We talk about this far too passionately for me to not reblog this <3
I don't think we're paying half of the attention we should be to the inherent horror of the Isekai trope. God knows I love it, like a stupid amount but can you even imagine?
Typically, the character firsts dies, hit by a bus, some illness, murdered, and that's your starting point. You die, in some gruesome way you are ripped from your world and then thrusted into another. You stopped breathing, you ceased to exist, you died. You didn't though. Because you're alive. All of a sudden, it's like nothing happened. But it did, didn't it? Tell me, is a wound still a wound if there's no scar? Where do you put all your grief if there's no grave?
There's no time to focus on that though, because you're in a stranger body. That's body horror, babe. Your skin is fairer, your hair is curled, your legs are longer, every part of you is not your own. Your hair, the colour of your eyes, the damn figure of your body, you don't look like yourself. Your nose is too straight, your smile lines are gone, your cheeks are rosey. Your hands aren't worn in the right places, maybe not at all, where are your burn marks from the stove, your calluses from your work, the cheap, chipped nail polish. You can't walk on these legs, these aren't the legs that took your first step, they aren't the legs you scraped learning to ride a bike, these legs haven't carried you through your life.
And what of these people who know you? No, not you, the person you're living in. It's their name you must respond to, their memories you must bluff through, their fate you must live through. You must abandon all sense of self to survive, you can never be yourself again because you died, you never existed here, because you are someone else now. You have been pulled on stage without a script, how long until they realize? That you can only echo back what they've said? That their child doesn't know their parent anymore? Their childhood friend, their lover, their rival.
What about them? Did they die for you to take their place? Have they taken yours? What have they endured, what did they love, why did this happen, how are you suppose to carry on when you have you have no idea if they're safe? Every good thing that happens to you should have been theirs, every bad thing that happens to you they've had ten times over.
What about the complete loss of your original world, hm? Especially in a fantasy world. You will never stand in your childhood home again, never eat your regional dish again, never hear the popular songs on the radio. Everyone you have ever known is in a world divorced from the one you are trapped in. You will never see them again and they will never know why.
You are an imposter in every meaning of the word, you never wanted to be, and you can never stop, and no one will ever understand because you're the only real person in this world. You will always be alone, in your happiest ending, you will never escape the world you were dragged out of to be reborn.
This is for all you awkward socializers out there. The ones who crave connection, want to interact, but are so damn confused by it, or so intimidated by it, you never reach out first.
Or, if you do, you feel like the other person's just humoring you. Just giving the polite answers until you leave them alone. You read each interaction with that bored/slightly annoyed tone. That "I don't wanna be rude, but gawd, just leave me alone already so I can talk with the people I want to talk to" tone.
You know the one.
And then you curse your awkwardness, you withdraw and stop interacting. And when no one else reaches out to you (maybe because they too feel that awkward intimidation, but that doesn't occur to you, they're so outgoing! they're so confident! they're so cool!) you convince yourself that maybe you just weren't meant to have friends. No one seems to notice you're quieter than usual. Maybe you should just stop trying.
Maybe they think you're the rude one. You never meant to be rude, you're just so damn bad at doing this friend thing. How much interaction is too much? Are you smothering or aloof? Where's the line? Are you coming off funny and engaging, or loud and annoying? OMG you don't want to be that person that others hate even thinking about!
And on and on your thoughts swirl, micro-analyzing everything, and making you feel like every single interaction you've ever had was one-sided, that everyone you've ever spoken to forgot you the moment the conversation ended. That you are so forgettable that no one would notice if you just . . . stopped. Just disappeared. No one would notice. No one would care.
I see you, fellow socially awkward friends.
There is so much bad in the world. So many horrible things on grand and smaller scales on people's lives. It's hard to keep things in perspective. Everyone has their own trials, their own hardships that others may know nothing about. I try to keep that in mind. But I sometimes fall into my own head, letting the negative thoughts drag me under for a while.
So here's a hug for everyone who has those moments. Those fears. Those frustrations and feelings of sadness and loneliness. You are (ironically) not alone. đź’–đź’•
PSA for fanfic writers
whoever invented beds was a fucking genius im just all cozied up in here like u don't even know how cozy i am
Found this on pinterest
TALK TO YOUR OCS
I know, it sounds fucking silly, but if you just imagine yourself talking with them, and ask them questions, their answers will just come to you. You will make progress using this technique. It sounds stupid, but IT WORKS
Skipping a day of writing.
Not having a perfect first draft.
Partaking in sinister, arcane rituals for inspiration.
Working at their own pace.
Enlisting demons and/or helpful spirits to aid them with editing.
I keep remembering a run of Hamlet I saw a few years ago, where the Ghost was costumed in full plate armour which was very noisy, and instead of muffling it, they had him crash across the stage, stomping so the whole set rattled, and he said all of his lines in a bellow, like he was furious with Hamlet.
And the thing that made it absolutely terrifying was that Hamlet was the only one who reacted. He was cowering, and covering his ears with both hands, and yelling to be heard over the noise.
And no one else seemed to know why he was doing that. The other actors didn't even raise their voices.
That's scary, something so loud and painful, and REAL, and the people around you don't even notice it, and think that you're the crazy one.
A list of things that are in fact cannon in my own little batfam world
- “Are we getting Jason’ed???” Something you say when you think you’re about to die by the hands of the joker.- Coined by Steph, when she thought she was gonna die at the hands of the joker with Tim. Is now used by everyone.
- WWRHD = What Would Red Hood Do?- was coined by Steph, is now used in every situation possible by every bat kid.
- Evil Baha Blast = The Lazarus Pit- was coined by Duke, when he thought that saying the actual name might trigger Jason. Jason laughed his ass off for about 10 minutes and has not called it by its actual name since.
Will continue this when I come up with more.