I've realized why it bothers me so much when characters in fanfic use unusual terms in the same manner of "oh my God": it implies there is a religious worship in the style of gods/angels/saints of whoever or whatever they're talking about when often times the entities in question are either not that powerful or not that revered.
For the record: I'm not saying "so y'all stop doing it". I've just been wondering why it kept bugging me so much when I generally don't give a flying leap about religion in general.
I realize that most writers probably don't think too much on it beyond "I'm going to avoid using common religious-tone idioms with something that sounds more local to the setting". But the questions it poses are interesting to me.
Using Danny Phantom as an example? "Oh Ancients" / "Oh my Ancients" or specifically going with "Oh Clockwork!"
Considering how much chaos the Ghost Zone is, the idea that ghosts would swear by their names (or worse: by Pariah Dark's)... especially Danny. Canonically (or at least within the show) the Ancients were never identified but the common ones are characters like Undergrowth, Vortex, Nocturne, Clockwork, and sometimes also Pandora and Frostbite. Danny might respect (most of) them or at least their strength but he'd still beat their asses six ways to Sunday if the need arises and communication breaks down. But if the use of such language is common, does it paint ghost civilizations as factions? Would a character using all the Ancients be viewed as a worshiper of multiple faiths or hiding who they are aligned with?
Another example is with Hero Academia fanfics where you see Izuku cry out something to the effect of "Oh sweet All Might" before or after he gets mentored by All Might.
Izuku's a huge hero fan but would he place All Might on par with a god? (... well... maybe.) If characters use such language, is it common or just specifically with All Might given his sheer overwhelming power? Would eventually characters use similar language for AFO (Satan-style), Izuku, and the past OFA users (angels/saint-style) or would by the end of the series even All Might's praise gets tarnished with disillusionment in the hero industry as a whole?
And Undertale! I've seen people write Monsters using Asgore and occasionally Toriel's names like this.
This is a different situation given that while the king and queen known entities if long-lived due to their boss monster status... in the game the characters talk about how when the time comes Asgore will take into himself the Seven Human Souls and break the Barrier. Is it weird to place god-tier status on someone who will obtain god-like power in the future? Would it be isolating and make Asgore uncomfortable? And in the cases where they use it for Toriel as well when Asgore's on the throne (not to be confused with the Swap variants of AUs where Toriel has Asgore's role), does that mean they think she's dead or that Monsters are praising her as a god's bride?
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it's like, the thing I like the most about widobrave is that it's COMPLICATED. like written on a hill in ten foot tall letters, capital C complicated. it's like there's this person who is the only person you have and the way you engage with each other isn't exactly platonic but that's okay because honestly both of you needed that level of intimacy at the time in order to survive. you call her your "life partner" and when a near-stranger asks if you're a couple, you reply "Sure" with the confidence of someone who knows that she is your person just as much as you are her person. you are unsure of everything (everything) in the world and deeply distrustful, but not of her, not even when you try to convince yourself you can't trust her, not really. because she's your person, she's your life partner. and if people assume you're a couple? well. are they really wrong? (you huddled for warmth with her, and isn't that where romance has started for you once before?) why, then, would you dissuade them of that notion?
then everything changes (when the fire nation attacks) because it turns out she is not your person. she's been married this entire time and she already has a person and he is not you. that your place in her life is disrupted as you realize she was never really yours to begin with. you were too intimate to be just friends--the first time you meet her husband, she compliments you a little too much and then has to rush to assure him you weren't her romantic partner--but never quite lovers, even though you wouldn't have minded if people assumed you were. everything from then on is walking that tightrope of platonic-romantic love, trying to maintain that intimacy but also trying not to cross the line in the sand anymore. you are not her familiar soul. you don't get to see her interior whole. and that's just the way that it is
and also like there's this guy. he's handsome and sad and you hate dealing with your own problems--jesus fuck you have a lot of them right now--and you'd do just about anything to worry about someone else's issues rather than your own. and he's handsome. didn't you already think that? whatever, it's true. he's quiet and he's smart and he's awkward and gods he kind of reminds you of your husband sometimes, when the moonlight streams in through the window just so and make his eyes glitter like that. now, you've given up on ever returning home and seeing your family again. your problems aren't relevant. but this guy's are. so you attach yourself to him, you help him, you support him, you care about him. he knows magic. transmutation. you think maybe there's a chance there that he could save you one day, if only he gets strong enough, smart enough, powerful enough. he could be your salvation and sometimes, when he doesn't realize you've noticed, you catch him looking at you like you could be his too.
maybe you start out thinking this relationship is going to be transactional. you help him get stronger, he puts you back in the body you're supposed to be in. simple. not really, as it turns out, because you actually adore him. some latent part of yourself that just wants to care for someone comes to life again and you're going to care for this guy if it's the last thing you do. you'll be his advocate, you'll be his person, and you have no doubt he'll do the same for you. until your home is attacked--his people did this--and the family you'd resigned yourself never to see again are in danger. no question about it, you have to save them (it's what you always do, after all). revealing this rocks your relationship with him, but this is just more important that some guy you've come to care about who maybe you cared too much about on occasion. it just is. then you get your husband back and what do you do after that? leave him and this family of friends you've created? go back to being the person you used to be? no, you can't do that until you have your body back. you have the time to figure it all out.
except this guy you've tethered yourself to is brilliant, actually, and it doesn't take him that long to figure out how to change you. you love his brilliance and his goofiness and the bone deep way that he cares. you kiss him one time, sweetly, before you think you're turning back into you, because this is the last time you're allowed to behave so transgressively. besides, in your old body isn't it possible all these feelings will just go away? but they don't. when you get your body back, the feelings stay and--fuck--they get worse, actually. you try to brush it off but those feelings grow and your conflict deepens. you love this guy, this brilliant wizard you've tethered yourself to. you love your husband, too, but you can't figure out if you're in love with him anymore. you have one foot on either side of the divide (your family or your friends, him or your husband) and you genuinely don't know what to do, what the right choice is, which version of you you want to be. your heart is in a cage and it keeps on beating away
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@phatburd this made me laugh bc you're right, fandom just decided he must be. NOT ME THOUGH. they can take service top booker away from my cold dead hands. but really i like it better when they're all switches, it's just more variety/more fun. fandom can fight me on this, and many other things.
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