#both characters are so emotionally intelligent and observant

[hvlcy0n]

SAY IT (PT. 1) . . . hayato suo x fem!reader

+ you’ve never reciprocated any of suo’s confessions of love, but a chance to eavesdrop on a conversation among you and your friends grants him all the insight he needs.

+ 4.2k words

+ NSFW (MINORS DNI) // UNEDITED // brief mentions of sex // mentions of edging at the end // brief mentions of overstimulation // mentions of past heartbreak/insecurities // established relationship // manipulation // i got all the big stuff but i’m definitely forgetting some minor stuff i’m just tired of looking at this

+ this is my first time writing suo so plEASE cut me some slack, i got tired of seeing it every time i opened google docs. i left any descriptions/names of your friends extremely vague on purpose so you can fill in whoever. the NEXT part of this will be centered around smut, but this one was more just kinda the build-up to his decision to push you out of your comfort zone.

suo has always been able to see right through you.

granted, that was his area of expertise—the ability to pierce through people’s defenses as if they were nothing more than a gossamer film and unearth whatever information he resolved to discover. he was regarded as dangerous by both allies and enemies, capable of sinking his fingertips into peoples’ psyches and peeling back the layers until their self–control began to fracture and ruby welled beneath his touch and trickled down to obscure his opponents’ vision in an all–consuming bloodlust that left them vulnerable and uncoordinated. 

he had a critical eye and a terrifying intuition; and while his friends wouldn’t trade him for the world, they were also aware of the uncharted territory of suo’s complex character—not to mention the existence of a small distance between them that had been discreetly established by suo himself. while he genuinely enjoyed the presence of his friends, he valued his privacy and space, and he often kept information about him restricted. he was more enigmatic than anything else. 

so, when suo offhandedly mentioned having a girlfriend, they were shocked. although emotionally intelligent, none of his friends pegged him as a romantic, his secrecy and manipulative tactics seemingly too insurmountable an obstacle in a relationship. generally, he was kind and respectful, but his demeanor could flip on a dime in the face of discourteous behavior. he could be mean—unfair.  it wasn’t uncommon for him to mask his slick tongue and cruelty behind refined language and his gentlemanly composure as he subjected his targets to public humiliation. sometimes, his emotions could get the better of him, and he could be frightening when they do. a gentleman? maybe. but there’s more nuance to him than that.

unbeknownst to them, suo was remarkably softer with you. warmth and genuine kindness emanated from every content smile and careful dance of his hands over your skin, calloused fingertips bearing an ardent reverence that would cause even aphrodite to flush. the sharp edge to his tongue smoothed, his teasing light-hearted and devoid of the faint, underlying drip of venom that could sometimes be heard punctuating his words if someone listened closely enough. when he observed you, his eyes glowed with innocuous curiosity and rather than distant analysis. 

the more time he spent with you, the more he could read you like an open book, deft fingertips tracing over even your most tattered, weathered pages and the most smudged ink to wholly bare the contents of your soul to him. he sought to know you in your entirety—your likes and dislikes, how you like to be touched, how you react to certain things. after all, the more he knows about you, the better he can protect you. 

the better he can love you.

love.

that’s a tricky subject for you to navigate, he’s learned.

you were never one to shy away from his affection. in fact, you clearly delighted in the attention he lavished you with. there was never a question as to whether you would hurry to lace your fingers with his if he reached out to you, if you would lean into his caresses, or if you would let him pepper kisses across your cheeks. you were so receptive to his ministrations, so much so that it was almost natural for your body to drift toward his in search of some sort of closeness. whatever he doled out, you returned, and that included the light banter and flirtatious remarks you two often exchanged. you fascinated him, kept him on his toes. 

the only area of your relationship that you fell short in was verbal confessions of love. suo knew that you were fiercely protective of your heart, already having subjected it to enough bruises and scrapes throughout your life to make you want to guard it to the best of your abilities. he was fortunate as it was that you had trusted him enough to relinquish it to him.

he knew that you were still learning to navigate the choppy waters of vulnerability—true vulnerability. it was easy enough to bask in suo’s attention and rely on his ability to comprehend the unspoken, but to say the words aloud would be to speak it into being, to charge the universe with the magnetic force that will bind your fate to his, to make it real. you never said anything that you didn’t mean, and suo understood that after all your hard work fortifying your emotions, to openly admit it would require you to let down your guard entirely and let him in.

there’s no doubt in his mind that you love him. he can feel it in the way you pour every ounce of heartfelt emotion into the kisses you press to his lips, your dedication toward memorizing and analyzing all of his microexpressions so that you can understand him on a deeper level, and the adoration that pools in your eyes like molten honey as you observe him when you think he isn’t paying attention. only a fool would mistake the depth of your feelings. 

he can read you like a book, that much is true, but it’s much more enjoyable to have it read to him line–by–line than to flip through the pages on his own. 

it’s quite endearing, actually, the way your skin would warm and your brain would stall whenever his lips would brush a saccharine “i love you” over the shell of your ear, or the way goosebumps would scatter across your skin and you would clench around him whenever he’d pair the words with a well–timed thrust inside you. he thrives off flustering you and witnessing your demeanor crumble into a delightful shyness that never fails to cause a small smile to tug at the corners of his lips.

even so, he sometimes finds himself yearning for that reassurance that you’re as irrevocably enamored with him as he is with you—that you crave him the way he craves you. he understands that it’s greedy of him and that he should tamp down such self–centered emotions. he knows what your feelings toward him are; it would be inconsiderate of him to pry you out of your shell until you’re ready in order to satisfy his own desires. the concept of love operates differently for different people, and he can accept that. 

it always slips his mind how swiftly things can change.

it was a complete coincidence when he’d stumbled upon you in the outdoor seating area of a restaurant, accompanied by a few  friends of yours. he recalled you telling him that you were going out for lunch with them, but he had no idea that his outing in search of a new pair of shoes to replace his worn ones would cause your paths to cross. he hadn’t meant to eavesdrop on your conversation, only to simply greet you and then continue about his business, but he paused when he heard his name leave one of your friends’ lips.

“so, are you and suo still together?”

oh? before he can even acknowledge the gravity of contravening your privacy, his body is sparked into motion all on its own. he’s quick to retreat, melting into the slanted shadow proffered by the slim alleyway he had been poised to exit, just beyond the scope of your view.

he’s well aware that this is an infraction of the trust you extended to him, but he forces himself to disregard the prick of guilt aside in favor of potentially learning valuable information about the inner workings of your brain. it may not be ideal, but it’s for the best, he reasons. what if you reveal to your friends ways that he could better serve as your boyfriend? what if you feel more comfortable explaining to your friends your reservations about returning his heartfelt confessions? besides, the conversation is technically also centered around him, so surely it would be rude to bar him from listening in.

“of course,” the thought of you denying your relationship was never a concern for suo. you both trust each other implicitly, but to hear you stake such an immediate, explicit claim over him rouses a ticklish spark of delight in his stomach all the same. you scoff, as if the idea was so improbable it was ridiculous. “i’ll tie that man up in my basement before i let him just leave.” suo chuckles gently to himself. perhaps you truly are as invested as he is, after all.

“the dick must be fucking life–altering, if that’s the case.” she laughs. “come on, tell us. is it?”

“wh—” suo’s lips settle into a small, amused smile as he watches you flounder under her questioning, eyes feverishly flitting to your other friends for help, only for each one of them to leave you to drown with their own wide–eyed, inquisitive stares. “oh, my god, i’m not telling you that!” nervous laughter wracks your chest. suo’s shrewd gaze can practically perceive the memories flickering through your brain as you try to maintain your composure, each one spliced together in a salacious collage that has blood thrumming beneath your skin. suo has always been one to fine–tune his craft, and his perfectionism extended to the bedroom as he used his meticulous attention to detail and acute awareness of your reactions to guide you to your peak over . . . and over . . . and over again until he was satisfied.

and of course, you knew that.

“but seriously,” another girl props her elbow on the table and rests her chin on her palm, observing you closely. “i’ve never seen you like this before. before him, you were all ‘ew, gross, men’—not to say that isn’t still valid, but y’know. maybe suo really is a good match for you.”

“do you love him?” the first girl pipes up ecstatically.

now we’re getting somewhere.

it requires significant concentration for suo not to laugh outright when a jolt of surprise grips your body, your muscles visibly tensing and eyes rounding. your lips part to speak, but the words remain wedged in your throat. “i—uh . . .”

“wait, for real?” the third girl, who had remained quiet this entire time, finally speaks up. “do you not actually love him?”

this time, when you don’t at least make an effort to deny their claims, suo’s smile begins to wilt. from suo’s angle, your expression is sapped of the typical bashfulness he had been anticipating. rather, your features are murky with conflict, brows furrowed pensively and fingertips drumming against the chilled glass of the untouched beverage sitting between your palms. for the first time in a while, he can’t read you, and while he’s always enjoyed a bit of reticence and mystery, he doesn’t want it like this—not when such uncertainty is founded on the future of his relationship. did he misunderstand you somehow? was he wrong? no, there’s no way that you’d have done everything you did if you didn’t harbor some type of love for him. it’s simply not plausible. right? 

the silence is unnerving, causing a chasm of apprehension to split his stomach and swallow up the candlelit flicker of warmth that once resided in his chest. he’s never been an anxious individual, typically collected and level–headed under pressure. in fact, he’s always prided himself on his ability to remain composed; but now, as he stands here, body stiff and heart thumping as he waits for you to continue, he figures that love really is one hell of a drug. only the wideness of his eyes betrays his usual poise, but even that would be enough for any of his friends to notice that something is amiss. well, mature as he may be and as far above the fragility of human nature that others believe he is, he’s still only human. and it’s times like this that remind him that he’s still weak.

god, how far has he fallen? how much power did he give you?

“all this time, i thought you guys were in love.” the second girl gasps, hand flitting up to cover her mouth. “so, what’s going on? what’s wrong with him?”

“nothing!” you’re quick to find your voice to defend him, but for some reason, it doesn’t ease the tightness in his chest or the worried spin of his mind. “he’s wonderful, it’s just—”

“is he mean to you?” the second girl presses. “because if he is, i can—”

“he’s obviously not mean to her if she’s still with him.” the first girl retorts, silencing her with a dismissive wave of her hand. before the second girl can argue, she continues. “it could just be that it’s too early for her to know if she does.”

“it’s been months.” the third girl points out. “something has to be up if she doesn’t love him—”

“i do!”

suo’s fingers twitch.

your friends fall silent as the words burst from your chest, unwavering and aflame with conviction. your voice quiets as you fold your arms over your chest and lean back in your chair, eyes still fixated on the cup in front of you. “i do love him, it’s just . . . i’ve never felt like this for anyone, and i don’t know what to do. it feels so real and intense, and it’s scary.”

your words reverberate through suo’s mind as he expels a breath he didn’t notice was wedged in his chest. “i do love him.” his entire body seems to decompress, the tension in his muscles alleviating. “i’ve never felt like this for anyone.” suddenly, your hesitance makes sense. not only were you protective of your heart to begin with, but the magnitude of the importance of this was much larger and therefore more frightening than he realized. suo’s heart swells in his chest at your confession, pride licking up his sternum to grace the apples of his cheeks with a feather–light kiss of ruby. he’s honored to be the first person you’re entrusting with such a privilege—well, even if he’s not supposed to know about it yet.

“what do you mean, you don’t know what to do?” the first girl stares at you as if you’ve sprouted a second head. she flips her hands over with her palms facing toward the sky. “tell him?”

“i can’t just do that!” this time, it’s your turn to look at her like she just told you she ran over a family of five with her chevy tahoe, and suo chuckles.

“and why not?” she flops back in her seat incredulously.

“i just told you, it’s scary!” you insist matter–of–factly. “you remember the last guy i was with? it lasted one month, and in that amount of time, i aged thirty years and had stress levels that would’ve gotten me sent to the emergency room.”

suo hums softly in surprise. you didn’t tell him about that. of course, he had suspected that someone had dragged you through the trenches prior to accepting him as your boyfriend, but he felt as though that was a topic that would be better left to your discretion. you would tell him if you wanted him to know, so he never questioned you.

“yeah, but suo is way better than him.” the third girl reminds you. “at least, i think so. i only met the guy like twice.”

“helpful.” the second girl remarks dryly.

“no, he seriously is so much better.” you insist. “he’s everything i could’ve asked for, but it’s just . . . exposing myself like that would mean he has everything he needs to hurt me, and if i end up flat on my ass again, i don’t know what i’m gonna do. and i know he wouldn’t do anything to hurt me, but . . . ugh, this is impossible.” you let your head loll back. 

there’s a brief stretch of silence before the second girl speaks up again, and this time, her voice has flattened into a deadpan. “girl.” she blinks at you. “that’s the issue?”

clearly not anticipating that reaction, you stare blankly at her for a moment, searching for the right words. “i—what?” you bristle defensively. “what’s that supposed to mean? is that suddenly not a good reason to bare my heart and soul to this man?”

“no, it’s actually really not.” the third girl joins the second’s campaign. she scoots forward in her seat and folds her hands delicately on the table. “let’s reflect. this is suo we’re talking about. this is the same man who stayed the night and took care of you religiously when you were sick with food poisoning from your first date, the same man who gave you earrings similar to his for your birthday, and the same man who showed up at your house in the pouring rain with nothing but the clothes on his back to accompany you when that storm knocked your power out—as a ‘friend.’” 

“why did you use air quotes around the word ‘friend?’” the first girl narrows her eyes at the third.

“because he was playing the long game, okay? he was plotting. stay with me now.” she answers quickly, placing her hand on the first girl’s knee. 

suo chuckles, raising his brows. he has to admit, your friends are impressive.

“so,” the third girl continues. “those are just a couple examples, but it’s crystal clear that suo is devoted. like he’s in this to stay.”

“or he’s some sort of supervillain.” the second girl interjects.

“don’t say that!” the third girl snaps, aghast. “no, yeah, you’re right. the ‘untouchable’ furin graduate who took a bat to the ribs just to keep her safe is definitely here to create lifelong trauma for her. anyway, as i was saying,” she turns back to you, “if that’s not enough, think about it this way. suo is really private, right?”

“right.” you nod.

“well, he was probably in a similar boat as you, then. i mean, you said that you were worried that you’d be giving him what he needs to hurt you, but the inverse is also true, and he already told you he loves you. he trusted you not to hurt him with that information, so you should be able to trust him not to do that to you, either.”

“that’s . . . wait,” the wheels rotate in your brain as you mull over her advice, and your hand drifts up to conceal your mouth in a moment of clarity. “oh, shit. no, wait, yeah, you may have a point. i didn’t think about it like that.”

“that’s what you have us for.” the third girl grins.

“so, does that mean you’re gonna tell him?” the second girl quirks a brow at you. “maybe? probably? hopefully?”

“uh . . . probably not . . .” you wince, only to jump when you’re promptly subjected to an onslaught of groans and complaints from your friends.

“dude, what the fuck?” 

“i know, i’m sorry!” you yelp.

“did you get nothing out of the conversation?”

“no, i did, i swear!” your desperate attempts to defend yourself against your friends are fractured by bouts of laughter. “trust me, i did.”

“so, what’s the problem now?” the second girl drags her palm exhaustedly down her cheek.

“the issue is that it’s still embarrassing!” you whine. “you literally said it yourself earlier. i’ve never been like this—ever! just thinking about saying it makes me wanna crawl in a hole. it makes me feel, like, exposed or some shit, i don’t know—quit looking at me like that! i don’t know how else to explain it!”

“don’t piss me off.”

 “what?” your lips pop open in indignation. “but—”

suo’s slender fingers settle delicately over his lips as he chuckles to himself and steps completely behind the alley corner. his eyelids flutter low, gaze soft with contentment, as he listens to you scramble to defend yourself against your frustrated friends. it’s alright, they’ve done plenty. he can take it from here.

the conversation bounced around between the four of you has certainly altered the circumstances, providing you with the clarity needed to shed your reservations about setting yourself up for a potential heartbreak and unfurling the remaining layers of your defense to reveal the lingering issue still barring you from being honest about your feelings. at this point, it seems to no longer be about you being ill–equipped and underprepared to handle such a divulgence, which he could certainly accept. now, it appears to be about disentangling yourself from the binds of shame and embarrassment. about you requiring a little push in the right direction—well, less of a small nudge and more of a guiding hand that you would trust to unravel you down to the strings of your heart.

fortunately for you, there is no one more aware of what loose threads of yours to tug on in order to achieve his goal than suo himself.

maybe it’s unfair of him to change his mind and concoct an excuse to denounce the leniency and understanding that had been fueling his patience thus far. maybe it’s unfair of him to take the initiative to strip you of the protective cocoon he had previously been more than prepared to allow you to reside in. maybe it’s unfair of him to press you, to utilize his silver tongue and honeyed words to draw out your rawest and most vulnerable state.

but when the opportunity has practically tripped and fallen into his lap, how could he not? it isn’t as if it would be a detriment to you. he has never led you astray, and he certainly isn’t going to start now. 

a venereal plan is already brewing in the back of his mind as he mulls over how to best extract such a confession from you. no matter what type of attitude you may acquire or how sturdy you believe your resistance to be, pleasure has never failed to whittle and melt you down into a pliant puddle that’s all soft edges and hazy, trusting eyes. an even trade—a release only he can provide for the secret you’re trying so hard to keep from him? this evening, perhaps, if he plays his cards right. you don’t have plans tomorrow, which means you certainly can’t be too angry if he keeps you awake into the darkest hours of the night. 

he can practically feel the ghost of the warmth of your skin under his fingertips as he keeps you pinned so that you can’t escape his ministrations, taste the salt brimming in your tears of frustration as you war between your pride and surrendering to the pleasure he plans to dangle in front of you, and hear your whines and moans as he keeps you just barely balanced on the precipice of release. he can already predict how you’ll label him as mean—manipulative, even. and maybe he is.

he’s only human, after all. 

and what would humans be if not flawed? if not a bit cruel? if not a bit . . . selfish?

[sodapopper]

I have something to say about Soda, and y’all are not going to like it. But I have to speak my truth.

I absolutely love that as a fandom we’re starting to humanize him and recognize his character for more than just a comedic bystander. But sometimes it feels like the pendulum now swings too far in the other direction, and some of these takes have turned him into a completely different character.

Yes, Soda is more than just his sweetness. He’s got anger and recklessness and grief, too. But exploring and developing that hidden depth shouldn’t be at the expense of his compassion and good-nature, which are still fundamental parts of his character. The sweetness doesn’t stop existing just because he’s also capable of darkness. They can and should coexist: that’s the entire point of complexity.

I keep seeing posts that use Ponyboy’s unreliable narration to argue away Soda’s sweetness, and I’ll be honest, it irritates me. Ponyboy is misguided, but he’s not outright wrong about what he observes. Darry is hard and cold. Johnny is frightened and nervous. Dally is tough and mean. And Soda is reckless and compassionate. Ponyboy might miss the subtlety of motivation (Darry is harsh, but not because he hates his brother) but he’s truthful about what’s externally obvious.

And yes, Ponyboy idolizes Soda, but the cause of his hero worship is rooted in Soda’s kindness towards him. If Darry were more emotionally present, Ponyboy would likely idolize him, too. But Ponyboy’s hero worship doesn’t cause him to erase Soda’s flaws. In fact, he calls them out on multiple occasions—Soda’s recklessness, his academic failures, his inability to take anything seriously. Pony is even embarrassed by Soda when Cherry asks about him dropping out.

Similarly important to note is that Ponyboy isn't the only one who puts Soda on a golden pedestal. Darry is equally guilty of idealizing his brother, and it's because of the emotional labor Soda does for his family; not because Ponyboy has crafted a completely different version of his brother for the readers.

The fandom wants a complex Soda, and so do I. But complexity doesn’t equate darkness! His core traits don't need to be erased to prop up a version of the character that’s unrecognizably gritty and twisted. Soda is interesting because he’s kind. He’s interesting because he’s emotionally intelligent. He’s interesting because he listens. These things don’t make him perfect! They’re both his strength and his weakness.

Soda who lets himself be walked over. Soda who keeps the peace at the expense of voicing his honest opinion. Soda who hides pain with a manic glimmer in his eyes. Soda who holds it in until he can’t. Soda who explodes in grief or anger when pushed to his breaking point. Soda who can’t sit still. Soda who embraces his “stupidity” like a badge of honor to hide how much it hurts. Soda who nobody really knows, because he protects himself by focusing on others. Soda with a fear of abandonment. Glass child Sodapop. Beautiful and invisible. Slowly being killed by the pressure of a role he’s not strong enough to perform.

And yes, he's also angry. He's also reckless. He's also easily distracted and can't sit still and likes to fight. But good characterization happens when you explore these traits within the context of the other ones. The gentleness and roughness are not mutually exclusive; they can and should go hand in hand.

Instead of “oh I bet Ponyboy is lying, Soda probably yells at him all the time,” consider: what in Soda’s life would be hurtful enough to push him to yell at Ponyboy? Instead of “Ponyboy’s naive, I bet Soda drinks like crazy,” consider: what deeper motivation might keep Soda from drinking?

That's complexity.

Of course everyone has a right to interpret the character differently. And I'm not arguing against headcanons and aus—I just wish we could recognize them as headcanons, instead of trying to twist canon into supporting our own personal characterization. The dark takes are certainly interesting, and fun to toss around. But please, don't discredit the rich depth of his canon characterization as "not gritty enough;" Soda doesn't have to drink, scream, or be Dally to be interesting.

Make him go feral, please—but consider doing it in a way that makes sense for his character, and expands on who he is, instead of erasing it.

[hahahafangirl]

[WBK Character Analysis] Suo Hayato and the Crisis of Contact [Part 1]

EDITs

5/29: Added commentaries to Suo v. Oobiki and minor edits.

This is yet another contribution to the well-made observations that: Suo does not eat with others in a story that emphasizes eating together; his fighting style is predominantly evasive amidst a narrative of fighting as a conversation; and all the deflections he deploys in response to any attempts to know him deeper. All in all, an avoidance of contact and any violation of boundaries — the literal boundary of bodily contact and symbolic boundary of knowing.

Overall, most of the observations here are… not that new. However, there are a few things I have personally seen less discussed in details: humor as deflection (both in the story and its effect on the fandom), Suo’s arrogance and disinterests in his opponents, and his subtle detachment from his peers… even if he loves and cares for them.

The language of this analysis is heavily based on Anne Carson’s essay Dirt and Desire: An Essay on the Phenomenology of Female Pollution in Antiquity. Unfortunately, I am too much of an insane Anne Carson stan to discuss this in any normal way (deeply sorry for that). Regardless, I will try to be as clear as possible, despite my general insistence in uh. using the words that I do (bear with me). Because I am absolutely insane, have a table of content:

Contact as a crisis; dirt; leakage (Part 1)

Suo's general (habitual) deflections (Part 1)

Suo's emotional intelligence and approach to emotionality (Part 1.5)

Teenage arrogance and disinterest in Others

Suo's relationships to other people; or, the disparateness between Love and Relationship

Suo versus Sakura

Note that much of these are interpretations/extrapolations outside of things that are explicit in canon.

I will try to keep each post about 2-3k or less; this total analysis will be split over multiple part. Part 1 (this one) will focus on point 1) and justifies its connection to Suo (and WBK) and point 2), which are primarily textual evidences.

Crisis of Contact: so what the hell am I talking about?

This portion will be on Anne Carson's Dirt and Desire essay, as to provide the context in which I framed this character analysis. I will try to be as brief as I can while being understandable. The original essay itself, as the title revealed, is mostly about the construction of female gender (roles) in Greek antiquity, but its discussion of Touch, Dirt, and Leakage proved to be very useful frameworks!

First, on Touch:

As members of human society, perhaps the most difficult task we face daily is that of touching one another---whether the touch is physical, moral, emotional, or imaginary. Contact is crisis. As the anthropologists say, "Every touch is a modified blow."

This is what I mean by the "crisis of contact." Every contact itself is a mini-crisis: when we exchange blows, our skin touch, thus violating a closed and fixed physical boundary; when we converse, our words and minds touch, thus breaking open our worldviews and preconception; when we connect with other, they (and we) shattered the walls we constructed in our mind and permanently nestled themselves into our minds and hearts. These are all the things that Sakura, our beloved MC, is challenged by the narratives to learn how to do-- and succeed. His blushing embarrassment, in this framework, is a response to these "crises" of violations.

[Sakura blushes nearly every time he learns how to communicate and recognize his feelings... lol]

[the mortifying ordeal of being known]

on Dirt:

"Dirt" may be defined as "matter out of place." The poached egg on your plate at breakfast is not dirt; the poached egg on the floor of the Reading Room of the British Museum is... Mary Douglas calls pollution "a particular class of dangers which are not powers vested in humans but which can be released by human actions."

A little more background: the Greek antiquity conceptualize men as "hot, dry, vessel" and women as "cold, wet, liquid (to be contained in a vessel". So, dirt as "matter out of place" equates to "liquid not being properly contained". As Mary Douglas puts it, being "dirt" is not anything inherent to human or even women in particular; we all just have the ability to displace matters and make them "dirt" -- including ourselves. Sakura was treated, as we can put it, "less than dirt" for being "out of place." Same with Kaji's unrestrainable anger -- until Hiiragi figured out a way to help him "contain" it. Umemiya, as a child, felt that his own grief was displaced, his own life and his family's lives misplaced between who die and who gets to live -- his entire existence as "dirty". We can formulate any ostracism and troubles in Wind Breaker into displacement and dirt -- it's a fun exercise! But it will be more helpful if we put this construction of "dirt" into use.

How does any of this relates to Suo? We already noticed that he avoids, and, if he cannot, minimizes all contacts-- avoiding all the crises that everyone else, especially Sakura, go through. Most of these have lead to immense character growth. Maybe it's just not Suo's time to go into it yet. But for a deuteragonist, on a similar level of screen-time and importance as Nirei, Suo's arc thus far remains glaringly stagnant. One thing that he perhaps "grew" in is holding in his ruthlessness better after Sakura refocused Suo's vengeance in a more productive way (fight off other opponents and not beat one guy to death) during the KEEL fight. But we haven't seen a situation that actually "proves" that growth in a fight yet. So far, no contact, no crises yet, to grow, while Umemiya has explicitly said: "You need a little bit of conflicts to grow." Thus far Suo's "vessel" remains completely intact and its contents unseen (unlike Sakura's and Nirei's anxieties and trauma).

Where does dirt comes in? On a more literal sense, we have seen that Suo... never get dirtied after a fight. There is one (1) chapter where his face is scuffed (ch145)...

... significantly less than others, and it magically disappear in the next chapter. I think it's innocuous enough to be a mistake in Nii-sensei's part (either to remove or to add it), but, there is another interpretation: Let's remind ourselves that stories are about narratives, and that character, their design, their physical and mental states, are tools of the narratives*. Suo's (minimally) scuffed state is more symbolic of the Bofurin kids engaging in Sakura's struggle to pull him out of it -- a collective contact, willingly be "dirtied" to touch and pull Sakura out of drowning -- rather than Suo finally getting injured in a fight, after all. In addition to this, it will be visually jarring if Suo remains untouched here (note that this is not to dismiss what I said right before that).

*(Nii-sensei has such a command of details and themes in WBK that I must allow everything to be Symbolic-- there will be more on this in other topic)

Although this is a counterexample, it is to emphasize that, well, we noticed that Suo has never been dirtied or "touched" in any way in a fight. In a work where people routinely gets injured, bleed, violently got their face smashed in (I'm still in pain thinking about the Kaji v. Banjo fight), Suo never has his boundaries breached the way others has. No contact, no dirt. A closed room. He never let anything "out of place" be on him and is never actively being "out of place" himself -- even in the Red Light district, he does not seems frazzled (out of place) the way Nirei or Sakura were. No crack in the vessel, no leakage; nothing is leaving him either. No substantial personal fact is known-- for a deuteragonist, that's quite unusual.

The only "secret" we know? Natto. It is honestly lighthearted enough to be a joke (that is not to dismiss its importance or factuality!). It becomes a gag in the fandom! Purely because of how little else we know about Suo!

AND SUO DOESN'T EVEN NEED TO SUCCESSFULLY DEFLECT IT HIMSELF. THE NARRATIVE DID IT FOR HIM!!!!!

LIKE. LMFAO. OMFG. WE HAVE ALL BEEN PLAYED!!!!!!!!

THE NARRATIVE WANTS SUO TO BE AS INSCRUTABLE AS POSSIBLE.

GO HOME. THERE IS NOTHING FOR US.

JK! WE ARE STILL DIGGING OURSELVES INTO IT FOR ANY GRAIN OF INFORMATION THAT WE CAN!

We have some textual evidences already. Let's go for more.

More on Suo's habitual deflections

Let's begin by making a list of his deflections:

Fighting style: predominantly defensive; "pushing away" instead of "smashing in"

Personal information: humor to deflect from (what could be) his insecurities; reveal-not-reveal origin of his fighting styles, or details about his master; the "diet"

Emotionality: "I'm not usually this emotional"; disquiets hiding underneath maturity

Clothing: no skin?.megamind

Narrative/Production deflections: why is Suo the only person whose room is not revealed? lmfao?

Ok. I think that's everything.

Fighting styles:

Suo is a predominantly defensive fighter. In a fight with non-fighters involved, he naturally steps into a protective role by default. The only time this changed was when Nirei volunteered to take that role and encouraged Sakura and Suo to go on the offense. Defense or offense, Suo deflects moves and takes down opponents by their offensive momentum — if they pass out hitting their head on concrete, great! He does not contribute his own force into the fight; no horse in the race, no input to the conversations.

Compare to, say, Sakura and most others, who charges ahead, moving into their opponents' space to attack; Tsugeura, whose virtue involves allowing opponent one (1) hit and then... German suplex them; or Kiryu, whose fighting style is most similar to Suo — except he often disables his opponents with what looks like accupressure. Perhaps the most relevant difference is that Kiryu does charge ahead to fight, and some of his moves involve pulling the opponents in. Suo does none of that— he waits until they violate his space and pushes them out.

Pulling in...

Pushing out. Note that Suo does not reach for his opponents— he waits until they are in his space.

The only time we have seen Suo "attack", per se, is 1) KEEL and 2) against Oobiki, where he needed to wrap things up quickly and this isn't an opponent who would go down with deflection. That's the literal, in-text explanation at least. Symbolically? I'm not sure! Maybe Suo did in fact get close enough to Nirei and his classmates to expresses something about himself— not deflect, but rather, physically engages in the fight. That will take me more time to think about.

EDIT: Hey, this is also the fight where Suo finally reveals something about himself— specifically, his philosophy and focus on teaching, “discipline” as passing down knowledge (and, side notes, not as “punishment” — this is something I’m exploring in a fic actually xP). We even got the first visual of his Master! So, yep, he contributed something in this conversation here. This is the very first step in advancing towards Suo’s backstory; Nii-sensei is telling us to be patient! We got a similar visual (the back of the head) of Akari ~200 chapters before Kiryu’s arc, after all.

And this is also the same fight where Suo's untouchability and INSCRUTABILITY ("I can't read you at all") is explicitly addressed— by a fighter that is approximately Noroshi's caliber; or at least, much stronger than KEEL or Kanuma.

In KEEL, his aggression was taken as unusual/"the wrong decision". Against Kanuma, he didn't even mean to hit for real— only to scare/shock the opponents. Suo is an incredible fighter, acknowledged by Nirei's intels, Hiiragi and Umemiya themselves, and Sakura wanting to fight him. And, from his untouchability, literally (as in, not symbolically) we have yet to actually see Suo's full, current capability at all! And that is A LOT to hold out on when every character, one after another, get pushed to their limit. Suo's avoidance of initiating fights is narratively convenient to this end and also... says something about his refusal to initiate a "conversation".

2. Personal information and humor

We have seen this before with natto! His easy-going demeanor, ability to diffusive and deflect ("This conversation is about Sakura!") enables him to stagnate the conversation until the narrative ended it for him. As for reveal-not-reveal: I want to note that we do know things about Suo; quite a few things, in fact. Suo does not never say anything about himself, but give enough information to satisfy/shut down the conversation without providing anything revealing about himself. "Oh, I can't personally tell you what my fighting style is-- my Master is self-taught." (You have a Master? What are they like? How long have you been practicing? What?) "Oh, I'm on a diet." (What kind of diet? What can you actually eat and not eat? Why aren't you eating anything at all?)

Suo has been demonstrated to be an incredibly socially-capable person; his self-selected main role as vice-captain is negotiation and people-dealing. He has shown an incredible level of emotional intelligence, sensibility, and sensitivity to other's thoughts and feelings: being able to tell that Sakura is not used to other helping him, therefore knowing that it will be difficult for them all if Nirei and him continue to push; repeatedly being able to use Umemiya "against" Sugishita to get the latter to do things. Suo knows how to start and end a conversation, what to say, how to steer the interaction one way or another, how to stall— his social skills and suaveness are vitals in all these social deflections.

Notably, humor plays into this a lot (yet another example of social-capability). His eyepatch is the biggest mystery by far— and he was able to shut down any speculations or focus on it by bringing it up before anyone else can, therefore being in control of the topic.

Note that he brought it up out-of-nowhere, already anticipating the curiosity: "By the way..." and quickly changes the topic to Sakura

The constant, mysterious "diet" is also introduced under humorous connotations (Suo agreeing with Nirei's about the unusualness of the context of the meal, then immediately subverts expectation by reveal that should he be able to eat, he would-- he is just on a diet).

He blatantly lies — for innocuous things such that they are humorous — and gets out of explaining anything; like why he does not want to go into water

(My theory on this is quite innocuous: depends on how recent Suo's eye injury is, healing can be quite slow and touching sea water is... bad for that. It'd just ruin the mood if we bring it up.)

With the eyepatch and the water, is there a chance that Nirei is too polite to push it? Absolutely. And that is another "manipulation" of social situation Suo is capable of: he gives non-answer that is tonally appropriates such that it is impolite/insensitive should anyone tries to push. Boom, nobody knows anything. Closed room, no leakage.

3. Emotional disquiets

Suo's "veneer" of calmness and maturity is so constant and iconic that the smallest ripple sends the narratives (and us) to ruin! And this contrast is emphasized by the narratives— I'm only showing here the more subtle signs in each "incident", and we already feel the disruption!

(Note the look of disdain in this one— we will come back to this later)

Suo is not as "mature" or unperturbed as he paints himself to be; he is, after all, a human, and a 15 year old child at that. In a story that emphasizes realistic emotional responses, it is extremely unrealistic to paint a 15yo boy as having it all together (orewing wrote an excellent post on this subject). Maturity, in this case, is a mask and therefore another deflection— hiding away his emotions and disdain until it came bursting out of him, ignoring his emotions to prevent others from seeing and "interacting" with it — vision becomes another mode of boundary violations (yes, this is in the Anne Carson essay). Now, the interesting question here is: Why is this the case? Unfortunately, that is outside the scope of this research <3

4. Conservative clothing: no_skin?.megamind

It's not about being revealing, it's about his wardrobe being so distinctly old-school and especially jarringly conservative in the beach trip that brought to attention how uh. tall the wall is. Funnily enough, recently there was a fake-merch post going around on Twitter that people immediately spotted as fake because Suo reveals his upper torso in that one (lol) and the official one, coming out the next day, has him covered from head to toe. Symbolically speaking, this is yet another visual hint that Suo is extremely mysterious and elusive. Fashion and personal styles are extremely important to WBK's characterization and narratives. Everything design-wise is very intentional— including Suo's secrecy.

It's highkey just funny as a gag at this point. There were theories about secret back tattoos (I think primarily motivated by Nii-sensei once posting a character design hiding elaborate back tattoos under normal school uniform that does looks suspiciously like Suo's initial design, now that I think about it.) I don't know if I believe that; scars theories are more likely, but I don't think tonally WBK is trying to tell a more violent stories than what normal people within 1-1.5 standard deviation of the Bell curve will experience. In other words, I don't think the narrative looks to tell what is implied if Suo's back is elaborately tattooed or viciously scarred. I am not saying that HCs about these are invalid, just that— who knows what is in store! It is possible that Suo, with all of his evasiveness and general strangeness from the narrative, is in fact the one representing the "exorbitant" violence in the world.

5. Narrative deflections: Nii-sensei is holding out on us.

Here is the final straw: It is no coincidence or innocuous chances that all of these deflections and overall sense of detachment is overthinking. Nii-sensei seems to be extremely involved, by usual manga standard, into (at least evidently) merch and game adaptation of Wind Breaker. Wanijima, I'm pretty sure, was introduced as a WBK game character prior to his "adoption" into the manga. All the merch strictly sticks to Suo's visual conservativeness. And, very intentionally, Suo is the only main class 1-1 member whose bedroom is not shown in the artbook. What is Nii-sensei hiding? A lot, it looks like.

What does that means besides confirming that we aren't all extremely delusional? Nii-sensei seems to be deflecting us, too. Well, it's actually way too late at night and I have spent too long writing this to overthink this point. I can only be certain that there will be a lot in store for Suo's character developments, arc, and that I trust Nii-sensei's pen. Amen.

That's it for now! Part 2 will hopefully cover the last three points (maybe only one or two each) depends on how much I have to say. Evidently, I have waaaaay more to say than I thought. Thanks for holding out if you reach this point, and let me say that we did most of the heavy lifting/justifications here :thumbs-up: The discussion of dirt, leakage, and crisis was hopefully constructive/interesting!

I would love any feedbacks/thoughts AND FEELINGS on this, including if my writing is absolutely unreadable (and yeah feel free to use anon questions should you desire to). Would be beyond happy to clarify anything I wrote, and discuss more!

See yall in Part 2, which may come out earlier than I or you want or expected.

[theorahsart]

isn't it infantilizing to assign Robespierre detachment from the changing vibes of his revolution to autism? Like, my language aside this was no infantile baby man but a fully grown adult who had been both very charismatic and convincing in his speech and actions towards others, and very committed to the path of violence. And you're not the only person I've heard echo this autism angle (Xiran Jay Zhao also said it) and idk idk perhaps I'm wrong but it always seemed to me a bit insulting, like a way to exculpate him idk

I think whether it's infantilizing probably depends on how much you understand autism and how you're applying it? I'm just wanna say up front that I'm both autistic and have very, very in depth knowledge on the topic- both in its history and how it's applied today. My educational writing (and comics!) on autism are used by doctors, trainers, occupational therapists, all over the world. So I'm coming at it probably from a different angle to a lot of people, with a deep undestanding of how autism impacts peoples lives in very complicated ways, as opposed to applying simple stereotypes or simple modern day examples to history.

How to explain my pov...autism is a very nuanced experience with so many positives and negatives, and to observe behaviours from this angle isn't with any intention to *excuse or negate* any actions. That's not how autism should be applied or looked at in any situation. We don't get diagnosed in order to write off our bad choices or have people patronise us (which is a common problem when you're autistic and it's not cool to do because it suggests we are less competant than allistics which is VERY offensive). We get diagnosed in order to better understand a confusing experience, in which our character, actions, feelings, are hugely misinterpreted.

Yes, he was a full grown adult. Autistic people are full grown adults. We are smart and emotionally intelligent and thoughtful. We also make really 'obvious' mistakes that take NT people off guard because they cant ever imagine that a brain might work in such a way that it can be so intelligent in some ways and so inadequate in other ways- but that is autism by its modern definition: a 'spikey profile' of extremes in positives and negatives that create confusing perceptions in a NT world.

Many historians openly say they find Robespierre confusing. For me autism offers a more nuanced explanation than the usual: "He was really clever until he suddenly made one really stupid obvious mistake" "He just went insane and lost grip on reality" "He thought of himself as the embodiment of the revolution".

In reply to your example:

I havent found any evidence anywhere of Robespierre being described as charismatic- he was popular with people, but thats not the same as charismatic. Every book and contemp description I've read of Robespierre suggests he was notibly the opposite of charismatic, and historians always note this in books, because it was his very well written and well reasoned speeches that won him popularity rather than charisma (so, I agree with your other point, he made VERY convincing speeches. I'm not sure how autism negates that.) Most contemp descriptions from his work collegues describe someone who was very difficult to work with, someone who was quiet and isolated, and constantly looked down at his papers when reading out speeches in a meek, awkward voice. This for me is again something to deeply consider when thinking about how much power Robespierre had in the CPS. It's something that to me is important to consider through the autism angle.

Regards 'committed to the path of violence', his experience feels more complex then that to me, but it might just be how I'm interpreting the sentence, so maybe you understand thsi and sorry if I'm contending it for no reason. Robespierre went back and forth on his views on violence. He wanted to find 'the middle way' in the Terror. He only wanted it to last as long as the war, but also of course attempted to fold what was happening into political theory via his speeches and tried to endorse as a spokesperson for his government that had only come into power because of violence. He was very adament about punishing some people, but also considered by some members of the CPS to be 'too lenient' where they wanted more extreme violence. He said one thing publicly, but privately felt differently. @secondjulia recently made an excellent list of examples that share some of this evidence.

Also, lots of experienced people and historians consider that Robespierre mightve been autistic! I talked to Mcphee about it last year and he was open to the idea and told me of another historian who's considered this. I know the very experienced @saintjustitude came up with this theory like 15 years (?) ago. It's probably telling that every person I've met who has this theory are also autistic (or in the case of Xiran, neurodivergent, they reblog my autism stuff but I dont know if they are or not) and so probably have that more nuanced understanding of autism I've explained above.

[dontbesoweirdkira]

Hey, hi! You have very cool works, I really like reading you and always wait for your works. Please, do not leave us here alone.

I have a question: what can you say about a reader in the Mortal Kombat world (yandere) who has absolutely no emotional intelligence (like me)? Which yandere would be the scariest for such a reader, and which ones are the softest?

I don't mean that the reader will be cruel or heartless, but he is simply not in tune with emotions and cannot understand what others are feeling. As someone who suffers from this, I can say that I often don't notice how someone falls in love with me, and sometimes this leads to awkwardness

P. S. Who is your favorite fighter, if it's not a secret?

A/N: aww thank you for requestinggg. This is so camp. I struggle with empathy and similar things too. I went a little more broad with it. Alsooolo between mk11 and Mk1 there’s a big personality jump with a lot of characters so my answer is different depending on the game. Hopefully I did this request some justice.

(P.S. Kung Lao is my 1 fave and then Johnny. For female characters it’s Mileena and then scarlett. I like them crazy lol.)

Characters: I only did the ones I actually care about lol.

Warnings: This is purely my opinion based off of my interpretation of yanderes. Please bear in mind that when I write Yandere, it’s at extremes.

Requests: always open

Masterlist

Safe Zone

Mk11 Fujin, Kotal Khan, Night wolf, Kuai Liang, Jax , MK1 Reptile, Raiden, Smoke, Baraka, both Liu Kang, Kenshi, both gerases

While you maybe aren’t intentionally trying to discard them or hurt their feelings, it doesn’t seem like it at first. Why are you so blank? How can you just shrug off a confession like that? Do you hate them?

Once they get to know you better by studying and observing your habits, they realize that this is simply the way you are. They are compassionate enough where they don’t really let it bother them anymore.

They have not only a legitimate love for you (under their deranged behaviors), but a lot of emotional intelligence. At their core, they have a bit more maturity on things like this compared to their counterparts. Especially Fujin and Kotal Khan, they’ve been here for ages and have dealt with many different personalities before. You’re not really the first person who has been emotionally shut off like this. Besides, it’s not like you’re showing someone else more love or attention than them so..whatevs

(If you do discard them for another person tho, they will raise hell about it and retract their compassion.)

They will be more direct and intentional about what they want and their feelings so it's not so confusing for you. I can also imagine them guiding and helping you understand them more by maybe taking a different approach towards empathy? Emotional intelligence can be improved and I think they’d be rather good at this. You might not be fully there on everything (depending on where this is stemming from) but you’d have a better grasp at least.

I will say though that at times they might get sad when you don’t initiate affection or respond emotionally how they’d ideally picture it. Especially if there’s absolutely no improvement after a while, they’d get manipulative. They’d make you believe you feel something that you actually can’t. Also might get a bit frustrated by your impulsivity, outbursts and isolation.

Danger Zone

Mk11Shang tsung,Kano,Johnny Cage, Kung Lao, Erron Black, Hanzo Hasashi, Kabal, Dark Raiden,Baraka, Noob Saibot, Shao Khan MK1 Bi-Han Johnny Cage, Quan Chi, Shang Tsung, General Shao, Kuai Liang, Kung Lao

They. Do. Not. Care.

All of these men have a massive ego that needs to be stroked and inflated by you. They want praise, love and affection. They want 100% of you. Yes, that includes emotionally.

They really don’t care what the reason is for why you are ignoring their advances, you will reciprocate. Their demands will be met and you are in love with them. Fake it good!

I hope you’re a quick learner because you have to pick up on their cues. You should know exactly what they need and when they need it. Your words should be ever so carefully chosen and your actions should have much enthusiasm.

There is no room for your mistakes and accidentally offending them, you will be punished for it. Mood swings and impulsively can result in reactive behaviors on their end.

Don’t make any of your interactions with them awkward in front of others. It isn’t funny to embarrass your “lover” like this.

No. you can’t be self centered. They are the center of your life. No. You cannot hold grudges against them. You should always forgive their actions. Aaaaand no. You really cannot ignore/not listen to them. How dare you.

Wait…it almost sounds like they are just as emotionally immature. Nahhh. They’re worse.

Yeah there’s no room for your Low EL, they need you to be a stable sounding board or else this relationship is going to be far more toxic than anything you’ve ever seen.

They’re completely far gone, no amount of explanation can save you. They will use any means necessary to get something out of you that isn’t even there in the first place. You are going to be everything they imagined you to be and more.

Conflicting feelings

Ngl kinda wanted to put Mk11 Johnny up top because I just am stuck on the fact that MK1 Johnny is a far worse Yandere. Like MK1 Johnny is older, mellowed out and is very mature at this point…but then I remembered his younger self. His mk11 younger version would be far more menacing than MK1. Mk11 Johnny Cage’s younger self would come out of him during his obsession. He can’t help but be an absolute asshat and forget all about his growth when it comes to you. Once a playboy always a playboy.

Kinda wanted MK1 King Lao in the top category aswell but…do I have to further explain. He’s definitely not as cocky and arrogant as his MK11 counterpart but he’s young, immature and impulsive. I don’t think he’d understand your low EL. It would drive him insane thinking that his darling isn’t reciprocating. He’d become rather aggressive and an egotistical monsterrrr in the process.

Kotal Khan really got me too because like he’s absolutely a lover boy but his heart isn’t as warm as it used to be.😭😭 debated putting him in the danger zone because there is so much potential for him to be cray cray but rewatching him and Jade interacting with each other made me choose the softer route. I think once he realizes you are just emotionally immature he’s just unphased by you. Like I can’t see him being that upset by his darling or something like that?? He’d be patient and understanding. He might’ve once been just like you but with time and age, he changed. So can you. Maybe I’m just being too generous?

Dark Raiden. I mean Raiden himself isn’t very intelligent when it comes to emotions. He’s goal and logically focused so I think he’d understand you. BUT what made me change my opinion was that dark! Raiden is completely corrupted and so is his way of thinking. He’s twisted and probably can’t really register your low EL. I think he’d perceive it as you being purposefully defiant towards him.

Mk1 Kuai Liang. People make him super soft and cuddly but Idk I feel like if I’m putting Bi-Han in the danger zone that it makes sense for his brother to be. They grew up in the same environment and Kuai is shown having similar or even worse traits to him. I don’t think he’s a saint. Smoke stands out more to me as someone who’d be softer. His voice lines and personality reflects that.

How do I even tag this 😩

[ghostliibat]

I saw your post about Tim being Damian's Batman and Damian being Tim's Robin because I agree I think Tim is one of the few members of the family that actually considers taking up the Batman mantle and he'd be really good in my opinion but I'm curious if you don't mind elaborating on that

Oh boy can I, it is a controversial take but I think it's pretty neat. So let's put aside complicated feelings and history and let's look at it at face value and both of them just as the characters they are because that's how I'm looking at it.

The dynamic between Tim and Damian is so charged with contrast and history that imagining them as Batman and Robin together might seem chaotic — but that’s why it could works.

*****

Tim as Batman to Damian’s Robin

Emotional Intelligence & Strategy

Tim is probably the most emotionally intelligent of the Batfam. He observes, analyzes, understands. That kind of Batman — one who reads not just clues but people — is exactly what Damian needs. Someone who doesn’t just give orders but gets him, even when he doesn’t want to be understood.

Experience and Patience

Tim has led teams, worked with Robins, Titans, Young Justice — he's adaptable and has patience. Even when Damian was at his worst, Tim didn’t write him off. He tried. He kept trying. That matters.

He Believes in Robin

Tim became Robin because he believed Batman needs Robin. Not for combat — for balance. For hope. That means he wouldn’t treat Damian like a weapon. He’d treat him like a partner, like someone worth believing in.

*****

Damian as Robin to Tim’s Batman

Skill and Drive

Damian brings fire. He’s ruthless, brilliant, trained within an inch of his life. Where Tim is strategy, Damian is execution. He acts fast, hits hard, and doesn’t waste time. He keeps Tim moving. And Tim reins him in when needed. It’s balance.

The Challenge Tim Needs

Damian forces Tim out of his comfort zone. Tim can’t just operate on logic — he has to feel, to connect, to earn Damian’s respect. And that makes Tim a better Batman — more human, more present.

Mutual Growth

This isn’t a perfect duo. It’s not clean. It’s two people growing into each other, rubbing off the sharp edges. Tim learns to assert himself and embrace emotional leadership. Damian learns that partnership isn’t weakness — it’s strength. They become what Bruce and Dick couldn’t: Batman and Robin who grow together.

They’re not a natural fit — they’re a necessary one. Built on friction, healed by trust. That’s what makes their potential so compelling.

[bennetsbonnet]

Thoughts on a Elizabeth Bennet/Frederick Wentworth marriage?

Ooooh very intriguing proposition, thanks for raising it!

Personally I don't seriously want to imagine Elizabeth or Wentworth being unable to be with their respective beloveds because that's far too painful! But I'll entertain it as a hypothetical as I do think it's interesting to consider it.

To begin with, I think a factor that would have a big impact on the likelihood of such a marriage succeeding depends on whether their ages remain the same as they do in their respective canons or not. Wentworth is approximately a decade older than Elizabeth at the time Persuasion is set. Though I think Elizabeth is reasonably sensible for her age, she is still obviously liable to making mistakes due to her youth, as illustrated by her misplaced pride in her ability to read others' characters, which results in her harsh judgement of Mr Darcy. Not to say that I think this would be insurmountable, I think Wentworth is a patient man, but he values Anne's maturity. Though I do think Elizabeth is far more mature than Louisa, Wentworth ultimately did not want to marry a woman so much younger than himself.

As for factors in their favour, I do think Elizabeth would be attracted to Wentworth for a variety of reasons. He's honourable, as shown in the way he is prepared to honour any potential attachment he may have inadvertently made with Louisa due to his actions; he's emotionally intelligent, as demonstrated by the kindness he shows to Mrs Musgrove regarding her son when, rather than telling her the cold, hard truth that he was a terrible sailor, he tells a comforting lie; he's clearly a great writer of letters, as we see at the end, and I think Elizabeth would appreciate that.

Likewise, Wentworth would enjoy Elizabeth's vivacity and lively spirit. She is more outgoing than Anne and unlikely to be easily (or ever) persuaded, as evidenced by her refusal to marry Mr Collins, which Wentworth would value. I know that Wentworth does realise he was too harsh in his judgment of Anne, and he ultimately comes to understand the reasoning behind her decision to break off their engagement. But could Elizabeth and Wentworth be too similar in that respect? One of my favourite aspects of both couples is the way the confident Elizabeth and Wentworth both balance out their more thoughtful and introverted counterparts. Still, there are so many attractive qualities that Elizabeth possesses; her wit and humour would draw anyone in, I think. Plus, he would undoubtedly enjoy her piano playing and singing, and her fine, dark eyes... as others have done before him.

Wentworth, too, has that same wonderful quality as Darcy, in his ability to reflect on his actions, realise he was wrong and modify his behaviour. The concept of a man who is aware of his shortcomings and mistakes... truly tantalising. He obviously possesses that same 'skill' as Elizabeth in observing people and understanding their characters, which is what made him such a successful captain (and perhaps illustrates he can do so more successfully than Elizabeth)! Managing a group of rowdy sailors would have been no mean feat and the fact Wentworth has such a high reputation proves that he was able to quickly understand what made his men tick and bring the best out in them.

Also, happy to be corrected on this (as I do not know either Wentworth or Persuasion nearly as well as I do Pride and Prejudice) but I cannot recall a conversation that reminds me of the way Darcy and Elizabeth have their little debates. As stated above, I think Wentworth is intelligent, but perhaps in a different way to Darcy, who was able to have these quick verbal spars with Elizabeth. Plus, Darcy would likely have had the superior education of the two (cannot remember anything about Wentworth's but again, happy to be corrected!) given that he went to university. Of course, I don't think that automatically makes a person more intelligent but it's something to consider when accounting for the differences between Wentworth and Darcy!

Ultimately, I think I could see it working if they met when they were both of a similar age, more akin to the dynamic between Wentworth and Anne at the beginning of Persuasion. I think both Elizabeth and Captain Wentworth possess traits that the other would value, though they are perhaps far more similar in disposition than not, which isn't necessarily a mark against them, but they both end up with partners who are quite different in that respect and may have better balanced their personalities.

One thing is for certain, though; if a man in uniform with a fortune of twenty five thousand pounds came to court one of her daughters, Mrs Bennet would have such tremblings, flutterings, and such beatings of her heart, that she would get no rest by night nor by day, and all of Meryton would know about it posthaste...

[enlightenedfeline]

Writing an emotionally numb character:

There's a lot to take into consideration when writing a character like this, but I'll narrow it down to what I think is most important!

Who's perspective are they normally in? Is this a side character in your story? The protagonist? The antagonist? What importance do they have?

Are they in first person?

Emotional numbness is something that can be easily observed by people who know you, it can become a trait they use to describe you, basically you don't need high emotional intelligence to come to the conclusion that someone you know is generally emotionless.

Perspective doesn't matter in knowing whether or not a character is emotionally numb, it matters in how you introduce it and express it.

Here are the do's and dont's of each perspective:

First person: dont: have the character aware that they are emotionally numb, it is generally not a trait one would notice about themselves if it's unintentional. do: show the reader that this character generally suppresses or doesn't feel their emotions through internal dialouge.

This seems a bit contradictory, right? Because how do you make a character unaware of a trait, while also making it obvious to your reader?

Don't put all the weight on your own shoulders, your readers analytical abilities matter too, and if it's too obvious from this perspective it'll make it seem like your character knows they're emotionally numb, which would paint them as manipulative and calculated.

Pause. If that is what you want, look out for more advice posts in the future, because this one won't be helpful.

Now continue. We all have small habits and thought processes that are unhealthy that we're not aware of, it would be difficult to recognize them yourself. Thankfully, you don't have to in this situation, you're writing a character, you are aware of all their little thought patterns, that's how you show your reader their emotional numbness.

In how they avoid emotions, or don't treat their own struggles like they're worth mentioning, this is a habit we can all recognize as wrong when we read it, and that's the easiest way for you as the writer to express emotional numbness.

Third person limited (and second person): If it's from the emotionally numb character's pov, follow the advice above, if it's from another character's pov then, Dont: give the character unlimited knowledge of the emotionally numb character's past and what makes them this way. Do: gradually have them learn more about the emotionally numb character, and follow their thought process as they connect their past with why they behave the way they do.

Third person omniscient: DONT: info dump right off the bat. do: gradually reveal details about the character.

As you've probably noticed, the advice for both third person povs is essentially the same. Third person is probably the easiest pov where you can introduce emotional numbness, however, it's also the easiest pov to fall into an info dumping session about said character.

Emotionally numb characters give you so much room for angst, use it!

Make your emotionally numb character a mystery to your reader, make them disliked by other characters, make it affect their relationships, then give your reader hints and scraps as to why they behave the way they do, let them figure it out!

Give your reader the tools and let them build the house, make the emotional numbness a mystery to the character and to most characters they interact with.

The second thing to explore about emotional numbness is the why of it all.

While it may be your first instinct to give them a life altering event that caused it - and while that's not bad - you can consider other paths and approaches!

Emotional numbness is a trauma response, to what exactly is up to you.

Maybe their emotions are treated as a burden, so they begin to see them as a burden, so they begin to suppress them until they reach a point where they can't stop doing it.

Maybe it was a mentally scarring event that made them too emotional, and when no one around them could handle it, they started suppressing everything.

The word suppress is being used a lot, that's because it's the core of emotional numbness. No matter what we try to tell ourselves, we feel emotions, so to be emotionally numb does not mean to be emotionless, it means to suppress emotions.

And if you want your emotionally numb character to be realistic, make them breakdown when they can't suppress it anymore.

The most realistic thing you can have your emotionally numb character do is breakdown into a supernova of emotions, because no one can hold it in all the time.

They can breakdown in the arms of a loved one, or in a public setting, or maybe even in front of the person they despise most. Get creative, get angsty, or get fluffy!

Emotional numbness can make or break your character, they can either be a stereotype or something never before seen, make them your own, and remember to make them human.

Maybe some of this advice will help, maybe it won't, either way, I hope this feline has enlightened you!

[thebettertraiaad]

Why I think flatline x maps

First off nika is the definition of a rebel in her design and how she breaks normalcy for something she believes in and at the same time shipping damian with her isnt fitting since he is literally the definition of 'redemption' because of his R and nika being a killer and how she even enjoys killing people because of her nature its giving more of a relapse than redemption. its like the writers are trying so hard to make her look queer but not he queer and the writing in it? ASS its better appreciated in a damn gacha video than an actual story and dont even get me started on the fans.

Reasons why I like maps being with flatline; its letting the polar opposites find a similarity and also fleshing out them as a person and mia being weaker in a way(since im writing this in their age as teens) gives nika more than enough to think that 'oh not everyone is strong' and there! Its where the building of her happens how she could change since mia cant go to her level in a literal scale but still train to be able to protect herself since this isnt a weakgf x strongergf trope. But its the fact that nika needs to learn someone elses capacity since she wants to be with her, maps herself is a nice person and I think it would also be best to explore the narrative of girls understanding their emotions romantic wise considering that since nika is russian and how she was probably raised in a catholic and probably homophobic environment she probably would just excuse her feelings for just strong friendship and how mia is the opposite, raised in america 🇺🇸🦅🦅🦅 shes exposed to more than the narrative of a female and male romantic partnership and therefore kind of explains to nika and how her feelings towards her are normal and how its okay to feel like that even if she was sort of raised to believe that fags are all just mentally ill people. And considering maps being the more curious type their relationship is probably going to work with how she's emotionally intelligent in her own way, and how nika is probably affectionate and thoughtful when it comes to someone she considers a loved one(since MIND YOU! Flatline originally had a family that abandoned her and therefore raised and used by lord deathman and sort of isolating her from people Because of that) and how when she realizes these feelings and how maybe mia is kind of vulnerable flatline will have to come to terms that maps is someone important that she cant just find again, her first friend, girlfriend and literal therapist.

Second reason; damian is better of single(PLS DONT DOXX ME FOR THIS!) because mans is emotionally unavailable like his daddy but at the same time observant, he is surrounded by people with toxic/unhealthy relationships to a point where I see him not even wanting a serious relationship with anyone, sure crushes are still their but he knows to handle emotions once he finally goes to therapy or asks alfred about it.

Its not just for their aesthetic purposes of a cutegf x a gothgf but the characters themselves interacting, flatline doesnt always have to banter with maps and it could just be them being straight domestic in a way that is healthy, a softness for both girlfriends to just be there for each other and not having to do school bullshit or assassin work bullshit and not as suffocating as daminika. Damian is like a puzzle piece of emotions and nika isnt about to fix his problems like shes bob the builder since she also has some baggage to unpack because girl has a lot on her plate just like him, the constant stress and probably misunderstanding and difference is making it really clear that their relationship was because they want someone to be there for them when they couldnt even be there for themselves and other people. They are angsty teens and no one can convince me that they were in love in the first place, I cant even call it puppy love with how flatline keeps randomally being their when damian is in the lazarus tournament(like girl there are more interesting people than him trust me😭) and how the writers force it is honestly a weak attempt at trying to cover up their trashy gacha life writing with good art and cool character designs.

Honestly this is my opinion of dc and its writers and how they are trying too hard to push damians love interests when its like supposed to be the most hardest time in his life aka alfred being killed and family misunderstandings, yeah. Like a girlfriend is just going to magically fix his problems like his family problems.

Sorry I got too heated especially when its an opinion of a multimillion company not serving as good as they did but I guess thats just the flaw of picking money over talent and good idea and a better insight on the most mischaracterized characters and their depiction of THEIR literal creations.

@ceristhefallen

@starstruckloversweets

@juan1dupree23

@thebettertraiaad

I think i got a lil too overboard w this but i want you guys to read it.

[skylendra]

Luffy, Dragon and Freedom

I see people being like “Dragon really made the revolutionary army without including his son, the reincarnation of the god of liberation.” And yes, he did, and it was a good thing for One Piece as a story and for the world of One Piece. Because if he didn’t then Luffy would probably not have become the reincarnation of Nika. Luffy wasn’t born into being the embodiment of freedom, he was made into it.

Luffy is shaped by his experiences, the people he met and globally his childhood. Like almost everyone in One Piece. It is one of the core themes that we are not defined by blood but by our choice. That without being alienated by our past, it led us to where we are.  

Dragon couldn’t be the next Joy Boy, even though the timeline match, because he isn’t free in the way Luffy is. Dragon is the epitome of duty. He is leading the revolution. He has responsibilities towards his people but also the world, at least in his mind. And not to say that Luffy doesn’t have responsibility, but it’s different. The Straw Hat are a family, the Revolutionary Army are an organization.

For Dragon, it is all about the greater good.

He seemed to be sad to have taken this decision. But he will do it again. Because it is a sacrifice he is willing to make. And probably something necessary for the cause.

And this is why he is not the next Joy Boy.

But Luffy is not the same. He doesn’t do something for the greater good. He does things because he wants to or because he thinks it is the right thing to do. Like on Saboady, when he punched Charlos. It was selfish, immature and caused hardship on his crew and others. But that’s not something he regrets, as he said in ch 521. And yes it comes from a deep faith in his crewmates. But still.

If Luffy had been raised as the son of Dragon and under the hypothesis that his desire for freedom was inborn, then his take on it would be different.

Because he wouldn’t have been inspired by the free spirit that is Shanks. He wouldn’t have been left on his own with bandits and some dude he would later call his brother. He wouldn’t just live in the forest doing whatever he wants, without any worries, because they are strong kids. Even though the latter are important for Luffy as a character and also his conception of freedom, at least I think so, it's negligible. Because at this point, the Hito Hito no mi Model: Nika already chose him. Because of Shanks and how he shaped some parts of Luffy (and that's his tragedy, he will only ever be the one who set change in motion like Roger wanted him to, never the change he wanted to be for Roger. And he accepted his fate. He was going to follow his mentor's will and give the fruit to his son. So yeah. He drinks. Because if Roger didn't think he was the guy, than he can't be, he won't be. It's a self fulfilling prophecy. Even though he had the fruit, he won't allow himself to eat it. He won't betray his captain like that. But he still nudges thing a bit, and bet on Luffy. A way to change the course of the fate his captain doomed him to be a spectator, a way to have an impact. And that's a part why Luffy matters so much to him. Because he is the last mission of his late captain. But he also was the one who set him free).

One of Luffy's very strengths and an important part of his take on freedom is his simple-mindedness. He is incredibly emotionally intelligent. He doesn’t embarrass himself with what he considers to be frivolities, he doesn’t care about the reason, he just sees injustice and try to help. An approach that is not shared with the Revolutionary Army. They observe and weigh the stakes and debate and plan and so on.

Because compromises are necessary sometimes. But that’s not what Luffy does. And that’s great. Because Luffy embodies freedom, that’s his whole thing. That’s why the Hito Hito no Mi Model: Nika chose him.

Dragon and Luffy are very different, and have distinct take on freedom. But the one piece’s world needs both. And they need each other in order to succeed.

The Revolutionary Army are the big picture guys. The ones that see the patterns and identify the problem at its roots. The World Government, the Nobles, the Statu quo. They are the ones with the plans and the resources.

Overall, the Straw Hats are not relevant for the marine. They don’t threat the very establishment of the world in the same way. They don’t want to. Yes, Robin wants to discover what happened during the void century and maybe wants to spread the knowledge but she doesn't necessarily want to bring the world government down. Yes Franky had the plan to replicate Pluto but he destroyed it. Yes Luffy had the power of their sworn enemy, but he doesn't know what that means nor does he care. It's just his fruit now. Because they are just the straw hat. They are silly guys who tried to fulfill their dreams and help the ones they care about. They don’t give a fuck about the big picture. They care about the neglected, the people that don’t matter. It's never to end an oppressive regime, it's always to help people who had been kind to them. Everything about it is personal. That why they are different.

We need multiple approaches to get social progress.

So yeah. Dragon and Luffy are different. But that’s what make them complementary.  

[sarahreesbrennan]

Is Elliot decently muscular and athletic to the people in the Border Camp? Does he realize this?

Absolutely yes, and absolutely no.

Elliot has two superhuman personal trainers. They are intensely motivated by his wellbeing, and he is intensely motivated by his desire to earn their affection.

... He doesn't have to do this, but he doesn't realise that. It was interesting for me to chart Elliot's development over years, both physically, mentally and emotionally. To me his outside is a mirror for his insides, as he grew more socially adept and confident and able to charm and negotiate, but still thought of himself as a social reject even while using those skills, despite the cognitive dissonance inherent. Elliot doesn't realise his deeper qualities attract people's love as he doesn't realise his surface qualities attract admiration.

Being unloved by your primary caregivers in childhood means you carry with you--despite evidence to the contrary, despite your own intelligence arguing otherwise--a deep-rooted conviction you are unlovable. And if you have a prickly personality (with that conviction, it's likely: neglect, like other forms of abuse, does not produce perfect victims) you're going to receive feedback that looks to you like more evidence to back up those beliefs, and you won't see the arguments against it. Elliot is observant as hell, but only sees a certain amount because of his blinkers.

... Also I do enjoy writing characters who are deeply oblivious, and providing the clues for my readers. Every character is a mystery in themselves! And the mystery is both tragic and comic.

To people in the Border Camp, Elliot's less impressive than on our side of the wall: they're accustomed to said superhuman personal trainers, but he is still remarkable enough to be remarked upon by their commander. That's especially significant as many of the 'humans' in the Borderlands have inhuman blood, and thus everyone's approach to 'can a human jump from a tall cliff and land unhurt' is 'that doesn't sound right, but I don't know enough about the capacities of the species to say...'

Elliot's unquestionably seen as the jock of the council course, which would disgust him if he knew. He's picked to play the homme fatale of his school play and put in revealing outfits, and the very night of the school play while still in sexy costume he sleeps with the (widely-considered) hottest girl in school. (Having already romanced the other contestant for hottest girl in school. And then goes on to hook up with the two best-looking boys. Truly a bisexual icon among the beautiful people.) Extremely fit in all senses of the word, and to those of the Border Camp being visibly athletic is especially attractive because it indicates you're more likely to survive.

To those outside the training camp, well, he gets courted by a harpy on sight ('who is that striking gentleman? I must bring him a bouquet of dead rabbits!), propositioned repeatedly by an elf, and kissed by a mermaid during their first encounter. It is fair to suspect that some of his diplomatic missions have been helped out by people responding to him with 'he's not that diplomatic but... that ass.'

To the people of our world, as Jase testifies, Elliot is clearly the product of fairly intensive athletic or military training.

I remember one post that says 'he is so tall and so ripped' and another one saying he is totally jacked and the fastest man alive.

... I endorse them both.

[virologikal]

Headcanons posted for my works of fiction are merely my interpretation of the respective character(s) and should not be considered as "single point of truth".

⸻ 𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬

To explain what would have caused Wesker to wear sunglasses even before his infection during the Mansion Incident (in a lore-relevant way that ignores the need for characters of games from the 90s to be very distinct from each other), an observation of his early life is required.

Seeing as he was taken from his biological family at an undefined but young age, and raised by employees of Umbrella that focused most on drilling their credo into the children’s heads - Discipline, Obedience, Unity - there likely was no concern for the emotional wellbeing, development or even safety from their caretakers. The whole emphasis of the Training School was bringing out and furthering the genetic advantages these kids had; in Wesker’s case it was both physical abilities as well as his outstanding intelligence.

Further, Sir Marcus was the closest thing to a father figure Wesker had. A father figure which turned out to be a secluded scientist in charge of a school, who was completely unavailable to him most of the time unless it involved disciplinary measures. It explains well how Wesker turned out the way he was. Due to these circumstances, he never learned what a functional family (or a family at all) is.

He has only a faint understanding from a scientific approach and research he was able to read up on, which granted him the insight of psychological effects of family ties which he would later use to manipulate and blackmail Barry during the Mansion Incident.

As a result, Wesker is emotionally underdeveloped. He has no way to even begin and grasp what empathy feels like, or friendship, let alone love. All he ever learned was to approach the world logically, analyze it and come to conclusions about whether or not something was useful to him and his goals or not. Everyone around him behaved the same, calculating and ruthless way - and if they didn't, disciplinary measures would be used to prove compassion as a weakness.

As a result of this learned behavior, Wesker's eyes would be naturally void of any expression; a perfect poker face, if you will. Not by choice, however, but rather due to his lack of feeling certain ranges of emotion.

The first time he would come into contact with people that would genuinely show emotions and speak about them openly would likely have been during his time in the army. At some point his comrades would have noticed the lack of emotion in his eyes, and it would either lead to a confrontation due to said lack of reaction to situations that otherwise would cause someone to act a certain way, or at least make people talk about him.

To avoid this, Wesker would start wearing sunglasses. Both so he could prevent people from feeling alienated by him, but also because he has trouble even comprehending why his eyes are such an issue to so many people.

The diary of Lord Spencer's Butler confirms the impression people have from looking into Wesker's eyes directly.

Therefore, when he takes his shades off around someone, it does bear some meaning. Be it trust, or at least letting his guard down somewhat. Maybe even for manipulative reasons.

[hahahafangirl]

your suo analysis is really good, im reading it again to really let it soak! do you have more thoughts on how suo and kiryu parallel, or maybe they're more perpendicular? I think it's interesting how they have similar vibes but opposite reactions: both blunt but one leans more "kind" (suo), and the other leans more "rude" (kiryu). suo fakes the funk a little, and kiryu doesn't (and sakura just doesn't know how either way, really ends up being both)

Hiii!!! Thank you so much for reading, and sorry for the long wait; I got a little bit too into this and has formulated a plan for a more thorough analysis, but I can show you what I have for now-- very interesting parallels between these two "polite" and "courteous" young men, indeed!

What particularly sparks my thoughts is your suggestion that they are "perpendicular", and of course the observation that they are similar vibes but opposite reactions. The nuance in how they "fake" their funk is interesting too, and I think in general I can make these observations:

They both have traditional and rebellious components, but are opposite in each category.

How Kiryu's backstory was developed is likely very informative of how Suo's backstory will be developed

To start off, I think it's interesting how Kiryu and Suo are both... similar and very distinct (lol, what a helpful sentence). At the first glance they are both gentlemen. one more layer down, both rude (to the people they do not respects) and very scathing. What's more, they both "play up" their acts/performance to hide something underneath (Kiryu in his arc, Suo... as we suspect from his social evasion).

Yep, this is just straight up disrespectful, lol.

Nice, but how nice? Not at all.

Another thing is that they are both incredibly caring and emotionally intelligent people (we have a whole stock of 'em in Wind Breaker! yay!). Kiryu is also incredibly straightforward and bold, much like Suo is, though I think he smooths his words over less:

He respects Tsugeura, but will gladly tell him off.

Kiryu doesn't hate Tsuge! He is just very straightforward!

And, if protecting the girl isn't telling enough, he cares for her safety, even if he doesn't express it-- like how Suo naturally prioritize keeping non-combatants safe.

And it was Suo, who is equally emotionally intelligent and has equivalent battle-sense, who knows what Kiryu is doing and addresses it.

Thematically, what is interesting is where Kiryu or Suo rebels and the other don't. Let's start with Kiryu: He is very much gender-rebellious: pink, long hair, patterned shirt (nothing strictly gendered, mind you, but they are not considered so in the general cultural climate). This is supported by his character profile, where he hates "close-minded" people. In the KEEL arc, ch 48 - 49, he was directly insulted for his "gender performance" (borrowing the term from Judith Butler and gender studies in general)

And Kiryu unrepentantly re-enforces his own gender rebellion

Oops, split end~

Later on, we see that while Kiryu enjoys this act, he especially put it on with the explicit intention of rebelling against his father. He plays it up where appropriate, but I think Kiryu genuinely enjoys the act-- like how he joined Furin for the rebel and ended up liking it for what it is at the end of the day.

On this aspect of appearance and gender performance, Suo is the direct opposite: he dresses conservatively, have short hair, and in general has the very air of a traditional, polite young man

Even his earrings, the only thing that may be argued as "not masculine", are antique -- thus likely gender-accordance. This is the friend you'd bring home to grandma!

Unexpectedly, then, Suo's fighting can be taken as more rebellious/less traditional, while Kiryu's is traditionally learned. Though he has a teacher, Suo's fighting style is a hodge-podge of different styles; having a self-taught teacher also likely means they have the space to innovate the forms as appropriate, outside of the usual wagon wheel track:

(As a side note on this, for a hodge-podge style of martial arts, Suo has really good forms; which makes sense. You can't really do much if you don't have a good basics lol. Then, you can do whatever the hell you want.)

Meanwhile, Kiryu "submitted" himself to the family traditional training, which he hated, for the purpose of defending Akari

I just realized that the purpose of learning martial arts is for "rebellion" in Kiryu's case, and self-defense/offense, in Suo's case -- quite a traditional reason to fight. Again, the two of them opposite in forms and intentions.

I'm sure there are more things, but maybe I will see them as I mull over the text a little more... it also would help if Suo's backstory is soon, lol.

As for the next thing, i.e. how can Kiryu's arc inform Suo's arc progression? My primary basis for this is how Kiryu's arc was introduced in KEEL, where mid-fight, we begin to learn tidbits about Kiryu's personal philosophy. Here, the theme of "Rebellion" (also the title of chapter 48) was introduced; specifically, as the only information we knew then, it refers to (Kiryu's own) "gender rebellion". The chapter also supplied a concrete visual of who the rebellion is for

While Kiryu, in his earlier arc, talks a lot about being popular with girls, we may assume that it is pertaining to his interest in dating/being popular with girls his age. Only later on does it have the explicit intention of making girls comfortable, regardless of whether he wants to court them or not (notedly, he never was shown actually courting a girl-- it was a ruse setup to contrast Kiryu's actual character).

This is very similar progression to Suo's fight against Oobiki in KEEL, where, also mid-fight, he begins to reveal his/his master's philosophy regarding teaching, in the titular chapter "Discipline":

Also the first visual of (presumably) his Master, in a similar narrative role as Akari-- but further away. Will this distance becomes relevant, perhaps?

(Also, funnily enough, I was about to make the argument that Suo is not verbally as scathing as Kiryu, but then this chapter reminded me that he absolutely can be, lol. And at the same narrative stage (during KEEL), Kiryu also delivered his most scathing line!)

So I suspect that just like the theme of rebellion being subtly subverted from Kiryu's gender performance -> respecting women and making girls comfortable, which was previously hinted by the subversion of Kiryu's dating a girl -> he was keeping her safe, we can expect that the theme of discipline as training and passing down your teachings, respect ("How are you supposed to act when you go barging in to another person's home?"), will be satisfactorily and subtly subverted in some way. I don't have an orientation for how it will be subverted just yet, but I bet it will be as good and satisfying as Kiryu's arc (regardless of how angsty it will be lol). We probably can take a stab at guessing, since Kiryu's subversion was also foreshadowed. Given that Suo is now Nirei's master... there is already a subversion from learning how to defend yourself -> "but if I were to teach you," ... learning how to defend yourself and deal damage... Perhaps a conflict or innovation from his master's teaching? Many, many possibilities are ahead!

Thank you so much for the insightful ask, and I hope you found my answer interesting!!

[krshitsuji]

how i type the main kuroshitsuji duo (enneagram)

i know this will probably flop but i am typology obsessed and wanted to share my thoughts. i also added chatgpt descriptions of each tritype so you guys can see how they match 🩷

1. O!Ciel Phantomhive: sp548

"The sp548 is a highly private and self-sufficient individual, driven by a need for knowledge, control, and personal strength. They are intensely analytical, always observing from the shadows, calculating every move before taking action. Emotionally intense yet reserved, they feel deeply but refuse to show vulnerability. Their natural distrust makes them cautious in relationships, letting in only a select few while keeping most at a distance. Pragmatic and strategic, they value independence above all, refusing to be controlled or influenced. If wronged, they do not forget—revenge is methodical and patient. Cold-blooded yet deeply introspective, they walk the fine line between intellectual detachment and raw intensity."

2. Sebastian Michaelis: sp385

"The sp385 is a master of calculated ambition, blending dominance, adaptability, and intellect into a sharp, unstoppable force. Always in control, they navigate life with a mix of charisma, strategic thinking, and sheer willpower. Highly independent and self-sufficient, they refuse to be at the mercy of anyone, ensuring they have the upper hand in every situation. Their pragmatic mindset makes them efficient and results-driven, cutting through obstacles with intelligence and relentless determination. While they can be charming and socially adept when needed, their true priority is securing power, stability, and success on their own terms. Weakness is unacceptable, and they will outthink, outperform, and outmaneuver anyone who stands in their way."

those are both characters who are often mistyped and reduced to stereotypes (especially sebastian to be honest) so i really took in the time to type them correctly. i hope this makes sense 🩷

[silversodas]

The Fairly Odd Parents: A New Wish Observations

What actually sold me on giving this series a solid chance, was the theme song, why? Because for me it showed what the series is attempting to be, something that’s paying homage to the source material while being it’s own thing and knowing what it wants to be.

The original theme song is categorized as Electric Swing or Light Jazz. This new theme song sounds like straight up Swing and it SLAPS!

The Set Up

So Hazel Wells moves to the city with her parents for her Dads job and at the same time her older brother and best friend Antony has left for college. Leaving Hazel overwhelmed but still trying to put on a brave face for her family. Not long after arriving they are visited by their new next door neighbors

Cosmo and Wanda are masquerading as a retired human couple

Lol one of the gifts in the welcome basket Cosmo gives them is a jar of pennies. In some places it’s a thing to leave pennies as gifts for fairies, I wonder if Cosmo thought it was a custom human gift

The concept of the parents are pretty interesting, especially their jobs.

Angela is a therapist and author, with all of the non self awareness fairy world had going on her insight could definitely be interesting if she somehow finds out. she is also pretty open minded and non judgmental, not being off put by Cosmo and Wanda’s weird behavior and inviting them in

Marcus is a paranormal scientist, which instantly makes Cosmo and Wanda nervous but what makes him interesting is that he didn’t go in the direction I thought he was going. I thought he was going to go full FOP writing fashion and him basically say he was looking for fairies. But no, he is just wanting to learn the unexplained and mostly about ghost. I don’t know the fact that he is presented as a friend to Cosmo and Wanda who could be a potential obstacle because of the interest that are apart of his character is a lot more interesting then if he was presented as a blatantly obvious obstacle and that’s his only purpose as a character. ( not saying it was bad when FOP did it, they did it in a way that was funny just not to compelling)

Hazel figures out they are magic because both Cosmo and Wanda are piss poor at hiding it but Hazel actually completely drops it after being unable to get her parents to see it

Angela and Marcus actually make pretty good foils for Cosmo and Wanda they are both just completely normal people who highlight Cosmo and Wanda’s colorfulness just as they highlight Angela and Marcus’s normalcy. Hazel, Marcus, and Angela seem to be emotionally intelligent people and it makes them enjoyable and honestly is refreshing

This girl has more emotional maturity then I ever dreamed of having at 10, she keeps her brave face until she hears that Antony can’t come visit till the holiday brake, she has an understandable brake down and her parents feel really bad they are having to change so much so fast for her.

She almost runs away until Cosmo and Wanda catch her (which is interesting because when she passed them on her way up stairs they where to busy with their mail to pay attention to her, but when she is about to run away their full attention snapped to her. Their “child is about to do something stupid”senses must have been tingling) she relents and vents to them about her troubles and that she just wanted to see her brother.

Cosmo and Wanda seem to have a Cathartic moment in realizing that Hazel needed help and that they realized that they were ready to be Godparents again. It was this moment I was like “yeah, you guy’s definitely retired because letting go of Timmy hurt you”

It’s when after everything is resolved and Hazel visits their vary magical and whimsical apartment (I bought the episodes on YouTube but they wouldn’t let me take screen shots) that they reveal that they had been on a 10,000 year sabbatical through time and space during their retirement. They don’t bring up Timmy, just say that they used to be Godparents to kids but then retired for 10,000 years (and no it’s not 10,000 years into the future, they were just time traveling). They actually nervously ask Hazel if she would consider being their Godkid which she enthusiastically agrees too. Don’t make pacts with fairies kids

How it’s going so far

Something interesting to note that while they never bring up Timmy, he kinda haunts the background I think they still have some unprocessed grief for Timmy that may get unpacked. I herd this show is supposed to get an overarching story and after seeing a few episodes I can tell that it’s staying consistent that it’s not completely episodic even if it’s a slow build ( as slow as it’s allowed to be anyway)

It looks like their human personas are their default disguises, that has the potential to be interesting in future episodes

I can tell that Hazel is still not 100% close with Cosmo and Wanda right off the bat, she is still getting to know them, like it was actually so enduring to watch her formally thank them for playing with her. Cosmo and Wanda are also trying to ease themselves in for her sake, but it’s clear that even though they are out of practice they are all in for this little girl and are in Godparent mode. Wanda is never not in Mom mode, and Cosmo already knows all of her special interests off the top of his head in the short time he has known her.

I don’t know, I just saw that a lot of people have been “rightfully” cautious about this show or have written it off, and just wanted to share some things that I thought made it interesting and made it worth giving a look

There are some who are a bit hopeful because one of the writers for infinity train is on the writing team so who knows

[loregoddess]

A continuation of my observations of the Octo2 traveler's weaknesses from here, now with fun visual diagrams! The above diagram shows each character's "base kit" (the weapons and elements they have access to w/out a secondary job) on the top row, and their weaknesses from the Dolcinaea fight on the bottom row.

Note that Agnea can't be charmed in this fight, so we don't actually know what her weaknesses are, but given that she has wind as her main element and how the elemental weaknesses tend to work (fire and ice are strong against each other, wind and lightning are strong against each other, and light and dark are strong against each other--based on the other Octo2 cast's weaknesses, and on how CotC usually handles elemental weaknesses, and using Tressa's weaknesses for reference), we can assume Agnea has at least a weakness to lightning. (CotC specifically seems to support this, since one of Agnea's passive skills gives her a buff to her lightning defense, and most characters in CotC who have access to only one element tend to get passive skills that buff their defense against their element's weakness, so I feel confident in saying Agnea should have a weakness to lightning).

As I observed in my first post, all the characters' weapon weaknesses tend to be the "opposite" of whatever their base kit weapon is (in type, i.e. long-range weapon users tend to be weak to close-range weapons and vice versa). The sort of exception to this is daggers, which get treated as both a long- and close-range weapon (the dagger attack animation has a character throwing a dagger--ranged--but it can also be used to stab someone, which we see multiple times in various cutscenes across Octo1, Octo2, and CotC). This means it's hard to figure out what sort of weapon weakness Agnea might have because she only uses a dagger as her base kit weapon.

Now I already discussed patterns in weaknesses and other observations in my first post, so I won't reiterate anything here (although I will quickly add some very astute people noted in their tags that Hikari being the only one we know for sure is weak to lightning is probably a reference to the thing with Rai Mei, which I missed initially but makes so much sense). But I wanted to take a look at who could break who in the party to see if the battle mechanics tied in with characterization, and set up the following diagrams for each character, so I could really dig into weird details.

(Under the cut bc this entire post is so very long, and there are more diagrams; ALSO SPOILERS, I do talk about a few endgame spoilers)

We'll start with Ochette who's actually capable of breaking the most other travelers at six. The only person she can't seem to hit (by herself) is Partitio, which is an interesting detail.

It makes a lot of sense that Ochette is the best at breaking other characters, given that she's a hunter (needs to be able to find critical weak points as part of her job). I've also written in the past how I think Ochette is actually one of the most emotionally intelligent characters in the group, and that she's probably way more aware of what's going on with the other travelers than she lets on--and way more in-tune with them than even they realize--but her ability to break most of them actually seems to support that as well.

I feel this gets reflected in her interactions with the other travelers, since Ochette is one of the few characters Throne and Osvald are pretty open with from the get-go, despite both being a bit closed off to the other travelers at first; the same goes for Temenos, although he tends to mask the fact that he's closed off, so it isn't as obvious at first glance.

Ochette is also the only traveler who ever comes close to finding out about Hikari's Shadow, since she can smell it "in" him. Likewise for Castti, in their second crossed paths the Shadow is able to capture and almost kill Castti, but not Ochette--Castii has a connection to the Shadow due to her exposure to Trousseau's rain (and a mental weak spot from the trauma of loosing patients in the past), and therefore is weak to the Shadow, so it seems fitting that Ochette is the one to "break" Castti free from the Shadow's trap.

As for Agnea, there is the sense that the two are opposites in their athletic abilities, given that Ochette is a very athletic and sure-footed hunter, whereas Agnea, while certainly athletic, still stumbles on occasion despite her years of work.

It also makes sense that Partitio is the only one Ochette can't break, since Partitio's name is also the only name Ochette struggles with, and she doesn't ever use his full name. Despite having a nickname for every traveler except Temenos, in battle Ochette uses their full names after they break an enemy, with the exception of Partitio. After Partitio breaks an enemy, Ochette uses the nickname she gives him ("Good hunting Pardy!") which is, if I recall correctly, unique to Paritio. His job and the entire concept of money is also baffling to Ochette, despite Partitio's best efforts to explain it to her.

It's interesting to note as well that even Ochette's two starting partners, Akala and Mahina, can each break 6 of the other travelers on their own (Akala can break everyone--assuming Agnea does have a weapon weakness we don't know about yet--but Akala can't break Hikari, who's a master of combat; Mahina can break everyone except Osvald, who's a master of magic). By the end of Ochette's story when she has the creatures of legend, she can actually break everyone (Akala + Tera and Glacis who each have elemental attacks that Hikari's weak to), and while Mahina + Tera and Glacis can't break Osvald still, if Ochette were fighting alongside them rather than just provoking with them, she herself would be able to break Osvald.

Given that Ochette is one of the best characters for breaking enemies just from a game mechanics standpoint, it's neat that this is reflected in her ability to apparently break nearly all the other travelers.

Castti can only break four of the other travelers, which is on the lower end (although not the lowest), but this seems to fit since story-wise she's a healer first, a fighter second (despite making an excellent damage-dealer).

The characters she can't break are people she treats like kids (Ochette and Agnea), and Osvald, who's one of the characters to tell Castti to take care of herself. Osvald's also arguably her peer, in that he's the oldest of the group and occasionally a parental figure to the others in some sense, the same way Castti takes on a pseudo-parental role on occasion, so she can't really "parent" him because Osvald is both literally a parent and, to some degree, figuratively the group's parent.

Likewise, all the characters she can break are characters who either get into lots of fights (Paritio and Hikari), or characters who would probably pretend they're not as hurt as they actually are when they do get hurt, or otherwise mask their pain a lot (Throne and Temenos). We see this in some of Castti's banters where she chides Partitio for getting into fights (she also tends to tease him relentlessly, and he's one of the only characters she teases), or how she worries after Throne, giving her check-ups out of the blue in one of their banters. Castti also has a banter with Temenos after the events of his Stormhail chapter where she checks in on his wellbeing, and while he sort of manages to redirect her attention away from him by complementing how well she looks after people, the fact remains that she did know he needed to be checked in on.

Castti really said none of you are getting away with not getting treated for your hurts or so help her.

Throne, surprisingly, only can only break four of the other travelers. Despite being raised and trained as a deadly assassin, the low number of travelers she can break might reflect her narrative "aversion to blood and killing". Throne is, after all, able to non-lethally knock people out as her nighttime path action, so her unwillingness, and inability, to hurt her allies does make sense for her characterization.

The people she can't break make a lot of sense--Throne's unable to sneak up on Ochette in their banters, and is always open and kind with Ochette. She and Hikari share shadowy ancestry, and he's a skilled warrior, so it might be harder for her to find and opening and get the drop on him (esp. considering how his Shadow might react to their shared blood ties to D'arqest).

Agnea's entire character arc is more or less centered around trying to inspire hope in everyone she meets, and Throne herself hopes to be free, so it'd make sense for Throne to follow after Agnea's hope rather than trying to fight against her.

The people Throne can break are interesting as well, especially since she is the most effective against Temenos, covering 3/4 of his weaknesses with her base kit. Temenos really isn't able to hide any of his weaknesses against Throne, which makes sense given their interactions and teamwork in their crossed path story arc.

She's also one of the only characters to throw Castti off a few times (i.e. the banter where Throne almost talks Castti into letter her steal stuff from Timberain's royal family bc Throne thinks Castti would look pretty in the jewelry).

Throne also has a banter with Partitio where she gets him to realize how over-trusting he can be by talking him into letting her take the check from Alrond--which she doesn't do, but she definitely exploited a few of his social weaknesses and could have stolen the check from him easily, in front of his face no less. (Although if I recall correctly, Partitio then has her hold onto the check for safekeeping anyhow, just because he trusts her that much).

Osvald is a bit of a surprise, given how few weaknesses he has and how vigilant he seems to be, but Throne is a professional and given that Osvald was unable to escape prison without Emerald's help (who also seems to be a thief, given that he uses a dagger when playable), it makes sense that Throne could potentially get the better of him. There's also the fact that she's the granddaughter of D'arqest, and Osvald has spent his life investigating the source of D'arqest's magic, the answer to which eludes him till the very end of his story.

Osvald can break five of the other travelers, which is the second-most after Ochette. This matches well with his ability to scrutinize people, and his general observant nature.

He can't break Throne, which as noted previously, may be due to how close her blood-ties are to D'arqest. Studying the Pit of D'arqest and trying to figure out what the source of his magic was is Osvald's life study, the answer to which eludes him most of the story, so it does make sense that Throne, the granddaughter of D'arqest, would also elude him (esp. considering that while Osvald does learn about the Shadow, the answer he finds to the One True Magic is entirely separate and opposite to the Shadow). Hikari has the same blood-ties, but it's strongly implied he is a much further descendant of D'arqest than Throne is, so even though Hikari literally has the Shadow living in him, he's not tied to D'arqest the same way Throne is (as she's the daughter of Vide's "perfect vessel" and was raised in hopes that she could succeed as a vessel instead, even if this ultimately fails).

Osvald also can't break Temenos, which actually does reflect their general relationship well. In one of their banters, Osvald makes a note of how much Temenos talks without ever saying what his point is, and generally seems to find Temenos's whimsical façade to be a hassle to deal with on occasion. It's funny, in a way, that Temenos is one of the few people Osvald can't seem to figure out, but also speaks to each of their personalities--Osvald is honest bordering on rudeness, and always straightforward with how he speaks, whereas Temenos keeps a great deal of his inner thoughts and feelings to himself while speaking in a roundabout way, hiding what he actually wants to say behind stories from the scriptures or lighthearted jabs.

That Osvald can break everyone else reflects his observant nature, for sure, but it's also interesting that he can break characters like Agnea and Ochette, both of whom he treats as surrogate daughters to some level or another...though perhaps the fact that he can break them reflects his parenting style, wherein he wouldn't want to hold back any important lessons, even if they were somewhat unpleasant.

As noted before, Osvald's one of the few characters who points out how reckless Castti can be with her own health, so it makes sense he'd be able to break her. Hikari makes sense, given that he's trained in martial arts rather than magical arts, so Osvald and Hikari are strong in what the other is weak in. And, Partitio is open and honest, almost to a fault, which, like how Throne can get a good read on Partitio, probably makes Partitio fairly easy for Osvald to get a read on as well.

Like Osvald, Partitio can break five of the other travelers. This, paired with his distinct lack of weaknesses, does seem to reflect the fact that, despite being sincere and a starting off untraveled, Partitio is wicked smart and very aware of what's going on around him, skills he needs to be a successful merchant.

Partitio can't break Agnea as far as we know, which seems to reflect their banter where Partitio nearly gives her his money after she explains how she raised enough money to start traveling (Angea notably has enough money for her travels, it's Paritio who needs to come up with more money, but here he is trying to give her more money anyhow).

Partitio being unable to break Temenos may have to do with Partitio truly not being able to get a good read on Temenos because of how Temenos is (re: puts up a façade, keeps his feelings to himself, etc.), but there's also the shared banter between Castti, Partitio, Temenos, and Agnea where, a bit drunk and therefore letting his guard slip a bit, we see that Temenos can be rather cynical, as he shoots down the idea of new paper plays about their travels rather quickly. This puts his personality at odds with both Partitio and Agnea, who are unfailingly optimistic (and optimistic enough they eventually convince Temenos their idea isn't that naïve).

The fact that Partitio can break the rest of the party is just testament to his astuteness and flexibility as a merchant, since he can break more stoic characters like Osvald and Throne (Partitio hits it off pretty quickly with both, not even giving Throne a hard time for her thieving habits and instead bonding over their shared love of fashion, as any merchant good at networking might do), while also finding a way past Hikari's defenses (although Hikari's usually pretty straightforward on matters not related to his Shadow, so Partitio's able to connect with him pretty easily as well). As noted earlier, Partitio is the only character Ochette cannot break without one of her partners, and his name is the only one that really trips her up.

Partitio being able to break Castti comes as a bit of a surprise, given that the majority of their banters have Castti teasing Partitio or chiding him for his reckless behavior. There is the sense that Partitio respects Castti a great deal and is still paying attention to what she does, as seen in their banter during her Timberain chapter, where Paritio reminds Castti that her ability to convince the soldiers to get the people indoors to safety was due to her hard work, and that while it's true there's more for her to do, she shouldn't undersell the worth of all that she has already managed to achieve. From this, we get the sense that teasing and chiding aside, Partitio is still keeping tabs on Castti and is clearly able to get a read on her, even if he doesn't intervene as often in her personal affairs.

Despite being the only one whose weaknesses we don't know for certain, Agnea can break five other travelers as well. This makes sense from a game mechanics standpoint, since Dolcinaea is Agnea's boss fight and Agnea can't be charmed during the fight, so she ideally has to have a chance to break whoever Dolcinaea does charm. But this also reflects well how Agnea is able to win over so many people throughout her travels, as her pursuit of hope and desire to bring joy to people never wavers and inspires others.

The only two she can't break are Partitio and Throne. Given the infamous peaches banter, it makes sense Agnea can't break Partitio, since she didn't realize he was talking about the basket of peaches she was literally holding until the very end of the banter, and by then was too flustered to stick around (Partitio is, notably, clueless to the fact that Agnea thought he was talking about some entirely different peaches).

Throne makes sense as well because she's a slightly older, and definitely more experienced, woman than Agnea. As a country girl coming to the city, Agnea is ignorant to all of the dark things a city could hold, while Throne is a city girl who grew up literally in the shadows of all the wicked things in a city. Agnea's general ignorance puts her at a slight disadvantage to Throne's knowledge, although it should be noted that Throne is also inspired by Agnea's kindness and hope, and supports Agnea rather than looking down on her ignorance and naivety.

While we can assume that Agnea can break most of the other travelers for battle mechanics purposes, and to make sure the player has a chance to retrieve the charmed character even if Agnea is the only character they have to do that, it is interesting that she can break most of the characters from a narrative standpoint.

Characters like Osvald and Castti treat Agnea like a kid (Agnea seems to be a surrogate daughter to Osvald specifically), so it could be she's able to get to both of them because they want to dote on her a bit like a parent might (although for Castti, the resident healer, the fact that Agnea can break her might be due to Agnea's habit of occassionally rushing into things that causes some vexation to Castti).

Temenos notably has a difficult time communicating with Agnea, so Agnea's ability to break him could have something to do with the fact that Temenos is never able to get his point across to Agnea in a few of their banters (i.e. when Agnea forgets that he's the inquisitor and thinks his job is that of a detective or a paper play artist, and all of Temenos's attempts to correct her fail; likewise his attempt to get Agnea to take care of herself--before helping Laila get new shoes--via a story of Aelfric goes right over Agnea's head). It's not so much that Agnea is that naïve, but rather Temenos's roundabout way of doing things seems to make it more difficult for him to communicate clearly with her.

Agnea being able to break Hikari could be explained as well by her unwavering optimism and journey for hope. Compared to Hikari's childhood, Agnea hasn't experienced the same hardships, so her belief in bringing joy and happiness to people may seem naïve at first. But Hikari's entire end-goal for Ku isn't that different, as he wishes for peace and prosperity and an end to the bloodshed and war that's plagued his country and torn asunder his family and the families of his people. So despite the fact that Agnea's coming from an entirely different set of life experiences, her desire to bring about a more hopeful, brighter future aligns with Hikari's own desire for a better future, so it makes sense then that Agnea could break through to Hikari because he believes deeply in her vision even before he meets her. (This is also somewhat reflected in Mikka and Pala's side story in the postgame, as it's Pala who's able to break through to Mikka).

Ochette's the most surprising, although Agnea is one of the first travelers to share cooked food with Ochette in one of their early banters, so in the realm of food at least Agnea knows ways to prepare it that Ochette loves (even though Castti also later cooks for Ochette but can't break her). There's also the banter in Agnea's final chapter where Ochette talks about how much she loves Gil's piano playing, and she mentions several times how much she enjoys Agnea's dances and singing, so it could be that Ochette is weak to the performing arts.

Temenos has the fewest number of travelers that he can break, making him the opposite of Ochette. Now, technically he could break every traveler with his latent ability, but without putting in the extra effort he's not able to break most of the others. This is interesting considering his entire thing is being able to get information by talking with people (the coerce nighttime path action, despite being a battle, is probably supposed to be a metaphor for the "mental battle" waged when trying to get information from someone). Despite his acuity with detective work and unravelling mysteries, he has quite the difficult time unravelling his traveling companions. It's possible that, like Castti, this actually reflects the fact that he is a healer technically (even if, in Temenos's shared banter with Castti and Partitio, Partitio suggests that Temenos's "healing" style focuses more on the spirit, rather than physical wounds the way Castti's healing does).

Who he can break are interesting choices. Throne is the least surprising, since the two are opposites while being quite alike, although Temenos notably can only hit one of Throne's weaknesses while she can hit most of his.

Meanwhile, Ochette is probably one of the least deceptive travelers, never hiding much of anything, so it could be Temenos has an easier time reading her because she's straightforward with her thoughts and feelings pretty much all the time. This might explain why Temenos can break Partitio as well, since while Partitio is capable of using his merchant's gift of rhetoric to inspire people to his cause, he is incredibly honest, straightforward, and open about himself as well, and very trusting of other people (the opposite of Temenos's innate doubt).

If we work off the idea that Temenos has an easier time reading Ochette and Partitio because of their openness, then most of the characters Temenos can't break make sense. Hikari, while not outright deceptive, never tells any of the other party members about his struggles with his Shadow (although he comes close and talks about it indirectly with Temenos and Castti in one of their banters), and therefore we can say that Hikari is somewhat secretive and very good at keeping his secrets.

Castti likewise, while she's not trying to keep secrets intentionally and also isn't deceptive, suffers amnesia and can't remember much of anything of her past at the start of her story (Temenos can't inquire about something someone doesn't know). Even after she regains her memories, it's hard to say how openly Castti would discuss her experiences or not, since we don't see them brought up in detail during her travel banters often.

Osvald doesn't keep anything secret, on purpose or accident, and is very straightforward when he speaks, but he's also taciturn and prefers not to chat, so it makes sense Temenos would have a hard time breaking him since Temenos can't learn something from someone who won't talk to him, and there's the general impression that even Osvald's body language is a bit withdrawn (I say "general impression" bc despite the limits of sprite art, Osvald doesn't move around as expressively or actively as other characters like Ochette or Angea, and even his unique Bewildering Grace dance is the most restrained of the eight).

As noted earlier Temenos also has a difficult time communicating his point to Agnea in several of their shared banters. It should be noted as well that Agnea is the youngest character in the group, and Temenos tends to be "weak" to children, with how he lets Ochette talk him into reading Acta a story because Acta is a baby, or with the children of his church teasing him for his mistakes in his paper plays (although I think his mistakes are intentional, as I explained in this post here, but Temenos does seem to have something of a soft spot for children, possibly because they tend to be more honest or possibly because he takes his duties teaching/guiding them more seriously than he lets on).

Surprisingly, despite his martial prowess, Hikari can only break four other travelers. Like we see with Throne, this could speak to his nature, as Hikari is very kindhearted and values his friends dearly, and his desire not to hurt anyone but especially the people he cares about is what allows Hikari to stave off, and eventually defeat, his Shadow. Indeed, like how Castti is a healer first, fighter second, there's the impression that Hikari--despite being a warrior--is a protector first, and a warrior second.

Hikari can't break Castti, which is interesting, because Castti was "infected" by Trousseau's poison rain and carried a bit of the Shadow around with her, it's possible Hikari couldn't break her even if he wanted due to his blood curse. Likewise Hikari can't break Throne, just as she can't break him, and with their shared blood ties to D'arqest and Vide, and I wonder how much of the Shadow being something of an offshoot, or "servant", to Vide, alongside Throne being the daughter of Vide's intended perfect vessel, potentially has to do with this.

Hikari's Shadow, and Castti and Throne's connections to it, don't explain why he can't break Agnea, but it could be that Agnea's earnest journey for hope and continual optimism even in the face of darkness is something he respects enough that he would never and could never bring himself to harm her, since he believes deeply in her vision of hope.

It's interesting then that he can break Ochette, who is canonically the character who seems to be closest to the Flame, but at the same time both are warriors of a sort, so it could be more of a friendly sparring thing. Osvald makes some sense, in that Hikari is a master of physical combat and Osvald is not, so naturally they're both weak to what the other is skilled in.

Partitio is a bit surprising, but if we take into considering that it's implied Partitio gets into fights on impulse due to being a bit hot-blooded, it does make sense that Hikari, who's always cool and calm under a fight (when he isn't staving off the Shadow) could get the upper hand on Paritio if they sparred.

Hikari being able to break Temenos makes sense in regards to his shared banter with Temenos and Throne, where the three play poker and try to needle each other into giving up, with Throne and Temenos failing to throw each other off, before Hikari ultimately gets them both to give up the game, potentially getting Temenos to cry in the process (which is an incredible feat on Hikari's part, given that Temenos is never shown or implied to cry during the events of his story despite two people he cared deeply about being murdered, and just how careful Temenos is in general with keeping up a certain façade around others).

One last thing I'd like to talk about is the number of other travelers each traveler is weak to, which I think has more to do with game mechanics than with characterization. Every character is weak to five other characters, with the exception of Throne and Partitio who are only weak to four. This is really excellent in terms of mechanics balancing, since the only reason these weaknesses exist is because characters can be charmed during the Dolcinaea fight, so it makes sense that the player should be given a fair shot to break the charmed character with whichever team setup they went into the battle with, especially so for players who go in blind.

Agnea obviously is the major exception to this, being unable to be charmed means we can at best guess at her weaknesses. Which is fitting because the player wouldn't have to worry about losing Agnea in the battle (and generally speaking, in my experience Agnea's usually able to output enough damage by this point in the game that she can retrieve the charmed character with a fully boosted attack without even needing to break them, meaning I, as the player, didn't even have to really worry about who Dolcinaea charmed in terms of strategy). In theory if she could have been charmed, I imagine she would have had 4-5 characters who could break her with their base kit, just for gameplay balancing purposes.

Aaand, that's...all I think I wanted to jot down for my continued observations. With the bonus battle updates to Octo2, I plan to put together a similar post (or two) for the Octo1 travelers, since we now have access to their weaknesses as well. I'm still not trying to make any point per se, just rambling on things I observed and how the game mechanics seem to tie in with story characterization, which I always think is a neat thing when it occurs in games. Thanks for reading if you made it this far, bc this got way longer than I was expecting!