#I then present her with why I think I can't do it and she invalidates my concerns everytime

[applejarjar]

My Boss: you're taking too long to do things, if you run into issues tell me immediately

Me: ok, will do

My Boss: so how are things going, did you make progress on the thing?

Me: I'm having issues, the only way I can get it to work is if I do X

Boss: we can't do X anymore

Me: well in that case I cannot do the thing and need help

Boss: how about you mess with the thing some more until it works and then come back to me

Me *internally*: I just told you I cannot do the thing no matter what I try but you want me to continue to screw around with it and then come back to you later to cry for help when I've already made it clear that I'm incapable of completing the task without assistance and need help now >:[

Me *externally*: ok, I will keep working on it

[cursedvida]

It's really crazy to me to see the hate Mae gets, like I was reading some reviews and I can understand not liking a character but as soon as they start with the name calling their opinion is invalid to me because they have no reason to be calling her a bitch, among other things, like it just reeks of mysogyny, (it's like they just want an excuse to call women names) and seeing it coming from other girls makes it worse like..

"Oh the girl was such a bitch why did she do that 🙄" ..is it really that hard to think for a moment about the circumstances in which mae was raised?? Do they need it spell it out for them?? Like, c'mon guys do you really think that the people trapped in a bunker for generations have anything nice to teach/say about the apes?? Wes Ball please give us Mae's backstory in the sequel!! Your audience needs it bc they are out there calling Mae the real villain and saying Proximus was right 💀 (when he was literally everything Caesar hated in an ape)

Look, I'm usually a polite person when expressing my opinions, but I'm fed up with the hate towards Mae, basically because the arguments people give seem incredibly basic to me, typical of people with little to no understanding. Sometimes I doubt if these people have watched the same movie as me or maybe they have some sort of cognitive dissonance, but seriously, I find them ridiculous. Either that, or they are basically the typical comments from misogynistic guys or women with internalized misogyny who can't stand morally gray and questionable female characters.

And well, having said that, I'm going to present my doctoral thesis on this topic:

One of the things I've seen the most is people saying that Mae is evil, the true villain, or an ungrateful traitor to Noa. This argument seems quite incomprehensible to me because, even though we don't have much data about her, I believe there's something very important that explains why she acts as she does: the Proximus apes killed the people in her group, including her mother. I mean: her damn mother. If we add to that the UNDERSTANDING (I mean, you have to be very short-minded not to assume something so obvious) that she has been raised in an environment where they've probably told her all her life that the apes are the reason for all the evils of humanity and the main reason why humans live in shitty conditions, I think anyone with half a brain has enough information to understand why she does what she does.

Yes, Noa is a good guy, but he's not helping her. Noa and Mae have a common goal and decide to ally themselves momentarily to achieve that goal, which is to reach Proximus. As much as they've formed a bond throughout the story, it's not yet strong enough for Mae to set aside what she has worked for so hard. Mae not only bears the weight of humanity on her shoulders but also emotionally carries the idea that she, as the sole survivor of her group, must complete the mission at all costs. Are those who criticize her telling me that if they truly thought that with certain actions they could not only save their species but also honor their loved ones who have been killed infront their eyes, they wouldn't do them? And that they wouldn't do them for someone they've just met, no matter how much they like them? That's just not realistic, it makes no sense. We would all do the same as Mae in her situation. I mean, I have no doubts.

Another thing I love is when they say she's the "true villain" as if it weren't clear enough that she feels bad every time since she forms a bond with Raka and Noa when she does something that she knows may harm them. She feels pain for Raka's death and clearly, you can also see the conflict and remorse when she detonates the bomb. It's not something she enjoys doing, but she HAS to do it. In the final scene, even though she's carrying a gun, you can also clearly see her in conflict with herself. Clearly, she doesn't want to kill him. Clearly, she has nothing against Noa, and this is evident when she finally accepts the necklace and they even shake hands. You can't tell me that's the attitude of a villain, narratively it's not presented as such, and seeing it that way is to have understood nothing.

Mae is a complex character whose life is based on survival, she's no different from the characters we're used to loving and idolizing in other post-apocalyptic series, the difference here for me is that she's human and humans have to be bad by default and also that she's a woman. Because female characters always have to be the support, the romantic interest, or the unconditional friends of heroic male characters, and Mae is none of that. Mae is a character with her own story and ambitions that go beyond Noa's plot. Mae has her own plot, and it seems that's something that bothers people a lot.

I'm sorry, but the hate towards Mae seems very similar to the one people had for Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones, which basically stemmed from people being misogynistic and hating complex and imperfect female characters, combined with how much they hate seeing protagonist characters with such human and real characteristics that they can't bear the idea of seeing themselves reflected in them.

But hey, for Sansa Stark, I would have killed, and now for Mae too. Mae haters basically DNI

[thenewgirl76]

I'll Make You Believe

While the whole "asking a ghost how they died is the worst taboo ever, so don't do it or you'll be in a world of hurt" headcanon is always fun to implement to either create temporary conflict or simply move the story along, I think it'd work just as well on both ends if it was only a minor offense.

Like if you were to ask a once living ecto being how they died the most negative response you'd get would either be some variation of "None of your business puny mortal" or an explanation using the most vividly graphic, stomach turning details as an act of petty revenge as well as insurance you never ask again.

So what could possibly be a way more serious, far more dangerous no-no when it comes to ghosts instead? Well, how about stating ghosts don't exist/there's no such things as ghosts? The reason why being you're invalidating the trauma they've experienced in their last moments.

Makes no difference whether you were aware of this or not. If they find out or worse, it's said to their face? You better hope they'll settle for beating you black-and-blue. Because the alternative is becoming a ghost yourself by the time they're done with you.

Now in dpxyj fics when Danny interacts with Wally and the whole "ghost are/aren't real" argument between them comes into play it's usually depicted as a trivial disagreement. But what if you were to make it more angsty by inserting this take on lack of ghostly etiquette?

Let's say after getting to know his teammates better Danny starts talking about his origins (in vague detail) and exploits, only to eventually be interrupted by Kid Flash declaring that he can't possibly be a ghost as they don't exist. And Robin, Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Superboy all become quite alarmed watching Danny go from easygoing to looking ready to beat Kid Flash to a pulp, as he's now fighting back his ghostly nature. To avoid giving in to the urge he abruptly leaves with a dismissive attitude, much to KF's confusion.

From there it spirals. KF, not realizing he's poking a hornets nest continuing to voice his skepticism whenever the opportunity comes up and each time Danny barely manages to keep it together. Until one day Danny in an explosive rage snatches up KF and in a tone colder than ice tells him he knows what he is, what he went through to reach that state, and that he has no need to justify any of it to him.

Then he leaves once more before he really loses it. Before going after him Miss Martian informs KF of how Danny opened his mind to her and that for his sake she hopes he never shares those memories of what he went through with him. Feeling bad now, KF tries to apologize once Danny returns. Which results in failure again and again since Danny keeps giving him the cold shoulder.

After having yet another apology disregarded KF, in mounting frustration blurts out that he wishes he understood what has Danny so convinced he's a ghost, unaware a certain wish twisting genie he was warned about had been invisibly lurking in the vicinity the instant Danny was elsewhere. Along with the rest of the regulars, as soon as KF's denials had spread to the Ghost Zone Desiree was on the warpath, intent on showing just how real ghosts truly were. By sheer spite and determination she beat everyone else to him, just in time to hear him say the forbidden word, presenting her with the perfect means of retribution.

With a "So you have wished it so shall it be" KF is magically transported to an underwater submarine, occupied by Black Manta. Unable to run as freely without potentially damaging the sub and causing it to flood, the fight upon his unexpected arrival is drawn out to the point KF starts to feel his hyper metabolism weakening him. It's when he's close to dying of starvation that one of the more incompetent goons sends him crashing into the stash of ectoplasm Manta had smuggled with the intent of using it to pollute the waters of Aquaman's Kingdom. The last thing KF sees before blacking out is Desiree looming over him with a smirk of satisfaction.

[megaderping]

I think the biggest issue with Naoto discussion is that there are so many intersecting perspectives with very strong feelings involved, and if a Persona 4 remake does happen, I fully suspect that Atlus is going to have their hands full figuring out how to handle the character in the modern day. First there's the cultural context of misogyny in the workplace and especially in the legal and justice systems in Japan, which informs Naoto's character a lot. It is important to consider this, as this was a Japanese game made in 2008 at a time where queer visibility wasn't nearly as prominent, but that alone doesn't invalidate criticism to the arc's execution, regardless of creator intention. A big point of contention is how the arc was handled. Specifically the way it uses talk of body alteration procedures, surgical equipment, and treats the idea of transition as scary. If you consider how draconian the laws behind legally transitioning in Japan are, you can perhaps make a case for why it might cause Naoto internal conflict as complete surgical transition/sterilization/diagnosis were all requirements at the time of the game's development and only recently were declared unconstitutional. Though, as this excellent video pointed out, it's possible this was meant to be a reference to the story Flowers for Algernon, given the weapon you get if you return there later. However, even if that was the intent, transgender people exist in Japan and have since well before Persona 4, and anime such as The Dirty Pair aired in the 80's with very progressive takes on transness. It's very unlikely that the team behind Persona 4 was completely unaware of queer issues and symbolism, given that Persona 3 had that infamous transphobic joke in the original version's babe hunt.

The Dirty Pair, a 1985 anime that was surprisingly progressive.

I think the issue, more than anything, is that the tropes at play don't exist in a vacuum and what comes after Naoto's dungeon raises a lot more red flags. Jokes about Naoto's chest size, the narrative framing Kanji's crush as only acceptable after the reveal, on top of the uncomfortable execution of the romance route in Naoto's Social Link. You get so much "Naoto is actually a girl" in a way where it's other characters talking about/over Naoto, which is what really makes the framing off putting to a lot of people, myself included. And it's not even that you can't do an arc about a female character fighting against prejudiced preconceptions in the criminal justice field without controversy, because Persona 5 pulled this off far less contentiously.

Sae Niijima deals with many similar themes but doesn't seem nearly as contentious, and I think a large part of that is due to Sae openly presenting as a woman from the start. The game openly depicts the misogyny from Sae's superiors and coworkers, such as how she's unmarried and fighting an uphill battle for success in a male-dominated field. Persona has toyed with these ideas in the aftermath of Persona 4 and even when revisiting older titles. Persona 2 went back and added the character of Shiori Miyashiro in the PSP release, a lady detective who has a lot in common with Naoto (e.g. knowingly endangering oneself to get the truth behind a supernatural case). It's also astonishing that we have Lala Escargot in Persona 5, which also had that infamous gay couple that played into horrible stereotypes that were only slightly fixed in royal's international release. Lala, whether trans or a drag queen, is given surprising respect, and her identity is never called into question. A Persona 4 remake could learn from this and cut back on the characters asserting what Naoto feels, what Naoto "really is," etc, and let Naoto and Naoto alone decide. Ultimately, Naoto means different things to different people, and these things can carry great personal weight and importance. Many trans and nonbinary Persona fans see themselves in Naoto. Others favor Naoto as some flavor of gnc or find Naoto embracing femininity and detective work empowering. I think the problem is that when this topic comes up, there's a lot of hostility. Trans fans and people who favor trans Naoto get told to shut up at best, and at worst get hit with shit tons of transphobia and gross conduct. On the other hand, I don't think people who prefer more canon-compliant depictions of Naoto are inherently malicious. It's how they approach these discussions and treat people that makes a difference. Just because someone uses she/her for Naoto doesn't mean they're being intentionally transphobic, but I totally get people wanting to avoid material that uses those pronouns all the same. I also don't think people are wrong to be uncomfortable with the resolution of Naoto's arc in canon. I think people who get upset when fanworks go with trans or NB interpretations of Naoto could stand to be more empathetic, as a lot of those fanworks come from people who connected to Naoto and want to explore what could've been. I don't think more canon-compliant fanworks are inherently malicious either, but no one is obligated to stick around works or spaces that make them feel uncomfortable. Tbh, I'm just wondering what Atlus will do. Persona 3 Reload removed that one transphobic joke during the babe hunt in all languages. Persona 5 Tactica had male marriage fantasies for Joker. I think Atlus is trying to be more inclusive, but Persona 3 Reload also kept Toriumi's crush on the protagonist and Chihiro defending student-teacher romances, so it's really unclear how much of Persona 4's more divisive aspects will be retooled. Because it's not just Naoto. Persona 4 has a lot of aspects that haven't aged well, like all the jokes about Kanji being predatory if he's attracted to guys, or Kashiwagi being creepy toward students, or the fatphobia with Hanako while Ebihara's past of being overweight is treated with more sympathy. I love Naoto and Persona 4, but I also think it's important to be able to criticize elements of the game that could be executed better.

[sophieinwonderland]

An Endogenic Response to a Message Towards Endogenic Systems

Trigger Warning: Death Threats, Harassment, Cyberbullying, Ableism, Slurs, Hate Groups

@loafofcatbread

Aren't you one of the moderators of Aspen's server? You are, right?

You all specifically came onto this website to spread hate. Aspen said she wants to normalize cyberbullying endogenic systems. And you're using our tags to post hateful messages to our community because you want to hurt us. That's your intent in being here. Causing pain and suffering to other people for existing.

Why deny it and try to play victim?

Amazing how you accuse us of sending slurs and death threats while Aspen is calling us "Schizo." Specifically while bragging about using it as a slur.

And... you know we can see your reblogs, right Loaf???

And for death threats... we can also see YOUR LIKES!

Yes! We see you, Loaf! Just like we see Aspen!

We see your hypocrisy. We see your bullying. And we aren't going to tolerate it.

I don't know if any endogenic systems have been sending death threats or slurs in response to you all invading our spaces with the intent of hurting and bullying us. I haven't seen this happening, and I would strongly discourage anyone from stooping to your level.

But I DO know what you all have been doing.

You and your disgusting pals aren't allowed to play victim here! Sorry.

And for your talk of misinformation, I've yet to see anything even resembling a source for the claims your side have made. Anti-endos love to assert thing. They like to say whatever nonsense they can come up with as if it's a fact and then expect people just accept it.

But they can't cite in professionals who can back them up because none exist.

And when pro-endos respond with sources, the modus operandi of you all have been to throw slurs and ad hominems as Aspen did when she was sent a link to my post debunking her video.

Maybe you think you're educated because you got all your information of plurality from a popular Tiktoker with an inflated ego and no actual background in psychology or any sources to support her claims, but that's not education. That's indoctrination.

You and your hive have been indoctrinated.

Finally, over the years, I've seen countless traumagenic systems be attacked, bullied and fakeclaimed for being pro-endo, mixed origin or presenting in ways anti-endos deem unusual. And anti-endos, by their nature, encourage fakeclaiming. They encourage invalidating systems. And this has increased stigma of traumagenic systems, normalizing hate against systems of all types.

You are NOT an ally to traumagenic systems.

You're an ally to a hate group.

And it's so sad that you can't even see it...

[kaizenproductions]

Natsu does NOT have any previous experience with romantic love

This is the (better) Tumblr version of my post from Twitter. Given the format of this website, I'll add some details to what's already written.

Before starting with this, I want to clarify that the motivation to write this post has little to do with nalu itself (it will be mentioned to highlight a point though). Having previous romantic partners DOESN'T really make any ship invalid. You'll find the actual reason behind this essay under the cut below.

This is about how Natsu, as a character, is never presented or seen by others as someone who has experience with love and such idea is never hinted or implied anywhere in the canon material. This lack of experience explains why Lucy thinks he has no interest in it.

As we will see later, Lucy isn't the only one who thinks like this... Let's get started.

Year 2024. Why writing all this? Some weeks ago I was involved in a discussion about whether Natsu was being OOC during a filler (non canon) scene of the anime where he snaps at Lucy in a way he never does with any of his friends in canon material. The discussion led to this...

I didn't want to assume that this person was taking Lisanna as some kind of first love. At the end it turned out that was exactly what was happening. The proof? The most platonic reunion ever... with Happy reacting the same way as Natsu and comedy being included. It is important to highlight that Mashima never makes two people between whom there have been romantic feelings reunite like this, with comedy references in between that downplays the seriousness of the moment to some extent. While this post is about Natsu and his feelings, I could also mention Lisanna's reaction to this, something that proves that there wasn't even a one sided love: after noticing this Natsu is the same one from her real dimension, she doesn't start crying because of him but because of her siblings.

Let's ignore the part where this dude started calling me and some other users "retards" because that speaks volumes for itself about his lack of real arguments. After all, he has been fighting for at least 4 years with teens over power scaling, a topic he may seem to be knowledgeable about but actually isn't so much, plus he has been banned from at least one Discord server because of his r4pe threats. It seems this individual was so obsessed with that specific thing that he said Zeref did it to Mavis and that's how August was made... That also speaks volumes about his media literacy and the fact that even if it's true that he did read the manga so many times as he claimed during this discussion, he has serious problems with reading as a normal person. When it comes to the topic of this post, the problem is that he has some influence within the fandom, at least on Twitter, so whatever he says is something that many of his followers will start repeating.

What does Mashima do when Lisanna finally comes back to her original home and she gets a proper reunion with everyone?

After the initial shock from seeing Edo Lisanna in Earthland and the big reveal, this is how Natsu reacts.

This isn't a reunion that suggests that Lisanna is special compared to everyone else in the guild, and particulary to those who grew around Natsu. Also, we can't say Mashima just doesn't know how to write such scene properly... because he's written it at least once (in Rave).

The emotion you can feel in this scene, the way ONLY both lovers are on the spotlight and the rest of their friends are in the background until the end... Well, the difference is so obvious that it's ridiculous to say more. Given how well Mashima handles the emotional dimension of his characters in his mangas, the possibility that he didn't know how to depict two lovers who got separated from each for some time due to circumstances beyond their control is off the table.

Also, notice how the end of the Edolas arc depicts this.

The difference with her reunion with Natsu and the others is so obvious that there's no need to say more.

We can also discard Lisanna as a former love interest because there's no akwardness between them once she's back to the guild. They can be seen playing together and briefly interacting from time to time, so it's not like they're avoiding each other.

Is it implied somewhere that they had something beyond friendship? Not in any kind of canon material. Every time Lisanna is mentioned in regards to Natsu she's presented as a close childhood friend. We have, for example, her profile from one of the first chapters where she's back home and the information of the official magazine that was released 10 years ago.

But what if they simply stopped loving each other due to being separated, as a fellow nalu shipper told me on Discord? Making characters fall out of love is something that Mashima also references (see Macao pic a bit below). It also goes against what we saw regarding Erza and Jellal, who still had romantic feelings for each other despite their antagonistic positions for many years, or against the whole Zeref and Mavis thing. In other Mashima mangas we have more couples like this. Elsie and Justice still loved each other despite being sworn enemies, and Let still loved Julia (and vice versa) when he discovered she was alive, a kinda similar scenario to Natsu and Lisanna if they had been lovers. Given that Natsu and Lisanna weren't even enemies to each other at any point and they were only separated for two years, we can't say they had something canonically and they simply got over it with no actual reference to it.

There was a very good moment to reference past feelings in 100YQ: when Touka includes Lisanna in the group of women "around Natsu".

Instead of offering us a comment like "it's not like that anymore", Lisanna just says something that implies they're not that close. After all, Natsu is hanging out with his team most of the time since it was established.

What's the reason this fandom has been so many years discussing about this friendship? Because the first anime adaptation goes beyond that friendship and the manga omake where both of them take care of Happy's egg, something Lisanna decides to help with because she loves animals and she felt Natsu wouldn't do it properly. The first season includes several fillers that pave the way for a love triangle, presenting Lisanna as a girl who is VERY interested in marrying Natsu when they're adults. In addition, Happy is presented as their son, something that totally goes against the source material. Even if Natsu is the one who saw Happy be born and was living with him since then, Happy is never considered as his son and is always called a nakama/companion/friend.

This long thread has everything that A-1 and Satelight added in regards to Natsu and Lisanna. As we can see in the info provided in one of the first tweets, Mashima let them "edit" the story the way they wanted to and it's mentioned explicitely by both him and Ishihara (the director) that Ishihara is responsible for those additions, not Mashima. We also can't say the additions were something Mashima asked for because he couldn't include everything he wanted in his manga for some reason. This is supported by the fact that Lisanna is never presented in the manga as any kind of romantic interest after she comes back.

There's also this tweet from 2012 where Mashima replied to someone asking him whether he was involved in the story of the anime. His answer is no.

It's also important to say that these fillers aren't canon: they're not referenced in the source material (the starry key arc was, even if Mashima wasn't involved in the writing), they're not referenced in the anime itself after Lisanna comes back and they have no impact in the events of the story during and after Edolas.

Currently, thanks to Mashima's Twitter Spaces, we know two things: he revived Lisanna because some people in the anime staff liked her (Ishihara is one of them for sure), which explains why she's not very relevant and is always tied to her siblings, and he once considered to include a love triangle between Natsu, Lucy and Lisanna after Edolas, but he liked Natsu and Lucy's dynamic by then enough to not introduce such storyline. He also said Lisanna was "だめ" in regards to that triangle that never came to be, implying that she would have been the one that doesn't get the boy in that scenario.

So is Lisanna our supposed former love interest? As far as the canon material goes, no. Was she close to Natsu? Yes. Is she dear to him? Yes, just like everyone in his family, the guild, is (I can't believe I'm writing this in fking 2024). Now, what if there was someone else? The assumption that characters may have dated another (unnamed) character offscreen isn't totally crazy. After all we saw how Juvia dated Bora, even if it was a narrative tool to show that not even dates would make Juvia stop being depressed. However, we can't say there was someone else as more than a headcanon unless it's implied or mentioned somewhere explicitely. We know Macao was married but got divorced thanks to the official magazine, for example.

When it comes to Natsu, nothing is ever mentioned.

100YQ, the official FT sequel, has several pannels that go against the whole idea of Natsu being experienced with romantic love. As I mentioned at the beginning, even others from the guild, and especifically Macao in this pannel, who knows Natsu since he was a kid, have a hard time believing he's interested in love.

This part of the story includes a very interesting pannel that also debunks the whole idea that Natsu felt more than frienship for Lisanna before she was transported to Edolas.

Why would Lisanna's brother react like this over such comment if Natsu and his sister had romantic feelings in the past? Easy: because those feelings never existed.

Even Lisanna is a bit surprised when Touka expresses her interest in him.

Previous romantic experience would also mean that Natsu's relationship with Lucy would be more advanced than it is as of now, not to mention this recent scene.

Natsu is still quite dense with romance, even when it doesn't involve him, and while he talks about his and Lucy's kids they still have a long way to go due to his total inexperience in this area as of now. Someone with past love experiences wouldn't be like this. I could say more about this but this isn't the post for it so...

Conclussion: the first season of the anime did a lot of damage that resulted in many years of discussions, fights, misogyny towards both Lucy and Lisanna. There was no childhood or teen love, no jealousy from Lisanna when she saw how close Natsu and Lucy were as a team and nothing suggests that Lisanna was more than a friend in canon material. Claiming the opposite at this point of the story is useless.

[bonefall]

My birthday was a couple days ago, and I got to see my bio dad for the first time in a while. He surprised me with the fact that I have a little half-sister, whom I've never met and who was adopted about two years back. So, I wondered if any situations in BB mimic this or have a theme of "secret siblings" or "secret family"? Sorry if this is a weird ask; this blog is honestly just such a cool little place and I love the way you approach the subject matter and take the flawed misogynistic foundation of the WC books and make them so much better (JUSTICE FOR BUMBLE!!!). I've also learned a lot about healthy and unhealthy relationships here and am really glad for your deep dives on Squilf and Bramble. Thanks, Bones!

Not weird at all! I really like exploring all the little nooks and crannies of complicated familial dynamics. I think one of the untapped strengths of WC (that the writers seem to be unaware of) is how their MASSIVE cast allows them to present all sorts of unique dynamics. So I like to pick up on it, since they don't.

For secret siblings...

I'm pretty heavily leaning towards Ambermoon being adopted by Wildfur, as a surrogacy. Something feels correct about it. Especially since Icecloud is getting retooled into a post-Battle of the True Eclipse birth, and a major supporting character in AVoS-era stories as a friend of Alderheart.

Thinking about it, I should zoom in and expand this. Maybe have Icecloud, somehow, acquire forbidden knowledge that would invalidate the Queen’s Rights and he (transman) struggles with if he's going to use it to expose his parents as an excuse to help Ambermoon.

(Especially since Ambermoon and Icecloud are basically nothing alike. Amber is independent, bold, and vain. Ice is jessie pinkman big-hearted, disorganized, and deceptively meek if you look past his "chill" demeanor)

But that's wip-- there's also Breezepelt and the Three, who are going to have an actual friendship. In particular I can't unsee Breeze and Lion having a deep one. I know I commit the Cardinal Sin of borderline himbo-ifying Lionblaze in BB, but I can't help it.

Hollyleaf ended up nabbing a bunch of his most violent roles to make her villainous descent smoother narratively, so BB!Lionblaze's story ends up being more focused on Ashfur's abuse, comic relief with cats in other Clans (something that the very serious Jay and Holly have a hard time providing), and the emotional fallout of the big reveal and Bramblestar's turn on them. Breezepelt slots neatly into that.

They were friends. Lionblaze's whole life came down around the reveal, everyone looking at him and his siblings differently, like they're suddenly something terrible. Why can't we find a silver lining, Breezepelt? Why can't we call ourselves brothers if the whole world is going to do it anyway? So much is changing, but THIS doesn't have to, we will take their weapon and turn it to armor, my ally, my friend, my brother.

(and when Breezepelt is lashing out at the three because of the Dark Forest's influence, Lionblaze is there, taking the blows and trying not to give in to the impulse to send him flying with a single paw)

There's also Harespring and Kestrelflight of WindClan and Owlclaw of ShadowClan. All of them are from a single litter between Whitewater and Mudclaw. She was going to raise the three of them alone as ShadowClan cats, but when the sire was smote, Whitewater felt they were cursed.

She was able to give the oldest two to their bio-uncle, Torear, but the weather was so bad that day and the runt was so sickly and small that it surely would have killed him. I don't think Owlclaw ever finds out why his mother always treated him with suspicion, but it did mess him up horribly.

Over in BB!DOTC, Thunder Storm is getting more half-siblings earlier. Clear Sky and Falling Feather had two daughters-- Pale Sky and Tiger Sky.

I want to explore the way that the various stages of Clear Sky's life acted on his kids. How any little curiosity Thunder Storm had about the life he might have had if he wasn't abandoned is crushed by seeing kittens who weren't. How Clear's favoritism of his oldest child set the trio against each other from the start. How this idea of "love" is toxic yet intoxicating.

It feels good to be the golden child. The power it gives you over his sycophants is satisfying. To know you, and you alone, have what someone else craves. Problem is, that's conditional, and it's cruel.

What Thunder Storm learns from his time with his biodad is that Clear Sky is not his father at all. He's taught him exactly what he DOESN'T want to be. There may be similarities-- in temperament, in physical prowess (though BB!Thunder is three-legged, he's still ripped), in taste and senses. But Thunder Storm's father is Shaded Flower.

(BB!Gray Wing died in the first book, rescuing Shaded Flower from being trampled by a horse. Xey're a patron of wisdom, Shaded Moss is taking the role of fatherhood to Thunder)

His sister is Rainswept Flower. His mom is Bright Storm. If there was a bond he could have had with Tiger Sky and Pale Sky, it dies simply and cruelly on the knife they used to cut each other out.

Pale might have wanted to mend it, she was the gentler one. But she dies in the First Battle along with her mother. Tiger Sky is too stubborn to accept any help, should Thunderstar offer it, and Thunderstar isn't in the business of begging for others to like him.

Naturally I'm lowkey obsessed with them lmao. I need to make a BB!DOTC overviewww

[jamethinks]

Shipping destroys media analysis in such a horrific way and there's nothing that irritates me

I saw this post I saw this post that was like " Fiona only loves twilight, not the actual Lloyd whereas Yor loves Lloyd and therefore her love for Lloyd is more genuine and real than fiona's and Fiona just loves a false version of him and dadadada" just teiyor fand being delulu as usual. But the part that runs me is how wrong it just is about everything

First of all, twilight and Yor are not in love. They do not love each other. They are affectionate towards each other and they enjoy one anothers company. They have trust in another, which is something that is new for them in their lives. But it is not love. It can become love, but it is not love. As yet, it's a slow burn. They don't love each other. Twilight has no commitment to Yor outside of the agreement. The keyword is agreement, but it can't very easily change when it becomes convenient to either of them, I don't know.

Second of all. Fiona's love for twilight is real, doesn't matter if she's seen one side of him, that is part that he has shown to her, that is the she sees and she loves that part of him, it doesn't really matter there's an other pattern that she hasn't seen because he chooses not to share that part of him with her. It's not a flaw on her if she just loves him. She loves him, and there's nothing wrong with that. She can't love him. It doesn't distract the story or anything like that. She loves him. It's not the wrong way that doesn't invalidate her feelings. That doesn't make it seem like she's not as serious because how can she love Loid when she doesn't know Lloyd. She only knows twilight.

And third of all, the person that Yor would fall in love with Lloyd. With a little bit of RETRACTED kind of stuffed, in there but it is still not the real person because it is no real person. Everything that he does for her is fake, it is done for the sake of maintaining the disguise of being a perfect family. Maybe sometimes it does something genuine here and there, but he is still putting on a show. He's still showing her a very fake version of himself and occasionally he opens up and tells her the truth, but it's still fake. But he's not being real. She's not seeing the real side of him. There is no real side to him.

My God, it's just that you get so kind of making up your own narrative to support your own ship that you overlook the actual cannon material. That is being presented to you and you'll forcibly create a villain in the story that you can just push all your hatred onto and all your little miserableness onto her when she has not absolutely nothing to deserve that kind of treatment. She loves someone and it's not her fault that he doesn't love her back. She's allowed to be upset that she loves she can't have him. That is her whole deal, and that doesn't make her a person or a homewrecker. She's not doing anything wrong by trying to be in a relationship with the person that she actually wants to be in a relationship in and it's not a fake love because you think it's fake like. None of this is like real analysis is you just being fucking delusional , oh my fuck

And I am a teiyor shipper. I want to see them grow into actual lovers. I'm invested in their development. But they are not dating. Yes, Loid can fall in love with Fiona tomorrow and leave Yor because they're not actually in love. The only reason Yor would care is because her disguise will be destroyed. And that's ok. That is why we read stories to see the relationships change and the stakes shift.

Like I'm sorry, I know you mislabeled far head cunts don't care because you're a delusional bitch faced loser but new flash, Fiona almost died defending Twilight.

Final note: Twilight and RETRACTED are the same persons. Fiona is adoring an actual part of Twilight, a part of himself that he is proud of. He is proud of the work that he has done as a spy and would be happy to be in a relationship with someone who can appreciate that. But Twilight won't date Fiona because a) he doesn't think he can have a relationship because of his job and b) he just doesn't see her that way, she's a friend a comrade a little sister, he cares about just not in the way she wants him to. Unrequited love is not a crime.

[hersheythecure]

.

.

Earlier when I was sitting drinking tea, someone came and showed me the times he would gaslight us about having DID. I say gaslight in hindsight because back then I thought he was trying to help me not latch onto a diagnosis because I wasn't a doctor. Well he believed me this whole time but must've just wanted to see me suffer on some sadistic timing. He wrote in my planner before my best friend picked up my stuff the day after he tried to hurt my minor little sister. He wrote in the back and I didn't even see it till two weeks or so later. He acknowledged my parts and apologized to the ones that showed themselves to him.

It is absolutely possible to not know which parts are in here and which present in the body beside those parts.

Like I would dissociate and it'd be blurry but I'd see myself crying and wailing and getting upset because something was happening and he was invalidating it. And I kept telling him don't do that because it's not working for my system. It's making us worse. And .maybe he'd forget or maybe not. But it pushed me to suicide a lot. I didn't understand why the man in the beginning turned into the man at those times. I couldn't name what he was doing to me so it made me dissociate even more. I felt so confused and just stupid or wrong. And I didn't have the words to say what I was trying to explain. To remember the details to tell my therapist was hard. Like I know I'm supposed to know this thing but it's nowhere in my mind.

Abusers count on your amnesia systems. They count on you being dissociated so what they do to you, you can't report them for. Your brain is trying to protect you always. And when someone who does research on everything learns that, they should not use it to take advantage of you, but tohelp you.

I showed my counselor his letters. She asked me if I wrote them in a dissociative episode and I told her no. The moment I discovered them I told his little sister who told me she told him not to do it. Not to write in any of my stuff. My counselor also noted that each letter was a different penmanship and it begs me to question if he's dissociative as well.

I found writing somewhere else that he wrote when he came to be with me in GA in 2020. He called himself an animal. He said he's going to become a new animal. Not a new man but an animal. Who says that about themselves?

He's always been hunting and preying. And I just fell into his trap. It only makes me think about all the vulnerable people falling into these predators traps. The ones that have no one like me. Just out in the world alone. I want to make the world a better place for me. For my kiddo. For them.

She cried and cried and I cressed my arms hugging myself comforting her and telling her I'm sorry he did that to you.

There's so much I feel guilt for about forcing my system to conform to a life with a good man. I couldn't see the other parts. I was too busy dealing with the psychosis and hallucinations from my flashbacks. I did the best I could with the information I had. And when I got new information I immediately conversed with my system to protect us and our kiddo. I did my best.

I don't want anyone to hurt me anymore. If UT wasn't for my son I would take my life. I would. That's how much I'm tired of being hurt.

[shakertwelve]

the obvious defense of this point would be that Victoria is simply supposed to be Wrong About It, which I would love, except that the narrative very carefully bends to make sure that Victoria is Always Right, and ESPECIALLY Always Right about Cape Science

[ context: the quote we're talking about: “I guess it doesn’t make sense as a thing powers would do.  Powers tend to steer clear of the suicidal, the helpless, the invalid, or people who are limited.” ]

my best guess as to what wildbow meant, if he put any thought into this at all? this is ward's version of the scene in worm that goes out of its way to make clear that labyrinth is not autistic and had a "normal" mind before her trigger (and the similar clarification about bitch). wildbow didn't want to write about developmental disabilities, probably because he thought he didn't know enough about the subject not to mess up and get in trouble for writing something offensive, so his solution was to just state that no one in parahumans is meant as "representation" of that demographic and avoid the issue altogether. this at least makes some kind of sense, if you are wildbow.

the obvious issue here is that this quote doesn't just single out developmental disabilities, but is phrased broadly enough to apply to almost any kind of illness or disorder. worm presents superpowers as explicitly tied to a traumatic event and as a metaphor for the effects of trauma, and experiencing other forms of illness and distress make someone much more likely to process an event as a trauma, so logically, mentally ill and disabled people should be overrepresented in the parahuman population (feeling "helpless" or distressed enough to be suicidal are common elements to many parahuman triggers), and the ways capes tend to act in the text of both books consistently reflect this. the only other explanation i can think of is that we're using an extremely restrictive definition of mental disorders (i.e. we're being the guy who thinks adhd isn't a real neurotype, so imp and kid win don't count, and low-empathy is just code for being a bad person, so cradle doesn't count, and so on...), and even that doesn't explain why we're claiming physically disabled people also can't get powers, when wildbow has written about it happening plenty of times (thank you @john-cherry-the-6th for bringing up this wog about triggers in suicidal people that includes the trigger event of a coma patient). also, we've seen that powers can cure illnesses as part of the trigger (see: vikare, famously the first hero ever, whose powers manifesting cured his cancer) if they really need to (they don't even do it all the time if the host isn't dying and can still fight with the power, like genesis), so why would they care if a prospective host is disabled? but whatever--let's disregard all evidence to the contrary and assume that all capes were 100% Mentally Normal (a very objective standard) before their triggers, so their erratic behavior after triggering must be purely the influence of their superpowers.

of course, now we have to go back to the first part of the quote. victoria claims that she doesn't think it's likely that finale's powers would affect her mental development after she manifested them, because powers want their hosts to be able and ready for action. so that can't be why capes like labyrinth and bitch exist, either; powers avoid choosing "limited" people as hosts and they also don't want to make their hosts limited, therefore all parahumans must be healthy because shards want healthy hosts. except there's absolutely no way any scientific study of parahumans in this world would come to this conclusion! scores of therapists run themselves ragged dealing with the various complexes of just the heroic capes, and capes on the "villainous" side are understood to be, on average, even more unstable! victoria has been working with jessica yamada, who definitely knows this, for ages! what the fuck is she talking about!

CONCLUSION: ??? wildbow got confused while writing about his own setting's alien brain parasites and started describing yeerks instead

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

I have been diagnosed with borderline (I'm female) but I think I may be autistic. I did the raads-r teat and got 165, so I went to my therapist and told her and she said that autism and borderline can share some symptoms and that I can't be autistic because I make eye contact and I make/understand jokes. the thing is it's hard for me to look people I don't know in the eye for a long time, it becomes painful, and when someone is talking and looking at me I'm so concentrated on making eye contact that I don't even listen to what they're saying, and I've told her that. I also don't always get jokes, especially if they're a type of joke I'm not familiar with. I know these two alone don't mean anything, there are more stuff but I just wanted to ask you, what do you think about her answer?

Hi there,

I found an article talking about the differences and similarities:

Individuals diagnosed with BPD based on the DSM-5 (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) must exhibit at least 5 of the following 9 traits:

Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment

Unstable and intense interpersonal relationships

Identity disturbance, unstable self- image or sense of self

Chronically feeling “empty”

Impulsive behaviour across two areas in life (e.g. sex and substance use)

Difficulty regulating emotions (often due to heightened reactivity in situations)

Intense anger that is disproportionate to the situation

Recurrent suicidal/self-harm behaviour

Often feeling paranoid and dissociating in times of stress

In addition to the diagnostic traits, here are some common features of BPD:

Described as “manipulative”—using charm to influence the situation

Able to read social cues

Aware of the opinion of others

Able to ‘snap out’ of an outburst

Angry if their needs are not being met

Need for others to support their self-esteem

Switch from idealizing someone to despising them instantly and without provocation

Association with a childhood history of exposure to abuse, neglect, criticism and emotional invalidation

In contrast, here are some common features seen in autism:

Lack of social understanding from an early age

Greater difficulty reading social cues

Needing time away from others; solitude is enjoyable

Sensory sensitivity

History of special interests

Difficulty coping with change and transitions

Self-harm and suicide attempts are less likely to be related to trying to influence others behaviours or bring the focus of attention onto themselves

Why are women more commonly misdiagnosed with BPD?

Autistic women have higher rates of misdiagnosis in part due to our nonstereotypical presentations compared to men. The way we present to the world is often a product of our higher levels of masking and camouflaging. Women also have more social norms to adhere to in the neurotypical world, creating more opportunities for our social “missteps” to be attributed to BPD.

Generally, among women, there is a higher expectation to maintain interpersonal relationships. For example, in neurotypical social groups, women tend to have large superficial social networks. In contrast, autistics usually prefer having fewer closer relationships. Additionally, when we want to build a relationship, we often single out the person we are attracted to, engage in deep conversations on specialized topics, and invite the other person to adopt our routines and interests. Since this is against neurotypical social norms, this is often viewed as an “unhealthy attachment”—a BPD trait. Thus, an undiagnosed autistic woman who struggles to fit in with her peers can easily be “flagged” as having BPD if a clinician doesn’t look at the underlying cause. In comparison, men don’t have as many social expectations, so an autistic man’s non-neurotypical social patterns do not get “flagged” as readily.

Another common cause of misdiagnosis in women is based on our often high motivations to fit in with these social norms. When we work hard to camouflage by practicing social scripts, but inevitably still struggle in relationships with neurotypicals, clinicians may view this as the BPD trait of intensely fearing abandonment. This “fear of abandonment” can also be mischaracterized in instances where we experience distress if a friend cancels last-minute plans. For most autistics, our distress isn’t driven by a fear of abandonment but rather an executive functioning difference. We don’t cope well with sudden changes to our plans, irrespective of who they are with.

Moreover, our higher levels of camouflage often cause us to struggle with our sense of self because we are forced to act in inauthentic ways. However, our lack of self-identity is rooted in this forced inauthenticity, not based on an unstable identity personality trait which is often seen in BPD.

One important consideration in this discussion is that to date, research has done a poor job regarding autism and gender identity. Due to the lack of data collection on this topic, we still don’t know how BPD misdiagnosis affects gender-diverse individuals. This is particularly frustrating since we know that a large proportion of the autistic community is gender-diverse.[28] Since the diagnostic criteria for autism are biased towards a stereotypical presentation of autism—mainly seen in (white) cis-gendered boys—and gender-diverse individuals also mask and camouflage a lot, my assumption is that the rate of BPD misdiagnosis is likely also high in gender-diverse autistic populations.

I will leave the article below so you can read more:

Please keep in mind that you could possibly have both. Autism has a long list of co-occurring disorders.

I hope this helps answer your question. Thank you for the inbox. I hope you have a wonderful day/night. ♥️

[lemonhemlock]

What do you think might have happened if Rhaenyra and her family had been in King's Landing when Viserys died?

What an interesting question, my goodness! Well, the story would have been completely different, for starters.

Rhaenyra moving to Dragonstone was a godsent for the greens and an incredibly dim-witted decision on her part, because it allowed her rivals complete control over the capital. Alicent and Otto had unencumbered access to Viserys' corpse, which allowed them to keep his death a secret, and to the symbols of state, which allowed them to control the narrative and crown Aegon, thus presenting Rhaenyra with a fait accompli.

So, what if Rhaenyra remained in the capital? Well, so many variables, honestly! Does she still marry Daemon? Can you imagine the level of tension between Daemyra and the Hightowers? It would be a living nightmare, especially post-Aemond-maiming. Like, imagine the tension between Jace/Luke vs Aemond and an Aegon who now takes Aemond's side, with Ser Criston tossed in the middle in the training yard. In the texts, it is said that Daemyra's wedding was a huge scandal and Viserys was so upset he refused to speak to them for quite some time. So, now that I think about it, I can't really imagine how they could have stayed in KL. It stands to reason that, if they can't co-habit, someone has to leave, and that someone cannot be the literal King's wife. That's a pretty good in-universe reason for Rhaenyra to move to Dragonstone, to parallel the real historical situation of Matilda not being in the country when her father died, allowing Stephen to more easily proclaim himself as King.

It was still an irresponsible thing to do, to give up the capital; Rhaenyra should never have "killed" Laenor and married Daemon in the first place. And she should have fought tooth and nail to stay next to her decaying father and absolutely NOT give up her place on the Small Council. In fact, she should have done her damnedest to place her own loyalists on the Small Council. But that would require Rhaenyra to be politically astute, which is already OOC territory.

Anyway, let's assume she doesn't run away like a craven and/or Viserys allows her to stay post-Daemon wedding. He should soon come to regret that decision. The level of in-fighting would be maniacal. If Rhaenyra/Daemon had any brains, they would be fighting over every inch and scrap of King's Landing. Daemon should be using his connections to the Gold Cloaks to the fullest. We know Otto names Gwayne second-in-command, so there should be in-fighting within the Gold Cloaks as well. They should be arguing over placements in the Small Council. I imagine Daemon would demand a seat/portfolio, but Otto is still Hand, so Viserys should be bogged down with constant complaints and requests. They should be fighting over policies favouring one lord or another in order to win over sympathizers.

Who controls the money purse should be a big issue. Before his death, Lord Beesbury is Master of Coin and, for some unexplainable reason, he is a Rhaenyra supporter, even though he's a Reach Lord. So Tyland Lannister should be coveting and plotting his way into the Treasury as much as possible. Some good old fashioned Lannister SABOTAGE!!!

The Hightowers can also collude with the High Septon, whose seat after the Conquest is in King's Landing, not in Oldtown. For that reason, Rhaenyra shouldn't have a standing with the Church, which should be a HUGE problem for her ffs. They should be trying to invalidate her Valyrian wedding and/or any hint of worshipping other gods as much as possible - this could get really ugly, like trying to have her excommunicated and officially disqualified as heir.

They should be fighting over the loyalties of the servants in the Red Keep. Spies everywhere. Larys is an Alicent simp, so perhaps the greens could edge out an advantage there. There is absolute no explanation as to why Alicent doesn't have a small army of Hightower soldiers sworn only to her and Otto following her around. Tyland should be writing letters home to big brother asking for his own personal guard. Daemyra should be hiring people as well.

In this situation, there really can be no flip-flopping. The greens should devise multiple contingency plans for when Viserys dies and be able to recite them in their sleep. Maybe in this context even Aegon realises that shit is really serious - not sure if he'd be afforded that much independence to roam about the city all the time if Daemyra is breathing down his neck.

This could very well turn into a pantomime, like with Alicent and Rhaenyra fighting over who gets to take care of Viserys (if Rhaenyra can stomach it, lol). It's very, very important to be the first to know when Viserys dies, so as to be able to act first (and for years he has looked like he's about to keel over any day now). Ngl, as distasteful as it is, if I were Alicent, I think I'd take to sleeping in the same bed with him, just so I'll know when he stops breathing. It's the one thing Rhaenyra can't demand, since she's the daughter, not the wife.

So, when he dies, it's a matter of racing down the finish line. Daemon and Rhaenyra have to be confined to their chambers / arrested somehow, as do their children - very tricky, depending on how the loyalties of servants, soldiers and Kingsguard are divided within the Red Keep. Alicent should be sleeping with Blackfyre and the Conqueror's Crown under her pillow. Aegon should be taken immediately to the High Septon to be annointed. If he keeps escaping to the brothels, then place him under house arrest. If the blacks manage to edge out the greens, have the High Septon refuse to anoint Rhaenyra. He should be in on the plans and know what to do. Historically-speaking, popes have caused a lot of problems for the kings they rejected. Is that fair? lol no, but it's the truth. If Daemyra murder him, that's a huge crime and the population of Westeros should be appalled.

Depending on how the balance of power within the Red Keep/King's Landing looks like when Viserys dies, this could end up looking like The Purge. Knives out!!!!!

[crystalelemental]

"karnilla74: If anything, the Clefable thing makes Lillie be the one who comes across a childish. Like, why was she against it evolving? It's not even hers."

So! I talked to my wife about this, and everything I'm about to say is from her. But I think that's really it. It's not entirely that Lusamine is a different character that's bothersome. It's how that impacts Lillie.

Anime Lillie is delightful and I love her. Her big hangup is she can't touch Pokemon, due to a trauma she can't remember. Faba opened an Ultra Wormhole to bring out a beast for Lusamine to see (without her orders), and the Nihilego that came through grabbed Lillie and tried to take her into the wormhole. Silvally saved her, but the entire experience got blocked out and she's left with a fear of contact from Pokemon. Good stuff! That's actually pretty interesting.

Her relationship with Lusamine, however, is obnoxious. Because it's exactly what it sounds like: it paints Lillie as actually being childish.

The Clefairy thing is up for interpretation. Lusamine says "I was the one raising it," but it's not entirely clear if it's hers or just the family Pokemon. Lillie has it in their old photo, so it might be like a pet dog and like...okay you can't evolve the family dog but like trading it for a different breed you liked better that the kids didn't. That kind of neglect. But the rest? Lusamine will excitedly proclaim how proud she is of her baby girl, and Lillie gets huffy because "Mom, you're embarrassing me, I'm not a child!" Lusamine gets pulled into business calls, and Lillie snaps that Lusamine must not care about her, which is understandable from the child's perspective but also the plot of like every family-focused movie from the 90s.

But the way the anime frames things does tend to point to Lillie being in the wrong, or at least being over-dramatic about it. It at least never invalidates her feelings on the matter, but it sure doesn't take them seriously. Like, the episode with the Ditto? Lillie's getting irritated with her mom for not spending time with them herself and being busy with work, as literally everyone around her is like "Wow Lillie, your mom is so cool," and ending on this kind of knowing look like "See? Isn't she being a good mom still? Aren't you being too harsh?" That is a huge 180 from the games' presentation of Lillie.

To make matters worse, the callouts that are referenced in that other post? Don't matter. I haven't reached the episode, but we know Lillie's going to have her callout toward Lusamine when they get back to Ultra Space. Guaranteed. And it won't have a fraction of the weight of the callout in the games, because Lillie has been doing this the entire time. As much as the anime keeps trying to tell Lillie it's her responsibility to talk to her mom about how she's feeling, going so far as to even have Burnet pass on that advice, she already does. Lillie has been telling her mother how she feels constantly. I don't like being treated like a kid, I don't like that you're spending all your time working. It's not point for point in those words, but Lillie is very clear even as she's snappy about it. Don't treat me like a kid and call me your baby in front of my friends. Don't bother calling me if you're going to work the whole time instead of talk. Lillie is very clear, but the anime wants to treat it like this is just missed communication because Lillie hasn't made herself known. And it's...jarring.

(my words now) Because it all comes back to making Lusamine more palatable. That's all this is about. A bunch of dudebros got really excited about her design being conventionally pretty, and when she was shown to just be intense and abuse with little redeeming about her, got mad she wasn't their waifu. So you get USUM turning down the evil and pivoting more directly into "grieving widower trying to protect her kids," and the anime going for quirky playful childish Lusamine whose flaws are so tame it's literally the plot of every show and movie for kids that tries to show a strained parent/child dynamic. It's the most flaccid, easily-digestible interpretation you can provide. It risks nothing, and as a result, says nothing. But also has the audacity to present this in a way where Lillie's...kinda just in the wrong. And literally everyone knows it. Because even children are aware that work is a priority, and that not having money means things get worse. Lillie's not unaware of this either. If pressed, she gives the usual "I know she's really busy and her work is important, I just wish" etc etc. She knows. And it's presented that way because anything more extreme makes Lusamine unlikable, or at least un-waifuable. And from the marketing perspective, that's just as bad.

I bitch about USUM every time it comes up, but I can't deny its success at roping that demographic in. People really do just want to be presented with a lady character that's, at worst, misdirected. Anything beyond that is bad writing and she's just horrible for its own sake, no need to delve into this any further no sir. It's just a shame that writers so rarely present us with well-written and dynamic female characters, but at least we have a few goods ones in these completely generic, likeable girls whose worst flaw is being slightly misguided or too immature (This is sarcasm, I hate fandom).

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

Hoodlum's flashback(s)

I'm supposed to be studying the economy so you know I stopped everything to buy Chapter 45 instead.

In Chapter 45, right as he learned that Doctor was responsible for Brawler's death (ouch, by the way), Hoodlum has a manga-exclusive flashback to a conversation he had with the guy he liked.

Sorry, I meant Brawler. Hoodlum asks him if he has a bucket list, being that they're wearing bomb collars and all.

(All the while Pupil is begging Junior not to kill himself, but that's not important.) Read more included because I feel compassionate towards the poor souls who didn't watch Akudama Drive.

Putting aside that Hoodlum said the exact same thing I did (!!!), Brawler apparently spoiled his last wish to Hoodlum ahead of time. Rude.

I'll be honest, this is a "meh" narrative choice to me. Of course, this is thankfully only shown as a late flashback, and doesn't take away from the reader's discovery of Brawler's arc, but as far as Hoodlum's feelings about Brawler, I think like this cheapens Episode 6 quite a lot.

Most important, it cheapens Hoodlum's famous gay realisation moment. What's there for his mind to go blank about if Brawler had already told him he felt this way? It's not that hot, he already enjoyed it the one time and had a cute, but not so strong reaction.

By all means, this above should have been in the flashback. If it took that long for Hoodlum to click what kind of person Brawler was when he actively told him some time before Episode 6, then my man is a bonafide idiot!!!!

In any case, I have to admit this is absolutely adorable. It's just... (Thinks about Shikoku Arc) (clenches fist) maybe writing isn't Rokurou Ogaki's strong suit... (my long nails dig a hole inside my palm)

Here goes my take that Hoodlum didn't quite understand what was happening, I guess. It seems it was actually the exact opposite, which is fair.

Regardless, as much as I think this flashback cheapens Hoodlum's reaction both to Brawler being really hot and to Brawler being really cold dead, this flashback is used very well within Chapter 45.

Although I believe that Hoodlum could (and did, as far as the anime went) come to this conclusion by himself, this memory of Brawler's last wish informs his decision to attack Doctor.

He actually has a second flashback right then. The guy has been through a lot!

I know someone whose fanfiction has gotten slightly invalidated by this admittedly late translation, but isn't the manga low-key Rokurou Ogaki's own fanfiction itself anyway?

It's fine, staff, she's just "gender unknown", so you can't justify taking this down.

Hoodlum recalls Doctor teaching him where the carotid artery is. This is actually a pretty interesting flashback - I can't say I would have guessed that's when she taught him that, but it makes sense coming from her. (That being said - what are they doing???? What's happening to you my man??? Are you into it? Why are you under the covers? Everyone knew your ass wasn't on top during that scene, but in any case, why is this happening to you? How did this come about? RUN!)

Loser has never "cut a carotid artery" before 🙄

For all his flaws, Rokurou Ogaki's flashbacks are worked very well into the narration. The two next panels are a perfect mirror of each other. (It's unclear whether the first panel takes place in the flashback or the present, but I don't think it should matter.)

As a hommage to what he and Brawler both did in the first flashback, Hoodlum flicks his thumb in a (bloody) thumbs up.

He then thinks to himself: "There's nothing better… than… fighting against… someone… stronger… than you…" (B-Bro…) He remembers his love intere- bro's smile one last time before dying.

A very sweet, interesting interpretation. This remains a little too on the nose to my taste - but it is interesting nonetheless. Hoodlum ended up learning the same bad lesson as Brawler. (Grandpa claims another soul.) This makes sense, since Brawler is someone he wanted influence from, contrary to Doctor, who forced herself upon him - using Brawler's memory to fight back against Doctor, especially since he's avenging him, ties the story together beautifully.

It's mostly the Brawler flashback I take issue with - I think it really serves the narration better if Hoodlum comes to this conclusion with less literal clues, in "Episode 6". As far as the narration of Chapter 45 of the manga goes, though, this is beautiful. Fuck you, Doctor. But I understand your tastes.

[reidslovely]

I have no idea if 'asks' have a character limit so if I get cut off there's potential for more...

I'd like to begin at the beginning because the mob!peter world has several stories and w/o knowing exactly when/how it all came to be or if they're related etc, here goes, starting with 'Flirting':

What are the particulars concerning this business gala at which Peter and Reader meet?

Peter seems to operate in a murky area of legitimate and quasi-legal operations, so in what capacity is he attending? Any rivals also present (guy hitting on Reader notwithstanding)

Why is Reader there?

What was Reader's drink that Peter so thoughtfully refilled? How long was he stalking her attentive he was to notice her glass was empty among other things...

What was Reader wearing and in what way did she and Peter 'match'? You're the writer, but I confess that mob!peter in a suit makes me think things that would make Ed Sheeran blush like a tomato.

What play did they see?

From your excellent series That's The Price & the other piece, Nothing Good Ever Happens:

Is the Peter in these works the same as the Peter above? (the hydrangeas were not a coincidence in other words)

If so, what is the timeline with respect to the business gala, the wedding and the engagement ring being stolen?

What did Reader and Peter talk about during their unchaperoned park 'date'?

What type of wedding band do they each wear?

What is the name of Gwen and Harry's newborn? I can't recall it being mentioned.

Is Felicia single? Do any of the other women run a business (arising from Peter's view on gender roles and curious as to whether that plays out across the other characters)

Questions regarding the honeymoon, etc (I know how the birds and bees work):

Any idea in mind where in Italy? Near the coast (surfing) I assume, perhaps Amalfi? Side note: Still giggling over "Italy makes you mean, dove."

What was her fruity drink?

Did Reader have a boy or a girl?

Am I correct in thinking that When My Time Comes and the loose followup are a different mob!peter verse so to speak? It's all good, I'm mostly making certain if they are distinct that I place the characters in the proper world. I love getting into the weeds with stories that writers create; thank you for indulging me!

Whew that was long! Have a Campari and orange on me!

AHHHH I LOVE THESE QUESTIONS!!!!!

Following your lead and starting with Flirting

In my idea it was that the business gala was being held by the Osborn's. Both families being invalid in the mafia use it as a chance to mingle, make business deals. However, being the dickhead Norman Osborn is he fronts it as a Osborn charity and just funnels the money into his and his business partners money...one of them being Peter Parker.

Peter has his hands in a lot of different businesses in his area. However, he like any good mafia man got his start drug trades specifically getting pharmaceuticals into the hands of dealers which low-key helps people who can't afford prescriptions. But as he grew and his money grew that just became one way profit came in. He's done arms dealings, which by that he found himself pretty interested in being a hitman. But now he just gets to play boss and that's the big reason he's there. Looking out at his competition, seeing who he need to befriend (or take out) and making his presence known...basically marking his territory in the most nonchalant way. And yes rivals are present which is why he has to let everyone know he's there.

Reader is a friend of the Osborns. She also comes from a family who's dealt in and with the mob. Her father ran circles with Osborn for years and it's just the culture she grew up in.

Peter noticed Reader from the moment she stepped in on Gwen's arm. He was lurking behind or at least near her half the night trying to figure out how to approach her. Then he noticed her glass had been empty for about 20 minutes, and he'd learned throughout the night she never changed her drink: which was a very simple Long Island iced tea made with a cherry coke.

So we know this iconic suit. Reader was wearing something similar to this in my mind but more to the purple tone of his coat and a nice slit in the leg.

They go and see the phantom of the opera. Peter came into tickets from a friend and he'd never seen it and reader loved every moment of it cause she'd never been to a play/musical before.

That's the Price and Nothing Good Ever Happens

The Peter from these piece could be the Peter from Flirting. But to me they are two different versions of Peter. Also hydrangeas are never coincidental- because they're my favorite flower thus they are readers also. But if you do read flirting as a part of the That's the Price/Nothing Good Ever Happens universe it would fit in right before Peter agrees to the marriage and the dates become chaperoned and reader finds her self upset at Peter for arranging a marriage and barely even knowing her.

I'm not sure how the timeline would work since in my head they aren't a big fic. I would guess it would be: the gala a couple weeks later Peter and Tony (readers father) agree to a marriage, Reader becomes upset with Peter but moves into the house, married they do trade bands but send it out to get engraved cause that's a Parker tradition. The engagement ring gets stolen two weeks post honeymoon.

Now this is having Flirting not at all apart of this canon. At first they talk about their future together. What they'll do, how much of the business Reader will participate in because what is Peter's is hers and vice versa. But it goes into the more dreamy things. Asking Peter what he'd do if he got to have a normal life (he says he'd be a scientist or a science teacher and reader says she'd be hair stylist or a painter) What they'll name their kids, and what they're dream house looks like.

Peter splurged on the engagement ring and its matching band. green diamond with a solid gold band to match. Reader struggled to pick out Peter's because why are mens wedding bands so boring? So she got one she thought matched hers.

Gwen and Harry have a little girl named Daphne

Yes Felicia is very single and she plans on staying that way. Felicia basically is Peter's business partner no matter what Harry says and he basically runs everything through her as well. Peter will work with Silver Sable on occasion who is obvious a trained mercenary but also a great arms dealer.

Honeymoon Edition

I pictured Capo Mannu which I believe is in Sardinia. It's very pretty and apparently great for surfing from what I read. (Italy makes you mean, dove - the best line I've ever written.)

Reader's favorite fruity drink is a daiquiri. I myself am a strawberry daiquiri girl if I want a fruity drink but I see her as being a pineapple or peach girl.

OHHHHH I love this. So they have twins! A boy named Benjamin that they nick name Benji and then they have a girl name Estella or Stella for short.

When My Time Comes is basically my mob!Peter rebirth. So most, if said otherwise, my mob!Peter stuff will follow that continuity now. So married straight out of high school both still young in their late twenties. Peter in this timeline wasn't born into the mob he was kind thrown into it when he realized Spider-Man wasn't going to solve the problem from the outside and then he got in and realized that not only could he support himself doing this he could get to the bad guys easier.

See you asked another set of question. I'm gonna eat my parmesan crusted chicken and then get to those because this is literally my favorite thing. I love talking about this stuff.

[nian-7]

hello there person who writes for proseka

i would like to request an shiraishi full fluff alphabet thanks :))))

An Shiraishi x gn!reader

✧fluff alphabet

Affection

An enjoys affection as long as you do. She wouldn't want to force it upon you if that's not something you enjoy and so she'll enjoy giving or receiving it!

Beauty

She loves your smile no doubt about it. Whenever you smile or laugh she just finds herself getting happy as well. She can't help it! Your smile is contagious to her.

Crush

Tends to be more outgoing and forward around you when she has a crush. She gets excited when you're around and super happy whenever she sees you (much to Akitos annoyance when he has to listen to her ramble about you).

Dates

Wherever you want to go for a date is fine with her! As long as you both get to hang out, she'll enjoy it. She just loves to spend time with you no matter what you're doing.

Emotions

Pretty open with her emotions to you. Why would she have to hide anything when she feels she can trust you with her whole heart?

Fight

She tries to help make it right whenever you both get into a fight. She doesn't like to fight and even if it's not her fault, she'll still try to make it right!

Gentle

Of course, she wouldn't want to hurt you but isn't afraid to do some play fighting with you or be a little rougher around the edges with you as long as you understand she's just being playful.

Hugs

She loves hugs! They're just a quick way to greet you when she sees you and it's gotta be one of her favorite things.

Impression

An just wanted to be your friend at first. She saw you as someone cool that she could totally see herself getting to know better and become good friends with!

Jealousy

She doesn't really get jealous honestly. You're allowed to have friends and hang out with them as much as you'd like! She has her own friends too but as long as you both are able to have time for each other she's alright.

Kisses

Love Language

Mornings

You always get a good morning text from her no matter what. Even if she wakes up after you, you'll get a very enthusiastic good morning.

Nicknames

She'll call you whatever you want. If you're not too keen on nicknames, that's fine! If you want to call her a nickname then that's fine too. She just wants you to feel comfortable with whatever she refers to you with!

Open

Pretty open but she of course has things she'd rather not share until she's ready to. She won't press on matters you don't want to share with her yet either.

Patience

Pretty patient but she can get excited and get a little impatient. Anger wise though, she'll be patient with you when you're in a bad mood.

Quality Time

She enjoys it a lot, as long as she can spend time with you, she's happy! It means a lot to her to be able to spend time with you, her lover.

Romance

She tries that's for sure. It might not be perfect or great but she still thinks it's fun to try and something the two of you could get a laugh out of when it doesn't go as planned.

Security

An is a normal amount of protective over you. You are her partner after all so she's going to be at least a little protective over you!

Try

You are likely her first serious relationship and so she's of course going to try if she loves you (which she does!). It's a no brainer to her that she needs to put in effort for the relationship to work.

Understanding

She tries her best to understand your situation or where you're coming from. Last thing she wants to do is invalidate you in some way.

Vanity

A decent amount. She's not unconcerned and yet she's not overly concerned about her looks. Just enough to the point where she looks presentable.

Whole

100% feels more complete with you around! After you both got together, she just always seemed to be in such a good mood whenever someone mentioned you or she was around you.

Zzz

She's a pretty good sleeper, doesn't wake up easily unless you shake her a bit. She tosses and turns a bit and has some major bed head when she wakes up.

please do not repost any of my work without my permission, thank you for reading.