#teenage girl behavior unfortunately

[roidepoison]

Reo Mikage is Actually Great BPD Representation- Some Thoughts

So I had the extremely unfortunate experience of being exposed to Blue Lock (unfortunate because it's all my tiny pea brain can think about now), and while it is absolutely full of silly guys whose brains I want to pick, this little bugger really stood out to me. The second he came onto the screen, I KNEW I smelled the borderline on him. As I watched the series and read the manga, I noticed he is actually an incredibly well-written depiction of someone struggling with BPD. Reo is a super layered character and my favorite hobby is picking apart those layers and yapping incessantly about them, so here we are. I want to write this analysis for a few reasons:

1.) Too many people misunderstand Reo and categorize him as dramatic or childish without any elaboration and he deserves a proper character deep-dive. I think him being borderline explains a LOT of his reactions/choices throughout the story.

2.) Borderline representation is extremely important to me. I'm diagnosed borderline and have struggled with this disorder for around ten years now, so I get really excited when I spy BPD-coded characters (especially if they're likable people and not just ghoulish irredeemable villains or manic pixie dream girl characters). This disorder can be so isolating, especially when the majority of people will never even bother to research or understand it. I know that some people like to chalk Reo's emotional reactions up to him being a moody 17-year-old, but I think I have enough evidence to prove that this is undiagnosed BPD that's festering in his noggin. Not to mention, literally nobody else acts like this in the series. Reo is incredibly unique and distinct in the way he behaves through this narrative and I think it's way past the point of normal teenage angst. Regardless, believe what you want. He'll always be my borderline princess tho <3

3.) I have a master's degree in English and what good is that if I don't write long, painful, pointless essays on anime guys? Not that this is exceptionally well written, I just like to laugh at myself for getting a whole M.A and then this is the shit I publish online lmao

By the end of this, I hope I can shed some light on wtf is going on inside of Reo's silly little head. (I'm also obviously not a psychologist, don't use any of this to diagnose yourself pls I don't need the scandal)

If you want to read, buckle up, because this is gonna be a long one!

First, let me define BPD- It's a personality disorder characterized by a long-standing pattern of instability in mood, interpersonal relationships, and self-image. At its core, it is a disorder categorized by emotional dysregulation (the inability to regulate one's emotional responses) People with BPD feel everything EXTREMELY hard. That's important to keep in mind IMO, because while their reactions may seem dramatic or extreme, what they're feeling IS dramatic and extreme. Everything they're feeling is amplified, so their reactions are amplified. Obviously from the outside, people assume it's an overreaction since they can't see what's going on inside the borderline's head. When you sit down and dissect the thought process of someone like Reo, it becomes a lot easier to understand why they react the way that they do to certain situations.

(Also, I'm not going to reiterate more than once that an explanation is not an excuse to treat people poorly. I cannot read ANYTHING on BPD without hearing every 2 minutes how the disorder isn't an excuse to hurt other people. We get it!! I'm explaining it, not excusing it. This enter essay is an analysis of why someone acts the way they do, not whether or not it's excusable)

So then, what behaviors/signs does somebody need to exhibit to receive a borderline diagnosis? The 9 diagnostic criteria for BPD are as follows:

1. Fear of abandonment

2. Unstable or changing relationships

3. Unstable self-image; struggles with identity or sense of self

4. Impulsive or self-damaging behaviors

5. Suicidal behavior or self-injury

6. Varied or random mood swings

7. Constant feelings of worthlessness or sadness

8. Problems with anger, including frequent loss of temper or physical fights

9. Stress-related paranoia or loss of contact with reality

Someone would only need 5 of these to receive a proper diagnosis. Just with the main story and the spin-off manga that is currently released, I think I have enough evidence to argue that Reo has 8 out of 9 criteria for a BPD diagnosis. For the sake of organization, I’m gonna group some of those together though, indicated by a + symbol. I also want to define a few important terms before I start yapping, so that y'all without BPD can understand wtf I'm even talking about.

Favorite Person (fp) - This is someone who holds massive significance in a borderline's life. They emotionally depend on this person a lot and to a certain extent, their worldview almost revolves around them.

Splitting- the change in perception of someone or something caused by black-or-white thinking or dichotomous thinking. It is the devaluation of someone who was once idealized and vice versa.

Mirroring (aka: the chameleon effect)- the constant, unconscious change in one's identity or sense of self by imitating another person’s behaviors, characteristics, or traits. It is common in people who have a vacant or distorted self-image which is a general symptom of BPD.

Now, time for me to break down the most prominent moments where Reo showcases borderline behavior. As I mentioned, I'm going to try and organize this under each criteria point (with some being grouped together)

Unstable self-image; struggles with identity or sense of self:

Before I delve into Reo's relationships, I want to start with his baseline sense of identity. It’s established early on that Reo is a very bored, empty, unsatisfied person. Nothing excites him, nothing motivates him, and everything is handed to him. He’s frustrated because his parents notoriously try and buy his affection even though he doesn't want anything. For most of his life up until the narrative starts, he's wandering through life empty and frustrated. That is, until he finally sets his sights on soccer and decides to dedicate his life to winning the World Cup:

The wording, 'proves my existence' is interesting here. I think this is the first instance Reo has felt alive. So far, the only notable thing about him has been his family and his money. He hasn't achieved anything exceptional for himself, but now he has that opportunity. With this goal, he can really build something up from nothing and make it his own. It's almost like he's clinging to this dream to prove that he has some purpose in his life other than being the family heir.

Now, this dream changes when he meets Nagi, of course. I'm not gonna focus too much on their relationship in this section, but I will mention that meeting Nagi shifted Reo's entire dream, and not for the better. Through the narrative, his dream went from:

Winning the World Cup

Winning the World Cup with Nagi

Proving to Nagi that leaving him behind was a mistake

Improving himself and becoming a good striker on his own

Being a tool for Nagi to become the best striker

Had Nagi not come in and ask for Reo to come back to him, I think Reo could have done a great job at establishing his own sense of identity without Nagi. But no matter how much he works on himself, with Nagi in the picture, he's never going to value himself more than Nagi. Reo lets Nagi cloud his identity to the point where Isagi calls him out and asks what he's even doing at Blue Lock in the first place, since he clearly can't survive on his own, he needs Nagi with him.

After dealing with the turmoil of being abandoned by Nagi, Reo goes through a few stages. He starts with wanting to become somebody worthy of being beside Nagi, somebody that Nagi would want to choose. Devoting himself to becoming stronger and more versatile, his end goal is to have Nagi realize he made a mistake by leaving him behind. After a few more matches, Reo starts to realize that he needs to grow and change and become a stronger, better version of himself for himself and not for other people.

He decides that the fight was all his fault to begin with, that he should have never forced Nagi to play soccer and now he is going to get back to what his dream was originally, combined with his new desire to be a stand-alone player (and person, for that matter). Reo accepts the mistakes that he made, admits that he shouldn't have forced his ideals onto Nagi, and resolves to become a better person for HIMSELF. That's excellent!

Of course, Reo can't be happy for TOO long. Nagi comes out of the woodwork saying that he can't beat Isagi on his own and asks for Reo's help. Reo does stand up for himself a bit, saying that Nagi is being inconsiderate of his feelings and mentioning how long it took for him to recover from Nagi leaving. Now, the BPD trait here is how Reo not only forgives Nagi and is jumping on him and hugging him THE NEXT PAGE, but he also just disregards everything he said in this sequence. In a matter of two minutes, he no longer wants to be a player that can fight on his own or improve for himself, he wants to improve for Nagi. He starts ruminating again about how hurt he was when Nagi left, but now he's saying all of it wasn't so that he could get stronger individually, it was so that he could be reunited with Nagi again. Nagi asking for his help and saying that now they can play together again motivate Reo more than anything we've seen so far. (Nagi notoriously throws Reo little affection crumbs like this that Reo eats up, but I'm not trying focus on that) Now, Reo's alright with being a tool for Nagi's success again. Everything that happened was supposed to make him stronger so he could be a better partner to Nagi, right? Reo also says as the chapter ends, to please let him be a part of Nagi's dream until Nagi becomes the world's best striker. That's literally so sad!

He's also immediately back to the 'our' 'we' 'us' talk as well. If he can master his chameleon style in order to keep Nagi above the rest of the players, he wont get left behind again. If he devotes his time and energy into being a solo striker like the rest of these guys, Reo knows that he wont be able to keep up. This was always supposed to be his role, right? Building Nagi up to his full potential! :*)

I also like the detail that Reo is back to hugging Nagi and holding him, but Nagi never really touches him back. I think Reo's love language is touch for sure, not that it's incredibly relevant, but I do think it shows that Reo is back to being 100% comfortable around Nagi as if their fight never happened. I hear a lot of fans asking how Reo could have forgiven Nagi so easily, and I say this with my entire chest, it's the BPD. The black-and-white thinking combined with Nagi being Reo's fp and the excruciating pain of being abandoned by him in the first place ?? Of course he's going to take him back. Also, I've seen people blame Reo for not saying no to Nagi when he asks for help and I have to say that is an absolutely insane take. How are we gonna look at a panel where Nagi asks for help and then blame Reo for helping him?? I'm not going to focus on it too much in this post but in my opinion, it is crazy how little accountability both the narrative + fans give Nagi. Reo is pegged as responsible for both of their downfalls and it's nuts tbh.

Currently in the story, I think Reo's identity is still centered around Nagi. It's really easy for borderlines to structure their entire lives and personalities around their favorite person, but I can only hope that these two keep having open and honest discussions with one another. Hopefully, Reo will eventually learn that he can exist without Nagi and that he's more than just 'his arms and legs'.

Unstable or Changing Relationships:

The most notable relationship in Reo's life is Nagi. They're both each other's first real friends, which already sets up a less-than-ideal dynamic. Nagi has no idea how to communicate and he has pretty weak emotional intelligence. On the other hand, Reo is great at communicating, but he isn't used to regulating his emotions. For a lot of borderlines, they can go a very long time without experiencing any symptoms when they don't have a favorite person. When you think about it, the bulk of the disorder is shown through those interactions with other people. If Reo has never had a real friend in his life, I don't think he'd be used to the emotional turmoil that comes with having a fp.

The minute Reo meets Nagi, he's attached. All his classmates notice it, too. They question why Reo is suddenly so obsessed with this random kid who has no interest in him. Reo is ignoring everybody that isnt Nagi.

Very quickly, Reo boils down his view of the world to being him and Nagi versus everybody else, and he makes that very clear. It also depicts something that I think is incredibly crucial to Reo’s character that a lot of people overlook; as Nagi develops to be Reo’s favorite person, Reo’s dream isnt ‘playing soccer’ anymore. It’s Nagi. It’s being with Nagi, playing soccer with Nagi, being useful to Nagi, taking care of Nagi, and being somebody important to Nagi. He doesnt teach Nagi the rules or how to actually play, he teaches Nagi how to play with him. He literally re-writes and re-structures the game so that it can center around him and Nagi. Nagi calls him out on this in the spin-off manga:

Reo doesnt care about the structure of the game, he cares about Nagi. The other people on the field don't matter. The other team doesn't matter. He also starts to unknowingly put Nagi up on a pedestal, which is another borderline trait. He starts reiterating that Nagi is special, he's different from everybody else, he's destined to achieve great things. The more he raises Nagi up, the more he isolates the two of them in his mind, reiterating the idea that it's them against everybody else. His language reflects this too: Reo exclusively talks with 'us' 'we' 'our', insinuating that they're going to do everything together.

When Ego says that there can't be two winners, Reo says that he'll make Nagi the best striker. His 'ego' will be making Nagi successful. Along with putting Nagi on this pedestal, Reo also very early on establishes the fact that he'd pick Nagi over himself any day of the week. He's the only person in Blue Lock who really couldn't care less about becoming a striker himself: his dream is to be a tool in Nagi's success. Or, in simpler terms, he wants to be useful and make Nagi happy.

These two were in trouble from the very beginning. Nagi is lazy as all hell, has 0 motivation to do anything, and his dream is to live a life of luxury and never have to work. Reo, being the borderline baddie that he is, is more than happy to do EVERYTHING for Nagi. Borderlines love extremely hard! It's one of our best traits and I think it's important to showcase that Reo is a massive sweetheart at his core. He clearly loves Nagi a lot and goes to extreme lengths to make sure he feels taken care of. To someone with BPD, NOTHING is too big of an ask for a person they love, especially if that person is their fp. I also disagree with the argument that Reo 'made' Nagi codependent. Nagi likes being taken care of, he says it all the time. If you ask me, I would actually argue that Nagi takes advantage of Reo a little bit because he knows that Reo will do anything for him. But regardless, I think that Reo starts to develop an unspoken expectation with Nagi that he'll provide him with everything he needs, and in turn, Nagi will stick around. I don't think he's doing this intentionally, nor do I think it's being done in a manipulative way. I just think that Reo has a dormant fear of being abandoned that he doesn't totally know he has yet.

It isn't just Nagi that Reo showcases having unstable relationships with, though. Zantetsu is another good example. Reo starts out disliking Zantetsu, he snaps at him a couple times, and calls him a moron more than once. He starts to warm up to him because Nagi tells him to. The favorite person has MASSIVE sway in the borderline's life. If Nagi likes someone, Reo likes them too. (This is, of course, on the condition that they aren't a threat, looking at you Isagi).

In the immediate next chapter, Reo is acting like they're all best friends. He's climbing on top of them in their big bed, saying that the three of them are gonna win their matches, being a little pookie. He goes from not liking this guy at all to considering him one of his close friends super fast. Also on the topic of Isagi, when they're making up the teams for the second selection, Nagi doesn't initially want to tell Reo that he wants Isagi on their team bc he's worried Reo will be upset. But, when he does finally say it, Reo is literally fine with it because like I said, who Nagi likes, Reo likes! On the condition that they don't replace Reo, which clearly happened soon after.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Reo also shows how he can go from loving someone to despising him very quickly. After Chigiri and Kunigami tell him to get back up in the game post-Nagi's abandonment, we can literally see the switch flip in Reo's head:

Suddenly, he hates Nagi. Nagi's a jerk who abandoned him; he never cared about him, and he threw him away. Dude literally says "Let's kill the bastards that betrayed us". This act of unintentional devaluing is called splitting. What Reo's essentially doing is going from one extreme to the other: if Nagi isn't his perfect treasure, he's the devil that broke his heart. There's no room for a grey area. The reasoning behind borderline's developing this black-and-white mindset is rooted in self-defense. If Reo devalues Nagi into being nothing more than a traitor, then he's stripping away the power that Nagi has to hurt him. If he looks at him like a rival or a villain, it's protecting him from being hurt by Nagi again.

That doesn't mean that he genuinely believes any of this, more so, he's trying to convince himself that it's true. We see that at his core, the reason he's acting like this is because he's hurt. I'll go more into it later on, but he's constantly thinking, what does Isagi have that I don't? What do I have to do in order to win Nagi back? This black-and-white thinking is an automatic self-defense mechanism that I think he's doing subconsciously. Regardless, the shifting he's doing here can cause a little whiplash, which brings me to:

Varied or random mood swings + Problems with anger, including frequent loss of temper or physical fights:

I can’t think of a better way to describe Reo's temperament than the wiki, so let me quote it: "Generally, he seems to feel every emotion with full force and is extremely aware of his own faults and shortcomings, which is evident in several instances of painful breakdowns shown in the spin-off manga. Due to his high emotionality, he can even get violent when he loses his temper."

Reo is characterized as being emotionally unstable. When he's happy, he's elated! When he's sad, he's miserable. There are a ton of scenes between the manga and spin-off manga that show how fast his emotions can flip, but this one was one of my personal favorites:

In this scene, Reo has developed a little scheme in the dining hall where the guys are trading their side dishes. At face value, a throwaway moment. But, I think it's worth looking at because not only does this show Reo's emotional response being triggered in an opposite, semi-extreme direction, but the root cause for the reaction was that he felt rejected by Zantetsu. In his own weird way, he's asking Zantetsu to come over and hang out with him. He's not being exceptionally clear with that message, but I can still pick up on it. "You wanna join in, don't you?" He's extending the invite, making himself vulnerable, and Zantetsu shoots him down by saying nah, I'm fine with my noodles. Reo JUMPS on him like YOU KNOW WHAT? I TOOK THAT PERSONALLY! lol. Jokes aside, I think this moment is a great one to argue Reo's BPD tendencies because it's such a seemingly mundane interaction. Even Zantetsu is surprised by Reo's random outburst. This also sets up the fact that one of Reo's most obvious triggers is being rejected/abandoned/betrayed, an extremely common one between those of us with BPD.

Other instances of Reo having a bad temper are a lot more obvious. In the match against teams V and Z, Reo straight up elbows Raichi in the throat, and then tries to go throw hands with Kuon for hurting Nagi. He only stops because if he gets into any more fights, he’ll get thrown out of the game and won't be able to play with Nagi anymore. He’s visibly pissed though and calls Team Z a joke. Hell, even Reo himself can recognize on a certain level that he can't control his emotions: they control him. They cloud his judgment and make him react in ways that he wish he didn't.

He is constantly plagued by these extreme emotional reactions that are out of his control. Not to say that people with BPD are unable to ever control their emotions, because we can! It takes time and therapy and practice though, which Reo hasn't had. His lack of regulation is also why he has such a dramatic and extreme meltdown when Nagi abandons him.

Fear of Abandonment:

Reo's biggest trigger and the cause of his inner turmoil throughout Blue Lock is his fear of abandonment. I mentioned before that I think he's had this fear dormant inside of him for a while as so many borderlines do, since he hasn't had the chance to experience it before. He alludes to it early on when they first arrive at Blue Lock:

The thought of leaving Nagi for somebody else? Reo considers that heartless. They came together, after all. They're going to win the world cup together. Nagi could break both of his legs and Reo wouldn't leave him, because again, Reo isn't there to team up with the best player and become the best striker in the world: he's there to play with Nagi!! And, like I said, in Reo's mind it's him and Nagi vs everyone else-

Reo exhibits a lot of signs early on of being jealous while they're playing in Blue Lock. I mean, as we discussed, everything should be focused around him and Nagi. When Nagi passes to Zantetsu in the team V and Y match, Reo pulls up like 'hey, why didn't you pass it to me?? ):' There are a lot of little moments like that, but Reo's jealousy is a lot more relevant to my argument after he gets abandoned by Nagi.

Let's talk about that word: abandoned. It seems dramatic, right? Reo uses that term constantly and exclusively. Every time he brings that moment up, he uses the word 'abandoned', or he'll say 'betrayed' or 'chose'. These are very definitive words. He’s not saying Nagi ditched him or flaked on him or blew him off, no; he has abandoned him. That word choice may seem disproportionate to the situation, but that's Reo's reality. This was the ultimate betrayal to him. The constant use of that vocabulary reiterates that in Reo's mind, there is no grey area. Either Nagi chooses him, or he chooses someone else. In choosing someone else, he abandons Reo. Reo is paranoid that Nagi isn't ever going to come back to him and it's because of something that Reo is lacking. How can Nagi like Isagi more than him, anyway?

Now, I do fault Nagi a bit for not communicating better at that moment. I understand that he's bad at communication, but I don't think Reo could have been more obviously upset if he tried. The dude was in TEARS. Nagi saw him devastated and then expected everything to be fine when he met him in the bathhouse? Idk. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he didn't realize it would upset Reo to such an extreme: maybe he thought that they would miss each other, but Reo wouldn't take it personally. I'm doing my best not to harp on Nagi since this is about Reo.

Abandonment is detrimental to people with BPD. It causes extreme inner turmoil that we see with Reo as the story progresses because it is the only thing he can think about. If he isn't trying to cover up his hurt feelings with this idea of revenge, he's self-destructing over being abandoned. He becomes obsessed with wondering why Nagi chose Isagi over him. Was there something wrong with him? Isagi isn't that impressive, why would Nagi rather be with him? These thoughts torture him endlessly and fuel his desire to 'steal' Nagi back. He literally says to Isagi, that he's going to steal Nagi back. Much to his dismay though, Reo starts to notice that Isagi is bringing out some positive traits in Nagi. Nagi's entire vibe is different with Isagi. Nagi is having fun playing soccer without Reo. In fact, he's having more fun. He's making plays he's never made before. His face is visibly different; he's more excited than before.

This is heartbreaking for Reo. Not only was he right that Isagi did have something to offer Nagi that he couldn't, but Reo is having a massive self-hate spiral during this point as well, so he's internalizing all of his flaws and mistakes while the thought is sitting in the back of his head: did Nagi actually have a good reason for abandoning me? Was I not enough to satisfy him? Did I only drag him down? This gets significantly worse the longer he watches Nagi and Isagi play:

Everything is falling apart. Nagi is doing completely fine without Reo, and Reo is an absolute mess. We're circling back to Reo's lack of identity here as well. He's watching firsthand that he's losing Nagi to Isagi: what does he do? What happens to him if he loses Nagi, who is he without Nagi? He's overwhelmed during this match and at one point Reo literally screams that he's going to tear apart their connection. Jealousy is consuming him, but it's also those feelings of inferiority and wondering if he really did deserve to be abandoned. If Nagi is so happy without him, maybe he really did have a reason. These are the thoughts that are circling around in Reo's head. Not to mention, he is constantly tortured by the flashbacks of Nagi leaving him, which I think is a great detail. Some readers might say it's just pointless recapping but I disagree, I think it's depicting how traumatic that was for Reo. As a borderline, being abandoned by your fp IS traumatic. Reo relives that moment so many times because so many things trigger it for him throughout Blue Lock. He can't even look at Chigiri and Kunigami without thinking about him and Nagi. It's a really devastating experience that quickly deteriorates him emotionally.

Constant feelings of worthlessness or sadness + Suicidal behavior or self-injury:

One of my favorite things about Reo is the fact that he is self-aware that he's behaving somewhat irrationally, but he doesn't know how to stop. When we look at one of the several times that Reo is curled up crying over Nagi, he mentions how he really did want to tell Nagi to go and have fun, but he didn't. He couldn't. The visuals shift for this too:

Reo doesnt want to be acting this way, but he can't help it, and that's frustrating to him. It makes him start feeling ashamed of himself. His inner thoughts start to spiral and he feels weak and alone. He's reflecting here on what his true feelings really were at that moment, and how scared and lonely and weak he felt as a result of Nagi leaving him behind.

These feelings quickly evolve into Reo feeling worthless and falling into bouts of self-hatred. He's so ashamed of the way he's feeling and behaving but it feels so out of his control. He says, "maybe if I hadn't gone to Blue Lock in the first place, I wouldn't have to experience this feeling." As I said before, borderline's feel things EXTREMELY intensely; the disorder is described as living with third-degree burns all over your body. Everything hurts. His feelings are so intense and all-consuming right now, it's all he can think about:

I saw some posts in the fandom reddit asking why Reo is acting like this. One in particular reads: "I get that he is betrayed and stuff but he is acting like it’s the end of the world, is it explained later why he acts like this? Is it because he doesn’t think he can win without Nagi?" Not to call this person out, I just want to answer the question in this post-

It has nothing to do with winning; it was never about winning. It was always about Nagi.

If we're looking at Reo through the borderline lens, it IS the end of the world for him. Nagi was his world. What's worse, he's fully aware that he's not acting rationally and he doesn't know why, which is making him feel ashamed and weak and embarrassed. Now I know why he's acting like this, but there are no Blue Lock psychiatrists sitting around to wack him with the mood stabilizers or the DBT handbook, so he's gonna stay feeling like a monster.

He lets these thoughts, along with the resentment and anger from being abandoned in the first place, fuel him for the second selection match. As he's watching the game play out, as Nagi is about to score the winning goal, Reo's mind starts racing with intrusive, negative thoughts.

He's praying that Nagi fails, that he gives up, that he stops trying, anything to stop that solidifying moment where he scores the winning goal and proves once and for all that not only was Reo not strong enough to stop him, but Nagi doesn't need him anymore. He catches himself really quickly, because he realizes he's sounding just like his parents. Everything is spinning out of control so bad, Reo wants Nagi to end up in a vulnerable position so that he isn't the only one falling apart. As he catches himself thinking this, he's disgusted with himself. He calls himself 'utter trash', and as he watches Nagi score the winning goal, he falls to his knees, wishing he was dead.

As he sits there decomposing in emotional turmoil and suicidal ideation, Nagi's team chooses Chigiri to join them, and it's the nail in the coffin. This is probably Reo's lowest point in the entire story IMO. Nagi comes up to compliment him on his plays and Reo shows us another classic borderline move: he's anticipating how bad it's going to hurt to be abandoned by Nagi again, so he's trying to push him away before it can happen. We see the dichotomy of his spoken words and inner thoughts here, where he's talking big game to Nagi, saying things like 'you clearly don't care about me anymore, you're throwing me away, if you're going to abandon me just do it properly', while internally he's thinking 'I'm the worst, I wish I was dead, please take this bait and break my heart so that I can self destruct in peace'.

i LOVE the visuals during this moment. This is what Reo thinks is his last line of defense, the last thing he can do to preserve any part of his dignity is to make Nagi hate him so that he'll stop throwing these crumbs of affection at him. It's also really telling that despite his switch in behavior and the devaluing of Nagi, the root of all of that is STILL that he was so hurt by the abandonment.

I don't think I need to analyze the suicidal ideation because he just straight up says he wants to die like three times in this scene but, aside from that, the visual of his inner thoughts vs what he's actually saying is so powerful. Not to mention the chameleon imagery which i'll geek out about in a second, this is another example of his black and white thinking along with the reiteration that being abandoned was literally traumatic for Reo: he says they can never go back to what they were before. Speaking as a borderline, this is painfully true. When people break my trust even in a small way, I can never view them the same as I used to. I can forgive them and let it go, but I'll never be as open with them as I once was. In Reo's shoes, he had Nagi up on this pedestal that he was perfect and would never do anything to hurt him, but he did hurt him (in the worst way possible).

After Nagi tells him he's a pain in the ass and that he doesn't care anymore, Reo thanks him for 'finishing him off'. In his mind, they're done now and he can suffer in peace and quiet without dragging Nagi down anymore.

Bonus Point: The Chameleon Effect

I LOVE THE FACT THAT HIS THING IS CHAMELEONS AHHHH

The chameleon imagery with Reo makes me INSANE dude. As I mentioned towards the beginning of this post, a part of borderline that is seldom talked about is the tendency to take on 'the chameleon effect', or mirror the people around them. REO'S ENTIRE THING IS CHAMELEONS LIKE BFFR ?? That image where he was trying to get Nagi to hate him, was before he even started using his chameleon style, it was just something the authors thought was necessary to include during Reo's mental breakdown. Aside from the cool imagery, his chameleon style is a reflection of his relationship with Nagi. He gets called a jack of all trades and a master of none early on in reference to how when he’s without Nagi, hes not really exceptional at anything. He never really took the time to master one specific thing because he was always so concerned with helping Nagi. This rings my BPD bell for a couple reasons: first of all, when you have no sense of identity and you’re worried it means you have no real personality ?? Steal one!! Take the closest person to you and copy that one. That’s something us baddies know VERY well. Also, think there’s something about you that your fp doesn’t like? Change it! You can morph into anything they want as long as it means they won’t leave you !! :*) Before he makes up with Nagi, he copies moves in hopes that it'll make him stronger and appear more desirable to Nagi. After they make up, he copies whoever he has to so that he can get Nagi to that goal and make himself useful, make himself somebody that Nagi wants to have around. It is a literal direct metaphor for him changing anything and everything about himself for Nagi and graaaahhhh it’s so cool

Reonagi ?? Some thoughts-

I want to close this yap session with my thoughts on Reonagi as a ship. I do think that they can work and I want to make that clear. I'm not on board with the 'borderlines arent capable of having loving and fulfilling relationships' crap. That being said, they both have to put in a bit of effort. Reo has already recognized a lot of his own issues. He admits that he was wrong for pushing his ideals onto Nagi, that he needs to let Nagi grow and be his own person, etc. Nagi really hasn't accepted any fault. I stand by the fact that Nagi needs to be more sensitive with Reo. Way too often when a relationship like this fails, all the blame is put on the one with borderline. I'm gonna be the outlier here and say that if Nagi cares about Reo, he needs to learn about Reo's triggers and be mindful of them. I'm not saying that since Reo is sensitive to abandonment that Nagi should just isolate himself from everybody else, but what I am saying is that when he's going to do something that doesn't involve Reo, he needs to learn how to communicate that he still loves and values Reo. "I'm gonna go play soccer with this person right now, but I haven't forgotten about our promise. When I come back, we can play together. I still love you and I'm not going to leave you for whoever tf I'm playing with rn." (sneaking that 'i love you' in bc like..they're literally canon at this point asdfghjkll) But, I do think that Nagi loves Reo and cares about him in his own way. The two of them just have to keep working on their communication skills. Nagi has the potential to have a hot rich husband who will literally bend over backward for him and buy him all the robux he could ever want, he's gotta put in a shred of effort!

I also like to think that Nagi didn’t totally get the fact that Reo doesn’t gaf about just playing soccer. Nagi thinks soccer is what they do together, it’s what makes reo happy, right? He’s always pushing him to train harder and take the game more seriously because he likes the sport, RIGHT? It would make perfect sense to go play with isagi so that he can get better at soccer and come back to reo a more improved player. Maybe that’s why he was surprised when Reo was so mad in the bathhouse, bc he wasn’t making the connection that Reo cares more about him than soccer. That Reo puts all that energy into him playing soccer because he thinks it’s something that they can have as their own, and once Nagi notices how good he is, he’ll start enjoying it and the two of them can hold hands and run around the soccer pitch!! I think Nagi missed that part tbh, and I don’t think he know that even now in the story. Maybe Reo doesn’t even notice it.

Anyway, a shameless plug to my reonagi playlist if that's your thing (i cooked with this one, i fear) https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5CsvSqmuI4cxOl1nTaV4GJ?si=737a0f21e0bd482a

Closing Thoughts:

Reo is a bpd baddie and I love him very much. I think he's a sensitive guy with a lot of feelings who would benefit from taking time to work through his trauma and his emotions. I hope that he eventually is able to build an identity for himself that doesn't involve Nagi, but baby steps, I suppose. I think Reo is a great balance of positive and negative borderline traits and he reads as a really believable and sympathetic character. He is, however, definitely that friend that you have to slap to stop them from running back to their ex.

Jokes aside though, BPD can be extremely hard to live with, even more so when it's undiagnosed and untreated. If someone you love has BPD, take the time to read up on it and do your best to understand them. I promise you, it will mean the world to them.

If you managed to get this far, thank you for reading! This was a messy stream of consciousness and I appreciate your support by listening.

#blue lock #reo mikage #reonagi #nagireo #nagi seishiro #bpd

[alvindraperzzz]

Joking aside though, Cassie’s disconnect from Diana’s mission is weird on several other levels.

One. We know Cassie is eloquent and persuasive when she wants to be. Inspiring, even. She convinces Zeus to give her powers. She’s almost as guilty as Tim is for number of rousing speeches. It’s called into focus in the lead up to Sins of Youth, when Tim makes Cassie the spokesperson for Young Justice; despite her doubt she convinces the nation, and the League, to give YJ a chance. She becomes leader of Young Justice because her teammates voted her to be leader (out of universe because she won a fan poll, which will never stop being astounding to me). As leader of the Teen Titans, she acts as liaison to city officials and other teams.

Why isn’t Diana using this? There are entire demographics Cassie can reach that Diana might not be able to. 

Two. Public perception. Cassie does a lot of crazy stuff. I’m not just talking about her shenanigans with YJ. Cassie has been kicked out of multiple schools, most for behavioral issues, at least one of them for being Wonder Girl. She technically kidnapped the President (Amazons Attack was garbage start to finish and I hate to acknowledge it, but unfortunately it happened). See Wonder Woman and Teen Titans for other major fights and major property damage.

Cassie is Wonder Girl. She is publically associated with Wonder Woman, as her protege and sidekick. There’s no mention of how what Cassie does could reflect on Diana. Diana, an ambassador from a foreign country who regularly speaks to the United Nations. You’d think Diana’s PR team would have something to say about that.

There’s more but like. This disconnect is so weird. Is it because she’s a teenager? She fights supervillains and risks her life everyday, I think she can handle outreach and a little public speaking. Is it because she’s uninterested? I don’t think Diana would have accepted Cassie if she had complete disinterest in her cause, or at least, we’d see more conversations about it. Is it because her training got handed off to Artemis, who has a different upbringing and set of values from Diana? That… actually has merit. Doesn’t explain everything, but it does account for some things.

#cassie sandsmark #diana of themyscira #wonder woman #cassandra sandsmark #talking about cassie #yeah most of her development happens in team books but she’s wonder woman’s sidekick #you’d think they’d touch on it just the slightest bit in ww

[genericpuff]

Do you know "Eggnoid"? It's a rather old webtoon about a girl being put into circumstances on taking care of a robot guy who hatched from an egg (hence the title) the robot guy appears to be a grown man, but he has mental capabilities of a toddler and even acts like one. So, it's like those types of "born sexy yesterday" tropes but the gender reversed. The girl also repeatedly shown crushing over the robot guy and at some point, she called him her boyfriend despite she's supposed to be his caretaker.

I haven't read it, but I can definitely attest that there's a double standard when it comes to gender roles and age gaps / situations of grooming / etc. in literature but especially in webtoons. And by that I mean I've legit seen people hold comics like Lore Olympus accountable for their gross dynamics between a young teenage girl and the much older and richer love interest, but then turn around and say it's "couple goals" for a teenage boy to hook up with a much older woman. At the end of the day there's still a power imbalance due to the age gap and the massive differences in life experiences between the two, gender doesn't really change that.

Big ole' sip of hot tea as a take, but speaking as an AFAB, a lot of women are just as capable of grooming and taking advantage of younger men in the same way as men towards young women, it's just that on the surface people tend to get skittish about addressing that because they don't want to sound like they're going "yeah well actually women though-" and dismissing the notion of toxic masculinity. Which yes, that's a fair thing to worry about, some people do use that as a way to dismiss the arguments made regarding patterns of grooming behavior in men towards young girls (among many other problems in which men and toxic masculinity are held accountable), but like any topic of this nature, it's not always a cut and dry black and white thing. Toxic masculinity and the grooming of teenage girls by adult men is a very real problem! But just like how we can understand the nuance that being a man by default doesn't immediately make you a predator, we should be able to understand the nuance that being a woman doesn't give you a free pass to do the same things we call out men for doing without consequences. It's like the double standard in LO that it's okay for Persephone to do the same things - if not worse - than what Leuce and Minthe and Thetis do, because she's the main character and she's not some scummy "mud-sucking" lower class person, she's rich and a Queen and she's wearing a giant hat so it makes it okay /s

Unfortunately the saying of "I support women's rights and women's wrongs" is being used in a completely tone deaf "literally excusing the main character of her crimes and wrongdoings against others because she happens to be a woman" kind of way, while missing the real point of the saying - supporting women's wrongs doesn't mean you celebrate their abuse towards others, it just means women shouldn't automatically be viewed as irredeemable "crazy bitches" for making mistakes like any other human does, and like any other human, they should be given the opportunity to grow and heal and learn from their wrongs.

When it comes to Persephone specifically, it can't even be chalked up to a "one time mistake" anymore, she's literally been showing patterns of abusive behavior for years now and refusing to take accountability, and now even Rachel is meme'ing on it knowing fully well it's what people are calling Persephone out for in the critical spaces. That's not "supporting women's wrongs", that's enabling the wrongs of a person because they happen to be a woman, and that's not okay. Persephone isn't a "girl boss", she's a bully.

I think the double standard in these age gap romances also speaks to the idolization and fixation on women as being nothing more than conquests for men as well. People who romanticize age gaps between a young woman and an older man think, "Wow, that woman is so mature for her age, enough that an older richer man would choose HER to be his wife! So romantic!" when in reality those who know those dynamics are unhealthy and toxic recognize it as an older man taking advantage of a young woman who's being love-bombed into believing she's "mature for her age" so that she'll sleep with him. Meanwhile, on the other side of it, those who romanticize young men getting with older women tend to come at it from the angle of "well she's so old and washed up, no man could ever love her, her chance for love and a happily ever after is gone now! it's so wonderful of that young man to give that sad and lonely old woman love and attention!" and yet fail to see it from the same perspective of an older person manipulating a young person with zero life experience, because there's still this deeply-rooted ideology that women are "used up" by age 30 and any man who gives her attention beyond that age range is a hero. Completely neglecting the fact that relationships aren't off the table at all for older single people and they don't need to involve robbing the cradle.

I blame the lack of older couple representation in media tbh, so many mainstream romance stories are basically just this:

To pull it out of the perspective of LO and webtoons for a second (sorry, I'm going on a hell of a tangent here), remember how gross it was when it was revealed in Fifty Shades Darker that Christian had been introduced to the concept of BDSM at age 15 through one of his mom's friends (i.e. an older woman!) who Anastasia calls "Mrs. Robinson"? And they had that relationship until he was 21? And they never really did anything about that, it was pretty much just there to explain why Christian was fucked up but he still got married to Anastasia, an innocent woman who he was repeating the cycle of abuse with, and lived happily ever after anyways?

Yeah. That was pretty fucked up.

#we all need to do better to hold ourselves accountable for shitty behavior #there are def societal issues at play that predispose people to have certain opinions or react differently based on concepts like gender #but true feminism means making a better world for women *and* men *and* everyone within and outside of that binary #it's not “rich and powerful women can do whatever they want because they're boss babes and deserve to be mean" #that's literally more along the lines of white feminism which we've definitely talked about here before #and just gender supremacy as a whole which isn't helpful for anyone #always remember to ask yourself: “is it feminism or is it misandry?” #because a lot of legit misandrists try to moonlight as feminists and really just hurt the cause as a whole

[maryrouille]

It's Amy Winehouse, but with female rage. About Back to Black (dir. Sam Taylor-Johnson) 2024

Recently, a film telling the life story of the British singer Amy Winehouse was released. I came here to talk a little about the aesthetics of this film, which, by the way, cannot be accused of poor music (Marisa Abela sings Amy's songs in her own voice and she does it brilliantly!) or ugly shots.

In the film we see the transformation from a rebellious teenager with a guitar into an emotionally and behaviorally unstable woman (without a guitar). Of course, this turn of events could have been reflected in Amy's real life, but one gets the impression that the film is set in a different time. It feels like the 2000s have been filtered, sugar-coated, and embedded somewhere in the 2024 aesthetic of angry girlbloggers on Tumblr.

Romanticizing drinking alcohol and mental instability

You probably know the tendencies related to #just girly things and the explanation of all depressive states and tantrums by just being a girl. It is a kind of expression of the life and consciousness of today's young girls living in the rather unoptimistic times of social media and consumerism. But is this aesthetic good for Amy's story? It seems to me that romanticizing alcohol, drugs and blind love leading to complete self-loss and ultimately death is a poor approach.

And while watching the film you definitely feel that something is wrong, but at the same time you fall into this beautified world. Amy's life was darker and more brutal, and her problems were not only limited to matters of the heart, glass and flashbulbs of cameras. Unfortunately, living with addictions is dirty and disgusting. And you can't put a bow on it. But it seems to be a sign of our times.

You Know I'm No Good (song)

Adding the ending to this song title: but I'm not going to rehab. And here we should ask the question about the level of public awareness in 2008 (the year when Amy received five Grammy Awards) and today. In 2024, acceptance and knowledge about all behavioral therapies, addiction treatment and toxic relationships is much greater. And Back to Black, under the guise of nice outfits, make-up and a few minor falls, gives the impression of being up-to-date.

Will someone watch this movie and say they want to live like Amy (just like it was with Coppola's Priscilla)? This is quite possible, because in the end we get the image of a slightly rebellious femme fatale and a slightly weak girl who is harmed by others. And many of us would fit this description.

Live fast, die young, be wild and have fun (song)

Finally, I have to quote Lana del Rey, because today's girl blogging draws from her in handfuls. Is joining the 27 Club really that romantic? The departure of such young people from the world is primarily a tragedy, which later becomes a beautiful myth. That's why it's worth mentioning Lana's example here. She uses aesthetics very well and, above all, separates moving around motifs and drawing visual inspiration from them from real life.

To sum up, movie Back to Black is really worth seeing. However, it is also worth being aware that this is a colorful fiction for 2024 built around the true story of Amy Winehouse.

Edit 24/04/24: I have to mention the update here. I just came across an article from British Vogue that confirms my thesis about drawing inspiration from image of Amy (also Kate Moss, so heroin chic is back in fashion?) Quoting a fragment of the article:

The legacy of Winehouse also lives on in Back to Black, due for release on 12 April. (...) While we’re in no way condoning or glorifying the hobbies of Winehouse and her erstwhile friend Doherty, there was a scene during that time and a smudgy, smeary aesthetic that somehow worked.

#amy winehouse #back to black #back to black 2024 #marisa abela #sam taylor johnson #back to black movie #female hysteria #girl interrupted #female rage #just girly things #club 27 #girlblogging #girlblogger #coquette aesthetic #films #movies #lana del rey aesthetic #lizzy grant

[magicalmysteryperson]

Adrienn Banai: The Rat Lover

I didn't want to post about any of this, but this person forced my hand.

I can't let this person run around on this hellsite anymore.

For those not in the know, this person harasses artists into drawing their husbando: a rat character named "Grey" from the children's series "Larva Island". Sometimes they also harass people into drawing Grey's grandpa, a female version of Grey named "Greyless", Grey wearing Roxanne's dress from "A Goofy Movie", and plenty of parodies of the opening scene of said movie. Like, they subjected one person to draw that same sequence with different characters like 6-7 times. And the "best" part? Sometimes they steal the poor victim's art to claim it as their own. And sometimes, they create edits of them WITHOUT CREDITING THE ORIGINAL ARTISTS. And when they do get caught, they apologize. A lot. But that's only a front to get respect again.

Her husbando

And I was one of their unfortunate victims. This person is weird as all hell; they ship this rat with Pibby (a character that is canonically from a preschool show), Meilin Lee (A hecking 13 year old girl), and Adrienn themselves.

The rat, according to the user, is 15 while the female version of the rest, his girlfriend, is 12.

Adrienn themselves are either 17 or 19.

The fandoms they follow are: -Courage the Cowardly Dog -Friday Night Funkin -Learning with Pibby -Little Nightmares -Turning Red -Anything Disney related (Goofy mostly) -Steven Universe -Made in Abyss -Road to El Dorado -Eddsworld -Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles -Super Mario series and, most importantly, Larva.

She stole my artwork just to make crappy edits

adrienn, flat out admitting that they steal art from people

It's already kind of weird enough, but then I did more digging on this person. They have a butt ton of accounts on a multitude of social media websites. They have a few on reddit, a few on wikia, one on vimeo, and a few on behance, of all places. They have a long history of harassing users, especially on reddit and wikia. They have the most accounts on Tumblr, with five (two of them are inactive.) The second biggest is wikia, with four. The earliest accounts were on DeviantArt, which makes a lot of sense. Oh, but it gets better. They have uncensored nsfw content on two tumblrs. This is from one of their accounts. I am not going to show you the image, but I'm going to show you the tags:

I mean, I'm glad that they tagged it as "rule 34", but I'm more surprised about how tumblr didn't purge those posts or ban the user entirely. So, if you see someone with any of these accounts ask you to draw this rat, dump the ask and block em. Hell, even report them if you need to : https://adrienn-banai-09.tumblr.com/ (WARNING, NSFW CONTENT AHEAD) https://adriennbanai09.tumblr.com/ (Not as nsfw as the one above, but still, nsfw) https://andreabanai.tumblr.com/ https://adriennsposts.tumblr.com/ (currently active) https://adriennbanai-09.tumblr.com/ (currently inactive) https://adriennbanai-2022.tumblr.com They may also go by "zoltanbanai", so keep your eyes out.

And Adrienn/Andrea, if you are reading this, I urge you to take a break from the internet and get some help. As I said multiple times, this behavior will not help you make friends. It will only make more enemies. I am an autistic just like you (probably. idk) and I really don't want to put you down like this, but you're already weirding a bunch of people out. Though you probably won't listen to me anyway, since apparently in your eyes the word "no" is just an unspoken "yes".

And please don't harass this person or send them death threats. Doing that just makes you a bad person.

I hope this is the last time I talk about this person, because I don't really have the time or the patience to deal with stupid bullcrap like this.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. The clorox brain bleach is on the right side of the exits.

#important #psa #cw: weird shit #cw: kinda suggestive #art theft #grey rat saga

[cpunkhobie]

Pretty much the whole post comes from Ballad of a Rat Man because of course it does

#splinter # ‘huh I feel so attached to glory that I shall lie to my son and put his prized possession into a demolition derby simultaneously using it as #an excuse to hang out with my son I otherwise have a hard time connecting with. this is a totally normal thought process to have and does #not come from 100s of unprocessed traumas and emotions At Fucking All!' my baby girl GO TO THERAPY #…... I needa screenshot those tags and put them into an analysis one second (link)

Aight ok so I'm not going to talk about each individual trauma that lead to Splinter's thought process in this episode because that is a post for another day, but I do wanna focus on why Splinter and most parents don't process their trauma until after their kids' development years.

So the thing is that before his sons's were teenagers, despite all of his fucking trauma Splinter literally Wasn't In a Place to be able to process his trauma and raise 4 kids. That's not something you can do while having to be responsible for 4 other peoples lives, especially as a single parent. Your own emotional wellbeing and focus on general wellbeing is something you have to sacrifice in that situation. He physically does not have the time to process his emotions AND keep his sons alive and well when they are defenseless babies and young children who cannot safely think for themselves.*

That's also why his son's emotional developments are stunted, which is something that unfortunately was unavoidable given their situation. Something I've delved deeper into in this post(link). Because you can't neglect the emotional needs of yourself without also neglecting the emotional needs of others. Without an understanding of your own thought processes, unhealthy behaviors then get put onto, and in the case of parenting, echoed onto other people. And in parenting how much your kids copy you is something that can be both fascinating and painfully detrimental.

In Splinter's case repressing his own emotions to raise his sons taught his sons to also hide, repress, and isolate themselves and their feelings from others. Something that sews this blanket of distrust and suspicion across his entire family. And it sucks, because even if Splinter had gotten a chance to process this inherent distrust of others built into him by his family's generational trauma, there's a very slim chance that this emotional repression wouldn't have gotten passed down anyway.

Because again, this emotional neglect is something that was unavoidable. And that's the worst fucking part about it, the fact that no matter what the Hamato family is always set up to distrust each other. And like, god something about that just fucking gets to me man. Especially when you look at the Finale and movie because the whole thing really is just about trust.

"You said you wanted to hang out with us, you lied!" "I did not lie about wanting to hang out with you..." I just. Fuck dude, it's about integrity and it's about trust. And it's about half truths and fear.

Splinter lied to his son not because he didn't want to hang out with him, it's because he was terrified of further analyzing his feelings to find out what they really mean. How that lust for glory comes from a long history of never being able to live up to expectations, and then having that be used against you in an abusive relationship.

Big Mama's glorification of Yoshi in the Battle Nexus was never about glorifying him, it was about objectifying him. And using his insecurity as a power-move that makes sure he stays in her control even years later. It keeps him as her thing that she can use. Ough I could so go more into this but that's for a later date. More about this specifically here(link) and here(link).

Looking for a deeper understanding of his emotions would mean learning or teaching himself from scratch how to do something he hadn't done in years if ever.** It would mean really having to pick apart his trauma and thinking "where does this lust for glory come from." And the truth is that lust for bright glory comes from a dark, dark place. Lush with disappointments, inadequacies, and fucking abuse trauma. And that's terrifying so he lies. And what's the harm in that if it's an excuse to hang out with his son right? A son he already has a hard time connecting with for *gestures to the above* but also because his son is autistic.

It's about a fundamental misunderstanding of your family members but a lust to better connect and understand them. And that's what the Ballad of Rat Man is about, it's about choosing to connect with your family over hiding from your traumas. It's about the horrifying ideal of being known.

It's not just about Splinter seeing Donnie but it's also about Donnie seeing him. It's about seeing his dad in a way he hadn't seen him before, an at least insecure if not deeply hurt person . And it's about him finding understanding and connection and remorse with that. About understanding if not where that pain comes from, at least understanding that it's there; and that it's a pain they both share. It's about trust, and integrity. And kicking butt and taking names !!!!

And yeah I think that's it

*god I just needa cry abt this part for a bit. Like as a parent it's your job to teach your child how to think for themselves which is something that is so hard because it also admits having to let them go and that is so fucking hard both for the parent and the kid. God. The way I phrased that made me sound like a parent I'm literally a teenager

**the something I'm referring to being processing his emotions

#rottmnt analysis #rottmnt #jonah with a megaphone #rise tag #Donnie #splinter

[coffincestuous]

i’ve been super busy this month so i’m about (checks date) 15 days late to the progress report, but…

kit9 progress report #4!!

we have these two images to start us off!!

before i get to leyley’s dialogue here, i want to say that i love the inside of wherever this is. is this part of the abandoned factory? is this just somewhere they found? i also see a hammer that stands out, and a particular door that’s boarded up. break in!!!

i wonder if this is a genuinely flashback or a dream sequence? if it’s a dream, whose? we’ve seen both andrew and ashley have dreams about their past (ashley when the game starts episode one, and andrew when he falls asleep at their parents’ house), and from the devlogs, we know that we’re going to see a whole lot more of their past with the next update!! so, i wonder who this moment is important to?

anyway. leyley suggesting they start a shooting spree in a church is very in-character for her. i don’t think i have to ask how she got there or why, because she’s just kind of… like that. we see that same behavior when they’re going back to the hotel room to lure the cultist out:

she’s so silly. my favorite problem girl.

the second image we have is this:

ashley is in some cultist’s apartment? house? …where’s andrew? did they break in? probably not, considering the ritual on the floor being up and ready to go. is andrew around, or is it just ashley here? was she invited? did she invite herself? did they attend another cultist event??

the rune on the floor here is different from the runes we’ve seen previously!! the one in the first cultist’s house is your standard pentagram with five smaller pentagrams around it. the second one, at the cultist party, is also a pentagram with five smaller pentagrams around it (but it looks better than the first one).

welcome to “how to summon a demon 101” with ashley graves!

i assume ashley made some kind of snarky comment to provoke the cultist into identifying her boyfriend. it’d be really funny if she asked if the guy was their brother. really funny

finally, we have A VIDEO!!!!!

hoooooly shit!!!! teenage andrew!!!!! teenage julia!!!! it’s great to see they haven’t grown out of their emo fashion.

julia’s so CUTE!!!!! it’s very sweet of her to reach out to andrew!! we know that andrew’s not the type to give a shit (internally) about rumors, but julia doesn’t know that. it’s very nice that she went out of her way to reassure him!!

it’s very surprising that andrew is the one who ultimately kickstarted their relationship. julia probably wasn’t going to say anything to him about her crush despite it being super super obvious. she’s very nervous and flustered in this scene!! the rumors surrounding him and ashley, regardless of truth, must have been harmful enough that he felt like he needed to step in to dispell them. andrew and his reputation… his care for ashley…

i love how we can see ashley’s interpretation of things and compare it to andrew’s interpretation of things. ashley’s view of the world is so skewed by her fears of abandonment and not being enough. she’s terrified of losing andrew, so anyone getting close to him is a threat that needs to be dealt with. but, andrew doesn’t have that same insecurity. he knows where he stands with ashley, he knows that no one can replace him in her life, and she can’t be replaced in his.

i’m so glad we get to see more of julia!! i know the game is titled the coffin of andy and leyley, but she’s important to the narrative!! she’s one of the few people to witness ashley’s full anger!! she was friends with nina!! she has seen how andrew acted when ashley wanted something!! i didn’t want to leave her in episode one…

it’s unfortunate that the next episodes will be delayed due to editor limitations, but that means that the game has so much content and i’m so exited to play it upon release!!!

#coffin.txt #devlog #tcoaal #the coffin of andy and leyley #andrew graves #ashley graves #tcoaal screencaps

[m4ndysk4nkovich]

why season 4 is actually one of debbie’s best seasons, not her worst.

i feel like when people talk about debbie gallagher, specifically when people who dislike debbie gallagher talk about her, they talk about the change from season 3 to season 4. how she changed from being a sweet innocent kid to a bratty obnoxious teenager. these comments are always so interesting to me because i feel like people’s weird perspectives kind of diminish the purpose of debbie in season 4 which is unfortunate because it really is such a good season for her.

“the change” in question wasn’t really a drastic change at all, her behavior has been basically the same for all eleven seasons. people say her personality changed when in reality, emma kenney changed. season 3 and 4 are supposed to happen very close together, which isn’t realistic considering when they started filming. by season 4, emma and ethan both look much older than they did in the previous season. for ethan, this doesn effect how people like his character because he is both a male and comedic relief, but for emma, this will effect her.

in season 2, debbie acts pretty similarly to how she does in season 4. in both seasons, debbie is obsessed with holly, making boys like her, and looking older than she is. but in season 2, emma kenney’s face is younger, her voice is higher, the clothes she wears don’t fit and the makeup she applies is applied sloppily because she’s so young; she acts cuter. people don’t take debbie trying to act promiscuous in this season seriously because of how little she looks, and two seasons later, the standards don’t seem to apply anymore even though emma kenney is still so young. even if she’s still young, her voice is less squeaky, her body is developing, the clothes fit better, and the makeup is still sloppy but for some reason, it doesn’t make her look as childish. anyone with half a mind can tell she’s a kid trying to look like an adult, yet for some reason, when she does it in this season as a thirteen year old, it’s completely different than when she did it as an eleven year old.

she stops being as cute, and so her personality doesn’t really work. debbie has always been intelligent, extra, sassy, loyal, and desperate for attention. she’s always had a debilitating fear of abandonment and issues with attachment. when you’re babyfaced and a kid, these traits are funny, then she starts to age and these traits aren’t cute, they’re annoying. when debbie kidnaps a baby in season 1 and fiona is asked why, she says, “it’s debbie”, and although debbie has just done something really bad, it being debbie is an explanation and somehow makes the situation better. later on, when she’s still a kid just a little older, if she does something like this, “it’s debbie” is a bad thing.

i think that if people want to go down the path of saying that she majorly changed or had a downfall, they should consider how her trauma actually did effect her around this time because yes, there were a few minor changes in her that are undeniable.

in season 3, she loses the trust of both of her parents. that’s something. she waits for a whole year for frank, setting up some sort of altar for him and praying. when he returns, she tries desperately to get his love and attention like she has been for the whole show, and it ends in him destroying her room and her school project, insulting her while she’s at it. and so, she goes batshit and starts hitting him as hard as she can. ever since season 1, debbie has been dependent on frank’s attention. she knows he’s bad and she knows what’s wrong with him but she doesn’t care as long as she can still find ways to squeeze a bit of love out of him. this is where that stops. this is where she changes some of her morals, because she realizes that her father won’t change and yeah, it does destroy her. then, he calls dcfs on the siblings and gets them separated, and debbie is put all alone in an abusive home. this is obviously going to destroy a girl with severe abandonment issues, not to mention a girl who has never been alone like this before. so when she gets out of that house, obviously she’s gonna be more traumatized. then, when they go to family court, she discovers that monica and fiona saw each other, and she doesn’t want to be their mother anymore. this breaks debbie even more, and she hears frank’s bullshit about how he loves his kids and even though she’s trying to make herself hate him, she still listens to it and testifies with carl. later on, when she’s talking to sheila and taking care of her, it’s revealed that debbie blames herself for monica leaving, and if monica were to return and stay she would forgive her and welcome her with open arms.

^ so with all of that considered, she’s gonna be fucked up. and that’s only part of the reason she acts the way she does. we have her parents absence, but also her older siblings. with her parents out of the way, she becomes more dependent on fiona, but fiona is now constantly at work, leaving them with sheila, and then… well, we all know what happens with fiona in season 4. as for lip, he’s off at college. that’s that. then, ian has run away and all they have is a couple of texts. she’s desperate to get him back but fiona assures her he’s fine, and she doesn’t believe it. so when she and lip go find ian, he’s different. he’s gone. frank and monica were the people she depended on, then they were gone, and now her older siblings, her three constants and role modes, seem to be gone, too.

debbie becomes colder because she is more alone. no parents, no parental figures, she becomes even more independent than she previously was. she decides she doesn’t need anyone. holly and ellie teach her about a new way to get attention, which is using her sexuality, something she never really tried to use for attention because she’s thirteen. she starts sexualizing herself, and holly tells her she likes matty, so she decides she does. and remember how debbie decided she didn’t need anyone to depend on? yeah, bullshit. matty is a new adult in her life and with frank dying, she needs someone for male validation. matty tells her she’s sexy and a great dancer, and he gives her food, lets her sleep in his bed, and gives her the attention she thinks that she needs. she doesn’t realize she’s being groomed, she thinks it’s love. he even promises to have sex with her when she’s 16 and he’s 23 because his main concern is if it’s illegal or not.

in season 4, debbie is left, used, bullied, humiliated, and ruined. she’s a thirteen year old girl, and being thirteen as a girl is rough. her mind is changing, along with her body, her family, her life, everything. debbie historically does horrible with change, it shouldn’t at all be surprising that she acts how she does. what people view as a bitch or a brat is so obviously a hurt, traumatized child and it’s almost disturbing that people don’t seem to see that. i’ve seen debbie mocked for matty, and while in season 5 the situation got worse, she didn’t do anything wrong in season 4. all that she did was have more attitude, but it was clearly a trauma response. debbie was ignored and hurt in season 4, she was a victim. and she was realistic. the change was expected and necessary for her character. case closed.

#shameless #debbie gallagher #season 4 #shameless season 4 #season 3 #shameless season 3 #frank gallagher #monica gallagher #fiona gallagher #lip gallagher #ian gallagher #holly herkimer #matty baker #sheila jackson #shameless meta #meta #character analysis

[starlightts-posts]

YOUR WARRIOR | part 1

Neteyam x Li'ona!fem!reader

i have been trying to break my writing block for six months and managed to get this piece out of it

contains: brief mentions of scars/wounds, brutal murder of a fish, forced marriage, kind of enemies to lovers

and definitely has grammar errors, sorry for that

It was difficult. He was a na'vi hybrid, an exquisite combination of human and alien species, while you were the daughter of a pure-blood king. The possibility of a lasting relationship was low, nearly non-existent among your tribe, but that thrill ignited a dangerous spark neither of you could quench.

Neteyam was mesmerized by your beauty, by the elegance of your movements, by your firm posture, but mostly by your tangerine-colored eyes. Instead of the common golden gaze, yours had a tint of orange around the pupil. They held so much mystery and passion that Neteyam wanted to grasp and solve like it was some kind of a riddle. They held a bunch of secrets he was willing to discover. Neteyam te Suli Tsyeyk’itan fell in love with the Li'ona princess who, unfortunately for him, was betrothed.

You were promised to a determined na'vi, a muscular warrior, whose reputation was apparently unhealthily pure. But tasun was raised alongside your older brother and shared some of his personality traits. He was stubborn, too cocky for his own good and disloyal when it came to relationships. There were seas of rumors about his awful behavior towards his past partners, especially towards your cousin. You strongly disliked that boy but you had to obey your mother.

Maybe that was why you felt connected to the omatikaya hybrid. Neither of you had the freedom you deserved. Both of you were forced to grow up at a very young age, to look after your younger siblings. everybody had high expectations you had to fulfill.

But in reality, you were just hopeless teenagers who wanted, no, needed to experience true love.

You narrowed your tangerine gaze at the swiftly moving target, tightened the grip you had on your whetted spear and pinched your bottom lip with the sharp tips of your fangs, precisely counting every loop the unaware school of fish had been making. After a minute of watching, you aligned your armed hand with the target and inhaled the scent of seaweed as your weapon striked the head of a fish with a splash.

Quickly leaping over the seawall terrace to get ahold of the spear, you battled the smug grin that threatened to spread across your pursed mouth and studied your catch with a burning glimmer in your eyes. When your fingertips were about to touch the handle of the weapon, several weirdly-shaped creatures casted heavy shadows on the unmoving surface of the clear sea and attracted the eyes of other fishermen as well, awaking curiosity and confusion in the Li'ona na'vi.

You collected your spear, along with the multiple breathless fish, and took your feet out of the seawall terrace you decided to clear out today, a woven net overflowing with your catches caressing your exposed lower back. You strapped the netting to your slim figure and created clicking noises with your tongue to call your ilu. The animal greeted you with an enthusiastic squeal and revealed its back to the rider. After you connected your queue to the sea creature, the group of skilled fishermen set off towards the sandy shore where the intruders had landed.

You emerged out of the resting sea with your peers and pushed some wet raven locks out of your eyes that glittered in the afternoon sun rays. You abandoned your ilu along with the woven net near a centralized ilu pen after you offered your recent catch to the bewildered animal and disconnected your queue from it.

"What happened?" your younger sister questioned the sudden cluster of your people after she surfaced beside you, tugging drenched strands of hair behind her pointed ear. You shrugged your shoulders with a shake of your head and approached the herd of Li'ona villagers with the naturally curious girl.

You swiftly dodged any arriving people, keeping your tail close to your calfs in case somebody didn't notice your presence and accidentally stepped on it as they did many times before. Untroubled, your sister walked through the cluster easily, each Li'ona moving out of her way towards the intruders.

You slided aside to avoid approaching muscular bodies and the Olo'eyktan, who was returning with his newly organized hunting party precisely on time. You appeared behind Tasun, your betrothed, and the eldest son of the chief, your brother, with folded arms across your rising chest as Maratu walked out of the herd, spear in hand.

"What is that?" Tasun gestured to the tail of the closest Omatikaya boy, making the victim of his following remarks to glance over his tense shoulder. Your betrothed stifled a chuckle as he pointed to the thin tail that was flicking from side to side. "Is that supposed to be a tail?"

You slapped the nape of his neck in disapproval and released a warning hiss below his ear, forcing it to turn downward as you pushed the two arrogant boys apart. Your brother swatted your hand away from his chest and poked your side in return, chuckling when you took a step forward with a growl.

Neteyam lowered his piercing amber eyes on your small turquoise form and caught your tangerine-colored gaze in the process. The target of the nasty remarks flickered by his side while his withdrawn ears twitched as you displayed your full beauty underneath the bright burning star. A shimmering spark of forbidden interest twinkled in both gazes and sealed the command of the Great Mother herself.

"We seek Uturu," Jake announced and received judgemental glares and exaggerated gasps from each direction. Maratu tilted his head slightly as his wife, Kirnat, emerged out of the humongous crowd with a scowl decorating her facial features. You were pulled backwards by Tasun when the pregnant woman began to circle the foreigners and were detached from the eldest son.

"We are half-reef people," Maratu mentioned the differences as he gestured to the desperate family, weak chuckle stroking his lips. "You are forest people. Your skills will be nothing but a waste, JakeSully."

Kirnat tugged at their thin tails and pointed out that they will not be capable of swimming in the water. She approached the oldest daughter of JakeSully and Neytiri with a huff and seized her wrists to inspect her unusual hands. "These children-" she lifted them up for everyone to see and displayed her five fingers with a silent growl, "-aren't even true Na'vi."

"Yes, we are!" Kiri snatched her hands out of the Tsahìk's grasp and pulled them to her heaving chest, tangling her fingers in the shawl she had on her shoulders. Tuk wrapped her arms around her leg to hide away from the intense stares and snuggled up against her thigh, making you sigh in defeat.

Neteyam tuned out the persuasion when you sneaked past your assigned lover and appeared on his left with flattened ears, his twitching at the sight. He allowed himself to marvel at your softening face that showcased concern and some kind of pity. He absorbed your wrinkled forehead and the unique shape your pigment patterns were creating in the middle of it along with your delicate facial structure.

"Gross," your brother pretended to gag beside his friend and quickly shielded his head when you faced him with a glare and clenched teeth. The boy received a slap on his shoulder from your cousin, Maru, who silenced his laughter with a stern tone.

You bowed to show your gratitude before your youngest brother could tackle your legs. Neteyam narrowed his eyes at the interaction as his father pleaded the Olo'eyktan and Tsahìk for a chance, stating that his family can adapt like he did many years ago. You picked up the whining little boy with an eye roll and let him fidget with your handmade necklace.

The eldest son of Toruk Makto noticed the tender caresses you left on your sibling's upper back to soothe his pounding heart and throbbing headache, swallowing the hums that were threatening to escape out of his mouth. He was flabbergasted by the relationship you had with the little boy and wondered if he was your younger brother. The urge to ask for your name was clawing at his dry throat and forced him to clear it as he dedicated his attention to his father and Maratu, missing the opportunity to catch you staring at his differently built body.

"Your arms are thin, your tails are weak," Kirnat wrapped her fingers around the youngest son's forearm to reveal his five-fingered hand and pulled it upwards, a hiss drumming against the walls of her throat. "They have demon blood!" The herd of her people took a couple steps back, mouths agape with disbelief.

Neteyam flinched when the pregnant woman poked his stiff shoulder and pushed some of his tightly braided hair forward to reveal a healed wound to the little boy that had been taking in his appearance in your arms. He pointed to the scar, which made Neteyam shiver. You followed his curious gaze and noticed the wound as well, scolding the boy for pointing at the Omatikaya. Neteyam covered the healed injury with his four-fingered hand and scooted closer to his younger brother, who had been devouring the beauty of the youngest daughter of the chief.

Maratu shared a look with his mate and tilted his head slightly to convince the woman without using his words. Kirnat stole a glance at the fleeing family and closed her eyes, battling her inner voices. Once they fluttered open, she nodded and gave her husband her consent. "Toruk Makto and his family will stay with us," he began to announce and buried the smooth end of his spear into the sandy shore. "They do not know the sea, they will be like babies taking their first breath. Teach them our ways, so they do not suffer the shame of being useless."

JakeSully encouraged the rest of the family to bow and mutter a quick thank you to the Li'ona leaders. Maratu accepted their politeness easily while his wife stifled a snicker and dissolved the cluster with a wave of her hand, motioning you to follow and return to the village with her. "My oldest son Ralu and youngest daughter Aneya, will teach yours the way of water," he clarified despite the protests of his son and silenced him with a glare. "Enough, ma 'itan. It is decided." [son]

By the imperfect posture of your mother you could tell she was against the idea of allowing armed strangers inside your village. you couldn't blame her. After the RDA attacked your former home, you refused to accept anyone who had the guts to travel beyond their territory, but here you were, trusting a title - Toruk Makto. the legend was well-respected in your tribe and beautifully captured in your songcords and celebrations, but would a true Toruk Makto seek Uturu among strangers? Run away from the threat?

Based on the stories your Ancestors provided you with, no. Toruk Makto would never flee, but a father would. JakeSully was also a father who cared deeply about his children and that was something a true warrior, a true legend would do - he would protect his most valuable treasure.

The thought of leaving your home, the people you love, behind just because humans are sickeningly greedy and unappreciative made you physically ill. And in some way, you had to go through that as well. So, after your father returned into your family marui pod and got scolded by his wife, he approached you with pleading eyes.

Your legs were dangling over the edge of the pod, ankles submerged. Various shoals of fish swam around your feet, trying to avoid colliding with them as your father took a seat beside you in silence. Your bioluminescent dots began to glow along with the underwater world you learned to appreciate and take care of.

Maratu exhaled heavily and placed his hand on your hunched back. You immediately straightened your posture but kept your exhausted gaze on the never-ending sea. "I know you aren't happy with my decision," he stated, figuring how you felt from your behavior during dinner. "And trust me when I say, I am not exactly happy either."

Your ears twitched at his confession which made him chuckle. "I know it will be hard to accept their presence and most people will take decades to do so." You turned to face your father, confusion flashing across your tangerine gaze. He grabbed your hand and placed it against his beating heart - an intimate gesture among your people, your father mostly used to show his seriousness and affection.

"What I am about to ask you may be selfish after what we had to go through, but you are the only one capable of doing what is right." His words scratched the back of your mind which awoke unpleasant memories. "I spoke to JakeSully.." you nodded and encouraged him to continue, "his oldest son Neteyam, I believe it was, was trained to be an Olo'eyktan-"

"What are you trying to say, dad?" you interrupted his speech as your fear of interacting with the Omatikaya boy kept growing. Maratu squeezed your hand and pursed his lips, giving away his request. "No," you snickered sarcastically and pulled your hand away from his tattooed chest, shaking your head in disbelief. "No, dad, that is- I am not-"

"I want you to become his personal trainer-" Before you could protest, he put his index finger on your lips. "He has great potential for a warrior and you will help him get there."

"But dad-"

"There isn't room for buts," he interjected harshly as he collected himself and stood up, silencing your upcoming grunts. "I do not want to hear it, daughter. You will help that boy out either way."

"Yes, sir.." you muttered angrily while your father walked back inside where a wave of joyful cheers and laughter of your younger siblings engulfed his tall figure.

You clenched your fists hard it made your knuckles white. You should have known. Your father never came to have a chit-chat with you, he always assigned you new chores, or ordered you to babysit your siblings.

What was so special about that Omatikaya anyway?

Was it his muscular body that seemed to be perfectly built for the sea and rainforest environment? Was it his pretty privilege? Was it his daddy's title? What the hell made him so suitable for the position you have been trying to get ahold of for years?

You had no clue and that made you furious. A frustrated growl crawled out of your throat before you plunged into the calm sea to clear your head. After you managed to swim far away from your marui pod and realized you were running out of air, you resurfaced at the edge of your resting village, fighting the urge to cough.

"Are you alright?"

Your bloodshot eyes scanned the shore for the source of that sickeningly soothing voice, finding nothing but pure darkness. A trail of tiny glowing dots started to move inside the rainforest your village was surrounded by from the other side. A lean, pretty tall figure emerged out of the woods, clutching a bow with a half-full quiver of arrows hanging on their shoulder. As they stepped out of the shadows into the bioluminescence, you noticed the bold dark-blue skin that was decorated with sharp and straight patterns.

You narrowed your eyes in an attempt to focus on their face, praying silently for any Sully besides Neteyam. But as they entered into the moonlight, you swallowed your prayers. Their tightly-braided hair was tied up in a high ponytail, revealing their defined face features. You traced their glowing dots, from left to right, and captured their golden gaze.

"Oh," you breathed out and cleared your throat as the Omatikaya boy approached you. "It is you.."

"You don't sound very pleased," Neteyam pointed out your disappointment and slung his bow over his free shoulder before he placed his hands on his hips. "You must be the other daughter then-"

You scoffed. "The other daughter?" Neteyam watched you walk out of the sleeping sea, seeing how offended you were by his words, and raised his brows in surprise. "You-"

You stomped towards the na'vi hybrid and poked his stiff shoulder, almost pushing his quiver off. "Do not," you warned and exposed your fangs in the process.

"My apologies." Neteyam withdrew his hands and took a step back to show some respect which you snickered at, not fully believing. "I did not mean to be disrespectful," he admitted and bowed to seal the truth.

The silence that fell upon you two was overflowing with tension and one-sided admiration. You were studying his unreadable facial expression while he was devouring your beauty.

His golden eyes traced every single droplet of sea water you had on your turquoise skin. Neteyam also tried to memorize the pattern of your bioluminescent freckles before you managed to turn away.

"Go back," you muttered over your shoulder as you started to walk back into the endless bowl of water, desperately searching for an escape from his curious gaze.

"Wait-" already ankles deep, you turned around with arched brows. Neteyam offered you a sweet smile, "Can you tell me your name?"

"You will know it soon enough, forest boy."

#avatar imagine #neteyam #avatar #neteyam imagine #avatar the way of water #neteyam x reader #neteyam sully

[welovemysty]

So, my sister called me the other day to tell me all about her family's upcoming camping trip. The girls are out of school, so they're all heading to the lake for a whole week. I asked her if she remembered that one time when Dad took us camping in the mountains. She laughed and said there was no way she could forget, and she really hoped this trip wouldn't turn out like that one.

You see, our parents split up back when we were in high school. Mom got custody, and we would visit Dad every other weekend and for two weeks during the summer. One summer, Dad said he would take us to the mountains, and we were both really excited about it.

Unfortunately, my sister and I got into this huge fight right before school ended. We were being typical silly girls, and we stayed mad at each other for weeks. It even spilled over into our time with Dad.

One morning, Dad picked us up and we started driving towards the cabin. We were bickering and fighting the whole morning until we stopped at Wendy's for lunch. While we were enjoying our Frosties, Dad asked us what we wanted to do first when we got to the cabin. I said I wanted to go swimming, and my sister said she just wanted to relax by the shore. Then, Dad dropped a bombshell.

"I'm going to give you both a good spanking."

He had been telling us to behave and get along all morning, but we just kept being petty. We knew why he said it, and we probably should have seen it coming, but we were still shocked to hear those words.

"Your mom told me that you two had been fighting, and she hoped this trip would snap you out of it. She also mentioned that it might help if you got your bottoms smacked. I said I hoped it wouldn't come to that, but now I can see that it's necessary."

We mumbled apologies and promised to behave. The rest of the car ride to the cabin was silent. Dad hadn't spanked either of us in years, but we remembered how unpleasant it could be to go over his knee. We both knew that when Dad said "a good spanking," he meant on our bare bottoms.

When we finally arrived, Dad unloaded everything from the car and put it on the front porch. Then, he sat on the back bumper and called us over.

"Girls," he said, "we don't get to spend a lot of time together, so I always look forward to being with you. I definitely don't want to spend any of our time together with you two fighting or me punishing you. But your behavior has made a spanking necessary. Once it's done, it's over. You two will act like loving sisters, and we'll enjoy the rest of our time together as a family."

He pointed at my sister, "You're up first. Take off your shorts and get over my knee."

She pulled down her shorts and stepped out of them. Since she wasn't wearing any underwear, she was already bare-bottomed. Dad guided her over his lap and immediately started smacking her butt.

Then, Dad turned to me and said, "Go ahead and take off your jeans, too," as he continued spanking my sister's pale bottom.

I pulled down my jeans but left my panties on. I knew Dad would pull them down once I was over his knee. He finished spanking my sister, and then it was my turn.

He pushed my undies down to join my jeans and started smacking my bare behind. It wasn't the worst spanking I had ever gotten. I was a teenage girl and really concerned about my modesty, so the smacks hurt my pride more than my bottom.

When he was done spanking me, he made us hug and apologize to each other. It was embarrassing because we were outside with our pants still down, our bottoms exposed. We promised to stop fighting and have a pleasant week in the mountains. Dad told us to get dressed and then gave us both a big, fatherly hug.

At the time, I wouldn't have admitted it, but that spanking was exactly what we needed to stop our fighting. The three of us ended up having an amazing time at the cabin after that.

[transfemswagbracket]

💥 THE BRACKET, PART ONE 💥

This is a collection of the first side of the OC bracket, complete with summaries I did my best to compile and links to the original propaganda posts! There's another side to go consisting of 32 more characters, but I'm posting this early because it's been a while.

@da2base-com's Randal Ebony Clarke (x)

Randal Ebony Clarke (she/he/it), also known as Randy, is a teenage girl who enjoys spending her time drawing, collecting dolls and puppets, playing video games, and making music, along with studying and taking care of bugs! She's a quiet, cold, and cantankerous girl, but once once one gets to know her, they'll learn just how nice she can truly be! It's a shame she doesn't come out of her room very often.

@stargloom's Guppy (x)

Guppy (she/her) is an eel girl! She makes clothes and sells them online for a living, and lives in a shared apartment far far away from home. She gets homesick often, but she’s in the big city making a name for herself! (Why not help her out with your vote?)

@ellie-shaw-official's Julia Lowell (x)

Julia Lowell (she/they) is a popular internet content creator from an SCP AU who also happens to be a wolf god!

@splatterbrush's Dr. Brigan Harlow (x)

Dr. Brigan Harlow (she/her) is your local alien scientist— an apprentice at a shady laboratory! After a series of unfortunate events, she ends up accidentally reviving an ancient AI that plans to conquer the universe, and so she must set out with her friends to stop it... even if she really would rather just stay home and take a nap. Who doesn't love sentient alien fungi?

@fictofaggot's Faunre (x)

Faunre (he/him) is a DID system that consists of mostly transfem and nonhuman alters! His hobbies include being pretentious about music, picking random objects off the ground, and drawing silly My Chemical Romance fanart. He is quiet and generally unpleasant to be around, but his cringefail behavior and autistic awkwardness are off the charts, and that's all that matters.

@nickyisbitchy's Zoey (x)

Zoey (she/her) is a lesbian witch who owns a record store! She enjoys playing harmonica and drums, making jewelry, and home movies. She's a very quiet but passionate person, and when she believes what she's saying is true she isn't scared to get loud. She makes friends easily, but is very secretive. She takes care of her cousin's kid Melody, and she has two cats— a calico named Spot and a hairless cat named Dot!

@ndrogyny's Mortis Sofia Fiorentino (x)

Mortis Sofia Fiorentino (they/them) is an OC for the 4v1 survival horror game Identity V, and their story is set in the early 20th century. Having moved from Italy to New York City at a young age, Mortis realized they didn't feel at home in their growing body. A few years after coming out (to which their parents were luckily accepting), their father fell ill, and it was up to 16-year-old Mortis to get a job to help support their mom. They landed a job as an exterminator, becoming very efficient, and were eventually sent on a job up north that no one else wanted to take. Unfortunately, a freak earthquake occurred, and Mortis was trapped, left behind, and died. Their soul was so full of rage and betrayal that their ghost possessed their now dead body, and went on a search for closure.

@zayn-darkshadow's Filip Quarzen (x)

Filip Quarzen (she/her) is a silly gal who loves puzzles, musicals, and puppets! On a cursory glance, she may seem shy and unconfident in herself and her abilities— and while the latter is true, she can be very outgoing and bold! Mostly motivated by a love of theater, she can be extremely melodramatic, and she has a tendency to be sarcastic and a bit rude due to her lack of patience. She's also trans both in-universe and out— originally created as a little gay boy, now a little gay boy who's a girl!

@sikeyaout's Extrava Anza (x)

Extrava Anza (they/it) is the mayor of a town filled with supernatural individuals! They are also the sibling of a mad scientist and a professional party planner! Who doesn't love a squirrel girl?

@mikey-wazowski's Ria (x)

Ria (she/they) is a spooky creepy girl! She goes through a time loop, which eventually got to the point where she didn't care about anything anymore due to nothing having consequence. She ends up in a juvie for setting her house on fire, and in doing so, they find the person perpetuating the loops they go through.

@abrahamstalker's Janice (x)

Janice (she/her) is very shy and very buff! She's trying to balance trying to get a doctorate in psychology, meeting up with her parents regularly, and 2 part-time jobs. She's a fan of cutesy, Lolita-esque fashion, is learning how to crochet, and has two pet ferrets, Scrap and Pip! She recently moved in with her girlfriend and her girlfriend's family, who are still working up the courage to explain that the "family friend" who lives upstairs is actually a ghost...

@blxckmxmbo's Itsuki Kane (x)

Itsuki Kane (she/they/ix) is a streetfighter who ran away from an awful life at a young age in search of their father. She eventually found her dad, but it didn't end up going well in the end. During that time, however, ix really found herself as a person after having time to not worry about where she was going to sleep that night, and they transitioned! Ix's very blunt and mean, but is a softie at heart and likes to tease her friends.

@wyrm-in-a-closet's Sparkle (x)

Sparkle (she/her) is a shifter— a magical individual who can transform between a human form, an animal form, and a "half" form (part human, part animal). Her particular animal is a sparklemuffin spider! She's silly and stupid, and is horrible at social interaction— she would rather look at cool bugs in the forest, or cool rocks in the forest, or cool plants in the forest (she spends all her time in the forest). She's a wrestler and plays electric guitar!

@wickedsick's Barney Stanz III (x)

Barney Stanz III (she/her) is a clown who lives in her grandpa's attic. She fights aliens, makes band t-shirts for bands that do not exist, is deeply weird and generally not having a good time.

@maddestmewmew's Fertilizer La'Ctaid (x)

Fertilizer La'Ctaid (she/he), also known as Farty, is white and British but it's okay because she's a catgirl. Her parents were murdered in front of her as a child, but it wasn't that bad because their parenting sucked and she got millions in inheritance. She then spent all her money on a bookstore that gets no business and was so embarrassed that she changed her name and later figured out she was trans.

@cogheart's Chloe Liu (x)

Chloe Liu (she/her) is a Sim from a silly save called Franky World! She has saved Strangerville at least once and has scientist swag, a cute little kitty named Salmon, and three adopted children she cares for with Franky, Grim Reaper and her wife that are named Smelly, Stinky and Scared.

@wingedcatgirl's Vivi Elakha (x)

Vivi Elakha (she/her) is a wandering adventurer! She enjoys helping people and seeing the world, and the first thing she did as an adventurer was study of botany and alchemy in order to manufacture her own HRT. She also learned conjury so she could heal people, roguery so she could stab people, and maraudery so she could draw aggro from people.

@tboy-division's Victoria Otieno (x)

Victoria Otieno (she/her/any) is the pilot and engineer of the space pirate crew of the Insurgence! She gets the crew from place to place and keeps the ship in great condition, often with help from her partner Copperheart Jack. Otherwise, she’s usually found in the ship’s library or talking fashion with Tim, the ship’s first mate.

@foxxsong's Eli (x)

Eli (she/they) is a vampire! She was born albino and grew up with a single, emotionally distant yet controlling and possessive caregiver. After leaving home, she meets a vampire sometime in her mid-twenties— he supports her financially, a secret bid to increase her dependence on him beyond just emotionally, and eventually turns her as well. She's cautious and slow to trust but fiercely loyal to those who show her kindness, and has a soft spot for kids and teenagers. Despite her caution, she tends to fall in with bad people or into bad relationships because of the familiarity they bring.

@kalopseance's Embry Ward (x)

Embry Ward (she/her) is a famous detective in the kingdom of Valenstein, and is a respected yet distrusted figure. She exclusively investigates cases that pique her personal interest, and enjoys the thrill of investigation as a game and a way to test her intelligence. She's stubborn, stuck-up, arrogant and prideful, but has her own morals and a dislike of authority and the corruption she sees. She refuses to cooperate with any sort of organization and makes a living through investigative journalism and report writing. She was born to a rich family, but ran away in her teens— she hasn't had contact with any of her siblings in years, until she began investigating the Valenstein Killer case...

@simoni-999's Alegray (x)

Alegray (she/her) lives in an old, ruined science lab in which a woods has grown. She runs a small shop where she sells soap and candles (which cost nothing due to the fact that they live in a literal overgrown post-society), and is the only creature living in the Lab that has access to the internet. She has the power to harness light and make "stars", and her best friend is a skeleton goat!

@cat-of-starlight's Yuui Kyeglin (x)

Yuui Kyeglin (she/her) is a girl who recently entered a magic high school! She tries her best to be cheerful and bubbly to offset how she used to be before transitioning— she's still quite anxious and awkward, but most wouldn't realize due to the front she puts up.

@peri-universals-universe's Ferris Everett (x)

Ferris Everett (she/her) is the Elemental of iron! She lives with the other Elementals, who are immortal, godlike aliens with the power to control one of the elements on the periodic table each. She has powers over iron, including steel, cast iron, iron ore, human blood, and even cereal; if it has Fe atoms, it's hers to control. She's one of the most versatile Elementals; she is flexible and emotionally open on her own, yet around others she puts on a stoic mask. The stars worship and fear her, for she has the power to end them, yet they revere her for building the galaxy's infrastructure and setting up all the transition healthcare.

@vernalloy's Elaois (x)

Elaois (she/it/x) is a reality warper who rules over Mercury, the 5th heaven, one of the days of the week, and forethought. She decides she wants to be a girl after observing humans, who are about to be wiped out from a mass flood, and she enters the material world on Mars, quickly growing attached to a rover named Transcendence. X bonds to it so much that it eventually ends up granting it sentience on accident, being then forced to wrestle with the idea that she used her reality-warping powers selfishly. Living in a false reality messes with it, and x eventually learns that she's the arbiter of her own destiny and it's okay to want things.

@luckiestplant's Gabby Trinh (x)

Gabby Trinh (she/her) is gaslight gatekeep girlboss but with a strawberry banana flavor. She starts off like a typical Pokémon rival, but over the course of the story she gradually learns about the Power of Friendship with the protagonist. She's very goal-oriented and is always smiling and is often in a sort of silly-mean mood— she's just teasing, but often doesn't recognize when people are actually uncomfortable. She also has a bad habit of twisting people's words to fit what she thinks.

@lungfiz's Catharine Nimh (x)

Catharine Nimh (she/her) is the head of a perfume business and a cutthroat businesswoman. She is also the eldest daughter to the notorious Nimh family that's known for all things small-town drama, but, thankfully, seems to be quite sane compared to her relatives. She's not too skilled with people, but she is good with dogs!

@leonfoolery's Sydney Lennox (x)

Sydney Lennox (she/her) is the frontwoman of the British glampunk band The Blitz Babes! She's very bright and excitable, a glampunk master, and canonically a tumblr user, along with being gay and autistic.

@c0rnd0gge's Ava Lyne (x)

Ava Lyne (she/her) is in a band called Keyword:Trying with two best friends from middle school, in which she plays keyboard and bass! She is hard of hearing and insecure about it, but with the help of her friends, she's living her dream of inspiring hope and joy through song. She's known to be rather shy save for when she’s on stage, where she feels able to relax and move with the music. With her friends, she’s just as silly and chaotic as they are, and only wishes that she had the confidence to be as expressive in public as she is in private.

@wintry--mix's Scarlett (x)

Scarlett (she/her) is an axolotl! Her main goal in life is to have fun, she's calm, and she loves snacks.

@dinner-rol's Diamond Perez (x)

Diamond Perez (she/her) is a famous magician! She has a wife and daughter, and apparently if you don't vote for her you'll be haunted by her brother-in-law's ghost best friends.

@protagchihiro's Utau Yawara (x)

Utau Yawara (she/her) is a Danganronpa fancast OC, and her talent is covering songs. She survives her killing game, but at the cost of everyone she was close with— her two main losses were her friend that she was trying to cheer up, and her friend that she clicked very well with and had fun with who turned out to be the mastermind behind it all. She has a major case of imposter syndrome due to the fact that nobody likes her music, they only like her when she's piggybacking off of others' success.

@idikei's Rena Pacheco (x)

Rena Pacheco (she/he/it) is an angel from what can only be described as an off-brand heaven called "The Realms of the Above". He's a cyber-criminal who steals from the rich with the support of G•dz (not censored, just what they're called). It's extremely gay for a member of the criminal task force trying to hunt it down, and also has a monocle!

#oc bracket updates #transfemswagbracket #og post #i hope these are ok summaries i did my BEST flex emoji

[lichanicksstuff]

So I've seen this edit a while ago. This made me think, "what if jjk was a shojo?" And it took a while, but I came up with this:

Jujutsu Kaisen - Where Our Pink Is?

Jujutsu High School is the first school attended by Satoru - the wealthy heir to the Gojo family estate. Everything was going according to plan. He had to graduate high school with excellent grades and then receive access to an infinite amount of money. After all, he deserves it, right? The problem begins when the proud and arrogant teenager is at risk of being expelled from school for his bad behavior. In order to pass to the next grade, Satoru and two other problematic students - Suguru and Shoko - are tasked with persuading the principal's daughters - Riko and Tengen Amanai - to go to school. By a coincidence of unfortunate events, the girls began to think that they were just one person who didn't need studying, much less that stupid math teacher! Looking out for the weak and protecting them is honestly so exhausting. Let alone when another kid joins the gang - Megumi Fushiguro, who is the most insolent little shit Satoru has ever met.

This is the story of how Satoru Gojo (with a little help from Suguru and Shoko) has to go through the difficult life of a babysitter!

#jujustu kaisen #jjk shitpost #jjk gojo #jjk #fanfic #fanfic ideas #gojo satoru #megumi fushiguro #riko amanai #geto suguru #shoko ieiri #english isn't my first language #jujutsu kaisen fanfic #jjk fandom #jujutsu kaisen fluff

[genericpuff]

I don't want to derail what you said about LO being creepy because if it's for adults then it's a story about adults who think it's fine to pursue teenagers. Because that's true! Only that there's a deeper level to my eyes. If these older women are self inserting into Persephone, then there's this really weird thing going on where they assume the only way it's acceptable for them to be valued sexually, without that value being tainted in any way, is when they're young. It's as though the story is a fantasy where you get to be both as valuable as you will ever be and also "corrupted" in a sexual way that's acceptable and fine because you're not the one doing it. I dunno. It seems awfully convenient to me Persephone hardly ever acts in the same sexual way Hades does towards her. The whole thing scares me personally not out of the assumption these women will seek out teenagers to date, but because they'd endorse such a manipulative relationship if they saw it. Weirdly enough, not completely unlike what Hera does to Persephone.

Yepp, I didn't touch on it much in that post but it's what I mean when I say the venn diagram between teenage girls and 40 year old women is a circle. And that's not to be a dick to either age range, it's hard to be a teenager and it's hard to get older. But you can tell LO is being written for women who miss being young by a woman who misses being young. And it's a shame it has nothing positive to say about ageing on the other side. Like, there are definitely stories out there that touch on these subjects in a very sweet way, reminding people that they shouldn't be ashamed to get older! It comes with hardships, yes, but it also comes with the joy of gaining experience and passing knowledge on to the younger generations.

Unfortunately, LO seems to paint this picture that you're only valuable and attainable so long as you can pull off being 'eternally 19'. Despite Persephone now being 30, her appearance flip flops between being a mature adult and a teenage girl.

And frankly... not to pull up things from 20 years ago as 'proof' of anything, but Rachel herself has said some not so great things about her own age that implies if she could legally make Persephone younger, she would have. I mean, that implication is already there by her making Persephone 19, as young as she could make her without it being illegal to ship her with Hades, who is also someone who falls into that implied category of "the only reason he dates 19 year olds is because he can't date anyone younger". But it's especially apparent here:

Like, it seems to be that Rachel doesn't see the issue with Persephone being 19, because in her mind being 19 is old. Obviously that isn't necessarily what exactly is going on here, esp because that post was from well over a decade ago so I'm not gonna hold her to the exact same mindset and standards she was at back then, but it's especially telling when she's now in her mid 30's and is still writing and drawing Persephone as if she's a young teenager, not even a "pushing 20" teenager, but a 14-15 year old teenager. Like, yeah, that indication of her behavior and mindset is ancient history now, but that behavior and mindset was clearly still prevalent when she started LO and even still now 5 years later.

And that comparison to Hera is spot-on. Especially now that we've seen her try to rationalize what happened to her when she was Persephone's age with Kronos, she seems to feel like she deserves to be the queen alongside a rich leader because she "suffered more" for it (completely disregarding everything Demeter has been through as well, missing the point entirely that they're both victims). She also outright says Persephone is "lucky" that she gets to be eternally 19.

So yeah, you're not far off the mark there, tbh. It really does feel like Persephone is the demographic made up of teenagers, being projected onto by adults like Hera.

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #antiloreolympus #anti lore olympus #ama #ask me anything #anon ask me anything #anon ama

[shallowbreaths]

This is Mary Vincent, she is the biggest badass alive! At 15 she was attacked, brutal raped, hit in the head with a hammer, she had her arms hacked off with a hatchet, and was then thrown off a cliff by the side of the freeway to die. Her survival story is the shit! She says she heard a voice telling her to keep moving or else others would die, so without arms she managed to pack mud into the wounds so she wouldn’t bleed to death, and then she proceeded to scale the cliff with no arms!! She was completely naked, she had severe head trauma, no arms, and they say she had lost 50% of the blood in her body. After scaling the cliff (which she says took her most of a day), she then walked 3 miles before seeing a car with two men that slowed down, but after getting a good look at her they sped off. To which this badass woman said, “I looked terrifying, I don’t hold it against them at all.” Needless to say, she survived. Before allowing herself to even pass out though, she demanded a sketch artist and provided such detail that the monster’s friend saw it on the news and immediately knew it was him and turned him in. Then she testified against the man, and he somehow managed to whisper to her, “if it takes me the rest of my life I’m going to finish what I started.” Oh yeah, btw, it was HIM that released that detail!

Her family could only talk about how it effected them, it was as if they didn’t realize that it was effecting her too. So she was homeless for a while and she obviously had trouble making and maintaining any meaningful relationships. Her attacker got charged with a long list of crimes and got the maximum sentence at the time…. 14 years! He was released for good behavior after 8!!!!

He then tried to sue her after his release, (as one does after brutally raping someone and then cutting their arms off), but the court threw it out. He then moved to Florida where he was an “upstanding member of the community, and great neighbor.” His neighbors said things like, “of course we didn’t like what he’d done, but life goes on.” Yuck! I know this is shocking, but the asshole killed again and a witness saw it. The police arrived at his house and he was covered in blood still. He tried telling some BS story. The woman he killed (a mother of 3) wasn’t highly thought of because she was a sex worker, that’s one reason why they are so often killed, it’s easier to get away with. SOOOO, Florida asked Mary if she’d face the monster again in order to testify to the man’s nature. This badass said, “Hell yes” and flew down. I really hope she whispered to him, “I’m here to finish what I started.” He was convicted again and put on death row. Unfortunately, God got him with cancer before Florida got to finish his story.

This isn’t about him though, he was a disgusting creep that doesn’t deserve a name. This is about Mary fucking Vincent, the biggest badass of all time. Because of this story, there are now laws instituting mandatory life sentences for certain violent crimes. This is about a woman who uses her experience to help teenagers who are sexually assaulted, even though she STILL suffers from such terrible nightmares that she has woken up trying to escape with such violence that she has literally broken bones doing it several times. This is about the woman who went on to have two sons who she says gave a clear and definite reason to keep going. This is about a girl who at 15 says she couldn’t draw a straight line but grew up to be an artist with no arms, who fashions her own custom prosthetics in order to do the things she wants to do.

I’ve never met this woman, but she is one of my heroes! She is magnificent. Fuck that loser who wound up rotting in a cell alone, it could have been a car crash or a tree falling that caused that damage, he is a gross and barely necessary tool that lead to forging something truly amazing. What she has done, overcome, and made from the pieces is so fucking incredible that she should inspire us all. She was NOT disposable, but how easily she could have been. All she had to do was close her eyes at the bottom of that cliff and go to sleep. I’ll bet she could have quit on herself a million times over the years since 1978, but Mary Vincent doesn’t quit. She took the unimaginable and turned it into art. She IS art!

In Mary’s own words, “This is the third phase of my life since that awful day. I went from victim, to survivor, to artist.” Hell yeah you did Mary!

#Mary Vincent #badass extraordinaire

[mynonclicheblog]

After seeing the first 5 minutes, it's VERY clear that both Ben & Devi's actions post-boink are very much (virtually 100%) being driven by fear and insecurity. They both feel awkward that it wasn't some epic fairytale First Time (because that happens sooooo often to teenagers in the real world, right?) and they're overthinking each others' behavior to the point that it's clouding their judgement.

I'd like to talk about them both, but I'm going to focus mainly on Ben since he appears to be our little troublemaker this season (compare w/ Devi's season 2) - and also, I think I have a better idea where his emotional/romantic development arc is going this season. To start off:

I'm sorry to the dxtons who tried to relay this scene in the most disparaging and anti-ben way possible, but this is the face of a boy who WANTS to talk. A boy who was surprised and excited when Devi turned towards him because he really really likes her and it seems like she's actually initiating communication- for real this time! All he's ever wanted was for them to talk candidly about their feelings!

...But then, like a teenage dum-dum (who is still nursing the wounds from two years ago), he hits the panic button. I, uh- I should probably hit the hay.

This swallows up the crumb of hope Devi was clinging to that maybe, just maybe, the whole thing wasn't as bad as she'd thought - and as we see in her following scene with Elfab, sure enough, she has been drowning in fear that she didn't measure up.

Girl... no he wasn't 😂 you were embarrassed for you, and Ben was embarrassed for Ben! [John McEnroe voice] That's how this works!

But it's just a great example of my very first point: that all of their thoughts, actions, and perceptions are based in insecurity right now. Fortunately for Devi, she has two supportive besties who know both her and Ben, who are here to talk and help her work through what to do next.

But as Ben tells Dwight Howard... he doesn't have any friends. So he resorts to a complete stranger.

I want to quickly point out the parallels between Ben & Devi's dialogue here (Devi in the last section and Ben in this one). They are both thinking about themselves. They're worried/making the assumption that the other person thought they... ehm... performed badly, and now they are confiding in other people rather than clearing it up with each other (because they're idiots [affectionate]).

Devi makes a great first step by inviting Ben out for coffee, and can I just say how PROUD I AM OF HER? Like, yes, love! Open up that avenue of communication! Talk it out! There's nothing to be afraid of!

But across the valley, Ben tells Dwight Howard that after having sex, Devi "didn't say anything, she just got up and sprinted out"... but that's not really what happened, is it? Ben fumbled the ball when he offered to call her an Uber, and Devi took that as her cue to leave. We (and Dwight) are listening to Ben's inaccurate retelling of events, skewed by the post-boink anxiety he's been stewing in. This boy who was once delighted that Devi turned over in bed to talk, has since repressed the mortifying moment that followed wherein he blew her off. Now all he remembers is her darting out the door.

In accordance with spoilers, it looks like Devi's Starbucks text comes through while Ben is still talking with Mr. Howard - and since Ben provided him with a misleading picture of how things went down, Dwight is going to tell him that Devi doesn't really love him. That she's just going to hurt him again. That he deserves someone who brings out the good in him. (All of this coming from a man who doesn't know Ben, has never even met Devi, and has no insight whatsoever into the relationship he's advising.)

Unfortunately for Devi (& us), this is Ben's biggest fear, so he listens. He takes the easy road yet again and pursues the less scary option... but she's still not Devi.

I truly believe that in the first few episodes when Ben talks to Devi, he is doing nothing more than basically parroting what others have told him. Why? Because those words will justify his urge to continue retreating to safety; they will enable him to avoid confronting his biggest emotional truth, something he's been running from for two years. As much as he obviously, clearly WANTS to give into his feelings for Devi, he's still afraid. And even though she's the one who hurt him, he still thinks she is incredible (which she is!!!), and that he couldn't possibly live up to what she deserves. There's so much to unpack here and I think this is a great way to make the events of season 2 a relevant topic again without being contrived.

Similar to Devi in seasons 2 & 3, I think Ben's arc is going to be about gaining the self-worth to stand on his own rather than passively agreeing to what others think he should do (i.e. Dwight and Margot).

The back half of the season will be Ben not only overcoming his greatest fear by talking with Devi and learning how deeply and genuinely she wants him this time around, but in doing so, he's going to become more confident in his relationship with her and learn to make his own decisions regarding it. He will learn that he can trust his own instincts again, no longer paralyzed by heartbreak or feelings of inferiority. He can trust Devi with his heart now. She's all in.

#we'll see how accurate this ends up being... i could be totally wrong bc this show loves to surprise. but that's my read so far #god i remember being stressed bc someone was like 'yeah ben tells her to take an uber home so that he can go to bed. and then he blew off- #-their starbucks date because she put a period in her text' or something like that jfdajsdnqwnefg like... Y'ALL... the clownery #benvi #ben x devi #never have i ever #nhie spoilers #ben gross #analysis post #for the record i am both a ben AND a devi apologist. what about it

[alwaysbewoke]

well, i don't think females, in general, are stupid. that's going too far. however, some females, whether we're talking about young girls or fully grown ass women, exhibit this behavior for a few reasons that may reveal hidden agendas or difficulties in communicating properly. it can also indicate a lack of understanding of what a healthy relationship should look like.

some women engage in these behaviors to intentionally create friction, often as an excuse to leave. then there are young girls, teenagers, and women in their early to mid-twenties who may still be navigating the complexities of relationships. they resort to these games due to feelings of insecurity or a need for affirmation, instead of being able to communicate their emotions as adults should. unfortunately, some women intentionally provoke conflicts, believing that friction and arguing signify passion in a relationship. in reality, they are only sabotaging the relationship by introducing negativity and strife.

generally speaking, as females enter their 30s and 40s, they tend to improve their communication and relationship skills through years of experience. however, it's not every female which leads to many unhappy males dealing with these issues. apologies, fellas.