#I just have the need of them so strong that is surpasses the lack of talent

[rockabye-billy]

In which Billy comes to Jonathan's rescue during the hospital fight.

A.k.a. Byergrove meets Stucky, a.k.a. I am going insane :)

[jgnico]

The fact that Geto's motivation as a sorcerer was never something that personally mattered to him really did spell out his downfall. I know that it's been talked about before, but Yaga's decision to make sure that students enroll for selfish reasons rather than broad ideologies was such a good change for how the schools operate, not just in terms of ensuring that another Geto situation never happens, but also for students growth as sorcerers.

Being a sorcerer is always going to be a dangerous job, but having the will and desire to overcome for the sake of yourself will always prevail over the mentality of doing the right thing for the greater good. Sorcerers need to be selfish and ambitious to survive. That's what sets the current students aside from characters like Haibara and Geto and even Nanami.

Geto wanted to protect the weak. Haibara wanted to feel like he was helping. Nanami wanted to keep the students safe. And while, yes, these are objectively good motivations, they're all centered around the happiness and safety of other people and not themselves. Mentalities like that can only bring you so far, both for growth as a sorcerer and a will to live within the demands that jujutsu society places upon you. If the foundation that you build upon can't support you when you need it most, then you'll fall through the cracks; which is something that we see time and time again no matter what era the sorcerer comes from or how strong they are.

I think that the clearest we ever see this concept talked about is in chapter 58, when Gojo is talking to Megumi about what's holding him back. Megumi asked to be trained because he wanted to keep up with Yuuji, who's grown exponentially as a sorcerer in an incredibly short amount of time. But as Gojo points out, training won't help him because Megumi's ability and potential aren't his issues. His mentality is. Instead of being selfish and putting his all toward what he wants, Megumi thinks too much about what would help the people around him or how he measures up against them. Which is exactly the same kind of thinking that Geto had when Gojo surpassed him.

Even on the opposite end of the conflict between Sorcerers and Curses, this sentiment still holds strong. Comparing yourself to others stunts your growth. Lacking true ambition gets you killed. Not being selfish enough to fulfill your desires makes those desires ultimately pointless.

There's so much emphasis placed on motivation throughout jjk, whether that's Maki asking Yuuta why he enrolled, Geto asking Haibara why he's okay with being a sorcerer, Yaga testing Yuuji during his entrance exam, Yuuji asking Nobara why she wants to be a sorcerer, Maki wanting to build a world for Mai vs Mai only enrolling to follow Maki, etc etc, the list goes on.

Strength in terms of the power that you're born with (or aquire in Yuuji and Yuuta's case) will only get you so far. It doesn't matter how strong or weak or complex or simple your technique is if you don't have the will to unlock your full potential.

Gojo becomes stronger in Hidden Inventory because he wants to. Geto stagnates because he's accepted that he can't. Yuuta wins against Geto because losing isn't something that he can accept when it sacrifices the happiness of his friends. Geto loses because he knows that his family will continue to survive even if he doesn't.

Geto's problem when it comes to surviving as a sorcerer was never weakness. It wasn't conviction or morality or ideas. It was that he never learned to be selfish. He held onto the mentality of sacrificing himself for the greater good while changing the definition of what that meant, and it killed him just as surely as faulty foundation will lead to a house collapsing if it isn't fixed.

[greenqueenhightower]

I feel so conflicted by the Alicent we’ll get in ep 4…. From the trailer it seems as if she thinks that Viserys was some kind of amazing ruler whose league can’t be surpassed and she feels the need to let Aegon know that and make him feel like a failure…?? My aligon heart is completely shattered and my day is ruined 💔

Hi anon 💚

I absolutely get your frustration, and I agree that Alicent saying "you might be half the king your father was" to Aegon did not sit well with me either but hey--we still don't have the full context of the scene so I'm holding out hope. The Aligon dynamics are too strong this season and especially for ep 4 we have a lot to look forward to, so I'd say please don't give up on them yet!

The way I see it: Alicent has just been forced to accept that what she thought was honoring her duty to Viserys' wishes by placing Aegon on the throne is actually her own defiance and she lashes out at Aegon because she feels even greater responsibility for how the war turns out for all of her family and the realm if Aegon proves himself uncontrollable or too hot-headed and impetuous. We mustn't forget that Aegon has just fired Otto and Alicent knows this is a rash decision and an unwise political move since the absence of a great strategist is already evident on the green council. And I also think what she says is a direct reaction to Alicent being granted even less and less power by the day which leads to her frustration toward Aegon because he is not as malleable anymore.

Back to the Aligon parallels, I kinda think that Alicent feels "lacking" and "unworthy" herself after she meets with Rhaenyra and she unconsciously projects those insecurities onto Aegon because he is her mirror and bears all her flaws and guilt, and if he hurts him she hurts herself. She is not allowed any praise and applause, so why should he be?

[menofsweaters]

okay so

y'all seemed unusually chill about my last Endeavor rant, and that has lulled me into a false sense of security. General disclaimer that everyone is allowed to engage with media however they want and no one is ever obligated to like/appreciate/forgive/whatever any character and this is all fictional barbie doll playtime so who cares -

BUT

Whenever I see a lot of anti-Endeavor rants, it just screams to me that the person posting has maybe not fully internalized the idea that parents (and adult figureheads in general) are human beings who are quite fallible and capable of making terrible mistakes just like everyone else.

Most people who abuse and neglect children do not realize that they're abusing and neglecting them. I know this is a tough pill to swallow.

Heck, most people who abuse other people in general do not realize they're causing harm. We as human beings generally like to see ourselves as the main character - as a person who's making the correct choices, who knows best, who's out for the greater good.

When parents and guardians abuse and neglect their children, they're generally not thinking "I want to hurt a child," they're thinking that they need to teach the child discipline, or that the child is ungrateful, or that they're somehow doing what's right for the child and the family even if it's hurtful at the time. Or, perhaps at the same time, they're not examining their actions at all, due to lack of understanding, mental health issues, addiction, etc. Makes me think of that post that circulated about how "child abuse is inherently irrational" because YEAH. IT IS IRRATIONAL.

This all very much tracks for Endeavor, who married Rei and started having children when he was quite young, and by all accounts did not have anyone in his life to offer a good example of what a healthy, loving family looks like. We also see his descent into emotional disturbance pretty starkly when you look at the memories of Touya and Fuyumi when they're very young versus the at height of his abuse. We also don't see any other heroes of Endeavor's age who are parents in canon.

Endeavor's thoughts were always "I need to protect Touya from hurting himself, and the best way to do that is by distancing myself so he stops wanting to be a hero" and "I need to train Shouto to be as strong as possible so that he can surpass both me and All Might and become a great hero." Both of these are selfish and short-sighted to some extent, but they're not sociopathic.

He was never thinking, "I want to hurt my children and my wife." No one thinks that way. That's some family annihilator thinking, and there's no indication that Endeavor thinks this way. Very, very few people are that cartoonishly villainous in real life, and Horikoshi has made a point of showing that Endeavor is multifaceted. He only recognized his own shortcomings with his family when he was older and saw the consequences. Would it have been better if he realized these things earlier (and maybe got some damn therapy)? Yeah, of course! That would have been way better!!

Anyway, I think the point that I'm trying to make is that people seem to have this assumption that Endeavor KNEW what he was doing was wrong and did it anyway, when that's simply not what's shown in the canon and also is not realistic in terms of actual bad parenting.

Not to get too deep on main or whatever, but as a survivor (ugh) of childhood abuse, and someone who's dealt with abusive partners as an adult, letting go of the idea that abusers are fully aware of what they're doing and are purposeful with the harm that they do was a HUGE hurdle for me to overcome, but it made my life way better to accept that people are just selfish idiots who have no idea what they're doing in most cases. This doesn't mean that abusers are innocent in any way, or that they can't be held accountable for their actions, or that you have to forgive blah blah blah, but I really genuinely encourage people to reexamine the idea that abuse is always purposeful because it very much is not.

Thanks for coming to my rant, no tags because I don't want to get harassed by teenagers. This is just me spitting out my internal thoughts on the internet and I have no desire to engage in arguments about it.

[sokkastyles]

Hello, I have been a fan of ATLA for a while, and I have been a silent reader on your blog and I like your way of analyzing the characters and the circumstances of the stories, you are objective and you rely on the facts

So I want your opinion on this.

You believe that Zuko is and always was a prodigy just like his sister Azula, but that unlike her, his potential was hidden/blocked by the way his father treated him since he was a baby, in addition to others. factors?

I don't think I've ever said that I think Zuko was a prodigy. In general I think prodigy is kind of a misleading word, because it implies that some children have natural advantages over others, when we actually know that there are many environmental factors that contribute to a child's development. Compare, for example, the case of Azula and Katara. Azula grew up in extreme privilege with access to the best training, and so was recognized as a prodigy early on. Katara is commonly called a prodigy by the fandom, but if she had stayed in her village all her life, she might not have ever been able to realize her true potential because she had no access to training or resources.

What I've said with regard to Zuko is that abuse absolutely affected his development. It's actually a true psychological phenomena that abused children often suffer developmentally, but it's also common sense that if a parent expects their kid to succeed, they have a better chance of success. If a parent is always putting down a child, that child is going to internalize the belief that they will not succeed. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I've also said that I think Ozai saw what he wanted to see with Zuko and Azula, so it's hard to judge whether the narrative that Ozai and Azula repeat about Zuko not being a good firebender is actually the reality. I think nothing Zuko could have done would have been enough for Ozai, because he already had the idea in his head that Zuko was a failure. For example, remember the scene where Ozai shows Azula off to Azulon, then frowns when Zuko tries to show off his learning, before Zuko even does anything? Ozai was already expecting that Zuko would embarass him and so any mistake Zuko makes is proof of what Ozai already believes.

Some people use Iroh's line about Zuko needing to master the basics to prove that Zuko isn't a good firebender, but I think that line was never supposed to mean that Zuko was a basic firebender. What Iroh was trying to teach Zuko was patience, a quality that we see that Azula also lacks, because both Zuko and Azula were raised with an all or nothing mindset by Ozai. Zuko demanding to be taught advanced techniques before he is ready is very like Azula in "the Search" telling her father how stupid her firebending teacher was for making her use a particular form instead of trying to make the biggest blast, and Ozai praising her for it. I don't think there was much drilling of basics in that household, because Ozai was already raising his children to believe they were too good for that, expecting them to be advanced at an early age. What Iroh was trying to teach Zuko was how to have a strong foundation to fall back on, which is something Azula never learned at all. Azula completely falls apart when things don't go her way, whereas Zuko ends up surpassing her because he is able to handle failure and learn from it.

[kyouka-supremacy]

Kyotag, I feel like you understand Akutagawa so well. I saw your post about Chuuya and how he would give Akutagawa a purpose and it just feels like you understand Akutagawa's need for some purpose, but not in the regular sense? The sense of having a purpose to absolutely surpass. Because, having 'potential' is horrendous for him, I feel, rather than being the worst. Because it means that there's something he's not touching. If you're the worst, then technically you're still the best at being the absolute rock bottom of something.

On Dazai and Aku's relationship, I feel like Dazai tried to compensate/change it after joining the ADA, however I feel like now he's taking his hands away? If that makes sense,

As in, he's letting Atsushi and Akutagawa refine each other. The same way Mori felt diamonds polish diamonds, a mirror needs a window. Dazai, if I understand him well, says that he removes himself as a resource of growth for others. I think it was when Fyodor was asking why his teammates are so reliant on him? He believes Akutagawa can find an answer for himself, in my opinion. Nothing he did was to Akutagawa's benefit in the PM other than taking him in, which, in itself, is very questionable. Akutagawa has simply managed to bend all his experiences to be a blade sharpener, to refine himself upon because he is desperate to become the sharpest edge.

Dazai, if anything, has merely observed the strange instinct to persevere that Akutagawa has, and I feel that his dominant nature is why he thought Atsushi completes him due to his recessive nature. I also feel like that's why, Shin Soukoku as a label?? (?) (?) Displays how Dazai doesn't know him as well as Atsushi does, or will at the time of partnership. They aren't like Soukoku, they are Double Grey if anything. One knows how to persevere the other knows how to surrender, extensions of the will to live and the will to die. Both place necessity on them, it's not a luxury, it's a need. Dazai can sense something of this sort, I feel, but can't fully comprehend Akutagawa — unlike Atsushi.

So essentially, I think Dazai knows he tried moulding Akutagawa's dominant nature to what he deems 'perfect' or, 'likeable'. However Akutagawa has a really strong personality, from growing up on the streets and lacking a childhood. I think Dazai's changed and has grown to notice this. That he shouldn't try to silence his nature, but give the growing vine a bamboo pole.

Thank you, I'm so happy to hear you enjoy my interpretation of the characters (╥﹏╥) Your words made my week, thank you.

I do wholly agree, being told he has potential would feel awful for Akutagawa, because for him that's just telling him there's a standard he can't live up to. Having potential is a pressure-heavy statement; for him, it's a reminder that he's not there yet and, given how lowly he thinks of himself, an affirmation that he'll never get there, either. And I can confirm Akutagawa absolutely does take pride in being the worst at things lol. As in, the worst pm individual to ever stumble across, the worst opponent of them all– he'd take these as compliments. That's something that lacks the pressure of possible failure, that's something he's already “the best” at.

As for Akutagawa and Dazai's relationship after Dazai joined the ada, yeah,,, It's really very complex and multifaceted, I really like exploring it. I've talked about this a lot recently too, but again I really stand by the fact that Dazai wants to have very little to do with Akutagawa, yet at the same time also marginally cares about him, deep deep down? (Or, although I can't find it in myself to call it anything close to guilt for how he treated Akutagawa, experiences at least a tiny inclination to make up for it). So when he finds Atsushi, Dazai is nothing but delighted to dump the task of fixing Akutagawa to him (which is funny, because Atsushi has no intention of fixing Akutagawa; but be it because of Dazai's manipulation, be it because of sskk soulmatism, he will end up doing so anyway). I really like your interpretation of Dazai removing himself from direct influence to make people grow on their own, I find it very fitting. It's also coherent with his alleged trust in his allies that's been coming up in the last chapters, as well as some kind of avoidance behavior that if you ask me is in him. And okay, I LOVE the interpretation that Dazai believes Akutagawa can find “the answer” by himself. God!!!!!!!! This concept is so good. Dazai never gave Akutagawa the answer because he knows he can't, because that's not something for him to give!!! But what he can do is put Akutagawa in the conditions to find it by himself!!!!!! Whoa stuff that's instantly integrated into my belief system for real. The way that would also be like, the only time in his life Dazai would actually be acting like a teacher / mentor to Akutagawa.

They aren't like Soukoku, they are Double Grey if anything 😭😭😭 That's what we've been telling Dazai since forever. I do like to think Dazai can't get sskk all the way to the core, if anything because I relish the thought that there's something so special and personal in their relationship, even Dazai can't control it. Agreed, not even Dazai can understand Akutagawa like Atsushi does. I feel like despite Dazai's endless perceptiveness, he will never be able to understand on an emotional level what it means to strive for a reason to live, because Akutagawa just wants to live /so much/, while Dazai doesn't. While on the other hand, Atsushi gets it. He gets what it means to feel like the right to live is something you have to gain; he gets the striving to live, because he feels it all the same.

(Not to give rise to misunderstandings: Dazai does look for a reason to live. It's just that in his case, it's looking for a reason to live so that he can stop wanting to die, while for Akutagawa it's because he desperately wants to keep living. They're such fundamentally different sentiments, I believe deep down Akutagawa and Dazai are ultimately incomprehensible to each other. That's why, when in the Heartless Cur Dazai told Akutagawa he would have been able to give him a reason to live, in my opinion he was lying. Because he doesn't have that, he doesn't have that even for himself.)

Back to Akutagawa and Dazai's relationship. Honestly, I think when moulding Akutagawa in the pm, Dazai was shooting for some kind of perfection; it's just that at the time, such perfection was making of him the perfect killing machine. And when he suddenly left the pm, he was already pretty much done. But then, Dazai's objective for Akutagawa fundamentally changed; and now he doesn't want Akutagawa to be a mindless violent executor anymore, but his own manipulation is backfiring at him, because that's what he made Akutagawa to be. Akutagawa really is the failed child in a lot of ways, an experiment gone wrong, an abandoned art piece. By the way, I really like the emphasis you put on Akutagawa having a really strong personality, because I truly believe he does. It's especially evident in Beast. We just forget about it because Dazai also happens to be the single person in the world able to change that personality to his liking, to put a muzzle on him; but I'm fully convinced no one else can (that's also why I'm reticent to believe Akutagawa would be much tame when interacting with Chuuya or Mori). It's nice to think Dazai would eventually learn to let Akutagawa's nature thrive. Because there's not exclusively beastly tendencies in it. Then if Dazai keeps being a god in Akutagawa's life (in Beast, almost in a literal sense), at least it's a god that allows him free will.

[givehimthemedicine]

I'm gonna say something that might make elmax tumblr mad at me but:

as much as El and Max are besties in the sense of the nonexclusive title, I can't honestly say I think they're mutual best friends in the sense of literal #1 ranking of emotional closeness.

Max becomes El's best friend within the same hour that they meaningfully interact, surpassing Mike by miles. no contest. but I think Max's best friend is still Lucas.

Max doesn't really share emotionally with El. she's a brand new friend and doesn't really have the, what do I want to say, life experience? to become Max's go-to confidant right away, which is a pretty major pillar of emotionally close friendship. El is so new to normal human relationships and regular life across the board. she would listen and care if Max confided in her, undoubtedly, but someone to whom you'd have to pause and explain and define aspects of what you just said honestly isn't going to be your #1 choice when you're upset and just want to vent and be understood. there's definitely no lack of emotional intelligence or anything like that from El, she's just not the easiest one to communicate with.

El actually COULD understand Max a lot better than Max might expect - and vice versa - but since neither of them really tells the other anything about themselves (at least not onscreen), they don't know just how much they can relate to each other yet.

what little sharing Max has done with El has been mostly in brief unintentional(?) inferences that El didn't engage with ("happy screams" being a troubling insight into her home life, etc). and I see extremely little evidence that El has ever told Max or anyone else much about the lab.

their friendship in s3 is more about being kids and having fun together (which is not something shallow! they both need that so badly) and they have more of a mentor-mentee relationship in some ways. just when their friendship could be getting deep, they get separated which is horribly unfortunate.

I don't mean to paint Max as the giver and El as the taker - they're different things to each other. Max drops everything and immediately offers advice, friendship, and warmth to a girl who's previously been rude to her for no reason, expecting no apology and asking nothing in return. but El spends season 3 body-shielding Max from monsters, is there to hold Max when Billy dies, and moves mountains unasked to find/protect/save Max in 4. she is very much there for Max emotionally, just verbal/written communication isn't her strong suit, and that's especially hard in a long distance friendship where that's the only way you can communicate.

Lucas, on the other hand. he has the distinction of being the first person to make her feel accepted in an unfamiliar town, her first true friend in Hawkins or possibly ever, and I don't think that's overwritten by one shopping spree.

Max really opened up quite soon to Lucas considering her trust issues in season 2 and he made it a very positive experience for her. not much of substance happened between them in 3 but in 4, their relationship seems to have its greatest emotional depth ever despite being broken up, and she voiced her literal deepest darkest secrets and suicidal ideations in front of him. (El heard it too, but Max didn't actually consent to that, although I imagine she would have). Henry used Lucas for a vision, knowing her fears would hurt the worst coming from Lucas's mouth. Lucas is the first person Max mentioned she had already looked for when she went to Dustin's house to talk about what she saw, and that was before their reconciliation.

but now here's something to offend lumax tumblr as well: I don't think Max has been Lucas's best friend at any point so far.

am I forgetting a time he's told her anything about himself? a time she's complimented him? I can't think of a topic he's discussed seriously with her that didn't pertain to Max herself, their relationship, or upside down stuff. his best friend is still within the party - Mike or Will I bet.

I could absolutely see Lucas finding Max daunting to open up to, even before her depression in 4. the way she treats him in 3 doesn't give me the sense there's a whole lot of sharing or validation going on for Lucas. I'm not saying she's a bad girlfriend to him, but I am saying she must make him feel a lot less emotionally cared for than he does her, unless he's extremely aware that they have very different ways of showing love. Max really is nice and definitely would listen and care if he shared seriously (and she has shown him that, just not often or recently), but she definitely has an exterior you have to get past first and I wonder how much he tries to do that.

I assume their friendship/relationship had to have had more depth than what we actually saw onscreen but I feel like Lucas lets his feelings be easily swept under the rug when it comes to Max vs the boys. the "the lady is never wrong" policy he learns from his father may keep the peace, but it isn't healthy for the long term. and this may be a subset of that, but I think Lucas prioritizes Max's hardships above his own (that's gonna be huge for him in 5 and beyond - he got traumatized by what happened to Max too, but he won't be inclined to seek validation of that especially not from her).

while they both absolutely care and empathize, Max and Lucas's backgrounds and struggles aren't ones that each other can personally relate to much. Max doesn't know what it's like to get bullied for being black and Lucas doesn't know what it's like to grow up in a poor, broken, abusive home.

but while their childhoods looked drastically different too, El and Max actually could relate to a lot about each others' pasts. El wouldn't know much about being a child of divorce, but can relate to having an abusive big brother, to wanting to escape, to major trust issues and craving love, to refusing to grow up to be what her abusers want her to be. Max doesn't know what it's like to grow up in a lab, but she can relate to being a little girl unsafe in her own home, to having a hard-learned no snitching policy, to living with a bad man she's supposed to call dad whose abuse causes her sibling to abuse her in turn, to refusing to repeat that cycle.

El and Max have potential to have an incredibly deeply understanding mutual best friendship, and I think they will once they get a chance to spend some time together, process what just happened in 4, and open up to each other about more.

simply aging and maturing will contribute to this as well but I think what Max has learned in 4 will make her more emotionally available with Lucas (disregarding that in reality she'd probably close off more than ever after 4 but it's the last season and we don't have time for that) in fact she was already starting to open up to him more just before she died. I hope they don't rush the relationship aspect of lumax because their friendship is sososo important and deserves its own attention tbh. I want to see some mutual emotional sharing between them where Lucas's trauma isn't sidelined.

also El and Lucas, the combination with I'd say the least in common, absolutely must do some massive bonding over Max. I want the two who were slowest to warm up to each other as kids to be absolutely ride or die. the brot3 potential is there I just need everyone to communicate!

tl;dr: Max is El's best friend but El isn't Max's best friend, and Lucas is Max's best friend but Max isn't Lucas's best friend

[vodkacranberrywitch]

Jonah and Halle + Jonah's Girlfriend Reading

Jonah & Halle - Jonah sees Halle as someone that could be a potential partner with the King of Cups. This is a card that surpasses a crush. He feels devoted to her or appreciative of her. Halle sees Jonah as the hermit. This is very passive energy. She may like him, but she hasn't even considered pursuing it. In a way, this is like a friend zone card. But don't let me speak too fast, because the energy between them is ace of cups. New beginnings? They want to take their relationship to the next step or add a new element to it. There is an emotional connection hanging between them.

Does Jonah have feelings for Halle - 7 of cups rx + the devil. This isn't a strong yes or no. He's confused about his feelings. With the King of Cups as how he feels towards her, he is definitely emotionally and physically attracted to her, however, he is trying to figure out if his feelings are real. He might feel like he needs time to determine if this is a phase. With the devil clarifying, he might have seen a side of her she usually keeps hidden or vice versa and they connected off of that. I don't want to say trauma bond, but it's possible some serious stuff was revealed to each other.

Does Halle have feelings for Jonah - the Emperor. Yes, this is the perfect counterpart card. She sees him as someone who would be a great boyfriend. Interesting, considering it looks like she friend zoned him.

What did Jonah and Halle bond over/ the devil energy - 10 of swords reversed + page of cups rx, 8 of pentacles. They bonded over a breakup. This breakup caused a lot of pain and they got through it together. They leaned on each other. I think that one or both went to each other a lot whenever they needed advice as well.

Why did Halle friend zone Jonah - She's trying to protect herself from being disappointed. She feels like if she pursues this, something is going to cause it to be destroyed so why even try. There is something discouraging her from pursuing this.

Has Jonah approached Halle about dating - 6 of swords. No, he hasn't asked her about dating, but he is open to it. He feels like doing this will cause a lot of chaos.

Pt.2

I just did some research and found out that Jonah has a girlfriend named Ellie so I'm going to look into that. Also, I read somewhere that Halle was the reason Jonah got the role? That might contribute to his feelings of devotion to her.

Anyways, What is the energy between Jonah and Ellie - The energy between these two is very weak. Jonah isn't putting any energy into this relationship. His energy is lazy. He might be working too much and neglecting this relationship. Ellie is attracted to him physically right now. The magician isn't a romantic or platonic feeling. She may be trying to acquire something through their relationship. The energy between them is 2 of swords. They feel like they have fallen into a routine. The relationship isn't exciting anymore.

Is Jonah going to break up with Ellie - Justice rx + 2 of wands, judgment rx. Woah. He's weighing on this and hasn't made a decision. He is afraid to commit to her and he doesn't see her in his future.

That's all I'm going to say and those two because this is a Halle and Jonah reading.

What is this ace of cups energy between them/ The new beginning - the devil + the moon rx. They're going to start sleeping together. The devil is lustful energy; a guilty pleasure. The moon rx is fantasies, instability, and putting something on the shelf. They are going to fulfill each other physically but the emotions are going to be ignored/ put on the shelf. There might be jealousy and possessiveness involved. The feelings are going to be intense because it is lacking the stability that comes with a label.

What is the outcome of this ace of cups energy - Hierophant rx. No commitment. As of the near future, this is going to be unconventional.

Is this going to end positively - Wheel of fortune. This isn't a strong yes or no. They may feel as though they were fated to meet. There will be a lot of opportunities for these two to have a positive ending, whether together or not.

This was a long one and it took me two days of revising to get a clear message. The energy around them is evolving currently so I might do them again in a month.

Thank you for reading! Let me know if you have any questions.

These readings are alleged and for entertainment purposes.

[gunsatthaphan]

Hi I don't have any friends that watch only friends so here I am screaming in your ask box about it

1. God something about First as Sand has me in a chokehold idk if it's the way he's styled in the show but I am NOT OKAY he's tooo damn fine

2. FirstKhao's chemistry is insane. It's at the point where I feel it kinda overtakes the whole ray is in love with mew storyline because the way ray looks at sand overshadows the way ray looks at mew? And it's probably just because khao has more chemistry with first than he does with book

3. People are probably gonna scream at me for this but I am NOT feeling topmew? They're so boring. And the thing is that I love forcebook and I think top and mew's characters are actually quite interesting. Unfortunately forcebooks acting just aren't good enough to bring out their characters. First, khaotung, neo and mark's acting has overshadowed their acting at this point. Forcebook has good chemistry off screen I just don't know why it doesn't translate on screen

4. We're finally going to get an insight on the whole topsand drama and I cannot wait. I did not expect to find out at ep 4 and since it's so quick I don't think it's anything to do with ray? Because sand still has his boundaries with ray so the whole "it's clear you just can't take care of what's yours" is leaning very closely to the theory that top slept with sand's ex and that prior to that top and sand were probably friends

5. I'm looking forward to seeing nick and sand scenes so much

Sorry for the thought dump, I hope I am making sense as English is not my main language and thank you for the only friends gifs I love them

hi there nonny!!!

my inbox exists for screaming so go ahead lmao.

Sand is doing things to me for sure like we still don't know much about him but just one look at Ray and you can tell he's already far gone djkghd truly no one is immune to First's doe eyes djhfd I'm a weak bitch for him 😩 can't wait for some of his secrets to come out 👀 .

The RayMew storyline is weak so far but I think it's more because they haven't given it a lot of screentime lol like we've seen a few jealous looks from Ray towards Top etc. but there has not been a single interaction between him and Mew that would make me think he's in love with him lmao. However after this week's episode I'm thinking they're telling this story in the past. I was surprised that this has been a non-issue in the present as Ray doesn't seem to have any trouble going all in with Sand but I think that might be why. It looks like it all peaked 2 years ago when the kiss happened etc. but we'll see about that next week I guess. But also regardless the FK chemistry I mean what can I say. my kings are slaying. I have no further comment. they have me screeching and kicking my feet 24/7 as it is but it's all peaking on Saturdays lmao. they're insane. literally nickboston who lmao. they can have all the steamy scenes they want but they will not be able to surpass the FK magic for me lol. no one does it like them. .

I feel the same about TopMew. I don't find them boring per se but compared the other 2 they lack something and it's not sex lol. I like Mew but I feel like his character is a bit inconclusive. It seems to me that he doesn't know what he wants. And it's strange to me how people worship him just because he refuses to sleep with Top lmao. that doesn't give a character a striking personality. I agree that ForceBook's acting is not as strong as the others' but so far it's not bothering me. It's noticeable but it's not the issue with their story imo. idk I just need to know about Mew's past with Ray and Top's past with Sand so I can sleep at night djhgd .

I'm very sure the top sleeping with sand's ex theory is correct like it has to be that. right??? I don't see any other possibility unless it's something boring like some business fraud or sth lmao. I don't think it has anything to do with Ray either. He might get involved once Sand finds out about his crush on Mew and maybe if the cheating theory is correct then it might have happened at the same time as the MewRay situation but I don't think he's connected to Sand's issue with Top. I just.... need to know asap lmao. .

I believe in SandNick roomies supremacy 🕯️🙏🏻🙏🏻🕯️ I really hope we get to see them live together, Sand seems so excited 🥺 And Nick is still a standalone character so it would be nice to see him with some friends around that aren't Boston's lol. thank you for liking my gifs!! 💜 can't wait for next week lol. have a nice day anon!! 💜

xxx

[wixelt]

I think it just hit me that with Hermitcraft Season 9 going into 1.20 (tentatively - remember Season 6 was meant to go into 1.15 before the Hermits decided to reset), there’s every possibility S9 will surpass S6 as the longest season.

It seemed impossible & silly to me at first, way too far in the future to be plausible.

But then I remembered a month is 30-ish days all on its own, so I ran the numbers.

Season 6 lasted 585 days (July 7th 2018 to February 24th 2020). Behind that is S2 & S3 (both 494), then S7 (470), then S5 (457).

Season 9 began on March 5th 2022, & as of this post (May 6th, 2023) has been going for 427 days, already making it the 4th or 5th longest season. Middle of the pack.

Now think about all that’s happening right now on the server:

There’s been a lot of Hermits coming back after breaks (Wels, Mumbo, Iskall, Stress, etc.), & most of them seem to have plans that should last a while.

Decked Out 2.0′s still coming & will probably have a long lifespan, while TCG’s still going strong.

Mumbo’s just dropped Button 2.0, & we all remember what happened the first time.

And that’s not even beginning to touch on the whole Incident with Grian, Scar & Doc, or any other projects the Hermits have going.

The Hermitcraft server is alive, right now. There’s a strong momentum going. A second wind that reminds me of the back half of Season 6 (& that was after the 1.14 update).

And that half gave us the base wars, Area 77, Demise, Hermitland, BDubs & Keralis coming back, & so much more.

If the energy keeps going & the same momentum keeps up this time around, that’s enough to keep the Hermits engaged for months. Well past the 1.20 update - whenever that is - giving the season continued longevity unless the Hermits decide to reset anyway or reset later, despite a lack of recent update to time it to.

To beat out S6, S9 only needs to go on from now for a little over 5 months.

If it persists, Season 9 will become the longest season of Hermitcraft on October 12th. :D

[cagcd]

      Remembrance twists the knife deeper into fresh injury.   A reality he had never hoped to come to face so soon in his life,   refused to entertain the idea of believing the serpent that uttered those dreadful words.   Shang Tsung was a master of deceit,   perceived the fate of the innocent as insignificant pests that often times served as entertainment rather than a tool to achieve another goal,   a coward's game he results to weaken the spirits of his foes and tear them asunder.   Johnny knew better than to believe his mindless games,   lies so skilfully forged to have him doubt and turn against his allies at times of need.   Though,   the sorcerer had managed to strike a nerve this once,   a devious smile that pulled upon his lips when accompanied with the mention of Master Boyed                     it's just another trick,   a golden ticket to rile up the man with most faith in his team   &.   sabotage their strategy.   It cannot be denied the fear that rose up in his chest at the thought,   he shouldered a newfound fright he would on most times dismiss as meaningless worry.   He stood strong,   and despite the forces' efforts,   the sorcerer had escaped yet again.

   A collection of curses and frustrated sighs had sounded when failure was realized and long months work went completely in vain                   a disappointment the actor would share but entirely flew over his head when the gravity of something greater took up a vast portion of his mind.   Distraught,   yet attempting to assure himself it's a false claim from the sorcerer,   he remained calm.   Johnny didn't wish to wait either,   for he had deserted his duties upon arrival and left base like a madman with no explanation or promises of return.   Later to be explained in numerous headlines   "   Local martial arts teacher found at his dojo   ...   "   A great loss for his top student who was hounded by the press for a statement.   He's sick,   tired,   wants to allow himself a chance to grieve,   only to remember the man's words when the nine year old boy he was would come to him in tears after a fight   ...   so many years had passed since then,   he had grown with an experience that surpassed the man he idolized more than his own father   &.   yet,   he feels as if he was still that child again,   seeking guidance and consolation and never receiving a reply.   He hadn't sought any,   as anger rose to harden his resolve,   not for revenge but an opportunity to make the sorcerer pay for what he had done.   Get back up,   try again.   That's what he was always told,   and by god,   he will try again.

     "you don't have to pretend to he fine. if you want me to stay, i will."

   An admission of worry breaks the silence ever so gently.   Indirect in his sympathy,   Miguel always found ways to show his care without the trouble of emotions he either lacks or posses in extremes since his transformation.   Blinking,   Johnny snapped from the long silence he hadn't realised it overtook him,   an unusual phenomenon from a man with a personality so larger than life   ...   which undoubtedly worried the man who was an extension to this odd family of his.   On most occasions,   those words would be dismissed with a smile and an assuring lie.   He's weary of pretence,   and at the same instance feels ashamed to falter against the crushing weight of this loss,   how many more sacrifices would they have to make before victory is finally at hand ?   How long until Sonya or Miguel himself would be next in line ?   He let out a breath to ease the tightness in his chest,   strained   &.   trembling,   an involuntary tear slipped past his defences that he was quick to wipe away.        ❛❛   I'd appreciate that.   ❜❜

@spidergene // *screaming*

[kenjakusbrainstem]

To Have His Cake... (Kenjaku x Gojo Satoru)

Contains: dubcon, angst, face fucking, Kenjaku not being able to go too long without mentioning breeding even if its only in his head.

Hello~ It's been a minute since I've posted, but here is this! I got inspired by a special friend of mind, that was also kind enough to assist in editing! Thank you @cursedkappa for the help! <3 I hope this is as enjoyable for you as it was for me!

It had been at least a hundred years since Kenjaku had set foot in the Kamo residence, and yet his feet remembered exactly where to go to get to his old private chambers. He’d only been there for about two hours, but that had been enough time to work his way into the mansion and resume his position as the head of the Kamo clan.

Settling himself down onto the chaise lounge, Kenjaku stretched his arms out, as if to relieve some of the tension in his body. Despite a successful execution of his plans in Shibuya, Kenjaku was a little tired. However, he was ecstatic at all the growth he’d seen from all the sorcerers. It left him feeling energized despite his vessel’s lethargy. 

The most exciting takeaway from the night for Kenjaku was easily the box he held tightly in his hand. He’d had it concealed in his robes up until he was finally alone; the warm thrum of energy seeping out of the Prison Realm as it pressed up against his skin forced Kenjaku to move faster in his acquisition of the Kamo residence. 

Kenjaku was excited, although his plans had been going as he’d intended for quite some time, the unpredictability had him itching for more. He hadn’t expected as much growth from the modern sorcerer., Of course with every age there are outliers, but to have so many strong students? Kenjaku was impressed, and this realization made him look much more forward to the culling games to come. 

Everything happened to be falling exactly in line to what he’d needed to go along with his plans. The predictability was a little disappointing, not enough to ruin the spoils, however.

Running his thumb across the Prison Realm, he looked down into the myriad eyes on its surface. The bright blue shining from the eyes reminded Kenjaku of the occupant, and at this thought a smile spread across his face. Capturing the six eyes had been something he’d wanted to do for a long time, and for it to be someone with such a close relationship with his vessel. . . well that just made things much sweeter for Kenjaku.

Being able to see his vessel’s memories with the six eyes and feel some of the emotions related to the man added an extra enjoyment. He’d never had a body retaliate against him before, the recent memory of it had him placing a hand up to caress the bruises he knew had formed around his neck. 

“I wonder if you even know how impressive what you’ve done is, Suguru. Can you even hear me in there? Or did you only come out when you recognized the bright eyes of your former lover?” Kenjaku asked to himself, to the soul inside the body he wore. He hadn’t expected an answer verbally, but the lack of any response did leave him a bit disappointed.

The bond between the two had to have been so strong that it surpassed even death. Such a compassionate display of human affection was impressive. Kenjaku remembered, from a memory that wasn’t his own, the six eyes referring to love as the most twisted curse of all. Perhaps he had cursed the two of them in a way neither of them could have ever anticipated, and to Kenjaku, their suffering was certainly sweet.

Kenjaku brought the prison realm up to his face, holding it only a breath away from his nose. The eyes looking into his own seemed to be aware and the lack of fear in them made Kenjaku’s blood pump faster. Of course, seeing the eyes so calm made him want to bring the look of shock and horror back to the six eyes. The same horror he saw when he was originally sealed.

“What about you, Satoru? Do you understand me?” Kenjaku asked, again speaking to someone that he was sure couldn’t respond. While no sound reached his ears, the Prison Realm grew warmer in his hand.

Kenjaku smiled, the idea that he had the six eyes literally in the palm of his hands was pushing him past excitement and into arousal.

Arousal wasn’t something that he normally felt outside of experimentation, but Gojo Satoru was a prize to behold even in this state. Feeling the gaze of the Prison Realm upon him and knowing that the likelihood of the six eyes contained within it being able to percieve him was slim, Kenjaku still felt hot under the gaze. 

Slipping the outer layer of robes off, Kenjaku settled himself in, leaning back further into a lounging position. As he got comfortable, he sat the cube on his chest allowing him to use his hands.

“You know, Satoru, you say I’m not Geto Suguru but I certainly have all his memories. Every moment the two of you spent together, even your most intimate ones. You’d be surprised how much this body longs for you, it's been a long time since I’ve inhabited a vessel that held this much vigor and passion in its veins,” Kenjaku spoke as he ran his hands down his body. The passion Kenjaku was feeling started blooming deep inside him earlier that night.

One of Kenjaku’s hands slipped into the waistband of his pants, hand ghosting over his semi hard cock. He had been waiting for this moment, being able to have the six eyes fully under his control. Having Gojo Satoru fully under his control made it even more exciting. His vessel had plenty of intimate experience with Gojo, those memories had been a very small motivation for Kenjaku, but he finally had what he wanted.

Kenjaku’s eyes stared at the cube on his chest as he slowly started to stroke himself. Masturbation wasn’t normally something he chose to partake in, prefering to use his own seed for reproduction, but this vessel was more than attractive enough for Kenjaku to have fun. He knew what got Geto Suguru’s cock hard, letting his mind wander into his vessel’s memories. 

His hand wrapping fully around the thick cock as he began to pump himself earnestly, Kenjaku focused on a memory of Gojo Satoru on his knees before his vessel. The white haired man looked desperate as he struggled to fit all of the thick cock in his mouth, tears welling up in his eyes. The sight of those bright eyes brimming with tears had Kenjaku squeezing his vessel’s cock, he wanted to feel it for himself.

Now fully hard, Kenjaku pulled his clothes down further to make his movements easier, exposing his vessel’s throbbing cock to the cool air. The extra room made it easier for him to steadily stroke himself. 

Stuck in Kenjaku’s mind was the image of the six eyes crying around his vessel’s thick cock. Thrusting up to meet his hand, Kenjaku fell further into Geto’s memories. Gojo, it seemed, was very well versed in sucking cock. Going from a watery-eyed virgin that could barely fit half a cock in his mouth to sucking Geto down with ease seemingly overnight made Kenjaku thrust into his hand faster.

Staring into the eyes of the Prison Realm, Kenjaku felt a smile creeping up onto his face. He had put much thought into a use for the six eyes once he was captured in the Prison Realm, but this hadn’t crossed his mind until tonight. Thinking back to earlier that night when Gojo was restrained in front of him, a small moan left Kenjaku’s lips at the thought. Oh to have had more time alone with the six eyes in that form.

Kenjaku wondered, he was almost certain that if he opened the Prison Realm that it would still keep Gojo Satoru restrained until he was fully unsealed. There was a chance, however, that the six eyes would be fully unsealed and his ages of planning would all be lost. To lose this much progress just for something so base, that would be so reckless, so human of him.

The draw of feeling firsthand what his vessel was remembering was too strong, paired with the potential of ruining his plans. . . the chaos of it all was making him harder in his hand.

Kenjaku could already feel himself reaching up with one hand to grab the Prison Realm that sat atop his chest. Caressing the warm space between the eyes, Kenjaku sat up in his seat.

“Gate open,” Kenjaku said, holding the Prison Realm out in front of him. The cube rapidly heated up in his palm before splitting. Quickly removing his hand, Kenjaku braced himself for a potential fight, the adrenaline keeping him fully ready for battle and fully ready to fuck the six eyes.

As he’d predicted, Gojo Satoru now knelt before him, restrained as he was on floor B5F of the Shibuya Train Station. Kenjaku could feel a dark laugh bubbling in his chest before it left his lips. His plans had a knack for going well as of late, but this felt almost too good to be true. To have his cake and fuck it too, he was more than willing to test his luck for this.

Perhaps stunned by the sudden exposure to the world around him, or maybe just by the sight before, Gojo gasped as he was pulled from the silence of the Prison Realm. Before him, the body of his best friend and lover sat in a state that was very familiar to him. Seeing Geto’s body aroused, robes open and hard cock exposed wasn’t odd, but the wrongness of the situation was screaming at him to escape.

Too bad for him, that was far from an option.

Gojo Satoru seldom felt powerless in a literal sense, but with the Prison Realm holding him in place, he felt despair drip into his bloodstream once again. 

“You look so sad, I figured you’d love to see me like this again. Didn’t you miss me, Satoru? It’s almost been a year since we’ve met like this,” Kenjaku taunted, standing to his full height before the restrained sorcerer. He was already finding more enjoyment in this than he should have allowed himself.

“I’d never miss what I’ve never had, and I’ve never had you,” Gojo’s voice sounded strained, far from the rage that burned in him earlier that night. It was still there, lingering like a fire inside of him, but it was useless here. The sight more than hurt him, it made him feel numb, because he had missed Suguru.

If Gojo didn’t feel the need to stay strong in front of what had to be an enemy, he probably would have broken down. He’d thought about what he’d do if he magically had the chance to be with Geto again, but he couldn’t bear to give any attention to those thoughts in front of this monster. 

Taking a step closer to the kneeling man on the ground, Kenjaku let his hands wander back to the base of his vessel’s still hard cock. As much as he’d love to taunt the six eyes more, he had more pressing matters to take care of. He wasn’t sure how long the Prison Realm would allow him to keep Gojo Satoru held like this, so he knew acting fast was the best thing.

“I’ve heard enough out of you already, you’d look much prettier choking. I know because this wouldn’t be the first time that you’ve let this cock fuck your throat, is it?” Kenjaku reached out and ran a hand through Gojo’s soft hair, pulling the man's face closer to his cock. “I won’t be as gentle as he was though.”

Fisting his hand in the white head of hair before him caused Gojo to gasp, allowing Kenjaku to shove his cock into the man’s mouth. The fact that he was surprised was beyond Kenjaku’s understanding, maybe he was just too used to relying on his abilities, too used to the thought that he would always be untouchable.

Feeling the heat of Gojo’s mouth around his vessel’s cock made a small moan of appreciation leave Kenjaku’s lips. Pressing himself further into the wet heat he was more surprised at the lack of resistance. Though he wasn’t actively sucking, Gojo made no attempt to deter the invasion of his body. Kenjaku felt his cock throb at the sight of him so pliant.

Feeling his cock press against the back of Gojo’s throat he started to thrust in and out slowly. He could see the beginnings of tears in the man’s eyes. Gojo would be a mess before he was done with him.

Pulling his cock out of Gojo’s mouth completely, Kenjaku rubbed the tip against his lips. Again, no attempt was made to pull away.Whether it out of resignation, fear, or longing to feel his lover’s body again, Kenjaku didn’t care. He only wanted pleasure for himself right now. Threading both of his hands in Gojo’s hair, Kenjaku smiled down at Gojo before starting to relentlessly fuck into his mouth.

The sounds coming from Gojo were messy, unpracticed noises you’d expect from someone that wasn’t used to having a cock buried in his throat. Kenjaku loved every second of it, the whines sending vibrations along his cock and the sputtering making a mess as Gojo’s nose was forced to meet the hair nestled at the base of his cock.

Gojo was trying very hard to focus on breathing, but with Kenjaku’s thrusting, it was so hard. Geto had always been gentle even when fucking his mouth. He was mindful of Gojo needing to breathe, but this monster didn’t care.

Gojo didn’t need his six eyes to see how much pleasure Kenjaku was getting from suffering alone.

The feeling of his cock slipping into Gojo’s throat was incomparable to anything he’d had his cock in recently. He may have received pleasure from others, of course, but to fully dominate his rival after so long, and in such a humiliating way. Kenjaku had never felt himself get as hard as he was in that moment. 

Digging his nails into the six eye’s scalp, Kenjaku thrust himself forward, burying his cock deep down his throat. Using his hands to keep Gojo from moving too much, Kenjaku relished the feeling of the man’s throat and mouth spasming to accommodate his thick cock.

Gojo’s whining only got louder as he felt his need for air grow. Tears now streaking down his face as he was used so violently.

Slowly Kenjaku pulled himself from Gojo’s throat, but not fully from his mouth. Gojo’s breathing resumed, he wanted to end this soon. Unable to think of any other course of action, Gojo slowly began to suck at the cock in his mouth.

Telling himself it was only to get this done with, Gojo felt himself begin to move his head up and down the thick cock. The familiarity of it, taste and scent was overwhelming. If it wasn’t for the violent hands in his hair he could delude himself into thinking that his Geto was back.

Feeling Gojo reciprocate forced a laugh from Kenjaku’s throat, he had won. Not that this was truly an act one could win, but the soft sucking around his cock proved to Kenjaku that something had broken within his rival. He slowed his thrusting to match pace with Gojo’s practiced movements.

Before either one of them noticed, they were moving together at a familiar pace to Gojo and one that Kenjaku had fantasized about earlier. Their bodies longed for each other, it seemed, as if they were drawn together by a force stronger than either wielder realized.

Kenjaku had lost himself in Gojo’s movements, the man knew exactly what this vessel needed. Before he even knew how close he was, he found himself spilling in Gojo’s mouth. He kept thrusting as he came down the man’s willing throat. Gojo kept sucking, savoring the taste and sensation before it was torn from him.

Kenjaku stood over him still, flush across his cheeks at the pleasure he’d experienced. Panting he looked down at Gojo, who avoided his gaze by staring at the ground.

“This vessel longs for your touch, you know,” Kenjaku spoke, an odd part of him feeling slightly sentimental through all this.

Gojo’s head snapped up, mouth agape, ready to say something. The ability to speak was torn from him however.

“Gate close,” Kenjaku spoke, stepping back as he watched the Prison Realm snap shut again before slamming into the ground, once again processing the heavy weight of bearing the six eyes.

[tired-teacher-blog]

Do you think Hawks is a virgin? I'm a bit at odds cuz I just can't quite place it. We know that Hawks was raised by the hero commission since he was a young child and practically isolated from the outside world that whole time. The most pressing thing was to train Hawks diligently to insure he became the perfect hero. I don't see them viewing lessons about love, romance, and physical intimacy as a priority. Due to this I think Hawk's himself has a very narrow understanding of even the act of sex. He's close with Endeavor who has a wife and children so he must understand the basic principle at the very least. Having children means having sex. But other than that the mere concept is loss on him. Being intimate with another person is scary and dangerous. It forces you to put yourself into a very vulnerable position and put your guard down, two things Hawk's can not afford to do. Its shown that Hawk's does enjoy the company of others such as Endeavor, Best Jeanist, Tokoyami, Midoriya and Bakugou but even if he enjoys being around them he can never truly drop the act and just be himself because he doesn't know what "being himself" is. On the other side of things we also know that the commission has forced Hawk's to do terrible things in the past. Would it really be too far of a stretch to assume they also made Hawk's use his body in order to make other ppl lower their guard around him? It isn't an uncommon practice for assassins to seduce their targets beforehand. Hawk's is young, intelligent, strong, and handsome. The perfect combination to make anyone, man or woman, fall for his charms. However, understanding the art of seduction is very different from understanding love. If Hawk's were in a position where he was forced to sleep with someone I think he would take no pleasure from the experience. Its part of his job, his mission, nothing more. He doesn't know or understand that intimacy is supposed to feel good for both himself and the other person.

This is truly interesting Eiri 🤩 alright let's see.

Knowing the commission, it wouldn't be farfetched for them to set their agents up to missions involving sexual activities. Though I can't really tell wether or not Hawks has been implicated in such missions so let's just test the theories :

★ If he in fact was, then I believe his knowledge of sex would have to surpass the basics, which means that not only would he perform sexual services, but he would also need to know his assigned partner's preferences in order to gain their trust and probably their affection as well. In which case, he wouldn't be a virgin (most likely, because some sexual activities can still be performed without losing one's virginity) but either way, he would be very knowledgeable about the subject.

★ Now let's say he has never been instructed to be involved in such missions, in this case I strongly believe he would still be a virgin because, and as you pointed out, he cannot afford to put himself in a vulnerable position or let his guard down because that's what he was taught since childhood. His knowledge of sex however would still be as well as any other young adult's, regardless of virginity or lack thereof.

Intimacy is another whole thing, and I believe it's something Hawks cannot afford to delve into because of the nature of his life.

Whatever it is, I just hope he survives the war so he can finally live life as he wants, now that the commission has fallen.

[writerben01]

Oh goody, anon hate.

So, if you send these kinds of messages dumping your bad fandom take and don’t even sign your own name, it’s clear you’re not looking to give any feedback to a writer. This is selfish and doesn’t deserve my attention. It’s deleted from AO3, so I hope you enjoyed shouting into the void.

But I’ve got a few moments, so let me tear this comment apart bit by bit.

The absolute delusion of [A young Nara complimenting Sakura].

So, context matters. This is a flash from the future, somewhere 10-20 years after canon wrapped up. A lot can happen in that time. It is being said by an Academy student, who has limited information, in response to a Hyuuga student thrashing Sakura and needing to make sure that the Hyuuga shuts up and gives Sakura some respect before she starts thrashing the entire room.

It is also a literary device called foreshadowing. Because until then Sakura in present time has been relatively weak compared to her teammates, and at the end of the chapter she gets a massive power boost (Mokuton) that would let her rival and surpass Naruto/Sakura. This boasting from the Nara is supposed to mystify and intrigue.

In no alternate universe whatsoever could Sakura EVER be considered the strongest of her team. I can’t believe anyone could say that without laughing.

I pity your lack of imagination.

Sasuke with Perfect Susanoo alone is impenetrable. We’ve seen what happens when Tsunade at full strength tried to break it. It took her AND the Raikage to make any progress at it.

Sakura in canon needed about two years to get to Tsunade’s level, and did it without a tailed beast or bloodline helping her. Is it so hard to believe that she could be stronger than Tsunade and the Raikage combined if she had another 10-20 years?

Sasuke has Amaterasu. Good luck healing from her torso being covered in that fire. She’d have to start removing flesh but if he covered her with enough flames, there’s no healing from that.

Okay. So? If Sasuke killed her with a kunai, she would not be able to heal herself from death either. You’re making the assumption that Sasuke can land his attack on her. That she is unable to shield herself. That she would even let Sasuke get as far as using that attack on her. At least Sakura can heal herself. If Sasuke gets hit, he’ll have to deal with the damage. In a battle of endurance, Sakura actually has more chance.

Do you really think Sakura could beat 6 Paths Naruto?

Depending on the setting, easily. Naruto is weak to genjutsu. Boom. Threat neutralised.

There is a limit to what Sakura can do with her small chakra reserves. Even with the best control and techniques in the world.

So she gets bigger chakra reserves. Problem solved. Why do you keep arguing about the state of canon compared to what we’ve chosen to do in a fanfic? Is there no part of you that can imagine maybe, just maybe, some people would like to see Sakura as a strong ninja and will make whatever changes are needed from canon to get that result?

Just pretend she could get even close to high reserves. Do you really think Sakura could pose a threat to a village with a widespread attack? Sasuke and [Naruto] can destroy cities in a single attack. Sakura has nothing.

This is a nice pivot that I’d like to point to. Until now most arguments have been about whether Sakura would be able to defeat Naruto and Sasuke in battle. And they’re largely irrelevant because the three of them are fighting together against enemies. It’s hard in general to look at the three of them separately (in my fanfic) because of how much they work together.

Their strength would in fact be measured in how destructive they could be against enemies. Naruto can manifest a Kyuubi mode, make copies of himself and be a real force to be reckoned with. Sasuke can deal massive natural disasters. But Sakura? She can use her mokuton to create custom flowers that blow poisoned pollen into the air. Mokuton, in this version of fandom, is basically free to use because creating life generates more chakra than it takes. She can use this boost in chakra together with some channelling plants and use genjutsu to put entire villages to sleep. She assassinates anyone who could pose a threat, with zero casualties.

It's a different kind of frightening. A different kind of strength. And anyone who thinks she’s weak enough to attack (to break the genjutsu) gets their asses kicked.

Sasuke and Naruto are strong in a traditional sense, but Sakura is the one with options. She can deploy poisons that weaken enemies that even Sasuke and Naruto couldn’t fight. She has genjutsu that’s more subtle and versatile than always needing eye-contact. And on top of that she has surpassed the strength of Tsunade which was capable of tussling with Kage.7

The delusion of this statement is so unreal. I hate Sakura simping so much. It ruins fics.

If your fragile male ego can’t handle a competent woman, don’t read fanfics with the BAMF!Sakura tag. Don’t know what else to tell you. I’ve written a story about an overpowered Team 7, and since canon keeps insisting Sakura is the weakest, it’s most satisfying when she is raised up higher. She gets a bad deal from canon, so I feel it’s fandom’s job to make it up to her.

You don’t have to agree. Just be sure to tag your misogyny in your own fics so I know to avoid them. Thanks 😊

[primnroses]

If you had the opportunity to give sakura genjutsu, what would it look like. How would it function? What would you call it? How strong would it be?

I think I've talked about this before but I will recap again because I'm not too sure.

Sakura's natural talent to identify genjutsu, surpassing Sasuke's two tomoe Sharingan, at just 12 was already a great feat. Especially with the way Sasuke said it, Sakura has an innate skill at seeing through illusions very quickly in calm situations. Thanks to her perfect chakra control, Sakura is able to dispel these genjutsu by herself, even those that are considered elite. This ability improved so much that by adulthood, she was immune to genjutsu altogether.

I've already discussed before that (aside from her lack of writing) Sakura never displays anything beyond identifying genjutsu and dispelling it probably because it's symbolism. Sasuke comes from a clan that cast powerful genjutsu, while Sakura is a civilian that can break powerful genjutsu.

Moreover, Sakura doesn't need genjutsu to fight because it's a technique used to inflict invisible pain through the illusion, while Sakura's forte is causing real visible damage.

But, what if Sakura really used genjutsu in battle?

Personally, I'd make her use genjutsu only when she's fighting multiple adversaries at once, not in a 1 vs. 2 or 1 vs. 1 fight. This is because Sakura is a fighter and she always charges ahead, while genjutsu is an ability used as a support t avoid real physical contact.

The center of her genjutsu would be inner-Sakura, an entity created as a "second Sakura" that represented some of her realistic emotions and thoughts. The name of her genjutsu would be related to inner-Sakura like just "inner-Sakura" or maybe something related to cherry blossoms like "cherry blossoms in disguise" or I don't know.

This other Sakura could break the Mind Body Switch Technique, deemed unbreakable, so it has a lot of potential for genjutsu use because it's already a world of it's own (inside her) that can be used for an illusion.

On a Sakura vs. multiple enemies fight, Sakura would cast her genjutsu with a single hand seal. Her control over genjutsu is outstanding as a kid so it's just normal she's highly proficient in casting them. The catch is that people might think that Sakura, known for her taijutsu and strength, would directly charge and use her body to fight, so genjutsu is an element of surprise in her arsenal. Nobody would catch on.

Having cast the genjutsu, Sakura will pretend that she's fighting her enemies but will gradually become bigger and bigger to clear the way for Inner-Sakura.

From this point and on, anything can happen inside the genjutsu that suits Sakura. From controlling their emotions and minds using her inner self, to crushing her with her giant body, etc. But one thing that will certainly happen is that she would apply medical ninjutsu to it. She will induce the victims into a comatose state by damaging them and healing them forcing the replication of cells, or she will poison them until they faint. Inside an illusion, anything can happen.

Personally, I think her illusions would be quite powerful because genjutsu is more or less effective depending on the quality, and that quality responds to chakra control. The better you control chakra, the more realistic a genjutsu becomes, and, therefore, more difficult to break. Except for Sharingan genjutsu because it's a special dōjutsu technique.

Her technique would be versatile in the sense that it's a progression of events. She pretends she's going to fight hand-to-hand but it slowly becomes a field with inner-Sakura and her traps, so the overwhelming sensation of being immersed in battle developing into a slow change in the environment goes unnoticed.

The added detail is that Sakura Haruno is known for her skills as a taijutsu expert, so the enemy is not expecting genjutsu, which adds power to it.

[stillness-in-green]

Chapter Thoughts — Chapter 380: A Skosh

It's a critical week in here, gang. Odd, because I largely enjoyed the chapter on a casual first read. I had the usual reaction of throwing my hands in the air when AFO told us about his plans, but I like all the Shiketsu kids and enjoyed the hit of LB and Gentle content. But then I went back for the closer read, and good god, I swear there's not a single major beat this week that didn't have some howling hole right through the middle of it that the series did not appear to have noticed. Do hit the jump.

On the Business Kids and La Brava’s Live Feed

O  Man.  Swirlyhair here talks about how the business course should have been on-hand to document the war arc, and this would have prevented the collapse of the relationship between heroes and the public.  But like—the whole point of the raids in the war arc was to carry out a quick, tidy roundup of villains[1] in a way that would cause minimal danger and disruption to society.  It was hidden from the public by design.

A bunch of UA business course kids would never have been allowed to come along to document the raids because that is just not how the HPSC was running them—nor, indeed, how they operated in general—and I wonder how aware this kid is of that fact.

Anyway, what would a camera on-scene for Twice’s death have told the public?  What about one filming Shigaraki’s manifesto?  How about footage of heroes attacking the brave citizens of Deika, mere months after they were tragically attacked by villains and were still struggling to recover?  Heck, let’s move it forward some: what if there’d been a camera on-scene when Lady Nagant revealed the truth of the murder that got her thrown in prison?  What if that bombshell didn't get absorbed by Deku, the Oblivious Boy Wonder, and then die there?

That’s all to say, this scene has a really bizarre pro-propaganda vibe going on.  Sure, the heroes nominally suffered a lot because they lost control of the narrative, but given what heroes and especially the HPSC were doing with control over the narrative, it’s utterly wild to see BNHA put forward this heartfelt, “If only people could have seen how hard the heroes were working (at concealing the truth of their decades-long pattern of failure from the general public), the link between heroes and society would never have been broken!” thesis.

O  The business kids may be incredibly invested in restoring the fuck out the heroes’ public image, but thankfully, La Brava has no such motivations.  All she wants is for the highest number of people possible to appreciate Gentle Criminal, to which I say, “Damn straight.”  While I suspect she has somewhat missed her best window on that, I look forward to anything else interesting that she catches on tape and projects out to the entire world long before the Propaganda Class gets a chance to take all that footage to the editing room.  Maximum erosion of the status quo, please and thanks; AFO should take this opportunity to show up in his still-rewinding body and the whole world can see Midoriya Izuku punch out a six-year-old.

   

On AFO’s Possession Plan Still Being Stupid Retconned Bullshit

O  WHY.

O  IF AFO NEEDS SHIGARAKI’S STRONG WILL IN ORDER TO TAKE OFA.

O  WHY.

O  WAS THE ORIGINAL PLAN FOR SHIGARAKI TO BECOME AFO ENTIRELY.

O  Ahem. 

O  As discussed previously by the Top Three, and also Ujiko, AFO himself lacks the force of will to steal One For All.  The implication has been that AFO raised Shigaraki the way he did so that Shigaraki would have both the inclination and the force of will to surpass Sensei in this specific regard.  If AFO meant to possess him entirely, what good would that force of will have done?  If Shigaraki’s will were weak enough to be sublimated by AFO’s, Shigaraki would then de facto be weaker than AFO, and therefore also weaker than OFA, and therefore no more capable of stealing OFA than AFO himself is!

Did he think the strong will would just magically linger, even as he took Shigaraki’s mind over completely?  Is it not the strong will that matters at all, but only a strong “impulse for destruction”?  But wouldn’t an AFO that maintained Shigaraki’s impulse for destruction still have been a hybrid, exactly what AFO says was not his intention?

Further, why does he think shoving his quirk (factor) into Shigaraki will make a difference?  Shigaraki already has[2] the original All For One quirk.  If it doesn’t matter who has the original quirk and who has the copy made by Ujiko, then why give Tomura the original to begin with?  If Tomura has already shaken off the real vestige’s influence, why would he be incapable of doing the same with a copy? Or is there something different at play here?  AFO didn’t technically say he wants to give Shigaraki his (copied) quirk, after all; he said he wants to give Shigaraki his quirk factor.  But why doesn’t Shigaraki have that already?  A quirk factor includes, after all, not just the quirk itself, but also the biological infrastructure that allows the quirk to function.  Probably the most visible expression of this with AFO is the holes in his palms—which Shigaraki already has.  Surely the All For One quirk takes the quirk factor when it’s used, not just the quirk itself?  Otherwise, AFO could wind up with quirks he doesn’t have the capability to use.

For example, what if he took Endeavor’s fire quirk but didn’t get the heat-resistant body to go with it?  What if he took Hawks’ Fierce Wings and it turned out to be totally useless to him because all he got was the ability to control his feathers—feathers he doesn’t have because he didn’t get the wings in the transfer, only the wing control?

And so on.  And like, look, I know I’m asking a lot of questions that it’s possible that Horikoshi intends to answer in due time.  Maybe AFO normally can take a person’s entire quirk factor, but Ujiko’s method of quirk storage could only handle the quirk itself, not the quirk factor’s additional infrastructure.  Maybe that’s part of the reason Shigaraki needed four months of surgery: he needed augmentations to be able to use AFO at all.

But if that’s the case, and bringing Shigaraki completely to heel is just a matter of giving him the remaining biological components Ujiko couldn’t store, why didn’t AFO do that in the cave they were living in for weeks?  Hell, as I’ve been wondering for years, if all AFO ever wanted was a new body, why not jam his quirk into Shimura Tenko at the ripe age of five?

I’d been lately willing to concede that AFO needing Shigaraki’s will, not just a new body, addressed, if not all, then at least a lot of what I saw as inconsistencies between early AFO and AFO now. Then here comes this chapter to tell us, no, Shigaraki’s mentality is entirely immaterial.  Again, maybe there’s some huge missing puzzle piece Horikoshi’s sitting on that will explain all of this and I’ll be eating my words by the end of the story.

But good god, if that’s the case, I wish Horikoshi would just get on with it.  The AFO we have now is an incomprehensible scrawl of, “Whatever kind of evil he needs to be to make this week’s chapter work,” and I am so very tired of trying to make him make sense.

(I will write the full AFO Retcon Theory essay one of these days, but consider this a taste of my kvetching about all the scattered elements across the whole of the series that just refuse to add up to anything coherent.)

   

On the Fake-Out

O  I enjoyed it on a first read—I like Camie and I’m getting enough tired_of_this_guy_dartboard.meme about AFO that I enjoyed seeing him get completely clowned on—but on a more careful pass, I do have a few issues.

There’s another case in here of Horikoshi using the reader’s expectations of the medium’s structure to blatantly lie to us.[3]  We saw this before with the traitor plot line, when Chapter 335 ended on a staggeringly bad faith cliffhanger by overlapping AFO talking about his “friends” with the viewpoint zooming to UA and landing on Hagakure.[4]  Here, we have Hawks’s internal narration, the bit that runs, “Our future’s on the line!  For the kids’ sake!!  To go further beyond toward a future so bright they can’t help but smile!!”     To see the problem, consider this: Who is delivering those lines?  Hawks is way down near the ground staring at Shishikura, who just blocked him from taking to the sky, with a shocked expression, so it couldn’t have been him.  Camie’s illusion!Hawks presumably can’t think for itself like Twice’s clones, so not it.  It obviously wasn’t Camie herself, given that it sounds absolutely nothing like her established character voice.  So who?  We’re led to believe that we’re seeing Hawks because of that dramatic narration about the future, but while Hawks might have started in on that line of thought just before Shiketsu intervened, it would make no sense for him to go on thinking that way while watching an illusion of himself get torn apart.     It would be closer to working if Camie were capable of hiding people with her illusions; she could have just hidden Hawks at the last second with an illusion of empty sky and replaced him with an illusion version of himself. However, I have my doubts that there’d be an opening for her to do that when Hawks is right up in AFO’s face.  Someone would have needed to push him out of the way, into her Empty Space glamour, and again, when we see the real Hawks, he’s down on the ground, the wall of finger positioned in front of him, like it prevented him from taking off to begin with, not above him like it just got done pushing him very rapidly out of the sky.  No sign that he’s shaking off Invisibility Mist, either.     So what we have is dramatic monologue that don’t seem to make any sense coming from any involved party.  I.e. Horikoshi is lying to the reader about the stakes for a measly single page of drama and a good reaction panel.  And all he would have had to do to fix that specific problem is just not provide that internal monologue!  Just present the action as-is and it would have been fine!     ...Well, mostly fine.    

The other issue is that, based on AFO’s capabilities as they’ve been presented to us, this never should have worked to begin with.  Set aside the issue of whether Camie has any way to reasonably predict (and therefore make her illusion perform accordingly) the effect AFO was expecting when he reached towards Hawks and twisted his hand—she doesn’t, but it only needed to be a moment’s distraction.  Getting AFO to waste time on it means it’s already served its purpose. Also, since her illusions are formed of mist, they might have enough substance to be affected by such force, even if she could just reform them afterward like Geten can reform his ice.     No, the bigger problem is that AFO should have seen through it immediately thanks to all those extrasensory quirks we know good and well he has.  Empathy?  Vibration sense?[5]  Search?  Infrared?  Every single one of those should have revealed that this was a farce, especially the infrared one.  I suppose there’s the possibility that he’s lost those quirks as part of his rewinding—there’s a reasonable chance he only gained most of them after getting his face splunched by All Might in the backstory, with Search coming circa the training camp attack—but if he’s losing quirks to the rewind process, that certainly isn’t something he’s seen fit to tells us about so far.  I notice he doesn’t seem concerned about a timer on his flight quirk, for example.     It’s also possible that he’s just not using those quirks at the moment, seeing as he has his eyes back; we don’t actually know what the requirements for those quirks are—who knows; maybe Infrared only works if he closes his eyes or something.  All in all, this objection is easier to rationalize than the inner monologue one, but it’s still pretty glaring in terms of the narrative just outright ignoring AFO’s previously stated capabilities.     Chalk this up, I guess, as another case of I Want To Like This But You Are Making It Harder Than It Needs To Be.

   

On Shiketsu’s Arrival

O  I like all of them, so I can’t complain too much about their presence, but also I really have to question the decision-making that they’re citing here.  Shishikura tells us that Shiketsu was designated non-aggressive and intended to receive refugees, but the refugees hadn’t arrived.  So their response was to—gather up their school’s entire hero course and deploy them to go help in battle?  Instead of, say, gathering their hero course and going to help the refugees?

Okay, Shiketsu has no way to know that Skeptic was interfering with the refugee transport, nor that AFO has spies among the refugees.  But, what, did they just assume, “Well, the refugees never showed up, so I guess that means we’re free to do whatever!”  Did they not ask why the refugees never showed up?  Did they try to get in touch with UA about it?  Did they send anyone into the underground tunnels to see if something had happened to the transport?  Why was the apparent first response to totally waive their responsibility to the civilians they’d been assigned to protect and rush off to the battlefields instead?

I only skimmed the leaks last night, so perhaps there’ll be more to say about this next week,[6] but wow, what the fuck?  Was it intentional to make these guys look so interested in fighting villains that they just wrote off the civilians completely?  Did they judge that if something happened to the civilians it was probably too late to help them, and thought it best to go join the battle in hopes of turning the tides against the villains instead?  A greater good/losing the battle but winning the war situation?

In any case, fingers crossed that this turns into a situation similar to the heroes leaving Central Hospital wildly under defended and losing Kurogiri for it.  Sure, the students being here probably saved Hawks’ life, but what did they abandon in making that choice?  If UA is busy fighting Shigaraki and a wave of Twices, and Shiketsu bailed on their responsibility to the civilians, then who exactly is left to do anything about whatever situation Midoriya Inko and company have found themselves in?

If it’s only civilians down there, will they have to step up and save themselves?  Will anyone bring up the story of the citizens of Deika?  How will the narrative frame this?  Will civilians saving themselves be a thing that we should expect to see continue, or will it be a one-off miracle and afterward everyone will be expected to go back to depending on heroes again?  Even though the heroes that were supposed to be protecting them left them to the wolves to go fight villains instead?

Or will it turn out that there are a bunch of yet-unseen heroes already tasked with protecting/finding the civilians and all of this will be a complete nothing-burger that gets resolved as soon as it gets directly addressed?  Probably that, but allow me to imagine otherwise for a little while, at least.

   

Stray Notes

O  I can’t believe Gentle is getting the Amecomi hero moment before Deku smfh.  What is even the point of Black Whip as a Spider-Man homage if Deku’s never going to have to plant himself in front of a monorail train or similar and look like he’s going to burst a blood vessel with the strain it takes to make it stop before it plunges off a destroyed rail and kills everyone onboard?

O  Gentle Criminal is so funny.  He’ll do all this without the camera and audience, but, you know, that’s not to say that having a camera and an audience doesn’t still make his heart skip a beat.

O  All the Himijins offing themselves en masse by swan-diving off the platform just so they can take some heroes with them over the edge is a hell of a thing.  It says quite a bit about Toga’s mental state, since Twice clones are not historically in a huge hurry to die.  They will, certainly, especially copies of Jin who share his dedication to the League, but they will complain about it first.  The Himijins don’t even hesitate.

O  I notice AFO’s spiraling gesture used to shred “Hawks” is basically identical to the one Robot (the helm-headed High End) used to tear Mirko’s arm off back in 262.  It’s a neat point of continuity, and I always enjoy seeing quirks the Noumu use turn up in other places, or quirks we’ve seen elsewhere turn up in Noumu, as with Mocha having Double and Hood-chan having Muscular’s quirk.  I also suspect that John-chan’s Warp is a component part of Kurogiri’s Warp Gate, though I don’t think that’s ever been confirmed anywhere.

Of course, Robot’s move was noted to be long-range, which kind of begs the question of why AFO hasn’t used it on anyone else up to this point, but I suppose when you have as many quirks as AFO does, you get used to using whatever seems fun at the time, rather than the most slavishly optimum tactical choice.  It may also not be tremendously accurate at long range, given that Robot only gets Mirko’s arm with it.

O  Inasa swooping up the whole army of Himijins is very, “God forbid a villain do anything,” but I will forgive it if it means Ochaco has to, in the next few chapters, rescue Toga from falling sixteen stories to a messy doom in a viciously karmic echo of Curious’s death.

------------------ FOOTNOTES ------------------ 1:  One hundred thousand people, lest I ever forget to harp on that number.

2:  And he may have just destroyed it, too, but the concrete effects of horrifically rending a quirk vestige limb from phantasmal limb remain ambiguous.

3: Which would be fine if the narrative were being unreliable as a result of faulty memory, intentional fabrication, psychosis, dreamlike surrealism, and so on. Lying to the audience has a rich and valid history as a narrative device! But there needs to be a reason you're lying to the audience, not just that you're stringing them along like someone leaving a fake hundred dollar bill on the table as a tip and hoping the server don't notice the counterfeit.

4:  I’d also point to some peoples’ ongoing confusion with the matter of Re-Destro’s lineage, which I think stems from the expectations set up by the narration talking about Yotsubashi Chikara having a child out in the world while the images pointedly hang over the just-introduced CEO of Detnerat.  Still, at least there, a detail-oriented reader could look to the series’ broadly established timeline to figure that a man younger than All Might is probably not the direct son of a man who got his start circa the legal establishment of professional heroism.

5:  This one’s a bit unclear.  In the same chapter he mentions the empathy and infrared, Chapter 94, he talks about sensing vibrations in the air, but the phrasing is such that he might just mean he senses those the way any normal person could.  Sound is a vibration in the air, after all.

6:  Also up for discussion next week: Shishikura being in the same scene as the man who murdered his father.