#mriachka's posts

[mriachka]

i don't doubt that rsa students are going to be heroic, kind, and full of good intentions, but... we have already seen how they respond to a conflict (e.g. neige and chenya sacrificing themselves for npc citizens during glorious masquerade) and that's not normal either, is it? putting others before you in the live-or-die situation, hiding any and all negative emotions to not offend or hurt others, forgiving those who have harmed you greatly out of the goodness of your heart... it may even be less normal than what our regular nrc assholes got going on: after all, holding a bit of a grudge is perfectly reasonable human behaviour; letting go of any negativity in the blink of an eye isn't.

which is to say that i'm really looking forward to their reveal, because, just as the light trio at nrc have their somewhat deranged complexities, i'm sure rsa is full of (unintentional and deeply romantic) nightmare fuel.

[mriachka]

does lin being toph's funhouse mirror reflection keep her up at night sometimes.

[mriachka]

anime twst should give malleus marcillesque nightmare episode.

[mriachka]

while we are on the topic of controversial opinions, let me also say that i don't believe twst cast would refer to their lover through yuu nicknames/generic yet interesting in-world words. malleus will not be calling the one true lover "child of man", because it's a slightly more polite version of sebek's "human". the people malleus truly respects and knows are referred to through their names (although a nickname could work as well, a sort of mirror to "tsunotaru"). leona will not be calling the one and only special queen "herbivore", at least not in earnest. "herbivore" is meant to be read as derogatory (just like "omnivore" for fellow is an insult). somebody worthy of standing by leona's side is not an herbivore, not in the typical sense. floyd also refers to jade and azul through names only. why? duh. because they are jade and azul! floyd's nicknames are meant to be condescending, a bold way of defining a person through floyd's worldview. "shrimpy" is cute (and likely to be used at first), but a lover would not be a "shrimpy" only. i get why writers use those words—they make speech patterns so much more recognizable—yet it does break my immersion.

[mriachka]

can't get over the intimacy of the betrayal which the limitations of jamil's unique magic imply. eye contact is a show of trust, something you are meant to engage in to convey your friendliness and politeness. something you either do without thinking or push yourself to do, regardless of whether it comes naturally, because you want others to interpret your behavior as amiable. to have this tainted with the force of another person's will would alter the relationship you have with a mundane, essential element of your life. you can't escape eye contact. you couldn't if you tried. if you consider the weight of the punishment jamil's um induces, too, everything gets even worse: for one, it is alarming that in jamil's mind misbehavior warrants pain as a disciplinary action; for another, being on the receiving end of that pain would create an association between eye contact and a physical reaction of suffering, tainting any interactions with jamil afterward for anyone who's hesitated in their compliance with the command. lastly, you have the mastery of the magic. we know that jamil has used it before to protect kalim in the moment of danger, and we also know that jamil's magic works for humans only. so, when was the first time jamil felt that the best way, the surest way of asserting boundaries would be through forcing one's will upon another? and who was jamil using for practice for years to reach such a level of proficiency that a brief glance is enough to hit the target? if you think about it for longer than a second, it's impossible not to feel at least a little bit sick.

[mriachka]

lin believing that toph loves su more than her and su believing that lin doesn't really care about her all that much and toph believing that the best thing she can give her daughters is the absence of her weight in their lives... what if you loved somebody so much it made you sick yet you could never convey that love just right and you could never ever make them feel it.

[mriachka]

okay so. toph has noble upbringing + overbearing parents + complete disinterest in learning how to cook after joining gaang (munching on raw produce instead) + weird concoctions boiling in her swampartment. lin has an absent mother who definitely wouldn't have taught her how to cook + complete disinterest in taking care of herself or making herself feel good + zero leisure time due to work + canon primary food source of beef jerky and cup noodles. su has insane inheritance which allowed her to build her own city + huge estate with a live-in chef who can cook her anything, including exotic and morally questionable elephant koi dishes. and, finally, opal and kuvira have a privileged life at that same estate, with kuvira only getting out of zaofu to go on a military campaign (presumably not the best time for learning how to make soufflés). which raises the question: is there a single beifong who can cook her own meals or are all of them women in male-dominated fields (domestic incompetence)? (yes).

[mriachka]

was thinking about touch-starved/touch-averse tlok characters and somehow it turned into a competition between lin and kuvira. it's ms. "cannot process any tender touch from anyone, including her family, because she's wanted and not had it for so long that it's become overwhelming to her" and ms. "has had everyone in her life, including her biological family, alarmed and unsettled by her in childhood, resulting in her only ever tolerating touch in a professional, emotionally neutral setting" and their showdown. no one else comes close.