#monstrousparalysis

Being so fascinated by Mark/Ashe is such a curse sometimes, because in a way, I do want to write things about them, but also the intriguing parts to me are absolutely not like. Any single actions either of them would take. They intrigue me as an extension of, like, how Mark's overprotectiveness(/possessiveness) of Ashe fucked her up, or to highlight the handful of similarities between them and how Mal treats William, so as a part of the wider themes of PD about youth exploitation. I honestly don't find as much intrigue in like, the idea of the sex as I do things like "how aware would Ashe even be that what Mark does isn't normal?" or even "how would the PD react if Ashe lets something slip (because she's too sheltered to know what's normal) but she also didn't want them to get Mark in trouble about it?".

Cough. Anyways. Bring this up to you solely cause getting into TMK has actually ended up very refreshing for that part of me that has to wonder if im just insane and seeing patterns where there aren't any with The Suckening lmao. I most definitely have ideas related to sex abt TMK, but like. There's not nearly as many weird moments or subtext. Like oh no okay, I'm not just seeing things, the vampire campaign abt cycles of abuse Does in fact lend itself uniquely well to themes about incest and sexual abuse.

With this said: Everett has a clear fear of vulnerability/showing weakness, and Lucia's primary reaction to stress or conflict is to shut down and socially roll over, so I am not completely stranded in my freakitude, luckily.

HELLO! so so sorry for this incredibly delayed response, i had crazy assignments and then i was sick and then i had crazy assignments and was sick at the same time, and then i was just sick. but i LIVED. and i've also listened to the three publicly available tmk episodes in that time, and i Get It.

it is funny bc even in the first episode, grizzly mentions that the players specifically asked for no romance/sex subplots, which is just so funny to me with this group of players specifically. it's impossible to avoid i fear. but you're right that the weird undertones are much more present in the suckening -- i think, like you said, owing themselves to the themes of abuse, but also the system of vtm in general, which has that underlying erotic tone because it's about being a Dark Gritty Sexy Vampire. but the themes definitely ARE THERE in tmk too, at least in the episodes i've seen -- lucia carrying on her family's legacy, a legacy which took her sister from her. everett as emblematic of this broader hybrid (breeding??? not sure where this is going yet but in any case it's a bodily violation) situation, which changes his body irreversibly and makes him so visibly inhuman. and jin trying so, so hard to uphold that perfect image of monster hunter that he was raised to fulfill, even while his party members are alternately subverting or being victimized by that image at turns. you can never exist perfectly within a system that recognizes a loss of bodily autonomy as guilt! sorry to tell u that jin!

anyway on a less analytical topic i, too, want everett james petalbridge to get brutally railed. i won't have time to write anything until (at least) the episodes are done being released, but i have been playing around with this idea about everett's loss of control/frenzy mechanics & what 'wrangling' that might look like for lucia and jin. like. especially wrt jin trying to be The Ideal Hunter and lucia being so passive, i think there would be something satisfying for jin in like. being able to handle/dominate/put in its place the beast that takes over everett (that everett secretly is, according to the understanding of the society they live in). while lucia stands there and watches because she doesn't know how to get him to stop, and in any case, it's not really her place, right? this isn't what she's here for. she's here to honor her parents, and watching jin beat the fuck out of a frenzied everett (erotic style, devolving into - something else, how far would jin let himself go?) isn't -- it's just. that's their problem. it's not her Designated Role. so she just lets it happen.

Anyways. They're together after something massively emotionally exhausting and horrible. And Shilo doesn't even have Emizel to lean on about it. And if these two very formal and buttoned up guys are Ever going to just say fuck it and do something like kiss then it is Absolutely going to be after This Shit, when nothing feels real and there is no reason for them to cling to propriety and Arthur is all but convinced that he is going to either die or lose himself entirely very soon. Circumvent the moral concerns about your age gap and power imbalance with this one neat trick!

the codependency vampires!!!!!!!! shilo 'i need this right now' bathroy vs. arthur 'i need to be what you need right now' bennett. who will win? me. it's me. and my fujo soul.

it's all just very. there's no one left to watch us. there's no one left to reach out for but each other. both of our worlds have imploded. who are we when there's no one left to triangulate off of? why should any of it matter? we're the only two people left in our neck of the woods, so no one will ever have to know. no one can see inside of this place we've hidden away.

Okay, so. In terms of comparing Arthur's relationship with the twins to a familial one, I do think the best summary would generally be that he's kind of like an older brother that has to take care of his younger siblings despite not really being able to handle himself because they don't have anyone else. Still not a perfect parallel, but it's pretty close if you want to draw a familial comparison.

However. May I propose: Shilo 100% gets attached to Arthur the way he does and as fast as he does because of his mommy issues.

Explanation: they have some superficial similarities (pale, tall + slender, dark haired, often with a cat). But, they're also both quite formal, they both keep a lot of secrets and aren't quick to trust, and they have decently similar ways of being quite intimidating. The Queen walking out of a blood portal for a "dramatic entrance" is wild and it works as part of explaining why Shilo doesn't just run away from a man he repeatedly says he's scared of. One could even argue slightly more meta similarities in the way they act with the twins (Arthur being the first person to figure out the twins are twins, and the only one to do it without being told first, a similar dynamic of clear and visible efforts to protect Shilo compared to mostly trusting that Emizel can handle himself, also there's a line in the finale where Arthur says "I'm beginning to understand your mother" that I. Am very normal about.).

All of this said: I promise I have very normal reasons for suggesting this that are not at all related to any sorts of shipping. I point this out only for the love of the Gothic themes of cycles and family. Very important analysis is happening here that has nothing to do with Shilo calling Arthur mommy.

oh of course. nothing to do with shilo sucking that mans tits whatsoever. i'm not thinking about that at all. who said that.

jokes aside, i'm veeeery into this interpretation. i kind of fuck with this reflecting on arthur's eye of the storm nature/demeanor (idk if we learn which one it is?), the way the twins individually shape him into the thing that they need as they both orbit him. like yes the similarities between him and the queen are SO real. but also, the emotional distance & hands-off approach arthur takes with emizel has gotta feel pretty similar to emizel's relationship with his father, no? we don't get a whole lot of depth re: what their relationship looked like pre-series, but i'd also wager that arthur's distrust & casual insinuations about emizel's 'purity' and corruptive nature feel pretty familiar. where he's shilo's emotionally distant but ultimately caring mother, he's emizel's distrustful, unimpressed father.

Oh wait no speaking of the Weylins. Remember that time Emizel's asking them if what they do is a sex thing, and then he justifies his reasoning by saying that they're twins. 10/10 part of episode 7. So much said in so few words. Tell us more, man who also has a twin.

yeah, 100%. it's always jokes until someone takes it seriously and goes, 'wait, but like, what if that did happen?' and then suddenly it's crossed some arbitrary invisible line into Weird Stuff because that person was actually interested in taking a closer look at what everybody else was just implying, especially if you're pointing out parallels between a (dehumanized) villain and a (idolized) protagonist. tbh at this point in my fandom experience i cba to interact w people who think that way though, so i mostly just find it fascinating & ironic when writers or storytellers create worlds where The Thing They Want No One To Talk About is featured so prominently. exhibit a being the weylin twins of COURSE!

But yeah, there are literally so many other parts of that scene that are Insane. Shilo remembering that they're probably brothers and reacting to that by going silent and poking Emizel. Emizel grabbing Shilo in response. Shilo explicitly telling Emizel that he'll make Soda into whatever he wants. There's this one specific fucking line Arthur has outside of the motel, talking to Shilo, where he says, verbatim, "I can tell that you have been untouched by the evils in this world, in this life and in the unlife. If you're not careful, it will corrupt you." and then Grizzly specifies that Arthur pointedly looks at Emizel before continuing "Maybe it already has." and I don't know how Anybody interprets that in a way that isn't. Extremely weird.

And that's all not even talking about Emizel suggesting they feed on a threesome as a bonding experience (somebody's Totally Not salty about being left out). Which Charlie then adds a cuck to, that he names "Greg Fore" as a reference to Grefgore. Which would obviously draw a metaphorical connection between the threesome and the PCs.

Everything said: the JRWI boys are hypocrites for making fun of VTM for making everything about sex, because they are the ones who set the brothers reveal And the official PC banding together thing at the sex motel (this is lighthearted lol)

i have had that exact thought so much lmfaooo for guys who canNOT stop making come jokes, they sure have a lot to say about vtm's interest in sexuality. as though vampires haven't been That Way since time immemorial. all lighthearted of course, but i do think you're right to point out all the weird bits about that (and later) scenes that draw the listener's attention to the weird, variable boundaries between the twins & arthur. like what DOES arthur mean when he says that about shilo already being corrupted? that could be interpreted so many different ways, but you're right that very few of them are not-weird.

i think this might be coming from my experience in spn (and specifically wincest) fandom, but i can recognize specifically in the suckening a desire to interact with the taboo (because vtm actively encourages that), but a concern about actually doing so. in spn this means there's a lot of focus (in the first couple seasons, at least) on the gothic horror aspect of the show -- familial cycles, eroded boundaries between the brothers deriving from an atypical, codependent childhood, etc. but the second fans point out, 'hey, that stuff is commonly related to incest & intrafamilial sa & csa, are you trying to say something about the brothers' relationship with that,' the showrunners go, 'WHOAAA hey there buddy, looks like we've got a FREAK in the audience, hahaha, we would NEVER do ANYTHING like that. weirdo.' i don't say this with any sort of animosity towards the council, i think that they're publicish figures with a young, oftentimes uncritical audience. i also think they're majority cishet men, which does contribute. but i do think that they're drawn to the taboo that vtm highlights, but are not willing to go far enough to actively engage with it. so you're stuck in this weird limbo where the twins & arthur talk about feeding on a threesome together, but if you point out that that's kind of strange & incestuous (positive), you've crossed the line from Bit into Actuality, which is where most folks fall off.