#doing a lot of introspection

[arsnof]

I've got, like, five posts in drafts. Who am I? Aren't I just a spam-reblogger, an integral part of the Tumblr ecosystem? Since when do I express opinions?

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Happy one year anniversary to In Stars and Time!

[musicalmoritz]

I was skimming through my old Soukoku fics and LMAO Chuuya chill out

[zinniapetals]

my fave chengxian reconciliation scenario is wei wuxian slowly realizing that the life of a wanderer isn’t actually what he wants and lotus pier is his home and more clearly, living in a world with jiang cheng but not actually being something to jiang cheng isn’t what he wants either

[murdockhawkeye]

this is *maybe* a bit of a stretch but i still find interesting to think about? don't know if i have everything right

but

i feel like with the elemental opposite duos - emma & rikki, cleo & bella - you could reasonably say their arcs'd mirror each other in a way

like

emma and rikki have issues with responsibility/expectations but on opposite ends of the spectrum

emma was a gifted child, everyone had high expectations for her and she tried to meet those expectations the best she could. she’s responsible emma, who makes sure everyone is looked after, and everyone “knew” was going to become a top athlete, because look at all those trophies on her shelf

and then rikki on the other hand, was alone for “her own good.” she admitted to elliot that no one really liked her growing up, so when somebody did, it made her feel weird and she pushed them away. she stayed away from other people, made sure they never had any expectations of her

they both avoided disappointing others, by going to opposite extreme lengths

and then they overcame these issues, with emma facing a sudden change in her life (becoming a mermaid) that meant she had to give up her swimming dreams and disappoint the people in her life (that had to suck for her, honestly.) she had to come to terms with that - but then, she also found a whole new world that she’d never have been a part of, if things had gone the way she planned

and as for rikki - her biggest change wasn't the tail, but becoming friends with emma and cleo. had she'd her way and zane’d never gotten cleo stuck on that boat, she’d never become friends with them. rikki had to learn the hurdles of friendship and of keeping them, like when she mistook the different kinds of fish, when cleo and emma didn't support her relationship with zane, etc. they had their issues - but in the end, they were there for rikki, and rikki was there for them back. she'd have never gotten that kind of solidarity, had things gone the way she thought it would

and then there’s cleo and bella

bella - unfortunately, didn’t have much in terms of development, since the writers prioritized will’s relationship with her over expanding her character background+ for some reason ??

so i'm just mostly going to talk about cleo here first - but i'll get to bella in a second

cleo by s3 is a very confident and self-assured person; but she didn't start out that way. she was insecure, somewhat naive. she grew up overshadowed by her two best friends, the both of them being gifted in their own rights - emma, the young up and rising athlete, and lewis the science genius, they were sure to go places. cleo, on the other hand, was overlooked. she didn't have much going for her - except for adequate grades and a love of the marine life that was hindered by her fear of water

and then cleo became a *literal* mermaid. either she was going to avoid it or overcome it. in the end, she didn't just overcome her fear of water, but she also took a risk by taking that job at the marine park, where she'd be working right by the marine animals. she let her fear control her before, and she wasn't going to let it stop her from wanting to pursue things anymore

(funny, she started out with a fear of water, then became a mermaid. she struggled with her grades, then became a science genius)

bella, much like cleo - had her own issues when it came to the kind of attention she got, but the other way around. her first appearance, she was being catcalled. same ep, nate is drooling over her. they've made her beauty a point throughout s3. even cleo and rikki's brought it up. it. could not have been easy for her to deal with that, especially with her secret in mind

seeing that, even with the different issues when it came to attention, i think they'd still have had the same feelings about it. a younger bella, probably would've been similarly insecure/anxious as cleo had been - until she learned to be more sure about herself and grew into the bella we know and love today

(we should've gotten way more lore and background about bella, agh)

tldr; emma and rikki have same feelings but opposite reactions (people pleasing and people avoiding.) cleo and bella opposite situations but same feelings (overshadowed and center of attention)

yk, rikki was right in a way i think about the "universal law," but like, more about keeping in balance and not about trios. emma and rikki balance each other out, cleo and bella were *meant* to balance each other out. but in s2, bella wasn't there - charlotte was

do i blame the antagonizing of charlotte and cleo's out of characterness on the writers, or do i blame it on some magical semi-canon mermaid universal law about balance

blaming it on a mermaid universal law sounds more fun, and could have interesting implications. (though the writing grates me, still)

[hippolotamus]

Inspiration Sunday Sentences

My turn to take my queer feels out on our freshly minted Bi Buck 🩷��💙

tagged by the lovely @stereopticons @loserdiaz @tizniz @filet-o-feelings @diazsdimples @ladydorian05 @theotherbuckley absolutely loving everything you're putting out in the world (and obviously tagging you right back)

Next is the bisexual pride pin from Eddie that he prominently displays on his work duffle. Chris gives Buck his own gift, a Binosaur tee shirt that makes them both giggle. There’s a pink, purple and blue fidget spinner ring from Chim. A snapback embroidered with ‘I put the bi in bitch’ from Hen and Karen.

Athena bakes him cupcakes with tiny pride flags stuck in the frosting that’s also dusted with rainbow sugar crystals. Buck definitely never tells her how they unintentionally lead to the best sex he’s had in years after Tommy witnessed him shoving the entire treat in his mouth in one go.

Through his adult life, Buck has developed a certain taste for his personal decor and style. It’s rather minimalist, but it works for him. Still, he finds he enjoys adding these gifts of support and love from his family.

np tagging (lmk if you want added or removed) @shipperqueen6 @shortsighted-owl @eddiebabygirldiaz @bidisasterbuckdiaz @actuallyitsellie @bi-buckrights @chaosandwolves @daffi-990 @elvensorceress @epicbuddieficrecs @eowon @fortheloveofbuddie @bucksbiawakening @giddyupbuck @saybiwithme @hoodie-buck @jesuisici33 @indestructibleheart @jesuisici33 @thekristen999 @lemonzestywrites @lizzie-bennetdarcy @loveyouanyway @monsterrae1 @rmd-writes @spaceprincessem @spotsandsocks @steadfastsaturnsrings @the-likesofus @theplaceyoustillrememberdreaming @thewolvesof1998 @vanillahigh00 @watchyourbuck @weewootruck @welcometololaland @wikiangela @wildlife4life @your-catfish-friend @honestlydarkprincess @queerbuckleys and anyone else who wants to 😘

[tswwwit]

I want a bill whump so bad, if dipper falls in love with bill every time he reincarnates but hes also a little bit different in every reincarnation, could there be one where hes almost entirely replused by bill, or already in love with someone else?

We all love to see that terrible little man struggling! Typically hurting Bill is accomplished via Dipper-death, but this is a neat alternate scenario. You know he's definitely going to start out totally full of himself! Winning his husband back should be easy! Until he realizes he has no idea how he did it in the first place.

[athena5898]

Genderfluid: exists

The rest of society including other queers: bioessentialism woven into the very fabric of thought

Genderfluid: red spot on forehead permanently with how much they hit their head out of exasperation

[jaypentaghast]

I'm not worried at all about the crew not forgiving Ed tbh

They tried to mutiny Stede, Ed and Izzy almost killed him, they almost killed Izzy, Buttons wanted to eat Lucius and the Swede, Roach too, they tried to kill Ed, etc

what is a family if not a group of people who sometimes try to murder one another

[devourable]

what do yall think ab sterling having like very intense levels of shame when it comes to intimacy and its the real reason why he gets so snippy ab giving/receiving it

[ley-med]

Me: I am so proud of myself, lately I've been so good at not procrastinating!

Also me, one week before a big exam: That inconvenient corner of the stove hadn't been cleaned in ages, this can't go on like this

[jacksprostate]

Please tell me what you think about my 6.5k fic of Martin Vail and the narrator from Fight Club....

[aibouart]

i drew a streamer i started watching recently who was playing LN1~

their name is obakechan !

[queerpyracy]

imo a lot of people would benefit from thinking about their own queerness less in terms of naming every aspect of their nebulous inner experience to make it easily categorized and more in terms of who they want to be in relationship with & how

like. "am i ever under any circumstance attracted to men" is a wildly different question from "what kind of relationships do i want to have with the men in my life." this applies to gender too but my feelings on that are less easily articulated

[mamawasatesttube]

heres how t4t timkon can still win.

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads

The Deep Sky

scifi mystery thriller

on a deep space mission traveling from an environmentally devastated earth with hope to restart humanity elsewhere

when they’re halfway, an explosion kills 3 crew and pushes them off course

the only witness is the Alternate who has no specific role, and she has to figure out who caused it & if they might continue to sabotage, while they're figuring out a way to get back on course with limited resources

flips between present and the past: of her childhood and training for the mission, her identity struggles, and relationship with her mother

questions the ethics of ‘restarting’ humanity elsewhere vs putting resources into fixing earth