#either way she's obviously in love w them lol

[erwinsvow]

shy!reader and rafe head-cannons? <33

ahhh this is so cute to ask and to think about!! i have a couple for sure

i think out of all my readers she calls rafe dad the most lol

i also think she's such a big home body and rafe kind of gets that way too the longer they date, theyre either at her place or tannyhill allll the time, now his idea of a friday night is curling up a movie and the dessert she baked earlier

ive mentioned before but i think shy reader is a big bookworm and rafe likes being read to a lot <33 esp old classics its so soothing and it lulls him right to sleep like when hes stressed out!

obviously shy reader gets freaked when rafe gets stressed/mad (not at her just in general this man is so stressed all the time) so i feel like she has to come up with a plan of like how to help rafe relax and she'll explain this whole plan to him to get his approval and he would be sooo in love no seriously

shes also trying her hardest to be easygoing so he doesnt have to stress abt her but he just ends up more stressed like "what's wrong? did you eat today? were you crying? did they say something to you? no, tell me" etc !

i feel like everyone writes this but i think her and wheezie would be suuuper close, hanging out a lot when shy reader comes over since idt shes a big party girl so if rafe goes to sell or sm she'll watch a movie with wheezie at tannyhill to wait for him

surprisingly i dont think shy reader is the type to get jealous, she gets more upset/insecure with herself if she thinks rafe might be interested in someone else. hes definitely not but i think she gets very in her head about not being his 'usual type' like more outgoing or party girl

hand in hand with that i think at first rafe thinks it was just funny that shes so plainly shy about everything and very apologetic/introspective but now he's really protective about it. i think he really likes to reassure her so she doesnt worry about stuff like that

mostly because he can tell how hard she tries to make sure he's okay and going out of her way to please him/be a good girlfriend by her own standards so i think hes like its the least i can do about it.

again which circles back to him being a home body and spending lots of time with her. i think he's not gonna give up his interests and in my perfect world obvs hes a great bf but realistically hes still the mean old rafe he just has a gentler side

like he'll convince her to get out of the house and come watch him golf or hang w his boys but when shes there he's making sure she's okay (out of earshot lol) and if she wants to leave he complies etc

sorry this is so rambly and not cute or organized i just love them so much

[banamine-bananime]

AITA for trying to save my friend and keep the rest of my asshole friends safe from their bad decisions?

I (M26) just went through this real shitty breakup. So basically, my ex C (M lmao man fuck if i know his age idek if knows it. or has one i guess) has this god-fucking-awful habit of deciding to solve every problem by dying about it and/or fucking off without so much as a word to the people unfortunate enough to give a shit about him, except maybe his sister (unhelpful for the rest of us because she also inherited the "fucking off without a word" gene. man fuck this whole family for making me care about them. whatever). Also, killing himself inside peoples brains thats like a whole hobby for him. like okay either ghost us OR kill yourself in front of us altering the trajectory of our lives forever PICK ONE like a NORMAL person.

Okay wait im not explaining this well. So years ago C and W (M37 now) were partners but C was, uh, in a really bad place mentally (S is telling me this is more diplomatic to say than "crazy af") and that situationship ended as badly as a situationship can end. I mean W's told me he pretty much had his sense of identity as someone separate from C totally destroyed by that for a while, which like, in hindsight its kinda an accidental dick move that our team made him take C's legal identity, but in our defense a) the fuck were we supposed to know?, b) tbf he really did need it not to go back to prison, c) it's not like C was using his identity, on account of the fucking off and effectively-dying-as-a-solution habits, and d) i mean. i gotta admit it's also pretty funny in a really fucked way.

aw shit derailed on a tangent again

recently its just like, we just get so focused on one thing its hard to remember anything else, you know?

S is so good at getting us back on track though. thank god because you would not believe the number of irons weve got in the fire to keep track of, its ridiculous. (i love making my partner be the planner in the relationship lol. highly recommend being a passenger princess in the body sometimes. fuck massages, i'm telling you THIS is what you need after a long day getting shit DONE and taking care of everyone else's messes)

So I met C 6 years ago, right out of basic, when we were privates stationed at the same base. middle of nowhere. shit, this is gonna be hard to explain, just realized i should use different names for C to keep them straight. I knew "A" and W knew "E", i didnt meet E until years later. theyre alters and also the same guy but also not the same guy. dont worry about it if you dont get it bc ive dated both of them and i dont think i do. my life is stupid.

Bunch of bullshit happened, A ghosted (lol. you'd be high-fiving me if you knew him) and then found a problem to solve by dying. you get it by now.

Then i meet E, E encounters a problem and tries to die about it round one (i guess round two, after exploding in W <- LOL. you should be high-fiving me right now), E's sister drags him back to the land of the living, E ghosts, W and i start dating, W tries to martyr himself and disappears because i guess E rubbed off on him (dude i am on a fucking roll. you should be high-fiving me out of pity for my glamorously miserable soap-opera life if nothing else. homophobic not to), our team gets W back, E strolls back like he has no idea why im mad at him, we fight about it, makeup-makeouts about it, and E tries to die about it round two: in my brain boogaloo.

So thats how S and i meet. oops, guess i never introduced S? Feels weird to have to introduce ourself twice, people dont really meet us separately anymore LOL. S (M, ageless) is also C's alter, my partner in life and badassery and brain and body. and obviously freaky sex stuff, that goes without saying but i'm saying it anyway to brag. the swish swish to my stabbing people who really deserve it. Not really interested in your opinion on our relationship, it's not what i'm asking about. we're aware its not conventional, because we're not fucking braindead. Im so sick of all the "oooohhhhh this isn't healthy", "he's a male manipulator and youre codependent i know bc i learned psychology from tiktoks by girls with green hair", "why are you wearing your ex-boyfriend's armor colors while wearing his dead ex-boyfriend's armor while dating and sharing a brain with your dead mutual ex's alter", "have you considered going to therapy instead of a quest against death itself" blah blah blah. If youre so bored you need to judge our life then just get your own 🙄🙄🙄

we've been really on that sigma grindset the last few weeks. S has got our sleep optimized down to a tight triphasic 3.46 hours and we're minmaxing the fuck out of the rest of every day. Biohacked to shit over here. too much to do, so we have to make there be enough of our time to do it. who else is gonna? my teammates? the REDS? we're half batman half babysitter to a gaggle of idiots who can barely be trusted to wipe their own asses, let alone fight their own battles and make decisions like "wah wah wah A is dead let's just give up and cry about it or whatever".

Don't even get me started on W. Oh youre all about character-building wake up and grind self-improvement and taking leadership until we're making decisions you dont like, i guess. WHATEVER. this is why we dont listen to you.

its hard, okay. like, you cant understand the sheer fucking stress were under trying to keep all our plans going smoothly while keeping these guys safe while they're basically actively trying to unravel every carefully-laid thread and also strangle themselves in them. im probably going prematurely grey and also losing some time. its hard to remember when we need to hold back and use the kiddy gloves. i really didnt want to come to holding - uh, we'll call him MC (M25) - by the throat, passed-out. he's like a brother to me, been through thick and fucking thin together, so yeah, i feel really bad about that, my bad, we were the asshole there, but like, maybe stop throwing yourself in the way? like run out into the road you're gonna get hit by a truck no matter how hard they slam the brakes. mfw the conses quence. but im NOT asking about that. everyone's been on our dick about "please god stop doing all of this" and abandoning A and trying to break us up way before that, and THAT'S what im asking about

Anyways tl;dr are we the asshole for getting shit done when it takes methods that all our monday morning quarterback friends dont like

_____

OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:

it really was a dick move to dangle my teammate's limp body in a chokehold even though it was basically an accident and also not even directly relevant to the question

OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might not be the asshole:

okay but we're right

[your-unfriendlyghost]

I have two things to ask:

1.-Can we be friends?

2.-Do you have any Outsiders headcanons (or any that you haven't submitted yet)?

I mean sure?? Idk who you are since you’re on anon, so not REALLY, but I’m always down to talk!

2. Yeah lol- tons. Too many. Here’s a few (okay like 25 oops) off the top of my head lol, some serious/angsty and some lighthearted/kinda stupid without any real order. (Lotta ‘em are about Steve tbh -there’s so little to him in canon that I have the freedom to hc pretty much whatever I want)

Steve Randle’s nearsighted and has no idea, which is why he’s literally always squinting. (I’ve had that one for like months but only recently mentioned it on here lol.) Steve thinks his vision is completely normal

Dally and Sylvia genuinely cared for each other, but they were both so horrible at having healthy emotions that they just made each other worse. In a bad way, not a fun way.

When Steve gets kicked out, sometimes he hangs with Johnny in the lot. They don’t really talk about anything important like their shared experiences of having lousy parents. Instead they talk about cars, girls, music, school…lighthearted stuff. Sometimes Johnny will find Steve crying, which he never mentions- he’ll just sit down as per usual, which Steve appreciates. Steve almost never finds Johnny crying though. Johnny doesn’t cry much.

Okay tangent- I love how Steve and Johnny are low-key foils. Like Steve always seems tough but then cries when pushed to his limit, while Johnny always seems skittish until he’s under a bunch of pressure- in which case he suddenly is confident. (Not necessarily thriving obviously, but confident yk? Like grinning while saving those kids in the fire.) I know SE Hinton probably didn’t intend that at all, but it’s just such an interesting detail to me. One of these days I’ll put it into words better

Johnny’s jeans-jacket is a hand-me-down from either Steve or Two-Bit. (I can’t decide which lol) (obviously Dally would make sense too, but honestly I think it’d add more depth to flesh out Johnny’s relationships with the other members of the gang)

After the events of the book, Two-Bit starts hanging around the Curtis’s place even more. At first the gang assumes he’s trying to lighten the mood. It’s only after he gets sent to the cooler for a month due to drunk driving that they realize he was actually hanging around so much because he was trying to keep his kid sister from seeing him so drunk…

Two-Bit likes to joke that he keeps failing junior year so that him and his sister can graduate together. Which is a very bad idea since his sister is a year younger than Ponyboy.

Sodapop often feels like he’s only good for looking pretty and not all that useful or interesting otherwise. He likes himself, but when he stops to think about it too much, he starts to wonder if he really has anything going for him at all

My H/C for Steve’s home life is that his Mom is sick w/ like cancer or something. Before she got sick, Steve’s life was pretty alright for an eastsider- he and his dad fought, but they always made up for the most part. They weren’t perfect, but they loved each other. But after she got sick, she wasn’t there to mediate between Steve and his Dad anymore, and the fighting got worse and worse. And then Steve’s dad started drinking more and it was pretty downhill from there. Steve’s Dad still loves him, but sometimes Steve wishes that he didn’t. If he didn’t, then he could hate him. But his dad does love him, so he can’t get himself to.

Steve and Dally taught Johnny to drive when they were all like fourteen-fifteen-ish. Johnny is a very reckless driver. He loves speeding.

Johnny also loves fast roller coasters and stuff.

Dally doesn't ‘cuz he’s low-key scared of heights- he likes riding broncos and rodeos, but put him at the top of a roller coaster and he’s convinced that it’s gonna break and he’s gonna die. He pretends he doesn’t mind. The only people who know he’s scared of them are Johnny, and before she died, Mrs. Curtis.

Steve has a napoleon complex. Johnny, who is shorter than him by a few inches, likes to bully him for it sometimes

Ponyboy and Cherry don’t interact much in the school year after the book, but in the summer after, they start to hang out. Eventually they become pretty close. They fangirl over Paul Newman together

Ponyboy still doesn’t let Cherry read his theme though until years later

Marcia and Two-Bit re-meet a few months after the book. (Two-Bit is really scared that she’s embarrassed to be dating him, and Marcia is really scared that he’s embarrassed to be dating her. Neither of them are embarrassed. They both adore each other.)

Two-Bit likes to watch Marcia barrel racing. One time while he’s there, he runs into Ponyboy watching Cherry barrel race and immediately tells everyone much to Pony’s chagrin

Evie knows a little bit about cars, and she sometimes helps out at the DX during summers. Steve is so whipped for her lol (and Soda too Steve has two hands)

Evie and Sylvia are besties, but Steve and Sylvia hate each other. They act civil in front of Evie, but as soon as her back is turned they’re growling at each other like dogs. (Well Steve is. Sylvia just acts condescending as hell. Sometimes it goes over his head, so Steve knows she’s insulting him but isn’t sure what the insult is/means. Which makes Steve kinda want to kill her.)

Steve and Soda are low-key co-dependent. (Steve more so- Soda has his family at least, while to Steve, Soda and Evie are his whole world pretty much) It’s probably not super healthy, and both of them are vaguely aware of that, but are trying not to think about it too hard rn

Ponyboy’s friend group in high school consists of Curly Shepard, Mark Jennings, Scout Jenkins (from the tv show), and eventually, in her senior year, Cherry Valance. (There’s others too but those are the main ones.)

Pony dates Cathy Carlson for a while too, idk if they’re good for each other or not- I kinda like the idea of them being a sweet couple tbh, but no one else on here seems to care about them so I haven’t really explored the idea much lol

In a Dally lives au, Mark Jennings and Dally end up spending a bit of time together through Pony, and at some point they realize that they’re half-brothers lol. Mark is a deeply obnoxious little brother to have, and he drives Dally nuts on purpose. Weirdly I think Dally’s a relatively good influence on him, as much as someone like Dally can be. And Dally does care for Mark, though not as much as he cares for Johnny- Mark is, in his head, not exactly his responsibility.

Well I have (so many) more, but I think that’s enough for now lol. Point is, even though I haven’t drawn in a minute, I love these characters and their romanticized version of 1960s Tulsa so much and I think about them way too often lol

(dw once i get more into the swing of school I’ll be doin more art!)

[66sharkteeth]

How does Lyss feel about Rex dating her blank? And how do surviving people in general tend to feel about people having relations with their blank even if they support blanks?

Hm, well first off, *most* people don't actually live to have feelings about their blank. The majority don't survive the face stealing process, and even less have blanks roaming around freely (blanks are far more likely to get caught if their face survives since it means there were probably witnesses around to save them).

Ofc how they feel varies from person to person. Lyss even expressed earlier in the comic that it unsettled her that a copy of her (Bell) is out there running around with part of her identity. Of course, that changed over time and now she only wants the best for Bell.

As for how she feels about specifically Rex and Bell... Bitter sweet. She's happy for Bell and finds some solace in knowing that Rex can love her in a way, but obviously a bit sad it can't be the version that is her. But she recognizes that there's just too many scars in their relationship to have anything beyond platonic at this point, from both sides to be clear. Ik we always talk about how badly Lyss wronged Rex, but he wronged her in plenty of ways too. They've both seen ugly sides of each other that they can forgive, but not forget, so I think she's happy they can be friends, but accepts that they both burnt the bridge towards being anything more. She's just happy they can rebuild a bridge towards friendship. As for Bell, she honestly isn't jumping up and down with happiness for her, but it's definitely not bitterness and mostly still being a little sad over her burnt bridge. But over time (supposing they all get out of this alive) as she rebuilds her bridge with Rex, I think she can learn to be truly happy for Bell's.

On a more personal note... The last thing I wanted was Lyss and Bell to be any kind of rivals over.......Rex of all things. I think a lot of people expected that to happen, that there'd be this weird love triangle and that Lyss was gonna be all mad about Bell "stealing" Rex or w/e but I really didn't wanna do that to either character lol. They're both deserve better than going down that route lol.

[xf-cases-solved]

i've been doing my xfiles rewatch, but i've also been watching twin peaks for the first time with my partner (v weird that i haven't seen it before bc it's very much My Type of show, but w/e), and silence of the lambs was already my favorite movie. so since my personal aesthetic is apparently very specifically honed in on creepy and weird early 90s entertainment centered around fbi agents, here's a collection of random crossover thoughts i've had while watching these things, in no particular order:

-twin peaks, xfiles, silence of the lambs, except all the characters are shifted one plot to the left, so you have mulder and scully trying to figure out the death of laura palmer, clarice assigned to the xfiles division, and dale cooper having to make a rapport with dr. hannibal lecter

-separate thought: if mulder and scully met dale cooper, mulder would be absolutely delighted, and scully would want to put his head on a slab. this would just make mulder more delighted

cooper would be very pleasant to them both, but would find mulder's lack of self-care unsettling. mulder would be trying to talk about the case when cooper would interrupt him to tell him to try the mulberry pie and take a moment to savor it

he would also be able to follow scully's reasonings and would know all the references to scientific studies she makes, and would be like, "very clever! you're very intelligent!" not in a facetious way, he'd mean it genuinely, but then he'd still insist that his dream will lead them to the killer and she'd want to rip her hair out

-cooper to m&s, apropos of nothing: so how long have the two of you been in love?

-scully would not enjoy twin peaks. too rustic, too weird, too many affairs to keep track of

-mulder would love it for all the reasons she hates it

-if clarice and scully met they would get to know each other carnally, obviously. msr can still exist, but mulder has to be ok with being cuckolded by special agent clarice starling

he can watch sometimes, if wants ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-agent crawford would have one (1) conversation with mulder and would immediately write him off as insane and never talk to him again

-crawford and scully would get along fine

-clarice and cooper would be buds, bc even tho cooper is fucking weird, he would be very enthusiastic about how clever she is, and would talk her up constantly, and clarice would appreciate the validation and kindness (besides, she's pseudo friends with hannibal lecter, cooper's idiosyncrasies are nothing in comparison)

-hannibal lecter wouldn't be able to manipulate mulder, but he wouldn't be that impressed by him either. it would be a mutual disdain. they could potentially have a hannibal/will graham-esque relationship but eh

-as badly as a "quid pro quo" scene between scully and hannibal would slap, i can't imagine scully giving hannibal anything to work with. she wouldn't stick around to play games; she doesn't have time for it and would never be able to regard him as anything besides a monster

mulder would agree to take on the puzzles, and hannibal might give them to him, but he'd taunt him and send him on wild goose chases more than he does with clarice, bc mulder doesn't have anything he particularly wants, but he is vaguely curious to see if he can figure it out. (mulder WOULD figure it out, but only with the addition of scully's analysis and theories, not hannibal's direction alone)

-hannibal would not talk to cooper lol. cooper would figure out who buffalo bill is anyway, tho

-nobody at the fbi in the xfiles universe would know how to handle dale cooper. skinner especially would be very -squints- about it, bc he'd get results, but would just be so fucking Weird™️ about it, but in such a different way than mulder is weird

-the lone gunmen would be very sweet and protective over clarice. they would be very confused and vaguely unsettled by cooper

-clarice would be skinner's dream agent bc she would listen to him and value his input and rarely punch him in the face or hold him at gunpoint

-while i can picture clarice getting the hang of the xfiles, i have trouble picturing her in twin peaks (tho, do note that i haven't seen all of it so mb that would change)

-this isn't a headcanon so much as a v obvious observation, but they are all so fucking hot, what the fuck??

-final thought: dale cooper, clarice starling, dana scully, and fox mulder = dream blunt rotation

anyway those are some of the things i think about in my spare time

the end

[foundfam2754]

S17e10 (finale!) live reactions!

Spoilers…obviously

- AHHH this is it!! finally! here. we. go.

- yeah they better not hurt my kiddos thank you very much

-I’m telling you NOW. this is all about Elias. He’s the center of the conspiracy. that’s been my theory since e1. if he didn’t say anything about GS, none of this would have started

- of course, Emily’s kidnapped again. That HAS be in Paget’s contract or something

- where are JJ and Luke?? boyf and bff up to no good again

- what did Emily do?? what’s she being judged for?

- I KNEW IT. THEY WERE GONNA DO FLASHBACKS AGAIN

- tbh this has to be the least scary time that’s she’s been “abducted and interrogated” lol

- I KNEW IT. My “Emily abduction count” was 4

- this is the “dramatic and cry-y” outfit for Pen!!

- I think my theory is right!! if you have been reading my reaction posts every week you’ll know I have a theory about this season:

that the underlying conspiracy of the season being that they’re (BAU and the gold stars) doing everything Elias wants them to do - and it was all to get him out of jail and to screw over the BAU, and it all started with Bailey’s “gold star” in 16x10. especially because the only way they can resolve it is by confiding in voit. because he knows everything and how everyone really feels. and everyone’s priorities

- lol elias’ cell looks like a college dorm

- I KNEW IT I WAS RIGHT ABOUT THE CONSPIRACY. - ELIAS. IS. THE. CENTER OF IT!!! I’m just so proud of myself

- OMG that’s not a spin I saw coming

- wait wait wait did I forget or did they JUST tell us about Emily’s sister

- aw man doug bailey’s such a good egg

- chaotic voit is so fucking funny

- also that’s a cool shot

- god doug bailey is *so* cute

- oh god - voit knew if bailey ended up on that wall, pete would fall into deeper into the conspiracy!! 🤯🤯

- BIT THROUGH HER TONGUE?

- how does emily end up being cool and such a bitch badass even when she’s in that much pain!??

- “Jenny?” ew

- “we can smell you later” HAHA

- haha I fucking love Tyler “thought experiment”

- “hey, Ty-Ty” “Lucas” I FUCKING LOVE CHAOTIC ELIAS

- oh my god Penelope, stay safe

- PEN PROTECTING TYLER!!! it actually threw him off, you could see his face, it’s the eye contact specifically that threw him off

- oh my god that’s horrifying

- this whole episode is the bau trying to throw Elias of and v/v

- oh god I forgot about emily

- is she about to say that she loved him? pls, I kinda liked them together

- also a lil inconsistency that bugs me; in 15x4, they said that you can never talk down a conspiracy theorist, a targeted individual - they just have to let them believe what they believe - so why is Em trying to convince them so hard, shouldn’t she profile them? idk

- wait I don’t get it, how does the board relate to the team coming?? wouldn’t they have booby trapped it either way? why does Luke dancing in a towel after his shower have anything to do with it??😂

- omg Luke

- OMG dave this is so smart

- Jade’s gonna do something isn’t she??

- I KNEW IT

- when is pen going to cry? im so unsure what kirsten’s insta post was about bc the ep is almost over

- “discretion is the better part of valor” - interesting

- wait are we getting profilers back?? now that she has more money

- Penelope’s house!!

- but also no more greencia pls

- pen and luke pls?? pls? pls. :(

- wuoh elias…

GREAT SEASON!!! but we deserved garvez

looking forward to 2026, when I can do these again :)

more to come as I reflect on the season, but thanks for sticking w me as I did these reactions!!

[luciftixs]

the yi sangela post

I’m having autistic zoomies right now

I want to talk about Yi Sang and Angela because I like them both A Lot and I just think it’s fun to do comparisons. My partner made this lovely checklist with a few similarities I jotted down in a notesapp on my phone before I passed out and I will be cooking a meal thats geared solely to me but ur welcome to try and eat it if u want

Let’s get into it. There is no structure here but maybe we will find it as we go along!

I wanna start w a disclaimer that this is FOR FUN its not actually that serious and ALSO its obviously not a 1-to-1 comparison because these two are also so starkly different in not only their circumstances but also their overall personality when it comes to having deal with said Issues. I feel like tumblr users are more chill these days but after some shit ive seen on projmoon twitter I am covering my bases this is just a Post by a Stranger Online LOL

Let’s take a look at our first point on this silly little chart. That point is:

Bird

Angela’s black dress heavily resembles the feathers of a bird; specifically that of a corvid like a raven or even crow.

Even her head librarian outfit has some bird motifs to it. I’m going to get into corvid symbolism in a second but first

Yi Sang also leans heavily into the bird motifs. His base EGO is named Crow’s Eye View after a poem by the RL Yi Sang, and the narrative draws some inspo from the short story The Wings by the same author.

Wings show up often in some of his EGOS and CGs

Now, it’s not simply generic birds either of them are inspired by; Angela’s black feathers, Yi Sang’s EGO title, they are specifically invoking corvids. Corvidae include many different species of birds, such as magpies and jays, but the most commonly thought of corvids would be the ones with black feathers; ravens and crows. Corvids are incredibly intelligent birds, and they are rich in symbolism and meaning.

Specifically, crows have a heavy association with death and the afterlife. Both Angela and Yi Sang are impacted by heavy losses; Angela is made from a woman who took her own life and is forced to oversee countless loops of people suffering and dying; Yi Sang witnessed his friends being driven apart in a violent manner. His two childhood friends die before him, he wishes he could kill himself and die, and is trapped in a purgatory state with his current coworkers where bloodshed is as common as breathing. Death has marked both of them.

But! That is not the only thing corvids symbolize! In more modern times the birds are said to also symbolize transformation. In a way, that ties into death, as what is death if not the final transformation in life? But neither of their final growths end in their deaths; rather, both learn to find a way to free themselves from the shackles of their past, and to push forward.

THEN WE HAVE

Book as weapon

This one is just silly.

*beats you to death with a book beats you to death with a book beats you to death with a book*

Next point

Narrative haunted by a female figure

This one is in that “not a one-to-one comparison” territory, but it’s still just fun to poke at imo. In Angela’s case, she can never truly escape Carmen’s influence over her. For Yi Sang, Dongbaek is a ghost from his past. Both these women are integral to the overall narrative at hand.

Not only do these women haunt the narrative, but they also mirror the person they haunt. Angela’s desire for life is so strong because, in the end, Carmen wished to live. Dongbaek admired Yi Sang and his dream of flying. She yearned to bloom in a way not dissimilar to a bird spreading it’s wings for the first time. Angela’s Lobcorp design invokes Carmen- her hair color is Carmen’s inverted. She wears the hair time Carmen wore. Dongbaek’s hair has become white from the trauma- the inverse of Yi Sang’s black hair. Yi Sang takes up a Dongbaek identity in a mirror world to further drive home the similarities. These women play a major role in the overall identity of these two characters.

And this is just my brain going “hehe neat” but Carmen’s whole like. Brain stem mimicking a tree and its roots. Dongbaek becoming flowers. Visually very similar vibes.

Onto the next point

Loomed over and controlled by a male figure

This one probably seems second most self explanatory. Ayin meet Gubo Gubo meet Ayin ect.

The deal is simple: you do what we want you to do, and we have employed dubious methods to ensure that you do what we want you to do! Both Ayin and Gubo are self serving when it comes to the end goals. The levels of agency at play here are different; Angela truly had no choice, but Yi Sang’s mental state is not Great and that is being capitalized on him to help perpetuate his isolation and dependency.

Another thing: Ayin and Gubo are just really fucking mean to Angela and Yi Sang. Ayin actively dehumanizes her and neglects her; Gubo verbally and mentally abuses Yi Sang. Fun stuff.

Now, the penultimate point:

Yearning for freedom

This naturally comes with the territory of being a bird. Angela longs to not be confined to a place (Lobcorp or the Library). She wants to experience the world and be free. Yi Sang is similar; that desire to spread his wings and fly. For both to accomplish this, they have a talk with the ‘self’. It’s only by confronting their pasts, and themselves, that they can finally get that push to live life on their own terms.

MY FINAL TALKING POINT

SEXY

Like wow hot a what? And yes I chose fourth match flame because it ties into the whole post like they’re sharing an EGO that’s basically having your hopes burnt to a cinder and also an intense longing for a better life whoa thats crazy

Concluding thoughts

I just like them both a lot. My little caged birds getting out of the cage and mending their broken wings in order to take flight. Very kino. I love them.

If u actually read this thanks ur pog

[lesbian-kyoru]

tbh now that i've finished watching stars, i think people very much lie to themselves about how much seiya "disrespected" usagi's boundaries & "ignored her feelings"—because they don't like how it makes them feel to recognize that usagi wasn't forced into anything against her will. 

i kept waiting for seiya to be this pushy, abusive person, and make endless unwanted advances toward usagi. however, 99% of the time seiya was simply flirting & usagi was... not only wholeheartedly receptive to it, but actively flirting back. aside from random oneliners where usagi is like "huh i don't get it? 😳" (which always struck me as very dissonant, because usagi seems to be aware of seiya’s feelings depending on the episode so it’s weird when she conveniently forgets as a punchline LMAOOO but anyways)—seiya and usagi both seem incredibly aware of the romantic tension between them, and they still choose to flirt back and forth with each other. it's not seiya strong-arming usagi into these situations she's uncomfortable in, it just makes people feel better to over-exaggerate seiya as this manipulative person & ignore usagi's total agency in the whole situation.

and tbh the longer i think about it, i'm really bothered by this implication that it was seiya's responsibility to idk... not "tempt" usagi to stray from her boyfriend, as opposed to acknowledging that usagi made her own choices & wasn't unknowingly coerced by a "predatory" lesbian LMFAO. as an aside that comes back to my main argument— something i really love about seiusa as a ship is i don't think either of them fully realize how deeply they feel about each other until pretty far in. usagi obviously wrestles with being attracted to seiya & feeling like she shouldn't be up until the last episode, but seiya also doesn't seem to realize he's in love with usagi, beyond flirting with her & hanging out, until they find kakyuu & seiya realizes he still can't stop thinking about usagi. as much as usagi is confused about her feelings, seiya also has multiple moments where he thinks “what's the matter with me?” and struggles to understand how deep his initially more casual feelings for usagi have gotten.

imo, people just ignore this & use it to interpret everything seiya does as inherently predatory from their first interactions. however, often times in their early scenes, it's usagi who is assuming seiya is making moves on her & subsequently freaking out about it (she also spends a LOT of time thinking about him making a move—like, to the point where it’s clear she isn’t just panicking about it but is actively kind of waiting for it to happen—but that's another conversation LOL). but then in reality, seiya is. not doing anything. it’s just usagi projecting this overtly forward intent on his objectively not-super-provocative actions (which imo further drives home the point of, if usagi is so very much not interested in seiya, then how come she thinks constantly about him making a move..... and what does that tell us about her attraction/potential feelings for him.... but again, a different conversation).

for me, the date episode & the sleepover episode comes to mind. like, seiya invites usagi to go out, & usagi chooses to go. seiya offers to stay over when usagi is home alone, & she gets super excited & says yes (and immediately invites him up to her room skdlhfsdkhfls anyways). and people would argue, seiya knew she had a boyfriend, therefore he shouldn't have made these invitations or offered in the first place.... as though usagi isn't capable of making her own choices & turning down a friend if she was so uncomfortable with the way he was treating her. 

i think the problem is that people just find it easier to blame seiya & act like he was this manipulative lesbian preying on a vulnerable girl with a boyfriend vs grapple with how usagi had control of her own actions and had the agency to do things that make fans uncomfortable. these boundaries that people always are so mad about seiya not respecting were only “not respected” because... as time went on, they just did not exist, and that simply falls on both of them, not just seiya. for the few times that usagi would remind seiya she already had a boyfriend, she still tears those boundaries down on her own—by developing really intense feelings for seiya, by choosing to spend time with him again and again, by not turning him down from the start (which she could've done if she was truly uninterested and uncomfortable, like so many people decided she is). 

tl;dr it’s not that deep, but i'm just baffled by these “seiya is an abuser & creep” allegations that have been thrown around for decades—when usagi has such obvious feelings for him & it went both ways. because of their preconceived notions of usagi's feelings & actions, people have built up this self-fulfilling idea of seiya as this manipulative abuser who takes advantage of the poor fragile girl, but that’s just blatantly ignoring the complexity of literally everything that happened onscreen. it also robs usagi of the agency she has in all of her choices and her relationships, including with seiya. usagi wasn't naive or unaware or coerced, you just don't like how she felt and what she did. like yeah it's easier to scapegoat seiya as the predatory butch lesbian who’s being creepy to the pure pretty girl, but in reality usagi pretty clearly fell in love with or at the very least developed more-than-platonic feelings for someone else & it's messy! sorry i have eyes.

[shroomystar]

how do you see kabru viewing rin? mb if you've already talked about it

short answer: it's complicated. he's not in love with her but he's also not not in love with her.

long answer: i think kabru has a lot on his mind and as such doesn't really care about that rn(tm). he doesn't have the time to think about his feelings, and it's been so long that i think he doesn't want to, either. rin has been his best friend (which imo is very very important to him; i've seen people joke about, and have joked about this too before, the fact that it's kind of mean towards rin to "just" view her as his best friend, but in all actuality, i don't think it is, actually, because i truly believe that's like one of the most important things to kabru lol, she's more than a girlfriend would be to him, she's his best friend) for the majority of what he remembers, and ever since leaving the elves together, she's been the only constant in his life (just like the other way around). i feel it would probably be hard for him to discern what exactly he feels for rin, since loving rin (in whatever way you think) is like breathing to him; it's been there all this time. so, imo, kabru doesn't have the time to think about his feelings, he has other things to do, and he also doesn't want to, because coming to a conclusion could mean both hurting rin (something i think he's very scared of, even if it's hypocritical, because he's hurting her w this constant limbo, too) or potentially losing her, which i think he couldn't handle. kabru flirts with rin canonically and kisses her on page. he thinks "too bad she looks like a monster right now," after that, and when they both have earplugs in and he jokingly imagines to himself her saying "look at me, not the mermaids," he says -- out loud, but rin can't hear him, so that's not his facade, that's just him -- "you'd be cute if you were always like this." ??? kabru. kabru. kabru. do you want to kiss rin. kabru. do you want rin to be openly jealous over you instead of hiding it behind prickly tsundere tendencies and scolding. kabru. kabru. do you think rin is cute.

so yeah, lol, it's complicated. he flirts with her to keep her by his side, because he knows about her feelings, because it's a way he can ensure she'll stay without having to actually commit. in the end, i do believe his feelings are also romantic, but i also think it would need a lot of outside influence for him to get his shit together and stop playing this game with rin. what's very interesting to me about this, however, that on some level, rin is playing this game too (always always thinking about her angry "what are you talking about??" when he tries to apologize for kissing her. ugh. they are both keeping each other at arm's length even when they're closer to each other than anybody else is. insane). god!

lastly, the sister thing (lol). the adventurer's bible kabru party relationship charts has kabru's arrow towards rin say "like a big sister". as i said, kabru flirts with rin on page and kisses her. i do not believe that a) he'd do this if he wasn't at least a little attracted to her, because she's his best friend and means a lot to him, and i don't believe he's that cruel, and b) that he's serious about the sister thing, because those are not things someone typically does with someone they view as a sister, lmfao, and i also don't believe kabru would do that. i see it as part of what he wants others to believe so he can keep rin at arm's length while still reeling her back in. whole kabru party has to watch while he kisses the girl he told them is like a sister to him when they asked if they were dating. or something shdgddhf. i also think it could be something like saying someone is a "mom friend," when you obviously don't see them as your mom. rin is older than kabru and fusses over him and scolds him, so she is a big sister type of friend, even when they are friends and not siblings. or something. i think the first option is funnier though.

so yeah. it's complicated! unrequieted requited love i love you! someone bonk him on the head for me, because if you don't, nothing will realistically ever happen between them despite it all. so sad.

[baylardo]

THIS POST IS SO LONG LMAO

idk what all ive written and not written publicly pertaining to my ideas on these cringe naenae lil thangs outside of me n tardi dm’s bc im embarrassed and its still rough and vague hahaha im still exploring things but ive thought a lot about certain aspects and not others. toxic worldbuilding lmao.

i think the idea has become that philippa is a bit into her captaincy,,,, not fresh into it. her ex-captain sh’Eraz (moid) has been apprehended or killed (idk lol) and shes in command of the Legacy,,,

theres a few ideas im still sitting on like as its been discussed like, the two kids are barely a year apart in age. which means that like her and jj had a one night stand or something and she got knocked up from it but theyre still like not in a relationship,,,,,,, i hesitate bc i kinda like the idea of the alien adopted boy having a few years (or closer to 10 years lol) on their biological daughter so idk. and it all seems REALLY indulgent to keep it all that close. but also,,,,, 😳 im just struggling to keep it dissimilar to my stuff with kathryn and chakotay and this was like, a way that presented itself haha.

and i still don’t know when JJ would re-enlist in starfleet!!! nothing compelling comes to me 😩😩😩😩 *nothing that doesnt seem super simpy like when philippa becomes a captain for example and she conveniently needs a chief engineer. ive thought that like, maybe his mother who’s been abhorrently against starfleet since joe’s death eventually insists he go because he so obviously loves and wants to follow philippa or something and it reminds her of joe I DONT KNOOOOOOW. ive also thought that maybe he joins peppa’s ship she captains LATER, initially as a civilian and very much like philippa’s Side Piece who coparents kids and rejoins later??? idk haha. i dont really like that option either fhfjdkks

anywayyyyy current idea is she finds out shes whoopsy pregnant just before leaving earth to go on an away mission, doesnt say anything to anyone even jace just leaves lol,,,, Legacy comes across this planet-size spaceship inhabited by these batlike aliens, the ship is their planet that theyve made capable of traversing space and survives on orbiting stars for periods of time, ao theyre very used to darkness but also theyre like obsessed with light sources lol. its like super advanced solar powered technology. i figure the planet has either one or a few like, densely populated areas where theres these big beacons of light protruding out of the centers of the cities, and then vast parts of the planet that are completely covered in darkness. the aliens probably have some explanation surrounding it like lack of resources or something. refer to the valleys of darkness on the planet-ship as like "outskirts" or w/e.

philippas down there doing first contact things (insert weird atmosphere inside the giant planet-ship granting philippa a unique access to it in comparison to her peers), the bat aliens are nice and accommodating to starfleet,,,,, i figure they have some mysterious visual to them of like, bearing little carnivorous fangs, but being vegetarian. stuff of that nature. philippa's a little bit sus about it but says nothing past like, maybe asking why they dont eat meat and them answering that theyve evolved past the need to consume meat and it's something that they dont look fondly on from their ancestry.

while shes there idk in some sketchy alleyway or being given a tour of a science facility, maybe philippa has stepped away from a tour to do some snooping of her own, she's a little bit problematic and too suspicious for her own good.

a runaway/criminal/fleeing/dying bat lady gives her this weird either egg/pod (she may not know its an egg at first lol) and she gets frantically told some conspiracy type stuff about their civilization being built on graves or lies or something edgy and that she cant let them have this pod/egg, its their last hope of setting things right. the bat lady looks oddly different to the other bat aliens philippa has seen; dont know visually how to contrast it yet but shes more sickly, less clean and less light-colored, more gray and fitting for a nocturnal species who rarely sees light, ravaged, less prim and proper, probably larger and more apparent fangs, etc. but she either runs off or gets captured or killed.

philippa's left more than a little confused about things but i figure she has an intuitive sense of wrongness and hasn't been vibing something she couldnt quite put her finger on regarding these aliens for a while and that kinda confirms a hunch for her. ummm proceeding to them trying to take the egg/pod away from philippa and shes like "ummmm lol no" so she ends up getting chased and her fleeing the city she's in without backup, they cut off access to her ship and comms so shes like Super Alone fending for herself out in the pitch black. POTENTIALLY she has access to starlight, id imagine the big planet-ship is a closed off dome as it travels but it opens up slits or something along its circumference to take in light from surrounding stars. so she can see but shes not emitting a beacon/torch of her own as not to give herself away.

as shes out there and hiding and trying to figure out what to do, how to contact her ship, figure out what's actually going on here, etc., the egg/pod ends up hatching and being like a weird little alien moth baby that is dissimilar to the bat aliens currently residing on this planet. ((((((my initial CRINGE thought is that like, these eggs/pods respond to like, idk MATERNITY so its been dormant for potentially years, and philippas like, secretly pregnant and it bonds/imprints on her as its mother or w/e. if i dont end up going that indulgent route you can just say that it liked the cut of her gib or something lmao. soul-related,,, ummmm good heart,,,,, etc.))))))

i figure they spend a few days together hiding. i think she'd talk to it to keep herself sane lol. maybe kinda confide a few fears she has regarding motherhood, struggles with her mother lol,,,, talk about delivering her sister's baby maybe,,,, other things too like shes just talking to this baby lmao. was talking to jellybeans about the name Moss for him haha, i think itd be cute if she just literally names him after moss. very uncreative placeholder type name that sticks. anyway baby eventually starts crying, shes worried shes gonna get caught with it, she does lmao, but by some bat aliens living in the outskirts of the planet-ship. these bats are all more visually similar to the frantic one that'd given her the egg. they discover what she has (moth baby lol) and they take her to their hideout/camp where they explain their race's history and that of the lil alien she's now charged with reluctantly taking care of. which iiiis...

the planet-ship was originally that of the moth aliens, a long time ago they took in the bat aliens that were as in need of light for some reason as much as if not more than they were, they cohabitated for a bit but eventually the bats start like overpopulating or something. ITS STILL ROUGH IN MY HEAD. i figure the moth aliens are super smart, but have a moral code that the scrungly bat aliens dont end up vibing all too much. somehow somewhy the bats end up starting to use the moth's DNA/blood, (maybe via infusion?) blending it with their own through unnatural means, in order to like, artificially augment or evolve themselves, get smarter, thus why theyve physically changed so much in appearance is because theyre like, idk living off of their blood or something to maintain their states of mind.

they also tell her that the lil baby is the last of his kind and he'd likely be safer somewhere away from this place where they cant use him anymore. (maybe the eggs are effectively preserved/ageless and supply the bats with longer lasting access to blood idk) they dont know or understand how philippa got it to hatch (maybe she does know but shes not gonna tell them. shes still repressing/ignoring the elephant in the room (pregnant) lmao). but his existence is kinda a big deal bc it proves what theyre saying and the other bats would likely not want that info coming to light or preventing them from joining starfleet or w/e. maybe their planet-ship is becoming less and less sustainable and theyre like Girl Help Lol.

philippa asks the outskirt bats for their help in getting in contact with her ship and off of the planet and they do. im sure its bumpy haha but i havent thought about this part much it just eventually happens and she makes it back to her ship, she confides in her CMO that she's pregnant (maybe) and he knows her well enough to be like "i know," bc she like, didnt get her medical examination out of the way right at the start of their departure or something and kept putting it off so ppl wouldnt know lol. ANYWAY, lil baby is given special treatment to start adapting his lungs to a new atmosphere which is long and arduous and philippa stays by his side through a lot of it. its not like she cares or is worried or anything!!!!!!!!!!!!

eventually gets back to earth, still hasnt really told anyone her news or the fact that shes kinda adoptively taking care of this baby now. i think we'd talk about her showing up to tell Jace and her initially perceiving philippa with a baby and being like 'omg' and then reading peppa's very loud thoughts and being like 'OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' haha. EVEN MORE VAGUE IDEAS WITH JJ LOLLLLLLL, has to do with my big question mark surrounding his starfleet career and everything, but theyre both like "omg we arent even dating lol hi" about it.

*falls asleep*

[osarina]

Hiii rinaaaa :3

I haven't finished my analysis for Wasteland yet (because I'm actually dazai irl, and it's just that time (/hj </3)) BUT I saw your post about pm!reader being multilingual AND A LIGHT BULB WENT OFF IN MY HEAD!!

Imagine (I'm just this around 16 or 17) you had just finished one of your language classes/lessons (maybe with an exec, probably Verlaine; I can see him being multi/bilingual probably), and Dazai notices this, maybe from how you've been stressed out about trying to remember different words or phrases, and using the little free time you had to practice. So being the lovesick loser he is, he practices (in secret) to help you!

So one day, you're studying by the coffee table in your apartment, studying a few of the phrases you had learned that day. You hear the elevator ding from the hallway, you already know who it is, but you're busy at the moment so you can go and greet him. When Dazai walks in, he notices your furrowed brows as you study your notes and mumble the words to yourself. His lips part open before he can even think, asking you a question in whatever language you were practicing. (How was your day today?) Once the words left his lips, your head shot up, and all you could do was stare at him, a shocked expression painting your face. After a few moments of you (rudely!) staring, he couldn't help but fluster and turn away from you; a soft smile slowly embraced your face. (It's great now that you're here. Thank you.) You replied as his head shot back to face you; giving you the same look you had given him, before he had smiled back at you while making his way over to you, helping you practice for the rest of the evening <3

(p.s. I hc that 14-16 dazai had braces so he screws up on certain pronunciations and he has to yell at you to stop laughing, he's so silly)

AHHHHHHH STOP IT STOP IT UR SO IN MY HEAD BECAUSE OKAY HOLD ON LET ME TELL U THIS HEADCANON BEFORE WE TALK ABOUT YOURS

but obviously chuuya needs to have some pretty damn good knowledge of physics to pull off some of the stunts he does w gravity. so i hc that once he joined the pm, he started teaching himself some to fine tune some aspects of his ability. reader started learning it with him to try to help him learn and dazai found out they were having little study sessions and got irritated and taught himself and then just walked around flaunting his knowledge because he was jealous LOL and of course he picked it up faster than either of them did bc he's DAZAI. chuuya actually picked it up really fast but reader struggled so much w it that she just gave up LMAO

BUT UR HEADCANON STOPPPPPPP THIS IS SO PMREADER UNIVERSE CANON I WILL ACTUALLY DIE HE WOULD BE SO EMBARRASSED WAITING FOR HER TO RESPOND, DOUBLE GUESSES EVERYTHING AND ALMOST FLEES BEFORE SHE FINALLY SMILES AND RESPONDS TO HER and then he just gets sooooo happy because every chance he gets, he's going to talk to her in that language because 1) he likes helping her practice but more importantly 2) he can talk to her and CHUUYA can't understand them so it leaves chuuya out LOLLLLL UGH IM SO OBSESSED WITH THIS I MIGHT DIE

I AM ALSO A BRACESZAI TRUTHER !!!!! I LOVE BRACESZAI ITS SO CUTE WHENEVER I SEE FANART OF IT I MELT

[gaemms-chamois]

random unorganized darknights trio + paprika musings bc sometimes i'm hit with like a pang of Brief Worry that i'm completely misinterpreted blabla that usually doesn't last too long bc i then go back to my state of I'm Just Vibing but ig at some point i just gotta let it out publicly once and be done with it lol

this is messily written Please Understand this isn't meant to be a grand thought piece

fuuuck ok well this is like very specifically abt the w, ines & paprika part now

like don't get me wrong on this. i joke abt wines moms and stuff but i dont genuinely mean it in the way of wahh wow littol family for reals kinda deal?

less on wines 'adopting' paprika, moreso paprika imprinting on them like a duckling after she was saved by them. paprika adopted them lmao. i cannot possibly interpret either w or ines as Maternal in such a way.

it's moreso that i think it's nice that this little sarkaz merc became part of the story, a girl who all her life since she was infected at a young age, was presented with becoming a mercenary being basically the only option for her.

and then, as annoying as w can be, being shown that she does have different options.

i just think it's sweet that paprika, judging by her voicelines, clearly looks up to w and ines. which is just amplified by the fact that w and ines are notoriously not the most popular people on rhodes lol. and she calls w annoying but still keeps knitting stuff and wanting to gift food to her. like if she often seeks out w and ines to tell them how well she did on something, when they are on the ship, etc. that'd at least indicate that those two humor her.

ALSO IT'S UNOFFICIAL BUT SHOUTOUT TO THAT LITTLE CHUZENJI ART WITH PAPRIKA AND W, INES & TOTTER WEARING KNITTED HATS SO CUTE

OKAY WOO DARKNIGHTS MERCENARY TRIO AND STUFF

cool yeah obviously i fucking love them. i'm not very good at words though and i tend to keep my more elaborate thoughts to just discussions between friends who know how i tick djsfhdfs

just the other day i was smiling to myself during a walk bc holy shit all three are actually playable now and that's not just wishful thinking anymore. anyway chapter 13 also happened and more stuff with the trio happened and Cool Lots of things Happening and my brain is full

they're so found family to me, like in an utterly unconventional way. i mean c'mon with how they act sometimes like- ykno. but like have y'all seen the new furniture set and descriptions that came with hoederer's release it made me go insanse.

but i think especially in ines' case it just kinda highlights that best. considering ines' arts can figure people out (putting that in rather vague terms), it truly means something when someone with her capabilities and temperament has people she chooses to stick by and actually trust. even if she pretends she doesn't by verbally denying it.

like waugh Okay they have a lot to unpack and shit but with them being reunited (take that, W file that said W needs companionship but her friends aren't around anymore) and having a COMPARATIVELY more ""relaxed"" life than before (that one Hoederer file where he just has rather regular days on rhodes), it's just nice to imagine they can finally have something better and figure stuff out. as complicated as the three of them are.

with that said i think it's a given that i despise a nuclear family treatment of the three (aka mom ines, dad hoederer, daughter w).

for one with me being highly doubtful w was a kid/teen at the start of darknights (young? sure, but not that young), which just seems like such a...widespread belief that i really do not get? arknights always put a LOT of emphasis on when a character's story was about them being a kid, 0 of that with w. like something about her expression and big cloak just gave people some different impression, even though she literally keeps looking the same aside from a change of clothes. only instance of w being called a kid during that time i can think of is that one boiler worker in her files but that seems way more like any typical old guy calling anyone on the younger side a kid. hell, even hoederer was called young in darknights, like in a sarkaz's lifespan i can believe that.

and also...hoederer had somewhat of a mentor-like role for w, but if anyone tries to tell me ines ever acted maternal towards w i will chew through your walls. read through darknights memoir and actually pay attention to ines, both w AND ines were pettyass women and they made that so very clear. cannot fathom how anyone can see ines as having been motherly towards w

seriously just feels like a case of Well there is man and there is woman....and this other character so clearly these are mom, dad and kid.

that's not even me being biased towards w/ines, just how i objectively see it. hell, i even ENJOY ines/hoederer, but my enjoyment of it is limited bc for some reason ppl like to make it weird by shoving w in as some daughter. i promise it's completely possible to like ines/hoederer without trying to fit in w as a kid figure

anyways yeah like cool i like these characters I Guess. Look at them

[katerinaaqu]

for the thing about the maids (and btw i have no textual basis for this, it's just my flawed interpretation) i always empathised with them n even melantho bc idk ive been in that situation. like to me it seemed the suitors could take what they wanted n after 10 years of that it would wear you down so i understand why melantho was vindictive and dismissive of odysseus, to me she was just trying to feel some power for herself or something. telemachus couldnt do anything, penelope couldnt do anything, so the maids' best bet for survival/to make the best out of a terrible situation would be to get close to their abusers. n then when they had to clean up the blood and gore of their potential abusers (even if they were consensual lovers, this is a bit much for me, especially considering they knew they was gonna die after this). but yh, for those who stayed loyal to odysseus / obviously unwilling to follow the suitors orders, to me that just felt like a different way of coping idk. anyway this is very long so sorry lol, i dont really have any backing in the text for it, i just always empathised a bit w the maids that got hanged yh sorry lol

Well as I answered to a previous ask of mine, I think Homer made it clear that they were following willingly.

Now of course Homer is also a master for writing stuff that can be interpreted in many ways (see Achilles and Patroclus relationship for example) so under normal circumstances I would also say that the maidens were being forced by the conditions or perhaps their own need for freedom to have relationships with the suitors but as I said before here's the thing;

In Homer we do not see the verb which means "to force" which is something he uses for cases like Phemius who is playing to entertain them. With them Homer speaks as they go to meet their lovers. What is more they as I said before revealed the secrets of Penelope giving to the suitors the key to continue their harassment of hers while before they legitimately waited for her to finish the shroud. It seems that their actions go beyond just their own need to claw themselves out of a situation they resented.

And as you said punishment for treason was death. And quite frankly they weren't necessarily in danger by Odysseus (given they considered him dead long time now). They were slaves. Literally anyone in the house that was a free man or woman could punish them for their treason. Penelope herself perhaps or even Telemachus. Why would you go to such lengths risking your own head for it? Unless you never believed you wouldn't get caught. Either way by contrasting their behavior to other loyal subjects of Odysseus, homer seems to tell us that they had a choice. And that their choices were not forced upon them. And their punishment was the punishment for treason. As cruel as it was since they weren't just hanged but they were also forced to clean the bodies of their lovers (which again seemed another indication that the task would hurt them and so they did host feelings for them).

As for Melantho on the contrary she seems the least possible candidate among the slave girls that seems to have reasons to resent Odysseus and his family. Sure she was taken as a slave but she was taken very young. Penelope raised her like her own daughter and trusted her deeply. Homer says "she had as many playthings as she desired" aka she was raising the girl like she raised Telemachus. In a way she had every reason to be grateful to Penelope for she had no obligation to raise her so. Yes she got drunk by the power she felt being the lover of a lord. She commits hubris and she is punished for it by the hand of Odysseus and Telemachus

Well it could be but like I wrote to another analysis of mine, his loyal slaves are absolutely delighted to see him. They are not pretending. They kiss and embrace him and cry with him. It is not like they cope by being loyal. They are loyal because they love him and because they genuinely respect him. Eumaeus even calls Telemachus "his son". He genuinely loves him. The slave girls react in a similar way when they are allowed to get out of their chambers. They do not bow to Odysseus and they do not kiss his hands and feet in respect. They run at him kissing his head and shoulders, embrace him and rejoice at his presence. They are beyond servants to him. So if it is coping I mostly see it as coping with the loss of their master and the disgrace of his son by the suitors than anything else.

I hope that makes sense and sorry for the long reply

[svtjinny]

JUYEON :: RELATIONSHIPS WITH SVT

wc: just a lil over 2k. not proofread, lowercase intended!

SEUNGCHEOL, JEONGHAN & JOSHUA

jinny's fathers!!!! she's the only girl so obviously jinny's gonna get a lot of hate for it / how close she is with the members and these three are always there for her :( constant reassurance that she's not a burden to them and that it's okay to cry when she needs to. when jinny went on 'no prepare' w/ youngji she got drunk and cried over how much these three care about her SEUNGCHEOL ~ JICHEOL: since he's the oldest, he cares a lot about all 13 of his members. he does, however, check up on jinny often and make sure she's taking care of herself and not closing herself off from the group whenever she's dealing with scandals or hate. these two are just super soft UGH. on inside seventeen eps or on tour stops jinny will just randomly go up to cheol and lay her head on his shoulder or lap "just cause she wants to." they call a lot because she gets super worried esp around comeback szn and he's one of the only members she feels comfortable expressing her worries with & crying in front of. when they aren't being all sappy n shit tho, jinny's constantly trying to annoy him at the most random times. or she's teasing him over the way he moved his hands or said something LOL (and vice versa.. he'll walk past her and mock her english as pay back) fansites love these two trust me!!

JEONGHAN ~ JINHAN: speaking of hate, jeonghan is always the first member jinny goes to whenever she's getting negative comments or opinions from netizens. she puts a lot of trust in jeonghan and is always asking for advice from him. but moving on.... jinny HATES (she doesn't) playing games with jeonghan bcz he's either a smartass or he'll cheat his way to victory. in that one jeonghan vs. svt episode, she literally walked up to the seating area, said "i'm gonna write -1,000,000." and tried leaving (the staff wouldnt let her LMAO). jinny always the first to notice when he's trying to mess with the members she'll be like "yah! stop being a liar, you're like pinnochio." and it makes everyone laugh JOSHUA ~ JIJO: they bonded over their confusion as foreigners (+ vernonnie) OMG. whenever the members would laugh at a joke she didn't understand jinny would immediately turn to shua with confused eyes. anywayss, jinny values her relationship with joshua a lot!! being in seventeen meant staying in korea for large periods of time, away from her brother. joshua is like her older brother figure when she isn't in australia. but he also loves to annoy her at random times?? like on stage for example he'll come over to her and mess with her outfit or whatever's in her hands OR he'll keep switching between korean & english when talking and it frustrates her sm LOL. also loves to mock her english..

JUN, HOSHI, WONWOO & WOOZI jinny is always fighting with them LMAO... there's no gose ep where they aren't arguing at least once (cough mousebusters cough). kir looks up to them a lot though! these four are always cheering for her in shoots, even when she appears in ads or on billboards!!! it's like they argue and then 5 mins later it's "go jinny" JUN ~ JIHUI: he loves to hype jinny up for no reason honestly. like she'll be showcasing a dance or talent for a variety show and all you'll hear is "WOAHHHH JINAA WOWWWWWW" from him LOL. jinny likes to mock him with his "nothing is spicy for me" stuff but then he pulls out a pepper or hot sauce out of nowhere? and she'll run screaming "moon junhui i'm sorry for everything i've never done to you!!!" pls. but also she loves whenever he goes on rants about things he wants to try in china with the members while they're talking backstage or smt because she!! wants!! to!! go!! too!! he bakes or buys her a lot of chinese treats and it makes her melt :( when hes asked to do aegyo or cute poses jinny cackles.. it's just so funny and cute at the same time HOSHI ~ SOONJIN: for seungcheol's sake, don't let these two partner with each other in games or stand anywhere near each other in relay dances. chaotic duo omg. if they aren't fighting, they're laughing at each other. and if they aren't laughing at each other, they're probably chasing each other or doing god knows what. their gose cameramen get weekly workouts at this point with their constant movement. ESPECIALLY IN DON'T LIE. when soonyoung does his silly little "watching the members' reactions" thing he immediately points at her and screams that it's jinny because there was a GHOST of a smirk on her face. or when they're playing random games she'll say he was too slow by a millisecond just to try and stop him from winning. WONWOO ~ JINWON: wonu found jinny crying once and ever since then they've gotten like super close. they'll be filming and then the camera goes to woolyn and jinny's just casually piggybacking on him. they don't argue as much as the other three but when they do it's HILARIOUS. "you stole my crackers, didn't you?" + "sorry.. i'm a foreigner what's a cracker? (except it's her imitating his pronunciation)" when jinny's solo was announced he was one of the more excited members. omg they also love to quote / imitate each other too. "tasty." (insomnia zero !!!!) and then theres wonu mocking jinny's silly photoshoot poses. but jinny gets so excited when she sees wonu after some time away cause he's like this gigantic teddy bear in her eyes.. there are so many compilations of jinny hugging wonu or hanging onto him at the most random times. WOOZI ~ 2JI: cue jinny dragging jihoon out of the studio at 1-2 am because he locked himself in there with his factory supply of diet coke. jinny is a producer and loves to make music and jihoon's always the one she goes to whenever she needs an opinion on a lyric or part of a song. they've had a lot of dumb moments together on trips like TTT and in the studio and both of them use it against each other. "hey jinny, do you remember when-" "NO. I DON'T REMEMBER." in every other game svt plays LMAO. on the rareeeee occasion jihoon gets tipsy he'll get super emotional with jinny and it's so funny to the rest of the members for some reason. in conclusion, jinny's like jihoon's reminder to stop working and jihoon is jinny's reminder of every stupid thing she's ever done.

DK, MINGYU, & THE8 jinny's brothers part one. they're besties!! 97z are always making her laugh or teasing her. these are some of the members she's known since she was a little girl so they're especially close :( drunk jinny is also extremely clingy and emotional and they always have to deal with it but whenever one of them brings it up, like in insomnia zero for example, she gets flustered and denies it so fast DK ~ SENNY: svt mood makers,,, they're always making jokes or laughing at something or each other (or making fun of seungkwan..). they both get so happy whenever they see each other ITS SO CUTE like there's this one gose ep where jinny came back after being in australia for some time and seokmin ran and hugged her so fast. ALSO BEST VOCAL DUO I SAY! jinny released a song with him as a feature and it blew up so fast bcz of how extremely good they sounded. jinny also loves to play as seokmin's supportive facebook mom LMAO. on her insta she has so many cringy pics of him doing LITERALLY ANYTHING n captions as "The Best ____" and a bunch of emojis. MINGYU ~ JIGYU: they've known each other since around the time jinny became a trainee and they have such a sweet sibling bond. gyu's so quick to judge whenever someone says something negative about jinny (when they aren't joking about it.. bc if they were joking he'd join in.) it's rlly funny to carats. they cook together a lot and whenever they're filming + cooking mingyu would just keep making fun of how short she is compared to him or some random joke he came up with on the spot. but anyways their food is so good,, everyone gets super excited whenever they cook tgt. also one of jinny's irl teddy bears!! when they see each other it's like those online friends irl meet-up videos the members have so many pics / vids of them dramatically hugging LOL THE8 ~ JIHAO: PLEASE minghao is always either chilling and living peacefully with jinny or teasing her abt her every move. in that one rice planting gose ep they were both sitting together loving every moment of the planting UNTIL HE GOT TO GET FOOD and started to tease her about how the food is sooooooo delicious and she should come and get a bite. but ANYWAYS. jinny loves to hype minghao up in whatever he does!!! once she went on weverse and started boasting about how good minghao is at art cuz they were painting tgt for a vlog. minghao helps calm jinny down most of the time too!! precious besties :[

SEUNGKWAN, VERNON, & DINO jinny's brothers part two. these three are her ride or dies istg!!! similar to 96z, jinny is always fighting with them... but they're also like partners in crime? dino vernon & jinny are like three kids trying to drag a tired mother (seungkwan) into helping them with whatever crazy over the top prank plan they concocted LMAO SEUNGKWAN ~ JIKWAN: never leave these two with a task alone. they will argue over the way the other is BREATHING. it became their thing to just nitpick each other whenever they could and it makes both of them laugh so hard when someone tells them to stop fighting. he said in a show once "i think we're good at teamwork!" and jinny gave him THE MOST judgeful look ever it became a whole meme and they spent like 10 minutes arguing over it... poor host. she showed up at the bss m/v recording and kept laughing at him, which caused them to argue ONCE AGAIN LOL. but omg.. best vocal duo ever pt.2???? them singing or hitting a high note together is what greets you at the gates of heaven it's HOLY. VERNON ~ HANNY: foreign confusion PART TWO!! nonnie helped jinny a lot pre-debut and she's so grateful for him. moving on tho.. vernon's a little demon around jinny like she'll just be on her phone or in the studio sitting minding her own business and then this dude will come up behind her and scare tf out of her LMAO there was this one tour stop where they were just messing with each other the entire time.. cheol was tired. mocks her english part 3 (?? i lost count..) "how do you say water?" "wa'er" *dying laughing* .. there was this one live and vernon was putting chapstick on (i like to think he's like any generic american guy and is an absolute monster when putting on chapstick) and they had this whole debate over how to put on it on correctly. back on the plus side tho, jinny is always there to help vernon put together music!! DINO ~ JINCHAN: jinny's bestie like they are so insanely close. chan's known jinny for years bcz they went to the same middle school! these two are always finding an opportunity to play around with each other or they'll just end up hugging each other at random intervals. carats love jinchan bcz you tell that they love and care for each other sm :( BUT THEN HE'S A LITTLE SHIT TOO?????? he steals random objects or food from her all the time but she could never actually be mad at him ofc. one of them would make some shitty joke and they'll both be on the ground laughing because they end up laughing at each other, it's a never ending cycle. she's the #1 chan supporter she's always cheering him on for ANYTHING...and vice versa! dino's like jinny's protective older brother istg. he's so quick to defend her in anything even if she's the one in the wrong LMAO.

from xia ! : svt being absolute devils whenever jinny speaks english....please she's TIRED.

[isadollie]

hi hi !! i saw that your matchups were open and i decided participating would be a good way to engage with others !! with that said, could i have a match up w/ obey me? people often call me zen and i go by she/they pronouns! im bisexual so i'm fine with either gender. i like novels/books, video games and board games! for my dislikes, i guess i would say strong odors like extravagant perfume, big crowds and being the center of attention. i do art some times in my free time if i'm not writing! my aesthetic would probably be something like coquette. i'm approximately 5'4 with brown eyes and wavy black hair that reaches my collarbone, as well as clear framed glasses. i think i'm quite introverted and shy in general but i can be bold when the situation calls for it. my mbti is istp! my dream birthday present would probably be something the person made by themself instead of something that can be bought. my love language is quality time ! im a sagittarius, and some of my favourite songs right now are 'primadonna' by marina and 'i bet on losing dogs' by mitski !

this was so much fun to write i may have rambled too much, thank you !!

— matchup —

if you'd want a matchup too, make sure to check out this! link

i match you with...

Asmodeus!

★ i said it once and i'll say it again; he'd adore coquette so so much!!

★ i think he'd quickly agree to play board games with you, but it would be quite boring cause instead of focusing on the game, he'll just stare at you with a smile

★ it would hurt his heart a tiny little bit, but would give up his perfume for you (which are obviously very strong) and choose something you like instead

★ he would love to play with your hair; dry them, brush them, do different hairstyles, maybe even dye them if that's something you want. just let him touch your hair and he's happy lol

★ would 100% ask you to paint and/or draw him. and oh, not just once, no. many, many times. in different outfits, different poses on a different background. would call himself your muse too

★ i don't know if it's just me, but something about marina's 'primadonna' just screams Asmo to me. and i won't change my mind about it

★ would get pretty jealous if he saw you talking to other brothers too much, especially to Levi, as he knows both of you like video games. wouldn't like it for you two to play together, he always has to join but he wouldn't play himself; he'll just cheer you on

you 2nd match was levi :P

[joysmercer]

any future!rina hc?

not many tbh, i actually enjoy "definite" endings/flash-forwards in most cases but with them im glad it was left open-ended! that said – 

ok so like. the r&j movie's going to flop. you can't just have the same story but simply make them NOT die in the end and expect it to work. but gina's performance is the one thing that gets praised in it, which does help her a lot

ricky's not romeo though kdlfj

they do lsoh for their spring musical. the two of them get cast as audrey ii – they handle the puppets and alternate who says the lines by scene. it's not the part either of them imagined getting but they have a lot of fun

gina goes back to camp the next summer and promptly twists her ankle, so she just choreographs the show but doesn't participate :( which is fine with her tbh, she's very exhausted having just finished the movie and the musical and this is the only break she'll get before starting movie press and stuff (and senior year)

ricky unfortunately has orientation during week 2 of camp so he doesn't go but he sends her care packages every single day and comes to opening night to hand out cards <3

EJ's there to direct again and he and gina become proper friends

the fall musical is &J and gina is obviously juliet and she just rolls her eyes when that's announced. jet's romeo. when the media catches wind of this they have a field day ("porter's performance only emphasizes the missteps in the film…") which is also Not Great

she's also stressed the fuck out because college apps are also happening and ricky ends up driving down every chance he gets to keep her company and help take her mind off of things. turns out he's very good at editing essays (and distracting her…)

he gives her a very sweet pep talk during intermission of the show because she's on the verge of a breakdown at this point

her mom didn't make it to opening night again but both his parents bring her flowers and cheer the loudest during her bows

gina's mom plans a vacation to london over winter break and she begs and begs until her mom lets ricky come too

her mom has business meetings half the time so they wander around holding hands and looking at the christmas lights and doing ALL the touristy things

ricky had no idea what a panto is initially but he enjoys it so much he wonders multiple times why they're not a thing in america

gina just loves that he loved it

the spring musical is cabaret, she's sally, her performance gets her nominated for the jimmy awards (which she goes on to win)

but she decides to focus on school for a bit after high school even though roles are being offered to her left-and-right

she gets a full-ride scholarship to usc and ricky is SO PROUD.

he snuck in through the window the night she told him and he squealed so loudly her mom got scared and ran up there and caught them lol but even she can't hide her smile esp when she finds out the reason

ricky tells her he applied to transfer to csula and got in

obviously she kisses him senseless after that. he tries to shrug it off as not a big deal and shes just like "no, it's amazing, i'm so proud of you" an he starts crying, basically

he explores a ton of majors but eventually decides on education with minors in music production and theatre – he knows whatever he does, he wants to help people feel the way he did when he found the drama club

goes w/o saying but they get married at some point and have a house full of golden-retrievers