EnsoViper

Fern and Moss Dragons

Gokushufudou / The Way of the Househusband episode 2

Growing up in North America is surreal.  Every tiny little blip of physical affection is deemed as sexual interest. Boys aren’t allowed to hug eachother because “that’s gay.” Girls can’t hold hands because “are they going out?” And GOD FORBID a female friend hugs a male friend.

Having lived in the Netherlands, and reading up about shit like this, Canadians and Americans are starving. 

I went to Japan for a school trip in 2012. I went to a highschool there. There were boys hugging, lounging on those blue gym floor mats, holding hands, trowing their arms around eachother. I was startled by how shocked I was.

It’s something I’ve noticed over the past two years of using this site. It was gradual, imperceptible at first, something that most would brush off as a silly concern, or fault Tumblr algorithm for. While it’s true that Tumblr’s engine leaves a lot to be desired, I’ve noticed that even popular blogs have started to dwindle in terms of interaction or motivation. There could be a lot of reasons for this, but the biggest two I’ve noticed, experienced myself, and asked fellow writers about is this: (1) content being stolen, and (2) lack of feedback or interaction. I’ve never seen any logical person defend content being stolen, so I want to address point 2 instead.

Lack of feedback and interaction. I’m not saying this on my behalf so much as I’m saying this for friends and smaller blogs who have lost motivation to write. I was looking at my yandere writing blogs list the other day and noticed that a good majority of them no longer write. I usually update the list every few months, and by that point, more and more writers have stopped writing entirely. This isn’t a problem confined solely to the yandere fandom; in fact, there’s less writing blogs in general these days, especially ones that are active. I used to run a very popular BNHA blog with some friends, but that dissolved after our content was stolen and our followers stopped interacting as much. Out of our 8,500 followers, we hardly got 0.015% notes (~128 notes) on an average post. Tumblr is to blame for the lack of eyes seeing our posts, for sure, but that also means that at least 128 people saw one post and didn’t leave a comment or ask. We were considered a big blog; imagine what it’s like on a small blog.

My friend recently made a post that summed this up perfectly: 

“I’ve seen people say “Be grateful that people even lurk on your page.” and, while I get the message they’re trying to say, it’s more dismissive and hurtful in my opinion. Like you’re saying, “Oh your writing is mediocre, you should be grateful people even LOOK at it.”

Me personally? I’ve heard the argument that AO3 is a better place to post fanfics, and while that might be true, I’ve had friends experience firsthand the lack of interaction there too. I’ve heard the argument that interacting with some writers is intimidating (me included). I’ve heard that argument that followers might be too shy to interact. I’ve heard the argument that writers should write for themselves and not for views / likes / reblogs / etc, and while that’s ideal, it’s not sustainable for everyone. What works for one writer won’t work for another, but you know what will? Interaction.

That comment or ask that took you 2 seconds to write? We remember it. That reblog with the compliments in the tags? We remember it. Every single ‘named’ anon we get (heart anon, sunflower anon, etc)? We remember them. And the best part is? It’s actually easier to do these things on Tumblr since you have the option to send anonymous asks or make a sideblog specifically for reblogs! Trust me, whether the lack of interaction is the cause of a lack of motivation or what have you, every writer appreciates feedback (don’t be shy to offer some critique or compliments) or even a simple keyboard smash with some emojis. Even sitting down for 5 min a day per week to comment on your favorite writers’ new pieces makes a huge difference. Personally, since Tumblr’s activity feed is beyond terrible and I have over 1,500 posts, I don’t always see new reblogs or comments on my content; asks though? Always see those, can never go wrong with those. If you don’t want to reblog or leave a comment, then you can never go wrong with an anonymous ask. 

As my wise friend says: writing is an art, and in order to improve that art, we need other people’s eyes to see what we don’t.

This blogger remembers when we didn’t have AO3.

This blogger remembers when we had to put disclaimers at the head of our fics and pray that someone didn’t take it into their heads to sue us for what we created.

This blogger remembers brilliant artists and writers getting decades of work obliterated on LJ because someone who wanted to tell people what they were allowed to create went running to someone who wanted a profit, and told them the artists and writers had been naughty.

This blogger remembers just how hard the creators of AO3 worked to build the thing we all seem to take for granted now.

This blogger watched friends dive into the creation process so heartily and determinedly that they all but disappeared from the writing/gaming/artistic side of their fandom for YEARS while they worked to make the archive happen.

This blogger remembers the sense of giddy wonder that there would possibly be LAWYERS involved, willing to defend our right to create these works, and not leave us hanging at the mercy of corporate legal teams.

This blogger is aware that she reads between twenty to fifty books’ worth of material every year on AO3, and is never REQUIRED to pay a penny for the privilege of getting access.

This blogger is aware that she will not ever see advertisements on AO3, and that her personal data and reading preferences won’t be sold to advertisers in order to raise the money that AO3 needs to pay for the services they provide.

This blogger is aware that AO3 is, and has always been, a labor of love; by fans, for fans, and not for profiting off fans – and this is what makes it unique in the whole of the media universe.

This blogger remembers the Anne Rice fandom drama. 

This blogger remembers Fanfiction.net deleting fanfics because they had been coerced into deleting the nc-17 category. 

https://openlibrary.org/

There’s like 150 libraries partnered with openlibrary so far.

https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL26576A/Tamora_Pierce

I sure did!

The Past

What inspired me recently was also Bury The Light - the other, melancholic layer I feel in this song but also VoV's last chapter including the Tweets comparing the last panel to one Tarot card.

#devilhuntober ( #nertober #vertober ) Day 1: Greeting!

Bury the Light: 

Beyond the tree Fire burns Secret love Bloodline yearns Dark minds embrace Crimson joy

The Sick Rose:

“O Rose thou art sick. The invisible worm, That flies in the night In the howling storm: Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy: And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy.”

I found this section really interesting in relation to Vergil’s character. As it could be interpreted that Vergil himself is “The Sick Rose”. 

Throughout the series there is a lot of symbolism that sees Vergil himself as the “Blue Rose”. 

Dante in the Lucifer cutscene in DMC4, as well as his DMC5 taunt, wields a “Red Rose”. Fitting as his symbolic colour given his commonly associated colour is red. As well as red roses being a symbol of passion and romance. Something that seems rather fitting given Dante’s flirtatious attitude. 

It seems fitting then, with Vergil as the blue twin, and a mirror to Dante that he should be seen as the “Blue Rose”. Further supported by the vines of sharp thorns that can be seen decorating both his coats DMC5 and DMC3. As well as Nero’s own gun baring the same name, with both weapons sharing a link to his parents (Such as Red Queen being related to Nero’s mother’s Red Dress)

This floral connotation fits with his character too. 

Blue roses, have long been a symbol for striving for the miraculous or impossible. They are also linked to (divine) beauty and unrequited love. Which aside from most of the Sparda family being conventionally attractive (Including Vergil himself). The unrequited love aspect is rather interesting considering his relationship towards Eva, and this “Secret love” Vergil believes she has for Dante over him. Especially on the day of the Sparda home’s attack and her saving Dante over him. Tying in with the idea that he can see house burn “beyond the tree” (A small reference to the DMC3 Manga)

Vergil wishes to accomplish the impossible by obtaing his father’s power to protect himself and those he loves, after his mother’s - Sparda’s “Secret love” - death. Either because he sees himself as Sparda’s chosen son and that it's his duty to seek vengeance on Mundus and accomplish the impossible like his father did with his rebellion - thus forever protecting his remaining family (Dante) if Mundus is no longer a threat. Or more tragically (and likely), never wishes to witness the death of a loved one ever again. 

His noble goal slowly gets corrupted however. In connection to Blake’s poem; “The invisible worm” could be seen as his demonic side influencing and overwhelming Vergil with an obsession with power. A “worm” that comes “In the night of howling storm” (The attack on the Sparda family manor where Vergil demonic side was most likely awakened, or at least his belief that humanity/his mother Eva was “weak” and fallible was formed.) 

This pursuit of power ultimately ends up destroying Vergil’s life. Leading him to abandon his son Nero, becoming distant and forming a fierce hatred and rivalry towards Dante, and ending up enslaved and tortured under Mundus’ as Nelo Angelo.

Much like how the “Sick Rose” is destroyed by the “Worm” at the end of the poem. 

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk! ｡(*^▽^*)ゞ