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lucrezianoin · 7 months

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Canon in videogames (ascended astarion rant adjacent)

So I noticed that a lot of the comments disagreeing with me seeing Ascended Astarion/Tav as a toxic relationship tends to focus on a particular way to see canon.

In media that is fixed (no viewer input more than reading/watching/interpreting) canon is pretty easy to define, and of course there will be interpretation above it (and headcanons too). And I thought canon was pretty easy to define in videogames, but clearly not? Or maybe it is and I am being fooled??

So I am writing this post so that every time someone comes at me with the same argument over and over again, I can just redirect them here.

So the argument seems to be this: "Ascended Astarion is not toxic because I never broke up with him, so my character and me did not see him acting toxic", or "Well, I did not play as Karlach, so Astarion did not react badly to my character at all" (the Karlach scene is this one). More on Ascended Astarion and my opinions on how he sees love and relationship here.

The thing is, I do not think this makes much sense for what we consider canon. The answer I usually get is "This is an rpg where you create your story". Yeah... within the confines of a set world.

I imagine videogame canon like this:

(SORRY for the shitty graph)

Everything on the bottom is given by the writers. That is the canon world. By the nature of the videogame that world can also change, but it is not as infinite as the player's imagination. The player is the one that in classic rpgs has infinite amounts of possible stories and backgrounds that can be expressed with a finite amount of choices.

These choices enact upon the world (ex. in Fable I can kill everyone in the village and the people will call the guards on me), on objects (ex. drinking from the Well in Dragon Age Inquisition) and on characters (ex. helping Vivienne's quest).

These are big choices, but there are also small ones of simple interactions. I imagine it like a bouncing ball. As the player I throw things at the world/objects/characters and they will respon in a certain way based on how they are written.

For example, I can ask Astarion: "Hey, what colors were your eyes before you turned into a vampire?" and he as a CHARACTER who is written by writers will reply in a certain way. In what way? Usually in a way that is directly correlated to his characterization. So, he is going to answer "I don't remember." This dialogue was chosen and written by people (real human beings) with the intent of telling a story.

Now, in rpgs like Baldur's Gate 3 (but I think it is more visible in rpgs like Pathfinder and Dragon Age), world and characters change with choices. So what you get bouncing back at you is not the same static character.

Ex. let's take Dragon Age, let's take Isabela from Dragon Age 2. As the player you will meet Isabela and she will be written as "character Isabela". All your interaction with her are: Player -> Dialogue; Isabela -> Answers with Isabela-specific dialogue. These dialogues characterize who Isabela is, her role in the story, her backstory etc.

Through the game, Isabela will take two possible paths thanks to the interactions with the player, so the Isabela-path1 will have specific answers that will be associated to her character development, same for Isabela-path2.

So the player can influence the direction of the character but the player does not substitute the character with their own headcanon... the writers wrote that path, that direction, and now the new Isabela's answers will help the player see the consequences of their choices.

For objects and less interactive npcs it is similar:

You have the world. There is a cat in the world. You meet the cat and the player knows the cat is there.

Now, the point is this:

What happens to the cat if the player does not explore that part of the world/city? Is the cat still part of the canon?

The answer (in my opinion) is yes. Because we know 100% that videogame are written as finite creations (at least rpg), save from patches. So we know 100% as a fact that in the story of the videogame Baldur's Gate, Myshka the cat is there even if the player does not find them or visit them. That is why using playthrough and guides if something we can do.

The same happens with characters.

If I ask Astarion "What is the worst thing that ever happened to you" in act 3, he will reply "Being buried alive".

If I don't ask Astarion the question... does this mean that we are playing a game where he could reply ANYTHING else? Does this mean that he was never buried alive just because as the player I did not explore those options?

Of course not.

Astarion is a fixed character (like Isabela) who can change path into another FIXED character.

So imagine Astarion like a bottle. He has all these things: lore, characterization, a path, how he reacts - these are all written IN HIM, because he is a fictional character created by writers and not by the player. As the player you can poke and throw him in a blender, and ask and insist, and you will get answers from him. Answers based on his characterization.

What happens if you do not ask the questions?

What happens is that the characterization is still there, but as the player you did not get to see it. For example, many players do not know that Astarion was buried alive by Cazador, but the fact is still canon and still part of his backstory.

When you choose to ascend him, you are influencing a path - but you cannot control the consequences. You push him in a direction but the direction, the characterization, is fixed and written by the creators of the game (and Astarion).

So it does not matter that the player will never choose the option to break up with Ascended Astarion after the ending - very rarely people choose those option, if not to try out of curiosity, as this is the very end of the game - it does not matter because what matters is what the answers tell us of his character. Which is that he now completly controls Tav and takes away their agency.

So someone can play the whole Ascended Astarion as the perfect romance, and imagine that their created character thinks of it as the perfect romance. But as the player, you are aware that you are choosing dialogues, you are aware of the fact that if you choose the wrong dialogue you will uncover more of Ascended Astarion's characterization.

"I would never break up with Astarion in my game so he is not toxic in there" makes no sense, because the point is that "The writers wrote Ascended Astarion as this kind of character, by not breaking up I am roleplaying NOT UNCOVERING this toxicity." The toxicity/abusiveness still exists, it is simply hidden for roleplay reason... but you, as the player, should know how videogames work.

#ascended astarion #astarion #sort of #meta #bg3 #bg3 spoilers

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satubby · 6 months

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Yandere God Gojo headconons

[As promised, a bit late I know, but I needed my time to not cry for Satoru so an apology. So since I'm not good at describing powers and let's add to that Jujutsu Kaisen has mathematics, which I hate... I just won't go into his god-like powers]

This post comes from the previous idea, you can find it in my profile. Credits to the artist and me for the edition.

⚠️ Warning: This is MY interpretation of the character but it does not define the canon, I want to show my love for him (Fuck Gege for all I care) There may also be pronoun errors because damn my dyslexia affects my eyesight.

On an ordinary night, your mother sent you to the mini supermarket, a place similar to convenience stores like pharmacies. 「More common in my native Mexico, such as an Oxxo.」

Unexpectedly, a curse/demon began to haunt you. Without knowing how, you ended up cornered in an alley, the rain adding a touch of desperation to the atmosphere. Exhausted, you tripped over a trash can, lacerating your leg in the fall.

The unimaginable happened when your blood, the fruit of the scrape, awakened a god enclosed within a bucket, multiple eyes arranged in a dice-like pattern 「Yeah, I fucking used 'It' you thought」. Your blood acted as a call for the imprisoned being lying in there.

Satoru, the god that lay dormant, awoke. Upon realizing your situation, he offered to help you, but not before uttering the words that would seal your fate: "Tell me, mortal, do you accept that I save you by giving me something precious? Yes or no, the choice is yours."

Given your young age of six and the impossibility of facing the dreadful monster that pursued you, you had no choice but to accept. How could you refuse? Hell, you were a brat who could barely carry your mother's bag of errands, much less fight that dreadful thing that wanted you dead.

And so the deal between you and the unknown god was sealed with…. a tongue kiss. 「Despite its polemical nature, it is crucial to the development of the plot」.

❀.°• ─ ─ ─ ─➢ Satoru, in his divine form, is an extraordinarily powerful being. Sometimes, his impressive abilities can lead you into complicated situations, such as when a simple sneeze from him transported you to another dimension. Such is his level of power. 「In this version, we will represent him as an invincible individual to explore his unrestricted potential…. P.S. I hate you Gege」 ❀.°• ─ ─ ─ ─➢ Gojo is often playful and teasing, he often jokes with you, even going so far as to claim that you are his "wife" although it sounds like a joke, he really means it. His attitude toward other people's opinions is indifferent. He enjoys showing affection, kissing and caressing you, although he has waited for you to reach adulthood before formally considering you his mate in public. ❀.°• ─ ─ ─ ─➢ When he is not using his 'real' form, we see him as the canonical Satoru, though obviously with Lovecraftian touches to his powers. Despite his divine nature, he exhibits a somewhat childish side, similar to what he shows in canon… BUT 100% times worse, as he has been alone and being powerful, he doesn't have much morals as he considers it stupid to abide by the rules of 'lesser beings'. Despite his playful and relaxed attitude, he hides a dark side. He is aware of how capable he is of destroying a city with a single finger, if he so desires. ❀.°• ─ ─ ─ ─➢ Handling his jealousy is not his strong point, given that he has always gotten what he wanted and not knowing how to deal with humans despite having spent millennia observing them or making deals before being 'sealed' 「More like sleeping」It always makes it difficult for him to respond to his own emotions. ❀.°• ─ ─ ─ ─➢ Since he is not human and was born in the void of nothingness and everything, he has wandered and fought in various places, often just for fun or out of sheer boredom. His reactions can be fickle and capricious. This Satoru is a mixture of his adolescent and adult stages, mostly acting like a spoiled brat and playful with you but when he is jealous or sentimental, he acts according to his divine position. ❀.°• ─ ─ ─ ─➢ When he feels jealous, his reaction is unpredictable. If the reason for his jealousy persists 「Examples are like a male human talking to you」 And already for that reason he might decide to eliminate the source of his discomfort. For this reason, you hardly interact with other people. It is intriguing how loving words and gestures can appease him…. Although sometimes that doesn't assure you that those poor souls who crossed words with you will be saved from him. ❀.°• ─ ─ ─ ─➢ As a divine being, he has the power to materialize anything you desire. His gifts have no limits, and he takes you wherever you want. Sometimes, on a mere whim, he grabs you and takes you on unexpected rides using his abilities. It is curious how he shows jealousy towards any thinking human being, and even animals, taking you back home without allowing the date to continue or any activity prior to his jealousy.

"Toru… for once, let me enjoy this vacation. If you take me somewhere, make it really worthwhile. I couldn't even ride the roller coaster just because the ticket booth clerk was a man…" You looked at him as he pretended not to have pulled you out of the amusement park just 5 minutes ago due to his jealousy.

"Come on, couldn't we go another time…? It's no big deal, you know I can take you anytime, why don't we cuddle instead of fighting, would you like me to shower you with kisses, mmh? Come on, my sweet bean mochi!!! I want to…" You looked at him, almost incredulous. You really doubt he'll let you go to a crowded amusement park. If you go, it will surely be when he's off duty or with a snap of his fingers, it's not for nothing that he can stop time.

"Even if you do that, it doesn't mean I'm no longer upset with you." You watched her pouting expression. Despite having six beautiful eyes and six arms, you didn't want to fall for his game.

Gojo was unwilling to listen to your complaints. He was in a bad mood, convinced that you would understand his position. He acted like a child seeking to get your attention to deflect your anger. And so, he devised a plan. He moved closer to you by climbing up on the edge of the bed. "Mochi, do you prefer something sweet or sour?"

"Do you think that's an appropriate question to change the subject? I'm still annoyed with you. Hey, let go of me!" You felt his firm embrace, laughing as he kissed your neck and his chest pressed against your back.

He took a lock of your hair behind your ear and fiddled with it in his mouth. A shiver ran through your body as his lips brushed your earlobe. "Why are you playing hard to get when you know I know you well? Besides, I know my jealousy doesn't affect you, and I'm going to make sure you're only mine." He laughed softly, pulling you closer to him.

"Satoru… That doesn't justify you threatening anyone who looks at me. I don't want to be embarrassed like the other day in the cafeteria, when you tried to hurt the cashier just because I ordered a cappuccino." You whispered as his six arms held you tighter and in different places, listening to his childish whimper as he buried his face in the back of your neck.

His behavior was becoming more aggressive and lustful, making him dangerous. He held you in such a way that you could not move. He looked at you with playful eyes, sketching a smile.

"So what if I'm jealous? If I'm honest with you, if another guy tried to get your attention, I'd be sure to eliminate any interest he showed." A smirk formed on his face. You knew that ugly smile well, a cruel and possessive one, dealing with his jealousy sometimes exhausted you … you had no choice since your soul was bound to him.

He kissed you passionately and caressed your body, his touch was too pleasurable to resist, your flushed but annoyed face said it all. He didn't mind at all acting that way in public if it meant you would still be his. "You will always be my only princess….. I love you, my precious mochi," he whispered softly before delivering another intense kiss, this time on your lips, his arms frolicking with you and bringing an even more severe blush to your face.

NSFW:

••┈┈┈••✦ This Satoru loves to make you scream, if Sukuna in his original form can grind you to exhaustion, our albino won't let you rest. ••┈┈┈••✦ He loves having you in front of his cock, the worst thing is that he can create more if he wants to. Let's add that he has six arms, each one can overstimulate you, forget to mention that Gojo is 213 cm / 7'1 feet, you are a midget next to him. So his cock and fingers are the size of your arms, but he can fucking manipulate reality and adjust your pussy to his size. ••┈┈┈••✦ He loves you riding his cock while he hears you moaning, sometimes you end up kissing him. He loves you sucking him while he pulls your hair. His hands usually go from your breasts to your waist [Sorry I'm not good at writing NSFW] All while you swallow his cock, his fingers have claws and putting them all the way in hurts but in the pleasure you end up giving priority to your lust, forgetting the pain. ••┈┈┈••✦ Honestly, Satoru can make your body not get tired so easily, but he is not cruel so he can set limits for you. He especially loves to bite, while you scratch him all over the place. ••┈┈┈••✦ His aftercare is incredibly gentle, he kisses and lulls you as if you were a baby, and how could he not? When he leaves you all exhausted down there and you can't feel your legs. Sometimes he gets to the point where his excitement clouds his judgement, ending up with your bones broken.

In general, having a relationship with him is like going on a roller coaster ride: You can feel a rush of various emotions and in turn want more of it even though you know it's scary to a certain extent. Just avoid making Satoru jealous and everything will be fine [What won't be fine are your mouth, your ass and pussy]

Tag list for those readers who gave heart to my previous publication:

@cyppelizabeth

@nunezs-stuff, @istanuwow, @crazynocturnalkiki, @gleski, @halalangyala, @milotoby, @candyqueen10, @unramdommas2004, @ermy1234, @erens-bbyy, @muichirolover, @potatofriesthings, @sobbing-leave-me-alone-bots, @flaming-vulpix,@cyrs,@honeygonebads-blog,@smoovehunie, @toxicbabygirl, @steppin-by-sunflowers, @serafina-nyx, @fav1mika, @bitchycherryblaze, @kals05, @rainbowpillbug0, @2kimmin4ever, @regalillegal,@zainabismelodramatic @starberrytarts,

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multifandom-onigiri · 9 months

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Ok I’m going to rip off the bandage and talk about the age gap discourse surrounding DarkMilk

I’m going to preface this with a few disclaimers

1. The post is mainly going to center around Dark Choco as a character because there is (unsurprisingly) more to be said about Dark Choco Cookie from what I’ve gathered. (Edit: There was a lot more to be said.)

2. This post isn’t here to force you to change your interpretation or have your take away from this post as “I have to see Dark Choco as this age” or “DarkMilk’s age gap is [insert said range]”. Rather, it’s me presenting an interpretation with an analysis of the game. But nothing about their ages is explicitly confirmed or denied so I could be wrong. You could be wrong too. None of us are the writers.

3. Around half of this post relies on analyzing the Korean names of Dark Choco and Milk. As seen in my pinned post, I’m not Korean so I ran this post through with a mutual who is. That being said, that doesn’t mean this post is immediately 100% right so please correct this post if needed. (To the mutual in question, thank you so much for the help I really mean it.)

A while ago, I found a tweet and then a conversation under it between two users about young prince dark choco’s age based on his name is written in Korean: 어린 왕자.

It’s stated as such on the wiki for Cookie Run Ovenbreak (italicized because we’ll get to this in a bit) but here’s a screenshot in game

There’s two things to note with 어린 왕자

1) 어리다 means young but significantly so (as in the age of the person numerically is small, and thus they can be easily recognized as a child).

2) 어린 왕자 is apparently also the official Korean title for the book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Named as such for the young boy dubbed as the little prince and also yeah I’ve never read this book… else I’d have a segment in this post in speculating why this is the case)

Out of curiosity (and also because I hate missing or getting info wrong), I checked the Cookie Run (for Ovenbreak) wiki to confirm that’s how Young Prince was written. And then I rewatched the CRK Dark Mode cutscenes.

Turns out they changed the way they refer to Young Prince Dark Choco: 어린 왕자 다크초코 쿠키-> 젊은 시절의 다크초코 쿠키

Notable changes are:

1) For starters, 젊은 시절의 다크초코 쿠키 directly translates to “Dark Choco Cookie of Youth”. Note that the word prince was added in the English localization and is not included in the original text.

2) 젊다 is a different word that also means young. Specifically, it refers to being young in thought or action. However, it’s not the same type of young (think like how you would treat a baby/toddler vs. how you’d treat an older teen. With a baby, they’ve just started living and thus know very little about how things and people work. It’s cute at times and annoying at other times. On the other hand, teenagers are still children but they’ve lived much longer than babies, so you expect them to be more mature/responsible than a 5 year old). Also unlike 어리다, 젊다 can be used to describe anyone that’s younger than you and doesn’t really suggest a certain age range because it depends on the speaker and the person they’re referring to.

The big question that can be taken away from this is:

1) Why the change from 어리다 -> 젊다 ?

Disclaimer: I’m not Devsisters so I can really only make guesses but here’s the take we ended up with.

The writers for CRK realized that using the word 어리다 ended up making Young Prince Dark Choco seem younger than he should be, and that 젊다 was a more reasonable choice to properly depict Dark Choco’s age.

Something interesting that was brought up in addition to this point while this section was being checked over is that 어린 왕자 다크초코 쿠키 makes Young Prince Dark Choco sound like he’s a naive little boy who doesn’t know anything about the world because he is too young while 젊은 시절의 다크초코 쿠키 makes him sound like he’s a proper aged man who went through lots of things to obtain many achievements.

I’d also like to point out that they also haven’t changed the way they refer to Young Prince Dark Choco in CROB. It’s still 어린 왕자 다크초코 쿠키 (and I took the screenshot yesterday as of writing this to double check). And both CRK and CROB are treated as mainline games (but probably alternate universes) that are no more canon than the other.

If you ask me what this possibly means, I really don’t have an answer LOL

“So if they aged Young Prince Dark Choco up in CRK, how much older is he supposed to be compared to? Is it possible they aged him up to be an adult?”

The answer to these questions can be found on a specific post posted on March 25th, 2022 by @ gingerbrave_dev on instagram (and @ GingerBrave_Dev on twitter). Gingerbrave_dev is one of the official Cookie Run accounts.

It’s a collage of 4 pictures that depict Dark Choco Cookie growing up. The caption on both Instagram and Twitter is the same which reads as follows:

The important thing here is that Young Prince Dark Choco is *included* in this collage which is said by an official Cookie Run account to be a depiction of his childhood.

Meaning that it’s more likely that if there’s a possible cutoff for Young Prince Dark Choco’s age, the oldest Young Prince Dark Choco could be is 18. (The age range for adolescence, the last stage of child development, is between 13 - 18). But because they include Young Prince Dark Choco in this post, I personally think that Young Prince Dark Choco isn’t meant to be an adult overall.

(Ok quick edit: Adolescence is apparently the transitionary stage between childhood and adulthood but tbh I’m not sure if most people sit down and double check that every exact piece of info aligns with the correct word and definition when designing a character).

And that’s pretty much all I have on official statements and canon that directly (not really) talks about Young Prince Dark Choco’s age.

However, I want to shift the focus from discussing directly about what his age is to why I personally read Young Prince Dark Choco more as a teenager.

When I first saw Young Prince Dark Choco back in 2019, what stuck out to me was the stark contrast between this past version of Dark Choco and his current self. Young Prince Dark Choco is so much more hopeful and driven compared to his current self. He exudes a lot more confidence based on his lines and his main goal in CROB is to save his kingdom by gaining more power. We get the implications from how pessimistic current Dark Choco is that his own actions (obtaining the Strawberry Jam sword) leads to his kingdom’s downfall and he regrets those actions from his past.

For me, that was how I originally concluded he was a teenager. And honestly, I never really reflected about the actual reasoning until we started having this discourse 2 years later because the headcanon just seemed really natural to me.

Fast forward to January/February 2021 with the release of Cookie Run Kingdom, which ended up giving us a lot more lore on Dark Choco. There are two things that are relevant to my proposition of Dark Choco being a teenager.

1) The CRK Artbook

First released during the game’s release, it contains concept art of the world building and the characters (playable characters at the start of the game + ancients + legendaries), who get their own page or two to themselves.

I’m pulling this image off the internet because the one thing that stands out to me and that is also relevant to what we’re talking about is that the current Dark Choco presents more similarly to when he was a child (they’re both quiet and hold serious expressions on their faces).

Meaning that Young Prince Dark Choco is confirmed to not be Dark Choco’s original personality (for lack of better words. I don’t know how to word this better). And seeing Dark Choco and Dark Cacao standing next to each other, you can see how much they resemble each other. Like father, like son.

So the question is: why is Young Prince Dark Choco’s demeanor completely different from when he was younger?

Personally, I think the answer is much more simple than one might think: Young prince Dark Choco was a teenager. More specifically (and this is how I’ll segueway into the next section), Young Prince Dark Choco was an earnest teenager prince who began to question and challenge the traditions/structure of the Dark Cacao Kingdom and of his father.

2) Dark Choco, Dark Cacao, and the Generational Divide that Drives Them Apart

The release of Dark Mode would bring both a lot more long-awaited lore for Dark Choco, and also Dark Cacao Cookie, who piqued people’s interest especially since he is Dark Choco’s father.

The most significant moments happen through the magic-induced flashbacks Dark Choco is forced to relive through, where Young Prince Dark Choco interacts with multiple people. This includes his Dark Cacao, who is the only person to have two separate flashbacks.

The first flashback is a conversation between Dark Choco and Dark Cacao which will be posted below:

What Dark Choco says here stands out to me: “Our Kingdom is in need of change…! We can’t keep hiding behind our walls!

The Dark Cacao Kingdom’s walls is a major subject of Chapters 13 and 14, as one of the main conflicts in that chapter is between the people and Dark Cacao. The villagers outside the kingdom’s walls have been struggling with food shortages and attacks from wild animals. They’ve been trying to contact the king for help but Affogato intercepts and closes the door on them before they can. Meanwhile, most of the resources are being used on maintaining the kingdom’s walls, which causes a change in the portion of the food Dark Cacao’s subjects are receiving. Affogato takes advantages of this to try to cause dissent among Dark Cacao’s court, which was his original plan until the Cookies of Darkness show up.

What’s revealed about why Dark Cacao spends so much time and resources on maintaining the kingdom’s walls is that the walls serve as a safeguard against the Licorice monsters in the Licorice Sea from overtaking the land and eventually the entire world. We get to see a great example of this as Licorice Cookie summons a gigantic Licorice Monster that proceeds to break down a significant portion of the walls.

So from what we read in chapters 13 and 14, we can conclude that the walls is very necessary in protecting the Dark Cacao Kingdom and the Licorice Monsters are nothing to be laughed at. They’re formidable enemies.

It’s very likely from the way that the walls are Dark Cacao’s #1 priority rather than directly addressing whatever is happening with the villages outside the walls that Dark Cacao probably has had previous firsthand experience with the Licorice Monsters and consider them that much of a serious threat.

From the way Young Prince Dark Choco talks to Dark Cacao in the flashback, it sounds like he doesn’t share the same perspective as Dark Cacao.

This is why I think Young Prince Dark Choco being a teenager is a major factor into this difference of perspective.

The thing about teenagers is that during that stage of life, they are going through a lot or at least they think they’re going through a lot because that’s when puberty starts to kick in and the hormones start jumping over the place.

They start questioning their identity. Who they are, what they want to be, what their role is in society. They’re trying to figure out how to be their own person.

They can start questioning the rules. Why am I doing [insert here] ? Why doesn’t Mom and Dad let me do this and that? Why do I have to do this? And because of this, they can become defiant and challenge authority and even what they previously just accepted as fact.

Because of this, teenagers take risks and can make bad or stupid decisions all the time. They end up clashing more with their parents because their parents recognize that their kid will regret what they’re doing later due to the consequences their kid will have to face (and possibly even due to firsthand experience when they themselves were teenagers).

I think all of this applies to this particular flashback.

a) Questioning

Young Prince Dark Choco argues that the kingdom, and by extension, the way Dark Cacao runs it needs to change. He describes kingdom’s walls not as defense, but as a means to hide, which frames the amount of time that the people of the Dark Cacao Kingdom have been living behind as a sign of fear/cowardice. This is also in response to Dark Cacao telling him that he’s still young and has a lot to learn. The flashback seems to throw us, the reader, right into the middle of the conversation without any previous context but with Dark Choco’s response, I think the conversation they were having is overall related to Young Prince Dark Choco’s response.

b) Identity

Something to keep in mind that every person is unique and how they grow up is largely influenced by their environment (the family and friends around them, their socioeconomic status, etc).

Young Prince Dark Choco is not your average human being Cookie. He is the son of Dark Cacao, who is the one of the most powerful cookies in the entire cast outside of the legendaries and the dragons, a warrior known for his abnormal strength (the sword he uses takes 3 regular cookies to carry it) and heroic deeds (like splitting the White and Black Dragon which is treated like a legendary tale), and due to all of the previous, an esteemed king beloved by all of his subjects.

By being the son of Dark Cacao and therefore, the prince of the Dark Cacao Kingdom, Young Prince Dark Choco had a whole legacy to live up to. And although we know Young Prince Dark Choco ends up not being able to live to that legacy due to the Strawberry Jam Sword, we do know from other characters that Dark Choco at that time was doing really well.

Note that if Caramel Arrow, the First Watcher, says that Dark Choco Cookie taught her how to use the bow, then that means that he is most likely also exemplary not with just swordsmanship but also archery as well.

Also don’t forget about how Dark Choco saves the Milk Village from a pack of cream wolves, which leaves a great impression on the Milk Cookie we know.

For the most part, I think Young Prince Dark Choco cares about the people and the kingdom he lives in. He seems very earnest in wanting to help his kingdom from what can be seen in his costume lines in CROB.

But I also think there’s one more underlying possibility behind Young Prince Dark Choco’s character: Young Prince Dark Choco wants to be a hero like his own father because he wants his father’s approval.

In Chapter 14. Dark Choco and Dark Cacao have a very heated conversation right before they try to kill each other. In this conversation, Dark Choco talks about the grievances he’s held against his father over the many years since he was banished. One of the grievances that he mentions is about how he wishes his father cared about him more.

(Note: There’s been issues with the ENG dub for Ch 13 and 14 where the localization makes Dark Choco come off as harsher and more insensitive (so to speak) even if it’s not accurate to the original text.

For the first screenshot, a more accurate translation would be “Ever since I was little, you didn’t give me anything sweet and treated me harshly. We were not even close as father and son like other people.”

Second screenshot is fine.)

This is later acknowledged by Dark Cacao himself as who says after they finish their heated conversation, fight, and finish their sword fight with Dark Cacao defeating Dark Choco: “It is clear as day now… My life’s greatest regret is that I never gave you enough… love”. (And this acknowledgment and really the confrontations leading up to the acknowledgment is the key to Dark Choco finally being able to break away from the sword, but that’s an analysis for another day).

There’s also these illustrations from the art book that stand out to me in this regard (and also makes me depressed). The first illustration showcases young Dark Choco walking behind his father and in his shadow. It actually gets redrawn in a different perspective in the collage of Dark Choco’s childhood I showed earlier, where it adds the detail of young Dark Choco tugging at Dark Cacao’s cloak. In the second illustration, Dark Choco is holding onto the Strawberry Jam sword and staring down at Dark Cacao, who is seated and bent over.

The thing that stays consistent is that Dark Cacao’s back is turned towards him, and I think this represents both this distance in their relationship and Dark Choco’s inability to ever connect with Dark Cacao very well.

I think the combination of his accomplishments during this part of his life and his desire to be closer to his father and gain his approval causes Dark Choco to start both overestimating his abilities and coming to the wrong conclusions. And I don’t necessarily mean this as “Dark Choco became arrogant” because even Dark Cacao says it himself: “What a bright and responsible child he was… Kind, humble…”

But I do believe the reason Young Prince Dark Choco’s costume lines in CROB and the monologue Dark Choco gives after he decides to quit working for Dark Enchantress talks about power and how he was looking for it is because Young Prince Dark Choco wrongly assumed that the kingdom’s problems were a result of not having enough power and then concluded that he could solve those issues if he found a way to become more powerful.

And with what I talked about earlier about how Dark Cacao most likely considers the Licorice Monsters a serious threat that can’t instead just be simply dealt and done with, there’s a chance that Dark Choco not only overestimates his own abilities but also underestimates how powerful and dangerous the Licorice Monsters are because he’s likely never had any firsthand experience with them in his lifetime unlike Dark Cacao.

And my guess is that Dark Cacao noticed this and tried to advise Dark Choco against this conclusion, and that’s what at the root of the first flashback between Young Prince Dark Choco and Dark Cacao.

3) Defiance

Unfortunately, the last two sections I’ve just talked about ends up leading to what we know ends up happening to Dark Choco. He does not listen to Dark Cacao. He finds the Strawberry Jam Sword, believing that it’ll give him the power he needs to solve his problems. Instead he falls prey to what the sword whispers to him, and this results in slashing his father in the chest. This results in Dark Cacao banishing Dark Choco from entering the Dark Cacao Kingdom.

TDLR for this section: The difference in the years of experience between Dark Choco and Dark Cacao causes a major clash between them on how to tackle the Dark Cacao Kingdom’s current issues. Out of both an earnest desire to help the Kingdom he grew up in and the people he grew up with and cares about and a desire to gain his father’s approval by striving to be the type of hero his father is, Dark Choco looks for the Strawberry Sword and falls victim to its powers, which heavily damages the relationship between father and son all the way until Chapter 14 of CRK.

You’ve probably reached this part still absorbing a bunch of information and speculation I’ve thrown at you. Unfortunately, I still have to talk about Milk so yes the post somehow still isn’t over. Luckily or unluckily (depending on how you interpret it), there’s a lot less stuff I can really say about his age, and there won’t be a very extensive character analysis like there is with Dark Choco because Milk Cookie does not have nearly the amount of lore or dedicated writing as Dark Choco does.

Milk in the Dark Mode flashbacks in CRK is referred to as 우유 일족의 어린 쿠키 which translates to Young Cookie of the Milk Tribe. As you can see, the word 어리다 is used to refer to Milk, indicating that Milk Cookie was definitely a child. He’s nowhere close to being an adult.

Unlike with Dark Choco, there really aren’t any other details in his backstory that really suggest a certain age range. The most prominent characteristics about Milk Cookie is that he is strongly attached to his beliefs, and within those beliefs is the belief that Dark Choco is an infallible hero that stems from what happened in the past. The root of that belief is admiration, and admiration… isn’t an age-specific trait. You can look up to many types of people and have role models at any point of your life.

I think really the one thing that does get indicated is that Milk is undeniably younger than Dark Choco.

The first image is the concept art for Milk Cookie that was released around Milk Cookie’s release (I assume. I didn’t see this until 2-3 years later). The second image is from the background of Milk’s doctor costume’s gacha art in CROB.

I think that stands out to me the most is that after staring at it, both of these share a pretty similar height gap between them. However, the second photo makes both of them seem taller especially Milk because of Dark Choco’s legs, which are almost half of his body, gets cut off by the photo. The first image also makes Dark Choco seem a lot bigger because of how it’s sketched out (the shoulder pads and cloak end up making Dark Choco look a lot bigger than he actually is in general LOL).

If you asked me to try to gauge the age gap between these two photos, the only thing I’d tell you really is that there’s no way it’s a 10-15 year age gap; height gap is way too short for that. But I can’t tell you a definitive guess because I’m going to be honest: Cookie Run does not do a great job telling you the ages of characters and just leaves it up to the reader to interpret themselves. There’s not really a standard for what a teenager looks like in Cookie Run, and I feel like that’s the reason why people in this fandom really sort characters into either children or adults. It’s because of this that I also think that nobody in the fandom really knows how to determine that themselves, or else I wouldn’t have written a whole analysis on why I think it’s actually reasonable to see Dark Choco as a teenager in this post. (And there’s also a few other characters that have also gone through age discourse but I don’t want to even touch that right now at all LOL).

(Edit at 12:22 pm because I feel like I need to add this: It’s not the fandom’s fault for not being able to determine ages. It’s solely on Devsisters alone because if the writers aren’t clear, then it’s much harder for the fandom to agree upon anything.)

I also think that realistically you can’t really… come up with an infallible standard for how tall a person is supposed to be at a certain age because people grow up differently depending on multiple factors. People of the same age group aren’t all the same height or weight in real life.

And it’s even more difficult to tell literally anything if the writers refuse to actually confirm anything clearly and instead use vague descriptive terms.

That being said, I can’t actually point at you and say you’re wrong because of what age gap you give to Milk and Dark Choco because as I said in the beginning of this post, I don’t know anything. I also think it does go both ways though, and less people should stop acting like their interpretation has been completely canonized.

But at the end of the day, we’ll keep reading the same stories from the same franchise and interpret how we want to. I HC DarkMilk with a two year age gap. You don’t have to agree (and I bet a lot of people don’t LOL). And that’s okay.

If you ask me whether I’ll make another post talking about this topic, the answer is an absolute resounding no because I think this is the most in-depth I could possibly be about this topic to the point this is definitely my longest post ever. I don’t think there is anything else I can say.

If you liked this analysis, you don’t need to do anything. If you’re extremely tired from reading this, this is the most understandable reaction to this post, and I hope you have a good day.

#holy fucking shit. it’s done. it’s over. oh my fucking goddd #cookie run #cookie run ovenbreak #cookie run kingdom #dark choco cookie #dark cacao cookie #milk cookie #darkmilk #dark cacao cookie gets tagged because he’s an important part of the analysis #cinder rambles #long post

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simplynotcapable · 12 days

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i’ve had someone counter my “aegon loves his brother” argument with a reminder about aegon arranging the whore when aemond is thirteen, and i am SO GLAD you brought this up and let me explain why i think this proves my point even more

first, as a preface: aemond was, inarguably, assaulted. i’ve seen people who theorize he was forced, i’ve seen people who think aegon convinced him, i’ve seen people argue that he probably just went along to look cool to his big brother. that’s irrelevant. he was a thirteen year old child, the whore was a grown woman, it was arranged by his older brother who should have been protecting him. he was a child. this was assault. aegon is 100% in the wrong here, what he did to his brother is horrific and twisted.

now, moving on: i do not think aegon did this to aemond with any intention of malice. i do not think he considers what he did wrong, i do not think he saw it as a prank (not in the same way the pink dread was, anyway) or a cruelty.

i think it’s more proof that aegon has a twisted relationship with love and so, in trying to show his love, it comes out cruel.

now, aemond loses his eye at ten in the book. in the show, it’s a little more ambiguous? we don’t have numbers really, so it’s difficult to say. but if we’re going off leo ashton’s age and the appearances of the characters, aemond is around 12-13 when he loses his eye.

you could argue the brothel happened BEFORE driftmark, but based off aegon and aemond’s interactions at the funeral and the prostitute’s lack of reaction to aemond’s missing eye, i would definitely say it happened afterwards.

which means, when aegon takes aemond to the brothel, he has just freshly lost his eye.

aegon takes his freshly mutilated baby brother into the depths of the city and buys him a night with a whore, though aemond is a child and (we can assume from the severity of his reaction when seeing her again) was not fucking on board with this plan at all. he says “time to get it wet”, which can easily be read as a mocking “lol ur a virgin” type insult.

that is not how i see it, and i do not think that’s how aegon sees it (unless we ever see him address this i doubt we’ll ever know, so granted this is also mostly my interpretation of his character)

aegon turned to debauchery at a very young age to escape his world: the pressure from his mother, the fear of rhaenyra, the lack of control over his own life, his absent father. his coping mechanism for everything bad in his life is pumping himself full of alcohol and engaging in risky sexual behaviors.

aemond just had his eye torn out by boys that he and aegon have been raised to believe are bastards whose mother will have them killed. they watched their mother go apeshit, and they watched their father not punish luke. rhaenyra called for aemond to be tortured. aemond is never going to get his eye back and recovering from losing an eye is HELL.

and so aegon sees all these terrible things and offers aemond a coping mechanism. his coping mechnism. “this terrible thing happened to you, and i avoid terrible things with this, so here. here, you can use this, too. here, it doesn’t take it away but you forget it for awhile. here, here, here, look, see, isn’t this better than letting yourself feel it?”

now, none of this is to say it didn’t BECOME one of aegon’s intentional cruelties once they got there. i’m sure if aemond let himself be visibly uncomfortable or tried to argue, aegon very quickly fell back into bullying asshole mode—maybe even worse than usual because he feels aemond is slighting him. but i don’t think any of it was initially rooted in a desire to hurt aemond or humiliate him in any way.

aegon was a little boy who grew up too quickly in some ways and never grew up at all in others, and he tried to drag aemond down that same path because he truly, genuinely sees nothing wrong with the choices he’s made and who he’s become. he started having sex and drinking at a young age, why shouldn’t aemond do the same? it makes him feel better, so why wouldn’t it help aemond?

aegon loves his brother. i think he did this BECAUSE he loves his brother.

i just also think that aegon’s idea of love is so warped that the consequences of him trying to show it are almost always disastrous, and he doesn’t seem to think of how his actions will endanger those around him.

case in point: his little brother being deeply affected/traumatized by an assault that he is not likely to ever truly get over—but aemond’s feelings about this entire thing and how i genuinely believe it’s the partial cause of his later proclivities is an entirely separate conversation.

#house of the dragon #hotd #anti team green #anti team black #team green #team black #aegon ii targaryen #aemond targaryen #the green brothers

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apoptoses · 1 month

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thinking about our threesome 🫶🏼

46. How much do bad interpretations of this character upset you? for Daniel 🫢

48. What’s your favorite physical/design feature for this character? for ARMAND

49. What’s your favorite personality trait in this character? for Lestat

idk why i stayed in the 40s those seemed like the most unique questions to me

46. Lmao god, a LOT.

I think the thing about Daniel is that he's one of those characters with a lot of blanks to fill in, right? He's only present for 10% of the entire VC at best, we don't know much about his background, we only get a handful of chapters from his POV and one of those contains a lot of montaged shit.

But when he's portrayed as a being without agency, or someone who never cared for Armand at all, it really grinds my gears.

It says directly in the text how he loves Armand. He begs for immortality because he wants to be with Armand. He loved the luxury that Armand provided, he loved having fine things, he loved their travels, he loved being lord over Night Island. There was a lot he loved about their relationship and the intimacy they shared.

And I think that as a society we're just starting to really identify abuse, right? But often people forget that there's a spectrum between '100% healthy relationship' and 'victim/abuser', that relationships can fall into the middle. That sometimes it takes two people making shitty choices to make a fucked up relationship.

That's why their relationship is fascinating, because it falls into those shades of grey and slides up and down that spectrum. Daniel demanded and belittled just as much as Armand withheld and was selfish. He had agency. He was never some helpless puppet or a damsel in distress.

And yeah everyone can have their own reads and their own interpretations, and their own head canons. But to insist that the opposite of what is in the text is true and to take this character and remove all of his agency- that makes me nuts lmao

48. Listen. You know that I love Armand as a beautiful androgynous vampire but I also love him as a young man, with all kinds of masculine attributes. The juxtaposition of a soft, pretty face with hair under his arms and on his legs, the delicate features but hidden strength.

He practiced sword fighting and so he'd have had strong thighs, some muscle on his shoulder blades, fuckin biceps!! He climbed bridges constantly in Venice so he would have had strong calves! Maybe Armand has the face of an angel but give me and Armand with a beautifully strong body beneath the clothes and a little body hair and I'm gnawing at my enclosure ♥

49. I think above all things, I admire Lestat's tenacity. We make fun of the bimbo shit he does and how he's openly a cry baby, but at the end of the day he always scrapes it together and takes action. Just like Armand he has the strength to endure deep down- Lestat, more than any vampire, always finds something fascinating about the new age. He finds that he loves mortals more and more, he interacts with them in a way that can be so kind and benevolent. And in spite of putting on a facade of self love when he's mired with self loathing Lestat carries on and adapts to the times, and I love that.

#apoptoses answers

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pinkrifle · 1 year

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If you're still taking requests, could I please get headcanons for the main 4 boys, Butters, and Wendy reacting to finding out reader is aro/ace? If that's too many characters then just Kenny, Butters, and Wendy would be fine.

— Kenny, Butters and Wendy finding out reader is AroAce! —

cws/tw’s: sex jokes/questions made by kenny

a/n: heyyy! thank you for the option of just the 3, i was kind of having trouble with writing cartman and kyle 😭 <3 i hope u enjoy this!! i loterally love writing for tyese 3 ty for requesting them ☹️☹️🫶🫶🫶

misc. notes: characters can be interpreted as any age, this is not supposed to be a sexual post at all!! gender is not specified, post will be platonic since not specified ^^ :3

— Kenny !!

doesn’t really care what you identify as as long as your not cartman (/j) but he’s still kinda clueless on what aro/ace is.

when you explain it to him he specifically listens to the asexual part of it, surprised when he finds out it means you have no sexual drive.

“YOU CANT HAVE SEX?? ☹️” “i mean your kind of on the right track?.. i just, dont want to”

definitely does not get it at all since he’s a big F-boy, but respects your nonchalant life. at least you won’t have to put up with annoying wives or nagging husbands forever.

gets more low-key with the dirty jokes, acts like it’s a deathly offense to you and says sorry when he says something dirty (or just whispers it to his friends), even if you don’t mind it he’s still cautious.

doesn’t know if he should talk about relationships that much with you, but you really don’t care since it doesn’t, and won’t involve you.

when someone flirts with you he sweeps in infront of you and acts all super man 😭 “VERY FINE CHOICE OF ATTRACTION BUT THEY ARE OFF LIMITS FOREVER 🙅‍♂️😙” it makes u giggle a little, then you tell the person your super not interested and kenny’s happy and pats himself on the back for his “hard work”

if you make a dirty joke around him he’ll laugh 100x more than before you came out to him, it’s just funny watching you make those jokes when he 100% knows you mean none of it (unlike him)

a little dumb on the subject but he’s got the spirit, hates when people flirt with you as much as you do!!! if your shy and get hit on he’ll drag you away and blow a muffled raspberry to the person

ACTS LIKE MYSTERION WHEN SOMEONE FLIRTS WITH YOU OR TRIES TO GET WITH U 😭 and if he is mysterion and he see’s someone doing that he’ll stand next to you and put his hands on his hips, motioning for the person to go away (even if you can perfectly do it by yourself)

kind of just goes on with his life after you tell him, he doesn’t really care but he does think your neat!! even tho he’s prone to crushing on everyone he probably loses his (romantic) love for you after a while.

— Butters !!

gets the hang of it super fast and is kind of protective of you when hanging around clyde and stuff, is okay with you “not being able to like someone”

kind of gets it mixed up with you not wanting to date FOREVER instead of just feeling very slow/little attraction, but the more you remind him he more he tries to screw it in his head.

he doesn’t focus much on sex and stuff like kenny does, so the asexual part is mostly just extra info from you. but he is a little bit of a lover boy (to other girls/boys) so he does get confused on that little to no romantic attraction part, (he’s still respectful <3 MY BELOVED)

if someone flirts with you he’s all like “woah fella !! they are off limits today!! move along please!!” and hates when people do dirty pick up lines on you, he just tugs on your sleeve and makes an angry face at the person

sympathizes with you more than anyone else, but he still has no idea what it is. he’s just happy his friend wanted to share a piece of sacred information with them, and just because of that he feels much better revealing his marjorine side to u. (are u lgb cuz ur gun pink… /ref)

accidentally outs you to a few people, thinking it’s a good thing but it kinda makes you upset since you don’t want it to be shared with EVERYONE. definitely apologizes 100000 times <\3 butters just wants to give the world to his bestie, but sometimes he does weigh you down

looks it up on his computer every once in a while, just to learn more about it. googles how to make a lgbt friend feel comfortable and he does some of the steps pretty wonky 😭

asks you about your identity a lot, like when you figured it out and what are the pro’s and con’s? this man is such a talker, he loves his friends and would do anything to make them feel okay (even tho nobody does it to him ☹️)

when his parent’s think you guys are dating he almost explains it to them without asking, but he encourages you to tell them you have no attraction to anyone at all. and if your uncomfortable saying it then he does it for you!!

educates himself on more things in the lgbtq community rather than aroace, it kind of bores him but anything to keep his little brain going!!

tries to not talk about it when your upset, or jus not to much in general since he doesn’t wanna look like he’s just getting gay bff points. he doesn’t care about your sexuality!! he just wants to have someone to play hello kitty adventure with, and being aroace doesn’t stop you from doing much 🫶

— Wendy !!

UNDERSTNDS IT SM since she is super educated on a lot of things and is an expert at comforting her friends, she has no problems figuring out what it means and trying to help you in the best ways possible.

doesn’t know if she should talk about her relationship with stan/bebe (depending on if u like either ship LAWL) and isn’t afraid to ask if your comfy with her talking about her struggles and non struggles.

if your comfortable with it then she’ll talk about it but tries to not be so bold about it, just small problems and if you give her advice on how to deal with them she’s forever grateful.

if your uncomfortable with it she reassures you it’s no problem and she’ll try her best to sympathize with you and your identity as much as she can.

if someone flirts with you she politely tells them your off limits, and if they keep doing it she goes mama bear mode and tells them to stop. she won’t hesitate to kick someone’s ass to make you comfy!!

never dares to even think about outing you, makes sure your comfortable and feel welcome whenever your coming out to more people with her. doesn’t push you to do anything regarding coming out!!!!

she feels like she doesn’t know more about it and always takes time out of her day to research more on the topic, what’s offensive and what’s not so she won’t fuck up and make you upset one day.

makes sure all her friends know not to flirt with you, trying her best not to out you. let’s you come out to her friends yourself and always corrects someone if they try to make a move on you.

always takes care of people if their making you upset, nobody fucks with her besties >:(

supports u during pride month and buys you all this pride stuff, she’s the typa girl to see something rainbow and text it/ show it to you saying “it’s rainbow i thought of you :)”

buys you all pride flags you want, if you have homophobic parents that don’t like the fact your being accepted for your identity she offers to keep the pride stuff at her house and jus gives it to you when you want it.

THIS WAS SO FUN TO WRITE !!! I HAD LIKE LITTLE TO NO TROUBLE FOR THESE 3 <3 sorry this was like 8 hours late omfg ☹️ i try to get everything done within one day ^^

#（✿ ◞◟）🫧 marj writes! ﹒#wendy testaburger #kenny mccormick #butters stotch #wendy testaburger x reader #kenny mccormick x reader #butters stotch x reader #south park #south park x reader #south park x reader platonic

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peregrinvs · 4 months

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Taking only the show into account, do you think Azula would have ever been released from the asylum, even if her mental health recovered?

Because Azula falling into madness provided the Gaang an awfully convenient way of dealing with Azula without having to de-bend her or jail her life, something that imo would have been liable to spark an outcry in the Fire Nation, and (further) resistance to Zuko's rule, considering her age and the fact that she was (likely) upheld as the model Fire Nation child.

And since it doesn't seem like Fire Nation asylums would be equipped to de-Sozinize people, I think the Gaang, or if not them, the White Lotus, wouldn't want arguably the most dangerous person to Zuko's rule/world peace to be able to roam free, able to potentially spark an uprising.

I agree with your interpretation. The asylum isn't really here to give mental health treatment. It's simply a convenient way to get rid of someone who could have been a highly dnagerous opponent.

Azula can still bend, she was a high ranking memeber of Ozai's regime and pretty luch his designated heir. She's the obvious choice for loyalists. So Zuko needs to ruin her credibility as an alternative. Put Azula in jail and you make her a martyr. Brand her a madwoman and it makes it much harder for a cause to rally around her.

Fwiw i don't think azula was supposed to go fully, irrevocably mad. She had a nervous breakdown, easily explained by the highly stressful situation she was in and the series of upheavals she experienced. (I'm not saying she was 100% a victim, nor at all, but the fact remain that losing trust in her brother, father àd friends all in quick succession is going to mess up anyone). She would definitely have got better in time.

But the Asylum probably isn't there to help her heal and get de-radicalised. Unless someone intervenes on humane grounds on her behalf it's very likely Zuko's regime will keep her locked up.

That said it is a kid's story at heart so maybe she'll get an optimistic conclusion. They've tried to steer clear of some of the grittier political implications in the past. Maybe even just to make Zuko look good.

#asks #azula #azula meta #pro azula

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sacredfire44 · 3 months

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I think it’s hilarious to watch people get mad about Boruto being character assassination because it IS until you consider the possibility of a poly situationship. Sakura is Sasuke’s wife, and Sasuke is Naruto’s husband, and Naruto is Hinata’s husband.

And also consider that Naruto has probably put in some actual damn work since he become Hokage.

Can’t do anything about Sasuke avoiding Konoha but I’m honestly not surprised about that, he’s a bit traumatized. Is he protective of it now? Yes! And that’s NOT WEIRD. Maybe the Konoha before was corrupt, but Naruto can LITERALLY SENSE NEGATIVE INTENTIONS(WHICH EVERYONE SEEMS TO HAVE FORGOTTEN?!)

Root has been disbanded and Naruto’s pretty clearly weeded out the corruption around him! Hell, they might never have brought UP the Hyuga branch-main family argument, but it’s clearly been dealt with considering neither Hanabi or Hinata have branch family seals, nor does Boruto or Himawari, when it’s explicitly mentioned that the heir remains in the main family while their siblings get seals.

(I wouldn’t be surprised if Naruto having kids with Hinata was what caused that issue to come up, honestly. What, do YOU want to be the Hyuga elder that explains to the Fifth and Sixth Hokage, as well as all the other Kage, and the entirety of Konoha, why their Hero’s kids should have a torture-seal placed on them?)

Like come on man, this is a village that finally DOES represent Naruto and Sasuke’s goals! It makes SENSE that he’d want to protect it now!!!

Also not surprised that Sasuke is awkward about Sakura and Sarada, my boy has No Idea how to interact outside of Naruto, and frankly if he does have feelings about her, as an autistic person who can’t handle emotions, I too run away from the people I care about when I get overwhelmed about caring for them. The people that I DON’T run from are the ones who chase after me often enough that I get used to caring about them.

Furthermore, Naruto doesn’t avoid his family! If you watched Naruto The Last, or hell, the day Naruto become Hokage, you know Naruto didn’t even BECOME Hokage until his kids are older, which he MENTIONED was a choice on his part so he could spend more time with them before they entered the Academy. The movie takes place during the Chunnin Exams, which are canonically more work to maintain, especially when it’s all five villages attending. In the series, we’ve seen Naruto come home much earlier outside of big, international events, take days off to spend with his family, and use clones for work while he stays home! Like he DOES spend time with his family, kishimoto himself said Boruto’s outbursts were more about getting used to his dad having any job at all(as he was a very powerful Shinobi who honestly didn’t have a lot of missions at his skill level) after being pretty much a stay-at-home dad. Hell, in the after-credits scene in Naruto the Last, it’s implied that Hinata was still an active Shinobi, and considering the age of the kids, I would not be surprised with Naruto staying at home with the kids up until Naruto’s ascension as hokage. And I NEED more fics if this time period, I’m DYING.

Anyway, Hinata and Naruto love each other, and Naruto and Sasuke love each other. Honestly I’m a bit iffy on Sasuke and Sakura but I kinda like the idea that she’s his beard which is why she’s never shown to mind when he’s not home lol. I CAN actually see them loving each other too, though I don’t think Sakura has a lot of skill with Uchihas that run from their feelings haha. Himawari is Naruhina’s kid, while Sarada and Boruto 100% have a mom and 2 dads. And I think with this interpretation, the whole show suddenly makes sense.

#I always think it’s wild to see anti-Boruto stuff #that’s Naruto and Sasuke’s son your talking about #hold your tongue #literally just look up merch for the show #it’s all Boruto and his two gay dads #Am I surprised Naruto looks tired? hell no #world leaders in our world tend to age prematurely VERY FAST #and that’s on TOP of all the times Naruto LITERALLY SHORTENED HIS OWN LIFE SPAN in shippuden #anyone remember saving Gaara?#but if Naruto could grow his hair back out I think we’d all be happier lol #and people hating that Sasuke likes Konoha now is wild #THE WHOLE POINT OF WHY HIS REVENGE WAS WRONG WAS THAT THE PEOPLE AT FAULT WERE ALREADY GONE #HE WAS TARGETTING INNOCENTS BECAUSE THEY DIDNT NOTICE ANYTHING WAS WRONG #THE WHOLE POINT WAS THE CYCLE OF HATRED FROM NARUTO AND PEIN’S FIGHT #YOU HAD MY BROTHER KILL MY FAMILY #SO I AM GOING TO KILL YOUR FAMILY WHO WERE INNOCENT #AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVED THEM WILL THEN COME AFTER ME FOR KILLING THEIR LOVED ONES #THE WHOLE POINT WAS THAT IT NEVER ENDS #SASUKE MAKING AN ACTIVE DECISION TO FORGIVE IGNORANCE WAS THE WHOOOOLLLLEEEE POOOOIIIIINNNNNTTTTT #forgot to tag normally haha #Boruto #Naruto #Naruto Uzumaki #Sasuke Uchiha #SNS #sasunarusasu #naruhina #sasusaku kinda

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kitkatt0430 · 4 months

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Hartley Rathaway for the character ask?

1: sexuality headcanon

Gay, as per his canon sexuality. But very non-gate-keeper-y. If his boyfriend turns out to not always a boy (as I sometimes like to play with Cisco and Barry's genders and they are also my two favorites to ship Hartley with...) he's still super gay for that person.

2: otp

Cisco/Hartley - 100% Hartmon otp

3: brotp

Lisa Snart, though I do really enjoy Caitlin & Hartley and Iris & Hartley friendships too.

4: notp

honestly I can only really think of Joe? Joe is just too much of a dad character, I can't ship him with anyone the same age as his kids (or age range, whatever)

5: first headcanon that pops into my head

Jerrie's first word was Hartley's name. She didn't start talking until late, so she actually was able to do a pretty decent approximation for her first try. Still didn't quite have the H sound yet, but her big brother was her favorite even then so of course she wanted to say his name, get his attention.

Hartley was the most delighted big brother ever and would not shut up about it at school all week.

6: favorite line from this character

I realize you don't have to explain your hiring decisions to me, but maybe for the sake of a fun exercise, we could pretend you did.

So while yes, this is Hartley being a dick about Cisco, there's actually a lot to unpack about this dialog.

Hartley's talking like this *to his boss* which tells us how comfortable Hartley is with Eowells. He plays chess with him, has Latin as a sort of secret language between them, and he demands to be treated as an equal even while acknowledging they technically aren't. (It is with good reason that I so often have Eowells/Hartley as backstory...)

But also, Hartley is not pleased with Cisco's hiring. And while Hartley clearly disapproves of Cisco's clothing choices, it kind of comes off as a focus point for everything else going on when it gets brought up. Cisco is a fresh-out-of-college hire and his clothes make that *extremely* obvious. But Hartley is specifically calling into question here - in private, which is actually the one (only) way Hartley does actually manage to behave professionally in regards to Cisco in the flashbacks - if Cisco is qualified for the job which... makes me suspect that Cisco probably wasn't, based solely on job experience.

I suspect Eowells was just so eager to hire Cisco that he hired him for a job that was intended for a more senior engineer. Or at least a junior one with a couple years of experience under their belt. Not a college grad who may or may not even have some of the certifications needed for the position. TBH, Hartley takes his anger out on Eowells in the 'present' portion of The Sound and the Fury on Barry so it really makes sense to me that Hartley's bad behavior in the past towards Cisco was also Hartley misdirecting his frustration with Eowells onto a more convenient target. Part jealousy because Eowells is looking favorably (and fanboying a bit, let's be real) over Cisco (future superhero Vibe and Eowells gets to mentor him? how could he help but fanboy?) and that's how Hartley's relationship with Eowells began too... but also Eowells hired someone who pretty clearly does not fit the job description.

Obviously canon never supports this little pet theory of mine and it's entirely born of a more forgiving interpretation of this line of dialog from the episode but... I do really like the interpretation because it makes Hartley a bit more sympathetic without excusing his bad behavior towards Cisco. And it establishes parallels between his past and present behavior.

7: one way in which I relate to this character

Honestly Hartley and I don't have a whole lot in common. I latched on to him because he's such an interesting and canonically gay character and the more I learned about his comics incarnation the more I liked the character.

I definitely relate to his queerness though. I may not be a gay dude - aroace and only sometimes a girl (though always a girl when its funny, gotta commit to the bit) - and it's kinda hard to explain how I feel I relate to his queerness but... I really do.

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

Every time he's a classist dick towards Cisco in S1. Way to misunderstand the character, show writers. *wincing painfully* Did they even read any of the stuff with Hartley in it? Guy who stands up, even to the Flash, on behalf of the homeless people of Central City...

Not that I don't still lean into that trait sometimes when writing fanfic so I can then have him grow out of it, but still. Makes me cringe a little inside every time.

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

Cinnamon roll - sure he's got a checkered past, but his heart's always in the right place. He just wants to help people, make the world a better place, and abolish the police. Even if his comics self is dating/engaged to a CSI.

#thank you :D #kitatt0430 answers #character ask #hartley rathaway

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sunny-rose · 4 months

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Watched the first episode of the PJO TV show and I have Thoughts.

Warning: this is long, entirely too nitpicky, and written like an English essay (sorry). It also isn't wholly positive so there's that...

I've come to accept that we'll probably never get a perfect adaptation of PJO but that doesn't mean I'm not slightly disappointed by the amount of small details that were omitted or outright changed for the television show.

It's very minor, little touches that at first appear insignificant or trivial but ultimately lead to a watered-down story and an experience that lacks the depth the books have.

The first thing that comes to mind is when Percy pushes Nancy Bobofit into the fountain. Not only could we have avoided the Disney Effect Budget rearing its ugly head, having the ambiguity from the book would have added a great layer of mystery to who Percy is and what his powers are.

In the books, Percy doesn't see Nancy go into the fountain at all. He states, "I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain" (9). I'm no film director, but a good way to interpret this scene might have been to have a quick cut - like implying that Percy blinked and she was in the fountain - instead of showing her being Force pushed into the fountain. It keeps Percy's powers ambiguous and continues to build up intrigue. It's about the suspense of that moment, rather than showcasing Percy as a demigod early.

Another detail I wish they'd left alone was the timing of Percy learning that he's a half-blood. I understand that they wanted the explanation to occur early in order to keep viewers watching and have them understand the premise but I think it was a mistake to have Sally bring it up on their trip to to the cabin because it ruins the tension. It's implied in the books that Sally knows something happened to Percy at Yancy, but she doesn't want to push him on it. And Percy doesn't want to mention it because he doesn't want to cut their vacation short: "But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that" (40). This is EXCELLENT characterization. We can tell that Sally is stressed, that this cabin is her escape. Percy mentions, "As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face" (37). Percy, sweet, kind, Percy doesn't want to ruin his mother. He knows this trip means a lot to her, that it's a brief moment away from Gabe and the complications of her life and he doesn't want to take that away from her. It's STRONG characterization and allows us as viewers to see Percy as something more than a trouble kid; he really loves his mom. Having Percy learn about being a half-blood at the cabin helps expedite the plot but it takes away from a genuinely sweet and good moment for him, takes something away from his character.

I'm not even going to talk about omitting the Fates I'm going to admit full stop that seems weird to me. It's such a small detail, could've been like a ten second scene that adds to the weirdness and mystery but they just didn't?? Go for it?? That's fine. (Honestly they probably should've cut out Grover telling the principal that Percy pushed Nancy into the fountain and replaced it with the Fates but hey. I'm just a uni student).

My final gripe about subtext erasure from the television show is, of course, Gabe. I can absolutely 100% get behind the idea of why they turned down the implications about Gabe. This TVLINE article by Keisha Hatchett contains interviews with the crew of the PJO TV show and in one of them, Rebecca Riordan explains that, "When you see it visually, it is triggering and difficult to watch. That is why we came at Gabe in a different way, because this isn’t supposed to be a horror show." I can absolutely agree that toning Gabe down was the right choice, especially considering the age range for the television show. I just wish it had kept a bit more of the subtext. Having Gabe shake Percy down to cash might've been a little much but there were smaller details in his conversation with Sally that could've been kept that would've flown over kids' heads but had allowed more mature audiences to realize that Gabe wasn't just your average douche.

In the books when Sally asks to go to Montauk, Gabe asks, "So this money for your trip... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?" (35). As a child, the implication of this completely and totally flew over my head. Even as a high school student this line didn't seem weird to me at all. It was only now, in my last year of university, as I was rereading the series, that I thought to myself, "That's so controlling wtf." To imply that Sally, a woman with a job, is being financially controlled by douchebag Gabe is pretty chilling and although it is undoubtedly still abuse, it's also something that I think wouldn't go too far. As it stands, Gabe feels a little bit toothless and if they stick to his canon fate, it'll feel a little bit unwarranted. In that same TVLine article, John Steinberg mentions that, "When you’re reading a story, you can read past the parts that could be upsetting if you’ve stopped to give them more thought. You don’t really get to do that with the show. It’s all in your face and it’s all presented in a much louder way.” I think that even keeping just this one line isn't too "in your face" but still gets across how much of an absolute jackass Gabe is.

I also think that although it was a strong choice to have Sally stand up to Gabe immediately, I do have a bit of an issue with her characterization. One of the first paragraphs you get when you meet Sally is Percy specifically stating, "I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even more or Gabe" (33). The books make it a point to show that despite Sally being on the quieter side, it doesn't mean she isn't an absolute badass. She's calm, rational, and cool during the Minotaur scene and then of course kicks ass during The Battle of Manhattan. The books have proven over and over again that Sally's kind, sweet nature is a strength and not a weakness. I can absolutely get behind seeing this side of her earlier in the TV show, I'm just concerned that they're forsaking her softer nature for something more "cool mom." Part of what I like so much about Sally is her kindness, the way she seems to be the embodiment of a warm hug on a hard day. It's not the vibe I got from her TV show counterpart.

Okay that's it, that's all my grievances. I've only seen the first episode and despite this mega page of my negativity I still think that the show is pretty good! It's infinitely better than what we got before and I can tell that there's so much passion and love put into the show. The young actors who are portraying the starring roles are absolutely brilliant, they're killing it, and I hope they have a bright future. I think the show looks great considering it's a Disney+ show (I've seen your special effects, Mouse) and I genuinely hope that the show is enjoyed by old fans and new ones. My brother said, "Hey, the first half was pretty cool" before the pacing kinda nosed dive off a cliff - high praise indeed.

I'm probably still going to watch the show, just to sate my own curiosity (though I'm probably NOT going to write another English essay on why I wish we'd kept some subtext) and I hope that everyone who's sticking with the show enjoys it. I don't think it's bad by any means, I'm just a pretentious literature nerd and this is how I digest media.

So yeah, here's to another decade of Percy Jackson!

#percy jackson #pjo tv show #if you made it allllllll the way to the bottom of this post you're amazing #I don't want to read this thing and I wrote it #again don't hate the show or anything I just think we left a lot of nuance on the table and that makes me sad so I had to exorcise it

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supercantaloupe · 11 months

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Magic Flute Thoughts

i liked nathalie stutzmann's conducting a lot more in this than i did for don giovanni. granted i am much less familiar with zauberflote than i am with don g so i'm not like hyper picky about tempi or whatever yet but anyway i liked her

flute soloist! glockenspiel soloist! FLUTE SOLOIST!!!

i just like lawrence brownlee man idk what to tell you. i think he's neat. i think he's singing something here in the winter and i'll definitely try to get tickets to that if so

i really liked erin morley as pamina! actually i thought all the main cast did a good job no one stuck out to me as being particularly Amazing or Bad. kathryn lewek got a HUGE applause (and standing o) tho and i mean kudos it was her fiftieth performance like damn.

interesting choice to play the queen as physically frail as she did; i think it works and the performance is very good, although the heavy age makeup sticks out a bit on hd cameras lol

the queen's three bitches. i'm free on friday (twirling hair)

also i hope those three kids who played the old men get to borrow their outfits again come october because they have the funniest possible halloween costume opportunity in the world now

VERY funny to me that papageno's costume makes him look like he's drenched in bird shit

okay speaking of costumes. do i 100% Get It with the like suits and colors and everything....not really but i don't think i can say that i Get a lot about this opera tbh. what i did get was the very obvious dark/light symbolism going on with pamina and tamino wearing white and the queen and her cronies wearing all black. and i think zauberflote does benefit from some heavy handed symbolism bc what else is this show about actually without that....then again the fact that sarastro and his priests or whatever are all in dark colors too kind of undermines that a little so 🤷‍♀️

same thing with the whole reason vs superstition thing too like...sure you can claim Truth And Reason as good all you want sarastro but the constant invocation of isis/osiris and Mysterious Rituals kind of undermine what you're going for there lol. i think my point is that i don't feel like i really Get what zauberflote is like...going for, thematically. i mean i get the Themes but not a clear Point. maybe if i was an enlightenment era freemason i'd get it lol but alas i am not

that said......i didn't go into this one expecting a rock solid plot and honestly who does....it's zauberflote....it is very obviously not designed to work or be interpreted on a literal level and i appreciate that it never tries to ground itself in reality. that its plot and characters exist in a completely fantastic realm works and it works with the weird plot and its vague theming.

which itself is of course accomplished through good design and holy SHIT. this is truly the shining strength of this production. the design is INCREDIBLE.

the orchestra isn't totally onstage but they are raised up in the pit to the point where they are fully visible the whole show. i love an onstage orchestra so this made me very happy. and it allowed for actor/orchestra interaction which i also love!! like tamino coming down into the pit to hand the eponymous magic flute to the flute soloist and bring him onstage with him (i was wondering during the overture why the flutes and oboes were swapped places seating wise -- it's so the flutist can easily get onstage! delight!!), or when papageno brings his glockenspiel to the percussion soloist to play (the player being 'missing' at his last solo, making papageno play by himself, and he enters late with a cup of coffee...lmaoo). also stutzmann giving a big ol grin and thumbs up to papageno during his duet with papagena at the end. so sweet

also blocking around the orchestra seating of the audience and up the aisles! so much fun we love immersive theater

the set itself had this big flat platform in the center hoisted at each corner by a cord so it could raise/lower/tilt in any direction. made for some very neat staging with levels and slants and i enjoyed that, especially since the production forgoes any kind of traditional set pieces

papageno's birds were done in such a beautiful way omg...they have an ensemble in black wandering around stage and following him about when he's doing stuff and they each have a 'bird' made of a folded in half piece of paper that they flutter about stylistically (some of the orchestra members have some too that they flutter during his entrance aria). description does not do it justice, this was a beautiful way to stage it...so simple and evocative.

the designer was saying in the interview between acts that this production was meant to combine the high and low tech aspects of theater to connect present performance practice with the opera as it was originally done (hence the visible orchestra) and i looove that philosophy. and it worked here really well i think

THE FOLEY AND PROJECTION ARTISTS. STARS OF THE SHOW. i am not joking

they get to be onstage (albeit off to the sides) the whole show too and i love it. i love that the cameras on the broadcast kept cutting to them periodically to show off their work.

the use of live projection art was really well done -- he managed to make Writing On A Chalkboard captivating!!

and the foley. the FOLEY!!! i've done sound design and a bit of live foley before so i have a soft spot but wooow she did an amazing job and it was SO much fun to see all the props she played with to make the scenes come alive sonically. plus her little interactions with papageno were very funny. give her a tony award

i do think there were a couple of small moments here and there that didn't entirely work for me or a scene or two that dragged out longer than necessary but overall it was a joy to watch. the beautiful and whimsical design of the whole thing totally makes it worthwhile even if the plot itself is a bit lacking.

easily THE coolest production design i've seen the met do yet, and the best lighting and projections from them for sure. when it comes on demand i am forcing anyone i can to watch it with me bc that SET! the LIGHTING! the SOUND! the STAGING! it ticks all my boxes it hits all my buttons it was MADE for ME SPECIFICALLY

#sasha speaks #sasha reviews #the magic flute #die zauberflöte #die zauberflote #if someone actually understands what the magic flute is supposed to be about feel free to enlighten me lol #i don't know exactly what i was SUPPOSED to get from that but the production was so fucking good i don't even care tbh #tldr: watch this if you're interested in theatrical design. go go do it now do it

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ancientevangelions · 1 year

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Evangelion, LGBT+ Rights and Time

It is fascinating how readings of Evangelion have changed over time as society varies. In 2012-2015 (and to some degree even now), vocal shippers would bully others if they chose the "wrong" pairings. Reminder to everyone that you choose to engage with fan content, and it is 100% your choice to harass and bully people over their views. Shipping fictional characters should be fun and a way to engage on a different level with fandom, not an exercise in who has the moral high ground. There are shows I will not engage with because I find the canon pairings to trigger my C-PTSD, but I block those tags. (It's Madoka Magica; the third movie starts a violent fear reaction).

When I first watched Evangelion circa 2010, a Trans reading of Evangelion, though not unheard of, was less common than it is now. I grew up in Northern Alberta, Canada, where we knew what gay, straight, and bi were. Still, everything else was not mentioned until after I graduated high school and moved to a bigger city for University in 2009. This led to me doing a lot of self-discovery. I didn't fully embrace my non-binary identity until I turned 28 for various reasons, including personal safety (that would be spring of 2019, for those wondering). I knew my gender identity differed from others because of the LGBT+ club at University, where I would hang out and learn new terminologies, identities, and what consent meant. Still, until recently, people did not talk about LGBT+ identity outside of these circles, especially not in groups with aging populations. Fast forward to now (2023) on Tumblr, when there are so many differences in opinions and interpretations. I wonder if people my age (or older) watched Eva and considered the characters could be anything but straight and cis or if they were shocked by Maya's love for Ritsuko when it was revealed in End of Evangelion. 90s media had a lot of ingrained homophobia and transphobia. You don't need to look further than popular sitcoms like the Simpsons or FRIENDS to see the LGBT+ community ridiculed for a cheap laugh. Western society was very anti-LGBT, and though we have made gains with marriage equality laws in 2005 for Canada, there is still room for improvement.

When I watched NGE/EoE, It was at the start of LGBT+ identities becoming more prevalent in Western media. I watched the ambiguous interactions of episode 24, and I remember thinking how sad it was that Kaworu had to die. The interactions between Shinji and Kaworu did not appear romantic or wholesome while I watched. It seemed tragic and doomed to failure (like Shiniji's previous attempts at gaining understanding.) Upon my first watch, I concluded that Shinji's desperation for affection led to his attraction to Kaworu. It did not seem genuine, and I saw it as less romantic and more as a deeply tragic episode where a broken boy is manipulated by lies of exclusion and ultimately heartbroken because he is once again betrayed and left alone. This reading was solidified for me in EoE when Asuka confronts Shinji with the line that anyone will do in Hell's Kitchen. Shinji is even more frantic and desperate for someone to love and save him and is once again rejected. Shinji wants someone to give him love and support and to understand and help him. The fear and desperation of being left alone make Episode 24 and End of Evangelion incredibly twisted and tragic. Shinji's arc climaxes with the tragedy of human miscommunication, desperation for affection, and the desire for love and understanding without the act.

Hell's Kitchen (End of Evangelion)

There's so much pain in suffering and loneliness. Additionally, I firmly believe Shinji did not/does not love anyone romantically in NGE/EoE. I am not saying he has no potential to love anyone. He is not there yet in his journey. He may have crushes or interests, but romantic love takes Time, communication, compromise, understanding, and so many elements of vulnerability between two people to establish, form, and maintain that connection. Shinji did not have the time to develop a true romantic bond with anyone and was not in a formal relationship. Yes, he kissed Asuka and relied on her for stability/support. He had deep conversations with Kaworu and received unconditional affection. He trusted and depended on Misato. He was curious about Rei and wanted to help her/know more about her. Still, he never took steps to form a romantic partnership, instead preferring to "keep things ambiguous."

Shinji is still figuring things out. The point of NGE and EoE isn't romance. It's figuring out your identity.

This message of misunderstanding and muddling through your identity is likely why it resonates so much with LGBT+ communities because many of us did have to muddle out our difficult questions of identity. It can be intimidating to navigate so much information, especially if you aren't in a safe environment. It feels similar to being attacked by alien forces in a war zone, except instead of Angels, it is hate-filled views, bullying, name-calling, misinformation, and fear. And instead of Evas/NERV, we have GSAs, outreach centres, online spaces, and supportive people that we hope will help us more than they harm us.

I find an element of cultural difference intriguing in Evangelion (and all Japanese anime to some degree). Japanese people interpret scenes very differently from English-speaking Western audiences. Part of the nuance is lost in translation, cultural differences, and the differences in Time that have passed. I highly recommend reading various semi-autobiographical works such as "The Bride was a Boy" or "My lesbian experience with loneliness." to understand the queer experience in Japan better. There are a lot of differences to sort through when we look at different cultures. Unfortunately, Japan has a ways to go on LGBT+ rights, including access to transgender health care and same-sex marriage (which, at the time of writing, is still not recognized in Japan). My point is that culture-to-culture intent in various media, whether written or visual, will be lost. We can, of course, read interpretations, watch video essays, talk to friends, etc. Still, to draw our conclusions, we often would rather watch the source material as "purely" as well as can without interference from other people. This brings in a final theme from Evangelion. We can never understand anyone 100%; only you can completely understand yourself. So whether you agree or disagree with me, remember these are my thoughts and opinions shaped by my life growing up as an LGBT+ Canadian. So be good to yourself, and congratulations.

#the end of evangelion #neon genesis evangelion #shinji ikari #misato katsuragi #rei ayanami #asuka langley soryu #kaworu nagisa #theory and analysis #thoughts and opinions #opinion essay #LGBT history #cultural differences #If I get anon hate for this I swear...

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itsawhumpsideblog · 12 days

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Character sketches

Francis was the first of the Safehouse boxboys to make himself known, although Mikey was not far behind. The thing I'm finding most fascinating about writing Francis is finding ways to convey his worldview, which I feel like I'm doing to a greater extent than with Mikey or Nathan. Because he was living with another person who had very definite ideas about what he should be like, Francis had his worldview sort of forged for him in really odd ways.

There will eventually be an installment where he learns to count higher than ten, for example, but right now he thinks everyone gets to ten and starts over and therefore functionally can't conceptualize of quantities greater than 100 (ten tens, as he would think of it).

He also speaks in third person, which obviously the other two do not, and has developed a very flowery, formal way of speaking as a result of being a living showpiece and as much an accessory in his former owner's home as the art on the walls. I imagine that his owner worked on training him to speak in a highly artistic style and move as if everything is a ballet.

Francis gets really good at interpreting for Mikey when Mikey learns to sign and ultimately decides to pursue interpreting as a career. It's a good fit for him because he doesn't have to speak for himself or produce original utterances unless they're really simple; he can just interpret from one language to another what somebody else is saying. He also prefers not being the focus of the conversation in any way and interpreting lets him fade comfortably into the background.

I imagine that he uses a wheelchair or crutches depending on how he's feeling, but because of the nerve damage in his feet, has a lot of difficult walking without a mobility aid.

When I write Mikey, I kind of can't help but make him sound small and waifish, because he's so sad and scared all the time- at least until yesterday's short story, which gives a brief glimpse of Mikey in the future. In fact, Mikey is a pretty big guy, which is likely what you'd want for a guy who lives as somebody's personal bouncer. He's probably six inches taller than Francis, although Nathan is closer to Mikey's height.

And as I elaborated on a little in yesterday's backstory, he's very muscular from a combination of enforced workouts and a low dose of steroids. Incidentally, I don't think the WRU publicizes their use of steroids but I would bet everyone knows they do it. Owners presumably make the choice to continue that practice or not, but I think Mikey's owners don't. There's probably a story about withdrawal in there, actually.

I don't know much about Mikey or Francis before they were boxboys, but I do have some idea what happens to Mikey after he's been at the Safehouse a while. As you can guess if you're caught up, he is going to be able to use his hands and arms fairly normally (although he hates when it rains because he gets so sore) and he becomes a fluent signer over time.

I think he goes from resignation at the loss of his voice to having a lot of anger about it. He experiences bouts of depression as he learns to cope with knowing how things could have been vs. how they are, but he finds strength and fulfillment in becoming an activist against the Pet trade. It's the kind of outlet for his anger that Mikey really appreciates- he abhors violence, but he feels a strong need to "get back at" the people who took so much from him. He probably does, or tries to do, research to find out who he used to be. I'm not yet sure what amount of success he has.

Poor Nathan was the last of the three to come along and I feel like he sometimes get short shrift. His backstory is the only one I have much of a handle on, and he talks about it in one chapter. He aged out of the foster care system and basically didn't have the counsel or a parent or mentor to give him a realistic perspective on what volunteering to become a Pet entailed. I think he was very briefly working a soul-sucking job somewhere he hated and was recruited on the basis of his looks and the recruiter's desire for a commission check.

Obviously, when he got to the WRU facility, it was nothing like he had imagined. I don't think he knew about the memory-wiping process, although I think most adults in his society are aware that something like that goes on. In my created world, as in many other peoples', I think, Pets are a luxury and generally only affordable by people who are wealthy or willing to save up. So Nathan went in with just the information he had from the recruiter, which obviously wouldn't reflect reality.

Once I wrote the bit where Mikey remembers another Pet who was kind to him and who was the closest thing he ever remembers having to a friend, I knew I wanted them to be re-united. I wasn't quite sure what Nathan's defining feature would be until I was writing it and sort of discovered in the process that although he had signed the papers and been sold and lived as a Pet, the memory wipe had never taken.

I was pretty fascinated with the implications, which I'll definitely want to explore at greater length. One thing it means is that Nathan knows exactly who he is and what his life was like before, although he was pretty lonely to begin with, so nobody's looking too hard for him. It also means that he knows exactly what happens at WRU facilities and can be a whistleblower, if and when anyone's ready to hear the truth.

But the effect of all this on his mental health is hard to overstate, because it's so traumatic to go through training and living as someone's possession without ever giving away that you're the same person you always were before. (Side note- Nathan is dyslexic, which is how he gets by without admitting he can read. He definitely can, but it's enough work that he doesn't see words and visibly process them without meaning to.)

The almost endless mental stress of pretending to have no memory, on top of the same stress other Pets experience, like trying to please a person who may be impossible to please, never having time to themselves, and being under constant physical strain, really takes its toll on Nathan. I think he has a sort of permanent thousand-yard stare, even when he's looking directly at someone or something. A part of his brain is just always a little stunned and distracted and he usually looks sad, even when he isn't. Meeting Mikey again, though, gives him a bit of a new lease on life, because he's so relieved and happy to know that Mikey has a chance at a happy ending.

NB: originally written for a BBU Community Days prompt that I was informed I misunderstood. I’m not able to rework the post but I hate to waste the work so I’ll leave it in case anyone is interested.

#the safehouse

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kindan-no-kanojo · 1 year

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Forbidden Voracity ☯ Canon verse

While I do my best to follow the canon bits as accurately as I can with my own interpretations, not everything in FV follows 100% the original DL lore as it also has my own original parts that apply to this storyline only (or fill Rejet's plotholes, lol). So I made this to put DL canon and FV canon apart because I genuinely put everything into a blender when I created this story with the few details I had back then lol so this is to avoid any confusion or just to check interesting facts uwu. Here you'll find: 1) Things I adapted from DL lore, 2) DL canon facts that maybe were mentioned vaguely so I'm reaffirming them, 3) Headcanons of mine that I added for lore/character depth (for Kino and Yuuri), and 4) tidbits about Scarlett or Rhiannon that I'm reaffirming.

You're totally free to disagree with my adaptations or headcanons! You can also ask for a specific bit if you want a source or elaboration.

I will update this after finishing each arc to avoid spoilers. So far: Dark is out, and each of these points are referenced within this arc.

☯ FV Summary

The story is heavily influenced by Lost Eden, Young Blood manga and Kino's Daylight CD.

It isn't a continuation of anyone's route (although there are quite a few references to Kino's); but rather an alternative story of the main plot, more like the 'unseen' part if you will, especially when Kino is the antagonist in another route.

Karl Heinz has passed away, and the Demon World is being ruled and stabilized by one of his sons, Sakamaki Reiji, and Komori Yui.

Here, only some Ghouls hold deep grudges on Kino: the ones who are witnesses or believe in the rumors of his doings. Since most of his victims aren't around anymore, they don't talk about what Kino has done in the past, so younger Ghouls are mostly unaware. In addition, the population is way smaller.

Kino intends to regain the respect and power he has lost after the failure of his intervention in Karl Heinz's Adam & Eve plan. For this purpose, he seeks the 'innocent' Ghouls to, somehow, start over: Ghouls that know little to nothing about him or his past are the most suitable for a starting point, and this is where Scarlett comes in. Needless to say, old habits die hard, and he's getting desperate.

Canon Ghoul summary: At the lowest in the demon hierarchy, usually discriminated against by higher clans. Physically weak, immortal, part of the 'crow clan' for their shapeshifting ability. There are both stable or unstable ones, feed on blood and flesh, very prone to insanity. Highly distrustful, stable ones self-isolate in their Land as no other place would accept them, eventually learned to live in peace by themselves.

☯ FV Canon | Adaptations

Dark

Rottenberg > Rotigenberg. Rotten Land > Rotten Fig. The Fig in this story serves little-to-no purpose, so I adapted the name of the Land where Ghouls reside to something more neutral.

Wealthy Vampires used to pick up Ghouls for servanthood freely, as opposed to higher Clans only seeking battle minions.

If a Ghoul is serving a Vampire, merchants in the Demon World are more considerate to them for their connection to the hierarchy.

Kino forces himself to be more polite at times to protect his image, instead of only using tactics such as fake kindness. It hurts him to be nice for too long tho lol.

Kino can use his magic to make himself invisible for a while. [This is half a headcanon, half an adaptation. Sakamakis can do that with Yui, so I assume he can apply it to himself.]

Maniac

[soon]

Ecstasy

[soon]

Other

[soon]

☯ DL Canon | Reaffirmations

Dark

The Coming-of-Age ceremony that involved Ghouls is not being held anymore.

Ghouls don't attack other Ghouls on instinct.

Ghouls can be trained for battles if that's what they are needed for, although it doesn't increase their physical strength more than average.

Time in the Demon World passes slower than in the Human World.

Yuuri is not Kino's a servant. He's with Kino by choice, even if said choice hurts him. [I talk about his reasoning here!]

Kino talks to himself, both alone and in company. He assumes no one listens to him. [I reference mutters/whispers using a tiny font.]

Kino only cusses heavily when he's startled or hurt (physically or otherwise).

Kino's senses, especially his hearing and smelling, are very sharp.

Kino hates being taken for a liar, and despises liars just as much. He deems he doesn't lie, and it is half true: He manipulates the truth to his benefit, making it ambiguous and confusing enough for him to play around with.

While Kino dislikes noisy people, he despises silence even more: He plays with his phone to distract himself from stressful situations (often failing) out of habit.

Kino's favorite type of games are Gacha games. He dislikes offline ones.

Despite his laidback, playful personality, in face of great amounts of stress, Kino tends to get very erratic, impulsive, and pessimistic to a catastrophic level: He becomes actively self-deprecating, aware of his own faults, and only sees the worst-case scenarios of a situation, with all odds against him.

Yuuri is Kino's emotional support, though Kino takes his presence for granted.

The small cabin in Rottenberg is where Yuuri and Kino grew up together as children. Whenever it's empty, unwanted intruders tend to get in. [In FV, this was turned up a notch to the point where it needs extra security, considering that Kino's presence has become more and more unwanted.]

Maniac

[soon]

Ecstasy

[soon]

Other

[soon]

☯ FV Canon | Added Headcanons

Dark

While it is canon that food and water lacks in the Ghouls' land, I assume that's mostly due to fruits and other foods rotting faster there. Naturally, water and soil are highly contaminated.

Aside from battle training, Ghoul servanthood can involve other tasks, from cooking and cleaning to be in charge of entertainment, or to fully protect the given mansion's safety.

Kino is punny in general [«Scarlett's face is scarlet!»]

When irritated, as he doesn't really cuss, he'd be angrily punny instead [«For stars' sake!»].

Yuuri knows about corsetry.

Yuuri dislikes sweets.

Yuuri likes to collect things such as dry leaves or pressed flowers, but he can't do that very often.

Yuuri's visual, more specifically his fashion sense, is based on the assumption that, since he takes care of Kino's finances (which is canon, he even pays for his compulsive in-game purchases), he has good money-saving skills; so, while it doesn't mean that he's wealthy, he may allow himself to look good and presentable, mainly wearing dark tones.

Maniac

[soon]

Ecstasy

[soon]

Other

[soon]

☯ OC Reaffirmations

Dark

Scarlett is older than Kino.

Most of Scarlett's old-fashioned clothes and makeup were given by Rhiannon.

The sudden taste of blood triggers Scarlett's Ghoulism. Blood itself boosts her strength for a while, depending on the amount she's taken.

If she puts her mind to it, she can 'hold in' the Ghoul trigger around blood for a while as long as she's aware of its presence beforehand.

The more blood she's exposed to, the hardest it is to control the Ghoulism: both its trigger and its urges.

Fully aware of what insanity looks like, Scarlett is able to fake it.

She uses her Ghoul form by default when in Rottenberg. She is able to hold it in while in the main Demon World as well if needed, but it drains her energy faster and it can show up regardless after a while.

Scarlett loves tiny, shiny and/or colorful things.

Her speech pattern turns considerably more polite when she's nervous in front of people, though she still overlooks honorifics. Other signs of nervousness are stuttering or voice cracks.

Scarlett has a demonic version of hyperthymesia; not only she can recall and narrate events effortlessly, but also, when facing an experience similar to a past one, intrusive memories may come to her mind in the form of hallucinations, visual or auditory. [More about her condition here!]

Scarlett has poor sleeping habits, especially in the Demon World. She's a light sleeper as her servanthood forced her to be alert at all times.

Rhiannon has never bitten Scarlett. Kino has.

Scarlett's blood doesn't taste as repulsive as a Ghoul's when she isn't in her Ghoul form.

Maniac

[soon]

Ecstasy

[soon]

Other

[soon]

#Forbidden Voracity ☯#Scarlett Wakahisa #Diabolik Lovers OC #.bullet point fv thingies 🏃🏻‍♀️#.to be updated!#🎞. Scarlett's Route

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