#i guess the best way to describe it would be like...

[connor-123-idk]

I think dream Riddle is alt (maybe grouge but as far as I understand it's more of a thrifting and making use of things or also a bit rudely described "trashy" imo his clothes seems like almost brand new clothes)

Definitely with the choker alt but almost like 2020/21/23 alt I can definitely see all (except the coat) of those clothes being sold in stores because of what was popular with teens and young adults

I dont think so.

The word Alt is straight up just Alternative, which can be just umbrella term for multiple outfit styles

2020 Alt according to definition: ,,is a culmination of trends that became popular during quarantine. Initially popularized on TikTok, it later spread to platforms like Pinterest and Discord. Key influences include anime, hyperpop music, energy drinks, gaming, and online culture, blending elements from goth, scene, Y2K, Glitchcore and other digital subcultures." (Aesthetic Fandom Wiki)

The more I look at Riddle, the more I dont see it

2021 Alt is basically the same, from what I see

And I couldnt find anything about 2023 Alt, so I dunno if its a niche of the internet I havent seen yet or a completly new term

As I said Alt (Alternative) is an umbrella term for most alternative styles in which we can count emo, scene, goth (those are examples btw)

In my very honest opinion Dream Riddle is Visual Key, in this essey I will prove it

First of, lets check some Visual Kei windows

Eccentric make up? Checked

Breaking gender norms? He does look feminine... Checked!

Eccentric hairstyle? Thats also checked

Vkei was a movement between Japanese musical artists, which would agree with most of stuff. TWST is like a Japanese game, so it's more probable for them to make a Japanese clothing. Riddle in dream is part of the musical band, which if we want it or not, makes him a music artist (in one way or another)

Vkei is about expressing oneself through clothes and songs, and about breaking gender norms, which I think fits

Now... Why I dont think he's a punk, because I also wanted to include that...

Many people are comparing Punk to Goth, since its not really about the style of dressing itself, but about music and political views, which for Punk its more the second

,,But why Ace calls Riddle ,,punky""

First of: Do we really trust ACE with fashion?

Second of: Punk is often use as a derogatory term: ,,Initially, the term punk meant “prostitute”, but over time became to mean: young male hustler, hoodlum, ruffian" (Dictionary)

As much as there is NO exact code of how Punks dress, majority of them agree on some things, like DIY fashion. They dont support big corporations, and they do their clothes, or buy them from small business, and by small business I mean one person does handmade clothing and sells that online or in street

The point of punk clothing was ATTENTION (especially in 70). Their whole point was fighting for equality in system, and they were doing this by clothes, music and other things. Punk clothes back in 70' and 80' had lots of controversial accesories which was fashion way of yelling ,,IM FUCKING HERE AND I DONT LIKE THIS WORLD"

And thats amazing

Punks viewpoints are mostly: individual liberty, anti-authoritarianism, a DIY ethic (which I mentioned earlier), non-conformity, anti-corporatism, anti-government, direct action, and not "selling out". There are different types of punks, sure - some of them believe in anarchy, and some in white supremacy (which is bad)

But the idea stays the same

I know Disney can get really political about some stuff, but this time I dont think thats the case

Dream Riddle is more about self expression and personal freedom, and sure it checks some punk windows, but so many different styles

(Also dont get me wrong, but those clothes look expensive as FU-)

What Im trying to say, Dream Riddle is not punk and you will not tell me he is, my best guess is Vkei, but this is the closest thing I got

Normally I dont get into discussions like that, but someone had to say that

Please tell me if I got something wrong

[the-spooky-children]

Can't stop thinking about unhealthy co-dependent teen!fireskulls..

[ryllen]

Was giving these analysis a read [ x , x , x , x ]

[saintianthe]

Quite envious of those who are more compassionate and kind and overall better people than me but oh well everyone is meant to carry a cross may the lord forgive me

[illdothehotvoice]

No one ever talks about hemiplegic migraines and how much they suck and ESPECIALLY no one ever talks about how much your head hurts THE NEXT DAY king my head felt FINE when I went to bed let me LIVE

[flythesail]

I was just rereading the short stories I wrote for workshop in college and it's weirdddddd because they're not bad, but also... I would NOT write that now

[bigender2]

as long as marsh doesnt give me a 300mg gummy tmrw i should be good thumbs up

[thedndgoblinwholivesinyourwalls]

If nobody hears me all day its cuz its the last day of the year for me!!! festival day festival dayy

[phenixfarts]

does anyone remember the oc artist ask memes?

the ones were the questions were like: "oldest oc?", "most drawn oc?", "newest oc?"

or something a long those lines?

[skitskatdacat63]

OHMYGOOOOOODDD CATIE YOUR LITTLE DOODLE ART OF BOY KING LIL SEB ITS GORGUS!!!! CANT WAIT FOR THE MORE HEADCANONS PLEASE DRAW MORE ITS BEAUTIFUL!!!!<3333

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH THANK YOU ELLE!!!!!!! 💕💕💕💕 HE IS MY PRETTY BOY 🤭 THANK YOU FOR INDULGING MY NICHE AUs 💕

I would like to draw a lot more :D I think it's a lot of fun to look at historical eras and try to make parallels and connections!(either through my OCs or my F1 boys) But god, when I look at old paintings for ref, the level of detail in the clothing is a bit scary... but I still think it's very interesting to do research into it and design it :)

Bit of historical rambling:

I said in the tags that this AU could really only be Vettonso, and I will explain why. I mean obviously at first, I was only comparing that statue to Seb because uhhhh he looks like Seb!!! But I researched a bit more into that era and guess what's happening at this point: The Spanish War of Succession. Which was when the Spanish Throne was up for grabs, and the two main candidates were a Spanish Duke and an Austrian heir to the Holy Roman Empire. See where I'm going with this?

But the Spanish Duke ends up getting the throne, rightfully, but the Austrian ends up becoming the Holy Roman Emperor even though he wasn't first in line, so who really won in the end!

Lmao I think this AU would end up being: well, guess how we can reunite the Austrian and Spanish bloodlines again....arranged marriage plot!! Canon Divergence in both the matters of them being replaced with Vettonso and also with the war not happening

God help me, I read way too much about the Habsburgs, I blame my trip to Austria 🤧 My German prof, who is from there, always seems kinda proud of the history so I wonder what he'd think if he knew I was looking into it this much....and bastardizing it

[traumacatholic]

why do you want to leave Catholicism?

It was never about wanting to leave Catholicism, I didn't, and in a lot of ways I still don't. There was a time in the past, when I considered Orthodoxy and I kind of pushed it to the side. Because it wasn't something I wanted to do. I guess it's hard to explain, maybe someone on a similar path of converting from one denomination to another or from one faith to another might be able to relate in some ways.

[I'm going to put this under a readmore because it's long]

Catholicism was and is very dear to me. When I was in the Intensive Care Unit, it was a Catholic Priest delivering the Last Rites to someone across from me that really got me seriously thinking about the faith. I remember one night when I watched my first ever Mass which was being streamed, crying at the Sermon the Priest gave about how no matter where we are, we are never alone or isolated because the Body of Christ is always there for us. That no matter where we are, no matter our situation, that people are praying for us. That we never pray in isolation.

And when I first started attending Mass, it was like my first time I ever really felt happy. The year prior, I had been struggling intensely with depression and suicidal thoughts. I spent most nights of the week getting myself black out drunk, depressed and alone in my bedroom. I was sexually assaulted. I lost what little friends I had. And then in my second year of university, when I started attending the Mass I felt light. All of those burdens were taken off of me. It felt meaningful that the first Church I would start attending would be dedicated to Saint Raphael - the Medicine of God.

But the longer I was in the faith, the more I clashed with it. My experience in RCIA wasn't positive. I was the only person there that wasn't brought up in the Catholic faith, so everything was geared towards those that had been in the faith. My questions were often overlooked or just brushed away. Whenever I expressed difficulties I was having, these would also be brushed away. This wasn't helped by the fact that I was in an abusive relationship with someone that hated God and Christianity. Over the time of the relationship, I grew more and more anxious about attending Church. To the point I stopped attending, stopped praying. What little interactions I had with God I felt intensely guilty over. I eventually left that relationship. But that time away from the Church really hurt me. And trying to reconnect with the faith was difficult too. I reached out to Priests (I was living in a new area now, so I couldn't attend my old Church). And I was largely ignored when I asked for help or guidance in returning to the faith. The one Priest that did speak to me, downplayed a lot of my experiences and struggles.

Every time I attended the Mass, I was just feeling empty inside. I was overwhelmed with anxieties about everything. But it was the hollowness that was the hardest to grapple with. I struggled for a long time feeling like God had closed the doors to me because I had abandoned Him to remain in the abusive relationship. I reached out to nuns for advice, because they were easier to get in contact with than any of the local Priests. But they couldn't be of much support to me either, it wasn't their role - I don't hold it against them. But by and large the advice was always just 'go to Mass and things will get better eventually'. But the more I did manage to attend Mass, the hollower and more anxious about the faith I became.

My time with this blog led me to reading more about the faith, and this led to me reading about the Church Fathers and the early Church. And every time I read about the early Church, I felt like I was reading about the Orthodox faith. And as I encountered Orthodox theological arguments, I felt a resonation with them. And I also felt deeply guilty about it. I felt like I was betraying the faith, I felt like I was betraying God, the Saints, and I pushed it away. I tried focusing on other aspects of Catholicism, but I always felt a deep anxiety about what I was doing. That I could never really grapple with. I went to Mass and would pray for God to guide me. But I didn't know how to actually open myself up to that guidance. I would leave the Mass feeling hollow. I was intensely anxious about everything.

I attended a Ukrainian Catholic Divine Liturgy with a friend from Twitter, hoping that perhaps I could find some relief in the Eastern Rite. But I didn't. I still felt empty, and so very distant from God. He was an Orthodox Christian, and he began attending Church regularly again. Meanwhile I kind of just spiralled. I wasn't in a great place mentally, I didn't have the energy to grapple with these things. I kind of went back to a weird place where I'd attend a Mass here and there, my prayer life would fluctuate. Sometimes I was completely dead to the faith.

Then when I moved to the new city that I'm in just now. All of those feelings about Orthodoxy came back in an almost suffocating way. I couldn't not see things about Orthodoxy, I couldn't not see arguments for the Orthodox Church. I couldn't deny that I kept feeling like I was being pulled towards the Orthodox Church. When I spoke about considering Orthodoxy, the guy that I attended the Ukrainian Catholic Liturgy with reached out to me - we hadn't spoken in years by this point. He lives close to the city I'm in, and attends the Orthodox Church here. In a lot of ways I accidentally arranged for there to be someone to welcome me into the Orthodox Church. Well, not my doing, but God's plan. In a lot of ways, it's this bit that really speaks to me a lot. All it took was one night of me feeling completely hopeless, and just firing off a twitter dm to a complete stranger at that point, and it really impacted me in the future when I needed it to.

All I can really describe is that first Orthodox Liturgy I attended felt like the fulfilment of everything I had been searching for. Everything I had been grappling for. And this feeling doesn't go away for me. In so many Sermons, it feels like the Priest has somehow written his Sermon just for me. How much it resonates with me, how much it comforts and strengthens me and speaks to the position I'm at in life. I feel the closeness and the comfort of Orthodox Saints in my life. I would be much worse off if it weren't for the help of people at the Orthodox Church I attend, that so freely gave me a spare room, or some money, or their prayers. I have a Priest that will actually answer emails, that is involved in the community. That there is a Church community that I never experienced at any of the Catholic Churches I attended.

I don't think my answer is going to be particularly satisfying for other people. I didn't wake up one day with a theological disagreement with X or Y aspect of the Church. Overtime, I just became more and more filled with the feeling that this was not where I was meant to be. I was so lost and miserable and lonely and in pain as a Catholic and the more I tried to reach out for guidance and support, the lonelier and more miserable I became. And while I do still feel these things in the Orthodox Church, what I can say is that I feel like this is where God has led me to be. That everything in my life exploded as soon as I began attending the Orthodox Church, but there was something empowering about the Liturgy that held me even through those days and nights where everything was so painful and hopeless. That as much as I would cry myself to sleep with pains about being homeless, the breakdown of a relationship, I always found myself going to the Liturgy. And feeling strengthened by it, even for a moment.

In short, I feel happier in Orthodoxy than I ever did in the Catholic faith. And I feel like my faith is connected to my neighbours in a way that it never was in Catholicism. That there is actual community for me here. That the faith is alive for me here in a way in which it wasn't in Catholicism.

[friendofthecrows]

Wish I had more of that stereotypical "refined genius psychopath mystery villain" vibes and less "dysfunctional no sleep cycle can't tell when/if they have emotions traumatized mess doesn't feel like a human paranoid future true crime psychopath" vibes. So that was word salad. Moving on.

[zebrashork]

This is by far my favorite reaction that one of my friends had to me using neopronouns

[rosielav]

Wishing desperately I could be normal about people I enjoy

[andthebubbles]

i am soooo obsessed with bridgerton s2 rn and that combined with some bad takes i’ve seen on seb and f1 lately is just... kinda pushing me away from all that...

i do wonder if i’m more into bridgerton s2 than i ever was with rop, but i suppose time will tell wrt longevity and stuff

my faves from bridgerton are (in some order!): anthony, benedict, penelope, kate :3 

[cheayay]

Fuck.. now who's going to give me validation for my writing?