#< i know it isnt explicitly stated but

[infizero]

i cant phrase this well but infinity train book 2 is for the aroace transgenders. lake transgenderism is obvious but nothing in my life has screamed to me queerplatonicism as much as lake and jesse like their qpr readings are off the fucking charts

[soulemnity]

Hi!!! I was reading your latest ASL comic and i was wondering how Luffy would react when Ace said they were going to fight Whitebeard, and Ace was defeated

I imagine Luffy protecting Ace from the big old man, like "leave my brother alone, you bully!"

And more importantly, when Ace is isolated from his crew, what would happen to Luffy? Would Ace become part of the WB crew with Luffy there?

Sorry for the amount of questions but i really love ASL with little Luffy, and I have been reading a lot of fan fics like this. YOUR ART IS SO CUTE, THANKS YOU FOR SHARING!!

THANKYU SO MYCH, IM HAPPY U LIKE IT !!!!!

the comic is actually sorta the start of the split custody variant of babylu me and @immortal-raine made !!! when sabo and ace split off (cuz i wanted sabo to still be a rev), their plan is to pass luffy between them every two or so months because 1) it’s fun for him and 2) at least he’s not alone at dawn

before ace challenges whitebeard, he orders sabo to take him for an extra two months. he doesnt elaborate on what he’s gonna do, but sabo knows better than that, so he makes ace lower it to a month and a half and if he isnt back by then, he’s going off to find him and taking luffy with so you better be smart if you don’t want that kind of worry on your conscience, ace

n e ways the deadline passes, ace very obviously did not return, so sabo, fueled by worry and frustration because he’s making luffy sad damn it, sneaks off to find him. luffy’s so distressed by his missed time with ace that he actually listens to what sabo tells him to do and stays hidden

ace is very obviously still in his assassination phase when they show up. sabo, who is mortified that he managed to get himself stuck on an emperor’s ship, without his crew, drags him off to hide

luffy cries a little. ace cries a little because he made luffy cry and also he really missed his brothers. luffy’s stuck to his hip

for a while after sabo decides to stick by ace’s side to make sure he stays safe, luffy is surprisingly dismissive towards anyone other than his brothers. he’s okay with thatch, because he feeds them good, but he actively forces himself to ignore how fun they seem because they made ace upset and his brothers are always first. it’s kind of painful to watch because he’s so determined but also kind of miserable, but he refuses to play with them unless they either apologize or ace and sabo explicitly state they’re okay with them. he’s not built for holding grudges but he tries for their sake

of course, ace stops his assassination attempts when his brothers show up, so he gets the time to observe them better. sabo never leaves his side for the months he’s struggling with his thoughts and decisions, and for that he’s grateful. it’s sabo who ultimately pushes him to join because, after being here so long, he obviously enjoys their company

the day ace and sabo announce that they’re even and ace will join is the day the whitebeards first witness the hurricane that is a restless, understimulated luffy

[dunmeshi-darlings]

There are a few misconceptions on shuro and his behaviors. The reason he was furious at laios for reviving falin using dark magic isnt really that he used dark magic (kabru even poins out shuro would have done the same). But Instead his anger is because he used black magic he put Falins life (as well as everyone elses) in danger because he knows just how the western elves react to black magic and black magic users. As for shuro's feelings towards laios for not picking up on social cues, it was shitty of him to do that however you do need to also take into consideration the kind of culture/life shuro has. He comes from a highly dignified Japanese style royal family, We see that him asking for help saving falin was the first "selfish" request he has ever made. The fact it is considered a "selfish" request speaks volumes on the kind of world that shuro comes from. After shuro and laios fight we see that shuro is actually envious of laios and how he views the world, showing that a portion of his anger isnt really from laios not picking up on his social cues but perhaps more so that laios was ALLOWED to be how he is. Even after their fight shuro offers to give laios sanctuary from the western elves, giving him the bell that when rung would have shuro sending people to go retrieve him and his friends and keep them safe from the western elves. if shuro deeply hated laios he wouldnt have offered this, if he didnt care about laios he wouldnt have offered him a safe place to live if the western elves come after him. i also want to bring up people saying he abandoned asebi/izutsumi. Which is also not true, in his own words when asked about her being left behind. "she will come back to us if she wants to." he explicitly states if she wants to, she will come back. To me this is him letting her make her own choice on what she wants to do with her life. Something that shows to me that i believe shuro has always felt perhaps some form of guilt at her situation but not able to do anything because of who he is and his father and his caretaker with him.

Shuro is not a perfect person, he has his flaws. But he IS a person, thats what people are. We have flaws and make mistakes and have issues that we do wrong on. Shuro is a man living his life and one who makes mistakes, everyone makes mistakes. I wanted to post this and talk about it because sadly some people ar being incredibly hateful about him and people that like him. Which is a shame as it is mostly a misunderstanding. Though i wont lie some of it does feel like its starting to become racist or because of people upset he could get in the way of farcille ship.

[applepixls]

i dont really want to talk about it but i guess everyone is so i wanted to pitch in a few thoughts

first of all, i pretty thoroughly agree with enkay’s perspective on this (linked)

i think an important thing to keep in mind is that skizz is (as others have said) from a generation where being neutral on topics can be easier than taking a side

he also was Just A Guy™️ for 40 odd years, and recently has shot up to having 200k eyes on him. similar to actors that didnt grow up in hollywood, he isnt trained for this. he doesnt have the practice to know how to handle this sort of stuff and internet culture which compounds with his neutrality resulting in lots of things being blown out of proportion

additionally, his publicly right wing mods a) do not get paid for modding (this info is based on a google search, idk about skizz and his mods specifically) so enjoying his streams/vods does not fund them and b) their political views likely didnt matter when they came on board. like a random coworker, their political beliefs dont always come up. not to mention skizz is quite privileged and doesnt (that we know) have direct close family or friends who would be greatly effected by right wing politics, so he probably has the privilege of having friends with different political beliefs because its a pretty good debate topic and doesn’t harm him directly

this is not meant to excuse skizz or defend his mods, im just trying to offer an angle that lots of people seem to be forgetting. i encourage everyone to read multiple perspectives, stay up to date on the facts, dont just go by word of mouth, and keep yourself safe. if this is a stressor then filter tags and wait for it to blow over

tldr: everyone try to be kind. skizz has explicitly stated that he supports trans rights and he doesnt tolerate hate of any kind. the mod situation is tricky but i will be following along to see what happens.

p.s. make sure to tag your posts! we dont need to add extra stress to people who are trying to filter these posts so they can deal with other stuff rn

[peanutheaddd]

hi! Would Petey possess dm again? Even though he can just possess him when ever bc of their (gay as hell lmao /pos) soul bond I get the vibes that he would still ask him first bc of the physical toll it has on dm

anon im smiling so huge bc i was literally thinkign abt this Haha.. Hahaha…

i think petey would actually offer to get rid of the soul bond once dm wakes up. and dm is like nah its ok i dont rlly mind . which is all just indicative of both a) peteys development compared to the beginning of the story bc if exposition petey had a soul bond w dm u bet ur ass he would rather die than let go of it and he would also abuse the hell out of it and b) dm lwk highkey trusts petey w his life now and he Knows petey would never possess him if he doesnt explicitly ask him to .

petey also would never be the one to ask dm abt possession . in their post climax relationship if theyre Ever talking abt possession then its bc dm brought it up first . the aftermath of the first possession event made it such that petey doesnt rlly wanna think abt possessing him again bc he gets scared

theres also kinda no reason for petey to possess dm after the first posession bc like i said both heaven and hell dont rlly fuck around w them anymore so theyre never in enough danger to warrant possession .

but ☝️ i reckon sometimes dm asks petey if he can possess him js for the hell of it LMFAAAAOOOOOOO 😭😭😭😭😭 especialy during their healing arc he probs eventually gets petey to agree to possess him and they kinda js walk around outside . and petey hauls ass once he can feel dms soul getting weaker (idt his heart could handle seeing dm in a comatose state again) and once he leaves yes dm is a bit tired but hes otherwise safe and fine . and hes happy . so peteys like Huh. bc up until this point his only experience with possessing dm has been Terrible . but this time it was fine. it was good even . so its like hes being subconsciously trained to remember tbat hes not inherently dangerous (all part of dms plan)

and also usually possession isnt . Supposed to be pleasant for the vessel . thats why it leaves the vessel weak . the whole Point of possession is that its supposed to eat away at the vessel until theyre js a husk of a human being . which is why peteys so against it .

dm is js kind of a freak tho bc he lwk likes possession LMFAO i think during the initial stage of possession before his soul goes dormant theres a level of like. spiritual closeness ? w him and pt that is Not possible if hes not possessing him . its like a level of connection . completely merging with another being . becoming One individual . and dms like this is actually kinda awesome

petey avtually does also like possession for the same reason its js that his fear of hurting him outweighs any of that positive feeling Easily LOL

i think the stronger a soul bond is the more a demon is able to feel what the vessel feels . i mentioned before that theres usually a level of disconnect between the vessel and the demon like a mecha and its pilot . but i reckon a stronger soul bond changes that level of connection . like a stronger soul bond = stronger feeling of becoming a single individual during possession .

most soul bonds are formed contractually so they arent very strong . demons also prefer this bc they dint care what the vessel feels and its actually better for them if they Dont feel what the vesel feels .

obvs dm and peteys sich is diff and over time as their souls get more time to exist within the same space amicably the soul bond gets stronger 🤔🤔🤔 so theres that

i reckon dm actually asks petey if he can possess him a Lot and peteys like STOP ASKING ME IDIOT bc like i said the soul degrades the longer possession lasts . since its not like a single long lasting posession but instead a bunch of little possessions the degradation of the soul is Basically negligible but petey is Nawt taking any chances . so hes reluctant to possess him if theyre not in a dire situation .

[centrally-unplanned]

This Equal Rights Amendment (or 28th Amendment) scuffle is a peak moment for revealing American constitutional design flaws. For those who don't know, the ERA - which codifies a ban on legal discrimination based on sex - was proposed in the 1920's, but finally passed Congress in 1972. That isn't enough, though - two-thirds of State Congresses had to approve it. The bill was passed with a deadline for that process of a few years, and while it got close not enough states approved, and the deadline expired. So it's over, right?

Well, *can* Congress put a deadline on a constitutional amendment? That isn't explicitly in the Constitution, no timeline is at all. Some amendments have had very long approval timelines - like the 27th Amendment funnily enough, which was approved over *202 years*. It was proposed at the founding, failed, was forgotten about, and then picked up by an undergraduate student in 1982 who noticed it could still be passed.

That bill ofc had no congressional timeline attached to it - but if you could argue such caps were unconstitutional, then the ERA is in the same boat. Thus, you get efforts starting in the 90's for state legislatures to pass it again so they can pick a legal battle, which culminates in Virginia giving it the supermajority stamp in 2020. And it also involves legal arguments that states like South Dakota can't *rescind* their approval, which they explicitly did. Suits and countersuits fly, often around the role of the "Archivist of the United States", who nominally confirms amendments. And now the Biden admin is forcing the issue, which, if they stick to their guns, will absolutely go to court.

Will it win? Oh no, absolutely not, this is a cringeworthy stunt, they should be ashamed of this. But I care about shaming Biden far less than I care about shaming the Founding Fathers: what the *fuck* is up with this cockamamie doodle sketch of an amendment approval process?? Here we go, five seconds of thought:

"If Congress passes a Constitutional Amendment, all States of the Union will convene a special session of their Legislature within the next 120 days and vote on the Amendment, passing with a two-thirds majority."

Oh, wow, now you have an *actual process* for doing this! Instead of letting amendments be passed over *200 year timespans*!! That isnt cute y'all, that is a mockery of effective legislating. Not considering this stuff when drafting a constitution was amateur hour. It being the 18th century is barely an excuse - they had the concept of time back then too.

And of course the US just chugs along with this - whether or not "Congress can attach timelines to bills" will be decided by a group of partisan warriors whose composition is determined by actuarial tables, because that is also the system we inherited, and we live in the age of stasis. We won't ever throw the thing out and build something better from scratch. Instead, policy makers are going to waste time, again, on insane courtroom battles that increasingly determine the majority of actual policy these days. Fucking cringe.

[triglycercule]

bro REALLY likes opposites attract

something something horrordust is most interesting to me when they're opposed in some senses. in this case, murder's self-proclaimed "selflessness" (his savior complex speaking) and horror's very apparent selfishness.

[habitual-truant]

as a persona fan. i HATE atlus. like, theyre always SOOOO close to having really good social commentary on like, pretty much anything in general i guess. but. they pussy out and it has the opposite effect!! like, biggest example that i actually have well formulated thoughts over is persona 4.. i wrote a long ass essay type thing that id honestly like to rewrite now that my thoughts are more solidified on this but, tl;dr… :

kanji isnt gay and naoto isnt trans. kanji’s story is about accepting that hes got feminine traits and learning to stop internalizing what everyone says about him to be true. naoto’s is about accepting that she is a girl, and she IS everything that people look down on her for, and learning to stop rejecting herself just so she isnt disrespected and dismissed by others.

kanji isnt gay and naoto isnt trans, but they should have been. being queer is very obviously a theme in their stories, and without looking deeper into the characters and their arcs, on the surface level, the story is saying that they’re learning to accept that they ARENT queer. which is pretty clearly homophobic and transphobic.

the entire game is about accepting yourself for who you truly are. for the character that is EXPLICITLY stated to be gay and for the character who EXPLICITLY lives socially as a male despite being born a girl to both have their true selves actually be “normal” is… counterintuitive. while it does fit within the theme of accepting yourself, it’s saying to accept yourself as “normal” and “correct”, not as someone who doesnt fit into societal norms. it undermines the idea of being true to yourself. it’s SO close to being a great message that anyone, no matter who they are, can relate to, but it singles out the unusuals, the people who really need to hear that it’s ok to be whoever you are. i could go on and on about how it’s honestly impressive that the writers managed to miss the mark by such a small amount that it ends up completely undermining the entire thing, but it would be redundant (just like my use of the word ‘undermine’ within two run-on sentences..), and i want to take this back to my original point

the writers at atlus are very, very skilled. its amazing, i really really respect them. but at the same time, i think that their ability to write amazing characters and themes and weave them together into a universe with such inconsistent rules is exactly what makes this so infuriating. i KNOW they’re 100% capable of not being misogynistic in their portrayal of women, i KNOW they’re capable of not being homophobic, i KNOW they can take topics like misogyny and homophobia and transphobia and explore the reasoning behind why people are close minded and hateful, and how it affects people who are at the receiving end of the hatred.

but they dont, because either the writers themselves are prejudiced, or what i think is faaaarrr more likely, the executives think it’s too “risky” to talk about and criticize bigotry, and that they want it to be as palatable to everyone as possible. unfortunately that means no gay people, no trans people, no “controversial” minorities in general.. sure, we can have a few complex and well written women as a treat, but they either have to be fanservice or largely irrelevant to the rest of the plot.

no conclusion paragraph this isnt english class

thanks if u read my 11:00 pm hyperfocus fueled rant i am sending you joy and happiness and good things

[xx-psych0-rabbit-xx]

anyways heres some misc jamba cult info from the japanese version of star allies the official translation removed/changed the meaning of i found a couple days back (fan translations can be found here)

-this is implied but misworded in english, the jamba cult worships dark matter rather than be masters of it (this is prob why gooey gets positive nickname privileges from zan on twitter)

-the magic n science ancients old relationship prior to the magic clans ban is explicitly positive in japanese

-english hyness says magic overcame science n reached prosperity, japanese says science n magic could only reach prosperity when together

-for wtv reason, english replaced one of the mentions of the "book of legends" (the book abt void hyness has) w talking abt ambiguous ancient scrolls instead...?

-theres some references to a paradise void will destroy in the japanese screens w that one cult prayer that were cut from english (the second n fourth ones specifically iirc), the sisters guest star screens make references to paradise as well, make of that what you will regarding the religious side of the cult

-most if not all instances of void being called dark lord r used to censor out void being called god/god of destruction in the original version

-pon & cons japanese title (a-un guardian beasts) is a reference to a buddhist concept of beginning n ending, the pause screen states they surrendered to the enemy n thats why theyre doing guard work there, rather than they became cultists off screen between games like one might assume

-japanese hyness uses ~ when talking a lot, while most ppl associate that w a character having a sweet cute voice tone, for him it likely just indicates he tends to drag out the end of words a lot

-fully removed from english, hyness has a complex abt his face, which is why its so well covered

-zans second boss screen in english credits her loyalty to hyness' intoxicating charisma n her sense of duty, while japanese later does canonize she has a strong sense of duty in a different screen, it instead says for the second boss she feels indebted he took her in n is also "enamoured" by his charisma n "admires him from within the heart", quoting the used wording bc i think shes both adorable n so deeply worrisome

-weve all heard the english translation censored zan being heavily implied to have attempted suicide n being saved by hyness after it fails (succeeds?) after shes struck by lightning n nearly dies/gets bought back by him.wtv take on hyness saving the mages you prefer

-zan is never called the eldest of the sisters in the original, just the chief of the trio

-hyness misremembers zans name as zan paruru, a pun on the japanese word for forgotten (wasuraruru), that same pun is used for her boss themes title

-one of zans attacks in japanese is named after the "thunder candies" (type of wagashi) found in kaminarimon, where a statue of the shinto thunder god raijin is found, zans drums used during that same attack r literally based on raijins own drums

-zans first boss screen claims she toys w her enemies through her quick attacks rather than render them helpless like prey.just mentioning bc thats silly n has a slightly new show of her personality that line up w her depiction on the official twitter in a way

-flamberge wasnt taking a break in her second boss fight she was just slacking off n picked a nice star/planet on purpose for that.thats funny of her so its justified

-flamberge calls francisca kiss-chan in japanese, this is the same nickname zan gives her in japanese thats officially translated as franny

-this isnt mentioned in the documents but im bringing it up bc its funny.that part of HIAD where francisca calls flamberge "miss flamberge" was just flamberge-san in jp, -san is just a polite honorific to use that isnt immediately translated to miss/mister, specially if the characters know each other.why did they make it that lmao

-japanese explicitly says too much heat might straight up make francisca melt (english also implies that tbf)

-francisca dislikes "pointless murder", but is fine freezing ppl n keeping them for her collection if she deems them an enemy

-hyness' japanese title can be read as both mage priest n devil priest

-the sisters titles all have a reoccurring use of ice blossom, hellfire n thunder fang respectively, n theyre called the demon generals instead of mage sisters

-HIAD hyness' title fell priest has a reference to fallen angels.i feel thats giving pre corruption hyness too much personality credit but alright

-void is refered to both as devil n angel in different forms titles.this is awesome

-theres a kanji for hope thats associated w the jamba cult throughout the whole game

-the japanese guest star screens for the mages say theyre no longer praying n r seeking a new paradise together, for whatever reason, english completely removes the no longer praying part, completely losing the meaning of the sentence n development the sisters have (interestingly, hyness is mentioned in those n still called their master, n zans description straight up states she wants him to watch her triumph (translated officially as her wanting to make him proud), so its not actually explained if they disbanded the cult or theyre just.some kind of normal religion now? but theyre atleast touching grass now)

todays conclusion is the KSA translators just hate us 👍 check the linked fan translation for more examples of that

[tenta-tickles]

a lil cheat sheet i made for myself and a friend because we are all getting confused (cross referenced wiki/screenshots/descriptions/etc for this)

some quick notes below the cut

confirmed means its been outright stated by devs (from screenshots,etc)

implied means its heavily implied due to the media/inspo/person they are based on, descriptions, etc (ex. dusekkar is implied male due to him being based on a real person, the only reason it isnt confirmed is the possibility of his lore being different as a character)

never stated is almost explicitly used for ocs's genders that were never stated taph and bluudud are both ocs/fancharacters that got added (afaik) and thus we do not know their genders and can only go off of descriptions (with both of them using he/him) mafioso is getting a rework so only time will tell

[kingdoms-and-empires]

The King's Hound Review

I recently had to go travel and read a few works that I never got around to reading but was interested in.

PLEASE REMEMBER THIS REVIEW IS DONE BY ME AS A READER AND IS MY OWN OPINION.

This means I will review in accordance to my own tastes, how the game caters to me, and what I feel. Do not take my word as gospel, what I may not be interested in or dislike, may be what YOU are interested and love!!!

@the-kingshound

Synopsis:

You are the King’s spouse, his right and left hand, the unstoppable executor of his will. Your name is whispered by enemies and allies with fear and respect alike, some says it’s your arm that bears the weight of the entire kingdom.

They call you the King’s hound. It started as a way to taunt you but it’s not that far away from the truth. Your loyalty is blind, your devotion absolute. The King’s vision is your vision.

Your name will forever mark history alongside theirs.

But for now, you are being shipped to your betrothed, alone and powerless on your way to Camelot.

As the seventh child of the Venegard House, you’ve always had little to look forward to other than an arranged marriage to achieve a political alliance.

That’s exactly why, after your parents lost the rebellion against King Arthur, you were the one sent to him as a sign of newfound peace.

You don’t know what awaits you now, but after you Camelot will never be the same.

Review:

The Good: The project is 18+, and the writing is very well done. It just feels quality. Plus the UI and and dark background are classy. The game is Twine, so you get the save functions of Twine and all that jazz. Anyways, descriptions are well done, the worldbuilding is grounded and helps form the politics in-game. It's thought-out and noticeable. The player customization goes hard and you even get the option to play mute! In The King's Hound, you also find a game that provides the LGBTQ+ demographic and FemMC playing community a welcoming and acknowledging home. The descriptions of the fight scenes and battles (like action set pieces) are good and don't leave you scratching your head. The transitions between paragraphs and pages happen naturally and without breaking pace, which shows the talent of a writer that considers their audience. Also, in regards to the King Arthur mythos and worldbuilding done by the author, i just really appreciate the fact that Camelot is Welsh.

It just gives me an idea of how much the author researched or cares about the mythos to give that respect of origin for the story. I had problems with how King Arthur was being super nice at first, but the author recently stated in a post that Arthur was acting in such a manner because he is deliberately trying to be the opposite of King Uther!

And that in the future, the work will offer more text to reveal that to us, the player.

The Bad: I wouldve liked being able to marry a cousin, niece, sister, or even daughter of King Arthur (or genderbender him) but that is literally my only complaint as a straight dude tryna self insert. The author tells you explicitly that you are marrying the king. If the author decides not to, as is their right and vision, I have no problem whatsoever. I still think the work is well written, and has many elements that i personally fuck with (low fantasy, grounded narrative, adult themes) The fact that i wish the author could change this, is only because i like the work so much. Instead, in this playthrough King Arthur will find that the MC practices

The Ugly: The MAP. But that's only because my history buff mind thinks of the British Isle when hearing these names and when i saw the map it physically gave me whiplash. But youre making your own version of the story, so bully!

The Aftermath: I know this game isnt catered towards me as a straight dude. It is a proud queer game with quality writing, that'd also do really well for the FemMC readers. I would recommend this game to anyone who wants a low fantasy medieval setting, with good writing, and grounded narratives that isn't a straight dude's traditional power fantasy.

Next playthrough, ima be a mute straight girl thatll hoe around King Arthur's court out of sheer spite

^Marci from Dota: Dragon Blood

[nataliaphantomhivesblog]

Prince Soma: possibly being the key that causes Ciel to have a conflict with Sebastian?

I don't know if im the first one to notice how Anime!Abberline and manga! Prince Soma have some very striking parallels when it comes to their relationship to O!Ciel, which made me realize a few things.

First of all, I do think that some concepts of season 1 in general do parallel to the manga. Here's an excellent analysis on the topic if you want to dive deeper on that area.

Alright, let's start with me drawing some parallels to make this analysis more digestable, and then explaning how this will theoretically give us a conflict between the demon butler and our petty child.

Basically, Abberline drawing the similarties with our earl due to a shared trauma/tragedy: They both lost their families, but one learned to heal from the event, and the other completely refuses to accept happiness. (guess who's who, lol)

Fundamentally, O!Ciel is creating a hypothetical comparassion: If he hadn't gone through his personal tragedy, then he would've been as naive and innocent as Soma.

Something to consider about this parallel: The narrative in both cases textually highlights the similarities between Ciel and Abberline/Soma.

O!Ciel saying he only needs pawns, and that he has no time to have real emotional connections with people.

O!Ciel saying he uses people as pawns and doesn't see Soma as a friend, he doesn't need him by his side.

Notes to take here:

In both of these instances, o!Ciel refueses to form real human connection.

Both of these convesations spark up due to confrontation about o!Ciel's true intentions and nature.

His face is turned on both scenes/pannels, making us question how genuine o!Ciel's words are.

"Keep your distance from me, or you'll get killed" - Ciel to Abberline, season 1 episode 20

o!Ciel explicitly stating why he kept Prince Soma at arms lenght. He didn't want him and Agni to get hurt/killed in result of their closeness to our earl.

Things to point out:

o!Ciel's entire reason to push people away is because he doesn't want them to get hurt, so his earlier refusal to cut ties with others is due to fear and hestiance to accept love.

Abberline got hurt because of his relationship with o!Ciel, likewise with Soma. Causing our earl to display emotional reactions in both cases, demostrating he does care for the people close to him.

While Abberline ended up dying due to his closeness to our earl, Soma did survive the attack in chapter 125, but a part of him died with Agni as shown in the image below:

Remember when o!Ciel said that he would've turned out like the prince if it weren't for the amount of abuse and grief he went through? Well, isn't it ironic that Soma is turning out exactly like o!Ciel after losing Agni: Turning his back to salvation, his heart longing for revenge after the injustice he was put through.

(I also want to point out, Yana had made a statement that Prince Soma was originally going to die instead of Agni, but changed her mind in respect for Agni's character.)

Now, lets run back to the title of this post:

"You do have a chance to move forward, to build a brand new future for yoursef. Don't ever forget that, promise, you won't." - Abberline, Black Butler season 1, episode 20

Before our dear investigator dies, he states that he wants o!Ciel to open up his world despite his desire for revenge.

How does this connect to Soma's resolve and his relationship to Ciel? Well...

Here, our prince boasts that he wants to become o!Ciel's "Agni." In other words, he wants to provide his friend with love and protection, creating a positive worldview for the earl, who continues to turn away from the light.

It's important to note that this was before Soma thought o!Ciel killed Agni! But of course, I feel like his initiaal intentions to help o!Ciel will come back when he finds out o!Ciel isnt the true killer. (also, Soma now has Agni's powers, so atleast physically, he already has his strenght that he will hopefully use to protect the ones around him.)

So, now what?

Anime!Abberline and Soma having a similar resolve for o!Ciel, as well as their relationship with him. (as if it isn't clear enough, Abberline died protecting o!Ciel, making the earl realize his own life has value).

Prince Soma has his back turned away from the light, and o!Ciel will witness this eventually. I think it's crystal clear that our earl wouldn't want the prince to make this decision, but wouldn't that make him doubt his own quest for revenge?

Circling back to Yana intending for Soma to die, there could be a chace for him to die while becoming o!Ciels "Agni", causing o!Ciel to realize how Soma died protecting him due to love and not bc of revenge, making him question everything about his own resolve??? Plus, if o!Ciel willingly gives his life now, then that would make Soma's sacrifice worthless.

There could be a slight chance, Prince Soma survives this whole ordeal, and completes his mission of protecting o!Ciel without dying. In this hypothetical, he would then decide to florish again and go back to india, which could give o!Ciel a similar relazation that maybe, his life is worth living, just like Soma's.

In the anime, Abberline's sacrifice causes our earl to truly question his contract with Sebastian, as well as his need for revenge.

This causes the demon to feel obvious anger towards his master. And throughout the following episodes, he desperately attempts to make the earl feel hopeless again. (he clearly doesn't want to lose the meal he has been working on for years).

In conclusion:

Theres plenty of textual evidence that Soma and the earl have lots in common, especially now that the prince lost someone and vows to get revenge.

o!Ciel and Soma's relationship with revenge as of now are in a similar stance, but Soma's initial idea of protecting o!Ciel and living for love instead of revenge will come in fruition soon enough.

What would be the point of having glaring obvious parallels, and not taking advantage of them to further create a long awaited conflict between the two main characters, additionally developing them?

Anyways, that's all I have to say folks! I hope you enjoyed my take and please, let me know your thoughts:)

[3liza]

saw someone talking about "scary dog privilege" on here today and cant find the post again but i guess it refers to when women are bothered less in public when accompanied by a large dog, and bypassing the quibble i have with calling that a privilege, i can absolutely 100% confirm it is true.

i was approached by a 30s-40s single white man wearing the Dipshit Uniform (guy in a baseball cap who looks like he drives an f-150 and has voting opinions i would not agree with) on the street the other day and all he had to talk about was Churchgrim. that he was VERY large, looked like a good boy, obedient, what breed is he, etc. this is the only interaction i get from men in public anymore unless i do not have the dog with me, at which point it goes back to the usual bullshit. however it has to be an actual scary-looking dog and you have to visibly have control of it. this is not why i got a large dog, it's just a side benefit. it probably has a lot to do with the masculine cultural coding of any large dog breed that isnt a poodle or a sight hound more than it does the actual violence potential of the dog, but those two things are related. notably, not a SINGLE man has tried to mansplain dog care or handling to me for five years. not one. i cant explain this because its not like being visible capable at a task or skill will stop them in any other circumstance, including when you are holding a literal firearm.

i remember reading some stupid op-ed from some idiot woman who got a dog "for protection" on her jogs and was baffled when men were not intimidated by her golden fucking retriever (although they should have been; goldens bite a lot, statistically, probably explicitly because people do not take them seriously)

the fact that men's body language and tone of voice has changed so drastically from before when i had a 90lbs black shepherd mix standing next to me is pretty damning tbh. all people both intentionally and unintentionally modulate their communication styles around that type of dog to display respect, interest, or fear, experienced dog people can be identified instantly by their comfort and confidence with the dog, and people with dog phobia are the opposite. the dog instinctively puts himself between me and approaching strangers, probably not out of a defensive instinct in grim's case but because strangers are interesting and he wants to be closer to the object of interest, but the physical barrier this creates is a great benefit to me.

specifically, men talk to me much much much more like they are speaking to another man when the dog is there. part of that is men are often genuinely interested in knowing information about a large dog of grim's type and are not using the dog as an excuse to flirt with or harass me. grim has a phenotype that is familiar to certain experiences within the united states as a "porch dog" or "yard dog" or "farm dog" that everyone who has lived in rural areas has usually known or owned a few notable examples of, and thats a general class of dog that tends to be good at listening and responding to humans and has a lot of opportunities to display intelligence or good judgment, so people with rural experience tend to associate him with good memories. he's also "handsome" in the dog sense because he got to keep his balls until he was 3, on the advice of his vet, and as a result he developed nice-looking musculature and a big thick neck which you dont get on city dogs much. he gets a lot of positive attention from older ladies as well, who you'd think would be afraid of being knocked over, but who are always just besotted with him for reasons i havent quite figured out yet. maybe they like seeing a youngish woman with a dog like this, i know that i feel good and happy when i see younger women and girls in situations where they seem safe or protected to me. i think to myself, "i don't have to worry about her" and i feel relief. observing young women and girls often triggers anxiety for women who are even just a few years older than they are, out of pure empathy. its one reason it's so important to be kind to younger people than you are.

anyway it's damning to the men because of course men don't think rationally that the dog would understand and be offended or angry if they sexually harassed or disrespected me. but they are still on their best behavior because the dog is an implicit threat that i can defend myself. and perhaps not only did they have nothing real to discuss with me before now because they assumed we had nothing in common and that i was an idiot or not human, but they are watching themselves carefully to only express normal human civility. i dont get that from random men without the dog. mostly (not entirely but mostly) i get either casual disrespect/disregard, or outright sexual harassment. when i was younger and less experienced with men and had fewer cycles of these interactions, i was completely unaware of how disrespectful these approaches or comments were, which is the interpretation i can see less-experienced women making now, even if they're my age. and when i was 20, my 30 year old friends seemed pathologically misandrist and defensive to me. it was purely the difference in our actual mileage. that sucks man. wish we could just be normal around people and not have to expect the worst constantly.

anyway, good dog

[peanutheaddd]

Hi, since you've been talking about dm's death in divine liberation au lately would you mind answering some questions?

Is Petey present for dm's death/funeral? if not, what are his final moments with him, did dm ask for a final possesion before he goes or smthing like that or this that too gay for hir repressed ass? After his death do either dogman or Petey recognise that they cared for the other more than they ever admitted to anyone(including themselves)? You sometimes mention Petey "outliving" Dogman, does that mean he can die? What happenes to Demons/Angels when they die? If Dogman is in Heaven and lp is an angel wouldn't that mean that he can go see dm? Are people completeley conscious in Heaven or are they like in an absent-minded blissful state?

And last but not least, how are you doing peanut?

I Hope there weren't too many questions, sorry if there are I'm just a questioner(does that word even exist? lol) at heart.

BUH-BYE!

WOOOOWWW SO MANY QUESTIONS YAYYY YAYYY YAAAYYYYYYY THANK YOU MY GOAT HEH.. SMIRKS there can never be too many qeustions bro genuinely the more questions the better. I FUCKIGN LVOE YAPPING

i dont think hes there for the exact moment he dies. it would have been too hard for him but also bc of their soul bond . its just smth thats never been seen before. there Could be some complications if hes too nearby while dms soul is trynna ascend. they dont know that . they dont have Any basis for comparison . and this afterlife shit isnt a game 2 dm LMFAOOOO so i reckon petey respects his wishes gladly .

however he is 100% there for dms funeral . i reckon its very small. very humble. exactly how he would have wanted it . like Nothing could stop him from attending that funeral bro. i reckon he attends in his true form tho not in mortal disguise . he can make himself invisible to mortals anyway so hes kinda just there. he doesnt want to deal with the people at the funeral . so he wouldnt be in his mortal disguise. i reckon lp would go into his mortal disguise tho . just to talk to the other people abt dm . copign in diff ways yk.

ok rest under cut bc this response is long LOLLLLL

tbh i think he would ask for a final possession . hes about to die . yolo yk. hes not above doing anything at this point

when he possesses him for the last time i reckon dms body starts crying. and dm is like why arey ou crying ? and peteys like ur the one whos crying idiot . Plausibly it oculd be either of them. its their last possession and they know it .

ultimately its not clear whos the one that started crying . their soul bond has gotten to such a level such that their consciousnesses are Very hard to distinguish . whenever dms body does something its almost impossible to tell if it came from pt or dm or if that distinction even exists in the first place .

i think dm recognizes that pt was . his life partner . and that he was one of the most important people in his life . and that he made him happy . and ig thats what love is right . and he realizes allat like right before he dies.

i reckon he tells him too. but not explicitly . its more like a. thank you for being in my life. kinda thing. which is like basiclaly the same thing as saying i love you and kissing with tongue considering all the repression that lays the foundation of their relationship

again right before he dies the gates of repression holding all his feelings breaks and it all comes out basiclaly . not in a crazy flood bc theres like a even bigger even stronger repression dam holding his deeper bfeelinsg back still. but some of the more. lighter ones. he verbalizes .

as for demons dying . i think its more like demons represent certain kinds of sins . im thinking of peteys sin being smth like excessive blind loyalty. just becasue thats the sin that made him fall. and its like they die when that concept. just fails to exist. so yes they can techincally ""die naturally"" just. basiclaly doesnt happen ever. so theyre esentially immortal

demons can also just be killed . the more insignificant of a concept you represent, the easier it is to kill you (weaker + less protection from hell) and the easier it is for another demon to fill in the gaps until your replacement shows up. yk??

when they die they just cease to exist. theres no after after life or anything .

as for post dm death . dm was eligible for the highest level of heaven and he took it . which im thikning is smth like ceasing to exist or reincarnation or smth along those lines.

essentially whatever afterlife you choose is the one you get locked in. Forever. and dm is So tired. he doesnt wanna continue existing as dm anymore. hes lived long enough. hes so tired. and he knows if he chooses a lower level of heaven its smth hes gonna be stuck in and he knows hes gonna get tired .

heaven is like a fucking . society without capitalism i guess. but ig also the people in heaven have no physical needs. they just work driven by . their own motivation. vut essentialy everyone in heaven has a job . theyre all angels . they get tasks assigned to them and because these people are in heaven theyre the type to be happy to take on their assignments . its hard to describe how i think about heaven but esentially thats. kind of it ????????????? so yeah theyre conscious.

THANK YOU FOR THIS ASK!!!!! I LOVE YAPPING

[natsmagi]

the red string of fate is sooooo important to switch, not just because of the ntmg stuff but to the group as a whole. There is often a highlight of its importance between natsume and tsumugi because as kids they had direct conversation about it, and tsumugi was very entranced by the idea, but it includes sora too.

while ntmg have alot of the explicit red string stuff, themes of fate and being destined to be together is expressed between all 3 members. And this is because both sora and tsumugi are tied to natsume in the past. natsume is the literal red string of fate for this unit and that is what his design and hairstyle represents. them crossing paths with natsume when they were kids was the thread for the future being bound

in wish, they tried to justify tsumugi cutting his hair by claiming natsumes already cut his, when he still very obviously has the red string. and the red string is not tied to just these two. its tied to sora aswell. it is very weird to hyperfocus exclusively on tsumugi and his hair in this regard when he isnt even the red string. its natsume.

it is especially weird because tsumugi said that if natsumes hair ever got cut, tsumugis would be the substitute of the red string to tie them back together. Natsumes hair never got cut. the red string never got cut. the three of them meeting again at yumenosaki was because natsumes string didnt get cut. Thats the magic of their encounter. their galaxy destiny coming to fruition.

wish exclusively focuses on tsumugis part in this dynamic and dumb natsume down to oblivion so they have plausible deniability for the obvious design choices. the story tries to gaslight you into thinking tsumugi made a new wish when switch formed (to be happy with natsume and sora) but this just isnt true? its believable, sure, but factually not what happened. we know for a fact his wish was fulfilled in wonder game, as natsume asks why he doesnt just cut his hair already if it was for some gankake, as they shouldve dispelled all cause for worry. and earlier we had the line "'and so the two of them lived happily ever after', huh?" "? sora-kun included, its three of us, no?" "i know that already you dummy" explicitly stating that it was something that excluded sora. and then in the epilogue is when we get the childhood scene, where ntmg wish to become happy together. That was the wish. that was what tsumugis hair was tied to. and despite the wish being fulfilled he just liked his hair now and wanted to keep it. especially since sora had complimented it

basically what im trying to say: tsumugis hair is tied to a promise he made as a kid. natsumes hair is the red string of fate that ties the unit together. these are two separate things, but they overlapped in ntmgs backstory which can lead to them being incorrectly viewed as one and the same. wish disingenuously frames both tsumugis promise and natsumes red string, acting as though its tsumugi whos the red string when he has no past with sora and that his wish was formed when switch came to life and was "to be happy with natsume and sora." i am sure this would be a genuine wish tsumugi would have, but it is not the wish thats tied to his gankake as established in wonder game.

It is also weird for this to be the wish tsumugi claims to be a curse, only to then make the exact same wish again at the end? i had initially thought tsumugis wish in the end had been tweaked to include sora now instead of just ntmg, but no, that was apparently the initial wish the whole time. at least thats what the story wants you to believe despite it being factually incorrect

[atiianeishaunted]

before we get into the actual post, I need to have a lot of preamble and stuff, pretext or whatever just so people dont assume the worst! also probably will add to this and clean it up later on when im not exhausted lmfao

Trigger warnings: grooming, familial abuse, and things adjacent to that, those are the two major ones though, and obviously this is not a shiro safe zone. you are not being held at gunpoint to read this post, read it at your own discretion. nothing is explicit or like graphically described because why the hell would i do that

This is from the perspective of someone who has been groomed and abused by a family member. This is NOT a proshipping thing nor is this a place for proshippers to jump in and romanticize what i am about to discuss. Also I am autistic and have been nitpicking this show to pieces for 6-7 years now, this is just something I've personally noticed.

I am not saying ANY of this was intentional by dreamworks, im not delusional, but whether they intended it or not the pieces ARE there, the subtext IS there! "They didnt mean it like that" or "They just didnt show it" is not going to change my stance, see the previous sentence.

all i ask of you is that you hear me out please, let me cook. also this will be a mess, just bear with me okay!! this post isnt like an absolute guide to my take as i do not have the capacity to do that but moreso like "rewatch the show with this in mind youll see what i mean"

I have no clue how to start this but with the fact upon recent rewatches, I have grown a distaste for Shiro due to how he's genuinely just a bad person. His whole character is just like sucking the government's dick yk and being one of the good gays, i wont get into that here, theres a whole other rant i posted like months ago about him that covers that area of him being a bad person and my pure hatred for the "space dad" title the fandom had given him.

With that being said, i don't think about him often clearly as he irritates me but like he's always lurking in the back of my mind, you know those itches on the palm of you hand you gnaw on because itching wont work but biting doesn't do shit either, yeah like that. I've kind of always held the belief he's a groomer, not in /that/ way, more like grooming Keith into being a perfect soldier and tool for him to use and project onto however upon recent reflection and rewatching the show, i have come to the conclusion that the subtext of the show (INTENTIONAL OR NOT) (HEAVY EMPHASIS ON THAT!) has him fitting both definitions of grooming.

His and Keith's dynamic will always be inherently unhealthy, Shiro is not a good guardian to Keith at all and makes it clear that Keith isn't someone he genuinely cares about, even in their softer moments, Shiro is just manipulating him / using manipulation tactics. He preyed on an isolated, grieving kid who clearly needed support and used that mental state to his advantage, arguably worsening Keith's state and driving the poor kid insane. Not to mention the fact we discover later on that Shiro was hiding his relationship with Keith.

When Adam is arguing for Shiro to stay on Earth, he doesn't mention Keith at all, only himself and Shiro's health. You'd think Adam, Shiro's boyfriend, would know about a kid Shiro had taken in and would bring up the fact that Shiro has a kid relying on him but he doesn't. Because he didnt know. The Holts dont know about Keith either despite Shiro being very involved in their lives. (side note,, matt and keith.. u shouldve been besties u feral men.. . we lost so hard..) Not even that, literally NO ONE acknowledges that they have a connection besides Keith. Keith is the only one to label him as family, as his brother, but Shiro explicitly avoids labeling things or reaffirming the label, which seems harmless vaguely i suppose until we get into the next point. Like what do you mean you dont tell anyone you're attached to this kid. Why are you so scared of clarifying or saying something. Why would you be so afraid to admit you took in a kid? hm???

(also before i get to the next point id like to add just now the fact shiro frequently brought keith out into the middle of nowhere which is. insane. now that i think about it. wdym you only interact with him when you're very separated and alone from everyone else. what the FREAK. most of their interactions/genuine acknowledgement of their relationship is when they are isolated. frowns. this is so sinister im ill.)

Shiro's romantic relationships, which we only see two of them, shows he has a specific preference for those who blindly do what he wants without questioning him or fight back. He broke up with Adam (willingly abandoned him) and never acknowledges him again beyond a quick scene of him looking at Adam being confirmed dead on a screen, the scene of Adam's argument, hes openly pushing against Shiro and mentions he cannot wait for Shiro again, he cannot keep doing this. And Shiro never mentions him, not once, throughout the show unless its a scene with Adam. Curtis is his second partner and husband who we actually meet before the finale where it shows them getting married, and you wanna know all we see of Curtis? him blindly following orders by Shiro. And I think one clip of him working out in Kinkade's vlog(?).

Keith is super devoted to Shiro, its constantly brought up even in the handbook (which isnt. very reliable but still) where he talks about Shiro as if Shiro is the only thing in existence and basically his god which lines up with the show. Keith borderline worships the ground Shiro walks on and Shiro eats that shit up, thats his /type/. He picked Keith very intentionally. We discover that Keith's worst fear is Shiro (its implied at least) in season 2 episode 8, Keith passes out and hallucinates Shiro. Its important to note this is a hallucination first of all due to the fact this is how he views Shiro. His brain pulled from his interactions/memories of Shiro.

Shiro's behavior isnt met with Keith's usual lashing out or anger we see him use when the others are mean to him. he looks Resigned, exhausted, hurt and scared. He isnt confused, he isnt surprised Shiro is acting like this, hes simply resigned. Implying this is something hes actually experienced outside hallucination land.

This happens again when Clone Shiro and him fight, Keith doesn't lash out, he avoids hurting Shiro, none of the words coming out Shiro's mouth are met with the intended reaction. Keith constantly jumps to a fawn response around Shiro, constantly spouting "I love you" whenever Shiro's upset which is not normal behavior for Keith. At all. Everyone else is met with anger and him snapping but when it comes to Shiro, hes suddenly very anxious and tries to appeal to him as if thats what he was taught to do / thats what Shiro wants from him.

Keith's attachment and behavior towards Shiro is not normal at all. If Shiro was a responsible non ill-intentioned adult he would've nipped things in the bud, established a healthy bond with Keith and made sure to redirect him but he does not. He allows Keith to spiral over him and consistently encourages it.

Keith was like 13 max. When they first interact (timeline wise), Keith wasn't scared of Shiro, literally stole his car, snapped at him, etc. What did Shiro do to him? What the hell happened!!!

That is all I got for now, will probably clean this up later and add to it but like 4 people wanted me to post this and i dont wanna keep people waiting so . gestures vaguely. theres the gist of things. rewatch the show as i said at the start, youll understand what im saying better.