#I am fixated on this concept and NEED to talk about if

[riddleblack246]

Thinking about that OFMD burlesque au again and I have even more specifics with performances and all. Hit me with your ideas please because I’d love to talk about this.

In Izzy’s younger years, his most well known act was to “Babushka” by Kate Bush. He does do it again when he returns to performing and it is just as sensual.

Frenchie will usually play songs he comes up with on his own as something of an interlude to performances, but he will also play a song by Dixon Dallas.

Wee John as Calypso has a semi-iconic number that ends up filmed for social media, which blows up the notoriety of The Revenge. He sings “Pretty Lavinia” by American Murder Song and much of the rest of the “crew” contributes as the chorus.

Ed’s performances are often to Amy Winehouse songs. Yes, he does perform “Back to Black” when Stede seemingly goes back to Mary, and it’s super emotionally poignant and unsettling, why do you ask?

Stede loves the art of burlesque but initially sucks at it. Yes, Ed and Izzy do help him a lot. Yes, they do fuck about it.

Jim’s performances are more typically daring acts involving leather and knife play rather than traditional burlesque, but it is still mad sexy. Oluwande and Archie both occasionally feature in their act.

*remembers the time I saw a burlesque performer in chainmail lingerie dancing and fire-eating to “Joan of Arc” by Arcade Fire and tries to be normal* That’s Zheng.

Izzy is classically trained in ballet and fencing which he employs in his performances. Yes, this ties into body issues with his leg.

The “capture by the English” is the business owners association throwing down about a queer burlesque club. Blackbeard’s Evil Girl Era is him holding onto The Revenge after Stede put him down as a partial owner and he’s running the place into the ground. I want CHAOS.

[thethingything]

I need to get ready for bed but I remembered the dentist appointment that's coming up in less than 2 weeks and ended up dissociating for over 2 hours (I'm honestly not sure how long it's been) and I do not feel good in the slightest after that

[daincrediblegg]

no you know what I'm going to scream about the stuff I talked about in the tags of this post publicly

I'm tired of the well-meaning "don't feel bad if your work only gets 20 notes your genius is what counts and do it for you!" bullshit. I've had a good handful of friends who have straight up DEACTIVATED in recent months because their work was not getting reblogged AT ALL. No, it wasn't from lack of not being well-liked, no it wasn't from lack of trying to make sure it was getting out there to the people they knew would engage with it. It was because no matter how much they were praised privately for their work, when push came to shove, absolutely NOBODY reblogged it and gave it the audience that it was due, and I'm tired of people shoving the "unsung genius" narrative as an excuse for it. Nothing excuses that. And the boop event really proved that.

because I know given the opportunity, indiscriminately pressing a button (sometimes 10 thousand times, as I did) is not beyond this website's capability. y'all loved doing that. and look at what it wrought. nothing but love and affection and happiness. just from a couple of quick clicks of a little paw button. sure. nobody knew who you booped but the other person (which is how likes used to work on this website, btw). there was an element of anonymity to it. but that is kind of the core of this website that no other social media platform still has: the ability to be anonymous. and hyper-curating a blog on here like you might on twitter or instagram to project an image is simply not viable. and hey. you wanna know a secret: literally nobody cares what you post or whether it goes with the "theme" of your blog or not. yeah. I know. CRAZY concept in this day and age. but literally. I myself have reblogged things that have had nothing to do with whatever I am currently fixated by and you know what happened to my follower count? not a damn thing. in fact, I actively try to reblog things specifically BECAUSE it's my friends who made them (even though I'm not always good at KEEPING UP WITH HOW MUCH THEY POST @prismatica-the-strange will NEVER GO UNRECOGNIZED by me).

And you know what fucking sucks? I have to deal with this too. surprise right? you ever wonder why I reblog fics or art I post like 20 times the day that I post them? do you ever wonder why I ask about tag lists and beg for asks all the time? IT'S BECAUSE EVEN I GET LIKE. 5 LIKES ON THE THINGS I POST. AND THE REST OF THE REBLOGS ARE MINE SO I CAN MAKE SURE THAT PEOPLE WHO WANT TO SEE WHAT I MAKE GET TO SEE IT. and I say that knowing that I'm certainly not an unpopular blog, or an unpopular writer. I know that people love the stories that I create. Hell, half of the people that I've talked to about lady terror have told me that they consider her to be canon (AND EVEN SOME!! THOUGHT SHE WAS!!! WITHOUT EVEN HAVING WATCHED THE SHOW! WHICH IS STILL SO SO WILD TO ME!!!) But especially in the last 4 years (which really dates this phenomenon), my posts, no matter how well received they've been amongst people I've talked to about them directly, I still go into the notes and at least half (often more than half) are MY reblogs to make sure people saw what I posted. and it happens every single time, and I can't tell you how much it crushes me considering that it used to be that I would be able to post it only once, and people would reblog it sometimes even HUNDREDS of times.

It's not about popularity. it never has been. it's not about anxiety. or shifting website cultures. even if you lurk, the simple fact is, that if you want people to keep making what you love. you have to reblog. your theme won't suffer because you reblogged a fanfiction that you really admire. your posting won't be ruined because you reblogged some fanart from someone in a different fandom. really. I promise. and if people do unfollow you for that? who needs em. followers come and go but you should NEVER have to cater to them. on this website it has ALWAYS been the other way around. lean into it. make it yours. put stuff you ACTUALLY WANT to be seen and that you love and appreciate on your blog. no matter how old it is, how new it is, no matter how niche or off-theme it is.

so please. if you really want to show your appreciation for someone's work? you reblog. it's really as easy as that. check the tags. add some when you reblog if you like. but please for the love of god reblog. it's as easy as booping and even more rewarding for the people who you reblog from. if you want to let someone know that their work is genius and appreciate it? show it. reblog. then DM them if you're too nervous to say what you want to say but not in a public forum. but for christ's sake. REBLOG.

[drdemonprince]

Can you offer any (academic) writing advice for Autistics and ADHDers? You clearly write a lot and write very well and very clearly, so some insight into your process would be great. Personally, I tend to struggle with over explaining or over citing (cause I am always getting misunderstood) and that I get very fixated on not misrepresenting what my sources are saying to avoid feeling like I'm lying. All this is time consuming and makes it hard to say what I really want to say. Thanks!

Hi there! I've written an essay about a lot of this, here is the free link to read it on Medium:

Much of my writing process is inspired by the book How to Write a Lot by Paul Silvia, and it is specifically tailored to academics. The advice applies to people who write popular nonfiction or fiction just as easily, however. And he does have advice relevant to the self-editing and self-doubt you describe feeling.

The full piece gets into this more, but here are some of the stand-out tips:

Schedule a regular time to write every week and show up no matter whether you are feeling it or not.

Throw out all your magical thinking about what you "need" to be able to write. You don't need the perfect workspace, divine inspiration, the right pen, the right playlist. You just need to show up to write regularly, and do it

Editing, outlining, working with research notes, and drafting all count as "writing." Don't expect your initial drafts to be perfect or to equate writing only with getting new words on the page.

Try writing in public spaces to help get yourself in the mindset of explaining a concept to someone with a different frame of reference and type of expertise than you. Writing in a cafe or a public library can force you think and write in a more accessible way. (alternatively, you can pretend you are explaining the concept to a specific person in your life who you respect but who doesnt have all the same reference points as you -- sometimes this is called the "Grandma Test". Explain something like you are talking to your grandma.)

In addition to all this, I would add that you should read a lot of writing, both good and bad, especially work that isn't dry and academic. If all you read is journal articles, you'll write a journal article -- and most of those are hell to read, even for academics. read fiction. read bad wattsapp shipping. read substacks. read newspapers. read indulgent personal nonfiction in the cut or whatever. read reddit posts. notice what works and what doesn't. develop an ear.

and then write a lot! it took me 15 years to get good enough for anything i wrote to get noticed. you can expect to take many years to get comfortable developing your own voice, too. i dont know how far along you are, but even when you've made tremendous progress you'll only notice your flaws and feel the most turgid brain foggy moments. that doesn't mean you're failing.

also, to some extent you can embrace your citation-dense, precise manner of self-expression. we are living in a moment of maximalism and indulgent, long creative works. it's the decade of the 5 hour youtube essay and the 2 hour album. my 5,000 word essays do better than my 2,000 word ones. you should strip down unnecessary tangents and trust yourself and your reader a little more probably, but ive found that the more blatantly autistic and indulgent my writing gets the more the right people like it. a writer's flaws and their distinctive voice are kinda hard to separate. you're not for everyone!

good luck!

[euphietea]

Obsession

Endo Yamato x Hostess!Reader cw. manipulation. drinking. yandere. dc. syn & genre. [concept piece/warmup. no smut.] Endo has set his eyes on a second masterpiece - a seemingly innocent hostess.

­“C’mon baby, you’re really milkin’ me dry,” Endo whined teasingly as another bottle is ordered to their booth, ���Already bought your time, now I gotta buy the bottle?”

You laughed, crossing your legs and batting your lashes, “Why of course~ How else am I supposed to pay my phone bill?” Your most devoted customer here had a bad habit of texting you at all hours of the day and night. It was cute! He’d even brag to you about scamming older women out of their money just to pay you.

Endo sucks in a breath, teeth bared in a grin, “Cold. Fine then, baby, I’ll order whatever is expensive.” Somehow those words felt like a challenge. He’d give everything to toy with you. You both knew it. That’s what he found so alluring about you. For as much as he tried to manipulate you, get you to come home with him, get you to bend to his will, you put up a fight of your own. “You’re an honored guest, but we need to start of slow!” You’d say and “Oh, but surely I’m more expensive than you can afford~?” It was cat-and-mouse. If you’d just let him tap it from the start, maybe he would’ve left you alone. But no.

“And here I am, abandoning my masterpiece for little ol’ you.” Chiika was already far long in the process. Endo didn’t need to worry too much about his masterpiece going astray. He could just gently bap him back into place with a few nudges. You were his newest fixation. He knew you had a certain cruelty he couldn’t ignore. He saw the glimmer in your eyes whenever you drew in some poor sucker like a sailor to a siren’s song. The dark ocean of sneering delight when you had a man hook, line, and sinker only proved that the two of you were cut from the same cloth. You were the object of his desires – a challenge, even. If only you’d listen to him and you’d be perfect. If only you’d let him in.

In his mind, he was playing 4D chess. He pretended to be utterly infatuated to you, to trust him. Then he’d gently guide you into hell with his own two hands. With each stroke of the brush, he’d color you anew. He’d guide you just as much as he’d worship the very ground you stepped on. How beautiful you could be if only you leaned into your carnal desires. To see your delicate hands reach for him in the same, crazed way he reached for you.  

The bottle came around with two glasses. You reached for the bottle only for him to grab your hands, “Allow me~.” If you only listened to his cash, he’d make the money talk.

[vegaseatsass]

Rewatched My Stand-In eps 2 and 3 tonight, and I'm definitely newly fascinated with Ming POV/Ming's internal concept of what was happening between him and Joe that entire time. I forgot just how much we got of Ming's home life and family in episode 2, and my brain is abuzz trying to connect all the dots. His relationship with May is so interesting. She clocks that he and Joe are together on Christmas, and is immediately careful to conceal it not just from their parents but from Tong. May and Ming have this "us against the world" vibe where they protect and cover for each other, going back to May giving herself pneumonia saving Ming from drowning. I absolutely believe there's more going on in their family than mom pressuring Ming to marry women any time he goes home - I actually suspect things about his family are being obscured for future painful reveals - but May is a safe space for him. Until Tong is added into the picture, and Ming has to flee the country for four years to get away from his big feelings. It's just kind of bonkers to me that he had this intense, safe and presumably very grounding relationship with his sister, but made his obsession with a random movie star the centerpiece of his world instead. Why did he imprint on Tong? Is it really just Joe's sexy back muscles that drew him in? Did he think if he could land a famous movie star his parents would accept him being with a man? Was it subconscious self-sabotage of his only safe relationship lol? I genuinely have no idea!! What I am stuck on though is when he told May he was working through something, and would tell her when he was ready, but he promised he'd get through it. On rewatch, it seems very obvious that what he's talking about is the torch he's carrying for Tong, so to me that's a reveal that he's deliberately trying to move on with Joe - not using him as a sex doll replacement, but throwing himself into something real. (What's messy obviously is that Ming started this for the proxyfucking, but I think overhearing Joe confess his love for Ming to Sol is when Ming started making a determined effort to choose Joe.) There's also his reaction to Joe's Christmas gift where the watch becomes a metaphor for Joe himself (vs. Tong): Ming doesn't need the "top" one, why can't he want the "normal" one?

The first time I was watching this, I assumed that Ming just has no internal awareness of how important Joe is to him, he just feels pure need and acts very very normal when his emotional support stand-in is ripped away. I assumed Ming believes he's in love with Tong and thinks he's just passing some time with Joe. It doesn't help that every time Joe presses him on anything emotional Ming shuts him down or outright negs him lolllll

But like for example, in the scene where they're shopping together and Joe gets excited about the couple mugs, first Ming snaps "What makes you think we're a couple?", then he tries to mitigate his slip by playing it off: "after living with me, you'll realize you don't want me as a boyfriend." His kneejerk impulse to shut Joe down and say cruel things is imo a defense mechanism, a really maladaptive one that helps convince Joe later on that there was never any love there, but I'm starting to think it's triggered in response to actually wanting the intimacy and primacy that Joe is pushing for, and being terrified of that.

It would make so much sense for somebody who is terrified of needing anybody else, of being vulnerable or feeling anything real, to decide they're in love with a complete asshole movie star who uses their family for money and them personally for favors, and shape their life around that. Especially now that I understand how young Ming was when he first fixated on Tong (17ish??), I just feel like that entire imprinting is your classic teenager-who-is-not-ready-to-be-in-a-real-relationship parasocial spiral. I used to do it with male celebrities too!!! (I am a lesbian. lmfaooo)

It's interesting because while there's something conceptually romantic about the back Ming first got obsessed with being Joe's all along, it ultimately doesn't really matter to me WHO the onscreen person that he fixated upon was. What matters is how ill-equipped Ming has proven to handle real feelings for a real person in front of him, and the journey he has from here to learn how to human. I can't wait. P.S. Other thing I forgot happened in episode 2: - Ming made drunk!Joe sleep on the floor of Joe's own home - BEFORE Ming moved in or had any claim to the space - AFTER Ming told Sol he would take "really really good care of Joe" as a way of trying to claim Joe in front of the competition His journey to human is going to be a loooooooooooooooooong one, methinks... 😈

[oneatlatime]

The Guru

Happy 2024 everyone and welcome to the first time I managed to type 2024 without first typing 2023! Oh and also a write up of The Guru. That too.

Me too Iroh. Me too.

So Zuko is riding high on that post-crisis 'time to get my life together' buzz that, similar to 3 am life plans, should absolutely not be listened to. Wonder how long before he crashes and burns? There's literally 2 episodes left, so I'm guessing one and a half?

Poor Sokka. My boy's got anxiety.

I don't know if it's a monk thing, an airbender thing, an Avatar thing, or an Aang thing, but I envy his complete lack of nerves.

How is Appa ok with them splitting up for a week after JUST getting them back?

I paused in a funny place. Have bonk-eyed Appa.

I love them comparing heights. What do you want to bet that that guy on the right was one of the youngest allowed to go fight, and Sokka made a big deal about how they're almost the same age and surely that means he can go too, right?

A lot of these Southern Water Tribe people have dreads or braids. That's neat.

Bato's arm is still messed up. That's some good continuity.

I've found the source of Katara's cheek bones. I guess Sokka takes after his mum.

Ok I know this is a really emotional moment (and it is! Sokka's spent two seasons earning this!) but my brain fixated on the furs and briefly thought they were sky bison pelts.

"It's been a difficult week for me." This guy thinks the Kyoshi Warriors are there to provide him therapy. Someone please just crown the bear instead.

He just gave away literally every relevant plot point AND outlined how to make sure all these plot points don't succeed. Crown. The. Bear.

Maybe if these generals spent less time playing with their giant model Earth Kingdom and more time general-ing, the war wouldn't suck so much?

Pretty.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the designs, the colour palette, the music, the sound design of this air temple. I love everything about it. If I had the chance to live anywhere in the Avatar universe, it would be here. Even in its ruined state it's such a refreshing contrast to the claustrophobia of Ba Sing Se. I can feel the freshness of the breeze through the screen.

"A spiritual brother of your people" an adult perspective on a near extinct culture! What a resource!

"and a personal friend of Monk Gyatso" an old as balls perspective. He's got to be at least 130.

Anthropology cul de sac time: this guy is so valuable as a resource on the Air Nomads. There's probably parts of Air Nomad culture that Aang can't ever accurately talk about, because he was a kid when he left, and there was almost certainly stuff that the adults kept to themselves, or only shared with the older Air Nomads. This Guru doesn't seem to be an Air Nomad himself, but there's a good chance that there is knowledge that he has, that Aang doesn't. Aang should be nerding out more about this. I'll do the nerding out for him.

Aang just breezes right by that Gyatso name drop like it's nothing. Huh.

Oh hey Toph. I'd forgotten she was in a box. Tweedle dum and Tweedle dumber really are quite the pair. What's their plan for keeping her fed and watered? Actually, these guys apparently don't know that maps exist, so it's probably never occurred to them that humans need sustenance. They'll rock up to the Bei Fong estate with corpse Toph and wonder why they aren't getting the reward money.

Mai gets called out in-universe for shopping at Hot Topic.

Ty Lee's buttering up of Azula is getting less and less subtle as the season progresses. It's a testament to Azula's lack of awareness that she's hasn't noticed that, and that Ty Lee can get away with it.

Azula's right that it's an extraordinary opportunity. The King gave them quite literally every piece of info required to overthrow his kingdom in a 25 second conversation. I can't blame her for taking advantage of such an easy win.

That's a very effective unimpressed face. And a very impressive beard.

It's funny to see a spiritual concept from the real world pop up in a show that includes things like bending and giant fish possession. The mention of Chakras kind of sticks out. They couldn't invent a Avatar universe version?

"Once you begin this process, you cannot stop until all seven are open." Well that doesn't feel like foreshadowing at all.

This episode should be called "Aang's self-care Journey." It's about time the kid had a me day that wasn't avoidance-based.

Fear: Losing Katara - makes sense. Losing control of his powers via fish possession - makes sense. The Fire Lord - makes sense. But the Blue Spirit? He helped. Doesn't make sense.

Guilt: Running away - makes sense, although I thought he'd worked through that with Katara in the storm. Nuking that idiot General's base - makes sense, but boy did he quite literally ask for it.

This guru is saying some wonderfully accurate, and realistic, things. I love that he's not taking the Katara route of denying anything is wrong. He's going for the acknowledge, then heal route. And yes, it's unfair of me to compare the emotional maturity of Katara to a century+ old spiritual expert.

I'm going to ruin the immersion here and point out that Sokka's dad's voice actor voiced a bunch of characters in season 1. He's doing an excellent job, but couldn't they get a unique voice for a character that's so important (albeit offscreen) to Sokka?

That's an incredibly roundabout way of avoiding pointing out that the Southern Water Tribe are active participants in a bloody war. Sure, we can show multiple characters with visible scarring from horrific burns, but heaven forbid we imply that the Southern Water Tribe sinks ships. The parameters for what is and isn't appropriate on this show sometimes make no sense.

"Aren't you listening? I said the rest of you men get ready for battle." He hasn't seen his boy in two years, but fifteen minutes in his company and he knows exactly what needs to be said and how. That's some top tier parenting. Dad of the year. Dad of the century. Only decent Dad in this show that isn't technically an uncle.

"Follow your passion Zuko, and life will reward you." Great advice for your eight year old audience. Also a great way to end up unemployed.

Positive Sokka creeped me out a few episodes ago. Now positive Zuko is freaking me out too.

Pretty.

Back to Chakras! Shame: Burning Katara - makes sense. But that's it? To have the inner peace of mind of a twelve year old who's somehow only ever done one thing that he's ashamed of.

Is there anyone in the earth kingdom who isn't stupid? Once again wondering at the network's standards. Visible burn injuries are fine, but Mai can't say 'Shut up." It's got to be Shush up. Although I do seem to recall of brief time in the early 2000s when Shut Up was treated as a curse on par with Shit or Fuck. Maybe that was just at my school.

Chakras again! Even for a show that often has an A, B, and C plot, this narrative is ping ponging around a bit much.

Grief: nothing major, just a whole nation. Makes a horrific amount of sense. but I don't buy that he can get over grieving the whole world as he knew it by thinking about his crush. That's way too high a pedestal for Katara to be placed on.

Lies: Not accepting he's the Avatar. Interesting that not accepting that he's the Avatar and not accepting that he's a firebender are two different problems.

I see you reusing the opening credits footage. Your blue filters can't fool me.

PRETTY

Illusion: So we're relearning what we learned in The Swamp. Aang's probably the person currently alive least likely to believe in the rigid separation of the nations anyway. This doesn't feel like an illusion he's subject to?

The way this episode dances between its narrative threads is so great. It's all woven in so beautifully. And this makes perfect sense! Toph's spent her life secretly doing things excellently that everyone says are completely beyond her capabilities. Life has taught her that the statement "you are not able to" doesn't apply. Of course immutable laws of bending physics are treated with the same respect as an adult telling the champion of the Earth Rumble that she's can't earthbend beyond breathing exercises. If you told her that humans can't fly, she'd figure out how within the week.

Plot collision incoming.

Interesting that Katara initially recognises Zuko by his voice rather than his scar.

I'm pretty sure that Zuko and Iroh don't know about the whole brainwashing thing, but wouldn't it be hilarious if Zuko introduced himself to Katara as Joo Dee, and his uncle Joo Dee, welcome to the Jasmine Dragon, can I take your order? That would throw Katara into one hell of a moral quandary.

Katara being framed as the solution for Chakra number four comes back to bite Aang, as she's the problem in Chakra number seven. I knew that pedestal was too high.

I've changed my mind. This episode should actually be called "Half a dozen reasons why everyone should just learn to keep their goddamn mouths shut already."

So is anyone going to let Zuko and Iroh know that they're now in immediate danger and need to leave, like, yesterday?

I think the Guru is going for the whole 'if you love them, let them go, and they'll come back to you' thing. Don't cling, in other words. But for the sake of the plot he's suddenly lost his ability to explain Chakras in a way that makes them seem like the logical thing to do. The only clunky bit of this episode so far.

May I introduce you to our Lord and Saviour Toph?

"I am the greatest earthbender in the world." Yes. Yep. Yeah. That's now a quantifiable fact, and it's correct. Look on ye mighty and despair. She's even got Bumi beat.

Earth Tongue Running is a bit wonky looking but it covers a crazy amount of distance.

What's the range on Toph's earth sense? Can she sense what direction Ba Sing Se is?

I hope those two idiots' horse bird is ok.

"You don't know how much this means to me dad." He does. Very much so.

Every word out of this guy's mouth is precision engineered to make Sokka feel like a million bucks and I for one think it's about time someone built him up. Also, seeing this makes me realise how few good parents there are in this show. It's a trope of kids' adventure shows that the parents fundamentally can't be there, but I also think it's a commentary on yet another thing that this war has messed up.

Hey look! Being a man is knowing where you're needed the most, and right now that's in Ba Sing Se, protecting your sister! I love narratives that tie their themes up with a pretty bow on top.

This is Azula laying a trap, right? Which means that Katara squealed to someone about the exact location of Iroh and Zuko's tea shop. Don't like the implications of that.

Photos taken seconds before disaster.

Final Thoughts

This episode was a lot! I mean that in a good way! But I felt a bit like the Maxell Blown Away Guy, the way I kept getting assaulted by yet another plot thread. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a criticism. I think the switching between plot threads and the amount of info in this episode worked 99% of the time. But I'm kind of in awe at the balancing act the writers pulled off and I'm sort of sitting here blinking a bit trying to fit all this stuff in my head. I'm probably going to forget half the stuff I wanted to talk about in this write up, so here goes nothing.

Given the Azula reveal in at the end of last episode, I thought that this would be the episode where the shit hits the fan. I was wrong. I'm glad I was wrong. An episode of set up is required and is nice breathing room, even an episode as busy as this. And I got to leave Ba Sing Se! But this does mean that next episode is going to be calamity after calamity.

Aang and his Chakras: I'm fascinated by this guru. I hope he comes back. That brings the total number of people who were alive before the war started up to three: Aang, Bumi, Guru Patik.

I'm impressed that the run through of the Chakras rarely felt like an info dump. The onion and banana juice thing didn't work for me, but I'm sure it worked for people in the target age bracket. Kids love burp jokes.

So many shows sprinkle in tragic backstories for flavour and then never have them influence the character in the present. It was a nice contrast to see a show take a whole episode to tell Aang "yeah all that sucked. It's ok to feel down about it. Here's how you move forward."

Sokka and his dad: Love it. Love it so much. I love seeing Sokka built up, and he definitely deserves it, but I wonder if this is the reward for a character arc well done, or the set up for a character arc that's about to start? Is his dad's praise his prize for crossing the finish line, or is it so he's built up with farther to fall?

I loved seeing more of the Southern Water Tribe. I loved the fashion. There's a lot of variety in accessories and variations on a few basic elements like those knee guard things. I loved their hairstyles. I loved how cozy and communal that command tent felt. I loved their ships. I wonder how often these guys work out, that they can make loading ramps that are presumably deployed and stashed out of the way frequently, out of whole logs rather than planks. I have a bone to pick with the child-friendly sea mine. But it provides a good set up for a dad joke, so I'll let it slide.

Zuko and Iroh: Of course the one time Zuko is allowed to be in a good place, it's so that he and Iroh both have farther to fall when the inevitable happens. Poor guy just can't catch a break. I'd be mad at Azula for the party crashing that I'm assuming she'll do next episode, but it's been established that Zuko has all nice things taken away from him as soon as he gets them, and I can't blame Azula for being a tool of the universe.

Azula & Long Feng: Azula's acting in Long Feng's prison cell was miles ahead of what Long Feng was doing in front of the Earth King, so I'm wondering if Long Feng has bitten off more than he can chew. Also: conspiring with the enemy to bring down your own city just so you can reinstall yourself as the power behind the throne that will presumably cease to exist as soon as the Fire Nation takes control? That is both treasonous beyond description and an incredible case of shooting yourself in the foot. What's Long Feng's plan here?

Toph and the Dunderheads: it says something about the consistency of Toph's characterisation from her introduction onwards that she breaks the universe this episode and my reaction was "that's neat." It's obviously a huge moment, but of course Toph can do that. Toph can do anything. More importantly, Toph knows that Toph can do anything, so Toph routinely does do anything, especially things she shouldn't be able to do. If you had asked me a few episodes back which character would be most likely to fundamentally redefine bending, I would have said Toph, since she's already fundamentally redefined bending with her earth sense sonar vision.

Also Toph just breaks stuff. Things that come into contact with her cease to function as intended and instead function as Toph requires. Look at the two idiots: both successful business owners, one also a successful hoodwinker of the richest family around. But they come into contact with Toph and their brains take an extended vacation.

Katara & the Generals: this plot was more like an extension of Azula's plot than its own standalone thing. You can't blame her for spilling the news about Zuko and Iroh to someone she honestly thought was Suki. Not much else to say about it, although it's cute that she asks for a table for two at the tea shop. Momo gets a chair!

I like that there's a theme this episode of things going wrong despite the best intentions. No one's acting maliciously here apart from the Antagonists. The Earth King is having an honest chat with people he thought were friends. Sokka vouched for people he honestly thought were the Kyoshi Warriors. Katara shares information about a presumed threat with people she honestly thought were her allies. You can quibble with the wisdom of some of these decisions, but there were all done with good intentions. The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry and all that. It brings to mind that Star Trek quote about how you can do everything right and still lose. And this set up is going to hit harder when whatever goes wrong next episode happens. And something will go wrong. A few months ago I figured that the Season 2 finale would be a triumph, but all signs are pointing towards a tragedy instead.

This episode was visually stunning, the soundtrack in the Air Temple sections especially was very evocative, and I applaud the minds that could juggle that many plot threads at once without dropping any. This one is definitely going on my rewatch list.

[raina-at]

Akward

The silence is deafening. It’s also unnatural.

Normally there would be banter and good-natured ribbing and small talk about the weather, maybe plans to catch a pint.

Now silence reigns as Sherlock examines the body on the slab in Molly’s lab, the only sounds coming from Sherlock’s steps as he rounds the slab.

Lestrade is standing in a corner, arms awkwardly crossed over his chest, refusing to meet John’s eyes.

John can empathise. He’d very much like to not see Lestrade again for the next six months. Or possibly longer. However long it will take for the awkwardness to dissipate, and for the images no doubt seared into Lestrade’s retinas to fade.

Molly is looking from John to Lestrade, vibrating with barely contained curiosity.

“Oh for god’s sake, can you lot grow up!” Sherlock has straightened from examining the corpse and is glaring at the three of them. He gestures between himself and John. “Lestrade, you are an adult. You know that what two consenting adults do in their free time in their own home is none of your bloody business. If you did not want to walk into anything you’re obviously not mature enough to handle, you could have, I don’t know, knocked. Or phoned.”

Molly goes beet red as she looks from Lestrade, who’s pointedly gazing at the floor, to John, who’s covering his face with both hands. “You walked in on them having sex?”

Lestrade looks at Molly, aghast. “Oh my god, I wish!”

“What did you do?” Molly asks John, obviously deeply fascinated.

John rolls his eyes. “Privacy, Molly. Ever heard of the concept?”

Molly turns to Sherlock, who sighs, exasperated. “Am I the only one who cares about the dead body in the room?”

“She’ll keep,” Molly says, pinning Sherlock with a penetrating gaze. “Wait, does this have anything to do with the glitter nail polish you borrowed from me?”

“Please don’t remind me,” Lestrade says, shuddering. 

Sherlock, irate, turns to Lestrade. “Not that it’s any of your bloody business, actually, but it seems to have escaped your pea brain, Gavin, that we have a daughter. A daughter who wants to wear nail polish. How am I supposed to recommend a brand without having thoroughly tested it beforehand? Do you understand nothing about science, and even less about being a parent?”

“Oi, I’ve raised two children to be moderately functional adults, and all of that without ever painting my husband’s toenails.”

“I think Sherlock has a point about the dead body, actually,” John chimes in, wanting very much to end this discussion. “And the whole ‘none of your business’ bit, actually, too.”

“Serves me right for not phoning ahead, I suppose,” Lestrade mutters, still not quite meeting John’s eyes. He gestures at the slab. “Point taken, though. Dead body and all.”

John steps up to the slab. “Discoloration suggests asphyxiation. What did the tox screen say, Molly? Molly?”

“Hm? What?” Molly asks, her eyes still fixated on Sherlock’s feet. 

“Molly. Tox screen.”

“Hm. Not done yet,” she says absently, still staring at Sherlock’s feet. “Can I—”

“Molly! Privacy!” John yells.

“Yeah, that’s my cue, text me anything I need to know,” Lestrade says and all but flees the scene.

Sherlock’s already typing on his phone. “Sorry to disappoint, Molly, but it’s actually John’s feet. His toes are more like Watson’s for obvious reasons. Come along, John, we’re quite done here.”

John walks out after his husband, fervently wishing he could scrub this entire encounter from his brain, especially Molly’s disappointed expression.

“Let’s just move to another country,” he says when he catches up to Sherlock outside.

Sherlock chuckles. “Are you really so embarrassed?”

“By what, Lestrade thinking we have a weird foot fetish, or the discovery that apparently Molly has a weird foot fetish?”

“Admittedly that last one was information I did not need to have. Still, it’s worth the temporary embarrassment if it will teach Gavin to knock.”

“See, that’s the silver lining attitude I married you for.”

“Or, we could arrange for him to actually walk in on us while having sex, just for him to realise that it could have been so, so much worse.”

“Definitely moving to another country,” John mutters. “You think Greenland is nice this time of year?”

“They have polar bears, John.”

“Might be preferable.”

“Tell you what,” Sherlock murmurs, leaning closer so he can speak directly in John’s ear. “Why don’t we go back home, and I’ll show you what I’d want Gavin to walk in on, and I can guarantee you wouldn’t even notice.”

Then Sherlock proceeds to whisper a few suggestions in John’s ear, one dirtier than the other, and by the end of them, John is hard as a rock, almost blind with arousal, and has completely forgotten what they were talking about.

“Home,” he whispers, giving Sherlock a quick and dirty kiss.

“Home,” Sherlock agrees, then grins at John. “Oh, and John? Leave the nail polish on.”

“Pervert,” John mutters affectionately. “Let’s go.”

---------

Comedy today, making up for the pain and angst of yesterday. Though you all seemed to enjoy that, so who am I to judge.

Thank you all for your kind words, by the way, I'm glad you're enjoying my very eclectic ficlets so far. I feel a bit bad for having snoozed on doing a serialised story like many of you, but I do sort of enjoy the whiplash feeling of never knowing what I'll come up with next ;-)

I'm collecting these ficlets on AO3 here, btw.

Tags under the cut as always, please let me know if you want to be tagged or untagged.

@calaisreno @jrow @totallysilvergirl @jolieblack @meetinginsamarra @peanitbear @lisbeth-kk @helloliriels @friday411 @givemesherbet-blog-blog @keirgreeneyes @salmonsown

[4dkellysworld]

Hii hope you're doing well, if you're okay with it, I'd like to ask for some advice?

So, I've been trying to manifest something for a long time. But.. I haven't seen it. At all. It's been a really long time, like months. Normally I just brush it off and remind myself it means nothing, and imagination determines my reality, but after awhile.. it gets demotivating yk. It's been a long while, my self concept is pretty good, but I think it's slowly eroding because I haven't seen my manifestations yet. Thoughts?

Well, I have no idea what you've actually been thinking/doing/being to 'manifest' so you haven't given me much to work with. Also I am not a manifesting blog lol though I am changing my views on this, after all we are all creators of our own realities; we can either create consciously or unconsciously and self-mastery is all about taking responsibility for all our creations after all (this isn't an invite for more manifesting questions though, there's so many resources on this already lol). You might want to look into @aphroditeapprenticee-archive. A quick look at the asks shows me this one might be helpful to you, the others might be too. This reddit post might be helpful too.

Some other possible reasons:

You never accepted it as a reality/certainty and see it only as a fantasy or daydream

You told yourself you've accepted it as reality when you haven't actually. You can't lie to yourself

You're too fixated on checking if it's there or not, which just reaffirms the reality where you need to check [therefore it is not] >> you lack faith in what you have decided on

[An extension of above point] You keep changing your mind on whether you have it or not. Or you are also entertaining and identifying with thoughts that are opposite (Put another way, in LOA terms, "The old self has to die so the new self can live. Bury the old and live only as the new". Keep choosing the same thing)

You have resistance in the form of one or more: attachments, attachments to outcomes or expectations, fears, desires (you can't desire what you already have) etc which prevents you from accepting your "desired reality" as truth

The following excerpts may be helpful.

I've linked a video below which might be helpful to you, it's not geared on methods and talks more on the importance of faith and being conscious of what thoughts/beliefs you entertain. Very spiritually-geared as opposed to being outcome-focused (their titles are rather clickbaity but the content is alright actually).

Navigating this landscape of thought requires a conscious effort to cultivate a garden of positive life affirming beliefs. Imagine your mind as fertile soil and each thought a seed. What kind of garden are you tending, are the seeds of doubt, fear and negativity finding too much purchase or are you diligently planting and nurturing seeds of hope, love and abundance? The mastery of thought is not an overnight achievement but a lifelong journey of choosing moment by moment which seeds to water and which to weed out. This deliberate act of selection empowers individuals to shape their destinies guided by the unwavering belief in the secret power woven into the fabric of their being.

[antimony-medusa]

Think: Does This Relationship Need To Be Family Dynamic??

Okay so people more articulate than me have made posts about how imediately family-coding and aging down characters and saying "this is the child and this is the DAD" is infantilization, and it's really fucking blatant when you do it to women, and it's really fucking glaring when you do it to disabled women. MCYT has the idea that family dynamic The Superior Dynamic and couldn't possibly be objectionable, but like, it is often straight up disrespectful. We are talking about adults. They are adults. Stop assigning them baby.

I have bitten the bullet and gone GUYS I AM BEGGING YOU and mentioned that Daddy Kink is a thing that is popular out in the world and that immediately fixating on one character as a Daddy and one as a Little is actually the opposite of trying to come up with a non-shipping option. Like I am not judging here if that's what floats yoru boat, but at some point you are putting kink posts in the main tag, even if it's not overtly sexual, and some of these posts I am only calling deniably non-sexual because you HAVE to know what you're doing.

But even aside from all of these things, someone brought something up in GC today that I think is worth mentioning. QSMP is an international server drawing from a lot of different cultures, and a focus on a nuclear family dynamic, with everyone being father-son or brother-sister to each other, is a really Western concept of what relationships are important. Kinship ties beyond the nuclear family are an important thing in a lot of cultures, and extended family is a thing (cousins, anyone?), and community ties are a thing (it takes a village?), and people choosing to be part of a sect or group is a thing (they have the ordem right there!), and esprit de corps is a thing (you try and tell me codebreakers don't have a warriors bond) and insisting that everyone is in a strict nuclear family is just an incredibly 1950s america way to view things. It's a narrowing of the possibilities in the relationships. I think we can do better than enforcing our cultural views on what relationshps are at the top of the hiarchy just like, across the board.

So like, okay, maybe you don't want to ship characters. That's awesome. That's fine. Shipping is not mandatory. Instead of always saying "they're brother-sister" because you want to celebrate their relationship, maybe consider sometimes letting them just be epic friends, or close connections where you're the Tia of his children but there's no blood there, or a qpr knot where you have important bonds with people but no formal romantic ties, or take one of the relationship types mentioned above.

Like, I have my woes with family dynamic especially because of the first two points and because I find it tends to strip characters down to archetypes which I'm not into, but also I'm very aware that it can be done in such a way that it respects everyone involved and is great. I am not arguing that family dynamic is inherently problematic. But there are some significant pitfalls with using it, and I'm really asking you to consider the implications of what you're messaging before you start sticking people in a family format.

[thealogie]

Goddd I’ve been saying this for a while but the way Good Omens is with queerness makes no sense to me…do Crowley and Aziraphales relationship really represent anything queer when there’s such a heavy insistence that the angels and demons have no concept of any of that? All the praise people give it for rep but imo it’s so empty of any real conversation or exploration of gender and sexuality…? Idk, I’ve never seen anyone mention it, do you have any thoughts

I am not sitting here saying good omens is THE groundbreaking gay media of all time or anything but I disagree that it doesn’t represent anything queer. I’m here for a fun time with two characters/actors that have incredible chemistry, BUT at the same time I wouldn’t be fixated on this piece of media if it had nothing to say about queerness and I don’t think gay people would have been obsessed with this relationship since the 90s if that were the case (regardless of the authors’ intent)

As much as I love dunking on Neil’s opinions I don’t think we should fall into the trap of relying on his words to see if the text has anything to say about queerness.

No matter what he says: this is literally a story where two guys (who read as two guys in the cultural context we observe them in) really love each other but can’t be together because it’s taboo. They meet in secret and literally talk about how they can be punished for even being seen together. Their ultimate happy ending in season 1 is that they are finally free to be together. Also that “I forgive you.” Like if you read this story on anything but surface level it’s about institutional and internalized homophobia.

I don’t think a text needs to spell all of this out for it to be explicit. My very well intentioned straight parents watched season 1 and didn’t read it as a gay love story but once you add season 2 they got how it was about forbidden gay romance. Regardless of what Neil and a group of incredibly online people say it’s pretty clear to average audience members and imo apparent from the performances

[rahuratna]

🛑 The free pass for Rants and Musings has reached you 🛑

If there is anything you’d like to rant or talk about, but no one’s ever asked you about it, consider this the ask you need to yap about it as much as you want! Have fun ✨

Hmm, musings. I want to expand a little on why Nanami's character speaks to me on such a personal level.

It all comes down to this idea: You are not your job.

This is a concept I've struggled with for a long time. I've always wondered why it was so damnably difficult for me to maintain a work-life balance. I am not the kind of person who can detach from work when I come home. I will think of my day, of the things I could have done better. I will fixate on small issues and blow them out of proportion in my mind, issues that nobody else has even taken that seriously.

A lot of this has to do with the need for perfection. The need for acknowledgement. The need to know that what I've done is both academically and morally right.

And this is why I feel such tenderness for characters like Nanami, and they way they're portrayed in media. I want to write the undercurrents of their lives, the little comforts they have, the stimulus that brings out their true passion, the traits that make them so human to us as readers/viewers.

Nanami severely undervalued himself, especially in a personal capacity. He states that due to the nature of his work as a salaryman, nobody will miss him if he disappears. This single statement made him a very compelling character for me.

How many of us feel this way? How many of us actually define ourselves by what we can do for others? By our relationships? By our jobs?

The fact that Nanami was never able to manifest a domain expansion speaks volumes to me. The expansion of the innate domain seems to be an ultimate expression of self identity; the stronger the sorcerer's sense of self-awareness and acceptance, the more 'refined' the domain. Mahito's manifestation of a domain expansion for the first time is evidence enough of this.

Nanami does not, through various things he's mentioned and done, have this strong sense of self, or self preservation for that matter. He measures the value of his life in terms of how much he can help others. He defines himself within the confines of his work as a salaryman, then as a sorcerer.

I like writing him as a character because I've learned, through hard experience, why it is so important to value yourself as a human being, above all else. How the thing you may perceive to be selfish is actually a healthy relationship with your own identity.

If all works of fiction can be interconnected through the people who enjoy and appreciate them, then I'd like to write little fictional accounts that breathe some extra dimensionality into these characters we know and love. I'd like to send a little whisper into the void, in my own way, letting anyone who feels the same know that it's fine to be kind to yourself. It's fine to be soft with yourself.

You are not your job. You are not defined by your value to others. You are a thinking, feeling human being and your existence does not need to be justified or measured by some arbitrary scale invented by someone else. To live is to be free. 

[sosoribro]

rouxls kaard and the theme of freedom: just trust me bro

now listen. i know rouxls is just the funny blue idiot man with the confusing-to-pronounce name and the funny duck, and its likely that he'll just remain the silly comic-relief guy for the whole game. and honestly i love that. i think that would be really funny.

(YAP SESH INCOMING)

HOWEVER

freedom. lets talk about freedom. you know, that reoccuring concept we all know and love. freedom. choice. one's own autonomy.

now lets look at rouxls again. what is he? the rules card. whats a point that comes up time and time again when discussing this character? in a deck of cards, the rules card has almost no significance whatsoever, and exists for just that: the rules. as a result, it is often discarded. it is considered useless.

but look at how rouxls views himself, and look at how he carries himself. it is so easy to say that he thinks he's better than everyone, and that he truly is nothing but a stuck-up, vain man who's too stupid to even see that he's well... stupid.

or is he? (legitimate question!!! here's a potential answer????)

because he seems fixated on working for someone. anyone, it seems. so here we have someone who considers himself to be absolutely intelligent, capable, powerful, and just generally better than everyone else, yet still wants to settle for second-in-command? he contradicts himself. but why?

so back to the card thing. the rules card is ultimately in a deck to help.

and rouxls kaard seems desperate to help. to assist. to serve. but that makes sense, considering that as the rules card, that is his purpose.

and what if he knew that?

so this is the part where i realize that im way too invested in this character and will really take ANYTHING as evidence for my probably-not-canon lore that's canon in my mind and only in my mind. stop reading right now if you dont like that.

anyway

rouxls lists long walks in the dungeon as one of his hobbies.

and who's in the dungeon?

THATS RIGHT. I AM BRINING THIS GUY UP:

YOU KNOW HIM, YOU LOVE HIM, ITS JEVIL YEAH I EVEN DRAGGED JEVIL INTO THIS SO YOU KNOW IM IN TOO DEEP

so anyway ignoring how far-fetched this is what if hypothetically rouxls wandered down to jevil's cell and somehow learned that it was all just a game yada yada yada and in the process, learned that providing rules and helping until he is inevitably discarded is simply his role.

and so, his personality is as stuck-up and high-and-mighty as it is because he wants to feel important. he needs to feel important, otherwise he'll be thrown away.

he needs to be of use to someone, but can not stand going ignored.

in being so willing to submit to whoever's in power, he denies himself freedom.

so long story short: hey guys what if rouxls actually knows hes useless and mostly discarded. how does he know? idk jevil maybe told him??? but maybe thats why hes so desperate to work for someone, but is so full of himself at the same time? because he wants to feel needed and important, because he knows that the rules card gets thrown away. again, jevil probably told him iunno

and thats how rouxls totally links to the theme of freedom guys totally a billion percent canon i am definitely so normal about him

NOW ALTERNATIVELY HE COULD ALSO JUST BE FUNNY STUPID MAN I DUNNO

[cloudycleric]

ok i will make a post abt this bc i need to get it out there so i can stop mulling this over in my brainhole.

i am not gonna lie, the situation with noah schnapp recently has made me extremely depressed, & i just don't get that same umph from stranger things content right now, especially when i'm alone. sometimes it seems as though i am interacting with it solely because it is my special interest-- BUT, that being said, & by typing that out, i realize how important & special stranger things is to me. so this is by no means a "i'm leaving the fandom" post or anything. just food for thought regarding stranger things/byler & autism & whatever else i write about.

i sometimes wish i could go back in time to before i knew what special interests/hyper fixations were. ever since i learned about that as a concept & tried to apply that understanding of it to my life i've been in a constant state of anxiety regarding my special interests. it's always, "oh, but when will x stop making me happy?" or "oh god do i not enjoy x anymore" or "is this the end of x & me?" stuff like that. usually it just goes away in a couple of weeks but this whole noah thing has made it wayyy worse, & the way the fandom decided to handle the situation only fueled the fire. so, i am just saying, sometimes the idea or concept of a special interest can really freak me out as an autistic person just because of "the end" of it. & that's my two cents or whatever.

SO--to my autistic friends, do you relate? do you have this anxiety?? how do you deal with it?

& to my stranger things friends--things have been weird. i don't think that's a surprise to anyone or something that nobody has been talking about. but it's just weird & i wish it could go back to the way it was. & not that the stranger things space has been forever changed, it just fucking sucks having to deal with it now. but nowhere to do but up right? idk. let me know

[autisticlalna]

Hi, I lurk in the SBK Discord but am a little intimidated by suddenly joining a group discussion about this kind of expansive story. However! I had a thought about Vikings lore stream and I know you like Yellow. So Im sending an ask here 👍 (Thank you for being so enthusiastic about Yellow, its wonderful)

I noticed that Yellow didnt really react to Rubys name when Avid was listing everyones names (at least not the way he did with Fix and Josh). But then he seemed to recognize Rubys head in the Jungle storage room, or at least he fixated on it and then went quiet when Avid explained who he was

Thoughts? Maybe some memories getting jogged a bit? I am very much looking forward to next time they run into each other in lore

hi hello!! it is i, the frenchiest fry Yellow enthusiast

yeah, Yellow definitely doesn't know Ruby by name. he also doesn't know anything about Minecraft post 1.18 (the version Dominion was on), which is very funny seeing his confusion at Literally Everything... except cherry trees.

cherry trees might be starting to be associated with Ruby in general now-- obv theres Cherry Kingdom, but also their grave in Wanderer's universe is in a cherry grove. so, uh, putting that as a tentative point on the conspiracy board here.

we do hit a very interesting snag, though, when as usual we grab Navigator by the leg and jangle him until lore falls out. (i still need to finish my tsmp transcripts.) not every universe has both a Viking and a Ruby, and he specifically... well, not namedrops Dominion, but is clearly talking about dViking when he provides an example. apparently i didnt clip it OR write it down and Leon's premiere is in like 10 minutes so i can't track it down, but he says something about how dViking gravitated to somebody to fill that gap and that somebody was Taneesha.

HOWEVER. slams hands on desk. that does not rule "there's a Ruby in dViking's universe" entirely! okay well it might but it's too late, i am on this tangent. before we got concrete info on the multiverse lore, we were already running with the concept of "Ruby and Viking are do not separate", and that led to the idea of, hey, we still dont know anything about dViking's life before death. the littlest scraps of info we have is that he died in a magical accident, and that Viking was at one point considering a prequel series of dViking and a friend that would've been the person that wrote the Book.

i am very loudly pointing at Rubyco.

again: not canon, not confirmed. but either Yellow's getting reminded of something he's missing on an existential level, or he's getting reminded of somebody he's not supposed to remember yet.

[milekael]

hi hi hi miles, i’m asking all the homies: if you had to add a third person into the royai relationship, who are you adding, and why?

OHOHOHO HELLO THERE >:3c AND THIS IS SO JUICY BECAUSE IT GIVES ME THE SPACE TO TALK ABOUT MY BELOATHED OC

ARTEMI YIPPEEE

This is me joining the FMA OC train SDFGHJ LISTEN YES I AM ADDING A THIRD TO ROYAI WITH MY OWN OC BUT HEAR ME OUT-

SO! The quick idea of this guy is that he is an rogue Alchemist that distributes alchemical materials regulated by the state under the table. Originally Roy went to investigate him to arrest him but at the end they reached a deal of Artemi will help Mustang with operations he doesn't want the military to know >:3c

Now the thing about this bug of a man is that he looves learning, both alchemy and everything about people- Specially people, to a concerning degree SDFGH Idunno if stalker is the right word but he does fit someone who tries to find literally every piece of information on someone who he fixates on. Enter Colonel Roy Mustang, a particularly mysterious, high-ranking officer who holds one of the greatest accomplishments of Alchemy - Controlling fire- at his fingerprints AND HE- DOESN'T SHARE IT!! ROY THINK ABOUT THE ALCHEMICAL COMMUNITY AND OUR PROGRESS!!

This makes him start fixating and stalking Roy, trying to figure out how to get Flame Alchemy out of him and why he keeps it secret. Is not even out of malice is genuine curiosity and a bit of annoyance over someone keeping something secret from him LOL. This eventually leads him to Riza's hometown where he learns about a long-dead alchemist that never interacted with anyone else- Berthold Hawkeye. And finally having made the connection and realizing the key isn't Roy but RIZA it makes him even more obsessed. On her.

LIKE OMG! I ignored her just as another subordinate but she is the key! Kept right in his shadow! So clever! And it turns out is even HARDER to find things about Riza and her relationship with Alchemy. At this point he finds her more interesting that Roy because whatever the fuck is going on with her is so!! Entertaining for him to try and take apart <3

I think he would eventually figure out the alchemical formula is somewhere in Riza's body, and here is where the weird, third-party in the Royai ship bit comes from ASDFGH I mean, he might stalk and find everything about his subjects, but he is not a creep, he needs Riza to show him consensually! He also doesn't want to anger Roy, he likes the guy! So now he is trying to insert himself in their situationship so he can be in the cuck throne getting a good peek at that Flame Alchemy formula....

I WILL SAY he does really like them both genuinely and he doesn't want to hurt them, is just... whatever it is, it is not romantic or even sexual attraction is a weird third secret thing ASDFGHJKL I also want to explore some stuff with him like Royai's relationship with Alchemy and their own morals.... I AM ACTUALLY OBSESSED WITH THIS CONCEPT AND WHATEVER IS GOING ON IN HERE!!! I spin them in my brain

I do really want to do more stuff with him btw I am just. Not particularly motivated to draw or busy 😭But I would like to at least do more art of him! And maybe one day write a fanfic or something who knows... I just have a bunch of random scenes floating in my brain............

Anyways, this is my answer. Third person added to the Royai relationship is my bug of a man who is as obsessed with them as I am...........................