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loriache · 8 months ago

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Thistle & Senshi: Missed Connections

continuing my thistleposting... here is my manifesto for thistle and senshi: friends. In another life 😥

For one thing, they've been unknowing cohabitants for most of senshi's life. thistle doesn't think much of the non-golden kingdom residents of the dungeon, of course - he considers them trespassers and thieves! but there is a difference between trespassers and thieves who mind their own business, and even help keep other adventurers out (he obviously knew about and tolerated the orcs), and trespassers and thieves who make a mess of his dungeon (hateful, to be killed).

which I can't blame him for!

Based on what it looks like when marcille became the dungeon lord, we could assume that creating a dungeon is super easy - just rely on the winged lion for everything! But we see in thistle's flashbacks, that isn't how he did it.

Thistle did a lot of the work of building the dungeon manually. Perhaps because he was trying to build a sustainable dungeon, that could support a large population of living people - who he was invested in surviving themselves, not being replaced by puppets by the demon. They need a functioning ecosystem!

Of course, this is all pragmatic. After working on it for so long, I am sure Thistle is attached to the dungeon and its ecosystem, but more as a means to an end than for its own sake. As we see from the way that Laois defeats him, Thistle isn't really interested in monsters, and doesn't really understand the value of food...

Though I think he once did, and the fact he doesn't anymore is more down to the lion's interference than anything.

Senshi is attached to the dungeon's ecosystem. It's his home, even though he lost his family there, and he's come to care about it in its own right.

There are aspects of it he finds distasteful or dislikes, such as the immortality spell. But overall, if he had a chance to talk to Thistle about his hard work building up and maintaining the dungeon, he'd be greatly appreciative of it - this is his home, and it's a place that Thistle made to be a home.

In fact, Senshi (and the orcs) have been willingly living in the dungeon. Whereas the people that Thistle created the dungeon for have to be kept there by force. I doubt it's something he'd be easily appreciative of, but it's something, isn't it?

I also think it's incredibly cute that they both keep diaries.

Senshi's diaries have drawing, Thistle's have poems... they're both artists! Thistle with his music & Senshi with his cooking, they both have arts that they share with others to make them happy, and art that they keep to themselves.

Based on the diaries, including the ones in the complete Adventurers Bible..... it doesn't seem like Senshi ever learned Thistle's name! This makes sense since they really don't have much interaction - mostly Thistle talks to Laios or Marcille.

I don't think it should have gone any other way, since they're the protagonists and foils, but I do think in a more chilled out setting, Senshi and Thistle could get on.

Like Izutsumi, Thistle's a bit of a brat.

(I love him)

He probably had good table manners once upon a time, but I reckon he is very out of practice.

And we see he isn't in the habit of sharing:

Senshi would disapprove!

Senshi's desire to get everyone living well can be a bit overbearing. He already cleaned Thistle's kitchen for him!

But like Izutsumi, Thistle is another character that Senshi's habit of assuming non-dwarves to be children would be appropriate for. He's much older than Senshi, yeah, but his maturity levels seem to have stagnated along with his physical form in some ways. I doubt that anyone has treated him like a kid since way before he became a dungeon lord. The humans around him didn't understand his age, we can see that from the responsibility Delgal puts on him!

I think it would be good for him to have a person in his life who treats him like a kid, after he's had to be an adult so early and have so much responsibility for so long. And I'd like him to sit down and eat a delicious meal.

Sometimes that does happen! But Senshi would have done better </3

Thistle's ending is sad, but it's cathartic and makes sense. After being consumed by the winged lion, I doubt he'd be able to persist for a little longer, like Yaad - why would he even want to?

But I do think it would be nice if he could have met new people, formed new desires outside of his codependency with Delgal, and eaten a meal together with new people. Senshi could have helped him with that, if he had had the opportunity.

#senshi #thistle dungeon meshi #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #dungeon meshi meta #dungeon meshi #senshi of izganda #sissel #i'm serious about the spoilers. big spoilers.

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punkeropercyjackson · 5 months ago

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The thing about Jason is that he IS a feminist and racially inclusive character but because he treats the women and poc in his stories well,not because he's 'female-coded' or a substitute for canon poc.Now i do support transfem readings of Jason or Lina as i like to call her and consider him canonically afrolatino but that's because i love trans women fictional and real and am afrolatino myself so Jason reads as afrolatino to me from personal experience.And a big part of the latter is the diversity of his cast!!

His adoptive mom is an arab-chinese woman,his love interests are a wasian/half cambodian woman an egyptian woman and a darkskin black woman,his brothers he gets along with are that mom's bioson and his eldest brother on his dad's side who's romani and the remaining brother he's on good terms with is THE FIRST EVER BLACK ROBIN who is also the ONLY one he's always liked and been nice to and the only white character he actively likes is also a girl and has a completely platonic relathionship with him.This along with Jason's personality and other individual traits is why i have such a black view of him,because he feels afrolatino to me

That's what gets me about fanon Jason being claimed as a minority!!!Canon Jason actually works as one with a design update only but it CAN'T be just him!That's not representation or good writing!Instead of Talia bashing or some random ass white woman replacing her,she should have her pre-Morrison history employed and act like a typical brown/asian mom in a positive relatable and accurate way.Instead of sweeping Jason's girls under the rug for BEING girls and acting like it's not misogynistic because you're shipping him with Roy as if og Rhato dosen't have racialized misogyny fused into it's formula,explore their romantic dynamics with him and how they diffenterate and have in common and fucking care about Rose,Artemis and Dana as their own characters too as they're much,MUCH more than just 'DC's failed attempts to make Jason straight'.Instead of infantilizing Dick and animalizing Damian,make Dick Jason's cool reliable older brother he was close to as Robin but never mollycoddles him as Red Hood which JASON dosen't want as seen by his dislike of Roy and give him and Damian equal respect if not Damian way more since he's done way less bad fore more understandable reasons.Instead of lying about their age difference,aknowledge that Stephanie in current canon is 19 at the oldest while Jason is 23 at the youngest and in pre-reboot he was 19 when she was in high school and very specifically NOT a senior so yeah,it IS a minor x adult ship in almost every scenario they meet in the ship content

And for fuck's sake,STOP LEAVING OUT DUKE!!!!!!!The blue eyes Batkids rule isn't real,it's never been brought up in canon or joked about in official sources,it's segretation y'all made up!'Honorary Batkid' my ass,he's so literally Robin-coded the writers gave him light powers and 'The Signal' as his mantle!You know NOTHING about superheroes if you actually think Duke's not a core Robin,a Batboy AND a Batkid-Or if you think Jason's supposed to be a normie,a power fantasy or an abuser!He's a tragedy and commentary and an adventure and a comedy and same goes for Talia,Rose,Artemis,Dana,Dick,Damian,Duke AND Stephanie!Jason wouldn't wanna be Jason without them and they also do NOT exist just for him because they're his loved ones,not his tokens!Y'all want Jason Todd?Ight,then you want the Red Hood cast too because they're a package deal.You don't?Then keep that shit to yourself and invest in a dating app since you clearly can't write anything except white ass porn

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celeste444spacey · 9 months ago

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MANIFEST YOUR DESIRED BODY

Prequel: Working on self image

(TW: MIGHT MENTION ED )

So this post is about manifesting your desired body, desired look and the likes of it. And it's one of the most popular manifestations out there.

But before i get to the part of actually manifesting it, there IS a little bit background work to be done. And i will say this cause for a lot of people, and i mean A LOT (even me), we have resistances with manifesting a desired change in how we look and how we are perceived by others. And 90% of it usually stems from how we perceive ourselves.

If you have worked on yourself and have made progress far enough to just get into the manifesting, i'm really happy for you :) and this post may not be for you. I will be making a specific post on the manifesting part. This post is kind of targeted towards people who haven't done that or worked on their self IMAGE concepts and continue to experience resistances while manifesting their desired looks.

And please do bear with me, cause this is one LONG post

Let's get into it. This post is not necessarily targeted towards manifesting, it's more about working on yourself. If you are just interested in the manifesting part however, this post will not be for you. (as said before)

I really think the mix of manifesting + working on yourself is such a healing thing to do, and it is a killer combo for living the life of your dreams. I like to think of these two as self care.

Let's start with a few questions....

Do you do skincare? Do you like to pamper yourself by grooming yourself?

Do you avoid procrastination?

TW: Do you try to eat without guilt? Eat healthy? And even if you are eating something that may not necessarily be healthy, are you enjoying eating it?

Do you try to think good things to yourself? Avoid negative thoughts?

Do you brush your hair everyday?

Do you moisturize? Do you take a shower everyday?

Do you AVOID self loathing?

I know these are very basic questions, i'm not saying you NEED to have a skincare routine or ALWAYS have positive thoughts or ALWAYS moisturize.

I am trying to point out the core values of these actions. Go on, i'll give you a second to come up with the answer.

Yes, the core value is self care. You take care of yourself and you allow yourself to be loved and pampered.

Thing is, you don't even respect yourself. Honestly yeah, you totally don't

I know damn well you don't. You procrastinate, you stress yourself over the tiniest things, don't even like to keep yourself presentable or brush your hair. You don't like to take care of your skin or have some sort of routine, which allows you to have time to take care of yourself. You don't dress nice, always look down on yourself, compare yourself to other people.

No seriously take these SAME EXACT things you do to yourself and imagine a mother is doing it to her child.

EXACTLY. You see the issue now?

You don't want someone else to treat you like that, look down on you, stress you out, say bad shit about you

WHY DO YOU DO THAT THEN????

WHY ARE YOU BEING YOUR OWN TOXIC PARTNER

"oh but they would never like me i'm not pretty"

Let's change it to second person

"oh i don't like you, you're not pretty"

Stings, right?

Girl, like you don't even respect yourself, you don't even consider yourself worthy enough for an investment

It's not funny being self depreciating all the damn time.

When you procrastinate: you don't respect yourself enough to do things on time, and you disrespect yourself so much so that you're okay with stressing yourself last minute

When you don't brush your hair/ take care of your skin: You don't find yourself respectful enough to be made presentable

When you don't think nice things about yourself and look down yourself: YOU DON'T RESPECT YOU PERIODT.

Yes it's the small things and the small things count

It's always the little things, and these are the little things that are your biggest resistance.

Start respecting yourself.

Do things you like, allow yourself to grow.

Take care of yourself, start a skincare routine if you want, the investment IS worthy enough if it's YOU. Study, allow yourself to be knowledgable. Money is nothing if it comes/ gets saved at the expense of YOU.

And at the same time before you get into manifesting, acknowledge the parts of you you want to change, acknowledge the weight you want to lose, the nose you wanna change whatever it may be, contrary to popular advice, acknowledge that don't ignore it. It's you at the end of the day. It's a part of you.

and that's the post. The manifesting ones will be coming soon.

xoxo loves 🤍

#manifesting #manifest #affirmations #it girl #self concept #law of attraction #manifestation #self care #loa #law of assumption #manifesting appearance #manifesting advice

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trans-jon-rights · 5 months ago

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What is the Magnus Protocol ?

(And how does it tie in with the Magnus Institute ?)

With MAGP 19 being the bombshell it was, I think we might have enough information to at least draft up the beginning of a theory.

So what could it be ?

I suppose it might be just that, a Protocol of containment. To contain Newton's creation and whatever happened in London*. Still enacted to this day by the government, the O.I.A.R and Starkwall**. And maybe it is the reason why the Institute burned.

*I suspect what happened in London to be the Great Fire of London, which did help stop a plague and happened 18 years before the letter was written.

**As mentioned in MAGP 4

So with that we have the more concrete stuff set up, I think we can go into the slightly more crack theory, because I've had too much coffee and my brain is going to explode.

Albertus Magnus was a German alchemist from the 13th century. He was very interested in stones, and believed they held power, as stated in his work 'De Mineralibus'. There were also numerous rumours that he achieved immortality using the philosopher's stone, which was a huge achievement in alchemy (basically the ultimate goal).

His work inspired numerous others, including :

Metals and Materials

The Secrets of Chemistry

The Origin of Metals

The Origins of Compounds

Doesn't this remind you of something ?

The case also refers to Wilhelm Homberg, though I couldn't find much on him other than he was an alchemist, and that he looked to create the philosopher's stone as well (which confirms that whatever Newton found, it was about that).

Anyway.

Let's consider this. Sam confirmed in the latest episode that it at least somewhat related to alchemy. And look at this from MAGP 9 :

They were looking for catalysts. Even better, they had an entire department dedicated to them ! Maybe I'm totally wrong, but the direct synonym of it in my native language (un catalyste) is something that was used in alchemy, at least to my knowledge.

So yeah, we know it has to do with alchemy. I've yet to found it again, but I recall tumblr user @misfitmagpie did this very extensive post about alchemical symbols on the logo of the show, and others on more alchemical stuff if you are interested.

But it is very obvious the Institute studied alchemy, looking for something. I do have a theory as to why they studied it, but its not about the Protocol, so we'll hold that thought for slightly later.

To me, the Protocol is something meant to regulate things, and was enabled by the government. But the government might have at some point considered the Institute dangerous, much like Robert Hooke did with Newton's experiment, and decided to destroy it. Usually the destructions involve fire. Newton's lab did burn down, and the mentionned previous iteration was likely to be the Great Fire of London in 1666.

(It is also notable that, although irrelevant to the current theory, the charity shop in MAGP 7 did burn down as well, which would further strengthen the idea that Starkwall is the current enabler of the Protocol for the government)

What else burned ? The Magnus Institute.

The very same Institute that was invested in alchemy, and that I am uninclined to believe was well intentioned.

And here I'd like to introduce you to something. The Franciscans.

Those guys held the belief that the Antichrist was coming and that the philosopher's stone was essential to stop it.

There's also a concept of balance (something something Robert Smirke something something) involved which dictates that for an Antichrist there needs to be a Christ.

And the Institute did research on children, measuring their development, empathy and compliance. Whether they were looking for the Christ or the Antichrist is unsure, (though seeing that high empathy level children were rejected speaks for itself) but they were looking for something.

So here, I could conclude. Say that the Institute was looking for the philosopher's stone, and the Antichrist, and that the Protocol was used to destroy them. But there's more.

Do you remember MAG 140 ? In this episode, Basira says this about Maxwell Rayner :

And here I have a fun fact for you. Did you know that Albertus Magnus wasn't originally named like this ? His name was Albertus the Great, and he became 'Magnus' after his death (Magnus meaning 'The Great' in Latin).

So what if ?

What if Jonah discovered Albertus' old works, and decided to follow them, resulting in an imperfect immortality like in TMA, and founding his Institute to further his research it and access a perfect one ?

And maybe he succeeded, and then decided that he wanted more, and tried to find the Antichrist. Finding use for the child would be easy, and he could hold it as a Damocles sword up everyone's head.

Then, he almost found them, and the Protocol was executed. That would give us a potential identity for [ERROR], being either Jonah or the child that yhey couldn't destroy. If it is Jonah, that would explain why he was following Alice, if she was indeed Connor Dyer (and Alex confirmed that she was trans mtf, so the possibility is more than likely). But also, considering [ERROR] I voiced by a woman, I rather think it might be the child.

I don't believe Albertus to be Jonah, mostly because if he already had access to immortality that early, why wait so long to look for the child. Though Jonah being a relative would explain the origin of his last name and how he found Albertus' old works.

In short, I believe the Magnus Protocol to be a Protocol of containment/destruction of knowledge by fire, related but not only limited to alchemy. It was used in 1999 to stop the researches conducted at the Magnus Institute. These researches were looking for an Antichrist, and conducted by the maybe immortal Jonah Magnus, who had discovered the secret to eternal life and the philosopher's stone exploiting the work of Albertus Magnus.

I am going insane.

Please send opinions and corrections ! I am far from an expert, I'm just a sleep deprived guy who did some research so don't hesitate to correct me ! You won't come out as rude and I won't be offended I promise.

#max talks #tmagp #the magnus protocol #tmagp spoilers #tmagp theory #tmagp thoughts #the magnus protocol spoilers #the magnus protocol theory #alchemy #jonah magnus #albertus magnus #sam khalid #alice dyer

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be-it-so · 14 days ago

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Okay, I lied, I'm not done with vengeance saga.

For some reason I'm still so angry and sad because of it, that I need to criticize it more or I won't be able to sleep.

I'm again so fucking disappointed, the whole saga felt like some kind of joke. I mean, the song I was worried the most about - "not sorry for loving you - turned out to be the most normal one. Like, yeah, Calypso is still very selfish and manipulative, Odysseus just want to be as far from her as possible and etc, I don't like that we are clearly expected to sympathise with her, but you know, in the context of this saga I'll go with it.

Dangerous felt a little overdone. I love Hermes, "wouldn't you like" was my favorite song for a long time, and maybe compared to it "Dangerous" is trying so much to go with the same vibe, but feels so deliberate about this.

I don't have much to say about "Charybdis" because there is nothing really to talk about, visuals were great, but everything felt so rushed, and also so meaningless, like they just needed to show at least one obstacle for Odysseus before Poseidon and nothing more.

And, yeah...

"Get in the water" and "600 strikes".

If you haven't guessed it yet, I'm very disappointed.

First of all, it is a lot weaker musically that I've expected. Okay, maybe there are good. Maybe I just am not able to hear this, because through these two songs I just stared at the screen with the confused and disappointed look, so I wasn't able to enjoy music or acting on its own.

Second, I was so interested in "get in the water", i liked the snippet we had so much before. It was so cool, emotional, and dark. I was so invested in finding out how Odysseus could escape this, what he might have said to change Poseidon's mind, maybe expected there to be some gesture towards the Odyssey, where Odysseus would tell Poseidon that he will go on this quest with the oar and so on. Also, i hoped to finally see "snake tongued" Odysseus in action because, like, that's what he is the most known about, for his mastery in words.

But this?

This was so bad. It also feels so fucking disrespectful to Poseidon, like, don't get me wrong, i like the change in power balance, I love when a character who wasn't able to do anything at some point now is beating the shit out of his former abuser and etc, BUT THIS IS NOT WORKING WITH THE GODS AND MORTALS IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY. AND THIS IS NOT WORKING WITH POSEIDON AND ODYSSEUS, THE STORY OF THE ODYSSEY IS NOT ABOUT HOW TO BECOME STRONG ENOUGH TO BEAT THE GOD. IT IS SO FAR OFF!

Like, yeah, the original is neither about "learning that you need to be ruthless to be able to return home if that's what you want so much", but there is difference in the level of what level of getting things wrong is normal and can be called "creative liberties" and what level is just bad. If you wanted so much for Odysseus to show how ruthless he became, well, we've already seen "different beast" to show us his cruelty, don't you think that maybe if they showed us how epic-Odysseus is able to put aside all the men Poseidon has killed and all of the pain he himself have gone through because of Poseidon and just talk with him, bargaining about his own life or something like this it would have also shown his ruthless side in a new way and be so much more believable? Even if he pulled out "there are other ways" move I think I would belive it more than that he is able to defeat Poseidon, the god of SEA, STORMS and EARTHQUAKES, PHISICALLY, in the SEA, with the STORM and fucking power of friendship (no, I will not stop calling it like this).

You know, I have a lot more to say about this, but I guess i'll stop with this. I guess I feel so bad about it because I really liked epic, yeah, I had problems with it, but I considered it nice adaptation even if it's kind of far from the source material, it felt very good and respectful to the original Odyssey, but now it became this. So yeah, I'm really disappointed.

And also, even if epic Odysseus was somehow able to defeat a god, what the fuck will stop epic Poseidon from returning after couple of months recovery and just wipe whole Ithaca off the face of the earth after such offense and shame? Like literally what? Or little epic Poseidon is now so afraid of big bad epic Odysseus that wouldn't bare even think about his name again?

#vengeance saga #epic odysseus #epic poseidon #epic the musical

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drdemonprince · 8 months ago

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ive seen you talk about FIRE/mr money moustache and i am interested in how you balance that with your politics. i ask because i am also interested in FIRE but struggle with the idea of saving 2mil+ to retire early when people need money NOW to survive. not just broadly but even loved ones and community members in my immediate vicinity. i dont mean this in an EXPLAIN YOURSELF sort of way, just so many of the FIRE etc people i find writing about it dont really address this aspect and its something i struggle with internally myself.

Sure, I don't mind speaking about this at all. I wish I more frequently had the occasion to because it's a major special interest of mine.

First, I'm not interested in the saving 2 million dollars (if that were even feasible) school of financial independence/ retire early. I'm more of an adherent to the r/LeanFire, r/BaristaFire type approach of maintaining a consistently very frugal standard of living that is sustainable for me, on a relatively smaller savings, and pursuing a life of relatively little consumption.

I also think that MMM, despite his many flaws, is broadly accurate in stating that when people continuing working all their lives, they also create more ecological devastation by consuming a whole of a hell lot more resources on convenience and burning more fuel, while chasing after a steadily rising living standard set by the norms of their profession. By taking myself out of the workforce sooner rather than later, I will be contributing less to climate change and waste because I'll need fewer convenience meals, fewer car rides, fewer flights, fewer hotel rooms, fewer fancy professional clothes, and so on and so on.

I also spend a lot of time on the Socially Conscious Mustachians group on Facebook, which focuses on investing one's savings in ways that are less ethically problematic. The easy mode version of this is simply putting one's money into index funds that exclude oil companies, gun manufacturers, etc. But honestly, today, with interest rates being as high as they are? It's pretty easy to just sock one's money into a CD or a bond, collect the cool 5.4% interest, and avoid having to contribute to the stock market directly at all. There are even high-yield savings accounts at credit unions that pay out about that much interest these days, and those entities typically do not invest in oil pipelines, BDS targets, or anything all that objectionable.

As for the hoading money while others are in need piece: Well. yeah. that's a difficult ethical challenge that we all must consider. how much can i hold onto for my own wellbeing in the spirit of "putting on one's oxygen mask first" without it being wealth hoarding? how much should i give to other people when i see that they are in need --someone could easily make the case that I have the moral obligation to give away what i have to my very last cent, and I couldn't really argue with them on that. maybe a person should do that. but i'm not going to do it. and of course the effective altruism freakos would counter that if i invest my money and grow it now, i will have more to give to others in the long run than if i cash out now.

realistically, i won't be able to continue working for much longer without having another health episode or worse. i will not qualify for disability benefits because high maskers who have had careers usually do not. and social security's coffers will be entirely drained long before i reach the age to qualify for it. if i enter my non-working years without any resources, someone else will have to worry about me staying housed and medicated and fed.

i tend to think of my retire early stash as my own little private disability benefits fund that will allow me to live safely and will hopefully allow me to take care of other people that i love as we age, and that will give me the freedom from having to do any morally compromising capitalist labor ever again, and only put my energies towards causes that either fulfill me or benefit others.

but it's still rooted in a highly individualistic capitalist system, this holding onto money under my own name and investing it thing. im sure a lot of people would choose instead to sock all of their money into some kind of cooperatively owned communist farm or something, and you know, some day down the line i would love to put money toward a big multi unit building that lots of people i am in community with could live in, with no financial obligations for them. but i dont have anywhere near that kind of scratch. as hannibal buress (that landlord piece of shit) said, "i don't have fuck you money, i have strongly worded email money." and you know, being able to write a strongly worded email to people who would otherwise be exploiting me into another huge burnout does feel good.

thinking that one day i might not work anymore is one of the only things that keeps me going. i am always on the razor's edge of not functioning, i dont think people really realize that, how could they, the mask is there to prevent them seeing it. im beyond privileged to even get to CONSIDER the dream of getting by on my savings for however long human society continues to exist. and it sure would be better if i could extend that kind of freedom and peace of mind to others. my life still feels very precarious and it always has and ive had to be stable for the sake of others for a long time, ive had to be financially responsible for others for a long time. i cling to the idea of FI/RE because it offers me a way to finally break down and be weak. but something more community oriented and interdependent would sure as fuck be better. in the meantime i guess im saving for something like that i could trust enough to give myself over to.

i also have a really strong fetishistic desire to be someone's completely brainwashed sex pet for the entire rest of my life, and having an early retirement account would really help me facilitate that

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thisisnotthenerd · 3 months ago

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not going to spoil anything outside the cut but the beacon membership is absolutely worth it if you're a 2x adhd girlie like me and want to get sleep before 2 am on thursday nights.

might go back tomorrow for a rewatch, but hell yeah. plus it streamlines combat indecision. the only thing i miss is the pre-stream music, but i can always tune into twitch for that and then start the ep when i want to. anyway:

great episode. i loved the hells needling at ludinus: the witches straight up poking holes in his ideas, orym going fuck you, ashton and dorian contemplating a new world order but still hating him, braius advocating for his deity, and chetney shooting through the door with questions about molaesmyr. every time he tried to sidestep a question from chet you know it's about some good shit.

also they run the gamut of kill the gods vs not: dorian in favor because of what he saw with the spider queen, ashton leaning into some primordial thought processes, braius hating the primes, chetney mostly concerned with the effects on exandria, laudna questioning ludinus' denied god complex, imogen considering their flaws as compared to mortals, fearne seeing their relationships, and orym neutral but considering the unknowns and the implications of making that choice for everyone on exandria.

ludinus giving them the arcane battery to deliberately trigger delilah. what the fuck matt. but also, excellent way to force a confrontation with her before more shit goes down.

it's a small moment, but ashton leaving a shard of fcg in aeor and saying welcome home.

the preservation of the soul anchor giving them the possibility to remove and bind delilah, we don't know what will happen to laudna if delilah is removed. i'm of the opinion that she could survive on her own sorcery because of the nature of the shadow sorcerer subclass, but is serving as a sort of phylactery for delilah, while she retains the pact. she's not in a place where i think she would take a different patron, so we'll see how it goes. i personally hope they can remove her, and then laudna gets a chance to be truly alone in her own mind for the first time in 30 years.

also, sam's back! braius has an interesting perspective that he's fully invested in; having that kind of commitment as an aspect of his character provides a good contrast against some of the vague aimlessness of the hells. it's good. it's fine. i'm sure this will all turn out great. the voice does remind me of tary.

#critical role #cr spoilers #bells hells #c3e102 #laudna #imogen temult #fearne calloway #orym of the air ashari #ashton greymoore #dorian storm #braius doomseed #chetney pock o'pea #delilah briarwood

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imthepunchlord · 2 months ago

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So, out of curiosity, what's Zoe's set up in the Zodiac Heroes story? Is she still Chloe's half-sister, or are they full siblings? Is she a stepkid, an affair baby, or maybe an orphan/adopted kid the Bourgeois family adopted for good PR and only really picked her specifically because she just happened to look like she could fit in with family (appearance wise)

So, this answer will also extend into the future Rewrite, as Zoe's whole thing is (from what I've heard and gathered) is really vague, confusing, and inconsistent.

But Zoe I'm ultimately going to go with being a stepsister, as, ultimately, it really feels like Audrey and Andre should just straight up be divorced. And Zoe just wants to keep and get along with her stepsister, which is why she joins her stepmom to Paris to connect with this extended family.

I think that's the best solution working off them being sisters, and the messy relationship that is Andre and Audrey, and working off Audrey being gone for so long. Especially as the wife of the mayor of Paris, I would expect the spouse of a big political figure to be more present. So them being divorced just makes sense, and it can work off Andre spoiling Chloe even more to make up for it, plus she's now the remaining precious family member in his life.

I will say, I did consider having Chloe and Zoe being cousins, having Audrey's last name be Lee and Mr Lee is her brother; but wasn't really sold on the idea. I think I'd rather do that for the Couffaines, especially as I did think Jagged was potentially Anarka's younger brother and he just felt younger than her (so canon's choice of making him the dad was so awkward, and from the little I've seen, I don't really like it so I'd rather skip out on that romantic history from Anarka and Jagged, just overhaul it).

And, yeah, recently, adoption came to mind, given what I learned recently on how s5 ends. Only thing, by set up, that can give Zoe a lot of attention and investment plot wise, and this is a character I just don't really have strong feelings for, and I'm not that interested in her at all. I also don't like the outcome of Andre adopting Zoe.

Like, wth ML crew.

I know Mr Lee isn't really brought up much, and we don't know anything about him as a person or parent, but he was established. But you can't just hand wave away his existence so Andre can adopt her. If this is keeping Zoe in Paris, just have her attend school abroad.

And I also call bs on Andre dropping the monster of his own creation for a "better" child. I know Audrey gets a lot of rightful blame for how Chloe turned out, but between the two, I blame Andre more as he's the active parent in her life, and we see he spoils and enables her. To me, he's more at fault for how Chloe came out as he actually raised her. He can't just wash his hands of her and have a different kid. That's not how it works.

Especially when this show confirms over and over again how terrible he is as a person. Honestly, this whole family sucks. Andre should've just ended up in jail for corruption. I don't like this route of him being a victim/the good Bourgeois cause no, he's terrible. He's freaking ending s5 kidnapping a kid. And given his history of parenting, I'm not sure I'm going to like where Zoe ends up.

Anyway, the adoption thing could've been better if Mr Lee didn't exist and Zoe was an orphan and picked for publicity and because she looked like she could fit in, but they didn't plan far enough ahead for that. And I guess decided they liked Andre enough to be officially adopt Zoe?

But that set up does mean she should get a lot of attention for her situation and I am just not invested in her that much.

So, stepsisters it is!

Attending school in Paris for at least a year (for ZH anyway, not for Rewrite as Zoe is not going to stay) and to get a chance to bond with her sister. It just makes the most sense to me given her initial intro, Audrey and Andre's relationship and them being divorced just makes more sense, and you can still get that same sort of drama you expect between the two very suddenly now sisters.

#ask Punchie #ml salt #andre bourgeois salt

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starchaser45 · 3 months ago

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JJ eating Cheetos: so they did it to you too huh

Lila :yep, they summaries my whole complicated character to an unnecessary love triangle so that the male lead who was my best friend can have a love interest * fully sends a shot*

JJ: same but mine was kinda worse he was also my kids' godfather and it didn't even do anything or go anywhere other than confuse him it's was totally pointless none even knew about it it just made things awkward for literally no reason

Lila : wanna hear worse this whole thing blew up in front of my entire family my kids included his siblings including my husband

JJ*gasp*: no you were married to his brother

Lila: yep and it was a great love story that they ruined for no reason like I was still in love with my husband too I mean I fell in love with five for survival

JJ: totally understandable, his name is five?

Lila: stop interrupting me

JJ: sorry

Lila: anyways he genuinely fell in love with me so he got his heart broken cause I didn't choose him so I broke both of their hearts and relationship basically and yk the kicker this bullshit was never resolved we all just fucking ceased to exist

JJ: Jesus Christ you all just fucking died

Lila : nope ceased to exist it's like we were never there we never existed

JJ: fuck I feel like in owe my writers an apology , nah

In another room

Reid*holding his coffee *: so you really couldn't stay in a timeline where there was other people

Five*holding his coffee*: stop scolding me I don't even know you

Reid: ik you're stupid, like you couldn't have told anyone

Five: none of them would have understood

Reid: but Lila did why couldn't you go alone or take one of your siblings let Lila copy your power so if something happens she could get you instead of going with zero knowledge

Five: we didn't think of that we wanted to be discreet

Reid: but why it makes no sense it's completely irrational and I find hard to believe that you would do that considering last time you did it you ended up lost in an apocalypse

Five: the writers decided that I shouldn't think ig

Reid: god I hate when they do that so another character could shine

Five: nope that didn't happen

Reid: what

Five: they kinda ruined all of us and then killed us off sorry wrote us off as if we never existed

Reid: Jesus poor Diego he losses his wife and brother then gets killed off

Five: hey you're not better than me you fell in love with a married woman too

Reid: oh yes I am and I didn't fall in love with her more like old feelings resurfaced and was managed quickly I didn't cheat on anyone it just made thing a little awkward*sips his coffee "

Five: lucky asshole *sips his coffee "

Reid : eguh that's really bad coffee

Five: yeah it sucks

Reid: not worse than you tho

Five: hey!!

I just love how JJ is like super invested and Reid is like you dumbass there was literally 10 other better ways to do this 😭

I might actually make more of these with different characters this is so much fun 🦦

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polyamorousmood · 7 months ago

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How do you deal with insecurity in a polyam relationship?

I've been in a poly V before, with my girlfriend at the time, and her other partner; but I honestly wasn't really invested in the relationship so I wasn't bothered.

I feel like,, if I have a partner and we either a) accept another and form a triad or b) I end up with a metamour again, I would end up worrying that my parner(s) would leave me to simply be together.

(For context, I have AvPD so like... abandonment is a complex of mine and I'm working on it but I'm still so insecure a lot of the time.)

So.. yeah. I've seen you address jealousy/envy, and I know I'd probably deal with a bit of that (in the sense that 'oh, b gets to spend time with c while I'm at work, I'm envious' kind of way) but I know that insecurity would be the thing that would bother me the most

Polysecure by Jessica Fern is generally considered a holy text 🛐of polyamory and this exact question in particular. I haven't read it personally (yet. Its on my list my list is just long 😅) So if you haven't given that a go yet, everyone I know who has read it, has recommended at least sections of it. I know it talks about attachment styles and how to handle those, which might be helpful if you have avoidant personality disorder.

The other thing, of course, is consider bringing this up with a therapist, because I am not one. And this seems like a touchy enough topic that everything I say here is pulled from my experience and should be taken as "ideas to think about🤔" and not "clinical advise that will Fix It🪄" As per usual, LOTS to go over here. So. read more.

P.S. after typing up everything, I realized this post I wrote to help a supportive partner address insecurity might also be helpful for you, and even has a worksheet! Its probably better formatted too. So.. maybe I wasted my typing here 😓. C'est la vie.

Firstly, you never said you identify as polyamorous. So if you're not... you could just date monogamously 🤷 as much as I love 💟polyamory and would like it if the whole world loved it too, if that's gonna be too big a thing for you, there's no reason you have to bother at all.

If you are going to date polyamorously for whatever reason, BEFORE you introduce another person to the mix, have a regular, set time you and your partner spend apart. It sounds counter-intuitive, but maintaining your own social life and identity outside your partner is huge. Do this especially when you're super invested and want to spend every second with your partner. That's honestly true whether you're poly or not, but in this specific case. I think a lot of the fear is bolstered by the idea that without you there, your partner is just spending that time loving the other person. And maybe they'd like to do that more blah blah blah. But this proves that's not the case: when you're not there, you partner is getting drinks with the girls, or building model ships, or any other numerous things they like independent of you. And it also means you're not just pining over your partner when you're gone, you have other shit to do too. And you'll come to look forward to your two hours a week at the coffee shop (or whatever). You will learn reasonable time apart does not equal less romantic interest.

And then, on the flip side of that, set regular protected time with your partner. Not to say never ever will something come up that interrupts that. Emergencies arise🚨, or the time may have to be renegotiated later, etc etc. But having the confidence that no matter what, you'll have a movie date every week, or that Tuesday night is Romance Night, or whatever you decide on, can make it easier. It can help prevent you feeling taken for granted, and can naturally curb NRE with other people if that starts getting unruly. If your partner starts wanting to cut into this time for not-important-shit, tell them you're not okay with that, or -- and only if truly it feels okay to you -- at least get them to make the time up the next day. And you, of course, need to treat it as special too. Make the time important, fulfilling, and intimate. It can be any activity, as long as its bonding time -- quality time, in the truest sense of the word.

Take time to get to know yourself, and share it with your partner. What do you consider to be sacred between you and your partner? Are you okay with your meta and your partner having sacred things -- what type of things? Do you feel better knowing the details of your partner's other relationships, or will that make you more jealous? (I like knowing more, because the thought of my partner having this secret life without me makes me more insecure, but other people are very reasonably of the opinion that hearing that their partner had so much fun without them is a bummer.) How much about you are you okay with your partner dilvulging to your meta(s)? Go through this on as many things as you can think of. Now, what you're comfortable with is not the only factor here; you and your partner will probably both have to make some concessions to reach something workable, but I've found that process, with a good partner, to be more securing in and of itself. You both are working together towards a common understanding. Its generally good practice to avoid hard-and-fast rules here, when possible. For example, "I'm only okay with you dating others if you're home by 11🕚 every night" makes some sense, but if taken literally means if your partner gets a flat on the way home, or has to deal with your meta's mental breakdown, or even just wants to see a movie that won't finish until 11:05 -- that's a betrayal. Perhaps even just asking for a one-time allowance is a betrayal. Instead, work for understandings or guidelines. Maybe the similar understanding in this example is "its hard for me to sleep alone, so I'd like you to generally be home by 11:00, and notify me as soon as possible if that's not going to happen" and then when they bring up wanting to stay out late one night for something, you can ask if its possible for them to do it on a night you don't have to work in the morning (maybe they can, maybe they can't, the point here is that its a dialogue, see below). There will be some trial and error here, so be prepared for that and stick it out.

Don't take every problem as a sign things are doomed, or your partner is divesting, or your partner isn't worth your investment. There will be times when someone is actually abusive, or there will be irreconcilable differences. I'm not talking about those. I'm talking about "My partner is late for the second time this week, they're pulling away from me, this is the beginning of the end"-type shit. No it ain't. A good exercise for this is to explicitly outline your worst-case scenario💣, followed by a best case-scenario🌈, and then a few most likely cases⬜. So from our example above, worst case is that they're pulling away (so you have to pull away faster so you "win" and avoid pain), best case-scenario is that they're late because they're buying you a gift on their way home, and most likely scenario is that traffic's worse than they planned or they ran into someone at the gas station and stopped to talk for a bit or whatever.

Figure out how to self-soothe. Make a stache of nice things your partner has done for you that you can check on your own to remind yourself you're important to them. Reframe some of your jealous worries. Remind yourself of things you're looking forward to with your partner. Make a vent journal. Whatever clicks to you.

And as always, 🗣️talk to your partner. Productively talk to your partner.🗣️ Talk to your partner as much as possible about how things make you feel, and make sure they're doing the same. I talk more about how to talk through problems here, and its worth the read imho (even though its equally long). But for now, know that forming this habit on its own is functionally indistinguishable from being securely attached. As long as the communication is you and your partner vs the problem (and not, for example, your insecurity vs your partner's willingness to compromise), this will be good for the relationship, and you will feel better for doing it. But to form that habit, you have to do it with everything, not just Big Problems. You have to tell your partner sincerely how much you appreciate stuff they're getting right, you have to tell them about small problems that you can handle on your own, you have to tell them about things you're not sure how you feel about yet.

#jealousy #insecurity #poly relationship advice #ask box is always open

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amelikos · 1 month ago

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Overall thoughts on the Terastal Debut chapter.

As usual, just stray thoughts and ramblings which I am writing for future reference.

I first came into this arc with apprehension because I am not really into the game characters (not just SV but in general, there are few I really love and could consider myself a fan of, but even then I don't necessarily feel the need to see them in another media because they work well enough in the games?) and don't like seeing them copy pasted into the anime and taking space (we really don't need to see the same story in the anime or any other media, that limits the potential for the kinds of stories being told). I am not really into the competition aspect either or the gyms etc (this isn't the only thing that goes on in the Pokemon world, there is potential for much, much more). (Yeah, I watched all of anpk. Yeah, I don't like the strong focus on competition or having to see the game characters. We exist, etc.)

Either way, I was apprehensive because I really didn't want this chapter to be about the competition or the badges or whatever (we finally escaped the curse of following the games or having to do the challenge, so..). Battles can be fun to watch and interesting, but I am not that much into them happening just for the sake of it, I mostly care about the story being told through a battle and what it's supposed to say about the characters involved, what it brings them, etc.

Overall, the way the Terastal Course was structured kind of dispelled my worries. I thought it was smart to frame this as a training arc and literally use the Gym Leaders and the Elite Four for training, and make them teachers and coaches who help students. It makes them likeable and approachable, and adds to the world too? The Elite Four and Gym Leaders being actually invested in trainers' growth, nurturing talents wherever they come from... and the Elite Four not being "out of reach" and hanging out around the school, talking to students, paying attention to them. They were not "untouchable" trainers who only allow a select few to battle them, they participated in the school's events and cared about all the students. Which makes them likeable to me. Because I understand what purpose their strength has. Which was one of my "problems" with the strong focus on competition before... it's like okay, but what do you use your strength for? What are you doing with it? Does it have meaning? And it's neat that in Horizons, we get this setting where experienced trainers nurture the younger generation in a constructive way (because they do elaborate on what the kids need to improve on). So we have the answer about the purpose of their strength. They help others find themselves and guide them. Might I add, this kind of setting constantly adds to the overall narrative and the Explorers side of things. We get Liko, Roy and Dot who get guidance from adults around them, and they are not left to their own devices, and it's shown as a good thing. In comparison, Amethio doesn't get the same amount of guidance and he had to master Terastal by himself. So even if Amethio's appearances were far and between during this chapter, the way the writing makes a point to show that one side gets guidance and help, while another side (Amethio) has to handle things alone by himself... I love how intentional and careful Horizons is about its writing and contrasts/parallels.

Also, I think the Terastal Course adds to the world because I just think it's fun to show that they can make up courses to focus on one specific thing... It made me think that maybe, they have other courses to help people handle other problems they might encounter. And the Gym Leaders are like coaches and professionals who could help them deal with their issues because they know how to handle Pokemon, etc. Like, not everyone necessarily wants to win badges and participate in some competition. But maybe people want to get stronger for other reasons (if they travel to places where they could encounter wild Pokemon who could attack them, etc), so taking a course who could prepare them for such a scenario is practical. And the idea of the Terastal Course loops back to my thinking that it makes the Gym Leaders etc more approachable. They are not just like "if you don't want to win my badge, die", they actually get invested in multiple sides of their responsabilities as Gym Leaders. Which makes them feel more invested in the community around them (nurturing the trainers and helping them, etc). Like, that bit of Friede calling Grusha's Gym in HZ064 to let him know about Liko being lost in the mountains was such a nice touch. It made me think that people can rely on Gym Leaders in such situations, and that they don't leave people to their own devices. Especially since mountains can be dangerous, it feels reassuring to know that they can just call up Grusha's Gym if serious trouble occurs, and he'll be there to help since he knows the area pretty well. Which, again, adds to the Explorers side of things. Because Friede immediately had the reflex to call for help and Grusha stepped in to help find Liko. And Amethio didn't have that, he didn't have an adult stepping in to help him (in fact, it was quite the opposite). The two sides of the story constantly linked, etc.

Either way, I thought the way this training arc occured to move the story forward was neat and well introduced (the ship getting broken at the end of chapter 2, thus giving a reason for Liko and the others to part from the Rising Volt Tacklers for a short time in order to get stronger, because their confrontation with Rayquaza made them want to improve). I also liked that we constantly got to feel and know why the trio was taking the course. Establishing in HZ046, the first episode of the chapter, each reasons they had for taking the course (and those same reasons were brought back during Liko's narration in HZ067) and getting reminders through the chapter that they were doing this to reach Rakua/Rayquaza, so the underlying purpose of the course was always at the forefront and served the overarching plot. For example, the string of episodes about the reports felt tightly woven because it was: the kids are doing homework -> why are they doing this and working on reports? -> because they are taking the Terastal Course -> why are they taking this course? -> to get stronger and to achieve their goals -> why do they want to get stronger? -> Rayquaza/Rakua, etc. These set of episodes were quite lighthearted, but just framing them as "homework for the course" made them feel much more meaningful to me because it constantly reminded me of the reason why they were doing this in the first place (which comes back to the Six Heroes).

I also liked the fact that they focused on different aspects when it came to the trio's arcs in regards to battling. The way Horizons explores battling or the approach to it is interesting to me. I liked the Gym Leaders the trio had to face and how it served their personal characters arcs and fit them, instead of being the same thing for everyone or just focusing on "raw strength". Roy had to perfect his craft (his arc's approach to battling is more of a "traditional" one in a way, and not necessarily one that appeals to me the most, but I do like that they make a point to address his issues, such as not focusing or being predictable in his style, and make him work through them so his growth as a trainer feels organic). Dot had her insecurities and tried to work through them while getting more confident and also dealt with frustration (over a loss and a win, so that was neat). Liko's arc in regards to battling is my personal favorite, I think it ties in very well with her arc of learning to put her feelings into words, learning to stop holding back (which Nyarote also had to go through since she held herself back out of fear of hurting others).. the approach of having her learn to enjoy the moment and then feeling fully immersed in a battle and enjoy it, and how it ties in with her emotional arc and connection to Nyarote and desire to understand Pokemon more.. very, very good. Just a very interesting and unique approach to battling for me, especially for a protag. Especially since Liko was someone who gave up on a battle because she didn't want to trample over her opponent's dream (Wakaba in HZ021), so seeing her grow to that extent is satisfying. Also loved that they pointed out that she is stronger when she fights to protect someone, rather than battling for sport (Liko is a magical girl...). I love her character and everything about her arc. It's so interesting. Anyway, it was cool to see the different approaches to battling depending on the characters. Characters like Liko and Dot already knew how to implement strategies and had quick thinking during battles, so their personal arcs weren't really about that and focused on other aspects.

Anyway, if I had to think about the battles which left an impact on me during the course (battles which stories I like because of what it says about the characters involved): Dot's basics test in HZ049/HZ050 (Dot's set of episodes with Nanjamo and learning how to be confident outside of her Gurumin persona was touching and well depicted), Liko's Elite Four battle in HZ056 (Liko and Kaede vs Chili, I especially loved how this episode focused on so many female characters... women uplitfting young girls my beloved... Chili and Kaede are so cool and they were who Liko needed at that point, I loved how Kaede was patient, gentle and supportive and Chili was completely different in terms of personality but they both got through Liko in their own ways), Liko's implementation test with Grusha in HZ063. The entire set of episodes, from Liko meeting to Grusha, to him failing her, to him acknowledging her in HZ066 and encouraging her to get stronger in the arc finale in HZ067, was amazing.. definitely liked the nuance and it's definitely the course test that will remain on my mind the most. I liked that Grusha was strict and had his own values and that his perspective slightly changed at the end. And I wrote about it before, but I liked that the resolution to this specific plotline happened without necessitating a rematch (it would have only encouraged Grusha in his views and he needed to open up his mind a bit, so it's good that they handled this differently) (also, I personally liked that Liko was set up against opponents who had the advantage over her in terms of typing throughout the whole course, it pushed her to her limits and made her improve etc). Also, I liked Liko vs Roy in HZ067 in terms of battle during the course (good friendship battle, and a nice way to close the chapter!).

In terms of characters from the game that were implemented in the anime: my favorite Gym Leaders are Nanjamo and Grusha. I was skeptical when Nanjamo first appeared all the way back in HZ015 but her relationship with Dot is really good and adds a lot to her character. Grusha is also really interesting (and it helps that he is a character type I am drawn to ww), I liked that they took time to delve into his background a bit, made him face Liko, and essentially making parallels between him and Amethio gave me lots to think about. Intertwining Grusha's appearance with the Explorers back into the action was nice.

My favorite Elite Four member is Chili, she is very charming and overall fun. Honorable mentions to Kaede, Clavell and Botan. Kaede plays off others well (the way she interacted with Sango, had comebacks to Chili's jokes, encouraged Grusha to say some nice words..). Clavell was nice to Sango and Onyx, so that's a plus in my book. He actually paid attention to them and wanted them to make friends with Liko and the others... that was cute. Dot befriending Botan was a good show of how far her character came (first time she befriended someone on her own).

(I don't dislike the others game characters or anything, I appreciated what they brought to our main characters and their roles, but they don't make me insane basically. The others I listed above made me think a bit deeper about them and I wouldn't mind seeing them again. Also, I realized that all the characters I listed were involved with the Explorers side of things... Nanjamo helped find Liko when Spinel was involved back in chapter 1, Grusha is similar to Amethio and got to see Sango and Onyx, Kaede interacted with Sango, Clavell interacted with Sango and Onyx, Botan helped deal with Agate... Chili is the only exception? So yeah, there is definitely a pattern on characters I'm drawn to if they are initially from the games.)

Anyway, outside of the course and battles, I also thought the focus on the trio's Pokemon and seeing them grow was neat. Shout out to that one moment in HZ052 when Kanuchan split a berry in two with her hammer to share with Terapagos, because that was the cutest thing. And the whole thing with Nyarote being a big sis who had to take care of Terapagos in HZ051, and Mibrim coming off as the middle child who is trying her best to help too. Casual scenes showing that Terapagos just loves having fun, helps stop fights (back in HZ051) and genuinely gets along with everyone quickly (HZ057 when Terapagos immediately played with the wild Pokemon) also helps add to the characterization and makes Terapagos's reaction to Amethio stand out in comparison. Terapagos really likes everyone, but the sight of someone reminding him (presumably) of Gibeon makes him angry... Overall, I always like the Pokemon side of things and loves seeing them have their own personalities (like, the way Nyarote and Soublades both took care of their trainers in HZ065, which showed off their protective sides.. that was great) and seeing fun moments with them. I like when the Pokemon feel like characters.

On the human side of things, seeing the trio work more as a trio this chapter was also great.. also the way their individual characters had more bits added to them. Liko's growing confidence, the way she interacts with the world and people around her, the way she was challenged and had to deal with frustration at different points, her willingness to stand up for what she believes in... Seeing Roy's backstory and the reason why he loves singing added more to his side of things, and the implication that he sings to ease his loneliness is an interesting bit. I also enjoyed the fact that the Roy and Dot's friendship had more individual moments between them this chapter (the focus was understandably more on Liko and Dot individual moments before that). Seeing Roy lend her Kaiden back in HZ048 (emphasizing the trust between both of them), the way he encourages her and tried to include her when he skated on the ice, their high fives at some points etc.

Dot's character is also always good and I enjoy the way they keep adding depth to her or keep making her relationship to food interesting (she tried more food this chapter, she helped out a restaurant...). I also think Dot this chapter was very much about allowing herself to give back and love people around her. Seeing her being more openly supportive of Liko (and paying attention to her changes of mood) and her friends in general, trying to think of ways to help her friends, encouraging them (and also feeling encouraged by them), her relationship with her Pokemon, her making a new friend all by herself... I could keep going on forever about Dot, but yeah, she is just great. And I like that they keep adding a lot to Liko and Dot's dynamics, it somehow always gives me new things to think about and keeps getting reinvented. Their relationship feels so dynamic.

On the Explorers side of things, I enjoyed seeing more of Sango and Onyx in casual settings. I went from "they are fun" in chapter 1, to getting more and more invested in them as time went by. Very much took shippy enjoyment out of their interactions this chapter, too. Like yeah sure, keep telling me that they probably live together, that they go out to eat together and that they both stick by each other's side no matter what and that they need the other by their side to remain calm. Their last moment in HZ067 was basically everything I wanted for them (they care about each other so much, and love is stored in the sandwich, etc..). Wish we could have seen a bit more of their students lives this chapter though, but oh well. Even if they didn't show me them working on their reports or going through their tests, I will entertain the thought anyway.

The other Explorers characters gave me lots to think about, too. Seeing more of Agate in action was nice (I wanted to know what subject she was teaching though), and her personality showing through was fun. I wonder what's the deal with her and (potentially) her family... getting more of her insight bit by bit helps me have more thoughts on her too. I support her wrongs, anyway. And same for Spinel. I feel like the writers have fun whenever he is around because he is definitely a character (him and other adult characters like Friede or Agate) who allows them to explore specific things in writing that can only be explored with his kind of character (and not younger ones like the trio etc).

Also, a bit strange remembering that we only got confirmation that Gibeon was Amethio's grandfather this chapter. When we wondered about it for so long before that. Hopefully next chapter explores Amethio's family a bit more, especially since his father was brought up.

In terms of episodes that I liked the most.. definitely HZ065, if I had to pick only one. Liko and Amethio's episode, important narrative shift and seeing everything I thought about from the day the initial Horizons poster dropped and the narrative intent clearly laid out felt so satisfying. Still impressed with this specific episode because it feels so unique in terms of what we've gotten before in the franchise... just two characters stuck together in a cave and talking, and that dialogue being important for both of them (even if that info was already known by the viewer). Very much took my shippy enjoyment out of it too, AmeLiko good.. Amethio showing that he is able to be a listener and offering his own words of support, getting through Liko in a specific way that no one else could. And the narrative making a point to show him, in particular, as the only one who could get through her in that situation and making Liko reaffirm her desire to keep on going despite everything, and making her stick to her own path no matter what (which then leads to fruitful results, because both Onyx and Grusha acknowledged her etc...). And Liko, being someone who often keeps her worries to herself so as to not inconvenience others and who can get lost in her thoughts, having someone in that moment who offers a steady kind of support, makes her talk with no filter, and hears her out and tells her the words she needs to hear.. it's very good. Also still feeling something over the fact that Amethio's question was very specific and hit the nail on its head, since he specifically asked "you hesitated during our battle, when I used Terastal, why did you give up so easily" and essentially made Liko face her issue and try to talk about it. His question wasn't vague, and I think Liko is probably the type to pretend things are okay if she is asked "are you okay?" but Amethio's words were specific to her situation. It shows that he is someone who can pay close attention to others and notice their emotions too. I think it's neat, and cool. That, and Liko's offer to work together being officially out there for Amethio to consider more deeply. Very excited about their future. What are they planning with my shoujo characters.. (I have specific thoughts about how they are framed, but whether the writers make use of the whole setting or keep it open depends on them..)

Anyway! I might or might not have covered what I wanted to mention. Maybe I'll come back and add more to this post later, but I just wanted to get it out there before Rayquaza Rising begins next week.

Basically, I enjoyed what this chapter had to offer, even though I'm not big on the side that reminds me of the competition. Using game characters to serve the original anime plot is a good way to showcase them (and the trio needed to train against other people at some point anyway). Seeing more of the characters and Pokemon in different kinds of settings was fun, and advancing the Lucius mystery bit by bit kept me hooked. Wish we could have had a bit more of some things (like, Sango, Onyx and Agate at school).

I hope the next chapter features more of the RVT, because I missed them a lot this chapter. Pls, don't expect me to live without seeing or hearing Friede outside of his seminars multiple weeks in a row ever again :/ That, and hopefully more on the mysteries and Explorers side of things. (I'm side eyeing the game characters that will appear in Rayquaza Rising, but hopefully they'll be implemented well, like they did this chapter.) The original story and Horizons doing its own thing is what makes it so good, so I hope we'll get stuff to consider in the upcoming chapter.

#character notes #episode notes #chapter notes

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piracytheorist · 6 months ago

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I chose violence ! So, ask 22. <3

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

I am really choosing violence here because I recently got the Family Portrait light novel book and I (re-)read the story of Anya and Damian getting lost in the woods and I am so amazed at how people miss how their dynamic can be funny.

Look at how Anya completely dismisses him and tell me she deserves to be reduced to an "I can fix him" narrative for Damian's uwuification. She's not playing "hard to get", she's standing up for herself while Damian is being too stubborn to confront his own conflicting emotions.

To be clear, this is far from my "favourite part of canon", but among the "parts of canon everyone else ignores", this is probably the one I feel people miss the most about. It's not funny when Damian bullies her (yes I have seen that take before because some see the bullying as "teasing" between equals and sorry but it very much isn't), it's funny when Anya ignores him or one-ups him and he's just left there pouting and grunting.

I cannot comprehend people seeing this and taking it seriously. It's just funny because Anya only challenges him when she's not trying to. She tries to help him, or impress him, or do anything positive, and she gets the cold shoulder. Then she gives him a funny look and Damian's entire world is shooketh. But saying that Damian was never a bully, that somehow his intentions were always noble, or that he never considered her lesser is just... biased, for starters, and second, it removes from the equation how funny it is that the girl he tries to avoid at all costs even by insulting her - or her father - to their faces keeps coming back to haunt him because he has a crush on her. The uneducated pleb actually helped me! The horror!

It's just funny and I cannot comprehend taking it seriously. You work with kids for a few years and you only see that stuff as funny antics you'll laugh at with your friends, and nothing close to something you'd get invested in. Like fr there's a girl at the school I work at always complaining about one certain boy and I joke with my friends about how people are only so obsessed with others when they have a crush on them - but it's just that; a joke between me and my friends, and something I would never even dare to think to utter in front of any of my students. And the thought of giving one (1) iota of shit about my students' romantic relationships makes me wanna barf. Let alone doing that for six-year-olds, even if they're fictional.

Idk I just feel that amatonormativity has just poisoned the public opinion so much that only romance is important and all other fictional character dynamics are merely an afterthought, if even that, and that can only make discussing fictional stories less interesting, more limited, and more shallow. And honestly, it can be unfair to the original material (yeah yeah I know death of the author but sometimes you gotta separate canon from headcanon and fanfiction). There's so much fun to have with fictional stories if you set romance aside for once.

(Anime only fan here and not interested in debate on this. Don't spoil me and don't try to sell this ship to me)

#ask and ye shall receive #maimaktes #nette speaks #anti-damianya #<- hey hi I use this tag for the protection of y'all #please filter it and leave me be

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rocksibblingsau · 7 months ago

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Hey so since everyone is throwing adopt branch ideas I'm going to to throw this out there, Bergen adopted branch. Here me out ok. Since he's grey he can't make bergans happy so they give him to prince gristle as a pet till he regains colors to make him happy. Eventually tho they bond being grey and unhappy. Poppy even mentioned the similarities in the first movie. When the prince becomes king he makes branch a person of royal status because he has no friends. He can tell Bridget likes gristle cuz he's actually a smooth romantic (he got it from Bruce) he probably does is so gristle would leave him alone. They realize they don't need trolls to be happy! Branch has just been like: this sucks but at least I'm not dead and some Bergen don't 100% suck. I'm not sure how he'd react to them being happy… but just throwing this out here.

I'm a sucker for Bergen AUs (Bergen Branch a concept I love toying with), and Branch being 'adopted' by the Gristles is a very interesting one! I actually believe I saw one here on tumblr, though I can't recall who made the AU.

I could absolutely see Gristle Jr as a child being a bit more open to actually talking with trolls, and with Branch talking back to him he'd likely quickly see Branch as a person.

This is the one AU where I don't know if Branch could regain his colors early. He has a lot of Bergen trauma and unlike the rest, no one is actually invested in his mental well being from the get go. Here's the kicker though, he's also not been exposed to as much as the Pop Trolls nonsense, so he might not be as jaded and openly hateful to music itself.

I like the idea of Bridget cleaning Gristle's room and talking to Branch, or rather talking at Branch. I don't think she'd ever have gotten to eat a Troll either (Chef clearly doesn't consider her a 'person' much so she wouldn't have given her one during Trollstice) so I don't think she's aware they can really talk. They sing, yeah, but to her and most Bergens it's probably more in a parrot type way (mimicking language but no human levels of sentience/sapience).

She sorta uses Branch to vent to and talk about how in love with Gristle she is and how he'll never notice her and after enough times of this Branch gets tired of the silent treatment not working and says something and nearly gives her a heart attack.

Branch ends up playing therapist to two Bergens.

"Out of the three of us, two of us being creatures of pure misery incapable of feeling even the faintest joy on their on and one of us being a creature of pure joy made to sing and dance nonstop... how am I the most miserable person in the room?"

#sibblings qna #trolls bergens #trolls branch #king gristle #trolls bridget

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hotmessmaxpress · 6 months ago

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Firstly, your writing is a gift from god.

Secondly, I am begging you for a Vale POV of Marc in the yellow shorts (OF au)!

I mean, firstly, he is a possessive mf and seeing that definitely gave him a heart attack, but secondly he couldn't really have known that Marc was a big fan, right?

Like yeah, Marc knew him/his tattoo, but like he's Valentino Rossi, if Marc is into motorbikes, he knows Vale, it doesn't mean he likes him. And he might have only showed up at that GP because of the situation or because he's a MotorGP fan. But the SHORTS?! Like damn, that boy loves you.

This is, dare I say, not good. But! It is words! It's words that I put together! It's something!

Thank you for sending in a prompt and for your support 🤍 I'm really hoping to get back in a better writing headspace soon! Until then, I hope this is okay.

Rosquez OnlyFans au, interlude: Vale's perspective of the Tiny Shorts

Vale is frustrated, nearly vibrating with pent-up energy despite winning the race over the weekend. He’s desperate for something to take the edge off, but nothing feels quite like what he had with Marc.

He tries running, hoping to tire himself out enough to make his mind stop racing. When that doesn’t work he goes cycling, but he can’t stand to be on Tavullia roads without an engine between his legs. He goes to the ranch and putters around, lubing bike chains and checking oil and air filters. He can only check the tire pressure of so many tires though, before he feels like he’s going insane and he goes home.

He finds Marc’s DM as he’s oscillating between laying on the couch and feeling restless, walking around the house and feeling restless, and walking around outside and feeling restless.

It’s long: a wall of angry, betrayed text that feels like a knife to the gut. Vale knew that Marc wouldn’t exactly be happy about being blocked, especially considering the amount of financial support Vale provided, but he hadn’t expected it to take an emotional toll on the young creator.

You didn’t have to kick me out of the paddock.

Vale doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but with a sinking feeling he texts Uccio. He knows that Uccio is just being protective of him, but it’s frustrating to think that Marc could have been in the paddock, so close to seeing Vale, but apparently removed.

Vale and Uccio argue and Vale follows Marc on Instagram. He tells himself it’s out of spite, but then he spends the next several hours looking through Marc’s substantial number of posts. Marc’s instagram is much different than his OnlyFans, for obvious reasons. He still posts a lot of pictures of his collection of bikes (something that Vale’s cock takes interest in), but he also includes photos of his home and his dogs. It’s surprisingly domestic, and Vale finds himself unexpectedly invested in Marc’s home life.

The next post from Marc is… hot. He’s working out, sweaty and shirtless. Vale watches it more than once, taking in all the lines of Marc’s body. He’s seen them all before; he’s seen his abs flex as he rides a cock. He’s seen his strong thighs bounce him up and down. It feels like there’s no part of Marc that Vale hasn’t seen, but there’s something about seeing Marc like this that really does it for Vale.

The posts continue, with Marc in various states of undress and various levels of sweatiness. Vale turns on post notifications and becomes bolder about liking Marc’s posts, not at all mindful of how quickly he likes them. He jerks off to some of the posts, feeling a little guilty about it, but he can’t help it. He’s caught in a limbo between not wanting to piss Uccio off (and possibly damage his reputation if someone were to notice his social media activity) and wanting to claim Marc’s attention for himself once again.

One day Marc posts a workout video. It’s similar to the others, but Vale realizes immediately that the shorts Marc is wearing are his shade of neon yellow. They’re tiny, so tiny that Vale is surprised Instagram hasn’t flagged it as porn.

Vale likes it immediately, and then as his mind spirals he opens his own merch website. The shorts are nowhere to be found, which means that Marc hasn’t bought them recently.

Which means he must have already had them.

The bikes, the recognition of the tattoo… Vale selfishly wonders how big of a fan Marc really is. He wonders if Marc found him sexy before they began their OnlyFans repartee. When did Marc buy those shorts? What has he worn them for?

Vale is hard, painfully. He pulls his own cock out unceremoniously, watching the video on loop while he fantasizes. He pictures Marc shirtless, with only the tiny shorts on, rubbing his cock through them. The shorts are tight enough that Vale knows he’d be able to see every vein, every detail of Marcs’ hard cock. He imagines Marc coming in them, soaking the front of them. Vale wants to press his face to the front of them and lick. He wants to taste Marc’s cum through the fabric of the merch that bears his name like a brand on the ass of them.

He takes a shower when he’s done jerking off to Marc’s video and the embarrassment has passed. On impulse, he sends a message: I’m sorry you were removed from the paddock. He has no idea if Marc will want to speak to him, but it’s clear to Vale that he’s not going to be able to stay away. There’s just something about Marc that draws Vale to him. There’s no way Vale can go the rest of his life without Marc. He has to see this through.

#onlyfans au #rosquez #mm93 #vr46 #I am not fully satisfied with this but it is a full 40 minutes past my bedtime and I'm honestly just happy to have written something

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