#its literally just primary colors but
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Monumentous for the pansexuality fandom
#its literally just primary colors but#theyre pretty primary colors#color picked flags#colorpicked flags#yugioh#yugioh dm#yami bakura#malik ishtar#marik ishtar#yami malik#yami marik#every time i have to spell his name like that for better exposure i take recoil damage#dark magician girl#anzu mazaki#tea gardner#princess adina#kisara#rex raptor#dinosaur ryuzaki#pansexual
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i actually wanted to buy a new sketchbook today but they didn't have the only brand I like using at empik
#idk why#where is ittt#i thought there was a ton of them and then i looked and it was those oxford sketchbooks woth disgustingly smooth paper#all sketchbooks out there are either too textured or too smooth#i like canson pls canson come back#i would like a different brand preferably with colored covers cause im tired of the black i want a pink sketchbook or something#but everything is blackkkk#and the covers are thick as fuck too#i tried a different brand two times now and every time i just wasted my money i cant do that shit it was awful#i want to buy online but i like to touch the paper before buying ugh#that's why i can't buy those sketchbooks that are wrapped in foil at stores#who even came up with that that's an awful idea#i bought one of those art creation sketchbooks that have their own stand at the art store here they look like fancy premium sketchbooks#literally the worst paper ive had the displeasure of drawing on#lined school notebooks i drew in in primary school are better than that#im in sketchbook hell ughhh#I've had moleskin when it was hyped a lot too and its mid too nothing worth spending this much money on
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the billionaires paying off the government to shape it to suit them will not voluntarily give up power, the working class must seize this power. trump does not stand for the average american but rather only serves to further divide the working class, by appealing overwhelmingly to folks that share his views of hatred and feeding them lies to make them believe their neighbor is the enemy instead of elon musk or jeff bezos. this distraction of in-fighting in the working class then diminishes the ability to organize and allows the mega-rich to do whatever they want behind the scenes. folks don't notice that these people are infringing on their rights because they're too concerned with harboring hate towards their immigrant neighbor or their liberal kids, who were never their enemy until trump told them so. it's all part of the plan to increase the divide between rich and poor and increase the power of the rich.
#working class#seize the means of production#eat the rich#america is being fed an illusion of separation to drive us apart until its real#the middle class is being separated and eroded down to widen the power gap between the rich and the poor#kamala wasnt gonna stop any of this either shes as much a part of the machine as trump#but trump cant even be bothered to try to conceal his interests in power above all else and using that power to only help his rich buddies#also the democratic party is crumbling as proven by their increasingly shady tactics every year#dems didnt even get a primary or a chance to pick their candidate...#kamala historically polled low like dems would not have chosen her if they ever even had the chance#no matter who won it was never going to be an actual election its all a farce and an illusion#no people had any real choice in which candidates made it to the election#it was purely here's your two choices#theyre exactly the same (capitalist imperialist etc) but different colors (red or blue)#i hate it here#t#trump is not for the average american#he is lying to you and tricking you to gain power#he wants you to fight with your neighbors and family so you have nothing left but an idol promising youre right and delivering nothing#trumps goal was to be as disagreeable and out there as possible so dems looks frantic and panicked and emotional#its LITERALLY all part of his plan#hes not gonna drain the swamp#hes gonna put rich out of touch people in positions of power and cut all funding to public support systems#if you voted for this i truly believe youve been tricked and youre stupid for letting that happen but also#its easier to trick someone than convince them they've been tricked so its an uphill battle once trump has already deceived the masses#literally fuck this people are so fucking dumb ive been trying to not insult people but this is truly what it comes down to#trumpers who say its all an illusion and we're being tricked but think trump is the solution rather than the puppetmaster himself is nuts#you're being fooled tricked bamboozled hijinksed#like i said i was not for kamala either shes still part of the machine but at least she didnt outwardly promise to dismantle rights...#lowkey wanna tag this trump 2024 just so trumpers actually see it like theyre the ones that need to know lmao
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ive seen more posts bitching about people who say 'i hate men' than actually saying it. i mean this kindly bc im men but get over yrselves 💀💀
#ITS SUCH A NON ISSUE ITS NOT EVEN FUNNY#thinking that 'men are trash' is a core tenet of gender essentialism#or worse terf ideology#is so out of touchhh#'what about men of color or disabled men or queer men'#well if they want to join in they could have just asked! 'i hate white/abled/cishet people' is right there <3#its not a fucking political sentiment that women are fighting to the death about#literally the exact same seriousness as 'i hate anime fans' or something#sure this *could* reflect racist assumptions about japanese media#or it could be about their dick roommate who bought figures but didnt contribute to rent#ultimately you dont know and if i started playing the victim card about this#(and harassing women in the process as many men are doing rn 🫣)#id be fucking weird lmao#also terf ideology is not about 'i hate men' their primary target has always been trans women.
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I'm seriously having to resist so hard the urge to block everyone on this website over that math color post. if you think math is red I'm sorry but you're wrong and you're going to math hell also. forever.
#i have a degree in math#if you have ever in your life said 'why do i need to learn this? ill never use this in real life!' youre not even allowed to talk about her#(math)#THATS MY WIFE AND SHES BLUE AND I AM WILLING TO FIGHT KILL AND DIE ON THIS HILL#you people disgust me#man i want to say slash jay but to be totally honest part of me is like..... maybe its a slash srs.................#literally the idea that math is red has always bothered me so much bc i feel like its just bc it makes people mad#but really math flows and swirls and connects like a system of rivers. shes blue like the water and the sky. like the space between things#blue like calm and cool but sometimes harsh and dark. its the most familiar blue of a loved ones eyes#but its also a deep blue thunder clouds obscuring the sky‚ steeped in mystery#blue as in primary. a foundational building block. blue makes purple and green. math makes physics and chemistry and statistics and and and#just trust me on this one#actually fuck this im blocking some of you#ugh also no different maths arent different colors. math is one thing. all of the different maths are split somewhat artificially#they literally all build upon each other and work together as one massive apparatus#its the exact same things. you can do calculus with algebra. you use algebra in trigonometry. calc is algebra and trig. which is geometry#she is one person with many facets and sides not many separate people
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Me, an artist: watches silicon coloring on Tiktok
The comments: do purple green and yellow!
Me: that’s brown
Comments: do pink blue and yellow!
Me: that’s brown
Comments: do red blue and green!
Me: THATS BROWN THEYRE ALL BROWN EVERYTHING IS BROWN ITS ALL BROWN
#LEARN YOUR FUCKING COLORS#PRIMARY COLORS MAKE BROWN#COMPLEMENTARY COLORS MAKE BROWN#YOU WANNA KNOW WHY???#BECAUSE COMPLEMENTARY COLORS ARE PRIMARY COLORS IN DIFFERENT COMBOS#AND WHAT DO PRIMARY COLORS MAKE??#BROWN#I HATE YOU ALL#In one of my college ASL classes we were learning colors#and one of the prompts was ‘yellow plus green equals’#and everyone in the class including the teacher signed blue as the answer#BRO#GREEN PLUS YELLOW EQUALS GREEN#ITS JUST A LIGHGER GREEN#THERES NO TAKE BACKSIES IN COLOR MIXING#THIS IS LITERALLY FIRST GRADE
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i wrote a big long essay talking about tlt and how it engages with describing the skintones of brown characters its under a read more bc it is so long.
I already left a long comment about this on someone else post but I wish I could study tazmuirs odd little habit of dancing around the fact that Gideon and Harrow are women of color when she describes them, and how this kind of extends to other brown characters
We get a million descriptions for how sickly pale ianthe Silas and cytherea are, what a lovely golden tan corona has, the odd tannish yellow hue of colum, all imagined by her, in her own words, to be white. Then when it comes to Marta and Judith they're called dark like Once in the text. I don't think it's even mentioned for Jeannemary and magnus in the entirety of gtn though I will gladly stand corrected if I missed something. It's such a non factor for them, which normally I would overlook if it wasn't for the aforementioned specificity of how white characters are described on Top of one of the major themes of the book being how John, a Maori man, resurrected a largely Polynesian population and then proceed to rule them using the exact same methods that actively colonized new zealand. Like I just think it's really interesting that in many ways, the story is about two young Maori women completely stripped of cultural heritage, they can't even speak te reo maori they cannot even conceptualize the scale of that kind of loss. Theyve been to earth once and during her brief time there Gideon literally died on it's soil it feels so poignant
Back to them specifically being Not Pale, this is not me saying they would be "less" maori if they were light-skinned that's total bullshit and the entire paradigm exists as a product of European bullshit. My fascination is more with the fact that tamsyn has clearly thought of them as midtoned to dark skinned. I'm going to be really generous and disregard the Tommy Arnold covers- he is a talented artist but he's not the author and Taz stated in an interview that she didn't envision Gideon with an undercut either so he clearly has little liberties he can take and I'm fine with that get your coin dude. For these two I'm going to have to focus on Nona the Ninth, bc for the entirety of gtn, harrow is described as grey, and while I understand that's bc she's constantly under a mountain of white and black facepaint, we basically never get an objective description for either of them. Gideon stand out features are her build, hair and eyes, like a lot of characters, but it could have been pretty easy to throw in a line about how she seems less desaturated than what one might expect from a ninth cavalier, like a rich warm brown, possibly hinting to other characters that she isn't a ninth native
Htn also gives very little to work with, again harrows primary colors are the blacks whites and greys of facepaint and her hair and the reds of constantly sweating blood. The character who's darker skintone is Most remarked upon (also one of the few ever constantly headcanoned) as black, is g1deon. I've actually spoken to a few people about this and there seems to be some actual Mandela effect shit going on where people remember Taz saying he's black despite me never once finding evidence for this. However, this is not a case where I'd be overjoyed to be proven wrong, because g1deon being the one black guy in this entire cast, the one who's dark skintone is commented on the most, being the guy who barely speaks, tries killing harrow with a spear 14 times and then dies offscreen. Not good. Bad, actually
Finally onto ntn, in the beginning chapters Nona remarks her (harrows) skintone is the color of an egg carton. I assume she means the light tan, desaturated brown of the cardboard used in certain cartons, which is fitting for harrow, girls lived in an ice cave for 17 years. This is basically the only word we get on it. I believe a few times the text will say something about pyrrha's (g1deon's) brown Everything; brown skin, russet brown hair, rich brown eyes. that character gets to be viewed and constantly affirmed as a brown character in teh way gideon and harrow arent, it kind of others pyrrha. to contrast camillas hands are called tanned way at the beginning while recording nona's dream, then at the way end it says, "Her face still looked grey beneath its nice normal olive," olive being used to describe her once before in gtn as far as i can see. pyrrha's (g1deon's) skintone is one of her most notable features, its brought up to a noticeable agree the text wants you to keep it in your mind when you think of the saint of duty; "Most of Pyrrha was the colours of the building site: deep dried-out browns, dusty hunks of clay, rusted metal." "Pyrrha wouldn’t burn any colour other than her deep cool brown." "Nona took the water from Pyrrha’s brown, work-chapped hand and even sipped it" "Pyrrha had carried Camilla to bed in her big brown arms like Cam weighed nothing" "Pyrrha said, “Thanks, Nums,” and drained the whole thing. Nona,fascinated, watched the brown column of her throat move as she swallowed." its just notable to me when alternatively with nona you'll get a line like "Camilla didn’t say anything to that either, only rubbed her wrists where the tape had been. Nona’s skin was already back to its nice normal colour." like just the vagueness in nice normal color, we get one line about what shes supposed to look like in the beginning and thats it
towards the end during the broadcast, nona gets her first clear look at kiriona, described as: "warm-coloured skin that should have been a similar brown hue to Nona’s, except that there was something wrong with it." break out the champagne its official
Obviously, dying takes some color from you. If anything, gideons desaturation should make them More comparable given the egg carton comment and harrows general state of constant anemia. Has Nona gotten darker during her time on new rho? Was Gideon lighter than the cover led us to believe? We don't know. We well never know, which is odd, bc these books fucking love purple prose about people's appearances. We have like seven different synonyms for the shade of ianthes hair. New words for black have to be invented in order to convey harrows eyes which are Black, not the dark muddy brown of someone like ortus. It's less that I'm bothered by the text not hyperfocusing on their skin and more it picking and choosing when it will laser focus on a detail like that, and how often it's skipped over to the point that I like, constantly see people draw harrow as incredibly pale, which is very different from being light-skinned
Finally, I know people can dismiss this as like an audience interpretation thing. I know I actively draw harrow darker than Gideon which I know isn't canon. But this is less about Fandom response to the text and more the text itself and how it's like. Afraid to say brown. near the end of ntn i found One instance of it referring to gideons "slim brown hand" on nonas cheek and that is direct as it gets. even her other like, strongly non european traits are sort of danced around. her nose is "a nose that was the complete opposite of Nona’s nose, one that put her in mind of those big poison desert cats Born in the Morning was crazy about." a very fanciful description, you have to infer that nona means that its probably flat and wide, also giving us the information that harrows is most likely narrow and straight, possibly downturned. im not opposed to this, especially given the character talking about her is nona, but then you get the following paragraph:
"Her skin was very much dead-person skin, ashen and tinted the wrong colour around the nostrils and the mouth. But even if she hadn’t been dead, Nona was critical. Her eyelashes were very dark, but short and curly, whereas Nona thought all eyelashes should be long and straight (her own eyelashes were long and straight). The corpse had too much mouth and a dimple (nobody in her home had a dimple). You could not, at least, see the veins in her eyelids, which were heavy and cold and deep-set. But Nona thought it was going to be a shame to go from being so lovely as she was to being so—redheaded."
its a very frank description. dimple, curly lashes, red head, dead skin, probably a wide mouth. her nose is contrasted against nonas nose, which is also never directly described, and then compared to a fantasy animal we have never heard of until right now
kicks rocks. there isnt a point to this. the series is almost over, there is zero reason to like, knock on taz's door and ask why she did this or that. it doesnt stop me from loving the series, and the insinuation that noticing this means i must dislike the series is frankly insane (real thing that happened). if someone got the impression that harrow was white given how shes described i wouldnt blame them honestly, its most apparent she isnt in the third book (with the cover art being incredibly ambiguous) and a single blog post from taz mentioning shes maori, immediately followed by an "oh i dont care how you see the characters" addendum, which i think is like. an odd thing to tack on bc them descended from kiwis is like, very integral to the story, and gideon being the daughter of the maori man who took everything from her she didnt even know she could have and the (presumably, given her name and a very brief description) maori woman fighting to get that world back its like. damn. it feels a little important. that the audience knows theyre maori. like a little. it feels intertwined with the whole thing about john using european standards of imperialism and general aesthetics to hurt his own kid. actually.
#tlt meta#hi im black but not maori or kiwi so thats where im coming from with all this#i am fully aware some fans of color will disagree with me thats chill this is just where im at#i have never been a fan of being cagey with how a character looks#it feels like. idk kind of leaning into the fact that the audience wants a blank slate to project onto#and with her being So specific about it like this guy is nz chinese these two are tongan these two are mixed maori this guy is pasifika#it just kind of intrigues me like do you have reasons why as to each one specifically or did they jsut kind of. happen upon you#spring up fully formed#this isnt like a 'tlt is bad' 'you should feel bad if you thought this character was white or black' thing#its strictly about how the text communicates certain ideas and how the audience reacts to them#were kind of primed for . a waifish snobby pale aristocrat. ianthe is Right There harrow being white or pale feels like a natural assumptio#but it is. directly contradicted by the text. and done in a way that can be easily ignored
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It’s canon Mitsuba’s gay?
I’m gonna use this as an excuse to yap because Mitsuba’s queercoding is either weirdly downplayed by fans or used solely for BL shipping purposes so I want to talk about it through the lens of what it means for his character, role in the story, and relationship with Kou
Yes, Mitsuba is canonically gay
Things don’t have to be explicitly stated in order to be canon, subtext is a major part of media analysis. This is something a lot of fans miss which leads to a misunderstanding of the source material. I do have some credentials for this, I’ve taken two undergrad college literature classes in which the subject of queercoding did come up multiple times. Meaning analyzing queercoding has literally gone towards my degree so I feel like my opinion holds some weight (not as much as that of an actual English major but yk I assume I’ve had more education on it than the general TBHK fandom)
There are multiple ways to queercode a character, sometimes it can be as simple as feminizing a man or masculinizing a woman. Though that method might be a bit outdated nowadays with gender roles becoming less strict, it’s still worth keeping in mind when analyzing queer characters. Another way is through romantically colored scenes with characters of the same sex, or by having them hint at disinterest in the opposite sex. Mitsuba checks off all three of these boxes and then some
First off, Mitsuba is attracted to men. This is made extremely obvious through his relationship with Kou but I’m gonna explain it anyways because unfortunately I’ve seen a lot of fans say they’re just platonic
Mitsuba and Kou went on a date. When this is brought up, fans typically jump to the excuse of “but Kou said it wasn’t a date,” which is where my American Lit class is going to come in handy. One of the major things we learned is that authors have to understand that everything they write has some sort of real world connotation. If you write a scene with a doctor, you have to understand that your readers already have preconceived notions of what doctors represent. You can choose to either lean into that or subvert it, but you have to be aware that as soon as a doctor enters the scene, readers have already made assumptions about that character
The word “date” is clearly being used in a romantic context here. When Kou texts his friends and brother about it, they all assume he’s talking about a romantic date. While in the actual context of the scene, Mitsuba and Kou aren’t quite ready to use such a strong label yet, the romantic wording here is still very intentional. AidaIro would not have labeled this moment as a date if they didn’t want readers to view it in a romantic light, because they understand that their readers are going to associate dates with romance. Japanese censorship is really strict, it’s hard to publish stories with explicitly queer characters unless the series is labeled as a BL or GL. And so Japanese manga writers often have to find roundabout ways to express that characters are gay without outright stating it- such as suggesting that they’re going on a date with a character of the same sex
In the printed volume for Vol.20, there’s an editor’s note that mentions that when Kou and Mitsuba are making plans to hang out at the school festival, it holds a romantic implication for the Japanese audience. Cultural differences are important to keep in mind, to western fans this scene might not raise any eyebrows but for its primary audience, it is confirmation that Mitsuba and Kou are romantic. I also find it interesting that the editor felt this context was important enough to warrant clarification
And frankly, their relationship doesn’t make a lot of sense if it’s solely platonic. Male friendship is something TBHK writes very realistically, the male characters aren’t as touchy-feely with their friends as they are with their female love interests. Yokoo and Satou don’t directly ask Kou how he’s feeling when they notice he’s upset, instead they give him a task to distract him- similar to how men in real life cheer their friends up through quality time rather than talking through their emotions like women do (not every man ofc but a good majority of them). When Teru is down, Akane doesn’t hold him and reassure him the way he does with Aoi. There are no grand declarations of ultimate “friendship” the way you see in fan servicy series like Haikyuu. Instead, he used his and Teru’s rivalry to indirectly motivate him to get his head back in the game. When Hanako is sad, Kou cheers him up by making donuts for him and then giving them to Nene so she can pretend she’s the one who made them. This is a very healthy portrayal of male friendship, and Mitsuba and Kou are nothing like this
Mitsuba and Kou both cry and vent to each other multiple times (the Mitsuba Arc, the Picture Perfect Arc, the Nightlife Arc), and instead of comforting each other indirectly they do things like offering to die for each other. You would never see Akane offer to die to make Teru feel better, nor would you Aoi and Nene or Kou and Hanako. It stands out so much from other friendships in the series, even Kou’s friendships with other characters. That is a conscious writing decision, AidaIro make a point to show Mitsuba as an exception for Kou. It’s worth noting that in the same chapter where Yokoo and Satou cheer Kou up indirectly, Mitsuba attempts to directly have him talk about his feelings
They’re also incredibly possessive over one another, in a way friends usually aren’t. When Kou was in the Red House, he was shown his greatest desires, and Mitsuba appeared in one of these. Kou said he knew Mitsuba would appear, which is interesting because at that point he had already picked up on the house showing him what he wanted. But what does he want? He wants Mitsuba to rely on him entirely, to be completely useless without him. He wants Mitsuba to be “no good without him,” to need him so badly that he begs him to die so they can be together. I’m not exaggerating, these are lines pulled straight from the chapter (paraphrased but still). Later on in the Nightlife arc, Kou breaks down when he discovers Mitsuba has been relying on Tsukasa for life-saving help. As for Mitsuba, he wants to die by Kou’s hands. He says it wouldn’t be satisfying if anyone else killed him, and that he would be happy if Kou were to be the last person he spent time with before he died. He tries to trap Kou in a picture perfect world just like Hanako does with Nene, because he wants to live a normal life with him. It’s also shown in one of the extras that Mitsuba cries when Kou ignores him
They’re also drawn very romantically, again we don’t see Teru and Akane this intimate with one another unless they’re fighting. We especially don’t see Kou this intimate with anyone other than Mitsuba, and while Mitsuba is sometimes clingy with Tsukasa we certainly never see him posed romantically with a woman. This comes back to authorial intent and real world connotations, AidaIro know that male friends aren’t typically this close, and therefore casual affection like this will be interpreted in a romantic light. We see them hold hands/wrists multiple times too, Kou gives Mitsuba a piggyback ride in one scene, and in ASHK they had a classic “pinned against the wall” page
I’ll also mention the AUs, because those indicate a lot about the characters as well. In Hanako-Kun of the Opera, Kou poisoned Mitsuba so he could take him away from the opera house and protect him from Tsukasa. He basically kidnapped him. He also stayed with Mitsuba at the opera house for a seemingly long period of time despite hating opera. Aaaaand they’re childhood best friends in this au and Kou took care of Mitsuba while he was sick
Then there’s the Ghost Hotel, where Kou is a werewolf who takes bites out of mummy Mitsuba during full moons. Despite this, the two appear to be friends and Mitsuba helps Kou out around the kitchen. Cannibalism is consistently tied to romance throughout TBHK, most notably with Hakubo and Sumire but other romantic pairings have cannibalistic moments or official arts. During the zombie mokke chapter, Nene panicked when Akane tries to eat her because she assumed it would put her in a love triangle with Aoi. So yeah, cannibalism in TBHK is directly tied to romance and we see that with Mitsukou both in canon and in this au. Speaking of which, I’m not even gonna get into the symbolism of Kou holding a heart out to Mitsuba. Connect the dots for yourselves
Now that we’ve got Mitsukou out of the way, let’s talk about Mitsuba’s disinterest in women
Remember how I said one of the ways queercoding is done is by having a character hint at disinterest in the opposite sex? Yeah, very rarely are we going to see a queercoded male character outright say “I have no attraction to women.” Instead they say they just never saw the appeal in dating, or that they never had time to settle down. In more obvious cases, we have scenes like Reiner from AOT joking that Ymir isn’t all that into guys
I couldn’t find the second scene but there are TWO extras where the subject of Mitsuba’s disinterest in women comes up. C’mon guys I’m trying not to be mean here but you have to be blind, oblivious, or in denial to not pick up on that. Whyyyyy would they mention Mitsuba not having a crush on any girls twice if it weren’t to suggest something about his preference?? Coupled with his appearance (which I’ll get to later) and relationship with Kou, these scenes carry a lot of weight. Even if those other aspects weren’t included, scenes like this would still indicate he has no interest in women (which would make him gay or aroace, though due to his relationship with Kou the aroace thing is kind of ruled out)
Compare this to a scene where Mitsuba thinks he’s being asked out by a man. He doesn’t say “hmmm nope no guys, I’m cuter than all of them~” he specifically says “I’m not interested in guys with lame earrings.” The way this is worded implies that Mitsuba is discussing a type, though it’s v much a comedic scene and we know from everything else that he absolutely does like guys with lame earrings, it’s still worded in a way that makes him appear queer. If he were straight, they would have had him say he’s not interested in guys at all (like Dazai from Bungou Stray Dogs, John Watson from BBC Sherlock, Finn Hudson from Glee, idk there are a lot of male characters that are explicit straight sorry for the crazy random list). Also note how he teases Kou about it, he knows that Kou is fond of him and doesn’t hesitate to use that against him (like when he was comforting him during the Nightlife arc)
They don’t go overboard with Mitsuba’s disinterest in women because, well, that’s not really necessary. Two scenes is already a lot, and he doesn’t have any romantic relationships with women in canon (even as a crush/a joke scene). It’s rare for TBHK characters to have absolutely no scenes expressing interest in the opposite sex, since the series is partially a romance. But Mitsuba consistently only ever shows interest in one man, and when girls are brought up he’s quick to brush it off. His mom did think Nene was his girlfriend when they met, but this was depicted as a very awkward and comedic scene. Because the premise of Mitsuba having a girlfriend is objectively hilarious
(Due to Sousuke’s young age it’s reasonable to assume he wasn’t out to his mom yet, he’s around the age where most kids are closeted. It’s even possible that Sousuke hadn’t come to terms with his sexuality yet, though it’s still a prevalent part of both his character and No.3’s)
Now let’s move onto appearances. I want to give a quick disclaimer, not all gay men are feminine and not all feminine men are gay. Androgyny is also very common in anime and doesn’t automatically mean a character is gay, but there are cases when it’s used for queercoding. Mitsuba is one of these cases
Mitsuba is a very feminine character, this is addressed as soon as he shows up in the manga. He was bullied for his appearance (and personality), but unlike his personality he never tried to change his feminine appearance. He kept his hair long, continues to wear scarves and cardigans and earrings. No.3 wears these things as well, and I would argue has a more feminine personality since he seems to be more open about his emotions and idk. I struggle to categorize feminine and masculine traits because imo that’s subjective but there are things society deems feminine vs. masculine. The problem is that I really dislike the whole “men are strong and women are emotional” thing but ehhhh I guess I have to talk about it for this. Hmph. But yeah although Mitsuba isn’t exactly the biggest sweetheart ever, he does act somewhat feminine compared to the other male characters (as I’ve said he’s p much the only man in the series who attempts to work through emotional conflicts directly)
Once again we circle back to intent, AidaIro know that a male character dressed in pink with pink eyes and long pink hair is going to raise some eyebrows. Even by androgynous anime standards, it’s a bit much. And good for him, although not all gay men are feminine, some are and that’s also fine. I can’t speak on how well he represents feminine gay men because I’m a lesbian but he does dress similar to some of the feminine gay men I’ve known irl (or slightly less feminine in some cases…I knew this one dude in high school who used to wear corsets to class and he was so badass I hope he’s doing well)
I could get into how Kou is a bit feminized too with the whole housework thing but this ain’t abt him. I will say that Kou is still a very masculine character but despite this his character is feminized in some ways compared to the other men. I’m not really here to discuss whether that’s good or bad, I’m just stating the evidence as it is, you can make your own conclusions as to how you feel about it
So how does being queer impact Mitsuba’s character arc?
When I get around to writing my analyses of all the TBHK characters I WILL be talking more in depth about the queer allegories with Mitsuba’s character but for now I’ll give ya’ll a quick summary. Supernatural characters have been used for years to represent queerness, the same could be said for villains and any character trope that represents a feeling of “otherness.” Sometimes it’s more broad like X-Men, where the superpowered characters are used to represent all types of minorities (though I believe X-Men is more closely tied to race, there are rampant queer themes as well). Then there’s books like Interview with the Vampire that get more specific with it, where Louis denying his “true nature” as a vampire is used as an allegory for him denying his queerness. Well I’m here to tell you that Mitsuba and Louis de Pointe du Lac are in the same boat
Mitsuba differs from the other supernaturals because he desperately tries to hold on to feelings of normalcy. He wants to be a normal human and live a normal human life. He doesn’t want to be othered, to be outcasted from society for something he can’t control. We don’t see Hanako, Tsuchigomori, Mei, or any of the other supernatural characters struggle with this. You could argue that Akane does but his situation is more related to learning to empathize with others than any internal battles within himself. Hanako may have moments of wishing him and Nene could have something more, but that’s more about romance than his identity.
This desire to be “normal” is unique to Mitsuba’s character, and it’s a very queer desire. Being an angsty teenager who hasn’t fully accepted themself yet and hasn’t realized that being queer is not only normal, but a beautiful experience. It’s also so interesting to me that as he’s trying so hard to be normal, it creates a push and pull between him and Kou. He wants to be normal for Kou but he also feels that he’s hurting Kou just by existing, that this could only end bad for him. Oh the inherent guilt of having your first gay crush and feeling like you're corrupting them hist for pining from afar
So, can you ship him with women? Technically you can do anything, shipping isn’t illegal and we all have free will. Should you ship him with women is more subjective, I personally think no!! Queerness is not just a sexuality, it’s an identity that deeply impacts who you are as a person. It shapes your experiences and your view of yourself, and in an allegorical way it has certainly done this for Mitsuba. Yes, bi people are queer as well and this is still true for them, but bisexuality is not Mitsuba’s experience. Mono-attraction exists and that specification is very important to gay men and lesbians. For some people sexuality is fluid and that’s beautiful, but it doesn’t work that way for everyone
Some queer fans don’t care if gay characters are shipped with members of the opposite sex, and they’re entitled to their own opinions. It makes me immensely uncomfortable tho, so please block me if you ship Mitsuba with women. That goes for any ships between canon gay/lesbian characters and the opposite sex. I respect people’s right to have opinions but that doesn’t mean I have to like the opinions themselves, and I don’t have to engage with anything that makes me uneasy. That goes for all of you btw, never let people convince you that you have to put up with shit you hate on the internet lmao, this is not real life babes. Block and move on
TL;DR
Mitsuba is too gay to function
#ask#ask me anything#tbhk#toilet bound hanako kun#jibaku shounen hanako kun#jshk#analysis#queer coding#mitsukou#sousuke mitsuba#kou minamoto#soukou#kousuke#queer analysis#gay#mlm
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"Samuel Onyango’s office at Kibera Primary School is serene and spacious. His table is neatly arranged, with an assortment of files and an array of books. One side of his cream-colored office is decked with aggregate performance scores, and another shows off several trophies in a glass cabinet. Last year, Onyango’s school performed a traditional dance and scooped third place in the National Drama and Film Festivals, where schools across the country competed for the top prize.
But today Onyango, the school’s principal, is bragging about something much more basic: Thanks to an innovative community program, his students and teachers are no longer getting sick from dirty water.
Onyango’s school, with a staff of 30 and a student body of about 1,700, is in Kibera, a neighborhood in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi that is widely known as Africa’s largest informal settlement. It is a community of houses made from mud or tin sheeting where residents have to hustle to meet even their most basic needs, like electricity or clean water.
It is also a community where creativity and innovation, at the heart of any hustle, are changing how some people can access clean water — and making major ripples in public health.
Onyango’s school has long gotten its water the same way many people in Kibera do: by buying it from independent suppliers, who truck water in and sell it for around $30 per 10,000 liters (about 2,650 gallons). But trucked water can be contaminated, despite suppliers’ promises, and Onyango’s students and staff were often using unclean water at home, too. It was common, he says, for both teachers and students to get sick and miss school because of waterborne illnesses.
Last November, Onyango’s school got connected to an aerial clean water system built by a local grassroots organization called SHOFCO, which stands for Shining Hope for Communities. “Once we got connected to SHOFCO’s water,” Onyango says, “cases of these ailments reduced to nil.”
SHOFCO’s water distribution system currently reaches about 40,000 people and distributes more than 3.7 million gallons of clean water per month.
Access to safe drinking water — and its equitable distribution — underpins public health. But for the estimated 250,000 people in Kibera, who live without any government infrastructure, clean water is often a luxury. Many people are using illegal water connections, which proliferate among the poor — there are nearly 130 in just three lesser-resourced Nairobi neighborhoods. But those DIY hookups can mix clean water with raw sewage, and Kenyan officials have recently warned of a looming public health crisis if water access is not prioritized.
Shifting weather patterns also increase the risk of waterborne illness, government officials say. The Ministry of Health and the Kenya Red Cross Society have called out severe flooding during the El Niño weather pattern as a source of a recent major cholera outbreak in parts of the country. Kibera was not spared this risk: The floods led to the contamination of various sources of water in the sprawling neighborhood.
But the aerial piping system SHOFCO built in 2012 — the one that brings water to Onyango’s school — saved some Kibera residents, quite literally. With collaboration from health and county authorities, SHOFCO has all but eliminated diarrheal disease in the communities that use its aerial piping system, according to Gladys Mwende, a program officer at SHOFCO. In the health facilities SHOFCO runs, the incidences of diarrheal infections have also gone down, she adds.
Pictured: People in Kibera’s Makina section pass by the signature blue pillars that hold up SHOFCO’s aerial water piping system. Visual: Sarah Waiswa/Harvard Public Health Magazine
“[Poor sanitation is the reason] that our water is aerial piped,” says Kennedy Odede, the founder and CEO of SHOFCO. Piping water in helps clean water maintain its integrity without interference from elements including tampering. In a huge community with no major infrastructure, piping seemed impossible — there was no money and no will to build a disruptive underground system connected to the city’s main water supply. Instead, Odede and his team put the pipes up in the air. “As somebody who grew up in Kibera, to see this clean water — which I have also drank — is powerful.”
SHOFCO’s water distribution system currently reaches about 40,000 people and distributes more than 3.7 million gallons of clean water per month — nearly 46 million gallons per year — at community water kiosks, which residents access with tokens linked to the mobile money platform M-Pesa. The water kiosks are pre-programmed to fill jerry cans that hold about five gallons at a cost of 3 Kenyan shillings, or about 23 U.S. cents.
A recent evaluation of SHOFCO’s clean water efforts, undertaken by the African Population and Health Research Center, shows diarrheal disease among children under age five have decreased by 31 percent where community members used SHOFCO water kiosks and received SHOFCO’s sanitation messaging.
“We don’t get as many cases of diarrhea even though now we are in the middle of the floods,” Mwende says. “Communities have not reported any outbreaks within the areas where we are working.”
Mohammed Suleiman is grateful for the change. Suleiman, 25, was born here, and it’s been his job for the last 18 years to fetch 135 gallons of water daily for his family’s personal needs and for their samosa business.
Two months ago, Sulieman contracted typhoid from the unsanitary water he was consuming. Once he recovered, he says, switching to SHOFCO water kiosks was a no-brainer.
“I don’t know where the other independent vendors get it from,” he says. But he trusts SHOFCO water. “Water sourced from SHOFCO is cleaner than that of other vendors,” he says. “I don’t have to treat water from [SHOFCO] kiosks before consuming it.”
And he’s the living proof: Since switching to SHOFCO water, Suleiman hasn’t been sick even once."
-via Undark, August 13, 2024
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Here's the thing: Republicans are the party of the rich, but policies that help the rich fuck everyone else up, so they are inherently unpopular. Republicans hitch their wagons to white supremacists and religious fanatics who will gladly vote for them in hopes of bringing their own agenda. Rich people believe that their money is able to keep them unaffected by their social policies that harm mostly minorities.
Present day: Religious Fanatics and White Supremacists have gone too far. Their plans are so corrosive that they will actually affect the rich; Not to mention, there are a lot of nouveau rich who are also these fanatics.
So now, these rich people, "never-trumpers" want to join the democratic party and make it into a party for them. They are anti-progressive because they don't want to pay more taxes and they don't want more regulations. They want a milquetoast white democrat leader, and not one like Joe Biden who has embraced progressive policies and is now further left than 2008.
They don't want Kamala or Pete Buttigieg or Corey Booker or that skater boi from texas. They were to the left of Biden when they ran in the 2019 primary. They want someone to the right of Biden. A more corporate friendly democrat.
And keep in mind, these republicans have always been racist. And have always been white supremacist for them. This departure from the republican party is not a moral one. It's because the oppression that these Trump Republicans want isn't profitable.
These republicans were fine with rounding up Black people on bullshit charges and sending them to prison to do make them money on prison labor. (Biden ended the use of private prisons on a Federal Level fyi). They're not fine with rounding up 20 million undocumented people and putting them in internment camps and deporting them, that would cost so much money that would be better spent giving to them via tax cuts. (I bet you they'll get on board when someone touts the idea of using the undocumented people for unpaid labor)
They're okay with banning abortions or just limiting. They're not okay with stripping all of woman's freedoms (because many of them are women and like to spend the money they have) because women going back into the homes, means the spending power of the economy shrinks.
Less Women and Men of color going to college means less student loan payments. Not to mention, the policies that Trump will enact with Project 2025, would just wreck the economy. Government workers would lose their jobs. Facilities and infrastructure would crumble. The middle class would all but disappear, the gap between the poor and rich would grow, to the point where there is just no more money to extract from anyone in the lower classes. The money would have to come from them.
If trump gets in office by 2028 there will be so many evictions, its impossible to keep up. The rich would have to bribe police officers (made legal by the supreme court btw) to get people evicted. Not all rich people are rich equally. Those who can afford to bribe will be new upper class, those who can't will be suckers.
FDIC will be gone. So imagine you're one of those rich suckers, and the bank you have your money goes belly up cause the new upper class used it to fund their next yacht?
You can't be a tech mogul in a country with poor infrastructure. All that AI requires massive amount of electricity. How can you have any developments if your company shuts off the power every few weeks and there is no policy in place to keep it going, to fix it. Look at texas? Every hurricane gets rid of the power for weeks. Imagine when Project 2025 gets in and there really is no regulation at all.
What is the point of all this? Biden is the correct choice. He is the incumbent, he won the primary, and the election is less than four months away. This talk about replacing him is a bunch of rich assholes trying to take over the democratic party and making it into the new republican party. The literal worst night mare: socially liberal, financially conservative. They are antagonist towards the democrat's base: Black voters, because black voting population support centralized government, regulations, higher taxes, and a robust social safety network (because its literally the best way to govern)
Focus on getting people to vote for Biden or just not vote for Trump.
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saying Babel lacks nuance is absolutely ABSURD. there are strong anti-colonial themes in the book but that's not its primary message, believe it or not.
the title is literally "Babel: or the necessity of violence" THAT IS THE MAIN THEME OF THE BOOK. THE NECESSITY OF VIOLENCE
the story centers on Robin, who grapples with complex internal struggles as a person of color, essentially kidnapped by the British to study and serve the British Empire, despite being originally from China. it's about his ongoing internal moral debate on whether to continue serving the empire or to oppose it.
the book doesn't ask, "Is colonialism bad?" because the answer is obvious: OF COURSE IT IS. That's why R.F. Kuang doesn't give it nuance—it doesn't deserve it.
it seems that those who dislike the book are just offended by its blatant anti-colonial stance and if that's the case, you need to seriously reevaluate your perspectives.
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Henry Ventriloquest, mirror reflection of Henry Stickmin
(reblogs help my posts be seen :)
Resident SILLIEST guy, a clever little trickster, one of Capt. Bailfalse's three evil henchmen, somehow everybody's friend, improbably reality bending funny man, and well known unkillable immortal. He's very aware of all these facts and is just living life to it's fullest, for the entertainment of himself of course.
My favourite thing is to talk abt VQ's opposite-ness to Sticks so here I goooo-! Primary details include the fact its color motif is orange, opposite to Sticks' associated blue. He's more sociable and talkative. And what else uhh oh yeah he literally CANNOT DIE how could he this toon runs on slapstick. It could be turned to ash or squashed by a truck and he'd still come out fine (with birds spinning around his head or perfectly okay, whichever he finds funnier as a result).
Misc details include: Since Sticks is animated by Flash, the opposite of that would be something hand drawn, which is (In-Universe) where VQ originated from. And Stickmin being mostly recognized for his eye design, so Ventriloquest has a misaligned eye condition. Both still function, but his left eye isn't as good as his right. He's learned to live with this disability ever since he was created.
//AN: When I talk about his origins, I can only speak about his disability using research. Feel free to send me any corrections about Strabismus because I really do want to keep this part of his character. He may act silly but he doesn't have misaligned eyes for that reason, he is just playing god which is unrelated
But he also works as Stickmin's reflection, just a silly guy here for the thrills with inguity to get themselves out of trouble. How they both don't care too hard about the consequences until it devastatingly affects them! — but that's hv au plot development for next time.
He plays the role that RHM would have, just being a powerhouse that can whip HRM's hiney at any given point. But the difference here is that Henry V is alot more affectionate and giddy during these beat down that he considers as playing, and is cartoonishly violent instead of lethally violent. RHM causes destruction as a means to an end, but Ventriloquest causes destruction because he loves it. He's a force of discordance....For the funny.
And if you ever cross or make fun of him he'll drop an anvil on your skull ^_^
#berenmon art#my art#henry ventriloquest au#Henry Ventriloquest#Lt. HRM#Hv au HRM#thsc au#thsc fanart#thsc fandom#thsc#thsc rhm#right hand man#thsc henry stickmin#thsc right hand man#cowwoy posse#cowwoys#opposite au#mirror au#the henry stickmin collection#henry stickmin fanart#the henry stickmin au#henry stickmin collection#really scared to post him but i will be brave
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i cannot believe it's taken me this long to do a destiny AU but wow better late than never
playing very fast and loose with both canons here - pirate crews = renegade clans, marines/world gov't = vanguard (sorry actual vanguard whomst i love). the one piece is the traveler??? who knows. anyways:
luffy, human lightbearer
subclass: yippee!
loadout: wahoo!
ghost: mugi, one-of-a-kind shell given to him by shanks as a kinderguardian. the shell seems to change when he supers. What's Up With That!
all prismatic all the time, basically a dark age guardian. zero boundaries between class and subclass. just does whatever is fun. doesn't care until he Does and then you're fucked.
regularly wears (steals) class items from clanmates, it was a little alarming at first but they all feel whatever about it now
should not be trusted with raid mechanics.
zoro, awoken titan
subclass: strand
primary: breakneck (OG roll)
secondary: ergo sum (void/caster/wolfpack)
heavy: falling guillotine (OG godroll, WWB/relentless)
exotic: stoicism (inmost/star-eater or inmost/synthos)
ghost: wado, received from kuina after her death (don't think about this too hard. jaren ward/shin malphur situation. whatever). wado's shell was cloven by mihawk in a duel.
wears sanji's old bond looped into his mark, will not answer questions about this
specced hard into banner for a fuckoff insane melee loop, rotates melee buffs with luffy and sanji
mostly DPS/add clear, uses that ergo roll so that sanji/luffy/franky (haz prop) can get wolfpack, if the boss can't be meleed then Why Is He Even Here
flat-out banned from participating in the mechanics of several raid encounters on account of going to the wrong fucking place (vault, gatekeeper, sol inherent, totems, etc.), if he gets torn between dimensions or anything but first in queenswalk then everyone just has to desperately pray for the best.
ran vanguard bounties regularly until he eventually refused to cooperate with the then-head of the cosmodrome's operations; luffy found him with kuina's ghost bound and freed them both. The Rest Is History.
distributary-born but doesn't know (or care), kept being greeted weirdly by people in the dreaming city (which i guess is where we have wano's events......... kaido is literally a dragon, so)
VJ-G-66-03 sanji, human (?) warlock
subclass: prismatic, solar super
primary: fatebringer (OG fatebringer roll™)
secondary: tarrabah
heavy: apex predator (recon/B&S)
exotic: solipsism (assassin/synthos)
ghost: mignon, received from zeff after voluntarily giving up his light for sanji
wears zoro's old mark tied below his bond, will not answer questions about this
specced into Burn Motherfucker Burn, solar buddy + snaps, frontline add clear alongside luffy and zoro, also part of the "if the boss can't be meleed/snapped then why am i even here" gang
CAN be trusted with raid mechanics but is often better utilized keeping adds off the other half of the fireteam
sanji's body is riddled with vintech implants that don't seem to do anything. they're most definitely new, and sanji wasn't rezzed that long ago, but vintech was lost in the collapse along with everything else and the only thing that really survived is a bunch of muddled records found at old vega collective sites.
sanji was the vintech patriarch's one failed experiment; his consciousness refused transfer to an exo body and after many attempts, he was discarded but managed to survive through the kindness of dark-age guardians until he was taken in by zeff.
he has three vertical black facial markings; each experiment has a number of markings corresponding to their order (and color) in the sequence.
and other straw hats! i have a little less about them, but:
nami, human hunter
subclass: arcstaff (Throw Stick/well of bad/i don't remember its actual name)
primary: patron of lost causes
secondary: riskrunner
heavy: stormchaser
exotic: liar's handshake
ghost: zeus, stolen from big mom (tangerine shell)
(was tempted to do stormcaller unlimited power but arcstaff is... you know)
usopp, human hunter
subclass: solar, precision goldie
primary: succession
secondary: trinity ghoul
heavy: scintillation
exotic: nighthawk
ghost: merry (sheepshead shell)
can and should be trusted with raid mechanics along w/ nami
and the rest of the crew i'm not 100% set on buuuuut:
chopper: exo warlock (well of radiance)
robin: awoken warlock (strand? void?)
franky: exo titan (thundercrash)
brook: exo hunter (stasis)
jinbei: awoken titan (stasis? arc?)
misc others:
law: awoken prismatic hunter, blinky knife
reiju-0: exo void hunter, tether + smoke bomb, le monarque
ichiji-1: exo solar hunter, blade barrage
niji-2: exo arc titan, striker, ACD/0
yonji-4: exo strand titan
and textless, glow-less versions if you got this far!
#my art#destiny tag#one piece#roronoa zoro#one piece sanji#zosan#since (again) it isn't Not#i'm not locked in here with you; you're locked in here with me etc. etc.#if you can't read my handwriting all the info is repeated below the cut#monster trio are the pvp fireteam that makes you instaquit upon getting out of the queue#(they never play to the meta; luffy is crazy fast and unpredictable and once zoro gets momentum he's impossible to stop)#also everyone (blue) please appreciate that i did mostly call things by their actual name.
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System Mapping
Hello,
Recently I had a great call on Discord where I loosely gave some tips for system mapping. here's a more organized summary:
System mapping can be done in many different mediums. I prefer art, where i represent each alter with a circle and use arrows with words to signify how alters feel in relation to eachother. one of our alters system maps using friendship bracelets, another painted a mask. you can make a powerpoint, journal, really any medium. generally art and abstract system mapping can be less triggering than written system mapping.
as an alter i usually recommend that each alter make their own system maps and make new ones as time goes on. its important to note your perception of yourself and other alters so that you can notice and identify differences and misunderstandings. you can take it a step further and note anything that makes you feel distant or averse to that part, as noting things like that down can be discussed in therapy to help encourage understanding and empathy
writing and/or artistically portraying that you arent aware of an alter or your system is still very useful for yourself and for your therapist!
generally, i feel its very important to honestly portay/note down your personal understanding of the system as an alter without outside input from friends or from other alters, and you should allow your alters to do the same as this can help fill in the gaps and encourage genuine opinions, feelings and thoughts. each alter creating their own system map with their own opinions gives you and your treatment team an understanding of what everyone knows and doesnt know. some of my alters however dont agree with this perspective and prefer to map via including information from other alters as they see a combined perspective in their personal map to be important. if thats you, then thats fine! whats important is not forcing your perspective onto another alter or modifying their map without their consent
System mapping regardless of what medium you use is a very triggering process especially early on. please approach with caution and do not attempt to do it if you feel triggered. this isnt something you have to do alone, you can work on it with your therapist or with a trusted friend.
sometimes, alters will express perceptions and opinions that you dont agree with or that you find to be uncomfortable. this is good, because it means they are being honest and it also means you can bring up this conflict in therapy. hindering their map will only distance you further from them. its important that every alter has the right to exist and express themselves even if you dont like it.
since art is my primary medium, i prefer to communicate alters through shapes, sizes, complexity, colors, etc. you dont have to use words, but it is unfortunately true that the meaning of abstract portrayals can be lost to time due to the nature of CDDs
What my powerpoint consists of - All diagnosed mental health disorders, how those disorders affect different alters, what episodes relating to those mental health issues looks like for individual alters, all unhealthy coping mechanisms and which alters engage in them, alters primary roles/jobs and how they identify, any personal issues they may have whether its episodes or just general issues, and fun facts. Information I'd like to include in a future remake: how alters feel about themselves and other alters, the specific time frames alters percieve/the trauma they carry, where alters primarily front, known triggers. I personally reserve my powerpoint for professionals, my partner, and trusted friends. this level of detail is highly triggering and not necessary for system mapping but it is an option if you are able to do it.
other discussed ideas for system mapping/ones i can think of right now: Visual novel, coding, making figurines, knitting/crochet, creating a literal map, collages, pinterest boards, playlists, using objects to represent alters, word clouds, friendship bracelets, masks, videos, voice memos
and that's all i can remember right now! please let me know how you personally map out your system and if theres anything youd do differently <3
I dont feel like fixing formatting errors because tired I hope this is helpful
#cdd#complex dissociative disorder#did#dissociative identity disorder#actually did#actually dissociative#alters#dissociation#traumagenic system#system stuff#system things#did system#dissociative system#osdd system#system#plural system#actually a system
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a selection of The Library's customers
--
One day Hob will get used to The Library's many strange happenings. Maybe. Or probably not.
Today, it's the fact that there's a customer.
Sort of.
The small child who's essentially appeared in Dream's study frowns up at him, hands on her hips. She looks to be about nine. She's wearing a school uniform. Where are her parents?
"This," she says to Dream, horribly affronted, "is not the school library."
"I imagine it did not have what you needed," Dream says. Utterly unbothered by a random child wandering into his shop, seemingly out of nowhere. Hob watches with astonishment from where he's sitting at Dream's desk with a cup of coffee, evidently not needed for this interaction. "What were you looking for?"
"Unicorns," she declares.
It seems odd to Hob that a primary school library wouldn't have any fantasy books with unicorns in them, but what does he know. Dream nods with utter seriousness. "Please wait a moment," he says, and disappears into the bowels of the shop.
"How'd you get in here?" Hob asks as the girl sits down primly in a chair.
"I used the door, silly," she says. Not the front door, surely. Hob definitely hadn't seen her come up the stairs into the study.
Then her eyes light up. "Can I have a scone?"
Hob had brought over a container of them from the cafe, and Dream's been picking at them all morning. Hob passes the kid the container. What the hell else is he supposed to do?
Fortunately, Dream returns before Hob has to figure out what his adult responsibility is as regards an unaccompanied child that probably should be in school right now. Dream hands the girl a stack of at least ten books of varying sizes, presumably about unicorns. The girl looks through them, scrunches her nose up, and asks, "D'you have anything more scientific?"
Dream considers. Then hands her a large, flat book that he definitely hadn't been carrying a moment ago. The girl sets it on the ground, kneeling before it, flipping through the pages. It seems to be made up of scientific diagrams and large, full-color images. Hob sees viscera, organs, bones-- then the girl closes the book again. The cover says, Unicorn Anatomy: Piece by Piece.
The little girl smiles up at him, sharp and pixie-like. "Thank you, Mister Dream," she says, incredibly polite for a child currently grinning madly over unicorn dissections.
Dream nods solemnly. "I hope it will serve you well in your endeavors."
She trots off back into the stacks, to whatever door (?) she came from, and Hob turns to Dream. "Do you often get random children here?"
"The Library finds its customers," Dream says placidly. "She will find her way back to her classroom, worry not."
"Figured that, somehow."
Dream sets the other unicorn books aside and takes up a scone in their place, nibbling on it as he perches on the edge of his desk, looking down at Hob. He seems amused by Hob's confusion. "Why do you have a front door if people don't use it?" Hob asks.
"You use it," Dream points out. Which... is unexpectedly touching. Unexpectedly special.
"Fair enough," he agrees, voice tight.
--
Dream's next customer comes bursting in through a side door as Hob is helping Dream stack some new books. He runs in so fast he has to catch himself against the desk, his business suit tattered and smoking, his hair... literally on fire. He rapidly pats it out.
"Please," he begs, as Dream just observes him calmly from where he's sitting cross-legged on the floor. "I need--"
"1983 Alternate History," Dream fills in. "Yes, I'm sure you do. One moment, please."
As he disappears into the stacks, the customer leans against the desk, panting for breath. Hob doesn't think offering a scone is going to help in this case. He's not sure what else would help, either.
Fortunately, Dream returns quickly, handing the shaking man an equally tattered grey book that is indeed titled, in a concerning handwritten scrawl, User's Guide to 1983 - Alternate Version. And, subtitled: FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY.
"Thanks," breathes the man, clutching the book to him. And with no more explanation than that, he runs back through the door he came from. Hob thinks he catches a glimpse of something very large and very on fire through the doorway, but the door swings closed too fast to tell for sure.
"They would do well to pass that around rather than returning it," Dream says, before sitting back down and returning to his book sorting.
Hob is naturally curious, but he thinks about all the fire and this time decides he doesn't want to know.
--
"...Hi?"
For once, Hob has successfully convinced Dream to stop working for a moment. Dream is, in fact, currently sitting on his lap, resting his head on Hob's shoulder in a half-doze as Hob regales him with a university story that's certainly crazy enough to fit in with any of the books in The Library. But Library customers don't follow a nine - to - five schedule, Hob's learned this well enough by now.
Dream does not seem embarrassed to have been caught in this position. He just stands fluidly, stretching his arms over his head. "Yes?"
The young person standing hesitantly in the middle of the room -- might be eighteen? twenty? once he crossed thirty Hob lost the ability to tell young adults' ages with any accuracy, they all seem like kids -- twists their hands together and says, "Could you help me find a book?"
Dream nods and waits for them to tell him which one.
The kid glances back and forth between the two of them nervously, like they think one or both of them might judge their selection. Hob tries to look non-threatening, even though it's hard to look more non-threatening when he's already half-sunk into the couch, wearing sweatpants, and was just caught cuddling his boyfriend in a semi-public space. He's also certain that whatever book this kid might be after, The Library definitely has something more concerning and more questionable.
Like Alternate 1983 History, for example.
Dream probably already knows what they're looking for, too, he always does.
Dream just tilts his head in beckoning and walks off into the stacks, his customer following behind, still wringing their hands.
Hob's fully expecting only Dream to come back, for his customer to disappear through another exit -- none of which Hob can ever find later. But they both come back through around ten minutes later, Dream carrying a book with a yellow cover. The study is close and cozy enough that Hob can make out the title -- Gender Queer -- as Dream passes it over, and oh, yeah, he gets it now. Granted, Hob himself has always been more of the type to punch people out whenever they give him any shit, but he understands the impulse, the need, sometimes, to hide.
The teen clutches yellow-covered book close to their chest. "You can take it home," Dream says when they make no move to leave.
They look down at the cover and then back up at Dream. "...I'm not sure I can," they say at length. "It's too, um. Obvious."
Dream just raises an eyebrow. "Is it?"
Hob swears he didn't look away, but as he follows the teen customer's gaze back down, the book has definitely changed. The cover is blue now, and it seems to be about maths, though it's hard to make out from far away. The kid flips through the pages, and they must be different from before for they look up at Dream in disbelief.
Dream, the fucker, just winks. Presses the book closed again, upon which the cover returns to yellow.
"Algebra is scintillating," he drawls, turning away and snatching up the container of scones from a side table -- a not-insignificant part of Hob's job, at this point, is just keeping Dream in scones -- "and suitable for any young person. Take a scone with you, too." He holds out the container. "Hob's are the best."
And with a tiny smile, the kid takes one.
#btw of ALL the books so far mentioned in this au Gender Queer is the ONLY one that's actually a real book XD#all the others are made up#conservatives in the US keep scapegoating Gender Queer and trying to get it banned#love hob doing literally fuck all in this. like does he ever work? who knows#all he does is snog dream a lot. good life tbh#bookstore cryptid dream#dreamling#my writing#dreamling fic#a warm up to hopefully get my brain churning enough today to finish in waking dreams
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YET ANOTHER ROUNDUP OF ASOLUTELY UNHINGED COMEDIC RELIEF
ASSORTED SENTENCE STARTERS FROM AROUND THE INTERNET, including quotes from Tumblr, Pinterest, TikTok, and X (formerly known as Twitter), for when a muse wants to be a bit silly <333
CHANGE gendered words and in-universe phrases as needed.
SPECIFY muse for multimuses.
❛ I am not merely a clown; I’m the entire damn circus! ❜
❛ I will bite you if you continue this behavior. ❜
❛ Being a dramatic ass bitch isn’t a personality trait; it’s a lifestyle! ❜
❛ Trauma? Oh … you mean, my lore? ❜
❛ why must I cite sources? is it not enough to just say ‘trust me, bro’? ❜
❛ sorry for being a perfect sweetie and a genius it will likely happen again. ❜
❛ forget about touching grass; I need to touch WATER I NEED TO GO INTO THE OCEAN I NEED TO DIVE INTO THE SEA!!! ❜
❛ I’m attracted to men with muppet energy and no i will not be explaining. ❜
❛ you want me to make friends with people? the thing that killed julius caesar? ❜
❛ what’s your birthstone? mine is rock bottom. ❜
❛ I absolutely hate that I’m not bioluminescent. Pathetic. ❜
❛ ohhhhh my god i have got to stop mourning the past or whatever. ❜
❛ you expect me to act like a normal human being? I’m wearing a turtleneck! ❜
❛ i don’t struggle with same sex attraction I’m actually very good at it. ❜
❛ unfortunately i often find out without even getting the chance to fuck around. ❜
❛ I’m bisexual which means that I’m attracted to anybody who can defeat me in physical combat. ❜
❛ all anyone needs to know about me is that i’m a dumbass and i love women. ❜
❛ sorry but philosophers aren’t impressive i came up with stuff like that when i was 12. ❜
❛ I pay my own bills; I can cuss all I want! ❜
❛ I don’t have rizz; I have sad eyes and a weird presence. ❜
❛ my demons are chasing me and they’re doing the Naruto run. ❜
❛ honey we are ALL doomed by the narrative. it's not that serious. have some fun with it. ❜
❛ dating me is like interviewing a psych ward patient. ❜
❛ being a girl with very large brown eyes comes with great responsibility. ❜
❛ i’m autistic in ways that you can’t even begin to imagine. ❜
❛ being a loser may be a phase to you but its a lifestyle for me. ❜
❛ entering a magical portal in the woods would fix me. ❜
❛ I’m lonely but not in a hot mysterious way; more like in a pathetic way. ❜
❛ life is so unserious just say womp womp and move on! ❜
❛ you’re vibing? In this economy? ❜
❛ just because I’m small doesn’t mean I can’t kick your ass. ❜
❛ my primary motivators are fear, spite, and aesthetic longing. ❜
❛ sorry about the chaos; I needed attention. ❜
❛ WHAT IS UP GIRL you look foreboding and malicious! ❜
❛ baby i can be your problematic bi wife. ❜
❛ i don’t think any of you understand how important i am to the plot. ❜
❛ what if we are both red flags? what then? ❜
❛ any dream can be a prophetic dream if you’re willing to do some really weird shit. ❜
❛ my hobbies include being right, being gay, and being a hater. ❜
❛ i have a phd in Loving The Color Pink And Also Glitter. ❜
❛ being a menace to society is a full time job and I am dedicated. ❜
❛ my life has been a bouquet of oopsie daisies. ❜
❛ i survive on spite, anxiety, and blasphemy. ❜
❛ if you’re not obsessed with me, why would I wanna be with you? ❜
❛ the hottest thing a man can be is a little afraid of me. ❜
❛ my love language is being a hater. ❜
❛ i don’t get enough credit for acting far less insane than i actually am. ❜
❛ the A in my name stands for always right. ❜
❛ Jesus is my homeboy but God has a lot to answer for and I will continue to be rebellious until he does so. ❜
❛ I’ll see a man with long hair and then remember that I’m not above temptations of the flesh. ❜
❛ i’m going to be honest with you I’m not going to be honest with you. ❜
❛ stop asking me if I’m ok I’ll literally make out with you. ❜
❛ part of my masculine charm is that I’m literally insane. ❜
❛ are you sure those are demons bro? or are they consequences from the choices you made? ❜
❛ i do not identify as a boy or a girl. i identify as a nuisance, an irritant, a fool, and a problem. ❜
❛ praying on someone’s downfall isn’t enough i need to participate in it. ❜
❛ we all need to chill. i won’t do it first but it’s something i noticed. ❜
❛ not to sound like a Victorian woman suffering from hysteria but going to the sea would fix me. ❜
❛ the silly goose convention called; they asked if you could be their keynote speaker. ❜
❛ i deserve unrestricted access to old castles and old churches i want to know all the secrets. ❜
❛ doesn’t matter if you’re cringe or based we’re all just here to suffer. ❜
❛ I’m no longer comedic relief I’m now serious panic. ❜
❛ this is getting difficult to romanticize. ❜
❛ done healing my inner child. next up is my inner teen. her highness needs a sword. ❜
❛ i am God’s silliest experiment. ❜
❛ i’m very vulnerable right now if anyone wants to take advantage of me. ❜
❛ sorry i overshared do you still think im hot? ❜
❛ I can yap for days and still maintain my air of mystery. ❜
❛ good luck sending me mixed signals; I don’t even understand normal ones. ❜
❛ not all of your life decisions have to be smart. some can be purely for cinematic value. ❜
#askbox meme#askbox prompt#rp ask meme#ask box#roleplay sentence meme#sentence starters#roleplay prompts#roleplay sentence starters#* sentence meme#rpc help
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