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stuckasmain · 3 months

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Dave’s old life is cast aside and he is reborn (semi-literally) as a star child. It is an ending that has left many baffled, including me, but is ultimately a touching end and beginning.

Dave ends the story an evolved being, yet not so far detached from his human origin. He still has a great deal of emotion and curiosity - he becomes a baby because he simply is one when it comes to understanding the universe. He could go anywhere, do anything and yet he goes to earth. He goes and watches over it like a shiny toy, while his physical ties have been severed he’s still attached to it- almost like a mother, if we stay with the baby metaphor.

Eventually he will move on from it but for now he is a protector of sorts. The guardian of earth. He stops the bomb not for his own sake but because he simply wants humanity to continue on- he stops a potential doomsday!

It’s too bad this is completely uprooted in the following bits of the series. He is “beyond” emotion, he is on Europa. I would be fine if the evolution or planet was focused on even remotely besides the same few paragraphs, he’s transformed and cast aside. All of the prior meaning is rebuked, all of his humanity removed. See it wasn’t the transformation that did it but the story itself— as it decided to pivot and couldn’t just have him watching. He must be a blank slate. He must be elsewhere- he can’t even enjoy watching the other planet or if he does we don’t really hear of it.

Dave becomes more of a plot device than a person, as a star child there’s so many facinating things you could do with him. For one thing a dressing the trauma that came from that and before, and — again either guardian of earth - self chosen- or we actually see his involvement elsewhere. He becomes a just as much of a tool as the monolith.

Not only is his humanity stripped but his agency, in 2010 he describes himself as a dog on a leash a good number of times. While I absolutely adore that metaphor, it’s so tragic and not even acknowledged as such?! (Again so much could be considered cosmic horror and it’s either had waved or blankly accepted) he went from a near omnipotent being to LOSING LARGE CHUNKS OF TIME AND BEING USED AS A PROBE. He’s suddenly beyond humanity when he was so attached before; he becomes apathetic incredibly fast. (Which, as a immortal being is understandable but it’s absolutely unearned and not in character) -> my issue isn’t with him becoming a tool of some higher power it’s that it’s sort of hand waved “it is how it is” and not addressed how messed up and interesting it is.

Now I’ve yet to read 3001 but my point here broadly stands. I fully believe it should’ve ended after 2010, as it comes across as very very clear it was a two book story and 2061 is a whole separate one with some characters tossed into it.

Arcs were over. There was a bit more explanation as to what happened in the first one; we got closure alongside Heywood. Things were set up for the future but it was more in a way for you to view them as fully developed not exactly a sequel. (Like the Hal 10,000 idea). It’s frustrating because Dave as a Starchild can lead to so many interesting things and it was a beautiful idea in 2001 but … after that it mistreats and mischarectetizes Him so fast in a way that frustrates me to no end. Maybe if there was an actual focus or exploration I could understand the direction but making him a cut out god figure is such a sad end.

A child of the stars still clinging to its former life, its humanity…

Oh what could have been. I’d like to imagine Dave would’ve never completely… not been Dave, yes over centuries he may subdue emotions, his interest may waver but what we get is a name and maybe some memory.

—

Clarification:

I fully enjoy 2010, my issues with Dave in that are minimal just that it’s a little sad he swaps guardianship but I can understand. I was excited and interested in Europa… only for that too also get sort of ignored.

There’s also some interesting points to come out of 2061 - how the monolith works, conversing with Hal and he does seem to have a genuine interest in study but it’s also where he’s sort of a name drop and little else

It’s the stripping him of his emotion and character that really gets me - as it’s a route that isn’t earned as Clark absolutely does not write about trauma or if he does it’s a off handed “ok so everyone dying and the monolith was a little scary but now I’m blue and don’t care” it’s even true for human characters idk

I pick and choose what I want to keep from the further books honestly, we’ll see if 3001 fixes this or if this rant grows longer. I’m just sad, Dave’s such a fascinating character and he’s so mistreated?

#2001 a space odyssey #2001 aso #2010 the year we make contact #2061 odyssey three #3001 the final odyssey #dave bowman #David bowman #2001 meta #fandom essay #rant #ramble #space odyssey series #space odyssey books #arthur c clarke

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laundrybiscuits · 1 year

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(purify our misfit ways tag | AO3)

After the ultimate betrayal that is her best friend experiencing some kind of gay apotheosis about Steve Harrington, Robin’s in no mood to put up with any shenanigans from that quarter.

“How’d you meet Eddie, anyway?”

Ah, so the shenanigans will be starting early today. Robin marshalls all the authority she can muster in knee-high socks and turns to him, hands on her hips.

“Hey, dingus! Did you forget what I said just the other day about harassing him?”

“How am I harassing him? He’s not even here! You sure he’s not your boyfriend? Because you’re sounding kinda—” Steve breaks off and snaps his fingers. “Wait, you totally want him to be your boyfriend, don’t you? That’s why you’re being so weird.”

Robin thumps her head against the display case. She’ll have to clean up the smudge later, but right now it is vitally important that she express her pain in some concrete way.

“How many times do I need to tell you, no. Not my boyfriend, and I wouldn’t date him if he were the last person on earth.”

“C’mon, Robin. I know I’m not, like, your favorite person, but I get it. I’m not gonna tell anyone.”

“The words for how far you are from getting it have yet to be invented in any language,” Robin informs him. “If getting it is here in Hawkins, you are on the other side of Alpha Centauri and getting lightyears farther every second. We’ve sent probes after you, but they’ve fallen prey to decay while attempting to traverse the vast distances between you and getting it.”

“Sure,” Steve drawls, patronizingly. “Whatever you say.” Robin thumps her head against the display case a few more times for good measure.

Steve doesn’t tease her about his extremely wrong assumptions, like she’d expected. It’s much worse: he’s supportive.

“You know, it’s pretty cool that you’re, like, smart. Plenty of guys are into that.”

“Ew,” Robin says. “Please don’t hit on me.”

“What—I’m not! I’m saying, I bet Eddie likes smart girls.”

“Bet you a million bucks he doesn’t,” says Robin flatly.

Also, in her experience, guys do not in fact like smart girls; it doesn’t really matter to her either way, because she bets it would also suck to have a bunch of guys into her for real, but her kind of smarts have only ever made her a target for bruised egos. Kinda funny that Steve Harrington, the guy with the biggest ego she’s ever come across, doesn’t get that.

Maybe it’s not really ego, though. She thinks about the stilted half-truths he’s dropped about his current circumstances; he’s clearly having the worst summer of his life and not exactly coping the best anyone’s ever coped, but he doesn’t seem to be taking it out on anyone else.

Well, she assumes he’s not. It’s not like she knows what he gets up to outside Scoops, but…nobody ever comes to visit him at Scoops. She wonders if his friends even know he’s working here, or that he has to work in the first place.

So if he’s mad and frustrated about his whole situation, and Robin can’t imagine not being mad and frustrated about his whole situation, he’s either being incredibly professional and keeping his temper tantrums to his off-hours, or he’s gone through some kind of evolution. She’s honestly not sure which one’s more likely, even though professional and Steve Harrington should never belong in the same sentence, ever.

She definitely wouldn’t describe him as evolved, though. Case in point: his attempts to be subtle about her alleged romantic inclinations towards Eddie.

“Sometimes, guys are just nervous,” Steve says halfway through their next shift. “I mean, that’s why they might not ask someone out, even if she’s awesome.”

“Please never talk again,” says Robin.

“I’m not talking about anyone special!” Steve holds up his hands, wide-eyed and faux-guileless. “Just, I bet if a girl wanted a guy to ask her out, it would speed things up a lot if she dropped some hints. Give him some hope. That kind of thing.”

She bikes over to Eddie’s place straight from her shift, fueled by new heights of exasperation.

She’s been spending a lot of time there this summer. It’s strange and exciting to have a friend who basically lives alone; she’s met Wayne Munson once or twice, but only ever in passing, and he doesn’t seem to have any rules about how Eddie has to behave in the trailer. Eddie’s never worried about breaking stuff or being home at certain times. He doesn’t even seem to clean up after himself if he doesn’t feel like it. His bedroom floor could probably use a bucket of bleach, or maybe a lit match, but it’s his choice to keep it that way.

Robin is barely seventeen, and that kind of freedom seems so impossibly far away. Of course she knocks on Eddie’s door whenever she gets the chance.

“He’s being nice about it,” she says when he opens the door.

“About…?” Eddie doesn’t ask who he is.

“About how we’re, like, the tragic untold love story of the ages!”

A week ago, she might’ve felt too awkward to refer to anything about romance between them, despite…everything they’ve disclosed. God, she can’t even say the words in her own head unless she works up to it first. Eddie’s been really great about giving her space and not making her talk about it; even aside from The Steve Incident, though, he’s started mentioning stuff about guys now and then. Just little stuff, like thinking actors are cute or whatever. She thinks he might be doing it to reassure her that he wasn’t lying about being gay, which is hilarious because now that she’s looking for it, the whole thing seems really obvious. It’s less hilarious because she knows she’s been slow at working her way back to being totally comfortable with him, hence why she wouldn’t have brought up the idea of them together even a week ago.

That was before two full shifts of Steve Harrington’s well-intentioned meddling pushed her to the breaking point, though. She doesn’t have time to feel weird about things, she needs to complain to her best friend. So hey, in a sense, maybe Steve Harrington did help their relationship after all—not that she’s about to give him any points for trying.

“Eddie,” she says, grabbing his shoulders. “Steve is a visual learner. I need you to help me demonstrate to him, once and for all, how we have zero chemistry. Whatever the opposite of chemistry is, that’s what we have. Steve needs to learn this, visually, so that he will stop trying to convince me I’m a total catch and can definitely lure you in with my feminine wiles.”

She looks him in the eye and digs her fingers in, just in case he tries to make a run for it. “Eddie. I need you to come back to Scoops.”

#fic: purify our misfit ways #steddie #important to note that I fervently believe canon!Robin has the worst gaydar of anyone in ST #I have a whole meta post about this marinating in my drafts lol #like at this point it's not even a headcanon it's just my reading of the text #so for the record: 'seems really obvious' is blatant self-delusion

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barrenclan · 9 months

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i just found this blog (and by extension the series), and, omg, IM IN LOVE WITH EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS!!!! there’s so much i want to say, from how much i appreciate your character writing, and like, super realistic traits, fears, and interests, as well as how amazing your art is, and how well you incorporate things like shape language, color theory, and family heritage with each design. it’s really clear that the effort you put into this series has so much passion and love in it. each of these characters are so well done, and i can’t wait to see where you take each of them!! also, the whole concept that you’ve made, and the style you’ve done this story in, is super fascinating!! from a mix of experience of my own, and stories from friends of mine and some creators i know, it’s not hard to see the frustration that can come from writing stories or writing AND drawing comics. seeing you so seamlessly blend the two mediums is both impressive and inspiring! i really, really like how you organize pages, and your clean lines and colors really allow for the characters to communicate things that are hard to visualize, whereas your writing (which is great, by the way) really helps describe things that can be harder to understand from just one picture and really blends into the story nicely. alongside that, your dialogue is done in a really nice way, so that it feels both realistic and it also helps to keep the story going, well!! your portrayals of moral grayness is both accurate and digestible. you have made characters both be in the wrong, and incredibly likable, which can be really difficult!

sorry for my rambling, but this series is just amazing, and i can’t wait to see more of it! i hope you like this little pie paw doodle i did very quickly (please forgive how messy it is i was rushing so i could send in this ask 😖)

Aw my gosh this is all so kind of you to say!! :,D I'm really really glad you've enjoyed the story, I've had a wonderful time working on it. Your words really mean a lot to me, I'm always thrilled when someone likes something I've made so much, it makes the hours I put in more than worth it. And I hope you keep liking it going forward!

Also, thank you for the Pinepaw drawing! He's so cute!!

#ask #pinepaw

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charlywrites · 2 years

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Requested by anon

Request; hey could I req some Toto fluff for today? today was a good day and I love seeing Toto happy! maybe just spending some time together or smthn? my brain is drawing blanks rip :/

Warnings; it’s very short, cute, a bit cheesy and has no plot whatsoever.

Note; crying shaking throwing up i can’t believe we got a george pole today, i’m like over the moon 😭

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

As the summer break for the Formula One team was around the corner, everyone was looking forward to it, especially after the rough first half of the season Mercedes had to deal with.

The cars weren’t holding up to the expectations, making it almost impossible to be at the podium until recently when the upgrades started working out- it had started by Lewis getting podiums again, then George and him got together on the podium.

But today, with a little bit of luck on his side, George had managed to get the best time on the qualifying, getting his maiden pole on his first season with Mercedes. On the other hand, Lewis hadn’t been this lucky with a P7 due to his DRS not working on his last turn.

Without that problem, Lewis would have been able to get another pole position, so even if the result was disappointing, it was still encouraging. The whole Mercedes’ team was cheering when you all saw the time George set, taking the pole from Carlos Sainz at the last second.

Everyone was thrilled even if the real race was only on the following day, of course Lewis’ side of the team was a bit disappointed but that didn’t stop them from also celebrating George.

When George got the pole, you were standing next to your boyfriend, Toto, watching the screen with the headset on your ears to listen to the radio, everyone went silent when George did his first sector, it wasn’t the record but good enough, than the second one came and the hope of getting close to Sainz was appearing.

At that moment, your hands were resting on Toto’s shoulders, squeezing them gently, trying to ground yourself and not get too excited before seeing the last sector- when the said sector was good enough to get the pole and hearing how happy your friend was when he was told he had the pole position, you could have cried.

You had attended every week-ends since the beginning of the season, saw the disappointment and frustration after every race, the hardwork that not everyone saw, the late nights at work to make the best out of this car- it was starting to pay off and being there to see it was incredible.

Toto and you were grinning from ear to ear at the result and went with the team to congratulate George. It felt like it had been ages since a Mercedes’ car was parked in front of the number one.

Of course, you didn’t celebrate too much, knowing that cameras were always hanging around, if tomorrow’s results weren’t as good as today it would backfire on you- that was something you learned quickly after you started hanging around the garage when your relationship with Toto was made official.

You were standing next to your boyfriend, waiting for your turn to hug your friend who was celebrating his first pole. When your turn came, you hugged him tightly, congratulating him like everyone else before.

———

You couldn’t remember exactly the last time you had seen Toto this happy when it came to the racing week-ends, it was probably before the awful ending of the last season.

Laying in bed, you were still smiling as you were playing with your boyfriend’s soft hair while he was hugging you, “ I missed seeing your smile.”

“ What do you mean? I’m always smiling when you’re around, love.”

“Not during the week-ends and I don’t blame you, it has been frustrating. I just missed it.”

He nodded, agreeing with your statement- frustrating wasn’t a powerful enough word to describe the season’s results until today, “ I’ve missed it too.”

“ Hopefully, we won’t have to stop smiling from now on.”

“ We’ll see but one thing’s for sure, I won’t stop smiling when I’ll spend the break with you.”

You laughed at Toto’s words, there was no way he was being this cheesy right now, “ who would have thought that Toto Wolff was a cheesy man!”

“ I’m full of surprise!”

#toto wolff x reader #toto wolff imagine #f1 x reader #f1 imagine #f1 fic #x reader #mercedes amg f1 #request

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anonymous-dentist · 28 days

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Hallo AD!

The inaccessibility of fics on Twitter (using a throwaway account over there) has been so frustrating, for me at least.. There's so many that I'd LOVE to read but without knowing Spanish or Portuguese it feels almost impossible. I'm so okay with using translators to read fics but can't even do that without basically writing down the entire fic myself first (with a German keyboard as well lol).

ANYWAY I'm an avid reader and just want to thank anybody who makes their creative works more accessible! Your writing especially is really pleasant to read qwq Have a great day <3

I use translators to read a bunch of thread fics, and a lot of them are really good! But also. For me to translate the fics from Spanish/Portuguese, I have to download each individual png and plug that into a translator because I can’t highlight or copy-paste the text like I could on ao3.

Same problem as on wattpad tbh, but with twitter it’s especially frustrating because visually impaired people can’t use screen readers with pngs of words. That isn’t how screen readers work, they need words so they can read the words to you. That’s why there’s an alt text option for photos on a lot of websites, to describe the pictures so visually impaired people can ‘see’ what’s on the screen.

So, not only are people alienating a potential international audience, they’re also alienating a significant chunk of people just because of the whole PNG Fic Thing. It’s super frustrating!! Visually impaired people deserve to be able to read these incredible fics, too!

#asks!#anon!

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electrictouchtvftv · 8 months

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okay. i just landed a gold mine. i cant give too many details but basically i found someone who was selling unreleased Taylor stuff, and I bought a few songs. I’m not willing to share them just yet as I paid a pretty penny, but I’d love to share them one day. I wanted to write out descriptions for each song I received to give everyone a glimpse into Taylor’s unreleased stuff! I can see why most of these songs were left behind (not that they’re bad! But the stuff she released during this era is definitely mostly better in my opinion), but they’re still great songs and I am SO overjoyed to be able to listen to them. (side note: i was told these are all Fearless/Speak Now rejects, I can’t really confirm but they’re definitely around that time, i’d say the latest one is probably Bother Me, it almost sounds like it could fit on Red. But i’m not sure, I wasn’t told when EXACTLY these were written, just that they were early!) ALSO i don’t really use tumblr, but i figured it was the best place to share this!

Bother Me - Taylor’s frustrated with someone who isn’t respecting her space. They think they know her better than she does herself, and feels entitled to her business. In the final chorus, she finally puts her foot down and confronts them. It has more of a rock vibe, kinda similar to The Story of Us and Electric Touch.

Someone Just Told Me - This one describes Taylor having trust issues because she’s been betrayed so many times in her life. But she’s learning how to let people in in spite of that. It explores the fear of trusting somebody new and the vulnerability that comes with giving someone your heart

Wonderful Things - This one is interesting, it’s kind of like a grown of version of the older song Live For The Little Things. Taylor reminds herself to take time to appreciate the little “wonderful” things in life. She tries her best to find the joy in everything even when she’s in a rough patch. She wants to see the beauty and magic in every moment. Incredibly beautiful, I have no idea why this was left off of any of the re records.

His Lies - On the opposite side of the coin, this song is a stark contrast from SJTM. Taylor trusted a boy with her whole life, only to find out she’s been lied to the whole time. It’s sort of bittersweet though, as in the end it touches on forgiveness and learning from her past mistakes. She won’t let his actions keep her in the past. I think this one may be the earliest

Too Beautiful - This one is a super fun, upbeat song. It’s about falling in love and realizing that you’re in way over your head. Taylor wanted to take things slowly, but she can’t resist the urge to spend every last second with the one she loves. She can’t get enough of them. This is one of my favorites of all time, it’s just so feel-good and happy. It has a similar production style to Superman, but in my opinion is a much better song!

#taylor swift #taylor swift unreleased #unreleased taylor swift #speak now #fearless #red

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evolutionsvoid · 1 year

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Rainforests are absolutely incredible ecosystems, as they are packed to bursting with strange and beautiful species, but that benefit can get a bit frustrating sometimes. No denying that I love every trip I take to one of these habitats, as I always see something new, but the sheer amount of flora and fauna within them can be quite daunting. How do I pick what I am going to study? How do I keep myself focused on just a single species? And also, most importantly, how do I even find the thing I want to research?! Forests can make tracking difficult enough as it is, but a rainforest has so many layers and so much life high above in the branches that it feels almost impossible to enter one of these places with a single goal in mind. If I am visiting a rainforest, it is almost better to go in with an open agenda and just see what shows up during your research. Because if you go in with the idea that you just want to find and research a single species, then it is almost guaranteed that you will never find it. One reason for that is because the environment is huge and filled with trees, plants and mist. Another (and the big one I have a hard time with) is that a whole lot of life lives up in the trees where it is hard to reach. Perhaps for a gralatar or furceros this wouldn't be so hard, but a simple dryad like me cannot easily scale these massive trees and comfortably navigate the labyrinth of branches above. I have tried some expeditions up above, with the help of some local gralatars, but these didn't really work out that well (for me). I won't lie, I was kinda terrified the whole time. Walking and climbing across all those branches while also keeping an eye out for other creatures was nerve wracking. Eventually I just settled on a large stationary tree stand for me to hide in and look out from. Whatever came into view was good enough for me! So while I sat around tied to a tree with spider silk, I did get some good sightings of the arbocellus, who were much more in their element then me!

Since they climb high above in the rainforest canopy, most ground walkers see very little of the arbocellus. But what little they do glimpse is certainly enough to leave an impression! The flurry of tendrils as they grapple for a branch, and the piercing gaze of a single cyclopean eye. Another common name for them is the Jungle Eye, as they are described as tentacled eyeballs that hang above in the canopy. I can't imagine what it must have been like for the first person to encounter one. To look up into the trees one day and see a massive eye staring down at you! I bet they thought some tropical giant was spying on them or something! Even when we know the truth about them, the random encounters still throw you off guard. I remember during my watches when I caught a glimpse of one passing through the branches, and I must admit I had a momentary freakout! Even with the knowledge that it wasn't a real eye, I was still caught off guard!

Though stories give the idea of large eyes with tendrils haunting the canopy, it isn't fully the truth. It turns out, that the huge eyes they see aren't actually real eyes, they are just back patterns that look like them. The arbocellus is actually an echinoderm, more specifically related to sea stars and brittle stars. Their actual eyes are way smaller and are both found on the tips of their limbs and ringing the mouth in the center. The arbocellus possesses six flexible limbs to help it live up in the canopy. Four of these arms are long and thin, designed to reach for and wrap around branches as they climb and swing. The end segments of these tentacles have blunt spikes on them, which are meant to help secure its grip on wet branches. The other two are much shorter and bulkier, with their tube feet at the end modified to act more like graspers. These thick arms are for grabbing and holding, which is good for seizing food and carrying it along as they navigate the canopy. In the middle of it all is their mouth, ringed with sharp serrated teeth that can crack and cleave! Hidden within its gullet is a long "tongue," which unfurls to reach into its food and suck out the tasty bits! Though it acts like a tongue, the current belief is that it is some modified portion of their stomach, made long and tube-like to slip through shell and husk to feed. With long tentacles and a vicious looking maw like that, most people would be quick to assume that it is a nasty predator. Beware the vicious crawling eye, as it drops down upon its prey to crack open the skull and suck out your brains! Oh, the countless headless corpses left behind from such horrid beasts! Aw, I am just kidding! Arbocellus is mainly a fruit eater! Those grabbing arms pluck fruits from the branches and the powerful teeth gnaw through rind and shell. Once a hole is made, the tongue slithers in and releases digestive juices. The inner flesh breaks down into a soup, which is then slurped up by the tongue. It should be noted, though, that while the arbocellus primarily eats fruit, it does like to supplement its diet with some meat. However, the only ones who need to worry about them are egg-laying species, as that same feeding strategy works well against egg shells. Parents must keep a close watch over their nests, or else an arbocellus is sure to swing in and steal an egg or two. That is when those grabber arms shine, as they seize a stolen prize and cling to it desperately as the treestar flees the wrath of the parents. Thankfully, the arbocellus is able to withstand a great deal of punishment. Their skin is very tough and thick, making it hard to pierce and wound. Predators need a strong bite or really sharp claws to do any damage. With their arboreal nature, they prefer the flight method when faced with a threat, fleeing to the branches and losing their pursuer in the tangled canopy above. If cornered, those spiny tendrils can give a good lashing, and can also choke someone out if they get wrapped around a throat. Even if the predator can get a bite in, the arbocellus isn't too worried about losing a limb. In fact, they prefer that attackers just take an arm and leave them be, as their regenerative abilities allow them to easily grow back lost appendages! This leads to sightings of arbocellus with missing limbs or even stubby ones that haven' fully regrown. You will see that they get along just fine with an arm or two less! I feel like now would be a good time to mention the eye pattern on their back. Like I said, it isn't a real functioning eye, it just really looks like one. It is currently believed to be a false eye to startle attackers or make it difficult for predators to determine where to strike from. As far as we know, that is all that it does. It does not have any special powers or magical abilities tied to it. There is no curses created by it or evil eyes cast from its gaze. It just looks like an eye, that's it. Of course, you can probably tell that there is a whole lot of superstition around this species, what with the giant eye. Some folk believe them to be the watchers of the jungle, the all seeing eyes of the gods. Others claim that the gaze of these climbing eyes is evil and they place curses upon those they stare at. That is why some folk wear specific hats or headgear when they go into the rainforest, to protect them from the evil gaze of the arbocellus. As a result, the piercing eye of the arbocellus shows up a lot in paintings, carvings and decoration, with their role being good or evil depending on the culture. I have seen some warriors brandishing shields with the eye pattern painted upon them, meant to scare their foes in battle. In other places, I have seen the skinned husks of the arbocellus hanging above doors with spikes driven through the "eye." This is meant to blind the evil and keep those within safe from the cursed gaze. Piercing the eye is how one prevents a curse from being placed upon them if they catch an arbocellus staring at them, so this species winds up getting a lot of darts or spears in the back. Thankfully, their thick skin and regenerative abilities keep these wounds from being lethal, but you can easily see how this species has grown fearful of locals. I guess these attempts to ward off evil have somehow worked out, as the cursed gaze has fled higher up into the safety of the canopy. Now the people live happily without fear of evil eyes and the arbocellus lives happily without getting stabbed in the back a whole lot. Chlora Myron Dryad Natural Historian

--------------------------------------------------

“Arbocellus”

With limbs like that, why not take to the trees?

#seastar #starfish #brittlestar #monster #creature #art #drawing #I wanted to call it a tree star!#curse you land before time!

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alovelyburn · 1 year

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It’s an old ask and can’t find it rn but just imo grifflotte is miserable. Griffith, even with all of his power, is again in a way “forced” to use his body and charms to achieve his goal, something we see quite a lot happening in his youth and being his big issue. He has everything that should allow him to actually make his dream come true, but he still needs to pay a prize for it. I’m not saying it’s the same as Gennon, but the theme is always there. Charlotte being happy is also not the best? Like, I think it’s mostly narrative fault and the way women are presented in the story, but it is so sad. She is happy because she is manipulated into that happiness and lives through fantasy of some kind. And I hate how it can be interpreted as positive. And I do think theres a big chance we gonna see a child too, but I hate the idea of that kid inheriting Griffith kingdom and being destined to rule it, without the baggage (quite popular theory in normal side of the fandom) instead of an actual princess with good ideas who should already have much more growth tbh. It’s like her character ultimately gets turned into just incubator for the next cycle. Not the worst fate in berserk but I hate it so much. Women in berserk are better-ish than most characters we used to but that don’t make them good. But hey, that’s just me wanting more

All right, I think I get where you're coming from now. It's just not how my head works, so I had to kind of adjust my perspective a little. When someone says a relationship is miserable my assumption is that they mean the characters are miserable, but it seems more like commentary on the type of relationship it is. Sort of similar to the child/heir thing - less about the story supporting it than that you perhaps find the turn unsatisfying or undesirable from the perspective of what you'd rather see. I might still be off base, feel free to correct me. But yeah, I mean I'm not here to argue with people's preferences, it is what it is.

From my own perspective...

I do think Griffith pre-eclipse seemed to perceive his relationship with Charlotte as being in the same vein (not to the same degree) as his encounter with Gennon in the sense that he was once again "paying" for something he needed by trading his... body (and the performance of affection in Charlotte's case) for that thing. I think this is part of the reason for his post-coital breakdown with her - this sense that he had lost someone he loved and wanted and is now left with this person that he will always feel he is "selling" himself to on some level.

Honestly, even allowing the Godhand to destroy the remnants of his human flesh and carve his heart out in exchange for his ascension is in some ways just the extreme end of what he's always done: giving away pieces of himself in exchange for things he needs in order to accomplish his goals. Even the external sacrifice is described as needing to be something that is essentially so loved as to become a part of the person making the sacrifice.

"Take hold of the world in exchange for their own flesh and blood," as they say.

And I do think that is incredibly tragic - he's a tragic character. Absolutely. I'm just not sure whether that's something Griffith cares about at all post-eclipse due to the destruction and reconstruction of his emotional world.

Anyway, I'm of two minds about the whole thing because... I've written at some length about my frustration with Casca, the way her character is constructed and the motivations she's given. Yet, at the same time, if I think about what could/should happen with her character, I can only do that from the reality of what she is in the story rather than a hypothetical about what I would have made her or would have preferred her to be.

Plus my writer brain is stronger than my fan brain, so when I think about things like this I always think about them as being one of many moving parts within a narrative. So I think things like, if Charlotte were the sort of character to take over like a boss after her father passed away then the whole story about Griffith courting her so he can run a country makes no sense. That being the case, she's designed to be a person who doesn't do that because... that's just the role she has in the story.

All that said, and now I'm just continuing to talk about this grifflote child concept as though I'm invested in it and I just akjnakjnsd like I'm REALLY NOT I'm just thinking from a narrative perspective since it keeps coming up...

Let's say she has a kid, and then Griffith dies.

The kid would be like... an infant. So wouldn't she need to step up anyway?

ETA: And I have no idea what the mainstream western fandom is doing aside from performatively spitting fire every time Griffith's name is mentioned. Still, they can't be wrong all the time. Stopped clocks and all that.

#ask #anonymous #ariel talks about berserk #fandom has taught me that my approach to fiction is strange #but eh

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summerofsmiles · 2 years

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I’m so traumatized from watching Led Zeppelin at live aid. I love Led Zeppelin but I get so angry watching that concert. I also feel bad for jonesy because he was trying to keep it all together. It’s like when you’re the only one in the group that put the work in the project and you have to deal with your group presenting horribly. I know that sorta doesn’t make sense because the live aid concert was in front of millions of people. But with jonesy he was stuck and had to deal with Robert and Jimmy 😭.

Live aid is . . . I don’t even have words to describe how awful it is. First year of college, my roommate and I used to watch clips of live aid whenever we were struggling with a project or felt like bad musicians so we could remind ourselves that at least we don’t sound that bad.

I’ve heard so many reasons (mostly from Jimmy) why it was bad. Phil Collins (who was not spectacular by any means, but definitely did not derail the whole set) messed it up, The monitors weren’t working so they couldn’t hear themselves, Robert’s voice was shot from touring, they didn’t get time to rehearse, the guitar tech messed up the tuning, Robert and Jimmy had a huge fight before and Jimmy was rattled so he didn’t play well etc.

But you are so right about the group project thing. I feel like in general, JPJ is always right on the money, no matter what was going on (I can only recount one time from all the bootlegs I’ve listened to where he fucked up and it was Kashmir in Zurich 1980 where JPJ forgot to take the bridge, but I’m still not entirely sure who messed that up because at one point everyone forgot to play the breakdown except JPJ, so it seemed like everyone was just a little off that day, but this is irrelevant). Anyway, Jonesy was rock solid as usual, even with just one hour of rehearsal. And I can’t imagine how humiliating it would be to stand up there, having hundreds of thousands of people watching, and just knowing that you’re the only one who is actually trying and actually gives a fuck. I honestly think JPJ saved that set, which is funny since he wasn’t even supposed to be invited, initially.

That must be so incredibly frustrating to know that you were the one who was always right on and keeping everything together when everyone else was floundering, and to still be left out of reunions and projects and talked about like you were the least relevant. Jonesy really is a better person than I am because If I had been treated like that, I would’ve said a lot more than “thank you for finally remembering my phone number.”

Like George said about the Beatles and John and Paul, though, I think Robert and Jimmy were often in their own little robertjimmy world, and before live aid, that’s what they were doing when they were having their little ‘I’ve moved on and I’m a solo artist now’ ‘no, my band and my power ballad will always be the defining moment of your career’ pissing match and clearly were so wrapped up in their own shit, they couldn’t be bothered to come together and make a decent setlist they both agreed on, practice it diligently and performing it well. So obviously this fight led to Robert singing badly because nobody gives 100% doing something they don’t want to do, and Jimmy playing badly because he was rattled by the fight so we, the audience, were left with a laughable performance.

But hey, no matter how embarrassingly awful it is, at least we now have hilarious footage of the great Jimmy Page v Mic Stand war of 1985!

#led zeppelin #jimmy page #robert plant #john paul jones #live aid #asks

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befenvs3000f23 · 6 months

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Week 10 Blog Post and a quick farewell:)

Describe your personal ethic as you develop as a nature interpreter. What beliefs do you bring? What responsibilities do you have? What approaches are most suitable for you as an individual?

I can’t believe it’s already time for the final blog post of the semester, it feels like it wasn’t that long ago that I was getting situated and writing my first one! This week’s prompt definitely led to a lot of thinking and ruminating in order to come up with a concise way of summing up ethics, beliefs and responsibilities. I think the best way to work through this will be to take it one point at a time as they are referenced in the prompt.

For starters - personal ethics. Throughout this course I’ve learned a lot about what it means to be a nature interpreter and what effects I might be able to have on the world as a result of it. Being able to interpret the vast complexities of nature through music, technology, art and a multitude of other ways are all going to be important and bring new challenges that will butt up against my ethics.

I think a good place to start is that nature has an innate value to it that is worth preserving. This likely isn’t unique among environmental scientists and nature interpreters but that’s for a good reason. As a whole, nature is fascinating, vast and incredibly complex and while my knowledge about it will never be complete I do know that I want to preserve it so that future generations can be as inspired as I am by it.

Ethically I think it is also important to teach, or interpret, for my audience in a responsible way. This includes things like doing proper, well cited research in order to be able to convey a truthful outlook of nature. I think many of us know the struggle of writing a paper, relying on one or two sources that are supportive of your point only to later find an array of more recent papers that disprove your thesis. While instances like this can be frustrating it is still important to use the most current and accurate information in order to be truthful, sowing disinformation will only lead to more issues down the line.

Finally on the ethics point, which is maybe a bit muddier than my other points, is that nature and human development will not always be able to cleanly coincide with each other. I think we all know this at some level but what I’m trying to get at with this point is that sometimes we will have to sacrifice what is good for humanity in order to preserve nature and sometimes we will have to sacrifice nature in order to preserve humanity, it’s a delicate balancing act of keeping these two important aspects in a place where they can both prosper. If this point isn’t clear yet, let me give a short example. If we want to move to renewable energy there are still some hurdles with storage and consistency that solar, wind and hydro haven’t yet solved (although we’re getting there!). Perhaps using nuclear energy to fill in these gaps in the meantime could be the lesser evil even if it means creating some large mines, dealing with radioactive waste etc. since it would drastically cut carbon emissions until we can use renewables as our sole source of energy.

So to sum up my ethos I would put it as three main points:

Nature has innate value

Interpret truthfully and responsibly

Nature and humanity will not both always be able to benefit from every decision

As for my beliefs; learning from nature is also innately valuable to me. If I can learn from nature in order to preserve it better then that’s perfect. It is my hope that one day we can have someone interested enough in each and every tiny interaction that exists in nature so that we can piece together how it works as a whole. I believe that being able to understand nature at every level is important - all the way from the biochemical level up to the broadest look at ecosystem health and function. With the variety of information we could gain by understanding these levels of nature I believe we could find a way for humanity to live much more harmoniously on Earth compared to how we live now. I believe it will be the job of interpreters like us to drive climate policy to a sustainable level.

This leads nicely to some of my responsibilities as a nature interpreter. While I as an individual may not be able to influence as much as I’d like I still believe I have a place in helping the world function in a more environmentally friendly way. That could be something as small as teaching other individuals about why nature is important to preserve or, if I can manage it, maybe help larger organizations or governments make smart, effective decisions about preserving our environments. Personally, I think I would be more effective at the lower levels of this scale. I mentioned in other blogs doing things like rewilding degraded habitats or doing small guided nature walks as a way to get people to care about environmental issues. I think I work better at this scale since I’m able to see tangible effects from the work I’m doing. Working at higher levels, like determining climate policy, is tough because while you may be able to look at data like average global temperatures it’s so much less tangible than being able to see plant growth in an area that didn’t have any before.

Well, I think that about wraps up my thoughts for this final blog post. It was an interesting semester of reading fellow classmates’ blog posts every week and learning from them. I’ve mentioned it in past posts but I believe the future of environmentalism is looking optimistic because of the way you all treat issues and want the world to improve. I hope that in the years to come I get to see all sorts of advancements and improvements because of interpreters like you all:)

#nature interpretation #nature #environment

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winns-stuff · 1 year

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LO RANT:

I’m sorry tomorrow I’ll do the appreciations but I need to get this off of my chest because it’s been irking me badly. About the whole assault plot story does anyone else feel like the other side of the fandom cares more about Hades’ trauma than Persephone’s? Let me explain.

Basically I saw this post on reddit talking about Persephone and Hades still not having sex after 10 years. Luckily there were decent people in the comments saying that it takes time to get over something as traumatic as what Persephone went through but there was of course one person stating that it was taking too long and that they should’ve did it already. That’s one of my biggest gripes with that side of the fandom, not saying it’s all of them of course, they seem to minimize and degrade Persephone’s trauma in order to see NSFW which is incredibly disturbing and uncomfortable for me to read. I hate how seeing them fuck is more important than Persephone actually healing and that’s why I mentioned in another rant that those people aren’t actually there for the right reason, it’s not registering to them that Persephone went through something that traumatized her and instead of wanting to see the journey they’d rather forfeit it for half assed sex panels that webtoon barely allows.

It’s just so disgusting to me how this fandom (those people that I’m talking about) has evolved into just adults and young people wanting to see sex without any plot or substance. If you want smut that bad go on wattpad or something it’s incredibly tiring seeing sexual comments being made about how Persephone and Hades will do it and it’s even more frustrating watching people completely forget about what happened or even try to say things like “it’s not that big of a deal” or “it’s been 10 years” or stuff such as that. Invalidating a victims experience because you want to see them rush to get intimate is disgusting no matter how you say it and it needs to be called out because there’s been way too many people expressing such piss poor views about the whole situation.

Now when I say the fandom cares more about Hades’ trauma and carry more validation when it comes to his I say this because it’s been numerous amounts of times where the stans (not all but the ones I’m describing) have considered Hades’ trauma and defended him while taking it into consideration. There’s never been a time where the stans went that hard for Persephone and never have they ever considered her trauma when talking about LO, it’s really frustrating how people are understanding about Hades but draw the line at understanding Persephone’s assault. Every single thing he does the stans understand it because of his trauma, they’re patient with him, they’re considerate, they’re willing to wait until Hades is healed and he’s had centuries worth of time to and access to therapists. Persephone barely got one therapist visit before being banished in the mortal realm, she doesn’t get any time to process, she doesn’t get the patience, she doesn’t get the understanding from fans all she gets is sexualization and complete insensitivity of her situation.

I can’t blame this all on the fans of course because the comic is the main reason why so many fans don’t take this shit seriously. The way Persephone’s trauma is written lacks actual importance and there’s barely anything in her trauma scenes that show seriousness. I’m so sick of her trauma being used as jokes or people drawing faces to make the scene more funny when they’re talking about serious things, you can’t expect your fans to take it seriously when nothing you provide them with is serious in the slightest. It’s fucking annoying and angering how the comic dedicates so many chapters for us to explore Hades’ brain and pick apart his trauma, see how much it affects him, see how damaged he is by it, and understand how the relationships he wishes to gain crumble because of it. What do we get with Persephone? Nothing. Her trauma is cutesy and light, nothing about it invokes real emotion and causes you to really understand just how detrimental it is to her mental health. You only see glimpses of it from time to time but it’s more like a reminder and less like actual trauma, it feels like the team forgets about her trauma and sprinkles any bit of it in without showing us the same quality as they do with Hades.

Knowing this information, it actually makes sense that people think this way about her assault. As infuriating as it is to see such dismissal happening on Persephone’s part I can see why people are more hyped for Persephone’s intercourse with Hades and not her actual journey. It’s because her journey is being sped through like a damn speed run challenge, she barely gets any real time to actually process what happened to her and she barely got time to notice how much she’s changed. There’s barely any changes from Persephone before the assault and Persephone after, which is stupid as hell because we get comparisons and physical differences between Hades before and after his trauma happened. We’re more informed about Hades’ trauma then we are to Persephone’s so it probably does feel like nothing ever happened to her. After a few days of it Eros tells her what happened to her, then I believe we get to see more of how distressed she is about the situation (because of Apollo showing up) which afterwards barely even resurfaced after it was done, then we get some dialogue about Persephone not feeling comfortable in her bed which is understandable but it was only used as a ploy to get Hades to sleep with her which is just fucking stupid because she’s still in the same.. nevermind man, then like during the second week she runs away and we can see her first reaction to the whole situation before she’s saved by Hades and never talks about it again, and then we see her getting like one therapist visit after calming Hades down and trying to comfort him after telling him about what happened.

Do y’all see the pattern? The comic barely gives Persephone any stage to voice what she feels or speak about what happened to her. Unlike Hades we don’t get the privilege of having whole chapters dedicated to her and her healing process, it’s all rushed and sped through because now after 10 years mourning and stressing about her land and her sentence she’s now just absolutely dick obsessed and wants to have sex immediately. I understand that Rachel was trying to show some of the affects of the assault but at the same time being hyper sexual isn’t a good thing, it’s literally a form of self harm because you don’t feel good afterwards so for the comic to put being hyper sexual in a good light for a few fucking laughs is absolutely fucked up. There’s a difference between making a serious scene light hearted and completely making a joke out of it and there’s no way Lore Olympus actually respects the serious topics that they put into the story.

#lo critical #anti lore olympus #anti lo

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quibbs126 · 1 year

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So my dad came into my room this morning, asking if I’m actually going to do anything while at home, or if I’m just gonna laze in my bed the entire time I’m here (I’m on summer break, have been for almost 2 weeks). Also about a week ago, my mom told me to clean up my room so I can actually do something productive here, to which I have done very little of aside from move the stuff out that isn’t mine that they just threw in here

I’ll probably rant about the cleaning thing later, since I’m more frustrated about that than anything, but honestly, my problem is that I am just stuck in this state of limbo. I think the best word to describe me (and pretty much any time I’m here, or heck even just my mood in general) is bored. I’m incredibly bored. And so, my mind retreats into itself, being in this state of half aware, and half thinking about random things, trying to form thoughts. And it’s like, I think my brain is so used to being in this state that it just doesn’t want to do anything

Like I don’t want to be in this state of never doing anything, it’s boring and all I end up doing is rewatching the same videos, listening to the same music, playing video games (and even then it’s just Cookie Run at this point, with maybe a daily New Horizons check in. Anything else is a rarity). And I know I have things to do, like chores and stuff for college. But the problem is, getting myself to do anything outside of the status quo is an almost Herculean task and uphill battle that 95% of the time I end up losing. I want to do things, but it’s near impossible to fight my brain to actually do anything, it’s like I’m stuck in my own body, like it’s a prison, but I literally cannot force myself out of it. I say yes to literally any offer to do something by someone else because I have to try and force myself to leave and not be stuck in this state of limbo.

My dad asked me about my low grades this year, citing that I had no roommate or job to distract me, but to be honest, I think those things would have only helped, because it’s less time in limbo and more time in reality, possibly enough to get me to do things (not to mention a job would get me money). But the whole roommate thing was out of my control (I had one, but she didn’t live there), and applying for a job is one of the things my brain refuses to do, so I don’t know how to fix that

And I think this problem has been affecting me for at least the entire year, if not longer. I don’t like being like this, but I don’t know how to stop it

Also can I just swing back around to the room cleaning thing? I just need something to get my mind off this

Okay, so they want me to clean my room, go through my boxes and see what I don’t want/need anymore, and fair, there’s plenty of stuff I don’t use, but question, what am I supposed to do with the things I don’t want??? Because as far as I know, the only option is the trash

Like yeah, I don’t really want half of my books anymore, but what am I supposed to do with them? I’m not throwing these away! I do know a place that buys books, but it’s back at my university, which is an hour and a half drive from here. Or the printer and art tablet. My university has printers in the library you can use, and my major doesn’t really require printed things, and the tablet is for computer drawing, which I don’t really do anymore, I just use my iPad. But like hell we’re throwing those away, they’re expensive! A lot of this stuff I don’t think should just be thrown away, but what do I do with them then???

And where am I supposed to put the things that I do want? I have no storage anymore because they got rid of my shelves! Literally all I have are my desk which I keep clear for obvious reasons, the top of my dresser which is already full and has little space for things in general, a small nightstand which is already full, and boxes. And I can’t put things in my closet either, that’s already full of boxes! How do you expect me to clean my room if at the end of the day, everything still has to be in boxes? Like what do you expect of me?

And going and saying these things risks the idea of me sounding like an idiot, which I always feel like around them because I do not know what they want of me! Like, last week we were going shopping for a Mother’s Day gift, and my dad showed us a picture of a mug my mom wanted, and he just sort of told us to find it. We went and looked around the store for it (by which I mean a quick circle because my brother just decided to follow me instead of fan out) but it wasn’t there. And my dad was like, “did you not think to ask someone or something, you’re just giving up?” Well yes, I would have asked someone, but I remember you thinking that I shouldn’t just go up to workers and ask them things, since we should just find them ourselves, so I didn’t consider that an option! We literally do not know what you want from us! And on Sunday he was showing me how to mow the lawn and was getting annoyed that I didn’t know where to put the basket for the grass (or whatever it’s called) on the lawn mower, but I didn’t understand what he was talking about, and he was just getting increasingly frustrated. I don’t know what you mean by “underneath”, I’ve never used the lawn mower before, nor do I know the anatomy of this basket to know if you mean the underside of the basket (which I don’t even know what that is) or the bottom of the lawnmower, which I also do not know the anatomy of!

And yeah, I’ll admit I do act more an idiot around my parents, especially my dad, but when I don’t know what he wants, I don’t know how to interact with people and he expects me to immediately know and react to what he says, when I don’t. Also not to mention the fact that when I act even a little bit exasperated or have a bit of sass in my response, he raises his voice telling me to stop, at which point I do because I don’t want him angry at me, so my only option is to be an idiot who doesn’t know what’s happening. Not to mention the fact that I’m just generally not to.d things, like where we’re going. When I’m by myself, I’m allowed to be an idiot because there’s no one to criticize me, and I think I do better like that. Also, I know what I’m doing and where I’m going, instead of just being dragged along

*ahem* okay, I think I got carried away there, this is not at all what the original topic was. I think this is more three posts in one, sorry. I just needed to get these things off my chest, you feel me?

#real life stuff #random stuff #rant #sorry I don’t know what to tag this

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wallnoises · 1 year

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Favourite part of the airport so far?

Just now getting around to answering this because shortly after making the AMA post I ended up spending the entire day stranded at my connecting flight at the airport because my destination flight from the night before had to get turned around at the last minute because of “low visibility”. There were no other flights to my destination until five days later so I had to just ditch my Christmas trip altogether and buy another flight home. So at the moment it’s very hard for me to think about what I enjoyed about it because it is bar-none the worst travel experience I’ve ever had. I’m probably only lucky to be back at home right now because I managed to catch a standby flight late the next night (people who can sleep in airports and get actual rest must have nerves of steel)

That said, I did manage to have some really nice conversations with some other people during my entire day of waiting and running around. I can’t think of another place on earth where it’s possible to be physically interacting with people from all parts of the world except at an airport and I feel very connected to humanity because of it. I’ll list some of the few and fleeting moments I got to enjoy during my day at denver international:

Sat next to a squirrelly and talkative two year-old on my first flight who I tried my best to entertain by pointing at things outside the window and describing the sounds and sights the whole way. he left some little plastic toys on the floor under his seat that I picked up as quickly as I could so I could catch up to him to return them but to no avail. I kept them as a memento of our time together

Spoke to a college student who was on the same canceled flight that I was. She was flying back home as well, to Billings, Montana where her girlfriend lived. After bonding over that frustrating event for awhile, she told me she was studying to be a physical therapist. I believe she told me her major was “health and wellness” but I can’t be too sure. I told her a bit about myself as well and we had a lengthy and engaging conversation about other topics for awhile. She warmly wished me luck on my journey home after her flight began boarding

Met a Korean woman while sitting at another gate who was traveling with an incredibly well-behaved Pomeranian. I mentioned having owned dachshunds and smaller dogs in the past and how much I love them and she inquired what owning the breed is like. We ended up sitting next to each other on my flight back home and her dog still did not make one peep the whole time!

Watched some families’ toddlers playing peekaboo with one another by draping a colorful handkerchief on top of the other’s head and yanking it off repeatedly

Talked to another girl at the same gate who was a biology student from Toronto, and was from India originally. She had the most beautiful pink translucent eyeglass frames. I told her about what I do and showed her some of my artwork and she excitedly commented on it and proceeded to follow my Instagram, and also showed me her drawings as well

All in all it was still an awful day, but the few moments where I was blessed with the chance to speak with a complete stranger and still find things in common with each other was a heartening experience. We all have so much more to offer each other than we could ever know and my life feels all the richer just for knowing it.

Happy holidays everyone!

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tanenigiri · 2 years

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Review #26: I Cannot Reach You (Volumes 3 and 4)

Japanese title: 君には届かない。(Kimi ni wa Todokanai)

Story and art: Mika

English publisher: Yen Press

Number of volumes: 4 in English, 5 in Japanese (ongoing)

The pain of self-doubt.

(This review contains story spoilers.)

Volume 2 of I Cannot Reach You left Yamato and Kakeru with a lot of things up in the air, with Yamato letting his jealousy show and Kakeru being completely unsure of what to think of and how to feel about the whole situation. And while Volumes 3 and 4 do address most of these uncertainties to some capacity, it’s gonna take quite a while to get there, and the journey to certainty is definitely a rough one. If the first two volumes didn’t make it clear, this is definitely one of those stories that’s gonna take its time for its leads to get together.

While I don’t mind slow burns at all - and my praise for Sasaki and Miyano as well as Koimonogatari: Love Stories should prove that - I did find myself reacting a bit less optimistically to how I Cannot Reach You handles its buildup when I compare it to those two series. I don’t mean that in the sense that I was annoyed at the main leads not getting together immediately - I do like how the story takes its time to go through all of Yamato’s worries and Kakeru’s insecurities - but rather on how it was almost making sure that things were progressing as slowly as it could.

I think my biggest peeve in this regard is how the story resorted a lot on the likes of convenient interruptions and unfortunate coincidences to prevent both Yamato and Kakeru from openly talking about these issues to each other. It was understandable the first few times it happened, but the fact that it kept on being delayed by these wrong timings and whatnot made it feel like the story didn’t actually want them to have this conversation even if it knew that it needed to happen.

This even applies to the Yamato's long-awaited confession - complete with a picturesque setting and the first kiss - at the end of Volume 3. That's because Volume 4 begins with the reveal that Yamato had actually fainted after this encounter and is shown to have experienced memory loss and not remember anything about it. I remember feeling incredibly sorry for Kakeru when I first read this, since it really seemed like the story was going out of its way to make sure that he wasn’t going to get any clarity out of the whole situation. If anything, this only makes his frustration about it all the more justified, and I can’t even blame him for being hostile toward Yamato about this whole thing.

It’s no surprise, then, that my favorite character in the series so far is Hosaka, who’s introduced in Volume 3 as one of Yamato’s and Kakeru’s classmates who joins them in their group for the school trip that takes up pretty much this entire volume. Not only are his interactions with Yamato hilarious, but quite a lot of developments in the main relationship in these volumes happen because of him. I’m not sure why the story decided to anchor a lot of its plot beats on a completely new character, but I’m all for it since he’s turning out to be a really great addition to the cast.

In his conversation with Kakeru in the middle of Volume 3, he describes himself as someone who “lets everything slip straight out of [his] mouth,” which already tells us that he's pretty much the opposite of both of the main characters. He makes this contrast apparent in his advice to Kakeru, telling him that if he doesn’t do anything about his situation with Yamato (though Kakeru keeps the specifics vague), things will still change whether he wants them to or not. Part of me was wishing that Yamato was gonna be a main character and overhear this, since he needs this piece of advice as much as Kakeru does (though, to be fair, his sister has been telling him pretty similar things from the start).

What Yamato does get out of Hosaka, though (apart from constant annoyances), is a reality check. After Kakeru was forced to cancel his plans with Yamato and go with Akane due to being set up by Fujino and his girlfriend, Yamato is seen moping about it in the park where they were supposed to hang out, which just so happens to be where Hosaka and another one of their classmates, Amamiya, are spending their time. Yamato ends up telling them quite a lot about why his plans with Kakeru meant a lot to him, as well as his fear of what Kakeru would think if he tells him the truth. While Yamato is talking about the truth of why he was looking forward to their day together, you can easily tell that this also applies to the whole situation, and I have a feeling that by this point, Hosaka's also caught on to this fact.

So when Hosaka calls him out on his faulty logic - Why wouldn’t Yamato’s closest friend want to know how he’s feeling? - Yamato is understandably taken aback and even resorts to physical action to confront him. But Hosaka, being the 10/10 character that he is, doesn’t back down from this threat and continues to break apart Yamato’s thinking, saying that if Yamato thinks that Kakeru wouldn’t hear him out on his thoughts, then the bond they share wasn’t important to begin with. I don’t know where all of this wisdom came from and where Hosaka found his motivation to help the main couple out, but I’m all for it, as everything he’s saying is exactly what Yamato and Kakeru need to hear.

I mention her slightly above, but at the same time that Hosaka is making Yamato rethink how he handled the situation, Akane is also figuring out what’s going on with Kakeru and makes him rethink how he’s approaching it. Noticing that Kakeru was lost in his own world during their arranged date, Akane encourages him to go after Yamato, even if it’s revealed shortly after that she’s actually developed feelings for Kakeru after their encounters. I really feel sorry for her as she gets the short end of the stick in this whole situation, and I really hope that she comes back in a future volume just so she can get some closure. I even want her to become a confidant of sorts to Kakeru, seeing as she’s one of the few people who’s realized what’s going on between him and Yamato.

The others who figure it out are - to my delight - Hosaka and Amamiya, as Volume 4 reveals that they saw Yamato kiss Kakeru in the climactic scene of the previous volume. I found it interesting that the two of them actually agreed not to bring this up to anyone, but continuing his role as the plot’s mover, Hosaka does bring it up to someone, though that someone happens to be Yamato. It’s in this conversation where Yamato realizes why Kakeru’s been acting hostile towards him in the early parts of Volume 4 and what ultimately gives him the resolve to finally have their long overdue conversation.

Before I leave him behind to talk about the conversation, I found it hilarious that when Hosaka sees Yamato and Kakeru sneak out of class, his first instinct is to follow them. He’s only stopped by Amamiya, who points out that he’s not even close friends with both of them. Part of me wanted Hosaka to eavesdrop since him understanding the full situation might make him an even more critical foundation of the main relationship, but eh, I’m sure he’ll figure it out on his own.

The conversation does see Yamato properly confessing to Kakeru, but the thing I wanted to note about this is how Kakeru reacts to it - he sounds incredibly confident here, calling Yamato out for his assumptions before he even gets to make them. His response is also very mature - he’s not giving Yamato a yes or a no, but he promises to properly think about his feelings and “face them head-on” instead of hiding from them or denying them. This understandably makes Yamato happy, as he had been preparing himself for rejection all this time.

The chapters following this see Yamato and Kakeru adjusting to this new dynamic in their relationship, and we finally get to see all the advice that the people around the two main characters have been giving them put to good use. Yamato is becoming more honest about his feelings and is making a marked effort to express all of them to Kakeru, while Kakeru is making sure that he’s changing how he acts around Yamato, in that he’s not just being passive and absorbed in his own thoughts all the time.

I think my favorite instance of this is when Kakeru asks Yamato why he’s so calm about the entire situation when the former has been freaking out about it both internally and externally. Yamato admits that he feels just as nervous as Kakeru does, saying that he only acts calm so that Kakeru would think that he was cool. I’ve really wanted them to have this conversation for quite some time, so I’m glad they got it out of the way, and I do hope it’s the start of a more open and healthy relationship between them going forward.

It’s with this clarity where I Cannot Reach You’s fourth volume ends, and like I said at the start, it was a really long journey to get here. I may have my qualms about certain parts of this journey, but I’m happy at where the story is at now, as we’re beginning to see some solid developments in both Yamato’s and Kakeru’s characters that would really improve their relationship.

Random thoughts that I couldn’t fit elsewhere:

With these volumes leaning a lot more on its supporting cast to drive the plot, Fujino actually has a lot more to do here compared to the first two volumes. His standout scene for me is when Kakeru asks him for advice about dealing with his crush. Fujino gives pretty good advice here, and I really like how he continues to earnestly root for Kakeru and his happiness, even if he sometimes goes too far with it. (There was also a part of me that was expecting Fujino to figure out that Kakeru was talking about Yamato, and I still have a feeling that he does figure it out but chooses not to say it just yet.)

Volume 4 features another important Kakeru conversation, which is the one he has with Mikoto, Yamato’s sister. Mikoto realizes that his brother has finally told his feelings to Kakeru, and she ends up revealing quite a lot to Kakeru about what Yamato’s been bottling up all this time. Part of me wishes that this happened after Yamato’s confession on the rooftop instead of before, but I do think that Kakeru needed to hear this, as it would help him properly think about the situation.

The bonus chapters come back as humorous as ever here, and this time they’re even integrated into the main story - Volume 3’s bonus chapters all take place in the school trip, for example. My favorites are definitely the ones that feature Yamato and Hosaka’s dynamic - I find it so funny that Hosaka’s making all this effort to befriend Yamato and he’s just not having it.

Thanks for reading! You can read my review of the first two volumes of I Cannot Reach You here. Despite my complaints about certain aspects of the journey, I do like where the story’s going, especially with all the developments to Yamato and Kakeru’s relationship. I think the next English volume is releasing later this year, so I’m looking forward to reading it!

#I Cannot Reach You #Kimi ni wa Todokanai #Oohara Yamato #Ashira Kakeru #Hosaka Yui #BL manga #manga review #manga

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rebuke-me · 1 year

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I posted 296 times in 2022

That's 279 more posts than 2021!

132 posts created (45%)

164 posts reblogged (55%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@ineffable-grimm-pitch

@aqueous-aerolite

@rebuke-me

@theabyssgazesalsointoyou

@deprivedmusicaljunkie

I tagged 247 of my posts in 2022

Only 17% of my posts had no tags

#be more chill - 49 posts

#jupiter's fics - 45 posts

#deere bmc - 34 posts

#bmc - 32 posts

#jeremy heere - 32 posts

#jake dillinger - 31 posts

#bmc deere - 30 posts

#lamlih - 29 posts

#live a movie (life is hard) - 29 posts

#jupes' nano tag - 19 posts

Longest Tag: 114 characters

#he’d be too busy thinking about his own self and insecurities and how others saw him that he’d forget how to live.

My Top Posts in 2022:

more obnoxiously specific bmc headcanons

- jeremy heere hates mint. he hated it before the squip, sure, but he really hates it after. he thinks its a horrible flavour and will never get it. he used charcoal toothpaste for a while but it fucked with his meds so now he just uses kids toothpaste. not that he’d ever admit that, because thats cringe of him, but hey. mans likes bubblefruit.

- michael mell is a headphones only bitch. he hates earbuds with a passion and has gotten into so many arguments with jeremy over this. it is their one big debate and it’s incredibly funny. michael will only wear headphones and hasn’t let anyone wear his headphones in at least 6 years.

- christine canigula makes her friends jewelry. actually, she just does it for fun, but she ends up giving it to her friends. brooke has like 20 pairs of beaded earrings from christine just dropping them in her hands. michael has friendship bracelets clogging up his drawers and his arms from her. she likes giving gifts to them.

- jenna rolan once ran a vaguely popular 5 seconds of summer fan blog when she was 12. she never told anyone about it but every so often it reappears in her memory and he gets embarrassed. she still knows how to edit photos and gifs because of it. not that she’ll ever admit it.

- rich goranski wanted to be a band kid so bad. he started taking saxophone lessons when he was 10 and he managed to get pretty good at it but kind of lost confidence to actually be a band kid (especially with the whole popularity thing)

- jake dillinger is colourblind. not to an extent that’s dramatic, but he genuinely just. can’t tell some colours apart. he got frustrated as a little kid because people would tell him that something was one colour and he’d insist it was a different one. eventually he just made it his brand to not match anything so people don’t judge him as much. he doesn’t always mismatch on purpose, though.

- brooke lohst goes through phases of starting to make crafts and learning how to do things like knitting, crocheting, and cross-stitching before completely abandoning them. she’s made a total of two scarves, one stuffed animal, and a sign for her moms kitchen. all the rest are works in progress she will never finish.

- chloe valentine hates valentine’s day with a passion. because of her last name, she thinks its stupid and she’s heard every joke about it in the book. she wants to stab anyone that makes a joke about valentine’s day to her.

118 notes - Posted July 13, 2022

i am the righteous hand of god.

150 notes - Posted May 24, 2022

the entire rampion crew can be described as either “dumb geniuses” and “smart idiots”

163 notes - Posted February 28, 2022

my obnoxiously specific bmc headcanons

- jeremy heere writes apocalypse of the damned fanfiction. he's surprisingly popular in his little niche of people and he's kind of proud of it, but he'd never admit it out loud because he thinks its cringey.

- michael mell is like... super good with a sewing machine. mans was raised by two moms and sews his own patches on his jacket, and he could probably make a good chunk of clothing if asked, but he wastes his talents on absolutely hideous pairs of pajama pants in horrible garish fabrics.

- christine canigula listens to emo music. sure, her main genre is showtunes and broadway soundtracks, but she's a huge fan of any music that has a shit ton of emotion behind it that she can scream sing in her car. (also, her car is definitely a yellow bug. or some other bright colour of bug. i'm correct and i won't take criticism.)

- jenna rolan can quote entire episodes of old kids cartoons. kim possible, phineas and ferb, winx club, total drama, you name it. she's scarily good at it, but it's kind of a nerdy party trick so she doesn't say it all that much. you know that video of prozd with peter pan? that's her with w.i.t.c.h.

- rich goranski absolutely loves painting. not exactly pretty stuff, but he likes painting walls and canvases and sometimes his clothing, too. his clothes usually have specks of paint on them he can't get off, and once a piece gets too bad, he makes them into the clothes he uses to splatter paint his garage again.

- jake dillinger is a huge marvel fan. he doesn't understand anything about the comics, or anything like that, but he's always one of the first people to show up to the marvel movies in theaters. when they're having reruns of the movies in theaters he sometimes goes just by himself, sits in the back, and enjoys it all over again.

- brooke lohst can NEVER find her pens. she has a bunch of them, and some of them are all glittery and bright, some have those little puffballs on the end, some of them are just normal pens. she loses them so frequently that a good gift for her is just... a pack of pens. she has cute bags for them and everything, but nine times out of ten they end up floating somewhere at the bottom of her backpack.

- chloe valentine is notorious at killing plants. she tries so hard to keep them alive, but no matter what, they always end up dead. even cacti. and succulents. if a plant is alive in her house, its probably fake.

212 notes - Posted January 12, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

the next person i see saying “he’s perfect i just hope they dye his hair!!” is getting nerfed. he’s a kid. the hair colour has nothing to actually do with the character. wanting to change the appearance of a child is weird actually.

511 notes - Posted April 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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