#Can't exactly relate to all of that but I respect a woman who knows what she likes

[probablyaseamonster]

getting serious Fionna and Cake flashbacks from that Sozonius comic ngl

Introducing Follower gang!

There. Finally did all the Bishops follower designs!

The 7 deadly sins

And some other follower gang, done with lineart this time because the other 2 pieces made me lose my soul for how long they took.

(Also a small HC if I may: Dr. Sozonius is trapped inside the mushroom on Sozos head, while the actual mushroom is controlling his body)

+ some more doodles

Info about the 7 Sins and more doodles below:

Jeg represents Greed - he was one of the first of Lamb's followers. (At first, it was very difficult for Lambert to indoctrinate people, due to their inexperience, this guy was like the 5th or so) Jeg has...a very specific personality to say the least, yet the Lamb can't help but be fond of him. They eventually nominate him the Tax enforcer role and...That might've been the worst decision of their life. But they did not take the role away. Jeg acts smug 24/7 and relishes in his new power, but deep down, dudes pretty insecure, ( but don't tell anyone!) He used to have a huge crush on the lamb, but then Narinder and eventually the other bishops came, and since their leader was for some reason head over heels for the ex god of death, Jeg grew bitter and often got into fights with Nari, as well as charging him and his other siblings more than the average follower. Though he's mostly mellowed out since then.

Brash represents Gluttony They despise Helob, since they used to fight for "food" a lot, and eventually Brash got really injured and was found by the Lamb. She tried to eat them, but was quickly disarmed. Despite this, they decided to spare him and bring his sorry ass back to the cult to indoctrinate. They were very cunning and didn't trust the lamb either, but eventually they cooled off and accepted the new life. She still eats people tho, just not from the cult, otherwise jail or *worse*

Yara represents Pride She is one of the core followers. She's very strict and somewhat self-centered, she likes things done her way, or if not her way, the lambs way. Period. No one else can boss her around or even give a helpful advice. She's actually a pretty stand up deer, and despite being incredibly stubborn still makes a good friend. She gets along with most people though Brash annoys her, since he keeps snatching body parts off corpses. She has always been extremely devoted to the lamb and will be annoyed if any follower dissents and tries to preach against them. She wasn't surprised in the slightest when they eventually took down all the bishops.

Thorn represents Envy He had a pretty terrible life before the cult. When he was brought in, she was bitter about her newfound situation. He wasn't very trusting of the lamb and thought they expected something out of her (which technically they did, but it's just work). He envies the fools who are so oblivious and just do everything as they're told and let their lives be guided by some amateur god. Similar to the other two, he puts on a mask, He often acts overly saccharine to hide his true feelings, but doesn't have any bad intentions. (Most of the time) She does genuinely like some people, but others, he only pretends to like to appease the lamb or to blackmail them. He hates when the people he actually cares about are threatened.

Jermo represents Wrath Jermo absolutely does not trust anyone. Similar to Thorn, and most other followers tbh, their life was absolutely horrible prior to the cult. They trusted some people, they got betrayed, and almost died several times because of it. It was extremely difficult for the lamb to make them stop dissenting. They legit had to give them the loyalty necklace in order for them to finally stop dissenting. Jermo keeps getting into fights with other followers, because they feel as though everyone is always against them or is constantly judging them. (They're technically not wrong) They've died 5 times, because they keep getting into fights with other followers. Lamb strongly considered keeping them dead, but decided to challenge themself with them (also they're too cuddly to just be killed off) Despite their many, *many* flaws, Thorn has a huge crush on them, since he's one of the people who managed to see their soft side. Jermo, deep, deep, deep down actually cares a lot, but they've been hurt too much by everyone, so they retaliate for the same stuff to not repeat.

Herett represents Lust At some point, she passingly heard about the cult and since it seemed like a peaceful place from the rumors (and also had hot people in it) she eagerly joined in. She's usually in the kitchen area, if not hanging around the love tent or babysitting some kids. She crushes on almost everyone, but for some reason she hates Kallamar (legit in my actual game she rejected him so hard, despite having the lustful trait and not caring prior)

Mateo represents Sloth Is perhaps the 1st or 2nd of Lambs followers, so they're absolutely not letting go of him, dudes lived 4 long lives and is tired of it, he keeps switching jobs since with age he's been slacking off more. He's currently stuck as a janitor (he hates it) He's also one of the few people who managed to befriend Jermo, his mellow, don't care attitude is somewhat comforting to them. Aside that, he gets along with almost everyone, as best as he can at least.

Not much else to say about the gang in the third pic but Riley and Dannie are platonic bffs and were forced to babysit kids when the lamb was crusading. The lamb was a little incompetent here to give carnivores children to take care of, but thankfully they actually managed to be good with them and got used to being on nanny duty.

The capybara (Beige) is a retired teacher and adopted a little owlet to take care of (Chip)

While Femur is our below yellow cat, and that's my HC name for him. He's a gatherer here.

[forevermore05]

1. I can't speak for other cultures that were represented in this show (I'm so sorry if your representation was ruined too), but since I'm a South Asian and specifically an Indian and Hindu. I think I have some credibility. Ok, so this may depend on the interpretations of Hinduism that you've grown up with if you're a Hindu reading this. Well, growing up, I was always taught that Chakras were so important. I learned that the GODS could not accomplish something unless they access all their Chakras (again, this is the interpretation I grew up with it might not be the same for you). So the fact that watching Aang just be able to live life without accessing all of his charkas properly was a big slap to the face. Let me just say this right now. If you were representing a culture, especially the culture that you base the entire show on you either do it correctly or you don't do it at all. Don't make it half-baked because that's just disrespecting the people who follow that religion. And you're emphasizing how insignificant their religious values are (mind you Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world). What little representation we had was also ruined.

2. I also want to talk about another point since I'm here. I think I've made it very clear that I'm a woman of color. Even though me and Katara Are not the same ethnicity. She was my representation through skin color. And it's so interesting. How even though I knew that she was not my ethnicity, I still grasped onto her as a representation. Now this is not a PSA for studios to say "Hey, let's have a person that is brown, and everyone will be okay with it because they will have a person of the same skin to relate to." No this is me criticizing the lack of diversity in the show. The fact that you can base an entire show on a culture but not be able to handle a main character from that culture. And also I think the reason why I like Zuko and Katara ( I've made this point before) But the amount of respect that they have. As a woman of color, I have not exactly received respect from other men whether that be because of my gender or my skin color. So seeing a woman of color be respected regardless it's just so refreshing to me.

3. Also I want people to be mindful that a lot of people who ship this ship. Are women of color and/or part of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. However, I'm going to talk specifically about women of color since I'm straight. A lot of us have come from countries that have been colonized and still face the repercussions of colonization to this day, so what I'm trying to say is. When woc ship this duo they know what they're doing and they're not doing anything wrong. It's disrespectful to insult them for being racist and misogynistic when in reality a lot of these women face misogyny and racism in their own lives. They understand why they ship this ship. They understand it very well because they able to see and understand what is truly going on.

4. If you have a problem with this post and want to potentially hunt me down. I'm only saying this because I've seen other women of color be harassed for liking Zutara. I need you to remember that I'm a teenager. I'm a kid. I don't think you want to beef with a kid. And no, it does not matter that I'm 18. You shouldn't be harassing anyone over a ship. In fact, accusing shippers of being racist but then being racist to that poc/woc shipper is insane. It kind of shows that those people are not on a moral high horse.

5. I'm a kid......don't even think about it.

[spotlightlowlife]

Writing for Millie should be hella easy

Stereotypes and cliches can work.

Right infront of us we have a tought southern farm girl, already a half written character. Millie's family, the first full family we meet, who don't even get to say much were actually crucial for her character building, they're a big family who are set in their ways, they're loving but not supportive of Millie's choices in a very passive aggressive way.

All these episodes later, these points are barely touched upon.

We would learn the Millie likes attention, she enjoyed playing a character who was the coolest person on the scene who could show off

which makes sense if you look at her rowdy upbringing, which could also explains why she is giddy at Moxxie's grand gestures and adoration of her.

Yet why did she have to play a role and take herself out of her usual setting in order to enjoy herself? This made sense for Moxxie who's sensibilities and hesitations aren't heard and is constantly frustrated, but why give Millie a similar storyline (not the first time a couples stories were awkwardly and disproportionately merged)? Having moved far from her family, having a supply of attention on tap from her biggest fan of a husband, working with a coworker she gets along fine with Loona and Mille worked together just fine when Blitzø and Moxxie got snatched, there were no differences between them, they actually appear to have hardly engaged with eachother?

and a boss who she's on excellent terms with in their small company, a boss who's intrusive ways she sees no issues with

which could also go back to having a big, noisy, busy body family who are slack with respect and boundaries something many people can relate to, why exactly did she need this moment in the spotlight?

Perhaps she's phased by being friendless?

Loona is

I she even friendless? Who knows. Her relations don't matter outside being a plot device, she even got sidelined in her families episode several times because it served to introduce Striker and show how much of an outsider Moxxie is.

On the topic of relations

Why do Millie and Moxxie have the same ex?

Why did neither of them know this?

What difference did it make?

Why such hostility?

No reason, nothing matters, none and ?

An ex would have been yet another person needed to give her some content but it would have been character building none the less.

Where did they meet and what would have been the mutual setting that lead to this guy being in both their lives then them coming together?

Has Millie had a life away from the farm as a single woman or did she leave home for Chaz? So many possibilities. Being that she is the stereotype rough and tumble country girl, she could have consciously decided to go to the city to hang about in places where those supposedly unlike her are so that she could stand out and be appreciated without having to compete with anyone. She would have her own thing going on and this would be a good way to meet hipster Chaz and thespian Moxxie.

Of course, Millie could have shown up one day and met Moxxie on the job.

Blitzø and Moxxie being the buddy cop type lead characters is fine, it's clearly the dynamic that's intended and on the few occasions we see them working together this is what we get.

The lack of characters doing the jobs we are told they do is an issue that affects all characters.

Being a side character should offer a load of flexibility, not having to carry the story offers room to be busy doing irrelevant stuff, or serve as a voice of reason or scepticism to help move the plot forward, side characters can wrap up side plots writers can't be bothered with, but side characters being ignored serves nothing.

There have been shows that have a leader and their more competent sidekick who quietly does the work and never shares in the credit.

This could work for Mille, however dispite her lack of content, she is not the quiet sidekick. We are sold a praised and admired bruiser whose performance isn't up for criticism, someone not always clued up when faced with a challenge but that's fine, challenges are rare and she's someone we have no reason to believe is a pushover, she is also someone happy to have more of a say but also fine with how things are. OK, what next?

Neutral.

Why not commit and tone her up?

Play on that country bumpkin casting. So far Millie is the fun and violent scrapper which fits but this role is also totally appropriate, someone is going to fill it, other than that she's, just there, with no say.

In and out of work, why not have her behaviour be socially neurotic, inappropriate, possessive and apathetic?

Why doesn't she stand up for Moxxie more? Is the casual workplace bullying something she's used to, comparable to the regular fun mockery that circulates throughout the family home/town banter etc? Is she used to not being heard? Growing up not having her own things, having to answer to someone, ignorance, comparassion and lack of personal space could result in someone who doesn't like being challenged or ignored, doesn't like a lack of control but has been sheltered enough to not take consequences too seriously? Anything goes after all.

It works for Blitzø, whose modest and tragic past, isolation, guilt and loneliness has lead to a sympathetic, overbearing and desperate hustler

I actually think Millie's character is fine but is she just a decent side character who is only 'fine' because she's underutilised? I'm not sure?

[backjustforberena]

Do you feel like changing alyn and Addams’s ages changed the dynamic of corlys and rhaenys for the worst? I feel like with the being older, it feels like rhaelys is built on kinda a lie. But I understand that if they were the age that they were in the books, Jace and baela’s age, it wouldn’t look great either

It's a really hard question to answer because we don't know so much. We don't know what it actually means for Alyn and Addam to be older, in relation to Corlys and Rhaenys's marriage. We don't even know what age they are.

And we don't know what the plotline might've been like, had the showrunners chosen to make Alyn and Addam younger and that's a plotline with huge possibilities in terms of how you want to play it or write it, especially if the writers wanted to pretend they were Laenor's or make them Laenor's - it's just... it's not something we can compare because we don't have those strict examples to contrast against one another.

I imagine it might have hurt more because they'd have been conceived during the time we've got to know Corlys and Rhaenys, as opposed to happening during a time before the series is set. But I can't say anything for certain. We definitely wouldn't have the scenes that we have, if they weren't aged up. We wouldn't have the characters that we have, either.

I think the idea of it being "built on a lie" is dramatic. By which I mean, I don't feel that way, at all. I was actually surprised by how little it felt relevant to the relationship issues that Corlys and Rhaenys were having at the time of her death. But I'm also the sort of person who looks at things both outside and inside the narrative.

Eve and Steve did not know that Alyn and Addam were going to be cropping up. Neither had read the books, it wasn't pitched to them, so it came as a surprise in S2. All they had, in S1, to play was the fact that Corlys and Rhaenys loved each other. The producers told them nothing, and Steve has stated that he's yet to have a proper conversation or wrap his head around what might have been the circumstances in which Corlys has these children. Which suggests to me, that the show has yet to create a concrete scenario. And also that Ryan was being really quite crappy to the actors.

It's easy to look at that as those scenes in Series 1 then being "built on a lie": how could they be truthful, if the actors didn't have the whole story or information? It's unlikely that they would have been played exactly the same if they had known. Though, not impossible, certainly given the outspoken affection Steve and Eve have displayed in having the chance to play that romanticism.

I choose, and it's easier for my mind, to look at it another way. By removing that information (of the infidelity), it makes that information irrelevant.

So, the trust and the love and the respect and the relationship shown in those scenes are just the feelings that they have in those scenes and that is completely valid. If we now look at those scenes as times when Rhaenys is aware of all of this, then that's not stopped her or impeded her loving Corlys to the amount she shows in the whole of Season 01. The truth in those scenes is the way they are with each other. It's not cancelled out or sullied by past behaviours. It's simply that past behaviours are irrelevant.

I take all of this at face value because that's all we can do. It's what was played, it's what we get, it's what we have to work with. And it's actually also really hard to go back and fit any sort of theory or meta onto those scenes because the facts that we do have are pretty flipping dire. They're just muddy and simple and confusing. This is what we have, from the screen, and this is also what the actors know, so this is only what can be played:

At some unspecified time, Corlys has two children outside of his marriage with an unspecified woman in unspecified circumstances for an unspecified reason in an unspecified sort of relationship.

At some, also unspecified, time, Rhaenys finds out about these children in some unspecified way. She has an unspecified reaction to it.

Corlys and Rhaenys never speak of it. Corlys and Rhaenys have the marriage that we see on-screen.

Other things that are shown or can be assumed:

Corlys is greatly shamed by his actions and has built no relationship with these two sons at all and also has no relationship with the mother.

Rhaenys is confident that the affair was a long time in the past (she refers to the mother in past tense) and holds no fear of repetition. It is implied that she found out years ago, and has simply never met Alyn. The revelation for us, as an audience, is not a revelation for the character.

But, other than that. We have nada. Zip. So, how can we judge it? Let alone apply it to our overall picture of the marriage? We can choose to minimize it or catastrophise it, both are valid options. But my ultimate takeaway is that it's just... ineffectual. It's not a bombshell. It's not something that has ripped them asunder. Even if they've yet to work through it, it's not something that's destroyed them because the marriage and the love has continued for decades. And they do love each other. Fiercely.

If Rhaenys hadn't known, then perhaps we could feel betrayed because she would feel betrayed in that moment of discovery. But she did, and we don't get that moment of discovery and of betrayal. In all those scenes when Corlys held her in her arms and she worried about his life and he sought to reassure her and they smiled and grieved and stood together, she knew about this hidden part of his life.

Even going into S2, when Eve would have been aware of this plotline, we have these scenes of love still played: Rhaenys and Corlys having had sex, confiding in each other, taking care of each other, being physically intimate, having picnics etc etc. At some point, the affair and these children became irrelevant to how they conducted their marriage. Whether that's implying Rhaenys's forgiveness or Corlys's denial, is up to you. But for me, that makes everything we've seen utterly truthful.

I hope I've explained that well enough. If you want to follow up, please do. I'm still trying to work out my feelings on it all but I will continue to passionately support and enjoy this ship.

[shut-up-danny-kun]

today I bring you a chunk of a Spirk WIP that will probably never be finished. I thought someone might still enjoy it.

(Bones and Spock talking and both being extremely stubborn. Teen and up.)

* * *

It was strange, sitting at a table with Dr. McCoy and watching him sip from his cup of (frankly, disgusting) earl grey tea. Spock himself had opted for a traditional Vulcan blend of medicinal plants - his only source of vitamins for the past five days. The tea warmed his empty stomach, reducing the pain slightly.

“Well?” McCoy suddenly asked.

“Excuse me?”

“I've sat down and had your damn tea. Are you going to explain what's going on in that magnificent brain of yours?”

Spock put his half-empty mug on the table.

“You will, obviously, not disclose any of this information to anyone.”

“Of course, not unless it's required for your treatment.”

“Including the captain.”

The doctor sighed quietly and looked at Spock with a pained expression.

“No. I can't guarantee you that and I can't lie. But I can guarantee that I will try my best to make sure he doesn't have to know. Deal?”

A terrible predicament. The captain finding out lead either to the worst or the best outcome, and the odds leaned heavily towards the former. Still, Spock was going to have to trust the CMO's word.

“Deal.”

He took a deep breath, steadying himself, very aware of McCoy's gaze on him.

“You are correct in your assertion that I have not been eating for the past five days. I have also been unable to meditate or enter deep sleep for twelve days.”

McCoy sighed sadly.

“You know, Spock, I have to hand to you - for a man who hasn't slept in almost two weeks, you do a great job of pretending you're fine,” he remarked.

Indeed, Spock felt a surge of pride.

“Why, thank you, Doctor.”

“Any ideas on what's causing this?”

This was the delicate part: he needed to find a way to explain the problem while skirting around the root cause, and McCoy had just proved that his reasoning skills were above average.

“Extended mental strain.”

McCoy's eyebrows rose.

“Oh. Alright, that's something. See, now I'm going to have to talk to Jim so he'd reduce your workload...”

“No.”

“No?”

“The strain is not work-related. In fact, my research is one of the few things that distract me from it.”

Spock picked his cup back up and drained the rest of the tea in one big gulp. McCoy leaned towards him in his chair.

“As you are aware, Vulcans were once a deeply impulsive species. Though we have learned to retain control over our minds, some impulses still remain that must be...supressed.”

McCoy took a second to process before making an induction.

“So, you're supressing something powerful.”

Spock hated to be obvious, but somehow, he was relieved that McCoy said it for him. He nodded silently.

“What is it, then?”

“I'm afraid I cannot disclose that information.”

“It may be crucial!”

“If you can indeed treat me, you do not need to know. There are urges which cannot be acted upon.”

The doctor leaned back in his chair, thinking.

“Hmm... Give me a moment.”

A minute ticked by in silence as he finished his tea. Spock listened to the calming thrum of the warp engines, imperceptible to the human ear. Then, McCoy spoke again:

“Can you tell me this: does your condition possibly have anything to do with your recently broken bond to that woman, T'Pring? I know it happened months ago, but it's possible you're only feeling the effects now.“

Spock was once again astonished by the doctor's intuition, and found that his respect for the man was growing by the minute. Not that he'd ever admit that. He had not even considered the impact of a broken bond.

“That may be a contributing factor.”

A satisfied smile spread across McCoy's face.

“Well, Mister Spock, the good news is you don't have to tell me anything, because I think I know exactly what's going on here.”

Spock's heartbeat sped up. Surely, he couldn't...

“Three words: James Tiberius Kirk.”

His stomach dropped at the mention of his name, and all hope was lost. He knew, and Spock was nothing but an open book. Far away, a galaxy exploded.

He jumped to his legs to do something, stop this somehow, but what could he do? Erase McCoy's memory? It would be unacceptable even in such dire circumstances. So he stood there uselessly and stared at him, somewhere between enraged and scared.

The doctor, meanwhile, looked amused.

“You've given me all the puzzle pieces! “Please don't tell the captain”, said you're supressing an emotion - and wouldn't you know it, your marriage bond happens to be broken and unoccupied. Wouldn't you like Jim to move in?”

He chuckled.

“Look at you! A pointy-eared machine of a man, dying of lovesickness. Never thought I'd see the day.”

“You dissapoint me, doctor,” Spock said, his voice low and dark, “I had hoped you were performing your duties as a healer. I see now you are here merely to humiliate me.”

McCoy stood up also, and his smile faded.

“No! This is all to help you. I said I'd heal you and I will, one way or another.”

“Allow me to make a prediction. You suggest reporting to the captain himself.”

“Yes! Don't you think Jim deserves to know?”

“Quite the opposite. Informing him would put him in an extremely disadvantageous position. If he were to reject me, he might reason that he is to blame for my suffering.”

The doctor looked at him. There was something melancholic in his blue eyes, as if he was remembering some other story similar to Spock's.

“Did it ever occur to you that he might reciprocate?”

Spock's heart began to hammer, his mind soared. It was a beautiful thought.

“Unlikely.”

McCoy smirked and sat down again. He shook his head, more to himself than to Spock.

“You think you're so clever, and yet you know nothing.”

Spock stood there quietly, wrestling with his mental defenses.

“I'm no expert either, but you'd have to be blind to not notice that Jim's crazy about you! The whole damn ship knows already! He looks at you like you're some kind of supernova. All I hear from him in sickbay is “where's Spock?” and “how's Spock?”, and when he's singing the blues over a glass of whiskey, what does he tell me? Spock again. The doctor's orders are to go to his quarters right now and tell him exactly what you're feeling. Jim will provide you with all the treatment you need.”

How naïve, Spock thought.

“All is not as simple as you suggest.”

McCoy was obviously dead set on his answer.

“Well, do it your way. I don't know your courting rituals.”

“That is not the issue. For humans, relationships are a far more trivial concern. If I were to take Jim as a...partner,” Spock explained, struggling to form words, “It would have to be forever.”

McCoy's expression was incomprehensible. He thought for a beat, and then sighed.

“Because of the mental bond?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, I agree, that's a big commitment. But that's even more reason to talk to him about it.”

Spock trembled, struggling to keep his emotions leashed.

“I prefer to live in ignorance, Doctor.”

At least this way, the glimmer of hope kept his heart beating. He imagined Jim saying he couldn't agree to spend his whole life with one partner, saying he preffered a human, a woman, that he simply didn't love Spock. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth painfully. He doubted he would survive the rejection.

“Spock, are you alright?”

Do not let go. Do not let go. If he were to slip up, then...yes, now he knew what would happen. He would break down crying. He would be unworthy of calling himself a Vulcan. Blood drainined from his limbs, his body quaking, his head feeling like it was being crushed in a hydraulic press.

“Spock. Listen to me. Take a breath.”

He opened his mouth. The air filled his burning lungs.

“Good. Breathe out.”

He obeyed.

“Let's do that again. Breathe in slowly...breathe out. In, out, in, out...”

For a moment, he could let his brain rest and numbly listen to Dr. McCoy's voice. He breathed until his heartbeat slowed slightly, and opened his eyes.

McCoy was bent over Spock where he had collapsed on the chair, close, but not touching him. He could feel the doctor's compassion simply from the way he spoke.

“You've made your point. You need medical interference. Can you stand?”

Spock put his hands down on the chair and slowly pushed himself up.

“Good. In ten minutes, I want you down in medbay for infrasound therapy. We will also discuss medications and give you some hypos with nutrients.”

“You will not tell the captain,” Spock whispered weakly.

“No, I won't. Swear on my badge.”

They stood in silence for a while, the weight of what had just transpired heavy on their shoulders.

“Thank you, doctor.”

“It's my job.”

[ananke-xiii]

Since I've started writing about resurrection in spn (around the time of the autumn equinox) I've also begun to notice the underlying aspect of the exchange/gift/deal and I thought it was cool but, you know, it was just something about that story and that was it.

But the more I scratched the surface, the more the word "balance" kept appearing and I started having Thoughts. Then, the movie "The Substance" was released to the public and it also appears to be about "balance" (or, at least, the commandment of respecting the balance, I haven't watched the movie yet and I want to write these thoughts before watching it to then compare and check if I got it or not).

So, of course, I started thinking about the so-called "work-life balance" and how it's imperative that we respect this balance or else. But what the fuck does "balance" mean? It seems like it's used as a synonym for "equilibrium" or "harmony" but is it really true?

It turns out that "balance" just means "two plates". Interesting. So this is, as expected, about opposition. Between what? 'Cause a scale, aka balance in its object-form, is used to measure things against a weight. A weight that has a specific value that you have to meet to reach the equilibrium aka the "same libra", the same weight. Okay, but who decides what constitutes a weight and what value each weight has?

So I did a little research on the history of the scale and it soon turned into an interesting study into the power to control/dictate the value of things. What's more surprising, however, is that one of the symbols for "balance" is Justice/Dike, holding a scale and a sword (there are sooo many other symbols because this stuff is ancient but I have to limit myself here). What is surprising is that, more often than not, the scale in these symbols is NOT in equilibrium. Therefore, there's an imbalance.

So I remembered the image of Justice, the Arcana VIII of the Camoin-Jodorosky tarot deck where that card shows a woman holding a sword and a scale. But she's tipping the scale. The images in the cards are asymmetrical but the card is number 8, the perfect number. What does this mean? That Justice doesn't exist, or that it's fundamentally unfair? I can't answer that but I can say that "balance" as we like (or are conditioned) to imagine it, has the potential to be biased at best, fraudulent at worst. It's a construct of our conditioned mind. Because total balance means that either both scales are empty or they weigh exactly the same. Which means there's absolute control over them, with no possibility for movement and only eventual death (metaphorically). Which means that you must NOT respect the balance, in the sense that you have to completely question and/or rebel against the balance, reject the balance if necessary, because it might be rigged or it's just pointless to reach the equilibrium because then you have no more possibility for movement and no movement doesn't make sense in Life. Because Life's about transformation. The opposing weight and its arranged value are already and always set by someone else who wants you to enter a losing game where you can only, maybe, meet the standards to reach stasis and then stop moving aka stop living. Momentarily reaching balance, same hours of day and same hours of night, makes sense in Nature because after winter there's always spring, Nature dies and resurrects again and again. Movement doesn't really ever stop (btw, I suspect "The Substance" is about Ceres and Persephone so it all actually tracks, I'm very curious about this movie now). But in human society? You gotta be careful. After all, Hermes is both the god of merchants and thieves. After all, the scale is man-made, it's just an object that someone else is holding.

Interestingly, both my musings about resurrection and the start of the release in theatres of the movie happened around the same time, the autumn equinox, as I've said (the same period of time related to the Eleusinian Mysteries that are about Ceres and her daughter). The symbol of that specific equinox literally being the astrological sign of Libra, THEE symbol of everything I've just talked about. And it's not lost on me that Libra is ruled by Venus and the movie is, I'm sure among many other tings, about beauty standards for women. Isn't it cool? I don't know if this was a fluke but it has happened.

Basically what I want to say is this: "balance" seems like a nice, harmless word but it holds much, much power. Beware of people talking about "balance" because it's very likely that they're putting their finger on the scale. In their favor, of course.

[bunglegaydogs]

Hiiii I'm just sending an ask because they're all different posts (read : I'm lazy) so please don't mind me lol

First and foremost, YOU ARE AMAZING AT EXPRESSING YOUR THOUGHTS AND YOUR ESSAYS ARE ALWAYS SO NUANCED?? SO YOU SAYING THAT WAS A HUGE COMPLIMENT OMG- I love reading your bsd essays so much and it's just now that I realised that they're all your essays abaammw some of the best in the fandom really. I'm always baffled when in the middle of an essay you go "I may not be articulating my thoughts right" or "this is kind of just put together" because girl you're amazing! Never stop writing these please ajajahsbw ALSO! Hearing your little thoughts and feelings pop up in the middle of an essay makes it so endearing to me. Like, that's a whole ass person writing these many words just to express how much they like this show and they're so adorable! (So sorry if that's offensive idk if calling someone adorable is)

Also, completely unrelated lol but this is exactly why I prefer to ask people questions instead of googling! Knowing that the person explaining is a human has their own opinions and hearing their feelings and experiences is so much more better and relatable than reading stuff off a Google website. Also your pfp is the cutest everyone has cute pfps nowadays 😭 anyways yes cute pfp :D

Actually getting to the point now:

1) yes yes Oda and Dazai's relationship is so dear to me I love them sm and I adore seeing Atsushi all caring for his mentor 😭 he's basically Dazai's emotional support cat!! Dazai let the boy in please I'm begging you he can purr probably and it would melt away your stress pls pls (Maybe everyone in the ADA sees Atsushi as their emotional support cat...)

2) Mori is a piece a shit, and you should be allowed to say it. I'm never biased in my writing but I loathe that guy with my very being and the whole people who like Mori thing really got me reconsidering...was *I* the bad guy for not liking a character when I actively liked a character very similar to him? Then I realised, I completely respect and treat equally all the people who don't like/hate Dazai. I don't treat them any different just because they don't like a character. And that's what I should expect too!

There's no post defending Dazai, and yet I still like him because I accept his wrongdoings and want him to keep getting better, like Oda told him to. Yknow, the argument would be MUCH different if Dazai was a woman and not a man, imagine bashing someone for liking a teen girl and not liking the guy who groomed her to be his heir. Yeah, really puts things into perspective. I'm not sexist, I treat (respectful) men and women equally, but Mori is just. No.

3) I haven't see it before in any canon source material but I feel like it's definitely true. It's clear that Dazai WANTS to want to keep living, but he can't bring himself to want it because of all the pain he's endured. He literally said in dark era that the reason he joined the mafia was to try and seek meaning in life by being close to death and violence. It's ironic, Dazai feels the most alive when he's about to LOSE that privilege. It could also mean that Dazai only realises the "value" in living when he's about to lose it. Perhaps he thinks of things he could've done, things he'll regret, and that helps him to stop before he actually does it. But in my opinion? I don't think he finds anything of worth in that time. He just convinces himself that he does. This is a personal hc but it's probably likely to be the case.

If you've listened to the song My R, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.(totally recommend btw!).The girl in the song speaks to herself about her woes and the 'other' version of her comforts her telling her about all the things that she DOES have, but by the end of the song, she has lost everything of meaning and she can't comfort the "girl". It is only revealed that the girls she comforted are different versions of HERSELF that she stopped from jumping.

Anyways, in conclusion, SOMEBODY PLEASE GIVE THIS BOY A HUG HE DESERVES IT

oh my god oh my god oh my god

i am sat here on the verge of TEARS in my goddamn chuuya cosplay

okay okay give me a second i need to collect myself

you are singlehandedly the SWEETEST person ever im sobbing

literally i cant- thank you so fucking much! you dont understand how much this all means to me WOWOWOWOW <33333333

literally, my brain doesnt let me consume my content positively and so i always think that theyre quite bad or that im the only person who thinks that or that im saying all the wrong things lol

i have so many words and thoughts floating around in my little brain that i just cant find the words for, so thats honestly what those rants are, my delusional 4am thought processes when i deep things too much

and YOU THINK??? genuinely, thank you!!! i love reading people's essays and thoughts, so hearing you say that genuinely just warms my absolute heart <3

and yes yes i do get quite sidetracked very often and start just rambling and adding my own personal twists- genuinely i thought that was annoying for people to read, but you're just putting a big smile on my face right now :) and PLS DONT THINK CALLING ME ADORABLE IS OFFENSIVE I LITERALLY GIGGLED READING THAT SHIT FR. <333

i like to add personal experiences and thoughts into it, just to get my point across, put it into an irl perspective and let people also relate and see what im getting at. (unfortunately) i have the same experiences as most of these characters, and so that is why they're so dear to me and why i get very defensive and passionate writing about them!

and yes! getting your answers and stuff from irl people instead of strange irrelevant responses is much more preferred lol. it's more raw and in depth and definitely a lot more personal! and thank you so much!!! it's genuinely one of my favourite dazai panels istg hes such a pretty mf

1.) i love love LOVE their dynamic, i think it's one of my favourites in the show along with skk and ranpo and yosano. it really fucking hits hard, as all family dynamics do with me fr, idk what it is about them, they just get me. and yes!!! i love when atsushi shows that he cares for dazai it MAKES ME FEEL NICE <3 and that's so real oh my god hes a tiger please PLEASE he can fucking PURR (there was a tumblr post i saw, i can try and find it but it made me actually cry laughing)

THIS ONE i was fucking howling but yes! their relationship is also one that really really gets to me! and yes, he is just the ada's support cat, it's canon, i'm ranpo's sweets

2.) thank you thank you THANK YOU mori is an actual degenerate human being. he's not made to be liked or appreciated or revered, it's just fucking AEUGH. i'm not going to demonise the people who enjoy him as a character, but seriously, it's a big red flag to overlook the canon pedophilia. i saw someone make a defense against him saying "yes, but he's never actually touched kids, so that doesn't mean anything" SORRY? they also went on to say that he "restrains himself" from having pedophilic thoughts with elise, and basically praised him for that. needless to say, it got me feeling fucking icky. and yes! i feel exactly the same. i always think that "oh, maybe i'm the awful one for not liking him? am i bad?" even though, no, i'm perfectly fine thinking that way and i am allowed to think that way. and exactly again! dazai is my favourite character, but i recognise his flaws and his mistakes and don't forgive them. but he's actively trying to "be a better person" (i say this in quotation marks because dazai sees everything he does as inevitably pointless, but still wishes to uphold oda's dying words. i am definitely going to make a post about this in the near future lol) and i dont make my analyses biased towards him, and i stay on neutral ground UNLESS personal opinion comes up, to which i then say that it's my personal opinion, not fact, and that it's anybody's choice to think however they want. if somebody doesn't like dazai; okay! i'm interested in talking with them, and we can both talk about things we're very passionate about and have healthy conversations! unlike some people i have seen on reddit, goddamn. but no, we're not the bad people for hating that knobhead fr. we should all treat and be treated the same as any other fan in the fandom and get along, and i wish we could ALL do that in non-toxic ways. 99% of this fandom are the loveliest people ever, but that 1% just needs to get a grip like omg. we should treat others how we want to be treated, regardless of who favours what ship and who likes what character. and real!!! if gender roles were reversed for dazai, this would be much more problematic, and that's upsetting! dw dw, i dont think its sexist, i think its putting things into perspective bc, either way, its shitty how he was treated. i fucking hate mori. whenever i see people defending him to like, the bone, like not getting into a decent discussion and being civil but instead bashing everyone who says otherwise and completely overlooking the abuse, manipulation, grooming, pedophilia and just him as a sick and twisted person in general, it just really irks me. as someone who has in fact had to deal with separate strands of abuse including many fucking counts of sexual abuse and pedophilia, it disgusts me seeing people overlooking it and it makes me feel fucking sick. that shit is not just something to be overlooked because of the fact that you enjoy mori as a character, he's not supposed to be a character that's consumed positively, he's a bad guy. a lot of characters in bsd are morally grey, but mori is just fucking morally black. he's downright evil.

(TW for suicide and self harm next btw :) )

3.) yes yes yessss!!! again, bringing personal stuff into it, i deal heavily with the whole topic of suicide and self harm. i've attempted twice and still deal with thoughts of it every single day, as well as self harm. so, this is one of my main reasons of dazai being my absolute favourite character, because of the representation and actual presentation of these topics. at first, we're shown them in a whimsical and whacky way, then it gets so much darker once we get into the dark era. it's a complete tonal shift, and it really sets in the gravity of the situation for him. and, as you said, he wants to have that ability to want to keep going and living, and he wants to be able to put the effort in, but he can't/ he physically cannot. as much as he would want to try, he can't. and yes, when he said that it fucking BROKE me fr. just at the chance that he's not able to keep living on anymore as a human is the one thing that keeps him alive, i fucking love asagiri's writing, it's so complex and beautiful. and its so so so real!!! youre literally right idc lmao. youve so eloquently said it im crying, youre putting all my thoughts into words <3

and yes!!! i have listened to the song, i absolutely LOVE it! and i never fail to think of dazai whenever i listen to it </3 and, i also think it's very very much like dazai, because of the multiple different versions we see of him too. chuuya hasn't exactly changed much, but he has gone through some very very complex and deep character developments, such as in fifteen and stormbringer. hes a lot more "tame" and respectful now, and a lot more mature. (except with dazai lmao) aku, we see he's changed slightly thanks to atsushi, but still no major character fucking flip arounds. all these characters we've watched slowly become better and more complex throughout the series. dazai? he just does 180s every single fucking year. hes different at 14 and 15 than he is at 18. hes different at 18 than he is at 20-22. and the different faces he puts on for each and every person, all his masks that he has. there's much variety to dazai; you never know what you'll get. there's so many different sides to him, because he doesn't know who he is. as odasaku saw him, "a lost child crying out". no matter the age, no matter the state, dazai is always going to be harbouring that broken child with him, trying to hide it and build up walls around it, because the only time he's ever shown it, he's gotten hurt or betrayed and lost some key figures in his life. trust issues much?

anyways i am sorry i am sorry i rambled too much lmao

in conclusion, YES, GIVE HIM A FUCKING HUG OH MY GOD PLEASE I JUST NEED SOMEONE TO HUG HIM PLS GOD LET ATSUSHI GIVE HIM A BIG HUG WHEN HE COMES OUT OF MEURSAULT I SWEAR-

thank you so so so SO much for your kind words!!! sweetest person EVER fr <333333

thank you my love!!! /p have a lovely day/night :) <3

[darkhazard19]

For the ask the oc

Hello, Leta and Ria! Hope you two are doing great there 💖💖💖

Here's my question for the both of you, what are your thoughts on meeting Val and the others for the first time?

@shinmiyovvi AFTER WHAT FEELS LIKE YEARS IVE FINALLY ANSWERED THIS I’m so sorry it took this long Shin 😭😭 Hope you like it nonetheless 🥺💖💖💖 tried to add the southern flare for Zari!

“Ah, hey there Shin! It’s been awhile since we’ve last seen you.” Leta smiles softly, “I’m doing great by the way. Ria, come say hi!”

Ria waves a hand while she lights a cigarette with the other. “Mmh, yea, hi. We’re both peachy. Let’s hurry up and answer the question.”

Leta sighs with a roll of her eyes, “Don’t worry about her, that's just how she is. So, our thoughts when we first met Val and the others? Well, to be honest when I first saw Lena I was happy to know I wouldn't be the only woman in the crew. God knows what I’d do if I had to deal with all these boys and that testosterone on my own. But…..I also noticed something about her, like…..she lost someone or something dear to her. It made me feel sad cause I know what that pain feels like.”

Ria nods her head in agreement, “Licia reminded me of myself, a woman wronged by the world and protecting herself behind a guise of anger and coldness. It also felt nice to have somebody to possibly relate to.”

“Meeting Ji Eun was interesting I suppose. I could instantly tell upon seeing her that she wasn't one for bullshit and I respected that. But somethin’ told me we wouldn’t exactly be super close and boy was my instinct right. Not that we hate each other but don't you reckon you’d hate it if somebody was puttin down the effort you have for your work. I know she’s testing me but gee does it irk me. Sorry for rambling but I respect Ji Eun and I’m glad to be in her company. Bout you, Ria?”

Ria was unusually quiet as she took another huff of her cigarette, “......I felt heartbroken meeting Ji Eun for the first time…..It was clear as day what she had gone through ...what haunted her. It made me feel…..angry not at her but for her. Made me wanna protect her, poor gal doesn’t deserve any more pain or heartache.”

Leta looked at Ria in slight surprise but shifted into understanding, she decided not to dwell on it and went to move on.

“Hmm okay well, let's see we can talk bout Arthur next. One look at him and hearing him talk told me I’d constantly be having headaches around him. But I also knew I’d share some pretty good laughs.” Leta smiles softly, chuckling. “Nowadays he likes to tease and get on my nerves but it’s nothing a little sarcasm and wit can’t fix.”

“.....He’s like the father I wished I was blessed with. At first I was wary, and didn't really think much of him. Suppose it was the kindness he had and the fact that he actually seemed to care and listened to what I had to say that drew me in. Honestly, I think my heart knew that we’d be able to form a connection but my mind just wasn't ready for it at first.”

“Suppose we can't trade one for the other?”

“Hold your horses there, girlie!”

“Worth a shot wadnit (Wasn’t it)?”

Ria snorts, “Anyways, lastly there's Dragomir. Don't judge a book by its cover would be an understatement here, thought he was gonna be that type of man who likes to act all big and strong or even the silent and brooding type but boy was my gut instinct so off. Not that I’m complaining, it’s actually kinda heartwarming to see how sweet and kind Drago can be and don’t tell him I said this but he’s almost like a big teddy bear with how sweet he is. It’s also nice that he’s a great listener.”

“......It was hard to talk to him at first….sometimes it was hard to even look at him….Miro reminded me of my brother so much. It was nice to have someone like Red around but it was like a reminder that I would never get to see my brother again. Sometimes I like to think that Red sent Miro to me, lemme know that it’s okay, that he’d never be mad at me for moving on. Similar to Lena who I see as a sister, Miro quickly became like a brother to me and sometimes I feel guilty but then I remember Red always wanted me to be happy and I tell myself that he’d be happy to see I was able to form such a great bond with the others.”

Ria puts an arm around Leta’s shoulders and pulls her in for a side hug for comfort. “Hope that answers your question, kiddo. And have a nice day/night alright?”

[slashingdisneypasta]

I have finally watched Once Upon a Studio! Seeing all the disney characters was so exciting!!! I love how we get to see certain characters interact that we may never have even thought about before, like the dalmatian puppies and Chernabog XD

It's hard to pick my absolute favorite moments, so here are just the ones that I like in general XD

The men's room scene. Seeing all the boys getting themselves fixed up for the photo, and Gaston being his usual self. And Minnie covering her eyes when she came in!!! We have to protect her.

Kaa getting pan smacked by Rapunzel. That poor snake can't catch a break XD

That alien following Ursula all lovey dovey. I still need to see Disney's sci-fi movie, but that was adorable ^^

Prince Charming losing his shoe and trying to get Eric to stop Max! And then Cinderella encouraging Max XD I like to think that's a subtle nod to her being a dog person with Bruno (the dog, not the rat man XD)

Scars iconic "I'm surrounded by idiots..."!

GENIE!!! Rip Robin Williams.

Hades' "I knew this was gonna happen" proving once more how relatable he is XD

OSWALD!!!! MICKEY LETTING OSWALD GO FIRST!!!

This was just such a nice short to watch. I would absolutely sit down and watch a whole movie based on what happens at the studio after dark and all the shenanigans that entail ^^

YAYYY! You got to watch it!!!

All these moments were amazing, I loved them all too!! We love Minnie; she's a lady and respects the men's privacy! (Or maybe she's a lady who knows what she is and isn't willing to put with seeing XD Either way we love her), yes poor Kaa!! i feel like he has the same curse as Wile E Coyote XD (no body will let him eat!! 😭), omg Ursula going 'oh no no no' gave me so much serotonin XDD i have no idea what exactly is going on but it sure was funny XD (this woman used to be a scourge on the sea ☠) , YES!! THE CINDERELLA BIT!! i just love that they have fun together so much <3<3<3 they are legitimately cute as hell as a couple (and yes totally omg!! that didn't occur to me but y e s! Thank you, you're so right!! Cinderella's totally a dog person !!!), y e s XD i loved Scar's bit too XDD (i love that Jeremy irons came back for this), RIP Robin Williams ^^ and Gilbert Gottfried as well!! (This was the first time since 1992 Iago was not voiced by him. no i'm not crying), and of course Hades said that XD of courseee. reminds me of how he responded to Jafar's ridiculous evil laughter in Hercules and the Arabian Nights XD and...

YES. OSWALD. HOLY MOLY YES.

[queerauntie]

An Alice Oseman Celebration

They're iconic, they're exponentially blowing up, and they have an adorable tv show based on their comic book series, people of tumblr we gotta talk about Alice Oseman!

Alice Oseman is an impeccable writer and a beautiful artist. I have followed Alice as an author for some years now, my best friend had me read Radio Silence years ago, maybe 2016, so I have always known about Oseman's works and supported them from a distance. Now that books are calling my name, it only felt right to finally read their collection!

A major reason why I got through so many books in October was that I had accepted a full-time job with a huge commute. So at 2x speed. I was getting through hours of stories a day. Another reason why I read so much was because of the level of stress this job provided, my brain was desperate for distraction and to focus on anything other than what I was facing. Oseman was truly a safe space to get away from all of those stressors and root for these adorable protagonists.

So as I mentioned, I had read Radio Silence years ago, but because of ADHD memory, I couldn't remember any of it. So jumping in was like deja vu but without any of the spoilers, it was awesome! I fell in love with Frances all over again, the friendship between her and Aled was so magical. Finding your bestie just when you need them is such a gift. We don't see enough romances like this, falling in love with your bestie and being able to experience that intimacy free of judgment and cishet norms. Radio Silence really was that book. I love my nerd babies!!

This Winter was so precious, Nick and Charlie are angels and I knew them well at this point. I haven't included Heartstopper on my books read mostly because I can't remember when I read it, but also because I did see the show before I read the comic. But when I saw this in Libby and available now instead of a huge hold, I was so excited for a whole novel on Nick and Charlie! Well, that's what I get for not checking the length because I was not prepared for a short story. I started it on the way home and the timing couldn't have been funnier, the audible credits started going as soon as I pulled into the driveway. I thought surely it was an error that skipped forward but nope, it was a teasing little taste and that is all. It was very adorable though, and I love how Nick and Charlie get to be spread out throughout Oseman's works.

Loveless!!! I don't know how one picks a favorite Oseman book, but Loveless might win for mine. It's a beautiful story of a young woman off at university, who begins to struggle with the idea of relationships and the definition of "Love". Like many people who've attended college or uni, her story is one we can all relate to. Being in a new environment where even the familiar feel strange, and being forced to navigate a million new variables all at once. It's a scary time and Alice Oseman does a great job sharing those emotions through their characters and their respective journeys. This book helped me figure out some things about myself even, looking back on it now. Anyone looking to feel a little less lost in the chaos of the world, I recommend this book!

Solitaire! Oh, how it gave me muscle aches in my eyebrows from all my concern for Tori. It was kind of perfect, reading this book as a late twenty-something, a decade away from my teenage experience. I was able to read the story from a true third party and not feel caught up in Tori's spirals, but have empathy and hold space for that part of me that felt just as helpless, just as unlovable, just as stupid. The story is really fun, there's a big mystery and a really kind boy who simply won't let her push him away. Persistent love is exactly what Tori needs in her life, and this story is her journey to figuring out that she deserves it. I really enjoyed this book, but mostly, I just really really love Tori Spring.

The timing of when I read these books in October could not have been better because "I Was Born For This" came out in the US right at the end of October! This was not a book I could wait for through the library either, so luckily I still had credits from an earlier audible subscription I forgot to cancel! The day it came out was the day I started it and it only took a couple days to finish, it was amazing. At it's core, it's a perfect Oseman book. The characters are beautifully thought out, the conflict is masterfully constructed, and the stakes are just perfectly measured. I absolutely loved this story and I can't imagine a more relevant story for the times. With parasocial relationships on the rise, a story like this is really important for young people and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a taught text someday. I would certainly recommend it to any young person I know!

That wraps up my Alice Oseman appreciation post! I know I didn't mention a couple books, but that's because I haven't read them yet! So if you're a fan of "Heartstoppers" or "Nick and Charlie" keep an eye out because I'll definitely be getting back around to them this year!

[trashlie]

aw you flatter me 💕 thank u, the feeling is mutual!! you have such an in-depth understanding of the story, i want to know your thoughts on all kinds of things! and if our discussions are interesting to other people as well, that's even better! 🥰 i'm probably not gonna be able to keep up this streak because life... so i'm leaving you an extra long message teehee >:3 run with this all you want! ofc there's absolutely no rush for you to reply ~ and please be more careful with the stairs, i hope u feel better soon 🥺

ahh i'm so glad you can see my ceo kousuke vision!! ✨ and you bring up great concerns re: yui, his own issues, his own wishes etc… there's A LOT that needs to happen for him to develop that potential and to even have the opportunity to take on that role… and tbh that's why i can only picture ceo kousuke the way i described him only after yui is defeated. because right, it would be basically impossible to do as long as yui is in power, especially if he's already gonna be dealing with all his personal stuff.

ceo kousuke is to me a possible conclusion to his character arc. we might never even see him "in action" and it's more like, the ending will show us that this is what his goal is now. i mean if he's like "fuck this company i'm gonna be a shepherd in the himalayas" or smth i'd respect that too lmao. but wouldn't it be sooo satisfying to see yui come so close to achieving her ultimate goal? if kousuke became the ceo like she planned, but instead of being her puppet, he'd end up thinking for himself and actively undoing everything she built? and like you said, he might currently not be very happy in this career, but if he had a different incentive and motivation to be the ceo, who knows? he might even find a bigger purpose and fulfillment in that position. wouldn't it be somewhat noble (mayhaps even gentlemanly wink wink) to try and make up for what his family has done? related to this, i can't help but think of the comment rand made to shinae in ch 89: "i have more respect for an honest individual that challenges rules and conventions than the dishonest that mindlessly follow and remain in comfort". i was immediately like !!! kousuke should hear this. if kousuke, as the ceo, challenges the status quo of the company and his family instead of mindlessly following it, he'd be exactly the kind of person rand would want him to be, and so he would even win the approval he initially wanted ;; yes yes rand already loves him and kou doesn't have to "earn" anything etc etc but ykwim 😗 it would just be the cherry on top ✨ if rand is even still alive at that point oh god rand please don't die yet ;A;

until we get to that point though, i have a strong suspicion that kou will be pretty much "trapped" for most of s2; by yui, by having to deal with yui, and also by all his internal, personal struggles. tbh i can't imagine him being able to make any significant moves because even the tiniest sign that yui might actually lose her most valuable pawn will trigger her, and who knows what this woman is capable of when she gets desperate or cornered 😶 my guess is it'll probably be up to the black team and especially shinae and nol, both characters who will be more "free" and have more power, to take yui down and, as a result, make it easier for kousuke to finally free himself. and i realize it sounds a lil bit like saving the princess from the dragon that keeps her locked in a tower fgshdfjk (is *that* why some characters call kousuke a princess sometimes :O am i onto something here? 👀) but hey i don't mean kousuke won't be doing anything, he'll likely be going through a lot of character development (like you said not a 180 but just realizing a lot about himself and yui and his past, dealing with all that, figuring out his relationship with nol etc etc) which in itself is already defying yui, isn't it? so that when the opportunity arises he can join the black team. obviously this is all just speculation and i'm staying open to anything but idk it's so fun so think about the possibilities for the future plot ~

on a side note, from a story structure perspective, it'd be interesting if there was a reversal between the brothers in terms of who is "trapped" (by yui), and who can "move". similarly to how in s1, team white has the upper hand, and we can expect a power shift to team black. in s1, nol was basically trapped and powerless - in the sense that all his attempts to change his situation have been futile, so he's mostly been going through a character transformation/deconstruction and sparking actions in other characters. it'd be pretty clever if, in turn, s2 focused more on kou's character development (while he's "trapped") and nol is the one who will be more "active". cause right, like you said, we can assume that the exposé will give nol stronger goals and, by damaging or weakening yui at least temporally, more freedom and "power" to move. and similarly, shinae, who has been pretty powerless, will gain more "power" by spending time in the corporate world/near yui and learning her language, both of them will essentially power up for the final showdown. is this even making any sense. i'm getting soooo carried away like [insert pepe silvia meme] do i sound like a crazy person. u can be honest with me LMAO 😭

(and there's definitely a certain appeal to nol going for the ceo position, taking the company from the hiraharas for good, reforming it and breaking the cycles of abuse and corruption, or simply dissolving it… for yui it'd be the worst nightmare that's for sure 👍🏽 but idk, something about "the underdog coming out on top" in the most obvious way feels a bit cliché, doesn't it? :/ especially since it's been hinted at so many times. i guess we'll just see, it strongly depends on how everything is executed either way ~)

LOVEEE what you said re: yui and shinae!!! <3 for shin, what i expect we're gonna see realistically is that even though she'll play yui's game (or pretends to), yui will never actually be able to "get her to the dark side" (not even with cookies. that was bad i'm so sorry) and i'm really looking forward to that because yui is used to getting everything she wants, but she can't have shinae, she can't corrupt her. shinae will continue to "shine light" no matter what. double-agent shin oh i really hope that's where the story is going WAH ! 💖 and future shinae looks so cool in the illustrations too, her energy is so different i'm so excited to meet this version of her!!!! 🤩

……….and fINE ok tbh the main reason ceo shinae came to my mind was that clip that was posted on patreon not too long ago (it's not up anymore unfortunately :<) where quim showed some prints, and two were of shinae/nol and shinae/kousuke on that armchair/throne and i couldn't help but be all 👀👀👀👀👀 the poses, body language, the clothing, the implications... i know it's bonus content and doesn't have to mean anything but we know with quim most things do mean something don't they?? and it just stood out to me that in the illustration with nol, shinae is dressed in a pantsuit (as opposed to her assistant outfit in the image with kou) and she's basically taking up the seat and he's positioned on the armrest behind her (no comment about neither shin or nol being able to sit on that chair normally but note taken), and sure it could be about their general dynamic and not anything business-related but my one lil stupid brain cell was still like "WAIT OHMYGOD WHAT IF!!!!!!!!!!" you've seen these illustrations bc i know they've been discussed before, you know what i'm talking about, right??

"Kousuke might end up at the same hospital as Nol to get checked out" ooh OOOOH that's possible!!! oh i swear this 3 day extention is planting all kinds of ideas in our heads bc it's pretty much the last opportunity to interact with nol before he goes to jail… who else might show up. rand? alyssa? minhyuk? YUI GOD FORBID?? 😭 (btw re: nol and kou - if the lovely artist ever shares the "get along shirt" drawing publicly, please give us the link if possible! <3)

AHHHH you hit me right in the feels talking about nol and shinae ;A; we're so on the same page when it comes to those two love that for us ! love that we can see the light 😌✨ no but, right. if they're not someone's cup of tea that's fine, but at least give this pairing and their dynamic and buildup and narrative purpose (role reversal; rand/nessa counterpart) the credit it deserves 😤 i can't help but feel like a lot of it has to do with how """problematic""" (more like flawed and messy) nol is, the boy has been quite controversial hasn't he (love that for him), and people tend to prefer the "cinnamon roll" male characters that make for "healthy" and "unproblematic" ships, because if a ship isn't perfectly smooth-sailing from the moment the characters fall for each other it's toxic right /s 🙄 or maybe it's about the immediate reward, because they think shinae x dieter would be easily digestible cute fluff sunshine romance forever (questionable given shinae's baggage but ok), whereas shinae x nol would have to "work" for it (for the lack of a better word)? but then again so much of ily has been about working on relationships, communicating and apologizing and adjusting to one another and making it work, and isn't that what (often) makes your relationship stronger? so why would a romance between nol and shinae be different? when has anything in ily ever gone smoothly?? LMAO give shinae and nol time they'll figure it out. a rocky start is actually a good thing because they'll learn early on where the problems are. and we've seen what they could be, what kind of potential they have, how much they care about each other! and yeah it'll take time to get there, but it'll be worth it!! sigh. anyways…

"There is now way we are moving into a time skip with Nol's walls all the way up!" SAME!!! i'm gonna riot LMAO jk actually it's kinda funny how we're currently on two cliffhangers: nana/shinae and yui/simhan (absolutely WILD character combination btw) so actually it'd be an opportunity to leave yui/simhan and jump back to shinae/nana :> but either way how exciting!!! btw how do you think the yui/simhan encounter will go? would either of them figure out who the other is, or would yui just immediately move on to find rand? i have such a bad gut feeling about simhan and it's horrible bc things were just starting to look up for him, now this? and the hint that he's gonna fall back into alcoholism or even die?? gosh please no ;;;

alright WOW that's really enough for now. looking forward to your thoughts, and talk to you soon, take care mwah 💗 - lil anon 😼

ah! sorry, i meant to say nol is flawed and troubled, not troubled and messy ~ and re: the entire ship paragraph... like i mentioned before i'm not much of a shipper, so if i'm misunderstanding something or jumping to wrong conclusions, please feel free to correct me <3 - lil anon 😼

Lil Anon! My precious, my beloved! You told me take your time and then I DID ;_______; LMAO I promise you I was up to good things, practicing a lot of drawing and feeling really proud of myself and really fixating on that - til 231 came and knocked me on my ASS and unhinged me and now I've just been swinging from the rafters for half a week AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

But this is a message I was really looking forward to, so I'm still going to answer it and maybe it will temporarily ground me and subdue my unhinged feral streak (we'll see.... LMAO) I always look forward to these asks and getting to expand on thoughts or really dig into things I've never had to give reason for LMAOOOOOO

I agree that it's sooooo fun to speculate and think about all the ways things could go! Like, obviously the idea of Kousuke doing something other than CEO is because so many people want to see him in a position he can LOVE that he can be passionate about. But I think CEO Kousuke as a conclusion, as a goal to actively work towards for himself really does have some poetic justice to it even before we account for how it would be something so very in Yui's face which makes it so much more delicious. Sometimes life isn't about getting to follow our dreams but figuring out how to make of our circumstances something we can love or be proud of. That seems to be the path we'll see Shinae on, right? Is the corporate world what she wants? Does she have the mind and heart for business? And worse, being there of someone else's volition, no agency in her choice. That's what makes that conversation with Rand so enticing. He's right; Yui won't give up and it's almost inevitable that Shinae will remain in Yui's grasp, but if she finds a way to work it to her advantage, to use the experience to learn how to play Yui's game, at least it gives her agency. Letting Yui believe she's trapped, letting her believe that she's got Shinae under her thumb, allows Shinae that agency. And thus, the idea of Kousuke making an active choice to be a CEO, for his own ambitions, for his own desires, and to dismantle what his mother did, to take a leaf out of Nol's book and put good in the world to make up for what Hirahara Corp has done/been behind? Oh I LOVE it. And I love what it would say of Kousuke, of the choices he's making and why he is!

But frankly if he chooses to be a sheep herder I'm helping him pack his bags because I am WORRIED. His future looks so bleak right now no matter how things play out - whether or not he finds out Yui has been drugging him and he's actually able to believe it (and not, yknow, try to hide from the truth which is a perfectly reasonable response to your reality being completely upheaved) or how he chooses to cope with it. That one image really speaks volumes - the poster with the image in the puddle below them. He looks so miserable and generally unwell in their future. But this really ties into your point re: from a story perspective. Beginning the story with Nol the miserable one and Kousuke walking "freely" only to swap their roles IS incredibly interesting! It's a lot like Nol and Shinae switching roles after the formal. Frankly, it's always fun to watch mirrors switch places and swap situations, but especially so with Nol and Kousuke because of the whole history with their relationship. But from both a story perspective and in general as a fan, I think watching that role reversal but seeing it play out differently is what will set that apart. Nol could easily, without any blowback, carry on and leave Kousuke struggling in his dust, if he so wanted. The idea, though, of them eventually playing on the same team, as allies, is SO MUCH BETTER to me than any revenge plot. I LOVE broken families I LOVE tragic brothers and I really want to see them have each others' backs at some point.

To go into this further (and honestly we have probably talked a lot about this already but... yknow lol) Nol has written Kousuke off right now - but Nol doesn't know the full story. Kousuke has been his abuser of his own volition, but Kousuke was weaponized against Nol. Long before he ever faced him, Nol was subconsciously drilled into Kousuke's mind as an enemy and lord knows what else Yui has actually said of him. Seeing events like the night Nol was taken away altered and re-shaped by Yui's "versions" during vulnerable moments ensured that Nol would always be this volatile, violent monster in Kousuke's mind, even when it has become abundantly clear to the people in his life that this version of Nol doesn't align with what they know of him. This is stuff we already know lmao my point is: there is a lot that Nol doesn't know about what shaped and fueled Kousuke's fears of him and jealousy towards him, but also what fed his paranoia, why he was unable to ever see Nol for who he really is, could never see truth in his offerings of brotherhood and could only see him as someone trying to take his place. Nol, like Hansuke, is convinced that Yui loves Kousuke, that he has greatly benefited from the maternal care (something that was taken from Nol far too soon). He doesn't see that her motivations have never been for Kousuke's benefit. So likewise, while he knows Yui is a monster to him, he's got no idea she's a monster to Kousuke, as well. In his head it's Yui and Kousuke, a team.

I think we will see in Nol what Kousuke could not do - extending the hand to someone who needs him, even if it's in his best interests to let him suffer. Something I always come back to is that at Nol's core, he does care. He held out hope that one day he could reach Kousuke, that Kousuke would reveal some shred of love he'd hidden away. He cares about people, even strangers who he knew could use his (friendship) help. I repeat myself all the time but anti-hero Nol who turns cold in his quest for revenge doesn't feel right to me, it doesn't suit him. I love the idea of him being able to see that Kousuke, too, was at the mercy of Yui and that while yes, everything he did to Nol was of his own doing, it was fostered by Yui. It just feeds right back into that delicious hope of how good it would be to see Kousuke do everything Yui never wanted - to form some kind of alliance with Nol, no longer isolated and controlled by her. Team up with the very man who has been an alleged threat to the Hirahara name/family/fortune(???) all this while. GOD I want it so badly!!!!!!!!!! But also I think it would read SO WELL because it's what Kousuke could not, at this point in the story, do. Where Nol reached out and Kousuke confessed his darkest secret his darkest desire and left Nol alone, I want Kousuke to be in need of Nol's help and companionship, and Nol pull him up.

IT MAKES ME SO FUCKING EMOTIONALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL ;A;

IT'S THE BRIDGE FORMED BY SHINAE ALL OVER AGAIN!!!!! IT'S SHINAE SEEING A LIGHT AND GOODNESS IN PEOPLE EVEN IF IT'S OVERSHADOWED BY THE UGLIER, NASTIER PARTS OF THEM. IT'S SHINAE SEEING THIS IN SOMEONE AND SHINING THAT LIGHT FOR OTHERS TO SEE, TOO. FOR SOMEONE LIKE NOL WHO HAS SEEN IN KOUSUKE SOMEONE UNCHANGEABLE TO BE ABLE TO BE A FIGURE WHO COULD, PERHAPS, HELP KOUSUKE FIND THE COURAGE TO STAND UP TO WHAT SCARES HIM, TO GROW THAT SPINE? AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH I just ;________; I have FEELINGS you know? HOWLS

But yeah, that's exactly it!!!! It's that unlearning everything he believed about Nol, everything he believed about Nol in relation to himself, defies Yui. It's that being the brother he failed to be defies Yui. It's that teaming up with him and putting his trust in him defies Yui and LIL ANON I WANT THAT SOOOOOOOO BADLYYYYYYYY ;_____;

But yes, Nol the active force, while Kousuke is the one in the character development stage feels SO good to me, I want it so badly lmaooooo it's gonna be SO GOOD I promise you you don't sound crazy but also I've been pretty high on this catnip banquet quimchee gave me so like... take everything I say with a grain of salt because I AM SO UNHINGED NOW

I know there are a lot of fans who DON'T want Shinae to take up Yui's offer because I think they do fear it means Shinae will be corrupted - that learning to play Yui's game means becoming Yui or something but yeah, like you, I think Shinae is the opponent Yui CANNOT convert. She's met countless girls and even guys who would do anything for the power and money they possess, who attached themselves to Kousuke in hopes it would rub off on them. Alyssa bends to her EVERY WHIM. Meg was so fun to play around with and harass her own son with. But Shinae has such strong convictions that I think she WILL be the worthy opponent, because she IS the light. I firmly believe in that, too. Shinae shines so that others can find their glow, too. She shines so that others can escape. She'll play the game, but on her own terms, in her own way, never stooping to become what Yui has. If anything, I think her convictions coupled with her experience will yield someone so much more powerful than she'd ever imagined, because while in the corporate world empathy can be a weakness, I fully believe Shinae will be able to wield hers to help and to detract from Yui. UGH ALFJKAFKJAJFKJKF /AUGH/ I get SO excited thinking about iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

ALSO

ALKFJALFAJFJKAFJKAF

/ALSO/!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SCREAMS

and i couldn't help but be all 👀👀👀👀👀 the poses, body language, the clothing, the implications... i know it's bonus content and doesn't have to mean anything but we know with quim most things do mean something don't they??

OF COURSE I KNWO EXACTLY WHAT IMAGES YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT OF COURSE I DO!!!!!!!! The 2021 Valentine's Doodles (do a search of valentine and they'll come right up) LKJAFLJAFLJAFLJKAFK AKJLFJLK AFKLAJFLKFJAFKJA AFLKJALJFKF HOWLS SO MUCH JUST BARKS AT THE MOON FRRRFFFFF RRRRFFFF FR FF AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

okay listen being reminded that illustration exists makes me feel SERIOUSLY unhinged like I CANNOT AND WILL NOT be normal about it because yes listen yes i agree. i know quimchee draws things for fun, but even when she does it always feels very... in character. her illustrations always suit the characters "why would they be in this situation" and like..... YEAH. It's the BODY LANGUAGE and how it ties right into what we are hoping we'll get from Nol and Shinae's continued relationship, it's something about the CONFIDENCE and her expression, how SHE'S the only one really seated on the throne - Nol lounges behind her, seated on the arm of the throne. It's HER throne, he's not even trying to take it from here - it feels SO VERY Shinae in charge so HONESTLY? I totally get why it gives you CEO Shinae vibes. Even if Nol does somehow end up in the family business (and listen I'm still pretty leery of that for now) there's this remaining sense that SHE'S in command, they aren't competing. in fact, if anything, Nol is her back up. He lounges out behind her like a cat on her shoulder, his arm draped over her shoulder connecting them. His gaze is as intense as hers!!!!! It feels SO FUCKING MUCH like power couple Shinae and Nol???? lmao (sorry Alyssa I know that was your dream)

I've always felt that a lot of quim's illustrations DO have some kind of implication, whether it's just telling us a dynamic between characters, a tone, or what, and this one just feels SO LOADED. Every time I think about Nol and Shinae as a unit, as a team, as having each other's backs. The fact that Nol LITERALLYYYYYYY has her back!!!!!!!! That feeling that he would sic you, if she so commanded it? OH GOD I LOVE IT lajkfkafjkafkjajkafjkafjkaf Cos yeah that's the thing even if it IS just their dynamic and not business-related, the dynamic STILL tells us a lot about Shinae in charge, of boss babe Shinae who is no victim to Yui, who is able to stand up to her adversary and look her in the face afljakfkajfkafj

god i am biting my hand and telling myself to reign it in but OH MY GOD I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT IT

and now that we can pretty safely assume that Kousuke's role in this story never was as a love interest I think we can glean a little bit about the juxtaposition of these images against each other - again, like you said, it's the body language it's the attire. Shinae in Charge. I love her!

(no comment about neither shin or nol being able to sit on that chair normally but note taken)

aren't they both confirmed bi or bi-curious? LFKJALFJALFJAKFJAF LMAO see quimchee really tells us everything we need in these illustrations FLJAFLJKAFKJAFJ LMAO

I keep going back and forth on what I expect to happen at the hospital, because 3 remaining days IS a lot! I'm really torn on if I think Yui is going to be. It feels like it, right? It feels like it's building up to it, but part of it is because Yui is grappling for control, she needs to reign it back in and part of that involves finding Rand and/or Nol. But I keep thinking about like.... what purpose does it serve? Does Yui wield any power over other hospitals? The obvious and therefore most unlikely is that of course she'd find him and do something to harm him, but.... idk. I don't think Yui really wants Nol dead. She lives to torture him, she's like a sadistic cat with the half-dead mouse it's plays with til it exhausts itself and dies. She wants to instill fear in him. He's probably not on Nol's emergency contacts so no receptionist would just.... let her in and see him - but we're also talking about a person who could pay off anyone so it's like... are they likely to stand their ground against her? There's something very sinister and scary to me about Yui showing up where Nol is injured - though he's not totally bed-ridden but. Still. She didn't like his insolence the night before, but what kind of scene can she make in a public place? The other thing is, I can't imagine Nana leaving his side and if she WERE to leave his side, I imagine she would ensure SOMEONE, one of Nol's friends, are there to keep watch. Nana is no fool - she has a witch hunting book. She knows that Yui is relentless. So I've considered even IF Yui were to show up, Nol wouldn't be there alone, isolated. He'd have people there at his defense, and we know Nana is a great force against Yui already. We've seen Shinae stand up for him time and time again.

If anything, because this is meant to be setting things up for us to move into our timeskip, maybe it would be a "face off" for them, with Yui trying to remind Nol he better stay in line, lest anything "bad happen" (IMPLICATIONS) and Nol showing he is no longer that meek, scared little boy, that the power she holds over him isn't what it used to be. Of course, he was pretty drunk at the party the night before but I think a lot of the resolve remained. He jumped into that pool and came back Nolan, no longer Yeonggi. Maybe it would set up for the future that he is not to be underestimated. Nol officially entering the match~

I contemplate if I think Rand will show up at all. I feel like... when he left, it felt kind of final? He had made his decision - he had let enough harm befall his son, he doesn't deserve him after any of this. He's been a terrible father, he couldn't protect them, but at least he now has people in his life, people who have been for him what Rand couldn't be. But also.... I'm not satisfied with that and i wish rand would show up even if it's just to apologize. I know Nol isn't in the place to accept it or even believe his father loves or cares about him but I want Rand to at least make the effort. Even if Nol won't accept it. Especially if Nol won't accept it. Just fucking put it out there! Say the things you never do!!!!! Tell him how fucking SCARED you were when you saw his body in the snow bleeding out a pool of blood. How terrified you were and how you knew it was your failure. The pool was just mere HOURS before! Like, TWO? THREE TOPS?

Whatever Rand says can't and won't make up for anything but... especially because the theme of heart attacks continues to surround Rand, I want him to say it while he has the chance. I want him to admit his failings but also I want him to tell Nol what he means.

fljafjafjkjfka ;__________; I have such complicated feelings about them. Like. Like Kousuke, Nol does not require Rand's validation or love. But they deserve to know it, to see it, even if just once. Just to know it was real. Just to know that despite it all.

Part of me also wants Rand to visit just so Nol can really see: that could be his future. Maybe subconsciously become a warning to himself that he cannot continue to isolate himself, lest he become that husk of a man.

(I wonder if Alyssa even knows. Like. It sounds like news coverage was hush hush, at least about the involved parties. Nol isn't reaching out to her. Unless LMAO Rand does? Or god forbid Yui does. But even then it's like...... hmmmm. Would she want to see him? They parted on such bad terms and as an idol she doesn't exactly have a lot of free time, especially with a new album coming up. As far as she knows, Nol was meant to turn himself in today and be off to jail! WILD)

I absolutely think you're right, and especially as a non-shipper your insight is even less biased. It's funny because I am a person who always hated "toxic relationships" but I think what I hated was that often a female character was denied agency and she was often in love with (told but never explicitly shown in a way that makes you understand it) him despite how much of a jerk he is how he purposefully hurts her or doesn't respect her feelings. And I think that idea really snowballed and became a much bigger umbrella to things that don't apply. Nol definitely can be seen as being "toxic" although I wouldn't categorize him that way. When he has hurt Shinae, we've seen that it affects/hurts him, too. The sheer guilt he went through after their confrontation outside of his school that had him RETCHING. I think, yeah, if you aren't a pure cinnamon roll, there's a big chance you might get written off as toxic. Now, don't get me wrong. Stalkyoo is clearly the majority popular ship of ILY and has been for a long time, but when people try to pit Dieter vs Nol, that's how it largely feels. Like saying that because Nol is going through it, he's going to be a bad partner.

Like, first of all, never mind that knowing feelings doesn't immediately mean dating. But also.... idk it starts to rub me weird and I think we start to see a LOT of weird ableism. Cos right, Nol is so bad because he's SOOO unstable and thus Dieter is better - but like you said, they think nothing of Shinae's own baggage. It's not just about the male partner, it's about HER, too. We could even argue that Shinae having baggage would create issues for her and Dieter. That doesn't make them impossible. But we've seen that Nol and Shinae are getting better at handling each others' baggage, too. When she tried to run away after he climbed up to the roof to join her, he knew to stop her, because he knew it was Shinae shrinking in on herself, feeling vulnerable and exposed and wanting to run away from the situation instead of face it. Shinae is calling him out more and more. And after 231, which I assume you've read but I'll still keep it vaugue, I think we're seeing that even though Nol has been pushing her away, that part of his resolve is starting to break. He's figuring out his feelings and what they mean to feel them, to share them.

Idk it's just. Right lmao you're very right about all of it! I think there was this really big push about toxic relationships and wanting to see healthier relationships in media, especially YA books, right? To see fewer asshole male leads and more wholesome relationships. There's nothing wrong with that, I LOVE that! But that's the thing about Nol and Shinae - like you said. Relationships ARE work. They're SUPPOSED to be. You're constantly having to match yourself with your partner, to understand and meet their needs. Hashing things out early helps figure out your dynamic, if it's worth it. Arguing ISN'T bad. It doesn't mean "this is an ill fit relationship". It only is when neither of them resolve to change, when neither of them can accommodate the other. And I think we've seen that Shinae is VERY willing to accommodate, and I think we've seen enough of Nol's want vs resolve (he always caves; EVERY TIME he gives in and goes to her) will wear down. It's so inherently tied to his self-image but that's not an eternal thing.

Talking about one being more stable than the other just reeks of ableism. I hate the adage that you'll never be able to be loved until you can learn to love yourself. It's GROSS, it's stupid!!!!!! Sometimes people see in us the things we can't see until they illuminate it, until they help us see that thing in ourselves, and THAT is Nol and Shinae to me. It's Nol seeing in her someone who is so scared and insecure who doesn't believe in herself and just needed encouragement, just needed a little nudging, just needed to be believed in. Look HOW MUCH she's grown since we met her, how much she's come around!!!!!!! He illuminated something in her she couldn't see. And I think that's what Shinae's persistent love and care for Nol is. He is so convinced he's unloveable, that he's this monster, that he brings harm to those he loves, but she's so persistent I think it can't help but wear down that resolve. Can't help but give him some hope. To think maybe, maybe, if anyone can find it in him, it's her. That maybe if she can see it, he might one day, too?

Relationships are about GROWING TOGETHER. It's not come back when you're "healthy" and "recovered" or whatever that means. Like, yeah, there are circumstances that will stand in the way of Shinae and Nol being in a relationship - but it's not about their "mental states". aljfkjafkjaf this is a whole other essay but lmao I JUST HAVE SUCH STRONG FEELINGS like I don't hate people shipping Shinae and Dieter! I love them, too! I enjoy them as a pairing. Yeah, Stalkyoo is my OTP but it doesn't stop me enjoying other pairings. I just hate when people try to make it about who is "better" and by better than mean "mentally healthier" or that relationships that require effort and work are somehow inherently unhealthy and toxic. At the end of the day, anyway, it's about who Shinae loves. Who lights her up, who makes her feel that spark, who she WANTS to put that effort into. She could easily decide that yeah, loving Nol is a fight she doesn't want to have, that she doesn't have the endurance for it. But that still doesn't make it a toxic pairing - it just means it wasn't right for her.

(But yes I WILL bark at the moon about it! Speak your mind, Lil Anon, you are on the same page!!! It's about the MUTUAL GROWTH AND SUPPORT. IT'S ABOUT SEEING SOMETHING IN EACH OTHER, AND LIKEWISE HELPING ONE AND OTHER SEE IT. IT'S ABOUT FINDING SOMEONE WHO LIGHTS UP THE DARKNESS, YOU GIVES YOU HOPE, WHO MAKES YOU A LITTLE LESS AFRAID. IT'S ABOUT THE PARALLELS, GOD HELP ME IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT THE MIRRORS. It's about the people you will run to the ends of the earth for because THAT'S how much they matter THAT'S how important they are because you CANNOT bear to lose them because life without them means nothing AND GOD I cannot imagine their lives without each other sobs)

Also don't worry about your wording! I think we CAN argue Nol is flawed and messy, in addition to troubled, and that's not an inherently bad thing. Everyone is flawed, and I definitely knew what you meant. Aren't most teenagers messy? He has such big feelings and especially for his age on top of normal feelings and it's so hard to NOT be messy. There's no way he can have everything figured it out!

Okay I know this response is like SO LATE lmao but I'll tell you anyway what I EXPECTED to happen. I thought Yui already knew of Simhan - what he looked like and stuff like that, but it felt felt much like she didn't quite know until the details started to come in and the DREAD was just HEAVY in my stomach I was just screaming and climbing walls during their meeting. All the information! Just like that!!!! Right into the palm of their hands!!!! AND!!!!! They can lead her to Nol. GOD it's so unnerving and stressful how easily she could just gather all of that and I am TERRIFIED. The ominous image of Simhan trapped in the beer bottle is just back to HAUNT MEEEEEEEEE. I don't doubt that's where it's going - or at least that he'll be tempted towards it. It's definitely going to be a battle but I don't want to see things fall apart again. :( Earlier I'd wondered if that might be what lead Shinae to HAVING to rely on Yui's offer, against her better wishes. But now that Rand is convincing Shinae to do it.... idk. Maybe it still will be? I hope not. I DO want to see things go well. I DO want the Yoos and the Parks to be a family, for Minhyuk to be the big brother he's been, for them to know PEACE and not have to struggle and fight and claw their ways to stay afloat AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

May Mina and the power of love be enough to help Simhan avoid tragedy FLJAFJLKAKFJAKF SOBS

[papirouge]

Yeah, pretty much like you said, men can be very cruel to each other. It's incredible though seeing certain insults being used so often and carelessly like retard, because I used to hang mostly in female leaning places, like tumblr, where its really frowned upon. On the other hand, in these sites I lurk there's also like gay jokes and even "transphobic" comments, like men freely saying "you cant be a woman if you have a penis", when some of these lolcows go trans or theres suspicion about it. And these comments have a lot of likes!

That's one thing I'll give men, they tend to care less about what others think and there seems to be less policing about what language is used. In female spaces, in my experience theres more judgement if you use certain words or make certain jokes, and you're scolded more harshly because of it.

Another thing that I've noticed from being in these spaces is how much men insult each other based on what women think or like. Like making jokes about how a guy is repelent for women, or making constant virgin jokes, or how their style scream "no women, thanks,", and stuff like that. Also, weirdly a lot of jokes about some looking like sex offenders.

On the other hand, there seems to be a lot of sexist weirdos too. Like sometimes, theyll talk about women who are related in some way to these lolcows, and inmediatly talk about wanting her to open an onlyfans, make sexual jokes, and talk about what they'd like to do to her. And if shes in her 30s, ive literally seen comments about the wall, and how she'll soon lose her worth, and she better worry and have kids or open an onlyfans before she loses her sex appeal.

I do think its funny when one guy states he finds a woman online attractive, and another its like "are you serious? shes like a 6/10 at most, like id fuck her once or twice, but not much else". Like why do you care what other men like in women? lmfao

It's so important that women understand that when men say "you can't be a woman if you have a penis" to trans don't even make that out of respect for women biology, they do that only to be mean. The bar is so low that I've seen gender crit women praise that dude who did the What is a Woman documentary... Hell world.

Men may make jokes about each other lack of sex appeal, but it doesn't mean they really care about looking good for women, but rather bc they fail properly performing masculinity. Attracting women is one of the consequences lf a well executed masucline performance, but not only.

And I've said it a thousand times already: the whole wall thing is men projecting their insecurities. Men have more visible signs of aging : their hairline recedes, their hair turns gray earlier as women, their overall unkeptness is eventually showing (beer belly, ugly skin, etc). Female beauty culture, as toxic as it can be, makes women more appealing longer. That's why men take a diss at our fertility when we age, because women visually look better longer (lack of fertility doesn't show).

Also it's funny to have these scrote soooo concerned about female fertility when they themselves don't have kids and are just terminally online porn fried incels. They are part of the problem. Women need decent men to have kids. Clowning them online for not having children won't make them suddenly hoping on a penis to have one, and if older women don't have children, it doesn't stop these scrotes from making their own families.... It all boils down to shame childless women for *existing* at an older age, and I really have no idea what their endgoal... Oh wait, I know 💡 WOMEN LOWERING THEIR STANDARDS. Because those idiots only think with what they have between the legs and are terrified at seeing older women stop being desperate for family and companionship at older age, like it did a few decades ago. Men are terrified of that dynamic shift and are obsessed in maintaining the status quo.

That new online trend of ugly moids calling "mid" beautiful women is exactly for the same reason btw : PUBLICLY humbling even above average/pretty women, so regular women reading this have their self worth crushed so they lower their standards, and have them dating down (moids).

Please don't fall for this trap⚠️

[rescue-ram]

tell us more about barbie, i live for the drama 👀

I will happily give spleen to my thoughts friend ❤️

I will start by being fair: absolutely everything about this movie is intentional and I respect that. A series of very deliberate artistic decisions were made, the actors put Their Whole Pussy into their performances and fully committed to the bit, this was probably the least stupid Barbie movie that could've been made. My two friends are both big into musical theater and loved it- if someone is the sort of person who laments the death of the Classic Hollywood Musical, I could 100% see them vibing with this film.

That being said, while I see the vision and respect the execution, it is just so aggressively Not My Thing I hated it. Zero anger in my heart in saying that! I just hate it and never want to see it ever again!

That being said! LENGTH. There were a number of scenes that just went on for way too long and could've been trimmed. The jokes were not that funny- they seriously did the same punchlines like 5 times in a row every time they had a joke, like just repeating the same bits. The ones that stand out as overdone were brewskis and horses, and the bit where they're kidnapping Barbies and deprogramming them with Twitter Feminism 101. I got it after the second one! They also kept repeating the same feminist bits over and over. And like there's two "touching" scenes that like, I got within 30 seconds but went on for a full 90. I zoned out hard in one scene and I can't even remember what was going on it was so boring.

Every character INCLUDING the human "real world" characters were shallow, uncanny, and unrealistic, which blurred the lines in a weird way. Like you see the Barbies and Kens being really weird and go "Ah, because they're dolls" but then very quickly all the humans are exactly the same?? At first I thought it was just the Mattel guys that were weird, but no, EVERY character is Not Human and I didn't like it!

I said this was the least stupid Barbie movie that could've been made, but this is still a stupid movie! Everyone involved knows this is stupid and is leaning into it and having fun but it is so so stupid! I feel stupid even complaining about some of the shit in this movie but like, they have this subplot where the Mattel guys want to put Barbie in a box, and it's ambiguous if it will actually send her back to Barbieland or if they're just going to tie her up and imprison her for all eternity?? And then it's literally never brought up again? And then the Mattel guys go to Barbieland by literally just rollerblading there so you don't need like Barbiemagic or something? I feel like a moron even mentioning it, it's intentionally stupid, but I don't like movies that remind me of how stupid they are!!

Also fully hated the feminism in this movie but I think that's just my own politics or something. Both my friends loved it- one wants to bring their husband to get him to understand feminism. It's just that deeply alienating thing of women being like "You have to wear makeup to be taken seriously but if you wear too much you're degraded, you have to flatter men but not be seen to try too hard, blah blah blah!" And I'm just like. Those are not real problems. Also I have never fucking worn makeup a day in my life and I wear men's clothes regularly and I've never felt mistreated I have always had positive working relationships with men and have a job I love and am good at. It just pisses me off in a vague way I can't really complain about when people talk about stuff like that because I hear many women express these thoughts and see even more agree but they are SO FOREIGN to my own experiences and reactions I cannot relate!!

I don't know, again I feel stupid but there's this big moment at the end where Barbie Designer Mom gets to pitch her big idea to Mattel and she wants "Ordinary Woman Barbie who's a mom with a normal job who just wants to wear a flattering top and feel okay about herself!" And it's treated as this big moment but the whole movie felt like YET ANOTHER IN A MILLION QUASI FEMINIST MEDIA PROJECTS where a woman can be anything she wants except butch!! That would be an actual shift if little girls were given a butch doll to project onto but oh my God this is stupid I'm terminating the thought. The gender politics in this movie are so overt but they're so shallow. Also there's some weird "gay men are basically women" coding I don't know how I'm meant to interpret??

This is LITERALLY a kids movie for adults. Aesthetically, thematically, on every level, this is not meant to challenge, it's meant to be fun and silly and give you a little message. Love and light to this movie's intended audience, I'm sure there are many many people who are going to enjoy this movie but I did not!!

[cloudiateika]

To commemorate the launch of this new blog, here's a list of anime characters I find fashionable and over all lovable!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

5. Isabella Yamamoto (Paradise Kiss)

Style: 💋💋💋💋

Likeability: ❤️❤️❤️

She's my second favourite character in Paradise Kiss. Being kindest out of all of them, she is quite neutral, and well as we know, that's the most reliable friend in the squad. I don't exactly feel sorry for her (because of her economic status) but I do admire her strength in feminity in a way she reminds me a lot of Cinderella. She is kind and giving. She's just that older sister I'd seek refuge whenever I feel down.

In terms of fashion, she has the most versatility but still a distinguished style out of the main characters in the series. She'd dress in all sorts of styles such as Victorian, Traditional Japanese, Mod, Flapper and more but all are inherently Isabella. I guess it was her mysterious beautiful woman aura that tied her looks all together

4. Nana Osaki (Nana)

Style: 💋💋💋💋

Likeability: ❤️❤️❤️

I'll be honest, I didn't think Nana would be a likeable character until I watched a few episodes of Nana. I only ever saw her in an AMV of her and Ren and I thought she was so pretty and cool. The anime made me think of her as an amazing character. Her flaws and aspirations as an individual is relatable. I admire as an artist and a person. A good friend with a demanding artistic streak haha.

Her style exudes grunge rockstar girlfriend. You just look at her and you're instantly captivated by her. She is androgynous, probably why women love her so much. She has this romantic-gamine element in her style, she isn't hyper feminine nor a mature woman or boyish. She's just ...so cool.

3. Shoko Komi (Komi can't communicate)

Style: 💋💋💋💋

Likeability: ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Shoko is praised by everyone around her for a reason: her ethereal beauty. However, her personality took everyone's breath away. She is the ideal girl; innocent, introverted, big hearted, lovable and beautiful. She is quite obviously not perfect (hence the show's central subject; her communication disorder) although every character makes her out to be. She is just a wholesome character, plus she's my favourite.

Shoko looks good in everything, literally. Her strong (not sharp) aura and body type makes any outfit beautiful. However, out of all the clothes she was drawn in, simplicity and elegance make her shine, especially modest dresses and traditional Japanese garments. She's just a goddess on earth, the purest one too.

2. Yor Forger (SpyXFamily)

Style:💋💋💋💋

Likeability:❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Best waifu, hands down. Adorable in all forms!!!! Kyaaaa!! Her character's dualistic nature is refreshing to see, it's not an uncommon trope however I don't think I ever seen it fleshed out as hers. She is a good natured person who is unexpectedly brutal. I can never get enough of how funny and cute she is.

Classic. Her style is classic with a tease, quite literally. Her assassin get up would be rendered simple if it weren't for the details (straps, tights and slit) and her sweater dress, don't get me started on that open back. It's like a modest virgin killer sweater.

1. Marin Kitagawa (My Dress-up Darling)

Style:💋💋💋💋💋

Likeability:❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

My personal favourite in terms of style is Marin, the gyaru weeb that earned my respect and she's not even real. Her proactive and bubbly nature already hooked me to like her but damn her attitude as an individual is so damn likable. I want to be her friend, but she's a fictional character so that's hindrance.

Being gyaru, her style is a little bolder, though completely wearable for anyone. Maybe that's why she's on the top of this list, her style is individualistic and screams Marin but is not so much that it's in your face. I do love bolder styles and aesthetics but I hate getting stared at. Marin wouldn't care either way of course, she's unapologetically herself no matter what. Her style is casual trendy chic, not overly simple or too crazy, noticeable and easy on the eyes. It's so biased of me because I dress very similarly to her haha!

Sooo what do you think? Hehe you're going to see a lot of random things like these here! Thank you for stopping by and reading this. Have a great day!

🖤cloudia🖤

Follow my Instagram too!

https://instagram.com/cloudiateika_45?utm_source=qr&igshid=MzNlNGNkZWQ4Mg==

[ghostingcrows]

Like it or not Keath doesn't get to control what other people think about their characters/what art gets made.

They chose to display these things publicly. The only thing they have a right to ask is that the people who draw/write the things they don't like won't send their work to them/tag them in it/that it'll be tagged appropriately so they can filter and block as needed.

They don't get to go full Anne Rice like they did on Twitter and ask people to actually police each other's work and report it to get copyright striked (which btw they have no legal right to do bc fanworks are transformative and fall under fair use).

If they weren't prepared to enforce their boundaries reasonably and legally then they shouldn't have put themselves in the public eye this way.

The fact remains that their discomfort is valid but censorship isn't. Any reaction they have to their emotions has to happen within legal boundaries (not trying to enforce a law that doesn't apply here to avoid potentially seeing something they'll find upsetting) and reasonable expectations.

I mean how are you going to ask thousands of people you don't know not to do something just because if you see it you'll be upset? Where does that end? Do people get to ask e/o not to wear clothes they find upsetting to look at or eat food they find gross in public or can we all admit this is kind of not how being a person works? Learn to curate your own experience and avoid things you don't want to see instead of expecting everyone around you to take responsibility for your emotions. You're not a toddler, Keath, you're a fucking adult and you need to act like it.

I mean I really really hate foot fetishes but I wouldn't try to get them scrubbed from the internet if people made them with my characters- in fact I've accepted that this has almost certainly happened already, and I'd just remember that block buttons were invented for exactly this reason.

Oh and before you even start on the assumptions:

- I haven't even seen the art they're complaining about and probably wouldn't like it myself

- The Chappell thing is another matter entirely and idk why you thought they belonged in the same post/are at all related issues. One is about a woman wanting the freedom to go out in public without being physically assaulted or harassed. The other is about a grown adult getting mad that they willingly posted something publicly in an internet they have presumably known things about already and as a result can't control who sees it or how they react. I mean ffs Keath can eliminate this whole problem by turning off their computer/phone/whatever and whatever they were upset about is gone. Chappell is having psychos call her parents and sexually assault her in public. What sane person thinks those are comparable?

Good lord-

Alright first off I included Chappell Roan because I was specifically thinking about people complaining about her cancelling her appearance at the music festival and being absolute assholes to her despite the fact she doesn't have to perform or share her art with us especially not when we are being assholes

Also

Don't fucking mansplain womens freedom to exist in public to me I am very much AFAB and have been harassed both verbally and physically in school and in public since I was in elementary school

And with Yaelokre

Thats not what censorship is you chronically online fuck stick

Yaelokre making the simple request that people treat them and their creations, which again are a PRIVILEGE for us to see and engage with ourselves, with a bare level minimum of respect is not fucking censorship

Yaelokre is not the fucking government and as you said they can't enforce it beyond blocking people

But they are still allowed to request people not be weird about it and be upset by people making absolutely horrible gross jokes about assaulting their characters

I'm not entirely sure when we decided that saying shit like that was normal and okay and not an absolutely bat shit insane thing to say to ANYONE much less someone you don't know but it IS

[ironsagaarchive]

Should you play Iron Saga?

No.

This is a bit of a personal post and less formal than what you can expect here, but if you see the images from this blog and think Iron Saga is a game you want to try I'd advise against it.

The Gameplay

The gameplay consists of building a team and deploying them to a partially-scrolling battlefield where they fight off enemies until one side is destroyed or time expires. You have minimal input, only able to direct one unit's movements every ten-seconds (with the ability to store up to three movements) and to activate their special ability once it is recharged assuming the necessary conditions are met. Not only does this make gameplay uninvolved, it also is unnecessarily hard as your units will not act optimally and may bunch up or move in ways that get them destroyed. There is a gamemode with direct controls but it has no narrative relevance, still requires for you to engage with the rest of the gameplay to build a suitable unit, and the controls themselves are sluggish.

It should also be noted the game is quite poorly translated. Not unreadable, but definitely a very rough experience. I'm not usually one to harp on that kind of thing, learning a second language is hard and as an English speaker I certainly don't need to be catered to, but between what this game is and how much that poor translation impede accessibility it's noteworthy, at least.

The Gacha

Iron Saga is a gacha game, so even if it was amazing in every other respect I'd still be cautious to recommend it. To buy enough premium currency for a single pull you need to spend at least 3 USD even when buying the largest bundle possible. There are all sorts of bundles and monthly passes and daily discounts but this is not meant to be a cheap game or have an understandable monetary system.

It should also be noted that in usual gacha fashion you require lots of duplicates to max out your units' potentials, something that is necessary as explained in the gameplay section. This is made even more frustrating than most gacha games as you inventory is very limited and can only be expanded with premium currency. This, combined with the usual stamina limitations and limited banners, means if you're not prepared to spend a lot of money you're going to feel and be very limited.

The Story and Characters

I think one of the biggest reasons not to play this game is the narrative. I struggle to think of a game that is quite as gross as this, and I played Nikke for a moment. The protagonist, Becas, is an uninteresting nonce, remarking on every woman, girl, or effeminate character regardless of age and is fully supported by the narration that clumsily tries to describe their appearances. When he's not leering over the various women who cross his path he's stumbling between major world events with complete apathy, only stopping to care when it's meant to subvert our expectations or show how great he is. Basically, if you've seen any anime that has an aloof protagonist who doesn't flaunt his power level (but is still nearly undefeatable) and has a harem you know exactly what Becas is like and can guess what he'll do at any given time. The other characters are also painfully played-out archetypes and from the moment they're introduced you know exactly what their deal is and how they'll be treated by the narrative.

There's a lot I could say about the attitudes this game has about women and people from the southern hemisphere but smarter people than me have said the exact same stuff about other similar media, so I'll leave it unsaid here.

So why make this blog?

As you can tell I don't like this game. At all. But a lot of artists worked hard on the art featured in it and it'd be a shame if when the servers eventually go down it'd be lost. Archival, even of bad stuff, is a good thing because it lets us learn from the past and improve on what comes next. I can't understate how much I wanted to love this game. The amount of mecha-related games I've played and tried to find the good in is too high to count, and this is one in particular that started me down the path of making one myself. So I'd like to see other people get inspired and be driven, but also given them the opportunity to do so without wasting their time on that game.