#dangerous eyes

[renn-aissance]

Of course when I’m not even trying for an Astarion romance I’m SWIMMING in getting his romance scenes. Honestly, I don’t think I had two of them on my first run!

I love Astarion, he’ll forever be my bbg and the loml but I’m trying to do a Gale romance and I find myself going ‘WHAT DO YOU WANT’ whenever Astarion needs to tell me something lol

[stromblessed]

Mizu, femininity, and fallen sparrows

In my last post about Mizu and Akemi, I feel like I came across as overly critical of Mizu given that Mizu is a woman who - in her own words - has to live as a man in order to go down the path of revenge.

If she is ever discovered to be female by the wrong person, she will not only be unable to complete her quest, but there's a good chance that she'll be arrested or killed.

So it makes complete sense for Mizu to distance herself as much as possible from any behavior that she feels like would make someone question her sex.

I felt so indignant toward Mizu on my first couple watchthroughs for this moment. Why couldn't Mizu bribe the woman and her child's way into the city too? If Mizu is presenting as a man, couldn't she claim to be the woman's escort?

However, this moment makes things pretty clear. Mizu knows all too well the plight of women in her society. She knows it so well that she cannot risk ever finding herself back in their position again. She helps in what little way she can - without drawing attention to herself.

Mizu is not a hero and she is not one to make of herself a martyr - she will not set herself on fire to keep others warm. There's room to argue that Mizu shouldn't prioritize her quest over people's lives, but given the collateral damage Mizu can live with in almost every episode of season 1, Mizu is simply not operating under that kind of morality at this point. ("You don't know what I've done to reach you," Mizu tells Fowler.)

And while I still feel like Mizu has an obvious and established blind spot when it comes to Akemi because of their differences in station, such that Mizu's judgment of Akemi and actions in episode 5 are the result of prejudice rather than the result of Mizu's caution, I also want to establish that Mizu is just as caged as Akemi is, despite her technically having more freedom while living as a man.

Mizu can hide her mixed race identity some of the time, and she can hide her sex almost all of the time, but being able to operate outside of her society's strict rules for women does not mean she cannot see their plight.

It does not mean she doesn't hurt for them.

Back to Mizu and collateral damage, remember that sparrow?

While Mizu is breaking into Boss Hamata's manse, she gets startled by a bird and kills it on reflex. She then cradles it in her hands - much more tenderly than we've seen Mizu treat almost anything up to this point in the season:

She then puts it in its nest, with its unhatched eggs. Almost like she's trying to make the death look natural. Or like an accident.

You see where I'm going with this.

When Mizu kills Kinuyo, Mizu lingers in the moment, holding the body tenderly:

And btw a lot of stuff about this show hit me hard, but this remains the biggest gut punch of them all for me, Mizu holding that poor girl's body close, GOD

When Mizu arranges the "scene of the crime," Kinuyo's body is delicate, birdlike. And Mizu is so shaken afterward that she gets sloppy. She's horrified at this kill to the point that she can't bring herself to take another innocent life - the boy who rats her out.

MIZU'S ONE MOMENT OF SOFTNESS AND MERCY, COMING ON THE HEELS OF HER NEEDING TO KILL A GIRL TO SPARE HER THE WORST FATE THAT THIS RIGID SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER WOMEN, AND TO SPARE A BROTHEL FULL OF INNOCENT WOMEN WHO ARE THE CASTOFFS OF SOCIETY, NEARLY RESULTS IN ALL OF THEIR DEATHS

No wonder Mizu is as stoic and cold as she is.

And no wonder Mizu has no patience for Akemi whatsoever right before the terrible reveal and the fight breaks out:

Speaking of Akemi - guess who else is compared to a bird!

The plumage is more colorful, a bit flashier. But a bird is a bird.

And, uh

Yeah.

I like to think that Mizu killing the sparrow is not only foreshadowing for what she must do to Kinuyo, but is also a representation of the choice she makes on Akemi's behalf. She decides to cage the bird because she believes the bird is "better off." Better off caged than... dead.

But because Mizu doesn't know Akemi or her situation, she of course doesn't realize that the bird is fated to die if it is caged and sent back home.

Mizu is clearly not happy, or pleased, or satisfied by allowing Akemi to be dragged back to her father:

But softness and mercy haven't gotten Mizu anywhere good, recently.

There is so much tragedy layered into Mizu's character, and it includes the things she has to witness and the choices she makes - or believes she has to make - involving women, when she herself can skirt around a lot of what her society throws at women. Although, I do believe that it comes at the cost of a part of Mizu's soul.

After all, I'm gonna be haunted for the rest of this show by Mizu's very first prayer in episode 1:

"LET" her die. Because as Ringo points out, she doesn't "know how" to die.

Kind of like another bird in this show:

[dreamweaverai]

[jasminebythebay]

hehe i love sonic's olympic outfits

[thenameisgul]

okay but ‘where’s the angel’ has got to be THE most romantic thing Dean has said about Cas and it wasn’t even said to Cas

imagine being in a land of monsters where every monster you ever killed is, they’re all stronger than you, all more ruthless and more vengeful than you

the news has reached everyone that there’s a human in purgatory, that that human is Dean fucking Winchester so they’re all gunning for you and yet,

and yet, they all know not to fuck with you even on their own turf because the monsters found out pretty early on that Dean Winchester has lost his angel and he’s pissed and he is not to be fucked with

so now the monsters are running from you, instead of the other way around

it’s the most romantic shit ever!

[lilislegacy]

*percy controlling akhlys’ poison to use it against her and choking her on her own tears and saliva*

annabeth: never do it again. never do anything like it again. i’m begging you

many years later

*percy and annabeth’s teenage children being held at knifepoint by enemies, seconds away from being killed*

annabeth: percy, do it

[poolboyvampirism]

i pledge allegiance to the flag...... 🫡🫡🫡🫡

picture if anyone wants it

[lucyllawless]

#rio protecting her wife

[turtleblogatlast]

It’s a good thing that the boys had cute little button eyes when they were babies, because imagine if they had big ol eyes instead, like

[theghooligan]

rhaenys, the realest bitch that ever breathed air to her punk ass nephews aemond and aegon:

[psin314]

poor Spite deserves some love too ❤️ (also love ur art sm its sososo good)

of course he does hehe. so here's a little kiss on the cheek. and... candles eating. 🗿never do this guys okay

also some thoughts on my spite x rook (ppffffhhhtffpf spook). im sorry my fellow horny spite enjoyers but it's not my cup of tea. spite's just a little very supportive guy. i dont think he really understands all the things rook and lucanis do to each other but he feels and sees that it makes them both happier so he's like nice👍👍. rook likes to give him forehead and cheek kisses tho.

[help-alaas-family]

🚨URGENT DISTRESS CALL

400 Days Of WAR On Gaza, Palestine

My Account Was Verified & Listed #99

I'm Alaa Khateeb from Gaza, Palestine with 8 of my family among us 4 young Children under 10 years we lives a Dangerous WAR from 400 Days Ago feels like 400 years.

Please Read Our Story

Displaced From Our Home 7 Times & Now Living In A Tent That Lacks Of Life. We Lost Our Jobs, Salaries & Everything.

Pictures & Words Fail To Describe Our Situation🥹

Please Don't Leave Us Alone. Help Us Even With A Little, Because it's A Lot For Us.

Please Click & Donate🙏

Your Donation Will Save Our Lives & Fix It🙏🏻

Direct Donation Link 🔗

[ryllen]

🌾 . 🍚

[samskiwi]

happy birthday to the album that changed my brain so bad that I still have not and will not ever recover from-

DANGER DAYS NATION RISE ‼️🗣️

[feroluce]

I have finally finished 2.4 and oh my GOD watching Dan Heng be so protective of his friends nearly killed me, MY HEART.

And yes, the cutscene where he pushes the trailblazer out of the way and even cushions their fall with his own body, but I mean even before that! When he was already trying to protect them and March 7th from Feixiao and Lingsha!!

Because if you watch the dango trio throughout the main quest, you'll notice that they often position themselves in the same way, which is a detail that makes me super happy that Hoyo thought to include- when the three of them aren't evenly spaced, March 7th and the trailblazer tend to gravitate towards each other and stand very close together, frequently side-by-side. And by comparison, Dan Heng usually stands slightly away, and often even slightly behind them, where he can pull on their leashes to wrangle them keep an eye on them.

This is probably a habit learned through experience, since March 7th said during Belobog she is the "queen of unannounced disappearances" fjdksajfkldjsak

And of course at least a little bit of it is just done for like, aesthetic purposes. It's a video game. Things have to look nice for the player. The trailblazer and Dan Heng are the same height, March 7th is a bit shorter, and Yanqing is even smaller. It makes sense to have the trailblazer and Dan Heng stand on the ends, with March 7th and Yanqing in the middle, it just looks nicer and more balanced that way. But still! Even when they're accommodating for Yanqing in this quest, they still all arrange themselves the same way, almost every time!

But this changes after Dan Heng and Yanqing become suspicious of the visitors from the Yaoqing.

The dango trio still stand around relaxed and in their usual manner when they go to the artisanship delve and meet Skott,

but Dan Heng takes notice of Lingsha when she arrives, and he and Yanqing mentioned her specifically when discussing their worries.

Yanqing worrying so much about Jing Yuan got me right in the heart, he's such a good boy WEH

And when the four of them go out to the alchemy delve to meet Lingsha for tea, the pattern breaks. Suddenly Dan Heng is standing right up front, and even walks in and enters the scene before March 7th and the trailblazer to get to Lingsha before them. He stays a step in front of them the whole time, too.

And then when Dan Heng and the trailblazer have to go be interrogated by Feixiao! The same deal! Dan Heng walks in ahead of them and stays in front of them! Noticeably so! Enough that even Feixiao takes note and voices it!

Dan Heng is so so fiercely protective of his companions, and I love it, I adore hyper vigilance in the wake of trauma like this, I'm so excited to see what else he does in 2.5, I hope we either get to see him get fucked up or the trailblazer gets fucked up in his place, I wanna see them run through the meat grinder!!!

[seagreenstardust]

Friendly reminder that Izuku didn’t go charging into the fight with the slime monster until after he saw it had Katsuki

He was literally at his lowest point right then. Not one person in his life thought he could be a hero, and that day both Katsuki and All Might had made it clear to him that they thought it was impossible.

Izuku was horrified at his role in setting the slime monster free, that his own actions could cause harm to someone else, but he still didn’t go running into the fight until he saw it had Katsuki.

He knew his role. He knew it was the heroes job to save, not his. He stayed in his lane, observed, took notes, prepared himself to act, but he still never actually acted until he saw Katsuki in danger.

Only Katsuki’s safety would have driven him to do what he did. Yes, Izuku is heroic. Yes, he is hardwired to save others. But at his lowest point, no encouragement or validation or support from any corner, it was Katsuki being in danger that pushed Izuku to act when no one else would.

It had to be Kacchan.