countrymint

I think there's a difference between (a) portraying a character who is ignorant because they've been sheltered, or groomed the way Yor has and (b) treating them like an idiot. It also feels like he is denying her growth in questioning her surroundings to an absurd extent.

For Yor, whose principal asset is being protective towards her loved ones, I just can't see her being ditsy to the point of forgetting someone who threatened her husband and brother's safety in broad daylight. For someone who was scared enough of the SSS to the point that she actually entered a fake-marriage, I also can't this as doing justice to her, to not have her even question it or why he is near Yuri, even as fishing buddies. It also feels like a easy way to not hold Twilight accountable for his actions, to have the victim of his actions in this scenario just NOT remember. That he even gets to tranquilize her and gets off scot-free for this, when the reason he had to resort to that because he dressed up as that SSS officer and intimidate her in the first place. I don't feel like being hospitalized really makes me feel bad for him either. What would make me feel satisfied is actually being held accountable for the way he has manipulated Yor for his own cover. Hesitation in tranquilizing her. Actually demonstrating guilt and turmoil or understanding just how dirty he actually did Yor in this whole situation, from posing as Chad, to the party and his thought process after. I feel like he got off lightly as fuck, as Yor not remembering feels like a slap in the face to her character. I've felt like this with how Endo treats Yor's character in the past and currently, where her ignorance is portrayed in a way that doesn't make even make sense for her personality traits and feels almost belittling towards her. He just keeps not addressing serious situations with her or turning them into comedic moments and I'm kind of sick of it. Sorry for going off a rant. I'm asking you because you've actually written my favorite depiction of Yor's pov maybe ever. I consume a lot of fics lol, but rereading the way you've taken Yor's feelings seriously in the situations you've written, be it anger, suspicion, sadness, joy, compassion, heartbreak is such a de-stressor from following canon these days. I deeply treasure your work because I feel like it does Yor justice in a way I don't see anywhere else. Thanks for your awesome work and hope you have a good day!

Hi Anon,

So, right off the bat! Anyone is entitled to stop doing something for any reason at any time, and to that point (!) it’s much better to do that if the something-in-question is a hobby that’s no longer fun for you, than to keep doing it while coming to resent a thing you once loved. If you choose to no longer follow SxF because it’s just not enjoyable to you any longer, for whatever it’s worth, I respect that decision a great deal. It’s a choice with a lot of integrity: life’s too short to spend time with stuff that just makes you mad or otherwise upset when you’re able to choose to do otherwise. And as you so rightly note, you can always return to it later. It’s disappointing and painful to fall out of love with something once held close, and I would also grieve were I in your shoes (and have done, for other fandoms.) It’s unfortunate that we can love the pieces but not always enjoy the case they come in, and I’m sorry that’s your experience of SxF at the moment.

For me, and I say this kindly, I do feel differently, and I differ in my read of things as well… To be clear, I do understand functionally what you’re saying, and I think I understand the analytical track taken to get there. However I come from another perspective: I actually think Yor’s characterisation is coherent in-narrative and so don’t think the SSS house party arc was disrespectful to her; I also don’t really think Twilight needs to be made to repent on bloodied knees for… anything he’s done to this point, in-story; and I don’t think Endo disrespects any of his characters, I believe he is both thorough in exploring them and compassionate with them in a way that, for me, makes being a fan of SxF a rare joy. SxF does still of course use comedy as the string through and on which everything is connected; for me that doesn’t detract from the other parts of it (nor diminish its moments of seriousness) but that absolutely does not mean it has to work for you. And also to be clear, I by no means intend to imply that Endo and SxF itself are therefore perfect, but on these topics, I don’t have complaints. 

For all that, I’m not going to try to persuade you out of your position, Anon, I’m just going to answer your points since you’ve asked for my opinion, and alas, my weakness is being asked my opinion <3

I’m going to start with a couple of things that I think may explicate where a couple of differences begin. 

I’d personally gently push back for instance, that I don’t think Yor’s ‘principle asset’ is being protective of her loved ones… That’s what she thinks of herself, how she ranks her own utility, that it’s one of the only (she may think the only) things she can do. But her overall arc is partially about how she isn’t just that one facet of herself. She is innumerable other things; she is a whole person. Curious, determined, impulsive, anxious, passionate, thoughtful, adventurous, scatterbrained, loyal, creative, trusting, disciplined, sweet, forgetful, resourceful, adaptive, considerate, loving, kind… her principle asset is her heart. Which she is learning, bit by bit, and which was also showcased through these chapters.

And fwiw, I also don’t actually think Yor was groomed, no more than Twilight was anyway, and certainly far less than Yuri is currently facing… Or at least, unless we’re talking about the more conventional, broad meaning of the term, as in, trained for her role (as, idk, a politician might be.) Assuming the definition for abhorrent child abuse though, I know that’s a common fanon, and we certainly won’t know until we know (!) but Yor has demonstrated heaps of free choice and critical thinking throughout the series, including her own explanation and justifications for her work that are not rote but are deeply personal, and her own explicitly stated and well developed morality, practicing her personal moral compass, with moral clarity. There’s also no indication that she couldn’t retire from Garden if she wanted to, or that she’s been coerced or blackmailed or otherwise manipulated into staying (likewise, McMahon references retirement with no qualms but his own personal ones.) The likelier course in my view is that it was the only avenue of help available to her when she was desperate, and the only way the underworld folk she met were able to help at the time (eg: in wartime, Garden may not have had the money/resources to simply give, but they could pay an employee.) 

One of the things played with in SxF is a complicated morality; the underworld consequently reflects both ‘good’ and ‘bad,’ is not simply an unalloyed bad, and ultimately imo SxF is more interested in 1. a person in their whole, and 2. the reasons they made choices, rather than in vilifying or vindicating a specific choice or action in isolation. Which to me, is also why Garden is likely to fall on the side of helpful for Yor, rather than harmful, in the end. Ideal? Absolutely not. But, and I say this gently, so what…? Life is full of many such complications, people doing their best with what they have, and for me, it’s refreshing to see that explored in SxF.

I don’t mean to pick on these points, but I think they may be crucial in explaining my difference in perspective in approaching Yor in canon.

So with that baseline established (!) to the first point, with Yor and Chadwick… I don’t think it’s unbelievable that Yor may not remember Chadwick (not yet at least.) It was intense, but still brief, meeting, 5-6 months ago, whereby Franky was far more memorable acting as unhinged as he was. Yor also seems to consider things done once they’re over. And it was a wildly different context in which she saw Chadwick again, he was not acting in any way threatening, and she was also feeling self-conscious, which is to say, self-focused. Yor is also virtually never at risk, she is almost always the most dangerous person in any room; there isn’t cause for her to be hyper-vigilant in the way Twilight is, and no reason for her to be vigilant in these specific circumstances. I don’t think it stretches credulity that she wouldn’t recognise Chadwick, even if the circumstances were substantially more to her favour… Would I have believed it if she did remember him? Sure! Though to be honest, I think that may actually cause me to raise my eyebrow a bit, though I’d accept it. I equally find it believable that she didn’t, and don’t think that’s unrealistic or uncharacteristic.

I don’t think that flanderizes her (I’m afraid I don’t see what character traits are being exaggerated or simplified 🤔) and I don’t think it makes her look like an idiot either... In my opinion there is also nothing in the narrative text itself that indicates the narrative thinks or encourages readers to think she’s an idiot for not remembering Chadwick. That reading to me seems potentially to be putting too much emphasis on a single incident, and a single incident that I don’t think was ever intended to loom as large by way of a reflection of Yor’s character (death of the author notwithstanding.) Granted, Anon, you do note that there are other moments that have felt belittling/like flanderization to culminate in your frustration at this point; I take and acknowledge that. For me, Yor has shown a great deal of growth, especially in these last few arcs. They’ve centred on relational growth, via Yor engaging with the world around her in a way that is not familiar to her, deliberately going outside of her comfort zone and pushing her own boundaries. Awkwardly maybe but still bravely, and including finding slower and more circumspect ways to protect those she loves that never would have occurred to her before having these experiences. She also had important moments of agency that demonstrated her character development. All of which to say, I struggle to know where to hook in for the argument that there is a possible pattern of flanderization or belittling.

The other aspect is, and I won’t say this is what you’re doing, Anon, because I can’t know for certain, but based on some of what I’ve read around fandom regarding this arc, I differ from and would actually suggest that there may be some misunderstanding on the purpose of it. That doesn’t mean its purpose is exculpatory of your complaints, but it’s another point that is important to establish here. The goal of the arc was giving Twilight a concentrated tasting menu of many of the things best placed to push him over the edge: his panicking that Yor may recognise Cpt Curtis was another helping, in this instance Twilight putting himself into a tizzy, rather than the narrative (or Twilight) trying to say anything about Yor herself. This arc centred on Twilight, he was the focal character, and so it was driven by his thoughts/reactions/etc. Ymmv, and it seems we may differ on this point, but Endo isn’t a wasteful storyteller. Just see how this came back 100+ chapters after it happened! If I were to pivot this moment for Yor and share my theory, the important thing here, imo, is that the real Chadwick is now on Yor’s radar. It wouldn’t be strange for them to meet again — and for perhaps Yor’s memory of him to come back when it is, crucially, more important to her arc, not Twilight’s. This is pure speculation at this point, but I personally anticipate Yor’s Garden arc to dovetail with Yuri’s SSS arc, and so it would be far more impactful for that to happen when 1. she is of focus (or at a stretch, Yuri is), and 2. it therefore alerts Yor to the fact that the SSS is in Yuri’s orbit. That is when your ideas as to what Yor may think/do would come into play. But this arc wasn’t centred on Yor, or Yuri, and so it would have derailed the arc’s thrust to pull focus to it (and also likely wouldn’t have explored it adequately, for that same split-focus reason.) Instead, to me, this was setting up for the future. It was foreshadowing.

☀️ top 10 pics taken before Anya got grounded ☀️

strix so long damianya baby