#you can see traits and try to understand why they would behave that way and neurodivergency is fine to hc

[puhpandas]

Quick question: is it weird that I hc Gregory as ADHD or is it, just, completely normal to see him as that?

its completely normal dude. if you see traits in him or even dont and just. want to see him that way it's fine. headcanons for characters are apart of life genuinely like everyone sees themselves in a character sometimes

#i headcanon evan with so much and all we actually know about him is that he cries because hes scared #you can see traits and try to understand why they would behave that way and neurodivergency is fine to hc #pandas.txt #pandas talks #pandas asks #even like the average person sees themselves in fictional characters even subconsciously its genuinely normal #i wouldnt worry :)

[calamarieater]

Daves ENTIRE PERSONALITY revolved around being just like Bro he never had the time to develop his own personality because from day ONE he wanted to be JUST like Bro he thought Bro was so cool to the point where he even ignored the abuse and just considered it normal, it's so common in abusive households for the abused kids to want to be JUST like their abusers because they've never seen like a normal household, and like most kids you tend to look up to your parents, which is what Dave was doing. Daves entire personality all his interests like everything were branched off from what Bro liked, he never got into things that Bro DIDNT like the only thing he didn't like was Bros puppets but dave wanted to be JUST like Bro he looked UP to him and people seem to completely ignore Bros abuse because of how dave reacted to it but ? what Bro does is still abuse and often when kids are introduced to abuse early in life they dont know that its abuse and they consider it normal which is why Dave reacted the way he did because he WASNT AWARE THAT IT WAS ABUSE WHICH IS NORMAL IN ABUSIVE HOUSEHOLDS AND ABUSED KIDS OFTEN THINK LIKE THAT which is why it comes off as such a SHOCK when you tell a kid they're being abused and whats going on isn’t normal and it seems like most of the fandom just ignores Daves abuse and everything and the fact that he never really developed his own personality until later on just because of the fact that he never really reacted or talked about it which annoys me SO badly I get its like hard to understand what abused kids are like and their bebehavior and stuff but!! you gotta understand like all his interests and everything came from Bro, his entire life until Sburb he wanted to be just like Bro he looked up to Bro so much to the point the abuse wasn't even something he considered abnormal because he thought Bro was just trying to help him be stronger and have a better reaction time or whatever but that's not what was going on and dave didn't know because he hadn't ever seen a normal household/this was his entire life this is what was normal to him so he considered it normal even compared to his friends lives, especially considering all the kids have semi abnormal lives other than john for the most part so dave was just convinced his life was normal because it was what he was used to and his friends also had odd home lives so he was just convinced that his life was the same gah I love Dave. I just think people should TRY and understand Dave’s character more, and it also just irks me how people see him as some flirty dude when thats not how he is, hes a wannabe cool-kid who has no idea how to behave and just mimics his Bros behavior!!! He WANTS TO BE JUST LIKE HIS BRO!!! HE SPENDS SO MUCH TIME TALKING ABOUT HOW COOL HE THINKS HIS BRO IS and you guys i swear he would NOT be a flirty little shit. He lives for bickering so he can come up with cool comebacks so people think “Wow this guy is REALLY fucking cool” when they're talking to him. So many of you guys seem to forget hes 13 in the beginning, his behavior is just a direct copy of how he saw Bro. He did not develop his own personality until later in life, and even then he still had a lot of Bros traits. Most kids dealing with abuse dont even know that its abuse until way late in life, because again, ITS ALL THEY KNOW!! If you lived your entire life not knowing what you were going through was abnormal, or even unhealthy, you would consider it as “the usual” WHICH IS WHY DAVE NEVER HAD A BIG REACTION TO IT, BECAUSE HE WAS SO USED TO IT. HE DIDNT KNOW IT WASNT NORMAL. Dave was a 13 year old boy dealing with an abusive father figure. From his interests to his personality, he just wanted to be like bro. that's all he wanted.

But, towards the end of his arc, we DO see him start to turn away from that desire to be like bro. We see him slowly realize, he isnt like bro. He doesnt want to be like bro. He isn't a "hero" like bro was, he doesnt WANT to be like bro was. But his entire childhood circled around being like bro, and it wasnt until bro died that he finally realized that wasn't what he wanted. But, as it wasn't until late in his life that he realized, he wasnt really able to form his own personality.

In conclusion: Dave is NOT some coolkid flirty boy, hes an abused child with no personality of his own. He is so much more than most of you guys let him be, and its so irritating to me.

#calamarichat #daveposting #dave strider #bro strider #homestuck dave #homestuck #dave rambling #homestuck rambles #dave understander #homestuck bro #homestuck analysis #dave strider analysis

[shirefantasies]

How Thorin’s Company Acts Around Their Crush

Hope all who celebrate had a wonderful Christmas! Since I’ve gotten some requests for The Hobbit characters as well I thought I would start with my usual beginning! Yes I’m repping ALL of them 😤😂 you can imagine the older members’ as taking place when they were younger or not…depends how you like it 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

Balin

✧ As his feelings for you grow, so too does his care for you. As if by magic he always seems to know where you are and what you need. Being more subtle and witty with his feelings, Balin is not the easiest to decipher in terms of intention but you can be damn sure you know he cares.

✧ Shares stories with you, tales of his ancestors or days as a young dwarf roaming the mountain halls, chuckling warmly at your reactions.

✧ There to catch you whenever you fall, hands gently gripping your waist as he asks if you’re all right.

✧ Tells you how much the others like you, especially if those around you are a bit tough about it. Balin hears and sees a lot more in his position so he is quick to reassure you.

✧ “Let me get one last look at you before I go- that’s all the energy I need.”

✧ Balin loves to hear your voice, so his guilty pleasure is asking you to read to him whenever you get a moment’s peace- please indulge him, he’ll be so relaxed and content!

Dwalin

✧ Acts like he's just going along with your ideas or whims, but in reality you're wrapped around his finger and he'll do anything for you, not to mention go anywhere so he can ensure you're protected. The way he always makes jokes for you and shows off in your presence may make it easier to tell how he feels!

✧ Offers you a drink at any opportunity, bringing you a mug or glass of whatever you prefer most, even if it’s just water.

✧ Playfully spars with you if you’re game, complimenting your form and encouraging you to try more daring moves.

✧ Does anything in his power to make you comfortable and stand up for you. The log you’re sitting on is uncomfortable? He stands right up then and there to carve it down. If he sees an orc get a strike in on you you’ll know who’d getting beheaded next.

✧ Laughs at jokes he wouldn’t normally, like if the others tease him Dwalin will probably smack them or snark back, but if you say it he’ll just laugh and roll his eyes, maybe lightly elbow you.

✧ I’m pretty sure it’s both book and movie canon that this man dwarf plays the violin??? So you know he is going to whip it out to impress you! And maybe it’ll make for an excuse to dance and sing together too!

Thorin

✧ Thorin is the sort to orchestrate his entire romance to a T, so you will not be able to decipher his intentions until the exact moment he plans to tell you, and that will take some time getting to know and trust you.

✧ Always moves you behind him when danger strikes, readying himself in a moment to stand in and defend you. If you've been separated, you're the first person he seeks to check on.

✧ “Give me your hand.” Anytime the terrain is rough or you could fall, Thorin takes your hand in his to gently but firmly guide you over/across it.

✧ It’s hard sometimes to defer to others especially with all the pressure of being king, but Thorin is intentionally very considerate with you, asking for your input and following your counsel.

✧ Drapes his coat over your shoulders if he sees you looking cold, his hands lingering a bit longer than necessary…

✧ Rather than tell his story, Thorin prefers to ask yours- he wants to know where you came from and why you care about the things you do. If nothing else he craves a feeling of understanding passing between you two, a deeper relation and connection. He’s not afraid to ask deep questions like if what legacy would you most like to leave behind or the most important character trait in your eyes because his partner needs to share his values and be comfortable with deep discussions.

Oin

✧ His biggest tell is the way he dials up the gentleman act for you and only you, behaving so much more politely and attentively.

✧ Sometimes people don’t take the time to have conversations with him due to his hearing difficulties, so he makes sure to be extremely attentive and show his appreciation whenever you talk to him. Expressive listening and reactions are his specialty!

✧ Having skills as a healer, Oin does anything in his area of expertise to ease your travels, whether it’s pain relief, soothing oils for your muscles, steam treatments for your breathing, etc.

✧ He knows a lot of games, too, so if you’d like Oin would love to sit down and teach you some. If you ever look bored or down he will approach you with cards or dice in hand asking if you’d like to while away some time or thoughts.

✧ In turn, any hobby you have is something he’d be eager to learn about. You like to see? Show him how! You paint? Well, what do you make your paints out of? He wants to find a way to support your joys.

✧ Does silly things behind the others’ backs when only you can see, making fun of them or just shaking his head no if they give bad advice. Acts completely innocent even if they catch you laughing.

Gloin

✧ The ability to speak one's intent and feelings clearly, perhaps even with a bit of poetry, definitely runs in his family 😌 He will pay you the best compliments you've ever heard, leaving you to wonder what wheels are turning in his mind as he speaks them.

✧ Unafraid of telling you how nice your outfit looks on you whether it’s the color or the fit or, as is most likely, both! Tells you, in fact, that you’re more beautiful than any gem he’s ever seen.

✧ Teaches you how to play all his favorite tavern games! Subsequently always asks for you to be his partner at them.

✧ “Oh, you’ve got a little…” Extending a hand, he gently removes a small leaf from your hair, gently brushing it back into place.

✧ Won’t give the others the time of day if you’re talking to him. “Can’t you see I’m talking to them and not you?”

✧ Becomes your designated lifter of heavy objects and opener of difficult things, flexing as he tells you that pretty much everyone comes to him for it (even if it isn’t true) 😌

Bifur

✧ Absolutely becomes a showoff whenever he sees you, especially when he's sparring. You're like an energy of your own, bringing him new vigor and passion to overtake his enemy before he flashes you a smile. It's fairly obvious what he's doing, but you can't deny its effectiveness.

✧ Gets you familiar with his signs so he can spill the tea about the others when they aren’t looking 👀

✧ Elbows you lightly to get your attention, then waves at you or wiggles his eyebrows teasingly when you peer at him.

✧ Strings together some beads he has on hand along with some pretty rocks that he found to make you a little necklace or bracelet! Looks so proud as he holds it up for you too 🥺

✧ Gives it his all in every fight where you’re in harm’s way too because it’s not just about him making it out anymore.

✧ Sharpens your weapons for you without you even having to ask 😌

Bofur

✧ Bofur is incredibly sweet around the one who draws his attention, always smiling when you look his way and address him and always laughing at your jokes. His actions could be seen as just friendly but he's incredibly generous and giving around you which is a bit of a tell.

✧ Starts breaking touch barriers! Just with little things like resting a hand on your shoulder as he teases you or expresses sympathy, offering a helping hand to stand back up, or taking your hand or wrist to look at your jewelry.

✧ Yours is the first hand he reaches for when Bofur starts up a song and dance. He holds you so gently but twirls you so eagerly, a smile on his face for you the whole time!

✧ Hype man. Believes in you like it’s a given- of course you look amazing, go on, you can do it, don’t be scared, they’ll love it. In his words, “Don’t dull that great shine you’ve got.”

✧ Sharing little running jokes is his favorite. Whether you two were the only ones to catch another company member say something ridiculous or Bofur was the one you shared a certain story or fact with, he loves those little points of connection and will never let them die.

✧ Loves to take care of you, so when you’re seated together at meals he’ll load your plate and pour your drink for you- you won’t have to do a single thing but enjoy your time!

Bombur

✧ Such a quiet sweetheart! You may not be able to tell he likes you because he's so subtle with his little gifts and waves sent your way, but he's always asking about you and trying to show he cares.

✧ Lets you sneak tastes of whatever he’s making even though he’d usually smack their hand away 🥰 Also he always serves you first at the end of the day and gives you the best bit of whatever he's made! And if you're a lady, he always says “ladies first” with the sweetest smile ☺️

✧ The absolute best if you get anxiety, like he will learn exactly what is best to do for you whether it’s breathing, words, serving as a living weighted blanket for you, a phrase or sensory experience, you name it! He just wants to see you smile again 🥺

✧ Quietly leaves you flowers by your bedroll when you aren’t around, just little surprises to bring a smile to your face at day’s end.

✧ Bombur has the most hilarious theories about how he thinks he can predict the weather, so rather than have you ask Gandalf he’ll explain them all in depth until you’ve got stitches in your sides from laughing.

✧ If you break touch barriers, expect the most shocked, happy :o face from him followed by a smile that slowly grows more and more lovestruck.

Dori

✧ Another case of 'could be interpreted as friendly', Dori practically fawns over you to make sure you're comfortable and have everything you need, but because he's a big brother it can come across like his natural sibling instinct.

✧ Anyone who bothers you gets the biggest scolding of their life- watch out!

✧ Making tea is his love/connection language. He'll offer to make you a cuppa if you're cold, stressed, need some energy, you name it and he'll do it for you!

✧ Practically shushes everyone to get your opinion when a ruckus emerges over some company decision or another, making some creative excuse why you have sway over it.

✧ Dori is definitely the sort to always check in and make sure you ate and got a drink too, always getting certain you’re keeping up your strength and care for yourself.

✧ Invites you to take walks with him when he wants fresh air and time away from his brothers, just the two of you enjoying nature and some one-on-one chatting and laughter.

Nori

✧ Shameless flirt! You'll know by the way his eyes travel up and down, by the way he smiles and approaches you, by his complete and utter lack of fear in complimenting and teasing you.

✧ Probably hits you with a pickup line as one of your first interactions, seeing you and immediately stepping in with the 'what's someone like you doing in a place like this'.

✧ Naturally he always volunteers to pair up with you on watches or lookout duty…just to make sure you’re safe, you know!

✧ Tells maybe, just possibly, exaggerated stories of his feats of heroism…or just gambling, whichever.

✧ One hundred percent the one who tries the old ‘yawn and put your arm around them’ trick one night by the fire or on watch.

✧ If his exploration leads him somewhere interesting you’re the first one he’ll be pulling over to check it out with him, pride written all over his face at your amazed reaction!

Ori

✧ He's so shy and polite around you that you can't help but wonder if his flustered state and smiles are connected to you. He also gets clumsier, suddenly walking into things and dropping them. What can be said, you just have an effect on him 😉

✧ Always points out animals he sees on your travels because he knows you like looking at them. Will sketch you pictures of your favorites so you can carry them with you!

✧ “Ooh, ooh! Sit with me!” *proceeds to not know what to say or do with himself once you get there*

✧ Knits for you, whether you request a scarf or gloves or a hat Ori will make it for you. “Here. This’ll keep you nice and warm,” he tells you as he passes it over, smiling sweetly as your hands brush.

✧ Tries to replicate anyone else’s feats. Fili threw a knife and hit a bullseye? Well watch this. Bifur balanced three bowls on his head? Care to see Ori do four? And if he doesn’t, please don’t laugh too much!

✧ Asks your favorite everything, like what flower you like the best, what meal you enjoy most, what’s your favorite color. Your favorite flower will forever make Ori think of you, and in fact it becomes his muse. He dedicated two whole pages to pressing and sketching them, one for him to keep and one for you!

Fili

✧ Epitome of 'if he teases you, he likes you'. Always shooting you jokes and smoothly grabbing your attention to show you things. Fili just gets a twinkle in his eye around you and his behavior clues you in.

✧ Teaches you the best way to throw knives, standing behind you to help you get the best angle 😏 asks if you’d like to give a name to the one you do the best with!

✧ Such a great listener. Goes full-on chin in hand just watching your animation intently, nodding and smiling as you speak.

✧ Struggle with something in Fili’s sight and you’ll never lift a finger at it again. He swoops right in to help you, always reassuring you it’s no big deal at all.

✧ Opens his arms immediately if you’re stressed or grieving, offering a warm, comforting embrace. He gives amazing hugs, too, a hand sliding soothingly up and down your back as he pulls you in.

✧ Trips and falls in front of you, but saves it by saying he lost his footing because you were so stunning 💁🏻‍♀️

Kili

✧ If he teases you he likes you part two. He also shamelessly flirts by winking at you and doing anything in his power to hear you laugh, so you'll be able to see what's up pretty quickly.

✧ He has a habit of taking things to see if you notice, just small things like if you leave your comb sitting out or lay down your weapon to go talk to someone, he'll snatch it up and hold onto it to see how long it takes! "Just keeping it warm for you ;)"

✧ Takes it upon himself to teach you archery or help you practice, making lots of corrections to your stance, especially with guiding hands on your hips 👀

✧ One night Kili has a coin perched on his hand. “Heads or tails?” You call your guess, and as luck you call it correctly. “Well, that means you get to sit with me tonight,” Kili replies with a wink.

✧ If you don’t mind it, he’ll probably end up giving you some sort of nickname, whether it’s based on some sort of inside joke or just something you like or remind him of.

✧ Conversations he’s involved in quickly involve you, too, as Kili can find a reason to think of you amidst even the most mundane topics.

Bilbo

✧ He isn't flustered around you, but he behaves with a certain awkward consternation that you wonder at. If you have a tougher time reading others like me, you might think he's just plain studying you, confused even, but in truth he is hyperfocusing on every little part of your interactions!

✧ The type to always stick by you, making sure he's the one seated next to you at mealtimes and placed next to you at the campfire.

✧ “Perhaps we ought to hold hands? Just to keep together. After all, it’s quite crowded out here.”

✧ Being introverted as he is, a big sign of Bilbo’s care for you is the way he approaches your time together- even at the end of the day he will still come to you, making it clear time together with you recharges. It equates to ‘me time’, which is big for him.

✧ Asks a lot of questions about your home, the cultures you come from and languages you speak. Bookish as he is, Bilbo will undertake learning your other language(s) and trying to bring pieces of your home right to you!

✧ “So, have you ever… you know, thought about settling down someday? After all this is over.”

#the hobbit #the hobbit x reader #the hobbit imagines #the hobbit headcanons #thorin's company #balin #dwalin #thorin #oin #gloin #bifur #bofur #bombur #dori #nori #ori #fili #kili #bilbo #balin x reader #dwalin x reader #thorin x reader #oin x reader #gloin x reader #bifur x reader #bofur x reader #bombur x reader #dori x reader #nori x reader #ori x reader

[night-raven-tattler]

Say hi to daddy!

Summary: How would these characters behave as fathers? What does their ideal family look like?

Characters: Savanaclaw dorm (Leona, Jack, Ruggie)

Other parts of the series: Heartslabyul, Octavinelle, Scarabia, Pomefiore, Ignyhide, Diasomnia, Royal Sword Academy

Warnings: none

By opening the document, you agree to Mx Tattly's terms of source confidentiality.

-ˋˏ’✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

The chances of Leona agreeing to having kids is very low: he has a lot of baggage and personal beliefs that would make him not be fully on board

Plus, why would he need another screeching box when Cheka is already around?

But then a bit later in life... something happens and suddenly he has a child in his and his partner's care

Because why would anything ever go the way he wants?

Yet, he grows attached, with the help of his partner

He's the only one who can put the kiddo to sleep, and the only one whose hair the kiddo likes to play with

While his lazy predisposition doesn't allow Leona to go too much out his way for the kid, he's far from an absent father

He is not only present but trying his best to be an example

Because, even if the child ends up seeing him as a bad example, he will be satisfied with the lessons he managed to teach

He loves roughhousing with the kid or challenging their young mind

And when he's too overwhelmed, Cousin Cheka is available for babysitting duty

For Leona, fatherhood becomes a time of finally healing inner wounds while becoming more understanding without being dejected: it's the time when he finally finds an inner balance and find some peace

...he still won't ask Falena for fatherly advice though

Leona is, for sure, a girl dad; he also will pump the brakes at 1 child, 2 children would probably open old wounds he's not quite ready to deal with

『••✎••』

Jack is, undeniably, a family man whose life goals follow a pretty traditional route: get married, have children, grow old and see his family thrive

His classmates sometimes teased him lightly about it, but they all were happy for him when they saw Jack's content smile at his wedding and later at the apparition of his first child

From the very beginning, Jack is a good husband and a doting father, and he loves spending one on one time with his kids the most

Jack loves having his little ones join him in his training regimens, even if all they do is watch and ask questions

That's what they do usually anyway, the kiddos have been waddling towards their dad since they were in diapers

Dominant beastmen traits or not, he still expects them to do their best physically, and he's the dad to sign up every kid for a sport

Not that he wouldn't be understanding if any of his kids happened to take a less physically challenging path in life: he'd be just as supportive, but he'd also reflect on his actions and ask his partner if they think he's done something wrong

Parenthood is a chance for Jack to learn how to be more of a team player, not only as part of a parental unit, but also as a dad who needs to meet his kids in the middle and understand that the "pack leader" can still be wrong if he doesn't listen to his pack

Jack would enjoy 3-4 kids, he loves the idea of a big family, and he'd totally be a boy dad

『••✎••』

Ruggie

Ruggie never really thought about having kids, his main focus has always been financial stability and reducing that food anxiety

But it's very likely Ruggie would end up with an unplanned kid

He wasn't completely on board with the idea of parenthood... until his little one looked into his eyes and smiled

Did Ruggie accidentally pass down his pickpocketing skills to this kid? Because they just stole his heart

But that doesn't mean he really has a good grip on what parenting really means; yes, Ruggie is dependable and responsible, but he also is an orphan who has always fought against a lot of prejudice

So he often relies on his grandma for advice, she's the closes thing he has to a parent

He's the dad that really pushes his kid to learn as many things as they can, anything that can become a life skill will eventually come in handy

He helps his kid build up their independence, while they help him become more open and honest

Ruggie is very open with his child about his upbringing from the moment he feels like they are ready to hear it, and he makes them understand that his position in the Sunset Savannah is nowhere near the top as a hyena beastman

But he promises them that they are not any less worth being someone deserving of living comfortably just because of some societal garbage

Ruggie doesn't really have a gender preference, but would prefer 1 child, so the financial burden wouldn't be too heavy

『••✎••』

#twisted wonderland #twst #leona kingscholar #jack howl #ruggie bucchi

[frogchiro]

Ok quick question tho like I’m generally trying understand because I just saw that whole argument on your page

How is engaging in a sexual relationship with something you portray as a animal not a type of zoephilla or however u say it I just don’t get it. Like I get it’s a human walking around as a cow but you’re still making that person act and behave as a cow so it’s coming off as a naughty cow that needs to be punished right?. Because if that was the case why can’t it just be getting punished without the animal part? Like what would being an animal add to it?

I’m really trying to get this like not trying to start shit because I’ve never heard about this before 👍🤗

And you're a completely blank blog who comes into a 18+ space. Yummers. To be perfectly clear, I'm only entertaining you because I really have enough of this argument and this is the last thing I'm posting about this and then I'm closing it.

I have no idea where the idea that when writing/reading about hybrid characters is about fucking actual animal came from and I frankly don't want to know but here's the thing: they are literally humans with some animal traits. The traits being ears, tails, sometimes a bit of extra fur or horns and that's it. Hybrids are written to be perfectly able to speak, think, do things for themselves, just are regular humans with some unusual traits. The farm/forest/whatever setting people are writing for are just that- settings for a specific au or scene that the authors create but again, the hybrid characters are perfectly capable of voicing and giving/revoking consent, sane adults and it's always explicitly stated. If you read a hybrid character as an actual animal then it's you whos the problem bc why the hell would you even do that. Like. Why.

Put on a headband with cat ears and tell me what happened. Did you turn into a cat? Did you turn into an animal or do you feel like one? Ofc you don't and the same thing is with hybrids. They're humans with fucking ears and tails but the only difference is that they can move them.

If you really wanna be nitpicky then why not bash a/b/o too since the characters have ruts/go through heats/behave in a generally much more animalistic way? Why don't we go further and throw out the mermaid trope too that's been with humanity since the dawn of time? Succubus trope? Yeah fuck that too.

I'm seeing a ton of negativity and toxicity in the cod fandom lately with some random people bashing and shittalking authors who guess what, creating content for free. No ones paying us to write, we do it bc we like to do it out of our free will. It takes time and effort to put out even a blurb and shit like this is just discouraging me and other content creators which results in them stopping writing or leaving the fandom alltogether and honestly? I don't blame them at all and I thought more than once to do the same.

But back on track. My advice? Don't get into anime, like, ever. Because then you will be in for a ride when a uwu catgirl pops up pal.

#kin speaks #asks #interactions #does this soud agressive and mean? yes #do i care? not anymore #because i'm sick and tired of this argument #not even directed towards this specific person #but if you put the same effort into doing something actually good istead of hating #then the world would be a much better place #not everything you encpuner will be made towards your specific tastes #not everything is made for your liking specifically unless you custom order it #if this is not for you? then its perfectly okay and nothing wrong with it #but stop shitting on others for making something YOU dislike #bc ultimately no one really cares and it's not in anyones interest but yours

[vigilskeep]

HARKER!!! How do you create and develop your OCs!!!! Your brain is so big!!!!

Whenever I make characters, I have a hard time getting past the surface level and really understanding what makes them tick. WHATS YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS? I am full of admiration.

honoured u think so!!! um Advices

when it comes to viddy game characters. make ur oc a product of the world and centred on the game’s main themes/conflicts. for example, dao has main themes like duty, vengeance, and sacrifice, so those are all good choices for what your character is About. bg3 so far seems to be about agency, bodily autonomy, power, and what it costs to achieve those things, so you want your character to be in dialogue with that. get that done, and congrats: everything in the game is now about your character and their journey personally! all quests & side quests will echo you and your character will have unique perspective on them

don’t be afraid to make the ‘wrong’ choices, or, more specifically, don’t rush into choosing the ‘right’ one. instead of thinking about the objectively best way to resolve a situation from your uninvolved position as the player, let your reactions be personal. your character isn’t always going to say and do the unbiased neutral best thing and that’s good!!

first of all try to think about your character’s frame of reference for it. everyone has a sort of reference library of experiences which they can use to interpret new circumstances. games are your friend and will usually try to help you with this; for example da2, a game in which your characters always has siblings, has a lot of sibling-focused quests that your character will have a unique take on. but it can be much simpler; what does your player character notice about an npc? do they have something in common? is your character physically stronger and bigger or smaller and weaker? what does your character assume about people who talk a certain way? how does any of that make them react to them? etc. etc. keep track in your head of how the location and enemy types make them feel too. my poor hawke had an ongoing anxiety meter to represent his dislike of real danger to his allies especially from darkspawn, and the more overloaded that was, the more rash and aggressively i would let him react. that was a fun way combat could affect other gameplay; for instance i fully killed some npcs that i could’ve let go, specifically because they’d knocked out one of my people in a fight

when getting into backstory try to sort of reverse engineer why they act the way they act? people tend to behave in certain ways because those are the methods that have gotten them through their life. what are the strategies that have helped them survive? being aggressive? being charming? following orders? staying on the sidelines? lying? and then you can sort of create the environment that encouraged them to be that way. (this doesn’t always mean complying with what the environment valued/expected/wanted of them; often defiance is what people needed to do to get through it with their soul intact.) that’s good for getting a little under their skin to see what makes them tick as u say

uhhh what else. try to be aware of their physicality and the way they look and move and how that affects others’ perception of them. how tactile are they and how much do they gesture? basically think about what comes across when you look at a companion talking and figure out what they get when they look at you. for example, i have a very tactile hawke and i typically imagine a lot more of that casual physical contact when i’m doing companion conversations, and a lot more imposing physical aggression when he’s talking to people he doesn’t like. obviously this requires you doing a bit of imaginative work on top of the game visuals but i believe in you. it just makes them come alive a bit

that’s my kind of... standardised method... more generic advice: people don’t have good or bad traits they have traits which are good or bad in extremes and sticking to a trait whether the consequences are good or bad is often fun; don’t be afraid to be bitchy or aggressive when the occasion calls for it, you often get a lot more life out of this and if you can love a companion for it they can still love you; try maintaining “in character” priorities during combat or when just walking around and figuring out what they’re noticing; sometimes making a big decision that seems “out of character” is actually character-defining because you discover what makes them break from their usual nature

i hope that helps?? that’s how i do things anyway :)

#this is a long but you all know me and what to expect

[torialefay]

Hello there! Haven’t seen you around for quite a bit now, is everything okay?🥺

I wanted to request a reading on Chan and if he’s really the way he shows himself to us, if he’s all sweet and caring or could maybe hide some mean parts that would come out in a relationship (like him being an asshole).

I’ve had pretty bad experiences with libra men, they all act sweet and caring the firsts days, basically love bombing you, and then they just show their true asshole nature… soo idk im kinda scared he’s like that too hahah

hi baby!!! everything is okay, tysm for asking 🥺 i'm on clinical rotations right now, which is basically where you train to be a different type of doctor each month. it's been a lottttt this past month, so i haven't been able to write or be on here as much :( but hopefully i'll be able to do more in this next month!

first, i'm so sorry you've had a bad experience with libra men! i just got out of a long-term relationship with a libra man, so i understand what you mean. one thing i WILL say is that as far as acting like an asshole, i don't know that that's a libra quality more than it is something else in their chart. a lot of my best friends are also libra suns and i think the love-bombing aspect of that can be very true for all of them. livras just need that reassurance that you like them and they know how to make you feel special. as far as being an asshole though, i think that we'd have to search deeper into the chart for that.

for chris:

one thing i want to say about libra suns right off the bat is that obviously they like to appease everybody. that's why a lot of people find them likeable. libra suns understand what you want them to act like, and that's exactly what they do. so what does this mean for chan? i think he 100% knows that we like it when he is our "sweet, shy, humble father of 7 kids", but he also knows we like it when he's got major daddy vibes. and he knows WHEN to bring them out... now that side of him is what he shows to US, but it could be vastly different from what he shows others. you've probably seen that when he's around other guys, he takes on a more masculine, playful character than what he normally shows us. i think behind closed doors when he's just with his members or friends, he's def more of a "guy's guy" than what he lets on. i think he probably cuts up a lot, makes crude jokes, says stupid boy shit, etc. but it's not that he's trying to be deceitful in not showing us this... i just think that he knows when it comes to stays, he needs to behave a certain way. i think when it comes to GIRLS in general, he knows he needs to behave a certain way. i don't think any of it is insincere at all, and i think he def still has those traits that come out when he's hanging with the boys, BUT in everday life, i see him as more "dude-ish" than he probably shows us. any man that's out here wear shorts in the fucking cold is a dude's dude, let's be honest.

so, whether he's an asshole or not i think depends on 1) his other chart placements, and 2) what your own chart placements are. for example, i know some people got upset ab what he posted on bubble a week or so ago. to ME, i thought it was just all jokes and him messing around (like dudes do) and thought it was annoying but funny tbh. like i don't have time for your shit today christopher 🙄 BUT obviously some people did not like it and really took it to heart.... so in that regard, it's like "okay, is he an asshole, or do i just perceive him as an asshole bc we don't have the same sense of 'joking around'?" i think that's a big factor in it. but let's look at his chart and see OBJECTIVELY do i think he'd switch it up and be an asshole after a certain amount of time.

as far as communication goes, NO, i do not think he would intentionally be an asshole on a regular basis. his personality AND his communication style both sit in libra in the 5th house. i think this shows he's really funny and creative, flirty, and likes to mess around and get people riled up. random note, but 5th house also is heavily involved in children, so i think he'd talk ab having kids or raising a family together a LOT. but on the regular, i think he'd actually be a good communicator in relationships and try his best to make them fun.

something i find interesting ab channie is that both his moon in libra and his venus in scorp lie in the 6th house. 6th house governs work, service, and health. i feel like this makes TOTAL sense for him. his moon rooted in libra here means that in relationships, he probably has to feel very giving and feel that he needs his partner to integrate into his work life in order to feel balanced. i have sooooo much more to say on this, which i will do later. his venus in scorp here also tells me that he pours a lot of love and beauty into what he does in work, and that he is vvvvv passionate ab it. i think with this combo, it could actually come up that he is "married to work" in a way. he could REALLY struggle finding balance between relationships and work. and let me emphasize why:

his mars is in sagittarius on the 6th/7th house cusp. stick with me here. mars represents action and aggression, while sagittarius is a fiery and independent sign. i talked previously about how 6th house represents work and service, but 7th house is the ruler of partnerships and marriage. so put all of this together and what we are seeing is someone who REALLY struggles in balancing work and relationships, and this is happening in the placements that rule aggression and independence. can def be a scary combo tbh.

so how do i see this playing out? overall, i think chan is lovely in relationships. basically will be whoever you need him to be and actually is very loving. he has that 6th house placement, so although work is extremely important to him, so is service, which INCLUDES taking care of you. HOWEVER, he has a very difficult time balancing these two things. i think when things are going poorly at work, he will bring that home and into your relationship. when things aren't great in your relationship, he will really struggle at work.... so as much as i hate to say it, i do think if he's having a difficult time at work, he could accidentally take it out on you. even if he doesn't mean to... either 2 things would initially happen: (1) he gets really upset and bottles it all in and/or gets flighty all of a sudden and acts like he doesn't know what he wants, (2) he explodes on you for no reason... like when he feels like his life is off-balance, he can genuinely get that worked up. don't get me wrong, he would regret it later and do everything to try and make up for it, but i see him having that problem for the time being.

so i think it's up to everyone individually how they're able to handle those traits in a relationship. i see people say something like "when chan gets stressed at work, all he wants to do is come home and lay in your arms", but i genuinely disagree. he may END UP wanting that by the end of the night, but when he's upset, he needs to be alone for a bit. so i think that's up to you if you think that makes him an asshole or not? i think it depends on compatibility and how you also react 100%

#bangchan #skz astrology

[allbuthuman]

Why I think Chuuya's dislike of Dazai is deeper than vice versa

The reason is, to put it simply, that Chuuya has more reasons to be appalled by someone like Dazai.

I'm mostly referring to their mafia years, because that's when we've seen them interact the most, and because neither of them has been open enough to talk it out and let their interactions mature much beyond how they acted when they were teens.

Struggling with their humanity is a central part of their dynamic, exactly because their experiences are comparable by contrasting one another. Chuuya doesn't know if he's biologically human, yet has the emotions of a human being and clings onto his humanity; Dazai is, for all we know at least, and for all Chuuya knows, biologically human, yet either hides or derogates his human qualities. In that sense, Dazai is what Chuuya never wants to become. He's desperate to know that he is a human being, and desperate to stay one, and here he meets someone who almost makes a point out of discarding his humanity. (This is at least partly a defense mechanism on Dazai's part, since he's being taught that he can't afford being anything other than completely rational, but that's for another post.)

Of course he's going to be disgusted by him. He thinks that he has what he wants and yet disregards it, and, at the same time, that he is what he fears he might become. He was a traumatised teenager – he didn't have the capacity to try to understand why Dazai felt and behaved that way; not when he posed a threat to his sense of self.

Dazai, on the other hand, is, of course, annoyed by Chuuya, but doesn't have such a deep-seated reason to actually, seriously be appalled by him. He is annoyed by the too-human ways he behaves, which he sees as immature, and to which he can't relate to, but those are more of a nuisance rather than something that genuinely threatens his self-perception.

If anything, meeting Chuuya has sort of an opposite effect on Dazai. He goes through life unable to be surprised by anything, and then he meets Chuuya, who not only surprises him, but manages to impress him. (cue Dazai watching Chuuya fight with the closest his clinically depressed ass can get to heart eyes)

When you're that far gone into numbness, unable to afford sadness or anger, surprise might often be what will do the trick and bring you a step back. We see this happening even more clearly when Dazai meets Oda. Chuuya, in a sense, having managed to catch his attention even via mere annoyance, has a "grounding" effect on Dazai by indirectly teaching him what is and isn't a "human" way to behave. He doesn't do that because he cares about teaching him something, he does it because he's pissed off, but his admonitions are antithetical, for example, to Mori's approach, that seems to be doing the exact opposite. In contrast to an environment that encourages cold-blooded rationality, Chuuya's "actually, that's fucked up" reminders must have some effect, albeit small.

Both Fifteen and Dead Apple can be used as examples. In Fifteen, Chuuya scolds him for shooting a corpse, because that's an inhumane thing to do. In Dead Apple, he punches him for joking about someone's death, making a point of telling him that "nobody would believe he's human". That was cruel, and I bet it did hurt Dazai even a little bit, but the point got across. In Stormbringer, Dazai says that he couldn't possibly despise someone who isn't human that much. He becomes more aware of his own "inhuman" traits, through comparison with someone who is human enough to contrast them.

Yes, Dazai's human qualities would be a threat to him when he's being manipulated by Mori, and even more so if we assume that he came to be that way because of some trauma in his past, but his defense against that is numbing himself even more. Being so detached, it's debatable if he's even in a position to be seriously enraged by another person, including Chuuya.

Now, in my opinion, that doesn't make their dynamic weaker. Plus, it's possible that the "gap" grew smaller as time passed and Chuuya became more confident in his own nature. I just think that the reasons they have for not liking each other, as well as for putting their trust in one another, are different for each of them, which only makes their interactions more nuanced.

#i'm surprised i haven't seen anyone saying this so here i go #it's obviously my opinion and i might be wrong that's just how i see them #bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd analysis #dazai osamu #osamu dazai #nakahara chuuya #chuuya nakahara #soukoku #skk

[perfecteggpartyland]

if u want answers to ur points ig ill give it a shot:

"Neil is biased." - Yeah, but it's not really a point. You can acknowledge this, and still agree with Neil.

"What about Jean?" - Again, doesn't really matter. Whether Jean is seen as a coward or not has no bearing on whether Kevin is seen as one or not. They don't even really behave all that similarly either, Jean is closer to Neil in behaviours in many ways.

"Kevin's character grows and changes." - I'd agree. Whether people view Kevin as starting the first steps in changing or having completely changed is a readers perspective however. Personality traits don't just dissappear, Kevin may still act 'cowardly' post canon. In the same way, Neil is often post-canon treated as having urges to run or to behave in dangerous ways (taking care of his own serious injuries DIY style, keeping a packed bag to help with anxiety about having to run, etc). Readers often like to explore key character traits even after the text itself has suggested they might have overcome them, or began to at least. And I don't really see an issue with this treatment of either Kevin or Neil, it's just something fans tend to enjoy doing, to explore the characters further.

"Neil's bravery had negative consequences." - You've said this one a lot, and I don't really get your point. Whether the actions are brave or not aren't based on the consequences. At the very least, that's not a universal perspective, so I'm not sure what you were going for.

"The other Foxes flaws don't get used like this." - I'd disagree. I pointed out the Neil thing, but it gets done to Andrew, Nicky, Aaron, etc. Fan work always tends to do this. Aaron's homophobia is exaggerated, Andrew's violence and controlling tendencies are, Nickys lack of boundaries are, and so on.

"Neil had nothing to lose." - Again, don't really see how this matters. Regardless, Neil was still afraid and had to push through that. And he did have his life to lose. And by the third book, the Foxes too. The thought of losing these two things upset and scared him, its shown explicitly in the text. I think people often make it out like Neil didn't care that he'd die, but it's not true. Its shown in the books to not be true.

"Neil doesnt know the power the Moriyamas have." - Just flat not true. Neil finds out the Moriyamas are part of the Japanese mafia in the first handful of pages of the first book. Long before he's had to meet any Moriyamas personally. So, by the time he does, he knows. And he obviously knows how serious the mafia is, he's the son of two mafia crime families.

I think that's everything?

First of all thanks for discussion; I mean in everything regarding Kevin 99% is all Kevin is a coward and he always stays that way; I'm all about exploring characters traits ; also I think I'm referring to Kevin/jean as both of them grow up in same circumstances and I'm wondering what makes Kevin a coward and if jean is by the same logic; also while Neil does find out that moriyamas are mafia he still doesnt realize what they can do if that makes sense ? Like jean/Kevin know riko but Neil even after roasting him on live tv and riko goes after Seth; he still does antagonize him and it still ends up destroying property of the foxes; like I think someone already said this in my anons that Kevin's beheviour can be both cowardly and understandable since both Neil and Kevin are just trying to survive; Neil's behaviour can be both brave and reckless/impulsive; since even after knowing what confronting riko does in the end and that it always affects People around him he still does it and can't keep his temper in check ; so it ends up hurting another lot ;, I think he didn't grasp and didn't care what riko would do to other People; unlike Kevin/jean who knows how riko is 🤷so I think that's a huge part as in why Neil is more likely to talk but to riko

#aftg #all for the game #andreil #neil josten #the foxhole court #psu foxes #palmetto state foxes #nora sakavic #kevin day #nathaniel wesninski #jean moreau #the ravens #riko moriyama

[narrativelysignificantturtleduck]

not the same anon but i also hc sokka as autistic (specifically audhd), bc there was always certain ways he behaved that i found i related to a lot. a lot of them are just reasons you mentioned: he can be very blunt, and one thing about sokka is that he is a tendency to put his foot in his mouth sometimes, just saying things as they are without realising it might be insensitive or that it might not be the best thing to say. and i know that him overlooking certain important details, such as toph being blind at times, can be attributed to adhd but i think that forgetfulness in regards to other people is something that can be attributed to autism, in that he doesn't really think about the fact she's blind despite obviously knowing. on the contrast though, whilst at times he seems unaware, i think sokka can be very hyperaware of very small things that hes insecure of that other people don't really notice, or that other people have pointed out that he might not have thought much about before which is also smt ik some ppl with autism struggle with. and even though he is a social person, like i mentioned before that at times he seems slightly unaware of certain things, but a lot of his social behaviours can be read as masking, like his insistence he is the "meat, sarcasm and planning" guy, trying to pin his personality on these key things, and whilst his attempts to be like hakoda are Daddy Issues it can also be read as the fact he knows his dad is a well respected, well liked man, and that by mimicking his behaviour he will be perceived as more socially acceptable.

the most obvious thing is the scheduling, we know he loves his plans and he's the self proclaimed "plan guy" but he gets quite grumpy when people don't abide by them and happy when people do. sokka is a very routine person, when we first see the swt he gets frustrated when the kids don't want to train, another thing that could be read as them throwing off his schedule. there's also the thing with the fortune teller- sokka is very insistent on his science, something he's very passionate about, and gets really easily frustrated when people won't listen to him when he's trying to explain something, and can't understand why people would believe that instead of what he believes, which also kind of leans into the whole social unawareness thing. nowadays i write him more as having audhd just because i think it fits more- a lot of autism traits and adhd do overlap, and it's very common for ppl with autism to have a lot of adhd traits, vice versa. that's all i can personally think of tho, but yeah all nd hcs are neat. need more in the world

you're so right actually. i've been fully convinced. i think because i'm audhd it's hard to separate out whether it's the adhd or autism that makes me relate to a character. it could be both! also i think that the way sokka is widely perceived as dumb and silly when he's actually very intelligent is very similar to adhd stereotypes and less similar to autism stereotypes, so it was easy for me to just kinda pick that one.

his insistence he is the "meat, sarcasm and planning" guy, trying to pin his personality on these key things

i have a whole post in my drafts about how his various different "[x] guy" titles throughout the show are evidence of adhd because you feel like you can't focus on one thing and you feel like a fuck-up (bc you may forget things/be disorganized) and you're desperately trying to find the one thing that will make up for you being an unfocused fuck-up. but it actually makes so much sense as autism too, as a social script that makes it easier to define himself to other people. also defining yourself by your interests and only wanting to interact with people through them is very autistic. i think it's a question on the raads-r. also it's why i'm on tumblr.

anyways, the fun thing is that both can be true simultaneously. it's a product of insecurities about adhd and also an autistic social script.

and whilst his attempts to be like hakoda are Daddy Issues it can also be read as the fact he knows his dad is a well respected, well liked man, and that by mimicking his behaviour he will be perceived as more socially acceptable.

i think this might've also been why i initially read him as only adhd. i fell for his mask! what we know of hakoda reads as only adhd, so i made the mistake of assuming that was it. and i'm a huge proponent of "hakoda and sokka are actually different people"! shame on me.

like, generally the way he's trying to play this warrior role that doesn't fit him because he thinks that's what he's supposed to be can be read as autistic masking. he imitates how he thinks strong men are and it comes off as comical and fake bc attempting to mask sometimes means the fact that it's a mask is really obvious.

yeah i'm into this. audhd sokka!!!!!

#ask #sockfus #nina's personal log #sokka #nd atla tag

[13eyond13]

Hi...Can I ask your top 3 favorite characters from Nana? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Thanks if you want to answer....

Hi hi!! I would LOVE to try to talk about this series for a bit, but PLEASE keep in mind I'm still only just finished volume 7 / chapter 24 (I am currently waiting in line to read volume 8 at my library! But I might get impatient and just try to find the chapters online too)... MY TOP 3 FAVE NANA CHARACTERS (SO FAR) 1. NANA KOMATSU / NANA 1 / "HACHI": OMG I love Nana 1 to death hahahaha. She literally makes me lol every single volume with her thoughts and decisions and interactions with everyone else, and it's just the most fun in the series to be inside her brain and following along with her relationships and emotional roller-coasters and little life lessons and anxieties and pains and hopes and dreams. She's an awesome character to me for being flawed and complex and selfish and immature yet still very likable and oddly tough and brave and sweet as pie at the same time. I think seeing the growth she's having as a person over the series is definitely the main draw for me, and watching her try to figure out her feelings for everybody and her place in the world and how to become the type of person that contains all the personality traits she's always admiring around her - and how to fill that void she feels of never completely erasing the loneliness inside or being perfectly synced up with the people she's trying to form a deeper connection with.

2. NANA OSAKI / NANA 2:

She's mysterious, she's proud, she's tough, she's badass, she's funny and sensible and kind! I love the more grown-up and emotionally reserved vibe she has in comparison to Nana 1, which totally makes sense considering her harder childhood and how self-reliant she always had to be. Her casual warmth with Hachi is endearing and her less obviously expressive and highly independent yet still emotionally intense personality is very relatable to me. It's the most fun to see Hachi reacting to Nana 2 to me I think, because Nana 2 is more closed off and a bit more afraid of exploring her feelings unabashedly than Nana 1. But she's by far my other fave in the series, and of course the heart of the whole thing is the very ambiguously devoted relationship between the 2 Nanas for me!

3. ???? I don't think I have a third main fave character in the story yet??

At the beginning of the manga I quite liked Shoji and Junko, but as the series is progressing it seems like they both got written out of the plot almost entirely. I liked Junko for always keeping it real with Nana and caring about her in a tough love sort of way, though she did for sure just seem a bit like the "voice of reason" character for the more ridiculous Nana to bounce off of whenever she was in a bind... I liked Shoji because he seems like a regular kid instead of some idealistic fictional love interest hunk - his reactions to Nana K. were pretty relatable to me, and their romantic interactions were cute and made me laugh and also cringe with sympathy at times (like when it was so awkward when Nana first moved to Tokyo too and they were still trying to readjust to being around each other more - I remember similar things happening to me whenever I had been long-distance in a relationship for a summer and and then suddenly near my partner again at some time). Even in the part where he starts developing feelings for Sachiko and sneakily cheating on Nana, I always felt he behaved pretty understandably and wasn't a horrible person so much as just a conflicted and young and immature one who wasn't in the right relationship when he was with Nana, maybe (though admittedly I wasn't that upset that he wasn't being featured in the story more after that, because that would probably get on my nerves). Currently I have just finished volume 7, and right now I am finding I don't feel a super strong connection to any of the other characters too much other than Nana 1 and Nana 2? The other guys in Blast are just okay to me, I don't have SUPER strong feelings about Nana getting together with Nobu (in fact I find him a little bit annoying at times - I agree with Shin that he "has some unrealistic ideas about women" and idealizes Nana too much - Yasu is chill and nice and wise, but a bit TOO chill and reserved to be super interesting to me). The members of Trapnest are also just okay to me? Ren bores me a little bit (maybe because I just would rather be reading about Nana 2 hanging out with Nana 1 than with him)... Reira is hard for me to form ANY opinions about other than eww, it's weird that she's sleeping with Shin, Takumi is a selfish yet possessive jerk and only thinking about himself, and I always forget the other one (Naoki?) even exists...

I WILL say that the little Nana 2 fangirl Misato is extremely cute and I'm always happy when she's on the page, hahaha. Her shameless devotion to Nana 2 and her politeness and extreme savviness about the music industry are just fun for me to read (as was Hachi's initial jealousy toward her, but I'm glad she managed to also eventually get over that)! --

MY TOP 5 FAVE NANA MOMENTS (SO FAR): Forgive me if these moments are completely arbitrary and sort of dumb picks, because I feel like I'm forgetting so much of the story from the previous volumes already, and I'm still only 1/3 of the way through the whole thing?? But here are ones that stood out to me whenever I was racking my brain: 5. Whenever Nana forces Shoji to let her sleep in his hotel room, then awkwardly sings him to sleep, and he's like: "YOU DON'T HAVE TO SING" hahaha...

my reaction to that was basically Junko's reaction:

4. Whenever Nana 2 starts getting jealous and confused about Hachi hooking up with Takumi I was like OHOHOH, HOW THE TURNS TABLE.... I think it's REALLY hard for Nana 2 to admit stuff like feeling vulnerable or jealous or possessive over Nana 1 at this point, and seeing her realize "heeyyyy maybe I want her attention and devotion a little more than I thought and was taking it for granted a bit"... that was a very feelsy little part! 3. Whenever Hachi is getting jealous about Nana 2's cute little fangirl and having super mean petty thoughts about her hahahah omg the most relatable thing of life! 2. When Nana 2 goes to Nobu after he first starts dating Hachi and is like: "I'M USING YOU TO KEEP NANA 1 IN MY LIFE FOREVER, SO DON'T MESS THIS UP!" OMG?? Fellas is it gay to keep your girl roomie nearby by throwing guys at her that are entrenched in your social circle and also more socially acceptable for her to date? When I say my heart skipped a beat at that moment!! And it just happened in the manga super recently, so who knows where things are going to go from here?

1. When Hachi is having so many gay thoughts about Nana 2 that she's like "AHHH THIS IS TOO GAY I NEED TO GET ANOTHER BOYFRIEND!!!!" Boy did I laugh out loud at the cognitive dissonance (and find it super relatable to younger me and my own panicking about maybe not being entirely straight thoughts? of course)...

#nana #nana spoilers #ask #anon #p #13readsmanga #thank you for asking!

[all-or-nothing-baby]

i've said similar before (as have countless others on here before me) but i'm taking a moment to say this again:

IT'S OKAY TO LIKE MEAN/BAD/HORRIBLE AND EVEN JUST DOWNRIGHT PURE EVIL CHARACTERS

and i think it's wildly stating the obvious to say the following but apparently there are still some folks who need to hear it:

CHARACTERS AND THE STORIES THAT THEY'RE FROM ARE NOT REAL; THEY ARE ALL MADE UP BECAUSE STORIES ARE MAKE-BELIEVE AND CRAFTED FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT

irl, i seriously dislike mean people. i despise bullies. i can't think of anything worse than a person who does 'evil' deeds to others and enjoys it. granted, i can at times end up feeling sorry for some of these arseholes bc a lot of the time there are genuine reasons for their poor behaviour; sadness/trauma/mental illness/etc. but that isn't me dismissing that behaviour, i'm just trying to have some understanding and empathy for their suffering because it's clear that it's effecting their humanity, y'know? it's often a sad reality, but does not mean i would excuse a person treating others badly.

STORIES ARE NOT REALITY

the characters from the books/tv show/movie/play/podcast etc that you like are not real. they are dreamt up to help us learn lessons from a young age, to make us laugh at their stupidity, to help us see that those who have found themselves on a dark path are mostly there because something terrible happened to them. these characters are brought to life for us in sometimes terrible forms—those truly dreadful villains—to help us work vicariously through emotions we all suffer with from time to time, the irrational feelings we can have of revenge or world domination lol. there is anger that we, as a race, all have to deal with, intrusive thoughts that we all sometimes struggle with. when we feel ourselves wanting the badguys in the movies to win, it can help us to manage these kinds of real life feelings we suffer, and it might mean we can learn how to deal better.

it's like wanting to punch someone. i would personally never actually want to do that—but occasionally as humans we might feel like we want to.

DOING THINGS LIKE USING A PUNCHBAG OR AGGRESSIVELY CHOPPING WOOD CAN BE THE SAME KIND OF REPLACEMENT ACTIVITY AS ENJOYING A MORALLY BAD CHARACTER. IT IS TAKING A FEELING AND RELEASING IT SAFELY WITHOUT DOING ANYBODY ANY ACTUAL HARM

also, none of us are perfect creatures! none of us. liking a bad or morally grey character can sometimes be because you might see some of their toxic traits in yourself, and feel better about the fact that even though you have faults, at least you're not as bad as they are. or maybe you know somebody like the character, someone who—even though their actions are wrong and you don't agree with them—has had a terrible life and you have some understanding of why they behave in the way they do. maybe the character helps you understand that person more and have more empathy for them and others like them?

AND SOMETIMES BAD GUYS ARE JUST GOOD FUN

baddies get to do the things we sometimes wish we could! who doesn't occasionally wish they could do a michael douglas d-fens in falling down?! or have the whole world kneel at their feet as loki does?! or be so be clever and cunning you can get away with any criminal plan you damn well choose like james moriarty?!

even the 'pure evil' characters in media are written so that we love to hate them, otherwise we wouldn't care about what happens to them, and caring about the story and it's characters is the whole point. and even if you just wholeheartedly love them—like you completely adore those vile bastards, regardless of all their evil deeds—that's okay! they're not real. just because you enjoy a character like hannibal lecter doesn't necessarily mean you want to murder and eat people, you just like a character who does terrible things because they have been written to be liked.

IT IS ENTIRELY NORMAL TO BE ENVIOUS OF AND/OR SIMPLY ENJOY A VILLAIN, BECAUSE THERE ARE SHADOWS AND REFLECTIONS OF OURSELVES, ALL OF US, HOWEVER BIG OR SMALL, IN EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM

so, the paramount thing to remember is:

VILLAINS AND BADDIES AND MEANIES IN MEDIA ARE! NOT! REAL! THEY ARE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS AND IT IS ABSOLUTELY FINE TO ENJOY THEM BECAUSE THAT IS THE VERY THING THEY WERE CREATED FOR

anyway, thank you for coming to my ted — *gets shot by the bad guy*

#purity culture #fuck off! #characters #morally grey characters #bad guys #I LOVE 'EM #*sing-song voice* because they're not reeeaaaal #lol #blorbos #toxic characters #hannibal lecter #james moriarty #d-fens #loki #i hope i'm making sense #the brain fog is strong today #but i really just had to get this out #(again) #fandom #bullshit #etc #mention of shooting

[cupcakes-and-pain]

Rat: CYOA Part 2

“Um. What if we leave him tied up and then watch him?” Your voice comes out a lot less confident than you would like.

Lots of people snicker at your eyes, and Virginia gives you an amused look.

“Hey, hey, leave them alone,” she says, slinging her arm around your shoulder more harshly than necessary. “Our dear friend here is new! They’re still getting used to things around here. In fact, I think that’s a wonderful idea. Let’s start off the night just admiring how far my Rat has come.”

She motions for people to move and leads you away, telling you about the early days of captivity for the cruelly named Rat.

“- and after that, keeping Rat had been all smooth sailing! It has been so well-behaved lately, I haven’t gotten the chance to really punish it in a while. Of course, hurting it for fun is nice, but there’s something special about making something pay when it’s wronged you.” She suddenly whips you around and looks at you with predatory amusement.

“Have you ever felt that way, my friend? Have you had the chance to enjoy making your enemies pay? I mean really enjoy it. Bask in it, even.”

Before you can answer, another voice interrupts you.

“Ma’am, can I take a picture of the guest for record keeping? Everyone else is already on the books, but…” Jai trails off, gesturing aimlessly and staring at Virginia.

Virginia rolls her eyes but releases you. “I’ll find you later and we can keep talking. I can’t wait to hear your opinion on this matter.”

You and Jai watch as she walks off, already stalking her next prey in a group of exhausted-looking workers.

“So,” you say, trying to not worry about your upcoming conversation, “You need my picture?”

“Yeah. It’s so we know who was here. Just in case something happens and we, uh, need to find you.”

You nod, understanding. Based on Virginia’s story, you wonder if Rat ever had his picture taken. There’s probably an image of him, undamaged and whole, somewhere in Virginia’s records. Maybe she looks at it from time to time, marveling at her work. You shudder at the thought.

Jai stares. They seem very good at that.

“So… are you going to take the picture, or…”

“Oh. Yeah. Hold still,” they mutter and snap the picture. “What’s your name, so I can write it down?”

You give it and watch as Jai enters the information into a tablet.

“Mmm. And can I put down how you know Ms. Diaz-Hills? Or why you came to the party?”

Note: This decision will have an effect on the story going forward like what your character is like and what kind of opportunities will be offered to them. Choosing the “zero clue” option is neutral, basically, and no one’s opinion of you, personality traits, or events that will go down will be swayed in any direction

Tag list: @kim-poce @scp-1296 @whumpsday

#whump #rat the captive #tw chains #tw restraints #poll #cyoa #cyoa poll

[controversial-blorbo-bracket]

You have received propaganda for the previous Micchy (Kamen Rider), have some for the second Micchy (Yo-Kai Watch).

He is the problem kid who doesn't know how to control himself and behave around others because he only had his angry and unstable brother around in his childhood, and no one else.

He is the cringe clingy ND kid who will talk your ears off, embarrass you without meaning to and genuinely struggle with figuring out what he did wrong once you finally confront him.

He is the horrible mix of a free-range kid and sheltered kid whose understanding of human culture, contact and social norms come from superhero media aimed at kids and teenagers, which he tends to emulate without really understanding.

He is the kid in the friend group who will let his other friends walk over him because they are tolerating him and giving him attention, and he will fight tooth and nail for any bit of acknowledgement, even if he knows he is bad at most things and will only be a nuisance.

He is a non-human who is trying desperately to fit on a human mask, but his otherness keeps shining through the cracks.

He loves his friends passionately and fiercely, and people in the fandom tend to misconstruct this love as something possessive and creepy, when he never means anything bad and has never tried to possess or limit the people he loves in any way, much less forced anything on them. He is bad with clues, but when talked to openly, he listens and he backs off. He is learning, but he needs time, and he doesn't have much of it left. He is going to live a much longer life than any of his human friends, including his most treasured one. He is deathly scared of losing them before that time comes.

He is so scared of losing them, he would rather destroy his own body than see them hurt.

He is protective in a way that is almost smothering, because that's how he is wired, but he is doing his best to change and allow himself to be protected, which is hard. But he is trying none the less.

He is also a cringe failureman who makes the viewer shiver with second-hand embarrassment every time he is on screen, and probably reminds people of that weird anime-obsessed middle schooler many of us knew, who latched onto the quiet girl in class because she was too nice to shoo him away and wrote her weird love poems, and also had no inside voice and wore capes to class.

He also happened to have created a humanoid form for himself that looks cool to him an no one else ever, and makes him look that much older than he acts, only adding to the awkward creep factor. I can perfectly see why he is heavily disliked among some subsets of the fandom.

I still cannot help but see a kid who is in desperate need of help, despite being in the best place currently he has ever been in his entire life, with people who are genuinely patient with him and not willing to break him or coddle him, who want to see him become a better, more well-adjusted person.

He is one of the more nuanced and complex joke characters I have seen, and I love him for it. I can see how people could have had horrible experiences with people who share his traits IRL, but in this particular story, this particular weirdo never did anything truly bad. He fucked up in a lot of small ways, and small ways add up, but humans are complex, and so are non-humans who are meant to be stand-ins for humans from a narrative standpoint but not quite, and there isn't really a non-complex character with easily fixable issues by the end of this entire 49 episode-long mess of an anime.

Micchy is a disaster, but he is my disaster, and he deserved so much better than just stay on the sidelines in the final arc, not even unlocking his awe-inspiring final form from the game that never came to the West.

This bitch is NOT Joe Jonas

#not a poll #ask #anonymous #propaganda #yo kai watch #yokai watch #micchy

[fictionalstoryteller]

How the Season 3 Antagonists from LMK Would Babysit Your Kid

Fandom: Lego Monkie Kid

Characters: Lady Bone Demon, Mystic Mayor, and Macaque

TW: unless you think scary skeleton shadow people need a trigger warning, there’s nothing but fluff here

(The list of characters this time is short, so sorry bout that! I also plan to do the celestial beings from the show next, but it’ll probably take a while so I appreciate everyone’s patience. Oh also! I’ve come to the horrific realization that these three characters don’t have a catchy group name! This must be fixed, stat! If anyone has any ideas or already knows of a group name for this trio, please let me know. Personally, I think they should be known as the ✨ Theater Kids ✨. Now that that’s out of the way please continue on reading)

Lady Bone Demon:

You’re really going to have to use your imagination for this one, because I have no clue why she’d help babysit anyone. Maybe it’s because she wants you to trust her so she can use you or something? Idk, just be creative! I believe in you 🤗

Even if LBD hated your kid she’d be determined to take care of them. If she needed to she’d just pull out her good ol’ acting skills and suffer through it silently. Especially if she’d benefit from this whole babysitting gig.

She would also be GREAT at guilt tripping people into behaving, no matter who she was talking to. All she needs is time to figure out their weakness…

Unless she’s babysitting at your house she’ll be taking your kiddo out on the town. After all, it’s not like she has a home of own to take them to (minus Spider Queen’s cave and her super secret robot hideout)

LBD probably wants to make a good impression because she needs allies, so she lets the kid take the lead for the most part. Want to eat? Well then let’s eat. Want to draw? I’ll find some crayons if you’d like. Don’t get me wrong, she isn’t a pushover. If she really needs to she’ll offer some wise words of wisdom or something to keep your kid in line. And if that doesn’t work then manipulation tactics here we come!

Despite being a villain she has noble intentions, which is why I think she’d like kids to some extent

Minus the evil plans and her controlling tendencies, she gives off a nurturing mom vibes. I’d understand if most kids latch onto that side of her

On the surface it seems like she’d do a great job, after all she wants what’s best for everyone and wouldn’t let your kiddo get away with anything they want. She’d be firm, yet kind! But if we start looking closely at her less than positive traits, you can see why she shouldn’t be around kids… she’s manipulative and controlling, which could be seen as being potential trauma inducing behaviors. I doubt she’d use these skills of hers if it wasn’t necessary, and that if she used them only once it wouldn’t leave a lasting impact on the kid, but it’s a risk I personally wouldn’t take. 6.8/10! (Also if your kid becomes a favorite of hers she’ll be sure to eliminate them first to spare them from the worlds cruelty. What a sweetheart?)

Mystic Mayor:

Unlike LBD, I can understand why he’d pick up a babysitting job. In the start of the series he was trying to appear normal after all! (But failing miserably) He probably wouldn’t even realize that it’s odd for the MAYOR of the city to have enough free time to babysit kids. 

Mr. Mayor is chaos incarnate, but I can’t really see him hating kids! He’d probably get a kick out of them doing dumb or crazy stuff.

If you leave him specific guidelines to follow he’ll do everything you want him to do with a smile on his face. And if you don’t? Well he certainly isn’t stopping your kid from doing dangerous stuff because, like I said before, he’d get a kick out of it. He also would have a hard time understanding what kids aren’t allowed to do considering he’s barely grasped mortal customs.

Since the Mayor wouldn’t really know where to go, or even have a preference for that matter, he’d let your kid choose a place to hang.

Your kid will either love him for his sadistic personality, or they’ll be freaked out. Yeah he’s fun, but I can understand why some kids would be absolutely terrified of him. He gives off, “I’m smiling because I’m imagining killing everyone in this room” vibes. 

On the flip side, I can also see some kids interpreting his actions as silly. They might just see him as a super happy guy! Who jokes about murder…! And never frowns… yep just totally normal human behavior :D

I love the Mayor so friggin much that it hurts me to give him a 6.3/10. But he’s just too much of a wild card! He is constantly saying creepy things without even batting an eye, which is funny until you realize he’s being 100% serious. Also, if I left my kid with him I’d always be slightly worried he’d let them do something crazy without realizing that kids are very breakable. His smiley persona makes up for some of the negatives though. 😁💙

Macaque:

Macaque has the most trauma here, don’t lie to me. BUT despite this he’ll probably be the best person to babysit compared to everyone on this list.

He’d be flattered that you trust him with something as precious as your kids, but he’s also worried he’ll screw something up. Obviously he doesn’t admit this to your face, but you can kinda tell by how much he keeps double checking to see if you’re positive this is a good idea

I’d argue that Macaque has a good track record with kids. He was a good mentor to MK before he betrayed him, and he also prioritized Bai He’s safety once LBD left her body. I mean he didn’t really seem to care that LBD was possessing Bai He at the start of the season but it’s fiiiiiine! He was busy trying not to die after all!

He also used to put up with Wukong’s madness, so it’s safe to say he’d know how to deal with energetic kids

Macaque has a dojo and a cave to babysit at, and that’s not even counting the place where he was putting on shadow plays! Point is him and your kid will have plenty of places to hang out at, which is good because Macaque wouldn’t want to be out in public for very long

As fatherly caring as he is, I don’t think he’d really know what to do to entertain the kid. He’d probably think your kid wouldn’t be very interested in shadow plays or training. Because of this he’d let them guide the activities

If your kid does end up showing an interest in theater or fighting, he’s going to be THRILLED. He wouldn’t show it, but he’d be really excited. Macaque would take this as an opportunity to show off his shadow magic, scripts, and fighting tactics. And hey, if it’s a good day for it he might even teach them something cool! 

As long as you’re not an enemy of his your kid is in great hands. He might act like he doesn’t care but we all know he does, and as an added bonus he’s just fun to talk to! He does a lot of teasing, but I don’t think most kids would mind it all that much. And even if your kid isn’t interested in his hobbies, they’ll still have a good time with him. I’m sure they’d figure out something to do together.

Guys I think… I think I’m going to give him a perfect score?! I want to give him a 10/10 so badly but I just know someone’s going to remind me of something that will bump his score down… whatever, it’s my rating system! MACAQUE GETS. A 10/10! Congratulations Macaque, your the first character to get a perfect score!

#lmk headcanon #lego monkie kid #six eared macaque #lady bone demon #mystic mayor #mayor #babysitting #kids #reader insert #macaque lmk #mayor lmk #lmk lady bone demon

[rinshiroufan]

Why does Rin try to save Shinji at the end of UBW, but spends most of HF thinking she shouldn't try saving Sakura?

If you've been in the FSN fandom long enough you've probably heard at least one variation of this claim—"Rin only receives character development in HF." "Rin gets sidelined in UBW in favour of Archer." "Rin got robbed in UBW." If one truly pays attention to the story however, one can clearly see just how utterly ridiculous and nonsensical all of these claims are. In fact—to say so isn't merely to betray just how little one understands UBW Rin, but also how little one understands HF Rin too. Because without UBW, Rin is nothing—HF is in constant dialogue with UBW. This applies to Rin as much as it does Shirou. HF is consistently begging us to compare how Rin behaves therein to how she behaves in UBW, because the contrast reveals much about the core traits of the character. HF Rin is nothing if not viewed in the context of UBW. To understand what precisely I mean here, we have to ask a question:

Why does Rin try to save Shinji at the end of UBW, but spends most of HF thinking she shouldn't try saving Sakura?

The answer to this lies in one of the best scenes in the whole of Fate/stay night—the scene featuring Rin's half-assed yet nonetheless sweet and touching confession to Shirou in HF; her remembrance of his trying to jump over that pole that it was oh so obvious he could not.

Forget the final confrontation with Sakura—this is where the essence of Rin's character in HF lies. Because this scene is all about why Rin acts the way she does toward Sakura, about what separates her from Shirou—and ultimately, what separates her from herself in UBW:

"…But even he knew it was impossible. He knew nothing would change that, but he kept trying. It's as if he believed the effort was what mattered."

"To be honest, I can't do such a thing. I've always been like that. I determine whether or not something is possible. If I know it's impossible for me, I quickly give up. I don't try what I can't do, and I never regret it or think I'm powerless because of it. I'm cold like that. I'm a terrible person. Kirei called it machine-like instead of cruel."

But Tohsaka isn't belittling herself. She's proud of how she is. "But I do sometimes think how pure it'd be to just keep trying without a thought for whether it's possible."

[...]

"In short, I can't do it. I can't protect Sakura until the very end like you, and I don't intend to either."

"———Tohsaka."

"I told you, right? I don't do impossible things. As long as I'm Tohsaka Rin, I'll kill Sakura the moment I determine that it's not possible to let her go on. Well, I don't need to say it again because that was our deal all along, but I thought I'd remind you."

The high jump scene has many purposes. One of them is to elucidate upon one of the core aspects of Rin's characterization—the cold pragmatic, calculating and thoroughly realist Tohsaka beyond the surface of which hides the warm, kind and idealistic Rin; who Rin believes she ought to be in the pursuit of her father's ideal, and the good moral heart that beats within her, threatening to burst out at any moment. It shows that Rin is simply too much of a realist to try and save Sakura like Shirou does when it appears basically impossible to do so—so she instead tries to kill that good-natured side of her. Nonetheless, we are left with the question:

Why does Rin try to save Shinji at the end of UBW?

As Gilgamesh himself points out to Shirou—it's pure hypocrisy! You can't save everyone. Rin's attempt to save Shinji from the Grail actively impedes upon their goal of destroying the supposedly omnipotent wish granting device and saving the world from Gilgamesh. From what we are told in HF (on the surface at least), Rin shouldn't be doing this—it's impossible. It's idealistic. It's naive. It's what Shirou would do.

It's what Shirou would do.

The boy whose youthful idealism and naïveté Rin found so inspiring.

The boy she wishes she could be like more—whether she is willing to admit it or not.

And that is the difference between Rin in UBW and Rin in HF—one enters a romantic relationship with Shirou, and the other does not. One develops a deep emotional bond with Shirou over the course of the story wherein his influence slowly and steadily forces her to accept that human side of herself that had always lurked beneath her, to embrace her idealism, to pursue Shirou's impossibly beautiful dream as relentlessly as he does; the other ends up at odds with him at too many key junctures of the story to develop the same intimate relationship, especially as Shirou starts to fall for someone else.

That is in essence the purpose of HF—to provide a counterpoint for Rin's arc in UBW, to show us the depths Rin will fall to when Shirou isn't there to encourage her to be the best she can be, to quit struggling against her human side, to abandon her attempts to kill her own emotions and to surrender herself to her desire to be as idealistic and hopeful as he. If UBW shows us Rin at her best, the purpose of HF is to then contrast that with Rin at her worst. Because at the end of the day, Rin serves as a relative straightman in a cast of deeply mentally disturbed characters. She serves as a foil to Shirou. The reason her route is also the Shirou route (as one Tiger Dojo puts it) is because Rin as a character does not need to be saved—nay, she is quite capable of saving herself. Rin doesn't need Shirou; but she sure is better off with him by her side. At the end of HF, Rin, despite not being as deeply under the influence of Shirou as in UBW, still chooses her human side over being the magus her father would've wanted her to be. Rin has issues... but those issues don't run as deeply as those of other characters. Shirou in particular. She may struggle more but she can do it. Nonetheless, Shirou's positive influence on her cannot be denied.

So—Rin clearly has an arc in UBW. How, precisely, does this arc unfold? How does UBW explore her character?

Up to about Shirou's defect, which per the anime would be somewhere around halfway through the route, UBW is a study in contrasts—the story presents with a carefully crafted waltz between Rin and Shirou which allows us to peel back the characters' layers. It starts with the prologue. Day 3 is of immense importance here since it emphasizes upon different aspects of Shirou's character than Day 3 of Fate does. Instead of focusing on Shirou's suicidal tendencies, the confrontation with Illya and Heracles focuses on Shirou's weakness and the fact that he isn't a proper mage. The focus is on how he freezes when Saber and Berserker start fighting. Why? Because he's being contrasted with Rin—a talented mage who retains her cool under pressure, being fully capable of keeping up with the fighting. Unlike in Fate (and HF), Archer's being uninjured means that Rin can actually participate—and the gulf between Shirou's abilities and hers couldn't possibly be more obvious.

Day 4 continues this with very clever use of side characters like Taiga, Sakura and Ayako (the latter of which is even responsible for the "Shirou never smiles" moment!)—they are used to emphasize just how normal Shirou's life is and how little he takes the HGW seriously, in contrast to Rin, who spends her day and night hunting after Caster. It cleverly continues the contrast between the double life Rin is shown leading in her prologue and the relatively uneventful, suburban Japanese life that Shirou leads, aside from his late night magic training. In fact... Archer himself points this out for us at the end of Day 5, as he escorts Shirou home:

"…Are you saying you don't smell blood on me?"

"Of course not. You're not fit to be a Master in that regard either. You are different from Rin."

"———What is that? Are you saying you can smell blood on Tohsaka?"

"Yes. She is rather kind-hearted, but she's merciless when she has to be. She wouldn't go around looking for other Masters every day if that wasn't the case."

"———"

She's looking for other Masters every day…? That means she's fighting other Masters. It's not like it's over once she finds a Master. Then———

Of course, that's minor in comparison of what else happens on Day 5.

Stories are by nature defined by conflict. Conflict is the essence of storytelling. It's thus quite logical that Shirou has the worst relations with Rin at the start of her very own route than any other since it puts him in a position where he can discover the most about Rin. And Rin's decision to attack Shirou ends up revealing her inner conflict—the conflict between her commitment to being an unfeeling, machine-like magus, and her own personal feelings and desires, in this instance namely being her feelings toward Shirou. It is on Day 5 that Rin reveals the expectations that are placed on magi since their very birth:

"…What I got so angry about was how your dad never did anything against that. 'Magic' of a magus isn't just his magic. Magic is something passed down from parent to child for many generations. It's the 'sum of their life's work'. The responsibility isn't just yours."

"So the first condition for being taught magic is that you will pass it on to later generations. A child born into a magus's family instantly becomes a successor and an inheritor. ———We are born for that reason, and we also die for that reason."

"A magus' child isn't human from the start. No, it is the duty of the 'magus' to change what is born human into something else through many years and hard training. …That's why your dad isn't a magus. Your dad chose to be a parent over being a magus."

Of course, there's a bit more to this because Day 7 adds some more complexity to the matter here by having Shinji reveal to Rin that he is also a Master. And her reaction? She ignores him. She doesn't consider him a threat so much so that she decides not to attack him or even formulate any kind of plan for attacking him later. Seemingly this makes no sense. Why attack Shirou, but not Shinji? Because her decision to attack Shirou wasn't a pragmatic one. She attacked him because she feared that his participation in the HGW and her "objectivity" would be undermined. Rin is struggling desperately to maintain the perfect, strong, ruthless and emotionless magus facadé, and her feelings for Shirou are the greatest threat to it. She wants to remove him from the HGW so that he doesn't end up tempting her to succumb to her more human instincts. It goes to show how everything about Rin's claiming to be a ruthless, machine-like magus is just utter bullshit—Machiavellian magi wouldn't warn an opponent to take them seriously in a free for all to the death, like how Rin warns Shirou to do on Day 4; they would just kill them! Not to mention that we get to see Rin's "fail at the most important thing at the most important moment" complex again—despite how rational, intelligent and competent she has made herself out to be, and proved herself to be, she still ends up not realizing that Shinji is behind Bloodfort!

But that's only scratching the surface of what Day 7 does not only for Rin but for Shirou also—because Day 7 is represents a massive turning for Rin and Shirou's relationship, and for them as individual characters. It's the day when the hitherto carefully crafted dichotomy between Shirou the helpless novice and Rin the talented, highly competent novice... gets subverted.

Although the Bloodfort sequence certainly does not completely reverse the hitherto established dynamic between Rin and Shirou, it does severely undermine it. Because as Bloodfort is set up and the student body collapses, as the skin off of many of their peers starts to melt, Rin is deeply shaken and visibly disturbed, barely able to hide her trembling legs. And Shirou? Well... he's used to seeing dead bodies. Bloodfort is a brilliant sequence. It lays down the foundation for Rin and Shirou's relationship for the rest of the route because it forces for the very first time to truly face each other's issues. Faced with a horrific nightmare, both of them end up exposing a side of themselves they never otherwise would. Rin realizes that there is something deeply wrong with Shirou, and he gets to see just how much she is suppressing her human weaknesses and faults in order to maintain her strong and fearless talended mage facadé. The carefully crafted set-up has reached its pay-off as the characters start to find out ever more about one another.

Day 10 represents a massive turning point in UBW—it's where the route reaches the second of three junctures (the previous one being Bloodfort—which establishes that Shirou's issues are worse than Rin's, but still maintains an overall focus on her) that transition the story to fully committing itself to being the Shirou route. It does this establishing the core difference between Rin and Shirou in the beautiful and amazing scene called Shirou's defect—where Rin and Shirou discuss each other's lives in Shirou's courtyard. Heretofore the story had brilliantly weaven in parallels between the two—namely, that both of them are defined by the struggle of living up to the ideal they inherited from their father and their achieving their own personal happiness. Rin's being a mage is basically the same as Shirou's issues with his trying to become a seigi no mikata. Yet—Rin is a hedonist. As she says, she wouldn't do something if it wasn't fun. Rin may have inherited a duty from her father, but she wouldn't do it if she didn't find it fun. It establishes an important dynamic—Rin doesn't need Shirou to save her, she's perfectly capable of saving herself. That doesn't mean he is irrelevant however. Because Shirou may not actively and directly help Rin resolve her issues (for the most part), he certainly does do it indirectly, by serving as an example, inspiring her to be better, to be the best she can be. It's Archer's attacking Shirou, and her seeing his memories as dreams, that force her to confront her feelings for him, because she cannot help but be concerned for him and his well-being. Over the course of the route, she can't help but succumb to her human instincts. She starts relaxing around Shirou. With each new conversation she starts to let go of her commitment to the magus facadé. She starts to interact with Shirou less as a fellow participant in the HGW, and more and more as a person. Rin doesn't ask Shirou if he had and has fun being a mage because she has anything to gain strategically; she asks because she wants to get to know him. As a person. And get to know him she does...

But UBW's being the Shirou route does not preclude its analyzing Rin in-depth. Far from it! Because while it may not deal with Rin's issues directly, it certainly does so indirectly, through her reactions to Shirou's character arc, which itself ends up pushing her own arc further and ever further along.

First, there is her reaction to Shirou's losing Saber. Having spent a decade isolating herself from the rest of the world, Rin has become quite emotionally stunted. She isn't the best at properly expressing her emotions. So when Shirou ends up emotionally broken, Caster basically literally robbing him of his ideal in the form of Saber, and left helpless, Rin defaults to her cold uncaring magus persona and ends up rubbing the salt in his wound. Given that she fully intends on giving Saber back to him upon defeating Caster, the rational and sensible thing to do would be to act nice to Shirou, to be affectionate toward him. But as with her trying to attack him on Day 5, Rin is more concerned with looking like a cold pragmatic and ruthless magus rather than actually being one. She clearly has feelings for Shirou, and she is desperately trying to bury them by acting as cold and uncaring as possible toward him so that she can maintain her "objectivity" and not let her feelings distort her judgement. Of course—her feelings are distorting her judgement! In her attempts to present herself as the ruthless emotionless magus, she ends up revealing just the opposite! And it's even worse when you remember that Rin decides to this after she had decided to leave aside the HGW nonsense and just talk with Shirou like a regular human being.

Then... there's the confession scene.

This scene... represents the last juncture before the route finally transitions to being truly and indisputably about Shirou—without in the process losing focus on Rin. It represents one of the key moments of culmination in Rin's arc that predominately encapsulate the most important aspects of her character, offering a resolution to so much of her inner struggle, thereby allowing space for the rest of the route to comfortably deal with Shirou. And the resolution to Rin's issues... is Shirou.

It's important to remember that Shirou is not a naive character. Or a stupid character. Shirou's issues do not result from some wrongheaded ideological analysis—they result from his (near) complete lack of self-worth. And in the context of the story, Shirou discovering the pendant at Rin's mansion represents a major turning point for the character in that regard. Because by discovering the pendant, Shirou realizes that there was in fact someone out there who valued his life. Valued it enough to save it. And that someone just so happens to be the girl he has slowly been falling in love with over the course of the route. And seeing that Rin values his life... it makes him value his life. Without that Shirou's character development in the rest of the route simply cannot occur. It's important to establish that here.

There's also how Shirou's feelings on Rin relate to his feelings on the ideal. Because they do in fact parallel each other—Shirou starts out with a highly idealized view of both. Yet over the course of the events of the route he comes to slowly understand that his idealized vision was is fact quite wrong. There are in fact serious issues with his ideal and the way he goes about implementing it; just as Rin's is not the perfect honour student he had envisioned her to be. And yet... Shirou still reasserts his faith in both by the end. Yes his ideal is unachievable, but the pursuit of it is still beautiful; Rin wasn't as strong-willed and secure as she had initially appeared, but all those weaknesses end up making her stronger and better in his eyes because she nonetheless succeeds despite their holding her back. Rin can never truly live up to that perfectionist standard she has set for herself, but her valiant effort at constantly struggling to nonetheless to reach it is nonetheless amazing; nay it makes her even more amazing than if she had actually succeeded. In both cases, Shirou is forced to confront the ugly in something he found beautiful—only to come out the other way thinking they are even more beautiful.

Then there's of course Shirou basically spelling out many of the themes of the route:

"That's just now, right? It's irritating, but I agree with Archer. There's nothing for you to regret." "Why? Caster is doing whatever she wants, and even Archer lost faith in me. This is because my policy was a mistake, right?"

"It's just that you were unsuccessful. You haven't made a mistake. If you haven't made a mistake, you can be proud of yourself even if you were unsuccessful."

———The process. If you walk down the path that you believe is right, you cannot be wrong. …At a time like this, most people will realize that their path is a wrong one, but she's different. Her path should always be one that she can be proud of.

"———Yeah. To be honest, you've always shined. …I won't regret my actions either. I believe what I've done is right, but it's full of stitches."

———I don't want to regret anything. I want to make all the tragedies that happened into meaningful things by believing that my path is right.

Of course... we have to talk about Rin here. We've covered Shirou's point of view so it's important to talk about the significance this scene has for Rin, though it's incredibly difficult to disentangle Shirou's arc from Rin's, since they are so deeply intertwined. Shirou encouraging Rin to get back on her feet, his seeing through her facade of strength when Archer betrays her... it says just about as much about him as it does her.

We already established that Rin is not good with expressing her emotions. We already established she does not have the most healthy outlook on life, with her perfectionism resulting in her bottling up all her doubts and insecurities, and desperately trying to bury her weaknesses. She has no-one to show her vulnerabilities to.

Until Shirou. He gets her to relax. His unbridled idealism wins Rin over. He's the only person who could possibly breach through all of her barriers and earnestly converse with the fragile yet still very strong girl hiding underneath, a girl who doesn't need to be afraid of her weaknesses because she's strong because of them. Instead of burying all her emotions she can just be honest about them—to Shirou, the boy who loves her and whom she loves back. Rin still has a long way to go after this moment. Yet nonetheless... it's a breakthrough. For the first time in maybe a decade... Rin has chosen to drop that strong magus facade and to show her real self. And it's beautiful.

Next up is Your distortion—my favourite scene in the whole VN.

Suffice it to say... this scene is all about Shirou realizing that all along he had pursued Kiritsugu's ideal because it made him happy—just like Rin did being a magus. And all thanks... to Rin. To seeing her cry for his sake. Begging him to care of himself. It's Shirou taking the next step from his confession—and learning the error of his ways:

"I'm telling you that's crazy! Look, if you were saved, take care of yourself! I'm sorry for the people who got killed, but it's only by chance that you were saved! Then you should take full advantage of your good fortune. You suffered such a hell, so it'll be a waste if you don't have fun!"

Tohsaka is seriously angry. "——————" Yeah, that makes me happy. I finally realize now, because Tohsaka is that kind of person.

———But it's so clear now. It's because of this person that is seriously angry for my sake.

But what precisely are the implications here—for Rin specifically?

Well on one hand it's just extremely touching to see this deeply emotionally repressed girl be so heartbroken at seeing just how deeply disturbed and distorted the person she's come to love is that she can barely contain the flood of emotion that she feels. Yet it is also noteworthy how she reacts when Shirou tells her that despite the fact that she is right, he nonetheless still believes that there's something beautiful in devoting your life to saving people. She blushes. She gets flustered. Although she tries to act cool afterwards, it is quite apparent she found Shirou's words touching. She obviously agrees with him. But perhaps she's just not that ready to admit that yet.

She will be soon however because Day 14 has her choosing to accept Shirou's ideal. By taking on Saber to be her Servant.

Saber is in essence supposed to be the personification of Shirou's ideal—the fact that Shirou loses his contract with her at the junctures in UBW and HF that he does is no coincidence. Both occur at (or before) points where Shirou's belief in his ideal is deeply shaken. Rin choosing forge a contract with Rin which actually makes Saber stronger than she was under Shirou at a point where she realizes that the confrontation between Archer and Shirou is drawing closer and in fact that the former could in fact kill the latter if she does nothing... it's deliberate. Especially since she this to Archer after he kidnaps her:

Although Rin didn't want to admit it up until, she in fact loves Shirou for the very traits that she has been criticizing him for up until now. The dynamic that defines Shirou's view of Rin is also the one that defines Rin's view of Shirou; just as Shirou is forced to confront Rin's warts only to declare that he loves her even more for them, so too is Rin forced to confront that the very perseverance and refusal to budge in the face of the impossible that had drawn her to Shirou all those years ago could take a toxic form when combined with his lack of self-worth and survivor's guilt. And yet... she still adores him for it. She still can't help but be moved by it. As Kirei says as he nearly rips her heart out:

"You're right. You never give up until the very last second, Rin. At the very same time, you have this wonderful side of you that admits reality. ———Yes. This contradiction is very mellow."

This fundamental inner conflict within Rin is essentially resolved here, with Rin choosing her human idealistic sides that never gives up until the very last second over her cynical and pragmatic magus streak. She gives Shirou her mana with which he is able to use Unlimited Blade Works—an allegory for how her love and support ends up allowing Shirou to make his dream a reality.

And so... we return to the question that started all of this.

Why does Rin try to save Shinji at the end of UBW?

Simple.

It's what Shirou would do.

Rin loves Shirou. He brings out that side of her that her magus upbringing compels her to bury and kill that still manages to make its way back to the surface—because she can't help but feel drawn to Shirou and feel inspired by his example.

It's what Shirou would do.

UBW isn't like Fate and HF. It's not about Shirou saving a heroine (though, if I were fully honest, I would not say that Fate and HF are truly comparable). It's about a heroine saving Shirou. It's about Rin saving Shirou. Rin doesn't get saved by anyone.

But that's okay.

Because saving Shirou? That's Rin's salvation.

#unlimited blade works #fate stay night #fate stay ubw #rin tohsaka #shirou emiya #tohsakarin #emiya shirou #shirin #fsn #fsn ubw #they are my precious babies #i love them so much