader, when little A-Huan is old enough to have passed the worst stretches of childhood – then we will announce it, and let the rest of the world choke on it if they like. You, me, Lao Nie…hmm. Jin Guangshan will probably think we’re concealing a conspiracy and ask to join in.”
Lan Qiren gagged. “I refuse,” he said. “I don’t care if I’m not physically involved, neither you nor Lao Nie are allowed to even think about it. That man has visited so many prostitutes that one might be forgiven for thinking he believes that the road to immortality is paved with venereal disease.”
“…thank you, that was an image I did not require.” A pause. “Jiang Fengmian –”
“Remember when he punched me in the face in a fight over a girl I didn’t even want?”
“It wasn’t a serious suggestion.” Wen Ruohan chuckled once more and pressed another kiss to his cheek. “Some years ago now, I swore to your Cangse Sanren that I would do right by you. I ought to invite her here and show her that I’ve made good on it.”
“You haven’t made good on it.”
“I haven’t?”
“No. Such a promise is fulfilled through the keeping – if you want to do right by me, there is no one singular moment that would qualify, but rather a continuing obligation.” Lan Qiren smiled up at him. “I’m sorry, da-ge. You’ll have to continue to do right by me for the rest of our lives.”
“I will,” Wen Ruohan said, and smiled back. “It would be my pleasure.”
-END-
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I’m going to be honest: I dislike Nate right now.
And that’s perfectly fine.
I understand that this show loves to redeem people, however, as I said in another post, you can only redeem someone if there are negative feelings and/or you believe that person wronged someone or whatever. If you have positive feelings and excuse what they did, what exactly are they being redeemed for?
Despite loving Rebecca’s character, when I rewatch season one, I don’t like her at times. I dislike a lot of what she did back then. It doesn’t matter that I know she tells the truth eventually, the stuff she did was still fucked up. I’m not going to preemptively excuse her actions because I know the end goal.
Take Jamie for instance, his behavior was not okay. We know why he behaves that way, but it still wasn’t justified. We are still allowed to dislike him and what he did then. We talk about the negative effects of the bullying Nate received from the players, yet some try to excuse Nate’s bullying and his actions?
Wrong is wrong. Jamie being verbally abused by his dad didn’t justify how he treated others just like how Nate’s father (and bullying by others) is emotionally abusive doesn’t justify Nate’s behavior.
Although we understand the context, Nate IS being a fucking backstabbing asshole right now. Some may hate to hear that, but this isn’t an unfair opinion or unflattering light of him. This is exactly how he’s behaving.
There are some who has a ton of sympathy for Nate, but I’m not one of them. Please believe, I do hold some sympathy for him, but I have a limit.
So here’s reasons why Nate is on my shitlist and I’ll wait until he’s actually redeemed to forgive him.
1. Calling Rebecca a shrew. It’s not the fact that he literally called Rebecca this, but that he immediately verbally attacked the woman. We can say, “oh no, she’s the owner so he had reasons to think…”
No, Nate literally attacked Rebecca for no reason at all. She had little to no interaction with him and has never disrespected or harmed him in anyway, yet he has these intense feelings of dislike in the moment based off what exactly?
Nate attacked Rebecca because she is a woman. If you disagree, what other reason it might be? The reason I believe it was due to her gender is because she’s been defanged so to speak. So he doesn’t fear her like he used to. But Nate also practices in casual misogyny ie his shoe remark to Rebecca and Keeley. That may not seem like a big thing, but how is that an involuntary response??? With him believing he got fired, he doesn’t wait for answers, he immediately attacks her. And I had to ask myself, would he have done this with a man? With someone like Rupert? No fucking way. Nate can’t even directly challenge Ted who is a ray of sunshine, but attacks someone who he literally ran away from in fear in the pilot. Although Nate respects power, he respects male power the most. He skipped over Ted and Beard and went straight towards Rebecca. The fact that this even happened has always been disturbing to me. And Nate is fucking lucky that he hasn’t said any of his comments to old Rebecca (not age, but personality. 🥺) because she would have fired him. Only due to her relationship with Ted and him getting to let her guard down and find her old self that she frowned and shrugged Nate’s comments off. Most bosses at the very least would’ve talked to Nate and he didn’t get even that.
2. Projecting his daddy issues onto Ted. I understand that nate is going through some tough shit and has been for literally decades, however, that doesn’t mean make someone your stand in dad because they were nice and kind. Ted treats Nate like he does the other coaches, but Nate wants a special and unique relationship that will never exist. Ted is not his father and he didn’t ask for the job or the responsibilities.
I understand that people go through shit and latch onto those who made the rough times easier. I get that. However, all this animosity, scheming, and resentment because Ted isn’t giving the attention he wants. That fucking unfair to Ted. He didn’t ask or sign up to be Nate’s father figure. Yet he’s being punished for not being something he never wanted to be. Never even thought about it.
And because I’ve seen/partially experienced this shit, people getting mad at you for not being who they projected onto, it makes me upset at Nate. Because people like this really do become resentful and manipulative and that is not okay despite their own hurt that they’re dealing with. Why does the person you projected on have to suffer for something they’re unaware of and have no obligation to fulfill?
Nate isn’t just trying to blow up Ted’s professional career, he’s doing it via one of the cruelest ways: using his mental health against him. Thereby exploiting Ted’s trust in him.
Ted has literally changed Nate’s life for the better and rather than have a man to man talk with him, he cowardly tries to sabotage Ted in one of the worst ways imaginable.
3. His cognitive dissonance about how coaching works!!!
This seriously irritates me because, on some level, Nate knows that the very system he’s criticizing is how it works across ALL team sports and with reason.
He wants to be a damn head coach soooo bad—does he think ideas, plans, plays, etc only comes from head coaches???
What does he think assistants are there for?
For those who aren’t familiar with sports and coaching, literally every team sport has a head coach and then assistants under them. These assistant typically specialize in a given thing.
In American football, I believe there are like defensive coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, etc. there are coaches who watch a lot of tapes to learn the opposition and how to make plays to hold them exploit their weakness and tailor plays around that.
Like on the professional level there are so many types of coaches and, hell, not all of them want to be head coaches. Some of the greatest coaching minds aren’t head coaches.
For example, the American basketball team the Chicago bulls fired their coach Doug Collins in like 1989, I think. He was a good coach, but one of his assistant coaches had a basketball IQ out of this world. Doug refused to listen to him, but management fully supported this assistant coach. Now the other assistant coach they were grooming to take over, Phil Jackson, if you’ve heard of him, DID listen to this basketball genius. So much so that when he became head coach after Doug was fired, he continued to implement The Triangle offense that came from this basketball genius, which Phil was known for until he retired.
Nate’s upset that Ted gets all the credit for if they win, he does realize that Ted also gets all the blame for if they lose. Ted has always highlighted his coaching staff and everyone who helped him. He has always stressed that he wouldn’t be where he is without them. And when he loses, he takes full ownership. He doesn’t pass the blame at all.
Does Nate seem like someone who’d take ownership for losing?
Does Nate seem like someone, at this moment, who’d appropriately give credit to assistant or anyone else who helped him?
Would he even listen?
What makes Ted a great coach is that he gives others opportunities to step up to the plate and if/when they succeed, he allows them to shine.
Ted sees the fuller picture, for the most part, and knows how to address his weaknesses and who’s stronger than him in what area. He realized that the team needed a presence like Roy on the team. He knew he needed someone like beard who could absorb insane amounts of knowledge. He saw that Nate had potential coaching ability.
But Nate doesn’t understand the importance or value of this. He also doesn’t understand how instrumental Ted’s philosophy has been in transforming the culture of the team. That this is also a reason why the team is playing better.
So like, yeah, I’ll forgive Nate when he’s redeemed. But these three things are what really irks me about him. Just because I understand why he is acting this way doesn’t mean I have to excuse it when he’s being a dick to others, complaining about shit only due to his ego, and doing fucked up shit like leaking someone’s mental health struggles so he can gain an advantage over them.
Does he think that if Ted leaves/gets fired that he’s getting the job??? I mean hopefully whatever he has going on with Rupert works out (before it inevitably goes wrong) because this isn’t going to turn out how he thinks it will.
#ted lasso#ted lasso spoilers#Nate Shelley#I wonder if Rupert is trying to get Richmond back and has some big master plan#I do not want that to happen of course#but what is he planning#probably trying to steal Nate away#and if that’s the case#good riddance#lol#Nate can come back once he calms down and gets himself together
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Here’s the thing: After 15x18 - after Castiel’s confession - I will be devastatingly heartbroken with any ending less than a full, explicitly romantic relationship between him and Dean.
Let’s be clear: If they hadn’t had Cas confess, I wouldn’t be terrified about what they’re going to give to us on Thursday night. We’d all made our peace with Destiel never going canon. We never, ever in a million years expected to actually get it. All of us shippers were content to live with what we got on screen, determined to see it live on in our fanfiction, with faith in the fandom to tell the story of Dean and Castiel. We were fine. We were excited! The ending of any show is a momentous occasion, but the ending of this one? With this fandom family? After this long? No matter what happened, it was going to be something we’d cherish forever.
Instead, in the third-to-last episode of all time, Supernatural gave us a confession of love from one of its most beloved characters to the hero of the story. And we all lost our minds. Quite rightfully! We never, ever thought it would happen - no matter how much sub there has been in the text over the last 12 years. You know why? Because of Disney.
We’re used to the Disney version of LGBTQ representation. The kind where about a month before a movie comes out, we see a flurry of articles published about how there will be a “gay character” in it - somehow always for the first time. And the character is always gay; nobody cares enough to draw any distinctions within the community. All of human sexuality that isn’t purely straight is purely gay. *cue the eyerolls* And maybe the first time we got a little excited. (Probably not, but go with me here for a sec.) Maybe for Beauty and the Beast, we thought, “Oh, LeFou was kind of a fun character in the cartoon version. Maybe it’ll be cool to see him have a crush!” But always and inevitably, the “representation” is one of two equally hurtful things: 1) the character’s sexuality is bluntly on display, but it’s a source of ridicule for the person, and the audience is encouraged to laugh at it “with” the character (o hai, LeFou); or 2) the scene is less than two seconds long, or the character is unnamed, or the circumstances of the “representation” are such that they can easily be cut from the project for foreign audiences or swept under the rug in the minds of viewers who’d rather not admit that queer people exist (what up, Star Wars and Endgame?).
And that shit really fucking hurts. We’re told to shut up and be grateful, even enthusiastic that mainstream fiction media noticed we’re here at all. But we’re never main characters. Our stories are never told. This part of our identity is not only left unexplored; it is so exploited for woke points as to be made the single most defining thing about us. It’s offensive, over and over again, to have us included solely because of how we are different.
It fucking hurts.
Things are changing, slowly. We’re starting to get some deeper, three-dimensional representation in television and film. It’s not all starting out in 2005 on the same network that brought us 7th Heaven anymore. My niece is 14-years-old and out, and she will never remember a time when she had to scour the Internet to see queer versions of her favorite characters; she just has them. But all of us adults, well... chances are, our journeys have the potential to look a lot like Dean’s. We didn’t get to come out in high school. We didn’t let our younger selves think too hard about what we knew in our hearts would make us happy. It took us longer to arrive at a place of security and safety in order to be able to admit to ourselves and others who we are. Hell, the whole damn process of recognizing human sexuality is fluid might have taken us years!
Us queer adults - the ones who have been watching and loving Supernatural for longer than its younger audience - can now taste the possibility of seeing something that probably looks a lot like our very own romantic and personal experiences in Dean Winchester. We’ve been celebrating bi!Dean for years on our own, picking up the crumbs the writers give us and clutching them tightly, because what a gift it would be to see this good man, this hero as one of our own! And now... we’re so close to actually seeing it. On screen. For real and for sure.
These last two weeks have been incredibly difficult. We’re ecstatic! Wildly so! What other kind of reaction would we have to the writers allowing Castiel to admit these feelings we’ve all thought would only ever exist in our heads? But we are equally anxious, wary, and - quite frankly - battling hopelessness. Supernatural doesn’t have a great track record with these things. Everyone on Tumblr - even those that don’t watch this show - is well aware that this one is the master of queerbaiting. And then there’s Disney banging around in our skulls, a psychological trauma sounding again like an alarm. We’ve been burned so many times before, by other mainstream media and by Supernatural itself. It feels crazy to hope. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched the confession scene; I still can’t believe it’s real. A male-shaped main character said “I love you” to another male-shaped main character. It can’t be cut out and ignored, or brushed aside as platonic. It wasn’t a joke at the expense of queerness. It happened. It was big, and it was right there.
And now we are so, so close. Fuck.
That’s why if Supernatural doesn’t follow through and give us Dean and Cas unequivocally in love in the final 42 minutes of this beautiful, ridiculous, wonderful, preposterous, absolutely WILD show, it’ll just completely fucking break me. It will be the worst kind of tease, the deepest cut buried in the briniest salt. If they hadn’t given us Castiel’s confession, we’d have no expectations. But they did. And now, if they don’t deliver after all that’s been said and done...
...it will utterly shatter my fragile little bisexual heart into a million fucking pieces.
#supernatural#destiel#dean winchester#Castiel#spn#spn family#Misha Collins#lgbtq representation#lgbtq characters#lgbtq rights#spn finale#spn 15x18#supernatural 15x18#spn 15x20#supernatural 15x20#deancas#dean/Cas#jensen ackles#Castiel’s confession#fuck you disney#bisexual#bi!Dean
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unwanted lovers
the lovers of the sinner, the thieves of the nation. Caught in despair after hiding their motives behind the ruins of aristocrats , they were now together behind the cells of execution, loving each other in no bounds of life nor death.
diluc x gn!reader
contains (proceed with caution) : major character death, gruesome death, execution. (Heavy angst, comfort/hurt, bad ending)
a/n ; I’m very sleepy these days so enjoy reading this
“diluc..are you sure we’re going to be alright?” , standing behind the cliff, both hands and leg chained up in a huge rocks; standing beyond the other side of the sinners-walls. The cliff was a sharp one, designed to be a punishment for fugitive to regret. But you in the other hand..looked like you didn’t regret anything. Seems like you gone numb and missing, probably dying out of beneficial, but for what exact reason..? Aren’t you going to die? Aren’t you?
The air was in a perfect shape, blowing through the ears of whisper into corruptors mind. It was breezing and perfect, a match for a dead end. The flowers were all a bare minimum, seems as if it was never supposed to grow; Same as how the contradictions between you and diluc relationship.
“we sure are going to be alright…haha”
a simple small affairs of thieves, relationship grew beneath titles. scrawling through the nights of the nations, searching for victims to be devour. Fortune, foods, informations and many more. Dangerous or so, we could talk about it later; after all, privileges of the poor are none to another. Dirts fill the clothes of people with nothing, looking like a lost dog from the leach of their master; it’s how you both look. generally speaking, maybe you both are really perfect from one another. Poor and worthless, messing up the people whom privileges drowns them to exploitation. beneficial for business and public figure, making the knives on both of your throat approach the second you both slaughtered another man.
diluc look so much more than perfect, he is astonishing. Fit more to be a corrupted man instead of a filth whom licks someone toes to be payed. And to live to the fullest, he repayed those who are involved with the corrupted government, by either slaughtering them or just..stealing their granted fortune. It is a job, and to be specific it is a living hell to be in love with your own partner. Loving seems so mature, yet you both found it to be quite bothersome. or maybe that’s just how nature works for someone who grew in an abandoned wilderness. Like how diluc live after his family died, like how you live after you lost everything to the ego’s of the rich.
you both were empty, like you predicted it to be. Diluc was a scum, same as his only eye which felt like a sharpened death. kissing his dry lips as you cried in his chest, embracing the figure of a red-hair thief who ones told you an eternal peace, for the poor we live and for the rich we died, that’s how our life’s work sweetheart. Even if death embarrassed your cheeks, all you wished is for you both to be alive as soon as the worlds ends to be a better place. The smoke of his cigarettes surrounded your cries, it stings the pain of abandonment, like the cries of lovers who only lives to die in the age of glory. although you wouldn’t assume the fact he was a worth of a thousand years of reincarnation, he sure is enough for puppet like you to be pleased.
“still wearing your brother’s eyepatch i see? What’s up with you always wearing it around? You look better without it anyways.”
“he lives in the other ground of the walls, possibly already meeting my father right now. He was beneath 6 feet under the ground anyways, would you like to mourn him?”
“you could just told me he’s dead, Diluc”
“i can’t he’s supposed to be alive after all.”
that’s how you know Diluc’s past, how’d you believe his slaughter and warm to be an abominable crime. As much as you loath those who stick with their family principles, you expect nothing more than Diluc’s ability to keep you both balance from the assumptions of the rich. He is a tool and a lover, even if you fall out of love with him, you could still rely within his power..or so you thought. Fate was cruel, they decided to lend a hand for the inability to be punished by the divine.
You found a comfort at his kisses, it was beautiful. A single line of poet to an old paper, perfection. Never have you though to be deeply in love. dancing like nobody but yourself and diluc himself. Skipping through the laces of fingertips as the mansion burns to the ground, how beautiful the sunset is at the evening; the dust of the corpses which were buried trying it’s best to find the wind, but they were corrupted and only both of you were worth to be despaired. The soul of the worthless, the soul who craves justice for the none; oh god, you both really are in love.
Embracing nothing but him, loving the movement like no one but him, only him, my beloved diluc. The flowers petals which was turned into a thousand of flames are now flying and surrounding the neighborhood. Burning the whole corrupted society was unexpectedly mesmerizing. It seems like it covered the injustice of your action. Burying people underneath their grasp, leaving terrors to the innocent, maybe fairness are really that blind.
The mansion was burned to dust, leaving nothing but bones in the investigation. The fortune you took was nothing, the burns of the screaming neighbors are your daily teases. Diluc found it pleasing that you both are in love once again. Dancing once again. But this time, both of you were chained up in a chamber. Legs full of bruises, cheekbones gone frail, and lips were all drying in horrors. you both are dying in tremors.
Dancing in each other arms, suffering in worth, it’s the last night they thought. The swaying burns of guilt, the loving kisses of embrace, it’s so addicting. Although diluc was hesitant to let go, maybe it’s time to grew on the fact by loving was a cursed from the start. For both of you and diluc. The chains in your legs were rotten, making a deep infection on your ankles. A fatal sources of death and unbalance.
“can we promise something diluc?” , your voice gone hoarse. Trembling and terrified, dying wasn’t so ruthless but seeing diluc suffer was something you wish you could unchange. It’s exhausting to live like no one, maybe diluc felt so too. You were too scared to shed another tears to his chest, anxiety was planting it’s ideology beyond the walls of your mind.
The night was peaceful, maybe the starry sky doesn’t deserve it’s view. Humans are frail, fragile, and too much of a pain to begin with. If you were a god, maybe diluc could be your lover for the rest of your eternal realm. The next life would be fine, just make diluc safe from the grudge of death.
“let us marry each other in the next life, even if it meant for one of us to die again..”
“your wishes is my command, love” , an agreement. He agrees to be in love, whenever the situation is those words would always be kept near. Marriage aren’t that simple to be idealized, but knowing this is your last wish, why not accept the terms? He asked himself.
“you don’t need to be formal like that y’know Diluc, we’re in the same bounds, a fugitive in a prison..”
“well that doesn’t change the fact you’re my lover?” , he replied again. The same silence scowl your emotions to a mess. You really wished you did more than just this, everything. Kissing his lips wasn’t enough, tearing up in his chest wasn’t enough, loving him wasn’t enough and lastly, maybe in the next life your time was too short. can i sacrifice the whole world for you then? So anything that could happened in this state, all of it was for us to met again. I’m too selfish to let go, you are the best thing that universe have fortune to be.
I accept each granted the world has gave, even if it meant for me to die again. Let go of diluc’s hand, let me be the crystalflies Diluc envied; An eternal peace for lovers to reincarnated as. If anything has happened to both of us, let share the burden towards the undeserved. Because in our next life, maybe there wouldn’t be us, just you and another person in chains of eternal love-life.
so whenever i’m lost diluc, intertwined my hands again. And you, whenever you’re lost diluc, love me all over again. Because if this time wasn’t enough, then let us die in each other embrace. Loving you was an intention i never have despises, and as those ancient story told. ‘The once fallen first are the once who fell in love harder.’ I though it was a wise poet, but maybe know i understand, Diluc.
I lost you after you fell to the cliff, i have no regret on loving you. But if time was partial enough for both of us, i rather fall for you without any requited relations with you anymore. Diluc, you’re free. As free as the ocean waves, as free as the guides of the wind, you’re free. I’m sorry for letting you fall away from the range of my life, i’m sorry..
so please Diluc, meet me again sooner or after, i love you.
the pleas for the corpse to hear, here you standing in the cliff alone, waiting for someone to push you apart; to follows Diluc’s path. oh diluc..he look so lonely down’s there..blood all over his head and torso; as he saw you fallen down to his side. Eyes opened in shock, as the knife inside of his stomache rumbles to death. Stings. It stings. He watches the world shutter in his eyes, the eyepatch he use was no longer his brother remnants, it was just a decoration for another corpse to be buried in burden of love. He seems so pathetic in this state, seeing you fallen to his side and couldn’t do nothing but smile.
diluc why am i the only one talking here?
The bloody place you both fallen through was a perfect place for continuation. Trying to slip your head to diluc’s unwary neck, the warm part of his body you couldn’t let go. You heard the whispers of the wind once again, it seems it pitied the living and the dead. Diluc heartbeat was long gone, possibly gone when he smiles at you; for the last time. Diluc was just a body now, your lover have returned to another universe. To another universe you promises him before.
‘in heaven we’ll be free..in heaven we’ll get married diluc.”
the thought of you slowly losing consciousness was better than before. the warm of Diluc’s corpse was starting to fade, same as how your instinct shatter to pieces. The only thing you could see beside the sky was the knife inside his stomach, waiting for it to be freed from the blood of the filth. But your strength was long gone, death already ruins your eyes in despised of being in love. As the ancient tales says in the end of the page, they told the audience a never-ending happy tales, a hope for the lovers to heard at the end. you both are free now..
TAGLIST : @mikachuchu , @zierx @childeluv @urujiako , @chichikoi , @noirkkat , @aphrodicts-imagination , @icecappa
proofread; @mikachuchu (thank you so much wtf mika ily for this /p)
#diluc ragnvindr#diluc ragnvindr x reader#diluc#diluc x reader#diluc angst#diluc ragnvindr angst#diluc x reader angst#diluc ragnvindr x reader angst#genshin impact diluc angst#genshin impact diluc ragnvindr angst#diluc fanfic#genshin impact#genshin impact fanfic#diluc ragnvindr x y/n#diluc x y/n#genshin impact diluc
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