#hi I'm... like this....

[variousqueerthings]

its taking so much self control not to search for all the messy trap, BJ, and hawk fics (that I hope exist!). also that bridget jones video is amazing, its so easy to forget how awkward real life fighting actually is lol. Im picturing BJ as darcy and trap as cleaver. side note, I also read your hawk/lyle and it was honestly so good, well written and soo hot!

oh hai, I didn't see you there!

EDIT: So this is not what your ask is about and I'm sorry, I went on a post-finale watching tangent, I apologise for not being funny anymore, even though the original post was light-hearted. GFA spoilers

*

It's funny, because now I've seen the finale, I feel like I need to wallow for a bit in the version of the story in which BJ and Hawkeye never see each other again.

It's got that sweet, sweet bitterness to it.

It's also funny, both my flatmate and my partner -- although I will hazard not to put words in their mouths -- are, let's say, not fond of BJ, because, well... he does many a highly questionably thing in response to the Horrors, especially to Hawkeye, but to me at least that ending, it's very much offering a final understanding of that character that softens him just a tad (to me, my feelings).

He undoubtedly, unthinkingly, several times messes up with Hawkeye within those two hours alone (which is worse: bringing up babies to the guy who's just had a breakdown brought on by the death of a baby, or leaving without a note, possibly knowing some element of the way that Trapper left, if not the entire thing???)

And then when Hawkeye, in a particularly harrowing way, reaches out to him (what would you do if I were bleeding out in your arms -- paraphrased) he brushes it off, because he's steadily become more depressed and therefore self-centred in how he gets through it all, and has used Hawkeye to project more than been able to look at him directly, to absorb any of Hawkeye's pain on top of his own. And here's Hawkeye invoking the most terrible, final goodbye he can think of, and BJ runs away from it. It's terrible!

And then!

And then he does it!

He does the one thing that Hawkeye asked of him, in the way he could do it. He left him a note. He made it as big as possible. He said the only thing that really needed to be said in it: goodbye.

Is it enough? After all of that? Maybe that's not really what the question can be (after all, a better man is not what Hawkeye's ever asked for from him, and in many ways BJ's bitterness about being a replacement for Hawkeye's pain about Trapper is not unfounded either -- the projection goes both ways, even if one is more overtly aggressive).

But he did it.

It's funny too, I was saying around s10 that I was really missing the big gestures of s7 -- I have yet to confirm on this my second watch (and feel free to let me know if there is an example I've forgotten), but I don't think BJ ever does anything as big for Hawkeye as he does in s7ep2, that sort of declaration, it was gargantuan in its scale and continued to exist in metaphor in those faded, pink pieces of clothing BJ kept for most of the rest of the show. I confess I missed the moment they were no longer there, but I believe at least not throughout the entirety of Goodbye, Farewell and Amen.

And this was a gesture, it was the thing I'd been wondering about the absence of and missing, and hoping BJ might in some way find it in himself to return to -- to not be so blinded by what he thinks he needs (to keep his eyes firmly on home and Peggy and Erin), but to value what he's had here, to value Hawkeye enough to grant him that goodbye.

SO after all of that thinking about BJ and Trapper potentially meeting (and tbh I think once I'm past this initial stage of just... sitting with the finale for 5 to 100000 business days, I will go back to thinking about it, the scenario is fantastic), I am currently, as it turns out in reaction to that ending, far more focused on the importance of goodbyes.

[captainjonnitkessler]

>Join a union

>Hear people constantly complaining that the current union leadership is super corrupt, it's all just the same ten guys making all the decisions in secret and nobody else in the union ever gets to know what's going on

>Go to the monthly union meetings that are completely open to all 1200 union members

>The only attendees are the same ten guys every month, giving detailed reports about everything that's going on

[slyandthefamilybook]

why do you guys talk like you think not voting means no one gets elected

[marypsue]

Keep seeing that post where OP starts like 'Thinking about...grieving the undead' and then adds on about like. Real life situations where people have not died but have left your life and you would have reason to grieve them.

All respect, that's an important concept, but that is not what I am thinking about when I read 'grieving the undead'.

[captainkirkk]

At least once a month I remember that Ozai ruled for ~3 years. That's shorter than one presidential term. That's nothing. In comparison Zuko - who suffered so much cruelty and was made to feel worthless under Ozai - ruled for ALMOST 70 YEARS. That's more than 22 times the length of Ozai's rule - and he will go down in history as one of the most influential and well loved Fire Lords of all time

[s0up1ta]

"so grunkle ford how do you know bill?"

"... that's not important."

[snarkspawn]

based ofc on this

[artkaninchenbau]

A h-heartfelt reunion..?

Bonus

[emotional-piece-of-meat]

"Bruce loves his children to infinity but sucks at communication" gotta be one of my favourite tropes.

What Bruce means: I miss you so much it hurts, you are a great hero, and I'm really glad that you still consider me as part of your life and share your thoughts with me.

What Bruce does: hums meaningfully in response to Dick's story.

What Bruce means: I'm sorry about everything that happened between us, I still love you and want to fix our relationship, I'm incredibly grateful that you don't avoid me.

What Bruce does: nods at Jason when sees him on the patrol.

What Bruce means: I deeply care about you, you are truly important to me, I worry about your health and I don't want you to repeat my mistakes, neglecting yourself for the sake of a mission.

What Bruce does: gives Tim a snack without any explanation.

What Bruce means: I'm very proud that, despite everything you were taught, you choose to be a good person and help people, you have a kind soul, and it's an honour to me to call you my son.

What Bruce does: gives Damian an intensive head pat.

Should I say that Cassie is a blessing?

They stare at each other's soul for a solid five minutes and it's basically a full ass conversation.

[christadeguchi]

the h in nhl stands for homoerotic

bonus intricate rituals:

[abracadaze]

i feel so bad for nikola tesla like imagine spending years beefing with a guy who has conned the public into believing he's some sort of supergenius when in reality it's his overworked employees developing all of his world-changing inventions and you end up dying broke and starving and alone and then 100 years later another guy cons the public into believing he's some sort of supergenius when in reality it's his overworked employees developing all of his world-changing inventions and he's doing it all IN YOUR NAME. he must be rolling in his grave like a fucking rotisserie chicken

[yellowwwcrayon]

why does he straddle Paradox like that? he's such a whore

[wlwanakin]

i think possibly my favorite anakinism and one i think about a rather unhealthy amount is his body language and how he almost always looks viscerally uncomfortable and vaguely like a child who is scared of getting slapped. even when he’s being confrontational he looks sooo defensive like wow girl you have never fully processed anything that’s happened to you and you will carry the weight of it forever

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

It's just guys night talk! Don't worry about it!

(Read Tiger Tiger and shake this man awake so he can finish that thought!)

[ineed-to-sleep]

Collection of bg3 sketches I've been nibbling at over the month. teehee

[shadowtraveled]

"mithrun is the only real monsterfucker in dungeon meshi" is objectively the funniest bit you can get out of his everything, but in all seriousness i think his attraction to his love interest is deliberately overstated—and that makes sense, because romantic jealousy is a classic and digestible motive, which is explicitly what kabru was aiming for in condensing mithrun's backstory, and also because until chapter 94, mithrun wasn't willing to admit to the true nature of his desires.

but because romantic envy is both classic and digestible, it probably isn’t a unique enough or complicated enough desire to tempt a demon’s appetite. mithrun’s wish, as far as we can figure from kabru’s reduced retelling, was to have a life in which he had never become one of the canaries, and that carries like 3857 implications and desires within it. that’s delicious. his love interest acts as sort of a red herring to his motivation for making it, though. (side note: i'm saying "love interest" here because, keeping in mind that i barely speak japanese on a good day anymore, "想い人" is something i'd usually take as just kind of an old-fashioned and romantic way to refer to a lover, but in context i wonder if both the connotation of yearning and the vagueness are intentional, and i think this phrasing gets those aspects of it more effectively. anyway.)

mithrun considered his love interest to be untrustworthy. there was a minute where i thought that comment might be about a similar-looking elf (yugin, one of his squad members), but comparing the two…

the "sketchy" arrow is definitely referring to the elf we know as his love interest—the bangs go toward her right, she only has the one forehead ornament, and, most notably, her ears aren't notched.

every time she’s given a full-body depiction in his dungeon, she’s drawn as a chimera, with the body of a snake from the waist down. (side note: the “what if a dungeon has chimeras before reaching level 4?”/“then the dungeon lord is unstable” exchange just being mithrun grilling his past self alive is so funny. he’s so. but anyway) there are a couple things about this.

first, the snake part of the chimera appears to be modeled after some species of coral snake mimic

which, in the biology-for-fun manga, i… doubt is a coincidence, especially with the added context of the “untrustworthy” comment. the dungeon’s conjured illusion of mithrun’s love interest was a harmless copycat of a venomous original. for whatever reason, he felt this person was a threat and made up a "safe" version of her to be in a relationship with, and while it’s definitely possible to be attracted to or even love someone you find to be toxic and/or intimidating, when you take that into consideration alongside the configuration of her body, you get some interesting implications.

which brings us to our second point: if we assume that mithrun was not in fact fucking a snake, then sexual attraction, at least, was so far removed from his idea of a relationship with this person that he did not even bother to keep her dungeon copy human enough to maintain the illusion of the option of a sexual relationship. this is somewhat echoed in the depictions of their interactions, which also imply a frankly unexpected romantic distance. she kisses his cheek and he doesn't seem to react; she's at the edge of a narrow bed with only one set of pillows, on top of his blankets while he's underneath them.

the kiss is particularly interesting because it seems to contrast the text. kabru's narration tells us this was everything mithrun could have asked for, but mithrun is there looking unreadable to pensive, likely because this is right before the panel that makes it clear things in the dungeon are beginning to go wrong.

walking through this backwards for a minute, we have the physical barrier of his bedding and the spatial separation inherent in a bed made for one person, the emotional barrier of his mounting anxiety getting in the way of his ability to enjoy the affection he sought, and... the snake, which historically carries the connotation of temptation, yes, but also mistrust, barring physical intimacy. okay. ok. if a dungeon reflects the mentality of its lord, all of this might suggest that mithrun was not able to have any real desire for a relationship with this person. his unwillingness to be vulnerable or let another person in was insurmountable. but in that case, why was she such a focal point that she remained to the end, after his dungeon had stopped creating iterations of his friends to come and visit him? why would he get so upset over her meeting with his brother that he became lord of a dungeon about it?

well. mithrun's brother was also interested in her, probably genuinely. and mithrun had to win.

you have an older brother who your parents completely ignore, probably in part because he is chronically ill/disabled and almost definitely in part because he received a ton of recessive traits that resulted in rumors that he was an illegitimate child. you are aware, most likely because those same parents fucking told you, that you actually are an illegitimate child. but they keep you around because you had the good fortune of looking just like your mother. what can that possibly teach you but that you, like your brother, are disposable?

it's utterly unsurprising that mithrun, under these circumstances, developed a pathological need to be better than everyone around him. people don't keep you otherwise. i'd argue this is also why he says he looked down on everyone he knew while milsiril claims his dungeon reeked of feelings of inferiority—he sought out people's worst traits and prioritized them in his mind to protect his already extremely fragile sense of self-worth, and all the while he tried to be as likable and high-performing as he possibly could be. his parents disposed of him anyway, but even then he tried to keep up the performance. he was kind to everyone. he never once lost to a dungeon.

when he saw his "love interest" meeting up with his brother, what he saw was himself being replaced by a person his parents had always treated as worthless, and if that was what they thought of the child they'd kept, what value could anyone possibly see in the bastard they'd given away to die? mithrun and kabru tell the story like he wanted to win this unnamed elf's heart, but it was never about being with her. it was about cementing his worth, proving that he didn't deserve to be thrown away.

and so it's particularly cruel that his demon discarded him, too. but maybe it's also particularly gentle that, in the end, there was someone who refused to even consider giving up on him.

kui laid it out in three panels better than i could hope to.

yeah. it's love. you wanted to be loved, even when the only way you were able to understand it was through the desire to be wanted, and you wanted that so badly that the idea of being consumed felt like the promise of finally mattering to someone.