I find it very satisfying that Zorian's own choices are what lead to his involvement in the plot.
Zach's meddling may have saved Zorian's life in the initial barrage, but it's Zorian's decision to search for Akoja that tangles their fates together. If Zach had his way Zorian would have been "safe" at the shelters by time Quatach-Ichl showed up, but Zorian strikes out to repay the debt he feels he owes Akoja by driving her into danger and winds up at the right place at the right time. He never would have been partially soul melded to Zach if he had been callous enough or lacking in courage enough to abandon Akoja.
On top of that, he makes a second decision to prioritize someone else's life over his own safety when he let's go of the teleport rod to push Zach out of the way of Quatach-Ichl's attack. Granted, he had to react in a split second and had no time to deliberate, but his first instinct was to protect Zach rather than ensure his own escape.
Amusingly, Zach complains that Zorian let go of the rod while Zorian fires back that Zach would be dead if he hadn't done that. He doesn't seem to regret his choice at all, even if it means that he himself is still in danger.
Zack comments multiple times that trying to keep Zorian alive is a chore, and it occurs to me that the main reason Zorian didn't become involved in the loops years earlier is precisely because Zorian is so difficult to keep alive during the invasion. It wasn't until Zach successfully and naturally got Zorian to attend the dance that the dominoes start falling. Only by saving Zorian does Zach inadvertently open the door for Zorian to enter the stage and drastically change the trajectory of events, eventually saving Zach in turn.
Only when Zorian is alive and free to act completely within his own nature, both driving Akoja away and subsequently trying to rescue her, is he elevated to a protagonist role.
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Both my parents actually suffer from HORRID emotional dysregulation and are prone to snapping and going into rages. My sister is the same way tbh. I am now realizing this is why they are constantly baffled by the question of whether or not I am mad at them.
I don't have external meltdowns.
I could. I don't let it happen.
I keep my rage on the inside and stay pretty quiet about it. It's just as strong as theirs [physically shaking nose bleed from high blood pressure kind of bad], but like as a kid I saw how terrifying it was to be around [dad breaking dishes, mom putting our lawn chairs into walls] and I just internalized that I wasn't going to wear that anger on the outside.
So my mother genuinely cannot tell if I am just being quiet or if I am silently hearing the dial-up noises of pure rage. This has lead her to both making strong and confident statements like "You are a pacifist who would never hurt a fly U.U" but also acting like I am secretly dangerous maybe... It's because she has never seen me snap.
She knows what her temper is like [throwing chairs through walls], she knows what my father's temper is like [pick up child and toss out door], and she can tell I am being tested, but she doesn't know what happens when I snap or where that breaking point is.
Her -perhaps unhinged- solution to this, my whole life, has been to do things that should obviously enrage me or shut me down completely, like ignoring important boundaries, repeatedly, punishing me for expressing emotions or needs at all, etc... And then to constantly ask me if I am angry with her when I get too quiet [right after near directly telling me to shut up].
It has occurred to me now, they have never once seen me lose my temper, so they literally just can't tell if I am angry at them. My sister is easy, my mother fights and screams with my sister constantly, my mother understands this. My mother doesn't have any grasp of feelings or boundaries that are not screamed at her [apparently, and I fear my sister is the same way]. Her and my sister are close despite constant fucking fighting because they understand each other.
They are trying to get me to engage the same way and it is not working. I realize now that this has been hard for them.
I was so successfully taught to suppress my emotions, by being punished for any outburst, that rage quiet looks the same as any other kind of quiet from the outside. To them anyway.
I did tell her. For the record. I used my words. I did tell her very calmly that my response to rage, in order to avoid doing the things that terrified me as a child, was to simply leave [the autistic urge to GTFO]. When a situation or person causes too much of the dial-up rage noise, I simply extract myself from that situation, up to and including never speaking to a person again. I explained this calmly. I explained it calmly 100 times and I explained that I explain myself calmly as my rage response 1-5 [also pretty much every other negative emotion tbh], and I told her that what came next was me simply opting out and fucking off. I told her this. I couldn't understand why she never took me seriously, or why she never fucking understood.
I couldn't understand what made her like this.
But it's the same problem I have with everyone else multiplied by a factor of 10.
If I am explaining myself calmly, they can't understand that it's actually serious or that I am actually upset. ESPECIALLY because they read me as "female" and women "aren't that rational" so if I am not screaming and crying about something, which I never do, people assume I can't be upset and it isn't serious.
And then after having my boundaries ignored too many times despite having calmly explained how and why it's a problem [shaking inside or not]... I leave. I leave and everyone gets upset like this is unexpected behaviour, even though I told them 50 times that is how I would respond if they kept doing *the thing.*
And for neurotypical people especially, they are expecting there to be a disconnect between what someone says they need or feel and what their actually boundaries and feelings are, and they expect the latter to be demonstrated with emotions. Telling them bluntly you do not function that way somehow never helps?
My mother isn't just looking for normal yelling or a few tears to know I am serious, whether or not I do those either [I don't], she's looking for an explosion to know there's a problem at all.
Fucked if I know how she proceeds through life this way in general or if this is just her expectation of her own kids???
And I couldn't get why my mother couldn't read my emotions and didn't seem to think I have any. It's because she's testing for the rage limit to see where my 'actual' limit is instead of taking my word for it. Never the fuck mind that she could simply *not* test at my boundaries instead of letting me have them. Separate issue.
I couldn't figure out what made her *like this*
She's expecting me to throw a giant meltdown violent tantrum at people when I have 'actually' had enough. Maybe she got away with those being like 5'4" in another time, but I am the size of the average man, I do not get to have giant screaming rages, whether or not people perceive me consciously as a woman, and least of all because a lot of people -at least unconsciously- read me as 'masculine' or at least always "they guy" of the situation compared to all other women and some men [bigger stronger and more rational, more able to just absorb the damage and let it go so the less rational screaming/crying one doesn't have to be dealt with]. Even if it was in me to be willing to terrify people [usually never], there are such limited instances where it wouldn't just blow back on me. Potentially very dangerously.
I am going to be the quiet calm one. You are going to have to let me use my words, bitch.
So she kept ignoring my boundaries until I had to cut her out of my life, and she probably doesn't understand and probably thinks it feels sudden -after 36 long years of bullshit- abrupt and unfair.
But I told her hundreds of times.
I probably should have just screamed at her.
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update time
WE'RE IN THE HOME STRETCH NOW GAMERS
incase its not clear, anything with the blue shit on it is not yet painted at all yet. margaret's hair will be easier than the other two's because its blurry and its mostly shapes instead of individual hairs. my entire day was spent just painting these idiots' clothes.
also worked on bjs mouth and moustache more. still wanna fix up hawkeye's mouth and eyes a little but thats tomorrows issue, i need rest.
I am very sleepy. i will go to bed at 1 instead of 2 am tonight [no i wont, but i WILL lie down at 1 instead of 2]
tomorrow, we finish. i realize it looks like theres a lot of blue on the screen but you must understand. doing blurry un-detailed things takes less than half of the time it takes to do a small portion of a face. i will persevere
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I can imagine the first cycle after moving. Probably Leo because Donnie likely has internal scarring, so leo goes through the process of laying his eggs, panics, his brother can't help, and finally, *finally* they ask for help. It's not willingly. It's not for fun. It's purely necessity. It's purely because there's *literally noone else* and the idea of telling anyone at all is so scary that the way they do so is in a note. Splinter sits them down and basically walks them through "You're safe, you're fine. We can handle this however you feel most comfortable, including getting you both on blockers if you prefer" and they just.... sigh. For the first time, there's *someone else* in their circle, and it's willing and it's warm, and it's *safe*. There will be tears.
Yes, except I'm not convinced that either of them could stand to tell anyone. Even if it was literally life or death (which it has been before,) I'm not sure if either of them could bear to give up that information. Donnie is finally, finally away from the people who hurt him when he got found out last time, and even though logically, he knows that it's different here, he's absolutely petrified of the thought that the same thing will happen again and it won't be over anymore. He's still horrified by the idea of anyone else knowing about Leo when he's gone to such lengths for so long to protect him, and Leo is likewise terrified in the same way. They've spent years with this being their more closely guarded secret, and that's going to be really difficult to give up.
But it's really not a secret they'll be able to keep for long.
They're in a completely different environment, with far less space and privacy. They're both stressed as hell and Donnie WAS on birth control and taking all sorts of vitamins and supplements to make sure he didn't eggbind again and now he's suddenly not and it's not only messing with his body, it's fucking scary. It literally keeps them both up at night. Neither of them know how to wash blood out of clothes or sheets. There's no private en suite bathroom they can sequester themselves away in. They're both literally making themselves sick with anxiety trying to deal with this, and they're used to handling this on their own, this is routine for them, but they're not used to all of this.
They'd probably metaphorically limp through a few cycles before their family puts it together and gently confronts them.
Venus probably figures it out first. She's pretty smart, and incredibly observant, and after all-- she quite literally experiences the exact same thing. April may not lay eggs, but I think she'd be able to get the idea after a bit as well. And while I think Splinter would realize something was wrong pretty quickly, Draxum would probably realize what was wrong first. Splinter has April, so he has a little bit of experience in this realm, but Draxum has Venus and so he has far more experience.
And so when they do sit them down and talk with them, it's going to be really scary at first. And then they get to, "you're safe, you're fine, we can handle this however you feel the most comfortable. It will be okay. No one will hurt you."
And then there's finally other people in the know, in the circle, people who will actually help them. And yes-- there will definitely be tears.
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I FINISHED IT.
Cactus Bloom (51427 words) by Queenbananya
Chapters: 11/11
Fandom: Buddy Daddies (Anime)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kurusu Kazuki/Suwa Rei, Kurusu Kazuki & Suwa Rei & Unasaka Miri
Characters: Kurusu Kazuki, Suwa Rei, Kugi Kyuutarou, Unasaka Miri
Additional Tags: Pre-Canon, catching up to end of canon, Getting Together, Bathing/Washing, Healing, in the form of caring for Rei, Haircuts, ace spec Rei, POV Kurusu Kazuki, Fluff, Dancing, Slow Dancing, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Light Angst, Non-Consensual Drug Use, on a random person/small scene, Literal Sleeping Together, Canon-Typical Violence, Slow Burn, Mild Sexual Content, Canon Compliant
Summary:
Kazuki fell first.
He also fell harder.
Or, KazuRei throughout the years.
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