- Location
- Somewhere in the Ashes
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Wisdom and intelligence are separate stats for a reason.
A Little Vice (Trans Magical Girl fic)
- Thread starter Shadell
- Start date
- Original Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
I like how your protraying the Sin stuff as something with a fair bit of leeway so long as they fall under the given sins Overarching theme
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
C's hostility towards the conditions of her own existence doesn't have the kind of fire that it'd take to go with Wrath. I would argue that proper Wrath requires a certain hot, redblooded ferocity that C has, if anything, a negative amount of.
Superbia trying to get C to give in to Lust was really dumb, but trying to get her to give in to Wrath would have been even dumber. Possibly- and this is difficult to imagine- too stupid, even for him.
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Atleast there was a vague understandable through line to come to the conclusion of Lust without some additional Context
- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The argument for Sloth here would be kind of interesting, because it's implicitly Disassociation and Detachment as the practice of Sloth. I guess a C focusing on that would be even more dreamline in her every day life, floating through things and losing time, not engaging with anyone....
Probably less dramatic for the anime, though!
Probably less dramatic for the anime, though!
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- He/Him
For everything else going on in the story, C being genre savvy enough to figure out who the Saints were while being too genre blind to do the same for the villains (even after Mr. Noir's villain speech) is hilarious. (I'm sure there's some magic hypnosis explanation that would make this considerably less funny, but I don't want to hear it.)
Feels like "everyone is terrible at keeping secrets" is a central theme of this story. (With the exceptions of secrets protected by magic hypnosis or trans eggshells.)
I know this doesn't feel like a glass-houses situation, Ms. "It's not that weird for a guidance counselor to encourage me to sin in those words," but I assure you it is. Especially considering your current condition...
Didn't C mention Inessa accidentally saying her own name once or something?
I know this is out of step with the rest of this post, but...was calling them Resin-ers an intentional pun?
...for C's sin thingy? Given that her transformed form is a mirror image of Castitas, I'd be willing to bet cash that it's Envy.
Sooooo I wonder how the whole Magical girl stuff will work for him once he is in fact no longer being Beast Envy in his Dreams primarily is if he can just switch to Girl form whilst not going full Magical Girl
Also no way in Bloody hell hes not Envy simply for how His Dream self Acts
Also no way in Bloody hell hes not Envy simply for how His Dream self Acts
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- Pronouns
- She/Her
- Location
- United Kingdom
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Lust is a fairly straightforward dickwad bigot read of trans people - your old "autogynephilia" if you like, Wrath I don't rlly buy for C, Sloth could be a kinda apathetic dissociation thing, Pride could be interesting but probably for a girl who isn't C, Gluttony is honestly a pretty niche sin? Always seemed odd that it's one of the Big Seven tbh, and greed would again apply probably better to a different hypothetical trans girl than C.
Envy frankly is the only sin that I think really tracks with C, which isn't a big surprise! Envy is the one she got, after all.
Envy frankly is the only sin that I think really tracks with C, which isn't a big surprise! Envy is the one she got, after all.
Hestia&theCourt
Turns out we're plural too.
- Location
- In transition
- Pronouns
- She/Her
While I am by no means an expert, I believe that at the time the Seven Deadly Sins were being conceptualized, there were a number of socially-influential schools of Christian thought that held that self-control and suffering and a general sense of asceticism were holy and therefore desirable. Therefore, Gluttony became one of the deadliest sins as a counter to the supposed holy nature of denying oneself food beyond what was strictly necessary to keep one alive. I suspect it made far more sense in the context it originated in than it does now after several hundred years' worth of cultural drift.
The early Christians were also taking a lot of cues from the Greeks (see also: women), and, well, here's what Plato had to say on the subject of cooking skill:
Plato said:
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I think everyone agrees it's envy. I just mentioned I thought it would be wrath and then sloth was mentioned as an hypothetical. Also, lust and gluttony can be interpreted beyond sex and food, I think. On wikipedia: "a psychological force producing intense desire for something, or circumstance while already having a significant amount of the desired object. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality (see libido), money, or power. It can take such mundane forms as the lust for food (see gluttony) as distinct from the need for food or lust for redolence, when one is lusting for a particular smell that brings back memories" and "over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, alcohol and other recreational drugs, or wealth items, particularly as status symbols." Course, those expanded meanings end up with a lot of overlap.
For wrath, I had expected C to copy the magical girls while lashing out with her self-hatred at others but not her friends, though now it's apparent a Beast's sin has to be enjoyable or freeing. Envy was out of my mind because I expected it to hating and attacking those you envy, and while C is indeed attacking her friends, I thought her aggresivity was inward and at the people she though she was like. And turns out envy can be just the unhappiness at lacking.
For wrath, I had expected C to copy the magical girls while lashing out with her self-hatred at others but not her friends, though now it's apparent a Beast's sin has to be enjoyable or freeing. Envy was out of my mind because I expected it to hating and attacking those you envy, and while C is indeed attacking her friends, I thought her aggresivity was inward and at the people she though she was like. And turns out envy can be just the unhappiness at lacking.
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- Pronouns
- She/Her
Lust and gluttony would probably be the worst and second worst fits for C respectively. I think I could justify the other 5 were C to have been assigned one, which she has not. She just is having perfectly normal mundane dreams.
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- Location
- Australia
Uh huh. Yeah ok. I'll totally believe that.
If it actually isn't Envy, please do not just laugh at us from behind the privacy of your computer screen. Laugh at us openly so we can know we've been made fools of.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Since snakes are associated with envy, she probably has the power copying based on copying powersets as "skins", like a snake would shed skins. There's also the story of Tiresias, who swapped sexes by hitting pairs of mating snakes. With the association of snakes with medicine, maybe her magical girl version would be a support type that enhances her friends powers, by directly amplifying them or copying and doing joint attacks?
The Shallow
Shallow, Yet Deep
- Location
- Your Universe
- Pronouns
- She/They
I think I saw it from the perspective of eggs who tend to mistake their gender envy for attraction, like what C was doing. While that might be related to AGP, I don't think it actually stems from that, or at least not in whole.
ltmauve
"Excuse me?"
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- She/Her
"Humanitas" having support powers would fit my understanding. Not sure she would keep the copying aspect of Invidia, though.
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It's heavily implied that C's "dreams" are actually happening, and that the "dream" is just how her conscious mind interprets the time she was under the—
Hm. Can't tell if Shadell is toying with us or clearing something up.
For all the justifications C gives, it's still weird that she'd have dreams about beating up her friends in the name of evil and think that was normal.
Or a not-hypothetical enby.
I suspect that Avaricia spun C's feelings as envy towards the magical girls, Superbia went "Well he has sin powers now, so I guess you're right," and then they went back to their villain stuff.
Considering that the specific mention of "lust" comes from Superbia (who seems to be, at best, trans-insensitive), I'd guess it has more to do with AGP than egg rationalization. Though that rationalization is definitely the only reason C went along with it.
Also: Thinking about what pronouns to use for a fictional character who is very obviously trans, but doesn't realize it, is weird.
- Location
- Australia
The way I saw it was that Superbia saw that C had a great obsession for Castitas, to which he thought "Boy obsessed with girl? Must be lust." And to be fair that would be the Occam's Razor explanation, but let this be a lesson on why philosophical razors are guidelines, not rules.
As for the pronouns thing, the way I see it is that we the readers are uniquely advantaged in that we can know for certain things that characters in the story can't. So I can (and do) refer to C with feminine pronouns because that's clearly the way the story is going but if I were to make that same assumption about a real person (or if someone else in the story did that to her) that would be horribly presumptuous. Hey, what was that Lupin was doing again?
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
This bubbles through my head and reminds me of something I saw in an article written by a lesbian who remembers thinking of her teenage crushes: "do I want her, or do I want to be her?"
Envy and attraction can definitely be entangled in nearly anyone, even if they aren't always.
My theory is that Superbia had one of the aforementioned boomer moments and just entirely missed figuring out that C was trans and planned to turn 'him' into a male villain.
He didn't think C was autogynephilic. He just thought that C was the usual kind of gynephilic.
A person capable of taking upon oneself the personification of greed turning out to be self-centered and not really caring about the propriety of one's actions? Shock!
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- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- He/Him
So from a Watsonian perspective, Superbia almost certainly didn't see C's trans-ness and then try to figure out why "he" really feels this way. But from a Doylist perspective, the way he describes her maps pretty cleanly onto a boomer trying to figure out why trans women feel that way. (Hence, the AGP comparison.) Neither is wrong, per se, but they're trying to answer different questions.
I suppose the synthesis of those two perspectives would be something like "Superbia completely misread C, in a way that Shadell picked because it aligned with a certain kind of real-life villain".
I suppose the synthesis of those two perspectives would be something like "Superbia completely misread C, in a way that Shadell picked because it aligned with a certain kind of real-life villain".
- Location
- Central Standard Time
Hello from the User Fiction banner!
On that cheery note, let's start reading!
As it turns out, I forgot to actually quote things for later commentary. Oops.
I guess the main takeaway here is that C's painfully dense. This is relatable: so am I.
Ow.
On that cheery note, let's start reading!
As it turns out, I forgot to actually quote things for later commentary. Oops.
I guess the main takeaway here is that C's painfully dense. This is relatable: so am I.
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Boy is this a week to throw myself at this bad boy, but I am nothing if not committed to good fiction.
This is funny. Literally the masquerade has gone inside out and they don't even know.
"Listen my bird tries very hard, please be nice."
Okay, so amber sap is the method used to turn people into monsters of the week, because the Abyssal Forest is tree themed.
Hmmm, like tree resin? That actually explains Shadell's pronounication well.
And we're finally introduced to Michael's deal, including her gender, which I'd been vaguely uncertain about, appropriately given this is also the point C explains that Avaritia's pronouns, which clarifies what ey meant by Spivak here:
It explains the pronoun shuffle last chapter, C must have already looked it up by the dream sequence.
What IS up with Christian angels being plushies tho.
Like clearly the Abyssal Forest is Animals and Trees, so how does that factor into the Angelic Saints being equal and opposite forces while being directed by, a stuffed animal?
Maybe it's manufacturing, civilization by contrast to the wilds?
Inessa: EVIL MAGICAL WOLF ENBIE, PLEASE KNOW WE RESPECT YOUR PRONOUNS VERY MUCH WHILE WE'RE KICKING YOUR BUTT!
Avaritia: Awww, that's sweet–Uh. I mean, curse you, do-gooders who ruin perfectly fine shark girl friendships?
Envy, Chastity, and their very bratty friendship.
"So you end things bibical style right?"
"What, no, I'd never do that to a cute gir–Cute non-binary person!"
"I don't think you needed to repeat the cute..."
Avaritia is very used to getting talked at about how ey need to stop doing stuff that are bad.
Hm, hmmm, with Gula gone, I wonder how the Saints took her out of the picture in a way that definitely couldn't be related to this kind of talk going better than with Avaritia, hmmmm.
The way there's no illusions to the fact the Saints (or at least Inessa, as the leader of the Saints) are entirely accepting of the Beasts and are perfectly fine with looking for some kind of peaceful solution to this conflict is like. Yeah these are the good guys, no "Actually you all misunderstood, the demons are in the right here" twist incoming, if they found out C is Invidia they'd have no issue with it.
Which brings the conflict back to what it's always been, that C finds being C more unforgiveable than anyone else does, which is heightened by how C, personally, would think the answer to this dilemma is "But some people are just bad???" if Avaritia hadn't been personable enough to count as an exception.
It's interesting she trails off after Gula. Whatever could have happened to Gula that makes it the case Avaritia should've naturally left Superbia. Ho hum.
HA HA HA, WORM, YES!!!
Okay, Inessa doesn't seem to know the significance of why the Beasts are, well, Beasts, which is fair enough.
C: Even though I turned into Castitas but (in my objective opinion) sexier in my dream, this suspiciously simultaneous event definitely can't be related to the fact Avaritia shoved an evil plant in me.
Okay but what's extra concerning about this is that.
C looked like Inessa from the start in the dream, and more importantly, the sequence of events that would make the most sense with minimal dissonance (that Invidia unconsciously bit Inessa during the sneak attack embrace, and aimed for her specifically because of this mental image) contradicts the fact Inessa saw Invidia in a proto form before taking her shape, which comes together to suggest C's perspective is even less helpful for depicting what's actually happening during Nightmare Beast Mode than we'd assumed.
Of course, this could suggest that it's less the case C is actually projecting Invidia while asleep, and more that C is compelled the transform without awareness and was just, replaying what happened subconsciously in a more satisfying narrative.
Which. This collaborates. Because this sure as fuck isn't what C cackling like a theater kid would look like.
Wait I just realized Inessa was responding to 'it's weird this dark magical girl isn't hot to me' in all seriousness. For god's sake.
Inessa getting vamped by her evil clone: Wait this is giving me sibling vibes.
Also the "Well I'm not straight but also that guy monologued at me really hard" is hysterical. Why is that even in the rankings.
"Why WOULD you feel bad for someone who hurt you" says the one who's unknowingly that person.
"Well, you know, when someone seems to be in trouble in front of you" says the one who desperately wishes the friend in front of her would let her help.
Dramatic irony hits like that.
Okay so C is explicitly a Proto-Beast, what's interesting about this is that it suggests there's a time limit we're facing, even past the whole "C has been forced into team evil" flag that's already come and gone, which is like, hm.
What does happen when someone fully becomes a Beast?
Like dropping the "Ha ha what a funny coincidence Gula and Temperance have never been in the same room" gag for a second, if we're reading the blatant writing on the wall right and Temperance is Gula transformed into an Angelic Saint, then, what's the reason to emphasize stopping the new Beast from going all the way?
Maybe it's just on a 'so Invidia spends less time doing harm' front, but I'm starting to think on, like.
Why is Temperance's name "Temperance Atwater"?
...Where did she transfer in from before December?
Starting to think something more. Existential. Than deadnames are happening here.
Greeding On Those Dunks.
C. C please.
C literally Superbia and Avaritia were telling you how tapped for options they are.
See what's funny about this is how it should be Inessa's exact opposite.
And yet.
Also the way basically everyone who sees C knows C better than C does.
Look at this.
Inessa: I'm happy I can be open and rely on your opinions.
In C's head: She said, like a liar.
Genuinely good advice and a helpful breakdown on the elements at play, and yet, obviously Inessa could never be honest about this postive opinion.
I think C's really gonna hurt Inessa with that one of these days.
Well. You know. Besides what's already happening.
This conversation is so fascinating because, like C is good at this, but any reaction that supports that is, instantly dismissed, and the conversation itself is about C seesawing between making sure Inessa puts herself first and also making sure she doesn't lose sight of the fact sometimes people are worth taking a chance on, and the fact this is literally about C, entirely unknowingly, and if C knew that this would just be "I should fucking die" "Can you please not?"
Thin line between Envy and Kindness.
Literal self-defeat machine.
Oh hey, Noir upended the self-defeat machine. Surprisingly classy of him.
The way there is. Not a single braincell at work here.
Yes, I realize there's legitimate identity fuckery magic at play here, but still, not even a tick-tac of muffled suspicion here.
The way I was literally so certain the silence was for C missing the eggshell yet again rather than the Noir reveal.
C is so normal about only being able to acknowledge resentment towards people in magical girl nightmares that directly inspire guilt afterwards.
Temperance: I feel very bad about not making sure that discussion was in a private place.
C: That's fine, even if you were wron–
Temperance: That it was public was a mistake I am very ashamed of.
Love Temperance's blunt brick thug life. Can't wait for her to talk about how violently, personally enraged she is by seeing C taken advantage of in the exact way she was.
And we see the identity magic logic established! And literally Superbia screwed the pooch completely unnecessarily as a flex!
If this isn't a throwaway identity it is just embarrassing on Noir's part.
Inessa is very used to these panic attacks caused by her best friend's dad's shitty advice.
One day C will understand that it takes a village to raise an oopsy, one of these days.
Stellar "Obviously we can protect C and help smooth things over with Temperance at the same time!" multi-track drifting on Inessa's part as well.
Ida: But you did? Right now?
C literally could have just said. Any of this personal drive to be involved. But no.
And now two's company.
ZERO WATER FILTERS GIRL.
See this is why Temperance is valid, she's impossibly blunt about wanting to see C's legs, but if you literally just ask her to stop she will
Which is what makes it blatant C has never asked her to stop before a mental bender of forced insecurity ensued, and...
...Well, you all see this too.
If C had any willingness to engage with personal non-conforming gender expression, there'd be an easy answer of "Well it's not like being a guy means skirts are off the table" to throw in, but that'd be too slippery a slope, wouldn't it.
"I don't want anyone treating me differently because I had a bad time" "Including the skirt jokes" "If the skirt jokes stopped happening that would be treating me differently" "Sure."
The way this is.
The way this is literally Avaritia's sell, but Temperance is waiting for C to actually consent without reservations.
The way the beef is sooooooooooooo real.
"Haha, if only" C I understand you have issues understanding what people want from you unless they force their desires on you, but literally this is unironic your friends want you on the team.
Oh god.
Okay this takes different connotations when we're interacting with a literal angel of god, but holy shit Michael is already incredible.
Wait, then what was the bird?
Hm, I guess it was "birdlike."
Decisively silly being.
Awww, but she's really earnest though.
C and Michael, simultaneously:
Inessa really needs to step up if she wants to stay god's favorite child.
You're having fun playing these games, aren't you Shadell.
Great to know being angelically blessed with temperance doesn't stop a girl from being a horrible glutton.
You've already worn a skirt C. In Temperance's sight.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WChHqaO5SeI
LORE TIME.
Okay, so this is the Fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil stuff, classic, basically the Flaming Sword and Serpent of Eden duking it out.
Temperance: Being seduced by the power of temperance means I'm willing to let people steal my snacks.
Inessa: Yeah, it's great!
Temperance: She's very lucky I don't have shark teeth anymore.
Inessa: I wouldn't say that, they were cute.
Hm, okay, we're hitting the first point that might actually explain why the Abyssal Forest maybe has a point, if it's the case that Michael and the angels have been unbalancing the First Tree beforehand and it would be sending the world out of wack if the Abyssal Beasts weren't making their play, but given the degree Superbia just, really super sucks, probably shouldn't assume this will validate the view of anyone under his sway beyond 'hey so, you gotta live the way that's best for you even if society calls that a sin, okay?'
Hm. What seems to be said here, reading between the lines, is that the Abyssal Forest has enough access to the First/Heart Tree to have as much sap as they need for their operations.
But what they use to make Beasts are Seeds, which kinda implies, what, they're being made hosts to new trees?
What does the Angelic Saints use then, what are their transformation devices, where do they come from?
When it is so fucked up that you see the conclusion to the character conflict instantly collapse on itself.
"I was going to see C's LEGS if you weren't so INCONVENIENT in timing."
The way the problem is that Ida is just not in the least on the same wavelength about all this.
Like right down to the difference of pronoun choice between her and Temperance, it's like, is Ida even, aware? That C's blatantly trans and this is all a long game affirmation play?
What's especially striking about this is how it plays into Ida's already established fundamental issue, that she struggles to spread her burdens and let more people handle a problem she's committed to.
Something that makes me pause, though, is the fact, like, the "Preview" of this episode was all about the Angelic Saints trying to recruit Patientia, so is it the case something will change Ida's mind, or...
The way. C's faith in people's characters fails when it comes to fitting into all that self-loathing.
Always a W when two good people's unmitigated character flaws crash into each other like an inbound train.
And you just know, if this conversation happened anytime before Noir snuck his claws in, the answer would be different.
Ohhhh, this is a brutal moment.
THIS IS YOUR CHARACTER FLAW C. YOU NEED TO LET PEOPLE FEEL BAD WHEN THIS GO BAD.
What did Michael see though. Does she see the Seed. What are the missing qualifications.
Man.
Every time C says boys don't cry I want to beg on my knees that this misunderstanding gets corrected once C realizes that this is a misapplication of personal category to begin with.
Can't bear to admit anything that's real...
Temperance continues to be Aware and that adds an extra tension to 'why does the topic of a new Beast get to her like this.'
Oh.
The way literally everyone on the team has gone through what C thinks makes C, completely unsalvageable.
Man. This hints at so many things about Ida, but what really gets me is how these are all good people who hurt each other with things they never could have known would hurt each other.
You see these things, and you know why they're happening, but they still burn something fierce.
The Abyssal Forest just takes someone's pain and throws them at people they've never wanted to harm and acts like that's in anyway fair.
See this is why Lupin's a bad guy. Ey's funny, but ey have literally no perspective on how the truth of what's happening will destroy C.
When you don't say your bad feelings to your friends' faces, you let them coil up to speak behind your back...
Denial is not a river.
It is an ocean, and C is drowning.
Amazingly, having an unknown villain secret identity does great things for your time management.
It's impressive that makes me the most angry out of anything.
C shouldn't have needed this to be safe.
Hm. Well fuck.
Hm. Well fuck.
Baby mode apparently???
I am going to throw something.
This is your best chapter yet Shadell, fantastic work.
This is funny. Literally the masquerade has gone inside out and they don't even know.
"Listen my bird tries very hard, please be nice."
Okay, so amber sap is the method used to turn people into monsters of the week, because the Abyssal Forest is tree themed.
Hmmm, like tree resin? That actually explains Shadell's pronounication well.
And we're finally introduced to Michael's deal, including her gender, which I'd been vaguely uncertain about, appropriately given this is also the point C explains that Avaritia's pronouns, which clarifies what ey meant by Spivak here:
It explains the pronoun shuffle last chapter, C must have already looked it up by the dream sequence.
What IS up with Christian angels being plushies tho.
Like clearly the Abyssal Forest is Animals and Trees, so how does that factor into the Angelic Saints being equal and opposite forces while being directed by, a stuffed animal?
Maybe it's manufacturing, civilization by contrast to the wilds?
Inessa: EVIL MAGICAL WOLF ENBIE, PLEASE KNOW WE RESPECT YOUR PRONOUNS VERY MUCH WHILE WE'RE KICKING YOUR BUTT!
Avaritia: Awww, that's sweet–Uh. I mean, curse you, do-gooders who ruin perfectly fine shark girl friendships?
Envy, Chastity, and their very bratty friendship.
"So you end things bibical style right?"
"What, no, I'd never do that to a cute gir–Cute non-binary person!"
"I don't think you needed to repeat the cute..."
Avaritia is very used to getting talked at about how ey need to stop doing stuff that are bad.
Hm, hmmm, with Gula gone, I wonder how the Saints took her out of the picture in a way that definitely couldn't be related to this kind of talk going better than with Avaritia, hmmmm.
The way there's no illusions to the fact the Saints (or at least Inessa, as the leader of the Saints) are entirely accepting of the Beasts and are perfectly fine with looking for some kind of peaceful solution to this conflict is like. Yeah these are the good guys, no "Actually you all misunderstood, the demons are in the right here" twist incoming, if they found out C is Invidia they'd have no issue with it.
Which brings the conflict back to what it's always been, that C finds being C more unforgiveable than anyone else does, which is heightened by how C, personally, would think the answer to this dilemma is "But some people are just bad???" if Avaritia hadn't been personable enough to count as an exception.
It's interesting she trails off after Gula. Whatever could have happened to Gula that makes it the case Avaritia should've naturally left Superbia. Ho hum.
HA HA HA, WORM, YES!!!
Okay, Inessa doesn't seem to know the significance of why the Beasts are, well, Beasts, which is fair enough.
C: Even though I turned into Castitas but (in my objective opinion) sexier in my dream, this suspiciously simultaneous event definitely can't be related to the fact Avaritia shoved an evil plant in me.
Okay but what's extra concerning about this is that.
C looked like Inessa from the start in the dream, and more importantly, the sequence of events that would make the most sense with minimal dissonance (that Invidia unconsciously bit Inessa during the sneak attack embrace, and aimed for her specifically because of this mental image) contradicts the fact Inessa saw Invidia in a proto form before taking her shape, which comes together to suggest C's perspective is even less helpful for depicting what's actually happening during Nightmare Beast Mode than we'd assumed.
Of course, this could suggest that it's less the case C is actually projecting Invidia while asleep, and more that C is compelled the transform without awareness and was just, replaying what happened subconsciously in a more satisfying narrative.
Which. This collaborates. Because this sure as fuck isn't what C cackling like a theater kid would look like.
Wait I just realized Inessa was responding to 'it's weird this dark magical girl isn't hot to me' in all seriousness. For god's sake.
Inessa getting vamped by her evil clone: Wait this is giving me sibling vibes.
Also the "Well I'm not straight but also that guy monologued at me really hard" is hysterical. Why is that even in the rankings.
"Why WOULD you feel bad for someone who hurt you" says the one who's unknowingly that person.
"Well, you know, when someone seems to be in trouble in front of you" says the one who desperately wishes the friend in front of her would let her help.
Dramatic irony hits like that.
Okay so C is explicitly a Proto-Beast, what's interesting about this is that it suggests there's a time limit we're facing, even past the whole "C has been forced into team evil" flag that's already come and gone, which is like, hm.
What does happen when someone fully becomes a Beast?
Like dropping the "Ha ha what a funny coincidence Gula and Temperance have never been in the same room" gag for a second, if we're reading the blatant writing on the wall right and Temperance is Gula transformed into an Angelic Saint, then, what's the reason to emphasize stopping the new Beast from going all the way?
Maybe it's just on a 'so Invidia spends less time doing harm' front, but I'm starting to think on, like.
Why is Temperance's name "Temperance Atwater"?
...Where did she transfer in from before December?
Starting to think something more. Existential. Than deadnames are happening here.
Greeding On Those Dunks.
C. C please.
C literally Superbia and Avaritia were telling you how tapped for options they are.
See what's funny about this is how it should be Inessa's exact opposite.
And yet.
Also the way basically everyone who sees C knows C better than C does.
Look at this.
Inessa: I'm happy I can be open and rely on your opinions.
In C's head: She said, like a liar.
Genuinely good advice and a helpful breakdown on the elements at play, and yet, obviously Inessa could never be honest about this postive opinion.
I think C's really gonna hurt Inessa with that one of these days.
Well. You know. Besides what's already happening.
This conversation is so fascinating because, like C is good at this, but any reaction that supports that is, instantly dismissed, and the conversation itself is about C seesawing between making sure Inessa puts herself first and also making sure she doesn't lose sight of the fact sometimes people are worth taking a chance on, and the fact this is literally about C, entirely unknowingly, and if C knew that this would just be "I should fucking die" "Can you please not?"
Thin line between Envy and Kindness.
Literal self-defeat machine.
Oh hey, Noir upended the self-defeat machine. Surprisingly classy of him.
The way there is. Not a single braincell at work here.
Yes, I realize there's legitimate identity fuckery magic at play here, but still, not even a tick-tac of muffled suspicion here.
The way I was literally so certain the silence was for C missing the eggshell yet again rather than the Noir reveal.
C is so normal about only being able to acknowledge resentment towards people in magical girl nightmares that directly inspire guilt afterwards.
Temperance: I feel very bad about not making sure that discussion was in a private place.
C: That's fine, even if you were wron–
Temperance: That it was public was a mistake I am very ashamed of.
Love Temperance's blunt brick thug life. Can't wait for her to talk about how violently, personally enraged she is by seeing C taken advantage of in the exact way she was.
And we see the identity magic logic established! And literally Superbia screwed the pooch completely unnecessarily as a flex!
If this isn't a throwaway identity it is just embarrassing on Noir's part.
Inessa is very used to these panic attacks caused by her best friend's dad's shitty advice.
One day C will understand that it takes a village to raise an oopsy, one of these days.
Stellar "Obviously we can protect C and help smooth things over with Temperance at the same time!" multi-track drifting on Inessa's part as well.
Ida: But you did? Right now?
C literally could have just said. Any of this personal drive to be involved. But no.
And now two's company.
ZERO WATER FILTERS GIRL.
See this is why Temperance is valid, she's impossibly blunt about wanting to see C's legs, but if you literally just ask her to stop she will
Which is what makes it blatant C has never asked her to stop before a mental bender of forced insecurity ensued, and...
...Well, you all see this too.
If C had any willingness to engage with personal non-conforming gender expression, there'd be an easy answer of "Well it's not like being a guy means skirts are off the table" to throw in, but that'd be too slippery a slope, wouldn't it.
"I don't want anyone treating me differently because I had a bad time" "Including the skirt jokes" "If the skirt jokes stopped happening that would be treating me differently" "Sure."
The way this is.
The way this is literally Avaritia's sell, but Temperance is waiting for C to actually consent without reservations.
The way the beef is sooooooooooooo real.
"Haha, if only" C I understand you have issues understanding what people want from you unless they force their desires on you, but literally this is unironic your friends want you on the team.
Oh god.
Okay this takes different connotations when we're interacting with a literal angel of god, but holy shit Michael is already incredible.
Wait, then what was the bird?
Hm, I guess it was "birdlike."
Decisively silly being.
Awww, but she's really earnest though.
C and Michael, simultaneously:
Inessa really needs to step up if she wants to stay god's favorite child.
You're having fun playing these games, aren't you Shadell.
Great to know being angelically blessed with temperance doesn't stop a girl from being a horrible glutton.
You've already worn a skirt C. In Temperance's sight.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WChHqaO5SeI
LORE TIME.
Okay, so this is the Fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil stuff, classic, basically the Flaming Sword and Serpent of Eden duking it out.
Temperance: Being seduced by the power of temperance means I'm willing to let people steal my snacks.
Inessa: Yeah, it's great!
Temperance: She's very lucky I don't have shark teeth anymore.
Inessa: I wouldn't say that, they were cute.
Hm, okay, we're hitting the first point that might actually explain why the Abyssal Forest maybe has a point, if it's the case that Michael and the angels have been unbalancing the First Tree beforehand and it would be sending the world out of wack if the Abyssal Beasts weren't making their play, but given the degree Superbia just, really super sucks, probably shouldn't assume this will validate the view of anyone under his sway beyond 'hey so, you gotta live the way that's best for you even if society calls that a sin, okay?'
Hm. What seems to be said here, reading between the lines, is that the Abyssal Forest has enough access to the First/Heart Tree to have as much sap as they need for their operations.
But what they use to make Beasts are Seeds, which kinda implies, what, they're being made hosts to new trees?
What does the Angelic Saints use then, what are their transformation devices, where do they come from?
When it is so fucked up that you see the conclusion to the character conflict instantly collapse on itself.
"I was going to see C's LEGS if you weren't so INCONVENIENT in timing."
The way the problem is that Ida is just not in the least on the same wavelength about all this.
Like right down to the difference of pronoun choice between her and Temperance, it's like, is Ida even, aware? That C's blatantly trans and this is all a long game affirmation play?
What's especially striking about this is how it plays into Ida's already established fundamental issue, that she struggles to spread her burdens and let more people handle a problem she's committed to.
Something that makes me pause, though, is the fact, like, the "Preview" of this episode was all about the Angelic Saints trying to recruit Patientia, so is it the case something will change Ida's mind, or...
The way. C's faith in people's characters fails when it comes to fitting into all that self-loathing.
Always a W when two good people's unmitigated character flaws crash into each other like an inbound train.
And you just know, if this conversation happened anytime before Noir snuck his claws in, the answer would be different.
Ohhhh, this is a brutal moment.
THIS IS YOUR CHARACTER FLAW C. YOU NEED TO LET PEOPLE FEEL BAD WHEN THIS GO BAD.
What did Michael see though. Does she see the Seed. What are the missing qualifications.
Man.
Every time C says boys don't cry I want to beg on my knees that this misunderstanding gets corrected once C realizes that this is a misapplication of personal category to begin with.
Can't bear to admit anything that's real...
Temperance continues to be Aware and that adds an extra tension to 'why does the topic of a new Beast get to her like this.'
Oh.
The way literally everyone on the team has gone through what C thinks makes C, completely unsalvageable.
Man. This hints at so many things about Ida, but what really gets me is how these are all good people who hurt each other with things they never could have known would hurt each other.
You see these things, and you know why they're happening, but they still burn something fierce.
The Abyssal Forest just takes someone's pain and throws them at people they've never wanted to harm and acts like that's in anyway fair.
See this is why Lupin's a bad guy. Ey's funny, but ey have literally no perspective on how the truth of what's happening will destroy C.
When you don't say your bad feelings to your friends' faces, you let them coil up to speak behind your back...
Denial is not a river.
It is an ocean, and C is drowning.
Amazingly, having an unknown villain secret identity does great things for your time management.
It's impressive that makes me the most angry out of anything.
C shouldn't have needed this to be safe.
Hm. Well fuck.
Hm. Well fuck.
Baby mode apparently???
I am going to throw something.
This is your best chapter yet Shadell, fantastic work.