#can't believe it was only £5

[jellyala]

“The Holy Shepherd”

Do you all have time to talk about our lord and savior Saint Vanilla Cookie??? 🙂

Beasts Ancients au belongs to 👉 @cuppajj

[tubbytarchia]

I swear to god 99% of people watching WL forgot who won SL. Put some respect on his name

[kelkilou]

H̴̢͔͓̳͙̥̥̥͚͂̆͌̅͋̄͌̂͗̔ǫ̶̺͍̻̮͖̘̤̺̼̲͉̍̅̒̀̊̽̃̒̐̕͘͠͝͠ẁ̴̧̨̻̖͖͇̪͖̺͓͉͈̫̥͝'̸̧̙̲̦̼̘͍͇̖̖̗̣̞̃̈́̍͂̏͋̾͊̏̍̅͐͐͜ŝ̵̛̠̣̓̚ ̴͖͚̲͇̈́͂̈́̂̽̅̈́̉͗̔͜ṫ̶̻̼̪̜̙̺͎̠̞͚͙̞̱͑͗̀̎͆̏̅̋̿̆̂͜ͅẖ̸̨̨̗̣̭̥̣̱̣̖̜͛̌̌̑͛͜͝ͅȩ̴͕̠̪̭̥̖̫̞̘̣͊̎͛͜ ̸̧̡̗͕̣͓͙̝̗̝̦̇̾̋̏̑̔͜w̵̪̘͉̳͊̀̆͂í̸̩͎͔̂̋͛͠f̵͖̪̓̆́͊̿̒̕e̸͔̮̲̠͍͚̖̟̓͑̍̍̆̌͊̿̆?̵̯̗̰̣̹̒̚

[littlest-bugz]

Man :( My uncle kinda bummed me out about my fantasy series.

He's like "well you need humans or elves or something that readers can already relate to" and I'm like

the 10+ species I made was for nothing? The species I made to replace the human population is just,,, irrelevant? Like damn :( I really broke my back making this fantasy realm for 8 years, and I have to change it entirely now because humans need to be there for 'relatability'?

My wee little heart is shattered,, Would literally anyone read a fantasy series that doesn't have humans or elves?

[spacenintendogs]

part 2 <3

30 days of wolfox: day 25

[stsghrs]

jjk may be ending but satosugu is forever

[they-didnt-last]

anyone interested in talking about the iconic 2000's middle-grade-bordering-on-ya book series gallagher girls??

[cisthoughtcrime]

.

[girlivealwaysbean]

so many thoughts but i CANNOT stop laughing that all that time we thought louis had some elaborate mind control type reason for staying with armand and it was really just.. HIM TRYING TO MAKE HIS EX JEALOUS SLSKSKKSKSKS

[skitskatdacat63]

Vettonso x Similar Helmets

SV Germany 2012 x FA Monaco 2013: Gold & Dark Red

I think a lot about Vettonso and their mutual relationship witn gold. They're both golden boys, they're both seen lit gold by the sunshine on many podiums throughout the years, both have worn golden boots, and as you can see here: both have worn golden helmets. The parallels in these particular helmets makes me feel insane. Both are: gold with dark red accents, both have their birthplace's coat of arms(Bergstraße and Asturias), both have team animal motifs, and both have symbols to represent their two championships(You by now know the signifigance of the ones on Fernando's helmet, but I think the ones on Seb's are actually a callback to his Formula BMW days when he used to put the smiley stickers on his car for every win.)

And did you know both of these helmets were designed by the same helmet design company? Yep, both of these are JMD helmets. I know JMD helmets are/were pretty popular, but still, there's something to me about Fernando commissioning the same designer that Seb has been using since he was a literal child. Parallels, am I right?

SV Japan 2010 x FA Japan 2023: White with Black & Red

Haha I remember @protocolseben and I discussing this a bit back in September when Fernando's helmet dropped. I honestly think Seb is such an innovator and trailblazer in terms of helmet design, and you can see his influence in helmet design as recently as this past season. I'm not sure if he was the first ever driver to don a matte white helmet with red accents as a representation of the Japanese flag, but it certainly envoked him in my mind when I saw Fernando's!!

I think Fernando's is pretty similar to all of Seb's 2010-2012 Japan helmets but I like this one the most so! I think if Seb wasn't restrained by the Red Bull logo, he def wouldv'e put the red circle where Nando put his so I think Fernando did a really good job, even if unintentionally, at emulating Seb's sense of design.

SV Singapore 2012 x FA Singapore 2012: Sparkly!

Like I said in the one above, it's crazy how much Seb influenced helmet design. He was pretty much the pioneer of sparkly helmets for Singapore, right? It drives me absolutely insane that there's actually pictures of them together in such similar designed helmets. It's kinda funny actually that even though they're pretty deep in the championship fight at this point, and Seb just got one up on Fernando; Fernando is wearing a helmet that is a direct influence from Seb!!! Is that not insane???

Also, Fernando trying to be camp with trying the now in vogue sparkly Singapore helmet, and Seb accidentally completely blew him out of the water with his outrageous light up LED constellation helmet. But god yeah....to have pics of them in matching helmets from this era particuarly makes me emotional ;;;

SV Hungary 2021 x FA 2022: Pink with Dark Blue

I really could've picked any of Seb's 2021 helmets, but I thought this one matched the best with Fernando's main 2021 helmet(with the color pallet.) Also one thing, it's crazy how much control BWT has as a sponsor, I don't think I've ever seen another sponsor go so hard at having a chokehold on individuality. I like that we got pink liveries and pink helmets, but I don't think they should have that much control.

I'm almost kinda sad there wasn't any Miami GP in 2021, because I think that was the only unique helmet Fernando had in 2022. But these match pretty well! Pretty in pink!! It's crazy that their parallels in the 2020s are ongoing even before Fernando actually takes over Seb's seat. Thanks BWT I guess?

SV Abu Dhabi 2022 x FA Abu Dhabi 2022: Fernando's Seb Tribute Helmet

AND HERE WE HAVE THE PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE!!! The ultimate conclusion, it literally couldn't get better than this!! This is still unbelievable, like how is this an actual thing that happened!? Fernando intentionally branding his helmet, the only symbol of individuality in F1, with his rival's flag colors, HIS FLAG!!!!! Not to mention the literal "Vettono Best Moments" collage he posted alongside it....and the hand-holding....and everything that happened with them at Abu Dhabi 2022....

But god, after years of incidentally making parallel helmet designs, Fernando decided to officially tie the knot of the red string of fate, and make a helmet directly referencing Seb's. I think it's funny because as I said with two of the previously mentioned ones, those Fernando designs are pretty much inspired by Seb's, and here he is openly making one directly inspired by Seb. I don't really have words for how this actually makes me feel because it's just. Yeah. The most open and clear declaration of love and respect and admiration one could ever make. TO ME.

[worthyofmygrace]

Her gay ass kickstarted the apocalypse lmao. We love to see it.

[devoured-by-shadows]

Mountain at White River Amphitheater, Auburn, WA, 04.08.2023.

📸: Mike Savoia

[piratespencilart]

You, too, have touched the arcane... Your mind suffered.

Screenshot redraw of this moment.

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

Papaya rules... we used to be a real country

[vashtijoy]

"in a relationship": akechi's mother and shido

So the phrase Akechi uses to describe his mother's relationship with Shido, 愛人関係 aijin kankei, has been localised as "in a relationship", which makes me want to spit tacks.

What is an aijin?

Jisho tells us it means "lover; mistress", and that aijin kankei means "being lovers". However, Weblio tells us it is "mainly used to mean someone in a sexual relationship, especially an adulterous one with a member of the opposite sex."

Wikipedia tells us:

It was after the war that the meaning of "[aijin]" changed to "adultery partner". [aijin] in Modern Japanese: There is no formal marital relationship;... In some cases, the asymmetry of the relationship is implied, such as exerting some control over the other party or providing a large amount of financial assistance;... From the perspective of a third party, it may have a derogatory connotation.

So aijin used to mean lover, but these days it means something very much more like a mistress. The next line, which has not Google translated well, says: for example, a male student introducing his girlfriend to his parents will say "we are koibito (going out)", but not "we are aijin".

Several articles describe exactly what an aijin is. This one describes it at length. An aijin is not a partner. An aijin is financially compensated. An aijin relationship is not about the other person; it's transactional. An aijin relationship differs from ordinary sex work in that it's a medium- to long-term relationship—but the financial element is the same. Being an aijin is "a socially unacceptable existence".

Now, we could validly get into the politics of sex work here, and the stigma aimed at sex workers, but when it comes to what Akechi is saying about his mother's relationship with Shido? "in a relationship" is a misleading translation.

BTW, the last warning that article gives is that "an [aijin kankei] has the potential to destroy one's life." And, well.

how does p5 otherwise use aijin?

Some students talk about how Shiho will be Kamoshida's next aijin after Ann;

Shadow Okumura tells Cognitive Sugimura that he can take Haru as his aijin "or whatever you like", rather than marry her—to Haru's incredulity;

The trial Sae prosecutes in November is about a politician who "took his aijin to some fancy hot springs";

Some women on Harmony Alley laugh about becoming the aijin of politicians so they can live the high life;

In Akechi's deleted Mementos mission, Morozumi's mistress who commits suicide is his aijin. This is translated as "mistress";

The lawyers in Shinjuku have an exposition sequence here, explaining that the former prime minister's daughter was also Morozumi's aijin—and also committed suicide;

A couple of the Persona descriptions use aijin, sometimes translating it as "mistress", and sometimes as "lover"—but aijin did mean something like "lover" in the past, so that tracks.

So this gives us a pretty clear picture. An aijin is looked down on. They get spoiled, but also tend to come to bad ends. Aijin are disposable.

conclusion??

There's room for speculation here, but it seems pretty clear to me that Akechi's mother is not "in a relationship" with Shido—or at least, not as we'd recognise it. They have a transactional relationship, which resembles sex work more than a love affair before Akechi's even born.

This is very much more in theme, IMO, with the picture we get of how Shido treats women than the idea that they had some kind of dating relationship which only broke down when she got pregnant. aijin relationships will differ based on the people involved, but it seems like there will always be a power asymmetry—and we know Shido.