#i also doubt that this is the most coherent of posts I've made

[leakyspaceblob]

okay so once again, spoilers for arcane s1 and act 1 & 2 of s2

also nsfw theories ahead so you know, you’ve been warned (edit: okay so it’s not really nsfw cause i decided to save most of my theories for my fic)

also this is about to be a long fuckin post cause why tf not [there are many tangents]

so we’re breaking this down into characters / plots this time and i'm doing it fast so we'll see how coherent this ends up

lets start with mel / ambessa / black rose:

okay so we know that the black rose is either in search of or is the powerful child of ambessa, right? so if you combine the knowledge we have so far from s2 and the blood, sweat and tears music video (mv) we know the following:

ambessa fell in love once and had a child (one that the black rose is seemingly afraid of)

ambessa was pregnant on a battle field and was saved by a wolf (kindred? idk lol) however when she's transported[?] it appears to be similar to the pit that mel is transported to. in act 1 we watch a confrontation where amara says "i've come here to settle a debt [...] what you've stolen is more precious than any gold" this is also where we learn that the black rose (possibly) killed mel's brother

episode 6 ambessa lectures cait about her three core principles, she ends this lecture with an importance on sacrifice. in the mv we see young ambessa carrying a golden lamb (a symbol? a "sacrificial lamb"). i also believe the fact that it's gold to be of importance. the lamb is also seen in stone, being held by a child, to which ambessa sheds a tear (possibly because that's the deal she made)

mel's "armor" is gold, and seems to be an instinctual response that is now becoming something she can control? in the council room, you can see a circle of pristine condition within the destruction with jayce's seat at the center (mel saved him with her armor).

now my theory for mel's armor is that it's what the black rose is afraid of, what they gave to ambessa in return for a sacrifice [possibly mel herself]. i think she was born with it, cause you can see in a frame of the mv (towards the end) a gold flash moves across the skin of a fetus and when the fetus's eyes open they're gold

we also see the golden lamb be broken up and put into a "seed"? which could also be a reference to a god's seed for a child to be born and how it is presented to ambessa for her to take. when she graps it, a design appears to move along her skin and she dons the gold armor. after she makes the deal, she's transported back to the battle field with i think a now magical child [aka mel]

we also know that family is everything to ambessa, so she'd probably never give up a child, hence the debt unsettled

another theory is that the other character in gold armor in the mv is mel's father, a god[?] possibly. which would make mel a demi-god and explain her armor / abilities. this would also possibly explain why ambessa survived the warwick attack, after carrying a demi-god child she absorbed some of her abilites?

mel's brother is not the child they were looking for, but mel might be

mel seemingly knows how to escape the pit they put her in, almost instinctively

i do think this plot line won’t be fully completed and will continue in the next show

my theories on victor / ekko / jayce / heimerdinger:

victor isn't truly dead, he's gonna come back as more of a machine, possibly due to singed intervention. some sort of “rapture” shit happens with the followers when he’s brought back

jayce is fuckin out of his mind, who knows what that idealistic fuck up is up to [look, i'm sorry but your boy is essentially jinx but he got bailed out at every opportunity for a lesson and never learned] like i know he’s probably being controlled but seriously bro has fucked up many a times

ekko, my guy, please for the love of fucking everything i hold dear, turn back time and save isha and vander [i doubt vander is gonna get saved by him but i have other theories for him]

time slows at the end of ep6 after the explosion and i think ekko used his power [z-drive?] to turn back time. tbh i don't know much about how his power works so i'm just hoping the boy savior lives up to his name.

the gear[? spigot? idk] that victor carries around is probably the same one from s1 when jayce and victor first figure out how to turn on the arcane and pass the metal piece through the center of the arcane [it gets shinier].

that same gear, victor has kept as a souvenir of his partnership [gayyyyyy] with jayce. and when it rolls at the beginning of ep6 and the end, it acts differently (possibly because different timelines [please ekko])

i think ep7 will be about ekko and heimerdinger, starting off where we left, but with ekko trying to save his old family (including isha please)

heimerdinger, idk man he's gonna help ekko tho cause their dynamic is so good

oh yeah and mr.fuckup is going back to the council

theories on jinx / isha / sevika / vander:

jinx is gonna be seriously depressed guys, it's not gonna be good. i'm hoping ekko will save isha but if not, her will to live is 100% gone now, just after getting it back too. it's gonna be rough to watch. GIVE HER GLASSES BACK

if isha is dead [PLEASE DON'T BE] i think she'll be laid to rest in jinx's hideout. with jinx "burning it all down".

jinx will "use her explosive potential for good" and join the fight. she'll pull an isha and sacrifice herself to save her family [guys i really hope this doesn't happen, i love jinx so much and DO NOT want to see this]

vi and jinx fight together once again, but this time it’s jinx who protects vi [it’d be heartbreaking but what is arcane without it]

sevika, god i just hope we get her being sexy. with that poster? damn. also knowing her, her mechanical arm will probably once again get fucked.

vander is gonna reconstitute after the explosion (meaning isha's sacrifice was in vain which is... painful). he's gonna be captured by singed and ambessa and be turned full warwick, going full destructive mode.

AND FINALLY THE GIRLS WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR: CAIT AND VI

these lesbians are gonna fuck, just try to tell me they won't. i dare you. i think it'll happen ep8, and it better be good cause they've been practically edging us with caitvi.

okay so i have my own headcannons on how it should go but i'll save those for my fic. for now here's some plot points i hope they touch on:

it starts with the argument where vi says the fuckin ridiculous "she oinked poison in your ear and you just ate it" [side note: who tf wrote that 😂 ]

they start making out aggressively before caitlyn feels the scar on vi's abdomen and steps back (it gets really emotional and she apologizes [AS SHE SHOULD])

cait starts to get all gentle and loving, and while they're switches, cait tops first [fight me, deep down we all know it].

it's vi's first time [we know she's cocky but be for real, she's gonna immediately fold when caitlyn gets close. i mean have y'all seen how uncertain she is when cait gets close enough to kiss her? she never is the one who closes the distance]

caitlyn removes vi's wraps and we get a story behind it? either way please let her take them off all slow and gentle

cait calls vi "violet"

vi: "you even taste like a cupcake" cait: "shut up" [but british]

they both say "i love you"

also (this is in my fic so honorable mention but) i think cait should say to vi “i’m here. i’m right here” cause it’s a line from s1 and i think it’d be really sweet and comforting to vi

bonus: there's kinky shit involved (we all saw them in ep6, cause i mean COME ON), vi gives off "sit on my face" energy, caitlyn 100% should give vi the space to let go / take charge

okay so those are my theories / tangents. if you made it this far, thank you for indulging in my delusions. this shit has been fun and i don't want it to end. i'll be feral over this for awhile and might make some memes (and i'm working on my first ever fanfic [with help so it hopefully won't be absolute shit 😂 ] so i'll let y'all know when that gets posted.

good luck y'all, i got my tissues ready [ya know, just in case]. LESS THAN ONE HOUR LEFT

[stormblessed95]

Can we now please skip over the "when you were free, you never called" thing, please?? That's already been discussed enough. Let's now please discuss JK's tone when he said "Finally". He sounded relieved... a bit melancholy... a bit of something something. This isn't talked enough :(

I genuinely want to know how some of you guys decide to send in asks and to whom. I know so many of you probably mass send them out in an effort to, idk, reach as many people as possible? Higher chances of getting posted?

Anon, this also isn't just you, you just drew the unlucky straw for my rant. Sorry. Your ask is also "almost" but not quite a copy/paste of the post I made not even a full day ago.

I specifically requested everyone to stop sending me asks about the car conversation because when I was no longer sick and my brain worked more coherently, I would put together a longer form post addressing it for everyone. And yet since then, I've gotten like 18 different asks referencing the car conversation. Half of them saying "yeah, can't we just let it go because XYZ opinions"

Okay great. I'm glad you agree with me I guess but you still aren't listening and honoring my request. So low-key, it still feels really rude. So now I have to sit here and hope that maybe my followers aren't actually rude and forget I am a whole person behind this account where making demands for content isn't super nice, especially when said content was already said to be coming, just later on. But instead they just.... Idk, don't actually read my posts and just send in asks without reading anything because why bother? Idk. Feeling entitled to my time without giving me yours through reading my opinions about a subject first feels less rude in some ways than just not giving a shit about what I say. Lol 🙃

And I KNOW I make a ton of posts, especially lately with AYS and trying to keep up with at least most of the asks I get, I've been much more active on here than I have been otherwise in the past year. So I often try to give the benefit of the doubt. But honestly.

Idk, maybe I'm just extra cranky because I feel like absolute dog shit, I'm sick, trying to take care of my family, get ready for back to school, get ready to start working, and take care of myself too... But it feels a little disrespectful and it doesn't make me want to actually make more posts or answer asks.

And all of this is a general you, not directed at anyone in particular. I'm just.... Venting. This is why I kept turning my anons off occasionally in the past...

Thanks

[xerith-42]

~cha cha slides into the room~

May I ask about some shadow knight angst or shadow king angst ?????? Also thanks for sharing your OC you’re very passionate about them and it’s good to see writers happy about their creations.

~Cha cha slides out of the room~

First off, I'm so glad you enjoyed my endless ramblings about her. I am so passionate about this character I forgot I made her an entire pin board that's fokin massive, so feel free to breeze through that if it's to your liking.

Now for some Shadow Knight angst... [friendly reminder I am not a mental health expert, most of what I touch upon in this post comes from wikipedia deep dives and personal experiences. DO NOT take any of what I say here as professional advice or diagnoses, I am literally just a freakazoid on the internet]

Something I've definitely ruminated on but never made a coherent post about is how shadow knights probably struggle a LOT with derealization/depersonalization. I mean, both of them are potential symptoms one might experience after prolonged trauma, stress, or anxiety like say being dragged into literal hell and raised into undeath and then forced to kill that which you love most. Furthermore, if Gene fucked with their memories at all then they have even more doubts. And on top of all of that the time distortion from the Nether makes it even harder to know what's real or not. How can you be sure of what's real and what isn't if you don't even know how long you've been gone from the overworld?

I imagine Vincent and Gene struggle with it the most. Both of them have been very direct puppets for the Shadow King, Gene especially, and likely struggle with the feeling of their body not being their own. Sometimes Gene is feeling perfectly fine, just his usual self, but then something... changes. He isn't sure what or why, but the world is blurry and he can't feel his own breathing and his body feels limp but he can see it still moving. He keeps speaking but his voice doesn't sound like his own, at least internally.

Vincent learned to deal with this... problem on his own. He says he's been alive for 100 years, but even he's unsure of that number. He's been around for a long time, and sometimes the things he says aren't true to the time he's in anymore. Technology and understanding changes, and while he can keep up with it sometimes, other times he can't. He'll ask about the latest news from O'Khasis and have to come to terms with the fact that the head family he once knew no longer exists, only survived by their descendants he doesn't know. It sometimes feels like he came from a completely different time and place. He's pretty sure he didn't jump timelines/realities, but he can never know for sure. Not when everything is so... off.

While someone might call it "spacing out", Laurance is in fact having a completely silent mental breakdown about his lack of control over his own life. This goes double if I smack him with the headcanon that he's Xavier's reincarnation and therefore also gets his memories sometimes. It's not that Laurance is just spacing out or his head is up in the clouds, he's literally questioning whether he even belongs in his own body because it doesn't feel like his own anymore. These scars aren't his, his hands are shakier than they used to be, and he can't even tell if his wants and desires are his own because who knows what's the Calling, what's Xavier, and what's his own memories.

Sasha gets a glimpse at how Meteli has changed since the last time she was there and it's all wrong. None of the buildings she remembers are there, none of the guards she once knew remain, even Cadenza looks different. It makes her wonder if she ever lived there in the first place. If the Meteli she remembers was even a real location at all, or something Gene or The Shadow King put into her head. And if she isn't from Meteli, where is she from? Is she even from anywhere? Is she even of this world? Did she even have a life before becoming a Shadow Knight? The only thing that tethers her to reality is Kenmur, but he'd rather forget she existed. Maybe she shouldn't exist.

Zenix can't even remember when or how he answered his calling. He can't remember who he killed or why. He can't remember the life he had before he met Garroth and moved to Phoenix Drop. Did he even have a life before he met Garroth? Did he even have a life before becoming a shadow knight? Is he even a full shadow knight? There's a blood lust that's ever present in his person, but he can't tell if it's his own or someone else's. Is this blood lust the calling? Or Gene's? Or the Shadow King's? Or maybe he's always been a bad person who wanted to do bad things and was just looking for an excuse. It's this kind of spiral that eventually pushes Zenix to rebel. He doesn't know who he was, or even who he is, just who he wants to be. That's the closest thing to sanity that he can hold onto.

That's all I got. For now...

~Cha cha slides out but I trip over my own feet and eat shit in the doorway~

[adickaboutspoons]

bad writing where? I don't think you know what bad writing is and I have doubts you understand the core of the characters.

Hi Nonnie! Girl, how ARE you? Because you seem to be taking it awfully personally that I am not enjoying this season as much as you are. To be perfectly clear, if you ARE, I'm DELIRIOUSLY happy for you! I wish I was too! I was SO looking forward to it! And even though I didn't care for some stuff here and there for the first half of the season, there was a LOT that I LOVED, and I was still holding out hope for the rest of the season! After the last 3 episodes, I am decidedly less optimistic. I'm glad to tell you exactly why, and At Great Length, because that's kind of just What I Do, but here's the thing... It's ok if you like a thing that other people don't. It doesn't reflect poorly on you as a person. You don't have to defend a thing that you like as though it was an extention of yourself. Also? You and I don't have to agree. There's room for interpretation. I have mine, but that doesn't make it Objective Truth. My positions are only as good as I can offer coherent, well-supported arguements to back them up. I like doing that. I think it's fun. You may still not be convinced. That's ok. I don't need you to agree with me. And, frankly, you don't even need to worry about other people agreeing with me. I am small potatoes. I have maybe two posts ever that have made it into the low thousands in terms of notes - not reblogs, but notes cumulative. Most of my original stuff don't even break triple digits. Believe me NO ONE is rushing to espouse the doctrine of spoondick llc. And that's fine. So I'm gonna go ahead and give you the benefit of the doubt that you're asking genuine questions and not just lashing out. But I'm also gonna put my answers below a cut. Because, frankly, you may not entirely agree with me, but you also may not be able to unsee some of the things I point out once I do, and I don't want to take your enjoyment of the show away from you.

So second claim first: that I don't understand the core of the characters. I mean... I have written quite a lot and at length about these characters and their motivations. I mean, each of those is a link to a different meta I've written, and it's not even close to all of them. Which reminds me - I need to update my pinned page. So while you may not agree with my interpretations, at the v. least, you can't argue that I haven't put SOME thought into the matter. With regard to bad writing, the qualifiers may vary from person to person, but to me, it mainly comes down to three interconnected things: Inconsistency, telling rather than showing, and contrivance. I feel that there have been a LOT of inconsistencies with the characters, both between seasons and just within season 2 itself. I'm an unapologetic Stede girlie and he IS the main character, so most of my big qualms are with how his character is being butchered handled.

How the are we supposed to square Stede "had multiple breakdowns over Nigel's accidental death and was so traumatized over everything with Chauncy that he walked back to Bridgetown in his bare feet" Bonnet with the man from last night who murdered Ned in cold blood, and then went on to casually set a man on fire and QUIP about it? It's one thing to butch up with a "how to pirate" montage, it's quite another to become a psychopath, completely unbothered by taking a human life.

And about butching up. While I would, and have, argued that a lot of Stede's insecurities in the first season stemmed from insufficient performance of masculinity, I would NOT say that it was because he wanted to BE more typically masc himself - but rather from the way he has been TREATED for being soft, and internalizing the distain and derision of his bullies. Rather, the whole central thesis to his approach to piracy is it's "traditionally a culture of abuse... And my thought is: why? And also, what if it weren’t like that?" He's flattered when Yi Sao clocks his energy as soft. So his mid-season pivot to needing to embrace these "traditional pirate" behaviors? Yeah - I'd say that's a pretty glaring inconsistency.

Speaking of Yi Sao, lets talk about his fight with her. Because Stede in the first season is consistently shown to be a master of improvisation and using his environment and people's underestimation of him to his advantage to overcome stronger and more skilled opponents. He sends Officer Show Daddy rowing back to the British ship with some impromptu mannequins to give the Revenge time to escape after Nigel's death. He uses distraction and supersition to get the upper hand on Izz during their first encounter. He bests Izzy again in the duel using gunpowder to the eyes when he's pinned, and then using what Ed taught him about taking a stab angling to have it happen against a mast he knew would cause Izzy's sword to break. This initially carries over to the second season with Stede using his lowly position in Towels to acclimate people to deeply inhaling the scent he adds to the towels, and later uses that to his advantage to knock out the guards and escape. So it might have been one thing if Stede was in his cups and mourning Ed's departure that led him to getting overly possessive of his remaining crew and pick a fight with Zheng as a parallel of the Art Exhibition scene from season 1, and getting his ass handed to him as a parallel to Mary's attempted murder/an expression of what a deep impact Ed leaving has made on him that his normal strategizing fails him, but instead, he's getting emotional support (from IZZY of all people) and doesn't even seem tipsy, so he's got no reason to fail so profoundly, and it's played as though Yi Sao is RIGHT about him being "a mediocre man who thinks he's exceptional" when he legit JUST bested her with fucking tea towels 4 episodes ago.

Another big inconsistency for me is Stede's attitude toward Ed, over the first half of the season especially. At the end of season 1, we have Stede irrevocably torching his life as a gentleman of leisure to the ground because Mary has helped him to realize that 1) no body's life in improve by him doggedly trying to insert himself into a life he never wanted or chose for himself, and 2) he and Ed are in love with one another, and he should got find Ed about that. Then we get Stede dragging his heels in the Republic of Pirates while he "earns enough money," but his convo with Blackbeard's wanted poster reveals that he's afraid Ed's life is better off without him. Which? Real Chauncy-coded take there (and also, really? When Stede KNOWS that Ed is weary of the pirate life, but the wanted poster and rumor mill suggest he's thrown himself into it full tilt?). I could understand being worried that Ed doesn't love him anymore because Stede broke his heart, but NOT that "his life is better." But still, Stede IS determined to get back to Ed - he's just nervous about what he'll find when he does. He won't stop talking about it to anyone and everyone. He even yeets himself overboard shouting for Ed when he hears that the Red Flag has come across the Revenge. And then he thinks that he's come too late - that Ed is dead. And he manages to forestall his grief over that long enough to effect an escape, but then goes to do his mourning in private. But wonder of wonders! Ed is still alive! Stede didn't lose him after all! Imagine the rapture within his heart! And then he lets Ed leave without so much as offering to come with, when Ed has barely recovered from 1) a coma, & 2) a suicide attempt. It just doesn't make any sense in any possible world.

I also have a big problem with Mr. "Talk it through as a crew" running away from Lucius when he finally started opening up about the traumtic things he's lived through since he got shoved overboard. I've seen some posts suggesting Stede isn't doesn't prioritize or seem to care much about his crew, but that's just demonstrably not true? His first concern on awakening from being gut-stabbed was about his crew. He apologized when he lost his temper about the fuckery (Never heard an apology, Roach? Really?) and incorperated all of their ideas into the final product. Before he bought the treasure map, he inquired and found out there were no oranges for sale in St. Augustine due to a blight. Stede let Olu crash on his couch instead of having him bunk down with the rest of the crew because they were the charter members of the "my crush just left me for their old life" club and misery loves company. Even in the new season, he set aside his grief over Ed until he made sure his crew - INCLUDING the ones he thought were the ones who MURDERED THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE - were safe. So Stede running away from Lucius in his moment of unburdening himself? And it being played for COMEDY? Is not only antithetical to the established character, but to the central thesis of change being effected by the application of loving support that (I THOUGHT) was central to the whole show.

With Ed, it's mostly better, but even he doesn't escape unscathed. I'm absolutely baffled by the suggestion in episode 5 that Ed doesn't know how to be quiet and sit with his feelings when we see him: 1) stimming quietly with his silk after the "donkey" comment until Stede invited him to open up 2) stimming quietly with his silk after the French Boat Party 3) staring broodingly out to sea after the doggy heaven convo 4) isolating himself in the tub after his kraken meltdown 5) quietly sitting and folding socks 6) pillow fort isolation pod 7) standing quiet and alone after the Izzy confrontation, and apparently not seeing anyone until that night 8) stimming with silk before giving Lucius impromptu late night swimming lessons 9) playing with his dollies 10) cry alone in his room multiple times And maybe it's just that Fang doesn't see those times, because, for the most part, Ed self-isolates when he's feeling particularly emotionally vulnerable. But the show frames it as though Fang is correct? Especially in the after-credits scene where we're listening to Ed's non-stop internal monologue as he fails to sit quietly?

There's more with other characters, but, like I said, the categories are overlapping and inform one another, so I'd like to pivot to Tell-Don't-Show. Because whooo boy is there a lot of it going on. The most glaring one to me is Izzy's whole arc. I've seen a lot of people talking about extending unearned grace and how it's for the healing of the crew, not for Izzy, and that the crew are showing that they've embraced the loving support model they experienced under Stede's tenure as captain. But that doesn't change the fact that Izzy was SUCH a dick that even human-ray-of-sunshine-OLU was rooting for Stede to stab him in the duel, and by the end of last season Izzy sold them out to the English and did such a shit job at captaining that the crew (of which Fang and Frenchie were a part) unanimously voted to throw him overboard bound hand-and-foot. SOMETHING must have happened in the interim to move the needle from "gleefully ready to murder him" to "giving him hugs and unconditional positive regard therapy". But whatever it was happened entirely off-camera. We're just being asked to go along with it. And, to me, that's just bad, lazy writing.

The rest of his arc isn't much better, and highlights more of those inconsistencies. Last season, Izzy was openly dismissive and derisive about sharing feelings - it was one of his driving motivations at taking down Ed and inducing the Krakening. And now he seems to have taken the season-1-Lucius role of being the ship's emotional intelligence? Offering coping advice to Lucius. Suggesting to Ed that he should talk his feelings through. Giving support to Stede after Ed left him (again). Where would he even have accrued that skillset? I'm not saying that it's impossible for him to have changed with the loving support of his crew and in the wake of an identity crisis when he has to figure out who he is if not Blackbeard's right-hand man. What I'm saying is that very little of the actual changes happened on camera. And THAT'S what I have a problem with.

Similarly, I have a problem with the whole Yi Sao-Olu-Jim-Archie relationship tangle. Olu didn't even seem to realize Yi Sao was flirting with him until she said as much. I think he was flattered by the attention, and not averse to the idea, but that's not the same thing as being into her in return. And then, when it's relevant to the plot, we're meant to just trust that he's been secretly pining this whole time? Compare to when Jim left - before they'd even kissed. Olu spent his time mooning over the railing, telling everyone how much he missed JIm, getting drunk, and giving away his room. Since he left Yi Sao, there's been not a single word about missing her, not a moment where he even looks slightly broody. We HAVE seen him bonding with Jim and Archie. Hunkering down against the curse on the same bed as Jim and Archie. Dancing with Jim and Archie. Do you see how this LOOKS like the show is possibly moving in a throuple direction? And then we suddenly get Olu saying out of nowhere that he misses Yi Sao, Jim playing matchmaker for them, and Olu announcing that he's going to leave the revenge to be with Yi Sao. Bye, I guess. And this level of Telling-Not-Showing and inconsistency smacks of Contrivance. And Contrivance really feels like the engine that is driving most of the season to me. It looks an awful lot like the writers had an end-goal in mind, and worked backwards to get there, and along the way did all the hand-waving they had to in order to get where they wanted. Gotta have Stede & Zheng team up against Ricky for an Epic Beach Battle that pits Pirates against The Crown, but why would she want him - especially if she thinks he's "a mediocre man who thinks he's exceptional"?

Oh, what if she loses all her ships because Ricky blew them all up with the world's most contrived bombs?

But why wasn't she on the ship?

Well she was beating Stede's ass at the time.

Why was she beating his ass?

Because he picked a fight with her because he was drunk and she was poaching his crew?

Why are some of Stede's crew willing to leave him even though they were literally ride-or-die even when he was trying to find the guy that marooned them?

Oh, Olu's been in love with Yi Sao this whole time, but, like, never fucking mentioned it, just trust us.

Why was he drunk - Stede thinks drinking 'til you puke isn't fun, remember?

Oh, he is getting plied with drinks because all the pirates love him now.

Why do all the pirates love Stede now?

Because he killed some Big Name Pirate.

Stede? "I'm having a bit of a hard time adjusting to being a mur... mur... murderer?" Stede? Are you sure?

Yeah. He's totally butch now.

....How?

He trained on how to be a pirate with Izzy.

Izzy. The guy that conspired with the British specifically to murder Stede Bonnet? Why?

Ed said he needed to work on his "mean voice" and be more dom assertive.

Why would Ed ever say that? He loves that Stede is out there doing things like no one else.

Because Stede doesn't feel like a captain.

Even though he's calling all-hands meetings and mediating crew grievences and rescuing his crew and no one is challenging his authority or even questioning whether his devotion to his boyfriend is possibly compromising his ability to do his job?

...Yes?

But why Izzy? Stede hates Izzy. Izzy hates Stede. Surely these are universal constants.

Izzy's nice now. He's been rehabilitated by the love of the crew.

...How?

Jingly keys.

[anosrepasi]

Tagged by @aeide and @ainulindaelynn, thank you two!

1) How many works do you have on AO3? 22, so far.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count? 140,852

3) What fandoms do you write for? Quite a couple now! And amazingly I have even more unposted. The Hobbit, Fallout 4, The Old Guard, Supernatural, The Legend of Zelda, Full Metal Alchemist, Greedfall, BG3, Horizon: zero dawn, uhhhhh.

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1 - Lingua Franca (by a landslide)

2 - Soil and Ashes

3 - Kitsukuroi

4 - what you call a thing is seldom what it is

5 - Prima Lingua (I was surprised this wasn't higher up given that its connected to Lingua Franca)

5) Do you respond to comments? I try really hard but usually end up responding very late in bursts. If you've commented on my work and haven't received a reply... i'm working on it. I will get there eventually. This is a turtle vs hare situation.

6) What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?...This is hard cause most of my fics are unfinished as of right now but.... I think Lacuna for posted but unfinished fics and uh. two of my so far unposted BG3 fics will take the running once they get posted.

7) What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? A lot of them could probably be considered the "happiest" mostly cause i usually make the characters go through the worst of it right before the resolution so comparatively they're happy. >.>

8) Do you get hate on fics? So far no, maybe the occasional pedantic comment that i just... ignore. I think LF was the only fic where I had to deal with that. Perks of being relatively small in fandoms.

9) Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Nah, not my cup of tea.

10) Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? The only one I've written I think is the Hob Gadling meets Sebastian Le Livre and become immortal drinking buddies. That's only been posted here on tumblr though.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge!

12) Have you ever had a fic translated? Not to my knowledge :)

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nope, I'd be open to the idea of any of my writer buds want to try something low stakes for fun and giggles.

14) What’s your all time favorite ship? I'm not sure I could answer this one cause I'll immediately think of another ship the moment I try and define a favorite ship for 'all time'. Which is great cause there's so many good fandoms and ships out there, what a cool thing to never run out of.

15) What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I also am not a super big fan of this question cause sometime a fic needs years to crystalize into what its supposed to be and we're all doing this for fun/for free... sooooooo you get what you get, and WIPs aren't worth less to the fandom just because they're incomplete.

16) What are your writing strengths? Making people cry (hopefully)

17) What are your writing weaknesses? Anything resembling a consistent writing or posting schedule.

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? You ask this as if I didn't do a ton of research and base my own knowledge of linguistics to write semi-coherent lingurian in Lingua Franca. If I feel I can pull it off to some degree and it adds to the story? oh hell yes. It's also one of my favorite literary devices in fic and in shows (I'm looking at you Shogun 2024, you beautiful beautiful tv show on the intrigue of translation)

19) First fandom you wrote for? uhhhh. Naruto on like, fanfic.net for the super old stuff. The hobbit for my modern era lmao.

20) Favorite fic you’ve written? I don't have a favorite, I think? My brain just kind of demands I make up stories and like, I am a happier person having made up stories so I do that. Each story has something I absolutely adore about it that I needed to explore but none of them are my absolute favorite above the others.

And that's all folks. I'd love to tag @ongreenergrasses, @lobstermatriarch, @green-nbean, @findusinaweek, @aevallare, @avelera, @tirsynni, @nagia-pronounced-neijia , @poppypopp and with any other writers who'd like to play :) No pressure though!!

[practicecourts]

20 questions

thanks @charmsandtealeaves & @wearingaberetinparis for the tag. I'm not sure how interesting the answers will be so I'm cutting the post here ;-)

How many works do you have on AO3? 20

2. What's your total A03 words count? 215,620

3. What fandoms do you write for? HP

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

a) Not the Doctor Crazy texting Muggle AU, oneshot, meet-awkward ridiculousness ;-) b) Head Over Handlebars For You Muggle meet ugly, Amsterdam, bicycles, Geese, the WIP that got out of control, only 1 more real chapter and 1 epilogue to go... c) It Was A Clear Black Night, A Clear White Moon - Hogwarts, oneshot roaming outside the castles on a Full Moon. I do love this story a lot myself, so I'm happy to see it here! I like to combine something serious and with something lighter. d) Shall We Shag Now Or Later? Rated M, Not inspired by Austin Powers BUT I did have a great time looking up those ridiculous scenes and dialogues. Classic crazy movie! Order Mission gone wrong, Jily forced to go under cover (wriggles eyebrows) e) When it Tastes so Damn Good another @jilychallenge oneshot, prompt along the lines of melting icecream - let's share... 5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

YES!!! I LOVE comments, incredible to have evidence someone read something I thought up and wrote and then left a comment telling me what it made them feel or just to say they liked it. IT IS AMAZING !! all caps worthy amazing. I do turn of notifications now for those because I became too addicted, so now I try to check once every so often. I do intend to answer all of them.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angtiest ending? My saddest ending is probably Silent Night (it's not Jily but a series of moments in the life of Hope Lupin) There's quite some bits that I've written for it, but I'm not sure if they are coherent as chapters, so there's only 2 currently posted. Angst versus sad, I'd have to say my microfic Jockey has the angstiest ending, but mostly because I know what is going on) and I promise the end of the whole fic (if I ever get to writing it, won't be angsty)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I love happy endings... I'm hoping to succeed with bringing HOH to a satisfactory happy end. I think I will. Most of my one-shots also have a happy or hopeful ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics? No

9. Do you write smut. If so what kind? Ha, I thought I'd never... but for a writing challenge I wanted to join due to severe FOMO (i'm only human) I did, and I rewrote that into Shall we Shag Now or Later (Idk if anyone wants to know but I literally took almost all the time available thinking of REASONS why my jily would end up in smut pall position and in the end joked I'd just start of with *low voice* "Hey, Evans, we should shag," and take it from there... This turned into M-rated smut (I'm a little foggy on the difference between E and M still) also not sure what constitutes *kinds* of smut, but that 2 shot was more Smut with little plot. By now my wip Jily who really suffered from a lot of sexual unreleased tension finally got some release, so there's some Smut with plot as well, these days (HOHFY)

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Nope, I don't think I will (unless a certain type of AU would count as a cross over)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope, not that I'm aware of, I'd be appalled and also absolutely flabbergasted if someone would go to the trouble, tbh.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope again, I might translate my own fic in Dutch (although that would be so incredibly weird that I don't actually mean this)

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before? No, but it sounds fun. I am soon adding my 3 line to the express.... there's that ;-)

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? Jily, lames, Limes. 15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Life's a beach and then you dive. I want to rewrite it. I've again not outlined this fic very much, but I've so many plans... Maybe, I should ideally have a time turner to add a few hours to my days. bc I now realise how much work it would need to write it up how I want it to be lol. But there's some very personal stuff in there so who knows. I do like to finish stuff that I've started so... I hope i will, i'm not sure of it.

16. What are your writing strengths? Ok, disclaimer as I'm Dutch I'm very bad at this. BUT ... channeling inner Sirius Black: I'm good at making characters feel realistic, I'm good a little plot twist at the end, at humour (which is of course entirely personal) , I'm good at sneaky throwbacks to canon, I'm relatively good at looking at my own work with a critical eye and improving myself, as well as letting go of things that are * good enough* as they are, as this is * a fun hobby* (anyone want to share what they like about my writing - or what they think I could improve on, tell me in the comments )

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Thinking I'll do more in the time I have... and not outlining, I've tried honestly, but I've not found a way that really works yet, but still I have these huge fic ideas creep up on me, so Ideally I'd like to get way better at following some sort of outline instead of discovering my way through it.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? As I'm not a native English speaker and my fic HOHFY is set partly in Amsterdam there's some Dutch dialogues * i never even bothered to translate them, I'm so sorry. I'm currently also putting some French in my secret finish before posting fic, that will take a while though and it's only tiny bits as it's more the odd word here and there.

19. First fandom you wrote for? I never posted anything for it, but my first fanfic ideas were set in Tortall (Tamora Pierce) who knows, one day I might venture over there.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? Here Comes The Sun I've recently got a lot of lovely comments on fics that weren't less than a week old (yeah!) and reread this one for Myster May because of it & enjoyed it a lot (idk, I don't do favourites, not really.) But I can see quite a few of my own strengths in this one so I'm putting it up here as a fave.

Tagging if you're not already been asked a million times and feel like doing this, no pressure at all, xx @chierafied @chiechie97 @tiffanytoms @oneofthesirens @suzyq31 @ohmygodshesinsane @jfleamont @uncertainwallflower

[powerofmettatonneo]

Happy Birthday Jason!/An Announcement + Bonus Content

After half a month of no updates on What Measure is a Non-Human, I finally have one! And, since y'all have been dedicated enough to follow my Tumblr, y'all get to be the first ones to know (all one of you currently; hi IYP! Thanks for all the support!).

I've been hard at work writing the story, but not spending as much time editing it as I would like, so I'm currently sitting on two-three chapters. This is because the mental downtime I have at my job gives me a lot of time to think of ideas that I want to immediately write down before I forget them, but the physical time I spend there takes away from the time I can spend editing it. I could hypothetically release them with less editing done on them, but I want to hold myself to a higher standard of what I release into the world and do genuinely enjoy the editing process. However, with that all being said, I have three days off in a row, and I'm going to use this chance to buckle down and try and get them ready for publication by Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, I can't promise anything, but I do have other news that I can make assurances on.

I've decided that Valentine's Day is Jason's birthday. I wanted to give most of the major characters birth months, at least, just for chronological cohesion; I chose this day in particular for Jason because I have personal history with the day that, when combined with the fact that he's the mc of a romance story, made it the perfect day for him. In celebration of his birthday, I have written out a 7k word prequel one-shot all about the confession/first kiss that I will be posting on Valentine's Day, come hell or high water.

I actually wrote a first draft of the first kiss portion all the way back in December, right after the second chapter, and as a bonus for those of you who take the time to find this post, whether now or in the future, I'm going to share it with you. Most of it will be repetitive to the last bit of the finished story, so beware of spoilers I guess (but this is a prequel anyways so like do they even matter), but I have added enough to the final product to make it stand out and above. Really, this is largely just to archive it as I think it's interesting to see how any story evolves over time, much less my own, and I hope y'all feel the same way. See y'all on Valentine's Day, and without further ado, here goes the original first kiss scene (also fair warning, there's still no smut, but it does get more explicit than I've previously allowed it to):

…Hazel reached up and kissed him. Jason entered a state of shock, freezing in place. At first, his mind went completely and totally blank, but that quickly changed into a series of scattered thoughts as his mind tried to reconfigure itself. I'm being kissed. By Hazel. Who is a Pokemon. Oh Arceus, I’m being kissed by a Pokemon—and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever felt. As soon as he returned to coherent thought, however, the kiss ended. Hazel pulled away, and Jason could see that she looked… scared. The look in her eyes was the same that he had when he confessed his feelings to her. It hit him then; the kiss was her idea of a response, and he had just frozen in place like an idiot. He could imagine the doubts and fears rushing through her at his complete lack of a reaction. He also knew exactly how to alleviate them.

Jason narrowed the gap between them and restarted the kiss. He could clearly feel the surprise in his partner and just as clearly feel it melt away as she returned it. Her lips felt velvety against his as they both pushed against each other with all their might. All of the nerves, the adrenaline, the raw energy they were feeling was channeled into the kiss. They fell back onto the bed, Hazel on top, and didn't stop for a second. It felt like they were melting together, becoming one.

Hazel broke from the kiss, and before Jason had a chance to react, she dragged her tongue across his lips. She moved it down, trailing along his chin and neck, resulting in a small moan escaping his mouth. When she arrived at his shirt, she grabbed it with her teeth and began tugging at it.

“S-stop,” Jason gasped, lightly pushing his partner back. Hazel let go of his shirt and stared at him, a look of disappointment in her eyes. It hurt him to see it, but he had read enough ‘romance’ stories to know where this was going.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t do this right now,” he said, trying to let her down gently.

“Umbre,” she whimpered, looking down at her feet. She felt ashamed at herself for pushing so hard so fast and afraid of what her best friend would think of her for it. Or, she did, until the implication of those last two words hit her. She jolted her head back back up and was met with a worried smile on Jason’s face.

“I’m not saying never,” he started, “but I don’t think I’m ready for something like that yet, and I’m pretty sure mom would just straight up kill us if she found out.” Hazel just sighed at that, but even the vague hope of “not never” sent a small shiver up her spine. She laid down on top of him, enjoying his warmth. They sat there in a comfortable silence for a while, simply enjoying each other’s touch in the wake of the roller coaster of emotions they had both just experienced, and soon drifted off to sleep, not caring what tomorrow might bring so long as they had each other.

[Also, one final super extra bonus note: my beta only left one comment on this original draft when I showed it to her, and it was too funny not to mention: on the line "Her lips felt velvety against his", she simply wrote "I refuse to consider the mechanics of this", to which I simply responded "coward".]

[kim-ruzek]

you're completely allowed to ignore this if you're busy or just don't have the energy to respond but

I've been rereading one of your recent CPD fandom rants every day since you posted it because it resonates with me a lot. I just wanted to say thank you for putting all of my thoughts and feelings into words in a coherent way because there's no way I would have been able to do it. And it's nice to know that there are more than just my immediate circle of friends that feel that way. 💜

Oh my god, this was just the NICEST most LOVELIEST thing to get in my inbox, thank you so so much!!! Literally has made my WEEK, which has not been a particular amazing week either so that's even more brilliant. ♥️

I am so glad that you liked it and also that you liked how I put it because I always have doubts about the coherency of my posts, especially my rants, and ugh it is just so nice to know that. And making sure others know more people feel this way is always one of my aims with my posts, because I know it's always so affirming to know others outside my inner circle feel the same too, so I'm glad that I could do that for you.

I appreciate you sending me this - literally as soon as I saw this ask, I immediately gushed to my sister about how lovely it is, so I truly do appreciate it. These are the moments which keep me active in this fandom, tbh, getting to know that there are people who appreciate my posts and seriously it is so sweet of you to let me know that you've reread it so much!

Thank you for asking, and thank you so much for making my week! <3

[elmaxlys]

So basically and as far as I remember without a recent deep reading, we have mention of the relationship between Hayami Shintarou and Hayami Shika in 4 chapters.

Chapter 160 (volume 13)

Chapter 186 (volume 16)

Arrive chapter 21 (volume 2)

Arrive chapter 55 (volume 5)

Now, as I've been made aware, the original uses a term that means siblings that aren't blood related (which can mean either in laws or step siblings)

The vagueness of the term is a personal torture/blessing but apart from that, what I'm really interested in is the way it's being translated.

Mangabox (English, og only) used the in-laws meaning

Seven Seas (English, og only by the time I'm writing this post) used "sister" regarding Shika (thank you again Diablo)

Kana (French, both og and arrive are fully translated) used... well. Let's see what they used. (keep in mind all volumes have the same translator)

In chapter 160! First mention of Shika!

[Je veux revoir ma sœur par alliance -> I want to see my sister in law again]

[Si ma sœur était elle aussi prisonnière de ce monde -> if my sister was also prisoner of this world]

Now the first "problem" for me is that huh. The French TL has always put the accent on making it as normal sounding for French people (most everyone is on a first name basis, no honorifics etc) but like. I don't think anyone ever uses sœur to talk about a sister in law? Par alliance is already a bit formal sounding, we tend to say belle-sœur (which, incidentally, can also mean sister from parents remariage). Not a real problem. Je chipote. My real beef comes from

chapter 186

[ma demi-sœur que j'aime tant -> my step sister that I love so much]

Now, if he (the translator) had said "belle-sœur" instead of "sœur par alliance", I wouldn't have said shit, but saying "par alliance" rids of all doubts that they're in-laws. Now he switches to "step sister". Because, unlike belle-sœur, demi-sœur only has the meaning of step sister. (sometimes, the difference is established between belle- and demi- by whether they have a common parent or not, demi- meaning they do).

And to come back to my chipotage on the previous one, just saying sœur in a step sister situation totally makes sense, unlike with in laws.

And then in arrive 21..

[un jour, mon demi-frère a disparu -> one day my step brother disappeared]

He keeps going with the step sibling business like the first meaning he gave to their relationship never happened

And finally in arrive chapter 56

[et à ton grand frère -> and to your big brother]

This totally completely absolutely eliminates the in laws possibility in the FrenchTLVerse. Using brother/sister along is weird in an in laws situation, but specifying he's her big brother on top of that? There's no way they're in laws here.

I have zero expectations regarding the accuracy of the translation, especially on such a troublesome word, but AT LEAST CAN WE HAVE SOMETHING COHERENT WITH ITSELF??

[strawberrybuni]

🧵 anon here just wanted to say I hope your having an amazing day you are genuinely so cool and an amazing writer <3

Also regarding your recent post (I hope im not overstepping here, please feel free to ignore or tell me to mind my business lol I will not be offended) I wouldn’t worry too much about being seen as rude- i have an auditory processing disorder so I miss people talking to me or need them to repeat themselves all the time and I’ve found that people usually get that it’s not an intentional thing just a mistake if you just let them know you didn’t hear them and are not ignoring them on purpose.

I’ve found headphones are fairly easy to explain and a lot of people like to wear them in public so I’m sure most understand and I doubt anyone thinks youre rude for it (especially seeing as it is a common honest mistake) unless they’re weird about manners or kind of a dick or something in which case I don’t have an answer tbh

If you want it to be more clear that you are listening to music you could try getting some cheap overear headphones as they tend to be more visible though some people find them uncomfortable to wear.

PS re-reading some of your old stuff (the one with asking the jjk characters about a bite mark tattoo) and the reader calling Mahito a biter made me giggle really hard and also I 100% agree that’s something he’d do. Also sweet gods your dialogue is all so in character and widely varied character to character in ways that fit really perfectly and I also like the way you write the reader themself quite a lot and good lord you are so good at this I am impressed every time I re read your work

(Feel like I should mention I am very sleepy rn so this message may or may not be totally coherent, but yeah I hope you are taking care of yourself and doing well and though just hearing someone else say it isn’t super helpful I do honestly find that most people are usually not judging you for small things as much as you think especially if there is a clear and reasonable explanation which there 100% is in this case <3)

(Also again I hope I’m not overstepping or anything and I hope my sleepy brain didn’t phrase any of this in an accidentally rude way or something; my ability to convey tone goes down 100% when im sleepy but I just wanted to let you know that I doubt you are being judged and I know just being told that doesn’t solve the issue or anything but might be good to hear? Idk im gonna stop talking I think I might be starting to repeat myself now lol)

(Also sorry this got so long lol)

I swear you always know how to make me go 🥺 I hope you're having an even MORE amazing day!!

oh you're not overstepping at all!!! I always get so worried ugh, I think what doesn't help is that I use earbuds, and I have fluffy curly hair that covers my ears so people can't see if I'm wearing headphones or not(it's how I've gotten away with it at work and in class teehee), but you're right usually when I'm like OMG IM SORRY I HAD HEADPHONES IN they're always very understanding! I just overthink 🥺

no bc mahito is SO a biter like omg, but thank you so much for your kind words 🥹 I'm really happy you like how i write my reader! maybe other writers can relate, but my reader is very much myself tbh, like some of my friends who know of my blog have read some of my stuff and been like "why is that literally a conversation we've had?" LOL

you can thank my one short film teacher for teaching me his tips and tricks when it comes to writing dialog for scripts fr fr, I learned from him :3

also also don't apologize! I deeply enjoy hearing what you have to say 🫶🏻

[phantomflame03]

vent post under the cut i guess (it is very stream of consciousness and probably doesnt sound coherent)

i dont know why i keep coming back here. except that i have made some connections to people on this site and as far as i know they arent on other social media. but anytime i "step out of line" and dont just blindly reblog regular shit without interacting with others i get put down.

i miss waterfall so much. being able to hang out and chat and for the most part everyone is chill and kind. Too bad it was only really functional for like a year.

im on tiktok too, but that place has been going down hill into a trash heap for awhile now and again most people im mutuals with on here arent on tiktok.

i know the best thing for me would be to just be off social media. say goodbye to the people on here ive made connections with

although tbh i barely feel like i have friends on here. and not because i dont care about my mutuals, but because ive barely had any actual interaction on here in years. no one is required to interact with me, but i feel like my presence here doesnt affect much.

all the notifications i get are either people liking/reblogging posts ive reblogged or anonymous messages telling me to stop posting about a certain subject or in a certain way. the vast majority of the posts i make myself dont get any interaction

if i left/deleted my tumblr i doubt many of my followers would notice. and those who do would get over it pretty quickly. maybe up to 5 people would actually care.

and i know this post is going to make some mutuals want to reach out (anon or not) to say "oh wait i care about you and what you do." And i appreciate that, but like is that even close to being true? when weve hardly interacted in years?

I know I've also not been great at extending a hand and initiating conversation. communication is a 2 way street and i havent driven in a long time. But after years of trying to make friendships out of connections its disheartening realizing that you dont make an impact on the people in your life.

Am I over reacting? probably. Will I be back to reblogging silently after i post this and ignoring the pit in my stomach when i come on this site? very likely. Will I actually delete or abandon my tumblr? unlikely but who knows. I've left tumblr before.

maybe ill try to stay off for november to try and get nanowrimo done.

[hermitw]

Ok so I've explained most of this in previous posts/reblogs but ik my blog is not organized so I'll try to be succinct and coherent (masterlist someday? I hope). Ik this post was vague bc I was trying to keep it short and not repeat the same things every day.

yes, imo all of Yuuji's suffering is little compared to Sukuna's (we have to look at his life during the Heian era, and the way that he acts because of it in 2018). Links to this at the end!

The fight with Mahoraga - I'm not saying that this was against his will or a trauma response. Do you feel that it was wrong of him?

Sukuna knew where Megumi was. Other people were hiding away. Sukuna doesn't have the six eyes (though I used to suspect that he did tbh). Shibuya was full of curses, curse users, and transfigured humans. Even if we pretend that Sukuna had some way of being aware of each individual non-sorcerer's location... He had a limited amount of time to defeat Mahoraga. If Sukuna had wasted time luring him away to a 100%, no doubt, secluded area first, Yuuji would have been thrust into that fight, and he was no match for Mahoraga. Sukuna also needed to make sure that Haruta stayed alive until it was over. Megumi would have died if these things were overlooked.

Things that Sukuna did wrong, are killing Nanako and Mimiko - this was a trauma response (and for a long time, I held it against him. Tbh I do still have a lil theory that they're fine, but I'm getting distracted).

I've posted a little about Sukuna becoming the monster, just like Gojo, on the other side of the same coin - there's probably more to elaborate with there, but for now I'll just say that Sukuna becomes the monster in a desperate grasp for his own autonomy.

About Sukuna's first impression - I speculated that was foreshadowing of the merger. He doesn't seem to enjoy killing helpless people, or seeking out a fight.

Ripping out Yuuji's heart - yeah, a desperate grasp for his own autonomy. He tried to talk to Yuuji, but Yuuji ignored him from the beginning. I think that if Yuuji and Sukuna were able to relate to each other, then they could have had a symbiotic relationship like Hana and Angel. Though in defense of Yuuji, Sukuna might have been speaking like an ancient poet, and not making very much sense to him.

I'll add a few links to this, I tend to be lazy w uploading manga panels so I'll find some that go deep with receipts and context. My own blog isn't rly organized, I'll own up to that. Just be aware that these links have links, there is a lot to read, and I love it so much. I love that we can find out about the villain if we just put the details together.

A short summary of Sukuna's life is that he was starving - the way he came into this world, and the way that he left it.

He was deeply alone, his birth was like an affront to God, he was demonized and enslaved and deified and always used as an object.

I know my interpretation of JJK is unconventional, I've been through it so many times and my favorite characters and theories have changed a lot. Yuuji was my first favorite character and I don't think I could ever hate him, I'm just. Unable to shut the fuck up about my thoughts and feelings lmao.

I love this post so much, here is part 1 of Sukuna's loneliness, it goes into his name, trauma, discrimination, etc. It was super enlightening, and of course worth reading the whole series.

Actually, their masterlist has a section of links about Sukuna.

I tend to blame everything on Kenjaku (maybe he didn't hit Rika w his car, but I can't prove that 😤) because I think he really is plotting and responsible, and sukuna feels like his scapegoat. I mean, Gojo scheduled a date to fight Kenjaku, who made Sukuna substitute for him. It seems like the reincarnated sorcerers are coerced and uncomfortable with Kenjaku, but agreed to something for another chance at life. Idk man I'm just rambling now but here's a link to Sukuna's relationship with Kenjaku and the other sorcerers, etc.

@thepersonperson is far more in-depth and coherent and citing sources, their posts take time to read but are so enlightening it's unbelievable.

I've found that most of the time I read or see something and don't get why it's there, that's because I'm missing some cultural or historical significance.

The majority of the hills that I choose to die on, my theories and headcanons can align with the above... Sometimes I know my beliefs are a bit off the rails (mostly that Geto did nothing wrong, and Kenjaku drugged him into saying weird shit w Toji's worm).

I hope this makes some sense, I'm going to post before I get too distracted ok bye

Tumblr pls stop suggesting posts wishing that Sukuna will suffer as much as Yuuji when Sukuna has suffered more than anyone in jujutsu kaisen, I beg (being an unwanted child, a slave, an object, etc).

Maybe I'll go through and make a master post to link the history bc a lot of it is easy to miss (I suck at finding posts on my own blog), you have to be familiar with trauma and history and translations but everything harmful sukuna has done was against his own will or a trauma response. Sukuna is just trying to grasp for his own autonomy. he's constantly being restrained, neglected, and challenged. He doesn't even want to reverse the roles. He exists for leisure like Nanami, he just wants peace. To be left alone. And it's too much to ask for.

And if Yuuji had actually listened to Sukuna (he listens to everyone and matches their energy but not the spirit who is trapped in his body, so it's weirdly out of character) then Yuuji's suffering could have been almost entirely avoided. They could have had a symbiotic relationship.

Kenjaku thanked Yuuji's friend from the occult club for being good to his son - and Yuuji's grandpa saying "you had it too easy". The thing is that for Yuuji to be a functional cage for Sukuna, they couldn't be able to relate to each other. Yuuji spent his life with superhuman strengths, but he blended in. He was never demonized nor deified for his differences. Yuuji was a loner by choice, and he had the freedom to choose his own path. To uninvite himself from school clubs, the strength to beat up bullies that didn't even involve him.

Even the choice to consume Sukuna's finger had to come from Yuuji's own free will - and despite the manipulation that Kenjaku put into this (having Mimiko and Nanako plant it at the school, etc), it was a choice that Yuuji made on his own. He wasn't really coerced into it - Fushiguro told him not to do it. Yuuji consented to sharing his body, whereas Sukuna did not.

it seems like irl Sukuna has a shrine and is remembered as a hero, but regarded more as a criminal by the government. Sounds a lot like Gojo. And if the higher ups were still around a thousand years later, how do you think he would be remembered? Or spoken of in history lessons to sorcerers?

I've already rambled or reblogged everything that I have to say but ughhhhh

Yuuji is the last person who could teach Sukuna about love. He might be capable of a listen-no-jutsu, though it's kind of late for that.

[welcometogrouchland]

The tma TV adaptation essay(?) I promised:

GOD Trying to organize my thoughts on a tma adaptation has been crazy because like.

It could genuinely be so good to look at!!! You could do so much with the costuming of characters, the SFX (sit here with me and imagine practical effects Jarod hopworth and Jane Prentiss. Doesn't that make you go crazy insane??? Doesn't it???), the idea of using pixilation or stop motion and compositing to make Nikola, putting intentional continuity errors in scenes with the distortion, never using closeups in scenes about the lonely so you feel distant, never getting wider than a midshot in scenes about the buried so you feel claustrophobic, using rotoscoping and weird filming techniques and on and on- this is stuff that could not only look cool but could actively elevate the written text through visuals... y'know. LIKE A GOOD VISUAL ADAPTATION IS MEANT TO DO!!!

But as good as it could look, like with a lot of people, it begins to all fall apart at story and structure for me. Because how would they deal with the shows nature as an anthology?? Would it lean into it, or remove it?

Give it hour long episodes (as opposed to 20 ish minutes) that can fit multiple, more plot relevant statements in, with scenes of the characters interacting used to break up the statements and weave the meta narrative in more from the start? Well that's certainly an option and the main one I've been pondering. Giving two statements per episode cuts the 20 episode runtime down almost by half which would fit neater into an average series of television these days. (you could probably finagle the multipart finales into single episodes but idk if that'd be the wisest idea structure and pacing wise) but that format could still be A) unfamiliar to long time podcast listeners who want the show to be formatted like the podcast and B) hard to market to casual audiences?? it takes the podcasts method of gradually blurring the lines between statement and meta plot over the course of the show and instead starts off with them already muddy. That doesn't even solve the problem of how you'd go about filming statements, let alone what the hell you'd do when it came time for season 5.

But you can't remove the statements, they're important to the plot. If you do, you change the show so drastically that you're going to chase away original fans of the podcast, who'd likely male up the first core wave of fans who support your show before it takes off (at least. That's what I'm guessing???) So, back to square one, re: tma is formatted in a way that is built around it's own strengths and limitations as an independent podcast, which would clash badly with current models of TV production.

And in all honesty? TV doesn't usually get the luxury (or budget) for experimentation to the same capacity film (or hell, an independently produced passion project audio drama) does. Any of the more experimental ideas I mentioned would probably be left on the cutting room. It sucks but it's my best guess as to what'd happen (grain of salt: I don't work in film and TV and my knowledge is second hand! All I know is that coming to studios with an idea that's a) hard to film and b) doesn't have big names that guarantee a return on the money put into the series is. Generally considered unwise)

Sigh. It's like. I've tried to make this post at least 3 times now, and every time I struggle to accurately convey how much I think tma could flourish in a visual adaptation!!! and so how much I think the best things about it would hinder it in a TV setting. I get why people want it! tma is (as admitted by Jonny), a first draft, and a really good first draft afterwards. We want to bring our favourite podcast to it's full potential, and I think it has so much potential visually...but I've already made all my points for why I'm not sure I'd want it to be adapted to a visual medium, on a purely technical level. It sucks to be pessimistic about it, because I do love TV as a medium, but fundamentally I think they'd have a very hard time pleasing both new and old fans trying to tell the same story as what we got in the podcast.

So what should they do instead?? I'm not sure, but if you told me to make a tma TV adaptation, gun to my head, this is what I'd do:

Have the show take place Somewhere Else

Not as in, have the show be about Jon and Martin post series. I mean, "somewhere else is an alternate universe where things are Slightly Different, as a meta explanation for the changes made to the story to suit TV". and at the end of the series have the big twist be that not only are they passing the fears on, this isn't even the first time they've done it (BIG cosmic horror potential here). Maybe have Annabelle explain this in universe, have Jon find this out, have Jonny Sims appear at the end like fucking rod sterling, whatever!! Just pay tribute to the original podcast by directing people to the first iteration of this story, to compare and contrast and revel in the tragedy that across universes, our heroes were always doomed, if in slightly different ways.

"We're just going to pass it on" takes on a whole new meaning now, doesn't it?

[rainbowsky]

Weirdly enough I’m loving AT. Even more than DC and LY ( this last one I haven’t finished it yet). It takes me a lot to gen into c dramas in general but this one is entertaining from the start. It’s propaganda but also Marvel is propaganda and most American movies so

Hey Anon, you might not realize it, but that statement is actually pretty troubling. I'll explain why.

CW/TW - discussion of human rights atrocities and police brutality (without descriptions or details)

It's true that Hollywood is incredibly propagandistic. It's also a well-known fact that Marvel has partnered with the US military to get some of its films made, Captain Marvel being the most egregious example (although the degree of propaganda varies wildly from film to film and isn't a constant, so we shouldn't paint with too broad a brush here).

However, statements such as the one above can be a reflection of - or can lead to - dangerous, highly inaccurate false equivalences. It's extremely important to think very consciously and critically about what these terms mean and how they apply in different regions and under different regimes.

False equivalence is a logical fallacy that's frequently used to manipulate public opinion and to deflect or discredit legitimate criticism. These false equivalences often become part of the widespread public discourse, and accepted by the vast majority of people as reasonable, and true.

A common example of this is the claim that climate change is 'still being debated' and that 'scientists can't agree' on it (therefore we can't be sure that climate change is real) when actually, there is no meaningful or legitimate scientific opposition to the notion of human-caused climate change.

98% of climate scientists agree that the science shows climate change is real, and the remaining 2% of outliers are based on studies that have no coherent basis and employ no scientific rigor. This 98% agreement represents an iron-clad scientific consensus on the matter.

But by drawing that false equivalence, climate change deniers and fossil fuel advocates have managed to very successfully derail the arguments of climate scientists and environmental advocates, and sow doubt in the minds of the public at large. This has directly led to a lot of confusion among the public and a huge delay in addressing the issues underlying climate change.

In many cases fossil fuel advocates, by spreading this false argument, have even managed to convince governments and populations to support an increase in fossil fuel projects and subsidies.

I've watched this notion that western nations are "really no better than China when it comes to propaganda" gain more and more traction lately, and I find that extremely alarming. The differences between these nations and how they handle propaganda couldn't possibly be starker.

It isn't the prevalence of messages that makes propaganda sinister, it's the consequences and the stakes surrounding it all that makes it sinister.

We cannot draw equivalences between different nations and regimes based only on the fact that they all feed propagandistic messages to the general public. Such equivalences are misleading and potentially very dangerous. Every country engages in some level of propaganda, but the circumstances surrounding that propaganda vary wildly from region to region.

Let's take the example of every country's tendency to extol the virtues of their leaders. Every country propagandizes about the leader to some degree. Does that make those nations equivalent? Hell no. If saying that "the supreme leader is a giant dildo" gets you laughed at in one country and imprisoned, tortured or murdered in another, how can you call those situations equivalent?

Rather than re-invent the wheel I'm just going to base a lot of this on a previous post I made where I discussed this issue, so if some of you feel deja vu, that's why. 😅

It's absolutely true that propaganda is everywhere, and that China doesn't have a monopoly on pushing a political agenda through entertainment media.

What’s NOT everywhere is the complete, often brutal, enforcement of the viewpoints and mindsets the propaganda is pushing.

What makes other countries different with regard to propaganda isn’t the amount of propaganda we have, it’s the stakes surrounding the propaganda.

What is the propaganda trying to achieve?

What genuine access do people have to dissenting opinions and contradictory information?

What recourse do they have if they disagree?

What’s the outcome for people who go against the narrative the regime is pushing? (aka how are the ideas enforced?)

In many parts of the world, everyone has ready access to a wide variety of perspectives and opinions on an issue. They have the ability to question and investigate claims, and get a second, third, fourth opinion on the matter.

When people disagree with the official message/position on something, they can print up t-shirts, start an org, form a protest group, take that opinion to court and maybe even win, organize acts of civil disobedience, take to the streets and disrupt normal functioning of a city or even a country as a means of making their voices heard.

And any of these actions could actually result in change - sometimes major, sweeping change. But even if they don’t, people are still free to do those things. They are free to take those actions against their governments and in most cases will suffer no dire consequences for speaking their mind. And if worse comes to worst and someone doesn’t like what their government is doing, they can leave.

In China, open access to information is prevented to the best of the regime’s capability, which is extensive. The Chinese government actively, aggressively walls off the country from the rest of the world to ensure the public cannot access the open internet or the open marketplace of ideas.

They actively censor and repress dissenting opinions, and they do this in a way that's often nearly invisible to the average Chinese citizen. Someone will do a search on a topic and get no results. They'll try posting about something and their post won't go through.

People who fall afoul of the regime are often ‘disappeared’ - held against their will in ‘reeducation camps’, their families and friends threatened, tortured, jailed or otherwise harassed. Prevented from leaving the country. Even if they do manage to leave, they may be involuntarily ‘repatriated’, tortured and jailed.

The regime has increasingly been using sophisticated means to dig into social media posts of people living outside of China who speak critically of the regime or its policies. These are people sharing their thoughts on international platforms, many of them citizens of other countries. The regime has been identifying the people making these posts and using thuggish tactics in order to silence them. One guy who spoke critically of the regime had all of his social media accounts shut down and his parents disappeared for 10 days.

Taking a stance against the official position can have dire consequences in China. That is what makes the propaganda sinister. That's what makes those false equivalences so troubling.

By drawing those equivalences so casually in their speech, people unwittingly spread false information about the situation in China. They are unwittingly doing propaganda work for the regime - helping to provide cover for their human rights abuses and making them seem benign and 'just like everyone else'.

They are not 'just like everyone else'.

Having said all that

I'm not saying all this to condemn or chastise, rather I'm saying it to educate and awaken.

People who draw false equivalences aren't always malicious, nor are they necessarily lacking intellectual capacity. It's easy to fall prey to overly simplistic thinking. We all do it. Even seemingly benign concepts such as 'gaydar' are examples of overly simplistic thinking.

Not only is it easy to fall prey to simplistic thinking, it's often incredibly difficult to get access to reliable information, to fully examine and weigh ideas, and to apply critical thinking skills. Most of these things are never taught in school and are extremely rare among social groups. It's just not part of most people's everyday lives.

It's this degree of intellectual difficulty that makes propaganda so insidious. It's what makes logical fallacies like false equivalence so effective against the general public. Logical fallacies are ideas that sound perfectly reasonable to the average person, but which are in fact, incorrect and deeply flawed.

Propaganda capitalizes on all of these factors, all the better to fly under people's radar.

So to be clear: people who fall for this stuff aren't idiots or assholes, they're just ordinary people coming up against some pretty intensely well-crafted false narratives that seem reasonable to most people.

For anyone wanting to learn more about logical fallacies, there are many excellent resources online. Here are just a few:

Rhetological fallacies

Master list of logical fallacies

A good YouTube clip explaining what fallacies are

I (and others) have talked previously about propaganda in this post, and the posts in this thread.

As for the real purpose of your ask, Anon - I'm not surprised people have been enjoying it. GG is an excellent actor and I've no doubt his performance has been amazing.

EDIT: I have done a fairly comprehensive follow-up post on this topic.

[wafflesetc]

I’m extremely worried about what Gwen will do to Upstead later this season. I lost so much of my trust in her these last episodes. I want Jay to come back even if it’s only offscreen and them together, but she seems to go for dramatics now instead of in character. I don’t know what to think. Anything you can say to help ease my thoughts?

I apologize if this is a little longer than you thought you were going to get. I've also been sitting on this for a few days because I wanted the initial high/anger/confusion/just general wave of intake to be over.

This is slightly multi-layered and I think that it's important to take that into account when answering something like this. I can totally understand why you say you lost your trust in Gwen over these last few episodes. I'm inclined to agree to a portion of losing some distrust in Gwen. I particularly didn't love the airport goodbye scene with Voight. Of all the three of is final episodes, him saying he wanted to be like Voight to me was one of the most out of character things we've ever heard from Jay. @spiridakosstyle had a really great post about there here.

Now, I don't know what happened and I don't know how three episodes was decided, but they had 10 years worth of a character and 5 years of a partnership/relationship to wrap up. Gwen had to do that all while still maintaining the regular timeline for a regular season for the show. I'm not defending her, I'm just saying that there are a lot of factors into timing and pacing. Do I think they did it right? No, I don't think that it was paced right. The first two episodes were strangely paced to me with how the third episode went down. I still enjoyed the episodes, but I question some of the timeline choices that were made and why they were made.

I think the biggest factor in all of this to be honest is the fact that he's not dead- he is just, temporarily relocating. I made a long post on my mostly coherent thoughts on the episode. I am not going to rehash it in this answer, but I do suggest reading it. In short, aside from the fact I didn't love the pacing, I think Jay is on a journey of self-healing.

I put this in a tweet a few days ago, "Growth is hard, it always is—and in order for a relationship to grow, each person has to grow. Sometimes healing is a solo journey, having your person support you. It doesn’t mean they love each other any less. In the end, he’ll be stronger & they’ll be stronger."

I'm believing that's where they were going with the exit choice they made for him. I don't love the military exit... I would have preferred some sort of promotion or transfer. (I'm also still wondering why we didn't get the dress blues scene that were in the promo pics?) But... at the end of the day, Jay Halstead was a beloved and valuable asset for a decade. They spent half of his character arc involving Hailey into his work life and personal life on the show. I firmly don't believe they are going to do anything too drastic to the relationship.

With the show up for renewal next year and contracts of the cast in question, there are no doubt a lot of avenues that they can go down. While I am leaning towards the side Tracy is probably not going to renew, just given the scenario we've seen played out before our eyes and nothing actually factual from her or NBC/Wolf, she could chose to stay. Maintaining the marriage isn't necessarily that hard- a mention of a text here, ending her on a Skype/FaceTime with him, a mention of him to Kev or Ruz, etc. There are ways to keep him and them alive, without him being there. It's just a matter of continuance, and I'm ehh on that because the show doesn't have the greatest track record. But I will say, we've sing the ring on her hand in BTS. We've got no real reason to panic.

10 years of a character, 5 years of a partnership/relationship that was undoubtedly a HUGE draw for the audience- I don't see them being too dumb with something like that, that draws in the $$$$.

So as far as their relationship I hold on to this:

“Besides, I’m going where you go.”

“We’re good and we’re always gonna be good.”

“I’m not going anywhere Hailey, really I’m not.”

“Where you go, I go.”

These statements they have said to each other over the years are so powerful- Jay Halstead is a man of his word, he promised to love her in sorry & in joy... They are just more in an 'in sorrow' type of moment. I firmly believe they are going to be okay.

And as far as Gwen, I'm not gong to comment too much because all I know is I wouldn't want to be in her shoes. One character's integrity was more important than another one's on his exit and still having to please fans every week... It's got to be hard. So, time will tell.

[usagifuyusummer]

Same lmao 🤝

I also, I guess, lack confidence in myself to create coherent fiction or Picasso level art.

I always doubt myself a lot when undergoing creative processes that it makes me abandon a lot of projects that I thought I could publish. It is also due to me still studying that I couldn't exactly fulfil my creative needs and projects to my full heart's content.

BUT, you gotta start from somewhere right? So, for now, just write something, anything, that you feel like sharing. And eventually, you'll learn from your mistakes and get better at posting these kinds of stuff.

I'm also kinda new at creating these AU stuff. I usually just do fanart, but sometimes not all of your ideas can go through visually. (That takes a lot of time. That's what I learned.)

So, now, I just post fanart/any kind of art whenever I can, even when I know it won't get much reception or views. Just think about these activities as practice rounds and maybe someday, one day, you'll be able to reach the heights that you dreamt of. So, start somewhere!

I'm also like you lol, just with less time to spend on my creative projects. I know practice is boring, but that's where most people who are as talentless as me get a start on.

Most importantly, for me at least, I've learned to never chase for online popularity/shares/likes when creating any form of art. If you only create art for that singular purpose, it gets exhausting and steadily you will lose the interest in the art of creation. (these are one of the reasons why i'm really inactive in the past, also uni stuff lol)

Don't get me wrong, it's still really gratifying to see that people appreciate your hard earned work, but not all of us get the lucky ticket that is to be recognized and loved by many. So, some of us just gotta live alone with obscurity for the rest of our short lives. (that's just my cynicism talking lol)

What I'm trying to say is I guess, you should do this because you love it. You care about it, and you want to share your love for this concept with others. I'm doing that currently, and so far, I can at least produce and share some artworks. Even if its not perfect.

It's okay. There's still time to learn. Success/Popularity doesn't come immediately for most people. I hope you get my points here regarding fanwork creations lol.

Besides that, on your horror FOP AU, it's essentially a video game AU? Am I understanding it wrong? Like those old creepypastas? Where maybe..., I'll give you an example;

One day, Timmy found an old game cartridge when visiting the game store for the new Crash Nebula game. He thought the cover looked plain and boring, it's just a cellophone tape plasted and on top of it where scribbled phrases made with marker written, "FAIRY FRENZY", scribbled below that, is a very unimpressive ominous description, "do not play this game it will haunt you". Timmy, suspecting that this is just someone's stupid attempt at a prank for some poor fellow in the past decided to just buy the old game cartridge. It's cheap and his parents don't really check up on what he buys anyway.

Skipping through...

After a while of playing the Fairy Frenzy game, Timmy found out that it was just a regular platforming game, kind of similar to the Mario Bros. ones. He actually finds the game to be fun, so he continued on indulging himself on playing the game to his heart's content.

Skipping through...

Timmy finds it weird that Cosmo, Wanda and Poof haven't returned from Fairy World though. Maybe this is one of their "a week leave" trips there. Still, he has been playing the game for quite awhile and found it peculiar why everything was so... quiet. He decided to go downstairs for a quick snack from the kitchen. When he stepped into the hallway outside of his room, suddenly all of the lights in the house went off. Then he hears..., a voice..., "Cosmo, Wanda... why did you leave me?...". Hearing that, Timmy called out to that voice, "Who's there?! Uh, if you guys are pranking me again, I will talk to the April Fools fairy for double payback!!!". The voice did not respond. Timmy then just decides to shake it off as some sort of hunger induced hallucination. He has been spending too much time in his room lately...

Like that? Tell me if I'm massively wrong lmao. I wrote all of those examples on a whim lol. Maybe it will be a future stupid ass fic hahaha.

Hm, I do think you need more work on your elaboration of the AU. Maybe make a separate post with the appropriate horror AU title? Take your time though. There's no need to rush these creative processes lol.

I'm more neutral on FOP's popularity standing on other social medias though. I have no desire for it to be as popular as maybe Danny Phantom? Still, I won't mind if it gets popular though.

(It's because I hate Twitter/X lmao, so sorry. I don't like how the fanarts or posts there are so difficult to find. There's no appropriate tagging system, even if its there, most people won't use it because yeah, I understand they want their privacy... Still, I would appreciate your art more if you tagged it properly on where I can find it.)

Hm, those are my thoughts on what we're discussing so far.

A scandalous episode for many, which in my opinion changes the general image of fairies (clearly not for the better)

Many people were shocked, to put it mildly, after watching this episode. And many were unhappy and even more frightened by the behavior of Cosmo and Wanda, which I can't help but agree with. However, I liked this episode on the contrary. It shows the darker evil nature of fairies and how crazy they can sometimes become if someone simply offends their child. And it doesn't matter that this is their godson. Because of this, it now really seems to me that fairies are not who they pretend to be and the creators sometimes directly show this. For example, this phase of fairies at 2 years old(terrible twosome) when they start to go crazy and rebel against everything. You will say that "it's just a phase." Really? And the fact that Poof almost destroyed the entire Earth in this episode is considered "just a phase"? The fact that fairies can destroy all life just because of this phase begins to worry. Like, what makes them do all these terrible things? A sudden change in behavior or ….. an inner voice inside that is their secret dark essence??And if you remember the anti-fairies who are the complete opposite of fairies, then I'm starting to seriously think that they are less dangerous than them. And this is not the only scandalous episode…

(Poor Timmy… What the heck??)

And going back to that scandalous episode, I had a thought: "what if all this was true?" Because Cosmo and Wanda were enjoying this suspiciously so much and it all looked extremely realistic.. And the fact that they really left Timmy with injuries and bruises made me think that this is true and they really turn into monsters after 8 hours. And you know what? This would be a great idea for more lore between fairies and anti fairies (they, as opposites in THIS way, would look incredibly cool). And it would also be a great idea for creating some kind of horror game (well, just a note)

*Redacted

+comments to this episode

This is really.. something….