#and maybe that self isnt really either of those people right then

[sage-is-in-fact-very-tired]

man. imagine getting killed by the thing that's represented your son far longer than his name. the thing *we've* known him to want, and the thing to represent him far far *far* longer than we've ever known their name. the thing that gets changed, morphed and twisted as they breathe their last breath for a long long time. killed by the last piece of them that's still *them.* the last piece of them that's still wholely and completely them that *no one* had touched yet. killed by *them.* not Icarus, not Sherbert, because by this point they're not either of those people - never will be one and haven't found the other - but *them.* they're just them in that moment, using the last piece of themself that still hangs on depsite everything to kill you.

[hylianane]

every time i think about that fucking Oye Primos disney channel show i shake with rage like i hope it never sees the light of day i hate gringos with latino grandparents so fucking bad

[malewifesband]

as big as the friend confession scene is i love this part best. laios is ofc still under the impression that kabru likes monster food and went thru this big effort to make something special for him and then kabru goes out of his way to be so warm and sweet, and frankly a bit flirtatious like i know he thinks that exit killed it

and hes kinda right bc laios cannot stop staring after him when he leaves and i cannot attribute all that to him being confused about what kabru meant by "dont forget me next time". like laios means it if he says something like "meeting you was the best part of this" those are not empty words even if hes under a false impression about kabru--i dont think its just that kabru shared his interest that has his attention either. i think its bc kabru really engaged with him. i dont think his opinion wouldve changed much if kabru said "nahhhh im good i wont eat a monster cool for you tho have fun" instead of saying he would try it

(and he really is trying the 'laugh at anything he says so he'll feel special' strat here huh.....)

and kabru despite being a stranger he helped get thru to shuro about falins resurrection

and he does it with a sensitivity and care that laios wishes he was capable of and he know it limits him as a leader

the thought laios keeps having about kabru isnt "wow he loves monsters too!" its "wow he is sooooo nice :3" which he is! at this stage he likes kabru bc he feels heard by him and kabru has qualities he knows he lacks but admires greatly and didnt make fun of him or call him weird for his interest in monsters

the way kabru acts and thinks about laios at this point feels allegorical to how people feel in new relationships. can i trust you? are you who you seem? if i tell you how ive been hurt, will you use this to hurt me or to protect me? i dont know yet, but i like you so far, so im going to show you the self that i think you'll like best. i want to impress you. i want you to trust me so maybe i can trust you

so much of dungeon meshi is about the way that we accidentally hurt our loved ones because we cant always understand them, or we dont know whats best for them when theyve been hurt in such complex ways, or because were too scared of being hurt again to tell them not to press into the bruise (see: chimera falin, falin giving up parts of her life to suit/protect marcille and laios bc she loves them, laios driving marcille deeper into the winged lions grip TWICE with his advice in the nightmares and again with the dungeon rabbits, everything chilchuck has ever done in his whole life, laios' father's everything also, and this is a labru post so ofc kabru lying about wanting to eat monsters to impress laios) i wouldnt be surprised if the allegory was intentional

anyways this part of their relationship budding into a toxic little flower theyll have to prune later is very cute to me and i really like reading it again knowing how they turn their relationship around later into one built on a mutual understanding and trust

[mugmegan]

Hahaha so Love Bullet. I have to talk about this or I will die. I have been vibrating ever since chapter 1 and I read the rest of the volume just in case but my feelings havent changed so here it goes.

LOVE BULLET THEORY. MASSIVE SPOILERS.

So, Koharu was a cupid even before becoming an actual cupid right? She was an excellent match maker. She had an eye for it. She assisted couples and when those couples met, we can see that they were shot by an actual cupid.

We learn that she does this a lot, got 4 couples in one month even! So maybe it isnt a stretch to say a real cupid was following her all this time, and trusting her great judgement for romance, shooting those people and making them fall in love?

Thats all well and good but here's the thing:

In all this time she was being followed by a cupid, Koharu was never shot. And here's another thing:

When Aki confesses to her, the cupid still doesnt shoot her, even though it would be logical for them to right? (I am ignoring stuff like the chance she may be aromantic here and just going by the rules of this universe btw, that for people to fall in love, they have to be shot by a cupid). We can say that she simply doesnt know how to react, that her self esteem is too low for it to really sink in, but it also feels like something is missing doesnt it? Like a cupid isnt doing their job.

Anyway now get this:

Just when Aki confesses to Koharu, a bunch of steel beams happen to fall. Now, I am a Tokyo Ghoul fan. And I know by now those things dont just fall whenever. Especially not at a moment as convinient as this. And specificly on Aki too. Koharu pushes her out of the way. She wasnt in danger.

So what I am saying is this. A cupid was following Koharu around. Shooting the people she was matchmaking. And just when someone decides to confess their love to Koharu, steel beams decided to fall on them.

It wasnt an accident was it?

The cupid must have liked her. But they never had a chance with Koharu. Couldnt fall in love either. And maybe they didnt wanna see her fall in love with someone else. They didnt mean to kill Koharu. But now that she is a cupid, they can keep watching her bring couples together, talk to her even! Even though they may never fall in love. That cupid can only be one person.

Kanna doesnt even hide that she already knows her name...

[howlsofbloodhounds]

Hello, Im not really good at putting my thoughts into words and english isnt my first language, so im sorry if this doesnt make sence.

Cw talking about suicide

If killer and color got their happy ending and got to escape nightmare, I think killer would kill himself eventualy, specificaly i think it would be stage 1

As far as i understand wasnt it implied that killer was going to kill himself but then nightmare took him out of his au to work for him. And i dont think stage 1, in the rare ocurances that he was "awake" (idk how to say this properly ×_×) he wouldnt like being forced to kill again but now under someone elses command so maybe he will try to end himself too, but nightmare would propably cause a forcable switch to his soul so he would go back to stage 2.

Color let killer choose to go with him, so surely color wont entervine when killer decides to not exist anymore? Well i guess if killer chose to leave with color than maybe he decided that he wants to live, since working for nightmare, he would be dead anyway, either from nightmare or maybe form some other person while hes in a fight or somethingm

But as someone who relates to killer a lot.. i dont think this urges of wanting to die would go away that easily. Im sure stage 1 still thinks about it, and maybe he would feel guilty for troubling color with his problems , that he doesnt deserve to have color as a friend and hes only causing him trouble and such. Stage 1 would propably feel bad for killing people and causing pain to so many people maybe.. Im just thinking about how color crying having to let his friend go on his last walk, and killer comforting him, that this is truly what he always wanted...

If color was truly his friend he wouldnt take the freedom away from him and try to convince him not to do it right? Wouldnt killer think that color is taking that choice away from him. Or maybe it would be different with color, i dont know...

I dont know how to conclude this, I hope this makes sence... i love reading your theories and headcanons for killer and color, you made me care about him again after years of not being in the fandom^_^ i hope you have a good day

I get what you mean. And I agree that even in his Good Ending, killer will struggle in many ways. his self destructive tendencies and suicidal ideation and self harming behaviors wont just dissipate. And neither would the absolute shame in his existence, the belief he doesn’t deserve to exist.

I do believe that if color realizes that killer is dead set on killing himself, that existing just hurts him more, although it will be hard and color would exhaust every option first..I don’t believe color would ever take away killers choice. especially not when this is a choice thats been taken from him before.

..maybe they’d even attempt to do a double suicide or a suicide pact. but I think killer would want color to live, if only to keep him alive in his memory a little longer before they met again in the afterlife.

but heres the thing. killer & colors stories are one of the very few in the utmv that ends happily, on a hopeful note. And I don’t wanna take it from them when it’s something they fought so hard for.

and..well, the idea that tortured people can only find happiness and peace in death and will never ever heal..just upsets me a lot. i think killer deserves to live life, however long he has, with those who he loves and who love him back. and i want him to pass smiling and content.

he may not live to be anything close to physically elderly, but I want to believe he cherished the last few years of his life. and he was happy.

[wing-dingy]

Remember when I said I wasn't gonna post fanfics? I lied. I'm gonna post just this one as an excuse to have some Johnshi in my life but also because its rare I write a fic that isnt a self indulgent oc fic

This is just a lil fic where Kenshi comforts Johnny after a stunt on set leaves him with an injured ankle, mostly cute banter. Also sorry if the formatting looks weird, i dont normally post fics to tumblr so idk how to space my paragraphs like I do on google docs.

Click. Step. Click. Step.

The Hollywood actor carried himself on his crutches across the room, from the door to his living room couch, where he saw Kenshi waiting in anticipation.

“Honey, I'm home,” Johnny announced in a parody of those old movies, how he loved his dumb movie references.

“Doesn't sound like good news. Are those crutches?” Kenshi asked, judging by the sound and the patterns of the sound. Though he usually relied on Sento for sight, he hardly ever felt the need to in a casual setting, so it rested in the mantle above the fireplace.

“Yeup. Doc says I'll need ‘em for a few weeks, a month at most.”

Kenshi crossed his arms and leaned back on the couch. “Was that stunt still worth it?”

Johnny snorted, “Totally, the shot came out perfect! You may not know this, but I do all of my own stunts. Impresses everybody when I tell them that!” He dropped a small paper bag of his prescribed painkillers on the coffee table and sat next to Kenshi, wincing as he lifted his ankle to rest it on the same table.

“Aren't stuntmen used so the real actors don't get hurt?”

“I mean- yeah. But don't worry, they're just gonna film everything else until I come back, which should be in no time. I'm just built different.”

Kenshi could just hear the cocky smile, causing him to shake his head in disbelief, but he couldn't hold back the small bit of laughter at Johnny’s pride and confidence. “Alright, but it looks like it's my turn to take care of you again.”

“Don't sweat it, Ken doll, I can take care of myself. You've already helped me enough, and you've got yourself to look after,” He noted all too seriously. Obviously there still rested some guilt in his heart over Mileena's rabid attack that day.

“That ankle needs to rest. That movie needs you and you need the money from it.” Undeniable. Johnny was still getting back on his feet (not literally now) after a messy and expensive divorce, he needed whatever work he could get at the moment. “You just let me know when you need something.”

Johnny sighed as he looked down at his injured ankle. These next few weeks were going to be the most boring while of his life.

Kenshi seemed to know Johnny wasn't feeling so good by the sudden quietness, not even a silly request from his offer. When Johnny of all people was quiet, there was a problem. “Johnny? You alright?”

“Yeah… I've just never been good at sitting still and doing nothing, you know? Now I can't even use my own pool in my living room,” He complained, as if having a pool in the living room was a normal thing.

“Come on, Johnny, you still have a whole mansion. Unless your attention span really is that small, you're not gonna get bored,” Kenshi lovingly poked at him. “It’s not like you're alone either.”

Johnny noded with a small smile of comfort. “That's right, I've got you, my best friend, boyfriend, and assigned FBI agent,” Johnny joked. Gods, not again with the assigned FBI agent meme. “And hey, maybe we can invite Kung Lao and Raiden over to hang out. You think Liu Kang would wanna drop by?”

Kenshi gave an amused smirk. “Probably not, but Kung Lao, might.”

Johnny looked down at the table again, spotting a marker. He groaned and wheezed as he leaned over to grab it, trying not to move his ankle off the table as his finger tips barely touched the marker.

“Johnny what are you-” Before he could finish his question, he felt a marker tapping against his hand.

“You wanna be the first to sign my cast?” Johnny offered, trying to play it off cool but his excitement was slipping past in his voice.

“You mean Hollywood’s megastar wants my autograph?” Kenshi teased. He took the marker into his hand, and Johnny guided his hand down to his cast. Confidently, Kenshi began writing his name.

“Not bad writing for someone who can't really see,” Johnny complimented, meaning it obviously and trying to make it sound like that rather than a mockery.

“I still know the motions of writing, that's enough to get by.” Of course Johnny hadn't seen Kenshi's messier writing at his job and maybe it should stay that way.

The real surprise was the small heart he drew right below his own name. Kenshi wasn't so into PDA, nor into cutesy stuff like that, so it caught Johnny off guard to see the small display. It wasn't like people didn't know they were dating, Johnny was way too into showing off their love and too loud to keep that secret, but it was rather that Kenshi was a more subtle lover when it came to their relationship, preferring to keep things behind doors. Still, it was a nice surprise, and at least now it made the cast way better to look at! Of course Johnny was already pulling out his phone to snap a photo of it to post to his socials.

“You're posting your cast, aren't you?” Kenshi reasonably accused.

“Gotta let the fans know production might be on hold.”

“Is that it? Or are you bragging about us again?”

Johnny snickered, meaning Kenshi was right. “Okay, you got me, but how can I not show you off? You're the coolest! A blind swordsman? Dating Hollywood's biggest hit? We're like a power couple!”

If Kenshi still had his eyeballs, he'd be lovingly rolling them, but admittedly it was kind of cute seeing how enthusiastic Johnny was about their relationship- and kind of funny to think about considering they were previously rivals over Sento.

Kenshi leaned in to press a kiss to Johnny's cheek, and he could feel the wrinkles of a smile under his lips. “Looks like you're feeling better about that ankle.”

“As long as I have you by my side, this injury is gonna be a breeze!” Now it was Johnny's turn to lean in, this time leaning to rest his head on Kenshi with closed eyes and a content smile. Kenshi reciprocated by wrapping an arm around Johnny to hold him. “Shit, that medicine they gave me is starting to catch up.”

“You get sleepy off of a couple Tylenols,” Kenshi playfully quipped, making Johnny laugh.

“Just saying it's a good excuse to nap on you! Unless you're gonna tele-fling me to bed again.”

Kenshi shook his head. “Maybe when your ankle isn't as broken. Right here is fine, just keep your ankle up.”

“Sweet,” Johnny happily murmured as he felt himself starting to doze off. Damn, Tylenol really did knock him out.

[liquidstar]

i think that on here we've kinda talked a lot about how the traditional "coming out" narrative presented in popculture is flawed in reality. because it always presents this idea that you have to tell everyone who you Really are, that youre Hiding parts of yourself, that you can never be You until you bare your Secrets to the world. and that actually this isnt because people feel entitled to your personal business but that its hurting YOU when they dont know your personal business so you should really just tell them. (but also dont be "too" proud because thats annoying :( act mostly cishet please but dont lie about it! hehe!) it will work out every time for sure :)

but ofc thats not how real life works. i mean, naturally i understand that there are OF COURSE people out there who want to be loud and proud about who they are, and that this is incredibly important to their identity which theyve suppressed for so long. but that "coming out" narrative is harmful because it ignores many of the reasons it had to be suppressed to begin with. its fucking dangerous! its dangerous to a lot of people for a lot of reasons. they can lose their support system, family, job, house, and their entire life. both in the sense that they'll be completely uprooted from it, and in the sense that they could be killed. so constantly presenting the notion of "coming out is good for you no matter what because its the Only way to be your Real Authentic Self and also you HAVE to do it eventually because thats how this narrative is just Meant to go. be a good little queer and please dont stray from this path."

and the problem is that plenty of young LGBT+ people completely internalize it too! ive had so many convos with young people worried about coming out to their conservative family because, well, theyre supposed to! and their minds are completely blown when i tell them that actually they dont have to do that. that theyre under no obligation to tell everyone their business and its okay to just keep being them w/o making an announcement about it. ESPECIALLY IF IT PUTS THEM IN DANGER!!!! and to be clear this issue doesnt stop at age 18 or at moving out or anything like that either, there continue to be many obstacles for many people that make coming out unsafe, or just a bad life decision to uproot everything Right Now. it's okay to just be in the closet and it isn't a moral failing like cishet media wants to convince us. we all agree, right?

good! but here's what my actual real point is:

when we talk about this, for some reason, we seem to only reaaaallly be talking about the gay side of it, right? like im sure lots of people imagined, like, teenage gay boy movies. maybe a couple lesbian and bi characters too perhaps. and that makes sense because thats like the most common narrative for this sort of trope, so ofc those are the first examples we imagine. and ofc theres the more complex addition of "passing" when it comes to trans versions of this story, the idea that you gotta look a certain way to be "valid" adds another layer.

so i think its time more people started to acknowledge this about trans people too, right? i think we can all agree with this on paper already; no trans person is obligated to come out or present a certain way if theyre not in a place where they currently are able to do so. physically, mentally, financially... or just because they dont wanna! whatever the circumstances are, there is no criteria they have to meet to be vindicated in this. it doesnt only apply to 14 year olds living with shitty parents who plan to move out soon and become "Really Trans" (as if they didnt count before conforming to The Narrative), the person could be 40 and never planning to be completely out, and its the same. they dont owe you this "showing the world who you Really are in order to [earn the right to] Be Yourself" crap. thats their choice only.

however, i also think that even if most ppl on here in lgbt circles on here agree with the general sentiment... sometimes it doesnt always get applied it practice. though the whole "truscum" thing kinda died down (thank god) i still think that rampant transmedicalism has left its scars on lots of people and the things they internalize, combined with similar cisheteronormative messages in popular media about how your narrative Should go and how you Should act and look to be respected, and its Morally Wrong not to fit that mold.

so when encountered with people who dont pass, who dont TRY to pass and instead actively choose to look like their agab due to the fact that they are literally in the closet irl (lest we forget people have whole entire complex lives outside of the net) this sort of short circuit happens in ppls heads, where that internalized idea of "but you're supposed to be THIS WAY! youre not doing it RIGHT!" pops back up and they end up labeling that person as fake or Not Trans Enough for this reason.

and i do also think part of this stems from people not having enough sympathy for those whose paths are different, because they were told not to. theres a Right way, and they did it the right way. and likely they struggled for it a lot, so isnt it unfair that people are doing it the Easy Way (as if its easy to be closeted to begin with) and claiming theyre like you? thats Wrong. they have to Earn it. you lgbts should all get mad at EACH OTHER actually! this will help your community be better [in the eyes of cishetero society that doesnt really want you to exist to begin with]

additionally the reason im emphasizing the internet side of this so much is because... well, in this day and age, thats the space lots of people go to to NOT be in the closet. to at least microdose on being "out" while in real life they very much arent. like i said before, being in the closet is rough and taxing, suppressing yourself hurts which is why so many people wanna be loud and out and proud! not everyone can though, so turning to a place with relative anonymity to get that is great, and i think its probably saved a lot of people. but also because of this, its pretty much the only way to get the scenario this is positing to begin with- where you know a stranger can know that youre trans even if youre otherwise closeted completely, just so they can tell you that youre Not. but how many people in the past do you think lived lives where they never let these feelings out at all? how many alive today do you think dont even express them online?

you know that sort trope (often stereotypes in media) of a trans person "crossdressing" only when alone, in order to get a short bit of relief or euphoria that they cant in their closed life? i think that today we have the internet to do that. i think its kind of the same thing. but its also very different, because its not as private. its still secret, because its anonymous, but its also something shared with plenty of strangers at the same time. they dont know you irl, so its safe, distant, and gives you that rush of being yourself, and being referred to correctly by others too. theres community, theres support, and theres friendship too, once you get to know those strangers. its not a "second life" or a "persona" is just a side of yourself you dont show elsewhere, an identity that needs to be let out one way or another.

who the fuck are we to deny others the right to this life-saving connection just because they arent out? because they dont pass or dress the Right way irl? because we decided they arent trying hard enough to "fit in"? because they dont plan to change their lives to fit the right narrative anytime soon?

should they not be allowed into the community then? that would be perfect wouldnt it? leave many who need support out to die, because they did it Wrong. fight within our community over who is doing it Right until we've broken it in half. the righteous ones [according to cishet standards] are surely going to be treated with respect once they get rid of the Bad ones, right?

yeah, i dont think so. thats horseshit. we're stronger together than we are apart, thats why infighting is so useful to those who dont want us to be strong to begin with. its important to help each other, boost each other up, even if some of us arent playing the "right" part irl. are we really just going to sit around and accept the cishet norms as rules to live by? fuck that. not everyones story will reflect it, and you have to accept them anyway if you want a strong community. it doesnt matter how much they might look/act like their agab irl, if theyre telling you otherwise take it at face value, respect them the way you would any other. again, many of us agree with this on paper, but i think we still have to put work into acting on that too.

the end <3

[tcfactory]

sj thaumaterge or redmage. lqg paladin. sqh astrologian (he sees some shit in those stars bro). i forget which one is the one where a part of your psyche comes to life and says "dude this literally isnt fair what the fuck" but that one is yqy and sword. this is my personal contribution and offering

(Hello I had this in my drafts for uuuuh too long. I thought I posted this one already, rip.)

Black mage/thaumaturge rights for Shen Jiu, I think he would do great with a combat class that's all about standing still and casting Explosion!!!! at people. Very therapeutic. But also I can picture his demonic cultivator background as multiclassing into Reaper. It's one of his best guarded secrets, but if he's ever cornered fully, he can rely on his voidsent and Enshroud to fight his way out.

Liu Qingge could be a paladin (and the Confiteor combo would be a decent stand-in for his sword array), but I think he's more of a dps type - if anything, I would put him as a red mage. The class is more magic based than physical, but at the same time going in and stabbing the enemy is a core part of the class identity and some of the skills - Fleche and Contre Sixte specifically - are all about summoning swords to rain down on the enemy. Having a few 'support' spells fits into his role as the sect protector and (although not overwhelmingly powerful bc something something raise tax) RDM is known to be overwhelmingly flashy. Have you seen the RDM LB3? That's a goddamn nuke all right.

Yue Qingyuan is practically made to be a dark knight, yes yes. Even better if, after Shen Yuan transmigrates, his 'Fray' is literally just straight up Shen Jiu - "The next knight who bares steel, I'm not only going to kill him, but I'm going to kill his wife, his friends, and burn his godsdamned house down!" sounds like something SJ would say and mean every word of it. Maybe his soul got linked to Yue Qingyuan's after his 'death'.

Shang Qinghua is absolutely an astrologian and he keeps griping about his card luck. Not just the future sight aspect fits his character, but also the fact that AST is a healer that has little personal dps (even for a healer) but provides constant buffs. And when planned out correctly, its healing is pretty insane - Macrocosmos alone can bypass some mechanics that make other healers sweat blood.

Mobei-jun would either be a warrior (good tank, godly self-healing so basically unkillable in dungeons, very good team player in raids) or a dragoon (frankly I just really like the aesthetic for him, also Ishgardian job so it connects to ice and Qinghua's AST).

Shen Yuan as Shen Qingqiu would probably multiclass as summoner/scholar (hah!), but he would be kinda shoddy at both? He does enjoy having a bunch of critters to summon, so I guess that's something and let's be honest, Expedient/Desperate Measures is a skill made for Cucumber-bro, always rushing into his death to Binghe.

I have no idea what job Binghe would have tbh. He's the one I'm blanking on the most. XD I guess samurai would be the most 'powerful'/selfish dps, but it's also a class with a very rigid rotation I can't see LBH executing effectively (or maybe he could be one of those 'Ad-hoc' samurais who just do their own thing, adjust rotation on the fly and still pull incredibly high numbers. They are not always viable, but they were a thing with some iterations of the class).

Sha Hualing is a dancer. Nothing else needs to be said.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

saw your arc-v livepostings on twitter n' your z-one/aporia posts and now i really wanna get into the show and into ygo in general. do you have any recommendations on where to start so that it won't be too confusing for a poor sap such as i if you can? please and thank you (:

WAHHH IM HONORED THAT MY SILLY POSTING HAS INSPIRED YA TO CHECK OUT YUGIOH!! ;w;

yugioh really is something truly special and an absolute blast to really dig into, but it IS a very big franchise.... forgive me for being a bit inexperienced at giving recommendations, but I shall do my best!! here's some pointers that I think could be helpful if ya wanna get into the show(s) (not getting into the mangas too much on this, for the sake of brevity LOL) (the spinoff mangas are fun reads, though!)

ok so the thing with yugioh is there are Eight Different 'Main' Yugioh Series (and a few little stray other series but we ain talkin bout those right now)--my recommendations are focusing on the first five series, since those the ones i've seen (though ive heard glowing reviews for VRAINS and Sevens and you could certainly go check either of those out if you wanted to! You don't really need to know anything about the plots of the other series to follow those stories)

as a yugioh fan i am of course obligated to recommend Duel Monsters as a starter. It's the OG, just absolute Yugioh at its most tried and true Yugioh, it Is that good, the dub and sub are both classics--but IF i am being my most honest true self, if my arc-v postin and zoneporia chattering have got ya ygo hooked then I would recc maybe taking a gander at one of the spinoff series first instead ;3

(In general what's cool about yugioh is you can basically pick up any of the series as your 'first' ygo experience to start with and have a great time with it! I know tons of people who've all started with different series/only are invested in 1-2 series,Theyre all made to be their own self-contained plots, and there's really something for everyone among 'em! you could honestly just read wiki blurbs on each series and go with whatever one sounds most interesting to you, and that's a fine start right there.) (though sometimes youll see characters from one series show up in another one, the Entire Storyline isnt Hinged on that--i.e. a bunch of alternate version GX/5D's/Zexal characters show up in ARC-V, but you dont need to have seen all those series to watch arc-v or follow its plot.) also idgaf what anyone says, the dubs are just as wonderful a watch as the subs are when it comes to ygos--you have to deal with some scene censorship or dialogue changes, but to me it doesn't really impede the experience. (in fact I almost want to recommend the dubs MORE for someone just starting to get into yugioh--it can be easier to follow the duels sometimes. AND a lot of the dubs are free on Youtube!!)

ANYWAY Z-one and Aporia are from Yugioh 5D's!! The, Last twenty episodes or so. Of 5D's. 🥴 <--the suffering nicherfaverrrr. So if you want to meet them properly you Do unfortunately have to be in for the long haul (i am of course biased and will say: Worth It.) 5D's is all around fantastic though; it has its slow spots, but the duels get crazy fun on those damn motorcycles, so even if you do buckle in for the All of It you'll have a good time--there are some chunks in the second half of the show that never got dubbed though (sad!) which is just something to keep in mind.

RE: Arc-V! since youve seen me tweetin about it, I will say, the first 50 episodes or so of it, that first season, does make for a really great crash course intro to yugioh and its worlds/how dueling works, since it touches upon all the main types of summoning as part of its plot, and talks about how they work. You get to learn about them as the characters do, which is really cool! My main hesitance from suggesting it 100% as a starter series is that it gets. fucking Bonkers. like characters from the other series showing up aside there is just So Much Going On in Arc-V At Any Given Point. IT CAN BE A BIT OVERWHELMING. AND APPARENTLY ITS ENDING IS. NOT VERY GOOD. which might not be very fun for a first time ygo experience 😭BUT BY ALL MEANS GIVE IT A WHIRL IF YOU'RE INTERESTED. I'm having fun with it at least, hehehe.

OK HONESTLY. HONESTLY. I think if I have one good recommendation to take away from all of this: watch Zexal. Zexal is a fantastic starter yugioh, I can't recommend giving it a go enough. Yuma as a protagonist starts out dogshit at the game and gets better over the course of the series, and that really helps the viewer follow along with the card game and start to understand it at a nice pace without getting confused over all the finer points of it. It does a really nice job of explaining how things work imo! It's also just, a gorgeous show. It's one of the most beautiful cartoons ive ever seen art direction wise. It's so kind and so fun and goes hard as hell and the characters are so full of love and personality. AND THE WHOLE DUB IS FREE ON YOUTUBE. BTW. BONUS.

THIS ENDED UP SO LONG SORRY tl;dr you can pretty much start with whatever yugioh sounds most interesting to you personally as your first series and you won't be missing any critical lore! Also Zexal is one of the best, consistently good and really easy to pick up. I think if you could only ever watch one yugioh make it that one.

also this is a less a recommendation and more just "little things about watching yugioh to keep in mind" but: don't let the card game aspect intimidate ya too much! the show really does it's best to explain how cards work and keeps it engaging; it's a show geared towards kids so of course it tries to keep things pretty easy to follow along, game-wise (also do not listen to the 'The Duels Arent Important' Crowd they are Wrong. yugioh is a sports anime but the sport is a card game. that's the crux of its storytelling. and it's genuinely really cool!!!) And if you're interested in giving the game itself a whirl, Duel Links is pretty beginner friendly imo!

I HOPE THATS AT LEAST SOMEWHAT HELPFUL the trials and tribulations of recommending where to start with a franchise that boasts some 1000+ episodes across 8 series is mighty but that should give ya some sort of idea!! whatever you end up going with I hope you have a ton of fun! YUGIOHHHH

[sunnynoki]

We don’t talk a lot - We haven’t talked in probably about a year or so now, since I left the fandom space we met in. I’ve changed usernames since then - I went by Wheat on discord. Sorry I’ve been so distant. I never knew how to talk to you since it’s been a while.

Even still, I want to tell you that you were important to me, and still are. I wish we could talk more. I want to talk about your new interests. What are you into these days? I’ve been getting into some older games these days, but I’ve been missing pokemon a bit. I want to get back into it. Do you still draw Sky? I never asked you about them with as much detail as I wanted to. I was always worried about being too intrusive, but I regret that now. Your OCs are really imaginative. I know you’re into tensura now, right? Season 3 is coming out soon. I’m excited for that.

I want to get to know you again. I don’t know what happened with whatever you left behind, and I don’t know if this is a weird message to send, but you’re important to me and I want to let you know that you are. I wouldn’t be who I am if you weren’t there in the beginning. Thank you for being you.

i dont know how to talk either. every sentence i say either feels fake or self centered, selfish. and dont worry about being distant; it happens, especially when interests change. i dont blame you.

youre important to me too. i wish we could talk more. im not into much right now. i just feel empty. i gave up su/bmas, after everything. it was too much, not knowing who i could trust not to fucking ship them, or think its ok in any circumstance. yet sometimes i still crawl back to the tag, despite blocking it a while ago. i dont touch anything though, just look. it doesnt bring me joy anymore. i think im finally letting it go. i dont know how i feel about po/kemon yet. its kinda just. there. maybe im just feeling particularly apathetic right now.

i don't really draw anything right now. i dont know if i can go back. it was my only hobby, yet my therapist said that it wasnt enough, even when i was at my lowest. well, at the time. ive set a new low score at this point. i dont want to draw. i don't know what id draw. i dont think i can. my computer is kinda a no mans land at this point. i don't really touch it anymore. im glad you liked sky though. i never understood why she garnered so much attention. i could never write a good enough character for her. she was a mary sue in that way, with no real character flaws, let alone the... everything else. either way, like i said, im glad you liked her regardless. it means a lot. the attention i got because of her made me really happy.

like i said, im not really into anything right now, but i guess tensura would be regarded as an "interest." im... looking forward to season 3. i read one of the light novels thats going to be adapted a month or two back though, so i guess its gonna be a moment before i get to "new" content.

i dont know if theres anyone to get to know anymore. i was already in a depressive episode before this disaster, now i dont know if theres any going back, if theres any way to recover. it isnt a weird message to send, and its appreciated that you care for me but. im not sure if i can trust anyone again. im not sure if i can even trust myself. even in the aftermath, the people i thought i could trust either no longer talk to me or still interact with those who hurt me. i guess its selfish to ask them to cut off those friends too. but ive always been selfish. self centered. egotistical.

regardless, im glad i had some positive impact despite my mess of a personality. thank you for your words

[cadmusfly]

magical girl marshalate au

Uh.

This is just a dump of what I ended up rambling about on discord to various people because i cant stop, very slightly edited but I can't really be bothered writing this up into a proper thing right now

so have pure unfiltered lowercase cad sentence fragments after the cut (you too can experience this by adding me on discord)

I do not have plans for this apart from some silly doodles, I don't even have that much magical girl show experience, this is just. based off vague tropes that other things parody or something, feel free to steal or remix these ideas or whatever

link to the doodles of Shining Sabre (Lannes) and Sentinel Strategist (Soult)

if anyone has any additional ideas just throw them at me

but basically yeah TL;DR:

A mix of angsty schoolkids, exhausted college students and overworked office workers are actually the reincarnations of Napoleon's trusted generals! A strange penguin claiming to be Napoleon has empowered a school boy and an office worker with magical powers, entrusting them with the mission to find and awaken the hearts of the others while fighting off the evil Coalition of Nightmares! Will the Magnificent Marshals reunite in this strange modern times, or will they fall to shadow and darkness?!?!?! And is Napoleon actually telling the truth????

--

so we have some kind of magical napoleon who is trapped in the form of a cute cartoon mascot penguin, some kind of ghost or fairy or alien or maybe even The Real Historical Napoleon

who is seeking the reincarnations of his marshals and needs to awaken their hearts to magic in order to fight against something he claims

so the ones that he's awakened - it would be very funny and self indulgent to me personally for the first ones to be lannes and soult - are tasked with finding the others

but they are stymied by the Nightmare Coalition, who are pretty much evil shadow monsters until evil magical girls Alexander and Wellington show up

but also napoleon might not be telling the whole truth or something

i think that napoleon is genuinely looking forward to reuniting with his pals, and doesn't want to awaken junot because of what happened to historical!junot

but also napoleon has some sort of agenda he's not telling people, whihc couild be something like the Nightmare Coalition isn't actually evil

and they arose to stop him from conquering the world or something

why is he okay with awakening lannes but not junot, why is he specifically awakening the reincarnations of his marshals, those certainly are questions

duroc is either another cute funny animal who napoleon hangs out with, or duroc is a normal guy at whose house napoleon crashes

i cant decide whether to have the marshal reincarnations be schoolboys at a high school, or... office workers, that would be really funny

oh my god some of them are high schoolers, some of them are uni students, some of them are office workers theres 26 of them

... if we have soult and lannes forced to work together, lannes is the office worker, soult is a high schooler because. the other way around would make too much sense.

and soult is just so fucking done with this adult man being so stupid

and lannes is like "this is the prime of your life! you should be enjoying yourself, young man!!"

their ages do not match up with their historical ages because thats funnier

junot is a schoolboy

bessieres and murat are college students who are roommates

murat is doing a degree in uhhh fashion design or theatre and he also does SCA reenactment so he knows how to hold a sword! but he has no clue about the napoleonic stuff

bessieres is a perpetually exhausted med student who is a hairdresser on the side

courtesy of @phatburd, ney is a normal guy who actually isnt like the historical ney at all, but. due to all the shenanigans and weirdness - he is in a sparkly short skirt fighting monsters - he just gets more done and fed up with everything and thus more aggro

(could be fun in a horror/creepy way if its because of past life memories taking over, i do like my identity horror, or could just play it for comedy by having him just. be like that due to all the nonsense)

lannes is a glass cannon who has super speed and is fast, soult may be able to do green lantern esque-summoning but takes a really long time to do it so he can't react quickly, ney may be literally on fire, murat has illusory copies of himself because he's so vain

im this close to giving everyone RWBY esque stupid weapon combos

soult has a gunscythe because. baker soult memes -> bread is made of wheat -> scythes cut wheat

lannes has a gunsabre

--

anyway feel free to tell me additional ideas for the Magnificent Marshals or whatever

maybe we can have other people in the setting awaken like Josephine or Caroline as tuxedo masks or something

what even is this au

[batemanofficial]

time for everybody's favorite game: jaime waxes poetic about whether or not im transgender

so im less concerned with labels now that im a little older than i have been in the past but this shit is so confusing dawg. i always say that if i had been born ten years later i would have transitioned because i spent the first six or so years of my life believing wholeheartedly that i was a boy. but i eventually just kind of had to cave to the expectations that were set for me (interpersonally, at church, within my family, etc), and had a very very hardcore "not like other girls" phase to cope with that. when i got to high school i kinda gave that up and got really into makeup and fashion to try to make femininity "my own," and i still enjoy both of those things today but it's always felt very costume-y to me. like i don't wear makeup to feel like a "better version of myself" (to use substance parlance), i wear it to play dress up. to be something that *isnt* me. its me but its not. its caricature. its pastiche. i very rarely dress up in a way that isn't some kind of like. reference or something. maybe that's not the right word but my outward appearance is very intentionally constructed and not necessarily representative of the consciousness inside. dgmw dressing eclectically is very much a part of my personality and something that i enjoy doing, but it's performance at the end of the day.

but to switch gears a little i don't know if i want to be a man per se either. like ive never felt like a woman but idk about calling myself a man either. like my lesbianism is a huge part of my identity and i don't want to give that up for the sake of ideological cohesiveness. hang on sorry i just realized im describing the plot of stone butch blues. carry on.

but anyway i definitely want the respect that men are afforded both just in general and within my industry specifically (being a woman in a professional kitchen sucksssssss sometimes) but on the flip side would that be worth all the fuss? and idk about testosterone and all that bc i don't want to deal with the side effects quite honestly. but at the same time i hate being looked at as a "woman" and ogled and harassed and all that jazz. if i had it my way i'd be 6'2 and have no tits but alas i am on the surface a conventionally attractive skinny white woman. and i hate that. it disgusts me like genuinely. i know that makes me sound like a total cunt and like im fishing for compliments but im not. maybe im just too substance pilled but i feel like meat when im reminded of what i look like.

i think part of the disconnect im feeling comes from the fact that im intersex (turner syndrome nation rise) and i have all the indicators of womanhood but still other things about my body that point the other way. and identifying as nonbinary feels the most coherent to me but it just comes with so much societal baggage that it's just not worth it to me. like i HATE being they/themmed bc it feels like a pc way to say "what the fuck are you" and "you're just a girl who wants to be quirky." and obv i don't believe those things abt nonbinary people but i feel like that's what the current sentiment is from most people on the street.

ughhhhh anyway. i saw this image and it really made me think. like this is objectively silly but this is exactly how i feel.

but anyway it's 1:15 in the morning and my phone's about to die so i should go to bed BUT if you have any words of wisdom please feel free to share because i am in truth extremely jealous of the self actualization my trans friends and those on hrt have bc i am a pussy who hates going to the doctor and can't get out of their own head enough to decide if they even want that. but i think i might. if you read this far im sorry for the word vomit but thank you for reading anyway. mwah y buenas noches

[nevarroes]

i refuse to send these thoughts separately:

who would cas main in league, he wouldnt play isnt an answer the mans gender is at least 25% calling people slurs on mic

okay but what if what if um 🥺👉👈 someone wanted to write a thing but they were super anxious about getting cas’s voice right in part because by the nature of how you share your creative concepts the only solid vibe they get is Doesnt Talk A Lot, When He Does Its 90% Weird Rude Mean Shit, hence the cesare big top burger comparison

and fuckin um i forget if ive ever asked, i mostly process cas’s fuckedupedness through a lens of npd, but am more familar with bpd because my own brain garbage is a bit of both and having had many loved ones with bpd, does cas ever fully freak the fuck out in an insecure attachment way trying to make gortash Go Away or trying to leave himself(but coming back generally), might characterize that Oh No Hes Going To Die leaves forever cant handle loss unless he “choses” it meltdown in a similar menthol eelnessTM vein

i especially love thinking about cas being extremely insecure because reality will never live up to his delusions of self importance perfection and grandeur because fun fact :^) a side affect of those thought patterns is constant disappointment in a reality of self that can never meet those expectations :^^^)

casim “i AM perfect or ill DIE” carnavorn

honestly "Doesnt Talk A Lot, When He Does Its 90% Weird Rude Mean Shit" is pretty on point here😭😭 I used to say like everyone desires him and then he opens his mouth and theyre like "hmmm yeah idk if this one's worth it chief". Like he has no filter at all but it isn't like he doesn't do it on purpose it's more like he goes out of his way to make sure everyone leaves in a worse mood than before, if that makes sense? Gortash would join in though honestly.... type of situation where Gortash tries to introduce them to some noble family on a party and Cas just drops that some poor girl looks like a fat cow (see this is funnier considering that he stands next to Gortash but ain't nobody gonna say that back) 🙏

aside from that though like.... in private? I suppose this may be more of a tone thing and I'm a VERY mid writer so I couldn't even tell you how I'd show this of the top of my head but I suppose he's more... clearly affectionately teasing? because yeah he obviously stays teasing and calls him a fat bastard in private still and such but it's very obvious if you look at them for a second that it's like a far cry from how he treats everyone else (smth smth his gaze very clearly softens and he allows himself to giggle and you can tell that they have been knowing each other for a long time)

okay sorry im YAPPING but ! ....If you want to write something I'd be over the fucking moon either way honestly like??😭 tbh I think you sound like you get him a lot already but also let me just say additionally... I see Cas as a character that's pretty flexible anyways because he erm... he has mood swings but also doesn't really have smth I'd consider a set speech pattern or something that he needs to sound in character?

anyways concerning the npd/bpd thing I never quite drew a line for him or anything to put him more into one camp but. I mean yeah based on the dying of old age scenario... LMFAOO but also yeah he does. Cas is the type of person that will literally leave the city for months or lock himself in and try to "become a new person" (he literally has moment where he's like "maybe I should just become who Bhaal wants me to be. maybe it would be easier") if there's some dispute with Gortash. It usually ends with Gortash forcing him to meet him again and Cas being something along the lines of "oh my fucking god can I just stop loving you already" but yeagh u know the fact that Gortash is kinda the only person he ever liked or even saw as a friend just makes it worse tbh

and the insecurities/delusions thing? yeah exactly what you said. a lot of his insecurities are insane too tbh like "I can never be what everyone desires" but then he loses it if he's NOT what someone desires, Gortash saying smth along the lines of "I like women too" would be enough to make him walk off a ledge because he can't be that part (smth smth I can be most perfect man on the planes but I'll never be a woman. funnier when u know he could use incubus illusion magic but he refused to his whole life). But anyways yeah as I said once Cas is like... a DEEPLY insecure person at his core even if he'd never admit or think that it shows

anyways after this analysis... Cas plays adc and shits on every support he plays with💯 He mains aphelios because he wants to look at a man but also because he thinks he's better than anyone else for playing a complex champ... hope u see my vison

[feelo-fick]

Scarab & Prismo & Snufkin & Muddler for the character bingo!

(doesn’t have to be all of these of course. But can be)

I NEED TO KILL SCARAB. ITS A NEED. I NEED HIS BLOOD (<- will weep at any angst including him). HES EVEYTHING HES HORRIBLE HES A WRETCHED THING I HATE HIM HES THE WORST I WILL KISS HIM. AUGH. what the hell.

anyways i find him relatable.. something something vulnerability hard and shit yada yada but ALSO i make weird squawking/squeaky noises when im annoyed and i like to imagine he does that with the chirping... its funny

ALSO THE FANDOM KEEPS MAKING HIM SUFFER AND I LOVE IT AND WANT MORE BUT ALSO OW FUCK THAT HURTS WHY OW OW OW everything about his - concerning - respect (kneel for your life.) for authority (he was only following orders.) and isolation (he was never invited to those parties.) from the rest of. well everyone (he doesnt need them. he enjoys being alone. he doesnt need anyone else. he doesnt want it, he doesnt want it, he promises he doesnt.) is just SO. augh.

and the self sabotaging aspect of it. no one will love you, youve accepted that, so you stop sanding down your teeth. you bite and claw at any attempt to soothe your aches and stroke your spikes down, theyre only trying to find a soft spot near your belly.

your worst fears come true. youll never let it happen again. youll stand straight, youll make yourself seem bigger to scare off anyone who tries to come close to you. which leads to anyone who couldve helped you being dissuaded and backing off. serves them right, you never needed fixing. you never needed anyone. ...the clycle begins again. it aches. why? it shouldnt. that isnt allowed.

they should stop that, stop poking at the weak spots. it hurts to feel. you KNOW its to help. you dont want to be helped. stop it, stop. everyones going to know. they cant know it aches. theyll use it against you. keep kneeling, head lower, arch your back. maybe theyll be amused enough to give you mercy.

...cough. well anyways. im gonna stop here before this turns into a full on character analysis and MOVE ON TO THE NEXT ONEEEE WOO

(youll start to notice a pattern that i express love for characters by wishing to kill them cough)

ANYWAYS MY SECOND HUSBAAND WHOM I WANT DEAD . hes. hes so. i cant.

i honestly love his aesthetic i dont know why. the tv/light/dream shit has a lot of potential methinks. i love the thought of a job swap au where prismo uses light/tech as a way to interact with the world while still being stuck somewhere else... and also the visual funkiness of him being projected onto many many tv screens brings me joy. i want that gender...

also. in general i love it when gods are depicted ss being really mortal-like... like, youre a cosmic being with power and omnipotence over the multiverses you watch over, and yet. you like sandwiches and pools and games and hanging out wih friends and its just. on every level but literal you are mortal and alive and wholly r e a l. but youre not. youre a dream, a projection, youre not even in the dimensions of the people you (love) watch. youre an outsider and its very clear. youre THIS CLOSE to being just like them. but youre not. and you never will be.

youre admired by those who are like you, but you dont really care for it. but those who you do care about either dont see you as anything more than a tool to manipulate the multiverse or see you as too grand to be able to connect with in a way that isnt "you are god and i am not". youre stuck in a prison you yourself control. but a prison is still a prison. people want what you have- how you wished they had it instead of you! maybe then, youd be loved. maybe then, things wouldnt be so ear-deafingly quiet. silence sticks out like a sore thumb in the yearning- the wish to not be alone.

OKAY AM I JUST GONNA DO THIS FOR ALL OF THEM. WHAT THE HELL. MOVING ON.

okay this time im not gonna intensely analyse his character. hopefully.

AHEM . SNUFKIN!!!! my best friend i love him so so much.......... i need to absorb his fucking vibes and gender so hard what the hell. LIKE BROTHER. HOW DO YOU PULL OFF THAT MUCH SWAGGER WITHOUT EVEN TRYING oh and also there are so many things wrong with you are you like okay bud...

i like to think that "omg hes just like me frfr" but the fact that i get so excited about that thought proves that I actually kin moomintroll nsnxjsjjsj WHICH MAKES SENSE. makes a lot of sense

i love how people interpret his personality... and i love seeing all the potential angst/drama/whatever you call it that could pop up because of how avoindant he is... and his relationships with the other characters... the way he so easily distances himself from others while (i know this isnt about him but once you talk deeply about one of them i suppose you cant leave out the other) moomintroll clings a little too hard onto him...

ill be honest im a bit rusty on anything moomin related, so forgive my poor memory + hesitation, but i do love em a lot still!!! no hyperfixation is dead, just dormant, as they say........... havent thought about them in a while but i should really brush up on everyones characters and the way they interact ... would be really helpful for some analysis and application to my own work and- YEAH WHATEVER YOU GET IT NEXT ONE

OKAY SO I HAVENT HEARD TOO MUCH ABOUT MUDDLER (aside from bloom's stuff - bless you bloom) BUT WHAT I DO KNOW IS THAT HES VERY RELATABLE AND FUNKY AND I LOVE HIM FOR THAT... button collector.... so me fr............

im quite neutral on account of the fact that (again) i havent seen much of him, but i think hes really neato and also(!) i actually used him as inspo for my sona design... ITS JUST THAT, his design fucks so hard so so hard its such a good design. PEAK. absolute peak...

IDK ! i think muddler is such a nice and cool little critter... i would love to have more content of him!!! i need to know more about him!!! honestly atp someone could tag me on muddler content id be happy to have it... i think id really really love him if i just knew more(!!!) but i dont unfortunately waaah..

[maskspurpose]

omg whoa crazy... known poly wtei ambassador maskspurpose just happened to rb a ship ask meme....... guess i have no choice...

22 - wataei, 19 - watayuzu, 16 - eiyuzu, 13 - wataeiyuzu 😳

youre so fucking cute and i dont even think you know it. what the fuck.

wataei: 22 - How do they apologize after arguments?

kidnapping each other with helicopters. this shits easy, next question. UM no okay i think to some extent they do have the general balance of it down-- both of them are good ("good", maybe even okay or fine) at recognizing when they've done something thats upset the other but neither one of them is good at saying "im sorry" and they instead rely on other means to try and make it up to the other. eichi is really good at long-winded explanations in which he can get kinda self-flaggelaty that wataru isnt a huge fan of and wataru likes to rely on like big gestures of reconciliation and while both of those do help i think the biggest element of them making up is then like... in them spending time together?

i think wataru at one point must have told eichi to stop apologizing for stuff because eichi gets SO down about it to a point where it doesnt help either of them

watayuzu: 19 - How do they silently/subtly express their love for each other?

god you know that one homescreen line where yuzuru asks wataru to make a mess so he can clean it up because he needs that right now? i think it's partially stuff like that. fine have all become really good at watching out for each other and i think wataru is one of the people who watches out the most for yuzuru. it's like the whole thing about masks, imo? like as the people most accustomed to wearing a kind of mask, they find it easiest to let it down around the person who understands it.

like i think there's a lot contained in the simple act of like having someone who you feel you can ask for stuff without really having to hold back even if it's something as simple as "i'm feeling down or frustrated or just generally On Edge and need a distraction, youre a good distraction, please help" and i think wataru would approach yuzuru for similar reasons... i just almost used the phrase "when he needs to be grounded" which is ig a fun double-meaning here... hehe

eiyuzu: 16 - What’s their favorite “domestic bliss” moment? Do they cook/clean together? Do they like to go out shopping together?

The image of yuzuru being forced to do any domestic task in the company of eichi would perhaps drive both of them crazy. can "schemeing corporate warfare" be a domestic activity? can "tormenting ibara" be one?

I like the thought of them actually doing more work together after Yuzuru graduates-- he already helps out a lot at the office but I like the idea of Eichi involving him more in this type of work when school is no longer a factor. it's the opposite of domestic though, I guess... I think Yuzuru is more appreciative of a tea break than even Wataru (who tends to be restless if it goes on for too long, which can be a lot for Eichi on stressful days) especially if Eichi actually forces him to engage. I think he has to start out using like weird underhanded tactics to actually get Yuzuru to go along with whatever he's doing (you know the story where he's doing breakroom drink alchemy? yeah) until he's successfully tricked him into a regular (semi-peaceful, it's still yuzuru and eichi whos main bonding activity imo involves discussing war strategies or something) one on one mid-workday date

wataeiyuzu: 13 - What’s their opinions on PDA?

SPLIT. i think its something yuzuru isn't comfortable with to the same extent as wataei. i think he'd enjoy like. casual terms of endearment and potentially even just like the odd subtle casual like. touch or brush of hands (i think wataru and eichi are both ABSOLUTELY on board w shit like this. its about the Tension.), but he won't let himself be roped into making out in the starpro office or anywhere where someone who isn't any of the three of them might be able to see it. tori is a complicating factor and i think yuzuru really struggles ESPECIALLY when tori is around because it's so ingrained to him that he cannot really let himself be human around tori and that takes a while to unlearn? i think he does eventually but ig the like timeline i'm thinking about is canon-adjacent and. yeah not yet LOL. this is the real reason we don't know about wataeiyuzu being canon, perhaps.

another complicating factor is of course all of them being public figures and ESPECIALLY idols. i think wataru and eichi are both people who wouldn't have an issue with pda in theory but they are both ABSOLUTELY aware of stuff like public image etc and put huge importance on that so they're absolutely extremely careful about what they actually do when observed by more than just. fellow idols.

[charismaofobedience]

Idk. I was having some fun thinking about Eden and Crazy:B dynamics today when I accidentally ended up finding some small parallels between their members or something a few days ago, wrote a quick resume on discord and then now fully fledged it into actual text so. Yeah. Have a small and completely senseless Crazy:B + Eden comparison? parallels? analysis? thing i legit don't know what the fuck this is

Starting with Nagisa and Kohaku like. Yeah sure at first there isnt much in common maybe??? But eventually the more you think about it slowly the more sense it makes somehow?? (It was the final one i connected while working on this because of the other ones, and eventually when i finished writing it i was oh). It's about being born into something, to have a role to fulfill from the moment you were born: Kohaku with the Suou family work and being trained to follow this path and Nagisa's with the entirety of the Godfather situation. Through their whole childhood, not really creating their senses of identity and being sheltered from the outside world (Kohaku's zashikirou and Nagisa also being isolated from society for a long time), causing both to have trouble understanding modern society as they weren't grown directly at it, Kohaku learning about it mostly through the internet and Aira while Nagisa's first real "interaction" with the outside being with the Tomoe family.

There's also this somewhat mischievous side on both of them, with Kohaku's either appearing with Crazy:B or Mama and Nagisa's coming out with Ibara. They usually may be seen as distant or calm by those who aren't close to them, but those who are know they are. Kohaku doesn't hold back on threatening others if necessary just as Nagisa doesn't hesitate to bring up the god-mode when necessary with Ibara or Hiyori. Or how, when prompted, the somewhat more childish side of both of them appear - Kohaku when he's with Aira or gets too emotional and Nagisa whenever he ends too curious about something.

The way both care for their friends, too. Both are more comfortable with someone over others (Aira and Hiyori), and no matter how much they care about the others close to them, neither are fully sure on how to properly convey those feelings because of their upbringing, as important as they are to both of them. The ones who, from a distance, may seem like they're the ones being pulled by the others silly ideas, only to sometimes be revealed that some of said ideas are their own.

It's a balance of someone still trying to fully find their place in this society after being secluded for so long. Because, now, they're the ones chosing things for them - No Oukawa family or Godfather to instruct them. Because right now, both of them are free to be themselves.

Hiyori and Rinne. Yeah sure, same dorm, but they also have quite a lot of similarities??? Both may not be of royal blood or whatever, but Rinne was supposed to be the leader of his village while Hiyori was born into the aristocracy, even if not the successor. Grown into families who both seem to have taught them to repress any negative emotions such as sadness or recall sad moments, as this show weakness, Hiyori and Rinne are both bright in distinct ways - Hiyori is the sun, sparkling, warm, cheerful, meanwhile Rinne acts more as the flame, glowing, intense, passionate. Their similarities overlap in distinct ways even if they're the same: Loud, impulsive, selfish, skipping or getting late to practice and sometimes unwilling to take others advices. They walk their own steps and shall drag everyone else with them and their ideas, wanting everything in their accord.

And through all this brightness, their mature and caring side is hidden behind it. Both are, in a way the ones who treasure their unitmate and friends the most in their units. A self-sacrificial self underneath all of that confidence, people who want to protect those dear to them, because even if they may be seen as selfish those closer to them know better: They get attached easily. They care too much. Through all that warmth, both the sun and the flame are kind and simply wish to help others, even if it means taking more than they can handle.

Even with the similarities, though, they can still parallel each other very well. For example, how Hiyori is extremely worried about his own reputation and the way others view him, wanting to be loved by others above anything else to the point this is one of the main reasons as to why he chose to become an idol, versus Rinne's own viewpoint of mostly not caring what others have to say about him, doing things his own way no matter what other people think of it like how he took the blame all to himself, also protecting the other Crazy:B members by doing so.

Niki and Ibara are friends, sure, and they do look different enough at a first glance but there's this similarity between them deep down. Sure, both of their personalities are very different! Niki is outgoing and sociable, trusts almost anyone and enjoys to help others, seen with Ibara himself when Niki wants to cook to him after learning his favorite "food" are supplements, meanwhile Ibara may appear sociable and upbeat like Niki at a first glance, he's cunning, prefering to work on his own rather than trust others with his own deals because of his own mistrust on others... And even so, they still became friends to the point he's comfortable with teasing Niki or allow him to take jobs on cafes besides just the idol work.

However, both of them have this underlying horrible self esteem for one reason or another. Even if both play it off as jokes or off-comments, it's still very present on both of them: With Ibara's comments on how he's basically Nagisa's shadow or the lowest of the low, or Niki undermining himself and his abilities as "dumb" or "a decent chef". They simply see those around and important to them as more than what they are, as if they're assets to help the closest ones to achieve greater: This is also specially noticeable with their relationships to Nagisa (see the same shadow comment from above) or with how Niki basically only became an idol because of Rinne. Even if both have "no intention of getting big/having the spotlight", Ibara still feels a hidden craving for it while Niki gets it thanks to Crazy:B. And even with those thoughts, both still try their best at practice so they can help their unit move forward: Because they both care a lot about their units.

Even if Niki is more open with his expression of how much he cares and Ibara hides it more, with Hiyori being the one who does that, both are connected to their unit in a way special to them. Their units were the closest thing they had to friends or a "family" after a long time, with Ibara's military past and Niki's father incident which caused him to eventually take Rinne in. Both of them are people who have finally found a place where they somewhat belong, a place where people care back for them just as much as they care. It's even noticeable with how it's stated Ibara sometimes cooks for Eden and they all eat together, when I don't even think you have to mention Niki very much does the same to Crazy:B from time to time.

Even if Niki is more open with his expression of how much he cares and Ibara hides it more, with Hiyori being the one who does that, both are connected to their unit in a way special to them. Their units were the closest thing they had to friends or a "family" after a long time, with Ibara's military past and Niki's father incident which caused him to eventually take Rinne in. Both of them are people who have finally found a place where they somewhat belong, a place where people care back for them just as much as they care. It's even noticeable with how it's stated Ibara sometimes cooks for Eden and they all eat together, when I don't even think you have to mention Niki very much does the same to Crazy:B from time to time.

Finally, HiMERU and Jun, aka what I think are honestly the most similar ones? Somewhat? And for this to fit even better I think it's nice to consider both Kaname and current HiMERU on this. Both Kaname and Jun were Non-Special students in Reimei and it's known they were somewhat of friends. Both also had their own savior in Reimei, the ones who brought them away into spotlight: Tatsumi and Hiyori, respectively. In a way, both were saved by the light, Kaname through Tatsumi's holy light and Jun by Hiyori's sun. As if given a second chance, they chose to stay together with their savior, performing by their side for as long as they could... Which wasn't long for Kaname and Tatsumi, but it still holds true for Eve.

And then, current HiMERU and Jun, who are WAY closer personality-wise than Kaname and Jun were. Both play into this calm and polite idols when in public, keeping a good appearance even if it sometimes may not be fit of Eden or Crazy:B, while sometimes acting like the total opposite when with their own units or closer people, Jun being sarcastic and HiMERU being blunt, with both also being rude on occasion. Both are passionate and assured on what they do, even if they hit a slump sometime, they have confidence on their jobs as idols.

The way they care for their unit members is also very similar - while yes, it can be noted that they care for them, both can also be strict when necessary (which is more often than not for HiMERU), specially with Rinne and Hiyori, being the grounding forces to their impulsivity.

Both Kaname and current HiMERU can work as a parallel to Jun - it depends exactly on what you're looking for, yes, but in a way both of them work well for Jun. It's also interesting to note how it's implied that, in the past, Jun was indeed closer to Kaname, but currently as he's grown he's also closer to HiMERU.

I just think their similarities and parallels are honestly quite entertaining and neat