#i might have to make several posts explaining everything and my very strong opinions on this show

[aesethewitch]

Ghosts 101

Spirit work has always been the ultimate base of my spiritual and magical practices. Some of my earliest clear memories are of encounters with spirits, and I’ve always had a talent for sensing them. In a horror movie setting, I’d be that person who gets the weird feeling in the hallway right before all the doors slam shut at once, feeling the shift in the air before whatever ghoul’s around makes its mischief.

I mention this right out of the gate so that you, the reader, know that most of what I know about ghosts (and spirits in general) comes from personal experience. Not books, not videos, not other people’s work. There’s a lot of UPG in this little essay. Just keep that in mind as you read.

If there’s something you disagree with or have different experiences with, I’m not surprised! Everything in the realm of spirits, including ghosts, can really only be theorized about. Disagreeing opinions, experiences, and theories are very, very welcome. Drop ‘em in the replies, reblogs, or my inbox. Or, if you want, make a post of your own and tag me in it. I want to see them!

Anyways, with that lengthy UPG disclaimer out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff.

What is a Ghost?

I think it’s important to note, though kind of obvious, that ghosts are a sub-category of spirit. All ghosts are spirits, but not all spirits are ghosts. But what is a ghost, exactly?

As with most things, theories differ. In general, ghosts are thought to be… well, dead people. Some folks think that ghosts are the soul, essence, or spirit of a person who has died. Others believe that ghosts are just a fragment of a person’s spirit. But I’ve also seen theories stating that ghosts aren’t really ghosts, they’re echoes or imprints of human energy that once existed in a place.

Then, there are folks who think ghosts don’t exist at all. I can’t really blame them; empirical, repeatable proof of ghosts is tough to get in order to be satisfying in a scientific way. The only reason I personally believe in ghosts is because I’ve had several encounters that can’t otherwise be explained. Plus, for me, it goes hand-in-hand with other types of spirit work. Ghosts being real just makes sense with the framework I use to engage with the world.

So, obviously, there isn’t one single, concrete answer as to what a ghost is. We can only theorize.

My Theories

My personal theory aligns more or less with one of the more common theories. I think that ghosts are the lingering spirits of living beings who have died. Note I say living beings — some people think that only humans can become ghosts, but I think that any living thing can become one. In the case of plants and trees, ghosts behave somewhat differently than animals; but that’s a whole other conversation to be had. For the sake of this post, I plan on focusing mainly on human ghosts.

The way I understand it, ghosts are the whole, complete essence of a person that lingers in the physical realm for a time after their physical body no longer functions. I believe there are also energetic imprints — energy left over from the living, often (but not always) caused and fueled by strong emotions and lingering ties of memory in a place. These imprints can seem like a haunting, but the key difference is that they aren’t sentient. They may echo when you call, but they won’t give answers that are intelligent or timely according to questions asked or stimulus provided by the living. Sort of like recording a ringing bell; playing the bell’s chime back doesn’t ring the bell again. It just plays the sound it knows.

Now, death does funny things to the mind. Depending on the circumstances of the death, a ghost might have full awareness that they were alive, have died, and are now a ghost. I find this is most common for people who died of old age and long-term diseases: people who knew they were nearing the end, for one reason or another.

Ghosts formed from more sudden deaths, on the other hand, are likelier to not know what happened. They may figure it out given time, or they may never learn the truth. As with most other things dealing with individuals, the exact circumstances vary. No two ghosts are exactly the same. Some people don’t become ghosts at all, I’ve found! They simply move on.

Another important aspect of my theories on ghosts is that I think they fade. Unless they’re continually tied to a space, fed a steady supply of energy, and purposely kept in the physical realm, I believe that they can’t sustain a form here. Without a physical body to keep the spirit, soul, consciousness, or whatever we are, a ghost is gradually pulled into the more ethereal side of things. The astral plane, the other side, the afterlife, et cetera; I’m not sure, personally, where they end up. Maybe it depends on what they were attached to in life, maybe it doesn’t. Who knows!

I think this is where I draw the distinction between ghosts and ancestor spirits. “Ancestor spirits,” in my practice, aren’t individual people from my past. Rather, they’re a sort of collective consciousness made up of all the people who came before me who are connected to me through familial, cultural, and blood ties. I like to believe that ghosts become part of that collective when they fade out of the physical world. All this is to say, ghosts are just people who are dead. They won’t be around forever unless they’re bound and kept “fed.”

On Hauntings

The first half of the things everyone wants to know is: How do we know when a ghost is actually present? It’s a good question, one that’s hotly debated in ghost hunting circles. For the sake of argument, I think we need to define the word haunting first.

To be clear, a haunting isn’t just when a ghost is present. A ghost just passing through or lingering for a little while doesn’t necessarily make a haunting. That would be better described as a presence. A haunting, in my opinion, is a long-term, sustained presence of a ghost or imprint.

And the first step to dealing with a haunting is to determine whether the place you’re in is actually haunted. You don’t have to have super sensitive psychic powers to detect the presence of ghosts. Some folks might have an easier time of it than others, but anyone can learn how to discern when a ghost is hanging around.

It’s important to note that commonly-reported signs of ghost presences and hauntings are also symptoms of other issues like mold, electrical issues, pressure changes, carbon monoxide, stress and anxiety, noisy neighbors, animals outside or in the walls (including bugs), sleep apnea or insomnia, and more. It’s important to consider mundane reasons before leaping to magical, spiritual, or ghostly ones.

With that in mind, let’s say that you’ve ruled out all the mundane possibilities, and you’re still left wondering whether that place is capital-H Haunted. How can you tell?

In my experience, there are a few signs that will stick out:

Disembodied sounds, such as voices, knocking, and walking

A pervasive chill or prickling feeling, particularly on parts of the body that are covered

A feeling of being touched, poked, or prodded

Visual disturbances like mist or shadows

Sudden smells that can’t be explained, such as perfume, tobacco, or food

Batteries in things like phones and cameras draining very quickly

Now, note that even with these signs, a lot of these things can happen with spirits that aren’t ghosts. The only way to know for absolutely sure that you’re dealing with a ghost and not a mischievous, physical-realm-poking non-human spirit is to make contact and ask.

My fellow sensitive individuals may experience other signs during a haunting. Depending on where your abilities lie, you might experience stronger sensations or detect signs of a haunting earlier than others who haven’t trained these senses.

What Causes a Haunting?

It’s hard to say. Some people (particularly ghost hunters with big TV shows who need to make those viewer numbers go up) say that ghosts stick around because they’re pissed off or had some tragedy befall them in life. Trauma ties them to their surroundings, trapping them between life and death as a specter, or something like that.

Honestly, all that tells me is that these guys are trying to sell you something (their show). I’ve met maybe two ghosts that were like that, and they had extremely good reasons for it. That’s not to say there aren’t traumatized ghosts out there; just that they aren’t nearly as common or the only explanation for a haunting.

I’m personally not sure what causes some ghosts to linger over others. I think it does partly have to do with emotion, but it may also have to do with the amount of energy the person had left when they died. For example, the ghost of my great-aunt faded within a couple weeks after she died, because she was old, tired, and ready. On the other hand, the ghost of a guy I went to school with who died in an accident a few years ago is still lingering on the train tracks where it happened. It’s an extremely individual thing.

Another part of lingering ghosts and hauntings, I think, is interaction with the living. Without a physical body, the ghost has no native source of energy. Part of working with ghosts, for me, has been learning how to share energy (mine or from other sources) with ghosts to help them communicate, interact, and continue existing. When the energy runs out, they fade. With a steady supply of energy sources, a ghost could theoretically haunt a place indefinitely.

So, what causes a haunting? I don’t really know for sure! What causes a haunting to linger? A steady source of energy, I think.

Making Contact

So, you want to talk to a ghost. Cool! You’ve got a ton of options at your disposal.

There are the witch-typical methods of spirit communication, most of which would work fairly well for talking to ghosts. I’ve talked a little bit about spirit communication methods before in a more general sense, but I find that ghosts don’t always respond well to divination.

In my experience, simpler tools are better. Unless I knew for a fact that a person understood tarot in life, I would be unlikely to use it to talk to their ghost. Tools you can easily explain that provide clear answers would likely serve you best for most ghosts. My biggest suggestions are pendulums, which are easy for ghosts to understand and manipulate, and ouija boards. Yes, yes, I can hear the gasping and booing already.

Listen. Ouija boards are not evil. Ouija is a game. But talking boards really are good tools for talking to ghosts. Again, they’re easy to understand and manipulate. Plus, you can get really clear answers from a talking board if your ghost is chatty.

There are other tools that have been popularized by ghost hunters that may come in handy, too. Personally, I’ve had success with voice recorders catching EVP (electronic voice phenomena) and, on one notable occasion, a ghost box.

Honestly, I’ve had little use for tools like these outside of ghost hunting scenarios where we’re trying to prove ghosts’ existence in a scientific sense. Voice recorders catching wisps of voice in the background are super cool, and I definitely would suggest having one on hand when doing a ghost adventure. But they’re not great for in the moment communication, since you have to stop a recording to listen back to it and then react who knows how long later.

Where ghost boxes are concerned, I’ve only had the one opportunity to try it out. We were in a location I knew to be haunted thanks to previous visits, and it did seem to work okay. I’d like to try it again sometime to see if it was just a fluke or if it’s an actual, viable thing to use. With any tool commonly used in ghost hunting TV shows (or that’s otherwise Popular By Spectacle), I always approach with serious skepticism. Those shows are all about creating a reaction that can be captured; and when they don’t receive a response, they’re liable to make shit up for the cameras. It’s annoying, especially when a tool might really be useful but it’s shrouded in the very necessary skepticism around these shows.

Now, my personal go-to method to connect to ghosts is to just… talk to them. I don’t usually need to use any tools for it. But I’ve spent many, many, many years honing the skills needed to do this. It’s worth learning how to do if you plan on working with spirits, but it does take effort to get good at, even if you have an innate talent for it. If you can, take some time to develop a sense for spirits. Learn what spiritual presences feel like for you. You may not get immediate results at first, but the skill of sensing energy can apply across the board. And even if you get no “real” response, you can still talk to the ghosts.

When you go to communicate with a ghost, just remember that they’re still a person. They’re not a spectacle, though they are fascinating. Not all ghosts are going to want to talk to you. Not all ghosts are going to like you. Be respectful. Treat that ghost like you’d treat any stranger out in the wild. Don’t be an asshole.

On Mediumship

This is mostly just a brief note, since it’s an adjacent topic that I’ve gotten questions about before.

Not everyone who talks to or works with ghosts is a medium. A medium is a particular career or path that describes someone who acts as a connector between the living and the dead. I tend to think of mediums as the telephone in a conversation — relaying messages back and forth. I used to do medium work all the time. It’s an exhausting path that requires a lot of self-discipline and solid boundaries dealing with both the living and the dead. I don’t do it anymore, though I do still communicate and work with ghosts regularly.

Just keep in mind that you don’t have to take on the title or mantle of “medium” in order to talk to, work with, or research ghosts.

Ghostly Q&A

I received a handful of questions about ghosts in the run up to posting this; thank you everyone who sent in a question! If you’ve got a question and want my perspective on it, feel free to drop it in my inbox or in the replies/reblogs of this post.

From @moonmargaritas: “How do you tell the difference between nervousness at discerning the presence of a ghost (new practitioner who still gets jitters 🤙) and sensing actual hostile intent?”

This is a really great question! This is something I had to work through myself when I got started. And honestly, I still get jitters sometimes many years later! It can be scary, even when you’re used to it.

The biggest piece of advice I have is to learn how your body experiences nervousness or anxiety. Where does that sit in your body? What kind of feelings to you experience?

For me, nervousness is a sort of itchy tingling around my shoulders and tightness around my ribs. It also manifests as the feeling of being watched or observed too closely. It’s easy to misattribute those feelings to a ghost’s presence — tingling and feeling like something’s watching? Those are classic ghost interactions! But I know that’s what anxiety feels like. That’s how I feel when the lights go out too fast or I hear a branch snap in the distance.

Once you know, you can work past those feelings and focus on what’s actually happening with the ghost (or spirit). I think of it like knowing when someone’s mad at me. Are they mad, or am I just anxious? It’s the same idea.

And, as a note, ghosts with hostile intent are few and far between. I personally don’t think that most ghosts, even the nastiest ghosts, can actually hurt you; they don’t have the energy resources for it. The ones that do are obvious, and you won't really have to question their intentions. However, you can always work with the communication methods mentioned above to determine the ghost’s feelings and intents. If you’re worried about negative interactions, a bit of salt and rosemary in a little pouch placed in your pocket goes a long way for protection.

From anonymous: “What’s an unusual way people could use to communicate with spirits? Like an expected divination tool or something we should pay more attention to.”

Hmmmm! Honestly, I think that classic, actual call and response is underrated specifically when it comes to ghosts. Yeah, we’ve all seen the Ghost TV Guys call out for a knock or a word or whatever, but when they get a response, they wig out and don’t do anything with it. It’s annoying!! Because genuinely, saying “tap once for yes, twice for no” and asking questions is a really, really solid way to communicate with a ghost when you have no other tools that will work on hand. I’ve had ghosts lead me to important places and objects within houses doing this. I think more people should give it a try without falling prey to the over-the-top reaction of “DID YOU HEAR THAT?!”

From anonymous: What advice would you give someone dealing with a haunting?

For a run-of-the-mill, regular old haunting? Let it run its course. Most hauntings, when left alone, will fade. However, if you’re inclined to talk to the ghost(s), get them to leave quicker, or get them to be less intrusive in your life, there are a few things you could do.

To talk to them, choose a method of communication and try to reach out like I described above. Get to know them if you can, and set some ground rules. If they won’t (or can’t) communicate with you, and you really want them gone, I would probably recommend a gentle banishing ritual. Something that doesn’t scream “get out” so much as kindly say, “It’s time to move on.”

Or, if you don’t want the ghost gone, just a little quieter at night or out of your bedroom, you could set up wards or activity-dampeners around specific spaces. Choose ingredients and spells that protect against unwanted spirits or just unwanted activity. Keep it activated all day long or just at night while you’re trying to sleep.

Thanks for Reading!

Posts like this are usually put on my Ko-Fi as exclusives first, but since the questions in this one came from Tumblr, I decided to post it in both places at once! (:

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If you've got Ghost Questions, shoot 'em my way! My inbox is open.

[julietasgf]

BOA TARDE/ NOITE / DIA 😈 Your approval of Ma Plinth and Mrs. Everdeen's analysis has given me the delulu power of Coriolanus

I'm no longer afraid to throw up my headcanons and I'm making my notes for an upcoming post about Sejanus and the academy kids I think he might have an interesting platonic relationship with (my victims are Lysistrata, Io Jasper, Persephone Price, and Plup Harrington hahaha don't freaked out about that last one. I swear I can explain; it's a complicated issue and I don't think they are friends but I can perfectly see their parents forcing them to talk and them having a terribly tense relationship😭 but well that's for another day). Before I ramble on let me just say that I love talking to you Juli 💖 How was your first day of school? -if you want to talk about it-. I hope everything went well and I want to reminder that you are amazing

Once we've cleared that up LET'S GET STARTED!!!

I think after many posts we've come to something of a coherent conclusion about the flaws and virtues affecting the film adaptation of TBOSAS (The Plinths, the academy students, the tributes and the games, etc). Conclusion that is good to remember is based solely on our opinions, conclusion born of our perspectives - in case anyone other than us reads this. I have seen the reblogs…

There are only a few loose ends left because your explanation of the importance of the space of enunciation from which Suzanne published TBOSAS and why she chose a character like Coriolanus to star in that book was chef kiss. You put very well in words how context cuts across media - and I think it's well intuited why it's not surprising then that TBOSAS movie in the current landscape is so apolitical.

I also agree that the stories Suzanne tells depend on small details that give the reader a broader perspective and nuance of the actions/emotions/circumstances of her characters and that when the film undoes or modifies these the story is severely affected and is one of the many factors that lead to the storytelling of Coriolanus and Sejanus for example being so different in intent and message than their book namesakes

The one thing I did want to say before I go talking about fics is that one advantage the movie had over the book when it came to humanizing the tributes is that it happens outside of Coriolanus' head. It makes a lot of sense that in the book excluding Lucy Gray -and that on occasion. Not to forget how LGB admits at one point that during the day even in front of Coryo she ACTS and at night she finds it almost impossible to hide her fear so we don't really see much of her real vulnerability-we know so little of the tributes on a personal level and they feel like flat characters since Coriolanus doesn't really see them as people.

Sometimes he sees flashes of their humanidad but stops himself from trying to humanize them -and when he has those flashes he himself says he's acting like Sejanus to stop himself, which I think has very strong implications, Snow actually killed his humanity when he killed Sejanus 😭-but the main point is that in the movie the tributes are freed from Snow's perspective and can be their own people.

And yes Coral I think was one of the best changes. And I'll continue the eternal campaign of please people. Read the book if you want to say something about LGB or Sejanus.

(Oh boi. Your comment about fandom proving THG-TBOSAS critics, I won't discuss it because its a lurid subject but I'll just say you are so right and sadly there are many examples cof cof rue cof cof cof).

About the fics:

Well. The BairdPlinth series was GREAT AND SO SAD, LGB and Sejanus are awesome but have the worst taste in men 🥺 although yay for fics centered around platonic relationships 🙏🙏🙏💖💖💖

With "And they called it puppy love" I discovered a couple of very curious things:

I had already read that fic but the curious thing is not that. But apparently THAT was the FIRST TBOSAS FIC I kept in my BOOKMARKS!!!!

Ma, it was a cruel recommendation /j not joke but im not complaining 🥺🥺🥺🥺 I enjoyed it but my heart is broke, I can't say anything else cry.

And we come to: Paralell lines.

I read the first chapter. I haven't read the second one yet. Partly due to lack of time, partly because I don't want to finish it. I've been rereading the first chapter every chance I get with absolute devotion.

My brain chemistry was also forever changed and when I finish it I know it will go on my list of tbosas fanfics that changed my LIFE

Speaking of that list… I've look for 3 fic of my list for you <3

I have to say that in TBOSAS I've read fics with very varied themes, more varied than I usually read -and when you see you end up writing an omegaverse because something in your head clicks with Dr. Gaul and ah- but I have a thing for stories that fill in gaps (pre canon, post canon and divergences from canon my beloved) so that's what you'll mostly find in the 3 chosen ones

Btw I hadn't thought about it before but I think I also have a love for fics where a character study is done over other things hahaha so you'll find that too.

1. out, damned spot

Summary:

You’re not real, he thought – thought it hard, and hoped that it would be enough to send Sejanus packing. You’re a morphling hallucination.

And Sejanus crossed his arms, one hip canted at an insolent angle, as if to say: afraid not, soldier. - Okey. Buddie you don't know how much this fic ALTERED THE CHEMISTRY OF MY BRAIN. 99% of my fanfics are inspired in one way or another by this one, and I consider it canon in my head.

2. odi et amo

Summary:

He knows Coryo would never admit to remembering the rose garden. - This one is narrated by Sejanus!!!! And it's pre canon TBOSAS, <3 it centers around a little school project that Coriolanus, Sejanus and Livia are assigned to do together and I won't say more because it would be spoiler only that it has a brilliant and shocking ending. I screamed when I read it

3. The Haunting of Coriolanus Snow

Summary:

He would act, as he always did, as if this were the only time he had ever dreamed of Lucy Gray Baird and Sejanus Plinth.

The flowers, though — those were new. And despite his best efforts to exorcise this night from his memory, he spent more nights afterward than he cared to admit thinking about what to make of them. -

SNOWBAIRDPLINTH FOR WIN!!! THE SYMBOLISM IN THIS ONE IS WONDERFUL, THERE ARE SO MANY DETAILS THAT ADD TO THE STORYTELLING and I love it.

But well there are the recommendations, hope you like them. Tell me what you think pls 👉👈

Now serious mode.

I have a little rant to do and I need to hear your thoughts but concerning that post about the department… let's please talk about how the Plinth's influence and power in the Capitol is overestimated. LOOK I'm not saying they don't have any but it's not as much as people think 😭.

I blame -as usual- Coriolanus' narrative for this confusion. I think it's obvious that Coriolanus grants an all powerful ability (they are able to buy their way out of any problem) to the Plinth for two issues: 1. At the end of the day he is also a dumb 18 year old teenager who was overprotected by Tigris, and doesn't have a very clear vision of the adult world and how it works (in fact that's a detail that I love and obsess about his conversation with Strabo; it makes very clear that Coriolanus despite all his manipulation shit, is still an inexperienced kid)

The boy is projecting very badly on the Plinth. What I'm getting at is that Coriolanus in the book firmly believes that the Plinths "stole" the life of the Snows, (specifically that Sejanus "stole" the life that should be his); his parents are alive and in the munitions business, they have a lot of money, they have luxuries and influence, but this obsession with what the Snows should be, along with his contempt for the people of the district is what prevents him from being really objective about the true influence the Plinth's have, he only sees what in his head should be the Snow's all powerful position, epically ignoring that the Plinth are district and realistically have very limited influence within the Capitol (Crassus Snow alive and with money, could do MORE than Strabo will ever do with all the money in the world).

Just the area they live in tells you a lot, the Plinth's didn't make it to the Capitol and immediately moved to the Corso. They couldn't, they didn't have the social prestige that was needed, they literally have to wait for PEOPLE to BE THROWN OUT, for taxes to try and see if they get a chance to live among THE ELITE OF THE ELITE, and it even shows a lot in Strabo's investments; the man is helping to rebuild the Capitol not for love of the Capitol perse, but to get a quarter of the prestige that someone like Coriolanus Snow, born in the Capitol from an old family possesses just by existing. Literally when Sejanus gets in trouble Strabo's response is disproportionate, not because he wants to brag that he has money, but because his family would lost everything if he dont compensates exceedingly well.

Which I think brings up the big question: Strabo could have really saved Sejanus if he had found out in time?, Coriolanus thinks yes, I have my doubts but well… let's talk about something cooler

LIKE LATAM AU 😈

OK. UNOFFICIAL LATAM AU PLOT ( unless…).

Coriolanus Snow, too Argentinian to exist. His mother is alive?, who knows but his father I'm sure is dead. The boy has been stuck all his life with his classist grandmother who has convinced him that his family is more European than Latino, and living in a small town in the USA, Coriolanus has made the decision to pretend to have a European heritage over a Latino one. The Snows continue to have financial problems

Her cousin Tigris (whose father is Uruguayan), wants to be a fashion designer, and has decided to move to New York, she ends up living in a Latino neighborhood (btw YOU MENTIONED IN THE HEIGHTS AND SCREAM, BECAUSE IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE, I'm sorry, I have to tell you Juli; I'm kind of a theatre kid; I already knew the actor from Sejanus from being in Hamilton and from being with the LGB actress in west side story). OK THE THING IS THAT CORIOLANUS, HER COUSIN, WHO IS ALMOST LIKE HER LITTLE BROTHER, HAS MANAGED AFTER YEARS OF EFFORT TO GET INTO STANFORD on a scholarship, and he needs a place to stay… his family tells him he can move in with Tigris, and Coryo accepts because Tigris is his favorite cousin and because the rent was so cheap. He has no idea what Tigris's neighborhood looks like but it must be great because IT IS CHEAP, but the fool doesn't know what is coming MUAHAHAHA Because in that beautiful neighborhood live two very special people: LGB Colombian girl and romani <3, who wants to be a singer and has her own band formed by Covey. I can imagine covey in a situation of orphans who maybe were in many foster homes and orphanages and bonded in those traumatic experiences, until the older ones grew up and could get the guardianships of the others and are a big family that takes care of each other (What do you think of Billy Taupe because that's a character we can explore uh?), and LGB has several jobs and a lot of pressure on her shoulders -she is practically raising Maude Ivory- but she doesn't give up and is very proud of who she is. Then there is Sejanus, who is Strabo PLINTH's son. I suppose it is possible Strabo is still involved in the arms industry (which will one day cause his son to make a protest in front of the family business LMAO), Strabo I am sure wants to move to another more dignified neighborhood but Vesta has been preventing him from doing so for over 3 decades, lmao, her family lives there. They are NOT GOING ANYWHERE and since Strabo doesn't want Vesta to ask him for a divorce he has reluctantly given in but has done all the bragging things he can like having the biggest house the block, etc.

Sejanus may or may not also study at Stanford (? but the most important thing is that our boy is 1000% an anarchist left-wing hippie liberal activist with no respect for the government or the elders -as his father calls him-, the boy has been involved in debates since he was 8 years old and arrived in the USA without knowing how to speak english well and his father made the decision to put him in a school for rich kids :)))) WORST CHOICE EVER (actually baby sejanus tried to assimilate but in his teens he realized that no matter what he did people were going to hate him so he SAID FUCK ALL and rebelled and Strabo hasn't recovered from that, because at the same time his little boy stopped believing that he was a very wise man. STRABO MISSES BABY SEJANUS, HE WAS GOOD AND HE DIDN'T GET IN TROUBLE OR CONTRADICT HIM drunk strabo cries in Vesta's arms and yes, this assimilation story is what will keep Sejanus from cancelling Coriolanus when he finally talks to him and he denies being Argentinian AND TIGRIS COUSIN)

OK. So Coriolanus finally moves in and of course he's going to scream when he sees that they're in a Latino neighborhood, the guy wants to die but he doesn't have the money to move, and maybe he'll do a weird and elaborate tour so that no one in Stanford will find out where he lives. The people in the neighborhood meanwhile know he is Tigris's cousin but he acts so gringo they genuinely believe he is, and I can see how everyone keeps criticizing Coryo 24/7 for his weird attitudes and ass in Spanish thinking he doesn't understand them but he does because he knows Spanish but he has decided to keep hiding that so he has to get angry in silence AJHSJHSJHSJHS

BUT EVERYTHING CHANGES WHEN LGB AND SEJANUS DISCOVER HIM, I haven't thought about how that would happen yet but hehehehe

Marcus is canon cuban now (YOU AND I WE HAD A SAME BIG BRAIN MOMENT, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN EITHER BUT HIM BEING CUBAN MAKES SO MUCH SENSE) and well I'm happy with Tigris x LGB, but as you like coralbaird, don't you think it would be cool Coral as a Chilean? PLS or she could be the only decent American WHO KNOWS

Music?

I don't think I have recommended LA SNOWJANUS song so: Estrechez de corazón -los prisioneros

BOA TARDEEE (bc it's the moment I'm answering this ☝️

KSLSKLSKLS I'm actually so happy you're planning on posting more!!! 😭 I loved that post abt mrs everdeen and katniss so much, it made me think abt stuff I haven't noticed before, and I would LOVE to hear your thoughts abt sejanus and the academy kids (AND YESSSS PERSEPHONE PRINCE MENTIONED!!!! also, you got me hooked on pup harrington, I rlly want to know your thoughts abt them bc I never rlly thought abt it before)

and aaaaaaaaaaaaa I love talking to you so much, I genuinely get so happy seeing you in my inbox, get me kicking my feet and all 🥹 thank you for asking!!! it went okay, even tho I actually got lost lmao 😭 I got the wrong bus and stopped by the wrong campus (it's a big university, so there are plentyyy of campus on different neighbourhoods on the town and each one is for different courses, and I stopped at the med school, which is... very far away from my campus ☠️). but since I left home earlier, it was no problem and everything went alright (and on the second day I was able to find the right way, A WIN IS A WIN) !!! this first week is more to welcome the new students, so not a lot is going on and these first classes are more introductory + some events like games and stuff. also, thank you so much for your kind words, srsly, thank you so so so so much <3

BUT OKAY, LET'S GO

yesssss (it's always worth mentioning all of the stuff we talked abt is our opinion and only our opinion skslsklsk bc fandom spaces in general seem to have a problem with dealing with different opinions I guess)!! abt suzanne collins choosing coriolanus to being the main character of the book, it's worth saying that when the book was announced, I was so irked by the fact that coriolanus was going to be the main character. at first, I got 0 interest in reading the book because I thought it was going to be a cash grab. because why the hell would you choose CORIOLANUS SNOW, from all the characters???

but then I read the book and it just makes so much sense. SO much sense. it's kinda scary how suzanne made very clear what she wanted to pass with this story and still people are out there saying the stupidest things (such as reproducing some of coriolanus' discourses). really disappointing and sad the movie shies away from showing some of the strongest lines.

yesssss and I guess it's not only a problem regarding this specific adaptation, it serves as well for the other thg adaptations. don't get me wrong, these movies are genuinely some of the best book adaptation that exist (after all, it's an adaptation, it's not going to be just like the book... and that's okay!!), but for example, the fact that peeta doesn't lose his leg in the first movie (besides him being a disabled character in a big book franchise, which is something rlly important, in the book this was so important for the second book plot), or that they straight up made katniss white (I've talked before abt how you can read tbosas through racial and ethnic lens and this adds another impact to the story, but this applies to thg as well), or that they removed most of her important relationships and friendships with the girl characters (which led to some people who only watched the movie calling her a pick me, which makes me so mad). all of these small details impact how these characters are perceived and some of the most important messages the story wants to get through.

and about the tributes and the movie: YESSS!!! seeing them from outside of coriolanus' head really tells us a lot abt their personalities and gives them much more humanity!! the scene with pup harrington and lamina talking during the meeting is such a good example, it's heartbreaking seeing her crying like this. or then how we see the tributes interacting with each other on the arena. (coriolanus stopping himself from humanizing the tributes bc he would be thinking like sejanus was really something else 😭 but I absolutely agree!! tbosas has this twisted fairy-tale like sense to me, so some stuff I read more literally, and sejanus to me is like that angel on your shoulder trying to tell you to do the right thing; he's good, and that's the core of his character, being good, and when coriolanus kills him, he kills the only thing that kept him from being 100% evil; it's only after sejanus' death that he goes crazy and hunts lucy gray on the forest).

(the way the fandom treated rue back then (and still treats her nowadays, even though I see it much less) is CRAZY, and there are so many examples I could go on for days, starting by how some people literally REPRODUCE coriolanus' discourse and thoughts about some characters, like MY LORD-)

AAAAAA I'M SO GLAD YOU ENJOYED THE FICS (even tho most of them are more angst stuff, sorry for that 😭)!!!! and abt parallel lines, I remember that when it was being posted, I started reading from the first chapter, and until the second one was posted, I kept coming back and reading and reading over and over again because I needed MOREEEE bc of how good it was. AND TYSM FOR THE RECOMMENDATIONS!!! I've read all of three in the same day, and they are so. well. written. it's genuinely insane, like, people will really post some of the most amazing stuff I've read for FREE and it's SO GOOD, TYSM, SRSLY. now, abt each fanfic in particular:

out, damned spot: this one. jesus, this one is just- it really has this feeling of being so canon compliant, I can SEE it happening. it's just so so so good, so sinister, love the slight horror undertones. got me looking at the corner of my room afraid I would see a ghost 😭

odi et amo: THIS JUST MADE ME FEEL SO MANY THINGS, ALL AT ONCE. it was sweet, it was sad at times, it made me smile warmly at how sejanus talked about coriolanus so fondly... and then the ending, OH MY FUCKING GOD, I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but it was genuinely so shocking, the story had a rythm that just kep building and building and then it just explodes in your face, and just. I really have no words. I was speechless. got my hand to my mouth and everything bc of how shocked I was. I felt like playing one of these games who are all cute in the start, but... well. suddenly the mood shifts.

the haunting of coriolanus snow: THIS WAS SUCH A WILD RIDE. I love goold ol' snowbairdplinth, SPECIALLY when we're talking abt haunting coriolanus snow. this whole work is just so good aaaaaaa it's not as sinister as the first one, but it's just so well written (and tbh, I LOVE having coriolanus haunted, that's what he deserves, and actually he deserves much worse). and that last line???? SO COULD, COULD ACTUALLY BE THE ENDING OF A REAL BOOK, nah this will haunt me for a good time.

it's worth saying I bookmarked ALL of these because OH MY GOD, THEY'RE SO GOOD, again, tysm for the recs, they are all such good fanfics <33

look: I absolutely agree with you. I think it's worth saying that coriolanus is surrounded by rich and influent capitol kids (felix is literally the great-nephew of the president, ffs). why the hell coriolanus is so fixated on the fact that strabo plinth can buy sejanus' way out of things, when probably most of his academy colleagues can do so much more, actually? besides him being angry and jealous about the plinths having a life that should've been his in his head, it's exactly what you said: he's projecting so hard on the plinths.

(also, yes, coriolanus' is just a stupid kid who thinks of himself so above of his colleagues, when he's sometimes even dumber than them 😭 when we see him having actual conversations with actual adults, this is really noticeable)

okay, so, imo, coriolanus as a narrator tries to make us (as readers) to think that sejanus' position in relation to him is soooo unfair. look!!! this D I S T R I C T kid have money, and privilege, and a father who can buy him out of stuff and buy his way into MY prestigious school and so many more things!!! while I'm here struggling, this D I S T R I C T kid is so privileged!!! don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the plinths or sejanus don't have privilege in the capitol specially regarding money, because they do, but not any more than coriolanus' friends and colleagues. I just find interesting and a bit annoying how coriolanus decides to 100% ignore the fact that the plinths are district, but he only does that when it's regarding their financial privilege (because when it's to be a dick about ma plinth and sejanus, he perfectly remembers and recognizes that they are district, how funny is that? 🤠)

(ALSO, since you mentioned crassus snow, yeah, I think so many things would be different if that man was alive, and if anything, I think the plinths' lives would be so much harder if he was around, to be very, very honest)

coriolanus is so detached to this that when sejanus gets the D2 boy, coriolanus says he got the best one of the litter, and sejanus says he's one of the litter. coriolanus, in his words, let that sink in.

and talking abt the plinths and the corso, it's worth saying the plinths are living in the capitol for around 10 years. it's enough time for them to prove their finantial power, and still, they aren't living among the most inluential and powerful families in the capitol, because they simply aren't. it's worth saying coriolanus studies at the academy, one of the most prestigious schools in the capitol, simply because he is a snow, while strabo had to buy sejanus' way into it (and mind you, much more money than any other of his colleagues).

(now, this is my personal interpretation: when reading stuff, I usually think about how some things would work in our universe and in our rules. I don't know if that was suzanne collins' intentions, but while reading, I could only think abt how sejanus and coriolanus are pretty much a race/ethnicity x class conversation and how these two things intersect. coriolanus, to me, sounded like a white working class boy who can't stand the fact that a poc have more money and more privilege than him. he thinks it's so unfair he disregards absolutely any kind of bigotry that person faces (and, mind you, HE actually reproduces a lot of this bigotry), which leads him to thinking that people like sejanus have much more privilege than they actually have. it's not that coriolanus thinks that ppl shouldn't be rich or rich ppl shouldn't exist, it's that coriolanus thinks that PEOPLE LIKE SEJANUS shouldn't be rich, and that's another different convo)

and answering (imo) the big question: considering everything we talked about until now, I don't think sejanus could've been saved. he was doomed. and this proves a point: while sejanus is rich, he's still district, and in the end, being district is what weighs the most.

and also, this leads me to the discourse I see some people saying, that if sejanus was alive, he could've made a difference, like plutarch heavensbee. what they don't take into account is that plutarch heavensbee is capitol. do they really think that the capitol, that coriolanus, would let a district-born person get into politics? really? do they think they would let him make a change? that they wouldn't watch each step he takes, because he's district?

anyway. LATAM AU <3333

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALSKSLSJLSLKSLKS I LOVE THIS SO MUCHHHHHHHHHH I'M SCREAMING BC I WANT SO BAD TO SEE THIS PLOT COMING TO LIFE 😭😭😭😭😭

your brain!!!!! YOUR BRAINNNN I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.

(I'm holding your hand and screaming right now because, I'M ALSO A THEATRE KID LMAOOOOOO I've spent my entire middle school listening to hamilton 😭 it was the first one I got contact with, but then I got into other musicals, like spring awakening and wicked. I love in the heights sooooooo much, I actually like it better than hamilton!!! and the movie adaptation is SO good, it's insane; also, after we talked abt the latam au on the last ask, I went almost immediately to youtube to listen to blackout bc I kept imagining the characters on this scenarioKSLSKSLS).

I love your ideas for the covey!!! maybe the one to get older first was barb azure; she left their foster home and find a small place for them to stay. it's nothing fancy, but it's still better than the foster care system. (and hMMMM billy taupe can be an interesting character here; maybe when coriolanus arrived, there was already gossip circling on the neighbourhood because just recently, lucy gray and billy taupe had a NASTY break up, and she threw his things out of the window. at the start of the story, she's already single, but he keeps bothering her each time she goes to a club to make a show with the covey). lucy gray works so hard, and at the same time, she has to raise maude ivory, and take care of the house, and seek her dreams... and all while being sort of an important figure around the neighbourhood. everyone knows lucy gray, so if there's something wrong going on, they seek her to talk to fix things (but who lucy gray seeks when she needs to talk? when she needs someone to help her and solve her problems?).

vesta threatning strabo with a divorce is just such a funny thought 😭 also, imagine that the plinths weren't rich when they arrived in the usa, and that neighbourhood was the first one they've lived. one of her sisters lived there and vesta was so happy when they got to the block and almost everyone knew how to speak spanish, because she was so homesick and scared, it was comforting. sejanus grew up there, they built a whole life there, she REFUSES to let strabo move their family. that's their home. period.

(I rlly like the thought of sejanus attending stanford, but I'll talk abt it a bit later) sejanus had this phase when he was a pre-teen where he started getting into politics and started to read revolutionary thinkers from cold war latam, started reading about imperialism and just reading a lot in general, and he got radicalized. it was strabo's biggest nightmare, that man was fighting for his life, because at dinner sejanus would start "ACTUALLY-" and strabo knew it was so over, he couldn't win sejanus on arguments and they just end screaming insults at each other. bby sejanus did well on their neighbourhood, he even made some friends, like marcus, and some kids helped him with english (and a lot of kids speak spanish like him, so he feels much safer). but when his father got rich, he pushed sejanus into a very prestigious school, and it was very traumatic. he wanted so bad to fit in, but these kids were mean as fuck. they mocked him whenever he made a mistake in english, and mocked when he forgot a word, and mocked his accent, and mocked the things his mom would send him for lunch. he came home crying after the first week begging his dad to please let him go to the neighbourhood's school with marcus and the other kids, but his dad was relentless. and he tried SO hard to assimilate, but his breaking point was when his ma went to pick him up at school, and her english is much more broken than his. when the kids started to make fun of his ma, and she wasn't even understand exactly what they were saying, sejanus broke. he can deal with people hating and hurting him, but NOT his ma. and that's pretty much a turning point for him.

(when sejanus talks to coryo and understands what coryo is doing, he's not really angry, he's sad, because he knows how that feels, except that he stopped doing it much earlier.)

((also, strabo missing bby sejanus is so goodKSJLSKLSK he'll turn to vesta and be like WHEN DID IT GO WROOOOONG it seems like yesterday that sejanus was a little boy who thought strabo was the smartest person in the world, but now he seems like he hates strabo so much, it's so frustrating; strabo kinda regrets getting sejanus into that school, bc if sejanus went to the local school, then he wouldn't be so radicalized (he would tho lmao just for different reasons)))

CORIOLANUS IS STRUGGLING, the moments he sets foot on the neighbourhood he gets his phone to try to call his mom to know if he can come back or try to find an apartment, but it's useless, and until he finds a job or something, he has to stay with tigris for now bc that's what his mom can afford 😭 coriolanus now is even called gringo by everyone around lmao every single time they refer to him, he wants to die but he CAN'T SAY ANYTHING. and sometimes, even lucy gray and sejanus are talking in front of him in spanish, because they don't think he understands, and coriolanus is there with a straight face because he can't let them know if he wants to keep up his lie

ALSO, WHAT I TALKED EARLIER ABT SEJANUS GOING TO STANFORD: alright, so, sejanus and coriolanus have a class together, and this is before coriolanus discovers sejanus lives in the same neighbourhood as tigris. and in that class, coriolanus says some stupid shit, and him and sejanus get in a debate about it. so, much later, coriolanus is coming back to where him and tigris live, and who he finds around? oh, yeah. the same guy from his class. GREAT. and now coriolanus is in such a complicated position because he's pretending to not be from around but sejanus, who's from his class, LITERALLY LIVES THERE (and to his nightmare, sejanus is besties with lucy gray, who's that person on the neighborhood who knows pretty much anyone and everyone goes after for help)

CUBAN MARCUS YESSSSSS ☝️ (also, marcus having a beef with coriolanus bc he knows coriolanus is from stanford, and he thinks coriolanus is too much like the kids from the prestigious school sejanus attended when he was a kid). and about coral: listen, what do you think abt coral being irish? she isn't from the neighbourhood, but she works around, and her little brother, mizzen, goes to the same school as maude ivory (it's worth saying that before coriolanus, she was the gringa of the neighbourhood, now that title passes to him and she's a honorary prima 😭)

(also, imagine lucy gray teaching her some spanish like nina does to benny in in the heights AAAA)

LOS PRISIONEROS AND SNOWJANUS YESSSSSSS YOU'RE SO RIGHT, IT'S THEMMMM LITERALLY THEM!!!! (estás llorando y no haces nada por perdonar a nadie, excepto a ti AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

(take care, buddie!!! hope you're doing well <3)

[iwannaban0nym0us]

time for a ramblely post about my life because i'm actually really happy rn

so my partner holy shit they're so amazing i don't even know how to explain it but everything they do just proves how incredible they are,, like we haven't said "i love you" to each other but i feel 100x more loved by them they i ever did by my ex who must have told me they loved me at least 100 times

ok btw i have no idea where this post is gonna go it's probably just gonna be a bunch of random thoughts all lumped together

so uh the reason i've been fairly inactive lately is because it's robotics comp season! Our first comp was last weekend meaning that the week leading up to it I was super busy trying to help get all the things to work (they still didn't lol) friday and saturday were insanely long days that were fun but also so tiring

we barely got things working in time on friday to clear inspection and make it to one practice match and then on saturday we had the worst possible schedule (first match of the day, a random match, last match before lunch, then 2 10min turn arounds, and then last match of the day) the most stressful part of the day was when in the last match before lunch we overextended our arm, pulled out all of the electronics, broke the extension spool, and got 25 penalty points. we spent lunch trying to fix all of that and also change out wheels (we didn't have a chance before because of our shit schedule) and also someone thought it would be a good idea to swap intakes but then we had to unswap intakes because the new one was too big and then the two very fast turn arounds after that were hella stressful

we actually ended up wining our last match of the day tho and i'm very proud of that since i took lead on the strategy talk before the match

then sunday we had a better match schedule and won one lost one so we ended quals 39/42 and therefore didn't go to playoffs, and me being the so so smart person that I am decided that since the other goalie was out sick it would be a great idea to go to my soccer game that afternoon (after 2.5 long tiring days of robotics)

And so I did and by the end of the game i felt like i was gonna fall asleep and i don't know how i managed to make several good saves and we only lost 5-0 (2 of their goals were super lucky tho) I am really glad i went since i got to see an ex-teammate and teammate who might quit the team soon for running and i hadn't seen either of them since last season

this week i've had a bit more time and monday i was so so so tired that during my freeblock which i usually use for hw since i have no free time i just hung out w/ my partner and was like half asleep the whole time, me and my partner also skipped an assembly on burnout because we were both too tired (they had a vaulting comp at the same time as my robotics comp) also tuesday i skipped soccer because of the weather so i got a whole afternoon off

over the next 2 weeks i'm only gonna have 5 days of school because we get next wed-fri off for conferences and then i'm at robotics the following thurs-sat which i think is kinda funny

uh anyway shifting gears,,, thursday i had my gender and sexuality class w/ my ex and since the teacher was out we spent the whole time in small groups talking about quotes from our hw reading and I ended up w/ a friend and my ex and ofc my ex felt the need to read out each of the quotes which normally would be like whatever but for some reason that day i just could not deal w/ their voice or their strong opinions on stupid things

there was one point where their voice had gotten to me so much that i just kinda zoned out and then they had the audacity to ask me if I was ok and that threw me for a fucking loop because when we were dating the only time they would notice something was off was when i was tired not when something was actually going on, like the day where they caused me to have a mental breakdown i was very clearly not ok that afternoon and they didn't say a single thing despite us having class together and so for them to say something now despite me having made it clear we're not friends ??????????

also i was in this state where I was torn between why does their voice still hurt me so fucking much and why don't i hate them more they did some really shitty things to me and i'm just so confused how i can feel both of those things about them and aaaa i just want them to go away

ok this has gotten long enough and i have some things i need to do so i'll probably reblog this later to talk about yesterday :)

[stressedsnake]

Ok so i finished vld like a few hours ago and i already published a post saying what i disliked about the finale/season 8, so here's the way i would have done it:

1. Instead of the forced Allurance plot line(as i hv said before many many times, they come off as awkward friends than an actual couple) I would have let Allura develop a closer relationship with the rest of the paladins and would have lance grow closer with other people and prove how important he is. (The show's writers completely fucked his arc up,I'll make a post on that later). Honestly the show went downhill the moment they switched lions. .Don't believe me? The switch completely screwed up Shiro,Lance,and Keith's characters. I'll have to make several posts about this.

2.Instead of killing lotor, i would have kept him in the team. Tbh the betrayal didn't make any sense. Plus he seemed to be genuinely in love with allura and vice versa. This would have kept us from getting the awkward allurance plot which was too rushed and too sudden and instead an actual story about love and an abuse victim healing. They managed that very poorly.

3. LANCE DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER. They could have made a beautiful story of realizing your self worth and being comfortable with who you are, BUT NO THEY REDUCED HIM TO A COMIC RELIEF FARMER WHICH HONESTLY IS SO RACIST. Instead of making him step out of Keith's shadow they made him the paladin of the red lion. Which .is .stupid .as. fuck.

4.They should have made Keith and lance actually talk, like keith helps him realize that he isn't worthless ,that he's important and deserves the world. Or even Shiro and Lance would have worked, because Lance looked up to Shiro and craved his approval.

5. They should have worked more on all the relationships tbh, they managed to ruin the garrison trio completely and developed a beautiful familial friendship into a we work together situation.

6. ALLURA DIDN'T HAVE TO DIE. Ik plot this plot that, whatthefuckever, she didn't have to die at all. I feel like by the time we reached the end of the season, the writers were just throwing darts on ideas with their eyes closed

7. Honerva, should have had a better redemption arc, instead of making her a complete madwoman, they should have at least went back and tried to flesh out her character. They literally reduced her to a plot device.

8. Shiro should have remained the paladin of the black lion and the Holt family should have taken over Atlas,they could have developed an amazing storyline with shiro learning to trust other people and healing from his ptsd.

9.YOU KNOW WHO HE COULD HAVE DONE THAT WITH? ADAM. They didn't even confirm on the show that they were fiances and i will forever be bitter about that. THEY HAD NO FUCKING REASON TO KILL HIM.

10. In short they needed to work on the relationships more and take a look at who they were killing.

[jikookuntold]

The Evolution of Jikook

How did Jikook start? When did they become serious? How did their friendship turn into something more? How are they doing right now?

Disclaimer: This is a survey on the evolution in JM and JK’s relationship through the years by analyzing the changes in their personalities, career development, and overall situation. The content of this post is all based on my personal opinions and theories, and I’m not trying to prove or imply anything, you can have your own conclusions. Please don’t take anything seriously, and read this post as fanfiction.

 2014

there are already several speculations going around about 2014 and early debut years, some believe JM had a crush on JK, but it wasn’t reciprocal, and JK was teasing JM or making fun of his height because either he didn’t like JM or had a crush on him! Most of these speculations are not even close to the truth if you look at the situation with perspicuity. Although I can't deny the possibility of JK having a crush on JM and being in denial about it since that so-called "uncomfortableness" can be the sign of this crush. This is common among teenagers, and JK was an introverted, 15, 16-year-old boy in this era.

As a trainee or a newly-debuted idol, how is it even possible to openly express your love to a bandmate? A teenager can rarely confess his love to his crush in public, even if we ignore the existence of internal and external homophobia. So how do you expect them to do this in front of cameras when thousands of people are watching? This can happen only as a joke. Unfortunately, in the Kpop industry, same-sex flirting is a matter of laugh or excitement for the audience, and this role-playing was assigned for JM. Other members include JK had also their assigned roles to play.

As someone who wanted to be successful in his dream career so badly, JM took this assignment very seriously and played the role of a strong muscular man who confesses his love for JK and asks for a kiss every three seconds to get ignored and make the audience laugh. This is a cringe script if you ask me, and I always had this feeling that JM deep down wasn't comfortable doing it. And finally, in 2021, he spoke up. He didn’t directly mention this roleplaying, but there were enough signs to consider it as a fact, and we will come back to this part later.

Jk was also playing his role, which in some parts, it was close to his real personality, but in other parts, it was far from it; a golden maknae who is good at everything with a bratty behavior toward hyungs especially JM. But no role-play can go on for a long time, and JK nor JM wasn’t an exception.

Despite these role-plays, Jikook became close in 2014, off-camera. They were always close since their pre-debut days, but it became obvious in 2014. They had much in common; Lead/main vocal/dancers who wanted their careers to become perfect, both from Busan smelling like the home they always missed, and they were the emotional support for each other. This strong bond and connection caused them to spend a lot of time together off-camera. This led them to become closer and somehow started to change the dynamic of their friendship, but the main changes happened in the summer of that year through the WOH era and AHL.

Of course, I’m not claiming that they started their romantic relationship in this era, but the first signs of “non-friendly” behavior, (not in a scripted or one-sided way) started to be seen between them in this era. The awkward jokes became less frequent but more awkward. Many veteran K-Jikookers at this era, realized that their sad ship might not be that sad, and it has the potential to bloom and thrive. They believed JK was starting to fall in love and respond to JM’s affection, but as I explained earlier in this post, the second part wasn’t the case. They both were starting to grow feelings for each other, slowly and gradually.

In my opinion, AHL was a turning point. There might be some reasons for that. Maybe spending enough time in the US and seeing a different and more open culture (aka gay couples), had an impact on these teen souls and helped them to see their real selves. They realized gay flirt is not necessarily a matter of laugh, and it can be real. Also, this trip was their first visit from Laguna Beach, am I right?

Anyways, the changes in Jikook’s dynamics became more visible in the danger era, especially the change in JM's personality and attitude. He had become more content and less awkward, he was showing more self-esteem and becoming more like himself. The tension between Jikook and some subtle signs were showing that they have an off-camera bond much stronger than their on-cam interactions, but they didn’t want to give out anything about it. At the end of the year, they covered Justin Bieber's Christmas song which was a romantic song for their first unit cover. This was a turning point in Jikook’s dynamics, but the biggest changes were about to come.

 2015

2015 was a brilliant year for Bangtan. Their career started to blossom, and they weren’t a rookie group from an unknown company anymore. They had several hit songs and received their first award in the award shows. This indeed changed many things for the members of BTS, including the relationship between JM and JK. Of course, this wasn't the only thing that affected Jikook, but success gave them more confidence and courage to be themselves and accept themselves the way they are. But fame is a double-edged sword, and it can also have the opposite effect and make you hide your real self to make a persona for the audience.

I believe fame and success affected Jikook in both ways. In this era, JK was about to come of age, and he was seeing himself as an adult and thriving artist with valid emotions, so he started to share his newly-discovered feelings through lyrics of the songs he was recommending. I have a detailed analysis post on this topic, so I’m not going to elaborate on that. You can read the post here.

The same thing was happening to JM, he was aware of his feelings for some time, but JM, in person, is more conservative than JK, and his reactions to these changes were different from his. At this time, JM became more prudent, calm, and maybe shy. Despite being an extrovert, he is a shy person by nature, and these changes led him to become more like himself and less like the role player he was in his debut years. Speaking of role play, at this time (middle of 2015) the fanservice jokes between Jikook almost stopped. Although we had a few of these jokes like “giving a kiss as a birthday gift for JK” in vlive, the reactions from JK and the members were very different from what they used to be. Why? Maybe because the “one-sided” love they were portraying wasn’t a portrait or one-sided anymore. At this time, JK almost dropped the honorifics for JM which was a huge deal and it proved JM is the hyung, JK is the closest with.

JK had started to recommend songs from openly LGBT+ artists (Olly Alexander, Kehlani) from April and May that year, and in October, he recommended “Fools” by Troye Sivan. He didn’t end up just recommending songs by gay artists, but he also covered the last one with Namjoon. This boldness of JK in this era showed that he was fully accepting of himself and his emotions, and he wasn’t even afraid of expressing them publicly. He had come of age and became brave enough to dance with him between his arms in a public ceremony and not giving a damn about anyone.

2015 was quite a year for Jikook but still not the most dramatic one.

 2016

2016 was the year of the peak drama in Jikook history. The same dynamics from late 2015 were still going on between them; JM was preserved, and JK was bold in his own way. They both weren’t sure about anything, but one thing was certain; they were in love, and they were getting attached more and more, physically and emotionally. This increasing attachment made the tension between them obvious to the point that it wasn’t easy to ignore.

A secret, untitled attachment, is the biggest source of drama, and the best definition of 2016 Jikook. I’m not saying they were FWB or something, they knew each other's feelings very well, but also, there had many fears and insecurities. This attachment could end at that stage or continue that way, but it wasn’t what they wished for. They wanted more, and JK was the one who took the first step. He wanted to become JM’s “boyfriend”. So they slowly became open to each other and tested the water to see if they could make it work or not. Yet, all the dramas and passion were only between the two of them, and the only things we could witness were the tension and some deliberate or indeliberate exposures.

On the other hand, their career was blowing up in this era, and I think this gave them more power and courage to be who they want to be. All the ARMYs who have witnessed the BS&T era can never forget JM’s glow-up. He had started to embrace himself and blossom as a young man who wants to live his life and make his art the way he wants, but still, he wasn’t free of fears and insecurities, which he expressed in “Lie”.

JK was young and naïve, and sometimes he was acting like he had some unanswered expectations from JM. I’m thinking about JinJikook vlive in December 2016, when he threatened JM with his selca. I know you have seen the analysis of that vlive and selca, and it used to be one of those delulu ones, but after the hickey incident of MOTS DVD? I don’t think so. I have thought about that vlive and selca a lot. Why did he have to do this to JM? What did he want from him? Did he want him to be the debut JM who always confessed his love for JK on camera and asked for a kiss? They weren’t playing that game anymore, and JK wanted to be taken seriously. These contradictions made so much tension between Jikook and caused many chaotic and dramatic situations.

I don’t know if the “memory of the rainy day” has happened in 2016 (I believe it has to be in 2015), but I need to mention it because it is crucial in this analysis. It surprises some people when I tell them this memory is solid proof for Jikook being real. But I believe it shows they had pushes and pulls and frustrations and even heartbreaks before making their relationship stable. These dramas were inevitable because they were supposed to be bandmates, colleagues, friends, and brothers, not lovers. In this situation, you have to ignore your feelings and hold them back, but it will pop up as bickering, fights, and emotional roller coasters, and the memory of the rainy day was a manifestation of it.

In 2016, Jikook were still young and in an unstable situation, and they had to deal with lots of hardships, they had a lot of worries and insecurities, internally and externally. But at some point, they found out their love is too strong to be ignored or held back, and they accepted all the risks and consequences. Of course, it has taken so much time, and they worked hard for it, and that's why their love is so beautiful and perfect.

Jikook had the most chaotic, dramatic, and unexplainable moments in 2016, but these dramas and fights helped them to resolve the issues and finally, led them to a new stage.

 2017

So many things started to change for Jikook in 2017. In February, JK graduated from high school, and he officially became an adult (as he said himself), and this event had a huge effect on Jikook. JK always wanted to be seen as an adult, he didn’t want to be babied by anyone, especially JM. High school graduation was the last milestone, and after that, they were ready for the next step.

It was the time they ended their “untitled attachment” era and started to be acknowledged as “significant others”. This was not only between the two of them, I believe this is the stage, the other member and probably the company found out about them. I’m thinking about the ring that surprised Hobi in that vlive, or Jin’s reaction when he found out JM was about to kiss JK’s neck in the fansign (both moments from February 2017).

I’m not saying that they didn’t know about them before, but here is a thing; don't get me wrong, but hookups and flings (het or queer) are not uncommon between the idols, even the idols of the same group, and probably the members had thought the thing between Jikook is not a big deal and would not turn into something serious. But it did, and it was surprising. After that, there was nothing to hide and no way to stop them. They started to be open in this era, equally, and they weren’t holding back anymore. Their flirts and interaction had drastically changed and became more mutual and real in an unsubtle way.

On Valentine’s Day that year, Jikook posted a video wearing matching jackets and shocked everyone on the K-side. Because it was a bold and obvious thing to do. After that, their actions become something more than what we see in a classic ship. They weren’t just doing skinship, they started to act and “be” like “couples”.

In the summer of that year, there were rumors about them spending their days off together at the dorms. Also, there are theories about how their love was an inspiration for the making of Serendipity. Let’s not forget about the 2017 Summer Package photoshoot on that gay unicorn, and their unit song cover of “We don’t talk anymore”. But it was just the beginning.

JK planned a trip to Tokyo for JM and himself in October. They spent their days off together in Busan after the wings tour and flew to Tokyo on 28th. They were in Tokyo for four days and three nights and I bet you already know about all the details of their trip. This trip showed how much they love to spend time together that even on their days off, they choose to be in each other’s company. This was right after when people kept asking JK questions about how he had traveled with the other members or not, and maybe he wanted to show the truth to the enthusiastic ones. But the main course was coming.

After the trip, JK became bolder than he ever was. I’m thinking about that vlive after AMA when the drunk JK was about to expose why he wasn’t nervous, or their concert moments in November and December. Also, their JM&JK vlive on 8th December was something to be remembered forever.

And the main course, GCF in Tokyo. I needed to save it for the last because it’s the most important part. The GCF video showed that Jikook’s trip to Tokyo was not just a friendly/brotherly trip. JK needed to make a statement, and he did it through his art and his talent to make a beautiful video. He said what he wanted to say with the lyrics of Troye Sivan, his gay idol.

GCF video was a confirmation for everything. Despite having so many hints and signs, this video doesn’t even need an analysis or interpretation. Everything is crystal clear. This is the biggest and the most important step Jikook have ever made, it also made it clear that they are in an established relationship, they are sure about everything, and nothing can stop them from going forward. But little did they know what’s on their way.

 2018

After BTS’ huge success and becoming a worldwide phenomenon at the end of 2017, literally no one was expecting them to go through a horrible situation to the point of considering disbandment. But it did happen, and the members have hinted about it several times. This dark era was going on for three to four months, I assume it was from the middle of December 2017 to the end of March 2018. The aurora of this era is so dark and painful that all the ARMYs had noticed something was wrong, and they were worried about the members, especially JK, who weren’t good at hiding it. If you weren’t in the fandom back then, you can check the content of that period.

We don’t know the reason for all the hardship they endured in that era, but we know it affected Jikook differently. They had their subtle moments, they were doing romantic things, and they showed their couple rings in 4th muster, they watched the first snow together, and they went out on 15th February with a friend. But things weren’t the same. They had found out the growth in their careers and becoming the big names of industry haven’t been enough, and they needed to become even bigger that no one could ever touch them.

This incident had also affected them personally. According to JM’s 13th April Vlog, it made JM question everything and reconsider his values. At this point, “thinking about performing again” and “seeing all the members together, happy” helped him heal and recover. On the other hand, JK never opened up about the incident, and the only thing we know is what Jin exposed in 2020 Festa. He said JK stopped talking to hyungs, and when they found out about his feelings, he felt sorry for JK. But what did change in JM and JK, and Jikook, after that?

From April, Jikook came back to normal, they started to post selfies, and they had lots of beautiful moments in Japan fan meetings. This time, JK was the prudent one. Not that he didn’t initiate moments with JM or he wasn’t comfortable, he did initiate many expressive moments (like when JM asked him to lose the game and he did it exaggeratedly), but there was still a sad aurora around him which I can tell he had not fully recovered from that incident yet. Just think about the lyrics he chose for G.C.F in Osaka.

But fortunately, it didn’t go on for long, and JK became open and happy again. In June and July, this became clearer and G.C.F in Saipan was its biggest manifestation. In that video, JK made a statement about how he doesn’t want to hide or lie anymore because what he has found in JM is so real. You may say it’s just lyrics, but think about the weverse post he made before his birthday in 2021, he asked ARMY to talk to him with lyrics. He asked this because he talks with lyrics himself. Arts, lyrics, and videos are his way of expressing emotions.

Summer 2018 was the time when Jikook became super active on social media. No week had passed with some new Jikook selcas or videos or them being loud in every content. They were like couples on honeymoon showing off their relationship on social media.

Their first speech at the UN assembly, and being awarded Order of Cultural Merit by the president of South Korea, was the promising future they have been waiting for. At this point they were untouchable, and this gave them the courage to become even more open. JM started to get tattoos at this time, JK bought his first apartment in October, and you probably heard the theories and rumors of Jikook moving in together at this era. They were seen several times together outside, which means they weren’t hiding anymore (JK had promised it). Melon 2018 also happened at this time which explains why Jikook were so raw and open and unfiltered.

2018 was an unforgettable year for most Jikookers, but a new era was about to begin.

 2019

As we move forward in this timeline, things become harder to analyze, because in some cases, only the test of time can make things clear and give us a better point of view. For newer moments, this “time”, has not passed yet, and we should rely more on theories and speculations than solid facts.

At the beginning of 2019, Jikook still had the same vibe and dynamics from late 2018, but their moments were a bit more subtle. Despite the undivided attention they had for each other, they were somehow holding back. Their vibe was like a newly-wed couple who can’t stay away from each other, yet they don’t want to make awkward situations. The first three-four months of the year passed this way until the Boy with Luv era arrived with a drastic change.

In this era, JK had turned into a fluff ball toward JM, and he used every opportunity to openly show his love and affection to him. Remember, JM had peach hair for just a few weeks, but there are tons of big Jikook moments with peach hair JM. I might say JM had become a bit cautious in this era, but it was just a reaction to JK’s boldness and softness toward JM. He wanted to moderate the situation, but in some cases, he failed, and moments like Rose Bowl happened.

But JM wasn’t quiet, and he, himself initiated lots of moments with JK, especially with sharing videos and photos on social media. JM and JK both were looking elated at this era, they attended the Grammy's for the first time, they started their world Stadium Tour, and they were breaking every record left and right. But their relationship also was blossoming, they were so obvious at this point that no one with an eyeball could ignore them. They went to movies, shopping, and restaurant together, and they were technically inseparable.

After Rose Bowl, the things between them slowed down a little bit. It’s possible that they got some backlash over their acts and didn’t want to be careless and cause trouble. But the fact is no one raises an eyebrow for some “brotherly affection” between two members of a group, except shippers who are always seen as delusional, and no one takes them seriously, but sometimes backlashes aim differently. For example, when JK made the biggest pancake for JM in a Run BTS episode (which aired just two days after the Rose Bowl moment) some people bashed JK for being rude to his hyungs and not caring about them enough. JK loves all his hyungs and doesn’t want to be portrayed this way, but it seems his undivided attention to JM had some unexpected consequences, and he decided to treat them fairly by not being overtly affectionate toward JM.

But Jikook were still the same, and nothing had changed between them. They were both attached to the hips, and they were spending every minute together until Bangtan’s first official break happened and brought some controversies. I have a detailed post about these so-called scandals you can read here and here. Before and after this break, we witnessed some sort of changes in JK and JM’s attitudes. JK started to get tattoos which was a sign of openness and freedom. Getting tattoos, was JK’s dream for so long, and now that he was old enough, he dared to do it.

On the other hand, JM became more independent. I believe he was starting to feel a need for self-dependence to survive an unknown future. He got his driver’s license, he went on an unplanned trip around the world, and he declared that he doesn’t belong to anyone (once in a vlive he answered to a Y/N’s comment with “I’m mine”, at the same vlive someone asked him to not wear that revealing shirt, and he kept wearing that exact shirt over and over again, especially in SYS final concerts; another sign of boldness and openness).

These changes in JK and JM’s personalities were the signs of growing up, maturing, and coping with the situation, which everyone experiences at some stages of their life and relationship, and with good communication, the relationship can stay strong. I have a three-parted post about the changes in Jikook’s dynamics in this era, you can read it here.

2019 was the year of grand gestures for Jikook. Although they weren’t active on social media the way they used to be in 2018, they declared their love and affection toward each other with grand gestures. The first one I dear the most, is the “I love you” sign in The Fact Music Awards. The next and the most famous one is Rosebowl which you all know so well. The next was when JM came back for JK’s birthday all of a sudden, and the tweet JK wrote for JM’s birthday, which was technically a love letter.

The biggest grand gestures of Jikook happened at the final concerts of the SYS tour in Seoul. There is no need to further explanation, but they spoke themselves in these concerts, for real. The “Speak yourself” era, which technically had started at the end of 2018 (UN speech) was the loudest era of Jikook, and they were open about themselves as much as it was possible for them. They did not “expose” themselves practically, but they weren’t hiding anything either. But things are not always under our control.

2020

In the first three months of 2020, Jikook had a very different vibe. I don’t know what was causing it, but there was some sort of tension between them, which had started from the last weeks of 2019, but it became worse in January and February 2020. If you check their moments from this era, you can notice this different vibe in almost every content. Anyways, whatever it was, they resolved it and came back to normal. If you are interested in this topic, read this post.

And then the Pandemic started and changed everything in the world, including Bangtan schedules. Their world tour was canceled, and they spent the whole year in Korea, inevitably. These sudden changes also affected Jikook in many ways, they wanted nothing more than to perform on the stage for the audience, but it wasn’t possible anymore. At this time, the Itaewon club thing happened for JK, and this so-called “scandal” affected his life. He sold his Trimage apartment right after that, and at this time, we could assume JK and JM were living together at the dorms?

I want to name this era the “Jikook being open about living together” era, which makes sense because they were using every opportunity to expose that they live together. They were sharing cars all the time, they were together at JK’s birthday night, and JM said seeing JK in the morning is the best thing for him. JK even made some hints in LGO MV about it. The hickey incident also happened in this era.

They had the time of their life in this era, they were always together, and everything was going well except they were missing the stage, but they had the emotional support from each other to overcome this hardship. At the end of the year, they did the black swan performance at MMA, which was an unforgettable masterpiece showing Jikook’s perfect synergy, chemistry, crazy talent, and the complete trust they have for each other. This post is also related to this era.

2020 was a very different year, and Jikook were expressing themselves in a very different way. Reviewing their memories and behind the scene moments of 2020, shows they had more moments off-camera than the main focus camera, which always has been the case for jikook, but it was clear that they decided to stay low in public’s eyes and be loud in their own way at the same time.

 2021

2021 is not over yet, and there is not much content (especially from the second half of the year) to do a comprehensive analysis and make strong theories. Right now, we have more speculations than facts, so, I’m reminding you again that this post is based on  my “theories and personal opinions” and I’m not claiming to be right about everything I mention here.

The first three months of the year were going perfectly between Jikook, pretty much like how 2020 ended. They were stuck together, being flirty and they were riding the same car all the time. I can’t remember seeing JK so happy the way he was in the first weeks of 2021, and JM was pretty much the same.

But in the middle of March, something changed, and this change came right after the Grammy's. I believe Jikook were sure about winning the award, but it didn’t happen, and it affected them severely (the way they were talking about it in that recent Bangtan Bomb just broke my heart). At the same time, their company moved to the new building with a new label, and their living situation changed and became complicated. I’m not going to analyze that to see if they are living together or not, because they are not open about their living situation right now.

JM becoming shy, was another change many Jikookers noticed in the middle of this year. As I mentioned in the first part of this post, this change showed something about the debut years. It showed that JM wasn’t comfortable with the role he was playing. In his birthday vlive, he said he feels like the old days when he was awkward in front of the behind the scene cameras, but he didn’t say anything. Now he was asking himself why he didn’t speak up about being awkward.

Why do I think this has something to do with JK? After an interview from early 2021, the interviewer (whom I don’t remember her name and don’t care enough to search for it) uploaded a video about asking Bangtan if they ever felt awkward in front of cameras. According to her, JM answered his question, and then JK said something. This is pure speculation but I believe JM was talking about the debut years where he had to play the role of a muscled strong man who was in love with JK, and it made him feel awkward.

Here it is. This was the beautiful journey of JM and JK in the last eight years of their career and relationship. They always had ups and downs, and they came a long way to be at the point they are right now. Jikook are both in their mid 20’s and not some inexperienced teens. They are in more mature phases of their relationship, and they spend most of their off-work time together, so they act less like young boys with a huge crush on each other, on camera. They are more on low, than high or loud, and they have their independence despite the connection and undivided attention for each other.

Yet we don’t know what is about to come in the future, we should wait and see.

PART 2

[hestia-and-the-court]

So it’s probably about time we made an introduction post for ourselves here on Tumblr. So, we’re The Court, a probably monoconscious, median, endogenic system. We’re willing to explain these terms if need be, but in short, there’s several sapient selves in one body/mind, we all experience most of what everyone else in here does, and we’re all very similar. If you’ve ever seen a kid’s show where they’ll, like, split a character into different bodies that each represent a specific emotion or aspect of themselves and that think and act separately? It’s not dissimilar, except that instead of being recombined into one single person at the end of the episode, we remain somewhat separate in spite of needing to share a body/mind.

Also, we’re autistic and transfemme. Most of us are aroace.

And now, quick roll call!

Hestia, the Heir: The system host, meaning I am most often in charge of the body. My role is to pilot the body in such a way that everyone else in here gets what they need and want to the best of my ability. I’m very prone to overthinking every past interaction, everything I am doing currently, and everything that might possibly come to pass in the hopes of maybe doing better at piloting our trash fire of a life. Which has a predictable tendency to make me the most prone to burnout and exhaustion. She/Her.

Obsidian, the Chancellor: Greetings. My role in the system is to take advantage of my generally muted or nonexistent emotional state in order to provide objective advice to Hestia regarding the best methods of meeting the system’s needs. I am our analytical ability, primarily, and I am content with staying back and advising under most circumstances. Technically, I am agender in the sense that gender is honestly entirely irrelevant to me, but most people gender me as He/They, which will suffice under most circumstances.

Gwen, the Jester: Hiya! I’m the fun one around here. Basically, my thing is that I have the most ability to just enjoy things, so I serve as a kind of distraction from everyone’s emotional issues by making sure we do stuff that we actually enjoy doing once in a while. Not an easy task these days given how stressed-out everyone else is. I modeled myself loosely after Gwenpool from Marvel Comics, but honestly I’m just... me, whatever that ends up looking like from moment to moment. She/Her.

Eleanora, the Ambassador: Good day to you all. My role is to serve as our best attempt at modeling the social behavior of those around us and to use that knowledge to present ourselves appropriately and to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings. Sophont behavior is fascinating to me, though I will not pretend to be in any way a social expert. I am simply best-suited to this particular task. She/Her.

Alexandra, the Matron: Mm. You might call me our “inner critic”. I see what we ought to be capable of doing and what we need to be doing and push us towards actually doing so rather than lazing about all day. I am our discipline, our self-motivation, and, I am told, our stubbornly independent streak and our perfectionism. Personally I see it as there being a bare minimum of expected behavior in this society that we are falling vastly short of, but I am clearly outvoted here. She/Her will do.

Diana, the Champion: Yo. I’m our sense of justice and fairness, and our anger when things are neither fair nor just. I say “Things shouldn’t be this way and they need to change”. I hold grudges where it’s helpful, I point out where we have been wronged both interpersonally and systemically, and I push us to do something where we have the ability to. I have very strong opinions on social issues, which I could rant about for hours. She/Her, but in a vaguely butch way. Like, y’know Wonder Woman? I named myself after her because I aspire to that level of pretty/striking enough to make people pay attention and buff enough to defend ourself and others.

Maple, the Bodyguard: I’m our sense of paranoia and the need to keep ourself physically safe. I don’t trust most people, I don’t like most people, and I would happily keep ourself in our small area of control until we died if that were at all practical. Since it isn’t, I make sure we take the precautions we need in order to keep us alive. Assume that anything you say on or near an electronic device is being monitored unless you’ve taken steps to prevent it, don’t disclose sensitive information about yourself to strangers, and for fuck’s sake wear your fucking masks COVID didn’t stop being a threat just because everybody thought it did. She/Her.

Carmilla, the Courtesan: Hello~! You could probably call me our sensitive side, and our sensuous one. I’m the one who craves touch and affection, who values beauty and aesthetics, and who most wants to experiment with sexual/romantic/queerplatonic relationships. I have no idea what would actually feel best for us on that front, but I would very much like to find out. We need a sense of belonging and acceptance and I’m the one most likely to push for it happening. Besides, if we’re gonna look pretty we gotta have people to show off to in some capacity or another! She/Her and if you misgender me I will be very upset.

Liliana, the Hedonist: Well hello there. I’m new, and to some extent I’m still forming. But the one thing we’re sure of thus far is that I am our self-interest, the one who will look out for us and what we want as opposed to putting others first. My job is to ask “Is that a sacrifice that needs to be made? Is this in any way our problem we have to solve?” Everything else will come with time, presumably, as I coalesce into a more distinct cluster of personality traits. She/Her pronouns, if you please.

Invidia Bat, the Exile: With a jealous scream to shatter the night, Invidia Bat has arrived! Nice to meet you. I exist to speak the pain and the envy and the inadequacy that the rest of the Court desperately tries to keep bottled up inside them. Those feelings deserve to be spoken, if only because keeping them inside is killing us. On a cheerier note, I’m our first confirmed fictive! She/Her pronouns only.

Veyle, the Refugee: H-hi! I’m Veyle, and I’m told the terms I should use to introduce myself are that I’m an introject and part of a two-person subsystem? Also, I’m a dragon, that part I know for certain.

Fell Veyle, the Prisoner: I’m also Veyle, but so that it’s easier to tell us apart and because I’m not a coward who rejects their Fell Dragon heritage, I’m going by Fell Veyle.

Serotina, the Druid: I am Serotina Selix, 13th Bloom! I am a shapeshifting plant sophont and delighted to meet so many cute Terrans~! Please ask about my pronouns, as I am genderfluid.

...okay, that didn’t end up being nearly as quick as we assumed it would. Whoops!

[moo-nstone]

Eva, since you have BIG DICK ENERGY, have you thought about possibly making a post about aspects and romantic partners you would be attracted to because of them. (i hope I explained it well enough) just a thought! take care

as in, who i feel attracted to because of my bde, or placements who i feel have bde? both options lead to the same answer, so. alright, buckle up

PLACEMENTS I’M DRAWN TO DUE TO THEIR BIG DICK ENERGY

leo suns: i don’t run but if the person is extremely cocky and annoying i might just jog a little.... olympics edition. i really like people with an unshakeable sense of self-worth and if a leo sun is anything is someone who WILL fight for that confidence. they’re so fun to be around even if most of them end up hating me due to severe personality clash. everything is all or nothing with them, it can’t just Be. they always have to blabber about their music taste and style and favorite art pieces and opinions and i am a hole for strong personalities

planets in the 4th house, especially sun and jupiter: strong protective instincts, everywhere they go they look to build (and lead) their pack. the most imaginative and philosophical people ever (sucking my own cock here, forgive me). attribute meaning to things that are already so meaningful within themselves. always seeking to experience the highest emotional experience, sometimes to their detriment by getting involved in chaotic situations. can make anywhere feel like home. secret crybabies. also make the most emotional gifts ever??? they can’t just buy you a gift they have to write a 10 page long letter to come along with it. lovers of books cats and cuddles

pisces moons: i am not gonna repeat for the 1000th time how much i love this placement, they are THE moon sign, they make me feel so emotionally vulnerable and that’s uncomfortable but so so hot. their brains...... oh my god their brains. it’s a whole 3 universes up in that bitch; their imagination.... they have the minds of a mastermind. they’re always excited about a book or game or anime and when they tell me about it i want to cry about how precious it is. they get me excited about things that i had no knowledge about previous to them talking to me about it

scorpio moons: dark tortured artists. slightly off-putting..... beautiful nonetheless. very dependable. i will barely know them but if they tell me it’s gonna be okay then it’s GONNA be okay. eye contact with them feels like snorting a line of cocaine (seriously i have never met people so into eye contact.... i went on a date with a scorpio moon once and at one point i had no idea what we were talking about i could only focus on the way his eyes were like. trying to look into my soul. dude it was scary but exhilarating)

mars in scorpio: they just... get it. so emotional. make a big fuss out of everything. sex has to be an insane soul-bonding spiritual experience for them. it cant ever be just sex. they cry a lot. feel a lot. big dick energy is emotional depth for me

libra risings: i can fix them

gemini mars: i can’t fix them. i will make them worse. and i’m down for it

mars-venus: these people are so fun slightly insane but they Get me. the type to joke about setting my house on fire if i don’t answer them for 5 minutes. the type to joke about getting married to me even if we’re just platonic and suddenly we’re getting the rings and a priest’s blessing and laughing our way through it. bad ideas and terrible thought-out plans but it always makes for great stories

mars-pluto: especially square. they’re very over-protective and even in friendships im drawn towards ppl like that because i know i can be very overbearing as well and the way they go batshit crazy when someone mildly offends you.... disrespectfully, i am a hole. also, they... have terrible ideas. i like tagging along under the pretense of wanting to make sure they don’t get arrested, but secretly i love it

mars aspecting the ascendant/sun/moon: look, i don’t have a hero complex. if anything, i have a lucifer complex (i’m here to sin and be sexy)....... but i am a sucker for people with hero complexes. they see the world as a fight they have to win, i want to be there when they do

no virgo in their birth chart: feels like heaven to me. okay let me reiterate: i love having friendships with virgo placements; most times, at least, but i don’t think it could ever escalate into anything more. they’re too controlling and i feel paranoid and suffocated about people trying to overpower me way too easily. i just... immediately run away as soon as they pull their controlling antics on me

uranus dominants: AHHHH!!! AWOOGA! okay at this point this is a post about how i want to marry myself, but truly. no one is more unpredictable than these people. as soon as you think you’re understanding them they pull a 360 on you and you’re back on square zero. layers upon layers.... upon layers.... upon layers? what is this, shrek? sexy and insane the bestest combination ever

saturn in the 1st/8th/12th house: i will follow them to the depths of the underworld if they ask me to

cancer suns: yes i do want to sleep with the enemy. no i will not elaborate.

[jennana501]

A Case for Rexsoka

I’ve been around the block when it comes to ships. I’ve seen people obsess over them, and I too have been driven mad by obsession. I was a hardcore original avatar fan and I was OBSESSED with shipping Toph and Sokka together. Any time they so much as made an interaction I over analyzed it and picked it apart looking for clues that somehow would prove that my hunches were correct. It was because I related with both characters, and I loved their chemistry. I wanted them to have a romantic relationship because it would feel like some sort of personal validation.

I’m an adult now and nothing has changed. But it has been a while since I’ve desperately shipped two characters together that are not obviously romantically involved with one another, or who could be romantic behind the scenes or beyond the story shown.

Until Rex and Ahsoka.

And I’ve seen people be adamantly against it. 

“No no no it’s just a brother/sister relationship.” 

“No it’s gross she is a child”.

And of course being disagreed with on the internet can drive a person crazy, and instead of individually arguing with dozens of people online, I’m making this post once and for all to explain why I think Rex and Ahsoka have romantic feelings for each other. Especially Rex.

The argument I’ve seen, that their deep passion, commitment, love, admiration, and respect for one another (which are all so obvious you’d have to be...silly to not see it) are felt in a platonic fashion. Which, for the first 6 seasons and 8 episodes, I would totally agree.

But then Ahsoka comes back. And let’s face it. She is a woman. Age wise, she’s around 17, but everything from the maturity of her Lekku (which weirdly don’t get all that longer, especially compared to other Tagrutan women) to her poise and confidence, to her prowess as a warrior, a user of the force, and her ability to command soldiers as well as control her emotions points to her being an adult woman. She’s no Snips anymore; she’s no child. She’s grown up. And how her peers react to her illustrates how they now view her as an adult.

First there is Obi-wan. Obi-wan has always been a mentor to her, a sort of second Master. Obi-wan never hesitated to guide and Ahsoka or offer his council. He is proud of her when she succeeds, and will admonish her when she makes mistakes. When she returns and he sees her as a woman, he changes the way he treats her. He acknowledges her maturity by addressing her as an equal. He doesn’t admonish her. Instead he discusses with her, challenging her ideas and letting her offer an argument for them instead of putting them down and telling her how she should think or act. He also comes to her in his time of need, trusting her to help him with Anakin.

Then there is Anakin. We all know of Anisoka shippers, and they are perfectly able to ship and enjoy said ship, but we can all acknowledge that it is a crack pairing with no basis in the canon. Anakin portrays the perfect kind of brotherly love. He is excited to see Ahsoka, and is stunned by her unexpected reappearance. Things are harder for Anakin because he is used to their fun banter and sibling-like companionship. He’s constantly shut down with her business like manner and he struggles with coming to terms with the fact that she isn’t a little kid sister anymore. She is an adult with a mission and a plan. When he looks at her, he is endearing. He loves her. Admires her. And he can’t wait to pick up where they left off. There’s joy and adoration in his face. He is proud of her and what she has become, but he also feels alienated and even hurt because of how her adulthood has changed their dynamic.

Then there is Rex. When he first sees her, he wants nothing more than to reassure her that she still belongs. The clones had accepted her into their family. As far as they were concerned, she was one of them. When he looks at her for the first time, he’s beaming with the same adoration as he had had for her before, but also with a solemn awe at what she has become and what she has grown into. He welcomes her back into his life without hesitation.

But then there is a moment things shift so drastically that I paused the show and re-watched it half a dozen times. We all know it and love it. This face he gives Ahsoka. The Look.

What we see here is something we have never, EVER seen in Rex for 7 whole seasons. And it is my opinion that this is the first time Rex has been able to feel and express that he is attracted to Ahsoka. In other words, Rex has a sexual awakening.

Up until this point, Rex has been a sexless character. Nothing he does is flirtatious, sexy, or at all suggestive that he has those feelings inside him at all. Every sexual being has a moment where they are first animalistically drawn to another being. Characters who have already had this moment are easy to pick out. Obi wan. Anakin. Ventress. These characters have already experienced their sexual awakening. Ahsoka has too. Lux was her first object of attraction.

But Rex has never had this moment. Until this reaction.

I know some of you might be thinking “but Ahsoka gives a very similar look to Anakin, does that mean she is sexually attracted to HIM?” It’s a very good point. Ahsoka and Anakin share some cheeky playful looks during “Old Friends Not Forgotten”. We see many characters give similar looks to other characters, but does this mean it means the same thing as when Rex does it? The short answer is no.

When animators design a character, they establish the “range of emotion” for that character. You can easily see this when you look back at how many times you see Rex break from his stoic, captain’s face. He rarely laughs, smiles, or emotes in any way. This is why when we see him emote it is exciting to us as an audience. A character like Ahsoka or Anakin commonly show a wide variety of expressions. Ahsoka is much more likely to give a cheeky look than Rex is. So “the look” for Rex, means a lot more when he is doing than it does when another character does it, say Fives or even Obi-Wan.

Which means the writers are trying to tell us something about this moment. 

This moment has changed Rex’s and Ahsoka’s relationship. 

Now does this mean that they are going to go bang each other immediately? Does this mean the second they are alone after “Victory and Death” they start an intense, sexual relationship? Of course not. That’s not what this ship is about at this time. But the reason many of us ship it is because suddenly they don’t feel like brother and sister anymore. It isn’t entirely platonic. And the show does a good job to further emphasize this as they come closer and closer both emotionally, and physically during the finale.

Blocking is a huge factor in visual storytelling. During the finale, Rex and Ahsoka are blocked in a way that makes them as close as physically possible on the screen. This communicates to the audience that they are closer now than they have ever been. As Jedi and Clone Trooper. As friends, and as companions, their bond forged in the fires of war, struggling to find meaning in life as soldiers.

In contrast, look how Ahsoka and Anakin are blocked in their scenes. There is nearly always a gap between them, illustrating that they are distanced from each other emotionally. Rex is even visually inserted into the gap between them in several instances. Anakin and Ahsoka are growing apart, but she and Rex are growing closer.

We get to experience Rex and Ahsoka engaging in actions and conversations that we had rarely seen before. From casual banter, to moments of intense intimacy, to emotional peaks, Rex and Ahsoka interact more in these four episodes than in the previous six seasons. Part of this is because their maturity gap has closed. Ahsoka is finally Rex’s equal in experience and maturity. It is also in part because it is a unique dynamic. No Obi-wan. No Anakin. Rex and Ahsoka are equal leaders of the 332nd. There’s also the fact that they are put into life threatening situations and have no one else but each other.

But there is that “look” that is given at the beginning of all this that suggests something else, that as their bond undoubtedly becomes strong as beskar, there is an element of it that takes their relationship from the platonic to the romantic.

I feel every detail, moment, and piece of dialogue in the finale tells the story of this bond. 

Many instances of their strong emotional bond have been spread throughout the internet, with most ready to acknowledge that they have a connection unlike any other, one that may even be described as a “force” connection. These last four episodes are so exciting because we see two friends reunited, but then we get to watch as their relationship transforms.

Even disregarding their implied attraction to each other physically, they dive into each other and hold on tight. Ahsoka shares deep personal worries with Rex, and Rex and her are shown opening up to each other in ways they have never opened up before.

We were all floored and dumbfounded at scenes such as these that show these characters at their most vulnerable. But they decide to be vulnerable together. Is it because they are all that is left of their 501st family? It part, this is definitely true. But by being this vulnerable they transform their relationship into something very different from what they had before. It will never be the same again, and it will be near impossible to back out of the emotional intimacy that these two have participated in. Once you have formed that kind of an attachment with someone, there is no going back, and as is seen in rebels, these two maintain that strong connection even after years of being apart.

This goes beyond their sexual desires or needs. They’ve forged a bond that cannot be broken. They have shared minds, shared pain and agony that only the other can understand. They’ve been isolated from the world, and all they have left is each other.

And at the end of the series, when we have Rex and Ahsoka broken, their world flip upside down and everything they ever valued or cared about lies in ruins before them, the idea that they still have each other is that beautiful seed of hope Star Wars is so good at preserving. Those of us who believe that their relationship could be romantic want good things for Rex and Ahsoka. We want them to have that love and share it with each other. Maybe only for a few moments, but having known it would be better than both of them living and dying without having that experience. 

When we see the two in Rebels, for me it confirms that these two love each other deeply. But their lives can never be lived in a normal fashion. They cannot even be together as partners in life. The Empire has stolen this from them. The tragedy of this ship is that it can never be the way we want it to be. Rex will age and die long before Ahsoka is even halfway through her own life. They cannot live with one another. They cannot wake each morning with each other, at least not at the point we see them in rebels. 

But they continue to love each other. Even over distance, even knowing that mortality will claim them with only a fraction of the memories that they deserve with one another. 

So please, the next time you see some art or a fic, or a post like this, think of what I had to say. Rexsoka is about two adults, their lives destroyed at the hands of Sidious, but in defiance they still forge a bond that he could never break or take from them. And that to me is beautiful and something to celebrate.

Side note: I spent a ton of time making gifs but they never would work and so I had to use screenshots instead :(

EDIT: At the request of the OG poster of a few gifs, I have replaced them have also made some grammatical changes. 

[thinkingisadangerouspastime]

hi! i really like your posts and recently i came across some anti kataang arguments and i would like to see your opinion on that (if you want to answer because you must be very tired of answering those lol)

“i remember perfectly aang forcing himself into katara. not only once, but a lot of times. in that talk they were having during the play it was one of the moments aang was intrusive”

“i saw people saying that katara was jealous of aang with that kids in kyoshi island, which she obviously was not. she was annoyed at them”

“kataang had no development. it feels like a ship made out of nowhere”

“aang is completely obsessed with the idea of katara being his. proof is that episode were the guru tells him he has to let go of her and he choses to break the connection. it’s like: look what i did for you, you should stay with me. aang learning to let go would have been a evolution for his character”

“making them stay together in the end just because aang is the protagonist and has to stay with the girl is boring and adds nothing to the plot”

“he spend years after a girl that never felt the same for him”

hi anon! im very flattered you like my posts 🥰💛 and you’re not wrong that sometimes it gets a lil tiring addressing anti kataang arguments, but that’s because 90% of them are the same foolish rhetoric dressed up in a different costume, lol. i finally have some free time, so i’ll take a stab at these for you!

“i remember perfectly aang forcing himself into katara. not only once, but a lot of times. in that talk they were having during the play it was one of the moments aang was intrusive”

not gonna lie, this particular “argument” made me crack up laughing because they “remember perfectly… lots of times” but can only name one instance 😂 like i am on the floor, because trying to get away with that in a formal essay would earn them nothing more than a goose egg. you need evidence to support a claim, which this “claim” has none of. i mean,, when does aang force himself onto katara?? when katara initiates every cheek kiss they share?? when they are mutual participants in several shared hugs?? don’t get me started on DOBS - the Now or Never Kiss that falls under literally requires reciprocation from both parties, lol. but regarding the ever-so-infamous EIP episode they bring up:

This post talks specifically about EIP and the play’s portrayal of Aang and Katara (and how it cannot be used to define their relationship). This post explains the true source of Katara’s conflict in turning down Aang (i.e. the war itself and the risks the war presents for both of them) and why the EIP kiss did not “ruin” Kataang’s relationship. This post explains how the EIP kiss was resolved through narrative parallels. This post explains how the EIP kiss is so often blown out of proportion. This post explains how Aang did not “threaten” Katara in EIP (with some excellent commentary in the notes, too).

the fact of the matter is that yes, aang overstepped a boundary with katara there. no one has ever contested that because to do so would be to disregard canon, and here’s the thing about kataang shippers: we love atla canon. it gave us everything we wanted and more. (imo, that’s what anti kataangers don’t understand.) the EIP episode can be interpreted as a “low point” for many reasons, but the primary “takeaway” is that the play performed was imperialist propaganda that preyed on the gaang’s insecurities and demeaned them (much to the pleasure of the Fire Nation audience), which had negative consequences, one of which was aang kissing katara largely out of desperation. no one has ever excused that! thus, what i think isn’t clicking with anti kataangers is that aang and katara’s miscommunication in EIP is not a representation of their relationship being doomed to fail. aang made a mistake and immediately backed off without question or hesitation. katara has time to make her own decision and chooses to forgive him. doesn’t it strip more of katara’s agency away to conclude that katara could never ever ever forgive her best friend for a single mistake that - comparatively - could have been a whole lot worse?

(im just saying.)

“i saw people saying that katara was jealous of aang with that kids in kyoshi island, which she obviously was not. she was annoyed at them”

honestly, i have a question for whoever came up with this jfksjdasks. okay, yes, she was annoyed. that’s a given based on her exasperated eye rolls and sighs. but why was katara annoyed with them, hmm?

here’s my thing about katara’s feelings in this ep: jealousy and annoyance are not inherently the same, it’s true. a person can be annoyed without being jealous (obviously). as such, there are essentially two possible interpretations that have validity, although one in my opinion has greater weight in canon:

1. yes, it is possible to interpret katara’s annoyance that episode as being solely related to their delays on kyoshi island. one can reasonably argue that katara’s romantic feelings for aang were not as strong so early in the series (it’s only episode 4, after all, although lbr - she was Looking at aang’s tattoos in episode 1 lmao), and therefore the primary reason she was annoyed at the fangirls is because they were one of the causes extending their stay on the island when katara felt they needed to leave. it’s a fair interpretation.

2. a different and stronger interpretation, in my opinion, is that katara’s irritation was a product of both annoyance at their extended stay and jealousy of the fangirls’ obsession with aang. because here’s the thing about jealousy: it doesn’t have to be some extreme, exaggerated emotion/reaction! when katara gets jealous of on ji in book 3, she makes a single comment about aang and on ji dancing together. when aang gets jealous of jet in book 2 (because of sokka’s teasing), he, too, makes a single comment (i.e. that it would be a bad idea for katara to kiss jet). i bring these two moments up because they explicitly demonstrate within atla canon that reactions of jealousy do not have to be dramatique and outrageous, à la zuko throwing ruon-jian across the room in book 3, lmao. jealousy can be simple! kept to oneself! as such, katara’s disgruntled manner in that episode - which, might i add, is largely if not only shown in reaction to aang with the fangirls - can certainly be interpreted as a quieter form of jealousy akin to several other moments within canon.

more than that, however, if the writers did not at all want jealousy to be an interpretation on the table… why on earth would they have bothered to mention jealousy as a possibility? here’s the relevant excerpt from the episode transcript:

Koko: [Stomps her foot in annoyance and puts her hands on her hips, while another girl happily waves at Aang; irritated.] What’s taking you so long, Aangy?

Cut back to Aang and Katara; the former enthusiastically waves back at his awaiting fangirls, while the latter raises an eyebrow at the scene.

Katara: [Slightly mocking.] Aangy…

Aang: [Enthusiastically.] Just a second, Koko!

Katara: [Sarcastic.] “Simple monk,” huh? [Annoyed.] I thought you promised me that this Avatar stuff wouldn’t go to your head.

Aang: It didn’t. You know what I think? You just don’t want to come because you’re jealous.

Katara: [Close-up; angrily.] Jealous? [More high pitched voice.] Of what?

Cut to a broader shot. Aang moves back slightly, when an irritated Katara resumes to ferociously stuff the basket with more fruits.

Aang: Jealous that we’re having so much fun without you.

Katara: [Irritated.] That’s ridiculous.

(sidebar, but can i just say that seeing “ferociously stuff” to describe putting fruits away is arguably the funniest thing i’ve ever read sjkdhsjalks)

to me, this excerpt alone all but proves katara’s irritation is a mixture of annoyance at the girls’ (and aang’s) behavior/their delayed departure and jealousy regarding how the fangirls’ fawn over aang. katara clearly demonstrates frustration at aang’s seeming lack of concern for their time crunch and how he’s letting his status get to his head (and remember, y’all: this is very early book 1 aang, he’s barely begun to truly reconcile what it means to be the avatar and the last airbender, which is understandable and a-okay! can’t have growth if he doesn’t start somewhere!). that checks out. but next thing you know, katara’s reaction proceeds to dramatically heighten when aang teases the idea of jealousy to her. again: why include this moment if jealousy was never on the table whatsoever as an interpretation for her feelings of irritation? why make katara’s response intensify so strongly if she’s not jealous even a little bit?

in sum, while i don’t think katara’s aggravation is solely fueled by jealousy, the episode itself points to jealousy as at least a part of it. simple!

“kataang had no development. it feels like a ship made out of nowhere”

this take screams willful ignorance, like did they even watch the whole show?? it’s not worth addressing over and over, ngl.

This post and this post explain how Katara’s feelings for Aang develop throughout the series. This post explains how Aang consistently supported Katara throughout the series. This post demonstrates how Kataang is literally ingrained in every episode.

“aang is completely obsessed with the idea of katara being his. proof is that episode were [sic] the guru tells him he has to let go of her and he choses [sic] to break the connection. it’s like: look what i did for you, you should stay with me. aang learning to let go would have been a evolution for his character”

“completely obsessed” h e l p i weep for the lack of brain cells 😭 it is so hard to just say “kataang isn’t my cup of tea” and go?? seriously?? i thought we were past making stuff up to support shipping agendas. lord help us. real quick:

This post explains how Aang never acted like he was “entitled” to Katara’s affections. This post explains how Katara and Aang do not “idolize” each other. This post and this post talk about Aang’s chakra being blocked and unblocked, and how it had to do with fear, not attachment. This post talks about Aang and the Avatar State, explicitly discussing “The Crossroads of Destiny” and the notion of attachment/letting Katara go.

okay, let’s take this claim one sentence at a time:

“the guru tells him [aang] he has to let go of her [katara] and he choses [sic] to break the connection.”

first of all. FIRST OF ALL. can you imagine the hellfire that would have rained down if aang hadn’t chosen to go rescue katara? here is a piece of the episode transcript:

… Right before he is able to completely open the final chakra and master the Avatar State, however, he hears a shriek from Katara and sees a vision of her in chains. At this, he jumps out of the energy sphere and runs away from the Avatar Spirit. The energy bridge that leads him there slowly vanishes behind him until it catches up and falls from underneath him, causing his image to plummet toward Earth. This cuts his connection to the Avatar State, which forces him back to reality.

Aang: Katara’s in danger! I have to go! [Prepares to exit.]

Pathik: No, Aang! By choosing attachment, you have locked the chakra! If you leave now, you won’t be able to go into the Avatar State at all!

Aang hesitates but leaves anyway, leaving Pathik concerned and disappointed.

aang chose to leave because katara was in danger. if he had chosen to stay,, dear god. the vitriol that would have been thrown around. “aang doesn’t really love katara! he chose not to save her!” “aang is so selfish and greedy! he chose power over love!” it’s literally a catch-22. damned if he does leave, damned if he doesn’t leave. #fandomlogic

anyways, yes, sure, aang chose to leave, which at the time broke the connection. he was indeed in avatar state limbo for a Hot Minute. whoop de do.

“it’s like: look what i did for you, you should stay with me.”

logical fallacy: ad hominem, hasty generalization, ∴ not worth our time 💛

“aang learning to let go would have been a [sic] evolution for his character”

i have amazing news for those who perpetuate this take. aang did let her go! he would not have been able to enter the avatar state in COD if he hadn’t! point blank, it is utterly untrue to pretend aang did not “let go” of his attachment to katara. now, im not going to get into the concept of “attachment” here and what it truly meant for aang to have “let katara go” in the book 2 finale (if it was good, bad, etc. etc.). there is a lot of material to work with there that would require like,, an entire post to dig into, if not more. the fact of the matter is that aang did let katara go, and the proof is that he successfully entered the avatar state before azula killed him. the above claim thus sits in complete contradiction to canon and is a moot point.

“making them stay together in the end just because aang is the protagonist and has to stay with the girl is boring and adds nothing to the plot”

“making them stay together” again, is it so hard for someone to just say “kataang isn’t my thing, im gonna stick to fanon pairings, but y’all have fun” i mean that really, really does not seem so difficult to me! also, “making” is a hilarious word to use just because,, atla is a work of fiction. in that respect, the writers “made” everything happen. you cannot escape their sphere of control.

anyways. that’s just funny to me lmao

but no, aang and katara did not get together in a romantic fashion just because aang was the lead male protagonist and katara was the lead female protagonist. i refer back to these posts from earlier:

This post and this post explain how Katara’s feelings for Aang develop throughout the series. This post explains how Aang consistently supported Katara throughout the series. This post demonstrates how Kataang is literally ingrained in every episode.

aang and katara got together because their relationship had been developed since episode 1, duh. reducing their relationship to “lead guy + lead girl” completely disregards the legwork done and the foundation laid for their romantic partnership. like, all someone has to do is rewatch the show 😂 and i hate to break it to whoever created that take, but to say kataang “adds nothing to the plot” again ignores how their relationship is one of the two most important in the show (the other being aang and zuko’s relationship as narrative foils). it is not a cheap coincidence that kataang embodies multiple complementary themes/motifs of atla: push and pull, yin and yang, air and water, oma and shu, etc. etc. their relationship adds emotional depth! how is that not relevant to the plot! atla is a show where just about every relationship is important in some regard (this post touches upon how aang alone transforms all of his friends - think of the bigger picture, then, and how every other dynamic weaves in a crucial thread to create the beautiful tapestry we call atla!).

my point is that kataang is relevant to the plot the way every relationship in atla is, whether or not someone ships/enjoys them. you cannot have a good show without having intimate relationships (emotionally, i mean). can you imagine if someone said zuko and iroh’s relationship wasn’t relevant to the plot?? there is a reason it is such a powerful moment when iroh and zuko reunite in the finale. similarly, there is a reason yue’s sacrifice and sokka’s consequential (and lasting) grief is so poignant. there is a reason it is so heartbreaking when katara and sokka have to leave behind their father at the beginning of tsr. to tie back to kataang, there is a reason it is so hard to watch katara dismiss aang in that same episode. there is a reason so many people are moved when katara pulls aang out of the avatar state when appa is stolen. there is a reason emotional reactions are incited during atla and it is because these relationships are so important!! i don’t care if someone thinks kataang is “boring” - that’s their opinion, they have a right to it. but to insist their relationship wasn’t relevant to the plot? to the story? when in fact it was a key component from episode 1?

are you kidding me?

“he spend years after a girl that never felt the same for him”

“years” lol doesn’t atla take place over the course of a year at most? pretty sure this person didn’t even watch the show 😂 for a third time, i refer to these posts:

This post and this post explain how Katara’s feelings for Aang develop throughout the series. This post explains how Aang consistently supported Katara throughout the series. This post demonstrates how Kataang is literally ingrained in every episode.

i hope i addressed these (nonsensical) arguments to your satisfaction, anon! a lot of them are the same tried-and-failed anti kataang arguments, smh. not to incite new discourse lmao, but it’d be nice if there was at least some variety 😂 thank you again for your kind words, my friend! 💛

[kirain]

Hazbin Hotel and VivziePop Drama

I've been hearing/seeing a lot of drama concerning Hazbin Hotel and it's creator VivziePop, and while I don't know her personally or really care what people think, I do hate slander and the spread of misinformation. Truly nothing in this world upsets me more than when people believe rumours while making no effort to fact check, and that's exactly what's happening right now. That said, I wanted to try and clear up some of the rumours going around about Vivzie and the show, because I think some of them are absolutely outrageous and need to be addressed.

1. Vivzie hired an abuser onto the show.

Now, I’m not here to burn anyone at the stake, especially since I don’t know anything about Chris Niosi (the alleged abuser), who I believe openly admitted to the allegations? Regardless, this is a moot point. He’s not credited anywhere at the end of the episode. So either he was booted before production wrapped up or he had nothing to do with the show in the first place.

2. Vivzie supports bestiality.

Admittedly I thought this one might be true, since she draws so many anthropomorphic animals. In the very least, I figured she was probably a furry, but I haven't seen any evidence supporting this accusation either. Near as I can tell, this rumour started for two reasons. One, because of her famous Zoophobia comic, which revolves around a therapist named Cameron who gets assigned to work with human-like animals. Ironically, poor Cameron suffers from crippling zoophobia, which makes for some pretty decent comedy. I didn't read the whole comic because, quite frankly, it’s not my cup of tea and I just don’t have the time. But from what I saw there are no examples of bestiality anywhere in its contents.

Two, this message, which blew up all over social media:

To me, this just proves that people are more interested in virtue signalling than checking to see if their claims are actually true. Everything about this message is 100% false, which I’ll touch on in my next point.

3. Vivzie is a pedophile and she’s drawn child porn.

This is hands down the worst allegation and holy shit, I really wish people would stop using it to defame someone when they don't have any proof. This is a life-ruining accusation and you're disgusting if you believe it based solely on hearsay. This rumour began to spread when Vivzie allegedly shipped the two underage characters in the above photo and drew them NSFW-style. At the time, one character was 19 while the other was 14, and the relationship was a very illegal student-teacher relationship.

This is WRONG! The characters were not 14 and 19, they were actually 18 and 19, the legal age of consent! Additionally, the relationship wasn't student-teacher. One character is a student and the other is Alumni (a student teacher). This one pisses me off the most because it’s obvious the person who sent that message didn’t even bother to conduct any research. They said, “He’s a teacher, she’s a child.” Both characters are MALE!

Since then, Vivzie has apologised for any NSFW art she drew in the past and stated that it's not a reflection of her art today, and I'm inclined to believe her. Almost every artist has drawn NSFW content at some point in their career, and hers wasn't even distasteful. Other than this one example, there is no evidence anywhere that suggests she’s drawn “child porn”. In fact, she’s never even drawn explicit NSFW.

Please stop spreading this rumour. It’s dangerous and completely incorrect.

4. Vivzie said the "N" word!

No, she didn’t. It was a fabricated tweet. That is all.

5. Vivzie is copyright striking every video that criticises her!

No she isn't. YouTube’s DMCA is automatically striking people who are using full clips without permission. Vivzie has gone public several times, telling people exactly how to avoid getting a copy strike from the algorithm, which is something she absolutely does not have to do. At this point, she doesn't owe you anything. In my opinion, she should just sit back and watch these channels burn.

6. Vivzie copies and traces other artists’ work.

This is another one I’ve seen going around, but I looked into it as thoroughly as I could and failed to find any concrete evidence to support the allegations. As of right now, there are only two examples of Vivzie “copying” or “tracing” other artists’ work, and both of them can be explained. The first is a gif she made with a character from her Zoophobia comic, which looked a lot like the girl from ME!ME!ME!:

Damn, that’s pretty incriminating. She obviously stole-- oh, wait. This gif was part of a ME!ME!ME! MEP (multi editor’s project) and Vivzie didn’t take full credit, despite the fact that it’s not even a direct trace. It’s supposed to look like the original, which she fully cited. The second example comes from a short dance sequence from her Timber video, which seems to have been inspired by several Disney movies. As Vivzie herself stated, that was an homage to the original animations. Lots of artists and shows do this, including the beloved Stephen Universe series.

Regardless, this doesn’t count as stealing character designs or plagiarising someone’s work. It’s meant to be respectful, an admiration of other projects. Other than these two instances, however, there is no evidence of her tracing or stealing other people’s art. From what I’ve discovered, all other designs she’s been accused of “stealing” are characters she bought and paid for. They’re quite literally HER characters.

7. Vivzie supports problematic creators.

I’m getting really tired of guilt by association. Vivzie follows and enjoys some controversial figures, but who cares? We can argue all day about whether or not the accusations against them are true, but it ultimately has nothing to do with the show or Vivzie as a person. I do the exact same thing, to be honest-- follow and listen to people on all sides so I can learn, understand, and form my own opinions. The fact that some people think this is bad, to me, is absolutely mesmerising. Vivzie doesn’t control what the people she follows post, and if they do something overly questionable she publicly criticises and denounces it.

From Vivzie:

Now that that’s been dealt with, I’d like to address some complaints/claims about the actual show.

8. Vaggie is an angry Latina stereotype and a lesbian stereotype. Vivzie is appropriating Hispanic culture and misrepresenting the gay for profit.

First off, I see a lot of people passing around yet more misinformation regarding Vivzie's race. So many people seem to think she's white? Well, I'm here to tell you they're wrong. Very incorrect. Vivzie is in fact Latina, and Vaggie is meant to mirror some of her own personality traits.

Second, who is Vaggie mad at? Context matters, and if we take a look at the episode, we see that Vaggie is literally only mad at two specific people: Angel Dust and Alastor. Why? Well, for starters, it's her girlfriend's dream to run a rehab hotel for sinners, and Angel Dust nearly demolishes that dream single-handedly. Vaggie has every right to be over-the-top vitriolic. Then there's Alastor, a known sadist, narcissist, and murderer who loves trapping people in his nefarious schemes. He invites himself in, effectively takes over the hotel, and pushes both her and Charlie aside. At one point he even sexually assaults her by slapping her butt during his musical number. So yeah, I think her seething ire is totally justified. Keep in mind, however, that when she's around Charlie she's calm, collected, and happy. I wouldn't call that a stereotype.

Thirdly, the lesbian stereotypes. I keep hearing this argument but I really don't see it. Both Vaggie and Charlie have so much personality and trust for each other. Maybe I'm wrong, but the stereotype I know always totes a more butch, tomboyish woman with a ditsy, innocent, naive woman. Charlie is optimistic, but she isn't stupid. She refuses to shake Alastor’s hand because she knows he’s likely trying to screw her over. She’s also not entirely innocent herself and uses words like “fuck” and “shit”. I also wouldn’t call Vaggie butch or tomboyish. She has a cute, girly presentation, complete with a pink ribbon in her hair, lace stockings, and a dress. She's protective of her girlfriend, as I think we all are with our partners, and there's nothing wrong with that. They're flawed characters, as every character is meant to be. This isn't a problem.

9. The show is racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, blah, blah, blah.

I’m amazed this is even an argument. The show is supposed to be a dark comedy that takes place in HELL. You know, the place the worst of the worst end up after they die? What were you expecting? Everyone gets a shot or two fired at them, but that doesn't make them bad characters nor does it make the show itself horrible. Take, for example, Katie Killjoy, the news reporter so many people are up in arms about. She says she doesn’t “touch the gays” because she has “standards”. Well, here’s a newsflash of my own: we’re not supposed to like her! She’s an antagonist. Not to mention ten seconds later Charlie insults her and isn’t the least bit slighted by her pretentious attitude. The characters are strong and don’t take shit from anyone, because to some degree they’re all terrible people who can throw down when it’s called for.

Obviously if you don’t like the show or think it’s offensive, I’m probably not going to change your mind. That’s perfectly fine. You’re entitled to your opinions and you don’t have to watch the show. Just stop lying and stop trying to take it away from everybody else. Stop attacking Vivzie and spreading misinformation without checking the facts. I realise a lot of people probably aren’t trying to be vindictive and only want to do something good, but just remember this: the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

[oh-my-may]

Nishinoya, Bokuto, Oikawa and Atsumu as your boyfriend hcs

requested by anon: hey hey heyyyy! may i request for 'as a boyfriend' headcannons for nishinoya, boukto, oikawa and atsumu please? thank u if u get around doing this !! xoxo

hello there!^^ at first I thought about splitting this post up into 2 parts because usually the ‘as your boyfriend hcs’ are a bit longer but  I decided against it so enjoy~ (also atsumus and oikawas are a bit longer because they are my faves and uuuh I am weak lol)

Nishinoya Yuu:

one of the most energetic and happiest boyfriends!!

Will literally love and cherish you until you die and probably even after that, I’m being serious his love and affection for you have no end

though in the beginning of your relationship, or even before it, he always gets very shy around you which is unusual for him. That’s how he knows you’re special to him, because you make him doscover a whole new side of him!

The secret admirer type of crush, everyday you’ll find a new small present waiting on your desk. Your favorite drink, a snack, a small cute note, a new pen when he noticed your old one didn’t work anymore, a small bunch of flowers... It’s just so cute!

But it takes forever until he actually asks you out. In reality, it happens a lot different than he imagined. Normally he made sure he was in school waaayyy before you, but that one day he overslept and was in class just a few minutes before you. or so he thought. You just walked in the moment he placed the small package of milk on your desk and you both just stare at each other for several minutes and he’s about to faint until Tanaka saves him and gets him out of class because “he might develop a fever, his face is all red and sweaty”

2 days or so you don’t hear anything from him, until he manages to get over himself and ask you out in the tiniest voice. He has to repeat himself several times until you understand him properly because the poor boy was so nervous he spoke too fast and too quietly

BUT AFTER he finally gets you to be his he’s just the smiliest baby!!

Will never, not ever, let go of your hand. At least not when he can avoid it.

Always wants you to be on his side, like at practice and such. You can be guaranteed to be found at every single game that Karasuno ever has again, even practice games. You’re always there cheering for him and he’s at his 150% every time! The team loves his energy on the field but it’s a biot exhausting everywhere else :’)

ANWAYS definitely a lot of activity dates! I’m not saying that he would say no to a good old cuddle session, but he’s just always bouncing around, so going to the arcade or comign up with fun games at the park is normally what you do after school and practice!

Tanaka is the accepted third-wheel of your relationship. Whenever your over sat Noya’s he ends up showing up, too a lot of times or he joins in on fun dates, but it’s never uncomfortable or weird. You two actually become really good buddies and he always tells you funny stories about Noya! Also him and Kiyoko and you two go on double dates and it’s!! So cute!!

Did I mention that Noya is the king of skinship and PDA?? He really couldn’t care less who’s around you or who might be watching, his eyes are always on you and his hand somehow magically finds his way to your ass lol

No but on a serious note he just can’t live without you and sometimes he can get really anxious if he doesn’t find you in a crowd or your hands don’t intertwine immediately when he reaches for you. He can’t explain it, it just doesn’t feel good about it when you’re not around him.

Protective!! WILL jump on anyone that looks at you the wrong way or makes you feel uncomfortable. he 100% has Tanaka’s support for this.

Did I forget anything?? That should be about it for my little noya rant, he’s just too cute I’ll hug him to death~

Bokuto Kotarou:

chaotic™

When I tell you he did NOT know what he was doing when he asked you out. Just listened to Akaashi’s and Kuroo’s advice and it somehow worked out for him. Several months into the relationship he’s still not entirely sure how he got you, but he doesn’t complain

(psssht, it was his clumsy charm mixed with some kind of natural charisma that got you, but don’t tell him that he will not shut up about it)

When he first saw you he was at practice and he couldn’t help but stare because how can a real human being be so pretty?? and he actually missed a ball, got it slammed to his head and well what can I say? You almost got him passed out the first time he saw you

He got soooo embarrassed afterwards help the poor boy. The brightest blush ever appeared on his cheeks and ears and his hair immediately went emo mode straight down hanging into his face

The whole situation was so chaotic and messy you couldn’t help but turn around and look for the source of all this trouble, just to find the silver-haired boy staring right at you and hitting you someplace special in your chest, literally taking you aback

Afterwards the coach scolds him for being inattentive and you leave the gym in a hurry, because you as well are embarrassed. But it doesn’t take long until Akaashi gets send to get your number and you can’t help but giggle as he tells you about how Bokuto literally won’t stop whining about you being the prettiest human being on earth

That’s how you started texting and bokuto might just be one of the most random texters (is that even a word??) ever. Like yeah, in the beginning he’ll mainly talk about volleyball and send you sweaty pics of him (no, not these ones!) but then again you’ll get a text at 3am on a thursday and it will be like a really bad picture taken of the moon and it will say like “thought about you” and in the next message 3 seconds later he’ll talk about wanting to be a werewolf or so. And you have to laugh so hard you can’t even be mad at him for waking you up

And that’s basically how you’re relationship works, too. A lot of random texts, especially “come over?” ones or “watch me at practice! please???” and you can’t ever get yourself to say no to him, because he’s always so happy when you show up!

Ngl it kinda distracts him too, but he’s in ace mode when you watch him because he feels the need to impress you even when you tell him there’s no need for him to because you’re already impressed by him

Loves hugs! Hugs after a victory or a defeat, hugs after school and practice and hugs as greetings and goodbyes... Just hugs, so he can entirely engulf you in his big and strong arms and you basically vanish somewhere between his arms. Loves pressing you close in the whole process of it, so close that you can barely breathe for a second, but you actually love it because it just shows his love and affection

9/10 times you’re also the cure to his emo mode. Just very rarely even you can’t help him and it’s upon himself to get over it, but with your presence near him and the opportunity to cuddle onto you while reflecting about himself, he’ll get over it eventually

He’s also the biggest cuddler there could possibly be. most of your dates are stay-inside ones because most of the times he’s exhausted from practice and games, so a chill night in with a good movie or series and some nice snacks really do it for him. He can just cuddle onto you however he likes and he especially likes brushing his fingers over your warm, soft skin. It makes him feel very at ease.

Yeah so that’s about it C: Please just love this smol bean to no end, because his love sure as hell also has no limit

Oikawa Tooru:

People might think he’d be very blunt and cocky and all when he has a crush, but I’m telling you - he’s actually the softest boy ever and prefers to keep his distance at fir4st to observe and understand his feelings for you

So what I’m saying is: As soon as he realizes what exactly his feelings are for you, he gets a bit shy and distant but blushes whenever he sees you

At first he thought you were just one of his obsessed fans and he didn’t think much of it, but then his gaze always wandered over to you, no matter if it was during a game or a practice or at school or when he saw you somewhere else... It was like you were haunting him, in like the best possible way, as he soon realized

It takes him forever to get himself to talk to you, because he wants everything to be perfect. He chooses to approach you in school when he found you alone that one day, but oh well, it totally didn’t go as planned. His glasses fell off his nose when he was trying to be smooth, he hopelessly stumbles across his words and his face got so red you thought you were talking to a tomato. Still, it kinda did something to you. You found it endearing, really. So you could just smile and nod when he asked you to got out with him and the biggest sigh of relief ever™ leaves his lips

He’s still hecka nervous for your first date, asks all his friends and team mates about their opinion on what he should wear and do, where should he take you etc... It takes him so long to decide that you just take it in hand and suggest something and he just rolls with it and turns out to be one of his favorite dates ever. A day at the park, though halfway through it got messy because it started raining and neither of you were prepared, so you had to run and share his jacket to go someplace dry and you end up in a library and neither of you can hold in the giggles when the librarians tell you to “tone it down.” It’s also your first kiss between seemingly endless rows of old books and your hearts flutter like crazy afterwards and you’re just speechless because... OIKAWA IS A GREAT KISSER idc what any of y’all think

so it just becomes a regular thing for him to pull you aside in the gym hall or school halls or whatever and kiss you senseless for his entertainment because your reaction is always 10/10

He may act smooth around others, presenting himself as the cool confident boyfriend, but really... He’s just the softest boy for you and a hopeless romantic on top.

Play with his hair and he will never leave your side ever again. The cutest pink hue will spread on his cheeks the first time you do it and with time you learn more about his soft spots, like brushing your lips or fingertips over his neck or the ticklish feeling he gets when you touch his waist.

Loves to pick out movies and series for you to watch. Most of them are alien or conspiracy theory-themes but you don’t mind, Oikawa is happiest when he can connect several things he loves, like you and aliens, or you and volleyball.

You’re also gonna have to accept the fact that he spends a lot of time on volleyball and that he will come home late and not always have time for you on the weekends. He will, however, especially love it when you work your way through his schedules to meet him, like when you come to watch and support him at practice. He will take extra breaks to pull you close and calm himself down in your arms.

Iwaizumi will definitely become one of your closest friends and you’ll both spend time shit talking about Tooru (ofc in a loving way) and Oikawa can’t help but smile seeing as you get close to his best friend~

He’s not exactly the most jealous type of boyfriend. He does trust you a lot and just makes sure that everybody always knows he’s your boyfriend. Trusts you with handling certain situations, though he will keep an eagle eye on strange boys and men near you and won’t lose no time chiming in when he feels like it to safe you

Of course there’s a big decrease in the numbers of his fangirls after everyone finds out you two are official, but Oikawa actually prefers it this way. As long as you are cheering for him, nothing will be able to stop him.

The bestest and softest boyfriend, not to be dramatic but I’d die for him

Miya Atsumu:

Okay now this one is actually smooth. Or so he thinks.

He’s quite obvious about his crush and feelings for you, so like he won’t hide it and use every possible opportunity to talk to you and flirt with you. And when I say flirt I mean he will use every bad pickup line you have ever heard somewhere

At first you’re really really turned off by it, but you do give him credits for being so determined and never giving up. He even takes advice from all his team mates and even though Osamu and Suna are very annoyed by his behaviour, they help because they think it will get better once you two are dating.

So every once in a while he will bring you some self-made delicious food along with a smooth line and one day he catches you off guard so hard you choke on some rice and then blush so hard you run out and you just leave poor Tsumu standing there wondering??? Are you okay? Did he just make you blush?

The next day he comes apologizing with the biggest bouquet of flowers right in front of everybody in your class and you get soooo embarrassed and the way he’s standing there is lowkey just adorable so you have no choice but to say yes. You almost catch him blushing right there, as well, because he really didn’t expect you to say that right then and there

Now when I tell you, he’s the most likely out of these 4 to ditch volleyball practice to sdpernd time with you. Most of the time it isn’t even intended, he just forgets time until he either gets a text from his brother or Suna or Kita OR you realize how late it is being like “Tsumus shouldn’t you be at practice since like 2 hours?” “Oh really? Guess not today. Now come here.”

He gets very used to having you close to him, just like Bokuto, so he will start whining when you can’t make it to a game or you’re busy with school work. Will definitely also make surprise visits at your house, like he’ll just randomly appear in front of your window at 3 am?? Are you spiderman??

Not to be angsty on this fluff post but uuhh fights with him can get very bad because he’s a stubborn child and sometimes you’ll catch him not talking to you 3 days after an argument because he needs time to cool down and reflect. He’s in the wrong 4 out of 5 times and he knows, but just give him time and he’ll be fine again. Shows up with the biggest face of regrets and food he threatened his brother to make and he’ll just blob down into your arms mumbling apologies over and over again. Cute.

Jealousy over 3000. Grows red with anger and balls his hands into the fist the moment some guy makes his way to you. Is on your side in 1 second will make no effort to hide his distrust towards the other guy. Sometimes he’ll get a bit too protective and you just have to tell him that and he’ll let you do your thing, though his gaze will never leave you just to make sure

Biggest show off. Will pull you close or hold your hand in public, grinning like and idiot and constantly placing kisses on your knuckles because you’re his baby and he loves you

Before he serves at games he will look right at you and have the most smug smile one has ever seen on his lips before smashing the ball righ into the opponent‘s field with 0 chance of them to safe the ball. It’s lowkey hot.

Also he gets very pouty and whiny when tired after a long day at school with practice or after exhausting games! Will constantly place his head on top of yours, saying it’s “too heavy” and he literally just covers your body with his.

The type to unconsciously pull you closer while sleeping!! The cutest habit! Always makes you smile when he does it!

A lot of your dates involve either volleyball or playing video games (sometimes Osamu or Suna join) and it’s most of the times just really chill. From time to time though, he’ll get the urge to do something else and next thing you know is you’re wall climbing or on a roller coaster or something. It’s either all or nothing with him concerning dates lmao

Also loves bickering! Will sometimes annoy you on purpose to see your cute face and you’ll have small arguments about who stinks more or whatever and then it always ends with “i love you though”

djsklsl I’m stopping myself now because this was getting too long because I am biased™

[crime-she-wrote]

What is Criminal Profiling and how Jack The Ripper‘s case contributed to it

Hello and welcome back to Crime, She Wrote! In this post we’ll talk about two things that fascinate me: criminal profiling and the first criminal profile ever recorded. So buckle up, get your favourite beverage and join me in this little trip around criminology!

What is criminal profiling?

Criminal profiling is something that probably most people have heard of thanks to the rising in popularity of crime TV shows, movies and books. It’s safe to say that if you’re reading this, you’ve heard of Criminal Minds, The Silence of the Lambs or Mindhunter. But among all the fiction, what’s the truth? What’s the reality that everything has been based of?

Offender profiling, or criminal profiling, is an investigative technique used by law enforcement agents and psychologists to assist in determining whether offenses were committed by the same perpetrator and to help narrowing down the list of possible suspects by using available information about the crime and crime scene to create a psychological portrait of the perpetrator. As of now, there are several typologies of criminal profiling, such as crime scene analysis, investigative psychology, geographic profiling, diagnostic evaluation and linkage analysis.

What do those words mean?

Crime scene analysis is probably what most people associate offender profiling with: the analysis of a crime scene and inference of the offender’s characteristics from it. Although this is the most popular method of offender profiling and the one used by the FBI, there’s no clear scientific evidence that crime scene actions and offender characteristics can be directly linked without the interfefence of a third factor.

Investigative psychology is a field of applied psychology that attempts to describe and understand the behaviour of the offender, their thought process and psychological characteristics. This is an investigative technique that strays from traditional criminal investigation.

Geographic profiling is, as the name says, the profiling of the area on which the offender commits their crimes. The goal of this investigative tool is to find patterns on the geographical areas in which crimes were committed, narrow down areas where the offender could strike next and find areas of personal significance for the offender. Despite what fictional media might make you believe, this doesn’t necessarily mean the geographic profile tells us where the offender lives (although that’s not impossible), but it tries to link criminal activity to other activities not related to the crimes (such as home or work place, or recreational areas frequently visited by the offender). Geographic profiling works on the principle that 1) crimes are likely to occur near the offender’s home, 2) the offender and the victim must intersect for the crime to occur, 3) the offender tends to divert attentions from their own home although not travelling further away than necessary and 4) crime sites are not random. Although very helpful, geographic profiling is only an accurate tool when investigators have more than three crimes than can be connected to the same offender with no doubt.

Linkage analysis is the process of determining whether several crimes were committed by the same offender. Idealy, this is determined by the presence of DNA, fingerprints or fabric in the crime scenes. But when neither of these are present, investigators must use other ways to determined the facts. One way of doing this is by behaviour linkage analysis where the investigators attempt to link crimes based on the behaviours of the offender. They try to find patterns of behavioral stability and behavioral distinctiveness, aka, the offender must behave a similar way when commiting the crimes and those behaviours must be different form those exhibited by other offenders committing the same crimes. This is also known as the offender’s modus operandi.

Diagnostic evaluation is the attempt to relate psychiatry and psychology knowledge to criminology, thus explaining crime and criminal behaviour via a mental health and psichiatric diagnostic vision.

What does Jack The Ripper have to do with this?

Between April 1888 and February 1891 there were a series of murders around the Whitechapel district of London. The victims were women, typically prostitutes, in impoverished areas, who had their throats cut and their abdomens mutilated, including the removal of the uterus and other organs in most cases. All crimes were committed during the night. Although a total of 11 murders were investigated as being the Ripper’s, only 5 were and are widely accepted as being committed by the Ripper. These are known as the canonical five and consist of Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly. The details of each murder are lengthy and well known so I won’t go over them much, but if you want to read more about them the wikipedia page on Jack the Ripper has it all available.

The investigation around the Whitechapel murders happened very much the same way modern investigations do: from interviewing of the community, to collecting of forensic material, and identification, investigation and even arrest of suspects. The investigation was conducted initially by Detective Inspectors Edmund Reid and Robert Anderson from the Metropolitan Police of Whitechapel Criminal Investigation Department, who later were joined by Detective Inspectors Frederick Abberline, Henry Moore, and Walter Andrews of the Scotland Yard.

It was in October 1888 that Robert Anderson asked police surgeon Thomas Bond his opinion regarding the murderer’s skill and anatomy knowledge. Bond’s response is the first criminal profile recorded in history.

Quoting Bond’s letter to Anderson,

 “1. All five murders were no doubt committed by the same hand. In the first four the throats appear to have been cut from left to right. In the last case owing to the extensive mutilation it is impossible to say in what direction the fatal cut was made, but arterial blood was found on the wall in splashes close to where the woman's head must have been lying.

2. All the circumstances surrounding the murders lead me to form the opinion that the women must have been lying down when murdered and in every case the throat was first cut.

3. In the four murders of which I have seen the notes only, I cannot form a very definite opinion as to the time that had elapsed between the murder and the discovering of the body.

4. In all the cases there appears to be no evidence of struggling and the attacks were probably so sudden and made in such a position that the women could neither resist nor cry out. In the Dorset Street case the corner of the sheet to the right of the woman's head was much cut and saturated with blood, indicating that the face may have been covered with the sheet at the time of the attack.

5. In the four first cases the murderer must have attacked from the right side of the victim. In the Dorset Street case, he must have attacked from in front or from the left, as there would be no room for him between the wall and the part of the bed on which the woman was lying. Again, the blood had flowed down on the right side of the woman and spurted on to the wall.

6. The murderer would not necessarily be splashed or deluged with blood, but his hands' and arms must have been covered and parts of his clothing must certainly have been smeared with blood.

7. The mutilations in each case excepting the Berner's Street one were all of the same character and shewed clearly that in all the murders, the object was mutilation.

8. In each case the mutilation was inflicted by a person who had no scientific nor anatomical knowledge. In my opinion he does not even possess the technical knowledge of a butcher or horse slaughterer or any person accustomed to cut up dead animals.

9. The instrument must have been a strong knife at least six inches long, very sharp, pointed at the top and about an inch in width. It may have been a clasp knife, a butcher's knife or a surgeon's knife. I think it was no doubt a straight knife.

10. The murderer must have been a man of physical strength and of great coolness and daring. There is no evidence that he had an accomplice. He must in my opinion be a man subject to periodical attacks of Homicidal and erotic mania. The character of the mutilations indicate that the man may be in a condition sexually, that may be called satyriasis. It is of course possible that the Homicidal impulse may have developed from a revengeful or brooding condition of the mind, or that Religious Mania may have been the original disease, but I do not think either hypothesis is likely. The murderer in external appearance is quite likely to be a quiet inoffensive looking man probably middleaged and neatly and respectably dressed. I think he must be in the habit of wearing a cloak or overcoat or he could hardly have escaped notice in the streets if the blood on his hands or clothes were visible.

11. Assuming the murderer to be such a person as I have just described he would probably be solitary and eccentric in his habits, also he is most likely to be a man without regular occupation, but with some small income or pension. He is possibly living among respectable persons who have some knowledge of his character and habits and who may have grounds for suspicion that he is not quite right in his mind at times. Such persons would probably be unwilling to communicate suspicions to the Police for fear of trouble or notoriety, whereas if there were a prospect of reward it might overcome their scruples.”

In summary, Bond mentioned the sexual nature of the murders and gives an analysis of the Ripper’s personality by analysing the available information and reconstucting the murders.

This analysis contains elements previously mentioned of offender profiling: we have the crime scene analysis, where Bond infers the position and behaviour of both victim and offender; investigative psychology, where he attempts to infer psychological traits to explain and understand the Ripper’s behaviour; linkage analysis where he uses the available information to determine whether the crimes were committed by the same offender or not; and diagnostic evaluation, where Bond attempts to explain the behaviour of the Ripper through various psychiatric diagnostics.

However...

Although offender profiling is indeed a scientific field within criminology and psychology, many theories are yet to be proven correct. Offender profiling depends on two things: behavioral consistency and homology. This means that for all typologies of offender profiling to be 100% accurate, an offender’s behaviour must be the same throughout different environments and occasions and throughout time (behaviour consistency) and similar crimes must always be committed by the same type of offenders (homology). Although this has been proved correct in the cases of sexual crimes, other types of crimes are yet to obtain the same results in research. This means that offender profiling is, indeed, useful and helpful to police investigations but it should be treated with caution as it cannot be used as a single one tool to solve a case or find a perpetrator.

Thank you!

If you read this far, thank you for sticking around! Likes and reblogs are highly appreciated, and if you like what you see please consider following! Let me know what kind of content, scientific research, cases or theories you’d like to see here by dropping suggestions on the ask box!

See you next post!

[personuhh]

okay so awhile ago you posted something about Yosuke (crazy, right?) and in the tags I believe you mentioned something about how you don’t like Yosukes parents? Could you elaborate? bc I have not stopped thinking about it since you mentioned it (sorry this is so vague my memory is horrid skjdjfjgj)

OYSUEJGHHBKEJHDSGVDH oh my god okay SO. At first I just got ~vibes~ from him... like, I couldn’t quite pin down what made me think he had abusive parents, because obviously he never says anything to indicate it explicitly, but then I started noticing... small things.

I don’t want to say outright that I think they’re abusive (physically or verbally) and I also don’t think that Yosuke hates them, or necessarily even sees anything wrong with how they treat him, but I do think that their behavior has severely impacted Yosuke and led to a lot of the negative traits he displays.

To me, the most telling example is this conversation where he talks about Teddie being praised by his parents for being “thoughtful” very pointedly in front of him. It seems to be a reoccurring thing where they compare him to other people (primarily Teddie) and make him feel inferior. Yosuke’s a bit of a pushover, and frequently gets taken advantage of monetarily, and in this case he’s caved and lent Teddie a significant chunk of his savings for their trip to Tatsumi Port Island... only for him to spend it on presents to suck up to Yosuke’s parents which makes Yosuke look unthoughtful. Yosuke clearly sees it that way, even if Teddie hadn’t intentionally planned it out from the start as such (he calls Teddie “surprisingly shrewd”).

Yosuke gets told off either because a) he didn’t want to fight back/argue, and instead just took a passive stance instead of telling his parents that he was the one to lend Teddie the money in the first place, and thus didn’t have any left to buy them gifts, or b) his parents think so little of him that they don’t believe him at all. He specifically says he doubts his parents understand, which makes me think that he did try to explain the situation.

There are also several instances of a large Junes event being Yosuke’s responsibility, or at least of him thinking that he has to scramble to make things work, like the Junes concert, where he says he’ll have to move away if it doesn’t pan out; maybe this is his own thinking, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if it was something his dad said to scare him into helping, especially considering he MUST know that Yosuke is friends with Rise, or the time during the summer where he calls Yu and begs him to help out. Yosuke isn’t a manager, but he’s still got all the responsibilities of one, and even tries his best to work out other employees’ problems as well (look at his SL).

The Junes concert in particular really sent up some red flags for me, especially because Yosuke says this.

“Awfully nice for some reason”?

Yosuke’s got terrible self-esteem, there are countless times where he’s shown to be overwhelmed and embarrassed by completely genuine praise from his friends. In one of the drama CDs he mentions that he intentionally doesn’t try his best in school because he doesn’t want to disappoint himself by doing poorly while also knowing that he gave his all. It really makes me think that his parents just have an abysmally low opinion of him, and he’s adopted that same view of himself.

There’s also several scenes where he talks about his parents finding his porn (or Teddie showing it to them) and in his SL he says his mom “read the title out loud to [his] family” which on top of obviously indicating his family is pretty conservative about that kind of thing, also means he’s had to learn to be secretive with them to some extent. In Arena, Yosuke’s mother goes as far as burning the porn Teddie finds. Even if it's meant to be humorous, Yosuke's property is still being destroyed.

Now these next few things are more... abstract and can definitely be argued, but personally I still find them important to point out when discussing the topic.

Yosuke obviously struggles with toxic masculinity, and similarly to Kanji, feels like he needs to be the ideal, strong man that protects the weak, etc. Even without looking at specific dialogue, you can tell that Yosuke’s been raised to think he needs to be a “real” man, that displaying more “feminine” behaviors is a sign of weakness; because that isn’t just subtextual, it’s something he very visibly displays, it’s part of his arc. He can’t mourn and cry, he has to get revenge (because he couldn’t protect Saki at the time and he watched helplessly as she died, it makes it his fault), he says hugs are for girls (a common sentiment, but he had to learn it from somewhere), and any time he slips up and reveals his actual feelings, he has to overcompensate, let everyone know that he’s just your average teenage boy who’s definitely interested in women. Yosuke’s not the most masculine guy, he likes fashion and cares about his appearance (the bar is so low) and I’d bet that if he were given space to explore his interests without any expectations, he might actually find he’s into stuff that goes against what he’s been taught. He admits to liking crossdressing, then walks it back; not because he’s ashamed of it (on the contrary, once he realizes people found him cute, he openly brags about it), but because he thinks he SHOULD be ashamed of it.

It’s why he feels so threatened by Kanji, who completely takes him by surprise when he realizes his outer appearance and interests don’t match up. Now Yosuke’s got to compete with Kanji over who’s the manliest, show that he’s not like Kanji, because Kanji’s already accepted that side of himself, and it totally goes against everything Yosuke’s been taught to think is “normal”.

So then we look at lines like this.

On its own it’s nothing special, but it’s not just the slogan itself, it’s the way that Yosuke specifically says that his dad is still saying it. Combining this with what I mentioned previously about Yosuke’s behavior, and a few other tidbits, like Teddie mentioning that he watches violent war movies with Yosuke’s dad, it definitely makes me think he’s the type of guy who’d try and push Yosuke into being more masculine, being a traditional, unshakable, unemotional man.

Lastly, there’s the recently identified album on Yosuke’s shelf in arena, and what do you know, one of the songs on it (The Chain, by Mr. Big) has these lyrics...

In my mind, I see Yosuke’s mother as an incredibly controlling, strict woman who expects her son to be utterly perfect, and even when he’s good, it’s never good enough. Yosuke’s father is busy with Junes, and while he isn’t around the house too often, Yosuke sees him at work quite a bit, large and in-charge, not allowing anyone to see weakness, he leans on his son because he can’t bring himself to ask for help. Yosuke’s left to pick up the slack, and he’s taught by example that relying on others is cowardly, that being intimidating gets you further than being “nice”. Even though Yosuke obviously goes against this, he can't fully commit for fear of standing out and disappointing his parents, and that makes him passive; he ends up being a pushover, and neither of his parents are happy about that. He’s a “disappointment” to them, it’s one of his defining traits that everyone loves to bring up. It's something that's shown to really get under his skin, but he can never do much more than get angry, because he truly thinks he is a disappointment, he doesn't think highly of himself, even if he protests.

Maybe I’m reading into all of these things a little too much, but... I don’t know, I’ve said it before, but I just don’t see how half of Yosuke’s personality would have been shaped by anything other than his parents being Not Great.

[qqueenofhades]

pel!ivan and fedyor went through a lot of ups and some downs from the end of pel and 2021 but they also celebrated 10 years together 🥳 i hope fedyor shoved cake into ivan’s face and also you know, im sure they were mushy like the saps they are

Ivan was supposed to be out of here ten minutes ago – actually, at this point, more like twenty – but the clients are still fucking talking, and if they keep it up much longer, he’s going to add it to the bill for “initial consultation.” Drew has a man-bun and unbearably hip black glasses, and works as a developer for some start-up app that he’s tried to convince Ivan to download at least twelve times. (What does the app actually do? Don’t know don’t care.) Mia is thin, blonde, waifish, smells like essential oils, and has been flitting around with her smartphone the entire time, getting in Ivan’s way as she snaps perfectly filtered pictures of the “developmental process” and posts them nonstop on Instagram. They both have a lot of opinions on how they want the energy of the space to feel, and a preapproved list of ethically sourced suppliers. They have paid some ludicrous price for this converted loft in Prospect Heights and chose the location for its proximity to the best farmer’s markets and hippie coffeehouses. Did Ivan die? Is this hell?

Somewhat ostentatiously, he looks at his watch. “Okay,” he announces. “I think that wraps up. You have work number, so – ”

“Oh, just one more thing!” Drew has recently read one (1) book on home design and thinks he’s an expert, so Ivan is forced to suffer his idiotic opinions about the kind of tile they want to use on the kitchen backsplash. Somehow, he manages not to roll his eyes directly out of his head, for which he should be commended. Ivan has discovered that the secret of successfully dealing with people, especially clients, is to smile and nod at everything they say, while mercilessly mocking them in your head. Amazing, the things you learn as a small-business owner in Brooklyn in the year of our lord 2021. Especially when it comes to renovating overpriced tiny gentrified apartments for insufferable techno-douchebags and their vapid influencer girlfriends. And people think Ivan might want to live like this more often? No fucking thank you.

Finally (it’s another ten minutes after that, this is definitely going on the bill), they more or less wrap up, except for the fact that Mia then wants a picture with the three of them. “It’s just so important to us that we’re supporting the immigrant community,” she explains earnestly. “After all, being open, tolerant, learning from our neighbors, people who are different from us, that’s what life is all about. We just love that you’re foreign. The energy feels so right, you know?”

Ivan wonders whether to inform her that he has lived in this country for eight years and been a full citizen (passport and voting rights and everything) for three, then decides that this would venture into sharing-personal-information territory and he is having none of it. His English has improved to the point where he can handle almost all business transactions by himself, but feigning incomprehension can sometimes get him out of them when they turn really stupid. Unfortunately, that isn’t an option here, and so he diligently leans into the frame, smiling half an inch, while Mia snaps a picture of “us and our adorable Russian contractor!!” Ivan informs her of the correct flag emoji to add to the filter, decides that he’s going to add an extra fifty bucks just for that, and finally, finally, makes his escape.

It’s rush hour, and the Q is crammed as Ivan heads into midtown. So much for social distancing and not getting too close to anyone, which is the only thing from the pandemic that he wouldn’t mind keeping. Only about half the crowd is wearing masks, including him, and so he gets off at Times Square, dodges the latest lunatic standing on a soapbox and shouting about how it is all a hoax, and walks several blocks uptown, just to get some space. He finally reaches the restaurant, where he has to flash his vaccination card to get inside (Ivan, who remains Russian to the marrow of his bones, is a little irked that he couldn’t get Sputnik here and had to settle for Pfizer) and climbs up to the open-air rooftop terrace. It is only when he spots his husband, waiting at a table that overlooks the glittering evening lights of the city, when Ivan pulls off his mask and allows himself to properly smile. “Sorry I’m late,” he says. “They are the worst.”

“I figured it was something like that.” Fedyor musters a smile in return, though his eyes look permanently tired these days and Ivan would bet that he’s been scrolling through more depressing emails on his phone. Technically Fedyor is on a two-month sabbatical from work, but he can’t stop himself, and Ivan has had to pry it from his fingers on a number of occasions. “But you’re here now. That’s what matters.”

Ivan nods stoutly, they are furnished with the drinks and appetizers list, and when the waiter asks if there’s any special occasion tonight, tell him that they are celebrating their ten-year anniversary, albeit somewhat late. This was supposed to happen last spring, but obviously, nobody in New York was going out to a restaurant in the early months of 2020, and Ivan himself had barely gotten home from the hospital and still could be knocked over in a strong breeze. They’re celebrating a lot of things tonight, in other words, even if it’s now been eleven years, not ten, since the day Ivan marched into a Red Square coffee shop and engaged in – well, Fedyor has made sure to inform him that the first date didn’t go nearly as well as Ivan always thought it did. But it worked, didn’t it? Here they are, wedding bands on their fingers, a couple of successful American urban professionals who have built a nice life for themselves and are, if anything, even more madly in love than they were when this whole nutty adventure together first began. So really, if you ask Ivan Sakharov Kaminsky, it went just fine after all.

The waiter congratulates them, gives them two drinks for the price of one, and they both relax and start to talk, fully at ease in the way they only are in each other’s company. Ivan does his Mia impression in an extremely convincing falsetto (after all, [NAME REDACTED] has practice at this) and Fedyor almost dies laughing. They hold hands on the table – no need to hold them under the table – and gaze into each other’s eyes all they want, order dinner and dessert, and take a long time about it. They raise several toasts to this, to them, to ten years, may there be many more. Ivan pays the bill, his treat, and they walk slowly back to Times Square, hand-in-hand, Fedyor’s head nestled on Ivan’s shoulder. It’s New York. Nobody cares.

They ride the Q home, in all its smelly, secondhand glory, taking an hour to bang out to Brighton Beach and descending the elevated stairs into the familiar down-at-heel comfort of their Russian-American neighborhood, neon Cyrillic signs glowing in windows and somebody shouting about how if Sergei ever shows his face here again, she is going to cut his dick off. Ivan and Fedyor look at each other and snort, resisting the urge to shout up and ask what exactly Sergei did, and walk a few more minutes to their building. They climb up three flights of stairs to their apartment, unlock the door and the deadbolt, and step inside.

The instant they are home, Rasputin shoots out of nowhere, yowling as if he has been neglected for months, and curls himself around Ivan’s ankles (he is still liable to give Fedyor evil looks when he feels that this interloper has been stealing his human too often). Ivan sighs, trudges to the kitchen, points out to Rasputin that his food bowl is still half full, gets a wounded look in return, and adds an extra scoopful. Once the cat is happily snarfing down, Fedyor pulls Ivan by the hand, into the dim living room with its blowing curtains. “Come here, my love,” he says. “Hold me.”

Ivan does as ordered, because it’s his favorite thing in the world: cuddling Fedyor close, nothing but the two of them in all of time and space, swaying slowly in the blue hour with fingers and arms and hearts entwined. Ivan kisses Fedyor’s temple, and Fedyor nestles even closer, melted into his embrace. “I love you, Vanya,” he mumbles against Ivan’s collarbone. “I love you so much. I love you more than anything in the world. I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“I love you too, Fedya.” Ivan leans down and kisses him properly, sweet and slow and lingering, as they continue to waltz in stately time to a music that nobody except the two of them can hear. “I’m still not always sure why you married me, but I am very glad you did.”

[kitkatopinions]

So, let’s talk about James’s semblance, Mettle.

Ironwood's Semblance, Mettle, strengthens his resolve which allows him to carry through with his decisions, helping him hyper-focus (RWBY wiki)

Actual quotes on Ironwood’s semblance from the RTX RWBY Panel.

“So Ironwood does have a semblance. We - it’s in the show, it’s in like little bits, you can kind of see it. It’s more like a passive semblance that runs in the background.” Eddy Rivas

“The whole thing is just this kind of like, iron resolve-slash-will that like kind of powers him to - almost like a very stubbornly, narrow-set focus like mind set on things, to kind of like push himself to do what he’s decided he’s gonna do-” Eddy Rivas

“It kind of helps him like, hyper focus,” Kerry Shawcross

“Or like, pushing through something like searing the flesh off your arm. If like, this is the goal he needs to accomplish, everything else just goes by the wayside.” Miles Luna

“So that’s kind of running in the background of seven and eight a little bit.” Eddy Rivas

“So it felt a little weird and we just never put it on the page, but you can actually see it happening.” Eddy Rivas

“We could possibly get it out later, but we thought it’d be more fun for you to be able to watch volume eight, and go back and watch volume 7 knowing that.” Kerry Shawcross

So I’m going to be talking about some of the problems I think there are with Ironwood’s semblance and it not being included in the show. I’m going to be very critical of and bashing RWBY, and there’s probably going to be CRWBY bashing too. If you don’t want to see any of that or if you’re against any sort of pro Ironwood content, don’t read this post or interact.

So let’s try to piece together from these statements what Ironwood’s semblance is.

It’s a passive semblance. As far as I know, the only other passive semblance we have to judge how those work is Qrow. Unlike active semblances, Qrow’s passive semblance can’t be controlled, and can only be increased at will, but always runs at frequencies severe enough that Qrow thinks of it as controlling his life and preventing him from being able to be close to his family. From the way Qrow’s semblance behaves, we can extrapolate that James’s semblance likely works in the same way, and in the panel, it’s described as ‘running in the background.’ I.E. He can’t turn it off, it runs through his entire life, he can only increase it in certain times.

It’s described as hyper-focusing, stubbornness, narrow-set focus, being unable to concentrate or care about things outside of his set goal, and pushing himself in doing what he’s decided he has to do.

There are several reasons I want to talk about this semblance.

1. This semblance might’ve been newly invented for season 7 and 8. Why do I think this? Eddy Rivas says ‘I believe we called it Mettle’ in the panel (emphasis is mine,) and is talking like he was included in inventing it, even though he became a co-writer for volume 7. Also they don’t mention if it affected Ironwood pre-volume 7, they only mention it being seen or considering including it in volume 7 and 8. Also, the voice actor of James Ironwood didn’t know about this semblance until a fan told him. It’s possible that this semblance was written earlier, but I doubt it and I think that this semblance was invented in the conception of volumes 7 and 8 with Eddy Rivas being involved. As such, I’m going to view everything pre-volume 7 as actions we were intended to consider James’s actual character, and everything post-volume 6 as actions influenced by his semblance.

2. The fact that it’s not included is lazy. This is a character defining semblance. This colors literally everything that Ironwood does in seasons seven and eight, this is a major game changer, this changes any understanding of the character. I’ve said this before, but fans shouldn’t have to do homework to understand the story. Many fans don’t want to go searching through panels, wikis, books, and zoom meetings to try and piece together why a character might be the way they are or how the magic systems work. The fact that the semblance isn’t included has led to confusion about how the semblance works. Some RWBY fans will present the way they decided the semblance works and get actively angry at fans who headcanon that it works differently or are upset with the way the creators themselves described the semblance. Other fans act like RWBY critics who think Ironwood’s fall to villainy is hard to track are stupid for not knowing this completely unincluded detail, and other fans villainize the semblance and use it as a reason why Ironwood is an inherently bad person. On the flip side, James Ironwood fans are rightly confused at this semblance that seems like it could be an explanation for the sudden shifts in his character. Some of them don’t understand why this semblance isn’t explained and at least treated as a part of his fall and treated more sympathetically. The fact that it wasn’t explained in the show leads to fans coming up with their own conclusions, and then arguing over what version is viable or what the collective fandom should accept.

3. The semblance itself is a lazy explanation for his villainy. The creators didn’t write a convincing hero-to-villain story. Ironwood’s leaps in morality are made with very little groundwork or explanation, he goes from ‘doing what he feels needs to be done’ to threatening to bomb the remaining citizens of Mantle in a completely irrational time with laughter and smiles over the course of a season that didn’t really put the focus on that progression. The semblance wasn’t explained or even mentioned and Ironwood wasn’t treated with sympathy or understanding, because we were meant to hate him and see him as the enemy to the protagonists, who we were meant to see as completely right. But the semblance is then an easy explanation that ‘fills out the plot holes’ if CRWBY is asked, that they can use to justify the fall to villainy - or use to suddenly redeem James if they decide they want to. And as I said before, this semblance is already being used by the mega-fans to explain the fall to villainy and throw it in the faces of any critics. Once again, it feels like the writers are just coming up with whatever they can to make up for their shitty writing, while they also rely on their fans to fill in the gaps and ‘explain’ to critics exactly how they think the semblance works and act like the critics or bashers should’ve just come to the same conclusion they did.

4. The semblance is problematic because of how villainized James is specifically for things like his semblance. The semblance is literally the best possible explanation for Ironwood’s fall and the only one I’ve heard that makes any sense. But his semblance is literally described by the creators as ‘hyper-focusing.’ The fact that his semblance is treated as something that makes him more of a villain and something that aids in his destructive behavior that isn’t ever treated with an ounce of sympathy or understanding, is a really bad look. There are real-life people who hyper-fixate on things and can’t help it, and while James’s semblance might not be hyper-fixating exactly, CRWBY still hurt people with the way they talked about this semblance and how they included it in Ironwood’s fall. I’m not diagnosed and I’m therefore never sure of this, but I think I’m ADHD and hyper-fixate on things (like RWBY, lol.) I’ve never been sure exactly how I view Ironwood’s semblance, but hearing the way that the CRWBY head writers talk about it made me feel like I should keep that side of me from people who don’t know me well like my co-workers. Whether or not it was intended, that’s what CRWBY did, and there are many more people than just me who were hurt or bothered by this personally.

5. Since I’m assuming this semblance was a new addition to James in season 7 and 8, it really honestly feels disconnected. It’s a passive semblance, it’s meant to affect James during the course of his whole life because he can’t turn it off. But in volumes 2 and 3, he seems honestly receptive to Oz, listens to him, never goes too far, never seems too stubborn, never seems to ignore other problems to focus on one thing more than what’s perfectly normal for regular people. Before literally near the tail end of volume 7, Ironwood acted like a regular person unaffected by a semblance at all, who just happens to be a determined person facing hard situations. It really feels like the semblance was invented to explain the jump to villainy, and then used to explain how he did things like sear the flesh off of his arm in the Watts fight to be like ‘look, this didn’t come out of nowhere! There it is in this scene!’ which is really lazy. And the disjointed feeling between Ironwood from his first appearance and Ironwood post-shooting Oscar still takes you out of the story and makes you go ‘wait, what’s going on here?’ You shouldn’t be able to see the hand of the author, but it was very clear to me that the writers just wanted villain!Ironwood and just did whatever the hell they wanted to get there whether or not it made sense or what they had to force or forget to do it.

6. This semblance... Really makes Qrow look like a jerk. It makes everyone look like a jerk, but it especially makes Qrow look like a jerk. There’s a very, very strong probability that Qrow never had any idea about this semblance that Ironwood couldn’t control. But after spending volumes sympathizing with Qrow and feeling bad for him and understanding that a lot of his problems stemmed from his horrible lot in life that he wrongly blamed himself for, to see him ready to kill a former friend who is even more affected by and ruled by a semblance than Qrow ever was made me seriously annoyed with the writing. In my opinion, they should’ve had Qrow know about his semblance, know that it was affecting his every choice, be deeply sympathetic and bothered by the situation, and be trying to get out of jail so he could break Ironwood’s aura and jolt him out of his affected state. It would’ve been much, much better in my opinion, for Ironwood’s character, Qrow’s character, and the story as a general whole. The way that villain Ironwood was done just is not interesting to me in any way. Not only did CRWBY miss any opportunity to present a compelling hero-turned-villain story, but they also invented a reason for Ironwood to be deeply sympathetic and easily redeemed and then made no one understand that this was a problem and seem to be going out of their way to act like it’s not there at all to make Ironwood a full villain! Why give him the semblance at all if they were going to not use it and expect everyone to want him to be a full, incredibly hard to redeem, EVIL VILLAIN?

I seriously can’t understand CRWBY’s choices. In my opinion, they should’ve either made Ironwood a sympathetic hero forced into doing villainous actions by this semblance that they should’ve rephrased in terms of how it works, or they should’ve just left him with no explained semblance.

Also, I think Mettle is a stupid name.

[mandelene]

✈️

I went off on this one, lol. I decided to incorporate the request an anon made a while back asking me to write about Alfred developing epilepsy in high school so here it is, and I hope it's okay!

Just Another Midday Emergency

Word Count: 1580

Arthur can count on one hand the number of times Francis has called him in the middle of one of his shifts at the hospital, and they have always been for emergency reasons, so when he feels his phone vibrating in his pocket as he’s finishing up changing a dressing for a post-surgical wound, his throat tightens and his feet go cold.

He steps out through the double doors of the unit to the waiting room, braces himself by taking a deep breath, and picks up the call. “Hello? Francis?”

“Alfred’s not well and is being taken to the hospital. He collapsed in class and had a seizure.”

The information reaches his brain, but he fails to process it for several seconds. Panic washes over him, but he quickly shakes it off. He has to stay calm and focus for Alfred’s sake. “A seizure? What kind of seizure? Was he awake and aware or confused? Did he have motor symptoms?”

“I don’t know. You know you’re asking the wrong person. The teacher described it as him having spasms, and Alfred didn’t seem to recall exactly what had happened after it was over. He also hit his head on one of the other desks in the classroom.”

“Okay, so he wasn’t aware, and he did have motor symptoms, then,” Arthur confirms, running a nervous hand through his hair. What could have triggered a sudden seizure? Alfred’s never had a seizure before… “Where is he now? The high school called an ambulance, I presume?”

“Yes, he’s in the ambulance. I asked them if they could tell the paramedics to bring him to your hospital. I didn’t even have a chance to see him, but I called him and he was very shaken over the phone. I’m leaving the house now.”

“Good. You did wonderfully, Francis, thank you. I’ll tend to him. Try to remain calm, all right?”

“You as well.”

“Be careful on your way here. See you soon.”

He hangs up, finds someone to cover for him temporarily, and heads for the emergency department. His timing is impeccable today and the universe seems to be working in his favor because Alfred is just being brought in on a stretcher when he reaches the nurses’ station. He’s about to greet Alfred and ask the EMT and paramedic tending to him about his status, but just as he reaches Alfred’s side, the boy has a staring spell, and Arthur can tell he’s no longer alert.

And then, he begins to seize again, arms and legs jerking erratically on the stretcher. Arthur rolls Alfred’s head to the side and holds it still with both hands so he doesn’t aspirate or hurt himself against the side rails of the stretcher, heart pounding.

“Do you want me to give him—?” the paramedic begins to ask, but Arthur shakes his head.

“Wait a moment,” he says, glancing at his watch to track the time.

And then, as suddenly as it started, Alfred abruptly stills once more.

“About thirty seconds,” Arthur reports, a bit relieved. At least the seizures are relatively short, and he’s not in status epilepticus. It could be worse.

He removes his hands from Alfred’s head and brushes his hair away from his eyes. “Alfred?”

“Mrghh…Dad…” Alfred mumbles, looking exhausted.

“I’m here, love. We’re going to take good care of you, all right? Can you hear me?”

Alfred groans quietly and reaches out an arm toward him, so Arthur leans over and embraces him carefully, giving him a gentle hug.

“...Dad…”

“I know, darling. You’re probably very startled,” Arthur says before he notices a nurse standing behind him and steps aside for a moment to let her properly triage him. When that’s all done, and the nurse assigned to his care arrives, Arthur helps her move him to a room. He’s pleased to find out that Dr. Gilbert Beilschmidt will be the pediatrician checking on him. Gilbert is good. He’ll do what Arthur asks him to do.

And apparently, he wastes no time in coming in to assess Alfred right away.

“Oh, kiddo. What happened to you, huh?” Gilbert says by way of greeting. He gives Arthur a nod of acknowledgment and asks, “Why is it always your kids, Kirkland? Something's always going on with them, it seems like.”

“They like to keep me on my toes,” Arthur replies, staying glued to Alfred’s bedside. He can’t imagine how frightening this must all be for him.

“The nurse gave me a rundown, but can you tell me what happened in your own words, Alfred? I wanna hear it from you.”

Alfred nods, which then triggers him to wince. He has a welt on the left side of his forehead from when he collapsed. “I was in history class and I dunno…It’s a blur. I remember hitting my head on the desk across from me and then my teacher standing over me. And then they called an ambulance.”

“And you’ve never had a seizure before, right?” Gilbert asks, examining Alfred’s forehead before pulling out a penlight and shining it into his eyes.

“No.”

“Okay, look at the light for me, kiddo…I’m gonna put a finger up and I want you to follow it with your eyes, ‘kay…? That’s it…Good. Now, I’m gonna ask you some more questions, and I need you to be a hundred percent honest with me ‘cause I won’t be able to get you the help you need if you don’t tell me the truth. You want me to kick your dad out for this part?”

Alfred seems a little panicked at the idea of Arthur having to leave his side. “No! I mean…He can stay if that’s okay.”

Gilbert gives him a knowing smile and nods. “No problem. So, have you been trying any substances at school? Maybe there’s something your friends have been taking and you wanted to experiment with it? Anything like that at all?”

“No.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah. I swear.”

“How about any recent falls or injuries? Did you get in an accident somewhere and hit your head, and maybe you didn’t wanna tell your parents about it ‘cause you were afraid they’d worry?”

“No. Just today when I fell out of my desk in class.”

“Okay, kiddo...Let’s get you some bloodwork and a CT scan to make sure you didn’t seriously hurt your head and to rule out any masses. Then, we’ve gotta get neuro in here to have a look at you. They’re gonna want an electroencephalogram at the very least.”

Alfred furrows his brows. “Electroencepha—what?”

“It’s a test where they’re gonna attach little electrodes to your scalp and check your brain activity for any abnormalities. It takes like an hour or two, and it doesn’t hurt—I promise,” Gilbert explains, giving Alfred’s knee a comforting pat. “Odds are we’re not gonna be able to find out exactly what’s wrong with you or give you a clear answer. You might never have a seizure again, or you might be developing epilepsy—it can happen at any age and sometimes we don’t know why it happens suddenly, it just does. If everything checks out and we don’t find anything serious, we’ll send you home with some anticonvulsant medication to take and have you follow up with a neurologist.”

“…Okay.”

“All right, kiddo. I’ll be back to check on you later. Don’t stress. Your dad’s gonna keep an eye on you for me,” Gilbert says. Then, he turns to Arthur and adds, “I’ll let you know as soon as I know more. I’m betting on epilepsy onset though based on what he’s told me. Don’t freak out, even though I know you will anyway.”

Arthur nods, bids Gilbert farewell for now, and sits down on the edge of Alfred’s stretcher with a sigh. “It’ll be all right, love. Whatever happens, we’ll take care of it,” he assures before placing a concerned kiss on Alfred’s brow. “Also, just a word of warning, your papa is going to be here any moment and will likely be in a panicked frenzy.”

Alfred musters a laugh. “Yeah, he always does that.”

“It’s because we both love you and worry about you.”

“I know. Thanks, Dad…Is it okay to be kinda scared?”

“Of course, it is. Anyone in your situation would be. But the good news is that there’s a very strong chance you’ll feel better with some medication and that there are ways to manage this.”

And then, Francis arrives, pale and trembling. Arthur does his best to explain the situation to him and set his mind at ease, but he might as well not have bothered because Francis runs over to Alfred’s side and starts fussing over him to no end anyway. He strokes his head, tucks him in snugly with the thin hospital blanket that’s covering him, and smothers him in a series of hugs.

Gilbert’s predictions turn out to be mostly accurate. The CT scan comes back fine, and the electroencephalogram confirms a change in brain waves, suggesting epilepsy. Neurology decides to put Alfred through an MRI as well, but as suspected, they’re unable to find a concrete reason for the seizures, which is actually positive news in Arthur’s opinion. At least this means Alfred doesn’t have any tumors or cysts causing the issue and no other physiological abnormalities.

He’s still going to watch him like a hawk from now on though and make sure he stays on top of taking his new medication.

Gilbert was right. Why is it always his kids?