#anyway i love them even if they're tragic af

[anticidic]

Casually turning a blind eye to what happened at the end of BEAST to say what if Chuuya had conveniently been on the ground by the building where Dazai fell and caught him. And they just walked off like that. Dazai in Chuuya's arms into the sunset.

But also Chuuya lovingly calls Dazai a fucking idiot for giving him the (quite literally) scare of his lifetime. His pulse raced just a bit there, and he also refuses to let go despite Dazai protesting and squirming trying to get out of Chuuya's grip. In that moment, however fleeting, Dazai acts like Dazai and not like the Port Mafia boss.

[starsisstars]

Pointless ISAT Headcanons

Hi I have to get up for opening shift tomorrow but who CARES it's time for headcanons. Except not the normal or angsty ones, it's goofy ridiculous hours ONLY. (Please send me more goofy niche headcanons I want to consume silly details like candy.) Filled with spoilers despite the sillies.

Bonnie invents potato chips 10 years after the end of the game after many failed attempts to make Sif like potatoes (Sif LOVES their chips, so this is Bonnie's win in the end).

Immortality fiction is super popular in Vaugarde because they're witnesses to change over decades but are prevented from changing themselves. Tragic wisemen usually. This got way less popular post-King.

Teachers get paid good wages in Vaugarde because they help kids through the period of the most change in their lives.

I think it's so funny everyone in fanfic thinks Sif sleeps in trees. It's universal and y'know what? Sure. I'm adopting that. Y'all had me scrolling through dialogue for ages just to make sure I didn't miss any tree nap mentions.

Loop spent the majority of Sif's first run through Dormont and the House training their voice so that it wouldn't be a dead giveaway to their identity when Sif showed up. They wanted it to sound like Odile. It does not even a little bit.

Mira is RED. Bonnie is ORANGE/YELLOW/BLUE. Odile is PURPLE. Isa is GREEN/BROWN. Sif and Loop are MONOCHROME.

Mira has a notebook FILLED with edgy poetry from when she was small. She buried it somewhere but knows exactly where it is and once every couple years digs it up just to make sure nobody found it.

Bon is a reptile person. Wants a bearded dragon as a pet.

Mwudu is Acadia (in the same way Vaugarde is France, etc.). Not a colony of Vaugarde or anything though, just a lot of cultural exchange. (Vaugarde is NOT imperialistic.)

Post-canon Sif sometimes has such a tight grip on Isa in his sleep that Isa can get up and walk around with them still latched onto him. One morning Isa even brushed his teeth and styled his hair before the Sif on his back woke up.

Nille is swole af. Taller than Odile too. I like it when people give her a braid.

I changed my mind; everyone has really ugly colors because they can't see them and they all look terrible. I do not care about the practicalities of more colorful dyes being difficult to obtain; this is fantasy logic and I say they all should cause eyestrain.

Sif's all-black look under the cloak and hat (both of which he didn't choose) is the only good fashion choice they're capable of making. If you ask them to get creative it's a disaster. Isa indulges this anyways because hell yeah fashion disaster rights, but Sif will inevitably ask for help once he actually sees the design in person.

Isa was a hardcore STEM person, while Odile was properly studying anthropology/writing but is actually SUPER into linguistics.

Fishermen from the Forgotten Country were given additional pathways to easy fishing crabs on Vaugarde's shore because Vaugarde didn't want 'em. The overfishing caused a minor ecological crisis that was then fixed by Wish Craft.

Pre-canon Sif tried to make some money via an eating competition in one of the unnamed countries but was so uncomfortable with the attention from winning first place they refused to ever step foot in the country again. They don't even remember why they refuse to visit anymore but still don't wanna go. It wasn't even that big a contest nor a big deal emotionally long-term (like the party would suspect) for Sif, they're just stubborn.

Since we have a classic RPG setup I think the party's inventory is not limited by logic and they carry around 78 tents and 23 cottages somehow.

[zaenaris]

Thinking about how Inupi and Koko were introduced in an ambiguous way to make us think they were the bad guys and how their queerness was introduced ~after~ revealing they were positive characters and not to emphasize there was something wrong with them

I binge read the story from vol.9/ bloody Halloween to Senju’s introduction but ig that it must have been quite a journey to read chapters weekly and to see, step by step, how 🐶🈁,that were introduced as secondary characters, ended up with a quite surprisingly evolution, considering they’re not even main characters and that (beside’s Inupi’s connection with BD) their own tragic past isn’t related to the main plot.

Before their backstory, we see in both the presents TL (besides the final one) that when they’re together, they’re criminals...

and even Takemichi’s enemies in Manila TL.

Before the kidnapping, if we pay attention, the info we have about 🈁🐶 are that

they’re introduced as executives in the 1st Bad Toman TL-Inupi being protective ok Koko

they’re executives in Taiju’s BD

there’s a promise involved, but it’s unclear what it’s about

🐶 asks twice to 🈁 what he wants to do and Koko confirms he will stick with Inupi (fruity)

turns out it was 🐶 that wanted to recreate the BD (but we still don’t know why) and that 🈁 helped him introducing him Taiju

🐶🈁 join Takemichi’s division after the Christmas battle

once again are Toman’s dirigents in Manila TL, Taijusays somethin about Inupi's past with BD and Izana and Koko's being the gang wallet

bonus point, the homoerotic af inner cover of volume 14, where it seems like they're gonna kiss (and for a reason!)

At that point, readers/watchers have no reason to trust them and, beside the “promise/sticking with you” scene that implies something more, we knew nothing really “personal” about them.

So when they’re ambushed and for a moment the narration makes you think they’re the traitors, trying to blame Michi;the reader, just like Takemichi, has doubts, (love how Wakui drawn Inupi in such an ambiguous way lol) only to be immediately contradicted.

🈁🐶 genuinely have no bad intentions, they’re just trying to live without being used by others.

🐶 wanted to recreate the BD because (we learn later) Shin was his hero and the founder of BD (we already knew that from 2017!Taiju), but Taiju wanted 🈁 money making ability--->🈁 only listens to🐶(ch.141) and things finally makes sense,

🈁 sacrifices himself to save 🐶 and 🍀. In their hideout,🐶confirms he didn’t want BD to degenerate like that but it happened anyway, he himself got used to Izana's violent methods. He confirms he would die for 🈁 that has always been by his side even if he considers himself useless and 🍀 (and he readers) understand that 🈁🐶 are good kids at heart. Now it’s established they’re with “the good guys”, Takemichi even compare his and Hina relationship to 🐶🈁, we get they care very much for the other. The queer aspect starts being prominent from here.

And then ofc, the kiss.

But before that, just a reminder that, for a long time, queer coded villains had been a thing, especially when it wasn’t suitable to have explicit queer characters but you had to show they were evil, so you make them queer coded because it was not the norm (see many Disn&y villains); ofc in the story of literature/media there aren’t only examples of evil queer coded characters, there are positive characters too, it’s just an example and it happens also in Asian medias obviously.

It could have been “easy” for another writer or in different historical period to show the queerness of their relationship immediately, in one way or another to show, according old narrative styles, that we couldn’t trust them, only to subvert it later. But I really appreciate it was decided to give just a very small hint (promise/stick with you) and then later, once we are sure that’s they are good guys, another layer was added to their story, making us understand how traumatic, visceral and complicated their relationship is. Regardless of anyone’s personal interpretation, the queer factor in their subplot cannot be denied. There are 2 couple that kiss on screen, one is the male protagonist and his female love interest (granted, no one is surprised) and the other is kokonui.

🈁 was well aware of what he was doing and WHO was kissing. We see all of his torments, we understand why 🐶🈁 relationship is so complicated, why 🐶fears Koko doesn’t see him as Seishu but as Akane and why 🈁fears that Inupi is using him for money and his personal interest like everyone else.

Their kiss is treated by the narration with utmost respect and it essential to understand these characters (their official characters songs emphasize the importance of this moment as well). And it’s important to humanize them, to add a layer, to give them complexity, not to vilify them. They realize that, even if they’re ready to do anything for the other, it’s getting impossible to be together, too many traumas and misunderstandings piled up Turing the years. They part still wishing the best to the other, which, considering they’re 16 and their traumatic past, is still more emotionally mature then many breakups between adults.

Do we want to talk about how the “characters having a moment in the rain” is literally a romantic trope? Besides Bonten, where it’s implied they never saw each other again, in the last/Kanto Manji arc, it’s enough to see each other once (because in the end, 🈁 needed help and the person he trusts the most is still 🐶even after 2+ years they had no contacts) for 🐶 to understand that 🈁 is not okay.

For how rushed the final arc is (on a human level, I get that Wakui was burn out and had to finish asap), I really appreciate that he still found time to give a conclusion to 🐶🈁 sub plot that, more than any other secondary characters, was given the chance to evolve during the years and to reach a conclusion that was also a new beginning, because these traumas aren’t solved in a day, but now we know the elephant in the room has been faced, 🈁admitted his problems and decides to stay with 🐶 because that’s what he really wants. They have all the time to mend their relationship, this time with no fears nor misunderstandings

[homoerotic-shonen-rival-showdown]

Round One Match Sixteen: Yusuke Urameshi and Kazuma Kuwabara (Yu Yu Hakusho) vs Gojo and Geto (Jujutsu Kaisen)

why should you vote for them?

Yusuke Urameshi and Kazuma Kuwabara (4):

OH MY GOODNESS Kuwabara is SO whipped for Yusuke like im not kidding. he constantly is trying to beat Yusuke in strength, but most of all he seems to want his acknowledgement and attention. we see Kuwabara actually GRINNING with JOY when Yusuke remembers his name for the first time. theyre constantly at each others throats, but trust each other with their life more than anyone else. crazy kids!!!

There are a number of times where they each almost die or actually die and the other has a full breakdown about how the other's not allowed to die because then who would they beat up? The first time this happens is at the very beginning of the series before anything even happens and they're supposedly just normal middle school punks. They say they hate each other but they very clearly don't. Gay af

they start off as rivals and then go to teammates, but also in a "I will still win over you" way, and in a "no one can kick his ass but me" way, and they should kiss about it

Gojo and Geto (3):

uh...divorced. i love them

STSG ESSAY TIME >:)))))) Warning for Jujutsu Kaisen anime/manga spoilers ahead! I had to explain deep dark depths of the story to prove that they deserve to win the crown. Here I go. Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru (also known as Satosugu or simply stsg) deserve to win the crown for the following reasons. Please bear with me throughout this whole essay because I am unequivocally insane about them. First of all let's get into the rivalry side of things.

In high school, Gojo was an absolute menace. The first time Gojo and Geto met, the latter hated the former because he was annoying, rude, and arrogant. Now eventually they became best friends, but you see, their rivalry returned when Geto was exiled from the school because they had a stark disagreement in moral ideologies, which resulted in a dramatic breakup in front of a KFC (yes, this is actually canon). Gojo was supposed to execute Geto because he did some Bad Things (that we don't need to get into right now) but as Geto walked away he said (paraphrased) "Go ahead and kill me. There's meaning to that." And My Lord is that a line. So for the next ten years of their lives, these two were separated, now on opposite sides, now each others' enemies. Eventually this came to a climax when Geto declared war on Gojo, but before we get to that, let's pause for a second, and talk about the meaning behind this all. I'll try to make this part quick because without restraint this would become excessively long. So technically, Gojo and Geto's breakup directly caused the plot of Jujutsu Kaisen to unfold. If they hadn't broken up, then Geto wouldn't have declared war and then died. If they hadn't broken up, Geto's body wouldn't have been possessed; his body wouldn't have, completely against his will, trapped Gojo in a prison, as Geto sat back helpless, unable to do anything to stop his best friend from being sealed *by his own hands*. Every single other tragic event that happened in Jujutsu Kaisen would not have happened, because, assuming you have never watched/read Jujutsu Kaisen, no, Gojo and Geto are not the main characters, and the whole rest of the cast was affected by this event. Yes, this homoerotic rivalry breakup is the very Big Bang for Jujutsu Kaisen, because if it didn't happen, Jujutsu Kaisen wouldn't have the incredible plot that it has. Butterfly Effect at its finest. Anyway, now that their rivalry is out of the way, I will now get into their homoeroticism.

My first piece of evidence for their homoeroticism is that... it's in the name. Both of their first names start with "s" and end with "ru". Both of their last names start with "g" and end with "o". And both of their full names have the same amount of syllables. There is no possible way that this wasn't done on purpose to get the point across that they are literal soulmates. Do I sound insane yet? In addition, Gojo called Geto, and I quote, "my one and only". Now if that isn't some fruit ass shit then idk what is. And now the most damning evidence of homoness, comes when Geto died by Gojo's side. This was after the war that Geto declared on Gojo, and Geto ended up on the losing side. Even though they had been rivals for ten long years, they still had an important and heartfelt history together, so as Gojo walked over to his dying best friend, Geto smiled, glad to see not only an old friend, but the most important person in his life, for the last time. Gojo's last words to Geto as he died were NEVER REVEALED. Only very very few producers of the anime know the words. They will be released soon but for now we don't know. But it was confirmed that his last words were THREE WORDS. Now I don't wanna put any words in Gojo's mouth but the most obvious theory here is that he said "I love you" as his best friend and rival of 10+ years died by his side. This is even further affirmed when, after hearing those three words, Geto BLUSHED, SMILED (as he was in the process of bleeding out!) and described the words as (paraphrased) "embarrassing words that they had never said to each other before". IT'S BARELY SUBTEXT AT THIS POINT YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THEY'RE GAY AS HELL!

Now before this gets any longer I will cut myself off here. Thank you for coming to my way-too-long Ted Talk about these stupid ass anime men who have been plaguing my mind for months, I hope you take my submission into consideration! I don't expect them to win but I'm just happy I get to aggressively type an essay about them in this google form :D

[silver-wield]

hey I don't know if i posted this here or to my friend but uh, i want to talk about what "interrupted by fireworks" mean.

So this ost shows up in three sections of OG. Gsd where it fits with tifa, uematsu confirmed this. In mideel and the Rancid cait sith premonition to aerith.

At first you'd wonder if it's an ost for a "romantic" atmosphere. But is it really? That's what some think. But look, rebirth has deleted that ost why?

Because i think the song isn't meant to be "romantic" at all. It's a sign of distress and worry. Could be in Tifa's pov or Cloud's pov, or maybe both?

In her gsd, tifa has trouble telling what she meant. Cloud has a need to know what she wanted to say. Didn't get there with their conversation.

In mideel, tifa sees cloud dying. Cloud is unable to be with Tifa especially now. Is this the end of them?

In the cait sith bullshit, tifa.. is not gonna be with cloud?(I know she wasn't there but we know the song is representative of tifa and we know she's in love with cloud, is this an indirect rejection? Of course we know it's bullocks but at this moment, we look at it). And to cloud, has the same thing with tifa. If he not meant for tifa? I recall he doesn't say anything here but Nor is he happy because he's not. This Isn't what he wants. Never what he wants.

Rather than romantic, it's like a segway, an insight to distress. Even the title is distressing haha.

But now it's gone? Why? Because unlike OG, there have been little to Zero times where tifa sees a distress within their relationship. Gsd, they confirm eachother. Maybe in part 3 she'll get in a distance from him because that's not the soldier cloud we know. I just hope whatever it is that they don't feed crackshippers anymore bullshit to feed their Delusions. I know tifa worries in an ultimania about his bond to aerith. Needless detail and out of context (because she's just being paranoid, questioning everything, until she sees he's just there to ask for forgiveness and is dying. Things she didn't know prior but I wish she could have trusted him better. Again Useless detail, Never in the film Nor novels). But we sure as heck the ones who heard him call her Nakama and Mother 😂. Tifa dear Wake up.

Anyway. That's all. Still can't believe some think the caith sith thing in OG is "romantic" like seriously? After knowing she dies and it's a lie? They think it's not that and it's just "tragic what could been"? They clearly don't understand how premonitions work right? If it didn't happen, then it will never happen. Exactly as tifa's premonition was awful but look at them they're together smiling. Then AC ruins that and made Delusional people think cait sith is "correct" (nvm how Shit he is at this like yo gurl DIED). because they didn't make it clear that he's been Super Happy after the events of FF7. But seriously, these people have difficulty letting go of their preconceived Delusional HC. Goddamn shippers🤦.

Uhhh actually Nobuo explained a lot of times they reused or even used tracks in og for segments of the game the track wasn't intended for. Like he was surprised aerith's theme played at the forgotten city because he only wrote it for the flashback at the train station to show the similarity between her and Elmyra both waiting for a loved one.

Also there was a lotta hands in the pot for og, most notably toriyama, who liked to fuck things up behind Nojima's back. His involvement was heavy handed af for disc one until aerith died, when he took a back seat. He was and still is salty af his fave isn't the love interest.

The temple bullshit was his idea, which is why it doesn't exist in rebirth. The canon relationship is the work of nomura and nojima and the people who weren't out to ruin their own work.

[tinygumdrops]

what r ur fav tropes!!

Hi there, anon! Omg I had to Google for trope bingos for this ask, but unfortunately after 20 minutes of searching it seems that trope bingos don't have the specific ones I'd love to talk about T-T Anyway, I absolutely love:

Found family or families of choice - I don't really give much importance with blood relations, in stories at least. A character with absentee parents isn't as tragic to me as them not belonging in a loving, supportive group of comrades (for life! ;-;). Honestly, stories where the parents/relatives are dead or fucked off to god knows where and the MC goes on a life-changing adventure with their precious gang? Yup, definitely my jam!

The [Insert Greek/Roman Myth here] trope - One of my favorite books to reread constantly is Mythology by Edith Hamilton. Spotting mythology references in contemporary fiction makes me giggle and geek out aloud. Really takes me back

Super long adventure journeys with subplots that connect to the main theme

Depressing af story, super happy ending

Sentient animals and plants ;-; Plus points if they can talk!

New kid comes to town, unravels the old system and creates progress

Characters that are emotionally intelligent, cheerful and kind despite their grim, twisted past. Sometimes their suppressed emotions will rear its ugly head, but reality is reality and they keep their heads afloat and move tf on.

But I also love characters that are as fake as a two-dollar bill and keep us guessing! And morally grey MCs (that are written very well ofc)

Battle Duos or Trios where they're equally as powerful but not in the same category? I'd love it even more if their abilities are complementary

I'm more of a friends to lovers >>> enemies/rivals to lovers kind of gal, but they both gotta be slow burn romances for me to even consider the romance plot/subplot.

Battle Royale stories/arcs like in HxH and Hunger Games ;-;

Thank you so much for this ask! I had a blast answering this! :D

[sapphire-weapon]

Different anon than the previous here. But I’ve been extremely hesitant to say that she felt a bit more like an antagonist this time around. So I feel less crazy when I hear you or someone else say it.

Like you said, that can change and a tragic arc for her would be cool af but I would also love her to be the antagonist in Leon’s arc. The Wesker to his Chris. Wesker is obviously a legendary villain and I doubt Capcom will ever go that route, and she did seem to have a change of heart at the end of RE4make, but damn that’d be badass.

ada's too OP to go full wesker villain. she'd win too easily because she's smarter than all of them, has way deeper ties than any of them, and isn't bogged down by hubris like wesker is LMAO nah i'm just joking.

right now i'm kind of viewing remake ada like shinra in FF7. they're all clearly Bad Guys and act as antagonists in the form of constantly getting in the way and forcing boss fights

but then shit gets way too real and they turn to the heroes and go "okay this is way more fucked up than any of the shit that we've ever done, let's work together"

like, remake ada reached that line at the end of RE4make. she just has yet to act on it.

in advent children, when that offer to work together comes in, cloud tells rufus to go fuck himself and walks out on him, and rufus goes "too bad i'm helping you anyway because fuck sephiroth actually" and just sends help and reinforcements even without cloud's permission.

that's where i see things going with ada and leon in remake.

the only difference is that ada wong isn't rufus shinra and capcom isn't square enix, and her change of heart does not automatically grant her plot armor the way rufus's did.

rufus had his change of heart out of a sense of duty, obligation, and responsibility. it cemented his role as a secondary protagonist.

ada has her change of heart because she opened her eyes and realized how in over her head she was.

this isn't a mainline entry; this is a different story where things can and will go differently.

and, without leon's support, ada is not safe. which is why, by the time leon actually accepts her, it might be too late.

[1d1195]

✨part two✨

Okay sooo finally got to read the Honey and Most updates and I’m going insane!!! Idk where to begin lol

I’m most definitely NOT mad the way this last part of honey ended or even turned out! If anything this made those most sense for them! I was so devastated when she started to tell how she ended up being a nanny 💔 also CODY?!? Never trust a guy named that 😭 anyways fuck him 😊 how could he basically try to manipulate her into finding that “family” need somewhere else when all she wanted to do was have one of her own and then HIM FUCKING CHEATING ON HER AND STARTING A FAMILY WITH ANOTHER WOMAN?!? HELLO?!???? I love when we get a good backstory for your characters especially when they are so devastating 💔 though it of course makes so much sense as to why she’s like that obviously! And ugh I wish she was able to pursue her own dreams(I’m sure she will) but also that undertone of her not seeing herself being able to have her dream career and home life is so💔💔 the sperm donor part TRAGIC BC SHE IS SO LOVED! Though there is absolutely nothing wrong if people choose that route! (I’ve thought about that too!) and tbh I didn’t expect Harry to immediately beg her to give him a chance bc he is also kinda emotionally unavailable lol but I’m so excited to see how they will play out because I know you’ll never fail me!!!!! Loved it of course!

Now the most extra… I NEED HIM BAD😩😩😩 he’s so omg bestie you don’t even know! When I was younger I loved firefighters so him being just so perfect is so😭 he’s so down bad and I love when that happens! And I loved how we got a glimpse of the MC being so vulnerable when expressing how much she missed him😭 that detail of never sleeping alone 😭 and THEM TALLING ABOIT MARRIAGE😭😭😭 I will die when or if we get to read that😭😭 loved this so much like you do fluff and just sweet romantic stuff so much😭😭!!

Oh Sam you don’t even know how I was weak in the knees when I saw him😭 the motivation I got for that class actually went up lol

Anyways I’ve missed you lots Sam!! Was a really busy week but hopefully now it won’t be too bad! Hope grocery shopping went well! And I hope this past week treated you well too! Have you done anything fun recently? Hope this weekend is a bit relaxing! Love you lots!!!-💜

I am seriously running out of names but I've never met anyone that likes Cody. Idk how they exist. Tragically, I love the name Josh and Ben but I fear those are also red flag names. I really wasn't intending to make her background so tragic but I was struggling to put something down for this part and I was like "FUCK IT MAKE HER SAD" I tell my bf all the time if he died (lol) or we broke up I would refrain from another relationship. I would most likely just do the sperm donor route. I thought Harry caved kinda easily too, but I had someone message me about a prequel if you will for Honey and it's literally such a good idea, I can't wait to thank them profusely when I write it. I think it will be the first extra and it will kinda make sense why he caves so quickly after the fact. I am glad this part was okay. I'm still a bit nervous about the last two parts, but we shall see!

Honestly, I'm lowkey sick of writing about weddings 😂 almost all of my couples I've been writing about are married, I think. Or at least, they all act married. So idk if I'll write about their wedding. I think it would probs be similar to my Zipper wedding. I think she would be to nervous to do the whole thing in front of everyone--especially out of her guilt for leaving for a few years. I think she would feel like everyone is judging her. But I don't think Harry would care either way. He's so in love with her he would probably agree to getting married in the middle of a tornado if she asked. I also love firefighters. I think they're cute af (like personality, not physically, although they're good at that too). It's like someone just put a bunch of golden retrievers in one space and told them to literally put out fires. It's cute 🥰

Have I done anything fun? Hmm... no not really. I read my book last week and I've been spending money I shouldn't. But other than that, not really. I've been trying to lesson plan but my brain is not focusing. I've got my sweet treat and everything and nothing is working. 😭 I still have till like Wednesday to get some stuff done but I'm an early bird when it comes to due dates so this is cutting it close for me tbh 😭 We're planning a game night and a trip to Salem this month. I'm so amped that it's fall. It's making me think more and more about My Friend's Toyota. May have to revisit them next! I'm hoping to write a bit more but yeah. Nothing crazy!

LOVE YOU! Hope you are having a good weekend! 💕 Also, do you have classes every day? I know you commute and you're not crazy far, but do you only go on certain days or do you have a full 5-day schedule?

xoxo



[theimaginatrix27]

@cloud-frost said:

My friend was a teenager living in a super white rural area of the UK so I don’t really blame him. I doubt he had ever met someone called Bashir. But also you ought to gain enough general knowledge at a certain point in your life to realise that someone with that name probably is Arab.

Okay, for clarification's sake, because I do feel this does need it.

I live in Australia, and I had met children from non-white families who had emigrated to my country in School. I did not grock this, I was blind. My brain would go "Oh, that's a pretty name, that's a nice accent, oh they're a nice person, friend!" I didn't think about skin colour of people I met, I wasn't taught that was a thing to be thought about when talking to a person. Imagine if I had, and I'd just randomly asked someone I'd just met, "Hey, is your skin brown? Because you have this name I've never heard before and I wanna know." I dunno about you, but that sounds rude AF to me.

I think I did grasp that Bashir was an Arabic name early on. But, and here's the thing, because I didn't think about this as often as a sighted person would, I didn't associate Arabic with brown skin. I associated it with particular accents. I hope this isn't making me sound worse, but I'm explaining it as best I can.

So I'd hear an accent. I'd go, "Okay, this person is English. That person is American, that one is French, that one is Indian," based on accents. Unless some context clues were given telling me "Oh, this person is the kid of that one and they have this accent 'cause they grew up in X location."

I'm a lot better about this than I was as a teenager, but before I came online, I didn't have many people to discuss shows I liked with, and when I was watching things, I'd just. Pay more attention to the story. With Julian I was not thinking "His surname is Bashir, which means he's Arab, which means he's brown," I was thinking "Oh, I like his name, it is pretty. Oh, he has a nice voice, I will just listen to that. Ah, plot is happening! Gotta pay attention to that! Wow, he's really clever! And he annoys people sometimes but I like him! Oh no, he has a tragic past! Now I'm invested!"

And I never talked to anyone about his nationality because for the most part, it was not plot-relevant. He was Julian Bashir and I loved him and I wouldn't have cared what he looked like at the time if I'd been told, but I wasn't told, because I didn't ask, because if I was watching the show with anyone, it was because I was at my dad's and it was important to not talk much during his shows. And I was too interested to talk much anyway. And the rest of the time I just watched the show alone!

This isn't the only fandom I did this in, I did it in Yu-Gi-Oh, with the Ishtars. Then came up with a story idea that required many cast members to be siblings for story reasons, and was gonna add the Ishtars to the big family, but one of my friends, who I then had only just met, gently explained, "Honey, no, they're Egyptian, they're brown, you can't just make them related to lighter characters even in an AU." (Paraphrasing.)

I must reiterate that I never intended to erase someone's race by thinking this way. It just wasn't a question I asked. It wasn't something I actively thought about. I got to know characters, and people, as people first, without ever seeing their faces.

Of course, now I'm extremely very mindful to keep track of the race/ethnicity of any character I'm going to write about, because I have entered the online fanfiction community, and have many stories planned, and am scrupulous about details because if I'm writing about something, I want to do it right. And I do care, deeply, about the possibility of fucking something like Julian Bashir's race up, because I am working on myself all the time to make sure I don't hurt someone else in any way. I am as anti-racist as my mother, who raised me, but I am also a flawed human being and I can, and have, fucked up. I would like to do it as little as possible, especially in online spaces.

@saturnsexual and @cloud-frost

I want you both to know I saw your replies on the post about character descriptions in wikis! I also wished to respond to a couple points without derailing the post in question. :D

I freaked out when I first started realising everyone was all "Cardassians are totes lizards!" because I have an OC in one of my Trek AU ideas who is a quarter Cardassian and I was like "So when do the scales stop being scales with mixed-race descendants?" (The answer is probably "Egg-laying lizard aliens breeding with mammalian humanoids is already biologically weird, you are over-thinking this, dear.") Thanks for the clarification about the make-up though! I knew there was make-up involved, just not how much detail was provided with it. Appreciate clarity regardless!

*shifts awkwardly* So, real talk, and please don't judge, I was a baby (teenager really), but I, too, once believed Julian Bashir to be white. I blame the accent. It's not a good excuse, there are people of colour in the UK, but I'm pretty sure that was my reasoning for the assumption. Of course the surname is obviously very not-white, and Julian is a lovely shade of brown, and his eyes are pretty, and I know this thanks to fanfics and helpful friends, and I love him so very much. TLDR, sometimes (a lot of the time) us blind folks can make stupid assumptions, and if we're trying, that can get better with age. It certainly has for me.

[scalproie]

Kazuya?

➡️⬇️↘️🅰️

favorite thing about them:

like dude is shirtless half the time, whats a honkers-enjoyer to do? but more seriously I do love me a nuanced villain! Like he was pretty sympathetic in his introduction but then SIKE he turns out to be a new kind of evil, AND EVEN THEN back then it was like... "how much of it is his own doing really?". I'm also legally obligated to like a man with a cool demon form. And also if you show me a villain back when they were a kid I'm always gonna go like "Oh that's tragic" and mourn who they couldve been so. and like every single person of his family wants him dead, that makes me sad. And finally for how much of a bastard he is, he's surprisingly an okay boss as long as you don't betray him?

least favorite thing about them: his hairstyle is unfortunate but I won't let that stop me. Also yknow what? I can appreciate all the evil fucked up things a villain do as long as he's not boring and w-wait what are they doing? oh gOD THEY'RE GIVING HIS "is torn between good and evil" TROPE TO HIS SON NOOOOOOOOO STOP IT YOU'RE GONNA MAKE HIM ONE-DIMENTIONALLY EVIL NOOO- OH GOD NOW THEY'RE GIVING THE "tragic romance" TROPE TO HIS DAD PLEASE STOP IT HE'S NOT GONNA HAVE ANYTHING LEFT BUT THE REVENGE PLOT AND HE'S JUST GOT DONE WITH THAT. OH GOOD GOD THEY'VE MADE HIM GENETICALLY EVIL

favorite line: hksbfvskf it's not even from tekken

brOTP: DUDE HAS NO FRIENDS HE'S AN ASSHOLE I've read he, Bruce and Anna are buddies. would love to actually see it.

OTP: "He and Jun were mystically attracted to each other and now we have Jin, she wants to save his soul but he never really cared about her" sure thing Mr. Harada but that's boring af, why are you afraid of humanising Kaz. Anyway I Can Fix This Doomed Relationship. Also bring back Jun for tekken 8 please please please please

nOTP: Outside of the obvious ones I just got here I don't even know. Dude is not really shippable and I doubt Tekken even has a fandom

random headcanon: first tekken manual said he likes to collect shoes and that's funny as hell bring this back. As for my own I wanna say he used to have vertigo. used to.

unpopular opinion: idk what's popular or not so I'll just state something. Kazzy is simultaneously the most and less evil Mishima. Like morally I think he's the worst, by if we're judging by actions? They were pretty tame compared to Heihachi's and Jin's.

song i associate with them: I've just met the man I don't have any songs outside of his official themes. They slaps btw

favorite picture of them: I'll make up for the lack of music by showing these. 1) If Kazuya evil in the future then why baby? 2) 😳 and 3) I'm sorry class

[bijoharvelle]

what is also really annoying about all the hate is that. if this was a straight couple, people would be like oh, they confessed their love in order to sacrifice themselves for the person they love :( it would be seen as tragically beautiful. but bc they're both men it's not just a love confession, it's also a Gay confession. so it's not just him dying for love, it's seen as him dying for being gay. I just really hope they bring cas back so we can just relax and be happy for them

yeah like i said it’s actually a generally queer-affirming scene, when you know the actual real context and everything. it’s still Not Cool if they keep him dead but.... people hating on the scene based on a complete misunderstanding  -- or not even misunderstanding, they just don’t know because they haven’t engaged with the show in like 10 years and just came back because they want to be a part of the thing but they’re still broke-brain operating in cringe culture and think it’s Cool to Hate on things.

ANYWAY! i’ve recovered from my brief melancholia and am now fully blowing vuvuzelas out of every orifice to celebrate the gay angel and his bi af boyfriend. fuck the haters, revel with your fandom friends💙

[inessencedevided]

The Untamed, episode 46 - watching notes

Full disclosure: I'm not in a particularly good mood today. Have you seen that "no productivity. Only guild." Meme flying around? That's me today :|

Hopefully this will distract me (though distraction was the problem in the first place 🙈)

I apologise for any typos you'll finde in this post 😅

To recap, the last thing I learned was that apparently, Jiggy married his own sister because Jin Guangshan was a scumbag who raped more women than he could possibly remember

I was told by several people that this episode is their favourite. No pressures or anything :D

The way someone is dragging up Jiggy's secrets has a lot of poetic justice to it. Everyone is outraged and gossiping. Consensus is reached quickly. Kinda makes me feel that that someone (who probably also wrote the letter to jgy) knows exactly how to use the sect world's worst qualities as a weapon

Yao what's-his-name, resident gossip queen, at it again

Don't look at me my memory is as bad as wwx when it comes to names :D

I was about to write who is Lianfang Zum again and then I remembered that it's jiggy's honorary title. See what I mean? ^^

What does it say about me that my heart makes a leap when I simply see wwx leaning close to lwj to whisper to him? 😅 I'll probably die reading the novel, that's what that says

Oh so it was the maid who sent the letter

Come on Wei Wuxian! That was cruel

Yeah Yao what's-his-name, why would you need to know the identity of who ever is behind this? It's not like you've ever been deceived before!

What's... with that bracelet?

I love it how everyone looks positively startled when Lan Wangji says something unprompted :D

Wait ... Zwei Jun is in his hands? Shit, i don't remeber what happened there. Where did Xichen go again? 😬

I'm so confused right now 🙈 I can't watch and read the subtitles and type

Okay, watched the whole conversation again, now I'm following

I reiterate my earlier statement that whoever is pulling the strings here knows exactly what strings to pull to get the clans to act

Great, another mob 🙄

Loooool

NOW you want his help? 😂

Sure, as soon as he can serve YOU with his "evil tricks", that's okay!

You can see how much wwx changed because he does not hold their hypocrisy to their faces. He mostly seemed tired of it

And Jiang Cheng just realised that wwx might indeed not be responsible for Jiang Yanli's death, didn't he? He's almost stunned 🥺

Or is BEAUTIFUL to see Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji move in such unity! 😭

Oh ... those are the graves of his foster parents, right? :(

And Yanli ... oh God I forgot about Yanli 🥺

I'm crying again. Nothing on this show will ever hit as hard to me as the Yunmeng siblings' fate

I couldn't help myself, I legitimately just stroked my laptop screen where Yanli's plate was 🥺

So many conflicting emotions

Thanks to a friendly anon, I know that these three bows together are marriage thing! 😭😭😭

So yeah, they're married now. I dont make the rules :')

Somehow, this feels like them asking wwx's foster family's blessing

And now I'm imagining Shijie smiling back at them gently and I'm crying 🥺

And by God, I love lwj's gentle teasing :')

This whole scene, he's so soft! 😭

And it think that Wei Wuxian probably thought that he'd never get to step into Lotus Pier again. But here, he can finally say his goodbyes to his Shijie properly. He can heal! 🖤

And again, I cannot stress enough how wonderful that is! And how rare and precious in a show like this. So often character's get put through unimaginable trauma, but they either brush it off no problem or the show/movie ends immediately after the main action and you are left to imagine the number it did on the character's psyche. There are so rarely fantasy shows that really dive into the emotional fallout the plot has on their characters and then give them time to heal. Thus show does both and I'm so goddamn overjoyed my it!

Come to think of it, it reminds me of a very good hurt/comfort fic 🤷‍♀️

Jiang Cheng pleae, fir once, try not to be angry immediately when you're hurting :(

He still takes special offence that lwj is there. Makes me wonder if he still feels like wwx chooses lwj over the Jiang sect and is still hurt by it 😔 (note that at the same time, he reminds wwx that he's very much not a member of the Jiang clan anymore. God, the man has not worked through his own feelings ...)

For once, as much as I love it when lwj defends wwx (especially when it's not against any physical harm, but because he doesn't want wwx to be hurt emotionally) I think him interfering with this particular conflict does not help

Okay sorry, but no! lotus pier was not destroyed because wwx saved lwj in that cave. That was just an excuse for the Wen sect. They would have come eventually anyway

Ohhh

So there's my answer

He's still hurt because he feels wwx chooses anyone else over his family, which is to say him

And he probably can't understand because their positions are so different. The (future) sect leader and the son of a (dead) servant and a rogue cultivator who never felt quite like he belonged 😔

It's so goddamn tragic how much between these two was destroyed simply because they have such a different status in society and could never quite understand each other's perspective

And again, wwx just takes it 💔

Until, that is, lwj's honour gets besmirched

Don't fight in front of Shijie 🥺

Jiang Cheng's every action screams that he still loves his brother and that amidst all that pain for his lost family, is also deep betrayal and grieve for the brother he thought he could always count on 🥺💔

Can we appreciate for a second how much this shot tells us? From Jiang Cheng's angry desperation, to Wei Wuxian's quite acceptance of his rage (which must be so confusing to Jiang Cheng and probably hurt him even more. Because fighting is always how these two resolved their issues!) to Lan Wangji who is in full on protective mode (which I find more than heartwarming,but still think probably isn't helpful rn)

He ... what?

I still don't quite understand when exactly wwx's lack of golden core shows. Why does he have a nosebleed here?

What?

Oh!

Wen Ning 😱

I get what he wants to do!

Have we ever seen him this calm and determined before?

Abd they understand 😱😱😱

The look on all of their faces! Shiiiiit

I'm crying again

Oh wangii is crying 🥺

Wen Quing 💔💔💔 I'm crying even harder just looking at her. I've MISSED her 🥺

Lan Zhan your FACE!! 😭

The way he's looking at wwx in his arms, as if he's seeing him fir the first time

And by god, I can only imagine what he must be thinking

He must be reevaluation every single interaction they had since wwx started down the path of demonic cultivation 😭

I'm a bit in awe of Wen Ning here and how much he must have been holding in. That's the steadiest and most confident he's ever been

Oh Jiang cheng 💔

That looks like a man whose entire world has just been shaken to its core

And Lan Wangji is crying so much 🥺

God I hope he doesn't blame himself even more 🥺

Aaaaaaahhhh, so that is why he wouldn't just carry the sword for appearance sake and why he just had a nosebleed!

Jiang Cheng probably needs about a month to process all that :/

And therapy ...

Aaaaaaahhhh! The boat scene! I've seen gifs! 😍😍😍

A penny for Lan Wangji's thoughts ...

Oh I'm so so so so glad that Wen Ning gets to say thank you to the man who raised his ... cousin (?) :')

Oh god we get to see!!!!

Oh little a Yuan 😭😭😭😭😭😭

I wonder now, did Lan Qiren know who the child was that his nephew suddenly brought back to cloud recess?

I'm glad that we all learned from this that keeping secrets from the people we love, especially secrets that concern them personally, will eventually come back to bide us in the ass. Than you for delivering that important lesson, wen Ning!

Which reminds me that I hope they eventually tell wwx that they know 😬

I swear to god, one of these days I will melt from the gentleness in lan Wangji's gaze :')

Shit. He had to be awake? 😳

You can pinpoint the moment Lan Wangji's heart breaks for all the suffering wwx endured and how close he came to loosing him even then 🥺

Waking like that in you lovers arms in the middle of a lotus pond - that's the dream *sighs* (minus the passing out bit)

It's weirdly cute that wwx thinks that it's Jiang Cheng's insults that have lwj so upset 😅

Oh GOOOOD ...

I can't

The moment Yanli's themes started to play and she appeared I started to bawl 😭😭😭

And he's sharing the lotus pods with them ... oh please, lwj, please understand what he's saying. That's his pove language! His sister's food was how he received love and right now he passes it on to you! Please, please understand it! 🥺

Oh lwj, don't 🙈

Awwwwww ....

He's breaking the rules for you!!! Just to make you smile!!! 😭😭

And holy shit look at their expressions 😭

By now you should know that he's willing to break the rules for you :')

And poor third wheel Wen Ning 😂

Now there are glittering butterflies???

Do they have some kind of romantic aesthetic bingo going on in this episode???

Oh okay, messenger butterflies

Please appreciate wwx almost climbing into lan Wangji's lab in excitement :D

Thay scene transition was pretty af!

Hey! Why do they bully wen Ning? 😤

*shakes wwx by the shoulders* DO YOU GET THAT HE LOVES YOU NOW???

Huh, this episode was a roller coaster. you guys did NOT exaggerate! I loved it to pieces. I'm floored once more by all the actor's performances. Wen Ning revealed a lot about his character, Jiang Cheng broke my heart, Lan Wangji made it melt and Shijie is still able to make me bawl in an instant. But ... I'm not left with a bitter feeling. Sure, jiang Cheng and wei Wuxian havebt reconciled, but the truth is the first step to even have that possibility. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are both healing and whatever happens in the last 4 (4!!!😭) episodes, I'm not dreading it that much right now. I feel like we're climbing upwards :)

@sweetlittlevampire @fandom-glazed @elenirlachlagos @allhailthedramallama @luckymoony @kyrrahbird @i-love-him-on-purpose thank you guys for staying with me for this crazy ride 💙🖤💙

Also one last thing: please don't tell me what happens differently in the novel in any given scene. I am still reading it (about half way through rn) and I'd like to still be surprised by stuff like first kisses and love confessions 💙🖤

I should have put something like this at the end before, but I always forgot. That's on me 😅 so don't feel bad, if you've shared something before :)

[punkscowardschampions]

Hathor & Sekhmet

Hathor: About to slap myself so you'll feel it Hathor: wherever you are ain't where you should be Sekhmet: what im sleep Sekhmet: 😴😴😴 Hathor: wake up 👊🏽 Hathor: you asked me to meet you, remember? Sekhmet: I think that's tomorrow Sekhmet: I said Wednesday, right Hathor: That's today Hathor: you blackout past Tuesday? Sekhmet: You're joking Sekhmet: well then, that means I've got a deadline I gotta meet and not a whole lot of time for brunch dates Hathor: you're joking Hathor: I cancelled on a fine boy for you Sekhmet: it's so early you got time to hit it back Sekhmet: I know I didn't tell you I'd meet you at the crack of dawn Hathor: you didn't and you're late af still Sekhmet: chill sis, I'll make it up to you Hathor: yeah Hathor: anyone else'd be offended you don't ever want to have a sober conversation Hathor: but I'll see you in the club Sekhmet: girl, chill 😂 Sekhmet: how fine was he that you're all kinds of vexed with me Sekhmet: don't even care how I'm gonna make it up to you, oh my days 🥴🍆🧠 for real Hathor: he's got prospects, I'm not saying any more than that if you're not coming out 👅 Hathor: I'll care how you're gonna make it up when you next show up for real Sekhmet: ugh! living up to your name 🐮 Sekhmet: bitch I'm busy 😏 the juggle is real Hathor: you know I don't say that shit lightly except once in a blue moon, however fine a lad be looking Hathor: but if you don't wanna hear it Sekhmet: is he 🧑🏾🧑🏿 Hathor: 🥛 Hathor: nobody is more surprised than me Sekhmet: 👏🙌 yay Sekhmet: I told you, white boys are the best Sekhmet: they treat us like 👸 Hathor: It's his Irish accent tricking me Hathor: I gotta take a trip back and cure myself Sekhmet: awh, you're homesick, precious Sekhmet: now it makes sense why you wanna tie me down Hathor: can barely understand him he's from so far north, more likely that Sekhmet: throwback 📟 📠 📺 📻 Hathor: get the psych dept to pull their shrink shit on me about it Sekhmet: You wanna be just like Vee, sorted Sekhmet: take my PhD now 💁 Hathor: be more disrespectful! first you stand me up and then put that out there Sekhmet: 🤭 you've got a ways to go, even if you're rolling mad extra today Hathor: I didn't ask 👼🏽💘 to 🎯 me up in the 🍑 Hathor: got my own things I'm busy with Sekhmet: love is magic 💖 Sekhmet: don't be complaining in my inbox when I'm tragically single Hathor: I've been serving and swerving him for long enough I thought I'd succeeded, there's the complaint Sekhmet: 🙄 you can't ❌ feelings bitch Hathor: white boys are a different animal, I ❌ the fear of Sekhmet: 😍😍😍 Hathor: I'm not here to be treated like a 👸🏽 if that's one step away from being called 'exotic' Hathor: there's nothing sexy about a power imbalance Sekhmet: most girls would disagree, babe Sekhmet: why do you wanna be run of the mill every day when we been #blessed with this 🔥 Sekhmet: all black guys wanna chat about is my light-skin privilege and their black man struggles, I can't 🥱 Hathor: fetishization like that ain't foreplay I'm interested in Hathor: 👑 me for other reasons than my melanin Sekhmet: insecurities SNAPPED, I'm sure he likes you for more than your skin, you crazy Hathor: he likes me for how I pour measures rn Sekhmet: racial Sekhmet: that's why everyone likes you 💃💃💃 Hathor: on account of being a poor student not Northern Irish, don't be biting the hand that feeds your blackouts Sekhmet: my white boys always pay Hathor: #blessed innit Sekhmet: 👸😇 tings Hathor: which white boy you with ignoring your deadline then? Sekhmet: whoever it is they've gone to work Sekhmet: but they left a 💳 with their cute note so I know I'm in a good postcode still 🙏 Hathor: so come meet me and spare mine, that's the right thing to do Sekhmet: just 'cos it's good doesn't mean I'm not lost still, damn Sekhmet: hold on and let me get dressed and get my bearings Hathor: if your phone ain't drained I can use it to get your bearings while you serve a look Sekhmet: who doesn't have a charger in their hoe 👜 PLEASE Hathor: you didn't know what day it was, can't blame me for 👶🏽ing Sekhmet: where would I be without you 😘 Sekhmet: mum hasn't phoned me in ages actually, it's so rude Sekhmet: I missed the last few but still Hathor: I hit her with your highlights, creatively Hathor: like how I won't mention a white boy making me feel like a baby 🐮 that can't walk Sekhmet: 😶😶 Sekhmet: dad would 😥 Hathor: and she'll 🙌🏽 harder than you've done Sekhmet: facts are facts Sekhmet: look at her dad, Vee's... Hathor: cliches are tired and stereotypes are damaging Sekhmet: @ your white boy with the 👋 then booboo Sekhmet: I think dad's in town working today, you wanna come for dinner with us? 🥂 Hathor: he's not mine to command in or out 👅 Hathor: yeah 🍾 will help Sekhmet: I'll teach you Hathor: those twin stereotypes are damaging too, like Sekhmet: oh hush, I only tried to 💋 you ONE time and we were like babies and that boy was the first great love of my life Sekhmet: anyway, you're like hot but not my types type these days, you know Hathor: that boy was trash Hathor: you levelled up fast though Sekhmet: awh, don't be rude, I have fond memories Hathor: I have loads of him trying to ask me out at the same time Sekhmet: oh yeah Sekhmet: I forgot that happened Sekhmet: his hair was gorgeous though Hathor: it was Sekhmet: good times Sekhmet: my new guy, not this one, the actual one, looks like old school Leo, I SWEAR Hathor: Yeah? Sekhmet: like Leo and a bit of River and Ryan Philippe in Cruel Intentions Sekhmet: 🥰🥰🥰 Hathor: love of your life material Sekhmet: definitely Sekhmet: he's a trader in the city and his apartment is 😱😱😱 Hathor: what's the age range this time? Sekhmet: he's only 26, it's mad how successful he is already Hathor: he sounds like the full 🎟 Hathor: any catch? Sekhmet: only technically Hathor: technically he's a 🤖? Sekhmet: ha, he totally has the stamina of one Sekhmet: he can keep up with me, almost 😉 Hathor: 👌🏽 he's perfect Hathor: fucking hell Sekhmet: no need to be jealous when you're 🥰 yourself Sekhmet: what does he look like? Hathor: Tall enough Hathor: more like a 🥊 than a 👼🏻 Sekhmet: you really do wanna do great grandpa Sekhmet: jk, he sounds so you Hathor: he does work for the main brewery that supplies us, maybe I do Hathor: Jesus Christ Sekhmet: 😂😬 processing that Sekhmet: not really though, every boy I've ever dated has been like dad, it's unavoidable tbh 💁 Hathor: in our postcode nobody's trying very hard to be anything else Hathor: 💰💳💎🍾 Sekhmet: why would they? Hathor: they wouldn't and they aren't, it'd be terrifying for any of those boys to step out Sekhmet: 🙄 you aren't going to throw yourself down a ladder when you're at the top, babe Hathor: wouldn't kill them to give other people a hand up though, they just act like it Sekhmet: 🥱 when's your deadline? Hathor: my work's done Sekhmet: then button it, loser Sekhmet: you wanna eat out on this nice rich boy's 💳 Hathor: ETA of 15 on getting to you Hathor: you best 🚿 Sekhmet: way ahead of you 🛀 Sekhmet: door's unlocked, our breakfast will hopefully be on the table when you get here Sekhmet: love ubereats Hathor: 🙌🏽 Sekhmet: you can bring it through, the view in this bathroom is immense Sekhmet: thought getting the driver to bring it to the tub was unlikely Hathor: he probably would but it's unlikely I'd recover from walking in on it Sekhmet: 😘 Sekhmet: do fuck with an asian boy Hathor: you don't know he will be Hathor: might not even be a lad Hathor: but if it is, guarantee they'll send the most unexpected one Sekhmet: it usually is, your stereotypes be damned Hathor: what are you gonna bet? Sekhmet: the Belgian 🧇s Hathor: you're on Sekhmet: sometimes you shock me with how green you are, Hath Hathor: back to putting disrespect on me, what a nice truce while it lasted, like Sekhmet: I mean, you know I can see the driver on my app, babe Sekhmet: no points for guessing where Hassan is from Sekhmet: you can have the 🧇s anyway Hathor: you know I can read your thoughts, the playing field is level Hathor: and anyway I like green, that's my boy's eye colour Sekhmet: been gazing into them longingly across the bar have we🤭 Hathor: maybe Sekhmet: so cute Sekhmet: hope this one doesn't have a fiancee Sekhmet: or a maid who thinks we've broken in Hathor: if he does he better break that eye contact with me Sekhmet: I meant Mr Black Card, don't worry Sekhmet: he's a student, yeah? he won't be Hathor: he's only got a year on us, I don't predict an engagement Sekhmet: yeah, doubt it Hathor: outside of our family people aren't usually that extra Sekhmet: some of the asian internationals are but they usually cheat if their intended ain't here yet so Hathor: Yeah Sekhmet: what even does an engagement mean anyway Sekhmet: not much, right Hathor: a flash 💍 Hathor: what's my course teaching me if I don't know the statistics on how often a wedding follows? Hathor: shows how outdated it is Sekhmet: he gives me that anyway Hathor: I'd take a phone number and be happy with it for now Hathor: but it's probably the party and that whole flex too, right? Sekhmet: the dress Sekhmet: but it's irrelevant if it doesn't happen, like you said Hathor: 🎁🎁 even if it doesn't if people bring them for the engagement as well, but you're not going short of any Sekhmet: right Sekhmet: 😥 if you need a wedding for attention Hathor: Jay's birth mum QUAKING Sekhmet: omg I bet that's EXACTLY what his fiancee is like Hathor: does he ever speak about her? Sekhmet: obviously not Sekhmet: but she must never come up from wherever they're from because I'm like ALWAYS over so Hathor: maybe she doesn't know about this place Hathor: old school Sekhmet: Who knows Sekhmet: can't be my problem Hathor: Yours is the day you've missed, like Hathor: what's the assignment? Sekhmet: design some sportswear line Sekhmet: got to get the sketches in by 5, but all I ordered for me was a shit ton of coffee, it'll be fine Hathor: more productive if I stay or go? Sekhmet: you've already missed your date, you may as well stay Hathor: okay Hathor: am the sportier one Sekhmet: how are you 😂 Hathor: ⚽⛹🏽🚴🏽🥊 Hathor: why dad loves me more than you Sekhmet: now I know you're talking nonsense 😏 Hathor: True, he loves Vee and she never gets off her chaise Sekhmet: and she doesn't even love him back Hathor: poor dad Sekhmet: yeah Hathor: what time's dinner with him? Sekhmet: I'll ask him when he wants to go Hathor: about to come up, so whatever you were planning for Hassan, this is me Sekhmet: regrettably noted

[yenrz1314]

LET’S (attempt to) FIX/REWRITE KH 358/2 DAYS

Let me preface this: I love Roxas, Xion, and Axel A LOT. I have been thoroughly blinded by nostalgia as much as you have and I don’t really care. I’ll continue to love them even after I’m finished destroying their game here. Keep in mind I’m not hatin’. And, fun fact, I think that Days is perhaps the best written game in the series regarding character writing. Still doesn’t mean I think it’s actually good though.

I’m going to start off saying something kind of controversial. Axel, Roxas, and Xion weren't that great of friends. 

Yes they were the best friends that they ever had, but when you're constantly surrounded by the melancholic mundane, any sort of friendship is the great friendship. They weren't that great at being friends to each other because they dealt with conflict in the most incompetent way possible. As far as I know, there was barely any communication whatsoever between them, which is really disappointing because Roxas is like the most understanding person ever. Most of their conversations concerned small talk. Not necessarily boring small talk, but small talk.

I really wish we could at least have gotten a talk between Xion and Roxas when he was on that mission to chase her down before Axel came in and knocked her out. The only real communication about Xion’s situation is between her and Axel, and we rarely get to see any camaraderie between her and Roxas. We do see a decent amount between Roxas and Axel but I’ll just attribute to the fact that they’ve existed as characters longer than Xion has.

Xion’s inherently pretty bad at communicating. To Roxas especially. Even though Axel tried to talk her down, she didn't really explain herself much. Axel honestly had to figure it out himself.

If Days gets remade I hope to death that we have at least one scene of Roxas and Xion having more meaningful talks. Alone. They were close. Its just that Xion kept stonewalling, and Axel would always be dodgy with his answers, which makes you question if they’re truly all that close. I mean, you wouldn’t just not tell one of your best friends anything about something you’re really struggling about.

Though I guess you can’t blame them since they had no memories of their past and were learning based off of watching those around them, and they did live with the organization

And to be fair, you’re a part of an organization with a leader the answers basic questions like “Who is Sora?” with vague af answers like "the connection".

Also they’re stupid teenagers. I’m already giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Honestly I would normally be fine with her lack of communication and accept it as an character flaw.  In fact, under normal circumstances, it would be a reason for me to be invested in her character. But the truth is that we don't see enough scenes of him and Xion having meaningful bonding time for me to be accepting of that lack of communication. There was that one absolutely adorable scene of Roxas and Xion on the clocktower discussing about how much they worry about each other...but the rest of the time they spent together is superficial, mostly consisting of just kind of empty small talk. It’s kind of rare that we see them actually talk about their relationship and/or any chemistry. A lot was just them sitting next to each other eating ice cream or on missions and we did have a lot of skips of one of them being asleep or missing.

The main problem KH has in its writing is that it really likes to display the cute little quirks or tressings of a relationship but absolutely fails to write any core to that relationship. Like, for example, the seashells they leave for each other when they’re sleeping is absolutely precious, but there’s not that much of a core dynamic between these characters that this really cute character interaction can be built upon. And in the end, but just because something is tragic doesn't mean it has substance

Because Days doesn't give me enough meat of writing to bite into, it just ends up as a frustrating tale of Roxas just being confused the whole time. Sure, Roxas is the main character, but he literally has almost no agency throughout the entire game. And I find that pretty insulting to his character. This guy is literally one of the most well written in the series. And no, I’m not pulling the ‘xion’s a mary sue stealing the spotlight’ card. I’m totally fine with her existing, but dang if I had the opportunity to change ONE THING about Days I would totally rewrite the cutscene Fracture on day 298, the day when Xion was captured.

So the original scene goes like this: Roxas tracks her down, asks her to come back, he tries to comfort her, asking why she won’t come back to him. She just says "I can't" and GETS SCARED WHEN THE MOST TRUSTED PERSON IN HER LIFE REACHES OUT TO HER. Okay. breathe. I understand if she’s scared. It’s a bit of a stretch, yes, if we take into account that she’s in the depths of emotional turmoil trying decide between her friends or Sora. I understand if she really doesn’t want to go back to the organization. My problem is that Roxas really doesn’t pose a threat to her at all here.

But then again, it could be that Xion’s a very delicate person, emotionally. And that she’s easily disturbed and is flighty. BUT THE THING IS: We don’t see this anywhere else. Days, as is, doesn’t really do a good job of establishing Xion’s personality at all anyways. So we can throw that excuse out the window.

BUT. BUT BUT BUT. THE ABSOLUTE WORST WAS WHEN SHE TURNED HER KEYBLADE ON ROXAS.

SERIOUSLY I would have totally been fine with everything up to this point except her turning on him like that

Again, he is literally no threat to her at all! I can understand her being scared, but he didn’t threaten to take her back or yell at her or anything

Like why. Why isn’t she willing to tell him anything about the truth about her existence. It's not like she's trying to keep it a secret. I understand how jarring it must have been for her to have that sort of existential crisis knowing that she’s just a puppet created to copy...But telling Roxas absolutely nothing is ridiculous. ESPECIALLY because Roxas was the one who always was breaking his back for her. He was the one who first approached her to join him at the clock tower, he was always trying to reach out to her, understand her. Heck, even when Xion was the aggressor, both times in Fracture and in the final battle, Roxas still sees her as the victim, the one who was in the right, and it's both very sweet and a bit unhealthy that he views her in such a positive light. He always does his best to give her the benefit of the doubt. And this is clearly shown in his actions.

I would rewrite it like this:

Keep everything the same up to the point right before she turns on him. She walks away and he stops her and everything, but after that she stops and thinks for a moment. And she asks quietly for him to let her go. Roxas, of course, let's her go because he's freaking Roxas

And she tries explaining to him what's going on in a very roundabout way, for the sake of being consistent with her established character. I'm not asking for her to explain it word for word. She's as flighty as a deer. I understand her not being direct. And then Roxas tries talking to her how they could work this out. Hell, this would be the PERFECT TIME to incorporate that scene from the manga when Roxas proposes they run away together. Xion is shocked and ask if he is serious, and he says yes. And THAT'S when Axel comes in and stops the party, and everything plays out the same till the end of the cutscene.

Also if this writing was implemented, then that would be a payoff point. The pacing in Days’ story is kind of whack, and adding a breakthrough moment like this would be super satisfying to the viewer.

Also it makes sense that Axel would come in then because he can't just accept both of his friends leaving like that. In the og game, Axel pretty much just let his two best friends walk away from him.  The only time he shows any protest is when he is ordered by his superiors to go after them. Xion in particular. Sure this works, as it’s implied that Axel is respecting his friends’ autonomy by letting them go.

But maybe we could make it better by having Axel go through a mini arc where he accepts his friends' departure with a bit of a struggle. You’ll see more below.

The only change that would have to be made is that the organization would have to actively keep Roxas and Xion apart to keep them from conspiring together. Or when they're together, always have a third party member to keep a watchful eye. I’m guessing this would mean no more ice cream time either. For now.

Xion’s communication is just a trickle the first few days, but over time it slowly opens up, gradually telling more as they interact when they have the occasional mission together. She would mutter things like 

“The organization is keeping so much from us, Roxas…” 

or telling snippits like that when the third party member/chaperone isn’t watching.

Eventually, the organization takes note of this and orders for the two to be kept completely separate at all times, and Axel knows that this will absolutely kill their friendship so he does a solid by confronting Saix about it to propose a compromise. He’s like: 

"I'm a trusted member of this organization. Hell, I brought them back for you.  So how about this: I'll watch them for you instead" 

And Saix accepts that compromise. And the result of that compromise is that we get more trio missions, something we ALL LOVED. And also those would be opportunities for them to talk. ALL THREE OF THEM

Okay so the three talk on missions and at the clocktower again, Xion knows her purpose and desperately wants to leave. She won’t disclose Riku or Namine's location. Axel protests fiercely to the thought of her leaving. Meanwhile Roxas is trying to mediate as always, but he leans more towards helping Xion leave at least. However, he would still show how he emotionally would rather have her stay. He has an internal struggle when Xion tries to explain their connection with Sora and how they need to go back during a few talks with them alone that Axel allows. She needs to be the one who tells him he needs to come back to Sora.  Someone who he trusts and can help him through this process. Not a stranger like Riku or Namine.

And then this time of communication all abruptly comes to a halt when the Org. starts pitting Roxas and Xion against each other in missions. Also, let's have Xion be less heartless to Roxas here and not be so eager to leave. Of course, she desperately still wants to, but Roxas is her anchor keeping her there. She knows that it'll all be for naught if Roxas doesn't go with her anyways. Also she doesn't want to hurt him by just leaving like that. She cares.

So, back to the rewrite, the talks stop when the organization starts pitting roxas and Xion against each other in those missions. Axel stops them like he did originally, and they have a talk about how crazy ridiculous this all is. Roxas agrees with Xion and Axel agrees too but hides it because he's a coward and is the org's lapdog, and just tries as hard as he can to keep them together. Roxas is dismayed that his existence is possibly ending, but at the same time agrees with Xion that this is all crazy. Axel shuts them down for the day. 

And the next day is the day Xigbar, Axel and Xion go on that mission.

But instead of Xion jumping ship, Riku comes in to take Xion, kidnapping her without a fight because he knows he can't take survive one against two other org. members. Axel doesn't do anything to stop her because he's accepted it at this point. Also seeing Xion as Ven really made him realize the gravity of the situation.

This really upsets Roxas because he thinks Xion was taken against her will. Axel doesn’t have the heart to tell him about Xion’s current extremely unstable state. And this sets him off since he's been putting up with so much BS at this point and he runs away as originally written as well as to search for Xion, because he knows the org. will never let him look for her himself. Everything plays out the same after that.

 On the clocktower where Roxas and Xion meet, there's one change. When she shows him that she's almost Sora, she *explains* as best as she can what’s happened to her, since she’s under the control of the org. now. She makes him realize that it's inevitable that she must die or she'll cease to be herself. And then they fight as originally scripted, Roxas’ motive for fighting being that there still might be a chance for them to go on if he finishes things himself.

When the fight is over and she begins to die, Xion's final request is that he join back with Sora. That is were it this all leads and she knows it. We're changing that because in the original she, when Roxas and Riku are fighting, for some dumb reason, retracts her final wish???? Like… that's got to be one of the most contrived things in this story.

Also I'd like to cut that dumb pointless plot device that Roxas forgets who Xion is right after finishing his final battle with her, Because by golly did the writing team really want Roxas to be as clueless as possible even as his best friend is dying. Geez wtf.

Honestly, you can keep the memory loss, just please make it so that he remembers her SOONER, so they can actually COMMUNICATE AND SO THAT HE CAN ACTUALLY SAY GOODBYE.

FUACK.

“Promise me...you’ll come back...to Sora. That way...we can be together again...”

Or something like that, make me cry more. 。ﾟ(ﾟﾉД｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡

But then what would Roxas’s motive be for going back to The World That Never Was and fighting Riku then? Just wait a moment and hold on to your seat because I’m going to take the original situation and make it even more badass AND make it work with my rewrite.

Also this blog is finally almost done good job for making it this far.

Let's have Roxas know about the heartless nobody cycle. He can have learned this after maybe sifting through the organization’s research files or something. It wouldn’t be hard to stick it in the story somewhere. 

What was the most heartwrenching thing about Roxas’s final day in the real world? I would say his rage, grief, and desperation over his entire life. So let’s take that, and multiply it by a couple dozen times. After Xion's death, his motive to destroy the organization will be more about his rage at the unjust way he was treated. Him and Xion. They messed up his and his friends’ lives.

“Well if I die, then whatever I'll just go back to Sora. Kill two birds with one stone.”

Regardless of however you write Days, angsty, bloodthirsty Roxas is a requirement. It’s what makes Roxas Roxas. And as a result his grief is amplified tenfold. He doesn't even care about preserving his own life anymore.

And Riku confronts him. Asks him what the hell he's doing. He tells him he's going to fuck up the organization. And Riku's like ‘don't be stupid they'll just capture you and hold you hostage to keep Sora from waking’

Roxas looks at him, points one of his keyblades towards him.

"You don't know that." 

"I'll end every single one of them before they get the chance. You want me to prove it..? WELL HERE'S MY PROOF!” 

AND THEN HE FREAKING STRIKES,

AND THAT’S THE FIGHT

And let's hammer in the fact that Roxas is his own freaking person. Instead of the line "C'mon Sora! I thought you were stronger than that!" from Riku, instead he says to Roxas something akin to this:

"C'mon Sora...I know you're stupid, but not to this extent!"

And then Roxas doesn't give him a Sora-ish line.

“You’re the one calling me by the wrong name.”

Riku sits defeated and despondent on the ground.

"...Why...? It's not supposed to be this way...Sora..."

This breaks a nerve in Roxas.

"This again?! I'm me. NOBODY ELSE. Get that through YOUR thick head!"

And the rest is history...

..................

THAT’S THE REWRITE KIDS.  YOU’RE FINALLY FINISHED READING THIS RIDICULOUSLY LONG BLOG. THANK YOU FOR READING \o/

Fun fact, this was all borne out of a late night discord chat with a friend of mine.

Edit: this is the headcanon for what happened in Days now. Goodnight.

[bittenquills]

So glad we're talking about this. Someone brought up Snape earlier and I just...

JKR's treatment of Snape's character is one of the worst and scariest looks into her psyche. The whole series paints a horrific picture of absolving people of their abusive behaviors, because they're more likeable than the person being mistreated.

For Snape, you have a young man from an abusive home, who is incessantly bullied for being an introvert and having mixed heritage, who is almost killed --INTENTIONALLY--by a fellow student, only to have Dumbledore try to sweep it under the rug and let a rich asshole kid get away with assault and attempted murder. To add insult to injury, Snape is told to say nothing or be expelled while Sirius just gets a detention, and then later this poor kid is sexually harassed in front of the whole school while being force fed SOAP, and SOMEHOW we're still supposed to rooting for his abusers??? Like I'm SORRY, NO! FUCK James, Fuck Remus, and a BIG FUCK OFF to Sirius-I-leave-trauma-in-my-wake-Black for being treated like tragic heroes, when they were in fact, abusive, manipulative, and willing to ignore the suffering of others who didn't fit into categories they liked. (We're not even going to talk about how the only real nerd in their little group was also bullied by them and became a wizard-N*zi, but fuck Peter too.)

Her message says: you don't deserve to have peace if you're not likeable. You don't deserve love if you're not conventionally attractive. Oh, and if you don't have wealth or privilege, sucks to be you, better make some influential friends then. Be someone you're not so other people will be comfortable around you.

The final tragedy is she kills Snape anyway without giving him any real justice. SNAPE was a tragic hero, not the Marauders. He deserved closure. He deserved recognition. He deserved TO LIVE. The man was a MASTER of Potions. He had credentials, and the narrative treats him like a substitute teacher for a chemistry class. All because he wasn't conventionally attractive or easily liked according to her writing.

There's a thousand other points I could make about the treatment of Draco, the relationship between Ron and Hermione being a fucking DUMPSTER FIRE, and Harry being gay AF only to end up with his best friend's sister which made NO sense whatsoever, but I better end this here lol.

TL;DR: If you take a closer look at JKR'S narrative in HP, you'll find most of the villains were just people with trauma, and a good chunk of the heroes were just bullies with influence and good looks.

it's really disappointing how people's critique of jkr starts and ends with her transphobia, and they completely ignore her blatant antisemitism, racism, homophobia, slavery apologism, sympathy for the wizard nazis, (the wizard nazi incel) snape's redemption, the villain of fantastic beasts trying to stop the holocaust, and the new game literally being a rehash of the blood libel myth.

[needtogetitout]

When it comes to the Caley x Quinn ship, I just know that Caley is going to fall in love first. She's everything he longs for: the joy, the ability to look on the bright side, the (seemingly) normality, someone who sees him for who he is, not for the things people say about him, someone who treats him soft, like he might break any second and is someone worthy to be taken care of. He just needs that, he needs to feel like he can be vulnerable and show his emotional side. All he has ever known his entire life was almost nothing but hardship and rigor, now he discovers softness.

If he's honest he is just so touch starved and just wants to be held and cry for a bit and Quinn gives that to him.

Ever since Caley can remember he was assigned names and titles he didn’t choose. Slave, weapon, soldier, murderer, advisor. And he just took on these titles because he didn’t know any better, because he didn’t know himself. If he couldn’t be these titles, then what was he? And then he meets this girl who cares to know who he is without these titles. And because of her he wants to know too, he isn’t scared to look inside of him anymore and discover something he might not like because if she saw something worthy of love in him, maybe he could too? Tianee and Derian have always loved him but with them it’s different. They grew up together, they're family. Now there’s somebody who chooses to get to know him.

Throughout the story Caley becomes so soft for Quinn and loves her with every fibre of his being. When he realises his crushing turning more and more into love, he writes it off as unrealistic at first but can’t bring himself to avoid her because of it. Even Tianee and Derian start noticing his behaviour changing when he’s around the bubbly fortune teller. Where he sometimes might come across as snarky, a tad arrogant and brash, he gets soft-spoken and gentle with her, almost melting everytime she laughs or smiles.

At first Quinn is rather oblivious to his true feelings, but nevertheless treasures him deeply as a friend. For the first time in a very long… time, someone makes her feel like being herself is enough, like she is someone, even without outstanding achievements to show for it. Caley helps her realise that she is not her sister and she doesn’t have to be, but rather her own competent woman. Her whole live nobody every entrusted her with important things, because they were too scared she might screw it up. But Caley? Caley didn’t treat her like she made everything worse, he trusted her. But it’s not until they're forced to stay in Trisendell for a night (no idea why yet) and talk about their childhoods, with him opening up to her, that she falls for him.

They both help each other grow and heal and I just fell in love more with this ship while typing this. I have this headcanon that while Caley is always rather protective of Quinn, but trusts her to handle her own stuff anyway, the moment Quinn gets protective of him, he just goes O/////O.

Also this ship really has potential to get tragic af, if I do go through with the whole Quinn might die or lose herself at the end of the story aspect. Because I think it would absolutely break Caley, maybe even make him snap in some way, if anything were to happen to Quinn, especially if his relationship with the twins had worsened too.

Other ship dynamics similar to theirs:

Huntlow (Hunter x Willow - The Owl House)

Vaxleth (Vax'ildan x Keyleth - The Legend of Vox Machina)