#also i mean that derogatorily

[off-the-rails-raccoon]

In the old house, where Tommy and Clemi were raised, all the windows were tinted, or coloured, because Phil can’t see clear glass.

:3

Bird brain

[skydigiblogs]

oughhh i was plagued by ghost game related thoughts today. this is messy and disorganized and a lot so don't mind me gbdsfhgbdjfg

it's been like half a year or so since i finished watching it so this is mostly unprompted and like

i do kind of wonder what would have happened with ghost game if instead of a bigger focus on purely pick up and go scooby doo shit, they were willing to tell an overarching story with the elements they had

i think i enjoyed it so much if only because it gave us something we hadn't seen much of to that point (that i'm now realizing is one of those things appmon heavily inspired in GG), that being digimon affecting technology in complex ways

(that's to say, not just bricking computers like giant magnets or making binary flash on the screen to ominous messages like makuramon does in tamers)

but like also digimon having more interactions with humans in general? just kind of hanging out and living in the human world? yeah the field exists and digimon can bworp in and out of being visible to humans without VBs, but they also live in a setting where they can mostly get away with just going "no yeah i'm just a very advanced hologram, dw about it :)"

i also refuse to get over the fact that gammamon is like, canonically plural, and i really wish we had more time with gulus after the finale ep reveals about him and the GRB shit.

also, i do wonder if maybe the series shot itself in the foot by not knowing what it wanted to do, plot wise? it gave us expectations in the first episode as an audience--- suggesting big and strange things to be delivered, and didn't seem to know how to really deliver on them while also trying to be that variety of scooby doo shit that doesn't have to have a throughline plot (aka, setting up a mystery inc style story when it's got a stated goal to be more like the original series)

i was still using reddit at the time GG started, and i remember a lot of people really wanting to hype it up as "the next tamers," especially after they saw the tone and structure of the first episode. in general, i wonder if high expectations put more scrutiny on GG than it might have otherwise gotten.

(this of course isn't to say that there's criticism to be had for GG. i mean i just said i personally have beef with its lack of narrative commitment. i'm just wondering if maybe some people got a little too excited to see a series that met the lofty nostalgia of something like tamers.)

anyways, idk, there's not really anywhere i'm going with this one, i just had some idle thoughts at work today about this series.

go read the gray matter ghost game fancomic or something (no i really have no clue why ghost game is on my mind, really)

[farcillesbian]

annoying when ppl conflate stone butch with just being the most masculine tough butch & on the flip side high femme with just being an ultra feminine at all times femme ... that's not what either of those terms mean 😭 like u can be a stone top and femme & a stone bottom and butch & either of those without being butch or femme! but those two terms describe very specific sexual roles....

[seilon]

If I may:

Psychopath/Sociopath: outdated and unofficial terms referring to individuals with antisocial personality disorder or who display antisocial behaviors– primarily meaning a significant lack of consideration for the wellbeing of others, a deficit in empathy, and a persistent disobedience and/or significant disdain towards authority and societal rules and expectations. There is virtually no valid reason for a layperson to use these terms in the same way that there’s virtually no valid reason for a layperson to call someone “retarded”.

It is not: a synonym for evil, any given person you see as evil or monstrous, every serial killer or rapist, any person who’s done objectively bad things in general, any person who’s been inconsiderate or harmful to you, a real mental disorder, etc.

A lot of pop psychology gets thrown around and since I already have a headache, here's preventing you lot from making it worse.

Love-bombing: A manipulation tactic of increasing affection and grand gestures before or after doing something abusive, specifically to weasel one's way out of consequences.

What it is not: A streak of affection and generosity towards friends/loved ones.

Trauma-bonding: Knowingly traumatizing someone to take advantage of their vulnerable state, to then act like the "hero" or the one who cheers them up.

What it is not: Bonding over similar traumas.

Gaslighting: *Knowingly* convincing someone they cannot trust their own perception of a situation in pursuit of one's own narrative.

What it is not: Misaligned perception of events.

Narcissist: Someone afflicted with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, a traumagenic cluster B disorder, that struggles with self-obsession, paranoia, craving validity from the public, delusions of grandeur, and social disconnection.

It is not: Your rubbish ex that cheated on you.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

-Xanthe

[existennialmemes]

We're all rightfully upset about the fascism, but also I think it looks like the B Story here is that Musk and Trump are both materially broke.

Unless they liquidate assets that would cost them power and control, which obviously they don't want to do. So instead they're staging a heist on the US Treasury and trying to redirect our tax dollars into their own businesses.

This feels like the plotline to a South Park episode and I mean that extremely derogatorily.

[tonyglowheart]

see, literally this is why ppl need to watch more harem dramas, you pick up contextualizing tidbits like this so you can start learning/realizing the thing that you're making such a big deal about is, like, not even that big a deal, really

[vidavalor]

(Non-Frozen) Peas. A Good Omens Sex Meta Thing Side Dish

Shorter little vegetable-themed side dish to Crepes, which you do not have to have read first. All by way of Aziraphale's dirty French in S2 about how he has a craving for Crowley's Eden.

*slips into GO fandom quietly* *whispers*

Do you all realize that another translation of Aziraphale's "Ou est la plume de la jardiniere de ma tante?" is...

"Where is the feathered garden box of my queen?"

I probably don't need to tell you that both 'garden' and 'box' are sexual euphemisms for lady parts and, to make matters funnier, remind you of this scene earlier in the season, in which a literal box became related to... well, it's somewhat open to interpretation so let's just call it a gasp-worthy, part-related situation. :)

"Where is the feathered garden box of my queen?" is Aziraphale saying that it's been a minute since he worshipped Lady Crowley and he misses her.

This would account for Aziraphale's impish "but you understood me" and flirty little smile and wiggles. He's so cute about it that Nina comes out of her coffee shop to try to hear what they're talking about that's made the bookseller look so alive and has Snarky Sunglasses all flustered.

Crowley's "Only because, for two hundred and fifty years, you've been wittering on about the plume of your imaginary 'tante.'" = "Only because, ever since you took French lessons the human way, I've had to listen to you euphemistically referring to my occasional wild flower garden and calling me your queen in two different languages and I love to hate how much I absolutely love it."

We know that Crowley did understand Aziraphale and not just because he also speaks French but because his traditional choices in translating it back to Aziraphale in protest-- "you don't have an aunt, she doesn't have a gardener and he doesn't have a... pen"-- is intentionally a bit incorrect because Aziraphale used the feminine French word for 'gardener'-- la jardiniere-- in his sentence. As a result, Crowley is protesting that "the gardener" is a he right now, Aziraphale, and he doesn't have a-- pause of 'wait, this isn't going to work if I translate 'plume' as 'feathers'-- euphemistic or literal-- as I have both so I'll go with the other thing the word means instead'--... pen.

(Which winds up even funnier since a pen is phallic and euphemistic, in this sense, for currently having a penis, which is actually Crowley's current state of effort in that moment. Hold those thoughts until we get to turnips and inkwells down below lol.)

A 'plume' in French is a pen, a feather, a quill, and a cloud of rising smoke. In Good Omens, it's also used in the smoke-like definition by Michael to describe the pink plume of magical energy that came from the bookshop when Crowley and Aziraphale miracled together. Crowley responded with 'pen'-- which is a riff on the fact that Aziraphale is riffing on "la plume de ma tante", a cliched line said derogatorily to mean 'those sentences that you learn when you learn a new language that you'd never say in real life.' Crowley used 'aunt', 'gardener' and 'pen' as the translation in reference to the cliche Aziraphale was referencing. Aziraphale, though, adjusted the line, as we saw-- adding words to it to make it a stealth, flirty request-- and Crowley did hear the innuendo. Crowley correctly heard Aziraphale using 'plume' in the 'feather' sense (hilariously, considering that they have actual feathers in their angel/demon forms lol), with the 'feather'-context 'plume' being euphemistic for Crowley keeping it real down below.

(It could be worse, Crowley. He could be in a blasphemous mood and referring to it as "The Burning Bush"... which I feel like you'd actually find hilarious but anyway, moving on...)

In English, appropriated from the French, a 'jardiniere' is a flower box/garden planter. 'Tante' is French for 'aunt' but it's also a word meaning both 'queen'/'pansy' in the queer sense of the words (a 'pansy' also being a kind of flower, of course, adding to the Eden motif that "*the* Southern Pansy" Aziraphale has going on for his gardener partner here) but 'tante' is also one of the words that just means 'queen' as well, in the 'regal' sense of the word. It might not be the first word Aziraphale would use if he were, instead, speaking a sentence in French about, say, Queen Camilla-- but it's maybe a more appropriate one for flirting with his gender-everything partner by telling him in French that it's been too long since he spent some quality time with his queen's jardiniere.

'A la jardiniere' is also a French cooking term. It translates as "in the manner of the gardener's wife" (Gabriel: "Whatever that is."). It is obviously an archaic-sounding term when it comes to gender but, for the purposes of metaphor here, it's actually a little useful. The phrase is born out of the idea that the chef would be male, straight and married and that his wife would be keeping their kitchen garden-- which, even though she was probably running it, is credited to him, because the patriarchy-- from which fresh vegetables could easily be picked and used in a dish. As such, it's a lot more fun that Aziraphale is using the French here because the actual gardener doing the garden work in the definition of 'jardiniere' is specifically female by the term's description, so it's another way to reference Crowley's femininity.

There's also, of course, that "in the manner of the gardener's wife" is about as porny a definition for a phrase that can possibly be translated from one language to another lol and so adds to the idea of 'jardiniere' being sexually euphemistic. Atop that, there's the fact that the word itself relates food to romance and sex by referring to the chef and the gardener as married in its definition. The second half of this scene is the Nina & Crowley "partners" conversation. In a season that has Crowley and Aziraphale unable to deal with words like 'couple' and 'partners', if only Maggie and Nina understood that maybe they don't know how to use traditional words but damned if Aziraphale isn't already on covertly calling Crowley his spouse when flirting with him.

While 'a la jardiniere' is a cooking term, 'la jardiniere/jardiniere' is also a French food term. It is a side dish or a garnish of mixed vegetables, usually spring garden vegetables. So, carrots, green beans, potatoes (Crowley: "You say 'potato', I say 'excellent'" lol), turnips (Aziraphale can turn garden variety sex into inkwells!-- haha 'garden' pun, get it? please send help-- and inkwells are the things one dips a quill pen into.... and, now, we're back to the 'pen' translation of 'la plume...').

The most signature vegetables of jardiniere, though, are peas.

As Crowley would tell Shax and anyone who will listen, literal ducks-the-water-fowl need not get their actual jardiniere defrosted.

Aziraphale-- the more discerning duck-- likes his hot, though.

~~~

If you have not already and would like to read more meta like this:

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hi, I have a question for you about TWST. Do you think that in terms of medical care and technology our world is more advanced in some ways? I had this one idea that in TWST they don’t know CPR because they have magic. Also do you think that they had a moon landing or a space race?

On the contrary, I think Twisted Wonderland’s medical care and medical technology is more advanced than ours, if not just as advanced. Twisted Wonderland has many of the same inventions as we do (cars, smartphones, social media, etc.) and even magical variants of those (a magical wheel/blastcycle is a magic-powered motorcycle), so it doesn't make sense to me that medicine and healthcare would be the one area where the real world is ahead of TWST's. Twisted Wonderland would be more advanced than us because magic would allow them to enhance their technology to surpass what we are realistically capable of. Technomantic assistive devices integrate elements of both technology and magic to assist those with impairments. Additionally, healing potions (which accelerate the speed of one's recovery) existed as far back as 400 years ago. For those skilled in potionology, they may whip up antidotes on the spot with the right medicinal herbs.

I also don't think that the existence of magic completely negates the need for regular first aid procedures. Non-magical methods and skills must still exist since the majority of the population are non-magical. Among humans, 90% are completely incapable of magic and of the remaining 10%, most of them are not able to produce enough magic to so much as lift a cup. Very few left are competent enough to become skilled mages, and even fewer are competent enough to become medical mages. Why would the entire healthcare system of the world be entirely based in magic when so few people would be capable of administering that kind of care? CPR and first aid exist in the first place so the common everyday average Joe can help others until actual medical personnel can arrive. It wouldn’t make sense to gatekeep these skills or for them to not have been invented simply because magic is A Thing. In fact, magic is not widely accessible and is implied to be kept for the elite and well-off (more on that here and here).

“Not many humans can use magic, so we turn to chemistry for stuff like this,” Trey says in his Silk Adorned vignette when explaining to the group how the colors of fireworks can differ. The existence of regular sciences—devoid of magic—implies the existence of regular medicine as well. Remember too that not all schools teach magic, therefore regular subjects must exist and be widely taught in non-magic schools.

It should also be noted that, even with magic, it's not a perfect solution for every ailment out there. For example, the healing potions in 7-68 do not instantly restore Lilia to full health; he notes that he must still rest and that his magic is still depleted to the point where he cannot fly back in the direction he just came from.

Magic was also not always viewed as a positive either; a few hundred years ago, it was viewed as a frightening thing. Mages were referred to derogatorily as “witches” and “wizards”. Most societies were not structured around magic (and still aren’t to this day, with fae seeming to be the exception). This means that normal medicine and related first aid must have still existed since magical medicine was presumably not widely accepted.

All of that was to say that I’m pretty sure Twisted Wonderland still has CPR, among other means of non-magical medicine and healthcare 😅

Now as for your final questions, I do think that Twisted Wonderland has achieved space travel. Idia was able to launch Ortho into space in Wish Upon a Star, so the technology is definitely there. It should also be noted that spacesuits and astronauts have been mentioned in the 4koma, which implies the existence of space travel. Again, I’d also like to point out that TWST’s general technological advances are about on-par with ours (including modes of transportation), so there’s no reason not to believe they haven’t gone to space as well.

I don’t think there was a Space Race though? That’s an event that happened in our history, and we know that TWST, while borrowing ideas from irl does not cleanly align with reality. For example, the fictional countries we visit have elements from many cultures (Sunset Savanna has onsen eggs, which are Japanese, not African; Harveston has fashion and foods from various Nordic cultures, etc.).

For historical events… I think Twisted Wonderland is more likely to get its inspiration from Disney movies rather than look to actual irl history. It gets into too much muddy political tension otherwise, which I totally understand TWST wanting to keep out. There were probably other circumstances that led to the advent of space travel in Twisted Wonderland.

[scarysanctuary]

I'm so normal about the fact that the crew chose to use the unicorn hoof of all things for Izzy's new leg, its unbelievably moving. The unicorn was the figurehead of the ship, and back then figureheads embodied the spirit of the vessel, offering the crew protection from harsh seas and safeguarding their homeward journeys. Now i don't think i need to really explain just how beautiful this is, but, I'm also incapable of shutting up about Israel Hands, so. Izzy seems to assume everyone still hates him, and is drinking his many sorrows away, alone in his room, not knowing that the crew fully recognizes that Izzy saved them from Blackbeard, that he chose to protect them. The note said that Izzy is the ships "new unicorn" i.e. the new figurehead, this means that he also embodies the spirit of the vessel, and that they have faith in his continued ability to protect them, as is the job of the figurehead. Even the fact the hoof was painted gold seems intentional, gold in the bible represents love and protection, as if they are saying thank you for protecting us, now let us paint you in our protection as well Izzy. When they knocked on his door to give him his present, Izzy derogatorily calls himself a cripple, showing that he's feeling particularly clumsy and weak after his fall in front of everyone, and assumes this must be how everyone sees him now as well. But, unicorns actually represent power and grace, they've not only enabled Izzy to feel sturdy again physically with a new leg, they've also taken a bit of the weight off his shoulders emotionally by proving to him that he's not alone. Similar to his new leg, they're willing to bear some of the burden for him. And that's the thing, Izzy always tries to do things on his own, he gets drunk alone, he cries alone, his version of self-healing involves coming up with stories about sharks biting his leg off, and he even does that alone too. Yet they're giving him a sign that no matter how much he tries to self isolate, he's actually shit out of luck because they're there for him. What I appreciate about this show of support is the fact that they didn't force Izzy to accept the gift face to face, rather, they left it outside his room, proving that they know him quite well, and didn't want to push him too far too fast. Just like their extending of friendship, they are letting Izzy come to them when he's ready. But what i love most of all is that it actually works, this is what finally snaps him out of his spiral of depression, and gets him sword training again, improving himself rather than giving up, and engaging with the crew and helping them. This one show of solidarity, gratitude, and compassion, opens his eyes to the fact that he's a part of their messed up family, he belongs to something, and this fact alters Izzy forever.

[genderqueerdykes]

I don't want to come off as entitled by asking this, but I see you dress more 'feminine' and still ID as butch. I was wondering what the identity means to you as someone who doesn't look like how a butch "should" look? What is the connection there? I hope this doesn't come off as rude, I'm just trying to keep myself from being closeminded in any way and am interested in experiences of others.

i don't really see this as rude! i get a lot of asks where people say both "butches should be able to wear dresses and skirts" and "butches can only dress and look certain ways". there seems to be a lot of contention and gatekeeping over what a butch person should look like, not saying this is what you are doing- i see it constantly in the wild

it's okay to ask these kinds of things because i think a lot of people are confused about the origins of the term butch. butch just means queer masculinity- a queer masculine person can look, act, and dress like anything. there is no set dress code or look for a butch person. i have a phrase which i repeat in these scenarios: the butch is in the person, not the presentation. i see a lot of butches ache and long to wear dresses and other "femme" clothing all the time

i have a complex relationship with both femininity and masculinity due to being intersex. also, i have been living with being called a butch dyke derogatorily my entire life- it's something that's highly close to me. some may postulate that the term "bear" would fit me better, and i have used it in the past, but i'm not sure that one's quite right either. i honestly don't really know if i fit into the femme-butch binary.

due to having DID, some days i feel butch, and other days i feel femme. i am not an unshakeable person, and i have been wondering if the term femme would suit me better these days, given the direction i've pivoted in on the whole. it's a tough thing- queer masculinity to me involves being feminine. it seems confusing, but queer masculinity does not always have to be super macho. a masculine person can display queer masculinity by being feminine, too. the way someone dresses shouldn't have an impact on how they feel on the inside

it's an interesting thing to think about for sure! you caught me right at a time where i have been questioning this, myself. this exact question dawned on me just a few days ago. i was a lot more butch in the past, but i've gravitated toward a more femme experience in recent years. i don't know if i'll ever truly abandon the term butch. it's something i've been getting called my entire life. and i don't think dressing in a feminine way makes someone not butch, but i will say this is something i have been questioning lately!

the thing is, with queer identities, questioning and figuring out what really applies to you takes time. you may find a term and go "oh that's me!" right away, only to discover later on down the road that may not be correct. just because i was hyper masculine in the past doesn't mean i can't be hyper feminine now, you know? things change and shift. maybe at one point I had more butch alters than i do now- change is inevitable in a plural person, and it's hard for us to quantify how many of us are butch vs. how many of us are femme

considering i was already questioning this, this has given me more to think about, for sure. i think it's important to ask these kinds of questions because it may jar you into considering things you haven't before. while butches can present any way they want to, i have been feeling way more femme lately. perhaps i'm a butch who dresses femme, or maybe i've grown in ways where i've discovered that identity doesn't suit me as well as i thought it did. maybe things just changed. so thank you, i'm going to continue considering if that's the direction i'm more headed in lately. :)

[thegreatyin]

yeah, these are pretty fitting. they're Neat 👍 they get the yin seal of approval

what do u think of the doctor who mtg cards

is there a list somewhere so i can see them all? i've seen a few individual cards but it'd be cool to browse the whole set and see how much i recognize.

anyway. i like em. They're Neat. i'm a pretty casual doctor who watcher so i don't have many in-depth things to say on how accurate any one card is beyond "yeah that seems appropriate". the nardole card for instance is funny

[evenmyhivemindisempty]

what pronouns do you headcanon for the Boyd characters?

So, I’ve actually been sitting on this ask for a while, because I’m of two minds of how to answer it. I tend to just default to “he/him” for the Boyd characters - afaik, no other pronouns have ever been used for his characters; while I don’t HC all of them as cis men, pronouns don’t necessarily correspond with gender anyway, so it’s an easy way to have our cake and eat it too, as it were.

But I also wanted to have fun with this ask! So! Here goes!

Steve Murphy: He’s so he so embedded in that conservative Government culture he never considers any other options for himself other than he/him. If he’s asked his pronouns, he’ll just adopt a faintly perplexed look and say, “um, the normal ones?”. You know? I also have this weird feeling Steve prefers other people use neopronouns to they/them, he finds it more specific! His brain is always running on investigative mode - he finds they/them far too ambiguous! (He’s heard “omg they’re getting away!” too many times not to have an instinctive “WHO EXACTLY IS THEY” response)

Donald Pierce: He/him, but there’s rare, kinky roleplays where he’ll use “she” (he sometimes likes being called a girl in the bedroom, but he usually still prefers he/him pronouns even then). Oddly, I think he’s often more comfortable having women refer to him with she/her pronouns in the bedroom than men. I could see him doing a roleplay where Gabby is some madam at a brothel getting her new girl ready for a client (Mendez or Val, etc).

Cap Hatfield: Neither historic nor modern Cap cares one bit about what pronouns he’s referred to by. I bet once or twice historic Cap was derogatorily referred to as a girl, and he barely noticed. He’s also been called “it” as an insult, which totally backfired when he liked it. Nancy’s used she/her pronouns for Cap too. Initially it was to be mean, but I think his lack of reaction kinda took her by surprise; she still does it sometimes, but it’s usually a lot fonder (she’s sweeter with him when he’s her girl), and he can really get into that. (He’s happy being a girl - she’s nicer to girls!)

Clement Mansell: He/him, but I don’t think he’d mind they/them. That being said, I sometimes bat around a trans masc Clement HC, and trans masc Clement is *only* okay with he/him pronouns.

The Corinthian: He/him primarily. I go back and forth about how he feels about it/its. I wonder if he’s okay being referred to as “it” by some people more than others?

Eli Klaber: He/she. I think he’s largely fine with either, but she/her is slightly more preferable during sex. I think being referred to by she/her pronouns unexpectedly would be a pleasant surprise for him.

Danny Maguire: He/him, and he’ll actually lose his shit if you refer to him as anything else. It’s definitely some overcompensation in action. I think Danny’s absolutely got some gender issues he’s trying real hard not to look at.

Ty Shaw: He/him, but in the bedroom, it’s anyone’s game! Whatever his partner thinks is fun, he’s down for!

Quinn McKenna: He’s the type that declares that pronouns are dumb and he doesn’t care, but then gets twitchy when he’s referred to by anything that’s not he/him… except it/its. He finds he’s actually very, very okay with it/its.

[witchiewitchie]

I would like to address an elephant in the room.

I've kind of reached my tipping point with the amount of slurs that people seem to feel completely comfortable using derogatorily in this fandom, so long as it's in the name of 'in-character' roleplaying.

I don't feel like calling anyone specific out, but these people will know who they are, and what's more, I'm sure that most people who are familiar with the plethora of It fandom tags that I've also used are unfortunately very familiar with these accounts.

Let me be clear: while personally, I do not have a strongly negative opinion of reclaiming slurs, there is a big difference between 'reclaiming', which overwhelmingly is seen as a process of taking back words and redefining them, and just straight up using a slur the exact same way a homophobic (or anything else) person would use them.

It is not okay to use the F slur, for example, as a derogatory term. This is a hard line that we must not cross, because no matter what, it is a term that has been used in the past and will continue to be used in the future as a way of discriminating against or otherwise insulting people.

Even if you want to defend yourself by saying that it is simply in-character roleplay, I would encourage you to take a step back and try to figure out why exactly perpetuating homophobia (which is what you're doing, for the record, if you use a slur derogatorily, no matter the context) is something that you must do, particularly in a public space, without any trigger warnings.

At the very least, trigger warnings are a must, particularly if you insist on using harmful words in public. I understand that in the current year most people are somewhat removed from such a thing as homophobic or otherwise LGBTphobic bullying and/or harassment -- which is a wonderful concept, to be sure! However, that does not mean that all of us are so lucky. Many people have trauma resulting from such kinds of bullying and/or harassment and would appreciate at least a tag that they can avoid, rather than having to walk on eggshells because of a lack of consideration by others.

I think this also holds true for any other slurs you might see people using, but I'm picking my battles where they need to be picked.

As a side note, I think that whether you as an individual feel comfortable reclaiming slurs or being around people who do so is entirely up to yourself, and no one can tell you what to feel or how to act about something that is so intensely personal.

Personally, I have participated in reclaiming slurs that have been used as insults for myself in the past, and to some extent do this even now, although much less often. However, I specifically do not use these slurs in public -- whether in real life or online -- because there is no guarantee that people who overhear or read your public message are not going to take it as A) you genuinely saying the slur as an insult or B) a go-ahead to use the slur as an insult.

I will again state though that it is ultimately your choice to reclaim or to not reclaim slurs, although I will reiterate that I believe that it is actively harmful to use these slurs derogatorily, and I do not think that it is a personal choice but instead a moral failing to use slurs derogatorily or to insult other people.

Sincerely, someone who was beaten up many, many times in school for being any number of slurs that people have now decided it is okay to use derogatorily even as part of those marginalised groups.

[active-mind-15]

Let's talk about Murasakibara as the youngest sibling

As we all know, Murasakibara canonically has four older siblings in the series, making him the fifth and youngest child in his family. So, as a fellow youngest child of my own family, I wanted to explore some headcanons/general observations I have in the context of him being the youngest child. I'll try not to project too hard but I make no promises. 🫶🏿

He is HEAVILY doted on. I think we can all agree on this because it's pretty obvious in the series that he is spoiled (I mean this both endearingly and derogatorily). That mindset probably came from all of his siblings taking care of things for him. But the downside to too much doting is that, outside of basketball, Murasakibara is not intrinsically motivated to do anything unless he gets a reward for it such as pocket money or sweets. I'm guessing the reason why he has such a sweet tooth in the first place is because his siblings would constantly bribe him with sweets to get him to do something. Fast-forward to Teiko, and he became a person who essentially wouldn't do anything they're asked unless they had sweets for him. Akashi is kinda guilty of fueling Murasakibara's sweet tooth with how often he shares sweets and snacks with him, but that was also their way of bonding. Himuro is worse, though. He will just straight-up be like "Atsushi, if you do this thing for me I will give you sweets." He's not even remotely ashamed about it.

He has a very set-in-stone hierarchy in his house. This would explain why he's so used to falling in line within the context of the basketball club. As the youngest, he has to obey his siblings and parents. This is why when he believes someone has authority over him, he follows them without question. But I'm sure that made him build up resentment, especially as a teenager. As a former teen myself, I hated being told what to do. So I'm sure Murasakibara lashing out at Akashi in 3rd year could be a result of pent-up frustration. When his skills drastically blossomed and he saw the power he held over Akashi in that regard, he decided to use it as a gambling chip to win his independence from the team, but it backfired.

He is not used to taking accountability because he has never been expected to be the "mature" one in his house. This frequently comes with the territory of being the youngest child. If you act out, it's often your older siblings that take the heat for your behavior because the older children are supposed to "know better". If two children are playing rough inside the house and break something, the older child is punished more because they were supposed to be the one to tell the younger child that playing rough inside wasn't a good idea. (It's a fucked up way of thinking but I've seen parents use this excuse to avoid holding themselves responsible for not raising their children correctly.) That being said, with four older siblings, I would expect that whatever trouble Murasakibara would get in would be pretty minimized in comparison to his siblings. Their parents would probably be so busy interrogating Murasakibara's siblings about why they weren't watching him or why nobody told Murasakibara not to do XYZ that by the time the attention trickles down to Murasakibara, his siblings have already gotten most of the flack for shit they didn't even do. Judging from the Replace Plus chapters, it seems like to make up for that, his siblings have taken up parental roles of their own to ensure that Murasakibara gets disciplined. In one of the chapters, Murasakibara mentioned that he had a fight with one of his older brothers. So, as punishment, his older sister took away his allowance. Clearly, his siblings do hold enough authority to make decisions like that regarding punishments. But I'm sure Murasakibara would then turn around and try to get his parents to overturn it (and maybe it works sometimes). This is why even after having that fallout with Akashi, they go back to their normal dynamic, but Murasakibara never truly apologized. Not as far as the viewers/readers are aware. So there always was that unsettling air hanging around the two of them even in high school. Things were never properly resolved for them. Not until much later.

I feel like he's a total snitch in his house. Younger siblings tend to be. Either to relish in their older siblings getting in trouble with their parents or because they have it so ingrained into them to be truthful that they just naturally don't lie. I remember in the OVA 41.5, Murasakibara instantly tattled on Aomine and Haizaki to Midorima when they were stuffing their dirty t-shirts into a locker and Midorima was wondering why the locker room smelled terrible. It didn't even seem malicious, Murasakibara was just objectively giving Midorima the answer he wanted. So I'm sure there have been times when Murasakibara has snitched on his older siblings when his parents interrogated him.

I feel like him being the youngest also plays into Murasakibara's fashion sense and how it's more 'juvenile' compared to the rest of the Teiko gang (I know Kise is also the youngest in his family but he's a model so his fashion sense is a direct result of being in that line of work). If you've ever seen official art of Murasakibara, a lot of his outfits are very cutesy. Overalls, baggy hoodies with cute characters on them, fuzzy boots, hats, and sweaters...he clearly embodies the lifestyle of the youngest child. He prioritizes comfort over everything, and it shows in what he wears.

Even the nicknames he gives to others and his way of speaking are very reflective of the youngest child. Shortening everyone's names and adding -chin to the end of it is probably something he does with his siblings at home (and maybe vice versa). And his way of speaking is very languid and carefree. He tends to drawl out his words very slowly, like he's in no rush to finish his sentence. And people could probably use this as evidence that he may be dull intellect-wise, but he's actually pretty intelligent and has gotten good grades when he applies himself, emphasis on applies himself. The problem is that he just doesn't give a fuck, so he doesn't try as hard in a lot of things even though he has potential. Someone usually has to push him to try, which circles back to my first point about him practically having to be bribed to do anything that's not related to basketball.

Overall, I think most of the negative traits that Murasakibara has in regard to youngest child syndrome will be things he grows out of as he gets older. I don't think my youngest child syndrome was ever as severe as Murasakibara's but I do relate to being doted on, having people constantly looking out for me, and not being used to taking care of others. I could be stubborn in my own right sometimes, on occasion even rude where I shouldn't have been, and my teen years were pretty rocky all the way through as I was figuring myself out. It took a lot of self-reflection for me to see that I had to change and in my latter teen years, I actively worked on my personality and my behavior. I also learned how to be more considerate of others and to step into the role of taking care of my friends and other family members. I still enjoy the perks of being the youngest in my family such as never having to worry about bringing my wallet out if I'm with my older siblings, but I still did take the time to mature and become an adult I'd be proud of. Eventually, I believe Murasakibara will lay that groundwork himself and become much more mature as time goes on post-canon. He'll learn to become a better friend and a better person, and he'll learn how to put the utmost effort into his passions. But at the same time, I still think he'll be the adorable slow-acting giant we've all come to know and love.

Anyway, this was my take on Murasakibara as the youngest child. Hope you enjoyed it!

[menlove]

hiii! i want to say one thing and then ask another. first, i just absolutely love your blog and your theories, i think they are very enlightening about the beatles and their dynamics (specially about paul, john as individuals and The Mclennon story™️). and second, i was curious, stalking your blog when i saw "john fighting more internalized homophobia than paul", and i will be so happy if you can explain for the majority of the people! :-) obviously if you can and you want lol.

aaaah yeah to me it just reads that way. ik paul has made Comments about not being gay (though most of these minus like one are from the 80s/90s and the most Recent one was bc the interviewer was being disrespectful as fuck honestly) but like as far as their personal lives go aside from like. paul with his pr mask on. I think john had a lottttt more going on there than him. like there's this sort of idea that if paul Is queer, then he's more repressed and more homophobic than john and idk about all that but I do certainly think john just was extremely repressed and extremely angry about it.

notttt pulling receipts on this btw bc I'm at work and it's not that serious just me rambling but if anyone wants to look this stuff up the sources are around I just can't be fucked rn but.

like paul has never gotten violent about it. but there's Many stories about john getting violent over being called gay/assumed to be gay, and not just when he was younger. like ofc there's the infamous bob wooler incident, but there's also the story about him punching a guy in the crowd around the same time for saying the same thing while he was on stage. and there's the story about him kissing a guy & headbutting him in the 70s. he also made a Ton of homophobic remarks on and off through the 70s (although tbf they Were after the mess of primal scream therapy so he was obviously dealing with whatever that brought up) like talking about "fags" derogatorily or like the whole calling paul gay for wanting to meet w him one on one without linda and yoko.

and I think obviously there's like many complexities in that man bc the 70s is Also full of shit like rumors about him fucking a prostitute w david bowie & then fucking david bowie, or the "john lennon's guide to bisexual gardening", or him trying to spread rumors that he Was gay, or that interview where he says he's never fucked a man but he's planning on it when he's 40 etc..... but I think he very much Did oscillate between leaning into it for shock value and then getting angry/scared when he was taken seriously about it

paul just to me seems a lot more settled about it. a lot of his comments are that john wasn't gay (which is interesting to Say The Least) and when he would get defensive about his own sexuality it's like. it's a lot more chill lmao and also just kind of tongue in cheek to me (again the female hordes). even if it's Not tongue in cheek, it's still just way more relaxed. like john he also had no issue hanging around queer people and being in queer spaces, but it doesn't seem like he ever got defensive about it in the same way and in fact seemed to sort of thrive off of being in those spaces and getting that kind of attention.

so like ultimately just as like a thought experiment if anything Did happen between the two of them, I think paul would have been a bit more calm about it than john. I can see him treating it as more of a "yeah alright this is a thing I like and thing I do it doesn't mean anything I'm not Gay I still Like women but this is fun and exciting and I love the attention" rather than john who I feel would just dig himself into a well of self-loathing so deep he can't see the sun anymore, while still compartamentalizing it to be able to participate in those acts without thinking of himself as Queer.

[gojos-thot-patrol]

I don’t know bout you but I’m introverted af. How would the jjk dudes treat an introverted and shy partner? 😊

AHH I love this request!! though, I will say I also have extreme social anxiety and I think that may have bled through so keep that in mind!

Now Presenting...

Starring: Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, Kento Nanami, and Ryomen Sukuna

Satoru Gojo

Gojo is going to be a hard one to deal with if you’re an introvert, I’m not gonna lie homies

He is extremely extroverted and loves to be around people.

He actually kinda has to be around people, least he lose his frickin mind

But, he does try to do better and pick up on your nonverbal cues

If you guys are out and he notices you getting overwhelmed, he tries to separate you from the situation

And while he loves hang outs, kick backs, nights out ect, he also loves just hanging out with you at home, quietly watching you play games or read together

I will say he does fall into the trap of finding your shyness cute.

Your flustered body language as you try to hide yourself away in social situations, He finds it cute!

And I honestly think he has a little bit of a hard time understanding your discomfort being around friends.

I mean, think about it. He’s a lonely guy with not a lot of friends. Gojo loves to attend social gatherings and hang outs, because they make him less lonely.

Why would anyone want to be lonely?

I also think he would have a pretty hard time giving you space ngl

Like, you just want to read alone but he wants to be right next to you. 

So, you have to be blunt with no room for misinterpretation when you need space. Just like real life!

I don’t think it would hurt his feelings, don’t worry. He’d be happy you can be so honest with him

He does try to adapt to you and your needs, but ya gotta give him some time

Suguru Geto

BESTIES, HE RUNS A CULT IDK WHAT YA WANT ME TO TELL YA

As an introvert who loves loves loves Suguru, don’t date him if you’re an introvert LMAO

He’s always got people in and around his house and all of them want to talk to him. It’s his “Family”

He may even be a little bit upset with you for wanting space from his family

They don’t mean you any harm, they love you! Why do you hate and avoid them?

I think he would “try” To “Help you adapt.”

By that I mean when you start to get overwhelmed, he pushes you past your boundaries to keep hanging out with them.

He would give you a drink to “help you nerves” 1000%

I just feel like being an introvert and dating him would leave you overstimulated all the time.

Not related (But it feels very related) he sees no problem in using the overhead lights and does so liberally. I mean that derogatorily.

Your best bet at getting some space is sneaking away while the others are deep in conversation

If you’re an introvert please stay far away from this man. I'm so serious. For your own safety stay clear

Now, that being said, I do think you can get some quiet time by agreeing to read with him.

But that’s it other than that you’re screwed.

Good luck soldier.

Kento Nanami

HIM TOO BESTIE HIM TOO

He completely understands because he is the exact same way

He's extremely sensitive to your needs and when you start to feel overwhelmed 

And as such, he's really good about getting you away from the situation and to a safe place where you can calm down

He understands space better than any of the other guys because he needs it sometimes too

You guys work because both of you hate everyone else

Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration but there's truth to it!

One of his favorite fate nights is just sitting with you reading together 

Unlike Gojo, he doesn't see your signs of distress as cute. He sees them for what the are: signs if distress 

Thankfully, he's never opposed to leaving any social gathering early to get you home to recharge your battery

Honestly he probably needs a recharge too

And don't worry, he's not going to ask you to go anywhere else for at least a little while

Honestly, he's the objective best bet for any introvert

He's understanding and gentle about the situation 

All he asks is that you do the same for him

Ryomen Sukuna

Ok, here me out on this one. Sukuna loves that you're an introvert 

….because it means he has an easier time keeping you to himself 

What, you didn't think this would come without a catch, did ya?

I've touched on this before but I think Sukuna is really in touch with his SO’s needs, so he picks up on it the moment you start to get overwhelmed

And his version of helping you re-regulate is to just taking you home because he didn’t want to be round people anyway

Honestly, I feel like he may be an introvert too

But not in a “People can drain me” Sometimes way but in more of a “I fucking hate people” way

He’d make fun of you for it too just fyi

“What? Can’t handle a few humans? Pathetic.”

If someone comes looking for you to hang out he’s real quick to be like “Sorry, her battery is dead today.”

Even when it’s not

Does not understand personal time at all.

Ask him to leave you alone all you want, he’s going to be at least in the same room as you.

Probably pouting because you don’t want to be near him

Have I mentioned yet that Sukuna is a nightmare?