#the author is present

[sazzafraz]

this is for honest xiyao enjoyers only. respect yourself

one of the reasons im creatively stuck on no return is that i also have to decide what Sir Not Appearing lan xichen is doing in jin lings section. which is suffering, obvs! am i going to write his fic, probably not historically speaking, but its timeline defines parts of no return so i am here. in my own bullshit.

why can't i decide? well i think this fic is xiyao. and i have little?? opinion??? on that. its not quite a pairing that baseline works for me, which isn't a problem because thats not how i write. what i want is to understand it, and i don't. i think its a pairing of 'like-to-like', in that they're clearly people who are pleased with eachother, but in my own reading of the novel i don't think they understand eachother, which is my usual shipping motivator. i also think sasunaru don't always understand eachother. so im like. banging my sns brain. he solution is to read what popular xiyao looks like and figure out what we're working with. but i think hmmm. that my interpretation of them individually gets in the way.

for instance, in this interpretation, i don't think jgy knows about lxcs fucked up conception* because of how lxc self conceives. in the creation i do have of his story he omits what is not useful, and has an austere knowledge of his own history, because what he does know doesn't match his own morality (if i do write this story i think we're going to get a whole lot of 'hey mxtx what did you mean? by that?' with what Madam Lan means for people who aren't wangxian). i don't even think his keeping this is a thing he'd conceive of as a 'secret' its like. lore. in the way the history of the rules is lore**.

and i'm like. working back from the idea that jgy probably would consider it a bit harsh. he can intellectually get it! and respect it! but the idea of someone you revere finding you on some level untrustworthy is a thing i think could stick for him. i can't see this changing their relationship but i don't know how a jgy who has to rationalize the specific unplumbed id of er-ge does. this is compelling to me, a horrid, but is this what other people like? does this make a xiyao???? probably not, but it is the only hook i have.

(some amount of this series is me, unfairly, kicking mxtx for being lazy about how she views her own characters. this is why i have decided to grandfather her into my own favourite literary tradition: shounen author)

but errrrrr jgy is also dead in this pov! what do i do with this? apart from have lxc suffer. what are the steps to compelling xiyao. how do i achieve. i'm sure someone has a manifesto if u've got this far and have it please give it to me so i can add it to the soup. thank u for coming to my tedtalk etc etc

honestly i'll probably also just design them some fucked astrological synastry. maybe divination will fix it!!!!***

*minor chance this comes up on jgy's The Library is Open routine at guanyin temple and i have forgotten

**sazz special: when ur childhood it too fucked consider it a mythology! depersonalize, baby!

***hi, hello, this also gives him Cursed Sexy Synastry with jin zixuan which is another objectively funny fic.

#lazy danmei tag #mdzs #xiyao #pls take me seriously i promise im cute #the author is present #which is ongoing now because i have no one to bounce this fic off of and its getting. big #no return #if you see this in the tag and ur like 'what is this fic called why have u invited me to this house' #the tag on my blog is no return #helpfully put up there #no one is required to respond this is 70 percent ADHD insurance

[inkskinned]

what is with men being mad any time a woman raises her voice where did that even come from. someone posted a video of a small electrical explosion, and the top comment was of course the woman screams. the second comment is women try not to scream challenge, level impossible. i had to go back and watch the video again. there is, somewhat fainty, a little gasp emitted off-camera, more of a yelp than a scream. it is mostly lost in the crack of the explosion. afterwards, you hear her voice, shaken, say, are you okay?

i am helping one of my friends train her voice pitch lower, because she wants to be taken seriously at work. she and i do each other's nails and talk about gender roles; and how - due to our appearance - neither of us have ever been able to be "hysterical" in public. we both appear young and sweet and feminine. she is cisgender, and cannot use her natural voice in her profession because people keep saying she appears to be "vapid". we both try to figure out if our purposeful voice lowering is technically sexist. is it promoting something when you are a victim to it?

a storm almost sends a pole through a car window. in the dashcam, you can hear the woman passenger say her partner's name twice, crying out in alarm. she sounds terrified. in the comments, she is lambasted for her lack of calm. how is that even fucking helping?

in high school, i taught myself to have a lower voice. i had been recorded when i was genuinely (and righteously) upset; and i hated how my voice sounded on the phone speakers when it was played back. i was defending my mom, and my voice cracked with emotion. it meant i was no longer winning the argument: i was just shrieking about it.

girls meet each other after a long summer and let out a little joyful scream. this usually stops around 12-14, because people will not tolerate this display of affection (as it has the effect of being passingly annoying). something about the fact that little girls can't ever even be annoying. we are trained to examine each part of our lives (even joy) for anything that could make us upsetting and disgusting. they act like teenage girls are breaking into houses and shrieking you awake at 3 in the morning. speaking as a public school educator: trust me, it's not that bad, you can just roll your eyes and move on. it does not compare to the ways boys end up being annoying: slurs in graffiti, purposefully mocking your body, following you after you said no. you know, just boy things.

there's another video of a man who is not allowed to yell in the house, so he snaps his fingers when he's excited about soccer. the comments are full of angry men, talking about how their brother is unfairly caged. let him express himself and this is terrible to do to someone. eventually the couple has to address it in a second video: they are married with a newborn baby. he was trying not to wake the infant up. there is no comment on the fact women are not allowed to yell indoors. or the fact that it could have been really alarming or triggering for his wife. sometimes i wonder if straight men even like women, if they even enjoy being in relationships with them.

for the longest time, i hated roller coasters because it always felt inappropriate and uncomfortable for me to scream. one of my friends called me on it, said it was unusual i'm so unwilling. i had to go to my therapist about it. i don't like to scream because i was not raised in a safe situation, and raising my voice would have brought unsafe attention towards me. even when i am supposed to scream, it feels shameful, guilty. i was not treated kindly, so i lack a basic form of self-protection. this is not a natural response. it is not good that in a situation of high adrenaline - i shut up about it.

something very bad is happening, i think. in between all the beauty standards and the stuff i've already discussed - this one feels new and cruel in a way i can't quite express. yes, it's scary and silencing. but there's something about how direct it is - that so many men agree with the sentiment that women should never yell, even in an emergency - it feels different.

is the word shriek gendered automatically? how about shrill or screech? in self defense class, one of the first things they tell you is to yell, as loud and as shrilly as you can. they say it will feel rude. most women will not do this. you need to practice overcoming the social pressure and just scream.

most women do not cry out, even when it's bad. we do not report it. we walk faster. we do not make a scene. what would be the point of doing anything else? no matter what we do, we don't get taken seriously. it is a joke to them. an instagram caption punchline. we have to present ourselves as silent, beautiful, captivating - "valuable."

a woman is outside watching her kids when someone throws a firecracker at them. she screams and runs towards her children. in the comments, grown men flock together in the thousands: god. women are so annoying.

#warm up #writeblr #this one has bothered me for a bit #any time a woman does something even passingly annoying we treat it like a fucking crime #hey man. women are allowed to be annoying. everyone forever is allowed to be passingly annoying #as long as they aren't hurting anyone/thing #like u wanna know something? i find it super annoying that men don't wear seatbelts #why arent there thousands of comments on driving videos thats just like : men try not to die in a car crash challenge #''this briefly annoyed me''. okay??????? AND????????????????? go get ur self a cookie and calm down about it #ur not entitled to control other ppl's experiences and emotions just so u can maintain ur own peace #if being briefly annoyed ruins ur whole day! you! need! therapy!!!! #men try not to become immediately angry about nothing challenge: level impossible #ps author is nonbinary. we didn't even get into the gender presentation thing #the fact men think it's SEXY that my voice is on the lower end....

[buttclench-ryugazaki]

this whole james somerton thing is really amusing if you, like me, have legitimately never heard of the guy, have never been recommended his videos, and this is your first exposure to him at all. like holy shit did he say that nazis being hot is why americans enlisted during wwii? what the fuck is this smug clown on about and who allowed him to have recording equipment

#todd in the shadows #hbomberguy #i have an extra shield because i generally avoid video essays for the reasons todd and hbomb allude to #that too many present unverifiable info or conjecture or straight up opinions with tone of authority and severity #AND there are people who dub videos 'essays' despite lacking some necessary characteristics that would make them essays #like evidence and a FUCKING THESIS. it's not an essay just because it exceeds 40 minutes! #jenny nicholson does not make essays. she does (very entertaining!) casual deep dives. and she also has never pretended she makes essays #that's on the people who watch her

[deprivedofbraincellsandsleep]

I will not tolerate any Aaron Minyard slander

#Everyone acts as if he dropped a nuclear bomb snd resents him for no reason #They say he's an a-hole which he is but yall r acting as if Andrew's any better #He's so misunderstood #And no one bothers hearing him out and toss him aside #And no one understands that most of the shi that comes out his mouth is cuz of Tilda #I hate how authors present his character in fics #My boy just needs proper therapy and for someone to just LISTEN #No wonder he's always with Katelyn #Why does everyone act like he committed a sin by being with Katelyn #CAN U TELL IM MAD AND NOT PROPERLY MAKING ARGUMEMTS CUZ IM JS SO PISSED #AT HOW FIC AUTHORS ESP TREAT HIM IN THEIR FICS #AND HOW ANDREW AND NEIL JS HAVE A VENDETTA AHAINST HIM #AUGHHHHHHHHH #I HAVE YET TO FIND ANOTHER AARON MINYARD STAN IN THE WILD #all for the game #nora sakavic #neil josten #andrew minyard #aaron minyard #twinyards #Extra note: his homophobia was 100% taught by Tilda #I mean cmon #He also saw how Nicky was treated by his aunt and uncle for being gay #Js ponder on it a lil and rlly go into Aaron's pov so u understand wut I'm trying to say but I'm too lazy to type it out #This ain't an analysis yk

[thechekhov]

Alright I know the gag of people asking for spoilers has been run into the ground by this point but I think it’s still funny so here goes:

Hey can you describe the upcoming plot in very specific detail? Actually maybe you could draw it so it’s easier to follow the action. Although drawing and writing all of that at once might be a lot to handle, so you could release it in batches every once in a while instead of all at once. It would be like some sort of webcomic! Then we could read the updates and learn the plot as we get new pages! What a neat concept, am I right?

idk man, that seems like a great concept, but I'm afraid it's a bit far-fetched.

Do you really think anyone would read that? Like, pay attention to the dialogue and understand what the characters are saying? Figure out small bits of foreshadowing in order to theorize effectively about what could happen next? Consider larger themes and put them together with how the characters act to understand the author's intended meaning beyond just the surface-level, at-face-value reading and shallow interpretation of only what is immediately apparent on the page?

It feels like it could be something... but I just don't know.

#comics tell stories: big if true #things that will happen in the comic will be revealed through chronologically logical events presented by the author! #chekhov answers #meta #thank you for the laugh #this is good

[lord-squiggletits]

It's hilarious to me that someone actually asked/JRO actually confirmed via word of god that Tarn tortured Pharma while he was at Delphi bc like. Fucking yeah??? How else do you think Pharma went from "for most of his life, he was a good doctor" to stark raving mad? What else did people think Tarn, fanatical Decepticon who leads a group of professional murderers, would do to Pharma, Autobot stationed on DJD territory, to make him comply with the deal?

I get that sometimes people just want confirmation from the author for them to go "no yeah your theories are right" but on the other hand I don't understand asking for word of god confirmation on things that are obviously canon if you just think about it for a little bit

#squiggposting #pharma apologism #tho truthfully i dont like word of god in general for anytging besides like. trivia #if it was important to the text it wouldve been included in the text #and im not gonna trawl interviews and supplementary materials to figure out what the author actually meant #if word of god agrees with the text then the facts are already present in the text with no confirmation needed #if word of god contradicts the text then word of god is wrong bc text > retroactive writer commentary #and also i think its more fun to make theories and speculate #than to ask the author what is actually correct

[kasumikoujou]

#moment of weakness #the sumi art #riddle rosehearts #twst #twisted wonderland #twst fanart #for daze: (if you are not daze you can stop reading) #Article 11 - Freedom of expression and information1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to #hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. #2. The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected. #Source:Official Journal of the European Union C 303/17 - 14.12.2007 #You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice #before we ask you any questions. You have the right to have a lawyer with you during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer #one will be #appointed for you before any questioning if you wish. If you decide to answer questions now without a lawyer present #you have the right to #stop answering at any time. #- Miranda Warning #alright now that we have the law of free speech and the criminal suspect notificarion up #daze if i hear one singular thing in regards to me and riddle and my prior bullying that (still) continues #if i hear it. #i shouldnt #ok #uim going to sleep. its 3am.

[drarrily-we-row-along]

"What?" Harry asked, whined really, squirming a bit in his seat and trying not to feel too pleased. Or rather, trying not to let how pleased he was feeling show on his face.

"What, what?" Draco asked, grinning at Harry as he scooped another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth and continued to look at Harry with that particular gleam in his eyes.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, grin stealing over his face without his permission. In his lap, his fingers twisted around themselves as his heart fluttered around in his chest.

Fond. So impossibly fond. Looking at Harry like he was absolutely enthralled by his very existence. "Like what?"

Harry opened his mouth, closed it again, and shook his head. He looked down at his hands in his lap, fingers twisting while his heart continued its merry jig. "Like you love me," he murmured, shy and terrified of being too much, of reading too much into the expression on the other man's face, afraid that he was wrong.

"Harry," Draco said, voice light with gentle laughter.

He looked up, couldn't help himself, only to see that Draco's face was still doing that. Draco was still looking at Harry with such delight, such affection, that Harry couldn't breathe with it. His body was going to simply cease to exist, it wasn't possible for him to exist when he felt this loved, when he felt this happy.

"Is that all my face is saying to you?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

He shook his head, looked away, bit his lip to stop the smile that was a product of the warmth that had spread from his chest and up his neck, warm and sweet as honey it filled his limbs, filled his brain, tried to erase his fears and doubts with more success than Harry would like, if he was being honest. Fears and doubts kept him safe, kept him from falling too far, falling too hard, falling into a place from which there was no returning.

"Do you want to tell me what else my face is saying?" he asked, teasing, and Harry ached with it.

He never wanted this moment to end. Never wanted to leave this place, leave this love, leave this perfect, crystalline day. Harry shook his head again, he couldn't say it. He couldn't tell Draco what else he saw on his face because what if he was wrong? What if he was just projecting all of his hopes and his dreams, but it wasn't really how Draco felt?

"I'm so into you," Draco sighed, resting his chin in his hand.

Harry looked up at him, couldn't help it. The smile was too big, too wide, his heart in his mouth ready to just spill his guts for what was surely not the first and hopefully not the last time.

"You're so attractive," he continued, giving Harry the words that he so longed to hear. "I love getting to spend time with you. I love when you look like this."

"Like what?" Harry asked, wondering what Draco saw when he looked at him, wondering if Harry said as loudly with his face and with his body that Draco was loved, was cherished. He wondered if Draco knew that he always wanted to be with him; always wanted to hold his hand, to cuddle on the sofa, to eat meals together, to tease him and make him laugh, to hold him when he was sad. "What do I look like?"

"Like you know you're loved," Draco said simply. "You look so happy, and I can't," he broke off, shaking his head, "I can't believe I get to be the one to put that look on your face."

He laughed, "What?" Without his permission, his fingers reached for Draco's, ghosting over his knuckles before Draco's fingers caught his and slid together.

"I love getting to make you happy," Draco said, shrugging helplessly, as he continued to look at Harry like he never wanted to look at anything else, face so open, so delighted that Harry felt like he couldn't quite look at him.

"I want to make you happy too," he said, squeezing his fingers, afraid, so afraid, that he was taking too much and unable to give Draco enough in return.

Draco lifted his hand, pressed a soft kiss to his knuckles, "You do. Harry," he said softly and Harry met his gaze once more. "You make me so happy."

"Yeah?" he asked helplessly, needing the reassurance, needing to hear the words to see his face when he said it.

"Yes," he said, huffing an incredulous laugh as he brushed his lips over Harry's knuckles once more.

"I love you." The words flooded out of his mouth, spilled between them without his permission. "So much, Draco. Do you know that too?"

"Of course I do," Draco assured softly, squeezing his hand. "Yes."

"A lot," Harry added, just in case his face wasn't as good at telling Draco as Draco's was at telling Harry. Just in case all of the love that filled up every nook and crevice in his body was being missed, just in case all of the love he felt and expressed differently was somehow not as readable, was somehow not enough.

"I know, love," he assured again, thumb brushing over Harry's wrist.

He squeezed the other man's hand, "It's different," he whispered, even though Draco already knew that, "Different than how you love me."

"Harry-" he started.

"But it's really big," he said, eyes filling with tears, "I love you so much."

"Hey," Draco said, moving so he could pull Harry into a hug, tucking him under his arm and letting Harry hide his face in his neck. "Hey," he soothed, "It's alright. I know, sweetheart. I know you love me just as much as I love you. I know."

"Promise?" Harry whispered.

He nodded, pressing his face into Harry's curls. "Yes, love. I promise. You're so good," he whispered.

He let out a soft sound, somewhere between a whimper and a word of dissent.

"You're so good. It's such a gift to be able to love you. You're such a good gift."

He wrapped an arm around Draco's waist.

"I love you," he murmured into his hair.

Harry nodded.

"Thanks for letting me," he added.

Harry hummed, he wanted to be loved more than anything, wanted this more than anything. But he could understand what Draco meant, it was scary to allow yourself to be loved, to believe that you are worthy of such a thing. Scary to imagine what could happen if you let yourself open up to the possibility of blossoming into a person who is loved, scary to imagine what would happen if you came to need someone else. Maybe sometimes part of loving someone else was allowing yourself to be loved in return. Maybe believing that someone loves you and letting them is itself an act of love to them. "I'm a little afraid."

Draco nodded, "that's okay. I am too sometimes."

"What do you do?" Harry asked.

He hummed, "Well, I ask if I can just let myself be happy."

"What?"

Draco shrugged, "I ask if I can just let myself be happy," he repeated. "Can today be enough for today? Can I just enjoy all of the good that this relationship has to offer without worrying about the possible loss in the future?"

"Can you?"

"Sometimes," he replied and Harry could hear the smile in his voice. "I try to. Because today is all we have and grieving what I do not know today has never made loss later any easier."

Harry sighed, snuggling a little closer.

"So, Harry Potter, can you just let yourself be happy today?"

He took a deep breath, thought about it, and nodded. He could do that. He could just let himself be happy. One day at a time.

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

Read more of my fics, if you’d like

#drarry #ace harry potter #love #soft #fluff #one shot #reassurance #tenderness #may or may not be based on the author's real life experiences presently #being ace and navigating a relationship is scary

[hajihiko]

Are trans women real women?

As opposed to what. Fictional? A mannequin? Unreal in the sense that it's unreal how bomb she is?

(tags V relevant)

#Inventing boxes around people never works. There's no parameter for real or not real that doesn't allow for discrimination #If a woman says she is a woman then she is a woman. It is not my business to comment on how ''''real'''' it is #Based on what?? The hell kind of authority am I??? I'm some fuckin dude. #It does not matter to me what pronouns or what chromosomes or what presentation someone has #If you tell me you're a woman okay you're a woman. You know better than me. What kind of douchebag would I be to contest that #Short answer: trans women are as real women as any women. It doesn't change anything. #Are he/him women women? Are drag queens women? Are femboys women? I don't speak for them why don't you ask them to their face #By which I mean get a scope on their experience and opinion. And don't ask the person who LOUDLY DOESN'T LIKE FIRM LABELS. #Not an art

[benkyoutobentou]

#i saw someone talking about how they had copies of the same book in multiple languages and i was like.... why tho #like i get collecting multiple language editions of a favorite of yours #but this was presented as specifically for reading in other languages #idk am i the odd one out here? #i will not read anything translated Into Japanese #the way i look at it is that i learn languages to get a deeper understanding of the author's original intent #but as of right now theres still a little bit of a language barrier #translation is already a type of barrier between you and the original work #so why would i want to be twice removed from what the author is saying #languages #langblr #studyblr #language learning #benkyou posting #polls #memes #studyinspo #polyglot #the only reason i can see myself reading a book translated into japanese is if i really want to read it but japanese is the only #available language i know #but even then #i always have so many books to read that it really wouldnt make a difference if i either a. read it or not #or b. waited for it to be translated into english #i do know that im weird about translations though

[sugar-grigri]

If Fumiko is monstrous then Fujimoto should start presenting her as such

Fumiko is written to remind us that Denji is a child, and I repeat, she is the symbol of a child's sexual trauma in all its horror and "paradoxes".

Touching Denji without his consent, catching an adolescent who hasn't yet discovered himself off guard, is the most obvious way of proving the link between the theme of sexual assault and Fumiko, but it doesn't stop there.

The fact that Denji accepts only proves this point: it shows just how much he's someone who needs boundaries and protection. He passively listens to what he's told without question simply because Fumiko has the upper hand.

She has one, but spends her time pretending she doesn't, in particular by disguising her age like a predator, calling him "senpai" when she's 22, and playing up her protective role as a "bodyguard" when she's only there to stop Denji thinking for himself

As can be seen in the dialogue between Miri and Denji, she positions herself as an interlocutor, standing in Denji's shadow, influencing his decisions and distracting the boy from the substance of Miri's message.

But she's a complete paradox, still trying to make Denji believe she's protecting him, she refers to Chainsaw Man as a "child", which rather than demonstrating a good intention shows that she's well aware of what Denji is and that she's abusing him head-on.

Who protects a child by attacking him?

Once again, I insist, these are two pages from the same chapter. Dare you tell me that Fumiko doesn't present any contradictions?

Above all, she makes it seem as if she only wants what's best for Denji, even when he hasn't responded to her pleas for help. Once again, there's a paradox: the predator blames her victim for not having seen her own vulnerability, whereas she’s only abusing those of her victim.

Fumiko is a metaphor for the very dangerousness of sexual assault, gentle on the surface but insidious, its violence only made clear and felt after the event, rising like a tide.

When Yoshida convinces Denji to give up his normal life, he leaves him in the hands of Fumiko, a public hunter, who symbolises the extent to which, despite the monster in front of them, danger also exists among men, and that the milieu of public hunters is a harmful world for a child.

I think the reason Fujimoto doesn't immediately place Fumiko in a position of condemnation is to instil a feeling of frustration and powerlessness at seeing Denji unprotected, to make it clear that "he's missing something", a parental figure.

But I think that for the writing to be complete, the author has to take a clear stance on the subject, in his own way of course, but explicitly

Seeing Fumiko next to Denji makes me anxious, it's such a common form of violence that it pulls me out of my reading.

Fumiko is a monster, so I pray that Fujimoto will have fun explicitly detailing her dark side and her horror.

If he doesn't, then she'll remain an unfinished and confusing chimera, the result of lazy writing and a fear of commitment.

#csm 136 #csm 137 #csm 139 #csm 142 #chainsaw man #csm #csm part 2 #csm spoilers #denji #fumiko #fumiko mifune #my thoughts #But I'm a realist I can also see the flaws in an author I love Fujimoto likes the dissident and morally controversial aspect of his work #Even when the violence is correctly presented there will be no narrator to condemn it Fujimoto doesn't risk accentuating Fumiko's horror #but just making it more present more controversial Just to disturb his readers who sometimes have no real use for the script. #Maybe I'm being too hopeful and justifying the shortcomings of Fumiko's writing to reassure myself #It's possible she's the black spot in part 2 #In a jump shonen you can't present a 22-year-old girl touching a teenager as a joke. #I'm in favour of creative freedom but I'm also in favour of authors being aware of their audience.

[chamerionwrites]

See I honestly do find the prequels-era Jedi an interesting (and at times painfully recognizable) portrait of institutional violence in that...they aren't cackling villains. They're mostly sympathetic well-intentioned individuals who via a combo of traditionalist inertia, ideological blinders, proximity to power, a dash of plain old arrogance and a liberal seasoning of end-justifies-the-means compromise end up being at best indifferent to and at worst deeply complicit in some pretty heinous injustice. I don't even think this is a completely against-the-grain reading on my part. At the end of the day it's a pretty mild critique, but it's hard to argue that the PT is entirely uncritical of the Jedi imo.

Unfortunately the narrative is never interested in really sinking its teeth into that. And even more unfortunately, a chunk of the fandom will clutch its pearls in horrified outrage if anybody else is interested in sinking their teeth into that

#i recognize that isn't lucas' reading but (1) the author is dead (2) his is not the sole creative vision at work in those films #and (3) george ''i'm a methodist buddhist benevolent dictatorship is the best form of govt ewoks are my vietnam metaphor'' lucas #says some brain-breakingly stupid shit and i'm under no obligation to accept his takes as gospel #anyway. i don't think you have to hate or lack sympathy for the characters to think that as presented in the pt #the jedi order is sort of a fucked up institution within (and doing the bidding of and dedicated to perpetuating) a deeply fucked up system #fundamentally it's a story about structural failure!!! #the good intentions are what make that failure tragic #star wars #aggressive negotiations #my posts

[benveydraws]

i can't love you in this skin

#twittering birds never fly #saezuru tori wa habatakanai #suggestive #<- jic #interpret this as you will #there's A Lot about gender and yashiro's relationship with gender and heteronormativity especially in relation to doumeki #he asks him what type of Women he likes. they only watch m/f stuff together. “i wonder if he's gentle with women”. #the anger and disappointment when he realizes that doumeki is actually attracted to him #unless he's remembering something that happened he only fantasises about doumeki with a woman and not with himself #(same was with kageyama iirc) #except for that kiss in the elevator but that's a whole other conversation. and even then there was a woman present #he even tells kamiya that doumeki is basically straight and he's just a rare exception #yashiro's is so so desperate to push doumeki towards a “normal” life #aka not in yakuza. not with him. in a normal (straight) relationship #just. a lot of self hatred and internalized homophobia #all that being said. i think regardless of the author's intent reading yashiro as a closeted trans person is also valid #the “i could never afford myself to reflect on this and i also don't care enough about living to even bother atp” type of closet #would it contradict some of the things yashiro says? sure. but he contradicts himself all the time #am i projecting as someone who will live and die in the closet? sure #i think it's interesting that the only person who genuinely asks him about gender is ryuzaki #in the same conversation where he asks him about falling in love #and yashiro's response is basically “it wouldn't change much” and “i'm fine with what i have”. are you tho #there's a lot i can say about yashiro and aoi and yashiro and ryuzaki's girlfriend but i can't articulate it well rn so whatever #the way dumeki's lie about dating a woman affects yashiro is also interesting regardless of which interpretation you go with #which is also why i'm using post time-skip for the art. the topic keeps popping up #but yeah uh. take it as you will i just have a lot of feelings about. This #art tag

[ventii-impact]

i neeed more old mondstadt lore. how did people feel when venti took on the form of his friend? were they reverent? sympathetic? disgusted? was this what turned the red haired warrior away from him, or was it because he didn’t trust his ascension as a god after having just removed a tyrant?

on top of that, amos is such a fascinating character yet so little is known about her. she was a mortal lover of a god! her name means burden! venti wields a bow in honor of her! my girl was so interesting!

and of course, there is such a scarcity of nameless bard content. despite being venti’s entire reason for godhood, we know fairly little about his personality or past.

(and don’t even get me started on istaroth)

#old mondstadt #venti #amos #sooo fun how the dichotomy of loyalty to authority vs rejection of it was carried on by the gunnhildrs and ragnvindrs to the present day #also i’m getting started on istaroth #she was around since very early times but as far as i can tell she was only worshipped alongside barbatos not decarabian. there Must be #some connection right? did they meet at some early point in venti’s godhood? did he already have a connection with her? for them to have #been worshipped together the people of mond must have seen / heard abt her (potentially with venti) somehow so how did this occur? #interestingly both istaroth and venti are some of the only gods i can think of that have been active outside of their specific region #x

[knife-dad]

Watching Taika Waititi take over as "guy in charge of delivering queer representation" for marvel (and maybe star wars?) Is kind of like... like watching an invasive species find a highly specific ecological niche and absolutely FLOURISH despite the odds, except that I'm not mad about it, if anything I am highly entertained. You go you funky little (allegedly) straight man, be the pigeon of Disney franchises. Make star wars gay, I believe in you

#this is especially funny because it seems to be an entirely self-assigned role #and its unclear if it's because he himself values representation (likely) #or because he likes defying authority and queer representation presents a new challenge (equally likely) #in any case. i love it. im having fun #thor love and thunder #text posts to the void

[liriostigre]

The Tunnel posting ✌🏼 (chapter 35 in the original and 36 in some editions in english. anyway, if you read it and find it boring please DON'T let me know lol)

#it's so well written imo. as i said‚ great character study #the author presents the narrator's flaws and impulses in an extremely logical style; excessively detailed and a very terse prose #it's a very controlled style of writing but it's about uncontrollable emotions that the narrator regards as rational #but they're only fueled by suspicions and assumptions‚ and it's all in his insecure and troubled mind #the tunnel #ernesto sabato #el túnel