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#but knowing me i tend to have the opposite problem lol
mangomaking · 2 years
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costume planning sketches...
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astrow1zar6 · 4 months
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Astrology Observations- 013
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I notice Cap Mercurys think so maturely even from such a very young age. These were those kids that always wanted to hang around people older than them. They are old souls at heart and sometimes it’s harder for them to connect with more childlike energies. People their age can see them as boring because of their serious demeanor.
Leo Risings never like to show the sides to them that make them look bad in anyway. These people have big egos so any assumption from others that they aren’t anything but great can take a big toll on their self esteem. They come off so confident but most are really insecure & don’t think they are interesting so they tend exaggerate a lot of facts about them to keep people thinking they are really interesting and amazing. (U guys don’t need ti do that people already think you are before you even speak)
Capricorn risings always look so annoyed when people are speaking to them. Most of the time they are. They have very honest expressions and when someone says something stupid or uninteresting they are more willing to show their uninterested while most are just willing to smile and take it out of being polite. This is why they can come off as rude or snobbish but really the just don’t have time for bullshit. (I definitely think Wednesday Addams has this placement) many don’t know they are being rude but most don’t have the energy to be fake if they really don’t like what the others saying. Very Real people many mistake them for being Scorpio risings.
Venus in Scorpios were probably shamed a lot for their their sex appeal/drives. I notice these people have a very provocative vibe to them that causes a lot of ppl to sexualize them ( especially the women). I’ve seen women with this placement be virgins and still get slut shamed. People always assume they sleep with mad people even if it’s not true.
Moon in 5th housers are actually very secretive about their talents. A lot are so talented but most tend to keep their hobbies and interests to themselves unless they really trust you.
When someone with Venus in the 7th house likes you they will talk about their future a lot with you. This one guy had a big crush on me and would always joke about getting married and starting a life someday ( he made it sound as a joke but in a way I can tell he meant it). Also can be obsessed with weddings. I have a friend with this placement who says she’ll only wanna get married to experience having her dream wedding lol
Venus in 2nd house women always have people buying them things bro. They don’t even have to ask and men will be buying them expensive gifts or paying for their food or trips. Definition of pretty privilege.
Mars in Aquarius like very eccentric things in bed. It’s almost like they enjoy the opposite of what should be expected in bed. Like the women would like to take normally the male role in bed and vice versa a man with this placement could like a very submissive role. The weirder and more out of place the more turned on they get. Can also be really experimental they are willing to try anything once even if it’s outlandish.
Mars in Aries are usually natural athletes. They have amazing endurance and can become pros faster than most.
Virgo moons usually have bad stomach problems or eating disorders. They are also always giving unsolicited advice no one asked for. They feel this need to solve everything but it can come off as kinda judgmental.
Mars in Pisces are usually victims to bullying. They usually have a hard time asserting themselves and standing up so they get pushed around a lot easier by stronger more dominant energies.
Cap moons are always in denial of their feelings
Mars Square Venus synastry can be really awkward at times in a friendship. Theres this bizarre sexual and touchy tension usually that both aren’t fully comfortable with. The mars person can come off a little too strong and can treat the Venus as if they own them. This attraction can be one sided sometimes with the mars person wanting the Venus and the Venus getting repulsed and distancing themselves. I’ve seen the mars person get jealous if the Venus would hang out with others whether it be other friends or family. And if the Venus is dating someone else this can get really heated on the mars end. Venus will feel the attraction but I notice it’s not as strong.
Venus in 5th house synastry is soooooo flirty. These are those cheesy cringey couples that are always acting like little kids around eachother. It’s actually a really sweet placement. This person will be able to bring out your inner child.
Venus in Libras are always crushing on someone. They jump into relationships I think faster than people with Venus in Aries the only difference is that they can maintain longer term partnerships & don’t bore as quick (even if their feelings are a little superficial). They just don’t know what to do with themselves when they are alone.
Scorpio risings I notice get really strong reactions out of people (like Lilith/asc people) their words make others blood boil even if they really don’t say anything offensive or rude. Most people are jealous of their authenticity which is why a lot of Scorpio risings are quiet and not as willing to open up. People just hate on them so intensely for the littlest things. They also have this ability to know if people are genuine or not which can be intrusive to certain people causing intense reactions. They can see thru everyone’s mask which can make other feel uncomfortable to be around them. This is why they usually have few friends and the friends they do have are as authentic as themselves. Literal human lie detectors
Men that have a water sun with a water moon are BIG SIMPS
Cancer sun women will be passively rude to you if they don’t like you or are jealous of you. They won’t straight say it but they will say little comments in a nice way that’s actually really rude. Then usually play victim if confronted
Everyone’s crush in high-school was either a Scorpio sun or a Libra sun/rising. Tell me I’m lying
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saturnianautist · 11 months
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☁️Astro notes☁️
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Disclaimer: I’m not a professional astrologer these are just my opinions based on what I know and my experiences with who I know.
Ps. This is my very first post on here so I hope whoever finds it enjoys :)
° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 °
☁️ The Libras I’ve met arguing style is playing devils advocate lol. They want to talk about the situation from every perspective (that but what if friend lmao) whereas their opposite sign Aries have very strong set opinions and beliefs and will make theirs known controversial or not. (This goes for the sun moon and mercury especially)
☁️ I noticed time tends to move a lot faster for Fire suns with air placements and they move and think faster in general so they will be your impatient friend lmao. They also will often exaggerate how long something has been. For example,
Them: “you’ve been in here for 20 hours”
Me: “It has literally been 30 mins”
☁️ Virgo placements will literally eat one tiny ass bite the whole time they eat their food, like they will savor that plate of food for an hour bro. They are your friend or family member who will eat one popcorn piece at a time (yes im roasting myself).
☁️ Having dominantly Aquarius and Pisces in a chart together can make someone so distant sometimes and prone to escapism. They also are prone to isolating in their rooms as a coping mechanism and sleeping all day when they are going through it mentally.
☁️ Someone with an Aries mercury in a Capricorn degree can make the things they say come off so harshly sometimes but they almost never mean it that way. The good side of this tho is that they are someone who will always be honest with you they just need better delivery sometimes.
☁️ Having Neptune in the first house mean’s constantly having other people project onto you. They might have an entirely different version of who they think you are based on assumptions. That’s why being able to differentiate between true friends with this is so important.
☁️ Libra moons aren’t as emotionally put together as they look on the outside (gives I’m my own therapist energy). If you have a libra moon friend give them a hug.
☁️ Sag moons are also like this but in a different way, they’ll just be either very optimistic around their friends or will make jokes or do dumb shit to make other people laugh when in reality it’s partly to cope and mask their pain, check on these friends please 😭
☁️ Sag moons traveling to another place will not solve your problems chill on your escapism (again roasting myself rip).
💗💗💗For those who made it to the end thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it <3. This was kind of short but just jotted these down the other day and wanted to share. Also, feel free to comment any suggestions of the types of posts you’d like to see and I’ll do my best💗💗💗
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soulfireblue · 1 month
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i have so many thoughts about phil and sunny and tubbo and this is going under a read more because it got really long lol
disclaimer that i don't watch phil super often! i watch qsmp with a crow friend who keeps me updated on his streams, so he's probably one of the characters i'm most familiar with outside of tubbo, but that's obviously not quite the same as me directly watching his streams. also this is only my interpretation and understanding of the characters, of course!
Phil is a bit of a hermit and doesn't know the other eggs that well; Chayanne and Tallulah are actually more social than their dad is. There are very few people on this island that Phil is actually close to, and Tubbo is one of them. That's kind of a double-edged sword when it comes to Phil's relationship with Sunny.
Phil kind of tends to extrapolate his relationship with Tubbo onto Sunny, because he doesn't know her well enough to realize that what works for him and Tubbo is not going to work for him and Sunny. It becomes a cycle, because Phil unknowingly does or says something that hurts Sunny, and then Sunny avoids being alone with him, so he doesn't get to know her well enough to realize that the way he treats Tubbo is not how Sunny wants or needs to be treated.
This sets up a really interesting conflict and character dynamic here, especially because Tubbo is also extrapolating his own relationship with Phil onto Sunny. He doesn't really understand that Sunny has issues with Phil, because when he and Sunny are with Phil, he's usually focused more on his own interactions with Phil and the godkids' than Sunny's. Plus it's not like Tubbo and Sunny are often with Phil alone; usually Chayanne and Tallulah are there too, and there's not much reason for Sunny to be needing to interact with Phil one-on-one.
And while Sunny has told Tubbo a little bit about how they feel with Phil, he's also observed them having issues with Tallulah, Leo, and even Richas now, and he's also watched those issues clear up. There's no reason for Tubbo to assume that her issues with Phil are any different. The nature of Tubbo's role as a buffer between Sunny and Phil means that he hasn't been able to observe the interactions that caused the problem. If Tubbo's there, Tubbo's the one they're both interacting with more just due to the fact that he's more present in both of their lives.
But here's the thing with Phil being a hermit. The issue isn't just his relationship with Tubbo; it's also that his children always come first. We've seen that even before we met Sunny. He was completely convinced that he had to win Purgatory because no one would be looking out for his kids except himself, not realizing that the leader of Soulfire was trying to get back the exact same eggs. For Phil, it's extremely black and white.
And so when he's alone with Sunny, when he's looking at her as an egg rather than as Tubbo's daughter, he puts his kids first. He's happy to do whatever he can to help. He collected items for cookies for all of the eggs on the island for a reason! He cares a lot about the eggs, even from a distance. He's just not the type of person to wait to feed his kids until the other kids are fed too, because his first priority has to be Chayanne and Tallulah.
But his limit is anything that could put his own family at risk. Which is understandable! He has two kids to look out for. But Phil is extremely pragmatic, and so he tells Sunny exactly the truth. She can stay with him, but his kids come first. Tallulah has been hurt, so her feelings come first. He's very good at making sure his kids are taken care of, and he's very good at weighing the risks, and he's honest about it once he has.
Which would maybe be perfectly fine for some other eggs, but the thing is, Phil doesn't know Sunny. He's treating her the exact opposite of the way she needs to be treated, but he doesn't know her well enough to realize it. He's spent a lot of time around her without actually getting to know her, because there's always that Tubbo and Chayanne buffer. So he doesn't realize that they don't need to be treated the way he treats Tubbo. She needs to be treated the way he treats Tallulah. They need to be told that it's okay to feel scared and abandoned, and that they are loved, and that someone will always be there for them.
(Chayanne does realize that. He's a very good godbrother.)
I hope someday Phil will get to know Sunny better and realize better ways to communicate with her, though I do understand that there will always be the issue of his kids coming first, while Sunny desperately needs people who put her first. (And gosh, how awful must it have been for them to lose Creation, who called them rank one, and told them they were loved, and then left them just like everybody else.) They'll never have the relationship Tubbo has with Phil's kids, and that's okay. But I hope that Sunny can one day look at Phil and know that she is loved, even if it's not exactly the kind of love she's been searching for.
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grantspectortrash · 2 years
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Suited and Booted
Pairing: Steven Grant x Reader
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Summary: you live across the hall from Steven. For whatever reason, he has to use your shower before going to a work event. You get the pleasure of seeing him in a suit.
Warnings/Tags: No warnings lol, just cute fluff. Some sexual thoughts...because who wouldn't...but nothing physical. Heart eyes, bit of blushing, the good stuff.
Word Count: Nearly 2.5K
A/N: Credit to Nerdist.com for the gif from GIPHY. This is my second Steven fic and I hope you enjoy, if you got any suggestions let me know :))
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You had moved to London three weeks ago, and at first you had wondered if you had made a mistake.
The flat you rented out was cute, and was the complete opposite of most of the modern apartments that you had looked at and decided were too expensive. It had an old feel to it, mainly because it was old, but you liked it. Everything about it felt like home straight away, but there was just one problem.
You felt alone.
There were a couple of neighbours on the floor below you, and you tended not to see many people from the floor above - only hear them. There was a young couple who lived down the hall from you, and they seemed nice enough, but they mostly kept to themselves like the lovebirds that they were. They said that a guy lived in the apartment opposite yours, but when you knocked and there was no answer, you couldn't help but feel deflated.
New place, new job, new life...but no new friends.
That shitty feeling churned away at your gut, which is why - one week later - you were so relieved to meet Steven Grant.
He was the guy who lived opposite you, and when you first met he shook your hand politely and told you he'd been away on some sort of vacation, or something like that. You couldn't really remember what he had said because he spoke in a rambling, dorky sort of way where his words muddled and his tongue got tied without even trying. You didn't mind as you were too busy staring into his eyes, drinking in the sight of his curly hair and cute smile. You made a mental note that he smelled like vanilla and coffee, and was that fish food?
From that first meeting, you ended up seeing Steven every morning. Not through choice or any conscious effort, it was just the two of you left your flats at the exact same time every morning to leave for work.
You would leave your apartment and shut your door the same time that Steven opened his. And in the two weeks that passed, the two of you created a routine.
Your door would close, his would open. The pair of you would say good morning and you'd walk to the elevator together. As you waited for it to reach your floor you'd make small talk; you'd talk about the weather, or ask about his work. He would comment on how lovely you looked and as the elevator went down to the ground floor the two of you would stand side by side, shoulder's touching.
When he wasn't looking, you'd steal glances at him in the elevator mirror. You wondered if he did the same. Then, when you reached the ground floor and left the elevator, Steven would open the door for you. You'd walk out into the street together and say your goodbye's before going separate ways.
Beyond that, the two of you never really interacted that much. You wondered if he could hear you singing in the shower, the same way you could hear him arguing with someone sometimes. You didn't mean to pry, but you would hear his voice, strained and upset, and never hear a response. You guessed he must be on the phone, and you hoped it wasn't a girlfriend he was talking to.
Today, it's Sunday. A day that you never see Steven, and a day that marks you being in London for three whole weeks. You decide that it's time for a chill day in.
You spend the day doing barely anything. You stumble out of bed at nearly midday after spending hours scrolling on your phone and watching funny videos. You have brunch and find something to watch on tv; you're glued to your sofa all day, only every pausing the show you're bingeing to make food or go to the toilet.
It reaches five thirty, you've ordered takeaway, and you've spent so long on the sofa the seat beneath you now has a permanent you-shaped dent. You shift slightly, pulling the blanket over you some more and checking your delivery app once again.
Then, you hear Steven's door close. Instinctively you grab the remote and pause the show, just so you can listen in to what Steven's doing.
There's some shuffling going on outside your door, then a pause. Steven's door closes once again. You frown, but press play again.
You get maybe ten seconds of watch time before Steven's door closes again, and knuckles rap against your door. Fuck, please let that be the delivery guy.
You drop the blanket immediately, realising you're in joggers and a t-shirt you probably got chocolate on hours before. You smooth down your hair, shake your hands out, and open the door.
"Hi, Y/N."
Of course it's Steven. He sticks his hand up in a wave, a small smile on his face. His other arm is preoccupied with a bundle of clothes, pressed against his chest. He's wearing dark jeans and an oversized navy sweater that you think makes him look adorable. He eyes you quickly, his gaze scanning your clothes.
"Hey, Steven. You okay?" You try to stand casually in your doorway, but you're not sure what to do with yourself. Out the corner of your eye you spot a piece of melted chocolate on your top. You put an arm across your body to hide it.
"I'm sorry. This is going to sound really odd but, my water isn't working and I uh, really could use a shower." He pauses, making a face, "You don't have to say yes or anything, it's just I've got this work thing later and I don't wanna turn up all ratty and stuff. So, yeah."
You let him talk, fast paced and overtly apologetic, and you smile. It's not what you expected from Steven, but you like the fact he trusts you enough to ask for a favour. You also can't help but feel excited about the idea of him being in your home.
"Yeah, no, it's fine. Come on in." You move away from the doorway and gesture for him to follow you in. You shut the door behind him.
"Thank you. I really appreciate it. You know, I'm almost definitely sure I payed my water bill, but I'll sort it. Anyway, thanks."
Steven stops in the entryway, not sure what to do with himself. You stand beside him and smile, "No worries."
It comes to your attention that your place is kind of messy. The blanket's on the floor, your laundry is hanging to dry on an airer attached to your window sill and - because the place is so damn open-planned - Steven eyeballs your messy bed.
His cheeks redden slightly, and he tears his eyes away to look at you. "I like what you've done with the place."
"Thanks," You stifle a laugh, knowing he's only saying that to be polite. "It's usually tidier than this, I promise."
You walk over to the blanket you dumped on the floor and start trying to tidy the place up. You notice Steven is still awkwardly standing in the entryway, the clothes still in his hands. On further inspection, you realise it's a shirt and a suit, and a pair of shiny shoes.
"Right. I'll just-" Steven points towards your bathroom and starts heading that way. You're about to ask how he knows where it is, when you remember his apartment layout must be identical to yours. It's odd seeing him move around in your home as if he's been here a thousand times before.
Part of you can imagine it. Him sleeping in your bed, or reaching up to the top cupboards to get out flour or sugar for a baking recipe. You can picture the way his shirt would ride up slightly as he reached up…would there be abs under there? You can imagine him sat on the sofa beside you, making an indent of his own, and it almost feels real.
You push the images away as he turns back to you, "Thanks again, Y/N." He's about to push open the bathroom door when he stops. "Oh shit, I didn't bring a towel. I'll go get one."
"Don't worry, I've got spares. Bottom draw by the bath." You smile and Steven relaxes a little. He shuts the door behind him with a little awkward wave.
Once he's gone, you move to the centre of your living room and silently scream. Steven Grant was killing you, and he didn't even know it. He had no clue the effect he had on you, and the first time he had stepped into your home you were messy and the place was a state and - oh.
The water is running. And a new image pops into your head.
You make your way to the kitchen and pour yourself a glass of water. You gulp it down almost as though you hadn't seen water for days. No, no, no, double nope. That's wrong. That's bad.
And yet, there it is.
The image of Steven Grant, naked, using your shower. Using your body soap and lathering himself up. Using your shampoo and getting bubbles in his gorgeous, curly hair. The images come and you don't even realise you're gripping the side of the countertop until there are indents in your palms.
You let go, try to shake the thoughts out of your head. You try to think of something sweeter: Is he the type of guy that usually sings in the shower? Does he use shampoo and conditioner or is he a 3 in 1 type of guy who just slapped it on his body and hoped for the best? With the way he smells, all clean and enticing, you doubt it's the latter.
You're so caught up in thinking about him that you jump out of your skin when there's a knock at your door.
You take a breath, calm yourself down, and open the door. You take the food from the delivery guy, say a quick thanks, and put the pizza box down on the kitchen counter.
The water shuts off and the bathroom door opens slightly, "Y/N, do you have guests? Should I go?"
Even though you can't see him, you smile. "No you're good. Just my pizza delivery."
"Ah, okay cool." There's a pause and then, "What type of pizza is it?"
"Veggie. It's my favourite."
A trail of bathroom stream reaches the kitchen and you wonder what he looks like in there. Would he be the type of guy to wrap the towel around his entire body, or just the bottom half? You scold yourself for thinking about it. Stop it.
"Can I be a cheeky bugger and nab a slice? Only if that's okay. It's just this work event is going on all night and I don't think there's food and I was an idiot and didn't make anything so-"
"You can have a slice, Steven. You don't have to explain yourself all the time."
You still couldn't see him, but you hoped that your words made him smile.
"Right. Okay. Thanks, then. So much. I'll be out in a bit."
The bathroom door closes. You take the pizza box to the sofa, sit down and press play on your show. What better way to distract yourself from the attractive man in your bathroom, right?
Wrong.
Ten minutes later Steven walks out of the bathroom and you nearly drop the pizza slice that's in your hand.
"So, how do I look?" He walks his way over to you. You don't even pause the show you’re watching, your eyes are just trained on him as he walks toward you.
The suit he's wearing is dark brown, to the point it could be black, and the shirt is a light blue. There's a golden, patterned tie dangling around his neck that he hasn't done up yet. His old clothes and shoes are tucked under his armpit.
When you say nothing, all flustered and slack jawed, he sighs.
"I look like a knob, yeah?"
"No! Not at all!" You put the pizza slice down in its box, and stand up from the sofa. "I was going to say you look amazing."
You walk towards him and prompt him to turn around. He gives you a whole three-sixty spin so you can take in the entire view.
"You sure? I'm not good at this suited and booted stuff." He pauses, a small smirk playing on his lips, "Not like this anyway."
You frown a little, wondering what that means, but you let it slide. "Honestly Steven, you look great. A proper gentleman."
He smiles at that and he eyes the clock on the wall. "Oh bugger, I'm going to be late. You mind if I-?"
Steven points towards the door. You nod, "Yeah, sure. I wouldn't want to make you late."
"Thanks, Y/N." He smiles at you sweetly, and he's about to walk towards the door when you call him back.
"Steven, come here." You reach down and pick up a slice of pizza for him. "You've got to eat, remember? And you've not done your tie. Here."
You close the distance between you and hand him the pizza slice. He gives you the biggest, most appreciative smile you've ever seen. He takes a bite as you start to tie his tie.
He makes a small noise as he eats the slice, almost like a moan. You gulp hard. He's warm beneath your touch and he smells like you. You're torn between inhaling deeply and not breathing at all. You've never been this close and it's electrifying.
You finish his tie and look up at him without moving away, your face now feeling warm as ever. "There. You're good to go now."
He smiles down at you and then, surprisingly, wipes his mouth with his sleeve and plants a quick kiss on your forehead.
"You're the best. You're so bloody lovely." He steps away from you and heads towards your door, the half-eaten pizza still in his hand.
"I'll repay you for this. A date or something, maybe. If you want to." He's opened the door and is looking back at you as he talks. You smile and nod your head profusely.
"I'd like that. See you soon, yeah?"
"Yeah. Thank you again, Y/N. You're brilliant. Later's 'gators."
The door closes behind him and you're utterly, unbelievably and unequivocally grateful for the existence of Steven Grant.
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taglist: @later-gators12
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batneko · 1 year
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Here's an idea I originally planned to write as another Bowuigi scenario post, but I decided to turn it into a ficlet because it would be too short. Now it's about 2000 words, lol.
It had been clear from the beginning that something as simple as a "Science Expo" wouldn't be simple at all in the Mushroom Kingdom. Luigi had been braced for disaster from the moment he heard about it, and Bowser's attack almost came as a relief.
No, his mistake had been un-bracing after Bowser was captured and locked in a cage one of the scientists had invented.
Sure, it looked sturdy. Sure, the scientist assured Princess Peach that the cage was completely indestructible. Sure, the only key had been moved from the display table to a security toad's neck after Bowser gave up on trying to bend the bars and started sneakily (as sneaky as anybody his size could be) reaching for it instead.
None of that was the problem. The problem turned out to be another experiment all the way on the other side of the hall that collapsed and caught on fire. That toad scientist said he wasn't even sure how it caught on fire - there weren't any flammable components! About half a second before the blaze spread to the next table, which happened to be full of chemicals, and turned into a giant green fireball.
"Okay, everybody out!" Peach exclaimed, calmly but firmly. "Evacuate the building. Walk, don't run!"
People tended to listen when the princess talked - Luigi supposed that was a skill you had to pick up when you ruled a country. But the fire was pretty eye-catching, and panic set in before he and Mario could start working on crowd control. There was screaming, running (what did Peach just say?), scientists attempting to pack up their exhibits, and for some reason several people tried to head for the same exits that the fire was creeping toward.
"Doesn't this place have sprinklers?" he heard Mario ask.
"I thought so," Peach said. "I don't know why they're not-"
An alarm started to blare, and then they all felt the sudden downpour of the sprinkler system. There was a mass exhale, relief settling in, calming the crowd.
And then something new exploded into flames.
"My elemental sodium!" a toad exclaimed.
Memories of 8th grade chemistry flashing through his mind, Luigi clenched his teeth and got back to guiding the evacuation. There was nothing he wanted more than to head for the exits himself right now, especially with the added discomfort of water dripping off his hat onto his nose, but a hero had responsibilities - and besides, he was the second tallest person in the room.
It only took a few minutes, nobody exactly wanted to stay, and then Luigi was safely outside and wringing water out of his hat. A disaster, but one in which no one got hurt. About the best he could have asked for.
The security toads were doing their jobs now, keeping the crowd away from the merrily burning building. The one with the key around his neck was explaining to a very distraught toad that if the fire didn’t ruin his cardboard model of a bathysphere, the water would. Which was probably ironic in some way.
Wait a minute.
Luigi lunged forward and grabbed the toad’s arm, startling both of them with how fast he’d moved. “Did you let Bowser out?” he asked.
The toad took a second to register what he’d said, glancing down at the giant key as long as his chest. “Oh! Uh, no. I didn’t think-”
“Give that to me.”
The toad obliged, struggling to get the chan over his head until he managed to pop the clasp in the back. Key in hand, Luigi took a step toward the building… and stopped. He looked back over the milling crowd, at Peach’s head of blonde hair. She was the only one tall enough to see, but Mario was rarely far from her. He could find him, ask him to…
No, there was no time. Gritting his teeth, Luigi ran back toward the expo hall to the sounds of several panicked shouts.
The heat was like walking into a wall. Since the fire started on the opposite end from Bowser’s cage, Luigi didn’t have to worry about actually dodging flames, but he could feel the heat and the smoke getting into his lungs. Pulling his shirt up over his nose and trying not to cough, Luigi made his way to the corner he’d been trying to avoid before.
Bowser was still sitting there, arms folded, scowling. He was looking at the floor when Luigi ran up, and Luigi tried to focus on getting the key into the lock with wet gloves on as an excuse to not meet his eyes.
“What are you doing?” Bowser asked.
“Getting you out of here,” Luigi said. Luckily the lock opened smoothly, and Luigi threw the door open so hard it clanged against the bars. "Come on."
The cage was too small for him, Bowser had to duck to get out the door, and as he straightened up to his full height for a second it felt like he was blocking out the sun. Luigi was very, very aware of the difference in their sizes.
He swallowed, forced himself to say, "This way," and tried to ignore the way it came out as a squeak.
"You're an idiot," Bowser said.
Luigi hadn't exactly been expecting to be thanked, but the insult didn't seem necessary. Just because they almost forgot him didn't mean they did.
But arguing would waste time, and the fire was still creeping along the walls where the sprinklers didn't reach. He adjusted his shirt again and turned toward the door he'd come in through, still open and still safe.
He hadn't taken two steps before a wooden beam crashed down in front of him. Luigi yelped and jumped backwards, hiding behind the first large object he saw - which turned out to be Bowser.
"Uh… sorry."
Bowser just shook his head.
There was more crashing, and the crackle of flames was a lot closer than Luigi liked. Had it spread to the ceiling already? If the walls weren't safe and the open spaces weren't safe, what were they going to do?
If anybody had remembered to let Bowser out in the first place they wouldn't be in this mess. Unfortunately, Luigi counted as "anybody," meaning this was as much his fault as anyone else.
"I'm sorry," Luigi said again. "Let's just make a run for it."
Bowser reached behind him and grabbed the back of his overalls, hoisting him into the air like a toy in a claw machine. Luigi heard himself squeak, then he was thrown back into the cage Bowser just left.
The door clanged shut, and Luigi’s heart sunk into his shoes. He was locked up. Just like Bowser had been, behind bars in a burning building, soon to be abandoned. Okay, they’d forgotten him, but did it really deserve this? Did Luigi really deserve to die over it?
He saw Bowser bend over next to the cage, grip the bars with one hand, and then he picked the whole thing up off the platform. Luigi toppled over onto the side, then back again as Bowser balanced the cage on his shoulder. What was he doing?
They turned back and forth. Luigi could see the fire creeping toward all the doors now. If they ran, and rolled as soon as they got outside - but the ceiling was still falling in too.
Bowser turned completely around, facing the back wall now. There was a small door near the middle, but the rest of it was nothing but windows. There was no safe path unless…
“No,” Luigi said, softly.
Bowser chuckled, and charged straight ahead.
For a few horrible seconds Luigi was aware of nothing but the smoke-filled air rushing past him as the wall got closer and closer. Glass shattered around them as Bowser kicked out a window and leapt through the frame, cage and all.
Bumping, rolling, and finally stillness. Luigi took a deep breath of still-smoky but much cooler air. He was tempted to scream. It wouldn’t accomplish much at this point, but it would make him feel better.
He yelped, at least, as the cage was picked up again. The door popped open and the box turned, and Luigi was shaken out onto the ground like the last penny in a piggy bank.
“Ow,” Luigi said.
“Wimp,” Bowser said. But his tone was light, and when Luigi looked up he saw him smiling.
He chucked the cage back over his shoulder, where it landed on the ground with a heavy thud and a gouge driven into the dirt. After a moment’s consideration Bowser threw the key in the same general direction, then turned back toward the expo hall, folding his arms and watching it slowly burn.
“This science expo thing’s more fun than I thought,” he said. “Maybe I’ll have one.”
Abruptly, he leaned over Luigi, really blocking out the sun this time. They were all alone out here, Luigi realized. Everyone else had evacuated out the other side of the building. If Bowser wanted to do anything to him, there was nobody to stop it.
But… he wasn't. And he hadn't. Right now he was just staring at Luigi with something like confusion on his face.
"You break anything?" Bowser said.
"No…" Luigi said. He'd been thrown around a lot, but he was used to that now. He probably wouldn't even bruise.
Carefully, Luigi climbed to his feet and brushed off any bits of broken glass or charred wood that had stuck to his clothes. Bowser quickly scrubbed a hand through his hair to do the same.
"Grazie- I mean, thank you for getting us both out," Luigi said.
Bowser rolled his eyes. "Don't do that. It's gross."
"What, thank you?"
"Ugh," Bowser said, so that must have been it.
Was that not what he'd been waiting for, then? Why did he keep looking at Luigi like that?
"Did you have to throw me in the cage, though?" Luigi asked.
Bowser shrugged. "That Poindexter said it was indestructible. You're not fireproof or roofproof, so I figured it'd help. Or whatever." He frowned, slightly. "Roof-proof. Roof, proof. That's a hard one."
While Bowser seemed interested in the pronunciation of the word he'd just invented, the specifics of what he'd said were sinking in for Luigi.
"You… are fireproof," Luigi said slowly.
"Ye-up," Bowser said.
"And roofproof?"
"Dunno about that one, but I've survived bigger buildings than this falling on me."
"And the cage is indestructible."
"Yyyyup."
Luigi buried his face in his hands. "I didn't need to go back for you at all, did I?"
"Nope," Bowser said, almost cheerfully.
"I'm an idiot."
"I told you you were."
Luigi groaned.
He ignored the guffaw of laughter next to him, and the massive hand that slapped his back. It was only when Bowser muttered something that Luigi forced himself to look up again.
It had sounded like, "Not like I don't appreciate it."
"What?" Luigi said.
"Nothing, shut up."
"I didn't-"
"Shut up," Bowser repeated firmly, and turned away from him to watch the burning building once again. One of the windows collapsed inward, and Bowser pumped his fist and gave an only slightly forced cheer. "Whoo! Good one."
For a while they both stood there, Luigi regaining his breath, Bowser apparently entertained by destruction. Bowser had said not to thank him, had told him to shut up, but Luigi had this feeling like… he was more bark than bite right now.
“Welp, I’m out of here,” Bowser said after a moment. “Much as I’d like to stay and watch the fire work, I’m not letting anybody lock me up again.” He gave a low growl. “Had enough of that for a lifetime.”
“Ah… take care getting home.”
Bowser gave him another odd look. “I don’t get you.”
“Don’t you?”
“I didn’t need saving. I don’t need your niceties.”
“It’s not for you,” Luigi said, “it’s for me. I’m doing - and saying - these things because I’d feel wrong if I didn’t.”
Bowser shook his head. “Like I said, I don’t get you.” He took a step in the direction his airship had gone when the crew abandoned him. “But uh… grazie, or whatever.”
Luigi blinked. “Prego,” he said, automatically, but Bowser had already started moving.
He stood there, alone, watching Bowser leave with nothing but the crackling of the fire to accompany the thoughts swirling in his head. Did Bowser know he’d just thanked him? He must, right? Luigi had said it right afterward.
Come to think of it, he’d have expected Bowser to be offended that Luigi thought he needed rescuing. But he wasn’t. He returned the favor, thanked Luigi, and walked away without causing any more trouble.
Was Luigi losing his mind? Was this smoke inhalation?
“Luigi!” he heard his brother cry out, and turned around to see Mario running at full-tilt across the grass. He braced himself just in time for Mario to grab him in a bone-crushing hug. 
He knew he’d done the right thing, and he knew Mario would agree once he heard the story, but he still felt a little silly that he’d rushed into danger for the sake of someone who was danger-proof.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine,” Luigi said. He glanced back over his shoulder, even though he knew Bowser was long gone.
Maybe that was it. Maybe so many people knew Bowser didn’t need rescuing that no one ever did it.
Maybe… Bowser had liked having a hero, for once.
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olderthannetfic · 2 months
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I feel kinda stupid now that I've taken some intensive fiction writing/creative writing classes. I've always liked writing but more as a hobby. I have absolutely no interest in being traditionally published, so creative fiction writing seemed like something cool to do when given the opportunities. By far, I think i learned the most from my children's creative fiction writing classes (took three). The most important thing I think more people online could learn is that your favorite authors to love and hate are just normal people, and they're often bound by the constraints of their audience (and publishers, agents, etc). A lot of children's fiction writers, I think, want to tell good, entertaining stories for kids and want to introduce them to complex topics, especially (from experience) fantasy children's authors. However, when you have a word count or other constraint, how do you go about explaining real-life problems in a fantasy setting? The easiest and most common method is to use imagery of real-world events and problems that are, or will be (once they learn it in school) more commonly understood as Bad and Oppression. Fantasy sub-species or gender is oppressed in fantasy setting?--model it after the Magdelene Laundries. Fantasy race is opressed by society?--model it after Jim Crow or Nazi Germany or anti-Christian isolationist practices in Japan. Is the author saying these events were good? Absolutely not; quite the opposite. Though, it's much easier for kids to understand difficult topics when it's spoonfed to them, and in order to criticize fascism in stories or settings, you have to, you know, depict it first.
This was something I was missing in my media analysis about 4-5 years ago. Just because I'm adult, I forgot the adult writer(s) were writing for kids (or young adults). Makes me feel really dumb for jumping on the "Steven Universe, Voltron, AoT, insert random fantasy YA book encourages fascism/racism/oppression/etc bandwagons."
--
People tend to forget that just because they like media, it doesn't mean that media is for them.
That often gets lost in the rush to defend oneself against "LOL, you read YA as an adult!" or "All anime is for kids, har har" type jeering.
Granted, one hopes most YA titles will be more morally complex than things for 5-year-olds, and some anime is for adults, but...
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linkspooky · 8 months
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Hiii spooky I how have you been enjoying season 2 so far? After seeing the characters being brought to life I’ve realised one thing and that is that Suguru is really hard for me to grasp and I don’t know how to portray him. On one hand he seems dark and brooding and serious but then he’s also goofy and deeply caring and he’s not ashamed to show it. He has lots of soft smile but then we see him smile like 😊 that when Riko manages to annoy him. He seems to have so many facets in a way that other characters just don’t…? and maybe in theory his behaviour and parts of his personality seem contradictory, but it doesn’t actually feel like it is?? because he doesn’t really put on any mask, at least his teen self doesn’t, and you can kinda tell what he’s feeling… he’s not as loud as Gojo, he doesn’t really express himself verbally, but to me he’s still more open than him. You can see his emotions on his face or in his body language because he doesn’t really try to hide them, whereas Gojo as loud and expressive as he is.. I often find myself struggling to tell what exactly he’s feeling.
I’ve also seen many people portray Geto as “nice and polite but that’s just for appearances and he’s actually bad and cruel” which feels like a pretty flat interpretation of him… I’m really struggling as you can tell I think I might be missing the point entirely lol I just wanted to know your thoughts on it.
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Hello, anon! Thank you for the opportunity to talk about Geto! You are correct in that he's a far more nuanced character than a lot of people give him credit for. The popular fandom belief is that Geto was lying about his ideals all along, but I think it's the opposite. Rather than a liar, Geto's real problem is that he's true to himself to a fault. I'll address your ask and talk more about this under the cut.
Fandom Geto
I’ve also seen many people portray Geto as “nice and polite but that’s just for appearances and he’s actually bad and cruel” which feels like a pretty flat interpretation of him… I’m really struggling as you can tell I think I might be missing the point entirely lol
In my opinion the fandom in general tends to flatten Geto's character for two reasons, number one they want to make Geto look worse to make Gojo look better by comparison. The second and more relevant is that they want to otherize Geto because his beliefs are so extreme. That someone who can slaughter people on that large of a scale must have been cruel to begin with, a normal person, especially a good one isn't capable of that.
Which I think misses the point. Geto wasn't shown as someone with cruel tendencies to begin with, the entire hidden inventory arc showed how much it took him to be pushed off the edge like that, with factors like trauma, witnessing the deaths of sorcerers his age, and the jaded adults around him who made no real attempts to reach out to him and help him in time all contributing factors to his downfall.
"An endless cycle of exorcism and consumption. Exorcise. Consume. It's a taste that nobody knows. The taste of a curse. Like ingesting a rag used to wipe up vomit. Exorcise. Consume. For whom? Ever since that day... it's been running through my head."
What makes this monologue so effective is it summarizes a year of Geto constantly questioning himself as his mental state deteriorates. I do believe Geto always looked down on the weak, but he did it the same way that Gojo did. He separated himself in a different category from others, both Gojo and Geto believed that they were on the side of the "strong" and that put them above others. It's just on top of that Geto believed that standing above others came with the obligation to protect them, and that was the part that came into question.
However, if he believed weak people were "monkeys" from the start, if his desire to protect them was a false belief than he wouldn't have taken an entire year of spiraling before he snapped. The manga wouldn't put such intense focus on #1 Geto's internal world, and #2 Geto struggling with trying to figure out what his ideals and beliefs really are if he was just hiding a darker and crueler set of beliefs.
For example, we have Maki a character who five minutes after the death of Mai decides to massacre the entire Zen'in Clan even the members who had absolutely nothing to do with it, as opposed to Geto who wrestled with the idea of it for a year, and Maki doesn't get the same accusation from the fandom of being cruel and violent all along. Geto's a character of internal struggle. His righteous nature is what led him astray. Not because he was lying to himself, but because he was trying to find what the right thing to do was. It's just his idea of right and wrong got eschew because of the incredibly grey and myopic nature of the Jujutsu World.
Geto's True Feelings
He seems to have so many facets in a way that other characters just don’t…? and maybe in theory his behaviour and parts of his personality seem contradictory, but it doesn’t actually feel like it is?? because he doesn’t really put on any mask, at least his teen self doesn’t, and you can kinda tell what he’s feeling…
I agree with your assesment that Geto is a character that's true to himself rather than a character that's putting up a false front. Geto is a character that contradicts himself a lot, one example is pointed out to us by Gojo. That he justifies his slaughter of non-sorcers for a bigger goal of creating a world without curses, and yet Geto himself isn't strong enough to actually make that ideal a reality. There's basically no scenario where he could have won, like theoretically maybe Gojo could have done it, but killing every single human being was just impossible for Geto.
Which is where we get to the point that Geto is twisting logic around to justify himself and his slaughter of innocents, but at the same time the Jujutsu Kaisen light novel adaptation of JJK0 says this isn't a lie, but rather Geto's attempt to remain true to himself.
To live for the purpose of being yourself. And for that goal, Geto could only continue to pursue his twisted dream, drowning himself in a curse that lies in the gap between ideal and reality. This was the final confession of a man who could only choose to wrap himself, who had erased himself in pursuit of his goals.
The gap between ideal and reality is a pretty significant phrase for describing Geto, because part of what broke Geto is he sees the world as how it should be, rather than how it is. Geto's failure is in part a failure to adapt when he sees the darker side of the world after Riko's murder.
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In my opinion the animated version of this scene is far better than that of the manga. In the anime it shows Geto staring at the crowd joyously celebrating Riko's death who are all complicit in it while he tries to list off reasons why they don't need to take vigilante justice out on the crowd, beause there are systems in place that will punish these people on their own.
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Geto is trying desperately to convince himself that these people will see justice, because the world is a fair place. All the while Gojo just walks away, because Geto's answer "There's no meaning in that" is a good enough answer for him. Geto desperately needs to search for a reason and convince himself that what they're doing is the right thing, whereas Gojo doesn't really share Geto's habit of questioning the world around him.
This moment reminds me of a quote of Megumi's at the beginning of the manga "Karma doesn't happen on its own" he later goes on to describe how the justice system and jujustu sorcerers are systems set in place to try to make the world a fairer place. Geto wants to believe that too, even when he's shown direct evidence that Jujutsu Society isn't idealistic at all.
Which, Gojo doesn't really question the society around him until after Geto's defection. He doesn't see a problem because Gojo is the perfectly fit cog, he's born into this society and he's the best at what he does. I think one important thing is that Gojo is the chosen one of the Gojo clan one of the three major houses. The golden child. Whereas Geto who is someone just as gifted as Gojo for the most part, has non-sorcerer parents and therefore was born outside of their society. Which it makes sense why he'd have more of an outsider's point of view, whereas Gojo can accept these things for a long time because that's just how they are, he grew up with this.
Geto's not lying to himself about his beliefs, rather he witnesses the world is not as just as he thought it was, and then struggles between two really opposite beliefs. Which is something Yuki Tsukumo pointed out to him.
Yuki: Do you hate non-jujutsu sorcerers? Geto? Geto: I don't know...I used to think Jujutsu Sorcerers existed to protect non-sorcerers, but recently I've been doubting whether or not non-sorcerers are worth fighting for... [insert monologue here] I don't know which are my true feelings. Yuki: Neither is. You're not at that stage yet. Looking down on non-sorcerers, resisting that feeling...those are just possibilities you've tought of. Whatever your true feeling is, you still have to decide.
If Geto wanted to slaughter non-sorcerers from the beginning it wouldn't be a deliberation for him. He wouldn't be arguing himself and trying to justify himself for over a year. Geto is basically caught between ideals and reality. The ideal is that his work as a sorcerer to protect people is good and making the world a fairer place. He wants to believe that there is meaning behind his work, that he's doing the right thing. The reality he's faced with is the senseless slaughter of people like Haibara. The idea that he is just a cog in the machine that will continually sacrifice more and more sorcerers. That therefore their sacrifice is not making the world a better place, and not justified. He can't face the reality that he and his friends are expendable... and really, who can?
"If being a Jujutsu Sorcerer is like running a marathon... what if what's at the end of that road is a mountain of our fellow sorcerer's dead corpses?"
Ironically, it's Geto's search for the right thing that leads him astray. He becomes unable to see any point in the continual sacrifices the strong sorcerers have to make for what he views as the ungrateful weak non-sorcerers. I don't think he believed that from the beginning though, because as you pointed out above his interactions with both Kuroi and Riko who are non-sorcerers shows a lot of care for their emotions and well-being. If he never cared about non-sorcerers, than he wouldn't have reacted as badly to Riko's death as he did.
he doesn’t really put on any mask, at least his teen self doesn’t, and you can kinda tell what he’s feeling… he’s not as loud as Gojo, he doesn’t really express himself verbally, but to me he’s still more open than him. You can see his emotions on his face or in his body language because he doesn’t really try to hide them, whereas Gojo as loud and expressive as he is.. I often find myself struggling to tell what exactly he’s feeling.
Gojo and Geto are foils and inversions to one another, so I agree with what you stated that while Gojo is loud his true feelings tend to be more concealed whereas Geto for the most part makes his care and concern demonstrably known in the first few chapters of hidden inventory.
There's the famous "Geto and Gojo both make fun of Utahime for being weak in different ways" that a lot of people cite as evidence for the fact Geto looked down on weak people all along, but as I stated above his way of looking down on them is he saw them as a seperate category than himself a strong person. However, I don't think that means his attempts at taking care of Riko are insincere.
Gojo and Geto are both shown as looking out for Riko, Geto does it in more obvious ways and Goo does it in more subtle ways, but that just shows the difference in their personality. Gojo is rude and obnoxious on the surface, but thoughtful on the inside. Whereas Geto true to his nature makes an effort to be considerate and look out for people. One of the reasons I put the conversation between Gojo and Geto as the banner image for this post is because it shows Geto's naturally considerate personality, going out of his way to ask if he's okay. Geto is direct. There's a mirror scene to that later where Gojo notices Geto has lost weight, showing he does in fact get a grasp that something is wrong with Geto, but chooses an indirect approach of asking for it.
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Geto goes out of his way to give Riko more free time and time to spend with her friends even though it makes the mission more inconvenient because he recognizes these are her last few days on earth. It's Geto who notices that Kuroi is essentially family to Riko.
When Kuroi is kidnapped, Geto is deeply troubled by his failure and blames himself. Geto shows his concern in a direct way being troubled by Kuroi's disappearance, whereas Gojo shows his concern in an indirect way, setting up a kind of sink-or-swim test for Riko where he tells her she can only come with if she's ready to face the fact that Kuroi might be dead and she can't back out halfway through. All as a test of her resolve. They both care and have different ways of showing it.
Gojo shows his concern for Riko by insisting they stay another day for her sake, and Geto only argues against it because he's worried Gojo is pushing himself too much with his use of the limitless. Geto's visibly happy to see both Gojo and Riko enjoying thmeselves and views the scene with a soft smile. He reassures Kuroi not to worry about letting herself get kindapped because they handled it just fine.
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They both cared about Riko, they both agreed to help her quit the merger. Geto's desire to protect her is one hundred percent sincere, this is when he still believes in his ideal of protecting the weak, and he's following that ideal through. That's why his way of reassuring her is saying "we're the strongest" because that's how the world is supposed to work in his ideals. The strong protect the weak, and if you're the strongest you should have no trouble protecting others.
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When both the world and Geto fail to live up to that promise that's where he begins to question himself. Which is where I want to get to one of the major differences between Gojo and Geto. All centering around Geto's final words.
"In a world like this, I couldn't be truly happy from the bottom of my heart..."
There's a scene someone pointed out to me in a twitter thread at the end of the Shibuya arc where Nanami contemplates retiring to Malaysia just as he dies doing his job and fighting against many cursed spirits and then is executed by Mahito. All because he chose to stay and fight until the last minute. At the end of the arc, we see Mei Mei fled the battle half way through and is now comfortably sitting in a hotel room in Malaysia. Mei Mei is someone who is implied to abuse her younger brother, whereas Nanami is someone who stated it's the duty of adult sorcerers to protect children and goes out of his way to do that for Yuji.
One of them lives because she is selfish, and even an abuser, the other dies. The first is the kind of person that benefits from the corruption of Jujutsu Society, the second is swallowed up from it.
The line Geto couldn't be truly happy from the bottom of his heart also refers to this fact, Geto just couldn't cope with the reality of Jujutsu Society because it's an increidbly myopic and cynical place where the people who get ahead are selfish people who simply don't care about others and frequently use and abuse others to get ahead, and the ones who get swallowed up are people with good intentions like Nanami. This is the world he can't cope with. He's fundamentally incompatible with Jujutsu Society and driven out of it because he wants to do the right thing, not because he was evil to begin with.
Whereas Gojo also sees Jujutsu Soceity as something rotten don't make any mistake, but he's also someone who is able to function in Jujutsu Society much better that Geto because he was born inside of it. Geto is driven out and Gojo seeks reform from the inside because he's like the ideal of jujutsu society, and he was born to be. He's selfish, and egotistical, and he's so strong he can bully the elders and throw his weight around. Of course Gojo doesn't really abuse his power, that's what makes him so interesting a character, he has all this power and for the most part uses it responsibly to exorcise curses for the good of society rather than abuse it for his own sake.
However, he can stay within that society because he's used to it, a lot of things about that society he accepted how they were for a long time until he saw the toll it took on Geto. Gojo is the ideal of Jujutsu Society, he's held up as the model sorcerer of the corrupted society so it takes him a long time to spot where that corruption is. When he does he also wants to do something about it like Geto does, but he takes it in a more measured way he's not driven out because he's intrinsically a part of that society.
Whereas for Geto he's just one hundred percent incompatible with Jujutsu Society as a whole, one because his idealistic nature just doesn't mix well with a dog-eat-dog cynical society where everyone is out for their own gain and people like Mei Mei climb to the top. Number two, Geto himself has a very uncompromising nature. He's sincere to a fault. He doesn't really deal well with moral greys. He can only exist in a black and white world where he has clearly defined goals of good and evil, he just sort of flips white for black, and black for white.
Thus Gojo is much better at coping with that society as a whole and trying to find a way to work inside the system, but also to begin with he's not someone who naturally questions things the same way that Geto does. In fact in general I would say another point of foiling between them is as you pointed out, Geto is someone far more true to himself not wearing any masks, whereas Gojo's loud personality is a mask. We are privy to Geto's thoughts and his internal world, we basically spend the entire hidden inventory arc inside of his head. Whereas with Gojo he is so distanced from his own emotions oftentimes the audience themselves don't get to see what they really feel and are left guessing. Even the people around Gojo aren't really aware of what his real feelings are, his students and all his coworkers basically just summarize him as "he's the strongest."
Geto basically drowns inside his own head trying to figure out what his true emotions are, whereas Gojo is someone so distanced from what he really feels he's completely alienated himself from the people around him. Hence why Shoko can say stuff like "damnit, I've been right here all along for eleven years idiot" while Gojo monologues about how alone he is in front of her.
Which is what really makes them such good character foils. It's not one is good, one is bad, one is a liar, one is telling the truth, they're actually just both idiots.
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child-of-hurin · 5 days
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I'm on episode 4 and unsure how I feel about Netflix's Three Body Problem overall, but I'm pleasantly surprised by a number of things:
If they were never going for an all-Chinese cast, I so far appreciate the attempts at giving it a worldly feel. I like that we hear a lot of different languages and I appreciate that key nationalities --Ye Wenjie and Mike Evans more obviously, but also Sophon's chosen Japanese appearance -- and I appreciate the diverse cast too. I feel like it's safe to hope for more even more in-universe diversity. Wondering if we'll see Manuel Rey Diaz lol.
It feels at the same time an obvious solution and a bold move to have the protagonists of each book be friends in this one -- I think it takes away from the insane scope of the series, but OTOH it does facilitate it for the viewer, and allows for more character exploration, which we know is something Western audiences tended to feel was lacking in the original trilogy. I was worried the show would not be able to develop so many characters at once, but by ep 4 I feel the opposite! The cast feels strong too, I'm pleasantly surprised by the quality of the acting. But I had very low expectations.
I was worried an adaptation would water down the discussion of fascism that is ever so present in the book (albeit discreet to the point that many readers say it's not a political book!) but I was pleasantly surprised on that front too... The (purposefully) half-committed discussions about god and violence have hit some mark for me so far, though I'm not entirely sure what mark it was. But it's there!
I wish they had been more bold visually, but I can't complain of the quality of the effects!
If you have any opinions about these topics, I'd be curious to hear about them!
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laudthingcat · 11 months
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synopsis: Cú Alter is done being targeted by Medb. You are done being chased around by Kiyohime. Maybe pretending to date each other will keep both away?
pairing: cú chulainn alter x fem!reader
cw; fake dating, au where dr. romani is still alive and well y-y, mutual pinning, slightly suggestive at some point, master (the reader) is more or less oblivious.
w.count: 2k
a.n: million thanks to @nagumoan for helping me out with this beautiful banner and also coming up with a title <3 @cursedmoonchild you were right.. i did enjoy embracing the fluff lol but i hope u like it hehe (i will know if you laughed at his name again) // reblogs are appreciated ૮ ˶´ ᵕˋ ˶ა
m.list
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Peaceful days are something rather rare around Chaldea. The multitude of servants you have summoned makes it rather impossible. While there are some very nice and helpful servants, there are some very chaotic ones too. 
Being the master, you try to make sure everything is fine and that all your servants are satisfied and happy in there. You know that there are some servants who don’t necessarily like you. Not the same way they like each other at least. You observed the relief that spreads into Medb’s eyes when she’s sent to farm alongside Cú Alter. You’ve seen the way that Achilles and Atalante work together, terminating all the enemies and bringing back whatever materials Dr. Romani asked for. And it’s not that they don’t extend the same faith in you, but there are times when you feel like an intruder. Times when you feel useless. But oftentimes, things aren’t necessarily what they seem on the outside. 
The main reason you feel like that is your need to help and protect others, and if you can’t do that, you tend to feel useless. But there are some problems that you can’t really take care of, or so you thought… 
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
Getting out of his room, Cú Chulainn Alter lets out a loud groan when he notices Medb at the end of the corridor, already heading his way. Saying that her obsession with him is tiring is not enough, no. It pisses him off more than anything and nothing he does seems to make her understand that he is not interested in her advances and flirt attempts.
He turns around and starts walking in the opposite direction leaving Medb pouting behind when she realizes he’s ignoring her again.
Cú Alter is used to the other servants seeing him as the coldest of the three. But one thing about Cú Alter is that he doesn’t care what others think. That’s why he is not surprised when even his master goes silent when he enters the same room. He notices the way you avert your eyes and bite your lip while Mash keeps on talking, not noticing the subtle change. 
Being a fighter, a berserker, he recognizes fear from miles, and that’s not it. 
He intimidates you, and he knows it. But how could you not be intimidated by someone like him? He’s imposing, extremely strong, and a killing machine. He grins when he feels you tensing up when passing by. Could it be that his master is that nervous around him? 
Cú Alter is not interested in any kind of relationship with anyone. All he wants is to kill and be left alone. But even so, he finds himself getting out of his room and roaming the halls of Chaldea more often than before, silently looking around in the hope of finding you somewhere around the place.
Day after day, he ends up watching over you for a bit before returning to his room or leaving to help in the battles. The one thing that annoys him every single day is that annoying snake that roams around you even though you always reject her advances and godawful questions. Everyone knows about Kiyohime’s obsession with the master, and he never cared much about it, but lately, it has been getting on his nerves.
The more he sees how annoying Kiyohime is, the more he realizes that you are in the same situation he is in with Medb. That’s when an idea crosses his mind.
“Listen, master, we both have someone we want to leave us alone. Why not pretend to be together to get rid of both?”
You blinked in surprise when you heard his question.
Cú Alter caught you when you were alone heading towards the cafeteria, and after placing a hand on the wall, he trapped you in between it and his body. His question took you by surprise but the more you thought about it the more you realized it may actually work. It was worth a try at least.
“Sure, let’s do that, Cú~”
And so you ended up spending most of your time with him outside the farming time. Much to everyone’s surprise, he’d be next to you everywhere around Chaldea, bring your food, accompany you to the training sessions even if he wasn’t participating, and always escort you to your room at the end of each day. 
Days and weeks passed and now you are more comfortable around him. His plan actually worked since Kiyohime and Medb didn’t even try approaching again after the first attempts when he scared them away, not before threatening them by saying that you “belong to him” and whoever dares touch what’s his will not make it out in one piece.
You’d be lying if you said that his declaration didn’t make your heart beat faster and cheeks burn, but you knew better. There is no way Cú actually meant that. He was just playing his role, and nothing more. You should be doing the same, but the more you play this role the more you find yourself hoping it was all real.
Even after he's accompanying you back to your room at the end of each day, all you can think about is him. Each thought you have makes your chest tighten and your heart hurt because you know it is all just a big lie. You end up crying yourself to sleep most nights, regretting getting yourself into this, seemingly easy, deal.
What you don’t know is that his very trained ears didn’t miss on hearing your sniffles and sobs. To say that he was utterly confused is not enough. Cú just assumes it is because of something he must have done wrong. He must have fucked up somewhere, somehow. 
Every single day he tried to change something in his attitude. He’d bring you a flower he collected from the forests he trained in. Genuinely listen to everything you’re saying, from the simple things that happened throughout your day to your worries and fears. He’d say that he only does it for the appearance, to make it seem real in case Medb or Kiyohime are stalking. And you believe him. But truth to be told, he does it because that’s what he feels like doing. 
Cú may have only gotten into this at first to get rid of Medb, but as time passed he found himself falling in love with you. At least that’s what he thinks it is. 
Even though he seems like a cold and stoic man, every time you’re close to him he prays you won’t hear his heartbeat that ends up beating like crazy, almost as if it is trying to give his feeling away. He can’t help it. The way your wide, innocent eyes, sparkle in excitement whenever you see him approaching, a smile always present on your face. 
You are the sun, while he is all darkness. He’s afraid his actions will end up fading your light. 
Even when he is having bad thoughts, you end up dragging him out of them somehow. Sometimes, even a simple sentence completely stuns him.
“I’m really happy to see you, Cú.”
Cú finds it really hard to stay composed when you say stuff like that. Hearing your sweet, lighthearted voice, along with the way you look up at him and slightly jump on your toes - it’s like you’re trying to make him fall for you.
And it is working. 
He sighs when he realized how deep he has fallen. Seeing your adorable face, all he wants to do is kiss you. Cup your face and make it official, not just some lie. But you’re his master, and you couldn’t possibly fall for a brute like him. He’s a berserker. You would be more fit with one of his more cheerful versions. Yet here you are, smiling and cheerfully chatting with the other servants, by his side. 
You could have refused his offer. You could have said no and just ask somebody else to do it. Maybe you only accepted out of fear, or maybe you didn’t. But one thing he knows for sure, and that is that he doesn’t want it to be a lie anymore.
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
The hallway is silent.
Everyone has already retreated to their rooms and he was planning on doing the same before you took him by surprise with your question. 
“Can you stay with me for the night?”
You have been feeling sadder and sadder with each day passing and you wanted to have a talk with him. The thought of him not feeling the same was crushing your heart, but you’d rather ‘break up’ than keep suffering. 
Cú hesitates, nearly turning around and heading toward his own room, his mind flooded with hundreds of different scenarios.
Why would you ask him that? Did you have any idea how dangerous it was to ask one of your male servants such a question? Were you out of your mind? But looking back at your nearly teary eyes and saddened face, he steps inside without commenting anything.
After hopping on your bed, you tapped on the empty space next to you, inviting him to join you. And so he did. The bed felt so much smaller now that he was next to you. You quickly felt your cheeks getting hot as you thought of how easily he could turn around and completely tower over you, trapping you underneath his body. 
Seeing your flushed face Cú chuckled. What could possibly go on through that little head of yours? 
“So, why am I here?” 
Cú broke the slightly awkward silence. 
Hearing his question, you remain quiet for a moment. Lifting your face to meet his gaze, you mindlessly place your hand on his cheek, your thumb gently touching the red tattoo that was resting beneath his eye.
“I guess i want to know how you feel about me?”
Out of all the questions, this is not the one he was expecting.
“How i feel about you?” he repeats the question as if trying to process it.
You nod your head as you bite your lip and furrow your eyebrows. You’re anxious and he can tell by how cold your usually warm hand is against his face. 
“ I... I have feelings for you Cú.. “ he froze. “But if they are onesided... I am afraid I cannot continue with the lie. It hurts more than I thought it would.”
A million thoughts rush through your read as you realize there is absolutely no going back now.
“But if, maybe… you feel the same way… if you also feel something..”
Cú’s slowly blinking in surprise, now realizing that was the reason you asked him to stay. 
He would be lying if he said he doesn’t have feelings for you. He respects you as a master, but his feelings have long surpassed the master and servant relationship.
Without saying anything, Cú placed his hand on top of yours, taking it and placing it on his chest, allowing you to feel his heartbeat. Then he leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss on your lips. He smiled into the kiss when you deepened it, realizing that you wanted that just as much as he did. 
Getting a bit carried away, he captured both of your wrists and pinned your hands above your head, now truly having you trapped beneath his body. You moaned into the kiss when you felt his other hand rest on one of your hips, keeping you in place. Soon after he moved to your jaw and neck, leaving sloppy kisses and his marks, making sure that everyone will know who you belong to officially now.
You open your eyes when you feel your hands are free again and quickly cup his face admiring his beauty. 
“Was this good enough to show you how I feel, master?”
You smile and happily nod your head, pulling him back in for another kiss. 
Cú spent the night with you, and every single night after that too.
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Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it <3
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priestessoflumine · 23 days
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Hiiii thereee! Okay so I know you're a big Furilumi fan, so I was wondering if you could help me collect all the info and events that imply it, and their general dynamic and stuff??? Anything about their relationship in all canon or semi-canon content. I'm working on the Traveler x Genshin chars list again, and I'm honestly undecided on how to interpret Furina's feelings for the traveler, so I thought you could help :>>>
Hellooo~ and gosh I'm flattered that you think so.
I will say that while I am a fan; I'm not as die-hard as others maybe. I'm very much a characters-before-the-ship kinda gal when it comes to Furilumi (also in general with other characters).
Like if you were to put a gun to my head and ask me what is my top Travelver X Character ship "canon wise", Furilumi wouldn't even be top five. (also I am adult enough to admit that I'm very much wanting to fuck Furina a Furina x Reader shipper more than anything)
But even with all that, I think they are cute together together and they have an interesting dynamic that can be explored.
I'm wasn't quite sure how you wanted the information or how much you wanted. I'm just gonna go through certain moments from quests Furina & Lumine have been in together so far. And just talk about them.
Also if I forget a scene or something please forgive me!
When Lumine first meets Furina at the very start of the Fontaine Archon quest, she isn't being herself.
As we all know, Furina was acting as the role of Hydro Archon. So calling it a proper meeting isn't accurate, since I tend to believe we don't meet the real Furina until much late. This isn't just in reference to her identify, but also her true personality.
Also it was just basically Furina going "We are rivals now!" and Lumine being like "....sure I guess?".
But I thought it important to high light it since it does establishes their early dynamic.
Furina knows about what The Travelver has done and sees her as an answer to her problems;
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She has been chasing the one trial to end all trials; the one case that is so spectacular that is will save Fontaine from the impending floods. And what better opposition than the famous Outlander?
And she says at much at Lyney's trial:
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Although there is perhaps a bit of fear at what the The Travelver could do, Furina is sure that their face off will soon happen. And that the odds will be in her favour (even though she kinda doesn't know what she is doing lol), with her being determined to save Fontaine.
It is always hard to truly know what the Travelver themselves is thinking. But I would guess Lumine also views Furina as a means to an end. It is the reason she is traveling Teyvat finding her brother.
This shows that while they both are different, they are very willing to do what they can to obtain their goal. Whether that means playing a role for 500 years, or travelling all over the whole continent, they will searching through any scarp of information to find the answers.
While Furina does lose and is, from Paimon's own words: "...like a deflated balloon now." I think Furina is more sad that it wasn't "The Trial" more than anything. Especially since she is "...unable to contain her joy at seeing you and Paimon enter.", when coming to protect her while meeting with the Arlecchino. Showing that she doesn't have any ill will towards Lumine.
Granted this could be because Furina is utterly terrified of The Knave as well trusting in Neuvillette very much. But still that rivalry is put on hold. But from this little tea party Lumine starts feeling distrusting of Furina, thinking she is hiding something. And from the events of Poisson, this just grows.
While Lumine is willing to go through the plan with others to trap Furina, this is very much a last resort;
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Lumine doesn't want to be feuding with Furina; this rivalry that Furina has thrusted upon them is something she doesn't want. And while Lumine is reluctant to do this, she knows there is no choice. The Travelver doesn't think Furina is a bad person. But they need answers, and as such it seems that they are both destined to be on oppositions at court.
But Lumine still tries one last time to get through to Furina.
This part of the Fontaine Archon quest is one of my favourites; this is where Furina's thoughts and feeling finally start to poke out.
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It happens because Furina's greatest fear is coming true, but still. Pretty good.
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Lumine is very much on to the act that Furina plays. She knows that is she isn't godly or uncaring as she may give off. Lumine tries to show to Furina that it is okay to let go:
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If Furina had been quicker and had told her the truth, Lumine very much would have stopped the plan. But from what we know, Furina would have never told. She was dedicated to the very end.
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Skipping to after the Hydro Archons trial and the crisis being averted. We don't get anything until Furina's story quest.
Story quests are in general kinda a mixed bag. They are can be great in show casing the playable characters, well character. As well as expanding on the world as a whole. But sometimes they just focus on the second part a bit too hard and the character suffers from.
Now looking back at Furina's quest, it probably wasn't as bad as I thought originally. Well at least looking through just the lines by themselves is fine (Paimon is still...well I have thoughts on how they utilise Paimon's character when it comes to story. They use her as comic relief/to lighten it up when it is not needed...But that's a convo for another day).
There are at least some good bits to take from.
The first being that the reason Furina even helps the Troupe in the first place is because the Travelver drags them (literally and figuratively) into the plot. By the way of hand-holding no less.
After the ordeal that Furina has been through she is actually quite reluctant to be out and about. Furina strikes me as someone who is introverted, this very well could because she has had no real personal relationships.
On topic of personal relationships, Lumine is properly the only person who knows about what Furina truly felt during her 500 years of acting. This is cause of Furina unconsciously trama-dumped on Lumine, but still. Having someone who has seen the many sides to you, can be nice. Furina can be candid with Lumine, not needed to put on a performance. But I'm sure Furina also feels it is kinda awkward. Because 'Oh archons this person knows all about me', it crates an unexpected power imbalance, which can make for an interesting dynamic with the Travelver.
Another good moment is when they are back in Poisson;
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If there is one ideal out of the seven that The Travelver embodies most, it is freedom. Freedom is very important to Lumine and I think it's very telling when she tells Furina that freedom is her reward. She is saying to her that it's It's over, and that she is free to begin a new chapter of her life.
So I think it's no coincidence after this quest Furina ends up being a director in "Roses and Muskets". She breaks out of her shell a bit and once again comes along on the Travelver's behest. Granted there aren't that many scenes/moments with them since this was very Chevreuse forward event. This is also similar in the Lantern Rite, but we did get a cute diagonal where Lumine says "I have keenly felt the passage of time since our last meeting." so that was cute.
Unfortunately since Furina has only been out for 7 months we'll have to wait for more. Hopeful in 4.6 (if it follows the same patterns) we will get her second story quest, and that it's a little bit better.
But there are voice-over and teapot stuff! (Had to get these from the wiki since I don't have Furina fully unlocked. yeah yeah know)
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These are pretty self explanatory. Just Furina wanting to spend time with the Travelver and taking about the next chapter of her life having Lumine in it.
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I thought this one has particularly cute. Furina would make macaroni for Lumine.
This one is a favourite
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Lumine only needs her.
Now on to the teapot, there is a very cute scene where Furina talks about teaching Lumine to dance;
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Another where Furina talks about them doing acting together and writing a script.
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And that's all I can find! Like I said, I probably missed some stuff, but I think I'll call it quits here. I hope I was able to get the info you needed, but if not you can ask my specific questions if need be.
Also I'd love to the list when you are done!!!
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hoebiirama · 1 year
Text
What's "Preganan" ?
✑ Anonymous sent : "Could I have an imagine/a little scenario of Madara explaining to his son that his wife is pregnant again and that he'll have a little sibling soon?"
✑ Anli's useless comment : Listen... I know I said I don't take requests for scenarios and my point still holds but you can't throw dad!Madara at me and expect to get a simple headcanon post, I'm just too weak for this man, it's not even funny ㅠㅠ I however wish to apologize for how short it is I also couldn't stop myself from naming his son Fukuya after my own OC from a fic I'm currently working on, I love this boy so much that it's become the default name I use for any male Uchiha OC at this point lol
Content warning : AFAB!Reader (use of she/her pronouns) // Obvious mention of pregnancy // Madara is awkward af // My writing skills are rusty and it shows
Masterpost | Rules | Send a request | Works in Progress
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Fukuya hadn't expected to see his father waiting for him right outside the Academy grounds that evening, and there's a split second where all the little boy can do is stare at the man leaning against the fence gate, frozen in place.
It's not that he isn't excited to see him, not at all. It's very much the opposite, but it's so sudden and unusual that he can't help but wonder, for a moment, if today is meant to be something important, and he worries that he may have forgotten about it. Usually, Madara is too busy to come pick him up after class — not to mention his father typically tends to scare children away, though Fukuya doesn't understand why — so the task was almost always yours to take on. Needless to say both Madara's presence and your absence are enough to unsettle the 5-year-old boy for a short time, until he catches his father frowning in confusion at his strange behavior and is effectively brought out of his stupor.
Madara can't help the little smirk of pride that betrays his normally neutral expression when he sees his son running up to him, and happily welcomes his embrace when Fukuya clings to his hip, even returning it with a one-armed hug. Though the man really isn't fond of public displays of affection as a general rule, it's a different story when it comes to his son, even if he tends to keep it to a minimum; he knows people are staring, and he can't help but feel like it's a breech of privacy.
His possessive tendencies extend even to Fukuya — it took a lot of work and dedication for you to convince him to let your son attend the Academy just like every other kid his age.
Not one to make small talk, or at least to initiate it, Madara remains silent as he uses the arm he has draped around his son's shoulders to gently nudge him forward, guiding him towards the direction of your home, on the other side of the village. Fukuya doesn't protest, and he's too giddy about his father being there to take the time to say goodbye to his friends before he and Madara are on their way.
It doesn't take long for Fukuya to turn nervous, however. The moment the Academy is out of their field of vision, a heaviness settles in the pit of his stomach — he still doesn't have an answer to his question, but he's too hesitant to ask about it. He knows he has nothing to fear, but he feels awkward about the fact that Madara never explained why he was there to begin with. It feels like he should've by now, so Fukuya doesn't understand why his father hasn't said a single word to him this entire time.
Madara, however, doesn't fail to notice Fukuya's unease, and unlike his son, he can read the boy like an open book. He was aware that he would question where his mother was even before he left for the Academy. The problem is that Madara dreads the questions he knows are bound to follow, and he's just not ready to have this discussion with his son, who's still practically a baby in his eyes.
He knows he has to, though, because Fukuya is bound to find out one way or another, and he'd rather have the boy be prepared for it instead of being confronted with the situation and not knowing how to handle it.
Madara sighs, finally resigned. "I know you're wondering where your mother is."
Fukuya turns his head up to look at his father and nods, confirming Madara's assumptions.
"She wasn't feeling well today, so I told her to stay home and rest," he then explains. The neutral tone of his voice does nothing to give Fukuya any clues about the gravity of the situation — if anything, it just serves to confuse him further.
"Is mommy sick ?" Fukuya worries.
Madara frowns. "It's a bit more complicated than that."
Silence.
"I don't understand."
"Your mother is pregnant," Madara simply answers.
Fukuya stares at him, eyebrow raised, as if his father just spoke a completely alien language to him.
"What— what's preganan...?
"Pregnant," Madara corrects him.
This isn't going well, and Madara is so grateful that you aren't there to witness the embarrassment. He's already uncomfortable with the discussion and he hasn't even gotten into the actual subject yet. If it were only for him, he would've dropped the bomb on Fukuya from the beginning, but of course you had to make him promise to be gentle in his approach, and he had to comply because he loves you too much to disappoint you.
You carrying his child is his ultimate weakness, but Gods forbid he'll ever admit it to anyone. He'd rather die than tell the truth, even if you're fully aware of that fact already.
"It means there's a baby growing inside of her."
"Oh."
Fukuya doesn't add anything to this, but Madara decides to let him speak first before continuing. He doesn't want to do this but he gave you his word, and he isn't one to go back on it.
"Wait, does it mean I'm a big brother now ?" Fukuya's sudden excitement at the thought of having a younger sibling he can take care of warms Madara's heart so much more than the man thought it ever could.
"In a few months you will be," Madara nods.
"Yes ! I can't wait !" Fukuya exclaims. Madara doesn't think he's ever seen him so elated before, and he fails to completely hold back his smile.
He's also glad and so incredibly relieved that Fukuya doesn't ask him how babies are made on the rest of the way home. And, in truth, so are you — there are so many reasons you don't want him to be on duty to explain that one to anyone, children or not.
But that in itself is a story for another day. And one Fukuya definitely doesn't need to be aware of.
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*gets you talking about education* so in what way is education Fucked Up that the public doesn't get right?
i’ve been thinking about this ask for months trying to come up with an answer that is not just me complaining incoherently for 3000000 words and while i could go a lot of places with this, the one i personally think the most about is that the public mostly thinks that teachers have received training on the best ways to teach things, and they haven’t. source: my bullshit ass master’s degree in general and special education, which taught me in particular so little about any actual disabilities that the fact that i could legally teach a special ed class after receiving it is like, horrifying to me. my degree was a lot of talking about feelings and diversity and naming ideas of things you could potentially do in the classroom, and no actual instruction in what we know about the best way to teach particular subjects or even about how to evaluate potentially relevant resources. one time we read an article that said kids with ADHD do best in traditional classroom set-ups with desks in rows and no “centers” where kids have to move around, and in my small group devoted to designing a classroom for kids with ADHD a classmate of mine was like, “i didn’t do the reading but what about [the opposite of what the reading said]?” and in ed school disagreeing with someone is basically akin to setting them on fire physically so i didn’t say anything and then the professor - you know, the one who assigned this reading - was just like, “great! :)” zero accountability for learning any content at basically any point in my degree. almost zero actual content taught. like it’s so bad. the public tends to view teachers as either highly trained professionals or lazy sociopaths who don’t care but my experience is that the vast majority of teachers in public and private schools alike are hard-working and caring people doing their best with a difficult task they have been given no meaningful high quality training for - but unfortunately since they do have master’s degrees they do tend to think they have a certain degree of expertise.
in particular the public assumes that elementary school teachers have been themselves taught how to teach kids how to read, and not only have they not been taught how to teach kids how to read, they have often been taught ideas about reading that stand in total contradiction to our best scientifically derived hypotheses about how children learn how to read. for the millionth time i recommend checking out the podcast (with high quality transcripts available) sold a story. emily hanford’s reporting has taught me more about reading than the degree i am still paying for ever did and i have considered seeking therapy to process how angry i am about that.
anyway, i’m posting this now because i saw another fucking post that was like “actually they do teach all the skills you want them to teach, it’s called high school english class” which makes me insane because test prep tutoring high school kids has really hammered home that teachers in rich private schools reliably fail to pick up on the fact that a lot of teenagers struggle with any degree of textual complexity to a degree that in any text from the nineteenth century even individual sentences pose problems. the most expensive high schools in the country are graduating kids who can’t independently parse five paragraphs of an abraham lincoln speech and their faculty members don’t even know it. but sure english teachers are routinely and successfully teaching critical thinking if only those damn 15 year olds weren’t too fucking lazy to pay attention. “lol.”
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poisonpercy · 6 months
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i would be most intrigued to know the reason you hate nico di angelo
that sounds threatening oh god no im just gen curious
Lol you’re good and don’t sound threatening (to me)
As the self proclaimed “#1 nico fandom hater” that I am, I love this ask. Anyway, that being said, I don’t hate Nico di Angelo. My problem lies with fandom and how Nico is perceived. Before I get into it, here’s a collage of tumblr posts that represent my feelings on Nico:
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And my favorite post that fully sums up my thoughts on Nico:
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I’m going to be making some generalizations throughout this which I don’t love, but it gets my point across the best.
Canon Nico (specifically in pjo) = good! I like this little boy! Little cutie and a little shit. What’s not to like! (hoo!Nico = eh, he’s ok I guess. He didn’t need to have POV chapters and should have taken on a more minor role imo)
Fanon Nico ≠ not good! Please burn it with fire 😃
FYI: when I talk about canon Nico, I’m referring to the original characterization of him throughout pjo (maybe some hoo, but no toa).
So this problem happens across every fandom it seems like, and I have a dislike for every character that gets treated like this throughout all my fandoms. Not everyone is like that, but I am.
So what am I talking about? It’s the blatant fanonization of Nico to the detriment of his character and others. It’s taking popular fanon takes regarding Nico (behavior, personality, relationships, etc.) and insisting that they’re canon even when evidence shows the opposite.
A big problem for me stems from the solangelo ship. If you like it/ship it, that’s great! I personally hate it… like a lot. To me it came out of nowhere and the inclusion of it in canon has brought in fanon concepts into canon that overall damages the integrity the the wider scope of the riordanverse.
What do I mean? I can’t speak too much on canon since I only read up to The Burning Maze and refuse to read any further in toa or tsats, but generally what I’ve seen from others is that canonical events/their perceptions of them have been skewed in Nico’s favor to put down Percy and other demigods, even when Nico is more at fault. Not saying this is 100% in canon but it is in fanon. And this view is widely spread by people (not all) who like Nico, and it’s very hard to ignore if you don’t like it because it is everywhere.
Saying things like no one cared for Nico when he first came to chb is blatantly untrue and makes me think that if you have that opinion, you didn’t read botl. People didn’t hate him because he was the son of Hades because the vast majority did not know Nico was the son of Hades! He was mostly unclaimed from chub’s perspective. It’s just the people that went on the quest in ttc that knew because of Bianca.
Also like Percy straight up worried for that kid day and night. He felt responsible for Nico even though Percy himself was a child! Nico was the one that was pushing Percy and everyone else away. That was his own doing, though understandable. Don’t push Nico’s actions onto other characters to villainies them in Nico’s story.
Also, for some reason people still blame Percy for Bianca’s death and then come to the conclusion that Nico hates and (still) blames Percy for it. He doesn’t. If you don’t like Percy, that’s fine (but why are you reading the series then?) but don’t spew hate about a character on things that aren’t true. Nico isn’t going to be your bff if you do so.
There’s also the belief that Percy is like abusive to Nico because of that one scene in tlo. Please put on your thinking caps if you genuinely believe only Percy was in the wrong. Percy only lashed out at Nico because Nico betrayed his trust. Also, once again they’re both kids. They’re going to have immature reactions, but you also have to remember the stress of the situation that compounds everything that these characters do.
Ok, back to solangelo. There’s this weird codependent relationship that fans tend to force on Nico and Will. Other ships do it too but solangelo stands out to me. And maybe it’s because I just don’t like solangelo, or have a favorable opinion on Will Solace, or stopped reading toa, but I genuinely don’t think there’s much grounds to Will’s character besides being Nico’s boyfriend. I know he gets some more depth throughout toa (and possible tsats) but that only happened because he was Nico’s boyfriend. Like he was Nico’s boyfriend before he was Will Solace.
And because of this, fans generally tend to make Will this mouthpiece in fandom regarding Nico. He feels like a self-insert and not in a good way. And because of this, there’s a lot of negativity towards other characters in fandom that fans use Will’s “voice” to push in name of defending Nico or whatever. Like babes, you’re projecting. I don’t know Will, but the Will from the limited time we knew him in pjo wouldn’t speak that way/share those views.
Also the weird patient/doctor relationship solangelo has going on gives me the ick. Espresso with how it’s portrayed in fandom. Like there’s this weird power dynamic that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I’m rambling at this point, sorry. I’m only on 2 hours of sleep right now so forgive me lmao.
I won’t go too much more in depth but Nico also gets infantilized a ton by Nico/solangelo fans which isn’t cool. He’s a kid, but he’s not a fucking baby.
Also making Nico this 1-dimensional emo, sad boi type character is not cool. He’s so much more to him. When you reduce characters to a singular trait, it leads to all the issues I described. Ok I’m just going to leave it at that.
TLDR: I don’t hate Nico di Angelo, I just have a lot of problems with his fans.
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bfpnola · 11 months
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do you have any tips on managing adhd when you can't get professional help and meds? Especially when I have a ton of schoolwork like 3-4+ important things a day when I can only manage 1-1.5.
hey sweetheart! i'm not sure when you sent this in, so i apologize for just seeing this. i'll try to organize my thoughts into bullet points so it isn't a chunky paragraph:
community! having a support network, for better or for worse, really is everything. (for worse because not everyone may have one, but it can be easy to start building one online at least.) i say this because 1) delegation, 2) body doubling, and 3) of course, emotional support.
delegation, meaning giving out tasks to different folks, can be helpful because then you aren't the only person completing these tasks!
body doubling is something i do, without fail, literally everyday, meaning i do my work in the same space as someone else who is also working because it motivates me to do more! whenever i see my roommate cleaning or typing away, before i even make the conscious decision to do so, i do work too. i even get texts like the screenshot below (literally yesterday) because all of my friends are neurodivergent except maybe one. find a set of friends you can count on for body doubling! there's also in our Academic Resources a site called Study Stream that lets you sit on Zoom with a bunch of other random students but personally that makes me feel awkward lol
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[ID: Screenshot of text sent through iMessage, the "heart," "thumbs up," "thumbs down," laughing, "exclamation point," and "question mark" icons floating above. The text reads, "Hey, so I'm working on aleks and doing other tasks and I'd like to have a body double who'd be interested in kicking it afterwards. You interested?" For context, Aleks is a program used to complete math problems assigned by professors.]
and lastly, emotional support, the obvious one. when it feels like you have no one supporting you, excuse my language, but this shit gets hard. especially when you're low on spoons, if you know about spoon theory. you need that support!
i'd also say that prioritization is an important skill. sometimes, you really won't get everything done, and it is genuinely frustrating. i try to order my work by what's due soonest so i'm getting closer work out of the way. but you can also order them by hardest to easiest to do so you knock out the absolutely worst thing out of the way so if you do still have energy you just have little stuff left. OR you can do the opposite so you finish more tasks by completing a list of easy stuff. it's really about what makes most sense to you so i can't really make that decision for you.
reward systems tend to work really well, that or conditionals. what i mean by that is gamifying the process of completing tasks. my favorite example of this is actually a new trend on tiktok created by @/luxarnold and then further developed by @/this.isjules and @/fromwonder. if you don't have titkok, basically these folks have put ALL of their tasks in either some sort of arbitrary numerical order or ordered by the energy it would take to complete, and when they roll a dodecahedron (20-sided) die, it lands on one of the numbered tasks and that's what they complete. the more tasks they complete, the more health points they deplete off of this imaginary monster they've created. and at the end, just like a game, they win a prize for defeating the monster. some creators wrote extra hours to watch their favorite TV show, some wrote time for crafting, some wrote specific objects. video example below:
an example of a conditional to me is more like every time i check my phone, i force myself to at least take a tiny sip of water. and you could do the opposite. maybe every time you consume your favorite snack, you complete one assignment until it becomes like habit.
breaks! this girl once said that you should be taking breaks based not on how much you complete, but the energy you deplete. and i live by that now! it doesn't matter if you completed only 2 tasks. if you can afford to, i encourage you to just take the break if your body feels drained. pushing past that will not serve you in completing those other tasks to the best of your abilities. if you don't feel like you can hold yourself accountable this way, i would suggest maybe checking out Pomodoro timers.
bravery! at least in my case, i needed bravery to contact my professors and be vulnerable with them. not every teacher will be so kind, but if you feel comfortable, please reach out and explain that the workload does not work well for you. you'd be surprised by the number of folks who are willing to offer you accommodations. i will literally text my teachers at this point and say, "hey, i just had an anxiety attack and i know by now how long it takes me to regulate myself. i won't be able to attend XYZ/turn in XYZ, so can i instead attend/turn it in on [insert date]?" ask for that help, but also be clear that you do still want to show up and do your best, you just need support right now!
gentleness. i think this may be my last bullet point. like i said earlier, the reality is that you very well may not finish everything that you need to. this is a long-term piece of advice, but it's necessary to be gentle with yourself. cliche, i know, but it's true. i've been slowly unlearning these ideas of perfection and it's rough, friend. truly rough, because as i allow myself to make more mistakes, obviously things aren't in tip-top shape anymore. but to make mistakes, to be imperfect, to be vulnerable, especially in such trying times, is part of being human. right now, you're trying to conform to neurotypical, able-bodied perceptions of productivity and the truth is that we can't all do that. i surely can't. this world was not built for us, so we must reframe what we consider success. or at the very least, we can carve out our own space, hopefully with others to support us, to provide ourselves gentle care. you don't have to love yourself. you don't even have to like yourself, i know i'm still getting there. all you have to do is recognize that as living beings, really just as "beings" in general because i'd like to think our inanimate objects deserve care as well, we all deserve gentleness.
i know this was a lot but i had plenty of ideas buzzing like bees in my mind. let me know if you need help understanding anything i wrote. please excuse any potential typos. LOVE YOU, MWAH <3
-- @reaux07 (she/they)
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bratz-kitten · 1 year
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u wanna know the insane thing about cancers…. It’s not that they have stable emotions, not at all. They lead incredibly intense emotional lives with so much turmoil and breakdowns that lead to cathartic moments—i guess we all do, but the thing with them is that they truly do make processing their emotions a priority. Like. Every time my cancer sun friend goes through something, he’ll get very distant, and suddenly i get a text from him saying “hey, I’m sorry I’ve been isolating myself but I’m going through some things and i just need to deal with my feelings before i can be a good friend again.”
They understand the responsibility that comes with interpersonal relationships better than any other sign, in my opinion. An emotional mature cancer will absolutely refuse to hurt their friends and partner by lashing out on them (key-word is emotional mature, lol), but they also understand the importance of opening up to others, and that getting your feelings off your chest by talking them through with your loved ones DOES NOT mean burdening them with your emotional baggage. Truly, no one understands how to build and keep a friendship like they do. But I think they tend to open up only some time after dealing with their shits, during the moment it’s too painful to talk about it so they keep it to themselves.
I think that cancers and capricorns, although they can feel and express their feelings in ways much more similar than you’d expect from opposite signs, do be on opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to dealing with experiences which trigger an emotional response. Cancers will make it their priority to deal with their feelings and will only resurface once they’ve seen it through, while capricorns have that ‘I don’t have time to deal with this shit, i have work to do!!!!’. Seriously, you know a capricorn is going through it because suddenly they’ll turn into a workaholic beast who takes up more extra hours than is probably legal. And, to be honest, they use work as an excuse for not having time for their emotions, when oftentimes the problem is that they’ll purposefully make themselves busier so they don’t have to deal with their emotional side.
The capricorn benefits from taking notes from their opposite sign and clearing their schedule when they’re going through something, taking their sweet time with feeling things… crying it out, calling their best friend, eating ice cream on the kitchen floor. You don’t get to pretend everything’s fine when your mind feels like a burning building, you little shit. While the cancer benefits from, like… acknowledging that you don’t have to go MIA whenever something happens, you know? They isolate themselves a lot more than they get called out for. You literally don’t have to disappear from people’s lives when you go through shit because being around them when you feel bad DOESN’T MAKE YOU A BAD FRIEND. It’s good that you prioritize your emotions, but life doesn’t have to stop every other week. You don’t have to do this alone, for fuck’s sake. Let me hug you through it, I’ll get the ice cream and the blankets.
By the way, this post was fully made with the intention of making everyone realize that the friendship between a capricorn and a cancer is life-changing. Bite me for it
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