#I think the reason I like his stuff so much is the same reason I used to read cursed but well written sonic the hedgehog AU crack

[butchvamp]

i finished Harding's quest... whew... i don't like Harding. or i should say i don't like how nice the game treats her. she gets all of the emotional beats around the lore revelations while the elves are left to go kick rocks.

i pointed this out previously in another post, but the dwarves (and Harding specifically, and thus by extension Andrastians, too) get so much more sympathy from the game than any of the elves. you can clearly see it just in these two screenshots-- compare dialogue choices when comforting Harding after the reveal about the Golden City (and also important to note that the game assumes my elf is Dalish multiple times before this choice, but for some reason i can suddenly make her Andrastian):

versus the first real discussion you get to have with Bellara about the truth of the elven gods:

Bellara implies that everyone is right not to trust the elves, actually, because the elven gods (the same ones that enslaved her people btw) are bad and we should all feel bad about it.

and Davrin is unfortunately distanced from the Dalish, remarking that they're too traditional and stuck in the past (a racist trope that Dragon Age really loves for the elves), and only seems to care about how the elven gods make elves "look bad." we do get to see Davrin reconnect with one of the members of his clan later, which is a sweet moment that shows us a new side of him, but it exists more so to push along the griffon storyline than anything to do with Davrin (a problem i find quite annoying when it comes to Davrin's writing... they care more about Assan and "turlum" than him or his feelings. but that's a different post)

when we finally get to Heart of Stone, Harding has her big, emotional confrontation with a titan, and gets granted the memory of the titan's loss and all of their pain. she says some Choice lines, here.

who is thriving? the elves that were enslaved en masse by the Evanuris? the elves that are still enslaved and live in alienages? that are wholly, systemically oppressed throughout Thedas? then to follow it up with both of these lines, spoken to an elven Rook:

and i understand that this is the titan speaking through Harding, and we can be generous and say that they are addressing the Evanuris, and not elf Rook personally. but. uh. why doesn't my elf get to Say Anything. it's repeatedly insinuated that everything is the elves' fault, that the elves should feel guilty and that they should be held responsible for what happened to the dwarves (and by extension, the blight and everything bad that's ever happened including what's happening right now), and that they deserve to suffer because of what "they" did to the titans.... and there's no option to challenge this line of thinking at all.

and it's really frustrating that none of the elven companions are allowed this kind of emotional catharsis with the Evanuris. up until that one (bad) dialogue with Bellara, all of Bellara's comments/her reactions to the gods are treated as comic relief. none of them get to grieve their gods like Harding is allowed to grieve the titans-- they're not even allowed to be as angry with Solas as Harding is in some scenes. even Andrastians, in that one single dialogue choice, were afforded more sympathy and grief than the elves in this game.

it's a baffling choice, considering the plot, that elves are given so little grace or consideration. and i do think part of it has to do with the way this game has tried to distance itself from previously established lore as well as scrub itself clean of anything morally dubious-- it's all black and white and the game needs someone to blame, so the elves are bad because the Evanuris are bad, nevermind all that other stuff, because see, the elves actually deserved it all along! i don’t even think it’s unreasonable that Harding may have these feelings (even if they’re racist lol) but the fact you just have to accept Blame and the narrative never challenges her or Bellara’s guilt or Davrin’s apathy and instead just agrees with all of them and forces Rook to agree as well is shitty and takes it from “this character feels this way” to “the game is implying that everyone feels this way, and also that they’re right.”

it's really unfortunate because i do think this reveal about the titans and why the dwarves can't dream or use magic is exciting, it could cause some compelling conflict between the companions (but that's not allowed in this game at all unfortunately and you especially Cannot be even slightly rude to Harding, ever). and i do like the idea of her quest and what they're trying to convey here-- confronting this old, repressed trauma, and finding a way to reconcile with it and move forward.... but not at the expense of the elves, who also suffered massively at the hands of the Evanuris (and continue to suffer. right now)

bioware has been criticized repeatedly about their depiction of the Dalish and even the mages, too, and i really do not understand what they were thinking with this, because it's just racist (and exactly what people have repeatedly criticized them for). this is why a lot of "fantasy racism" fails. you can't write a marginalized group as being responsible and deserving of their own oppression, that's not how it works!

[kukuandkookie]

Bing-mei you little cutie pie. 🥺🫶

I would personally love to just reblog this as is because this is all true, but I do have a couple thoughts so I figured I’d just type them out here rather than try to fit them all in the tags:

Basically, this entire aspect of Luo Binghe’s character is central to the text.

As in, it’s what Shen Qingqiu (Shen Yuan) has to learn about his disciple to also learn that he is different from Bing-ge, the original version of Luo Binghe. I’ve written so much about how I’ve perceived the growth that separates Bing-mei from Bing-ge, as seen here and here, where Bing-mei can still be gentle and vulnerable and soft because he has reason to believe there is still love in this world. And that reason is Shen Qingqiu.

And because of this, Bing-mei will be kind and considerate and, as shown in this post, care about consent. What he values most is his shizun’s love!!

That’s why, even though I totally get why the fandom loves making him more of a yandere, that’s more of Bing-ge’s territory (and Bing-mei while he was suffering under Xin Mo’s influence, yes, but that’s not Bing-mei’s entire life). Like, I fully believe Bing-mei as Bunhe (baby Luo Binghe) had a fairly pure love for his shizun—he wouldn’t have minded just maintaining their relationship as it was, as long as his shizun favoured him and still showered him with affection, because before being pushed into the Endless Abyss, he was sure of Shen Qingqiu’s favouritism for him.

And even if he did grow up without the Endless Abyss and ended up wanting to change his relationship with Shen Qingqiu into an actually romantic one, without Xin Mo and all that misery of thinking his shizun abandoned him and lied to him about seeing demons and humans being the same due to his demonic heritage, Luo Binghe (Bing-mei version) still wouldn’t go full yandere.

As all this shows, he is gentle, and he values true love!!

And this is also why some of the discussions around what the general fandom views as “problematic” about SVSSS can get me to sigh in exasperation. It was because of all this confusion and exaggeration that I initially avoided SVSSS myself, under the impression it was “too weird” in certain aspects.

Actually, if you want some of these darker themes that people assume SVSSS contains, you can go to Erha instead… But even then, I’m exaggerating slightly haha.

Mentioning Erha, a different novel, does lead me to my other thought though, which is another reason why I’m not saying all this in the tags:

And that thought is that while it’s frustrating SVSSS gets mislabelled with dark stuff that didn’t even happen in it, media with fucked up things in them are also still allowed to exist. It doesn’t always automatically mean that the author condones such darkness in reality.

Typing that out, I feel like it sounds obvious, but I add this mostly because we see a lot of moral panic over fiction lately, especially on Twitter, but also because since I’ve gotten into the 188男团 by Shui Qian Cheng, you can see 1) what romantic interests that don’t value consent (at first) actually look like, but also 2) how—like with Bing-ge—even that “problematic” stuff can be valuable thematically.

It’s interesting, it’s another form of conflict, it’s all fiction, but most of all, it too can provide us with deeper meaning, whether it’s in regards to character development or actual theming (such as how Sissy explores power imbalances in class differences and how Shabi explores the complexity of morality when applied to reality).

That kind of complexity and nuance is what leads to multi-faceted conversations like this one about Luo Binghe’s character! 🥰

People who haven't read SVSSS: it has necrophilia and pedophilia!

The fans: *tired* no. That is not correct. I see why you would get that impression but you are wrong. That didn't happen

People on the SVSSS canon who don't know LBH or SQQ well: Luo Binghe disgraced his master's corpse and his master preyed on his student!

Shang Qinghua: *tired* no. That is not correct. I see why you would get that impression but you are wrong. That didn't happen.

[gaywineauntsstuff]

See one of my favorite things about fanon is that Dick is like a normal dude outside of nightwing like genuinely he’s normal person who isn’t that extreme canonically. He loves his family but he needs space with them and doesn’t want to be a carbon copy of his father.

He follows Bruce is moral compass while also being more lenient on some crimes. He canonically values life and protecting the sanctity over it than actually stopping crime and has a very strong moral compass that exceeds “well it’s the law”. Dick canonically thinks that Corrupt police officials are worse than criminals and became a cop to weed them out the same way he did the mob. And has bad blood with the BPD despite working for them.

He has genuine reservations about trusting Jason for obvious reasons even if you don’t like Dicks run as Batman where Jason was flat out the worst or like stealing the Nightwing suit in New York in brothers and blood. While still being able to work with and like him.

He is supportive of Tim while still being frustrated at taking on more work bc he knows Tim does too much and will need help.

He loves Damian but steps away from that relationship because unlike Bruce at his age he’s emotionally mature enough to realize he cannot be a parent for the kid. A role model sure! A big sibling, yeah. But not a parent.

He didn’t want Steph as spoiler, Robin or batgirl bc she wasn’t well trained but neither did literally anyone else. Once she and him started working together they had a decent relationship.

Dick and Cass have a strong relationship and he helped Babs with her when Bruce was being an asshole while still not stepping into a parent role bc he’s in his mid 20s and not going to do that actually.

And Dick believes Duke is going to become a big leader in the hero world and sees his potential despite not agreeing with the we are Robin thing.

And the fanon goes 1 of 3 ways

he’s fully uninvolved, doesn’t like the bats, has cut them off after trying to send Tim to Arkham, and abusing/ mistreating or co-signing the mistreatment of Jason. All his relationships with everyone except Damian have been erased. He ruined Tim’s trust, hated young!jason, has never spoken to Steph or duke and Cass doesn’t like him because she’s on babs side or in Hong Kong.

Or

Literally Bruce Wayne’s lapdog, says yes to everything with the worst case of battered women’s syndrome you’ve ever seen. Jason must stand up for him and protect him from the big bad bat/ the bats cut him off aswell after abandoning the bat movement (more rare but I’ve seen it). He doesn’t have critical thinking and his morals are identical to Batman’s and he refuses to question them. Will call the police on a homeless man stealing food bc it’s illegal. And has never tried to rehabilitate anyone including his friends, abandoned Roy and Kory bc of moral differences. He’s still a cop and doesn’t understand the nuance that Jason, Tim, Steph and Duke do.

Or

Dumb himbo, doesn’t know nothing except smile and nod. Pretty face, no brain. Has had one thought and it’s the fact he misses his siblings and needs his cereal oh wait was that two thoughts? He forgot how to count lmao. Babs or Tim will roll their eyes and do stuff for him bc he’s so dumb and sweet like a puppy who has had a lobotomy. :( doesn’t even have a college degree dumb silly teehee. Worst liar you’ve ever met everyone can see right through him hehe. He’s loves Bruce and calls him Dad 24/7 and uses nicknames for everyone.

And like it’s total flanderization

He has some of these traits sure, (more rigid moral compass, more willing to work with other heroes and delegate though this one literally only became a thing during Tom kings run and maybe a little bit after Donna died, in the current canon he went to Uni for business and dropped out, he’s not as good on the tech side as oracle)

But they’re just so exaggerated and I firmly believe it’s bc the rest of the bats are so extra. Like Tim trying to clone his dead bestie 99 times.

Jason goodness gracious I’ve been bamboozled let me try and kill the penguin on live tv

Damian my mother literally tore my spine out

. Duke let’s start a cult that’s something that isn’t dumb and won’t get us murdered.

And Dick is just there like… yeah fuck okay.

Like he’s still unhinged even for a superhero but he’s just objectively more hinged than all of his siblings like you’re telling me if TIM got the talon ancestry storyline shit wouldn’t have hit the fan??? The mother fucker who at age like 13 broke in Nightwing and starfire’s house, memorized all their schedules bc he’s the most insane stalker you’ve ever met. You’re lying and we both know it.

And everyone thinks their fave is the sane won and you are all just wrong I fear. I have already slandered Tim so I’ll do the rest for funsies

“Oh babs is the only sane one”

Bby Barbara is such a stalker with a need for control someone stole her tech and turned Gotham into a police state. If she decided that she wanted to go dictator she has a WHOLE setup for it. She’s also unhinged

“Jason just needs to get away from the bats then he’s the only sane one who the others go to for protection”

Yall Jason’s 2 biggest teams were

An Amazon, and a kryptonian

An arrow and an alien (also some times an Amazon)

So the league big three knock off and a titans knock off

He has also slept with his dad’s ex and 2 of his brother’s exes. Let’s not pretend that he’s being dragged back into the bat family, bro never left.

He wears a bat on his chest

He has a helmet with explosives in it… when he died in an explosion and fought with a crowbar when it was one of the major reasons he died. Let’s not talk about his whole thing with scarlet but the Morrison run had some weird characterization.

“Damian-“ no actually you can’t even start with Mr let’s go to Lazarus island. Let me adopt a giant bat monster bc my abusive childhood means I slaughtered his entire race. No actually I will not allow it. The fucker is unhinged and I love him.

“Steph” - you know what she is also my fave so everything she has ever done is justified and she has the best batgirl run and also her and Damian are hilarious. (She’s also the best female bat hands down I prefer her to both Cass and Babs for so many reasons I will not get into)

In summary this isn’t actually a criticism I find it hilarious plz keep going my darling fanon fanfic writers

[markrosewater]

Hi Maro! As a Vorthos who loved Arabian Nights when I started in ‘95 but loathes planeswalkers-in-hats with Ghostbuster equipment, I’m trying to parse my own differing emotional response, and I think it comes down to AN being inspired by real world *mythology* while now we just get what feels like 80%+ on-the-nose pop culture tropes from the past century? Like, AN doesn’t have a “foul-talking parrot” nor a “mischievous monkey helper” nor other 1980s surface-level references; yes, it has Aladdin and Sindbad, but these are 800-year-old mythological characters (and I would argue those 5 or so literal names in the set are exceptions compared to most of AN’s evocative “worldbuilding”). I think most people loved Theros for the same reason, as it is inspired by myth and not just modern-day tropes and internet memes in a Mtg frame (well - plus ‘kraken’) so we are able to *escape* modernity rather than get suffocated by more of it. Arabian Nights would feel far worse if Will Smith’s mug was plastered on the face of Juzam Djinn. And e.g. I adore Goldbloom when I see him pop up on Portlandia or whatever, but seeing real world actors and modern tech in a “fantasy” game (big emphasis on “fantasy”) is just so completely immersion breaking. I’m curious if you have any thoughts on that “vibe divide” as someone who thinks about this stuff for a living?

I'm a big believer in resonance, and I personally don't feel the references have to have a certain date stamp on them to be okay to use.

Also, many modern references are actually tropes much older than that, but people assumes it comes from the source they know it from. For example, the Hulk is actually a tweak of the same trope used in Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.

[halfwayhearted]

Heyyy, I love your work so much. Please could you do a Hector Fort x reader, where she meets his friends for the first time and she’s super nervous because she knows how close they are and stuff. Thank you xx

Es Por Ti — Héctor Fort.

Pairing: Héctor Fort x Fem!Reader

Summary: Meeting his friends was a reminder you knew you’d have to face soon. Maybe it wouldn’t end up being so bad.

Word Count: 605+

Disclaimer/s — Nothing! I don’t think!

A/N: I didn’t know who to choose for his friends so… hi… haha. Also, can we get a ‘nervous’ word count because girl fuck 🤦‍♀️

“Héctor—what if I said I don’t think I can do this?”

The boy whips around to look at you, his gaze on you softening when he takes in your demeanor. Your hands are fiddling with each other and your bottom lip is in between your teeth as you stare up at him. Your nervousness is quite palpable!

He gently takes your hands in his. “Hey, I wouldn’t be upset or anything. You don’t even have to meet them now. We can always reschedule. Just say the word and I’ll text them, I promise. But just know I’ll be right beside you the entire time.”

That was enough for you to relax. It was true. He wouldn’t leave your side, why would he? Why would you even think for a second he’d leave you?

“I can do it,” you replied, unsure if it was clear you were trying to convince him more than yourself.

Héctor nods, his lips spreading into a loving smile until his eyes flicker behind you. “Good, that’s good. Because they’re actually walking up to us.”

Your eyes widen and you’re suddenly taking subtle steps behind your boyfriend, whose stupid smile has turned into a full-blown smirk. “What! I couldn’t even—I didn’t—oh, my God. You’re sick.”

“Who’s sick?” A boy questions, making you stiffen and meet his—or rather, their—gaze. You had made Héctor show you their faces and tell you their names so you wouldn’t have to deal with the awkward introductions. Yet, you knew it would be inevitable. “One of you guys aren’t feeling well?”

This one just so happened to be the Pau Cubarsí, along with Lamine Yamal, Pablo Gavi, and Alejandro Balde. His smile widened when you looked at him. “No, we’re fine. It—” you clamped your mouth shut and instead introduced yourself, saying your name. They gratefully did the same.

“It’s nice to meet you. He talks about you a lot.”

That catches your attention and you’re instantly tilting your head. “Yeah? All good things, I hope?”

Pau nods, confirming your inquiry. “Very good things. He can’t shut up about you. Every second, something happens that has anything to do with you or the things you do, and he goes into a rant.”

Now it’s as if a switch has been flipped inside you.

You weren’t even nervous anymore. It was like the emotions you were feeling before had transferred to Héctor, with the way his face reddened and jaw clenched. “Oh! Well, would you want to sit? You guys can tell me all about it. And I mean all of it.”

Balde laughs, clasping a hand on the Fort boy’s shoulder and resting his forehead against it for a split moment. “What did we say? Warned you.”

“Shut up,” he grumbled, following you as you guided them to an empty booth and sat down.

How could you have been nervous not even five minutes ago and now be all smiles? All because he talked about you… all the time. So what if he talked about you? You were worth talking about.

“You coming?” Lamine calls out, his gaze trained on Héctor who purses his lips. “We’re about to tell her what happened during warm-ups last week.”

Oh, boy. Holding in a sigh, he took a seat beside you, resting an arm over your chair while they went on and on about embarrassing moments of the boy. All you did was sneak glances at him and smile when you saw how unamused he looked.

The reasons as to why you were nervous in the first place didn’t really seem like reasons now.

Likes, reblogs, and comments are always appreciated ^_^.

DT(s) — @planetpedri + @spidybaby + @sakashq ! ౨ৎ (THANK YOU! thank you for requesting!)

[feministbirdcreature]

you are right. Men are strangely united. When we look at other species a lot of the males can’t even be AROUND each other lol. I remember when I was a kid my parents had a big fish tank and they always used to explain to me that we couldn’t have 2 male Bettas in the same tank as they’d just fight each other.

I think I’ve just come up with a theory on why men hate us so much, and it’s nothing to do with womb envy like some radfems theorise. I think it’s a lot simpler than that. I think they started to resent us because they have wayyyy higher sex drives than we do, to the point where many men’s lives purely revolve around sex, to the point where they are utterly obsessed with women, and it pissed them off that we’re not as horny as they are because that gives us more freedom and independence. We’re not controlled by our urges to the same extent as they are. I think they know their horniness clouds their judgement and makes them more irrational. You can even see this be demonstrated in modern times when they tweet stuff like “If women didn’t have vaginas we’d be hunting them for sport”. this is of course disgustingly offensive and misogynistic, but I find it slightly hilarious in a way that he basically just admitted he hates women but he’s so controlled by his urges like a lower life form that he’s still drawn to us

I’m assuming at some point in human history men started to collectively realise they were all united by their resentment towards women and started to slowly impose more and more control over women while teaching their sons to do the same. and eventually religion became a thing, allowing patriarchy to spread easily around the world (which is, I think, one of the reasons why religion was developed in the first place). Once Holy Texts like the Bible came into existence, I think that is truly when misogyny became entrenched forever because now entire populations can be more easily brainwashed into hating women, even women themselves! Just teach them from the moment they were born that they were created from Adam’s rib.

I feel like this would explain so many of the insults they hurl at women because it’s so obvious that they’re projecting.

“Women only exist for sex” says the guy whose thoughts revolve only around how he will get his next opportunity to have sex, the same guy who changes his entire personality to suit the new woman he just met because he’s empty inside and his only purpose in life is to get laid so he’s more than happy not to be true to himself for it

“Women are so emotional” says the incel who’s planning a school shooting spree in his head because a girl rejected him

“Women are sluts and whores” say members of the gender who admit they’d sleep with any woman who approached them

“Women are nothing without men - they cry every day about the thought of not getting married one day” lol I thought there was a male loneliness epidemic? There’s literally incels threatening to kill themselves if women don’t have sex with them?

So yeah, I think maybe they’ve developed psychological issues from constantly having to address the fact that they’re more obsessed with us than we are with them and they don’t have the emotional intelligence and empathy required (whether from nature or nurture I do not know) to deal with it in a rational way. And now that religion is a thing patriarchy is truly a deep-rooted disease.

Human beings are so susceptible to propaganda and now we just have state-sponsored religious propaganda out there preaching the inferiority of women. So I feel like even a guy who is somehow sexually satisfied (I feel like this is rare because they always want more than they have, but let’s just pretend for a second) could still be a misogynist because he’s been raised hearing these misogynist religious principles.

I learned of a Tiktok 'trend' recently of men taking their female family members, friends, partners etc out on a lovely nature walk, then starting to record and saying "I bet nobody would be able to hear you scream here."

There is not ONE video that the woman laughs in, even when they explain the prank. Not one. For a sex who have been socialised to nervously laugh when uncomfortable, not one of them found it funny. It was mothers who stopped dead in their tracks, their eyes filled with fear. It was girlfriends who started running away in fear, to the laughing taunts of "it was just a joke come back!!!!!". It was sisters who stared these men down, unable to process what this male had said to them.

First of all, the timing is sociopathic. It's not an accident. With Nick "we control your bodies b*tch" Fuentes doing a monologue that undeniably sunk into the psyches of most men, AND the general political landscape for women atm, they feel joy and pleasure at unabashedly making their female friends and family suffer. They giggle at the prospect of making them fear for their life, and they film it for other men to get off on.

Moids continually stun me. After hundreds of thousands of years of oppression you'd think I would understand and expect it, but they reach new heights every time I blink. Deep down, I'm just a hopeful girl who sees men as humans. I try not to assume they're beyond saving, but they're making it harder to believe. They just seem wired for pain and suffering and destruction.

My heart bleeds for the women and girls in places where they have full reign. These demons won't stop until they have raped and destroyed the planet in pursuit of more intense porn to feel a sliver of the emotion women possess.

[itsa-me-lily]

Soooooo....This was not how I originally planned on how y'all shared a bed for the first time...buuuuuuuuuuuuuut this is what you got. I tried some stuff, I think they worked but not 100% sure. Honestly I could way to post this in the morning and give it another look over, but I really don't want to wait that long, and I'm worried I'll over think it.

As always here's the list for the rest of Military Program Spouse

Content warning; Death, violence, nightmare, kind of very vague description of panicking? Let me know if I miss anything

The first time the two of you actually share a bed, only one of you is sleeping. It's been nearly six months since you both signed your marriage license. And even though the time spent together under the same roof can probably only add up to a couple months, it hasn't been terrible.

Sure there's the period of growing pains, learning to co-exist with another human being when you're so used to being alone. Petty arguments and even pettier revenges. Hell you even had to go and explain your sex life, or lack there of, to the entirety of Simon's team. But even with the ups and downs, it hasn't not been worth it.

The night you share a bed, Simon has been back from a mission for a week now. It wasn't good. Really none of them are actually good, just varying degrees of what can be shoved down and ignored. Hostages were involved, a fire fight broke out. Their rescue mission became a recovery one.

Death wasn't something new to any of them. It clung to their skin. Ghost practically exuded it. He was the omen of the end to everyone who stood against him. At times he was judge, jury, and especially executioner. Ghost was a walking death. But there was something that knocked him off kilter, once the shooting had stopped and the team started the futile task of checking for survivors.

The woman looked nothing like you, really there wasn't anything similar and yet it was her eyes. Once Ghost caught sight of her eyes Simon felt something rattle in his chest. For some reason her eyes reminded Simon of yours. Only hers were dull now, lacking any spark that showed a hint of life. Simon stared for a second too long before crouching down to gently close her eyes. Ghost stood back up to continue checking. He didn't look at any other eyes.

When he came back, Simon wouldn't really look at you. His eyes would flicker to your face for a millisecond at a time, to show he was listening as much as he could, but for the most part it felt like he was trying to burn a hole into your left ear.

You just figure that he's being...well, Simon. Sometimes he went from not making a lot of eye contact to staring into the depth of your soul to make you confess every sin you even thought of committing. Just something that made him...him.

He was grateful you didn't push. He couldn't explain why he dreaded the idea of looking into your eyes. Well he could guess a theory or two, but that would mean admitting that maybe, maybe you meant a sliver of something. It all came to a head though with the nightmare.

Ghost was back in the firefight, ears ringing from the number of shots being fired and screaming being torn from people's throat. It felt like it would be unending, a vortex of sound and violence that would swallow him whole. Until it didn't. Until it suddenly became so quiet he could hear his heart and breathing.

Only...it wasn't his breathing.

His breaths weren't uneven struggles that had that wet struggling sound.

Ghost wasn't in control of his feet as he started moving forward, or when he stopped.

Ghost wasn't in control of his neck as he started to look down at what was making that struggling wet sound.

Ghost couldn't make himself stop from looking at you laying on the ground, chest making sad futile efforts to keep pulling in breath to keep you alive. Until it didn't

Ghost couldn't avert his eyes when they met yours; cold, empty, and dead.

Simon woke up choking on a gasp, fingers clutching the handmade blankets as if each stitch could shield him from the horrors his mind made him live through. He couldn't see the ceiling for minutes at least, unable to get his bearing as to where he was.

Slowly he could though. He came back to himself and to the four walls around him. To the dresser that housed your clothes and the weird little knick knacks you insisted on collecting. He felt the weight of the blankets on top of him and how they pushed him into the bed.

He came back to himself, in his bedroom, alone.

He had to remind himself that you were real, that he had just been talked at by you this afternoon. You were just in the living room. Too far away.

He probably shouldn't have done it, should have just flicked a light on, or tried to go back to sleep, but Simon had the clawing need to see you. So he got up quietly, used his stealth to make it the living room where the weak barely there rays of early morning were starting to lighten the room.

His mind couldn't hold onto any thought besides just looking at you. Sprawled out on the right side of the pull out, face half buried as you laid on your front, leg hiked up as if you were attempting a very poor man's army crawl. There was just enough space for him to sit along the head of the bed with you, and the fact he did so without waking you up was impressive. Or you were just that deep of a sleeper.

You didn't even seem to notice how intensely Simon stared at you. It was as if he was trying to commit to memory the way your eye lashes rested against your cheek, or how the way you were resting your head caused your lips to just barely pout. It should have been obvious that seeing you drool in your sleep would force him to cheer up, just a little bit. He counted the number of times your back moved with your breathing, until the number was high enough that it started to push away the idea that it would stop.

Simon spent hours just watching you. Letting the sounds of your gentle snoring and mumblings wash over him. For a second he debated seeing if he could get you to argue with him in your sleep...though...maybe he'd try that a different night.

And when the actual morning came to greet you both, Simon took extra care to watch as your eyes fluttered open. He took in the sleepy way you took in the world, eyes hazy but warm and alive.

[impactrueno]

Hi, Spike. Hey, I have a question that I'm sure you could give me an interesting point of view :D

I was thinking about how Delia didn't need to say Bj's name three times for him to appear at her side (he only did it twice);

do you think the rule of his name applies the same way in the world of the living as it does in the world of the dead? :S (I don't think so, but maybe you can shed some light on this). If we remember the first movie, Juno didn't even let Barbara finish saying her name the first time.

And… I have a vague recollection that in the cartoon Bj could sense when they were going to summon him, but if lyds, for some reason didn't finish saying his name three times he was annoyed (sort of).

:S

juno didn't let adam and barbara finish saying his name for the same reasons lydia was trying to stop astrid from saying it: they both know it's a terrible idea and they fear him. doesn't matter if you're a ghost or a fleshbag.

delia didn't even get to summon him. beetlejuice popping up behind her like that was simply just for the bit, aka he can do that stuff only when it's funny lol

and this is just a personal theory of mine but i'm not so sure his name holds that much power in the afterlife, only in the world of the living. juno and wolf jackson were both pretty loose with his name while on the afterlife side of things.

[kings-highway]

my totally 100% correct opinion on which haikyuu ships would go canon if it were heterosexual

Kagehina: yes. regardless of which of them were a girl. however they would not get together within the canon of the show but have 1 or 2 almost kisses and then after the series ended you'd find out they got married. Like there'd be 2 lines total talking about them getting married and thats it.

Tsukkiyama: yes. regardless of which of them were a girl. they'd be together at the start of the series and be a relatively boring couple basically just there to make weird heteronormative quips (if yamaguchi were the girl, tsukki would roll his eyes a lot at having to go shopping, etc, and if tsukki were the girl, yamaguchi would be way too insecure about other guys looking at her) BUT late in the series there would be a short arc dedicated to them breaking up and then immediately getting back together and I hate to tell you, it would be cute.

Daisuga: my heart and soul - not in any fucking universe. I dont think there would even be jokes or innuendos about it. I think if Suga were the girl there would even be moments of Daichi like straight up not realizing it. "wdym you cant change with us???" bitches are the Pillars of Reliability for Karasuno they wouldnt bother giving them relationships.

Asanoya: if noya were the girl, yes. If Asahi were the girl, no. Noya could be a fiesty little girlfriend but they'd be too chicken to give a short man a big, bashful ladyfriend and that is the ONLY reason they wouldnt be canon.

Iwaoi: sorry to break it to you but probably not. the writers would be pouting and slamming their fists around like "nooooo they see each other like siblings, we wanted to show male-female friendships were possibleeeeee." however I think the chances would be slightly higher if Iwa were the girl. In that annoying tsundere way of "oh she's never going to admit she likes the guy everyone else also likes" but it would probably only be implied, never canon.

Kyohaba: yes! if Yahaba was the girl. Their entire thing would be switched to "kyotani finding a girl who smacks him around and decides to devote himself to her" where Yabaha would pretend she hates it. Less chance if Kyotani were the girl but I suppose not impossible.

Ushiten: Complicated. I think in general if they were male-female their friendship would play a bigger role. But it would be canon if Ushijima were a girl. Only because of the double standard for women. In the same way that all women characters eventually have children even if they claim they dont like them initially, I think the writers would be too chicken to let a woman be mean and formidable and stern and they would have to temper her with her quirky, ecclectic best friend/boyfriend to make sure people understand she's still Woman. They would be canon within the actual text and not just implied/afterwards but it would only be given enough screen time to establish Ushijima as a feminine woman and then be forgotten so Ushijima could proceed to beat the shit out of whatever team they were up against next. However if Tendou were the girl she would 100% have an overt and obvious crush on Ushijima (probably literally saying she was in love with him out loud) BUT they would let Ushijima keep his intensity and it would only serve to make Tendou quirkier and/or played as a joke, it wouldnt be canon.

Arankita: No! Only because if Kita were a girl, Atsukita would be canon. And I think if Aran were a girl, they would be given a much stronger Best Friends energy in that "male-female friendship" way. both a female kita or a female aran would still be "one of the boys."

Bonus: Atsukita: Yes, but only in promotional media or extras, they wouldnt give screen time to it. Like there'd be a bunch of promotional stuff of like Atsumu picking Kita up or teasing her. yknow.

Bokuaka: Yes, obviously, geez. Doesnt matter which is the girl. Thet would already be in a relationship from the time theyre introduced.

Kuroken: Yes, but they wouldnt get together. It would be like a slow burn where they keep looking at each other with flowers in the background, but it would feel like the writers forgot to put them together. Like the series would end and everyone would go "huh. weird we never got a kuroken confession but alright" No kisses, no hand holding, but like 12 extra minutes of gazing at each other and blushing. But only if Kenma was the girl. If Kuroo was the girl they'd be too chicken á la Asanoya and would instead pull an Iwaoi.

Rarepairs as a general rule are a "No" just due to them not being canon for reasons unrelated to gender, however, I want to shoutout these rarepairs:

Kogagoshi: Wouldnt be canon due to not enough screen time, but regardless of who was the girl, Kogane would have been used as a joke developing a spontaneous crush on Goshiki for the camp that is basically just there for comedic relief

Kenhina: regardless of who was the girl this would be an UNBERABLE implied attraction that serves only to create drama between Kagehina. Like nobody who's read love stories with love triangles before would ever think theyd end up together but the writers would try their fucking best to convince you this was plausible over the obviously intended endgame of kageyama.

---

anyway thats just my opinion but Im right so 😌

xx

[mage-ical-character-person]

YES FOURS COME SO FAR AND THE NEW EPISODE REALLY SHOWS THAT.

IT EVEN STARTS WITH

But…

No longer will he accept offers from malware to help with video. Proud of him

And Yeah. Yeah, Puzzles has some sort of corruption going on with him. My theory that it’s some sort of virus considering the goop’s similarities to the God Box stuff despite not being meme energy or anti-meme energy certainly seems… I don’t know the new video certainly… contributes to that in some way.

And yeah!! The fact that he wants friends so bad but enjoys the villainy as well! (I’m sure Three can relate). The dichotomy of him never casting himself as the villain in the Puzzlevision Parodies (unless you count him being gru in the despicable me parody and whatever was going on in the Inside Out one), but enjoying his role of being this theatrical villain so much.

I’m sure part of it is just… well he loves his moving pictures and everyone knows villains are the most fun characters. Especially in, say, classic Disney movies. Which are obviously a big inspiration for him. The song he had Four sing in “Once Upon an SMG4”… Puzzles just really enjoys the theatrics of villainy. And I think a part of him feels like that’s all he can be. Heroes, after all, have friends.

And the way he treats the crew… well, he treats them like fictional characters. He wants to control them he wants to put them in Situations for entertainment purposes. He is writing SMG4 hurt no comfort fanfic as we speak. /silly

Also there’s just… to me there’s something about the fact that the background to his fantasies with Leggy 2.0 is a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic background. Like just. All things considered. That’s something that jumps out to me. Just… stuff like that is his point of reference for what a good friendship is. (he wants to be Discord so bad)

I think part of the reason it’s hard to tell how much of it is whatever’s influencing/corrupting him and how much of it is he’s just like that is that the distinction between himself and this outside influence has all but disappeared.

The simulation with Wren seems to be built on the same technology as Mr Puzzles’ body itself and/or whatever Clench is. And as long as Puzzles has even a little bit of star power, he has complete control over his little TV pocket dimension. I guess whoever built his body (whether that’s him or someone else) set up something similar for Wren. As for how he got the information that he did… Well, he was spying on them. He was just playing his part as their TV for a while and he’s fully capable of sneaking around. He had access to Four’s computer from the get-go via his(?) spyware/adware.

I figure he gets power from his ratings because he is media. He is TV. When show doesn’t get good ratings show goes in bad time slot and doesn’t get to affect people. Good ratings increase his influence. So it makes sense thematically. I don’t know if there IS an in-universe explanation beyond just oh that’s an energy he can channel with his TV man body. I’m sure some fun headcannons could happen but I don’t know. As for who’s doing the rating… well, there are critics heard at the beginning of the Puzzlevision movie, but he also breaks the forth wall and asks the real life audience for his five stars, and we were giving him ratings during that arc. (Well I guess not we I showed up late to the party but yknow).

However his one singular bad pun. Not even a show just a single pun. One Leggy found it mildly amusing, and that’s an instant 2 stars

he seems to just… get power from any positive attention? I don’t know. Validation powers him.

And the Engine Room. Before Puzzles it had a star. The Disney “When You Wish Upon a Star” star. It’s gone once he’s hooked up to the machine so maybe he absorbed it for power somehow? Otherwise being the power source of the park would’ve drained him worse I think. And while the correlated song to the Disney “When You Wish Upon a Star” is about making all dreams come true, the correlated meme is “Nothing happens” so I don’t know! Mickey just says it powers Didney and makes Didney what it is. So I guess Puzzles plugging in there made Didney what Puzzles is instead?

Alternatively. Given some of the lyrics to “When You Wish Upon A Star”

Maybe… maybe the Wish that was Fulfilled, the Dream that came true… the “secret longing”… was Little Puzzles finally getting to reach out for help

He got what he wanted. Just for a moment.

sooo…

WOTFI

THEY DIDNT ADDRESS ANY OF THE PARALLELS AND THEN THEY

INSTITUTIONALIZED HIM

I’m so mad about this. I’m so mad. I’m so mad.

because okay. Okay remember this.

His super dramatic flinch here and there was that post going around like “I wonder what happened in Mr Puzzles’ childhood to make him flinch like that“

CHILD PUZZLES DOES THE SAME THING

EVERY TIME MEGGY/LEGGY APPROACHES HIM HE FLINCHES. HE COWERS. EVEN OUTSIDE OF THE POTENTIAL CONCLUSION HE WAS BEATEN, SOMEONE GENUINELY CARING ABOUT HIM IS SUCH A FOREIGN CONCEPT THAT HE ASSUMES THE ONLY REASON ANYONE WOULD GET CLOSE IS TO HARM HIM.

AND HE’S NOT EVEN WRONG?! THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS?

THEY INSTITUTIONALIZED HIM HE IS TIED TO A TABLE IN A PADDED ROOM. THEY APPEALED TO HIS HUMANITY AND FOUND THE GOOD IN HIM AND THEY USED IT AGAINST HIM.

YOU THINK THATLL HELP HIM? TARGETING THE MOST VULNERABLE PART OF HIMSELF AND GETTING HIM SENT TO AN ASYLUM?

AND IT SUCKS BECAUSE I WAS LEGITIMATELY ENJOYING THE EPISODE BEFORE THAT! I was having fun until that ending. That’s literally the one thing I didn’t like. The scene with Kid Puzzles was really well done. Everybody’s outfits were so cool. IGBP flesh blobs were there that was really cool

but then

I hate this. Genuinely worse than killing him off to me. It just feels wrong

[sisislair]

More on the re-listen/read.

The second Jun Wu gets back he starts chipping away at Xie Lian's support base.

First with Feng Xin by telling Xie Lian about him forgiving the debt and helping him out. Which on the surface would seem nice of him, to let Xie Lian know that his old friends might still care about him. But he already knows that due to their very poorly disguised selves helping him out. What this is doing, however, is making Xie Lian complicit in Jun Wu breaking their secrecy. He was specifically told not to reveal this information to Xie Lian. So now there is no way for Xie Lian to acknowledge their good deeds naturally, without revealing how he found out.

And surely, if he's been told this secret, what other things are being said about the two of them behind their backs between Jun Wu and Xie Lian? It's not that big of a thing, but it doesn't have to be. The gap between the three old friends is already large enough that Jun Wu widening it ever little bits at a time won't be noticed.

Secondly, of course, he tries to drive a wedge between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian. The support of a ghost king is no joke, and I think by this point he has already started to make assumptions about their relationship. Same as the rest of the heavens honestly lol.

But either way he sends him to investigate Hua Cheng specifically because he knows it will fuck Xie Lian up to have to investigate someone who's being nice to him, and even if he can't make him distrust Hua Cheng with all the bits he's been dropping about how evil he is, then the least he can do is make Xie Lian feel so guilty that their friendship withers because of that.

And Xie Lian is torn up about it! Hua Cheng is being a wonderful host and friend to him, and he's snooping through his stuff! The wind master is like, 100% you should not have accepted this mission, ghost king or no, even if Jun Wu himself told you too. Because he obviously considers you his friend. But Xie Lian still sees Jun Wu as a trusted mentor figure, even if he doesn't always agree with him, so he reasons that of course Jun Wu knew this would be awkward for him. So he must have thought that Xie Lian was the only person who could do this task right.

And I mean, to be fair, not entirely inaccurate, if by do this right, you mean not jump to the immediate conclusion that Hua Cheng is in the wrong. As well as subtlety. Of which Lan Qianqiu has none lol.

So on the guilt end he is very much succeeding, which like, no surprise.

Xie Lian is the champion of feeling guilty about things. But on the trust end? Ghost city arc is so important for establishing a foundation for their relationship.

Jokes on Jun Wu, because his sending Xie Lian on this mission very firmly sets into his mind that Jun Wu and the other heavenly officials are all just talking bullshit when it comes to Hua Cheng.

Oh he can't be trusted! And yet he keeps his promises.

Oh he lives in a den of depravity and is cruel! But he obviously has a handle on things, and is very well respected, not just feared.

Oh his scimitar is super cursed! And yet it does Xie Lian no harm, and acts like an eager puppy.

Xie Lian's been on the wrong side of the rumor mill for a long time, he knows how this shit goes.

[alipeeps]

Episode 34

Ugh. Here we go. This is it.

Hold me. 😭😭

Fuuuuck. Please tell me he's not dead?

Don't do this to Zhou Yichen! (Or me!)

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck

His reaction is so RAW. The way he sees him and immediately looks away because he just CAN'T.

And he died with a smile on his face because he helped Zhuo Yichen.

The plotline for about half the fucking show was about saving Bai Jiu... and then he dies anyway. Sacrificing himself. Like so many before him. I hate this.

I can't with this. This isn't fair. I was expecting Zhao Yuanzhou to die. Maybe even Zhou Yichen, maybe even Wen Xiao. I was bolstering myself to survive that.

But you kill the BABIES. Ying Lei. Bai Jiu. The most innocent and vulnerable of the entire team.

OH SHIT... and the flashback to that scene... he never did get to clear the air with his dad. 😭😭😭

I'm crying my eyes out over a fucking TV show.

You know what? After putting us through this with Ying Lei and Bai Jiu, they need to let Zhao Yuanzhou live. We fucking deserve it. They have hurt us enough. They owe us.

I swear the OST songs have been specifically written to deal maximum emotional damage when used within the show. I hate this.

And all this time Wen Xiao has been having the shit kicked out of her by foster daddy.

Ugh he's fighting for control.

Her tears brought him back?

Oooh is that how they can save all the townspeople?

Ah shit so it can only be stopped if you get to it before the core takes root?

But how's she going to use the baize power when using it hastens her poisoning?

Damn he destroyed his core.

Oh daaaaaaamn....

Well you got father-in-law's blessing I guess, Zhao Yuanzhou...

Aaaaand people are starting to feel the effects of the demon cores...

Oh shit, use the baize power to make it rain? Won't using that much power like... kill you?

Is this drama going to give us the worst possible outcome and have everybody BUT Zhao Yuanzhou die, leaving him again alone and angsty?

OH FUCK. So even if she wasn't poisoned, this is a sacrificial spell?!

PLEEEEASE. Zhao Yuanzhou. Fucking please. Give me a moment of hope in amongst all this devastating despair.

Uhhh this feels very like a farewell...

Ahhh shit....

WHAT THE FUCK?!

So the reason a Great Demon like Zhao Yuanzhou exists, and absorbs malicious qi, is to power the baize divine power?

(But then, surely, if Zhao Yuanzhou's initial plan to have Zhou Yichen kill him in a way that would break the cycle had gone ahead, it would have destroyed the baize divine power along with the vessel of malicious qi?)

Oh FUCK and in that vision he is wearing the exact same outfit that he's wearing now!!!

But if he sacrifices himself to trigger the baize divine power and save the townspeople, how does that fix the problem of Wen Xiao's poisoning? Unless he absorbs the poison from her first?

He's having to steal himself to go through with it.

Jesus Christ, who ever fucking knew Hou Minghao could act like this?

Hey, Xiao Zhuo Daren, sorry about this, but I need you to live through just one more traumatising event today...

Oh fuck, that's why the one word spell worked on him just the once...

OH SHIT, HE SAID IT HOWEVER MANY EPISODES AGO.... HE TOLD WEN XIAO THAT WHEN HE DIES HE WILL TURN INTO RAIN!!!!!

BUT HOW IS ANY OF THIS GOING TO FIX WEN XIAO'S POISONING?!! SHE'S STILL GOING TO DIE ANYWAY!!

Oh fucking hell... Zhao Yuanzhou was going to pull a Ying Long and walk into the sword.... but Zhuo Yichen pulled a reverse uno on his and made it his choice.

😭😭😭

Do you think the healing baize divine power rain will heal Wen Xiao's poisoning?

Oh no, the binding spell has come undone. That means....

Ahhhh you fucker you absorbed the poison from her as you were dying...

FUCK I had to pause playback to go and get tissues because I couldn't see from fucking crying!!!!

Oh god and all the goofy happy scenes playing over the credits as usual, but against the sad emotional music rather than the cheerful stuff.

OH GOD not just the usual ending credit scenes but LOADS more.

I am drained. I am a shell of a human being.

That was honestly THE best fucking cdrama I have ever watched. Quite possibly the best drama/tv show I have ever watched. NOTHING has made me so emotional before.

And the ending was, unfortunately, probably the correct one for the story but god DAMN it hurt. 😭😭

[lurkingshan]

There was so much to love and scream about in today's episode of Blue Canvas of Youthful Days, but because I'm me I am going to focus on Qin Xiao's words in my favorite scene:

Just sitting here makes me feel like, whether its people from my neighborhood or people from yours, everyone takes a walk here. Everyone enjoys the same mist, same smell, same colors. It's moments like these that make me feel I am also the owner of this city. This is my home, too.

Translation approved by @thisonelikesaliens.

The sound I made when Qin Xiao said this was undignified. And I loved it for a lot of reasons. First, Qi Lu was talking about how their age gap is not that big, and Qin Xiao's mind immediately went to the gap between them that weighs most on him: their wealth and class disparity. It's something he can never forget. Second, now that he's accepted his feelings for Qi Lu, Qin Xiao is looking for the ways they are the same rather than insisting on their differences. He wants to have shared experiences with Qi Lu, and to believe that they can connect, even if it's through simple things. And third, Qin Xiao is claiming ownership of his town, and his life, in a quietly defiant way.

When you're poor and left behind in the way Qin Xiao is, you can grow up feeling like nothing truly belongs to you. You're constantly under threat of the things you hold dear being taken, either by debt collectors or those who want to prey on your vulnerability or even just by virtue of those around you having more privilege and access to the things you want. He is fighting every day just to have access to the kind of basic opportunities Qi Lu takes for granted, and he can't slip up or the consequences for his life will be huge. People with wealth and privilege just straight up don't have to think about this stuff; they walk around with an easy confidence that they belong everywhere, that they can command any space, that the world is theirs for the taking and that they will be fine regardless of their effort. We saw Qi Lu himself display some of this attitude when he entered the art school; despite his experiences of abuse, he wears that privilege like armor, and it's a kind of protection Qin Xiao will never have access to.

On top of his awareness of this difference between him and people like Qi Lu and his family, Qin Xiao also has the local gang breathing down his neck, trying to force him into sketchy work he doesn't want to do. And they can do this because they know he's so vulnerable; the gang leader is just waiting to catch him in a moment of desperation or despair so he can prey on his weakness and drag him down into the pit with him. Qin Xiao is constantly on guard from all of these people who think they own this town and can force him into their idea of his place in it.

So to hear Qin Xiao reject that, to say clearly: this is my home, too, and I get to decide my place in it and what I will do and who I will love, was so moving. For Qin Xiao to recognize that even if he doesn't have the same privilege and power as others around him, including Qi Lu, he walks these same streets and lives his life alongside them and gets to own it, too, is powerful.

[visualtaehyun]

Hii sorry I absolutely just spammed your inbox with notifs 🫣 you're doing God's work with the Thai language meta, I love it because I speak zero Thai and reading your posts makes me feel like I understand those characters a little better 💕 also I saw that you're into pronouns and I wanted to ask, if you have some time - do you have any favorite pronouns, terms of endearment or in general ways to address someone that you particularly like? If you don't feel like answering it's cool! We can just pretend I wasn't here lmao

Hiii~ Lemme just say right out of the gate- I love your ask so much 🥹 And I'm always delighted whenever I spot someone clearly reading several of my posts in a row so don't even worry about spamming me or anything hehe

On to your question-

so many

I'm probably most partial to หนู /nuu/ but I'm fond in general of a lot of affectionate or sweet ways to address someone younger because I'm already fond of this in my first language, German :) (This isn't gonna make sense if you don't know any German lol but for example- I call my younger sister 'Hase' and will call kids 'Maus', one of my older colleagues likes to call us others stuff like 'Zarte', 'Kleine', 'Zartes Reh' (this woman is adorable), and my grandma calls me 'Liebes' or 'Kind'.)

Apart from หนู /nuu/, there's น้อง [name] /nong/ [name] which I love!! I remember how warm it felt to hear my great-uncle's wife who's Thai say กินเยอะๆนะลูก /gin yuh yuh na, luuk/ (=Eat a lot, child) while putting another serving of her homecooked food on my plate. I coo every time a parent character on a show drops a surprise animal nickname for their child like ลูกหมา /luuk maa/ (= puppy), ลูกหมี /luuk mee/ (=baby bear), ลูกแมว /luuk maaeo/ (=kitten). And while we're on the topic of animal comparisons- I think the word บ้อกแบ้ก/บ๊อกแบ๊ก /beok baek/ (=akin to 'pupper', someone cute with the vibes or energy of a doggo) is so cute and descriptive!

Then there's two habits I see often that both make for cute pet names: 1) doubling and 2) shortening. 1) Taking one syllable or word and doubling it makes it so cute! Like when fans call P'Zee พึกพึก /pheuk pheuk/, from his first name Pruk พฤกษ์ /phreuk/, when he's behaving like the cute but cheeky little brother he is at heart 😂 Or the nicknames Khanin and Charan give each other in The Next Prince novels, first jokingly to get on each other's nerves but later lovingly: อั่งอั๊ง /ang ang/ and ดื่อดื้อ /deuu deuu/ from 'uncle' and ดื้อ /deuu/ (=misbehaving, stubborn, naughty). 2) I see this mostly with originally English words for some reason? For example บี๋ /bee/, shortened from 'baby', and มี๊ /mee/, shortened from 'mommy' which is how a lot of Thai fans are called and call themselves.

And then we've got the funny ones! I love a good register-mixing, like Tan in We Are going คุณมึงครับ /khun meung khrap/ (=kinda like- "Mr. Dude, sir?"). And the word ควาย /khwaai/ (=lit. buffalo; idiot) will always, without fail, make me laugh! Most recently, on Apple My Love Natty calls Kris อีควายน้อย /ee'khwaai noi/ (=lit. you little buffalo; you little idiot).

Lastly, a special shoutout to คนเก่ง /khohn geng/ and คนดี /khohn dee/ which I find kinda hard to translate because 'talented one/person' and 'good person', respectively, just don't have the same sweet ring to it as the Thai! Especially when a character says it to their loved one like คนเก่งของพี่ /khohn geng khaawng phi/ (=my talented one) 🥰

Sorry I took so long to reply and now my answer's a ramble and a half slsdjkskls Thank you so much for this fun question though~ I highly encourage anyone who reads this to reply with their own personal favorite terms of endearment, no matter the language ✨

[clownakai]

Hi! Let's talk about: Conan's terribly kept secret, and how come he doesn't seem to mind that Akai has pretty much figured it out (and teases him about it)

I'm not going to lie, I think about this a lot and I've wanted to make a post dissecting the whole thing for a while. It's one of those details within two characters' relationship that says a lot about their overall dynamic, in my opinion.

So, to start off, let's address the secret in question and what it means to Conan. Basic stuff, but it's a useful starting point.

The first and greatest motivation behind Shinichi's efforts to keep his situation a secret from Ran is that he doesn't want to endanger her (good idea in theory, not so easy in practice, but this post isn't about that).

In time, this also becomes valid for everyone who associates with Kudou Shinichi and/or Edogawa Conan, given all the stunts he pulls as the latter. Just to be on the safer side, those two identities should remain separate.

Now, here's the first real "outsider" who figures out Conan is Shinichi.

I'm kind of reading this as Conan attempting to call Hattori's bluff, but as soon as he realizes that the guy is serious about telling Ran everything, he drops all pretenses and comes clean about the APTX.

Now, since this is still pretty early on in the manga, we can argue that Conan's identity hasn't been solidified just yet and Shinichi doesn't know how dangerous the Organization actually is, and combining that with the fact that Hattori is pretty much a stranger, the pros of conceding defeat on the matter and explaining himself to a fellow detective definitely outweigh the cons.

(This also gifts us with the funniest swaggest most whimsical duo ever, but I digress /silly)

And after Heiji, we have the man, the myth, the legend. Hondou Eisuke. His case is kind of particular, in that he doesn't really try to get the secret out of Conan. The truth is presented to him due to something unrelated (asking Ran out), which is apparently reason enough for Shinichi to out himself.

I do believe that Shinichi felt secure enough in doing this for a couple reasons: first and foremost, Eisuke is at least marginally aware of the Organization and the danger it represents, and he knows the importance of keeping secrets given both his sister's situation and his career choice. Secondly, Eisuke is leaving Japan: sure, there's a chance he might stay in contact with his friends via text, but he has no reason to tell Ran about Conan's real identity in the first place.

The real "danger" here was the possibility (very, very small. Basically non-existent, to be honest) that Ran would say yes to Eisuke's proposal to go to the States together (where, in Shinichi's mind, he wouldn't be able to follow, where he wouldn't be able to watch over her, where he felt he would lose her in every way that matters), and that chance, no matter how small, warranted an intervention. Not exactly pure logic, but that's teenagers for you (affectionate).

Alright, so what about people like Masumi? She even has an advantage in that she already knows about the existence of a drug that makes people shrink: her own mom looks like a middle schooler because of that. She's in danger no matter how you look at it, and she's clearly been keeping that secret the same way Agasa, Hattori, and the Kudous have for a good while. So how come she doesn't get to join the club?

The answer is, of course, the risk factor.

Masumi, as we all know, wouldn't know the meaning of subtlety if it hit her in the face with a baseball bat. We love and cherish her regardless, but admittedly, that's not a trait that would inspire trust in a pair of teenagers hiding their continued existence from an evil syndicate.

That's right! We have her timing to keep in mind as well. Masumi is added to the scene well into the main timeline's events, which means multiple things:

Conan's identity is finally well-established and separate from Shinichi's. Ran has had her suspicions in multiple instances, but they've been assuaged every time. Still, that balance is hard to maintain.

Shinichi is now fully aware of just how dangerous the Organization is: he's now much more reluctant to just share his secret willy-nilly with random strangers, even though they might prove to be useful allies in the long run.

Conan isn't the only shrunk teenager running around anymore: Haibara has just as much reason as him, if not more, to want to keep the number of people in the know as low as possible. By revealing his own secret, there would be virtually no way for Shinichi to keep Haibara out of the metaphorical line of fire.

Therefore, a variable that behaves like this...

Or this...

Isn't very likely to garner much favor from either of these two.

Something to take note of, though, is the fact that Conan pretty much only ever panics when Masumi brings up his identity if she's making an active effort to also bring the matter up with people who are firmly on the "Absolutely Cannot Find Out" list (Ran especially).

In multiple other instances, when Masumi alludes to being aware of Conan's ruse but talks to him one-on-one and makes it clear that the comment is a one-off occasion (and that she's not going to push it this time), Shinichi doesn't really lose his cool.

He may stumble over his words a bit, but the moment isn't played as dramatic or high-risk, per se. It's more as if he were being privately teased about his situation— sort of like as inside joke. It's not exactly welcome, but it also doesn't raise any alarm bells since it stays between him and Masumi.

Now, would Conan's problems with Masumi's nosiness be solved if he gave up and admitted the truth she already knows? Of course, but that's not really the point.

The issue is that this wouldn't be happening on his terms. He would be giving in to someone's else's demands, and in addition to that, Masumi has been asking non-stop about the antidote that Shinichi intermittently uses to get back to normal.

That, above all else, is what makes the endless dance of denial necessary, I think: admitting the truth also means outright admitting that prototypes of an antidote exist, and that means exposing Haibara (both her past work and therefore criminal background, and what she's been working on these past few months: letting Masumi have even a single pill would mean the MI6 getting their hands on it in turn, and that's pretty much not something anyone wants), which in turn would probably set off a very unpleasant chain reaction for everyone involved.

When Shinichi conceded defeat with Hattori, it wasn't on his terms either, but at least he knew the guy didn't really have any ulterior motive apart from his one-sided beef with the Detective of the East.

With Masumi there is no such certainty— quite the opposite, in fact, which is why I think this is the reason he's been so insistent on denying the truth even when he now knows full well that Masumi's can be no mere suspicions.

With all that said, let's get to the point of this bad boy! (I did not think this analysis would get so long. Holy shit)

Let's start with the fact that Akai operates on a pretty simple need-to-know basis. If something isn't relevant to what he's trying to do, he tends not to mention it. Still, he's not exactly strict about this: when Conan mentions Akai and Masumi's familial relation, he takes it in stride and gives his own confirmation because he sees no reason not to.

Now, this of course doesn't mean that he can't get curious about things himself, or that he won't conduct his own investigations on said things. His M.O., however, is very different from that of, say, Hattori or Masumi. It can probably be chalked up to maturity and years of experience, along with the simple matter of his personality, but Akai doesn't exactly make a spectacle of things.

He knows when to push and when to let go in a manner that still gives him the answers he seeks. He easily manipulates Conan into giving himself away as Shinichi while still making sure to be the only one witnessing that moment.

And then he decides to be a bastard and give Conan a heart attack... for about a tenth of a second, since as he does that he also carefully words things in order to give the kid an easy out.

All Akai wanted was to figure out the mystery in front of him (he's by admission a curious guy. He likes solving puzzles): now that he has his answers, he's not really going to do anything with them because he has no reason to— Conan is already willing to cooperate with him and the FBI (and has already done so before), after all. They already share intel more or less freely. He's literally living in the kid's house. For free. Why would he jeopardize any of that by falling out of favor with him?

This, I think, is a pretty solid basis upon which I can build my beautiful sandcastle.

Of the couple times in which Akai respectively asks Conan about his identity outright and mildly teases him about his circumstances, the context always plays a huge role.

In the first scenario, the two are speaking in public, yes, but at the same time the conversation is:

Pretty much kept private

Initiated by Conan (he asked for information first!)

Framed as a proposal of a mutual exchange by Akai, who also backs off immediately as soon as Conan turns him down

Of course, Shinichi is already reasonably sure Akai has him figured out anyway, so the point is moot, but it's still nice to get plausible deniability and still be somewhat in control of when he's going to come clean to the guy of his own volition.

In the second scenario, the situation is even more "secure" so to speak, as:

They're sitting in Okiya Subaru's car

They're completely alone

They're in a hurry to do something else (God fucking dammit, Shuukichi)

In this case, Conan doesn't outright react to the jab. Maybe it's because he doesn't really know what to say, or maybe it's just that he doesn't have enough time to come up with a reply before Shuukichi picks up the call. Either way, he does perhaps look a little put on the spot, but there's no real panicked reaction, no telltale change in what Conan's pupils look like in true DetCo fashion, which I'd say confirms he doesn't feel threatened at the moment.

(If we really must give it a critical interpretation, maybe the bit feels a little like a joke falling flat because it was made during an otherwise tense moment and it has nothing to do with the bigger issue.)

It's also worth noting how Akai's dig directly ties into his own circumstances, which possibly helps with lowering the "offensive" charge of the words. It's not a direct accusation, but rather a mildly humorous, harmless observation about their shared status (presumed dead by the enemy).

The biggest thing about both scenes is still, however, the fact that Akai unfailingly frames the subject in a way that leaves the choice of whether to actually talk about it completely up to Conan. He definitely recognizes his position as privileged/advantaged, but actively chooses not to make use of that, and he hasn't treated Conan any differently ever since verifying his suspicions either.

(Sidenote: I do believe that keeping the kid's identity from his own colleagues is also a strategic choice. Like I mentioned before, outing Conan would mean outing Haibara, and I do believe Akai's promise to protect Shiho also includes keeping her far away from any government agency who may be interested in what she knows— and what she's done.)

In conclusion: I am extremely normal about random interactions between these two and also I think that Conan's unshakeable trust in Akai stems from how the guy has been treating him ever since they started collaborating— with genuine respect (and even admiration) and never actually making him feel cornered the way so many others do, whether intentionally or not. This results in occasional sillygoofy privileges because Akai can recognize the time and the place in which it's acceptable to tease the Cone.

[chaoticly-shy-dragon]

Whoever wrote that percy jackson au of the dead boy detectives, you live under my skin and I love you. So much so that my brain tried to think of a way to make it even more canon-accurate without making them dead. or reborn Hazel Levesque style.

What I have so far is playing on the whole West civilization bit and how it moved to the.. well west - but also that World War 2 was a big three kid conflict? So. I have sort of a time-table and I'm throwing it out of the window.

Edwin is a child of Athena - that much stays the same - who is very bookish and very studious but not in the way the rest of his siblings are. They are handy and crafty, strategic and interested in architecture or design. He.. is not. (I need a reason why his siblings didn't come to help him when the "death scene" happens.)

The whole boarding school is one of many spread across the London countryside - Chiron moves a lot. They teach both ancient and modern warfare because magic or not you can't escape the bloodshed forever - you either get drafted or you run and get blacklisted somewhere or another.

(St Hilarion was actually a son of Apollo that got really popular during the Crusades - Zeus didn't smite the school when it was established because times are different and Hera would be angry if there was another big fire with no explanation that put their soldiers'- eh-hem- kids' lives at risk.)

They still teach Latin alongside Greek because it was what all normal boarding schools did and that's what they were. Maths, English, and Sciences - were all taught to the boys. The girls went to another school - where they were taught the bare minimum to survive. Because sexism was rampant and if the Romans were on the wrong side of the civil war, that means no matter how progressive the gods could have been in certain areas, they aren't now/then–

Artemis really, really hated that time period. Zoë or this version of Zoë got a kick out of shooting so many assholes in the face. Or in their dicks. They also got way more recruits than in later years. Silver lining.

Anyways: Simon - son of Hecate - and the bunch of boys, one of which was a son of Hades, do the whole let's sacrifice Edwin. Only the book is a Christian book on witchcraft that Simon truly didn't think would work. He and the rest - Hades boy included - did the whole preparation of the sacrifice as it was absolutely terrifying for Edwin to experience on top of everything else. They didn't know it was a real thing - but is the only reason why Edwin stays alive.

It's essentially a stasis charm that lets the ritual run for as long as needed without the poor victim dying beforehand. It requires bloodletting and "runes" and such. The thing is scary, traumatizing stuff so it seemed like a fun thing for Simon and his buddies to do. So they did it.

They skimmed the reading. Blood with power is spilled, ritual that is very real gets haphazardly done and so monsters get involved.

Fun fact, that I'm really hoping is actually true - sometimes monsters with names similar to other religions' occult beings pick up the summoning calls. If the ritual is shoddy enough for them to hear, the participants all die either way, it's only important who gets there first.

So. The bullies get killed and a fury-type thing drags Edwin's whole being to the fields of punishment so it can feast on its offering. He gets dusted Sally Jackson style.

We enter his hell era. ( TBC )