#ARGUABLY sure in the first instance they don't know each other that well

[theyonapodcast]

I love the first time Soo-Won supports Lili.

It feels like an overreaction to burst into tears over, essentially, "Go for it," but makes sense when you realize no one takes her seriously.

Her father, Tetora, and even Yona view her as someone in need of protection. They coddle her.

And then here comes Soo-Won, telling her she's capable of making a difference.

That she did make a difference. He acknowledges her strength and believes in her with ease while people closer to her struggle to accept that she's useful.

[rabbitsrants]

PROOF THAT SHINRAN IS ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANTLY WRITTEN ROMANCES OF ALL TIME - PART 3

if you haven't already read the posts i've linked down below, please make sure to do so before you proceed, cause they're important for context. thank you so much in advance!

CLICK HERE FOR PART 1

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

as i've already explained in my disclaimer, my ultimate goal with this masterlist is to prove how well written shinran is - it's to demonstrate that they're unquestionably each other's half and the heart of the dcmk universe.

people often minimize the importance that shinichi and ran have in each other's lives by labeling them as boring, predictable "childhood sweethearts" which couldn't be further from the truth.

so far we've established that

1) shinichi doesn't fall for ran gradually, which is what usually happens with dcmk childhood friends, he knows right away that ran's something special.

2) even though they share the same core values, their personalities are very different, which has a positive effect on them individually: ran gets shinichi to come out of his shell and contributes to his emotional growth, while shinichi grounds ran and helps her articulate her feelings.

now it's time to analyze the part i teased in part two already:

they share a soul

god, where do i even begin? this post is probably going to be ridiculously long but it's by far the most crucial part of my analysis, so please bear with me. cause as far as i'm concerned? this is the main reason why shinichi and ran belong together.

don't get me wrong, love at first sight is a beautiful concept and i deeply appreciate the fact that shinichi and ran complement each other, however, they aren't the only dcmk duo that brings out the best in each other.

what sets them apart from other dcmk dynamics in the most meaningful way is the undeniable fact that their hearts are one and the same. but what is that even supposed to mean? let's break it down, shall we?

their intuition

this segment of the break-down deserves its own post, because there are countless instances of shinichi and ran showcasing incredible instincts, but i'll try to keep it concise for now. both shin and ran arguably have a sixth sense. that's already fascinating on its own, but what i'm really trying to home in on is that their intuition offers them great insight into other people's souls. sometimes i get the impression they carry a compass that points at people and tells them who's trustworthy and who's not.

chapter 22

chapter 892

ran has so many reasons to doubt takeshi and shinichi has so many reasons to doubt amuro, but they instinctively know they can trust them. shinichi even feels safe enough to confront amuro, which is incredible, cause my boy takes a huge risk by directly questioning his allegiance.

idk about y'all but i think that's beautiful. it reminds me of an amazing quote from a famous philosopher:

their souls are pure. which is why they're able to recognize that quality in other people and each other.

their optimism

despite all the darkness that shinichi and ran face every single day, they have a really optimistic outlook on life. ngl, their unwavering positivity makes me extremely emotional.

chapter 252

shinichi gets shot by criminals and he's slowly bleeding to death. the detective boys feel like it's their fault that shin got hurt, they blame themselves and feel hopeless. my boy is in pain, he's fighting for his life, he's probably even scared, it'd be more than understandable if he saw their point and regretted the unfortunate situation they found themselves in. but he doesn't:

he chooses to look on the bright side. even in death.

which, fortunately, gets the detective boys out of their dark way of thinking. shin helps them understand that, yes, they're on a bumpy road, but at least it's leading somewhere.

chapter 780

shinichi gets a culprit to reveal he's from the kansai region by successfully provoking him with a fake accent, but shin doesn't just piss off the culprit, he also pisses off kazuha and heiji, so kazuha begins to wonder whether people from the kansai region are narrow-minded and ran's perspective is something i did NOT see coming:

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE THIS ADORABLE AND WISE?!

just like shinichi ran's able to offer kazuha a surprisingly positive outlook on her concerns, which genuinely makes her feel better.

there are many instances of their unshakable optimism and the effect it has on others, it's really beautiful to examine.

i recommend y'all look into it on your own, cause in this part of my masterlist i merely have the space to touch on shared traits like their great intuition and firm optimism, but now it's time to get into the biggest and most important portion of this analysis!

their idealism

i hope y'all read the disclaimer i've linked at the beginning! if you haven't, i urge you to read it before you continue with this post!

shinrans shared idealism is something i've already mentioned in part two of my masterlist, but there's so much more to say about it:

i'd argue that it's the main thing that connects them. not to shade my own children, but they value justice and human life so much, for most people, including me, it sometimes borders on stupidity.

but that's the thing, shinichi kudo and ran mouri aren't most people.

cause most dcmk characters 1) don't initially share their virtues and 2) question their admittedly heroic but also terribly reckless actions, whereas shinichi and ran support and admire each other because of it. because they're the same.

i'm about to give a few examples of shinichi and ran being the most idealistic characters in the manga and for the purpose of full context, i have to showcase the contrast between shinran's morals and the values of other characters. i appreciate and care about every single character who's brought up in the next part of my essay, so don't take this post as an invitation for hostility towards them, that's not my goal, okay? okay. let's proceed.

a) sense of justice and heroism

chapter 239-240

shinichi impulsively investigates the black organization. haibara repeatedly reminds him that he's being reckless and putting himself in danger, she even mocks his strong sense of justice and initially refuses to join his investigation because she's smart and values self preservation. haibara ends up joining him after all, but keeps urging him to drop his investigation and leave with her.

i don't blame her one bit for her approach to the situation... truth be told, her reaction makes a lot more sense to me than shinichi's 😂 but that's because i share her pragmatism.

at this point in the manga shinichi and haibara have zero support. neither the fbi, nor the cia is helping them. it's incredibly dangerous for them to go after the black organization completely alone and it's not just unsafe for them individually either, it's risky for everyone they care about. their exposure would endanger a lot of people, including agasa, ran, kogoro, the detective boys, etc...

and safety concerns aside, why would she care about justice in that situation anyway? how could she, a teen who's trapped in a child's body, possibly hold the black organization accountable without any help?

so yeah, i strongly believe that if you look at the situation logically, haibara's point of view makes a lot more sense than shinichi's and it's fair of her to choose safety over justice, especially when the latter seems so impossible achieve.

too bad that shinichi doesn't give a flying fuck about things like common sense or self preservation. he's completely driven by idealism, it's what defines him as a person, in more ways than one. the only person in the dcmk universe who accurately mirrors his righteousness is ran mouri and it expresses itself through countless parallels that completely contrast haibara's position in chapter 239-240

chapter 44

shinichi pretty much lashes out at the murderer for personal reasons which i dive into here. on top of that, he's passionately opposed to the culprit's idea of using justice as a reason for murder and guess what? ran unsurprisingly feels the same way:

chapter 313

the obvious observation here is that their speeches are remarkably alike, but what i find even more fascinating is the fact that the killers react so similarly. shinran's sense of justice is so powerful, it doesn't just guide their own actions, it even moves morally corrupt people and holds them accountable.

furthermore, the concept of personal safety is completely lost on both shinichi and ran lol.

they constantly risk their lives for other people, including haibara, who, as we already established, initially disregards heroism.

chapter 289

chapter 434

AHHHHH!!! THE PARALLELS ARE KILLING ME

anyway, i'm not trying to undermine the beauty and complexity of haibara's character, she's incredibly well written and i think it's important to emphasize that she's actually attempting to sacrifice herself in both of these chapters.

i actually really appreciate the fact that haibara is this complicated person with a rough background who slowly figures out her values with the help of her friends, imo it gives her layers.

i'm simply pointing out that upon her initial introduction her virtues instinctively differ from shinran's, it takes her some time to grow into the same kind of heroism that shinichi and ran display from the get-go. because they inspire her. but i'll go over that in a minute.

b) they value human life

one of shinichi's main attributes has always been his profound interest in human life. it's a quality that i never questioned until recently because i always figured it was due to his work as a detective.

but the more i think about it, the less it works as an explanation because we know a lot of detectives in the dcmk universe who don't share his interest in protecting people at all costs.

interestingly enough, there is a character who shares his passion but it's not someone who professionally deals with human life - it's just a compassionate, tenderhearted girl who instinctively wants to keep others safe no matter what.

chapter 1026

ran saves a murderer from suicide

which reminds me of shinichi attempting to do the same in another chapter:

chapter 67

he tries so hard... but unlike ran he ultimately fails.

and who's there to comfort him? who's the only person in the whole world who naturally understands his sorrow, who truly knows how valuable human life is and wants to protect it just as much as he does? ran. of course it's ran.

and it will always be ran.

having said that, analyzing shinran's idealism is beyond fascinating to me because i rarely share their virtues or courage. my values are more aligned with the rest of the dcmk universe:

chapter 153

shinichi notices that a culprit is about to kill herself and gets in the way of her plans. heiji's response resonates with me a lot.

CAUSE YEAH, what's the point of keeping someone alive against their will? isn't that infinitely crueler than just letting them die? maybe.

but shinichi and ran don't give a fuck lol. they don't stop the murderers suicide attempts because they're heartless though. it's the opposite, really.

as we already established, both shinichi and ran are optimists at heart, so they believe or least hope that people can always better themselves. i think that's the main reason why the interfere.

besides, shinichi and ran simply care too much about justice - they need culprits to be held accountable and they respect human life too much to allow suicide.

again, do i share their passionate interest in human life? LOL, hell no. i think very few people are capable of being that idealistic. most people, including me, value innocent life but shinichi and ran? they value life regardless of innocence and on top of that, they even value the lives of people who ARE ACTIVELY TRYING TO KILL THEM

chapter 773

a man is threatening to bomb the detective agency, he could kill ran, kogoro and sera within SECONDS and what does my girl ran do? yeah, she saves his life, LOL!

she's already in immense danger and she's seconds away from being saved, but she goes out of her way and puts herself even more at risk, just to save a guy who's threatening her life. WHY?!

because that's just who she is.

understandably, sera is baffled. she doesn't get it.

which makes sense, cause, again, there's only one character in the entire manga who truly understands ran and passionately agrees with her principles and that's shinichi kudo:

their idealism never wavers. it's perplexing for characters like haibra, heiji, sera and even for me as a reader. it's also extremely inspiring though. which brings me to my next point!

c) they inspire others

chapter 239

remember how haibara initially refuses to join shinichi during his investigation? guess what changes her mind...

even though haibara mocks shinichi's idealism and admittedly doesn't understand it in the beginning, it does get her thinking.

she grows up under terrible circumstances which force her to prioritize her safety over human life, but after watching shinichi for a while, she comes to the realization that she no longer has to live that way.

his unshakable idealism fascinates and encourages her, she's reminded that she has choices now and suddenly she finds herself wanting to do better.

but shinichi isn't the only person who helps her evolve in a pretty significant way:

chapter 313

ran's speech about justice and courage deeply moves haibara in the same way it affects the culprit.

her speech doesn't just give haibra the courage to finally introduce herself to ran after months of avoiding her (for reasons i'll get into in part four of my masterlist) i'd argue it also contributes to her finally facing the black organization in chapter 434

while shinichi helps haibara understand that she has choices now and urges her not to run from her fate, ran motivates haibara to be courageous and face her fate. it's actually incredible how much they help haibara, just by being themselves.

chapter 398-400

check out the blog of my wonderful friend aracaeli who recently brought attention to an extremely underrated chapter which emphasizes that ran doesn't just affect characters like haibara, she even inspires her other half shinichi, which is a remarkable accomplishment, considering their morals are generally completely aligned.

ran's idealism knows no bounds. how could it not move people? especially someone like haibara who's just starting to get familiar with the concept of friendship.

in this chapter ran's idealism inspires countless people (shinichi, haibara, the detective boys, the murderer) it says so much about her character and it's such a touching reading experience.

chapter 153

remember how heiji understandably regrets saving the murderer from suicide after seeing her devastating reaction? shinichi knows exactly what to say:

AGAIN, personally, i don't even blame heiji for his initial views. frankly, i agree with them! but it's really hard not to be affected by shinichi's powerful words. i can see how they could completely change the mindset of a passionate detective like heiji. and they do.

chapter 188

to the point that heiji's willing to risk his life because of them...

chapter 774

even sera, who can be a bit morally corrupt at times, is impressed with ran's strong virtues:

but that's to be expected, considering that shinichi and ran even had an impact on vermouth who's an established, ruthless serial killer.

i know, i already extensively talked about the new york case in part two, but it's such an important chapter for shinran that i feel the need to bring it up again, especially if it's going to continue the wonderful discourse i've been having about it with amazing bloggers like sakublogs who i urge you to check out!

chapter 353

this case is so, so special to me because it fundamentally captures the essence of shinran.

vermouth is about to take ran's life but the railing she is leaning on breaks and she's about fall to her impending doom... until ran intuitively grabs her arm and tries to save her:

you'd think that shinichi would urge ran to let go, cause that's what any rational person would do, right? but he doesn't. instead he assists ran. again, WHY?

because... they can't fucking help themselves. because THAT'S JUST WHO THEY ARE.

shinichi and ran are completely led by their intuition, optimism and idealism. nobody values justice, courage and human life the way do, it's in their bones and hearts, it's not something they grow into, it's in their nature.

their spiritual connection is their most defining quality as a couple and it's the reason why i'm convinced that shinran is gosho's best written ship and beyond that, one of the most brilliantly written romances of all time.

it's difficult to do shinran justice in condensed essays like this, but i hope i was able to illustrate their amazing personalities and offer some insight into their captivating bond.

it's why i've been closely following their story since my early childhood. they have the same effect on me they have on other dcmk characters. shinichi and ran inspire me, they touch my soul and restore my faith in people. they're not just a cute couple - they're a symbol of hope.

vermouth puts it best:

visit the shinran library for more

[electricea]

Anonymous sent - (@viviskull) ❀ What has made you completely lose your chill? ( Salty AF Munday Meme - Accepting! )

❀ - What has made you completely lose your chill?

Sometimes I wonder if I've told this story too much but I tell it because it's something that truly hurt me and genuinely to this day, has impacted me and I genuinely hate it and I want people to know that this isn't okay to do - not to me, not to anyone.

So way way back on maybe my first iteration of this blog, I met a mun - we became pretty good friends, they taught me how to icon and use Photoshop, we called almost every night, we would watch like High School Musical and Kitchen Nightmares at 3am, the whole nine yards - early on, I would have easily said they were one of, if not my best friend. We had a server together and it was just a freefall of us pitching muses and ships at each other and I think we just had so much fun shipping together that it was so easy and so natural and we had so many ideas and plots discussed.

And then that changed.

We'd both been pretty into an anime lately and I pitched the idea of this male/male ship with two muses who we were both planning to write - both dudes, both around the same age range - and as I said, we would pitch ships at each other fairly often and in this instance it was no different - they agreed and we made plans to call and to talk about it more as we often did. Well, when the night came to call I couldn't help but feel things were off, not quite as comfortable - and I guess I had a sort of gut feeling so I asked if they were sure about the ship, if they wanted to drop it - I didn't want to force them and I gave them an out to drop it if they so chose to.

I want to emphasize right now that if in that moment had they said yes, they didn't want to do the ship I would have utterly respected it and dropped it, no questions asked. I don't believe in force shipping or even writing a ship in which the other party isn't wholly comfortable. Them not wanting to write a ship isn't what made me so angry.

What made me so angry was finding out secondhand from a mutual friend who we often streamed with and even had a three way group chat with and was arguably even closer to her than I was - was this friend admitting to the mutual friend that no actually, she had no intentions of writing the ship with me and the reason she was going along with it?

To prove to me why the ship wouldn't work.

So instead of telling me that honestly, she chose to go behind my back and do so in a way that was not only sneaky but incredibly patronizing? Like what exactly was her plan? To write the ship and then just be like 'gotcha, this is why they wouldn't work together!' or have them be utterly awful to emphasize their incompatibility? How were they planning on telling me that as their friend? Was it supposed to be this cute revelation?

After that point, our friendship on my end fell apart - I never ended up telling her that I knew what she'd said, not only because I didn't want to betray the trust of our mutual friend but just because I didn't feel I had anything to say, nor should I say anything for that matter - I'm not the one who lied and couldn't be honest and I did give them an out and asked them if they were sure - it wasn't as though I was plowing ahead and ignoring their feelings. I thought at first that maybe with time, we would fall back into old habits but the more I thought about it the more angry I got and for the record, this friend never really reached out or spoke to me so perhaps that made it easier for the friendship to just slip away.

What I'm trying to get at with this story and why this made me so fucking angry then and still does now is people lying about their intentions to their partners and being dishonest, whether it's because you're too scared to tell them or think that you're sparing their feelings - being brutally honest with someone fucking sucks, take it from someone who knows - but as someone on the other end who also had to deal with the confusion and the hurt, it just genuinely sucks to be told and to feel one thing, only for the other person to be lying and just stringing you along - and this isn't just about writing a ship, even to this day if someone wanted to drop a ship, I would respect that and drop it without question - it's the lying and telling me otherwise and not letting on your intentions. I'm not a mind reader so how am I to know? What sucks even more is being a neurodivergent mun, it's already hard enough for me to read between the lines (especially through text) and know if someone is being sarcastic or lying - it's why I started being open about having asd so as to ever avoid a situation like this again.

And I hate that to this day it's left me with a lingering skepticism and fear of trusting people when they say they want to do a plot or write a ship - I genuinely do try to take people at face value and believe that they are being honest with me and I know not to paint everyone with the same brush, but I'd be lying if I said the underlying doubt or fear isn't there - and it's unfair to everyone else, all because of the actions of one person - it's something I'm working through and I still continue to try and see the best in people and to believe what they say.

As for her? This probably goes without saying but we're not friends anymore and I don't care wherever she is now.

[myrandomscribbles]

My Recommended Movies to Watch During That Gap Between November to December

Funny, you'll think that for a country that does not have more than two seasons (summer & rainy) and for a girl who has never experienced any other season except the aforementioned duo, I would know all about autumn & winter and how it feels like. I don't, LOL. Which is probably why I romanticize it so much.

So sadly because I cannot [yet, until further notice] experience the beauty and magic of autumn & winter, I am able to translate my love for it through my other favorite thing in the world - movies.

Even if I have not experienced these seasons, I still feel like there is this strange gap between November and December wherein there is only a specific type of film to watch. Otherwise, it feels out of place. I wouldn't watch Barbie (2023) around this time, for instance. Although sure, in Hollywood box office standards, this is usually the time when big budget films are released in time for Thanksgiving so people are expected to flock to the cinemas. Ka-ching. (Unrelated but this is also the time when many studios purposely release their films to campaign for awards season - not an official stat but just my observation lol)

Anyway! My point here is that this a great time to watch (or rewatch) a handful of cozy films, whether at the cinemas or at home. Personally, I think that films similar to the ones I'm listing below are the cosiest kinds to watch during the [imaginary] autumn to winter transition:

Little Women (2019)

This one's a no-brainer. I may be biased because it's the first adaptation I've watched, but I think this is the version that captured the warmth of the book and that's why it's my favorite one. Aside from the characters being perfectly cast [TO ME], the creative way Greta Gerwig used the warm and cool tones to represent their childhood and adulthood respectively is probably what makes this such a rewatchable masterpiece. That's my favorite thing about this version - I can't not watch this every holiday season, it's an absolute must. Plus the beauty of seeing the March sisters come of age through the different seasons, with autumn and winter being the most important ones is such an enchanting thing to watch.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Arguably the best in the franchise, as is the general consensus, The Prisoner of Azkaban is the most cozy of all the eight films. What's ironic about this is that the climax doesn't even happen in autumn but in the spring (as is every single one of Harry's adventures which happen towards the end of the school year). The film also literally shows the transition of the seasons though; there's just something about going through Hogwarts while seeing the leaves change color then fall. I guess it's the color palette that the genius that is Alfonso Cuarón has applied onto the film is what makes it so cozy and autumnal. That and Hagrid's oversupply of pumpkins.

You've Got Mail (1998)

One of my favorite genre of films is when Meg Ryan decides to spend autumn until the holidays in New York. It's only ever happened twice, but funny how that came to be. Which probably leads you to the thought of, "Why did you put You've Got Mail and left out When Harry Met Sally (1989), Marga?!" Well I've got an explanation for that in the end of this post, Janet, so read until the end. Anyway, again, we literally go through the different seasons while seeing Meg Ryan & Tom Hanks go from hating each other to falling in love, and I think that's what makes this film so charming. Oh, and any romcom that begins with "Dreams" by the Cranberries is guaranteed to be an instant hit in my house.

Dead Poets Society (1989)

Listen, I just watched this for the first time last week (the day after Thanksgiving no less), and until now, I am still a complete hell of a mess. One of the most beautiful screenplays I've ever seen, and one of the few films that actually has heart. I think in this instance, we can disregard the seasons for a moment, though we cannot argue that it also was a paid actor in this film. However in my opinion, it's not the seasons that makes this film warm and cozy; it's the story itself. Absolutely no words. These boys have my heart.

The Holdovers (2023)

A lot of film junkies have compared this film to Dead Poets Society for the similarity in plot, which explores the relationship and influence of a teacher with his student/s who is/are struggling to find themselves. And naturally, when would be the best time for this to happen? During the holidays! Yes, the majority of the plot of The Holdovers happens during winter and Christmas (in fact there's hardly any sign of autumn) but again, the coziness is not brought about by the season itself but the story. I love how this is, yes in a way, similar to Dead Poets Society but its warmth is different; not to mention some light comedic scenes here and there. If you ask me, The Holdovers is Dead Poets Society's winter sister, if that makes sense.

Now, there are obviously longer and more specific lists out there; some may be more autumn-centric while some are purely holiday-centric. And while I agree and this is a free world, I feel like these specific films - though they are not solely for autumn or Christmas - perfectly portray both. (I hope I'm not rambling here and I'm getting my thoughts out perfectly the way I want it to lol) Think of it this way - when you think of autumn films, do any of these come to mind? What about winter/Christmas films? Both work, right?!

Another thing I'd like to mention as my last point is that while the seasons may not be exactly "essential" to the plot, it plays a huge role in setting the tone, and sometimes to an extent, plays a "character" in the story. Think The Holiday (2006) - would the plot have worked if the setting wasn't at Christmas? But we can imagine Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly write emails to each other any time of the year (and they got together at springtime, no less!) but for some reason, watching their relationship progress begin during the holidays is so enchanting.

Anyway, that was a lot of rambles. My brain is quite fried at the moment, so I hope you enjoyed this little piece while you wrap yourselves in your knitted sweaters, a cup of coffee in hand.

[brown-little-robin]

Hikaru is an only child. His father isn't around much (Mr. Shindo doesn't ever appear in the manga or anime and is barely mentioned) and his mother is okay with letting him just do his own thing most of the time. Hikaru and his mom don't ever talk to each other in any meaningful way, especially after Sai enters Hikaru's life and Hikaru starts keeping Sai secret from everyone. His mother doesn't understand Hikaru and she gives up on talking to him easily when he refuses to answer her questions. Hikaru has a single friend, Akari, a childhood neighbor who has more emotional intelligence than him and who dotes on him, letting him behave rudely and dismissively toward her and forgiving him easily.

So. Basically. Hikaru has never needed to put any effort into having a meaningful relationship with another human being.

He's not empathetic—and where would he have learned that?? He's never been taught that! He's never needed to know! He has Akari giving him the minimum of human connection and camraderie necessary for him to not be completely lonely, and Hikaru doesn't feel any need to consider her feelings because she always forgives him for being rude to her!

NO WONDER HIKARU HAS SUCH A WEIRD RELATIONSHIP WITH SAI. No WONDER Hikaru takes Sai for granted! No wonder he doesn't make any effort to learn about Sai as a person! He never asks Sai about his background, never empathizes with him except when it helps Hikaru name his own emotions, never gives Sai the time of day except when he feels like it! Hikaru does sacrifice for Sai a bit, sure, arguably, what with taking him to Go tournaments and stuff, and he enjoys when Sai is pleased about games or modern life, but those things are essentially self-serving. For instance, Hikaru takes Sai to the first game of Go because Sai's sadness is making Hikaru physically ill. Hikaru gets along with Sai, even likes Sai, but Hikaru never makes an effort to form a deeper relationship with Sai, because—

Hikaru was raised in a household where he was fed and housed and kept financially secure, but never challenged to form social bonds!! His idea of love is to coexist, not to actually know another person. His idea of friendship is basically just... proximity. Proximity, playfulness, and the kind of caretaking that satisfies the need for security, bodily security, not mutual knowledge.

Hikaru tried his best for Sai. He provided for Sai's basic needs—entertainment, a person to exist in proximity to, conversation... if Hikaru knew Sai really needed something, Hikaru would do his best to provide it. But Hikaru never went beyond providing for basic needs and companionship. He never really listened to Sai much.

Which. is why it hurts Hikaru so deeply. when he loses Sai. because not only is Sai gone, proximity lost, love lost, but also. Hikaru suddenly is hit in the face with the realization that he never actually knew Sai very well. After Sai is gone, and only after Sai is gone, does Hikaru realize that he was selfish in their entire relationship.

I have. THOUGHTS. about Hikaru no Go

[spockandawe]

Another Ianthe thought! It's idly bothered me since reading Nona the Ninth that she would so willingly board the immortality train without Coronabeth. Not in a this-is-bad-writing way, but like I'm missing a little puzzle piece. If Ianthe actually wanted to escape Coronabeth, it would make sense, but if the codependence cuts both ways, then I was missing something critical. But that post about whether Ianthe modded Corona to be extra extra beautiful has stuck with me, and it shook something loose.

Now I'm wondering if Ianthe wasn't planning to be immortal alone, and instead she was planning to manually drag Corona along for the ride as well. All the other necromancer/cavalier pairs we see, it's a massive emotional deal to consume someone you were so close to, we get hints that Augustine and Mercymorn were trapped into it via suicide pact, it's so strange that Ianthe was so much more READY than any of the other necromancers to eat her cavalier.

And you know how this idea does make sense? It makes sense if Ianthe was already willing to do the work of two powerful necromancers to keep Coronabeth with her as they were growing up. Clearly Ianthe could have been terrifyingly competent on her own and only slightly less Aesthetic, and it would have just taken one instance of leaving Corona hanging out to dry and outing her as a non-necromancer, and instead, they kept up the act even to the point of arguing their way into the first house together.

Corona is crying as she asks why Ianthe didn't eat her, and I was with her at first, my best guess for why Ianthe was so eager to bail was resentment (and I still think that's an ingredient in the codependence soup, just not the key one here). But I'm forgetting someone! Yes, he comes in last place in that three-way dynamic, as well as the third house narrative, in a way that is fascinating to me, but the two of them are as intimately tied to Naberius as any necromancer is tied to their cavalier. More than most, arguably, Judith is pretty harsh on the cradle cavalier dynamic the third house apparently leans into, and he's been helping all along to hide that Corona isn't a necromancer.

I've fairly well convinced myself at this point that Ianthe was so ready to devour Naberius not just for the sake of ambition (though, again, I think that is an element). But once she's solved the mystery of lyctorhood, then she's confirmed for herself that Teacher was right, there's no path forward for both of them... as lyctors. I would have expected anyone else in the cast to agonize much harder over killing their cavalier, so does that mean Ianthe and Naberius don't have that particular relationship? No, I don't think that's it, I think they are attached in an alarmingly intense way (her guest to her birthdays was always who would annoy him the most), just like a typical necromancer and cavalier. It's just that this degree of attachment is dwarfed by how much Ianthe and Corona revolve around each other. What's really key is her ability to keep Coronabeth intact, and like, sure, it would be nice to keep Babs with them in SOME capacity, but there's a clear priority order here, and eating him means he's still technically around.

In summary, Ianthe became a lyctor without Coronabeth because she intended to bring her sister along manually if necessary. Consuming Babs is an incredibly easy decision if it means Corona won't be able to die and leave her, and he's still here, kind of, which is close enough. Obviously I could be off base and I will be delighted to read whatever character notes taz muir lays in front of me in the next book, but in the space of writing this post I took myself from 'hm, I wonder if this makes sense' to a pretty firm headcanon, so here we are.

[bowlofmeat]

Sasha and Marcy’s (and Anne’s) relationship: the lines THE LINES

...

First off, there is very little interaction in the show between Sasha and Marcy that isn't about Anne.

I can pinpoint exactly one instance in which they interact with each other without considering Anne, and that is in episode "The Third Temple". You know, after they haven't seen each other in months.

Marcy: "Ah! Sasha! Sasha! Sasha! Sasha!"

Sasha: *laughs* "Hey, Marmar! Whoa! Check out your new threads!"

Marcy: "Speak for yourself, look at that armor! How did you find us?!"

One instance in the entire show, though I'm sure there are similar moments scattered about. But that's all they are - moments. Are Marcy and Sasha ever focused on each other? If not, do they even interact outside of Anne, or is Anne the glue that holds them together because they wouldn't have a reason to hang out otherwise?

Mind you, this could be because the show is about Anne, Anne is the protagonist of Amphibia and not Marcy and Sasha. But you could at least imply a relationship outside of Anne if such a relationship existed. I for one would like to see Sasha and Marcy interact without Anne in the picture at all.

Anyway, in "Scavenger Hunt" Marcy does not pick up on Anne thinking she herself is dumb compared to Marcy. Because if Marcy did she'd show symptoms of having already picked up on that instead of being surprised by it at the end of the episode! If they were on the same page, the same line, the episode could still work with Marcy picking up on that and thinking "well, it's probably not that bad, I might be good at maths but she's so good with people," dismissing her problems As Marcy Is Wont To Do.

Same thing in "Commander Anne"! Where Sasha throws Anne into a leadership position in a rebellion she doesn't know in a land that's changed drastically since she's been gone! Naturally Anne cracks under pressure  at the end: "I'm drowning out here dude! Do you want me to fail? *small gasp* Is that what this is? some kind of new manipulation?"

And in both cases when Anne fesses up or explains herself Sasha and Marcy might go: "No, I don't think that at all!" or: "That wasn't my intent!"

That is true, but that would be out of character for Sasha and Marcy to do to each other. At least, my subconscious tells me that's the case. Why? Well, consider that there has never been any miscommunication between Marcy and Sasha in the show.

In season 2 finale "True Colors" Marcy texts Sasha with an image of the calamity box. We don't see what exactly she texts before she sends the image, but Marcy says this out loud while she's texting: "I think I just found the perfect birthday present for Anne." And in season 1 finale "Reunion" Sasha says this: "Oh my gosh. Marcy says she found the perfect gift for you downtown! Haha! A frog music box for the frog lover." A pause. "I wonder if those gems are real."

What I'm getting from this is that they're immediately on the same page regarding Anne's birthday gift. Sasha might not know exactly what Marcy is thinking, but they are on the same line of thought!

This is shown in "The Hardest Thing", too! When Anne goes to use the power of all three stones and maybe die in the process (Anne you have issues), they practically join thought processes after that.

And Anne ... is not on their line. Anne has a hard time communicating with their line, as shown in almost every episode where they interact, and Marcy and Sasha have a hard time communicating with Anne's line.

Extrapolating from this, I'd imagine that Sasha thinks her line is best, and she is the leader so she gets to decide that her line is best, and Marcy is part of that line and Anne is not.

Do you get what I'm putting down? Please do not attack me for this, but if Sasha's line is best, then Anne is on an inferior line in the eyes of Sasha and arguably(???) Marcy.

In season 2 Marcy and Anne are almost never on the same line and you can see it in the episodes, but throughout season 2 they actually take steps to be on the same line, like in "Marcy At The Gates" and "The First Temple". Steps to improve their relationship!

And then True Colors happens, where we discover that Marcy wasn't being honest and is just as messed up as Sasha. Yeah ....

Point being, both Marcy and Sasha have always been dishonest to Anne and each other up to this point, and in season 3 that changes but you have to wonder if this is a common thing, even before Amphibia.

Speaking of "True Colors", something that's always stuck with me is that during Sasha's toad rebellion there's a lot of focus on Anne and Sasha with the whole "I am done being friends with you" thing, but Marcy is there too! She's literally experiencing Sasha's betrayal at the same time as Anne, and yet she isn't getting focused on at all!

And the same thing happens in reverse! Marcy says her whole "I gave you this, I gave you everything" spiel to convince herself and the girls but when Sasha backs away Marcy stops focusing on her, directing her full attention to Anne. Why?

I don't know???

I feel like ... Marcy and Sasha are always focused on Anne. They're never focused on each other.

Come to think of it, Marcy and Sasha don't seem to like each other very much?

Sasha: "She got us stuck here on purpose, Anne. I know she was freaking out about moving, but it's still super messed up."

Sasha: "Ok, so let's say you're right, and we've been taking Marcy for granted, that doesn't change what she's done." Anne: "It's not about what she did, Sash. It's about why she did it." Sasha: "So, I'm supposed to forgive her? Like it's easy?"

Between the dialogue above and Darcy saying "Marcy always thought you were kind of a brute," (Darcy's being manipulative, but still.) they don't really ... seem to have a high opinion of each other? I know that Sasha calls Marcy her "lovable little nerd", but she wouldn't have said that without Anne's prompting of "I mean, just look at what you and I have now." (Gayest moment in Amphibia, by the way.)

The following is a big assumption, but assuming I'm right and they don't like each other (though they obviously do care about each other make no mistake about that), do you think they'd be more geniune? To each other, I mean. Because they don't care about the other's opinion as much, not like with Anne who they want to project a certain image to. (Which is why Marcy doesn't direct her True Colors spiel at Sasha as much, by the way.)

Expanding on that, do you think they talk behind Anne's back about things they can't talk about with Anne, because they want to project the image of their best selves to her?

(EDIT: Actually, Sasha and Marcy are more similar than might be apparent when you boil them down. Their slightly condescending love of Anne (which goes two ways in Anne&Marcy's relationship but not in Anne&Sasha's), their same brand of abandonment issues and the same lengths they'll go to to not be left behind, them both being content with staying in Amphibia if it meant their girls stayed with them. Like I dunno, there's something about looking at another person and seeing the same kind of damage reflected back. I don't think they would like it.)

Again, we don't see much of their relationship in the show. I'm sort of limited by that fact, so I can only make informed guesses.

I just find it interesting that in the epilogue, after catching up with each other because I'm assuming they haven't seen each other in months at this point (and the audience needs their exposition after all), they immediately segue into talking about Anne 💀💀💀

[faejilly]

1/2) I was wondering what you thought of the Malec sparring scene in 3b. I wanted to like it, thought I would cause I'm really kinda into that sort of thing, but instead it just, I don't know, upset me. I couldn't help but see it as just another instance of the show undermining Alec to makes another character look good and I hate when they do that. Not just because Alec's character is basically tailor made for me to take one look at and go "MINE" at (which it absolutely, 100% is) but also

2/2) it’s just really shitty writing to constantly diminish one character to prop up another. But I see so many people seemed to love it and am I being oversensitive?  

Hey, if you don’t like it, you don’t like it, there’s no oversensitive. AND I HAPPEN TO AGREE WITH YOU, so. There is that. 😅

I dislike the Magnus training scene on about three (four?) different levels, tbqh, and I can headcanon all of them away, but it’s not… it does not, imo, work as is, and if you can enjoy the pretty regardless, that’s fine, but if you can’t… that’s fine too.

First: the scene at the end of the previous episode, where Magnus asks for help, is one of the most beautifully done Malec scenes in the show, imo, because Magnus is bad at asking for help, and here he does, and Alec is so gentle with him, and has one hell of a clunker of a terribly written line but he makes it work anyways because that’s what Alec does and the way Magnus pulls him in by the waist when they’re kissing there in the apothecary (in what is arguably the one place in the world that is most Magnus’, but he wants Alec there too) is just. Sublime.

But the training scene doesn’t follow on that note at all, so even if it was flawless I wouldn’t like it just because it’s ignoring how we got there. Especially since I liked how we got there. It was so lovely! And then. Completely different tone.

SECOND: The stated point of Alec training Magnus was, based on what we saw previously, to help him retrain his instincts. That is, if he’s in trouble, that he would react physically, so there’s not a stutter as he reaches for magic that’s not there, because that delay in reaction time is dangerous. THIS MEANS… that sparring isn’t actually much help for that, not initially. They need to be training the reaction, which is like katas, or a tai chi routine, or the damn heavy bag Alec likes so much. You pick the reaction you need to have and you practice it over and over and over again until your body does it without you having to think about it. (And then you practice fighting to make sure you’ve got it.) That’s what Magnus needs. There’s no argument that he knows how to move, that he probably knows how to fight, how to spar, but he needs to change his instinctive reaction.

Third disconnect! Magnus has spent 400 years learning things, sure, but he doesn’t train and practice and physically fight every single damn day like Alec does, so… there shouldn’t be any question who would win in a purely physical confrontation, even without runes. Sure, when Magnus had his magic it’d be a different story, (but tbqh Shadowhunters are trained how to fight magical creatures so it still shouldn’t be easy) but HE DOESN’T HAVE HIS MAGIC, AND HE SAID HE NEEDED HELP, THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT. LET HIM NEED HELP. LET ALEC HELP HIM.

aCTUALLy, this is 3rd & 4th, because let Magnus ask for help, that’s a very good character note and a very mature thing that he needs to be able to do, and doesn’t make him weak as a person or a character or something, come on show…

and also FOURTH: let Alec be good at the only things you’ve said he’s good at! LET HIM BE PHYSICALLY COMPETENT at fighting AND ALSO EMOTIONALLY/MENTALLY COMPETENT AT TRAINING. Like. This is a thing it is strongly implied he’d be good at? He’s good with kids, he practically raised his siblings, he’s in charge of an Institute and has been half-running things since he was a freaking teenager LET HIM BE GOOD AT KEEPING HIS PEOPLE UP TO SPEED?!?!!!

Now. ERM. Where was I?

Right. The actually training. Showing a guy stabbing a mannequin fifty times is probably not as entertaining as some sparring, I guess, but that’s lazy thinking because, honestly, Alec’s hands all over Magnus adjusting his stance and pushing him to do it over and over ‘til they’re both all sweaty is golden, wtf show, the tension build-up would be glorious, because each time they’d get a little closer to breaking form, but they wouldn’t do it.

Gah.

And then! Then you could have a legitimately fun switch to sparring because they already did the work and you wouldn’t have this jarring disconnect between Alec trying to be serious and Magnus (despite being the one who asked for help!) just playing. They could both be playing! It would actually be them obviously pushing each others buttons! Because what we got was more Magnus giving up after one exchange and then dismissing Alec’s help and then Alec eventually going, ah well, wtf, guess I can’t actually train him, let’s kiss. Which, tbf, he clearly always wants to kiss Magnus, but it’s still a really weird dynamic, because that’s not at all where he seemed to be during the sparring, he really wanted to help and Magnus wouldn’t let him and Alec shouldn’t have been okay with that dismissal. 

So, honestly, wow, my italics abuse is off the charts today, sorry. Um. I don’t like the scene because it undermines Magnus, makes him look petty and disrespectful (ymmv! obviously!) in a way that I feel is out of character, and it also undermines one of the few chances the show gave Alec to be good at what he does. Like, it says he’s good at what he does, but then it only ever shows him failing and that’s… depressing and distressing on a couple different levels.

And it’s especially distressing, because a lot (not all, but a fair bit) of the training and fight scenes they’ve done for other characters/plots have been very in character, so the fact that this isn’t is, much like the other stuff I talked about in 3b earlier, even MORE annoying because they almost got there. They set it up so well, they’ve done emotional compelling choreography before, it should have been better.

NOW. If you ignore the context and are just watching them dance around the training room, yes it’s pretty, but it doesn’t (for me) fit the set-up the previous episode gave it, and it doesn’t do justice to either of the characters.

[canmom]

Theoretically, yeah. But if what you want is long term robustness, I'm not convinced the Fediverse has an advantage over the current centralised model. (My Mastodon account disappeared some years ago when the admin shut down the instance.) The Fediverse is only semi-decentralised - you can interact with users of other instances, but you are still tied to an instance. It's more like 'forums which talk to each other'.

In fact, 'federated blogging' is something that people have tried, with for example Plume. And we immediately get a demonstration of the issue with instance stability: clicking at random on the instances listed on the official Plume website, I got a few working instances but about as many along the lines of "this Plume instance has shut down", "502 Bad Gateway", an expired HTTPS certificate, a timeout.

As far as censorship-resistance, if that is a desideratum, the Fediverse manages it on a per-instance basis. In practice this means that instance admins have to spend a certain amount of time defederating with other instances that don't censor what they would prefer to censor.

From a network architecture perspective, I don't believe the Fediverse offers much to mitigate the cost scaling of web hosting. As a host of an instance, you have a choice. When images, videos, audio etc. is hosted on another instance, you can either hotlink it (which increases the costs for that instance, and tends to be slower since it adds a layer of indirection) or copy it to your own instance (which is expensive in terms of storage). Either way, someone has to foot the bill of offering the data on a server to every user.

Image hosting was a perrenial problem for forums - back in the old days, few forums would allow you to upload images, and instead users would rely on third-party services like Photobucket and ImageShack and hotlink their content. Both services have since wiped basically every old image from their service. Nowadays, hosting has gotten cheaper, but sudden spikes in popularity can still be problematic.

The reason I'm curious about content-based, torrent-style models is that I would hope they would scale well with activity - more people reading a post means more people seeding a post. Theoretically a spike in interest shouldn't hit the original host too hard. It doesn't offer permanence - on IPFS, old data is automatically flushed by each node, so you need to run a node with it 'pinned' to keep it on the network. But it should address the biggest barrier to running a social network, which is that hosting costs $$$$.

The main issue with all of this is that we have come to expect loading times to be nigh instant. With a content-based addressing scheme, you need to perform a series of lookups. First of all you need to send out a query on the DHT to find the tracker for your file. Then you need to determine which peers provide a good connection speed. It offers potentially great bandwidth at the cost of some latency.

I don't know for sure how well an IPFS-based social network would perform, and perhaps it would have the same issues that jiskblr described upthread.

Arguably I'm too purist about decentralisation. You could easily imagine the optimum would be a kind of redundant hybrid model, with the high-speed centralised elements backed up with a DHT+P2P system in case they ever go down? And the system designed such that if the data centre goes bust, someone else can sub in. I think that's more or less what Bluesky is attempting, I don't know how well it will work in practice. My impression of Bluesky is that it seems to run fast, but I don't post on it much because I don't really have anyone to talk to lol.

Hypothetical Decentralised Social Media Protocol Stack

if we were to dream up the Next Social Media from first principles we face three problems. one is scaling hosting, the second is discovery/aggregation, the third is moderation.

hosting

hosting for millions of users is very very expensive. you have to have a network of datacentres around the world and mechanisms to sync the data between them. you probably use something like AWS, and they will charge you an eye-watering amount of money for it. since it's so expensive, there's no way to break even except by either charging users to access your service (which people generally hate to do) or selling ads, the ability to intrude on their attention to the highest bidder (which people also hate, and go out of their way to filter out). unless you have a lot of money to burn, this is a major barrier.

the traditional internet hosts everything on different servers, and you use addresses that point you to that server. the problem with this is that it responds poorly to sudden spikes in attention. if you self-host your blog, you can get DDOSed entirely by accident.

scaling hosting could theoretically be solved by a model like torrents or IPFS, in which every user becomes a 'server' for all the posts they download, and you look up files using hashes of the content. if a post gets popular, it also gets better seeded! an issue with that design is archival: there is no guarantee that stuff will stay on the network, so if nobody is downloading a post, it is likely to get flushed out by newer stuff. it's like link rot, but it happens automatically.

IPFS solves this by 'pinning': you order an IPFS node (e.g. your server) not to flush a certain file so it will always be available from at least one source. they've sadly mixed this up in cryptocurrency, with 'pinning services' which will take payment in crypto to pin your data. my distaste for a technology designed around red queen races aside, I don't know how pinning costs compare to regular hosting costs.

theoretically you could build a social network on a backbone of content-based addressing. it would come with some drawbacks (posts would be immutable, unless you use some indirection to a traditional address-based hosting) but i think you could make it work (a mix of location-based addressing for low-bandwidth stuff like text, and content-based addressing for inline media). in fact, IPFS has the ability to mix in a bit of address-based lookup into its content-based approach, used for hosting blogs and the like.

as for videos - well, BitTorrent is great for distributing video files. though I don't know how well that scales to something like Youtube. you'd need a lot of hard drive space to handle the amount of Youtube that people typically watch and continue seeding it.

aggregation/discovery

the next problem is aggregation/discovery. social media sites approach this problem in various ways. early social media sites like LiveJournal had a somewhat newsgroup-like approach, you'd join a 'community' and people would post stuff to that community. this got replaced by the subscription model of sites like Twitter and Tumblr, where every user is simultaneously an author and a curator, and you subscribe to someone to see what posts they want to share.

this in turn got replaced by neural network-driven algorithms which attempt to guess what you'll want to see and show you stuff that's popular with whatever it thinks your demographic is. that's gotta go, or at least not be an intrinsic part of the social network anymore.

it would be easy enough to replicate the 'subscribe to see someone's recommended stuff' model, you just need a protocol for pointing people at stuff. (getting analytics such as like/reblog counts would be more difficult!) it would probably look similar to RSS feeds: you upload a list of suitably formatted data, and programs which speak that protocol can download it.

the problem of discovery - ways to find strangers who are interested in the same stuff you are - is more tricky. if we're trying to design this as a fully decentralised, censorship-resistant network, we face the spam problem. any means you use to broadcast 'hi, i exist and i like to talk about this thing, come interact with me' can be subverted by spammers. either you restrict yourself entirely to spreading across a network of curated recommendations, or you have to have moderation.

moderation

moderation is one of the hardest problems of social networks as they currently exist. it's both a problem of spam (the posts that users want to see getting swamped by porn bots or whatever) and legality (they're obliged to remove child porn, beheading videos and the like). the usual solution is a combination of AI shit - does the robot think this looks like a naked person - and outsourcing it to poorly paid workers in (typically) African countries, whose job is to look at reports of the most traumatic shit humans can come up with all day and confirm whether it's bad or not.

for our purposes, the hypothetical decentralised network is a protocol to help computers find stuff, not a platform. we can't control how people use it, and if we're not hosting any of the bad shit, it's not on us. but spam moderation is a problem any time that people can insert content you did not request into your feed.

possibly this is where you could have something like Mastodon instances, with their own moderation rules, but crucially, which don't host the content they aggregate. so instead of having 'an account on an instance', you have a stable address on the network, and you submit it to various directories so people can find you. by keeping each one limited in scale, it makes moderation more feasible. this is basically Reddit's model: you have topic-based hubs which people can subscribe to, and submit stuff to.

the other moderation issue is that there is no mechanism in this design to protect from mass harassment. if someone put you on the K*w*f*rms List of Degenerate Trannies To Suicidebait, there'd be fuck all you can do except refuse to receive contact from strangers. though... that's kind of already true of the internet as it stands. nobody has solved this problem.

to sum up

primarily static sites 'hosted' partly or fully on IPFS and BitTorrent

a protocol for sharing content you want to promote, similar to RSS, that you can aggregate into a 'feed'

directories you can submit posts to which handle their own moderation

no ads, nobody makes money off this

honestly, the biggest problem with all this is mostly just... getting it going in the first place. because let's be real, who but tech nerds is going to use a system that requires you to understand fuckin IPFS? until it's already up and running, this idea's got about as much hope as getting people to sign each others' GPG keys. it would have to have the sharp edges sanded down, so it's as easy to get on the Hypothetical Decentralised Social Network Protocol Stack as it is to register an account on tumblr.

but running over it like this... I don't think it's actually impossible in principle. a lot of the technical hurdles have already been solved. and that's what I want the Next Place to look like.

[bow-woahh]

If you’re still doing the game, chapter 6 from the grocery store onward?

Send me your favorite scene/chapter from one of my works and I’ll post a DVD commentary on it.

ask and you shall receive!

Little bit of background info, this chapter is obviously part one of two, chapter six being it's better if I calm down, and chapter 7 being the rest of the line: it's better if I lash out. If you listened to the song full stop, you might have already known that lmao

I felt like these two chapters worked well being split into two parts (I mean imagine how long it would have been if it wasn't ... like no thank you) because of the overarching themes across them and most importantly, the plot line with her mom and the readers not knowing what's putting her on edge in chapter 6. It was so much fun to play around with and hint that there was clearly something bothering her. I think in my outline, before I found the official title this chapter was called "calm before the storm" because that truly is what it is, there's a lot of nice, fun moments, but it's clear there is something bad on the way.

Anyway, tangent over, commentary time!

They caught a bus to get to the closest grocery store, which was still a twenty minute journey away, so Catra ignored Diego for most of the ride, listening to music and texting Adora.

When I was originally outlining chapters and everything, the grocery scene wasn't planned in to this chapter (I just love giving myself more to do). I have a section in my outline document where it's kinda just a thought dump of things I want to happen possibly at some point, because I think it'd be cool or cute or whatever. This was one of those instances, and because this chapter felt a bit bare bones at first (the final product was not in the slightest) I added this in as it felt like a great way to introduce Adora and Diego and since Catra and Adora are still fairly early in their relationship here, it just worked so well, because they truly didn't expect to see each other.

“Hey, hi! I knew you said you were going shopping, but I didn’t think—well I guess it does make sense since you live in Alwyn but—”

Okay, time for context no one asked for! Bright Moon is the city they are in (obviously) and Frighton (the Fright Zone) is the neighbouring city. Bright Moon is kinda split into lower city, upper city and mid/center city (guess which kinda classes live where). Alwyn and Elberon (where Catra and Adora live respectively) are more lower city, so they are typically where poorer people live, though there are some nice places there I'm sure. Just not many.

Adora said, “Loser? Nah, Catra’s actually super cool, trust me.” She looked at Adora, properly, for the first time in a few minutes, and found her staring back at her with a fond smile.

Adora's piss poor attempt at flirting. Jk, but I do think this moment is v cute and I just love how Adora defended Catra, even though it's just her younger cousin being stupid. We love to see it.

Once again Diego beat her to it, opening the door and saying, “Sure!” before jumping out and slamming it shut.

[Context for this line: Adora asked if they needed help taking the bags out of her truck.] Honestly, Diego's really cute here. He really admires Adora and looks up to her so he's taking every possible opportunity to talk to her, and be around her.

“You know you could've left, like, ages ago, right Grayskull?"

“Yeah well,” Adora did that little shrug she always did. “I didn't mind.”

Narrowing her eyes for a moment, Catra said slowly, “Alright. Well, you can go now. And I should probably head in.”

She turned to go inside, when Adora grabbed her wrist. “Wait.”

Ahhh I love this whole section of dialogue so I had to talk about it. These two are just... useless. What I love about them, and writing them in specifically this, is the constant push and pull with them, how they can never just explicitly say whar they want, either in fear they'll be judged and rejected or because they don't even fully understand what they want to begin with. With Catra and Adora, as much as one can say something like "You should go" the other will always hesitate to, will always have something at the tip of their tongue that they're not quite saying, or like here, will literally tell them to stay, using words or otherwise. They want each other but aren't quite ready to admit it yet. And I just think that's beautiful.

Also the grabbing of the wrist and the "Wait"? Pretty sure that was an accidental reference to the "stay" scene in Taking Control but it's so ingrained into my brain I'm sure it was subconscious.

“Do you wanna get out of here?”

This line is just so... teenage romance vibes and I love it

Even though they had been talking nonstop for days now, and had seen each other just the other day, there was a palpable tension in the air, one that Catra wasn’t exactly sure how to deal with.

The said tension was definitely more on Adora's end than Catra's, because obviously, Catra is still hiding things (or more accurately, just not sharing them) and although Adora wants to pretend to be fine with it, the closer she gets, the more she wants to know what the truth is, she doesn't want to listen to the lies and rumours anymore.

Adora studied her face for a moment, before saying carefully, “Well, I, uh, have a ton of old gear I’ve been meaning to get rid of, but maybe you could ask him if he wants it? It’d be a good start.”

Catra hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “I'm sure he'd like that. I'll, uh, see what he says and get back to you.”

“Great!” Adora beamed.

Another little moment I love because Adora is just so considerate here and understands that Catra doesn't want to delve into things like money issues. She also gets Catra isn't one to accept handouts but the way she puts it isn't ‘let me help you out’ but more ‘you'd be doing me a favour’. Adora understands how she feels. She gets it.

���Why did he think you were texting your ‘boyfriend’ by the way?” Adora asked, and Catra felt her heart drop to her stomach. She hadn’t thought Adora had been paying attention to what Diego said (arguably nobody should ever pay attention to anything he says, ever) but of course she had, because once again, Catra had underestimated Adora’s observational skills.

“Because he's a stupid kid who doesn't know what he's talking about.”

Honestly Diego isn't that far from the truth he just needs to turn that 'boy' in boyfriend to girl.

Also the fact Adora is asking about this.... interesting. Catra's answer.....very defensive and also interesting. Once again they're so many unspoken words and subtext layered in all of this. It's like a tiered cake.

“That? Oh, nah. I don't—it's not really any of her business, y'know?” Catra replied, staring just past Adora’s shoulder.

Catra is replying to Adora asking whether or not Serenia knows she's a lesbian and, well, obviously what she said wasn't true. Well it was, technically, but she's ommiting the real reason. As I've already at least slightly portrayed, Catra has a complicated relationship with her sexuality, and I don't want to spoil it but that will definitely be explored more in the future, and Serenia definitely plays a part in it, being her guardian after all.

“I guess it was always kind of obvious. I never looked at guys the same way I look at girls—my first crush was some girl in like elementary, although I didn't realise at the time, and they just continued from there. I thought all girls had crushes on other girls at some point, that wishing I was a guy so I could be with them was what everyone did. When I realised they didn't, that it was weird, I spent all my time convincing myself I just wanted to be my celebrity crush and not be with them, until I actually kissed a girl for the first time. Then I couldn't exactly ignore it. I still tried to though. Especially when—well yeah, I tried to deny it for a while. But then, I guess I got tired. Of lying to myself.”

This whole paragraph is just... yes. No one has ever asked Catra how she knew, but more importantly, Catra has never wanted to answer this question, and if it were anyone else asking, she would have definitely shut it down, or answered with something short and simple. It's because it's Adora, and because she's growing more comfortable with her, to the point where she doesn't mind, even wants to share these types of details about herself. That vulnerability is even more important in chapter 7, so this was a stepping stone of sorts for her.

“So, uh, how about you? Not that I’m saying that you’re—but since you asked…” She cursed at herself internally when Adora's expression morphed into one of surprise, eyes slightly widening. 

“Oh, me? I, um—I don't really know. Is that weird? I just haven't ever really thought too much about it. I guess my main priorities are school, lacrosse, and work.”

God, it's in moments like these where I wish I wrote from Adora's perspective as well. Because there's a lot to unpack here. She's not lying when she says this, I do think this is partially how she feels. But, some could argue it's so obvious how much she likes Catra, and she's definitely admired some women before. So. I'll leave it at that because otherwise I'll say too much.

Quickly though, back to the what I said about writing in Adora's perspective... saying this here and here only because I don't know if it'll happen but I did have an idea to make a sequel of sorts, from her perspective. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

The smooth stream had been interrupted once Adora had asked if Catra's had any plans next week, with Halloween coming up. The relaxed, open demeanor that Adora had seen for the past few hours had almost instantly closed up again, and she could hardly focus on what Adora was saying anymore.

Now that Chapter 7 is out, why she reacted this way obviously makes a lot of sense, but to add more of a commentary to it, as we saw throughout this chapter she was trying her best to ignore her emotions about her mom's death anniversary because for once things were going well and therefore she had other things to focus on. Adora mentioning Halloween forced Catra to acknowledge it, along with the memories that come with her mothers death.

“Promise you won't ditch me?”

“I, Adora Grayskull, promise not to ditch you,” she said, hand on heart.

We love a good promise cameo.

“Did you really get kicked out? Of Horde High?”

Catra should have been expecting this to come up once again. It was bound to. With all the rumours. Especially when Sparkles seemed to be a fan with how she brought it up on Sunday.

I've already talked a bit about the rumours and how they arose in my chap 1 commentary, but really I wanted to talk about Glimmer here, since her scene was before the grocery scene and I have a lot to say about this one. Initially when I wrote it, the scene was a fairly quick altercation that kinda lacked a real punch, but after spending a little more time on it after my beta pointed some things out...it hit hard. I know there is a fuck Glimmer train at the moment because, yeah, Glimmer is pretty mean in that scene. And other scenes. I don't know why I love writing Glimmer as her S4 self so much, but it's fun to play around with okay? I like how she can take on an almost antagonistic role at times.

Glimmer thinks what she is doing is to the benefit of her own friend, by pointing out all of Catra's faults and the fact that she's from the Horde, but I also think there's a little jealousy there. No Glimmer doesn't like Adora, but she is quite a possessive friend, so I can't imagine she likes the fact Adora is spending so much time with someone she doesn't know, and to add to it, she's got the worst reputation in the school. So.

Catra thought back to the moment, and remembered what had provoked it, all the way back in eighth grade. “Yeah. I'd say they did.”

Exclusive for Tumblr gang only, but yes they did on fact deserve it because they called Catra the d-slur. This was during a time where she was really struggling with her sexuality so at the time, this cut deep.

As Catra lay in bed that night, she found her mind wandering back to Adora's handshake, how they had held on for just a little too long, mismatched eyes staring into blue ones. How such a casual touch had brought back that burning sensation, that need to be closer.

Ah...the handshake. There is literally no other reason for this other than the fact they are gay. This chapter along with the next are especially important for their development physically—they get a lot more comfortable touching each other in passing but at the same time they still have to find a reason to touch each other (hence the handshake). Either way, it helps break another barrier in their relationship, and this is even moreso the case in chapter 7. I don't know if you noticed, but that chapter is full of small touches and more, but they couldn't have gotten there if it wasn't for the little steps along the way.

Boy that was a long one! I hope you guys enjoyed this, I know I said chap 8 would be out soon but schools really kicking my ass, trying to find a balance is hard. Nevertheless, it will be out asap, I appreciate your patience! (:

[crmediagal]

I hope you don't mind the random ask and I'm sure you've been asked this before, so I'm sorry if it's repetitive. But what is it about Hermione and Severus that makes them such a good pairing for you? What is that special something about them that makes you want to write their lives?

I never mind a random ask from you, hon! ❤ And I actually haven’t been asked this before, and I’m sorry it took me a while to respond but I wanted to do the pairing justice because SSHG is Love. :’) 

I adore so many similarities–and differences–between these two characters that make them mesh together beautifully. 

Firstly, there’s the obvious: they’re both highly intelligent. I believe Hermione would absolutely require an older man as a romantic partner, someone who’s on the same brain wavelength as her. They would stimulate one another on an intellectual basis for sure, and both are obvious bibliophiles with an intense drive for knowledge that surpasses most others in the HPverse. They would easily connect on this level. (And the banter and arguments between these two! #OMG #TheyAreInAClassByThemselves). 

They’re both outsiders, fairly introverted (Severus arguably more so), and emotionally stunted in certain respects. They would relate to one another’s social struggles, for instance, and understand each other’s flaws deeper than most other characters, I think. i.e. Severus is vindictive and angry at the world, and Hermione can be manipulative and overly swotty. They’re each capable of being quite terrible (Severus’s role as a Death Eater makes his actions more overtly harrowing, but have people forgotten that Hermione actually disfigured a student’s face for snitching on the D.A. in her fifth year?), and yet, at the end of the day, they have such redeeming qualities that they would bring these out in each other because of this shared, deeper connection/understanding of each other. They would play on each other’s strengths more than their weaknesses and that’s such a beauty within this ship. 

Hermione illustrates in canon how she can be an aggressive rooter for the ‘underdog’, even if she’s, perhaps, one of them in a sense–at least, for part of her first year–and plagued by her own set of insecurities. Severus is definitely that underdog. In canon, Severus doesn’t show himself to be threatened by his female colleagues or by intelligent, independent women in general, and that’s exactly the sort of person Hermione needs in a partner. This makes them well-matched, too, in my opinion. 

To me, Hermione’s capable of bringing out Severus’s underlying gentleness. (Yes, gentleness. For him to have loved so hard and to have sacrificed so much for Lily, he does possess a gentleness). She would bring out that fierce love and protectiveness he canonically illustrated. She would make him want to better himself. She would nurture and love him back to life, and this would be fairly easy for her to do seeing as she comes from a much healthier, stable upbringing in which she was well-loved and supported. She would help him to understand his worth (even if he remains convinced, at times, that he doesn’t deserve her). She gives him the will and The Reason to live again because, once more, she understands him and can empathize with his struggles.

Severus would wield and improve Hermione’s self-confidence which has often been undermined by her crippling fears of failure. He would appreciate and take pride in her accomplishments rather than feel at all threatened or reduced by them as a male. He would encourage her in her ideas and in her career choices and be the fully supportive partner she deserves. Because, again, they are well-matched intellectually and he would value her brilliant mind. With this growing self-confidence in her abilities would also come, from Severus’s love and support, a greater sense of pride in herself as a woman. He would help her to realise that she is attractive and beautiful in her own right. 

Neither character is exactly considered conventionally ‘attractive’ either, so looks would not be a major component in their attraction towards one another. Neither takes pride in making themselves appealing to the masses, and yet, that, in itself, makes them desirable to each other. It’s a trait they share. Hermione sees a beauty in Severus no one else gets. Severus sees a beauty in Hermione that others don’t appreciate and overlook. 

For all of the aforementioned reasons (and I know I’m leaving out more bits and bobs I could add but this is getting too long-winded!) I love and adore this unique pairing. They fit together imperfectly emotionally, mentally, and physically. They’re both terribly flawed, human, and messy. And when a story about them highlights these things, it becomes a gorgeous romance. :)  

[generalchelseamayhem]

I mean, it's not a new thing as far as I can see. The protection of the youth court starts at least from the point where an arrest is made, which we already know has happened.

As for the long and thoroughly-sourced point about Islam, I admire your apparent ability to find so many instances of Islamic homophobia in such a short span of time, and I would agree that they are the worst offenders ... but that's not the argument I was trying to make. I specifically said attacks (the bus incident didn't result in death either), and I asked if Islam was the only one, as that's what I thought you were implying.

So let me take the time to reassure you that homophobic attacks do still come from plenty of quarters which are not Muslim.

Two men in Mississippi were charged with beating a man - not because he was gay, but because they thought he might be.

French university students go to International Day Against Homophobia, vandalize the stand at an LGBT comunity centre, roughhouse some retiree human rights activists, knock a witness' phone out of her hand, start chanting "Enough with the gayness already" (paraphrased)

Alabama schoolchildren bully gay boy to suicide.

Two gay dudes beaten up in Austin, Texas, shortly after leaving a gay club.

Can I say with 100% certainty that these attackers were Christians? Can I even say for sure they weren't Muslim? Well, no, I can't. So given the fact that the three American incidents all took place in that region imaginatively known as "The Bible Belt", and those French students just happened to go to a Catholic university - I'm going to have to leave it at "a pretty good guess."

And as to your other point - about whether we should let these kinds of people into our respective countries - my answer is broadly "Yes, but only if we have the tools in place to comfortably naturalize them and integrate them into our culture."

I don't want to share too much personal information on this blog, so I won't go into too much detail, but I actually know a Muslim homophobe. I am not ashamed to say I get along quite well with them. And they have at least one relative I know for a fact is part of the LGBT community -closeted, of course, but still.

The thing is, when they came to Australia, they came with several relatives, each one seeking a new life in their own way, away from their home country (which was a tad war-torn and economically defunct). Perhaps because of a disinclination to idolize their home country, or perhaps because Australia is better than a lot of places at being multicultural, the entire family grew accustomed to an Australian way of life quite easily.

Because of this, two remarkable things happened. The first is that three different children in the family were able to go to school and receive a proper education. Without the homophobic Muslim, who worked, scrounged and saved up for the better part of 10 years, they could never have done that. It's wrong to be homophobic, without a doubt - but good people's lives were changed for the better by Australia's immigration system letting them in.

The second thing that happened was that the Muslim homophobe became just a little less homophobic, and arguably a little less Muslim. I have never seen anyone in the family wear a headscarf, nor adorn themselves with iconography, nor even pray. Islam, despite their putative cultural background, is just not really a subject that comes up in day to day life with them. And though their stance on gays is less permissive than I'd like*, they have relaxed their stance enough that they chose to abstain from voting in the Same Sex Marriage Plebiscite, about 2 years ago.

My point is that religious homophobia, as with all ideas, can be changed by exposure to new cultures and new ideas. And it's unfair not to at least give someone the chance to repent, so to speak.

The problem is not so much letting them in. It's failing to call them out when they display moral values and social mores from the old culture they left, that cannot coexist with those of new culture they've arrived in.

*They have, for example, graduated from refusing to accept that homosexuality exists, to making jokes where homosexuality is the punchline. I'm ashamed to say that one of them actually makes me laugh.

I’m reading about a lot of real homophobia happening recently.

A couple of women were jumped on a bus, one had her nose broken, and robbed by a group of teenagers saying homophobic slurs.

A man had his jaw broken in an incident where a group was harassing a couple drag queens.

(Both above were in the UK.)

And neo-Nazis carried weapons into a Detroit Pride parade, fortunately no violence was reported.

I realize that people have varying opinions on LGBT pride events, but it’s really shameful that there are people who feel justified in responding with violence and intimidation.