#different but similar problems; they complement each other so well

[papikyoo]

what drew you to kabumisu? :3

i've meant to answer this since forever but oh my it's going to be a long post XD

I once said it's Kabru's line of thoughts for me. I don't think he will move on with his day and not thinking of how promising Mithrun's life is, he would want to be there, witnessing it, helping him find the purpose even. I believe it's a bit ooc for him not to do so. While he also finds comfort in the absense of social expectations, when you examine closely he has some cynical view about people because he's learned at a young age that he needs to prioritize others' safety and feelings, it is expected of him (Milsiril as an immature mother and Kabru who lost his hometown and family so he set the impossible standard for himself)

He deduces their motive so he's always one step ahead and solves their problems. So when he faces a person who doesn't expect anything of him, it helps him developing the need to do things for himself, that need is still about helping others ofc because he's not going to unlearn the trauma response soon and helping others encourages improvement as long as you don't sacrifice your own needs, the difference is helping Mithrun also let him reflect on himself, swallow a bitter pill, and lead by example.

And here's Mithrun, needing a guide, needing someone who will bring understanding and stop him when he's going to set himself on fire or crossing the lines, while knowing where he comes from. I don't think Mithrun shared his backstory to anyone except Kabru because he even tried to deter Kabru's enthusiasm, other canaries members don't really understand him, he started to cry when Kabru, possibly the only person who knew, touched him because he knew Kabru would relieve his sadness that's bottled up, so it's safe to say that he wasn't that comfortable telling everyone his own past or struggles, it makes sense to me that Kabru noticed and told him the world didn't need to know all of that, treating him like a human with grace. You see, there's always one guy who will be one step ahead and hold him down.

Let's say I just think they complement each other, similar but not the same, what the other person lacks challenges the other to be a better person, they can pick up the slack for the other's weaknesses and work well as a team as you can see in the six days chapter. If i'm being honest, I don't think that their relationship journey is a path paved with rose because both of them have their own conflicts waiting to be resolved. But I really can't think of more suitable characters to ship them with, so they are an endgame ship to me. They also have their funny moments too lol. Thank you for the question, I hope this is comprehensible!

[last-flight-of-fancy]

I would love to hear your trans alphinaud and lesbian alisaie headcanons or more about the subtext you see! Especially alisaie.

AHHH oh gosh i would love to answer!! Though I must admit that these are built from many (MANY) small moments across the whole game more than a few easily pointed at examples, which means its.. kind of difficult to pull up (and remember) all the evidence.

That being said, i do still have Many Thoughts about it :DDD

First off trans Alphinaud was set into my mind very early on by one simple fact: identical twins are almost always born the same sex. like almost invariably, with the very rare exceptions needing some wild extenuating circumstances. and you cannot tell me those two are fraternal.

now ofc this is fiction, and a fantasy world besides. who's to say the writers knew that particular fact? well good news! alphinaud presents a *lot* of other common trans experiances, which are scattered throughout the msq and optional side dialogue.

(shoutout to me for having the exact same thought four years apart before and after playing the game myself. i have absolutely no memory of the first post at all because i also have no memory of watching my partner play shadowbringers even though i definitely did. rare adhd memory loss win! i got to experiance my favourite thing for the first time twice!)

post 1: dated 2019, talking about how alphinaud is extremely trans coded, being an identical twin of a different gender to his twin, cannot swim, is body shy and *extremely* hesitant about using public showers, and having interests that are traditionally coded as feminine in fiction.

post 2: dated 2023, the same thing but this time talking about how wonderfully alphinaud and alisaie are made to complement each other in opposite ways.

he cant swim: related to the body-shyness and hesitance around the showers, its VERY common for trans people to experiance these things due to dysphoria and societal perceptions. i myself started experiancing this (even though i LOVE swimming) when pubescence started to hit. (it sucks!) alphinaud was probably one of those ones who realised VERY early what he was (logic boy who is too dang smart for his own good) so he just.. never learned to swim at all. kept his nose buried in books instead.

traditionally feminine interests/abilities: sure it could be trope subversion, but personally i think theyre also things he just enjoyed before transitioning and thus continued to do.

and one more that i can remember off the top of my head: alisaie's reaction to estinian mistaking her for alphinaud.

"but alphinaud has no problem with being mistaken for-" let me explain, i swear it makes sense.

see, alphinaud is a little logic boy at heart, we know this. he knows he and alisaie share their features, that is simply a fact. alisaie though? alisaie is ruled by feeling, and reacts accordinly. most notably the Incident when she first meets estinian.

what i find especially interesting about this is that prior to that moment with estinian, neither of them appear to have much issue with their similarities. it's only after shadowbringers that alisaie reacts with such contempt

(probably not helped by her not liking estinian much in general lol)

what this says to me is that some time before or during ShB, alphinaud told alisaie that the way people mistake him for her does bother him, but he can't blame them for the mistake considering the circumstances, so he just doesn't mention it.

alisaie however can and will blame them and thus the next time someone mixes them up (rip estinian) she EXPLODES. because it's not about her. if it was about her i honestly dont think she would care nearly as much. but it's about her brother, and how dare you hurt her brother's hidden feelings by not being able to tell them apart.

(completely seperate headcanon but i do think that estinian is faceblind as fuck, which means he never stood a chance on this one, poor guy)

okay now for lesbian alisaie <3

what WAS it that thancred said about battle scars and maidens? and whyfor are you thinking about this alisaie? :3

also: Tesleen.

also also: Emery (A Malm in her Shoes short story)

fr tho alisaie pays attention to and talks about girls a lot. in a way she never does about boys. bringing up my complementary opposites wrt the twins thought from before, it honestly could've been another way the writers COULD have done that, having alisaie attempting to impress boys with her athletic skills the same way alphinaud tried to impress girls with his artistic ones (something he is teased about repeatedly). like the absence of this potential parallel is almost suspicious tbh...

once again, any one of these things in isolation is probably simply a choice in writing, but all these things together spell out to me one thing: alisaie likes girls. exclusively.

(im sorry you wanted lesbian alisaie thoughts more and i have less of that than the trans alphinaud ones, but if you come back in 3-5 years when i've finished my second msq run i will have compiled a far more complete list of evidence for both complete with screenshots, probably lol)

[4lph4kidz]

hai :))) thoughts on roxy<>jake?

pointing and laughing at you for forgetting to click a button

anyway yeah i like it, though a lot of this post is going to be me examining their respective character flaws and potential issues with a moirallegiance, i definitely do think they could/would have a supportive platonic relationship. i see a few different interpretations flying around when it comes to the pale quadrant but if we go by the comic as-written, the role of moirails is to 'balance and complement each other's emotional profiles, and thus allow their other relationships to be more successful'... roxy and jake get on well, but do they actually balance each other out? i think they might be too similar in some ways, and i get the vibe that the pale quadrant is typically about people with contrasting personalities coming together.

that's not me shooting it down though, i do think these two compliment each other quite well. they enjoy each other's senses of humor and i really like their pesterlogs because it's really fun to see them bounce off each other! additionally, they both seem to enjoy aspects of femininity and feminine presentation so i think they'd enjoy bonding over and exploring that.

ramble continued beneath the cut, tl;dr they are both well-meaning people who want to support each other, but i think there's a possibility that they might struggle to communicate around more serious issues. it would take some effort to make it work, but it COULD work!

in general i'm a little hesitant to say 'oh yeah this relationship would definitely be 100% functional' because. it's the alpha kids. they have a lot of personal flaws that result in a lot of interpersonal problems, and those might emerge here too.

broadly speaking both roxy and jake seem to have impulsive sides, so maybe they'd egg each other on in irresponsible ways? and though they talk on the quest beds, those are pretty exceptional circumstances so i don't know how good they would be at communicating in more ordinary circumstances - roxy's light-hearted demeanour can make it seem like she's not taking things seriously and jake is very non-confrontational and avoids having difficult conversations with his friends. though maybe those communication styles match actually better than anyone elses would, i'm not sure.

another concern i have is that while roxy ostensibly works through some of her issues on-screen, jake does not - and roxy is all too used to being 'the supportive friend' while jake is usually wrapped up in his own issues. i don't know if i want them to be locked into that pattern where she has to support him and doesn't get enough back, you know? i do think they could be good for each other, it would just take some work from where they are in canon - and we DO see them putting effort into being there for each other in canon! especially on the quest beds. given the trickster hangover roxy is a little worn out and irritated by jake freaking out on her, but even though reassuring him is kind of a lot she still shows him a lot more patience and understanding than anyone else.

(maybe i'm just an idiot falling for jake's facade, but he does read like someone who genuinely needs direct communication sometimes. for the love of god... we need to diagnose him with something...)

and later into act 6, she is genuinely exited to see him and tries to reach out to him!

roxy clearly still likes jake. she reminds jane that jake isn't *genuinely* trying to be an asshole, and she tells dave that she thinks jake is a lot of fun if you can get him out of his shell, which bodes well for their friendship.

now, on jake's side of the moirallegience... i'm not sure exactly what kinds of support jake could provide roxy in return, though he is good at matching her energy. i can see him being genuinely excited and supportive as a friend. that said roxy is tired of putting everyone else first and being the designated shoulder to cry on, and i don't know if jake really has the social or emotional awareness to support her in that way. he's self centered and gets wrapped up in his own problems, but he is beginning to recognise that during his turning point on the quest beds.

and as we see a few screenshots above, he tries to offer her support when it occurs to him to do so! he does want to be a good friend and roxy of all people seems to understand his limitations best. so i think he could be a good moirail... but he would need to undergo some PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT first.

sidebar, i'd need to reread first to be certain but i heard somewhere that jake never does the rp thing again after this and if so thats really funny:

(removing a means of obfuscation for the benefit of others, hm? the rogue of void strikes again...)

anyway, wow all this is without even TOUCHING the fact that their pre-scratch selves knew each other and extra-canon materials in particular would suggest grandpa harley seems to have had a big influence on mom lalonde which is... [stares into the middle distance forlornly] sad. like, roxy beats her acoholism, but if jake doesn't figure himself out he is in real danger of winding up just like grandpa harley, you know? so i really like building on their dynamic with that in mind. you know maybe they don't need to be tragic and dysfunctional adults. maybe they can do better this time around! maybe.

[ladylooch]

hi girlyyy ❤️

weve seen jealous timo over em .... but what happens when mr hischier gets jealous bc lex is looking extremely gorgeous and getting a lot of male attention 😘😫

It takes a lot for Nico Hischier to turn any shade of green in regards to his wife.

Not because she isn’t stunning, she absolutely is. But mostly because she looks at him like that.

Her bedroom eyes are out tonight, calling to him from across the room at a charity function hosted by the Devils. She’s with the other WAGS, including Emma. The theme is red and black tonight. Nico has a red tie on with his black suit to match Lexi’s long, red dress. He smiles as she lifts a subtle corner of her mouth at their eyes meeting again. 

How much longer do they need to be here?

Timo Meier sighs next to Nico, having similar thoughts.

“I’m about over this.”

“It’s for the kids.” Nico jokes, taking a sip of his water. 

“But your sister looks like that.” Timo’s jaw is practically on the floor as Emma laughs across the room. A low groan comes from the left wing. “Fuck me.” He mutters. Lexi grips Emma’s forearm, laughing with her too. Nico smiles wide. Yeah, fuck him too with his wife looking like that.

The rest of the night drags. Nico is pulled into all several different directions. This is standard for any event he is at. Every time he tries to make his way towards Lexi, someone else demands his attention. He is starting to feel the same resentment she has mentioned over his lack of attention on her. Although the last few times Nico has glanced at his wife, she seemed well occupied with someone else. No longer with his sister or the Devils WAGS, Lexi Hischier is laughing with another man at the bar.

“Nico?” Tom Fitzgerald calls him back to the circle of people he is in.

“I’m sorry, what?” Nico asks, looking intently at the face of his General Manager. Tom repeats his question, but even as Nico answers, his mind is back across the room with his wife.

He didn’t like how close that guy was to her.

Or the way she laughed so loudly at what he said.

And definitely not the way the unknown man signaled to the bartender that Lexi needed another cocktail. Nico has seen her have at least three. At drink four, she becomes a buzzed, happy problem. Conversation continues on around Nico, allowing his gaze to rest back on the curve of his wife’s ass across the room. Every time tonight, Lexi has felt his eyes on her and looked, but not with this man next to her. 

What gives?

“Excuse me.” Nico mutters, stepping away from the group.

As he crosses the room, others call out to him. He continues forward until a high-profile Devils Foundation donor steps in front of him with his teenage daughter. The 13 year old looks like she might pass out at the sight of the Devils captain so close. Nico gives a polite smile, knowing he can’t get out of this one. While he scribbles out an autograph and takes a picture, Lexi moves with the man from the bar to the silent auction area filled with baskets put together by each Devils player for donors to bid on. Lexi points to the basket they created. The man nods, pointing at certain things, clearly complementing Lexi’s taste as she blushes and giddily grips his forearm to brush off his praise. As she does this, Nico watches her breasts strain against the fabric of her dress and the man’s eyes dip, just for a moment.

And he decides that is about enough of that.

“It was great to meet you. Let marketing know when you’re at the next game and we can do a locker room tour.” He says as he steps back in pursuit of his wife again. This seems to appease the two donors, so Nico can sneak away. He can’t help but stalk his feet along the expensive tile of the ballroom. 

“Lex.” Nico murmurs, wrapping a hand around her opposite hip. He pulls her snug into him.

“Baby!!!!” Lexi squeaks back. Oh yeah, she is wasted. “Meet my friend, Cory!”

Yeah, I’m sure he is a great friend tonight.

“Captain Hischier.” The man extends his hand in greeting.

“Nico is fine.” Nico replies, griping the mans hand hard.

“Your wife was just showing me the basket she created.”

“She has great taste.” Nico smiles, venom slightly seeping in to the grin. He helped too. There is Swiss chocolate and expensive espresso beans in there that he selected.

“He is going to bid on it. It’s already at $5,000!” Lexi chirps happily. Nico takes in Cory for a moment, seeing the very expensive designer brands he is obviously dripping in. This dude wants to hit on his wife so openly and take peeks at her tits? Fine. He can pay for the experience.

“Really? Maybe he can double the current bid if he likes it so much.” The man’s eyes go wide. 

“Oh!” Lexi squeaks.

“For the kids, ya know?” Nico shrugs, smirking.

“Oof. I don’t know if my wife would be too happy about that.” Nico internally rolls his eyes. What a creep. 

“Maybe you could donate your watch then?” Nico suggests innocently, noting the very expensive Rolex. “I think they are taking other types of donations at the front table.”

“Ah. You know what cash sounds better.” Cory chuckles, then picks up the pen to write down his donation. Nico watches the bid move to $15,000. That seems like a fair trade off. 

“Oh wow.” Lexi sputters, grabbing Nico’s back excitedly. “Thank you so much!” 

“Hey man, that’s awesome. Thanks so much for your support.” Nico shakes Cory’s hand again. 

“Anything for the kids.” Their look is tense. He knows Nico got him.

Nico watches his retreating back for a moment, then pulls his wife into his body. He savors the weight of her against him, her breast squishing into his chest. He opens his mouth to speak to her, but Lexi’s mouth is already on his. Her kiss takes his breath away. He forgets where they are and moves his hands from her hips to her ass. He groans, lost in her, until the noise of the room brings him back. He gently eases back from her.

“So how did I do?” Lexi is sultry as she asks.

“Hmm?” Nico is still a little too stunned from her lips to speak coherently.

“My flirting to get a higher bid. How did I do?”

“Baby!” Nico laughs. “You doing this on purpose?”

“Yeah. I wanna win. Emma said she thought hers was going to go higher. And I kinda just wanna knock your sister off the lil high horse she was riding this morning.”

“I love when you get competitive.” He chuckles, puckering his lips for her again. “Your tits in this dress are something to be admired.” His eyes dip, rolling across her plumped cleavage.

“I know. Thanks, LuLu.” She chuckles, speaking of their daughter who is still breastfeeding.

“I can bottle feed her when we get home. You can keep having fun.”

“Hmm?” Lexi asks around her straw. Nico points to the drink. “Oh, this is soda water.”

Nico’s respect and admiration for his wife grows with her answer. She’s completely sober. 

His wife has completely played him like a fiddle tonight.

[vulturevanity]

There's something very very interesting about Blanca having Lycanroc-midnight as a partner pokémon, specifically in relation to Dot's way of coping with problems by removing herself from the scene and holing up in her room.

There's a lot implied throughout the series about the relationship between trainer and partner pokémon. Namely, in that both complement each other in some ways while also being mirrors in others. Take, for instance, Liko and Sprigatito in HZ040: while Liko's difficulty to connect with people and Sprigatito's loner attitude manifest in different ways and for different reasons, in the end they both are about not making themselves a problem/nuissance to others while ignoring people's agency and feelings (take Liko losing on purpose to help Wakaba become a gym trainer, robbing her of the opportunity to prove herself worthy of the position, and Sprigatito ghosting her friends after accidentally hurting them when she tried to save them from the Spidops). Same goes for Roy and Fuecoco, with both having a pretty cheerful attitude, but Roy being too goal-oriented sometimes while Fuecoco mostly just wants to do its own thing. Roy and Wattrel have the reverse of that dynamic, as do Liko and Hatenna being similar in different ways to Sprigatito, and so on. It's no coincidence that most characters in Horizons are designed after pokémon they don't have in their teams.

Dot and Quaxly are both performers. The entire Quaquaval line is all about dancing, moving its legs and generally being a big showoff, and Dot's primary passion is in streaming and making videos about pokémon. But while putting itself out there is entirely who Quaxly is, Nidothing is, if not merely a character she's playing, a part of Dot she doesn't exactly flaunt around -- or at least, a facet of her personality she doesn't have the energy to show all the time. Being Nidothing is, like pokémon battling, something that requires her full attention and focus (symbolized by the "mental switch" headband), and Dot isn't one to waste her mental energy unnecessarily. She works hard as a content creator as well as the Brave Olivine's software engineer and IT guy, and disrupting her flow takes her out of it pretty badly (see: every time she got got by Spinel and had a crisis about it); and that part of her, as well as her earnest naivety, is reflected now in Tinkatink, who is constantly looking to build a better hammer for herself while being pretty sensitive and getting upset when interrupted.

So. Blanca and Lycanroc-midnight.

Lycanroc-midnight, as Friede's outro lecture puts it, is a reactive pokémon. It waits for its opponent to move so it can answer in kind. On a surface level, it doesn't seem to fit Blanca, who dictates the scene wherever she's present. She's overbearing toward Dot and just overly energetic in general, always moving first and listening second. People don't seem to have time to learn how to respond. That doesn't seem very "reactive" of her.

But then? When Liko and Roy offer to talk to Dot for her since she doesn't seem to want to talk to her mom, Blanca overtaken with emotion at the fact that Dot has friends who care for her that much, and immediately backs off. She has a hard time understanding Dot, which is why her decisions, which make sense in her head and are made with Dot's best interests at heart, end up making Dot unhappy. And when she gets an inkling that Dot doesn't really want to go back home, she wants to make sure she's making the right call by asking Dot, through a pokémon battle, if this is really what she really wants. And Dot confirms, cutting through every single one of Blanca's rebuttals and counterpoints, that yes, she is having fun being a trainer, traveling around the world and making friends, and no longer wants to hide alone in her dark room. And it makes Blanca so immensely glad and proud that her daughter is happier. And her answer is "of course you can stay here" -- the proper reaction to Dot's actions. The combination of Blanca's helicopter-mom tendencies and Dot's refusal to engage was making things worse for both of them, and in the end open and honest communication was the reason Blanca was finally able to understand her daughter and adjust her mothering style accordingly.

So, yeah. Blanca and Lycanroc-midnight, Dot and Quaxly. Meeting in the middle. I don't know how to end this post lol bye

[cosmos-within]

Which Crystal Jewels Should Not Be Kept Together?

Natural stones can do a lot of good, they can seriously affect and change your life for the better. But, unfortunately, some minerals lose their properties and energy when interacting with other minerals. Such stones should never be combined and used together. In this article, we will tell you about such minerals and why they should not be combined.

If you love gemstone jewelry, it's important to know which crystals can be combined together, and which are not.

WHY CAN'T SOME MINERALS BE USED TOGETHER?

Incompatible minerals are those that neutralize, or on the contrary, overly enhance the properties and actions of each other. Such minerals, as a rule, are not very harmful to the person, but they also do not bring benefits. In other words, such stones have no active properties.

The main reason is that some stones can not work together, their beneficial properties are suppressed and they stop radiating healing energy. Some minerals do not harmonize together, it has a bad effect on the harmonious state of a person.

It is worth noting that there is no definitive list of incompatible minerals. This is because there are a huge number of combinations of minerals.

WHICH STONES DO NOT MATCH AT ALL?

1. Clear quartz and stones with powerful properties

Quartz amplifies the energy of minerals nearby, so it is not recommended for use with strong minerals. For example, moonstone has powerful soothing properties, and quartz will amplify moonstone. It will turn out that you simply will not have enough energy. Or, for example, if you use quartz with citrine, you will get, on the contrary, too much energy, which will prevent you from concentrating on one thing.

2. Lace agate and red jasper

Blue lace agate relaxes and allows one to slow down, while red jasper is used to increase vitality. Therefore, these stones should not be used together, they will neutralize each other's effects.

3. Smoky Quartz and Tiger Eye

Smoky quartz protects its owner from excessive energy that can harm him. This stone suits people who are very active in life and sometimes need to rest and relax. At the same time, the tiger's eye is a mineral that gives a person a lot of energy and courage. It is not recommended to wear these two stones together because they have opposite meanings. One of them tries to give you energy, while the other, on the contrary, reduce it.

4. Pure quartz and green aventurine

These stones are incompatible because of the difference in action: the first stone gives you strength, while the second soothes and relaxes you.

5. Amazonite and tiger's eye

Amazonite is often used for problems with insomnia. It helps you sleep well at night and fall asleep quickly. At the same time, tiger's eye combined with amazonite will not allow for a restful sleep, a person may even have prolonged trouble sleeping.

RULES FOR COMBINING MINERALS

The following crystals are almost always compatible:

• Crystals with the same crystal structure

For example, you can combine two stones with a cubic structure or stones with a hexagonal structure together.

• Stones with the same or similar properties, uses, and values

Always research the properties of the stones you want to combine. This will help you find the most compatible minerals that will complement each other.

• Minerals with the same zodiac signs or planetary associations

• Stones of the same or compatible color

As a rule, stones of the same color are compatible in energy and can be worn together. But it is better to check their properties and compatibility. For example, garnet and ruby are not compatible, though they have the same shade.

Often stones of opposite colors are just as well-matched in energy.

• A stone of the same mineral group.

For example, the stones of the quartz family work well together.

• Same elements

You can combine stones according to the elements, that is, water, fire, air, earth. For example, when you combine these air stones, they will promote a positive change in your way of thinking.

Minerals are a powerful way to gain spirituality and manifest desires. It is important to choose the right minerals very consciously and to combine them even more carefully so that you do not lose the properties and energy of your favorite stones.

Kindly note that healing gemstone meanings are not prescriptions or healthcare information.

Phone number: +6282145954791

© BlackTreeLab 2024. All Rights reserved.

https://blacktreelab.co/blogs/news/which-crystal-jewels-should-not-be-kept-together

[disneyfemslashcomics]

Ship Meme: Merida/Mulan

To be clear this is a crossover between the two animated characters, and while the OUAT characters are very similar, they are not quite the same. I will also be ignoring the events of Mulan 2, and saying that the emperor sent Mulan out on a diplomatic mission to Europe for military support instead of marrying off his daughters.

How differently do they think of each other now compared to when they first met?

Merida and Mulan met at a joust and Merida was instantly smitten when Mulan kicked her butt in the sword competition.

Mulan was slower to develop feelings but faster to recognize them as the passions of the cut sleeve, while Merida has no cultural context for understanding her feelings as romantic.

What do their friends/family think of their relationship?

Initially, Merida being a foreigner is pretty strong mark against her for Fa Zhou and Fa Li, who are very traditional and vice versa for Elinor. Fergus for his part loves Mulan immediately with Gusto. In defense of the Fa parents, a big part of the lack of support also comes from getting one letter saying that there is a crazy short girl with giant red hair and eyes like a demon to her being in love in the next letter that got home to them.

Elinor for her part changes her mind about Mulan, in part because the lack of support in her parent's letter is so devastating to her and she realizes that her lack of support hurts Merida in similar ways.

Mulan's parents change their mind when Mulan takes Merida home to meet her family, and Grandmother Fa is instantly supportive and tells her son off, mentioning some youthful dalliances that she'd had.

How do their personalities/skills complement or contrast with each other?

Obviously, Merida and Mulan are both fighters and very strong determined people. Less obviously, their differences are actually what make them work. Merida does not think things through, and as the future leader of the clans, desperately needs the sort of thoughtful advice that Mulan, who is good at thinking creatively on her feet can offer.

Mulan also needs Merida. Mulan loves her family, friends, and her country. That is a beautiful thing, but it can quickly become very ugly when she is unwilling to consider her own needs over the expectations of her kin. Merida is someone who demands what she wants and as much as it irks Mulan, particularly early on, it's a balance that she needs.

What is their favorite aspect of each other?

They both are initially attracted to each other's strength, and over time find that they're not just strong physically but also emotionally.

Do either of them have pet peeves about each other?

Merida is very much so a punch first, ask questions later sort of person, and Mulan does not always appreciate being forced to ad lib her way through situations. Merida is very defensive when she's called out despite it being reasonable to be asked to not just react emotionally.

How would each reconcile with each other after a fight?

They go walking and hiking and train together. It's the easiest way to get Merida to talk through her problems, because when her body is kept busy she can get energy out and can't let things spiral inside her as much.

What would be their ideal vacation getaway together?

Sailing together on a junk. They both love exploring and learning new things but neither of them gets much of a chance to be away from their duties.

Think of a new way (AU, different situation, etc.) they could have met for the first time.

I think Merida and Mulan would be really well suited to a zombie apocalypse AU. Merida has been struggling fending for herself after separating from her family and Mulan has to rescue the Scot from a trap that she'd set up for zombies that Merida walked into, before she catches herself on fire. Mulan ends up helping Merida to find out what happened to her family and they fall in love over the course of the adventure.

[lazaruspiss]

So, about Dick and Jason…

(for anon <3)

“Jason & Dick’s dynamic—specifically 1) how different they are yet their differences complement each other, and 2) how they have the potentials to be unhealthy attached with each other with push and pull, YET also the potentials to be each other’s solace, possibly even the only one who can be the other’s solace, as they actually understand to the root the baggages that they both carry (e.g the Bruce baggage) and can help the other work through or even overcome it.”

I um. I had fun. Somewhere around the 5th paragraph I started to wonder if I was getting carried away, and then I blinked and it doubled in length. I had many words in this little brain o mine.

Well, they are different for sure, and one of those differences is whether or not they’d actually think that themselves. Dick tends to see Jason as being down right unknowable, someone he tries to understand but can never quite keep up with. Jason thinks they’re all too similar, that they’ve both been deeply betrayed by Bruce as well as the system, and doesn’t seem to realize that Dick doesn’t feel the same. The crux of their conflicts is a complete gap in what they know about each other. The nature of which neither of them are really that self aware of.

Dick knows that Jason feels wronged. That he was failed both as Robin and as Jason Todd. What Dick doesn’t seem to understand is that it wasn’t his fault. That when Jason talks about being let down he is almost always talking about Bruce, and if not him, then the system itself. In some ways Dick’s misunderstanding of that is simply a result of the sense of self loathing that he’s developed over the years. And another part of it stems from Dick’s instinct to see himself as an extension of Bruce. Bruce’s failures are his failures, and his failures are a burden to Bruce. In a lot of ways Dick’s personal journey of separating himself from both Bruce and Batman was completely upended after Blockbuster and the bombing of Blüdhaven. With his personal life upended it’s not surprising that he’d fall back into old habits. Batman and Robin are each other’s responsibilities. They’re partners until the day they die. So much of Dick’s world had revolved around Bruce that asking him to separate himself from Bruce, even just conceptually, starts to feel more akin to asking him to cut off a limb.

Jason doesn’t understand the extent of all that. There’s no way for him to know that, especially since the biggest issues Dick has are ones that he’s not even aware of himself. This tends to, somewhat understandably, make Jason feel impatient with Dick. He genuinely doesn’t seem to understand why he and Dick can’t agree on anything. He knows Bruce is the biggest wedge between them, but doesn’t understand why Dick can’t let go of Bruce. If anything he sees Dick as another brainwashed victim of Bruce and his mission. Jason is also a poet. In the sense that his preferred ways of communicating are counter intuitive and often exasperate the problem rather than solving it in any way. Which doesn’t make repairing the already tedious gap between them any easier.

The to kill or not to kill debate is also no small part of what’s keeping them at odds with each other. Dick needs to believe in a kinder way. He’s already hanging on by too thin of a thread to give that up. It would be tough enough even if it was just a matter of him thinking killing is always and inherently wrong, but it’s also a deeply personal matter for him. He can’t go back to the time where he felt himself cave on that. He never really healed that ache, and given just how deep it is I’m not sure it’s even possible. What happened with Blockbuster left him shaken in a way that is not easily steadied. And Jason is a continuous tremor. An unapologetic shaker. In his eyes it’s the only way to really change things. He’s often right, but it’s less than helpful when it comes to trying to connect with Dick. The way Jason pushes him is an attempt at challenging Dick to be better in Jason’s eyes, but to Dick it’s just salt on the already painful wounds.

All that to say that these kids have some communication issues. A bit more than some, really. Two passing trains, neither going where they really need to go.

The closure they both need is practically one in the same, and does come back down to where they stand with Bruce. Jason needs – and wants – Bruce to acknowledge him as a victim both to the Joker and to Bruce’s own negligence. But Dick is a bit trickier. What Dick wants is to be acknowledged as an equal to Bruce. What Dick needs is for Bruce to acknowledge the harm he’s both done in the past and the harm he continues to inflict on Dick in the present, and for Bruce to either change for real and for good or for Bruce to leave his life entirely.

Jason had always questioned Bruce’s methods, and dying was undeniable proof that Bruce was doing it (“it” being both fatherhood and justice) wrong. Jason knows what his needs are. Jason has so much self awareness over Dick that it makes stories about the two of them jarring. When Dick reflects on his relationship with Bruce he almost always takes on some of the blame. Dick never asks for apologies. He reaches out to Bruce first. He either frames it as “I said some things that went too far” or “We both said things we regret” when those sentiments are often unjustified. There are times where I struggle to even find what it is that Dick said to Bruce that he feels so guilty about, because Dick would rather spend his life apologizing than give up his relationship with Bruce. Jason knows Dick can’t let go of Bruce but he also knows that Dick needs to cut him off more than anybody.

Dick is ultimately the one who needs to be pulled out of the gutter in order for there to be any real mending between the two of them. That means Jason would need to rework how he approaches Dick. Jason has the spirit and a lot of the right ideas! But he can’t get anywhere with Dick if he doesn’t adjust his pace.

(A bit of a weird aside here, but they remind me of a poem I wrote as a kid. I don’t remember the actual content of it, but it was a story about a spring and a glass as a metaphor for relationships. The gist of it being: if all you do is push on the spring it will just bounce back in the end, and then all you have have is broken glass. The spring being your struggling loved one, the glass being the relationship, you get the idea.)

The tough part is the Dick does still need to be challenged on his beliefs in order to grow! So there’s this tricky balance that needs to be struck between calling out his warped mindset around Bruce while not pushing him so far that he shuts Jason out entirely. Jason is, however, still human. No one has infinite patience, and helping pull Dick from the Bruce shaped hole he’s dug his heels into is no easy feat. I think it’s possible, but very very difficult. But if they did get to a point where Dick had finally separated from Bruce and recognized how Bruce had done wrong by him then the rest would almost be laughably simple. Justifying and legitimizing Dick’s pain justifies and legitimizes Jason’s too. Dick already knows that Jason has been hurting, but I think the self reflection of his own relationship with Bruce would really help Dick when it comes to understanding why Jason is as hurt as he is. It would make Jason's issues with Bruce feel real in a way that Dick hasn't always let himself acknowledge.

They can get there. Eventually.

[buddienotes]

i know we're tired by now, but i have one take on only friends characters that i think we might be overlooking because of our own personal attachments (to them AND the actors).

you might have heard before of mirror/parallel characters (if you haven't, i'd recommend the read about it because it's very interesting) and whether it's the writers' purpose or not, i think we have these in the main six.

"Parallel characters, also known as mirror characters, are characters who share many similarities with each other. These similarities can be related to the characters' personalities, backgrounds, or motivations. By having so much in common, they are then able to highlight the differences between their decisions. The characters complement each other while revealing truths about each other that would otherwise have been difficult to spot."

my two cents on who is mirroring who in only friends is:

top - ray

mew - sand

boston - nick

if you leave favouritism at the door and pay real attention to these characters' background and personalities you'll see they're actually very similar, but they're moving on different directions because of, obviously, their different realities, surroundings, etc. what makes us, us.

top and ray are both rich kids with a sad past, and apparently problems with their parents, who ended up turning to drugs as a coping mechanism; both used to getting what they want, when they want and not taking a no for an answer. and funnily enough, maybe that's why they both despise each other (and fell for mew). i think these two are the most obvious mirror and it's what makes funnier to watch how different are the fandom's reactions for their actions every week. they're pretty much the same font, in different notebooks.

mew and sand are also easy to notice: quiet guys that are mostly worried about doing their own things and not messing with anyone's business; both very vocal about their needs and intentions and the only ones who seem to know how to draw and not to cross a line. the fact they end up getting involved with top and ray draws another interesting mirror: we can see two pairs with people that are pretty similar, but with very different routes.

it's almost like saying: hey, look at a&b and now look at c&d - this is what a&b could've been, under these circumstances - with different choices.

for boston and nick, i feel like it's more of a reach, but you can see they also have their similarities or they wouldn't have hit from the start (like let's be for real, that was insanity). i see them as the only ones that could understand each other, to the point that boston might not even think nick bugging his car was creepy (just be pissed bc it was behind his back). but then again, boston wears his insanity proudly while nick is more reserved: still, deep down they're very alike (in nick's own words, he's also nasty).

on another note, we have the public view on all of this: you just don't see them reacting with the same fervor about the similarities of the characters. for example, top has been painted as a red flag for doing things ray has as well - but ray is a lonely guy who needs love and care; not top. meanwhile, sand have been clapped as the most unproblematic character, but mew is definitely plotting something behind his good guy act. on boston and nick, there's just not much discourse even tho boston is pretty much the drama, so i'll leave it at that, but i think we took longer to judge nick for his actions, since he is quieter.

there's a quote that says:

"It is funny how different mirrors reveal different aspects, it must be like people you meet, you get to prefer the ones who show an image of you that you like." — Alain Bremond-Torrent

which i see like: even though these characters are very much alike, people keep picking this or that side because of their own perspectives on life, which don't necessarily means this or that character is in the wrong or is better than the other, but some interpretations have been muddled because of their own traits (or preferences?).

back to my first point, i don't know if the writers intended to make them like this on purpose, but the weekly discourse is showing how the reactions on very sensitive topics are just not the same if you just switch the character (or may i say, the actor?), to what i believe is one of the reasons behind writing mirror characters.

but the conclusion is, none of these characters are blank pages and they all have their wrongs. it doesn't make them villains or protagonists - they're all just parallel lines going through this mess and i wish we, as viewers, could be more impartial when judging those actions. when something is wrong, it is, no matter the one behind it. so let's stop witch-hunting some while patting the head of others.

[madnessofthespirits]

see while i could write an entire laundry list of reasons why i care about cu alter and diarmuid that would probably turn into a pretty lengthy ship manifesto, right now i just want to talk about what is ultimately my favorite reason, and that is this that they are both characters who ended up in oddly similar tragic situations, which they responded to in ways that were just enough alike that they would be able to understand each other deeply, and yet also so radically different that they complement each other in ways that the other could learn from so as to grow and heal. both of them were forced to become people they never wanted to be in order to honor the geasa placed upon them, but cu alter responded to this by accepting his role as king (and later a servant/familiar) and the unpleasant changes the grail wrought in him so completely that he does not believe he is allowed to be any other way, while diarmuid refuses to be defined by his role as a traitor at all, preferring instead to hold on to hope that his new life will give him a chance to redeem himself by serving his lord faithfully and regaining new friends in place of the ones he was driven apart from in life. despite the opposite nature of both reactions, each stems from their mutual desire to live honorably above all else. and as with any sort of extreme, each reaction has its benefits as well as its drawbacks.

cu alter's problem is that being forced into a role he didn't want left him convinced that he is never meant to be anything more than the tool he had to see himself as in order to fulfill that role (and therefore honor his geis), no matter how unhappy he is that way. diarmuid, on the other hand, refuses to let anything stop him from being the honorable knight he believes himself to be, even after being forced to become a traitor, or from finding ways to find joy in his circumstances, even when forces beyond his control threaten to make this impossible. no matter how dishonorable his master is, he does his best to serve him honorably, and he even goes so far as to create opportunities to be the knight he wishes to be by creating and honoring his pact to fight to the death with saber, thus also creating hope and joy for himself in a situation otherwise devoid of both - not to mention a friend. he is proof that there is life beyond what is lost in the process of fulfilling one's vow, proof that joy can still be found even after it is stolen from you - and if there's anybody who needs to know that, it's cu alter.

but diarmuid is also so set on reclaiming his identity as a good knight that he has trouble accepting that he ever did anything dishonorable at all, or that he holds any resentment for those who put him in that situation, to the point that it causes him huge amounts of mental strife and anxiety. cu alter, on the other hand, completely accepts the ways in which his experience changed him, openly calling his way of existing "ugly" without further complaint, simply accepting it as part of his role and the way he has to live for the sake of his honor - even if it makes him miserable, even if it means becoming the "cruel king" who would seem to be the antithesis of the honorable hero he wants to be. he doesn't resent himself for simply doing what he had to, understanding that however paradoxical it may seem, even this can be part of being a hero if it means obeying his geis. and if diarmuid needs anything, it's someone who can help him accept the ways in which the tragedy of his life might have changed him for the worse, and the contradictory nature of being a hero itself. he needs someone who can show him that any resentful feelings he might harbor are just an unavoidable consequence of what happened to him, and not a stain on his honor in and of themselves - someone who can help him forgive himself for doing what he had to do in the name of said honor, no matter how dishonorable what he had to do itself was.

and since both of their issues stem from similar experiences, they can look at the other, finally see someone who knows what it's like to have to sacrifice your identity in order to fulfill a vow, finally see someone who knows what it's like to have your agency torn away from you in exchange for your honor, and see that maybe it's still possible to be okay afterward, after all. diarmuid does this by showing cu that it's possible for him to still be his old self in some ways, to connect with others and enjoy a good fight, and cu does this by showing diarmuid that he's no less the good knight he wants to be even if the events of the pursuit and the grail war changed him for the worse in some ways. what i'm saying is that by first offering each other understanding, diarmuid can offer cu alter hope and cu alter can offer diarmuid acceptance.

[9800sblog]

Hello!! Can I request a reading for Wooyoung’s future spouse!? I would like to know about them and how he would be a husband as well! thank you!! - 🐚🩵

Jung Wooyoung tarot reading - about his future spouse + him as a husband

-> do I have his energy permission to do and share this reading? ace of cups

this is a very patient person, they may be waiting on wooyoung to get his life together. this person really likes expensive things, really expensive, they give me the feeling of royalty, not just high class. they love to travel and have the freedom to explore whatever they want. very mature and smart even tho they're young, they have access to a lot of knowledge, may be a nepotism baby, but they're actually skilled and hardworking. i don't think they like confrontations and i think that has caused problems in their life. they're very decisive, if they like something it's only that thing forever, so when they choose wooyoung, they're locked in, love him beyond this lifetime, very faithful. they may be a dancer like him too. they are very considerate and patient with their own feelings and others' too. I keep getting the vibe of Michael Jackson, they may like him a lot or have a similar style to him in their dance or fashion; alternatively, it's just the feeling of royalty. they seem to have way too many responsibilities and they carry the weight of the world on their shoulder, like Michael Jackson, they may be a little activist or just feel injustice very personally. they're definitely someone in high class that uses their platform for a greater good. this person has much pain and troubles, these two may relate a lot to each other and fall in love because of that, they'll feel more comfortable and think the world is more beautiful with each other. very romantic, very classy couple, they'd live in a little bubble of their own world, it's like they'd be washed clean of their sins when they get together. their wedding would be huge, I think, wooyoung is very communicative and has many friends, I think his person would be like that too, a really big, loud and fun party with many celebrities, large dance floor. you see, while wooyoung is almost aggressive and importunate, his person would be sweet and calm, opposites attract, like he would be hip-hop and his person would be folk, they fit really nicely tho, they complement each other and they still appreciate their differences, so it's good.

foreigner?

it seems both parents are korean, I think they are an important family in the country. this person seems to have been born and raised there and not planning to leave any time soon!

+ as a husband

wooyoung is probably not very traditional, but he would be very passionate, like they would run away after their wedding ceremony just because they want. he feels like a teenager, not very classy but definitely very committed and enthusiastic. he may feel insecure and give them many presents, like a lot. I think he feels like he doesn't fit the idea of what a man is supposed to be and he'd try to overcompensate. not only that, it's like this person will change his life, his being, free his soul and there's nothing he could ever do to thank them enough. he may have many emotional troubles as he grows up and he'd depend on his person a lot, he'll become more emotionally mature the more time he spends with this person. he'd be a perfectionist because he thinks his person is absolutely perfect and he wants to protect them til the end of times. I can see them having a really huge wedding then living isolated in a small town.

[meetinthewest]

Possible connection between the van scene and the byler convo in Will’s bedroom(?)

This might be a shoot in the dark, but I had to get it to the community so we don’t miss out on any possibilities, because I haven’t seen anyone talk about this. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about the van scene lately, trying to figure out if Mike understood anything of what Will said in his confession and what exactly he could have. I personally believe he somehow got that Will was talking about himself because of the way he reacted (his expressions and everything he knows that simply does not align with all those lies), but I’m not sure.

The interpretations on the last words of the van scene from the script stood out to me and I kept wondering why they changed it for the version that officially came out.

On the script:

“…You really think so?”

“I know so.”

On the final version:

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” 

Then out of nowhere I connected it to the “Yeah?” “Yeah.” from the original script of the byler conversation in Will’s bedroom (episode 4)!!! I know, they obviously changed it as well for the final version to “Cool” “Cool.” (which is also adorable and parallels that Robin and Vickie scene). 

And I know that technically for those kind of things the final version is the one we should consider more, but I couldn’t help but think if there is any connection between these two scenes. Maybe they parallel each other? I mean, just look at it: 

In episode 4: 

Mike opens up, he apologizes and takes accountability for his bad attitude and neglect, explains himself/his feelings (how he feels like he has lost Will and regrets it), hints Will’s importance for him (“it’s not the same without you”), and basically says what he wants from now on (to be best friends, close, to have Will again). Will just listens and takes it all in, “emotional”. 

In the van scene: 

Will opens up, he apologizes and takes accountability for his bad attitude and pushing away, explains himself/his feelings (how he feels different and scared to lose Mike), hints Mike’s importance for him (“you’re the heart”, “you make her feel like she’s not a mistake at all”) and says what he expects from now on (having to let go of Mike, but knowing he can’t, he needs and wants Mike). Mike just listens, takes it all in, “emotional”.

IT’S PRACTICALLY THE SAME THING. It’s the same composition, same meaning, they check every same box equally. It’s like they are having one single and continued conversation, just on separate moments. They explain each other their parts on the relationship problems and resolve it, both getting apologies, validation and reassurance. It complements one another and wraps up their issues (the friendship ones, at least). They’re understood now, on the same page. God, I love them.

I’m not quite sure if those last words mean something or what they could mean, but I’m kind of convinced that the similarity of the confessions themselves means something huge. 

As for what I was wondering initially, if we can use the same interpretation for both scenes, this leads to me thinking that Mike did understand everything Will was saying, but not the romantic meaning of it all. Just like Will got what Mike was saying to him, but didn’t notice how head over heels was that declaration. Two love birds who can’t imagine the possibility of their best friend/crush reciprocating their feelings, but think they are on good terms now, at least. 

That’s it, this might be very delusional and I don’t write as beautifully as my fellow bylers theorizers, but I had to get it out even if it is in a sloppy and unsure way. 

Anyways, any thoughts on this?

[cookinguptales]

wwdits tarot: the chariot

A continued thank you for reading my silly tarot thoughts. I’ve really loved seeing what y’all have come up with! I’ve always loved how tarot seems to inspire creativity. :)

I’ll probably talk about this more extensively later, but for those curious, in this deck, I’d assign the Minor Arcana as:

Wands/clubs: candles Pentacles/diamonds: treasure (mainly old gold coins and jewels) Swords/spades: stakes Cups/hearts: those little glasses of blood they seem to favor

I have reasoning for all those choices, but I’ll leave that for after the Major Arcana!

Anyway, time for VII. The Chariot!

The Chariot is a card of strength, determination, and courage. It’s often associated with victory in battle, and versions of this card often depict a scene pertaining to war and warriors.

With all that said, you might think that I’m about to assign this card to Nandor.

NO. My version of The Chariot goes to Laszlo Cravensworth.

I have multiple reasons for this. It is not just because I wanted to put his car on a card.

(Really.)

(But his car will be on the card.)

Anyway, the one defining characteristic of this card is decisive willpower that leads to victory. This is a card that tells you to make a decision and follow it all the way to the bitter end. It tells you to have courage and make bold choices, and to have the willpower to see them through.

When I think of a character in WWDITS who actually makes firm and thoughtful decisions, well — it’s actually Laszlo. Nadja and Nandor are happy enough to chase their ideas around, but how many of them have really had staying power? Most of their ideas collapse around their ears.

But let’s look at Laszlo’s track record. When Jim showed up, Laszlo decided to leave the house and create a new life for himself in order to evade consequences, and he successfully did so. He committed to keeping Colin Robinson’s upcoming death a secret and showed remarkable fortitude when it came to putting up with Colin’s unflagging bullshit. He made a plan to save Colin from the siren, and then he did so. And then he threw himself into tricking his wife into leaving without him so he could (again, successfully) raise Baby Colin.

All of these decisions were made in a split second, but he immediately committed to them and saw them through to their inevitable ends. And more than that, all of these endeavors were pretty successful. Usually when Laszlo puts his mind to something, it gets done. That’s… not always a good thing for everyone else, but within his own mind, he has a remarkable success rate.

And jesus, just ask Gregor if Laszlo is a successful warrior or not.

Laszlo often seems like the loafer of the household, but when you think about it, he’s more like a snake poised to strike. He certainly conserves his energy for when it matters, but when he makes up his mind to do something? He does it.

The Chariot is a card of great confidence, and Laszlo is 100% a confidence man, in every sense of the word. Like — if nothing else, Laszlo Cravensworth always commits to the bit, whether that’s a long con or a short one.

I think that Laszlo would be a good match for The Chariot either way, but I've got an ulterior motive for choosing this one. I’m also interested in the way that The Chariot and its sister card, Strength, both look at different kinds of inner strength. Like The Magician and The High Priestess, they both discuss a similar idea but expressed in different ways. Like The Magician, The Chariot is a card of outward power while Strength and The High Priestess want you to consider a more interior kind of power.

Spoilers, I suppose, but I want to use these two cards to discuss Laszlo and Nadja and how their strengths, weaknesses, and respective traumas really kind of complement each other. Both of them are extremely strong vampires, but they face challenges in drastically different ways.

Of the two, Laszlo is better at tackling outside problems and actually emerging victorious, while Nadja is better at withstanding adversity. If Laszlo is a confidence man good at worming out of tough situations, Nadja is a woman who will stand her ground, take the hits, and keep on coming. She’s a vampire who’s used to being attacked — and being the one to emerge from the ensuing puddle of blood come hell or high water.

I’ll talk more about Nadja as Strength next time, but for now, I did want to talk about that concept of interiority vs. exteriority. At first glance, I think you’d definitely think that Nadja is the exterior and Laszlo the interior. He keeps to himself much more often and Nadja is by far the brasher of the two.

But… being real with you, Laszlo is probably the only one of the entire main cast who could successfully live amongst humans if he had to. (And yes, I am including Guillermo in that.) He has a remarkable talent for analyzing real-world situations and turning them to his best advantage immediately.

Nadja has big dreams — but Laszlo has realistic ones. I think that’s why he’s so good at actually exteriorizing his ideas and getting what he’s aiming for, even when it hurts him. Nadja’s power is more in the theoretics, I think, but Laszlo’s is extremely concrete. He, like The Djinn, specializes in bringing plans to fruition; he creates tangible results.

That said, as differently as both approach the question of strength and results, the two of them complement each other on a deep and fundamental level. Laszlo is always happy to support his lady wife’s dreams and help her turn them into something approaching reality. When she creates an elaborate plan like a vampire night club, he’s the one working to supply the moneymaker. When she wants to go to England to join the international vampiric council, he’s the one who will make sure she’s protected on the way.

On the other hand, Nadja’s stubborn fortitude and at times canny emotional perception have helped her husband just as much. While he looks out for her physical welfare, she looks out for his internal emotional one. Her stubborn brand of compassion has helped him come to understand his own feelings and trauma, and she is often there to help draw him out of his moods when they get to be too bad.

Put plainly, for a woman who has always experienced extreme housing/familial/physical insecurity, a man who is focused on keeping her safe, happy, and physically cared for makes her feel secure. For a man who was constantly emotionally neglected growing up, a woman who helps him come to terms with that abuse and loves him anyway makes him feel secure.

Both are strong and both are weak, but both of them know how to use both that strength and that weakness to create a healthy partnership.

I love them, your honor.

Anyway, that’s definitely what I was trying to get at by making Laszlo and Nadja The Chariot and Strength.

But also, yeah, the car.

Speaking of which…

The RSW version of The Chariot depicts a warrior coming home from a successful battle in his war chariot. It is being carried by twin sphinxes. They are two different colors and facing two different directions, showing The Chariot’s ability to control all of his resources and options, even when they appear to contradict.

(In other words, The Chariot’s pretty good at herding cats.)

There are quite a few celestial and alchemical symbols here, which speak to divine will and the capability for self-transformation, but these ideas are brought down to earth, so to speak, by the square on his chest that symbolizes the earth.

Our Laszlo doesn’t have a chariot, but I am told that he has a pretty nice jalopy.

Instead of armor, I’d have Laszlo wearing his driving outfit (we all know his best armor is emotional walls, anyway) and instead of a chariot pulled by two beasts, he’d be in his car, of course. I’d have his headlights be two different colors, though, to symbolize the two options that he is corralling into one path ahead of him.

And instead of a starry canopy, why not just have him driving out under the stars? He deserves it, as a little treat.

(Even if The Guide is still kind of mad at him.)

wwdits tarot masterpost

[the-yuri-librarian]

Review of Citrus by Saburouta

I am still relatively new to reading yuri/girls love, but I think I know enough to know that Citrus is a pretty popular series. And, since I just read Citrus, I figured I would post a review for it. Spoilers below the cut

So for the first half of this review, I am setting two very large elephants outside of the room -- we'll let them back in later but pretend they're not there for now.

Summary: Citrus is a story of two high school girls (Yuzu and Mei) who suddenly and inextricably find themselves living together for reasons I can't mention yet (ignore the elephant crying at the door). Very quickly at the start of the story, Yuzu, our protagonist and a self-proclaimed gyaru, begins to develop feelings for Mei, the student council president, who is also a stickler for the rules. The rest of the story is focused on Yuzu's pursuit of Mei, their eventual romance, and the obstacles that hinders that romance.

The Good: One of the factors that carried Citrus the most for me was the art. Sabruouta is an excellent artist, and it really shows here. They also have an impeccable sense of character design, with each of the characters having very unique designs that set them apart with each other, while also being incredibly realistic for high school girls, which I appreciate. In particular, the designs of Yuzu and Mei contrast against each other really excellently, drawing attention to their similarities and differences well. Speaking of our duo, I thought they had excellent chemistry (don't think about the elephants) and were overall a strong pairing. Their conflicts and faults felt organic (for the most part), and it really helped me get absorbed into their story. There were definitely moments where it was predictable, but I think that speaks more on how much Citrus has impacted Girls Love as a medium moreso than it speaks to the quality of the manga itself, which is a long way to give it a weird complement.

The Bad: So, despite the praise I just gave, and entirely divorced from the elephants that are gnawing on the doorframe outside, this story is generously a mess and, to put it less-generously, seriously lacking. The biggest problem I have with it is the structure, and by extension the pacing. The basic story structure here goes like this: a new volume starts, a problem is introduced and, by the end, that problem is resolved, which somehow causes out main pair to progress. This is a structure that is pretty common for a lot of high school focused yuri manga. Herein lies the harm: the rigidity of such a structure combined with the scope of the problems this manga is trying to tackle severely limits the effectiveness of the story telling. For a vast majority of the arcs, especially the later arcs, the set up for the problem, and the new characters that come with it, takes up so much of the time of the story that the conclusion often feels weak and unsatisfying. A good example of this can be seen in the arc where Mei supposedly reconciles her differences with her dad. They not only barely share any screen time together, but, due to the above structural problems, the resolution of Mei's feelings towards her dad feels way too easy. This problem is repeated in later arcs, but is especially prevalent in the concluding arc of the series. This also creates additional problems, the main being that the audience does not really get to spend that much time with the main pair. A lot of the development of Yuzu and Mei's relationship is tampered by the fact that it has to happen very suddenly at the end of the arc. This is detrimental as, as i said above, the problems they face as a couple feel really organic, but the resolution of said conflict is often anticlimactic and unsatisfying. This problem could potentially be alleviated by giving the readers more insight into Mei's thoughts, but I think the mysteries behind Mei's motives are a huge strength for the series so maybe not.

The Elephants: ok we can let the elephants back in now but I'll try to make it quick. The first elephant is, obviously, the psuedo-incest. This was a *huge* detriment for the series, and the lengths at which the narrative stretches to remind you that the main pair are technically sisters, especially in the first volume, is concerning. It is made worse by the fact that the first major internal conflict that Yuzu faces is the question of "Should I [Yuzu] abandon my romantic feelings for Mei and just focus on being her sister instead?" Also, and this is maybe a minor complaint, but I could not suspend my disbelief over the fact that Yuzu's mom and Mei's dad moved in together, and they somehow never met until the day Yuzu moved in, mainly because it is a ludicrous idea. Overall, there's not a ton to say here. The sistership of the main pair is intrinsically baked into the narrative, and separating it from that sistership would be difficult. However, consider this: how much of the story would really change if, instead of step-sisters, Yuzu suddenly had to move (for whatever reason), and inextricably found herself as the roomate of the student council president at the new boarding school she was attending? The answer is, I think, not much. It would take a revision, but the basic bones of the story and many of the conflicts could still be there. Saburouta could even have them do the "there's only one bed troupe!"

The second elephant is the vast amount of non-consensual kisses present in the story. In short, there were just too many of them in this series, but especially in the first volume. It would be more acceptable if the narrative acknowledged the fact that they were non-consensual in any way, but it just sort of ignores that part. In fact, the first non-consensual kiss could actually work really well as the inciting incident, which is its current role, if there was any acknowledgement of it or later apology at all. But there isn't, instead leaving the audience with a feeling of dissatisfaction.

Overall, I think that *Citrus* has some genuinely great qualities in its story and art, but these qualities are largely muted by the fact that it spends an awful lot of time getting in the way of its own narrative and inviting large elephants into the room that the audience then has to work very hard to ignore.

**Overall Rating:** D+

[bubbleonice]

Can two people who are in a platonic relationship be twin flames and if they are what does that mean ?? Does that affect their romantic relationships they have with their partners??

Twin flame connection is very complex. I’ll try my best to explain. When you first encounter your twin flame, there will be an intense sense of attraction, recognition, and longing. Meeting a twin flame often feels like home. They feel familiar—an undeniably intense bond as though you have known them before. You and your twin flame may find that you have a lot in common as far as values, past experiences, and interests. In those areas that you aren't similar, you'll find your differences complement each other, almost like yin and yang. Their shadow, for example, will be complemented by your light, and vice versa. And because a twin flame mirrors you, you're likely very aware of how your relationship highlights your shadows, and theirs.

The purpose of your twin flame is to support and help you with your divine mission and purpose. So, often this type of relationship will reflect your problems and deepest insecurities so you can work through them to heal and grow.

From the moment you met and still to this day, you feel drawn to them physically when they're near you, as well as magnetically, when you're apart. It's as though their energy is always with you, always wanting to be closer. Twin flame relationships aren't all smooth sailing, and actually, they're usually not. Being with a twin flame is like constantly being confronted by yourself, namely the parts of yourself you may not like. It can be incredibly challenging, but it's facilitating major growth for both of you. Because you are so connected at a soul level, you feel things deeper together, which often makes for more intensity and passion.

"The chase" is most definitely a part of the twin flame relationship. At some point, one of you may walk away, out of fear, anger—you name it. But you'll often come back. You'll find that things just keep bringing you together in random ways. Could be months, years, even decades; you just always find your way back to one another. You and your twin flame can likely communicate with just a glance, and you always know what the other is thinking.

The stages of a relationship are different when it's your twin flame. Twin flame stages may be unique depending on the people involved. Before the two of you meet, you will have an awareness that your other half is out there for you. There is deep longing in this phase. Once you meet, your world will be rocked. Prepare to fall fast. When you meet, it is insane instant attraction. You often can't keep your hands off one another and think about and want to spend a ton of time with each other constantly.

Twin flames can have a honeymoon phase. In this phase, your relationship is new, meaningful, and positive. How long it lasts depends on the couple, before challenges arise. Sooner or later, core wounds emerge, and differences arise in the relationship, Often, these challenges are a reflection of the soul work the two of you need to do on your own. It's often not about improving the relationship but rather improving yourself. Your love will be put to a test, as you start to dive deep into your shadow sides. All your insecurities will rear up as you start to question yourself and each other.

In this phase, one partner may avoid the other or even abandon the relationship, while the other feels emotionally insecure. This is where attachment issues arise. The chase, also called twin flame separation, is a big part of many twin flame relationships; someone will always walk away. Twin flame relationships have a ton of push-pull, there will be a time when one partner will pull away, and this causes separation.

The chase can go on for years, but should the two of you work through all your triggers, insecurities, and challenges, eventually you may come back together. This is the surrender into the relationship and big picture for you both, You accept and allow each other to be who they are, flaws and all. This is where you come back again.

Twin flames are typically viewed as romantic relationships, a divine feminine and a divine masculine, they can also be platonic soul mates. The emphasis on a twin flame relationship is a spiritual connection where you feel a familiarity and polarity with a person. This can take the form of a friend or even an acquaintance, but most of the time twin flames are romantically connected.

Twin flames are notorious for being tumultuous if not handled with care. If we don't have self-love and awareness, they can become even more painful.

Sometimes twin flames are meant together, but not always. Because twin flame relationships are very susceptible to codependency and other toxic relationship dynamics, sometimes it's in both people's best interests to simply walk away. Sometimes twin flames come into your life to teach you something, and then you're meant to go your separate ways.

For many twin flames, one (or both, but typically one) person isn't ready for the relationship yet. This person is called "the runner," and the other "the chaser." In many cases, the "runner" of the relationship may not be as mature, whether spiritually or emotionally, as their twin flame. As the separation period approaches, the runner may begin to avoid the chaser, pull away, or sabotage the relationship. The runner may initiate the separation, though there are times when the chaser may recognize the runner is pulling away and decides to "let them go," so to speak.

Twin flames are thought to have crossed many lifetimes, teaching each other different lessons throughout their many past lives. When one person is never truly ready, the twin flames may not join together in this lifetime. A twin flame can also just come into our lives to remind us of who we are, and they're not meant to stay. Sometimes that's the lesson.

But sometimes twin flames do rekindle, and in that case, the separation was necessary for them to come back together better than before. So, it's not really a question of whether the separation period is "good" or "bad" but a matter of trusting what's meant to be will be.

I hope this explains a little bit. And I did not contribute into confusing you.

[rontra]

Okay, your ideas are just so fascinating.

First Raven x Willow, and now Summer x Salem.

They're curious ideas, and I would really love to know what inspired you to create fanworks based around these two AU crackpairs?

BHSDFHBJD i'm glad you think it's interesting 😌

i think it comes naturally with the territory of having my particular media interests. OR maybe my brain is just wired in a special way and it's not as natural as i think. i dont knowHBDSFMJ

I MEAN OKAY the most barebones, un-entertaining logistical answer is: as someone who is a big fan of the rwby milfs i necessarily end up with a lot of rarepairs on my hands because the pool of characters i choose from is already chock-full of rares who have minimal or no interactions w each other. but that mostly accounts for my one-off "huh that's neat" posts that i don't really pursue further (certainly not to the point of. umm. how many words is TCaBS now)

the second tier is of course that i just think it's fun. right. it's fun to come up with ways to execute something like that and it's fun to see what other people think of it. it's not always very deep sometimes it's just a fun prompt challenge or experiment. it doesn't take a lot of effort to think of these ideas because this play is very intuitive to me, so a lot of the time i'm just in my little playpen and it produces fanworks that you can also see

the third layer of the answer is the storyteller instinct (lol) and where it really starts burrowing into my brain. that's when there's character to dig into. bc i LOVE doing character stuff and figuring out how 2 weirdos would interact and what would ripple out from that…

Raven/Willow and Summer/Salem are great examples of this to be sure. definitely rarepairs that have STUCK with me and ive gotten INVESTED in making fanworks for. this is because i find their characters complement each other very well and create interesting stories just by simply pairing them together… i've already talked At Great Length (and could easily talk for Another Great Length) about summer and salem's relationship specifically in the context of my art of them, and there's something like it going on with blackswan too--

the type of narrative relationship that they have… raven and willow are sort of mirror characters to each other too. both are absent mothers to the primary characters, who vanished from their positions after being knifed in the back by someone they loved (raven was let down by team strq when she needed them most; willow's husband finally tells her that her entire life is a stageplay farce) - both of them are totally checked out from their family and reclusive - both of them are inclined to drink (overt with willow obviously drinking on screen, more subtle with raven strewing bottles all around her tent) - neither is recognizable to their daughters as the same person they were before breaking, and reuniting with the woman who vanished is still a resolution hanging over us - a great deal of emotional real estate is vested in them despite having relatively scarce screentime, right? they're both very interesting characters in their own right and it made me hop around like a little goblin that RT gave me a pair of mirrors who Do Not Know Each Other's Existence (well, that's not necessarily entirely true; raven might know willow EXISTS on account of roughly knowing the schnee family roster since theyre . kinda famous. but even that would be one way and sort of Conceptual rather than personal lol)

the way they handle their problems is different, as is their overall strategy for engaging with the world. but those differences ultimately highlight their similarities too, and the end product is that its only more interesting to try and imagine how they would function as a pair, sharing so many of the same wounds but coping with them differently. could they condemn each other? are they used to not being condemned? TCaBS is at least partially about willow being the only bitch in the world who looks at raven and goes "no i get it", you know? i'm into that kind of thing--this is ALL OVER the summer/salem fanworks too--and any type of interesting dynamic like that is what really gets me into making works to explore it…

i'm using raven/willow as an example here just to demonstrate the line of thinking i had particular to that ship of course. there's a lot of various dynamics in the world that you can easily spin up by picking two or more rwby milfs and pushing them together. it's just one example but that's sort of how my brain works with this stuff in general. i don't really ever think about if the characters have a defined relationship in canon or not. i just think about what would be interesting or complementary… i'm following my heart!!!!!! playing in my playpen!!

this is a long post just to say pretty much it's largely that i operate without thinking about things like "rarepair" or "crackship". i just go "look at my ships boy" and post something ludicrous that still somehow sells people on it. amen