#like a couples fight. yknow. the healthy ones

[harvestmoth]

oh also this real quick

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

HINATA HYUUGA (NARUTO)

1.) When Hinata was introduced she goals, weaknesses, interesting interactions and relationships with characters other than naruto and a personality of her own. Post timeskip in shippuden, however, she was reduced down to simply 'naruto's future love interest' and little else. The entire Hyuuga plotline was dropped and she no longer had any relevance or personality outside of naruto. Part 1 hinata was shy and insecure on the surface but underneath that she was determined & hardworking, even to her own detriment. Her struggles were compelling. Her interactions with neji and her family are something you look forward to seeing more of. In shippuden she's like a flat carboard cutout of hinata. Her shyness exaggerated, her relationship with her family suddenly perfectly fine and boring. In part 1 naruto inspires her to keep trying but he isn't the reason she's working so hard, in shippuden he's pretty much all she thinks about. Her change in character design really highlights these changes - the perfect little wife for cishet men to fantasise about.

2.) Her entire personality and arc is boiled down to “shy uwu waifu in love with Naruto” and basically any development she gets, which is barely at all because Kishimoto hates women, is as attributed to NARUTO and Naruto only. Even her reaction to her beloved COUSIN’S DEATH makes her be like “omg I love Naruto” and serves to further NaruHina, which is absolutely insane she would Not react like that. Naruto only starts being romantically interested in her at the beginning of like, The Last movie, which is after 500ish episodes of her being treated as the sidelined love interest who is devoted to a guy who only cares about her when she’s a damsel in distress on a fight.

There are so many parts of her character that are/could be interesting, like her part in the Hyuga Clan due to being born as a superior and her dynamic with her cousin Neji as a result, (which could have had SO many great moments of reconciliation and standing up for each other grrr grrr) an exploration of the impact of her bullying & being looked down upon (even when she’s supposed to be a superior member, which adds to the shame) LIKE MANY OF THE CAST, seriously the people Naruto trauma dumps to are mostly consisted of people unfairly treated like that and it could have been used to further NaruHina WHILE showing her struggles

She is an incredibly capable fighter but the moment Naruto is there, she instantly becomes defenseless and needs to be saved by her crush, mostly as a “wow look at him isn’t he so brave and kind to do this for her?!”

There’s an episode where she is literally used as a defenseless punching bag for Pein by trying to sacrifice herself for Naruto and telling him she loves him, JUST so he can be more angry and have more motivation to beat Pein’s ass (aside of the yknow. Killing his loved ones thing) AND her confession is ignored by Naruto for the rest of the series. Just like any moment she shows her crush for him is met with obliviousness, which would be fine if they weren’t the main couple and didn’t go on for THE ENTIRE SERIES!!!!

In Boruto, the shitty sequel, Naruto is basically her deadbeat husband in her bland lavander marriage and Boruto is rightfully mad about Naruto’s distance from the family and even says he left her basically a single mom and barely pays time to the family, and Hinata’s role in the show as the housewife is being like “no you see Boruto you have to understand your father’s pov as the Hokage” and the narrative treats NaruHina’s marriage as a Good, Healthy Thing as if the characters are not miserable in this marriage.

3.) Man I don't even like her that much but she deserved SO much better. She was introduced as the heiress of a really powerful and renowed clan with complex dynamics, yet the author somehow decided to do almost NOTHING with the potential she had, and gave her very little personality besides being shy and fawning over the protagonist. She gets slightly more active in Shippuden (part 2), but her character still pretty much revolves around her love for Naruto, which sucks because again, she has so much potential. It's no secret that women in Naruto are badly written, and Hinata certainly is no exception. The male characters get dozens of episodes/chapters about their motivations, their backstories, what pushes them to keep going, and Hinata gets almost nothing besides her lifelong crush on Naruto that we are reminded of literally every time she's on screen.

NIKI NIHACHU (DREAM SMP) (CW: Bullying)

1.) Ohhhh my FUCKING GOD okay. So first off, MCYT (Minecraft Youtube) is not synonymous with the Dream SMP. The Dream SMP is MCYT, but not all MCYT is Dream SMP. I just want to make that clear before I start. (Also, the DSMP characters are referred to with a c! in front of their name, and the person playing that character is referred to with a cc! in front of their name.)

Anyway. So Niki, right. The Dream SMP had a LOT of ccs, and I can’t remember all of them off the top of my head but I think there were like…four women? Out of…god, at least fifteen people, maybe twenty? Which would have been fine, I’ve seen worse ratios. But the thing is, a lot of the male ccs’ fans were uhhh…not great about treating cc!Niki like a person. We’re gonna move on to her character in a bit, but cc!Niki got bullied, harassed, and criticized no matter what she or her character did.

c!Niki is either a mean girlboss or gentle and nice. When I saw people talking about c!Niki while the DSMP was active, their views of her were very one dimensional. Maybe part of this was because cc!Niki didn’t get a chance to develop her character as much as someone like cc!Tubbo did. One of the DSMP’s fatal flaws was a lack of communication and organization, and…yeah. It was very difficult for white male ccs to organize people for lore, but for cc!Niki it was…also bad. The misogyny that cc!Niki experienced from fans is inseparable from the misogyny that c!Niki also received. It’s a really shitty package deal.

OH AND ALSO. You know how the DSMP ended by getting like, wiped from existence or some shit I don’t remember. And Dream did this without letting the majority of the ccs resolve their character’s stories/arcs? Will it surprise you to learn that afaik cc!Niki wasn’t informed about this at first? Yeah. Overall she was just treated horribly by everyone and so was her character.

2.) Literally only like three people ever did storylines with her, two of whom immediately dropped it as soon as something else came up. She didn't even get to officially participate in the revolution despite repeatedly offering aid, and eventually ended up just. Building her own underground city. To have something to do. The only people to actually include her in storylines consistently ever were the anarchists, toward the end of the server.

3.) ok, so, the thing is, this isn’t just about the DSMP. historically, in mcyt spaces, women content creators have been harassed and treated terribly by fans (and talked over/ignored by other ccs and the fandom) for, essentially, daring to be women, and niki has been subject to that. cc!niki (the real life person, for those who don’t know mcyt player/character differentiations) was/is really good friends with cc!wilbur soot (i haven’t been keeping up with this corner of streaming recently but assume this is the case). however, despite being close irl friends and working really well with one another, niki had to deal with endless bullshit from people who shipped her and wilbur (and people who didn’t!!), so much so that they stopped streaming together for a while. this is just some background so you understand the baseline we’re working with here. (this is going to be more of a meta analysis on how cc!niki was treated by other ccs, as that’s my specialty and also in a rp space it affects how her character was played) (fan treatment of her also factors in a lot here since fiction is highly affected by realities like this in mcrp) niki’s character in the dream smp, and the lore she had (she went from a kind baker to one of the last holdouts against a tyrannical government, to a broken girl resorting to revenge for stability, to someone who was finally able to find healing and support in a safe space and worked to do the same for others) was largely ignored or disregarded by both fans and the other content creators on the server. hell, when her best friend died nobody even bothered to tell c!niki! she had to find out from his own goddamn ghost! (can you tell i’m mad about this?) she put up with so much shit on that server, in-character and out, and never even got to have a fucking break about it. justice for c!niki!

[calciumdeficientt]

I know I already asked you for headcanons, but could you do some headcanons with my OC Mary and Gord? 👉👈

This is so perfect!!! I was about to make a post of Mary hcs anyway so I’m going to kind of co-opt this ask to kind of do some solo Mary hcs but dw Gord will be here!

MARY BROWN HCS (FEAT. GORD)

SOLO MARY HCS

Shes the most kindhearted prep, it really shows. She does her best to act cruel and snobbish but she just doesn’t have the heart to do it, she’s so genuinely nice that it kind of rubs off on everyone around her. It’s pretty infectious, even though most of the preps don’t want to be infected. This endless kindness does get her in everyone’s good graces. It sort of acts for a force field, especially on bullies. There’s nothing that a small gift cannot solve, its not TECHNICALLY bribery if you don’t actually want the service the other party is providing, right?

Her interest in drama leads her to join the school’s drama club. She has every right to use her power and influence as a prep to buy her way into lead roles but she thinks its unfair, so she auditions the same way everyone else does. In the drame club, she got to know Trent a little better, he’s usually the leading man, and that energy follows him offstage too. He’s a pretty cool goy once you get past all the borderline torture he puts other students through and a good friend of Mary’s too

Comes from a good, loving family who despite admitting they’re not fully on board with her dreams of being an actress they’re more than willing to pay her way into it. They just want to see their daughter happy, and if she feels more comfortable in front of a camera than she does behind a jeweller’s desk than that’s the way it’s going to be. They moved from Cambridge to Bullworth when Mary was a baby, but she retained the accent because all their house staff moved to America with them. Nannies, maids, chefs. Everyone Mary interacted with in her formative years had a southern English accent.

Cares for Bif after tough fights. They have a good sibling relationship going, so if he’s particularly down or injured, she likes to take him out somewhere for coffee or yknow… to the emergency room. Mary comes to every fight, she makes time specifically to come and watch the fights, she’s not got a great stomach when it comes to violence, she likes to let Bif know he’s supported whenever he fights. Even if he’s just sparring. It’s a real testament to her incomparable niceness. She comes, despite her hatred for fighting, to support her friend.

Started and funded their first Bullworth festival with the help of Miss Phillips, every student can make any film they like (with a few restrictions, no snuff films, no nudity -tasteful or otherwise- and no profanity unless its absolutely VITAL to the plot) they have six weeks to write, film and produce their films and then at the end of that time the films are submitted, screened and a winner is voted for by the student body. The winner receives a shitty plastic Oscar dupe, 20 bucks each and an instant pass on all art and photography classes for the semester. It’s a good morale booster, and almost everyone gets involved. To avoid any clique wars, there is one final rule that Mary introduces… each film cast/crew must contain a member from at least one other clique or the film is disqualified. It makes a difference around the school for like a month before everyone forgets and starts fighting again.

GORD X MARY HCS

Gord and Mary are very much a picture book couple, they’re so happy together. There’s never been a moment that they’ve ever fought, or even frowned at each other. They’re very happy, very healthy and so in love. It’s almost poetic, its the kind of thing any kid dreams about. They assume that they’ll marry their childhood sweetheart and live a good life, usually in a castle. Well for Mary and gord who’ve been playing happy families since they were tots, its their reality. They took a small break through middle school and the start of high school but there’s a very good chance that even during those years, their minds were still on each other.

Shopping dates are an absolute must. Gord prides himself on his fashion taste, so one thing he really likes to do is style outfits for her. They go out and he gets busy creating outfits for her based on what’s seasonal and trendy. Gord really has his finger on the pulse of fashion, a fact he’s really not modest about, so Mary always looks stunning and chic. Not one to miss out on any fashion fun, Gord buys matching outfits when he can, and complimentary outfits when he can’t.

Gord is too sentimental for his own good. He remembers every single milestone possible, and he gets Mary gifts for every one. Wether it’s the day they held hands for the first time, the day they first kissed or the day they both said i love you, a slew of fancy gifts is crammed into her dorm. It’s a little much, but it really proves to her that he cares about her.

Both of them are allergic to flowers, so Gord has to get creative. Her uses anything from his limited crochet skills to dried flowers, if its an important event Gord will usually get some bespoke flowers made. For their 1 year anniversary he commissioned a French artist to make a bouquet of roses out of blown glass and solid gold. They’re absolutely beautiful and as a bonus, he even had a vase made or them.

They have tea dates in Harrington house, an event that requires the rest of the preps to clear off. It’s more intimate than a fancy dinner or a night being paraded around at a gala. They light candles and sit around Harrington house’s smallest dining table to drink real tea, and spill metaphorical tea. If the preps weren’t so worried about hearing something about themselves they’d rather have not known, they probably would linger dunring these dates.

[anon-e-has-a-tmblr]

5 years.

So much has changed in these 5 years that has passed. On ine hand it's been a long time but on the other, it feels like it always was like that.

Since I haven't spoken at all about in the recent years, and given a lot of people are now runing into the shenanigans I cause, I guess a recap is a good thing. Yknow, reflecting on years past, what changed and what stayed the same, and of course - what I did and what I'm yet to do. All under the cut

All physical changes that could have happened occured within the first 6 months. Even though I was shaving before for a while, within a month enough facial hair was growing on my cheeks that I actually felt like I should be shaving. However, quickly I discovered that I actually like having a beard, so coupled with lockdown laziness I just stopped shaving. Fat redistribution I noticed a bit later, when I decided that daily walks would be a good thing for my health and sanity. This realization came to me when I saw that my (back then) new trousers fit me better, whereas the couple of pairs I had since my days in the army were falling off me.

The mental changes, as much as you can call them that, happened seemingly overnight. The first thing I noticed was a burst of energy, I no longer was fighting to get up, and I could keep going for longer before I felt like I jeeded to rest. One thing that I'm glad that never happened was, a burst in uncontrolled emotions. I feared, that since during my teenage years I was so emotionally unstable and having bursts of unccontrolled rage, secind puberty will cause a resurgence of that destructive rage. And to my pleasant surprise - I felt a sense of calmness and content. A feeling of everything being just right, all things considered. And that feeling surprised me.

I also had a sudden burst of hunger, but that's expected with all types of HRT, and within a couple of months it resolved itself.

As of medical intervention beyond medication, I only underwent top surgery. In my case, this was a 2-in-1 deal: conplete double mastectamy, chest reconstruction surgery with a nipple graft. In my case, the doctors werent sure my nipple would survive, and I was mentally prepared to have a 3D tattoo of them in case they don't. Thankfully jot only they survived, I had full sensations and almost full function merely 3 weeks after the surgery. And as a bonus, their color changed to a healthy pink, which is only a bonus. I did have 1 complication, a very common one in all torso surgeries, and it is a gaping of the insitions. I had the gape under my left armpit, and it took about 6 weeks to close fully. It thankfully never got infected, and since I was covering it with a clean gasa and using an antibiotic cream as long as the doctors told me, I didn't have any further comolications. Pain-wise, my entire recovery was somehqat painless. Partially because of my rediculously-high pain tolerance, and partially because it just so happened to not be as painful. Feeling how the whole area is draining was very vile though. Do not recommend lol

As of bottom surgery: although I do have bottom dysohoria, for now I don't olan on getting one. Not only we don't do it here, it costs os much koney and has so many complications, and at the end of the day it wont give me the ability to have biological kids. So for now I stick with silicon prosthetics and hope they dont fall off xD

In my personal life, I finished my degree and got a driving license, on a motorcycle after learning the hard way that I can't physically drive a car. My ankle just doesn't aprove of such activities. I'm still yet to start working full time as an archaeologist, but that's entirely due to the places that employ archaeologists not recuiting new workers at this time. And I know I'm not the only archaeologist stuck in this madness. So for now, I work where I live, doing my best to not overwork and also have a little bit of time for myself and my hobbies.

In these past 5 years I also became more religious. After top surgery I felt like I'm ready to enter community life as a man, only to be faced with a religious dilema that cannot be solved, yet. So far, I have found only 1 person even talking about people like me with more than just "yall are heretics who are blasphemous for even trying to be a part of the religious community", and he only gave his opinion that there might be an answer. A different source that I did read (despite being targetted towards married people only) says that in some cases, just lying about your transition is the best course of action, but even then there are some stuff that I will never be able to do. And I'm fine with that. And because of this religious debuckle I'm hesitating to go on dates and eventually find a spouce.

Here's hoping for 5 more years of prosperity, and beyond that - god is greacious, so much can change and I just flow with what's given to me.

And I promise, I will find a religious answer to this entire situation. There must be. I'm not the only one, despite our small numbers we are enough to have at least an akgnowledgement that we exsist. And even if it takes me a lifetime, I WILL find a concrete answers, whatever that may be. And no, "there is no answer" is unacceptable.

[nerves-nebula]

2012 has so much room for character analysis. And analysis in general.

I watched it when It was coming out on tv and have been rewatching it for the past couple months very slowwwllllyyyy. Shshsbbdd

Anyway I'm just getting nna ramble my analysis in your direction.

Starting with Mikey! Par tof the reason people sorta cling to Mikey I think is cuz like, splinter sorta ignores him.

It's this sorta odd thing going on where we have scenes like splinter telling Donnie to act more like Mikey cuz he's thinking to much and it's impeding his abilities cuz he's overthinking. Which, is an attempt to address Donnie's anxiety albeit in not the best way but it sorta worked?

Which means splinter is acknowledging mikeys fighting prowess. And that Mikey not thinking to hard and just doing is a good skill to be able to execute.

But ALSO, we get a scene of when the boys first got their weapons, and splinter tells everyone why they're getting what weapon, and why they'll enjoy it. Except Mikey. Mikey just gets nunchucks. Which, is dead ass the hardest weapon to wield there so what the fuck dude?

And Mikey is, so fuckin smart. His brain just in Canon goes too fast for him to remember words and shit. He's so adhd frfr

But Leo is dead ass the golden child. Like, everyone asked to be leader, cuz they are teen boys, but splints chose Leo cuz "he asked for it" and then instills all his ideals in him! He's treated like he's the best at everything and is expected to be the best at everything AND to care for his brothers. And he can only feels like he doesn't really have a life. Which leads into the whole Leo develops a crush on his half sister while not knowing she's his half sister nonsense.

Donnie is just, he's the smart one. He's stressed all the time, but also a. Fucking simp who is never reprimanded by his dad for how he treats april, which he really should be! Having mindmap of every possible way an interaction could go with her is creepy! And literally stalking her!!!! Donnie's also the one who deals with Timothy and he gets in trouble for it with splints despite not even wanting to be dealing with it himself. It's a mess.

Raph has just, obvious anger issues. And splinter does not address them in a healthy way frequently. It's a lot of, "just breathe" and Raph is just: "I want to punch someone or something yesterday."

OH and splint sets his brothers shoot him with plungers while yelling at him and roah like, has a whole ass panic attack. That manifests aggressively cuz raphs anger oh so obviously comes from anxiety. But splinter like never picks up on that.

2012 splints treats the boys like students more then sons ALOT. But also cares about them enough to do shit like, break brain control cuz he didn't wanna kill them ✌️

I could probably word that better but I'm still a little high on laughing gas rn cuz I just had a dentist appointment.

yall be out here writing fandom dissertations & shit after going to the DENTIST yknow what I do after going to the dentist??? lay around in mild agony cause my sensitive ass teeth hurt...

anyway these are fun times.

i still cant get over the fact that i made my neglected turtles stay underground and never go out as a way to reflect my weird family isolation as a kid and then i watched the first ep of 2012 and it was like "yea they're fifteen and they've never left the sewers. they only know each other" and im LIKE!! WHAT!! THEY'VE LITERALLY ALMOST FINISHED PUBERTY AND THEY NEVER LEFT THEIR HOME???? THEY ONLY KNOW EACH OTHER????

i dont think the writers understand how fucked up that makes you and your relationships to people and its just like a part of the turtles story i guess???

LIKE THINKING ABOUT IT, I GET IT, and im sure thats how it is in a lot of tmnt iterations, but thats crazy. these boys would be so fucked up irl.

sorry for the ramble i just aint got much to say about ur analysis, cant say if i agree or not cause i aint even watched much 2012 lol.

[moesartblog]

Need 2 know the fedvi intricate rituals going on in your au. Sorry I'm just excited someone else's remembers fedvi in 2023

I find that fans of very niche pairings tend to persist for a long time lol

My version of it is kinda a departure from the original canon version of the characters.

Firstly I should say I changed the ages up by a couple years so vieri is like 19 and Federico is 21 during the time of that fight on the ponte veccio and they aren’t super familiar with each other beyond the rivalries between vieri and ezio. It’s only after Giovanni’s death that things start to adjust. I sorta made vieri have a big problem with making the execution so public bc it put a big target on the pazzis back and it’s the first major time vieris like “my dad fucked up what is he doing??” And that escalates from there. Vieri goes through with the orders he’s given from Borgia but he’s kinda half hearted into it and he’s starting to question the pazzis place in the templars. I want to incorporate a moment where vieri gives some information to the assassins about Templar plans in hopes of saving his family/dad. And the assassins are conflicted about it but it’s sort of a tiny olive branch unintentionally. Eventually vieri realizes his dad is gonna destroy the family so they have a fight which ends up with vieri stabbed in the abdomen pretty gravely, and him killing his dad. That’s during the same time ezio and Federico were breaking in to assassinate Francesco. Viola finds vieri slumped against a wall and tried to stop the bleeding. Vieris kinda just ready to slip away. Viola flags down fed and ezio and asks them to save her brother. Ezios like uh if he does, two birds one stone. But Federico decides to help vieri and viola and take them both back to the villa auditore.

Vieri nursed back to at least consciousness and the family’s been cycling through watching over him. Ezios the one who’s there when he wakes up and vie makes a snide remark and Ezio starts threatening him and fed has to pull him out to chastise him. At this point it’s partly they could get more info about Templar plans from him and part he promised to help the two siblings, and he can’t let ezio cause issues because of their rivalry. They’re having this fight right outside the door and vieri is listening and is like “clearly I’m not wanted here, and being among these people is going to get me into some torture situation or something” so he sneaks out (clumsily cus of his injuries) . Fed and ezio see he’s gone and ezios like “if I find him first I get to kill him” and fed is now racing against him to make sure that doesn’t happen.

He finds him just outside the city gates trying to get on a horse and he stops him. They have a little talk where fed reminds him of his condition and vie is like u should have just let me die. Fed convinces him to come back and rest.

From there on the dynamic is vieri being kinda thrust into what he perceived as dangerous waters and trying to learn to open up to people. He’s hesitant to get help from anyone no matter what. Federico is sorta the force pushing him to be more vulnerable. Fed also kinda learns to rekindle that more cheeky side through some teasing of vieri and teaching him how to be an assassin. They also talk to each other about their fathers and just how different their lives were. Vieri also starts to develop through fed a way to have healthy competition. Yknow races and sparring, etc.

That was a lot but yeah it’s still something I’m exploring in my art. I’ve drawn some of the stuff I mentioned up top lol

[cherryblossomshadow]

#Seriously let the authors write their characters in whatever way they need or they want #Sometimes they're just a reflection of their own healing process #And you'd be surprised to know how many people do come to the bed negotiating contracts in BDSM while having some form of #healthy communication kink #And/or how many adults wind up naturally expressing themselves like therapists wanting to heal themselves and the world #Whenever they are dealing with conflicts #The only people that will try to make you feel abnormal for using words like “I hear what you are saying and your emotions are valid…” #In everyday speech are those that are threatened by the idea of non-violent and empathetic communication becoming “mainstream” #That human beings might be able to truly listen and emotionally connect rather than fight for dominance and trying to constantly #win a freaking point and prove they are right! #Seriously you can write characters with different levels of communication skills even some with very dysfunctional ones that are #nevertheless amazing people with good intents #Characters that might need some guidance and support from those skilled at healthier and non-violent communication #It's a huge spectrum of human communication styles and abilities in the world! #Just because “you don't personally communicate a certain way IRL” doesn't mean that's not the usual IRL communication style #of another person. #“Pfft! No one really talks like that!” #Most of the times when I hear that I immediately go “Yes they do. Do you even notice how other people interact and talk or just because #YOU wouldn't feel comfortable or natural talking like that you assume no one else does? “ #Food for thought (tags courtesy of @thelostgirl21)

.

Friendly reminder that if you're not being paid to write content a certain way then you can write what you want to write, the way you want it written, forever. Writing is an art form and everyone can be ordinary at it without guilt. If you want your characters to talk about feelings with enthusiasm and skill, then do that. It is free and no one is grading you or docking your pay. It costs everyone zero dollars to leave writers alone. We have enough stress and guilt as it is, thanks. (comment courtesy of @beautifulterriblequeen)

.

This is definitely true! It is frustrating! I guess one thing I've been thinking about a lot though is that for a couple of shows I've seen, I've actually been like yknow what I'll let this slide because… actually it's modelling how to have healthy conflict/talk about your emotions… and of course it's not the job of any piece of media to model healthy behaviour… but I'm hopeful that there are people who will see these shows and benefit from it in how they interact in the rest of their life… so yeah it totally does feel clunky sometimes and there's no need for everyone to be "therapy speak"ing all the time… but I can see one potential benefit to it too 😊 (comment courtesy of @yaay-feelings-fuck-feelings)

.

Alternately, sometimes write a character who is entirely in tune with their emotions and can use therapy speak - and is still lying through their teeth about what they're feeling because it's really fucking entertaining. Bonus points if they deliberately use therapy speak to be misunderstood and make communication HARDER or to communicate a different problem than the one they are having ON PURPOSE. (this is really fun for manipulative villains, especially in stories that take place in the modern age) You can also do this with an extremely "intelligent" character who thinks they are in tune with their emotions but is not - who uses therapy speak to describe the wrong thing. Who thinks they are being honest but are wrong about it because they are on like 16 levels of repression because there's different types of intelligence and so many intellectual people think they can intellectual-brute-force their way to emotional intelligence. (comment courtesy of @baelpenrose)

.

Sorry my rambles didnt fit in the tags!

"people just do not and often Can not tell the absolute truth about themselves all the time even during heated and climactic moments"

I love this dynamic. I also feel like I don't rly understand myself completely, so when I get to know/figure out something about the character that the character doesn't, yet i completely get why they can't understand themselves ... idk I just have a rly good time 🤷‍♀️

characters who "think they are being honest but are wrong about it,"

esp if its bc repression, are so special to me. Again, I just rly love that dynamic

Many intellectual people think they can intellectual-brute-force their way to emotional intelligence

This is A+ character work to me

"Oh! I had a terrible night because you accused me of this, and it's all your fault for having thrown these accusations without having understood my good intentions!"

Oh wow. Damn. Complaining about how my behavior affected his day is actually something dad used to do all the time. Like if we were out together as a family, whenever I would get mouthy or something at the end of the day (looking back, we were probably all tired!!!), he would sigh dramatically and complain, "And we were having such a nice day. Don't ruin it." And, tbf he's still doing it now. *chipper voice* But it's got a new and upgraded flavor to it!

.

Unrelated but I've been researching emotional regulation strategies to try to help someone else, but I'm seeing all these strategies that I've just been unknowingly using, like Opposite Action Skill. When someone pisses me off, I (sometimes) get nicer. (Yes i get pissed off often enough that the "sometimes" is statistically significant). But yeah, until I read the DBT book I got from the library, I had no idea that was a Thing™

That post that's like "stop writing characters who talk like they're trying to get a good grade in therapy" really blew the door wide open for me about how common it's become for a character's emotional intelligence to not be taken into consideration when writing conflict. I remember the first time I went to therapy I had such a hard time even identifying what I was feeling, let alone had the language to explain it to someone else. Of course there are plenty of people who've never been to therapy a day in their life who are in tune to their emotions. But even they would have some trouble expressing themselves sometimes. You have to take into account there are plenty of people who are uncomfortable expressing themselves and people who think they're not allowed to feel certain ways. It also makes for more interesting conflict to have characters with different levels of understanding.

[gralunaisland]

Yknow, that 100yq screencap reminds me of something infuriating about 100yq-- the fact that Edolas Gruvia is not only a thing, but it's on a "we have a child" level.

Honestly. I would accept the shitty Gruvia in the main story if someone held a gun to my head, but I would never accept it for their Edolas versions. They had even less chemistry and setup than their Earth versions, and somehow, in seven years, semi-girlboss Edo Juvia (who took NO shit from stalker Edo Gray, last we saw her,) is now just a meek little sweet wifey to her barely characterised former creep husband. I do not understand why that happened. They just wanted to massacre everything about Edolas for the sake of giving us some coupling and I hate it so much. At least Edolas NaLu had some setup during the Edolas arc. (Edolucy blushing at Natsu being bold, for example) but Edolas Gruvia just became canon in 100yq because Mashima wanted people to squeal about a forced "GRUVIA LOVECHILD".

Also, Natsu and Gray spend most of that arc just fighting over comparing 'their kids' and I wanted to bash my head against the table.

I'm sorry for ranting. I'm just so angry about it because we waited so long to finally see the Edolas gang again, only for Mashima to use it for cringey OOC ship fanservice instead of the genuine reunions we wanted to see.

Feel free to rant all you want, my friend, this is a safe place for discussion and tirades, goodness knows I do it all the time myself!

I love to hear what people have to say about these things; from rants to questions, it opens many new insights, so never apologize for it!

I've gotta say I'm a bit different from you in the fact that I hate Earthland gr///via much worse than Edolas gr///via (which I’m sure surprises no one because what in FT could I hate more than gr///via?) but now that you mention it, I had especial reason to hate the Edo version too.

As you said, Earthland gr///via, as despicable as it is, unfortunately does make more sense than Edo gr///via because they had a lot of build-up and "moments" thanks to Mashima's garbage writing.

Really, Edo gr///via never made sense to me either, especially after I heard they had a kid a long time ago. Because if I'm remembering correctly, Edo Gray was just a namby-pamby wimp who wore too much and sniveled over Edo juvia, and Edo juvia was a grumpy sourpuss who told him she would only date him if he wore less clothes, so there really was negative chemistry between them.

For Edo juvia to date Gray on the basis only that he didn't bundle up so much? Noooot very romantic. For Edo Gray to keep up being slobbery over her? Alsoooo not very romantic. Really gross in fact.

I've had the luck to not see much of their Edo children yet, nor of their Edo coupling so I'll take your word for it that Edo juvia also turned mushy gushy, which sounds just so uncharacteristic of herself, and I assume Edo Gray stayed namby-pamby.

I guess we really shouldn't be surprised anymore that Mashima doesn't give his characters growth very much; he makes them devolve more often than not.

You're right that the Edo NaLu had a much better build-up. I don't really care that they paired up since of course, the Edolas stuff shouldn't be reflecting Earthland stuff anyway as they're each their own separate realms (though I'm sure NaLu and gr///via stans have just been freaking out over it), but the Edo gr///via thing is just a travesty of writing.

I love how you said he only coupled Edo gr///via to make the "gR///VIA LOVECHILD" because, yeah, I'm totally convinced that's the only reason why, to throw a bone to the rabid gr///via fandom, not because the Edo version was a good healthy couple. Honestly, Earthland and Edolas gr///via are just so cursed and should've never been conceived, just like the Edo gr///via kid. -_-

Man, I'd want to bash my head too if I had to read Gray and Natsu actually being possessive over kids that aren't even theirs. That's just creepy. Doesn't matter that they look like the Edo versions, they're all completely different people.

It's so sad too because I love the Edolas arc, the first one of course. It's just a fun one with mystery and exploration and adventure, and the biggest plus is Earthland juvia IS NOT IN IT. But then of course, Mashima has to ruin that as one of my only havens and shove gr///via in it as well.

I'm very disappointed that he didn't handle this 100yq arc better too, Anon, and I am very sorry that it's affected you so harshly. The OG Edolas arc and cast deserved a better reunion, especially after such a tearful goodbye the first time.

Do better, Mashima.

[tivytail]

for my ridonculous race season!! doing it with some discord friends so I decided to draw one of the teams since their so different! also these guys make it extremely far in the race! that’s what we have planned for them! who knows they might win!

so without further ado let me explain!

alejandro (17):

- never went on total drama

- is wheelchair bound ( does have its advantages and disadvantages ) lost his mobility in a different way )

- would only have wyatt williams (6teen) as a friend.

- he lost his mobility due to their father ignacio , in efforts for carlos to stay home to take care of the family. ( alejandro was around 10 - 11 when he lost his mobility. ) it’s never specified how or why though, nobody really knows how he lost his mobility except for Ignacio.

- he’s still a prodigy. just took online classes.

- often stayed inside when he was wheelbound and watched the other kids play.

- has a healthy relationship with josé

- he really hopes he can make some friends.

- he has a whole personality shift, if it wasn’t obvious. very friendly and caring.

carlos (27) :

- Never left home, ended up staying home to help take care of his brothers and mother.

- No baby :( ( discord thingz )

- He's protective of his little brother but still has that Burromuerto charm. You can gain his trust by befriending Alejandro

- has a healthy relationship with josé.

[side note] since alejandro wasn’t in world tour or allstars we have fixed an elimination order and have replaced a couple of contestants so here’s the elimination order for both seasons. written by my friend Cody and worked on by me and them!

world tour.

1: Duncan (bc yknow)

2: Bridgette (Harold pushed into a pole. Got stuck.)

3: DJ (Self Sacrifice)

4: Cody (God he sucks at DDR, he looked horrid in the Hosen. Confessional door already broken.)

5: Sierra (Sobbing over Cody)

6: Owen (Slowed down time, significantly)

7: Izzy (Didn't catch Ezekiel, and instead Izadora was fronting and caught Noah)

8: Harold (Wings melted & he died/j)

9: Heather (Got abducted. Went bald again)

10: Eva (way 2 angry bro)

11: Leshawna (bad captain, power went 2 her head)

MERGE

12: Brought in Harold and Justin back, Gwen (Being pissy about the wedding dress)

Newly Weds lmao:

Noah & Tyler

Gwen & Courtney

Lindsay & Harold

Brody & Justin

13: Courtney (Double Elimination)

14: Harold (Double Elimination

15: Lindsay (Really really bad aim, manages 2 hit every1 but the animal)

16: Justin (Mirror reflects light right onto the plane's fuel tank. He lost some hair that day)

17: Brody (Lost the tiebreaker against Tyler)

18/19: Noah & Tyler.

Doesn't matter who won, they split the moneyz w/ each other.

allstars:

1: Staci (keeps singing stacy's mom has got it going on)

2: Zoey (She keeps droppin' shit)

3: Justin (Bro didn't want 2 get his body ruined)

4: Noah (Can't force himself 2 eat the pancakes. Sensory issues. Emetophobia Also really baked)

5: Lindsay (dropped eggs. so many eggs)

6: Dawn (Wouldn't fight)

MERGE

7: Owen (oh god he can't swim oh god oh fu)

8: Brick (scared of the dark </3)

9: Gwen (Due 2 injury)

10: Mal (he made a real shitty sundae)

11: Tyler (...same reason as Gwen in All Stars)

12: Lightning (Too much shas)

13/14: Courtney & Scott

Scott winz like a swag gamer.

The 2 broke up on swag terms.

Scott used the money 2 buy more dirt

- thank you guys for listening!!

[if-mirrormine]

i vote one of the bully breeds for a pet dog (mastiff, bulldog, bull terrier, pitbull, cane corso, boxer, great dane, rottweiler, etc) just because im biased bc i grew up with mastiffs and mastiff mixes, and i love this group of dogs so fucking much they tend to not be adopted from shelters and stuff bc they have a bad rep or are "ugly" dogs. so anytime an author goes "what kinda dog should i put in the game?", im like "i goTTA ADVOCATE FOR MY BABIES" lmao

unfortunately, tho i love the other breeds SO FUCKING MUCH (dont talk shit about pitbulls to me, i will fight a bitch about how bad/abusive dog owners have ruined their rep), the best one of the bully breeds for this game specifically would probably be a mastiff?

mastiffs esp (some famous mastiffs/mastiff adjacent dogs (eg dogue de bordeux, cane corso, etc) include: Hercules/Beast from The Sandlot, Fang/Hagrid's dog from the Harry Potter series, Spike from Dreamworks' Sinbad, Hooch from Turner & Hooch, etc) since they tend to be good "apartment dogs". bc of temperment and activity levels, yknow. theyre not a very active dog breed; they generally only want one good walk a day and minimal to moderate playing (as opposed to more active and high-energy dogs like golden retrivers or labradors, which require a lot more training), which would fit in better with a college student or detective's schedule. they dont need a LOT of training bc they wont accept much more than basic teaining lmao, theyre hilariously stubborn dogs who will go "sit?? what sit? ive never heard of sit in my life (unless you give me a treat, then im ALL about sit)"

in addition, theyre slobbery which is good for comedic reasons (just keep a couple of rags in every room. slobber when left on clothes dries like shiny water, and wiped-off slobber dries like it was never there at all. extremely easy to stain-treat) since they slobber after water/food, exercise, or when excited/anxious

but yeah. theyre a very Gentle Giant dog grouping. theyre noitroriously good with kids even though they have a scary dog bark (good security system tho lmao). theyre also very protective. and like. i can say from exp, people will either cross the street while you walk your dog (which is 90% of the time, including if they have a dog) or they will hurry over and go "OMG IS THAT A MASTIFF?? HOW CUTE" which will probably help grayson's anxiety about mc being their own the rare time it happens lmao. mastiffs that are purebred, it depends on what adjacent or subcategory you go for (eg dogue de bordeux live for 6 to 7 years, typically. but some breeds of mastiff, like neopolitans live for 8 to 10, and english mastiffs can live for 6 to 12) which not only means you will definitely have an old gray-muzzled porch puppy when mc comes back BUT ALSO can be used to imply grayson's devotion on another level. like, one blogger articulately said "[Generally,] Mastiff[ breed]s [can] live [for] 6 - 12 years. These dogs are sadly prone to developing lymphoma and bone cancer. Regular preventative vet visits are key to increasing their lifespan [...] A healthy, high-quality diet will keep your dog in good shape and prevent the early onset of arthritis or diabetes. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure when it comes to your Mastiff’s health." mastiff-mixes can live a bit longer, like my family took on a couple of mastiff-labrador mixes (ehich are called Mastadors, which is adorably badass). but? on the whole, i just think grayson being devoted to keeping a smaller-lifespan dog healthy for as long as possible is really cute and really sweet ♡ plus, this is a dog breed that shows their age so going from bby puppy to BIG PUPPY to OLD, GRAY-MUZZLED BIG PUPPY will help with mc being confronted with how much time has passed

plus, mastiffs tend to like people more than other dogs. this depends on the dog's personality, but most mastiffs ive had have preferred going to a dog park to walk around and get everyone to pet them than they do play with other dogs. in addition, my family found out we have to walk around with our mastiffs to get them to walk around (and yknow.. get exercise) at the dog park, bc if we sit?? they just sit down by us. very loving yet nonchalant protector pups. this also means, theyre a dog that is VERY OBVIOUS THAT THEYVE MISSED YOU. our mastiffs do the happy-tappy feet-dance when we picked them up from the groomers, and whined and buried their faces wherever they could reach-- not to even mention when we have gone trips, theyve been SO happy and clingy when we come home. all of them. though we picked up our dogs from shelters, so they were already Pretty Anxious Dogs that didnt like to be seperated for long (though their way of showing this wqs laying down and sighing loudly and pouting while looking longingly at the door-- rather than, like, tearing shit up like a dog wuth more energy might do (tho we have purposefully left our dogs with something of our scent to chew on while they missed us, like a used sock, but that was NECESSARY, it was just additional comfort))

also, for another piece of comedy-- our mastiffs at least (we've either had a long ass streak or this dog breed is just EXTREMELY tolerant (which they are, but shh)) have either tolerated/liked or FUCKING LOVED clothes. like dog-clothes. especially Thunder Jackets (which is a jacket you put on a dog with anxiety); but also all of ours have liked simple dog costumes, and all kinds of dog sweaters and doggy raincoats and whatnot (none of ours could keep on headgear-- like an angel's halo or a hood. but shirts, sweaters, and ponchos and the like?? hell yeah lmao)

along with their sleepy nature, they tend to really want cuddles. even tho theyre too big to be a lap dog. theyll still wanna rest their face on your lap or dig their face into your neck (esp if you let them jump or teach them how to "dance" lmao -- just be careful, their hips are one of the first things to go if theyre not healthy in their old age). ive found my mastiffs to be very emotionally supportive as a result, which probably helped out grayson both in the aftermath of mc going missing and on bad days/bad cases in general

i also wanna add the detail that mastiffs dont really "yap" which is great for apartments. they do this howl-like bark, which is admittingly v loud-- but they also dont often bark at people passing by the door or leaving a package, usually just interacting with the door (aka opening it). and their barks tend to be p singular. so theyll do a single howl-bark and maybe build up from a growl to power up a second "bark". more often, therell just be whining at the door bc they miss their owner and/or have to pee and therefore want the door opened as fast as possible. but yeah. they dont bark much; theyre p silent dogs lmao

also look at those wrinkly, drooly faces and tell me the name "Spinach Puff" isnt perfect for one of them to be named. go on and try-- you cant lmao

but yeah. i dont wanna assume youll pick mastiffs after this, bc thatd be hella entitled of me and i know theyre not a dog (and neither is the bully breed as a whole) that everyone is into. you have to be a proactive dog-owner if you have a large dog (you cant just pick them up when they misbehave (and therefore potentially never train them) like you can with small dogs). theres even a "proper way to hold the leash" for these dogs that can easily weigh 115+ pounds and be much stronger than you as a result (its essentially a modified levee system where you hold the leash upwards so, no matter how much muscle they have on you, they arent going far). but yeah-- **IF** you end up going with mastiffs, im always down to answer questions about them (and further explain the way i was taught at an early age to hold their leash-- tho there is some easy comedy for you there, behind a dog lunging and the dog-walker being dragged along after them)

i hope this helped-- either in helping you pick mastiffs/a bully breed dog, or in helping you i guess further eliminate what kinda dog you want to write (i will say-- pay attention to what kinda dog would be best for their apartment lifestyle, esp if they dont live on the first floor and therefore the dog needs to go into an elevator/down flights of stairs to go to the bathroom (my neighbors' puppy RUINED our 3rd-floor's hallway's carpet, which grayson and mc's puppy probably also did if they dont live on a first-floor lmao rip). itd be the most responsible decision for mc and grayson to have a low-energy dog that would do well in an apartment, as opposed to a higher-energy dog that would need more frequent walks and/or a backyard lmao)

hope my info-dump helps you out!! have a nice day :)

alright, i hear you loud and clear, a pet for the mc it is! be good a samaritan and help me decide what kind of pet and their name here (please).

[endeari]

Guided Evolution Chapter 67 Spoilers

Just want to say right off the bat. Hope you had a good break Moosh! And hopefully your exams went well!

On another note, ge!Dream count needs to start counting his days. Count your days creepy jaw man.

With that out of the way just wanna say how proud I am of Kristen.

Like she's going through so much, yet she's able to push through it and put on a brave face. Albeit, it isn't healthy for her to bottle her emotions inside. But she kinda has to do that doesn't she?

She's got two of her kids paranoid as all hell. An actual kid who is her son's best friend, and is putting all his efforts into saving Tommy. And she's got Foolish, who's grieving with the fact that his mother has been taken by his brother, who previously has tried to kill him on multiple occasions.

Needless to say, Kristen has to stay calm. Because honestly if she's not calm then she's failing. Besides, she does have Phil to help her when she needs a shoulder to cry on. She has Phil when nights are rough. And despite trying to be brave for her kids, she has them as well.

On another note, can't believe Charlie's been revived before. I breifely thought that he might've been revived, but I brushed it off. Because it just created a new question that didn't make sense to me. Why did it take so long for Dream to use the device on Tommy?

If the revival device has been used before, it existed before, why was Dream so adamant about taking Tommy in alive?

There's a couple ideas that I have, maybe it was a one time use device at first. But that seems too impractical to create. A device that can only ressurect people once? That device is probably so expensive to make, so at that point the device would be useless. Sure it can revive somebody from death, but only one time. The cost of that would be too great.

Another one is maybe Dream didn't know how to get the device to work on Tommy without his family interfering. Which is a higher likely-hood. Which is interesting in of itself. Dream couldn't just kill Tommy without somebody interfering when he takes the body. (Kinda distributing ngl)

I think Dream knew Tommy wasn't going to stick around with his family when he passed because of the poison he injected into him. So he knew it would be an easy nab. And if Tommy didn't leave, and stayed with his family. Dream would still have been able to get Tommy.

Because despite his family's best efforts, they wouldn't be able to catch Dream. He can just do some bullshit tech thing.

Also, I don't think Dream wanted people to know that he killed the famous Spider-Man. And took his body. Then it'd be obvious to everyone that Spider-Man is somewhere else other than his family—or what people assume of his family—killing Spider-Man where everyone can see would just put a target on Automata's back.

And also who's to say that Quackity, or Charlie, or even Sapnap, wouldn't stop Dream from taking Tommy's body? If they don't know about the device, but know he's dead and they're fighting side by side. Chances are they're probably not going to let Dream take Spider-Man like that. But that's just a chance.

There's probably some wacky answer as to why he waited so long to use the device. Maybe he underestimated Tommy, maybe he just wanted to mess with Tommy a little bit cos he's insane, honestly who knows!

But I think it's because Dream didn't want people knowing Automata had Spider-Man, and he didn't want to risk being stopped when he trying to take his body. He has a time limit yknow? Forgot how long the time limit was. (Too lazy to go and check through the chapters, but I remember Dream saying something about it). But it's not that long. So he'd have to do it quickly.

If he was ever stopped then probably means no more Tommy. But that's just a theory I've got. Honestly, really do love Guided Evolution. Glad you're back Moosh! Hope you're doing well!!

[inosukeslefttoe]

SO i just finished wonder egg priority and i think that with confidence i can say it has been one of my favorite animes like... ever ?? and not even from hyperfixation or obsession over it just... its so fucking real yet so simple in a way that i havent rlly seen shown in any other shows you feel ??

but first i wanna talk about how sexy the art and animation is real quick... HOMIE ITS SO GOOD LIKE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT JUST... serotonin... the characters are all so unique and iconic and fun but not over the top in their designs yknow ??? they seem like regular every day girls but they stand out and theyre all sO CUTE !!!! also i love how the style is like this soft bubbly slice of life lookin stuff with bright happy colors and the most beautiful scenes you could find but they also have the SICKEST fight scenes complete with whimsical animal helpers and terrifying villains and crazy weapons unique to each character. and the animation. god DAMN shawty i am obsessed with everything in this show. i might make a post solely about the art later lol bc i wanna get into the other stuff.

so the themes in the show right ?? it starts just as this cute lil magical girl kinda deal but within the first episode we see that like.. oh damn... thats kinda heavy... tbh i was a little shocked and thought about stopping bc yknow bad mental health BUT i was so intrigued that i had to keep going and i am SO GLAD that i did. because this show just so beautifully discusses all these heavy topics in such an eloquent and artistically expressive way. and also like, , the juxtaposition of the charming childlike vibe with bright colors and 14 yr old girl protagonists against the dark themes of suicide and so much else,, i think is just perfect. bc a lot of heavy animes are more of the seinen genre and have some middle aged dude as a protag or make the entire color palette dim or offer little relief to the pain of these heavy themes right ?? but NO not wonder egg bitches B) because these problems arent just things that ppl face later in life or just problems that need to be talked about among adults or the edgy seinen watching squad,, these are REAL problems that face people of every age, gender etc and i think its awesome that wonder egg addresses that. some may cringe at the thought of their high schooler watching animes that discuss sexual harassment, suicide, abuse, self harm, eating disorders etc,, but in reality it is the most comforting thing i have ever come across and is basically jsut free anime therapy. because not only does wonder egg present these themes to the viewers as something real that happens to all kinds of people (making said people feel heard in a way that maybe they hadnt before), but it also makes sure to vanquish all of these forms of trauma. and the way the trauma is vanquished isnt always beautiful and it isnt always just magically gone with a poof. the struggles of overcoming or living with that sort of thing are shown in such a real and relatable way that addresses every hardship trauma survivors have to go through. and i just. god i cry bro. 

oh m y GOD and the lgbtq+ rep in this show ?? like shawty... as soon as i saw episode one i was picking up on some gay/lesbian themes but then again im sapphic and project that a lot so i tend to see that sort of stuff like... everywhere... but NE WAYS... episode ten made me FUKCING CRY BRO LIke i cant believe there was a whole trans character with a whole trans pride hoodie like LKGHKDGH my heart is just so.. so fucking full thinking about him. bc like yeah i know there are trans characters in anime but i feel like theyre always very ambiguous about actually being trans or not or erased or portrayed as a harmful stereotype or theyre constantly misgendered and still refered to as their assigned gender at birth and i hate it. HOWEVEr... Kaoru.. *chefs kiss* it was so amazing to see a character straight up say “yeah im trans” in such a casual yet powerful way bc i personally have never seen that before. and i love love loved how he went into his backstory and talked to momoe about gender bc i think thats what she rlly needed and that it helped her find herself and it makes me so happy oh my god,, and the way they talked about it never seemed forced or like it was the focal point of his existence yknow ?? like yeah he existed to help momoe overcome some of her trauma but he also just existed to be HIM yknow ?? also... personally, i headcanon momoe as a trans girl even though i dont remember it being explicitly stated plus the school scenes of her and stuff would seem like they suggest otherwise ??but,,, SHAWTY THE AMOUNT OF SUBTEXT and her complicated relationship w gender is... something i feel like a cis girl would not go through so harshly yknow ?? with all of the questioning and feeling detached from femininity or feeling like ppl dont see her as an actual girl and only like her as a guy or for her masculine traits,,, but dont take my word on this bc i myself am a cis girl but that was just my take on it as someone in the lgbtq+ community trying to educate myself on the transgender community :) either way,, wonder eggs portrayal of momoe and kaoru and the way that momoe becomes so passionate about expressing herself the way she wants to as a girl is just... good lord im gonna cry its so perfect,,,.so ... i just love this show way too much. i also am honestly super lost about the relationship btwn acca and ura-acca ?? bc i was gonna mention ura-acca as a canonically gay guy bc when i was watching i interpreted ep 11 as him being in love with acca and being jealous of Azusa (bc i mean,, they lived together (i swear to god there was only one bed in that apartment) and had a daughter together and def loved each other and also when Frill said they were husbands and then when ura-acca said he wasnt attracted to azusa but he was def jealous of their relationship ??) but then i saw somewhere that theyre brothers ?? which would make sense ig since they look kinda similar and accas daughter called ura-acca “uncle”.. but at the same time its ANIME SO THEY ALL LOOK SIMILAR and referring to gay couples as siblings is an EXTREMELY common euphemism soooo... IM JUST LOST HERE... but yeah i tried doing research and found different things so i cant say anything for sure >:( however,,, if they are canonically a lil fruity for each other... when frill refered to acca as ura-accas husband i imploded dude you never hear that sort of wording in anime.. but if theyre related i am so sorry. 

god this is so much longer than i planned it to be oops but i also love the theme about like.. relying on friends to help carry your weight but at the same time not becoming completely dependent on those friends and using their support to learn how to love yourself and rely on yourself yknow ?? bc that is exactly what healthy friendships look like. bc i think ai sort of had a codependency thing goin on with koito maybe ?? but now she has a whole squad of funky friends that are so so different but all struggle with different kinds of trauma and although they fight over it, they always get through it with each other together. and they push each other no matter what to be the best versions of themselves and they teach other that getting hurt is okay because theyre always gonna be there to pick up the pieces no matter what happens. they can give each other space when they need and adapt to meet each others needs but theyre always able to balance it out with their own needs and thats such a beautiful thing in friendships especially at their age like damn i wish i had that maturity when i was 14 but no all i had was depression. another thing is that through these friendships you get to see all the different sides of each girl; you get to see them being strong or a shining light to their friends when theyre hurting but you also get to see them being hurt and weak and allowing themselves to be on the receiving end of the comfort. their friendships allows them to have weaknesses but it also allows them to highlight their strengths and thrive off of each others. I LOVE FRIENDSHIP DUDE

next i wanna briefly mention some of the themes connected to suicide that ive noticed. a big one is the survivors guilt that ai feels once koito is dead. several times she screams that she wishes she couldve gone with koito and she dreams of a “perfect world” where they committed a double suicide. one of the main reasons for her troubles is that she blames herself for koitos death and feels like it should be her thats dead... but at the same time she feels like too much of a coward to do anything now that koito is gone. she just has all these complex and contradicting feelings that wear away at her in ways that ppl that havent gone through the suicide of a loved one could never imagine. a lot of the times when things like this are portrayed in media i feel like its more in a way thats meant to guilt trip those that have taken their own lives and paint suicide as this selfish sin thats unforgivable but... not only does wonder egg reject that idea and instead portray it as a heartbreaking tragedy with,,, so so many terrible reasons, but it focuses on the feelings of ai separate from koito without blaming her in any way. not once did i feel like the show antagonized koito or that ai blamed koito for doing any of this, but they simply mourned her loss and touched on ais reaction towards the event but separate from koito herself if that makes sense. and i think that discussing survivors guilt without painting koito as the bad guy is something so beautifully done in wonder egg that can really resonate with those that have lost a loved one to suicide and have struggled with these same things.

okay i think this is the last thing ill mention,,, but HOMIE THE PARALLEL UNIVERSE BIT AT THE END. I AM. OBSESSED. i am such a whore for anything about the multiverse okay n e ways...,, not only did this make a super epic trippy ending of season one and add a little bit more magical girl whimsy to the show,, but it had such a powerful message. from the perspective of og ai,, finding out that you killed yourself in another world is... i mean its definitely not a surprise but at the same time it rlly makes you think how close og ai herself couldve been to that point and what decisions led her out of that dark place in her life. if i were in her shoes i would be terrified and id cry bc the thought of going back to such a dark place and actually going through with something like that is my worst fear and probably something that ai fears too. but at the same time,,, think from the perspective of ai two !!! like yeah its true that theres this awful terrible version of ai that dies but theres also a whole version of ai that is a superhero magical girl fighting off monsters to save countless ppls lives !! and she has a badass lizard and a gang of awesome friends !!! at first i was worried that ai two would be jealous of og ai and compare herself to her and feel inferior but like.. THEYRE LITERALLY THE SAME PERSON AND CAPABLE OF THE SAME THINGS !!! and ai two realized that !! just within the span of one episode, she went from the version of ai who took her life,, to the version of ai jumping in front of a friend to take a bullet for them and save their life. and that just inspired THE SHIT OUT OF ME. i think that ai was sent another version of herself to sort of beat her own worst enemy yknow ?? those doubts and fears that shes no good or that shes that same bystander from episode one and that she hasnt changed at all. but getting to interact with her parallel self and see her grow was just what she needed to realize that while yeah sometimes the worst thing can happen and things can be terrible but on the other hand sometimes the most wonderful thing imaginable can happen because she has the power to do either. 

so im gonna go ahead and stop rambling bc i got all my thoughts out that i wanted to for this post :D but yeah lol i might make another if i feel like it sometime. long story short: this show is perfect and it is going on my favorite of all times.

[crymeariveronceagain]

I see where you’re going with the whole Dex and Stina thing, but all I’m saying is that there simply must be a fight scene between the two before them being lovers can even be considered. They must finish their enemies arc in order to transition into the lovers one.

*breaks fingers* okay SO

yes, im with you entirely. i think dex/stina interactions as a whole would be amazing, i want more, this dynamic is great. I want them to chew each other out, i want to know all the intricacies of their enemy-ness. I wanna know. I don't just like them as a relationship, I like them as friends and as enemies as well.

Moreover, usually, when I envision these two together, it is not within canon's walls. I set them together either in my Post-Canon ideal world, or in an Alternate Universe where they meet in a vaguely different way every time. I do not want Dex and Stina as they cannonically are right now together in a relationship. Like no way, they're too far apart, too angry at the world, too angry at each other, etc. Like that's no good. Also, like, neither of them have aged in my mind when I read canon. Dex is still like, 12. Stina's still 12. In my head at least.

But that's why whenever I write stories set outside of canon either in a prospective future or an alternate reality, I like them together. They've grown, changed, understood the world better

Same thing with Keefoster, and even Tiana. I don't like them in canon as much as I like them Post Canon. There's definitely some growing that needs to happen on all sides, for me, and especially in my favorite ships. But that's mainly because I don't take any joy in shipping fifteen year olds. Four or so years ago, give or take a couple, I was fifteen. I had a boyfriend. He and I were not meant to be, but I loved him. It was a silly kind of love, and it wasn't built to last. Fifteen year olds don't really know what relationships are(sorry 15 year olds, I love you all), let alone true love. It's something you gain with emotional maturity, and your understanding of the world and the people you love as you grow in it. This is not because I think 15 year olds are irresponsible, or any such thing, it's just because I have experienced being 15, and I look back on it now and I realize that I had no clue what red flags looked like, I had no clue that my relationships were not healthy, I had no clue that my boyfriend was falling in love with my best friend while he was still dating me, etc. Like, there's a lot you haven't seen, and thus cannot see through your rose-colored glasses. And I'm not saying that people who start dating when they're 15 can't make it. The thing is, it's just rare.

So if I want my ships to last, they always wind up fully occurring outside of canon. Maybe the events of canon spiral them into existence, but the actuality of the ship winds up happening later, for me.

But, as to the concept of the ship itself, and the characters... I like it when opposing forces meet in the middle and find out they actually have a lot in common, and if there's a lot of spicy banter available on the side? Well! I'll take three please.

Personally, I also love the idea of really strong girls and soft, kindhearted boys evening each other out. It's just such a fun dynamic. Like, it's one of the reasons I like Kacchako(MHA) so much! It's two very different personalities who are rivals but still see each others as equals, or at the very least good opponents. And, yknow, hatred can turn into tolerance, tolerance can turn into friendship, and so on and so forth.

I just think.... like... yknow...once we have em try and kill each other some more... grow as people some... understand their lives and relationships a little more... like... enemies to lovers?

or or or, enemies to friends to lovers? more healthy for all involved?

[sxvethelastdance]

You know I'm sending you the shaolin boys for this ship meme XDD (whichever versions)

Okay so, this actually all works out because someone else sent me a LiuLao ask XD This post will be for our 2021 boys!

General:

Rate the Ship:   Awful | Ew | No pics pls | I’m not comfortable | Alright | I like it! | Got Pics? | Let’s do it! | Why is this not getting more attention?! | The OTP to rule all other OTPs

How long will they last?: They'll follow each other to the netherrealm and back. I don't know what unit of measurement that constitutes.

How quickly did/will they fall in love?: A routine case of "I fell in love with my best friend." It took them until they both were grand champions to kindle their relationship.

How was their first kiss?: Careful and clumsy, but so sweet.

Wedding:

Who proposed: I wanna say that they did this both at the same time. They're dumb boys who are in love and too eager to get it out

Who is the best man/men?: Kung Lao is the best man ever :)

Who is the braid’s maid(s)?: Sorry, no braids here. Neither of them have enough hair.

Who did the most planning?: Planning to be together? Both of them!

Who stressed the most?: Neither of them! No stress if no wedding

How fancy was the ceremony?: Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big. (They're Shaolin, venues are not a necessity for sentiments shared!)

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding?: The whole of Outworld, Master Feng, literally anybody at all because their wedding was literally just the two of them proclaiming their love and the link that would bind them for the rest of their lives.

Sex:

Who is on top?: Kung Lao mostly. But see. Every now and again Liu Kang wants to take care of him and make him feel loved/appreciated. That's his other half, you guys.

Who is the one to instigate things?: You would think it's Lao but cmon... Look at Kang's temperament, you can't tell me he's not a dommy bottom. Seriously though, having Liu Kang initiate is the best way to put agency back in his hands. He's the one dictating the terms of this, choosing to give this part of himself to Lao because he's earned his trust. No one else could hope to get this close without getting burned alive.)

How healthy is their sex life?: Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

How kinky are they?: Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

How long do they normally last?: Depends on the time of day, you know? Busy days make their encounters a flushed frenzy of punch drunk passion in the broom closet. Quiet nights make for a much slower pace

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms?: Yep! E Q U A L I T Y

How rough are they in bed? - Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it. ( I want to say that while they are rowdy young men in the prime of their lives, they take things pretty carefully. Liu Kang's past is pretty fraught with rough handling, y'know? They would have to build up to that kinda play at a later point in their relationship if they did it- doesn't matter WHO is on the receiving end.)

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do?: No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory.

Children:

How many children will they have naturally?: 0

How many children will they adopt?: 0, Mortal Kombat is a full time responsibility! No time for kids

Who gets stuck with the most diapers?: Kang, he's the temple medic.

Who is the stricter parent: I wanna say that hypothetically, Lao would be. He knows all the tricks.

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school?: Kung Lao in "Do as I say, not as I do" fashion

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)?: Everybody packs their own lunch here, but Liu Kang helps

Who is the more loved parent?: They're not parents

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings?: Let's be real, Liu Kang would fit right in at a PTA meeting. The amount of snarky shade wrapped in courteous pleasantries.

Who cried the most at graduation?: Let's be real, they'd both be sobbing like babies.

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law?: Liu Kang

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking?: It's equal, Shaolin life! Kung Lao makes the more elaborate dishes though

Who is the most picky in their food choice?: Liu Kang. Once you figure out that you can actually CHOOSE what you're eating, you get some preferences yknow?

Who does the grocery shopping?: The food's locally sourced

How often do they bake desserts?: Not often, it's usually sweet rolls.

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater?: They're both vegetarians #Shaolinstyle

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner?: Kung Lao

Who is more likely to suggest going out?: Y'know? I think they're both the 'dinner in' type. It'd have to be a friend that suggests it.

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidently while cooking?: Liu Kang. Not because he's a bad cook, but if you let him use his fire to save gas/firewood... Honey, you've got a big storm comin.

Chores:

Who cleans the room?: Both of them, the Masters demand it.

Who is really against chores?: Kung Lao, because he's a lazy daisy

Who cleans up after the pets?: Both of them, but mostly Kang because he keeps snatching up stray cats

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug?: Okay, now that's just a question for someone looking for a lashing... Kung Lao-

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over?: Liu Kang, he's a courteous host!

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning?: Money? in my shaolin temple?

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths?: Kung Lao

Who takes the dog out for a walk?: They switch

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays?: That's a good question! I wanna say that it's not often, because I don't understand the nature of holidays and Shaolin life. I'll have to get back to you on that.

What are their goals for the relationship?: To fight for the fate of the world, die for it if necessary. To go together, or not at all. It's a love that's born of two people who have had very few choices in their lives, choosing each other. They're the only choice they've got.

Who is most likely to sleep till noon?: Temple life/their internal clocks demand that they get up super duper early... Unless.

Who plays the most pranks?: Oh, you haven't heard about the LiuLao prank war? My friend.

[chbslove]

i am steter trash so i wrote an au where stiles is a spark that lives in the forest because he killed his dad in an accident back when he was a kid and couldn't control his magic and his moms family was just made up of mages and he is the first one to actually be a born spark with loads of power so she raises him and teaches him everything she knows

and in this au sparks are being hunted and put down like animals so claudia builds a house in the forest with stiles where he can live and study magic on the land of their family and after she dies stiles moves there.

(and yes hes a lot older in this because it makes me antsy to write about eighteen year old stiles and adult peter. sorry. I'm a pussy okay.)

and stiles meets his gang! and scott is a dryad, lydia is a mermaid, jackson and danny are mermen (and jackson and danny are together by the way), i planned allison as a regular human that meets scott on a walk in the woods and falls in love with him later in the story because the hale fire storyline is still happening, and kira is an ancient kitsune who also lives in the forest and is good friends with stiles, and erica, boyd, isaac, liam, theo etc are not there yet but thats cause stiles is pretty alone.

he just minds his own business and takes care of the dryads and meets fairies (who live in the forest) and makes a deal with them that they'll stop screwing around with humans and stay in the forest and he'll protect them and take care of them because sparks are powerful and the fairies appreciate that instead of being afraid of him.

and stiles just does his thing for a couple of years until the fairies go a little bit too far and peter hale, who is stupidly a little too far in the forest on his patrol, gets caught in a storm they cause and gets lost in the woods, and he finds stiles' house and stiles takes him in and gives him dry clothes and then guards him back so peter won't get himself fairy'ed

and then a week passes and stiles is kind of anxious peters family will tell him to fuck off the woods (even though it's stiles' heritage to take care of the forest, the hales just live there) and then: the actual plot

a little apple dryad tells him scott found a dying fairy. this fairy apparently told scott in her dying breath something wolfish killed her, and stiles wrongly thinks peter and his family did that, and he goes to find scott to ask him about it, but scott is just gone. stiles can't find him and gets worried and checks his wards, and when he gets to the wards around the hale property, he meets laura. he asks her if she's seen scott, and she saw him going back into the forest, but stiles still can't find him.

laura leaves and stiles finds the ward to their territory broken, and it stinks like druid, so he figures it was this deaton guy because werewolves aren't sneaky like that.

stiles visits lydia (because he still can't find scott and lydia knows how to calm him down) and finds out jackson and danny saw a monster while making out under the surface of their lake and from then stiles knows that the hales have got nothing to do with this because what lydia describes Is Not a werewolf.

so he gets pissy, and then ultimately is enraged when he finds a dead stag this monster killed, and because he's pissy he visits the hales to tell talia he's rightfully going to kill their emissary for being a bitch and breaking his wards and letting some monster walk his territory.

and talia is all "what the fuck how do i not know you." and stiles is all internally "i see my darling peter kept his promises" and then he's internally like "wait fuck i'm not really in love with this guy am i" and then he's like "oh. OH."

and talia convinces him not to kill deaton because shes awesome and stiles grumpily agrees because... not agreeing would be a dick move and it would mean. War. Basically.

so the hales offer their help looking for scott and stiles finds this monster thing on his search and its a wendigo yay, and scott has been following this thing around for days now because he's a dumbass and wanted to help, and they bro out

and the hales and stiles kill this thing, which means magic action. and stiles is awesome. and everyone knows that now.

what follows is just steter get-to-know-eachother and the hale pack are the biggest wingmen (wingpeople) ever and there's fluff and magic and a lot of flowers because stiles is a person that can't for the life of him say the words "i love you" and gets incredibly anxious when people say "i love you" so he mostly displays his feelings for peter in hanakotoba, the traditional japanese flower language that kira taught him, and peter eventually catches onto that and they get together in a load of angst and fluff and they have sex. because of course they have loads of sex. bold of you to think peter can keep his hands off stiles for longer than a day and likewise.

and there is like a load of stiles/hale pack friendship dynamics because i love them all and then suddenly yeehaw. hale fire.

So paige has already happened in this timeline before stiles and peter met, and derek still meets kate and she does her scum thing and uses him. a bunch of hunters show up to the hale house, shoot them with wolfsbane bullets and gather them so they can burn together.

stiles wakes up in a rush because something bad is happening to his wolves but then his eyes fall closed again and he can't get out of bed for a solid time because someone freaking poisoned him and he's fevering and weak and everything is dizzy, but he forces himself up because something. bad. is happening. to his. wolves. he stumbles into his kitchen and almost dies right there and then, because the poison is wolfsbane and he feels like he got tons of it shoved down his throat by the person that poisoned him. his life starts flashing in front of his eyes and he fights back at it and vomits the wolfsbane out, believes it out of his system and when it's gone, he's just left raging.

because i hate kate, stiles loses control when he meets her at the hale house and kills her. he gets the pack and gets them out of the house, breaks the mountain ash circle and they leave. the hales can't go back to their house because the place is swarming with hunters

and peter and stiles figure out it was deaton who told kate everything she needed to know to set this trap and the mountain ash circle also stinks like druid, so deaton gets revealed as being the bad guy all along. stiles figures that he also poisoned him so he wouldnt interrupt, and that deaton wanted thalias alpha spark. the wendigo was a test and deaton put it there on purpose to see how strong stiles was and if he would care about the hales, because deaton knew stiles would feel the hunters killing them and ever since peter and stiles got together the druid knew he would have to murder him too to get the hales dead.

and stiles is just half feral in his wrath and the aftermath of the wolfsbane poisoning, and derek is sobbing and muttering about this being all his fault, and peter has two bullets stuck in his knees and has to be held up by his niece and his brother-in-law, and every one of them is shot and hurt and crying and talia does her best to comfort derek while shaking as well

and stiles just closes his eyes. takes a deep breath. and takes care of his family-in-law, because fuck if he isnt gonna marry peter after this. he takes them in, gives them clean and comfortable clothes, patches them up, lets them shower, yeets his living room so they have space for a big puppy pile, gives them food and water to drink and then draws a ward around his house that is strong enough deaton won't be able to find them unless he sells his soul to the king of hell.

when he's done with that, he locks the hales in and asks kira to take care of them and make sure they're okay while he's gone. she agrees and stiles goes and because he's angry and kind of more dark than i let slip until now so he just. slaughters the hunters that are left. and he enjoys it.

then he shows up to chris argents house, shocks the living hell out of allison because he's still covered in blood and ash, and goes talk to gerard, who is there for alibi purposes. he just flatly tells the truth and asks gerard how many times they've done this now. and the second the old man lets slip the hales weren't the first, stiles goes full Older Derek Hale Mode and slams him against a wall to threaten the living shit out of the man.

by threaten i mean he says that he'll kill him and there's nothing the guy can do about it, cause stiles will find him, no matter how far he runs. yknow bamf dark stiles shit. i am living for writing this scene right now bye

and then he looks at chris and allison. allison looks scared out of her mind and then she asks if thats true. if her family really did something like that. and chris has to look her square in the eye and tell her through gritted teeth that, altough he didnt know about this, yes, they did that to innocent people.

and stiles looks at chris and gives him a nod, because he knows the guy can get this right, he knows allison is strong and fierce and will be fine no matter what. he looks at gerard and sneers at him in disgust. then he leaves like the dramatic bitch he is, but not without ensuring chris will clean this mess up and make an alliance with talia.

he goes back to the house and the only one still awake is peter, and stiles breaks down completely, covered in blood from head to toe and scared out of his mind too. peter holds him, gently leads him into the shower, and helps him get cleaned up, washes his hair, picks out clothes for him, and they go to sleep together.

then, recovery. stiles organizes therapy for derek because lord knows the boy needs it, he nurses the hales healthy, shows them around in the house, they meet his friends, cora and lydia take a particularly special interest in each other, scott is sad because allison broke up with him but stiles visits the argents and talks to her a lot and they become friends too, and he knows scott will get over her eventually, just as she's getting over him.

and stiles shows the hales his life for a while until everyone is recovered, and then they go back to the hale house that he cleaned up already (because, uh, corpses had to be buried, floors had to be cleaned from blood and the smell of magic and mountain ash had to be erased)

and then peter proposes to stiles and they have a beautiful wedding by the lake where cora can talk to lydia, and derek ends up talking to scott quite a lot because scott is nervous and sweet and falls head over heels for the quiet werewolf, and guess who allison ends up with? nobody. because allison is fucking awesome and in the hunter business and she takes it upon her to start cleaning up the community and goes against hunters that are like her aunt just killing innocent people and a relationship with anybody would just be annoying. maybe she realizes she isnt even into relationships, i don't know that yet. aro ally would be interesting, dude.

And then in the end stiles goes to live with the hales and they mend their territory together so he can still visit his friends and he leaves the house to cora who eventually moves there as an adult so she can live with lydia. he and peter move out as well and they go back to town when stiles is ready, because he's lived so freaking long in the fear someone will hunt him down and kill him for his power, and now everything is peaceful. so he puts down his weapons, stops fighting, and lives happily ever after.

and has loads of sex with peter. just because.

[bestworstcase]

yknow unpopular opinion but i don’t think new dream is a perfect relationship by the end of the series. and that’s a good thing!

at the very beginning of the series, new dream has some major problems with communication, namely that eugene isn’t in tune with rapunzel’s emotional needs and rapunzel, likewise, isn’t able to express them. this causes the first proposal debacle which alerts them to the reality that they do, in fact, have problems.

and the beautiful thing about rta is it shows that problems need not be the ending of a relationship. miscommunication need not result in drama or toxic relationship patterns. rapunzel and eugene work so hard to navigate these difficulties together, as a team. they trust each other, they love each other, they do a tremendous amount of quiet work to overcome their obstacles and strengthen their bond.

by the time we hit the end of the series, they’ve conquered the communication problem and gotten on the same wavelength as each other. but i think they still have further to go! i think eugene actually overcorrected from his early-s1 tendency to prioritize himself and ended up investing too much of his sense of identity into being supportive of rapunzel. and i think rapunzel has a long way to go with considering views and advice that are contrary to her own way of thinking.

we see rapunzel’s relationship weakness in no time like the past. eugene gently expresses a valid stance on the cassandra problem—that cass left, and rapunzel should consider the possibility that it can’t or won’t ever go back to how it was—and rapunzel can’t handle that. the episode is structured in such a way that they never get to have a real conversation about this, because rapunzel accidentally changes the timeline so the disagreement never happens. rapunzel has gotten much better at listening to people since early s1, but she still has a hard time with direct disagreements.

and we see eugene’s in flynnposter, where—for the first time in the entire series!—he expresses discomfort with the idea of just being rapunzel’s consort for the rest of his life. he begins to recognize that he needs an identity of his own, and in flynnposter he takes the first steps toward developing one, but this is not the kind of struggle that goes away overnight. it takes time, and i think part of that process would need to involve eugene becoming more confident about challenging rapunzel when they disagree. (not picking fights; not being unsupportive; challenging, in a productive way, because that’s something good partners need to be able to do for each other.)

they both still have room to grow! their relationship still has room to grow stronger! they are not perfect, they’re still at the relative beginning of their journey, and they have so much farther to go together. i really appreciate that the series is able to illustrate their relationship in such a healthy way without just making them a bland “perfect” couple. new dream feels real, and that’s much more important to me than perfection.