#literary-ly a personal post

[hedgehog-moss]

Poldine’s birthday post was all about her mother giving birth, so let’s have another post actually about her as a person :) Here are some things you should know about Pampoldine, daughter of Pampérigouste:

1. Poldine likes cats.

If you bring her a cat she WILL kiss it. And smell the fur of its belly. She mostly does this to Mascarille who is a very pliant and tolerant cat; Poldine is in good terms with Merricat as well but from a safe distance. Here’s Merricat’s answer to Poldine’s “kiss?”

2. Poldine likes humans but only those who have been introduced to her by a trusted cat. It’s like how at Versailles you could only be introduced to the Queen by a high-ranking noblewoman, you know. She’s a bit distrustful of strangers, but once you’ve come into her pasture accompanied by a cat and she’s kissed the cat and the cat has vouched for you (I assume) she will also kiss you.

If you don’t have a cat, you can try bringing her a piece of fruit.

(i.e. if you don’t have connections you can try corruption)

3. Poldine likes bothering her entire family by lying down for a nap on the fresh hay I just brought for dinner.

Her mother in particular is always like “I meant to eat this blade of hay you’re sitting on. Yes this one specifically. Move”

If you scold her about lounging in her food and try to shoo her away so others can eat, Poldine will bring the hay net to you and disdainfully drop it at your feet like “hay in net is food. Hay on ground is bed.” That’s the main tenet of her philosophy.

4. Poldine likes reading but she thinks sniffing book pages and sometimes nibbling on them is how you develop a literary taste.

5. Poldine doesn’t like the halter but we’re getting there, little by little! She’s okay wearing it if you let her do whatever she wants (if you let her use the lead line to take you on a walk basically) but she’s still a bit huffy about being told where to go.

6. Poldine doesn’t like delinquency especially when it takes the form of her mum escaping the pasture and abandoning her

Pampérigouste just thinks her kid should grow up and learn to jump over fences like any self-respecting llama. Poldine tried it once or twice, gamely following her mother down the road of crime, but you can tell her heart’s not in it and she would prefer to be home, smelling books and cats, sitting on dinner, having wholesome legal fun.

#crawling along

[notyourmajesty]

Alex and Henry's Texts: A Progression in Proximity

I've been thinking on and off about how the film chronicles subtle changes in Alex and Henry's bond in the time between the end of the "damage control" and the New Year's party, finally leading into the kiss. Not so much about the texts and calls themselves, which I already found adorable on my first watch. More on how Henry becomes more and more prominent, more and more visible and tangible, in Alex's thoughts each time they talk. More on how the film worked out the transitions for each sequence.

The early texts ("having a wank", "inbreeding", "we were ever so careful, dear") are featured prominently on the screen, no sound besides that of a text notification. You see cute, fun gifs, memes and the occasional (mpreg!) article link, but at this point they're just tiptoeing into this tentative friendship, and learning about each other.

Henry's texts start out as a mere part of Alex's day at this point; he reacts, texts him back and moves on with his day. And even that changes quite quickly - he's amused enough by Henry's "we were so careful" joke that he forgets where he is and laughs out loud in a classroom full of people.

The transition then moves onto voice. Not only do we see the texts on the screen, but this time we hear them in their own voices.

Boring Tie

We hear Henry heighten his voice a little when he says "grey is a colour, thank you". We hear Henry's amusement when he asks about Alex "pranking" him with campaign t-shirts.

The "boring tie" exchange also marks the first time we see Henry (not the image, but the person) during the texting exchange. He is static, unmoving, in the periphery of Alex's vision, disappearing as his security detail runs past the bench Henry is sitting on.

Henry may not be the center of attention in this sequence, but Alex is familiar enough, and comfortable enough that he can easily visualize Henry. The way he sits, the way he talks, the way he peruses a book.

We hear their voices overlap as they discuss favourite authors and books, while a classmate shows Alex a meme about their "bromance" (I have some ideas about those literary references in particular, but maybe I'll keep that for another post*).

Byron

You also have the "Byron" sequence, which is a continuation of the favourite authors one, and highlights a marked shift from the "Boring Tie" one. Boring Tie shows movement from Alex, with Henry sitting stationary, in one place, on the bench.

Byron has Henry moving around in Alex's space. Still at the periphery of Alex's vision, but ever-present and slowly taking up more and more space in his head.

(I'm not saying anything about the poet being Byron and the movie Nora and Alex are watching being "Some Like It Hot" right now. I'm still in the middle of my second read of the book and I want to note down all the references I saw there too. The dialogue "well, nobody's perfect!" from SLIH's last scene is currently ringing in my head).

Parenthesis

In a lot of ways the Parenthesis sequence is the perfect segue to the New Year's party, because it strongly implies a level of intimacy that was only hinted at in the previous texts (the book itself has Alex envision him and Henry as lying on the opposite sides of their own beds, like brackets, in this scene).

Henry first features in this sequence as a tinny, distant voice 3700 miles away, but his voice and his presence now comes so easily to him (with a butterfly transition!! Butterflies in the stomach anyone?) that it is almost as if he is in the room, comfortably settled in Alex's private space, so close that Alex can almost touch him. And they really do look like parantheses at the end of that scene!

Henry's presence is intimate and tangible (we even see the jaffa cakes he's snacking on while watching Bake Off), and his voice comes to Alex as if they were in the same room together.

Only when they playfully argue over who should cut the call first, does Henry's voice change back to the tinny quality of a voice over cellphone...reminding them both of the distance between them.

And that last, super-soft look Alex gives as he switches off the phone with a "goodnight"! My heart!!

--

In a lot of ways, I think that while Alex himself is clueless about his own feelings, it's pretty obvious to us, the viewer, the "rope" that is pulling him towards Henry is already making an appearance here.

* Henry's Book Recommendations:

Zadie Smith (probably her entire bibliography)

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Alex's Book Recommendations:

Another Country by James Baldwin

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

(My (tentative) theory for now is that the books explore themes that are important to both of them and that get touched on in the movie. I know the book goes into more detail with literature and history, esp during the email exchanges, but I've only read the book twice)

#Youtube #rwrb #red white and royal blue #rwrb movie #alex x henry #alex claremont diaz #henry fox #henry george edward james hanover stuart fox #hrh prince dickhead #this sequence among others lives rent free in my head

[choco-cherry-chunk]

Lying in bed, cramping, thinking about Izzy Hands being mad knocked up by both Stede and Ed, in either a post-canon AU or in a modern au because that man deserves at the chaos in the world and to “play mother”. Because I love trans Izzy, but I personally feel like he would identify with elements of maternity/the overall dichotomy of maternal/paternal. Like, he is a man and identifies himself as such, but he is also a mother in every sense of literary analysis of “The Mother”. Is my stupid lit brain making any sense? God knows.

#ofmd #izzy hands #mpreg #just thinking my thoughts

[anti-dazai-blog]

I don't understand why fans in general are always so against critical analysis & always try to defend characters whenever someone points out bad writing. Bsd fans have huge issue like that I'm glad you're so vocal about dazai character writing tho cause lots of people just avoid it due to his fans taking it so personal

I think it’s mainly an issue of people not properly tagging their posts, so that when people search their favorite characters, they find negativity instead of the positive content they were hoping for. It makes sense why that would be annoying— but in the end of the day it’s everyone’s job to curate their own internet experience.

I tag all of my negative posts with #anti dazai, so it’s pretty easy for a person to just block that tag (or block this account), and so most people don’t have a problem with me. I’ve only run into any sort of problem with two separate tumblr users in the past (one of which is pretty infamous in these bsd tumblr circles)— so from my end of things, I don’t really see all the people getting angry about character-critical content. I know it’s out there, I personally just don’t come across it very often.

I also block very liberally, so that might be a contributing factor to why I don’t see that side of the fandom. But either way.

I’m glad you’re enjoying this blog!! For any given piece of media there will be positive aspects and negative aspects, and everyone can and should feel free to talk as much as they want about both sides. There also isn’t a single right answer— meaning one person could find a character to be written in a very compelling way and someone else can find the character writing shallow— neither person is wrong, so long as they can justify their opinions with textual evidence.

The only time a media interpretation is wrong is when it’s entirely made up. And I don’t mean “this person read the text and came away with a different conclusion than me,” I mean “this person is directly contradicting the text and is giving no reasons for why they might think the text is lying.” There’s always the concept of an unreliable narrator, but on tumblr, the website that’s infamous for lacking any sort of Reading Comprehension… yeah you’re not gonna get the brilliant literary debates everyone’s hoping for.

#Anti dazai asks #sir this is the “piss on the poor” reading comprehension site #if the content you’re coming across is fans getting angry about seeing different opinions then block them #Oh also another valid reason to get angry is when people hijack posts that are meant to be positive #And reblog with negative additions #Like if someone would post “I love Dazai he’s my favorite” #And then someone would reblog with “actually he sucks” #Then yeah OP would be valid in getting annoyed by that #If you wanna slander a character go ahead! Enjoy! Just do it on your own blog in your own posts #Ah sorry for the rant I too am annoyed by people who (intentionally) don’t follow at least some level of tagging etiquette

[mjjune]

Taglist for my new wip!

So I am working on a new wip intro! I am currently drafting it and want to get a bit further into it before I officially announce anything.

BUT if you would like to be tagged in the intro (and subsequent posts) reply to this post or message me!!

General vibes:

Literary-ish high fantasy, so leaning prose/exposition heavy

Dragons (asian-inspired so water, not fire)

Tropical island kingdom

Magical jungles

Amphibious humans who waterbend

Evil lizards

Bioluminescence

Eldest Daughter™ syndrome

Genderless by default

Asexual reproduction

Fucked up family dynamics

Short blurb below!

When their farm is raided by strange poisonous creatures from the sea, Sasha’s sister is poisoned. She must journey into the deadliest monster-infested island in the world to find a cure. But the only person willing to help is a mysterious traveler—who she suspects is lying about who they are. She treks into the jungle and must uncover the truth of both the poison and the stranger, or else it might be not only her sister who suffers, but the entire island.

Tagging those below who are on my general taglist (meaning I tag you for all my wips). If you don't want to be on it for this wip, let me know.

General taglist: @artbyeloquent @bebewrites @cljordan-imperium @elijahrichardwrites @eventideintrigue @faithfire @flowerprose @isabellebissonrouthier @lexiklecksi @little-mouse-gardens @mr-writes @thyroidhormones @wildswrites @wip-nook

Other friends I want to see this lol: @jamieanovels @garthcelyn @vacantgodling @vsnotresponding

#writers on tumblr #writer community #writers of tumblr #writeblr community #writeblr #writblr #wtwcommunity #fantasy writing #fantasy #tropical fantasy #writing #wip intro #wip #w: ds #mj posts

[grellestie]

I have heard the worst take and I need somewhere to talk about it and my Grelle Centered Tumblr is probably the best place for it. 

The take was;

“Grelle is a flat character.”

I should preface this by saying that flat characters aren’t bad one bit! They’re needed for a story to work, actually. I do like some flat characters and it’s fun to think about them. Grelle just isn’t one of them since she just isn’t.

I would have agreed with this take if we were just talking about the anime on a surface level but this is just… not correct? Thinking about it, it could be debated that the anime did make her a flat character but I’ll discuss it later.  

She is definitely more fleshed out and, while she doesn't have a lot of screen-time, a lot of her body language says enough. She heavily follows "show dont tell" which definitely leaves a lot of her to be confusing but it's kind of the point. The series is told with ciel as the protag and he's not exactly trying to understand why she is the way she is so the reader learns about her as he does.

But how do we prove she’s not a flat character? 

Here’s a list I found from Literary Devices and I’ll cover how she’s fundamentally not a flat character according to this list as well as another point I saw from a different website. 

The role of flat characters is to support the main character.

“The role of a flat character is to help the main character in pursuing his ambitions and goals.”

Grelle does not do this at all and actually makes the plot progress against Ciel’s favor. She actually tends to ruin the majority of his plans. Her killing of Madam and making it so Jack the Ripper was never caught by Ciel kickstarts the motivation of other characters to notice that Ciel isn’t what he seems. There’s also Book of Atlantic where Grelle attempts to ward off the kid and his pet demon. She doesn’t fit this role so she’s not a flat character here. 

They do not go through a substantial growth or transformation in the course of the narrative.

“… maintains the same characteristics and outlook throughout the narrative.”  

Grelle does not maintain the same characteristics and outlook throughout the manga. However, I've always been on the side that Grelle's development being entirely off-screen was a horrible idea but that’s a post for a later date. Back on topic, she has other personality traits that aren't stereotypical. She's shown to be diligent with her work yet she also has her moments of being reckless in certain moments (I.E. when she was on the Campania and attacked Sebastian believing she had time), and questioning authority which shows her perspective on said authority (I.E. During the Blue Memory arc when she confronted Othello about the council’s plan concerning the bizarre dolls), she's extremely honest while still lying (I.E. She speaks plainly yet there’s always some kind of double-meaning or… lie in what she says, I’d say she showed this enough in her debut), and she seemingly has low empathy which isn't exactly a personality trait but it's still notable since it is a part of her. There's also the showing of how she could be feeling guilty about Madam's death with the coat as well as that scene with Undertaker. And the inclusion of how reapers are created which can lead to conclusions that Grelle aint the happiest individual like she appears to be or that something happened. While you could argue that her growth shouldn’t count because it was due to criticism rather than something happening but I’d argue that it does count despite it being a little on the lazy end. 

It’s a little hard to figure it out considering that a lot of her personality is through implications but that doesn’t mean she has little personality. She’s as mysterious as death! 

They don’t draw attention away from the important characters.

“A flat character is not necessarily boring, weak, or poorly-written. All it means is that they are one-dimensional and not terribly interesting.”  

Implying Grelle Sutcliff, the first major antagonist of Kuroshitsuji is NOT interesting is a WILD take to me. She is the first other supernatural character we see besides Sebastian (Undertaker doesn't count because he wasn't seen as a reaper yet by the cast), she literally offs the main character's family member (in FRONT of him, no less). There's also Book of Atlantic with that being her big reprise and, while she wasn't a main force in that arc, she was still important with dealing with Undertaker and her non-inclusion would have changed certain parts of the story. While you may not personally find her interesting, she makes an extreme impact on the narrative and she has taken away Ciel’s spotlight for such a long time which would mean that she’s interesting to the audience overall and definitely draws attention away from the “important characters”. 

They have recognizable characteristics that make them appear stereotypical.

I have been going back and forth on this one for a while. Whether we like it or not, Grelle was a stereotype and a harmful one at that. She has seriously grown over the story to be a lot less horrible but I can’t exactly blame someone who reads her debut and thinks she doesn’t have much to offer. She doesn’t have too much personality outside of stereotypes and that’s what holds her back from not being a flat character in the anime. 

However, as I mentioned before, she has grown and she has more of a personality and some of them are not recognizable on your first read through the story. A surface level read of her isn’t exactly doing her character justice and that’s what the anime did. Flanderizing her (and other characters to their core). So, to say this, Anime Grelle and Manga/Canon Grelle are NOT comparable, they’re entirely different people therefore, Canon Grelle is not a stereotype of herself.

Thinking about this harder, there’s something I thought about. Flat characters, if you were to take them out of the story, would only affect the plot in a minor way and would be an easy fix if you were to rewrite it without them. I tried this with Grelle and a lot of things started to fall flat. First things first, Madam would be alive if we are to believe that Ciel would cover it up, the Red Butler arc would have to be completely rewritten in order to make up for Grelle's absence (which is extremely hard considering the route they took with it and how the bodies were found so close to each other). The reader’s first introduction to reapers would be WAY later in Book of Circus with William but then they wouldn't even really have the need to interact since they wouldn't recognize each other nor would Will really be the main concern here since he tends to stay in his own lane. Then, when the bizarre doll plot happens in Book of Atlantic, our introduction to Undertaker would be extremely unsatisfying. She does impact a LOT of things and taking her out would HEAVILY affect things.

TL;DR

Grelle isn't a flat character. Yes, there are bits to her that can be seen as flat but they aren't the focal point of her character (especially not anymore) therefore she isn't a flat character. She's just a character who needs to be read into rather than expecting answers.

Thanks for hearing me ramble and if you'd like to have a conversation, feel free to slid into my inbox or the replies!

#black butler #kuroshitsuji #grelle sutcliff #grell sutcliff #writing tag #character study #grell

[professorspork]

the big 'Faunus worldbuilding in Newsbees' post

as requested by EVER SO MANY OF YOU (!!), I now embark upon a post to talk much more about the Shallow Sea Verses and about the Faunus culture and worldbuilding I did for Newsbees. I've talked about them a little bit before, and I'll try not to repeat myself too much there but there's gonna be some overlap.

I imagine when some of you asked me to say more about this, what you were hoping for was like a "here's all this great stuff I came up with for other traditions that I never got to use in the fic!" and that is--not what this post is, sorry. by virtue of the fact that this was, ultimately, a literary device very much devised to move this story forward, I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about in in ways that weren't plot-relevant. if you have prompts for, like, "how would they do/think about X" I'm delighted to give it a think, but it's not something I have just lying around.

instead I'm gonna talk about how it came about, why I did it, and what my priorities were

okay so I'm gonna take this in... I guess chronological order is the best way to make sense of it

from the outset of the fic's conception, I knew that I wanted it to be a reflection of my values. like. it's about unionizing a workforce, it's about socially-conscious community-building and class struggle and FUCK COPS. to disregard the minority oppression of the Faunus (which you'll note is something I always capitalize, for what I should think are now-obvious parallel reasons) in a world and a story like that just felt... not just insulting, but downright stupid. a missed opportunity. and I've always felt like this subject deserved much greater forethought and much better execution than canon provided, which I think can be described most charitably as "mostly serviceable" but is mealy-mouthed, inconsistent, and both-sidesy-whattaboutist at way too many points for me to feel like it merits any credit. like. if you're gonna do catgirl racism and intra-community disagreements over praxis, you gotta actually do catgirl racism and intra-community disagreements over praxis, you know?

(gee, I'm sure you're shocked Sienna is very much alive in Newsbees, wonder why that is)

ANYHOO

so that was thing one.

thing two is that this is perhaps the GREATEST ARGUMENT I HAVE for why I prefer writing everything in advance and then posting on a schedule, because I knew it was something I could then find my way into and then retcon back in, if needed, and that I therefore had the entire canvas available to paint on. and it's a good thing, too, because it saved my ass multiple times plot-wise and not just in this worldbuilding way.

to combine those two thoughts, the first time ANY of this actually came up in the drafting process was when I hit the Ilia scene in chapter 6. I knew what I wanted Blake to say to Ilia in that moment, which she absolutely couldn't say, which was: "I said the Mourner's Kaddish."

which: that's already a lot to unpack, so let's do that a bit! the first thing that drew me towards formulating my conception of Faunus culture around parallels to the diasporic Jewish experience is, of course, "write what you know." I'm not a racial or ethnic minority but I am Jewish, and so it was something I could use the 'draw from wellspring of personal knowledge and emotion' part of my brain for, rather than the 'radically and empathetically imagine the other' part of my brain. I've seen all sorts of fanon Faunus ideas where people drew on different and likely personal interpretations-- including things like the Faunus having their own language, Faunus interpolations of the Maiden myths and other Remnant lore having different values or being scaled more towards the God of Animals, Faunus having their own foods... if someone not-me had written this fic, this could have manifested in any number of ways. because the Faunus don't fit neatly into my (very American) notions of race, religion, or even X-men style "maybe we should regulate the people who have nukes for hands" minority/majority frameworks, I had the freedom to use the one that had the most personal meaning to me... and to deviate from that when it suited and felt appropriate. Neon's rightfully combative stance about Faunus mistreatment and how she reacts to it, for example, is far more aligned with the experiences of my friends and loved ones who are POC than it is anything I've personally gone through as a Jew.

so!

knowing, then, what my destination was (a Faunus cultural framework that would have specific death rites and rituals), I worked backwards from there. what makes a culture FEEL lived in is that people LIVE in it, that it relates to their everyday lives as well as its most significant moments-- what do we eat? how do we treat guests in our home? how do we handle life cycle events (birth/marriage/death)? without a country of origin, as the Faunus have none-- they made Menagerie, not the other way around-- and not wanting to go TOO explicitly religious by having there actually be some sort of dogmatic (har har DOG-matic) text about the God of Animals, I instead lit upon the idea of old poems whose metaphors have been transformed into material gifts. this felt intuitive to me probably largely because I'm Jewish (we're called the People of the Book for a reason lmao, we're all about interpretation and re-interpretation of text) but also, honestly, because the written word is WILDLY IMPORTANT in newsbees. they work at a newspaper! there's a reason the very last words of the story are Blake saying "for the record," which is a reporting pun. in hindsight, however, this is also sort of Sappho-y, which is also neat and, again, shows that ALL the ways I've experienced my own Otherness show up here.

having a text then gave me a scale of orthodoxy to work from, as in "very traditional people still recite these texts in a ceremonial way," but also a background radiation-level casual level of interaction, which is "yeah I leave shells at graves because that's what my parents taught me and I don't even really know why." this also means that all Faunus have the same sort of playbook to work from, regardless of where they're from geographically or what kind of Faunus they are.

once I had that in place, I immediately realized that whatever traditional Mourner's Verse there would be probably would feel kind of insulting re: what happened to the Amitolas, which is why I came up with the Traveler's Verse workaround. and the second I came up with that, I knew I could use it to connect Ghira and Kali back into the text at the end-- I'd been wanting to find a way to do that and hadn't come up with a method.

the first draft of that scene then promptly infodumped every thought I could possibly have about the Verses, immediately. @theseerasures teased me that it read like a Codex entry from Mass Effect, and she was 100% right-- and it totally interrupted the flow of the VERY EMOTIONAL scene with Ilia, which wouldn't do at all.

and that's where the 'writing it all before posting it' thing comes in. that infodumping then became the scene at Doc's in chapter 3. this also solved another problem I had, which was that in the VERY first draft chapters 3 and 4 were one very long chapter. I'd subsequently split them, which left chapter 3 quite short-- but at that point, the moment where Blake is upstairs getting her snack was only a brief explanatory paragraph. moving the Verses stuff back made the chapter a chapter, so it did a lot of heavy lifting for me. wanting the Verses to feel integrated, I also at that point went back and added the engraving on Tukson's door to the prologue, so that it would be seeded in from the start.

which is kind of to say that ALL WRITING IS CHEATING. we get to manipulate circumstances to best suit our needs! callbacks feel elegant and cerebral, but they're actually a very blunt and easy tool to use-- you get tons of mileage out of just establishing something and then bringing it up all the time. I'd already written the thing about Tukson being picky about book damage, and so I let that become a part of the Verses lore by saying it was a Faunus thing, and then doubled down on it with the "throwing the book at Ghira" anecdote.

as for what things mean what, the basic rule I gave for myself is that everything had to be common and easily-obtainable for a community often left impoverished and on the margins. that's why so many of them are food-based, because that's a very "even if we have nothing else, we have THIS" sort of thing. when coming up with the thing that would represent love, I lit upon honey BEFORE i realized "oh duh, lmao, bees" because... I'm an idiot, but luckily I figured it out after a bit. I was very enamored of the idea of it representing not just sweetness, but industry (as in "busy bees"), that love takes steady and determined work. the second I did think it up, the Velvet gag gift ("they're making fun of me") sprang to mind, though ironically it wasn't necessarily tied to the Mantle Bee yet, though that was also already a concept on the page.

probably the hardest thing to come up with was the NOT-honey gift for the epilogue (which ended up being nuts for growth), because I was like... is it a pen and paper for a first job? Is that too bougie? maybe a cute little desk succulent? but what would it represent?

and yeah, that's pretty much how I got there. it was a question of making something specific enough that it would feel authentic, but open-ended enough that I could make up whatever I wanted to suit the moment and have it all feel of a piece. from there, it was just about USING it-- keeping it in the back of my mind in Faunus-related scenes to see if there were ways I could weave it in somehow.

phew! okay I think that's pretty much everything. if anyone is so very enamored of the Verses that they'd like to use them for their own fics, you certainly have my permission to do so (with a link back to Newsbees for credit, please). I'm intrigued to see what you'd do with them! but also, like-- I love how multi-faceted and varied different interpretations of Faunus lore can be, and I'd love to see what y'all come up with for your own systems!

CONSIDER THE GAUNTLET THROWN. HAVE FUN OUT THERE.

<3

#newsbees au #fic what i wrote #rwby

[thatgirl4815]

“No legacy is so rich as honesty”

I’m not sure if this has been mentioned/analyzed anywhere else (if it has, I’d love to read it!), but I just realized that Pete’s tattoo is a quote from William Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well. As someone with quite a bit of experience with literary and rhetorical analysis, this is a bit embarrassing for me...not so embarrassing that I’m going to refrain from making a post about it, though, because why not?  I also happen to have a lot of free time at the moment, so might as well figure out my own thoughts on this subject. 

“No legacy is so rich as honesty.”

When I first saw this line, I took it at its most basic: one’s reputation is not more important than leading a life of honesty and integrity. We all know this quote isn’t about Pete. He clearly believes it, but it’s more about bringing this notion to Vegas. Before I move onto Vegas, I want to talk a little bit more about Pete specifically.

Pete has expressed not once, but twice now, his beliefs on humanity’s morality and immorality. He’s in the mafia, so it’s tempting to say that his morals are incredibly loose--and I agree. I haven’t read the novel, but I know some people have said that Pete had a tattoo in it as well, all because of Tankhun. We have no confirmation of this in the show, but regardless, I think Pete chose the contents of the tattoo himself. This is important for several reasons. 

Legacy, Freedom, & Honesty

We don’t have any real proof of this, but I think Pete likes to keep himself grounded--that’s why he chose this tattoo. I believe Pete has made peace with the things he must do for his job, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t contend with a question of ethics on a regular basis. Pete is honest in his acceptance of both the good and the evil inside of him. Honesty goes in two directions: being honest to others and being honest to yourself. Only when you are honest to yourself can you lead a fulfilling life. 

“Only the fool thinks that honesty is real.”

Vegas says this at the beginning of Ep11, but by the end, he’s already had an awakening. Pete is slowly (or quickly, depending on how you look at it) teaching Vegas to be honest both with and to himself. 

Now, how does the concept of “legacy” tie into this? Legacy broadly refers to a person’s impact and reputation. In the context of the mafia, this is extremely applicable. Everything is about legacy. We’ve seen Kinn try to put his family’s legacy over the truth of his feelings for Porsche. It’s similar for Vegas, with an added ✨ flair✨ of parental abuse and a distinct lack of romance. 

Until. Pete. I’ve said before that both Porsche and Pete represent similar themes of freedom for their partners. But I think freedom and honesty go hand in hand. In many ways, freedom is honesty and honesty is freedom. I won’t get into the deep philosophical and moral arguments associated with this, but it’s all very compelling.

All’s Well That Ends Well

Now for the main event. I personally haven’t read this play, but here are a few summative points:

It’s a comedy about a young ward, Helena, and her dedication to winning the heart of the countess’s son, Bertram. Spoiler alert: they end up in love. Happy endings for everyone (see: the title).

There are some elements of cynical realism, though I couldn’t define all of these in detail.

Lying plays a role in the plot. Helena even fakes her own death. 

My first takeaway from this is how terribly ironic it is. For Pete, the ending doesn’t look so great. We, of course, know that Pete will escape his immediate situation, but will he really get a happy ending? (Rhetorical question. No book spoilers, please & thanks.)

The next takeaway is the romance aspect of the plot between Helena and Bertram. Helena’s objective is getting Bertram to fall in love with her. Pete’s objective seems to be the opposite, as he’d rather put as much distance between himself and Vegas as possible. But without him even trying to, he’s gained Vegas’s affection. Love is the story between Helena and Bertram, but I don’t think it’s the same for Vegas and Pete (more like an added bonus). VP’s plot is about the difference between legacy and honesty, between Kan and Pete, between what is expected of you and what you truly feel and want for yourself. They might grow to love each other in whatever twisted way they can, but there’s a personal level to their attachment that focuses on the “self” rather than the “pair.” 

To conclude, all of these themes are like dozens of small threads interwoven into a beautiful tapestry that is this television show. And the preview already proves that Pete is affecting Vegas on a deep level. But I swear, if it’s just another one of Vegas’s manipulations, I will have some words for BOC...

#kinnporsche #kinnporsche the series #vegaspete #If nothing else #I know this: #The choice for this tattoo is very intentional #Anyone who has read this play want to chime in? #Mannn another long post oops #At this rate #I'm surprised my fingers have not fallen off #Ohhhhh wellllll #It's late I should probably sleep now #kinnporsche episode 11 #kinnporsche ep 11 #kinnporsche meta #kinn x porsche #vegas x pete #vegas theerapanyakul #pete saengtham #vegas kinnporsche #Pete kinnporsche #kinnporsche analysis

[justlarkin]

Perun's relationship with Veles is kinda bizarre rn, it'll be interesting when we finally get to his arc. I mentioned some of these things elsewhere already, I'm just organizing my thoughts on the matter.

He calls Veles "clown" or "jester". As I mentioned in the other post, the word they used can translate into either. I personally think the term "jester" fits the situation better, but it's not that important for the main focus. Either way, it's because Veles is entertaining to him. Based on his interaction with MC in the Summer Twilight event, you could assume he thinks they're entertaining because they're not afraid to talk shit and pick a fight with him. It's something Perun didn't experience from most in Kitezh because everyone was afraid to challenge him and they kept their distance from him. Once again, this is why I think the term "jester" fits better. Clowns entertain by making a fool out of themselves while jesters entertain by making a fool of others.

He calls Veles his "servant" because everyone in Kitezh serves under him, even after death since they're essentially held hostage there. Veles was the exception to this, so calling him "servant" may be wishful thinking on his part or he still counts Veles as a servant from before he left.

At one point he also calls Veles his "dear...ly departed" back when we're first introduced to him. "Dearly departed" is a typical term used to refer to one who is deceased, fitting Veles because he is the only one in Kitezh who has truly managed to die and escape from there, which disturbs Perun. The pause in "dearly" is the odd part because there could be romantic implications due to where the pause is or it could imply that Perun is so shooken up by the concept of someone truly dying and leaving forever, as I suspected in other posts, that he struggled to admit the Veles was dead.

Another thing I mentioned before, interestingly something we haven't seen Perun call Veles so far is "demon" or "devil". Volos said that most people in Kitezh referred to Veles that way. Even Chernobog referred to him as such in the Andvari Falls event and he had only heard about him from travelers since he was stuck on the mountain. Volos said it was a dreadful name, implying that it was an insulting term, but Perun, the guy who is supposed to be Veles' enemy, doesn't use it to insult him? Perun actually refers to Veles quite positively most of the time, ignoring the "servant" and "jester" talk, instead praising his artistic attributes.

You can at least come to the conclusion that Perun respects and admires Veles as a poet despite their feud based on what he says about him. As stated above, Perun mostly focuses on Veles' artistic attributes by calling him a "poet" or something adjacent to that. In his encouragement line, he says that their literary skill is supreme, nobody else can compare to them. In his Valentine SQ, the reward he offers MC is to read them some of the poetry he's been working on, but he expresses some insecurity because it's not as good as Veles' work. And most importantly, despite everything, Perun thought that Veles' song about death and departure was sad but beautiful and he wants to hear it again some day.

Perun's reaction when Smoky God suggests letting MC decide who they'll hang out with in the recent mini event is odd too. He's self aware enough to know that he parted with Veles on bad terms, so they wouldn't want to willingly be around him. He comes off as so child-like that I forget that he has any critical thinking skills. And it's also showing that he respects them in some way because if he truly only viewed them as a servant, he wouldn't even take their opinion into consideration.

Veles just seems like someone Perun genuinely respects and admires under all of his bs. He might even look up to him somewhat when it comes to his interest in songs and poetry.

Going off the theory that Perun is afraid of death, maybe he tried to reject the concept of it, but Veles' song about everyone having the right to die and depart from the world was alluring and peaked his interest. Perun wants to hear it again because deep down he knows that Veles was right and admires him.

#shut up lark #overly analytical rantings

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

I am still confused by a concept: how come Jiang Yanli was considered a stalker? I get that the soup incident was considered rather questionable by some people, I think?? Not sure. But I doubt she just went and returned from Lotus Pier to the Carp Tower every now and there to stalk him- so did I miss something from the novel or the fandom is once again inventing things and sell them as a truth that MXTX told them in a dream?

Jiang Yanli also wasn't in Jinlintai aside from when Madam Jin, who on the urging of JIN ZIXUAN invited her over post-war, because, despite how salty his fangirls are, his "thing" for Jiang Yanli and all that miscommunication between them and not getting their admiration of the other etc, is meant to mirror our main couple. Jin Zixuan, is a weak literary mirror of his romance for the stronger actions of Lan Wangji's romance ventures.

Personally, I don't at all get this awful and bad projection of "if I was given soup from someone I didn't like, it would make me uncomfortable". STFU it's food, eat it, and no you wouldn't. Jin Zixuan didn't care at all obviously until he made the assumption that Jiang Yanli was lying, all when she had done this to avoid angering him BECAUSE SHE KNEW HE DIDN'T LIKE HER. He went out of his way to besmirch her honor, not just privately, but in front of Wei Wuxian and yelling. This goes beyond just him, as his entire actions could damage her reputation as a woman. He is not the one who was wronged simply put. He didn't like her, yet she never forced herself what so ever on him, and I find it hard pressed to believe SOUP is so wrong to give when she gave that to multiple people out of simple good gesture.

She, is called a stalker, simply all because she was complicit with an arranged marriage, which shocker, in historical instances that was the norm. She wasn't trying to get in his way in any of the story as we are shown and tried to be passive, and when he attacked her vocally she made damn sure to avoid him as much as possible as he made that clear it was what he wanted until The Phoenix Mountain incident where he insists on walking with her to express his feelings, that she has no clue about and is uncomfortable for the duration of the walk because he is emotionally constipated and can't spit out a sorry or that he likes her after seeing her for what she is as a person.

But oh how dare a girl be complicit with her prospects set forth by her traditional parents and not hate her fiancé or speak awfully of him as he does of her eventually all because he was an immature brat at the time to not realize anything outside of his own upset.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #jin zixuan #jiang yanli #anti jzx #seriously I have one whole reason that made me hate him #and it's nasty JYL antis

[lisztcmania]

My heart is waking up and for the first time in a long time I feel alive. A week ago my bestfriend for 2 years became my girlfriend. She is as radiant and lovely as she always was and more, and I am fumbling and tripping over every puddle I find myself in (the contrast, in my head, is quite funny). I’d be lying if I said the prospect of change doesn’t continue to scare me everyday. Even though I laid out all my cards to her and pulled out every disclaimer I could think of about how I’m absolutely going to be very much the same genre of person (this is because I am ace, continuously figuring things out about myself, and awkward), I am beginning to think there’s so much more to me and so much more to us than I’ve ever thought. I’m less scared of the change in our dynamic, more scared of the change in me. I find the need to channel every bit of limited, fair weather, literary power I have to accurately display every shapeless, complicated, complex, feeling I have about the urge to shout to everyone I have a girlfriend and she is amazing despite me being the most rigid, simple and lame person known to man. Hence, making this post.

I am actively dealing with change by fully embodying the change. What that means for me is choosing the mortifyingly vulnerable path to resemble being alive. I’ve learned that running from it has caused me to be dissociative, so, I won’t shield myself from all of that anymore in the hopes I get to at least be in my body when I’m experiencing devastating, wonderful things. My girlfriend is open, cheesy, affectionate in all the ways I lack and severely want. So I’ll try to one-up her by being embarrassing, honest, and openly affectionate in the only way I know how --through writing. 

Where the faulted normalcy of my outer shell fails, the commended silliness of my literary inner being succeeds at. All of that is proven in every lyric and poem I’ve written and lied to her about and said they were about general concepts when really they were all about her. In every song I sent spewing blabbery analyses and media parallelism when in reality they only reminded me of her. In every info dump I do when we talk about media that made me vulnerable, that really just meant I trusted her with every bit of me, hear me, see me, I adore you. In every time she’d lay her head on my shoulder and her breathing sounded like waves crashing to the shore, back and forth. In every time I allowed myself to feel so much for her and my words fail to give something unsayable, I compare the feeling to a cliff dive to the sea --and how I wish I could tell my hesitant self that you did it, it’s fine, the water is radiant and warm and it glows when you’re around. 

You’re alive but you’re terrified, for how can someone who used to be so desperate to pushing down the heart ever feel like there’s something beating at all? There is no reference point. The beating feels alien and it doesn’t feel normal...until ultimately, with patience, it does. Until it feels familiar. Until it feels welcoming and captivating and all I want is to chase it even if it means embarrassing myself in front of my girlfriend and whoever is reading this. This is my gift to her, this is my gift to the version of me who has it a bit more figured out than I do now. 

May you be as silly, as serious, as passionate, as cheesy, as bold and as silent in power.

And to her, I love you very much and you know this already because I tell you every time you tell me. This is the least I could say as the unsayable amalgamation of what I feel. I want to give you the world. This is the new, innate thing that has awakened along with my heart. It’s all for you and me to share.

#personal

[nolanhollogay]

❛ you shouldn’t be out here by yourself. ❜ 

novaedgar bonding post jjedgar break up?? nova feeling guilt for her irrational dislike of edgar and how that lead to jj breaking up with him??? whouda thunk!!!! (also sadly we are on poguelandia)

+

Nova knew Edgar was stubborn but she didn't know he was this stubborn. He'd refused to eat with them, even though they'd managed their best catch of fish yet. He wasn't talking to any of them — and when he was it was only in Spanish because apparently he was petty as well.

On top of that, he was sitting alone, refusing to sleep with the group.

"He's being ridiculous," she grumbled as they all watched him. He was sitting on the sand, letting his legs get soaked by the ocean. "Putting himself in danger because he got dumped."

Sarah scoffed. "Could you have some empathy for once in your life?"

"It's not my fault that he's being a crybaby," she argued.

"If it's bothering you so much, go talk to him," John B said.

She knew a challenge when she heard one. "Fine. I will."

Getting to her feet, she stomped over to him. As she walked over to him, she heard Pope mutter, "Great work, John B. Now she's going to make him feel worse."

"Come lay down, Church Boy," she commanded, kicking sand at his back.

He completely ignored her, not even bothering to turn around to face her.

She groaned, throwing her head back in annoyance. Why did he have to be so difficult? She sat next to him, glaring at the side of his head. "You shouldn't be out here by yourself."

He turned to her, and the sadness in his eyes made her chest physically ache.

"Why not?" He sounded exhausted, weighed down by tiredness.

She scoffed. "Cause it's dangerous."

"I don't care," he replied.

Now she was starting to worry that he was going to walk into the ocean when they all fell asleep. "Please don't pull an Awakening," she said. She figured he'd appreciate the literary reference.

His eyes lit up, twinkling with recognition, but he didn't respond.

"What the fuck is your problem?" she said, and she distantly heard Pope groan. "So you got dumped? Who cares?"

"Nova!" Pope said at the same time Sarah exclaimed, "Leave him alone!"

She rolled her eyes, ignoring them. She knew what she was doing. "It's not a big deal. People get dumped all the time."

Edgar blinked at her, eyes sparkling because they always sparkled like he was a goddamn Disney princess. It was one of his more annoying traits. "He told me he loved me two days ago."

The switch to Spanish was jarring and made something in her chest hurt. He didn't want the others to know what they were saying. "I don't–"

"I know you can understand me. I heard you and mom arguing outside of the church last month. And your dad talks to me in Spanish," he said. If he was anyone else, it would've felt malicious, like he was calling her out on her lie. Instead he was looking at her like he got it, like he understood.

"Okay, fine, I can understand you," she relented, the words falling clunkily from her mouth. She couldn't remember the last time she spoke Spanish. "What do you mean he told you he loves you?"

He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "The other day, two days ago, he.. I feel weird telling you this. It feels like I'm giving away something private." Running his hands through his hair, he huffed, forcing himself to keep talking. "Everyone else was off doing stuff, and we were just hanging out, and he started looking at me weird, and when I asked him what was up, he told me that he loved me."

There was a wistfulness in his voice that she'd never heard before. Not that she went out of his way to listen to the tones and emotions in his voice, but still. She'd never thought of Edgar as someone who yearned. How could he want more when he had everything?

"And he meant it," he continued, "I know he did. I told him not to say it if he didn't mean it, and he wouldn't lie to me."

She snorted. "Lying is a core part of his personality."

He rolled his eyes. "He's never lied to me. And I know for certain that he wouldn't lie to me about his feelings."

"How do you know that?"

He brought his knees to his chest, resting his chin on them. "Because I love him. Even though it's a stupid thing to do."

Nova's heart cracked in her chest. She'd never had that much faith in anyone. Why read between the lines when you could listen to what people were actually saying to you?

Another sigh stole her attention. God, Edgar being sad was terrible. It was like watching a steamroller run over a corgi. "Did he.. Did he say something when he broke up with you? Did he give you a reason?"

"Yeah," he groaned, apparently frustrated at the memory, "It was stupid. Stuff that he'd never had a problem with before. He said we were too different. That he was a bad influence."

Guilt struck Nova like a baseball bat to the skull. In rapid succession, her brain showed her a compilation of all of the times she'd dunked on their relationship and how they were such different people. She'd assumed JJ was ignoring her.

"You're right," she agreed, "That is stupid."

He huffed out a laugh, but his eyes still shone with sadness.

"Don't worry about it," she continued, "He's probably just freaking out from saying the l word. He'll come to his senses in a day or two, and he'll be begging you to take him back."

He didn't look convinced, gnawing on the inside of his cheek, but he didn't argue. She'd take the little victory.

"C'mon Church Boy, come lay down," she said, reverting back to English, and getting to her feet. She reached out for his hand. "I'll be your big spoon."

He exhaled, and she couldn't figure out what the expression on his face meant.

"Nova?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Warmth bloomed under her skin and she rolled her eyes at his emotions. She was over the sentiments. "Yeah, yeah. Come to bed."

He took her hand, letting her yank him over to the group.

#nova morales #edgar ramirez #edgarnova #dog days of summer #asks #my writing #leaf tag 🌿

[pompompurin1028]

now you have said it, i would love to see your opinions or a character study on sigma!! we haven’t seen much about his character fully yet, but about how he was created and how his existence takes place in the bsd universe in general. im sure you would put your philosophical perspective on it too. I have not seen enough stuff about it so im curious about your opinions too if you would like to share in the future. don’t feel pressured for it please, it was just me telling im curious if you would like to share in the future haha! hope you have a wonderful day ly 🫶🏻🫶🏻

Thank you for your interest dear anon <3 Honestly, I would love to do something like that for Sigma but we really don't have much to go off from at the moment, which is kinda upsetting because Sigma has so much potential in my opinion! (I'll share it down below since it's like I have enough for a bit but not too much and honestly most of it is more of what I feel Sigma could do for the narrative/theme rather than only on Sigma himself I apologize)

From a philosophical perspective, Sigma is very interesting from a perspective of studying being, or in other words what "to be" means, that sort of thing (though I will not dare say I am extremely knowledgeable on ontology orz). So he has a lot of potential :). This was something I wrote in Discord before but let me reiterate a bit. Sigma's whole character sort of makes us question how we come to be in the world. I mean, sure, we are not written into a book and born without memory, but we like Sigma cannot control the fact that we are born into the world, into circumstances we cannot determine

As @/daz4i out in this post, the whole DOA arc reveals the existential horror that is embedded within our daily lives! It would also be interesting for the characters in bsd to explore this idea through this angle, especially paired with the existential theme bsd has going on because it shows that like oh, we can't really just choose what we want to do, we're still bound by other things in the world, our society and we could just die with a flip of a button of One Order if Fukuchi chose to. This reveals the deep interdependence we have going on and shows that (in Judith Butler's words) the idea of the self is always situated in an “elaboration [...] of social bonds”. This would then reveal this tension between the fact that we are basically kind of in situations we cannot control but also the fact that in a sense we also determine how things turn out (or a better wording would be we are born and influenced by historical and social contexts that shape us as a person but at the same time we are also shaping these historical and social conditions) <- this is something I'm academically interested in rn so excuse me for just dumping my thoughts orz (it is also fascinating since this applies not only to a existential standpoint but also to theories in language, literary interpretation and on selfhood. Anyways....)

I just think Sigma's character has the potential to move the narrative and theme in this direction because he is literally a character born from a book, and it could lead the characters to enquire in a self-reflexive way about their own being as a character of a story. And it would be quite interesting since the act of thinking of oneself as a character which in a sense doesn't have control has some parallels to the existential horror thing I mentioned earlier...

Anyways I hope this makes sense and thank you for letting me share my thoughts with you <3

I know this is an ask about Sigma mainly but yeah... but of course, I cannot say I am certain bsd will move in this direction :( I really would like to do a character study on only Sigma but I think Sigma's potential works best with other people! Maybe someday I'll figure something out <3

Edit: (because I forgot to write some other thoughts😔)

I would love if bsd would pair Chuuya, Dazai and Sigma together and explore the idea of what humanity means. This was sort of raised in the sky casino arc with the idea of superhuman vs normal humans but I want more >:(. Sigma is a curious character since I don't even know if we would categorize him as human? I hadn't read stormbringer yet so I can't speak on Chuuya but it's interesting that Dazai being human feels inhuman yet Sigma who is and can be said to he inhuman is presented as a normal human.

#asks 💌 #Lovely Anon❤️

[777rare]

「TAROT COURT CARDS」

--------------------------------------------------------

➳ SWORDS

--------------------------------------------------------

THE PAGE OF SWORDS

UPRIGHT :-

Messages

electronic communication

new projects

renewed vigour

new learner

a sibling

school/college friend

youngster/child

REVERSED :-

issed messages

a delayed project

a troubled youth

falling to your fear

bad news

missing internet messages

hearing or telling falsehoods

indecision and inconsistency

immaturity

THE PAGE OF SWORDS AS

People :

A quick-witted and quick-minded youngster

analytical and a logical thinker

can be seen to be aloof, but is a keen observer

enjoys the written word and languages

a student

Occupations :

Postman/courier

envoy

student/undergraduate

news desk/reporter

trainee or apprentice

systems analyst

Events :

News of official matters

legalities, bureaucracy

delays in business and personal projects

gossip and chatter

documents being prepared, delivered or delayed

the post

going to college or university

Inner Processes :

Facing inner demons

overcoming moods

regaining mental clarity

settling inner conflicts

internal rebellion

self belief and confidence

understanding wisdom

getting over yourself!

--------------------------------------------------------

KNIGHT OF SWORDS

UPRIGHT :-

Active

energetic

exacting

swiftness

sudden changes

assertive

mental agility

problem solving

being able to think on your feet

resolution

courageous

travel

REVERSED :-

Conflict

insensitivity to others

prejudice

acting in haste

lying and being deceitful

impatient

pettiness

loss of clear thinking

KNIGHT OF SWORDS AS

People :

Quick-minded and decisive

a problem solver and strategist

can appear insensitive but is mostly forthright

often ruthless and direct

forward thinking

communicators and analysers

Occupations :

Soldier

advocate

lawyer

negotiator

travel writer

copy writer

politician

spine doctor

surgeon

hairdresser

archer

activist

researchers and graduates

Events :

Meetings and conventions

negotiations and disputes

a legal case being brought to you or by you

management of ideas and projects

backing the under-dog

pursuing ideas

taking control of a situation

over seas travel

Inner Processes :

Finding solutions to your problems

creative thinking; changing ideals and beliefs

removing what thoughts and beliefs don’t serve you anymore

a journey of self-examination

discovering and establishing your own set of beliefs

--------------------------------------------------------

QUEEN OF SWORDS

UPRIGHT :-

Aloofness

intellectual

factual

solemn

a great thinker

critical and precise

observant

a widow

rationality

independent

witty

REVERSED :-

a complainer

can be verbally vicious

ruthless

cutting

manipulative

cunning

cold hearted

vindictive

spiteful

gossip

QUEEN OF SWORDS AS

People :

An analytical and intelligent woman

quick-minded

a problem solver

clinical but not cold

likely to be highly educated or with an interest in continued education

a people watcher who observes more than she speaks

ardent and stoic

a sharp dresser

independent and self-disciplined

an astute businesswoman

Occupations :

Lawyer

judge

journalist

college/university lecturer

prison guard

executive

career woman

high flyer

negotiator

trouble shooter

politician/government official

Events :

Success with literary projects

independence perhaps through divorce

entering into self-employment

a meeting with an advisor, perhaps even a psychologist

end to personal troubles

business meetings

professional learning and certification

networking

Inner Processes :

Applying logic to a situation

stepping back from the emotions

being objective

stepping out from behind your mask

finding mental clarity

having to be ruthless or strong willed

finding the light after the dark

new found inner wisdom

having the courage of your convictions

--------------------------------------------------------

KING OF SWORDS

UPRIGHT :-

Just and fair

intellectual but enigmatic

a great thinker or philosopher

authoritative

commanding

logical

moral and ethical

trustworthy and reliable

REVERSED :-

Dictatorial

domineering

suspicious

untrustworthy

a liar

spineless

cowardly

cynical

arrogant

intimidating

uncouth

impatient

KING OF SWORDS AS

People :

A decision-maker

a judge or mediator

has a sharp mind and high intellect

found in many of the professional careers

lives by clear logic and fact

diplomatic and a great communicator

an orator

writer and critical thinker

feels deeply but shows little emotion

ambitious but flexible in his approach

lives by justice and fairness

in modern society he lives by the pen instead of the sword

Occupations :

Senior judge

barrister

senior civil servant

surgeon, doctor

intelligence/police

scientist

professor

military officer

Events :

Making plans and organising events

dealing with the authorities

facing big decisions

setting boundaries and rules

taking control and man-managing a situation

meeting with a legal expert or facing a legal case

completing university studies

success and/or completion of a literary project

signing of contracts

acting as a mediator

acting swiftly and decisively

Inner Processes :

Putting aside your emotions to make an informed decision

learning to see all sides of a dispute

thinking for yourself

applying mind over matter

expanding on inner wisdom

filtering thoughts and imagination into cohesive ideas and projects

goal-setting and having commitment to those goals

--------------------------------------------------------

#witch community #spiritual enlightenment #spiritualawakening #spirituality #witchery #witchy #spiritual practices #tarot court cards #tarotcommunity #tarot cards #tarotblr #tarot card reading #divination #baby witch #beginner witch #witchyvibes #witchy things #intentions

[larathia]

BSD Manga reread, ch’s 1-10

I’ll be kind and not spam and only post after I’ve reread 10 chapters at a go.

And I’ll use cuts, too. Cos this time THERE WILL BE PICTURES.

Chapter One

* My first thought here is ‘wow, Dazai’s manner of speech is different’. I’m...not sure I can quite place how, and it could of course just be a translator thing, but he sounds rather more refined here at the beginning of things than he generally does later. (I’m not saying he speaks crudely, just...he gives much more of an upper class impression here, somehow.)

And he reads. I didn’t notice this the first time around because - it’s a series about literary greats, no? So of course there should be reading? But on a reread, I’m finding myself going “wow, almost nobody is seen reading.”

* There are three things that happen here, that I think are why Dazai chooses to take Atsushi under his (and, collectively, the Agency’s) wing. Firstly, while alone and clearly afraid of everything up to and including literally his own shadow, Atsushi chooses to save the life of a stranger. (He couldn’t KNOW that Dazai would’ve rather have been left alone. Point is - the kid chose to be kind, in a city that - we are repeatedly told and shown - does not have much kindness in it.) Secondly, on saving someone’s life, and being offered a reward, and while obviously starving, he just asks for chazuke. Which we’re told is basically just a dish meant to clean rice out from a bowl. It’s apparently the equivalent of saving a well-to-do person’s life and asking for a PB&J.  So now we have “kind and apparently humble”. And lastly, and this one seems to be the clincher, Atsushi tells Dazai his story in the warehouse and it’s clear that this boy has nothing to live for, and no one who’d be the slightest bit upset by his death...yet he chooses to live. WANTS to live. And even so, choosing to live and wanting to live, he has in no way ...well. Become a beast.

Contrast ALL of this with what we later learn about Dazai’s meeting with Akutagawa. And with what we later learn of Dazai’s own outlook and inclinations. Atsushi is practically Dazai’s diametric opposite...yet there’s no friction here. No competition, no judgment. Atsushi doesn’t even realize that he’s made a very quirky, and rather dangerous, friend. But because he DID, we have ...well, the whole story.

I would be remiss if I did not include probably the single most ignored bit of canon in this entire series.

The number of people who feel the deep-seated need to ignore or deny this one panel is really kind of amazing, when you get down to it. I just thought I’d mention that yes, Dazai being straight is, actually, canon. Chapter one, never actually recanted or disproved in the text canon. It’s important to remember what is canon and what is fanon. It prevents fandom-related insanity.

ANYWHO. MOVING ON.

Chapter 2

Atsushi’s entrance exam. On a reread, what mostly sticks out to me here is what Atsushi learns about Dazai.

Firstly, Atsushi learns that seriously, Dazai’s suicide attempts have completely numbed the Agency to even the idea Dazai might need help:

Secondly, Atsushi learns that Dazai is very much a trickster entity who might be your friend and might look out for your best interests, but has ZERO problem lying and/or putting you through the wringer in order to do so.

He definitely remembers both of these lessons later. It doesn’t hurt that he gets a lot of reminders.

Chapter 3

* Tanizaki is, genuinely, a pretty nice guy on average, and takes a non-mentorly kind of ‘take Atsushi under his wing’ approach. Sort of senior-but-equal.

* Ah, the famous ‘guess Dazai’s former job’ scene. Now, I get why Dazai wasn’t exactly free to admit it (given all the work the government did to cover up his past) but I feel, on reread, that the fandom should admit Kunikida totally had Dazai figured out. And absolutely deserves the financial reward.

Like, seriously. What we later learn is Kunikida was 100 percent right on both counts - Dazai just wasn’t free to admit it.

He promises he ‘won’t lie’. And...very technically, VERY VERY TECHNICALLY, he isn’t? I mean yes, ‘scoundrel’ covers pretty much the entire Mafia, and ‘shipping container’ would in most cases be considered synonymous with ‘homeless’, so I do feel Kunikida is right to claim the pot. But at the same time, “mafia don” is ...rather above and beyond mere ‘scoundrel’ and ‘capable of living in five star hotels but CHOOSING a shipping container’ is not what comes to mind when one says ‘homeless’. There’s a hell of a lot of nuance that lets Dazai’s assertion that he ‘won’t lie’ technically stand, while at the same time allowing Kunikida to be 100 percent right.

But at the base level I’m going to call this as “the only reason Dazai doesn’t admit to his past here is because at the time he probably couldn’t.” This little pot of betting money never comes up again, but I like to think that when Dazai does finally admit his Mafia connections to Kunikida later on, he hands over the pot as well. (Yes, yes, I know. Fanon vs Canon; this is a guess/hope.)

Canonically, what we as readers learn is yes - Dazai will lie. Context is required to understand why and to what degree, but yeah - Dazai will totally lie.

* And we’re introduced to Higuchi and Akutagawa. And Dazai’s tricks (again). This time it’s the headphones, listening to the transmitter he put in Higuchi’s pocket. And the lyrics to his ‘double suicide’ song, which I suppose we have to figure he just made up on the spot to ‘explain’ why he’s wearing headphones, since just saying “I’m listening to our client on the sly” would ...not come off well with Kunikida after that whole ‘drag Dazai into the closet for a beating’ thing.

* Tanizaki really is a pretty decent detective. And his ability is much better in combat than he thinks; it’s really only down to his Light Snow that everyone came out of their first encounter with Akutagawa alive.

Chapter 4

* Wow. Dazai really did come RIGHT over once the fighting started.

* And we learn that sweet, observant, polite Tanizaki has a really hard ‘cross this and die’ line; Fuck Thou Not With His Sister. Accompanied by impressive crazyface.

* This is also Akutagawa and Atsushi’s first fight. Given that Atsushi’s still reeling from a lot of revelations, he did pretty well.

* And now we, the readers, know that Kunikida was right; Dazai was a scoundrel. A professional and high ranking one. Even so, on reread, it’s this panel that sticks out as “whoa”.

Because while we learn in this chapter that Dazai is ex-Mafia, it’s much later that we learn just what his relationship with Akutagawa was. And how very, very much this single mocking sentence would cut Akutagawa.

Dazai gets a lot of information out of Aku here. But all his actual concern is for getting Atsushi, Junichiro, and Naomi back to base.

Chapter 5

Dude, you totally are. And I think it’s Kunikida’s state of “totally rattled” that really pushes Atsushi to think that the only thing he can do to protect the Agency is run away from it.

We’re then introduced to the Black Lizard, which upsells the whole ‘must run away’ idea, We’re given a brief introduction to Tachihara and Gin, which is at least useful to remember for later.  And we realize that Higuchi hasn’t processed that Dazai is ex-Mafia. (Probably fair, since most people don’t seem to survive trying to be ex-Mafia.)

And Atsushi learns that he doesn’t have to ‘protect’ the ADA. They’re totally capable of protecting themselves, Kunikida’s case of nerves notwithstanding.

Chapter 6

Our introduction to Ranpo. (And Atsushi’s.) And all we get at first is the sheer awe that everyone holds Ranpo’s power in. And a hell of a lot of Atsushi’s “so done with you crazy people” face.

This is very much a ‘Dazai mentoring’ chapter; he’s the one advising Atsushi to watch closely, and he’s the one that pushes Atsushi to take action when the bad cop tries to use his gun on the group. (Dazai’s also apparently pleasantly surprised that Atsushi managed to handle that well, taking the officer down without killing or injuring him or anyone else...but yeah, Dazai’s probably still comparing Atsushi to Akutagawa here.) Dazai’s the one to show Atsushi that Ranpo isn’t using a supernatural skill, too, just his head - walking Atsushi through those details he himself can spot, as a kind of training session.

He really isn’t a bad mentor. But he’s very much a trickster mentor - Atsushi just has the weird luck to be mentored by this setting’s equivalent of Loki. He learns! Valuable lessons! Just...not exactly in an orthodox manner.

Chapter 7

I tend to focus on Dazai, because he’s a character you kind of HAVE to figure out from context (given he’s a trickster, and often, a deceiver), so ...bear with me a bit here.

The first note is the face he makes when Kyouka corners him:

We don’t know exactly why he makes this face at the time, because we don’t get a clear view of what ability Kyouka has...but realistically, this has to just be startlement that the Mafia Really Wants To Talk To Him Right Now. Because...Demon Snow cannot hurt Dazai; she’d be dispelled at the first touch. And ...frankly, Kyouka may be a skilled assassin but she’s 14 and very direct and in a straight up fight I’d put money on Dazai. So when Dazai’s accused of ‘letting himself be captured’...yeah, he totally LET himself be captured. There’s evidence enough to support that. (Now, ask me why Akutagawa SENT KYOUKA, when he knows damn well what Dazai’s skillset is, and I find myself thinking “Aku wanted to see if Dazai would kill her for him, didn’t he.” Akutagawa knows Dazai has no real problem murdering people. Dazai’s tried to kill Aku, after all.

And then we’re back at the Agency, and treated to a reminder that really, Atsushi is the only member of the ADA willing to accept even the idea that Dazai might actually be in trouble, or need/want help.

Sadly...Atsushi is also wrong - since Dazai DID let himself be captured, and DOES kinda have that whole situation under control...but the thing is, no one in the ADA really knows that, or even HAS a way to know that; they’re just (mostly) fed up with Dazai’s suicide attempts.

And it’s not that Atsushi necessarily disagrees with everyone’s assessment? He totally accepts that maybe Dazai did try to kill himself (again), or is in control of whatever situation he’s landed in. It’s just that Atsushi also accepts that he doesn’t KNOW that - and that, incidentally, he seems resolved to interfering with Dazai’s suicide attempts regardless - and so he’ll go anyway. Which makes him utterly unique in the entire BSD setting, when you think about it. Everyone else that has ever tried to keep Dazai alive, has done so for selfish reasons. Atsushi...just doesn’t want Dazai to die. He doesn’t have work for Dazai to do, doesn’t seem to need him for anything...he just doesn’t want Dazai to be dead. Which may be the only reason Dazai doesn’t ever get mad at Atsushi about it.

Atsushi also doesn’t have the slightest hint of self preservation. Which we’ve seen twice now; first with the fake bomb, second against Akutagawa, and now here - and Yosano snags him to go shopping.

For...lemons, among other things...

Given what happens later, I find the bag full of lemons just kind of ...on the nose.

Also. Let it be known that I adore and admire Yosano and this right here is absolutely why.

This woman owns my soul and you can’t get it back from her.

Yosano also wins points for being the first to realize that Atsushi’s power is a little more than just “turning into a big white kitty cat”.That Atsushi doesn’t just ‘heal’. Something more is going on.

This chapter does a lot to introduce Yosano and her basic outlook on life. She’s fearless, resolute, ruthless, and has zero patience for perverts and idiots. But she’s kind enough to Atsushi in her own way - willing, I suppose, to accept that he’s not stupid so much as he is ignorant of protocol.

Chapter 8

Still on the train.

We’re now given a proper introduction to Kyouka. Atsushi, here, has his little epiphany - if he can save other people, then he can justify his existence.

And because he has this epiphany - because he’s brought pain and misery to others due to circumstances beyond his control, but does not want to die - he’s able to push Kyouka into wanting to escape the dark too. Although, much like Atsushi’s first attempt was curling around what he thought was a live bomb, Kyouka jumps from the train.

And Yosano, man, I would just put every panel with Yosano on here if I could, because I adore her so very much in this chapter. Just picture me back in the stands, waving a ‘go yosano’ flag and cheering. She’s awesome. I love her.

Chapter 9

We open on a discussion of Kyouka, and Kunikida being...kind of an ass. Again. Because someone has to say the obvious and unpleasant truth, and that tends to be Kunikida’s job. And Atsushi ...probably doesn’t even realize that he takes a page from Dazai’s book here. It’s much easier to get information from someone who’s comfortable and at ease with you, than it is to beat information out of them. Atsushi saw that firsthand, when he was the interrogation subject back in chapter 1. But Atsushi doesn’t have Dazai’s leverage with Kunikida, and has to pick up the tab himself. And once more, Kunikida lays out the obvious, unpleasant truths.

(I feel like at this point someone should be asking, “If Kyouka’s so clearly condemned, and she’s only been with the Mafia a little while, how the fuck was Dazai able to just walk out?” - not that we get the answer to that for a LONG time...)

That isn’t the question that Atsushi asks, though. He asks a question much closer to the heart of his character:

And ...I want to say that I think this is actually a very central question, at the very heart of the series’ conflicts. Not about Dazai specifically, but why does anyone reach out to help anyone when there’s nothing in it for them to do so?

Look - we know, as of current time (all the chapters since this one, and all the LNs and spinoffs and all that) that the reason ‘why Dazai reached out’ was that this was something Oda asked Dazai to do with his dying breath. Look after orphans. Protect the weak. Why was Oda kind? Because Natsume was kind to Oda, and Oda’s paying it forward.

And why did Dazai heed Oda’s request? Because, ultimately, Oda was kind to him. Kind when it not only didn’t get Oda anything, it actually put Oda at risk and ultimately cost Oda his life. One person was kind to Dazai. They made one request, and that pushed Dazai forward.

And then in turn Dazai is kind to Atsushi. When it doesn’t benefit him to do so, and in fact incurs debt at first - hiding Atsushi from the police, getting him a place to stay, etc. It doesn’t benefit Dazai to do any of this, nor does he require any repayment from Atsushi for it.

Natsume was kind to Oda. Oda was kind to Dazai. Dazai is kind to Atsushi. And now Atsushi, in turn, wants to be kind to Kyouka.

So very much of this entire series pivots on a single chain of kindness.

And a hell of a lot of unkindness.

The story slips back to Dazai, chained to a wall, and being particularly chill about it. You can pretty much tell Akutagawa finds this utterly incomprehensible...but then, his power can’t hurt Dazai, and Dazai truly wouldn’t care even if it could. Dazai mocks Akutagawa...a LOT. And we find out now for certain that Dazai wasn’t just ‘ex mafia’. He’s an ex-mafia don, a leader, executive, and Aku’s former mentor.

And he is merciless. He rips right into any and all aspects of Akutagawa that might hurt Aku, anger him, upset him. You can practically see Dazai smashing little chisels into every one of Aku’s (many) braincracks. And then he adds the finisher, which will take all of Aku’s hurt and rage and aim it at Atsushi:

We know, from later chapters, why Dazai does this. He knows of old that Akutagawa is obsessed with proving himself, and that the only way Akutagawa knows of to do that is attack and defeat what he sees as his enemy. Dazai also knows that Atsushi has the potential to get through to Akutagawa - as well as survive Akutagawa’s power. He’s throwing these two at each other because both of them will learn just as much from each other as either ever could from him, and he’s well aware someone is yanking some strings in the background.

(And I’m pretty sure he really, really doesn’t want to have to deal with Chuuya.)

If Double Black isn’t going to handle whatever the new situation is, then a replacement team must be forged. Despite what Dazai tells Akutagawa here, we know from side media (the Mimic affair, specifically) that Dazai actually thinks well of Akutagawa’s powers. He just doesn’t think much of Akutagawa’s ability to learn to use it effectively.

The scene switches back to Atsushi, being kind to Kyouka. Which ends with Akutagawa kidnapping Kyouka and attacking Atsushi.

Kindness and unkindness. In this chapter, Dazai’s ultimately at fault for all of it.

Such a trickster. So very Loki.

Chapter 10

Junichiro is, again, the gentle/kind member after Atsushi. And Kunikida is, again, the one to lay out unpleasant facts, although this time Ranpo’s willing to help. The ADA are not really a team, at this point - they’re a collection of employees. There’s no expectation of anyone going out on a limb for anyone else.

Thankfully, Naomi - and Fukuzawa - aren’t gonna be having with any of that shit. That Fukuzawa - who’s had almost NO interaction with Atsushi - is willing to turn the whole Agency on its ear on Atsushi’s behalf...says a hell of a lot about the man’s integrity and sense of honor. This isn’t just a ‘collection of employees’, to him. They are his people. That’s how his ability works, how it can help them. “His people” may not yet be bonded with each other, but from Fukuzawa’s position, they are all connected to him. Once they are his, he will watch over them. Which gives us this gem:

And again, this is something that hits harder after you’ve read all the manga, and all the side stuff, and you realize what Fukuzawa is delivering here isn’t a counter-argument. It’s a very personal bitchslap, reminding Ranpo that Fukuzawa has stuck his neck out for Ranpo, especially in their early years working together, and that Ranpo denying aid to another because it isn’t “logical” is basically Ranpo saying that he didn’t deserve help either. There’s...seriously no way Ranpo’s even going to try making that argument.

And then we cut to Dazai’s little dungeon. I think it’s important to realize that the entire interaction was something Dazai expected - and staged. Much like his interaction with Akutagawa before, everything Dazai says or does with Chuuya in the room is designed to get a specific reaction out of Chuuya.

This is the truth - these panels just before Chuuya enters.

And this interaction truly is a work of art, because Chuuya may not be on Dazai’s level intelligence-wise, but he’s not actually stupid. He knows what Dazai is like - he just isn’t quick enough to avoid the traps. It’s like knowing a magician isn’t REALLY using magic, just sleight of hand, and maybe even knowing how one or two of the tricks work, but being absolutely fooled by all the others.

You’re not wrong, Chuuya. And frankly, your observations are just as valid for Dazai-now as they are for Dazai-in-the-mafia. But the minute you said “I don’t know what you’re planning”, you should’ve realized you’d already lost. Even Atsushi can pick up on that much.

The chapter ends with a lot of hustle and bustle at the ADA, and ultimately, Ranpo being nudged into giving the ADA directions. The rescue is on.

Next up will be chapters 11-20 :)

#bungou stray dogs #bsd analysis #larathia rereads bsd