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allofthebeanz · 3 months

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Hi! I saw your post about due South and gender, and I'm so interested in what you had to say, and it definitely got me thinking, and I'm so sorry for the wall of text.

I'm most interested in Fraser's experience of gender, because imo he's a character archetype that female characters aren't often portrayed as (knight errant, duty and responsibility as a mask for real feelings and decisions, etc). Like, Fraser's loneliness and sense of alienation even from other RCMP- Were there many other women in her trainee class? Did male colleagues feel threatened by a stubborn, intelligent, and near-supernaturally talented woman, and if so, how was that expressed? How would Thatcher and Fraser's relationship change? Would Bob Fraser have been supportive of his daughter being a Mountie, or would there always be a sense of comparing her to a son that didn't even exist, however unintentionally?

Even things like Fraser's apartment in seasons 1 and 2. How would Ray V (of any gender really), react to a single woman in a strange city (even a single woman with a half-wolf and enormous capacity to take care of herself) insisting on living in a terrible apartment in a bad part of town? Fraser would have bewildered, infuriated, and endeared herself to Ray V from day 1, and it could be interesting to see how Ray V's notions about women change when he's presented with Fraser's complete inability to be anyone but herself.

I already love the "Victoria's" secret arc, and I think it could be just as compelling with a queer element entangled with Fraser's loneliness,not to mention potentially having to hide the real nature of her relationship with Victoria for a number of reasons.

Again, I apologize for the rambling, and I would love to hear any other thoughts you have on the Rays and Fraser and gender.

Never apologize for rambling, this is fantastic!!!

I always pictured Fraser as a woman trying desperately to even be acknowledged by her father or her peers. You know, it's always brought up by Bob and everyone who knows him how she's just like her father - except she's a woman. Like her being a woman downplays all of her achievements (I recall Thatcher mentioning this in the show). Marginalized groups so often get thrust into a position where they can't be anything less than perfect, and I think in Fraser's case that would be taken to the max. Like, you want your dad to notice you because even if you did everything right he still won't take you camping since you're a girl. You go above and beyond expectations in your class, and no one takes you seriously because most people are objectifying you. (Oh, and don't get me started on how Fraser still faces sexual harassment but now it'd be from men. Oof.) I can see Fraser really upsetting the men at the police station/RCMP because of her solve-rate. Like, can you imagine a bunch of male cops, in the 90s, getting out shined by a lady? They'd have a fit over that. Dewey specifically comes to mind when he said he could beat Lady Shoes in poker because she's a woman. But I also think Fraser would keep that 'innocent mountie' shtick to protect herself, though she's not above using sexism to her advantage (I'm thinking Ms Fraser going 'you wouldn't hit a woman would you'). At the end of the day, Fraser is still very much JUSTICE and the COMMON GOOD above all else, even ignoring her inner yearning to have recognition for her achievements (and yes, love, Fraser would still be incredibly lonely). I think that gives the conversation in the Vault a different weight. And Fraser would absolutely do hair flips.

Okay, so I think if we go with Vecchio being a woman rather than a man, their relationship would have this envy about it. Since Fraser literally acts like she gives zero fucks about doing anything (she lives in an apartment in a sketchy place by herself, ignores the jabs of male coworkers, etc.), I feel like Vecchio would want what she has and be even more annoyed when Fraser gets all the attention in Red, White, or Blue since she'd be undermined and harassed as a female cop in Chicago. God, we all know that Vecchio isn't the best at his job, but instead of being seen as a buffoon can you imagine how they'd berate her as a woman? How she'd have to represent her entire gender, especially coming from a traditional Italian family? Not to mention if we switch it so she's the sole/eldest daughter in the Vecchio family, the societal pressure of that is immaculate. Though, I do imagine her to keep Vecchio being the most emotionally mature (or at least expressive) out of the three leads. She'd be wanting to talk about stuff and Fraser'd be throwing herself out windows more than ever.

Now, Kowalski, oh boy. In the my head she's not changing anything about her style - this woman is 100% butch. Personally, I read canon Kowalski as someone who got bullied in school (I mean, in the 70s he had glasses, had a best friend that was a girl, small, had less money than his peers, and has shit self-esteem. I can't see that he wasn't bullied) and he created this super tough 'loose cannon' persona to fight back (I also read Fraser and Kowalski as definitely queer, with Vecchio being a more grey area but anyways that would make sense for Kowalski's overly butch persona as well). Kowalski as a woman is no different, but now you got an extra layer to that because women aren't taken seriously in law enforcement. A guy calls her 'sweetheart', dude you better fucking run. Guys probably tell her to smile and she punches their teeth out. She's still a whirlwind of emotions but now she isn't seen as 'scary' because she's a woman. And as a butch woman, she's probably seen as a 'freak' and bullied at her job. Probably also a factor to why she goes undercover so much, at least she can get away from the people at the precinct more. And I would switch her name to Stella Rachel Kawolski and her husband Stanley Kowalski (because I think that'd be even weirder for a dad to name his daughter that???).

Now a f/f Victoria/Fraser has some terrible implications into stereotypes of lesbian relationships. You know, the 'Mean Lesbian' as it were, and maybe that would reinforce Fraser's not only fear of love, but her fear of queerness. So, I think Kowalski coming along and being openly gender nonconforming and developing a friendship/relationship with her would be incredibly healing for Fraser. I also feel like Fraser would still be drawn to Kowalski's vulnerability since she was taught never to show emotion other than happiness as a woman. And she's be drawn to Vecchio for not being afraid to complain constantly. When that woman is mildly inconvenienced, she'll let you know. And I think both Rays would really be enamoured by Fraser by all the same qualities in canon, but even more so as she demonstrates you can be badass and a kind person (something hollywood really needs to learn with their female characters already).

I see Fraser and Thatcher at first having a competitive relationship but one sided on Thatcher's part (internalized misogyny) but then in We are the Eggmen she realizes how stupid that is and they have a healthy working relationship :)

Thank you so much for this ask, I had so much fun writing it! Feel free to drop by any time!

#due south #ask #gender #i also read Fraser as genderqueer/nonbinary and it doesn't matter what agab he is #so that'd be interesting how being raised as a different gender would affect his understanding of that #and if you want to know how i picture RayV's femme outfits i reblogged a 'the nanny' post with the lead's fashion

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ahamkara-apologist · 7 months

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you have GOT to post guardian pics I'm begging you. feed us (me?) information about your characters. I must know. it is imperative

TYSM FOR ENABLING ME ANON BC THEY ARE MY BLORBOS AND IM VIBRATING ABOUT THEM. buckle the fuck up because this is gonna be a long fucking post

Okay first up is Aeris Sharphawk- aro/ace, he/him. he's my main character, my hunter, and the Young Wolf of my timeline.

He’s half-Awoken, half-Human (I’ll get to that in a moment, he’s actually an older oc of mine that I ported over from Bloodborne whose bastard nature needed a D2 equivalent), and the older half-brother to my solar titan, Marcelline Attenbough- one of the few little remnants from their past life that they were able to discover in a diary on Marcie’s corpse when they were rezzed together (which occurred because their ghosts are twins). He’s autistic, lawful neutral, and vastly prefers using Darkness over Light because of sensory issues; his ghost (Hoarfrost, previously Mercury) mods his helmets to drastically reduce noise, but he can’t help how Arc tingles, Solar burns, and Void numbs. Tends to spend most of his battles either hyperfocused or dissociated to deal with it. As for the lawful neutral title, that’s because he doesn’t fight for the Vanguard because of a loyalty to humanity, but exclusively for the survival of the Last City and everyone in it. This extended to House Light and the Cabal under Caital instantaneously, and would do so to Eramis if she so chose, because he really just doesn’t take most things personally. He's sometimes derogatorily called 'the Vanguard's Hound' because of this.

He’s skilled with a bow, and is cursed with a resting haunted stare that can rival even the fiercest bird of prey- hence his title, given to him because his last name wasn’t present in the little diary that Marcie had when they were rezzed. Personality wise, he’s quiet, stoic, extremely efficient at what he does, fiercely protective of those he loves, and deeply curious about the unknown- though if you don’t know him, you’d never be able to guess it, because he struggles deeply with facial expressions and tone, giving him the appearance that he’s ruthlessly cold and unfeeling (pretty much the Guardian we see in game). Because of this, he tends to do much better with Eliksni than most of humanity- bar the Awoken, though Mara makes him deeply uncomfortable- and is thus far more comfortable with them. He’s the moon to Marcie’s sun, and helps keep her in check, for despite her cheery personality, she has a very strong sense of justice and a penchant for impulsive, temperamental behavior when she thinks that justice has been wronged. This goes both ways, however, as Aeris is the very definition of ‘curiosity killed the cat’; he voluntarily gets bit by venomous snakes at venom labs to see how immunity/allergies develops over time, and has a fascination with the Vex that got him a ‘needs watching’ report after he nearly jumped into a pool of radiolaria to see what would happen. The older-brother affection isn’t related to just Marcie, though; he’s unofficially adopted Eido as his younger sister (or kid? Because uhhh that curiosity of his has extended to fucking Misraaks once or twice), and is a mentor figure of sorts to Crow, though he’s unaware that Crow idolizes him; he only hunted Uldren down to keep Marcie out of trouble, as he didn’t like Cayde and was neutral on Uldren, so seeing Crow for the first time didn’t bother him at all. Tutored on occasion by Osiris, and thus has a very deep respect for him.

People other than Marcie that he likes: Zavala, Ikora, Osiris, Eido, Misraaks, Eris, and Variks, Petrichor-12 (oc), Viper-4 (oc, lightless guardian), Crow

People he dislikes: Cayde, the Spider, Clovis Bray, Savathun, Mara Sov, Petra Venj (can’t read her very well), anyone who is loud or insistent or confusing

Primary class (Dark): Stasis

Primary class (Light): Arcstrider

Motifs: Dark, cool blue/silver, viper and hawk symbolism

Likes: Learning about things, working with the Eliksni, being good at being a hunter, bows/glaives/swords, playing with Strand, Gambit (surprisingly)

Dislikes: Crucible, loud noises, fusion rifles, snipers because of the kick (despite being very good with them), shotguns, fans and most other guardians

Fun fact: When Hoarfrost and Solaris found them, it was in a frigid part of old Russia, with Aeris holding Marcie close to his chest with his back to the door- they had frozen to death while trying to keep each other warm, and were under a thick layer of permafrost. When they were risen, they found out their names, their relationship to each other, and the fact that their father was a cheating bastard who produced Aeris after screwing an Awoken woman for the novelty of it because Marcie had a little diary in her front pocket, which had been somewhat preserved by the cold. Both their ghosts theorize that the reason why Aeris is so drawn to Stasis and Marcie to Solar is because of how they died, though neither guardian will say anything about it. He can also speak near-fluent Eliksni.

Then there’s Marcie, younger half-sister to Aeris and the sun to his moon; she/her, Solar Titan, lesbian, lawful good. Where he is quiet and introverted, she is loud and bombastic, and where he likes to dart in and strike down his enemies from afar, she likes to punch. I just recently made her in Destiny because the character creation doesn't really match how I see her, hence why she's got Arc on here

(closer to her actual face minus the blue eyes; this is a very old bloodborne pic)

Unlike her half-brother, Marcie is a full human, and- according to the diary she rezzed with- was objectively her father's favorite, though the feeling was not mutual, and their relationship was strained by her taking so kindly to the bastard son he tried to send away. Compared to Aeris, she's bright, bubbly, and outgoing, but has a fierce temper, and is quick to snap if something has pushed her too far-think a jack russel's terrier of a human being. Her ghost's name is Solaris (previously Quicksilver), and she prefers the Light and Solar by far. Her preferred method of combat is to hit first, ask questions later, which can be incredibly effective or incredibly dangerous depending on who's on the opposite end of her wrath. Her and Aeris share many quests together, with me typically attributing all the seasons that I didn’t play to Marcie, given that I didn’t make a Destiny character for her for the longest time.

She was best friends with Cayde, and was so devastated by his death that Aeris had to go instead, as she would have killed anything and everything in vengeance without a second thought. She did, however, kill Riven- something that Aeris himself was somewhat reluctant to do,given his fascination with the Ahamkara. She's stubborn as a mule, surprisingly strong despite her small stature (well, small-ish), and is an absolute massive lesbian, with her type specifically being 'big strong ladies who can kill me'- which was primarily why she wasn't allowed to fight Eramis, or other big hotties, as she has a pretty hardcore crush on her. (The second reason was that she would have stood and bickered with Eramis about the ethics of what she was doing until either one or the other yielded). Instead, she was assigned to work with Misraaks to evacuate House Light refugees, which ended up being a fortuitous partnership with the coming of the Endless Night. Now, her primary work for the Vanguard consists of aiding Eliksni refugees, along with general alien-human politics and tackling xenophobia, as well as working on being an apprentice Splicer. She is very, VERY passionate about equal rights and will drag you to the Crucible if you fight her- and good fucking luck winning against her, because she fucking loves the Crucible and will beat your ass everytime. She’s somewhat of a local celebrity in that reguard

Her deep fondness for her brother comes primarily from the fact that he is one of the few people to take her seriously without either asking her to calm down or come off as patronizing- he's also a well of stability to her excitable moods, the voice of reason to her hyperempathy. While he keeps her from biting off more than she can chew, she acts as his translator + guide, yanking him back onto the path of sanity if he starts to wander into the Deep, and helping him with dysfunction things that Hoarfrost can’t do. She also enjoys working through the data he collects, even if she has no desire to go searching for it herself, so they make a good pair- even if, like most siblings, they will argue over every little thing and sometimes drive each other up the walls with their stubbornness.

I've already mentioned that she got along with Cayde, but her other friends at the tower are Shaxx, Drifter, Saint-14, and Ada-1. Misraaks is her mentor, as well as one of the few people who can talk her down from stupid shit, with uh…questionable results. And while she couldn't stand the sight of Crow when Aeris dragged him back, she managed to befriend him reguardless, mostly because he was so different from the Uldren she remembered that she couldn’t help but accept him for who he was. She often went out drinking with him and Amanda, and was devastated when she died.

People she likes: Cayde, Shaxx, Drifter, Saint-14, Ada-1, Misraaks, Crow, Amanda (rip), Caiatl

People she dislikes: Uldren Sov, The Osmium Siblings, The Spider, Lakshmi-2, anyone against the Eliksni or people who are rude to Aeris, Calus

Likes: Crucible, Gambit, fucking around with weapons in new and creative ways, going out to drink with friends, playfully flirting, helping with construction work around the Eliksni District, playing around with the Light, moths and other fuzzy creatures

Primary Class (Light): Solar

Primary Class (Dark): Strand

Dislikes: Fighting Eliksni, any exploding enemies that she can’t punch, bows because Aeris will always be better than her at using them, the fact that Aeris fucked Misraaks at one point for science, being alone, her inability to score a girl who isn’t a war criminal

Motif: crimson and gold, bears or lion with eagle wings

Fun fact: Her grasp on Eliksni is actually more fluent than Aeris, and she spends a good deal of her time in the Tower socializing with people while he’s off doing…whatever.

Okay, now onto Petrichor-12, who decided to nope out of being a Guardian so I deleted their slot to make Marcie before I really did anything to dazzle them up

Petrichor-12 is a now-retired guardian that actually came from a dream I had before I even played Destiny. They/them or he/him, neutral good, Void titan, ghost is seldom-speaking and called Whisper. Neutral good. I attribute them with D1 content, so they’re the guardian that killed Crota and Oryx, though Marcie and Aeris were also there to help.

Petrichor is an older, somewhat quiet, melancholy do-gooder that's been haunted by guilt ever since they found out the memories of who they were via the Deep Stone Crypt- a bodyguard for Clovis Bray that was turned to a path of anger, abuse, and violence after agreeing to be tested on for power, and got corrupted by the Darkness. This, paired with being rezzed in the Dark Ages, means that they have a lot of trauma surrounding violence, power, and the dilemma of being made to kill when all you want to do is save people. As such, Eramis's predicament troubles them greatly, and while it was them who gunned her down in conjunction with Aeris, they often found themselves returning to her frozen body on Europa to talk to her (presumed corpse) about Darkness corruption in a sort of venting monologue-advice system, which worked both as a way of fending off their troubles as well as keep an eye on her state- though now that she’s defrosted they’ve vowed never come near her again out of embarrassment.

While retired, they are a stalwart defender of anyone who needs it and a keeper of peace, driven partially by a genuine desire to do good and a need to prove themselves not the person that they used to be. No longer able to mingle with other guardians or humanity at large due to PTSD from what they learned, they live in the Botza district as an ambassador between the Eliksni and humanity, they like to knit + quilt in their free time, teaching whichever hatchlings will listen and getting tutored on weaving by old Wolves in return. They're also 6'3", so…lorge. Zavala and Misraaks are the two people they talk to the most outside of the Eliksni refugees, and they drop by to say hi to Eva and knit with her whenever they have the chance. The war with the Witness is threatning to bring them out of retirement, something that they are deeply unhappy with.

People he likes: Namrask, Misraaks, Saladin, Zavala, Ikora, Osiris (recently), Marcie and Aeris, Saint-14, Eris (complicated)

People they dislike: Themselves, Osiris (formerly), Eramis (reminds them of themselves), Ghaul, Oryx, Xivu Arath, Clovis Bray, anyone who goads them to fight, Elsie and Ana Bray by association, Rasputin

Motif: gold and sapphire blue, used to have a gryphon motif but stopped wearing it because they don’t want to be recognized as the Kingkiller

Likes: Knitting, sewing, weaving, gardening, really anything restorative they can do with their free hands that forces their mind not to wander

Class (Light): Void, sometimes Arc

Class (Dark): no.

Dislikes: War, fighting, being a guardian, everything that has to do with what they used to be, anything Braytech sciences, the cumulative trauma from the Dark Ages and seeing recordings of who they used to be in the Deep Stone Crypt, their own fear of themselves

Fun fact: Petrichor-12 can speak Eliksni fluently, having modulated their voice and hearing to be able to incorporate the subsonic clicks and chirps in their speech, and is now working on learning Ulurant despite not at all liking the Cabal empire

Ash: Another dream character of mine, and my newest Guardian (so she’s somewhat of a wip). She/her, solar + void warlock, chaotic neutral to lawful evil depending on her mood. Pansexual but bitchless. Rezzed in the tail end of the Dark Ages, just long enough for her to see how horrible everything was but not long enough to see the true extent of it. Scholar of the Light, and most recently a scholar of the Dark as well.

Ash is a warlock with an awful temper, a moral code that changes on a whim, and a ravenous appetite for knowledge that comes at the cost of everyone else, including herself. Her ghost (an anxious and caring little lass) is called Nutmeg, and is pretty much the only indicator that she has a soft spot. Ash dedicated herself to learning how to get closer to the Light, but unlike the more conventional meditations that people usually do to, she was inspired by ancient Greek priestesses and decided for a more unconventional route- by doing hard drugs. By getting either extremely drunk or very high, she claims that she overcomes the need for meditation (or, rather, bypasses it entirely because she’s too impatient for it) and gains a deeper connection with her powers, as she’s connecting with it instinctually rather than choosing to seek it out. Nutmeg and many others are not as convinced about this method, but they also can’t deny that it doesn’t have its perks, as Ash does have a very powerful connection to her light- mainly through exploding things, or setting everything around her on fire. It’s how she used to survive the Warlords she’d steal from in the Dark Ages, and she’s known specifically for her ability to mimic a nova bomb, but with solar power, which is strong particularly for how unexpected it is.

However, being constantly hungover and harbouring no friends doesn’t exactly have its benefits, and as a result Ash is almost always grumpy, abrasive, quick to anger, quick to turn to cruel jibes and mocking when being defensive (which is often), and is generally awful to be around. She has no friends other than Nutmeg (whose bond has become strained as of late, since Ash is now turning to substance abuse for coping with the impending threat of the Witness rather than simply using it for her studies), her apartment is an uncleaned shithole she only uses for crashing in when she’s particularly out of it, and she's constantly in a state of passive-aggressive warfare with Osiris, as she and him used to occasionally cross paths and share research; they might have had a student-teacher dynamic if they didn’t grate so abrasively, and if Ash wasn’t so much of a lone wolf. He’s tried to whip her into shape a couple of times, but to no avail- they just devolved into shouting matches. Pretty much the only people she listens to are the Drifter and Nutmeg, but whether or not she’ll actually take their advice is a toss-up.

Despite this, she will overall always choose to do what's right and will begrudgingly trudge along with people in random strikes to ensure that important missions get done, as she fears failure more than she does judgment. And yet, to an extent she also fears judgment, for part of the reason why she’s so cruel is to keep people at arm’s length, so as to prevent them from learning her weaknesses- not even her constant complaining about being bitchless will cover up that the core reason why she makes no effort to clean herself up and be nicer is because she fears vulnerability. She’s also brilliant with the Light and cunningly adept with the Dark, which is why the Vanguard continues to ask for her help and expertise.

People she likes: the Drifter, Hawthorne, Nutmeg, Eido, Toland, Shaxx to most everybody’s surprise

People she dislikes: Pretty much the whole Vanguard and 90% of other guardians, Saladin, the Iron Lords, Osiris, Misraaks,

Primary class (Dark): Stasis, wants to learn Strand but has a hard time letting go

Primary class (Light): Solar, Void

Likes: Learning nuances of the Light that others don’t go into detail to, connecting with the Light, growing more powerful and shaping it into new, experimental Supers that would make Zavala have a heart attack if he saw them in action, taking leadership in Strikes and prodding around New Lights to teach them about what it is to be a Guardian (but gently), killing assholes to put them in their place, spooking people

Dislikes: Being told what to do, being reminded that she’s a mess, being reminded that she’s afraid and that her behavior is starting to turn self-detrimental, being looked down on by other Guardians, the restrictive nature of Vanguard protocol that keeps her from playing around with her experimental supers, guardians who have no respect or care about mortal lives, getting kicked from bars for fighting said guardians with no respect or care for mortal lives, being reminded that she has a soft side and cares so much for other people that it scares her

Colours/theme: black, flame-gold, and green

Fun fact: Likes the Hive aesthetic, and knows their tongue just for the hell of it. Has quite a bit of fun tormenting and taunting Hive Lightbearers, loves digging around the Osmium Siblings. Despite this, she’s not passionate about the Hive, and doesn’t care one bit if they’re wiped out or not. She also pretty much never takes off the Stag helm, as dropping a rift on death has saved her ass more than once, and tends to sleep in her robes. It’s a miracle that she doesn’t stink something awful, but smells perpetually like smoke instead.

and last but not least: Viper-4, an ex-guardian who I have almost nothing on because he tends to be a side character: he/him, trans exo, primarily black chassis with red markings, not yet settled on alignment. A friend of Aeris, he's an ex-Hunter who is now the primary caretaker for a variety of venomous snakes whose species have survived the Collapse. He collects their venom to try to recreate old Golden-Age medicines and antivenom- which he does with Aeris's help- and had his forearms modded with soft silicone so that the snakes don't hurt him if they bite him. Generally a friendly and chill guy, but has a melancholy air as most Ghostless do, and wants to learn Strand so that he has some modicum of control over the elements again, as his lack of feeling the Light was the hardest part about his Ghost's death. Much like Brya and Sagira, his ghost sacrificed her to save him, but he blames himself for her death and pretty much entirely refuses to talk about it. Used to be quite adept with Void. I note that he's trans here because it carried over into his exo body, as he was raised with synthetic top surgery scars that were then worked into beautiful engravings of flowers, swords, and snakes by Viper-1

#long post #destiny 2 #my ocs #my guardians #oc: aeris sharphawk #oc: marcelline attenbough #oc: petrichor-12 #oc: ash #oc: viper-4 #maybe i should have used a readmore but #im paranoid about accidentally deleting this blog and having it be lost #sjdhfg

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menphinaswhitemage · 5 months

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Arc 4: Budding Conjurers/Lambs of Slaughter - Log Excerpts

Evenings in the Shroud have become a lot quieter as of late thanks to the abrupt and violent end of the majority of the Lambs of Dalamud. Walking through the woods alone was perhaps not the smartest choice on account of recent events, but it was the choice Audrey found herself taking after work this evening. Still downtrodden from being stripped of her soulstone she meandered down the path. The way I am now…if the others were to suddenly need me I would only hold them back. My spells are weaker, I just feel…handicapped. Even if it were to be enough it feels to foreign to cast without it. The Hyur shakes her head to try and rid herself of these thoughts. No! I am of use. I can try and find a new soulstone, or adapt with what I am. All of the other healers I know aren’t white mages and they protect everyone just as well as I. I’m more than that…I am.

Just as Audrey starts to hold her head higher does a voice startle her from her thoughts, “And here I thought I would find it impossible to have a private conversation with you.”

Audrey gasps, stopping dead in her tracks as she turns to look behind her, “Who-”

“Who else?” Lucien interrupts, striding towards her, “After our meeting- reunion?- Whatever you want to call it, I was curious. Those friends of yours hardly allowed us to have a proper conversation without interruption.” As he approaches Audrey moves a hand to grab her staff. Her movements halt as they lock eyes, he’s made no move himself to cast a spell. Still he holds a neutral, almost friendly gaze as he approaches. “You know how powerful the memories in this stone are. Yet you hold yourself back from its full potential..why?” He shakes his head as he is barely a yalm away, “You know a fight against me would not end anyway other than how I wish it to be. Let us be civil.”

He’s right, Audrey thinks. I have no choice but to listen and hope he means no harm…for now.

“What is it you want, Lucien? I thought you wanted me dead- that I had betrayed the laws of our home too severely.” Her mind is racing as she fights the urge to look away.

“Why do you think,” he hums, “that we can both attune to the same soulstone? Is it perhaps that our wills, our desires, are that similar? Would you not want justice dealt to those that commit crimes in the city you love? Have I not only done what the city's own justice system would do when they eventually- if ever- managed to jail these criminals?”

It was a thought Audrey had been trying to suppress all this time. Were they? It’s true that to manage to wield any soulstone that you have to have similar beliefs of the past wielder. She saw him use her stone with ease. “I would want justice. But I don’t believe the rules we had to uphold when I was a young girl are the same rules the Elementals want us to follow.”

Lucien stares at Audrey as if to look for something intangible to the naked eye. “...As much as these words pierce my very soul to consider…perhaps you are right. I had heard the reports, Roswen told me as much herself of your commune with the Elementals at the turn of this New Year. Until Amdapor I figured it was nonsense, but I had to see for myself. Those others cut short my inspection which is why I present myself here tonight. I can sense it lingering between your own aether…an Elemental.”

“It’s true,” Audrey starts, “I had come across an Elemental threatening to be consumed by corruption and let it take shelter in my own body. Does that not mean anything to you? Would they not have killed me upon entering if I had betrayed their beliefs?”

“Perhaps. And yet hearing the actions of those you allow to walk under these branches confuses me greatly. Letting a voidsent live, letting someone who ran around using magic as they please- is that not exactly the sort of danger forbidden from the Shroud? I’ve gotten reports on the people you let sit into your “classes.” All of them hold barely an onze of respect for our laws. Scoff at them as if they would not look at us with scorn if we went into their house and did as we please.``

“You’ve seen their aether on me, yet you still doubt my worth?”

“It’s conflicting to be certain. Which is why I propose one final meeting. If your actions are truly blessed by the Elementals I will give you a chance to prove it. Find me in Amdapor. Bring your outsiders if you must, I will use the might of our ancestral city to judge you. If you should win, surely that is the wood’s will.” With his proposal he straightens his posture, hearing movement from the path. “It seems your friends have worried themselves with your tardiness.”

#ffxiv #ffxiv oc #gpose #ffxiv gpose #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv wol #hyur midlander #audrey valentine #rp writing #elezen #Lucien Rheault #Other OCs

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johannwolfgangvongoethe · 1 year

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reading yaoi for the plot

recently i seemingly entirely stopped my life for a week to read the visual novel Slow Damage.

i dont really play vn’s (reading in front of my pc is HARD) nor do i read that much boys love (i am a bit of a gayboy by nature, so im not opposed to it) so what drove me to absolutely devour this one.....i honestly dont know. i would never have bought it for myself but my bestie gave it to me. so here we are.

slow damage is a game that you Could play. maybe should and maybe shouldnt. its sad and since it deals with self harm, suicidal thoughts, violence, sexual violence and rape, child abuse and just about every other bad thing you can imagine.......... man that shit can be depressing as hell. and since its a eroge, they are out there sexualizing shit they really SHOULDNT.

AND I HATE IT!!!!!!!!!!! all those “fiction doesnt affect reality” talk some people do is bs in my opinion. yes, you probably wouldnt hurt people irl bc youre reading this rape scene. but YES, bad porn will still condition your brain negatively in the long run.

anyhow. slow damage is pretty damn self-aware. dont get me wrong man, i love the game so much. and yet, and yet.

its so deeply important to me how the game really pictures.... unconditional love between friends and multiple different endgames that finish the story Well for the protag. he can attain salvation and peace. whether it means never touching the wounds of his past or confronting it headfirst. either way he can go through the worst of the worst and end up better. or worse. its all so fickle but thats the good part right. mental health is very sensitive and as a chronically sick person, he is so so vulnerable. (not madarame. fuck everything to do with him. i think theres a storytelling and character study merit to his ends as well but this paragraph wasnt about them)

ive been thinking about talking about it but theres probably people who have. better more informed takes than i do. here are my 2 cents anyway

id love to talk about the ludonarrative dissonance that is a yaoi game with rape scenes taking a stance against rape

im also really intrigued by the setting; a very desensitized city with desensitized people, which we are supposed to see as sad, yet a lot of scenes are there for shock value

CAN WE TALK ABOUT GENDER. WHY IS SLOW DAMAGE SO FILLED WITH GENDER. ITS EVEN GOOD WITH GENDER. I LOVE THE AMOUNT OF GENDER IDENTITY TALK!!!!! WE LOVE TO SEE CIS PEOPLE TALK ABOUT GENDER. WE LOVE NORMALIZED DYSPHORIA TALK. BUT ALSO I LOVE HOW SENSITIVE THE TRANSLATION WAS ABOUT ITS TRANSFEM/GNC CHARACTERS

the fact that the game has an Entire big arc about gaslighting and an abusive relationship, that makes the protag really really internalize selfhate and doubt and makes that mindset smth that he wears like a protective “its just us two against the world” shield. its so sad yet so close to life

the protag, though horribly abused and traumatized, has the advantage of having a very functional very very loving support system in the form of his two best friends, one of which happens to be a doctor. can you imagine how much worse this could be. im constantly aware of it

thinking a lot about how much class plays a role in the last route and towa and fujieda only start to get along once their perceived differences are lifted, in fact them being “the same” is of fundamental importance - but also undermines how unbridgable their differences would have been otherwise

deeply in love with the fact fujieda, as someone who studied law and has been dealing with courts professionally, is this huge vigilante. bc he doesnt trust justice to happen unless he does it himself. and towa is important to him, but ultimately his own goals are just a bit more important than towas comfort. i love when characters have spines <3

on a related note, i also love when characters dont have spines. taku is literally my fav. the fact hes a human sanctuary contrasts so beautifully with him withholding vital info, constantly telling white lies, being conflicted about Everything, but eventually going to jail bc he thinks he Deserves it

how and why is eiji a metal gear solid character stuck in a pokemon characters body

#slodaposting

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tootiredbitch · 1 year

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Analysing Mike and Will based off their dnd classes

This is going to be a long one. We all know the dnd games are important, but I don't think I've seen anyone talk about what their classes might mean for them as characters, so let's do that.

(sidenote, I would love to make this with the first edition handbook, because that's the version of the game the party would have played. Unfortunately I don't have that, so I'm using 5e, which came out in 2014 and so would have been out when the show released. If anyone has the first edition, please check all of this for yourself)

One thing that always struck me as odd, is the fact that Mike plays a paladin. Part of the fun of dnd is creating new characters and experimenting with different classes, so the fact that all of the boys stick to just one has to mean something, right?

Besides, Mike is the DM, he shouldn't need a character, and again the fact he has a distinct class he plays has to mean something.

So what makes paladins different to fighters? Their connection to the divine.

To quote the player's handbook "A paladin swears to uphold righteousness, to stand with the good things of the world, and to hunt the forces of evil wherever they lurk." Paladins are almost always good in alignment, and if you've ever watched Dimension 20's The Unsleeping City, Ricky Matsui is a perfect example of that.

But while Ricky is fueled by the power of civic duty, that's not the only option. At 3rd level, your character chooses one of three oaths to swear, and each one gives different abilities. There's the Oath of Devotion, Oath of the Ancients, and Oath of Vengeance. So let's break those down.

Oath of Devotion

The Oath of Devotion is what I typically think of when I hear the word paladin. It "binds a paladin to the loftiest ideals of justice, virtue, and order" and is your typical "knight in shining armour." Their core tenets are:

Honesty. Don't lie or cheat. Let your word be your promise. (friends don't lie)

Courage. Never fear to act, though caution is wise.

Compassion. Aid others, protect the weak, and punish those who threaten them. Show mercy to your foes, but temper it with wisdom.

Honour. Treat others with fairness, and let your honourable deeds be an example to them. Do as much good as possible while causing the least amount of harm.

Duty. Be responsible for your actions and their consequences, protect those entrusted to your care, and obey those who have just authority over you.

This feels like the Oath 12 year old Mike would made to protect his friends. I mentioned friends don't lie, which was so important to him that he taught it to El in season 1 as one of her first life lessons.

Speaking of El though, the tenet about compassion is exactly what we saw him do when he took her in, as well as how he acted with Will in season 2.

All of this starts to break down as he gets older though, and I'll talk about that later

Oath of the Ancients

To quote the handbook, "The Oath of the Ancients is as old as the race of elves and the rituals of the druids." This is all about the natural world, and choosing good over all else, rather than things like honour, courage and justice. The tenets are as follows:

Kindle the light. Through your acts of mercy, kindness, and forgiveness, kindle the light of hope in the world, beating back dispair.

Shelter the light. Where there is good, beauty, love, and laughter in the world, stand against the wickedness that would swallow it. Where life flourishes, stand against the forces that would see it barren.

Preserve your own light. Delight in song and laughter, in beauty and art. If you allow the light to die in your own heart, you can't preserve it in the world.

Be the light. Be a glorious beacon for all who live in dispair. Let the light of your joy and courage shine forth in all your deeds.

The abilities you gain from this Oath are all about nature, and it feels like it's hinting about how to defeat vecna. All the tenets focus on the "light" and they even mention music!

Oath of Vengeance

Rather than a beacon of virtue or light, paladins following the Oath of Vengeance take on "a solemn commitment to punish those who have committed a grevious sin" and "their own purity is not as important as delivering justice." Their tenets are "brutally simple"

Fight the greater evil. Faced with a choice of fighting my sworn foes or combating a lesser evil, I choose the greater evil.

No mercy for the wicked. Ordinary foes might win my mercy, but my sworn enimies do not.

By any means necessary. My qualms can't get in the way of exterminating my foes.

Restitution. If my foes wreak ruin on the world, it is because I failed to stop them. I must help those harmed by their misdeeds.

The Oath of Vengeance is what Mike (and the others) could become. It's a warning sign, almost, that while they might win, what about the cost?

You could probably do a whole analysis just on each Oath individually and how they relate to the show, but I have a lot to get through, so I'll keep it brief.

As I see it, there are two possible ways to take this. The first is that as Mike changes, the Oath he follows will too. As I mentioned earlier, season 1 Mike would be trying to follow the Oath of Devotion, but by the end it will be the Oath of the Ancients that defeats vecna. The other option (which is more in line with how an actual dnd game would play) is to do with what happens when a paladin breaks their Oath.

"A paladin who has broken a vow typically seeks absolution from a cleric... After a rite of confession and forgiveness, the paladin starts fresh"

Hmm, if only we had a cleric who could do that for him...

Because if Mike's following the Oath of Devotion, then he's long since broken it, and Will's the only one who not only calls him out on his bullshit, but also can get him realise his mistakes and apologise for them.

Speaking of Will, he's next, and boy was there a lot I found.

The thing that got me to look into this in the first place was the detail that both paladins and clerics are religious figures. I don't know if that means anything, but it's an odd connection between the two, especially considering that no other class has a connection to divinity. The closest would be a warlock, but both the beings and the relationship is very different. (plus, warlocks weren't a thing back then) Still, worth mentioning I think.

According to the handbook, "divine magic... Is the power of the gods, flowing from them into the world. Clerics are conduits manifesting it as miraculous effects. The gods don't grant this power to everyone who seeks it, but only to those chosen to fulfill a high calling."

I'm a firm believer in the idea that vecna wants to train Will so that when vecna dies, Will inherits control of the Upside Down, and to me, this reads like vecna channelling his powers through Will. It's honestly closer to the relationship between a warlock and their patron, but again, they weren't a thing in first edition dnd.

Like paladins, there are different paths you can take as a cleric, and they're based on whatever deity you follow.

There are seven domains, and a deity can have control over any number of them. They are: knowledge, life, light, nature, tempest, trickery, and war. At 1st level, a cleric chooses one that their deity has control over, and they gain different abilities at various levels based on that choice. For vecna, he probably counts as knowledge, trickery and war, so those are the ones I'll talk about.

War is easy to cross out for Will. He's not a fighter, he wouldn't even hurt D'art when he had every reason to do so.

Both knowledge and trickery could work though, and each has different implications for possible powers he might have.

The description for the trickery domain talks about the gods as "a constant challenge to the accepted order among both gods and mortals" which is pretty accurate to the role vecna plays, as an enemy of both brenner and the government, ("gods") but also the party ("mortals").

One of the abilities from following this domain is called Channel Divinity: Cloak of Shadows. The description reads "Starting at 6th level, you can use your Channel Divinity to vanish"

"He's good at hiding."

The description for the knowledge domain didn't really fit with vecna, as far as I could tell, but he is called Will the wise, so there's a connection there. One of the Channel Divinities in this domain is called Read Thoughts, and the description reads "At 6th level, you can use your Channel Divinity to read a creature's thoughts. You can then use your access to the creature's mind to command it."

Sounds familiar...

Whichever one you choose has massive implications for Will, and I honestly don't know which would fit better.

One more tiny detail I think is worth mentioning, is Will's use of fireball in season 1. In 5e, there are actually two spells, fireball and fire bolt. For fireball, you don't roll to hit. Rather, anyone in range of the spell has to make a dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, they take full damage, and on a successful one they take half damage. With Will's failed roll in the opening of episode 1, he has to have used fire bolt instead.

The only problem with that, is that neither fireball not fire bolt are on the list of cleric spells. By all rights, Will couldn't have cast either spell.

Is it intentional? Just a plot hole? Or is it different in first edition?

I don't know. I don't have a lot of answers, I just thought it was an interesting theory that I haven't seen done before.

#stranger things #stranger things analysis #Mike wheeler #Will byers

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rainofaugustsith · 1 year

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50 FFXIV!

I finally made it to level 50 on all the jobs I'd previously ignored (except for blue mage which isn't needed for the amaro achievement) in FFXIV. Whew. At this point, I'm slowing down on leveling. Right now I'm focused on getting the two remaining aiming classes - bard and machinist - to level 70. I'm giving the level 50-60 tribal quests to one of the level 50ish jobs I have every day and just leveling them slowly. After the aiming jobs, I'll probably try to switch to the remaining tanks and focus on leveling those. I have not started gunbreaker yet since that gets picked up at level 60. I'm waiting until the other two tank jobs I'm leveling hit 60 too, so they can all share gear.

It's interesting. Some of the jobs were ones I put off on exploring because I didn't think I'd like them, and in some cases I was right. Some of them have turned out to be a joy. Spoilers for monk story below.

I love the job and the story!

Bard - I hated the archer missions because of the absolute asshole NPC you have to work with, but I'm adoring bard and all the NPCs there. The class itself has been really simple for me to understand and a lot of fun. Rain of Death is one of the best skills ever, I think.

I love bard enough that I think it may take over from dancer as my go-to class when I need ranged DPS. I'm kicking myself for not enjoying this job sooner.

Ninja - Fun! One of the things I've enjoyed about this class is that the story missions have often tried to teach you to use specific skills and remember the one combination set you need. You get to jump around a lot. I've also enjoyed the NPCs Rigel has worked with. I'm hoping to see familiar faces as this story mission goes on, and I think the Stormblood level quests might get very interesting.

Rogue - Separating this from ninja because the story and NPCs were so different. I really liked the way the rogue story chain set up the guild as the arbiters of underworld justice, keeping the peace and helping where they could in Limsa. I adored Jacke and the rest of the guild members, too. And the way the rogues' guild is concealed in Limsa is hilarious.

I dislike the job, but love the story

Machinist - I really, really dislike playing jobs with guns. I grew up in huge cities. Guns were never good things there at all. So a job that has Rigel waving around a gun and shooting things doesn't thrill me. This isn't a class I would voluntarily play outside of leveling it up for the achievement.

Having said that, I love the story. It really supports the MSQ and the Firmament story chains, and delves more into the way the class structures in Ishgard change. You get to work with House Haillenharte and eventually Hilda, and that's so much fun. I look forward to each installment of the story as I level.

Marauder - I really liked the Marauders' story chain and the theme of protecting Limsa Lominsa. The job itself, not so much.

Pugilist - The characters introduced in the Pugilists' Guild were really interesting, and the level 1-30 story foreshadowed a pivotal moment in the MSQ. I really liked these stories, even thought the job itself doesn't really do much for me. I mean, cool, Rigel is punching people like Popeye, I guess?

Club Ambivalence

Paladin - this job is White Mage's cousin to me: bland, non-offensive, sort of like watching paint dry in a video game. Other than the fact that one of the NPCs appears to be a reflection of one of the Warriors of Darkness, not much is piquing my interest here either job or story wise. However like white mage it isn't arduous. It's a perfectly serviceable job, and as a perk I carry that special shield We All Get in Heavensward as a glamour.

I like nothing here. I'm just in it for the Amaro.

Monk - Oh. My. God. This is a quest from a dudebro game that somehow made it into FFXIV. I hate it here to the point that going forward I've decided I'm not even going to do the story beats unless I absolutely have to for the achievement. The monk quest giver is a professor who insults the Warrior of Light's intelligence every other sentence - literally calling her stupid or making other insults about her intellect over and over again in every single quest. It got old really, really fast, especially since the game never once gave Rigel a chance to tell him off. The other NPC in the quest, an Ala Mhigo monk, started out as intriguing but he also got old really fast when he betrayed the WoL. Worse, those two quest givers never go away - the Warrior of Light is forced to continue working with someone who verbally abuses her at every turn and a guy who literally tried to murder her to steal her aether/power.

I'm leveling this, but the minute it gets to 80 it's getting dropped cold, I think. I'm not doing the story beats, I'm just leveling it.

Warrior - I felt like the level 30-50 story chain was a weaker version of what we see in some other stories, like Dragoon and Black Mage - people wrestling with power beyond their ken, and the possibility of becoming a monster from it. I didn't enjoy it. I still can't get into the warrior job either. Rigel's just hacking at things with an axe.

#ffxiv #rain plays ffxiv #rigel dragoi #ffxiv monk story spoilers

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affableanthropologist · 2 years

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69 questions ask! *rolls up sleeves* Faine: 5, 10, 17. Frosty: 5, 9, 19. Grey: 15, 17, 19. Hexie: 15, 18, 20. Pick and choose, there are many questions xD

I will answer all of these! Thanks so much, this makes me so happy. <3 My Wednesday children! Some of them I don't talk about as much, but I love them all.

Faine

5. is there something they want to be known for?

In their city, a lot of people mistrust magic users or have grievances against them. Faine wants to help repair the rift between mages and non-mages: they listen to what non-mages have to say, try to help out people in the lower-class sections of the city where they have less access to magic, and one time had the entirely genius idea to leave their weapons behind when they went to an anti-mage gathering (spoiler alert: it was a terrible idea.)

In short, they want to be known as a magic user who cares about things beyond cultivating their own power.

10. what inspired this character’s creation?

Faine took me a while. When my friend talked about running this campaign, I initially planned to play a himbo rune knight. But I wasn't really 'feeling' that as we approached session zero. So I jotted down a bunch of vague concepts I was interested in playing, and 'drow bladesinger whose family split over this new anti-magic sentiment' was the one that most strongly captured my attention. The idea that they had a child they were trying to protect and that their brother almost killed them in a duel were things I only added in session zero, when we had to invent three rumours for our characters (two true, one false.)

17. they’re crying—what did it take to make them cry?

Faine doesn't cry easily. I think seeing their daughter Lydia for the first time in a couple of years would have done it, though! They care about her more than anything. Faine wears a locket (which doubles as a periapt of wound closure) that has a little portrait of her in it, painted by Lydia's artist mother.

For maybe two years Faine remained in their home city of Oakneath while Lydia and her mother lived in the capital (where the campaign takes place.) But now they have been reunited, yay!

Frostwarden

5. is there something they want to be known for?

Being a skilled defender of the less powerful! It's what the frostwardens are all about, and Frosty really wants to live up to that name.

9. when in their life were they most scared?

When they left home to travel to Strixhaven. It was a big step going out into this big college environment full of strangers, and they weren't sure how they would be received! In some ways this scared them more than the time some of their clan was disintegrated by a beholder...social anxiety woo!!!

19. what sparks genuine, unadulterated rage in them?

People being mean to animals. >:(

Grey

15. is there something that never fails to make them laugh?

T's terrible dress sense. A couple sessions back she was wearing a pink leotard and Grey, Klav and Oz were Mean Girl judging her. There was much snickering.

17. they’re crying—what did it take to make them cry?

Grey doesn't like feeling powerless. He feels that his whole life, he's been an instrument of some entity or another, never able to make his own decisions. The one time he's cried in-game, a ghostly psychic told him that he was an "attack dog [with] broken wings", and that his life would never be his own. He cried for a long while about that.

19. what sparks genuine, unadulterated rage in them?

People abandoning or mistreating their kids. He would very much like to see Linari's parents punished for casting this vulnerable young child out on her own, and poor Green-Eyes fell through the cracks and was lost in the domains because there was nobody who cared for her! His angelic guide wanting him to kill a child was also the final straw that pushed Grey into making a bargain to break away from the justice archon.

Hexaline

15. is there something that never fails to make them laugh?

Bubbles. She finds humour and joy in how they bounce about and pop!

18. what dish brings back the best memories for them?

Not really a dish but: chocolate was the first thing she tasted after she regained her sense of taste. She was so emotional about that she cried, chocolate will forever remind her of this, and also it affected her so much that now her teeth turn into chocolate when she pulls them out to turn into eerie tokens.

20. what attracts them to someone—platonically and/or romantically, anything counts.

There's a very low bar, they really just need to be nice to her. Her whole life, her interactions with humanoids haven't extended beyond taking them to see her mothers, or the small bargains she made with them herself. The people she immediately dubbed her 'best friends' were the first people she met who were kind to her without trying to get anything out of her.

#ask meme #thanks so much!#hexaline bloodapple #faine hartfeld #warlock grey #frostwarden

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cuetzpalin1234 · 2 months

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Chicano report back on International Day Against Police Brutality

Today is Friday March 15, 2024. It is International Day Against Police Brutality. Yesterday on Thursday March 14th, I decided to write this piece since there are several things going on this month. March marks Women’s Herstory Month, Social Work Month, the Cesear Chavez March, the historic Chicano blowouts, and so much more. This day also marks the 2-year anniversary of the murder of Kevin Johnson by police. It happened in March of 2022. If you are new to the story, you can find out the details here: Man killed by SAPD officers shot 12 times, including 8 times in the back, autopsy shows (ksat.com). However, I must say that the capitalist media has never been the greatest source of information. If you are familiar with Malcolm X you can remember he was quoted saying, “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

What happened to Kevin Johnson is a case and point. We can see another case and point currently going on right now with Palestine. They are portraying the colonized Palestinians who are the oppressed as the villain or terrorist and the Israeli Zionist colonizers who are the oppressor as the hero and victim.

Since we have been conditioned for some time now by the capitalist system, their narrative almost always goes unquestioned because people believe the working poor (working class) and “criminal” class (lumpen proletariat) are elements that should be looked down upon society. Whether it is within or without those classes, there are people out there who willingly advance reactionary ideas that were developed by the capitalist system to criminalize those very two classes.

According to Romero (2001), “Characterization of this population as super predators is socially constructed through a racial lens-the lens that reflects the images of White middle-class youth as “our” children and Indigenous/Latino (& African) adolescent males as violent, inherently dangerous and endangering” (p. 1084). Based on my research I found that John DiLulio was the “academic” proponent behind calling inner city youth “super-predators” and he described those very same youth as “growing up surrounded by deviant, delinquent, and criminal adults in chaotic, dysfunctional, fatherless, Godless, and jobless settings” (Romero, 2001). Is it any wonder why the following people who were also murdered by the police were portrayed the same way to the public? Marquise Jones, Charles Roundtree, Andre Hernandez, Norman Cooper, Jesse Aguirre, Darryl Zemault, Eric Mejia, Damian Daniels, Antronie Scott, and the list goes on unfortunately.

All this capitalist propaganda and/or "Copaganda" we see when something like this happens is designed to keep us from the truth and justice. The truth is the masses of working African and Indigenous people or even so-called gangs or street organizations are not the main problems that we face. Of course, everyone bears responsibility for keeping these reactionary ideas going, which is why I am involved in an organization working for justice to see that these ideas are checked. We should be directing our attention to the African and Indigenous/Latino/Hispanic petit bourgeoisie. The majority in that class who were not involved in the struggle benefit from the sacrifices made by people involved in social movements struggling for liberation. They don’t want us to focus on how they got to those positions off the backs of the masses of people, those two classes mentioned before. They don’t want us to focus on how it was the masses who pushed the capitalist system to allow programs to be created to have an African and Indigenous petit bourgeoise, which for the system meant protecting its interests and keeping the masses in check.

You can see this play out in the case of Kevin Johnson. After the day Kevin was killed by police there were news reports following the reaction from the police and the community. If you pay attention, you can see that the strategy of pacification was implemented. Just like how Malcolm X described the difference between the field slave and the house slave on the plantation. The slave master would use the house slave to keep the masses of field slaves in check when they would rebel. Just like when the community righteously rebelled against those officers for killing their family member, their brother, their friend. The capitalist media busts out the house slave, but this time it's the Black over seer. Former San Antonio law enforcement officer looks to bridge relations between police and community (ksat.com) This ex-police officer stated, "The community has gotten afraid of the police and, I believe the police became afraid of the community". When cops are not blatantly using their brute force under the "Iron Fist" approach, they are using community policing model as another tool under the guise of the "Velvet Glove" approach to infiltrate our communities to keep us from becoming militant.

Please don't take this out of context. The masses wanted us to gain knowledge and skills that would benefit our movement for justice. So, we must not avoid attending college, but we must become more conscious about our situation here in the US because it affects us politically, socially, culturally, and economically. For more context and background just look up the Kerner Commission report: 1968 Kerner Commission Report | Othering & Belonging Institute (berkeley.edu)

It is time to start challenging the dominant narrative and creating our own platforms to share our narrative so we can tell our own side of the story without it being coopted or watered down. The problem is too many people do not want to get involved in an organization working for justice for whatever reason they may have. I am always down to meet people where they are at, but we must challenge those reactionary ideas when they come up in our work. Most working-class people today are not class conscious. Instead of uniting together to defeat the capitalists to build a better society they want to be involved in that system and milk it as much as possible. The criminal class whether it be from the African or Indigenous community is designed to exploit the people instead of uniting with the masses of their people to try and find collective solutions to the problems which come from the system that sets them up to be outlaws. If you understand how capitalism works you understand these paradoxes because the masses of people are propagandized in a certain way to see how the world operates and appears to be. This means we cannot hold our people in contempt. We must hold the capitalist system in contempt. We have to go beyond just being anti-racist. We must be anti-capitalist, anti-patriarchal, and anti-colonial. Why does this system allow a criminal class to exist in the first place? To keep us from organizing and fighting back against it. It serves the adversaries of the masses of our people. Just look at all the drugs coming into the community, for example. Just look at who makes up the masses of people who are incarcerated. That is why the so-called criminal justice system makes sure to keep crime going among our people. We tend to leave the system of capitalism outside of the analysis, thus always placing blame on the very same people who are being held in the grip of that system. Take for example, the 1033 program that is being implemented as we speak or the Project Safe Neighborhoods program. Did you know that these programs even existed? Do you know anything about them? If you do your research, you will understand that the situations people are put into like those mentioned above are not random. People are being systematically targeted. Particularly, the African and Indigenous community.

Thinking about brother Malcom’s words I thought to myself if people here are consuming news or information that is providing a narrative that is bought and paid for by big multi-national corporations then that must mean why so many people are so miss informed about so many things that are and should be important to us. This is why so many people must hear what reactionary entertainers have to say about our problems, or even your local/national news giving only a tip of the iceberg level of analysis if any instead of asking the hard questions and looking at the root of the problem. Fear is used to control us. It makes the masses afraid and portrays actual revolutionaries and revolutionary organizations on the frontlines bringing you information based on truth and justice as violent and loveless. This is how the system keeps us divided and dependent. It is love that guides us revolutionaries not hate. Join an organization working for justice today!

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classnotkyriarchy · 1 year

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Book Review: Troublemaker, John Cho

Book Title: Troublemaker

Author: John Cho

Reading Level: Lexile Unknown. Definitely upper elementary

Length: 224 pgs

Summary: Jordan is the younger child in a family that immigrated from Korea to Los Angeles for a better life. He and his father had a huge fight because he is not doing well in school and not a “good child” like his sister. The story opens with Jordan coming home from school because he is suspended. His parents are home because they closed their family liquor store early to avoid the unrest in the streets. Two of the police officers who brutally beat Rodney King have just been declared not guilty after their trial.

Jordan’s dad decides to go back to the store to board up the windows. Fueled by a scary conversation with a friend, Jordan decides his father needs the family gun for protection. He resolves to bring it to the store -- with no transportation, no cell phone, and only a vague plan.

He agrees to hang out with a friend, Mike, in hopes that he can get a ride to the family store in South Central. He ends up getting tricked into helping Mike rob his family’s store and spending the night running through Koreatown/South Central in an attempt to get the gun to his father.

Along the way Jordan and Mike meet a lot of people of different races who live in the area, get their help, and have some conversations (some oblique and some direct) about race, class, stereotypes, and nationality.

Ultimately, with help from his caring older sister, Jordan makes it to the store and Mike makes it home. At the store Jordan and his father reconcile. Jordan still has some consequences for his behavior and he also changes his worldview.

Tags: supportive adults, bullying, friendship, speaking up, grief/loss, boy main characters, church, Korean American, working class, immigration, racial conflict, riots, police brutality, murder, school, guns, parental expectations, parent/child fight

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Setting: Los Angeles, CA, USA, largely on April 29, 1992

Recommended For: Fans of historical fiction, social justice, discussing race relations, talking about family expectations

Opinion: I definitely recommend this book! I was also a child during the Rodney King riots, and I remember the tension and horror in the city when the video of King’s beating was released. At the time I did not know about the killing of Latasha Harlins, though I learned about it as an adult. This book did a beautiful job with pacing, smoothly introducing Korean American culture, discussing police violence in an age appropriate way, showing the depth and complexity of race relations, and talking about family conflict around culture/immigration/assimilation.

Cho successfully used many characters to show different perspectives about race relationships: why Black people might feel animosity toward Korean Americans, why Korean Americans might have many different feelings about their Black customers. Throughout the story, Jordan’s empathy toward Black people and his growing understanding of police brutality and institutional inequality provide an excellent opening for conversations on both topics.

I love the sibling relationship and how Sarah and Jordan are both able to (eventually) share their caring for each other and work together. This book does not have a tidy ending, which I also love. It leaves the reader with ideas and questions about how we care for each other, which was Jordan’s ultimate goal anyway.

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tryst-art-archive · 1 year

Text

Sept. 2011: Screenwriting Class Mini-Treatment

Fair warning that, while all of the Khra-nicles are very different from what they were when I was in college, this still contains spoilers for Arren's story.

The treatment is below the cut.

Log Line: A young woman sets out on a quest for revenge, facing the ultimate evil.

This currently untitled fantasy screenplay would open with scenes depicting the persecuted childhood of the villain, who is of a demonic race, and the building of his subsequent desire to obtain revenge on the world at large, culminating in his obtaining immortality and rising up as an ultimate force of evil in the world at large for millenia.

From this, we would cut to scenes depicting our heroine, Arren Minetelle, joining the Rangers, a roaming police force, engaging romantically with her love interest, Rune, and, alongside her comrades, doing battle with the villain who has of late been ransacking nearby villages. The Bomb comes when Rune dies in the course of this battle, and Arren, surviving him and other Rangers, swears personal vengeance on the villain. Arren takes leave of the Rangers and seeks out knowledge on where to find the villain and how to kill him – as many have tried and none have succeeded – ultimately receiving the answers from a secluded, nearly-omniscient historian named Rhawen. Arren must obtain a particular object to kill the villain, and the object is located on Nassab, a separate continent which Raeth, Arren’s continent, has been in a simmering feud with for thousands of years. Plot Point 1 occurs when Arren elects to make the journey regardless.

Arren travels to the oft-shunned city of P’tak in order to gain passage to Nassab. Here she meets operatives in an organization calling itself IMDP which endeavors to, subtly, check the Rangers’ enforcement of justice in Raeth while simultaneously conducting illegal smuggling with Nassab. She gains passage with a smuggling ship sailing back to Nassab, disguising herself as a Nassabi inhabitant. One of the ship’s crew, who happens to be of the same demonic race as the villain, takes a liking to Arren and becomes her buddy, following her for the remainder of her journey.

Upon arrival at one of Nassab’s port-side cities on the southern half of the continent, Arren and her buddy discover that there exist cults which worship the villain – given his influence on the globe and his ludicrous lifespan – and that the headquarters of the eldest cult has the object necessary to destroy the villain. They set out to find this cult, engaging in a subplot surrounding the buddy’s people and, in particular, his family’s distaste for his more compassionate emotions. This subplot will mirror what we’ve gleaned of the villain’s path and will, essentially highlight another road that could have been taken. Along the way to the lair, the pair would encounter operatives of the villain, some apparent and some less so, and would be forced to dispatch them, at first managing to do so without killing them, but eventually being made to kill. The cultists’ lair is located within one of the major demon cities, prompting a stealth attempt through the city which eventually gives way to a battle in the city with both its inhabitants and the cultists. Eventually, Arren and her buddy successfully enter the lair and obtain the object, only to find that it requires the blood of an innocent to activate. The two find themselves in a moral quandary, and the buddy uses the object to take his own life, to spare Arren the difficulty of the choice. This attempt fails – he is not innocent enough – and Arren is forced to either give up the quest or take the life of an innocent, the sort of person she’s sworn to protect. Plot point 2 occurs when Arren chooses to slay the innocent and does so. This is the lowest point, as Arren has forsaken everything she stood for, and is left only with a revenge that seems distant now.

With the object activated, Arren leaves the cultists’ lair and sets out to find the villain, rumored to live on the remains of an archipelago that he destroyed some thousands of years ago which is located near the eastern coast of Raeth. Arren barters passage on a ship, obtaining a small one-woman boat as well, sails out to the archipelago, and finds the villain reclining in the burned-out husk of a dead volcano. She dispatches a number of henchmen as well as a number of independently amoral individuals who have aligned themselves with the villain. Arren does battle with the villain, one on one, in the climax, and kills him with the object, defeating him once and for all. She gathers up his head and the now-spent object as proof of his demise and takes her boat back to the Raethian shoreline.

Upon arrival back on Raeth, she makes her way northwards, arriving at Rhawen’s house where she indicates her deed and explains that she feels no satisfaction from the revenge or from what should be justice. Rhawen seems to understand and tries to cheer Arren with the prospect of the fame and fortune that awaits her, but Arren is only sickened by the prospect, and it is made apparent that all that made up the woman we saw at the beginning of the film has ceased to exist, that “happily ever after” is not possible for people who could be considered heroes. Arren leaves Rhawen’s house to bring the news of the villain’s demise to the Rangers’ headquarters, and perhaps we hear the cheers of those who will honor her, but, ultimately, she leaves Rhawen’s cottage as a virtual walking corpse.

#old writing #writing archive #screenwriting #Khra-nicles #Arren Minetelle #Rhawen Evergreen Fox #Kifer #Phoenix #Unge S. Chickt #oc writing #original characters #TrysKits work #2011 #10s #Age 20 #assignments #anthro #furry #fantasy

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cleverblog361 · 2 years

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soulmate-game · 3 years

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Not related to the other two Bio!mom Harley AUs that I did. Just... similar. I wrote this instead of sleeping, as per the usual.

—*—*—*—*—*

“I need your help.”

No accent, no threats of violence, no beating around the bush (figurative or otherwise). No fighting or unconscious bodies.

Just Harley Quinn with her hair down, no makeup, and completely serious, in the center of the Bat Cave. Even though her usual exaggerated Brooklynn accent (circa 1950s) had become a pretty inseparable part of her personality over the years, every now and then she forcibly stuffed it down and used her mostly unaccented voice. The one reminiscent of days with less colors on her face, a high bun, and a pristine white lab coat.

Every single one of the Bats and Birds present, fresh from an interrupted patrol thanks to her, could count the number of times they had seen Harley like this on one hand. Bruce would have the most recollections, but everyone else would have plenty of fingers left on said hand. So they all knew, especially when Bruce willingly pulled down his cowl so he could look Harley in the eye, that this was the start of something they were not likely to forget. And maybe their chances of survival were slim too.

“Harley,” Bruce’s voice was still gruff, seeing as he was still mostly Batman at the moment, but his eyes were soft. “Maybe you should tell us what you need help with first. And sit down. You look exhausted.”

Sure enough, there were dark circles under Harley’s eyes. She let Bruce-man lead her over to one of their debriefing tables and sit her down. She let out a huge sigh, her fingers tangling in her loose blond locks.

“I have a confession, and it isn’t gonna leave this cave, capiche?” The slight return of her accent relieved a little of the tension, but not much. Taking this as their cue, the rest of the bats spread out into their usual seats at the table. Bruce stayed near Harley, keeping a hand on her shoulder in silent support. Harley didn’t continue talking until he gave her a solemn nod in agreement. She gulped— an action that immediately returned the tension.

“... fifteen years ago, back when I was still with Joker, I disappeared off the Gotham scene for a few months. I’m sure a few of you remember,” she looked up, and a couple of the older vigilantes nodded. Really, Jason has still been Robin back then. But the memory stuck out in his head now that he was thinking about it.

“Yeah, you were breaking away from him a little bit, which was weird at the time,” Red Hood mused aloud, arms crossed. “I think you helped us out a couple times and did some of your first team ups with Ivy before you vanished. Then a few months go by and you were back in action with Joker, so we mostly ignored it as you just being you.”

Harley nodded. “Ah, my Ivy’s a lifesaver, even back then. She helped cover up the timeline by keeping me in action for longer than I should’a been without putting me at too much risk.”

“Timeline…” Red Robin spoke up, eyes huge even behind his mask. “You don’t mean—“

“Harley,” Bruce breathed, having also caught on. “You were pregnant?”

The air went still. Harley sniffed, eyes watering even as she smiled.

“Oh yeah. Shouldn’t have been possible, ya know? Me ‘n Joker being dumped in that damn acid should have made us both more sterile than an operatin’ room. But I knew I couldn’t raise a kid, so after she was born—“

“You kept her?” Damian interrupted, earning a gentle cuff over the head from Dick. Harley just snorted.

“Yeah. Not gonna lie, I thought about abortion. But the baby didn’t do nothin’ wrong, and I was still in love with Joker back then so I was ecstatic that I was able to make something new with part ‘a him in it. Still, I knew a baby didn’t deserve to be raised in Gotham. Especially not my baby, not with my enemies and history. Not with who her father was. I knew he’d never want her, never let me keep her. So I spent the last five months of my pregnancy lookin’ around for the best possible family to take her in. And I found them in Paris, France. A sweet couple, both of them bakers. Sabine, she’s both adorably sweet and super kickass. Comes from a Chinese family that is crazy about teachin’ their women martial arts. But nothing shady about it, I triple checked. Just bonding through kicking people in the face. Which is perfect, I wanted my baby to know how to defend herself. I knew she’d need those skills eventually. And Tom, that’s Sabine’s wife, he’s a gentle giant. Same size as Bane, but as harmless as a puppy and makes the best croissants ever. Seriously, the best.”

“Harley,” Bruce gently prodded, but there was a tiny grin on his face. Seeing her behaving so… so normally, so proud and reminiscent, was a rare treat. Bruce would be lying if he said he wasn’t proud of how far the woman had come. How she had freed herself and become a better person, mostly on her own.

“Right, right. The point,” Harley took a breath, rubbing her forehead. “I came clean to Tom and Sabine, but apparently they knew who I was the whole time. They just didn’t care— did I mention they are perfect? Anyway, once I explained everything, they agreed immediately to adopting my baby. They’d been wanting kids, but it would’a been too risky for Sabine’s health. That’s how I found them anyway, they were in the market to adopt. We named her Marinette. She took Tom and Sabine’s last names, hyphenated. We decided Quinn would be her middle name. And after that, I came back to Gotham and told myself that she was in good hands and I needed to forget about her. Cuz I was no good for her. I knew that. I went back to my old tricks. And then…” Harley chuckled, but it was self-depreciating.

“Then a few years passed, and I started breaking away from Joker for real. Then we broke up, I blew up Ace Chemicals while you guys were outta town doing Justice League and Young Justice shit. I started dating Ivy. And—“ she smiled softly at the table, clearly seeing something the rest of them couldn’t. “Then Ivy convinced me to go see her. Visit my baby, see how she’s been. And I did. Marinette was seven years old, but damn it to hell she was gorgeous. And say whatever you want about me and Joker— most of it will even be true— but neither of us are stupid. And she inherited all of our intelligence. All of it. She got my blue eyes. But she got his hair, which meant Sabine teased me relentlessly about ‘are you sure she isn’t that Wayne’s kid?’ And don’t make that face Bruce, you’d be lucky to have a kid half as beautiful as my Mari-pie. No offense, Damian. Anyway. Anyway, this is the important part. Or part of it.

“She sat there and listened to everything I had to say. Everything. A little seven year old, who could barely understand English at the time, and she listened without interrupting once. She never threw a fit, she wasn’t angry or confused. I told her about the things I’d done in the past— well, G rated versions— and she didn’t care. She called me Momma Harley right away, said she wanted to meet Aunt Ivy sometime soon, and started telling me everything about her that I’d missed. From that day on, she became my sunshine. The light of my life, and I still call her at least once a week every week. When I disappear for a few days out of the city? I’m visiting her—“

“You’re banned from international travel, Harley,” Dick scolded, but he sounded way too amused for it to work. He knew she had her ways, anyway. Nobody could actually stop Harley damn Quinn from doing whatever she wanted.

“—Ugh, she tells me the same thing every time! Disappointed glare and everything. I don’t know how I gave birth to such a goodie goodie, but somehow I did. Not important though! The important thing is, I’m always the first to hear when something new happens in her life. And we had decided that she wouldn’t visit me in Gotham until she was at least eighteen, but apparently she disobeyed me— which I should have expected honestly— and entered you guys’ WE international scholastic competition.”

“Oh no,” Bruce pinched the bridge of her nose. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng? The contest winner?” He finally pulled out a chair and sat down. “The winner gets an all-expense paid trip to Gotham for them and their whole class.”

“Exactly!” Harley threw up her hands. “Mari told me last week, and I’ve been trying to talk her out of coming ever since. But she’s inherited both of our stubbornness too, and she isn’t budgin’ a bit. ‘Momma Harley, I wanna see you and Auntie Ivy though!’ And ‘Momma, Gotham’s nothing I can’t handle,’ or my favorite, ‘Maybe you’ll finally get to see me dropkick someone three times my size then, and I’ll prove it.’”

“So that’s what you meant by you need our help,” Tim said as he leaned forward over the table. “Joker just broke out of Arkham yesterday. You want us to protect her.”

“I’d prefer if one of you was with her outside of the mask too, as often as possible,” Harley confirmed. “I can’t stop her from coming here anymore, but I also don’t trust Joker for a second. As soon as he sees her, I’m afraid he’ll make the connection.”

“She looks like him?” Damian asked, scrunching up his nose at the ugly mental image of Joker as a teenage girl. Harley shook her head, solemn.

“She looks like a dark-haired mini-me,” she corrected. “She even keeps her hair in pigtails as her way of showing support for me. And I know Marinette can kick ass, Sabine’s trained her well. But Marinette inherited more than I’d like from me,” Harley ran a hand through her hair. “I didn’t notice it until she was thirteen. She got a crush on a classmate, and it was almost like watching videos of me back during the early days of— well, of Harley Quinn. Just without the crime and insanity. She didn’t even realize that she was almost stalking the poor kid until I pointed it out, and luckily I was able to put my doctorate to good use and we nipped that right in the bud ASAP. She never meant it that way, anyway. As soon as I explained things to her, she was horrified and immediately asked me to help her learn how to have a healthy relationship. That was a fun discussion,” Harley grimaced. “But she still gets attached to people really, really easily. Once she grew out of her crush on that boy, she adopted him as her unofficial brother. She already calls Selina “Auntie,” even though I’ve barely mentioned her to Marinette. She gets attached fast, and deeply. And I’m afraid that even after all the warning I’ve done, all the stories I’ve told her—“

“You’re afraid she’ll get attached to Joker just like you did,” Bruce finished for her, closing his eyes. “Because she knows he’s her father.”

“Yes,” Tears were slowly dripping down her face already, her hands curled into fists so tightly that her knuckles were paper white. “You know how he is. If he finds out she’s his biological daughter, he’ll immediately try to take advantage of that. And he’s far too good with his words for people like me and Mari. I’m worried outta my mind. Please. Help keep my baby safe from him.”

“We will,” Jason no longer had his helmet on, or the domino mask that he usually wore underneath it. All of them knew masks were merely formality with Harley nowadays. And he needed to look her directly in the eye so she could see how serious he was. “I can sign up as a bodyguard for the class. It won’t be weird, seeing as they’re tourists and this is Gotham. They also have several rich kids in their group if I remember right.”

Bruce nodded, agreeing with Jason. “That’s a good idea. I can lead the class on their tours of WE personally. That’ll serve the purpose of keeping an eye on her and shutting up the investors that keep begging me to make more public appearances for the sake of the company. Marinette’s name is already released to the news as the winner of the contest, so we can’t keep her out of the spotlight long. Tim, you’ll have to keep an eye on any and all pictures of the class. Try to erase or doctor the images with her in it well enough that connections between her and Harley can’t be easily made. Dick, you and Damian will be in charge of keeping an eye out for any activity from Joker. The slightest hint, and you notify all of us. We’ll decide on a case-by-case basis who is necessary to stick with the class and who goes after the clown.”

“She’s gonna sneak out of her hotel to stay with me and Ivy,” Harley admitted, bringing the (now slightly judgemental) attention back to her. She raised her hands up in surrender. “She didn’t tell me that, and I didn’t approve or suggest it! I just know my baby too well to not realize that that’s her plan. Could ya provide an escort?”

Bruce sighed. “This is gonna be an eventful month.”

#maribat #ml x dc #mlb x dc #soulmate-game #bio!dad au #bio!mom harley quinn #bio!dad joker #maribat fanfic #maribat fic #platonic Harley x Marinette #platonic Ivy x Marinette #platonic brucinette

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bakugouisabitch · 3 years

Note

Ziggy, why are you so sure about TKB being right all the time and that his people were demonized by the “classist royalty”? I haven’t read the manga, but as I’ve seen, we seem to have no clue about Bakura being right and the Kul Elna people being demonized due to being low class. Who knows, maybe they were truly evil and deserved it? Can you please explain? 😕

Hello!

Sorry for replying this late. I’m gonna add some manga panels (read right to left) to explain better.

tw: slaughtering ?

The answer is simple: because no one is just evil.

Let’s start by saying first and foremost: massacring an entire village, whether it’s mainly composed of criminals or not, is always wrong and unjustifiable. Period.

This is also the reason why Atem is so shocked when he finds out about it and why Akhenaden (and also his Pharaoh brother Akhenamkhanen) kept it a secret in the first place. Cause it’s bad. Period.

Now let’s go back to the narrative:

Forget everything you ever saw in the anime (both sub and dub) because Memory World/Season 5 just doesn’t make sense there - and most events were changed/removed from how they were in the manga to make the “good guys” appear better (to name a few examples: the soldiers sent by Akhenaden being somehow brainwashed to do the massacre, Diabound being sealed in some random hidden tablet underground and not coming directly from TKB’s soul, the golden duel disks you have to wear to summon the KAs instead of just using the Items, Thief King being the whole time possessed by Yami Bakura that in the anime is literally just Zorc so he doesn’t care abt his revenge, Atem saying a bunch of few more sympathetic lines he never said in canon, all if not most lines from TKB being completely removed, etc.) All these things don’t make sense if you follow the manga narrative and in fact, they don’t happen.

Akhenden does the massacre because in order to create the Millennium Items 99 human sacrifices were required. He could have chosen anyone. Volunteers, some form of “martyrs” ready to die to protect their Pharaoh, the fuck do I know... but what he did was a clear massacre aimed at a poor village “of thieves” that the palace people always despised because of their history:

Kul Elna.

Transcript:

Akhenaden: “Hear Me! We ride for the village of Kul Elna in the Valley of The Kings!”

Soldier 1: “Kul Elna Village...?! The place called the ‘‘Village of Thieves’’?”

Solder 2: “There’s nothing there but grave robbers! They were descended from the Royal tomb builders, but they went bad. Why are we going there...?”

The village of Kul Elna seems to be based on the real-life ancient city “Deir el-Medina” since it was a city of “grave robbers descended from Royal tomb builders”, just like Kul Elna.

It’s even mentioned in the wiki:

Here is an interesting article about grave robbers in Deir el-Medina, and it’s said that the city was literally called, like, “a city of robbers” for how organised and common it was for them to rob the royal graves in the Valley of the Kings. It was a city that has been originally created by the Royals to house the artisans and tomb builders that laboured for the Royals near the Valley of the Kings. It also makes sense (and it’s also written in the article) how these thieves knew best how to rob the tombs because they build them themselves.

Extracts from the article:

“Tomb Robbers were usually the very workers who constructed them were able to plan their thefts so as to bypass the main security features to gain access to the tomb itself.”

“...inflation and delay of rations made it extremely harder for the villagers to live, leaving them to rob the tombs they once built to keep themselves and their family alive.”

Akhenaden targeted that village on purpose. He specifically targeted Kul Elna BECAUSE THEY WERE GRAVE ROBBERS and it was convenient to kill them. They were “just grave robbers” and were thereby not loyal to the Pharaoh. If you think about the fact that robbing a Royal tomb used to be one of the biggest capital crimes back then, it also explains it. So Akhenaden’s thoughts on the matter were practically “killing two birds with one stone”.

In the anime the guards/soldiers were in someway “hypnotised” to follow Akhenaden’s order which is bullshit and how the hell can he perform such magic all of a sudden duh? . In the manga they enjoyed doing the massacre completely lucid:

Transcript:

Soldier: “Heh heh... you thieves... As punishment for robbing graves... you bastards will become a part of the treasure!”

99 people were sacrificed and used in the ritual (as seen above in the panel: they’ve been melted with gold), but many more were killed and left to die.

As you can see, bodies were left to rot among the ruins, even if they weren’t used for the sacrifice. Akhenaden made sure to exterminate any living proof of the village - also to keep it a secret and let it be forgotten in history.

But one kid survived:

Bakura.

Whether it’s cause he hid well, or maybe his mother made sure that he was well protected, or maybe he happened to have been in the right place at the right time - we don’t know. But destiny wanted him to be alive. To live and tell the tale and to finally take his well-deserved revenge.

Everyone else but him died. Other kids, just like him, died too. How in the world were they all “just evil”???How could an innocent kid like him even be evil, to begin with??? And Bakura is the only character through the whole story that speaks out about it:

Transcript: “Out of lust for power, your Royal Family used Shadow Alchemy to create the seven Millennium Items! There was only a small price... the lives of every man, woman and child in this village!”

Transcript: “That’s what I want! To get revenge for the dark past you tried to hide... the birth of the Millennium Items!!”

Transcript: “‘‘Freedom? Peace?’’ Don’t make me laugh... The Millennium Items are made of good and evil... they’re like a double-edged sword.”

Of course, he believes in the good of the items as well, considering they are literally made out of his innocent people.

Through his whole journey, he grew stronger and he informed himself. He knew what he was talking about. And they removed EVERYTHING he says in the manga from the anime because....... honestly I don’t know why ?? but I believe it’s cause he just slapped too hard with his statements and would have made everyone understand that the villain of the story turns out to be the actual victim of the situation.

But ig that’s too deep for Konami standards ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Transcript: “The rich and powerful love to talk about “justice!” The right to punish those you fear... to kill those you hate... and call it execution, not murder! Is that really justice? Or is it evil? What you really fear is your enemy’s idea of justice!”

I say Bakura was right because there is nothing that can excuse such an atrocious act. There’s no justice in seeing the slaughter of everything you ever knew and all the people you ever loved for the sake of creating weapons used against people like that and just sit back and do nothing about it.

Bakura was alive for a reason. He stayed alive for a very long time. Even after his death as Thief King Bakura, his soul clung to stay alive as Yami Bakura, at the cost of fusing with a demon, for over 3000 years. And he made sure to give them hell. :))

#in conclusion HE WAS RIGHT #everyone shut up #bakura #thief king bakura #yami bakura #yugioh #yu gi oh #millennium world #ygo #ygo meta #ask #nekomarik #*#ziggy talks

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