Questions meme

[chainsawmascara]

Oh, why not!

ASK A QUESTION it can be anything CFUD related, OOC, IC, Relationship, psychology, thoughts, whatever. I.E. My character's opinion of your character or maybe what you have been wondering about this behavior or that, or general thoughts on my characters or canons or what, who I might consider topping you into apping, etc.

WHEN I REPLY I will also ask you a question in turn!

I play: Umeda, Riku Replica, Heat, Sakubo (can ask individually or as a pair), Minato, Soubi, Tsukihiko, Cheryl, Grelle, and Mutsu.

Comments

2/2

[chainsawmascara]

And that is actually part of the key to why Grelle has this weird misogynistic approach to women even though she identifies as one and even though she wants to physically become one. Because she cannot identify with men. She just can’t relate to them! She can be attracted to them and she can enjoy their reactions, but she doesn’t mentally associate herself as being ‘like’ them at all. And Grelle obviously wants to relate to those around her -- she’s drawn out of her work, steps forward, and identifies herself TO Madam Red entirely because she thinks she sees a kindred spirit. But the thing is... Grelle is, you know, psychotic. Killing isn’t just a job to her, it’s a lifestyle and a fetish. And the number of people who will share this are, obviously, very low to begin with. The number of people who will share it to her degree and while fitting all of her ‘standards’? Probably non-existent!

But she still wants. Her relationship with Madam Red is, I believe, sexual (she does, after all, say she’s doing it all “because she fell in love with a woman”) -- but at the same time it’s written up-front as being about her identifying with Madam Red. The key image is of her draping on Madam Red (who is numb and kneeling over the corpse of a woman she just murdered), cuddling her, and agreeing, “Yes, yes, I know, I can’t have children either, because men suck.” Her passion for Madam Red falls into that archetyped theory of homosexuality where lesbians are drawn by seeing the ‘same’ in each other. It’s a combination of attraction to traits and *identification* with traits. (I mentioned this before and that I personally don’t buy the theory by itself, but it looks to me like it’s something being played with here).

And the other side of this is that there are many, many, many women she can’t identify with, and this is disappointing, and disgruntling, and dissatisfying, and makes them ugly bitches! Again, misogyny. She refers to the murders she does as “making over those ugly whores”. She sees nothing worth identifying with in these prostitutes and so she both violences them and dismisses them. I don’t want to go into the psychological theories actually used in the Jack the Ripper murders, as in this universe it was primarily Grelle acting on Madam Red’s behest and/or in tandem, and the emphasis is not on the sexual element of the victims but of the childless outrage reflected in the uterus removal. But the fact that she refers TO the prostitutes like this still gives insight into her viewpoint. (In contrast, Ciel humanizes them as victims -- he makes a grave for Madam Red and Grelle’s last victim, and lays flowers on it, because he views her as a woman he could have chosen to save and instead prioritized catching the killer. Where Grelle and Madam Red -- who, frankly, are kind of both monsters, let’s face it; they’re Jack the Ripper -- dehumanize their victims, Ciel humanizes her even after sacrificing her. So it’s not something the manga itself is, hmm, buying into? She’s human. She’s worth a grave, she’s worth flowers, and she was worth saving and that’s why Ciel is pained about the scenario.)

Obviously she’s not going to kill every woman who disgusts her -- the killings she DOES commit outside her work are all structured into Madam Red’s choices, and ultimately Madam Red herself for letting her down personally. She’s got perfect control and ability to choose her victims where she sees fit. But, you know, if she’s got the opportunity and no reason NOT to, she’s still going to be very tempted.

Anyway, tl;dr but basically comes down to “Grelle identifies female, wants to be physically female, and puts ‘female’ as a state of being on a pedestal, but in order to relate that back to herself, any woman who doesn’t match her personality isn’t worthy of the pedestal and is discrediting her views of womanhood. Men aren’t worth as much to her personally, and she’s got no reason to try to see herself in them, so she’s much more tolerant of their flaws.”

IIRC I've harrassed Raven with Grelle before. How does he feel about that

[notmakingout.livejournal.com]

ALL SUPER INTERESTING.

Mostly Raven feels awkward! So, Raven is really close with Naoto, which means he's been trying to learn more and be more understanding about gender identity being flexible, so when Grelle was like "I'm a woman really!" Raven's reaction was "...Okay! She's a woman! Yes! I can do this!" Of course, how Raven deals with women is... flirting! Especially dangerous women. So he did that!

But the thing about Raven's flirting is that it is not meant to win people over, it is meant to put people off. Even normally, it throws him when people react positively to it. So he had no idea what to do with Grelle responding in kind. So he was SUPER AWKWARD and pretty relieved when telling Grelle that he didn't really like fighting disappointed her.

Shorter question this time! Which of your other characters should I play with?