#as long as i (or anyone) acknowledges that that opinion does not matter

[giuliettagaltieri]

Claim the Heritage

Pairing: President!Coriolanus Snow x First Lady!Reader

Chapter Synopsis: The Wife

Warning: casual dominance, marital quarrels, tension, vulnerability, explicit smut, cunnilingus, p in v, unprotected sex, body worship, brat taming, self destructive tendencies

Word Count: 4364

6 of 6

Coriolanus Snow has a knack of pushing himself too far.

He expects too much from himself and does everything in his power to meet those expectations.

As a student and a starting politician, he has done great things, contributing fresh insights to Panem.  And now that he is the President, he has the power to do things with his own hands.  No longer having to need the approval of people of higher status, not when he’s the President, nobody has power greater than his.

You worry that he might be forgetting his other responsibilities.

He is after all, not just Mister President but also your husband.

You see him often in the corridors and you exchange nothing more than sultry glances.  It was fun the first time you have done it but you are left wanting now.

At night, the two of you come home late, too tired to get some action going.

You have needs that long to be fulfilled.

And your unfed desires manifested in your temper.

The men in the room are discussing the recent power outage that paralyzed Panem for a day.  A malfunction caused by severe water temperatures in the hydroelectric dam in District 5 caused a cascading error in the system.  The Capitol and a portion of District 1 and 2 were able to continue their operation due to generators but the other Districts suffered from it.  And the one day pause of labor caused a slight drop to Panem’s stock charts.

All eight of your husband’s subordinates are trying to raise their opinions about the matter, how they will conduct another investigation as they are quite convinced it was human error, and how they will punish the one responsible for it too.

Their voices are starting to irritate you, making you tap your foot under the desk.  Coriolanus seems to be ignoring them as he reads through the report.  How he can manage to focus, you have absolutely no idea.

You try to regain your composure by taking a sip of water but it does not help, not one bit.  Deep intakes of breath also seem to be not working.

Coriolanus is still reading the report, his back against his chair as one of his hands toy with his pen.  His fingers are looking rather breathtaking today.

You look away before anyone could notice your desperation.

“Frankly, you are all arguing about matters that have been resolved already.”  He murmurs and you are thankful for it as the room quiets down.

“What do you mean sir?”

You bite your cheek to stop yourself from berating the man.  But Coriolanus can see that arch in your brow any day.  You are pissed.

“You have something to say, wife?”  He smiles knowingly at you and you look at him sharply but his smile only widens more.

“Well, all of you are being foolish!”  You finally burst.  Coriolanus leans back in his chair as if he is watching a rather interesting show.  “There is a report given, and a very good one at that.  Do you all have poor reading comprehension that you cannot understand that this is not a human error!”

The room falls silent as the men stare at you with their cheeks pinking in embarrassment.

Coriolanus clears his throat and leans closer to his desk.  “I believe what the Missus wants to say is that we must be coming up with solutions to prevent this from happening again rather than point fingers.”

You glare at him again but Coriolanus is not looking at you but the men who are nodding in agreement.  You hear a chorus of apologies from the men and you can’t help your bottom lip from jutting out in irritation.

“We can strengthen the system.  A collaboration with District 3, perhaps?”  A man says nervously, eyes flitting to you for approval but you don’t acknowledge him.

The other men raise their support.  They have to stay in your good graces.  All eight of them are dispensable.  If you talk to your husband to eliminate them, there will be nothing they can do.

They are proud men, but they too are necessary associates, albeit shortsighted at times.

You lean on your chair and swivel it so you are partially facing your husband.  “Another source of power.”

He nods at you to continue.

“A solar plant.”  You say.  “It is a good back up.”

Coriolanus rubs his chin and considers it for a moment.  “Indeed.  May I ask you to write a proposal, my love?”

“Of course.”  You say and you begin tidying up your stuff.  Coriolanus picks it up and addresses the men in general.

“I appreciate your…enthusiasm in helping our great nation.  Good day, gentlemen.”

They all file out of the room, thanking the President and you.  They all seem to sweat when you dismiss them with nothing but a brief nod.

Coriolanus leaves his chair and he eyes the pout in your lips. 

“Have a great day.”  You say as you stand.

“Leaving so soon?”  He raises a brow.

You stop in your tracks to look at him weirdly.  “You asked me to write a proposal?”

He hums at this and presses a chaste kiss on your lips.  “I will be seeing you at lunch, then.”  He guides you to the door and you both exit the meeting room to go to your separate offices.

His behavior is really really starting to irk you.

You are lying if you were not hoping that he would stop you and at least help out with the tension in your body.

But you guess not, he is a busy guy after all.

Coriolanus buries himself more and more with work.

You worry that he might be close to self-destruction.

The crops in District 9 suffered from a locust infestation and it kept him up very late for a few weeks.

You started to miss him very much.  Try as you might to stay awake in your room, it is not until nearly sunrise when he joins you.

It hurts and you hate yourself for being selfish.

One morning as you share your breakfast, you notice that he is barely touching his food as he reads the report about the red tide poisoning in District 4.

“Corio, eat.”  You say before your lips wrap around a strawberry.

He only hums in response as he flips to the next page of the report.

You glance at him and see the dark circles under his eyes, his skin looking dehydrated, and it is evidenced by the cracks in his lips.

“You will die before you turn thirty if you keep that up.”  You say lowly before you suck on your finger absentmindedly, your eyes now scanning your bowl for the next strawberry you’ll eat.

This caught his attention.

“What did you just say?”  There was a challenge in his voice and you hesitate for a moment, heart wanting to submit and apologize but the Swansworth blood courses through your veins and you fear you will shame the strong women before you if you fold so easily.

You look at him dead in the eye.  “You will die before you turn thirty if you keep that up.”  You smile at him sweetly.  “Was that clear enough for you, or do I have to repeat myself again?”

His jaw tightens, his eyes sharp.  He does not take mentions of his death lightly.  Had you been anyone else, you would have your tongue cut off and live as an Avox.

“You really are your father’s daughter.”  He sighs, trying his best to hide the amused smile you put on his face.

You wanted to retort but your words die in your tongue.  Coriolanus glances up at you when you don’t speak.  Usually, you would have bitten another comment at him.  But you were only looking at your strawberries sadly, finger tracing the bowl that held them.

The sound of paper crinkling had you looking up.  He folded the report away, he had the necessary information he needed anyway.  Coriolanus knows you are watching him and he scoops a mouthful of truffle scrambled eggs.  You gave him the sweetest smile he had seen on your face for weeks, and it was motivation enough for him to eat the breakfast that was served to him.  Yet, he still finishes first.

You pout unknowingly when he wipes his lips with the napkin and walks over to kiss your forehead.

“I will be seeing you later for your report.”

“See you.”  You reply with less enthusiasm.

He watches how sadness swam in your eyes and he leans closer to peck your lips and he is off.

You did not have much energy for work afterwards.

The meeting was at 10 in the morning and you arrived in the meeting room at 10:02.  Coriolanus was not pleased.

He did not back you up when the other men in the room asked questions about your presentation.  It was their job to pick apart your proposal and you only show them how flawless it is.  They are finally satisfied with it after a while, your throat burning from how many questions they asked.

You are infuriated with your husband.  You feel like he is throwing you to the wolves.  Not that you can’t tame the said wolves but it made your blood boil.

“I have decided to call this solar plant, Coriolanus 9.”  You attempt a smile and they actually bite.  “In honor of our President, and us.”  You purposefully let yourself blend in with the men in this proposal.  You need to boost their morale from time to time.

All eight of them murmur their agreement, smiles wide as they feel honored just by being included in the project.

After a few more questions from them, your husband finally adjourns the meeting.

His lack of support was not appreciated and you are determined to get out of this stuffy meeting room.

“Gentlemen, that would be all.”  

What about you?

Your lips part in protest but Coriolanus raises a finger at you, making you close your mouth as you narrow your eyes at him.

After the men filed out, you got up briskly, your chair wheeling back in a great speed.

“Careful.”

“Oh, so you’re talking now?”  You snap, your hand placed on your hip.

Coriolanus only leans on his chair as he looks you in the eye, his chin tilted upwards.

“I am…”  he pauses as he scratches his chin.  “upset with you.”

You scoff.  “You are upset with me? I am upset with you!”  You point at him harshly.  “You were the one who asked me to make a proposal and present it afterwards!  But what did you do?  You did not support me or give me assurance!”

“I was confident in your proposal.”  Coriolanus stands up calmly, his hands in his pockets, his thumb jutting out.

You give him one final glare and you huff, turning your nose up as you look away.  “I am done talking to you today.”

Coriolanus grips your arm before you can walk away.

His hand is warmer than usual and you frown.

“Do you need me to put you in your place?”  

The threatening growl in his voice washed away all the fight in you.

You bite your lip nervously, the entire bottom lip disappearing behind a row of teeth.  You shake your head and you tear up from how pathetic you have become for this man.

He smooths your hair and places a warm kiss against your temple.  “Be good.”  He murmurs.

You watch him collect his things and he throws you one final warning glance and he exits the meeting room.  Your hands grip the hardwood table to steady yourself.

How dare he!

You are his wife, not some District whore that needs to be reprimanded, you will not allow such disrespect again!

Coriolanus is not surprised to see you miss lunch.  His assistant tells him that you are having luncheon with Mrs. Plinth.  And that…you canceled all your plans for the day.  And the rest of the week.

He taps a finger on his desk and wonders if he pushed you too far earlier. 

Coriolanus glances at your photo in his desk.  Your smile was brighter then.  

A slight pounding in his head makes him grimace and he groans.

There were two more bills he needed to get through before he could relax.  Coriolanus inhales sharply, forcing his eyes to read through the files.

It was night time when he came home.  He missed dinner again.

Coriolanus had an unsettling feeling in his stomach when he entered your home.  It was dark and cold.

There was enough security outside but no signs of life inside.

Your servants usually retire after dinner and come back only in the mornings to serve you your breakfast.

But where are you?

Coriolanus doubles his steps to check your bedroom, you are not there.

His heart starts pounding, cold sweat dripping from his temple as he runs around his mansion in his tight suit.  He wanted to ask the peacekeepers stationed outside if you are even in your mansion when he catches a glimpse of your sheer robe in your sunroom.  He steps closer and sees you there, asleep in your plush chair, curled up around a book.

For a moment, he just stares at you, calming himself down.  No one has taken you and you did not leave.  Coriolanus seats himself to the identical chair across you and just looks at the rise and fall of your chest.

You must have fallen asleep as you were having your afternoon read.  It appears you might have missed dinner, as none of the lights are on.  The servants must have left it off so as to not disturb your sleep.

The night deepens and he just sits there, still convincing himself that you are still with him.

Coriolanus believes he will be there until morning comes but fate has other plans and your book slips from your hold, the hardcover making a loud slamming noise against the otherwise silent evening.

You jolt awake from the noise and when you reach for it, you catch a glimpse of him and you jolt for the second time.

“Heavens!”  You clutch your chest tightly, your eyes glaring accusingly at him.  “Do not scare me like that!”

He laughs hollowly.

“Apologies.”  He mutters.

You lean back in your chair, holding your book in your lap.

“Have you eaten your dinner?”  You ask just to break the silence.

“Not yet and neither did you.”  He uncuffs his sleeves and loosens his tie.

You purse your lips.  “I had tea and cakes this afternoon.”

“When did tea and cakes pass as dinner?”  He drapes his waistcoat on the armrest together with his tie.

You choose not to answer as you have a feeling the question was rhetorical.

Coriolanus rests his arms on his thighs and clasps his hands as the silence lengthens.  Moonlight was emitting a pale glow, it reflected on your faces and everything else was still.

“My father casts a very large shadow.”  He tells you.

You nod.  You both have that in common.  But you do not want to tell him as his case was different.  You are aware of his struggle while growing up, the things he has done that could have tarnished his name, and now, he has become the President, a leader of Panem, and the footsteps that his father left for him to follow might be too large for him.

“I wanted to do everything right.  To do things how he would have done it.  Maybe even more.”

You play with the edges of your book as you listen, afraid that if you’ll talk, his walls will come building itself up again.

“He was not the best father.  Nor husband.”  He chuckles bitterly.  “I was sure, I would be just like him too.”

You bite your lip as you will yourself not to cry in front of him.

“But I enjoy your company, wife.”  Coriolanus tells you truthfully.  “I love you.”  He confesses, making your chest tighten.  “I do not wish for this marriage to fail.”

You cannot help how a tear rolls down your cheek.

“Come here.”  He commands and you throw yourself to him, sobbing to his chest.  “I am terribly sorry for being a lousy husband.”

Your tears soak his dress shirt as Coriolanus peppers kisses on your head.

“Been neglecting my wife, how awful of me.”  His hand grips on your bum possessively.  “When she should have been worshiped day by day.”  His tone changes ever so slightly into something you hear only inside your bedroom walls.

You do not protest when he lays you on the chaise lounge.  Your sobs turn to sniffles when Coriolanus parts your thighs and bunches your dress until it shows your abdomen.

“Corio.”  You whisper his name like a prayer and he mumbles yours against your skin.  You watch as he plants his lips on your scar.  A scar that you got from taking a bullet for him.

It was not the last time you whispered his name in the dead of the night.

“Your petals always have the sweetest nectar.”  He groans and you feel yourself shy away, hips hiking up and away from him but his arms tighten their hold around your thighs and he looks at you from there, his eyes giving you a silent warning.

“S-sorry-ah!”  You gasp as his tongue darts out to lick the juices off your slit.  His tongue pokes at your pearl and you break eye contact with him when he wraps his lips on your tiny nub.

Coriolanus looks at you with his eyes now lazy but his tongue, the opposite!

He kisses you and in an act of total impulsiveness, starts tracing his name on your clit.  Coriolanus Snow was owning you in every way possible.

He had you reduced to your most carnal self.  Your hands were on his platinum hair, gripping them tightly in your hold, selfishly pulling him in.  Your thighs are resting on his broad shoulders.  And your cunt, it was making a mess on your chaise lounge and on your husband’s face.

Coriolanus groans as he parts your lips so he could kiss your opening.  His thick finger, that you have been craving, sliding on your juices before he plunges it knuckle-deep.  It might have been a mistake on his part given your sensitivity after having to be forced to join him in his self-induced celibacy.  Your lewd mewl brought rouge to his cheeks.

You bring your hands to your mouth to hush yourself and Coriolanus took that as a challenge.  He sits up, sitting on his ankles to press your thigh to your chest as his finger prods at you from the inside.

You are writhing underneath him.  Telling him how good he is making you feel.  Oh, and he reveled in it.  Every sound that comes from your lips, it fueled his desire more and more.

A second finger was added and you shriek from the stretch, it has been a while, he needs to be more gentle!  But Coriolanus cannot help himself when you look so pretty.  Your cheeks wet with tears, eyelashes clumping up, as your hands formed tiny fists.  Any form of his self control has disappeared when you are gushing and pulsating around his fingers.

He knows you’re nearly there, so close!

You pant, closing your eyes as his fingers massaged your walls, coaxing you to climb higher and higher and-

“Coriolanus!”  You yell furiously when he pulls his fingers out.

Your husband grins at you as he wipes his face from your slick.

“I seem to recall that someone was not a very good girl this morning?”  His hands trailed at your hips and you almost tear up from frustration.

He was supposed to be making it up to you!  He had no reason to bring up the events this morning.

In an act of defiance, you huff and you reach your own sex to flick at your clit.  Your fingers are more delicate, making you gasp at the gentle pleasure.

Coriolanus grins as he watches you play with yourself.  Enjoying how you grow more and more frustrated as you cannot give yourself the same pleasure.  You shriek angrily as you pull your fingers away, you slam your tiny feet on the chaise and Coriolanus laughs. 

“Are you done being a brat?”

You are too stubborn to answer but you do not stop him when he maneuvers you until you are on your stomach, you groan softly in discomfort when he pulls your hips so your cunt is presented to him beautifully.

His fingers are prodding your entrance again and you mewl when he pops his tip in.   Coriolanus stays there for a moment as his hands, rough from his time as a peacekeeper, grips on your waist firmly.

“There’ll be no stopping, alright?”  He reminds you.  “We’re done when I say we’re done.”

You lift your head from the plush of the chaise lounge and you give him a nod. 

“Put your head back down, my love.”

You do as he tells you and you brace yourself.

Coriolanus enters you with a sharp thrust, and your whimper is muffled by the cushions.  Your husband thrusts at a steady speed, his eyes watching the impact ripple on your body.

Your breath hitches with every kiss his tip makes on your cervix.  Every slap of his hips against you makes the crudest sound, sending a jolt of arousal through you.  President Snow is a man of the most refined of tastes, the pinnacle of order.  But when he beds you, he is just as raw, just as unrestrained.

“Don’t know why I deprived myself of your wet cunt for so long.”  And his mouth spewing the most vulgar of things.

He uses his weight to push you further in the mattress so he can fuck you deeper.  Your cunt spasms and you moan shakily, almost sobbing.

“Chase it, my love.”  He groans deeply.

And you unravel, lewd sobs spilling from your polished tongue as your back arches, cunt creaming around his cock.

Coriolanus watches you sob, your shoulders shaking as his thrusts do not relent.  His eyes flicker to where your bodies meet, your warm juices are dripping on his taut sack.

“Corio…Corio please!  I don’t think I can anymore….”

“Hm?”  He reaches to grab your chin.  “Thought I told you that we’re only done when I say so?”

You look at him with tears sliding down your cheeks.  You can’t even focus on him, body shuddering when your tummy feels another tight coil.

Coriolanus inhales sharply when he feels the familiar pulsation of your warm softness.

His tip twitches as it bumps your plump cervix.  And when you call his name with your broken voice as you cum, he shoots his seed in you.

“Hah…hah.”  

He is panting from on top of you, his hand placed against your bottom to keep himself up.

Coriolanus gently pulls himself out, watching the gossamer webbing of your arousal on his cock.  He smacks your bum and you tighten your cunt to keep his seed from spilling.  He scoots closer so he is holding you, your back against his chest as your legs tangled together.

The two of you gaze at the moon from the enormous windows of your sunroom.  It was calm again.  Nothing but your heartbeats and the gentle breathing lulling each of you closer to sleep.

“Corio.”  You call his name softly.

He hums in response as he pulls you closer, just needing to feel you against him.

“The people of Panem are not your fucking masters.”

His brows meet and he glances at you, wondering where all of this is coming from.

“They cannot have you always cleaning up their mess like you are some District servant.”

He shifts you so you are facing him now.  His stern brows meet to let you know you are on thin ice.

“You govern your people.  You don’t coddle them.  Let the District officials do their job.  They must learn to solve their own problems and the Capitol Bureaucrats must see to it that they are doing it in ways that align with your judgment.  And you lead them from the top.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

You yawn like the adorable thing you are.  “So Snow lands on top.”

He clicks his tongue smoothly.  “You are only attracted to power.”

“My love.”  You say rather darkly.  “You are power.”

Coriolanus falls silent, contemplating your words, letting himself process it.

He sighs as he looks at you in endearing defeat.  “You just want a vacation, don’t you?”

You fight back a smile as you smack his chest.

“I am being serious, Coriolanus Snow.”

He pulls you closer, teeth glinting as he snickers.  “I understand that, Y/N Snow.”

“Y/N Swansworth-Snow.”  You remind him and he laughs.

“Of course, of course.”

You lean your head on his chest and your cheek soaks his warmth.

“You know, you are not your father, Corio.”

He winces.  “I know…I’m just-”

“You are better.”

That sinks deep in him.

He now understands why there was something in you that pulled him in.  No one in Panem, or in this world, could understand his soul in its most naked form.  You are his stability.  Someone whom he cannot scare away when he is darkest.

Because it seems like you might be exactly just like him.  Just as cruel, just as evil, with no regards to anyone but each other.

And he is fine with that, even if the world is burned to ash around you.

“My love for you is catastrophic.”  Coriolanus murmurs against your skin and you smile as you close your eyes.

You run your finger on his chest.  “And my love for you is all-consuming.”

Coriolanus and you are obsessive, ablazed with reckless passion, villainous in nature, but it is easy to justify when you are both equally drunk with dangerous devotion.

The people of Panem be damned.  

The odds will forever be in your favor.

Hunt for Glory

#coriolanus snow x y/n #coriolanus snow x you #coriolanus snow x reader #young coriolanus snow #coriolanus smut #coriolanus x reader #the hunger games #tbosas #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #hunt for glory

[jazeswhbhaven]

Omg yaaay requests are open \o/ can I please request the four kings with a fem reader that is insecure about her small boobs? Take as long as you want! I'm in no hurry ❤

Yay itty bitty committee time ^^ I often wish I had b-no cup boobs often because I hate my size :/ and even when folks suggest a good binder it never works out...I guess I'm just too large. I'm excited to write this!! (thank you for waiting) Satan: He caught you staring at the mirror again trying to hold up a melon to your chest and envision what they'd be. He laughs and finds it really funny that you care so much about your boobs. As he reaches and wraps around you, he smirks and buries his head in the crook of your neck while squeezing your chest firmly. "Fits right in my hands..." he murmurs and kisses you to reassure you that he doesn't mind at all. These boobs are on your body and he likes you. It's more than enough. Mammon: He does acknowledge that you have small boobs, but he finds that adorable and cute. He's seen boobs of various sizes in hell, but the thought of yours being this size makes him happy. They don't spill over his palm, they look amazing to him, and they belong to him. Your boobs are his boobs. If anyone has anything to say about that, then they can talk to him. Ofc, if you wanted to increase your size he's happy to help you achieve your goal, but he'd rather have you as you are.

Beelzebub: Small boobs? Oh, that's so trivial to him. Why should you care about being small in that area? If you asked him for nipple piercings, he's happily doing it. If you want a chest or sternum tattoo, he's got you. He just loves licking and biting them and squishing them in his hands, he doesn't care. In fact, he wants to remind you just how much your boobs please him...with a smirk on his face and a beckoning finger to embrace you in a hug *wink*

Leviathan: He's glad they're small. If they were any bigger he'd be jealous of the amount of attention you'd be getting. Plus why does anyone else's opinion of your body matter? His opinion is the only one that is worth thinking about. In fact, stop focusing on your own boobs and focus on his...maybe that will distract you from your cup size. Besides, their perfect for his uses...that mark he left there the other day is still there. Right where it should be...

#whb #what in hell is bad #jwhbasks❓ #whb beelzebub #whb satan #whb leviathan #whb mammon #whb kings👑 #small boobie time #they'd all love them no matter what

[chiliadicorum]

Was Feanor's Death Anticlimactic?

(thank you to @ckgoksoy's artwork and @nyarnamaitar's tags on it that inspired this)

I’m sure the fandom has seen this idea floating around, that his death was quite anticlimactic*, a letdown after all his hype and drama, so I won't elaborate on this common opinion, one that I initially shared. I instead want to challenge it. Furthermore, I posit that not only was his death not anticlimactic, but that it was one of the most glorious fights in the whole legendarium. *(I'm speaking of the whole scene in general that ended in his death, not the outcome of it - let's be real, self-combustion isn't boring and that epic circumstance was unique to Feanor alone)

Buckle up.

I'm not going to dive into "narrative bias" - it's a touchy subject and a deep discussion in itself - but it does need to be acknowledged here however briefly because it's so glaringly obvious that it directly impacts how we the Reader interpret Feanor's final fight scene.

My belief of the problem is not that there wasn't anything significant to report about Feanor's fight with the Balrogs, but that it was deliberately withheld from us. Let's look at Feanor and Fingolfin, two incredibly imperative characters to the drama. Compare the scene of Feanor's fight to Fingolfin's duel with Morgoth. In the silmarillion, from the moment he elected to go forth to the conclusion of his death, Feanor gets 1.5 paragraphs containing 344 words. Fingolfin using the same window gets 6 paragraphs containing 766 words. Of those 766 words, for text dedicated specifically to the actual combat alone, Fingolfin got 261 words.

Feanor got 29.

That's quite a gaping difference, especially when it's between these two. But you might make the argument that these two combats had entirely different foes. Feanor faced Balrogs, but Fingolfin fought Morgoth, the Enemy, the only occasion in which Morgoth emerged to fight anyone, so of course it should shine in the spotlight with some detail as to how it went (and yes, it should). It has nothing to do with bias against who was fighting, but what they were fighting.

All right. I'll pretend that this distinction is important. Let's turn to the other recorded Balrog-fights. Again, not including all the narrative revolving around their fight & subsequent death, but specific to the combat alone:

Fingon got 94 words Ecthelion got 144 words Glorfindel got a whopping 210 words

Feanor got 29. Now, length is not the deciding factor in this, obviously. The content contained within is what matters, and that's the rub: there's content. Which is why I literally figured out the word-count dedicated to what happened within the timeframe of the combats. Length is not important, but the point I'm trying to make with highlighting the lengths is that some measure of detail of the combat was included for ALL the other deaths-by-Balrog. Except Feanor's. So the argument that it was because of what Feanor was fighting that we were left with a truncated account is moot.

And remember, the three other Elves above were each fighting a single Balrog whereas Feanor was up against many. And I'm to seriously believe that there was nothing noteworthy to write about that? This was Feanor. Because that's another thing. The other three accounts were of minor characters (and Ecthelion and Glorfindel were very minor characters compared to Feanor). This was the legendary Feanor, the greatest of Elves to ever live, larger than life, powerful, intelligent and skilled beyond measure, and without who's driving force we wouldn't have had a story...and a few dozen words only are dedicated to his demise?

Now to clarify, Glorfindel's and Ecthelion's fights weren't included in the silm. Like I said, minor characters, so it wasn't surprising their combats were cut from the final draft. Their word-count was pulled from their accounts in The Fall of Gondolin. So, to be fair, I took the (really long) time and looked up Feanor's death in every. single. book. and, much to my genuine surprise, the silmarillion had the longest and most detailed account. The measly 29 words. What were those words? I should probably include them at some point since I'm going on about it:

"Long he fought on, and undismayed, though he was wrapped in fire and wounded with many wounds; but at the last he was smitten to the ground by Gothmog"

That's it. No wonder people are underwhelmed when reading it. So vague and containing absolutely nothing specific after he was surrounded. And it says "long he fought on", which means this fight was no short thing. This is an interesting element, because even Glorfindel's fight, which was given the most detail, was described as a fast event: "Now there was a deadly combat upon that high rock above the folk [...] yet it was over ere Glorfindel's men could leap to his side." Long he fought on. Logic dictates that Feanor's fight therefore would have the most to report of what occurred therein, but all we get is "wounded with many wounds" and "wrapped in fire"? (though that's an awesome visual to imagine, I have to say)

Am I really supposed to believe that every Balrog-fight was interesting enough to spend time writing about it except Feanor's? Especially when he faced not just one Balrog but many? And not one at a time, but all at once? (because it says he was "surrounded") And when this combat lasted a long time? All of these factors tied together hint at something awesome that happened, and you want me to believe it wasn't a jaw-dropping showdown?

This history was written by Pengolodh who, with reason, had a very negative outlook towards Feanor and, while he was a brilliant historian, he wasn't wholly objective and one way I believe this manifests is, in fact, in his lack of documentation of this fight. I'm only highlighting this factor and not the narrative he penned about the people he was writing because, especially comparing Feanor's and Fingolfin's accounts, that becomes very problematic and is a separate post entirely.

Feanor only got 29 words for his combat. I'll even be generous and say it was 35 words if we include the preceding line where it explains that Feanor was surrounded by them. What would happen if we rewrote Fingolfin's 261-worded duel with Morgoth and condensed it down to something short and sweet? Something like this:

"Fiercely he fought in rage and grief, and with Ringil he hewed at the Black Foe ere Morgoth crushed him to the ground. Thus died Fingolfin before Angband's gates."

Kind of anticlimactic, isn't it? (and yeah, I made that 29 words)

What an astounding difference detail makes for the conclusions we draw about these two fights. Now, if Feanor had died straightaway at the start of the fight, then yeah. Deeming it anticlimactic would carry a lot more weight.

Except he didn't.

Which brings me to my next three points. Because now after harping about the egregious lack of information, how can I dare suggest then that his combat with the Balrogs was glorious?

Ignore everything I've said up to this point. Dismissing the narrative bias completely, if I were of the opinion that it doesn't exist or its impact on the text is nowhere near as substantial as I've implied, the minimal detail of Feanor's death scene itself still convinces me that this scene was epic.

And yes, I do believe Feanor's fight was in fact glorious.

1: the Balrogs weren't able to kill him immediately

Those four words, "long he fought on" cannot be overstated. Fights with Balrogs in the First Age were fast, if you managed to live long enough to actually fight them, that is. And if you did, it was shortlived. Not Feanor's though. He was wounded with many wounds (so creative, Pengolodh), but he was never dealt the killing blow (I'll come back to this). The final wound Feanor received put him to the ground. Maybe Gothmog swept his feet out from under him with the fiery whip. Maybe this wound was to his thigh and caused him to fall to his knees. Maybe it took four of them converging on him with attacks for Gothmog to finally slip in. WE'LL NEVER KNOW. But he's on the ground and he's still alive. Still alive when his sons and army arrived to help and still alive when the Balrogs left:

"Then his sons raised up their father and bore him back towards Mithrim. But as they drew near to Eithel Sirion and were upon the upward path to pass over the mountains, Feanor bade them halt; for his wounds were mortal and he knew that his hour was come."

And still alive while they carry him away. Feanor didn't die on the battleground of his Balrog-fight. He died here, near the slope of the mountains. It says earlier in Feanor's account that he pressed on, thinking perhaps that he could reach Morgoth himself, which means they were far into the fields of Ard-galen, far from the mountain pass. From Eithel Sirion to the skirt of Thangorodrim's mountains, Ard-galen stretched around 70 leagues wide (one map has it around 100 leagues). Let's be generous and say this fight occurred at the midpoint; 35 leagues. If it takes an hour to walk a league, that's still 35 hours of non-stop walking without rest-stops, sleep or being weighed down by supplies and an army to get back to Eithel Sirion where Feanor died (some accounts have him being borne all the way back to Mithrim before he died).

At minimum, Feanor didn't die until at least a whole day later. He needed assistance getting up from the ground and moving, but he was very much alive, still talking, still coherent. Can you imagine how awful that was for his sons? The adrenaline of running as fast as they could to help him, the overwhelming relief that he was still alive, badly hurt but alive, they tend to his wounds as best as they can and get him out of there, probably smiling at their father being irritated by the outcome of the fight because that sounds like him, he's normal haha he'll be fine...But he's only getting worse with each league, face paler, can't move at all on his own, becoming so quiet. They keep tending to his wounds, try to keep him hydrated, steadily get terrified at how he gets weaker and weaker, and then he tells them to halt. The fact that he survived for a time, for many hours, led me to believe that whatever fatal wound he got, it caused severe internal bleeding, because his sons had plenty of time to patch him up and Elves' bodies are resilient and heal fast, but this wound was unstoppable.

Feanor fought against multiple Balrogs, and they couldn't kill him. He fought multiple Balrogs all at once, and they couldn't kill him. He fought multiple Balrogs all at once for a long time, and they couldn't kill him, one and done. He walked away from it, if for a short while, and that's amazing.

2: the Balrogs fled the scene

How has the fandom not lost their collective minds over this tidbit? Feanor gets struck down by Gothmog. He's on the ground, exposed, and it says he would have perished right then and there if his sons hadn't arrived to help. Feanor's vulnerable on the ground, unable to defend himself. Gothmog had to only strike him one more time and done, mission accomplished (he could've just stomped on him, just saying). Gothmog probably moved to do so, but didn't. Let me ask you a question:

What the hell did Feanor do in that fight to make the Balrogs AFRAID?

This was one Elf, a single Elf that they were all piling on, they finally get him to the ground...and they run. They can finally kill him, but at the mere SIGHT of his seven sons, the children of this one Elf running full pelt towards them enraged and desperate, they elected to flee instead of taking the two seconds to finish the job. I can see it; Gothmog's eyes blazing down at this prone Elf, raising his weapon for the killing blow, hears yelling, looks up, sees these Elves coming, takes a second to consider and then nopes out of there.

What in the world did Feanor do to them during their fight to make the Balrogs believe that fleeing from these coming Elves was the better option? They're Balrogs! Monsters, demons of living fire, the greatest of Morgoth's servants...and they run at the sight of Feanor's sons and the people with them. See now why I'm so desperate for details of that fight? Feanor put fear into them. There was really nothing worth writing about?

3: Morgoth was desperate

"[...] Morgoth was dismayed. Ten days that battle lasted, and from it returned of all the hosts that he had prepared for the conquest of Beleriand no more than a handful of leaves."

Morgoth was dismayed. Can we not appreciate the magnitude of this simple sentence? Appalled, apprehensive, frightened, nervous, shocked - Feanor and the Noldor made Morgoth, mightiest of all beings, dismayed.

This was a landslide victory for the Noldor, and it's often forgotten because of Feanor's death in the hour of that victory. The size of Morgoth's army here can't be disregarded. This wasn't a troop or two he sent to kill the Noldor, this wasn't a regiment sent to take over Mithrim. This army was of such a gargantuan size that Morgoth intended to use it for "the conquest of Beleriand". Not just the Falas or Doriath, the entire continent. It was THE army, that's how huge it was. And the Noldor massacred them to such a degree that "no more than a handful of leaves" returned to Angband.

And that puny remnant was running for Angband as fast as they could, because these terrifying Elves were hot on their tail, Feanor at the lead. And he runs faster, pulling ahead. (the Elves are hot with victory, how did Feanor manage to outrun them by such a distance? dang dude) He's coming for them. For Angband, for Morgoth, his father's slayer and thief of his treasure. Vengeance is nigh.

And from afar Morgoth sees Feanor coming. For him. His army is destroyed, gone, and Feanor, blazing like the Spirit of Fire he is, is charging for his fortress with the army of Noldor in his wake. And I absolutely love that Morgoth's solution to this wasn't to send one Balrog but several of them, including his General. That's what he deemed was necessary to stop Feanor. The Balrogs probably went out thinking "kill that one Elf? Easy, no problem", until they started fighting him...and struggled to do it.

It's interesting because Feanor wouldn't have been able to breach the walls of Angband. Not even the Valar could, and Morgoth knew this. He knew Feanor wouldn't stand a chance if he actually reached Thangorodrim. But such was his dismay that in his fear and anxiety, that fact no longer registered to him. He reacted instead, and his reaction is so telling. The Balrogs were a last resort, a desperate attempt to get these Elves to stop.

And it worked.

Thus why I say that details of his fight were deliberately withheld from us instead of the idea that they weren't worth reporting. The question, then, is why? Why withhold it? Feanor's death scene was never anticlimactic. It was instead given such a disservice in the tomes of history, for the historians simply neglected to report anything about it (for the sole purpose of making it seem unnotable perhaps?). This fight was badass. And side note: "wrapped in fire"? There's no sun or moon yet, guys, and that close to Angband I'm willing to bet even the stars were veiled by Morgoth's gales. It's pitch black on the Ard-galen except for what light the Elves carry...Try to envision what his sons saw as they were running to him, in the distance, the whirling inferno Feanor was engulfed in, that lit up the entire fields up to the skies. (Were they confused at first? Thinking it was simply a manifestation of their father's fire until they saw dark shapes moving in it?)

How could anyone omit information about such a marvelous event? Feanor died very early on, but he made sure his final stand was so glorious as to put fear into the Enemy. Think about it; this day was the first time Morgoth learned to dread the Elves.

29 words. Why oh why did you withhold everything else? Yes, all these factors woven together coalesce into an incredible impression of what transpired, but it's remanded unto our mere imaginations to guess and envision. I'm fully convinced Feanor's fight with the Balrogs was jaw-dropping, and I'm resigned to being forever embittered that we were given a lousy account of that event. There is one thing, though, that pacifies me and with it, I'll make my conclusion to this long meta. Why was it withheld? There's one detail written about this battle in The Quenta that I think provides the answer:

"no tale can tell the valour of Feanor"

Perhaps I'm being too harsh on Pengolodh for his lackluster description of Feanor's last fight. Maybe it was less of a passive-aggressive hostility towards Feanor...and more so the simple fact that no amount of words would've ever done it justice.

#feanor #silmarillion #dagor nuin giliath #morgoth #balrogs #gothmog #feanorians #ard-galen #pengolodh #meta #narrative bias #unreliable narrators

[actual-changeling]

ahhhhh fuck it. sure. back to normal meta posting.

do not copy or otherwise repost any of my writing without express permission, including (but not limited to) any and all blogs that are dedicated to harassing people based on their opinions.

—

a south downs ending does not equal a fairy tale ending/happily ever after.

regardless of how you personally characterize crowley and aziraphale and interpret their actions, ignoring the emotional impact of pretty much the entirety of season two would be a disservice to neil (and terry) as a storyteller.

aziraphale not just broke crowley's trust, he repeatedly chose to side with heaven and "morality" over him—crowley has always been the second choice, otherwise aziraphale would have fallen long ago. he would not fall for crowley because so far he has not fallen, he turned away from crowley every single time it came down to either falling or continuing to hold his position as an angel.

meanwhile crowley fell from both heaven's and hell's graces long before he fell in love with aziraphale; it has never been a choice for him because he decided on who he wants to be and how he wants to live once he found out about the 6000 year deadline on the universe.

crowley fell for what is right, for what is decent and kind regardless of the consequences he'll have to face afterwards.

aziraphale has not fallen simply to keep his personal comfort intact and stuck to the selfish ideology centring whatever is the most convenient option in a given situation, and no matter how you twists and turn it, that's at the heart of it—because, again, otherwise he would already have fallen.

so when neil resolves their conflicts—because i trust that he will do it in a way that's satisfactory for everyone involved, including us as the audience—those centuries predating season three don't just magically disappear.

crowley will hopefully have learned to live for himself and not anyone else, which allows him to choose what kind of relationship he wants to have with aziraphale. they might move into their cottage with their relationship still healing and the end result open. content and together, sure, but crowley is under no obligation to forgive aziraphale for any of the shit that he put him through. there's a degree of intimacy and trust they'll never get back; it sucks, it's sad, but it is what it is.

meanwhile aziraphale will have to face that he fucked up, openly acknowledge how he's hurt crowley and others, and apologize without expecting forgiveness; he might get it, he might not, but he needs to keep growing/learning/changing no matter what.

think about the ending of season one—they're dining at the ritz, content and happily enjoying each other's presence, but outside of that we are not given more information. i can see exactly that happening at the end of season three, a satisfactory ending that also simultaneously allows us to decide for ourselves what happens once we leave them.

if there is a single thing i am certain of it's that we will not get a fairy tale ending, no happily ever after, and if that's what you're expecting going into it, then you will probably be disappointed.

#alex talks good omens #good omens #crowley #aziraphale #good omens season 2 #go2 #aziracrow #crowley x aziraphale #ineffable husbands #ineffable wives #ineffable spouses #ineffable divorce #the final fifteen #good omens meta #alex's meta minisodes #let's see how this goes

[innocentimouto]

Do you think the show/franchise should acknowledge that Jet Is one of Iroh’s victims?

Do you mean because the Rough Rhinos were under Iroh's command (or at least their leader was)?

At first I thought no, just because the show moved on from Iroh's flaws and never gave us anything in terms of his victims. I don't see them doing it, let alone doing it right. Also Jet would get even more hate.

But say they could do it right. Then yes, it would be incredible. Even if Jet still died, so long as it was made clear to characters like the Gaang or Zuko and Iroh that he was one of Iroh's victims, I would be happy.

Whatever opinions there are about Jet's actions in war, he did something. He was resourceful and strong; he could have fled somewhere else or survived on his own (however long that would last considering the war). But he chose to help others.

Iroh never did that. I don't think Iroh helped Zuko either, but say he did. One, that's not great when Zuko was invading Sokka and Katara's home or when capturing the avatar. Two, Iroh still never helped anyone in the war against the Fire Nation until the very end.

It makes sense for a character like Jet to be the one to hate Iroh and make it clear that just because the man is elderly and kind doesn't mean he didn't do horrible things in war and then became content with doing nothing to fix it.

It even fits within the storyline. They met on the way to BSS. Zuko's arc needs to go somewhere. Iroh's arc has been stagnant for a while. Jet's trauma hasn't been properly conveyed. Having Jet bring up what Iroh has done, in detail, possibly with victims from Iroh's siege against BSS, would be a great way to force Iroh to be confronted with his actions and forced to give his thoughts on it.

Does he care? Does he care beyond feeling remorse? Has he ever thought about helping people against the Fire Nation?

It also helps Zuko's arc. He's still on the Fire Nation's side, but he's seen the other nations are just regular people. Would having Iroh state whatever his views are on this affect Zuko? If Iroh just brushed it all away with a small shake of the head and some words about letting anger go, would that make Zuko uncomfortable? Because now he has faces to possible victims. And Jet is great with words and can definitely hurt people with them, so I doubt he would stay quiet at whatever Iroh would say.

Or would Zuko simply not care and side with Iroh because he's always known what Iroh had done? Zuko burned a village down himself. Only thing he's done lately is complain about poverty.

It could go either way for them, but I think things would be clear with the Gaang. If confronted with Jet's words, and neither Zuko nor Iroh care or offer much in return, I don't think the Gaang would be that receptive to accepting Zuko later.

The Gaang has never heard Zuko say the Fire Nation propaganda he was fed all his life. I doubt they would forget it if he somehow justified the Air Nomads being massacred. I doubt Sokka, Aang, or Katara would be okay if he justified waterbenders being killed.

Calling someone a peasant or trying to kill them is one thing, but hearing someone explain to you why your people were wiped out and that it was right is not something most people will forget.

(Also we can get development with Toph and her thoughts on the war. And Suki wouldn't get her words about her village being destroyed turned into a joke. Also Haru, because fellow earth kingdom kid who most likely heard terrifying tales of the Dragon of the West.)

And seeing their reactions---horror, grief, rage, pain---no matter how behind Zuko could be on his arc, that would stay with him. He's a teenager. He's hotheaded and selfish and entitled. But he's not a monster. He feels emotions. And while I disagree strongly that he had a good redemption arc, by BSS, he at least had some doubts about some things.

It's an established way to bring Iroh's character back to morally flawed, which is good. Too many things are canon for Iroh to be anything better than that. He learned firebending from the dragons, but still continued killing innocent people? He stood by while Zuko got burned? He let Ozai take the throne without ever challenging him despite being the rightful heir and supposedly realizing the war was wrong?

Iroh had the best chance to at least slow the Fire Nation before Aang appeared. The thing about Iroh is that he's always been content to sit back and not do anything. He wanted Zuko to make tea with him within the walls while the war was coming to a close and we're expected to believe he cares about the wellbeing of other nations? About the war itself? Iroh was one of the strongest firebenders in the world. He had a responsibility to at least atone for the deaths he caused, if not outright confront Ozai.

If you meant that Jet got brainwashed because of Iroh and then eventually killed?

I don't really blame Iroh for Jet's death. I strongly side-eye Iroh for acting completely innocent about what Jet was rightfully saying despite Iroh supposedly regretful for his actions in the war and yet not caring at all that he got an innocent kid arrested by police that everyone knew were capable of making people disappear.

#Jet #atla jet #anti zuko #anti iroh #asks #anti zuko's redemption arc #hope I worded this right #basically someone needed to face Iroh and go #you killed LOTS of people #and yes past is past or whatever focus on present blah blah blah #so what have you been doing in the present? #*check notes from spying #running a teashop #running a teashop... #that's how you #as one of the strongest benders in the world #with firsthand knowledge of the enemy nation #decided to spend your time #while children are fighting the war for you #you somehow traveled through the ek #saw all the victims suffering #and are content to live happily and do nothing #honestly Jet would be that tragic character to point this out and be ignored by the narrative

[gatheringbones]

[“…. right from its psychoanalytic beginnings, mental illness was connected to amorality, a legacy that is challenging to distance ourselves from, and amorality was connected to femininity. Although we have come a long way, assumptions about the superiority of rationality persist in our field, at least within Anglo and Western dominant paradigms. For example, the field of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) rests on the assumption that we can literally exercise mind over matter. CBT does view a connection between thoughts, emotions and behaviors but mostly intervenes at the level of thoughts and behaviors, trying to change “distorted thinking” and “maladaptive behaviors.” There is an almost unspoken assumption that “rational” thoughts and behaviors are always morally superior and to be preferred in the field of mental health.

It is no accident, in my opinion, that rational thoughts and behaviors are stereotypically associated with masculinity and, more specifically white and Anglo masculinity. Even though gender seems to be but a minor branch of topical interest in psychology and mental health, gendered assumptions run deep in our field. It’s rare that anyone questions bold assertions, made by mental health providers on a daily basis, on how “men and women work.” Those assumptions are, after all, foundational to many theories and approaches.

Even when gender is not mentioned at all in certain theories, in practice people tend to apply them differently with “male and female” clients. It’s even rarer that the whole premise of two gender is put into question and, when it is, it only seems to pertain to transgender and/or nonbinary people, leaving the main tenets of gendered thinking in dominant culture untouched and unquestioned. Mental health with and for transgender and/or nonbinary people then becomes its own specialist branch, which means the rest of the field can continue undisturbed in their assumptions about men and women, as long as we keep to our turf and don’t shake the cisgenderist foundation of the whole discipline. This too is a colonizing and capitalist approach. If we’re kept separate from one another, we can be better controlled and, most importantly, there can be more specialties, and therefore more certifications and trainings to be sold and bought.

Even in the field of family therapy, where systemic thinking could open a different conversation about gender, all too often we fall back on established stereotypes and pseudoscience about gender as a rigid binary. Yet, I have found that when I can support people in connecting genuinely to gender as a historical, social and cultural construct, a better understanding of one another can emerge across differences that are made to look chasmic by people who are invested in selling solutions specific to “men,” “women,” and “transgender and/or nonbinary people.” Unfortunately the discourse that men are from Mars, women are from Venus and trans people from Transylvania (at least according to The Rocky Horror Picture Show) is familiar to people and, like many other popular discourses, is reproduced effortlessly by providers and researchers who are also brought up within these dominant paradigms.

Sometimes people acknowledge that what they’re working with are issues like toxic masculinity, but they’re reluctant to then broaden the lens to indicate how larger systems support the reproduction of such harmful, colonial binaries. This means that, ironically, while working to dismantle toxic masculinity, they also keep reifying it by framing their work as being with “men” or “boys.” I can understand how the latter is more marketable than the “smash the colonial patriarchy” approach I am proposing in this book but I truly believe that if we don’t start questioning the rigidity of the gender binary altogether, for everyone, we will keep running around in circles to find ourselves in the same places, or maybe just a few inches over to the left.”]

alex iantaffi, from gender trauma: healing cultural, social, and historical gendered trauma, 2020

#alex iantaffi #trans literature #history stuff #currently reading #gender stuff

[princessprettyprivilege]

The Lowdown on Pretty Privilege

I think this will be a nice intro post. I changed my name to princessprettyprivilege since it summed up my content. Previously, I was burned out from overwhelming myself and not being as consistent as I hoped. I may or may not be as anonymous this time, plus I’m not going to fuss over rules I made in the past, and I’m going to be more direct in my language.

Anyways.. pretty privilege. Pretty privilege is your face card, or body (if you’re a butterface) being transferable to cash, free or paid for resources, higher living, free or paid meals, lax rules, social norms, and other experiences in reality.

Whenever the topic of pretty privilege comes up, those who are against it equate it to conventionally attractive women being exploited for their beauty and lookism unfairly determining treatment in society. Whether you choose to brood in duality or not, pretty privilege will always be alive and well.

Q1: Do I need to emulate [x celebrity or influencer] to benefit from pretty privilege?

Answer: No, you don’t need to copy anyone’s image to benefit from pretty privilege. Pretty privilege is simply your prettiness becoming a privilege.

There’s no 1 beautiful face that’s the panacea for success. It takes 1 person wanting to improve a beautiful girl’s day, or life.

Q2: What if I think I’m not as attractive as I think, and people can see that?

Answer: People CAN see that. If you believe you aren’t attractive, you need to compensate with confidence, charisma, personality, etc. since that can grant you even more privilege than the hottest person in the room.

Q2.25: What if I'm as hot as I think, and people can’t see that?

Answer: If others can’t see that, it could be due to low esteem, poor posture, or you aren’t as hot as you think you are. At the same time, you could be unapproachable or not someone’s cup of tea.

As always, it takes boldness to step up and out of the norm.

Q2.5: What if I’m as attractive as I think, and people can see that?

Answer: Confidence is intoxicating, and goes a long way if people can smell that before you enter a room. You don’t need to question whether you’re attractive or not if you know you're attractive.

Q3: I know I’m beautiful without makeup, yet I haven’t benefited from pretty privilege. Why not??

Answer: Whether you wake up beautiful or pull yourself out of bed to apply beautiful makeup, it doesn’t matter how you start. There could be multitudes of reasons, such as your personality, attitude, environment, anything.

You have to question yourself honestly and actively put yourself out there.

Q4: Isn’t pretty privilege an excuse for taking advantage of others' goodwill?

Answer: I don’t think so. If it’s not you (or me), it’ll be someone else. Step up or step aside, girl!!

Q5: It’s unnecessary to call others butterface, plain Janes, and boring. You can be superficial without imposing your opinions on others. What are reasons not related to social climbing for pretty privilege to be a thing??

Answer: It’s not superficial to acknowledge we’re visual creatures that require stimuli, whether physical, mental or visual, to be in balance.

In society, people seek stimuli like dining out, vacations, education, and fast living to enrich their lives.

At a point, the same routine becomes repetitive since you’re aware of the results you get.

This can go 3 ways: an external force acts on your routine forcing it to deviate from the norm, you build up a tolerance for the same thing and it becomes frustration, regret and resentment in the future, or you deviate from your norm to your benefit to stay sane.

A plain face is devoid of stimuli like bland food and creative block; you can’t imagine the possibilities if it doesn’t stimulate your mind, so you seek an outlet that does. I hope this answers your question.

Attractiveness is Apex

Attractiveness appeals to multiple senses, not only the visual. Just like someone who’s considered too beautiful or too ugly, the senses are maximized on both ends to where the returns you get are diminished. Being attractive keeps you and others on their toes, since it’s unexpected and stimulating. This is where pretty privilege comes in.

You can experience privilege, even though it’s not guaranteed, by optimizing the possibilities of your appearance and health.

Pretty privilege is a game of chance. You can do everything right, but not benefit. This is why pretty privilege is a privilege, not an entitlement since society isn’t fair or predictable. Maximize your chances by placing yourself in as many favorable conditions as possible.

Pretty privilege requires investment. You don’t need permission to upgrade yourself or a lot of money to begin.

Don’t overanalyze pretty privilege. Comparing yourself to others or trying to understand why people act the way they do is maddening.

Pretty privilege should be motivating and an experience you can’t wait to wake up for. Cutting yourself down to a stump to be appealing to everyone but yourself is unreasonable and a waste of time & money.

Finally, bring fantasy to life, but don’t live in fantasy. If you find yourself obsessing over others’ success stories to the point of self-hatred, it’s time to get offline and take notes of what you could be doing to become your own fantasy.

💖 Maximize the pretty!!! 💖

#high maintenance #pretty privilege #femininity #high standards #levelup #femininity tips #princesskhalyiah #expensive taste

[strangertheories]

Quantum Entanglement and Stranger Things 5

I'll tag @ven0moir and @strawberrybyers because their posts were the first I'd seen talking about this. This is based off of the theory that the tweet and poster as seen below are referring to quantum entanglement (two particles that depend on the other one, no matter how far apart they are).

When looking at quantum entanglement, Mike and Will were not the first pair to pop into my head. I get why it would, as they're framed in front of a poster of it, there's a pair from a love triangle above it and also it would be adorable of them to do that. I think that's a very valid theory. However, does anyone think that this could apply to Vecna and El or, more interestingly in my opinion, Will and Vecna? Or even Hawkins and the Upside Down?

Here's a description of quantum entanglement via this article:

"Quantum entanglement is a bizarre, counterintuitive phenomenon that explains how two subatomic particles can be intimately linked to each other even if separated by billions of light-years of space. Despite their vast separation, a change induced in one will affect the other."

Maybe this is foreshadowing that Will has an entwined link with Vecna so no matter how far he runs or hides, he will be linked to him forever. Especially since Will has his mental link to the mind flayer; they are literally entangled for life and that's why Will can sense him. A change in the mind flayer is a change in Will. This could help explain the seasons long mental link Will has to Vecna; they were doomed to meet the second Will became the flee and not the acrobat.

Alternatively, it could be talking about El in a sort of Harry Poster esque way (not trying to promote HP, just acknowledging similarities) where one cannot exist without the other. This could help to explain the similarities between the Deathly Hallows Part II poster and the volume 2 one.

This could mean that you cannot have Hawkins without the Upside Down; they are too linked, hence why the Russians went to build there. I have a post with a bit about this theory amongst other things that I'll link here. But the gist is that Hawkins is intertwined with the Upside Down and has been for longer than Henry's time.

The example the article used also drew my attention with the Upside Down parallels. I'm paraphrasing here, but they explained it like a coin; there are both a heads and a tails side, which you know without needing to look, but you cannot determine whether it is heads or tails until you look. Hawkins is kind of like a coin, with the main universe and the Upside Down, so even if you shut the gate and break the link, it'll still be linked forever. Maybe to fix it, you have to destroy not just Vecna or the Upside Down, but Hawkins altogether.

I'm mostly spiralling here but this is a really interesting tweet and I think it's worth discussing whether this will be a theme in S5. Personally, I lean more towards Will and Vecna being entwined with each other over a Byler romantic version, but I'm very open to lots of theories.

#stranger things #byler #will byers #stranger things theory #stranger theories #st theory #st5 #st5 theory #st5 speculation #stranger things five #vecna #henry creel #001

[gay-dorito-dust]

Sooo I've been reading your re4 fics and I've been loving them! ✨️ I like how you depict Leon (ngl 👏🏾 that's my fav version of bb boi). While munchin at the re4 buffet table (thanks to the remake) I've been seeing drabbles/hc of Leon and current memes, but like Leon isn't gunna know any meme/joke past '98.

Not to speak bad about the posts. I truly love them and understand they're for comedic purposes. (The 🥚 post come on now 😽 delicious)

It just got me thinking (😏 iykyk), what memes do you think Leon would get? Like if reader or oc referenced a meme/joke that's an inkling past the 2000s, I think Leon (all vers) would either laugh/pity laugh () cause he doesn't get it or and tell you he doesn't get it and inquiring about it. Some of your re4 posts have a dash of humor in them, so that's why I asked.

Sorry for the long post. Take care and put your health first. ♥️✨️

(Sorry for any typos)

Firstly I want to thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to read my resident evil stuff, and I’m even more thankful that you like how I depict Leon. I honestly thought I would do shit. So once again, massive thank you for taking your time to read my stuff. 🦦

If anything this felt like an entire post about how little Leon knows about memes….tbh he probably called them ‘me me’ or ask why there was a second e in meme before you tell him that’s it silent.

That’s an excellent question and I know other people will have their opinions and I’d love to hear what others think, whether it’s the exact opposite of mine or other wise. I’m always open to hear out anyone and everyone.

So, I genuinely believe that Leon would have a better time with memes that are straightforward in what they’re about, compared to the ones where he’s expected to be up to date on modern forms of media.

His job doesn’t exactly grants him a lot of free time to catch up on everything that he’s missed that he might as well make a list like Steve Rogers does in Captain America: the winter soldier.

You’re absolutely right in saying that Leon would laugh and or pity laugh at some of the memes due to your differing senses of humour; though that is entirely dependant on what type of humour you’re into.

So if you’re one to likes memes along the lines of;

‘me and the boys,’

‘Is this a butterfly?’

Markiplier’s Farquaad ‘E’ meme

And the ‘tuxedo Winnie the Pooh’ meme (aka the ‘a fellow man of culture’ meme)

Then he will not get them at all and will need you to explain to him what the context of the memes were and why they were inherently funny to people nowadays.

Leon would defiantly do the age old ‘eye squint and moving the phone closer to him’ thing when looking at the memes you show him.

Bonus if the meme in question was poking fun at how people of an older generation reads memes.

I think he recognises some obscure meme that probably wasn’t even funny to begin with but is funny to him and he’d be like ‘I understood that reference.’

To me, Leon S. Kennedy is the Steve Rogers of memes, he doesn’t know many of them but once he does, he makes everyone aware that he does, whether by a snicker or outward acknowledgment.

This might just be me projecting but he’d torture Ashley with the infamous dad jokes. It doesn’t even matter if Leon like them himself, he just knows it annoys Ashley and he’s willing to continue doing it cuz he’s a little shit.

Ashley: I’m tired

Leon: hi tired, I’m Leon.

Ashley: 😒

Leon: 😎

Hate to be the one to say it but he probably likes those Facebook minion memes… I don’t know why but then again I’d say the same for Ethan Winters but that’s neither here nor there.

Overall thing to take away; Leon is a little cringe and likes minion memes, dad jokes, and the like. He’s got really shit taste in humour, plz help this man, he needs to be exposed to bigger and better things.

#resident evil imagine #resident evil #resident evil 4 remake #resident evil fluff #resident evil x reader #resident evil x you #resident evil fic #resident evil imagines #leon kennedy #leon kennedy imagine #leon kennedy fluff #leon kennedy imagines #leon keneddy fanfic #leon kennedy fanfiction #leon kennedy x you #leon kennedy x reader #leon kennedy fic

[nightshadow2518]

Okay so long time ago I wrote a process analyzation of tremolo stating that he does not really like these girls but rather he likes cards because he usually calls his cards cutie and this episode kind of proved me right in a way, finish the sub so let me talk about it. (Before I do please keep in mind that I'm not trying to change anyone's opinion I am just tellin scrollg you what I've analyzed from this episode if you do not like it, scroll away. I'm good with any respectful debates or criticism but if you're just going to disagree with me harshly and say something out of pocket, I will not be responding to it. Delete it ignore it but I will not be acknowledging you)

Now when we see the mermaids for the first time I actually thought that they were the duel monsters or as I was thinking while the episode was subbed before watching it that maybe he made them in the girls image as a way of sharing tribute to their loyalty and respect for them. However we find out that's not the case as he says "I hired you because of your resemblance to them" and "your secretary names were all so choosing by me" and the question their hairstyles "yes because they were also made by me" this is rather creepy and kind of controlling because this means we don't even know how they really look besides that maybe their faces actually look like the mermaids? What this means is that tomorrow only had chose them because of a superstitial fact that they look like cards and less that he probably chose them because of anything like their ability to do any task for him, if he even respects them or not, etc. now this is not out of character for tremolo because I feel like we're all forgetting that he is possessive and remember he treats his cards almost as if they are living beings so seeing three beautiful women who look exactly like the cards he saw he found a way to sort of control them. Although he tries to deny this this could possibly be him not realizing how creepy it is at the moment and what he uses to excuses is that at the time they thought it was cute but keep in mind that they're obsessed with him. Obsession and love are two different things, though sometimes they will toe to toe the fact that the matter is that they're more described as obsessed with him and not in love. They also seem genuinely creeped out by this and it started making me think of a theory

What if the girls are actually not human or duel monsters but some form of alien. Keep in mind that not all aliens have the type like Velgears. We seen Zaion, Chupa, and Fisher all have eyes that kind of resemble the humans. Angie also has horns that kind of resembles the ones that Pawnsters have. And keep in mind the major thing that space dragons ATTRACT aliens. Cuz why would he need to go this far into changing everything about them and claim to love them when he's not really getting to love the real versions of them but more the superstition ones that he created? Why would they go along with it? Unless they feel compelled to do it because they can't understand why they're so drawn.

And this pretty much concludes my analysis of this episode, The girls and Tremolo. Overall, I still Like Tremolo since he's been my favorite and every time I see him I get a little happy. My opinions of the girls changed because I went from not liking them to now just feeling bad about every time I see them since what the heck does this all mean?? Given this show it's probably going to get wrapped up into his creepy obsession is actually his way of loving people....yikes...also Yuhi and Yuamu are so real for also thinking that it's gross. As for the ship overall? Ehhhh yk what, maybe we don't need a polyamorous tremolo. Maybe he needs therapy and these girls need to quit their job and move to another town. Didn't already like this ship at all but now I'm more disgusted

#ryugu tremolo #go rush spoilers #go rush #Someone get these poor girls away #I do not care that he said “you girls look happy to see they resembled you” having the full context is still sort of creepy #Tremolo is a red flag... But damn it do I like red and he was the only reason S2 was good #To be honest I don't even think therapy can fix this for either side #yugioh go rush

[ya-killin-me-smalls]

THANK YOU for acknowledging 2Bmos because they have been on my mind forever but no one seems to even look at them..? HRURJ,,,, as characters they're different in all the right ways and I think it brings great potential to the table.

it's so neglected like. I think it's possibly the least popular ship out of the main four?? content is scarce regardless but I have So Many Thoughts about these two it's wild

like I could see them starting out as a more fwb situation because a relationship just isn't something either thinks they have time to pursue and maintain. and at the beginning it's a comfortable dynamic. Doc isn't made responsible for someone else's emotional well-being and Deimos doesn't feel obligated to open up to anyone or give consistent attention on days when he's feeling cagey. and of course, there's the benefit of having a casual makeout buddy that can hold a conversation

over time both of them end up catching feelings but neither acts on it or says anything because they don't wanna ruin what they already have going on and cripplingly low self-esteem has them convinced the other wouldn't reciprocate

doesn't stop them from getting closer regardless, more affectionate, more attached. before they know it, they're full on dating but haven't addressed the elephant in the room, certain that this is normal fwb behavior and that it shouldn't be taken seriously. it doesn't mean anything. and if they aren't saying anything, then everyone else sure as hell isn't

they're incredibly domestic when they have the time, even if that time is long conversations over coffee together outside on the balcony at 2am on a tuesday. conversations range from adhd-fueled deep dives into complex topics, to quiet side-by-side time where neither really speaks, just enjoying being in the other's presence

Doc makes an effort to curb Deimos's smoking habits but not in the lecture-y "you shouldn't do that it's bad for you sorta way." he always offers caffeine when Deimos stops by his office and leaves a convenient selection of pens, a rubik's cube, and other things to fidget with if it so pleases him

you would think shacking up with the boss would earn him a negative rep with the rest of the SQ, but on more than one occasion Deimos has come back from a single day in the field painted red with blood, manic grin still in place. so even if there are opinions floating around about their situation, people know to keep it to themselves and not risk it getting back to Deimos

does the L-word ever leave either's lips? possibly not. they are possibly that stupid combined. doesn't matter though. it's an arrangement that makes them both happy and that's all they care about

#I think Doc is Deimos's gay awakening except he didn't wake up until someone pointed it out to him #like someone mentioned it and he was like ?? 'I'm not gay??' and they just. stared at him #because how can you say that with a straight (no pun intended) face #anon I'm glad I'm not alone on this stupid little boat because I adore them so much #madness combat #madcom #deimos #2bdamned #2bmos #headcanons #asks #my headcanons

[pipzeroes]

I have been thinking: COVID consciousness is like climate crisis consciousness.

People can pretend it isn't real (e.g. "climate change isn't happening," or, "COVID is over," fallacies such as this).

Others can acknowledge it is real, but be despairing, choosing to focus on "the futility of things" (e.g. "maybe we could have changed CO2 emissions in the seventies, but we're past the point of no return, and the Earth is going to burn and there is nothing we can do; DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL etc." or, "humanity brought it upon itself, there's no point in trying to prevent the spread of COVID; now everyone is going to get sick," defeatist attitudes such as this…)

But one can come to appreciate the interconnectedness of everything, and, that while one might not have the ability to control one's destiny, let alone the destiny of future generations, one does have the ability to keep trying to make things as… good as possible? As beneficial to as many as possible? Most heartening? Most loving? Even when it is difficult!

Because:

We are all interconnected!

Caring about you makes sense because you caring about me makes sense because we inhabit a common reality! Caring about one another makes our mutual reality better for ALL of us, instead of being caught up in whatever this ridiculous pretense is that everything is fine, this weird attitude that the "immune compromised don't matter, because they'd be dying anyway,"

And even though I think you should care about others

I also keep thinking

like

do some people

not

realise

that

COVID infection has been documented to reduce immune function

for like

like

PRETTY MUCH ANYONE

so

THAT MEANS COVID IS A RISK FOR PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE

and

you do not have a better immune system because of moral superiority! A virus does not care about that kind of thing when it's floating through the air in tiny bits of airborne moisture!!!

And even those with previously of the most robust health do not have the assurance that their immune system will prevent long term impairment because of COVID infection; those who were previously athletes have found themselves sidelined by COVID infection.

Like…

COVID is BAD

AND

COVID is NOT over

And

Some people could be brought around to taking more careful measures if they knew the actual reality of things:

COVID floats like smoke, meaning that to prevent infection whenever one is indoors with strangers (e.g. public places!) one should be wearing an effective, well-fitting mask,

COVID hampers one's immune system

It's bad to spread it to others!

Why is this a controversial opinion?!

Like, let's stop the spread of disease!

This seems like a good idea!

And some people would agree with this, but for whatever reason they're isolated/cut off from the truth, and the trick is finding ways to inform these folks…

But then…

For whatever reason…

It seems like some other people somehow cannot acknowledge reality…

And I find it the weirdest thing!

And I mean, I've been around the internet ("I've seen things you people wouldn't believe…")

I've seen how people can get into echo chambers, affirming realities they want to be true…

But...

In the spring of 2020, I would not have imagined that things would be like this, in 2023…

I don't know what else to say?!

Care about other people?!

Take care of yourself?!

Take care of the biosphere and consider how the output of human activity impacts climactic cycles and the way the living situation will be for coming generations!?!?!?!

Avoid spreading disease because it can impair and kill yourself and/or others?!?!?!

Getting beyond the

"Yes"-

Because the "Yes" can mean

Despair

"Yes it is irreparably bad so there is no point in caring,"

And

Maybe everything will fry! Maybe the next meteorite will come and wipe us out as one did the dinosaurs, and the next species to evolve will have no idea we ever existed! And caring about climate change was pointless?

OK?!

So I should be the-right-amount-of-despairing?! It was better to be hopeless instead of hopeful?! No hope is the appropriate response? What if I hope, anyway?

What if somehow I make things better for someone three generations from now, even if I never meet them, even if humanity dies in five generations? Even if the world is hit by a meteorite tomorrow, why is it cringe if I try to make things better on what turns out to be the last day on the Earth?!

What if you cared about others, even if these others are coming generations and you will never meet them?

Why give into despair?

Even if things are REDONK.

There is PLAGUE; should we not be avoiding it?!

We could get beyond Yes- to but!

"Yes- there is a terrible situation!"

"...BUT this does not have to lead to despair…!"

"…BUT what we do now makes a difference, and cooperation is integral!"

Danged if I've got all the answers, but I'm pretty sure that caring about one another is a good place to start.

I may never meet you, but I can care about you.

<3

And not saying it isn't hard. Like. It can be hard not to despair.

Keep on keepin' on!!! <3

#COVID #COVID is BAD #COVID is NOT over #COVID is ongoing #covid is airborne #pandemic #mask up #long covid #masks #sars-cov-2 #covid-19

[wretchedbirdthing]

I don’t want to hate on Lost Word for any reason, that’s not what this is about; I don’t actually care all that much about the game. I just want to put out my own thoughts on their “version” of Aka or what I'll refer to as Shikigami Aya (cause they're wholly two different entities).

(I’ll probably put this under a thingy if it gets too long) (it got too long)

Now, I want to preface this by stating that I am very biased. Very very very and obviously biased towards Aka over Shikigami Aya. So keep that in mind! This is also just my opinion. I believe that despite this, my points still stand.

I also don’t want to talk about the characters themselves, mostly because I’m not fully comfortable in evaluating that (I don’t know if Yukari would wait for someone’s permission before doing something though I’m leaning towards “no” but I’m not comfortable with making a definite answer).

I also haven’t read the event yet cause I’d like to finish all the CDs first just in case the characterization sucks and I don’t want a bad impression of Merry and Renko. So I’ll just be going over the themes from the youtube trailer and the screenshots so graciously posted by neoaya. (I’ll read the story later once I’m done with the CDs.)

Let’s start with the “permission slip” that Yukari obtained from the Tenma. The concept by itself as a plot device is underwhelming to say the least. Having permission given by another character removes Aya’s agency in the process thus making the stakes lower and the story as a whole all the less satisfying. It could’ve been Hatate or any other tengu because it wasn’t their decision, it was the Tenma’s. 

It shifts the characterization towards one of circumstance, rather than being directed by the characters themselves. This isn’t because of Aya’s failings or her character faults or anything she did, it’s because the Tenma said so. But what of Aya? What are her thoughts on it? I don’t know about anyone else, but the Tenma’s reasons and justifications are far less interesting to me than Aya’s reasons and justifications, maybe because we barely know anything about the Tenma. 

It’s not fair to say that it’s bad writing but it’s just unsatisfying and unfulfilling, and just kind of lame. 

Disregarding what I don’t know about shikigami, it’s safe to assume that “becoming a shikigami” is a much greater deal than what’s presented in her profile on the account of what a shikigami is (to put it extremely simply, a shikigami is a spirit shoved into a youkai to make said youkai into a living computer). Aya is stated to be curious about what it’d be like to be a shikigami and that she could always “expose the truth” “if things went awry.” I won’t harp on it too much, but it seems like shikigami aren’t things that shouldn’t be taken so lightly. 

Aya as a shikigami brings such burning questions to my mind. Why would she do such a thing? What made her trust the least trustworthy (probably) youkai in Gensokyo? Did she know what she was getting into before she was turned into a shikigami? Did she know that she’d essentially be a servant to Yukari? Someone who you’d definitely not want to be a servant of? Does she even know what a shikigami is? What could have transpired for a typical youkai to give up their entire life to serve as Yukari’s servant? What do her friends think? What about the other tengu? (I acknowledge that these last two questions could be answered by the event and probably are but the others still stand.)

All these questions and more don’t matter because it wasn’t her decision. She had no control over how she ended up. All the tension and conflict that could arise vanishes. 

And that’s just such a shame.

Before I move on, I just wanted to focus on the “permission slip” given to Yukari by the Tenma. I’m giving it the silly name of a “permission slip” because that’s what it is; a document signed by the Tenma that explicitly states that Yukari has permission to turn Aya into a shikigami. I gave it that name because it’s also infantilizing to the characters involved. Having Yukari not only ask someone for permission but getting a signed note stating that she has permission, as if she’s a child asking their parents if they could go on a field trip, feels so childish, as if she doesn’t have any agency herself. Having Yukari act so cocky towards Aya about having permission and having Aya’s first thought be if Yukari forged the signature and not something that reinforces her position as an independent person reinforces this almost childish nature of the characters.

It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

(I said I didn’t want to harp on this but I did anyway, sorry! I will admit that I don’t know much about the tengu and their system of governance but I do know that Aya isn’t too fond of it. I also could be wrong about all of this if it’s discussed in the event.)

Moving onto the next point, that being Aya’s relation with Zenki, the oni that “possesses” her. It seems that Aya isn’t normally “possessed” by Zenki and Zenki only really makes their appearance when Aya uses her “phantasm-level power.”

My feelings and arguments are less concrete and more subjective than the previous point.

I don’t know, as a narrative device, it just seems kind of lame. She’s just normal Aya when she’s not using her powers? Sure she has to listen to Yukari’s rules and everything to keep the powers but still. Aya herself says that she’d “become pathetically weak” if she breaks Yukari’s rules, but her profile states that she’d just go back to having her normal power. I’d probably trust her profile over Aya herself because that's probably what Yukari told her. 

It seems almost “too easy” for Aya to just remain Aya. 

It has potential at least. There’s the irony being so power hungry that you’d do all these (potentially) terrible things to keep it yet you could go back to being normal at any time if only you abandoned that power.

Though it seems like Aya has had some alterations to her personality. She states that she “feels a bit like Ran” occasionally. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and not harp on this point too much.

I feel like Shikigami Aya has missed potential at a narrative level due to how her transformation into a shikigami is set up. It makes her backstory and character underwhelming due to her lack of agency and control.

But at the end of the day, it’s a fun, goofy character written for a fun, goofy game for fun, so it doesn’t really matter all that much (I say as I finish writing all of this).

#If I am wrong then I am wrong and I will be the first to admit that #Am I complaining about low stakes in a gacha game made for general audiences? Yes. #aka yakumo #I guess this is my first real akapost huh.. #Once I read the story and if my opinion changes I'll update it #I wrote this at like 3am last night so I apologize if there's any errors #In other words the yuri isn't toxic enough

[dextixer]

RWBY has not all been "planned from the start" and Volume 9 proves this

An often had discussion in this community is whether or not RWBY has been planned from the very start, or at least, what is happening in the show. While these discussions sometimes come up in other fandoms especially if a story is known to have had production troubles or refocusing, RWBY has very intense disagreements on this issue in no small part due to its main creator passing away very early in the shows production.

Since i saw a relevant meme quite recently referencing this, i thought to expand a bit on the topic.

Some planning

Let us first acknowledge one important thing. A lot of aspects of the show HAVE been planned in advance. In our critic wiki you can find the "Monty Files" section in which you can see that Monty pre-planned a lot of RWBY before anyone else even knew about it. He kept art portfolios, ideas etc.

While there were definitely things that he would sometimes add on a whim, a lot of things we see in the show, or at least saw in the early volumes of the show were definitely there for a reason.

The reason i am saying it is because i have sometimes seen takes in critical communities of RWBY about how nothing of the show is planned and casting various aspersions, even going so far as saying that the map of RWBY is "shit" because it wasnt properly planned and was first made on a napkin. Which is half of the story, since what started on a napkin was then converted and modified into an actual map, proving the planning in advance of the show.

And at the very least Volumes 8-9 were pre-planned and writen as Volumes themselves. As in, the episodes and Volumes were written and planned BEFORE the production started.

Ideas are not plans

What i have often heard about Volume 9 is that it was "planned" for a long time, that it was "planned" from since before the show even started. And i am of the opinion that calling it all being "planned" is a very incredible overstating of reality.

The fact that the showrunners themselves admited to having no idea WHERE to put this volume alone shows that it was not "planned". If it was planned the volume would have had a definitive place in the story where it can fit. That is what we call an idea, not a "plan". And this same thing applies to a lot of RWBY.

I think we have all heard that the volumes V3+ are being produced while referencing/using Montys RWBY "bible" that supposedly had 13 entire volumes in it. While i cannot cast doubt on those aspersions i can at the very least state that it is UNLIKELY that the "bible" contained coherent plans of how, where and why each Volume should happen. Many creators often have ideas that they write down for future usage, or things that they expect to cover. While i am no writer of shows even my threads start from simple outlines of what i should talk about.

The writers are also very adept at changing their writing on the fly or adding/removing things. Neo for example is one of the greatest examples of that. I sincerely doubt that Neo was always supposed to have the role that she has now. And yet now from a nameless henchman she became the main antagonist of an entire volume. Eddy since V7 has kind of become known for lampshading criticisms in the episodes that he writes, which very much show reactivity from the writing team, even if the result is less than desirable.

And we also should not forget the productions of Volumes 4-6. Which were written and made at least partially during the time that these Volumes were ALREADY airing. And my god people really cant talk about RWBY being "planned" when some of it was LITERALLY writen by the seat of their pants.

Something planned is no guarantee of quality

This is a bit tangential but i needed to get this out too. I have seen many a critic fall into the trap of arguing what exactly in the show is planned or not. In reality, it does not matter when discussing the merits or failures of certain episodes or scenes.

Some of the best moments in television for example are very much improvized. Some games see bugs turned into features or changed into something that fits the game. Anime and animated shows are no different in this regard.

Something being planned/intended or not does not matter to the end result of the thing. Whether its actually good or not to the person perceiving it. Why focus on criticizing BB for being or not being planned? Its irrelevant. Regardless if BB was planned or not, its still a shit romance. Does it matter if Neo was planned or not? Not really, as both her and Roman were very much impromptu additions in V1-V3, Neo with being a completely new character and Roman getting a bigger role than he was supposed to have.

The only time the discussions about RWBY being planned or not should occur really is when some RWBY fanatics decide to praise the show to high heavens for things the show never did/had. Which is sadly pretty common.

Ending Word

So yeah, anyone talking about the show being "planned" is just perpetuating an undying myth about the show that is as false as it is never ending. At the end of the day though, in terms of critique of the show matters little however. Is it fine to point out that RWBY seemingly has problems due to lack of planning and impromptu writing/production? Yeah. But that should never be the focus of any critique and more often than not serves to just distract people from the more important points of discussion.

#rwby #rwde

[yeetlegay]

Shifting power dynamics in episode 4: a stupidly long meta

I've already talked about episode 4 in two different posts, a vocal analysis for Kinn and an analysis of the ownership/possession motif in eps 1-4. Even with those two posts (which I wrote and posted in the span of like 48 hours, rip my brain), there was still so much that I wanted to talk about in episode 4, so here goes my third meta of the week. Buckle up besties, this is a LONG one.

Disclaimer: I don’t want to get into the whole dubcon discourse piece of this. I get that people have Opinions, but I am here for shenanigans only and I think I’ve answered the amount of asks about it that I really care to. To sum up: I don’t mind dubcon in fiction! I can get behind just about any fictional relationship no matter how problematic as long as they give me a compelling story with compelling characters and the problematic elements serve a narrative purpose and are handled well. Fiction, for me, is ultimately just that: fiction.

With the above disclaimer in mind, this post isn’t so much about power as it relates to consent, but about how power made a pretty dramatic change of hands in this episode, and what I think that means for the story to come. I’ll be focusing a lot on body language, but also on how certain scenes and shots are framed, and referring back to my vocal analysis a lot so I don’t end up just rehashing what I said there. Fair warning, my background is in sociology, specifically micro, so I tend to run away with details when talking about this sort of thing lol.

I talked about this here after episode 3, but as I hoped, that kiss on the pier (which didn’t happen in the book) completely altered the build-up to their first time.

That kiss on the pier is actually kind of genius bc from the preview we know they’re still doing the roofie scene, but by having them kiss before that (albeit a little drunk) they’ve given a totally different context to build from. Kinn and Porsche have already had a moment where they acknowledged their attraction to each other, even if it wasn’t out loud, so it means when that scene does come, it’ll be clear for both of them that even if the drug is affecting Porsche, it’s not actually making him ask for something he doesn’t already want.

This doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s still dubcon. (Again, not getting into it, but wanted to make sure that’s clear.) But it means a lot for how both Kinn and Porsche approach that moment through episode 4.

We open with Porsche waking up the next morning, vaguely remembering a kiss and not seeming bothered by it, more intrigued than anything else. Mirror that scene, where Porsche more or less shrugs off the encounter, with Kinn’s morning. He’s looking at himself in the mirror, lost in his thoughts, conflicted and confused by what happened the night before. We realize later on that some of that confusion is because he gave Porsche an intimacy that he doesn’t seem to give anyone else he’s involved with: a kiss. His internal turmoil isn’t just because he’s attracted to Porsche, which comes with its own problems, but because he wants him in a way he hasn’t wanted anyone in a long time, maybe ever. The kiss, and even the fact that it didn’t go further, is proof of that.

Kinn's body language in this scene is...unusual. When do we ever see his shoulders hunched forward like that, leaning his weight against something? It ruins that perfect, confident posture and makes him look more vulnerable. We're also seeing him shirtless, which obvs yay for Kinn tiddies, but we haven't really seen that a lot from him either. He's always wearing a suit, casual clothes, even a fancy pajama set that makes him look like a sexc grandpa. But we're literally seeing him more or less naked here (the towel doesn't want to be there either, bless it), stripped literally and figuratively. He doesn't look like a powerful and untouchable mafia prince here. He looks conflicted, fallible, and painfully human.

@luckydragon10 wrote a little meta about the use of mirrors here and even though that post is about a different scene, she brings up the GREAT point that we have yet to see Porsche in a mirrored surface by himself. Kinn, meanwhile, is here in this scene fully exposed, staring directly at his reflection. I'm not a color theory expert AT ALL (that would be @antique-forvalaka) but the gold sconces are very eye-catching here; since gold is the mafia's color, maybe that's a hint as to where Kinn's headspace is at in this moment.

But anyway, my point is that we're seeing Kinn's confusion and inner conflict here very clearly. We see how seriously he's thinking about the previous night, how much it presses on him. That wasn't "just a kiss" for Kinn. The mirror, the body language, the slightly vignetted flashback, the music choice, the lack of clothing, all tell us Kinn is feeling vulnerable in this moment over that kiss. Which by extension tells us quite a bit about how much he feels for Porsche already.

Moving on to the cigarette lighter scene (idk what else to call this lol).

The blocking here is interesting. I don't want to read too much into it, but notice how Porsche is in the foreground, the sunlight angling down from the top right toward him. His hands are crossed in front of his stomach, making him look casual but reserved, as though he's placing a barrier between him and Vegas. He doesn't fully angle his body toward Vegas, just leans his head in a little. Vegas, meanwhile, is standing with his back to the light and is a step or two further away from the camera. He looks physically smaller, which he is, but the shot exaggerates it just a little. He's reaching his whole arm out, staring at Porsche, bringing the lighter right to his mouth, his torso open but angled away a little like Porsche. And the shot doesn't fully capture his body like it does Porsche, cutting off an arm and part of his shoulder.

This shot centers Porsche, makes him look powerful. Everything in the shot leans into him���the lighting, the camera, Vegas himself. He doesn't look like Vegas's equal; he looks like his superior.

I'll also say the optics of Vegas bringing the light to his cigarette is a neat little metaphor for how Vegas not only approaches Porsche with malicious intent (fire is, uh, kind of bad unless it's in a fireplace or a BTS song), but how he also brings conflict to Porsche and sets off trouble between him and Kinn.

(Also once again referencing @antique-forvalaka's incredible color theory series because look at all the green in this scene. Porsche literally has a wall of green behind him, which as noted in her post here seems to indicate danger.)

I told y'all I was gonna dig into this episode, didn't I? 😂

This shot of Kinn feels odd, doesn't it? We're not used to seeing Kinn hide. In fact, aside from that gunfight scene in episode 1 when he (very understandably) ducked behind some boxes to avoid getting shot, I can't recall him ever being an observer or hidden presence in a scene. When he's on the screen, everyone knows it. It's hard to fit his power and charisma into a room.

But here, he looks...small. He's outsized by the rest of the frame, surrounded by (interestingly imo) an awful lot of glass. The plant in the foreground adds to this effect (and once again, it's green!), and even though he's in focus, he still feels almost like part of the background.

Kinn just doesn't do this sort of thing. He doesn't make himself smaller, he doesn't eavesdrop, he doesn't sneak. And yet here he is, trying to be invisible, all so he can watch Porsche and Vegas together, all because he's jealous and out of his depth.

The pool scene is really where we get the first big flashy sign that that something is shifting in their power dynamic. I chose the screenshot above as an example of what's happening here, but I could've picked like 20 different frames that give the same information from a different angle.

Look at their body language first. Porsche, standing tall, shoulders back, looking relaxed and comfortable, if a little annoyed. He's taking up space, arms at his sides swinging a little carelessly as he turns. He's looking at Kinn over his shoulder, body angled away from him, ready to leave, not at all cowed or diminished by Kinn's attempts to scold him. Honestly, he looks like he's only barely stopping himself from rolling his eyes.

Then we have Kinn, one hand in his pocket (does he usually put his hands in his pockets? I feel like I haven't seen him do it very much but no time to go back and comb through 3 episodes to find out), the other hand resting a little awkwardly on the railing. His whole body is directed at Porsche, chin tilted up when he usually keeps it tilted a little down, which adds to his usual aura of understated power. Because of this angle, his figure is much narrower than Porsche's. He takes up much less space in the frame.

Now look at their backdrop. Porsche is standing in front of empty space, buildings framing either side of him but not crowding into his figure directly and making him look compressed. Kinn, meanwhile, is standing almost directly in front of what looks like a skyscraper in the distance, with other slightly shorter buildings closer behind him. The effect is stark when you notice it. He's crowded in, almost dwarfed by that backdrop. He looks even smaller with that tall building stretching over his head.

And I'm not done! I saw some discussion about mirrors and reflections this week, although no full meta posts that I've come across yet (please link if there are any, I'd love to read it!). But look at their reflections in the water in this shot. It exaggerates what we see even further. Porsche is bigger, wider, more clearly defined, while Kinn is smaller, narrower, and and more vague.

That's not even touching on the dialogue, which is a whole thing in and of itself. I talk more about this in my vocal analysis for episode 4, but basically Kinn is messy in this scene. He doesn’t have a plan for what to say to Porsche when he gets there and it shows. He uses filler words, he hesitates, he fumbles for what to say. He calls out after Porsche (”Wait!”) with none of his usual authority or confidence. Kinn is out of his depth. He wants to know what Porsche is thinking about the previous night, but he doesn’t know how to ask. If Porsche’s answer didn’t mean so much to Kinn, he’d have less trouble asking for it. (I’m reminded for some reason of that quote from Emma: “If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.”)

All of this gives us the overwhelming sense that Kinn is the one standing on sand in this scene. He’s the one floundering, trying to make sense of that kiss, trying to behave like it doesn’t matter while at the same time seeking Porsche out the first chance he gets to talk about it, to determine what to do based on how Porsche is reacting. If he’d already decided to forget the kiss happened or brush it off and move on, he wouldn’t need to talk to Porsche first thing the next morning. He wouldn’t need to couch his questions in vague terms. In doing both of those things, he’s giving Porsche power, power to determine how Kinn feels, how he acts, how he interprets that kiss.

After the scene by the pool, Kinn has his feet under him a little bit. Now he knows where he stands with Porsche. Even if his feelings are still confused and chaotic, they’re his to deal with alone. He doesn’t have to worry about Porsche’s reaction, about how Porsche’s perception of him might have changed. He knows he made himself vulnerable with Porsche through that kiss, and he’s relieved Porsche doesn’t have the memory to turn over in his clever head until he figures out what it means.

So here in the sauna he’s more relaxed, settled back into his skin. That confidence and charisma is back. He fills up the screen, makes Porsche be the guest in his space, even though Porsche was there first. And he wants Porsche to stay, despite how affected Kinn is by him. Simply put, he likes Porsche’s company. He still feels that pull to be around him even if it doesn’t help his feelings resolve themselves.

I go back and forth about the framing in the first part of this scene. Porsche is still in the forefront for the most part, but Kinn is just as much a focus point as he is despite not being centered in the shot. The height of that upper seat gives Kinn an edge. He chose it on purpose, to be above Porsche. He spreads his arms wide and relaxes, but his legs stay crossed as opposed to Porsche, who spreads his whole body wide. Kinn is still, on some level, making himself a little smaller, drawing in, even as he tries to exude his usual controlled power.

And Kinn is the one to look down at Porsche, to start up a conversation, to open up a path for them to talk casually. He’s the one who, almost immediately after that conversation begins, gets down under the guise of adding more water, just so he can sit next to Porsche, be level with him, close to him, equal to him. He’s the one who asks about Porsche’s little brother.

Again, I go into the dialogue more in my vocal meta, but basically what he’s doing, as the scene goes on, is a form of mirroring. This is a way of echoing people’s speech patterns and mannerisms to make yourself seem more likeable to them. It’s a very natural, unconscious social behavior that we do from a young age. The fact that Kinn does it so much with Porsche is telling, because he doesn’t seem to do it much with anyone else. He’s used to being the one everyone else mirrors, being the star at the center of his solar system.

His body language, when he sits down next to Porsche, enhances this effect. His arms are again spread wide, legs uncrossed now, his head turning again and again to look sideways at Porsche, which in the process of trying to appear unaffected, makes him look even more affected. Porsche meanwhile keeps his arms at his sides or bent at the elbows against the upper seat, and he doesn’t turn his torso toward Kinn to talk.

Essentially, Kinn is trying every trick he knows to find intimacy with Porsche, not even physically but emotionally. And in doing so, he’s giving up some of his power. He’s letting Porsche in, despite his rational instincts telling him not to.

And then this dumbass, so easily pulled into Porsche’s orbit despite Porsche doing literally nothing to encourage him, starts nosing around Porsche’s love life. I’m gonna make fun of him for this forever, because it’s just so hamfisted and juvenile. “You being here doesn’t make your girlfriend angry?” “If you were a girl, would you like a guy like me?”

Absolutely humiliating and I hope when Porsche realizes later on what those questions were about, he teases the fuck out of him for it.

But his approach to Porsche, stupid as it is, shows that despite how confident he is in everything else, he’s really kind of shit at communicating in general, and even worse at flirting. He just can’t help himself. He gravitates toward Porsche. Even after seemingly finding some sense of closure on that kiss in the previous scene, he’s still giving into these little urges to know more about Porsche, to poke around for possibilities.

A little note: I don’t have room for a screenshot, but the first shot of the sauna scene has Kinn peering through a narrow glass window into the sauna. It makes him look smaller, surrounded on all sides by a fuckton of wood. I just think that’s interesting.

A second little note: When Porsche is staring at him, leaning in for a kiss to faceplant on his dick, Kinn doesn’t move away. He’s once again letting Porsche lead, hoping Porsche will make his own feelings clear somehow.

So I’m actually not gonna talk about the Kinn/Vegas pissing contest scene because while Kinn and Porsche are both present, I’m more interested in discussing how their dynamic is shifting just between themselves. Kinn behaves differently in this scene, much more like his usual self, because they’re not alone. If you want to hear a bit of my thoughts on the scene though, I do discuss it in my other two ep 4 metas (linked at the beginning of this post) a little more.

But I do want to talk about the scene above. Once again we see Kinn hiding, eavesdropping on Porsche’s interaction with someone else. We see him through all those little flecks of gold (once again, color theory taking over my brain lol) as he listens to Porsche tell Big off.

The thing is, why is he there? Why does he leave that guy (I’m calling him Angel since we don’t have a name for him yet) alone in his room to follow after Porsche? Is he planning on stopping Porsche, and if so, what for? To ask him if he’s okay with Kinn being gay, to scold him, to say it wasn’t what it looked like, or something else?

I don’t really have an explanation tbh, and maybe that’s intentional on the writers’ part. Maybe Kinn just had a gut reaction to follow Porsche, without knowing why. And by following him, once again he’s playing into that power shift, instinctively chasing after him to find out what he thinks and feels, concealing his presence when it means he can watch Porsche and potentially understand him better.

This scene is more about Porsche and establishing his lack of homophobia than moving Kinn in any particular direction, but it still tells us a little bit about Kinn. He hasn’t managed to smother that need to follow Porsche, to hear his thoughts and feelings.

We then jump from the “hiding in the curtains” scene into a scene with Pete and Porsche where Porsche realizes Kinn was the one he kissed. I think it’s interesting that he asks the question “Can two people who don’t like each other/aren’t a couple kiss?” (Something might be getting lost in translation here, as Porsche seems pretty well-versed in casual sex so it wouldn’t make sense for him to clutch his pearls over a kiss between two people who aren’t in love or a couple. I’m wondering if by “like” they just mean “are attracted to” or if it does connote Feels.)

That little scene sets us up for the shirt-off scene (I genuinely don’t know what else to call it lol). I know this has had a lot of people kind of confused and I personally got some questions about it (@ladyoftheinternet and @biochemjess​ are the ones I remember but I may be forgetting someone else).

I don’t know if I have any genius insights to offer lol, but I do think we can chalk up some of the tension in the first part of this scene to just straight-up awkwardness. I mean, the last time they saw each other Kinn just about had his dick in someone else’s mouth. I’d be a little awkward too the next time I saw him, no matter which character I was in that situation.

I do think it’s interesting that Kinn, when he first walks in, is very much inhabiting his usual self-assured, charismatic prince persona. He’s not bothered by Porsche knowing he’s gay, and he’s probably trying not to be awkward about what Porsche saw, so there’s a little bit of cover-up happening here too. I think we may be getting so used to him being different around Porsche, softer, more dynamic, less well-controlled, that when we see him stepping back into his typical aura and mannerisms, it feels wrong somehow, like a kind of tension or stiffness. If you compare the Kinn in the first part of this scene to the Kinn in episode 1, there isn’t much of a noticeable difference.

That’s how we know he’s lying through his teeth and with every part of his body.

I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on what makes him feel the need to make that shift, to try and regain the upper hand with Porsche. I suspect there are a lot of different contributing factors here, such as:

Porsche saw him a little more vulnerable (crucially, without Kinn’s consent), talking about how he has something on his mind, seeing him shy away from kissing Angel.

He’s approaching Porsche now to inform him he’s been traded back to Kinn. We don’t know how that decision happened or what Kinn did to get him back, but I doubt Tankhun was easy to convince. So some of that emotional/mental journey from the bedroom scene to now might simply be missing.

This scene also reminds me a little of earlier by the pool, when Kinn is posturing and trying to seem nonchalant and in control in front of Porsche, all the while reeling inside. Kinn is a little more secure now, but as he said himself to Angel, something’s been bothering him. He’s just gotten better at hiding it from Porsche.

Interestingly, Kinn is once again approaching Porsche, seeking him out, even as he works to exude that usual power and ease. He enters the scene with the intent to treat Porsche like he would anyone else.

But Porsche isn’t on the same wavelength. He greets him casually, not like his boss, slumping and smiling a little self-deprecatingly, making a joke about Kinn always catching him lately. He’s ready to pick up where they left off in the sauna, comfortable and friendly.

When Kinn tells him to stand up in that firm, controlled tone, you can see the way Porsche shifts into a different mode, basically thinking, “Okay, so it’s like that now.”

When he takes his shirt off (after initially saying no, seemingly moreso out of confusion than anything else), he looks around to make sure they’re alone, but I don’t necessarily think he has Kinn making a pass at him on his bingo card in this moment. Taking his shirt off for his boss would look odd no matter what the context. I personally don’t read too much into it, but others may have more thoughts on it.

I want to talk about the body language here though. Porsche is being...shifty. When Kinn reaches out to touch his arm, he goes with it without resistance, but he can’t meet Kinn’s eyes. He’s looking everywhere but at Kinn’s face. Combine that with how his jaw is working, his torso going a little stiff so even as Kinn pulls him forward, he’s still not facing him directly.

He looks pissed off.

He got comfortable with Kinn, friendly with him, and now after remembering their kiss, he has a better idea of why Kinn’s been so off, even if he’s not really sure if what specifically is going through his mind. So with Kinn treating him like this, with distance and emphasis on the power imbalance between them, it confuses him further. If Kinn likes him, why would he treat him like this? If he wants him, why isn’t he doing something about it?

Porsche is waiting for Kinn to tell him what the kiss meant. And Kinn has been waiting for Porsche to tell him the exact same thing.

Porsche is understandably frustrated, and it shows. He keeps his body angled a little away from Kinn, posture loose and almost confrontational, agitated, his expression tense. He wants Kinn to explain himself, and instead all he sees is the Kinn who kidnapped him from Yok’s bar and choked him in front of a crowd of people to prove a point. He knows that Kinn and the one who kissed him on the pier don’t add up. But he also knows he can’t be the one to bring it up, not with how badly it could go for him as Kinn’s employee.

So he asks the only question he can ask: “If it weren’t for Tankhun, would you have taken me back?”

But let’s talk about Kinn. Like in the pool scene, even though he starts off controlled and distant, it’s an effort he can’t maintain for long. Over the course of the scene, he gradually grows more expressive, gets closer to Porsche, faces him directly.

Pay attention to Kinn’s microexpressions as he delivers the line above. Notice how he leans in. How his brows lift and pull together slightly. He’s stepping into Porsche’s space, putting his full focus on Porsche, speaking softly and almost intimately despite what he’s saying.

This isn’t him dismissing Porsche or putting him in his place. This look? Is him begging. When he says, “To me, all of our people are the same,” he’s not telling Porsche this. It’s more like he’s pleading with Porsche, with himself, for this to be true. He’s not holding power in this scene, despite his best efforts. He’s gravitating toward Porsche, his whole body oriented toward Porsche. He’s trying to push Porsche away, but only succeeds in bringing himself closer.

Porsche, meanwhile, is angled away. He’s keeping a distance that Kinn isn’t, acting almost aloof from him. He’s much more serious and muted in this moment than he has been previously, and even though he’s clearly confused over that kiss on the pier and Kinn’s potential attraction to him, he doesn’t understand his feelings yet, not the way Kinn understands (and continues to deny and reject) his. In this scene, Porsche holds the cards, even if he doesn’t fully know it yet. (He won’t know it until Kinn kisses him again.)

Why this all feels incredibly kinky

This post is getting stupidly long, literally longer than a lot of my college papers, so while I want to talk a little more about the ending, the scene-by-scene stops here. (Sadly I couldn’t even get to the Kinn/Tay/Time scene, but there’s some stuff there that could be unpacked too!)

The sex scene has been turned over and analyzed by a lot of brilliant people here, so I don’t think there’s anything I could say that hasn’t already been said much more eloquently. But I do want to end by thinking about how that sex scene provides a sort of breaking point or climax for the shift of power from Kinn to Porsche in this episode.

Another disclaimer: I’ve dabbled, but I wouldn’t consider myself part of the kink community, so while I do want to talk about what these shifting power dynamics mean in terms of Kinn and Porsche’s building D/s dynamic, I’m by no means an expert so I’m trying to stick to what I know. There are some amazing people on here who are way more knowledgeable about this so if you’ve talked about this or know someone who is, please lmk because I want to read aaaaall the meta on this. @lutawolf has some incredible insights about the D/s dynamic here, and I’m sure there are others I haven’t seen yet. And if there’s anything you see below that is incorrect or off-base, please reply or DM me and I’d be more than happy to delete/edit whatever it is.

It’s pretty apparent that Kinn and Porsche have the beginnings of a D/s dynamic unfolding between them. Kinn is constantly trying to put Porsche in his place, and Porsche is constantly acting out in ways to catch Kinn’s eye and keep his attention. The manhandling in the shirt-off scene, Porsche’s persistent needling about Kinn trading him away, and of course the sex scene itself, where Porsche basks in Kinn’s attention on him, soaking up all those touches and visibly craving that intimacy with Kinn. All of that is giving very kinky vibes and I’m sure it’ll only get more obvious as we go on.

So it might be a fair assumption to make, when I talk so much in this post about how Porsche is the one with the power in this ep, how he’s taking the lead in their relationship while Kinn follows, that I’m rejecting/downplaying that D/s dynamic or even trying to flip it. But I’m actually saying (or at least trying to say) the opposite.

Power in D/s is extremely layered and complicated. It’s not just about who’s in control of a scene or who takes the tangible lead or who’s on top or who’s giving orders etc etc etc. Power is ultimately, I would argue, in the submissive’s hands for the simple reason that they are the one consenting and submitting to control, and that consent can be withdrawn at any time. It’s a power exchange, yes, and of course has to be mutually consensual, but a good Dom sees control as a gift rather than a right, and understands the value of the trust and vulnerability being given to them. They pay attention to the sub’s needs (physical, emotional, mental) and base their actions around ensuring those needs are meet. It’s a big part of why submission can be so empowering, because at its core it means willingly surrendering control to someone else.

That’s all to say that while Porsche may hold more power in this episode and Kinn less, it’s a part of that early, unspoken negotiation of boundaries. Kinn doesn’t want to overstep. He’s giving up some of his power to Porsche, albeit not entirely realizing it, because he wants Porsche to set his limits, to determine where they go after that kiss. Kinn is already so confused by his own feelings, so out of his depth, that if he’s going to move forward, he needs Porsche to tell him how to do that.

It’s really…he’s just a really good Dom imo. (Or will be when he fully gets his shit together.) However you feel about that scene at the end, you can tell that Kinn is trying very hard to respect Porsche’s boundaries. He immediately withdraws his hands when Porsche slaps him away. He gives Porsche space while trying to take care of him because even if Porsche is flirting and openly making a pass at him, he has no way of knowing if it’s just because of the drug in his system or if it’s something he actually wants. He only gives in after Porsche brings up their kiss, because that’s what he’s been trying to ask for the entire episode. He realizes that Porsche is asking him for this fully aware of what they did, fully aware that it’s why Kinn’s been acting so strangely, and fully aware, finally, that he is the one holding all the cards right now.

And Kinn caves.

That’s what the entire episode has been building up to through this shifting power dynamic: Kinn being vulnerable, having his weak points poked at literally and figuratively. In this scene, he lets go, taking back some of his power just by virtue of being honest with himself and with Porsche for the first time.

I don’t think this shift will last long. I think, especially as we get into episode 5, that power is going to snap back hard in Kinn’s direction as he tries to regain control of his feelings and push Porsche away. I wouldn’t be surprised if what Porsche goes through in the next episode looks a lot like a prolonged, brutal subdrop, exacerbated by the trauma of what Vegas did.

Again, I’d love to read some more meta on this from people in the kink community, and if you do see anything above that is wrong/needs clarification, please let me know.

***

Okay, I really think I’ve rambled on WAY too long at this point. This is an absolute monster of a post that totally got away from me and I hope the other episodes are a little less interesting because the amount of thoughts I have about episode 4 is kind of bananas. Please feel free to add your thoughts because I know there’s still SO much stuff I missed and I’d love to hear everyone’s interpretations of what went down (the meta this week has been crazy and yet somehow I still need more 😭).

#kinnporsche #meta #HOW did I write that many words this is so dumb

[g-xix]

Hi love your content your an amazing writer!

I have my own slight opinion on the Danny Tennessee situation. I really like Danny he’s really funny but like many people I have lost respect for hon recently. I think that they make a cute couple but idk whilst Ten may be gorgeous she does obviously need male validation a large amount of the time.

For me personally if a girl actively pursues a guy who she knows is in a relationship then they loose all respect from me. I also think and this is gonna sound harsh so i’m sorry if anyone disagrees with me but this whole situation has probably made female creators reputation even worse. As lets be honest if Ten was not a stunning as she is Danny’s fanbase would probably not be as behind and supporting the relationship as she is.

As someone who always tries to support female creators, Ten has kinda just really disappointed me. Bot that she needs to be like a feminist creator obvs not she can create whatever content she wants but the way she acts is and especially during locked in was extremely disrespectful. Like imagine if that had happened to her I fully imagine her making a tik tok about it calling out the girl or maybe not Idk i try to avoid her content now as it just annoy’s me. I may give her a third chance one day but for now I just can’t especially after all this had recently happened.

Also this is coming from a girl who is around the same age as you I think possibly a year old idk but just from what i’ve seen you talk about on here. Anyways I wish you the best day ♥️

Heya lovely, tysm for the love and hope you're having a wonderful day also

And you're genuinely so right. It's such a basic matter of loyalty in a relationship to not cheat, for one, but then also just... not pursue other girlies? So Danny's a dick for that undeniably, and then Tenessee on top of that, encouraging Danny's behaviour isntead of also acknowledging that he has a gf... Horrid work from the two of them. But as you've said, Danny's male audience are sooo blind to Danny's disloyalty, and literally the only reason that they're so supportive of the relationship is because Tennessee is so gorgeous. And I wonder how long the support for Ten will last because I think that the male consumer of online content will recognise a woman's aesthetic value for only a short period of time before becoming "accustomed" to it, or just overlooking it and critiquing them more harshly for their other assets...

I feel like Ten will somehow also be criticised for going out with a guy that's uglier than her? Like respectfully, whilst they're both good-looking, Danny is definitely the one punching within this relationship. And idk why but post breakup (assuming they would break up at some pt...), ofc the fanboys will stick loyal to Danny... But I wonder what they'll say to Ten?

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond, im not even gna try respond to the rest bc i'll take another day or so j writing and im super tired atm... all in all you've done really in depth thought as is and it's pretty much everythign i've thought about the situation before too. Ten really isn't a girls girl and idk why more girlies dont point it out. I think it's a pretty privelege thing though (eugh)

And that's acc quite cute that we're similar ages n that, slide into dms if u wanna chat more ab general stuffs, im always down for a convo, and i hope YOU have the best day when u next read this broski

#WAFFLE!! #danny aaorns #tennessee thresh #tennessee thresher #locked in #footasylum