Obsessed With Characters Who Portray Themselves As Worse Than They Are. Who Are Lying To Everyone Including

Obsessed with characters who portray themselves as worse than they are. Who are lying to everyone including themselves about it. People generally assume if someone's lying about themselves they're trying to look better but sometimes they're trying to look worse. They attribute agency to where they had none, add intend to accidents, try to convince everyone that this is something they did instead of something that happened to them.

once again thinking abt ORV as one of the most brilliant and self-aware genre commentaries ever, cus' isekai/transmigration is-- in my experience-- a deeply lonely genre. the yearning to be plucked from the stress and apparent dead spiral of real life and dropped into a setting where you matter somehow. the fact that this transmigration is often by way of death, completely abandoning the real world, is particularly telling and... bleak. but whether it's a recognition of being 'the most baddass dude', the narrative satisfaction of trying to 'fix' the plot of a doomed story, or even just befriending characters we've laughed and cried for, we want so badly to be a part of something more.

and the way ORV recognizes that and doesn't mock it, but gently reminds us that... real life isn't removed from that. it may not be as straightforward and 'narratively' satisfying as a constructed story, but we can enact change in the world around us, and we can find connection and solidarity in others. the things we want from escapism are things we often can achieve in real life, at least on a small scale. if only we recognize the inherent depth and complexity of others as, y'know, fully-realized human individuals. hell, if we recognize ourselves as more than simple characters with set paths and tropes.

ORV takes every opportunity to remind us that we are not alone, no matter how bleak and isolated we feel. our lives are constantly touching others and vis-versa, and we leaves marks on the world we can't possibly predict. we matter, we always always matter

This is my big post for Trigun Fanfic Appreciation Week! I tried to stick to fics and authors I haven't already seen recommended and authors with under 5 fics if I'm recommending everything they've written (that said, you should definitely go read everything procrastinatingbookworm has written. I might do a post just for them.)

These are not described because I would have never gotten the post out if I tried but i've included ratings. These are all vashwood or gen.

everything by https://archiveofourown.org/users/molotovhappyhour/ (fics range from M-E, 18k-39k)

fool in the moon - arahir https://archiveofourown.org/works/44723611 (M, 8k)

Eat Your Young - ghosttopiary https://archiveofourown.org/works/46011964 (E, 3k)

Console - Latenightsgunfights https://archiveofourown.org/works/47289991 (E, 2k)

lazarus wept - Bioliminescent https://archiveofourown.org/works/47065492 (M, 9k)

Running on Empty - kae hunter https://archiveofourown.org/works/47611201 (the burger fic. T, 8k)

thirty pieces of silver - littleghost https://archiveofourown.org/works/46136608 (T, 14k)

she was there (she remembers) - beesinspades https://archiveofourown.org/works/48083725 (G, 3k)

God knows I know I’ve thrown away those graces - Obtenebratia https://archiveofourown.org/works/47040193 (E, 5k)

Sundew - TruckThat https://archiveofourown.org/works/47999755 (E, 5k)

for where else could i go? Who else could i love but you? - succubused https://archiveofourown.org/works/49819246 (M, 6k)

something in between, stuck down underneath - fleurmatisse https://archiveofourown.org/works/49604497 (G, 1k)

let it run like water out of mud - Hymn https://archiveofourown.org/works/50476291 (E, 1k)

Salt and Breath - plumtoad https://archiveofourown.org/works/50313310 (highly recommend everything by ren but this will always be my favorite, E, 6k)

dream a little dream - crocodile https://archiveofourown.org/works/49020724 (E, 7k)

sunshower - crocodile https://archiveofourown.org/works/48205390 (E, 14k)

Take Me To The Pilot - Moonsheen https://archiveofourown.org/works/50110762 (M, 4k)

babe, i’m gonna leave you - littleghost https://archiveofourown.org/works/49165369 (E, 7k)

everything but wiredneuron (https://archiveofourown.org/users/wiredneuron/) (E, 2k - 3k)

break beneath the weight - spinoffprotagonist https://archiveofourown.org/works/51082207 (M, 2k)

the lost pleias - riverenne https://archiveofourown.org/works/52413721 (T, 24k)

Ascension Day - farseersfool https://archiveofourown.org/works/52149649 (E, 26k)

darlin’, it finds a way to live in you - amaiyo https://archiveofourown.org/works/53049775 (E, 15k)

At the Top of the World - Insomniac_with_dreams https://archiveofourown.org/works/51455023 (E, 35k)

tokens - cardama https://archiveofourown.org/works/50281510 (E, 6k)

Long Goodbyes - ChenamaReel https://archiveofourown.org/works/54364954 (E, 17k)

on all fours, willingly damned - writerforlife https://archiveofourown.org/works/50840407 (M, 2k)

YOU ARE HERE; or, How to Get Lost in the Desert Without Really Dying - fathomfive https://archiveofourown.org/works/48146164  (T, 16k)

Whiskey and kisses for everyone - amphetamine_keen https://archiveofourown.org/works/47403235 (E, 7k)

wasnt a failed assassination. it was a successful long-range ear piercing by a deranged claires employee. they force femmed him. because of woke

how exhilarating must it be to be predated upon by a breaching predator. like you’re swimming chilling minding ur own business and then. fucking blammo. a great white or perhaps a killer whale slams into you from below. you’re going to die. you know you’re going to die in the few milliseconds after the impact but before your soul passes you’re ripped from your realm and into the sky, maybe as high as a dozen feet, bathed in the harsh air and wind and sounds and smells of a world that has lived above you your entire life yet you’ve never been able to touch, should never be able to touch, would never be able to touch except for instances just like this, where its one of the last things that happens to your conscious body. do you think that, amidst the adrenaline-filled panic, there is some modicum of wonder and exhilaration underneath? some appreciation of the fact that they are seeing something few other of their surviving peers ever will? i mean probably not they got literal fish brains. fish are dumb as fuck, i think. probably all they’re really thinking is “OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK” and then they get eaten and die. and i don’t blame them. but maybe there’s a real smart fish out there. a gentle soul. who does unfortunately find their brutal end by way of a breaching creature. maybe this smart, well-read fish is ripped into the air and understands. they get it. they get the enormity of the universe and the beauty of their minuscule place within. and as they are ripped and torn and shredded by uncaring teeth there is some thought underneath their nervous system’s final throes: That Was Awesomd

my favourite thing about chuuya nakahara is that he's just kind of. chill. about everything. he's like, my tragic backstory has no hold on me, i went to therapy and i'm all good now. i'm a bad guy cuz it pays good and my found family happens to be here. what do you mean that's not a good reason, you a cop or something?

someone will betray him and he'll go ok well that's pretty upsetting. they probably had a good reason though. i'll forgive them if they let me get a good punch in. if they're really just a hater they're giving me bad vibes and i don't wanna deal with 'em at all tbh.

things have been done to him that would warrant a lifelong crusade of revenge for anyone else, but for chuuya nakahara it's just, that was super not cool but i'll let it slide if you get therapy with me.

chuuya is down for any crime and thinks moral boundaries are for losers and stuff but he's the nicest guy in the port mafia when it comes to not mistreating his subordinates and probably helps old ladies cross the street. he shows up for a solid 10-20 minutes of screentime per season and makes all the fans fall in love with him while doing the bare minimum, and despite technically being a villain i don't think he's worked against the agency a single time (although to be fair this is often not on purpose). he also does the bare minimum every time he's asked to help in-universe and clearly isn't even trying, and he sweeps anyway because he is ridiculously overpowered and could probably kill literally everyone if he actually wanted to, and i just. no one is doing it like him. you go you unbothered king.