A Little Vice (Trans Magical Girl fic)
- Thread starter Shadell
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Cloak&Dagger
Definitely Insane
Trans Magical Girl Girl
- Location
- SV's Only Complete Persona Quest
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Something I've noticed about the Beasts is that they seem to have a loose 'horror monster' theme going on. Avaritia's certainly werewolf-like, bats are of course strongly linked with vampires, sharks of course make you think Jaws and more loosely other underwater horrors like the Black Lagoon, foxes (which Luxuria is said to be) of course come up a lot in East Asian supernatural stuff, and dragons are certainly classic monsters if not classic horror monsters (though Superbia's linked with the devil, which is more than horror enough).
Acedia Bear is the hardest fit though, even if bears can be pretty scary. Can't think of many bears in horror until recently, with Freddie Fazbear and regrettably Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey
Acedia Bear is the hardest fit though, even if bears can be pretty scary. Can't think of many bears in horror until recently, with Freddie Fazbear and regrettably Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
And Cocaine Bear and the bear from Bear (2010).
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Bears are sort of a medieval 'horror monster,' because they're big tough hard-to-kill creatures that are vaguely humanoid and very fierce under certain conditions, and they actually, well, exist.
Supposedly, our very word "bear" is descended from a word that means "the brown one," which for Germanic cultures was this thing they called bears because they were afraid that giving a more specific name to bears or speaking it might attract their attention, which is exactly the kind of shit you get around horror story characters.
So before there was Jason Voorhees or Freddy Kreuger or anything like that, there was "just literally a fucking bear."
The other fun thing is that the baltic and slavic languages have something similar going on! Respectively, their bear-words are derived from "shaggy one" and "honey-eater".
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
Same thing in ancient Finland as well, people believed that saying its name, 'karhu', would draw its attention. At the same time bear was a worshipped creature as the king of the forest, and seen at least on equal standing with humans.
- Location
- SV's Only Complete Persona Quest
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Also, interesting thing about Pride is that the Japanese word for it, Hokori, can also mean 'dust' depending on the spelling (pride is 誇り, dust is 埃), which for me conjures some 'Nothing beside remains' vibes.
Edit: Since I gave the Saints Japanese names a while back, I forgot Misao which can mean 'chastity', so it probably would've been closer than Aimi
Edit: Since I gave the Saints Japanese names a while back, I forgot Misao which can mean 'chastity', so it probably would've been closer than Aimi
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- Pronouns
- She/Her
Caught up! I have a bunch of backlog on commentaries I'll post at some point, and still need to do them for the last couple chapters, but am finished and can take part in regular convo!
Fresh is such a banger.
Also because I forgot to post this last time we talked about it Setuna is a trans allegory I will not be taking questions at this time.
One thing I did notice, I think I mentioned this in my recap, is that despite being from a different dimension, all their creature forms are so remarkably earth-like. Though whether this is for convenience, a pure show conceit, or there's more to it I'm not certain.
For the record, my bad! I kept holding back because I was trying to avoid the thread and then when I replied I didn't really think of it, but it felt like something important to clarify and better late than never, right?
I think that Inessa just... wouldn't care. She at this sense may not get the trans stuff, but she has a broad sense what Chiro is going through- Chiro was hardly subtle about it after all. See her reaction to Lupin. Temp of course knows exactly what is going on, and given that she doesn't HATE Aviritia or anything- the line in the last chapter shows she still has feelings and she seems more bitter than anything, bit of a Lover's spat as it were. It comes across to me like she's respecting Chiro to find her own path. This isn't really a disagreement so much as building on what you said.
This is already a problem for her in fairness XP
Fresh is such a banger.
Also because I forgot to post this last time we talked about it Setuna is a trans allegory I will not be taking questions at this time.
One thing I did notice, I think I mentioned this in my recap, is that despite being from a different dimension, all their creature forms are so remarkably earth-like. Though whether this is for convenience, a pure show conceit, or there's more to it I'm not certain.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Wouldn't care about what? Going evil? I realize I forgot to say, I was talking about not just Chiro choosing to become a Beast, but also the choking Inessa thing, which Ida stopped her from going through with.
Also, she seems to get she's trans.
I'll probably steal the thing Setsuna does with her hands.
Well, their soul tree is also compatible with the people of Earth. So maybe the life on both worlds has a shared origin.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Yeah, basically, she clearly doesn't give a shit about Avaritia being with Superbia, who I have to assume has done worse to her, honestly. It's not like they don't engage in hand-to-hand combat. A lot of Chiro's response just reads like self-catastrophizing to me rather than actually reflecting on what Inessa believes- see also how she assumed that Inessa would hate Avaritia after the "betrayal" and at most Inessa just doesn't have a crush on em anymore
(Also so funny that we have likely moved from one live triangle to another)
In terms of the trans thing. It's not entirely impossible? She does ask for Invidia's pronouns but there's also the part where she still refers to C with masculine pronouns
Looking back for this I notice somebody commented on Inessa deadnaming Chiro, but I don't think that's what is going on here intentionally. I think Inessa sees them as two separate entities, with Chiro being somebody corrupted by darkness and having her personality twisted a bit, whereas "C" is the original, and the female form is... well, Gula and Avaritia have a female form too, it could just be how it works, which leads to a female identificaiton. Or she just could have not really put any thought into it. Or even being mislead by somebody like Michael. You could argue it's a bit of a stretch, but to me it makes a lot more sense than sweet-hearted Inessa who explicitly asked for pronouns deadnaming her best friend TWICE. (I know pronouns with trans people are sometimes complicated, but given that she hasn't asked Chiro about this, I would count it tbh. How she talking about her next chapter shoud elucidate things though if it comes up.
That's valid, yeah. My assumption was that Avaritia stole all the earth-like stuff in the lair, and while I think that's probably at least partially true, there could just be some overlap too.
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Iris-Iven-Ibis
Interested-Idiot-Immortal
- Location
- You know
C is not out and still "a boy" so Inessa is going to refer to her as such especially with someone from her perspective just met
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Possible, for sure, especially given that how she instantly knew Spivak she is more knowledgable about this stuff than Chiro was, and she does add "happy for you" at the end of asking for her pronouns. It's also possible that she used "C" and "Charlie" in that fight as reflex in a stressful situation, but I do think it also makes sense for Inessa to at least potentially perceive them as different people; Invidia to a degree acts different, has different motivations, looks different, and was actively corrupted by evil/"evil". I don't think it makes no sense for Chiro's desires to at least be seen as somewhat distorted at this point. You could argue Temperance is to a degree a slight case study in that. A point I do think could be against this is that she doesn't seem to really feel that similarly about Avaritia per se.
In other words, I think that there are good arguments on both ends and it will be cleared up eventually.
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
Fresh really is a banger. Pls elaborate for my small brain.
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I think I've mentioned this before, but this kind of comment makes me think you picked the perfect avatar.
Yes, but so far her friends have had an irritating habit of not validating her self-loathing. If that changes...new metaphorical razors.
If the Temperance/Inessa relationship was developed a little more, we might get a love tetrahedron.
Yeah, the name situation is complicated a bit by the fact that Chiro's...um...non-dead name is her supervillain alias.
It wasn't phrased as a question, so this is technically following instructions!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Imagine if you will, a character who feels basically no emotion except anger, sadness, and maniacal glee.(1) She's somebody without any clear goals in life- she wants to "get up" in the world, but she seems to not really have any particular idea how to do that, except blindly following Lord Morbius' orders. Similarly, she has no clear motivation to do much of anything with the exception of what she is told. She is relatively isolated from her two male coworkers; she'll interact with them, but I'm uncertain she really has much of any sort of actual bond, and outright says she will toss them aside at a moment's notice. She is easily intelligent and skilled, but she also puts all her effort into the mission, I believe she reads, but we don't really get to see her engage in hobbies the way we do Westar and Soular.
She then takes on another form, dressing and presenting in personality as a totally different person. She makes friends, she socializes, and in many ways she simply acts like a normal person. For her, it's an act, of course, until... it simply stops being an act. Outside 23, one of my favorite scenes in the entire show is in 21, when Eas is supposed to head to an assigned post, and there is a constant battle in her head as to what to do, and when Love calls out for Setsuna, she cries back, with a better solid amount of desperation, that "Setsuna is not here!". To her, Setsuna is not just some kind of identity, she is in herself an individual person, somebody that Eas identifies has positions and ideals and values that can be communicated with.
And then of course, Eas outright dies and she turns into Setsuna completely; rejecting her current form and embarcing her new regular feminine form. This is in itself, I would argue, almost certainly a biological change, though I suppose I can't prove that Labyrthinian biology differs, so that part is speculative. Regardless, Setsuna's personality changes incredibly rapidly. She develops friendly bonds, she becomes more open about her emotions, she becomes more open about her wants, she becomes more independent.
There is even an episode, I think the first one where Westar and Soular try to get Setsuna back and call her "Eas", and Setsuna gets outright furious saying that she's Setsuna now. If you thinking about it, the source of her anger is identical logic to why deadnaming is so hurtful- they are referring to Setsuna as somebody that she doesn't identify as anymore, she left that person behind, and now hates what that person represented. It was a dark period in her life, and she is through it now, and wants to be able to move on, and it's hurtful that these two can not see that. And if that episode wasn't enough to convince you that "Deadnaming" is bad, Northa does it too, in a scene where she's pretty clearly depicted as evil.
I feel like there's more, but I'm tired and nothing comes to mind. Super egg-coded imo.
1. I think you could argue that this emotion is more conditioned than an actual emotion she has, but I think that's begging the question a bit, so we'll just grant it.
She then takes on another form, dressing and presenting in personality as a totally different person. She makes friends, she socializes, and in many ways she simply acts like a normal person. For her, it's an act, of course, until... it simply stops being an act. Outside 23, one of my favorite scenes in the entire show is in 21, when Eas is supposed to head to an assigned post, and there is a constant battle in her head as to what to do, and when Love calls out for Setsuna, she cries back, with a better solid amount of desperation, that "Setsuna is not here!". To her, Setsuna is not just some kind of identity, she is in herself an individual person, somebody that Eas identifies has positions and ideals and values that can be communicated with.
And then of course, Eas outright dies and she turns into Setsuna completely; rejecting her current form and embarcing her new regular feminine form. This is in itself, I would argue, almost certainly a biological change, though I suppose I can't prove that Labyrthinian biology differs, so that part is speculative. Regardless, Setsuna's personality changes incredibly rapidly. She develops friendly bonds, she becomes more open about her emotions, she becomes more open about her wants, she becomes more independent.
There is even an episode, I think the first one where Westar and Soular try to get Setsuna back and call her "Eas", and Setsuna gets outright furious saying that she's Setsuna now. If you thinking about it, the source of her anger is identical logic to why deadnaming is so hurtful- they are referring to Setsuna as somebody that she doesn't identify as anymore, she left that person behind, and now hates what that person represented. It was a dark period in her life, and she is through it now, and wants to be able to move on, and it's hurtful that these two can not see that. And if that episode wasn't enough to convince you that "Deadnaming" is bad, Northa does it too, in a scene where she's pretty clearly depicted as evil.
I feel like there's more, but I'm tired and nothing comes to mind. Super egg-coded imo.
1. I think you could argue that this emotion is more conditioned than an actual emotion she has, but I think that's begging the question a bit, so we'll just grant it.
- Location
- SV's Only Complete Persona Quest
- Pronouns
- She/Her
For some more sin puns in Japanese, NGE fans would probably know Ikari can mean both 'wrath' and 'anchor'. But one that took me really aback was learning that the main Japanese word for envy is... Shitto, no really.
So you heard it from Japan folks, envy is shit~ Glup Envy
So you heard it from Japan folks, envy is shit~ Glup Envy
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
Huh, yeah, I can see it. Thank you for helping me expand my understanding of fresh precure's themes.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Batshit, you could say.
Do you have puns for the elements?
Love Train
stack of bats
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Incidentally, the katakana pronunciation of 'C' is シー 'Shi'
- Location
- SV's Only Complete Persona Quest
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Some that stood out are that Kasai (fire) can also mean fruits and vegetables oddly enough, and that the Japanese word for the common cold and illness in general literally translates as 'ill wind' (and of course there's also kamikaze, I'll let you fill in the blanks on that). Mizu (water) can also mean needle depending on the kanji, while Tsuchi (earth) can also mean hammer, shows up in the names for aardvark and the wrinkled frog.
And people will know for Sailor Moon how the elements are assigned planets in East Asia, water with Mercury, fire with Mars, earth with Saturn (and not, er, Earth), and the closest one Wind has would be Uranus. Same goes for days of the week, water with Wednesday, fire with Tuesday, earth with Saturday, and not being part of the original Chinese elements means Wind doesn't get a day (unless you associate it with Wood, in which case it gets Jupiter and Thursday)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The Sailor Moon name puns are, incidentally, horrible. All the characters (almost) have names that end in "no" which is a particle that can read as "of". In the character names it's written with a different character than the hiragana, so it reads a little less obviously, but Takeuchi just reused the same joke 9 times.
Mizuno Ami means "Beauty of Water"
Tsukino Usagi means "Rabbit of the Moon"
And so on. Some characters write their names in Katakana, so meaning can't be entirely taken clear, but, literally, every single inner Sailor Scout uses the same joke pattern.
The outers use "ou" instead, which means king.
Except for Saturn, of course, whose identity was played off as much more of a reveal and would likely have broken if she followed the pattern (at least in the anime).
What I am saying is that "Temperance Atwater" is basically the median Sailor Moon character name.
Mizuno Ami means "Beauty of Water"
Tsukino Usagi means "Rabbit of the Moon"
And so on. Some characters write their names in Katakana, so meaning can't be entirely taken clear, but, literally, every single inner Sailor Scout uses the same joke pattern.
The outers use "ou" instead, which means king.
Except for Saturn, of course, whose identity was played off as much more of a reveal and would likely have broken if she followed the pattern (at least in the anime).
What I am saying is that "Temperance Atwater" is basically the median Sailor Moon character name.
- Location
- SV's Only Complete Persona Quest
- Pronouns
- She/Her
One of the things I was worried about when naming characters for my own MG story was any puns being too on-the-nose... until I remembered Sailor Moon's naming conventions
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Reminder that a Precure villain's name is literally Poisonny