#( <— with mean and cruel intentions )

[moongothic]

You know I wasn't going to post about this, but the more I think about it the more it drives me up the walls

So when Luffy and co release Crocodile from jail, it's specifically under the threat that if Crocodile tries anything funny, well, Iva-chan has a trick up their sleeve to put Crocodile back in-line.

So what the fuck was that actually about? What is Crocodile's secret weakness? I'm specifically looking at the way this is phrased in the manga, because the anime's added dialogue kinda messes with what's implied here. But what Iva specifically says is that Ivankov in particular holds the key to one of Crocodile's weaknesses, but they'll stay quiet about it as long as Crocodile behaves himself ("Vataashi wa koitsu no yowami wo hitotsu nigitteru", a very clunky but literal translation could be "One of his weaknesses is within my grasp". The way Viz translated the line is a bit different so I'm not bothering with getting a cap of the panel, you wouldn't be able to tell how these lines were phrased in Japanese based on Viz's translations anyways) (The dialogue Toei added was Crocodile furiously shouting at Iva-chan, telling them to not say anything and Iva-chan reminding Croc to watch his tone or else they'll reveal Croc's past to everyone. A lot of people don't remember this was in-fact added by Toei, hence I wanted to clarify/remind what happened in this scene originally)

And now. Obviously. When Oda went out of his way to introduce a brand new character whose entire personality is being queer and their power is giving people magic HRT. And then like five chapters later re-introduces Crocodile. And tells us that these two have Secret Beef. And never proceeds to fucking tell us what the hell that was about. Yes, the natural conclusion one would come to would be that Crocodile is stealth trans. That is basic, good storytelling. You (re)introduce two characters, tell us they have beef, one has a very specific ability; you're supposed to connect these dots in your mind. So that now, if Oda revealed to us tomorrow that Crocodile was canonically trans, it would not surprise anyone because it's already been set-up in the story, by this very scene. It's a logical conclusion.

But. I'm becoming more and more convinced that Iva-chan's blackmail might actually not be about Crocodile being trans.

Like the general fandom assumption for the past 15 years has been that Crocodile's stealth trans, but we actually don't know he's stealth. He could be openly trans, and between that being a borderline requirement for Crocodad to be real (since he would've been a Shichibukai for years before Luffy was even born) and the possibility that his earring could specifically be a gay earring, like. Yeah. Crocodile could be openly trans. If Crocodile's perfectly happy to let the whole world know he's gay, then him being trans shouldn't have to be a secret either. We the readers could just be unaware of it because it wasn't relevant information to us, and his transition would be old ass news in-universe and not worth bringing up.

And thus, if Crocodile isn't stealth, then Iva-chan can't blackmail him by threatening to out him, becaus he can't be outted.

Now for a while I did considder that Iva-chan could've been actually threatening to detransition Crocodile if he tried anything funny. Surely he would hate that, so much so that he might not have wanted to even hear Ivankov suggest it. But thinking about it. Unless Iva-chan can use Armanent Haki or get Crocodile moisturized, they shouldn't be able to hit Crocodile actually. Like Croc's Logia makes him impossible to hit unless he specifically allowed himself to be touched. So even if Iva-chan tried to surprise attack Crocodile with Estrogen, Croc should just turn to sand automatically, the attack should not land.

Meaning Iva-chan shouldn't be able to detransition Crocodile against his will, at least not without Haki and we don't know if they can use it, so that can't be Crocodile's weakness either.

And so we have to ask the question. What the fuck is that weakness then that Ivankov mentioned?

All we really know is that Crocodile doesn't want this weakness to be brought up, it's a secret. And for all we know Iva-chan might be the only person in the world who knows about it.

And I just. Like.

There is one weakness, kind of a universal one that many people could have, one that has been brought up time-and-time again post-timeskip, one that has become more and more relevant in the story, especially now at the begining of the Final Saga.

A secret weakness.

If pregnancy is what cracked Crocodile's egg and he transitioned immidiately/soon after giving birth, then it's entirely plausible Iva-chan could know Crocodile had a secret child. And surely he'd want nothing more than for his child to be safe, not end up in trouble because of him. And Ivankov most certainly could put that child in danger, especially now that Crocodile was officially no longer on the World Government's side, there'd be no protection for the baby. All Ivankov had to do was leak the information out, that Sir Crocodile had a child, and anybody who had beef with him could get their revenge by attempting to find the child.

Like I'm just saying. This could line up nicely, actually

[mndvx]

CRUEL INTENTIONS — Theta (Episode 8) ››› John Harlan Kim as Blaise Powell

[aidenwaites]

the thing about harry du bois is that everything that harry du bois *can* say or do in the game, good or bad or rude or awkward or smart or sensible, whether or not its the option you chose, is in-character for Harry du Bois. its more as if you, the player, arent so much playing the game as Harry as playing the game as Harry's conscience

[anoras]

like ig davrin's vallaslin could be andruil if you squint but it's infinitely more interesting and telling about who he is if it's ghilan'nain. the big strong monster hunter is how he presents himself; the shepherd is what he is at his core

[smonk-wonk]

There is FAR more antisemitism right now than there is racism against Palestinians TRUST ME

Ok

[edoro]

Ngl I'm starting to feel like a nonzero amount of the fandom reaction towards Cazador, the general trend of "oh he actually isn't scary or intimidating at all, he's a whiny sniveling little bitch baby and it's embarrassing Astarion was so scared of him because of how non-threatening and laughable he is" is hmmm

maybe a bit based in the racist de-masculinization of Asian men and the way that they are often seen as impotent, weak, and incapable of being threatening?

[butmakeitgayblog]

I have a "What if" question that might sounds stupid, but I could totally be dumb and didn't catch the answer.

I'm reading your CI snippets and more specific the Bet pt. 2, they're kissing (beautiful moment) and Lexa tells Clarke that she has always wanted her (my heart is a puddle, great) but in the snippet where they fight because of CC (Cunt-Costia) Clarke actually ask a really interesting question: what would have happened if Costia never broke up with Lexa?

And yes, Lexa is super soft and vulnerable in her answer and she told Clarke (one of my favorite moment of ALL times, among all the ff I ever read) that she wouldn't survive losing Clarke (and that's why I think she'll be livid when Clarke does that accident with her car) but she never actually answer the exact question.

She told Clarke that right now she doesn't need to doubt their love because she would never cheat on her because she really loves her (and we know how much does that mean) and she couldn't image a life without her because she wouldn't survive it, but what if Costia never left?

Oo I love a good If/Then

Ok so, realistically, if Costia hadn't broken up with Lexa, they absolutely would've gotten married.

Raven was not lying that the two had been talking about the idea in the not-entirely distant future. And Lexa meant what she said when she told Clarke that she had been happy enough with Cos. Enough at least to choose that path for herself once upon a time. With Costia she was safe, and that's exactly what she wanted at that time. A wife who she more or less loved, who she was generally fond of and got along with, and who she was sexually compatible to. She had no real vulnerabilities with Costia. They had the same circle of friends, Costia had her own wealth and status that only helped amplify Lexa's own. Cos was exactly the kind of girl everyone expected Lexa to end up with, and she was perfectly fine with that.

She probably would've been unfaithful, but not because Lexa isn't a one-woman woman, but rather because eventually she would've felt bored and unfulfilled. Tho that would've been an understanding between them. Costia keeps whatever lovers she feels like having to herself, and Lexa would do the same. They'd be the quintessential Old Money marriage of two people who were together for fun, status, and convenience, with all of the usual bullshit that came along with it.

It would've been a shrewd marriage. A safe one.

One Lexa could never get hurt in.

Clarke would've kept going exactly how she was. She would've eventually straightened up enough to follow her father into finance and investment, and hated every goddamn minute of it. She would've kept on "not doing relationships" and left an even longer string of men and women in her wake. Her life would've been more or less unremarkable, nothing exceptional, beyond being a pitbull in her chosen profession. She would've been extremely successful, but lonely, and still entirely convinced she wasn't worth being loved.

They would've drifted even further than they were to begin with. Lexa - settling into her own little life of nonstop work and playing the doting wife, in between fucking her mistresses after hours and picturesque weekends with the in-laws in the Hamptons. Clarke - drowning herself in work and money, weekends of sex and top shelf bourbon. No calls, no Christmas cards, no visits home to check on the parents. Neither ever really acknowledging that the other one existed, much less having any kind of contact.

But when their parents pass?

When that evil bitch and the dipshit both go?

Meeting again at the funeral?

That'd be the moment that everything changes.

Because Lexa sits next to Clarke at the service smelling like the most intoxicatingly delicate cologne Clarke's ever smelled in her goddamn life. It's feminine, but muskier than she remembers the girl having smelled like so many years before. More mature. She thinks it suits her. But fuck, Lexa's still all legs and sharp jawline and those eyes that just scream of danger. The poutiness of her lips is really hard not to stare at when Lexa sits there so bored it's like she could fall asleep.

There's something comforting in knowing that, even after so much time and knowing how Lexa had spent the years playing house, she still sees through the bullshit fakeness of all this. Just like Clarke does.

What Clarke wouldn't know is that Lexa would've chosen that seat entirely on purpose, though she would've told herself it was just in the interest of annoying her estranged stepsister. Not because the sight of Clarke in her skin tight blazer and short skirt made her heart jump up into her throat like she was 17 again. Not because Clarke looks like the epitome of money and sex. Or like she doesn't give a fuck about the fact their last ties to their old lives are finally 6ft further out of their minds.

A few whispered jibes and morbid jokes to follow a few predictable insults would have them smiling. Because some things never change, even when so much else has.

And those insults would turn into plans to meet for coffee and coffee would turn into a lunch. A lunch spent actually talking like adults. Like strangers, but not quite, who are actually taking the time to get acquainted. Catching up about where they've been (despite them both vaguely knowing through the grapevine in one way or another) and what they've been doing. Who they've been doing. Comparing notes and unfortunately shared notches on their individual bedposts, though that subject dies quickly in lieu of just shameless flirting.

Because some things really never change.

That lunch would become lunches, would become meeting up whenever the hell they feel like. Visits to each other's offices and dinners spent behind closed doors, just the two of them locked away. All it'd take is one wrong look and the exact right thing to say, one too many touches that linger, and they'd be shamelessly fucking on every surface that would hold them.

Except unlike the trysts and flings they've had over the years with others... it's never just sex. Never. Not with them. And Lexa admits that one night, after months of lunches and dinners and stolen trips away together that they each blame on work, when she really realizes just how deep in fucking trouble she is. When she admits that this was why she didn't let anything happen when they were younger.

Because everybody has always been just everybody.

But Clarke?

She's Clarke.

That's when they both realize Lexa needs to find a really good divorce attorney. And that Clarke needs to get the hell over her fear of commitment.

Quick.

[paimonial-rage]

alhaitham analysis

When you first meet Alhaitham, he comes across as someone that has a negative EQ. He's curt, rude, and critical. And yet the truth is surprising? Like looking at his character quest and how he basically emotionally manipulated the whole hive into revolting, this man is very emotionally intelligent. You can honestly see it in a lot of his lines too. When he speaks about people, yes, he may sound like he's simplifying or trivializing things too much, but he's not wrong. He understands people. He knows how they work. It's just that he views emotional labor as too much of a hassle majority of the time.

Spoilers below the cut

You can gather a lot about Alhaitham through Kaveh's character stories. Like while it may not seem like it, Alhaitham is genuinely trying to help Kaveh. He points out to Kaveh that the source of his problems isn't luck, but his sense of impractical idealism and inescapable guilt. Some may say Alhaitham lacked tact when saying this, but it was kindness on Alhaitham's part. Once someone can acknowledge the truth, no matter how hurtful, they can then make the needed changes for the better. When they met up again years later, Alhaitham asked him, "How has realizing your ideals gone for you?" This wasn't done out of a sense of pettiness, but to solidify the truth once more. It was to help.

I think if you don't know someone that operates in this way, Alhaitham's love language may be difficult to decipher. His words may seem cruel. It may seem like he's trivializing your problems. But to speak truth is to show that you're not a lost cause. He has proven he won't abandon you along the way. After all, to speak truth, no matter how hurtful, is to show love.

[sundial-bee-scribbles]

this was supposed to be longer but i got tired (and realized maybe this wasn't such a good idea) so i kinda bs'd this to just finish it up. sorry it doesn't look all that good lol

transcript of my shitty handwriting + more rambling under cut

panel 1:

len: rin, just leave him—

rin: NO! i'm not going to give up now—

len: i know you're upset, but all you're doing is—

rin: HE'S NOT GONE YET!

panel 2:

rin: i know he still remembers, he has to...

panel 3:

rin: kaito-san, it's me; rin. you tried singing one of len and i's songs the other day. you got the melody right, remember? meiko-san's birthday is soon. remember her? a few weeks ago you said you needed to buy her a present. what were you going to get her? do you remember? tell me.

---

aight yea so this is what yall get for picking that ❄️📺❔🕚💾🪦 option on the poll (which btw was related to this drawing)

i'll just keep it simple: basically kaito gets dementia (or i guess the robot equivalent of it??). yeah.

not sure if this takes place on the cusp of v3 happening and just this specific kaito v1 module was unable to be updated for some reason? or if they're all still stuck in v2 and v3 hasn't happened yet/will not happen for a while... but i do know its def before v4 happened, so people like fukase and una don't exist yet

anyways though as you might expect, it pretty much sucks all around for everyone involved. not just the other 5 cryptonloids watching their close friend so previously full of life deteriorate into a husk of his former self, but for kaito himself too. he suddenly can't remember things like where he is or who the people around him are, and its incredibly frustrating b/c he knows he did have the memories at some point, its just as if they got misplaced... there's random bits of recollections that do come sometimes but as much as he tries to hold onto them they flicker and fade away just as quick as they appeared. left sinking back into a feeling of hopelessness that then becomes pure emptiness, as you can feel how you're losing yourself but there's quite literally nothing you can do

visually the static is used to represent a lot of that "foggy" feeling as things become more and more unclear, and given the robot/android nature it makes sense i guess? it's not really seen here but just as an actual machine might be when breaking down, his visual + audio processors begin to malfunction, causing a literal static overlay on his vision with faces/objects he can't recognize occasionally glitching out as well as constant white noise in his hearing and the sound of people talking to him becoming garbled and unintelligible. as time goes on he also loses his own ability to synthesize speech so aside from becoming withdrawn and quiet out of fear he'll say something that makes no sense, he then literally just becomes incapable of responding at all

again (as you might expect), the other cryptons aren't doing very well as this is happening. rin and len see kaito almost like a father, so watching one of your parental figures slowly march towards death is... not great. rin (as seen here) is still trying to hold on, because she swears kaito has had a few good days where he does recall more, where he seems much more like his old self, and maybe, just maybe if they wait a bit more he'll get better [tbh she's speedrunning the 7 stages of grief but goes between being stuck in some of the earlier stages its... not good]. len's grief on the other hand is manifesting itself in a way more similar to meiko's: he's not as distant as her, but he has already recognized that there's pretty much nothing that can be done and just wants to minimize kaito's suffering. len's just as shattered as rin though, but he's not showing it openly, figuring he has to accept it, as fighting against the grief like his sister won't help anything.

i just mentioned meiko so speaking of her: this is also probably extremely difficult on her, as, yknow, the counterpart v1 to kaito. she's withdrawn herself away from kaito, as she doesn't want to cause him pain in case he happens to recognize her, remember something about their relationship, but not comprehend what it means and just become confused/distressed. at least, that's what she says; it's more or so she can't bear to see him in this state, as he slowly loses more parts of himself, so she isolates herself in hopes the pain will be somewhat less when its all over, for having seen him less and not having false hopes of his recovery. that being said though she has definitely still been around him and tried to keep her composure... from kaito's pov, in moments of recollection, its disheartening seeing your wife close friend suddenly ignoring you, almost like she's mad or sad about something, but you can't remember why. did you forget to do the laundry? is it something unrelated? you want to ask her but she won't tell you; why? did she already and you just forgot? why...

miku's usual cheeriness has also crumbled, as even with rin's attempts, she can't find anything to be optimistic about in this scenario. she just feels this immense guilt, that she should've done something about this; she has influence as the most popular of the entire group, surely she could do something to make it all better. but aside from the arguments and indecisiveness regarding ethics and not wanting to do something without everyone's collective decision, she does know deep down its not her fault. maybe someone like one of the technicians or programmers would be more at fault, but she doesn't want to blindly throw accusations either, because surely they hadn't foreseen this happening either; nobody would intentionally throw in such a cruel fate for someone, it was an unfortunate system glitch that they were working to fix, but even if they did come up with a patch for it, it would be far too late for kaito at that point. she doesn't want to dwell too much on the logistics of it, miku just wants to be there for everyone else, because she knows how deep in despair the others are—she is too—and doesn't want their whole group to fall apart after such a devastating event.

as for luka: i would assume we're kind of actually seeing everything from her perspective, so as an audience lens she'd be more objective about presenting everything as it is without putting too much of her own bias/thoughts into it. but she's not completely unfeeling either. she tries interacting with kaito quite often, despite some of the others warning her about doing that too much. she tries talking to him about random things, not necessarily aiming to get him to remember anything in specific, though if any of his memories do surface in conversation she'll def address them and ask if he recalls anything more (and if not that's alright too). on some occasions she's been accused of being insensitive, but she doesn't want his death to be this huge tragedy, she would want him to be somewhat happy in his last moments. after everything that's happened, he deserves to leave in peace, in her opinion.

i've mentioned death a few times and there's a literal gravestone in the original emoji combo so safe to say, yeah, he dies. unfortunately the damage to his hardware is beyond repair from the critical/fatal errors and glitches, and it's decided that it'd be best to ultimately just deactivate him and delete all his files to not prolong any pain he might've been in for any longer. not exactly sure what would happen afterwards (aside from an obvious aftermath of the grief): if this is before/on the verge of v3 happening, there's the situation i thought about of them receiving a new replacement v3 kaito module, which has its own angst w/ it: its almost like seeing a fucking ghost, but it's not the same one they all remember, nor does it have all those memories. and this v3 kaito himself experiencing conflicted feelings as someone who was brought in to try and give back happiness to this group, only to seem to cause more despair for being so similar to someone long gone that he'll never truly replace. again though i'm not sure if i'd actually have that happen for the sake of everyone involved's sanity but it is something interesting to think about

i've been typing this for like 3 fcking hours now and i have no idea if this makes any goddamn sense lolol uhhh. like all my things it sounds way better in my head than when i actually put it on paper 😭 but congrats if you actually went thru the effort of reading all this. i might do more explanations like this of my things if anyone's interested, like of the other poll options, but we'll see

[seiwas]

conversations on love #3 (gojo x reader) lil snippet sneakpeak!

Print photos aren’t as important anymore when cloud storage spaces are just as–if not more–accessible, but Gojo is admittedly sentimental despite every front he puts up to hide it. 

He’s kept every single gift you’ve given him and camouflaged it as decoration in his office, and the family drawing 10-year-old Tsumiki made is still folded between the pages of a self-help book Yaga gave him when he first decided to teach. 

When every moment is experienced so vividly, seen through a muddle of infinite energies, there are those he wishes could stay still—ones that take up space to remind him: ‘this is real, it happened, and because of it your life is irrevocably changed’.

For the longest time, Gojo has kept a photo hidden, locked away in the drawer by his bedside as if keeping it there means the memory will stay guarded forever—untouched, unspoiled, unruined.

It becomes clearer to him then, by the look in your eyes and remembrance soft-spoken, that what good is a photo unseen? 

What good is a love unwitnessed?

[the-girl-with-too-many-ideas]

Does anyone else get the feeling that at their core, all of mxtx's works are about cycles of abuses.

[milflewis]

trying not to wail on the bus back home as a i read “you pierced my soul. i am half agony, half hope. tell me not that i am too late, that such precious feelings are gone forever. i offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it eight years and a half ago. dare not say that a man forgets sooner than a woman, that his love has an earlier death. i have loved none but you. unjust i may have been, weak and resentful i have been, but never inconstant.” for the seventy sixth time

[rapidhighway]

I've been feeling a need to have a boyfriend just because I really want to use this image

all the time. Who wants to be my minecraft boyfriend? We will never speak to each other

[laniidae-passerine]

sorry for loving Ed and Izzy more than Stede but maybe they shouldn’t have made Ed like that (a fellow mixed race babygirl suffering under her mental illnesses with a sadistic streak that is both informed by and independent of her childhood traumas) and Izzy like that (absurdly pathetic but in need of help and trying to get better)

[epiphainie]

It's like, within canon as it currently stands, if Tommy never expected it to last why was he with Buck for so long?

idk what this was as a response to, i obviously missed it but idt tommy was actively thinking he'd break it off with buck? he was probably expecting buck to be the one to get tired or "sober up" from the honeymoon phase and the excitement of the relationship to wear off. buck jumped so far ahead it was a shock to realize they were on very different pages.

[anothermonikan]

People are so mean about SRS. What did they ever do to you </3