#IM SORRY FOR THE WORD VOMIT..

[deusfoundry]

being a med/premed student and having zayne as your boyfriend is literally a godsend. he helps you study for your exams, quizzing you on each topic until you nail them down and explaining those you just can't seem to wrap your head around in a pace most comfortable to you. he's patient, always adjusting how he teaches things in whichever way you can grasp them quickly. sometimes, he likes to challenge you, asking questions in between each point of the procedure as a way to work your brain. other times, he guides you carefully through it, holding your hand each step of the way. he speaks slowly, emphasizing the key points and allowing the little gears in your mind to turn.

he makes sure to reward you accordingly. a kiss on the tip of your nose for every five questions you get right. on the cheek for every ten. one on the lips if you can explain concepts or procedures without stuttering. a whole night of cuddle time if you manage to make it through your study sessions.

and something more, something a little heated if he feels you've surpassed your limits for the day and yet you insist on doing more. one hand on your thigh, his hot breath fanning across the skin behind your ear as he coaxes you into going to bed, and you're a goner, already mindlessly following zayne to your bedroom with a few disgruntled complaints about how unfair he is muttered under your breath.

how else is he supposed to ensure you get enough rest anyway?

and he talks you through it on days where it's exceptionally hard. when you feel like you're drowning in coursework and just barely passing test scores. when you lose sight of the future and begin to question the decisions you made. he moves your hair out of the way and wipes the tears off your face, reassuring you that it'll get better soon, and he'll always be by your side through ups and downs.

[quotes-from-oz]

I made a jokey post some time ago about how in the Wicked musical Glinda is lying through her teeth every time she hits her highest notes in No One Mourns the Wicked and Thank Goodness, but in a less jokey way it really got me thinking about the flip side. I think the moments where she hits her lowest notes are also the moments where she is being the most vulnerable/showing her truest feelings towards the audience. And when I first thought of her lowest note I thought it would be in For Good, where of course she sings the low part and Elphaba sings the high part, showing how they have been changed through their relationship with each other (deviating from both their earlier discordant respective high/low parts in What Is This Feeling? and their singing in unison in One Short Day, which show the evolution of their relationship through how they harmonize). But actually after thinking more about it I think her lowest note in the whole musical is in I'm Not That Girl (Reprise). Which like, I know is nominally about Fiyero. But also is a song where she is longing for and thinking about Elphaba and how she's not like her and yes it's sort of about Fiyero but also it's not in the key of Dancing Through Life or the first I'm Not That Girl, it's in the key of POPULAR-- her song to Elphaba! Do you see where I'm going with this! All of Glinda's moments of true heartfelt honesty in the musical are her dwelling on her relationship with Elphaba and how it changed her and her complex feelings for her and !!!!! Glinda is so in love with her it's not even funny.

[zuzu-draws]

So after the spoilers for Chap 257 dropped, I saw some tweets clarifying the meaning of the Kanji Sukuna used in the chapter when referring to his mother, and the overall reveals in the chapter got me thinking.

I’m making this post as a way of gathering my thoughts, personal speculations and where I think all of this connects to Sukuna’s character and the information Gege has given us over the years. Nothing I say is by any means new information, but like I said, I’m just collecting my thoughts here. By the way, just a warning, this post contains SPOILERS for the JJK Manga! If you don’t like that, please don’t read this!

Something I’ve noticed is that the theme of “Hunger” and symbolism of “Cooking/Food” is heavily referenced with Sukuna throughout the Manga. Gege in a previous Fanbook has disclosed Sukuna’s favorite Hobby to be “Eating”.

This theme is again very much ingrained within Sukuna’s cursed techniques and even his Domain Expansion, the “Malevolent Shrine”. With his two main techniques being “Dismantle” and “Cleave” are cutting-type attacks. He is also able to use a Flame-Arrow, and Fire is essential for making Food. The Shrine in his Domain Expansion literally has mouths on all sides, looking eager to chew down anything in-front of them!

This symbolism also heavily influences Sukuna’s own manner of speech, and the way he speaks to other characters in the series as well. With his post-fight chat with Jogo before his death, Sukuna mentions Jogo lacking the “Hunger” to take control of his desires, preventing him from reaching the heights of Gojo Satoru. Before the Start of their fight in Shinjuku, Sukuna called Gojo a “Nameless Fish on top of his cutting board”, and that he was going to start by “Peeling off the scales”(refering to Gojo’s infinity). There’s also further symbolism that supports this by analyzing the Kanji and meaning of Sukuna’s “Malevolent Shrine” but I’m not very educated on that so I won’t be opening that point here.

What all of this points to is that Eating and Food……is extremely important to Sukuna, to the point that it literally affects him in manners innumerable.

Eating is an instinct, a necessity for the survival of every single living being.

And In the face of extreme Hunger and starvation, even those with the strongest will could lose their Humanity and revert to the basic animalistic side of their existence. (The Heian Period also had a Famine, although I believe the timing to be a bit off, but do with this info as you see fit)

In JJK Chapter 257, it is revealed to us that Sukuna and his Twin were most likely starving in the womb of their starving mother.

On the brink of starvation, Sukuna had to consume his “other self”(his twin), so that he could survive.

Btw, this tweet and this thread gives additional characterisation to Sukuna:

Link to the original thread: Link.

More context (and reactions :P):

Link to original thread: Here

This reveals to us that indeed, Sukuna was born a twin. And as we all know, “Twins” are seen with extreme scrutiny in Jujutsu Society, they’re not well liked. This too in a period where Cursed Spirits and Jujutsu Sorcery was at its peak, it is not far-fetched to assume that his Mother may not have been treated very well by the people in her surroundings, especially as she bore twins.

When Kashimo asks if Sukuna was born the Strongest or if he made himself the Strongest, this is the response Sukuna gave to him:

When you think about it, how do you think the people around them would have reacted when the woman: who was supposed to birth two twins, gave birth to a single child instead? and that child had consumed his other twin in the womb itself?

No doubt people would’ve been horrified, disgusted and even revulsed. With the woman and her newborn child.

This would’ve led to their further ostracisation in the already very close-minded society. Unable to fend for herself and her newborn child, it must’ve been difficult for Sukuna’s mother to survive. I feel like somewhere along the line, Sukuna was left alone to fend for himself at an extremely young age. To protect himself from both Curses and Society alike.

This is why I believe Sukuna knows what true starvation, weakness and hunger feels like. Both in the emotional and literal sense. He was left without another person caring about him or his well-being, in a cut-throat period where it was “Fight or be killed”.

Powerful curses roamed all across Japan, nowhere was safe. Simply be strong, or you'll die. There's no room for weakness. And initially, a kid!Sukuna was weak, as anyone would be in the beginning when they're just starting out in this world. (and maybe, he didn't have much to eat, leading to long periods of starvation? :') )

I believe it is this debilitating hunger, and feeling of weakness that eventually led to Sukuna’s current Hedonistic mindset.

He’s essentially traumatised by it, and believes that it was his own weakness that led him to experience this sheer starvation. That he deserved to feel this way because he was weak then. Perhaps, the people around him were right, that as long as they have the power and strength to overcome anything, they’re free to do as they please; And there is nothing anyone else could do about it.

I feel like the irony here is that Sukuna himself, must’ve been a “weakling” before eventually rising the ranks to become History’s Strongest Sorcerer. This is also why he values Strength so much.

Ultimately, Sukuna has decided that there was nothing more important than being strong enough to fulfill your own desires. And “eating” is one of his most important desires. It’s his favourite thing to do, the one he derives the most pleasure out of. And like an animal, whose main focus is to consume, consume and consume. He too, simply consumes.

Most morals likely have no meaning to him. He doesn’t care who he hurts, what he does, as long as he’s able to get what he wants. And this isn’t limited to eating.

This is why people referring to Sukuna as a “Natural Disaster” is so befitting of him. Because Natural Disasters also don’t care about what or who they’re destroying, they just come and go, wreaking havoc appropriate for their nature and magnitude.

I believe Sukuna himself has said lines similar in nature, when talking to Kashimo:

Now I’m not sure how Sukuna perceives or even experiences this “Love”, because I think he has a rather very warped idea of it. I do think that this definition of love is similar to the one that Gojo also understands, but I don’t think he knows what “love” truly is. I’m not sure how I could comment on this, but I do think that Sukuna’s emotionally starved, whether he realises that or not.

Because, like Kashimo himself asked Sukuna “What is the point of dividing your soul into 20 different parts and then traversing across time if you’re satisfied with this?” we do not know the answer to that yet.

But many people have speculated that “Black Box” panels in JJK manga represent a curse (either self-inflicted or put by someone) on the speaker. Like, take a look over here where Sukuna reiterates the same dialogue, except it looks like he’s trying to reassure himself:

This once again shows that Sukuna has only ever strived for himself, in the same hedonistic fashion, to a very very extreme degree. It is possible that he's been lacking something, and he himself does not realise that he’s lacking it. Maybe it was this subconscious feeling, that led to Sukuna agreeing to Kenjaku’s plan of dividing his soul into 20 different parts, and to traverse across time as a Cursed Object.

Sukuna’s an incredibly complex character, and I’m excited to see where this goes. Gege has put extra care in the way he characterizes and depicts Sukuna, and again, I’m really sad that a lot of that characterization gets lost in translation. Still, I’m going to try my best to understand and get the most accurate feel of his character as I possibly can.

If you made it this far, Thank you for reading! And if you would like, please do leave a comment in the tags or replies because I would love to read what other people think of this and just Sukuna in general. I do not see a lot of people doing critical analysis of him, and a lot of his actions are seemingly swept under the rug. I don’t like that, so hopefully this contributes to people focusing more on Sukuna and his character. (/^v^)/ <3

[surreal-duck]

master artist and his number one fan

guy who is being so normal about the new additions to their profiles. i think abt midoris initial infatuation with his art slowly developing into appreciating yuzuru himself as a person and idol to the point he worries about how he sees him (ex: a bit of home party and in workplace survival rules) sometimes thats a lie i think about it a lot. and yuzuru learning to enjoy art just for the sake of drawing!! seeing the lets try diy story where he doesnt even refute drawing on midoris desk and was only worried that his doodles might cover up the mascot design compared to how discouraged he usually would be in earlier ! stories. everything to me i adore their dynamic if that wasnt obvious by *gestures to basically everything*

and happy pride month 🏳‍🌈

[azurem]

Oooh 💥☝️Sum up the kind of relationship they have 💥🛐 I feel like while they are (GAY) cute together they are still a little toxic (silly toxic) with each other.Something like using each other for some benefit HEHEHAHAHA 💥

Okay this is kinda fun cuz I think it depends on how far along they are in their relationship. However, to be more hmmm concise, I'll explain their dynamic in a "half—half" relationship situation! (Aka they've been a couple for some time but they aren't super-married)

(about them using each other cuz it's long)

First of all we have to have in mind that they both entered the relationship not only out of genuine attraction but also because the other was useful. — In my multiverse, at least, Nightmare's main fuel to start knowing Ink better/manipulate him was because of a single truth in their verse: while most people can AU travel, they can't AU discover (For example, if a fell Undyne wanted to fo back to her verse from a classic AU, she could do it quite easily. But if she wouldn't be able to go to an AU she has never been in).

And while Nightmare can go AU "discover", this method of transportation would be limited to mostly negative AUs anyway. Like, even if he, somehow, managed to negative all the neutral AUs (make everyone miserable) he would never be able to get into pacifist AUs because he can't travel to AUs that have much positivity. This was a problem for him cuz he wanted to have all of the AUs under him and not just half of them. As such, he decided to find a solution, which was to find a multiverse explorer that was able to transport multiple people: Ink.

(the way he discovered it was mostly out of some reasoning ngl. Ink's the natural foil to Error, who seems to go wherever he wants, so it'd be natural for him to be able to travel non discriminately. The reason why he chose Ink was because he was the most accessible and "tame" out of the others he knew about)

Ink's way of using Nightmare mostly relied on stuff he already promised to them: like, being able to call Nightmare's gang whenever he felt like Error was being too much (as in my multiverse lore creativity was running lower than usual so Ink couldn't keep attacking at his usual pace since it's either being able to battle or having emotions) and meta stuff that Nightmare wasn't affected by; he wanted to bait the creators into paying more attention because a partnership between the two of them would be something new.

Anyways with that base talked about it's kinda funny to talk about this. Hm. At a medium point, they don't really use each other like that. Mainly because they found out about something called the emotional wall. They weren't supposed to catch feelings for each other, so these efforts to exploit each other's abilities for their own benefit simply. Can't be done comfortably.

Main one affected by this is Nightmare, who I feel would be the one most attached. While Ink is still somewhat of an asset to him, he has already acknowledged that any true effort to truly weaponize Ink like that would end up with them being affected negatively. Seeing Ink affected negatively isn't particularly attractive to him, so he doesn't. The problem of the limited travel still exists, but he has decided not to think about it for some time forward. (After all, he still has Ink under his sleeve. Even if he chooses not to use him now doesn't mean that he won't be after, right?). Besides this being a thing™ he also knows he's at a disadvantage in the emotional play. He is the one that fell harder. He can't go being too careless if Ink could break him with a few placed words and not vice versa.

Ink is funny because I feel like he would just. Not use much of Nightmare's help like that, even at the beginning. It's a recurring theme I have for Ink that he just likes to suffer. He really enjoys drowning in glasses of water. The thing just got worse now that he got feelings because as he now feels somewhat responsible for Nightmare's actions he doesn't like to really involve him in his deal with Error. It was different when Nightmare was somewhat of a NPC to him as he just assumed it was a character behaving against another (Night having beef with Error and using him as an excuse to beat him up and win them over) but now that he actually believes him a person he's just. Really uncomfortable?? (Would you get your partner to help you defeat a videogame boss? Even if yes, Ink just doesn't strike me as someone who'd ask for help. To me, he just loves to make everything more difficult for himself)

(actual dynamics)

I think they are kind of cute while they're alone. But it's fun to think about love dynamics...!

As I've mentioned before, my usual dynamic for them is that Nightmare's the one that fell harder and the one that's the most sure about the feelings he has. Ink fell after but he's the one that's the most ashamed of how he's feeling. (I like to play that this is when he discovered "embarrassment" and "shame" as true emotions. His crush is shameful. He still thinks of himself as someone above other characters in a way. He gets ashamed of liking Nightmare the way someone gets embarrassed of liking a character too much for their liking). However, while he's ashamed I feel like he tries to overcompensate it by being obnoxious about it?

Like, he knows he's kinda uwu butterflies in tummy yn-ing here. But he's also aware that his romance fic co-protagonist is doing worse. He doesn't get as flustered when he's the one doing the flustering, so he pretty much goes for the kill whenever he has the chance to. Nightmare doesn't fall far behind because he's salty Ink made him fall in love with them, so flustering them would be his owed revenge. They're kinda competitive like that.

(this spitefulness Nightmare has also translates to a desire to see Ink under him/in a lower position than his as a way to gain back control, which is fun to think about. He just really doesn't like the idea that Ink's the one with the most power in their relationship, though he can't fault them since he's the one with the feelings. Evil stuff)

(also theme of love is shame and love is power kinda thing here i dunno)

Toxic stuff (evil)

Okay here comes the heavy stuff. Even taking into account how they wouldn't use each other in practical ways, they'd still be pretty toxic I believe. They grow and get better but. It's a harsh thing. I like wholesome not that angsty stuff so most of the bad behaviors aren't that. Severe?

First of all I think Ink would be neglectful and would just refuse to communicate. He pretty much weaponizes ignoring Nightmare whenever he feels like he's been slighted. Like, Ink would forget to check/say hi, Nightmare would get upset at being ignored and Ink would just go back to ignore him because he didn't like the tone he used when he was complaining. He'd also lie a lot, mainly when he forgets about things they were supposed to do and all that. (Though they ended up neutralizing this one cuz Nightmare now has a vial of paint just to summon Ink if he ever wants to talk/date, so yippie??)

Ink would also just. Not take a lot of hints? He'd play along with most of the stuff he does notice, though. He'd play flustered if he thought Nightmare deserved it as a reward kinda thing.

I think he just wouldn't treat Nightmare much as an equal, even if he's one of the most "person" to him. Habits die hard so I think he would fall to see him as a dateable NPC at times. Kinda condescending in a way.

Nightmare's toxicness is fun to think about, mainly because I think it's. Explosive?

Like, I feel like he wouldn't get too manipulative since he knows Ink. Well. Knows whenever he's trying something funny. He knows Ink would just play along so the idea of doing so feels useless to him. He wouldn't be too abrasive because he also knows that Ink's the one holding the most power in the relationship; Nightmare can't act without any thought behind because Ink would retaliate and he'd retaliate hard. So he just doesn't act very much nor complains too much about it up until he gets upset enough he does.

So yeah. I'm afraid that Nightmare would vampire wattpad boyfriend behave. Sometimes. He'd try to be... Reasonable?? (While he gets jealous he knows Ink's pretty much aroace so he's not making any sense) But he would also semi kidnap Ink whenever he feels like they're forgetting who's supposed to be in charge of their thing. Not very effective since Ink doesn't treat him seriously but it's a thing he would do I believe. Just. Him trying to get Ink to behave "according" to a monarch's spouse but Ink just never caring about it.

Nightmare would also be very. Old minded in a way. He'd try to get ink to wear shoes and stay inside more because he's evil and shouldn't be trusted.

Also he would have a weird fixation into trying to get Ink scared because he feels like fear is one of the only reliable methods of control he has. Not because of him because he doesn't want to change the fact that he's gained his trust but. External factors. He'd have a field day the day he finds Ink's scared of the white/the antivoid, though he would also be shameless and try to comfort him cuz he's a jerk.

I just think they would both be very into reaction seeking. Ink has faked to break up with him before. Nightmare has hid some of Ink's paints just to see if Ink would get more/not care and only drink paint that he already has in his sash. I hate them

[johnnysangelz]

you Guys ever think about freshly teenage sam, just turned 14. a baby, really.,, full of rage and anger towards his dad for being a shit father,,….. and being described as moody and grumpy. :((((( meanwhile hes the sweetest boy towards his Dean… all smiles n giggles, pillow fights and surprise tackling. innocently and Unknowingly making his big brother hard everytime they touch. and Dean is just oh so guilty.. :(((((( how could he feel that for his baby brother ! his baby !! hes supposed to protect him ! and.,,, no way Sam feels the same… right? But Sam is so inlove with his brother it makes him vomit

[fettiowi]

thinking about pink diamond and spinel again imagine you lost your best friend. you lost them because of something youve done. the one person who understood you was hurt and taken away by your family who belittles and constantly mistreats and misunderstand you then your family turns around and makes you a new friend. someone to keep you busy so you dont bother them. this person is very clearly molded after the way that they see you: immature, loud, naive, inconsiderate. they're a personification of everything wrong with how your family treats you. you didnt ask for them. you wanted your friend, not this doll created out of misunderstanding who you are and your desires. you still have some fun with them, but it feels like they set you back. a constant reminder of how your family views you as immature and childish. you wanna show your family you can handle yourself you wanna grow up. you wanna show that you are not that imaginary mirror theyve created for you. you wanna leave that life behind and create the future you truly wanted for yourself. and so, to finally move you, you leave that behind. you put the personifications of the created assumptions about you behind and finally grow and move on except... they were never just a mirror. they were never just an expensive toy to spoil you. they were never just a personification of everything they saw in you. they were their own person. someone with their own thoughts and feelings. someone who never knew any of this. someone who loved and was loyal. someone who then thought you disliked them as a person.someone who then grew into someone who nearly destroyed everything youve loved because of what youve done. but you never knew . you were already gone. you never got to meet them. they never got to meet you.

[thetrashthatsmilesback]

My issue with how Naruto is portrayed as hokage in Boruto, and subsequently the treatment of the surviving Uchiha (Sasuke and Sarada) in Boruto, is that it undermines the political messaging of Naruto completely.

So Naruto (the character) agrees with Nagato and Sasuke regarding the abuse they faced and the need for an overhaul of Shinobi society. This is not where he disagrees with them. Naruto (the character) is the closest thing the manga has to a pacifist (though he's a poor representation of one, I'm not going to harp on that too hard as I'm not expecting the shonen manga to get too deep into leftist political theory for its audience of 12 year olds). He is not shown to actually disagree with Nagato or Sasuke on the basis of their beliefs, but instead on their actions. Naruto doesn't believe that mass suffering is needed to bring peace (Nagato's plan of causing pain to bring empathy.) He also doesn't believe in killing all of the kages or martyring Sasuke as someone to be eternally hated for the sake of peace. His issue with killing the kages has to do with the instability that would lead to (what we're shown).

So in modern terms, Naruto is closest to a socdem - someone who wants to work within the system to bring about leftist changes to the system.

Okay

But then we get to Boruto and we have:

The Uchiha tablet has been moved to the middle of the woods, effectively erasing their culture from Konoha completely

Sarada has people making comments about her carrying the curse of hate and faces discrimination for her ancestors part in the fourth war - meaning the very conditions which facilitated the Uchiha massacre/genocide are still in place, furthered by a lack of history education of the Uchiha via the removal of their cultural texts to outside the village (the tablet)

Children still are sent to fight and die for Konoha

The council of elders still has political strength

The anbu still exist

Those who took part in hiding the truth behind the Uchiha massacre/genocide have faced no consequences and have maintained their positions of power

The hokage still has an unlimited term AND is not elected by the citizens of Konoha - the hokage still falls under the control of the will of the elders if they wish to keep their position

And the thing that gets me is that there is no evidence in Naruto (the manga) that Naruto (the character) would hide the truth of the Uchiha massacre. He immediately went to tell people but was held back by Kakashi, but Kakashi would have no power over him once he's hokage.

So is this some commentary about how revolution is the only path forward towards change? I'd be shocked at kishi's sudden change in political beliefs but fair enough, i can totally work with the narrative through that view point.

But the why the fuck is Sasuke, the main revolutionary of the series, now an asset of the state?

Or was the idea that change takes time?

But why were they able to erect a statue of Itachi whilst moving the last of Uchiha culture literally outside the village.

Is it that Kishi didn't think about his own political messages before writing Boruto, effectively ruining Naruto's character as a fighter for the oppressed?

Most likely.

Because at the end of Naruto, Naruto vowed to fight for the oppressed. He wanted to fix things for Nagato, and Neji, and Sasuke. He wanted to overhaul the entire system, he just wanted to do so in a way that wouldn't result in more civilian deaths.

That his time as hokage in canon has finished the eradication of a culture from konoha, continued the abuses of children, did not end Konoha's economic reliance on violence, and more is a complete destruction of his character.

And the thing is that Naruto didn't have to end by validating Nagato, Neji, and Sasuke's beliefs. Kishi could have gone full ally of the oppressive state and painted them as incorrect wholly and completely.

He didn't.

He made the choice to have them be objectively mistreated and to have his protagonist agree that change was necessary. HE is the one who validated them. He is the one who wrote their oppression into the story, and also had his protagonist agree they were oppressed and that change is necessary

[calilk]

Gem’s death was the cause of Pearl’s realisation. After all that time chasing and taunting and blood, after an offer was finally extended and then brutally taken away, finally, the pin dropped. As stark text blinked into the corner of her vision, with nothing for company but the apathetic water lapping at the shore of this oh so lonely island, finally the reality of Pearl’s emotions hit her. The deep longing in her chest finally revealed its mark. The arrow set fly so long ago finally struck empty space, an absence, a still-warm corpse. Pearl, with so much love to give, and yet again, no one to take it from her cold and broken hands.

[sunshinereddie]

im passionate about reddie having special little things that they do to make each other happy. like richie knows that eddie isn't a big fan of flying, so whenever eddie does have to fly somewhere for work richie will always sneak a love note in eddie's carry on bag or something so that when eddie opens it on the flight to get his laptop or something, he will also find a little note from richie with a bad pun about planes or safe travels wishes or something else, but no matter what it is it makes eddie feel a little better as he holds it in his hand for the entire flight. richie has lots of Voices that he does on purpose, but eddie is really the only one who can really distinguish between his not-a-bit voices, even when richie tries to hide it, eddie can always detect the hint of frustration in richie's words when he's annoyed about something, or the worry in his voice when he's stressed. because of that eddie is also very good at taking action and helping richie feel better, sometimes before richie himself even realizes what's wrong. richie calls eds one day after work to let him know he's on his way home, and even though his words are normal eddie can right away hear some distress in his bf's voice, and remembers that richie had an important career-deciding meeting today that he was stressed about. eddie connects the dots and wanting to give richie any small amount of comfort he can, goes and gets richie's favourite dinner for them so that it's ready for when he gets home (richie thinks that eddie must have some sort of psychic abilities...... how does he always manage to order richie's favourite food on the days that richie is feeling down???? he'll never understand.......)

i just think that reddie encompass "it's the little things that count" and that after knowing each other for so long, because they know each other so well, there are those "little things" that only they know about each other and so it makes these actions all the more special.

[three-of-pentacles]

I saw this template on Pinterest and thought it'd be fun to fill out w my guyes. Ramblings under the cut :]

A lot of these are pretty self explanatory but I wanted to talk abt some of them cuz I'm crazy

In my own personal world they met in Sneznhaya, met and were actually friendly for a bit before they found out who each other was, they fought, and have had a rivalry ever since. (Sort of. It's mostly Childe wanting a rematch and Diluc hating the Fatui) So it's kind of a slow burn but also they've connected already and all of this is just them trying to pretend they didn't while simultaneously killing themselves over being in love. They're so incredibly normal <3

They stay together forever because they both die at like 30 /j Fr though I just don't think they'd split up after all the hoops they'd have to jump through to have a chance together. They'd make it work even if it killed them (it probably will)

I like the dichotomy of Diluc dying over not hating a harbinger and Childe just having fun with it. I am by no means a Childe expert (I'm a Diluc enjoyer through and through I'm sorry Childe fans) but I feel like he'd probably be less insane about that aspect of the relationship. Especially in comparison to Diluc

It's so difficult for me to voice my thoughts on them because they just circle my mind constantly and I can't formulate words when it comes to them. They just exist in my mind as a blob that never leaves <///3

I will absolutely ramble about them terribly again soon though no one can stop me

[corviiids]

hello hi i would like to ask how you get your characterization and indirect (?) character framing right, if that's not too much of a heavy question... there's this bit in the first chapter of as you like it which hit me like a sledgehammer when i first read it -- when the phantom thieves were all talking around akechi's absence. it was such a brilliant and clever way to showcase the conversation, and it's stuck with me for a while -- i asked my writing professor about it and he did not. really have any clear answers for how to replicate and learn to do that.... and also the slightly sardonic (?) tone akechi takes on, and the different ways his own internal narration presents itself based on who he's in conversation with and what AU / story context he is in. it's a small yet brilliant detail which i haven't been able to as of yet understand how to write. i've been sending your fics and tweets to my two lovely friends who i have also dragged into the p5r rabbit hole! they're always a delight to read and reread and sometimes longingly look at from afar and wait for their completion (cough cough as you like it). thank you!

hii thank you so much 😭 it means a lot to me that ayli resonated with you!! i am reeling slightly that you asked your professor about it. did you show your professor goro akechi fanfiction? my goro akechi fanfiction? powers i cannot conceive of. i shake your hand. also ayli next chapter is in the works i promise!!!!!!!!! writing progress has been on hold lately due to life. gestures

hmm so i don't know how to answer this precisely because if im reading your question correctly it's more of like a Vibe than a specific thing, right, which is hard to define enough to explain since im honestly just happy to hear it exists at all. also this is a scene i wrote in probably 2019 ie over six years ago now (screams), so there are things i would do differently now... but i will try my best!!

i think the main thing for me in a scene like this is to keep pov front and centre. any vibe that's achieved in this scene comes as a result of that, because pov is the filter through which the events of the scene are experienced. this fic is written in limited third person pov, so i have to remember that because the narrator is a character, the narration is also a character. all we have access to is ren, so i get to use his thoughts, feelings, biases, tendencies, etc to frame the reality of the story and i have to remember im not presenting the world the way it is, im presenting the world the way he's experiencing it. so the entire scene has to take on whatever he's feeling. and in the first scene of ayli, ren is feeling Bad, so the narration and subsequently the scene have to take on his tension.

ren is trying to shut down, which is how he copes, but he's not quite able to because he's also feeling the pressure of being the leader and keeping it together for everyone else. he's extremely aware that something very traumatic has just happened for his team, and being the person he is he feels the responsibility to step up for them. but he can't.

Ren is vaguely aware that he’s shaking again, but thank god no one’s noticed but Ann and she’s always taking his hand anyway. Plausible deniability remains. This isn’t how he wanted the tension to overflow. This isn’t when. He’s meant to go downstairs and simmer curry and reassurances, and then they’re all meant to leave knowing tomorrow is another day and their fearless leader’s gonna fearlessly lead them into it, Morgana keeping pace with Futaba for the night to provide comfort to the one who needs it and deserves to, and then he can climb back up the stairs and slowly and patiently tear his hair out in methodical shreds in the cosy quiet comfort of his own storage facility capacity of one. But they’re all frozen, and the carrots are still in the fridge, and Futaba is up and demanding the centre of attention. And up is down. And signals are gone.

so pov is the first filter: the scene is tense because he's tense. the narration cuts off constantly because he's spiralling and trying to stop himself from doing it. what i was trying to do with the stop-start narration is to show that ren's losing control over his thoughts but trying constantly to reign them back in, which should give you information about ren but also disorient the reader. kind of a two for one effect where you're learning about ren but you're also Experiencing the scene As him. (weird prose can be ur best friend)

pov is the subjective factor and it's how we frame the scene, so then we can move onto the other more obvious factors which are the objective ones so to speak: ie outside of ren's/our pov, what's actually happening?

ren's not the only one who's tense, everyone else is tense too. so who are these people. they've just watched a fellow student die who shared a lot of similarities with them. (whatever p5 wants you to think i Do believe that yes having one of your peers die right in front of your face would be traumatising.) they're also bound by social niceties right now. nobody's saying anything about it and it feels taboo to bring it up. they're all trying to act okay. this is obvs a matter of first knowing all your characters (how would x phantom thief respond in a situation like this)

but a maybe another, slightly less(?) obvious piece of 'advice' that works for me is to consider that absence can also be a character. akechi isn't in this scene but he absolutely is in this scene. so if im struggling with making the cast discuss this in a way that captures the fragility and awkwardness and bloat that i need it to, i try to like... imagine the conversation as holding this big breakable thing that fills up way too much space and if you aren't careful with it then it'll explode. akechi is there. in everyone's effort not to talk about him, they end up emphasising the presence of his absence. it's very different from someone not being there at all. is that really abstract and unhelpful i am so sorry please ask me more questions if you need me to clear that up i don't think that made any sense at all

ok anyway. on ren's internal narration in particular: i do think a large part of it is just that ren is a special boy. (said while kicking him in the shins) the way i like to write him, he's very uniquely malleable at the surface and totally uncompromising at the core. but that surface level adaptability makes him a super interesting conversation partner and science experiment to place in new situations because of how quickly and easily he reshapes himself to fit into them. honestly the approach is just that i keep track of which parts of ren are uncompromising (loyalty, dedication to fairness, protectiveness, quiet stubbornness, etc) and then the rest of it is about knowing who he's speaking to/the situation he's in and what they would need from him, because i think that's how he runs the assessment himself. ok for real lmao the confidant point-up system is actually an incredible way to understand this if you imagine it as ren's internal process for deciding what to say next, which i sometimes make explicit in fic. e.g. if you look at his responses when he's talking to iwai, there'll usually be like, a neutral answer, a kind answer, and a talk-back answer, or something like that. all three are things that ren could plausibly say, but ren's figured out that iwai usually prefers it when he has a smart mouth. that's the best way to put iwai at ease and make him open up (+3 points) so ren will preference that attitude when they're speaking over the others. other characters prefer a gentler approach, a strong one, a funny one, etc it's not fake, because none of these attitudes are insincere - they're all ren, he keeps them all within him and they all share that core, it's just a matter of which side of his face he turns to show them based on what they need from him. (akechi's the only one who seems really into JUST the core and not the faces imo.) literally to an extent we all do this. you might be more teasing with friend x than friend y because you know x will banter back but y won't like it. ren just kind of happens to be supernaturally good at it.

i am RAMBLING again but maybe the key here is just to remember that a shape that has 100 different faces is still just one shape...? you can't make him vary too much because he has to be recognisable, you just have to think, like, first of all who is ren and second of all what are the aspects of him that he could turn public-facing? what does he look like when he's shy, when he's bold, when he's sweet, etc, and make sure all those things are still recognisable as having ren in common (as opposed to just being three different guys).

[comradeboyhalo]

hi, as a pangi main, i want to ask a bbh main, (tr) how does bad see pangi? to what extent does bad care about him? i really love their duo, but knowing bad has a penchant for deceiving, i feel hesitant to believe it whenever they have a sweet moment :'). i don't really know much about bad, so i'd appreciate some help. <3

disclaimer i have been missing streams this week so my bad if something shifted in their dynamic! and tr!bad can decieve even his own viewers....

bad values pangi above all other green members. while he may have a soft spot for ros, its definitely not the same or as strong as the loyalty he has to his day 1 green member. hes the only one beside pili1 that bad has called family, and he was genuinely upset when pangi vanished to the null (he also wanted to eat pangi, but thats also kind of a sign of love ?? and hes just Like That). i also suspect (based on how bad acted when pili1 died), that he will only realize how much he truly cares about pangi when hes permadead - and he never thought pangi was truly gone when he was sent to the null, so he hasnt felt that grief yet.

that being said, bad is the type of character to "rank" his friends, and he is very very hesitant to trust. but being higher up on his ""friends list"" means youre least likely to be thrown to the wolves when for bads greater goals. bad is not against manipulating pangi for his own gain, including egging him on to kill others for entertainment, although ive noticed he largely prefers to let pangi do his own thing. with the limited friends tr!bad has, i can say he'd rather choose a path that hurts any other realm member than a path that hurts pangi.

but he doesnt care for pangi enough to spare him from his ultimate mission, whatever that may be. if pangi has to die for it, then bad will let him die. but VERY few characters, across all of !bad's universes, make that cut anyways. bad will be a reliable ally to pangi in the grand scheme of things, as long as pangi understands a demon will always act like a demon.

[burningfunobject]

Complete word vomit but like what if viktor decides that whatever the 'arcane' is too dangerous or comes at too high a cost and starts The Glorious Evolution from there?

Maybe he feels responsible for whatever the weird magic orb thingys are and decides that all of this mess (not just with the hex core but also with zaun and piltover) was due to human error so now he thinks he has to help people by getting rid of their 'flaws' like they're ability to make the kinds of mistakes he made in s1.

We know he already doesn't want the hex core to be around anymore so why would he suddenly become infatuated with it?? Like sure maybe it has an influence over him, but I seriously doubt it would last all season

Plus viktors whole Thing is helping people why would he stick with the hex core and all it's bs if it means either vaporising people or shimmer? Viktor is smart that's like the first thing we know about him I feel like he'd find a way out of the hex core's thrall

Idk I just don't really want to watch hex core bs for like a quarter of next season, I'll still probably like it tho

[chasedeys]

*whispers like a ghoul* You should write Joe’marr on a boat (maybe it’s Joes first time and he’s panicking) (MAYBE it’s their honeymoon)

*makes dying moose sound* god i really shouldddd just IMAGINEEE

joe's probably stoically uneasy wearing his eye searing tie dye swimming shorts and bright fucking orange life vest and stupid little expensive ass sunnies while ja'marr's rocking nothing but his tattoos and little black booty shorts he chose specifically for that day and demanding joe to loosen up but! no.

and ja'marr's just laughing at him because joe keeps answering in short sentences five words maximum in a tight voice very obviously bothered out of his mind but won't admit shit and then ja'marr is just yelling at the captain not to go so fast it's baby's first time (they're literally just static in the middle of the ocean) and joe finds it in himself to let go of the tight grip he has on the boat seats to leap up at ja'marr and try to throw him overboard and the captain is shouting at them to knock it off he will not be an accessory to murder aren't you both newlyweds???

they're given those wide inflatable pool float things to float on water so they can explore off the boat and they just lazily float on by in the ocean breeze tangled together making out in intervals and poking at each other's belly trying to tip the other off the float and talking (whispering really because they're tangled so close to each other they barely have to raise their voice sigh) about new floor plans and their turn to host team get togethers and what to get tee for his birthday (joint presents! ahaha) etc etc being so grossly comfortable in each other's space and In Love oughhhuhghuhh.

also. do you think they're the type of men to actually wear sunscreen. are they. or are they stupid.

[thetrashthatsmilesback]

i cannot wait for the next form of anti-form and rage form in the kh4 art style.

i keep having this idea of a scene where Riku finally finds Sora and is trying to get him to listen but just.

"I'm dead Riku."

"What do you mean? You can come back, come with me Sora."

"No Riku, I died. I'm here as punishment. I'm dead, Strelitzia's dead, you can't be here after everything I went through to save you, you can't!"

"Sora, what are you talking about? I'm not dead, Sora. I'm alive."

"If you're here, then you're dead. After everything I did..."

"I'm alive. Sora listen to me, I'm alive!"

Sora looked up at him, a different look in his eyes than Riku had ever seen before.

"Strelitzia and I had a theory. We were going to test it on her - neither of us thought it would work on me because I'm here on punishment, but if it works..."

"Sora, what are you talking about?"

"It makes sense, truly, I wanted to experiment more before trying it but if you're here... you need to go back..."

"Sora, stop, we're both going back, just calm down and listen to me."

"If you die to get here, it only stands to reason that dying in this reality will send someone back to ours."

"What?"

"You'll be sent to the final world, and then you can pass through to ours."

"Sora... what are you doing?" Sora had started walking closer to Riku, splaying his arms out slightly while darkness began to swirl around his feet with each step.

"I'm sorry Riku, but you can't be here. Your heart will be sent to the final world, but then you'll be able to navigate to back through to our reality. From what Strelitzia's contact has learned, the final world acts as the bridge."

"Sora, stop, you're not making any sense, and there's darkness all around you just-"

Sora's eyes flashed gold for just a moment and the darkness began to envelope him the way it did when Xehanort killed Kairi.

"Riku, forgive me." The transformation completed, the dark Sora raising his arms above his head and summoning what looked like the X-Blade but cloaked in the same darkness as the rest of him. His eyes were a brilliant blue. The X-Blade he held split in two as he brought his hands down, the shape of the two shadowy keyblades changing to be reminiscent to Riku and Kairi's new ones.

also yes dual wielding Sora should come back again. I do find Re:Mind's implication that he and Roxas can both still summon Oathkeeper and Oblivion very funny because I'm just imagining them fighting to summon them. Like there's only one copy.

Roxas, in the middle of sparring: take this! *hands suddenly empty* Roxas: ... DAMN IT SORA

Sora, fighting a wave of heartless and nobodies: I need two hands for this *keyblades won't come to him* Sora: what? shit! *finally summons them just for them to be pulled back again* Sora: SHIT SHIT SHIT Roxas, fighting some nobodies: why does Sora keep pulling these!