#don't starve thesis

[waokevale]

A Clarification to Wormwood's Age (And why he's fully fledged without a shred of doubt)

So, as we all know or have heard some at point, there are still people out there, who think the peculiar lunar plantation is an infant, solely due to the way he speaks, behaves and of conviction that he was literally born yesterday. Which by all means is false.

That's why I'm here to finally dismantle that belief. I'll present you with several compelling arguments of mine based on throughout research I did on his character overall, and if by the end of this post, you'll still hold firm to that same opinion, then I'm afraid that's out of my hands by that point.

If you're willing to stay for the duration of this thesis, and hear me out, I'll be very greatful. And please do listen, so we may not make any more misconceptions as such about him in the future.

I'll be splitting this post into 5 segments, one with additional subcategories.

General Appearance

Behavioral Pattern

Intelligence

Character Interrelations

Canon Information

First of, let's start off with the obvious:

General Appearance

If we're going to interpret his appearance based on 'human qualities', then physically, compared to actual child characters, Wormwood's design is vastly different.

The easiest way for me to prove that, lies in one of the recent animations: (Swine & Dine), where all the (live) children are gathered in one place, alongside Wormwood and Wes.

Here, you can distinctly pick apart the difference between the three preteen characters, Walter, (who's likely supposed to be a teenager on the younger side; around 13-14), and the last two.

The most obvious difference is the jawline. Wormwood, for one, has a massive jaw, easily rivaling that of Maxwell's (while technically, this feature isn't reserved solely for adults, it is moreso common to see an adult with a define jawline, rather than a child.)

This, alongside his torso being usually depicted as an inverted triangle (at least in the official animations), seem to be features added intentionally somewhere post his release, as he looks much more childlike in his animation video, where he's still technically a sapling per se.

Even Several of Wormwood's skins showcase, that he is in no way meant to be seen in a juvenile way.

The best example of that being his Victorian skin.

Look me dead in the eye and tell me that's a child. That is one of the most indisputable old man portrayals, you can get from an anthropomorphic plant character in media. Do not try and argue, how a child is meant to look like that, because neither of the four actual child characters has a skin, which makes them appear that much significantly older than they actually are.

So what reason would Klei even have to make his skin look so apparently elderly, if they saw him as a child?

More examples of his mature skins could be said for the Roseate and Guest of Honor. While they're not outright elderly, as is the former, the general vibe is similar to that of other adult characters' portraits.

Now that we've compared him to human characters and their characteristics, we should take into consideration what he actually is. Let's remember, that at the end of the day, he's partially a plant organism and partially an inorganic crystal from the moon , certainly he ages much differently than us humans, or even most other constant species for that matter.

I'm pretty sure he was also formed with a fully developed body (since he seemingly bloomed shortly after forming, which is a trait reserved primarily for mature plants)

But then again, appearance alone isn't enough to make one truly adult, is it? Thus we're moving on to:

Behavioral pattern

Few things you'll immediately realize about Wormwood is his alleged naivety, playful nature and seldom use of grammatical correctness. Due to this, many immediately assume that he's a child, which is understandable, but not a good enough reason to make such an assumption.

There are many factors involved in building one's disposition, and in Wormwood's case, there's plenty of reasonable causes for his behavor:

As previously stated, he's quite literally a sentient amalgam of vines, brought to life by a jewel from the moon. His origin far disparates that of any known being, especially a human.

His mind develops much differently than that of an average person. This correlates with the point above (since its a big green gem in his chest and not an actual brain). Plus, he likely hadn't had the chance to have a proper education. While he seems to have picked up on a lot of mannerisms from the pigsfolk in Hamlet, I doubt anyone went out of their way to actually school him.

He's feral. The majority of his upbringing, he likely spent surviving in the jungle. In a way, he reminds me a lot of Tarzan (A human, who grew up raised by a troop of gorillas after his parents were killed. He can communicate with the local wildlife just fine, but deeply struggles understanding and relating to the outsiders; other humans, who one day arrived on his land.) That's likely the reason why Wormwood refers to certain creatures with mimicking the sounds they make. Perhaps he can understand them to a degree, or at least is trying to.

Just because he doesn't speak English, doesn't mean he's slow. It is plausible he speaks a different language, while English doesn't come naturally to him. As is the case with Wolfgang, who has similar speech impediment issues and struggles with saying full sentences, but that's quite literally because English isn't his mother tongue. It's been a running gag that Wolfgang is the embodiment of a European man, and whichever country/countries he might've originated from, it's definitely not the UK. As might be the case for Wormwood and whatever constant language he actually thinks in.

He has certain traits akin to people with autism/Asperger's or ADHD (Nonverbal communication, delayed language development, lacking social cues, sensitive nose, short attention span, hyperactive and somewhat impulsive behavior, wild or overexaggerated movement, struggle with fitting in, little sense of awareness etc.) And I'm speaking from experience with this one, he's quite relatable to me, and many of my friends on the spectrum.

With that let's move on to the third segment.

Intelligence

Just how smart is he truly?

Wormwood isn't regarded for his high intellect, that's for sure, but remember, intelligence isn't defined by just the book smarts society imposes on us. Therefore it doesn't always correspond to a person's age and experience.

Wormwood, while definitely not on a level of a Harvard graduate, is extremely intelligent and a quick learner at that.

Let's digest what we generally know about intelligence and what it really means for Wormwood.

With the main question at hand : What differentiates a child mind from an adults'?

While he certainly shares some personality traits with Webber, their mindsets are rather different.

I'd like to present my point with a simple method.(From that one Quora post, believe it or not, it was the most convenient out of all the theories and tests I found) Dividing that, which is known as thought process into five subcategories, of which are:

Cognitive Development

Life Experience

Responsibility and Independence

Emotional Regulation

Social and Moral Development

So let's start with Cognitive Development/Psychology

(Definition : The process of growth and change in intellectual/mental abilities such as thinking, reasoning and understanding. That includes: the ability to interpret information, verbally communicate ideas, appropriately apply words and gestures to given situations, recognize and differentiate various sounds, comprehend your surroundings, use past experience to resolve current or future problems more efficiently, etc. TLDR: How thought process changes with age ; Talking, hearing, reading, remembering, problem-solving, understanding, You get the point. )

By this point, Wormwood's acquired plenty of general knowledge of the world around him and what to expect from it. (In some cases, he seems to know things without realizing it, or simply wishes to not provide more info of what he's already aware of.)

He is capable of understanding various different things, applying appropriate words to them, when given the chance. He often struggles to properly phrase what he means, but you can still get around to grasp it.

And you know what? He's especially good at deducing things not every character can point out. Here are some of the more obvious to least obvious things he's mentioned:

Leaky teacup - "Can't drink from it"

Beaten Beater - "Hmm... Can't use it"

Start tower kit - "Need to plant it on the water"

Compass- "which way?"

N- "North

S- "South"

E- "East"

W- "West"

NE- "Northeast"

SE- "Southeast"

NW- "Northwest

SW- "Southwest"

(The direction one would seem pointless to add but let's remember that there literally are characters in this game who don't know which way is which cough cough Winona cough)

Clippings - "Can sell this hair"

(the plant understands capitalism 👍)

Winona's GEM-erator (out of fuel) - "Oh. Needs sparky"

Telelocator Focus (missing gem)- "Needs Purple Shiny"

Telelocator Socket (missing gem)- "Where shiny things?"

The Queen of Moon Quay: "Oh...she thinks Night Ball is friend hair?"

(He might know what They are after all)

Beast of Hunger (1) - "Oh. Not alive"

(This, plus any other quote of his mistaking a statue or an object with distinguishable features as alive, does not make him dull; this world literally has statues coming to life. He simply uses a reasoning he acquired from living in the Constant.)

Ancient chest - "Put stuff in there!"

(One of 4 characters to have an inclining what to do with it)

Greater Gestalt- "Protect"

Hound Corpse (reanimating) - "Coming back"

(He seems the least bit of surprised or disturbed by this, compared to everyone else)

Antlion (upset) - "Oh no. Needs gifts"

(interestingly, no one else seems to mention why the Antlion is upset)

Mysterious Energy- "Seed"

(...?)

Distilled knowledge- "Plant this in funny floor"

(he's the only one to have figured out what to actually do with it)

I think what we all can realize from going through his quotes, is that he's in no way as clueless as he initially seems. He has his moments, but so do the rest of the survivors.

Life Experience, Responsibility and Independence

This plant has lived through a lot, but then again so have the rest, a lot of them have faced countless hardships most of us can't even fathom.

From what we already know, the fandom generally believes he is very naive and trusting, which really isn't the case. The thing is, it's not that he's naive, he may not react especially negatively to a creature or thing because he's used to seeing bizarre things, or because he's not afraid of them, unlike the majority of the survivor cast, who are alien to the constant.

Barring the in-game mechanics which force characters to be competent regardless of their experience, we're going to focus on his reactions to mobs and items that might pose actual threat to him or others, or are considered as questionable by him.

Inflatable Vest - "Safe?"

Shadowcraft plinth - "Scary hands helping?"

Fish steak - "Watch for bones"

Candy Apple - "Careful! Don't eat stick! "

Platapine (sleeping)- "don't wake it"

Sentrypede husk - "Sleeping. Shhh"

Sea Stack - "Oops! Watch out!

Great Tree Root - "Oh! Don't bump into friends!"

Worm hole (open) - "Deep. Dark"

(When deerclops is near) - "Something scary coming!"

Pressure plate - Hmmm...Odd rock"

Dread mite (about to explode) - "Look out!"

Shadow Reaper - "No...Wants to hurt friends!"

Depth Worm (lure) - "Hmm... not safe"

Depth Worm (burrowed) - "something hiding"

Meat bulb - "Careful!"

[The fish quotes in DST + the candy Apple are giving me an image of him saying that to the child characters (and definitely Woodie for the latter)]

Independence-wise, the one thing I especially took notice of, is how much the child characters seek guidance from the adults in the group, mentioning them by their formal titles too. That's especially frequent with Webber, Wurt and Walter, though Wendy rarely does this. On one hand, she claims she considers toys and fun to be behind her, but contradictory, enjoys playing with other children and some of the adults. (Besides we canonically know she's 10-11 years old)

Wormwood isn't known for wanting to seek guidance either. He's sometimes confused about how certain things work, and thus will ask about it, but that's understandable given his predicament. (As @thebleedingalien once mentioned, he's like an extraterrestrial experiencing bits and pieces from 2 different worlds at once)

He doesn't really care to play with toys either, (barring a couple instances, one being Bernie and the others; toys with wheels and Antlion's sand castle. But c'mon I know some of you grown ass adults own toy cars/collectibles or build sandcastles when the opportunity rises, you can't lie to me and say neither of these things are fun.

And besides, adult characters in this game also goof around. There's the whole sand castle building thing in Shipwrecked , which curiously Wormwood doesn't have a strong opinion on.)

But if we were to compare his maturity to other adult characters...

(Wilson) [aside his many, many jokes]: Silk- "It comes from a spider's butt."

(Willow) Portal Exit - "It's fun to watch OTHER people fall on their butts."

(Wolfgang) Coral Nubbin - "Haha. Rock is bald."

(WX-78) Regular Jungle Tree (normal and stump) - "THIS DUMB TREE HAS A DUMB FACE"

(Wickerbottom) Weregoose - "My! What a silly goose!"

(Wigfrid) Plant (ready to be picked) - "Ugh, vegetables. I'm nöt sure what I expected..."

(Woodie) Ghost - "Boo! Ha ha!"

(Winona) Kingly Figure - "It's BUST-ed! Ha!"

(Maxwell) Frazzled Wires - "I might hide those in WX-78's bedroll if I get bored"

(Wortox) [But if we were to pick an example of many] Potato Sack- "Hyuyuyu, wouldn't it be fun to hide inside and give him a scare?"

Yeah, I think he's good.

In this section I don't really have much else to say. He can be cautious, he can be daft. He joggles the braincells alongside the rest of the survivors. But all in all, I would not consider him any more reckless or goofy than either the child or adult characters. Independence wise, while he can absolutely manage just fine on his own, his desire for companionship far outweighs that.

And since we've already talked about maturity, let's move on to:

Emotional Regulation

Despite common belief, Wormwood is not overly emotional. While, yes, he is excitable and easy to impress, he doesn't usually display intense negative emotions, unless something (more often than not wooden) is destroyed, or unless a plant or a creature he likes, suffers. But then again, in those situations, it's logical to display panic, worry and grief. Imagine if your family member or friend suddenly caught on fire and burned before your eyes... Yeah, I bet no one morally adjusted would be the slightest bit of composed in those kinds of situations...

Worse yet, the majority of the Constant is filled with plants, most of whom are his friends, the closest to his kind, beings which display varying amount of sentience...

In actuality, the children, including Wendy, display a shift in emotions much more often than Wormwood does.

Then there's Willow, WX-78, Woodie (birds) and Maxwell, who all have even less emotional stability.

In comparison, I'd say he handles most situations much more maturely and nonchalantly.

Social & Moral Development

Ah yes, the ability to difference right from wrong, morality, patos or however you would call it. Now this one's a little tricky, on one hand, while he may react strongly to a plant's demise, his reaction varies, when it comes to animals and structures. Sometimes, he doesn't really bat an eye, frankly, other times, he displays intense amounts of grief.

I guess that's the definition of selective empathy.

Curiously, he has 2 separate quotes for a pigeon. One from Hamlet, where he seems a lot more distressed when it perishes, and the other, from The Gorge, where he simply states the fact "Oh. Dead."

I'd like to think this was intentional to sort of give him that fading care many of us experience as we grow older.

Here's another example:

[Hamlet] Glowfly (dead) - "(sob)"

[DST, Host of Horrors update] Koalefant Carcass - "Braump...? Not anymore"

Regarding the other survivors; for the most part, he sympathizes with them. Though he doesn't panic much when they die from average constant shenanigans. He knows it's not permanent or consequential.

He does show sympathy, when some of the others' precious belongings get destroyed or damaged.

Winona's Catapult (burnt)- "Fire bad"

Winona's Spotlight (burnt)- "Oh. So sad"

Mighty Gym (burnt)- "Oh... poor muscle man..."

Or in some instances, when a character strongly disapproves of something and he takes notice of that:

Nautipilot - "Robot friend doesn't like Pull Rock"

What's interesting, is that, while he calls many creatures his friends, he specifically avoids calling Maxwell that. He even considers Lucy, Willow and Woodie his friends, which is just... wow. May he harbor a grudge against him for what he did to the other survivors? Something more personal? Or is it moreso related to the fact he's fully siding with the shadows... Most likely the former.

Overall I would say he's definitely more empathetic than not, and one doesn't have to care for every living being after all.

Character Interrelations

Regarding what other characters think of how old he is...

It's debatable, keep in mind, the characters don't have to be fully aware, or can misinterpret his age based on his behavior alone.

Most people just refer to him as "plant", unsurprisingly.

There's characters like Winona, who seem to intentionally downplay his age. Winona in her quotes refers to both Wormwood and Wilson (who's officially in his 30s) as 'bucko' (a lively, young fellow. Or in some cases a friend, or another version of buddy). As for her quotes for Bramble trap and Compost wrap, she refers to Wormwood with the terms 'lil plant fella' and 'little guy'. She pretty much just teases people who are younger than her or seem younger. Or she genuinely believes he's actually that young.

There's plenty instances of people calling him a variation of little, small or sapling, which might just be how they see him. Keep in mind, just because a character may think he's on the younger side, does not mean their interpretation is the absolute firm belief you should uphold.

Then, there's Wolfgang and Wurt, who both firmly believe that he's a grown adult.

(Wolfgang) Generic - "Is leafy green man, %s! Hello!"

Firestarter - "Leafy green man did a fire booboo."

Syrup of Ipecaca - "Will leafy green man be sad if Wolfgang doesn't have a taste?"

(Wolfgang only calls him little once in his quotes, because he calls everyone little, children though, he refers to as very tiny + boy/girl/child, so there's that.)

(Wurt) Attacker - "Ow! You mean old weed!"

You might think; why would I care about what a child and a man who's considered to not be so bright think? Well, my previous point about language barriers explains that. Besides, Wurt is a constant-born creature who builds an entire kingdom in her play style, by no means, is she clueless. She also refers to Deerclops and Antlion as 'She', while most of the other characters use he or it.

What's interesting is that Wickerbottom also tends to avoid referring to him with youthful terms, aside the obvious general one she uses for everyone and everything. If anything, she's more patronizing towards Woodie, Wilson, Winona and Wigfrid. (All of whom are in between their late 20s-40s)

Lastly, we have:

Canon Information

While there isn't much information relating to his age, there are hints in the game canon that explain that.

In the game's compendium, where reside the survivors' profile, backstory and description, three of the four kids have 'young' in their introduction. Barring Walter, who instead has 'boy' which is as much of a youthful term. Wormwood's simply stated as 'an amalgam of vines' not a seedling, sapling nor a young/little plant.

From his backstory, we know that:

"A green gem fell from the moon, landing on an ancient stone monument in the middle of overgrown rubble. Over a long period of time, a vine encircled the gem and eventually formed a humanoid figure sitting on the monument. The figure, Wormwood, opened his eyes and looked at his hands. (...)"

(Now this simply explains, that a lot of time has passed as he was forming, unlike what's shown in his animation, where his body instantly forms.)

There's also this part of his bio.

“Though the circumstances of his creation were unusual at best, Wormwood came into this world full of optimism and curiosity, ready to make new friends and see all that life had to offer. But as time wore on and he experienced the cold sting of rejection, he came to learn what the moon above had always known: Wormwood the Lonesome does not belong here.���

It's implied that a while has passed since his birth. Everyone assumes that he was just created recently and that he doesn't know anything, but as I've shown you previously, he's very perceptive when it matters. He has the knowledge and experience, even insight or a hunch. He is able to determine things others can't. Ever since Hamlet happened, his quotes gradually became somewhat more apathetic towards creatures dying, as opposed to the worry and care he previously displayed.

So by the end of this post, are you still inclined to believe he's a child?

Was this completely unnecessary and took far too long to construct? Yes.

Do I regret making this? Nah.

[gutterprophet]

I got feeding tube'd yesterday for gastroparesis treatment but the supplies I need to actually automate feedings properly won't arrive until tomorrow, so for now the co-farmer is just setting an alarm to walk over every few minutes and syringe tiny amounts of meal replacement formula into my tube while I paint and listen to my Gideon the Ninth audiobook and don't bother to look up

It feels exactly the same as when I was lugging an oxygen concentrator around with me everywhere and the weight of it on my hip & the rumbling hiss it made quickly became background noise, or when I was doing home infusions and became as sure of where my IV pole was in space as I was of my arms and legs, without ever having to look. Just another unremarkable part of my body. A lot of years of shifting my perception to accommodate the constant parade of technology and aids being added to and retracted from my body has made it second nature to allow that the boundaries of my body are permeable and impermanent. Six years ago it took me the better part of a year to adjust to having wheels; now, unthinkingly, unintentionally, my proprioception expands to encompass a person within half an hour.

When I talk about being a cyborg, this is what I'm gesturing at. Hybridization of the internal and external. It's a universal human ability-- people do it with pens, keyboards, clothing, cars-- but it's especially apparent when you are dependent on your artificial body parts to walk, breathe, eat. All humans are cyborgs but I am like a mega cyborg. An above average amount of cyborgery

[ghostofhyuck]

NCT Dream finding out that you're not eating. 

Mark Lee ; lying about not eating

Mark would be disappointed that you lied to him about not eating. He knows how you're cramming your thesis and at the same time rotting in bed. If it wasn't for your roommate snitching you to your boyfriend, he wouldn't know that you're starving yourself. He'll go to your dorm and bring you not only food but also groceries that you can cook easily. "Most of these are instant noodles, but! it's better than not eating at all, don't make me worry okay?" 

Huang Renjun ; caught you not having a dinner

When Renjun left your apartment, you were in the middle of studying for your exam. He's going out with Dreamies and promised that he'll be home late. But before he left, he reminded you to eat dinner. When Renjun returned, you're still in your seat, not even moving. When Renjun asked if you ate dinner, you stopped. You totally forgot about it but it was enough to be nagged by Renjun, "Okay time out, get up and come with me, you need food. How can you review well with an empty stomach?" 

Lee Jeno ; not having energy

Jeno noticed how quiet you are when you two met. He picked you up from your Uni and while walking home, he noticed how you barely respond to his stories. He asked you what's wrong and you shrugged it, that's when he began poking around. "Why are you pale today, did you eat anything?" you were caught-off guard with his question, you remember not having a decent meal since yesterday. When you confessed it to Jeno, you can see how disappointed he is, but then he drags you to the nearest restaurant to feed you. "Stop starving yourself, it's unhealthy! Look at you, you don't even have the energy today."

Lee Donghyuck ; stomach growling

You visited Haechan during his practice and just in time, he's all alone while the rest of Dreamies went to buy food. When he asked if you want some, you quietly rejected it, but your stomach sudddenly growled. It was embarrassing but Haechan laughed and even teased you that you're hungry, but you became quiet, making your boyfriend suspicious. "What do you mean you haven't eaten yet? It's almost midnight!? What --- okay I'll text the boys to buy a portion for you, that's final. You think I'll let you starve?"

Na Jaemin ; fainting

It was an accident. You attest to your boyfriend who's worried sick. You look pale and your lips are dry. "You fainted," he pointed out. "It's because I played sports," you rebutted. "Without eating anything! You're bound to faint." He justified, and then proceed to give you an earful leacture of not eating and how you should engage in sports with a full stomach. He couldn't be angry that long, but asked you to promise him to never do it again. "Do it again, and I'll deliver food to your place everyday." 

Zhong Chenle ; seeing the fridge empty

Chenle decided to visit you even though you're in the middle of exams week. He just wanted to spend time with you even though you're focused with your studies. It was nearing dinner when he volunteered to cook dinner for both of you. As he went to the fridge, he was surprised to see your fridge empty. Chenle looked at every cupboards in your kitchen and found nothing, not even a cup of instant ramen. He asked you about it and that's when you realized that you haven't done any groceries yet. When asked when did you had a decent meal, you were quiet. Chenle could only shake his head in disbelief, grabbing his phone to order food for you two. "We should buy some groceries for you tomorrow, you shouldn't be starving yourself you know that?"

Park Jisung ; not having any appetite

When asked what you want, you only shrugged. Jisung was confused because usually, you're the one who chooses what food to buy. He scrolled through the food app and since he's indecisive, Jisung let you do the decision. "Anything Ji, I'm not hungry," you said quietly. Jisung asked why but you only shrugged, when he asked if you had any meal today you repeated your words again. "That's unhealthy you know that!? You should eat something, okay I'll choose this time, and you need to eat! You can't just starve yourself just because you're not hungry." he nagged, choosing the nearest restaurant at your place. 

[shiki-jin]

YOUR CELESTIAL MAJESTY • SAGAU

(part 0 here)

was listening to TruE on loop while writing the last part of this, it's genuinely such a good song ugwvdya

also can you spot the contradiction ;D it's plot relevant i promise

not proofread, dont bully me ill write a thesis on why youre a meanie

—

you had long deleted genshin, since you had other things to do. you had wanted to go back to the game for a while now, now that you were less busy, but there was just one little problem.

it was now taking up nearly triple the amount of space that it was when you uninstalled it. around 300 whole gigabytes.

jesus christ, what phone can even handle this???

your phone, apparently. because as you opened the game to see if maybe a miracle would happen and that if maybe they would just, like, remove half of the things in the game, it just… kinda loaded?

no installing new files, no checking for anything, no nothing…. just an immediate pan to the gates of celestia.

you decided to check if it was the right genshin since this was just way too weird, but countering your judgement, every link you found led you to the same game, leading you to believe it not to be a bootleg or an illegal version.

guess i’ll trust it then.

you clicked on the gates which opened smoothly, and your screen turned white. then, the symbols of the seven elements appeared in gray.

and then the game just… opened. no loading time, once again. no getting stuck on the geo symbol, nothing. nada. just a smooth entrance into what you had to assume to be teyvat — but your surroundings didn't really support that claim.

the grass was brown and just looked off, the sky was gray. a darker shade than, say, mond’s walls, but it was like one of those game crashes.

well, except you could still move around.

you moved your current character around (the traveller? since when were they the only one in your team?) and decided to open the map after not figuring out where you could possibly be.

hold on, this is springvale? since when?

eveything looked dead, like it had been rotting for a century. you tried to ignore it though, and teleported to the inside of mondstadt. surely this was just some glitch, right? one that would fix itself if you teleported?

maybe the world loaded incorrectly, maybe the fact that nothing took time to load meant that it couldn't load, maybe this or that, maybe…

maybe this really was how the game looked normally. you hadn't done any quests though, so you wondered if it could be restored.

you took a screenshot of the your surroundings — the stone, worn down and dirty. the houses which looked to be in a horrible state, and… the npcs, all sickly and pale, like they were starving.

you went to reddit (yes, reddit), and posted the screenshot, asking if it was normal.

you closed the game and decided to take a nap, too tired to really deal with this shit any further.

while you slumbered, people replied to your post.

╰┈➤ lol me too anon, me too

╰┈➤ isn't the game closed or wtv? how'd you get this wtf

╰┈➤ they're trolling

╰┈➤ o makes sense oops

╰┈➤ So we’re all still mourning huh

╰┈➤ jokes aside that's a super impressive edit ngl

you remained unaware of the truth, but you'd find out soon enough.

actually, you'd find out now, apparently…

what the fuck?? why is my bed so hard now?

you groaned and forced your eyes open, seeing a dark, nearly black sky.

the only light was a single star, lingering right above you.

“since when was i outside...?"

a voice spoke to you, answering your question.

“you always have been, have you not? but would you like to head inside, my lord?”

... huh? i recognize that voice...

—

p.s. place your bets on who it is, i’m thinking of one specific character but if there's a fan fav i'll make it them instead since i haven't written anything beyond this point (⁠・⁠_⁠・⁠;⁠)

p.s.s. don't expect updates to this series too quickly, i wish i could write as quick as i think of ideas but sadly that's not the case orz

[sugar-grigri]

Like Prometheus, the heart will be bruised

When Fujimoto makes a revelation, it's important to remember that this revelation never comes out of nowhere; there are always clues to it in the previous chapters. These clues don't serve to make you want to know what happens next (which is difficult with CSM), they serve above all to make your experience as a reader more gratifying, especially on rereading.

Well then, let's get started! In chapter 146 Fujimoto introduces an exceptional new demon, the Fire Devil.

What I find particularly interesting is the extent to which his power and this chapter are based on the same way a fire works

Barem's statement to his contractors alone makes sense, because to take the form you desire is to escape your condition in the same way that humans in prehistoric times began to use fire, moving away from their ape-like status.

In the same way, the fact that the fire demon gains in power as the number of its followers increases makes perfect sense. It works like a kind of fire that goes up in flames.

Now let's take a step back. It was while I was rereading the last few chapters that I realised a number of things...

Let's start with the fact that the fire demon was right under our noses, as shown by the presence of fire every time Fujimoto placed this false demon of justice, whether with the class president literally pulverised by Yoru or Yuko burning her neighbour's body.

But above all it's clear how the fire demon fulfilled the expectations of these two contractors

The President wanted to be seen by Mr Tanaka, hence the plurality of heads.

As for Yuko, she was an intrusive person (although I like this character) who wanted to know Asa's secrets, their exchange of secrets being for her the proof that they had become best friends.

Yuko seemed like an isolated person who was desperate to get into people's heads, hence her mind-reading powers.

This also works with the old man from the church who also contracted the false demon of justice, his thesis was that he could fight demons by becoming a demon... which he did.

The other point I want to make is that Fami's plan is bound to have flaws, not only because it would be more interesting from a narrative point of view, but also because we sense that she's trying to find the right tactics.

Her first tactic was to starve Yoru to get complete control of the war demon, but that didn't work.

Every time she tried to starve Yoru, Chainsaw Man or Denji were around, which gave Fami the idea of a possible partnership between the two, rather than fighting each other.

Hence the fact that she explains to Yoru that cooperating with Chainsaw Man wouldn't prevent him (or at least the black Chainsaw Man) from being killed, as this cooperation is more than necessary.

I'm also intrigued by this line because, in the light of the last revelation, it only implies even more that Chainsaw Man must become this super-powerful champion.

The church is really trying to help him, in other words the church is really trying to restore his power and even increase it.

But what I find even more incredible is the fact that Asa and Denji are in the same position

They're both at the heart of Fami's plan, but they're also both host to one of those demons that can kill the Death Demon.

But their situations were different; Asa fell into the trap by tying up with the church, while the passivity that could be taken from Denji was in reality a form of resistance.

This is particularly striking in several chapters

Denji had not succumbed to the temptation of becoming a divine being with the church, whereas Miri Sugo could despise him for only wanting to remain a chair, to act like a chair - this act of depreciation goes completely against the veneration of the church.

The fact that Denji belittles Chainsaw Man by acting in a humiliating way is in itself an act of protest against the fact that he is becoming a hero incarnate in whom the church will project itself.

I'm well aware that Denji wasn't aware of all this, but it's precisely his personality and deep-seated nature that allow him to go against this plan.

The fact that Denji wants people to find out he's Chainsaw Man defeats the whole purpose, because giving this mechanical monster an identity, a human head, makes it impossible to identify with him.

Yes, the impostor is pretending to be Chainsaw Man, but this generic character with his abstract and broad speech means that everyone can admire him and continue to project themselves as Chainsaw Man.

What Fujimoto has done from the start is underline Denji's flaws, his deep humanity and his own self-deprecation, he's too strong a character and so far removed from the imaginary Chainsaw Man that it would make any admiration and identification collapse.

Above all, Denji and Asa are cannon fodder for their own demons, Pochita is subject to Denji's dreams and wills, which are always in pursuit of integration among humans and literal contact, and when the heart isn't split in two, the brain is, Asa with her moral dilemmas, her intellectual capacities that escape the law of retaliation how advocated by the war demon

That's why the rest of the plan is as follows: Fami knew that the public hunters would fight back, so she deliberately let them.

The public demons immediately set about neutralising Chainsaw Man, so she wanted to kill two birds with one stone, Asa, i.e. bring back as many followers as possible with a new figure. But above all to draw the attention of the public hunters to Asa. Wouldn't Fami take advantage of the fact that Asa could be massacred by Yoshida to force Yoru to change host...... to Yoshida?

Just like the fact that Barem is quite close to Denji.

Remember when Fumiko said she was a fan of Denji, Barem intervened and said he preferred Chainsaw Man?

Time to separate

Barem propagated the fact of becoming Chainsaw Man like a fire that would spread, this time the punishment was not for Zeus to make humans mortal but rather immortal and monstrous demons.

But the fact remains that the rule will continue to apply and, like Prometheus, a heart will be sacrificed and bitten by the birds

A heart bitten by a bird

[iridescentscarecrow]

while discussing csm 163, i'd mentioned how the fan's monologue revealed more about/reiterated asa & denji's character arcs. & i think that lays the groundwork for 164 very well:

the rules regarding intimacy being laid down by Nayuta (symbolic of family) during asaden's first date are really interesting. now you see nayuta (or rather, her absence) being determinant to denji's Compliance. the house & its rules are *burnt* (fire/dreams) to ruin.

within nayuta you can still locate makima's initial thesis with family as the location for control. the shattered husk of family, haunting where & how you form relationships, where you comply with state, with church, with structure.

and this quality is relevant to asa too. she specifically brings it up here, she was robbed of her family in the orphanage. family as context. asa is made uniform & outside narrative frame. her deprotagonism occurs in concert with the gendered labels she's assigned,

wherein she's pushed into the role of a Fan. even her harkening back to context is brought up in relation to denji: she knows how it feels *too*. this area of empathy is a point i'll mention later in this post, re: another Fan from part 2.

but even then: right now in the manga it seems apt then that we see asa's strain of self at its weakest. her strong individuation|aversion that marked her prior interactions are kind of bled away? we're given startlingly little writing re: her interiority, she's oddly passive.

the point of deviation here is her declaring that she hates sushi. it's unreasonable, absurd against the scene. you're reminded of the aquarium arc, where she'd said the same thing: her hating fish. her being stubborn.

this is at the same time where she hugs her knees & tells denji that making him into a weapon goes against her principles. she can't eat fish, even when cornered up & starving. neither can she make him into a weapon. or follow this script.

strangely enough, it's in the aftermath of this scene that i find asa's sense of self to appear the strongest. she's flushed and giddy with victory. she's entirely Protagonist, denji is relegated to the background.

which is why her shafting & the way this is seen alongside fanhood is extremely compelling when we consider the other character who'd brought up SUSHI: fumiko. fumiko categorises herself as the Denji Fan, at many points engineering her own exit from the narrative.

as opposed to asa who is thought of in association with the CSM almost involuntarily, tripped & restrained distinct from her selfishness. at the amusement park, fumiko attempts to relate her own family/background with denji too. it's a moment that particularly gets to me.

because denji's response to this is him trying to sort of find a commonality between their griefs, in an event where he lost his family as well. he turns to her but she's still talking about the fucking chainsaw man. not his grief.

& asa here, all of CSM's motely fanclub, wanting different things out of him, talking to him about family, like fumiko, within his home's burnt remains, one built out of the product of his Hunger for makima (quite literal) brought to culmination by cannibalism, nayuta's birth.

the home is torn down, & nayuta is gone. denji is hungry again, says kiga. he's hungry for sushi. fumiko The Fan, in her affiliation with denji, talks to him about sushi, tuning his hunger, in a manner. food underlies p2's narrative marvellously well with kiga & falling.

fire used in cooking & transforming fans into tools. & asa at many points finds this same fanhood sticking onto her, palpably gendered. her hating sushi is written as absurd instead of solemn as it was earlier. & fumiko, in her condensed fanhood *likes sushi*.

asa getting over her dislike of sushi for denji would be absolutely horrifying TBH. i don't know how else i'm meant to see it.

[dissvicious]

Ok ok I was wondering. What are the love languages of your ships? Redbomb or the band polycule. I feel like Osha love language is physical contact but I really can't see what it could be for those uglies messes called Trafalgar D Water Law and Buggy The Star Clown.

Love your work! ♥

Oooook now that's something I was starved to think about for a long time SO thank you so much (and thank you for loving my work!!! I'm glad that my completely delusional manic attacks aren't totally useless)

SO. FIRST. Easy one : Redbomb.

Let's evacuate the joke already their principal love language is throwing insults to each other and arguing and then fuck and repeating the cycle.

BUT more deeply : Buggy love language is mostly acts of service & gifts. It's kinda surprising at first because he obviously do it all over the top. AND he's pretty bad at it. Like, when Red get really sick, he spent hours in the kitchen making her what he thinks is the most comforting food ever. But you know, Blaze cooking skills were inherited from him, so she end with a plate full of Cheerios, smashed potatoes, cheddar and knackies (wait. Are knacki a thing outer UE?? those are really bad quality industrial sausages for the record), and her beloved husband looking at her all proud like "♥ 😁 I made that!!". And he spoils his kids with really outrageously expensive gifts. (Skye abuses it a little sometime)

Red' love language is mostly words of affirmation! Acts of service too but unlike buggy she's skilled with it. Her major flaw with that would be that she's offering acts of services even when people she loves don't act for them. Mommy style you know ? Wipping something on Rory's cheek with her thumb in front of his very first boyfriend.

For the record : Rory love language is he don't have any because he hates everyone act of services, Skye's is offering gifts & quality time, Blaze's is physical touch! (which can be dangerous with his devil fruit powers)

NOW. BRACE YOURSELF BECAUSE THIS IS GONNA BE HEAVY. The worst polycule of all time is entering the chat :

G.R.O.A.R LOVE LANGUAGE

I'll try to make it short because I could write a fucking THESIS about them SO. I think that they all have kinda different love languages according to which relationship we are talking about you see ? Like :

Osha x Law : Osha love language is physical touch (as in: big bear hugs that break his spine every time) and acts of service (as in: they make sure he eats, drink, and bring him to the vet like the injuried cat he is. Oh and they're also Law's biggest protector. Always saving his damsel in distress ass. On the other hand I FIRMLY believe that Law love language is quality times AND, for Osha, and only for Osha (and maybe a bit for Bepo - NOT A LAWBEPO ACCOUNT plz love language like for his best friend who is also a polar bear, which is pretty rad if you ask me, would a loser have a polar bear??) act of services. Quality time as in : he just loves spending lazy afternoon lying on their lap with a bong ranting about the stupidity of everyone around him. Act of services as in : one day Osha's bakery oven was broken and he replaced it as a surprise, without telling them anything. This kind of thing you see? They never really confessed and they totally deny they are dating but - come on. Guys. That's obvious.

Osha x Kidd : what's going on between them like - nobody knows. They are bad for each other. No. Kidd is bad for Osha. Are they dating. Are they like... friends? with benefits? but the benefit isn't sex??? Wtf. Anyways : their love language is physical touch and quality time, but not like for Osha x Law, more like: Shrek and fiona fighting in this clip

Law x Kidd : "AHAHAHA love language! as if we LOVED each other??? we fuck and that's all. Friend...ship? with this pathetic loser? URGH DON'T KIDDING ME" - anyway Law shows Kidd affection by quality time, and here quality time means "I'm not as unbearable as usual when I'm with you" while Kidd love language is... idk, bullying? physical touch but like slapping his back really hard and stuffing him in a locker? scruffing him and yelling "hey that's MY twink è_é I'm the only one allowed to hurt MY twink è_é"

KiddKiller *chief kiss* The only stable relationship in this polycule. Which means... a lot, look at them. ANYWAY - Kidd love language toward Killer is words of affirmations, like, it's canon, look at the anime. Look how he talks about him. "WHO DID THIS TO MY BUDDY?" aaaah *cry and sobb* (didn't get there in the anime yet but was totally spoiled this scene and I KNOW I'm gonna cry my ass out). But since Kidd has the vocabulary of a 14 y.o it's still complicated. "brooooo you're like peanut butter to my jam". AND of course Killer love languages are act of services (understand : following him everywhere and protecting his ass and being his only braincell).

LawKiller & OshaKiller aren't really a thing in this AU soooo we're gonna put them aside.

Also this post is already too long.

anyway THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS ASK. ♥

[oldshrewsburyian]

ooh, more thoughts on The Diplomat, please? if you have them? none of my fannish friends have seen it and I'm starved for fandomtalk

Oh, if there's one thing for which I can be counted on, it is Having Thoughts! (I'll try to keep the following spoiler-free.) I think The Diplomat is trying to do several things at once; I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. It's tempting to make a West Wing comparison, partly because there are a lot of Sorkin-esque conversations in hallways. But I think that it's a closer relative in tone and balance to the Harrison Ford Jack Ryan movies from the early '90s, though its politics are obviously very different. It draws on contemporary political realities in interesting ways while riffing on them in interesting ways. Rory Kinnear's prime minister is obviously not the buffoon that BoJo was, but he is a vain, manipulable Tory who wants Churchillian soundbites. The feverishly incestuous, scandal-ridden politics of Washington are evoked chiefly through interpersonal relationships, semi-official phone calls, conversations in dimly-lit bars, allusions to past experiences and favors owed.

Personally -- and predictably -- I really like the sharp focus on the historical myopia of American foreign policy. The hastily-promoted translator who did a graduate degree studying Tolstoy's influence on Chekhov and is now advising Anglo-American foreign policy because everyone started learning Arabic and slashing funding for Slavic language programs after the Cold War? Her PhD thesis topic makes for a laugh line, but it's also a sobering look at everything that the US isn't doing.

Then there's the other set of things this show is doing, which is giving us a bonbon-worthy romance novel setup with Keri Russell and the devastatingly gorgeous David Gyasi and the somehow terrifyingly competent and terrifyingly messy Rufus Sewell who sometimes has to stop breathing and look out a window because he loves his wife so much I cannot handle this man. Anyway. This show is a strong counterweight to the "everyone is beautiful and no one is horny" pattern.

Spoilerish: I don't think Hal is selling secrets or positioning himself to vault over Kate for a high-ranking government position, but I also don't know what he is doing. Also, might he have been positioning himself for advancement as a second-best to having her when he thought that was impossible? That I find plausible. I'm fascinated by how Hal and Kate's relationship is written; I think it's so clever and chaotic and compelling. (I also think it could/would be very different in the hands of different actors, which is part of why I am fascinated by Sewell and Russell's choices.) I want desperately for things to work out with Hal and Kate, but I also hope that Kate gets to have incredibly hot sex with Austin because the yearning is getting to me. Oh and I also want Stuart and Eidra to work things out because I'm a sap. They could get an apocalypse dog!!

[bellysoupset]

Not a lot of emeto, mostly just tooth rotting fluff.

----------------

Leo was practically buzzing with happiness. Today had been a roller coaster of a day.

He was supposed to present his graduating thesis to a group of 4 senior teachers in order to officially be able to graduate and take the bar exam. It had taken many hours of editing to cut down his astounding 89 pages back to 40 and Leo had been sleeping poorly for a week now.

He had spent the better part of that morning dry heaving over the dorm's toilet and then hadn't been able to stomach breakfast, which lead him to be shaky and dizzy by the time it was his turn to present.

However he had passed with flying colors. The relief had been so grand that Leo had staggered back and nearly fallen, causing one of the senior teachers to chuckle and stabilize him back on his feet, telling him "don't die now that you're so close, Mr. Wagner."

Once he was out of the presenting room, everything hit him at once: he was starving, dehydrated probably and he had just officially graduated. All he needed to do now was participate in the ceremony, but the important part was over.

Jonah had been pacing outside of the law building, looking just as nervous as Leo had felt just then and the blonde all but ran to him, throwing his arms around his boyfriend's neck, "I passed! I PASSED!"

Jon had kissed him, PDA be damned, smiling against his mouth, "of course you passed," his voice was so terribly soft, it had nearly sent Leo flat on his back. He loved when he could see these little glimpses of Jon, that normally were confined to the privacy of the bedroom, out in the open.

"I'm so proud of you," Jon pressed his forehead to his, hazel eyes sparkling "and I think we should celebrate."

And then the second part of his day began. While Leo was still bubbling with happiness, by the time Jon met him outside of the restaurant, he could tell that his boyfriend's excitement from earlier had fizzled out.

In fact, it looked like he didn't want to be there at all.

Much to Leo's displeasure, Jonah was hardly meeting his eye and he had reduced his answers to monosyllables, effectively killing all conversation halfway through dinner.

"Are you okay?" Leo snapped, feeling more than a little wounded. He was so happy, he just wanted Jonah to act like it too.

Jon looked up from his untouched plate, seeming surprised, "I'm sorry?"

"Are you okay? Are you feeling alright?" Leo squinted at him.

He frowned, nodding, "I am..."

"Then what's going on?" annoyance flared up, this was his celebratory night and he did not want to spend it playing charades about what had pissed off Jonah, "you're acting weird."

"I'm not," Jonah shook his head, although he seemed weirdly out of it, "I'm fine, I'm just- I am fine. Tell me what did Professor Clarke say about your thesis?"

Successfully distracted, Leo started to retell, probably for the third time, how Professor Clarke had called his thesis "original" and asked if he didn't want to join his research group.

It seemed him calling out Jon's attention had done the trick, because now he was enthralled in the conversation. Still refusing to touch his food and drinking champagne too fast for Leo's liking, but at least he was actively participating in the celebratory aspect of the night.

"I thought I was going to pass out," Leo giggled, "really, even though Dr. Miriam told me to calm down, I just thought- I messed ever-"

"Leo," Jon's voice was serious as he interrupted, causing the blonde to frown.

"Yeah? I'm sorry, I know I'm repeating myself, I just can't shut up tonight, I'm too-"

"Leo, I... Would you... Do you-" Jon shook his head, then gulped down, "...Excuse me."

The last line was said hastily, as Jonah cupped his mouth and shoot up, staggering to the gentlemen's toilet, much to Leo's absolute shock. He blinked, staring at the vacant spot.

Had Jon been sick all night? Had he missed some glaringly obvious sign?

Slowly Leo collected himself, walking to the bathroom and entering. It was empty, so he could perfectly hear as Jonah heaved, inside of the last stall.

"Jon..." Leo frowned, knocking on the closed door, only to find it wasn't locked as it opened.

He expect to find Jonah crumbled down, on his hands and knees, but instead he was standing, a hand pressed to his mouth, breathing deeply through his nose. Perspiration clinging to his temple.

"Hey, babe," Leo frowned, reaching in and undoing his tie, rolling it and stuffing it inside his pocket, then undoing the first button of his shirt so Jonah could breathe better, "what's wrong with your tummy? Did you eat something off?"

Jonah shook his head no, gagging against his fist and removing his hand in time to burp a thin stream of saliva in the toilet. He straightened up again, coughing.

"Sorry..."

"No, it's okay," Leo frowned, flushing the toilet. It was empty, he doubted Jonah had managed to throw up at all, "was this too much champagne?"

Jon winced as the item came to mind, but despite belching thickly on his fist, he shook his head no, "just..." he gulped down, "just nerves. Give me a minute."

Technically Leo was aware that nerves messed up with Jonah's stomach, he had mentioned it before. However Leo had never seen it happen, so this took him by surprise.

"Aw baby," he cooed, rubbing his boyfriend's arm, "take a deep breath, everything's alright."

Jonah opened his eyes, hazel filled with amusement, "don't do that," he said with a rough voice, a tired smile painting his lips, "can you get me some water? I'm-" he gagged briefly, once again breathing deeply in, "I really just need a minute alone."

"Of course..." Leo pouted. When he was sick because of nerves, Jonah's comfort helped. It calmed him down like nothing else, so Leo felt terribly useless that Jon didn't want this comfort returned.

He walked out of the bathroom, ordered two bottles of water, one sparkly, one flat, unsure of what Jon preferred and then waited. After five minutes passed without Jonah being back, he requested the check and then looked at the hour. He'd give the man five more minutes before going back to the bathroom.

Just as Leo was starting to lose his patience, Jonah walked out of the bathroom and back to the their table. He opened an apologetic smile, reaching for the flat water.

"I'm sorry about that."

"Don't apologize," Leo frowned, studying his face. He didn't look nauseous anymore, but still mildly spooked, "what's making you anxious? Talk to me."

"Nothing bad, I promise," Jonah took a large gulp of water, then grimaced, "I wanted to do this in a much better fashion."

"Do what?" Leo was beyond confused, only for Jon to take his hands on his over the table. He squeezed Leo's hand in his as the blonde attempted to pull back, startled.

"Jon-"

"Move in with me?" Jonah brought up Leo's hand to his mouth, planting a kiss on his knuckles, "I know you're looking for a place now that the dorms accommodations are gonna be over and I... I don't want you to move anywhere else, I want you to move in with me. I wanna wake up next to you every day..."

"I... Yes! Yes, of course!" Leo lurched forward, toppling over the empty champagne flute and swallowing the rest of Jonah's words with a kiss, "of course, yes!"

"Yeah?" Jon had a silly smile on, moving his hands from where they were still holding Leo's near his chest and cupping his face, "we need to talk-"

"Yeah we can talk logistics later," Leo rolled his eyes, pressing his forehead to his, "or the fact that we're getting rid of that horrible rug in the living room."

"The white rug?" Jonah cried out, only for Leo to huff and kiss him again, a huge smile tugging at his lips.

"Yeah, the white one."

[lenskyq]

"Esteban would not want his sons to become what they became in Blood Brothers/live the life they live in Blood Brothers."

This is a really popular argument from those who criticize the ending of "Blood Brothers", but I don't think it works as well as it seems from the outside.

Esteban is, first of all, a loving father. Who takes care of his sons (both) and stood up for them in front of a police officer (which led to his death).

I really don't think Esteban would be happier with an outcome in which his eldest teenage son would spend most of his life in prison (Sean was 16 years old at the start of his prison sentence and 31 years old at the end of his prison sentence) for a crime he didn't even commit. Esteban would not be happier with an outcome in which Sean comes out of a long (15-year) prison sentence a mentally broken man with no real prospects. Sean's life is broken (like Sean himself).

I doubt very much that, as a father, Esteban would have preferred this for Sean. And that it's Sean's fate would be more comfortable for Esteban than Sean living in Mexico and working there as an auto mechanic (like Esteban, you know). It doesn't make sense to me.

Esteban would definitely prefer "Blood Brothers" to "Redemption."

It is also ignored that in addition to "Esteban taught his sons to be good" (they do not become bad people from doing what is necessary for their own survival), he also taught them brotherhood and wanted them to be close. What he told Sean about the importance of their brotherhood and connection.

Esteban wanted his sons to be close and for them to stay together (an outcome we only see in "Blood Brothers"). This is what happens at the beginning of episode 3, in flashbacks.

The idea that "this is not what Esteban taught them" comes from Sean's possible response during the dialogue with Karen, but even if he taught them to follow the norms of society (the path of high morality), he did it when they lived an ordinary life and nothing threatened them. Not when they have to constantly run away and pick up scraps from garbage cans so as not to starve to death.

Karen, a woman who had been married to Esteban for several years, never said that they could not go to Puerto Lobos and that Esteban would not want them to choose Puerto Lobos over Sean's imprisonment. On the contrary, she was the one who convinced Sean to cross the border with Daniel.

Again, I think he would definitely prefer this outcome to "Redemption."

But even if we take for truth the popular thesis "this is not what Esteban would like", the brothers have the right to build their own lives regardless of their father's wishes.

[pinktinselmonstrosity]

having finished my unintentional yellowjackets s2 rewatch, i have some thoughts:

while i still agree that it wasn't as good as the first season, on a rewatch i have a more positive view of the second season's structure: the parallels of the development of the hunt in the wilderness and its repetition in the present day is quite a clear narrative arc in both times, and the character work done in this season sets up s3 nicely

i also have a more positive view of the supernatural elements (or, as my dad calls it, the "mumbo jumbo") - it's becoming increasingly clear that Shauna's statement that "It was just us" is a thesis of the entire show, with 'It' as something invented by the girls to distance themselves from the awful things they do in the wilderness. while the first time i watched s2 i started to wonder if the supernatural elements were real, i'm now pretty sure they're only narrative devices/inventions (especially in the present day)

Crystal is for sure real. like idk why i let yj tumblr convince me she was a figment of Misty's imagination bc she is quite clearly real. her first scene is with Mari, with Misty not even present, and there are several occasions after her death when the other yellowjackets talk about her separately from Misty. i also think 1) the Misty/Crystal storyline is far more effective that way than if she was imaginary and 2) you guys are maybe giving the writers too much credit lol

i noticed a lot more about present-day Van this time around: particularly how susceptible she still is to lottie's delusions. i can see her playing a much bigger role in the next series, especially as the Shauna/Adam Martin/blackmail storyline is pretty wrapped up and Natalie is dead

i like Walter!!!! i don't get why everyone is hating on him. Misty needed someone to develop her character against (Shauna has her family, Tai has her family and Van, Nat has Lisa, Lottie has her own delusions) and Walter is a nice match. i look forward to her inevitably having to choose between him and the Yellowjackets and choosing her team

Nat's death made a lot more sense to me the second time around. idk if i just wasn't paying attention the first time (?) but i missed the parallels between Nat and Javi in the wilderness and Nat and Lisa in the present day, both innocents that she goes out of her way to protect. her guilt over Javi's death (in her place) fuels her sacrificing herself for Lisa; also the obvious parallels between Misty accidentally killing both Crystal and Nat

This isn't really a point but i found it super interesting how Misty refused to let the others eat Crystal (even though they were starving and it would have saved them!) and yet was the main instigator of the hunt (convincing the others that it was Lottie's idea, stopping Nat from saving Javi)... i just love her ok she's so juicy

[ghostofhyuck]

NCT Dream as your college boyfriend!

AN: Another self-indulgent from your local uni girlie. 

Mark Lee ; waits for your practice to be finished.

He'll be your number one hypeman! He will wait for you until you're finished with your practice for a theatre play. It usually ends around nine in the evening, but Mark will be waiting around the campus, perhaps in a gazebo, studying while waiting for you. And when you're finished, you'll go to him and will be pulled to a big hug. "Let's go get some dinner?" 

Huang Renjun ; food as love language.

Renjun is such a foodie, that's why food is his love language. He'll cook you lunch or dinner in his dorm kitchen, and he will never let you go starving. Renjun will be that type of boyfriend who will indulge in your stress-eating and midnight cravings. "You deserve it," he will say to you whenever you're hesitant to give into your cravings. 

Lee Jeno ; your almost live-in partner.

You just don't like living in your dorm because you don't get along with your roommates, that's why you spent your time in your boyfriend's place. Jeno lives alone, that's why it's easier for you to move around his place. It felt domestic and a place that you go home after a dreaded school day. You two are like live-in partners at some point even though you two are still in the university. Sometimes he would even pick you up so you two can go home together. 

Lee Donghyuck ; coffee shop studies!

You two find it easier to study at coffee shops. The bustling noise of coffee shops serves as a background noise for the two of you. Plus, you two can enjoy each other's presence and at the same time be productive! You two sometimes go home around three am but there's nothing more peaceful than walking around the empty streets while holding hands with your boyfriend.

Na Jaemin ; writes your name on the dedication page of his thesis paper.

If Jaemin wants to shout your name to the whole world, he would. That's why he wrote a short paragraph about you in his dedication page of his thesis paper. He couldn't resist it! You were his emotional support through the ups and downs, that's why he wrote your name on the page. Oh he was smiling proudly when his panelists pointed out your name during his defense.

Zhong Chenle ; the athlete bf and courtside gf.

You two are probably that popular student-athlete couple. Chenle's part of the varsity team, that's why sports seasons are very important for him. You're a very supportive girlfriend who's always there during his games, cheering and screaming his name. Students know you and they would gushed at how sweet and supportive you are. Whenever Chenle's team wins, you would let the spotlight be on him, knowing that after the game, the two of you will have a date. 

Park Jisung ; that subtle classmates turned couple.

Your classmates will ask you two nonstop if you two are together and as much as you want to deny it, it's VERY obvious that you two are together. It's not hard to connect two dots because whenever you're with Jisung, you two have your own world and though there's not much PDA going around, it's very cute from an outsider's perspective. You two are always seated together, and would go to class together. Your classmates would be jealous of your relationship but they wish you two to be together forever. 

[ronanceisintheair]

a post u made a bit ago reminds me of an hoh steve harrington (which, as a hoh person i have... mixed feelings abt but that's another can of worms) fic and it was the single most dumbest thing i have ever read, because the amount of victim blaming is INSANE

basically, jonathan is the cause of steve's fading hearing. not, you know, billy who damaged steve far worse or the literal russian torture. makes a ton of sense. and it essentially makes jonathan out to be an asshole who attacked steve with severe malice who hurt steve unprovoked. oh, also, apparently robin, steve's best friend, doesn't notice he's hard of hearing, but eddie does. how long has he known that guy again?

some steddies are fucking INSANE

Waking up to this ask was truly🤌 you have opened my pandora box

My fuh.king.god! the st*ddies are truly insufferable. Like I'm not here to police having fun shipping obviously but it's just become so sad and pathetic; ultimately st*ddie is just born to make st*ve this pathetic love starved character who is always the victim and has never done anything wrong...

The demonizing of Nancy for not loving Steve romantically even though like... that relationship was doomed from the start. He was not a good boyfriend. His *love* for her was not the love she needed, his *love language* was not remotely close to what she needed. He didn't try to understand Nancy's pain and trauma...anyway I digress.

The way people blame Jonathan for everything when it comes to st*ve is also LAUGHABLE at best if it weren't so pathetic and embarrassing; someone blamed Jonathan for not making sure st*ve left the party before taking home a drunk Nancy?? Someone made it seem like Jonathan needed permission from St*ve to date Nancy??? Like wtf? Please get your head from out of st*ve h*rrington ass.

Jonathan doesn't owe St*ve anything. Also Jonathan deserved to beat the absolute shit out of him. St*ve was so fragile he didn't talk to his gf instead took his friend to publicly slut Shame her THEN accused Jonathan of killing will and amongst being the absolute worst homophobic asshole. So yea he deserved to get his shit rocked.

*Nancy should've got to rock his shit too.

Like st*ve in the case of Nancy and Jonathan is only a victim of his own actions 🙄

Anyway I digress...again... sure hoh st*ve that could be fun. These kids have been through hell and hell again.

But in this case it feels...very...glamorized. obviously I haven't and WONT read the fic but it sounds not good.

Giving him a disability only for the purpose of making him this dude who needs sympathy and coddling. Or to garner a sympathy piece for him... Giving him a disability to push the played out st*ddie agenda of st*ve being this *pathetic*(people with disabilities are not pathetic and are beyond capable and competent) but this is the vibe from what you described. Like they gave st*ve hoh just to make him seem smaller??? Not because they actually wanted to write in representation or focus on how his physical trauma could affect him...

Truly insane when people use e*ddie as this "no one has ever loved St*ve wah wah and finally he's being seen"

We love exploring trauma and self loathing in writing sure sure, ofc! But my goodness if the st*ve stans haven't gone far beyond. It's like if I said give me a paragraph and they wrote an entire thesis filled with bs.

(I'm not hoh so my opinion may be not but I don't see st*ve as hoh I definitely see him more as someone with a vision impairment. But also would love to hear your other can of worms about hoh st*ve if only you wanted to share anon. Thank you for this message <3)

[carmenized-onions]

okay so i’m on chapter five of “Chicago’s kindest” and i couldn’t even wait until i finished the chapter to send this because MY GUY????? Syd and Tony hs besties??? Chip asking Carm if he wants to take her on a date?? CARM WANTING HER TO WORK FOR HIM AND MAKE HIM LAVENDER LATTES??????????? I’m so- ListeN feminist!carm does inexplainable things to me - like screaming into a pillow because i love him so much - things. i have a lot of thoughts so this is part one of ?? however-many asks (1/ )

HEHEHEHE Syd and Tony are vv much me writing me and my dearest girl friend's dynamic if we were them. It's vv fun to write it that way.

Chip really fuckin' created a canon event in that moment, if she didn't ask him that I doubt he would've ended up doing it. But it was like. A double dog dare. Practically.

HIM BEING REFERRED TO AS FEMINIST FOR THIS MOVE MADE ME LAUGH. Because yes-- Like 100% what you said here:

Like definitely it's for her BENEFIT to not work at Eden's but it's also, to me writing it, it was also like 'i want you to work not there so simply no one will look at you the way everyone looks at you'. An antsy jealousy he does not have the right to express, truly. But ALSO feminism. Two things can be true. Well, three-- He also wants all her time. For menuuusssss.....

Being 'annoying' (you're not, btw) over my series, truly makes my soul do flips. We've gotta go to the next ask before I scream about it. OH if there was a part 3, by the way, and you did NOT miscount, tumblr did fucking eat it. i'm so sorry. if this is the case I'M gonna eat tumblr.

I'm so genuinely happy to see the very soft lines people cling to. I try to write in like, a very natural human flowing way and not FORCE lines-- And while I do love that, I do sometimes worry that simple lines like these fall through the cracks, in a way, because they're very like, human things that people say. Or at least that me and my people say. AND SO TO SEE Y'ALL READING AND NOTING THESE LINES REALLY ENCOURAGES ME SO THANK YOU!!!

He really wanted to say 'I like when you talk to much', I could never tell how to make that explicitly clear, so i just didn't. He wanted to say it SO bad. There were like, several moments in this chapter of him going 'now is the part where i ask her out' and just him continuously bowing out until the end. Honestly play a fuckin' where's waldo with yourself if you ever re-read and find em. HA.

I DID ASK FOR THESIS AND I'M SO GLAD TO BE GETTING IT YOU HAVE NO IDEEAAAAAAA!!!!!

And YEEEAGGHGHGHG That's the fuckin STUFF right there. The CARE!!!! bro!!!!!!

Chicago's Kindest new header.

I love writin' romance with these two because it is always so explicitly not like violent or hungered but like-- Such a profound care before it's anything else. And that's just really fun and soft to write. Except for when he did get his kiss. then it was hungry. then it was starving, actually. TWO THINGS CAN BE TRUE!!!!!

NICE YOU!!!! NICE YOU!!! I'M CALLING A DOCTOR!!!!!!

Tony's got an iron-clad will, I would've folded, honestly. I would've fuckin' folded.

AND ALSO SON OF A BITCH, I should've been more explicit, maybe I'll ninja edit it in the future, but the second thing Carm 'gave' her WAS in fact the fucking hickey. He was just bein' a cheeky motherfucker. I was just trying to avoid writing he fuckin SUCKS your NECK DUDE and it's CRAZY!!!! Because I'm not prepared with that writing skill set yet. I don't know how to write intimacy yet. without being haha funny about it. So. We'll get there,,,, maybe.

ANYWAYS THANK YOU FOR THIS FUCKIN' ESSAY IT MEANS MORE THAN WORDS LOVE YOU TOOOO!!!!!

[imagineitdearies]

For the next 3-4 weeks I'll be struggling to finish my thesis and I'm thinking of taking a little break from PS. I don't have the time, or mental capacity to obsess about and daydream of those two precious babies. You also mentioned that there will be a cliffhanger ending soon and another chapter following that quickly. So as I'm sitting here, in my sad sad condition, starved for Tystar updates, all I can think of to make myself feel a little better is that after I'm done I can binge all the chapters to the ending.

Oh man, good luck with your thesis anon!! Definitely take a break as needed with this fic, PS will always be here for you when you have more time/headspace 🩵

[self-winding]

I've never been able to pick a favorite book. There are just too many. I have dozens of favorites. However, as it happens, I have a singular least favorite book. It's ISHMAEL, by Daniel Quinn.

Spoilers for ISHMAEL ahead.

This novel involves an initially intriguing and weird premise: a guy finds a mysterious ad in the paper, "teacher seeks pupil," and decides to answer it out of curiosity. The address is a mostly abandoned building inhabited by a talking gorilla, who placed the ad. Cool, let's see where this goes.

There's never a very thorough explanation given for how the gorilla learned to talk, he just kind of did. The rest of the novel is composed of a series of philosophical dialogs, which are very one-sided because the gorilla is the Smartest Person Ever and the guy is a fawning idiot who responds to everything with a brief strawman token resistance followed by, "omg!! Ishmael-senpai, you're right! My tiny head is swimming with the force of your wisdom! Please teach me more senpai!!!" It quickly becomes clear that Ishmael is the author in a gorilla suit. I don't mean that literally; that would actually have been hilarious. I mean that his job is to regurgitate the author's opinions and have them validated as amazing and world-changing.

So what's the philosophical thesis of this book? Humans had it all figured out when they were hunter-gatherers. The agrarian revolution was a mistake and humans have now become too powerful and arrogant and are destroying the planet with their greed and foolishness. Possibly this felt less cliched in the seventies, when the book was written (though it was not published until 1992), but even then I don't think it was new. The book pokes fun at/strawmans the "noble savage" myth and then goes right back to fully endorsing this concept, without calling it that. It uses this kind of rhetorical tactic a lot: "I am not arguing for X, that is silly and reductive. But I am saying (X in different words)." In the end the message is summarized as, "Earth does not belong to humans, humans belong to the Earth."

As the book itself acknowledges, humankind as a whole is unlikely to return to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle at this point. So even if we agree, what should we do with this information? At the end, the narrator directly asks this question and the response is something along the lines of, "Well, now that you understand the truth, you can tell everyone, and humankind will quickly and easily figure out how to save the planet. See, the problem is just that you didn't realize the importance of saving the planet. You needed me to tell you. Because I am very smart."

There are some genuinely morally off-putting moments in the book, like when Ishmael suggests that we should stop giving aid to starving people because there are too many goddamn humans already, and when the narrator says, "What, we should allow them to die?" Ishmael (whose position is that death is natural and that therefore dying isn't so bad) is like "dude my broh that's your white savior complex talking, you aren't in a position to 'allow' anything, you should just, like, exist. But also you need to save the planet. But that will happen naturally anyway, because complicated problem-solving just naturally flows from grand, vague philosophical pronouncements. I am a gorilla and therefore can see your problems more objectively. I am definitely not the author in a costume."

Mostly, though, it's not any specific stance within the pages that I object to. I just hate the book's insufferable adolescent armchair philosopher stoner sense of self-importance and shallow, smug intellectualism. I hate the mansplaining Mary Sue gorilla and the fawning idiot waifu blank slate narrator. I could ignore the whole thing more easily, except that it's a pretty famous bestseller and I'm angry about that. Maybe a part of me is jealous because I secretly want to write self-indulgent trash like this and have it become a cultural phenomenon.