#this is very questionable from child protection perspective

[lightwise]

Omega is not okay

I know we've all been over the moon about Crosshair and Hunter's dynamic in The Return, but I want to draw some attention to Omega in this episode, and something that I think Joel Aron is trying to draw attention to with his lighting choices.

Omega is not okay.

Joel has made pointed out many times that he loves doing reveal lighting (think the overhead light in Crosshair's cell or on the freighter at the end of A Different Approach giving him a halo, or how Hunter stops short of the overhead light on the Marauder before stepping out to greet Omega). And throughout this whole episode, the light is breaking over Crosshair and bathing him in warmth more and more. He is slowly returning the light and coming home to his family.

Omega, however, in nearly every single scene in this episode, is in shadow.

Yes, her hairstyle is contributing to the fall of light on her face, and yes, she has her hat on while they're on Barton IV. But this is showing that her psychological state since they escaped Tantiss is uneasy, at best, and very conflicted and darkened, at worst. Even when she wakes up in the comfort and safety of the Marauder, she is shrouded in shadow. And even in scenes where the light wraps around and highlights Crosshair's face, Omega's is kept harshly defined, and she is often looking away from the "camera".

Even when we see her somewhat happier at points in this episode, usually due to watching her brothers reconnect, her face is not as well lit as theirs.

Omega kept her positivity and optimism at the forefront while she and Crosshair were in prison, and throughout most of their escape. It's what we most associate with her--being a ray of sunshine and encouragement for those around her. Now, however, she has the opportunity to relax a bit, for the adults to be handling certain things, and the trauma and perspective shift that she has just gone through is coming to the forefront.

Her survivors guilt, her shock at not being the only female clone, her confusion and questions over who she is and why she is so important, the cruelty she's seen Hemlock be capable of, and her continued empathy for anyone who is suffering is all swirling around in her in ways that she doesn't know what to do with yet. Yes, she has seen much suffering in the galaxy already in her short life, and has always been adamant about her need to help others. But ultimately it had never impacted her like this. Until now.

Crosshair has been broken and remade by his experiences. Omega is being broken and remade by hers as well. And I'm not sure the boys fully realize just how much yet.

Omega refuses to be left behind. She feels responsible for the fact that the rest of the clones are still on Tantiss. She feels guilty that she could have a chance at a life still and they don't. She feels an all-encompassing need to help them if she can, even though she is still young and vulnerable. This is ultimately going to conflict with Hunter's desires to keep her safe and hidden. Echo has already chosen the fight. Wrecker is willing to go wherever he's needed. Crosshair has been through too much to not be willing to fight back however necessary.

Hunter is going to eventually realize that while Omega is still a child, and does need to be protected, at the same time, her own sense of responsibility is going to eventually supersede his desires.

Echo and Crosshair especially will be able to understand some of what she is feeling and hopefully help guide her through it. Hopefully, Omega will be able to reconcile who she is, what she is capable of, and what is outside of her ability to fix, sooner rather than later. But it's safe to say she will never be the same after this. At least she has a little bit of reprieve before facing whatever is next.

#the bad batch #tbb #star wars #the bad batch spoilers #tbb spoilers #omega #omega bad batch #tbb omega #the return #tbb season 3 #the bad batch season 3 #the bad batch season 3 spoilers #tbb season 3 spoilers #some light edits #somelightedits #somelightramblings #some light ramblings

[flowersforchoso]

Bi-han as a father.

it takes a while for him to adjust to the concept of fatherhood as a result of the strained relationship he had with his father.

but once he gets the hang of it, he'll be the perfect mix of stern and loving. capable of striking fear in his children's hearts if you threaten to report them, "i'll tell your father" works like a charm to make them act right, but he's welcoming and will never turn his children away or refuse to engage them.

realistically, he would've like 2-3 kids max.

he's a disciplinarian through and through. won't tolerate misbehavior or disrespect, especially if its towards you. he doesn't take kindly to that.

sometimes you feel he's being excessive with it and intervene

"mommy!" your child cries, running to you for protection from their father—a refuge—to which you'd complain that he's being needlessly harsh

"you coddle them too much, that's the problem." he scolds. "no child of mine will be errant"

of course, you get upset at his hard-headedness that barely makes him see from your perspective

and he can tell, because you're no longer receptive to his advances in protest against his behaviour

so he tones down the discipline and tries to be lenient with them. keyword: tries.

nevertheless, he's nurturing and very hands-on. attentive as well. if something is wrong, he notices right away.

will cook for his children because he believes he's the better cook, but they think otherwise, since he just puts lots of vegetables in the food. he wants them to grow healthy and strong

he teaches his children from a tender age to be self-sufficient and trains them to be able to protect themselves and you, if the situation calls for it.

dad time is essential. will take them to exciting places and partake in outdoor activities like gardening, hiking, fishing or simply errands to the marketplace etc. he loves to spend time with them and would crack dad jokes here and there to entertain them. they'll pretend to find it funny.

he's overprotective and strives to be a good role model to his kids.

now if he's a girl dad, there's a slight twist.

his parenting style is much more relaxed due to his mother being the only female presence he had growing up so its a mix of cluelessness and traditional ideals shining through and will mostly take cues from you

training is not mandatory but if they're interested, he would be happy. its not as rigorous and they have the choice to opt out anytime.

he dotes excessively on them that'll make you wonder if this was the same person you married. but it's mainly because he sees them as mini versions of you

at this point, its no surprise he's the preferred parent because of how affectionate he is towards them. and big, strong dad gives the best piggyback rides.

infact, you would have to complain that he's spoiling them too much to which he'd respond

"what's it to you? don't question my parenting" and you leave it at that.

treats them delicately. his paternal instincts go into overdrive everytime and he gets easily worried when it comes to them

when they reach a certain age, he doesn't shy away from topics relating to womanhood. but that doesn't mean he initiates the conversation. he takes on the passive role of listener and further educates himself by asking you questions in private which you tease him for being eager to learn

doesn't joke with his daughters. he's a nightmare of a father nobody would want to deal with because he would raise hell if anyone dares hurt them in any capacity

he's changed so much since having them; has become softened, and is grateful to you for this wonderful gift.

but if he only has sons, its a different story entirely

he's twice as stern and this is because he grew up with brothers so he knows how unruly boys can be

training is mandatory for them, they do not get the luxury to choose. he wants them to be able to protect themselves and you, so he doesn't ever present the opportunity for slacking

in short, he rules with an iron fist. you'd have to remind him that they're his children, not his underlings

struggles with voicing his affection. you'd have to reassure your sons that their father, infact, loves them

and it's only natural they gravitate towards you.

but that doesn't mean he doesn't care for them. because he does. its all about tough love and instilling strong values in them, leaving no room for weakness.

and they constantly want to impress their father. on rare occasions when they do, or bi han is feeling particularly soft, he looks at them with adoration and ruffles their hair or simply utters a "well done" that means the world to them

they look up to their father and are always around him seeking validation

#bi han x reader #bi han x you #bi han sub zero #sub zero x you #mk1 sub zero x reader #subzero x reader #mk1 bi han #bi han mk1 #mortal kombat 1

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for entertaining a friendship with a child?

okay so this might be a weird one or even a controversial one i honestly have zero clue how other people will receive this, apologies in advance if i ramble!

to begin, i (23ftm) and this kid (15f) first met about a year ago. one of my best friends (23m) is a pretty big model and tiktoker and she was a fan of his, and she was pretty recognized online for making cool edits and stuff of him and coming to meetups etcetera, so he knew of her from there, and over time with always seeing each other at meet ups and her being in his discord server (where i mod) she kind of became pretty well known to us.

an important thing to note is that she's SUPER neurodivergent and she's had a really tough life. she lost her older brother a few years back and she's (i'm not sure of the correct way to put it, her family is originally from the netherlands and their english is kind of in the works so this is how they put it) developmentally behind a few years - her parents describe this as her being "mentally more 13 than 15" but her behaviour to me is even younger than that. she's very very innocent and trusting, very overemotional and sensitive to criticism etc, loves stuffed animals and pink and cartoons and all of that. she's told me she feels like a little kid sometimes and will talk/act like one so maybe there's an element of trauma-rooted age regression there, i'm not super sure - i'm not gonna get into detail but she's talked to me about her life a lot and she's had some pretty fucked up shit happen to her.

from the beginning she pretty much imprinted on me - she's told me before i remind her of the big brother she lost, and ever since then she's called me her "big brother" and "family" etc. at first i was more just playing along with it to make her happy but over time she really has become something like a little sister to me, i feel super protective of her. i want to become a teacher after college (not to mention eventually a parent with my fiancee) so i think at least part of it is that taking a kid 'under my wing' so to speak is giving me experience with it all. i've always been kinda paternal/protective over kids in general but i was the youngest sibling in my family so i never really had anyone to utilise that on before

she does rely super heavily on me emotionally, especially because after i found out she was being bullied pretty badly at school i started dropping by to keep her company during breaks/lunch and making sure shit was okay (which her still-living brother used to do, but he's a famous?? - unsure How famous, i don't know sports at all - footballer/soccer player who's often in another country and can't see her often anymore), and i've been working with her to curb that. i'm actually currently working with her parents to find her a good therapist and support system. she's no longer in the tiktok friend's discord just because it was getting a little all-consuming for her and we encouraged her to take a break, but she's done a TON of work on herself and maturing since then and she does plan to rejoin at some point soon.

however, i find it really really hard to gauge whether being so close with a child is... like normal? or not. i honestly can't tell if it's kind of the internet caution about adults talking to minors kind of warping my brain and making me overly wary of what people will think or if i'm doing something wrong or if it's genuinely like a weird situation, so i guess i'm looking for outside perspectives.

the things that make me question it is that like i said she's very 'mentally young', she's very sheltered, and there definitely seems to be an element of her kind of replacing the older brother figure she lost with me. on top of that, we met through her being a fan of my friend, and though she's now separate from that i worry there could still be an element of power there because i'm close with the guy she calls her idol. her family knows me and seem totally chill with everything, but they've told me she tells people at her school that i'm literally her brother and basically 100% talks about me as if i'm her biological family, which i find super sweet but at the same time wonder if it's healthy.

she obviously needs therapy and hopefully soon we can get her it, but: AITA for entertaining a sort of found family dynamic / friendship at all with someone very vulnerable and young or is this genuinely helpful for her?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[fellthemarvelous]

Invisible scars

(TW: religious trauma)

Looking at me, you wouldn't know that I've survived religious trauma. The marks of religious trauma are seldom visible. In fact, I had no idea for the longest time that I had religious trauma (I thought it was a thing that happened to other people). I simply spent decades questioning the reasons I felt like I was so broken on in the inside. I kept trying to figure out what I was doing wrong and why I never felt happy or like I was never able to connect to anyone. I had no idea that my experience with the church as a small child is what shaped me into the anxiety-ridden, majorly depressed disaster creature I am today.

I spent 12 years learning inside of Catholic schools. It has taken me more than 20 years to process and deconstruct, and I am always going to be a work in progress. I was brainwashed into believing the very worst about myself, and I was always just beyond saving because I had the misfortune of being a woman in a church that taught us that women experience pain during childbirth as a natural consequence of Eve eating the apple, which is why they enjoy making us suffer in the first place. They taught us that Adam ate the apple because Eve seduced him, so even though Adam also ate the apple, his sin still wasn't as bad as Eve's because she did it first and used sex to get him to do the same. They placed the blame for Original Sin squarely on Eve and thus onto every single girl who entered the church. If a boy did something to me that I didn't like, it's probably because I did something to provoke him first.

Do you know what I learned to do at a very young age just to be able to cope with that?

I learned to use humor to deflect when I was struggling. I smile when I don't want people to know I'm sad. I laugh at inappropriate times, especially when I'm uncomfortable. I learned to bottle up all of my emotions because expressing anything other than happiness is bad. I learned to compartmentalize. I taught myself how to pull out the right emotion for the right occasion because I was always striving to be who I thought everyone else wanted me to be. It was exhausting.

In the midst of all of this, I'm trying to figure out which parts of me are really me and which parts of me are things that were put into my head. If you've experienced indoctrination, you know what I'm talking about. They pulled us apart as small children and placed us in specific boxes and told us that deviating from the norm was bad.

Crowley is a fallen angel. His change from angel to demon is drastic on the outside.

You know he fell and that his wings turned black and he ended up in a pool of boiling sulfur. It's the reason Crowley is so easy to sympathize with. He suffered unfairly because of arbitrary rules that deemed him unforgivable. He's accepted that part of himself. He's clever and creative and it has helped him find ways to get out of doing his job for centuries. Hell doesn't care how jobs get done just as long as someone does them, and at this point humanity is doing more to damn themselves than the demons are able to keep up with. They're tired and overworked. Hell is overpopulated even though it should be infinite in size. Crowley wants no part of that system because he sees it for what it is, just as he sees Heaven for what it is. He has the marks to prove that he is one of the damned, but that has given him all the perspective he needs to see that both sides are fucked up and toxic and "irredeemable" (just like him). He has yet to fully let go of the hold Heaven has over him because of how badly he got hurt.

Aziraphale is still an angel.

He never fell, and he doesn't know why. He has lied to God. He has lied to Gabriel repeatedly. He lies to protect Crowley. He lies to protect humanity.

Remember, Crowley and Aziraphale started off in the same place.

They both started off as angels who were created to do God's bidding. Aziraphale is the one who told Crowley what he'd heard about everything shutting down in 6,000 years. He was simply trying to make conversation. He didn't think it was something Crowley would object to. Angels were just supposed to go along with God's plans, but Crowley had a different opinion and was vocal about it. Where did Aziraphale get his information in the first place? Why does nobody ever ask this question?

Aziraphale knows Heaven is toxic. He's not blind. We need to move past this idea that because he still has love for God that he doesn't know Heaven is fucked up. He never fell, and it's something he still fears because who the hell doesn't fear the thought of eternal torment, especially if you know it's real? God has never cast him out of Heaven though and he doesn't know why. It's probably something that hangs over his head like the Sword of Damocles.

Letting go is not an easy task. Aziraphale has always been an angel. He didn't have his identity ripped from him the same way that Crowley did. Crowley had to adapt to a brand new way of existing because he was cast out of Heaven.

Crowley's trauma is evident on the outside. Aziraphale's trauma is hidden on the inside. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there.

Crowley was an angel and then he was a demon, but he doesn't want to be labeled as either.

Aziraphale has only ever known how to be an angel. He's only ever known the ways of Heaven.

I'm only in my early 40s. It has taken me 20+ years to undo 12 years of religious abuse. Aziraphale is immortal. He and Crowley have abandoned their jobs, but four years in the space of millions isn't a lot. No one overcomes indoctrination in four years. Especially when you had millions of years of blind obedience indoctrinated into you. It simply does not work that way no matter how much you want to believe it can.

It has taken me more than two decades to learn how to stop hating myself. I still have no idea how to love myself, but it's something I'm trying to learn.

My entire identity was wrapped up in what the church told me it would be. Once I fully denounced it and all organized religion, I found out I had no idea who I was. No one had prepared me for a life outside of this one very specific identity and role that I was expected to fill based on a very specific box I was placed into.

I still struggle with black and white concepts. It's hard to unlearn when you have no other basis for comparison, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. It means that these changes do not and will not ever happen overnight.

The fall didn't just affect the demons though. It affected the angels as well. Look at how tightly wound the angels are. They're always trying to do the good thing, but they have no idea what that actually means, and you realize this when Uriel asks The Metatron if they had done something wrong. They are scared of making mistakes, but none of them know what they are supposed to be doing since Gabriel disrupted the status quo. You can see they are unsure of themselves and of each other. The concept of free will is so foreign to them, but Aziraphale showed all of them that it was in their grasp when he allowed Gabriel and Beelzebub to decide where to go so they could be together.

It takes a lot of audacity (and sheer ignorance) to dismiss Aziraphale as power-hungry and abusive.

Aziraphale did nothing to punish Gabriel and Beelzebub. He allowed them to leave because they were in love with each other, and he knows what that feels like. He thought he was about to get the same fate with Crowley until The Metatron showed up and refused to take no for an answer.

He doesn't want to fix Heaven because he thinks it's perfect. If he thought it was perfect he wouldn't want to fix it.

Aziraphale is going back into the Lion's Den. He knows what he's going up against. He's been humiliated and belittled and abused by Heaven for thousands of years.

His scars are there even though you can't see them, and he hides his pain with humor and silliness.

When I see people advocating for Aziraphale to suffer even more because they don't think he has suffered enough, I find myself sitting back in one of those classrooms in Catholic school being told that I deserve the bad things that happen to me because I somehow failed to measure up to some impossible metric. The cruelty of that mindset aimed at Aziraphale is kinda the reason Crowley hates Heaven in the first place because he's been there too.

And as someone who is processing religious trauma, it's disheartening to see people say that because Aziraphale has yet to fully let go of Heaven that he deserves harsher treatment. Crowley would definitely not agree with that sentiment.

#good omens #crowley #aziraphale #religious trauma #ex catholic #i don't know if this makes sense #i know the discourse on religious trauma is already another thing in this fandom #but this is how i process #deconstructing isn't fucking easy

[whateversawesome]

SxF Chapter 91: Perspective, History, Empathy

Let me start by saying that I didn't think this chapter would make me so emotional. Was it the same for you?

A small side character like Millie, who we saw only as one of Yor's annoying co-workers, turned out to have a very sad backstory and gave us a glimpse of how things are for young people in Ostania.

This chapter talks a lot about people understanding and misunderstanding each other. Millie was just talking about her own experience and feelings, she was explaining why it was so difficult for her to help during an event like this, and that lady felt personally attacked because she saw things from her own point of view and her sufferings.

In no way the story discards any of those ladies' sufferings; what they went through during the war was very difficult, I'm sure. Nevertheless, comparing their sufferings and demanding Millie to act the same way just because they were able to do it, it's not right.

They both had different experiences because their circumstances were different, so they face life in their own way. That's exactly Yor's point.

Here, Yor demonstrates her best quality (and one of the many reasons why her husband fell in love with her): Emotional strength.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; Yor is a very emotionally intelligent character. The way she stood up for Millie displayed all her emotional strength. She called out that woman in such a smart way!! She wasn't rude but her words were true and very wise.

One of the most important things Yor mentions is that we cannot bear the same load because we're different. And I couldn't agree more👏

Also, if we take it as a metaphor, Yor is such a strong person because she carried a very heavy load: as a child and an orphan, she had to take care of her brother. Because of this, a naturally kind person like her had to learn to murder in order to survive.

It was a beautiful chapter. On top of everything, we learned a few important things:

1.Yor did lose her parents during the war and because of the war.

2.Donovan Desmond did NOT start the war. But plenty of young people like Millie don't know that, so it's possible that since he was Prime Minister during most of the war, he gets blamed for starting it.

3.Donovan Desmond is hated by many. That's probably the reason why he's no longer in office. And it also wouldn't be surprising that the majority of people in Ostania who voted against him want to move on from the war.

3.Melinda still wears her wedding ring and, even though she's separated from her husband, she still counts him as an important person for her. I guess, you can hate a person's actions and opinions, hate what they have become, but care about them at the same time...their marriage is complicated.

4.Not only Yor and Twilight fear the SSS because of their jobs. The general population do too because they know rich and powerful people can make them disappear regardless whether they are spies or not. That means arrests and disappearences of innocent people are common.

5.There was a repression during war time. This means the state controls and restricts certain rights of its citizens. When war happens, the state may determine it's necessary to protect their country and citizens. Chances are that policing of others started then and Ostanians got used to living like that.

And now some questions:

Was Melinda being sincere? In my opinion yes (for the most part). Melinda is no longer campaigning for her husband. In fact, she's going there incognito. Since her husband is no longer the Prime Minister and they don't have any elections to win, she doesn't have to support this types of events. If you think about it, once a politician retires from the public eye, their spouse generally goes back to their normal life.

Something that caught my attention was that it was mentioned Melinda has a lot of enemies; probably because her husband has a lot of enemies too. If that's the case, it would be easier for Melinda to move abroad, where she could have a care-free life, yet, she has chosen to stay in Ostania. Why?

Melinda is still a very mysterious character. We don't know her plans or intentions. We don't know why she separated from her husband. My only guess is that she's suffered a great deal and that's why she's able to empathize with Millie, even though their experiences are different.

What do you think?

Bonus (to end on a light note):

This is the Sxf when we see Yor 😄

#spy x family #twiyor #Spy x family manga #Sxf #Spy x family #yor forger #loid forger #anya forger #loidyor #loid x yor #agent twilight #Spy x family meta #spy x family analysis

[mysterycitrus]

Thinking about Jim, do you think he also gets this good cop good father protection because of Barbara Gordon's admiration of him? Reading it from Barbara's perspective like all her stories have Jim Gordon as the best dad and her wanting to be a cop or as a child being the gcpd little cheerleader. Like trying to tie that with her role as Oracle but then even thinking of like The Hill where Jim shot and killed a teenager and his response to the mother was that the kid was armed like... it is hard to think that she would have that blind admiration of him. I also think she is more willing to work with morally questionable characters since she has a history of working with those types of characters. What do you think DC needs to do with Barbara Gordon to get actual interest in her again?

the solution for babs is simple — she needs to be oracle again.

no ifs whens or buts — babs being batgirl again is such a spectacular downgrade from her time as oracle it’s almost unreal. babs as a character, her growth after being shot, her rediscovery and pursuit of her own autonomy, her vindictiveness, her need for control, her relationships with the birds and wendy and cass and steph, make her an infinitely richer and more interesting character than when she wears the cowl. that’s even ignoring the ableist rhetoric behind her “reclaiming” her power by getting an implant and leaving her chair, which like, vom, because it’s a whole other can of worms.

unlike batwoman where there’s a completely different identity and mantle that’s seperate from bruce, batgirl is unequivocally the subordinate to batman. the girl denotes her lack of authority. cass and helena come the closest to shaking this off, but it’s still a very deliberate character dynamic that dc upholds. batgirl 2009 also successfully orients the mantle around babs and steph, but a large part of that is that bruce isn’t present in the story.

babs was at least two years older than dick in the original canon. she was a librarian who had a life outside of the community. she was a support for other disabled women. she’d tell bruce to shut the fuck up to his face. she was singularly the most important resource to the league and all other hero teams. she was a complicated person with a lot of trauma, not the cool girlfriend archetype. i also dislike that she’s dating dick while he’s nightwing and she’s still batgirl. imagine if they made dick robin again and had him date babs as oracle. it’d be so weird!

wrt jim gordon— a lot of babs’s unequivocal support of him comes from dc’s general inability to admit that he’s a deeply flawed human being in a position of power. the narrative rarely actually criticises him over his decisions. however, i also think people forget that like…. a lot of babs’s politics is tied up with the police. she’s essentially a one woman surveillance state, and she historically struggles with boundaries around the people she loves. she does work with people that the other bats wouldn’t — isley, waller, etc, but i don’t think that necessarily separates her from the police because often the police or armed forces do the same thing. her modus operandi is also very similar to bruce in a lot of ways too.

in saying that tho, i do appreciate that she’s willing to just say fuck it, full throttle and getting a god damned law degree to bust bruce out of a murder charge. she’s an icon. let her be cunty again!!

#im in my hating cops era (i never stop) #barbara gordon #batgirl #batfam #dc comics #jim Gordon #the ask and the answer #dc meta

[avelanlorelay]

About Cardan and his mother

I was re-reading the comments on my fic Deniere Danse and most of them are against Lady Asha, which may be proof that she's just as hated by the fandom in the "parents" category as Madoc and Balekin (Or maybe it's bc of the plot I've created, sorry). So one unanimous question is: why does Cardan still allow her to stay in the brugh?

My pov: From Twk to Tpt we can see that Cardan is not as insensitive as he makes himself out to be, on the contrary, he has a lot of love to give (😭) (a side of him that probably only Nicasia had access to🙄). He's admitted to still liking his mother a little and if we look closely, that despite having a strong personality, Cardan is no longer a hateful person. After losing his entire family, he wouldn't throw out his mother, the second only person left of his blood, for bad things in the past. In Tpt we see how he's very happy with Jude and probably, thinks about the future instead of holding grudges about things from the past.

Okay, Cardan isn't the boy with the heart of stone, but why would he still like Lady Asha? Why didn't he lock her back up in the tower of oblivion like he did with Balekin? First of all it's obvious, she never committed any crime. But although the books say very little about their relationship (a shame because I've always been curious about it), I think there are some clues:

In the prologue to Tqn we see the discovery of Cardan's curse. It's said that Lady Asha doesn't seem to know how to hold a baby, but she hugs he when Eldred seems to be considering parting with the child and holds he tighter when she leaves. Perhaps she was just afraid of not having privileges, but it's the only gesture of affection we see from her.

Still in Tqn, Oriana tells Jude about Cardan's childhood:

"It wasn't as though she didn't dress him in velvets or furs; it's that she left them on until they grew ragged. Nor was it that she didn't feed him the most delectable cuts of meat and cake...."

Now, in Htkoelths, when he meets Aslog in the stables, despite being there because of her (bitch) Cardan thinks that if he called his mother she would beat Aslog up and throw her out. I found this passage strange bc Lady Asha is described as delicate and thin, yet Cardan knows that she would protect him from a much bigger and stronger woman. If he's so sure of this, has Lady Asha defended him before?

And finally, just a guess: when he travels to the mortal world in Tcp's time to save Balekin's mortal slave, Cardan travels on a giant moth owned by Lady Asha. It's said that the creature was personally tamed by her and he still remembers how, so he was probably there when it happened. Which means that perhaps Lady didn't leave him completely abandoned, there were moments that the two of them spent together, when she dressed him, fed him and perhaps took him for walks and played with him.

What does my monologue mean? That if we compare, Cardan seems to have more feelings for Lady Asha than for Eldred, because despite so many bad ones, he has good memories with her too. It's not just a blood bond.

It's sad and unfair, but Cardan has a much more forgiving heart than it seems.

There's probably something else too: guilt. If I'm not mistaken, in Twk's deleted scenes, when Lady Asha meets him to talk about Jude, it's said that Cardan didn't free her because he didn't think he had the power to, after all, Jude was the real High King.

Now, if we stop to think about it, Lady Asha had never committed a crime, (if we don't consider her to be the worst mother in the world), yet she probably spent about ten years trapped in the tower of oblivion, starving and cold, completely alone. Not even Balekin or Madoc suffered so much. Can we feel sorry for her for that? Idk, if you're a good person and can even like Madoc, that's fine, but I think it's well deserved. But not from Cardan's point of view, not least bc from his perspective it was his fault. Now, as High King, the best thing he can do to be fair is to reward her for all that time of suffering. So it's understandable that he lets her live in the palace and have everything she ever wanted.

Jude pov: I think that since she would like her mother to be alive and by her side and Cardan has that opportunity (which I would frankly pass up), she would never take it away from him, even for revenge. And like him, she's too happy to worry about the past and people who aren't worth it.

#cardan greenbriar #jurdan #tfota #jude duarte #holly black #the cruel prince #the folk of the air #tqon #twk #jude x cardan #Tcp #the queen of nothing #the wicked king #Jude #judecardan #Lady as #lady asha

[drdemonprince]

People sometimes get very attached to an understanding of disability that is rooted in biology, because they believe that is the only explanation that grants them permission to not function up to society’s punishing, impossible standards. But the reality is that neurotypicality’s punishing standards are not attainable to anyone, and so nobody should feel defective or broken for failing to meet up to them. While it may bring relief for a parent to believe their "pathologically demand avoidant" Autistic child is failing to meet standards because of something neurologically wrong with them, questioning the standards themselves will prove way more fruitful. If your child can’t sleep at night because of test anxiety, the problem might actually be the compulsory nature and high stakes of the test. If a kid screams and thrashes when forced to brush their teeth, comb their hair, and stuff their body into a restrictive, gender normative uniform, the problem might just be the whole forcing part, not the principled resistance of the kid. In the reactions of PDAers we see a body rebelling — against overloaded schedules, uncomfortable sensory stimuli, conformity pressures, and the impossible-to-meet expectations of hyper-individualistic capitalist life. That such rebellion is inconvenient to deal with is the whole point. Lovingly stewarding the life of a child will always be inconvenient. Introducing respect for another person’s needs into your existence will always cost you something, make you ease expectations, break some old rules, abandon some old goals. Adapting your expectations to the way a person actually functions is the sensible, humane approach. And unwaveringly sticking to the same expectations no matter how often those expectations fail is a sign of being unprepared to deal with reality. Who’s the ‘insane’ one in that equation, from a societal perspective? The disabled person who has clarity about who they are and what they cannot do, or the abled person who cannot accept it?

Read the rest of the article for free here.

[imaginethezeldaverse]

Ahhh I love your work! Every work of yours I’ve read has been absolutely amazing, you write so beautifully. I was wondering if I could maybe request a Revali x reader headcanons of Rito mating season or heat/rut? Have a wonderful day/night as well!

Hmmm okay, I think I can give you a few off the top of my head, sure! Since we're talking about a mating season, I'm going to write reader a female/afab/child-bearing capable perspective, if that's okay. There's a headcanon I have that will involve that aspect (so trigger warning for that too btw - I'll add it in in the tags but just an fyi!) I also added a little mini fic in there for funsies lol enjoy!

It's overwhelming for him. Being with you is the first time his heat has ever truly affected him before, so the experience engulfs the poor Rito man. It's a new experience for you both.

He's scared he'll hurt you - like...actually scared. For as headstrong as he can be and how well he carries himself, he very much is still a hero - and that means no harm comes to people that don't deserve it. Especially you - who he loves so dearly and would give his ability to fly if it came down to it.

His instincts are so strong he almost can't control them this time. There's a sensation in him that needs to breed you - take you over and over until he knows he's successfully put a child in you.

Should you decide to help him, he's definitely not going to be gentle. You'll likely sustain some scratches, rug burn, and a few hickies here from his love bites. He's giving in to inhibition here, running with something more primal and animalistic than either of you are used to. But if that scares you - please heed his warning and leave! He absolutely would not hold it against you.

Afterwards, he's very cuddly and it's then you'll realize that he's made a makeshift nest out of a bunch of soft things he owned: garments, shed feathers, even all of his scarves that he's owned through the years. He'll hold you to his chest (and his heart is beating FAST), his chirps and trills are quiet but against your body you hear him clear as day. It takes a few minutes for him to slip back into a less animal-like frame of mind, so forgive him if he doesn't answer any questions or respond to you coherently right away.

Normally Revali had never had an issue with mating season before recent - without a mate to call his own, the ruts were never something he couldn't handle. However, after falling for you, the creation of an unbreakable bond of love and trust changes things inside him. His Rito DNA senses the deep affection he holds for you and ultimately alters his internal biology to reflect as such. So when mating season comes around, you're both blissfully unaware at first. Until you walk into his hut and find him doubled over. The scent of you hits him right away, and in a very rough, shaky voice he begs you not to come any closer. But you can clearly see that he's sweating profusely, feathers fluffed and tousled. He's disheveled and groaning in what sounds like pain so immediately you're thinking he's injured...or worse.

When you try to approach him again he raises his voice to leave him alone. "Please!" he begs - and the red alarms in your head are blaring because he is not one to beg for anything - "I need you...t-to leave..." his head hangs and his chest heaves as he tries to keep a semblance of his decency intact, "I c-c-can't...pro...tect you..." You look at him confused, protect you from what? There's currently no danger! Scanning the room, you still don't understand. But then you remember, from a book you'd read a while ago that Princess Zelda has lent to you (just so you could understand Rito culture a bit better) - spring always meant mating season. Your eyes connect with the foliage that peeks just outside of Revali's window - an elder tree in full bloom. So Revali was-- "Let me help you," you offer, realizing now why he seemed so pained. You didn't think about the decision, didn't think about the repercussions - all you wanted was for him to no longer be in distress. The black pupils of this emerald eyes withered to slits. His breathing picks up, a few short huffs away from a hyperventilation. With the last shred of coherent thought he could must, he exhaled out, "I'll...hurt...you..."

Perhaps it was your bravery, or maybe your caring, stubborn heart that would shrug off your coat, laying it on the ground before him. Revali watches you through his exasperated panting, the erection in his lower garments straining terribly, though he's trying to hide it. The groan he lets out sends a chill down your own spine when you move to gently cup his beak in your hands. As soon as you understood what was happening, you knew the risk of staying there. "I don't care, Revali...I know what you need..." his feather take on a more purple shade as he flushes, "...And I want to help you."

You barely have time to undo the bodice portion of your dress when your hands release his face and you turn to undress, because he almost immediately pins you down. His rush on your body has you landing a little awkwardly on your chest and stomach, but it's soothed by the sensation of long, soft fingered-feathers caressing your sensitive skin. The Rito's beak pecks everywhere he can reach, even plucking at your sleeves to release more of your skin from your dress. You feel his taloned foot wrap around your ankle, not necessarily doing anything to you other than anchoring you beneath him. His winged digits pinch your nipples to stiffness: the combination of those pulses of electricity and the very obvious hardness poking at your backside have you gasping already.

His rut makes him impatient; you know this as you already feel fingers circling your entrance, half to rile you up further, half to make sure you're ready. But again - Revali is impatient, and so up goes your dress, over your hips. There's brief shuffling behind you and then just as you brace your hand around what would essentially be his wrist, Revali is already spreading your legs and sliding between them. The pressure of him inside of you has you keening, and you're thankful for the little bit of foreplay you were given, making you just wet enough to accommodate him. The wing that toyed with your chest was now crowding around your neck, pulling your body upright and flush against his chest as he took you.

Revali is far less than gentle, the rough huffs and deep chitters falling over your skin as he held you still: one wing wound very loosely around your neck, the other gripping your thigh for purchase. His beak nibbled at whatever flesh he could reach. "Re...valiiiiii" you whined out, breath hitching mid thrust. But he could not hear you, his mind so incensed with fucking you to fullness, more avian than anything else as he slammed his hips into you. Yes, he would bed you multiple times that evening, and in multiple positions no less, spilling his seed so deep inside you, even he wasn't able to get you pregnant - he was surely going to take you like he planned on it.

------

After all is said and done, you eventually wake upon a bed of soft clothes and feathers. As you look down you realize it's shaped meticulously, as though it was made to have a form. It was then you realize his need to mate had him go through all of the motions: including building a nest for his mate. You look up at your Rito Champion, the tufts of his feathers much more relaxed than earlier as he rests. Your fingers gently stroke his beak, and the pleased chirp he lets out warms your heart. His wings wrap around your frame a little tighter; your hands waft through the down of his chest. You've no idea if this means you'll actually conceive or not - but you do know you don't mind in the least. You love Revali entirely, you wouldn't have offered if you didn't, and you're hoping that making love to him through his rut was proof enough. His beak finds your temple, carefully nibble and peck at the strands of your hair as if to preen you - it makes you giggle, his animal instincts still showing out in small ways as he settles down into sleep.

You'd assess any repercussions of his rougher handling when you awoke later, right now it just felt good to be in his arms like this.

#loz: botw #legend of zelda #legend of zelda: breath of the wild #botw #revali #revali x reader #x reader #mating season #heat #tw: pregnancy mention #cw: mating season #tw: possible pregnancy #cw: breeding #nws #n$fw #breath of the wild #botw headcanons #botw fanfic #breath of the wild fanfiction #breath of the wild headcanons #n$fw headcanons #revali headcanons #revali smut

[itsmaferart]

Is this a good time to talk about Twilight's development?... Yes, it's always a good time!

One of the most interesting points about Twilight for the fandom is the question of which identity will prevail until the end. I think the most obvious answer would be Loid Forger will be the identity that will stay, since that's the identity most people know him by (in and out of the universe), but things are more complicated when we remember [Redacted], the one that is supposed to be the "true" identity of the boy who lost everything in the tragic war…. And then…. where does that leave Twilight, the Westalis spy?

I think an interesting and collective perspective is that Twilight is slowly becoming Loid Forger, the character created to fulfill the Strix mission Right? So, Twilight starts to get more and more confused feeling that his fake family is more and more real to him. However, I don't know if this is really the route Endo is necessarily taking.

If we think about it, Loid Forger is someone who does not exist, is not a real psychiatrist, was not married and did not really have a daughter with his fictional first wife. We could say then that Twilight's fatherly and good husband moments are due to Loid's character.

Twilight alone, playing Loid as an exemplary parent usually has several problems. From chapter one we can see him sinking into a spiral of negativity when he sees that understanding a child is so complicated (even after reading a bunch of parenting encyclopedias), especially when Anya doesn't get the academic results needed for the mission. The same thing happens, or something similar, when being Loid Forger he tries to "seduce" his fake wife to keep up appearances, or make sure she continues with her role (just an excuse to kiss her, ok?).

I'm trying to say, when Twilight, the spy, transforms himself into Loid Forger he has serious problems. Being the perfect father and husband under the demands of the Strix mission is very complicated, trying to use his daughter (and wife) to get results usually always fails. So, the Loid Forger mask is not enough to transform Twilight into a REAL good father and husband.

So…. Twilight is becoming Loid?

I think this is not so accurate…. at least not yet.

Loid Forger by himself is nothing genuine, he is a mask. He is someone who at some point must cease to exist and with him the lies. So, when Loid falls, who is he who will really be left? What is his own truth?

What makes all those special Loid Forger moments meaningful and a genuine feeling of undercurrent that is NOT FOR THE MISSION, is [Redacted].

If you think about it, all those special moments are the moments where Twilight unwittingly puts aside his spy side and allows [Redacted] to show up: Like when he tells Yor that he's actually always been alone, and has no family to lean on, when he tells Yor about his own mother and how comforted he felt by her side, or when he told Anya how important friends were.

The real loving, fatherly side of Twilight doesn't derive from Loid Forger, it derives from [Redacted]. It's a side that's always been in him, but it's dormant, and it wasn't something that came out of playing that role of Loid.

So I think it's more accurate to say that "Loid is transforming into [Redacted]" ...."Loid's mask is becoming part of [Redacted]'s face on the surface"

Yes, [Redacted] had to disappear, and be buried for Twilight, the spy, to become his dominant identity in order to deal with the loss (it's just a protective shell). Loid Forger is becoming the new identity or the new mask for [Redacted] to resurface from the depths.

To paraphrase Nightfall "He is their buried heart".

Each time manga progresses further, we see Loid/Twilight showing a more genuine side of himself, a more human side. He is no longer someone who smiles (falsely) at his family, or is worried about appearing sympathetic to Yuri (he is annoying as a pain in the ass), or even shows no concern about them finding out that they are not a real family. Twilight has been relaxing, and has stopped worrying so much about appearances, and more about being a good father and a good husband

We even see him genuinely overwhelmed by being a spy, dealing with side missions. Because [Redacted] does not want to appear to be a perfect spy/man at all times, when he clearly wants to be at home with his wife and daughter, dealing with his upset stomach while drinking coffee (with a little milk).

.

So, I think those times when Twilight starts slipping and letting out phrases like "…I abandoned my family again" or "it gets very lonely" (if Yor isn't there) or "I'm genuinely proud", it's actually [Redacted] surfacing and displacing her spy side when it's no longer really necessary

Loid Forger is getting real because [Redacted] is real

It's funny, too, when Loid Forger's relaxed hair looks a lot like Redacted's hairstyle as a child.

.

Yes it may be that for Twilight the spy it is very easy to tell the difference between him and Loid Forger. But the line that distinguishes [Redacted] and Loid becomes increasingly blurred…. and it will be interesting to see how he and his mountains of emotional denial will deal with that.

However, it will be interesting to know what path Endo has planned. For practical purposes and congruent with the plot, all the characters who have met Loid (who don't know he's a spy) recognize him as the psychiatrist, Anya's father, and Yor's husband. So I don't know if this implies that Loid Forger will be his definitive civilian identity when he really stays with his family (because I know it will), or if his real name will be revealed, having to start a new life with his girls and his faithful dog.

.

.

Then..... What do you think?

#My analisys #SxF analisys #twiyor #spyxfamily #spy x family #yor forger #spy x family manga #agent twilight #loid forger #agent #loidyor #loid x yor #sxf loid #anya forger #poor loid #sxf #bond forger #forger family #I didn't know what to title it #spy x family character arc #character analysis

[a-local-cataclysm]

The burning question.

Geto x f!reader x gojo

Shoko & reader

After abject failure to protect Riko and a very near death experience, you decide to transfer to Kyoto in hopes that you can evolve your techniques and shed the trauma you’re carrying. Over ten years later you’ve been called to return to the Tokyo campus and to the faces you haven’t spoken to in just as many years.

Geto didn’t become a cult leader in this. He’s a lil manipulative, a lil controlling, a lil toxic. Gojo is a little shit, arrogant, abrasive but hey that’s Gojo. Also Shoko because she’s an angel and I love her

So reader may come off as an ass/selfish but I’m trying to write with the perspective that her mind suppressed the memories of the event so she doesn’t really remember what happened. Also, she’s going to try and act overtly normal to compensate for how shattered her mind is, but when those unwanted flashbacks hit her it’s an entirely different story.

Chapter 1: In Bad Form

—————————-

“I’m gonna ask them.”

“Absolutely not, that is a terrible idea.”

“Come oooooon how else are we gonna find out the answer to our burning question?” You ask waggling your eyebrows at Shoko suggestively. She gives you a less than amused look and sighs the longest sigh in the history of sighs.

“Your burning question.” She corrected, with heavy emphasis on the your.

“I want nothing to do with this future train wreck you’re setting yourself up for. Honestly, some things are better left unsaid. Trust me.“ Shoko turns her attention back to the body laying on the gurney in front of her. You couldn’t help but watch in reverence as she made the first incision. Her movements were so meticulous and efficient that the thought of seeing Shoko in any other setting seemed unnatural.

You sat and pondered what she said from your spot on the neighboring table. Really wracking your brain as you kick your feet back and forth, playfully trying to catch her lab coat with your shoe. Shoko would fuss later about unsanitary conditions, but since when has that ever stopped you? Plus, you know she’s all bark and no bite. You’ve learned something throughout the years in this friendship. And it’s that you and Shoko are always on the same wavelength. On the surface the two of you seem confusing and unviable, but go a little deeper and you’re as compatible as the gust of wind that kicks up a wildfire. Your bubbly and sarcastic attitude compliments her quiet and calculated one.

She’s the yin to your yang.

It’s also because of this perfectly balanced friendship that she’s sitting here actively trying to advise you against asking Satoru and Suguru if they’re fucking each other.

And come on, everyone knows they are. Sure people will whisper about it to one another. But no one outright asks them. I mean yes, you’ve heard the rumors of Nanami catching them on Yaga’s desk after he pissed Satoru off exceptionally bad one afternoon. Also it’s not like you don’t catch the lingering looks they give each other when they think no one else is observing, and you’re certainly not going crazy when you hear the slip of wet skin slamming together coupled with throaty groans that curl out onto the steam of the communal showers late at night.

Hell just the other day you spied them locking lips and, being the depraved person you are, you got so caught up in the show that you didn’t realize they saw you watching them until a certain pair of cerulean blue eyes locked with yours. So flustered you were that you didn’t notice the devious look they shared with one another while watching you skitter away more embarrassed than ever.

They’re the worst kept secret on jujustu high campus. Hell in jujustu society.

“But whyyyy?” You throw your head back and whine. You may sound like a petulant little child right now, but the tension between you three is borderline unbearable. They know you know, and you know they know you know. Not to mention you’re almost positive they hate you now. Not that you can blame them. It’s all just one giant clusterfuck of a headache and you’d really love to move past it because unfortunately, you do have to attend the stupid Goodwill Event alongside them next week. The worse news being that after the event you’re to move back to the Tokyo campus until further notice. So yeah, diffusing this horribly awkward tension between the three of you is on the top of your to do list.

Shoko graces you with another one of her signature sighs before looking up from the corpse and pointing her scalpel at you threateningly. She ends up giving you a 10 minute speech on the reasons why saying anything to them would be a terrible idea.

“-and finally, you do realize they are two of the strongest sorcerers in modern society. You don’t think that maybe confronting them with a potential scandal would be detrimental to your fucking health?!! Especially with whatever bad blood there is between the three of you.” She grits out, waving the blade haphazardly in the air to enunciate how awful your no good idea is.

You’ve never seen Shoko like this and it has you a bit taken aback so you raise your arms in mock defeat “ok ok i yield! I won’t ask the wonder twins if they’re fucking each other on Yaga’s desk every Tuesday!”

“Oh my god I really wish you hadn’t given me that mental image.” Shoko shudders.

You hop off the table and carefully smooth out the wrinkles in your shirt before you look to Shoko with a menacing smile. You bolt for the door shouting over your shoulder “IMMA STILL ASK THEM!”. Cackling gleefully as you dart down the halls to find your students and start the day. Faintly in the distance you hear Shoko shout back “DON’T YOU FUCKING IDIOT!”

———————————————————

Satoru watches you successfully pin one of your students to the ground in a simple takedown. You demonstrate to them the importance of mastering hand to hand combat while the group gathers around you in a semi circle. One student, the feisty blonde, complains about why they would even need to learn these techniques.

“I don’t think I need to worry about pinning a curse down into submission sensei”, her words punctuated with an eye roll directed at you.

You just shrug it off, plastering on your famous crooked grin, and tell them with your sing songy voice that they never know when they may need it. And to “trust me~~”.

But you don’t expand any further.

Satoru thinks back to the day over ten years ago when you nearly bled out in Suguru’s lap. It still feels like yesterday to him. They were different people then, and as much as he likes to think Riko’s death didn’t change him much. Looking at you right now makes him realize that maybe the loss burrowed further under his skin than he thought.

You transferred to Kyoto shortly after Toji nearly severed your arm off in The Main Hall of The Tomb. Citing the reason as a chance to further develop your technique, but he and Suguru know the real reason why.

He remembers opening his dorm door and being met with the sight of your puffy eyes and tear stained face in front him. The watery apologies that tumbled from your soft lips, how your voice cracked with every inflection. He certainly remembers the tightness in his chest, the way it felt like all his heartstrings were knotted together before you pulled them taut with your bitter goodbyes. You promised to keep in contact with them, vowed the distance wouldn’t change things.

You kept your promise. At first.

Calling or texting at least one of them everyday. If only to check in. Then it was every other day and they chalked it up to Kyoto being a more bustling campus.

Then it was once a week, and by then Suguru was on the verge of a mental collapse.

Being a sorcerer had taken its toll on him heavily. He took leave, started seeing a therapist regularly and eventually the old Suguru started to creep back. But you never contacted them during this. When they were at their lowest you left them out to dry. Though something good did come out of your abandonment. They discovered new ways to love each other and flourished together without you.

So maybe Satoru is a little bitter, maybe Suguru is too.

Maybe when he was eavesdropping on the higher ups he caught wind of your name along with the words relocation, Tokyo, and tenured, and maybe that ignited something within his chest. Though he hasn’t decided whether or not he likes it yet.

The sound of screaming students and your bubbling laughter rips him from his daydreams. He looks out at the scene before him and can’t help the small chuckle that escapes him.

Your students tried surrounding you in an attempt to end the training sooner but your technique caught them one by one. Each student frozen in a more ridiculous position than the last. One kid has his face in the dirt, while his feet are suspended in the air, a hand is braced against the ground and the other is pulling at his pants. Gojo quirks a brow, he doesn’t remember you showing him this technique. Interesting.

A hand rests on his back before moving up to his shoulder, squeezing it gently. Out of his peripheral he can see Suguru watching as you laugh at the compromising positions you’ve put your students in.

“That’s new.” Suguru muses. He glances at Satoru, seemingly lost in thought.

“Yeah, so far it’s my favorite. The sheer terror on her students’ faces is hilarious.” Gojo cackled.

On the field your ears perk up and you turn your head to the direction of his laughter and lock eyes for the second time since you returned to campus. Finally you break contact and see Suguru standing next to him. A foreign emotion flashes across your face. To them it looked like something akin to sadness or regret. Gojo makes out a subtle clenching in your jaw before the mask falls back into place making it look like nothing ever changed.

Suguru and Satoru watch as your students clear the field and make their way to the lunchroom. Hesitation sits idly by in their chests as you leisurely stroll behind the kids with your hands shoved in your pockets glancing at your left arm every so often, it seems to be the focal point of your attention now. Then they catch you periodically bending, rotating and flexing said arm experimentally. Like you’re trying to reassure yourself that it’s still attached to your body.

#jjk x reader #geto x reader #gojo x reader #angsty #comedy #slow burn #geto suguru x reader #gojo saturo #gojou satoru x you #geto suguru #female reader #female #alternate universe #geto x gojo #suguru x satoru #love triangle #smut #shoko ieiri #shoko

[bestworstcase]

Hello, long time lurker and fan of your analyses here. There is one thing that I've been thinking over in relation to how people in the fandom react to Salem, that I'm puzzled with.

I followed one blog because of their posting about a game, and the villain of the game have extraordinarily similar circumstances to Salem, and that got me reflecting...

Both of them had tragic circumstances (or at least, implied), both of them were "corrupted" by "dark creatures" and considered "evil" because of it, both were betrayed by loved ones and both had their faith in the gods shattered and rejected them and deride divinity, but I see that there is much more analyses, understanding and sympathy for the guy than for her.

He wasn't portrayed to be very sympathetic in the game (in fact, he wasn't that present, showing up mostly at middle-end) and most of his characther was informed by a movie and a dlc, and yet...

Why would that be? It is because gamers are more prone to sympathyze with villains? It's because Salem's a woman, or that people are more willing to see depth in video games than in animation? It is lack of media literacy?

Thank you for your time!

it’s gender. mostly

(*without knowing the other story it’s difficult to say how much narrative framing contributes to the disparity, but framing can have a significant influence; by this i don’t mean whether the character is portrayed sympathetically per se but more, whose perspective do we see? what details are given focus?

salem as a character has been kept extremely opaque—the lost fable is narrated from ozpin’s perspective so we don’t really know why she does anything, we only know why ozpin believes she did everything; to understand her v1/v3 soliloquies we need context given in v6 and arguably v9 before it’s possible to start piecing together what she’s really talking about / what she really means, etc—and that’s something rwby does on purpose, because it’s Making A Point about the power that storytellers have over their audiences, and truth being more difficult to come by than asking for just one side of the story.

which has the effect of making salem a difficult character. the thematic point the story is making with her character is that it is really, really easy to fall for dehumanizing propaganda if that’s the only source of information you have. to see beneath the surface with her you really need to pay close attention to what she says and does and be very skeptical of what other characters say about her, including the authoritative spirit of knowledge [i.e. you need to pick up on ruby only asking specifically for ozpin’s side of the story AND that it’s never stated by anyone that jinn’s answers are objective factual truth AND that the lamp probably works like the staff in that she answers the exact wording of the questions put to her]. because the narrative we’re getting about her is heavily steeped in in-universe propaganda designed to convince people that she’s an unreasonable, deceitful, supremely manipulative and malevolent, inhuman monster.)

<- but with that being said. fandom is always much more critical of female characters than male ones, and it tends to be much more difficult to persuade a fandom to dedicate this level of interest and energy to a female character than a male one. you can see this in action even within just the rwby fandom: compare the fan reception of raven vs taiyang, for example, with leaving her child in the care of two loving parents because she felt unable to take good enough care of yang being styled as the worst most horrid unforgivable thing a mother could do whereas letting his five year old "pick up the pieces" is often… flat out ignored in favor of headcanon that he’s the best dad ever.

or just the fact that the vast majority of the fandom regards the lost fable fight as "salem murdered her kids, ozma died trying to protect them" even though that is explicitly contradicted by what’s shown on screen with both ozma and salem being equally aggressive and oz having no idea what happened to those girls from the instant the fight began because he wasn’t thinking about them; they BOTH killed their kids in their fury at each other. but the fanon is that salem murdered her children on purpose in a vengeful rage and ozma was a good dad—in its most extreme form this becomes the Dadpin Nonsense.

(there is also an extremely funny talking point in dadpin circles to the tune of "if ozlem were gender-swapped no one would question that salem was abusive!" as if a) tauradonna shippers who scream and cry about blake being abusive don’t exist and b) dadpin people wouldn’t eat ozpin alive if he was a woman)

it’s complicated by the reality that salem does do a lot of very horrible things—terroristic attacks, enabling a serial killer by using him as her attack dog, her abusive treatment of cinder, everything she does to lionheart, sacking atlas, razing vale—and her moments of restraint or mercy are very easy to miss (she actively disguises her own release of her hostages in 8.9 for example) and again you have to be very attentive to detail to pick up on the fact that she cares about cinder. so it isn’t like she has an obvious "good side" juxtaposing all the atrocities, which means except for those who make a conscious decision to try to figure out what’s going on in her head while keeping an open mind, no one is going to see anything but the atrocities.

and again, fandom in general is a lot more willing to do that with male characters than female ones.

i think the clearest sign that It’s The Misogyny is the sheer amount of extremely widespread, extremely entrenched fanon there is about salem that is straight up contradicted by the text. her supposed "disdain" for humanity, for example; people act like it’s outrageous and nonsensical to suggest that salem thinks highly of humankind in the abstract (despite her indifference to individual people) even though… in both of her soliloquies she speaks quite highly of mankind… or her supposed "obsession" with magic, never mind that she barely uses "real" magic herself (most of what she does is Grimm Stuff, and she uses dust to make her grimm battlewhale fly) and never mind that she keeps flat out warning cinder that magic "comes with a cost." etc. this is a kind of flanderization driven by people disregarding what she says/does and mentally inserting generic villain tropes to fill in the gaps of story they miss by doing that, and then these ideas become memetically repeated often enough that they become the accepted lens through which everything she does is refracted.

(and that is how you get nonsense takes like "salem calls emerald’s semblance a semblance because she’s furious that this pitiful imitation of REAL MAGIC somehow fooled her, not because 'semblance' is what that kind of magic is called." this is why salem’s the only adult character who’s read as condescending and disdainful when she refers to the 17-19 year olds as children, even though all the older adults and some of the teenagers themselves do that. etc. there’s a preconceived notion that salem is disdainful of humanity and the text is bent to fit that reading even to the point of creating the absurd double standard that it’s… wrong for salem to use the same language used by every other character in the story?)

this kind of sexism is covert and usually subconscious; it emerges out of disinterest and an unexamined reflex to read female characters as less competent / less moral / less complex / less trustworthy / less rational etc. than their male counterparts, often with a side helping of blaming bad things male characters do on female characters instead. (eg see team rwby being blamed for things ironwood does in v7-8 by certain circles, or the constant "everything oz does is justified because salem evil" drumbeat).

watch how fast this fandom turns on summer rose once she turns out to be neither a martyred paragon nor a slave.

[heretherebedork]

I love Ten so much, y'all, I really do. This man has made his choice and he isn't going to back down and it's so, so rare to see a child truly stand up to their parent in Thai dramas... so it's probably gonna backfire.

Ten's absolute shock at his father's reaction reflects their relationship very, very well.

I love Ten so much. Because this is an argument that he needed to happen, this anger that burns in him, this is a man who's spent most of his life trying to live with the loss of his mother and a father who gave him nothing but grief for it and very recently tried to send him away to keep him from the one person he loves.

Just for the record, I don't think his father knows him at all.

Is this supporting him? Because if this is supporting him, I have a lot of questions about what the people who don't know him are going to do... I get it, he's trying to find ways to protect Ten but this is just... the worst way to go about it.

The best boy in all the land, the boy who doesn't care what people think about him... but it doesn't work so well when your boyfriend is involved or in a collectivist society where this reflects very strongly on you and the people around you as well.

Again. I love Ten so much. I adore this man. He's great. And even if his dad does have a point about the judgement of everyone... well, he's gone about raising his child in the worst possible way so he should be judged.

This is the only good point he has in this and it's shitty despite that because if he'd brought this up without also condemning Ten's every choice... then he might have been able to communicate with his son better. (And, yes, this is definitely cultural and I have no arguments or denials on that and I know that my judgement of his father is coming from my cultural perspective and I am doing my best to temper that but I fully know I'm not.)

And, of course, all the possible points he could have made are at the very wend after he's screamed at his son. I guess... he didn't slap him this time? That's better.

But also poor Ten was just trying to protect his boyfriend from a man literally trying to grab him against his will.

#cooking crush #cooking crush the series #thai bl #thai drama #bl drama #bl series #thai series #thaibl #asian lgbtq dramas #asianlgbtqdramas #thai bl drama #thai bl series

[rist-ix]

This is a question about the show. I saw some people saying it’s unfair Daphne be the next Queen of Domino, because Bloom save the planet. So, What you think about it? Bloom should be the next queen, or defy Daphne?

I think it’s should be Daphne, because she probably was been training for it to her whole life. And Bloom doesn’t seems to be ready for that.

I mean, from the writer's perspective, making Daphne the heir to the throne saves them from getting into trouble with Bloom/Sky – which is very much the end goal here, no matter how we might feel about it. Because if the only possible queen of a planet marries the king of another planet, they get into some reeeeaaal weird inheritance issues. They could always pull another eraklyian heir out of their ass and have Sky be Bloom's trophy husband on Domino, but they're very much pushing the hero/princess dynamic with them and I doubt they would downgrade Sky like that.

Leaving that aside, I am a huge fan of Queen Bloom. It doesn’t do a whole lot for her canon goals and needs, sure, but. Rule of cool, u know? She's a pretty decent leader, a powerful fairy and would look fantastic on a throne. I don’t think governing an entire planet is something a human can be really ready for, but I think she could grow into it! HOWEVER. In any scenario that I would imagine her getting crowned in, Daphne stays dead.

If Daphne lives, she's… well, the older one? Winx Club isn’t an inheritance drama, so there's not much emphasis put on the rules of that, but it just seems reasonable. She's older, she's a godlike nymph, she literally died to protect the Dragon Flame. (To protect her sister. But the dragon flame is the relevant part in that context) She's been an only child for about 16 years, it seems pretty obvious that she's been the intended heir since the beginning.

Add to that that Bloom has given no indication at any point to have political ambitions or aspirations to queendom, and you've got the perfect solution: an adult who is both prepared and willing to rule, and a slightly younger adult who gets to hang out with her friends, fight evil and occasionally call in favors with big sis when people get in her way. Living the dream!

#asks #winx Club #before you ask: I know about thoren. I just don’t care about thoren. #also! #there is one situation I can imagine queen bloom where Daphne lives #which is if nymphdom somehow leads Daphne to abdicate #which seems a bit out of left field but consider: #the nine nymphs of magix are treated as some kind of mythical figures #gods almost #they’re engraved on temples or museums and seen as near omnipotent advisors and influences #and I just don’t think that kind of spiritual status mixes well with worldly politics #I’d even argue being a queen would be a downgrade

[thegirlking]

Mother and son shaped by trauma: a deeper look into Alma and Bruno's damaged relationship

Alma and Bruno's mother-son relationship seems like such a minor aspect of the movie, but when you give it some thought, despite the limited focus, it's not only a very complex relationship, but also a narratively significant one.

Obviously we don't have a lot of information on it, but let me reflect a bit on the things we do know, while trying to fill in some blanks. Long post ahead.

Back to the start - how did it go so wrong?

There's one particularly interesting detail that Jared Bush shared on a podcast some time ago. It mostly comes down to the reason Bruno's visions were usually so negative: because that's how he was taught to use his gift by his mother, who would ask him to look into the future for any possible dangers to their home.

Now, this makes perfect sense for Alma's character and gives a great insight into how her trauma affected her. It's a completely natural consequence of the tragedy she experienced - of course she would be gripped by fear and desperate to protect her home from another tragedy at all cost. And the power of foresight is seemingly the ultimate key to preventing tragedy, so of course she would rely on her child's gift for that...

...and yes, that's a great burden to put on your child's shoulders and something that clearly had troubling consequences. The particularly frustrating thing being that those consequences could have been largely prevented only if Bruno had proper understanding and emotional support.

The thing is...the understanding and support probably were there for some time. Some bonus materials suggest that Bruno was not always the black sheep of the family, but quite the opposite. He was apparently once the golden child of the family - until people began to believe his gift was actually responsible for bad future events.

Which brings me to the important question: why did it go so wrong? If Alma herself believed Bruno's gift could help prevent disaster, how and why did this belief that it's actually causing disaster came to be? Didn't she try to protect her son from his gift being horribly misunderstood?

Well, I'd like to give Alma the benefit of the doubt that she did try to protect him, at least when he was a child. But I do wonder if she simply grew exhausted by Bruno at some point, as he grew older? Exhausted by his unclear visions, which were hard to control and not that helpful after all (I think Dolores' verse in WDTAB kinda suggests it). Exhausted by Bruno's eccentric personality that was so far away from the "perfect image" she wanted for the family. And maybe that frustration led to her ultimately neglecting him emotionally and enabling the negative attitude to his gift, even if it wasn't intentional on her part.

Broken trust

Again, this is all just my interpretation and I don't want to assume the worst without any proof... however, I do think it's reasonable to believe that Alma did fail Bruno in some way.

And she might have not realized it, but I think Bruno himself very much felt she failed him. That would also explain his evident lack of trust in her. I talked in one of my previous posts how Bruno not trusting Alma with the vision about Mirabel is a big red flag that something was very wrong in the family. Ideally, he should have been able to trust his mother with the vision, but we were as far from the ideal scenario as we could be - Bruno choosing to hide the vision is a clear sign how damaged his relationship with his mother was at this point and how broken his trust in her was.

Ironically, if Bruno's decision was a result of broken trust in his mother...the same decision also broke her trust in him.

Let's look at it from her (sympathetic but misguided) perspective for a moment. Bruno's gift was something she had relied on in order to protect her family. And so many years later, no matter what the present attitude to his gift was, she still went to him in a difficult moment. So the fact that he essentially denied her that help would definitely feel like a huge betrayal - for Alma it probably looked like Bruno had betrayed the family and betrayed the miracle.

Those would be the understandable feelings of a traumatized woman who probably couldn't stand losing someone she loves yet again - believing Bruno betrayed and abandoned them because he doesn't care was likely a kind of coping mechanism to numb the grief.

Regardless of how understandable those feelings might be though, this coping mechanism was deeply unhealthy and harmful. What's more, the choice to paint Bruno as the bad guy shows horrible lack of self-awareness. And that lack of self-awareness only intensified the unhealthy environment in the family.

Because in the end, Bruno leaving the family should have been the wake-up call that the "perfect" family might have some issues to work through and something needs to change to avoid driving away anyone else. Alma might have not known Bruno's motives to leave, might have been understandably angry and hurt about him hiding the vision, but she definitely should have reflected on her own mistakes as a mother that led to Bruno making this decision.

Protecting the family and understanding the true miracle

But beyond how trauma shaped their relationship, I think there's something else at the core of the issue: their love for their family and their different understanding of what it means to protect it.

I talked about how Alma went to Bruno in a difficult moment, when she feared for the future of the miracle - and that the fact he never gave her the vision and simply ran away must have felt like a betrayal to the miracle.

In some way Bruno did betray the miracle - he betrayed the miracle in the way Alma understood the miracle at that point, as a source of magic more than anything else. And ironically, by doing so, Bruno showed that he actually understood what the miracle was truly about.

Alma was so fixated on protecting the miracle that she ended up losing sight of what was truly important and hurt the family. On the other hand, Bruno saw a threat to the miracle and yet still chose protecting his young niece's well being over anything else - one "giftless" little girl mattered more than the magic.

My point here isn't "Alma bad, Bruno good", that's a huge simplification. Both of those characters were very damaged and were going to unhealthy extremes to protect what was important to them. I'm not saying Bruno's decision to hide the vision was the "right" one or something to be glorified - I mostly think that it's a decision that should have never been made and again, the fact he felt he had to do that shows the deep rooted issues within the family.

But ultimately, he did have the right priority there - of course Mirabel's well being matters more than the magic. Every member of the family matters more than the magic. That's the whole point of the movie and the core of Alma's character arc - realizing that the family itself is the greatest gift.

And one detail I particularly like is that Alma and Bruno are the two people to tell Mirabel she's the real miracle in the end - it shows their values are finally on the same page and there's finally hope for mutual understanding between them.

#Encanto #encanto meta #bruno madrigal #alma madrigal #my meta #long post #bear with me writing long encanto meta again #a lot of this has probably been discussed before

[m3ntal-hiatus]

the one thing that gege has served us well with is knowing that they’re very aware of how old these kids are

their actions and thoughts can be mature, sure, given their circumstances, but they’re still kids. in every other way.

yuuji is naively optimistic about his delicate situation. never fully understanding what exactly he was up against. he had no perspective or even a clue to what dying by his rash decision (to eat sukuna’s finger) meant in the slightest, because he’s just a kid.

he took it in stride and that’s what kids do — “okay, what now?”

asking questions, overly excited about menial things, overprotective, rash towards anything that threatens his friends, pouty, a need to find his purpose, feeling responsible for everything… the list goes on and on, but these things all describe yuuji in the sense that they also describe a teen.

gege is so deliberate with rehashing this point so thoroughly, without fail, and without making it overly obvious.

take how they made yuuji react to his first near-death experience with the cursed womb in season one, for example. beforehand, he was confidently and calmly assuring gojo he was prepared to die when his time came. and he was.

he thought he was.

but as soon as he at death’s door, ready to step inside, he started to chicken out. yuuji felt scared, because he was too young to realize he wasn’t ready to accept his own mortality. and, like a kid, he rejected it as soon as he was forced to come to terms with it.

sukuna was there to inadvertently “help” yuuji keep on going with his running up to death’s doorstep, ding-dong-ditching it, and getting away with it each time. yuuji was learning to be scared of death — of both himself and others near and dear to him — and sukuna was accidentally lending him his hand by using his reversed curse technique.

what’s more, is nanami’s own hand in it all. he’s the first one to directly point out; “you’re just a child. let an adult handle this.”

it wasn’t meant to be mean nor cruel, but rather just a factual statement — yuuji is a child, and shouldn’t be treated as anything more. nanami took preserving yuuji’s young, impressionable mind to heart. by god, did he follow through, too.

gojo also played his part, as well. his spiel was protecting one’s youth: “no one’s youth should ever be stripped from them.”

whether from nanami or gojo, gege uses their motives of protecting yuuji to showcase and remind their audience of just how young our main character is; of how spoiling someone’s innocence can just about be the worst crime someone can commit.

#geges literary techniques and their way of expressing their ideas #is so fundamental to understanding each character’s ideology #as well as their ethics #some of them state it directly at some point #but others like yuuji or megumi are a bit more convoluted #because they don’t even know what they want #i could be wrong tho? i haven’t caught up w the newest manga leaks #(or i could’ve missed it altogether) #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #itadori yuuji #yuuji itadori #jjk itadori #satosugu #gojo satoru #geto suguru #gojo #geto #jjk shitpost