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robininthelabyrinth · 4 years

Note

NMJ is in Cloud Recesses while LWJ is being punished for visiting WWX at Burial Mounds. LXC tells him what happened, and the 2 decide to go there to see with their own eyes exactly what is going on. A-Yuan has them wrapped around his little finger in .5 seconds, and NMJ is not inclined to put him down. Also, WQ takes one look at him and tells him he's deviating and he's gonna die in less than a year if it's not cured. He might just be in love.

“Your brother is being punished?” Nie Mingjue asked, more than a little surprised. “Your brother? Did we switch brothers again?”

Lan Xichen had to press his lips together to stop from laughing at the reminder of that time when they’d tried to swap the two babies (well, baby and toddler) while their elders had been distracted during a discussion conference – Nie Mingjue’s father was always complaining about how weak and low-energy his new son was, while Lan Qiren scowled about how much noise Lan Zhan made, and they’d thought it was a perfect solution to both problems. It hadn’t worked, of course, given the difference a year made for very young children, and they’d both been punished (while their elders coughed badly-suppressed laughter into their sleeves), but all in all it’d been an interesting first meeting.

“He visited the Burial Mounds without permission,” he explained. “Uncle was very upset.”

“Your uncle isn’t sect leader,” Nie Mingjue said, a little sharply. He’d had some struggles for control and respect when he became sect leader himself, given how young he’d been – at the time Lan Xichen had thought they were being ridiculous, though in retrospect he realized with a pang exactly how much of his friend’s childhood had been lost to a responsibility exceeding that of even most adults – and it remained a sensitive subject. “And merely visiting a place isn’t against your family rules…you approved the punishment, then?”

Lan Xichen hesitated, because he hadn’t. Approval wasn’t considered as necessary in the Lan sect as it was in the Nie; elders were allowed to discipline juniors without consulting the Sect Leader even when it was outside the family rules – the two of them often argued whether such a system left openings for abuse (Nie Mingjue’s position) or encouraged trust (Lan Xichen’s view).

“Well, he went without permission,” he temporized.

Nie Mingjue snorted, seeing through the excuse at once. “He hasn’t needed to get permission to go places even before he fought in a war, Xichen,” he pointed out. “He was a very good general.”

That was very high praise, from Nie Mingjue, with particular emphasis on Lan Wangji’s reliable judgment; otherwise, he would have used different words.

“It’s the Burial Mounds,” Lan Xichen insisted, still trying to defend his uncle’s judgment. “Wei Wuxian is dangerous –”

“So is night-hunting.”

“You’re just being contrary for the sake of arguing with me,” Lan Xichen said. Nie Mingjue didn’t deny it, though he wouldn’t: it was a measure of his trust in Lan Xichen that he would break etiquette enough to casually pick a fight like this. “Fine, have it your way: I’ll put an end to the punishment now, and we’ll go ourselves to Yiling. If it’s more dangerous than night-hunting, the punishment resumes; if it’s less, it’s absolved, and I will apologize to Wangji myself. Agreed?”

“How did I get roped into this?” Nie Mingjue pretended to complain. “What business is it of mine how your Lan sect teaches its disciples…? But since you insist, I will of course accompany you.”

“Your acquiescence is appreciated – even if a less polite man than I might speculate that you just don’t want to meet with all the minor sect leaders that routinely take advantage of your visits to come by with requests.”

Nie Mingjue didn’t smile – he never did, anymore, which was a pity – but his brow wasn’t furrowed in anger for once, and that was very nearly the same.

Lan Xichen was just as inclined to avoid the inevitable pestering as Nie Mingjue, so he put his plan into action at once and headed out before his uncle could notice what was going on outside his door – not that it was a problem if his uncle objected, of course, he was the sect leader now, but still, why start trouble that could be avoided? Especially since Lan Xichen was going with Nie Mingjue, which significantly lessened the chance of danger; there was little that could stand up against the two of them together. Including Wei Wuxian’s defensive arrays, brilliant as they were, which shattered after a few gestures - after all, it wouldn’t be much of an evaluation if there was time for the Yiling Patriarch to cover things up while they were waiting for permission to enter.

Not that there seemed to be much to cover up.

The Burial Mounds weren’t anything at all like what Lan Xichen had heard, and judging by the increasingly black look on Nie Mingjue’s face, the same was true for him; the ragged collection of farmers tending to an even more ragged collection of crops was far away from the roving army of fierce corpses Wei Wuxian was reputed to be raising here.

“He’s not raising people,” Lan Xichen murmured.

“Well, one,” Nie Mingjue said. Lan Xichen turned to look, but it appeared that what Nie Mingjue was referring to was a small child, buried waist deep into the mud and beaming about it. Lan Xichen gave Nie Mingjue a look, because now was not the appropriate moment for his friend’s deeply buried sense of humor to re-emerge as if greeting the spring…great, now he was making planting jokes, even if only within his own mind. “Xichen, there are hardly any cultivators here.”

“The remnants of the Wen sect?” Lan Xichen guessed, politely ignoring the piece of spiced meat Nie Mingjue had taken out from his pocket to give to the child, who was trying to wiggle his way out of the dirt in order to demand a ride on Nie Mingjue’s shoulders. “I hadn’t realized they were quite so reduced. Rumor seems to have blown things quite out of proportion…”

“Don’t touch him!” a woman snapped, and they both turned; her clothing was faded, but still recognizable as the colors of the Wen sect, and Lan Xichen could feel the way Nie Mingjue tensed, the way Baxia, on his back, began to quiver in anticipation. “A-Yuan, come here, quick.”

“No!” the child said, clinging to Nie Mingjue’s leg. “I wanna ride!”

“I don’t give rides to radishes,” Nie Mingjue said, his eyes still fixed on the approaching woman – Wen Qing, if Lan Xichen is recalling her name correctly. A doctor, once. “Didn’t you say you were a radish?”

“I’m human! I’m human!”

“If you’re a human, you need to listen to your seniors. Get her permission first.”

“You don’t have it,” Wen Qing snapped. “Get away from him at once, A-Yuan. That man is dangerous.”

“We don’t mean any harm,” Lan Xichen interjected quickly before things went south.

“You may not,” she said. “But the one next to you is halfway down the road to a qi deviation; I wouldn’t trust him with any child, least of all one of blood that he despises.”

There was no way to salvage this, but Lan Xichen was determined to try regardless. “Lady Wen –”

“If I recall correctly, her title was Supervisory Office Leader.” Nie Mingjue’s voice was cold and biting. “In Yiling, no less. If I recall correctly, Office Leader Wen Qing refused to dirty her hands by raising a sword directly, and, valued as she was by Wen Ruohan, he did not force her. And so Yiling became a place to keep prisoners – isn’t that right?”

“I was a doctor,” she said, voice equally stiff. “I cared for all sick and injured without distinction –”

“Until they were well enough to be executed –”

“We are guests here, Mingjue-xiong,” Lan Xichen reminded him desperately. “And the war is over, and Lady Wen is a civilian now.”

“She’s still a cultivator,” Nie Mingjue said through gritted teeth. “I do not generally permit cultivators of any sect to say that I harm children; would you prefer I challenge her to defend her words against my saber? I am willing – Office Leader Wen can name the time and place. Unless she prefers to continue to hide behind the cloak of the powerful?”

This was a disaster.

“No one is fighting anyone,” Lan Xichen said firmly. “Lady Wen will apologize for the implication, said in a moment of anger and out of concern for her…for her young relative; in return, we will apologize for arriving without an invitation or forewarning, and then we will all limit ourselves to saying only polite things.”

Both of them open their mouths to protest, and he adds sharply, “Now, if you please.”

He shot Nie Mingjue a look, urging him to recall that he was here at Lan Xichen’s invitation, and his friend scowled but begrudgingly nodded his agreement. Lan Xichen turned his stare onto Wen Qing next – her lips were pressed tightly together, unwilling to yield, but after a few seconds, she finally gave in.

“The implication was wrongly said, and inappropriate,” she said begrudgingly. “Sect Leader Nie’s strict discipline and ethical code are well-known. Even in battle, I’ve never heard of you attacking children…your qi is unsettled, though.”

“That isn’t any of your business,” he said, and she shrugged.

“You’re right, it isn’t, except that you’ve challenged me as a monster when I believe myself to be a doctor,” she said, and now it was her turn to cross her arms. “My own ethical code demands that I treat any injury in those I see; if I fail to do so, then my forbearance during all those years of war will be rendered meaningless and I’d be as guilty as you say I am.”

“I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts as a doctor,” Lan Xichen said, deciding to ignore the way the two of them were still glaring daggers at each other. “I’ve read your works before; they were highly innovative.”

They both looked at him as though he was absolutely crazy, pretending that there hadn’t been a war since the last time one of Wen Qing’s medical texts had been passed around at a discussion conference, but Lan Xichen was determined to ignore the awkwardness until it passed and he smiled that determination right at the two of them until they both gave in.

“You may as well come in for lunch,” she finally said. “We don’t have much, but we’ll share it.”

“We can share our provisions as well,” Lan Xichen said. “Thank you for the invitation…is Wei Wuxian not here? I would have thought he’d have come running with all the noise we’re making.”

“No, he’s down the mountain,” Wen Qing said, rubbing at her nose and turning to lead them further into their camp – there were some tables set out, clearly made by those lacking experience in carpentry. “His shijie’s wedding is coming up soon…he’s trying to find materials for a gift.”

Lan Xichen hummed agreeably, and elbowed Nie Mingjue. His friend scowled further, but obediently picked up the line of polite conversation. Or, his view of it, anyway. “What are you planning on sending?”

Wen Qing stopped and turned to look at him. “What? Me? Why would I send anything? I don’t know her.”

Nie Mingjue looked at her in disbelief. “Your benefactor’s shijie is marrying, and you’re not sending anything? Do you want to be accepted by the cultivation world or not?”

“I don’t think a wedding present is going to be the thing that helps convince the cultivation world that we’re not all blood-sucking demons.”

“Why not?” Nie Mingjue said. “My ancestors were butchers; you think the gentlemen cultivators of the other sect, whether yours or Xichen’s, accepted them as a legitimate sect at the start? The only way to win legitimacy is to force everyone to accept you as you are.”

Wen Qing had an expression on her face that suggested she hadn’t thought of that.

“They call Wei Wuxian the Yiling Patriatch,” Lan Xichen said thoughtfully. “A patriarch should have a sect beneath him, shouldn’t he? And it’s the sect leader’s right hand’s duty to send gifts on behalf of the sect, in addition to any personal gifts sent on behalf of the sect leader himself.”

“…even if I wanted to send something on behalf of - of Yiling Wei, or whatever, we don’t have anything.”

Lan Xichen smiled. “Neither did the Cloud Recesses, during the years of war. You’re very fortunate: etiquette covers that precise situation, and suggests you reach out to another sect to borrow something. That helps bind your sects closer together as allies in the future – and before you say you don’t have anyone to ask, you have two Sect Leaders right here.”

Wen Qing appeared dumbstruck. “Would you share?”

Nie Mingjue huffed. “We’re not so poor that we can’t afford to lend out wedding gifts,” he said. “Even to a criminal. If you’re a sect, you’re a sect - this would hardly be the first sect that hosts someone I want to see dead.”

“I’m pretty sure that would be most of them,” Lan Xichen laughed. “I’ve seen you at parties.”

Maybe this wouldn’t be a complete disaster after all.

#mdzs #nie mingjue #lan xichen #wen qing #wen yuan #lan sizhui #my fic #my fics #up to you if you find this shippy or not #people using the reasonable part of their brains #also these fills are getting longer and longer #I'm going to have to post them all on ao3 #help #amethystshipper

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flinnstan · 3 years

Text

PB’s Unethical Experimentation on FP analyzed

Earth & Water

[2:50]

FP: Are you spying on me?

PB: What? No, of course not. I was observing you for research.

PB: Your a threat flame princess. Your emotions are directly linked to your combustion levels. But if I can create a scientific model that describes your complete elemental matrix, I can isolate and suppress some of your more volatile traits.

[Lack of regard for FP’s reaction to being called a threat risked starting a forest fire].

FP: So if you do your research, you’ll know how to cut off my emotions so I don’t feel like this?

PB: *Looks down to the side* “Um, yeah. basically.”

FP: Then I’ll help you

PB: You will?

FP: I’ll do whatever it takes.

[In this scene the person giving consent to have research conducted on her body is a minor to a person who has had 800 years of life experience. The researcher knows fully well that there is not a very good chance any of the tests will result in any sort of crucial information being gathered.]

There’s a 40 percent chance we’ll be able to identify and isolate your chemical components, and yes, understand you in a very scientific way.

[A Forty percent chance you will be able to learn something from a physically harmful experiment is a very low likelihood of understanding someone. She might as well just administer the Big 5 Personality Test so Phoebe can actually understand herself which is what she really wants to know in the first place. Then at least at the end of the day you would have a test with results that have a pretty damn accurate description of your personality and understand who she is and how she lives.[1] The Big 5 personality test is more accurate because it does not create boxes for people to be put in, in the first place. It has levels to introversion or extroversion along a continuum. The other categories with continuum’s are Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism. To understand more about this study I will put a link in the citation.

[3:30]

PB: Once I press this button you’ll be subjected to a battery of tests. To gauge your reflexes, stamina, and emotional stimuli.

[Due to the significant number of experiments gone wrong tests should be conducted sequentially rather than simultaneously. When you are conducting a test you are attempting to isolate variables. Conducting a battery of tests or multiple tests at once, you risk drastically increasing of interference with the tests. Bubbeline fails to take into consideration that she is priming the emotional stimuli of her client before she has initiated testing. She has done this by restraining her client by her arms and across her waist to tie her down to a flat surface. In order to properly gauge one’s emotions one would try to create a setting as normal as possible free of physical restraints as these may result in the client being uncomfortable, hurt, or traumatized prior to any testing being conducted. If Bubblegum were trying to get an accurate read on Flame Princesses reaction to emotional stimuli she would need her to simulate Flame Princesses natural environment without the noises and presence of large noisy machines which smash down upon her body. Another interference in her research of emotional stimuli would be mechanical arms to slap her. What Bubblegum seems to be trying to do is measure Phoebe’s tolerance for pain and physical reflexes while stimulating cognitive processing. The issue with this is Flame Princess has similar if not identical cognitive processing to humans and demonstrates similar reactions to humans outside of combusting into flames. For example: in “Burning Low” under extreme emotional stimuli her body goes into emotional shock and shuts down. Emotional shock in humans means lack of blood flow means the cells and organs do not get enough oxygen and nutrients to function properly. Many organs can be damaged as a result. We can see that Flame Princess breathes and requires oxygen as she is able to function after Finn breathes into her mouth. Shock requires immediate treatment and can get worse very rapidly. As many one in five humans people who suffer shock will die from it.[2] Bubblegum is attempting to measure the rate of combustion of Flame Princess to various levels of pain and trauma. Even after pointing out the ethical implications this study it is unlikely to result in any measured results. The experiment is not only highly unethical in the eyes of American Psychological Association nor contribute towards information being gathered.

[5:35]

CB: Yeah because why did she lock you up in jail when you were a little baby? That was a weird friend thing.

[5:50]

FK: Have my baby sent to the wilderness of the outside world to perish.

[7:00]

PB: Flame King!

FK: What do you want princess of the gum world?

PB: I found you lost daughter.

FK: I don’t remember losing anything

PB: Pfft

FK: Okay you got me. I had her sent to wander in the woods. I was in fear of being usurped, come on.

PB: That’s your problem, but you can’t just let her wander around the woods. She’s too dangerous. Find some way to contain her power or I will.

[PB fails to show concern for the child’s well being simply that she is a threat to her Candy Kingdom and herself.]

[7:54]

Display of how violent the testing machine is: Smashing down on where FP would be.

Finn: we’ll this is terrible. If FP goes back there, her evil dad will lock her up again

PB: And if she’s imprisoned again I won’t be able to complete my tests and will have wasted my precious time.

[ Lack of regard for the emotional and physical well being of her client]

[10:05]

FK: Once I get out of here im going to ground you for real. No friends, no snacks, no popular music!

FP: You never let me have any of those things. You were a selfish king and a bad parent.

[Flame Princess was not allowed to have friends growing up for the duration of 13-14 years. PB fails to consider FP’s traumatic upbringing as a child and how this experience may impact the results of the test and her personal wellbeing].

Conclusion: Princess Bubblegum is an immoral and bad psychologist.

Citation:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjX_Y86OmB4

2. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000039.htm

#adventuretime #adventure time #flame princess #film theory

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draceempressa · 4 years

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Saw in Harry Potter’s Tvtrope fridge page that the 4 dorms are meant to cultivate “intended classes”, with the classes being :

Gryffindor: Knights

Hufflepuff: Monks

Ravenclaw: Scholars

Slytherin: Noble

And with that realization and after reading many info (from card stories, voice lines, min story , even seeing dorm uniform designs, etc, tho yes the focus on the great seven based of each dorm-not the prefect) I came to the conclusion that the intended classes of TW are as following:

Heartslabyul: Law enforcer this dorm is the hufflepuff one of TW ha you wish , back then in weston college arc black butler also lacks a dorm that is equivalent to hufflepuff

Savanaclaw: Street thugs

Octavinelle: Businessmen/Inventors/mafias

Scarabia: Advisor/ Underground mediators

Pomefiore: Entertainer/Assassin/Informants/Spies

Ignihyde: Scientists/Technician/Progammers/Hackers

Diasomnia: Knights/Military

As for the intended mottos, they are pretty much:

Heartslabyul: Follow the rules

Savanaclaw: Follow the strong

Octavinelle: Nothing is free/spirit of commerce

Scarabia: Why do it yourself when you can make others do it? /Don’t do things directly so you get someone to blame for your shit

Pomefiore: Use underhanded/indirect method/assume other identity if you must, but make sure you do it by your own power

Ignihyde: Why bother with actual interaction when you can solve things with minimum interaction?

Diasomnia: Stay loyal to your family and don’t shame your organization

Further explanation under read more, and yes, I am aware of the irony that Diasomnia pretty much have same intended class with Gryffindor but with Slytherin’s values, tho for Ignihyde and Savanaclaw’s values and classes are pretty self explanatory I don’t have anything to explain further for those two dorms especially savanaclaw, let’s just say Yana hates Gryffindor , if how she treats Green Lion in Black Butler didn’t make it clear, how she writes Savanaclaw will

Okay so for Heartslabyul being law enforcers... It was said Queen of Hearts doubles as the judge in the Wonderland’s court, and Riddle is very strict about his rules . In addition, the collar that is inflicted by Off With Your Head resembles pillories for prisoners, and it’s law enforcers that have the right to issue them to the arrested, the thing is basically a cuff/restraint.

Octavinelle being the merchant dorm is very blatant, it’s even the chapter title, and their dorm uniform is totes not mafia suit, but I will still explain the inventor part. With the information from Azul’s dorm uniform card that 1: his parents own famous restauran 2: Monstro is just around for a year, put the two together and you get the implication that Azul’s parents pretty much bought the Octavinelle common room for him to change into Monstro. They pretty much invest in buying Monstro and training Azul into even better businessman even before he graduates high school. The fishies even spread the rumors of Azul granting wishes as part of their marketing, and the mafia part.... well, is also pretty self explanatory with their modus operandi.

Scarabia being the advisor dorm, being the dorm based on Jafar is also pretty self explanatry. However, here comes the mediator part. Jamil, being servant of a noble house that was raised in his master’s manor isn’t exactly part of the upper class, but neither is he exactly part of the lower class. And in his chapter, he try to mediates the Scarabia students or Yuu& Grim to Kalim (not with good intention, but either way he is indeed the middle man). But whatever happened after the deal isn’t his business, impying Scarabia’s motto is why do it yourself when you got others to do it/get someone else to do it so you can blame them, the latter point is present in Savanaclaw’s arc but moreso in Scarabia as it’s Jami’s exact goal.

Pomefiore, oh boy here comes the fun part. Pomefiore has their own dance hall,and Vil is also masterful in many forms of art including movie making, making his own clothes, cosmetics, etc. Vil is also a famous influencer on Magicam, and world class model and actor. At first, it seems like that their intended class is indeed artisan/celebrity, and there is their manners, seemingly making their intended class the nobles as well there is implication many Pome students are rich (and have you seen anything about Pome, i bet most of NRC’s budget goes there) , but then you remember Pome students are known to do well in Potions.

There is also the fact that the prerequisite to be prefect of Pome is to make the strongest poison, and Vil make his own food. And he is based on Grimhilde, who makes the poison apples. Connect the dots. Vil is most known for his beauty, but question is, is that all there is to him? Answer is no, he is very smart , likely would have strong magical power being one based of the Great Seven, and he even lifts bigger dumbbells than Jack. Vil is the embodiment of the silk hiding steel trope, emphasis on hiding. Hiding his true strength , letting his enemies drop their guard thinking he’s just a pretty boy is pretty much is his modus operandi, You know that trope of good looking people who use their beauty to hidden their dangerous side? That’s Vil. Those kind of people will also use their looks to interrogate people or make others do what they want, and while Vil abhor cuttig corners, he is meant to bring that trope to mind. Pomefiore is meant for those ppl who hides their killing intents and methods behind their own beautiful looks, manners, and even creations/performance.

He is not only a good actor, he is also highly self sufficient that he makes his own stuff by himself. An assassin/spy needs good acting skill to blend in , and ofc as an assassin /spy you can hardly trust others so you have to do things by yourself. Other than that, he’s a socmed influencer. Meaning, he gets used to looking , spreading, and maybe twisting information. Grimhilde fakes the identity of the old witch, and still goes by herself to Snow White. Vil practicing his acting and even changing his pronoun in Ghost Marriage event is a reference to this, showing Pomefiore’s “Assume fake identity or do dirty trick if you must, but do it yourself” motto.

There is also Rook, who still fits the assassination and informant motif of Pomefiore. He is a sniper, another method famous for assassination. He has good sight and known to be a stalker, which means he know a lot of information of many. And then Pomefiore have a dagger in their logo, another common weapon for assassination.

As for Diasomnia, their military-like design should emphasis more to their military motif/intended class. Sebek is another pronunciation of Egyptian god Sobek, which also sometimes tied to the military. Knights are often tied to dragons too, tho, most other fictions depict knigths as either dragon slayer or dragon rider, here they serve the dragon. Lilia is explicitly stated to be a knight in Silver’s robe story, Silver also carries his magic pen like knights would their sword, and both Silver and Sebek are in horse riding clubs, knights are known to patrol on horses back in the day. They are also highly loyal to Malleus, all while Silver and Lilia consider him family. (seriously what do you mean it’s not family bond among Diasomnia as much it’s knight-lord) They are knights focused to protect their lord, with strict manners and ethics, not thugs looking out for fights. they counterattack, but do not initiate attacks.

#twisted wonderland #heartslabyul #savanaclaw #octavinelle #scarabia #pomefiore #ignihyde #diasomnia

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rachelbethhines · 4 years

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Tangled Salt Marathon - One Angry Princess

There’s two halves to this episode. The first is a well constructed, if over simple, mystery for the kiddos to solve. The other is a failed attempt at being ‘deep’ and ‘mature’.

Summary: Attila is finally opening up his own bakery, but people generally don't want to stop by because of his scary helmet. The next day, Monty's Sweet Shoppe is destroyed, and Attila is arrested. He is about to be banished from the kingdom, but Rapunzel makes an appeal to investigate the matter further.

The Episode is Meant to be a Homage to 12 Angry Men, but Misses the Point of the Original Film

So for those who haven’t seen the movie, (though really you should) 12 Angry Men is about a jury trying to decide if an accused person is guilty of a violent crime. At first the evidence seems clear, but one lone juror refuses to vote guilty until the evidence has been gone over again. One by one he convinces the other men to vote not guilty as they each have to face they’re own personal biases.

Sound familiar?

In the show Rapunzel is the sole believer in Attila’s innocence despite evidence to the contrary. She insists on investigating herself while challenging everyone else’s personal biases.

The difference?

12 Angry Men is a hard hitting look at how privilege, prejudice, and cognitive bias can interfere with the American judicial system. None of the jurors are named, but they are all middle class, presumably Christian, white guys. And that is the point. They are all different from the accused; a young, poor, arguably non-white teen (the play is intentionally vague about the kid’s race so that you can slot any minority in there) who has a history of getting into trouble. If you were to change the ethnicity, race, gender, class, or age of any of the 12 characters then you would suddenly have a very different story. It’s their backgrounds and pre-formed opinions that inform their decisions. Even the main protagonist is not exempt from re-examining his own personal biases.

Meanwhile the writers of Tangled: the Series are too busy showing off how clever Rapunzel is to actually deal with the themes of injustice and bigotry that they added in themselves in the first place.

Rapunzel Knowing Attila Before Hand Weakens the Message

In 12 Angry Men none of the jurors know the accuse. In fact, they can’t know him. It’s against the law. In order to have an impartial jury, no one can have any ties to either the defendant or the prosecution, and they must not have knowledge of the case or have had specific experiences that might cause them to be biased or unfair.

Rapunzel being Attila’s friend means that she already has her own bias and an invested interest in making sure Attila goes free. She’s not acting out of the simple goodness of her heart here. She’s doing something that directly benefits herself.

I don’t expect a children’s fantasy show to recreate the US judicial system with all of the complexities there in, but I do expect it to uphold it’s heroine as the selfless person it claims her to be. Yet the show constantly undermines this supposed character trait by only having her help the people she befriends, and only if that help doesn’t require anything emotionally challenging or mentally taxing from her.

How much more powerful would this episode be if Rapunzel was defending a stranger or someone she actively disliked? Imagine if it was Monty who was being accuse and Raps had to swallow her pride in order to do what is right. But that would require the show having Rapunzel actually learn something instead of placing her on a pedestal. It would also mean giving Monty a reason to exist rather than keeping him around to be a convenient red herring.

Rapunzel Shouldn’t Have to Prove Attila’s Innocence

Rather than have a courtroom drama the show opts to have a ‘whodunit’ story instead. This unfortunately gives the implication that Corona’s judicial system runs on a ‘guilty until proven innocent’ mantra, which is backwards to any humane legal system. ‘Innocent until proven guilty’, ‘reasonable doubt’, ‘due process’, are the cornerstones of our modern social ethics.

In 12 Angry Men, we never find out if the accused actually committed the crime or not. That is because his actual innocence isn’t the point of the story. It’s about whether or not the system is working like it should or if it’s being compromised by human error.

Once again, I don’t expect a recreation of the US judicial system, but if you’re writing a story for a modern audience then you need to reinforce modern morals. Simply crouching Corona’s legal system as ‘of the times’ or ‘fantasy’ while ignoring why we no longer have such systems in place reduces the story to puerile fare.

It also means that show’s writers didn’t put enough thought into their world building.

No One Calls Out the Obviously Corrupt System

The show has interwoven throughout its ongoing narrative themes of classism, injustice, abuse, and authoritarianism, but then fails to follow through on those themes by not having any of the protagonists actually examine any of these issues. They just sit there in the background, even as the show tries it darndest to present Rapunzel as an arbiter of reform. However a person can’t bring about change if they can’t even admit that there is a problem to begin with.

In this episode alone we have

Banishment is considered a reasonable punishment for an act of vandalism. A crime that is usually considered only a misdemeanor unless the damage goes over a certain amount. Keep in mind that not even most felonies would be given such a punishment in the real world

Introduces the prison barge that regularly carries away convicts. In the past ‘undesirables’ would be shipped off to prison colonies as a form of persecution. Attila and every other person we see subjected to Corona’s legal system are of a lower class.

Many prejudge Attila based off his appearance, lower class, and past upbringing. However, it is either Attila who is expected to change or Rapunzel who is expected to win people over. At no point is anyone told that they shouldn’t be prejudiced to begin with.

There is no judge, jury, or lawyers. The king alone decides the fate of criminals, the Captain is expected to be the both the prosecutor and the ‘executioner’, which is a conflict of interest, and the defendant has no one to represent them unless they so happen to know a kind statesperson. Meaning you have to be either rich or well connected in order to even have a chance to defend yourself.

Oh and there’s this...

Uh, yeah you do. You’re the flipping king. You make the law. You’re the one to bring charges against Attila, and nearly every other criminal in the show, in the first place.

The show constantly wants us to view Frederic as simply an everyman who is only doing his job, but he’s not. He’s a ruler and as such he has powers and responsibilities that no one else has or ever will have. The series gives both him and Rapunzel all of the privileges of being in charge without holding them to account for the consequences of their actions.

By not pointing out how wrong these actions are, the show winds up avocating them instead. When I call Tangled the Series authoritarian, this is why. Because authority is never questioned even when clearly wrong and nepotism is presented as the solution to conflicts as oppose to being the problem itself.

The Show Introduces Complex Issues but Then Oversimplifies the Conflicts Surrounding Those Issues

The creators of the show have constantly declared that the series is ‘not for kids’. That they were shooting for an older audience than the pre-school time slot they were given. Now ignoring the fact that Tangled was always going to have a built in audince of pre-teen girls and ignoring that children’s media can be mature, TTS lacks the nuance needed to viewed as anything other than a pantomime.

As stated before, this episode alone ignores the very real issues interlaced within the conflict in order to give us an overly simple mystery that anyone over the age of five could figure out.

It’s frustrating to watch the show constantly skirt towards the edge of complexity only to see it chicken out and go for the low hanging fruit instead. As a consequence the series winds up being for no one. Too shallow for adults and older teens, but too confused in its morals to be shown to small children and younger adolescents.

I wouldn’t recommend this show to a parent, not without encouraging them to view the series either before or alongside their child in order to counteract it’s ‘lessons’ and I know parents within the fandom itself who’ve stopped showing newer episodes to their kids; stating that they want their child to be old enough to point out the harmful messages to before doing so.

Once Again No One Learns Anything

Rapunzel doesn’t learn that the system is flawed. Attila doesn’t learn to open up to people. Nobody learns to treat people with respect and to not judge others based on appearances alone.

The whole point of the episode is to just show off how much ‘better’ Rapunzel is than everyone else. The show constantly feels the need to tear down other characters in an effort to make its favs look good as opposed to just letting the mains grow as people.

Conclusion

Tangled the tv series is no 12 Angry Men. It’s no Steven Universe/Gravity Falls/Avatar:TLA/She-Ra/Gargoyles/Batman:TAS either. It barely reaches the same level as the likes of DnD, Sonic SATAM, or Voltron. Interesting ideas but poor pacing, build up, and lack of follow through, with some naff decisions thrown into the mix bring things down in quality. And unlike the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon from the early 80s, TTS lacks the benefit of being a pioneer in the field of animation, where such flaws are more forgivable.

#tangled #anti-tangled #Rapunzel #rapunzel's tangled adventure #king frederic #critique #salt

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writeyouin · 4 years

Text

Swerve X Reader – Changes - Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - The New You

A/N – Here it is, I really want to thank the anon who inspired me with that message, it was really great. I’m sticking with you too. As usual, a special thanks to @rocksinmuffin without whom, this story wouldn’t exist.

Warnings – Mentions of suicide.

Rating – T

Swerve sat tight lipped in the boardroom, surrounded by the newly found ethics committee who were discussing his actions regarding you. Rodimus, Megatron, Ultra Magnus, Drift, Rung, and Ratchet were to decide what punishment best suited a crime of this nature.

Quite frankly, Swerve didn’t care what this newfound committee did to him. All he cared about was returning to you in your time of need. Ever since you woke up screaming, you had been placed under sedation. Evidently, it would take some time for your human mind to integrate with your new Cybertronian body. When Swerve had proposed the idea of a new body, Perceptor and Brainstorm had warned him about the possible repercussions, but he had trusted their combined intellect over any statistical probability of things going wrong.

As it was, Brainstorm and Perceptor were both under house arrest until the ethics committee had time to decide what to do with them as well.

“SWERVE!” Ratchet barked, making the mini-bot look up dolefully, “I ASKED IF YOU EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT THE RESULTS OF YOUR ACTIONS.”

“Oh…” Swerve frowned. “No, not really. Please Ratchet, is (Y/N) alright?”

“(Y/N)’s in the best servos available, Swerve,” Rung answered. “Please, focus on what we’re saying and answer our questions to the best of your ability. Were you ever planning on warning (Y/N) about this?”

“What does that matter?” Rodimus asked incredulously, his engines revving in frustration. “Face the facts, Swerve did what anybody else would have done to save a Conjunx. He saved her life, and she’ll be fine if we all just pull together and build up her psyche, right?”

Megatron hummed thoughtfully.

“You got something to say?”

“…No. I don’t think I have a place upon this ethics committee, considering my past choices.”

“Perhaps that is why you ought to speak up,” Ultra Magnus offered. “You have seen most clearly the line between right and wrong. Are you sure you do not wish to comment upon the matter?”

Megatron avoided Ultra Magnus’ gaze, and the matter was dropped.

Finally, Drift spoke up, “Has anybody considered the spiritual implications? As Cybertronians, we have Primus to put our faith in, and although I myself am not sure about (Y/N)’s spiritual beliefs, what if this affects her, now delayed, ascension to the afterlife?”

As an argument between Rodimus and Drift broke out, Ratchet tuned into the incoming call on his internal feed. “WHAT?!” He cried out.

All optics fell on him.

“Meeting’s over everyone. (Y/N) is missing from med-bay, and wherever she’s taken her old human corpse with her.”

Swerve immediately ran out of the room, beginning his search for you.

“HOW DID SHE EVEN WAKE UP?” He asked Ratchet through his comm-link as he transformed.

“It could be a myriad of reasons. I don’t know what kind of features Brainstorm and Perceptor added to her.”

Swerve cursed and tried to connect to your new internal communicator. The call came up as blocked, leading him to fear for your life. Before, he could have just lost you; now, he risked putting you through psychological torture as well as losing you.

Opening up the call to everyone he trusted, Swerve explained his plight, pleading with them at the end of the call. “Please guys… I lost her once, I can’t lose her again.”

It was Rodimus who answered first, “We’ve got your back Swerve. Wherever (Y/N) is, we’ll find her.”

Alone and scared in the dark, you hugged your previous human corpse to your chassis. You wanted somebody to tell you what to do, and yet you needed to be alone. Normal reasoning was not working anymore, and you only had enough sense to wonder whether this was what insanity felt like.

“Swerve,” You whimpered, unsure whether to love or hate him. “What have you done to me?”

Words started forming before your very eyes and you realised this was how some thoughts were going to appear on your internal feed, at least until you gained control of your new body.

‘Repair damaged corpse.’

Coolant leaked from your optics, “I can’t.”

The writing dissolved into nothingness and new words appeared in their place, ‘Dispose of corpse.’

“No…please God no.”

It seemed like the first thought had come from what remained of your fractured human mind, and the second from your new processor. Somewhere, deep down, you knew you were still who you used to be, yet it felt like parts of yourself were buried under the possibility of a new you.

Two new clashing thoughts wrote themselves before your visual feed, followed by an error message at the opposing opinions.

‘UPLOAD PRECIOUS PERSONA’ vs ‘PURGE OLD PERSONA.’

‘ERROR IN PROCESSING UNIT. INITIATING COOLDOWN SEQUENCE.’

You shuddered as air passed through your body. When you had seen mechs do this in the past, you had assumed it was like breathing, but it felt more like a ghostly apparition passing directly through you.

Was this your new life? Would your chest never rise and fall with the filling of real lungs? Granted, you could feel the steady thrum of your spark, but it was nothing like a human heartbeat.

Gently, you rested the corpse on your knees, squeezing your optics shut as if to remove the incoming words and thoughts. It didn’t work. Even through the darkness, your thoughts materialised before you, torturing you with their presence.

‘Make it stop. Make it stop. MAKE IT STOP. MAKE IT STOP!’

Frustratedly, you pounded your servos against your helm in a clumsy attempt to stop the incoming feed. While you were doing that, the search for you grew ever more frantic.

Whirl casually approached the Rod Pod, opening the ramp and walking inside. Sure enough, there you were, curled up on the floor, the corpse beside you.

Whirl took a blanket out of his sub-space, wrapping the corpse as gently as he could inside it, “Thought I’d find you in here blood-bag… Huh, Guess I can’t call you that anymore.”

“Whirl?” You asked, confused ever since your optics had shut off shortly after your breakdown.

“Yeah… It’s me flesh stick.”

“How did you find me?”

Whirl sat down beside you, drawing you into his arms, “I can always find a hider, you ought to know that by now. Besides, I remember when those fraggers stole my face and servos… The first thing I wanted to do was hide.”

“How did you fix it, Whirl? Everything feels wrong. I can’t tell anymore- What part is human and what part is-”

“Hey, don’t think of it like that. You humans are gross, teeth literally fall out of you, but when another comes back, it’s all okay, isn’t it? You have to let the changes become you. It’ll hurt for a while, but maybe if you let the nerds help you, it won’t hurt anymore.”

“What if it doesn’t get better? What if it will always hurt?”

“Then I scrap everyone who took part in doing this to you.”

“Whirl, I can’t turn my eyes back on.”

“Alright, stay calm and just think of the light and everything you want to see. Better yet, think of how handsome I am, then you’ll get there.”

You felt air vent through you as if you were taking a deep breath, then after doing as instructed, your optics flashed on.

“There you go. Now, do you want me to radio the others and tell them where you are, or…?”

“Can you give me a few minutes. I- I don’t think I’m ready for the others yet.”

“You got it bone bag. Want me to take uh…” He gestured to the wrapped-up corpse.

You nodded, “Yeah, I don’t want to see that again.”

“Do you at least want me to tell Swerve that you’re okay?”

The question upset you. You vaguely remembered yelling various obscenities at Swerve between screaming when you woke up. He hadn’t deserved it, but you wanted to hurt him as much as you were hurting at the time. “I don’t- I need to see him myself Whirl. I was so horrible to him. I never thought I’d hurt him like that. It disgusts me… I disgust me.”

“We’re all hideous when we’re hurting. What really matters is that you’re feeling bad about it. You wanna make it up to the orange guy? Go back to him.”

You nodded, “Yeah, okay. I’m just gonna need a little bit longer to figure some things out… Cover for me?”

“You got it meat wad,” Whirl said, getting up and carefully taking the corpse with him.

After a few minutes of trying to assess your new body, you got up and decided to get a good look at it. You still felt fractured, but after the conversation with Whirl, it was almost like your mind was starting to heal, at least on reasoning anyway. At the driver’s seat of the Rod Pod, you could see yourself in the mirror Rodimus had installed for motivational speech practice.

“It’s not so bad,” You said aloud. “I wonder how I transform and drive this thing.”

“Drive sequence initiated,” The Rod Pod’s automatic computer said, sealing the doors and rumbling as it took off.

“WHAT?!” You squealed. “NO. HANG ON A MINUTE.”

“Hangar doors opening.”

“STOP CHANGING MY WORDS. STOP ENGINE. LET ME OUT. I HAVE TO GET TO SWERVE.”

“Ship taking off, course locked in.”

You banged your fists against the control panel, “DON’T YOU DARE TAKE OFF.”

“Take off confirmed. Please, sit back and enjoy the new autopilot, Captain Rodimus.”

“I’M NOT RODIMUS. LET ME OUT, RIGHT NOW, YOU ABSOLUTE HEAP OF- ARGHHHHHH,” You screamed as you were thrown forward by the ship’s hyperdrive. Fear overtook you while memories of the last time you were launched into space surfaced. Back then, you thought you were going to die. This time, you were afraid Swerve might, if he thought you had abandoned him.

In an attempt to fix the situation, you tried to use your internal communicator to call Swerve and leave a message for him. You cried his name, telling him that you were coming back, over and over again, and that you loved him; it was a message Swerve would never receive.

Swerve sobbed hideously on the floor of his hab-suite, holding one of your old shirts to his face. By now, everybody had seen the footage of the Rod Pod flying out of the hangar, with you at the helm, looking all manner of furious.

He should have told you about the body. He could have a million times over, and yet pure cowardice had held him back, and now you had left him. From the moment the two of you started a relationship, everyone had said it was doomed, but Swerve had dared to dream, and look where it had gotten him.

This time, Swerve was sure it was the end. As soon as he stopped crying, he knew he would finally end his life. He had attempted it before, multiple times, but this time would be different. He wouldn’t simply wait to waste away. This time, he would take the kill shot. One bullet to the processor ought to do it; one bullet would end the pain.

Whirl kicked at the brig door, roaring all manner of creative insults that should never be repeated. Of course that idiot Getaway would report him for stealing your corpse, and of course nobody would listen to him after he beat the hell out of Getaway for trying to take it away from him.

He had to get out and warn everyone that you hadn’t left the ship and that you were going to go back to Swerve, but how could he when the brig was soundproof? He didn’t know exactly what had happened, having only caught the beginning of the announcement before being apprehended, but he knew in his spark that you hadn’t left on purpose.

Either some kind of accident had happened, or something had forced you off the ship. One way or another, Whirl would get out and warn everybody about you. Well… There was only one way out of the brig and Whirl had never needed to do it, but he would now, for you. He had been your mech of honour, and that hadn’t changed just because your wedding was over.

Whirl glared at the only camera in the brig, knowing that it wasn’t constantly monitored, but that it was checked once or twice per cycle. Turning his pain receptors off, he retrieved a knife that he had hidden in the brig long ago for just such an occasion, and he stabbed himself in the chassis. It was an injury fatal enough to be noticed, but not so damaging that it would kill him. As an extra precaution in case he passed out, Whirl used his own energon to write on the walls.

(Y/N) NOT GONE. SHIP TOOK OFF BY ACCIDE-

Shock overcame Whirl as his vision faded. Evidently, he was wrong; he had hit something fatal, and unless someone checked the camera soon, he was going to die.

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jurassicparkpodcast · 3 years

Text

Velociraptors, Dilophosaurs and a Fallen Kingdom: A follow-up On The Canon Of Jurassic World Aftermath

Recently, we published an article exploring how we thought Jurassic World Aftermath may fit into the wider canon – with lots of speculation as to the role that characters like Dr Wu would play within the story. Now, we can follow-up on that article with some facts pulled straight from a session spent with the new VR Game. The footage to accompany this video can be found on our YouTube channel, and is courtesy of fellow Jurassic fan Brent Kappel, who actually appeared in Jurassic World as an extra!

Without any further ado, let’s break down some of the most interesting pieces of lore introduced within Jurassic World Aftermath. Spoilers ahead for anyone planning to play the game themselves.

The key thing on everyone’s mind is obvious – how are there more Velociraptors on the island? We learn, in Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom, that Blue is supposedly the last of her kind – which makes her an invaluable asset for Doctor Wu and Eli Mills to obtain. Naturally, you may think that the inclusion of Velociraptors here in Aftermath takes away from this – but careful consideration has been made to think about where they slot into the story. The N.M.S Centre was an off-the-grid facility so to speak, in terms of the fact that the work they did at the facility was not well known by the other operatives working on Isla Nublar. In fact, mention of Owen Grady and Vic Hoskins is made at one point – acknowledging that neither of them knew about the existence of the programme. This suggests that the work being conducted at the N.M.S Centre was different to the work being conducted by Project IBRIS – and therefore was kept relatively quiet in comparison to InGen’s other project.

But, you may be asking, why was there a need for a second Velociraptor project?

The answer boils down to the science and genetics of Jurassic World. We know that genetic modification has been a key story point for the latter films, and this is no different in Aftermath, with the work at the N.M.S Centre proving vital in allowing the geneticists at Jurassic World to continue to enhance how much they can augment the code of their dinosaurs. The NMS Centre, in particular, was working on the Velociraptor Genome, and was experimenting with areas like elevated social hormones, suggesting that they were taking the work which IBRIS had done, and seeing if they could tailor-make a Raptor which is more able to respond to commands – aka the latter Indoraptor. We also learn that work had been done to get the raptors to respond to audio prompts so they could come for feeding – again, building upon the idea of these being Raptors who can be more effectively trained and controlled. The way Wu is communicated throughout here as a narcissistic and egotistical character is very interesting, too, as it helps to sell his character as someone who is purely invested in his work without any of the ethical confines which may have otherwise held him back. The mission to recover the Velociraptor Genome ultimately takes a change of pace when, at the end of the game, it is revealed that we need to recover Blue’s DNA. Indeed, in this moment we learn that Blue’s creation seemed to be an accident. Wu was experimenting with monitor lizard polymer raised to promote parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction) when Blue was born – implying that she may be able to reproduce naturally in the current Jurassic World Dominion timeline.

So, how does all of this tie directly into Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom, and the birth of the Indoraptor? Well, as we already know from the film, the mission to recover Blue is an important stepping stone in creating the Indoraptor. Therefore it is natural for us to assume that the events of this game are taking place parallel to the development of the first Indoraptor prototype we later see in the film – implying that the work and research recovered here factors in to the eventual creation of that animal. We get more concrete comparison of this being tied together through the fact that Mia and Sam actually have a direct link with Lockwood Manor in the latter part of the game – showing that Wu is indeed working with Mills at this point. It sounds as if Mills is in charge of the operation at this point in time, as Wu mentions him as overseeing the operations at several points. This suggests that the mission to Isla Nublar we see in FK’s opening is perhaps the climax of a long string of missions to recover different pieces of technology which were ultimately needed to continue Wu’s hybridisation work. The most interesting piece of lore here is that we learn that InGen had emergency backup systems connected on the mainland to Nublar – with Lockwood Manor being the emergency backup for the facility. This implies that rather than being a rogue faction, Mills and Wu may have still had some affiliation with InGen during the events of JWFK, although it could equally be implied that the connection existed from the Jurassic Park days when Lockwood was still involved in the parks.

There are a couple of other interesting bits of information strewn throughout the game. The first is that Wu begins to freak out when the character of Emelia (the geneticist helping with the in-game mission) has a meeting with Simon Masrani in May of 2015. This allegation is taking to the InGen Board, with Wu pulling her up for insubordination towards a superior. This is interesting as Wu becomes very defensive and suggests that she may damage the work of both him and the board – implying that rogue elements inside of InGen may be working against the wishes of Masrani this whole time. Whilst this isn’t anything new per-say, it does provide interesting insight as to where people like Hoskins may have fit into a much larger game being played in the shadows by other entities in InGen. Of note, also, is the way Wu presents his work throughout these audio logs – implying that he is working on multiple projects which will change man’s understanding of the natural world. Much like we saw hinted within Camp Cretaceous, the implication here seems to be that Wu may have worked on many more projects than those we simply see on screen.

A couple of final bits of interesting information we wanted to highlight is to do with specific details inside the story. Firstly, we learn that Isla Nublar’s Jurassic World did, indeed, use a Geothermal Plant – and that the Dilophosaurus can be found nested in there. Whilst this game does take place two years after the titular film, it is entirely possible that they have been nested in them for some time – which may explain the lack of encounters with this particular dinosaur so far in Camp Cretaceous. In addition to this, we also learn that Nublar is under a UN Quarantine following the events of the Jurassic World incident – meaning that we are in a similar situation to that which we find in JPIII. The fact the characters only have one hour on the island suggests this may be more stringent, however. Another fun detail comes in a mention of the Monorail – with it being revealed that the Indominus tore through the monorail track at some point before the main street battle, explaining some of the damage and devastation inflicted upon Nublar between the incident and JWFK. There are also a few other moments scattered throughout – including a fun visual nod to the Jurassic Park Visitors Centre.

All of this comes together to make a piece of Jurassic media which is much broader and deeper in terms of canonical scope than I think any of us expected going into it. Whilst we remain hesitant about whether this will be a ‘canonical’ story or not, I think that there has been some great work here to build on core Jurassic concepts. The character of Wu is developed incredibly well, and the ties to Lockwood Manor and Mills are executed well, too – making enough sense when considered alongside the events of Fallen Kingdom. Overall, Jurassic World Aftermath appears to have a lot of value in building up some pre-established areas of the canon, whilst also building to the future. As mentioned in the article, the idea of asexual reproduction in Blue poses an interesting question for Jurassic World Dominion. A recorded speech from Ian Malcolm present in the game also talks about a course correction after we have meddled with science to this point – setting the perfect precedent for what we are expecting to see in the upcoming sequel.

What do you think? Are you surprised about how much lore is packed into Jurassic World Aftermath? Let us know in the comments below, and stay tuned for plenty more on all things Jurassic Park and Jurassic World here on The Jurassic Park Podcast.

Written by: Tom Fishenden

#article #jurassic world aftermath #jurassic world aftermath oculus #jurassic world aftermath lore #jurassic world aftermath velociraptors #jurassic world velociraptors #jurassic world vr #jurassic world aftermath vr #brent kappel #tom fishenden #brent kappel jurassic world #jurassic world aftermath brent kappel

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wizisbored · 3 years

Note

What are some of your favorite lines you've written for your fics? (Also I'm sorry things aren't going well right now. Sending love 💜)

right its time to go diggin im using this as an excuse to reread everything because i cant think of any lines off the top of my head even though i know theres a shitton

premptively putting a cut here because this will probably end up long as shit and you know what fuck yea to that because fuck yea to being proud of what youve made

hallelujah, first thing i posted:

If those bastards want to make her part of their shitty musical, then she’s going to make it difficult. Or at least inconvenient.

The hive is not inconvenienced in the slightest.’

- idk if this is as funny as i think it is but i find it funny

"Nobody dies with dignity, Emma. There's no honour in the thing, however you dress it up."

- wrote that to sound creepy and now i cant decide whether i actually think its true

But he’s holding her like she’s his salvation, as if it’s his life hanging in the balance.

- salvation is just a good word tbh

It’s hopeless, but she refuses to be killed by a game of fucking ‘got your nose’.

purgatory, intended to be a shitpost but now i unironically think of it as the best thing ive ever written

After a few years (or maybe seconds, it’s not clear) / it takes a moment (or maybe it doesn’t, who knows?) / An undocumentable amount of time passes. / They might have slipped into an uneasy silence lasting millenia - or milliseconds - if it wasn’t for the jolly tune that suddenly fills the air. / for minutes or years or millenia or maybe even eons / After a brief, indescribably long nap / But the incomprehensible amount of time seems somehow shorter this time.

- 2 in one of fucking with the concept of time and hinting at an unreliable narrator, hell yea. its about the weird atmosphere, baybeeeee

“Does one day of trying the hardest we could outweigh years of not trying at all?” Emma wonders aloud. Paul squeezes her hand.

“I damn hope so.”

He doesn’t ask if she believes in Hell.

- even without context i like this line but in context it really helped set the sombre tone so i could do a full 180 at the end of the chapter

Emma wonders whether they’ve been sent to musical hell for failing to stop the musical apocalypse

- love the implication that there is a hell dedicated to annoying people via musical theatre

“You said- you told her you’d never be in a musical?”

“Yes.”

“And then you died performing a musical number?”

“I- yeah, I did.”

“Brilliant! Now, that is stupid!”

- probably my best characterisation of death, sounds like something that would be said in a stupid deaths bit, i can hear it in his voice

teachers pet

“It’s only blatant if people know about it. So in actual fact this is secret favouritism.”

- hidgens gives absolutely 0 shits about the ethics of the situation good for him

“And if that is kidnapping, well, consider yourself kidnapped.”

- once again ethics simply do not matter

“Oh, where is your sense of adventure? Are you not curious about the results of washing baked beans?”

- this line hants me when im trying to make stew or just have some fucking beans on toast because I am curious about the results of washing baked beans

“Well, if it isn’t, and we both die, then I’ll be quite disappointed. We did spend all evening on this, after all.”

- priorities

finishing what we started, actually originally a scrapped ending idea for igtlt that i liked too much to abandon entirely

“How many bullets?” He eventually asks.

“Enough.”

- they just know what theyve got to do

Only thing left to say is a big ol’ fuck you to… God, everyone else in the fucking world. Oh, and God. Fuck you God, you prick.

- gotta love them tto refs

wildfire, almost 20,000 words of angst that im going to read through because fuck it why not

She doesn't understand the order, at least not yet; a dog doesn't understand the first time she's called to heel. But that can change. Though, from the bared teeth of this dog, the trader guesses it may take a while.

- this is actually something i really like doing in narration, calling a character something in dialogue or comparison and then directly calling them it in the narration

He understands; she doesn't want to show weakness to someone who could exploit her, doesn't want to show gratitude to someone she hates. But the tribeswoman is tired and scared and hurt, and it's obvious. She's broken, at least for today.

The loneliness, however, refuses to wane. It settles in her chest like a physical need, a craving for closeness.

- got inspiration for this description by thinking about hugging my partner while i was stuck in lockdown

"You can say that again," the older woman mutters, shaking her head. "God-fuckin'-damnit, Lauren, why d'you never think about the implications?"

Jemilla turns to her with a questioning look. "Who's Lauren?"

"She-" Molag begins to explain, then pauses. She thinks for a moment, then shakes her head. "I don't even know."

- crossover jokes hell yea

He’s tolerable, she’s decided, at least relatively so, but not trustworthy. If she could truly trust him then he wouldn’t be involved in all this. If she could trust him, she wouldn’t know him.

The thinly-veiled threat in his grin

She stares up at the man, shaking, whimpering, pleading. Wordlessly begging for him to stop.

- gotta love reaching the breaking point

She probably looks insane, bruised and bloody and laughing quietly to herself in a cage. She doesn’t care. They can think she’s insane, just as long as they don’t think they broke her.

laughing as they rediscover half-forgotten days spent as children let loose in a world that seemed so huge and yet so small at the same time

“You know, kids like Zazzalil - scrawny little things born as Autumn died - they’re not supposed to see Spring.”

- i will see any character without a detailed fleshed-out backstory and say ‘is anyone going to make headcannons about that’ and then not wait for an answer

Maybe the pain will shock her out of her head.

im going to live twice

It feels more like a bag of broken crockery than a human.

- this was the only time ive ever had to describe something really gory and decided to make it as uncomfy as possible

she notices with a concerning level of non-concern

Paul Matthews is gone, boy. And if I catch you using a dead man’s name again, well.

- its about the ✨forced disconnect✨

It stares at him, and for a moment he sees the young man that Benny used to be, silently pleading for the agent to tell him he'll be okay.

"In my defence, that was the Colonel's idea.” The man raises his hands in surrender. “I wanted to call you Lauren. I was outvoted.”

- i will take literally any chance to make a 4th wall joke and that is a threat

“I’ll see what can be done,” he assures it, knowing full well that nothing will be.

- xander doesnt flat out abuse emma in the way mcnamara and shaffer do but hes still cruel in subtler ways

“No chance of being hurt?”

Xander nods. “No chance of you being hurt.”

- ✨foreshadowing ✨

If only he was free, free to just get up and go find Blue and tell her - actually tell her, out loud, with words - that she’s going to be okay. If only he could say that and have it be the truth.

She holds onto that piano. Right now, as she kneels crying into the tabletop, it's all she has.

- ‘sir thats my emotional support near-complete stranger’

smoke and feathers

Irony can be a cruel, twisted bitch.

- probably the best opener ive written

There’s a sort of pathetic irony in the fact that she slipped on a stone while wading across a shallow stream and broke her neck.

The stars move across the sky, and she still doesn’t know why.

- sounds poetic and all while also being a fuck you to the chorn twist because i hate it

It seems like every time she looks away the moon goes from waxing to waning and back again, time marching onwards in one unending night, swallowing one unending forest.

Even with her limited view of the person’s face, Zazzalil can see the softness in their expression. She’s hit with a pang of longing for Jemilla.

They share those tender looks that make Zazzalil long for home.

The kind of silence only shared between people who can appreciate the simplicity of each other’s presence

aaand thats pretty much all of em. i know when you said ‘some’ you probably meant less than this but i will give a consice answer to a question when pigs fly. i was going to do the double e au too but its past 1 am now and im going to bed. thanks for this ask because whether intentionally or not you just made me read 48,860 words of fic and thats a damn good distraction when things are getting a bit shitty :)

#igtlt fic #wildfire fic #teachers pet fic #sf fic

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statusquoergo · 5 years

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Alright, let’s do this.

As to be expected, we open on the afterglow of the Season 8 finale. I personally found this scene to be pretty cringy, but I have actual criticisms of the current Darvey relationship that’ll come up later, so I’m going to leave it alone for now; the only thing I’ll say about the scene with Louis is that I found the heavy-handedness of the sexual innuendo to be extremely childish and tediously predictable. Oh, and the whole “Wait let’s not tell anyone right away” thing is pretty much letter for letter the same rationale that Mike and Rachel used for keeping it a secret that they had moved up their wedding date; that is to say, little to no forethought and almost guaranteed to end up Not How They Planned. No, wait, one more thing: I can only assume that Harvey’s panic about Louis finding him at Donna’s apartment is the result of sleep deprivation and delirium because dude, if you need a place to hide out for awhile, the bedroom is right down the hall. Or fuck, crouch down behind the kitchen counter, I don’t care. Hide in the bathroom. You have options.

(Okay, one more thing: “You didn’t see what was right in front of your face for 12 years.” What. I mean… Seriously, what. Does time even exist in this universe?)

Next up, Alex introduces us, in a very much not-off-the-record encounter, to what I can only assume will be the driving conflict of this season: the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) has caught wind of the Ethics Committee hearing that ousted Robert Zane, and now they’re taking it upon themselves to restore the integrity of the firm currently known as Zane Specter Litt Wheeler Williams, by any means necessary, starting with the removal of Zane’s name from the letterhead.

This is bullshit.

The NYSBA is a voluntary agency with no actual legislative capability. As per the association’s website, “it does not license, regulate nor investigate an [attorney’s] ability to practice law.” New York Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 7.5 (Professional Notices, Letterheads, and Signs) prohibits Robert from representing himself as a practicing member of the bar, or a current partner at the firm, but it permits the firm to continue representing itself with his name, if they so choose. So the Bar Association has zero capacity to back up this stupid request, but more to the point, I have no idea why they even care. There are over 9,800 law firms currently operating in New York City; statistically, the probability that every single one of them represents the pinnacle of legalistic integrity is insanely low, and considering the amount of turnover and increasingly public turmoil at GSVD/PH/PD/PDS/PS/PSL/SL/ZSL/ZSLWW, it must be years since it’s been a remotely reputable institution.

Moving on! Samantha and Harvey land on a tangible outcome of Robert’s decision to take the fall for Donna and Harvey: The firm is hemorrhaging clients. Samantha determines that Eric Kaldor is responsible for the sudden turnaround, but honestly, I’m surprised the firm has any clients left at this point anyway. Thomas Kessler has the right idea when he walks out the door with the casual reminder that Harvey manipulated him into lying at the hearing (which, by the way, was conducted by the New York State Legislative Ethics Commission, not the Bar Association); instead of freaking out about this frankly inevitable outcome, maybe Harvey et al. should take a minute to appreciate the fact that Kessler isn’t seeking to have them all disbarred.

Special shout-out to Louis’s stellar one-liner: “I wanna check and see how bad our reputation is.” (Spoiler alert: It’s very bad.)

As it happens, Samantha is right about Kaldor because of course she is, which leads to a semi-violent encounter set at a hockey rink, for some reason, where we get to see some cracks in the purportedly strong allegiance between Samantha and Harvey, and Samantha reminds us the viewers that she’s a badass with a short temper as she shoves Kaldor up against the boards and I’m forced to wonder exactly where these claims of a unified front are coming from all of a sudden. Basically all of Season 8 was spent drawing battle lines up and down the firm, but now that Robert’s gone, they have some magical allegiance to one another? If it’s a direct result of Robert’s actions and subsequent departure, I have to assume these amicable feelings are going to fade as the adrenaline rush dies down; otherwise it’s just a convenient plot device, but to be fair, that’s pretty on-brand, so I can’t give them too much shit for it.

You know what I absolutely can give them shit for?

Darvey.

(Please, you knew this was coming.)

The first of my actual criticisms of them for this episode: Donna’s breakup with Thomas, and Harvey becoming an unwitting enabler of unfaithfulness. Way back in February, at the end of Season 8, one of the concerns aired about Donna and Harvey hooking up was that Donna was still in a relationship with Thomas, and infidelity, if I recall correctly, is a bit of a sore spot for Harvey. Korsh admitted that an explicit breakup scene was filmed for s08e16 and removed from the final cut, but the implication as I read it was that as far as the showrunners were concerned, Donna and Thomas had come to a mutual understanding that they were done and he was out of the picture, the poor guy. Not so! Now, retconning for the win, we have the privilege of watching them break up over the phone, which is of course the epitome of class.

True, that was tactless, but the real sticky wicket here is Harvey and Donna’s conversation about the breakup once it’s over and done with. Harvey is rightly alarmed at his role, but the thing that gets me, aside from how quickly he seems to just go with her assurance that everything is fine and he “didn’t do anything wrong,” is that his response to her revealing that she and Thomas were still a couple when he came over isn’t “Why didn’t you say anything,” it isn’t “Why didn’t you stop me.” It isn’t “You know how I feel about cheating.” No, it’s “I would never have.” It’s an apology.

Now, maybe this is narrow-minded of me, but I always figured that Harvey’s whole problem with cheating was the whole…cheating part. Apparently not; it seems that issues only arise when Harvey is the one doing the cheating (see: Paula [s07e11]), or in a position to accuse the cheater directly from a third-party perspective (see: Lily [s02e10], Mike [s02e12], Marcus [s08e05]). (For real, he almost beat the shit out of Mike without knowing anything beyond “there was infidelity involved here”; Mike, who was exactly in the position Harvey is in now—the third party sleeping with an otherwise involved woman—refuses to tell him how he got beaten up with no explanation but that it’s because of the story Harvey told him about Lily cheating on Gordon, and Harvey’s response is “You got off easy.”) The otherwise unattached participant gets a free pass. BUT WAIT! Harvey was furious with Bobby when he saw him with Lily (s05e10), and tried to throw him out of his parents’ house; there must be some other explanation. Maybe Donna is just the prettiest princess in all the land and the fact that it’s her doing the cheating is enough to relieve all of Harvey’s built-in trauma? Well if that isn’t just the laziest goddamn rationale I can think of. Oh, so maybe, just maybe, Harvey is going to get some real, actual therapy this season and do some honest exploration of his apparently much-more-complex-than-previously-anticipated relationship with infidelity!

Right. I bet that’s it.

It’s possible that this will come back again later in the season, but I can’t tell yet what direction they’re planning to take the Darvey trajectory, so I don’t want to start throwing out assumptions. Now that they’ve confronted it so blatantly, I hope they don’t abandon it like this, but who knows.

In the meantime, Louis is still trying to boost recruitment efforts, this time by badgering Professor Gerard into letting him be the keynote speaker at Harvard’s upcoming Ethics Conference. I don’t really have much to say about this subplot except that it’s one of the stupidest and most illogical things they could’ve come up with; can you just imagine Louis speaking at an ethics conference? Gerard is right that Harvard students won’t be snowed by Louis making some pretty speech about the firm’s integrity, and the Q&A would be a disaster! Not to mention, the conference probably has a keynote lined up already, and it’s not like there won’t be other speakers there; Louis doesn’t need to be top billing to get his five minutes, assuming anyone would listen to a single word he has to say. Oh, and am I seriously supposed to believe that they’re experiencing a sudden drop in top-tier applications now? As opposed to…the past, what, three years? Four years? However long it’s been in this nonsense timeline since Mike went to prison (after which point they were also bemoaning a lack of applicants). But actually, why wouldn’t students be applying here? If the firm is desperate for interviewees, it’s practically a sure thing that everyone will get through to the first round, so even if the students have no intention of accepting an offer, having the interview is great practice for firms where they actually care about getting a job.

Part II

#marvey #suits usa #season 9 #s09e01 #analysis

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kdtheghostwriter · 5 years

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SNK 115 - “OMW”

I mean...

Let’s be real. As far as Deus Ex goes, I’ve seen more preposterous this week.

If any of you are wondering why this post took so long, it isn’t for lack of time I assure you. This chapter was…a lot. And god damn, Isayama, I wasn’t expecting to dig up my Junior Year debate notes for this one blog post but here we are lads. Quick recap before we get into writers’ mumbo-jumbo.

Flashback

Deus EX

#HeelFloch

Sad Hange

RESURRECTION

We all know Isa loves his religious imagery. He isn’t quite as egregious as Zack Snyder (who is, tbh?) but it’s definitely a thing. He also loves mythology of all types. And while Norse mythology seems to be his area of expertise, it isn’t mine - which is why seeing Stupid Sexy Zeke emerge from his Titan Incubator made me think of another Stupid Sexy God from the Ancient Greek Canon.

I speak of the Goddess Aphrodite, who has dominion over love, beauty and its various trappings. Admittedly, this comparison is drawn in relation to aesthetics only. Zeke’s aloof temperament doesn’t really mirror that of the Greek goddess. Even though Aphrodite did technically help start the Trojan War but that’s neither here nor there.

Zeke’s appearance from the steam of the felled Titan is nearly identical to the foam that appeared during Aphrodite’s spontaneous conception in the Ionian Sea. For the sake of transparency, I must point out that long ago, a fanfic author by the name of Homer relayed to us that Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus and Dione. This is not technically wrong but it is quite boring. And it was also pre-dated (shout-out to Hesiod). Uranus, the primordial god of the sky, got into a spat with his children as deities are wont to do. This particular dust-up ended in Uranus being castrated by his son – the Titan, Cronus – who usurped the throne. The disembodied testicles fell into the sea like a pair of primordial bath bombs and out of the resulting effervescence appeared a full-grown Aphrodite in all of her Tumblr-banned glory.

Zeke, with nothing left of him after the explosion than a head and torso, was taken into the gut of a waiting Titan. Let me clarify, here. He was not eaten, no. The mindless titan scooted itself along the river banks and inserted the dying Zeke into its stomach cavity. Then OG Ymir with her trademark PATHS Magiks, crafts the golden boy a brand new body and sends him on his merry way.

Like I said up top: of all the examples of Deus Ex, this isn’t even the third-most severe I’ve seen. The implications of it are…a lot. And it actually makes sense if you consider what we know about Titan Biology.

Back to the beginning. Once upon a time, the Founder Ymir Fritz made a deal with the Devil of All Earth that gave her untold power after coming into contact with the “source of all living matter.” With that power, Ymir became the Progenitor of Titan Power. Upon her death 13 years later, her soul was split into nine pieces and connected via a metaphysical system known only as PATHS. These PATHS transcend space and time and bind together every subject of Ymir, even those who have been long dead.

We also know that the Titans themselves are a conundrum of theoretical physics. Their mass and energy are created from nothing. They generate massive amounts of heat, but don’t appear to need fuel. They have no digestive system and regurgitate the contents of their stomach when it becomes full. Even though they are huge creatures, their actual limbs and body parts are incredibly light. Even though Zeke has little recollection of what happened to him post-explosion, he’s likely smart enough to infer, as we can, exactly how and why he emerged from the carcass of a Titan with a brand new body.

This is all before we mention that Zeke Jaeger is a part of the Fritz family tree. The Royal Family line that descends directly from Ymir herself.

I also thought about Lazarus of Bethany while reading this section. Lazarus was a good friend of Jesus, the lad from Bethlehem. Maybe you’ve heard of him. Jesus was told that Lazarus had fallen ill, but has business and doesn’t set out until a few days later. Jesus and his crew arrive in Bethany only to discover that Lazarus has already passed away. This leads to the Gospel’s shortest verse.

Jesus wept. [John 11:35, KJV]

Perhaps the better comparison for her is to Abraham (with the whole “making a great nation” stipulation). But! I’m trying to do something pithy here, so bear with me.

The story of Lazarus might be the Good Book’s most well-known resurrection (besides that other one). The idea here is that the world’s most Holy Figure decided that this man’s time on Earth wasn’t done. Jesus was too late to heal Lazarus and felt so guilty as to weep. Lazarus was then called forth from his tomb, still wrapped in his death robes.

For the Eldian Empire, no figure is more Holy than Ymir Fritz. She’s the Founding Titan and, if this chapter is to be inferred upon, her spirit still influences the will of her subjects to the day. An entire cult has formed with the sole purpose of returning her to her former glory. I should also point out that Zeke essentially committed suicide.

Like, yeah, maybe the injuries were a bit too extreme for an old shifter to be able to regenerate from, but even if that’s the case there would have been the telltale signs of an attempt to do so, like Pieck in Liberio. There wasn’t even that. He was so tired of the fight – so done with Levi torturing him – that he was willing to abandon his years-long plan entirely and sacrifice his powers to the shadows of death. He chose to die; the Founder chose differently.

The rainstorm clearing to make way for the sun. The beautification of Zeke Jaeger. The visage of his tall, strong frame standing firm as his hated rival lays broken and mutilated at his feet. It’s all very hard to miss. Who knows where his head is at following this? I do, however, finally know why I get so many Spidey Sense tingles whenever Zeke opens his mouth.

The name is Immanuel Kant: German scholar and one of the godfathers of modern philosophy. I first learned of Kant and his teachings as a teenager on my high school debate team as I prepared my cases for the Lincoln-Douglas competition. It was my first tournament and I placed second out of dozens of students. After I was done for the day, a girl came up to me and gave me congratulations for understanding Kant. I thanked her, but the truth was that I didn’t fully grasp Kantian philosophy until I got home that night and studied a bit more. Kantian ethics can be hard to grasp because they are often in conflict with each other. (Gee, that sounds familiar.)

Kant’s ethics are deontological in principal. This is a fancy way of saying that the main concern is the Deed That Must Be Done. It is a separation of morals from emotion. Kant rejected the Utilitarians of the day and their schools of thought regarding the inherent “goodness” of an action. Specifically, he had a big problem with Determinism, saying that things like free will were inherently unknowable; also, basing the morality of a decision around perceived outcomes was impossible, because consequences existed outside of physical existence and therefore could not be quantified. Kant set out to quantify the question of moral relativism with his most famous work: The Categorical Imperative.

This is a terribly complex system that has been repurposed and reinterpreted countless times over the past two centuries so I’ll spare you any ballywho. Basically, CI is the inverse of Consequentialism where everything but the consequences matter. Saving a person from drowning isn’t inherently a good action unless there is a logical reason for doing so. This is admittedly a very simplified summation, but even the expanded version leads to some dissonance of reason.

If we look at the Abstract of Categorical Imperative, it tells us: “Do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself.” This line is very similar to the Golden Rule, which Kant famously opposed. The American scholar Peter Corning pointed this out, saying, “Kant’s objection is especially suspect because the Categorical Imperative sounds a lot like a paraphrase…of the same fundamental idea. Calling it a universal law does not materially improve on the basic concept.” To borrow an idea myself, it’s like playing the Super Mario theme in a minor key. It’ll sound more dour than usual, but it’s still the Mario theme. Joking aside, what’s important here is that the whole point of CI is to quantify the question of morality and it appears to do that in part by using the qualitative philosophy of the Golden Rule.

Another big beef came from Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. He felt that Kantian autonomy was insufficient in holding people to the standards of CI’s universal truths. In his words: “Kant was of the opinion that man is his own law – that is, he binds himself under the law which he himself gives himself. Actually, in a profounder sense, this is how lawlessness or experimentation are established.” In other words, if the only thing that matters is reasoning, you can justify almost anything to serve your immediate reasoning.

EXAMPLE

Here is where the dubious nature of the Categorical Imperative fully rears its head, as it displays BOTH the morality and immorality of Zeke’s plan.

On one hand, this plan is fucking awful. There are numerous and many arguments to be made against it; working solely in the context of Kantianism, it is irrational to presume that sterilizing the Eldian people will lead to a more peaceful world. It relies on a ludicrous number of assumptions – the least of which isn’t that Marley will one day stop being a total bell end. Besides that shit, it violates the nature of Kantian philosophy by attempting to foresee the outcome of the situation.

The other hand? It actually makes sense. CI says that only reason matters. It’s ethics through the lens of rational thought. No matter your thoughts about the Great Titan War, how it started and ended, whether or not the Eldians’ preceding subjugation was just or not, it’s a fact that the Titans have caused a great deal of suffering for many people. Only one race of people can transform into these beasts, so the idea of stripping their ability to reproduce isn’t a great leap to make. It is rational specifically in the context of this universe.

(Apologies for any details missed. I haven’t read any Kant in several years and this is a very condensed version of a concept I would encourage you to look into further. Thinking about this all now, the fact that I ever made it to out-rounds while arguing any of this is frankly absurd.)

It makes sense then, finally, why Yelena is so devoted to Zeke’s plan. Titans destroyed her home and slaughtered her people. The rational course of action is to remove this weapon from the hands of those (Marley) that would abuse them. And if those same perpetrators get screwed over during the course of this plan then…[Shrug Emoji]. She claims what she wants is justice. What she really wants, of course, is revenge. Just like her sensei, Jaeger-san, who wants revenge still. Which Jaeger, you ask? The answer is yes.

Situations have been reversed. The volunteers (and Onyankopon) are seated at the head of the table while the officers of the Garrison and Military Police that held them captive are under their thumb. Color-coded armbands are divvied out to the Eldian forces, juuuuust in case you forgot which period of history we’re sending up here. Armbands are assigned based upon when a person surrendered to the Jaegerists. Those higher ups (and Falco) that partook of the wine get their own special armband, because Everything Is Awesome!!

Then there’s this fucking guy. Before I revisited the world of epistemology, I had a much less astute take prepared about character psychology and the concept of the “Double Turn.” I may still write that as a separate post; it won’t do any good here. Reiner didn’t appear, firstly (even though it appears that he and the Warrior Unit are on Paradis), and the visage of a disembodied child using Titan Magiks to bring Zeke back from the precipice of death brings up some very real questions about how real the Curse really is. We don’t know how Ymir Fritz died originally. Given the way mythology tends to work, I’d say patricide is highly plausible.

As usual, all we can do is speculate. One thing that doesn’t need speculation is Pieck. As usual, she’s right on time. As expected, she’s exactly right.

Stray Thoughts

- As I noted last time, Levi was sent flying into the river. Evidently, he had enough strength to make it back to shore, just not much more than that. I suspect he’s alive for now but, goddamn did he get messed up. Levi underestimated Zeke’s suicidal tendencies, just as Zeke underestimated Levi’s tenacity. For two fellas that spent months in direct contact with each other, they have almost no clue.

- Not to stir the pot here but, here’s an in-story example of Kantian Ethics in case you’re still not quite sure. On the roof in Shiganshina – if Kant had been there (lol) – he would have disputed Levi giving the serum to Armin. Not for the reason you think. Categorical Imperative is all about reason. The reason Levi chose to save Armin is because he refused to rob his loved one of their humanity and instead chose to let him rest as opposed to reviving him for the sake of continuing a senseless, endless war. As Momtaku has said before: Levi chose Erwin over Armin. This was a choice made on emotional, borderline selfish, grounds and thereby irrational, which in Kant’s eyes makes it immoral. Just a little extra nugget for you. Discuss, friends!

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psychweeb · 5 years

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Watamote Analysis Pt.2: More Than SAD?

Alright, so a quick overview: in my last post regarding Watamote (Watamote: An Intriguing Perspective On Social Anxiety), I discussed how many of the situations in Watamote, as well as the traits of the protagonist Tomoko Kuroki, indicate that she is suffering from Social Anxiety Disorder. This is a disorder that is characterized by extreme avoidance of social situations and people, to the extent where it is also considered “social phobia”. If you want to understand this concept more in depth, you can read my previous post, and there are many online resources that can provide more info- I recommend https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/social-anxiety-disorder as a great starting point, where I found many of the statistics and verified the information used in my last post.

Anyways, in this post, we will be continuing from where we left off. At the end of the last post, I acknowledged that while SAD seems to be the most plausible diagnosis for Tomoko, some other sources and discussions I came across online while researching suggested that she could be suffering from ASPD (anti-social personality disorder) or BPD (borderline personality disorder), either alongside SAD or alone. Both are widely associated with psychopathy and sociopathy, respectively. To begin, let’s first distinguish the differences and similarities between both. I will add that much of the information on these I’ve gathered is from notes from my abnormal psychology class, so I do genuinely believe it’s reliable- the rest will be in the list of sources.

Anti-social personality disorder, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5), can only be diagnosed after the age of 18- However, signs of it may emerge from around the age of 15 (defined as conduct disorder). Therefore, while she may have some traits of an ASPD affliction, it is already unlikely that Tomoko canonically suffers from this. Even though her age is never directly stated in the anime, she attends high school, implying she’s a teenager. Regardless, for the sake of the article, we’ll discuss some of the characteristics that classify it as its own diagnosis:

- Many behaviours of an individual with ASPD notably indicate a great focus on oneself, regardless of morals or ethical implications. Since they exclusively focus on themselves and personal gain, others are no more than pawns to use and aid them in their own pursuits. True intimate relationships are usually nonexistent due to issues with empathy and a general carelessness for others’ feelings. It is worth noting that, while all psychopaths are narcissists, not all narcissistic individuals exhibit behaviours of a psychopath.

- Generally, they are manipulative liars, which ties into the above statement that they view others as “pawns”. They use their charm and wit, which they normally learn through observation of others, to convince others of their trustworthiness and integrate into society.

- Normally, lack of remorse and impulsivity lead to criminal activity in these individuals. Irresponsibility and failure to learn from their mistakes is also commonplace.

BPD, on the other hand, does not have an age requirement to warrant diagnosis. It has been argued that, while Psychopathy/ASPD is within you from birth, despite the 18 or older diagnosis rule, Sociopathy/BPD is developed during one’s life. Some symptoms of it include:

- Fears of abandonment or rejection. May push the individual to threaten self-harm or suicide.

- Unstable opinions of people and self-image or identity, such as shifting values and thoughts on others (which can intensify the above fears). Moods are also unstable in these individuals, and they often experience intense mood swings.

- Paranoia caused by stress and losing touch with reality.

- Impulsivity, recklessness and irresponsibility (one symptom BPD shares with ASPD).

So, does Tomoko fit the bill for either of these?

I mentioned that narcissists and individuals with ASPD share similar self-centered behaviours. Tomoko does focus on herself, and appears to search for pity and validation among her peers, which narcissists tend to do. One instance that is frequently referred to to justify this argument is the scene in which she claims she has been “raped” to Yu, after hearing other girls in her class have been molested and feels left out. It can be interpreted as a way to exploit Yu’s friendship and get concern and pity from her- I, personally, just see it as another manifestation of her desire to fit in and be like her other peers. It is worth mentioning that, either way you interpret the objective of these questionable actions of her’s- whether fishing for pity or attempting to fit in, both would be indicative of ASPD. It’s a form of manipulative lying, as even if it doesn’t blatatly have any benefits for her, it provides her with some emotional gratification, either through a feeling of belonging or by offering the pity and concern she yearns for.

And that leads to another aspect of Tomoko’s personality worth contemplating-despite her undeniable disdain of her peers, she desires to be like them. I believe that a large part of this disdain towards other girls is actually jealousy, whether she realizes it or not. She attempts to be like them on multiple occasions, and fantasizes about being pretty and popular (although in her mind, this means being a “bitch”, solidifying her grudge/jealousy against other girls). In fact, a small part of her even seems to consider Yu a “bitch”.

While being arrogant doesn’t always indicate ASPD, it is certainly a symptom, on account of the fact that it heavily ties into narcissism. Again, narcissism doesn’t automatically mean psychopathy- but in this case, it seems it would tie into something greater, since she actively lied and used her closest friend to feed her narcissism.

This arrogance may be a coping mechanism of sorts, a way to help her accept that she is not like them (”who would want to be a basic bitch?”), but her constant cognitive dissonance and changing opinions are indicative of BPD. As I mentioned above, instability in feelings towards people and situations is one of the . Some days, she hates the girls around her, other days she wants to be them. With Yu, Even though she’s a “bitch” like the rest of them, she appears to admire her beauty and popularity (ironically the key things that make her a “bitch”), and sometimes it’s even hinted at throughout the series that she has a crush on her.

*Side note: grabbing her butt is a very impulsive and reckless thing to do, as she isn’t considering Yu’s reaction or the consequences it may have of their friendship.

Finally, Tomoko demonstrates the paranoia characteristic that is typically associated with BPD. Much of her stress and social anxiety is likely caused by SAD, but this stress undeniably worsens her paranoia. Consequently, she will lose touch with reality as the fear overtakes her- after all, even neurotypical people can drift off and begin to think up ludicrous situations when they’re extremely stressed. This losing touch with reality is VERY different from fantasizing, though, which she does often as well- daydreaming is not necessarily losing touch with reality. For instance, she sometimes daydreams that she has the looks of a sexy centerfold- but will eventually break out of this fantasy and realize she is herself again. Meanwhile, when in a state of panic, it is difficult for her to rationalize and think about the situation, more-so than for most people. In the infamous train scene - which is what leads to her “confessing” to Yu that she had been raped- she fears that she is being molested on the train when she feels something long and hard poking underneath her skirt. She nearly goes into hysterics. Even if she doesn’t blatantly show her fear until the end of the predicament, her internal monologue reveals her utter horror throughout her train ride.

In reality, in just ended up being a schoolgirl’s stick (I’m unsure if it was a broomstick or what, honestly, but it was a long stick). Not a molester. In her defense, she doesn’t know what a penis feels like, but anyone in this situation probably would have been able to reason their way to the conclusion that it wasn’t. Tomoko jumps from conclusion to conclusion, letting her unrealistic thoughts feed her paranoia and fear.

In conclusion, I certainly think Tomoko suffers from Social Anxiety Disorder- there is no doubt in my mind about that. However, after doing some extensive research, I think it’s also plausible that she has Borderline Personality Disorder. While no trauma or particular cause of the emergence of BPD is shown in the anime, there is a flashback of her as a child in one episode, where she seems like a normal, pleasant child, which leads me to believe the wasn’t always like this. ASPD is not only something you inherently possess, but it seems a little extreme for Tomoko- I feel like she would feel guilt if she were to seriously hurt someone, or at least worry about the consequences afterward (even if her impulsivity prevented her from thinking about this beforehand). Her ever changing internal monologues regarding the things around her, as well as frequently becoming paranoid and losing touch with reality (which I think is worsened by her SAD) are all indicative of BPD. So, yes, I agree that she suffers from SAD and BPD- but not ASPD.

Sources:

https://www.verywellmind.com/the-diagnostic-and-statistical-manual-dsm-2795758- A resource I added for those who are unsure what the DSM is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dv8zJiggBs- A helpful video to distinguish between Narcissism, Sociopathy, and Psychopathy with Dr.Ramani Durvasula.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder Extensive notes on ASPD, good for anyone who wants to do further reading.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/borderline-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20370237 Extensive notes on BPD, for anyone who wants to do further reading.

My class notes from Psychology and Abnormal Psychology classes, which I have used to validate the info found in the above sources (with the exception of the DSM 5 definition and the youtube video).

* Cognitive Dissonance: In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort experienced by a person who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values. This discomfort is triggered by a situation in which a person’s belief clashes with new evidence perceived by the person. (Definition copied from Wikipedia.com).

#watamote #watashi ga motenai no wa dou kangaete mo omaera ga warui!#yu naruse #tomoko kuroki #tomoko #anime #psychology #analysis #mental illness #borderline personality disorder #bpd #aspd #anti social personality disorder #psychopathy #sociopathy #social anxiety #social anxiety disorder #anxiety #stress

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swapauanon · 6 years

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Kingdom Hearts Villains: The Nobodies

Previous Post:https://swapauanon.tumblr.com/post/171840122186/kingdom-hearts-villains-antisora

The main antagonistic force behind Kingdom Hearts 2 and unusual among enemy types in that the bosses have more representation than the regular enemies in the franchise, Nobodies are an interesting enemy type.

A Nobody is born whenever someone with a strong heart, regardless of moral standing, becomes a Heartless. Unlike the Heartless, they do not have resurrective immortality. In fact, by default, they don’t even get a “next life” due to not having a heart. While any Heartless that’s felled will eventually be reborn, any Nobody that’s felled will disappear forever. Despite this, they do have some advantages over their metaphysical counterparts:

They are stronger than the Heartless, with the weakest Nobodies in Kingdom Hearts II having more health than most Heartless.

Every Nobody is sentient. They can think, plan, and strategize.

If their original self had a strong enough will to survive, they will inherit their original self’s memories, and can so form an identity of their own even if the original self didn’t become a Heartless willingly. This allows them to have a sense of self and build a society. Which Sora destroys in Kingdom Hearts II.

There is one downside to being a Nobody though. Most of the most powerful characters in the franchise see them as abominations that ought to be destroyed due to the fact that they are born without hearts. Or, in a more benevolent case, because the original self won’t get their heart back if their empty shell became a Nobody. Additionally, you don’t become a Nobody, you become a Heartless and a Nobody is born as a result. As such, Ansem Seeker of Darkness, Braig, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, Ienzo, Lea, Isa, and Lauriam are not Xemnas, Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion, Axel, Saix, and Marluxia, but distinct characters. If one produces both a Heartless and Nobody, both will have to be destroyed for the person to be restored in whole. As Nobodies are sentient, can form identities of their own, and can even grow their own hearts distinct from their original selves’, this leads to a lot of ethical questions the games do not even try to answer, even if they’ve softened up on the “Nobodies, even when sentient, aren’t people and should be wiped out like the abominations they are” thing. That said, if a Nobody some how comes in contact with their original self, they are near-instantly assimilated, only able to delay the inevitable through incredible will before eventually ceasing to exist entirely. Roxas, for example, is no longer an individually sentient entity within Sora’s heart, having passed on his memories and emotions to Sora, which is going to make separating them rather difficult.

Unlike the other “existential monsters”, Nobodies actually come in two varieties, humanoid and monstrous, with 5 types being divided between them:

Low Ranking Nobodies (Dusks, Creepers, and the Twilight Thorn Boss), are monstrous Nobodies that do not fall under the command of individual Organization members. They are largely viewed as expendable.

High Ranking Nobodies (Sorcerers, Assassins, Samurai, Berserkers, Dancers, Gamblers, Dragoons, Marluxia’s Specter, and Xemnas’ Dragon) are monstrous Nobodies whom directly serve under a member of Organization XIII. They serve as the footsoldiers and personal servants of each Organization Member. Marluxia’s Specter and Xemnas’ Dragon even show the ability to fuse with their masters.

Humanoid Nobodies (Organization XIII, Gloomex) are Nobodies whom have clung to their original self’s memories, with only a few slight alterations (Axel’s facial tatoos, Roxas looking more like Ventus than Sora, etc.) Roxas is the exception to the “memories of the original self” rule, due to Sora’s human form being restored before Roxas was fully formed, causing him to technically qualify for the next class of Nobody.

Special Nobodies (Naminé), Nobodies of people who didn’t become Heartless. They do not use their original self’s body, instead being some sort of paradoxical entity that, according to supplementary materials, aren’t completely tangible. The only example so far in the series is Naminé, the Nobody of Kairi, who only exists due to Kairi’s heart exiting Sora’s body when he became a Heartless. Had Ven’s heart not remained in Sora’s body (causing Roxas to take on his form), Sora’s body would’ve produced a Nobody for him as well. Bear in mind this means Naminé is partially made of Sora’s body while mostly being Kairi, meaning that she can’t return to Sora, but can, very slowly and, according to the novel, very painfully be absorbed by her original self before finally dying and vanishing into her.

Replicas (Riku Replica, Absent Silhouettes, Data Organization XIII, and Xion), are artificial Nobodies that can copy the powers of others. They do not have original selves and basically dissolve upon death. How they copy these powers, varies. Riku Replica, for example, had Riku’s battle data uploaded into him, causing him to become a copy of Riku with all of the original self’s powers and memories, but none of his experience. The Absent Silhouettes, meanwhile, seem to be made by absorbing the power of the Organization Members who died in Castle Oblivion, not even taking physical form until someone decides to enter them and battle the projection of the member they copy. The Replica Data, appearing only in Kingdom Hearts II and Union Cross’ new XIII Event, aren’t even physical replicas, instead seeming to be battle simulation data stored from each member’s final battle prior to their death, perhaps meant for use in the Replica Program from Days? Xion, on the other hand, copied Sora by absorbing his memories, causing her to take on Kairi’s appearance as a “true form”, Sora to Xemnas, Ventus to Xigbar, a faceless doll to Saix, a black-haired mirror of Kairi to Roxas, a black-haired Naminé to Axel, Kairi to Riku, and a hooded figure to anyone she doesn’t really have a meaningful relationship with. Due to absorbing Sora’s memories, she is made of memories, and so everyone basically forgot her upon her death, though the right circumstances can cause someone to vaguely recall her. Also due to being made of memories, her own memories exist somewhere in Sora’s heart, as does her mind.

By the way, Nobodies might be able to get a “Next Life” if they die after growing their hearts, seeing how Axel’s ghost appeared to Roxas after his clash with Sora, and appeared one last time in DDD in Lea’s dream.

Edit: KH3 ignored most of the preestablished lore related to Nobodies being their own people, with Sora choosing to instead view any Nobody not named “Roxas” or “Naminé” as a mere continuation of the original being. Larxene, however, ultimately considers herself to be a separate person from Elrena, and is disgusted at being forced to go back to simply being a part of her. The implications of this are ignored.

Next time, we’ll go into more detail regarding Organization XIII.

Edit: It is up!https://swapauanon.tumblr.com/post/171902950241/kingdom-hearts-villains-organization-xiii

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ladybuvelle · 6 years

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The Etwahl and Long-Term Effect

I’ve written before about how consistent exposure to the music Sona plays can have a lasting and gradual effect on both people and the environment, but I wanted to go into the more subtle ways it can effect people - and Sona’s own understanding of just how deep that effect is.

A few things to preface for those who haven’t read my past posts on the subject (and for the sake of clarity, these are all headcanons):

Sona avoids actively ‘manipulating’ people unless they give consent. Once she came to realize the effect her music really had on people she started to worry about the ethical implications.

‘Manipulation’, in this sense, is the emotional and slight physical shift that her songs can create in people. She can empower and enliven, or she can weaken and hinder. She can cheer up the depressed or devastate the most confident man.

These effects (on a grand and noticeable scale) only last for as long as she plays. For for example, she can’t outright cure depression and anxiety. She can help someone work through it though.

Most all living things can be positively effected by the Etwahl. This includes plants and animals.

She considers people buying tickets for her shows as consent to play for them. But she doesn’t ever unleash her full abilities during a concert. They’re only a taste of what she’s actually capable of.

The Crescendo is the only chord she knows (so far) that can actually physically manipulate someone to move (i.e. dancing). It takes a lot out of her though, and the effect doesn’t last very long before the people effect regain control of themselves.

I think that’s everything worth noting for now. I think.

As for the topic at hand, something Sona is still trying to study and understand is the long-term effect of her music as well as any unexpected effects. She’s heard from some of her fans that their mood, general energy during the day, body aches, and other various ills have been eased after listening to her perform. Most all of them, directly after a performance, have described how at peace they felt or that a weight was removed from their shoulders. Some have even had a good cry for the first time in a long time.

But there are negative responses as well. Some haven’t exactly enjoyed their emotions being laid bare in what they’d consider a public setting. Some felt disturbed by the sensations. Some describe it as “invasive”. These comments are harder for Sona to track and understand without interviewing those people directly, and most of them don’t seem like the type of people to want to talk about their feelings on the subject in full anyway.

An interesting pattern on both ends of the extreme though is that in both positive or negative experiences, those people are still likely to return for another performance. That makes sense for people who enjoyed themselves, but for those who didn’t it doesn’t seem logical that they would want to attend again.

Whether or not Sona fully realizes it, her music has an alluring effect. This is only enhanced further by all the positive feelings she can share with people, but it explains why even those with negative responses are drawn in a second time. I don’t want to go so far as compare it to an addiction, but I think in some cases with some people it very well could manifest that way. Emotions are extremely complicated and vary in intensity tremendously from person to person. What one person might feel is just a craving for a sweet, another might feel the need for a full course meal.

So while to some the allure of Sona’s music might be as gentle as a curiosity, for others it may go as far as to become an unhealthy obsession. Plenty of people have fallen for her even before seeing her perform, only to afterward swear they were madly in love. She never means to charm people in that manner on purpose. Her best guess is they simply enjoyed her abilities far too much and mistook one feeling for another. Like mistaking someone waving at them as an immediate “I love you”.

These are infrequent instances of course. It’s not as if the bulk of people who love her music are all madly in love with her or freaking out and wanting to smell her hair or anything creepy like that. It’s just that it does happen sometimes. And it’s difficult for Sona to tell what exactly is causing it and what she can do to stop it.

At the very least, the benefit of this alluring effect makes people trust her quickly and be more at ease around her. Under normal circumstances that should really be all they experience; a heightened sense of trust. Not out-right infatuation and obsession.

By her own experience when playing in nature, it certainly makes animals trust her. They tend to scatter once she’s done practicing though.

For a last thought, just how long does this effect last? Again, that varies. Technically this lingering allure shouldn’t last very long. But if the person effected keeps purposefully exposing themselves to her songs they may be preventing themselves from coming down off the “high”. Of course, it’s not as if Sona performs concerts every day. She may not even perform for span of many months, or said person may not have access to her concert. So constant exposure is hard to achieve anyway.

#headcanon #etwahl #this is rambly but it's been on my mind #I'll edit as needed

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thewanderingsoul · 6 years

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💑

Send A Heart For A Specific Kiss

Send 💑 for a first kiss.

They hadn’t spoken in a long while. It would be pretty fair to say Rey had been avoiding him, which is fairly easy to do when the Temple is so big and the Council keeps both of them busy. Qui-Gon hadn’t reached out to her since she’d been knighted, and Rey had been doing solo missions for the better part of two years. Her prowess with a saber, and driven work ethic often made her a first choice for tasks sporting rather unfavorable odds. If she was charged a duty, she would do everything she could to accomplish it, or die trying. It had been easy to throw herself into her work, and rather welcomed by the Council. Aside from a few new scars, and much longer hair, not much had changed over the years. She had focused solely on her own balance and mental state for a long while, and it had done her much good, even if that life had been somewhat lonely.

But there had been a great victory and the Jedi, usually not much ones for festivities, were throwing a celebration to commemorate the day. And naturally, Rey joined due solely to lack of anything better to occupy her time. A few drinks had done her well, eased the tension in her bones and allowed her to be slightly more free-spirited than she’d allow herself to be in a long while. The dancing had been fun and truly, she felt at peace.

And there he was, drink in hand, as he spoke to Mace Windu, gentle smile ever on his face. She’d remembered that smile so vividly. Struck with a pang in her heart, Rey watches him converse from far across the room, remembering the familiarity they once shared.

She misses him. She knows that. She’d known it all along, but it wasn’t until seeing him now that the full effect of it set on.

Qui-Gon’s gaze shifts to her, and he pauses in his sentence to stare for a brief moment. Struck, she freezes, staring straight into his bright blue eyes. When the moment becomes too awkward for his conversation, he snaps his gaze back to Mace, and Rey feels as though she can move once again.

She tips her head back and downs the rest of her drink. The surge of warmth flowering through her propells her toward him, snatching another on her way. It had been far too long since she’d gotten to speak to him, and she shouldn’t have left it like this.

Rey approaches the pair, clutching her glass a bit tighter than necessary. Qui-Gon notices her approach first, or perhaps he had known all along, followed by Mace’s questioning look. There’s something all too knowing about it, something about Master Jedi which had always made her feel slightly nervous. Being analysed is never easy.

“Rey,” Qui-Gon says quietly, nodding politely. He’d always been that way. Polite and respectful. Well, as long as you weren’t being stupid, that is. Rey musters up a smile, warm and friendly and reserved only for a select few.

“Hello,” she greets, “I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Mace holds a hand up, shaking his head.

“We were just finishing up,” he says, placing a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “I’ll brief you tomorrow.” Qui-Gon nods, but says no more, not bothering to watch Mace as he recedes into the crowd. No, those eyes stayed directly on her, almost as if he was surprised to see her.

To be fair, it wouldn’t be so odd if he were. She had basically cut him out of her life.

“How have you been?” She breaks their awkward silence, feeling slightly more at ease now that she’s actually speaking to him. This is just as before. It’s not as if they’re suddenly strangers. Just old friends.

“I have been good,” he replies, “just as busy as you, I’d imagine.” She raises a brow at that, and the implications of it.

“Checking in on me, then?” A dangerous question, but by the look on his face, she already knew her answer.

“Old habits.” He admits with a small chuckle and an apologetic glance. She’d be lying if she said it didn’t warm her heart a little.

“Don’t worry Qui-Gon, you taught me well.” She assures him, reaching to brush her fingers along his elbow in a brief and old gesture of affection. She’s never been one for affection, as many other unfortunate Jedi would attest, but she feels no misplacement in reaching out to Qui-Gon. He had always been different in her eyes. He laughs, full bodied and richly.

“You always wonder if it was enough.” He admits, and though his worries might be valid, she can think of nothing that had been amiss in her training. She’d always taken to him rather well, though that’s nearing understatement.

“So far.” Rey laughs along with him, before she takes a long sip of her drink. She’s not sure what it is, but whatever it is, it’s fruity. Unclear if it’s the alcohol which compels her to say it, or something else, she continues. “It’s good to see you again.”

“You as well, Rey. And in one piece, no less.” He brushes a finger over the long scar trailing down her neck; she does her best not to shudder. It would be new to him, surely.

“More or less,” she agrees. “Picked up a few trophies along the way.” Things she had never thought about that he’d done before now suddenly seem so obvious after prolonged separation. She normally doesn’t let people touch her so casually; not even one for holding hands or hugging. But then were was Qui-Gon, where all the rules were broken, and had been since she’d met him all the way back on that balcony when she was a young kid.

“I see that.” He murmurs, something distant and yet utterly analytic in his eyes. Unspoken words reside in those irises, words of realizations and implications. She pretends not to notice, that perhaps he would treat her as he once did before she’d ruined whatever kinship they’d had.

Of course, she was still utterly enamoured with him as she’d been then, but having him as a friend is better than not having him at all.

Rey grasps the hand at her neck, moving it but not letting go as she leans up on her toes. Even with that, she’s still not anywhere close to his height, but the effort is still apparent. She clinks their glasses together, grinning.

“Cheers to that!” She exclaims, laughing, and pleased to hear him join in with her.

The pair chatter on about events which had happened over the previous year and a half, and all the dangerous missions they’d gone on, or interesting planets they’d visited. Rey chattered on excitedly, as exploring the galaxy had always been one of her aspirations as a child. Being a Jedi had been a dream come true, honestly, as far as she’s concerned. She makes sure to ask him questions too, as she knows he’s got a habit of listening and not speaking. But there are many things she remembers about him; such as his studies of the Living Force which never seem to be complete, or the collection of plants he tends to both in the greenhouse and in his own chambers. She never seems to run out of topics with him, and as the pair drift farther and farther away from the crowd, and closer to one of the utterly vacant Meditation Bays, Rey realizes she hasn’t felt this elated in a long while. Her life had become one of repetition. But this old connection between them, which she had initially abandoned, was a spark of sunlight alog a dull grey horizon.

As great as traversing the galaxy is, it was far less beautiful without companionship. Her mind flits back to the time they’d been stranded together on that jungle planet. They’d sampled all the local teas and got to divulge in the strangest cuisines, and Rey had been rather taken with the local pets of the region, playing with strays in the street as they’d waited for their ship to be fixed.

A predicament which would have been utterly boring any other time, but with Qui-Gon had been even something close to enjoyable.

She had sorely missed him. It’s ever apparent now. Missed working with him, training with him, and most of all, missed talking to him. Stuck on him, her heart certainly is.

“I wasn’t even going to come out tonight,” she admits, leaning over the railing of the balcony. Coruscant’s glimmering horizon had become something she’d craved to see on a few occasions. As someone had once described, it was called ‘home-sick.’ Where she as a child would have shied away from calling this place home, her adult self can look upon the great city and truly find comfort. The Temple is definitely home. She’s at peace with her place here, even going as far as to enjoy it. Qui-Gon, quieter than minutes ago, settles in beside her, staring into the contents of his latest drink. A short pause stretches between them as she glances over the city, Qui-Gon considering his words very carefully. She knows him well enough to infer, and allows him that space.

“I’m glad you did.” He murmurs quietly, and the phrase feels heavier than just that small admission. She hears it in his voice. She turns her eyes to him, brow raised in question. Wordless communication had always been a trend for them, something that was favorable to the maze of speech. Qui-Gon smiles gently, as if answering her question, as he runs his knuckle gently over her jaw. City forgotten, she leans into that touch nearly reflexively, tilting ever so slightly in his direction in way of affirmation. His hand drifts to the back of her neck and he suddenly stoops to her height, engulfing her in his much larger frame.

He presses careful lips to hers, tentative and uncertain. Shock overwhelms her as her brain activity slams to a halt.

This is not what she expected at all. Actually, never in her life had she thought this would happen. But it sends warmth through her; stomach suddenly feeling like an empty cavity as her heart beats wildly. She’s aware of every inch of him: of the hand on her neck, the one flitting toward her, his pliant wet lips against her chapped ones, the tickle of his hair against her shoulders.

His beard scratches against delicate skin, but Rey hardly minds. As soon as she regains herself, she’s compliant, and so hungry for everything he wants to offer. If a kiss is all that is, she’ll make the most of it.

Rey buries a hand in his long hair, pulling him close as their lips meld together. His gentle aura seems to dissipate immediately when she grabs onto his hair, and suddenly he’s forceful, hand gripping at the curve of her waist. She stumbles as he pulls her closer, losing her grip in his har to instead hook her arm over his shoulders for stability. He is so much bigger than her, he could just pick up right up off the ground and kiss her if he wanted to.

And just like that, he pulls back, still holding her upright. Her lips burn, both from his touch and his absence. Her heart thrums in her ears, beating so loudly she can hardly hear the music in the distance, or her hurried breath that she knows is running her lungs ragged. She swallows thickly.

“Wh-” breathless, she has to take a moment. “What was that for?” Qui-Gon considers that question for a second, searching every little divot in her face.

“Seemed right, at the time.” He replies, and she doesn’t miss the lingering question at the end of that sentence. She laughs, but she’s almost too breathless to even get sound out of that.

“Well,” she breathes, “you won’t hear me complain.”

#masterofthelivingforce #asks #drabbles #{ v; The Padawan and The Master}

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mailorderfictionalcharacter · 6 years

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a list of semi coherent thoughts I’ve had about mcu wanda maximoff

0.5 this post is open to discourse. if u are unwilling to see viewpoints that are pro wanda or anti wanda this is not the post 4 u.

1. wanda runs off of very powerful emotions and that’s an a + character trait. her rage fueled grief and power is just fascinating to watch.

2. ew whitewashing why do you do this to me mcu. stop. enough.

3. yeah it’s kind of ridiculous to kill the ex-ceo of a weapons company that killed your parents as compared to whoever fired the missiles or whoever ordered said military action but it’s not that ridiculous if you apply the barest modicum of generous interpretation to it.

Tony Stark was emblematic of the very destructive American ideal of we’re great and right and coming with guns. Going off of IM2, even as he was doing great things (”I’ve successfully privatized world peace”) his performance was still very um American (”no one’s man enough to go [against me]”). Like as audience members we get it but I could see how that sort of look-at-me attitude would not ring like redemption to someone in that much emotional pain. Like, you could easily read their actions as being about attacking every American/foreign influence figure head, which is sort of supported by the fact that the twins wanted the avengers down not just Tony Stark.

If the weapons were illegally sold there’s no guarantee the twins knew that Tony wasn’t responsible. It’s possible Tony leaked the truth about Obadiah after the “I Am Iron Man” press conference, but the original plan was a SHIELD coverup.

I’m not inclined to conflate profiting of our wrongs or moral ambiguities on the same moral level as instigating wrongs, but it’s also up in the air whether or not Stark Industries cared about collateral damage in the design of their weapons and that’s something the twins could legitimately blame them for. IM1 canon is a mixed bag - we have intellicrops (concern for philanthropy) but we also have, y’know the Jericho (the weapon that levels mountains)

(read more under the cut)

tl;dr: wanda is a fascinating flawed character who suffers from writing problems but she’s also wearing the name of a jewish/romani woman even though marvel studios is too much of a coward to translate that to film & i’m perpetually bitter and indecisive about everything.

4. the twins had enormous social factors encouraging them to hate the avengers/america. even american media was questioning the avengers; shield had fell; people were putting up anti avengers graffiti

5. considering the twins spent their formative years in a country at war and lost their parents I’m assuming they went through quite a few economic hardships.

6. what sort of access did the twins have to media or education?

7. I’m not inclined to blame the twins for their desire to get revenge but it is worth noting that they seemed to have very little concern for collateral damage even though the only thing we as an audience knows for certain is that the whole reason they’re seeking revenge is because of collateral damage.

8. there’s a gap of 8-12 years between the death of their parents and their attack on the avengers. no matter what mitigating circumstances there were (and I think there were a lot) that’s a premeditated crime

9. there’s a lot of parallels between wanda maximoff and kira nerys except the writers on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actually cared about Kira Nerys.

10. both of Wanda’s major fuck ups (willingly unleashing the Hulk on Johannesburg and failing to protect everyone in Lagos) happened in African countries. I believe in some suspension of belief for superhero movies but I’m not sure it’s entirely appropriate to be like hey! look at Wanda! the whitewashed character who fucks things up in African countries! such girl power! great anti-imperialism message!

(I mean, the same disregard applies to all the avengers though. I’m pretty sure the safest interpretation of Lagos is “the avengers could have done better by not fighting in proximity with a bunch of civilians” which is on Steve. And unless I fever dreamed this Steve tosses his cowl at the feet of anti-avengers graffiti in the beginning of aou and there is nothing appropriate about that).

11. Wanda was introduced in AOU, a movie with sub par dialogue and tbh I have a feeling Whedon et.al never thought through the implications of Johannesburg bc he just wanted a convenient way to introduce a hulkbuster fight.

12. tbh I really want a scarlet witch movie to fix all of this but I also really want a recast and I know I won’t get either (fanon wanda is the best because we can fix all of this with a hammer).

13. CA:CW seemed to draw on a lot of Wanda’s comic history (specifically in the oppression metaphors) but since it followed the clusterfuck that was AOU I can’t exactly give them a standing ovation for that.

14. ca:cw did a very bad job following through wanda’s plot threads from aou. tbh I’m not even team we need to stretch Wanda’s redemption arc further but idk, it might be nice if she mentioned her dead brother or tied the Lagos incident/Sokovia accords to, idk, her past living in a war zone.

15. ca:cw could’ve given me wanda wryly commenting on how luxurious the compound was compared to sokovia but instead it gave the should-be-jewish character a cross in her bedroom and fuck that marvel why don’t you just stake me through the heart so I don’t have to deal with your bullshit

16. I wish wanda in the airport scene was more about her desire to do good (go stop the supersoldiers) than the awkward oppression metaphor

17. although push come to shove I would’ve focused on poverty/american foreign intervention over calling the powers she volunteered for the source of her oppression the whole raft scene does demonstrate that people whose powers (or even training) cannot be separated like say Sam and the Falcon or Tony and the suits face a special criminal justice risk.

but this isn’t really relevant to the accords, which are not the SHRA and honestly the same ethical problem of how to incarcerate enhanced people exists whether or not someone is acting as a superhero (is it ethical to put a psychic murderer in solitary confinement if that’s the only way to prevent them from using their powers to escape or assault guards?)

18. according to beta canon/film subtext wanda & pietro did not willingly sign up to work with hydra. Just good to remember.

19. I will forever be attached to the idea of wanda liking Vision’s company because he is both practically invulnerable (not going to get shot 7 times on a floating city) and emotionally dependent on her support (just like Pietro). (this is not implying twincest btw)

20. I think wanda’s house arrest in ca:cw is not completely unreasonable (she’s probably awaiting investigation & is at risk of being hurt/hurting others from mob violence) but definitely steve (and probably natasha & sam) should be under house arrest as well. but they aren’t, and I think it’s fair to say that in universe that’s xenophobia/anti-immigrant sentiment. why be afraid of the american icon when you can be afraid of the poor sokovian woman?

21. antis make way too much of the whole “she’s just a kid line”. like steve was responding to tony calling her, a human being, a weapon of mass destruction. like, he was just trying to humanize her and calling the youngest person in a group a kid even when they’re an adult isn’t that strange.

22. in lagos wanda was trying so damn hard to stop that bomb and yes she didn’t manage it but blaming her instead of steve? uh gross.

23. how much experience does she have? yes tony stark throwing himself into superheroics worked out surprisingly well but superheroes need training

24. I insist marvel release a 22 page dissertation on wanda’s mind powers but also if I don’t like it I’ll call it not canon. (my initial theory was that she produces ptsd symptoms - even if the person normally doesn’t suffer from ptsd - but something in the confidence that she can manipulate tony before entering his mind makes me think she has slight suggestive abilities beyond fear and also thor’s vision arguably followed a different vein)

25. antis like to argue that the maximoffs only turned on ultron because it benefited them but let’s be clear the maximoffs fought ultron because they thought he was wrong and wanted to personally help. they could’ve just tipped off the avengers and left or left ultron to do whatever ultron was going to do and only fought him if he directly came after them okay the twins had options and they chose the most altruistic option.

26. ppl who say wanda isn’t really whitewashed because marvel’s decades of retcons have whitewashed her at past points are pretty much using a two-wrongs argumentative fallacy.

#wanda maximoff #pietro maximoff #wanda maximoff critical #pro wanda maximoff #anti wanda maximoff #ptsd mention #ptsd cw #anxiety cw #mcu #this is what I do when I'm nervous whoops

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owl-eyed-woman · 7 years

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Attack on Titan Season 2 Episode 36 Analysis Part 3: Mikasa’s Co-dependency and Morality

Mikasa’s somewhat one-sided love for Eren is one of the most significant yet enigmatic relationship in the entire show. It is at once straightforward and multifaceted, innocent and toxic, beneficial and harmful. In one way or another, it embodies all of these ideas and continues to defy easy approval or dismissal.

However, despite its obvious depth, I am sad to say that this relationship is frequently mishandled and rarely given the thought and analysis within AOT itself that it so clearly warrants. The problem is this: is AOT truly aware of the unhealthy aspects of Mikasa’s love for Eren, or is it oblivious to these implications as it thoughtlessly represents or even romanticises an often-toxic relationship? While I believe Isayama’s intention has always been the former, it has remained worryingly ambiguous. It is this vague and unclear framing that has opened up AOT to justified critiques of sexism and glorification of unhealthy dynamics.

Once again, this episode contends with Mikasa’s intense and coolly deranged reaction to the prospect of losing Eren. But unlike in the past, this episode doesn’t replicate these patterns thoughtlessly, but instead starts the process of truly contending with their troubling implications, explicitly critiquing the dark side of Mikasa’s devotion Eren. I’ve been waiting a while AOT to truly give this relationship the weight and thought it deserves. It’s about time.

But before we can get into this, we need to consider how Mikasa’s devotion to Eren has been represented throughout AOT as a whole and establish why Eren is so important to her.

Mikasa needs Eren. That’s the first thing we need to understand. Yes, it’s basic, and yes, it’s obvious, but this simple yet fundamental idea dictates who Mikasa is as a person and the choices she makes.

On the surface, it seems like Mikasa shouldn’t need to depend on Eren as intensely as she does. In fact, I’d argue that her character is constructed in a way that specifically emphasises her independence and self-reliance. Isayama is playing with the contradictions between her physical strength and emotional weakness.

Mikasa is the perfect warrior, forged by the brutality of the world into a human weapon. She’s impossibly strong, self-sufficient, composed in the face of danger and generally excels as a soldier; she’s the embodiment of humanity’s strength.

But more significantly, Mikasa is a survivor. This ability has been with Mikasa since birth, but it was truly awakened in the most traumatising and brutal way possible when her parents were slaughtered in front of her as a child. This is the defining moment of Mikasa’s life, the moment that made Mikasa who she is. The world is cruel and unkind and she has learnt to live with this reality and most importantly, survive and thrive in it.

This is precisely why Eren is so important to her though. I’ve often suggested that Eren represents the heart and spirit of humanity, and nowhere is this function more evident than with Mikasa. Eren, quite simply, is one of the only people who can remind Mikasa of her own humanity. Without him, Mikasa might lose sight of the essential, human side of herself.

Again, this all goes back to the defining moment of Mikasa’s life, the trauma that made Mikasa the person she is, the warrior she is, the survivor she is, and cemented Eren’s place in her life. As Mikasa took another person’s life in order to survive, Mikasa learnt firsthand that this world not only rewards those who can let go of their compassion, mercy or kindness - it may require it of you.

As Mikasa realised this truth, that cruelty and survival of the fittest was the natural rule of the world, she also realised that the virtues that make us human not only impede our own chances of survival, but may in fact contradict this natural law. Such a realisation has been integral for Mikasa’s continued survival, but it has continually threatened Mikasa’s emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

But thankfully, when the world pushed her to this brink of despair, Mikasa wasn’t alone. Eren was there too, fighting alongside her and making sure they both made it out alive. Then, when the battle was done and Mikasa faced the prospect of life without love and family, Eren stayed with her, wrapping a warm scarf around her neck telling her to come home with them. Without hesitation, he gave Mikasa a family and a home. The world wrenched Mikasa’s humanity away from her, and then Eren gently handed it back.

Mikasa’s predominant philosophy is quite simply summed up as “the world is cruel, but it is also beautiful”. Mikasa is reminded of the cruelty of the world every day; this truth is heartbreakingly self-evident. She needs something to remind her that the world is beautiful too. Or, more specifically, she needs Eren to remind her that life can be about more than just survival. Life can be about happiness and family and love.

This is why Mikasa loves Eren and why Eren’s wellbeing is so important to her. Eren saved her life by helping her defeat the men who would have killed her; then, he saved her soul by offering her unconditional love and support when she needed it most. In the end, being with Eren or not is the difference between surviving and living. Mikasa will always be able to survive on her own, but in order for her to live, she needs Eren.

But the question still remains; why has this relationship, that is seemingly so inspiring and uplifting become, at times, worryingly unhealthy?

Before we get into that, I want to stress that the idea that Mikasa cares deeply for Eren isn’t in and of itself unhealthy or problematic. In fact, this is simply a genuinely human response to Mikasa’s situation. We all rely on the people we care about, especially in times of great stress and turmoil. Additionally, seeing someone you love threatened with death and destruction over and over again would be deeply traumatising and potentially create a feeling of over-protectiveness. I also appreciate that Mikasa isn’t simply a cold, isolated badass; she has people she cares about (Armin as well).

In Mikasa’s case however, it has become increasingly clear that Eren is dangerously essential for her mental and emotional wellbeing. Mikasa’s love for Eren isn’t just devotion or affection anymore; it’s co-dependency and it continually veers into dangerous and unhealthy territory. For example, during the Trost arc, after Eren ‘died’, Mikasa basically entered a catatonic state and even considered suicide. Though it’s never become this dark since, Mikasa still continues to exhibit a dangerous reliance on Eren and an inability to cope when Eren is in danger.

Now, I’m not saying that Mikasa’s love for Eren needs to be all sunshine and roses, perfectly happy and healthy at all times. Obviously, this unhealthy dynamic is indicative of several expected emotional issues. She’s been traumatised severely by her parents’ death and unsurprisingly over-compensates when it comes to protecting the last family member she has. The nature of Eren, Mikasa and Armin’s symbiotic relationship enables or even encourages co-dependency. They’re all child soldiers who have never known the peace of a normal life. There are plenty of interesting and legitimate reasons as to why Mikasa acts this way.

The real issue is that ambiguity at the heart of Isayama’s representation of Mikasa. Is AOT critiquing Mikasa’s co-dependency or simply representing it as is with no self-awareness? Is AOT framing Mikasa as a damaged woman whose mental and emotional health is dangerously reliant on a man, or is she just a badass warrior who just so happens to get a bit out of control when a guy she likes is in trouble?

Finally, this episode marks a welcome shift in AOT’s representation of Mikasa, as AOT begins to explicitly engage with the implications of Mikasa’s co-dependent relationship with Eren and how it impacts her emotionally, physically and ideologically.

The setup is fairly standard for AOT: Eren’s life is at risk (again) and Mikasa is once more on the brink of instability and despair. This time, her concern for Eren is coupled with a potent sense of guilt for failing to kill Reiner and Bertholdt earlier as well as her continued belief that she is personally responsible for Eren’s wellbeing. It’s a perfect storm of un-healthiness. As Mikasa commits herself to saving Eren once again, prioritising him over her own wellbeing, her friends’ wellbeing and all other moral concerns, this single-minded determination is explicitly and textually represented as toxic, terrifying and even monstrous.

Mikasa’s is genuinely disturbing in this episode. Visually, she is drawn in a way that suggests inhumanity and monstrosity. That instantly iconic shot of Mikasa’s terrifying, inhuman eye staring directly at Bertholdt through the gap in Reiner’s fingers could be perfectly at home in a horror anime. She has this dead-eyed intensity about her, suffering from emotional and physical exhaustion, fuelled only by her obsessive need to save Eren. AOT is not pulling any punches about how damaging and unhealthy this emotional state is for Mikasa, using Mikasa’s deteriorating appearance to reflect deeper, more troubling issues.

But this is only surface level. As we go deeper, AOT starts to show us how Mikasa’s current emotional state impacts her ideology and ethics. It’s always been clear that Mikasa prioritises Eren’s wellbeing over all others, but this may be the first time that AOT has truly considered the moral implications of Mikasa’s obsessive devotion. To be blunt, this is the coldest and most outright merciless I have ever seen Mikasa.

Mikasa’s sense of morality has always been less pronounced than many other characters in AOT. She is not really a proponent of altruism, pragmatism, utilitarianism or any other of those fancy-looking ethics words. In general, Mikasa isn’t really concerned about society as whole or interested in broader questions of morality except in how they relate to her personally. Instead, she prioritises very inward-looking values, such as survival, family and strength. In a way, Mikasa borders on amoral.

In this case, an interesting contradiction appears when we consider that the amoral Mikasa is protecting one of the most morally righteous (read: sanctimonious) and idealistic characters in the show. But by juxtaposing these two seemingly opposing characters, several fundamental similarities, as well as differences, become readily apparent.

Though Mikasa and Eren hold vastly different ethical beliefs, they both have a striking ability to compartmentalise the world in strict accordance with their values and ideals in a way that blinds them to any nuance.

The moralistic and idealistic Eren divides the world into strict ethical categories of good and evil, or perhaps more accurately, humans and monsters. Mikasa also divides the world into a stark dichotomy in accordance with her own values, but unlike Eren, this division is intensely personal and centred around her own self and needs rather than any moral code or ideological concept. In essence, either you’re her family and thus intrinsically contain value, or you’re not her family and are, to be blunt, simply not a priority.

Both such divisions are fundamentally flawed, erasing most nuance or moral complexity, but Eren’s version is still a system that can have broader application in society as a whole. Mikasa’s categorisation entirely lacks the humanistic and moral element evident in Eren’s, and instead presents a vision centred almost wholly around the self. She only has a small family, her ingroup, and the rest of the world is simply an outgroup who just don’t matter as much to her. It is deliberately narrow-minded and self-centred.

That’s not to say that Mikasa is a completely heartless and morally bankrupt person who only cares about one person; she is happy to defend the weak and help those in need. But there is a vast difference between her concern for her family and her concern for everyone else. Though she would never put innocent people in harm’s way most of the time, when her ingroup is at risk, Mikasa has no scruples whatsoever about sacrificing the outgroup. She is simply not invested in the altruistic idea of the ‘community’ as a structure that is inherently valuable and needing to be protected. Ultimately, for Mikasa, the needs of a very specific few outweigh the needs of the many.

This fundamental belief has always lurked beneath the surface of Mikasa’s relationship with Eren, but this episode shows it in action. When faced with opposition from Ymir and Christa, Mikasa explicitly threatens both of them, even the actively neutral Christa. Either you’re with her or against her and anyone who does not abide is an enemy or at least, part of the outgroup, and a necessary sacrifice. It is clear that Mikasa will not hesitate to kill both of them, regardless of whether that is justified.

I’ve always known Mikasa would prioritise Eren over anything and everything, but it is nonetheless terrifying that Mikasa will readily kill anyone who gets in her way. As Mikasa states, “there’s only so many lives I actually care about”. Absolutely brutal. Mikasa has no time for mercy or compassion now. She’s willing to do whatever it takes and terrifyingly, with her strength, she’s actually able to do whatever it takes. This episode finally acknowledges the darker implications of Mikasa’s love for Eren and is so much stronger for it. What this relationship always needed was simply two things; clarity of framing and active, unafraid engagement with its troubling dynamics. This episode gives us both. I don’t think that means this relationship is irredeemable or that Mikasa will never be able to love Eren in a healthy or productive way. It’s not as simple as that of course. But this is a step in the right direction for AOT and I look forward to where this relationship may go.

Links: Part 1: Why I Love this Show Part 2: Ymir and Christa Part 4: Armin and Sacrifice Part 5: An Ode to the Ensemble

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