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linddzz · 3 months

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Here an assortment of Facts About Morpheus in the Red Flags AU. Where I'm starting to lean more towards the version where they meet and are already into each other before the ""Fake Date"" Incident:

-Jessamy is the raven he took care of when he found her injured outside of his townhome. He now has a room with a window he often keeps open for her to fly into whenever she feels like it. I don't know how legal any of this is in London but tbh it doesn't matter because he also does not know what the laws are and doesn't care.

- His townhome is very dark maximalist in decor, which tends to surprise people at first. There are houseplants and little statues all over, and the walls are hidden behind millions of bookshelves. There is an art studio room and books scattered everywhere. Very recently, hypothetical visitors would notice a lot of child locks and child proofed areas that have a bit of a panicked "I bought every safety thing in the store bc I have no idea wtf I'm doing" energy to them.

- He has a therapist. Yes, the Morpheus that Hob meets is the upgraded version who is actually working on himself already. This is what the improved personal growth version of Morpheus is like.

Anyway, said therapist is Gilbert F. Greene. Because Morpheus going head to head with an unstoppable force of old timey adorable optimism who will also not take his shit is delightful. Dr. Greene insists on going by first names and Morpheus always makes "Gilbert" sound like a slur in retaliation. Some conversations I imagine include:

"Good morning Gilbert, you will never guess who had what you might call a """relapse into self destructive behaviors"""" last night."

"I am very sorry to hear that my dear boy. Let me say though, that I am so very proud of you for calling me! That is a phenomenal step for you and it's wonderful that you are being proactive in your recovery."

"Don't patronize me Gilbert. I will hang up."

(this ended up being super long so I'm just gonna spare y'all's dash. Warning for some lightly touched on mentions of drug use and self destructive behavior.)

- Him getting a therapist was part of the requirements for gaining visitation rights and then weekend custody once a month with Orpheus. The therapy is actually helping, and he's bitter about that.

- His given name is actually Dream, he goes by his middle name. All the Endless siblings have awful names. Desire goes by Adonai because who calls a fucking child Desire???

When Hob meets the rest of the family, Destiny goes "it's good to see you again, Dream" and Hob begins turning to Morpheus like "lmao who tf is named Dream" only to find Morpheus glaring daggers at his brother.

- The Endless parents are rarely around. Some of the siblings still live in the manor and they all use it for family dinners, but it's common for their parents to be off travelling for years at a time.

- Morpheus is an author and a painter who has a bajillion pen names to go with each genre he writes in, so it's hard to figure out exactly how much he's written. Even before becoming a father though, his face and full name is mostly associated with children's fantasy stories that he illustrates himself, and his Art vs Artist vibe is very Miyazaki.

Him and Calliope collaborated on a series of illustrated poetic translations of ancient epics. Their divorce was exactly as messy as one might imagine the divorce between two passionate artist types might be.

- His downward spiral of self destruction started before the divorce but oh boy did it nosedive during and after.

- When she got pregnant after divorce proceedings had started, there was a moment where they were both meeting with lawyers and one asked something along the lines of if this meant they would try for reconciliation and staying together. Calliope said "no" immediately.

It's not like Morpheus exactly thought they would get back together, but the speed and firmness of that hard "no" had his head screaming with white noise and some badly thought out self medication for months, which ended up being why Calliope got full custody and he is just now able to get more involved with the now two year old Orpheus.

- His rebound with Thessaly was also messy. She was just in it for a fun fling and he was... Morpheus. He found out he got dumped when she informed him she was already in the process of moving back to Greece, and Johanna said he needed to be banned from any more beautiful Greek expats from that day forth.

- No one can figure out what the deal is with him and Lucienne. The simple explanation is they're queerplatonic soul mates. Lucienne's wife Gault thinks they're a bit codependent (not an inaccurate assessment), but is more civil with him since the day she yelled at him to go get an actual therapist instead of constantly putting his shit on Lucienne, and he actually did. (It is unclear if this or Calliope demanding therapy for him to get visitation with Orpheus was his wake up call catalyst, but probably a bit of both.)

- Lucienne was originally a personal assistant. She now works as his editor since she seems to be the only person who can keep track of all the shit he's written. She is also the only person who can get away with critiquing his works in progress without sending him into a fit where he might burn all his manuscripts.

- When Morpheus started mentioning this Gadling guy a lot, Lucienne paid a visit to the pub. Not to do anything so crude as to threaten a man's life if he breaks her sensitive friend's heart. What could she do anyway? No no. She's just here to smile with zero trace of humor and ask some questions while looking him up and down through her spectacles. Hob will later describe this as one of the most pants shitting moments of his life, and he felt like he got transformed back into a primary school kid who talked slightly too loudly in the library.

- Morpheus went through a slutty phase during and shortly after University that was less of a healthy and fun exploration of his sexuality and libido, and a bit more "I will take anyone who will have me in any way they will want me and I know that if nothing else, I'm pretty."

- Him and Johanna used to have a game seeing who could get more free drinks in one night. This had to be put to an end when it turned into the catalyst for at least three screaming fights between them.

Fight subjects were

Quality vs Quantity. Morpheus insists his ability to get people to buy him a single glass of wine that costs £50 beats Johanna's cheap beers. Johanna disagreed. loudly.

Is it cheating when Morpheus ran to the bathroom to smudge on some eyeliner and then stole Johanna's lip gloss? Is it further cheating when Johanna realized that his main method of getting drinks was "act like Adonai"? Accusations that he would ever act like his horrid annoying younger sibling sent Morpheus into an absolute tantrum.

Competitiveness DID overcome sibling rivalry enough for Morpheus to go to Adonai for makeover assistance. This backfired because it made Morpheus hot to the point of intimidating, and Johanna won that night.

- After Hob starts flirting with him, Morpheus goes suspiciously into a Romantic, Pre-Raphaelite inspired art era featuring lots of noble knights with dark sunlit hair. A lot of them seem to be lured in by dark haired fae entities all La Belle Sans Merci style. It's disgustingly obvious.

-Therapy has made him juuuuust self aware enough to know that he MAYBE tends to go a bit hard and fast with romance. This makes him a little more cautious with Hob than he usually would be, and he's doing a bit of "Hob is so nice and sweet and interested but I'm gonna mess it up :(((" pining. Everyone around him is fucking sick of it. He is not self aware enough to realize he's still going super hard and fast, but this time he's doing it while sighing sadly and drawing Hob in his sketchbook all the fucking time.

#red flags au #human au #Dreamling #gonna make my pinned masterpost to organize shit later today djdjdksk

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rollinouttahere-writes · 1 month

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I was thinking about this AU where Kaku runs off with Lucky and decided to share my brainrot with the class, here you go:

Despite Kaku's fears that they would be hunted by the government until the day they died, they actually give up fairly quickly. Kaku disappeared during a Buster Call. The possibility that he died and was blown to bits is hardly unreasonable. There is a bit of a search for him given the lack of a body to confirm his death with, but after they catch up with the rest of CP9 and see he isn't with them, he's dismissed as being dead. Cipher Pol agents are so broken in and brainwashed that the World Government never even considers the possibility that he deserted. As long as Kaku stays away from locations that are frequented by the Marines/World Government, he'll continue to be considered dead.

His fellow CP9 members also assume him dead when they're unable to find him. It's shocking to them, but it's also not hard to believe that a cannonball could have taken him out after he was defeated by Zoro. It's not until they catch wind of Lucky's disappearance that they begin to question it. Kalifa and Lucci remember how fond Kaku was of her and find it more than a little suspicious that both of them vanished at Enies Lobby. But... There was a Buster Call going on. Maybe she was killed, too. That much fire power would have easily destroyed any bodies left behind. They question if he's still alive and with her, but they're never able to confirm it. They keep it to themselves when they're sought out for CP0. If he is alive... then they want him to have his peace.

Kaku's highest priority after he escapes with Lucky is to get out of the Grand Line. He knows that bouncing around the four Blues will be the best way to evade detection.

It takes Lucky about a year after her kidnapping to completely cave and settle into her life with Kaku. By that point, she is convinced that the Straw Hats have abandoned her. The hurt morphs into resentment and she goes from sad to bitter. She's so mad that she drops the nickname Lucky and reverts to using her real name again.

Lucky's tendency to latch onto any scrap of affection given to her benefits Kaku immensely. She's hurting from her perceived abandonment and clings to him like a lifeline. She was already close with him before the year mark. After it, they're acting like a normal happy couple. Kaku's sweet words and gentle touches leave her wrapped around his finger quickly and she becomes very clingy and dependent towards him.

After the year mark, she is a lot more open to Kaku's desire for children. Instead of changing the subject, she starts engaging with him on the topic. By the time the Straw Hats reunite, Lucky and Kaku could very well already have a child. Kaku wouldn't have a preference for adopted vs biological children, he's happy with whatever Lucky prefers. But if they take the adoption route, it comes with the risk of him bringing home the entire orphanage because he couldn't choose.

A reunion between Lucky and the Straw Hats would be messy. She isn't willing to listen to them or believe that they didn't abandon her. She is especially resistant if her and Kaku have a child together at that point because she wants to maintain her happy family and resents the Straw Hats for trying to break them apart.

This would be the only scenario where she truly sees their yandere tendencies. She finally sees how far they're willing to go now that they're making her do things against her will by separating her from Kaku. She's scared and feels stupid and naive for never seeing this in them before. Any attempts from the Straw Hats to bond with her again and prove that they never meant to abandon her are met with a cold shoulder. She's afraid to engage with them and just wants Kaku back. It would take months for her to start to trust them again, but she would still want to leave and go back to Kaku and becomes more and more distressed when they won't let her.

Bonus: Luffy would get very emotional upon learning about cat Ace. Even when he's frustrated with Lucky for being so stubborn, it warms his heart to know how much she also cared about Ace. He finally makes some progress in mending their relationship when he starts telling her stories about Ace from his childhood.

#lucky break #kaku one piece #i have so many thoughts about kaku and lucky help me

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linkspooky · 1 year

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BUNGOU STRAY DOGS, CHAPTER 127 THOUGHTS

There are some incredibly interesting parallels in the Akutagawa vs. Atsushi fight, and the standoff between Dosteovsky and Sigma going on this chapter. Especially in regards to how three of them are related to Dazai. Let's look at the parallels and the potential future for these characters under the cut

1. Dazai-san, Dazai-san, Dazai-san!

One of the most interesting parallels in this chapter is the relationship to Dazai that all three of these characters have. Akutagawa who Dazai recruited to the mafia, Atsushi who he recruited to the Detective Agency, and now Sigma who he chose as his item to escape from the prison and it looks like if they get out alive together he will invite to join the agency.

More specifically though, I want to analyze it in terms of Dostoevsky's statement to Sigma. That Dazai preyed upon Sigma's desire for a home, and then waved becoming a member of the detective agency over his head in order to get Sigma to do what he wants.

While it seems to be a pretty transparent ploy on Dostoevsky's part in order to get Sigma to question his alliance with Dazai, after all Sigma has him at gunpoint and apparently cornered. He would say or do anything to get out of the situation, and it's not like Dostoevsky is against manipulating people.

At the same time, I think it's Dos's statement is more along the lines of a half-lie, and half-truth. Dazai is, after all, not someone who goes around adopting orphans out of the goodness of his heart. He's not also someone who's so selfish that he only views people as tools for a larger objective. Dazai's character lies in the nuance between those two extremes.

Which is why I want to say there is a half-truth to Dos's statement. Dazai himself even confirmed this earlier, he had two reasons for recruiting Sigma, the first is that his ability will be useful, and the second is that he knew Do would kill him if he didn't choose Sigma.

The nuance lies there, you can both genuinely want to save or even care about someone, and you can also go so far as manipulate them. In general, my interpretation is that Dazai tries to manipulate people into doing what he thinks is best for them. After all, Sigma needs a place to stay, and the detective agency would be a home and a happy ending for him.

However, dirty methods for a good result doesn't always get the result you intended. Before returning to Sigma I want to briefly talk about the Atsushi and Sigma parallels. Atsushi is clearly set up as a foil to Sigma, Atsushi even goes out of his way and is especially compelled to try to save Sigma while he's falling.

Atsushi at first only saves Sigma because of the page, but then he starts to empathize with him after hearing the utter bleakness of his dying words. At which point he is personally trying to save him, causing Sigma to call him kind. Atsushi obviously also relates to those words, because he's so desperate to have a greater purpose in the world, to be an extraordinary hero rather than a nameless orphan.

Atsushi, Akutagawa, and Sigma are all orphans who have essentially had Dazai sweep into their lives and recruit them into an organization, giving them a home when they previously didn't have one. The detective agency is also, a much healthier environment for Atsushi obviously, because he's in a better place than say Akutagawa who was left behind in the mafia and spent a lot of the beginning of BSD bitter and spiraling because of that.

However, there's a pretty serious downside to the way Dazai recruited both Atsushi and Akutagawa. Akutagawa's strained relationship with Dazai is pretty obvious, so rather than dwell on that let's talk about Atsushi for a second.

Atusshi's extreme indecisiveness has been highlighted this arc over and over again. An Atsushi removed from the detective agency, and more particularly Dazai is constantly struggling to make decisions for himself. I don't believe in this case though, that Atsushi's upbringing in the orphanage is entirely to blame for this.

There are two reasons I would lay the blame for Atsushi's total indecisiveness at Dazai's feet more than anyone else.

First is, Dazai's habit is to manipulate people for their own good, but also to take away decisions from them. Second is when Dazai helps people, it's always with the unwritten implication that they now owe him for his help. Even if he doesn't directly say it, Atsushi obviously believes that he has to EARN his place in the detective agency.

This is Dazai. He nudges them in the direction that he thinks is best for them. Sometimes this takes the form of everyone just following Dazai's plan, because he's the machiavellian scheme r of the group, just Atsushi going where Dazai wants him to go, and fighting who Dazai wants him to fight. Or, like the scenes where Dazai deliberately staged a test to let Kyouka join the agency that would also make her overcome her death wish.

Sometimes, this takes the form of Dazai pitting Atsushi and Akutagawa against each other, two people who might have gotten along a lot earlier and sympathized with each other, if Dazai hadn't made them fight each other because HE THOUGHT that was the best way to make their individual abilities stronger.

Like, yes Akutagawa was in the mafia and murder is a big no-no for Atsushi, but Atsushi was able to sympathize with a murderer like Kyouka from very early on despite being aware of all her crimes. There wasn't really any reason for Atsushi and AKutagawa to fight, until Dazai made one.

However, this isn't to question the morality of Dazai's actions in making people's choices for them, but rather to point out the results. There's a reason that every. single. time. Atsushi cannot make a decision for himself he pictures Dazai suddenly showing up and telling him the answer.

By positioning himself as Atsushi's savior, and even giving Atsushi a home, Dazai's basically put himself in a position where number one Atsushi believes in a pretty idealized version of Dazai, and number Atsushi thinks he OWES Dazai. These things make Atsushi pretty obedient to Dazai in general. There's a reason that in Beast which is the darkest timeline for Atsushi, Atsushi is so paralyzingly afraid of making his own decisions he has a mental breakdown unless Dazai gives him orders to follow. He literally wears a collar that Dazai gave him.

Now, for Atsushi in the main story, aren't we witnessing him go through something similiar? Sure, he's not massacring people and breaking down in tears like White Reaper Atsushi, but every time someone throws up a roadblock on his path he literally begs Dazai to show up, and when he doesn't he imagines Dazai magically telling him what to do.

All of these subtle manipulations have made Atsushi pretty obedient to Dazai, and also, doubtful of his stability in the detective agency and left with the idea he has to earn his keep. Now in an arc where Atsushi is separted from the detective agency for a long time now, and also separated from Dazai and unable to follow his plans we are watching him continually choke underneath the pressure.

Which is where we get the results of Dazai's dirtier methods, Dazai isn't really raising Atsushi into a strong, independent adult, he's making Atsushi into a tool. I don't think his intentions are fully to use Atsushi as a tool, but rather his methods end up with that result.

There's a difference between the way Dazai takes in orphans, and the way Oda does. He says as much in Dark era.

"I have this friend who's supporting several orphans all on his own, you see," he continued his weapon still drawn and aimed at the boy. "Akutagawa, I'm sure Odadsaku would've been patient enough to give you the guideance you needed had he been the oe who found you on the brink of starvation in the slums. That would've been the "right" thing to do. But "righteousness" doesn't sit kindly to me. And there's only one thing that people like me do to useless subordinates."

Obviously, Dazai's undergone character development since then, but just compare the orphans Dazai takes in to the ones that Oda does. Oda's orphans don't have any special abilities or talents, they're just kids that he raises and supports with money. Atsushi, Akutagawa, and even Sigma all have an ability that benefits Dazai in some way.

In fact, in the AU where Oda does take Akutagawa in, despite having an incredibly overpowered ability, Akutagawa doesn't get to join the agency until he's undergone personal development and spent time with every single member to learn how to be a better person first.

Which is what Akutagawa needs, he's constantly stuck in survival mode and believes everything is a vicious battle for his life, much like Atsushi he's never been allowed to be a normal kid for a single second in his life. Beast allows Akutagawa to develop as a person rather than a Beast fighting to survive.

Dazai skips a pretty important step in their personal growth for all three of them, focusing more into shaping what he needs them to be for a greater mission.

Atsushi's still working to earn someone else's praise, Akutagawa's still ready to die for Dazai's sake because he believes that will give his life meaning, Sigma is still desperate to do anything that will give him a home. Mori, of all people in the Beast Epilogue, points out that this is the wrong way to raise a child, because you don't raise a child to be what YOU WANT THEM TO BE. You raise them so they can grow up and figure out what THEY WANT TO BE, and grow into their own person.

To give Dazai the benefit of the doubt, he's probably not doing this intentionally, but the result of it is that both Akutagawa and Atsushi are very, very compliant with his orders. After all, if they were like, free thinking adults they might disagree with him or tell him no.

Which is why while it is a good thing for Sigma to join the detective agency, and is probably the best ending for him, at the same time Dazai just dangling joining the detective agency out there to Sigma as bait to get him to do what he wants is not starting out on the right foot.

Because Dazai doesn't save people out of the goodness of his heart, he takes people in and then they owe him something back. Which is what Dos is trying to get at when undermining Sigma.

The detective agency is a much better place for Sigma, but if Sigma joins the detective agency because he think he owes Dazai, or the agency something for giving him a home, it's essentially a repeat of the way that Dos used him. Atsushi has the same desperation to continually prove himself to the agency, as Sigma once did to try to protect the casino.

2. SAVE ME!

Now to finally focus on the Sigma and Akutagawa parallels, both Akutagawa and Sigma are characters who are most likely going to finish their arcs by joining the detective agency. They are also both orphans who need to be saved.

A particularly strong parallel between the two of them is that they were both initially taken into a harmful organization, only because of their ability. Akutagawa is a starving child in the slums, but he so happened to be born with an insanely strong ability to turn his clothing into weapons which causes Dazai to fish him out of the slums and bring him into the mafia which is his current "home" so to speak. Though, a home where he has to earn his keep and is considered disposable if he's not useful.

Sigma was literally created by the book, and then found, and given a place to call home by Dostoevsky, implicitly because his ability was useful. He also once agan, put Sigma into a position where he had to earn his keep. He took advantage of the fact Sigma came from nothing and had no home, and was terrified of going back to having nothing to make him willing to risk his life and everything else to defend the sky casino.

They are both deceived into thinking they have been saved or taken in, when really they are still fighting for their own survival. It's what stunts their growth so much as people, if you're continually in survival mode, and completely insecure in your living situation and attachment to other people then how are you supposed to grow and develop as a person?

They are also essentially people who come from "nothing" though the nothing is poverty in Akutagawa's case, they're also people who were victimized by crimminal organizations, Sigma by human traffickers, and Atsushi by the port Mafia, until they were rescued by their not-so-benevolent "saviors."

They are also, both in a way resigned to their own deaths. Sigma accepts falling off of the casino to his death, and thanks Atsushi for simply TRYING to save him (please get higher standards Sigma). Akutagawa's accepted that he's going to die soon for his illness, so he's willing to put everythig on the line in a final gambit to pass Dazai's "TEST" and then make Dazai's promise that he will give meaning to Akutagawa's death.

Sigma: I never understood what I was born for.

Akutagawa: I want you to find a reason.. a meaning to my life."

They're also looking for someone else to give them the answer to themeaning of their life, and the person who promises that they feel indebted to. Sigma is of course, a little more aware than Dos is using him than Akutagawa is towards Dazai, but they both end up ultimately doing what Dos and Dazai wants them to do.

They've been taken in by someone, but they haven't been saved, which is why both of them are so easily resigned to their death. This is also where Atsushi comes in for both characters. Yes, it's Atsushi's bad habit to play hero. He saves people because he wants someone to protect, because protecting someone makes him feel like he's needed and worthy to live.

However, while Atsushi may have self-interested reasons for saving people that he doesn't seem fully aware of yet, I also believe he's more capable of relating to their personal feelings as a fellow victim than Dazai is. The moments when Atsushi truly saves someone is when he relates to them, when he exposes his own scarring and vulnerability to them in a way of saying "Hey, I'm suffering through this too that's why I want to help you."

That's why say, Atsushi's bond with Lucy just feels more natural and less codependent than his bond does with Kyouka. Atsushi didn't start with Lucy by thinking (Hey, if I protect her does that mean I'm a good boy and earn good boy points???) Also, Atsushi explicitly did not show up and save Lucy despite the fact he promised to. Because his moment of saving her wasn't showing up as a hero and rescuing her as a damsel, but relating to her feelings.

Atsushi also explicitly fails at saving Sigma. He goes the extra mile to try to save him, but Sigma falls anyway. Yet, Sigma remarks that Atsushi is kind because he empathized with the part of Sigma that believes he didn't mean anything to anyone in the world and was ultimately disposable. Which shows underneath this big hero persona that Atsushi puts on, he is genuinely someone who wants to help people who are lonely and scared just like he is.

So, Atsushi's approach to saving both Akutagwa and Sigma is different from Dazai's approach. I'm not going to say because Atsushi is more empathic and Dazai is low-empathy that Atsushi is a better person.

No, I think it's more like Atsushi tries to approach them as equals. At least, when he doesn't see them as a damsel in distress to earn good boy points, Atsushi is capable of exposing a part of himself to these people and showing them they're not alone in their suffering. Dazai is so distant to other people, he doesn't know how to relate to them on their level. Which is why he always takes control in the relationship.

Which is where we get to this chapter, Dazai isn't Akutagawa's savior. Atsushi is. This is the great narrative challenge that has been set up for Atsushi.

Atsushi and Sigma are both stuck in a situation where someone they don't udnerstand has just selflessly tried to save them for reasons they don't understand. (I won't dwell on this too long, but I think Dazai was genuinely willing to risk his life and put Sigma's life above his own, not just because Sigma's useful to the detective agency but because he's an innocent).

Atsushi doesn't understand why Akutagawa would selflessly sacrifice himself to save Atsushi. Partially, because Atsushi has been trained to see the bad in Akuatagawa rather than the good in him (hello there, Dazai).

However, on top of that I think geuniely Atsushi doesn't really understand that someone would go out of their way to save him without asking him something in return. It's not just the selfless action coming from Akutagawa that baffles him, but the selflessness of the action itself.

As for speculating for Akutagawa's reasons for saving Atsushi, I think it goes back to Atsushi's reasons for helping Lucy, there's something similiar about the wounds they've suffered in the past and Akutagawa sees that in Atsushi and relates to his pain. A lot of the attempts to connect have been on Akutagawa's part.

He comforted Atsushi the day that the orphanage headmaster died. When Atsushi challenges him not to kill people, Akutagawa genuinely keeps his end of the bargain. Akutagawa does attempt to take care of the people he sees himself in in his own way, he did it for Kyouka in a twisted way, and was genuinely happy for her when he saw she no longer wanted to die.

Atsushi tells Lucy that just letting innocent people in the street die as a part of the guild's plan, would be the same as letting the childhood versions of themselves die. It'd be repeating what was done to them. Atsushi, Akutagawa, Lucy they've all been wounded because the people in their lives who were supposed to take care of them didn't. Now, despite those wounds, all three also attempt to reach out and take care of others, because they know what being abandoned is like.

Akutagawa probably just saved Atsushi because he relates to him, coupled on top of the fact that Akutagawa knew he was going to die soon, so if one of them was going to live might as well be the one who has a life to live and a chance at happiness.

Akutagawa has also, due to the vampire's power in him, basically become a dark and twisted version of what Dazai intended him to be. Dazai scouted him for his ability, and then made his ability strong without really caring about who Akutagawa was or what his needs were as a person.

He also made Akutagawa into someone willing to die to earn his praise. Now we have Akutagawa as a literal undead zombie, that just violently attacks everything near him. He doesn't even bother to defend himself, just like Akutagawa has no regard for his own life. He just attacks, regenerates, and attacks, he's a living weapon of violence. He's a mindless zombie too, just like in his previous life he was pretty obedient to Dazai's orders.

Which is exactly the narrative challenge that is being set up here for Atsushi. Akutagawa saved Atsushi because he saw something of himself in him, but also because he believed he was going to die anyway and he was less worthy of salvation. Now it is time for Atsushi to return the favor to Akutagawa. Akutagawa won't save himself, and he won't get better with outside help, so he needs someone else to convince him that there's more to life than what he's currently seeing.

It's a narrative challenge especially because killing him would be the easier option here, Akutagawa is already dead technically, and a mindless zombie that will keep attacking everyone around him until someone puts a bullet in his brain, and then another one to double tap.

Yet, Atsushi isn't doing that. He doesn't even considering it an option. He jumps straight to trying to reason with Akutagawa even in mindless zombie mode. It's already been hinted last chapter that Akutagawa might still be in there because he didn't immediately go after Bram Stoker. Now, not only does Atsushi believe that he can reach Akuatagawa, he's actively trying to reach out for him.

Which really is just tremendous character growth on Atsushi's part. He's finally learning to see Akutagawa as a person and trying to reach that person. To do otherwise would be to abandon the child he used to be.

#akutagawa ryunosuke #atsushi nakajima #bsd meta #bungou stray dogs meta #bungou stray dogs #bsd 107 #bungou stray dogs 107 #bungou stray dogs 107 spoilers #bsd 107 spoilers #dazai osamu #sskk #shin soukoku

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dalooneylass · 3 months

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A personal tweak to the Zelda Timeline

So basically I’ve been thinking about LinkedUniverse and been doing some sorta LU fanart and THAT had me thinking about the Zelda Timeline, and more specifically how it would make more sense if Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures swapped Timeline placements. And that’s what this post is about.

Why I feel FS would work better if it came after FSA in the Timeline and vice versa.

So reason number one is how Vaati is characterised in FSA & MC vs how he’s characterised in FS. In the former games, Vaati is shown to be power hungry and Cunning, like when he imprisoned and then impersonated the king in order to both find the Light Force, and stop Link in MC. And while he’s not the MAIN villain and is being manipulated by Ganon in FSA, I think it’s save to say that he’s still in control of his own actions, and was likely scheming up his own plans independently of Ganon, and I might add that in never of theses games has he ever shown interest in Zelda, never even called her pretty. Then we get to FS and suddenly Vaati has gone insane and is suddenly girl crazy and wants to marry Zelda, like, do I need to say more? He goes from Intelligent & Power Hungry, to Insane & Girl Crazy, and then back to Intelligent & Power Hungry. This Sudden change in character makes a lot more sense if FS came after FSA, as then he would be going from Intelligent & Power Hungry in MC, then staying that way in FSA, only to go mad from being sealed in the Four Sword for so long that he can’t even remember who he used to be in FS. Plus the new Timeline placement means that the fairytale mentioned at the beginning of FS suddenly becomes a reference to FSA, in which Vaati is partially implicit in Zelda’s and the Shrine Maidens kidnappings.

Reason number two is how the Gerudo are characterised in FSA vs OoT & BotW/TotK. Again It’s the issue of them going from Fierce Warrior Women in OoT, to Peaceful Desert Dwellers in FSA, and then back to being Warrior Women in BotW / the ancient past of TotK. This would, again, make more sense if FSA swapped Timeline placements with FS, because then the Gerudo are going from Peaceful Desert Dwellers, to Warrior Women, and then staying like that for all their later appearances in the Timeline, and since Twinrova is at least 360 year old, they very well may be the reason for this shift, as they have been manipulating the Gerudo tribe for a long time. This would also mean that FSA is now the game in which Ganon gets his Trident weapon that he uses in most of his future appearances.

And speaking of Ganon the third reason is Ganon’s reasoning for invading Hyrule + Shadow Link’s actions in FSA. In the Hyrule Encyclopaedia, the reason given for Ganon’s invasion of the kingdom of Hyrule is that he’s bitter over his defeat at the hands of the Hero of Twilight at the end of TP, and that Shadow Link, is a being born from that bitterness and brought into the world using the Dark Mirror. Now this is, in my opinion, kinda stupid. Cuz not only is the Ganon from FSA a different incarnation of Ganondorf than the Ganondorf that appears in TP and therefore shouldn’t be able to recall those events, but Shadow Link, (a being born from Ganon’s resentment) actions in FSA don’t really lend themselves to this explanation ever. Shadow Link, or I should say the Shadow Links in Four Swords Adventures only attack Link in certain stages, and when they aren’t doing that, their off harassing the citizens of Hyrule, smearing Link’s good reputation in the process. To me, if Shadow Link was born from Ganon’s resentment of being defeated in TP, then Shadow Link should be more focused on defeating the Colours, and not off tormenting the rest of Hyrule. Shadow Link’s actions DO however make a lot more sense if Ganon is invading Hyrule for similar reasons as to WW Ganondorf. That being he resents how the people of Hyrule get to live in a fertile, prosperous land, while the Gerudo have to endure living in the harsh, unforgiving Gerudo Desert, and want the kingdom for himself, this makes Shadow Link’s actions in FSA make more sense, since in this instance, Shadow Link is born from Ganon’s resentment of how easy Hyrule’s citizens have it, thus Shadow Link spends most of his time giving the people of Hyrule a hard time. And making FSA come before FS makes this explanation make more sense.

I feel like there’s probably more I could go into, but these are the 3 main points I wanted to talk about. I hope I’ve explained my reasoning well enough and that you have a nice day/night.

#legend of zelda #loz #link #shadow link #loz ganon #ganondorf #four swords adventurers #four swords #zelda #gerudo #vaati #hero of the four sword #lu four #lu dot #this is kinda Lu I think?#zelda timeline

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broodwolf221 · 7 months

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very stressed again so I'm just gonna talk about solas bc he's my comfort blorbo atm

one quick clarification: I tend to use elven to describe modern elves and elvhen to describe ancient elves. it's just smth I started doing a while back and now it's habit.

I've already talked abt his personality/behavior and my theories on his distant past. so now I wanna talk about his actions.

joined the inquisition

even with lowest approval won't leave the inquisition

kept the inquisitor alive

helped seal the rifts/breach

painted the inquisitor's actions

helped kill corypheus

"killed" mythal

exposed the qunari plot

spoke to the inquisitor at the end of trespasser

now to dig into these.

joined the inquisition

this one is pretty wild. according to his conversation in trespasser, he woke a year before the conclave. one year. afaik it's unclear when he drew the veil vs. when he slept, but what is clear is that he woke up and had only a year to begin acclimating to a wildly different world, one he held significant guilt over causing to form. in this short time, he manages to acclimate enough to gain agents and find out about corypheus, someone he feels he can use. and solas wouldn't mourn corypheus' death, nor would the world, so it must have seemed such a perfect solution

then it obviously goes all to shit. and solas is too weak to take charge of the situation and remedy it on his own - besides which, his anchor is now attached to someone else. so what does he do? well aware that this world hates and fears both "apostates" (that must have been a strange revelation for him, considering how elvhen culture lauded mages) and elves, he nonetheless turns himself in and surrenders his staff

he decides to help. and no, it's not selfless - he needs the anchor. but there's so much more to it than that. he wants to help ease the harm he's inadvertently caused, the damage corypheus wrought. he's not trying to "save" the world, exactly, but he is trying to give it peace while he works to restore the world to what he feels (maybe rightly!) it should be. it's selfish. it's selfless. it's kind. it's deceitful. essentially: like him, it is nuanced.

but still, pretty wild that an elvhen apostate joins the human chantry's arm (and eventual army) of change

won't leave the inquisition

the reasoning here is fairly self-evident. he needs the anchor, and he wants to help. the inquisition is his sole means to achieve both goals. but it's still worth noting that even if he absolutely hates the inquisitor, he'll stay on as a core part of the inquisition right up to the bitter end.

and it's interesting bc he doesn't actually have to. he could have made sure the inquisitor wouldn't die and taught them how to seal rifts, then left. or he could have left after the breach was sealed. the inquisitor - and by extension, the anchor - would NOT be hard for him to find, because everyone and their dog knows where the inquisitor is at all times. also, at this point I'm not sure if he knows he'll need the anchor.

further, he could "leave" but continue to spy, including through the fade. but instead he stays right there. he leads the inquisition to skyhold. he involves himself at a fundamental level. it's interesting. he didn't have to.

does he get dragged in despite himself? does he grow attached to the rest of the inquisition, or its goals, even as he tries to hang onto the comforting lie that these people are so much less-then the people he knew? does he feel obligated to help right the harm he caused, their drawn out suffering harder to bear than their sudden cessation?

kept the inquisitor alive

I have to assume there's a reason for this, a reason he couldn't just take the anchor from them while they slept. likely it was because he was still too weak to remove it, although that seems a little strange - what was he planning to do once corypheus died opening his orb? but given the potential nature of the inquisitor, including many non-mage options and including dwarven options who are cut off from the fade itself, it stands to reason that getting the anchor placed by touching the opened orb may be much easier than removing the anchor, even prior to it being used.

perhaps he could have removed it, but was worried the inquisition would kill him. early on, how was he to know that cassandra's bark was so often worse than her bite? and it's entirely possible that she might have killed him if the inquisitor had died under his watch, particularly if the anchor was "mysteriously" removed at the same time.

I also imagine that he genuinely didn't know if the anchor would function if he just... cut their arm off and ran with it. but at the same time, I assume he was constantly monitored so that probably wasn't much of an option

helped seal the rifts/breach

couple of core reasons for this, I think: first, he genuinely wants to help. the people of thedas are terrified and at risk; so too are the spirits from the fade who are being drawn into the waking world against their will, which may well be a stronger impetus for him to work on sealing them. second, I have a theory that he won't be able to, or fears he won't be able to, tear down the veil in one with all these rifts.

rifts are tears in the boundary, right? so if he tried to pull the veil down around them, what's to stop the veil from catching against the rifts and keeping these boundaries in existence? like... trying to remove a sticker when parts have been nailed in. not only will the parts under the nail remain, but whole strips might be left behind. what would that create?

and the thing is, everything he's attempting and considering is so highly theoretical. maybe it wouldn't work like that at all. maybe it'd be fine. maybe it'd be worse. he doesn't know! but it feels safe to assume that, given his character, he'd want to proceed in the safest way possible with the best likelihood of a good outcome. he's methodical that way.

painted the inquisitor's actions

this one gets me just like it gets everyone. there's so much to it... he's using an ancient elvhen technique to memorialize the decisions of today's holy order and its leader. he's creating frescoes which are meant to last, and he doesn't know if they will. he's creating meaning in the moment, for the inquisition itself, and possibly for the future, even a future where everyone he knows is gone, killed through his actions.

it's a way to honor them. it's a headstone. it's a history. it's a gift. it's art. it's effort he doesn't need to expend. it's the closest he can come to an apology.

helped kill corypheus

of course, he's always wanted corypheus to die, so in that sense this really isn't that surprising. and in game corypheus can sometimes feel ridiculously easy to kill. but the fact is, corypheus is perceived as one of if not the single greatest threat they have to face.

and solas helps face him.

what if he died? what if he was killed? it's wild that someone who's so determined to change the world constantly puts himself at such risk, but it's part of both his nature and the means of meeting his goals. it's necessary. but is it necessary for him to face corypheus?

the time has come, the inquisitor and inquisition are prepared.

why doesn't he leave? come back after the battle and reclaim his orb? yes, the inquisitor broke it, but I don't think solas even recognizes that as a possibility. to him, the orb would have been there. and, bonus, maybe the inquisition is so damaged in the battle that they'll struggle to pursue him. if he has the orb, or thinks he would have it, he wouldn't necessarily need to protect the inquisitor any longer, because why have the anchor when he has the orb? unless of course its power was transferred to the anchor, which is a distinct possibility, but in that case... why mourn the orb so?

I think that he at least believed the orb could create another anchor. so losing it meant he needed to possess the anchor currently in existence. but again: he went into this battle thinking orb and anchor alike would exist at the end. why risk it? why not just dart in and recover what he needs?

he cares about them. even if he hates the inquisitor, he cares about the people of this world. he won't turn his back on the inquisition in their hour of need, even if he risks death

"killed" mythal

I've given this so much thought. I understand why he did it, to a point, but at the same time... it's always put me at a loss. he sealed the evanuris away because they killed mythal. he killed her to take her power, presumably a necessity after the loss of his orb in order to reclaim the anchor. and I do agree that she may very well still be alive, either entirely or in a way. I'm not sure if he's aware of that, though.

but it's all very complicated. he knows he should be the one punished - these are his sins he's trying to right, for the people (elvhen? spirits? everyone? including but probably not primarily dwarves? I've seen so many takes on this and it's always fascinating)

so. he takes something of mythal, very possibly believing he's killing her, and possibly actually killing her, in order to restore the world to what it used to be. he doesn't want to do this. it's utterly tragic and horrifying at once when you see it the first time (and, well, every time after if you're me). it's painful. but he does it.

he's willing to shoulder so much pain. loneliness, too, because mythal is presumably the only one left from his time. he destroys his sole connection to his past in order to right his mistakes. putting aside the issue of whether he's right or not, that is a monumental burden to bear.

he endures. he always endures. how horrible to always endure.

exposed the qunari plot

because I've discussed this previously I won't dig too deep into it, but the fact is 1) he didn't have to do this, 2) doing this actively makes it easier for the inquisition to pursue him, 3) doing this might actually make it easier in a way for the qunari to focus on strengthening the veil, and 4) apparently, he did it. not an agent. he dragged the qunari into the winter palace.

why? why risk himself like that? to get a glance at those he left behind? did he rush through the motions and disappear, or did he linger? did he look at them and consider what more he would have to endure?

spoke to the inquisitor at the end of trespasser

he needed the anchor, yes. but did he need to answer the inquisitor's questions, soothe their inevitable curiosity? absolutely not. he could have kept lying. it would have been smarter to keep lying. why, why tell them who he is, why let the entire inquisition know?

he already gave them a clear path to chasing him down and possibly stopping him. now he's telling them his basic plan? sure, he spares the details, but what does that really preserve?

and the thing is, even if he absolutely hates the inquisitor, he still tells them the basics. the way he does it is... genuinely so funny and it cheers me up inordinately he is so sassy about it but that's not important. what is important is that he even tells someone he loathes who and what he is and what his basic plan is.

why not just leave? "the anchor is killing you and it's mine, i'll take it back. goodbye." why not just that?

it's hard for me to believe it's anything other than: he wants to be stopped. a part of him wants so, so badly to be stopped. the same part that wanted to tell a romanced inquisitor the truth in the crestwood scene. the same part that keeps giving all these hints and answering questions sincerely even when it makes people wonder about him. the same part that only lies by ommission.

the part that is lonely and wanting and cares.

not only is he fundamentally a kind, caring man who wants to minimize the harm he does, not only does he value and want to reward curiosity, but he wants to be stopped. and the inquisitor/inquisition is about the only force in the world that can stop him, directly or indirectly.

they know him. he knows them. and while it's implied that the inquisition/inquisitor can't stop him directly because of this familiarity, they are the ones who find new forces to array against him. if he'd just lied and left, that wouldn't be a possibility.

he made himself an enemy. he could've had a clear playing field and all the tools he needed: instead, a force at his back.

#solas #solas dragon age #meta #as always: feel free to rb/comment/interact #broodmeta

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mycupofteafanzine · 6 months

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My Cup of Tea contributor announcement: part 2!

We are excited to share our list of writers and cosplayers in the zine! You can also find our artists here. See below the cut for links to their socials and their answers to the question: Why do you love Martin?

Writers

milkteamoon | tumblr Ao3

I really love how contradictorily human he is! He's a little guy. He's kind of a bitch. He wants so badly to be the sensitive artist type and yet will encourage murder against those whom he perceives to have wronged him at the drop of a hat. He's incredibly kissable and should be kissed by anyone and everyone, I think, for his health.

crescenttwins | tumblr carrd

Martin is this lovely exploration of a person who is deeply affected by trauma but still ends up able to be kind at the end of it.

Morning Softness | tumblr

He’s just such a great complex character. He does his absolute best in a job he’s not at all qualified for, determined to go above and beyond so no one will complain about his work ethic, even when the demands placed on him are ridiculous or dangerous. He’s anxious but he’s also brave and stubborn. He’s jealous and bitter and petty and sarcastic. He’s kind and optimistic and gentle. He’s a poet. He’s incredibly practical, and is better at showing care to others through his actions than his words. He holds onto guilt because he’s convinced it helps him do better. He tries so hard to be needed because he thinks it’s the only way anyone would want him, and he feels like it would be manipulative of him to expect or even want anything in return. He makes an effort to care about others and help in any way he can, even though it is an effort, even when it isn’t returned.

Pine | tumblr

In "Big Picture," Martin says to Simon Fairchild "I think our experience of the universe has value. Even if it disappears forever." I think it may be the most hopeful statement in TMA (not that it has a great deal of competition!), and I thought about it a lot while season five was airing. (And I love, too, how Martin may have been a hypocrite about it, unwilling to let the universe disappear.)

Saint | tumblr Ao3

Golly gee what a question. I guess the biggest thing is I love how full of seemingly diametrically-opposed contradictions he is: his genuine sweetness and kindness vs his very serious desire to see the violent death of people he's perceived to have wronged him, his dorky poetry vs the fact that he's the kind of person to use the word "ontological" in casual conversation, his capacity for love and compassion vs his proclivity for isolation. Also he has the best voice.

Cosplayers

Shashamisen | tiktok

He hit me as the most human-like character to me. Blame it on the beautiful voice acting or the discreet complexity of how his character was written, but I started loving him for how much I related, and stayed for the cutest awkward love I've ever seen.

Bow | insta tiktok

The obvious reason is that I see so much of my current, but especially younger, self in him, but I also love him because to me, he is the character in TMA who goes through the most growth and comes into himself. I love seeing his journey of self discovery and emotional strength.

Kaedan | tiktok

He became a comfort character immediately. His patience, his sweet nature, the way he stutters when he's flustered (just like me,) it all felt like a cool breeze in the fire that is the horror that is TMA. His life and traumas mirror my own, and the way he comes out of it with kindness and an unexpected fierceness is amazing to me. The way he underhanded Elias AND Peter impresses me constantly.

Alex | tumblr tiktok

He is my husband and I adore him.

Slush/Hailey | insta tiktok tumblr twitter

To me, he is the heart of The Magnus Archives! Martin is always showing his most human side to those around him and never lets the horrors around him stop him from being a good person. Like so many on this zine, I see a lot of myself in Martin Blackwood. There's so much of myself I see in him, yet there's so much more I want to be. He's kind and thoughtful. He's soft, but he finds his courage and shows that he can be quite tenacious and clever! He's constantly underestimated, especially by himself, but shows them up with confidence and sass. He doesn't let the horrible things that have happened to him make him hard and is never afraid of being his true self. I also find our relationships with the Lonely incredibly similar. Essentially, it's been quite a long time since I've found a character that is so much like myself, and gives me hope that I can also make the same changes in my life as him to grow and become a better person. Hopefully that doesn't include being stalked by a worm lady.

#the magnus archives #the magnus archives zine #the magnus pod #martin blackwood #tma #my cup of tea fanzine #contributor announcement

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friends-to-lovers-tournament · 9 months

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Friends to Lovers Tournament: Round 2, Side A, Match 4

propaganda under the cut!

Fuyupoly:

Submission 1:

they're from the winter troupe of the mankai company, and unlike the other troupes they're all adults. that said, they all have varying degrees of trauma and emotional stuntedness. it takes them some time to fully open up to each other bc they're all very cautious of each other's boundaries and don't want to cross any lines which initially led to some issues in the group's formation. over time they've learned to bridge the gap while still being mindful of hard boundaries. at one point they have a discussion about what exactly their relationship is (gay) cuz they were talking about how the other troupes have clearly defined dynamics (spring=family, summer=besties, autumn=rivals & teammates) but they don't,, and homare deadass says they're "people bound by a common destiny" which in and of itself sounds very Gay (like why are you as a man bound to other men by a common destiny), but it goes even further because homare starts spouting WEDDING VOWS: "In sickness and in health, for better or for worse, we shall share our laughter and our tears as those with an intertwined fate... How beautiful we are!" THIS IS A DIRECT QUOTE FROM THE GAME AND THE MC EVEN REMARKS "i can already hear wedding bells in the distance..."

gradually they become closer, in individual sub-units based on who's paired up as co-leads for a play, and as a troupe overall. also two of its members are childhood friends who had a messy 'divorce' in their young adulthood and it took the game breaking its genre to introduce a timeloop for them to finally make up if that means anything to you. one of their troupe songs "precious to us ~bokura no kisetsu" has some pretty beautiful and fruity lines: "The many kindnesses born in me here / Never fail to breathe life into my chest / Even all the pain and bitterness / Have now become dear to me (Ah…Stay with me)", "No matter how many times our season passes / Let us keep living together / Holding our hands, without ever letting go / Let us open up the curtain of tomorrow", "There is no need for words, because once our gazes meet / Joy sparks a light in your eyes", "Our journey, may it be a brilliant one / As our breaths overlap as one"

a lot of their plays has a LOT of homoerotic tension between the two leads too. their first play has tsumugi and tasuku play angels, and it's heavily implied that tasuku's character has an unrequited crush on tsumugi's character. their third play has azuma play a vampire and tasuku play Just Some Guy and it's generally agreed in the fandom to be one of the gayest, if not THE gayest, play A3 has ever written. obviously the vampire thing is very fruity, but there's also how the vampire was longing to bite the human but was holding himself back, and when the vampire left the human in the end, the human was absolutely HEARTBROKEN over it and was swearing they would reunite one day. the stage play of this takes it even further by having the vampire embrace the human from behind and BITE his neck. the fourth play is a watered-down adaptation of Phantom of the Opera where they genderbend Christine into Chris among other things and change the relationship between Chris and the Phantom to one of friendship.... ostensibly so, because there's still a lot of homoerotic undertones in their interactions. i could go on but this should be enough of a sampling taste

Submission 2:

the writers rlly said "let's take 2 normal guys who are childhood friends and have been into theatre since their school days and have them go through a pre-canon messy divorce, an eccentric poet with a potentially controversial haircut, an amnesiac sleepyhead who can only be awoken with marshmallows but is also somehow extremely athletic despite doing nothing but sleeping and eating marshmallows all day, a man who is so beautiful and mysterious he breaks gender, and a supposed android from a fictional south asian country, and throw them into a blender, oh and for good measure let's throw in some theatre and angst and gay and angst and gay" and the end result was marriage. i mean it took them a lot of awkward fumbling around and conflicts to get there but they got there and thats what matters. ok *technically* in-text they're all rlly good friends and kinda found family BUT they are found family via marriage papers i do not make the rules chief

Submission 3:

The reason why they are so friends-to-lovers to me is because their relationship is founded on quiet and unconditional acceptance of each other—regardless of how flawed they may be or how heavy their burdens and trauma may be. When the troupe first formed (sans Guy who was in another country at the time), they didn’t have any major clashing personalities at the very beginning and generally they were mindful of each other’s boundaries, unlike the other troupes that came before them. However, it’s BECAUSE they were too mindful of said boundaries that it was difficult for them to break down their walls and bond as a team—and there were a LOT of walls to break down, as all of them had varying degrees of emotional baggage and trauma.

In fact, it’s only three plays in that they finally truly start opening up to each other, with Azuma getting the ball rolling by opening up about the deep loneliness that haunted him ever since his childhood. It’s during this conversation that they also discuss what their relationship as a troupe is, because the other troupes have defined their relationship as a team (Spring is family, Summer is best friends, Autumn is rivals & teammates), and Homare goes on to declare that they’re “people bound by a common destiny” and goes on to spew wedding vows: "In sickness and in health, for better or for worse, we shall share our laughter and our tears as those with an intertwined fate... How beautiful we are!" I mean… it can’t get any more obvious than this, really. They are married.

But anyway, Tsumugi says he wants their relationship to be one where while they respect each other’s need for space, they’ll also be there for each other and share their pains and burdens—or in his words: “supporting each other when our burdens become too heavy to bear on our own”—which I think is really sweet because it carries this idea of quiet, unconditional acceptance; they don’t push each other to share more than they’re comfortable with sharing, but with whatever they ARE comfortable with sharing everyone carries the load and pain because pain is easier to bear when you’re not bearing it alone <3

A later part of the story focuses on Hisoka, a mysterious amnesiac, being terrified of regaining his memories and facing some “sin” from his past that has led to another character, Chikage, trying to take revenge on him. When he confesses this to the rest of the Winter troupe, Homare asks, “How heavy is this sin you bear?” and Azuma suggests, “Perhaps it’s just heavy enough for the five of us to carry together.” (at this point Guy hasn’t joined yet). The stage play adapts this scene into a song called Key to Memory. The key (pun unintended) part is 1:27 where there’s a back-and-forth between Hisoka and the other Winter troupe members (sans Tasuku because he wasn’t in that particular play)

Hisoka: “I’m scared…”

Tsumugi, Homare, Azuma: “It’s okay.”

Hisoka: “My unforgivable sin…”

Tsumugi, Homare, Azuma: “Let’s carry it together.”

Hisoka: “I might not be me anymore.”

Tsumugi, Homare, Azuma: “It’s all right. We understand and we accept you, so let’s go together.”

And it ends with Hisoka singing: “I was afraid to open the door of my locked memories. But if everyone is here, I believe I can do it.” In both the game and stage play, Hisoka fully regains his memories and reconciles with Chikage (long story). He tells Fuyupoly he can’t go into detail about his past with Chikage because it’s dangerous but he’ll tell them when the time is right, and they accept this saying that no matter what his past is, they know and love him as their Hisoka which obviously is a very sweet thing for friends to say, but it’s also very Marriage-coded to me.

Later, Guy is introduced as an android from Zahra (a fictional South Asian country) and joins the Winter troupe as a temporary member—because he’s stuck in Japan for the foreseeable future—until they find a permanent member to replace him. The other Winter members have a conversation among themselves and agree that regardless of whether he’s really an android or a human they’ll accept Guy for who he is and help him improve his acting, which again harkens back to the idea of ‘unconditional acceptance’. Eventually it’s revealed that Guy is in fact a human who has forgotten his memories of the past and his emotions. He recovers his memories all at once which shocks his system and causes him to pass out. When he wakes up in his room, he finds the rest of the Winter Troupe asleep around the room—which I believe is symbolic of their whole theme of “quiet acceptance”: they don’t want to push Guy to share beyond what he’s comfortable with, but they’re always there to listen to him and share his load if that’s what he wants. He opens up about the memories he recovered, and they don’t treat him with pity like he’s a lost child, but still extend gentle empathy and understanding. They also emphasise that it genuinely doesn’t matter to them whether he’s human or android because he’s Guy first and foremost. It’s at this point that Guy truly lets himself become part of the Winter troupe/Fuyupoly and not just as a temporary stand-in member, because he’s found a place where he’s found himself again and people who will accept who this “himself” is, whether that be an android devoid of emotions or a human brimming with vivid beautiful emotions.[Mod note: There’s a LOT more but we’re afraid of crashing the post. I (Deli) summarised it the best I can since I’m familiar with A3, but if you want to read the full thing you can check it out on this google doc)

Sourin:

okay so i have a picture to crack explain the sourin supremacy

but i also have legitimate reasons lmao

1. sousuke and rin both GET what it's like to want something so bad but not be able to achieve it. they know each other's pain so well, and they know just how much effort the other person puts into swimming. AND THAT MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING STRENGTHENS THEIR BOND SO MUCH!!! this is also the reason why they are each others' comfort person because the other just GETS it, no need for any explanations

2. they're passionate as fuck about the same thing (swimming) and they help each other train harder and swim better,,, like get you a couple with the same obsessions as you!!!

3. THEY SWAM A RELAY TOGETHER and that means a lot in swimming because IT'S BASICALLY SMTH A TEAM DOES WHEN THEY HAVE ABSOLUTE TRUST IN EACH OTHER AND THEY DEPEND ON EACH OTHER AND THEY LOVE EACH OTHER AND IT'S BASICALLY THE SWIMMING ANIME EQUIVALENT OF I LOVE YOU

4. when sousuke told rin about the shoulder injury he was literally so devastated because his love couldn't follow his passions anymore,, AND WHEN SOUSUKE RECOVERED FROM THE SURGERY RIN LEGIT CRIED HAPPY TEARS!!! and sousuke was always there for rin w/e he had a slump bc he compared himself too much to haru and others,,, like gods they care so much for each other

5. sousuke is the earth and rin is the fire,,, AND RIN LIGHTS A FIRE IN SOUSUKE WHILE SOUSUKE GROUNDS RIN LIKE PLEASE THE MOTIFS ARE LITERALLY RIGHT THERE EVEN IN THEIR COLOUR SCHEMES (teal + maroon)

in short: sourin supremacy because these two bois are so perfect for each other"

#friends to lovers tournament #a3!#a3! act! addict! actors!#free!#fuyupoly #sourin #tsumugi tsukioka #tasuku takato #hisoka mikage #homare arisugawa #azuma yukishiro #guy nishiki #matsuoka rin #yamazaki sousuke #polls #tournament polls

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fukia · 7 months

Text

Fionna & Cake final thoughts , opinions and nitpicks lol

This will be unorganized and random and stinky, sorry

• great pacing first 2 eps

• good ideas

• ignoring multiverse saturation, is p decently done here!

• I miss Neil Patrick’s take on Gary/gumball- he sounded so freakin princely :(

• marshall sounded kinda less mischievous than he used to? Like vocally more down or something- I’m super glad he had the same actor tho lol Donaldddd

• I miss old Prismo voice too but I know why these didn’t work out

• Hunter’s voice either could’ve gone for a deep gravely stoicism or could’ve just been w/ the same actor as Huntress Wizard

• Scarab is ehhh- decent design but feels kinda out of place for adventure time- voice is similarly the same offness too, reminded me of kinda bad anime dub voices, it doesn’t feel intentional to the right extent —- either make a more surreal villain or a funnier one, his presence was rather generic

• the spooky faces and scurrying beetle of scarab was kinda funny

• lemongrab. Why justnonce roiland.

• I will end my life a million aeons over for Orbo - bluey’s dad: “say goodbye to your legs!”

• mmmarceline dress

• bubblegum mmmmilitary

• I wish we saw the fucking MOON vampire

• MOON vs STAR (super cool naming if the uh tarot thing is carried on here I legit don’t know if star is an actual tarot card lemme check)

• ORGALORG WHYYYYYY

• marshall n Gary was sweet- but I really wished they played up the bitter exes part before they did just the fluffy dating, bring a bit of parallel consistency

• fionna was good acting! The crying bit made my heart ouches- Character herself was a tad frustrating at times admittedly

• cake is great still - cake and vampire king hilarious

• why no “the star”’s actual dad :(

• BETH SHERMY GIBBON YES YES YES- back to old adventure time: I love the intro theme for Beth and shermy, it’s so melancholic and desolate, cold, with backgrounds that make this so fascinatingly depressing a turn for the land of oo (happy endings impermanent- life goes on kinda deal, so cool, so consistent with adventure time’s own concepts & “everything stays”)

• Simon and Betty made me emotional

• uhh how old was Betty when she starting dating simon? Just offhand lol I’m sure it was fine

• Golbetty had beautiful scenes

• way better simon and Golbetty than that weird adventure time published comic I’m sure some of you read

• the animation is great on some places, other times while well made, feels out of place for adventure time; like it’s trying too hard to be pretty (not the Ice Prince song, stuff like that made sense for adventure time)

• like some bits reminded me of Steven universe’s inconsistencies (same bits that made me really really dislike some of adventure time distant lands’ execution)

• [funny nitpick incoming] like there were points where the characters had really big eyes even tho they r supposed to be dots (not when exaggerating certain emotions cartoonishly, I meant prolonged); adventure time’s deal is keeping them small and kinda hard to decipher

• some bits were just a tinnny too anime that it bothered me, just some! Anime is cool!!!

• I was really expecting or hoping for a Korra styled multi-season just with lesser episodes

• the resolution was… kinda haphazardly handled

• same with some of the final themes, like w/ simon n betty

• adventure time is kinda known for being almost ambiguously optimistic so the whole super happy thing was kinda strange to me

• I know like it shouldn’t have to be the same as adventure time obviously, but that was the general identity of adventure time; the cosmic ambiguity with absurd humor delivered nonchalantly

• like I think of patience st pim’s ice domain during elements and the melancholic quietness of it - also PATIENCE ST PIM WHYYYYY I LOVED YOU (patiencevstheempresscough)

• ORGALORG COME BACK TO MEEEE

• yes it was a great thing to have this miniseries I enjoyed many parts

• the music was fucking fire!!!

• where was the dr two brains reference ? -3-

#adventure time #fionna campbell #simon x fionna #fionna and cake #golb #golbetty #orgalorg #Beth and shermy #marshall lee #fionna the human #adventure time fionna and cake #opinions

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gritsandbrits · 9 months

Note

Rewrite vs. Canon: DC's I Am Not Starfire

Starfire's kid is a juvenile delinquent who is jealous of her sister Mari for inheriting their mom's powers (and good looks). After an end of year school prank goes wrong she's shipped off to stay with her grandpa Bruce for the summer. He's a strict hardass, and makes Starfire's kid do chores and help around the manor. No hanging out with "friends" or partying late.

One day while cleaning she stumbles upon a secret entrance and discovers the batcave. Predictably Bruce finds out and she begs him not to kick her out. After much deliberation Bruce decides this could be a good opportunity to teach her how to be responsible and compassionate. So a lot is her learning how to be a better person and finding her identity.

But THEN Blackfire shows up to invade earth. Starfire & Mari are incapacitated leaving the other daughter to rely on her newfound skills to stave off the invasion. She gets captured by Blackfire, who tries to get her on her side but playing the "we have the same issues we're just alike" card. Only for her niece to retort if they really are alike, how come Blackfire wants to ruin millions of lives just to make herself feel good? And aware she wasn't any better lashing out due to her own jealousy, Starfire's daughter rejects her. A fight ensues mostly with Starfire's daughter evading using Bat weapons, long enough for her mom, sister and Uncle Wildfire to defeat the warlord.

Starfire's daughter comes to see that if she never forged her own identity she easily could've been a bitter villain like her aunt. Her family assures her she is nothing like Blackfire because she is willing to admit her mistakes and fix them. With that reassurance, Starfire's daughter decides to transfer to a public school in gotham to continue her hero work, and be an activist supporting low income students.

#gb asks #i am not starfire #dc comics

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mingos · 1 month

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「 h.c. 」ー the one about rosinante

　　　　hot take(?): doflamingo loved rosinante a lot.

　one of the few people he would have the emotional capacity to and his worldview would allow him to love, actually.

('but he was planning to sacrifice himー' we will get to that. look, it's complicated.)

to explain what i mean by that (and to prevent this post from being too long) i want to first invite anybody who hasn't seen this headcanon to give it a quick look. here, i talk in more detail about what i mean when i say doflamingo 'loves' somebody & what his limitations are as a neurodivergent person with a narrower emotional range. i actually wrote that in preparation for eventually writing this, so it's important context.

specifically, in regards to that post, i want to talk about his capacity for empathy and how he really just... doesn't have a lot of it. maybe i'll write a separate post about his cognitive empathy (using logic to determine how someone feels) threshold vs. his emotional empathy (the ability to resonate with someone's emotions and feel what they feel) threshold because it's complicated, and nuanced, and all that junkーbut that's a deep dive for another day. right now let's just talk his emotional empathy.

　basically, his love functions differently because his empathy (a pretty key component in loving somebody) functions differently. for most people, he 'loves' in the sense he attaches himself to you because you make him feel good & feed his ego, and he wants to keep you around as a result. he recognizes that, in order to do this, he needs to provide you with things in exchange: protection, money, opportunities, etc. but he cannot connect with you on an emotional level, or at least not where it matters: empathizing with you.

　　that's for most people, though; there are some rare exceptions, and even then it's still a bit... off.

he 'empathizes' best with not just people who have experienced the same things as him, but who experienced the same thing with him. ('empathizes' in quotes because, even then, it's more him projecting how the event made him feel onto a person rather than actually knowing how they feel and it just so happens that sometimes those feelings can overlap sometimes but, eh, he's trying his best...).

he lived in garbage dumps with his four executives, he built his pirate crew up from scratch over 25-30 years, and, uh... y'knowーspent two years suffering poverty & unimaginable abuse side-by-side with his little brother. it's a circumstance that allows him to speak in detail, and commiserate, and genuinely come the closet to caring about someone's feelings that his extremely finicky brain will allow.

　but with rosinante specifically, doflamingo's capacity goes even deeper. because he, most likely, was not only the first person he developed a bond with as his brother, but he inherently places a higher social value on him because he's a celestial dragon. so, in a world of humans (people he declares himself as being socially, morally & maybe even genetically superior to) rosinante is the closest person he has to an equal, and that counts for something.

it counts for a lot, actually. it allowed rosinante to get away with a lot:

leaving for 14 years

coming back inexplicably

the frequent accidents

letting him just leave again for another 6 months & also take law

being seen as generally incompetent when doflamingo values people so long as they're useful

we also don't know the extent of how much rosinante masked his caring & compassionate side during his undercover mission before breaking away with law, but i have to assume doflamingo at the very least knew and, despite hating that side of him, overlooked it and allowed him to stay close.

i also genuinely believe vergo when he says doflamingo didn't suspect him and he accepted rosinante back with completely open arms & no strings attached. for my own portrayal of doffy, i've toyed with the idea of him being secretly a little bitter about being 'abandoned' because he's got some issues with that which may or may not have made the decision to sacrifice his brother easierーbut canonically it's probably a bit more cut & dry.

sacrificing him with the op op fruit was never the original plan. he didn't give rosinante the directive to eat it because he wanted to get rid of him for the last 4 yearsーhe wanted to sacrifice him because he was disobedient.

more than that, he wanted to sacrifice him in this specific way because it was a test to reconfirm his loyalty one last time. at the cost of his life, yes (though, all of his 'family' members are held to the same standard) but he gave rosinante something he didn't give his father or anybody else that betrayed him: an option of how he'd like to die.

'you can keep running if you want, prove to me right now you're a traitor, and i'll come & kill you myself. or you can come home & show me you're still my loyal little brother by giving your life to me. i'm giving you a choice.'

rosinante decided to run, and i have to imagine that broke doflamingo's heart a little. or, whatever what was left of it

#‘ 007. ’ (headcanons)#also as an aside: did doffy not know medical knowledge was a requirement?#or was he planning on keeping rosi in a locked room & forcing him to learn how to do surgery for a few years?#real talk though: the real indicator with how much he trusted rosi was wanting a man who routinely set himself on fire to do his surgery

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imminent-danger-came · 10 months

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Unhinged Anon here with a more lighthearted ask because that Macaque post reminded me how much I love thinking about his dynamic with MK. Of course, part of the reason for that is because there are numerous layers and intricacies that make it absolutely fascinating. But it’s also because, if I start thinking about it too long, they become one of the funniest duos in the show to me.

And when I say funniest, I don’t mean they get the best jokes, or that their interactions get the biggest laughs. I mean it's hilarious to look at where they started vs where they are now, because it really makes you realize how spectacularly Macaque failed at not getting attached to MK.

Like… Macaque was not only prepared, but planning to manipulate, betray, and potentially kill MK in S1E9. He came into this series not caring about that kid, and his initial plan hinged on him staying that way.

And he did! Sure he liked MK fine, but he still went through with the power stealing thing. And he even threw in some cruel mockery. Which miiiiiiight have also been Macaque projecting on MK a little bit, but regardless! There was no hesitation, even when trying to kill MK, because Macaque’s hatred and bitterness towards Wukong far, far outweighed anything else. MK was just a means to an end for Macaque. A piece in a game MK didn’t comprehend, shall we say.

But then Shadow Play happens, and it becomes immediately clear that Macaque has already failed to stay completely unattached. Yes, he’s still clearly an antagonist here. He kidnaps MK's friends, forces them to attack him, and messes with MK’s head to what was probably an even greater extent then Macaque initially intended thanks to all those abandonment issues and LBD trauma.

But here’s the thing. There was NO REVENGE-RELATED REASON for Macaque to get involved here! Wukong was gone, and had been for at least a month or two by this point, and Macaque knew it. But he still decided to reach out because he accidentally went from ‘you can never have too many teachers, right? Haha aren’t I so nice, you can totally trust me :)’ to ‘you can never have too many teachers, and like it or not I’m one of yours’. He legitimately wanted to help MK realize some things about himself and gain some perspective. To keep MK from inadvertently becoming more like Wukong in ways MK would never want to be.

And then S3 happens. LBD basically turns Macaque into her bloodhound, and he goes from antagonistic but legitimately trying to make MK do some self reflection to antagonistic and willing to commit child murder. Only this time he is not having fun, and is partially rooting for MK’s team because LBD dying is a win in his book. He even tries keeping MK out of his way so he can free himself without having to hurt him in S2E9 (I’m still occasionally haunted by the genuine anger in Macaque’s ‘What? Make things worse for MK?’ to Wukong), even if it doesn’t work.

And then he finally regains his freedom just in time to hear MK’s samadhi fire speech. And that is the exact point where Macaque is completely and utterly screwed. There is no going back from that speech. From seeing MK say ‘Who cares about mortality, that’s my best friend!’ and refusing to abandon Mei even though it could cost him his life. He is now physically incapable of not caring about this kid, and he was already caring way more than he probably wanted to.

Which brings me to the moment that drives me most insane about these two because of its serious, but also comedic, implications. And no, I’m not talking about ‘be a warrior’, though that is one of my favorite MK speeches topped off with some great Dramatic Theater Bitch energy from Macaque. I’m talking about Macaque shadow portaling MK away from Possessed Wukong in S3E12. And I don’t mean that in an ‘aw, he saved MK, he really does care’ way.

Like, sure. We could focus on how this is the first time we see Macaque go out of his way to save someone *looks at his ‘look out for number 1’ speech in S3E8*. And we could talk about how portaling MK away was a pretty risky move for someone who’s normally very cautious, considering LBD could undoubtedly recognize his powers. And I could drive myself insane thinking about how the first thing Macaque did upon regaining his freedom was leave MK when he needed (or at least wanted) him, but the second thing he did was save MK when he seemed totally alone. Not to mention the fact that it was specifically Wukong (and LBD) that he was protecting MK from. (Don't think about how Macaque always seems to show up when Wukong has or is about to hurt MK, Don't think about how-)

But why do that when we could focus on how funny Macaque’s inner monologue probably was during that whole mess? I mean, Macaque’s bird form is already at the Wukong vs LBD fight when MK and Nezha get there, so he saw the whole thing. He could have stepped in to help Wukong fight at any time, and he just… didn’t. Now, we can all speculate why he chose not to, but that’s not what’s relevant here. What is relevant is that trying to imagine Macaque’s thought process during the whole thing is hilarious, because all I can imagine is that ‘X happens? I sleep. Y happens? Real Shit’ meme.

Like… Macaque is the patience and caution to Wukong’s impulsiveness. He watched that entire 2v1 without making a move. He saw LBD possess Wukong, and did nothing but observe and wait. He watched Nezha get absolutely obliterated, and didn’t do anything that would give himself away. But when MK’s thrust into the line of fire? It’s shadow portal time, baby!

It’s a legitimately selfless act on Macaque's part, and I do enjoy seeing the subtle ways he shows that he cares about MK contrasting with Wukong’s grand gestures of protection and concern. But it’s also really funny thinking about this powerful, super cautious, centuries-old loner with a history of betrayal and abandonment issues who came into this series ready to do whatever it took to destroy his best friend-turned-nemesis… and it’s the kid he accidentally became a legit mentor figure to while manipulating him as part of his plot to kill said kid’s other mentor that makes him start acting recklessly.

A kid who has been manipulated and nearly murdered by Macaque about as many times as he’s kicked Macaque’s ass, is the first person in… possibly ever to notice and call Macaque out for trying to be a ‘bad guy’ when his heart isn't in it, because he is not as dense as people think, is the student/fanboy of the guy who killed Macaque, and occasionally gives Macaque the wildest bouts of deja vu imaginable because he is sooo like his mentor but also just different enough to give Macaque hope that he can be better than both of them. Oh, and also he's a monkey now. Neat.

Their dynamic is hilarious. It’s sweet! It's full of so many layers, intricacies and parallels (ugh, the Parallels) that I tried not to get into, along with everything from MK’s perspective, because I really wanted this to just focus on how funny their dynamic is from a meta perspective. Truly, nobody is doing it quite like the soy sauce duo. Sorry for the absurdly long ask once again, and have a lovely day/night/whatever time it is where you are. waves from the precipice of madness*

I got you

My thoughts are going under a read more since the ask itself is so long (which thank you for giving me such an in-depth and delightful read EVERYONE GO READ WHAT UNHINGED ANON WROTE), so here we go!

Unfortunately I'm thinking too hard about all the stuff you told me not to, because Macaque being there when Wukong isn't is. Wooo boy.

I can only imagine what it was like watching this person who abandoned you do the same thing to his "beloved" student, and then watching said beloved student do a similar thing to his own friends.

Like, Wukong always going off for more power and immortality was out of paranoia right? Out of a fear of not being strong enough to protect the people he cared about? Out of a fear of mortality? And then MK not spending time with his friends and blowing off game night and distancing himself was ALSO out of paranoia for the imminent threat LBD posed. A fear of putting the people he cared about in danger (this is why 4x08 fucks so hard. SERIES LONG CHARACTER TRAIT. Anyways).

And then I just imagine Macaque watching all of that go down (he's bored and it's tuesday and it's time to go spy on/bully MK again) and seeing MK start to make the same mistakes Wukong did, and he's like "hold my bear" and has to step in and force MK to see what he's doing. Macaque was right, MK really is "that bit too much like him" but he's also still different from Wukong in key ways you know.

Which, it makes it so funny to me that Macaque is all like "MK you really are dense" about MK thinking of himself as the warrior, because it's like...Macaque. Is that not why you're here, because Wukong left MK like he did to you. MACAQUE YOU KNOW HE'S ALSO THE WARRIOR IN THIS SCENARIO. THAT'S WHY YOU'RE HERE. WE ALL KNOW HE'S THE WARRIOR.

But MK is ALSO the Hero, and he completely redefined what a Hero is for Macaque! Seriously, look at his face here:

(Right when MK says "We're heroes it's what we do!" is when this shot pops up. Screaming)

Macaque is DUMBFOUNDED that MK is so willing to risk his life for Mei in what seems like a completely hopeless situation. The fire is going to destroy Mei, right? Why reason with her, why try to save her, you can't do any of those things.

But MK does. And he does it despite what everyone else is telling him, what even Macaque himself is telling MK, and MK's refusal to leave Mei (which the hero is SUPPOSED to do to the warrior) shatters Macaque's world view to it's CORE. TO IT'S CORE.

Because, like, I think about 4x11 and how Macaque tried to reason with Wukong in his own completely hopeless situation, and how that didn't work—that was one of the inciting reasons Macaque started to believe "Look out for number one—because if you don't no one else will" right? But then MK said "hold my beer" and disproved something Macaque thought was an unchangeable fact, and then Macaque left before even watching MK go through with saving Mei.

And it's so funny how all that happened, and then MK gives his "then be a warrior speech:

Macaque: “Nice speech kid, but it’s not gonna-” MK: “Ugh, STOP! You keep playing at being this bad guy, acting like you’re just in it for you! But I know, deep deep down you’re not that guy. Help us. Make it right.” Macaque: “I’m not a hero bud-” MK: “Then be a warrior.”

(3x13 Time to be Warriors)

And here MK basically tells Macaque that "you don't have to be a hero or a villain you just have to help", getting us a little bit out of that "good guy" and "bad guy" false dichotomy, and then after all is said and done and Macaque tried to actually be a half-decent mentor in 4x10, he said this:

Macaque: "Point is, it’s time to start making your own choices—something I wish I would have learned a lot sooner than I did. You don’t want to fight Azure because people might get hurt, you don’t want to not fight him because people might get hurt--so do something else! Only you get to decide who you are kiddo.”

AND HE'S BASICALLY THROWING MK'S WORDS BACK AT HIM, OR AT LEAST THE IDEOLOGY BEHIND THEM, TELLING MK TO NOT FALL FOR THE FALSE DICHOTOMY, THAT THERE ARE MORE THAN TWO CHOICES. HE'S SAYING LOOK FOR THE THIRD CHOICE.

(yes this is all from my hero and warrior meta! I think I've definitely gotten better at writing stuff like this but I still think it's a good read)

4x09 also parallels 2x07 in a very unique way, where Macaque steps in while MK is being that bit too much like Wukong again, except this time it's because MK is isolating himself on flower fruit mountain.

And that interaction only get's even funnier the more you think about it, like one: Macaque was totally drinking Wukong's milk while he wasn't there and spying on MK again, two: Macaque revealed himself at the perfect time to insult Wukong being "a lazy peach eating idiot, ignoring all the worlds problems" and three: he immediately back tracks on his whole "snarky edgy monkey" persona the moment MK starts glitching. Look at his face here:

And then he's all like "play my video game!" which doesn't initially help MK, and oh my god. No one is doing it like them you're right. Macaque sucks at being a teacher just as much as Wukong. Like he didn't plan on being a mentor either. It's so funny.

#such quality MK and Macaque thoughts thank you #I give you a meme as compensation #and also my own thoughts lol #asks #lmk #lego monkie kid #monkie kid #lmk MK #lmk Macaque #long post #lmk analysis #unhinged anon

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dearweirdme · 9 months

Note

Hello! I was looking for some chill Taekook blogs and I stumbled upon yours. I saw your response too an ask about Taennie and found your response very mature, well spoken and open to different opinions. Then read through your blog and really liked the chill vibe you got.

Tbh I'm not sold on Taennie either lol Not because it gets in the way of my ship (I'm a jikooker, it literally can't get in the way), neither because I'm a parasocial Tae biased fan who can't accept him being taken (my bias is actually Hobi and I would be thrilled to find out he is happy and in love), I just find the whole thing weird and suspicious.

Anyways, the reason why I came here is because I love maknae line's bond! But I think the whole Taekook vs Jikook war made both sides very bitter about the other ship's interaction and consequently created a lot of unnecessary hate toward Taehyung and Jimin. I'm mostly on the Jikook side of the internet so I can't speak for Taekook, but I often find Jikookers having a hard time appreciating sweet Taekook moments because they're afraid of toxic Taekookers invading their space with hate, so they just don't talk about it and some even grow a bitter taste with Taekook's bond. So I imagine Taekookers might go through the same because of toxic Jikookers.

And I really hate that.

I love Taekook's bond, they clearly love and care for each other so much, and they have so many cute and funny moments together. And since it's such a popular ship I wanna know more about them and understand different perspectives. So I came here because I'm genuinely curious and open to hear your opinion on Taekook!

What are moments that made you go "Huh? There's no hetero explanation for this"?

If Jikook is just fanservice what makes Taekook moments different?

Please don't take this as a toxic Jikooker invading your space, I am genuinely curious. I fully respect Taekookers opinion!

Borahae 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Hi anon! You are very welcome here, I don't mind different opinions, I think they are valuable. What's important to me is that someone comes to me in a polite way, and you are doing just that. You will at times read some snippy comments about Jkkrs on my blog I'm afraid. Some do come to me with less polite manners, and well.. my patience only goes this far. I think you and I are a bit alike, only from different sides. I also really enjoy Jimin and Jk interactions, and vminkook all the more. It is definitely sad that with those interactions automatically comes a sense of dread, because these days I just know when to expect drama in my inbox... and it's very often TKkrs in distress whenever something Jkk happens, or Jkkrs angry or gloating whenever something Tkk or Jkk happens. It's a wild situation. I wish it weres different, but at the same time... I know not to expect change.

I think many can see Taennie is not real, or at least sus. You don't even need to be part of any ship to see that. It's so obviously used for promotional purposes and severely lacking on the 'real relationship' side. My tag for it is Taennope or Taennie, and you might want to look at Gurumi as well if you are interested.

We are on actual opposing sides. If my ship is true yours cannot be, and vice versa. There's no compromising to be done. The most we can do is stay on our own sides a bit. While you are very nice, I also know we are not going to agree, but it's a nice change to see a Jkkr with a good opinion of Tae and who at least sees Tae and Jk are close. While Jkkrs often say Tkkrs hate Jimin (and to be fair there are definitely Tkkrs who talk about him wrongly) I feel this goes both ways.

To me it is not an either/or situation. If it ever turns out that Jk and Tae are not together, I wont believe Jimin and Jk are. That is just not how I see them. I understand why Jkkrs do, but... I just think you are mistaken in how you view their interactions. To me Jk and Jimin are just best friends. Super close, very playfull, flirty at times sure, but definitely platonic. If I were to compare the two. I feel with Jk and Jimin there's always a definite moment where they are "done" with each other. Like, they'll be playfull and bantery and touchy, but it's always just a moment with the purpuse of being funny, comforting, or friendly. It's not an underlying connection like Tae and JK have. Those two are constantly aware of each other, and that is not true for Jimin and Jk. You'll see many times where Jk and Jimin just don;t care what the other is up to, completely unaware.. and that is different with Tae and Jk. My taekook tag is way too full to go through, but I'll link some specific posts that contain most of my thoughts on Tae and Jk's bond at the end of this post.

I think one very important thing to be able to understand Tkkrs is that you have to be able to see that Tae and Jk never grew apart, like so many believe. It is such an accepted view throughout fandom that they grew apart somewhere inbetweeen 2016 and 2020 and that they became awkward. I absolutely do not think that is true. There is definitely less footage of them during a part of that time, and sure some awkward moments, but when you actually look at the footage that does exist, you can see a bond and a comfort that has not changed. If you are able to see that, you will also be able to see how Tae and Jk have been deliberately separated, even visibly on footage. Moments where they were close and touchy, they notice something off camera, they separate, and there's an emotional reaction to it. That does not happen with any of the other members, inculding Jk and Jimin. This is a post I made about the 2016-2020 period.

This post contains some thoughts I have on Taekook in general:

You can also find a lot of my thoughts on both Jikook and Taekook in these tags: Taekook analysis Ship analysis and there's my straws tag, but that one might also contain some snippy comments, so you might not enjoy 😶.

Thoughts on Jk and thoughts on Tae .

In general I don't think Jk and Jimin's interactions are fanservice. I think they have a genuine strong bond. Do they at times play it up for the camera's, Yes. But all members do that. While Jk and Jimin's interactions have never been avoided in official footage, Jk and Tae's have... and that's where imo the screwed vision of respective bonds comes from.

I've given much to go through, but it's too complicated for me to explain in just one post (though I have tried before 🙈).

#did I just organize my tags a bit #yes i did #gonna pin this post #i am quite chaotic though #so my tags are probably very incomplete #taekook #pinned post

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queenofthursday6599-blog · 2 years

Text

Halfa Jazz AU

Except it’s not 16 year old Jazz. No. It’s 14 year old Jazz who gets shocked by the portal.

You see the day after their parents failed to make the portal work, and left 14 year old Jazz to look after 12 year old Danny (and the two friends he’d invited over). Jazz got shocked by the portal and turned into a half-ghost. With Danny, Sam and Tucker as witnesses.

How’d this happen?

Easy. Sam wanted to see the creepy ghost lab she’d heard Tucker talk about at school when talking about going to Danny’s house. She thinks Tucker is exaggerating about how scary it is. Danny, wanting to impress the new friend he’d only had for a bit longer than a month, agrees to sneak her and Tucker down into the basement too look around when his parents were out of the house.

So after the Fenton parents are gone, and Jazz goes to her room to do her homework leaving Danny, Sam, and Tucker alone in the living room to watch cartoons (or so she thought). The three 12 year olds sneak down into the lab to start poking around, as nosy 12 year olds without supervision are wont to do.

While at first the two non-Fenton kids were enthralled by the strange inventions and mysterious substances in tubes, they eventually got bored and less careful. And started messing around. Sam fishes a hacky sack out of her backpack, and starts doing tricks, Tucker makes a bet he can do more tricks than her.

Which escalates to a said hacky sack ending up at the back of the non-functional Fenton portal. And Jazz coming down to check on them and to get a snack, see they’re not in the living room, search the rest of the house, and walk into the basement to see Danny start putting on his hazmat suit to go and fetch a hacky sack.

Which Jazz puts a stop to immediately. Danny is far too young to be climbing around inside their parents’ dangerous inventions, even if they seemingly don’t work. Jazz also knows she can’t leave the hacky sack in the portal because more likely than not her parents will get home, return to their obsession with the portal, try to turn it on, and the hacky sack will catch fire and burn the house down. [Can you tell she’s catastophizing? Cause she is. She lives in the Fenton house, this is her normal setting, and it tends to work out pretty well for her 90% of the time. Things that can go wrong tend to in that house.]

She can’t leave the hacky sack in there, it will inevitably end with them being homeless due to a house fire. She can’t trust her parents to fish it out before they try to start tinkering with the portal again, she knows them too well, so the end result is the same. So the only option is to go in and get it out herself, and then give Danny and his friends a stern talking to about messing around in the lab, and even bringing his friends into the lab in the first place in Danny’s case.

So she puts on her hazmat suit, firmly telling Danny and his friends to stay well away from the portal. And well...

Jazz Fenton was just 14 when she’d entered her parent’s very strange machine and unintentionally opened the door to a world unseen.

Jazz’s ghost hero name is Psyche. Jazz doesn’t intend to become a ghostly superhero, but finds she can’t sit back and do nothing, when the news comes on to tell her that her little brother’s middle school is getting attacked by a giant meat monster.

Psyche has different relationships to the ghostly rogues than Canon!Phantom does.

She’s got a bitter nemesis-ship with Spectra for example. Jazz might have called the ghost psychiatrist an “Unethical Hack” who “Was licenced in the 1800s” and “Thinks the lobotomy is the pinnacle of psychiatric treatment”.

Nocturne is her Ancient/ghostly guardian (in place of how a lot of the phandom sees Clockwork as that for Danny) correlation, due to the connection between dreams and psychology.

Psyche vs Plasmius is truly wild. Because after getting his offer of fatherhood/evil mentor is rejected too many times, Vlad doesn’t try to clone Jazz. No, he kidnaps Danny and attempts to turn him into a halfa.

With the idea being that due to Danny being younger, he’d be more easily influenced. Along with the fact that if Vlad was the first strongest presence Danny’s newly formed ghost core sensed, if Vlad played his cards right, there’s a serious chance Danny’s newly formed child ghost core would imprint on Vlad’s ghostly signature like a baby duckling. Making Vlad his ghostly parent, and giving him significant influence over Danny’s mental state.

I haven’t decided if Jazz manages to stop Vlad in time and rescue Danny. At least, not quick enough to leave him completely human that is.

#danny phantom #halfa jazz au #danny phantom au #DP au Psyche

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lesbian-in-leather · 3 months

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Asoue and wwdits

Into the woods if you feel up to it

Thanks for the ask, darling!!

Just answered for asoue here

What We Do In the Shadows

OTP: oh it's gotta be Nadja/Lilith. What can I say; I'm a sucker for lesbians, Lucy Punch, and bitter exes. They really have it all <3

Favourite canon pairing: Nadja/Laszlo of course. Though in recent series they haven't really been getting any screen time so my love for them has been dying somewhat. I hope they get some good scenes in the last season!

Worst pairing ever: Nadja and Colin. Why did they do that. Why did they do that. Why did they do that. Why did they-

Guilty pleasure pairing: I WAS HALFWAY THROUGH WRITING AN 'OH I DON'T REALLY HAVE ONE' PASSAGE WHEN I REALISED I DO. I FUCKING DO AND NO ONE WILL KNOW WHAT I'M ON ABOUT BUT HERE GOES ANYWAY!! Okay so you know in that one episode when Nadja was on the council and they had a fancy banquet and Nandor was in his depression nap and everyone thought he was dead?? Well one of the sexy vampire ladies that turned up was Carmilla (famous vampire from the vampiric novel, Carmilla) and I ABSOLUTELY wanted her and Nadja to get together. There it is, that's the guilty-pleasure ship, yet another one-episode character but somehow worse than Lilith because Carmilla only had like three lines

A pairing you want to see more: Nadja/The Guide!! The Guide is throwing herself at my girl and she is absolutely clueless. Icon <3

That pairing everyone likes but you’re like “lol no”: Nadja/Jenna. Really not into it, she gave me a VERY strong maternal vibe and I am. Not a fan of shipping them. Again, you do you, but like. Not for me

Favourite non-romantic pair: Nadja & Guillermo! I wish we'd given more focus to their dynamic earlier in the show, they' 've always had the potential to be really great bitchy friends, but we DID get her going absolutely fucking feral to save his life, risking hers in the process, so... it's a win <3

Into the Woods

I have basically never thought about shipping these characters so this is going to be fun

OTP: Baker's Wife and Cinderella. Straight up, I think it would be really fun and also the whole "when you know you can't have what you want what's the profit in wishing?" vs "how can you know what you want til you get what you want and you see if you like it?" I'm just saying, their little late night heart-to-hearts could have turned into something fruity

Favourite canon pairing: Cinderella's Prince/Baker's Wife is literally just funny. Like girlie what was even going through your head there

Worst pairing ever: Rapunzel/Rapunzel's Prince. I'm sorry, she was locked in a tower for her entire life, then abandoned by her mother for the horrible crime of making a friend (and fucking him, but still, that was your fault too buddy-boy), and he has the audacity to complain that she cries too much?? She wandered alone in the desert with newborn twins thinking that you were DEAD. It's been less than a year! My girl had TRAUMA and she deserved better

Guilty pleasure pairing: the Witch and the Stepmother. Do they ever interact? No. Do I think it'd be super funny to pair up the only villainous women just because? Absolutely. They can start an "I was a bad mother but also I love my children with my whole heart" club and make each other worse

A pairing you want to see more: Florinda and Lucinda with Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, respectively. First of all I think it's funny that it would fulfil the whole 'good marriage' thing, but also I just think the stepsisters get a really rough deal and someone needs to get those princesses out of there before the aspiring Henry VIII's get on to their second wives

That pairing everyone likes but you’re like “lol no”: Baker/Baker's Wife. I'm sorry, there is no good option here. She cheated, he undervalued her at every turn, yells in her face because she just wants to help, and then has this ~wonderful realisation~ that "wow, maybe I should work with my wife!" before going straight back to his "you stay here and do nothing Because I Said So" mindset in act two. Mans has anger issues and I don't like it. Also, again, she cheated. There is no good angle to this relationship

Favourite non-romantic pair: Cinderella and the Baker. They really said "well, that was an awful lot of trauma none of us asked for. Guess we're sticking together and raising a family of two orphans and your infant son that you had with your wife (who's now dead) who cheated with my husband (who's telling people I'm dead)". Like that's so fuckin iconic.

Wait but ALSO the Witch and Rapunzel??? That's a fucking fascinating dynamic right there, like the Witch does love her! She absolutely unequivocally does! But also she doesn't know how to love her, and it is SO endlessly interesting to me and always will be

Send me a fandom and I'll answer these questions!

#wwdits #into the woods #mon cher #fandom asks #thank you for this darling!!

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creation-help · 1 year

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[trigger warning for passing mentions of murder... does that count as heavy content?]

could you review the design of my ace attorney ocs?

valerie n. toine used to be a rather successful defense attorney (look on the left with the sweater vest), but after losing a case while trying to defend her fiance who goes on to die in prison, she grows cold and bitter. she becomes a prosecutor (look on the right) and plots her revenge against the man who she deems responsible, which of course in the ace attorney universe means trying to murder someone and falsifying evidence while prosecuting the case. i really wanted her to look sort of romantic and lovecore-y overall, as love is a pretty big part of her story, but obviously she has to look well-put-together and somewhat imposing as well. and i wanted her younger self to look, well, younger and more sweet/care-free.

the second one is a bit of a self insert (and doesnt have a proper reference yet), his name is jack tryles, hes a law student who acts as phoenix wrights co-counsel for a while and who val ends up stabbing in an alleyway lol. he survives though, dont worry. being a self insert his design is kind of whatever i think looks cool than anything too based on his character/story, so id appreciate critique on more of a purely visual standpoint for him.

[Again mentioning that I'm not able to comment on anything regarding the Canon text here, as I'm not familiar with the ace attorney games beyond a pretty surface level]

Valerie N. Toine:

Lemme just say I'm very much enjoying the outfit design here, having her be lovecore aesthetically while her main conflict focuses on, ykno, love, is very cool! The fact that she has an engagement(?)/wedding ring in the Before version, while in the After version it's some other nondescript ring? Mwah. Also I just wanna say, the heart shaped buttons on the jacket, in the After version, wonderful detail. Though this all did make me wonder, what if the After version was more themed around like, heartbreak and grim lovecore instead of the positive kind? Not a criticism by any means, just my suggestion for if you wanted to make the change more dramatic (maybe like adding more black, deep red and wine colors, stuff like that). Depends on if you want a more artistic or realistic impression I think! However the After outfit (hair included!) is very good as is :] also I love how, in the small headshot, her hair is in a heart shaped bun.. Mwah. Again.

In my opinion the design has a good balance with not being too simple and not too complex, and despite what I said about the color scheme earlier I think you did great with darkening the colors on the After outfit, while still keeping energy from the first one. The lessening of white is a nice subtle touch, also, great color planning on your part for making the boots (2nd vers) the same color as her bell bottoms (1st vers)! Just a very cohesive well coordinated color scheme across both iterations. The glasses and the bow staying despite everything keeps a good bit of consistency.

I think you succeeded in having her look like someone to not be taken lightly (2nd vers. Obviously), she definitely looks very formal compared to the first version. More.. Angular, ykno? Mostly thanks to the clothes. I feel like maybe I'd also add something to her Person as well, to signify the change? Due to the art style ofc I can't know if you intended her younger self to look physically younger and springier (this is a reference drawing so I'm not judging that at all), but if not I highly encourage that!

Well put together - absolutely!

Imposing - hmm? I'm not saying she doesn't necessarily look imposing - she very well could depending on how she'd be portrayed visually but mostly, from comparing the two versions I moreso get a sense of "Professionalism vs. Chill and casual", and Mature vs. Carefree, ykno? The sharp shapes in her hair do well to further the more serious and imposing image but I feel like there could be a slight bit more, if you want her to look more intimidating. Unfortunately I'm not sure if I can quite put my finger on it. My overall opinion is that the design is Good, it works, it's cohesive, and I really can't reasonably come up with anything I'd seriously think should be changed. For a very subjective personal take, in my taste, I'd probably make it even more - dramatic, cartoony? Exaggerated?? But, that is all up to how you want to portray her. I personally like to get super into designing something unless I'm intending them to look plain or "normal" (human terms), however take this from someone who primarily does surreal or fantasy (and nonhuman) designs, haha. Really, I think this is great, skilled visual design and honestly I wouldn't say I'm extremely good at outfit design myself so, while adjustments or flavor details could be added - she totally doesn't need them! I honestly could've gone on more about the small details that change between the two versions but I'll just cap this off with saying Great work!

Jack Tryles (Can I just say that last name is so tasty in my mouth. Also is it a.. Pun? Like "trials"??)

Definitely a bit more visually busy, and although it could give off a more messy or chaotic impression I kinda like it. If we compare him to Valerie, she really does come off as very put together and composed. Not that he doesn't, though! Just by comparison.

The fullbody outfit has a fun combination of shapes that give it a good amount of visual variance. There is slight asymmetry with the positioning of the pins and other accessories but he still keeps a fairly professional image - just one that's lots more personalised and customised than Valerie.

I would say, maybe the jacket could also have pinstripes like the pants? I find it a small bit inconsistent with only one of them being pure black. It's not a huge deal to me though, and I'm moreso tilting my head at it than finding it a downside. Just makes it seem that the pants and jacket aren't a part of the same set, if you get me? Though that could also work to establish personality more, like many of the other personalized touches. I think for this design, he has just the right amount of accessories! Not too many not too little. I also love that the soles of the shoes are green! The color scheme is minimal, definitely more reserved, but imo it works for what it's trying to be - which is, I assume, a work outfit.

For me personally I think I might wanna break up the large areas of black, it's just on the cusp of being a bit too much of the same color next to each other but you can again take this as a personal comment. It's just what I think would make it more visually appealing, though I do like black! Maybe you could add a lighter tone of green somewhere?

Still, it works, it's interesting enough to look at, can't find much I'd complain about. Although I think the color planning on Valerie is a bit more engaging since there's more variety of different looking things (like with patterns for example) that still fit together. Still, no complaints as I said. I'm also not sure how much I'd feel appropriate commenting on him considering - self insert, which is meant to moreso reflect on you. I will say, they do look like they fit well into the same story so, good work all around in designing them both together :]

#Oc review #Character design #Character design review #Ask #I hope the commentary was fine!#I'm nervous if it's a bit. Saying alot but not much #Since non fantasy human designs tend to not be my area #By that I mean I've only recently gotten all into that #Maybe I'm just worrying alot since. (glances at my exhaustion lately) so ykno #Enjoy nonetheless!#I honestly couldn't think of that much to critique nor change suggestions on these! You did good!

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