#does this count as meta?

[thequeenofsastiel]

So because I apparently have nothing better to do, I decided to list the names that Spike used when he was talking to Buffy ever since he realized he's in love with her, and the number of times he used those names. So here they are, by season, for posterity's sake:

Season Five:

Buffy-9

Slayer-4

Love-4

Baby-2

Summers-2

Pet-1

Honey-1

Sunshine-1

Blondie-1

Season 6:

Buffy-26

Love-15

Slayer-12

Pet-4

Sweetheart-1

Goldilocks-1

Buff-1

Season 7:

Buffy-18

Love-4

Pet-3

Lamb-1

Slayer-1(it should be noted that he only called her this before he revealed that he'd earned his human soul back)

I know no one asked for this but y'all have it anyway. Infer what you will from this knowledge.

[meanderfall]

The thing that gets me the most about Nie Huaisang's quest for vengeance is that when it's finally accomplished, he just looks tired.

Like, Jin Guangyao is a practiced hand at appearing inoffensive and biding his time until the right moment to strike, but when he does, he's always got that satisfied smirk on his face. Just so smug and vicious and pleased that he brought them low and he is the victor.

Nie Huaisang just looks tired. Sad. Even in the moments leading up, he looks intent, maybe even angry, but not happy or pleased or excited.

It just kind of hammers home to me that this revenge plot is against his nature, and just how much grief he felt at not only Nie Mingjue's death, but the betrayal and hurt that Jin Guangyao did it, because they were friends.

[weskie]

Does Albert have a high alcohol tolerance? How does he behave with reader when he gets really drunk?

(it will be great if we have some smut😭😭🙏🙏)

ah, my specialty. i serve alcohol for a living and have to re-learn this stuff for my recertifications every two years lol

i imagine he could tolerate a bit more than the average person pre t-virus, but after is definitely something to consider.

wesker is definitely a guy with muscle even if he's not a brick shithouse like how chris ended up. that said, muscle mass does impact alcohol's effectiveness and so does body weight.

(90kg = 198.4lbs) jesus christ i need him to lay on me like a weighted blanket

plus, amab people tend to have more of the enzyme dehydrogenase which contributes to the rate at which alcohol is broken down, they typically have greater body-water content, and so on, all of which affects alcohol's impact on a person.

these things considered, i'd say pre t-virus wesker could probably knock back a couple drinks (depending on the type. wine vs beer vs liquor) before really feeling the effect, but it's also going to depend on the rate of consumption and if he's perhaps eating anything as well.

i would wager his tolerance grows after mutating. i absolutely think he becomes even more tolerant after uroboros enters his system given he grows significantly larger in the final fight (hot).

smut headcanons below the cut:

drunk wesker can end up a few ways: lamenting his choices, giggly and/or sleepy, or intensely horny.

should you be lucky enough to end up with the last of the three, expect him to be quite unlike himself.

precise touches become fumbling grasps. he's less methodical, simply going along with whatever his alcohol addled mind decides is the best path to sate his need.

depending on how intoxicated he is, he may end up on his back insisting that you ride him. he'll grip the sheets and give weak thrusts into your heat. wesker becomes downright needy.

he'll be much more vocal. every sound that would typically be a suppressed moan or a simple groan is now a full whine and whimper. fuck him right and he'll sing for you.

the best, though, has to be how he'll look at you. there's always some degree of reverence in his eyes when you two have sex, but he'll look at you like there's a halo over your head while you take him apart. there might even be a weak smile or two that tugs at the corner of his mouth before you wipe it off his face with a particularly languid movement of your hips. your name will fall from his lips like breathy prayers until he's curling up to cling to you while he rides wave after wave of pure bliss.

expect plenty of kisses and snuggling in the afterglow. maybe even a lazy bubble bath to get cleaned up. by the time you two are dry and back in bed, he'll have come down just enough to tug you into his arms as if to take back the reins he'd so happily handed you earlier.

[ihaventcomeupwthanameforaheroyet]

I just love this moment in BC btw:

The first known drawing made by Armand in 500 years. Made after Marius was taken away from him (again). His artistic talent was blocked due to a trauma half of a millennia ago, blocked after he was taken away from his home and from his father. It took a trauma of comparable size - the trauma of being separated from Marius (again) - to unblock his artistic superpowers back.

And I just love how we are never told whose portrait was this. Like, wasn't it obvious? No need to say it.

[mjrtaurus]

So something that caught my attention with the Dragon symbolism stuff with the world nobles vs how it’a used in the RA led me down a rabbit hole that I found interesting enough to share.

So the whole thing stems from two instances of dragon claws being depicted in One Piece.

So! First we have the Celestial Dragon Claw, four clawed, used as branding to mark word noble “property”. Then we have the Dragon Claw Fist, three clawed, a fighting style that we can assume was developed by the RA using the Finger Pistol of the Six Powers as a base.

The difference here is the number of claws, which is what lead me down the rabbit hole in the first place.

The consensus is that the claw number of a depicted dragon is actually a class indicator. Bear in mind that these observations stem from Chinese folklore and its place in Imperial Chinese law, so it might not hold water. And as always do correct me if I’m off in any of these points.

The number of claws and the colorations of dragons in Imperial China was an extremely important thing, and misrepresentations of these could quite literally get you and others executed for acts of treason.

Five clawed yellow or gold (or red during the Ming Dynasty) dragons are a symbol of imperial power for the emperor alone to use. It was illegal for nobles and civilians to wear anything depicting a five-clawed yellow or gold dragon in Imperial China. It was considered- as stated above- an act of treason, and offenders (and their families) could be imprisoned or executed for the crime.

Four clawed dragons are a symbol of nobility. Lesser in the hierarchy than the imperial dragon, but still a mark of high status. It was illegal for civilians to wear depictions of four-clawed dragons. Again, a treasonous act punishable by death or imprisonment under Imperial law.

Civilians could depict dragons with three claws. This was allowed.

So, we can make an assumption here that through these observations, the RA use the three clawed dragon as symbolic of the class warfare that is happening in the One Piece world. But there is another thing!!!

There are these things called Dragon Dance Competitions, where a nine-segmented dragon puppet is manipulated by a team of dancers and musicians to have the dragon chase a pearl- a symbol of wisdom- across the allocated space. These are very interesting to watch, and I highly recommend giving one a watch, since there are plenty of them to see on YouTube. Do take care if you are photosensitive or sound sensitive, as they are bright and loud.

A tradition for these competitions and others (such as lion dances and dragon boat races) is called an “eye dotting ceremony”, which happens at the beginning of the competition. An authorized party comes by to paint the pupils on a dragon to symbolically awaken or- relevant to this post- empower it.

The Celestial Dragon’s Claw is a symbol nobility, and likely has high amounts of regulation on how it can and cannot be used, with infractions on those regulations met with imprisonment at best, and cipher pol or a buster call at worst. It would be highly guarded, and was used to brand people to mark them as property, as we know.

The dragon depicted in the introduction to the Dragon Claw Fist that Sabo utilizes? Three claws, no pupils. It is an unempowered civilian dragon- a weakling by dragon standards- and it is beating the shit out of a World Government official.

Class warfare symbolism. Revolutionary symbolism.

[mollysunder]

This is Chadd, he's from the Inx in Conv/rgence, he loves Jinx, and he organizes elaborate acts of terrorism/performance art against Piltover in Jinx's name. And I NEED this strain of Jinx stan to make it into season 2 of Arcane.

Chadd is the best example of the kind Zaunite that takes their admiration of Jinx seriously and let's it influence their own violence and art, because yes, he plays guitar and sings with the Inx's band. Chadd's an obnoxious, in your face, musically-talented (but borderline nerdy), organized weirdo that gathers all the other stans to plan aerial concerts/bombing events on Piltover.

He's such a dedicated stan (in the concept art) that he dresses up like Jinx too, shorts, fishnets, collar and all. Chadd even has his Jinx tattoo drawn in the same placement aswhere Jinx has her own.

Please Arcane, let obsessive freaks like Chadd overwhelm the chembarons next season as Jinx's stans believe the chembarons don't pay her enough proper tribute. Let Jinx be mildly amused at their antics and keep them around for logistics and grunt work.

[indigovigilance]

You don't have a mother

From the perspective that God is the mother of the angels, and by extension the demons, this sign is particularly dark.

In fact, I believe that's the direct intent, since we have some evidence that all (over the overwhelming majority of) humans go to Hell, and so anyone who is there is statistically likely to be there with their mother.

[starweed]

heyyy, guess who’s back with more thoughts about itoshi rin????

so, we’ve already established that rin is a very extrinsically motivated person, at least when it comes to football. he doesn’t play football for himself, and he never has. and in a setting like blue lock i just don’t think that’s a sustainably way to play football. blue lock is a place that wants people have a real love for the sport, and would play it every single day of their lives if they could. ego wants people who want to win and want to be the best striker in the world.

rin,, doesn’t really want that. sure, he wants to beat isagi and prove his brother wrong, but that’s not really a longterm, sustainable goal. what happens when he succeeds? does he just stop and say, “okay, that’s good enough”? what happens if he never succeeds? if isagi just continually gets better and better and rin never beats him in a way that makes sae acknowledge him?

having extrinsic motivations is good and normal, but you also eventually have to do things that you want to do for you or you’re going to get burnt out. and i feel like that’s the path that rin’s headed towards if we’re being realistic about this. he just goes and goes and goes in a really unsustainable way, and eventually it’s going to catch up to him.

he’s a really interesting foil to isagi, who’s motivations are almost entirely intrinsic. part of why isagi’s mindset feels more sustainable to me is because he really only plays football for himself. he plays because he really loves the sport. and we don’t ever really see that in rin, so i feel like it’s eventually going to kind of blow up in his face as we’ve seen in previous rounds of blue lock.

or i’m entirely wrong about this. idk, i’m not kaneshiro. i’m just saying that i don’t think that rin’s got anything sustainable going on in how he plays football ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

[ultfreakme]

How to make a romance! A Recipe Guide by TV tropes

Love At First Sight:

"This is one of the most common and oldest story archetypes. Love at First Sight is either a recipe for Happily Ever After or eventual disillusionment and heartbreak."

Watching The Sunset!

"It's often for their own pleasure, based on the romantic connotations, or for a symbolic purpose. They may even be waiting for something that's supposed to happen after the sun sets. Often symbolizes the end of a period — often a rather happy one — in somebody's life."

Finishing Each Other's Sentences~

"The effect is usually a demonstration of how close the two people are — they're so familiar with one another, they even think alike."

Meet The In-Laws!

"In many cultures, this is obligatory as a form of knowing and being close to each other's families. Everyone wants to make a good first impression in the face of possible disapproval and for this reason can be played for laughs or drama."

[-- ------------STANDBY------ERROR---- -------]

"Have you ever.....killed someone?"

LOADING.....LOADING.....STANDBY--

Despair Event

"The line that, once crossed,

destroys any last remaining sense of hope."

We Used To Be Friends

"The reasons might vary, but bottom line is, the once tight bond between the character(s) in question and their former friend(s) is severely damaged, if not completely broken."

Don't You Dare Pity Me

"An injured or suffering character is approached by another, eager to help, but the injured party is offended. This reaction of humiliation and resentment may be spoken, acted upon, or merely felt."

The Power of Love

"The Power of Love is a curious thing. It makes one man weep, and another man sing."

"It might just save your life."

[-- ------------STANDBY------ERROR---- -------]

//ERROR// LOADING

PLOT TWIST

THE FOOL

"the Power of Love can be applied in dire situations to make things better."

"Don't you dare mock it, it's more than a feeling, that's the power of love."

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

HAPPILY EVER AFTER!?!?!?!

The Lost Lenore

"The Lost Lenore is another character's deceased love interest. This kind of tragedy is one of The Oldest Ones in the Book"

"In order to fit this trope, the character must have just as much, if not more, importance to the narrative dead than they would alive."

Itadori Yuuji: The next words that spilled from my lips came from so deep within my gut that it nearly made all the things I've ever said feel like a lie. Itadori Yuuji: I will kill you.

[gihijinks]

Marx and Magolor and their "it's complicated" thing. I keep promising to actually dissect their dynamic but then I get emotionally burnt out and just make them cuddle instead.

The general binding theme of "the way we interact with others makes us fundamentally isolated, and the existence of the Soul is so inherently frightening and a profoundly lonely experience, and you are the only one who can fully understand this facet of myself" paired against their conflicting feelings.

Marx's "you're a hypocrite, your double standards are infuriating, you make me want to pull my hair out. You make me laugh, you're fun, I miss you when you're gone."

Magolor's "I changed, you didn't, you don't get to judge me. I wish I was a better friend to you. You seem to know me better than I know myself and that scares me. I hate you. I lovingly dedicate this hat to you."

It gets worse before it gets better but it gets better.

[theefloraknight]

But then again, regarding this post... there's also the fact that loki seems like a really private person, and the fact that everyone is so blinded by what Odin's telling them and their reverence of Thor, it also makes sense that nobody would know the difference in loki 2011 and loki 2012, like @abby118 said. But also, why aren't there any other socerors besides Frigga on Asgard that we see? I mean, Odin has the OdinForce but because he wouldn't want to seem "weaker" for using magic, but since magic is seen as women's craft by Asgard, wouldn't there be other female socerors? I mean, possibilities that they exist and are seen as weaker or "useless" because they might not seem to do anything, but since Asgard is a realm with magic in multiple places, wouldn't they be, like, I don't know, intertwined with the realm or something? Either way, it could just be a lack of world building, but I feel like it's important to note that Loki was described as the "most powerful soceror" in the Nine Realms, so there had to be other socerors, right? I know Loki didn't utilize his magic much in the MCU(they should've utilized it more) but there was still so much potential in what they could've done with him in the MCU.

[nicholasmoorethetwittermigrant]

I’m an advocate for overexposed characters not needing to constantly have their own movies out, but it’s crazy how we’ve gone from MCU Spider-Man making an appearance nearly once a year on average for 5 years, to what will likely be 5 years between appearances.

Like it’s really hitting me how this will almost certainly be the longest break in between theatrical Spider-Man outings since Raimi’s first film.

That said once he’s back I’ll bet you anything the hype will be absolutely unprecedented. NWH was the last MCU project to really feel like a worldwide “event”, and as soon as audiences sniff Spider-Man in the water after a long break, then shit’s gonna go wild.

[piddgeon]

thinking about Dutch and wanting to sob and cry. of course he went off the rails the way he did. he lost his entire family within the span of a few weeks with Hosea being shot and killed, Arthur visibly deteriorating from TB, and John (in his eyes) betraying him. in his eyes he had already lost or was in the process of losing everything that ever mattered to him. I think trying so hard to cling to the gang and preserve them (even if it ended up driving them apart even faster) was his attempt to keep some sense of control and stability and make it seem like his life wasn’t changing so drastically.

[cipher-zoo]

I know that not every injury turns into a scar and in One Piece only "significant" injuries do, but honestly, it is such a disservice to Nami that she isn't portrayed with a scar on her left hand, where she stabbed herself to save Usopp!

Because personally I think that was a very significant moment.

[thewhiitelotus]

I could rant about how much I love Uzui for literally hours. He just embodies such duality— he’s boastful and confident and borderline conceited (calling himself a god lol), but at the same time is plagued by self-doubt and trauma and grief. Feeling like he’ll never measure up to the people he looks up to (Rengoku) while also knowing that he has incredible and unique skills that make him good enough to be a hashira. Growing up facing pain and hatred and violence all around him, aimed at him, watching his siblings die because of it, and then choosing to subject himself to more violence to protect people like he couldn’t do for his siblings. Taking the path of love instead of spite and using it to make the world a safer place. Struggling to distance himself from an upbringing that damaged him while trying to embrace a life of love. I just. He really said “get better not bitter” and I love him for it.

[darkbluesky96]

Aziraphale, in both S1 and S2, mentioned how he thinks that only people get to make a choice between good and evil, that angels and demons don't get to make any choice, because their nature decides that for them.

I don't think that's true. They've all been brainwashed into thinking they don't have a choice when they do. Angels and demons, just like people, get to make a choice. I wonder if the enemies thing was just a distraction to prevent other angels from joining 'Lucifer and the guys.' Maybe it was God, maybe it was the Metatron, whoever came up with it also has to be the one who decided to shut down the world after 6000 years. Why? Because both ideas seem pointless to Crowley- the fight between angels and demons is pointless, creating the world only to destroy it after 6000 years is pointless.

If they somehow make them realise their own free will, how many angels and demons would choose to leave, the way Beelzebub and Gabriel left? And also, wouldn't this be similar to how Adam chose to exercise his free will to stop the Armageddon in S1? Is that the role of the second coming in S3, to help both sides realise their wills and stop the war that way?

Very vague idea, but just wanted to throw it out there.