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genericpuff · 8 months

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yeah so let's talk about the scenes between hades and thanatos that went from being goofy "haha a boss being hard on an employee" 'jokes' to child abuse as soon as it was revealed that hades was thanatos' adoptive father

and yes i'm putting a content warning jump for ❗❗❗ child abuse and neglect ❗❗❗

so first off, before we even get into the Thanatos / Hades father son relationship thing, I wanna mention a sequence in Episode 39 and why I think Rachel included the scene of Hades reaming Thanatos for being bad at his job.

And it's simply because of what happens the episode before.

Persephone's ableism aside (seriously, I have legs, that doesn't mean I want to walk everywhere, I also own a car, that doesn't mean I have to drive everywhere, maybe flying is tiring? Maybe he's injured and shouldn't be flying? Maybe he has a disability that results in him having wings that can't fly? Check yourself Persephone 😒) this is one of the earliest signs of LO's "Revenge for Persephone" problem which is CONSTANT throughout the narrative - that anytime Persephone is slighted or inconvenienced in the slightest, then the narrative needs to ensure there's some kind of revenge, either directly for her sake or indirectly for the audience's, and it's often always facilitated through or by Hades.

And that leads us to Episode 39, which is when we get exactly that.

Moving onto the scene itself, this is what we call in the work environment a "dressing down". This is not how legitimate employee reviews are given. Hades is not planning on giving him any sort of formal review or constructive criticism. He's planning on tearing him a new asshole just for the fun of doing so. You can even see it written on his face. He's doing this just for the joy of tearing him down. As someone who's been subject to this kind of behavior in previous work environments, I can assure you that this is not normal behavior that's indicative of a functioning workplace, this is abuse.

Taking that train scene into account, it's a way to indirectly "avenge" Persephone. She was slighted by Thanatos, so now Hades is going to make his life hell. But here's the thing - this not revenge for Persephone's sake. Hades doesn't even know Persephone's in the building, and Persephone doesn't know that Thanatos is being berated by Hades. But the scene is here anyways because of course the audience needs to feel "better" about Persephone getting pushed by a stranger at the train stop.

Now, scenes like this have been done in other stories, often times to explain the behavior of bullies/aggressors/etc. because in many cases, textbook bullies, whether children or adults, are abusing others because they're being abused by a higher authority so they take it out on those "weaker" than them.

But this doesn't work in LO, for several reasons.

First off, it pretty much plays it off like a joke, especially when the scene continues after Persephone has walked into Tower 4.

But beyond that, the higher authority abusing Thanatos is someone we're expected to root for. He's the main love interest. While this could be written as a legitimate character flaw, we all know now, in the year 2023, that Rachel sees Hades' behavior as a feature, not a bug. While most scenes written like this would cast a new perspective on a bully and allow some room for understanding and empathy from the audience, in LO's case, we're still not expected to empathize with Thanatos here, they want us insulting him right alongside Hades.

And of course, that brings us to the big blue elephant in the room - the knowledge of Hades and Thanatos' relationship completely re-contextualizes these scenes in a way that's far too depressing and horrifying for a writer like Rachel to be able to wrap up confidently.

Of course, she tried, but her efforts... can't even really be called efforts. For starters, because a lot of it is played off as a joke, as if Rachel can't handle even a single moment of legitimate emotion, she has to "write off the awkward" by making things "funny".

But when she does try to seriously write these scenes of introspection, reflection, and communication, it just winds up turning into the main protagonists going "woe is me, I was the real victim!" and never actually suffering consequences for their actions as a result as they Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss their victims into apologizing to them. It still isn't asking us to empathize with or side with Thanatos, it wants us to end up right back at square one supporting Hades' side of the story.

Literally "well you weren't that bad, at least you were there!" bare minimum accountability, followed by "well I didn't make your life easy so I get it" from someone who was literally a child who was abandoned and left to live with an abusive asshole. It wasn't his fault that he was in the situation he was in, it wasn't his fault that he was a "handful" for Hades because he was a CHILD and Hades was the ADULT, but the comic paints it as Thanatos being at fault anyways for being "ungrateful".

But there are even more subtle signs that point to Thanatos' childhood with Hades that, while not specifically mentioning it, do paint a pretty nasty picture of how Thanatos views Hades and the people around him as a result of his childhood, in a very fridge horror "stop and think about it" kind of way.

First of all, the fact that Thanatos hasn't even been allowed to touch Hades' car. Obviously he's referring to specifically driving it but it makes me wonder what kind of bare minimum accommodations Hades made for his own adopted son. Again, played off for a joke.

And of course we have this one piece of concept art-

Now to be fair, this is concept art from before it was retconned that Thanatos was Hades' son, but it still casts an icky implication in hindsight both because of Hades' treatment towards Thanatos as well as the implication that Thanatos was getting "too close" to Persephone for Hades' liking. This sort of weird dynamic can be found in the actual comic when Hades admits he knows Thanatos was sleeping with Minthe.

And then there was this one scene, which prompted me to write this post in the first place, shared in the ULO Discord.

Thanatos has just met Daphne, so it's not necessarily weird for him to be suspicious of her asking for his phone, but the actual dialogue... doesn't line up with what you'd assume he would be suspicious of.

He doesn't say "you're not going to peek through it, are you?"

He specifically says "You're not going to smash it, are you?"

Now, if this line were intended to be anything more than some throwaway "haha funny" line (which, again, where's the punchline here) then maybe it could point more to something that happened between him and Minthe. But there's nothing that implies she was ever violent towards him, and the one time she IS violent towards anyone, it's implied that's the first and only time she's ever escalated things to that point and that even she's shocked and disgusted at her own behavior.

There is plenty to imply that Thanatos was abused by Hades, though.

So reading this line in hindsight... really just feels like further proof on a growing pile of evidence that Thanatos was constantly being berated, controlled, and abused by Hades, a guy who he never asked for as a father figure, but was still expected to apologize to anyways.

But there is one last thing I wanna mention before I wrap up. One thing that was mentioned by yet another user in the ULO community that really stood out to me because it just goes to show how horrible Hades has been towards Thanatos, both in the past pre-retcon and in the present well after it was established that they were father and (adopted) son.

And that's Hades' two dream sequences that involve him having children with Persephone.

One of these scenes is from before the retcon. The other is from after.

Neither one features Thanatos as a part of Hades' visions for the future.

Hades has been Thanatos' entire life. But Hades doesn't see Thanatos as even a part of his.

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #antiloreolympus #anti lore olympus #essay post #long post #content warning #cw #child abuse #child neglect #tw child abuse #tw child neglect

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kerubimcrepin · 23 days

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Liveblog - Dofus, livre 1 : Julith [PART 23]

I think after this it's kinda natural that Joris will never ever put his trust into anyone that isn't Kerubim or Atcham ever again.

I am once again asking why Kerubim has these books and what was he doing at devil's sacrament.

He's never beating those necromancy allegations.

There's a canonical name for the evil-ass looking huppermages.

youtube

Once again, this is Them in Dofus 2 when they reveal to Joris that they framed Julith or something. (source: my beautiful mind)

The Dessous comic implies that Marline bought this stuff from Kerubim which is so funny. It's beautiful how little of a shit the man gives for the safety of others.

I may not like Khan in his present form, as a macho gobbowler, but I like the idea of him. Joris, and his little "ghnhnn I have to do what's right, I have sacrifice my happinesss for other people" complex needs someone like that in his life who will buy him alcohol and help him run away from home when he's 14-16.

I'm sure if given another movie, or a show, Ankama's plan would have been to make Khan more likeable. He seems like a ride-or-die friend.

A scene ago he was in Julith's arms. So, she found it important to get him into the arms of this dofus-powered doll. Personally, I like to think that he started thrashing and maybe even bit her.

What did she lie about though? Liking him? Not wanting the Dofus? Being a competent person and not a fuck-up? (I love Bakara and say all of this with affection)

Once again, I empathize, that Julith was gloating about this to Bakara. That she doesn't really care about Joris (and by extension, Joris's feelings.)

She is killing a thousand people, who did nothing to her. These are civilians who came to watch a sports match. How many mothers are here with their sons and daughters who just wanted to look at their idols? If Joris never had Grougalorasalar's soul, if he and Kerubim never learned of her plan, THEY would have been among these viewers.

Julith is a very interesting character because she's ruthless, she has no morals, absolutely no understanding or compassion for others, — even Bakara or her own son, — and yet she is driven by love almost entirely. And that's her one redeeming quality.

But also — does it really change things, when you're driven by love to kill a thousand innocent people? To ruin your son's life? Because it doesn't really change much, to me...

I think there's a tragedy in that. She does love the idea of Joris. She loves what she sees of him, his voice, his face, and eyes. If she learned more about him, she'd probably love the parts he didn't show too. She'd love to see how he grew up.

She'd love how committed he is to those he loves. She'd love his ruthless march towards what he thinks is right that will allow him to close his eyes as he does unforgivable things. The only thing she would dislike is his loyalty to Bonta.

But the reverse will never be true. Joris can become a warmonger, a dictator, and a war criminal, but he would loathe to place his needs above those of others. He wouldn't do horrible things if he didn't think it was for the greater good of mankind.

As a 600yo man, Joris has lived through two apocalypses, — and yet people like Nox and Julith will lose 1-4 loved ones and go insane, killing people. I doubt he feels much for her, except for disgust.

Their friendship is so important to me. But also, somewhere out there, Tatak is crying.

I think one of the great tragedies of Joris's character is that he is doomed to break his own moral code, slowly but surely.

One must imagine Joris Jurgen living happily with the blood of innocents on his hands, because the alternative is more haunting.

One of her main issues is that she projects the actions of a few onto literally everyone in Bonta. Which is a very crazy fucking reach.

But I understand how she arrived at this reach to begin with: I don't think she was ever happy, before Jahash, and when she finally was happy, for once in her entire life, they took even that away from her.

You wanna know who else in this scene is going to have only 2 people who give meaning to his life? Jo—— [I am forcefully restrained by the police]

I just really like pointing out the similarities between Joris and Julith, — and the way these similarities underline their differences.

Once again: she doesn't give a shit about anyone's opinion. She is betting everything onto a nebulous future where Joris and Jahash and Bakara forgive and forget everything she did, and they live as a happy Fambly (in Brakmar, because that's a GOOD city and they will LOVE to move there, after being no longer welcome in Bonta due to the 1000 dead people.)

(Guy whose very emotional and Julith and Joris voice) guys I think she's starting to realize that their familial relationship is going to be unfixable.

Joris and everyone present here are quite aware that stopping this will kill one of them.

They are also very aware that one dead person is better than a thousand.

#ro liveblogs dofus #dofus #wakfu #krosmoz #dofusmovie #joris jurgen #Youtube

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pedropascallme · 11 months

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Treehouse

Pairing: Din Djarin x f!Reader

Summary: “Then, as if one change hadn’t been enough, there you were.”

Warnings: Ever so slight implications of what could possibly verge on smut but only if you squint. Otherwise none!

AN: Part four of Stupid For You. Is this maybe slightly ooc? Perhaps. Fuck it we ball.

Soundtrack: Treehouse by Alex G

Since swearing the Creed, it was as though there was a giant “do not disturb” sign pasted on Din’s forehead that everybody but him could see.

Once he was tall enough, old enough, strong enough; once he had put on his helmet, never to remove it in front of a living being again, once he had vowed to walk The Way, nobody seemed interested in approaching him. Which was fine. There was an obligatory need to seem intimidating and untouchable in his line of work. Encountering anybody else consistently resulted in inconvenience and, more often than not, violence.

Plus, he hated small talk.

He was fine keeping to himself. He was fine with the silence that he and he alone could create. He enjoyed his time alone, relishing in the fact that he could have the privacy that his heavy beskar allowed him. He needed the space to think, not of anything intimate, but of his duties, of which there always seemed to be too many.

Din was far from lonely. But whatever higher being was out there—Hod Ha’ran, or maybe Kad Ha’rangir, depending on how you looked at it—seemed to crave chaos in the form of changing the course of Din’s life at the expense of his solitude.

He really hadn’t meant to get attached to the child. It wasn’t like he expected to be with him for long; the plan was to pick him up and take him where he needed to go. How much time could it possibly take?

Much, much longer than Din had anticipated.

But he couldn’t deny that he had a certain affinity for the kid. He was curious by nature, allowed to explore the world in a way that Din had never gotten to as a child. Maybe it was because he could empathize with the green tot, could understand the feeling of loss and abandonment that came with being a foundling thrust into a new way of life. Whatever the cause, Din had rather happily accepted the fact that the two were stuck together.

Then, as if one change hadn’t been enough, there you were.

When you waltzed out of Peli’s shop on Tatooine, rag over your shoulder and dirt on your hands, you fawned over Grogu the same way Peli had. But you, unlike Peli, were so clearly eager to get off the dismal desert planet. Your eyes had almost the same depth of curiosity Din saw in the kid’s deep black ones, and there was something in the way you spoke that set his mind at ease more than Peli ever did when she “babysat” (her words).

He was an absolute goner the moment Peli suggested that he take you along. “For the kid’s sake!” She cheered, and once you were out of earshot, she leaned into Din “and for your own, Mando.”

And then suddenly he had a roommate—a friend, even. One that spoke basic and didn’t destroy his ship. Someone who could keep things in order and ensure safety for the child when Din went out for those long stretches of time. That was the most daunting part of your presence, the unexpected sentiment of safety. Din recognized the irony; the fact that the big bad bounty hunter felt protected by your companionship, your quiet but constant reassurance. But nobody needed to know. It was his secret. And maybe when Greef casually mentioned Din’s more pleasant attitude as of late, how it seemed to coincide with your arrival, he’d brush it off.

His secret.

Din was also, quite frankly, terrified of you. Not for any particular trait you held—he thought you were beautiful, fascinating, and maybe one of the smartest people he had met, but that was just it: You were perfect. And Din was…Din was Din. He assumed you were disgusted by his occupation, bothered by his long absences, and disinterested in him on a personal level. He tried to ignore the part of him that said he only felt that way because he was afraid to get close. He could take physical harm, but emotional damage wasn’t something he craved any more of. He tried to dismiss the way you laughed, the way you spoke to him like he was just another person, the way you stubbornly insisted on doing everything on your own all the time. Maybe selfishly, he had always recognized himself as a leader, but it became increasingly obvious—to him, at least—that you were giving him a run for his money.

He had felt his mask slipping even before he had found you wearing his old armor. He attempted to help you out more often, tried to take care of you the way you took care of him and Grogu. His nicknames for you got more frequent, and while he knew you couldn’t understand the Mando’a, he worried he was crossing a line somehow. When he walked in on you imitating him, he couldn’t help but feel himself swell with pride at how you tried to emulate him, how you saw him. He couldn’t help the way he felt so eager to touch you, to have you physically experience his presence. When you began to use the affectionate Mando’a words he had gifted you, he was only mildly bashful, feeling as though you had suddenly swapped places. And what’s more: He didn’t mind.

He had known from the start that he wouldn’t be immune to your charm, and the countless restless nights during which you were the one thing on his mind were proof. He thought of your lips, the curve of your breasts, the way you peered up at him from under your lashes—anything and everything about you consumed him, and he would’ve felt somewhat perverted about it if you hadn’t started to return his subtle flirting. He knew you knew, or maybe you didn’t, and you were doing exactly what he was doing and desperately toeing the line, engaging yourself in the prospect of something more.

He hoped, at least, that it was one of the two.

Either way, and as scared as you made him feel, he never wanted you to leave his side. Maybe it was inconsiderate to think that you’d stick around with him and the kid forever, with or without him having to ask. It was a silent prayer he held close to himself, though. Everybody else was an obstacle to him, in return usually seeing him as a walking weapon and nothing more. But he saw you as fresh air incarnate, as powerful as the suns of the planet he had picked you up on, and you made the ship of misfits he had accrued—himself included—feel whole. When you spoke to him you put more feeling into it than anybody else that addressed him ever had.

For once in his life, he looked forward to small talk. He was so absolutely stupid for you. He liked answering your questions, getting personal, bonding with you in a way he had never cared to with anybody else, that nobody else had ever cared to with him. The curiosity from others he had experienced was usually centered around discomfort, but with you it was a genuine attempt at getting to know him. And you didn’t seem to mind when he had put his hand on your leg, an act of unspoken loyalty between the two of you.

Or maybe he was reading into everything. Maybe he needed the sleep you kept hounding him to catch up on.

Regardless, the exchange echoed in his mind when you left the cockpit.

Do Not Enter is written on the door way Why can't everyone just go away? Except you You can stay

~~~

Tag list <3

@queerponcho @abbygraceasd @sanscas @amberpanda99

#pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal x you #din djarin #din djarin x reader #din djarin x you #the mandalorian #mandalorian fanfic #mandalorian x you #mandalorian x reader

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dreaming-about-seireitei · 2 months

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Re: the 'talk about for hours meme' -- "2. Certain fictional characters : from books or anime, I can give you full essays on them"

Could I have your full essays on Matsumoto and Shinji!! (Feel free to split into two posts if it's weird/too long to do them both in one, haha.)

OUH. MYGOD. This is what I have been waiting for. Yesssss I CAN. Also, I think I will split it into two separate posts, because I want to cover more aspects. So this will only be about Matsumoto Rangiku. But beware, you brought this upon yourself. It will be long af (roughly about 1900 words). I hope it all makes sense!

Also, everything I say is totally my opinion, the way I see them, and the "analysis" (nothing too formal) I made is based on anime only and/or maybe some spoilers (because I don't own any Bleach manga yet😭)

In the beginning, I need to mention that in my opinion (and as I mentioned in a previous post), she is actually a very humane, relatable and complex character. And this is why I like her so much. However, she is, most of the times, underappreciated.

So usually when people are talking about her, they get to mention her her physical appearance, which is normal and is what you do with everyone, but then something interesting happens.

When it comes to her personality, she is often viewed and portrayed as a shallow, superficial and unbothered woman. Kind of the standard beautiful but ignorant woman trope portrayed in most media.

But she is not just a plain character made to fill in some gaps and have a few lines. And while I agree she has a few flaws (that I'll talk about later), I feel like this portrayal of her couldn't be more wrong.

In actuality, she is a very well constructed character, that we subjectively misjudge, because we have certain expectations when we see an architype of fictional universes and forget to look past certain traits. And you might ask "Okay, dude, but what do you mean by that?" Well, let me explain.

But to get even deeper with how much of a complex character she is, as we go further along with the anime, we know that Gin leaves with Aizen. Even since then, we knew something was going on with those two, when he apologized to her. But as it was revealed later, Gin was her childhood friend, the one she even lived with for a while. The first person she ever loved from what I know (not sure if romantically or platonically, but love, none the less). Now, imagine how destroyed she must feel about him leaving with a man that betrayed, used and lied to everyone in their community without any explanation whatsoever. More so, imagine how worried she must be everyday for him, not ever knowing if he'll come back. Imagine how she has to live with this constantly in the back of her mind, and still be a good shinigami and fight with the fear that one day, she might have to fight him. The strength one has to have to be able to continue life with these realizations in mind, every day, without breaking once, is colossal. How mature you have to be adapt to this kind of situation so fast, even if you hate the reality this is bringing you in, is the proof of being not only very emotionally intelligent, but also intelligent overall. And not to mention how she carries this burden seemingly alone, because nobody seems to ever ask her if she's alright or care whatsoever for her problems, probably because of her optimistic, cheery personality.

Firstly, when we initially get to meet her, in the episode of Aizen's "death", we see her restraining Hinamori and getting her to jail, as a good lieutenant would do at the orders of her captain, right? But after that, we witness a conversation those two have, in which we can clearly see that Matsumoto does empathize with Hinamori, telling her she understands how frustrated she is, but she needs to think about her squad and priorities and to not make any allegations (when Hinamori was about to say she knew who "killed" Aizen).

In that small dialogue, we get to understand that not only, is Rangiku very levelheaded, but also she cares about Hinamori enough to tell her it is not her place to make those accusations and she lets to be understood that she will regret saying anything more, and tries to guide her to better priorities. She does everything in a serious, yet not necessarily harsh manner. She feels as many emotions as everyone about what just happened, and yet she thinks about what is best to be done and how to be efficient, while still empathizing with and not blaming Hinamori for anything. And she keeps that attitude towards her even later, in the fake Karakura Town arc, when Hinamori clearly calls Aizen "captain", but Rangiku still has an understanding, yet compassionate and worried attitude towards her (and to be honest, that is more than I would've had for her at that point). That already says so much about her character and moral compass.

Which brings me to the next point. We always see her as being this bright, obnoxious ray of sunshine. Party girl who likes to drink, sometimes a little too much (but I would too in her situation), who's everyone's friend. From hanging out, getting drunk with the boys, or being there for Hitsugaya (she was even the one who told him to be a shinigami in the first place, and made sure to make him understand it would be best for him to do so), to even having a heartfelt conversation with Orihime when she gets jealous and depressed. Rangiku is an optimistic, reliable person who you can have fun with and trust with your heart. But who's there for her the way she is there for others? Because I don't see her talking about any of her personal issues, besides this one exception with Hitsugaya once. So not only is she strong to keep herself composed and with the mind clear, ready to battle anytime, but she is also succeeding in doing so alone, with no support system (that I know of). So she has the power of continuing to battle for what is right and be there for everyone in a very enthusiastic way, with a broken heart that still has room for hope, and with an intelligent mind that still makes room for fun.

Now, everything I have mentioned so far are her positive traits. Of course, she wouldn't have been a very good constructed character if she didn't have any flaws. That's also what makes her even more relatable and humane. But what is again very interesting here, is that her flaws seem to be very much in contrast with her positive traits.

Also, talking about being ready for battle, there is one more point I need to add. Considering everything I mentioned earlier, we also need to talk about how good of a fighter and strategist (not to mention how strong willed) she is.

Remember: she had a portion of her soul stolen (at least that's what I understood) by Aizen! And if we are to recall the encounters she had with arrancars (and fights overall), we can surely say she had some interesting strategic moves, as well as some decent, interesting decisions in battle. So we can only imagine what kind of a fighter she would have become if she had her soul intact. All though I will not dive deeper into this (because I will have to rewatch all of her fights, and even then get into a subject that I'm really not good at), I can definitely say she is not a lieutenant for nothing. She is definitely a capable, devoted and loyal lieutenant, fighter and ally.

We can also see a similar circumstance with her shallow and vain demeanor whenever she talks about shopping and getting nice things. Because we need to remember she grew up poor! And not only that, but she was dying of starvation. When Gin found her, she was on the verge of death. And as she grew, like most kids in Rukongai, she had mostly nothing. So to one extend, I can really understand why, as an adult, she would prefer to spend her money as she likes without any reservations. I think it helps healing her inner child and can also be a coping mechanism that she developed along the years, to help cope with everything she goes through by herself.

When we think about her flaws, we picture in our minds her laziness and how conceited and vain she can be sometimes. We can also talk about how unbothered or easygoing she seems to be in many situations. And her drinking problem (which I am not going to talk about, because in my own balkan view, it doesn't really look like a problem, just that when she parties, she goes hard, and I would too and I get it).

But I found that her laziness is in strong contrast with her strong will to fight and how ready she is for battle anytime. Which is not something a lazy person will do. We have plenty of great characters that can be very intelligent and impressively created, but who are very lazy and find many things (such as fighting) as a "drag" or "nuisance". She could do the same, but she doesn't. Which leads me to believe that it's not laziness per se, it's most likely the boredom and uninteresting facade of doing chores like paperwork. And I see that as fitting to her, because she probably needs strong and intense sensations to fixate on something and not be distracted by her own mind (my opinion).

And even that, I think it really depends on how important her role would be as the responsible person in said situations. Because if you remember the flashbacks of her being a lieutenant under Kurosaki Isshin, she was the one who scolded him for not doing work. Of course, it wasn't like she was working anywhere near the amount Hitsugaya would, in any day, but still more than now. And I think that was exactly because someone had to. It was important for the captain to have someone who would nag him from time to time, so that's what she did. Just like how it is important for Hitsugaya to have a ray of sunshine to cheer him up and get him out of his sometimes-too-serious way.

And sure, she doesn't like being called "old", like most women, and she cares about her looks a lot, but I think that also comes from a place of not knowing or having the privilege of getting to care about those things as child. Which she finally has now, as an adult, and of course she takes advantage of that now and thinks about those things.

With all of this being said, I think the only conclusion here is that Matsumoto Rangiku is a strong, very reliable, smart woman with the emotional intelligence above many other characters (and people) that we get to see usually in fictional universes (or even real life). She is the kind of person I would love to have as a friend, and I wish I could have the honor of being there for her, because she deserves it. With a heart of gold and a personality brighter than the sun, Matsumoto Rangiku is the glue that holds so many things together and is one of the many needed pieces of our Bleach puzzle. And yes, she is also very hot and I would tap that.

And concomitantly, we see her seemingly self-absorbed personality that shows up from that to time and the contrast that makes with how much empathy and devotion she demonstrates.

This made me think of just the way we perceive people sometimes without having the full story on them. Because I think that it may be a misunderstanding of her character.

What I mean by this is that, maybe, we misunderstood those traits, and in reality is just her confidence. A lot of self confidence and care for one's self can be missinterpreted as shallowness if we either don't have the full story, or if that person is not slightly modest in admitting the good things about themselves. Which is an interesting way to see her, that would further demonstrate how cool she is (but considering this hypothesis is only that, a hypothesis, it might just be two contrasting traits she has, which either way, make her an interesting person).

Bonus: this is the song that always reminds me of her for some reason -

youtube

#i tried my best to be coherent #i hope it all makes sense #matsumoto rangiku #bleach #my opinion on characters

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comradekatara · 10 months

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reply to this post from @silverknight338 that i wanted to respond to more thoroughly:

To go into sokka’s retreat, it’s because he tried to mold himself into the man/warrior of the village. He didn’t have any mentor there, so he based it on myths and idealizations, putting up a front in order to project safety, even if it’s not much of a disguise. I doubt the older women of the south believed he could save them, but they were still grateful he would try, and would never tell him it wasn’t helpful because it was a way for him to redirect his mourning. He can push the mourning back if he has enough to do, and worry about, and protect. He was just a scared kid, but he tried. And now he’s still on this incredibly exhausting journey, there’s barely any time to truly process what’s going on past the bare minimum let alone old memories and scars. Katara throwing it in his face that he doesn’t love Kya the way she did, because he maybe never showed his mourning, never openly spoke or wielded it the way she did, because if he did, it wasn’t how the warrior he wanted, needed to be, acted. So maybe even in that episode, he still pushes aside that old grief, that he wasn’t smart enough to see around the fire nation’s goal, wasn’t fast enough to get there in time, but he knows on a deeper level how seeking revenge won’t help him. It’s been a really long time since i’ve watched the series in whole, but i think he blames himself. For katara’s anger, i think it’s because she doesn’t busy herself the way sokka did. She reflects and has seen the cause and effect of her father’s absence. Because her father left, her brother became annoying, uptight, and could barely see past his nose (sokka grew up to try to take responsibility, but to katara this is her brother playing, he can’t fill that role). Because of the fire nation, her father left to fight. Because of the fire nation, her mother died. She emotionally connects with people, and empathizes with them, she’s been through a lot, losing her parents in one way or another to the fire nation, and seeing the devastating effects it has on everyone. She has a strong sense of morals, and add in the emotional aspect, that’s a dam waiting to burst. Whereas sokka has a more detached take on it, he empathizes with people, but he has a “mine first” mentality that katara doesn’t. Because we the viewers have seen Katara be the empathetic and caring one, it is quite the contrast to see her lash out, especially with loved ones. because she is so empathetic, she typically calls people out, but this word whipping, it hurts and it is true, is rare as she usually tries to understand. this is such an old deep hurt, something she has had time to stew about. This isnt the first time she’s thought this.

right. what's important to understand is that sokka was told that "being a man is knowing where [he's] needed the most, and that's protecting [his] sister." he also knows his mother died to protect her. he knows she's special in a way no one else is. he knows that the raids will never truly end as long as the fire nation has power, as they have had for a century. to sokka, being a man isn't just fighting for a cause, it's dying for one. in his mind, he was all but told in explicit terms that it is his destiny to lay down his life to protect katara. and the only person who would ever try to dispel that notion is katara herself, but being her protector also means being unable to confide in her (that's not what men do, plus she's his little sister, he doesn't want to upset her in a real way, only in a teasing older brother way) so he's just... distant. distant where it counts, at least. i think if he actually ever spilled forth the contents, the truly hideous depths of his psyche to his sister she would never accuse him of being heartless or arrogant or delusional again. but he never will. he will take those feelings to the grave. perhaps when they're much, much older, or if she gets him really drunk. but even then, i doubt it. i don't think he's self-aware enough to know what exactly he would even say if it came down to it.

i do think there is a part of him that blames himself for what happened that day, because he just always blames himself. although i think he's smart enough to realize that no matter what, he couldn't have killed yon rha, or have gotten to hakoda in time, i think he probably feels like if he had gone to his house instead of trying to fight, he could've done what kya did instead. which is obviously crazy, because kya would not have let him, but he also thinks that it's his fault that yue became the moon, so like. he's not exactly rational when it comes to his guilt complex. but he also doesn't want revenge. sokka is always thinking big picture, not to mention that his mother died at the hands of the fire nation, but she didn't die for him. so to him, kya's killer is just a faceless cog in the imperialist machine. he never saw yon rha's face, looked into his eyes, like katara did. his mother's death wasn't personal the way it is for katara. and he knows that, so he doesn't say anything. yes, she was his mother too, but he didn't grieve her like katara did. he's probably never wondered what yon rha was like the way katara has, he only knows that the flag of the raiders was sea ravens because he has an incredible memory (which makes it even more tragic that he can't remember kya's face, a deliberate act of repression to cope that he now seemingly regrets), it's not like he ever contemplated revenge. clearly katara has. i definitely think she's had fantasies of avenging her mother's death in a heroic fashion long before zuko offered her the opportunity. which is why the banality of the moment when she stares into yon rha's eyes once more and sees his humanity and the futility of what she is about to do is so important. she was always too caught up in trying to be a hero that she neglected her personhood. sokka also neglected his personhood, but in a far less valorizing way. "the boiling rock" and "the southern raiders" is about both of them accepting nuance and humanity into their perceptions of themselves and their respective roles, but in different ways to suit their different needs. but i digress.

i think the fact that katara considers what sokka is doing "playing soldier" to be super interesting. when you hear that line in the pilot, you assume that she's right because she's the narrator and the hero and she's special and immediately likable, so of course she's right about sokka, who so far has only complained and been a dick. but he isn't playing. by the next episode we begin to see that. to him this is a matter of life or death. he was told by his father, by his mother's sacrifice, by his family and his village that it is his duty to protect katara by whatever means necessary. so he's preparing for that day and is trying to use his extremely limited resources to be strong enough to protect her and their village or die trying. i think katara considers it playing because she's in total denial of sokka's worldview. like she just doesn't accept that sokka is okay with sacrificing himself, so to her he's like this because of ego and not because everyone in the village and their father is somehow fine with the idea that he is just a sacrificial lamb in her honor. like that must be so horrifying for her to consider that she just refuses to think about it. it's way easier to rationalize sokka's behavior as annoying useless sexist brother who can't even wash his own socks. don't interrogate why he's depressed and paranoid and hopeless if he's obnoxious. focus on the little things, the small antagonisms and petty arguments, and you don't have to think about how concerning your relationship is! i love when katara says "from now on, you're on your own!" because it's such a ridiculous thing to say. katara, honey, he would follow you to the ends of the earth. (and he does.)

katara's righteous anger thrums through her at the very core of who she is. her inability to tolerate even the slightest injustice (both real and perceived) is why she is so compassionate and kind and helpful but also so quick to snap. sokka doesn't have that. he's also kind and helpful and brave, of course, but he doesn't have this optimistic view of the world where he sees the best in the people and has a beautiful vision for what the world can be. his worldview is very bleak, very cynical. i wouldn't necessarily call it a "mine first" mentality so much as he just tries to approach every situation logically. and in episodes such as "the painted lady," it's not that he doesn't care about jang hui, it's not that he thinks the pollution and oppression and poverty is fine, but he's focused on defeating the firelord, and to him, once that happens, they can work on helping all the people who have been oppressed by the fire nation, not just one village. katara sees someone in need directly in front of her and immediately goes to help them, whereas sokka considers the bigger picture and how to best improve lives overall. it can seem like a callous approach to someone like katara, but they do have the same end goal, which is to help others. (and if she thinks he's callous, he thinks she's myopic. and they're both kind of right, to an extent, but they also both want the same thing, and are both extremely brilliant, so there's also that.) and of course his "logical" priorities also fly out the window when it comes to katara. like he does want to be practical but he cares about katara and his loved ones more. in moments when he is truly challenged it's clear that he feels and loves far more deeply than he lets on.

katara does lash out quite often, not only at sokka but also at toph, zuko, even aang once (although she immediately apologizes, which is unique to aang. she does not apologize to anyone else when she yells at them, not even to toph after mocking her blindness on like the second day of knowing her!) but in "the southern raiders" it's clear that her feelings, coming from a place of grief and rage and buried guilt, are even more volatile than usual (and she's already quite an emotionally volatile person). i think what she says to aang, that she knew he wouldn't understand, comes off very tone deaf because he obviously can empathize with her grief and guilt and rage, but because she's always placed him on a pedestal, she can't imagine him having these dark and messy emotions that she is contending with. even though he does, and she should know that better than anyone considering that she is his primary confidante and best friend, but i think she's too caught up in her own rage to realize in the moment that other people know her pain and yet can choose to react differently. she and zuko process things very similarly and they're really enabling each other in this episode, but their grief also comes from a place of guilt because their mothers sacrificed themselves for them, and they feel like they need to honor their memories and no one else understands that burden. but of course, aang and sokka do understand, aang is plagued by guilt for "abandoning" his people, and sokka feels guilt over... everything basically. but katara and zuko lash out because they're saying things they don't want to hear, and yeah, they've had a lot of time to stew in those feelings.

sokka doesn't resent hakoda at all, because he is simply too insecure for that, but katara feels like hakoda abandoned her, and that's a really complicated well of deep resentment that adds another really fascinating layer to her character (in terms of recontextualization, it really reframes why katara was so willing to let sokka go see their father while she stayed behind in ba sing se. katara is very compassionate and helpful and empathetic, but she is not selfless). katara also feels like sokka abandoned her, at least emotionally. like obviously sokka is physically present for her at all times, but he does not communicate with her, he isn't actually honest about his feelings with her. katara craves people with whom she can have honest discussions about their emotions, and sokka just can't do that. it runs counter to his entire modus operandi of repression and masking his true feelings and being the brother katara needs but not the brother she wants. and she resents him for that. she implies he acts heartless in "the painted lady" because he is admittedly quite callous upon witnessing suffering (although he obviously can empathize with the jang hui villagers in the same way katara can, they grew up in the same tiny, decimated village; his dismissiveness is a combination of "logical detachment" and being nervous about staying on schedule for the upcoming invasion). and i understand where katara is coming from, because if he was my older brother, his condescension would also get on my nerves and i would also point out every single one of his flaws, however minor, to "knock him down a peg" (of course, his ego/self esteem is already underground, he's not condescending because he thinks he's better than anyone, so her tactic is ultimately futile lmfao). but she hears him open up to toph, confide something about his true feelings regarding katara and their mother that he's never actually told katara. the fact that he won't communicate with her must be infuriating. and then again, she's also right. they do see kya differently. and they both know it.

this conflict between them – the mother gap, if you will – is not one that i think could ever be fully resolved, unless somehow sokka learned how to be truly honest and vulnerable with katara, and katara learned how to apologize to sokka. but those are things neither of them will ever actually do, in all likelihood. so they will continue to be codependent as fuck, two halves of the same whole, while simultaneously letting this rift exist between them, perpetually unbridged due to a fundamental lack of communication. but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. their love for each other transcends their unspoken gaps in understanding.

#considered putting this under a readmore but fuck it #katara&sokka #katara #sokka #not tagging anyone else Its All About THEM Babeyyy #analysis #silverknight338 #hey did u know. that they are so important. and their relationship makes me insane. did u know that. did u

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aelsie · 1 year

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Alright everyone, about this Darklina deleted scene. In a Newsweek interview Ben says,

But he is able to make her understand it in his last moments as he grabs her wrist and he feeds his power into her, so she has both.

At first, I was like—WHAT WHY DELETE NO! MORE DARKLINA! More emotional Darkling! More scenes to show he cares about her!

Then I decided maybe it’s better this way? I wonder if they decided that it would be better that she gained those powers because she used merzost (obv), because she, and no one else, did something that caused her to take a step towards the dark side, if you will. This makes her path even more similar to the Darkling. It makes everything Aleksander said even more correct. That she IN TIME (very short time apparently) will also make the same decisions as him. That everything he’s been telling her had truth in it after all. And she grows to understand and empathize with him more.

We all know that he cares for her and wants her protected anyway, in his own twisted way just from the other scenes between them. He already expressed “let me be your monster” and “let me carry the hatred in this world” which is probably to ensure that she has an equal and a balance. So maybe, they said, yes let’s make the darkness come because of HER decision and no one else’s.

Now, they could decide to reveal otherwise. They could be like oop it’s because The Darkling gave it to her. She can take it as aw hubby cares even from the grave, he wanted me to be protected-ish(?) the only way to beat your enemy is to become them maybe? And take the darkness in? Or she could react with anger and blame him for leaving the darkness with her. Seeing how she’s been so self righteous this whole time, which sounds more Alina to you?

So maybe it’s better this way, because then sunshine has no one to blame but herself. Doesn’t look like she’s particularly upset about it so far though.

Anyway, so many possibilities! I love it! I’m ready for season 3! And I better get my Darklina angst!

Pictured here: Wife mourns husband’s death. (Even if she did kill him. She summoned (literally) him. Some wives keep their husband’s stuff, some go to their favorite places. Alina said—to hell with that—I may have killed you but *WHOOSH* CUT! I know you’ll always be with me in spirit *proceeds to smile with glee*)

#she’s like Aleksander I knew you’d never leave me 🥹😅#I may have killed you sure but that doesn’t mean I never cared #such a twisted relationship #pro darklina #darklina #the darkling x alina #alina starkov #aleksander morozova #the darkling #shadow and bone spoilers season two #shadow and bone #darklina deleted scene #general kirigan

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blmynewobsession · 11 months

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Be My Favorite ep 3 thoughts

So, I wrote up a whole thing in a chat message, and then decided to post it here because apparently I have thoughts on this show (which, well, I already knew)

I liked so, so many things about yesterday's BMF, but most especially that Kawi is starting to show moments of awareness of the others around him. He's been so focused on himself, what he wants, in the first two eps, that he has appeared almost completely oblivious to those around him, even Pear, beyond what he wants from them. He's also been, in many ways, oblivious to his own reactions to the things around him, or if he is/becomes aware of them, he brushes them off if they don't match what he expects.

While I can understand and empathize with his disappointment that Pear calls a friend (or... more than 1?) to their dinner, you can see that it does become more than just disappointment. He does recognize that friendship is likely going to be all that he gets, and he doesn't push it by taking Pear up on her polite offer of a ride home. Is he disappointed? Yes. But, when he and Pear end up having lunch together, again he doesn't really push for anything more, which sets him up neatly as a contrast to incel-in-training Not.

And while he was visibly unhappy about Not showing up wanting to talk to Pisaeng, and he may have misinterpreted what Pisaeng would have prefered, I don't disagree with him removing himself from a third-wheel situation. He may not know their full history, but he does know that there is something there that isn't for him, and as a fellow introvert, I would likely also remove myself from their interaction, though probably not as pissy as Kawi does it. And later, when Pear tells him about how Pisaeng is lonely, and that there had been some sort of fight between Pisaeng and Not and maybe the others as well, even though she doesn't know (or at least, share) the details, Kawi does see an opportunity to maybe help. Is it selfish, because getting Pisaeng his friends back would make Kawi's life easier by allowing himself more space after the kiss? Sure. But, Kawi also knows loneliness. And even as he is trying to reduce his own loneliness, he does take the opportunity to try to do the same for Pisaeng. He just completely lacked the context for WHY they were no longer friends, and so this effort backfired spectacularly.

One of the things that really jumped out at me in their confrontation at the end was how quickly Kawi responded with "and unsafe" when Pisaeng asked him if he made Kawi uncomfortable. I feel like that was probably the most absolutely honest moment on Kawi's part, and also the most likely response to be misinterpreted. It's been all of what, a day? for Kawi since Pisaeng out of nowhere kissed him. We don't know anything really about Kawi's history before uni, or what has happened between uni and the wedding, but from what we've seen... he's likely never even thought about being gay, or bi, or anything. He's been so focused on Pear, for better or worse for like a decade, and his complete lack of social skills and social life probably means that if anyone else was ever possibly interested in him....... he didn't notice? Or never interacted with the person in any way where it might eventually become obvious, just like we see that Pisaeng already saw him and liked him before they ever really interacted, but it is clear that Kawi had less than no idea before the kiss. So, Kawi has just been kissed, and he reacts badly and runs away, and then decides that that is too much for him to think about and he needs to withdraw himself from Pisaeng's presence instead of (but also, accidentally, giving himself time to) dealing with it in the immediate (to him) aftermath. And he sees a chance to do that with Pisaeng and Not. If he can help patch things up with the two of them, *he* can get the space he desperately needs. Misguided, yes. Selfish, yes. Necessary, yes.

Misinterpreted? Abso-fucking-lutely. Pisaeng takes it the way anyone not in Kawi’s brain would take it - Pisaeng is a queer man who has spent the last few days deliberately inserting himself in Kawi’s life because he sees their interactions through his own, infatuated, rose-colored glasses when Kawi starts responding to him. He has interpreted all of their interactions up to the moment at the lunch table as some form of flirting, not realizing until Kawi flat out tells him that Pisaeng’s “messing with you” isn’t funny, isn’t nice, is hurtful. That I think is really the moment he starts to second guess himself, but even then, especially at the moment Kawi invites him for drinks, he doesn’t let himself see it as anything more than awkward flirting. Kawi has gone from this quiet, loner person Pisaeng liked from afar to someone who has inserted himself into Pisaeng’s life, how else is he supposed to interpret it? But... then Kawi says that he feels unsafe around Pisaeng. And, well... it’s not like there are a lot of positive outcomes for the gay community when the straights feel “unsafe” around them. Maybe that isn’t what goes through Pisaeng’s mind, but that is DEFINITELY something that hit me hard. Pisaeng doesn’t know that Kawi doesn’t really mean that he feels physically unsafe around him (and, well, maybe Kawi doesn’t quite realize this either? Who knows), and is really more referring to emotional and mental safety.

And we do see Kawi... maybe not backtrack, exactly, but he doesn’t understand at all why Pisaeng reacted to his response the way he did. This is what made me interpret the “and unsafe” as NOT meaning that Kawi felt physically unsafe around Pisaeng, but instead being more of the “he just doesn’t know how to deal with all the emotions and thoughts and reactions he had to kiss and it’s all so far outside his wheelhouse that he doesn’t even know where to BEGIN to process it so the best thing he can do is just... distance himself mentally AND physically from Pisaeng”. He doesn’t understand what a supposedly completely heterosexual man telling a gay man that he feels unsafe around him could lead to in other circumstances. I don’t see any of Kawi’s reactions in this episode (yes, even the pushing Pisaeng away hard enough that he hits his head) as homophobic or unreasonable. He was just kissed against his will by a drunk man he has only ever interacted with over the course of... two days? The drunk man isn’t really responding to him, and he’s so overwhelmed by it all and the time travel and everything that, like... he just needs to get away.

These two communicate in very different ways, and there have been a lot of assumptions on both sides, and a large lack of awareness on Kawi’s part. But he is starting to realize that the others around him, Pear, Pisaeng, Max, Not, his father, are not NPCs in a video game that just do what he wants them to because he has a goal in mind. He has spent so much time not realizing that he does, in fact, have an effect on the world and the people around him, that of course he isn’t going to be great at it when he finally starts to look away from himself. He’s socially awkward, very aware of his standing among his peers, and overwhelmed. He’s not a perfect, completely empathetic lead. He’s an asshole, in a lot of ways, but an asshole who has potential to be better, if he can start paying more attention to the impact he has on the world and the people around him. We see flashes of it, already, in ep 3, that we did not see in eps 1 and 2.

I really like this show, a lot.

#be my favorite #be my favorite meta #botkawee #kawi #pisaeng #be my favorite the series #thai bl #thai bl meta

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meimi-haneoka · 20 days

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I'm going to randomly copy and paste some musings I wrote on my private account on Twitter, cause I find it kinda amusing and I want to share it here too :3

"The moon is really beautiful, isn't it?"

"Because it's something about you, Akiho-san."

Kaito's behavior in the special chapter might appear "new" and sudden, but he's actually always been throwing "bombs" at Akiho, exposing his feelings just like it was the most natural and normal thing. 🤭❤️ The only difference is that now he understands what those feelings are 😁

Like, I can totally expect that one day in the future he'll just go "One day, when we'll be married..." completely out of nowhere while they're chatting & having dinner and Akiho will struggle to not choke on her plate 😂😂😂 Yeah, somehow I don't see very flashy kind of proposals from either of them, probably cause they've been through enough "out of ordinary" shit that normal and comforting is what makes their heart beat the fastest, and makes them the happiest ❤️

In this regard, I'll say once again that Kaito totally reminds me of Sakura. The way they can just blurt out their feelings in such a nonchalant, almost naive way, while not fully understanding what they are. Here Sakura is basically doing the same thing Kaito did throughout Clear Card! Saying stuff like that ☝️ and yet not understanding that she was falling in love with him herself. 😁

The nonchalant way in which Sakura and Kaito's feelings surface makes people misunderstand them for "friendship" or common affection, throughout their respective arcs. Like, I can't count how many times I've seen people say they didn't understand when Sakura started to fall in love with Syaoran, and that the realization at the end felt too sudden. It's because, as usual with Clamp, you have to pay attention to what they're NOT spelling out. That's what happened with Kaito too. 🤷‍♀️ People couldn't see that he's been literally spelling out his feelings himself since long time (that's why Momo got mad! Like "how can you say something like that and not REALIZE IT??"), they got sidetracked by the idea he was a villain (and therefore just manipulating and using her), and then by his relationship with Lilie (all stuff Clamp did on purpose, mind you, cause it was too soon for you to be sure of it yet). It's been clear for a long time, but in their Spaces lately CLAMP reiterated how they love to keep their readers guessing and on their toes till the end, so in my opinion they won't hesitate to try to sidetrack you a little bit along the way (but if you stick closely, you'll understand what's the real deal). I guess with Sakura they tried to sidetrack with her crush on Yukito. 😁

So yeah, I've been saying multiple times during the serialization how those two gave me such a similar vibe (and that maybe helped Sakura empathize with him).

Akiho is quite straightforward too, especially after she found her own confidence and voice, but I was just thinking that Syaoran is quite the opposite instead, he's very conscious of his feelings and even in Clear Card, he had to prepare himself days in advance before managing to ask Sakura, stuttering and all, for a date himself 😂 Thankfully, at the end of the special chapter he was able to make his own romantic statements without getting too flustered 😆 (at long last, after 2 years of dating! 😂)

#cosmos & crystals #clear card arc #ccsakura #💚🩷#my random musings because people need to see the connections between Sakura and Kaito #I think they're so interesting considering they're two VERY powerful magicians #but also the parallels and connections between the OG and Clear Card that too many people still insist in denying #Sakura was able to gently scold Kaito into acknowledging his bond with Akiho in ch. 77 #precisely because she went through the same turmoil HERSELF #understanding yourself ISN'T easy especially for some people

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thesmurfchick · 2 months

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So like… if the Survive kids had to Jogress, what do y’all think the partnerships would end up being?

I think the easy pairings would be like, Takuma + Minoru, Aoi + Saki, Kaito + Miu, and Ryo + Shuuji, but Takuma already has a Jogress partner (the professor), and Adventure 02 tried to make the pairs between people who didn’t previously interact much, and who had to work to reach/understand their partners in ways no one else could

Sooo… if we follow the original concept, I was thinking these?

Takuma + Akiharu

This one’s already canon, so I’m not gonna go into it askldfjskgh

It’d be fun to explore their dynamic though! Maybe I’ll write more about them in another post

Saki + Miu

They don’t interact much in-game, but I think pretty much everyone agrees they’d get along?

Saki could empathize with Miu feeling trapped and weak, and/or reassure her that she’s not a burden

I think the fact that she’s so emotionally attuned could also help Miu address her feelings in ways she might be too young to know how to?

On the other hand, Miu could reassure Saki that she’s amazing and that everyone loves her

She could also possibly provide insight as someone who has been rejected by almost everyone around her, and how she handles it on her own

Saki’s main issue is her fear over her illness, and how she’s desperately trying to live in the present to avoid it -- Miu could empathize with that and how she turned to the occult as a way to cope with everything’s that happened to her

She could also reassure Saki that, even if she’s not the strongest physically, she’s very strong mentally, and that could encourage Saki during a bad time

Aoi + Miyuki

Idk I feel like this could be very interesting?

Like, on the surface, Aoi would play “mother hen” to Miyuki

But Miyuki would end up being the more grounded of the two, and help support Aoi in her own way

Miyuki has the self-assuredness that balances out Aoi’s overthinking and insecurity

She also has a very peaceful presence that could ground and calm her

On the other hand, Aoi can help take care of her or even teach her anything she might not know after the 50 or so years of only having half a soul :)

I honestly don’t know how to pair the boys, because I was trying to avoid pairing either Shuuji or Minoru with Ryo, because I think both of them interact with him a lot in the game? (I haven’t played through the Truthful Route yet, so I’m not 100% sure on this one)

But then that only leaves Minoru + Shuuji and Ryo + Kaito and… I have no idea how the Minoru + Shuuji partnership would work. Idk Shuuji well enough (I only know his general backstory and how Ryo helps him) to see how Minoru would or wouldn’t be a good partner for him.

Maybe a good alternative would be Minoru + Ryo and Shuuji + Kaito? I think those would be more mutually beneficial

I tried to keep the partnerships same-sex to mirror the ones in Adventure 02, but if we don’t follow that rule, I was also thinking these:

Saki + Minoru

The one who’s very emotionally aware + The one who cracks jokes even when someone is having a psychotic breakdown

But also: The one who likes being told sweet lies + The one who wants so bad to be a real hero

I think they could end up having a very helpful/supportive partnership after they get over their initial hurdles

Kaito + Saki

Saki isn’t afraid of speaking her mind to him, which I think he’d value a lot

I think there was a part where she shares how it feels to be overprotected, and he actually listens to her? I can’t remember if that was a part in the game or if it was in a fanfic I read or something tho… someone please help me

Similar to Miu, I think he could help her not give a shit about how other people think, and reassure her that she’s loved and valued (in his own awkward way)

…I think my bias for Saki is showing

Aoi + Ryo

Their dynamic has a lot of potential!

He’s blunt enough to call her out/bring her back to earth when she’s overthinking/spiraling with anxiety

But not so blunt that he doesn’t know how to reassure her

Aoi can mother hen the mama’s boy

But also give him support if he’s ever feeling down

Like, if the honor student who was in charge of taking care of everyone tells you you’re perfect the way you are, who can argue with that?

I’m sorry if I’m not characterizing Ryo properly, I need to hurry up and play the truthful route

Shuuji + Miu

Oldest + Youngest who are both younger siblings

Miu has a sort of innocent straightforwardness to her that I think could be a good balance to Shuuji’s tendency to spiral

She could encourage him to act out more; he could gently chide her if she’s acting out/reckless without overreacting the way Kaito does

Idk I feel like Shuuji could be a fun playmate for Miu to bully into playing with her

I think he’d feel awkward at first but find fun in it in his own way

Experience the childhood he never got to have

#digimon survive #what other pairings would y'all think of?#also i'm sorry in advance if i'm mischaracterizing Ryo and Shuuji #i need to finish the truthful route #i don't wanna tag everyone there's too many

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akane-kurokawa · 1 month

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Chapter 144 thoughts!

So they’re cutting ahead again, and I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, we’re still building on Ruby’s character arc regarding her feelings for Gorou, so it makes sense.

But on the other hand, the implication that they’re doing the entire movie chronologically means that Hikaru and Ai’s part of the movie together is over, which is ludicrous to me because Aqua’s “ultimate revenge play” fantasy that he’s been coming up with since childhood has ultimately just been “the Uwuification of Hikaru Kamiki”

I’m not too phased because I still think we’re going to return to it, Frill was confident from script alone that Aqua was trying to kill his father, and there was an emphasis placed on Ai denying Hikaru. I’m not sure why it hasn’t happened from a watsonian perspective (maybe hospital availability pushing those scenes up?) but from a doyalist perspective I could see it being the climax of Ruby’s character arc which she isn’t ready for.

It’s another one of those “I can’t really judge it until I’ve seen the rest of the arc” things so I’ll try to just judge it for what is is right now.

Melt looks so good as Gorou! I didn’t think much about the casting when it was announced but he’s really bringing the role to life.

Ruby chiming in to essentially go “no he wouldn’t fucking say that” is both funny and indicative to the entitled perception and attachment she feels to him. It specifically gives me a lighter version of Nino talking about Ai

I like how Melt talks about understanding Gorou here. He really is an understanding and empathic person and it shines through in his acting style. Him calling the role “cool” is cute to me.

Ruby really gets mean here in a way that almost comes off as out of character. It reads to me like her obsession is growing more toxic, or maybe some lingering cruelty from how she was behaving before, but it is a little jarring.

Melt’s interpretation of Gorou is spot on to me, he understands Gorou’s subtly and respect better than even Ruby does. (Though @aihoshiino pointed out to me that Gorou is implied by the anime and the chapter where his corpse is found to have had his keychain out the whole time in front of Ai. Still, in terms of his professionalism and hiding that he’s a fan Melt gets it)

It makes me wonder what his information is. He doesn’t know Gorou’s name (which makes sense since Gorou can’t legally consent to his name being used) but he knows his history with Sarina enough to guess she gave him the pin.

Also this dude! Glad to see him

The pin’s relevance to her turnaround feels very rooted in sentimentality. I really like the concept of it, but it feels a bit dangerously close to Comedy!Ruby from the Hikaru Ai scenes. I think I like it more here though, as it feels more in character and purposeful.

Crow girl in the tree like a creature is healing me tbh. I know a lot of people are skeptical of her and the supernatural element her presence enforces, but I’ve always found her so interesting and fun and I’m happy to see her again.

Thank you for asking about how she gets around, that’s been one of the goofy questions the server has been mulling over for a while now lol

Interesting that this location seems significant to her, considering her first appearance here, as well as the fact that her two reincarnation targets where here when they died. Her implying there may be more special people is interesting. I wonder if any more will come into the story, though part of me doubts it.

This might imply characters we’ve met have god attachments without even knowing it. Simple guess here would be Ai, there’s precedence for her to be connected to the “God of Entertainment.” Though even if she was, I’m sure what kind of relevancy that would have -if any- considering she is dead and confirmed never coming back, but it’s interesting to think about.

See? She’s such a goofball! Between this and Aqua bullying her into being an actor, she’s been a strong comedic pillar in this arc.

All in all, a pretty decent chapter, kinda annoying in its placement, but much better than having the skip week after last chapter.

#Onk 145 #oshi no ko spoilers #manga post #chapter thoughts

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adracat · 1 year

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G Witch episode 14 thoughts

WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO WAIT ANOTHER WEEK FOR MORE??? OMG. I need to take a deep breath and calm down fr. Ok ok, let's do this. Starting from the begining—

We open with Prospera detailing Quiet Zero to a very suspicious Mio. You have to admire mama Char's audacity tbh. Just going yeah, here's my evil plan to network all mobile suits and totally use them for peace and not war crimes. Mio's not gonna fall for it(hopefully?), but we do gain insight on why Delling might be pushing QZ. If it's truly Notrette's vision then he'd feel obligated. We'll have to see if Mio feels the same as her father. Granting this woman any amount of control over a whole network of machines sounds like a recipe for bad times.

Back with Suletta, it's time for the 5lan sexual harassment segment. Mans can't read the room. She's besotted with short angry CEOs in training. Gotta give him props for persistence I guess.

Thankfully, Suletta is saveda by Sophie. She thinks he's a creep too, bless her. It's a shame these two are fated to probably die, because I do find them interesting and sympathetic.

Well maybe not TOO sympathetic. When you threaten best girl, you lose any rights. Sorry Sophie. Tickled by Suletta's firm insistence she has a bride, thank you very much <3

And then the casual atmophere breaks, the illusion of duels is lifted, and our cast are treated to what it truly means to use weapons of war. I loved this segment so much because it drives home the vast gap between the earthians and spacians. Spacians, especially the students, only see Mobile suits as toys at best and vehicles for wealth to the corporations. For earthians, they're grotesque harbingers of war and should be recognized as such. As Norea and Sophie help demonstrate by killing prospective duelists, destroying the arena in the process. A fake battlefield just became a real one.

Meanwhile, Shaddiq takes this chance to manuever himself into power. He kidnaps his adopted father and secures Grassley. His faithful girl posse don't even balk. You have to admire their dedication if nothing else.

You really can't help but empathize with Sophie here. She just wants what everyone should rightly have. Things she was robbed of simply because she's earthian. Her desperation for Suletta to join them is out of those desires--something Suletta understands

And recognizes in this moment her hypocrisy. Because just like Sophie, Suletta would do anything if it meant protecting that which she desired/loved. She murdered without hesitation when Miorine was at stake, and likely would again. HNNNNGGHNG ok, I'm ok

As Sophie continues to press her, you can see Suletta slowly piece it together. Aerial is a tool of war. Why did Prospera build her? Why did her mother sanction murder if it's wrong? She's been conditioned to think Prospera is right and only wants the best for her, but then why is she having her kill and fight in a war machine?

And the question that's been on everybody's mind from the start has been answered! Suletta is not Ericht Samaya. Then where is Eri? In AERIal of course! Lol I was expecting it but it's one thing to theorize and another to see it actually happen. You're one messed up mama, Prospera.

Poor Bel did not see it coming though. She's absolutely horrified Prospera went to these lengths. I still think it was an accident probably but Prospera isn't willing to clarify anytime soon. She's doing it all for Eri she says. Hm, X) DOUBT

Well maybe she THINKS that but we all know she's just using her daughter as an excuse to go off the rails. Massively entertaining either way!

RIP Sophie. You will be missed tbh. Very interesting that she could see/hear Eri inside of Aerial. The true extent of the permet network seems to be a hivemind. Hinted before with Prospera ofc.

Poor Norea though. She seems genuinely struck by Sophie's death and the reminder that she'll share that fate. She's also terrified Suletta can operate Aerial without that inconvenient side effect. I do wonder why she doesn't just crush Suletta when she's floating, but maybe even Norea is scared of the dreaded witch from mercury.

And we're back to Suletta desperately clinging to her mother's teachings. You understand why, but it's heartbreaking. Also sad for Eri, who is confirmed to have died as a child and trapped in a metal prison of her mother's creation. These poor girls aren't through the ringer just yet. We still have plenty more season to go. I really hope Mio returns soon and provides some solace or at least can talk sense into her. But that's for next week, ALAS

#I FORGOT NIKA #Nika is sad and branded a terrorist whomp whomp #mobile suit gundam #g witch spoilers #gundam witch from mercury #suletta mercury #miorine rembran #sulemio #lady prospera #sophie pulone #norea du noc

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israbelle · 2 months

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A Conspiracy theory about the Epilogues

Alternatively titled; "Isn't it fun to take the stupid plot holes seriously sometimes, just to see what happens?"

So - The hemospectrum. I have often been taken out of the story by how little they mention it in the Epilogues and HS^2, just sort of... handwaving it away as a solved, purely cultural issue. Doylistically, they seem to be endorsing the popular "caste differences were just an enforced social norm by the Condesce and Lord English so trolls hate each other more" theory. It's been a glaring hole in the worldbuilding for a while now, and I never had a satisfying answer to it.

First off, psychics and psionics. I will talk about those more later, but... *gestures* Yeah. Second, and more relevant to the idea that the caste system is a, how do you say, natural state of troll society that has to be actively worked against to avoid falling down the pit of oppression; lifespans.

That sentence sucked because it's 4AM and it's quite difficult to think straight while listening to Mouth Moods. But anyway.

There is a popular headcanon that the Condesce, puppeteered by Lord English to create a tougher landscape, and using her Thief of Life powers, artificially shortened the lifespans of lowbloods (or maybe lengthened the lifespans of highbloods?) and had they not been under her control, they would all live to the same age and have no physical differences. This is explicitly non-canon:

Everybody say "Thank you, Kankri Vantas!" Aren't you so glad he's right about everything he says all the time and everyone always listens?!

There would be seadwellers - no, there would be ceruleans who remember the dawn of history. Can they live normal lives? Do you think that one violetblood grub Karkat holds in the credits remembers his touch? Did they hang the snapchat photo on their hive wall as one of their baby pictures? Do they brag about it?

This world would be quite different from the one shown to us today. Screw "trolls' birthrate is higher than humans" being the crux of the population issue, what about how half these trolls literally never die?! Highbloods would naturally have trouble relating to or empathizing with the lower castes they outlive dozens of times, a natural "immortal being loses touch with its humanity as it sees the cycle of life repeat evermore without ever truly experiencing it" trope, and the hemospectrum would reinvent itself and simply slot humans in at the bottom.

Which leads to the big question: why isn't this what happened? Why are humans the dominant force, while trolls seem to have been metaphorically (so far, thanks Jane) neutered? And why are they losing the war so hard when they have all those dang psychics?

You know, the psychic powers that let you shoot killer lasers and throw things around from afar and commune with beasts and fly-

...And fly?

As far as I'm aware - with the exception of Vrissy, who is a clone of an Alternian troll - there have never been any mentions of psychics on Earth C. Even when she talks about them, her information is wrong, almost as if it was only ever a historical afterthought in class instead of a reality of her life. Isn't that curious?

Apologies in advance for the hats. Tinfoil really is an awful material for garments, you know. But with all the evidence laid out as it is, there's really only one* reasonable† explanation: they did something to trolls. They flattened them all out into one homogenous mass, stripped them of nearly everything interesting and alien about them, neutered them into the Grey Humans we've all tried to fight against this whole time! And they did it with slime!!

*There are most likely many other possible explanations, and there is not a shot in Hell that this is what was intended in the text. †This is a completely unreasonable claim.

It could've been an accident, it could've been a well-intentioned impulse enacted by a bunch of teens who don't understand what eugenics are, but it happened in the ectobiology room, and I think the "how" of it is that they mixed together the troll and human slime. This flattened the curve of lifespans to be about human average, and either highly reduced the chance or outright deleted the ability for psychic powers to form. Reproduction stays the same, because that involves way too many complicated biological changes rather than just flipping a handful of proteins.

The great Alternian trolls of yore are but a distant memory, replaced by these tragic, broken copies, failed by their masters; chained to the ground with their wings torn off long before Candy Jane ever entered the scene.

#homestuck #homestuck^2 #homestuck epilogues #media analysis #shakes you READ MY WORDS READ MY WORDS READ MY WORDS READ MY WORDS #THEYRE STUPID WORDS BUT ILL EAT YOU IF YOU DONT

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intheholler · 5 months

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Been reading your posts about the accent and all, and I wanted to share two horror stories I wrote in my accent. :)

Knock Three Times

Ol' Knocky

Also it's interesting reading your posts about it - I've always been proud of my accent and my home and not exactly able to empathize with people who internalize the prejudice and turn against their home. So your posts are helping me see that side of things more.

Maybe it's because I grew up in Mount Airy, and of course we pride ourselves on Andy Griffith and Mayberry and all that. So maybe I got lucky and didn't grow up around the shame as much.

As for people assuming we're "dumb" - in 7th grade I scored high enough on the verbal part of the SAT to go to Duke's TIP program. There was a girl there from Tobaccoville with the thickest accent I've heard yet. I hope she kept it and I hope she's proud of it.

Anyway I love your blog and I hope you keep fighting the good fight. :)

hi, thanks! also thanks for being here contributing a counterpoint perspective.

i'll explain it how i see it personally: it isn't like the accent is just a collection of sounds or something equally as simple. it is one of the accents and dialects that carries on its back something much heavier. this has to do with code-switching, which occurs in all sorts of sociolinguistic cases.

it also isn't necessarily us 'turning away from home' (i'd like to address that further in a minute).

so to the sociolinguistic point:

in my case--and in a lot of cases given by those who have shared their stories with this community here--we are queer, non- or ex-religious people with leftist ideals. the opposite of what people are adamant about associating this region with.

the accent has become like a hallmark of that kind of behavior we don't align ourselves with but are still stereotyped and harmed by.

it seems to be a common experience that we want to hide the accent so we aren't automatically pegged as being the exact opposite of who we truly are.

because so many people, consciously or subconciously, revert to their misconceptions when they hear it, before we even have a chance to show them we're of like mind. i say this as someone who moved away from appalachia for several years. it's a thing. i promise.

so if you're trying to see it from our perspective, i think that's an important thing to understand. lord knows there ain't shit wrong with the accent itself. to me, it's home-y and warm, soft and familiar and hospitable.

it's what the accent unfortunately implies before we can get a word in edgewise. it isn't fair that we are made to feel this way, and i am hoping by reclaiming my own accent as i have been, i will be changing minds for the better.

but socially--its HARD. its EXHAUSTING. and code-switching has historically just been so much easier.

also--and i say this gently--i struggle with your idea of "turning away from home," because it reminds me of something regressionists in the south/appalachian south say about young people leaving the region, calling them traitors. this us-them mentality simply needs to be dissolved.

i am not turning away from my home when i protect myself from hatred and vitriol based solely on how i drawl my "i" sounds. my home has turned away from me.

it was always mine, always ours. my ancestors--our ancestors--were generous, loving, community-driven, hospitable folks. these hateful fucks have stolen what it once was and projected an awful image out into the world instead. that's not on me. all i can do is try to set it right again.

thanks again for your thoughts! <3

#asks #north carolina #appalachian dialect

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inthefightgarden · 1 day

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so umm i just finished mother of learning in like 5 days, and my brain is now full of wriggling squiggling worms. i'm also just starting a re-read with the audiobook and it is already giving me even more questions and ideas! so here i am to share my wormy burden ^_^

anyway, here's something chapter 1 started me thinking about...

do you think zorian's mother knows about their bloodline? (also her name is cikan. i had to look it up, so saying it here incase anyone else needed reminding)

we know that cikan really hated being associated with zorian's grandmother, but she was still immersed in witch culture at least somewhat in her home life. we don't really know how old she was when she first started to reject those practices, so it's hard to judge how much she would have learned before she went out of her way to avoid it, and we also just don't have enough context about the witches' traditions for raising their kids to make guesses about her knowlege level.

we do see later on in the series (what comes to mind is the confrontation in koth) that cikan doesn't have much knowlege about magic as zorian knows it (eg. what you can expect from certain spells used for travel), but given that the witches are an separate spellcasting tradition from the ikosians that doesn't necessarily tell us loads about what she might have picked up from her mother.

also, knowing you have a bloodline is pretty important information to have, so even with the antagonism you'd think zorian's grandmother would've at least made sure cikan knew about that... if SHE knew, anyway, cause that's also not something we can really take for granted is it? there are a few ways i can picture it being

option 1. most of what we see in the series is not typical from an empathy bloodline. archmage zorian is an outlier and should not be counted. and even daimen, the more "normal" natural mind mage is still a whole magical prodigy, which isn't exactly baseline for most people with empathy either. so yeah... zorian's grandmother may not have known that she had a empathy in her family in the first place.

option 2. we do hear (i don't remember when or who from. maybe one of the teachers? was it ilsa? idk) that empathy is a pretty common form of natural magical ability, and it's kind of a mild plot twist that it's a bloodline thing if i remember correctly. so even if zorian's grandmother knew about an empath in her family history she might not have known that meant it could pass down.

option 3. part of the reason in world that empathy isn't usually thought of as a bloodline thing (again, if i'm remembering right) is because it's so comparatively common, so it's entirely possible that empathy bloodlines (and possibly to a lesser extent bloodlines in general) are just quite common for witches to the extent that it's not really something that needs to be said explicitly, or at least wouldn't have been if cikan hadn't done so much to assimilate with the dominant culture and distance herself from witch tradition and knowlege

BUT, those options are thinking about the reasons cikan might NOT know about their bloodline... so again, does she know? even if she doesn't think of it as a bloodline she might be aware that her family has a history of empathy. so now for some thoughts on what the situation might be if she IS aware of the family history.

(note. i'm pretty damn sure cikan herself isn't an empath. zorian would be able to tell if she was "open", and she just doesn't have that understanding of how other people feel. but if you think otherwise, or just want to think about a "what if", i'd love to hear about it ^-^)

(oh and same goes for kiri and fortov)

cikan might know that there's a family history, but not really know what that means in practise. as i mentioned earlier she doesn't seem very knowlegable on magic, so she might not have any clue about the signs and how it typically presents.

she also might be in denial about the possibility that her kids inherited something like that from her, given what we've seen of how she thinks about her heritage. or she might have focused any concern about the possibility onto kirielle, who seems to be where much of her trauma goes, and not considered that the boys might get it. especially considering the witches' beliefs about sex and magical lineage.

but she also might know or suspect that zorian and/or daimen is an empath. which if nothing else is certainly the option with the most potential drama.

personally, i doubt she knows that daimen is an empath. he put a lot of work into hiding it, and i feel like it would probably affect how he sees him. given how much baggage she has about her witch heritage i just can't see that knowlege not somewhat tainting her golden boy, you know? like i know she's fine with him being a mage and really proud of his prodigy status, but i just can't envision her seeing empathy the same way, and i think it would come through in a slightly colder attitude to daimen. especially given the cultural stigma against mind magic when she's worked so hard to become socially acceptable.

but i'm just not sure whether she knows about zorian or not! on the one hand i could totally see her just being oblivious, in denial, not having the right context, whatever, but I can also kind of see the way she treats him (specifically in relation to him socialising and stuff), through the lense of knowing he's an empath.

like he straight up told her as a child that crowds caused him physical pain. he had tp stop going to church because it made him actually pass out! that is some pretty intense stuff to just ignore... we're never told that he saw a doctor or anything about this via his parents (as far as i remember, please let me know if i'm missimg something!) so did she have some idea about what was going on or was it just plain neglect?

and if she did have some understanding of the situation, how did that affect her behaviour? did she think if she ignored it he'd just adjust and never find out? did she just not want it to be associated with her family history if/when he did find out? did she think that if she forced him into triggering situations he'd eventually realise? or that he'd learn to control it subconciously? or did it just not matter how he felt as long as he was still functional when it came to his political use? did she hide it more out of personal shame, or a legitimate conviction that she was protecting him like with kiri?

like i said, i'm not sure what my headcannon is, but the topic fascinates me. as you can probably tell from how long and rambly this got. sorry ^_^'

but yeah, i'd love to hear what other people think!

#mother of learning #mol #zorian kazinski #cikan kazinski #family dynamics

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loquaciousquark · 3 months

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Whichever Tav question you haven't been asked yet, but would really like to answer!

Ohh, this is so kind, thank you! I'll pick:

22. Has your Tav become particularly close to anyone romantically and/or platonically in their journey? If so, who, and what is the relationship like? If no, why not?

I picked this mostly because right now I'm working on developing Tavish's relationships with the companions. Astarion is easy - mutual protection and transactional FWBs turning into something more as they grow to understand each other better - but I'm having an interesting time sussing out the rest.

Karlach - very easy, a big sister she never knew she wanted. She looks up to her tremendously, admires everything she is, and wants to be a better person from her influence.

Lae'zel - terribly intimidating at first. Doesn't understand why she doesn't lead - she clearly knows what she's doing and Tavish would happily follow her orders. However, seeing the way she handles Korru and some of the other refugees makes her wince. Keeps a little bit of distance between them until the creche, and then they grow very close; Tav empathizes with that feeling of having every support yanked out from under you at once. Lae'zel takes her under her wing in her martial training, and Tav shares her weird lock & key preferences in a way I think Lae'zel would genuinely enjoy. Tav also likes listening to Lae'zel; she finds her storytelling diction poetic and beautiful, and even if she doesn't understand the content, she likes the rhythm and music of the words.

Gale - a blorbo she doesn't understand but whom she'd instantly kill for to protect. He's so diffidently out of place in the wilderness, even moreso than she is, and while any nascent feelings for him withered the moment he started talking about libraries and armchairs, she feels fiercely defensive over him and wants him to be happy and safe. Daydreams about building him a lovely enclosure with lots of natural light and air and mesh walls to keep the bugs out and lots of spellbooks for enrichment, that sort of thing. She doesn't really understand him or his ambitions (again: int 8), but she cares for him tremendously and would absolutely help him hide a body if he asked, no question. Can think of him a little patronizingly once in a while, until he does 600 lightning damage in one turn and she remembers exactly how deadly he can be behind the doubt.

Wyll - likes him quite a lot and treasures his approval, but unfortunately I don't think she really respects him by the end of the game. He loves his father and he's done so much good work as the Blade, and she deeply admires both of those, but the way he refuses to regret his pact and at the same time wants to get out of it while still despising Mizora while still taking her powers is more emotionally complex than she's really able to compass, much less help shape. Still ride or die, but he wouldn't be the one she'd go to for advice.

Shadowheart - where I'm struggling the most, because I personally love Shadowheart so much and I'm not sure Tavish does until end of Act 2! I think they look at each other respectfully through most of Act 1, get real tense with all the Shar stuff in Act 2, and then get close again in Act 3. I do remember there was one point in 2 where you find some documents saying things like "Shar thrives in shadow, may your steps be silent and swift" and "to take from others is to give them loss" and stuff and I was like well! maybe Tav is into that! and then we got to Malus Thorm and the corrupted shades and I was like well! maybe Shadowheart shouldn't be into that!! I think Tav really likes teasing out moments of lightness and laughter from her, initially as a personal challenge and then later out of sincerity. In many ways it's like Astarion; flattery and saccharine sweetness because they both know she doesn't mean it, and it makes Astarion laugh and Shadowheart be all prickly, but later it flips and she does mean it, and it makes Shadowheart smile and Astarion prickly instead. Ha!

#quark replies #buridanshorse #tavish gale #tav meme #i think this will wrap this meme up for me #but oh my golly thank you ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR INDULGENCE #<3<3<3<3 i'm so HAPPY RIGHT NOW #quark plays bg3

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