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fear-is-truth · 5 months

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TEAR YOU APART || kai anderson x fem!reader

【𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆】: kai anderson x fem!reader

【𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒】: 18+; mdni | profanity, oral sex (f receiving), unprotected p in v, degradation, choking, accidental voyeurism, implied daddy kink, implied size kink

【𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓】: 2.1k

【𝐑𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘】: @kaislittlelamb

“Now, ladies! Time to make yourselves useful in the kitchen..”

Kai's falsely cheerful voice cut through the air, signaling with a brisk wave of his hand. He was being more of than an misogynistic asshole than usual, but no one dared object, not unless they had a death wish. As Winter, Beverly, and Ivy reluctantly made their way toward the kitchen, you began to follow suit.

“No, not you. Come over,” he said sharply, halting you in your tracks.

“Sorry, me?”

“Yes you, you and I are gonna have a little talk.”

He replied in a clipped tone before turning back to the other women, who were staring.

“Didn’t I make myself clear? Kitchen. Now.”

A silent exchange of confusion flitted between you and Winter, her offering you a small, resigned shrug that translated into ‘I-don’t-know-what-the-fuck-he’s-up-to-but-good-luck’ before she disappeared into the kitchen after the others.

Kai strode through the back of the restaurant, you trailing after him. The stony look on his face left no room for questions as he swung open the pantry door, waiting for you to step inside. Panic fluttered in your belly, leaving you rooted to the spot.

You've always tried to keep a low profile, contributing where needed and never seeking any special attention. There was no logical reasoning behind his anger towards you, and the fact that you had no clue of what you had actually done to piss him off made the situation all the more dangerous.

“Just get in there already,” he growled, shoving you inside roughly before stepping after you. The anger emanating from him seemed to fill the small space on its own.

“I saw your little game earlier,” he slammed the door behind him with ominous finality, “With Aerosmith.” He turned to face you, jaw rigid and eyes narrowed. Fury coming off him like a stench.

“Think I haven't noticed? Laughing alongside him, or whoever else catches your eye. Like a goddamn two-dollar whore.”

Your stomach dropped. You hadn't even considered that your interactions with other cult members might draw such scrutiny from Kai. Mind racing, you quickly replayed the conversation you'd shared with Aerosmith–No, screw that stupid nickname– Ethan earlier that day, a harmless exchange that you'd assumed was nothing more than banter.

“I didn't encourage anyone, Divine Ruler. My loyalty lies with you and your cause, I never realised-” Kai slammed an open palm against the wall beside him, causing you to flinch.

“You never do! I don’t know if you’re playing dumb or you really are so fucking oblivious!”

His cheeks flushed with colour, nostrils flaring. A sudden terror flooded over you, that Kai might actually strike you; he’d done it to other women, after all. He seemed to notice your fearful expression, taking a moment to collect himself: a deep breath in, pinching the bridge of his nose, as if trying to ward off a headache.

When he opened his mouth again, it was in a low drawl. Menacing. Dangerously calm.

“You've always been my favourite.”

Advancing with slow, measured steps toward you, his boots echoing against the floor.

“Those missions—I gave you the most difficult ones for a reason. To toughen you up, make you stronger. I’ve made you a better, perfected version of yourself.”

Like a wolf slowly closing in on its prey.

“I've singled you out, given you my special attention,” he sighed, his voice filled with disappointment and hurt. Genuine or not, you couldn’t really tell. Looming over, he trapped you against the pantry shelves. Your faces inches apart.

“…do I really have to spell it out for you?”

He paused, taking a moment to study you, large hand lifting to cup your cheek. The gesture itself was oddly tender; that fleeting touch of intimacy. Juxtaposing his aggression mere seconds before. There was a moment that he looked like he might say something more, but then he quickly snapped out of it, breaking the spell. His hand moved down to your neck, giving it a gentle squeeze before he leaned forward, crushing his lips against yours.

For a moment, there was just dry pressure, an awkward clash of teeth. His hands found your upper arms, hoisting you to a sitting position on the folding table. With a low growl, he forcefully worked your mouth open, coaxing your tongue against his. The acrid tang of Adderall invaded your senses, intermingling with his lust, frustration and jealousy. A gentle warmth blossomed, slowly unfurling from your lips, to your chest and ultimately settling in your belly.

His grip on you loosened briefly, tongue slipping out of your mouth as he mumbled gruffly against your lips,

“You have no idea what you do to me. No. Fucking. Clue.”

He let the words hang in the air for a second, before crashing his lips back onto yours, swallowing any further protests you might have had. Nudging your head to the side, he ravaged your neck with a series of wet kisses interspersed with sharp nips of his teeth. Mouth swiftly moving down your neck, hungrily marking any exposed patch of skin he had access to.

With one hand entangled in your hair and the other securing your waist, he systematically disheveled your composed appearance. The bruises and bite marks adorning your neck conveyed a clear message: Kai was staking his claim, marking his territory.

You were his; always have been, from the start.

Perhaps this realisation had only just dawned on you, but from the moment Kai set his sights on you, he’d already decided that you belonged to him.

To your utter bewilderment, he sank to his knees before you, staring up with those penetrating dark eyes. Pale face peeked out from behind a veil of stringy blue hair, illuminated by the dim overhead lighting which formed some sort of fucked-up blue halo. Hands finding their way to your hips, long fingers gently hooking themselves under your waistband. His throat bobbed once, a subtle rise and fall before he spoke up:

“Let me worship you,”

Your jeans and panties fell to the floor with a muffled thud that was barely registered; the only sound was the pounding of your own heart. Kai took small intake of breath, wetting his lips as he took in the sight of your nether regions. Hands placed firmly on your knees as his head dipped between your thighs.

“Fuck.. I’ve barely even touched you and you're already drenched,” he muttered, lips grazing over the sensitive skin of your inner thigh.

You gasped, eyes fluttering open to glance down at him. His nose was gently bumping against your sex, akin to nuzzling a lover. An act that you found to be incredibly repulsive and arousing at the same time. A sudden thought made your blood run cold.

“Wait, Kai. The door—” you yelped, eyes darting nervously toward the door.

“Can't lock from the inside, yeah.” Kai finished your sentence matter-of-factly. Then he licked a hot stripe between your folds. Clenching the sleeve of your sweater, you pressed it against your mouth to stifle a moan. Praying that nobody could hear the debauchery that was occurring.

Kai dipped his head to nibble teasingly at your clit, eliciting a small whimper. “Mhm.. you taste so fuckin..” he inhaled deeply before diving back between your thighs. “So fucking delicious,” he groaned, words reverberating against your throbbing core.

The doorknob clicked, and you hastily tried to kick him away from you. Kai’s bruising grip on your hips was unrelenting as he continued to lap greedily between your thighs.

Seconds later the door flew open. A shriek, followed by the clattering of a large metal bowl as it tumbled to the floor, a cloud of spices billowing into the air. Ivy Mayfair-Richards stood frozen by the doorway, her perpetually pinched-up face now flushed a bright shade of pink, eyes wide like saucers. She stumbled back, slamming the pantry door shut.

Cheeks aflame with embarrassment, you slapped your hands over face. At least it wasn't Winter, or Beverly who had walked in. The idea of either of them witnessing Divine Ruler stationed between your thighs and devouring your pussy like an ice cream cone was nothing short of mortifying. Ivy, on the other hand; you didn’t really gave a shit about. A small part of you even wished it was Meadow who had barged in. It was a pity that she had blown her own brains off just two weeks ago. Too bad, really. Too bad.

“You enjoyed that, didn't you?” Kai mumbled, as if he had read your thoughts. You could practically feel his smirk against your pussy.

“Fuck, taking my tongue so good, little slut.” He continued his attack on your cunt, a mix of kitten licks and hungry swipes. Taking his sweet time to torture you methodically. Tremors built in your thighs as he gradually picked up pace, your fingers tangling in his hair, nails digging into his scalp, which prompted a low groan from him.

You wanted to beg, plead with him to let you cum, but you also knew any words from your mouth would encourage him to do the exact opposite.

Kai had a fine skill in both bestowing pleasure and meting out punishment. It was his way.

A soft whimper left your lips as he sucked harshly on your clit, picking up pace. It was enough to send you over the edge. You were close, painfully close. Kai seemed to know as much, because he stopped abruptly and rose to his feet when you started trembling.

“Now, not yet. This isn’t how it works.”

He spun you around roughly, forcing you to bend over the table. He kicked apart your legs and lined himself behind you. The sound of his fly being yanked open reached your ears and finally, finally, the feel of his cock; every ridge and vein rubbing tantalisingly against your dripping entrance.

“Ah.. P-please..” you groaned, trying to buck your hips backwards. No such luck. Kai had pressed the flat of his palms against your shoulders, anchoring you firmly against the table. “Please what?” he whispered, tongue flicking lazily at the lobe of your ear.

“Tell me what you want, lamb.”

The very end of his tip pressed agaist you, eliciting a whimper from your lips.

“I want.. want you inside me. Please,”

“There you go,”

The moment he slid inside, you both let out a simultaneous groan. The sensation of his hot, panting mouth at your ear, his sack smacking rhythmically against your cunt was so exquisitely sinful yet heavenly, you'd willingly descended into the deepest depths of hell for it.

“Mnngh! O-oh..-” He pressed in deeper and circled his hips, squelching inside you as more wanton moans escaped your mouth.

“You really are...” he chuckled, voice strained, “my hot little slut. So fucking greedy for daddy’s cock. You know that? I love it,” He reached around, slowly curling his fingers around your windpipe possessively.

“Tell me. Whose tight little pussy is this, huh? Who does it belong to?”

“You, divine ruler, only you- I swear!” A guttural moan ripped from your chest when his tip pressed right up against your cervix.

“That’s right. Took you so long to figure it out. That this pussy was being held in trust, aching for my cock.” He pressed himself so deep inside you could feel his every throb and twitch, his eagerness to pump you full.

“To carve out a space for myself here. Right here,” Hand sliding down to press between your hipbones, grazing against the slight bulge on your belly as his cock settled in there, where it belonged. He paused for a second to keep himself from coming too soon, tugging irritably at his balls to adjust.

As he panted into your sweat-slicked shoulder, you took the advantage to ease to your forearms and work yourself back on his cock.

Arching your back like a cat, you made languid figure eights with your hips. The wet schlick shlick sounds of your cunt swallowing his cock and your combined moaning ricocheted off the pantry walls, a steady cadence.

A downright animalistic groan escaped his lips.

“Oh my- f-fuck...”

If his gruff voice was sexy, then Kai Anderson moaning in your ear as he neared climax was a filthy, sinful delight. Abandoning all efforts to last longer, Kai went completely feral. Gauging his nails into your hips with bruising force as he scrambled for control. With each powerful thrust, the table lurched forward, tipping dangerously. You had no choice but to grip the sides, bracing yourself against it as he drove into you again and again. His movements became sloppy and less calculated as he neared his peak.

“Cum for me, babygirl,”

“Oh god… Kai!” You wailed as you reach your climax, clenching his cock tight with your slick channel as he drove into you one last time, burying himself to the hilt before releasing a torrent of thick, warm cum inside you.

He bucked his hips languidly a few more times, spending himself in a series of residual jerks inside you. Meanwhile, his hand stayed pressed to your belly, rubbing circles as his cock continued to twitch and spasm, grinding his creamy cum as deep as it could go.

Heavy breathing. Wet, sloppy kisses on the nape of your neck, your shoulder. The lingering scent of exotic spice mixed with sex heavy in the air.

“You’re mine now,” he grunted against the back of your neck.

“Fucking get used to it.”

【𝐀/𝐍】: thanks for reading!! english is not my first language, i apologise for the grammatical/spelling errors. i really tried.

✧. tagging: @kaismanwich @maddaline @howtobesasha + send an ask if you want to be on my taglist

#american horror story #ahs #ahs cult #kai anderson #kai anderson x reader #kai anderson smut #kai anderson x y/n #kai anderson x you #‎𐦍my fics #⟢ my fics

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animentality · 17 days

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x men stories are better as a disability metaphor than a race or lgbtqia metaphor.

in a fantasy/sci fi setting, it's always clinically stupid to say racism/homophobia is bad, look how these people who can literally explode other people's minds and warp reality are discriminated against for being different.

in a world where a sex predator could have the powers of professor x, it is actually logical to say yeah... that guy is dangerous, and we should maybe be worried about him. we need to watch him. maybe not have him near people who can't read minds.

and then your metaphor is stupid.

because people of color/lgbtqia people aren't dangerous, and we don't need to be kept away from (straight) (white) people.

it's almost always white people doing these metaphors too because they like the nobility of the suffering minority, but have no deeper understanding of societal inequality. it's just an aesthetic.

racism is just drama for them.

but the x men as a disability metaphor is better, because while people with disabilities aren't dangerous either, the better analogy to real life is the fact that mutants just need special accomodations to coexist with non mutants.

it's still not perfect, but it makes more sense, especially when you consider some mutants can freeze the entire planet and some just look ugly.

mutants have the potential to be diverse in their special needs too, which makes it work even better, since you can argue that anti black racism applies quite unilaterally against people with darker skin colors, and there is unity in simply having darker skin and being able to relate to someone else who knows what it's like to be the only POC in the all white boardroom.

but disabilities are diverse, and different groups needs different things, and some individuals have very rare conditions or unique circumstances. some individuals have obvious disabilities and others have invisible ones.

I don't like to credit mha for much, but the one thing it does get right is actually considering the negative effects of having super powers, and how people with weaker powers are more vulnerable to social discrimination than those with stronger powers.

it's really kinda simple. people have different needs and abilities and society could do better at providing them reasonable accomodations, because they have the right to exist in public and participate in society too.

cyclops and rogue are already not bad metaphors for disability, since cyclops used to not be able to control his eye beams, so he has to wear a visor or glasses, and rogue can't touch people.

but alas.

I know professor x and magneto have the whole Malcolm x and MLK Jr. sexual tension, so we can't ever fully divorce x men from the race inequality metaphor.

#x men comics #x men 97

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aimbutmiss · 3 months

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another snippet from the shuggy fic I'm writing:

“You’re doing great, Buggy.”

Rayleigh nodded proudly with a smile and crossed arms as he watched the detached hand fly back to its owner, seamlessly reconnecting to Buggy’s wrist.

“It still feels weird.”

“That’s only natural. There’s nothing normal about it.”

Neither Rayleigh nor Roger had devil fruit powers, so even if they helped with his training, neither could help Buggy to a full extent.

“It’s in your own hands to figure this out and get through it. It’s scary, I know. But if anyone can do it, it’s you.”

That’s what Roger had said, but Buggy wasn’t so sure. He didn’t feel like he had what it takes to figure this mess out on his own.

His breathing still got jagged whenever he detached any part of his body, his mind recreating the pain that should have been there but wasn’t. It worked similarly to phantom limb ache; your eyes see your hand get ripped clean off and it fills in the gap. It’s not like Buggy was actually in pain, but it felt very uncomfortable. It was getting better though, the more he used his powers. His mind was starting to catch up to his body. But that didn’t make him feel better. His own body felt alien to him. Nothing felt like it used to. He was sweating a lot more, and while Roger joked it was puberty, they both knew that was not the case. His overall body temperature felt much higher than usual. Crocus did checkups on him regularly, which showed that while he was indeed warmer, it was not to a dangerous extent. But he was still under the doctor’s careful watch, just in case.

Buggy didn’t let any of that stop his training. He put on a brave face because he didn’t want to look weak, to disappoint Roger and Rayleigh. He couldn’t let a minor inconvenience break him, not when Shanks was still training, getting stronger every day. Buggy might not have conqueror’s haki, but he could still be strong like his friend. At least he got the other boy beat in the smarts department.

Buggy could get through this.

He started sneaking out at night, when most of the crew was asleep, to find a quiet corner and practice. And while Shanks usually slept like a rock, he was weirdly susceptive to Buggy’s absence. It didn’t take long for him to realize what his friend was up to.

“Rayleigh would be angry if he caught you. You’re cutting up on your precious sleep time.”

Buggy rolled his eyes. “Sleeping one hour less is not gonna kill me. And Rayleigh can shove the worried father act up his ass.”

Shanks chuckled at the foul words. “Don’t let him hear that.”

The red head settled down on the wooden floor of the ship, making himself comfortable as if he was going to watch a show.

Buggy turned to Shanks with furrowed brows. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Watching you.”

“Why? Just leave.”

“Nope.”

Buggy felt like punching his friend to the other side of the Grand Line but managed to keep calm. He couldn’t let the boy waste his precious training time any longer. “Ugh. Fine, whatever.”

He started by detaching his fingers first, quickly pulling them back. Then he worked his way up, doing the same with his hand, his forearm, and eventually his whole arm. Then he detached them all at once. That still felt the worse. He could handle doing it one at a time, but cutting himself up too much made him nauseous. He went on to do the same with his legs, the foot first and working his way upward… Shanks, who had been weirdly silent up until then, finally spoke up:

“Have you tried detaching both feet at once?”

Buggy looked at him with wide eyes, shutting the idea down quickly. “Of course not! I’d just smack to the ground.”

Shanks rubbed his chin with curiosity. “Hm, maybe. But you can make your parts fly, can’t you?”

“…” Buggy stared at his feet in apprehension. He hated to admit it, but Red’s logic was sound. If he could make his limbs float, he could technically do the same with his whole body, right?

Shanks walked closer, holding his arms out like a safety net around him. “How about this? I’ll catch you if it doesn’t work.”

“… You better.”

“I’d never let anything happen to you.”

Buggy’s ears got red at the blunt confession. It confused him, how easy honesty came to the other. It was as if he could never feel ashamed of how he felt. Buggy would have felt envious if embarrassment didn’t overwhelm his other emotions.

“… Shut up.” He simply deflected because he didn’t know what to say. He turned his attention back to his feet and reluctantly raised one, detaching it from his foot. He stayed like that for a few seconds, not knowing how to go about this. It’s not like he’d be hurt badly, but losing your footing was not a pleasant thought. Everything in his brain screamed “Don’t do it!” but it all quieted down as Shanks’ hand sneaked its way into his, squeezing in reassurance. Buggy didn’t even realize it, but his other foot slowly detached from the ankle, skipping away from his body. He opened his squeezed-shut eyes one after the other, looking down at his lack of feet. But he wasn’t touching the ground.

He was floating.

He panicked at the sight and fell on his butt, or at least he should have but he just gently landed on it. He looked back at Shanks, who had held him from his arms to slow his fall, with grateful eyes. His feet skipped back over to him, reattaching themselves. He took the hand Shanks was offering and the boy pulled him up to his feet once again.

Shanks looked at him with wide eyes and an even wider smile, the picture of pure amazement. “Buggy, that was amazing!”

He looked away in embarrassment, unsure of how to feel of his accomplishment. “More like creepy.”

“But you can fly now! Imagine getting the hang of that… This is so cool!”

Buggy was still apprehensive about the absurdity of his powers, but he had to admit that this was pretty exciting news. He was still mourning the loss of his ability to swim, but he could fly now... sort of. Maybe it was true that you win some, and you lose some.

Still, floating felt terrifying, even when he was only a few inches off the ground. He was certain that nothing could ever fill the void the comfort of the sea had left behind.

“I think we should go back to sleep.”

“Yeah, probably. You did great today.”

Buggy smiled brightly at him. “Thanks to you.”

Shanks looked away, rubbing his nape as his face grew red. “W-well it’s what friends are for…”

Buggy slept like a baby for the first time in a long time, but Shanks kept staring at the ceiling till the first rays of sunlight filled the room.

#I was feeling generous today #eat up people #I love baby shuggy #they're like 12 here #how many posts have I made about buggy and the complicated relationship he has with his devil fruit???#a lot #because I think about it all the time #one piece #buggy the clown #shuggy #red haired shanks #buggy x shanks #shanks x buggy #buggy one piece #shanks #silvers rayleigh #my writing

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quitealotofsodapop · 22 days

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Nobody bays an eye at the fact that MK's mom is a very much male presenting person. They live in a world where shape-shifting is the norm, and there is literally a famous story about a kingdom with a river that can make anyone, no matter the gender, pregnant. Its not an impossible thing to imagine for them, especially since they suspect MK to be a demon at that point anyway, which means his mom is guaranteed to be one too. No, the biggest surprise in regards to Wukong's pregnancy comes more from who Wukong is rather than any sort of gender he presents as, but it's rather easily explained away. After all, there's no reason for Wukong to hide the fact that Stone Monkey pregnancies are often fatal and result in many complications, so as the stronger and more durable between himself and his mate as well as the one with mor most layers of immortality, it's simple logic that he'd be the one to bear their young.

At least, that's how Wukong describes it later. What he neglected to realize is that just because the specifics of Stone Monkey pregnancies have become somewhat common knowledge amongst the celestials, the mortals do not share in that knowledge and hus rather blase attitude in regards to potentially dying in childbirth does little to ease DBK, Pigsy, Tang, or Sandy's concern. PIF is a little more understanding of Wukong's position, having gone through similar complications with Redson's birth, and actually applauds his willingness and bravery in bringing more children into the world, even whilst almost losing his life to bring his eldest into the world.

prev post.

That and they don't want to assume anything in case MK's mom is a trans person. Wukong is fine with both Mama/Baba titles, and if he carried the kid it only makes sense to him to be "Mom" to them.

In a world of demons, trans people, shapeshifting, and rivers that make your pregnant, you just grow up knowing that sometimes a dude gets pregnant.

Regular Stone Monkey pregnancies aren't anymore fatal than say wild monkey statistics, but the Stone Egg method is super dangerous. Stone Monkeys basically donate so much of their life energy to the world around them that there's very little left over for themselves. The "Boulder" atop FFM is even described as spreading orchids and mushrooms into the earth around it.

PIF admires and envies Wukong a little for his success, despite the terror surrounding little Xiaotian's arrival. She wonders if DBK hadn't been imprisoned, if they could have had such luck.

Wukong very simply explains to the Noodle Gang that he's like the healthiest demon around, and his mate is slightly more fragile than him (literally born in the anaerobic enviroment of the moon = no immune system), so he takes over for baby-incubating. The gnag are super intrigued!

Tang: "So when did you decide to have MK?" Wukong, laughing: "Oh, that was a happy accident! A happy, kinda-scary, 14 year accident." Noodle Gang: (*all nod on understanding/awkwardness*) MK: "Yeah, thats why I grew up being told never to bury myself under a mountain." Noodle Gang: "...wut?" Tang:, JTTW brain activating: "Wait. Did you say 14 years!? As in during the Journey!?!"

Wukong pretty much pulls out corkboard of crayon drawings (like in "The Plan Man") to explain the process and how Macaque accidentally left Wukong "rock pregnant" under Five Finger Mountain - a collage crafted specifically back when MK had first asked about the "Birds and the Bees". The Noodle Shop Gang are horrified - and so is MK for having to re-live it.

Everyone comes away from that specifc lunchtime knowing a little too much about the reproductive habits of Stone Monkeys.

Hilariously I can imagine a situation like with the Eclipse Twins in the TMKATI au (both monkeys got el-pregante with either twin) happening here.

But with the current day. Remember how I pointed out that out of all the Nodelets, one shadow planet was missing? >:3

Once the LBD situation is dealt with at the end of S3;

Guanyin: (*gently grabs Macaque by the scruff of the neck*) Guanyin: "How long were you going to run around getting into danger without telling him [Wukong] you were expecting as well?!" Macaque, honestly confused: "Pardon???" Wukong: (*GASP!*) "Hypocrite!" Macaque: "In my defence, I didn't know that could happen."

MK barfs just *a little* at the announcement (MK: "I TOLD you they were being gross!").

Que the last Lunar Nodelet; Ziqi being made. This time via a very nervous Macaque.

Shadow monkey is on 24 hour lockdown pretty much to watch out for health complications, a reasonable punishment for his little disappearing act. Complications arise only because Mac was away from FFM for an appointment with Lao Tzu when a certain Scroll got found...

#post jttw stone egged au #jttw stone egged au #pregnancy mention tw #sun wukong #six eared macaque #shadowpeach #liu er mihou #lmk pif #lmk princess iron fan #lmk aus #lmk #lego monkie kid

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ladyluscinia · 6 months

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Your post about Ed's trauma vs. the Stormtrooper fights is right on the money imo. What gets me is that it didn't have to be an impediment when there could have been a fuckery! The reunited Revenge crew, now even stronger b/c of Izzy's integration, could have pulled an amazing Theatre Kid con that highlighted Ed and Stede's creative chemistry and this underdog group's ability to Bugs Bunny their way past better fighters with no casualties. Instead, Ricky has the biggest fuckery of s2, wtf?

Re: This. I think the fandom might have made the idea of fuckeries more interesting and important than canon intended to, in hindsight.

Like the idea of doing piracy through primarily theatre gay productions that upend the risk of dying in combat in favor of special effects hijinks was a really good comedy concept. And it worked well with the two main character types we got in S1 - silly theatrical underdog who cannot win a swordfight for the life of him + dramatic hidden depths guy who became a legendary pirate but can't actually kill people himself - and the rest of the crew's vibe in general - eclectic misfits that will not be intimidating anyone. I even liked it for Izzy! I know we liked to say he was from Black Sails but tbh he really wasn't, and the guy who slashed up Stede's shirt without breaking skin was made for selling that kind of bullshit as dangerous.

But - for all the extensive meta tracking how Stede's underdog trickery comes out on top again and again (primarily from Stede blogs, obviously, though everyone seemed to agree it was pretty solid) - canon only describes 2 instances as fuckeries: the introduction of the concept in 1x06, and Stede faking his death in 1x10. Everything else - even in S2 - is just fandom extending the concept because we think it's cool and makes sense. Ricky doesn't do "a fuckery", he just betrays Zheng with a trick and makes a pun about it.

Looking back, I think fuckeries only exist as a thing in OFMD meta because we liked the thought of them, and the kind of comedic canon they would support (team crafts, hijinks, no danger, muppet logic). I think S2 makes it clear canon only viewed a "fuckery" as the symbolic first step in Stede being a pirate. He's introduced to the concept when he's not ready yet, and then he successfully crafts and executes one at the end of S1 (against people who aren't trying to fight him, crucially) to show his rebirth. Now in S2 he's free to move onto real piracy - life threatening situations and swordfights. The penchant for trickery and underdog jokes is just character flavor, not an actual pursuit of its own.

That's why raids in 2x05 are just raids, talking in 2x06 is just talking, and the Navy dress-up in 2x08 is not an alternative to getting past the British mooks, but some kind of leg up on surprise attacking them (at least that's what it kinda looks like?). It's not "a fuckery" - it's a battle plan that can be sprinkled with hints of fuckery to spook, befuddle, or surprise. You still win with skill at violence.

Piracy is an action/adventure genre about killing your enemies with swords, guns, and cannons, and apparently OFMD was never looking to challenge that - just play in the space of our cast getting good (or maybe getting out).

#and by *not* looking to challenge that or do something unique it draws firmer comparisons to other pirate media i've seen #which is certainly a choice considering ofmd is not winning in the arena of 'best war with the british empire'#but they actually had a leg to stand on in cartoonish hijinks #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd meta #ofmd 2x08 #stede bonnet ofmd #blackbeard ofmd #ofmd piracy #genre #ladyluscinia #ask #anon

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ryuichirou · 4 months

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Have you watched the show yet? If so, what do you think of Yandere Todd?

Just finished it the other day! I can’t believe I was so sure that we won’t be watching it for quite some time, but I guess we did manage to find a balance between rewatching the Scott Pilgrim movie/watching the anime series and rewatching Twst main story. I can still feel the weight of a clown hat on my head, but ultimately I’m very happy that we watched it now. I won’t go into details about the show itself, but it was very fun and we enjoyed it a lot. And believe it or not, Wallace and Todd weren’t the only characters that we had fun watching. I personally really liked all the girls lol

I also love how you’re bringing up the most important thing in the world: Yandere Todd. The short answer to your question would be Yes. I think I mentioned it before, but still: it’s stupid how right up our alley this whole thing is lol What surprises me isn’t just the fact that the production figured that the most logical and fun character arc (mini-arc I guess) for Todd would be to develop an obsessive gay crush (and honestly that makes perfect sense when you think about his character), but also the fact that by the end of this story this development wasn’t “undone”. The boy is still deeply in love and deeply not okay, he is basically 1 second away from becoming a yandere, considering how dangerous he actually is. But also stupid and desperate enough to make dumb yandere decisions.

So yeah, we’ve been enjoying these two a lot (there are more sketches than what we post…), and thinking about them a lot. So you know, Anon, I’ll do something that you didn’t ask for: write a couple of yandere!Todd headcanons, because why not, this is what we do in this blog.

This is more of a general consensus than a headcanon, but still: Todd won’t get over this crush. He’ll live his entire life either trying to win over Wallace or watching him from the sidelines, so it’s almost like they’ll always have been together… even if Wallace wouldn’t always be aware of that. Todd became completely delusional very quickly, so his relationship with Wallace would almost become parasocial overtime.

Todd is a stalker, duh. He would actually consider watching over (or just watching) Wallace his mission in life. It’s one of the reasons for him to get back his vegan edge: if he becomes stronger as a vegan, he’ll learn how to manipulate his brain to be able to see whatever his most beloved person is doing at any given moment. The day he actually manages to learn this is going to be the second happiest day of his life (the first one is the day he met Wallace). Roxie thinks it’s creepy, and rightfully so.

Another thing that Roxie finds creepy (who keeps asking for her opinion, wtf?) is the fact that Todd teleports himself into Wallace’s apartment/house to steal his clothes or to watch him sleep quite regularly. Sometimes he even gets into Wallace’s bed and sleeps next to him, and a couple of times he got so lucky that he even managed to touch Wallace without waking him up. He is sure that Wallace’s reactions that day are a solid proof that they are meant to be together. In actuality, Wallace was just super drunk, tired and horny…

Todd isn’t very happy about the fact that Wallace sleeps around, but he calms himself down by rationalizing this with the thought that Wallace doesn’t get any sparks with these people, he just knows he doesn’t. And sure, he didn’t get them with Todd either, but what they had was still special, and Wallace just doesn’t want to admit it for some reason. Naturally, he got very jealous when Mobile became a permanent part of Wallace’s life. And we’re all lucky that Mobile is a medium of sorts himself, so it’s not that easy for Todd to just beat the crap out of him, even though sometimes he really wants to do that… but for now he just watches Wallace being genuinely happy with someone else. And tries to get stronger to maybe erase Wallace’s memories of Mobile or something among the lines… He would just challenged Mobile to a duel and murder him, but for some reason even Todd has enough brains to realise that Wallace probably won’t ever love him if he does that. Poor Mobile...

Speaking of memories. Todd uses his perfect vegan memory to relive the entire movie shooting experience over and over again. All the aspects of his memory: visual, audial, sensual, he remembers everything. Whenever he isn’t watching Wallace, he just sits in his bed and mumbles everything he said to Wallace back then again and again, while stroking that tattoo he got.

#replies #headcanons #toddallace

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mdeathinside · 1 year

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I genuinely can't believe that people read the whole Beastars manga and still think that Riz & Pina's friendship was unnecessary and came out of nowhere when the whole Murder Resolution Arc points in that direction:

Because Riz & Tem's relationship is meant to be a representation of everything wrong in Beastars. Their society fears conflict, so they try to avoid it, BUT they do it wrong.

When the other boys of the drama club leave the school, Legoshi notices that carnivores and herbivores coexist and live together in peace. Later on, when they end up in the BAM, Bill tells him that they are happy BECAUSE of the BAM, because they can have a place where they eat meat.

Basically, what Bill is saying is that carnivores and herbivores can live together and be in peace, as long as carnivores still have a space for themselves to show their real instincts. It is the same idea their whole society has: carnivores want to eat meat, so even if it is wrong, as long as they do it in a hidden place away from herbivores, the peace outside the BAM will remain.

Later, Juno comes up to a similar conclusion. Yes, the infamous "What's wrong with segregation?" For some reason, she's been criticized a lot for that lol, even though she's just saying what everyone else thinks is the right thing.

And, even if she's wrong, her reasoning does make sense (from a logical point of view). She understands that predation cases reinforce herbivores' bad views about carnivores, and in consequence, it makes carnivores' lives harder. So, she sees the same solution Bill and society see: as long as each has their space, and as both sides hide the worst parts of themselves while being kind on the outside, they can maintain peace.

However, that doesn't work, and Tem's death is the perfect example of this.

Riz believes that other animals like him just because they think of him as a "cute, nice bear". But the thing is, Riz doesn't want to be liked just because of his virtues, he wants to be liked completely as he is, to be accepted despite not being perfect. That's why, when he tells Tem about the pills, he feels happy: he has just admitted that he can be a lot more intimidating, and Tem offers to spend more time with him regardless. Riz believes that, since Tem already seemed to be fine with that information, then he would accept him and love him even if he saw him as he is naturally— bigger and stronger.

Now, of course, the execution goes terribly wrong, BUT, Riz's reasoning is actually right. The thing that can solve all their problems and make them all happy is to accept the other completely, with their flaws and all, and not just ignore that which they might not like.

In fact, that's exactly what Els does with Bill: she calls him out on ALL his mistakes, but she admits that, despite his flaws, he's a good guy at heart. She's not ignoring his wrongs, instead, she acknowledges them, and accepts him as a friend regardless.

THAT is what Riz wanted. For someone to see him as flawed as he could possibly be, as dangerous as he could possibly get, and still love him anyway. Beastars is not the typical "oh, you're not so bad after all!", nor the "I guess we are not so different, huh?" NO. That's not how true acceptance works. Beastars is the exact opposite: it is "Yes, we are different, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to understand each other". It's a "Yes, you are flawed, terribly so, but that doesn't mean you're undeserving of love".

Riz was happy when Tem pointed out he was scary and when he called him a monster, because it was the first time that someone, FINALLY, saw him as something more than a cute bear. Someone, finally, saw him as something else than perfect, and that is good! Because no one is perfect, because we are all flawed. The point of the story is to accept that imperfection is good, and is part of the beauty of life.

Riz, in his fantasy, believed that Tem had seen him as monstrous as he possibly could be and had still seen him as a friend worthy of love. Unfortunately, what truly happened was that Tem, who up till then had never actually seen carnivores as a real threat, suddenly had to face what everyone else told him: that carnivores hide their true, dangerous self.

The big tragedy about their story is that none of them are wrong. Tem did exactly what society taught him to: be nice and friendly to carnivores, and they'll be nice to you. He just saw Riz as another classmate, another boy just like he was, not even aware of their differences.

But that's the problem with the whole Beastars' world: you don't truly accept someone until you know everything about them, and that includes the negative things. Ignoring stuff you don't like solves nothing. As Riz realized, the way to shorten the distance between carnivores and herbivores is to show yourself as you are, with all your virtues and flaws, and hope for others to accept you as such. You can't hide what you're afraid to show others because you don't wanna be rejected, because it will eat you from inside, and that's what ends up causing carnivores to lose it: the stress from trying to be what others want you to.

And that's exactly why Riz's headaches and side effects went away when talking to Tem: the pills are just a narrative device that works to show how, the more "likable" carnivores try to be around others, the more it hurts them. It's not a placebo effect, but it is only an example of how things get better when we just talk and listen to one another.

Seriously, if you paid attention to the whole story, you'd see that Pina was literally the only one who could give him the relationship with a herbivore that Riz longed so much for:

Pina, who knew that he ate Tem. Pina, whom he threatened more than once, Pina, whom he literally hurt just to get Legoshi mad. That sheep, who saw the worst of him, accepts him anyways, deems him deserving of forgiveness, and befriends him. Pina is what Riz always wanted: someone who could see him as a complete monster and love him regardless.

Herbivores' and carnivores' relationships are about taking that risk, accepting that things may go wrong, but trying to be better together anyway. Yes, Riz does deserve to be in juvenile because he made a mistake, BUT he also deserves kindness, and someone willing to help him, and Pina is the one animal that can do that for him. Just like Riz & Tem's relationship represent the mistakes most make, Riz & Pina's represents the way to do things better.

#yes I just wrote a whole mini essay on why my ship is the best so what #no but seriously #the beauty about this story is that unlike others #Beastars is about accepting that we will never be perfect and that's fine #Beastars has never been about justifying mistakes or wrongs #it is about understanding where they come from and trying to do better #and yet the only thing people understood about it was furry homoeroticism #riz beastars #beastars #pina beastars #rizna #riz x pina

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markantonys · 7 months

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I'm curious how "Rand pushing his friends away 2.0" will go. First go round was cause he was scared of hurting them (which is book accurate). The second time in the books is a trauma response so it could go that way in the show too but I just wonder if they don't want to get repetitive of him pushing his friends away. But it is kinda important 🤔 one of the main things is Rand believing his friends aren't in his corner cause of his trauma and self hatred so maybe they lean into that more

yeah it's interesting to ponder! like you say, in the second half of the series it's less "rand pushes his friends away to protect them" and more "rand's friends are geographically separated from him for a long period of time and continue to worry about him despite not being able to see him, whilst rand's deteriorating mental state leads him to incorrectly think his friends have abandoned him and don't care about him anymore" - so if the show went that route in future seasons, i don't think that would feel repetitive with him pushing people away to protect them in s2! and the much stronger EF5 friendship they've established would make it all the more heartbreaking to see rand losing faith in his friends and all the more illustrative of what a bad place he's in (vs. in the books where most readers genuinely believe him when he says they've abandoned him, because the EF5 friendship was relatively lukewarm and the evidence that Everyone Still Cares About Rand was definitely there, but not too strongly or frequently)

it's interesting that rand appears to have actually learned the "pushing people away just makes you and them more vulnerable" lesson after s2 (judging by his Amateur Therapy Session with mat and his apology to egwene), so the approach on that front going forward would have to be either a) rand didn't genuinely learn this after all and is right back to his old tricks in s3, b) rand did genuinely learn it now, but backslides later due to trauma and his deteriorating mental state, or c) the "push people away to protect them" thing is all dealt with in s2 and rand's future isolation will be due to different causes (such as the plot-mandated separation i mentioned above). all 3 seem equally plausible to me!

(but i definitely wouldn't be mad about option C, particularly when thinking about rand's romances. good god the "aaaaahhh i can't be with you i'm soooo dangerous" got SO tiring in the books lmao, like it's not unreasonable for rand to feel that way given the Everything and i'm not unsympathetic towards him, but it just got so tiring! and it made the romances even more difficult to enact than they needed to be & made rand see even less of elayne and aviendha than he already would have due to plot reasons. it also caused a hell of a lot of cognitive dissonance and breaks in rand's own internal logic and characterization, where he's on the one hand going "aaaaahhh i can't be with you i'm soooo dangerous" & refusing to stay in caemlyn with elayne and avi for more than a night lest he draw the forsaken there, and on the other hand he's agreeing to be warder-bonded to everyone & going "come on min, time to bring you into an active warzone" & flaunting his relationship with her in public for all and sundry to see. so the show needs to do SOMETHING here, whether it be preventing his "push them away to protect them" attitude from recurring at all after s2 or making it recur only much later once his bonds & romances are all squared away or saving the bonding until after his epiphany or simply just equalizing his behavior towards each of the 3 so that nobody's getting exceptions to whatever show!rand's internal logic rules end up being.)

#anonymous #answered #wot book spoilers

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thegeminisage · 1 month

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STAR TREK UPDATE TIME!!! thursday we watched tng's "emergence" and ds9's "crossover" (honorific)

emergence (tng):

I HATE HOLODECK EPISODES. i wanted season 7 to go out on a high note. nostalgia and time would have made me forget so many of tng's sins if it had gone out on a high note

girl, the enterprise CAME TO LIFE, had a baby, and then died, and nobody had anything to say about that except "ok let the baby fly into space hope it has a good life!"

the enterprise and moya from farscape could have raised their children together communally. like feral cats.

if kirk had been captain when the enterprise came to life he would NOT have let that baby fly into space. he would have gotten one of those little toddler leashes. he would have paid child support. he's not the step dad he's the dad who stepped up

i honestly don't remember what else happened here because the following episode blew my tits clean off

oh yeah wait i think it was racist to make worf shovel the coal. shame on them. data's way stronger than worf he should have been doing it he would have been like yay i love a novel experience :) i can add this to my file on coal shoveling :)

crossover (ds9):

WORLD'S LONGEST YEAH BOY

no, i'm just going to abandon my bullet points. where do i even begin...you know, actually, let's begin at the beginning, which is the tos mirrorverse episode. i have a wider meta on this in me somewhre i bet but it wasn't always this way! i like, initially watched this, went, "huh! that was neat," and thought no more about it until i read a fanfic (don't ask for it i'm not telling, it was more like 2-3 fanfics honestly) and then i was like WAIT HOLD ON A SECOND. see, my fascination with mirrorverse comes primarily from the following hypothesis:

everyone always says that bones in mirrorverse and bones in the prime universe are the same guy and that makes him god's specialest princess, which i don't disagree with! but i think, deep down, EVERYONE is the same. i think mirrorverse (quite accidentally) provides a pretty compelling commentary on both nature vs nurture and the cycle of violence. kirk, who undoubtedly went to a much worse version of tarsus iv in the mirrorverse, becomes a guy slaughtering colonists by the thousands, because in his mind that's what power looks like and being powerful means being safe. spock, who is brought up to believe violence is logical instead of pacifism, follows that doctrine just as strictly as he sticks to his morals in the prime universe, and indulges in his emotions just as rarely, because in either case he is punished just as much, if not more, for going against vulcan and human social norms.

put the same guys in the opposite situation (ie a mirror) and they will turn out as their own twisted reflections every time. mirror kirk is just as driven to succeed, just at a different game. he has just as much of a temper, but without the apologies that come afterward. he's just and dangerous and as handy in a fight as prime kirk, but without the moral compass that has him pulling punches instead of a knife. he has that same desire for power, though it's to protect himself rather than to protect other people. mirror spock is just as sharp and calculating, he's just running different numbers, after different results. he's just as good at sussing out emotional motives because of his forced distance from them, but he has spent a lifetime being rewarded for exploiting the emotions of others instead of trying to understand them. he even shares the same preference for being the first officer instead of in command, though the two spocks have differing reasons for this. you could even argue that he has the same capacity for loyalty, inasmuch as it's safe or possible to be loyal in the mirrorverse; he avoids trying to kill kirk as much as he possibly can, and when he finds out "his" kirk is gone, immediately does everything in his power to see to getting him back where he belongs. the mirror characters aren't opposites; they're reflections, inversions. they started out as the same base thing. they were made ugly and evil by their circumstances.

we didn't get to see much of mirror kirk and none of mirror bones (to my eternal woe), but knowing mirror spock DID ultimately take action towards pacifism and reform is extremely damning evidence for this hypothesis, at least in my mind palace. our own spock is defined by his compassion and selflessness; he gave his life in the warp core because the needs of the many outweighed his own needs. mirror spock is running the calculation in the other direction; he is thinking of his own needs. yet he comes to the SAME CONCLUSION - it is important for people to be safe, because logically nothing else can hold.

i notice that they carefully avoided saying whether or not spock ACTUALLY killed kirk, and i love that, because i loved the open-ended nature of the original mirrorverse episode - i loved that we could imagine anything happening. kirk dying or becoming a better person or becoming a worse person. i'm a little sad to have finally lost that, but i love that we can still just as gleefully imagine spock shoving a pole through kirk's ribs (in the horny way) or them being little rebels with bones and fighting the system together. ooooh and you better BELIEVE i had to pause the episode and cover my face and take a moment to have my hysterics when they implied mirror spock may have killed mirror kirk bc our kirk asking mirror spock to kill his other self was one of the horniest things tos ever did, up there with amok time and that stupid bondage harness.

speaking of horny, let's get into the actual episode. this episode was so abjectly fucking horny it's ASTOUNDING. it's mind-blowing. i think lesbian kira-on-kira was ABSOLUTELY the way to go as far as introductions. and kira-on-kira PROVES MY HYPOTHESIS!!! mirror kira has the same sympathy for her human laborers (the downtrodden), just not extended further than she extends sympathy for herself. she is also, like our kira, into girls. AND she is seduced by the idea of giving power to a weak bajor. kira's love affair with herself was probably the best part of this episode, number one because women and number two because they understood each other SO well except mirror kira was just unstable enough to be scary. and kira being like a little scared of her and them still being gay was really problematic and horny of them. fun. god. like, BATH SCENE?? HELLO??? i hope nana visitor had the time of her fucking life

mirror garak is also basically the same guy. this is just pre-exile garak. he's so conniving and gay. he didn't even do any of that seductive shit to our kira. why? he's not into girls!

i'm so sorry odo and quark didn't get a better lot in this verse. they don't come back either i checked :( odo was kind of boring, unfortunately, except for3 points: firstly, him slapping julian like 3 times was also problematic but horny. secondly, the goop he exploded into. rip king. (and kira moruning him!! otp.) thirdly, this is odo's disdain and lack of understanding for humanity (humanoidanity?) multiplied by 1000x. this is not an odo who was forced to get to know us and saw that some of us needed the protection he had to live without and now had the power to give, this is an odo who was experimented on and probably killed dr mora on his way out of the facility, and is looking to dish some out instead of take it. FUN. our odo makes hands to touch people with. this odo makes hands to slap people with. rip to that guy and i was absolutely shocked that a do-no-harm DOCTOR killed him but honestly there's probably a net good in that for our julian.

quark running the metaphorical underground railroad out here also seems to echo him selling food to bajorans...also, his, outfit? it made him look like a good person. it's a wonder it took them so long to catch him. our quark is selfish because he sees it as a path to a good life. their quark is selfLESS for the same reason, see? also SCREAM that our kira was like yes we're BESTIES on the other side when she often tells him how much she despises him lmao

o'brien!!! god i wish we had seen more of him but i LOVED him and julian being besties here too. he was like youre NOT my friend and then 20 minutes later helping him escape. it's like he was a sleeper agent, he got one whiff or someone who could afford to have a moral compass and instantly he was like actually yeah humans deserve better than this! i love that julian was just gonna take him back and have two obrien besties and fuck starfleet if they didn't like it lol. obrien secretly also the same, and i'm really glad he got to at least escape w sisko to become a pirate or whatever.

HEY. BY THE WAY. PIRATE SISKO. SO FUN AND EDGY. he was really unhinged and kind of like a lunatic. cw for discussion of rape the rest of this paragraph. so i think there was a light implication via his body language and also "you charmed your way out of the mines" that he was NOT enjoying/consenting to the sex he was having with mirror kira, but very much enjoyed the opportunity to menace her counterpart, and other people, like obrien. again, like odo, he is tired of taking it and itching to dish soem out. UNLIKE odo, we see that he has people he loves! he says "i made the best of a bad life for my crew" and even shakes his head at one of his crew members who is about to do something that will get them hurt - he's also happy enough to take obrien, former target, under his wing on the way out, when he sees something worthy there. JUST LIKE OUR SISKO, he IS protective and he DOES value his people! i loved seeing that core of him, even though his outside was deranged in a fun evil way.

ok, to finally wrap this up, bashir giving away his plate of mush at mealtime because he's gonna get to go back to a nice cozy universe soon (or die) and these people won't is soooo. god. he's SO COMPASSIONATE......like i knew that objectively but we haven't really seen it in action much up until now. it fucking kills me. his compassion, inherent Good Universe vibes, has such a profound impact on mirror obrien in such a short time, but ultimately you CAN'T change this universe. you can affect single people in it, the way kirk got mirror spock, but the point of the mirrorverse is to be evil and edgy (and horny), so no matter WHAT the characters in it do, it is a LAW OF THAT UNIVERSE that powers beyond their comprehension will always reset the status quo to STAY evil and edgy (and horny). like at first i was like oh shit kirk really stepped in it nice job breaking it hero but like it simply CAN'T be fixed. if you try, you will fail. determinism in star trek. wild.

also, wait, sorry, julian coming back filthy head to toe and kira coming back in a ballgown when our sisko has been having kittens trying to locate his people.....iconic. mister privileged having to process ore like kira used to do and kira former ore processor wearing a fancy luxurious evening gown. talk about swapping places.

TONIGHT: tng's "preemptive strike" and ds9's "the collaborator." last non-finale episode of tng!!!

#personal #star trek blogging #tng lb #ds9 lb #one of these days i'll write a real mirrorverse meta #i miss 2021 when i was writing thousands of words of s*pernatural meta daily #would that i could do that for star trek. oh to be a professor once again etc etc

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monkeymindscream · 5 months

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I feel like hopefully stirring up a discussion/inspiring people to share their own thoughts, so have some headcanons I have regarding the Krangs' fucked-up society/biology/etc:

—The Krang as we see them are basically a space-parasite that glommed onto the utrom species. The utrom scientists of yore poked Dimension X too hard (the dimension just past the prison dimension and right before the nothingness that sits at the center of all realities), and accidentally unleashed the eldritch horrors that existed within. i.e. The aforementioned parasites. The utrom ended up being completely overtaken, cordyceps-and-ants style, and countless lives across the galaxy were destroyed as a result of them not leaving well enough alone. Nice work, ya chucklefucks.

—Krang morality is… weird. They do understand there’s a separation between right and wrong, and as a group they tend to try to stick to the “right” side of the equation. And despite being just a shade away from being a hivemind, they can even have individual moral codes about what they personally view as acceptable and reprehensible.

It’s just that unfortunately, their definition of “right vs. wrong” is very different from the rest of the universe. That whole “we’re stronger which means we know better than everyone else” mentality.

—They genuinely think they’re helping when they assimilate planets. Uno wasn’t spouting bullshit when he declared “I am saving this WEAK planet!” Because, really, why would he bother to bullshit at that point? He’d thought his victory was assured, and that Leo would either die at Raph’s hand or be beaten down enough to get krangified himself. Why bother making that statement if he didn’t 100% believe it?

As far as the Krang see it, they are the strongest beings in existence. Only the strong deserve to live. By assimilating other lifeforms, they’re gifting them the strength of the Krang, essentially granting them the right to life. There’s a reason Uno described their goals as a “crusade.” If any other Krang had been around to hear him say he was “saving” earth, they’d have agreed wholeheartedly.

(The “I am a gift!” –line would’ve elicited some eyerolls, though. Not that he’d have cared – as far as he’s concerned he’s just stating the facts, but anyway.)

—What we saw of Earth’s invasion – both in the snippet of the future and present-day events – was far, far more violent and cruel than how Krang invasions typically go. (Example: At one point Casey mentions a “Krang labor camp.” Which, considering they have the ability to krangify whoever/WHATever they want, the Krang shouldn’t logically have a need for a labor camp. They made one anyway.) This is for two reasons:

First, there were only three true Krang doing the invading. We see mechsuits marching around in the future, sure, but we don’t actually see any Krang inside them. This is because it’s just empty tech the sibs built to enforce their will/probably just to deal with the tech Donnie built to combat them. Since the sibs couldn’t rely on numbers to take out their enemies cleanly, they had to utilize brute-force and make things messy.

Second, Uno says, and I quote: “The people of this planet will pay for what they’ve done to me.” The assimilation of earth was personal. He (+his siblings, I can only imagine) were fucking pissed, and putting the hurt on the creatures who took down his entire species was just as much the goal as conquering them was.

—Absolutely none of the chemicals that help determine humans’ emotions can be found in any of the Krang. As such, certain earthling emotional responses are literally beyond their comprehension when they’re functioning how they’re supposed to. They don’t feel anxiety, for example. They can feel fear, but there needs to be immediate danger present for them to get to that point. Which, considering their whole “strength is the end-all-be-all; the weak can get fucked” mentality, isn’t exactly something they would openly indulge in anyway, but you get it. In fact, most emotional responses besides all-out rage are considered the Krang equivalent of going clinically insane in their society.

(Like with humans who’ve been driven insane, these responses are usually brought on by trauma.)

—Bouncing off of this, they’re mostly incapable of feeling empathy or compassion. Not entirely, granted, but it’s essentially only towards members of the little packs they’ll form amongst themselves, and even then there’s limits. Frankly, if they start to exhibit too much of either, they’d be placed into the same “insane” classification above. Too much empathy/compassion will inevitably endanger the Krangs’ collective mission, so more often than not offenders are put down rather quickly.

Note: I really need to emphasize that instances of the above (Krang feeling empathy or compassion/displaying extreme emotional responses that aren’t rage) are not ever a “ooh this individual from an Always Evil species saw the light and now they’re a good guy!” –situation. Krang who end up like this tend to be extremely erratic, and not particularly lucid. Their brains are not functioning the way they’re supposed to if they gain access to this spectrum of emotions, and it’s abundantly obvious. When I say these things qualify them as being insane, I mean it.

—Krang do actually place importance on familial bonds, it’s just that said bonds aren’t usually based on any kind of genetic connection. Krang “siblings,” for example, are overwhelmingly not related in the slightest, and are completely family of choice. The deciding factors between becoming siblings versus just being comrades is that in addition to just being a pragmatic alliance, they actually like each other.

—It’s genetically impossible for Krangs to become inbred or suffer any kind of defects based on the relations of their parents, which plays a part in them not really needing to keep track of who they share genetic material with. Hilariously, though, mating with their chosen siblings is just as much of a taboo for them as sleeping with genetic siblings is for humans. Most would be utterly disgusted at the very suggestion. There is very little in common between human and Krang morality, but that’s one of the few places they overlap.

—Romantic connections are much rarer than the sibling packs they form, but not unheard of. Generally speaking, Krang usually just pair off with the most pragmatic match available during their mating period, and then don’t care if they never see each other again. But it’s perfectly possible for them to form a bond with one partner in particular, integrate them into whatever group they may currently be a part of, and then default to them during the mating period.

(The Krang: The only species where “You’re my default” is actually an incredibly romantic thing to say to your partner.)

—The Krang are hermaphrodites, capable of either inseminating or becoming pregnant depending on the situation. There are differences between males and females, just none involving reproductive organs: Females have heightened reflexes, males have a thicker hide (females have eight layers of skin, males have twelve). Baby Krang, being born fully cognizant (if much smaller and maybe a bit more naive than the adults), need to decide what their sex is the second they pop out, and are then responsible for producing the proper chemicals until they hit puberty to ensure their chosen sex.

(Note: Attempting to produce all the chemicals to try to get the benefits of both sexes will result in the Krang-equivalent of an autoimmune disease. This is highly unrecommended for this reason.)

—Tying in with the above, Krangs’ collective idea of “gender” boils down to like. Stats basically. Did you opt for speed or durability? Masculinity and femininity are completely foreign (and useless) concepts to them.

—The Krang mating process is a combination of several animals I’ve read about. They all have a hectocotylus tentacle (the middle one on their right sides, if you’re wondering), which one partner will remove and present to the mate they’ve decided will carry the new Krang. The babies gestate (Krang will carry between about 50-70 palm-sized spawn at a time), and then when the time is right the kids will eat their way out of their parent. Krang are a lot spongier than most species, so unless things go horribly wrong they’ll survive giving birth, but it’s every bit as agonizing as you’d expect it to be.

—When mating, it's the Krang who’s deemed the stronger of the pair who gets the privilege of carrying the children, considering how violent the birthing process is. Which like, that’s rough buddy, but eh I mean tradeoff they’re also the only ones who actually get any kind of pleasure from the process? Krangs’ hectocotylus tentacles are numb (and y’know. Not attached to the owners body by that point in the event) so it’s not like the ones donating are having any fun...

—There’s four different kinds of Krang within the species: Makers, Interrogators, Assimilators, and Footsoldiers, all categorized by the unique abilities they do or don’t have.

Makers are known for their ability to infuse the essence/power of the Krang into things. Think the flawless synchronization the three Krang we see have with their mechsuits, or hell – the Dark Armor. All made by maker-Krang.

Interrogators are characterized by their ability to literally burrow into people’s minds to collect information. We all saw how that worked.

Assimilators are the ones capturing things in meat vines and turning them into mindless zombies for the Krang cause. They differ from Makers in that, while their control is fairly superficial, all things considered, they can take control of near anything. It’s ultimately irrelevant whether they're controlling a living person or an inanimate object (like a friggin train, as we saw in the movie), but their powers are noticeably more effective on living organisms. Makers, though their connection/control of what they infuse Krang energy to is close to absolute, can only do this with nonliving items. Which then drain the lifeforce/essence/souls of any non-Krang lifeforms who were unfortunate/stupid enough to try to control them.

Footsoldiers are defined by the fact that they don’t have any special abilities. Two’s a Footsoldier, and this is actually why she’s so fuckin feral with “no character development.” It was either prove she was strong by constantly being the craziest motherfucker in the room, or slip down to the bottom of the barrel.

—Despite what you might think based on the clear lines being drawn amongst “types,” there’s no caste system in place. They value strength above all else, which could come from any type. (It’s just that unfortunately for Two, it’s a lot harder for Footsoldiers to prove their strength than the other three.)

—It’s not uncommon for Krang to keep “pets” of some of the species they assimilate. They can grow just as attached to their pets as they would towards any of their siblings/defaults, it’s just that unfortunately everything said pet used to be before getting Krangified tends to get wiped clean. If Leo hadn’t shown up to rescue him, Raph had been on his way to becoming Uno’s new pet.

—Two words: Environmental mimicry.

Prior to being infected by the Krang parasite, utrom were an aquatic species (amphibious technically, but semantics). They had a number of things in common with a variety of earthen cephalopods, octopi in particular. Octopi are really, really good at blending in with their environments, and can do everything from changing color to changing their texture. Utrom had a similar ability. Not so much to blend in with their physical environments, granted (though they could do that too), but blending in with other species. In short, they can shapeshift without a cloaking brooch.

This is very much a forgotten skill amongst the Krang, or at the very least no living Krang knows of it. Which, yeah, sample size of three, but the point stands. Krang are infinitely more aggressive than utrom were, and as such tend to (literally) tackle problems/adversaries head-on. They’ve had no need to disguise themselves for millennia, so over the years they collectively forgot they even could. Still, it remains something within the scope of their abilities, even if they never make use of it.

—Krang secrete mucus when stressed. Leo refers to the Krang as “slimeballs” in the movie, they're not actually all that slimy. Because looking at it from a biological standpoint, the reason why creatures are “slimy” (think amphibians and worms), is because their skin needs to be wet for them to absorb oxygen. The Krang, being aliens, might not even need oxygen, or if they do I question whether they’d process it the same as earth creatures. So there wouldn’t really be a need for them to be slimy 24/7. Instead, it's reserved for situations where they're in some form of distress. It makes them more difficult to grab in a potentially deadly situation, see, since Krang are most likely to feel stressed when faced with someone stronger who has murder on their mind.

#copy-pasting from my convos with Wig again #I come up with all my best shit talking to her what can I say #might share some more character-specific thoughts later if I can be bothered/people are interested #but in the meantime have this #rottmnt #muttering about turtles #krangcanons #krang rottmnt

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extremeexhaustion · 10 months

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My Take on Aziraphale's Decision (GO 2 spoilers!)

Ok, y'all, it's time to pull out my psychology degree and my own experiences with trauma. This is gonna get a little heavy, but I feel that these extra details are necessary. I put my theory in a "read more" tab in order to not clutter the already messy fandom posts.

TL;DR - Aziraphale was manipulated by the Metatron to go to Heaven of his own free will because the Metatron wants control over him/Heaven again. The Metatron likely knew how Crowley would react and pushed for a suggestion that would cause a miscommunication/separate the pair to leave AZ in a vulnerable position that's easier to manipulate. Our angel is going to go through Hell trying to get back out of that situation and could potentially face life, er, soul-threatening danger if/when he tries.

First off, I do fully believe that Aziraphale went back to Heaven of his own free will. However, I also believe that he was in fact manipulated into his choice. I'll be honest, the scene with the Metatron almost gave me a panic attack because it reminded me so much of what extended family members used to do with me. Swooping in unexpectedly, giving a gift (the coffee in this case), putting me in an isolated position away from people who would defend me, and then demanding something in a roundabout way despite showing little to no interest in me before. This is an abuse tactic that's fairly common in family dynamics between an older, more powerful member and a younger, more ostracized member.

I'll deconstruct this manipulation strategy in a moment. For now, I am going to address the coffee theory going around.

There is a slight chance that AZ was given cyanide (which tastes like bitter almonds) to alter his mental status. This is based on circumstantial evidence as at the coffee shop, the Metatron asked for a "dash of almond syrup" yet he says it contains a "hefty jigger of almond syrup" when he hands it to AZ. While that isn't a true measurement, it does indicate a change in the amount or presence of something in the coffee that would cause a stronger taste of almonds. I may not know what a "jigger" means in British English, but I certainly do know what "hefty" means.

It was shown to us, the audience, that poisons don't kill or even really hurt demons or angels. They act more like a hard liquor where inhibitions are lowered and emotions run much more rampant than logical thought. It is a known manipulation tactic to get the other party tipsy or drunk to make them more vulnerable to suggestions that they may not agree to normally. There's a good reason why people go to bars to find hook-ups. And, as we all are aware, drunk people are capable of making their own decisions yet have a higher tendency to make poor ones. That's why a sober friend is usually put in charge of everyone else for safety.

How can this be used for manipulation? Simple, the abuser can claim that it was your, the abusee's, decision(s) all along which shifts the responsibility off of them and onto you. While I can't say for certain due to the fact that we didn't witness their actual conversation, I can say that guilt and shame have always been efficient means of controlling Aziraphale and that it is very likely that the Metatron knows this. So, using a tactic like this where if AZ tried to pull back from it then Metatron can claim that it was AZ's decision and he shouldn't back out of it.

Now that I've addressed the coffee theory, I'm going to break down the steps of the abuse tactic I saw in this final episode.

Step 1: Catching the victim off guard

Abusers are always trying to have the upper hand in a situation. Showing up without warning is an actually extremely common way for a perpetrator to attempt to get their escaped victim in a position where they are forced to interact. The Metatron showed up to the bookshop, unannounced, and asserts himself right away. Although it's played for a bit of a laugh, this scene felt very eerie to me. This being that wants to be seen as powerful establishing himself as the most powerful one in the room by getting the previous powerhouses to scamper away. As someone who has experienced this in real life, it is a terrifying feeling.

Step 2: Giving a gift/Start of Love Bombing

Gifts and flattery are meant to get an abusee to relax in the presence of their abuser. Naturally, a victim of abuse who recently got away would be hesitant. We see that with just how wary AZ acts when Metatron first shows up and is asked to take a stroll. We can see how Aziraphale actually looks to Crowley for permission/comfort before he dares to step outside of the bookshop. The coffee was a way to get AZ to say "yes" to something, an initial submission, and a token of sympathy. Especially with the added "I've ingested things in my time, you know." This statement aims to show a sort of comradery, an "I'm-on-your-side" and an "I-understand-you-unlike-them". All meant to lower Aziraphale's guard for the talk they are about to have. Sometimes it is also used to start a conversation even when it is unwanted which I have experienced quite a few times.

Step 3: Isolate the victim/take them out of their comfort zone

Isolation is one of the most significant elements of abuse. It's how an abuser retains control over a person alongside the fear of violence/rejection. The Metatron doesn't attempt to get AZ away from Crowley initially through trying to get the demon to leave. He knows full well that the demon won't leave the bookshop of free will nor relinquish the position of protector. So, he targets the more vulnerable person in the relationship: Aziraphale.

He gently encourages AZ to come with him outside of the bookshop (where the Principality feels most comfortable & therefore the most capable of standing up for himself) and away from Crowley. When AZ gives in and starts to leave, the instrumentals in the background kick in and they paint a rather scary picture. The minor key/dark music that plays as the Metatron glares harshly at Crowley indicates that he knows that the demon is an obstacle in his plans and he needs to drive them apart. There are plenty of stories in real life where the toxic parents of a married couple are the cause of a divorce because their abused grown-child is convinced to do/think in a certain way that is harmful/hurtful towards their spouse. All because the spouse was "stealing" the abusee away and perhaps for even defending said abusee in the past.

In essence, the Metatron wants Aziraphale back in Heaven and under his control (since he's the one the archangels answer to). He can't achieve that if Crowley is around because Crowley will always protect Aziraphale. It's much simpler to get AZ to drive his demon away through a misunderstanding and basically insulting the other (think all the fics that have Crowley saying "Of course he couldn't love me, I'm a demon") by insinuating to Crowley that AZ would only love him if he was an angel again. The Metatron's offer is phrased in a way that he very likely knew would cause a rift and make him the winner in the end.

Step 4: Flattery/Continuation of the Love Bombing & Use of guilt

The only bits of their conversation that we, the audience, are permitted to see is practically saturated with flattery. Words of how Aziraphale is the only candidate who makes any sense, that he's a leader, he's honest, he's the angel for the job, and so on. This is practically an excess of praise considering how AZ was normally treated in Heaven. We can actually see how thrown off he is by his body language and protests because of how contrasting it is to the status quo. When this doesn't work, the Metatron changes his tactic to taking advantage of AZ's sense of guilt that's been around since the Garden of Eden. He targets the angel's biggest weakness; Crowley who fell for asking questions that Aziraphale caused him to ask (from what AZ knows).

It is a bit more of an uncommon tactic, but offering a seemingly "perfect" solution is something that manipulators will use. The Metatron offers a "solution" to Aziraphale's dilemma and guilt. He offers a place for Crowley in Heaven as an angel that AZ could be the one to order essentially reversing AZ's "mistake" and allowing them to be together without fear. The Metatron is also offering Aziraphale a position where he can "make a change" and a sense of belonging that he has never had. An opportunity not only to make Heaven better, but a true place within Heaven.

The best real life comparison I can make would be a man with five wives losing one and turning to a former wife to come back to replace the void. This man promises all of the love in the world and better treatment than before. The ex-wife goes back because she is lured in by these promises and the status quo that came along with the abuse. Often, this woman ended up murdered in the end.

Step 5: Make the demands in a way that it doesn't seem demanding

The Metatron, once he has Aziraphale in his sights, is very yet subtly pushy from the start. It could be initially seen as impatience like when he insisted that AZ drink the coffee so he could move onto the topic of their little talk. However, this same pressure is present throughout his screen time. When they head out to walk, during the talk (that we've seen), when they headed out of the bookshop again, and when AZ didn't get on the elevator/lift at first.

His sentences may not be phrased as demands, but the intense pressure of a demand is laced beneath his words. This puts Aziraphale in a very uncomfortable position where it likely feels like he has no right to refuse. Not when he's already basically said yes. And that strained, painful grin on his face during the credits is an expression I've made myself doing a task I really didn't want to do, but felt like I had no other choice. Because now it was my responsibility to do. Because now I couldn't waste the opportunity. Because I'm such a good person, how could I refuse a request from family?

I was very fortunate to have a non-abusive immediate family, so I got away from these threats once I was old enough to decide to not attend family events or decline invitations. I had a support system to lean on and get me out of those situations.

Unfortunately, Aziraphale's only defender was Crowley and now he has no-one to protect him. To drag him out of the depths of the toxicity of Heaven. As I pointed out earlier, IRL victims in these types of situations often end up being murdered the next time they try to get away. So, I have a feeling that Aziraphale will be in a lot of trouble when he realizes that he really can't change anything. That he'll try to get away, but will be dragged right back in and his only hope will be that Crowley can somehow sense his distress then come to his rescue. But after the way they separated, would his demon come to his aid?

Potential Season 3 just screams angst for over half of the runtime.

#ineffable husbands #aziraphale/crowley #crowley/aziraphale #good omens #good omens season 2 #good omens 2 spoilers #theory

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7-wonders · 2 years

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Lean On Me (Michael Langdon)

Is this entirely self-indulgent? Yes, yes it is.

In my mind this takes place in Mad Love, but there is no mention of plots or situations that would specifically place it within that AU, so this can also be read as a stand-alone. TW for anxiety and mental illness.

From the moment you woke up today, you could feel it. Anxiety, twisting through your veins and slowly but surely tightening its grip on every part of your body until you feel like you're being squeezed from the inside out. It activates the primal part of your brain that tells you there's danger lurking, one that you need to fight against or fly from. How are you supposed to do either when the call is coming from inside the house?

This isn't an unfamiliar occurrence, unfortunately. Anxiety's one of your oldest, most toxic relationships. Some days are better than others, and as you've grown and learned more about yourself and your body and mind, you've seen a lot more of those better days. Still, when the days are bad, they're bad. It's hard to use the "coping skills" and everything else you've learned in years of therapy when you're already in the thick of an anxiety attack before you even gain consciousness.

Society isn't kind to those with mental illness. Sure, there's awareness days and campaigns and plenty of podcasters advertising online therapy hubs. Beautiful, smiling people talk about struggling and finding help and how they're better, how you can be better too, if only you try X/Y/Z or call A/B/C. You're supported, until the moment you begin to show symptoms in public. Then you're a pariah, an other. The weak one in the pack, meant to be cast out in the cold to fend for yourself in the name of keeping the majority strong.

So, even though you feel like you are going to keel over and die at any given moment (you won't, you know that, but the feelings seem so much stronger and louder than any logic you can throw at them), you force yourself out of bed to tackle the tasks that you know are required of you today. You put on a smiling face when, in actuality, everything is too bright and too loud and too much, all of it acting as further triggers to exacerbate your anxiety.

All that you want to do when you get home is hide under the covers and hope that maybe you'll come out on the other end of this anxiety when you next emerge. You're so tired; tired of the day, tired of having anxiety, tired of having to fight—just tired. You can barely spare the energy to plug your phone into the charger before falling into the bed and allowing anxiety to engulf you, just as it's wanted all day.

That's how Michael finds you; hidden under the covers and curled up into a ball, trying desperately to find some comfort in whatever form it will come to you in. Gently, so gently that it makes the tears that have been burning at your eyes all day begin to well over, he pries the covers up and slides under them while simultaneously encircling his arms around your shaking body and pulling you to him. While you would have thought being held, being confined, would only exacerbate your anxiety, you find that the tightness of his grasp helps to ground you a little bit.

"I'm sorry," he murmurs after a moment, his lips against your forehead.

"It's not—" you sniffle and shake your head, "I just get like this sometimes. You don't have to apologize."

"Like what?"

You search for the proper words to convey that it feels like the Earth is going to open and swallow up you and everything that you love, like everything around you is out to deliberately hurt you, like the world will cease to exist if you do not control everyone and everything to make sure that nothing can go wrong. Finding none of those words, you simply say, "Anxious."

Michael shifts his hand under your chin, tilting your gaze until you're looking at him. When you meet his eyes, so full of love and concern for you, you break. Everything that has been building up inside of you bursts forth like a busted damn, and you let out a strangled sob as you finally begin to cry. He holds you to him again, allowing you to cry out your worries and anxieties, your fears and racing thoughts, into the soft fabric of his shirt.

And he simply holds you so tenderly; not like you're fragile or made of glass, but like you're something precious. He doesn't make false promises of how it will all be okay or tell you that you don't need to worry so much. He just holds you and lets you be, supporting you in whatever form you may need it.

Only later, when your sobs have quieted to whimpers, do you find enough of your voice to speak again. You look up at him and confess in a whisper that, "Sometimes, I feel so anxious that I think it's going to kill me."

He doesn't laugh at you or tell you that that's a stupid thing to think. He doesn't scoff in condescension, nor does he roll his eyes at the ridiculousness of your statement (you know it's ridiculous, you do, but it feels so real that it doesn't matter). Instead, he says, "You are far too strong to allow your anxiety to get anywhere close to killing you. And if it somehow did, I would fight through angels and demons and whoever else to bring you back to me."

For the first time today, you feel yourself smile. "Even God?"

"Yes, even God. Nobody stands a chance when they're trying to keep me away from you." Michael kisses your nose now, and you sigh against him in relief. "Can I go get a bath ready for you? I think there's some of that lavender stuff that you like that I can put in it."

It's bubble bath, you know, but you don't bother to correct him. Instead, you just find yourself thankful to be so loved by this man that he would offer to do anything to try and make you feel better.

"Will you stay with me?" you ask.

"Of course. And once you're done, we can come back and lay down some more. Does that sound good?"

"That sounds great."

Michael smiles and kisses you once more, running his hands down your arms to make sure that you're not shaking anymore before standing up from the bed. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay." He keeps eye contact with you until he's in the bathroom and can't any longer.

Michael can't cure your anxiety. No one person or thing can do that, except you, perhaps. But, in his own small ways, he can help you enough that the hold anxiety has on your body seems to listen just enough for you to realize how lucky you are to have Michael by your side, for better or for worse.

#michael langdon #michael langdon imagine #michael langdon x reader #american horror story #ahs imagine #american horror story imagine #ahs #michael langdon imagines #ahs apocalypse #mad love musings

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tloubraininfection · 1 year

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Ever since we got those mixed messages from Neil and Craig about what the second season is going to be I was thinking about all the changes theyve already made to the story in the show and how they actually make the second game make less sense not more? And how it’s gonna be so much harder to adapt it now. Like:

1.Tommy is about to become a father (or he already is one, not sure how much time has passed). I can`t imagine him abandoning his wife and child do go on a suicide revenge quest. Especially not the way he`s characterized in the series. He was super reluctant to go with Ellie to deliver her the Fireflies and that was a far less dangerous mission and his baby was still not there yet so imagine him in few years’ time.

2.The world of tlou in the series is a far more dangerous place than it was in the game. The infected are so much stronger and they have the hivemind thing and on top of that it has been established that if you run into a bloater you are as good as dead. The same goes for people, they are all ruthless and will try to kill you and they are really good at it. So I just cant imagine Ellie and Dina just waltzing into Seattle and murdering WLF soldiers left and right. The whole thing requires game logic and game suspension of disbelief that is just impossible in the tv show.

3. Again, Ellie alone taking out the whole of Santa Barbara? Is she getting Iron Man suit for that part?

4. In spite of the fact that the creators go on and on about how Ellie likes violence they`ve shown exactly the opposite in the show. The violence she`s experienced is deeply traumatizing to her, she takes no pleasure from killing, she has no secret penchant for torture. How are they going to jump from this to all the f-ed up things Ellie does in tlou2? I mean, sure they can, but like make it make sense.

5. The fact that we got it confirmed in the last episode that Joel had attempted suicide and that Ellie is struggling with suicidal ideation is just all kinds of wrong in the context of the second game. I cant even begin to explain how much it bothers me and why. Luckily I don’t have to, there are people who`ve done it already and far better than I ever could so I`ll just refer you to them:

6. Also just for science, if the world of tlou was every bit as hateful and revenge driven as Neil seems to think how fast would they run out of people, do you think? Like, there`s no way there are still any people alive after 20 years, right? Everyone is someone`s something. The whole thing is just… eh.

All this is my way to convince myself that it cant be that bad, right? Right? I just so want to watch the next season and so not want to relive the trauma of tlou2. But Neil is still holding the steering wheel so all this is useless anyways. But then again, why are they making things harder for themselves? I just want the second season to not be the second game, ok? Just make it anything else, just not that!

#that stupid game is gonna haunt he till I die #i want the museum sequence #and ellie learning that her life hes meaning outside of the immunity #and I want her to do all the super awesome things in Jackson #i want this story to be meaningful #and beautiful #even if its painful sometimes #you know like the first one was #a story about the broken world #and people trying to survive #and still finding beauty in it #still finding love and something to fight for #not a story about how everyone hates everyone else #no thanks #tlou 2 spoilers #the last of us 2 spoilers

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mozillavulpix · 1 year

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everyone has their way to rewrite Danganronpa 3′s “how did Junko turn Class 77 into Ultimate Despair”, here’s my version

So basically Junko gets them all together and forces them to decide a Trolley Problem. On one end is Chiaki, and the other end is the Reserve Course. If they choose to save Chiaki, Junko will turn on the Suicide Video in the school, making everyone in the Reserve Course choose to kill themselves. And if they choose to save them, Chiaki will die. And while they’re all arguing amongst themselves, not sure of what to do, Junko makes them both happen, basically saying that people that indecisive could never be Symbols of Hope and the deaths that are happening are their punishment. And as they’re watching with horror, Junko manipulates them into deciding it’s all their fault and they should just stop caring altogether like her.

I just think it’d tie so much together:

It’s obviously a call-forward to the ending of DR2, where they have to decide whether to sacrifice themselves or the world, and find themselves unable to choose. Thematically, it’s so brilliant to have their final hurdle before being able to leave the program be a similar thing to what plunged them into Despair in the first place, and logically, it also explains how Junko was so confident that they wouldn’t be able to shut down the program - she’s already seen them fail to make a decision like this before.

It’d be a way to call out their implicitness in the dangerous mindset that Hope’s Peak drilled into them. They’d have plenty of reasons to have a gut reaction to want to save Chiaki first - they know her personally and have formed a bond as classmates, and they have Nagito with them who idolises all Ultimates. But that also means they’d be deciding the deaths of thousands of people just because ‘they’re talentless’ or ‘they don’t know them’. The fact that they can earnestly choose things like that without hesitation makes them wonder if maybe they’re the truly messed-up ones. (Which they’re not, it’s all Junko’s fault, but she’s manipulating them into thinking so.)

Or on the other hand, if the fact they have enough empathy to want to help the Reserve Course students over Chiaki makes them ‘failures’ in this talent-obsessed society. If they can’t make the hard decisions to be Symbols of Hope, maybe they should try being Symbols of Despair instead?

It can also tie into Twilight Syndrome, Fuyuhiko’s grief over losing his sister making him determined not to let Chiaki die, but Mahiru’s grief over what happened to Sato making her wanting to protect the talentless people and insulted that Fuyuhiko would treat them as disposable victims again.

Between all that, tensions would get high, even if they overpowered Junko she would probably have plans for that, there’s no way she’d tell them how to save both of them even if she was tortured, and there’s also Nagito who could just make things way more complicated.

(Like sure, you could argue Nagito’s luck should make it so that what he wants happens, and he certainly doesn’t want Chiaki to die, but we know he falls to Despair. So Junko is clearly stronger than his luck, or at least knows how to manipulate it to her benefit)

And it’s only when that reaches a boiling pitch that Junko drops the ball, kills all of them, and tells Class 77 that this happened because of them and this messed-up world and they’d be better off joining her in the new world to come.

Sure, if you stop and think about it, you’d realise none of this is Class 77′s fault and Junko is pulling all the strings, but they’re high-strung teenagers with trust issues of their own and they’d probably be too busy dealing with the whole ‘actually all of society is collapsing too’ to really reflect on it. And maybe dealing with their grief by self-sabotaging and destroying society themselves.

anyway that’s how I think you can do “they all fall to Despair” while keeping the broad strokes introduced in DR3 but making it more subtle and not “the brainwashing anime did it”

#danganronpa #dr3 #spoilers

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