#i actually dont know if this is coherent at all

[okayidontcare]

The Issue of Consent and Severance Discourse as a Whole

Spoilers for S2E4

So, I never post on Tumblr (and barely on other platforms for that matter). I am a lurker, and, as such, I see a variety of different takes about different things on a daily basis. I am prone to hyperfixations in media as a whole and, right now, I am obsessed with Severance.

So, I watched the new episode as soon as it was out and as soon as I watched the Mark/Helena sex scene and the reveal that it was in fact Helena all along, I knew it would create a discourse that would be unbearable, not because of the discussion itself but by the way people engage with this show (more on that later),  and I feel the need to express my feelings and my view on the subject.

Was SA or Wasn’t?

It… I don’t know. No one does. That’s the point. 

The show wants us to ponder about the autonomy of the innies and the outies, it raises this question not only in relation to the narrative of the show but in a sort of philosophical conundrum. And I think the way to discuss this has to be done with two things in mind: (a) with respect for other opinions and interpretations and (b) that we will never get a clearcut answer.

We can’t affirm Helena is a rapist, we can’t affirm she isn’t. What we can do is debate about it. Engaging with it with logic, as in, thinking that there is a logical explanation for something that is emotional in nature is counter productive. Let me demonstrate:

If Helena and Helly are different people then it’s SA. Then innie Mark didn’t cheat on Gemma and Irving saying that to him was wrong.

But, if Helena and Helly are the same person, it isn’t SA. So Mark cheated on Gemma and Irving was justified in what he said.

Do any of these sentences feel true to the show? 

Frankly, I don’t think so, because it doesn’t feel true to the emotional truth of the show. Because it is weird that Mark slept with someone else, but it is because this version of him doesn’t really know Gemma. But he also has a connection with Ms. Casey, because of the outie life. He also has a connection with Helena, because he knows Helly, but it’s weird because Helena is different from Helly. It’s a bit hypocritical of Irving to imply that Mark and Helly’s relationship is wrong when he was ready to blow up Burt’s marriage in the season 1 finale, but he is also right to point out it’s off putting to see them flirting. It is all these things at the same time. 

Because, from my point of view, they are different people and the same person at the same time. And I don’t think any of us can wrap our minds around this concept, it’s like Schrödinger’s Cat but about human nature instead of quantum physics. That’s what makes it fun, because not even the characters know what to make of it, so we see the emotional fallout of Severance rather than the ethical/moral one. And, to me, that is more interesting.

So we should discuss it, but also know that we’ll never reach a conclusion, because that would be oversimplifying the show and I think it just makes our conversation around Severance shallow. It’s a detriment to the show and to us. 

Let’s hear each other out, give different opinions, have productive debates about the show and what is saying about identity and humanity, about how it reflects on us. Don’t say to someone that has a different opinion than you that they are “watching the show wrong”, that they are “media illiterate”, like your interpretation is the only right one. If you do that, I’m sorry, but I don’t think you are actually engaging with the text, I think you are using Severance as a way to feel smarter than other people.

Let’s not treat our fellow internet users as the outies treat the innies. It’s easy to dehumanize people that we only perceive by their words on a screen, but behind each MDR profile picture is a real person with their own perspective that may not always align with yours and that’s okay, they are worthy of the same amount of respect as everyone else.

So I’ll say, at last, you are free to disagree with me. You are free to say that there is a definitive answer, that it was SA or wasn’t SA, that the innies and outies are the same person or they aren’t. I actually want to hear your take, I just ask that, when you type it, be respectful and understand that I have the right to disagree with you just as you have the right to disagree with me.

[abd-illustrates]

Sorry to bother you. I wanted to ask if you were willing to give advice on how to avoid the 'Friends Who Never Hang' tropes? Because I'm hesitant to make more main characters because I'm not sure if I can make their bond close between all of them and you seem to have a grip on the Heartless gang's relationship. Thanks.

I had to google what that trope meant haha - but that's a rlly interesting question!

At least for me and my storytelling preferences, I think my stance would be that there's actually no need to worry about making a close bond between *all* of your main characters at all!

It's a bit hard to articulate, and I'm definitely thinking from more of a manga mindset so bear with me lol -- but trying to make sure that everyone on your main cast all get along with everyone else on the main cast, and feeling the need to give a 'proper' spotlight to every possible combination of characters to convince your audience that 'they really are all friends with a close bond, see how they all hang out!?' Can run the risk of looking like this:

and leave your story feeling bland/stagnant as you kinda slog through unnecessary scenes between characters just for the sake of proving that they do all interact an adequate amount.

Whereas - (again, at least in my experience) - building a group primarily around their ties to your Main-main character(s) like this:

is a method that leaves much more room for you as a writer to both focus on the character that's specifically meant to be at the forefront, while also making it easier to explore which other combos could then actually be fun to give more screen time to in order to *build up* those close bonds, rather than worrying about the end result and just trying to make everybody get along right from the get-go!

(Also! Don't feel like if you start out with a bunch of varied colorful connections that they all have to be turned into bright green friendly bonds by story's end! Making some characters a bit closer over time but still not besties is a-ok! They can unite for a common goal but still get on each others nerves forever! There are no rules! Be cringe, be free!)

[another-faceless-girl]

okay okay ive had time to process and i just need to express how utterly tragic Louella and Lou Lou are to me yknow!??!

imagine your 12 years old and you practically get sentenced to death but look! heres your big brother hell protect you! maybe you even entertain this idea that you could win! your 12 after all and everything seems possible!

then you die and are lain at the dictators feet as a threat a spark of rebellion even and maybe this could be your legacy! the one thing to make people remember you maybe your death could spark the rebellion or even just warm the flames! this could be what your remembered for!? oh but then they manage to cut the footage and your last piece of memory of maybe helping to start something is cut.

but oh no! people will remember that you were drawn in the reaping! there are always people who like to bet on underdogs so theres bound to be someone who remembers there was a little girl as tribute right? wrong.

theyve replaced you with someone who looks exactly like you but is crazy. that is how you are portrayed to the public all they see is a nuts little girl who cant possibly win the game thats all you are an imposter and a bad bet. no one will remember you and you will leave no legacy behind. your forever forgotten as just one weird tribute in the Quarter Quell.

now imagine being Lou Lou

taken away from everything youve ever known and loved. do you know why? no. you probably had nothing to do with it. maybe someone in your family rebelled a little too hard and now your facing the consequences. not like you can do anything about it.

youve been taken to The Capitol and your mind has been hacked what do you remember? what do you know? thats theres nothing but the drugs pumping through your veins and your "usefulness" keeping you alive thats for sure. your minds been shattered youve been shattered. who even were you? no one? nothing? no one worth fighting for definitely. no one worth remembering.

theres someone always whispering in your ear now telling you what to do listening to what someones saying you don't know what their saying you dont know anything! but thats what got you in this whole mess in the first place right? not knowing anything.

your reshaped now. you cant even remember what you looked like before but you know it wasnt this. you feel different. so different.

new people now. you cant even understand half the words that come out their mouth but its clear they dont like you and they dont want you there. where? here? what is here?

then your thrown somewhere. its pretty and colourful and you want to eat everything you possibly can it all smells so good but these people have gotten a handle on you and tell you not to eat anything. it kind of slides through your brain but you try to remember it.

then a boy gets in the way of something. he tells you to find Haymitch so you do! Hes hiding in a bush the silly guy! youll bring him back and you could all hug like you did before this weird pretty place.

he takes you with him and you feel like you almost belong somewhere. he reminds you of someone but it hurts to try and remember who. he musses your hair and keeps an eye out.

then you see something that you remember! it's lovely and warm and smells so good but oh no now it hurts it hurts so bad and why is this happening you barely got anytime to live as yourself and then you had to live as another girl and now your being smothered and theres Haymitch and everything hurts and maybe hes crying but it hurts and now your gone.

forever forgotten. what even happened to your family? did they watch the hunger games and recognise you? maybe. youll never know. you didnt even know yourself by the end of it forced to be some pretender of a girl you didnt even know. maybe you two would have been friends if you got the chance. oh well not like youll ever find out.

oh Louella if only youd had a chance to live.

oh Lou Lou if only youd had a chance to love.

[the-kipsabian]

wrestling fic writers!!

i have decided to be the change i wanna see, so lets do a nice little thing for each other, as a community full of incredible and talented writers. yes this is writer specific only, but thats cause thats where the main problem of people not interacting with creative works lies in this fandom as far as i can tell and have seen people talking about it especially in the last couple of months

if you read this, please add links to your written works. it can be just a single fic youre really proud of, your writing blog, your writing tag, your ao3 account, anything where your works can be found

and if you leave your link here, PLEASE check out someone else that has left their works, and interact with them. leave them a comment, even just a kudos, REBLOG their fic, etc. interacting is the keyword i want to emphasize here, along with building a sort of a masterpost of where to find people writing in this fandom

and if you are not a writer, youre still highly encouraged to interact with this post and share it and show love to the writers in this fandom, obviously!! i think that should go without saying, but adding it in anyways

a bit more about my vision and resources and such under the read more, but thats the gist of it. happy linking and please be kind and supportive to each other!! 💜

nobody is too big or too small to add their things on this list. if you write and post anything in this fandom whatsoever, be it fics or drabbles or headcanons, any companies or any kind of ships or reader inserts or any content whatsoever no matter how 'dead dove dont eat' or hell even if its just meta, we welcome all here and nobody can say that one thing is less valid than another. just please tag your content accordingly, especially if theres content warnings, and feel free to mention what you write, who you write, any info you wish to leave that would help people before they click on your links. but even so, that should not and hopefully will not deter people from interacting, no matter what it is. someones trash is another ones treasure, i promise you

and unless the amount gets really overwhelming, im personally going to be checking out everyone that leaves something here. unless it squeaks me out, but even then, i'll spread the word. and i just wish as many people as possible will do the same, and not just use this as a potential board to only get eyes on their stuff. ofc thats also the point, but you should give as much, if not more, than you get. we need to be kind and supportive of one another (besides, from personal experience, if you show love to someone else, they are more likely to do it back than without you taking the first step, so... pay it forward)

as for resources, heres a few links that should be helpful in leaving comments and feedback. of course everyone does their own thing and no comment is too big or too small to leave, but for those who need them. if you have anything you'd like added to this list, dont hesitate to get in touch or drop it in the post yourself!!

101 comment starters

ao3 floating comment box

kudos html

dont know how to comment? easy solutions

a quick hot guide to commenting (by yours truly)

an overall guide to appreciating fanfic writers

and just in general.. leave people comments. leave them asks about their projects. just go over and gush about their work. i know it sounds embarrassing but writers love nothing more than to hear that someone likes what they are doing. if you find a fic that hasnt been updated in forever, comment on it. it might just be the spark the author needs to continue. while kudos and likes are nice, and just as valuable to some, its definitely in the words the people leave for them that matter the most. im not saying this to put pressure on anyone, its just how it is, and i feel like unless people are writers themselves, and even then sometimes, thats just hard to grasp, especially if the writer is a smaller and less popular one who doesnt get a lot of traffic in the first place

i think thats all. just be nice and considered to everyone, reblog peoples works, this post with others add ons and so forth. and if i find anyone talking shit here or at other writers for something they share, you'll be blocked and im probably taking your kneecaps. be fucking nice. we are all struggling here and we need to stick together

happy sharing and commenting 💜💜

[slooshee]

Are people gonna be angry if I said I think the writing in Justice for All was better than the writing in Trials and Tribulations…? The character writing anyways.

[futuristichedge]

Thinking about which Sonic characters struggle in social situations and coming to the realization that it's the majority (if not all) of the cast.

[nneiljostenn]

pls may i have some saltburn takes. i saw u liked my post abt oliver never having read the reading list and it made me giggle.

OH YES DUDE oh i Loved that post because it brings up actually something that for some reason i haven't seen discussed much. oliver's unreliable narration.

i have a brilliant, i think, genius four-question plan for making people understand saltburn, and it has worked before and i will maybe elaborate on it, but not right now. right now i'll talk about one of the questions.

who is oliver telling this story to, and why?

we've established that he's an unreliable narrator at least because it's the logical conclusion for a movie shot in a way that opens and closes with his narrative. but what does oliver being untruthful actually mean for what we know about anything and everything that happened. have you ever obsessed over this particular question. well. i have.

my hot take, first of all, is that oliver is not that smart. he's clever, but the point of the movie is that he's caught up in and driven by desire; desire, pointedly, in the moment, merging desire, adapting to circumstance and leading him on. his want is not concrete from the beginning. his want is insatiable hunger that grows.

so, okay, from the top. the whole meet-cute with felix? because of a punctured tire? eh. idk if that's true. the money thing at the bar, pretending to not have any while he actually did? eh, perhaps. chronologically he then lies to felix about his dad, and this is big, this is deliberate, this is what ties felix to him for good.

what if the first two instances were coincidences? like, felix genuinely in trouble then, oliver genuinely out of cash. makes sense to become attached and actually do something, something impulsive, drastic, when felix seems to be drifting away, and lie about his dad.

interjection: you might be saying, nadia, he lied about his family from the get-go. well of course. i didn't say he's not smart enough to clock what image of a damsel in distress felix would gobble up. i'm saying he didn't do it for the long game, because there was no long game to speak of, as narrator-oliver would have you believe. i think he wanted felix so badly in that moment of several months in oxford, i think he was so blinded that he would've said anything. and he did.

now, i've briefly talked about oliver's feelings about the invitation to saltburn, and i think this is very important here. in the moment, he couldn't possibly know what exactly this invitation could mean, in the long run, only that it is definitely the next step in progression of desire for felix. present-day oliver interjection, and i believed him, after felix said he could leave anytime, i read as a slip up, an admission that oliver didn't plan shit, or at least from the beginning he didn't. it lured him in as soon as he got there, gothic house driving mad-style. he held on to a dream of something elusive (felix as a friend? lover? forever-partner in whatever capacity? i want him so bad i don't care what he is as long as he's there? please? please?).

the other obvious hole to poke at is in the end. venetia very conveniently takes the razors he places for her, and while sure, it could be read as him just hinting at how he conveniently read her fragile state and took advantage of it, i don't buy it. (i'm honestly even tempted to suggest he met elspeth on accident, to then spin a pretty story for his own sake, but him keeping tabs on the surviving cattons all those years tracks with what we know about obsessive oliver; he's definitely known about her flat for a while.)

but those are all minor stuff. i get completely if you think i'm reading too much into it and this is all just a headcanon after all, to be fair. BUT. but.

my second big take is that oliver was/is madly in love with felix. i know, shocking. but you have probably seen people say he wasn't. i will elaborate.

i wasn't in love with him. i loved him. i hated him. what does this sound like. have you ever had a friend come to you after a breakup fuming and telling you how they'll never end up with this asshole for sure and then get back together with him and then break up and say the same thing again.

i loved him, but i wasn't in love with him. i know everyone thought i was, but i wasn't. have you never told anyone something of the sort, specifically the last part, to emphasize just how it's everyone around you that's kinda hung up on whatever it is, and you've moved way past it, actually. have you never told yourself that.

i have. i know many other people who have, too. so, who is oliver telling this story to, and why? there's no one but dead elspeth in front of him. there's no one but himself. fun fact: each time you recall an event, it distorts under the influence of the mix of past and present emotions. each time you recall, you mold memory (source, e.g., x). the way i personally see it, oliver, for whatever reason, retells the story in order to solidify his own memory of it in the way that he wants to remember it. whatever he says, this is his final word, and this is his final truth.

this is also why details slip through, like my beloved i believed him, like the emotional i hated him growing into self-convincing, misleadingly dismissive, definitely unsure i hated him by the end. those are the true emotions that he recalls, those are the times that are hard to rewrite, for whatever reason.

of course, he hated them all. but before that, he loved felix to the point of blindly following where felix's desire led oliver, at least the way oliver perceived felix's desire. it failed, crucially, when felix's desire brought them to the center of the labyrinth, where oliver could not be the desired anymore.

my third hot take in connection to this is that oliver did not know he would kill felix until the very night he did it. he didn't know it, i think, until the last hour, until felix refused to reconcile completely, until he made his blood run cold. i also briefly mention it here, specifically how farleigh is tragically connected to felix's death, in my opinion. this tracks with, again, my strong belief that oliver lies, lies and lies throughout this whole story about wanting to take everything from felix from the beginning; no, he fucking didn't. he wanted felix. he wanted felix to be his. that was number one priority. he wanted felix and whatever else came with it, undoubtedly, but not the other way around.

paradoxically, he also wanted to be felix; he wanted to be him and be with him just as us tumblr people can often relate and the tragedy is that you always have to choose. felix pushed him away, so there was no other choice but to take what was left of felix that oliver could take. hence the clothes wearing, the table scene talk, the refusal to leave.

felix chose not to choose oliver, so oliver became felix. it's his fault. felix promised oliver could leave. felix left instead. what was oliver to do.

but to your point about the books, i think it could be either way, actually. i think he could have lied about it because technically that's also in character for him, he was performing for an audience of his tutor. but i also think that he was, genuinely, a nerd before he came to oxford, and he didn't, and still doesn't, have any friends, and he hates his sisters and his mother and is miserable. he's the perfect profile of someone who'd read king james' bible over the summer, and then some, imma be honest.

so, yes. i think oliver lies about most things in saltburn and i think he's pathetic, lost, confused, grieving, angry, horny, down bad and in denial. and i fucking love him. i so fuckin do.

[petziez]

Anh's design lineage is actually kind of fun bcus I had two incredibly solid inspirations floating around in my head at the time, that I knew had some Vibe between them but I couldn't put into words what. Literally these two images

The first Anh design based on these leaned a lot more toward my webtoon girl there visually than they ended up being. But I was like. Okay I guess I will make.... A disabled cowboy who smokes about it (who is a fish person for ttrpg reasons dont worry about it)

As I developed their personality I decided I really wanted to play around with typical ideas of cowboy machismo and cultural gender expression ?? As well as that western trope of like.. religious cowboy, who knows they're going to hell but prays anyway. Our rural setting in our ttrpg is based on rural Vietnam specifically so I wanted to like. Make sure they were Vietnamese basically, if they're, as a cowboy, supposed to be from a rural area. They ended up becoming more masc, I suppose. More angular in the face for sure lol

So their main themes were just

-disability

-gender expression (based on ideas of the cowboy myth and traditional vietnamese family roles)

-religious trauma

And after that I just made up background stuff that made all of that connect with each other ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[runebears]

sorry im just thinking about bcs but like. why not add a few smaller scenes of gus interacting with his own men? why does it seem like, in comparison, mike is almost immediately elevated to a higher status than those two in bcs purely because we actually get to see him having normal conversations with gus? like i understand they might not keep the plot moving as well because of the fact obviously if victor is currently doing something it’s because gus told him to etc. but for the most part all of the smaller interactions gus does have with those two ends up being in a somewhat high stress situation where it feels very tense between everyone. and it’s just like damn! is it always like that?? why do those two even care that much about their jobs if their boss is a bit of a dick? etc. i think even an additional scene or two with those guys (either alone or the both of them) talking with gus in a more normal situation could’ve both added a bit more depth into how gus treats his employees (we got a lot with how he treats lyle and co., but not a whole lot with the illegal side of things), how comfortable vic and tyrus feel around him in a calmer setting, and exactly why they both feel the need to be as loyal as they are to the guy.

and also on the other side of this i don't think it'd hurt to maybe elaborate on their pay just a bit..? i'm not saying to randomly put a number out into the atmosphere but i just mean some smaller things like. do they buy nicer things for themselves? what's their housing situation? what's their car situation? are the escalade / yukon their own vehicles or does gus just use those two for business situations? do they use them when they're doing their own stuff off the clock or do they have their own cars? etc. that can also help with understanding their motivations a bit. don't get me wrong i don't think they should be visibly rich or something because that's not what gus would want but just smaller things! cause it's easy to write their loyalty off as Well they probably get paid super well, which i'm sure is true, but if they don't show a single hint of that then what's the point. even something as simple as giving tyrus a nice watch, or maybe victor having a nicer looking gun, etc. something small like that. because as it stands right now the average 41 year old viewer who watched the show once only knows and will only ever know victor and tyrus as those two guys in the background who do random stuff for gus with no clear motivation. just the personification of "On it boss (salute emoji)". and to be honest this is true for a whole lot of fans who do watch the show multiple times and enjoy thinking about it more in depth, because on screen we barely have anything about the two.

and to be clear i'm not trying to say we should have an episode just for them or something like no i understand they're side characters. i understand we don't need all that. and i understand this is also primarily Jimmy's show. but it's not like these two are on the same level as like, arlo or paige and kevin etc. these guys have been around since brba. victor was literally introduced in the same episode gus was. and they are a huge part of gus's story, especially in brba. s4 wouldn't have been what it was without victor and tyrus. and in bcs, ignacio's situation wouldn't have been the same if it weren't for victor and tyrus as well. and i just personally believe that if their goal with gus in bcs was to go back and elaborate on how everything came to be and show what he was like a few years younger, they could've dragged victor and tyrus into that. and i think his character would've benefited from taking that extra step with those two.

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

I want to thank Misha Collins for inspiring me to do things that, for legal reasons, I cannot disclose online

and no, this is not a joke. Misha, through GISH especially, showed me not just the power of art-as-activism, but what creative modes function best in that setting, and how to organize and lead such efforts.

what I've done with that knowledge, again, would be legally dangerous to admit online

but I'm so happy I know how to do it. I've become a leader in my community, and a supporter of large and powerful movements.

specifically, those spaces know me as an artist. an artist with endless and diverse creative ideas, who knows no fear, takes no shit and is especially good at resistance and point-making via "funny" and lighthearted art.

would Misha approve of what I'm doing?

most likely, FUCK no he wouldn't

he's made himself damn clear where he stands on this stuff, even via silence alone

but I have him to thank anyway.

[chaoticcandies1]

for the most part no one wants to be seen as a fate fan bc of *that* side of the content and the fandom, but it’s becoming less and less common i think. i’ve seen some new people floating around and it’s pretty easy to weed out the weirdos.

some people will shy away from a blog they generally like if they post work for a couple other fandoms they’re not into. but some people will also scope out a person’s art, maybe like it to keep tabs, then come back in a couple of weeks to see if they’ve made any more stuff they can vibe with. you can’t know the full extent of influence behind every note you get, but you can at least assume it’s because that many people were positively impacted by seeing your work.

honestly my best advice is don’t take it to heart. i’ve been trying and failing to get my art out there for years and my numbers have always flopped. my average amount of notes/likes for the longest time was about 2, and not to be immodest but my art is pretty decent. for a while i was stuck in a depressing loop of deleting and recreating blogs to try to reach anyone. it doesn’t do you (or your attitude/improvement with art for that matter) any good to dwell on engagement. sure it’s necessary to an extent in terms of building a career if that’s what you’re going for, but letting it get to you on a personal level will only make you hate art and the fandoms you love. there will always be room to grow, so putting too much focus on it will always be an unfair ultimatum. passion for anything mixed with reliance on what others think about it to be happy with yourself is just a bad idea altogether. just try to have fun and remind yourself to do things for you.

yeaaaah i agree.

tbh it used to hit me a lot worse, personally, with certain posts and whatnot (it was before i really got into fate iirc). nowadays i try to tag my stuff, post, and dip before kinda. paying a little too much attention to the numbers at times (not all the time though, sometimes i just go do other shit).

tbh it also doesnt help that sometimes i do look at people with big numbers and go... damn wish that was me. that kind of position also kind of puts you at like. more ''risk" i guess if i could call it that for fucking up, but eh. brain weird. at the end of the day i do try to just draw for my own sake/entertainment (as somewhat evidenced by all my mastersona stuff that's been piling up lol)

anyway. thanks anon for taking the time out of your day and reading + responding to what i posted. it really does mean a lot to have someone acknowledging that hahah

[gailhai1storm]

may i have some peterachilles thoughts/headcanons/anything 🥺

The fact that I havent read all the books that have them as central characters makes. this a bit hard, like I have thoughts but its hard to speak on a lot of it.

So im going togive you my thoughts on both of them just in stream of consciousness cause that will probably work better.

Ok so Achilles is so fucking facinating to me, cause he is absolutely masterminding things and plotting but I get the distinct feeling that he actually does overestimate people

there is hubris there but he truly thinks people are also plotting against him and thinking the same way he is, while also understanding that he is better at it than them.

I find this fucking hillariouse to put againct Peter who first off knows that Achilles could fucking destroy him and probably is trying to and is smarter than him. But Peter also has this odd confidence in himself and what he is doing that I find so utterly fascinating. I actually know someone a lot like peter and just that deep knowledge that you are missing something pared with hubris is facinating.

Thats the main place (from what ive read) that I get the ship from. It makes the trust Peter has make more sense. He wants to give Achilles freedom, and shiney things, because he enjoys him. He trusts him, but at the same time he cant.

I always imagine both of them just so paranoid about the other, Achilles more than Peter, cause peter has confidence in a way Achilles doesn't. Achilles does not understand kindness, not really.

Its part of what makes there dinamic to intesting,

Achilles wouldnt understand the kindness a first, wouldn't understand that this is admeration not pitty or groveling

cause Peter does not view Achilles as greater than him, but his equal his match, they challenge each other.

I picture them in a spiral, thinking their thoughts, pulling and pushing but perpetually funneled together and into the same place around and around.

They are infatuated with each other, and it tastes like medium rare steak, their relationship, sweat, and full, but you can still just almost taste the blood.

They are vile and put each other through the ringer but at the end of the day they love the others mind, the others drive, and they end up needing each other.

because to loose your match is to loose yourself.

[buildingunderstanding]

Me, reading before bed: I don't think I know how to recognize what it feels like "put my heart into" things because I struggle to recognize most positive emotions since I dissociate so much by default and kind of just passively exist in life. Passivity is my default state and it blocks me from experiencing and feeling things.

Loki, fully aware of the dissociative disorder and trauma this all stems from because we've had this conversation before: Yup. Let's maybe hold onto the realization this time, shall we?

[rosemirmir]

Gotchard Spoilers and Theories in a stream of consciousness under the cut

Getting feral over reading the rising fighter English lyrics and connecting potential dots in my head.

The uses of both fire, tomorrow and future, in the lyrics makes me very 👀 since daybreak gotchard is now in the show and looks to be a prominent part of this arc.

Some snippets that have really got my attention:

I was born into this world for a reason When you’re alive you can get the good and the bad Go beyond yesterday Go change the world Ready, go push your heart forward Stand up and take action Move on and look forward Going on until it burns out, let's go Don't stop, it's not over yet No one is truly alone Now is the time to fight

I think the entire opening chorus is worth mentioning, since I feel it describes Hotaro's overall attitude pretty well.

How he's willing to keep on going for his dreams, what he would call his "gotcha!", and pushing through and never giving up along the way. As well as fighting alongside those beside him.

Get it on Gotchard Gotchard Gotchard Burning Fire Gotchard Gotchard Gotchard Shining Future

This part of the chorus really is interesting to look at now given the existence of Gotchard Daybreak looking at this has me thinking as I've been listening to this on repeat since the full version dropped:

Gotchard Daybreak might be Hotaro from the future?

Either that, or some other alchemist from the future. (And there's a lot of possibilities there if it's not a future!Hotaro.)

But even if he is or not, given his one quote about Hotaro grasping the future into his own hands, my guess I he might have come from a future and is trying to make Hotaro change something that must have happened from his time period.

Whoever this is, he has come to steer Hotaro to the right course and help him overcome whatever weaknesses he is still currently dealing with, and finding himself more in general.

He's stronger than he was at the start of the show, but Hotaro definitely still has much more growing he needs to do. Which was also shown in this episode.

Something I've been taking note of is a general theme in Gotchard that looks to be shaping up thus far is: Taking charge of your own future, with your own hands.

Which we can also see parts of this theme present in how Rinne's arc looks to be shaping up. I think even Spanner might potentially get a taste of this theme too...

(Though it's still a bit too soon for me to say with any confidence. We're only now beginning to get more looks into him since his mentor is now part of the picture.)

And I think the lyrics in this song really reflect that theme of grasping the future too.

[hjemne]

(Gay bear flag anon) I’m stupider than anything because after realizing your pfp wasn’t the gay bear flag I was like. Ah yes the beach in the evening. Except it’s not it’s Wolfwood having a smoke sitting on a crate. Which is excellent btw. And your vibe is immaculate don’t worry

Sjfjsjskd the possible interpretations of art are as limitless as the night sky and this is most definitely a vibes-based pic, especially when squashed down to half a centimetre

It's not a very recognisable picture of Wolfwood I don't think & tbh (especially when it's so small on my phone screen) it's kinda like abstract art to me too lol. I had a pic of WW from the manga which I thought worked better as visually legible pfp but I used that for my alt account so I landed on this instead

[watery-melon-baller]

whoooooos willing to go into the toh discord server and plop my silly little fandom survey in there because im too much of a pussy to do it myself <3