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bambi-slxt · 11 hours

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🤍𝐈 𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠🤍

𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕨 𝕤𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕠𝕝𝕠

word count: 1.5k

genres: n/a

warnings: mentions of depression medication and mental health, male masturbation

notes from bambi: here you go!

Matt did see everything. He liked to lurk in the triplet’s fandom spaces, and when his mental health was good, he even found it kinda fun, though he would never reveal this aloud. He definitely enjoyed watching those same spaces work themselves into a tizzy at his knowledge admittance–these kids were so funny. So it came as no surprise to him when the Tumblr TikTok video showed up on his feed.

Matt hadn’t had a good night. He’d tried to jerk off earlier, all to no avail. His antidepressants were helpful for his mood and overall outlook on life but goddamn did they make it hard to masturbate. With a snarl, he had pulled up his boxers and opened TikTok. That was over an hour ago, and now Matt scrolled aimlessly on his private account. He was quite proud of it actually. He disguised it as some random fanpage and had made it a personal mission that week to reblog a few videos about himself. No one would know, and he was nothing if not a Matt girl.

The video on his Following page was formatted simply–a girl in her room, as most of them were, and he saw it was one of his favorite fan accounts. She always had good takes and the drama in her comment section kept him incredibly entertained. She was expressing her fear at his now-infamous “I see everything” line, and with a chuckle, he pressed the heart icon, preparing to scroll away. In his sleepy haze, he missed, hitting the comment bubble instead. What he saw made his head tilt.

user

oh ik the tumblr girlies shakin rn

user

LMAOOOO REAL

user

i’m so lost 😭😭😭

user

tumblr can’t be worse than here

user

wait what’s on tumbler?

see all 63 replies៴

user

bro does NOT see everything, he’d be traumatized

see all 12 replies៴

user

@ user WHEN I SAW THAT I SCREAMED

user

you guys are gonna make them quit if you keep doing ts

see all 241 replies៴

Matt rolled his eyes at that one. He knew it was a valid concern, but he also knew that there were prices to be paid for being famous, and he would take a few weird stories in exchange for the life of his literal dreams. And besides, he reasoned to himself, they were always so off-the-mark anyway that it didn’t even feel like he was reading about himself.

But back to the matter at hand. Matt had never even heard of Tumblr, so there couldn’t be that many triplet fan accounts on there, and he figured that after everything he’d seen on Twitter, he was ready for anything.

“Well this is fucking ridiculous,” he grumbled to himself, scrolling to the end of the “headcanon”, as it was called. Matt read the name of the “blogger” (he was learning so many new terms tonight) that posted it - some strange amalgamation of letters and numbers, with, of course, “sturniolo” tacked on to the end. Matt elected to keep his thoughts on the spelling to himself. “You’re weird for that. All of it.” He swiped out of the app, fully prepared to roll over, go to sleep, and forget all about it.

…

But what else did they get wrong about him? What did the rest of them think he did when he had sex? Matt figured he should check that “sturniolo triplet” hashtag one more time.

He sat up properly for this, sighing as he flicked on his bedside lamp. It illuminated his room, its soft light showcasing the woodsy decorations he’d furnished months ago. With a grimace, he opened the accursed app once more and began a deep dive.

It seemed the entire community centered around “smut” of him and Chris. He saw a few for Nick, a handful for Nate, all of which he scrolled past quickly, blinking them away. He wasn’t trying to dive that deep.

The first thing Matt noticed was that almost every story had a line of photos at the top, like a faux header. None of the images contained anything amiss–all were photos posted by him and his brothers throughout the years, pictures taken by fans at shows, and the like. No, the real stuff lay in the words. This was a community–he could tell that much from the amount of reposting–of very good writers. Many of their stories spanned thousands of words with multiple parts and real plots woven throughout. And there were a lot. It was dizzying. He adjusted himself.

There were stories for almost every situation, some even making him a drug dealer (though most writers seemed to think that out of anyone, it would be Chris, which he found hilarious due to the fact that Chris couldn’t tell a convincing lie if his life depended on it), a mafia boss, a father, a mechanic, or simply just a doting boyfriend. Some wrote him as a harsh, domineering man, quick to take his bratty girlfriend to task. Some wrote him as a needy submissive individual, and the words they used made his head spin. Matt adjusted himself again. His dick didn’t normally bother him this much. Maybe he needed new boxers.

Matt himself only had a bit of experience in the wide world of sex. He knew there were some wild kinks out there, but he found he was never much interested in watching that kind of porn, and he’d only been with a few girls his entire life, none of whom had ever asked him to perform such tasks on them, so he really didn’t know what he liked and didn’t like. As he lay in his bed, his lamp casting fuzzy shadows over his room, Matt couldn’t tear his eyes from the screen.

They think I’m capable of actually…spanking someone? Am I? If she wanted it, I guess…Apparently I’m some sort of sex god, super posessive, I have a breeding kink, whatever the fuck that means, and Chris and I fight over girls a lot. To him, that was the most unrealistic–he and Chris had wildly different types.

The sheer amount of stories depicting him absolutely rearranging the guts of the reader or y/n (he still had no idea what that meant) made his brain short-circuit, and he tried to tap out of the one currently pulled up. But alas, Matt still had no idea how Tumblr worked–the images below every story just took him deeper, and it was one of those images that he misguidedly clicked on, an innocuous lilac purple, covered in sparkles. Seems harmless enough.

As Matt tapped around, trying to get back, he found himself on another account and thoroughly lost. An underlined word in the first post caught his attention–concepts. Subtitled below were the words, “short headcanons about the triplets! both sfw and nsfw”. He tilted his head. ‘Sfw’? What does that mean? A quick Google search quieted his questioning. Surely a “safe-for-work” headcanon would be fine to read. He tapped the link, and it directed him to a simpler page, one organized using just his name and Chris’s, each one with links below them. His thumb hovered over one near the top, its title mildly intriguing–“soft!dom!matt”.

Then he paused. Was he really doing this? His dick began to throb. He should have just left the whole thing alone, but now…well, now he had to know.

Five words in and he was pumping his rock-hard cock in his hand. Matt’s neck strained, his left thumb shaking as he tried to scroll to read more. Such a short piece of fiction and yet…

His stomach began to tie itself into knots. The more he read, the more he panted. His whole pelvic region felt tingly and his cock was so warm in his hand, and getting warmer by the second. This was different than anything he’d ever jerked off to before–this wasn’t a video, or even a naughty selfie from a girlfriend. This was pure porn, about him bringing some unnamed girl to completion over and over again. Matt didn’t even know that was possible. The unnamed girl couldn’t even handle his cock, that’s how tight she was-

The moment he realized this fact, his nuts clenched and he spurted cum all the way up to his chest. Pumping furiously, even raising his hips into his hand, he continued his explosive orgasm, letting out breathy groans as he did so. His chest heaved with heavy breath, and Matt felt the beginnings of a headache forming behind his eyes from how hard he’d just finished. He collapsed on his bed, sheets askew, pillows rearranged, staring blankly at the ceiling.

And then Matt realized which head had been doing all his thinking for him this entire time. Letting his now-limp dick flop to the side, he let out one more gasp of air. “That was weird,” he said aloud into the empty room. “Never doing that again.”

notes from bambi: i referenced my own work because it didn’t feel right to use anyone else’s without their consent, and i wanted to put this out today, not because i think my writing is better than anyone else's or because i think matt would prefer mine over yours. remember that it’s all just fiction and we write for fun. i hope you all enjoyed!

request to be on the taglist under this post right here

tags: @pinksturniolo @malirosee @st7rnioioss @nonat-111 @cindylcuwho @evie-sturns @h3arts4harry @fanficsbymia @dazednmatthews @sturniolo-rat @mattsmad @sturniolo04 @bellasturn @blahbel668 @yomamaslays4lyfe @stasiesturn @pleasantlycrazyworld @ariqolyx @wh0resstuff @krissy4gov @coochiedestroyer1 @madisturn @mattspolitank @sturnsxplr-25 @xtravrgnoliveoil @raysmayhem-72 @sturnpooks @certifiedstarrr @melanch0lybby @freshloveforthefit @xoxo4chrisss @stunza @meerkatzthings @zivall @sturniolopepsi @that1fangirll @wh0schl0 @sharksworldd @mattscoquette @chrisslutx @sturnzsblog @solarsturniolo

#the sturniolos #sturniolo triplets #the sturniolo triplets #the sturniolos smut #sturniolo triplets smut #the sturniolo triplets smut #matt sturniolo #matthew sturniolo #matt sturniolo fanfic #matthew sturniolo fanfic #matt sturniolo smut #matthew sturniolo smut #matt sturniolo fanfic smut #matthew sturniolo fanfic smut #bambi slxt

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one-flower-one-sword · 3 days

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"You came from a renowned school, an orthodox sect that never traversed the deviant path. Growing up in that sect, you were always told that ascending was the ultimate thing to strive for," Jun Wu continued. "It is very difficult to give up that sort of goal. Falling in with the Ghost Realm was an unfortunate circumstance, an act born of helplessness. Of course you cannot say you are satisfied with your position in the Ghost Realm. It was never what you wanted in the first place."

Yin Yu didn't have enough confidence to deny it. He said weakly, "Chengzhu has shown me grace. He saved me -"

"I know," Jun Wu said. "He even helped you pacify and send off Jian Yu's vengeful spirit after he died during your banishment, am I correct?"

"...Yes," Yin Yu confirmed. "So whether or not I am satisfied with my current position, it's all -"

"That is dissatisfaction," Jun Wu noted. "You are bound by his grace and have nowhere else to go. You are in denial." Yin Yu hung his head and didn't reply.

Vol 7, page 144-145

One of my favorite relationships throughout the novel, even though we get so little information about it, is Yin Yu and Hua Cheng's. Even the above tidbit is mired by the way Jun Wu is trying to manipulate Yin Yu's emotions and how Yin Yu at times responds genuinely and at others plays along to try and find a way to escape.

Once I had finished the novel, I was left wondering why there are so many fandom jokes about Yin Yu being exploited by Hua Cheng when the text seemed to paint a much different picture of what Yin Yu's life and work environment as a god was like versus as the highest ranking ghost city officer. So in this meta I try to examine and compare the two as well as try to draw conclusions about how Yin Yu felt about it all and why.

First of, I think that Yin Yu's longing to return to becoming a god is genuine, since this is what he says after he stops playing along with Jun Wu's manipulation because he's by then gotten enough spiritual energy to attack him:

"I do want to return to the heavens, I do want to be ranked in the top ten!" Yin Yu continued. "But it's completely meaningless if I don't do it on my own! I'm unlucky, I accept that! Admitting that I can't compare isn't that hard!" Vol 7 page 152

Which is interesting, considering this is what he felt like when he was still a god in heaven while Quan Yizhen hadn't yet ascended:

A good while later, [Quan Yizhen] said bluntly, "I don't like it here."

Yin Yu said nothing.

"They think I'm annoying, but I think they're even more annoying," Quan Yizhen continued. "Before, I could train at least sixteen hours a day. Now half the time is taken up by talking and listening to nonsense, by greeting and visiting people. There are people who yell at me and hit me for no good reason, without apologizing, and I can't even fight back. This isn't heaven. I don't like it here."

Yin Yu sighed. "I don't like it here either."

"Then let's go back," Quan Yizhen said.

But Yin Yu only shook his head, "Even though I don't like it here, I want to stay."

Quan Yizhen couldn't understand. "Why do want to stay if you don't like it here?"

Yin Yu was stumped, and chuckled in spite of himself. He didn't know what to say, unable to explain it to him. How could he convey to Quan Yizhen that reaching the Heavenly Capital was the dream of so many people who sought the path of cultivation, the ultimate end goal? Or just how difficult it was for someone his age to achieve ascension?

Vol 5, page 271-272

Yin Yu essentially seemed to be struggling with sunk cost fallacy, where he put his everything into ascending to heaven and so wants to stay there even though it's making him increasingly unhappy. It's interesting that Jun Wu accuses him of being in denial about his unhappiness in the Ghost Realm, when Yin Yu in the past seemed to be in denial about his unhappiness in heaven. Especially since this is what he was being treated like as soon as his power and influence were in decline:

Yin Yu and Jian Yu were seated next to the "Earth Master." Their assigned seats were considered the edge of the banquet. Yin Yu wasn't eating or talking to anyone. [...]

At the other end of the banquet, there was already a large crowd of heavenly officials fighting to greet Quan Yizhen. The surrounding crowd had completely blocked the person at the center from sight. It appeared that this was soon after Quan Yizhen ascended and established his own palace. He was at the height of his popularity in heaven, in contrast to how he was disliked by most of the present court. Although the two were both Martial Gods of the West, he was significantly more prominent than Yin Yu. The attendees all swarmed over, leaving the table where Yin Yu sat quiet and empty.

Vol 5, page 273-275

I've talked about this in my Yin Yu & Quan Yizhen meta as well, how Yin Yu tries to get by in heaven by conforming and submitting to the elitist power structures it's based on:

Quan Yizhen kept going. "They cussed at me first. I don't even know them. They said I was a low-ranking heavenly official and yelled at me for no reason, then they laughed at me and told me to scram and not to block their way [...]" "Are low-ranking heavenly officials below other people?" Quan Yizhen asked.

"No," Yin Yu replied. Was that true? It was obvious he didn't believe his own words, and Quan Yizhen noticed.

Vol 5, page 271

and how it starts to chip away at the kindness and the moral backbone he showed while still in his sect:

"Shidi, the things you're all saying aren't right." The crowd was taken aback. "I'm going to say something unpleasant," Yin Yu continued. "No matter what path we cultivate, talent truly is an incredible thing. And he is not only talented, he is willing to work hard. If you really think Shifu is playing favorites, then let's work harder to keep up with him - maybe even overtake him. And then things like training halls and supplements will naturally be open to everyone. Rather than wasting time being angry at him, your priority should be training harder. Am I right?" [...]

"You really don't need to mind them. You didn't do anything wrong. It's fine like this." Anyone with clear eyes could see that the other disciples couldn't stand Quan Yizhen. They found fault everywhere, and it wasn't because of his big appetite, or because he wasn't a morning person, or because he was inconsiderate and a poor teammate who only cared about showing off. At the end of the day, what they really couldn't stand was this: he was the last to enter the school, but he received the most. Quan Yizhen nodded. "I think so too." Yin Yu patted his shoulder. "Go train! That's what's most important. Don't think about anything unnecessary." [...]

After watching the two scenarios, Xie Lian praised Yin Yu. "San Lang, that subordinate of yours really is a rare character. What a good heart."

Vol 5, page 262 + 264

Everything Yin Yu and Quan Yizhen already struggled with in their sect - the jealousy, the bullying, the competition for resources - is even worse in heaven, which actively encourages the endless competition for devotees and subordinates as well as the exploitation and mistreatment of those of "lower rank". No matter how hard Yin Yu tries to conform to these structures, they steadily wear away at both the way others see him and also how he sees himself:

After closing the gates, Yin Yu's voice grew louder. "Don't say any more! I don't want to hear it! It's very normal for an ascended heavenly official to establish a palace, so he didn't do anything wrong. Since you get irritated just talking about him, why must you constantly bring him up?" "Please don't think that I'm speaking out of turn, but someone must remind you. Yin Yu, the west is only so big, and there are only so many devotees. He's already taken so much. That wolf yao kill should've been yours, but he stole it! Look at the state of you now - your domain's shrinking smaller and smaller. How much do you have left? Can you maintain your standing if this keeps up?" "How is what he's done theft? It's not like he's forcing anyone to worship him at knifepoint - everyone's willing. Besides, that wolf yao..." Yin Yu sighed and said frankly, "I couldn't have defeated it. It was useless praying to me, so of course they went to him." "I just... I'm worried that if this fight continues, he'll win and leave us with nothing," Jian Yu said bitterly. "Fuck, even those lower-ranking officials only care about their own advancement - each one of them coming up with empty excuses to quit and slipping away to serve under other heavenly officials. What a bunch of no-good asshats!" Yin Yu sighed again and sat down on a prayer cushion. "What fight are you talking about...? Why care for such things? Those who want to leave will always leave in the end, and those who want to stay will naturally remain. I didn't ascend to fight for power with anyone, nor squabble over domains, nor quarrel, so why can't you let this go?" Vol 5, page 277

This is a stark contrast not only to the kind of standing he had while he was still in his sect:

Yin Yu pushed them away, urging them to leave. He sighed. "You said yourself that he's insane, so why bother with him?" It was easy to see that Yin Yu's words held weight with his peers at this point in his life. Although the crowd was still upset, they left as told. Vol 5, page 257

But especially to the kind of authority and respect that his position in Ghost City offers him:

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the ghost crowd. They immediately parted, forming a path, as if someone of importance had arrived. Xie Lian came to his senses and saw a tall, black-clad figure walking straight toward him through the path created by the mob. That person yelled, "Settle down. Let him go!" The black-clad figure, like most of the ghosts on the street, wore a mask. It was a funny mask, with a face that was contorted as if it was smiling woefully. The mob muttered under their breath, "It's the Waning Moon Officer!", and they released their hold on Xie Lian at last. It seemed this black-clad figure was someone significant in Ghost City. Vol 2, page 99

It's also worth mentioning at this point that I think people forget that Yin Yu does not always necessarily work alone and has to do everything by himself but that he has his own subordinates:

After taking a moment to contact his subordinates in Ghost City, Yin Yu meticulously reported the general directions of each sighting.

Vol 7, page 48

Another very important thing to take away from the argument between Jian Yu and Yin Yu is that while still a god in the heavens, Yin Yu had no confidence that he'd be able to fight a wolf yao, yet in the amnesiac extra, he shows no signs of hesitancy or fear when Hua Cheng orders him to go after the monster that stole Xie Lian's memories:

He was still trying to process what he'd learned when he heard San Lang say, "I need to attend to him right now and can't leave. Catch that monster before tomorrow night and bring it to me." "Yes, sir. Shall I leave it one last breath?" the man in the ghost mask asked quietly. San Lang put down his brush and glanced at what he'd written, which he then crumbled up and tossed away, apparently unsatisfied. "Leave it a few. Make it spit out what it swallowed, then crush its worthless head to dust. Make it slow and painful." His tone and expression were both quite frightening, yet Xie Lian didn't find him repulsive or alarming. The man in the ghost mask acknowledged San Lang’s order and was about to take his leave, so Xie Lian quickly dodged away and hid. Vol 8, page 226-227

Which leads me to another important point - the amount of trust Hua Cheng shows Yin Yu by the kind of missions he sends him on. If he didn't have a high opinion of Yin Yu's abilities, he would never send him after something like a monster that had eaten Xie Lian's memories, given how incredibly important Xie Lian's wellbeing is to Hua Cheng. There's many other examples too - like how Hua Cheng trusted Yin Yu to help with tricking Shi Qingxuan and Xie Lian into saving "Ming Yi", or how he entrusted the Earth Master Shovel to him. But Hua Cheng also does not ask the impossible of him - when they're all trapped in heaven and Yin Yu started to dig tunnels with the Earth Master Shovel to try and free Xie Lian and the others so they could recover and become strong enough to escape, Hua Cheng cautions them against it because he correctly deduces that "you'll be seeking your own deaths if you try to break out under Jun Wu's watch." (Vol 7, page 130) Even though Yin Yu is with Xie Lian, Hua Cheng doesn't expect him to get Xie Lian out on his own, because he knows how powerful and ruthless Jun Wu is.

For extra emphasis, let's compare Hua Cheng’s regard for Yin Yu and his abilities to the way Jun Wu never even deemed to speak to Yin Yu while he was a god because he was so very much "beneath" him:

"My dear Yin Yu, I do not think I have ever chatted with you like this before. Isn't that right?"

"I guess not..." Yin Yu replied cautiously.

Even back when he was the martial god who ruled the west, his base of believers wasn't strong, his merits were few, and his rank wasn't impressive. He wasn't the lowest ranked of the heavenly officials in the Upper Court, but he was still below average, so he'd had almost no opportunities to interact with the Heavenly Emperor - the highest of the high.

Vol 7, page 142-143

Keeping all of that in mind, it's very interesting that Jun Wu tries to tempt Yin Yu to his side by offering him the position of his right-hand man:

Finally, Yin Yu asked, "In the Upper Court, I... What... would my position be?"

"Ling Wen will be my left hand, and you shall be my right," Jun Wu said. "There will be none above you besides me."

Vol 7, page 149

When that really is a position Yin Yu already holds - he's Hua Cheng's right-hand man. Now, one could argue that Yin Yu does have less power and prestige in the position of a ghost realm officer than he would have as a god - there's no believers worshipping him - but I think the point is that he doesn't answer to anyone but Hua Cheng, that there's no one else competing with him for that position, no one else among his subordinates that Hua Cheng puts this much trust in, and that there's no one else besides Hua Cheng himself who is demonstrated to hold so much authority and respect in Ghost City. And with all of the above, it's really important to keep in mind that Ghost City is the one single autonomous place in all the three realms and that its Chengzhu is the one single being whose power and influence is rivaled only by the Heavenly Emperor himself.

And said Heavenly Emperor damn well knows Yin Yu is Hua Cheng's right-hand man, which is I believe a big part of the reason he tries to flip Yin Yu by dangling this exact position in front of him. As I've talked about before in other posts, Jun Wu hates Hua Cheng deeply for various reasons. There's the whole thing where Hua Cheng is the unmistakable proof of a believer that never leaves their god, the very thing Jun Wu felt entitled to but didn't receive. But in this case I think him wanting to tempt Yin Yu away from Hua Cheng's side is about how bitter and salty Jun Wu feels about the fact that Hua Cheng holds more sway over all three realms than he does - evidenced by the way Hua Cheng doesn't just have followers in the Ghost Realm but the Human Realm as well, and even the gods, while they fear him, also can't help but admire him and strike deals with him in secret (Vol 1, page 157-160). That Yin Yu, a banished god, would (just like Xie Lian) rather be loyal to Hua Cheng than Jun Wu - that must have angered him a lot because it's something he'd take quite personally.

This is, I think, also the root of why Yin Yu has so much trouble seeing his position in the Ghost Realm for what it really is and why he still longs to be a god despite how unhappy he was in the heavens and how badly he was treated there - he can't see past the prejudices about the Ghost Realm in general and Ghost City in particular that he has internalized. Prejudices that Jun Wu actively weaponizes every time he speaks to Yin Yu, by repeatedly insinuating that being a ghost city officer is a shameful thing to be:

"Surely you do not actually like being a mere pawn in the Ghost Realm?" [...] "Falling in with the Ghost Realm was an unfortunate circumstance, an act borne of helplessness." [...] "You are bound by his grace and have nowhere else to go." [...]

Vol 7, page 144

Which makes it all the more satisfying when Yin Yu tricks Jun Wu (or attempts to, at least) and ultimately rejects both his offer and his authority, and also calls Jun Wu out on the way he tried to manipulate him:

"My Lord... My... No, not My Lord! You! Why must you keep reminding me of that?! Why do you speak like you actually understand me?!"

Vol 7, page 151

Jun Wu is deeply enraged by his defiance and rejection - in general, but also because it reminds him of Xie Lian's defiance against him:

Jun Wu turned around with a casual sweep of his hand. "Exhilarating. You and Xianle must get along well."

Vol 7, page 152

This brings me to my final point - which is that choosing kindness and righteousness even in the face of criticism and rejection, of personal loss and suffering, is what Jun Wu hates the most, and what ties Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, Quan Yizhen and Yin Yu, and Yin Yu and Hua Cheng together. Hua Cheng was drawn to Xie Lian because Xie Lian chose to treat him kindly when everyone else abused and rejected Hua Cheng and pressured Xie Lian to do the same. Similiar things can be said for Quan Yizhen and Yin Yu, since Yin Yu was the one to ask his sect's shifu to take Quan Yizhen in when he came across him as a seemingly abandoned child, and who repeatedly defended Quan Yizhen from the other sect members' judgement and bullying, even though this earned Yin Yu their ire as well. Yin Yu, too, values kindness very highly:

Yin Yu sobbed. "If I wasn't destined to be perfect, I at least wanted to be perfectly kind. But... I couldn't even manage that." (Vol 7, page 156)

Therefore, though we get very little information on their first meeting, I think kindness is also what drew Yin Yu to Hua Cheng, what made him stay loyal to him even when tempted/threatened by Jun Wu, and what made him go right back to working for him after the events of the main story. Because while we get only this one mention, I think a great deal can be gleaned from it:

"Chengzhu has shown me grace. He saved me - "

"I know" Jun Wu said. "He even helped you pacify and send off Jian Yu's vengeful spirit when he died during your banishment, am I correct?"

Vol 7, page 144

It's not just he helped me, it's he saved me. And not only that, Hua Cheng, in a sense, saved Jian Yu as well by helping him move on, which I would assume was simply because Yin Yu wished for his friend to let go of his resentment and not become stuck as a vengeful spirit. What I think is really important to keep in mind here is that not only was Hua Cheng under no obligation to save Yin Yu, he had, objectively speaking, nothing to gain from it. He Xuan was already in the heavens by then and giving Hua Cheng intel. and Hua Cheng didn't show off that he had a banished god working for him either - he let Yin Yi wear a mask, and for years, no one (except apparently Jun Wu) knew where Yin Yu was or what had happened to him, evidenced by the way Quan Yizhen kept looking and kept asking about him to no avail (Vol 5 page 235).

We don't really get Hua Cheng's side of the story but I think the fact that he doesn't speak about it speaks for itself - aside from keeping things close to his chest in general, he tends to not talk about the things he does out of kindness and/or his own sense of justice. We see this for example when Xie Lian only finds out why the group of cultivators is after Hua Cheng when he overhears them saying that Hua Cheng chose to shelter both the pig spirit and the prostitute ghost who had chosen to take revenge on humans who had used their positions of power to hurt others (Vol 5 page 28-29).

This is therefore more speculation than analysis, but I can imagine that this whole scenario - a god with a good heart who gets abandoned by the heavens with only a vengeful spirit by his side - even though the exact circumstances that led to it differed, might have held enough similarities to what Hua Cheng personally witnessed of Xie Lian's banishment that it would bring out that same urge to help and protect in Hua Cheng. The fact that Yin Yu says Hua Cheng saved him really can't be overstated in my opinion, considering that Hua Cheng, understandably, has usually nothing but feelings of either indifference or hatred for all of the gods aside from Xie Lian and the Rain Master.

To sum up - the power structures in heaven encourage workplace harassment, bullying, and endless competition for resources and support, and this causes Yin Yu not only increased stress, isolation, and unhappiness, but also puts a strain on his inherent kindness and righteousness as he starts to give in under the pressure to conform. By contrast, his position in Ghost City is dependant on nothing but his loyalty to Hua Cheng, on Yin Yu's own choice to stay with him, and offers him an unprecedented amount of respect and trust. It is heaven, really, that is repeatedly shown to mistreat and exploit its officials, especially those of lower rank, not Hua Cheng.

#tgcf #re-reading tgcf #yin yu #hua cheng #jun wu #i started working on this in february before my friend died #so if the structure is messy that's why #i kept thinking this was finished and then i and another thing'ed myself repeatedly #also i kept overthinking stuff so now i'm just gonna hit post

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somewhereincairparavel · 22 hours

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I think the reason Rick fumbled with writing Jason's abilities/personality is because he was too focused on Jason existing as Percy's rival to focus on Jason as an individual character. And the funniest thing is, in the end, Jason was not considered satisfactory rival to Percy by the fandom either, which is ironic since that was the whole point of his character.

Rick seemingly screwed up the whole rivalry thing because, though he wanted someone to challenge Percy's power, he didn't want that person (Jason) to be more powerful than Percy or more enjoyable than Percy either, in the fear that the audience might start enjoying Jason more.

When you write a rival, you have to make sure that the rival character has equally powerful personality and strength/abilities compared to the person that they're rivalled with.

But Rick? The way he wrote Jason was like a half done updo. He dumped all the cool power on Percy (like potentially implying that Percy has bloodbending,can control water inside of someone, making sure Percy wins ALMOST every fight (and i mean, almost, there is a very rare time Percy ever loses) while limiting his power with Jason in every way possible, making the stupid brick jokes to make sure Jason always passes out in a fight, the whole "I only get one lighting bolt a day from my father" (it's a dumbass logic too, Jason should've been able to summon that much power of lighting on his own, he does NOT need his dad for that shit c'mon now) like it's an obvious effort to make jason appear weaker. Rick did all of this while lazily trying to shoehorn Jason's achievements in the plot by implying it but not actually showing it, like a "yeah he did this cool shit once ig" which makes it less impressive compared to Percy's achievements, which is something we've actually witnessed firsthand. Rick intentionally never brought up or expanded upon Jason's achievements much. He only emphasized everyone's awe of him being the son of Jupiter, which made it seem like Jason had the 'big three child privilege' where people didn't give a fuck about his efforts but instead his position.

Alright Rick, don't give him power, but atleast give him a personality? Nope he isn't getting that either. Jason had the potential to make DARK jokes about his controlled millitary life in Rome, and explore his past. Like I badly wanted a passage of Jason getting his memories back in fragments, Rick could've added flashbacks of Jason's past in his pov in a way that he gets his memories back. Instead he went "yeah yeah jason got all his memories back, it's all good" like SHOW us that wtf?? sure let's make sure he's as stale as possible to the audience, we can't have anyone liking the underdog over Percy Jackson!

He also made sure that Jason had it super hard in life aswell but never emphasized it or gave him anything good compared to Percy.

Don't get me wrong, percy definitely had it rlly hard, but Atleast Rick made sure Percy had a loving mom and a stepdad, a loving girlfriend and a cute adorable sister that he could play and spend time with, he got to celebrate birthdays with Sally, he got to eat her tasty blue food, and he actually had an ambrosia taste. You mean to tell me that Jason's sister barely had time for him, that he hasn't had a single birthday and that ambrosia tastes like sawdust for him while you give the other members of the seven, delicious ambrosia taste? 😤

Jason Grace has gotten the worst life in his own story, he wasn't "powerful" enough for a child of Zeus, he was "boring" , nobody properly trusted him, he died painfully, he didn't have parents, he barely talked to his sister, he didn't have a childhood, he was abandoned to blood thirsty animals when he was TWO, he didn't have a birthday, he didn't have an ambrosia taste, his girlfriend dumped him, he never got to see his best friend before he died, and he is terribly hated by the fandom who are simply turning a blind eye to his struggles because "no Percy will always be better in every way" yeah. I could go on and on.

#Rick Riordan I actually like your work okay? But why.#You fumbled jason in every way ever #But don't think I'll stop loving Jason. ha #Jokes on the people who think I'll find jason 'boring' NOPE not happening buddy #Jason is my top favourite Hoo character apart from Percy and Annabeth and nobody's going to bully me into changing it lol #pjo #pjo fandom #percy jackson #pjo series #jason grace #pjo hoo #pjo hoo toa #piper mclean #leo valdez #annabeth chase #frank zhang #hazel levesque #reyna avila ramirez arellano

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cajon-desastre · 2 days

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Hola Carmen, me encantan tus citas y los GIFs que las acompañan, suelen ir a la par del tema del día pero me gustaría conocer tu opinión acerca de todo este lío si no te importa comentarlo. Asumo que igual no te sientes cómoda con mi petición así que si consideras oportuno no contestarme lo entenderé.

Siempre me has parecido muy sincera y equilibrada en tus comentarios, un beso guapa.

Hello Carmen, I love your quotes and the GIFs that accompany them, they usually go along with the topic of the day but I would like to know your opinion about this whole mess if you don't mind commenting on it. I assume that you may not feel comfortable with my request, so if you consider it appropriate not to answer me, I will understand. You have always seemed very sincere and balanced in your comments, a kiss pretty.

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Hi Anon, thank you for your kind words 🥰

I don't mind commenting, what happens is that I don't usually give much air to these things because what is sought, precisely, is to give them visibility and increase the drama, something that I don't usually lend myself to, only just enough when there are things that are too obvious which you can see here and here.

But you asked me for an opinion and this is what I can give you:

Disappointment and frustration would be the first words.

Ridiculous and hasty the second.

Disaster and control damage the third.

As a fan, it is not the way I would like for people I like to follow and support, but it is something that is not going to affect my life any more than the time I can dedicate to creating content or reading other bloggers. I understand that people may be very upset by the latest events and I see that, above all, they are recent fans, or those who have been there for a short time, for the most part.

I don't know, maybe I've been here for many years and I've seen everything. I am vaccinated against this nonsense that becomes cyclical and that is always a consequence of some previous event that is usually related to the shipper side and the image that is wanted to be transmitted to the general public, not to the fandom that is attentive to any movement or fact.

I have always wanted my attitude to be Zen, trying to take what happens on this side of the fence with resignation and humor. It's also because I try to compartmentalize what the fandom is and what the series and the books are. Enjoying the only thing that is stable within this madness despite Starz's mismanagement.

I could summarize that the situation is more of the same and I do not rule out that, when this situation passes, we will encounter new shenanigans. They seem to be one-tricks, and as long as it works, that's what we'll continue to see.

I also recommend that you read @outlanderskin in this post. Her thoughts are very similar to mine right now.

Thanks for the appreciation and I hope that Google translation makes this understandable 😘

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Hola Anon, gracias por tus amables palabras 🥰 No me importa comentar, lo que pasa es que no suelo darle mucho aire a estas cosas porque lo que se busca, precisamente, es darles visibilidad y aumentar el dramatismo, algo a lo que no suelo prestarme. Sólo lo suficiente cuando hay cosas demasiado obvias que puedes ver aquí y aquí. Pero me pediste opinión y esto es lo que puedo darte: Decepción y frustración serían las primeras palabras. Ridículo y precipitado el segundo. Desastre y control de daños el tercero. Como fan, no es la forma en que me gustaría que las personas a las que me gusta seguir y apoyar, pero es algo que no va a afectar mi vida más que el tiempo que puedo dedicar a crear contenido o leer a otros bloggers. Entiendo que la gente pueda estar muy molesta por los últimos acontecimientos y veo que, sobre todo, son fans recientes, o que llevan poco tiempo, en su mayoría. No lo sé, tal vez llevo muchos años aquí y lo he visto todo. Estoy vacunado contra este despropósito que se vuelve cíclico y que siempre es consecuencia de algún evento previo que suele estar relacionado con el lado shipper y la imagen que se quiere transmitir al público en general, no al fandom que está atento a cualquier movimiento o hecho. Siempre he querido que mi actitud sea zen, intentando tomarme lo que pasa de este lado de la valla con resignación y humor. También es porque trato de compartimentar qué es el fandom y qué son las series y los libros. Disfrutando de lo único que hay estable dentro de esta locura a pesar de la mala gestión de Starz. Podría resumir que la situación es más de lo mismo y no descarto que, cuando esta situación pase, nos encontremos con nuevas travesuras. Parecen ser de un solo truco, y mientras funcionen, eso es lo que seguiremos viendo. También te recomiendo que leas a @outlanderskin en este post. Sus pensamientos son muy similares a los míos en este momento.

Gracias por el aprecio y espero que la traducción de Google haga esto comprensible 😘

#Anon #this #this fandom #what a mess

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foxufortunes · 2 days

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So like I was actually having this discussion in the comments of one of my fics at stupid in the morning, but like having thought it through for the day I'm here to messily rant my thoughts on the complicated relationship between the upperclassmen, mainly Dan, and the monsters, mainly Andrew, and Wymack. How Dan is terribly self righteous and hypocritical and lets her emotions get in the way of her captaincy at times. How Andrew doesn't care for the discomfort and fear he causes others and even revels in it, even without provocation. And how Wymack, for better or for worse, is a hands off coach who can't/won't inflict meaningful punishments on his team, even enabling their worst qualities and habits, as part of his ideal of giving people more chances and how that can create a hostile team environment.

Aka, I'm about to throw slander in every direction, because these are flawed, messy characters and trying to make any of them perfectly innocent or always right does a disservice to the well sketched, messy, imperfect, flawed characters Nora created. Blame goes everywhere and no one is innocent. Trauma is a reason, not an excuse.

Buckle up, guys, this is about to get long and messy.

So, let's start with Wymack, who's a bit trickier to explain than Dan and Andrew, but is also the reason they've been brought togethers. Wymack, as we see him on page, is a massively hands off coach, especially when you compare him to Coach Rhemann. Now, it's very possible that this is actually because Nora either wasn't confident/good enough to write him coaching vs where she is now ten years later, or because she didn't want to focus there (although logically for exy junkie Neil's pov that would be weird, but whatever, that's not what we're talking about) but whatever the reason out of universe, it leaves us with Wymack as hands off as possible in universe. (Also, sidebar, some people in this fandom need to learn that out of universe reasons still need to have an in universe reason, "it needed to happen for the plot" is an out of universe reason, but I still need to know why the characters did it beyond "for the plot" or it's bad writing, stop using that for an answer about "why did character X do Y?")

Anyway, Wymack lets the team basically run amuck and sort themselves out, and even enables their worst habits. I think its canon that Abby gets a tip when "random" drug tests are happening, and they certainly don't do anything to enforce the no drugs policies the school and NCAA and probably ERC would have. Wymack brought a bunch of troubled kids together and seems to have no plan beyond letting themselves work it out and Betsy's here if there's trouble. This is why the Matt situation happens. You let a struggling to stay sober drug addict be around other not even trying drug addicts, of course Matt was going to get worse. This is actively bad for him. And in turn then actively bad for Aaron.

His relationship with Andrew is a bit more complicated. Now, I need you to forget everything you know about Andrew through Neil and his backstory for a moment, and just look at Andrew through Wymack's eyes as he first met him. Andrew has been to juvie, and is currently on parole for another violent crime that Wymack may or may not know the actual details about and on medication that Wymack may or may not know what they actually are and do. Andrew asks to come off of them. Wymack says yes. Now, even putting aside the legality of this, Wymack took the unilateral decision that Andrew knows best about his meds and can come off of them. Now, we can talk plenty about how Andrew's medication is portrayed in canon, but plenty of people don't like meds that are actually good for them and try/do stop taking them, often without telling a doctor they're doing so. There's also the fact that, again irrelevant of what we know as the story goes, Andrew regularly drinks, smokes and misses doses, things that can all make medication not work as it should. Wymack is not a doctor, for all he knows he could actively making Andrew worse by allowing this, but does anyway, for a good defence line.

(Also another side note, where does canon get off calling the Foxes a laughing stock? They're five years old. Seth was part of the first batch, right? So they're five years old and made the championships in their fourth year of existing as a team, fuck off are they dead last laughing stocks.)

And this is part of what I don't get about Wymack. He both wants to win above what's good for his team and doesn't at the same time. For example, he's so hands off and enables their bad habits, things that could kill them and actively harm them. He puts Andrew on the bench because he doesn't need a third goalie despite him being better and seemingly rolls with the hierarchy of age over skill, which implies team feel goods over victory but is so invested in staying Class I he semi-regularly lets (and yeah, it's lets not makes but still) Andrew harm himself playing full games on withdrawals (again, as far as he knows potentially stopping his meds working right). And while it could be argued his situation with Andrew is more not wanting to give up on Andrew, that is an the expense of his other players. Anyone who's ever been in a situation where one or two people are hostile/seemingly unpunishable knows how bad that makes everyone else feel.

Because, let's be real, Andrew is unpunishable and they all know it. Cardio is one thing, but he doesn't go through with marathons and nothing else will work. Andrew doesn't care for his own contract, and even if we actually believed Wymack would go through with any threat again Kevin, Nicky or Aaron's contracts (and we all know he wouldn't) Andrew would probably sabotage the game in protest or just outright quit. Andrew gets away with everything and everyone knows it and that can quickly see your team stop respecting/trusting you or feeling safe when you say they are. It's a very dangerous line.

And this is where we finally get to Dan. Because yes, Dan hates Andrew, and is unprofessional in her bias against him. But I think we often forget where this comes from. You often see people talk about Columbia, and Andrew drugging Neil, and should Neil have been angrier, how his trauma impacted him moving on so quickly and whether Andrew's reasons were valid or not because he thought Neil was a threat. And sometimes you see people talk about what he did "to" Matt. Which, yes, wasn't great, and yes, Matt took the drugs himself, but really it wasn't a great move from Andrew. But how often do you see people talk about what he did to Dan?

I mean, let's get some context here. Andrew and Dan barely knew each other. Dan is already getting shit from every angle for daring to be a woman playing and captaining an exy team (and if you hc her as a woman of colour, double this) in a period of time where colleges did (and still do) have a terrible reputation for covering up the horrific assaults committed by their best NCAA athletes. And Andrew, with no provocation, or reason, invites her out, to his home turf, with his family, to a bar he worked out, without anyone to support her and look after her, and drugged her. To find out if she was a women worth following. Not because she was a threat. Because he wanted to find out what type of person she was. He wanted her tragic backstory and he wanted it now (something people criticise Dan for demanding a lot, by the way). Andrew and his group show no remorse and face no real repercussions and then go on to enable Matt getting falling off the wagon and taking potentially lethal mix of drugs, because his mom said it was fine so it's ok and it all worked out, ends justify the means, and is allowed to just carry on with again, no meaningful punishment. Because no harm, no foul, right? (funny how you'll apply that to Andrew but hate when Thea said it, huh?)

Is it any wonder Dan doesn't like or trust Andrew?

And lets be clear, Andrew does nothing to discourage this. Andrew doesn't want to be understood, he doesn't want to share. Andrew is not here angsting because no one understands his attempts to making friends (except maybe, big maybe, Aaron not understanding his attempts at brothering). Andrew is fine if the team doesn't trust him. He encourages it, because trust means friends means feelings means weakness and that's ew. It's not hard to see how, from Dan's pov, Wymack can't/won't punish Andrew and is more interested in winning so won't kick him off the team.

At the same time, Dan is just as complicit in Andrew's breaking the law and hurting himself by missing meds as Wymack. Again, for all she knows, his meds help him, and skipping could actively harm the help they're giving him. Again, she's putting winning, because they have this amazing goalkeeper, above both Andrew and the team's health, and then complains when he lashes out. Some meds need a consistent balance to work, and maybe if he wasn't skipping every Friday to help you win he'd be more stable (we know this isn't the case, but they don't). There's barely any resistance put up to the idea that Andrew plays entire games, because she also wants to win more than she cares about Andrew's health, while at the same time not caring about winning more than her pride, like the rest of the team who are more interested in fighting than winning.

Now, of course, Andrew doesn't care. I think Nicky has it right early on when he says Andrew doesn't care about your boundaries, just his. Andrew is here mostly because he wants to keep Nicky and Aaron close and sees providing value for them (protection, scholarships, controlling protection ect) as the only way to really do it. Andrew sees life as exchanges. But, for all we act like Andrew lives on fair exchanges, he doesn't. As I said, he drugged Dan because he wanted to know about her, what did he give her in return? Nothing. He violated her autonomy and gave her nothing in return. Not even his own backstory. Arguably not even respect. (please, take a minute to imagine how pissed you would be if someone in fanfic wrote Andrew being drugged just to get him to spill his trauma without him even being a threat to anything, or look at how people react to Neil's Columbia scene).

The upperclassmen constantly ignore and violate Andrew's boundaries in very clear ways, and any normal team would have backed off ages ago (or called the cops the first time he pulled a knife) but because they're Foxes they keep pushing. (Also, for all fandom likes to make him a knife nut, look at how often he actually pulls a knife vs punches, it's either rape jokes, or him/someone under his protection being cornered, day to day he goes without). Now, of course, Andrew is a lot of the problem of keeping the team in two halves (again, something any decent coach shouldn't allow to get that extreme) as we see with how well the team works when Andrew is at Easthaven, but we don't know how much effort the upperclassmen actually make (excluding Renee of course).

The upperclassmen are often the first to lash out, and Andrew is often only retaliating, and then the monsters will be blamed. And yes, this is complete hypocrisy. But from the more general day to day treatment, not in the moment when a punch is thrown but attitudes in general, Andrew has proven himself a threat over and over, without provocation. If you can excuse Andrew drugging Neil because he's a potential threat, then why is Dan being hostile to Andrew because he's proven himself a threat different? Is it professional? Probably not, but what else can Dan do? She can't punish Andrew and Wymack seemingly can't/won't either. In Dan's mind, she is being hypervigilant and watching Andrew and taking his actions for the worst possible scenario, because Andrew has given her reason to. A simple drink to get to know each other turned into drugging her and Matt being in awful condition. Why should she give him the benefit of the doubt? Andrew wouldn't return the favour.

In many ways, Andrew and Dan are mirrors of each other. The leaders of their respective groups, both constantly trying to watch out for threats, but while Dan sees the threat she's already experienced with Andrew, Andrew considers her nothing. He's already got all her secrets and cast her aside, not caring for the damage he's done, because she and her friends are nothing to, and he doesn't feel a hint of remorse. He did what he had to, the ends justify the means, and Wymack's gone through too much to get him to risk losing him. He's on a team that doesn't care about his boundaries any more than he cares about theirs and is more than happy to play the monster if it gets the job done.

This came off a little harsh on Andrew, despite that I love him and Dan actually grates on me, but honestly the start of the series he is kind of awful and Dan I can see where she's coming from. Like, I think sometimes we also forget even Neil hates Andrew at the start of the series. Everything he did with Neil, he did with the others, it's just that Neil had the persistence, and the trauma related need to compartmentalise and move on quickly rather than hold a grudge, and a usefulness to Andrew (and yeah, let's not forget the breakthrough is Kathy's show and Andrew realising Neil is useful to him) to let him get in with Andrew so he can start to see the real him, while Andrew keeps the upperclassmen at arm's length.

And wow, congrats and thanks to anyone who read all the way through this monster ramble.

#all for the game #aftg #the foxhole court #andrew minyard #dan wilds #david wymack

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byrdblood · 2 days

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I actually really like the idea that clothing/physical apperance is actually what fully determines a skeleton's 'biological sex/gender' rather than actual sexual characteriscs, since monster's are implied as not having any (they don't even have internal organs, so why external??)

So, that makes me wonder how this type of society would treat/percieve people who are more gender-nonconfirming externally, or in general people who works outside of this terms. Would prejudice exist??

I think one primal example of a skeleton who works outside of this kind of terms is Ink imo. In story, he actually was probably assigned 'nothing' at birth lol, due to his background of an unfinished sketch and all of that (in pretty sure that he canonically was actually NOT given any actual name too. So he had no identity of his own). In terms of physical apperance, he looks very androgynous imo. He wears a very loose/skirt- type of pants (that are inspired by a japanese clothing called 'hakama'. Which in today's japanese society is seen as a 'unisex' clothing) + tight crop top that is meant to compresses the chest. (this may sound ridiculous but people also often point out how comyet draws his body type, wich is kinda hourglass like? this is montly seen in drawings of his redesign lol). Even for being a 'sans', Ink was actually never really associated with the color blue? neitheir pink. He's mainly associated with the colors brown, yellow and mint green. Brown is actually acknowledged as the most 'unisex' color there is, yellow is too (this color actually has a vast genderqueer history associated), while green is montly seen as feminine (mostly the shade that Ink uses) (even his 'name' is not very telling of his gender since 'ink' is very gender-neutral+ it's actually translated as femeine in many latin-based languages, including french!)

I know that he's like, a canon he/they character so more of a androgynous look is indeed expected but this whole conversation just make me wonder what biological gender and he would have If he worked in normal terms....i see him as intersex, not gonna lie lol

Anon I am platonically and fictionally kissing you on the cheek right now you are fueling my autism so hard and I am so happy about it. I hope you like reading, because if not, I'm so sorry for the monster-gender-vs-sex BIBLE I'm about to throw up on you KHSGLADSHGA

I'm gonna mention some slightly more explicit subjects so just in case I'm gonna put it under another readmore!

About the "no internal organs so why external" thing, I COMPLETELY agree with you. And the thing is, even if most of the fandom wouldn't say it, I think most UT fans also agree with it, because again - I have been in the UT fandom since the beginning, okay, I know how UT fans season their freak sauce. And it seems like the general consensus (or at least the most commonly accepted headcanon) was that any monster could form anything, and also that physical intercourse wasn't actually how monsters reproduce - the soul is.

The reason I'm bringing this up is because i fucking love love love love fictional biology, okay, i LOVE trying to figure out how fantastical subjects would work in a real life setting, and take this with a grain of salt because I'm no biologist, but if reproduction didn't depend on biological sex, then sexual dimorphism wouldn't NEED to evolve because the species would not need to be able to tell the sexes apart at a glance. There wouldn't be any reason to be seen as male or female except for preference, because there would be no consequences for getting it "wrong". And while preference is of course a big deal in a species as social as monsters (or humans!), it's always going to take the wayside to immediate survival - the good old "4 F's" of evolution, you know. And the reason I bring that up is because, if monsters were biologically sexless by default, then when they DID form genitalia - aside from it being primarily for social/bonding reasons instead of reproductive ones, which is also a fascinating avenue - why on earth would they need to be gonochoric? It wouldn't save them any energy! In fact, even if monsters DID reproduce sexually, if you're already expending the energy to form this complex magical construct in the first place then why wouldn't you form both just to make sure you didn't miss your shot? That's evolution, babey!

Basically, what I'm saying is that I think "biologically" intersex should be default for monsters, both in reproduction of the soul and, naturally, also in physical intercourse - with gender being purely social. That's not to say gender wouldn't play any role in society at all, but there would be no real need for it to develop as this Big Important Thing if it had next to no impact on people's lives! I have no idea if prejudice would evolve; monsters are made of love, hope and compassion and I think that acts as a generous buffer to any cruelty that would develop, but we've seen that they're absolutely not incapable of it by a long shot. Honestly though, I'm inclined to believe that most wouldn't care. In Undertale, not only does everyone very naturally avoid gendering Frisk in conversation, they also don't ever ask them to clarify despite them presenting in a GNC way. Maybe that could be because they're a kid (and that could lend weight to the idea of monsters not developing a concrete gender identity until they're older - but that begs the question of when monsters would have puberty because I've heard gender identity develops in humans by ages 5-8 and I'm not slept enough for that right now LMAO), but honestly, to me that just lends credence to the idea that gender doesn't matter to monsters; if you're not presenting a certain way, they just default to neutral no problem. Maybe obvious nonconformity would confuse them because it's clear you're presenting some sort of way, and if they can't tell what, they'd naturally be anxious to get it wrong... but again, at that point, the only consequences for getting it wrong would be low-stakes social ones!

I'm also not saying that any of my Sanses are particularly GNC, to be clear, just that monsters approach gender with fewer shits given than humans do. In fact, of the TAU boys, Dust and Killer are both intersex, Nightmare is agender (canon, but still), and Cross (and Abaddon) are both AFAB (or the equivalent) - Axe is the closest one that could be said to be "cis", but in this group, HE'S the weird one for exclusively presenting with "male" genitalia. To be fair, TAU!Killer is more GNC than average and would respond to any pronoun you called him, but he still fully identifies as male and defaults to masculine. And I also think that a large part of Cross approaching his identity more like a human would (as opposed to Killer or, like, Mettaton, just being like "no I'm just this way and you have to deal with it"), is because he's from such an anomalous universe. X!Gaster created X!Tale and we know he's a total shitlord; it's weird in the first place for monsters to be willing to beat their fucking kids, and yet there he stands like a cheap Hitler costume listed on Wish.com with all his "one perfect world" shit.

(And one more thing - we know in canon that humanity's societies [or at least the ones immediately surrounding "Mt. Ebott", wherever it happens to be in a given world] INFLUENCE MONSTER SOCIETY through the trash that arrives in Waterfall! You show me someone who says that not a single porno mag fell down there and influenced monsterkind's ideas of gender presentation, and I'd show you a liar; monsters were developing alongside humanity the entire time they were in the Underground, we just don't know how/to what extent!)

Anyway IN FUCKING CONCLUSION: I completely agree with you about Ink being intersex AND I also see him as someone very GNC on top of that. Gender identity and biological sex are of course different subjects BUT I could very easily see him being influenced by monster culture when he was forming his identity, and therefore ending up kind of lax on his ideas of gender conformity. (Or conformity at all!) I really like Ink as a character but I also unfortunately understand why so many people have trouble with him; he's extremely unique both physically and morally, and it's difficult to get that nuance right. (I mean that fully as a compliment; his creator did a fantastic job.) Of course, the fact that he's been an outcode basically from day one also has fascinating implications; he's the "monster" equivalent of someone who was raised outside of a culture, I'd think, which could also heavily influence how he approaches the world! Maybe that also contributes to the intense protectiveness he feels for AUs; he could see them as this beautiful thing he was denied, and maybe some part of him feels envious and tries to channel it into "good". I'm not familiar enough with his character to really say, sadly.

#utmv #keegan talks #multiverse tau #genuinely i apologize anon but my boyfriend isn't an undertale fan and he also has mad wicked dyslexia so i can NEVER INFODUMP ON HIM #IVE GOT SO MANY LORE IDEAS RATTLING AROUND IN MY HEAD AND SO FEW OF THEM WOULD EVEN BE PERTINENT TO ANY STORY I WANTED TO TELL WITH ABADDON #ughHHHHH #also im aware this is the unsexiest way i could ever discuss the topic of sex and gender but im asexual so happy pride month to meeeeeee <3

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nilefreemans · 3 days

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I’ve always had so much anxiety sending asks but you always seem like the sweetest and I love seeing you on my dash… so basically hello!

Also any headcanons about something Buck does that cracks Tommy up? Because I feel like he’s always so reserved and in control but there’s definitely some little random thing Buck does or says one day and Tommy just pauses for a second before absolutely pissing himself laughing and Buck’s just watching with a mix of confusion and the biggest heart eyes anyone has ever had.

THIS IS SO SWEET - ty! I try and be as friendly as I can in any fandom space so HELLO <3

Tommy is quiet and reserved and that comes off as cool but like we all know better and after dating for a bit, Buck knows better too HE'S STILL A COOL GUY but like... mouth static

I think it takes a lot for him to break out into full body laughs but if anyone can do it it's going to be Buck just? being Buck?

like Tommy is very attracted to how damn smart and competent Buck can be like damn, brains and braun and the brightest smile, our boy Tommy is SWOONING

that being said we all have our moments, sometimes it's Buck's turn to have the one brain cell

I think it's like, just private the two of them, I think they're at Tommy's place so he's 100% relaxed as well, like it's his safe space with a person that makes him feel safe

in comes the cat

cat's are fucking weird okay

Buck didn't have one growing up he's still adjusting to Tommy's and she's precious, Tommy's #1 girl and she takes some time to adjust to Buck being in her space

and they're in bed and things are getting heated and Buck like throws his head back in the moment and all he sees is EYES

and he screams a little! he's naked! Tommy is naked! Tommy refers to his cat as his baby and the cat it WATCHING THEM and Buck freaks out

and Tommy laughs because its the funniest fucking thing, he actually rolls over and holds onto his stomach and Buck is scrambling to through a sheet on to cover himself because Tommy's cat saw his penis and Tommy is being no help whatsoever as he's like in tears laughing so hard

basically new rule the door gets locked during sex

#justaswampdemon #bucktommy #tommy kinard cat dad #manifesting this #evan buckley #tommy kinard #tommy's cat purposely (buck swears) scaring buck is something very personal to me

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klancecuredmydepression · 2 days

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My Opinion on Lance from Voltron:Legendary Defender

Sooo I’m finally doing a post on everyone’s favorite character from Voltron, Lancey Lance the Amazing Ninja Sharpshooter. But sadly, Lance was thrown around like a dirty rag, and not shown any affection or attention by anyone (besides Keef <3), including the creators of Voltron. Dreamworks did Lance dirty, and I will never forgive them because of that.

1. Lance’s insecurities. Lance has shown that he is insecure many times throughout the show. For example, when he visits Keith to tell him that he wants to leave the team so he doesn’t become a burden to anyone, Lance explaining his feelings for Allura to the mice and NOT HIS ACTUAL FRIENDS WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO HELP HIM, and etc. If I’m not mistaken, Voltron is a KID’S show. This will probably influence kids to bottle up their emotions and to always try to make everyone happy, just like Lance attempted to do. Lance’s insecurities could have been handled with in a better way.

2. Lance and his ‘friendships’ with other characters. In the 1hr episode, “The New Alliance” we are introduced to Lance, Pidge, and Hunk, who are supposed to be friends (I mean in that episode they mostly spend time together, so it hints that they are friends?..) Anyways, as Voltron progresses, Lance is constantly made fun of, perhaps even bullied by the other paladins. The episode “The Hunted” is a perfect example of that. Near the end of the episode, Pidge (and I believe Hunk) make fun of Lance for his “natural stupidity” and Keith joins in saying “I know it’s fun to make fun of Lance” or something like that idk my memory is rusty. But Allura is the only one to come to Lance’s defense. Another moment is the “Garfle, Warfle, Snick!” episode. The paladins are playing against the Galra, and there is a point where ‘Zarkon’ says, “Hmm.. I’ll go with the dumb one!” which Lance responds by saying, “Whose that?”. During the episode Lance is constantly being corrected for saying the wrong answer or making a small mistake. Also, it seems like every paladin has a buddy with them. Pidge and Hunk are always together

Same with Keith and Shiro, and Allura and Coran. This leaves Lance being alone by himself, with no one to tag along with. I think the paladins don’t want Lance to be with them is because they think he’ll ask too many questions or something like that idk. Y’know the episode where Lance, Pidge, and Hunk all visit Allura and Lotor? Lance asks, after Pidge and Hunk leave him (what a surprise 😒) if they need help, to which they give Lance the silent treatment. Lance leaves with an upset expression on his face, and that made me FUCKING CRY. I thought he would at least hang with Pidge and Hunk because they seem like best friends in the first episode, but it seems like they’re not?.. Tho there is this one episode where the Garriosn Trio have fun by playing with a Galran robot they reprogrammed, but that is pretty much it. Lance being alone and made fun of breaks my heart, and not in a good way.

3. Allurance vs Klance. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. The old days of the Voltron fandom where shipping wars destroyed the show. But this time I’m dead serious when I say Allurance was one-sided. Allura has shown NO interest in Lance in the past 6 seasons whatsoever. Whenever he flirts with her she just gets annoyed and turns away from him. But now, all of the sudden, she has a liking for Lance after her dead ex-boyfriend Lotor died. On the other hand, Klance, actually has build-up and chemistry (as seen in the sunset scene, “We make a good team” scene, and so on.) Klance would have possibly been canon if weren’t for the toxic shippers in the fandom. In the end, Klance, despite all its popularity, was not made canon, and Allurance was rushed and made last-minute. Basically Allurance and Klance shippers were disappointed (at least most of them) because of how their ship was handled. But still, Allura would still view Lance as her second choice, no matter what. That’s why I support Klance,because I want Lance to be happy with someone who loves him back.

4. Lance’s Character Development. As a HUGE Lance stan, I was raging at how he was treated. First of all, the poor man barely gets any screen time. I mean he does get screen time, but it’s only when he’s with Allura or it’s just filler to lighten the mood in the episode. The only character development Lance gets is in Season 7/8, where he finally has a girlfriend. Dreamworks basically did this: “Oh! Let’s just forget about the other characters in the show and only give so and so character development and a character arc because they’re the most liked by the fandom!” (Cough cough PIDGE SHIRO KEITH IM LOOKING AT YOU THREE) I thought that this was straight up stupid. Why create a character if you’re not going to give them just as much attention than the other characters? At this point Voltron should just be named “The Keith, Pidge, and Shiro Show!”. It’s also angers me that everyone got what they wanted at the end of Voltron. Keith wanted to be loved by his family and all that bullshit and guess what? He’s helping other people do that (I kinda forgot what Keith did at the end of Voltron forgive me for any mistakes) Pidge was super smart and wanted to be a scientist; She became a scientist. Hunk wanted to be a chef; Now he’s leading his OWN FUCKING CULINARY CHEF ARMY. SHIRO WANTED TO BE AT PEACE AND GUESS WHAT HAPPENED? HE RETIRED. AND LANCE BECAME A FARMER WHEN HE WANTED TO BE A FUCKING GODAMN PILOT! I’m so sorry, but Lance retired when he was probably still in his late or early twenties. Not to mention he was constantly looked down upon and yelled at at the Garrison, so that’s prob one reason why he didn’t pursue his dream to be a pilot. But Lance should have lived his life and enjoyed it while it lasted before he retired.

5. Conclusion. I will never forget about Lance probably 70 years from now because of how lovable and funny he was. Some people have said that Lance was treated in such manner because the creators disliked him, others have said totally different things. It doesn’t matter about how you think about the character, it’s about how you develop and describe them. Lance McClain was betrayed, and I want to give him an extremely huge bear hug because of that.

#vld #lance mcclain #lance was done dirty #klance #allurance #dreamworks animation #Dreamworks #Voltron

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scribblesandsorcery · 1 day

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So a few weeks ago, I got a certain anon ask that had been going around the fandom. I was fairly amused, since the anon had to have either scrolled back a couple years in the Bedannibal tag or had to have dug through the notes of certain mutuals' posts to have found me.

My policy usually is "don't feed the trolls", but the ask arrived when I had been awake for far too long and I had to stay awake for another six hours for real life reasons, so I took that time to word-vomit a rebuttal into a Google doc. Now that I've caught up on sleep a bit and have had a chance to read it back I decided it was, in fact, worth posting.

Anon: Hello!! Do you think he was ever in love with Bedelia like he was in love with Will? I ask this because Bedelia says they were both the "brides of Hannibal". But Hannibal never courted her like he did with Will in s2b despite knowing her longer, Bedelia came into Hannibal's life much before Will but he never pursued her like he did with Will. Mads said he wanted a future with Will unlike with other people he hooked up with Alana, Bedelia or Anthony. He took her to Italy as a consolation prize when Will betrayed him. Even in Italy H was pining about Will all the time and telling Bedelia how much he loves Will. I know he slept with Bedelia but he probably slept with Anthony too and he slept with Alana, Hannibal is a hedonistic guy who sleeps around. For him sleeping with someone doesn't mean he is in love with them. But when Will confronts Bedelia, she pretends as if Hannibal held them in the same regard which is obviously not true. Hannibal would choose Will over her in a heart beat and even she knows it (she even says my relationship with Hannibal is not as passionate as yours) but yet she acts as if Hannibal sees them both equally. I don't understand why? 😭 Why do you think?why make herself seem like a competition when she is clearly not? And then get scared shitless when Will actually took her as a competition and released Hannibal which led to the leg eating scene?

You’re asking me to address a billion different things, but the short answer is: yes, I think Hannibal was in love with Bedelia.

For the long answer, I’m going to address your points one by one:

But Hannibal never courted her like he did with Will in s2b despite knowing her longer

Really? I think there’s a pretty strong parallel between Hannibal’s actions towards Bedelia and his actions towards Will. The initial connection is professional, Hannibal arranges a situation for each of them where they kill someone and continually pushes at their “professional” boundaries. After Hannibal betrays Margot to Mason leading to her forcible sterilization and the termination of the pregnancy, Will says to Hannibal “You don’t want me to have anything in my life that isn’t you” (Tome-Wan script, page 16). This parallels to Bedelia’s situation with Hannibal: Hannibal’s actions lead to her retirement, but his refusal to accept her retirement leaves him as her sole patient (which has some interesting implications that what Will always wanted was a family and what Bedelia always wanted was her career, but I digress).

He offers them both the same thing: the chance to know him, just in different ways. Bedelia is much stricter about boundaries and professionalism, and so Hannibal gets close to her through his professional connection to her and offers her glimpses through their therapy sessions. Will has more issues with maintaining such boundaries (from telling Hannibal that they shouldn’t get too friendly to more or less adopting a child together over the span of a couple episodes), and so Hannibal is able to woo him in what could be regarded as a more ‘traditional’ fashion (their dinners, conversations, professing to care about him, their…ahem…shared hobbies in season 2B).

Overall, to me that suggests less that he wasn’t trying to court Bedelia in any way and more that he had different approaches because they’re two different people with different relationships to him. And even though Bedelia is stated to have refused invitations to dine with Hannibal, he still finds a workaround by bringing her dinner in Savoureux.

Mads said he wanted a future with Will unlike with other people he hooked up with

I admit I don’t remember the precise quote from Mads Mikkelsen, but did he say he *wanted* a future with Will unlike the others or that he *saw* a future with Will unlike the others? Because if it’s the second then it’s very possible to interpret it that he wanted a future with any/all of them but that Will is the only one he thought would accept the future he offered them.

Even in Italy H was pining about Will all the time and telling Bedelia how much he loves Will.

I’d say this is not entirely true. Will is not a topic of conversation in all of Antipasto, and in later episodes it’s Bedelia who tends to turn the conversation back to Will. She’s the one who draws the comparison between Hannibal’s feelings for Will and Mischa, and in Contorno Hannibal is talking about snails and fireflies and Bedelia is the one who mentions Will (page 4).

I know he slept with Bedelia but he probably slept with Anthony too and he slept with Alana, Hannibal is a hedonistic guy who sleeps around. For him sleeping with someone doesn't mean he is in love with them.

I’m inclined to agree that Hannibal isn’t necessarily in love with everyone he sleeps with and has probably slept around a reasonable amount. But beyond just hedonism, I don’t think Hannibal regards sex as the ultimate intimacy. The ultimate intimacy, the intimacy that he is continually seeking, is being known and understood completely, and here we get into where his relationships with all these different people diverge.

Anthony was never particularly meant to understand him. In fact, he could be seen as presumptuous in assuming he understands Hannibal and his situation better than he actually does.

With Alana, it’s stated explicitly in Digestivo (script page 23): “Could I have ever understood you?” “No.” You can quibble over whether Hannibal was being honest, but I think Hannibal overall is actually quite honest unless he has a reason not to be. In that moment, she knew what he was and she also needed him to save Will and help deal with Mason, so I don’t think he had a reason to lie in that situation. If anything, it could be read as him being kind and giving her closure by telling her she never stood a chance. There’s a sense of finality to it.

With Bedelia, I think it’s important to go back to their very first scene together in Sorbet (page 18). By the time the show starts, she has an awareness that he is not entirely as he presents himself, that he wears a human veil. Even though she says that they are not friends, she also says “I see enough of you to see the truth of you. And I like you.” And, most significantly, in the script it is followed by the direction “Hannibal smiles, liking her, too.” That is, in fact, the only direction given in the script in that entire exchange. It was important enough to note in both the dialogue and the direction that these two people like each other.

When she tells him she is no longer his therapist in Sakizuke, he is hurt by this (the exact directions in the script read “Hannibal pauses, an imperceptible wound”, page 6). He is hurt by her rejection, just as he is hurt by Will’s rejection later in the season. When they reunite post-Mizumono bloodbath, he is still clearly hurt (“You’re not in a position to ask, Dr. Du Maurier. You ended our patient-psychiatrist relationship.” It’s downright petulant). But he does say something else very significant: “I never found you to be lacking” (Antipasto script, page 17). He fully believes that she has the ability to understand him and engage with him in the way he wants her to.

she pretends as if Hannibal held them in the same regard which is obviously not true

Will is the one who dubs her “Bride of Frankenstein”, and she replies “we’ve both been his bride”. This isn’t her elevating herself, she’s calling Will out on his hypocrisy. I’d also like to point out that “not the same” does not inherently mean “less than”.

she even says my relationship with Hannibal is not as passionate as yours

That is in response to Will asking her if she ever considered killing Hannibal. She’s pointing out to him that the way he and Hannibal express their passion for each other is attempted murder and is telling him that is not how her relationship with Hannibal works.

why make herself seem like a competition when she is clearly not?

Again, I don’t think she does? She repeatedly turns their conversations back to Will’s relationship with Hannibal and how he feels about him and whether his experiences with Hannibal and his feelings for him are informing his current actions. Directly from their conversation in “And the Woman Clothed in Sun” (page 23):

WILL GRAHAM How is one patient worthy of compassion and not another? BEDELIA DU MAURIER I'm under no illusions how morally consistent my compassion has been. (then) How is one murderer worthy of compassion and not another?

And then get scared shitless when Will actually took her as a competition and released Hannibal

Once again, I’d like to refer to the directions in the script (The Wrath of the Lamb, page 14-15). “She sits motionless, staring into the middle distance, absorbing what she’s just been told.” After he tells her he doesn’t intend Hannibal to be caught a second time, it describes “a flicker of alarm”. And finally after he outright threatens her, “Bedelia is enraged in a way we’ve never seen.” Shock, a flicker of alarm, and then rage. “Scared shitless” is your interpretation, there are other interpretations of what is actually shown and written.

which led to the leg eating scene?

Even though Bryan Fuller stated that his intention with the stinger was that Hannibal and Will had gone after Bedelia, he also mentioned a couple other interpretations of that scene (that Bedelia did it to herself, or that it was someone else, potentially Hannibal’s uncle Robert). When commenting on scenarios he’d imagined for a season 4 he also mentioned a scene of Bedelia walking down the street and then arriving home and removing her prosthetic leg, indicating that he intended for her to not only survive but remain at large, which has some interesting implications. But aside from that, I don’t think loving someone and eating them are mutually exclusive actions to Hannibal. After all, he did take a bone saw to Will’s head with the intention of eating his brain.

So to get back to your first question: Do you think he was ever in love with Bedelia like he was in love with Will?

I realize that this is a slightly unpopular opinion, but yes. Furthermore I believe that Hannibal was capable of loving Alana. The sticking point with all of these relationships is whether they were capable of loving him for what he is.

I believe Mads Mikkelsen made a comment that when Hannibal seems to like people - Jack Crawford, Alana Bloom, Bella Crawford, etc. - he is not simply pretending to manipulate them, he does genuinely like them. To me, there is a real simplicity about Hannibal as a character, in that he does what he wants. “I was curious what would happen” is a major motivating factor for him - he wants to see what will happen if he does something, so he does it. In that way he’s very honest. Furthermore, I’d say that he is, at heart, a romantic. He romanticizes everything, including things that most of us don’t (pain, death, cannibalism). It isn’t a stretch to think that he is romantic enough to love anyone he considers worthy of his time and attention.

Of the three we see involved with him through the show (Alana, Bedelia, and Will), there are a lot of similarities. All three of them are intelligent, attractive, and all three of them have the potential capacity to seek to understand him in the way he wants most.

In spite of what I wrote about his relationship with Alana above, I think there was some real potential. They have a decent amount of history together. Alana is a psychiatrist, and she has a real curiosity, enough that she has to resist the urge to be too near Will Graham because she would not be able to separate professional and personal interest. That sort of curiosity could potentially lead someone to want to understand Hannibal, but in the end that curiosity doesn’t extend to actually being able to truly understand or (more importantly) accept him (see above).

Will’s empathy means that understanding isn’t the issue, which is what first appeals to Hannibal and what he talks about with Bedelia in Fromage (page 33):

HANNIBAL He’s nothing like me. We see the world in different ways, yet he can assume my point of view. BEDELIA How has he demonstrated that? HANNIBAL He’s demonstrated the capacity. BEDELIA By profiling the criminally insane? HANNIBAL As good a demonstration as any. I find it reassuring. BEDELIA It’s nice to have someone see us, Hannibal. Or have the ability to see us. It requires trust. Trust isn’t easy for you.

He sees the understanding that Will is capable of and it’s something he’s always wanted, but even though Will comes to see Hannibal by the end of the first season, he does not accept Hannibal or his own ability to be like Hannibal. That’s the central conflict for Will for the remainder of the series. Even though he admits that them killing Dolarhyde together is “beautiful”, he still pulls both of them off the cliff, and the intention behind that is debatable. Is he rejecting his Becoming by trying to destroy himself and Hannibal? Is he trying to fake their deaths so they can escape together? Was it something he planned all along? Was it impulsive when he realized how far gone he was? Since the show doesn’t continue there are multiple ways to read it. That’s where fanfictions and headcanons come in. I’m not dealing with that scene in my fics so I’m not required to have strong feelings in any particular direction at this time.

When it comes to Bedelia, it’s obvious from the first scene that she and Hannibal have known each other for a long time. As pointed out above, their first scene is very clear about the relationship they have: Bedelia may hold to certain professional boundaries (and those are a little fuzzy what with the after session glass of wine and all) but ultimately they are two people who like each other.

Her first scene also establishes that she is, at that point, far more aware of Hannibal than anyone else is (her comments about a “human veil”). She knows enough to know he is not being honest, and yet she still continues to be his psychiatrist.

There’s also a significant scene in Fromage (page 32). Most of the scene remained in the finished episode, but some lines that are in the script didn’t make the cut:

HANNIBAL For the first time in a long while I see a possibility of friendship. We are -- 25 INT. BEDELIA’S HOME OFFICE - DAY 4 25 Hannibal sits opposite Bedelia. BEDELIA Is there someone new in your life? HANNIBAL I met a man much like myself, same hobbies, same world views. But I’m not interested in being his friend. I’m curious about him and that got me curious about friendship. BEDELIA That’s progress. I always considered you an individualist. The social anti-social. HANNIBAL A polite way of saying sociopath? BEDELIA I’m not sure how to categorize you in those terms. And I think you prefer it that way. HANNIBAL I’m afraid once you figure me out, you’ll lose interest. BEDELIA Whose friendship are you considering? HANNIBAL Oddly enough, a colleague and a patient. Not unlike how I am a colleague and patient of yours. We’ve discussed him before. BEDELIA Will Graham.

Now, the cut lines are extremely interesting (“I’m afraid once you figure me out, you’ll lose interest” pretty clearly indicates that he wants Bedelia’s attention and interest), but even with those lines cut, it’s an interesting scene. Hannibal draws a comparison between his relationship with Will and his relationship with Bedelia. That could be interpreted as pushing at her previously stated boundary of “you are my patient and my colleague, not my friend”, maybe saying “see it’s totally possible to be friends as well as having a therapist/patient relationship. Or it could be interpreted as him taunting her slightly (“since you insist that you aren’t my friend I’m looking elsewhere”).

A little later in the conversation, this exchange is in the script (page 33):

HANNIBAL (CONT’D) You’ve helped me to better understand what I want in a friendship. And what I don’t. BEDELIA Someone worthy of your friendship. The word “worthy” rings true for Hannibal. She can see it.

Hannibal is seeking someone worthy of his friendship, and since he has extended overtures to Bedelia and continues to extend them (the dinner in Savoureux) we can extrapolate that he has deemed her worthy and continues to consider her worthy (“I never found you to be lacking”).

Furthermore, there are a few choice quotes on love from Hannibal in season 2. First is from Naka-choko (page 13): “You failed to murder your brother because you still love him.” There are a select number of people that Hannibal fails to murder throughout the series: Will, Jack, Alana (although that can be put down equally to Abigail) and Bedelia. What’s more, he could be considered to have failed to kill Bedelia twice: in Sakizuke when he shows up at her house in his murder suit and again in Dolce when she says goodbye to him in a way he hadn’t planned.

This second quote is technically less firm since it occurs during a dream/vision sort of sequence, but the writers still saw fit to put it in Hannibal’s mouth, so I think it counts: In the opening of Shiizakana (page 2), he says: “No one can be fully aware of another human being unless we love them. By that love we see potential in our beloved. Through that love we allow our beloved to see their potential. Expressing that love, our beloved's potential comes true.”

Everything that is said there applies to Bedelia as much as to Will. Hannibal saw her potential for violence and placed Neal Frank in her path as a conduit to realizing that potential. He continues to push at her in that regard in Italy (“technically, you killed him”).

Furthermore, in Mizumono, during his “breakup” with Will (page 33), this is what he has to say: “I let you in. I let you know me. I let you see me.” Who else does he let in? Who else does he let know him and see him? Bedelia.

So yeah, I think it’s totally reasonable to assume that Hannibal loved Bedelia.

#bedannibal #my meta #the funniest thing about this is that bedannibal isn't even my primary ship in the fandom #and the fic i'm working on is canon divergent so most of this doesn't even apply to it #anyways #don't come to my blog trying to start shit #i am an opera diva and a theatre kid #you are neither meaner nor more annoying than i am

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sing-me-under · 24 days

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I’ve always hated how media needs to be “palatable.” I think it’s annoying because people and situations irl aren’t always “palatable” either. Hell, more often than not, real people don’t fit the narratives touted by media, and that creates unrealistic and often misleading expectations.

#personal #this is mostly in trailer to a lot of HB criticisms #but it applies to basically every fandom I’ve been in this past four years #which is basically DSMP and Batfam #some others but those three’s fandoms are the biggest offenders #like the creators and the stories themselves aren’t even trying to be Palatable #which is why I like them #but their fandoms always seem to try to make #everything more palatable and sanitized or shit #it’s weird af #like #a lot of fandom is embracing the weird and non-mainstream aspects #but somehow Weird also has its own expectations for palatability #otherwise it’s Problematic(tm)#people are complicated!#they fuck up!#they’re cruel and nasty #they don’t always lead with kindness and they may expect the worse from others #they’re not going to fit the picture perfect model you want them to fit #and that’s good because that’s what makes them compelling!#if you don’t like it don’t read it #or watch it #not everything needs to exemplify moral purity

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softiedingo · 8 months

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men with dimples will always be my type 🗣

#jose pedro balmaceda pascal #pedro pascal fandom #pedro pascal #pedropascal #ppascaledit #pedropascaledit #a man with dimples is gonna always be my type of man #the eye crinkles are a bonus #i simp for this man #also #why do ppl keep trying to soften his face??#why they do that #he is a grown man #expression lines are in the package #and i still don't understand the problem #everyone has it and I think it's ridiculous that people try to make it seem like he's the exception #and im sorry for the tags #i blame the coffee #softiedingo

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cienie-isengardu · 7 months

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Tomas & Liu Kang

I’m trying to put things into right perspective about Smoke, Liu Kang’s approach to Tomas and how pushed into background he was during story mode so bear with me while I’m connecting dots.

Also, to be clear, I’m not here to morally judge the characters, just to talk about the dissonance between Smoke vs Liu Kang intro dialogues and the story mode.

For one, the pre-fight dialogues imply that Tomas lost his family due to Liu Kang (Keeper of Time)’s choice:

Smoke: "Did you intend for me to be orphaned?" Liu Kang: "Some threads must be cut to weave time’s fabric."

and

Smoke: "I'm not sure I can forgive you." Liu Kang: "Being Keeper of Time meant making many hard choices."

When Tomas was orphaned, Kuai Liang & Bi-Han’s father adopted him and made one of Lin Kuei. If the accusation is true, then we can assume Liu Kang wanted Tomas to join Lin Kuei, as he did in the past timeline(s). So, in theory, Smoke for whatever reason was important enough for the Keeper of Time to get involved and steer events to get the wanted result.

Which raises a question, why did Liu Kang not bother to recruit Tomas into Lin Kuei the same way he recruited Kung Lao, Raiden, Johnny Cage or Kenshi, by like, actually talking to him and taking for training? Or even why not just ask the befriended Grandmaster to take the boy (and Tomas' family) under his wings, which I think the man would do without further question.

Instead, Smoke was orphaned, taken in by Lin Kuei, adopted as son of Grandmaster and trained in magic to equalize his chances in the fight (in contrast, Bi-Han’s ice powers seems to be a natural part of him, related to specific bloodline).

Now, if Tomas was so important, if not in the greater scheme of things, then just for Liu Kang (and Kuai Liang), isn’t it weird, he is so sidelined and omitted by Fire Lord in the story mode?

Again, not judging characters, solely pointing out this choice of storyline, as this is especially visible during collecting the champions for the tournament arc.

In Chapter One, when the test was over and Liu Kang came to Kung Lao and Raiden to explain things, he specifically called only Bi-Han (the current Grandmaster) and Kuai Liang (Bi-Han’s blood-brother)

while Tomas was totally omitted and stayed behind with the rest unnamed Lin Kuei warriors.

Which, visually speaking, is weird, as just before that scene we could see Smoke walking alongside his adoptive brothers (with Bi-Han leading the group, Tomas and Kuai Liang walking a bit behind their leader, but before the unnamed warriors);

In the next chapter, again, only Bi-Han and Kuai Liang assisted Fire Lord in his quest to recruit Johnny Cage and Kenshi. Again, both Lin Kuei were addressed by their birth names, instead of codenames

while there is no information why Tomas was left behind. He likely was entrusted with escorting Kung Lao and Raiden to Shaolin Monks, yet the lack of proper mention emphasizes the pushing into the background.

We didn't learn officially Smoke's status as adopted brother of Kuai Liang and Bi-Han until Sub-Zero's chapter (#8). Unless I miss something, the first person on screen to actually address Smoke by his birth name was surprisingly Bi-Han.

Which makes even weirder the lack of including of Tomas from Liu Kang, as the Fire Lord and Smoke stayed allies through the story mode and intro dialogues (with some resentment on Tomas' side for death of his family) while the relationship between Bi-Han and Tomas was much more complicated to begin with.

We could make an argument that Liu Kang didn't want to antagonize Bi-Han by including adopted Tomas too much, however:

A) Bi-Han has never denied Tomas right to consider himself one of Grandmaster's sons - seen especially in Sub-Zero's speech pattern, as Sub-Zero always says just "Father", the same as Tomas and Kuai Liang, never putting emphasis on "my" as a reminder Smoke is adopted. The real conflict is not about whether Tomas is his and Kuai Liang's brother or not, but about him being a true Lin Kuei. What is also worth to keep in mind, any tension between brothers happened only in privacy (here and during the mission), never around Liu Kang.

(A similar thing can be noticed in intro dialogues. In Smoke vs Sub-Zero, Bi-Han specifically says "Because your blood is not Lin Kuei" however in Liu Kang vs Sub-Zero, when Fire Lord claims brothers (plural version!) miss him, Bi-Han doesn't correct his opponent about Tomas not being one. He instead says "Then they shouldn't have disobeyed my commands.")

B) Liu Kang did not show Bi-Han any special respect, especially not the kind of respect and friendship offered to Sindel and her husband, Jerrod. And yes, Fire Lord mentioned Bi-Han before Kuai Liang, and addressed him during the meeting before the mission (while the Sub-Zero's younger brothers - subordinates - stood together in silence)

but that basically it? Bi-Han didn't seem to be favored in any special way, I don't think he even was addressed as Grandmaster by Fire Lord at any moment in story mode.

Which is why I personally don't see why Liu Kang would omit Tomas solely to not hurt Bi-Han's ego or to not antagonize the man further - especially since Bi-Han himself didn't push the matter in any specific - openly - way nor didn't deny Tomas the right to consider himself one of Grandmaster's sons in the first place.

Frankly, as we don't see how Lin Kuei were informed about the upcoming meeting, we should ask, did Liu Kang call Bi-Han and specifically Smoke and Scorpion for the mission, or was that choice made solely by Sub-Zero? Because Lin Kuei for sure must have much more experienced warriors that Tomas (and Kuai Liang for that matter) but also sending on dangerous mission the Grandmaster AND the second* in line of succession seems impractical from the perspective of clan' inner safety.

*second and third, if Tomas was allowed at all to be the heir. Considering how neither Smoke nor Scorpion even for a moment considered that option and how Sektor & Cyrax would choose Bi-Han's corruption of the clan before accepting Kuai Liang as a new leader, the inner clan politics may not be so simple.

During the Lin Kuei mission (Sub-Zero's Band of Brothers Chapter) and during Bi-Han's betrayal (Scorpion's Civil War Chapter), the three brothers didn't address each other by codenames and as much as the situation allowed, freely interacted with each other.

However once Bi-Han is removed from the story mode, Smoke is even more pushed into the background. When asked, he will answer and make some (one?) observation however he barely interacted with other characters, mainly sticking to his brother. The most important exception is the scene when the heroes were wondering what to do after the big revelation and Tomas on his own talked about Lin Kuei and Bi-Han.

The story mode at that time was focused on other characters (like Mileena & Shang Tsung) so understandably, Lin Kuei brothers were put aside however even then Scorpion played a vital part, as it was Kuai Liang making the plan of attack, when Liu Kang wasn't around, while Tomas for most part was just there.

Again, no moral judging of characters just a mere observation how Tomas interacted the most freely with his brothers while was omitted by Liu Kang - and like, never(?) addressed by him in story mode, either by name or codename, even if the intro dialogues strongly imply Liu Kang was the one pushing Tomas into Lin Kuei in the first place.

Which makes an interesting contrast to Bi-Han & Smoke’s relationship but also shows how without intro dialogues, the relationship between Tomas and Liu Kang seems… non existing? I mean, even at the end of story mode, Liu Kang mentions Bi-Han

and his brother Kuai Liang building a new clan,

yet there is literally no mention of Tomas and his participation in the creation of Shirai Ryu and training its members (something confirmed in Scorpion and Smoke's endings).

Which only add to the weird feeling of alienating Tomas in story mode, not by Bi-Han but Liu Kang of all possible people?

#mortal kombat #tomas vrbada #smoke #bi han #sub zero #liu kang #tomas vrbada & bi han #i'm still trying to figure out how i feel about liu kang and tomas relationship and how smoke was always omitted by fire lord #and like not addressed at all?#tomas aided him during fight against titan shang tsung then helped kuai liang to make a new clan and train new members #but at the end of story mode liu kang still talked only about bi han and his (blood) brother kuai liang?#c'mon man #tomas deserves some praise here too #and this is all even more ironic #as majority of fandom seems to think bi han hates tomas' guts for being adopted kid?? when he included him in his task for liu kang #and actually address his brother in the same fashion he talks to kuai liang (granted he is frustrated by both and the never ending talk #about father and traditions so he is short tempered toward both brothers)#but like story mode wise we can say tomas and bi han has some serious relationship going on #when liu kang alone doesn't include tomas in any specific way even though intro dialogues imply he wanted tomas to be lin kuei?#what i'm supposed to think? that liu kang did not know that tomas was adopted by lin kuei grandmaster that worked specifically for him #like everyone in lin kuei did for generations??#i'm pretty confused by this story's choices sometimes

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