✧ Broken ribs suck. You don’t just “walk it off.” Breathing hurts. Laughing hurts. Existing hurts. Characters with rib injuries won’t be doing heroic sprints.
✧ Concussions aren’t instant naps. Dazed vision, nausea, dizziness, maybe even personality changes, but they’re not going to collapse neatly like in the movies.
✧ Blood loss is sneaky. It’s not just about dramatic pools of blood. It’s dizziness, confusion, and the body getting cold as circulation tanks.
✧ Adrenaline lies. Someone can take a serious injury and not feel it until the fight’s over. That “I didn’t realize I was bleeding until later” trope? Very real.
✧ Twisted ankles are brutal. One bad step and suddenly running is off the table. Even walking hurts like hell. Perfect way to ground a chase scene.
✧ Burns linger. Even small burns hurt more than most people expect. Blisters, infection risk, constant pain, it’s not just a cool scar later.
✧ Dislocated shoulders = useless arm. Characters can’t keep swinging a sword or firing a gun. They’re basically fighting one-armed until it’s fixed.
✧ Shock is a thing. Pale skin, trembling, rapid heartbeat, and eventually disorientation. A character might not even realize how bad their wound is.
✧ Stitches aren’t magic. Getting sewn up is painful and recovery takes time. They’re not instantly battle-ready after a needle and thread.
✧ Scars tell stories. Some fade, some don’t. Some stay sensitive forever. Don’t forget the aftermath when the wound becomes part of the character.
Deucalion: Derek, so good to see you again. And you brought your little human pet, how sweet. What was his name again? Stiles?
Stiles: And what exactly are you smirking at Deucalion? Is that a family name? Or was it just the most pretentious thing you could come up with? I'm guessing Lycaon was too on the nose?
Deucalion: You should watch your tongue
Stiles: My name means glory of sword. Yours means you picked up a greek mythology book so you wouldn't have to introduce yourself as Kevin or something.
Deucalion: I am the alpha of alphas, I am the apex of apex predators, I AM THE DEMON WOLF
Stiles: So wolfsbane won't work on you then, oh lord pretentious of the exclusive psycho club?
*Stiles sprays him in the face with a super soaker of wolfsbane infused water*
Stiles: will you look at that? It worked! Come on sourwolf, I want curly fries
Derek: Stiles I thought I asked you to behave and be careful with what you said.
Stiles: I assumed you meant no blind jokes, I was honestly insulted you thought I'd stoop that low. I have some tact.
*Deucalion growls and lunges. Stiles throws a handful of mountain ash at him.*
High school AU where the Hales send their kids to Devenford instead of BHHS, but Stiles and Derek still end up dating.
Stiles talks about his "loser (affectionate) boyfriend" all the time, but he hardly ever says Derek's first name and never says his last name, so the rest of the squad is 99.8% (Scott is the 0.02% holdout) convinced that Stiles is making him up bc he's the only single Pringle left in the group and his claim that "Derek" is a Devenford student is an excuse for them never seeing him. They're not bursting his bubble yet but they are taking notes to call him out with later.
"Facts" About Stiles's "Boyfriend" Derek:
Total nerd
Plays a sportsball (Stiles says it specifically like this to make Jackson's eye twitch)
Rides a bike
Sucks at video games
Has at least two sisters
When Lydia's famous birthday party rolls around and Stiles asks if he can bring Derek, everyone expects him to either show up alone or not at all. They do not expect him to show up with Derek Fucking Hale.
LIKE??? HELLO??? That is DEREK HALE??? Of the founding-family-of-Beacon-Hills, richer-than-God, own-most-of-this-town Hales??? (Of the basically-werewolf-royalty, shiniest-of-shiny-Pokémon, full-shifting-into-literal-wolves Hales???) The Derek Hale who rides a VINTAGE MOTORCYCLE ("that's still a bike?"/"not the point, stiles!") and is the reason BHHS has not won a SINGLE BASKETBALL GAME this entire goddamn SEASON???
THIS is who you've been calling your LOSER BOYFRIEND????
sorry i just love this idea so much i had to write a little something for it
"I have an announcement to make," Stiles proclaims as he drops his bag on the top of the lunchroom table.
Scott and Allison look at him expectantly. Lydia and Jackson don't bother since they're sure whatever Stiles has to say is probably ridiculous.
"I have a boyfriend."
They weren't wrong, it is ridiculous, but everyone's eyes are now immediately locked onto Stiles in shock.
Lydia is the first to recover. She purses her lips. "Stiles, I think we would have noticed if you were dating someone."
"That's where you're wrong, dear Lydia. Because my boyfriend goes to Devenford."
"Your boyfriend goes to Devenford?" Lydia asks skeptically. "And what's this boyfriend of yours name?"
"I'm not telling you! It'll ruin the surprise. And no offense, but I don't want you guys doing something weird that'll freak him out."
"I don't think we would be the ones weirding him out, Stilinski," Jackson snickers which earns him a glare from Stiles.
"Congratulations, Stiles," Scott says with an endearing grin. "I'm happy for you."
"Thank you, Scott! At least, someone is happy for me." He looks pointedly at the rest of the group.
"Sorry, Stiles. We really are happy for you. We're just surprised. It happened so quickly," Allison reassures.
"Well, you can't stop how fast you fall in love." Stiles plops into his seat.
Lydia is still thoroughly unconvinced. "How did you even meet someone from Devenford?"
"At the station. He was reporting something to the police, and I accidentally knocked over his bike. He was not happy about that."
"His bike?"
"Yeah, he rides a bike."
"What is he, a twelve year old?"
"He's actually older than me, Jackson," Stiles snaps with narrowed eyes.
Scott shoots Allison a worried look. "What's wrong with riding a bike?"
Allison places a hand on his shoulder. "Nothing is wrong with riding a bike, Scott." She turns back to Stiles. "So what's he like?"
Stiles frowns as he ponders that question for awhile. Lydia and Jackson share a look.
"He's kind of a nerd."
"Look who's talking."
Stiles glares at Jackson. "Yes, we are very compatible, Jackson. If all you're going to do is make fun of him and me, I'll just stop talking."
"Aw, Stiles-"
"Nope, Scott. I'm done. You won't get anything else out of me."
Jackson rolls his eyes, Allison nods politely, and Lydia purses her lips again. The squad is 99.8% sure Stiles is lying. Though Scott still seems to want to give Stiles the benefit of the doubt. They decide to let it go for today. Lunch was almost over and they would have plenty of time to sus out whether this "boyfriend" was real.
Over the next couple weeks, despite his declaration to not talk more about him, Stiles can't help but ramble on about his "loser boyfriend." They learn quite a few things about him, but Stiles still refuses to give them a name. And this "boyfriend" always seems to cancel when he's invited to hang out with them. This only adds to their suspicions.
"C'mon, Stiles, can't we at least get a name?" Scott pleads during one of their lunch breaks.
"Fine, Scott. Since it's you, I'll tell you. His name is Derek."
Lydia raises an eyebrow. "Derek from Devenford?"
"I'm surprised his name's not Devin," Jackson mutters.
"Why would his name be-" Stiles' jaw drops open. "You guys don't believe me! You think he's made-up."
"I believe you!" Scott exclaims, but the rest of the group don't chime in.
"I can't believe you guys would doubt me."
"Can you blame us? Every time you invite him to hang out with us, he conveniently can't make it."
"He's a busy guy!"
"You can't even tell us what sport he plays," Lydia adds. Her face scrunches up. "You just say he plays 'sportsball.'"
"I'll admit, I just say that to mess with Jackson."
"Hey!"
"Regardless, it's not that we think your boyfriend is made up," Allison continues. "It's just that we would really like to meet him."
"To confirm he actually exists," Lydia murmurs as she makes a point to not look at the accusing stare both Allison and Scott give her.
"Fine, if you want proof, I'll bring him to Lydia's birthday party."
"Sure you will."
"I will!"
They have their doubts.
The day of Lydia's birthday party comes and it's already in full swing by the time Stiles arrives. Lydia greets him at the door.
"Happy birthday, Lydia!" he chimes as he hands her a present.
"Thanks, Stiles." Her eyes shift to the empty space behind him. "Where's your boyfriend?"
"He's running late."
"Is Devin gonna cancel on us yet again?"
"Shut up, Jackson. He'll be here."
Lydia smiles tightly. "Can't wait to meet him." She was almost certain this "boyfriend" wouldn't turn up.
An hour passes when there's a commotion at the front of the house.
"What's going on?" Lydia asks as she approaches the group of students lingering at her front window.
Allison turns around. "A motorcycle pulled up in front of your house, and you'll never guess who it is."
"Who?" Lydia's curiosity getting the best of her.
"Derek Hale," Scott answers.
"THE Derek Hale? What's he doing here?"
"We thought you would know. This is your party."
"I didn't invite him."
"He's standing at the front of door on his phone, but he's not making a move to go inside," one of the other students tells them.
Lydia frowns. After a moment of consideration, she confidently walks up to the door and swings it open. Derek looks up from his phone a bit surprised.
"Hello," Lydia says. Her eyes wide and eyebrows furrowed as she peers up at Derek Hale of all people.
"Hi, you must be Lydia."
"Yes I am," Lydia responds slowly. How does Derek Hale know who she is?
"Happy Birthday." He hands her a card. She looks down at it and then up at him. Derek stands awkwardly there waiting for her to let him in. She remains silent as she studies him.
When Derek still says nothing, she finally decides to speak. "Why are you--"
"Derek!"
Derek's face immediately lights up as he looks past Lydia. "Stiles."
Everyone is stunned as their eyes remain riveted on Stiles who wraps his arms around Derek's neck and receives a quick peck on the cheek from THE Derek Hale.
Stiles turns around with a triumphant smile on his face. "This is my boyfriend, Derek."
Allison, Scott, and Lydia are slack jawed.
As usual, Lydia is the first to recover. She closes her mouth. Takes a deep breath to collect herself before replying, "Nice to meet you, Derek. Help yourself to some drinks in the kitchen. Could you excuse us for a moment? I need to have a word with Stiles real quick."
"Uh, sure."
"Wait, why do you--" before Stiles could finish issuing his complaint, he's dragged along into one of the hallways.
"Stiles, what the hell?" Lydia exclaims.
"What?"
"Derek Hale?!"
"What about him?"
"The millionaire, basketball star Derek Hale is YOUR BOYFRIEND?"
"Yes?"
"Sti--"
Jackson slides into the hallway to interrupt their conversation. "Lydia, why the hell is THE Derek Hale here?"
"Oh, so you've met my boyfriend."
"BOYFRIEND?" Jackson's jaw drops. "Is this a joke?"
"No."
"You said he rides a bike!"
"It is a bike!"
Jackson smacks his head in disbelief.
"That's a motorcycle!!! And Derek Hale is basically Beacon Hills royalty! His family owns most of the town. Everyone at BHHS and Devenford have heard of him. He's who you've been calling your LOSER BOYFRIEND????"
Bethune and Banting, the scientists who developed the first insulin treatments for diabetic patients and sold their patent for $1 because the treatment belonged to the world and shouldn't be profited off of, would be clapping for the death of the American insulin industry
Dispatches from the Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University
https://crimethinc.com/Columbia2024
In this in-depth report, participants offer a blow-by-blow account of the events at Columbia, appraising the tactics that the demonstrators have employed and the challenges that they face.
since the white house put out a ridiculous statement condemning the protests i want to reiterate again that many of the students involved are jewish, there has always been a large jewish presence at these protests in nyc and in campus organizing for palestine
I keep seeing people making fun of using growled, hissed, roared, snarled etc in writing and it’s like.
have you never heard someone speak with the gravel in their voice when they get angry? Because that’s what a growl is.
Have you never heard someone sharply whisper something through the thin space of their teeth? Or when your mother sharply told you to stop it in public as a kid when you were acting up/being too loud? Because that’s what a hiss is.
Have you never heard a man get so blackout angry that their voice BOOMS through the house? Because that’s what a roar is.
Have you never seen someone bare their teeth while talking to accentuate their frustration or anger while speaking with a vicious tone? Because that’s what snarling is.
It’s not meant to be a literal animal noise. For the love of god, not every description is literal. I get some people are genuinely confused, but also some of these people are genuinely unimaginative as fuck.
And like, as someone who was really into media snark when I was young, I understand that the reason for its popularity is because it’s a low-stakes way for powerless members of society to vent aggression. I don’t even expect snarkers to know what the hell they’re talking about, because it’s not actually about intellectual discussion. Just have the common sense to know that what you’re doing is different from sincere critiquing and have the manners to set up a closed group so that creators and their sincere fans don’t have to watch your adolescent/post-adolescent (and I say this in affectionate terms) dickheadery.
I’m so sorry but in the nicest way possible do yall actually read books or just read words??? Cause I’ve been seeing that trend of people not understanding how “snarled” and “eyes darkened” and “eyes softened” etc. was used in a book and like…
Genuinely, do yall just not have imagination?? Or not understand figurative language??? Also eyes do literally darken and soften have you not lived a life??? How do you read with no imagination? Is this how you get through so many books in one month - you simply don’t take the time the understand the words as they are read?
I have been so confused by this discourse. I gobbled up the 90s fantasy doorstoppers and these sorts of expressions were such mainstays that they've never tripped me up.
I remember a reader was annoyed by my use of the phrase "the column of her throat" once and I suddenly realised not everyone reads copious amounts of fanfic or historical romance growing up, either. I always loved that phrase: "column of [her/his/their] throat." It makes you imagine marble smoothness. Annoying if overused, sure, but a well-placed one is evocative.
They're simply shorthand for various creative expressions or nice images. Darkened: dangerous or horny. Softened: fondness, vulnerability. Snarled: animalistic anger (v. useful if you're writing a dragon character in human form). Writers need to have physical reactions and emotional beats for rhythm, pace, and flow, no? If you say the emotions too straightforwardly, the writer gets dinged for "telling, not showing."
Maybe a higher percentage of the population than I thought has aphantasia? Or have reading tastes really changed that much in the last few years?
I love, love, LOVE animalistic verbs for speech, because it conveys so much in such a short space. "Purr" is soothing, confident, sensual. "Bleat" is pleading and pathetic. "Bark" is sharp and direct. "Roar," "snarl," and "hiss" all convey anger and danger, but with very different overtones. They're succinct but tell us so much about tone and mood.
If you want your prose to read like a government report, with unalloyed recitations of facts, you do you. But playing in the sandbox of idiomatic language is so much more fun.
Every single day I'm grateful for that time I stumbled on the SVSSS headcanon that while Bingqiu is considered highkey confusing and lowkey cringe in the demon realm, Moshang is known as the Power Couple™. They're the demonic love story. The 'It Couple'.
Just generations of demons sighing over the dramatic and bloody love story of the Northern King and his right hand man plus spymaster, yearning for a love story filled with such glorious violence and betrayal! A classic childhood friends to lovers narrative filled with ups and downs and copious murder and gore! Love at first sight! The story of the loyal spy who rose up the ranks of the brutal Northern Court, culling his competition while providing vital intel to his liege, all the while infiltrating the most powerful cultivation sect in the world and eventually even becoming a Peak Lord! The slow burn of all slow burns! All kinds of spicy complicated power imbalances! Sexy, unexpected age gaps! Years of heavy plot! Decades of passionate courting! The pinnacle of inter-species forbidden romance!The tale of a man who swore eternal loyalty after falling violently in love at the very first meeting, calling a mere Prince His King in his desire and determination to see his beloved's ascension to the throne that was his birthright, and the Demon Prince who was unexpectedly presented with fierce loyalty in a life that had until then been rife with treachery and grabbed it with both hands and never looked back!
...and there's Junshan and the weird human he keeps around. Somewhat interesting if you're into that teacher-student thing I guess. There were very few deaths. Some bland murders. The trial arc and the self destruct thing plus corpse hoarding was interesting but overall very vanilla. Unseasoned. Not even a proper decade of drama. Kinda boring. And Junshan's half human so they're like Walmart version inter-species romance. But whatever the Emperor's into I guess. His dad was kinda weird too but at least his relationship with that human woman had some kick to it. The new generation just doesn't appreciate a long drawn out painful romance tsk tsk...
Like infinitely grateful to whoever first spawned that headcanon. Never fails to make me laugh. Honestly the most hilarious thing I've ever seen in this fandom. Hope your pillow is always cold and you never stub your toe.
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 (book)
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (book)
Nakba Day: What happened in Palestine in 1948? (Article)
The Nakba did not start or end in 1948 (Article)
Donations and charities:
Al-Shabaka
Electronic Intifada
Adalah Justice Project
IMEU Fundraiser
Medical Aid for Palestinians
Palestine Children’s Relief Fund
Addameer
Muslim Aid
Palestine Red Crescent
Gaza Mutual Aid Patreon
Books:
A New Critical Approach to the History of Palestine
The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge
Hidden Histories: Palestine and the Eastern Mediterranean
The Balfour Declaration: Empire, the Mandate and Resistance in Palestine
Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique
From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem until 1948
Captive Revolution - Palestinian Women’s Anti-Colonial Struggle within the Israeli Prison System
Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History
Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics
Before Their Diaspora: A Photographic History of The Palestinians 1876-1948
The Battle for Justice in Palestine Paperback
Uncivil Rites: Palestine and the Limits of Academic Freedom
Palestine Rising: How I survived the 1948 Deir Yasin Massacre
The Transformation of Palestine: Essays on the Origin and Development of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
A Land Without a People: Israel, Transfer, and the Palestinians 1949-1996
The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood
A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples
Where Now for Palestine?: The Demise of the Two-State Solution
Terrorist Assemblages - Homonationalism in Queer Times
Militarization and Violence against Women in Conflict Zones in the Middle East
The one-state solution: A breakthrough for peace in the Israeli-Palestinian deadlock
The Persistence of the Palestinian Question: Essays on Zionism and the Palestinians
Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel and the Palestinians
The False Prophets of Peace: Liberal Zionism and the Struggle for Palestine
Ten myths about Israel
Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question
Israel and its Palestinian Citizens - Ethnic Privileges in the Jewish State
Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy
Greater than the Sum of Our Parts: Feminism, Inter/Nationalism, and Palestine
Palestine Hijacked
Palestinian Culture:
Mountain against the Sea: Essays on Palestinian Society and Culture
Palestinian Costume
Traditional Palestinian Costume: Origins and Evolution
Tatreez & Tea: Embroidery and Storytelling in the Palestinian Diaspora
Embroidering Identities: A Century of Palestinian Clothing (Oriental Institute Museum Publications)
The Palestinian Table (Authentic Palestinian Recipes)
Falastin: A Cookbook
Palestine on a Plate: Memories from My Mother’s Kitchen
Palestinian Social Customs and Traditions
Palestinian Culture before the Nakba
Tatreez & Tea (Website)
The Traditional Clothing of Palestine
The Palestinian thobe: A creative expression of national identity
Embroidering Identities:A Century of Palestinian Clothing
Palestine Traditional Costumes
Palestine Family
Palestinian Costume
Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, v5: Volume 5: Central and Southwest Asia
Tent Work in Palestine: A Record of Discovery and Adventure
Documentaries, Films, and Video Essays:
Jenin, Jenin
Born in Gaza
GAZA
Wedding in Galilee
Omar
5 Broken Cameras
OBAIDA
Indigeneity, Indigenous Liberation, and Settler Colonialism (not entirely about Palestine, but an important watch for indigenous struggles worldwide - including Palestine)
Edward Said - Reflections on Exile and Other Essays
Palestine Remix:
AL NAKBA
Gaza Lives On
Gaza we are coming
Lost cities of Palestine
Stories from the Intifada
Last Shepherds of the Valley
Voices from Gaza
Muhammad Smiry
Najla Shawa
Nour Naim
Wael Al dahdouh
Motaz Azaiza
Ghassan Abu Sitta
Refaat Alareer (murdered by Israel - 12/7/2023. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un)
Plestia Alaqad
Bisan Owda
Ebrahem Ateef
Mohammed Zaanoun
Doaa Mohammad
Hind Khoudary
Palestinian Voices, Organizations, and News
Boycott Divest and Sanction (BDS)
Defense for Children in Palestine
Palestine Legal
Palestine Action
Palestine Action US
United Nations relief and works for Palestinian refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA)
i want to reiterate i don't think israeli hostages have had the time of their lives and i don't think this ordeal was fun or easy for them but looking at how israeli hostages have been released by hamas and how palestinian hostages have been released by israel is a really dark-sided reality check on just how low the standards for israel have been to meet a basic threshold for humanity and yet it still failed
this is of course, not true. more than two-thirds of the prisoners released have not been convicted of any crime, and include those were not charged with anything at all.
even in the pdf released by the israeli government, compiled by journalist laura adkins, you can see most were arrested as minors and charges include "throwing stones" and "support for terrorism" and "threatened area security." Vox reports: "Since 1967, Israel has issued over 1,000 military orders that criminalize a range of activities in Palestinians’ daily lives, including waving political symbols like flags, being in certain areas without permits, and any kind of speech that can fit into a loosely defined charge of “incitement.” Citing decades of evidence, the Amnesty report outlined an “intentional Israeli policy to detain individuals, including prisoners of conscience, solely for the non-violent exercise of their right to freedom of expression and association, and punish them for their views.”
however, under israel's administrative detention even the more serious charges are held under "secret evidence" that israel does not allow many defendants nor their lawyers to access (when it allows them access to lawyers). in order to convict israel then holds trials in military courts without adequate representation, forces children who can't read hebrew to sign off on documents they don't understand and has a ~99% conviction rate. it extracts confessions under duress including torture of minors, withholds adequate treatment from injured detainees, often uses threats of arresting family members (particularly parents) to coerce confessions from children, without mentioning the habitual illegal use of punitive measures such as solitary confinement for years on end.
it is a separate legal system designed to strip palestinians of due process. israel is one of very few countries in the world to routinely charge minors and non-violent political prisoners in military courts. anyone remotely familiar with incarceration and remotely familiar with practices of administrative detention in the middle east knows exactly what kind of legal procedure this is, so this comment fully relies on the willful ignorance of outsiders. in layman terms, this is called a kangaroo court. here's a handy graphic that illustrates it:
and to help you visualize this on the ground, there is no shortage of images of how israeli occupation soldiers have treated palestinian children (on their own land, in their own supposed territory) across the years:
of course the argument goes "these children were terrorists" and so on and so forth but this 2015 report from amnesty highlights exactly how specious these accusations of "stabbing" and "attempted murder" can be under israeli occupation:
we've also seen the case of ahmed erakat, who was accused of trying to drive a car into a checkpoint and executed on the spot when forensic examination revealed otherwise. similarly, the case of israa jaabis who was accused of trying to detonate a bomb at an israeli checkpoint, while her family maintains that israeli forces firing indiscriminately at her car after an airbag malfunction caused a cooking gas tank to explode, leaving her disfigured after israeli soldiers left her to burn on the ground.
however, whether or not they charged or convicted actually doesn't matter. israel has no right nor authority to imprison or detain palestinians outside the occupied west bank under international humanitarian law. but it is israel's own high court of justice that gives it the legal pretext to do so under claims of security threat, which amnesty international and multiple other human rights groups have repeatedly found in violation of international humanitarian law. through legal loopholes such as expanding the territory and language of what constitutes "military zones" israeli soldiers in the west bank are given free reign to terrorize the population and simultaneously protect their illegal settlement expansion. there is some leeway for appeal that provides a veneer of legitimacy to this process, but it is overwhelmingly a fascist and unlawful system.
as many have pointed out, allowing real due process to palestinians who are accused of attacking occupation soldiers would then have to confront the legality of the occupation itself, which palestinians have the right to resist by any means necessary under international law (and under which soldiers and armed settlers are a credible and justified target.)
israel instead awards legal impunity to such armed settlers & soldiers in these settlements who provoke and kill palestinians constantly while palestinian prisoners are charged under an apartheid law, rendering all accusations, charges and convictions as null and void as convictions under syrian or north korean courts, for example.
finally, i leave you with this anecdote, which sums up just about everything illustrated above:
now the irony of it all is that even if these were convicted prisoners under some semblance of real due process, the manner in which israeli authorities have policed their release by pre-emptively arresting members of their family and community, forcibly removing the press, banning all celebrations, shooting live ammunition and killing people awaiting their release, and breaking the arms of teenagers and leaving them untreated for days before release is still unjustifiable, which was the purpose of this post lol.
The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System is a story about being unlovable and self-perception and the tragedy of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It's about a story that Shang Qinghua writes, about this kind of damage being passed down from one generation to the next, and the man himself reflects these issues directly, yes, but they seep out into the entire universe he creates. At the beginning, this was the story he wrote, cut off and left adrift and quietly rejected by his own family, in an attempt to scrape by. In the original draft, Binghe would have been left alone and immortal, never truly loved, with everyone he tried to grasp and keep slipping through his fingers as he was the only one left, with his surroundings reflecting his inner emptiness. But then, Shang Qinghua lost that first draft, and he's left with a rushed, sexed-up story that's financially successful in a way that he knows the original story he wanted to share never would have been. It's about feeling certain that nobody actually wants who you really are, and watching that inner feeling come true around you.
Because this story is about Shen Jiu too. Nobody embodies this tragedy as viscerally as Shen Jiu does, and it's telling that his backstory is one of the critical elements of that lost story than Shang Qinghua never actually got to write. He starts out as a slave kid on the streets, he has no value as a person and is aware of that, and pours everything he has into his relationship with Qi-ge. By everyone else, his confidence and ambition are treated as punchlines, whether he's a toy/pet to the Qiu family, or a tool to his scam artist master after making his escape. But it's deciding that Qi-ge abandoned him that really locks this damage into place. There's nothing Yue Qingyuan can give him that will convince him that the gift is the result of care, rather than guilt. There's no achievement that makes him feel secure. It becomes a tragic feedback loop where his standoffishness and abrasiveness damage his interpersonal relationships to the point where in an ambiguous situation, he's offered less and less credit, until he's simply handed over to a torturer. And it's a situation that was built, in part, by his own actions, because he passed a lot of his own pain down to Luo Binghe.
Luo Binghe's situation is the most textual, in the story we get. He was set adrift in a river moments after being born, where he would have died if not for a fortunate rescue. Even after being adopted, it was a difficult childhood. His mother loved him, but she was torn away while he was still young. And Shen Jiu was a teacher who chose him, but then was particularly and viciously cruel to him. Even in the novel timeline, when Shen Yuan gets thrown into the picture and starts pampering him as soon as he can get away with it, a lot of damage has already been done. The abyss plot point does more, and Shen Qingqiu's fear of his canon fate does more and more. Binghe has been internalizing these rejections from the start. He's not interested in hearing about his birth parents until he's forced to listen, and the cracks show multiple times, right on the page, when he speaks about how nobody would ever want him, or choose him. Even after Shen Qingqiu has made it very clear how much he cares and is willing to sacrifice on his sake (which is a whole other kettle of worms, binghe's decreasing ability to cope with people (shen qingqiu) being hurt for the sake of protecting him, and his growing certainty that caring about him is something intrinsically harmful to others), even after Shen Qingqiu leaves Cang Qiong with him, Binghe barely manages to propose marriage before scrambling to backtrack, because it's not something he can conceptualize having for himself, and he's terrified that it's too much to ask.
But it's interesting that Shang Qinghua's struggles are drawn out for arguably the longest. He has a rough time of it, in both his lives. Even after making it into Cang Qiong Mountain Sect on his transmigration adventure, as the author of the universe in question, he's still shunted off into the most overworked and underappreciated of the peaks. Him hurling himself into shameless begging to survive dangerous situations like meeting Mobei-jun is a more clever characterization than I think it appears at first. And it's funny, right? But it becomes more and more of a sad kind of funny as we get all the way into the extras, and he's totally clueless that Mobei-jun is placing his entire life in Shang Qinghua's hands until it's already happened and they're both in an incredibly dangerous situation. Now, some of this is definitely on Mobei-jun, who is hilariously bad at communication, even in this cast of clowns, but it's also really sad that Shang Qinghua wrote his ideal man, and is confident that this person wouldn't even give someone like Shang Qinghua the time of day. It does genuinely move me that Mobei-jun still fell hard for him, but in a really sad, upsetting way, if that makes sense? And even after Mobei-jun has (barely-verbally) been like 'I trust you above anyone else to protect me when my uncle comes to kill me, and I'm so confident in your abilities that I don't think I even need to explain myself,' afterwards, when Shang Qinghua runs off, he's shocked when Mobei-jun comes looking for him.
I adore how often cnovels include extras after the end of the story proper, but my relationship with the svsss ones is odd, because most of them just emotionally shred me, and I finish the experience on a more melancholy note than I would have initially expected. We get all of Shang Qinghua's personal context and experiences in this part, it's where we get the marriage proposal, and it's got all of Shen Jiu's pov sections. It's also got Zhuzhi-lang, another character who either disappeared in the lost draft or who Shang Qinghua never wrote, who embodies this lack of self-worth even more bluntly than the others, and it's got the universe crossover with canon!binghe, who's still grasping after the experience of being loved, but is gripping so hard that he squeezes the life out of the relationships he tries to keep. These ideas are important in the story proper, but the extras are what take the idea of 'it's silly to think that i would ever be loved' and go after it like a dog with a squeaky toy. Seeing this crop up for one character would be fun, seeing it come up so many times, including for the author character himself, is intentional.
