#this is pointless there are so many more important things to discuss and fight about
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Soph I love you but Taylor Swift does not “make herself the victim” there’s so much valid shit that has happened to her for us to feel that way about her, which most of her fans honestly don’t even see her as - granted there as some obnoxious ones but that goes for all fandoms.
Like for example of the experiences I was talking about.
- being sexually assaulted and then being called “greedy” for suing the guy.
- being painted as a “snake” because she didn’t react well to someone writing a misogynistic song about it. Which I feel like is a valid reaction as a woman in entertainment.
- being groomed at 19 by a 30+ something year old.
- getting called a snake worldwide for a narrative that 2 people - who were more famous than her at the time invented.
- being bodyshamed constantly when she had an eating disorder
Yes she’s privileged and has always been, coming from money and having fame, but she does not portray herself as the “victim” and the fact that people think she does just for standing up for herself makes me sad, not because of her but because being a woman myself it just paints the picture that women’s pain or experiences will always be brushed under the rug because we’re classified as “dramatic” and “we should take it with more grace” “be thankful about the good things” like??
I understand that you don’t like her but that assessment just seems wrong.
like i just. you realize you're proving my point right? like this - not just this message, but all of the ones i've gotten where people are waxing poetic about all of the struggles taylor swift has had and how she is absolutely a victim and how dare i suggest otherwise - is exactly what i'm talking about. you feel the need to jump down the throat of anyone who says anything remotely negative about her. this is the whole "victim" narrative, that she is vulnerable and must be protected and defended from all negativity at all times at all costs.
and like. that is on purpose. she has cultivated that narrative for this reason. so that publications are now afraid to post reviews of her albums with bylines because their journalists are getting death threats if they criticize her.
i am not suggesting that taylor swift has never had anything bad ever happen to her. that would be insane. i am trying to say that this culture that has been cultivated within her fanbase of defending and protecting her, is extreme and irrational. and when you don't buy into it, it makes a lot of the content surrounding taylor swift very hard to swallow.
#this is pointless#i know that#you can be devoted to her if you want to be i really don't care#but i will once again point out that i made a very mild negative statement about her#and i now have an inbox full of messages like this#and can you perhaps see how that is#an overreaction to me making a post on my blog#not tweeting at taylor swift#not yelling at her on the street#not starting a campaign against her#surely if yall can make posts about how much you love her i can do the opposite#and again#this is pointless there are so many more important things to discuss and fight about#i swear to god i did not mean to post that post because i knew it would inevitably lead here#but i made the choice to leave it up so this is my penance#soph rambles
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There's a great disturbance in the fandom about whether Sabine is Force-sensitive or not. So let's take a look from the beginning.
In A New Hope, Obi-Wan explains the Force as:
It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.
And according to George Lucas himself:
In Rebels, Kanan uses Obi-Wan's explanation for the Force more than once. There's an important conversation in Trials of the Darksaber, which is related to this and to Sabine.
Hera: Or maybe because she doesn't have the Force, you don't believe she can do this?
Kanan: No. The Force resides in all living things. But you have to be open to it. Sabine is blocked. Her mind is conflicted. She's so expressive and yet so tightly wound. She's so...
Hera: Mandalorian.
Kanan: Very.
Kanan never says Sabine doesn't have the Force. On the contrary, Hera says she doesn't have it and Kanan says no. What Kanan says implies that Sabine does have it, she's just not open enough to wield it.
Keep those quotes in mind for later.
Now, we have to address the Bantha in the room: the midichrolians. We're introduced to this concept in the prequels trilogy, I believe. It serves as a more technical explanation of the Force. The SW fandom wiki offers this definition:
Again, the midichrolians are in all living organisms because the Force resides in all living things.
As far as the movies go, we don't know how high the M-count has to be for someone to be able to wield the Force. We just know Anakin has a count of over 20.000 and that it's a very high number, so he's very strong in the Force.
We can assume that the higher the midichrolians, the more aptitude the user has in the Force.
I'm guessing Sabine has a low M-count, thus limited abilities in the Force because of this line in episode 2 of Ahsoka:
Huyang: I have know many padawns over the centuries, and I can safely say your aptitude in the Force would fall short of them all.
Some people interpreted this line as "Sabine isn't Force-sensitive at all." What I understand from that line is that Sabine sucks at using the Force.
Either way, midichrolians haven't even been mentioned in the show, but I've seen people talk about it regardless. I find most discussion of this kinda pointless because there's not much to go on, so we can only speculate.
Moving on. In episode 3, Ahsoka trains Sabine blindly so she has to rely on the Force to see. I think a lot of people missed that Sabine did, in fact, use the Force in that scene. Watch carefully.
youtube
2:16. After Sabine has grown impatient for not succeeding, she finally manages to sense Ahsoka's presence (she still couldn't see and Ahsoka didn't touch Sabine) and fight a little, until Ahsoka stomps on her foot and Sabine falls to the floor.
Ahsoka: Anger and frustration are quick to give power. But they also unbalance you.
Why would Ahsoka say that in the first place if Sabine hadn't used the dark side of the Force? She probably struggles with the light side because it's so different from what she's used to as a mandalorian. It's more aligned to her nature.
Later in the same episode, this conversation takes place:
Sabine: I can't use the Force. I don't feel it. Not like you do.
Ahsoka: The Force resides in all living things. Even you.
Sabine: If that's true, then why doesn't everyone use it?
Ahsoka: Talent is a factor. But training and focus are what truly define someone's success. Not everyone can handle the type of discipline it takes to master the ways of the Force.
This fits perfectly with Obi-Wan's quote and what George Lucas said in the interview. This is consistent within the Star Wars universe and Dave Filoni's previous work.
It does not break the canon, it does not retcon anything. We simply hadn't seen before someone training to use the Force and struggle so much with it.
And to me, that is far more interesting than having every single main character being just overly and naturally competent with the Force. You don't have to be the Chosen One to use the Force, you just have to have enough determination to put in the work.
Back to Ahsoka. In episode 4 (the latest episode that's come out since I'm writing this) Sabine manages to do a very slight Force push during her duel with Shin. I know many people will disagree with me, but just watch the scene again.
youtube
1:22. Shin disarms Sabine and knocks her to the ground. Sabine extends her hand and Shin is slightly pushed back. Her arm falls down, her head turns to the side.
I've seen multiple people say Shin did this in anticipation (when has anyone everyone done that?) and that Sabine didn't Force push her. But the thing is, there's a Force push sound effect. Listen closely. It's faint and short, but it's definetely there.
I think Shin's line also confused a lot of people.
Shin: You have no power.
This is not "Sabine tried to use the Force and failed and Shin reiterates it." Again, there's a Force sound effect. That should be proof enough that she's somewhat connecting to the Force. They wouldn't put it there if she wasn't using the Force.
I think Shin and Baylan, as sith/dark jedi or whatever they are, see the Force only as a means to power. That's what Baylan is seeking with all this anyway: power.
Someone with low Force-sensitivity like Sabine would seem totally powerless to them. Everyone has been telling Sabine she's not good enough for it (Huyang, Shin, even Sabine herself.)
So, you can totally disagree with me on this, but I personally interpreted that line as Shin telling Sabine to quit while she's ahead. If she'll never be as powerful as the rest of them, why even bother to try? But Sabine, as the stubborn mandalorian she is, still continues to try.
I think Dave Filoni is painting a very clear picture: Sabine can indeed use the Force, but she's not naturally skilled at it. I think she might still have some sort of block from it, like Kanan said. The show seems to be slowly building up to her wielding the Force more succesfully, though. Starting small, one step at a time.
With Sabine's decision (she didn't have much choice, if you ask me) near the end of episode 4, I do wonder if Sabine will be a dark side user. Shin and Baylan use the dark side but they don't seem to be consumed by it. We'll just have to wait and see.
I understand that people think that Sabine being Force-sensitive diminishes her character, but so far I don't think that's the case. She still uses her blasters and some mandalorian tricks up her sleeve. This just adds another layer to her character. Natasha Liu Bordizzo said in an interview somewhere that Sabine changes fighting styles frequently, and I think we'll see more of that soon.
As long as Sabine stays true to her mandalorian ways, I'm fine with it. How cool would it be to have a mandalorian-jedi in the mandoverse? Sabine has been kind of disconnected to her mandalorian heritage for a long time now, and I'm sure she won't be a regular Jedi, if a Jedi at all. She's a special breed, one of a kind. Who knows, maybe she'll help to bring balance to the Force after all.
If Bo-Katan can walk both worlds, then so can Sabine.
#Youtube#sabine wren#force sensitive#the force#ashoka spoilers#ahsoka show#star wars ahsoka#star wars#ahsoka series#star wars rebels#sw rebels#ahsoka
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I'm not sure if this is something that has been discussed before, but the pacing of book 3 has always bothered me a little (not enough to consider the writing as less than phenomenal, but still). There's actually a few things that I think could have been handled better and I just grouped them under 'pacing issues' as an umbrella term, even though it's not always the most fitting term. Most of these aren't even really issues, but just my personal preference.
For instance, I always thought it's a pity we didn't get more episodes with the Gaang after Zuko joined the team. I love the fieldtrip episodes, but we barely got to see team avatar travelling together (and Toph didn't even get a fieldtrip!). There's a lot of untapped potential there and we're free to explore that ourselves of course, but having more canon storylines would've been nice and I think it wasn't impossible. (This is a segue into issue nr. 1):
Book 3 spends too much time preparing for the invasion.
The Gaang spends half a season to prepare for the invasion (they mostly just travel to the meeting point). This makes no sense to me as we, the viewers, know that Azula knows all about it (as King Kuei so nicely tells her about those plans in 2x19 "The Guru"). (Which btw, he could have mentioned to the Gaang after learning that Azula was not a Kyoshi warrior, but I'll let that slide as Kuei is canonically a useless person).
They build up towards a fight that we know is doomed to fail and that on itself is okay, but that moment could've happened earlier in the season (not so early that Zuko doesn't have the time to finally understand what his destiny truly is). If the invasion failed earlier in the season, Zuko (and Suki) would have joined earlier. Many episodes in early book 3 could easily take place after the invasion (thinking of "The painted lady" or "The puppetmaster", maybe(?) "Sokka's master" and "The runaway", though some elements would have needed altering, e.g. the Sparky Sparky Boom Man subplot (I say we get rid of it entirely)).
Conversely, there's one episode, or rather conflict, that should have occurred before the invasion. (Segue to issue nr. 2!):
2. What even was the invasion plan, really?
After the invasion fails, we learn during a beach party that the Fire Lord is planning to literally burn the entire world when the comet arrives, so the Gaang's new plan of discretely hiding and training until the comet passes turns out to be pretty pointless. Aang suddenly has to face the Fire Lord much earlier and more importantly, when Ozai's at his most powerful, which is less than ideal. So the combat training recommences. It is at this point that Aang suddenly realizes he's not willing to kill Ozai. He's of course right to feel conflicted about it, and it's understandable that his friends don't completely understand just how important this is for him. It's a necessary and significant moment in the show, but it's just strange that they haven't had the discussion before.
Aang knows he has to defeat the Fire Lord pretty early on. Throughout book 1 and book 2 he's preoccupied with learning to bend the elements (when he's not riding animals or escaping imprisonment or facing whatever other problem the plot throws his way). It's too early to think about the technicalities of what that defeat exactly entails because priorities, I totally get it. But by book 3, they have a pretty elaborate plan to invade the Royal Palace. It's just never explained how they will defeat the Fire Lord. Hakoda explains the plan as follows:
The eclipse only lasts eight minutes, not enough time for the whole invasion. And the Royal Palace is heavily guarded by firebenders. So that's where we'll need the eclipse's advantage the most. When this is finished, the Avatar will have defeated the Fire Lord. We will have control of the Fire Nation capital, and this war will be over!
Assuming the plan was not to kill Ozai (because Aang would have felt conflicted about that), how exactly would Aang defeat the Fire Lord in those eight minutes? Was he just supposed to knock him unconscious and then immediately put him in a cooler cell? If that's the case, I didn't see them carry one around. Aang had thought about the possibility of not coming back from the battle (as he tells Katara just before leaving), so it would only make sense for him to consider the possibility that it could be Ozai who would not make it out alive because of him.
#avatar: the last airbender#atla#iroh’s content and comments#i rarely ever make posts like this#but i really wanted the voice these... considerations#maybe this is something everyone already agrees on and i'm just late to the party#but in my experience book 3 is really popular#and deservedly so#but it could have been better#and by better i mean more adapted to my personal taste
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Owari no Seraph Chapter 133 - Analysis & Review
Hello everyone, it's been a goddamn while; I've been busy with things, also learning constantly a new language; thus, given that I did like the latest chapter, I wanted to talk or discuss about it; as always, feel free to discuss, disagree, or share your thoughts; though of course, the only thing I request is respect.
Thus let's proceed
A destroyed world a talk about the "meaning of life" & "what it means to live". At the end, we're young.
The chapter might joke a lot between the girl's conversation which it might feel unnecesary or perhaps not worth it but given how the two characters were build; Shinoa is the type of character that does know when there's certain tension when someone is concerned about her.
But let's focus on something more important; the chapter begins with Mitsuba finally finding Shinoa who has been far away from her squad after Guren, Mahiru, Krul and company left to most likely the place where Yuu is.
Mitsuba after for so long finally made an appearance which is something I'm glad for; and as a good friend, she shows her concern given that she's never seen Shinoa act out of her usual demanor.
Something that I do find adorable is the very fact that Mitsuba is trying to be supportive given that there is a weight being carried on Shinoa's shoulders; while it's true Shinoa has never spoken about what she endured as a child; Mitsuba does want to understand her friend and no matter what might happen, they're there for her.
Thus leading to the next panel; Shinoa has always seen herself as a character with no value or rather, that thanks to her existance, the lives of innocents were screwed given that she was compatible with the monster that made sure the world ended in the way it is.
But once again, Mitsuba does convey the message of how Yoichi, Kimizuki and her feel towards her given that there's absolutely no one to reasure her that her life is as valuable as others.
And of course, we got the author with its weird interest on female bodies but; jokes aside from such panel; there's an aspect of truth to it. They are teenagers, they're no longer kids; they're characters that were forced to grow up at a very young age, forced to change to endure all the struggles of their surroundings to the point they had to mimic adults in a sense.
Many might find it pointless, boring, and perhaps even unrelated but the very fact that they touched the emotions of Shinoa does lead to a heavier topic.
Such topic is reflected in the next panel:
While it's true that Yuu has constantly talked about "a reason to live", "family", "friends", etc. Yuu does not know the weight of those words; he says he's going to save everyone, but in order to save somoene, there are consequences, losses and the sort in such path; nothing can be obtained for free in life and that's something that perhaps he might face eventually.
Returning with the squad, Mitsuba at first dismisses such question about the "meaning of life".
There is a huge relevance to the question; and this of course, reflects to the very first issue; that they've been working on how to save their lives that they haven't ever thought about themselves.
While it is very common to see that whenever someone says "that person thinks about themselves" it can come in a negative connotation; but that's not entirely the case; there's a difference between being selfish and understanding one's self.
When it comes to being selfish, it does relate about not caring a bit about what your actions may eventually do to others, how much harm you may cause due to them, willingly or not; it is literally dismissing a reason to as to why there may be something halting something one may want.
But, when it comes to understanding one's self; it is not only a superfitial level of understanding; it is knowing what one person may want, may long, may fight for, what may make them sad, what may anger them, etc.
In this case, Mitsuba realized that she has never given a deep thought to what she, as Mitsuba Sanguu truthfully wants. She grew up to be a soldier, to battle every time in order to protect those who couldn't protect themselves but with the development of the squad, it was not just a journey of sticking together, it was a journey of finding out that love can develop after getting to meet someone.
Eventually, Mitsuba does understand that it's not the typical joke mood or non serious conversation but rather a very important one.
In the next panel, Mitsuba's first longing or desire was to be acknowledged or to be validated. To be recognized; which of course, Shinoa mentions that she does understand that and it is true; Shinoa as a child did want validation from everyone or rather, instead of the term "validation", what it is more proper is "recognition or acknowledgement of existance".
True, in the current chapter Shinoa mentions she was luckier given that they never bothered with her; there's a difference between Mitsuba and Shinoa, which was showing what they could do in order to seek that. Mitsuba tried her best to show that she too held talent; alas with Shinoa, she simply ditched the idea, there was no reason to even fight about it.
But thanks to the very fact that she remembered what Mahiru did even if I too, agree that it was a really harsh method; she did know that at least someone cared about her existance.
Mitsu states that Shinoa was loved in contrast to her that no one loved her; which makes Shinoa to reasure her that she does love Mitsuba. And of course, while it's true that the original source uses the kanji Ai (愛) it does not carry a romantic context (Yes I've been studying if you wonder and there's still a longer way ahead).
Shinoa is reasuring Mitsuba that she too is loved; just like how Mitsuba expressed on her best way that Yoichi, Kimizuki and her cared about Shinoa's safety; Shinoa too knows that the squad itself cares about each other; after all, they're a small family that can only encourage each other to keep going.
But here comes something important that perhaps it might be to personal interpretation but Shinoa does state something important:
Because love exists for someone, it does not mean that's the sole reason to the meaning of life or for a reason to live.
What does that mean?
Us as humans, be in the different envioroments we end up growing, we end up finding purposes for our existance, sometimes it takes longer, other times we have certainty that we found out what we want to do with our lives; along such trail, we will find friends, perhaps a person we might fall in love; we might suffer about a heartbreak or two or so on; but despite that, it's a path we've chosen to walk because very independent of the bonds we forge along the way; there are things we want to do out there, we long for new experiences, new insights, new spots to visit, and of course, we can never suspend the time; we grow up, we mature, we gain interest in other things as we grow which is visible how from childhood, we change a lot when we become teenagers, so as adults too, we change.
In Shinoa's case, she is truthful that she does not find value to her life, given how many chains of events involving her lead to misfortune for others; but despite that, she is thankful that there are people out there that do love her despite the harm her existance may has brought up upon Earth.
Nevertheless, we get a follow up, once Shinoa expressed herself, Mitsuba asks her directly about Yuu's acknowledgement, recognition or validation. Which of course, she responds honestly to it.
It hurts; and it is natural that it hurts her; it's the first time she fell in love with someone but not in the same way Mahiru did, not in the same turn of events Mahiru went through; after all, it's something I'll discuss a bit further from here. Let's continue.
Shinoa eases the mood by asking Mitsuba about how she feels towards Yuu which of course she knows very well that she too has a crush on him. But despite that many might feel the conversation as pointless, there's something certain to the panel itself; it is letting the weight and torment of many mixed emotions go, finally opening up to someone who understands you, to have someone you can trust unconditionally.
The mood eventually soothes to the point the two of them are in peace; having talked about such things when they've never had the opportunity to act like teenage girls, it was a rather refreshing experience for them.
I can't say that's correct or not but even in movies that face the end of the world, characters tend to talk about things they long to do and the sort.
Once Mitsuba asks Shinoa about her first real reason to live; one could understand that it is left to free interpretation given that both girls are simply enjoying their youth; they still haven't found a very truthful reason as to why they're there but for now; they did understand something.
Life is not just about existance, it's more than just hoping validation or acknowledgment, it is akin to what exactly you want to experience, it is about what you want to do instead of what others want you to do.
This leads to the new path I've mentioned before and this shall be discussed in the next point
Moving onwards to a new goal
After a girl's talk; Mitsuba points out about Shinoa's talent that is way above Mahiru's; such talent has always been hinted since the LNs were created.
Shinoa mentions that given that at that time she lacked a motive along goals within her reach; and of course, even Shikama pointed it out that she lacked desires, there was not so much she could do despite being more powerful than Mahiru, nevertheless, Mitsuba is aware Shinoa has gained something she lacked from the very beginning. Confidence.
This leads for Shinoa to have a discussion with her squad, but of course, they were eavesdropping the girls; they gave them their privacy. While they too are clumsy, reckless, immature in general, they too understand that people need some time alone to recollect their thoughts; they understand that there are things that sometimes can only be discussed with a certain someone not because of a lack of interest but rather because there is something that can be conveyed way better.
But very independent of that, it just reflects that Yoichi and Kimizuki have been worried as well about the girls after Yuu's departure along Guren and Vampires.
The next scene is actually something I am rather thankful that I actually thought I'd never see in the story in general; and that is the very fact that they're taking independent action for once; they're no longer following Guren's orders, they're no longer following a vampire's guidance that ends up falling in Guren's hand or Shikama's; nor they are following Yuu's wishes but rather; they're trying to open up a new path but exclusively for what they do label as "family".
Within the squad members, Kimizuki, Yoichi and Mitsuba long to see their families back due to the unfair deaths they had; Shinoa despite not having someone to call family or rather simply accepting the course of nature; she does want to see her friends having their families back, she has seen them struggle, she has seen the desperation of Kimizuki, the longing of Yoichi to have a miracle granted. But instead of following someone else's agenda given that Guren and Mahiru do have knowledge that they simply won't share to the squad; it is the first step for them to walk and open a new path for them.
Shinoa is very aware that their knowledge is limited, along the fact that they're not on an equal ground in terms of power; but given that now she does have confidence and something else; as I mentioned briefly in the other point; Shinoa has a deep understanding that the actions her sister took, do not defind her present or future nor how she will eventually turn out; such outcomes are only decided by her alone and if she wants to create a path along her friends, she has to fight for it giving away for the first time, the real power she has within her.
The very fact that Kiseki-O and Gekkouin were manifested by force instead by their wielders says something about what Shikama sought with Shinoa, what could it be?
Correct. Shikama or Sika Madu, was once an angel that served God but due to his arrogance, he lost his path leading to his eternal punishment for it; but even still, even if the angels that fell with him deemed or viewed him as a God. There was something even the reincarnations of such Fallen Angels were never subjected to.
Absolute control.
And thanks to reading the RAW version of the catastrophe at 16 manga; the purpose of Mahiru and Shinoa at the beginning was to control the punishment the Seraph of the End experiment held. But in contrast to Mahiru; Shinoa was born capable to control demons, she was capable of seeing them from a very young age but given that she has motivation along an objective; that power finally has shined. Leading to a new battle:
Perhaps you, dear readers may wonder how Shinoa was able to connect with Shikama despite him sending her off or cutting their ties; and of course, she does mention there was a small connection; truth to be told; even if Shikama wanted, she was born with him; they were together ever since she came to existance, hence that even if he tried to severe his ties to her, there will be something chaining him down.
And of course, the battle between Shinoa and Shikama has begun
Shikama gave away his power for light BUT, given that Shinoa could devour such darkness; it can only lead this
All the power that came from God's light may be stored in Shinoa's body and as they say, even if darkness tries to consume light; light always finds a way to cast aside the shadows that darkness creates.
Quite long huh? What do you think?
Let me know!!
#owari no seraph#seraph of the end#ons#ons spoilers#ons chapter 133#seraph of the end 133#shinoa hiragi#mitsuba sangu#shikama doji#sika madu#gekkoin#kiseki-o#shiho kimizuki#yoichi saotome#mahiru hiragi#guren ichinose#yuichiro hyakuya#analysis and review
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Greetings. During my various interactions with the fandoms of GVH and Snoot Game, a common anti-trans argument I frequently saw was that trans people don't need to change their gender to have expressions incongruent with their assigned gender at birth. i.e. Someone can do traditionally male-oriented things without actually being a man. Therefore, they say being trans is pointless because there is never a reason to change one's gender as anyone of any gender can do anything. Personally I can't really come up with a good retort for this without sounding like I support gender stereotypes, so I want to ask, if it's okay with you: What do you usually say in response to people who say that sort of thing?
It's a silly argument that anti-trans people make, because here's an important question: why are these activities being grouped with genders? Why do certain things need to be forced into binary gender roles?
The "trad" crowd would have you believe that things like sports, breadwinning, fighting, etc. are all things that define masculinity, while femininity is all about being a homemaker, servitude, baking, cleaning, stuff like that. But we know that's all bunk because we see people doing the opposite all the damn time. Women who love boxing and chopping down trees. Men who feel at home at bakeries and teaching.
None of these activities have any bearing on your gender because, despite what conservatives will tell you, they aren't gender-exclusive. The way this gets framed by transphobes is insisting trans men are forcing themselves to do more traditionally manly things to prove their masculinity, and the opposite for trans women.
In this framing, they see transness as a performance. As in, they see it as a fake act done by delusional people trying to be something they're not. It is part of what informs their whole worldview about trans and nonbinary people.
Here's my point, short and sweet. Your activities aren't your gender. Your gender, how you find it, how you come to express it, is all you. You define you for your own self. Sometimes that leads you to changing the way you dress, or taking medications, or changing your pronouns, or other things. But it's your gender and your body. No fucker on the internet has any right to tell you what you are or aren't. And they sure as fuck have no right to tell you what hobbies you should/shouldn't have.
On the topic of Goodbye Volcano High, we can actually talk about a character that fits perfectly into this discussion. Sage is a trans man (assigned female at birth). When he was young and living as a girl, his parents pressured him into acting, presenting, and performing traditionally feminine roles, and he couldn't stand it. But after coming out as a trans man and beginning his social transition, he came to enjoy looking and presenting in a feminine way, now that it was a choice he could make instead of an obligation. And like Fang, he doesn't want to have to perform more "masculine" to prove his gender; he's happy as he is.
Sage does not make sense in the rhetorical world espoused by transphobes. And there are many trans and nonbinary people like Sage too; trans men who like being girly, trans women who like being manly, and nonbinary and genderfluid people who can have a whole variety of gender presentation preferences.
There are as many ways to express gender as there are people in the world.
Anyway, shorter version: gender is a much deeper and personal thing that just the hobbies you do. I hope this helps. 🏳️⚧️
Sorry if this ended up being longer than what you're looking for, I just find stuff like gender and gender expression fun to think about!
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So, first of all, ummm thank you?? I teared up when I first read this, and definitely did while responding too. Also, thanks for your patience in literally a whole year for this? AND, I’m sorry, I didn’t quite write a fic for it, just some more general musings on the subject? I’m gonna dive quite a bit more into Rachel/Zach and all of the adults with Zach in my little baby Zach series, so I hope that answers more of this, when the time comes but for now...
So, I think I share the same sentiments as many that by the end of UWS, Rachel has grown to love Zach quite a bit. He’s one of her ducklings, one of the many people she cares deeply and strongly for.
However, I think she absolutely had similar thoughts as Abby for quite awhile - she just approached them in a sort of way only Mom Rachel Morgan could. And maybe she didn’t trust Zach because of his mom, or his school, or a long list of reasons, but I honestly think it comes down to one very simple thing:
He was a teenage boy.
And like, I don’t think Rachel was gonna be head over heels about her daughter seeing Zach, or any boy for that matter - BUT she’s Rachel and knows that it’s pointless to tell her daughter (or any of those girls) no about something like seeing a boy. I mean, basically the first rule of teenage girlhood is to absolutely date the bad boy your parents tell you you’re forbidden to see. And maybe her and Abby discussed this - maybe they discussed it all. The mom, the school, the badboy of it all. Maybe Abby saw Rachel taking her little more lax approach (see why, below) and Abby said "nah, I'm the aunt who's had my fair share of leather jacket wearing smirking green eyed cuties at her age and I smell trouble and I'm going to say something about it."
Also, it’s not like Rachel has paperwork to do, or a whole giant school to run, or you know, this guy from her past who’s comparable to Indiana Jones all up in her business (who has his own secrets she wants to know BTW), but no, that’s not enough - she just had to spend an entire semester pretending like her daughter wasn’t sneaking out to see a boy, falling in love, and getting heartbroken.
Which leads me to - Rachel just watched her daughter fall in love for the first time and then get her heart hurt. Why? Because she wanted to do this job more, than have a normal life with a boy. So, who is she to stand in the way of a boy Cammie could be with, if that’s what she wanted? A boy who knows her school and this life and dances a pretty mean waltz and hold on, did he just make her laugh actually?
I think Zach being inside those walls, under her nose, with The Joe Solomon stamp of approval (I mean, who all have truly, really gotten this stamp? Matthew Morgan and....? Yeah. that's what I thought.) was all it really took to be honest. Did she jump for joy and open her arms immediately? No. She's Rachel. I think she had to do what Rachel does - learn more, observe, and most importantly, trust her gut.
I think that when she looks at Zach, she gets a little sliver of open doorway into a part of Joe she doesn’t get to see often. I think she’s reminded that you are not your family if you don’t want to be, that your past doesn’t dictate your future, that first impressions can be misleading. I think Zach surprises Rachel, just like Joe did, and continues to surprise her, and surprising Rachel Morgan is impressive, and no easy feat.
But, the most important thing that I think of in terms of Rachel approving of Zach?
She watched that kid fall head over heels in love with her daughter - protect her, defend her, risk everything to save her and be with her, breakdown because of her - but still get up and fight for her...
Rachel loves Zach because Zach loves Cammie, and it's as simple as that at the end of the day 💙
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Alan Wake dies.
In this essay I will-
... actually try my hand at a relatively objective examination of and discussion about why Alan Wake 2 ending with Alan's death would, and would not, make sense. I even used proper capitalization for once to emphasize how serious I am /hj. This has been kickstarted by this post by @stuckinthedarkplace; lately I've been thinking a lot about how AW2 could possibly end, and I feel like this possibility should be talked about.
So. Let's not pad this out any further.
Pro #1:
Alan’s death would make for an excellent tragedy and/or further reinforce the concept of him dying a martyr if they make his death vital to defeat the antagonist for good (who- or whatever it might be). After a years-long torturous fight, the hero sacrifices himself in unwavering bravery to do one last thing for the greater good. A selfless act, ensuring that even if he can’t make it, his loved ones will. Something like that. Plus, I imagine the majority of us players would like to see him walk away from it all alive; taking this away from us might elicit a rather emotional response, which is what every storyteller wants, right?
Contra #1:
All these aforementioned years might feel like they have been for nothing. The lengths Alan went to to fight, to persevere, to endure, to survive, for more than a decade – in vain, pointless. Remedy themselves have stated that Alan has “wished he had died many times” – but all this time he held on, not letting go of the fickle hope that he can come back, come home, to Alice, Barry, Sarah. Remedy making an effort to explain what Alan was up to, in Night Springs during the events of American Nightmare and during the setup and unfolding of AWE, and them securing all the rights to the IP for good back in 2019; Alan as a character seems a bit too big, too important to just kill.
Pro #2:
Him dying would leave few loose ends. Alice has lived under the presumption that he died for a few years anyway, probably until Mr. Scratch showed up at her doorstep at least, but if we assume that he’ll be taken care of over the course of the game while Alan does not escape, then him biting the dust would be the next most logical option. Saga and Alex either finish their mission knowing they failed to take him in alive, or even be forced to abort it, maybe because of unforeseen complications or lack of results. Alan has been living in hell for so long, by dying he’d finally escape it. It would be over, and if other characters could be made aware of his definitive passing maybe they too could move on, find peace, be done with the nightmare.
Contra #2:
Alan is Sam Lake’s baby. Would he really kill him off for good? I certainly don’t think it’s beyond him, at this point I think he could write anything and it would somehow fit, but... Alan is Sam’s baby. Sam has been fighting to bring him back for this entire time. Somehow I have my doubts he’d throw that away, throw him away. (cf. Contra #1.)
Pro #3:
Alan has killed Casey in The Sudden Stop. If Sam killed Alan, his story would directly mirror Alan’s and Casey’s; this would add another excellent meta layer on top. Kill your darlings or something. Let’s hope Sam doesn’t get writer’s block and plan to travel to some cabin on a lake anytime soon.
Contra #3:
It might feel cheap and unimaginative. It’s an ancient trope, almost older than It-Was-All-Just-A-Dream. Can’t figure out an ending? Don’t know where to take the story next? Looking for a straightforward way out? Kill the protagonist. Better yet, just kill everyone. Boom, job done. I’m exaggerating of course, but I speak from experience. Don’t look for my old fics.
Pro #4:
The story of AW1 was, at its heart, about the creative process and a lot of the feelings and mental mechanisms behind it. Stories end, lives end. Death feels final. Inevitable. A dead writer at the end of the story... there’s a ring to it. (contradicts Contra #3.)
Contra #4:
Remedy would make it harder for themselves to expand further on their connected universe, which they have said was their goal for the next project(s). At this point I imagine AW is a very precious asset for them. Granted, I’m sure they’d always find a way to expand anyway, this is Sam Lake we’re talking about but... I still doubt that it would feel quite right. I mean, hell, they used to call AW2 “project big fish”. That’s gotta count for something, right?
So. Which side are you on?
#i tried to keep this as neutral as possible but it’s probably not hard to guess my side#i want you to know that i called this file ''alan ded ye or no''#it's also shorter than i had thought. hm. happens#do you have more points for or against? throw them at me i wanna know. this is a masterlist#alan wake#alan wake 2#remedy games#remedy connected universe#games#ok now back to thinking about the hellish group project
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TPoD chapters 7, 8, 9, 10:
I’m done! and this was the worst fucking experience of my life! I’m never rereading any of Perrin’s plotlines, sorry. It was far worser than I remember it being.
consensus is still out on whether or not perrin is interested in berelain. I understand his noticing her perfume - he can’t help that. I don’t vibe with him saying she needs to dress a certain way or deliberately trying to pick out hints of flirtation when she’s literally just discussing their next course of action.
- It is so weird to see perrin talking about how he only gets along with and trusts grady and neald and doesn’t trust any of the women in his group. partly because they have differing opinions about how to go about accomplishing certain tasks. it’s also really weird that this happens on the heels of dumai’s wells where the asha’man brutally slaughtered the shaido, too. the gender essentialism in this series really brings down its overall quality. Another point to note is the fact that perrin gets along with the the two guys who’ve been taught (by rand) to cultivate no personality apart from being soldiers + he avoids any actual interaction with people who have strong opinions.
- I think I don’t like reading about faile when she’s around perrin sadfjkdhf - it’s like perrin’s default mode is managing to push some trigger that manages to piss her off. I like her and think she could’ve been a great character if she’d never interacted with perrin though. And although I complain about the shaido plot a lot faile’s POVs in it were fantastic - partly because she’s divorced from Perrin’s presence - and were such a treat to read.
- honestly this section of his POV is kind of pointless. I don’t think there’s any need for faile, seonid + wise ones and berelain to fight for the right to approach alliandre - rand specifically chose berelain to approach her with annoura! But narratively it does do a very good job of establishing the fact that there are many power dynamics at play here, which I think that was what RJ might have been trying to establish.
seonid is so gay
He’s fully making shit up at this point. Just let her exist, oh my god. Why is he looking for a flirtation in every gesture??? Literally it’s hard to not believe that Perrin fully encourages Berelain to keep hitting on him.
evidence not found. this is a telling more than a showing so far.
- Morgase is another female character who gets caught up in this useless plot ugh. It’s just trauma sequences after trauma sequence for Morgase and I pity her so much.
This is with reference to morgase just because she was very mildly rude to him despite his insisting that aram not call him a lord moments before - also I don’t like the way perrin talks about women yeuch
- I think RJ being a “discover as I write” sort of writer does affect how he writes a lot - there are some clarifications for plot that don’t necessarily always make sense later on. there are also introductions to things characters struggle with without any real basis for it and sometimes manages to be all over the place - mostly perrin and his relationship with violence and responsibility was done very badly (the show does better on the front but it obviously had a whole established canon to work with already which is always an easier task).
- masema & the cult plotline is integral to exploring the various facets of how the dragon reborn affects the cultural and religious landscape in the continent, just like how the seanchan are important narratively to explore how a flipped power dynamic between channelers and non channelers would look. rand is not a saviour - RJ hammers that point in constantly - but he plays a role that’s very closely associated with saviourism since a) it’s so tied up with the struggle versus good and evil b) has a history of false dragons fashioning themselves as saviours, so cults are naturally a very interesting angle to explore. but also like every other plotline perrin touches, it fails to be dealt with in any interesting way. I genuinely enjoyed what we saw of it in TFoH and I hate that it eventually deteriorates into a mess.
where is the struggle against violence. I just don’t get it. why is killing with a hammer better than killing with an axe? I still don’t get it.
perrin: killing? violence? I don’t care. I’ll do it all for faile.
ugh. I guess that is the point of the whole shaido arc but I still can’t bring myself to care about it.
and yet.jpg. why is it that perrin is obsessing over his followers not following his orders to the T while he’s disregarding all of rand’s instructions? I hate him so much.
Well! my earlier point stands! why the fuck does perrin get along with them better than with the women. lol.
- I hate SO much that the mantheren plotline was passed on to perrin. I hate it!! on principle I can’t stand the thought of a dead nation being resurrected in that fashion because it falls back on uncomfortable ideas of (mostly) autocratic rulers using history to justify their rule and manipulate people into accepting it. I also hate that it gets rid of the semi-democratic rule the two rivers had. but there were ways in which it could’ve been executed well - I really liked how the band of the red hand was sort of resurrected in the same fashion (although that was mostly a symbolism thing, obviously). in conclusion: give the plotline back to mat!!
- Arrela! hi! she’s described as “tall and dark” and masculine. one of THE canonical lesbians.
I mean at least Faile looks out for the people who follow her. Perrin has exactly ONE guy who’s super attached to him and he manages to let even him down.
- TBH a plot mostly focussed on convincing Alliandre to join them and seeing the women do politics in Ghealdan - and also potentially dealing with a more whitecloack/amadicia focused plot - would have been a far more interesting plotline than Perrin wandering around the countryside trying to save his kidnapped wife.
- ohhh now that perrin mentioned them I’m sad we didn’t see more of the algai’d’siswai! they were just as fascinating as the prophet plotline still was back in book 5 but RJ just kind of forgot about it.
- Faile convinces perrin not to inform rand about news of seanchan in amador because ‘maighdin’ tells her that messengers and pigeons were carrying the news anywhere. Hand Of The Author, I see you. Rand needed that news! How long would it take an asha’man to inform him and hop back to ghealdan? why is travelling never used to the extent it should be in the books?
here’s a suggestion! stop smelling her all the time! A person’s thoughts on a matter will never necessarily reflect what they’re feeling because emotional responses are at the very best knee-jerk reactions and can’t be controlled or modulated the way logic can be!
- I can’t emphasise this enough but their ‘romance’ is non-existent. They make terrible partners! They’re too different to make things work. (This is not to say people who’re unalike can’t get along - but Perrin and Faile are no Elayne and Aviendha).
- I do like Lini as a character but I think my fondness for her dropped significantly after she tried to have morgase and tallanvor forcibly married. I hate it so much, and I don’t really like that she’s so rude and forceful with morgase after everything she endured in amador - I do get that she’s concerned that their cover will be blown, but... I refuse lol. I don’t like this plotline. morgase should’ve gone back to caemlyn - faile would’ve still shone in her shaido plotline even if morgase hadn’t been a part of it. I hate powerful women suddenly being shoved into servant-master dynamics!!! it happened with siuan once already! why aren’t the men forced to do such things?
- I do genuinely believe RJ enjoyed writing his women a lot but I don’t like his choice to make women inflict shame on themselves as a form of punishment in order to repent their actions. It goes hand in hand with a lot of (evil) female characters ending up enslaved & the female forsaken being abused to be taught a lesson.
- ‘Tallanvor was too young’ sir, you literally paired moiraine and thom & gareth and siuan & morgase and thom 😭
(with reference to seonid and masuri being apprentices)
I think. I think brandon sanderson came up with the idea that an apprentice should just Know when they’re fit to be a wise one. I definitely got that feeling while I was reading the books because it was such a Brandon Sanderson thing and kind of nonsensical, honestly. It was just a ploy to keep aviendha away from rand in the gathering storm. ugh, I’m going to blame him for min and aviendha not bonding too.
- If a man uses the word ‘wench’ he goes down on my shit list! so elyas is on my shit list! if he wasn’t already, for being the source which delivers the news that saldaean women like their husbands to take a firm hand with them or whatever.
- was I always predisposed to disliking perrin because I hate werewolves? possibly.
- alliandre!!!!
WHATEVER WAS NECESSARY TO SECURE THE ALLIANCE, BASICALLY??? What else would berelain tell alliandre -
- honestly shout out to alliandre for making the best of so many terrible situations. she had to deal with the prophet, the threat of the seanchan, the threat of rand once he conquered illian, and then perrin trying to ‘raise manetheren’ and the shaido.
and yet he gets mad when faile is less subtle when she’d trying to guide/influence him.
- worldbuilding notes: perrin can apparently smell desperation but not guilt, lol.
lmaoooo I actually did enjoy this faile POV a lot since perrin wasn’t in it! even if she and berelain sort of bickered! but it wasn’t annoying at all, and was kind of fun, actually.
- Berelain supports faile when she’s discussing politics with alliandre even if faile just technically insulted her! I love her.
faile, that’s gay.
- Berelain is very pleased with one of faile’s manipulations of alliandre!
[Total count for the number of times berelain tried pursuing perring romantically in the path of daggers: 0]
Yeah, I think I’m going to stick with the line that perrin never gives berelain a firm no. Would this have stopped her from pursuing him? It’s hard to say because she’s angling for political advantage, but faile mentions that perrin conducts himself as if he believes he’s a prize that berelain and faile have to struggle over. And he’s constantly using his enhanced senses to predict what faile is feeling instead of asking her what she’s thinking which are two very different things! I just. I honestly don’t know how RJ could have enjoyed writing any of his POVs, lol, they’re so boring and full of contrived conflicts. He should’ve killed perrin off in the middle of the series because it would’ve done a good job of building tension (although he probably would have never done that even if he’d considered it since he’d established that perrin and mat would play integral roles to secure rand’s success in the last battle).
#text#wheel of time#the path of daggers#wot book spoilers#aelia reads wheel of time#aelia reads the path of daggers
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Mr. Verger and the Silver Platter - Hannibal Lecter Imagine (Hannibal)
Title: Mr. Verger and the Silver Platter
Pairing: Hannibal Lecter X Reader
Word Count: 647 words
Warning(s): veiled threats (it's Mason, they're barely veiled), mentions of murder/cannibalism
Summary: (Season 2, Episode 11) Hannibal welcomes a new client, the heir of the Verger family fortune, Mason Verger. The man leaves an unbelievably bitter taste in the doctor's mouth.
Author's Note: Y'all. Reader isn't even in this one. It's just Mason and Hannibal (It's important). But it's protective Hannibal, which I have a feeling some of you like.
MORE OF THIS OC HERE!
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Hannibal had a sense of what he should've expected when he allowed Mason Verger in his office.
Mason was cocky, rude, violent, impulsive.
A lack of empathy seemed to follow the heir around like bad body odor.
Hannibal had prepared for that. He anticipated the selfish behavior. The rude statements. The condescending description of his sister. This inflated sense of self. He couldn't even say he was surprised when Mason stabbed his knife into the arm of one of Hannibal's chairs.
And then, there was a moment.
One sentence that fueled a fire that Hannibal believed he had complete control over.
"Tell me about (Y/n), Dr. Lecter."
It was like the room went cold. Down the blood running through Hannibal's veins.
"We're here to discuss you, Mason," Hannibal said, remaining calm.
Mason impatiently tapped his hands on the arms of the chair. "But I don't want to."
Hannibal didn't get to respond before Mason leaned forward with a smirk.
"I want to talk about (Y/n)."
Hannibal wondered if this was some poor attempt at a warning. It was no mystery to Mason who Margot was seeing for therapy. Maybe this was an attempt to make Hannibal steer Margot in Mason's favor. Making sure that Hannibal knew that Mason knew about (Y/n) would've been a good approach if it wasn't such an unbelievably idiotic idea.
Hannibal saw his pointless threat as rude. And looking rude in Hannibal's eyes was almost like placing a target on your back.
"Bit of a loner, right," Mason asked. "Don't know how. They're very charming. How did they find you?"
"It was a chance meeting."
That's all Hannibal would say to Mason about the event. He refused to give this man more information than what was completely necessary to get through the event.
"Very sweet," Mason continued. He was trying to make Hannibal angry, worried, scared. "Generous, excitable. Almost like a puppy. I understand why you seem so infatuated."
Hannibal knew these were all things that could be learned by asking the right people the right questions. It didn't indicate that Mason had any personal interaction with (Y/n).
"Again, Mason, this is not about me or my relationships," Hannibal tried to steer the conversation. It didn't seem to work.
"Overly trusting, yes?"
Hannibal didn't even dignify the comment with a reply. He just raised his eyebrow slightly and tilted his head.
"I don't mean to pry, doctor," Mason said. "But can you blame me for being curious?"
"No one can blame you for curiosity," Hannibal replied. "But no one is required to entertain such curiosity."
"But you would agree that they were overly trusting?"
Again, no response.
"Wonder how'd they see me," he acted like he was doing nothing more than speaking his thoughts, but Hannibal knew better. "Would they trust me?"
"I could not tell you."
"Probably would," Mason pulled the knife out of the arm of the chair, turning it around in his hand. "Probably too much. Poor thing would trust the devil if he had a kind enough smile."
"Shall we discuss you now?"
"I would much rather focus on your partner. Very fragile thing, aren't they?"
Hannibal had to fight the urge to clench his jaw.
"People like that are so... breakable. In so many ways-"
"I think our session has come to an end," Hannibal stood up abruptly.
Mason joined him.
He held out a hand for Hannibal to shake. Hannibal accepted, holding on just a bit tighter than necessary.
"I hope I get to meet that partner of yours, Dr. Lecter," Mason said. "We'd have such interesting conversations."
Hannibal allowed a small grin to pull at the corner of his lips. He could envision the meals he would make with Mason's body if he hadn't decided to leave the Verger's life in Margot's hands.
And Hannibal could envision serving such meals to (Y/n) on a silver platter.
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#hannibal lecter fanfiction#hannibal lecter imagine#hannibal lecter x reader#fanfiction#imagine#x reader#hannibal imagine#hannibal x reader#hannibal fanfiction
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i have to admit. as much as i have politics on this blog, i'm really just a guy who wants to make comics and cares about people. i choose on my own to share discussions and news on bigotry and oppression as an extension—and not proof—of how i feel, which is something i want to do rather than owe anyone.
i've noticed something. it's as if our knowledge and stance on politics is treated like a scale on whether we deserve to be members of our own communities. anons send random queer blogs the most intricate and unprompted questions regarding their political alignment / whether they think X is good or bad / what they think of certain political events and whatnot. i see people wasting time measuring how much another person lives up to or deserves their claimed political alignment or criticizing how they're not radical enough about their beliefs. somehow that same strictness for knowing someone's thoughts and labels when it's uncalled for comes scarily close to exclusionism, functioning under the guise that it's weeding out the fakes, as if doing so matters any more than building a welcoming refuge.
it's not that we don't care. it's that the weight of our existence and our rights being forced to be political is large and heavy and crushing. we never asked for our happiness and well-being to be the subject of politics, and while it's so very important to continue fighting as we always have, we weren't all built to endure so much. engaging with politics at the expense of your well-being is a pointless endeavor.
successful activism often happens when you choose one specific thing to deal with; you haven't abandoned anything else you believe in, and working with too much leads to a mental paralysis from how many horrible things you're focused on. at the same time, it's fine not to engage with any of it, or some of it in small sparce doses. really, the only thing i'd say is to fact-check, and otherwise ignore it if you don't have the time or energy. this does not cost us anything.
we can simply be. and i want to be okay with the fact that, beyond all this, i'm just doing my best living day by day and dreaming of building a life with my partner and contemplating if i want to be a dad.
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So I think this will probably be the last thing I'll say about this episode barring questions* until next week, because it is very true that it's extremely unresolved.
I feel like my personal qualms are hard to articulate well, and that might be why I feel nothing has been said in response to them.
I have no concerns regarding the cast not having fun/feeling unsafe (I think it's valid of Matt to address that on Twitter because I'm sure there are people who are saying these things; I'm just not one of them). I hope it's also apparent from this blog and the many things I've discussed over the past few years that I don't mind permanent character death in stories, nor do I mind violence or upsetting content (to the point that I find unsolicited offers of trigger tags annoying, in that they're more likely, to me, to be spoilers or pointless chatter, rather than anything helpful).
This morning I thought a lot about how I'd feel if Fearne and/or Orym weren't killed...and it doesn't really change what I dislike, which I think is an important perspective to bring up.
Much as I hope it's clear that I don't shy away from discussing death and mortality, I hope it's also clear that I like Imogen a lot and that she's been one of my favorite characters this campaign, and that I've enjoyed a variety of different character arcs for various different characters throughout the past two campaigns, both front-and-center ones and more subtle background ones.
Which is what frustrates me: this combat has the elements of an Imogen arc, and yet Imogen doesn't even feel important to it other than the button that must be pushed. I don't want to diminish the deaths of Orym and Fearne, and I get why that's such a huge part of the conversation, but when I get past that, this is what I fixate on: Imogen doesn't even feel like a person. It's just a thing Otohan is pushing her to do. It is, as others have said, almost cut-scene-like in nature.
More generally, I feel this is kind of the problem I have with a Dark Phoenix plot; those stories (the only ones offhand I can think of are Dark Phoenix and House of M, and I'll admit to only having broad comics fandom familiarity with both) end up primarily being about the other people fighting the effects of the reality warper, rather than the person who lost control of their powers, because as a key part of this kind of plot, that person becomes less of a character and more a force of nature (and not in the fun Keyleth way but in a 'Jean Gray is effectively dead and only the phoenix remains' way).
To be completely fair, I don't know if that's what has happened, and that's why I'm still watching. I actually can, through talking through this, see how a group hallucination or similar could make this all work as a plot point. If this ends up being, for example, a vision of a dark potential future, I will still have my criticisms of Otohan as a character and some details of this combat, but it could be handled well. It's not an easy landing to stick, but it's absolutely not impossible either.
Anyway I guess this is just to say that I would be interested in a thoughtful defense of the episode that addresses this and I haven't really seen one. Honestly, it might truly be that the only thoughtful defense is "it's not yet resolved, so wait a week" which is entirely fair. I'm certainly not going to pretend I'm not quick to judge nor that my judgments haven't been proven wrong by future episodes. I just kind of wanted to point out that most of what I've seen beyond "give it a week" have been "geez, death is okay" or "the cast is okay with it", both things I inherently agree with but which do not address what I actually have problems with.
*just a quick reminder to please keep things to questions and not statements on how you feel. Feel free to DM me if you just have thoughts, and on some level I understand preferring to send criticism anonymously to someone sympathetic to it given how criticism in general is at times taken in this fandom; but, and this is a whole other conversation, the best way to change that is to make your own posts, and if you are not up to that, and I understand if you aren't...I still will be deleting those anons until such time as things are a little less heated.
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This is my first ever english fanfiction. I hope i don't have many grammar mistakes but english is not my first language hehe
Suna Rintarō One-Shot | Haikyu!! FF | Angst | Short Story
I love him <3
The sound of rain
I layed in our bed.
The window was open just a crack and the sound of the rain filled my ears.
I loved that sound, ever since I was little.
Today, however, it scared me.
It was almost 3:00 a.m and it had been 2 hours since Suna left the house after our argument.
I was starting to worry.
"Maybe he had an car accident or he was drunk and beaten up in some street," my thoughts raced and I couldn't put them at ease.
I stared at the clock again.
Our picture, taken on the day of his volleyball team's victory, stared at me with happy memories.
The events of the last few hours caught up with me and I felt ashamed of our pointless fight. I had had the feeling for a long time that his volleyball team was more important to him than me and when I asked him about it a few hours ago, the whole thing suddenly escalated.
He thought I was trying to get him to leave the club, so I accused him that it would have been better if he had snagged one of his Stupid Fan-Girls.
It went back and forth like that for a while.
Until he packed his things and got in his car.
Now I felt miserable.
As soon as he got back, I'd apologize.
Then I heard the sound of the door being opened downstairs.
I breathed a sigh of relief into my pillow.
When I picked up my cell phone from the bedside table, I saw that it was 3:27 a.m.
I put it back down as the bedroom door opened.
My guilt plagued me so much that I didn't dare to look him in the eye, so I kept staring at the opposite wall into nothingness.
I could hear him removing his clothes, which were probably soaked from the rain.
The bed gave in on his side and he wrapped an arm around me.
His face buried into my neck.
He was cold and smelled like cigarettes.
"I thought he quit smoking?"
But in that moment I didn't care.
"I'm sorry... for what I said. I don't want you to give up what you love so much and I'm sorry about the fan-girls thing too. I know how much they annoy you...." he just listened so I continued: "I just didn't want us to be alienated...I love you Rintarō....please...I'm sorry", I took his hand which was wrapped around me and pressed a light kiss on the back of her hand.
I saw my phone light up in the dark multible times. Without thinking and oit of annoyence I grabbed and unlocked it to check the text message I got.
From:
Rintaboo♡: I'm so sorry Y/N....I'm fine and coming home right now. Then we'll discuss everything if you still want to talk to me...<3
My eyes widened.
The person behind me suddenly exhaled. As if they were laughing.
Only now I recognized in the reflection of the slightly open window....a figure that I didn't know...
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The beauty of being a mature adult in a fandom space, is that you don’t pick an argument when you see a differing opinion. I’ve had to scroll by so many things I could easily get irritated with, but I don’t. And why, you may ask? Because people have every right to be just as passionate about their pov as you do! Worry about more important things, such as inclusivity for POC, interaction/reblog ratio, and being respectful of others (if you’re gonna fight for something, do it for the right reasons).
I’ve been in fandoms for years, and I’ve learned that pointless arguments only make you miserable. Not only that, but it’s not fair to try and force your opinion on someone else. Fandoms are about what you bring to them, what you see, and letting everyone look through their own lens, whilst celebrating the characters/story/show you love, yeah? As long as you’re kind, courteous, respectful, open to discussions (friendly debates if you’re okay with different perspectives on less serious topics, such as ships or characters, plot lines, etc), and willing to make change on your behavior if a reader points something out that is not inclusive to all in your reader fics — fandoms would be a lot more relaxing and happy for you and all involved!
We’re all here to have fun, okay?
❤️❤️
#friendly debates are also encouraged#but don’t pick a fight on someone else’s interpretation or opinion#and don’t be passive aggressive about it#these are behaviors I’ve struggled to fix and I’ve had to learn to respect other opinions that aren’t in line with my own#and not get irritated by them#only things you should be fighting for are inclusivity for poc#that is not debatable because poc deserve inclusivity and it should be an automatic given#I’m still learning day by day about how to exist in a fandom space and it can be hard but these are key things to remember
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So this is mostly an out of character curiosity but how does Nanao truly feel about the Ise curse? How do you the mun interpret it how 'real' do you think it is? How real does SHE think it is? Your Ise curse headcanons hand them over. (Please?)
unprompted || always accepting || @marigoldmelancholy
Nanao's feelings in the manga about the Ise curse tie very closely to how she truly feels about it, and there are a couple of reasons for this.
She knew before the Lille fight ( canon shows she knew pre academy, even if she had to build up the pieces over time and still didn't have a complete picture during the Lille fight) and has therefore had time to digest the information and form her own opinion on it. Her declaration just before she and Shunsui emerge from Lille's shadow isn't jut her trying to make an injured man feel better, but the result of many years of thought. She is not one to make snap judgements over something as serious as this, nor is she one to spare Shunsui's feelings when she feels the truth is necessary (we see this during the soul society arc, where she and Shunsui discuss helping out Jushiro. She cares but isn't blinded by it). We also see during the Lille fight that Nanao has some understanding of her family history (having been raised by some elderly Ise clan members) which adds further weight to the idea that some of Shunsui's revelantions are not new to her.
Her approach to the curse, in the panel below, tallies with the Nanao we see throughout the rest of canon. She is not one to indulge in superstition, and the Ise Curse certainly falls into that category. This panel also shows her deep respect for Shunsui and how she looks to him for guidance (again, something we see between them in the soul society are as well as the diamond dust rebellion film). The way their relationship functions leaves me willing to believe that if he's so certain of Shunsui's view here, then her own view is also certain.
3. Nanao's feelings about her mother and her demise are complicated, and this in turn affects how she views the curse. As much as she loves her mother, she also sees her attempt to conceal the sword as foolish and somewhat pointless considering how close she wound up to Shunsui anyway. The fact her mother was willing to put so much faith in the curse to do what she did has made her stop and consider the curse in the past but, in her mind, does not offer enough evidence to support the idea that the curse is real. This is an old tale and even the most respected people can belive odd things. Her mother also wasn't in her life very long compared to other people which also makes it harder for Nanao to understand her perspective and get a sense of what she truly believed.
She also feels that it's hard to definitively say that the curse was the cause of any men marrying in to the family when she knows of no recent marriages into the family and Shunsui's tale takes place so far in the past. She accepts that this is somewhat faulty logic, but is also unwilling to put too much trust in something that essentially exists in legend to her.
As for how much she believes in what Shunsui told her, Nanao absolutely believes that her family is matrilineal and there is something in her family makeup which prevents male heirs being either born or kept around. Whether this is genetic or the curse, she is unsure, but the fact her sword is a hereditary one leaves her more open to the idea that maybe that has something to do with it than she normally would be.* I think if she ever had her own children, this would be something she could examine in more detail.
*I think it's important to note here that we never actually get any details about the matrilineal nature of the Ise clan in canon and I think it's important to question what this looks like. As a mun, I personally think that it's possible that babies of both genders are born within the clan and that maybe the male children are either stillborn or adopted out/killed (it would fit with the idea that the Ise family are essentially a group of preistesses), although the mystical element of the sword fits right in with the bleach universe and I don't really have the heart to discount it.
#tsp activity check#stillbirth tw#miscarrige tw#infanticide tw#marigoldmelody#ask respone#headcanon#((I am so sorry this has taken so long#I typed it all out only for the page to refresh#I lost the lot#and have had to psyche myself up to rewrite it))#((literally had to step away from the laptop for 10 minutes and take a deep breath lol))
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TAOL related. But there’s kind of like a “war” going on the comment section of your latest chapter. Well, it’s not really a war but more like a discussion or debate. Based on some comments, I get the feeling a lot are anxious that either Sakura or Kakashi are to have sex with other people(?) in future chapters and they don’t want to read any of those or they’ll drop the fic(?) is what I am understanding. I mean, I understand that issue because I’m not a fan of reading those things. There’s also the concern when it comes Rin but I don’t understand the issue here tho.
I welcome any and all opinions just so long as they are expressed in a polite and respectful manner even in the face of disagreement. It's disheartening to see that which could have been a civil debate devolve into snide remarks and callous rebuffs.
On that note, it's also hard to say anything in response to all these theories and interpretations because that would require me to give away spoilers which ruins the fun for everyone.
I do want to reassure people that this is first and foremost a KakaSaku fic through and through. But it's important to understand that internal conflict is significant for the character growth of these characters, especially for these 2 who are very much inexperienced in love. A romance as forbidden as this one is not so simply resolved by confessing feelings like you would to a classmate. Because their feelings are forbidden, it is expected that they would try to fight those feelings. So, Kakashi's sex scene with that bar chick wasn't just written in for fun; the outline omitted details of the sex scene because I originally intended to have the sex scene be vague in detail and like a summary (i.e. "they fucked and he went home later to feed his dogs blah blah blah). But while writing the chapter, I found it was necessary to have the sex scene be detailed in description and I explained why in this ask. So it is confusing to hear that some readers take that one sex scene to mean that this whole fic will be about Kakashi and Sakura banging OCs instead of each other. I'm not trying to scam people here - this is indeed a KakaSaku fic. I don't throw in OCs without reason, but I'm also not going to spoonfeed those reasons to you guys in the story either. If people don't understand the purpose of a scene then that's on them, but it's also okay to not understand it just so long as they don't dismiss it as pointless. If I think a scene doesn't add anything substantial to the plot or character development then I cut it out as a deleted scene.
But if a reader does understand the point of a scene and still doesn't like it, then that's on them - I'm going to be direct to the point on that. But that is no one's fault - not the writer's or the reader's. It simply boils down to preference. And I am the kind of writer who prefers to intentionally write uncomfortable scenes (i.e. sexual assault, death, tragedy, etc) because my primary goal is not to fulfill readers' expectations and fantasies but to take a grounded approach. And for a story like TAOL which wrestles with mature themes, a grounded and sometimes gritty approach is needed to convey such themes. Because at the background of all this romance is a war veteran struggling with mental health issues and a girl juggling a doomed romance life with abandonment issues.
There's no easy route to a happy ever after because this story is meant to be a more grounded take on the forbidden student-teacher relationship trope. We have an underaged girl in an arranged marriage who falls in love with her teacher who is twice her age and suffers from a lot of trauma. There are many obstacles to overcome in their road to a happy ever after and I don't want to just Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo all the shit away just so that readers can get to their dessert of smut more quickly. There are many fics where teacher Kakashi and student Sakura fuck and ride off into the sunset within a couple chapters, and people can go read those fics instead if they want instant gratification (I sure as hell do that!). But this fic is tagged "angst with a happy ending" which means these characters (and me as the writer, ugh) have to work very, very hard to overcome all odds and challenges to their forbidden relationship in order to achieve that happy ever after.
I want that ending to pay off so that we, and the characters, all feel like it's well-earned and justified.
As for Rin - in this story, Kakashi's relationship with Obito and Rin is integral to his character just like it is in canon, so it's impossible to avoid writing Rin in. Sakura, if we remember, is also only 17 yrs old and has 0 experience in romance - in fact, the few boys who have asked her out always end up leaving her stood up, which is damaging to a girl's ego. If she sees a woman like Rin intimately touching Kakashi who tends to keep people at arm's length, of course she's going to wonder who this woman is to him. And again, given Sakura's young age and lack of romantic experience, of course she's going to feel insecure. I mean, imagine you're a 17 yr old girl who has never had a boyfriend and you're crushing on a super sexy 31 yr old professor whom all the women go gaga over. Wouldn't you feel insecure? So maybe it's cliché, but I find that's the more realistic, grounded approach and if that bothers some readers then that's totally okay - they can always quietly drop the story whenever they want, no excuses needed and no hard feelings.
Either way, everyone is free to interpret or theorize however way they want. But the story is still incomplete, so we must remember to take everything with a grain of salt until all truths are revealed. AND sometimes when a truth is revealed, there is still yet the explanation to be given. There are even some things set up in ACT 1 that won't be explained until the last ACT. And that's one reason why ACT 1 is a slow build is because it's setting up a lot of things for later on. You may have noticed that there is a B plot, a C plot, and even a small D plot going on in the background while Kakashi and Sakura have been having this whole drama with each other. Weaving all these plotlines together while juggling character development and romance so that they all coalesce in the end takes time and - unfortunately for me - a high word count. Which is why I warned at the very beginning that this is initially a slow build. If readers don't have the patience for a longfic like this one then that's okay because that's their preference, but I'm not going to skip the development just to get from one plot point to the other more quickly. People want to read a story - not a summary - and a story is what I want to tell.
So speculate away, but it helps to read the whole story first and get the entire picture before coming to conclusions. It's easy for the audience to see a drawing of a tail and assume the artist is painting a dog when it actually ends up being something entirely different.
But again, everyone has their preferences and they are always free to drop the fic whenever they want for whatever reason they have. No harm, no foul! What is harmful and foul are comments that lack courtesy and that is where I draw the line.
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So... Spy x Family 98 right...
There's really not that much to say about this one. I keep seeing in other circles that it's supposed to be important for "lore" or "worldbuilding" but eh...that kind of loses most meaning when this flashback takes place before the majority of the adult cast was even alive, about a different war than the one they lived through. Things change, y'know? Power changes hands, policies and laws are updated, things that were true at one point may no longer be true in the future.
And knowing that Endo originally wanted Henry and Martha's past to be a single standalone side story chapter but he couldn't fucking help himself because he's such a war documentary nerd before he extended it just goes to show this is supposed to be more of a brief glimpse into Henry and Martha's past than substantially putting out exposition. In fact, he probably extended it to add extra details about irl military history like adjusted draft ages and deferment because he knows he can do that without it affecting the present story so much, since there is another war after that one which led to the cold war in the present.
I guess to connect that idea back to the main plot, the fact that this cycle of war between the two countries has existed long before Twilight was even born kind of makes his idealistic dream of fighting for world peace for kids seem even more futile and unrealistic, right? Even more reason for him to make peace with that once he starts unpacking his issues instead of throwing out the suitcases.
OH ALSO. Because it bugs me to see it around so much, why are people putting so much emphasis on this rumor that one of the (young!) kids is saying about human experimentation?
Like. This has been old news for over sixty chapters now.
And Anya existing already lets us know that there's some truth to it. Yes, human experimentation has been done in Ostania. It's not some big revelation nor some foreshadowing. And for the record, no, Anya's parents would likely not be involved in these hypothetical experiments either, as Henderson and Martha are in their sixties and Anya is five at most. At best, her mom would just be born at this time, so unless we're getting some Extra Dark™ material worthy of Tista, I think it's safe to say these might just be possible precursors to other experiments, if they truly were underway in Martha and Henry's time. So many people trying to connect the two is a bit odd to me...
...but if I had to guess why.
Those people are probably feeling a little blueballed by the fact that Endo has been teasing about learning more about Anya's backstory for a while now.
And yet.
And maybe people are trying to see a connection with that pointless line because, well. It kinda sucks when Endo just. Drops what he's been working on to expand on something completely different. Keyword "expand". Again, this was going to be a single chapter. But his military-history-loving-butt just could not contain that wartime era setting in a single chapter, he just has too much he loves to talk about.
And well, that's fine. I just feel this is just going to be one of those odd parts of the manga people will look back on without much thought or strong opinion because of it's strange timing, despite the weirdly adamant defense it's getting now. Maybe if it came before the dance and Anya's confession of her secret, it would have more impact? But I don't really see a lot of discussion around it for itself, probably because...there's not much new to learn unless it's about Henry or Martha themselves.
If he reveals that one or both of them became a part of the underworld, then it could be an interesting twist because it actually gives us more information on the characters themselves that could be relevant to the present story. Or maybe he could reveal something new about Eden itself, which has some oddities even in its present incarnation that leaves me feeling kind of suspicious about it as an institution. (Also, what was up with that McMahon cameo in M97?)
But as of the past two chapters, this flashback is retreading too much old ground and it does feel like it's taking time away from seeing more insightful stories with the main characters. Especially when there's another vacation hiatus to push them back again... I just hope that the third part really delivers.
#sxf spoilers#i think about endo's 'well i like military stuff and don't dislike spy stuff' quote from that million tag interview a lot#any time the war setting stuff is on page you can just tell he's loving all of it#but i kind of wish the other parts of the story got that love too#oh well#always having bad pacing and timing is just part of sxf's writing i guess
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