#I've just been thinking abt her a lot even though she like. Has not existed to me for almost a year

[warmspice]

Thinking about a girl in my tutorial class last year who was soooso cool and that I wanted to be friends with soooo bad. and also how she lingered a bit after I was chatting with her but then had to chat with a friend I ran into... sigh..

[onebizarrekai]

Kai don't be shy and tell us the lore abt fatal flaws pretty please :3

sorry I'm too shy… I can't do it…

jk. which lore? I can give you some of my ideas I've been brainstorming. I don't know how many of these are repeats though.

fatal flaws is not exactly modernized; it's very possible they're in an ambiguously semi-post-apocalyptic setting, one that's rebuilt but it's been long enough that people don't remember. their country doesn't have any relationships with the outside world. even if there are other people out there, it's likely believed that there are no other civilizations out there, that the mainland is a barren wasteland.

"being a sorcerer" is the kind of rumor that makes you an immediate outcast. it's not illegal to be a sorcerer, but society has turned against them due to prejudice and the sorcerer parasite. the parasite basically kills sorcerers and turns them into 'zombies', like fungal hosts. it's a contamination; they're not born with it. but regular humans think that they're born with it.

miles and arthur lived in a poor sorcerer district in the countryside that existed under the radar, they hadn't been found by the government yet, but the parasite got in. miles lived with his single father and arthur may have possibly never known his parents. (note the big maybe) when the parasite hit, the military found them. the two of them had to escape.

vick grew up in the capital city and was taught in school that the military is infallible and that sorcerers are dangerous. growing up getting into fights and getting in trouble, she eventually went to training camp and got a job in the city guard due to it being well-paying, but it wasn't a particularly good or welcoming job. they eventually told her she "had to quit" due to her badly representing their government with her temper. she didn't start changing her mind about sorcerers until adulthood.

blue is just Some Guy, there is definitely nothing weird going on with him, nope, totally nothing weird. he definitely isn't trying to hide his backstory or anything. he is just a regular delivery boy.

arthur has very confused opinions about sorcerers. he grew up seeing himself as a normal human, and eventually became ashamed of being one once he realized what it meant. he thinks justice is very important, and people should be punished for wrongdoings, but his desire to take crime more seriously just perpetuated the laws that hurt sorcerers. he's not opinionated like miles about it. part of him thinks, "wouldn't people be happier if everyone was the same?" and the machine happens, "why don't we use people's magic to power the city and make it a better place?" he's… complicated.

hacker's a regular guy, but he lives upstairs in randy's restaurant like miles does, and he works for randy. he does Computer Shit. he did used to be affiliated with a gang and his stupid ex still tries to get his attention sometimes.

bunny is a sorcerer kid who likely lost her family to the parasite. I haven't picked apart her story yet, but randy took her in while vick was working in the guard. he worries a lot about her schooling; he and hacker try to do it themselves because randy's afraid of sending her to public school, since bunny's a sorcerer and she's autistic. vick is sort of jealous because she feels like she never got any special treatment growing up.

crystal comes from a surrounding island where people aren't known to live at. she keeps her identity on the down low, because while she's not technically a sorcerer, what she actually is would freak people out even more.

Once Upon A Time™, Charles L'bard the First arrived on the island we now know as our home. With his Big Might and Big Charisma, he smote the cursed monsters and their henchmen that resided there and became a hero. The people crowned him the Island's Hero, the Lord of the Sun, and he became the first king.

many generations later, the populous demanded an elected official instead. this did not make the royal family very happy……

[magical-regical]

Continuing my L&DS hyperfixation but also because Owl City just released a new single, here are some owl city songs that remind me of each LI and Caleb

Go under the cut if you want some extremely long commentary on why I picked the songs I did. If you don't care what I have to say, please peruse this TLDR;

Xavier: If My Heart Was a House

Zayne: Car Trouble

Rafayel: My Muse, Rainbow Veins

Caleb: Hot Air Balloon, The Bird and The Worm

Ah you're still here. A few disclaimers before you continue:

Whenever I mention MC in this, I will be using she/her pronouns.

I haven't listened to every owl city song in existence and some songs didn't stick with me the way the songs listed here did so if you think my takes are garbage and I'm a big dumb stupid idiot for not considering the song you're thinking of, uh, feel free to make your own post abt it.

I know sweet f a abt music theory so I'm just going based off vibes and lyrics not composition.

I haven't read Xavier's or Zayne's myth stories to completion and haven't read Rafayel's at all.

Anyway, without further ado, enjoy my lukewarm takes.

Xavier

This song makes me so soft and it's way too easy to imagine Xavier and MC dancing to this. The first lines sound like he's reminiscing of the time he had with MC in her past lives,

You're the sky that I fell through, and I remember the view whenever I'm holding you

The sun hung from a string, looking down on the world as it warmed over everything.

Chills run down my spine as our fingers entwine and your sighs harmonize with mine.

Unmistakably, I can still feel your heart beat fast when you dance with me.

He pulls her in closer as the first pre-chorus plays. And the two pre-chorus' in this song sound like a conversation between him and his memory of past!MC.

The first one:

We got older and I should've known,

Do you feel alive?

That I'd feel colder when I walk alone

Oh, but you'll survive

The second one:

I walk slowly when I'm on my own

Do you feel alive?

Yea but frankly, I still feel alone.

Oh, but you'll survive

And then the chorus hits and the vibes are immaculate. It feels like you're floating on air and imagine how Xavier looks at MC when the last few lines play,

Risk it all 'cuz I'll catch you if you fall,

Wherever you go,

If my heart was a house, you'd be home.

Because she is the celestial body that orbits around him, his north, his guiding star, and his heart will always be her home.

Zayne

And you can't convince me this isn't one of the songs that plays at their wedding.

This is the catalyst of this post's creation. As of writing this, it's the newest single and I am obsessed with it. So strap in folks, I have a lot to say.

First of all, the first thirty seconds of this song was released as a preview titled 'Floppy Fish' that came out ten years ago and we didn't hear anything else about it until suddenly we get a tweet about it four days ago (as of writing this part) and then this masterpiece. I think it reflects Zayne and MCs relationship quite well, they were childhood friends, lost contact for a while, and now they're reunited to build another beautiful relationship.

On to the song itself, the overall song is about going back to see the person you love even through all sorts of car troubles. The car theme immediately screamed 'Zayne' to me because out of all the boys we see him drive MC around the most.

It's a very upbeat song which contrasts Zayne's stoic personality but the whole song is something I can imagine actually happening to him.

I see the first verse as Zayne trying his damndest to finish up work instead of having actual car troubles,

I've been driving all afternoon, but I hate to say it, I won't be there soon = him working all afternoon and still having to do overtime

And though I'm late you know I just can't wait to come home to my slice of heaven on toast.

But my GrandPrix broke down without fail, another flat tire and another nail = the 'tire' being the hearts he has to operate on and 'another nail' referring to his surgeon's tools (even though the nail in the song is the thing that broke the tire in the first place not the thing fixing the flat)

I miss your smile but this could take a while 'cause this 'road closed' sign says there's no way around. = he can't just ditch work, obviously.

The second verse and chorus is him actually running out of gas on his way back from Akso and just describes his situation. Walking through the rain, only stopping to buy flowers for her.

Hey, it's kinda crazy what daisies jasmines can do.

And then these lines from the third verse,

I'd hand you a coffee right when you woke up

and

... all I find is all these highways wind and lead back to my slice of heaven on toast.

are so cute. Especially the 'slice of heaven on toast' thing since I imagine a slice of heaven on toast would taste sweet.

But wait, it gets better. Because the chorus that comes after goes,

Oh would your heart kind of glow if I held your hand and I promised to stay home?

Hey, when I blow in that's the first thing I'll do

It might take me forever

It might take me forever

But I love you forever and I can't wait to see you.

I'm dead. I'm deceased. I am a puddle of goo on the ground.

The bridge is the most upbeat part of the song and I imagine that's when he gets a call from MC because she's worried about him. Because honestly the line, 'Am I unavoidably detained or extremely fashionably late?' sounds like the kind of dry humor he'd enjoy.

And the song ends as he hangs up and continues his long journey on public transport to come home to her.

Rafayel

Now, fish boy gets two songs because I associate each one with what I like to call 'light mode' and 'dark mode' Rafayel.

I chose both songs because they had like, a lot of imagery involved in them and lean heavily into his whole artist job. So this isn't going to be as in depth as Zayne's lol.

Anyway,

This is light mode Rafayel. The whole song is him talking to MC. He's all happy-go-lucky and filled with inspiration. With how important color is to his current career the song just felt perfect.

The chorus also adds a few nice tidbits of his character,

Cheer up and dry your damp eyes, and tell me when it rains

And I'll blend up that rainbow above you and shoot it through your veins

'Cause your heart has a lack of color and we should've known

That we'd grow up sooner or later, 'cause we wasted all our free time alone

The first two lines sound like something he'd actually say when he's trying to comfort MC.

The line 'we wasted all our free time alone' sticks out to me because you ever notice this guy doesn't have any friends? Like, Xavier has Jeremiah and the countless old people he's made friends with when they're in their youth and Zayne has his coworkers at the hospital and his old profs. Raffy doesn't really have anyone like that? Sure he has Thomas and his Aunt Talia but judging by how fast they hung up on him after barely wishing him a happy birthday, I can't in good conscience call them his friends.

So yea maybe our boy was so focused on finding MC again he wasted all his free time alone.

Then we have dark mode Rafayel. And no I don't mean dark as in Rafayel when he's in revenge plot mode (whatever that is I don't have enough brain cells to comprehend what his plan could possibly be). I mean dark mode as in it's quite literally night time and he is left with nothing but his own thoughts. MC fell asleep at his place again and he's wistfully staring at her sleeping figure. This is the song in those moments.

Like Xavier, he's reminiscing about the past lives and past MCs. He's remembering the first time he met and the moment he decided she was the one. She was his bride. He's listing all the things he loves about her (which basically boils down to 'everything!'). She is his muse, now and forever.

And then the song ends with:

So I'll say it now before we're at the door that someday we'll walk through,

And if I'm the only one left in the room...

There's nowhere else I'd rather be than home with you.

Do you hear that? That's the sound of my heart cracking in two. He will sing you this last line as he pulls you closer, pressing your forehead against his before giving you a nice, long kiss.

Honorable mention goes to the song 'Sunburn' because it's about meeting someone, falling in love, and having to separate in the end (hence, 'she got a tan and I got a sunburn' and 'as we parted ways, she held my gaze and left an imprint on my mind'). I could go deeper and analyze each line like I did w/ Zayne but I've kept the Caleb girlies waiting long enough so we'll stop Raffy's part here.

Caleb

Caleb also gets two songs I chose two songs that have heavy 'childhood friends to lovers' vibes and fitting imagery and I told myself this one was gonna be short and sweet because we don't have as much depth abt his relationship w/ the MC compared to the current LIs but welp, I lied.

'Hot Air Balloon' is the most childhood friends song ever. Every single lyric is just every adventure these two went on when they were children. Writing their own fairy tales, making a racetrack around the kitchen chairs, going on a picnic to a nearby lake and getting a stomachache because you drank lake water even though Grandma Josephine told you specifically not to do that, the list just goes on and on.

It's them. It's little MC and Caleb with lightning in their veins and stars in their eyes as they explore the world around them, not a care in the world because the possibilities are quite literally endless when they have the other person by their side.

And then if 'Hot Air Balloon' was 'childhood friends—', 'The Bird And The Worm' adds on the '—to lovers' part of the trope.

I mean the entire first verse reads like the two kids playing pretend (because let's face it you've had one or two weirdly morbid play pretend sessions when you were a kid) with little Caleb saying he's the bird because of his evol and then little MC's like "then what does that make me?" And little Caleb's like "you're the worm ofc!"

Esp the part about throwing a party and greeting undersea friends (hi Raffy). I could imagine little MC telling little Caleb how she's going to invite the mermaid she made friends with at the beach to their 'party' and Caleb just not having any of it.

I'll throw a party and greet my undersea friends

(it depends)

As they arrive,

(if they arrive)

Then the chorus reads like a time skip. They're adults reminiscing about their childhood at one of the rare moments their schedules align,

You and I left our troubles far behind,

But I still have just one more question on my mind

For all my pals who live in the oceans and the seas

With friends like these well, who needs enemies?

In that moment they're back to being just MC and Caleb, not a hunter and a fighter pilot. And the last two lines sound like they're trading workplace gossip. Caleb tells her about the shenanigans his colleagues get up to and MC telling him about all the...'quirky' people she's been running into (hi Xav) and then being cheeky and going 'with friends like these, who needs enemies?'

And then you move to the second verse and it's them on a date. It's them on the most damn wholesome date you can imagine, I'm sorry I don't make the rules.

Like first they go apple picking,

If I'm your boy, we'll take a short cut we remember and we'll enjoy—

—picking apples in late September like we've done for years.

We'll take a long walk through the cornfield and I'll kiss you between the ears.

Then they come home and cook together (maybe make a pie with the apples they just picked or some other apple based dish?),

And as we twirl, the glow in the dark stars on your ceiling will shine for us

If you're my girl, swirl me around your room with feeling

As love sweeps over the room cuz' we tend to make, each other blush

(you make me blush)

They're so used to each other's presence even in a kitchen that can be considered a little cramped, they can perfectly navigate around each other.

After the two had eaten a delicious dinner, they are now cuddled on the couch with a blanket over the two of them, some movie playing on the TV. MC starts nodding off so Caleb picks her up and moves her to the bedroom, letting her snuggle against him. He brushes some loose strands of hair away so he can kiss her forehead,

"Love ya pipsqueak, sleep well."

And before drifting off he hears MC mumble a sleepy "I love you too..."

And that's how their perfect day ends.

You're the bird, I'm the worm and it's plain to see,

That we were meant to be.

----------------------------------------------------------

Author's rambling

Haaaa, I finally finished it yay! If you're reading this, thanks for reading this far! (or if you're a Caleb stan and just decided to read his part only, hello!)

I hope you enjoyed my takes. This was fun, I loved breaking down each song and just rambling my heart out over why each song gives me vibes for which character.

[zukadiary]

Hi!💓 I have a few questions, apologies if they are a lil vague, it's just something that has been on my mind lately as a fairly new fan:

1. Was it ever clear that Chinatsu is the next top? Was it the reason for Ari's transfer, or was it a need for ninbante in star and that's why Chinatsu became the next in moon?

2. Also, how did you predict back then that Coto will have a long run as top star? Based on what in particular?

3. Why did Tamaki became top star comparably so early?

4. And I know that lgbt+ culture is practically nonexistent in Japan, but i still wonder if any of the actress ever talked abt it or addressed it in any way? Has anything regarding lgbt happened around taka that you know of?

Thanks a lot for your blog!! I am writing a wiki page in my mother tongue for taka rn, since it doesn't exist yet, and ur explanations clarified a few things for me, so thanks a ton again! 💕

Hello! Not vague at all :)

It was NOT personally clear to me that Chinatsu was going to be top (usually these things are obvious, occasionally we get a surprise). I don't think it was the reason for Ari's transfer though; it's impossible to know for sure, but my guess is more because of Oda (they don't want her to wait for Ari to finish) and some need to balance Hoshi. With Chinatsu as an older top, she can stay for a shorter time (similar examples would be Sou Kazuho and Hokusho Kairi, also older tops who stayed for three Grand Theater shows) and Oda can become top sooner.

I had a feeling Coto would be a long top for a number of reasons... 1) she's extremely popular and puts a lot of butts in seats, 2) she has a reputation for being a "mini Yuzuki Reon," who also stayed for a really long time, 3) the Hoshigumi producer has a bit of a reputation for putting a lot of stock in high-powered top stars and somewhat neglecting the nurturing of his track, and 4) until Ari came over there was no clear successor, which made me think they were going to ride Coto until they figured it out.

I've only heard rumors about this... one that Miya Rurika didn't want to be top star, one that Manaki Reika was so popular they designed the troupe around her and the producers didn't like her and Miya/Kacha together as much as they liked her and Tamaki together... but again, there is no way to know for sure.

Firstly, LGBT+ culture is NOT practically nonexistent in Japan—not saying this to correct you, but it's an impression a lot of people get and it makes them sad! So I want to share the reality of it! LGBT+ activism is way less prevalent than in other cultures (and as a result, legal protections are definitely behind), but this is true of pretty much all types of activism (I had an interesting conversation about this with a group of Japanese climate activists). There is a rich LGBT+ nightlife scene, and over the years Japan has been fairly ahead of the curve when it comes to queerness in media and fan culture. There is, however, a very "we pretend we do not see it" energy despite the prevalence. That said, Takarazuka actresses are almost definitely forbidden from talking about this while active, and discouraged while retired (especially if they stay in entertainment). Even if they are not actively discouraged, because there is no culture around being open about it on a real and personal level, they certainly wouldn't out other people and likely wouldn't out themselves. There are OGs both in and out of entertainment who are not shy about living as their honest selves and you can pretty much tell, but it still doesn't tend to be something they openly talk about (Nanami Hiroki and Miya Rurika have discussed breaking gender norms in interviews, but have skirted around saying anything definitive about themselves). The one exception I can immediately think of is Misuzu Aki retired and blogged about moving to Europe with her female partner.

[justatalkingface]

what's your opinion on the big 3? When I was hyperfoxed on this series they were the thing I care Abt the most (I enjoyed season 4, obv I'd change some stuff now but I still remember it being atleast ok)

I hate how dirty they did my girl nejire, as far as I'm aware they didn't even do anything with her after the whole pagent thing she just got a small backstory about how she was sad (don't know all of it I haven't been keeping up that well w the manga)

mirios not having a quirky and having to save eri (a girl who I can't imagine would be that skilled at the age she is and has been training on lizards to give his quirk back all together, I'd imagine it taking a few more months but bnhas time is shit so) and coming back in the war arc to punch one person and then basically do noting iicr

The only decently written one was amajiki, I wish they had more going on I think they have a fun dynamic (w them helping taking care of eri and me rlly liking idk what it's called but I love the fluff it brings) :(

Lots of mixed feelings, in all honesty. Lots of mixed feelings.

I'll admit, a big part of my mixed feelings about them is they showed up as the latest, 'Stomp on Izuku's everything' at the point in the story where it was becoming obvious that there was always something stomping on Izuku, and that gave me a bad first impression on them I've never been able to shake... which isn't helped by how they're connected to the clusterfuck of Nighteye, of all people, which is kind of my whole thing with Mirio (warning; I am biased):

As a person, he's obviously nice, but as a character, basiclly his entire reason for existing was, 'give Izuku an existential crisis' and I don't think I've ever forgiven him for that, really. His entire character is just bigger, stronger, older, happier, more capable, more confident, more successful, more loved Izuku, who had a Quirk his whole life and only had to dig deep to find out how strong it, and he, was all along.

Unironically. It's....

It's a really bad look, to be blunt; he feels kind of like a bad fanfiction character written by a bad writer who wanted to put their super special OC in the story, except he's canon.

Since we've never seen him even think something unheroic, there's really nothing that distinguishes him from that impression factual statement, which, again, makes it hard for me to give a shit about him, or even remember him... which is a problem Hori seems to share, lol. It doesn't help that I loathe Sir Nighteye and that most of his development time is spent admiring him, to boot, and that his parts of the story are either empty or focused on a living plot device I can't quite like no matter how hard I try because of how blatant the emotional manipulation is about the biggest story breaking, SOD shattering plot device until Stars and Stripes showed up.

If he ever got any kind of development to flesh him out a human being rather than being either Izuku and/or a heroic archetype, it'd help, but beyond all of that his biggest personality trait is liking jokes, and that barely even comes up. Or, rather, considering both the Final Arc and his response to Bakugou's name, along with Nighteye's own tendencies, 'jokes', maybe.

He doesn't deserve it, I admit it, it's not his fault, but I just can't get past that. He also doesn't deserve to just be forgotten until his big moment of a butt joke, but... MHA, everyone. In all honesty, I'd just like him better if his entire story arc didn't exist in and as some of the worst parts of the Overhaul arc, but he's tainted by that fact.

I freely admit that I am unfairly biased against him, so take all of that with a mountain of salt.

As a side note though, god, the story doesn't seem to realize how badly Nighteye is using the poor kid; Mirio thinks Nighteye is training him because he's worthy, while Nighteye mainly seems to be doing it because he's the closest thing to an All Might clone he can get, bar him actually cloning All Might, even if he grew to like him for who he is. I'm not sure Nighteye ever thought of Mirio with just his Quirk as anything more than a temporary situation; even at the start of canon, when on his own merits he's rising to fame with how successful he is, Nighteye's overall focus is still about getting AFO into the kid.

I almost wish I could see Nighteye explaining how all of his training came down to getting All Might's Quirk, just to see MIrio react and tear Nighteye down a peg about it, except Hori's history of handling these kinds of things means he'd never be allowed to be properly offended on his own behalf, the poor bastard.

Moving on, Tamaki. Out of all of them, he's had the biggest of an on-screen story arc, and in a intellectual way his Quirk is easily the most interesting. Unfortunately, while he has a personality, it feels so bland at times that he's far easier to remember for his Quirk than who he is.

I liked his story, really, but at the time it was overshadowed by Mirio and his everything, and by the time he showed back up it was clear how irrelevant it and he was, so it was more about how (admittedly, very) cool he get his Quirk to be than it was about him, and with some brutal honesty, it's probably because his Quirk is so interesting that he even got that much focus beyond that initial arc by Hori.

And... Nejirie.

In a combat sense she's easily the best of them, really; Mirio is almost purely defensive, which limits him (especially if he's not surprising someone with it) while Tamaki's Quirk, while flexible, is so conditional in ways that can easily hold him back (we only ever see him fight with full preparation; if he's not gearing for a fight he'd be easy to ambush), and like a lot of things in the Final Arc, his big laser canon thing is.... questionable.

Nejirie, though, is just simply powerful. In a setting where everyone has one power and one main application of that power, where you either fly or blast things, but not both, she's the closest I've seen to a 'traditional' super hero, like you'd see in Marvel or DC.

At the same time, though, out of the three of them she least has a story, for obvious reasons, and it's a disgrace, really. If Hori had just spent some time on her, on the her backstory that apparently exists (yeah, I'm not sure where that is either), she could have been so interesting... but really, all she is is the Girl Teammate. Her personality traits are The Girl Teammate's personality traits. She's just The Girl Teammate stamped over all of the interesting stuff, and it's such a waste, it really is.

And finally, as a unit? The Big Three is a shiny toy that Hori forgot in the corner somewhere as soon as he got bored with it. He spent a few minutes oohing and aahing over them, focusing really hard on developing interesting powers, how they could be used, and how strong they were, only to start to lose interest as soon as those powers were established, and he was writing the three of them off before their introductory arc was even over.

[v-arbellanaris]

as i was doing my other hawke pts (rowan [warrior], muna [support mage], mira [dps mage]), i rly started to miss rogue combat lmao so i started an isra pt again because i miss her also BUT actually something i never thought about too closely before but ive been thinking abt constantly now is isra and the arishok

rowan does not get a single square foot of respect from the arishok imho, and mira still has to prove herself to the arishok tho he does call her basalit-an in the end, but isra is the only one where like. they arrive at the keep and he already calls her basalit-an. she's always really transparent with him, but she also doesn't take his shit - whenever he tries to intimidate her or dismiss her, she calls him on his bluff and walks away, and he's always the one calling her back (and then demanding to know how she can just walk away from him)

its such a fascinating dynamic because she's really not hostile to him in the least (even if maybe she should be), which reveals a side of her i hadn't really thought about before. she's fairly sympathetic to the qunari's struggles in kirkwall, more so than any of my other hawke pcs - in many ways, i think she draws a lot of parallels between her own existence as a mage (and the chantry painting mages as demons in sleep) and how the qunari are being treated in kirkwall. there's really something that's so chewy about how miranda and muna and joan and rowan all see the arishok as a hair trigger away from blowing up the entirety of kirkwall with a single spoon of gaatlok, but isra is the one who understands that the arishok is trying not to make this situation worse, that he isnt interested in war or looking for it, and as a result, she's not aggressive or hostile to him in conversation

like i keep thinking abt isra going lmao well this is none of my fucking business and walking off when the arishok tells her about someone stealing saar-qamek in act 2, and its the arishok who calls her back, emphasising that a lot of people will die if the saar-qamek gets out. with the others, when he says it, it sounds like he's simply informing or allowing hawke to make the decision based on the saar-qamek's danger, but since isra did actively already try to walk off, he comes off as actually concerned abt the potential death toll (and the ensuing political ramifications of a whole bunch of kirkwall citizens are killed by a qunari poison). that moment provides such a fascinating depth to their relationship that i don't really get with my other hawkes, and i wonder if it is, in part, because isra is a former circle mage, and has the exact experience of how suffocating it is to be treated like that.

which ofc led me to the thought of like... how even when hawke is a mage pc, the arishok doesn't do anything. he doesn't turn you over to the templars or the chantry, sure, but he himself makes no effort to do anything to you. or to get aggressive. even though you have other qunari like the arvaraad getting immediately violent after he finds out that hawke is a mage or that there are mages around them that are not bound. how does he square with that bc i don't think i've ever seen an explanation for it...

it's been so interesting to think about their relationship and their discussions, and like tbqh i'm kind of obsessed with the vibe... despite repeatedly being like "its not my job to explain the qun to you and also idk how to make it make sense", he will still attempt to explain things to isra anyway. and isra, being primarily an academic before anything else, always has questions, and i think its such a rare chance at dialogue with someone who actually matters in the qun. the arishok represents the body of the entirety of the qunari, and i think that's something i certainly sometimes overlook when discussing things or thinking abt him, but i think its humbling to me that he will engage in conversations with hawke directly, even when hawke was just... no one. and i think isra would take the opportunity imho - both out of academic curiosity but also sympathy. is there anyone in this city who treats him like a person, she wonders. idk!!! i just love the idea of isra showing up with a chess board or something at the qunari compound every now and again simply to see if he'll engage her with an academic discussion or bitch about the viscount lmao

[stellaluna33]

have you ever heard that song Bless the telephone by labi siffre? i was listening to it earlier and thought about jess and rory and their recurring thing with phone calls and how you mentioned they would never run out of things to talk abt on the phone after two weeks. and i think the act of the Phone Call in some way symbolizes the unique intimacy they have with each other that they can’t exactly find with anyone else. like with rory she tries to mimic her and jess’ phone calls (and relationship) w dean in s4 + gets tired of deans clingy 27 missed calls everyday in s2. and with logan. like you said. in s7 rory has to bring phone sex into the game because they… kinda got bored of talking to each other. and the only phone call jess and rory have in which they cant connect. is when she’s breaking up with him and cant even be 100% sure it’s him because he can’t make himself say anything at all. being on the phone is their thinggg hi hey is their thinggg n no matter what it will always be ^_^

Ooh! You know, I MIGHT have heard that song before, because my husband was going through his discography a few months ago, but if so I didn't really pay close attention to the lyrics at the time! But YES! 🥺. This is something I've been mulling over a lot recently, between that post and seeing a gifset of all the Literati phonecalls, and I think you're absolutely right. And it makes perfect sense for them because there's a certain intimacy that comes with telephone conversations, where it's just the two of you, and everyone else is, by necessity, excluded. Only YOU can hear their voice (I'm ignoring the existence of speaker phone here, haha, and I can't imagine Rory and Jess using it? It's not private or intimate enough), they are connected to YOU ALONE. You're alone together, even when you're not. Yeah. 🥺

And, apart from that last tragic call (where Jess can't even speak! 😩), don't you kind of get the impression that they could go on talking forever? Like, even when Jess calls Rory from NY, the call is only short because Jess ran out of money- they were already spiraling off in new directions (David Lee Roth etc. haha) and I get the feeling they could have rabbit-trailed indefinitely if they had the time! Even when Jess called about seeing Rory's name with Dean on the poster, after the "business" was concluded, they kept talking and talking about other things! For both that scene and their first phone conversation, the SCENE ends before the call does, and you're left with the feeling that they're still there, in their own little world. Yeah. 🥺

And even though Season 7 is... to be taken with a grain of salt imo, haha, I keep thinking about what Amy said about Rory and Logan... That their relationship isn't built on "deep talkin'," haha. So what happens to a relationship like that when Talking is the only thing LEFT? I don't know, sexting, I GUESS. 😅 Because is physical intimacy the only kind of intimacy they had? I suppose it helps if you have a private jet and a helicopter, haha. BUT I DIGRESS! I am DEFINITELY biased, I freely admit! But... I just can't help my preference! I love lovers who connect soul-to-soul.

[noctiilio]

If gengetsu was never your favourite, who would be your second choice?

See, i'm sorry to disappoint, but that's an impossible answer for me. But I guess i can find still an answer bc i actually didnt have Gen for most of my time in the fandom. But i can tell you i've been even more invested since ive had her.

I was actually not interested in learning abt her character bc her fanon "jokes" were really insensitive, and turned my 14-15 year old self away from her without even digging deeper. I left it at that and forgot about the twins entirely.

But i did look for her trope these entire 12 years ive been here. I looked for the protective, caring, whimsical, powerful yet still playful personality Gengetsu has. So to me it's like she's been here this whole time but i just didnt know it and attributed these traits to one of the non-speaking midbosses instead bc i could do whatever w them bc no canon info could contradict my vision. imagine my joy when i found out that character EXISTED without me having to make things up. Shes been here for 2 yrs with me knowing but ive acfively searched for her for a decade.

my true best friend who stood the test of time since i was 13, though, was flandre, now that i think of it. That's the case for millions of people, yes, shes a popular kiddo! but i always saw in her what most people in the 2010s (the peak of fanon flan's popularity) didn't see. Even when i was in middle school i saw in flandre a lot of my own traits growing up undiagnosed, so i couldn't antagonize her for the life of me. and so, my portrayal of the scarlets were surprisingly canon friendly despite me not having THAT good of a character reading comprehension skill in my teens.

But still, Gengetsu surpassed her even in those short two years ive had her, and ive made it my life mission to make those horrible jokes about her a long gone nightmare so that people see the good in her. Actually, that's kind of what i do for flan too! I shine light on them so that people can see past the terrible fanon that turned me away from Gen so long ago.

I think they should be friends by the way. A lot of people say that but for, again, fanon "evil girls" reason (to which i frown, pout, and make a sad face) but i think theyre full of whimsy and have a lot of energy to spare, they could be friends on a canon setting too!

All this to say i finally found my Blorbo of All Time and i'm not letting go!

[spaceratprodigy]

could i bother u for more thoughts on faith and max in a mock apple orchard 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

@gayafsatan — I would absolutely LOVE to brainstorm some fun ideas of them in a mock apple orchard!!

I've been replaying again so they've been rotating around in my mind a lot extra hard and was especially thinking about mock apple picking bc the botanical labs also has a lil orchard where you can pick mock apples up off the ground! But I'm currently in Roseway so oughhh.. ideas....

I want you now I am going to ramble a LOT so please bear with me I swearsies it'll be more fun if we get the full lore dump from my brain 😩💖💕

–

👇 ROSEWAY THOUGHTS 👇

(I AM GOING TO TALK ABT ROSEWAY THOUGHTS AS A WHOLE AND THEN EASE INTO SOME SILLY MOCK APPLE ORCHARD IDEAS AT THE END OKAY. OKAY ILY THANK YOU).

–

My thoughts are very chaotic and rambly so let me try to walk though my ideas lmao

Roseway is typically where I peg Faith's death wish arc happening, and to summarize what all that entails, it's when the mask slips and the weight of everything finally hits her in full force.

I always envision this story happening over a long period of time so a lot of time has passed since first arriving at Edgewater and the Groundbreaker.

Halcyon. Her situation. Her identity. The life Phineas threw her into abruptly and his expectations for her. Making split second moral decisions where no matter what someone is going to get hurt. Being so alien and alone, no one to understand her or believe in her predicament but having to be the mysterious competent captain regardless.

It finally gets to her. Bad. And she makes some self destructive decisions. She gets sloppy, careless, hoping someone else will end this nightmare for her. Until they almost do.

I am swiftly brushing past many details so we don't get too lost in the sauce. But Max went after her, found her collapsed and injured bad, carried her back to the ship for Ellie to do whatever she could, and then stayed by her side for as long as it took for her to wake up.

This is such a key moment for them getting closer. Because there was a lot of frustration and emotion and being forced to confront the possibility of feelings existing, but nothing they fully understand or are ready to acknowledge as such yet.

She tries to brush past the subject of what happened, deflecting everything until he raises his voice in a way he hasn't since she gave him the journal and she threatened he never talk like that to her again. And it was enough to break through her facade, for her to show just how utterly broken and vulnerable she is, and they have a proper fucking conversation about where she's at mentally. He still isn't ready for the truth about her life before. But it's a step forward.

There is a lot of patience and understanding and just. Yeah. A lot happens here. Some walls come down. There grows some room for them to become softer and closer over more time.

All of this is important because a short piece I had written a long time ago took place in this area roughly after this incident.

It was a personal outlet vent piece, I will be honest. When I wrote it it was after I had a very bad panic attack after an awful scare. And I wrote it into Faith because I just wanted to get some feelings from that experience out of my system.

The shortened version of that one is Faith recovering from a bad episode, trying to calm her breathing, waiting for her ears to stop ringing and for her vision to come back. Her legs gave out on her and she was sitting under the mock apple trees. Her voice locks up on her when she's seriously distressed. Yadda yadda yadda, Max had brought along his datapad so she could communicate anything important and she was incredibly confused because she knows he doesn't like using his datapad ever and then rendered even more speechless to know he brought it specifically for her in case something like this were to happen again. It ends with her just asking if he would keep talking to her, and they sit there under the mock apple trees for a while, in no particular rush to get anywhere.

And after this point, I think the mock apple orchards become a really peaceful, therapeutic spot for her when she just wants a moment to herself. Sits there, breathes, takes in the Roseway scenery and collects herself before jumping back into the horrors of Halcyon. Spends some time picking mock apples to take back to the ship.

I've been having a lot of ideas of her asking Max to go with her. I'm of the mind if she'd ask directly that he'd either decline, or at least pretend to be uninterested but she's the one who asked so he accepts the offer.

But I can see her being vague and just saying that she's heading out if he'd join her and she leads him to the orchards. By this point they're already often in each other's company, she indulges his interests often, letting him be the one who is finally listened to. But in general, they get along very well in conversation when it comes to a handful of similar interests and their personalities and attitudes bounce off of each other well.

(In my story anyway, since she spends an extended amount of time in Edgewater and the Vale, there was also a lot of time spent doing some early bonding with Max. So do with that info what you will. They're not likeee besties yet but they're much more than strangers by this point, ya'know? Just to get an idea of where their familiarity with each other is at and why there's enough respect and trust to some extent already existing. Not to mention how much time they had spent on the Groundbreaker).

They'd be having such a peaceful time away from the rest of the crew.

Oughhh hear me out, okay, Faith loves to bake. She doesn't even ask, she just makes Max hold her bag open while she starts collecting mock apples and after they finally head back to the ship she figures out how to make mock apple pie for the crew 😭 we already know Max doesn't care much for sweets (I wonder how sweet or tart a mock apple pie would be.. Faith girl what all Halcyon ingredients are you adding to that bad boy) but.. what if.... After everyone goes to bed...... He tries some anyway........ Because she made it..........

Most of what's bouncing around in my brain is them early on having wholesome bonding time in a spot just for the two of them. Just enjoying each other's company. Realizing they have genuine respect for each other, Faith feeling like she found a genuine friend who went to lengths further than anyone had in her entire life to make sure she survived. I am specifying Faith's feelings here intentionally. I write Max in a more complicated spot very blinded by his revenge scheme more or less unaware for a long while just how much the lines start blurring between his faith and his Faith. To put it succinctly. (Look I know I'm always drawing The Good Stuff™️ but in actuality their relationship is suchhhh a slow burn. They are not the most romantically inclined people lmao).

But also.. once she realizes she can talk to him when she needs to. I think coming back to this spot, off the ship, away from the crew, she just likes it there. She likes being there with him. She finds comfort in that spot.

OKAY BUT DO YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE WOULD BE CUTE.... they should come back here.. post-scylla and post-gorgon...... Ya'know......... The first being when they establish not wanting to be apart and the second being when they want to make that partnership a permanent one......... ASKING HER IN THE MOCK APPLE ORCHARDS WOULDN'T THAT BE DARLING ough okay I need a minute my brain is going too fast to comprehend

My Roseway ideas aren't the most cleaned up I know BUT so many important bonding moments exist and oughhhh LOOSE IDEAS ARE STILL WORTH TALKING ABOUT OKAYYYYY

I just want them to go mock apple picking together and learn how to get smiles out of each other and not understand why it makes their chests hurt but they know they need to do it again

ACTUALLYYYYY post-scylla when he's much more mellowed out and they're the closest they've been I think would be so so nice. they'd be so much softer and he'd probably be so much more involved in wanting to enjoy silly lil activities with her.....

Currently imagining him reading out loud to her, all the conversations they'd have, maybe he brings his tossball cards to show her, maybe they bring one of the lil games, have a lil makeshift picnic....

Godddd the transition between just how much enthusiasm he shows spending time with her is enough to make me explode. Can you see my vision. The reluctance, to the hesitancy, to becoming absolutely inseparable.

I HAVE A LOT TO THINK ABOUT BUT I'M GETTING SLEEPY SO SENDING IT!!!!!!

Literally feel free to add on or share your own thoughts I'm begging you lmao I promise there is so much room for ideas to be fleshed out and better put together, I'm mostly just spitballing what all I think would be incredibly fun ideas to work with. Plus I'm kind of thinking across the timeline and how much their relationship would change between each visit. And how over time they would enjoy it more and more and make each visit more special than the last.

WAIT BEFORE I LOSE THE THOUGHT!! They make a stop RIGHT BEFORE HEADING TO SCYLLA TO GO TO THE HERMIT'S LODGE!! Oh that could hurt so good omgggg. Okay okay I need to stop now I NEED TO STOP.

[skrs-cats]

I have reread sunrise (the first actual wc book I've ever owned) and it's been WILD reliving a few of my memories with all the made up stuff I've accumulated in brainrot over the three, now I have all these thoughts that I have to vomit out. Aka a REALLY LONG incomprehensible ramble post abt the ending book of po3. Mostly about lionblaze though. I'm sory

*IDK how many times I've mentioned this, but chapter 1 starting out w lion leaving the df for good and beating tigerstar in a fight ALWAYS makes me wonder how things would have been affected if he just straight up went for the killing blow. I've only ever read books 1-5 once, so I don't have the best memory, but I think it's interesting to note that tigerstar managed to actually injure him, and lion was scared that if he died here he'd be dead for real, and then lion was surprised to see the wound when he woke up. I'm just wondering if these facts were first introduced here or if I just have tunnel vision towards this book (which is also true)

*'lionblaze always knew there was something wrong between him and ashfur' no shit bitch 😩😩😩😩😩 and then there's lion wondering if cats suspect him as ashfurs killer, something to do about everyone realizing how they never got along. and NOW I'm thinking about lion ending his df dream w tigerstars blood on his paws, and how that might have made the READERS suspect HIM to be the killer (leafpool prolouge chapter contributing to this supicion seeing as lion is also her kit) Only to end as a red herring when Holly is revealed to be the girlie w mascara running down her face (u can't see it clearly but my point stands)

*interesting lines about ashfurs death that I think about regarding what a warrior means for the clan (nonverbatim):

-'Ashfur never mattered this much when he was alive'

-'Ashfur's murder now made the clan determined to make him into a hero.'

*lion is posited to be the brave one of the three, in regards to physical danger and such. I am taking this character trait and cranking it up to a million

*I forgot smoky and floss existed :( IDK if they're still alive in the latest arcs but I hope they're doing ok

*brambleclaw trying 2 be nice to his kids and tell them that they can confide in him bc clearly they're all hung up about something but being denied it is funny and sad to me personally. He didn't talk w Jay, just as leaf didn't talk much w lion in this book, but I think it's given an interesting ending when in the end, its officially revealed even squirrel didn't tell him of the truth, which ends their relationship for the most part. I really do wonder how well he could have taken this if he was in on the secret from the very start.

*outside of that they sure do like to crank up the dramatics and mention bramble / squirrel as their parents any chance they get so that the three can be Emo about it like. 'THEYRE NOT MY MOTHER/FATHER.' 'WHATEVER SKILLS WE HAVE DIDNT COME FROM YOU.' 'WHY DO YOU CARE SO MUCH? WE'RE NOT EVEN KIN!' last one is abt leafpool which is honestly a lot. I think.

* one of the saddest parts about this book was how lonely they made purdy 😭😭😭 this poor old man. I'm glad they brought him back to the clan. But also I think they just forgot about him bc for someone being so vocal in defending Sol, he was outright just not mentioned when it was revealed Sol 'escaped'

* more lines that I think about regarding clan cats (also nonverbatim)

- Clan cats' instinctive distrust of outsiders

- why do clan cats have to think they always know what's best?

* Sol. He's just there to me ig.

* I liked jingo. I hope she's doing ok even now

*criminal how this book barely has any sibling bonding w the three when that is my blood sweat and tears. Maybes that's why I got so obsessed w the three of them being happy together bc I was STARVED.

* honeyfern 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

* call it the thunderclan bias in me but I was sorta annoyed when the three other clans walked in and told them that they should get rid of Sol or else. But also thunderclans reaction to Sol seemingly having run away is like. Giving back stolen candy to pre schooler vibes. Or something. This makes no sense I'm sorry

*I think it's interesting that Jay and Holly manage to find out who their mother is thru their own way. With the former deducing it on his own (I actually enjoyed the detective esque work he did in doing it) and Holly straight up asking leafpool. So now I propose lion being informed someway or other thru SQUIRRELFLIGHT BC I WANT FOR HER TO TALK W ANY OF THEM AND THAT LION FIINDING OUT THRU HIS SIBS WAS SO BORING OKAY I WANT HIM TO HAVE A SHOCKING REVELATION TOO-

* ahem. Also can I mention Holly confronting leaf abt who their parents were and leaf thinking it was about ashfur is so unbelievably ????? KHADHD, I'm not saying it was bad. but MAN. Talk about awkward huh

* anyways. When they all find out that leaf is their mom and then squirrel and leaf are mentioned to have looked at the three in the same familiar expression they have always had; love. And that line hurt me as much as Holly refusing to acknowledge or listen to it and running away. Lion and Jay werent against listening to what their 'mothers' had to say, but they loved Holly more than to just let her go on her own

* I always blabber about how they should have tried to talk thru their issues but man. They tried multiple times. They tried so hard. I'm not gonna specify who but they tried.

* Holly and lion changing their view of Sol in opposite ways in the two instances they meet w him is interesting but also a bit confusing. The last time we get a pov of lion is when he helped Sol escape so we don't really get a clear idea of his own thoughts anymore w everything after. That's why I can't help but just think abt him I guess

* reading Hollyleaf spiral more and more into her grief and despair sure was something.

* out of the three, jayfeather was actually the calmest in this book. Which is saying something, I think. I'm now taking this and making it my mission to have all the three of them as short tempered grumpy schmucks.

there's a lot more to talk about for me regarding these three, but I think I've used up all the words in my brain. My last thought though, is that after going through All That as an ending, it was really funny to just have this as a preview of the next book.

Also a bonus picture of what this book looks like too, sorry if it hurts u but it's testament to me on how much I adored this thing when I was younger </3

[tommyssupercoolblog]

vent abt ableism w DID/general plurality stuff under cut

to be honest i thought when we started going to meetups and stuff that we should be honest about our plurality upfront, because i don't like having to pretend i'm someone i'm not.

but it's been months and i've realized that a lot of people think you telling them you have a disability or disorder or are just plain weird counts as truamadumping and is "uncomfosrtable" and needs to be censored, like this is something i'm only allowed to tell my therapist and closest friends. something that happens sometimes with autism or ADHD, but not nearly as consistent as with DID.

i say, "hi, we have DID, my name is tommy :)" and people look at me like i just flashed them nudes without consent. it's really dehumanizing to be treated with disgust and discomfort for just...my life??? the way I am- the way we are??? my entire identity has to be kept a secret??? fuck no!!! you get to introduce yourself, so do fucking I.

but it doesn't work that way. for a lot of people, it doesn't work that way. and they will treat you very, very badly about it. I even had folks shower me in questions; i spent over an hour talking to this girl about how plurality works and what headspace is and everything, only to text her the next morning and find out the movie she invited me to was now not an option. She pretended to not have invited me even though she told me in plain english i could tag along and it's the only reason she gave me her fucking number.

But when she invited me to come, she apparently didn't know what DID was, and later at dinner I made a comment about another alter and at the group's confusion had to clarify, "DID, disosiative identity disorder, we have multiple identities/people in one body," and i watched everyone else IMMEDIATELY shrink away in discomfort and get quiet and nervous around me the rest of the 6 hours i was out with them. so when i contacted her after she'd found out we had DID, she didn't want me to come anymore. It was a very clear before and after. before, i was welcome. after, she made me explain it to her, and then gaslit me about the invitation.

my existence isn't gross or disturbing. my life isn't gross or disturbing. my consciousness, my sense of self, my identity, my being alive, isn't something you get to gawk and mutter and get disgusted about. get over yourself!!!!!!

...but of course they don't.

I've already experienced so much ableism for everyhting else we have. It's starting to get really disheartening, and last time i just....lied. i didn't introduce myself, and i let strangers assume my pronouns (they got them wrong btw. and no, they didn't even ask, although i'm not sure what i'd say if they did) and talk to me like i was someone else the whole night, and I cried after while i waited to be picked up. it felt horrible.

I wanted to scream. it's so, so unfair. I hate it.

[ghostsontelevision]

sorry the gaylor stuff is fascinating to me so i wrote a whole damn essay abt it under the cut

something i find personally really interesting about gaylor stuff is like - i see the sentiment expressed often in gaylor circles that taylor swift's queerness needs to exist to justify her art. like, if taylor swift isn't queer, why does she write so much about hidden romances? about feeling like she needs to protect her lover from the public? how come she writes about these big dramatic whirlwind affairs when in real life she just dates boring white guys?

there's a few answers:

writing about normal dating stuff isn't as fun as writing about big dramatic whirlwind affairs. yes, love can be stored in going to the grocery store together and cuddling and movie nights - but it's hard to get multiple albums worth of material out of the bliss of domestic mundanity

she is a woman in the public eye. her dating life has been heavily scrutinized by a million strangers since she was sixteen. publicly being seen with someone is in fact a big thing for her, even though she is a cishet white woman who historically has only dated cishet white guys

as much as she hypes up her work as autobiographical - she is capable of writing fiction and has done so before. to assume that every song is ripped straight from her diary seems like it's discrediting her own creativity (and, see point one)

and i think its fair to say that these themes she returns to of forbidden love and having to hide your feelings can absolutely resonate with queer audiences. yeah, i do think a lot of her songs probably hit harder if you imagine they're about a queer person. but relatability and identity are not the same thing, and i think it's important to both not assume that everyone with x identity has experienced y, but also to not assume that experiencing y means someone must have x identity.

however, there's another layer to this. if i were to tell a straight girl about my personal experiences with homophobia, and she responded by saying "i absolutely understand - my dad wouldn't let me date anyone until i was eighteen, i had to sneak boys in and out of the house" - i would understand this as well intentioned, but i might feel slighted or misunderstood by the fact that she considered society-wide discrimination equivalent to having to worry about getting in a fight with her dad. similarly, i've seen many gaylors express that taylor being an ally would make her absolutely unpalatable to them - if she's straight, that means she centered herself every time she talked about lgbt activism despite being heterosexual, that means all the lyrics about hidden relationships are actually about her public boring white boyfriends, that means she didn't ramp up her gay activism because she was planning on coming out and she just did it to promote her new album, that means there really aren't any more secrets to decode and she might actually be dating a football player. for a lot of gaylors, the gay subtext is in fact the entire reason they like taylor swift, and if she's a heterosexual woman, that means they have to find a new favorite artist

in case it's unclear: this is an outsiders perspective. i find gaylor stuff interesting in the same way i find paul is dead stuff interesting - the concept of this long running conspiracy theory surrounding celebrities is really fun for me. paul mccartney is alive, though, and taylor swift is, at least to my knowledge, heterosexual. i'm actually not really a taylor swift fan - i won't change the station if she comes on the radio, but i'm only familiar with her hits and also steadfastly believe that her being gay wouldn't outweigh the damage her jet has done to the environment. i don't have any investment in taylor's sexuality at all - if she's been secretly dating whatever woman she was most recently photographed with, ok cool. if she's actually for reals dating the football guy - cool. but i think a lot of gaylor stuff leans on starting from the assumption that she's queer and works back from that, which makes for poor theorycrafting. additionally, i think it's fuckin goofy to pretend the biggest pop star in the world would face career-ruining backlash for being gay, especially when she's made her stance on gay rights known. i can't imagine someone going "i thought the gay rights song was good and tasteful but knowing she herself is queer has ruined her for me". if she could come back from the kanye scandal, the jet thing, the dating a right-wing asshole thing - she will literally be fine, and to pretend otherwise is to ignore the plethora of other queer pop stars who are far less famous than her and still maintained their careers.

however, i do find that theory that she and harry styles committed vehicular manslaughter and had it covered up pretty funny. i will incorporate that one into my belief system.

[manbehindthemask]

What are the paintings you’d use describe Jules best?

i've been thinking abt this question for way too long bcs my brain suddenly forgot what paintings existed but! finally i got my shit together a lil bit hehehe :-) long explanation under the cut

i think as a genre of art it'd be impressionism

Claude Monet (b. 1840) || Impression, Sunrise (1872) || Oil on canvas

impressionism as a movement was very contrary to what was accepted as art at the time. it was sloppy and not so much about a perfect picture but was actually about capturing a moment and i feel like that's so crucial to who he is. he isn't about perfection he's about feelings and being in the moment. his painting style absolutely isn't like that tho because he spends a lot of time sketching and studying wherever he is painting.

Edvard Munch (b. 1863) || The Sun (1909) || Oil on canvas

knowing the artist of this piece is kinda important to seeing who jules really is. edvard munch is the artist that did the scream and is viewed mainly as a dark artist that depicted pain and mental anguish. compared to his other stuff this piece is like a sigh of relief

jules is the opposite, he's a bright and shiny person that is a tangled web of uncertain emotions on the inside

Georgia O'Keeffe (b. 1887) || Blue and Green Music (1919) || Oil on canvas

i think a lot of georgia o'keeffe's work resonates with and about jules, she painted to express her feelings in a way words couldn't and i feel like that's sometimes his goal with art

he doesn't like to let himself be vulnerable, so i think he lets his paintings do the talking for him

Jean-Michel Basquiat (b. 1960) || Untitled (Fallen Angel) (1981) || Oil, acrylic, spray paint on canvas

a lot of basquiat's work has an impressionist feel to it, and i think with how he used his struggles as a black man in the 1970s in his art would resonate a lot with jules. jules definitely grew up with a lot of shitty comments being made about him or his family (especially since his parents are immigrants) so i think he'd feel really empowered by how basquiat used his struggles to fuel passion which made art

i've never thought about jules getting/having tattoos but i think he'd definitely get basquiat's crown

even though jules is a traditional watercolor artist, i associate him with a lot of modern art. i guess its bcs he just has that 'fuck around and find out' kind of vibe. he doesn't really experiment with his art per say but he does experiment with his life- that's why he's always on the move

uhh yeah this turned out really long whoopsies

[technovillain]

i love jameela to death so here’s some questions:

-after “fuck giving rich people dangerous technology” does she distance herself from technology entirely or does she keep making personal stuff and/or stuff that’s much harder to exploit? i think she could make some fucking awesome animal monitoring tech (like keeping track of individuals of endangered species, citizen volunteer data collection on bird populations and stuff)

-what’s her flavors of queer and/or neurodivergent

-does she ever end up doing missions or is she not super duper into the agent stuff

-is her dad a rich asshole or just oblivious and ignorant or a mix of the two

-how do you think she’d get along with some of the junior agents, especially norma, gisu, and sam

HI THIS ASK IS ANCIENT BUT I'VE BEEN HOLDING ONTO IT THINKING ABT IT MEANING TO ANSWER IT SO HERE WE GO. ALSO THANK U SOOO MUCH FOR ALL THE INSIGHTFUL QUESTIONS I LOVE THIS.

After that, she pretty much makes a vow to herself to never make a psychic invention again!!!! (....) and then time passes and she goes "Well just one little thing for myself." (....) "Okay just another for just myself." (.....) "Okay it's fine if I'm only making things for myself, even if it's a lot of things. I need technology." What you said there is Exactly the kind of stuff she'd be making too! While she takes a very loud approach to her activism, her approach to saving the world by trying to prevent the horrible future she saw is much more under the radar...mostly because she's still using the psychic technology that she built for herself but pretends that she didn't build at all because she said she swore it off! (She is constantly fighting herself in her own head about this lol.)

I haven't fully decided on this! But I would say that she is asexual and has OCD.

She really kind of functionally.... leaves the Psychonauts after a certain point. Like in a "You're always welcome to come back" kind of way. This is something that I still need to do more thinking on because I need to decide how I think the Psychonauts, being a government funded organization, would feel about psychic activism entering the public sphere.... But anyways yeah I see her leaving for an extended period but coming back when there is suddenly a mission that requires her assistance specifically (one involving Gusty and Veranda.)

I'd have to say he's definitely a mix of the two, leaning more towards the second one. I can't remember exactly how much detail I went into on her story and how it might have changed since I last posted about it (bc tumblr's tag search feature is functionally useless rip) BUT Dallas Delmarro is indeed a tech guru so while his concepts were birthed from those "childhood dreamer with a lot of big ideas" mindsets you always see in people like him, he ended up really focused on his company's bottom line. Business school changed this dude. He is still a pretty good dad considering everything. But considering he's a single father and his job pretty much consumes his life it is pretty easy to see why Jameela felt a strong need to get good at inventing things from a young age (cough cough so she would feel more important to him)

I like to picture these characters existing at the Motherlobe a few years after the events of Psychonauts 2, just so I don't have to think too hard about where they're at in regards to the plot of PN2. Just assuming that most of the big things regarding that plot have died down at this point. So all of the interns/junior agents from the game would be a few years older than Jameela when she gets there. I think she would probably like Norma okay from afar, but not really have any desire to become friends with her...because she can see how she gets. I think she would not know anything at all about Sam and be a little put off by her and not able to read her at all. She would totally be jealous of Gisu though. Because I see Gisu in a few years as working alongside Otto. And in Jameela's story, she came to the Motherlobe to work with Otto but something urgent came up regarding developing some sort of technology, and Sasha and him and Gisu were all working together to develop it. So Jameela doesn't really care for Gisu or Sasha just because they're interfering with her track to success.

[yuukei-yikes]

ive been thinking abt ayaki and shintaro post str lately. like i know realistically ayaki would dissapear since in theory the wish she was created from was fulfilled but i just think her staying creates an interesting idea on shintaro's problem with isolation and tendency to retreat into his own head. bc ayaki literally lives in his head. like ayaki and shintaro are the only two people in the whole world who will ever understand the things theyve seen at a truly deep level. so who else could shintaro go to when he gets flashbacks of previous routes. also the guilt he would probably feel for feeling more attached to the ayano in his head then the one actually there. a literal reflection of his actual feelings towards ayano i think. i kind of lost my train of thought uhm shrugs. i should probably write a google doc abt this

UGH UGH UGH.... THE BIT ABT SHINTARO FEELING MORE ATTACHED TO THE AYANO IN HIS HEAD INSTEAD OF THE ONE ACTUALLY HERE BEING THE SAME AS HOW HE LOVES THE AYANO HE MADE UP IN HIS MIND MORE THAN THE REAL ONE.... THATS SO FUCKING COOL AND REAL AND AWESOME..... YESSSSS shinyaki gets me so badly like. ough. they have been together for so long. i imagine yaki trying so hard to fight her humanity and even be cold to shintaro like!! ACT LIKE THE SNAKE EYE POWER SHE IS. and she does for the most part but Shintaro.... he is so difficult. he keeps being reborn and she keeps watching him grow up til activating her and remembering her again, and every single time shintaro's like Im so sorry for forgetting you again. and ayaki's like. AUGH. STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT. sorry they drive me a little crazy.

yeah i know ayaki would disappear but i dont like thatttt i think❤️❤️❤️ she should stay❤️❤️❤️ i think its a miserable existence and rly speaks abt ayano's character that she just stays there forever. i think there's something very cool abt an ayano tateyama who gets a happy ending in a mortal life at the cost of an suffering ayano who is alone for eternity, who sacrificed everything to be exactly where she is, watching another version of herself be happy. i dont think ayaki jumped into it knowing she'd find peace one day. i think once she is a snake she Is A Snake. Ur ass isnt dying. like she has a damn soul??

sorry the bit abt souls in kagepro drives me crazy. we dont know it with any other snakes other than awakening/konoha and haruka(and saeru but we dont talk abt it). the ending of mca is MESSY messy. personally i dont know if i Really understand it, I've always explained it to myself like konoha/awakening GETS ITS OWN wish bc despite being just a snake, it became its own person, and its wish is to have hiyori live which is how saeru "dies" bc it has to resign to be a surrogate life for hiyori right?? its never explained Why konoha gets a wish but that's it to me. awakening and retaining being opposites bc one is a snake that became a person and the other a person who became a snake.

anyways coming back to the soul thing, it's rly all in haruka and konoha's situation bc konoha becomes its own person, "gains a soul" lets say, and that very soul puts it in conditions of making a wish. haruka was the only one in the daze who wasn't PHYSICALLY there, and his wish never finished getting there bc awakening was like My body now. <- like this is so interesting there's a lot of potential to konoha being even more interesting, maybe being a snake that's always wanted its own body or something. i KNOW its bc haruka's personality wasn't strong for it but that's an ass explanation and it always has been😘

anywyas so haruka coming back by the end to me is explained thru his wish being Actually listened to and konoha retreating back to its original role though it is still a person. i think it becomes a case of reverse, from str onwards it is konoha watching through haruka instead of the other way around. this is kinda the logic behind why ive always loved the konoha reborn hc... with the whole soul thing. like konoha finally cutting ties with being a snake and not being awakening anymore, just konoha!!

god i got super sidetracked. basically ayaki is also a snake with a soul. yes she would disappear by all this logic, once shintaro's wish (and her own) is fulfilled. HOWEVER. i dont want to❤️ however if she DID. there is a HUGE prompt in here about shintaro dealing with the disappearance of ayaki. she has been with him for so long and he remembers it all bc just cuz retaining is away it doesnt mean he just unsees all the routes, yknow? just cant see them again but theyre still in his memory. so he remembers how he's been with her for so many lives and now she's just gone... and there's this other real ayano here. who isn't really another ayano she is the same person. he knows she is but she's still another. augh. augh augh augh. anyways no i dont like to think abt ayaki disappearing She needs to give the mekakushi dan a tour when they all jump in shintaro's brain to look at his memories western cartoon style

[macbethz]

I visited your blog to find that great edit you made of Alex Wilder again, because I think it's just great and one of the best edits i've seen of Alex. I was wondering though, what did you think of Rowell's time on the comic series. I really do admire how much she cares about the characters, I really do, but I had a massive problem with the progression of the stories. I just feel like it would have been better if it was in a show rather than a one comic that comes out once a month

OMG you came to the right person because i have many thoughts on Rowell's run...also thank you for the kind words abt my Alex edit its one of my favs and i always forget it exists

In terms of Rowell's run. It started off as one of my favorite runs and as time went on I grew to really dislike it.

I think there's some stuff she does I REALLY love - I think she gets Alex on a level a lot of writers really don't and does some genuinely interesting things with him which is very important to me personally since he's one of my favs. I sometimes like to look at the stuff she wrote for him in a vacuum and pretend the rest of that run doesn't exist LMAO. The stuff with Molly and her reluctance to abandon her parents because she was so young when she lost them I find very compelling as well, as well as stuff that begins to be explored with Chase in terms of How To Cope With Your Dead Girlfriend Coming Back to Life And Still Being 16, but unfortunately it isn't really resolved. Gib also is a fun addition to the cast and I like the parallels between him and the rest of the Runaways. Anka's art is ofc beautiful as always (kinda a minor issue tho but I wish he had gone less nugoth for Nico and stuck to her more classic romantic/trad goth looks - it makes her look so artificial to me)

It's been a hot second so I really need a reread but iirc i didn't have as much of an issue with pacing as I did with some weird characterization and plot choices so I don't really know if another format would have improved it, but maybe if a show or something stretched out the runtime of each arcs. I saw someone say once that Rowell is a fix-it writer and i think that really describes the problems with this run, which is that she's far more interested in resolving ""plot holes"" and bringing back old characters than telling new interesting stories. I put plot holes in quotation marks because frankly a lot of these things are not plot holes. The fact that we don't know how the staff of one works is NOT a plot hole, its part of it being a weird fucked magic artifact. Making it a person kind of undermines everything Nico has gone thru in the rest of her arc and adds some weird ass implications to every other writer's work. Even with things that actually are issues, comic history is full of holes not everything exists to be repaired especially if it comes at the cost of cool stories.

THE ROMANCE ARCS feel engineered just to kinda create cute moments rather than good stories. I didn't find Nico and Karolina's relationship issues believable or interesting at all especially considering their respective histories. I find them and a lot of the cast to be vastly OOC but that's pretty typical for comics I guess. Victor and Gert's romance is one of my main issues as well because it just seems kind of out of nowhere to me and just kind of an effort to pair off the cast. I don't feel like they have any chemistry, Vic (and the rest of the cast but mostly him) feels really dumbed down and his complex struggles with bodily autonomy are simplified down to him wanting to hold his new girlfriend. Just overall his characterization in this comic completely revolves around Gert and it sucks. Gert in general is a huge issue for me because while I find her an interesting character in her original form, in this run she kind of monopolizes the entire comic with her arcs always taking precedence. AND THEY DONT EVEN DO ANYTHING INTERESTING WITH HER. SHE LITERALLY DIED AND CAME BACK AND LOST YEARS OF TIME WITH HER FREINDS WHO HAVE GROWN CLOSER IN HER ABSENCE and instead they write this very like cartoonishly evil fatphobia plot which doesn't seem interested in saying anything besides "fatphobia bad :(" I normally hate to like try to read author intention but its difficult to me not to think Rowell did a bit of a self insert/authors pet situation here.

TLDR - OVERALL I think the comic could REALLY have benefited from less characters with longer arcs rather than trying to fit everything and the kitchen sink from the last 20 years of runaways history. But I also think it is unfortunately one of the best and only runaways comics we've gotten recently so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ def need a reread to fully collect my thoughts as well