#“love it when problems solve themselves”

[hailturinturambar]

Does Sauron fear rejection and abandonment?

I do not elaborate this text according to the human or mortal concepts of the book. But I treat this analysis according to a vision of a selfish and narcissistic being.

Beginning in the First Age, when Morgoth betrayed his brothers, the gods, and corrupted other beings of lesser power, he departed from Valinor. Sauron, formerly Mairon, abandoned his former master and swore fealty to Morgoth. Sauron is now obsessed with gaining power and approval. He is his most loyal and devoted captain. But is that enough?

Like a child, Sauron wants to prove his worth. When Morgoth is destroyed, his environment of trust and security is shattered. He is now on his own and is his own master. Without Morgoth and his influence, Sauron needs the orcs.

Not only for their power and numbers, but he needs someone who sees him, who is willing to sacrifice themselves for him. He is clearly insecure, and it shows. He keeps asserting himself and trying to prove that the orcs need him, as he needs them.

When this love and devotion are denied them, he must use fear to contain their revolt. He must assert that without him, they are nothing and alone in the world. But are they really, or does this reflect Sauron's own fears? They are many, and Sauron is but one.

His death proves that his fears, justified or not, were confirmed.

Sauron now, after ages of suffering, has found a new form. A new way to deceive and manipulate. And that is what he has been doing since his return, deceiving mortals that he is one of them and has lost everything. He has indeed lost, but he has his share of blame. But he is unable to understand this.

Now we are introduced to Galadriel, the elf who has hunted him since the beginning of time. Deceiving her is the pinnacle for him, an achievement. Leading the person who fights against it to the darkness. With Galadriel, he manipulates her, makes her believe that he matters and that above all, that she needs him, and not the other way around.

Galadriel intrigues him. She is a being of light, but she knows and is attracted to darkness. Sauron, like Halbrand, uses lies to convince her, forges a false relationship of friendship and possible feelings so that she trusts him.

He deceives the people of Númenor and Galadriel. We then see his anger at the end of the first season when Galadriel rejects him. He is unable to comprehend that she does not accept his vision and is determined to fight him to the end and never be on his side. Galadriel trusted Halbrand and Sauron is her enemy.

We now move on to Celebrimbor. Sauron needs him to get the rings. Once again he cannot solve his problems and he needs someone by his side. Morgoth, the orcs, Númenor, Galadriel. He then becomes what Celebrimbor needs, he is what he knows to be his greatest desire and dream.

When Celebrimbor sees through the deception, he abandons Sauron. And Sauron is rejected once again. Sauron has a long history of reacting aggressively when rejected. He murdered the orcs in the prologue of season two, drowned Galadriel in season one. When rejected, he tries to inflict maximum suffering on his victims.

Then he murders Mirdania. Not only does he instill fear in Celebrimbor and distrust among his people, he takes revenge and discards the last person who might change sides. He abandons them before he is abandoned. Sauron needs to cause maximum suffering if his subjects will not follow him of their own free will.

The final blow to Celebrimbor reflects the way Sauron reacts impulsively and aggressively in moments of anger and bitterness. He is "the shadow of Morgoth" and this infects him with anger. Always a shadow, a follower, always an apprentice hidden in the shadow of his master. Though wicked and cruel, he is always the second, the one remembered as someone else's follower, never recognized for his own deeds.

Are his tears real? We know Charlie said it wasn't in the script, but let's look at them in the context of the story. He was faking it, but for whom? Celebrimbor was dead and he was alone, there was no one to fool. Or were his tears for the loss of the last person who shared his hopes and ambitions?

After recovering the rings from men, Sauron once again tries to win Galadriel over to his side. Another one of his desperate attempts. He needs her, he needs her by his side. Sauron, as described by Gandalf, “There is only one lord of the ring, and he does not share power”, But he needs loyal followers by his side.

Sauron is always trying to be indispensable to keep those he wants by his side. The new master of the orcs, a mortal king, an emissary of the Valar, the one who will heal Middle-earth.

When Galadriel chooses the ring, Sauron becomes expendable. If she will not be by his side, she must die. So he recovers the ring and destroys those who rejected it.

Sauron shows Galadriel those she has trusted and lost to break down her defenses, destroying her until she can only rely on him.

He tries to seduce Galadriel, as he did with Celebrimbor and the rings. He shows her who she could be, become, if only she would stay by his side. He makes her see how much she needs him, when he is the one who needs her.

Galadriel chooses death to save Middle-earth. She chooses death to save all those Sauron would hurt if he got the ring. She chooses death over him. And he believes she will be by his side, but it is she who deceives him this time. After all the abuse and betrayal, his mind is closed to his influence.

At the end of the second season, Sauron recovers the rings from men. But is that enough? He has the orcs on his side, but out of fear, out of a desire for power. Is that enough? Power can always be taken away, another powerful being can always arise.

Sauron is feared and powerful, but he is doomed to rule the world alone. He is doomed to never return to Valinor, to never meet his master again, and never to be followed by those who are still marked by the light. Sauron will spend eternity alone, accompanied only by fear.

Sauron needs to corrupt everyone in Middle-Earth, so that he will be surrounded by beings with no will of their own who will do nothing but follow his orders and his command.

So, does Sauron fear rejection? I believe so. Not as a mortal, or as a lover, but as a being who only has power on his side and nothing else.

We know how Sauron's dark path ends. Alone and destroyed, like all those he destroyed for not standing by his side.

[interdimensionalpancakes]

the main reasons why i ship coai

to me, coai/ shinshi is just the healthier ship, filled with trust, understanding, and mutual interests. it's also the one ship i can see lasting long term in the real world.

they are partners/ solve cases together: Ai likes when he rambles his deductions calling him a "sparrow" (file 713 & 714), though she isn't afraid to ask him for clarification if his explanations get too convoluted. He doesn't really need to help her understand the case, she can figure it out on her own most of the time (file 466-469, 656 [he smiled when he was listening to her deduction]) nor does she give up before she puts any effort into solving the problem first (file 548, 713). She actively contributes to his deductions and he always asks her if she has any ideas (file 287, 525, 664, 729). he can depend on her to stay calm under investigations (file 729) and come up with plans to protect/ help the DB if conan can't be there (file 549, 817). she shares his same investigative curiousity and isn't a bystander, sharing her biochemist background to help shinichi's deductions (file 1098).

they help each other's overcome their weaknesses/ fears: her trust-issues & self-blaming tendencies (file 189-191, 344-346), his impatience & impulsivity (file 429, 475). they put each other at ease when it comes to being paranoid about BO members in public (file 287, 289, 359, 624, 680, 741 [he asked if she wanted to sleep over at the detective agency??], 775, 1006). As for the lies regarding the BO between the two, shinichi said it best in file 341: "[Haibara's] not as tough as she looks." They protect each other because if haibara tells conan about the BO he'll be impulsive/ wanting to attack them immeadiately and if conan tells haibara BO stuff before he resolved it, her trust issues would go on overdrive. Though it should be noted that haibara eavesdropped on some things, so she understands that conan's hiding things from her, by nature that she's the BO "traitor" she's hiding things from shinichi.

they accept each other imperfections: they tease each other about being adults in a kid's body (file 515-517,724), shiho's age, his lack of tact, his tone-deafnesses, his relationship with ran, her fangirling higo, her aloofness/ sarcasm (file 680), etc. she loves being able to challenge him intellectually such as telling him to guess her favorite song and the code in file 491, while he's always up for the challenge (file 200) since she knows that shinichi likes puzzles.

he always notices and likes when she smiles (file 275, 292).

shinichi is protective of her and she's protective of him (file 238- 242, 346, 429, 582, 624, 681, 824, 1070) but not in a possesive way. he promised to always protect her and he kept it.

shinichi always knows when shiho looks like she's going to run away. he always hopes that she doesn't but he always runs after her anyways just to make sure (file 289, 346, 437, 817).

he defends her family when other people make negative comments about them (file 425, 1072).

they share interests other than the BO (soccer, pop culture, animals, music, history, etc.) but they're individuals first.

their relationship has boundaries: haibara respects shinichi's feelings for ran / navigates her jealousy rather gracefully (file 313, 999,1000). conan doesn't probe further about her past with gin when she doesn't want to answer (file 242). they keep each other in check (file 242, 515, 1091). they never force each other to reveal secrets they're not ready to share (file 341) and she can tell when he's suppressing his emotions/ concerns (file 609).

they rescue each other even though they can rescue themselves without each other (file 755,817). she can guess where he'll be/ gives him a spare antidote (file 654) and he always has a plan to get her to safety (file 429, 824). haibara can predict conan's behavior and vice versa (file 289, 430).

side note: it's canon that ran ships coai (file 876), which is hilarious because ai ships shinran (mainly out of denial/ love bc she wants shinichi to be happy/ ran looks like her sister so she wants her to be happy, but this is a whole seperate discussion). also the DB always noticed a vibe between coai, especially ayumi and Mitsuhiko.

for those interested, there's a parallel to shinran: in file 887, haibara ai guessed conan's phone passcode correctly on the first try. whereas it took ran in file 483 multiple tries just to get it correctly. in non-canon movie 16th, conan saw ran's underwear and said 'white' out loud, in canon file 714, he saw haibara's underwear and also said 'white' out loud and he got defensive when she called him a pervert.

[vixnovacoda]

Honeyed Lilac and Faded Dreams || Ch 1

Emmrich Volkarin x Rook

If you had asked Lothanni a year ago, never would she have expected to fall so madly in love with a human, let alone a necromancer. But, Emmrich Volkarin was the gentleman needed to thaw her frozen heart, and the necromancer to solve that which haunted her. This is a series of vignettes dedicated to Rook (Lothanni) and her relationship with Emmrich Volkarin as the two become closer than ever before.

Word count: 2.1k

[AO3 version here]

Sleeping was always easy. It was the dreams that followed after which were not. Though, to call them dreams is to undermine the visions that cursed Lothanni, but they weren’t nightmares. She believed calling it a nightmare was disrespectful for nightmares are fictitious beasts that the mind created out of fear.

This was real.

The screams were real. The fire was real. The pain.

Then it stopped – as it always did – with a rattling gasp for air and shaking limbs and a cold sweat like she had been running for her life over an endless landscape. Stilted and disoriented, Lothanni flung her hands out for the nearest object she could clutch on to, which in her poor excuse for a room within the Lighthouse was the edge of the sofa, as she blinked away the blurriness and all she could hear in those early moments was the pounding of her heart, followed by the catching of her breath that she took seething and behind gritted, chattering teeth. What a mess she must have looked like. But, at least no one was there to witness it besides herself. If there was one thing to know about Lothanni Aldwr-Lavellan, it was this: she refused to be a mess before any man or thing; it showed weakness.

“Darling?” Until him, a singular man that stood in her doorway. Emmrich Volkarin. He made her weak, turned her sweet. When he looked at her the way he did now, short of breath, hair dishevelled, shirt out of sorts, half undone; the picture of worry. A sore sight. It made what was remaining of her heart crack and crumble, sinking to the depths. All because he had rushed his way over to her room, to her, some Dalish Elf he had taken a liking to.

“Emmrich, what… Did I wake you?” Lothanni asked, a sharp rasp scratching against her throat as she spoke.

“A little, dearest. You had poor Manfred so concerned he went and fetched me. There was screaming. I am glad he did,” Emmrich replied in earnest, ambling over to her side and knelt when she would not budge or speak or linger on him a second longer. He was the last person Lothanni wanted around to see her like this. Her problems were her own. But, then he made contact with her, concern creasing his finessed features and how could she push back against him with force when those eyes caressed her shape with such reverence?

Trying to catch a glimpse at her state, Emmrich peered up at her. “Are you alright?”

She shook her head. “Yeah. I’m fine. Just a bad dream.” That’s all it ever was.

“Do you wish to talk about it?”

“I… I,” stammering, she raked the nail of her thumb back and forth across her thumb, jaw stiffening, clenching and unclenching, then dug into the side of her finger, and clenched and unclenched again. She didn’t know what to say. Couldn’t bring herself into telling him what she once had considered admitting. The words lost themselves before she could think. Until the welcome chill of metal froze her temperament with the gentle clasp of Emmrich’s hands on her own. Her problems were supposed to be her own, that’s what surviving in the forests had taught her. Only, he changed that.

“We don’t have to. I won’t force you to tell me anything that brings you discomfort,” consoled Emmrich.

“N-No, I want to,” proclaimed Lothanni. “I want to. It’s just.” He watched the rise and slow descent of her chest, her hand tensing up as old dreams became ineludible thoughts, only for it all to be soothed with a simple motion. Emmrich, saying nothing, drew his thumb along her hand in a circular shape, flesh against flesh, the way one may apply a balm to a burn. It was almost hypnotic. Damn, how she would slumber under his caring hand if it was not for the fact her dreams would only wake her again. She assumed the motion must have been something his mother used on him whenever little Emmrich was frightened of the things that went bump in the night. Little Emmrich who had to suffer with no one else that could repeat the same level of care his mother once used on him; an orphan that could talk about his parents death so easily. “How is someone supposed to utter a truth so shattering it could break the foundations of something they hold special?” she inquired and met him eye-to-eye where his loving shine wobbled in trepidation. Deep down there still was that little boy reliving the news about his parents all over again. Yet, it did not stop him from speaking.

“One tends to find the courage from somewhere within their heart,” answered Emmrich, the slightest waver and the slightest crack hiding within his voice.

It was him that took no time in bringing up the matter back at the Necropolis and she was thankful he trusted her enough to open up as such, that he chose her to confide in. But, here was Lothanni who struggled time and time again. Not because she didn’t trust him. No. Because she loved him.

She loved him and she was a coward.

Relinquishing, she placed a hand on his cheek. “You are far braver than I, Emmrich Volkarin.”

He stared at her as the warmth from his flushed face spread to her palm before looking to the side in his own way of saying ‘that’s not true’, a humble smile exaggerating the engraved lines of his face. But, he would never dare refute her on such matters. At least, not when there were other matters to discuss.

“Back to you?” Emmrich leaned into her touch.

“Back to me.” She took a deep breath. It was time. She could feel the quivering of her ribcage as she took in air and shut her eyes for a moment, holding and focusing on his touch. He was still here, after everything they both had been through, and he looked determined to stay like it was his sole sworn duty to be there for her come what may. She only wondered how long that might last.

“Right, well, um,” began Lothanni, “Every night, I get these… dreams. But, they’re more a memory than imaginary, and I can feel them too – well, only lately. Every night, I see fire. It’s everywhere, others, my clan, our camp, the forest, the halla; all consuming my vision. I can do nothing. Forced to watch as they scream. They. Always. Scream. Suffering. Needlessly suffering, and every night, I suffer with them. It-It’s my punishment.” Words fell out, she lost composure, could feel herself slipping from the precipice of sanity. Hints of a memory all rushing back while she spoke. The fire, the sights. The burning of her flesh, the sensations. The smoke in her nose, the smells. The screams. Loose curly wisps of her hair fell in front of her face, knocked out of place as she choked on a sob. It wasn’t until her mouth shut did they stop, leaving her a shaking mess once more.

Emmrich squeezed her hand in that way others so often did that was comforting, gentle yet firm. A reminder that he was still there. “Punishment?” he asked.

She nodded. “For surviving. For being why they all died.”

Bangles jingled while older hands went to cradle her face all so lovingly and, through the blur that swarmed her vision, he mumbled something so sweet it hurt her heart too much to hear. She could not, at that moment, understand why he was still there. Him and his soothing spirit should have left, not wiping away a single tear that fell and smudging it into her cheek with his thumb; he should have been disgusted. All this kindness and patience and unbotheredness, it made her want to pry the warmth of him off her as the way it was intended. She didn’t deserve any of this. “I should have died,” she cried, and rampant went the tears which ran from her face as her speech turned into a blathering heap. “Blood. So much. Th-There is so much blood on these hands. Why, why do you persist?”

“Lothanni—”

“Why?” exclaimed her, full of spittle, confusion, and displaced rage.

Her vision was limited, a vignette of tears, but she could just make out the sadness in Emmrich’s eyes and the shape of his brow that sat low atop them before taking a seat beside her  – even sat he was still taller, however, this time he chose to be on her level. Her shoulders heaved, body panting to keep up with herself.

He chose to get closer.

He chose to stay.

Suddenly, his head was pressed to hers with their foreheads rested against each other’s and the hands either side of Lothanni’s cheeks nestled their way, firm yet soft, into place, his fingertips entangling themselves in the sides of her scarlet strands. “Breathe,” he told her, less of a command and more of a guide as he breathed slowly and deeply for her to follow, and she did. Breathing in, and out, in, and out. The bitterness crumbling apart; her hands losing their prying grip. The tears came to a stop. The heavy wave washed away. 

She had fallen apart completely before him and he held her together; the missing piece to her puzzle.

Over and over, she repeated small mumblings of an apology while trying to straighten herself up because it wasn’t fair for him to be thrusted into dealing with all of that. It probably wasn’t what he was expecting at all when she told him it was a bad dream. A few errant tears escaped, and Emmrich would have none of it. Delicately, he brought his mouth to her tears, kissing away each and every one and then he spoke, the salt of her sadness lingering on his lips. “You don’t think I come with problems of my own?”

“I.” Lothanni sighed. “You don’t exactly give off the impression. You’re always so put together.”

“My love, you give me too much credence.” Emmrich bowed in a small degree out of humility. “I am fortunate to have had time and company to help me pick up the pieces from time to time. I’ve had practice. It is a misfortune that you think I would not do the same for you, but I will always be by your side,” said Emmrich softly like a murmured kiss against skin, the kind that made flesh rise and bump, and soothed the soul.

With peace came silence. A much needed exhale among all the chaos of moments prior. Under the refracting glow from the aquarium, Lothanni brushed her a knuckle along the side of Emmrich’s cheekbone and fixed the odd few stray grey hairs. She took the time to study him while they stayed there, a hair’s breadth away from each other, watching the ever shimmering light pattern danced over his form that revealed new things, such as this aching desire to not be left on her lonesome all over again.

Emmrich chuckled puzzledly. “Dearest?”

“Emmrich?” asked Lothanni. “Can you stay tonight, please?”

At that request, he did not waver. “Of course.” He smiled and the crow’s feet around his eyes fattened themselves at the softening of his face. Perhaps he had been waiting long for the opportunity; she had, after all, been frequently turning down any suggestions by staying up late for coffee with Lucanis until everyone else went to sleep, or maybe he was just being kind. Whatever the explanation, it mattered not. She wasn’t alone anymore.

“One day, when the haunts no longer rattle me, I’ll tell you what happened to my clan, the whole of it,” said Lothanni in a whisper to the collar of his shirt which she now buried her face inside.

“Whatever works for you. Know that you have no obligation to tell me, though,” said Emmrich, his arms finding their way around her back.

“I’m aware, but, still, it’s important to me. This is important to me, that you know this part of me.” Lothanni raised her head. “Because you’re important to me, vhenan,” declared Lothanni with a newfound conviction she had yet the courage to show Emmrich until now.

Emmrich Volkarin, he who held her not like she was some delicate Orlesian vase or wild animal, but a person. He who was afraid of death, yet did not leave despite knowing what she could do and had done. He who stayed. He who smelled of honeyed lilac and faded dreams. He.

He changed everything.

And for the first in a long time, sleep came easy and so did the dreams.

[shallow-wordsalad]

reading recent stories of Magic: The Gathering's lore has reminded me of the importance of avoiding the Idiot Ball when writing. the latest two chapters of Phyrexia: All Will Be One's story have been a sequential and rapid passing of the Idiot Ball from Kaya to Kaito to Elspeth and it lead very quickly to the villain getting what they wanted through no action of their own. we did a whole thing about going to the past, getting in contact with the person who originally beat Phyrexia, getting an extra copy of the ultra-bomb he used to destroy them, and bringing it all the way to New Phyrexia's portal-opening magic god-tree before Kaya went "hey what if this explosion hurts someone innocent". somehow that one freaking sentence was enough for Kaito to go "hey yeah wait this is a bad idea we shouldn't do this", and Jace - poor friggin' Jace - was just flabberghasted and left holding the bag going "buh - w, wait, hold on, we're already here, we HAVE the bomb, we're good to go!" but, nah, Kaya and Kaito made their moral decision in a split second and by god they're going to defend it come hell or glistening oil. and then, as if that's not bad enough, Elspeth catches up with them after Jace manages to finally activate the Sylex - doing the thing they were trying to do at the start of this entire extremely-lethal excursion - and SOMEHOW knew there was some kind of moral debate happening and that she disagreed with Jace. so he gets freaking stabbed, and she disappears with the bomb to blow it up somewhere else - somewhere where a lot more innocents are likely to get caught in the crossfire. or, since she took it to the Blind Eternities, possibly WAY WORSE - the entire argument was about not knowing if the Sylex's blast-radius could cross the Blind Eternities, so I guess we're gonna fuck around and find out? nice work fellas, we blew up innocent people and didn't even graze the robo-zombies we wanted to blow up in the first place. the same robo-zombies who are about to spread all over the Multiverse and kill everyone anyway.

I don't mind the villain winning, but the state of things in MtG's lore is such that Elesh Norn conquering the Multiverse is really more a testament to the absolute idiocy of the heroes than the ruthless efficacy of Phyrexia. it reads less like a masterstroke of villainous planning, or even just one crucial mistake at the worst moment, more like a D&D party who just couldn't get their shit together for so long that the DM just called it off with Rocks Fall Everyone Dies. this was a series of colossal fuckups and leaps of unfollowable logic, and somehow in pre-written story, someone managed to metagame information they shouldn't have had.

seriously, this? "Somehow, in that moment, she understood everything—what Jace had resolved to do, what was about to happen not just to Mirrodin but to the Multiverse itself. Elspeth saw, with perfect clarity, what needed to be done." this is garbage. yeah, SOMEHOW, Elspeth knew all this very specific stuff that everyone else only had just guessed at two seconds ago, and only decided upon one second ago. what do we need Jace for anyway, Elspeth is clearly some kind of mind-reading precognitive psychic on the level of someone reading a script a page ahead.

jesus christ. if you're going to have doubt and infighting among your protagonists, at least have it make sense. these idiots had an entire plot arc to think about the consequences of the Sylex's use, and only decided to question it at the very-literal last second with the worst conclusions possible. it not only cost the heroes a victory, but it cost the integrity of the story as a whole. this sucks.

[chimerafeathers]

there's an essay jumbled up in my brain about dunmeshi's beginning and how clever and deceptive it is as a sleight-of-hand trick that distracts the audience from the depth and scope of the worldbuilding and foreshadowing that's being set up the entire time by dangling zany characters and wacky dishes and biology fun facts in front of us, and how that serves to catch invested viewers off guard when those elements come to the forefront, but also how it works against it with other viewers wanting "more" and not seeing it because the plot bait isn't laid out up front

how people getting frustrated with the characters "not taking things seriously" is mirrored and refuted in the confrontation between Laios and Shuro. how the characters' attitudes aren't just a result of shallow low-stakes "comedy rules" where nothing matters, but are an extension of their personalities (Laios's nonstandard expression of emotions being offputting even to people he knows) and the world and social environment (adventurers being desensitized to death and injury because resurrection magic is commonplace). the way the party refers to "saving Falin" instead of "retrieving Falin's corpse," indicating that they still see her with full personhood, and how that phrasing leads to some readers/viewers believing that Falin is alive in the dragon's stomach, conscious of being slowly digested while the party carelessly fucks around "wasting time." how the weird tonal dissonance makes sense in-universe and yet is deliberately challenged more and more the deeper the party goes

all the character building and pieces of lore slowly weaving together the shape of the larger world, laying the groundwork for the major themes that will surface later. so much is right there in the "low-stakes" early episodes if you know what you're looking for (or pass the perception checks).

it can be so satisfying to see new viewers/readers pick up on the clues even in the earliest "simple" episodes, or notice new things and make connections yourself....and it can also be frustrating to see people dismiss oddities and dissonance as shallow or bad writing because they don't expect a "cooking anime" to have depth like that. why try to question and understand and peel back the layers when you don't expect there to be any layers?

why can't laios take things seriously for once?

[softshuji]

The idea of someone actually loving me, being excited to see me, spend time with me ,speak to me, thinking I'm pretty or smart and nice and not because they need something from me or they think I can provide something for them is so unfathomable to me that even if someone does love me I don't think I could ever believe it's because it's me and they really care for me and not cos they see something in me that doesn't really exist or a solution to their problems or something to use till the next person that provides what I can comes along.

[bylertruther]

i don't like season three when viewing it as a continuation of seasons one and two, but i do very much like season three when viewing it as the prequel to seasons four and five... hmmmmm.

[oc-cinematic-universe]

i do think i joke/talk a lot about joe and dara having a semi toxic relationship a lot because it is fascinating and it is true, and it is also . like, already done with that part in the comic. like chapter 7 was the worst of it. they don't get any worse from here they're gonna get way better from now on <3 both of them snapping at each other, and then taking a couple hours away from each other, and then being put in a life threatening scenario that takes much higher priority than their issues making them realize how fucking stupid this all is, was what they needed to start working on making shit better. their relationship is actually stronger than ever for the rest of the comic because the toxicity was only a lil bit about the relationship itself, it was more about the fact that both of them are very flawed people with a lot of hatred for themselves and it's the fact that they care about each other that made them want to actually self reflect and realize what they're unhappy with about themselves and start the process of being who they want to be

[shynerdwantscuddles]

Lol I lost a few followers over posting stuff about being Jewish and condemning antisemitism. Goodbye little hitlerites, you won’t be missed 💋

[lisbonsteresa]

eating glass licking rust etc etc

[pithyorangecurd]

There's something wrong with her, and it's her bitch of a best friend.

[pezpenser205]

me being largely nonhuman/antihuman and a lesbian, therefore being forced by my brain to be attracted to humans has actually allowed me to fully understand how men attracted women who say they wish they were lesbians are real and based and do not deserve the hate they get. like girl i get it thats literally how i feel about you.

no offense to the good humans out there #notallhumans <3

[pureconancommentary]

I actually feel really bad for this guy. The plot the audience is gonna be focused on is the murder and who-dun-it, but we don't learn the actual tragedy until the end of the case. But this guy already knows the tragedy is going on even before there's a death involved.

Like, because he's an old friend and not in the industry anymore, he's the only one Tatsuya confided in about the current situation with the band. About him being pressured to go solo and break away from the band, and he knows that Tatsuya doesn't actually mean any of the hurtful words he's constantly throwing around right now. He knows Tatsuya's being a jerk to make his friends hate him so that they won't feel bad about him not being in the band anymore. (Or, in general, he knows why Tatsuya is a jerk to the manager even outside of leaving the band, and probably wishes he were more direct about his feelings with her.)

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Stephenie Meyer's sci-fi novel The Host is like. it's almost so much. the alien bodysnatchers at the center of the plot are like Animorph's yeerks if they got really into cottagecore. no, they don't want intergalactic war and domination! they want intergalactic peace and domination! they make every planet they visit a peaceful socialist utopia and like, okay, yes, they have to violently take over the bodies of a planet's native inhabitants to do it. yes, they have to suppress the unwilling minds of their host bodies. yes they are for all intents and purposes committing a genocide of their chosen planets' initial inhabitants and then puppeting their husks around playing at homogeneous, sanitized versions of the cultures they destroyed. the alien main character mentions that even episodes of the Brady Bunch were scrubbed because they were deemed too violent. and they call themselves souls, which is so loaded on so many levels. impossible not to read into the spiritual connotations, especially when written by an author coming from the mormon church which so highly values mission trips. just by sympathizing with humans who don't want to be possessed, by helping them hide out and stay free, our protagonist becomes a pariah, an outlaw from her own society. peace is valued above all else but not peace for the colonized, who are meat to be processed. it's better this way. they had so much potential but squandered it with foolish violence so now we have the right to overtake them and make them live correctly. isn't it beautiful now? isn't everything perfect? there's like almost so much happening in this story except Stephenie's a fucking mormon so she never draws any meaningful connections to anything and the happy ending is that the alien brain parasite protag is gifted the body of a beautiful coma patient that she can "ethically" puppet around, easy peasy problem solved. also there's a fucking love triangle.

[microwaving-tesilid-argente]

reread my trio fic the other day and realised to my horror that my characterisation of them has flipped. again.

[neverendingford]

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