#'it shouldn't be this hard right

[coquelicoq]

it's about...longevity? stability? it's about natsume believing he'll be somewhere long enough to plant flowers and see them bloom. it's about him taking touko seriously when she asks him to tell her what flowers he wants to plant. it's about making something with his own hands, building a future with the fujiwaras. it's about him repairing a rundown home for someone else, restoring it because it's beloved to them, because it's the home of someone they love. it's about him seeing touko's joy and thinking about the youkai saying we'd like to look upon her happy face forever. it's about the box garden making him think of the fujiwaras' garden and his parents' garden, about the flowers being both the memory of flowers that bloomed there before, and the flowers that he and the youkai planted earlier that day. it's about him waking up in both worlds with sensei. it's about touko finding the petal in his hair. it's about him feeling how he falls short and the youkai saying, but you have such gentle hands...

[spiritsong]

After seeing @felassan's post about there being two different versions of Neve and Taash's cards, I needed to sate my curiosity and went digging to see if I could different versions of the other companions as well.

Lo and behold, there are! I found them for every companion except for Emmrich. There's no way to say with absolute certainty which is the old version and which is the new; hopefully we can get some confirmation on this.

For the time being, I went ahead and marked the differences for those who have trouble spotting this sort of thing. Hopefully it's not too overwhelming for the ones that are very marked up, but I wanted to include some of the more mundane changes as well.

Neve — The biggest changes are the crossed leg (making her prosthetic more visible) as well as the metal rivet detailing on her outfit (see: the collar, the shoulder pads, the sleeves, the skirt portion). Some of what I'm calling the more "mundane" technical changes include the lighting and shadows on her staff, her nose, and her chest.

Taash — The most notable difference here is the coins (I didn't circle all the individual coins but you get the point) and the dragon in the background. In one version, the eye is more distinct, and a bottom row of teeth have been added to the dragon's jaw. There have also been changes made in the shading of her face. Her body shape (namely, the torso and her arms) have also been changed, as well as the general shape of the "spikes" on her hips and her shoulders.

Harding — Just a couple changes here. Her eye is more white/ghostly looking in one version, and the shading on her face and neck have changed.

Lucanis — LOTS of differences. They're pretty inconsequential, by which I mean there hasn't been any added/removed/changed symbolism in his card. The shading on his nose has changed, as well as the shading on his collar, hand, forearm, armpit (didn't circle this one oops), hips, and hip dagger. The purple "wisps" have changed in shape here and there. One of the orbs in the upper left have moved, and there is another orb above that one which has been removed/added.

Davrin — Just a few changes with Davrin, though they are big ones. His face/head has been changed, and the vallaslin has been redrawn. The scar on his eyebrow has also moved slightly.

Bellara — Bellara's head has shifted and her neck elongated/shortened. There are stars in the background and around her arm in one version.

As for Emmrich, I mentioned I could only find one version. I did compare the image we currently have with what I believe is the earliest Emmrich art that was shared with us (a cropped version of his card) by overlaying the two on Photoshop and didn't see any differences.

And that's it! You might have also noticed that some of the versions on the right hand side have a white line at the top of the image. Make of that what you will.

(People viewing this post on PC will have an easier time quickly clicking back and forth between the images to spot the difference. If you're on the mobile app and care enough to do so, you might have an easier time saving the images and flipping through them in your photo album. At least I know it's easier if you have an iPhone, I don't know about other models.)

[lizasweetling]

my brain blanked out of sheer elation on this one, so today's has thematically appropriate colored text

"the Vessel is not the Mind!" = Castle Says Trans Rights

[the-real-list-of-ominous-threats]

not a threat but uhhh do any of yall play tf2 and would any of yall want to. play it with me?

[bizarrelittlemew]

i was hoping to make a post like this under happier circumstances, but here goes.

as some of you know, everything with the cancellation and renewal campaign has happened right on top of the worst part of my mom's cancer treatment (plus the show was cancelled on my actual birthday 💀). i won't go into details, but it's been tough. lots of ups and downs, mostly downs, luckily ending (for now) on as much of an up as circumstances allow. the whole thing has been weirdly tied to the cancellation for me, kind of amplifying every feeling. the grief got mixed up, and there was so much of it - mourning the loss of the kind of future i thought i'd have with my mother and the time we might not get, mourning the end of a show that means so much to me and is such a big part of my life. different types of grief, sure, and of different magnitudes, but in one big ugly swirl. i sort of had a breakdown right at the start of february, and it was because of news about my mom, but it morphed into my brain telling me everything i'd ever written was shit and wanting to delete it all. stuff like that, spilling over.

anyway. i was holding off on writing this post to see if the show got picked up by someone else. but i still want to say it. because what also spilled over was the support and community from this fandom, and being in this space (despite the rough times and high emotions) helped me through it, because of all of you here. whether we talk regularly, or you left a comforting reply or simply a like on one of my posts about having a hard time (i tried to keep them few), or wrote a nice comment on a fic, or said something funny or nice or insightful in the tags of a gifset, or was active here (or on twt) in any way, talking/sharing/creating stuff about the show - THANK YOU.

you all helped me through all the ups and downs, and i am so grateful. thank you for being here, listening, distracting, helping me feel some joy despite the horrors. i love you and i love this incredible show and all it has brought and will continue to bring and inspire, and although it should go without saying, i'm not going anywhere. just do me a favor and give yourself a big ol' hug from me, and know that you made a difference for some random guy on the internet (but in reality for many more, and for this fandom as a whole, just by being here and being you) 💕

[caffstrink]

Cain and abel sealed the fate of all siblings in history

[goditsmeagain]

buck realising his feelings à la the new girl 'its nick' scene because this man will not question the platonic nature of his undying love unless someone points it out to him

[deservedgrace]

it is so frustrating to me when people only learn to be empathetic or care about something when it personally happens to them or someone they care about

and like, yes, obviously i'm glad when people learn better and do better, and i don't want to shame people that are now doing better because ultimately it's not helpful and changing at all is a good thing and i do want to acknowledge and celebrate that

but also why did it take you needing an abortion and almost dying to become pro-choice and advocate for abortion access? why could you only see the humanity in queer people when your brother came out? why do you only view racism as a real issue now that you're friends with a person of color?

why do things have to personally impact you for you to give a shit?

[dykedvonte]

wanted to say I appreciate your nuanced takes on MW and especially Curly. i don't get the claim that the fandom is full of Curly apologists when majority (esp yt and tiktok) say he's worse than Jimmy. Yes there's commentary about bro culture defending people, he def messed up in trying to placate Jimmy (tbh "we'll fix this" sounded more like trying to keep someone prone to outbursts like Jim calm and not hurt Anya/himself) but I don't think he did nothing to help Anya, since she continued to confide in him and he had less than a week to resolve it before the crash (I also don't get everyone saying he knew for ages when it seems like Anya told him that same week). I get Jimmy's a pos but saying stuff like Curly should've known he'd crash the ship or that Jim had a criminal record he ignored, reducing them to obviously horrible villain and willfully ignorant sidekick feels like a disservice to the game. If your best friend turned out to be horrible, what would you do in a confined space in the span of a few days to respond? I'd say some of the horror comes from trying to do good but ultimately failing, Curly's state after the crash is meant to be tragic horror not revenge/punishment

Thank you and this is what I want to get across.

A lot of information we have to supplement when it comes to how long things have been happening on this current ship. I think people try to add on to the horror and negligence by making things more obvious so it can feel like it was easier to avoid when, true to life, its not. Jimmy clearly didn't deserve or appreciate what Curly did for him in getting him the job, but do you think if Jimmy was that big of a menace on Earth he would've given him a position where he could have that level of power over people's lives? There's something in the fact he specifically chose to pick a position so close to himself where he could watch Jimmy.

I hate the bro code argument because that is a whole can of worms people really don't get. That sort of mentality is born from the general respect and preference of male matter over female ones. Curly is clearly not that guy, he is absent minded about the issue and inadvertently dismissive but he clearly believes Anya, he just can't understand what she's going through. It's an onslaught of information that no one really reacts right to. Additonally, the entire discussion of her assualt plays to heavy into the idea that there is fault outside of the perpertratior when it comes to SA. It's too close if she only did this or if Curly had protected her better but the fact of the matter is Jimmy did what he did. He did it before any of the conversations with Anya about it and it's why her behavior seemed to change so drastically in those last two days.

He has other conflicting thought and while his role as a Captain should've taken over, people act like it's not a very human thing to have such a toxic presence cloud your judgement. It is never easy to separate friend from coworker once that connection is formed, you want to help them, especially if they were friend first and for a long while like in this case. It's not right, but people act like it would be easy when the game clearly points out that no choice is easy to make, especially when you have to make it for more than one person. You have the weigh the consequences, look at all the options and make a plan. People can headcanon and decide how long things where happening, but if we look at what we were presented through the characters eyes, the only person given time to do that was Jimmy.

He waited two months after the crash to appoint himself Captain. Every time a problem was brought up he immediately took action and refused to sit on it and find a better solution. I think it's important to look at the warped way Jimmy takes initiative where Curly didn't as it works as a good contrast of why you don't just run in to "fix" things. The quickest and easiest option may not be the safest or most beneficial. I think some thoughts on the game suffer from the black and white thinking the game doesn't operate on along with us being voyeurs. We see what exactly led to what but the characters don't. They don't have the hindsight and foresight we do and even ours is scrambled by the non-linear story telling.

Like it's hard to talk abuou those grey zones without sounding like an apologist because you're explaining why taking responsibility isn't easy. It's not and it's weird to act like it would be in a scenerio that led up to the events of the game knowing what we know. We see all these characters in such isolated moments with various things before, in between, after and even during we aren't privy too. The idea that Jimmy is worse than Curly heavily banks on the words Jimmy was saying to Jimmy before he crashed the ship. That whatever happened on the ship was his responsibility to bare, which is true due to his position. But, are they not still not responsible for taking the actions Curly then must bare?

Like i feel like people think that these are situation that become easier with age or when you are in a postion of authority and they aren't. You don't lose your biases or gain some sudden knowledge that makes it easier. It just becomes more tiring as you keep dealing with it. I would be first in line to say Curly fucked up and should've done more but the idea he knew how bad it could get or he really saw the worst in the people around him and ignored it pretty much ignores a huge aspect of his character and the game.

[ramblebramblefun]

He hasn't been expecting any gratitude. If you do anything expecting gratitude from Kacchan, you are, as Kacchan himself would say, too stupid to live. Izuku's useless not witless.

It's just that...

Well, the first thing that happened when they both got to Aldera the next day was that Kacchan had had to re-establish himself as it's undisputed king; several people that Izuku does not care to dwell on had taken Kacchan's televised ordeal as a sign of his weakness.

Kacchan's a lot of things. Weak is not one of them.

The second thing that happened, related to the first-

"Are you even listening-"

Today's would-be Deku-botherer is abruptly and unceremoniously blasted into a wall, coincidentally away from Izuku.

"You a fucking vulture, huh?! You like eating other people's leftovers?!"

Kacchan stands over the other bully with both palms smoking.

"Bet you're gonna die in a ditch," he sneers sweetly. "Bet your mom's gonna be real fucking proud."

There is suddenly a frighteningly neat little hole in the wall next to Haruto's head, and the boy scrambles.

Izuku waits until he's around the corner to breathe.

"Kacchan's control is getting really good."

"Shut it, Deku," Kacchan snarls, with all of the venom but none of the bite that he used to.

He doesn't even turn his palms in Izuku's direction.

Izuku shrinks back anyway. It wouldn't do to give the game up now, so close to the end. He needs to keep this up at least until his last hopes are dashed on one of UA's gym floors.

Kacchan glares at him for a good long while. Izuku cowers obediently.

Once he's satisfied that Deku, at least, still knows his place in the world, Kacchan stomps off with his usual stride and the rest of the hallway sighs in relief.

Chatter starts back up again, smiles return, and not one person dares to look in Izuku's direction.

...

It's nothing new. It's how it used to be, anyway. Except that now, Izuku has been been left in one piece, not even a bruise to wince over.

Kacchan... Really is amazing.

[falconearring]

why does etho wear a mask in your au? also love that it's one of those covid face masks lol, i love how you kind of "modernised" their designs, v v cool

(although I do miss Joel's green streak)

Hey hey!

It's unfortunately nothing scandalous, his teeth are a bit crooked and he would rather keep his mouth covered. He started wearing face coverings as a sort of accessory in early high school and just never stopped. If asked, he usually makes some absurd statement; "It was crazy, a polar bear bit the tip of my nose off", or "I drank shoe polish and it made my lips shrivel up" but he's just uncomfortable with the possibility of someone seeing him smile.

Here he is without his mask on, although it feels highly illegal to have drawn!

(On the subject of Joel's colored hair streak I miss it too!! If I remember correctly the main reasons I didn't keep it was because I felt too many characters had dyed hair, and it sort of draws your eye onto him because it's such a high contrast. He lives on in my heart, if I ever do any pre-apocalypse artwork of him I'll probably include it because it's such a banger physical trait)

[mewkwota]

There, now you can tell them apart. (They look the same)

I messed up on how I wanted to draw the twins' hair in that last comic-- I started the silly little tufts on the wrong side-- and it bothered me so much I had to draw these out to soothe my pain.

[nyxypoo]

ever just stay up questioning how tsubaki is gonna end up sounding? no? just me? okay...

[tj-crochets]

Hey y'all, weird question time again! I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this one, but asking anyway: If you are having severe muscle cramps/knots/tension all over your body and go to a doctor/urgent care/hospital for them, assuming the doctor believes it's something that needs treatment, the only things they can give you are anti-inflammatories, pain relief, muscle relaxers, or like an IV to rehydrate you if it turns out to be caused by dehydration, right? I know those are three very broad categories of treatment, I'm not asking for specifics within those categories, just if there are options outside of them (I am allergic to NSAIDs, already on corticosteroids for unrelated reasons, probably shouldn't have muscle relaxers or stronger pain meds for "my blood pressure looks for any excuse to crash" reasons, and am staying on top of hydration and electrolytes, but this round of muscle cramps is bad, even for me)

[uncanny-tranny]

If you truly want to do what's best for mentally ill people, you have to learn that you often won't be able to separate the "salvageable" parts of ourselves with our illnesses, and you can't pretend like we are sane people underneath the façade of insanity, like we can flip a switch and magically erase the differences that make us "disordered"

[koka-mi]

I FINALLY FULL COMBO'D IT LET'S GOOO!!!!! a little more normals than I would like (6) but at least I full combo'd it!!! that's all I care about at this point xD