#he has a thing for traumatized individuals apparently

[alexoreality]

PSYCHOLOGY GRADUATE! Luffy AU where...

Luffy is sailing in the Grandline and he's a well known Therapist under the code name; Lucifer. He has patients every day that he writes to all the while being a captain to a very VERY mentally unstable crew. But Nami's okay now, Chopper, and Zoro are good too.

The rest are a bit... They're still under that 'self-deprecating' list

Franky is just SSUUUPPPEEERRRR

#yeah he graduated pretty young man #master's degree and everything #he picked out a LOT of majors but hey #it turns out he likes psychology the most #doubt Robin did not know #Psychologist Luffy AU #he has a thing for traumatized individuals apparently #future pirate king realizes he has a type #more at 4 #he has new patients everyday #one or two more #then he starts to absolutely go mad when the straw hats pay for a therapy session via letter toward Lucifer #He is so done #another fact is that his patients #the ones that are finally stable and happy #still send letters to him #telling how well they've been #sweet right?

[infernalurge]

The Astral Prism Isn't Grindr!- Why the Emperor didn't catfish you.🦑

Very long, rambling post I wrote while manic at 4 am. Enjoy!

I feel like the worst thing you can actually say about Emp in regards to his actions towards the player is that he lies by omission. But even then, to consider it lying you basically have to work from the perspective that you as a player, person, character or whatever, are entitled to know everything about someone you just met, who might have some very good reasons for not wanting to reveal certain things

He didn't "catfish" you the prism isn't grindr lmao?! And the game/companions/etc repeat to you over and over that the Dream Visitor is some kind of manufactured vision. You all have one and it's specific to your individual minds. He wasn't exactly doing some deepcover shit with a fake backstory to get your cryptowallet information or whatever real-life equivalence you keep trying to make. As if you run into alien squid monsters every day or something!

It's doubly bizarre because there is an extremely popular companion character whose entire arc is ACTUALLY lying to you about who they are, only admitting it when you catch them attacking you in your sleep, and then goes on to try to ACTUALLY manipulate you with sex and intimacy while at that point, not actually feeling it. This is the most popular character in the fandom btw- Astarion.

Emperor's morality is held up to a ridiculous standard. Not even the companions are held to that level- not even close!

A better equivalence to his situation than "catfishing" (a term completely exclusive to our world) would be if a sentient, alien creature was stranded on our planet and had to use a disguise to y'know....not be shot at and killed by confused humans? Why the heck would your brain first jump to catfishing? Girl if you approached your DG as a tindr date that's on you! Lliterally the only prompt the game gives you before creating them is "you need a guardian" (At least currently that's how it works, after official release.)

if you met a kind of weird guy and fell for him and he then revealed he's actually a sentient squid monster, I don't think your first response would be "OMG YOU CATFISHED ME?" I'm pretty sure it would be "HOLY FUCK A SQUID MONSTER!" because it would be very obvious and apparent (by virtue of them being a squid monster) that the intent was not to "catfish" you, but to survive a world that would be actively hostile towards him, on sight.

We accept this type of "ambiguous morality for the sake of survival" from characters like Astarion who are traditionally attractive, but we don't accept it from a being whose very appearance, forces them into that position of moral ambiguity. Emperor is not afforded the same privilege of even being able to consider full honesty, because just one look at him could make someone hysterical. Hiding himself from you is not an active choice he's able to make, anymore than a turtle can choose to break open it's shell- it will die.

Even if YOU wouldn't kill him, what about companions like Lae'zal, who are already suspicious of him and will definitely cut him down at that point? Even if you think that would be a good thing, you would then lose your protection from the tadpole/the Absolute. The game basically wouldn't exist without the Prism.

Let's also not use "well Astarion is traumatized" as an excuse here. Emperor is pretty obviously traumatized as well, in addition to being a brain-eating squid monster and having to manage that part of his nature, the way Astarion has to handle his. Yet he's still more up front than Astarion was. Astarion can accidentally kill you while drinking from you and he still doesn't reveal who he is to the others, AND pretends he doesn't know what happened to you lol.

Note my point here isn't "Astarion bad" but simply that if you have room in your heart to sympathize with characters like Astarion, then there's no reason you can't squeeze my man Emp in there too. He doesn't do anything significantly worse than any of the other main characters but is the most hated, and it's literally because of this ridiculous perception of him "catifshing" the player. The most media illiterate take I have ever seen in my life, honestly

Like first off, he's a squid, and secondly! ☝️ Read all that again.

tl;dr if you feel "cafished" by the Emperor you simply weren't paying attention for more than half the game. Fantasy might not be for you if you can't remove the plot from real life circumstances and turn complex fantasy monsters into human romance scammers, as if they're actually alike in any meaningful way.

Read more books maybe. That might help.

#the emperor #bg3 the emperor #emperor #bg3 emperor #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 spoilers #THIRD WAY I'M SAYING THIS: #this is an emp-positive post #stop going onto positive posts to whine at fans that you still hate the character #we don't do that shit to you with gor/tash or rap/hael or anyone else

[darkstarofchaos]

Let's get uhh...constructicons/Prowl (for the ask thingy)

Don't ship it.

Why don’t you ship it?

The biggest reason is that nothing about the situation was healthy for Prowl. Not only did he become part of Devastator in the most traumatic way possible, but the time afterward was physically and psychologically harmful for him as well. Outside of that, there just isn't much for me to ship there? Prowl sees the Constructicons as a weapon and the Constructicons are just fanboys (up until the narrative decides Prowl needs to be utterly alone and they drop him like a hot potato). The whole situation was incredibly wasted potential.

2. What would have made you like it?

A different writer.

On its own, Prowl being forced into Devastator isn't a deal breaker for me because the Constructicons weren't the ones responsible. They did decide afterwards that they liked Prowl and wanted to hang with him, but until then, he was never even meant to be part of the team; just a disposable test subject for integrating someone new with an existing combiner. And I do honestly get the appeal of, "You were disposable to them, but not to us". Goodness knows Prowl needs someone in his corner. Heck, I can even get behind the angst of "this situation is physically hurting Prowl, but none of them - including him - want to stop".

So the setup was great. Super unhealthy, but you can do some pretty interesting things with unhealthy. But as they say, the devil's in the details.

See, I like the Constructicons. I do not like the way John Barber writes them as an interchangeable amalgam instead of letting them have some individuality. And I really don't like how he tried to resolve that conflict with earlier portrayals by saying that combining "rots away the individual". I like the idea that the Gestalt mind affects its components, not the idea that it supercedes them. I also don't like Prowl's recent instability being ascribed to the combining process and not, y'know. The traumatic events surrounding it. But we get this explanation from Galvatron, who delivers it alongside lies about Prowl killing Spike's father, so I can ignore it. I can pretend it's just another lie.

What I can't ignore is that Arcee doesn't hear this and think, oh, maybe it's not Prowl's fault he's been so erratic lately. Maybe I should see if he's okay when I get a chance. Nope. She just turns on him completely. Because the post-Dark Cybertron arc is the "let's tear away what little support Prowl still has" arc.

So I don't like how the Constructicons were written, I don't like the in-universe explanation for how they were written, and I hate the way everyone saw Prowl falling apart (including people who dared to call him a friend, Optimus), and just went, eh, I don't really care. He's just bad. And then, just to make sure Prowl loses everyone, the Constructicons turn on him too. Because apparently they can spend time in his head and like what they see, but it's still somehow a surprise that the mech who tolerated them because they were useful might not actually want them the way they want him.

Get these mechs a different writer.

3. Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

As I mentioned above, the setup is great. It had a lot of potential, not just in terms of the relationship, but for character development, worldbuilding, and even the introduction of something like chronic illness with Prowl's physical health being affected by combining (again, he was introduced to the team as an experiment in adding bots to a combiner. It would make perfect sense if it wasn't an entirely successful experiment).

I also like a lot of the art and fics I've seen for them, even if most people seem to ignore the inherent angst in favor of sweet, funny, and fluffy pieces. I just wish more people dived into the physical and psychological impacts, whether in a shippy way or not.

#transformers #Prowl #Constructicons #Prowl/Constructicons #It's too bad I have no interest in writing IDW fic #The whole 'Prowlastator' thing is fascinating #but I can't stand most of the characters I'd have to write to play with the idea #Might use a G1 AU to play with it on my own terms idk

[mayimkjs]

Theatrical Depictions vs Representations When Talking About Kayano Mikoto

I find that people get confused by this in the community, so as a film student, I would like to clear up some misconceptions.

Defining Shit

What is a Theatrical Depiction?

Theatrical depictions are depictions of an object that are purely for entertainment purposes. These often differ from reality for audience clarity but are still based in reality and are built off of truths. What sets apart good and bad depictions is respect, research and concept. 

Respect: Respect those who are affected by the topic.

Research: Do adequate research using trustworthy resources.

Concept: Don't purely use tropes or stereotypes. Pulling a few traits from tropes is fine as long as you don't actually fully use said trope.

Depict - Noun

「Show or represent by a drawing, painting, or other art form.」

What is a Theatrical Representation?

Theatrical representations are slightly different. These try to show something as fact and are often not the best when it comes to complex topics. They are attempts at representations of reality. 

Represent - Noun

「Be entitled or appointed to act or speak for someone, especially in an official capacity.」

What is Audience Clarity?

Audience Clarity is how clear or understandable something is to an audience. This is almost always taken into account when creating a theatrical depiction. There are some topics, such as DID, that require slight modifications to achieve audience clarity. 

What is Mikoto?

Mikoto is a theatrical depiction. 

MILGRAM is suppose to create moral dilemmas and thus, a character like Mikoto isn’t an awful choice. It seems they've put in some research (ie. Es’ watered down explanation in Neoplasm being accurate for what it is) and the creator, Takuya Yamanaka, has a degree in psychology. They are going about this in a respectful manner by expanding on all parts of his character instead of taking the concept of an evil murder alter and running with it. 

There is a lot of depth to Mikoto and John's characters. There's more to John then just an angry dude who killed someone. All he wants to do is protect Mikoto, although, his means are far less then perfect. He's shown remorse and regret and can have civil conversations with people. He's snarky and has his own anxieties. Same with Mikoto. He's extroverted yet self conscious. He has his own habits like giving others nicknames and trying to adapt to the current situation. He has his own hopes and dreams.

DID and Storytelling

How would one create a good depiction of DID?

It is impossible to create an 100% accurate depiction DID in general due to audience clarity. Modifications need to be made if you want the audience to be able to tell which alter is currently in front. These modifications include more apparent switches and dissociation, larger gaps between personality traits, how each alter carries themself and exaggerating some aspects of the disorder. When exaggerating something, don't go too far with it.

What should one avoid when creating a character with DID?

However, one thing that should never be tampered with, is the basis of the disorder. His includes things such as how DID is developed and how it is presented in an individual. The writer should also never just throw every single traumatic thing onto a character and give them a million alters. Doing this, is just irresponsible. Even if the research is put in. 

Dummy and Incorrect Language

Let me give you an example of this. Your talking to your friend about DID, and instead of using the word "alter", you say "personality" because you know that they will understand what you mean. This is what dummy language is. Using simple, understandable terms. This is something that is passible while introducing a topic. Eventually, you will want to graduate from using dummy language if its not for a one time topic.

I think that's everything I wanted to touch upon. I might update this in the future if I think of something important that should have been added here.

#john kayano #mikoto kayano #ミルグラム #milgram #i probably explained this really poorly i'm sorry #it will be better in fool's mate i promise #don't take this the wrong way

[cliozaur]

Finally, no one is dying, but this chapter hurts in a different way. We are back to the beginning of the day of 5 June. It feels like a Groundhog Day that we have to experience and live through as many times as there are characters. It’s Jean Valjean’s turn to endure this cursed day.

Toussaint is my only solace here. At least one reasonable, perceptive, and not curious person present in this realm of self-absorbed individuals: thanks to her, they have some basic clothing (including a national guard uniform) and are aware of insurrection in the city.

Jean Valjean has been on an emotional roller coaster. It was good that he finally felt relaxed and peaceful after moving out of the house on Rue Plumet, but the way he dreamt about leaving for London with Cosette at his side and his conviction that he possesses her are not good. It makes him so similar to Marius. They both make poor girl the centre of their existence, and while it is meant as a flattering thing, it is not. It’s a burden. She deserves better than this.

Valjean’s mood dramatically changes when he discovers traces of Cosette’s message to Marius on a blotting book. He regresses to his emotional state before he met the bishop, a state in which hatred towards mankind prevailed. He is full of self-pity, and in his thoughts, Cosette once again figures as some kind of reward for his past sufferings. Hugo delves into lengthy explanations that Valjean’s feelings for Cosette are complex, but there is nothing objectionable (meaning sexual) in them.

Concerning this phrase: “Try then the effect of taking from the lion the dog which he has in his cage!” Did anyone of you read this story at school? Apparently, it was a popular story in the nineteenth century, and many authors retold it. In elementary school, we had to read this story retold by some Russian classical author (I think it was Tolstoy). A lion in the zoo did not kill a small dog that got into his cage because it was amusing and friendly. Instead, he shared food with it (and probably there was more, but I don’t remember the details). And then the dog died. A week later, the lion died of grief. (Another traumatic story for the kids!) So, it means that Valjean (the lion) will die as soon as his little dog (Cosette) is taken from him.

After his revelation, Valjean becomes interested in the “fighting” (insurrection). But we will never learn what his initial plan was before he intercepted Marius’ letter. And he just sits and waits outside in the darkness.

#les mis letters #lm 4.15.1 #jean valjean #cosette #les miserables #marius pontmercy

[turtlesallthewaytomgreg]

tomgreg dependent on stress not tomshiv

okay so lil headcannon theory: thinking about how the idea that 'tomgreg only works when tom has someone to take his shiv-related aggression out on' doesn't seem to fully capture their relationship. tom being willing to go to prison for greg, greg not leaking whatever was in the logistics folder, tom taking the fall for boar on the floor, etc. etc.

i'm wondering if their relationship materializes, less out of tom's relationship to shiv and more out of tom and greg's relationship to environmental stressors. when everything's 'good,' their interactions are pretty surface level and or minimal, right? i mean, no reason to scheme, black mail, throw water bottles if there aren't any active shooters, corporate scandals, congressional hearings, etc. etc. but when things are bad? they pull together like magnets. they're the only two who really get what its like to be in that state of being the 'first to go' in the event of a huge stressor/threat to waystar as 'non roy' members of the roy family.

it's well documented that heightened levels of emotional arousal under stressful situations--which involves releasing adrenal into the body--increases the romantic attraction between two individuals. this certainly makes sense in the context of tom and greg's homoerotic build-up in s2/s3. the cruises scandal and threat of going to prison hit their stress response systems like a fucking bullet train (no pun intended). greg's getting a haircut even though he didn't need one because it felt 'soothing,' and the clear, physical and verbal manifestations of anxiety pre- and post- appearing before congress. not to mention tom constantly bringing up the prison blogs with his big sad eyes, months of fear and worry and dysregulation and expectation leading up to the culminating moment of emotional release: learning that he wouldn't be going to prison, waltzing into greg's office, flipping his desk over, beating his chest on top of the filing cabinets, pulling greg into a post-adrenal-fueled haze of a forehead kiss, etc.

s3 already established that tom goes to greg at the height of his emotional dysregulation, and s4 continues to confirm it. logan suddenly and unexpectedly dying? an extremely traumatic/emotional stressor, and tom responds by calling greg? solidifying him not only tom's number one confidant but the person he goes to first when his adrenaline's spiked by stress.

in the first couple of episodes, they didn't have a whole lot of reason to be stressed. they're at logan's birthday party, tom's getting a divorce, pretty standard family dysfunction. but what do we have here, episode three and four? now their sole protector is dead and the new guy, mattson has apparently no qualms about a total and immediate corporate restructure. sure, tom and greg aren't on the kill list for now, but what's actually standing in between them and a total loss of control? i don't know about you but the slow build up of uncertainty/stress within the plot across 4.01-4.04 seems like some pretty solid grounds for some late season romantic ~bonding!~ if you ask me :)

#tomgreg #greg hirsch #tom wambsgans #succession #succession s4 #tldr: tomgreg's going to happen #they just haven't had enough conflict yet #but boy oh boy #its a comin #they pushed his pregnant wife #down the stairs #for christ sakes #67 emails #married in tuscany #how far are they going to go with nero and sporus #og never said poppaea wasn't his wife #tomshiv doesnt have to get a divorce #for tom to still walk away choosing greg #still haven't explained disgusting brothers #or bra*n's comment that “you'll get plenty of tomgreg this season”

[girl4music]

When Emily Andras decided to make Nicole Haught a main character and gave Katherine Barrell a credit in the opening titles in Season 3, that’s when I fell in love with ‘Wynonna Earp’. I mean it was a great show to watch before then, don’t get me wrong. But it’s just so hard and so rare to get any WLW/queer characters as main characters these days in TV art/entertainment without either the show being immediately cancelled or that character/the character that that character loves being immediately killed off. Look at ‘Warrior Nun’ with Ava and Beatrice. As soon as there was canonship between those main characters - cancelled. No Season 3 renewal. Look at ‘First Kill’ with Juliette and Calliope - cancelled. After only 1 season where they didn’t even have any sort of closure to the relationship that they had. In fact they had a massive traumatizing break up. That’s how they ended the show because it couldn’t be renewed for a 2nd season. Netflix outright refused to give them any opportunity for reconciliation. That’s been the way it is recently in the TV art/entertainment industry with network and streaming service TV shows with canon WLW ships. Either that or by one or both in the WLW ship being killed off or being separated from each other. Just a colossal unsuccessful and unsatisfying endgame for WLW/queer female main characters over and over again. That’s all that ever seems to happen!

So ‘Wynonna Earp’ (even though it was also cancelled in its 3rd season but the fans rallied and fought so fucking hard for a 4th season that they had to uncancel it) has been one of the very few TV shows that survived and succeeded in actually consistently providing WLW representation between queer female main characters. WayHaught are a canon WLW ship in a supernatural/fantasy show that got a happy ending.

But when Emily Andras made the decision to make the side/season regular/recurring character, Nicole Haught, a main character after a straight POC male character, Deputy Marshal Xavier Dolls, had died because Shamier Anderson wanted to leave the show (he got an absolutely amazing send off by the way), that’s when I really fell in love with all this show was because imagine how hard Andras had to fight for it. To get Katherine Barrell in the opening titles. I’m sure it was a no-brainer for Andras from the get-go to do this but the SYFY network was a whole battle, wasn’t it? Because from their perspective, apparently you just don’t do that. You don’t have WLW/queer female main characters that are in a canon committed relationship/romance story arc along with their own individual character representation and development main narrative arcs. That’s absolutely not the status quo so that must be prevented at all costs. And if it ever makes it, immediately do something to stop it. Cancel the show or kill one or both of them off. Just make sure that WLW/queer ships do not happily end.

So the entire ‘Wynonna Earp’ team and its amazingly dedicated Earper community fanbase achieved what is essentially impossible. Not only consistently provide WLW/queer representation through a beloved canon committed WLW relationship/romance story arc between queer females that are both main characters with their own respective individual main narratives. But also have them end successfully and satisfyingly. It’s the hardest and rarest thing to achieve these days but they somehow pulled it off in this… what I can only honestly call a WLW-phobic TV art/entertainment industry because they refuse to allow it to happen.

I absolutely fucking love ‘Wynonna Earp’ and its creators/cast/crew/community now because it’s given me something that I’ve never had before that means more to me than I could ever communicate in words that I will be most grateful for for the rest of my life:

4 seasons worth of a supernatural/fantasy TV show with 2 queer female main characters in with their own respective individual character representation and development main narratives that are in a longtime WLW/queer canon committed romantic relationship that have a successful and satisfying endgame in that they end in the show as a happily married couple with their whole lives ahead of them and so much more to look forward to on the horizon despite the dangerous and harsh environment that they live in as is often the case in supernatural/fantasy Universes.

If ‘WYNONNA EARP’ can provide that level of WLW/queer representation, then every show can provide it. There’s no excuses. They’ve just got to battle like hell to provide it. And they will if they’re dedicated enough. If they’re as adamant as Andras and know how best to make the people that want it (which is more than you think) wrap their entire support system around it. It’s very hard but it’s very possible. Clearly. ‘Cause Andras and the entire ‘Wynonna Earp’ team and community proved it through WayHaught.

#wynonna earp #wayhaught #waverly earp #dom pc #nicole haught #katherine barrell #emily andras #wlw representation #queer representation #happily married #their story #tribute #joes #this is my new pinned post #I am adamant to raise awareness about this subject as much as possible #no fucking excuses

[mentallyshattered]

Everyday Freak of Science: part 6

(I, the author of this work, do not consent to this work being crossposted/translated without my knowledge or used to train an AI, ever.)

Masterlist

"Azul, calm yourself. I can explain."

"You better, Jade," Azul starts up, "because doing what it sounds like you're doing is not something I am willing to tolerate."

"Mister Melanopterus has not been eating things he can digest. Upon realizing what he was doing, I took the matter into my own hands. Evidently, I misjudged something."

"Misjudged something?"

The housewarden sighs. "Misjudged what?"

Jade starts petting my hair. It's a nice sensation, and I allow myself to relax into his soft, comforting touch. "What additional affects there may be aside from a dislike of edible food that could cause an apex predator to starve themself."

"Rephrase that."

"I failed to consider that what could have made a blacktip reef shark intentionally avoid eating meat would also affect them when eating properly."

"Dumb it down, Jade."

Jade sighs. "Whatever causes an individual to avoid eating edible food must be traumatic to have that effect. Traumatic events tend to have multiple effects, and food-related traumatic events are bound to cause problems when eating. If these problems are significant enough, the individual may starve themselves. I only saw the starving part, and failed to consider that its cause was significant issue when eating correctly."

Jade then tilts his head. "I was under the impression that you were intelligent enough to understand me the first time. You usually are- has something changed?"

Azul fixes his glasses, sounding only a little annoyed now. "No. In fact, I did understand you the first time, but the noise means we are almost certainly going to have to fill out an incident report, and I don't trust Crowley to understand sentences of that complexity. Do not tell anyone I said that- and that goes for you both."

Jade and I nod before I shove my head back into the wall of muscle that is this triangle-toothed boy.

"Requiem. How do you feel?"

"I'm fine now, Jade."

"Jade? Jaaaaaaade? Where did you go?" The voice on the other side of the door is clearly annoyed, and apparently belongs to someone who's looking for Jade.

The doorknob turns and clicks a bit. I'm hit with the realization that the door is locked. Whoever's on the other side keeps trying for a few minutes, but soon gets bored and goes back to shouting for Jade.

...At least, that's what I think they do. Instead, just a few retreating footsteps later, the voice audibly grins. "Juuust kidding! I know you're in there, Jaaaade."

With that, the door opens. I can't see who comes through, but I can hear his conversation with Azul.

"Floyd! You know you aren't supposed to break things!"

"Eeh? I didn't break anything."

"Then what are you holding?"

"...A doorknob."

"My doorknob! To this room! Fix that right now!"

"Okaaay, octy-chan."

"And don't call me that!"

Jade stands up. I stand with him, keeping my face buried in his school uniform jacket and my arms wrapped tight around his waist. Before I can properly register what's going on, a hand threads into my hair.

"Be gentle." Jade's voice.

Entirely disregarding that, I am then yanked away from the person I've been clinging on to, and realize I am face-to-face with what looks like a fake Jade. This imposter doesn't fool me, though- his piercing is on the wrong side, and his eye colors are swapped from those of the real Jade. The streak of black in his otherwise teal hair is on the wrong side, and his eyes are tilted downwards instead of up.

So, naturally, I do the first thing anyone in my situation would do: bare my teeth, cling on to Jade harder with one arm, and sucker punch the fake with the other.

"Excuse me!" Azul shouts immediately when he registers that I've socked someone, clearly not realizing there's a fake Jade in the room. "Don't!"

The imposter's previously carefree expression quickly shifts to one of barely-restrained rage, and then Jade- the real Jade- talks.

"Floyd, don't. Requiem, for future reference, that was a terrible idea."

"Jade, he's impersonating you!"

"What?"

"Floyd" bursts out laughing, as does Azul. Jade is still too suprised-looking to react for a few moments, but he soon joins the other two with quiet snickers that soon become manic laughter. Only I am left utterly baffled by whatever the fuck is going on here.

"I apologize, this is entirely unprofessional." I can hardly make out his words; he's laughing so hard. Azul apologizing isn't what I expected; I more thought the fake would have to say sorry.

What if this fake Jade got caught and turned over a new leaf? Maybe then they gave him a name of his own- a middle-aged white guy's name, as punishment. That might make sense.

Well, only one way to find out!

"So you named your doppelganger, Jade?"

The three of them laugh harder. I'm pretty sure Jade is struggling to breathe, and, given that he's still holding me, I can't really breathe as well as I usually can, either. Then again, I'm on land, and I normally can't breathe on land at all.

For what feels like days, the three of them just laugh. Then, finally, Azul stops laughing for long enough to stop entirely, recompense himself, and talk.

"There is no imposter. The supposed doppelganger is Jade's twin brother, Floyd Leech. I take it the two of you have not met?"

Oh. Twins? That... makes a lot of sense. They must be fraternal- identical twins would surely have identical eyes, not mirrored in color and different in tilt. They look extremely similar for fraternal, though...

"Ah, they have now. As if anyone could impersonate me..." Jade says the last part very quietly, but I still hear. Big whoop, I was clinging on to him for dear life just an hour ago. Probably. These three were laughing for way too long, and I have a horrid sense of time. I'm not sure why.

Maybe this place has a library with psychology books...I'll check later.

"Ahaha! Good ol' Jade. Nee, why's this blackie-tip in here? Tryin' to scare me?" Floyd leans right into my face, triangular teeth on display. Most humans would probably fear him in my situation. However, I am no human. The nonshark DNA within my every cell was handcrafted, bit by bit, and added to a shark embryo, cell by cell. I was their greatest achievement. Their 18th lab's pride and joy, alive without machine assistance since March 16, sixteen years ago.

"Firstly, dear brother, this is a blacktip reef shark. Secondly..."

Something I don't like settles in my gut. How could I forget? All I've kept down is a single cuttlefish tentacle.

Crap. It's going to be a while.

#disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland #disney twst #m!yuu #twst yuu #twst jade #twst floyd #twst azul #twst #Everyday Freak of Science

[andie-cake]

validation received, new story idea time

So, this story (going under the working title "Unplugged From Mann" until I think of something less stupid) follows Sulien Barlow, a freelancer living in a city called New Redmond. More often than not, Sulley is called in as a private investigator bc it's better than relying on the local authorities most of the time. One day, he is tasked with heading to the HQ of Mann Enterprises- a corporation based in New Redmond that specializes in the research and treatment of insomnia, to investigate these dream suppressant pills (I don't have a name for them yet shhhh) that Mann has supposedly been trying to bury the manufacturing of.

But, as one would probably expect, Sulley ends up sticking his nose where it doesn't belong, and uncovers something sinister.

Specifically, Sulley ends up stumbling upon a kid- no older than 17 from the looks of them, sleeping in some sort of suspended animation pod with heavy restraints. According to some documents he finds around the room, the kid's name is Briar Nash, and they've been in that chamber for about 3 weeks.

Getting an uneasy gut feeling about the whole situation, Sulley ends up freeing Briar from the pod and waking them up, only to be met with a kid that's in a state of clear terror and confusion. See, apparently in their slumber, Briar was plugged into some sort of simulation in which a hulking masked individual kidnapped and brutally tortured them over the course of 3 years, despite all signs pointing to them having only been in that chamber for, again, 3 weeks. And when I say "brutally", I mean "Briar was under the impression that they were missing an eye and multiple fingers when they woke up despite being completely unharmed in the real world" brutal. And to top it all off, Briar now has partial amnesia of their life pre-simulation, so they have no idea why they were in there to begin with. One thing is clear, though. This little experiment was not consensual on Briar's end.

Of course, the workers at Mann are not pleased with this dude snooping around and freeing their captive. So now, Sulien has to deal with this sketchy corporation stalking and harassing him and his family. And obviously, he must help Briar recover their memories of their old life, figure out just what Mann was doing with that weird computer simulation anyhow, and perhaps put together what those dream suppressants have to do with all this.

Easier said than done when Sulley's new deeply-traumatized charge is still seeing their virtual tormentor in TV and computer screens, and that said tormentor may not be as virtual as they initially thought.

or something like that, it's still a little rough.

[findusinaweek]

Annotated Alexidas playlist, as inspired by @aeide and @ainulindaelynn. I don't organize or layout when writing or making art most of the time, but I do make playlists to keep myself on track. Beneath cut is explanations, headcanons, justifications. I finally got it to work.

Run Boy Run - Woodkid. Alexios leaving Sparta as a child, running for his life. 

Show Him The Ground - Iron and Wine. Boys learning to fight. Rethinking whether learning to fight makes you a strong individual: “Would it make you feel much better to show him the ground?”

Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome - The Mountain Goats. My inner mantra while writing Alexios.

Korinth - The Flight. Because Korinth is lifechanging for them. 

Ancient Kithera - Kalia Lyraki, Assasins Creed. I like to imagine things playing in the background while they go about their daily lives.

A Spartan Fight - The Flight, Assasin's Creed, Mike Georgiades. Just seems right. I am sure it is not what plays when they meet, but I cannot remember and title wise it makes sense in this order.

Blood Royal - The Mountain Goats. "I remembered you/ I remembered where you come from". Brasidas recognizing who Alexios is, as a Myrinne's son.

How I Get myself Killed - Indigo De Souza. "I need to be kicked/maybe fucked/maybe told I'm in the way./ This is probably how I get myself killed". Brasidas on meeting Alexios. He isn’t wrong. 

Braid - Perfume Genius. "Secret is braided/ In between". What made me write Braid. I wanted to explore the intimacy I heard in this song.

Brasidas - The Flight, Assasin's Creed, Mike Georgiades. Ya know. I just picture him smiling at Alexios. 

Ancient Celebration - Kalia Lyraki, Assasins Creed. More background music. I think they should drink together while this plays, share soft smiles at each other. 

Epitrotos & Iambos - Petros Tabouris, Panos Stefos. More background music.

cherubim - serpentwithfeet. I like to think of love and devotion, how they can twine together to make something so strong that it is a bit off-putting (the song being in a minor key). "I get to devote my life to him/I get to sing like the cherubim./ Boy every time I worship you/ My mouth is full of honey". Sure, there is innuendo, I wanted that. But the song is tense, while the lyrics are full of longing and praise. I think that is how Alexios feels about Brasidas.Not me listening on repeat and learning to draw dick for Alexidas. 

Procession of the Olympians - Michael Levy. Background music.

An Angry Blade - Iron & Wine. "Who left you so?" and "You're an angry blade and you're brave but you are alone". Brasidas understands what it is to be a soldier, but he sees something in Alexios that he does not often see in other fighting men. He wants Alexios to let it go. It reminds him of Deimos.

A Happy Family - The Flight, Assasins Creed, Mike Georgiades. This is my favorite song on the ost! I wrote about it before, but I love the shift at 2:51. It's like Myrinne's theme, but...wrong? I like to read it as Alexios being unsure if a happy family is possible (I do not play him as forgiving his father, and if I can stand to continue after Amphipolis, he will not spare his sister. I need to play that at least once. Catharsis?). Can also be read as hopeful, determined to make a happy family possible. But I like drama and being sad.

Die 4 You -Perfume Genius. Alexios' devotion, love as something that pushes you offbalance. This a song apparently about erotic asphyxiation , so sure, maybe it's that too. I don't know.

Safe with Me - Soap&Skin. "No love can be safe with me". Alexios worries about whether it is possible to be good for a partner in a relationship. Whether he, with his job as a mistios and the cult at his back, can be safe for Brasidas. If he had a therapist, he’d probably worry about being too traumatized or something of the sort. But unfortunately, he only has Barnabas (who tries his best).

My Boy (Twin Fantasy) - Car Seat Headrest. "My boy/we don't see each other that much/ It'll take some time/ But sometime down the line/ We won't be alone". Alexidas pining. You know. When you are gay and long distance. As one does. 

Valley of the Two Kings - The Flight. Sparta stuff.

Alan - Perfume Genius. GUYS. GUYS. GUYS. This is it. THIS is what I think a good relationship looks like. This is everything I love about being in love. "Did you notice/ We sleep though the night./ Did you notice babe?/ Everything's all right". The joy and surprise of being queer and safe with someone you love. The utter shock at everything being ok. Feeling comfortable in your own skin. (Also I SAW Perfume Genius live and SAW Alan and hooo boy he has nice piano hands, good finger posture. I was entranced. I stared throught he strobe light at his fingers. It freaked out my ex. I do not have good finger posture. I get it, Mike Hadras. Your boyfriend is amazing. )

bless ur heart -serpentwithfeet. Arguably my favorite love song. Having a love that inspires others, that gives each other strength. Knowing you can be safe in that love? Alexios and Brasidas for each other. "Boy, whoever reads about how much I adore you/ I hope my words bring them something new". Being open about your love, having it become something that is passed on. Yeah. That’s some good shit. 

Something to Cry About - Daniel Rogers, Ensemble de Organographia. Background music, somewhat unsettling. As Herodotos tells you constantly: There is much to do, and many unknowns on the horizon.

Two Men In Love - The Irrepressibles. "Will you lay down your armor/ and be with me forever?". Well? Is that something they can ask of each other? Is love stronger than duty? Can you put both together? 

Forget About - Sibyelle Baiar. "You make me forget about/Past and pain". I think they are an island to each other. I think they are healing for each other. “You do me good”. 

Sparta- The Flight. Background music again. Good stuff. 

Wood Boy- serpentwithfeet. Alexios' thinking about bottoming. That’s it. 

Coast - Shannon Lay. OH wow, I have many thoughts about this song. I listen to this and picture Alexios thinking about how Deimos fought Brasidas at Pylos. "She came for you/ But now you're gone and I'm afraid for you, my friend". Alexios (and I) get weird about the sea: "Darling I am telling you I belong by the sea" for some reason (this is a reoccurring theme in my headcanons). He did not belong by the sea, he belonged by Brasidas side, but here we are. We are stuck at the coast. 

Bounty - Tiny Ruins. "Hey, I'm on the run/ Didn't I say I go where I want?" First verse is Alexios as a mistios. "Yeah, You're a wanted man/There's a bounty that keeps us/hand in hand". AU where Brasidas lives and also becomes a mistios.

Heal - Soap&Skin. I don't know, they talk out their traumas and get better together? "Do we heal?" And then they do get better! “Fear used to be near here/ But won’t be anymore/ I have no fear”. 

Lost in the Dark Forest of Questioning- Michael Levy. Background music that makes me think they get lost in thought together. Laying with his head in his lap, playing with each other’s hair, eating together. 

Age of Kings - The Mountain Goats. "Held you in my arms for the first time that day/ felt like god's anointed when you didn't push me away./Gold light shining on so many things/in the age of kings". Brasidas thinking of the first time he sleeps with Alexios. I think it means a lot to be mutually liked, to not have to portray Spartan ideals with a lover. Also Sparta has two kings, so...age of kings.

Historiography - The Mountain Goats. Loving despite everything going on. Cherishing time together. Not remembering all the details because you are together and you are in love and the world melts down into just the two of you.

The Woods - Daughter. Brasidas thinking about Alexios and his sister.

The Shores of Megaris- The Flight. Yup. Game music.

#Spotify #Alexidas playlist #Because I am so extra #This is a very late Brasideia 2023 post. It is also very late and I am so sleepy. I went over the limit this needs to be multiple posts.

[circular-bircular]

how... how did saying "i'm not an individual, i'm a part of one singular whole" make you guys feel more individual? genuinely do not understand. parts language implies you're not you, you're just shards of a broken whole, that every system member is not a full person and that collectively they add up to one individual, the "singlet-you-were-meant-to-be" or whatever

I would love to talk more about this!!! It’s one of my favorite parts of how we function now tbh. Sorry for the rant ahead, I’ve wanted to talk about this for so long, and this is apparently the time.

Before we used parts language, we were of the idea that Rice was the “original alter.” We were taught that by the online communities we were in, and she was forced into that role. That meant, we all felt like figments of her imagination. Which. Sucked ass.

We fought hard to be seen as our own selves. We dressed differently, we dropped our voice when male alters were out to an excessive degree (to the point of damaging our voice often). Curtis struggled so much with trying not to smoke, because at least smoking would prove he was himself, because Rice has never wanted to smoke. Trying to make ourselves be people hurt us a lot.

Eventually, we finally moved away from the “core” idea, which was gross anyways. But even seeing ourselves as our own people, we never felt like we could be. I’m my own person - but I want top surgery. If I was really my own person, I would be able to get top surgery. But I’m not! I’m stuck here with these assholes like Sierra and Debbie, and they both want these tits. So I have to fight to be myself, and the fight was with them. I fucking hated every single day, because I was fighting with someone who couldn’t even hear me half the time, because I was the one fronting. How useless right?

And then, we learned about parts language. It sounded like bullshit, to be honest. “We’re all our own person, we don’t want to be parts of a whole.” But… that’s how DID works. It’s what made the most sense. DID works out that you (as a singular identity as a singular child) are traumatized to the point of putting the pieces of yourself into multiple identities. Those dissociative identities are part of that whole.

When we first started thinking of ourselves as parts, we saw it as that “broken-parts-of-one-whole-who-we-are-meant-to-be” thing too, and that pissed us off. But… we started looking at it through the lens of functional multiplicity instead. We are who we’re supposed to be right now - because we aren’t supposed to be anything except what we want to be.

Now? Now I’m a person who wants top surgery. But because I am part of one whole, I can recognize that collectively, we don’t want that. Collectively, I have Sierra, Debra, Rice, Sie, Octavian, Ve, Avery, and now a new split yesterday who all want to keep our chest. Even Curtis feels something about it. That’s 7.5 out of 13 who want to keep our chest (for the most part - Octavian and Rice sometimes don’t like it). I can recognize that, as a part of Circ (our name for the collective system), I want my chest off because we are collectively queer, but maybe we aren’t fully a trans man like I am. Does that mean I’m not a trans man suddenly? Fuck no!!! I still exist!

But now, my voice matters. Before, I was constantly fighting to be my own person. I didn’t WANT what the others wanted. And I was fighting them - now? Now I’m fighting with them. Now I can have a conversation about my desires, and they understand my pain. Before, Debra didn’t understand my desire to get rid of my chest, because she was trying to make the body hers. She was her own person and was trying to live like it. Now? Now she understands that, as part of this collective, I am part of her. Deep down, there was a part of her that wanted to be a man. That part was so, so strong, it split into me - the depressed closeted trauma holder who she used to see as pathetic, because all she could see was how much better she was.

If I’m her, and she’s me, and we’re part of this whole? How could we ever hate each other? (We’re dating now.)

By using parts language, I got listened to. I didn’t have to fight to be me. None of us did! And… that led to us being able to use our energy to actually exist. Rather than putting all of his energy into sexual jokes and dropping his voice, Curtis really found a love for voice acting. Does it matter that some of us share that interest? Not anymore! Makes perfect sense! Before, he would get so twisted up because “but if Wade likes this too, that means I’m not my own person.” Now he can recognize that, not only would multiple parts of a whole clearly like some of the same things, but. Different people can also like the same things!!! So - we are no longer having to fight to be our own people.

Aaa sorry I’m just gushing over parts language now. I gotta make dinner but:

TL;DR: We tried out core theory and it hurt us irrevocably. We tried “we’re all separate people” and had to fight, hard, to try and be individuals. It was only once we called ourselves parts of one whole that we could stop fighting each other, which gave us the chance to grow into our own interests, and say “fuck you” to doubts we had about being our own people.

#parts language my beloved #i want to kiss parts language on the mouth #syscourse #parts language #i still use alters btw #i still refer to us as different people sometimes #it’s not an all or nothing deal #but it IS beautiful #asks #anon

[princeescaluswords]

I’ve read your content for years & always appreciated your POV & interrogation of TW fandom’s relationship w/Scott. Your recent post about compiling your work & the 3 points you listed as hypotheses intrigued me. Know that it’s with respect that I write to you (and full understanding if you decide to ignore this, if you’re not looking for this kind of feedback). 1/4

I am absolutely looking for all sorts of feedback. Indeed, I'll address each of your posts individually. But as I thought about how to answer them, I came across this author's note on an untagged story. I don't have any problem reproducing this here any more than I would have a problem quoting from the preface of a published book. (I'll supply the link if requested in DMs.)

I have never watched Teen Wolf. However, I have seen a compilation of Derek and Stiles scenes from the show (which is what sparked my interest in this pairing in the first place). My knowledge of canon is based on the thousands of fics I have read; and honestly, the majority of what I learned about canon was traumatic for me.

Which leads me to my next point. Whilst there are Argents in this fic, Kate is not one of them. Even saying her name makes my stomach churn. I like a villain as much as the next guy, but this character is just too dark (and this is coming from someone who likes DC Comics). I also don’t like any of the other canon relationships from the show concerning Stiles or Derek, so they’ve all been omitted.

I was scared to use either John or Noah as the Sheriff’s name as there seems to be a particularly big divide over that within the fandom. I decided to use John, headcanoning it as the Sheriff’s nickname, derived from Stiles’ frequent quip of the expression ‘Go get em’ Johnny Law’; and Noah being the Sheriff’s birth name.

This is depressing, to be quite honest, especially considering the fact that the writer can label this story Teen Wolf fanfiction and apparently know nothing of the show. How can the writer claim they find Kate's character 'gut-wrenching' if they've never actually watched her? How can they claim they don't like any of the other canon relationships for Derek or Stiles for the same reason? And even if you think that's acceptable, how do you feel about the fact that they made up their minds about a completely fabricated conflict over the Sheriff's name -- it's NOAH -- because of a line supposedly uttered by Stiles that he never actually said.

Of course, the weirdest part of this is that for the Teen Wolf fandom, this is not actually that weird! But that leads me to think -- has any other fandom created this sort of twisted parallel dimension and then passed it off as the real thing? This author has created headcanons for other people's headcanons, and I'm pretty sure that they bizarrely can't tell the difference between the television show and the fandom at all.

So, I'm asking for examples of this level of bizarreness. Has any other fandom succeeded at completely duping others into a deceptive paranarrative to this degree?

#anti sterek #fandom problems #teen wolf fandom problems

[avcnturine]

does aventurine's personality reflect more of his innate traits or the environment he's been exposed to? how have these factors played a role in shaping his character?

〈　　　from　　∶　　　　𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍 𝐌𝐈𝐂　/　🇦​🇨​🇨​🇪​🇵​🇹​🇮​🇳​🇬​　　〉

this is a tough question to answer i think because we don't really get much sense of what is aventurine's " innate personality ". we don't know what he was like as an infant or toddler to try and make an argument ; the earliest we see him, he's already likely around age 7 or 8, which is more than enough time for beliefs and behavior to be shaped by his surroundings.

i think one of the things we do see is that a lot of his worldview is shaped by the tenets he was taught growing up :

—　aventurine himself tells us that before his parents ( mother, specifically, since his father died before he was born ) passed, they taught him that " friends are the weapons of the avgin people " — an " us vs. them " worldview that condones and encourages the necessary leveraging of people in the out-group to ensure one's own survival.

even though, frankly, i think his flashback scenes give us too much of a watered-down view of the avgins ( in a very black and white ' jrpg ' kind of way to make the player feel sympathetic for aventurine ), i don't think aventurine is lying about where he picked up this worldview thanks to other texts giving us hints that the avgins do appear to value deception, cleverness, and theft. their prayer to gaiathra triclops makes this apparent, as well as the avgins' worship of gaiathra triclops herself being as, among others, a deity of trickery.

it's clear that despite how far behind him aventurine has left his former life on sigonia, and the various other environments that've impacted him since ( his enslavement, the ipc, becoming a stoneheart ), he still roots a lot of his core beliefs in that early formative culture taught by his family and his tribe. but that doesn't mean all of his present personality is shaped by it.

—　the other thing i do want to talk about in terms of how aventurine shapes himself is the self-fashioning he does ; and in particular, the way he fashions himself after identities and events that should be heavily traumatic. did you ever notice that so much of aventurine's current persona comes directly from his former slavemaster that he himself brutally killed in order to end his own imprisonment?

from his character teaser, we see that said former master wore a thumb, middle finger, and pinky ring, and a wristwatch, on his left hand.

aventurine wears middle finger and pinky rings, and a ( fancier ) wristwatch on his right hand in an almost perfect mirror.

indifferent male: sorry, but that won't do. don't forget your place, slave. you're not qualified to be at the table. indifferent male: you're just a chip, a life thrown away in someone else's hands. either you come back with more chips for your master, or... you never come back. indifferent male: it's all or nothing. don't embarrass me, my lucky hound.

using gambling metaphors and terminology, referring to people or knowledge as chips to be leveraged, and even his signature motto also all were part of his former master's vernacular. i don't think it's a coincidence that this language was used identically by the first individual who shaped and defined his sense of self-worth outside of the tiny pond that was sigonia.

for the first time, aventurine saw what he was worth in the scope of the whole ocean — and we see this continue to bind him mentally even after he's physically free ( he continues to seek the remaining thirty tanbas of his purchase cost from jade, to the point that he set up an entire enterprise to deceive the ipc in order to get in front of her to ask for just that ), and long past that as well, as i'd argue that he still struggles to wash out the sense of that stain.

taking up his former master's outward flaunting of wealth was a conscious decision — it was a way for aventurine not only to demonstrate that he could match and surpass the person who'd been above him, but also for him to compartmentalize and exert control over a situation in which he had none and was subject to others' whims. the only other option is to continue living in the shadow of that time. but possessing those trademarks of his master allows him to do just the opposite: he reclaims a situation in which he had no agency and turns it into something that belongs to him. i would argue this is a form of ptsd.

taking up his former master's way of talking was less conscious, and instead more an indication of just how deeply the man's treatment of him, as well as the culture and mindset of his slave holdings ( since he does mention being a prolific slave buyer who pimps out his possessions to rake in money rather than using the slaves himself, so i'm assuming he had numerous at any time ), embedded a certain view of self, view of others, and view of the world in aventurine subconsciously. this is more indication of how deep of a psychic impact that period of time had on him.

#◟〈 ♠ 〉 bluff，or double bluff? ━━ ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑛﹒🝊 #ik it sounds like the answer is “ mostly nurture ” but its bc like i said we just don't get anything that could help indicate nature #aside from kakavasha being already old enough to be shaped by surroundings i also don't like pulling from young!aven as evidence of nature #bc tbh again the player is meant to feel sympathetic for aventurine and to like him after 2.1 #making kakavasha sweet and innocent and making all his flashbacks so sad by painting the avgins in such a simple light #is all part of creating that pathos. plus give me a single child years flashback of an older ( esp. greyer ) character in a jrpg where- #-they aren't shown to be sweet and innocent to tug players heartstrings SKJNFJGNFG #i just don't find it very realistic given what we're told about the avgins so ult. i find it kind of unreliable to pull from #anyway all that to say THANK U SARA sknskSDSKJ #ik u dont even know aven so i appreciate you sending smth in as support anyway hahahaha #this is the last of them. cheers to everyone who helped me out!

[oraclememehacker]

So, I mentioned that I watched an NHK documentary that talked about Hikikomori's and how Japan has an issue of these people who have isolated themselves from society so much that they basically don't exist, and are dying because of it. Whilst a lot of the documentary goes into older individuals who had been relying on their aging parents and having that support structure suddenly disappearing, I think some of the stuff still applies to Futaba.

Mainly the reasons for why some of these people became how they were in the first place. A lot of the time, they went through a traumatic event, a family member dying or not having steady employment, or just losing their job because of various reasons that they basically gave up. I wish there had been more talk about the mental health aspect of it but I digress.

Futaba went through a hell of a traumatic event. She lost her support structure in her mom Wakaba, and got so gaslit that she believed that she was the reason for her mom's death. Combine that with the frankly abhorrent treatment that her family gave her, she withdrew and gave up on everything.

Another aspect that was talked about was how these people didn't feel like they deserved help and would actively refuse help even though they were on the verge of death. Whilst Futaba didn't go that far, she did feel like she didn't deserve to be helped and couldn't trust anyone, not even herself really. She was in a small bubble and couldn't see herself out.

And it's not like Futaba wasn't given some sort of help. Sojiro tried everything in his power to help. He tried to get doctors to see what was going on with her and to make sure she wasn't dealing with malnutrition presumably. The few times he was able to get a doctor to see her, she was apparently fine. Even though clearly she was going through hell mentally. But she was "fine" physically. Even though she had little energy, slept a lot and ate nothing but ramen, snacks, curry and energy drinks/coffee.

Sojiro ended up just having to give Futaba whatever she wanted whenever she wanted because he couldn't figure out what else to do to help her. Remember the whole aspect of Sojiro getting sudden phone calls and walking out?

That was kind of addressed in the documentary where you had these parents who basically did the same thing and it created a ton of stress and friction in the family. And once they died, the Hikikomori ended up going through whatever savings their parents had over time. (Sojiro had a lot of money thanks to the government, remember?)

Bare in mind though, Futaba also knew that she had stuff wrong with her and deep down knew the truth but buried it. She was searching out the truth through her Medjed account (that was what Medjed was before the government used it in their plot to trap the Phantom thieves. I wonder if that was a coincidence or not. That feels like a whole post on it's own though)

If Futaba hadn't gathered up the courage to get help through the phantom thieves, I believe she would have ended up like some of those who were mentioned; spending decades locked up in their room ( if she hadn't ended up dying because of her guilt before then.) forgotten, alone and falling through the cracks of society because there's only so much that social workers can do to help these people. Can't force them to get help, can't get them on disability, and so on.

I know this is all depressing to think about but man, watching that documentary made me think a bunch about Futaba and the real struggle that these sorts of people go through. And made me think a bit about my own reclusiveness. I'm not up to that point, nowhere near it but I do deal with not interacting with people a lot. But yeah, there's my rambling thoughts about Futaba once again. I believe Futaba's struggles were absolutely based on real life Hikikomori in some capacity.

#Looking into the Source Code (OOC) #long post #death tw

[timdrake-yumm]

I’ve come to realize that there are several different types of Tim Drake fans, that can all be sorted different ways, but I’m going to sort them this way:

Hate/Dislike Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Damian Wayne: idk if this is a result of cancel culture or what, but the fact that they’ve all wronged him at least once is apparently the worst thing in the universe, as though not everyone has done something that could be perceived as wronging Tim at some point in comic history. I hate to break it to you guys, but y’all are extremely biased, and Tim isn’t so innocent either

Hate/Dislike Jason Todd and Damian Wayne: This is because they both tried to kill Tim at one point and you haven’t been able to let it go. While this is more valid than the last one, I still think you need to chill with the character hate, they’ve both been through some pretty traumatic stuff and we’re mostly not in their right minds when they did that. I mean, I’m not saying it’s okay that they tried to kill Tim, but they’re also fictional representations of what might occur if you came back to life after having died only to see all your insecurities thrown at your face, or if you were raised by a murder cult.

Hate/Dislike Damian Wayne: Now this group of people likely fall into the mentality that because at one point Tim hero-worshipped Jason, he must not have hard feelings for him, and therefore neither should you. But also you can’t forgive the 10-year-old for acting on his traumatized, raised-by-a-murder cult mentalities, like any 10-year-old has the ability to think outside their biases born from the childhood they were provided.

Love/Like ALL the robins: You either believe that Tim wouldn’t hold hard feelings, so neither should you, or you realize they’re all fictional characters who hold the fatal flaw of having flaws and not being perfect individuals.

I’m not saying that any of this is 100% accurate or anything, and you could probably throw some variations of adding Bruce, Stephanie, or even Alfred into the mix, but these are the thoughts that I had while taking a shower yesterday and have only just now put into typing.

Anywho, basically, there are people who don’t like Dick Grayson because of what happened when Dick gave Damian Robin, and while I see your perspective, and I don’t agree with his actions at the time, Dick was a desperate, young adult who just lost his second father and was thrust into a role and burden he never wanted. Of course he made mistakes, anyone would! I don’t believe he was ever trying to alienate Tim the way it ended up being. (Side note: the wanting to put Tim in Arkham is fanon, and should not be used as a reason for disliking Dick. I believe there was mention of therapy, but that’s it, and while it’s extremely hypocritical of Dick to suggest therapy while not being willing to go himself, it’s not like he was exactly wrong. They all need therapy; even before everyone he loved was dying around him Tim needed therapy. You probably need therapy too.)

For everyone who dislikes Jason Todd, I see your reasoning, I really do. He took his hurt and pain out at being replaced and unavenged out on Tim and likely did some pretty heavy psychological damage whilst doing so. It’s a bit hypocritical of him to be so upset about being replaced when he 1. Doesn’t know the full story and/or 2. Was a “replacement” himself. But you have to remember that none of this is really about Tim. Maybe that makes it worst, maybe that makes it better, but it’s the truth. Jason literally died and came back to life, and the minute he gains complete thought he realizes he’s been in the hands of the League of Assassins, and that his torturer and murderer is still out there causing harm to everyone he can. Was he wrong to take all of this out on Tim? Yes, obviously, Tim was just trying to help and honor Jason’s legacy. Does he deserve a chance to make it up to Tim and be better? Also yes. Batman preaches about second chances, which is part of the reason why he doesn’t kill, but to me that’s like being someone who’s never been a victim of rape or abuse, and telling someone who has been a victim of rape or abuse that they’re wrong for being traumatized and that they should forgive their rapist or abuser and just get over it. That’s not how trauma works, and even if you’re against killing someone yourself, you don’t get to tell a victim how to protect themselves from those who harmed them. Locking him up didn’t and doesn’t work, and all he’s doing is creating more victims without any inclination towards change or remorse.

Sorry, that went into a bit of a rant that nobody asked for. Not that anybody asked for any of this, of course. Anywho, the point of all that was to say that Jason Todd is a victim. I’m not saying that Tim isn’t a victim, and that he shouldn’t also get the same allowances as Jason of course. Tim also went through a very traumatizing experience, he should get to do what makes him feel safe. (Another side note: forgiving someone and putting yourself back into a harmful situation are two different things. You can forgive someone and also want to never have to see them again. That’s valid, and even if that person isn’t actively trying to harm you anymore, their presence in and of itself can still be harmful.)

This all leads into Damian Wayne. I mentioned before that Damian showed up as a traumatized 10-year-old straight out of being raised by a murder-cult. Damian, like Jason, is a victim and deserves the chance to grow and change. Tim is also a victim, and deserves not to constantly be in a state of Danger. So what does this mean? I’ve seen some people mention that Damian is never actually punished for any of his harmful actions. And I’ve seen other people wonder how you plan on punishing the traumatized 10-year-old. I’m not a parent, but I am currently studying psychology, and I believe some of the same stuff applies. You can’t just throw Damian in jail or ground him or something, that’s never going to work, and will only alienate him further— reducing his likelihood of listening and being open to change. Damian needs to be shown that his actions have consequences though (Look at me acting like he’s a real person). You can’t just hear/see him actively trying to harm someone and be like :( bad Damian. That just tells him that he’s never going to be punished for his actions, and can therefore get away with it. You need a balance, and to also recognize that Tim is allowed to be defensive and not want to be in the same room as Damian. You see Damian do something wrong? He’s benched from being Robin, and you explain that this is not what Robin represents and that Robin doesn’t bring harm to innocents. However, when you see him do something good? You reward him. Now you have positive reinforcement showing that certain actions have benefits. Damian is a victim of his past, but he’s also a child emulating what he knows. There’s a difference between not punishing him for being a victim, and teaching him to not create his own victims.

And that has been my unwanted and unasked for rant about the robins. Another side note, but if you create media that depicts any of the robins or Bruce, or any DC character in a negative light, I’m not telling you to stop. I can think that they don’t accurately depict who the characters are suppose to be and still love reading the angst.

#dc #dc comics #tim drake #jason todd #dick grayson #damian wayne #bruce wayne #batfam #batfamily #rant post #mini rant #sorry for the rant #tw mentions of rape #tw mentions of abuse #tw mentions of murder #disclaimer I’ve read very little comics #but I’m working through them #feel free to lmk what y’all think #add onto this if you’d like #ask questions #i have many thoughts

[timetoddddavis]

jirou x otoya

chase x gou

ankh x eiji

for ship asks?

This took me a little longer to get to, sorry!!

-Jiro and Otoya

Does it made sense? Yeah, like, more than I expected, watching Kiva. As I said when I was watching it, Jiro wants to speedrun Fuck Marry Kill with Otoya. If Jiro could fuck Otoya to death, dismember and spatter him across the walls, and then Otoya'd just pop back like a toon for Jiro to curl up around and wuffle tenderly against his neck? And they could do it all again tomorrow? Like, that would be the perfect world for Jiro. And Otoya, for his part, is so… like ok he's written with all the fun 2008 homophobia that Mister Inoue could muster but I truly feel like Otoya would/has fucked men, and he'd just say it didn't count, or like, that he's not gay because he's… receiving, or because he's topping, or because any number of reasons that would all be really dumb and contradictory. Otoya makes an excellent dog toy, I don't know, and he's a brat, and like they would be so mad at each other the whole time but like… yeah?? Otoya would love to tease Jiro until he got punished?? And then get one over on him and then they can do it all again?? Does it compel me? Yeah. I've read an AWFUL LOT OF IT, but I cannot see myself writing it.

-Chase and Gou

So, like, within the framework we have: Gou is canon bi. Gou wants to take Chase on dates. Gou has incredibly deep, complicated feelings about Chase. Gou and Chase have been like… spiritually… merged? And that (among other things) made Gou want to live for the first time in a long time. I have complicated feelings about GouChase, in the same way I have complicated feelings about Drive in general. Gou is tortured, like truly tortured, and makes horrible decisions all the time because of it. In a sense, he and Krim are on the same mission, kill all of the monsters that they made as a way of atoning for creating them. Gou obviously didn't create them himself, but he's so obsessed with his absent, abusive father that he connects himself to that guilt. (His obsession also leads him to trusting Banno, he wants approval SO BAD, it doesn't matter if his dad is a monster, the boy wants to be loved by his dad.) And I find this incredibly compelling, as a story and a character. Gou is neglected! He's abused! He's passively suicidal! He's making bad choices because NO ONE IS HELPING HIM! And it's consistent! It's good characterization! The dude is fucked up and not coming down off his hill because if he admits he was wrong Enter Chase, the one guy who is helping him. The guy who stands there and listens and prevents Gou from burning it all down and takes all of the rage Gou throws at him because he wants to be here. He wants Gou to be stable. He wants Gou to be Ok. He loves and protects him as a human being, even if Gou doesn't care about himself. I see the romance, in that. I see the appeal of 'it's rotten work, but not to me', here. And I could see my way to the idea that Gou has Uncomfortable Sexual Tension with the guy he hates, leading to romantic feelings for Chase due to his intense guilt post series. I've read some GouChase, and I've enjoyed it, but like… once they get together all the interesting parts are kinda… over for me? Their relationship is too interesting as an angst-ridden emotional exploration of a deeply traumatized individual to flatten it out into 'they live happily ever after'. AND FURTHERMORE… I just don't think Chase sees him that way. He wants to be with him? But I don't know that it's… really about that. Again, that feels like flattening out the nuances of their dynamic. And further furthermore, I actually think Chase is ace. I think all of the Roidmudes are on the ace spectrum, actually. So to sum up, I get the math it took to get here, but for me it Doesn't Make Sense, and it Does Not Compel Me. I… hope that makes sense. I apparently have a lot to say about them.

-Ankh and Eiji

I went into this in another ship meme once upon a time, so I'll be brief but basically… I get it, but it's not for me. I just don't see them as having the time or the emotional intelligence to actually be vulnerable enough to explore any kind of romantic/sexual attraction they may have had for each other. For me, that's compelling enough! Two people who care about each other in spite of their situation but never had the time to get into it? The intense tragedy of that? Of not having enough time, of always thinking you had tomorrow until all your tomorrows were gone?? That's delicious. I like that more than the idea that they were smoochin' between the scenes. So… Makes Sense, in that I see why it's so popular. Doesn't Compel Me, in that I genuinely just don't ship it.

#ship meme