#Prospect Point

[mapsgirl]

The Best Things to Do in Niagara Falls, NY

Niagara Falls, New York, is renowned for its breathtaking natural wonders and rich historical significance. From experiencing the majestic falls up close to exploring historical landmarks and scenic trails, there’s no shortage of activities to engage in. Here are some of the best things to do in Niagara Falls, NY. Experience the Majesty of Niagara Falls State Park Niagara Falls State Park is the…

[trying-to-jew]

Constantly torn between my desire to convert and the crushing weight of knowing that I won’t be able to exist in the wider fandom spaces that I love without being constantly reminded that Jews are always guilty until proven innocent post-Oct 7.

[cicerfics]

You know what? There are so many reasons I love a demiromantic/demisexual Q. So many reasons why that characterization detail works for me and resonates with me personally.

But also? I am kinda just in it for Q falling in love for the first time when he's in his 30s.

I'm kinda in it for Q having a crush on someone/being horny for someone for the FIRST TIME at the ripe old age of 32, after a lifetime BLISSFULLY free of such nonsense.

He got through his ENTIRE education, including MULTIPLE graduate degrees without even a STIRRING of attraction to anybody. He progressed rapidly in his career because he was not DISTRACTED by such things!

And now? The indignity?? The mortifying ordeal of falling in love??? The humiliation of finding himself HORNY for a fellow human being???

I just like to think about Q contently shaping his life around his work and his cats, never feeling sexual or romantic attraction or WANTING to feel it, comfortably single and content to remain so.

And then Bond enters his life like a wrecking ball.

And six months into their friendship, Q is placidly sipping his cup of tea one morning, thinking about Bond.

And suddenly he freezes and goes, Oh no.

[sunderwight]

Bingyuan modern ABO AU where Shen Yuan tutors sweet white lotus Luo Binghe and dutifully sends him off to university all prepped and ready to take the world by storm, and then three years later Omega Binghe shows up on his doorstep with a baby, all washed out with his prospects ruined and the father in the wind.

Beta Shen Yuan, furious, is determined to look after Luo Binghe and his adorable baby whilst tracking down the feckless Alpha involved and then... castrating him? Forcing him to step up? One of the two at least!

Only it turns out:

-Baby isn't actually Luo Binghe's

-Luo Binghe isn't an Omega

-Binghe also didn't wash out and in fact just came into a massive inheritance

He didn't even know Shen Yuan was living at the apartment he went to, he was bringing the baby to Shen Jiu in order to blackmail him. The baby is SJ's and Omega Yue Qingyuan's, and had been quietly sent away to avoid scandal. As the next phase of Luo Binghe's hundred-step plan to marrying Shen Laoshi, cuddling the baby in a vaguely sinister fashion while making thinly-veiled threats was vital to blocking Shen Jiu's inevitable attempts to interfere with Binghe's pursuit of his younger brother.

But then Shen Yuan opened the door and promptly drew all the wrong conclusions, and now Binghe is rethinking his entire strategy, furiously googling Alpha-to-Omega transition options and making Mobei Jun make Shang Qinghua find out how to fake a birth certificate for a stolen baby.

[stromblessed]

Mizu's spectacles, and the levels of her disguise

In drafting some more Blue Eye Samurai meta posts, I find myself writing out the comparisons between what Mizu can and cannot hide about herself, and how that affects how she moves through the world.

Like, I get the jokes about Mizu's glasses, if only color contacts had existed back then, etc. etc., and I think (hope) that most viewers don't take the glasses jokes seriously, as in "I don't care about the suspension of disbelief because BES is a cartoon." But I wanted to write these thoughts out anyway without burying them in a text post about something else.

I think the points I'm going to lay out here are viewed very differently by different people, so please feel free to add to this post, reply, or put your thoughts in the tags!

Not only do Mizu's glasses not actually help her that much, there's surely more to Mizu's mixed race appearance than just the color of her eyes.

In my view, this was pointed out in episode 1:

I'm willing to bet most of us were expecting young Taigen to say "blue eyes," not "ROUND eyes."

Obviously this is still about Mizu's eyes, but not even spectacles can hide their shape.

I don't think the show is obligated to point out everything about Mizu's face that isn't quite as Japanese as the people around her expect. Though the creators have said that they specifically designed Mizu - and her clothes - to read both as "white" and as "Japanese," as well as both male and female. I think there's more about Mizu's features that read as "white" than just her eyes.

This is where my own headcanons start entering the picture, but it's my impression that people can just tell that Mizu looks different, whether or not they can put a finger on exactly how.

There's the little girl who looks at Mizu and then hides on the way into Kyoto:

When there's more to your face you'd like to cover up than just your eyes, big hats are a big help!

By the way, most of these examples have to come from the first half of the season, since by the second half, either Mizu is too preoccupied with fighting henchmen, or everyone Mizu is facing knows who she is already, and she therefore has no reason to hide her mixed race identity.

It's worth mentioning that the mere fact that Mizu has to hide multiple aspects of her identity - her mixed race and her sex - results in her having to choose clothes that really, really cover her up, which doesn't win her any favors either:

(Zatoichi reference, anyone?)

If it were as easy as, for example, tying her glasses to her head and wa-lah, nobody would ever know she was half-white - then (1) Mizu would've just done that long ago, and (2) Mizu wouldn't be so on guard and on tenterhooks 100% of the time the way she's depicted in the show, even when her glasses are on.

Her spectacles sure don't help her in the brothel, which is full of observant women who are trying to seduce her, meaning they get good long looks at her:

Mizu never takes her glasses off, but they still send a woman to her who has light eyes, thinking that must be what will interest a blue-eyed man:

No wonder Mizu gets mad after this, lol

So Mizu never takes her spectacles off in the brothel, it's dimly lit inside, and the women can still tell that she has blue eyes. I'm getting the sense that Mizu putting on her spectacles isn't a guarantee that people suddenly can't tell that she looks different.

And yet no one spots that she's female.

Mizu can hide her breasts, can wear her hair in the right style, can hide what's between her legs, can walk and talk and behave like a man - and she's been doing it for almost her entire life, to the point that not only is she very good at it, but the threat of being found out as female is deadly, but isn't presented in the show as omnipresent.

Let me explain.

She threatens Ringo for nearly saying the word "girl" out loud, because while she's constantly ostracized for being mixed race, being a woman traveling without a chaperone, carrying a sword, and disguised as a man will get her killed or flogged or arrested or some combination of these things.

But in addition, it's been drilled into her since she was a child that if she is discovered as female, the combination of her being mixed race and female will identify her as someone extremely specific, someone known to some bad people, and she will be killed:

I think of it as Mizu thinking to herself, "Being found out as mixed race means I'm treated badly. Being found out as mixed race and a woman means I'm dead."

Mizu's hair is cut as a child. But she isn't made to wear a big hat, or cover her eyes somehow, or anything like that. Because hiding her sex is a more successful endeavor than hiding her race.

Ringo finds out she's female by accident, but once Mizu accepts the fact that he won't rat her out, she relaxes pretty early on in the season. Because the threat of being found out as female is mitigated pretty much 99.9%, since Mizu has gotten so good at being a man. And also, because most of the time, people see what they want to see. Even if Mizu's face makes her stand out as "not 100% Japanese," no one in the world of BES looks at Mizu's clothes, her bearing, her sword, hears her voice, and will ever in a million years conclude that she is a woman, because expectations around gender roles in the Edo period were so rigid and so widely enforced.

One detail that proved this to me is after the Four Fangs fight:

Ringo takes off Mizu's clothes so he can stitch her up, then leaves her clothes off even after he's done. He doesn't even throw her cloak over her as a blanket or anything. There's a little a straw (pallet?) as a divider there on the left, but anyone could just peek around it and see Mizu and her chest bindings. (I think it's mostly there as a windbreaker.)

And Taigen is right there, but he doesn't give a shit:

Opinions probably vary hugely on this, but my impression is that because the show doesn't make any kind of deal about Taigen being in the room with Mizu here, my guess is that Mizu isn't in any danger of Taigen thinking she's female. Even when I watched the show for the first time, I assumed that Taigen had seen Mizu out of her clothes here, and that he thought nothing of it.

Eat your heart out, Li Shang (Mulan 1998). I actually do think that this scene is a direct and purposeful side-eye to that movie, lol

There's obviously some nuance to how "severe" being mixed race is compared to how "severe" being a woman is for Mizu:

After all, Swordfather can't bear to listen to Mizu confess to being a woman.

So a Japanese man can go wherever he wants, whenever he wants in BES. A Japanese woman has limited options: marriage, religion, or a brothel. A mixed-race man is an eyesore in this story. A mixed-race woman is a death sentence.

May as well eliminate the female aspect, and do what you can about the mixed-race aspect. Because that's just realistic.

Meaning Mizu can avoid the strictures Edo society places on women. But she can't avoid the repercussions that come with being mixed race. And I truly don't think that it's just because "there's no brown contacts yet."

[saltpepperbeard]

a pensive babygirl™

[picture source]

[daily-hanamura]

[cod-fishing]

Drift compatible GhostSoap. Pacific Rim jaeger pilots GhostSoap. That’s it that’s the post.

[babyboybuckley]

Since I met you... I've been thinking about getting a car

How can I NOT be insane after that line it's truly one of the slowest of slow burns and it's beautiful and Shawn's monologue here is truly one of the best love confessions I've ever heard

[ellies-enrichment]

another version of me >> i was in it

[bioethicists]

irt poverty/homelessness + alcohol use (esp with @butchfeygela‘s tags on my post)- people really underestimate the function that substance use/alcohol use can have for someone who is unhoused. being unhoused is boring, cold, painful, + lonely. substances can allow the 8 hours panhandling to get the $45 you need for a motel to fly by. alcohol reduces your perception of the cold + can knock you out whben you can’t sleep. substances can help you cope with the physical deterioration from malnutrition, constant stress, + sleeping outside. substances can provide social connection with others who you would otherwise not enjoy or help you cope with being alone.

not only that but- many unhoused people are stuck in a seemingly inescapable position. the pathway to financial stability or even housing is difficult or even impossible. in the wake of that hopelessness, the downsides of substance use start to seem insignificant. arrest? you’re getting arrested anyway for sleeping outside, peeing outside, standing in the wrong place, etc. physical danger? you’re already beat the fuck up, anyway, right? loss of relationships? you’ve lost most people already. inability to keep a job? nobody will hire you + you can’t stay employed, anyway, because you have no car + no shower.

perhaps for you or me, the cons of heroin use or binge drinking nightly greatly outweigh the pros. that isn’t the case for everyone. if we are really serious about ending overdose/addiction, we need to start looking at giving people lives worth recovering into instead of shaming them for their own hopelessness.

[odysseys-blood]

im never getting over how belphie just...yoinked beleth's halo. like the artifact says "given" but he very much did not give it 😭

i lowkey think it was to take some of the heat off of beleth for being a fallen angel and to keep others from being too loud about it but still he did it in the most goofy manner possible. (and smthn smthn a crown symbolizing protection for his people and its from the first person he wanted to keep safe personally)

[thisloveislikeabattle]

SandRay is just AkkAyan spelled differently

I've lost count of the number of rewatches I've done of The Eclipse since watching it six months ago for the very first time, but once Only Friends started airing I haven't done any rewatch, just because all my thoughts these past weeks have been obsessively about Sand and Ray

BUT yesterday I found myself watching it again after months and when I got to episode 11 it hit me: SandRay's dynamic when it comes to taking care of each other is the same as AkkAyan's but backwards.

Let me explain, I was watching this specific scene

And this thought came into my mind: "If in The Eclipse it's Khaotung's character that takes care of First's character, especially when it comes to emotional needs, in Only Friends it's actually the opposite with First's character taking care of Khaotung's character"

Since then I haven't been able to stop noticing all the ways Ayan and Sand mirror each other when caring for their partners

Ayan looked at Akk, and saw something extraordinary. He saw this beautiful broken boy, who was hurting so much and doing it all wrong, he saw him holding on to a very thin thread just on the verge of letting go. Ayan saw all the love Akk needed, and despite being very broken himself, he never ever let go of him.

Akk did bad things and said awful stuff and pushed Aye away time and time again, and still Aye stayed right were he was and held him up every time Akk hit the ground.

Showed him how despite all his flaws, all his mistakes, he was still someone worthy of love.

And so throughout their journey Ayan gave his heart and soul, took all the love he could muster and stood firm by Akk's side, no matter what.

Ayan made no excuses for Akk's behavior, held him accountable, called him out when he was doing something wrong and at the same time offered Akk all the support he needed to get out of that bad place because he knew how necessary it was to have a support system.

And isn't that exactly what Sand has been doing with Ray ever since he first saw him, left alone, drunk as hell, getting into his car without any concern for his life?

Just like Ayan, Sand has found this special fragile boy who needs lots and lots of love. And where Akk wanted acceptance and to be good for others, Ray only wants to be loved and to be someone's priority for once in his life.

Even the little things Sand does for Ray. And yes, we joke about Ray being Sand's spoiled princess, but before Sand came into Ray's life, did anyone ever treat him with this much care and affection? No.

Lighting up his cigarettes, cooking for him, helping him with his helmet, driving him around, changing his dirty clothes when Ray is too passed out to care, going after him no matter what Ray said or did, shaving him...

Yes, Sand is a natural caregiver and perhaps acts of service are his love language, but to me the point is that Sand is able to see the full potential Ray could reach.

Sand knows how precious he truly is; with patience and love and care, with someone by his side ready to fight the battle with him, someone who will not give up on him, Ray may one day be able to blossom into this wonderful person that he is capable of being.

Until that moment comes, Sand will be there for him like no one ever has before. Because Sand looks at Ray and sees someone worth fighting for, someone worthy of love.

And yes, I am aware that Ayan and Sand are very different characters, they are at different points and have different expectations when it comes to relationships.

Even the way they handle things when it comes to love is different: Ayan is very much open and ready and unafraid to communicate what he wants from Akk, while Sand is emotionally constipated, with his walls all up, still falling hard but refusing to admit it even to himself.

Yet the way Ayan and Sand care for their loved ones appears to me as the very same.

[a-lewd-rat]

I keep getting frustrated by only seeing posts about small dicked subs lately, or posts about dommes with huge dicks, but honestly where's the love for small dicked dommes and hung subs? I honestly need to just be the change I want to see in the world and start making posts about dommes with tiny cocks still pinning down subs who are whining and rutting against nothing, getting teased for getting so hard and leaky, bullied for having such a pretty dick with no reason to use it. I dunno. I just feel like there's something to the idea of a sub basically being a trophy to show off, getting hard for their domme and pleading and begging to fill something while being denied.

[thatswhatsushesaid]

happy sunday!! time to remember how small and alone and frightened and scared nie huaisang looks while held captive in qishan!

specifically, that moment when he finds out qinghe has been taken by the qishan wen, and asks that sentient sphincter muscle wen chao, "what happened to my big brother?!"

and wen chao just smiles at him and says, "what do you think?"

anyway it low key broke my heart!! someone give huaisang a hug 🥺

[tillywunderwing]

psst. hey. do you ever worry that you’re writing characters ‘ooc’ in fanfiction? well guess what. you’re not. that’s just your au now.

“they would not say that” yes they would, my au version of this character would totally say that

“ummmm this character’s powers don’t work like that” but they do. in my au

“these characters would never canonically be dating” buddy oh boy i cannot wait to tell you what fanfiction writers have been doing since the advent of their craft!! anything goes in my au!!!

the medium is inherently transformative do whatever you want forever ok ly byye