#someone's choice which is

[niobiumao3]

I keep thinking about how there is a delicate balance of the emotional behaviors of the Batch and you can see it best in what a lot of people complained was a filler episode, that being The Crossing, and to an extent also Aftermath.

In Aftermath we have the infamous food fight scene, which is preceded by Tech and Wrecker's continuing argument about programmed behavior. This will not be the first time Tech and Wrecker argue if they're left to freely interact; it comes up numerous times in the series, and (IMO anyways) stems from the fact that Wrecker is outwardly emotional and Tech is almost 100% inwardly emotional. Tech doesn't process externally like Wrecker does, and has a certain amount of trouble communicating with Wrecker, and Wrecker with him, as a result. So who steps in most of the time?

Crosshair and Echo, and by The Crossing, both of them are gone.

Crosshair is the one who tries to diffuse their argument in the mess hall, placating Wrecker while giving Tech a blatant look of 'stop antagonizing him and eat goddamnit'. He also serves as an added focus for Wrecker's Wreckerness, which means he's less likely to collide with Tech and have an argument ensue. We can see Wrecker variously joshing with the two of them in the TCW episodes and in Aftermath.

Once Cross is missing from the group, it's Echo who acts as the buffer, standing firm against Tech's chaotic nature and Wrecker's emotional reactions. Hunter wrangles them, but Echo actually manages them. It's a very different approach and we see first hand how necessary it was the second Echo is gone. Wrecker and Tech are bickering nonstop and Hunter barely has a handle on them. For the most part he seems prepared to let them sort it out, and I don't know he can be blamed for that.

This is almost the entire point of The Crossing as an episode: to demonstrate how important the group was as a complete team. Not in the sense of 'omg everyone brings one important thing/skill to the table' way but in an emotional, supportive way. Echo was the co-lead Hunter probably needed the entire time, gelled with him perfectly in that roll and tempered Hunter's hesitation with decisiveness while keeping the other three from setting the Galaxy on fire. Cross, Tech, and Wrecker formed a sort of balanced triangle between themselves which kept things at an even keel. With Cross gone, Echo fell into this role, somewhat naturally. This is all on display in The Crossing when we finally see what happens when that triangle is broken and Tech and Wrecker have to directly interact on a consistent basis. It gets messy.

And yet people complain about it being 'filler' and not advancing the plot.

#tbb echo #tbb wrecker #tbb tech #I am yammering because #this build is taking #for fucking ever and I'm tired #anyways whatever it's one of my favorite episodes #this is why midnight mass #is one of my favorite things ever #this episode is like that #everything which happens #is a direct result of #someone's choice which is #in turn based in their characterization #outpost is similar #mayday accepts cross #something he's not had #in a while #and it changes him #stop calling them filler episodes #the bad batch #star wars

[talaricula]

Things I've seen tumblr memeing about James Somerton doing à la "How did no one see how bigoted he was!" as if those things haven't been a significant part of tumblr culture for over a decade :

Presenting untrue and bordering on conspiratorial versions of (queer or otherwise marginalised) history without any sources

Completely disregarding and disrespecting any expertise on socio-cultural topics/humanities and distrusting academics and historians (incl. acting as if no academics or historians could be queer or marginalised)

Downplaying the role misogyny played in the historical oppression of queer women and concluding that queer men must have been more oppressed than queer women

Bi women are, at best, not as queer as "real" queer ppl, and at worst, simply equivalent to straight women

Despite nominal trans inclusivity, transmasculine ppl are functionally women when convenient (combined with the above, bi transmascs are functionally straight women)

Despite nominal trans inclusivity (bis), shamelessly attacking, threatening and actively endangering any trans woman who questions them or smth they find important (often by unfairly presenting her as violent or as a threat)

Having absolutely fucking wild and reductive takes about ace ppl, the oppression they face and their place in the queer community

Stating that marriage equality is an assimilationist fight while completely ignoring its direct roots in the horrifying consequences of the AIDS crisis for partners of ppl who died of AIDS

Praising western media creators from the past for queer coding even under censure and in the same breath condemning current non western media creators for being homophobic bc their representation isn't explicit enough

Blaming China for all existing homophobic censoring in western media

Assuming all queer media would be better told by western creators and by western standards

Only out queer ppl get to tell queer stories

Heavily criticising almost all queer media created by women or ppl they see as such (see above points about trans ppl) or involving/starring a significant amount of women for any perceived or real amount of "problematicness", but fawning over and praising and negating criticism of queer media created by and starring mostly or even functionally exclusively men (even when it could be argued that, you know, not involving/seriously sidelining women is a pretty clear example of misogyny which should probably be considered "problematic")

And I'm probably forgetting stuff or there's stuff I have internalised myself and don't recognise as an issue

Like idk but I feel like the takeaway from Hbomberguy and Toddintheshadow's videos should maybe be "be aware of such patterns in your communities bc they definitely exist" and not "this guy is uniquely awful" and I feel like a lot of the discussion I've seen surrounding this has been severely failing at that. Most ppl who've spent any significant amount of time on tumblr prob either have internalised at least one of those thought patterns, have had to de-internalise them, or have had to be extremely vigilant to not internalise them (which is done by, you know, seeking out other sources, which also seemed like an important takeaway from the videos)

#Also I'm saying this as someone who actually watched quite a few of Somerton's videos #And noticed those patterns and stopped watching bc I recognised them from here #and had already learned to unlearn them after being so exposed to them here #And tbh I think anyone who hasn't had the luck or made the conscious choice to seek out ppl who pushed against those narratives #Would absolutely have fallen for this man's bullshit. Like let's not kid ourselves we see takes like this every day on this hellsite #2014 me would have. For sure. #This is next to the plagiarism issue which as Harris points out is an Internet wide issue and this includes tumblr #James Somerton #hbomberguy #todd in the shadows #This brought to you by a conversation with my wife yesterday #So many ppl on here don't deserve to meme or be this self absolvingly critical of this man #The call is coming from inside the house #The man has a tumblr it would legit not surprise me if some of the things he supposedly made up himself he did actually get from somewhere #And that somewhere was a tumblr post

[puppyeared]

Why are ppl scared to call it what it is and say we’re still going thru covid on top of seasonal illness. Like. That’s pretty important right. I was watching the news and they were like oh yeah we have an unprecedented number of flu cases “as well as other sicknesses” without actually saying Covid. No announcement abt vaccinations or masking or anything. Also if I hear someone joking abt “war flashbacks” for mentioning covid I fucking hate u

#source: most of my family members are nurses and it was so bad for one of them they had to be put on a ventilator. in the hospital they #worked at. looking back I think I had a reason to feel a little offput by the shows of support early pandemic #with people tying blue ribbons around trees and lighting signs blue to support healthcare workers #I get that it was supposed to be moral support when we couldn’t do anything but follow health advisories #and it did matter to make them feel uplifted and do something than nothing. im not gonna deny that #but. you can still help now. u know that right. you still have a responsibility here #u can still mask up. u can still get vaxxed and call in sick to avoid infecting others #don’t leave it on healthcare workers to pick up the pieces just because they were doing it before. do u think they had a choice? #nobody likes picking up the slack for someone else and now that we have more tools to do smth couldn’t we just. do it???? #im not a virologist but i also feel like continuing to let it get worse by letting more mutations develop #could continue to set us back since this virus is pretty good at fucking us up long term and finding new ways to do that #while there are ppl still researching covid which is STILL A RELATIVELY NEW VIRUS. and studying possible treatment and cures #yapping #vent

[onelungmcclung]

- Wasn't my idea. Huglin recommended you. - Then you're both sons of bitches.

#masters of the air #motaedit #hbowaredit #jack kidd #unfortunately for him it seems like he was a good choice #but he should get to fly more! #forever disappointed he wasn't in the final ep #really he should get to copilot a nice quiet aid drop to holland with rosie #(I respect how much he commits to being annoyed at someone #like I don't think he's the type to pick fights but by g-d he will not give an inch) #also surprised to find he wasn't in ep 1 #which is good writing ig. a character intro that doesn't feel like one bc he feels like an established character already #watching it like 'hmm maybe this guy is growing on me' #turns out it was love at first sight. our hard stares met across a crowded room #edit #**

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

Both Jason and Damian think the other has died during their time with the League.

Jason, in his grief, goes back to his plans of making Batman pay and beating his replacement into the ground.

Damian goes back to his assassin training like a madman, vowing to find the person who took Jason away from him.

It all gets a little complicated when he finds out Jason may not actually be dead at all.

#Jason raised Damian #Jason is Damian’s parent in all but genetics #you can either make Talia a villain or the one who tells Dami that Jason’s still alive #outcome is still the same because Damian goes hunting for Jason like a bloodhound #read: a scary competent baby of approx. nine years runs away and looks for his dad #no it’s not Batman sorry Bruce #Jason ‘I’m unhinged with grief’ Todd #he can’t go through with hurting Tim too much #he reminds him too much of Damian for that. #it’s all a clusterfuck #the batfam assume someone killed hood’s kid #which isn’t too far from the truth #then Dami shows up #dealer’s choice if he goes to Batman first and demands for them to bring his parent to him or he kills Alfred/dick/tim/barbara #or if he just straight up tries to find him himself #jason todd #batfamily #dick grayson #batfam #robin #bruce wayne #tim drake #red hood #batman #Batdad #parent jason todd #jason todd is a dad #Damian and Jason #prompts

[general-cyno]

sometimes I see manga panels or anime screenshots of luffy and zoro being silly and I'm hit with the reminder that zoro not only believes his dream/ambitions mean nothing without luffy but that he's said this out loud. to an enemy, no less, as he chose to exchange his life for luffy's. that luffy himself would lose his absolute shit if something bad ever happened to zoro and the reason why luffy tends to worry less about and rely more on him is bc he knows how strong zoro is, can and will be and the lengths he'd go to protect others, especially the people he cares about, since this part of zoro's character is exactly what ultimately convinced luffy to recruit him in the first place. that even though zoro's the one with the grand gestures it likely means so much to luffy, who experienced tragedy early on and is afraid of losing those he loves to the point he vowed to become strong just to avoid so, the fact that zoro's such a steady presence and force beside him - one he can count on to keep everyone, and luffy too, safe. insane levels of devotion and trust going on between two dudes who shower once a week.

#zolu #tp #came back from a beach trip even more insane abt these two cheers #luffy's I need you and zoro's vow in opla are so perfect bc they straight up slap your face with how much #these two need and /want/ to stay with each other. literally together til fucking death #imagine what that's like for someone like luffy who's had ppl he loves leave him even if not by choice #bc external forces make them mostly #prying zoro away from luffy would take extreme circumstances like sabaody or luffy somehow deeply disappointing him #the latter of which luffy's proved he wouldn't do and the former is the reason why zoro bowed to his sworn rival #for the chance to become stronge enough to surpass even him. bc if zoro's stronger - the strongest - sabaody won't happen again #at least not if he can help it

[gideonisms]

There is a particular brand of autism in which by an almost unheard of stroke of good fortune a child will wind up in the exact circumstance that suits them best for 15-18 years in a row. The problem then arises that one's life does not end at 18. There are so many years after that to try and learn coping mechanisms as fast as possible or else your entire adult life crumbles for no reason that really makes sense to anyone else

#hm. #those posts that are like 'adult life is so much better you get to male your own choices' #the flipside is. you have to make your own choices. constantly and in high stakes scenarios #and someone will always hate it no matter which choice you make #you get to leave when you want UNLESS you really have to pay rent ... #idk

[bumblingbabooshka]

My name is [BRUTUS] and my name means [HEAVY] so with a [HEAVY] heart I'll guide this dagger Into the heart of my enemy

Something about having absolutely no choice in who you marry. About being literally forced by the law to spill blood - to accept this stranger as your husband over a man you truly care for or accept the fact that the man you love might die because you put him in danger. Something about risking becoming the wife of a man you've never even seen before a few minutes prior because you know anything would be better than putting your beloved in harm's way. Something about the trust inherent in that decision and in the way she speaks of it after. Truthfully, T'Pring doesn't know the captain and she doesn't know Spock. Either one of them could have taken her as their wife but she does know Stonn. She knows that Stonn will remain by her side no matter what. They made a plan together. They have an agreement which T'Pring believes will be upheld even though the plan changed with the arrival of Kirk. Stonn will always be there, always, and Stonn will be hers. Something about the language used around T'Pring: Ownership, subservience, non-personhood. T'Pring is an object that Spock can win. She cannot reject him, she has no say in the matter other than having Stonn 'claim' her instead. Even when Spock leaves after being very clearly rejected by T'Pring he says "Stonn, she is yours." as if despite her clear rejection he still owns her and is must formally 'give' her to Stonn. But the language T'Pring uses around Stonn is a break from that: "There was Stonn who wanted very much to be my consort, and I wanted him." Stonn who wanted very much to be HER consort and she WANTED him. The language here is very particular - It's not, for example: "Stonn wanted me to be his wife" - he is HERS. And she WANTS him. There's a mutual affection there and a strong trust - a trust which seems to be well founded since Stonn (though silent) stands by her side at the end of the episode. <- That might seem small but if Spock would reject her for 'daring to challenge' (again, the language is not 'because I don't want you' but more of an implied disgust at her having the AUDACITY to reject him) then it's not a stretch to assume that it'd be considered an insult in the TOS Vulcan society to NOT choose Stonn as her champion after a prior agreement. Anyway T'Pring was a woman in an impossible situation within a society which saw her as more of an object than a person and she wanted Stonn and Stonn wanted to be hers and she trusted that he would understand if she had to publicly pick someone else to ensure his life would be spared and he did understand.

#amok time #T'Pring i s....T'Pring she....-puts my head through a wall- #PLEASE read under the cut for my rambling about T'Pring in amok time pleasepleaseplease #tired of 'T'Pring is evil/a bitch' and VERY uninterested in 'T'Pring is a girlboss' #T'Pring is a person in a society which doesn't think she has the right to make her own choices who's in [love] with a man who [loves] her #back in what I'd like to think is implied to be a slightly subversive way in its mutual and fervent nature (whether the writers thought #this was a good or bad thing - who knows. We know better RIGHT??) #and yes I will stylize T'Pring's hair differently every single time I draw it HEHEHE #star trek tos #Spock #T'Pring #also of COURSE something something spock/kirk & stonn/t'pring parallels: To keep your beloved safe you have to force someone else to kill #theirs - not BC you hate him (you don't) but you don't love him either and why does HE get to have you even if you don't want him?? Why doe #he get to 'give' you to the person YOU chose?? It's not a hatred on a person level (which I wanted to portray with the 'brothers') portion #but a sort of societal embodying. #I will think about T'Pring not wanting to be 'the consort of a legend' every damn day !!! #They really could have laid it on thick in making her evil guys...T'Pau even makes a comment about Spock's 'vulcan blood is thin' #but all T'Pring says is that Spock is a legend and she doesn't want that for her life. She wants Stonn. #And you're gonna sit there and you're gonna tell her that she's wrong!??? Spock doesn't even want to be with her!! Why is she so hated!? #CAN WE FREE MY GIRL??? She did all that but it's being read in the worst faith possible!! #comix #bea art tag #star trek art #She literally says the word 'FREE'...she's TRAPPED!!!

[skrunksthatwunk]

landing

#i'd recommend zooming in bc the changes between panels are pretty subtle. they'll be easier to see on the cropped versions but i wanted to #include the whole thing too because i think it looks nice like that :) #opening up to yukina as the final hopeful yet unresolved part of hiei's arc of learning to trust and love and be loved by others is like. #aughh. fascinating choice anyway here's a take on how it'd go. from me. a sap #smth smth hiei letting his vulnerability show via the thing that unites them (bloodline via the hiruseki stone) which is inherently tied #to emotion and letting his feelings about her and his past show to someone. grahh #yyh #yu yu hakusho #yukina #hiei #skrunkart #also due to the title and the organization of this comic one could call this a landing strip #anyway um. posting more yyh but this time it's not funny at all oops. glad y'all liked the other one though jksdjfkjs #anyway yukina's important you should talk about her more #would also like to point out how in the final panel hiei doesn't actually touch her with his other arm. it's just resting on his hand #enclosing her but still kinda distant. he's still got some healing to do #edit argh i uploaded a slightly wrong version. fixed now. it just didn't have yukina's crying onomotopoeia #but i wanted them back in bc sound is so important to this one #WAIT PANELS SWAPPED. FIXED FR NOW #ANYWAY HIEI MY BELOVED MY EVERYTHING. LOVE THAT LITTLE GUY #also shoutout to devoted sibling characters. they really get it

[foxx-queen]

i keep thinking about the datamined conversation between halsin and minthara and what gets me about it is that if you side with halsin and turn minthara away, thats objectively the bad choice.

like at this point, you've rescued minthara from moonrise. you know now that she was being controlled to act against her will. you've gone to the trouble of rescuing her from her tormentors, and you've experienced what it felt like as they tried to destroy her mind. you know what will happen to her if you turn her away. and if you do, you're willingly condemning her to that fate. you've essentially allowed her to experience freedom, to regain her sense of self, only to tear that away from her again.

whereas if you side with minthara, and halsin leaves, that's the only consequence he experiences. that he's not a companion anymore. at this point, we've saved the grove, we've saved him, and we've lifted the shadow curse. we've helped him achieve what hes been hoping to do for over a century. leaving your party won't see him lose his free will. he can return to the grove and live his life.

the choice is essentially either condemn someone to a fate worse than death, knowing exactly what that entails vs not letting someone travel with you anymore. its pretty clear cut to me.

its just interesting to me that they've switched the morality of it around given that minthara is considered the 'evil' companion by so many.

#baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #bg3 spoilers #minthara #minthara baenre #before anyone comes at me and says that halsin is allowed to have his prejudice and his trauma. im not saying hes not #not sure about someone being allowed to have prejudice but yes thats part of human nature i guess #my point isnt that hes not allowed to react like this #my point is that hes wrong. #sure he can be struggling with his trauma and his prejudice over minthara being a lolth sworn (even if shes not anymore) #BUT. at this point we as a character /know/ theres more to her. we know that hes making an unfair assessment of her #which is even more jarring if you're a drow/lolth sworn drow #and at this point. you've saved the grove youve saved him youve helped him break the curse. he tells you its a debt he cant repay #and that hes so thankful. but he wont trust you or your decision. he won't even attempt to #and u know what thats fine. he doesnt have to. but if you're siding with him you're condemning her. you're killing her #if you side against him. he can go back to his responsibilities as an arch druid rather than leaving it in someone elses hands (which was?) #that is the lesser of the two evils here #yes you can call minthara the 'evil' character because shes a lolth sworn but thats just buying into the prejudice halsin is showing #and its wrong #anyways. my point is good for him if he wants to demand you make a ridiculous choice #but turning her away is the bad choice and tbh i feel like the game wants u to know that #and sure if you want to boil it down to which character u like more than the other and u prefer halsin. ur obvs gonna side with him #but in that case u probably wouldn't even get this conversation #because why would u have bothered to spare / save minthara in the first place?

[on-till-morning]

Just gotta give a shout out that Stede’s very first (#1) suggestion about what to do with the guilt loot is to buy clothes, which is totally 100% for the sole benefit of his only-ever-been-in-one-outfit-and-one-outfit-only bf and def not at all about I’M A BIT OF A CLOTHESHORSE Stede and all the outfits he can buy for himself while dressing Ed up in a pretty women shopping montage

#stedey boy #I see you #actually mad that we were deprived a pretty woman shopping montage with Ed and Stede #ofmd #ofmd 2 #ofmd s2e6 #calypso’s birthday #our flags mean death #ofmd s2 spoilers #stede bonnet #ed teach #blackbonnet #gentlebeard #well one outfit by choice not counting the sack plus cat bell which was someone else’s idea

[tvckerwash]

you know, an interpretation of ct that I don't see that I personally really love is that she's a fuck up. like yes she's cool and she has some good fight scenes, but a huge part of her character is that she makes mistakes. the mistakes that she makes are ones that on their own aren't the end of the world, but she keeps making these little mistakes, and they eventually add up until she's out of room to make any more.

a really good example of this phenomenon in action is the actions she took leading up to her final confrontation with carolina and tex.

strike one, she thought she saw something in the water, but when asked by the leader what it was, she brushed it off as nothing when even if it had been nothing, it would've been smart to tell him what she thought she saw.

strike two, she didn't sense or notice florida's presence when the leader did, and she looks at the leader twice, once as she pulled out her magnums, and again after she did a scan of the room, almost like she was looking at him for guidance before he finds florida and takes him out with one good axe throw.

strike three, she couldn't convince the leader to leave when they had the chance to get away, and her cheap tricks were not enough to hold off either tex or carolina in a fight. they were only good for incapacitating her opponents enough for her to get away, which doesn't work when she has no escape.

ct is not tex, or carolina, or south. she is not a one woman army who can get herself out of trouble when she's stuck in tough situations. she needs people who can watch her back, she need a team who can cover her when she does mess up, and the leader and his team were not those people. she couldn't bring herself to trust them, and they couldn't bring themselves to trust her, and that cost all of them their lives.

#i say i never see this interpretation of ct as if I'm not the only person having ct thoughts in 2024 lmao #red vs blue #rvb #agent connecticut #this is why wash and ct work so good together they function best in teams but theyre put in situations where theyre on their own #and they suffer because of it #but where wash had no choice in ending up w/o a team ct did #the ability to choose is a powerful tool. but being able to choose means that sometime somewhere someone will choose wrong #oh to further clarify the interpretation of ct I'm used to seeing is stereotypical hyper competent badass bitch type character #I've never really seen ct that way though tbh. she's a rebellious smart-ass who loves stating the obvious #it's honestly a pretty childish trait which i think goes well with her complex about being seen as a kid who needs excuses made for #her subpar performance in the field #basically in her head ct is james bond but in reality she's cringefail loser girl who wants to be a hero #you know what analyzing and discussing how heroism is viewed in rvb might be a pretty good essay #these colorful guys and gals aint heroes theyre all losers trying their best #anyway I'm off to attempt drawing a meta! tucker piece that may or may not turn out

[ofmermaidstories]

there’s something so bittersweet and lovely about fanfic, at it’s core. it’s so impermeable, because it’s so individual. fics don’t get finished. fics get lost because they were typed out and sent to friends, in the 70s, and somewhere along the way someone packed it up in a cardboard box and their kids shuffled it to the attic. websites go down. archives get built, but then people lose faith in the story or the canon or the creator and delete them. you read it at like, 3am, and can’t remember the title months later when you look for it again.

the tiktok these comments are from was lamenting about the loss of a favourite fic—it (the tiktok) had 85k+ likes, and over 700 comments, mostly similar to these. people talking about downloading fics to read on a tablet only for them to disappear the next day. using the wayback machine and combing through results, just to find something they loved. i think it’s sweet because it’s so human—how easily we love something, and how easily we lose it. i used to print out my favourite fics, as a kid—i still have a binder of them, buried under yearbooks and the old journals i kept during those topsy turvy preteen years. i could tell you the overarching plot to a Cardcaptor Sakura fantasy AU i read (and loved; it became my personality for months afterwards) but i can’t remember how it ended, or if it even did. i finally broke down and signed up for an account on AO3 specifically to bookmark an old, old fic that i had read somewhere else, years and years and years ago and found again on AO3 only because i accidentally stumbled on the author here on tumblr (i had only found the fic in the first place all those years ago because of a playlist). i used the same shade of lipstick for years purely because a fic i really liked had the main character apply it (it was a limited edition one at the time; i bought my first one from a ebay seller in the UK at double the retail price, lmao) while the love interest watched them, but i can’t remember the name of it, only how it made me feel (and how, for years afterwards, i would wear that shade whenever i felt like the day had something promising to it).

one of the first anon’s i ever got, in the early days of this tumblr, was someone who asked me if it was okay if they downloaded surrender—and of course it was. of course it is. there was a point, during the final stretch when i was trying to write the last chapter, that i almost lost the entirety of what i had written for that fic—and i mean, it was on AO3 by that stage so it would’ve only set me back a chapter or so, but it goes to show how fragile things can be. how sometimes fics only last in tiny ways—because of the unfinished PDF file someone downloads. The patchy memory of someone’s who’s jumbling it and three other fics together. Because someone wore the same shade of lipstick you mentioned, off-hand, for years afterwards.

(this is a love letter to the silent readers; the silent savers. the lurkers. fandom and the internet at large is made of lurkers (eighty-five thousand likes. seven hundred comments). people who saved fics and waybacked them and will reread them, even uncompleted. telling each other we did a good job, that we liked this or we liked that is wonderful, and fun, and a great (and important) way to build a community and has also given me my current friends—but sometimes something you make will matter and live on in a way you will never, ever know. and it’s just how it is. it’s part of the fun and it’s part of the charm. it’s just how we work as people.)

#floating rubbish island: mermaid spam #shall i do a part two for the opposite end of the spectrum? the readers who tell you as they’re rereading? #the ones that come back to point out details that have stuck with them? #sometimes i worry i don’t give enough to those of us in the community who do that #today i got a comment on surrender and it made my whole day—which otherwise would’ve been spent being miserable trying to sweat out my fever #people are so sweet and i feel so empty-handed for them sometimes #because time is so valuable—people don’t *have* to comment #people don’t *have* to note the tiny details #i share these fics because i *want* to—that is a choice i make knowing that maybe people won’t like it or respond to it #no one asks me to spend the time i do on these fics and so no one owes me for it #which makes the time someone *does* spend commenting or tagging or saying hello even more precious

[dailypearldoodles]

Ghost pearl !!

Day 457

ghost

#daily pearl doodles #pearlescentmoon #empires smp #mythical sausage #mod morph #i do think the end of like the whole pearl and sausage thing #ending with the rift closing #was handled a bit wonkily #at least from pearls pov #tho to be fair i dont think pearl was as invested in the lore storytelling as sausage was #which yknow thats totally fine thats her choice lol #i do think its funny that sausage introduced sunny and pearl has never mentioned the child again in her videos #like what do you do if someone suddenly gives you a child #apparently thats pretty common in the empires lmao #still not sure what i want hc pearls relation to esmp pearl to be #i might play with that a bit more #ignore canon just a teensy bit hehe

[imunbreakabledude]

that tweet about piper i reblogged has me thinkin. part of the reason i love piper so much isn't just because the character she grows into is the type i always love. it's also because she doesn't start out that way. you see her go from terrified peacemaking middle sister to exhausted quick-temper blow-things-up-first-ask-questions-later big sister, and... i just think piper halliwell is so special, for depicting in real time on a fun TV show, how good girls get fed up taking shit and realize you have to be a bit of a bitch to get anything done

#yeah yeah there are all the compelling character reasons like her sister dying and her star crossed love with leo #and the elders fucking with her and issues w her parents etc etc #but also i love how it happens over time and feels real #season 1 piper is just as much piper as s4+ piper #and you rarely get to see women on TV go through a gradual personality change which feels normal and not like flanderization or drift #and i'm not to say other female characters with good development don't exist but... #there's something distinct to me about this version with piper versus someone like Buffy #bc buffy goes thru trauma and matures and faces harder choices yes but her overall demeanor is largely the same throughout #with maybe a shift in s6-7 ok that one is good too #but i like how piper's shift is less dramatic than 'died and came back depressed' (not that that's bad!) #i just like that... well it's a supernatural show but at the same time her development feels like it could be mundane? #like yes it's magical circumstances that drive her difficult relationship and loss of her sister etc. #but also... those situations could still exist without magic? #idk piper just feels specifically special to me in this way #piper halliwell #charmed #tvthoughts

[alexiethymia]

vashmeryl

While watching Trigun Stampede, I ended up binging the Trigun ‘98 anime, and I will try, but no doubt fail, to articulate what it is about VashMeryl that makes me so feral, and I mean in all continuities because the themes rings true for the both of them regardless if it’s TriStamp, TriMax, or the anime.

Many people have praised Meryl’s agency in Trigun Stampede, how a lot of the plot moves because of her contribution, and I can’t help but compare this to the anime, where it was because of her that Vash has a breakthrough in how to deal with Knives (after her and Milly took the time to heal and take care of Vash, ugh, found family for the win). In both TriStamp and the ‘98 anime, Meryl is juxtaposed (contrasted? given a parallel with?) Rem. 

And in the ‘98 anime, after Vash’s battle with Knives, he finds the peace to move on, casting aside what was in a way his clutch to Rem (his red geranium coat) to come back home to Meryl and Milly. 

And I love the ‘98 anime because of the implications, that he willingly sheds his outlaw persona for a chance to live a quiet life with Meryl, Milly, and his brother. It was Meryl who gave him the hope to do that, through her words, her invitation to stay together permanently, and even through her actions in standing up for him. (Honestly, the only thing that would have made the ‘98 anime ending perfect for me is if we had Wolfwood. Which is why if Knives could survive 1/3 of the continuities, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Trigun Stampede is the continuity where Wolfwood actually gets to survive). 

Even in the manga, he makes a promise to return to her, and though he ends up quite late, he does end up making his way back to Meryl and Milly eventually.

I love how there’s a chain of influence that happens, and the parallels between the two. Rem says she had been influenced in her ideals because of the person she loved, Alex. Vash is influenced by her, and eventually Meryl is influenced by Vash to the point that she’s ready to stake her life for what he believes in, such that it becomes her ideals too. 

“You can’t save everyone, you can only be there for them.” And this really rings true for Meryl in that while she can’t save him the way Vash tries to save everyone around him, she can still be there for him, whether it’s staying and trying to help him when no one else won’t (Trigun Stampede), making a home for him to return to (’98 Trigun), or telling him to unburden himself because he’s not alone (TriMax). He’s superhuman but he gets hurt like anyone else. I love that Meryl doesn’t scoff at his ideals or tell him to stop, but just helps him in whatever way she can, the way he tries to help everyone else. She treats him not like some act of God, destruction personified, or a savior, but simply as Vash, a softie who needs a bit of help sometimes (which is why when Meryl ends up scared of him, it was heartbreaking, but again this is something she chose to overcome because her love outweighed her fear). 

But at the same time, she won’t simply wait around. Again, I love her agency. In TriStamp, she chooses to stay behind to help Vash (which was pivotal because who knows if Rem’s spirit would have been triggered if not for her voice) and in TriMax, even if it was Vash who made the promise, when he’s late, what does she do? Goes and meets him herself. 

In every continuity, she’s always aggressively chasing after him. When Vash said in the TriStamp finale that he’d keep running and running, and when it becomes quiet again, he’d settle back by humanity’s side, it sounded so lonely. 

And yet, when Vash runs, Meryl will chase after him. Even when he believes he should be alone because everyone who touches him dies, Meryl still wants to be by his side. Meryl proves over and over again that Vash is loved (in a way, to him as well) because she doesn’t ever want to leave him alone. And again, it’s such a wonderful ending in both versions (the anime and TriMax) that when Vash eventually does stop running, it’s to Meryl (and Milly) that he returns home to. 

#vashmeryl #trigun #tristamp #trimax #vash the stampede #meryl stryfe #trigun stampede #trigun maximum #they make me feral your honor #milly thompson #that is to say I love vashmeryl in whatever version #it's about the choice for me #the choice to be there for someone #to love someone who has a hard time loving themselves #and this isn't just true for meryl but also wolfwood and milly #which is why I am still hoping against hope we at least get one version where wolfwood survives #all versions good #I'm excited to see how tristamp will end #ramblings about trigun #ships