#and i was like.... NO! because i KNOW its her job and never has been the job of like. the type of section i have now

[respectthepetty]

For such a simple man, Hagiwara Kazuaki has depth.

And Nakarai Sei likes that.

When they go to eat after the gallery, Hagiwara makes this profound statement about how the vastness of the Toyko metro reminds him of how connected people are.

The Tokyo underground is very deep like an ant colony in a clear box. If you look at the Toyko underground from a section view, it must be full of holes. Maybe somebody similar to us is surprisingly close to us. I think that whenever I visit Roppongi.

But when Sei presses him about "Why Roppongi," which is a place known for its partying and night life, Hagiwra simply responds "Well, the Oedo line is extremely deep" since it sits 150 feet below ground. Then, the fun music sets in to let us know that this man is a fool.

But, once again, Sei likes that. He even teases Hagiwara later because it's clear that Hagiwara doesn't always realize how funny he is being.

Because Sei likes that Hagiwara, even in his foolishness, is very serious.

In the midst of their very serious relationship issues, Hagiwara constantly makes Sei laugh.

Hagiwara, through email, has been so serious about the difficulties he is having in his relationship, yet whenever he and Sei meet, he is actually this goofy little guy.

He laughs. He smiles.

But he is also very serious when it comes to feeling.

Fujisawa is always serious. He is serious about his work and keeping the distance in his arrangement with Sei.

But Kairo is always smiles. She is always joking her way out of intimacy with Hagiwara. Then, there is Hagiwara.

He is good at his sales job. He is popular among his coworkers. He is the party planner of the group. And he is serious about his feelings, which must be refreshing for Sei who lives with a man who never talks about feelings. But it must also be nice for Hagiwara as well to speak to someone about his feelings.

Hagiwara, in his foolishness, is actually quite sincere. Hagiwara speaks plainly to Sei, so when he talks about his emotions of feeling dirty and like a bad person, we can feel the weight of what he is saying. When he asks Sei questions about his feelings, we know it's genuine. We can trust Hagiwara because he isn't trying to hide his feelings when he is with Sei. When he feels, we know it's serious because he is serious.

In a sense, Hagiwara is the Oedo line running under Roppongi. On the surface, he is all fun times, but when looking below the surface, his depth is surprising. Unlike the one dimensions we've seen of Fujisawa and Kairo, the more Sei gets to know Hagiwara, the deeper he sees his emotions run. And that's why he is easy to read.

Unlike the other characters who keep trying to cover up and dismiss their feelings, Hagiwara feels his feelings, and he takes those feelings seriously, so maybe that's why the Oedo line reminds him of connection since in all his dark layers of depth in this ant colony of life, he is looking for "somebody similar to us [who] is surprisingly close to us."

Hagiwara simply wants someone to feel

the same way he does.

[ficauthor]

Valerie is so interesting text wise in the Danny Phantom cannon.

She was rich but now she's poor. All basically overnight. She wasn't even particularly snobby compared to the other a-listers. but we watch in an instant how the life changes affects her. Her rapid decline in financial and social status was bc of a ghost dog. but overnight we also see her friends of many years reject her bc she cant go to a concert.

she takes it on the chin but seriously oof. that pain of her friends all ditching her must have been brutal its a huge display of her kindness that she continued to care about them even with that betrayal.

she's extremely socially adept, and very good at leveraging it. enough to trick Tucker into telling her details on ghost hunting.

She works at her local exploding McDonalds as a mascot. At any moment that place could blow because of its C4 sauce but she stays anyways because she's a hardworker, and is trying to help pay the bills.

Now she hates all ghosts because all of her life being ruined is because of one specific awful day. Vlad who's (and i can't stress this enough despite everyone knowing it) a ghost uses that very real trauma to gaslight her into trying to kill her boyfriend. she doesn't know its him but still. she tried to kill him and she's still likable/ nuanced/ complex enough that i can't even be mad.

she'd so caught up in protecting Danny that she doesn't know that she is trying to hurt him.

She also does it bc she believes it protects her dad. Her dad is a security officer he can protect himself but Valerie loves so fiercely it doesn't matter. she loves to her own detriment i'd argue.

in that alternate future we see her working with her dad to protect all of the town from Dark Dan. She never stopped trying to help people. Her number one priority is to always do what she thinks will keep people safe.

She'd very misguided about ghosts but considering the information available at the time it makes sense why she believes that ghosts are all bad.

.She's kind and smart and resourceful but always terrified. it's really easy to see that the way she goes about protecting including her motivations to do so, is all fueled by the fear that anyone's life could be ruined like hers was.

She's so caught up by it all that she breaks up with Danny because she thinks it is best for his wellbeing. she doesn't want his life ruined like hers was. she doesn't know that his was already turned upside and she's trying to make sure harm doesn't befall him.

Her entire life was twisted on its head bc of ghosts just like Danny's was. But circumstance lead her to try and kill them all. She's always in a state of survival juggling side jobs school and vigilantism.

She dated Danny for like a week tops and he became so instantly smitten to such a strong degree he ignored the murder attempts. He was so in love with her he wanted to give her a dorky old fashioned promise ring. he liked her that much! and it was all while she tried to kill him as Phantom! imagine how loveable you have to be for a person to disregard the murder attempts and somehow ignoring it is the correct thing to do.

The show makes it very clear that Valerie is one of Danny's biggest threats. More than Skulker, or Vlad or any of the normal ghost rotation. Not just bc he didn't want to hurt her either. she is genuinely so skilled motivated and quick on her feet that it gets Danny in trouble when they fight. seriously the way she learned the tech from Vlad in no time is majorly impressive. the way she adapted to technus' tech demonstrated a huge display of power and strength (in the Dark Dan timeline she's most likely the biggest factor in protecting the city from him. there are other people working to fight him but she's so powerful that it takes his worst weapon to take her down)

The way she foils him is so interesting. Danny is also often prone to try and shoulder the burden alone but he still always has people in his corner. that's why he turned in Dark Dan in that alternate timeline. the removal of his support made him lose his humanity.

But Valerie doesn't have that support system like him. yet it never consumes her like it does him. she is so interesting! it's just such a shame that the show never got a chance to expand that further.

[evilrwbyfan]

just some design stuff i guess, ive been wanting to get better with different body types and faces

fun facts: j’s tail/general design is the most on model because of her loyalty to jcjenson/cyn and for organization. i headcanon that the drones can customize how they PHYSICALLY look (sometimes its difficult depending on changes) and j specifically chooses to look like thw original dd design whereas n and v changed theirs up. n’s tail is inspired off of a dogs and her hair is inspired off of poodle, v’s tail is inspired off of a cats and v and n’s hair textures are meant to reference their respective animal fur textures (i know thats species dependent but yeah)

more facts: j has the darkest and most fangs because she is the one who is most devoted to the job, v’s teeth are darker than n’s but lighter than j’s because she did the job and even enjoyed it but not to the same extent and she has 2 fangs because shes more vicious than n (i believe shes more vicious than j but j’s teeth are just like that sometimes its just for fun ok), n is the most gentle of the disassemblys (still deadly) so she has the standard set of fangs and less dark, and uzi’s teeth arent oil stained but she has little fangs because of the solver development on her body and she has an overbite as well thats why her mouth looks like that (thanks to a mutual of mine for the idea of oil-stained disassembly/solver drone teeth)

in case its difficult to read the relationship chart, i typed it out.

uzi/n: dating

uzi/v: dating

v/n: friends, ex crushes

j/v: exes, one sided attraction (on j’s side)

j/n (LITERALLY FORGOT TO PUT THIS ONE): really complicated, j doesnt actually hate n shes just envious of her for a numerous amount of reasons and that resulted in her mistreatment of n. n is traumatized by some of her behavior but doesnt hate her either and wants to help her be better

v/lizzy: best friends, crushing

uzi/lizzy: uzi doesn’t like her due to past bullying, lizzy still thinks she’s weird

n/lizzy: they are sort of friends. lizzy teases n for her past crush on v because i think its funny

doll/lizzy: it’s complicated, ex-crush on doll’s part

j/doll: frienemies

j/lizzy: never officially met, but lizzy would totally hit though

doll/v: doll hates v, but v doesn’t really care. after doll’s death, i could see some regret on v’s side

doll/n: n likes her but doll is cautious of her

doll/uzi: childhood friends, complicated

[baphometsss]

My personal take on the DAI companions as Tarot Cards

I've been reading Tarot for a long time now (20ish years) and I don't always agree with the cards they chose for the companions in DAI... I can see why they chose them; I think they're representative of where they are at that point in the story rather than their whole personalities. But I was thinking about how they would be represented as people using just the Major Arcana...

Personally, I would say:

Cassandra -- Justice

This card is very much about doing the 'right' thing. Cassandra is always grappling with what that is. She is honourable and ethical, and willing to change course when necessary. Always, she is guided by her faith and belief in a greater good.

Leliana -- The High Priestess

The High Priestess guards the veil that leads to hidden things. She's full of secrets and knowledge. She is someone who moves in the shadows. Leliana is all of those things, and a lay priestess to boot. The card is highly spiritual, like Leliana is highly spiritual. Like the HP, she knows how to use her secrets at the perfect time and never before.

Cullen -- Strength

Strength deals with a need for some kind of control. With strength, this comes in the form of patience and discipline. Cullen is struggling with addiction and how to manage his responsibilities to the Inquisition while doing so. He has to master it if he's going to do a good job.

Josephine -- Temperance

Temperance knows how to take opposing or extreme forces and bring them together to find a compromise that suits both. In a sense, they represent the ultimate diplomat. Josie is a master of this.

Solas -- The Magician

The Magician is intelligent, quick-witted and silver-tongued. He is a master of his craft. He knows how to use his abilities and the tools at his disposal to the best effect. He points one hand to the sky and the other at the ground, showing that his body is a conduit for divine power, and he gives it direction. At his best, he knows that he is just its conduit, not its source, and at his worst, he is prideful enough to believe the opposite.

Dorian -- The Star

The Star represents hope and inspiration, and is often referred to as the 'light at the end of the tunnel'. Sometimes, those hopes and visions are too unrealistic, or deemed to be hopeless by others. Dorian sees a vision of the future for his homeland and that many think is impossible.

Sera -- The Chariot

It's very tempting to give her the Fool because of her attitude but ultimately I don't think it's suitable for her. The Fool is open and innocent, blissfully unaware, an empty vessel waiting to be filled with knowledge. Sera, by contrast, is not only determined and passionate, but she is not naive despite outward appearances; she has a very strong motivations for her actions. She cares about the little people. This is her driving force, and she's unwilling to give up on it.

Vivienne -- The World

I'm really struck by where she sits at Skyhold--on the upper balcony area that overlooks the grand hall. From this vantage point, she can see all the goings on. No doubt she can understand exactly what is being said and exchanged by body language alone. It's due to her extensive experience at court that she can do this; where the Fool is the empty vessel waiting to be filled, the World is that vessel filled to its brim with knowledge and experience.

Cole -- The Empress

The Empress is the archetype of the mother, and she represents all that is kind, nurturing and compassionate. Cole, as Compassion incarnate, is all of these things. Compassion, and love in general, is about nurturing someone. It's about encouraging them to be the best that they can be. The Empress is also one of the great healing cards, and this is the core motivation behind Cole's actions.

Blackwall -- Judgement

Judgement, sometimes called Final Judgement, is the penultimate card of the Major Arcana. It's about the benefit of hindsight and how things sometimes only make sense when you get to the end of the road and can see all the patterns that led you to take certain actions. It's a card often associated with atonement and transformation, which is aligned with Blackwall's story in DAI.

Varric -- The Sun

The Sun is usually read as being about happiness and joy, but it's so much more than that. It stands for communication, truth, illumination and creativity. Although Varric is a bit of an unreliable narrator, his goal is to share stories and record them so they can be shared by everyone, like sunlight spreading over the land.

The Iron Bull -- The Lovers

Contrary to popular belief, The Lovers is not just about romance. It can be, or it can be about any powerful bond. However it would be better described as 'choice'. In older versions of the card, instead of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden, we see a man torn between two lovers. One is a virgin, the other is a temptress. Does he choose what he's supposed to like, or does he follow his heart and be with the one he truly wants? Moreover, it represents the experience of not knowing exactly what you want, or how much you want it, until you realise what you're willing to give up. Bull faces this choice when choosing between his duty to the Qun and the Chargers, whom he loves.

[paingoes]

(long Paris apologia paragraph ahead sorry)

I love both Delta and Paris, and while Delta is infinitely more likable and I have more in common with Delta re: autism and child abuse, I honestly find Paris to be a more compelling character? (Part of this is because I'm also an alcoholic with complex trauma and I so very rarely see the worst parts of my trauma being represented in a sympathetic light.) I definitely get why people don't like him. he's a violent shithead, a menace to society and himself, not to mention he has the emotional intelligence of a rock.

You mentioned this in a previous post but I think you did a really good job with showing that a lot of Paris' worst qualities (his violent mood swings, his sense of entitlement, his power tripping abusive behavior etc) comes from a place of his own patheticness and refusal to change (especially the times when he breaks down after getting too drunk) and I think that's what allows me to sympathize with and like him more then anything. His childishness in his most monstrous and vulnerable moments really drives home that he's not really suited to the role of all powerful monarch he was raised to be, and who's abuse and status in the empire caused him both to grow up way too fast, while at the same time never allowing him to develop into a healthy adult and that he's in many ways, a kid in a grown person's body who sees himself as doomed to repeat the cycles of his childhood trauma that created him unless he chooses otherwise. (A horrifying and daunting task for someone like him)

Like the scene where he breaks Delta's arm and almost drowns him? It's scary as hell but what stands out to me it despite the horrible violence and long term consequences of his actions, is just how petty and childish his motivations for doing so is (which does not make them any less harmful). he's acting this way because he feels slighted and abandoned by Lorelai. You hurt me I hurt you. This gives me a lot of leeway into both sympathizing with him as someone with similar struggles while also reminding me that he's not the way he is because he's powerful, like he wants you to believe, but a very weak and jaded person who wants to feel powerful and is given the systemic means to. Which doesn't make him less dangerous.

Sorry for the long ask, I'm just very much enjoying your story, especially Paris's "being humbled by life" arc and I'm super excited about what will be in store for both him and Delta next ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

oh my godddddd this was such an amazing thing to wake up to. i kind dont even wanna post it i just want to hold onto it forever. this is so sweet.

i dont know if i can respond to all of this right now and i might talk more about the different points you brought up later. but generally i am so pleased with this analysis and im pleased you have gotten this much out of it? im gonna say more under the cut

pretty heavy warnings for child abuse. nothing explicit just discussion of institutional child abuse/complex trauma and how it affects people psychologically.

like i said i could talk about them basically forever but re: childishness and being pathetic. YEAH i mean i think it is very obvious that paris’s growth has been stunted as a result of abuse + neglect. in fact i think that growing up in empire alone is inherently stunting because it is a system very much designed to kill empathy and to breed hunger and greed in people. its a problem with the whole society, cruelty and selfishness are incentivized over developing more complex moral structures and even over developing your own identity.

[ people like lorelai are very much an outlier within Empire, but i think its clear that she is….also pretty immature? she has a lot of love and a desire to do good, which kind of makes up for it, but she is childish in the sense that her parents sheltered her and her own ideas about revolution and utopia are very very idealized. i think this delusional optimism is a good thing for paris tbh and it kinda balances out his own cynicism. but lorelai will need to grow up at some point too. its just her reckoning is allowed to be softer. ]

but paris’s case was particularly bad for a few reasons.

the most obvious is that he was prince and naturally the expectations placed on him were a lot greater and the consequences for not meeting them were a lot harsher.

paris was born with pretty severe ADHD and mood regulation issues and his symptoms only worsened the more that he was punished for them

paris at his core is a genuinely sensitive and intelligent person that understands right from wrong

and i think this alone provides a lot of context for how he is now but it also makes it easier to understand why his childhood was basically torture for him. like yeah exposure to complex trauma will kind of naturally stunt your growth at certain points but you also get the sense that paris’s growth was like. deliberately stunted or that the handicap was self-inflicted. paris acts dumber than he is. its how he makes peace with it. its cool to be a callous idiot because if you have to be a self aware and moral person in this environment you will immediately get one-shotted by guilt.

and for what it’s worth i think delta’s growth was also — obviously — stunted. but in a different way shaped by their respective roles.

it’s legitimately really gross for me to describe it this way but it does feel like one of the goals with delta’s conditioning was to make a forever-child. someone who will do what you say and remain perfectly ignorant and docile and obedient. he can be used but is basically incapable of putting up a fight. martino and simon both speak to delta like he’s a child and that infantilization is to keep him pliant and similarly trapped in that same sense of helplessness he felt when he was little :(

i think delta is very low empathy naturally and actually doesnt have an innate moral compass which is what made him such a perfect candidate for the job. but it also means he is super susceptible to getting someone else’s morals imposed onto him as long as he finds them logical and coherent. his ability to morally reason and his way of interacting with people is obviously very underdeveloped but its more immediately obvious why.

ive said before that i think delta is more emotionally mature than paris but i think maybe this paints an incorrect view of things? i mean. delta is not holding his tongue and regulating his own emotions because he thinks its a mature thing to do. hes doing it because he knows not to speak without permission and that if he ever had an outburst the way paris did, he would be beaten within an inch of his life. so i feel like maybe its wrong to attribute this as one of his virtues. (without totally discounting the fact that delta is very sweet and doing his best.) delta would very much struggle with like. setting boundaries, standing up for himself in any way, communicating his feelings. you can describe paris as childish but i think delta is childlike. in that he’s also suffering the consequences of abuse but his specific conditioning has made him more fawny in a way that reads as sympathetic and virtuous.

basically yeah my point was. they were both stunted at some critical point in their development and are both dealing with the consequences of that. paris was a victim but he was simultaneously groomed to be a perpetrator, versus delta who is mostly victim.

anyway thanks so much wow im gonna print this whole ask out ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

[youdontknowhowtodiequietly]

@tuehquestionmark hiya! i saw your comment and i'm addressing it in a reblog bc i hate writing long paragraphs in the comments (i'm on mobile so it's hell on earth)

Love the argument for Andrew as The Desolation. I can still argue for The Web and I'll get into that in this post, but The Desolation being his fear is actually such a good argument. I also agree Kevin can be The Web; I was actually going to say that in my initial post but I had just given The Web to Andrew and Neil so I thought it was a bit overkill. I think what we should bare in mind is these characters are sick as fuck (pos) and they have so many intricate little fears and I love them and Nora did such a good job RAHH-

Okay, enough with all that. Lemme explain my main point about why I think Neil is The Web, far more than I think The End is (I'm not shitting on your point, btw, I can totally see why his fear is The End as well)

I think The End was Mary's fear, through and through. It's why she ran in the first place. I know most people see The End as just the Death fear, but it can also 100% be the end of anything - a relationship, a project, a book. When it becomes a fear it is when you are terrified of what might happen After. Of what might happen to you, yourself, now that you have nothing you feel is worth living for. I think it can probably manifest itself a lot more in codependent relationships and the fear of them Ending.

Initially, Mary was not afraid of Neil dying, she was afraid of losing him and never seeing him again because she likely knew the conditions of the Ravens and the fact they have no contact with their family once they join. When they ran, however, it definitely also became about dying, but I think the core element of it was losing Neil for whatever reason.

So I think The End is Mary's fear, and I think her actions because of that fear contributes towards Neil's fear of The Web.

We see that Neil is a skittish little critter. He hadn't stayed in one place for probably for longer than 6 months, for about 11 years (I think he was 7 when they ran, and he was 18 when he joined the Foxes) until Palmetto. That shit 100% created attachment and commitment issues. He was terrified of getting close to people, because he saw that as a Venus Flytrap. He knew that if he got attached to someone, he wouldn't be able to run again.

The scary thing about The Web is, for the most part, you don't realise you've been caught until it's too late. A fly does not realise the predicament it has got itself into until it sees the spider coming.

Neil did not realise how close he'd got with everyone until it was too late and Nathan came for vengeance.

Nathan is just one side of Neil's fear of The Web. It's the one thing he's been Aware of for all those years. The Moriyamas' are the other side, and he did not see those coming until it was too late.

The Moriyamas', I think, are the true Spider in Neil's story. They have been watching for a very long time, but it wasn't until Neil got caught, struggling and screaming in their Web, that Ichirou came crawling down to see to its problem.

Neil gets out (some-fucking-how), but he knows that the Spider is only up the Web, waiting for his next slip-up.

Which I think is how Neil's fear can also be The Eye. Until Ichirou, his fear is being Known and Seen, and when Ichirou comes along, it's the fear of Always Being Watched. There's a bunch of fics out there of Neil getting injured on caught and think "But what about Ichirou?"

But I still think Neil's fear is The Web through and through.

neil josten's fear is The Web

andrew minyard's fear is also The Web

[thebirdandhersong]

Lol

[faaun]

Jack Marsh (2005), Friendship Otherwise - Toward a Levinasian Description of Personal Friendship

[themyscirah]

I should make a post about how insane Diana being chosen as champion is at one point. Like yes ik in most versions it was an anonymous competition but like the sheer level of trust and hope and desire for reconciliation and peace that comes with that gesture is a so insane to me. Hippolyta the woman that you are...

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

Me: I should probably clean my room, unpack, find my laptop and finish the work tasks that were due yesterday

Also me: I think I'm going to hot glue flowers, vines, and ribbons to a basket instead :)

[termagax]

my favourite side episode that ive been planning for 5ever is the team gets invited to a fancy ball and aja gets a handmade gown for it and feels really Normal about all this

[orcelito]

ok i am actually so very angry and there's literally nothing i can do to fix it. life keeps going on. she might even be happy. and fuck dude, i'll make sure im happy too, i was a fully developed person before she was in my life and i'll continue to be one without her. but God Damn, the fact that she can just do something so blatantly awful and unfair to me and then run off without any actual repercussions is just so fucking rankling to me.

like perhaps she feels guilty. she said she did when it was all going down. but it was just something she "needed to do". so obviously she didn't feel guilty enough or she wouldnt have done it like that lmaoooo

i really did deserve to have a good solid yell at her. but unfortunately, by the time i did see her in person i just wanted her out of my fucking life. so. no yelling was done, unfortunately.

[40steps]

hey i’m a mutual who dropped out in 7th grade and i just want u to know that things will be ok. i’m going back to school this year and like you can just stop either temporarily or permanently. i promise u it will be ok

:((( thank u so much this means a lot to hear . my plan has been to drop out for like two years at this point but i never really expected it to feel this much like a huge change even though it was always going to be. and my mother asked me if i just wanted to drop out when i told her i didn't want to go in today and it's sent me on a downward spiral. sorry for putting this on your dash board whoever is online and whoever saw it.

[namelessprince]

grand finale ! BITB!! rand is the spiral. kian is the corruption. rolan is the stranger.

[anadorablekiwi]

12 year old Kiwi would simultaneously be Very Very Disappointed and also Very Proud

[milf-harrington]

i will never be mad at or blame my sister for the situation she has been forced into, but i will forever be frustrated with our family for the responsibility thats been shoved onto me

"he'll have a village" my ass, he's got two mentally ill siblings and a FIFO worker who are all in their 20's