#but more or so directed at how many people i say that decide being passive aggressive towards people who have different morals then them

[moths-in-a-coat]

i think more people need to be forced to be civil with people who have different ideologies then them

[enavstars]

Time for Aus :D

(Poster/ desings are not final)

Details:

Eclipse:

Takes place after crystallized, the ninja have recovered their powers and got back to the status quo.

Rumors start spreading on the Internet that Kai is actually useless because he's never defeated a supervillain on his own. Kai gets insecure about his worth to the rest of the team, acting more and more rashly out of the need to prove himself. However, everyone else thinks he's overreacting for attention, so in a mission with Lloyd and Nya, after trying too hard and messing up, they snap at him, thinking he just wants to regain his popularity disregarding people's safety.

Much later, Kai is injured on a solo mission and is saved by a mysterious woman (the villain) who secretly aims to manipulate him to turn against the ninja and Ninjago as a whole, taking advantage on his past hardships as a child and his current mixed feelings towards them. She uses dark magic (sort of like Clause) to take and amplify what little is left of the corruption from Chen's elements staff into a mask, to slowly make his own thoughts turn against them all, eroding him from inside out.

At first she convinces him to become a kind of vigilante, killing criminals who might have used him in the past under said mask as Akatora ("Red Tiger"), steadily growing more corrupted.

Once the ninja discover Akatora's true identity, they believe he's being forced to betray them and try to "save" him, which only angers Kai further for not realizing how badly they've treated him.

But when they realize that they're at fault, the team splits in two: Cole, Jay and Pixal can't see a way of saving Kai on time before he self-destructs and takes the entire city down with him; while Lloyd, Nya and Zane try to get him back at all costs.

At first, the villain didn't care which elemental master to use to get the ninja to destroy the city. But upon finding out more about Kai's past, she decides the Ninja are no good for him and wants to "save" him, to get him out of that toxic environment. She even confronts them more than once after taking him under her wing. However, later on she changes her mind...

I have many more details but this is all I'll say for now. I want to make it a realistic and morally grey season where neither the ninja nor Kai are the villain, because the ninja do love Kai, they just have to show it. Also Kai's corruption is going to be slow where you don't really know how of it is Kai's true intentions.

On the road:

This AU is set years after Kai and Nya's parent's disappearence. Despite still living at the blacksmith off Kai's odd jobs, the siblings are fairly neglected by the townspeople of Ignacia. After getting seriously beat up in a fight with some kids who had been passive-agressively bullying Kai for years, they go a little too far by almost killing him and threatening to do the same to Nya. Kai is forced to abandon the hope of their parents ever returning and leaves for Ninjago City with Nya, hoping for a better life.

After travelling for a while they stumble across Ronin. They somehow convince him to take them in for a while in his rudimentary shed and to teach Kai how to hunt and be more self-sufficient for the journey. In the meantime, Nya shows off her handiwork, making toys off scraps for Ronin to sell as thanks. When they decide to part ways, Ronin gives them a map, setting them on the right direction (he's no babysitter, but hey, he actually cared).

Days later, Nya finds a hungry and weary Lloyd along the way, lost after escaping Darkleys and looking for his uncle Wu. After some convincing from Nya, they agree to take him in and start travelling together, eventually bonding and becoming a found family.

The Au is mostly about their (fun) little adventures and Kai being an overstressed mom trying to keep their younger siblings alive and relatively out of trouble (but don't worry, he's actually enjoying it).

In the end, after having taken their shot in Ninjago, they find Wu and are taken in at the monastery. Yes, Wu is actually a good uncle here. They deserve it. Especially Kai.

Kai is 13, Nya 11 and Lloyd 9 (older than canon, no tomorrow's tea)

Feel free to ask any questions about the aus.

[call-of-ishmael]

The Last Ishmael OCD Post

One of my first times that i dabbled into character analysis was about Ishmael's OCD, people like that post but i really feel i could have done better

Canto V was my last major chapter i was willing to read. As i put more distance between me and the story, i want one final farewell in the form of finally fixing up my analysis

PART I: THE META-TEXTUAL

Before i delve into the writing itself, here is some pointers the story gives to her OCD in the form of flavor text and descriptions.

Firstly we have her Bio

This is easy to miss as its just a tiny blurb above her whole intro blurb.

Now, "obsessive compulsive neurosis" is a very weird way to phrase it, "obsessive compulsive" is clear enough but "neurosis" is odd, this is not TOO odd though, as "neurotic" used to be how OCD was classified as a disorder.

However if we look at her bio in Korean, the particulars do simply straight up say "OCD" very clearly, you'd need to MTL but this was also confirmed to me by a friend from SK

The sinner bios are biased though, and are written through a very corporate lens, so lets see if there's any other pointers elsewhere

Her base EGO, Snagharpoon, actually does just that

Her passives name is called "Compulsion" and in its gameplay design its a very interesting way to also point to it

Ishmael is a very all or nothing person, you do it well or you don't do it at all, and this is reflected on how this passive aids you to play

This passive is excellent for boosting the consistency of playing by only going for "Favored" or "Dominating" clashes, while punishing you for taking chances on clashes you MIGHT win

Base ID Ishmael is also a unit with all single coins, rolling tails puts her in a very unfavorable position so this also adds an extra safety net on top. Worth noting being all single coins is also a high risk high reward type of play style.

Finally we see two more pointers id like to note, both from Canto V

The Compulsive`s Knot, an ego gift themed after a naval rope, one of many in the dungeon all alluding to her struggles.

Most obviously though

Her exclusive status effect, Compulsion. This is in direct reference to her EGO passive, providing an attack boost at the same time it provides a drawback in the form of low SP.

We are gonna talk a bit more about this passive since it ties into another gameplay oriented way to point towards her OCD

During the story dungeon we have an event where a noise is heard, you are given two choices, check, gain SP, don't check, lose SP.

Compulsive checking is probably the most well known (to the conditions detriment we will talk about it later) hallmark of OCD

Notably, this doesn't aid Ishmael, while checking can avoid the combat encounter, not checking only has a chance of triggering it, and most interestingly, her SP will always start at -25 during combat encounters. Meaning the temporary boost in her sanity will just get reset next battle, should you decide to check. Checking wont satisfy her anxiety for more than a brief moment.

Lastly the most obvious ones are all the references to Obsession. These are so abundant i feel if you are familiar with the Canto its redundant to have them, i wanted to draw more attention to the allusions to compulsion, as they are less common.

PART II: BEFORE THE STORM

Even since before her own Canto, we can see Ishmael's ruminating and anxious tendencies pop up during previous chapters, which for OCD is important to explore as OCD is an anxious and ruminating disorder.

So lets talk a little bit about OCD! Its a disorder characterized by repetitive and constant intrusive urges to perform a task or a thought (lets keep this in mind for later)

These thoughts or actions are used to try to relieve stress from an anxiety inducing thought or situation. The most common example is OCD exacerbating germ phobia, and causing people who have it to wash their hands in excess.

While OCD is usually described as "irrational thoughts" i feel that's a pretty limited way to view it in my own experience with it. OCD compulsions and thoughts can be informed by very real worries, the worry of getting sick, of making the wrong moral choices, of hurting others. Being clean is a normal and a good practice to stave off getting sick, its the frequency and intensity that turns it maladaptive, OCD turns your own lived fears and traumas against you, and those might very well be real things to worry about, which makes dealing with it very hard.

Enough of that off to the writing!

Lets start with Canto II

This is the first example of her constant need for a lack of ambiguity, previous to this we see her complain about the treatment the sinners are receiving from Effie and Saude, skeptical of the whole deal.

Until shes shown the plans, they are so well crafted shes able to anchor to that and calm down.

This by itself is not really much other than being very detail oriented, lets look a bit further into the chapter

Here we see that aspect elaborated upon more, this moment is framed as a very important one between Dante and Ishmael in their dynamic later on, Ishmael is incredibly upset at the plan having fallen apart so quickly, while yes this is not unreasonable to be upset at, her anger is remarked on by Dante and Gregor as very intense and unusual. This in my opinion is a minor but clear indication her need for planning and considering every option is due to a deep anxiety, but don't take it from me, lets look at Canto III

Here we are told pretty explicitly, Ishmael moving quickly and asking lots of questions is something Dante has noted as an anxious habit.

And here we have more elaboration on what exactly that moment at the Casino meant for Ishmael, it was enough anger and disappointment she has stopped expecting Dante to perform well and instead taken it upon herself to see things go according to plan, this is VERY important to her.

And her worries, are repetitive enough to annoy others, and to be remarked upon by Dante.

This is perhaps the more notable chain of events to point out previous to her chapters aside from 4.5, as it helps contextualize all her usual ways of acting in a more complete light, showing a lot of this is driven by a deep anxiety

And this all makes S.E.A all the more interesting as it pays off on this.

Something i quite enjoy about Limbus is how it re-contextualizes things characters have previously done and said. And the events of S.E.A and Canto V bring a lot of interesting stuff to the table

Lets get cracking with this chapter

In general shes extremely confrontational, and tense, more than usual

But its her anxious outbursts i wanna focus on, what she puts

emphasis on.

This chapter is so crucial in this whole analysis. We see some behaviors way more clearly now, firstly we see her emphasize her need to be absolutely 100% prepared for this, no ambiguity no risks she wants certainty.

But we see something even more clearly and that's her ruminating behaviors, shes brought up things like this to a smaller extent before like commenting on a lot of aspects but here we see in full display her inner world become externalized, shes started voicing worries shes never voiced before can Dante turn them back always? What if Dante dies? What if the sinners get eaten can that be turned back?

And these don't all get brought up immediately, she mentions them in different conversations, pointing to the fact shes constantly going over the subject in her head with no pause, and she gets frustrated when she cannot work on these worries when she cant do anything to quell the anxiety.

And the last part, when Dante finds her so fixated in her planning its impossible to even talk to her. She has to perform some action do something to stave off the disaster she can see coming in her head

As someone with OCD inevitably i have to mention the personal component that drew me to analyze this was how real this feels to when you spiral

A lot of the times OCD is explained as the compulsions being something you do cause you feel its a sort of ritual to stave off disaster. Its in this way i see it reflected in this moment.

As we see with Heathcliff acting as her foil, he points out her worrying is really not doing much other than just her talking and talking, and by the state shes in when Dante checks in on her, aimless not even paying attention to anything else we see the main objective of the planning really isn't practical as much as a compulsive coping mechanism.

She has to do something

PART III: INTO THE DARK

Lots to cover and honestly i will make a companion post to this with all the examples, so for this section i wanna cover some highlights instead, as well as a general discussion of the tone.

The way this chapter is structured is very interesting, its really reflective of the mental state of Ishmael. The chapter feels really aimless, they wander around not really ever finding what they need, which drives Ishmael more and more tense and frustrate

Its a good continuation to how we see her by the end of S.E.A fixated on one goal one thing

As previously stated shes inflicted with a constant special and unique to her status effect called "Compulsion" as covered in Part I

Her behavior is also reflective of this

For a good part of the first third of the chapter shes in her room, the whole time whetting her harpoon, nonstop

However you might notice compulsion is not as present as obsession, and compulsion is also important to OCD its in the acronym! And i have seen others point to it too

However id like you to remember, in the post earlier i said thoughts can fit into OCD, compulsions can be mental and sometimes almost exclusively or mostly mental. Its even in the DSM noted that for diagnosis the compulsions to count you for a diagnosis can be mental in nature

Its in this aspect that i feel Ishmael shines a lot

In general OCD in media is lacking in representation and is often a trait given to assholes or villains

The normal conception of OCD in movies or TV is of neat freaks or control freaks, Compulsion is usually heavily emphasized when it isn't the whole picture

Often ignored though is the aspect of Obsession, some people can have Purely Obsessional OCD (Pure O), this isn't a formal diagnosis or term but its colloquially used by people who have it. Its a bit of a misnomer, as compulsions are present but internalized as mental rituals or rumination

Usually its harder to diagnose, its harder to treat as there's no apparent compulsions others can see, and the people having it seem pretty high functioning to the people around them.

This can be noticed though in people avoiding certain subjects, avoidant behaviors can be the clearest external behavior.

I personally read Ishmael as having more mental compulsions, the way she tends to be a more ruminating and anxious character than outwardly compulsive

During S.E.A and Canto V we see outward compulsions more but from the examples from previous Cantos we can see that's not her usual and she operates more on anxious overthinking most of the time.

However another aspect that ties into mental compulsions is in the previously mentioned avoidant behaviors, we see her isolate and try to stave of having to deal with her worries in both S.E.A and the beginning of Canto V when shes in her room, in both cases doing some excessive preparation in a compulsive way.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

As previously stated Canto V deserves its own companion post, and ill work on that later, i feel this encapsulates what i wanted to say well enough.

I wanted to discuss the previous signs of her behaviors that make me certain her OCD is an intended textual read, and in my opinion a well executed one

Canto V was hard to read as it felt very real and very familiar to the worst times i have had due to my OCD.

Shes a character that despite my distaste i have developed for the franchise, it will never stop meaning a lot to me same as her chapter will always be a piece of storytelling that affected me deeply in ways others haven't

To close i want to leave off what i feel encapsulates the feeling pretty well, in my favorite moment with the membrane consuming her as a metaphor for letting fear, anger, obsessions and compulsions cloud your mind until you forget why you were even there

To you, dear reader, Bon Voyage

[irontragedyreview]

I know I said I wasn't going to write about bnha for a while, however there is one (of the many) that makes me hate the ending but this particularly bothers me so much in the interpretation and the way it was executed, Izuku being a teacher during his retirement years. I'm going to be honest, I don’t call what I write below as an analysis or it will be handled objectively, because in truth I’m going to put a little of my own experience on the subject, not from a professional point of view (I’m not a teacher) but as a student at the different educational levels that I have attended.

I want to start saying that I love the idea of ​​Izuku becoming a teacher, this isn’t a post that seeks to spit on those who decided to choose teaching as a job, but rather the hateful way in which at least the leaks and many interpretations make this election looks like his biggest failure. The main problem with this decision was made hastily (like almost the entire ending), because it’s just a passing decision to then see Midoriya again in his modified hero suit.

It’s the end, everything needs to be closed, we have a window of time to see the UA years, the graduation and how the embers are extinguished, to bring us to the reality that Izuku has accepted that without his quirk he can’t be a hero, grateful for the wonderful dream he was able to live, but now looking for other alternatives consistent with his current situation. This is a direct call to the first chapter, there are two moments where we can see the alternatives and the pain of a dream that can’t be fulfilled, first a panel with him trying to hold back his tears while telling himself not to be surprised that he knew that his dream was impossible and he had to be realistic, the second time when after the whole debacle with All Might, Bakugou and the pro heroes, he’s already resigned and said that it was time to think about his future with a small smile. At that moment Izuku had agreed to look for another future, which was stopped when Toshinori appears and tells him the iconic words "You can be a hero."

Quick reminder, people who complain about Midoriya's passivity and that he didn’t train and prepare for UA being quirkless, remember that from what we can see Midoriya is a child who has suffered bullying for much of his formative years, with shitty teachers and that he’s practically isolated for his classmates (he has no friends in Aldera), ignoring this information and how it affects his confidence and character development is simply ignoring an element that accompanies the character throughout the manga, it doesn’t help that Horikoshi has ignored all these details in Midoriya, but the basis is that, if no one believes in you, it’s difficult to believe in yourself, especially without external help or support. That said, the decision to stop being a hero without a quirk isn’t new, previous chapters with Bakugou in the hospital and the embers left it clear that he was not going to continue being a hero.

Everything said above is necessary so that I can explain everything else, the decision to be a teacher is not bad, with a better developed and with more substance than 10 panels would have been wonderful and that is for several reasons. First, characters can change, a first goal can lead to another one, it’s satisfying to see when a character believed that the goal to be achieved was one but then discovers that the journey he took I took him to a different place but that isn’t bad, the sacrifice of the ofa is the reason why he becoming a teacher it doesn’t need to be negative, the problem is that it makes it seem that way and that it must be fixed. In FMA Ed renounces his alchemy for his brother and while this is bittersweet, the words are to remember that what is more important than his alchemy are his loved ones, he has people around him, his alchemy isn’t the most important thing, especially because that makes him get his brother back. I think this ending wanted to start with this idea but in a horrible way because Izuku doesn't seem happy just content, especially because from what we see Midoirya feels alone because everyone else is partially fulfilling the dream he had all his life and move away from him, this could have been fixed if there were more relationships in those panels, him interacting with other characters such as faculty staff or other people (outside of Aizawa), because part of growing up is meeting different groups of people, the class A may be important but they aren’t in his daily life and they seem to have more of a relationship with each other than with Midoriya, this also weakens their relationships because he can only be part of the group at the end when he is one of them again, the quirkless Midoriya doesn’t seem to have a place in class A without keeping up with them, intentionally or not, it weakens the relationships between the characters. Although, it’s okay to understand that adult life won’t always allow you constant contact, none of this indicates that there are efforts for actively finding. This was honestly a big negative point, it doesn't take away from the fact that class A invested in a suit so Izuku could have his dream again, but being a respected teacher with friends who are around you isn't horrible either and that all this happened in secret because 8 years old, it feels cruel.

Second, I would have liked to see what kind of teacher Izuku is because I think he has the qualities to be someone great at it. One of the things that this new career brings is that Izuku can and I want to know if he became a better teacher than the ones he had, because Aldera’s guy, Aizawa, Toshinori all of them were bad teachers for Midoriya and in general for other characters. Before anyone says anything, when I say they were bad teachers, I'm not saying it because they didn't show favoritism or served everything on a silver platter, but because they were incredibly negligent. I don't have to talk about aldera’s guy, right? He saw how Bakugou directly attacked his desk and let it go along with the mockery of the class when he talked about his dream of going to UA (fictional character or I don't expect him to rot in hell). Toshinori, look, I love Toshinori and his relationship with Izuku, it’s obvious that they care deeply about each other but that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t a great teacher for Izuku, from his drop-in guidance on ofa, the secrets, the way that he found out about Nighteye and Mirio, Toshinori may care for Izuku deeply but he wasn’t a good teacher or mentor for him, it doesn't help that he had no preparation for the role.

Aizawa, to begin with I’m an Aizawa critical so I’m not going to sugarcoat his character but either defenestrate him, truth is that beyond the dadzawa fics, Aizawa is a bad teacher at least in his way of being, I don’t deny that he cares about his class more because everything he has experienced and  his relationship with Class 1 A is different from the others, but that doesn’t mean that his teaching and in many cases his reactions are negligent or irrational for someone who claims to be rational. Let's talk about his first moment as a teacher and I don't say it because of the false threat of expulsion, but because of how he handled Midoriya about his quirk, at first we are told that he doesn’t read the students' files to not have preconceptions of them or whatever, but what kind of teacher doesn't read their students' files to know what are those details that they should take into account and help them improve. His first words about Midoriya being reckless and becoming a burden are out of line and cruel not just for a student in his first year but his damn first day. Aizawa's words may be true, the heroes are in constant danger, and everyone must collaborate so as not to be a burden in dangerous situations, but don’t read that your student is new with his quirk and make a preconceived idea due to an antipathy towards All Might shows that rationality is a facade for being an idiot, you’re their teacher guide them and read the damn file, that would help you understand how to help them improve and not undermine their self-esteem in the process. Bring Midoriya and Bakugo together in a final exam, because in his words "the responsibility for their bad relationship lies with both of them" and considering how Bakugo exercised physical violence previously and again in an exercise that was being monitored but there was never call?  As a teacher, when you see two students have a rocky relationship and one of them tends to react violently, the idea isn’t to put them together in a final exercise but to treat them separately and then together. Aizawa is supposedly a certified teacher (unlike All Might) but the pedagogy necessary to deal with children is obviously not part of the UA curriculum. These are the most impressive ones that make you consider how bad teachers the UA has and its selection exam.

The great irony of all this is that Endeavor was the only one who actually listened to his student and advised accordingly, the irony of this shouldn’t be lost.

Having said all this, I would have liked to see Midoriya, who has a good predisposition with children and who has had bad experiences, be what he would have wanted them to be for him. I say this as a person who has great respect for the teaching profession, but I can recognize that not all teachers deserve to be one and use their position of power to humiliate or mistreat children in their care. Over the years but especially in primary and high school, these types of teachers can deeply mark a student. At university I have the option of leaving class and I’m able to defend myself, a child usually tends to respect the power hierarchy even in a counterproductive way. But I have also had good teachers and it is those types of teachers who can help in difficult moments and help create and shape futures, I have met people who deeply loved their profession and made it their priority not only to teach classes but to help children. Of course all of those named above (except the Aldera’s guy, you suck) were not trying to humiliate their students, but it doesn’t mean that they were not good teachers or there were many interactions missing. Before anyone says that Aizawa and All Might protected them and would give their lives for Midoirya and all their students in general, I’m talking about them as teachers in the exercise of their profession, they are also heroes and of course they don’t want to see them die to their students, that doesn’t mean that they can bad teachers due to negligent treatment of them.

I would have really liked to see what type of teaching he imparts, how he’s training the new generation because that is where you can see a change, especially from his own experience. I would have liked to know if he uses his analysis to help them improve, if even after he became a hero again he stayed at his job because he can truly make a change both by saving people and teaching at the UA. This is a plot that had a lot of potential for the character but it’s a bad taste in the mouth that the chapter itself takes it in such a sad way and even the fandom classifies it as a sign that he’s a loser, the only loss here is no see how heroes can be changed from within, as well as Ochako. Through teaching, Izuku can create a future to form different heroes, who can even achieve what he could not. Izuku as a teacher would not be so horrible if Horikoshi had not really used this idea for 10 panels and without wavering in his daily life and this happens because he developed this possibility in a last chapter and gave an ending that is cowardly because it doesn’t close plots and leaves to the viewer with the say don't show, the society of heroes felt the same way because in the end beyond Ochako, not even Shoji interests me because his work is "yes he did a lot, believe me" and that is due to how the plot of heteromorphic discrimination was practically forgotten.

Well, I think I said everything I wanted to say and it makes me sad that a profession like this feels like something of a loser when I have great respect for the people who get up every day to teach their students, especially those who do it because they really believe that they are creating a future and above all at such low salaries, at least in my country.

[phantomyre]

Do you think that the devs/writers are going to be leaning more into the “Vincent is the father” theory? The way how he talks about Sephiroth in rebirth is very peculiar and also how an ashamed father would talk. Personally I hope not for many reasons.

Also when Vincent claims that he had many opportunities to purge Sephiroth from the world but he couldn’t pull the trigger, that implies that he died after Sephiroth was born and not before. Of course this could be to do with the fact that he simply doesn’t want to kill a child and or the son of his love, but it’s still weird non the less.

Unless they choose to retcon already established lore, they will not go that route. It adds nothing to Vincent's character, as much as some people want to make it seem it would and here's why.

Vincent being the father and him just sitting back and letting things happen would make him to be worse than Lucrecia and Hojo, turning him into a coward and a complete asshole. This would also vindicate Hojo completely and make Vincent to be the worse villain, not Hojo. People always like to point to their looks but Tifa and Elena use the same model with some tweeking, and no one says they're related. Or how Naio clearly has Tifa's model as well. Whether people like to admit it or not, these are anime designs, they do shortcut their work, and models get reused all the time. However, the one reason why they may have made the decision to have them both look similar may be due to the fact that originally, Sephiroth and Vincent were originally one and the same person. The main villain had white hair, a tall standing collar, and a headband. Either people are not aware of these things or they are stretching a concept that doesn't have any true solid foundation.

Aside from that, Vincent's connection to Sephiroth had always been weak, and there was little motivation for him to pursue Sephiroth in OG. His focus was always Hojo, and his penance was always too extreme in the eyes of fans. He was this sad little man that was just all woe-is-me for a sin that didn't justify his punishment. Lucrecia was always the one pointed at as the least forgivable. And rightly so. At the time, Vincent's only sin was following orders as a Turk and not overstepping his bounds to prevent the experiment. But that was hardly a reason for him to bainish himself to eternal nightmares. Until Rebirth.

Vincent's connection to Sephiroth finally holds more weight in that Vincent idly stood by while innocent lives were being cut off by Sephiroth. He likely knew enough about the nature of the experiment and that the purpose was to create a dangerous being, and then for years on end, still chose to passively allow Sephiroth create carnage. This alone makes Vincent an accomplice of Shinra's evils. While it isn't clearly stated in DoC, the Ultimania mentions that Sephiroth was already a toddler by the time Vincent decided to approach Hojo. So if that still remains canon, Vincent likely saw Sephiroth's early stages of cruelty as a child.

All of this adds plenty of reasons for Vincent to have a strong feeling towards taking Sephiroth down, yet still hesitating because he is the son of Lucrecia. Him being the father doesn't add anything important to him. As a matter of fact, it hinders his character. One of the many reasons why Vincent is so loved is due to his unselfish personality.

In OG, Vincent harbored doubts about Hojo, but his hatred wasn't that deep yet. In the Ultimania, Vincent counted Hojo's experiments on him justified, therefore putting himself lower than Hojo. It wasn't until Vincent learned the truth about Hojo that he suddenly became enraged, and all anger he had towards himself was immediately directed at Hojo. And yet in spite of it all, even after taking Hojo down, Vincent says "rest in peace, Hojo". What person says that to their most hated enemy...? This scene depicted that even towards his worst enemy, he was still gracious. To force in the idea that he is Sephiroth's father would override all of that, and would make Vincent no better than Lucrecia or Hojo, and 'killing his own son' would never redeem him of that. Sparing the life of your worst enemy's child holds more impact than killing your kid (which is also extremely unoriginal and tropey).

Can they play with the idea of him being the father? Absolutely. Will they actually make him the dad? No, unless they want to completely undo what Vincent is. And and far as we've seen, if there's one thing they have been very loyal to and careful about, it's the characters. They build upon what they already are, and do not change what is already established canon. And in Vincent's case, his guilt was something that needed further weight. And that weight is that he was complacent with what both Shinra AND Sephiroth had committed, many times over.

I also go into detail about the depth of Vincent's guilt in this post. https://www.tumblr.com/phantomyre/745158867895418881/rebirth-vincent-analysisbreakdown-1-vincents?source=share

In short, I believe Vincent was aware of Sephiroth murdering the townspeople of Nibelheim, and due to what he says in Rebirth, he was also privy to the suriviors ending up as test subjects. And by way of association, Zack and Cloud as well. This is how they're going to give reason to Vincent's pursuit of Sephiroth. Not being the father.

[livelaughghoul]

First of all, thank you sooo much for all the answers you’ve been providing for me. I am the adhd yapper girlie (this is how I identify on your blog from now on lol) and I was so surprised abt you choosing ricciardo for stubborn but yesss it makes total sense.

And also your take on Lewis and Georges emotional side is so interesting.

Recently people were discussing how Lewis said that George always cries or that he cries pretty fast even over stupid stuff like looking at the sky😂😭 and you can see in many post race interviews how George had probably just cried right before ... at least the frustration is a 100% reflecting on his face. So maybe thats the communicative aspect you mentioned. Idk if this is nonsense but his face is deff telling (communicating his feelings)

Whereas Lewis has more of a tendency to hide his feelings. He also talks a lot about how he as a child often felt like he wasn’t allowed to show emotions esp to his dad (natal capricorn sun stuff). And he is now unlearning that and tries to allow himself to be vulnerable. Also in his interviews he always has this “positivity” approach which is imo just a facade and even a bit toxic. Like in his most recent post race after he had a shit day he literally says “Imma stay positive 😀” and rarely ever addresses what the matter is. Idk if it is his Scorpio rising or the overall water influence in his chart. I feel like in private and intimate or close relationships that might make him probably even a bit passive aggressive.

As a certified yapper myself (only when I’m comfortable around someone though), I get it. I love you, and you could never do wrong. Please yap away to me, it brings me joy when I can escape the corporate machine I’ve decided to build a career in :)

I literally love that for Danny Ric though, I feel like he needs that energy in his chart with literally everything else in his life. He’s a precious little stubborn fucker and I miss him.

George being a crier is so funny to me, because SAME. I literally set myself a timer for five minutes every day where I can uncontrollably sob and then I pull it back together and get work done (I’m not kidding, my boss nearly lost his shit the first time he witnessed it). I’m a huge fan of nonverbal communication, and truly believe that there needs to be more an emphasis on nonverbal when it comes to how communicative someone is! Love this energy for George though, because I know this man would join me for one of my midweek one direction cry session in my car (also real, I have a playlist titled “one emotional breakdown” full of the one direction songs I cry to when I’m stressed.

Lewis definitely has the passive aggressive energy to him. While I believe he’s communicative out of the ass with his emotions, I fully believe that he also stonewalls when it gets overwhelming and he shuts down. Toxic positivity is such an ick, but honestly I get. I absolutely am delusional as fuck and smile through my shit show of a life so like, no judgment.

[sciderman]

I won't lie, there's a centrain magic to reading comics, maybe it's because you have more control over the direction, speed, voices and music when reading over watching something, maybe it's how creative people can get with panel lay-outs, maybe it's all of those things along with the different art styles and way people express themselves through their comic runs, maybe it's the fact there's SO many of them and so many different runs, AUs, versions, solo-stories and characters that while not every comics is for everyone, there's A comics for everyone.

And it's something that only animation can come close to capturing, occasionaly some games because they can give us amazing set pieces and action and stylization through gameplay. But to me live action movies just miss the mark exept a few and even then i just enjoy the comics more.

I think one big thing for me is the narration, because it helps me relate to characters as someone who's thoughts are pretty loud and narration-like, and the fact it's ME who decides how i make the characters sound and talk rather than having to listen to someone else voice the character in a way that i feel isn't "right".

So i'd say personaly it's comics>>books (i like books, and i LOVE fanfics but the visual part stimulates my brain more) >>>animation>games>live action

i agree wholeheartedly! i don't know, i'm kind of in love with the comic medium. but i love writing, also. i just - i really don't like the passivity of animation and television - i need a lot more stimulation than that to get my brain working. i like all the brain work you have to do when you're reading words. and i love the challenge of pulling off "comedic timing" when you don't actually HAVE the dimension of time in your medium exactly - so you have to work with panelling, and you have to work with spacing in your writing - and it's just so sexy and more active for the brain. like you're inventing a language.

comedy writing in comics is so, so fulfilling because you're a comedian, but your format is visual. you need to rely on visual language to carry it. and jokes are all about expectation and subversion and timing. a joke can fall so flat if that timing is off. and - i don't know, i'm obsessed with comics, as if they're some kind of form of visual poetry. it's taken for granted, i think. it's taken for granted.

i think you become more restricted the more dimensions you introduce - so - writing is entirely free. you can do WHATEVER you want, all by yourself, without needing to rely on the quality of your art software or the actors you have at your disposal or anything - you can conjure any visual you like. comics - more challenging, you're limited by your artistic ability but again - you're not restricted by voice cast - god, i love being able to conjure any voice at all in my head for the boys. i think if i was restricted by voice actors i'd have to write them differently, et cetera et cetera... i'd be dealing with VAs and saying "actually. your delivery is all wrong. i have to rewrite the joke." - i'm so particular about these things, you have no idea.

i remember the first time i watched the deadpool movie after having read the original script over and over YEARS prior and having heard it play out in my head in the most hilarious of ways and then. hearing ryan's delivery of those jokes and thinking "oh. it's not that funny actually."

sorry ryan. it might've been funnier if i hadn't read the script already and hadn't already had the movie play out in my brain way funnier than how you did it. sorry. my brain is a better cinema.

something i also love about print vs film - i've had this problem with a lot of adaptations - i despise film adaptations of books i love, just because - something is so sullied about having so many hands in the pot. actors. camera men. producers. directors. all these people - when - what i loved about the book was feeling close to the author. it's just me and him. we're together, intimately. and all of that intimacy gets lost when you know there's a huge film crew behind it.

kind of weird. i love reading a book and just, giggling over the pages, like it's a joke between me and the author. i don't know, i'm a weird little saddo who craves intimacy. so i like the intimacy of it being a one-man show. i love things where i can feel close to the creator. i hope that's why people like my things too. and it's why i like my things. i sometimes think "ouugh. why can't i work for marvel" but i think about how - i'm lucky i get to create what i want to create without having to compromise or answer to editorial. and what i create can always be unapologetically me. and that means more. that means so much more.

[hopelessdelusional]

.・。.・゜✭・.✫・゜・。.

You slam your phone down, annoyed at your friends persistence. Normally you’d be enjoying Shoto and Hitoshi’s bickering, it would even take your mind off your problems, but instead you’re being expected to act like an adult. How unfair was that?

“Are you okay y/n?”

The voice of Bakugou’s Agent quickly brought you back to reality. You had decided to have your break in the studio, wanting to have some peace and quiet before having to deal with Bakugou’s weird passive aggression.

You ran a hand down your face, rubbing your tired eyes gently. You didn’t want to make a scene, nor want to worry anyone. Today was the last day of the shoot, it was already a huge success. Multiple magazines and companies lined up waiting to buy and order these prints, and your résumé was forwarded to a lot of companies. This was a dream come true for you, you’ve worked your ass off for opportunities like this. If this was such a big success, why did you feel like shit? Why was your accomplishment being overshadowed by a…guy?

“Yeah, just a little tired.”

You let out a sigh, feeling your chest get tight.

Allison had slowly become a friend of yours. You had found yourself texting her causally and even made plans to go to lunch this weekend in order to celebrate the success of this shoot.

She sat down in the chair next to you, staring at the empty set in front of you.

Being able to direct and shoot was exhilarating. People turned to you for help, for guidance. It made you feel like all those shit jobs being disrespected and abused were all worth it. You were finally able to realize that you had made it, and things were going to finally start changing. For the better.

“I just have to say, it’s been an absolute pleasure to work with you.”

She wasn’t looking your way when you turned to face her, taking a moment to examine her face. She looked calm, and content. Allison finally faced you, now making eye contact.

“Yeah, it’s been great. I’m lucky to have had such an amazing experience after my break.”

She smiled at you, and you broke eye contact in order to take in the studio one last time. It was almost three, which meant you only had three more hours until this project was over. You could retire the binder you made, and the many slideshows and docs were going to be soon long forgotten in your computer.

“So why do you look so depressed?”

Her words were serious, but a part of you felt as if she knew the answer to that. Anyone who knew both you and Bakugou had to see that there was tension between the two of you, the chemistry that was once there now long gone.

You sighed, finding yourself in a mix of emotions. You were annoyed, but not at your friends, but at yourself. Maybe they were right? Maybe the brash and confident blond was falling for you.

“I think-no. No, I know Bakugou is upset with me right now. I said something that I didn’t think would affect him, but I was mistaken.”

It felt good to get that off your chest, finally being self aware and conscious of the problem in front of you, so you continued.

“I know if I leave the job without trying to talk it out with him I’ll regret it and hate myself for it. I just-God! Why is it so hard to be an adult?”

You were now face first into your hands, Allison’s hand quickly making its way to rub gentle circles on your back. You knew you sounded childish and immature, but it was truly what you felt like.

“Katsuki has always been a bit of a hassle to communicate too, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t kind hearted. He can be petty and a little immature, but when he cares about something and wants that something, he does everything he can in order to get it. He will listen to you, and he will talk it out with you. Bakugou Katsuki is many things, but he’s not a quitter.”

The air felt still when Allison was done speaking. It seemed as if all the noises and hustling ceased to exist. Your mind was scattered with thoughts and ideas, and you finally sat up. You looked at Allison, hoping that the look you gave her was words enough, for you couldn’t find anything to say back.

However, you were surprised to see the staff come in earlier than when the break ended. Everyone settled in and you gave Allison one last smile. She smiled in return, and jumped to her feet. She held out her hand to you, and you took it. With your hand in hers, she took the opportunity to pull you into a bear hug, making you laugh in surprise. She gave you one last squeeze before letting you go. You watched Bakugou out of the corner of your eye, watching the makeup artist fix up his black eye makeup. Allison gave you a quick wink before running off to the blond, filling him in for the rest of the day.

Okay. You got this, it wasn’t going to be easy, but you got this.

The clean up for today went a lot smoother today.

You’ve been able to pick up a good rhythm with the people you’ve been working with for almost a month now. There was music playing, hugs and numbers being exchanged, and plenty of inside jokes being recited. You honestly don’t remember the last time you had this much fun in a work environment, it was magical.

You sat on the floor after everything was cleaned up. Next to you was your equipment, and you allowed yourself to really think of everything, especially Bakugou.

You scan the room to find him, pleasantly surprised to see him leaned against a wall staring at you. When the two of you made eye contact he was the first to break away. He was walking out of the studio in an instant, and without thinking, you jumped up grabbing your supplies and chased him.

You felt like a literal maniac chasing this man to the door. He had made it pretty far considering you had to gather your supplies and make quick goodbyes to your coworkers. Sure, it may have come off as rude, but with Allison there she was able to get you out of there in order to catch Bakugou before he left.

“Yo! Pretty boy!”

You started to pick up your pace after opening the door to leave the building. The model wasn’t very far, but you knew you needed to get his attention in order to stop him from getting farther.

Bakugou jolted, obviously hearing you but not very sure it was you he wanted.

You smiled, and continued.

“Yes you Bakugou,” you couldn’t help it as a laugh emitted from your lips. Bakugou turned around as soon as name was spoken, his face disturbingly neutral.

He stopped, which you were over the moon grateful for. You honestly didn’t know what you would have if he didn’t stop and allow you to talk to him.

Probably throw your shoe at him.

He stood patiently with his hands in his expensive pants as you jogged in his direction some more. God were you grateful Izuku got you going to the gym with him. It would have been painfully embarrassing for you to be panting like a dog by the time you caught up with the very obviously in-shape man.

“You didn’t even say goodbye.”

The two of you stood in front of the community garden. It was blooming with so many vibrant flowers, different blues, pinks, reds, and greens. The sky was still light, cloud littering your world. It felt all too much like a scene in movie, especially the way he was looking at you.

You could understand why everyone thought you liked you romantically. He looked at you with such passion in his eyes, like he put all of his thoughts aside in order to focus on you. The lowering sunlight hit his eyes just right, they lit up in such an unfamiliar way and you couldn’t help but wish you could look at him in this lighting more often. He had changed back into a hoodie and sweatpants, and yet he still looked like he deserved to be in an art museum, every piece of him was perfect. You honestly had to fight the urge to whip out your camera right then and there in order to capture this perfect moment.

“They all said goodbye to me when we were in the break room. You just weren’t there.”

You knew the words were supposed to be passive aggressive, but all you could think about was the fact that he noticed you weren’t there.

Suddenly you felt your heartbeat quicken, feeling like a child back in high school when talking to their crush.

Shit.

Bakugou observed you, shifting back and forth on his feet. You were annoyed at how good he was at hiding his emotions. Meanwhile you were certain he could read you like a damn book, being able to read your emotions just by looking at your posture.

You honestly didn’t know what to say to him, or how to start this conversation. He probably has places to be, maybe another job, or just wants to get home. You need to be clear and to the point, thoughtful and sound smart. Don’t just blurt something out because of the awkward tension-

“You’re avoiding me because of what I said.”

…Or you could just say that.

Immediately you flinched at the stupidity of your words as Bakugou also physically reacted. He too was definitely shocked at your boldness and you couldn’t say you blamed him. He quickly recovered though, but he broke eye contact giving you a breathtaking view of his jawline.

“I guess.”

Fuck. You didn’t know what else to say. He was now avoiding eye contact, which was something that he had never really done with you. You felt that anticipation rise up from your stomach and into your throat. You couldn’t keep standing here in silence, you needed to talk to him.

No. You needed to apologize to him.

“Look Bakugou I’m so sorry-“

“You have nothing to be sorry for y/n.”

Your mouth clamped shut in an instant. His red eyes were looking back into your eyes. You didn’t realize how much you missed the eye contact until it was back, and it almost knocked the breath out of you.

Bakugou must have noticed how abrupt his words were, so he closed his eyes momentarily then cleared his throat.

“I’ve never been in a…situation like this before.”

The wind started to pick up, adding to how beautiful he looked. There was an adorable blush that painted his cheeks, but he stood tall. Unfortunately you couldn’t really say the same for yourself. You were still hunched over squeezing your bag which contained the camera you had to fight every cell in your body in order not to pull out and snap a picture of the God of a man standing in front of you.

“I should have talked to you sooner, I know. I was acting like a dumbass and when I realized, I guess I felt like a text wasn’t enough. I tried to summon up the courage to talk to you but I think I was just…”

His head dropped, and that confidence you knew him so well of having had vanished.

Hesitantly, you took a step forward, being careful to place your bag down before doing so. With your left hand, you slowly and gently cupped his right hand. Bakugou’s head whipped up, eyes full of uncertainty and anxiety.

“This is quit an unique situation we got ourselves into, Bakugou. Words are hard, but, I really care about you and I want you in my life.”

Suddenly feeling confident, you took another step further. Bakugou didn’t move away, in fact you saw his shoulders relax and felt his hand get closer to yours.

“Katsuki is my name.”

His voice was soft, but stern. In fact, he said it so bluntly, it caught you completely off guard. That was truthfully the last thing you thought he would respond with. You slowly recovered, watching how Katsuki’s confidence returned to him. Despite that, his eyes were softer than before, more trusting, which made you understand his comment more.

“I forgive you, and I’m sorry Katsuki. I never meant to hurt you.”

That’s when it happened, Bakugou Katsuki pulled you into a hug.

He was warmer than you expected, and the hoodie he was wearing was much softer than it looked. His arms were now wrapped around your shoulders, but you were more hesitant to cuddle into him. He delicately set his head down on your shoulder, and that’s when you decided to sink into his touch, completely nuzzling your head into his neck.

This was crazy. This was crazy, wasn’t it? You were fully hugging Bakugou Katsuki. After the first day of shooting you took the liberty of looking him up and read up about him as well as stalking looking into his social media. The only words you could find to describe him was a cold hearted bitch. Now? You were cuddling with him. In public.

What the fuck was your life.

He was the one to pull away first. You were a little lost in your swarming thoughts so you really didn’t know how long you were standing there. That beautiful blush was still very apparent on his cheeks, and you couldn’t help but give him a teasing smile.

“You’ve been hanging around Allison too much.”

You bent over to get your bags, so you didn’t have the pleasure of watching his face morph at your comment.

“Tch, tell me about it.”

You laughed, butterflies dancing around in your stomach. You didn’t want to think about how much you enjoyed that, how much you wanted to stay in his arms forever. You didn’t want to dwell on the fact that the more you think about him, the more you start to remember how soft his lips were during that drunken kiss. But you certainly didn’t want to think about how mature he is. How kind, funny, and talented Katsuki is. He is a literal dream, and you didn’t want to think too hard about how damn happy he made you.

“Walk me to my car?”

Katsuki smiled at you, a beautiful, real, genuine smile.

“I guess.”

.・。.・゜✭・.✫・゜・。.

if this was a movie

(i’m gonna pretend like i didn’t post this literal SECONDS before the day is over)

this was so dramatic oh my LAWRD HAHAHA

i was living writing this (not rlly) and i bet y’all thought there would be a kiss HA (soon my loves, soon)

also i don’t wanna sound like a bitch but it’s pride month so i can say whatever i want-why the hell are my notes going down like with every post ESPECIALLY with my last post when tumblr marked it mature??? you best believe i sent a stingy ass note on they ass bc mama i am NOT gonna let that slide

anyways i love u guys thank u for all the love and support, i wanna post more stuff other than just bkg so PPPLLEEEAASREEE give me requests or even ask me questions!!! since i can’t reply to comments i wanna talk to u guys more so hit me up!! i promise i’m not an actual bitch (kinda)

fun facts! ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

- i miss doing fun facts :(

- Allison is a sweetie pie and i kinda wanna do like a little thingy of how i picture her so you guys can picture her as well

- zu was like seconds away from texting bkg being like “u whore i want u to listen to y/n and get ur shit together”

- speaking of: they still text a lot like keeping each other updated on their lives bc I SAID SO

- y/n and bkg sat in his car for like 20-30 minutes just talking and i’m sobbing now bc i’m SO FUCKING SINGLE HESUS

- literally felt sick to my stomach while writing the hug scene hello???

- bkg is so sassy i love him

- kaminari and hitoshi were talking abt someone from high school getting married and toshi got distracted and forgor to reply LMFAO (he’s just like me fr)

- zu ALWAYS texts y/n when they post smth sus on their priv twitter

- the original title for this episode was illicit affairs but then i wrote the line “it felt like a movie” or sum shit and a light bulb popped up

- also the way i’m ADDICTED to the little strikethru and that indented shit like UGH live, werk

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·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳ updates every wednesday and sunday! happy wildest dreams wednesday ✧.*

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[anonymous-dentist]

I'm going to be honest and say that I do not give a single fuck about the Federation and the workers. And why would I? they were the main villains a couple of months ago but now I'm supposed to feel bad because Fred, who admitted to know about quackity's torture and apparently participated in whatever happened to either Antoine or Pierre (I don't remember right now), is dead? I'm sorry for Tubbo, but I laughed when I saw it.

It is so ridiculous to me that now, after months of hating the Federation, some islanders want to defend the workers. Or how now I'm supposed to feel empathy for the organisation that has kidnapped, torture, brainwashed and killed people.

And now, with the addition of the eye guy, we have three (four, if you count the residents. something not even the admins seem to be doing lately) different factions that we know nothing about. What's the Federation goal and motives? who knows. What does the Rebellion want and what are the codes? keep watching to find more cryptic books that explain not a thing. The fuck is going on with the eye guy, what does he want? wouldn't you like to know that.

It feels as if the residents now have to seat and watch passively and just accept whatever happens, because no matter how much they might what to try, their actions won't affect the story whatsoever.

sorry for the long rant, I'm really passionate about the server but since the eggs' disappeared i've only been disappointed with its direction

I feel like people have seen a few of the workers act chill and decided that all the workers are doing their jobs against their wills and that they’re all good people being forced to do bad things. And, sure, some workers are like that, like Walter Bob. But also? Many of them aren’t. It’s a complex situation, but we the audience have only seen a handful of workers. We haven’t even scratched the surface! Because like. What about the guys who pulled out Child Baghera’s feathers? What about that mysterious thing the Federation had that scared Child Cellbit to the point of abandoning his beloved sister in a panic and trying to swim away from Point goddamn Nemo? When Child Cellbit said, “Don’t trust the workers”, he meant all of them, and he was such an optimistic kid that he had to have had a GOOD reason to say that

Like when people say that it’s wrong for Cellbit to kill all these workers I obviously agree because Murder Is Wrong. But also?

THE FEDERATION IS ACTIVELY HOLDING EVERYBODY ON THIS ISLAND HOSTAGE

Nobody would’ve gone to Purgatory if they weren’t on the island. The Brazilians legitimately crashed by accident and weren’t allowed to leave. The Feds purposefully sabotaged the French’s plane. Every single hardship the islanders have faced since the start of the series is because the Federation essentially kidnapped them and they’re holding them hostage and torturing and killing and brainwashing them. They’re literal human experiments! Why would I feel bad for the organization actively breaking literally just So Many Geneva Conventions?

Like, sure, Fred liked Tubbo, but Fred also enjoyed Quackity being tortured and brainwashed. Fred helped operate on Pierre. Fred seemingly had connections with the Eye and Cucurucho.exe. It sucks that they’re dead, but like. Okay? I feel bad for Tubbo, but Fred knowingly helped torture and possibly even kill who knows how many individuals over their time with the Federation. They were a higher-up. They had some amount of free will.

So do the regular workers, actually, because these Fed Streams have showed us that the workers have personalities. We know that there are rebels in the workforce. There’s an office culture. Workers sabotage Federation equipment (ie the coffee machine) and get away with it.

The workers (outside of Walter Bob) only started having personalities in September after the eggs disappeared, and on a meta level it’s because the admins A) wanted something to do and B) because the writers suddenly needed to show how incompetent the Feds apparently are because like. The Eye, ig. And people only started caring when the workers were dying, which only ended up villainizing both q and ccCellbit yet again (because the fandom’s favorite hobby is hating Brazilians.)

[markbannersstuff]

Jealous Boy

Summary:Joel begins to notice certain behaviors from his Ex-Soulmate, he certainly isn't disappointed with what he finds.

Words:1259

Notes: English is not my frst language, i'm sorry if some parts don't make sense or there are spelling mistakes, i have dyslexia and that doesn't make it any batter.

I can't balive the first thing i post here is a Boat Boys One-Shot

Ao3 Link

Etho is a jealous man.

It's something Joel learned in the previous death game, his attention always came back one way or another to Bdubs, he's not an idiot, he notice each of Etho's attempts to separate "the perfect couple" that were Impulse and Bdubs, the redstoner's jealous and almost obsessive behavior was obvious to him, Joel didn't really care, not like people, and even Impulse himself, seemed to wait, as long as Etho did his part not to die, for him it's okay.

That doesn't mean he didn't become annoying a few days later, easily familiarizing himself with the feeling of not being wanted, although that seemed to change when he built the ship, Etho put aside Bdubs but not quite, quite understandable actually, both were quite close during the two games leading up to Double Life.

But one thing about Joel didn't expect is that the behavior that was once meant for Bdubs, was now destined for him.

You can't blame him for being shocked to realize what was happening, he started with something he at first thought was just a joke, maybe even a minor claim, "so you're going to make a boat with a new friend 'ey Joel", the death of the cow was just an afterthought, something he did just on the whim of doing it.

While Etho threatened to shoot anything or person valuable or important to Joel, while he stated out loud in front of Jimmy and Tango that they were now enemies, their behavior days later seemed to say otherwise, it took him a while to notice it, but once he did it was impossible to overlook, Etho was basically in his head for months in Double Life, He knows the things that bother him, so it's not hard for him to make him angry.

And if there is something that Joel hates in these games, it is the fishing rods, more specifically he hates when he tries to pull him with the damn thing, Etho himself hates it, he knows it because it is engraved in the minds of both since his red because of the same, so he really do not hesitate to threaten his ex soulmate, he was willing to take his own life if it meant being able to kill Etho.

And Etho seemed to take his threat seriously, a few days passed without further incident, that's when Grian decided it would be a good idea to go AFK, being basically a state of deep sleep, the problems started a short time later, he didn't go into details, his head still hurts just remembering, problems came and went and deaths happened in droves, being he the cause of some.

During that time there really weren't many changes in their interactions, maybe a comment here and there from both of them, things changed when he accidentally call Jimmy Babe in front of Etho, it's supposed to just be a joke okay? You can't blame him,

he usually calls his friends babe, it's a nickname that's stayed around over the years, and he's more than sure that at some point he call Etho the same way.

It was the next day that the changes began, they were small changes like prolonged eye contact, standing closer than necessary when he had the opportunity or even the tone of his voice, which went from being sharp and suspicious to soft and almost affectionate, it was almost as if they were back in DL, he had become so used to those little things that he don't even notice when they happened again.

Attempts to separate him from the Bad Boys occurred a few days later, passive-aggressive comments were directed at the other two men, Etho took it upon himself to point out Grian's affinity for ending the lives of his teammates, he also pointed out how Jimmy was always the first to leave the games, inevitably taking others with him. Pretty low blows if you ask Joel.

He was also in charge of spreading rumors, such as how Grian seemed to put more and more his eyes on Scar, how he heard Scott and Jimmy talk about teaming up again, the idiot is really going for his insecurity of ending up alone, not a lie, he almost accepted when Etho offered a place on the T.I.E.S. team.

But he remembered how a cold night in the nest Grian expressed his refusal to partner with Scar, he remembered how Jimmy said in a very serious way how he did not want to betray or be betrayed, so, although the idea was tempting, he sent Etho and his offer to shit, deciding to keep the songbirds by his side, Etho was clearly not happy with his refusal to be on the same team, he could perfectly see the frustration on his face.

And it seems that Bdubs also noticed, the man tried to make him talk, but Etho did not seem very interested in telling him the cause of his anger, he did not really seem interested in Bdubs at all, his days seemed to be divided between being with his team and trying to get Joel's attention, he on the other hand did not understand.

Not at least until contact began.

Etho doesn't shy away from physical contact, one of the things he caught on in Double Life, is that he actually seems to enjoy it, he never starts it, it's Joel, who after small pushes and tentative hands on his shoulders and arms, which began to be more susceptible to things like resting his weight on each other, Hugs also began to occur and they even walked hand in hand at times.

Double Life was full of physical contact between them, at least when Etho started paying attention to it, Bdubs seemed surprised, although he's sure it was the fact that Etho let Joel be so tactile with him that had him so surprised, the narcissistic little shit.

The thing is, Etho NEVER initiates physical contact, so you'll surely understand his surprise when one day Etho took his hand out of nowhere, he doesn't remember much of what happened before or even after that, only that his brain short-circuited when he again felt the familiar sensation of his ex soulmate's hand. he's pretty sure he had to be dragged out of the mansion by Grian, the only thing etched in his mind is what he was pretty sure was an arrogant smile from Etho as he left.

That and the phantom sensation of fingers intertwined with his own.

It was only moments later that he started going over all his previous interactions, and oh, he felt so, so stupid for not noticing it sooner, Etho was acting so desperately that it was painfully obvious, he wouldn't be surprised even if Scar and Jimmy have noticed it before him, Joel, who was so blinded by the sense of familiarity those actions gave him that he never questioned it.

It was a bit embarrassing that it took Etho to hold his hand on his own to notice everything, it was so embarrassing that I consider not coming back down from the roof, but the vertigo in his chest at the thought of not returning to his soulmate did not let him stay, knowing that the further he moves away from Etho the more is in his mind gave him a twisted feeling of possessiveness.

because if that was what it took for etho to chase after him, then goddammit he’ll run.

[hasufin]

Progress and Regress

I've been reluctant to say this, but... well, republicans actually just plain want to make the world a worse place.

I've tended to buy that their leadership wants to live in a feudal society; and that their followers want a hierarchical society as well, but they think it would be better than what we have now. And that they legitimately believe the world would be better if we didn't offer so much compassion to those in need, if we didn't protect the weak from the strong, &c.

But I think the Trump shooting proves otherwise. I hate to say it, but there it is.

Okay, first: yes, it was timed such that it would give attention back to a particularly needy narcissist. However, the idea that it's a conspiracy just doesn't hold water. All the evidence so far suggests that the shooter was, well, the archetype of a shooter in America: a young white man, emotionally disturbed but not actually victimized, who had access to weapons of war and decided to make his life notable by ending the lives of many other people. According to the FBI he was considering going after Harris or Biden, and it just so happened that Trump was more available. In spite of the rightwing jumping immediately to blame him on leftist communist woke transgender activists, he was a registered republican and he didn't leave any particular manifesto. The only salient thing about him seems to be, he had the ability to do this and probably shouldn't.

Now, if this were Democrats - if the shoe were on the other foot - this would be a significant moment of reckoning. If, for example, a hitter for a Colombian Cartel tried to take out Kamala Harris, Democrats would be having a serious conversation about tightening border controls. Even though the actual motive would indicate she was doing a good job, it would make Democrats rethink their policies a little: "Hey, the stuff I'm doing is actually make us less safe, maybe there's another way we can do this?"

But not republicans. That is not their way. As one commenter noted: when Trump gets shot, they wear a bandage on their ear to show solidarity with Trump; when schoolkids get shot, they wear an AR-15 pin to show solidarity with the gun.

So you'd think they'd maybe care, right? In spite of never giving a single solitary fuck about little kids getting killed, in spite of mostly being motivated by a primal urge to hurt the Other... you'd think they'd at least care when there's a direct demonstration that their policies tangibly put their own guy at risk. This isn't even a case where you need empathy or compassion. One doesn't even need imagination. It's a thing that happened: young man had ready access to powerful weapons, young man used one of those weapons to try and kill the rightwing leader. It's very direct and simple.

And they are unfazed. It's horrible that Trump got shot, but wow how fast they switch to the passive voice on that. He wasn't shot by a person with a knowable motive, there wasn't anything that could have been done to keep it from happening. The shooter just spawned on that rooftop, the Secret Service failed to stop him, and that's it.

In fact, if anything I'd say the republican response has been one of glee. Their guy got a chance to look strong and be a martyr! They can fling blame around like a monkey with poo! Zero introspection, just blatantly exploiting a tragedy to claw onto more power. Even when the target was their own guy.

The truth is, they don't mind. They want the world to be a more violent, crueler, harsher place. They want people to suffer more. Themselves included. So long as they can have more power, they are perfectly pleased with this - even when it hurts them, just so long as The Other Guy is suffering more.

[graylinesspam]

I've been tumbling Shaak Ti around in my head like a rock trying to smooth out some characterization for her relationship with the clones.

I've seen many takes here about her having good motherly relationships with the cadets and then a lot about how her direct business like relationship with the Kaminoans who were actively abusing the clones and that making her complicite in their dehumanization and commodification.

And honestly I've decided that neither are really wrong. At least for the purposes of my fics.

One of the most important things for us to explore about the perspectives and personalities of the jedi during the clone wars era is that they are completely clouded and blinded by the dark side.

Shaak Ti as an inherently motherly and supportive person finding herself stuck in the middle of a war, actively traumatized by the violence and death in the first battle of Geonosis, decides that she cannot handle the battlefield. But she cannot avoid her duty to serve the Republic (yes I know) so she gets stationed on Kamino as the resident Jedi on call for all jedi purposes.

And she quickly wraps herself up in the job of caring for the clone cadets. As much as you can care for an untold number of children. And she personally witnesses very little of the physical abuse of the clones. And even a lot of the dehuminization she chalks up to the ugliness of war and very much intends on fixing after the war is over.

But there's that very real-world situation where one person finds themselves in a less-than-ideal position of authority and feels like they can't do enough good as an individual to fix the system so they try to do good from inside it. In little ways over time. And they're too blind and self absorbed to realize that literally walking away and refusing to participate would do less harm than they are now by legitimizing the clone's treatment as their resident legal owner.

So she ends up being a generally good if not broken and selfish person that participates passively in some truly terrible things.

I think that's so much more representative of the general failings if the jedi order and it's deep corruption by tying itself to a political power than it would be to say that Shaak doesn't care about the clones at all. Realistically people who care do more harm than people who don't.

And the emotional turmoil of someone making close connections with people they are actively hurting within an abusive system is narrative-rich. Not to mention relatable to real world situations. The clones truly seeing her as a friend and in many cases a maternal figure, that regularly participates in their barter and forced labor is so fucking tragic.

The layers of that abusive relationship. Of her memorizing clones names and being able to identify them later, after their deployments, and greeting them warmly, feeling pride in their accomplishments, and mourning their deaths, and continuing about her day training their replacements. The veil of greef and darkness pulling further over her perceptions as the war gets uglier and she can't bare to look at it.

And for her to be one of the warmest memories that those boys have.

It's fucking heartbreaking. And ugly and imperfect. And so real.

Anyways, that's how I'm writing it, just a heads up for those keeping up with Sleeping habits or ASOI.

(and I'm sure there are several layers of racial and classist symbolism that I am not at all qualified to pick apart.)

[fierceawakening]

You know, while I don’t agree with everything I hear “consider that maybe your cruel parent was narcissistic” people say, the whole idea of vulnerable narcissism is helping me make SO MUCH SENSE of things I did as a kid that I was told were mean or wrong, but were actually kid versions of pretty standard reactions to manipulation.

I was told by my parents all the time that I was a startlingly strong willed kid, and that my big personality flaw was that I was “demanding.” I’m at a point now where I’m honestly not sure if this was true, or if it was just that they reacted to me that way because I tend to be more direct where my mom tends to be passive aggressive. It’s entirely possible I am more pushy than many humans and it’s entirely possible I think I am because my early context was pretty warped.

But anyway, this sort of thing would happen:

Wee Fiercelet: I wanna eat at McDonald’s!

Mom: We ate at McDonalds before. I don’t want to eat there again. *intense grossed out face*

Wee: Then where are we going?

Mom: I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it.

Wee:

Wee: …

Mom: Don’t say it.

Wee: McDonald’s!

Mom: You’re so pushy. I guess we have to eat at McDonalds then. Get in the car.

Wee: Uh… you’re mad at me.

Mom: I just hate that you do this. You MADE ME go to McDonalds when I told you no.

Wee: …I made you?

Mom: I hate fights. I’m not gonna fight with you.

Wee: If there’s something you really want, and I’m being pushy, maybe you SHOULD fight with me!

Mom: What a weird thing to say.

Wee: You should stand up for yourself. Even if it’s me you’re standing up to.

I’d been thinking back on this dynamic often, and how many times it happens even to this day, and wondering why I hadn’t grown up enough to not do it.

Then one of those YouTubers said that passive aggression is super common in covert narcissists, and that they tell you what they want without ever telling you what they want, and it makes you feel like you somehow did something wrong, even if you can’t figure out what it was.

And it clicked.

I wasn’t saying I wanted fights. I really didn’t want those! Those were always happening! So much! I was saying that I wanted her to be direct about what she wanted, and that if it did sometimes lead to fights, I would be willing to suck it up sometimes because I really did want to give her what she wanted sometimes. I just was a kid, and not mature enough to go “Mommy, it’s your turn to decide where we go tonight.” So I heard “…ugh what do we do?” and suggested what I wanted, because why wouldn’t I do that? I was a kid.

So I don’t know. Maybe “vulnerable narcissism” is something YouTubers made up and it’s generally a bullshit category.

Maybe it really was purely made up to demonize real people with real personality disorders, who don’t act like that at all and work incredibly hard to not let their struggles even affect their kids.

But it’s really helping me to rethink things I did and said as a kid that I was told were me being pushy or bratty or defiant in uncalled for, rude ways… and see them as ways a kid who could never have been expected to react with the patience and understanding of an adult would react to things being left unspecified in that “you’re supposed to know what I mean and do what I didn’t actually say” kind of way.

[teruthecreator]

As someone who started reading Side Quest based on the fanart I saw and was blissfully ignorant to most of the problems you pointed out, I just wanted to thank you for your post. The thing that stuck out to me while reading that fic was the entire Toichiro rewriting. Every interaction he had made me so angry while reading and looking back I think a big part of that has to do with how out of character he's been. I had been partway through chapter 11 when I stumbled upon your post and decided to finish it through that new perspective. Tbh, I don't even think I would have needed it to ask myself wtf was going on because once it hit Reigen encountering Toichiro in the tower Toichiro instantly starts calling Reigen a slut. This chapter was already kinda slow compared to the rest because it was just a retelling of what happens in the episodes, and what was interesting about this fic when I first read it was the new scenes that were added, but simply adding unnecessary comments to a known scene and focusing on how Reigen doesn't have sex and doesn't know where he got these accusations from was very off-putting.

As for everything else, aside from not having dealt with anything like that and not immediately noticing how things were worded, I want to say I likely chalked it up to plot. I think I read a lot of things passively just to see what people write about without thinking too much about how they're writing about it. And maybe that's a flaw on my end, just being bored and randomly throwing a dart on a dartboard to consume more media regardless of what it is (mostly, I do have limits).

But I do agree that the author should be more ridged with her tags. I've written fics before and I always try to include every little things I can think of in the tags, even if that might get me less views or "spoil the story" because I'd rather everyone know what they're getting into instead of them getting surprised by it. When I first started reading I was surprised to see that it was labeled "explicit" even though none of the tags clued me into why it was written like that, unless the grooming was more intense than what my baseline thoughts on grooming are, but if said grooming does lead to anything more then it should be tagged as such.

Another thing that has been bothering me about this has been the fact that since chapter 9, the author has mentioned that "there is a fairly explicit scene, marked by <3... it's not just porn... etc." I can somewhat understand not fully tagging an unfinished work, since in my experience I didn't think I'd post a second part to one or I started posting without having the entire story fully fleshed out so things take a different direction than what I originally expected, but I always go back and make sure the tags are fully updated every time I post. The fact that this was mentioned and then nothing in the tags were updated was kind of strange. I skimmed through chapter 12 since it was posted yesterday to see if this scene was finally going to be put it, and low and behold I did see the <3. There's something about continuously reminding people to watch out for the explicit sign each chapter and then it not appearing until 4 chapters later. What's the point of unnecessarily making your reader expect this to show up after every paragraph they read only for it to be 40k or however many words away. Personally, I'd understand warning of this the chapter before it happens and the chapter of (or, you know, in the tags as well), but that far away feels like you're trying to string the readers who want to get to that scene along and just scaring those who are ready to skip it. I haven't read it so I can't say what the scene is about and how fair this warning is, but again being surprised about the fact that this fic has an explicit scene somewhere is something readers shouldn't have to deal with if tagged properly.

This turned out to be a way bigger reply than I originally intended, but if you'd like a few more screenshots to add to your collection here's all of the out of pocket Toichiro replies:

first off, you rlly don't need to thank me for that post, but i appreciate it anyway :-) its something thats been on my mind for a while, and with its rapid popularity i was simply confused how people weren't seeing what i was seeing. i do wanna say that nobody should feel bad/guilty for reading this or liking it without seeing the content i mentioned. as i mentioned at the end of that post, people's personal experiences will inform how they consume media and what blindspots they may have, and i'm certainly not here to judge anyone for that. i Am happy to hear that someone who had been reading the fic was able to hear my criticism and consume the fic in a new light, so thank You for sending this ask!

you brought up a topic that i wanted to touch on but didn't rlly have room on the other post, but yeah toichiro's characterization throughout this fic is strange and Extremely ooc. it feels like she was purposely building him up to be the worst character in the story--a true villain, as it were. which is funny bc mob psycho doesn't even have true villains bc the show is about second chances and connections and trying again. but with the racism, plus the eugenics/creepy remarks, plus the overtly sexual manipulation and grooming, she turned toichiro into a kind of cartoon caricature of a villain. which was wholly unnecessary and, in fact, creepy! and not funny! and strange!

but the thing that annoyed me more than that was how she tried to walk it back. there are several moments where toichiro is calling out to his ex-wife in his sleep, asking for forgiveness and shit. which, for one, would not have happened at this point in the story. it is very explicitly shown through wd arc that toichiro's First moment of realization is when he's down in that basement area with mob, when he flashes back to his ex wife leaving and suddenly realizes what he missed. toichiro before this moment was not thinking mournfully about his wife. he wasn't thinking about his wife At All. he pushed the memory of his family out to make way for his plan, something that then becomes a key point to him accepting help from other people! so like. there's that. but Also having toichiro have these quiet moments of vulnerability feels like the author's way of rolling back her own characterization, which just makes the whole thing messy and hard to read. from the way she's written him, toichiro is NOT a character people should be empathizing with. he is a groomer and a racist and a creep and all of that together is like. a recipe for someone who needs to just be shoved off the face of the planet. but she works in these moments of "humanity" to try and bring toichiro back to where he's at in canon, likely so she can write out some kind of silent redemption (or hint at redemption) like how canon does. but in this case that redemption would feel gross because she turned his character into something so statically evil that it feels impossible to forgive.

and yeah, those quotes are absolutely ridiculous. like they border on comedy, but really they just sound awful coming out of his mouth. i know this phrase has been used a million times over but HE WOULD NOT FUCKING SAY THAT!

also to talk on the topic of tags (which i do agree with you on), i do find it strange that she refused to put ANY tags on the fic with the proper warnings for explicit content, but seemingly had the time to make that reminder each and every chapter. because in reality she really only needed that warning on ONE chapter--the chapter that has the explicit scene! but i do agree that simply tagging it would save her readers the emotional labor of having to keep an eye out for a sex scene they might not be ready to deal with. especially with the content of some of these later chapters (the ones ive seen, anyway), having the looming threat of an explicit scene could make some readers uneasy!!! (im talking specifically abt the chapters where toichiro is making moves on serizawa in an effort to manipulate him. i understand the author did mention in an authors note that this wouldnt happen, but i'd also like to point out that she HID THIS PART OF THE AUTHORS NOTE. so you had to make the decision to "spoil" yourself just to see if someone was going to be sa'd or not. which i think is wrong; an author should always prioritize the safety and comfort of their readers above any potential "spoilers")

and to wrap up with one last thing, just a more general thought: i think there is a difference between content that includes dark topics in a thoughtful way and content that includes dark topics in an edgy way, and this fic definitely leans towards the latter. a lot of these outlandishly mature topics are treated like throwaway jokes or shock value items, which feels inappropriate when we are dealing with topics of such weight like racism, transphobia, child impregnation (again. What.), etc.. i am not trying to police people on what content they are or aren't allowed to talk about--i am saying that, if your story NEEDS to have this content in it (which i would argue that here it doesn't), then you need to treat it with the care it deserves to be treated with. if not for your own sake, then for the sake of your readers. at the end of the day, i just want people to be safe out there

thank you for sharing your thoughts with me, and thank you for being so respectful <3 have a wonderful day!

[horizon-verizon]

What do you think of this post:

https://at.tumblr.com/bbygirl-aemond/when-villainizing-alicent-backfires-or-how/onaosayifzd6

I agree that Rhaenyra is smarter than people think, but I think that post sort of excuses how cruel Alicent was to order Rhaenyra’s baby brought to her. Also, two things can be true at the same time. Rhaenyra did ruin Alicent’s plan but she also really didn’t trust Alicent with her child because Alicent had been spreading rumors about Rhaenyra’s kids for years. Rhaenyra looked uncomfortable when Alicent took the baby from Viserys when they were in Alicent’s bedroom. She literally turned her head towards her with a worried and tense expression her face. What do you think?

A)

I agree with your points and I agree with the writer in that Rhaenyra was attempting and succeeding in making Alicent look horrible/worse by going with her son herself -- her "malicious compliance".

When OP says:

So many people claim that Rhaenyra was only acting here out of fear for her children, which does succeed in making Alicent look bad, but misses the genius of what Rhaenyra's actually doing.

AND

Rhaenyra does not go with Joffrey because she genuinely thinks Alicent will physically hurt him. At this point in time, pre-Driftmark, Alicent has literally never done anything to suggest she would physically harm a child, let alone a newborn. Stop acting like Alicent was planning on smothering him with a pillow or something equally ridiculous. It's not in Alicent's character (she's quite passive when it comes to violence), and Rhaenyra also doesn't have any information to suggest this.

I think they are not saying that Rhaenyra has no real fear of Alicent, but that the fear isn't in Alicent actually harming the infant. I however agree that OP doesn't acknowledge that the fear is there (however well-managed or "small") and that the fear is from Alicent targeting her children in the first place.

But to give the benefit of the doubt, I think that just from what I saw in the post, the point of the post was to explain the political maneuvering both women did rather than the emotional inspiration for doing those moves. To just talk about how politically capable Rhaenyra is against the "politically stupid" allegations. This could go either way reducing Alicent's evil and Rhaenyra's justifications to plot against Alicent or making people finally notice and acknowledge Rhaenyra's ability to critically think and come up with strategies sooner rather than later.

Depends on which direction the writer goes with their language, and OP only wants to discuss the maneuvering while also telling us that Alicent purposefully targeted Rhaenyra in that episode. It's enough to assume OP is advocating for Rhaenyra and her feelings, but, again, is deciding on focusing on her political brain. OP seems to acknowledge how cruel Alicent was being: "Alicent wanted Rhaenyra to come away from this looking like a shameful harlot" AND "Alicent was trying to make a power play here; she was trying to rub it in the court's faces that Rhaenyra was repeatedly having children via an affair."

However, it would make OP's post stronger if they mentioned the context since it reveals how Rhaenyra would have done many things like this during the 10 years in the jump cut. That's my criticism.

B)

Funny enough, I also read the scene in which OP says it. It makes sense especially with Rhaenyra making Viserys focus more on treachery in the 7th episode -- episode 6 lets us know, you know? I also like how the writer includes the fact that Rhaenyra took Laenor with her to make that image of her sons' legitimacy, making that image of unity against Alicent's trying to make Rhaenyra seem like a disobedient, unfit heir/unruly woman.

Excerpt from OP's post:

Alicent wanted Rhaenyra to come away from this looking like a shameful harlot, but Rhaenyra turned the tables and came away from this seeming like a hero and a dutiful stepdaughter who bravely endured the pain Alicent forced on her, while simultaneously making Alicent seem evil and unreasonable. This is a calculated political move to shift blame onto Alicent and to paint her as crazy. And from the reactions we get as Rhaenyra walks to and from Alicent's chambers, I think she succeeds.

There's one other example where I think Rhaenyra plays the game of politics against Alicent and wins, and where a lot of fans ignore Rhaenyra's intelligence in favor of trying to make Alicent look as bad as possible. It's the scene where Rhaenyra suggests the betrothal of Jacaerys and Helaena, which I'll talk about eventually since I got an ask about it. But basically: Rhaenyra made a proposal that she knew would look good on the surface but that she knew Alicent couldn't accept without endangering her children, ensuring that when Alicent turned it down she would look bitter and crazy.

And we see it here (the script):

Lord Caswell: (on the stairs) Princess, Ser Laenor, it is a privilege to be amongst the first to congratulate you.

Rhaenyra: Thank you, Lord Caswell.

Lord Caswell: If I may be of any service...

Rhaenyra: The day may yet come, my lord.

[...]

Alicent: Princess. Rhaenyra! You should be resting after your labors. Rhaenyra: I have no doubt that you would prefer that, Your Grace. Alicent: You must sit. Talya, fetch a cushion for the Princess. Rhaenyra: There's no need. Alicent: Nonsense. We'll finish this later.

Rhaenyra is openly suggesting Alicent is trying something now and will try something in the future.

She, of course, looked more than "uncomfortable" and there's a specific context for why. She's lived with Alicent on her case for 10 years.

@theroguewyrm says it HERE:

no, but she demanded a fragile, freshly out of the womb-newborn to be brought to her IMMEDIATELY knowing that 1. newborns are extremely vulnerable to germs and shouldn’t get exposed for at least 1-2 days and 2. demanded to separate a mother from her child RIGHT AFTER giving birth.

While these people would not know about germs, they would know that newborns are fragile, especially knowing and experiencing infant mortality. We have Alysanne, Alyssa Velaryon, and Aemma Arryn alone to refer to. Alicent was a terrible person for that. In another post, I say similarly:

Why publicly order for the freshly-born infant in front of the entire court if not to publicly and tacitly announce that you think something is wrong with that infant? Alicent – a mother herself – is well aware of how worried, anxious, and attached a mother can get to her infant after birth and she still decides to do what she does…and it’s clear that it’s happened before, so was she actually surprised that Rhaenyra came with the baby? Why not let Rhaenyra have a few more moments alone with her new child and in real rest after putting herself through that pain to deliver it? (Because she was seeking to take advantage of Rhaenyra’s state). Plus, even if this is a medieval-modeled world, people did and would know that freshly-born infants need to be handled carefully and not so exposed to so many different elements too soon. Newborns are understood to be delicate.

[rainbow-femme]

Another thing with the whole “this person was actually gay but historians refuse to admit it!” is that to me very often these people actually fall in one of three camps

1. The person they headcanon as gay has no supporting evidence that an actual historian would trust. Take the post about Julius Caesar actually being a well known bisexual but the evil historians refuse to acknowledge it. From my readings of a few different biographies on Roman emperors that covers Caesar, most evidence for this comes from his political opponents who were trying to insult his character by saying he was the passive sexual partner with men, which would have been highly offensive at the time. Given that he had well known affairs with women and the only evidence for affairs with men were insults by people who disliked him, many historians do not count it as viable evidence but that’s not fun so people just say that the historians hate gay people. Nevermind that the same historians will happily talk about the same sex love affair that emperor Hadrian very openly had

2. There is some evidence for and some against and historians are cautious of going on record to label someone, or different historians have different opinions so there isn’t a universally accepted answer. For example, I have seen some historians say that 100% Edward II of England was gay, others that 100% he wasn’t and again it was just slander from those looking to depose him, and some who say that there are things that point in either direction and that ultimately we will likely never know for sure as an openly gay king in the 1300s would be (checks notes) deposed, jailed, and killed, just like exactly what happened when his political opponents decided he had homosexual lovers influencing his policy

3. They’ve never actually read any historical writings or watched any documentaries, they’re just taking the internets word that historians deny they were anything but straight. I will humbly admit when I was younger I was one of these people, only to start reading biographies and historical non fiction and learn that historians very often are happy to refer to someone as having had a same sex affair, and even apply labels such as gay or bisexual, so long as they actually have evidence they feel they can back it up

People also love to say “we have passionate love letters between them and historians will just wave it off as how people talked back then” when in fact that is a very normal response to have if you have ever actually read historical letters written in western Europe (I can’t speak for other areas)

It was very common for phrases such as “your humble and obedient servant,” “from the one who loves you above all others,” “I desire nothing more in this life than to see you again” between two people who bitterly hated each other because yes, that was how you were expected to address each other during certain time periods, especially if you were involved in political dealings. Political letters from the Tudor era frequently used this phrasing as did romantic letters, a letter from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn and from Henry VIII to Philip of France would look very similar to the untrained eye, which is what many people cherry picking evidence on the internet are doing when they say obviously they must have been in love

Bias absolutely exists but you do need to accept that what you want to be true is not always going to match with the opinion of someone who has studied the issue for 8 years

People on this website will really mock anti-vaxxers and flat earthers for ignoring scientists and getting their alternative facts from facebook, and then turn around and insist they know more history than historians and more archaeology than archaeologists because they read an unsourced tumblr post once