#He would not make things better btw

[quietly-sleeping]

I'll admit I'm a sucker for qijiu, (this could be my hyperfixation on sy talking), but I think those idiots deserve someone who's brand of chaos isn't murder. Or self sacrifice over deeply internalized guilt.

[iwasbored777]

The fact that he doesn't turn off the camera until Eclipse Cannon exploded makes me think that he was so nervous about the fact that he's dying and, even though he couldn't see Stone, he wanted to feel like someone is with him. In those last moments people are scared and they don't want to be alone, so he wanted to feel like the person he loved was there with him right now because he was always there.

[bugsbenefit]

genuinely still baffled by the "they don't need to address Mike's sexuality, all that matters is that he's in love with Will" crowd. especially when people say it who claim to care about Mike's character (when you could also just say you don't really care for that part of the show, which would be fine, no one cares about all characters/arcs)

because Surely you realize how him being gay or bi would change his entire character, right. whether he's attracted to girls or not would change the way all his actions up until now are to be interpreted. not even making a statement on his sexuality here, this is generally speaking

if he was actually attracted to El you'd have to address when and why he suddenly stopped loving El since in fiction "it just happened" isn't usually a satisfying answer to breaking a multi season couple up. Why is Will it for him? he's been acting weird for ages so when did he realize? and what made it click he fell out of love with El for good? you'd have to give some explanation for why he was able to proclaim his love for El accidentally in s3 and then fail to do it in the same season while looking uncomfortable with kissing her and so on since his pov was so majorly withheld

if he's not attracted to girls his arc in s5 needs to focus more on comphet and how dating El affected him/why he felt he couldn't break up with her/homophobic attitude in his surrounding slash Hawkins. or the idea of platonic and romantic love in general. there would be no how he got from point A(El) to point B(Will), like what the focus of a bi!Mike s5 arc would have to be on to explain what happened, but a focus on how he ended up at point A in the first place and why he was stuck there/how it affected him

and even core moments of the series would have entirely different meanings depending on if he's attracted to girls. "it's not my fault you don't like girls" being a peak example. if he's gay it's easy to explain it with projection. if he IS attracted to girls though it would read as a much more intentional (even if blurted out) act of homophobia, since it would be him pointing something out that Will genuinely does (not liking being around girls) but he himself can't relate to

and that's all just the surface level differences. Mike being attracted to girls or not being attracted to girls would give his arc an entirely different focus in s5. AS WELL as make his past actions have entirely different meanings. the idea that "it doesn't matter for his character" is so insanely wrong it's wild how many people confidently peddle it

[gingermintpepper]

Day 4: Aristaeus

Interpretation notes and trivia below the cut!!

All rise for the entrance of my president !! Honestly, of all the figures and characters that were up for debate when I first started thinking about this story and who I wanted leading the charge Aristaeus was not one of them. Originally, I'd always known that Asclepius and Orpheus would be worked in somehow - they've always been favourites of mine in terms of children of Apollo (even if Orpheus as the child of Apollo and Calliope is less popular classically) and I expected my pick for the third child of Apollo to be involved to be similarly mortal like Iamus or Tenes but the more I looked into Aristaeus the more I fell in love with him! Ultimately, he's meant to be both a foil and a reflection of his father - a boy who grows up thinking his father's footsteps would always be warm only to realise that following in them would lead to death and destruction. While his status as a rustic and hunting god is still important here, Aristaeus' interpretation is much more focused on his connection to the Etesian wind and his quelling of the dog star Sirius which is why his hair in particular is so long and spiralling. All in all, more than any other figure I've chosen to interpret and represent in my work Aristaeus is the god I hope more people get interested in and research! I think there are a lot of important stories in his various myths and travels and I definitely want more people to discover and fall in love with them as I have!

Some fun trivia:

Apollo's firstborn son. Because he was born mortal on account of his very mortal mother, Apollo immediately took him to Olympus to eat ambrosia to begin his transition into divinity. Apollo would continue to feed Aristaeus small amounts of ambrosia and nectar for the next ten years until the child fully shed his mortal skin and was reborn as a god.

Due to the nature of making mortals deathless (namely the fun part of the process where they are completely remade and lose their mortal memories) Aristaeus spent most of his early life with his mother and siblings where they all pitched in to reteach him his family, his hobbies, his favourite things and ultimately how to live and love. Aristaeus was very attached to his maternal family because of this and his early acts of ingenuity were mostly born from his wish to make things easier for his family.

Aristaeus is the only one of his children Apollo hand raised full time. In those days, Aristaeus adored his father and believed him completely upright and blameless, the true face of a benevolent deity and the kind of man he aimed to be when he was full grown.

They would later have many bitter arguments and conflicts, the first and perhaps most impactful of all being their disagreement over Actaeon, Aristaeus' firstborn son. He wanted Apollo to teach him stating that it was a normal thing for a grandfather to do but Apollo vehemently refused to have any part of Actaeon's rearing, stating that he was not his child and that it was highly inappropriate for him to educate another god's son. When Actaeon later dies, Aristaeus blames a not insignificant part of that on Apollo - something that only worsens when he learns that it was Artemis who cursed the boy and that Apollo was always aware Actaeon would die young.

Spends most of his time travelling from place to place. Doesn't really like Olympus and prefers to spend his time minding animals or tending to fields. Is on wonderful terms with Demeter and Persephone and often makes decadent exchanges of olive oil and preserved meat for exotic flowers and fruit for his bees.

Big fan of wind and percussive instruments. Never liked the kithara because of how finicky it is and far prefers the hand drums and reed flutes of his mother's country. Exceptional dancer.

Will sell prized cattle for high quality and highly unique jewellry. Doesn't much care for gemstones but is an absolute gold fiend and has a massive collection of bracelets, anklets, nose and lip adornments and rings. Has never been north enough to hit India but got a ton of rare and different adornments from his Phoenician in-laws when he was married to Autonoë.

Hates dogs but doesn't mind wolves. Not a big horse fan either

Unlike other winds, he cannot transform into various animal forms. He's close enough to the Anemoi that he keeps up with the gossip but he's only really friends with Notos. Gets along poorly with Zephyrus whose preference for pretty youths has often led to them getting into physical altercations when they were younger. Aristaeus still holds a bit of a grudge about it.

Has a big stupid crush on Dionysus which is embarrassing because Dionysus also put him out of a job. Due to Dionysus' relative youth, he feels a bit conflicted about such feelings - mostly because Dionysus is on extremely good terms with Apollo and Aristaeus doesn't want him to get burned.

Despite kinda despising his father, Aristaeus is a pretty decent eldest brother and regularly keeps in contact with a lot of his siblings. He often delivers mead, flavoured honey and olive oil and uses it as an excuse to chat and catch up. Currently in a bit of a tiff with Asclepius because he's worried about him and his family.

Favourite colour is the rich gold of purified honey, favourite food is lokma and his favourite time of year is winter.

[icekingandbetty]

memory of a memory + simon petrikov

[beanghostprincess]

Sorry I really didn’t mean I’m attacking you or your ship. I also don’t think it’s a red flag, most gay men I saw don’t really like shuggy either. I mean, probably the entire world prefers any other shanks ships? On almost every site, con or store there’s always tons of mishanks and Bennshanks and never shuggy. I get it’s also about dynamic and connection those two pairs have, like with the parallels to other ships the base for them is extremely strong. But the minimal shuggy does speak volumes. I genuinely wonder about this. Shuggy is unpopular and again while I do agree there’s strong connection between “rival ships” I don’t think that’s the only reason… and like…. Buggy is ugly, isn’t he? He doesn’t have cool style, doesn’t look cool, makes ugly faces all the time, also is a coward. I like him as comedy character and shanks brother though!

I understand where you're coming from when you say Shuggy is unpopular amongst some people (actually, before anyone says anything. It IS an extremely popular ship in Japan but I have seen A LOT of hatred towards it in this side of the fandom, so that's what I'm talking about when I say it's unpopular). I have talked about this before. And I have said a lot of times that the reason why is often because people only focus on looks and Buggy is not conventionally attractive for the fangirly twinkified sexualized gaze numerous sides of the fandom and the general audience seek. Like, I am not forcing people to ship them, but I have had people admitting the only reason they don't is because of the looks, and I personally believe that is a very (despite valid, of course) dull way of seeing ships. And respectfully, I don't care that other gay dudes or all the people in the world agree with you. It's not a red flag to not like Shuggy, what it is a red flag, though, is to come into people's inboxes to do what you're doing!

I know you don't mean to attack me or anybody who ships them but your tone does wonders showing otherwise. Your perception of shipping is just based on looks and the fact that you came here, to a blog that explicitly ships these characters and is fond of Buggy, talking shit about one of the characters' looks... Is just straight-up mean and not following the social etiquette this site should follow, which is "let people do whatever the fuck they want".

So with all due respect, what makes you think I won't find your questions offensive in any way? Because you keep talking bad about a character I like in my inbox for literally no reason. Do you expect me to admit that the ship is unpopular because Buggy is ugly and boring? Well, I do admit people view him as ugly and only a comedy relief, but I don't. Expecting others to find beautiful and interesting the same things you do is having a very close-minded vision that One Piece's plot itself is against.

By the way, you're showing that you clearly don't like Buggy in the slightest because you're only talking about the traits that you find negative about him. But of course, you like him as comedy relief. Of course, you like him as a character in Shanks' story and not as a character himself. Despite Buggy having lots of depth. Your perception of these characters seems, in my opinion, extremely empty and, as I said, only based on looks. And you're free of shipping whatever you want however you want! But please, please, don't do this anymore. This is just petty high school mean girl behavior. Even Regina George would word this in a more polite way.

So, as a little advice for you, let people ship whatever they want without questioning their favorite characters! I am sure you will live a more peaceful life!

[hysterotic]

i hate when i read a baji fanfic with an interesting plot & find out his character is severely dumbed down.. like if your gonna make him stupid the least you could do is make it funny but it’s really not 😭

[yuridovewing]

need to think about my wc au again thats mostly just a mishmash of several ideas rather than focusing on canon. i want to think about cloudbright going to find skyclan and squirrelkit being the one darkstripe tried to poison and that affecting her for the rest of her life….

[jade-len]

luo binghe better than me fr i think i would've gone fucking apeshit if the person i loved with my entire soul pretty much said "fuck you" because of my race and pushed me down into literal hell for me to suffer for years

i've said it before and i'll say it again, i really don't think we give binghe enough credit. that man was on concerning levels of forgiving all the way from the start

[worstloki]

Thor tries to pick up the designated driver pilot role after feast parties and off-realm adventures following Loki’s death but it soon becomes apparent that the only decent pilot left on the team is Fandral and he’s insufferable if you drink excessively and don’t let him join

[theprinceandthewitch]

I don't think I mentioned this... but in Ashes of Memory, Alice receives a letter from Orpheus addressed as "Eury Lamb"

Lamb is the last name of the man who adopted her and experimented on her. It also serves as a reference to Little Girl's "Source of Evil" cosmetic, which is lamb themed.

"Eury" is a reference to Eurydice. People have theorized "Eury Lamb" is the name her adoptive father, Villhelm Lamb gave to her to keep her true identity a secret. But that's not rlly relevant...

What is relevant is that this makes Orpheus' alias choice even MORE obvious he loves Alice... this mans got romantic interest in her...

People who use that adoption letter as proof that the writers want you to view their relationship as sibling-like are so cringe. That letter is literally the direct opposite of "sibling-like".

Folks missed the part called "context": Orpheus [who was 17 at the time] knew she was being abused at the orphanage and tried to get her out in the least stressful way possible... and he couldn't even adopt her to begin with because the orphanage thought it would be best for her to be taken in by a blood relative. Which was a lie, because they ended up giving her to Villhelm Lamb to be used as his lab rat.

Like idk man... the writers have made it so abundantly clear Orpheus doesn't see her as a sister. That One letter doesn't prove he sees her as a sibling because if they wanted to make them siblings... then.... they would have... ya know, made them siblings... but they don't because.... they're not siblings and they're writing a tragic romance LMAO.

As for Alice, in AoM she calls him a playmate... granted she doesn't know Orpheus and her playmate are the same person, but she remembers him as her friend and not her brother... because.... they were never adopted siblings...

But yeah It's so crazy to think Orpheus doesn't love her... I'm over here losing my mind at That Scene in AoM where Orpheus asks Alice if she could play a song for him on her father's favorite piano.

What gets me is that this scene shows how much Orpheus missed her. He buys everything her relatives sold off so he can rebuild the mansions' interior to how it was when they were children. He also goes out of his way to fix her father's favorite piano. The piano didn't just need fine tuning - it was straight up destroyed during the raid. It was a really, really expensive thing to repair. Even though Alice's father had other pianos, some of which could have survived the raid, he rebuilds the one which holds alot of sentimental value to her... LIKE???

REALLY... You guys really want me to think Orpheus did all this JUST out of a sense of guilt for unintentionally causing the raid? You are rlly gonna look me in the eyes and tell me Orpheus using "Orpheus" as his alias while addressing Alice as "Eury" is totally platonic?

Are u rlly gonna say that to me knowing this official artwork made Norton and Melly wear their Pluto and Proserpina/Persephone outfits while Frederick, Orpheus, and Alice are dressed normally? My brother in Christ... will you rlly look me in the eyes and tell me Orpheus [AND THE BIRDS] holding flowers is platonic symbolism...

THIS ISN'T EVEN SUBTLE LOOOOL

How much more evidence do people need that these two aren't siblings AND they're on a whole romantic journey together...

[quietwingsinthesky]

sometimes interpreting media through a shipping lens enhances it, on occasion even beyond the author’s original intent, but sometimes, you do have to accept that your ship was not in the heads of anyone making the source material and trying to force it to fit into evidence of your ship will severely hinder your ability to discuss the actual text.

[shirogane-oushirou]

🌊🦦 Summer Beach Time 🦦🌊

soooo i made comments in the tags of another piece i made about how i want to go to the beach (or a lake tbh, he's a lake guy) with him, and watch him get the zoomies in the water and just. walk around and make the 🥺 face at me when i'm sitting at the edge of the water and he wants to be close.

(i'm obsessed with this pair of dino pattern trunks... ren core...)

[koqen]

⠀⠀why can’t life always be this easy?

[batsplat]

your posts are as illuminating as always thank u for ur work... i was watching route 46 route 93 from 2021 recently and sete showed up in that (as in, they gave vale an ipad and made him watch a video of sete lmao) and i thought of you.. i loved that even in that vale is still.. agitated about qatar... ends the segment with "if i had to give sete some advice... it's better if he hadn't done it." about qatar lmfao

omgggg I love this soooo much..... I haven't been able to watch that documentary so I'm immediately incorporating this into all my lore about them... like yes!! see!! he's STILL not over it, he can joke and laugh in the press and pretend this whole thing of 'oh I've actually made up with all my rivals With One Notable Exception' but he hasn't!! certainly not with sete, because that's valentino's whole deal - okay it's one thing to have a rival who kinda annoys him, but a friend who crossed him? oh it's over

this randomly reminded me, there's a bit of the mugello 2006 race commentary I find fascinating (in between all the bits where they were talking about how if sete beat valentino at his beloved mugello then it'd be the 'greatest day of his life' and 'better than any christmas present' which is very funny to me) (obviously he did not beat valentino):

I'm sorry that's a BONKERS level of feuding, like apart from valencia 2015 and cota 2018 even valentino and marc managed to sit next to each other - and even there it was dorna who were like 'yeah no we can't do this lads' not them.... the commentators didn't even mention a specific precipitating event, they just hated each other that much. "they didn't feel comfortable around each other" okay?? what does that MEAN. why are you even letting them decide this. is this not a little silly. remember these men used to go on holidays together!!

thing is I do understand why valentino has mostly shut up about this rivalry when he's not being shown sete's face on an ipad, but also he is giving up on insane bragging rights. I do think the most horrifying aspect of sete's fall beyond the literal 'no more race wins for you buddy' is the kind of... god, he never got revenge! nothing! every time they got close to each other after jerez 05 it was always 'oh sete wants revenge so badly' and he never got it! idk about sete gibernau but I'd be FUMING, even the thought makes me shudder. valentino detonated that entire relationship and sete never even finished ahead of him for the rest of 2004 and 2005. in 2006, he technically did so twice with two valentino dnf's, but was himself in ninth and eighth - when they both finished a race he was not ahead of valentino once after qatar 2004. can you imagine losing that rivalry that badly? no wonder he couldn't bear to see valentino's face for a while there

anyway the fact that valentino's going 'oho he shouldn't have done that!!' about qatar in 2021 and sete's going on three hour long podcast interviews to air his jerez grievances in 2023 does make it kinda funny they were posing together for photos together in 2009 to pretend like war was over. like you people did not mean this come on

[moe-broey]

Sorry I'm gonna thrup. I feel violently ill. Something sinister is overtaking me. LIKE oh boy I've been away for too long I gotta ref some source material to perfectly capture the Cunty Alfonse. Where he's just a Cunt. Extremely cherished trait of his, by me. So I'm sifting through my Alfonse folder looking for screenshots and in my head, I'm thinking yeah it's gotta be the Alear FBs. But I'm just gonna make sure. Okay. I make sure. And

GOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD WHAT IS YOUR FUCKING PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

You've known her for LIKE TWO DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!?!?? WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEMMMMM WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS YOU'RE MAKING ME SO ILL. SICK. IN THE HEAD‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

You have NO idea what this dialogue does to me man I am just. Every time I fucking read it, it guts me and strikes me in the heart and it's like. Okay. You're INSANE. INSANE fucking thing to say to someone you've only known for a few days. MAYBE A WEEK. AT MOST. When I think about it, this happened fresh off the coat-tails of Book 6 I think, probably after losing Bruno. So like. That's the logical explanation, especially common to regress back to old habits/ways of thinking/ESP ways of protecting yourself when you just went through something Like That.

BUT LIKE. Context is important yes, informs the feelings/decisions here, but I wanna. Talk about how this line just Fucks with me SO badly. It invokes SUCH. SUUUUUCH a VISCERAL response in me and I just. "I could lose my will to fight" YOU'RE INSANE!!!!!!!!!! IT'S FINE!!!!!!!!!! IT'S LITERALLY FIIIINEEEEE you've known her for LIKE A WEEK it's literally fiiiiine and like, even if it was longer even if she was a really good friend and you were super close It's FINE. People come abd go all the fucking time man IT'S LITERALLY FIIIIINNNNEEEEEEEEEEE

Alfonse fucking SUCKS actually because sometimes he drops a line like this and I feel physically unwell about it. He just fucking Says Things you would have to waterboard out of me and you probably reasonably very quickly Could but you WOULD. AT LEAST. HAVE TO WATERBOARD ME FIRST. COME ON MAN get it TOGETHER ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

There's like. No greater point to this post no analysis no character study Nothing. I jusy need to kill him. Badly