#like. to me. they were just fictional stories. i didnt understand that they believed them to be true/real

[random-shit-writing]

neither of my parents are religious, and i know this sounds stupid, but i didn't even know what religion was until i was, like, eight. but i do remember going to a church day camp bc my mother wanted some time to herself, and she knew some of the people running it. so. she sent me and my sister to go do fun crafts and have a small picnic at the church. and then they sat us down for "story time." and they started talking about this creation story, and how the earth was made, and how humans came about. and i, a little kid, having no concept of religion at the time, excitedly asked "when do the dinosaurs come in?"

Being raised by areligious jews with 0 exposure to christianity outside pop culture is so fun. One time I asked my ex-catholic friend why a picture of jesus had a bristle crown and she looked at me like I was insane. One time I heard someone mention the "lance of longinus" and responded, word for word, "Like from Evangelion?" One time during a history lesson my professor described an important monk and scholar as "Dominican" and I spent the rest of class super confused and hung up on it because I was very sure that the Dominican Republic didn't meaningfully exist as an entity back then, maybe she meant he was a native Taino or something but that's a weird way to say that and I'm pretty sure this was pre- European contact? Really fucks people up when they realize I genuinely have no idea.

[weirdmageddon]

why i think aradia and john work so well

(with some stuff i’ve been wanting to yap about for ages)

have you guys ever given arajohn / johnradia (idk if its popular enough to even have a standardized ship name) any thought …? i know it seems kind of out of left field. i’ve considered it and i think its. really really good. i have a bunch of thoughts to unpack. come join me. and maybe grab a snack or something because i didn’t realize how much i'd actually have to say about this

(fantastic art by skeletood)

the other day i made a tweet that did rather well where i said, “john and aradia shouldve talked more. its so simple but i like how she actually earnestly answers his questions. so many characters in this comic are so mean to john for just wanting to know more give him a break”

putting it out there now im not big about shipping for the sake of shipping. there needs to be real chemistry. i need to sense that as a reason why two characters would potentially be a good influence on each other. i never knew why i was always so obstinate about this because it’s fictional and not materially hurting anyone, but i think it might be because i’m not sure how to justify it or explain it if not.

i strongly believe john and aradia would have had it made out for them if circumstances allowed it. (what i mean by “ship” or “johnradia” extends to any kind of interpersonal dynamic, even if just a good friendship. it doesnt even have to be romantic, just some sort of dynamic with them.)

unfortunately aradia originally committed herself to staying out of trolling the kids over their timelines, so john and aradia never talked until year 3 on the ship in the dream bubbles but they never had a truly proper one-on-one without outside meddling. i think if john knew aradia better and her story beforehand, she had more time to explain herself and her history, he wouldnt have been unsettled. and also of course if his experience with the trolls didn’t suck so bad because he already had expectations for how antagonizing most of them were.

i found people’s sentiments about johnradia elsewhere too. i remembered that they were both on the song art for ascend, and searched ao3 to see how many fics have been written to gauge how substaintial it’s been in the homestuck fandom. only 17 of them turned up. but the people who do talk about it are either curious about it or really do like it, and that interested me.

clearly it’s pretty niche character relationship to be depicted in any fanwork and i can understand why. despite being so small, from what ive seen it seems universally agreed upon to be nice. i haven’t seen a single person object to it. what ive seen falls into two categories: “wow i didnt think about this before but i actually dig it” or “(starving) finally some good fucking food”

the pattern im seeing is that people think it’s “random”, but i disagree. there is something there substantiating it even if they’re unable to articulate it.

the fanfic these comments are from is chronology of wind. that fic is really, really good, and sadly unfinished. i have more abstract reasons to believe why aradia and john would be good in theory, so actually seeing someone else actually make something with them helped me read it in action, to get a more tangible feel of the dynamic beyond what we have in canon.

i wouldn’t normally make claims about a relationship with regard to homestuck canon by looking at their relationship in a fanfic, because i think you all know by now i am very nitpicky about accurate characterization, and it does not go unnoticed by me when people get it right because for some reason it feels like a one in a million thing (even though it really shouldn’t be?). so this was a special case. the tone was completely consistent with canon. this fic is so in-character i’d basically consider it an extension of canon. to me it’s like they took the same characters and plopped them into this scenario to see how they’d interact. guys… i love that stuff so much. i love fanfiction or fanworks that depict realistic extensions of canon and stays true to the energy and tone of the source, but deepens it. there isn’t enough of it imo. i want to see more of it.

anyway, what i read of their conversations in that fic basically aligned with what i was thinking in my head about what i’d expect it to be like. i was able to compare how aradia and john talked to how aradia and the other characters interacted, their comparative attitudes towards each other—how they’re treated by others compared to how they treat each other.

have you noticed john and aradia’s communication values are both based on sincerity, being in the proper know, treating people fairly, and thanklessly taking on the necessary work that “must be done” in order to have what they really want — a good time that feels meaningful? and they accomplish this without any adjustment in how they talk to each other.

john is always subtly (or not-so-subtly) asking the people around him to answer him soberly and to the point so he knows whats going on and what that means for what his options are. he needs to know to what end he will be applying his absurd energetic drive into making shit happen. aradia honors his time before john can even become uncomfortable with the amount of time being eaten up by conversation. contrast this with rose, who seems to go on for a while with prose-like conversational adornments. in dire situations that need rapid explanation and definitive answers so he knows what to do, this is really the last thing he needs. aradia doesnt waste john’s time. she answers all his questions, and does it politely to boot. his time talking to her doesn't feel wasted.

john's impatience with this sort of nonsense is also why i can’t see something like dirkjohn working out, for example. to me it feels like @entropicbias also deeply understands this on some level because i literally couldn’t have demonstrated what i mean by it any better myself than that. i'm gonna have to to hit him up about how much i genuinely respect that like tbh hes one of the few i absolutely trust to handle writing and depicting these characters in situations and their interpersonal dynamics. and also care about doing their characterization justice as much as me.

of course people are still entitled to like whatever they like, ship whatever they want to. i dont care. but i just don’t think it would work from the perspective of the minds of the canon characters, how they generally think and approach situations. and i can already tell people might ask me how do i know this? what makes me an expert? i’m not more than anyone else is (although i have been called a "characterization expert" from my friends), but i do know that i can pick up on the energetic chemistry between people, including characters, honestly precognitively, without even thinking? like if it’s stiff or tense or awkward, if people aren’t free to express themselves uninhibitedly, if they feel unsafe or uncomfortable. i can sense this almost instantly. it’s something that’s a visceral feeling in my body i cant express and i have to rationalize it after the fact. like i’m doing now in fact writing this big analysis.

> listen to me talk about my special interest boy

for the next section to make sense, you probably want to read this post. i initially started writing it within this post to explain but there was so much brewing i had to explain the context that it turned into something i wanted to post on its own terms.

> okaaaaaayyyyy i read all that

thank you, really. my main point is using the conceptual tools provided by this system to expIain why aradia and john feel nice together and why i’ve seen people positively perceive the idea of a relationship between them even if it seems “random”.

framing them in this system, it wouldn’t be random! there’s a good reason they seem to fit nicely. this is because john and aradia have complementary forms of information metabolism. information metabolism is talked about in this section.

Jung’s psychic types are the types of cognition, or intelligence. But it would probably be easiest to call them types of IM [information metabolism], since the main difference between the types of people lies in their exchange of information with the external world.

Aushra Augusta, Commentary on Jung’s Typology and Introduction to Information Metabolism

aradia megido’s type of information metabolism (otherwise known as a TIM) is LII. john egbert’s TIM is ESE.

aradia and john’s types are duals. you can read more about what that entails here. in theory, their interactions would reflect the duality dynamic. reading chronology of wind, that one really in-character fic that explored their dynamic made me excited because they do!

michael pierce gave an overview of his impression of the characteristics of this intertype dynamic. despite only rough knowledge in socionics while he wrote this, his understanding of duality was spot on to me from my experience and others and i wanted to share it here. (fittingly, i believe he is also LII.)

Now we have the famous duality relationship: in a nutshell, this role is characterized by two traits: 1) a very close psychological distance or intimacy, and 2) a great ease of interacting with each other. It is sometimes described how meeting one's dual can be the event of a lifetime, because it inspires aspects in each party's character that they had never expressed before: the pair may even drop out of society for a time in order to focus on just each other, and to explore themselves through interaction with each other. The curious thing in this relationship is that these parties are rather different in outlook, and when they are not actually interacting as potential friends it's probably more likely for them to dislike or mistrust each other because of how different they are. […] However, when they are able to interact normally, it is a strange and wonderful discovery to realize that the interaction is unexpectedly smooth and invigorating. It's hard for people to describe, but as I understand it: while both parties recognize their differences on the surface, these differences are created by a root structure that coincides perfectly with each other, so that the differences on the surface are entirely complementary and cause no friction at all.

it’s also meaningful to consider that the structure of my own psyche is LII as well. so i’ve got a bit of a bias towards aradia and john.. not in the sense that what i actually say about them is personally biased, but that the bias is moreso my personal attention to people and characters of these two types in particular to see how my own experiences are reflected in them. i really do feel of a reflection of my own thought and work process in aradia and in the more abstract sense she is like an extension of myself. when people say they like aradia as a character i get secondhand joy from that because shares certain specific traits with me. of course i am still my own person though.

these are some of the most apt profiles i've found for these types at a glance. again, think about these characters as you read these descriptions. [from here (ESE / LII)]

ESE (Ethical-sensory extrovert) - john

The trademark quality of this type is a focus on socializing and guiding social situations and interactions so that the people involved can have fun and enjoy themselves. ESEs are typically in the middle of what is happening socially and know about the latest events and what people think and feel about them. They are skilled at bringing people together in fun and interesting ways and making everyone feel actively involved. Their friends know them as people who love life and feel most at home in social situations surrounded by other fun people. In their pursuit of fun-oriented and stimulating social interactions, ESEs typically neglect to structure their own thought processes and views in a way that would help them know exactly what they think and why. They are receptive to others’ attempts to help them introduce more structure and logical consistency in their life and thinking processes. They gravitate most to people who open up to fun and emotional interaction easily, yet are also skilled at systematizing thoughts and views and explaining ideological matters.

LII (Logical-intuitive introvert) - aradia

The trademark quality of this type is a focus on logical, structured thought and generating true assertions and views. LIIs are typically strict thinkers who are concerned that everything fits together in a logical way. They are skilled at understanding, generating, and criticizing logical arguments and instilling their views in the people around them. Their friends know them as people with well-organized thoughts and opinions who know what they think and can elucidate their ideas to others. In their pursuit of logical understanding, LIIs typically neglect their external social interactions and activities that would help them lighten up and experience a connection with other people. They are receptive to others’ attempts to create these fun and lighthearted situations for them. They gravitate most to people who are interested in their opinions and understanding of things, but are also skilled at organizing social interactions and creating a sense of emotional unity.

ive recently consciously experienced the feeling of duality for the first time since i've been communicating with my mom's high school classmate, and it is definitely a real thing. i even remember mom pointing out she noticed when we were all talking on the phone over a year ago that i perked up whenever he said stuff. here is how i explained it:

its bonkers how only once i experience something for myself i’m able to explain in detail what makes it so great based on what my impressions about it were because i tend to have a peculiar way of describing the qualities of an experience. my specialty is deep precision in my analogies for what it’s like. so now i can tell you how conversations with your dual feel… heres the status report. it’s weightless. its so strange. like the topic conversation stretches into infinity that you can pick right back up at any time. it’s hazy and unfocused but still pleasant (unless you’re particularly self-conscious and need to unlearn hiding your true self). but the best parts of it come when you have a specific issue or insecurity that comes with being your most natural self that the world seems to misunderstand about you, or just not give you what you don't even know you’ve been looking for. i think you might mutually intimidate each other at first because you're lowkey both expecting to be made fun of for your inadequacy with certain types of information that the other is nuanced with (and you’re not), but it never comes. you don't feel like what your dual wants in life is wrong. your dual seems so talented in all the ways you hope to shine but you’re always unsure of. for the introvert (me) wishing they felt their own active presence as an object (Se, Ne, Te, Fe) like the extravert does. for the extravert, wishing they felt their own relationships with other objects (Si, Ni, Ti, Fi) like the introvert does. any other intertype relationship (ITR) vs. duality is like the difference between 99% and 100% totality of a solar eclipse, except it’s the level of understanding with another person, like the eclipsing of your own information metabolism with theirs. of course there are other things that influence how well your relationship with this person goes, but i am talking strictly about when it comes to basic communication, the level of understanding you share. sometimes it might feel like you dont have much to talk about or the topic is unfocused, because you two ARE opposites in many ways after all, especially at a glance (domain of interests usually come with specific macroelements. theories about thought structures—like socionics, for instance—are in the domain of intuition, while physical interests and experiences are in the domain of sensorics.) i’m LII in the NT club (researchers) and my dual ESE in the SF club (social-communicative). so they’re constantly providing you with information from their own niche in life that you may be entirely unfamiliar with, but for some reason still interests and relaxes you to hear. you might not feel like you have a lot to say about the topic since but you are fully amazed by this person’s activity. it also makes you feel more sure of yourself and more confident that people truly appreciate and need your natural abilities.

> let’s break it down

here’s some lightly modified descriptions of the information blocks in LII and ESE's information metabolism models from pyatnitsky so you can get an overarching impression of how their type contributes to the informational sphere. i added some of my own adjustments and borrowed some sentences from stratiyevskaya's descriptions. additionally, you can click on the name of the block for an explanation of the role it plays.

i put about a week’s work into these collages but my goal with them was to actually show where i think these information blocks are most pertinent in these characters specifically and where they apply so it’s not just some abstract thing, just as supplementary examples as needed. (for the meaning of these information elements individually you can refer to cysia’s document.)

LII (Logical-intuitive introvert)

EGO (-Ti? -> -Ne!). Analytical thinking. They are well aware of the interrelationships of some objects or phenomena with others, and what laws are in effect or not in effect. On the basis of a comprehensive analysis, they put forward insights about the global essence of specific objects and phenomena, their possibilities. They acutely charge the situation with potential energy. For every situation, there is an archetype.

Super-EGO (-Fi? -> -Se!). Normative ideas about relationships between people and ways to get out of unpleasant ethical situations. Understands ethics as founded on the principles of fairness; to do to one side of the equation that you do to the other. Volitional manifestations in order to protect their living space are carried out only on the basis of personal experience. Because of the limited opportunities to fight back, they react painfully to attempts of any interference in his life. Does not respond to any arbitrary crudeness or volitional pressuring. Does not compromise goals, stubbornly clings to them. Avoids direct confrontation if possible, would rather talk civilly and earnestly. Uses their naturally strong sense of the conditioning of objects over time to avoid collisions with their material interests. Due to this, they may appear as someone with very little weaknesses.

Super-ID (+Fe -> +Si?) Attracts information about a good mood, a specific positive state, or a feeling. They would like to think that they can eliminate serious inconveniences, make the environment around them more comfortable. This skill needs to be evaluated. They are unconsciously activated when there is a need to make the environment more comfortable, which should lead to a better state, raise the mood at least in the immediate environment. In friendly, comfortable, and informal company, their cool exterior thaws and they start lighting up with joviality.

ID (+Te! → +Ni?). Has developed guidelines and methods that relate to specific practical activities, technological effectiveness, and resource use. Spontaneously feels the correct allocation of resources over time, which allows them to effectively solve tasks at an unhurried pace. This pace is deeply rational in nature.

ESE (Ethical-sensory extrovert)

EGO (+Fe! -> +Si?). Perception of the world is fundamentally emotional. Feels the emotional atmosphere well in any situation, knows the relevance of the way of expression, the place and weight (importance) of the internal state in each situation. Flexible approach to solving problems of managing and expressing emotions. They show bright emotionality both negative and positive. Creatively produces around themself comfort, coziness, conveniently arranges space, surrounds others with beautiful things, changing thereby the general condition and mood. Usually opinionated about their tastes.

(wow i really went all out on that this one that tumblr wont even display it in full resolution, so here. john just has so many more lines to choose from, sorry!)

Super-EGO (+Te! -> +Ni?). Practical and technological thinking is tightly based on acquired knowledge and patterns of solving similar problems. Methods of business activity in both general and specific areas are selected based on the opinion of reputable sources, or adjusted to one of the mastered templates. Predicting specific changes in the sphere of their interests is carried out only on the basis of personal experience. He is not able to compare his own method of forecasting with others, so he is sensitive to criticism of poor timing or deadlines, does not like situations that feel like a waste of his time; he is lost in connection with negative events. Guided by purely personal experience, he chooses specific times and deadlines for various tasks with a normative understanding of business activity in general.

Super-ID (-Ti? -> -Ne!). Attracts information about the order, specific logical relationships in the field of activity or interests. Needs someone to suggest specific ways to make connections between phenomena, patterns, and rules. Tries to be reasonable himself, even though he knows that this is not characteristic of him. Sometimes he openly talks of his actions that were poorly reasoned through, as if inviting other people to laugh at his thoughtlessness. The ordering and systematization of thought opens up a new way of understanding of events that are happening around him, as well as new prospects, potential, and capabilities. He likes to think that he understands the essence of a situation and lights up with new ideas. This skill needs to be evaluated. It is unconsciously activated when it is necessary to create order, clear consistency and clarity on a particular issue, especially if their abilities are recognized.

ID (-Fi? -> -Se!). Involuntarily keeps track of communications in their social circle. Without hesitation, they use a variety of ways to establish and maintain relationships that have been developed in his personal practice. Good relationships are important for personal inner confidence in a situation. To prevent unfavorable relationships, they are inclined, often without even realizing it, to act with pressure, forcing a showdown, forcing the partner to change the relationship for the better. Frequently demonstrates his resoluteness, persistence, and purposefulness, as if proposing his behavior as a model for imitation. Usually tells in much detail what obstacles were created before him, and how he overcame them, what he was told in response, and what he replied with, and so on and in the like.

(full res)

you might be able to see already how they would complement each other's thought process nicely. here are some descriptions of what the communication between these types is like:

+Fe! : program function of ESE and dual-seeking function of LII

The ESE periodically tells emotionally charged "program" function stories, telling of how somebody has acted and what they have done. The main orientation of ESE's leading ethical program is: "No one should be offended." The LII carefully listens to these statements, and, demonstrating a full understanding of these issues, develops logical basis for them, e.g. in calm persuasive voice he explains how the ESE has acted justly and fairly. The effusion of turbulent emotions coming from the ESE is counterbalanced by their absorption by the LII, who breaks them down into fragments by asking clarifying questions of the ESE.

-Ti? : dual-seeking function of ESE and program function of LII

The ESE is tuned to accepting information when it's relayed in clear logical form. He issues requests for logical explanations delivered from a point of view of generalized rules underpinning specific life events, which he receives from the LII, who delivers clear unambiguous interpretations, places the dots over all "i's", and demonstrates good understanding of problems that are of concern to the ESE. Not receiving information of this kind, the ESE begins making demands of those around him to be "intelligent" and understand the reasons of his actions.

-Ne! : activating function of ESE and creative function of LII

The ESE feels uncomfortable if he doesn't extend his help to people who are in need of it. His subconscious orientation is: "care and guard the talented", be kind and attentive towards other people. The LII usually meets such criteria by proving in action his aptitude at uncovering hidden capabilities, winning trust, passing on the knowledge. The ESE creates supportive conditions for people who are capable but lacking in assertive "push-through" qualities, among whom the LII finds himself, and a special work regime that protects such individuals from overloads on sensing functions. Newly discovered possibilities inspire and promote the pragmatic and business-oriented activities of the ESE. He can support a new undertaking or initiative with an enormous amount of energy and enthusiasm, light up by new ideas. Only the LII is able to, even having a vague general notion about the subject, construct a developed theory or idea of any issue. This theory shows to be promising in the process of its concrete application within its field.

+Si? : creative function of ESE and activating function of LII

LII tries to take care of their well-being, but may gravitate towards demonstrative asceticism, exhaust himself with work, studies, or exercise. The ESE periodically takes care of creating an environment that "charges" the LII with pleasant sensations: a reception of guests, a good meal, a visit to a theater or a concert, an interesting trip, and so on. At the same time the ESE takes pleasure in this himself.

+Te! : role function of ESE and observing function of LII

The role function of the ESE manifests as business-oriented activity and initiative, supplying interesting information, provision with material assistance to those who are in need, general restlessness and fussy busyness. This function is normative, i.e. the ESE seeks to comply with the norms and accepted ways of doing things. The nuancing of the understanding of these norms, i.e. introduction of activities that go beyond them, is possible only by considering LII's advice and recommendations. The LII serves as a director of this function, adjusting its workings by advocating the necessity of practical application of some beneficial ideas, rejection of useless though spectacular ideas, and the need to ensure standards of life not below average by rejection of equalization.

+Ni? : vulnerable function of ESE and demonstrative function of LII

The ESE poorly feels the flow of time, both physical, which manifests as running late and poor distribution of his strengths over time, and historical, which manifests as poor ability to anticipate consequences of actions and tendency for traditional ways of solving problems. The ESE finds it difficult to make radical choices. The LII fully takes this aspect onto his shoulders. He has an unconscious ability to distribute activities in time, thereby avoiding work stress and overloads, and is capable of making a radical choice. The LII is able to calmly wait and in the necessary moment get to work when the wasteful fussiness of the ESE reaches its critical point.

-Fi? : ignoring function of ESE and role function of LII

On this function the ESE gives advice and makes demands concerning the creation of appropriate psychological distances in form of proper behavior, courtesy and politeness, denouncing rudeness and boorishness. In this manner, the ESE adjusts LII's role function, which in itself contains a set of large psychological distances: a sullen stubborn look, unsociability, etc. With such fine-tuning it becomes easier for the LII to come into contact with people, whereby he becomes more animated, resolves many of his ethical problems that previously frightened him, gains greater insight into human relationships and a more accurate understanding as to whose side to take in situations of conflict.

-Se! : demonstrative function of ESE and vulnerable function of LII

The LII finds it very difficult to exert pressure on other people from his own will and initiative, especially in cases when he needs to attain something for himself. He finds this difficult to do - to press ahead in certain situations, to gather all the required paperwork, to stand in lines and queues, to petition for his own interests, even the ones that are of vital importance to him. He finds it difficult to push a person away, to sharply refuse someone, to quarrel loudly and defend his rights, to put an end to relations that have exhausted themselves. The ESE doesn't directly affect this function, i.e. he doesn't verbally criticize and teach the LII on this aspect, but takes over its functioning completely. The ESE exerts a constant, sometimes intrusive and imposing pressure on other people if there is a need to achieve something, to defend justice and demand fair treatment, to protect interests of those who are close and dear to him. The ESE goes to the right jurisdictions, inspires people around him and directs them towards work and purposeful activity, keeps up a high pace of life himself, and breaks off relations with those who don't deserve trust.

and some miscellaneous excerpts from literature i liked a lot. (i can't remember the sources i used since i've been working on this on and off, for the past week and i was just spilling things onto the post. i think stratiyevskaya?):

Mood - that’s what matters in this dyad - emotions and feelings. Anything that suppresses and overshadows good mood is considered unethical in this dyad and is strongly condemned.

The ESE does not allow the LII to limit him in the possibilities of consuming the amount of pleasures and joys, which he considers to be necessary and sufficient. Fortunately, both partners in the dyad - LII and ESE - are obstinate and unyielding. Both are demanding, unwilling (and not allowing anyone else) to lower the bar of their requirements, unable to give in and make concessions (especially in anything that is of principle for themselves). Both know how to make their partner reckon with their interests and insist on the fulfillment of their demands.

LII is impressed by the emotional generosity of ESE and his spiritual responsiveness. All this finds the deepest understanding in LII, since he is tuned to the same priorities and values. For his part, ESE admires the ability of LII to speak clearly and definitely on every issue. ESE is struck by the harmony of the reasoning of LII, the amazing clarity, accuracy and laconicism of his statements. To ESE it seems that for LII, there is nothing incomprehensible in this world; he can give a comprehensive explanation on every issue. And everything that ESE thought about before is gradually being built into a definite and clear system of views, which he can now very freely and naturally present. Confusion and chaos in his worldview gradually gives way to a stable logical order, as if someone patient and careful was sorting all his thoughts into shelves. Such clarity inspires and activates ESE; he begins to see some prospects for himself, new opportunities. His energy and activity, in addition to emotional and ethical expression, also receives sensory realization: ESE begins to take care of LII and carefully looks after him. If LII is a colleague with whom ESE is especially pleasant to communicate with, he begins to treat him with something tasty, homemade; will make some small, but beautiful and necessary gift (for example: new cologne or a warm scarf).

> okay that's great and all but when are we talking about john and aradia specifically?

yes, that was the point of this post. i just had to build all that up first so i could walk you through my thoughts in a fully substantiated way.

considering chronology of wind again, john doesnt realize it but he needs aradias frankness and insight. even if she’s unable to explicate on vague things, she states the reason why instead of making him feel stupid (it would create a doomed timeline) but thats all john needs to hear. she is self-effacing and only tells him the truth, and we know other people can take advantage of john’s suggestibility in this way. aradia tells john who is or isnt trustworthy, what actions would be useful/necessary and which ones wont, without any selfish personal motive a la vriska or terezi.

^ (juuuust the record my nitpicky ass doesn’t agree with the truth of the classpect interpretation on behalf of the author in the last bit BUT that is beside the point here. the point is that she is answering john’s question in a way that is meaningful for him)

aradia doesnt realize it but she needs john’s friendy goofiness to brighten her up because she is surrounded by people who antagonize her when she’s literally not even trying to get under anyones skin. everybody gets frustrated at her “spooky nonsense” because theyre afraid of their own mortality, basically telling her to put a lid on it because thinking about hard truths makes THEM personally uncomfortable. but to her it’s always just been a fact of life. plugging your ears to reality is ignorance, but at the same time that doesn’t mean there’s no meaning in anything. she wants to help people see this and she dedicates herself to becoming a psychopomp for the deceased and earnestly trying to make people feel emotionally and physically comfortable in their situation through exploring their memories.

john isn’t hostile towards her. by being herself she is immediately able to earn john’s trust when they initially talk. this is also true in canon; the one time they talked when john initially comes up to her, saying “can i ask you something? seem reasonable, and pretty nice.” unfortunately he asked her the one question she didn’t have much to say about, and i can’t blame him for expecting all the troll girls to be basically insane at that point. but i don’t think aradia is insane. yes she is odd, but i think it’s evident that she has a good head on her shoulders with knowledge of the way the universe around her works, and in the end wants to simply bask in watching it play out. i think she deserves to get childishly excited about it, especially considering she was dead for most of her developmental years.

aside from getting his answers answered, john shows curiosity about her and her species and even care about her well-being and state. this naturally comes from their conversation’s ebb and flow. aradia tells this straightforwardly, without bells and whistles and without trying to trick him, unlike the other trolls who seem keen on well..trolling him.. and providing him with unclear answers to those sorts things. maybe aside from vriska, but she did have a little bit of an attitude about it wherein her and john’s dynamic felt uneven or off-rhythm, with a large psychological distance. it’s a different feeling with aradia, however. they exchange information on the same rhythm and so are able to achieve a closer psychological distance in communication.

there are no judgments coming from aradia about john being “stupid”. she doesn’t underestimate him. it’s not just that john wants to understand (although he does), but he needs to understand what he is doing. aradia compliments john about the traits he possesses that allow him to be effective. i guess in a way i’m doing the same thing with john right now.

john is so mobile and strung along by being the action hero going from place to place as a can-do deliveryboy that he never has time to reflect on his losses, think through them, and accept them.

literally who else is more qualified in all of homestuck than aradia for talking to john about these things?

on top of all of this, they have objectively significant connections beyond just mutual self-realization in a way i think could've been fleshed out. there is potential here.

for a story, i can think of a way that a conversation between them could plausibly happen using the systems established in homestuck's mythology. in canon, we see that john never met aradia until year 3 on the golden battleship in the dream bubbles when he goes to sleep.

but john still dreamt out in the furthest ring. that means during those 3 years it was possible for john to have had a dream with her in it, or at least aradiabot. i know john didn't know aradia's name beforehand but let's just explore the possibility that they could have had met before that. remember that all these aradiabots were once this person.

aradia had obtained john's crosbytop, his dads hat, and his wallet quite a while before their sgrub session. theres your entry

imagine john seeing that

memories of dear old dad get stirred up through the link of seeing those items

the dream bubble transforms

john is forced to stand in his memories and explore grief and the meaning of life with aradia

physically being in the space around him would definitely help john reflect easier i think because it will force him to actually exist within the space and talk to someone, taking some time out for this. he wanted to know if anything could've been done or if he was just too late to save them. i know aradia would be able help him slow down and introspect. don't forget the opportunities created by the properties of these spaces that are glubbed out in the furthest ring by the horrorterrors that meld the labyrinthine time and space of their surroundings to the memories of the people and finding others through common points in memory. i would imagine that objects known by multiple people would provide a common point in memory to bring them together.

The bubbles allow the players of Sburb/Sgrub who have lost a life to continue dreaming. The reality constructed in the bubbles is a combination of the memories of everyone inside the bubble accessible to any who has learned the bubble's nature. According to Aradia, it would be quite difficult to exit a bubble to get into a new one, however someone inside a bubble can travel to another one through common points in memory, taking their own memories with them to be integrated into the new bubble. These memories mix and combine, but in general, no new memories are created. Additionally, the bubbles store the consciousness of a player who has lost their dream selves and their original selves, making them double as a form of afterlife; the player is then capable of accessing the memory of anyone else who has gained access to the bubbles. Living players, who have lost or become their dream selves, appear in the dream bubbles when they are asleep. It is in this fashion that the bubbles can be used as meeting places between the dead and the living; even those from alternate universes and doomed timelines can be found in a bubble. Furthermore, in addition to memories, the bubbles can to some extent reflect the thoughts of a player. Beyond that, the bubbles can also behave similarly to Skaia's clouds, showing things that are in some way relevant to the player - such as when coin-flip Dave saw alpha Dave grieving over Bro's corpse - something he was not aware of before being shown it by a bubble.

physically reflect the thoughts of the player…… rubs hands

john and aradia share points in memory related to those objects, and to top it all of they are directly related to john's dad on the same day he died, while aradia grew up with them as bizarre alien artifacts from an archeological dig. the memories are more emotionally charged for john, and i think that distinction would probably be relevant to them both.

to be honest i think after speaking with him for a bit she would readily tell john that she regrets not talking to the kids from the universe her team created sooner before she died, but is glad that she can in the afterlife. in canon, alpha aradia told a doomed dave, "i think its absurd i never introduced myself to you in all that time i spent moping around the lab. guess i wasnt in a very good mood".

now not all the aradiabots would know who john is, because the trolls only found out about the humans once they created the genesis frog and hid out in the lab in the veil from jack who infiltrated their session. the aradiabot in the lab was the last one that survived. so if any one of them would know who john is, it would be the aradiabot that exploded. aradia's dream self ascended to god tier in jack noir's rampage on trolls' derse and took those memories with her which we can assume is what made the last aradiabot explode. its known that any original copy that dies when another rises up becomes a ghost and lives on in the dream bubbles, which would include her. a doomed aradiabot we see in the comic, which was the one that originally landed to alternia in the past, becomes more lighthearted after she dies, a bit more like her alive counterpart.

oh yeah, and the more obvious surface-level connections to top it off? ghostbusters? john ain't afraid of no ghost girl. john would be genuinely interested in what aradia living as a ghost irl on her planet and not as a gaming abstraction in the furthest ring would be like. i imagine she would be able to explain the subjective experience and that she had to prototype herself into the kernelsprite order for her server player to see her. there's also no way john hasn't seen a movie as classic as indiana jones and judging from her poster i can imagine he probably thinks it's sweet that aradia's strife specibus whipkind is a reflection of her own personal tastes, interests and hobbies.

so yeah i've just been chewing on all of this and thinking about it but i know i needed to just get this out there somehow. obviously since i spent two weeks putting this post together i'd be happy to hear your thoughts

[lastoneout]

You know what, I just realized something that I can probably add to my list of reasons I'm more ND than I think I am...

So in middle school I found out The Princess Bride was based on a book I immediately decided to read it. But here's the thing, unlike the movie's framing device of a grandfather reading the book to his grandson, the book has one that's basically like an autobiography?? Where the author talks about his grandfather reading him the book as a kid and how it affected him growing up and how, eventually, he decided to "abridge" the original and publish the version you're reading. The author even says Florin and Guilder are real places, and gives "history" on them.

I found(and tbh still find) this part of the book exceptionally boring. It's mean spirted and depressing, and an absolute slog to get through. But I kept trucking through taking everything as complete truth, even though I was pretty sure these countries weren't real places. Europe is big after all and I was in middle school, maybe I just hadn't heard of them before. Thankfully once the "real" book, the story The Princess Bride, actually starts the intersections start to make sense and aren't as boring and I quite liked them more or less, even if they were a little confusing at times. I also read everything after the "real" book ends, an epilog of sorts about the author not being allowed to abridge the sequel bcs Steven King?? Was going to do it?? But there was a bit of this "sequel" included so I read that too.

When my friend, who had leant me the book, asked what I thought, I said I liked it but I didn't understand why the author included all that personal history at the start where he complained about his job and family, it just didn't seem necessary to me and was boring as hell.

My friend informed me that all of that "personal" history wasn't real. The author made it all up. It was as much fiction as the actual story itself. It was satire, you see, and apparently??? very important to read bcs without it you wont "understand" the story. My friend genuinely thought it was super weird that I didn't realize it wasn't true, and also that I didn't like it.

But nah, I thought it was true!! Why would he lie like that?? What was it even satirizing(I still don't really know tbh)?? Why would I need to read all that bs to understand the book?? The story of 'The Princess Bride' made perfect sense on it's own!! I ended up kinda hating the book after that. I felt SUPER betrayed. He said all that stuff like it was true, what on earth was the point of lying?? Didnt he know people would believe him?? Why wouldn't I, after all I almost always tell the truth, lying about all that stuff was dumb and mean and I hated it.

A while later when I brought it up to my godfather he ALSO thought it was silly that I believed all that and didn't get that it was satire, and insisted that it was important for understanding the story.

I still don't get why it's important, and I refuse to read any of it again. When I re-read the book I just skip to where 'The Princess Bride' actually starts and then stop once it's "over". The rest of it is probably important, but to this day I think it's mostly mean spirited and stupid, and idk why he didn't just write the book normally or do what they did in the movie.

Anyway I figure this is like...normal, right? I totally don't have any deeper stuff going on with my brain. When I take assessments I insist I'm great at picking up on sarcasam and satire. Totally great at it. Yeah...

[commanderquinn]

a list of canon ways in which lillian hart is The Fucking Worst that cora coe deserves financial and emotional compensation for:

-the basis for the big divorce counseling mission is that cora's worried for her mother's safety. that means, before going on a deep cover operation with smugglers known to kill rangers, marines, or anyone else caught trying to interfere with their business, lillian didnt leave her daughter a heads up much less a lead. once the fuck again, this woman decided that her career was more important than her daughter's mental and emotional health. once the fuck again, this woman decided she could just disappear from cora's life and then come back out of the blue without consequence

-when you go to lillian's office to look for her at cora's request, the guy working the desk knows SAM well enough to know his name and give him shit like they've got a personal history, but he??? isnt sure about????? cora's name???? word for word, he looks at her and says "it's cora, right?" you're telling me that this woman doesn't talk about her kid enough for her fellow INVESTIAGATIVE rangers to be sure about her name??? are you SHITTING ME??????? get the fuck out of here. you cant push "ranger family values" and the close ties they have in one breath then claim she likes to keep a professional distance at work in the other. you wanna have the conversation about what fresh hell it is being a working mother in a position of power, lets go, ill have that conversation all day long. but lillian hart is not a fucking example of a working mother and im gonna be pretty fucking insulted for working mothers everywhere if i catch wind of ppl trying to pull that kind of defense card. the woman's an awful parent and should be held the fuck accountable for it. you wanna know how i know????

she doesn't say cora's name enough for the ranger watching the door to be confident in it, but he remembers alllll the stories of the captain her ex is cozying up to. and lillian is the one to confirm during the quest that she has been getting the stories from cora, so there's some clear "oh she already likes the stranger more than me." i know im reading into it because its fiction and none of these people are real, but ive also, y'know been in cora's shoes, so i can tell you from real life experience that shit does exist. idk if that was the writers INTENT, but it sure does a great job at reflecting a very sad reality

-sam points out its dumb that lillian wants to speed the ship, with her daughter on it, directly at the sydicate. idk abt y'all, but my ship was pretty dinky at that point bc i was focused on outposts, and we got ambushed by like 6 ship waves once we landed for that fight. again, i get it. game mechanics get a higher priority than realism. but this whole "we have to finish this because theres a chance you were spotted trying to rescue me" shit is so. nauseating. theres no demand to drop off cora somewhere safe, theres no "lets call in the cavalry." its this fucking egomaniac looking you dead in the eye and being like "i know i just traumatized the shit out of my kid but i need you to drive us into an ambush while she's still on board. hope you're a good shot because sam and i cant kill them ourselves." and so what that we did that????? YOURE TELLING ME IT WAS JUST THOSE SHIPS???? the rest of the organization is just going to LET IT GO???? like no fucking wonder sam sees himself as the better option even through all his fucking doubt. at least he knows when to turn the fuck around because shit is above his paygrade

-she has custody rights. she is a decorated and respected ranger. sam being a smuggler wasnt public knowledge, but point out one person in akila who wouldnt believe her in a heartbeat over it. everyone in town gives him nothing but shit, and they all side with his dad who was definitely no picnic to live with. im guessing big emotional detachment there, lotta interrogation and persecution rather than teaching and understanding. HELL, sam would probably own up to his past if lillian outed him for it, he's that type of idiot. at literally any point she could put in the effort to get legal council involved. if she's SOOOO by the law, whats the hold up there???? i agree the kid shouldnt be on my ship while im in the middle of a space fight. ive talked with sam about it, and im not even the kids parent (as of the personal quest). what the fuck are you doing about it lillian????????? oh thats right. we cant get lillian on the phone. whomp whomp.

-she made cora cry. hyper independent, "big girls dont cry" cora coe. multiple times. worse, she made cora cry because she made cora feel like she wasn't as important as lillian's career. i dont give a fuck what criminals are doing. i do not give a fuck. i give a fuck that that little pixel child got her heart broken and there isnt a dialogue for me to call out her mother for being a huge fucking cunt to her own daughter but theres a thousand and one options for me to tell sam he's parenting wrong. he is, and i have no problem using them when they're appropriate, but where the fuck are they for lillian??? why am i not allowed to tear this woman a new asshole at any point, but there's like 20+ extra dialogue options added to every single npc you have a persuade option with???? todd my head hurts and its your fault

-"im sure sam's told you all about me. go on. ask whatever you want." yet there is no option to ask what the fuck her problem is. so, clearly, i cannot, in fact, ask whatever i want.

-"but the looks i got from my fellow rangers reading alexander dumas... we do strange things for kids." yeah hart??? thats your standard????? THATS your idea of going out of your way for your kid??? literally how did sam fall for this woman oh my god i cant even listen to her speak without wanting to use the power of bitchhood i inherited from a long line of angry irish women to ridicule her to tears. maybe then she'll fucking understand how small she makes her fucking kid feel every time she turns a moment of bonding into a little "woe is me and my comfort zone oh how unfortunate i am to have a brilliant daughter that wants to connect with me through her greatest passion"

-she openly admits that she dumped the cargo sam was smuggling not because she felt any connection or sympathy or just didnt want to destroy someones chance at life in a capitalist society, but because he was a good pilot and she didnt want that talent to "go to waste" so she could recruit him. thats not really a thing against cora i just really fucking hate that and the picture it paints of her priorities as a human being

-"if we're going to be really honest here... back when we were a team... cora would follow you everywhere, like a little adoring dog. i... just fell out of it. long before we separated."

i literally. do not have words for how fucking disgusted i am by that line of dialogue. oh my fucking god. oh my fucking god. i. i TRULY would not even know where to start. the dog comparison makes me violently angry and if you'd given me a punch interrupt at that moment, i would have broken my keyboard punching the accept option

-go replay or watch a recording of that divorce counseling mission one more time. while you're doing it, imagine the roles reversed. imagine youre romancing a character thats a mother bringing cora into space, and the ranger standing in your cockpit asking to finish the mission is her father who took off to live at work once it was clear his little girl liked mommy better. imagine THAT while you listen to the (imo) out of fucking pocket dialogue where sam constantly praises lillian for being "a good ranger/woman." then you come back and tell me how comfortable you are with the concept of lillian hart as a character.

[sleepy-vix]

ok guys i finished the poppy war wtf. i feel so hollow right now. i feel so... unsatisfied by the ending but not necessary in a bad way??? i have to read the other books and see what happens but at the same time it feels so hopeless and i dont approve of rin as a main character anymore (tho i am aware that it doesnt matter whether i "approve" of her or not) but i will still definitely read the other books bc i loved the book overall. i just think that the storyline rn is very... surreal?

also,

(spoilers below)

i NEED TO KNOW what the fuck happened to nezha bc i just know that rf kuang has smtg cooking for him. my personal theory is that he didnt die from the gas bc he secretly is connected to the god of healing (hence why his spine healed so fast and enki speculated abt his dragon insigna) and so hes alive and maybe imprisoned? maybe he was sent to a science lab to, or he somehow ran away, or he pretended to join forces?? idrk but im sure that hes alive and its got to do with his dragon insignia

im so sad that everybody from sineguard died/isnt in the story anymore (other than kitayyyyyy thank god. im so glad he reappeared) bc i tbh dont feel much of an attachment toward the cike members 😭 like idk i love Qara and Chaghan but the others are eh to me, like i would trade their presence for Irjah's or Raban or Niang or EVEN JUN 😭 tho im just being sentimental, i dont actually mean it. (tho i would like to see a jun reappearance and redemption...)

oh btw i think i rate this a 4/5 star read

my criticisms are as such:

- the middle part where they kept losing was very dreary (tho i imagine kuang was trying to make it seem desperate/devastating and tense, it was just droll to read tbh).

- the sudden reconciliation between nezha and rin felt very unnatural (like i understand the feeling of "who cares abt our petty rivalry when theres literally a whole ass war happening?" but then again, this is just fiction and it wouldve been nice to read their familiar banter- or at least have it dragged out a bit before the reconciliation). i feel like it was just very unnatural, unless.... unless nezha fell in love with Rin when she erupted into flames at sineguard???? if THAT happened then i feel like the reconciliation would make alot more sense bc when nezha came to khurdalain it was like he was desperate to make Rin like him/forgive him ???

- a few things were pretty predictable. it was pretty obvious that Jiang was the gatekeeper, which was disappointing because if that was a little less obvious, i feel like the scene were Rin and Altam discover Jiang in the Stone Mountain would've had a bigger emotional impact on the reader (me)

though here are the things i liked:

- Rin at the first half of the book was the best mc everrrr

- Kitay. i have nothing wrong with Kitay. he's my favourite for sure

- Jiang's style of teaching (i loved how they just conversed and would come to nonsensical philosphical questions that made Rin frustrated but made Jiang delighted. eg "Why do people dream what they dream?")

- the way Kuang described the god realm vs the human realm. it was all very believable and assured. it wasn't vague at all, in my opinion. theres ofc alot of questions abt the different planes still, but the genius of it is that she wrote about it in a way that assured that it was normal to have questions, and even more normal to not get answers for them, and that we should just accept it (idk, thats the vibe i was getting. like, she didnt say "just believe it" as an excuse for lazy writing, she said "just believe it" because, well, just believe it.)

ok yeah thats all i have to say for now :)

if you've read the poppy war, PLEASEEE INTERACT (no spoilers tho pls)

[tadpolesonalgae]

ive seen the argument that rhys killed the winter court children thrown around so much but thank you for saying that bc i was starting to think i read it wrong. kallias only agrees to help the night court when it's made clear that rhys didnt kill the children and that amarantha had another mind reader. and they even become allies because kallias and viviane are at some celebration at the housw of wind later in the books right? if it had been rhys none of that would happen.

there are a lot of reasons you can not like rhysand he was always meant to be a morally grey character (imo sjm made him too nice actually) but im always confused when people keep using this reason because it might be the only one he was proven innocent

i loved the story dont get me wrong but reader in that is closer to hybern than to rhysand like the whole thing with the ic is that they all did terrible things but with a reason and she's just a bitch for a lack of a better word

i also felt both az and rhys were justified in how they treated her, i mean it was tough to read but she went way too far in how she was talking about elain, calling her all type of misogynistic names just because azriel and her are together so ofc azriel lost it on her (and not even that badly like he meant everything he said and none of those were lies) and then ofc the last straw for rhys was her threatening to dig up the archeron dad, that's a disgusting thing to do and rhys doesnt play about feyre. also if she has had this personality for centuries i can only imagine the list of shit the ic has against her

id love to read more of this story but i think it's pretty clear she's a villain, not even morally grey like the ic. i do love villain stories though so im excited lol

I mean, with the Winter Court situation, I’m pretty sure that’s what happened? 🫣 I don’t have the books on me at the moment so I can’t check but I agree it would be weird if Kalias and Viviane came over for the solstice with the death of a dozen children between them, so I’m inclined to believe Rhys wasn’t the one who committed that particular crime for Amarantha 🫠😭

And with Rhys being morally grey, I feel like it gets a little confusing because we don’t really get to see what he’s like as a character without Feyre? I feel like he probably took a bit of a (positive) turn now that he has his mate if that makes sense? Also the fact he isn’t under the pressure of maintaining a mask so thoroughly has probably contributed to who he’s become? I’d really like to get a scene though where the morally grey part bleeds through, perhaps if someone’s threatened in a future book? 👀

Either way, he’s a fictional character (to many’s upset 😔) so I suppose his personal ethics aren’t a particular point of contention when held against some problems occurring in our world 😕

‘i loved the story dont get me wrong but reader in that is closer to hybern than to rhysand’

You do not have to worry about a thing, she is fully intended to be easily and actively dislikable though I don’t think it’s an issue if some people take her side since this is a work of fiction 🧡💛

However, I am really interested in seeing what sides people take when it comes to what she does and her motivations, as well as what she holds dear and who she’s loyal to when it comes down to it! I’ll be curious if anyone will feel her actions might be more easily justifiable or at the very least understandable once more of her past is dug up? Whether people feel a bad deed is always a bad deed irrespective of circumstance, or whether the context and environment surrounding an action should be taken into consideration before passing judgement :)

‘calling her all type of misogynistic names just because azriel and her are together so ofc azriel lost it on her’

To be perfectly honest with you, I really enjoyed getting to write the parts because of how inappropriate they were given the situation 🤦😭 Her trying to convince Az to be with her and then insulting the person he claims to be in love with 🫣

‘and then ofc the last straw for rhys was her threatening to dig up the archeron dad, that's a disgusting thing to do and rhys doesnt play about feyre.’

I mean, not only is she a prominent figure in society, but she also has some pretty intense power readily disposable, and she doesn’t really act like she’s responsible enough to handle it (but we’ll inevitably examine those parts, too, because it would be weird if she just came into all that power without any sort of accountability or understanding of death and life, right? 👀)

‘id love to read more of this story but i think it's pretty clear she's a villain, not even morally grey like the ic. i do love villain stories though so im excited lol’

Honestly I’m still figuring out what’s going to happen in the end? She’s going to get with Az, but I’m indecisive on whether it’ll be a clean ending or not? I feel like if it is going to be like that, there’s a line that she won’t be able to cross, whereas it might be quite interesting to see how people try to reconcile her actions while still keeping in line with their own morals?

Also witnessing through her actions what sort of person she’s become and what situations have led up to that (and whether there are other people partially responsible for the things that have happened)

Either way, I think it’ll be exciting to figure these things out! There’s still so much of the story yet to be decided on, so it’s going to take some time for a next part to come together! And thank you so much for writing in!! I absolutely adore getting to read thoughts like this, it makes me so happy to know you’re invested to this level 🧡💛

[teutaranaway]

you aren’t being annoying at all don’t worry!! i’m glad you’re having fun ^_^ you’re one of the mutuals that makes me consider making my own selfship blog tbh!

i thought the route was good! it’s a bit sad to hear that crow isn’t taken seriously in other routes since his character goes way deeper than what’s touched on in the first few chapters. but i thought the piano scene was sooooo cutes <3

it’s funny that you mention thinking he’s the best with teuta as a character, because i didn’t realize that the personality quiz thingy was tied to the routes at first and just answered how i thought she would answer based on canon personality traits haha

AHHH im planning on making my own selfship blog too !!!!

this is a bit long uh oh

although he contributes a lot to the story in other routes hes mostly there to be funny + be a punchline, which is like. you kinda learn that hes doing that on purpose after u played his route anyway (like he talks about how he wants to be seen as goofy funny and have people love him that way bc he doesnt think they would love him if he wasnt funny, didnt have a lot of money, wasnt contributing to the team with his smarts etc. he basically thinks he wont be loved if hes not the butt monkey or is useful somehow) AMD THE PIANO SCENE IS SO SO SO CUTE I HAD IT AS MY WALLPAPER FOR A STRAIGHT YEAR my favorite type of romance in fiction is one that just happens naturally and i think that scene captured it perfectly AND he was so cute there AND he got to be vulnerable with teuta about his dad playing that for him (and later on him getting even more vulnerable with her too UGHHH PUNCHES THE SCREEN)

also yea the personality test + the swimsuit scene + the cat naming scene are the ones where they lock you on an LI's route but when i said that i meant that. ive played all of the routes and i personally believe teucrow to be the healthiest relationship in the game bc of their capability to be vulnerable and understanding with each other, and even tho crow is really emotionally immature hes trying so hard with her so i feel like if there were smth that would go wrong with their relationship then they would put actual effort to fix it

i like teumozu too but obviously its second place + i like teuhelv friendship a lot but not as a couple + i feel like the power imbalance in limbo and shu's routes really made teuta ooc bc its established in the common route that shes this hot headed argumentative woman but with them its like her role has become smaller. and to nurture these two basically . like that one post that was going on thats like making fun of "big guy x nurturing woman" i see it as like that basically. teutas argumentative personality while would make teulimbo friendship very fun i find it really hard to actually see them romantically, and i HATE HATE HATE teuta with shu romantically and i barely see them as friends bc shu makes it so hard to actually like him (which is like. his nature but anyway). shu on his own is fine and when hes interacting with the team as a whole hes really fun, he has some really good #brothers moments with crow that i love and i love his relationship with [SPOILERS!!!!] but i dont really enjoy him as a character. i feel like hes only popular bc hes a bad boy headhunter and he has the dorito body

UM. YEAH ❤️

[horizon-verizon]

the hypocracy from this fandom is so funny projecting real-life race in to this fictional universe (asoiaf/hotd) viserys, daemon, rhaenyra, laena, aemond, daenaera, jaehaera are not white or black they are Valyrians, the velaryons (laena, corlys and co) are valyrians and privilege people just like the targaryens, if one of your anon believe that the conquerors black than their descendants all viserys children are either half black this include alicent children and rhaenyra, and also dornish people are not south asian just because they using south asian culture/movie/actress as their "aesthetic" and gifsets.

Dany's/rhaegars fans always get shit from fandom because they're valyrians and how they keep reminds me that their ancestors was enslaving people and they are white supremacist now suddenly everyone calling each other "racist", "white", "black", "white supremacist" is so funny, when everyone's favs have more valyrians blood in them than dany and rhaegar.

The Velaryons/valyrians, and dornish people didn't suffer as black, and south asian people in rl so stop projecting them in this fictional race is so offensive.

just because people didnt like or didnt find some of the charcters interesting it doesn't mean they hate their skin color or white supremacist.

Admittedly, there is a danger to overly denying that race exists in Westeros--or to be more accurate, racialization [recent post of mine]. Because we can't deny that the Dornish ARE "racialized" through xenophobic feelings towards their gender customs and that something like "racialization" DOES exist. However, Elia is most likely not facing racism like how real people today or even how "PoCs" are faced in real medieval history. She was likely never hated or held in contempt as a wildling person would be. And we have no evidence that Rhaegar actually even disliked her, much less disliked her specifically because he saw her as racially inferior in line with very modern "white girl > PoC girl" (unless she's E.Asian, Vietnamese, Filipino, etc.) and even that is based on a whole other story of sexual racism in 2023. We simply have much more in-text/worldbuilding evidence of Rhaegar loving Lyanna, it is mutual, etc., than anything about Rhaegar and Elia's relationship besides GRRM supposedly saying it was "complicated".

Yes, the Valyrians were an enslaving people, Valyria was a slave state, and they copied the Ghiscari in that for the sake of power. However, slavery itself does not equal nor precede racism in the ASoIaF world. American slavery? Yes. Valyrian and Roman slavery? No. Roman and Valyrian slavery was both class-based--even though Valyrian slavery more than likely mimicked Meerneeese-Volantne-etc, slavery where the children of slaves were slaves themselves when there wasn't war,--otherwise, they were taken from conquered regions.

You: "Dany's/rhaegars fans always get shit from fandom because they're valyrians and how they keep reminds me that their ancestors was enslaving people and they are white supremacist now suddenly everyone calling each other "racist", "white", "black", "white supremacist" is so funny, when everyone's favs have more valyrians blood in them than dany and rhaegar."

Yeah, it's strange because to ignore the absence of how American and European colonization racialized slavery is to collapse understanding of how racialization has and can work...as I explained in that first post I already linked.

[castlebyersafterdark]

I know youre a bit overwhelmed with messages but i just rewatched s4 with this clear head and i have so many thoughts about mileven and byler. I really tried to go in neutral, ignoring everything the theories and details have told me, i even ate some food meanwhile and painted my nails so i got the effect of being a casual viewer who missed shit haha. i ignored things i learnt in literature and art class and acted like it was a chill weekday evening to kick back with some light entertainment (lol).

and genuinely, as an experiment, i focused on mike and el's scenes and tried to empathise with milevens.

and what i got from it, is: the 'breakup' in el's bedroom is striking because of the use of music. it is a variation of 'Eulogy', one of the most moving pieces in the soundtrack. i was transported back to s1 and s2; the song played when Bob died. I had a surge of nostalgia for early season mileven, and a sense of an ending. a deep resignation, mainly on el's part.

throughout the middle of the series, it's clear that 1) el's focus is very much on herself, on her past, and brenner. even at rink o mania, she was focused more on angela than mike. i don't remember any scenes where we get El's pov regarding Mike, or her and mike together, until that 'breakup' scene.

and 2), even ignoring things like lighting style and colouring, its clear that byler scenes place focus in unusual places, like NOT on the person speaking. for example, in the van, when mike is worrying about el, the dialogue would suggest that this is the main focus. and yet, mike is blurred, and we see will gazing at him. it happens time and again, with mike gazing at will too, when he speaks. we know all this, but it really does itch your subconscious slightly - but only if you think about it, aka the perfect set up for a major plot twist.

i realised that only if you were watching the show at absolute face value specifically regarding what is said, could you still believe that in the van scene, mike did not understand that the painting and feelings were will's. Whether mike allows himself to acknowledge the true meaning of will painting him such a picture is what is in contention.

and it was here that I started to realise that the people who still root for mileven interpret the world differently to others, and there's very little the writers could have done to sway them in storytelling terms. even in s5 I am sure these people will think byler comes out of the blue. These are the kinds of people who get annoyed and bored in literature class when a teacher says a book has themes and symbols.

I got to the final ep, and quite honestly, taking mike's monologue at face value verbally, it became clear that El is the one who is giving negative responses. The lightning, overall tone, her crying. Her disinterest, with mike thrown into sharp contrast to brenner who just told her the world has more nuance than good vs evil. I believe brenner was a terrible man who had much wisdom, proving his own point.

And the real kicker: the repeated cuts to Will simply made me feel... well, heartbroken. I hit the epilogue, and it's just Will's little face, still entirely with that selfless innocence he always had, peering out of the van at the devastation in Hawkins. Mike looks at him from behind in that strange rack focus shot. And I just burst into tears at the idea that Will was here, back home, exactly the same as he always has been emotionally, sad and gay and in love with his best friend, who is happily back with his own girlfriend, a couple 'so stable' that they didnt even need to discuss the events on screen. Ofc an unrequited gay love in the 80s (or anytime) if a realistic possibility for a fictional character, but for THIS show, for the very specific way THIS story has been told, the idea of Will finishing his s4 off the way he began it is just devastating.

I'll admit that when s4 began and I realised Will liked Mike, I was all for some heartwrenching unrequited gay love. I was like bring it Will! Been there with ya. It made Will the everyman we all root for. But the way they handled the rest of the season, I genuinely fail to see how any average viewer, even one painting their nails, would be able to enjoy any mileven scene when we always, always, cut back to Will and his heartbreak.

The whole show has had an elephant in the room which is that Will is the key to what happened in the first place. Its an unsolved mystery, for people to think he is suddenly irrelevant or has been forgotten by the writers really stumps me. Maybe I've seen too many musicals, so I know there's always a reprise. Even though it's been like 8 years, I never thought for a second the writers would forget to tie up the mystery of little Will lost, because it's so key and also... so interesting. It's the Main Mystery. Why Will?!?!

So no shade, but I can only assume that anyone still rooting for mileven is genuinely not very intelligent, or has an agenda. We been knew, but it was fascinating to watch from this POV. It didnt tell me anything about what WILL happen in s5 regarding the love triangle, and I'm ready to be totally taken by surprise. But certainly there was nothing joyful about s4 mileven, so I can only assume that mileven fans are simply upset and angry and in deep denial. It's horrible that this should manifest as anger and hate, but I just have to hope everyone stays safe, especially our fav boys portraying them. For Noah or Finn to receive hate mail when byler happens would be awful.

I also recommend a rewatch from a casual pov if possible... it's really nice to get into the other themes and storylines and view the show holistically!

Thank you for sharing this!! When I get really detailed, long messages like this from you guys, it's honestly so cheerful and sweet, yall make my heart ache in the very best way. I love this part of blogging and fandom. Coming together about the joy and celebration of this silly piece of media we adore and which captivates our brains so deeply is awesome.

What a fun and fascinating idea - trying to watch with fresh eyes. I think this is a truly beneficial experience for anyone this entrenched in fandom. Laughing at you setting the scene and adding in your parameters for your experiment - the food and nails and switching the mind to chill mode. So funny. But so useful! What do you notice when you're not hyper analyzing it? And so, that's wild the music track playing you've noticed. The music tracks in this show are crazy and I'd love if one day the thought process was broken down as to the repeat uses in scenes like this, howvtheyve decided to use it to hint at the story. Because an average watcher would likely never pick up on it. But score is super meaningful.

I'm not gonna rehash all you wrote because you explained so clearly those observations and I agree with and love all the insight. Highlighting this:

and it was here that I started to realise that the people who still root for mileven interpret the world differently to others, and there's very little the writers could have done to sway them in storytelling terms. even in s5 I am sure these people will think byler comes out of the blue. These are the kinds of people who get annoyed and bored in literature class when a teacher says a book has themes and symbols.

I genuinely fail to see how any average viewer, even one painting their nails, would be able to enjoy any mileven scene when we always, always, cut back to Will and his heartbreak.

This is key. Surface level or not - I also fail to see how Mlvn is something to root for. They haven't given us that story. It's interesting and unexpected - a multi-directional metaphor. Cookie cutter cliche: everything works out. But that's not where we are season 4. They can't come out the otherside unchanged. Some things don't work out. Our heroes did mostly fail. Hawkins split. Foe the moment, Henry won. And love didn't fix anything. Because it wasn't love. How do people miss this? The message isn't going to be heartbreak. Mike and El are not our centering saviors. I think that's gonna be Will. Meaning... 🤔

You've made excellent observations I'm not going to just parrot. But I love this idea of a casual rewatch. It's been awhile since I've sat and watched the show in full, maybe this should be a worthwhile experiment. Try to watch this show fresh. Not any time soon, but in the near future I'll indulge like you've done here. All for the sake of research!

[howtocuddlecrows]

I think that I got into fantasy just at the right time. I think I was in 5th or 6th grade when I first got into it. It was basically after I saw a news segment on 퇴마록 and I wanted to read it but it was already like 12 or some books in and it was supposed to be for adults only so I couldn’t access it.

But then all the comic book rent places began to carry fantasy books too. And my first book was 가즈나이트

This was the beginning of I believe the 2nd generation of Korean fantasy. I mean technically it’s still considered 1st gen but it did start publishing after 퇴마록 and others got popular which were mostly written by older (40-50s) fiction writers who read like Ursula le Guin and Robert Jordan. This one particularly was written by a teenager when the first one was published, showing that younger audience and writers were craving for fictions beyond whatever we had to read in school. I mean most of fiction you could buy at a bookstore at the time was mostly translated literature like Wrath of Grape, Les Miserable or shit like that. So no wonder kids were into extravagant Dungeons & Dragons/Lord of the Rings world full of magic, swordfight, and dragons. Also I was getting tired of reading Dragon Ball and other shonen comics if I wanted something fantastical.

But yeah 가즈나이트 wasn’t the first D&D like fantasy setting book, aforementioned 퇴마록 being more of contemporary urban fantasy as in Neverwhere not “urban” like Black fiction but it was the first one I picked. I think the first really popular dragon and magic fantasy book was called 카르세아린 which was also written by a younger author about a young dragon named Kars-aerin disguising himself as a human and getting entangled in human political conflicts. There was 3rd gen fantasy book called 아린 이야기, which was basically fanfic/plagiarism of 카르세아린. I happened to read 아린 이야기 before reading 카르세아린 which was interesting (the original is way better btw).

Anyway back to 가즈나이트. It was basically a story about wandering swordman named 리오 스나이퍼 (Leo Sniper) who is unassuming but actually an expert fighter who saves people. Very much Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin. And I think at the end of first or second book it turns out he’s actually a swordman chosen by a god, called God’s Knight hence the title 가즈나이트, who defends humanity with his supernatural power granted by his god. And the story evolves much like Dragon Ball in a sense that 리오 goes around bumping into conflicts and he tries his best to help people. There is always a boss monster like villain he has to defeat to solve the conflict and the stakes get higher every time and his enemies get stronger too. So naturally he needs to continue to come up with new hidden talent to fight back stronger enemy, like Dragon Ball. A few books in, I think the author realized that he had to add more characters, like Dragon Ball Z, if 리오 were to defeat some of these villains as well as the author got better at writing in general so he actually started to do some world building. This is when he retconed this shit and started to add more gods’ knights. Like surprise there are more of them. And I think this was what kept me continuing to read the series. He first introduced 지크 스나이퍼 (Zeek Sniper) who is 리오’s real life brother. And this is also when he started doing Power Rangers color coding tham. I mean 리오’s thing was that he had long red hair (Kenshin much lol) and wore blue cape and used a long sword oh and his power was neutral (we were really into 무. It means nothingness or like a void. It could be anything or everything. if light is alpha 무 is omega cuz dark is sure as hell not omega). 지크 had short blonde hair, used a short knife he was the comic relief and rock n roll guy and his power was wind. Then there was 바이론 필브라이드 (Byron Philbride or Pfilbreit. Im sorry but we didnt understand that English sounding names all came from different countries actually). He was the big scary guy who was always angry and a god damned beast. Like being always shirtless kinda stuff but also you know a daddy. He had sickly white hair and purple skin (it got explained later) and used a falchion and his power was dark. Then there was 휀 라디언트 (Fhwen or Fin or Phen Radiant) who was also a daddy but he was the daddy. Total Tsundere man like the butler from Black Butler. I actually don’t remember what he looked like but I’m sure you can tell from the name his power was light/radiant. He showed up later in the series as the leader of the gods’ knights and sort of like the adjudicator of what the knights’ duties were and being just below the gods when it comes hierarchy of gods and gods knights. Then there were these two gays guys who always showed up together named 사바신 커텔 (Thabasin or Sabasin K’tell) and 레디 키드 (Ready Kid, i forgot this was his name…my smol bean gay boy got the shit end of the stick) who had power of earth and water respectively. 사바신 was the bear himbo of the group more himbo than 지크, much like Kronk from Emperor’s New Groove, and 레디 was the twink cute guy of the group. I was honestly super into 레디 cuz he only showed up like a few times and we don’t know much about him but he just seemed like a cool guy. All I remember is that he was drawn with short green hair and he was depicted as femboy just fun carefree guy who liked art or some shit.

(This post was not made to reveal how much I’m into twinks and femboys nor that it was so obvious I was not straight)

Then I think there’s one more guy but I honestly have no memory whatsoever of this dude so uhh whelp.

But yeah it was really fun increasing stakes power upping protagonist shonen fantasy and I really liked it when I read it. There was not that big of a fandom culture around it tho because i think it was obvious even then that it was written by a child. Like there was this another 2nd gen fantasy fiction, actually a supernatural urban fantasy fiction (vampires and werewolves) called 월야환담 채월야 and that one had dedicated fandom base like to the point when I went a comic con there were artists selling fanfics and fanarts of it which I bought a few of. I still own a fanart of one of the characters. I think it’s the werebear guy. … I just realized that I of course bought a fanart of literal “bear.” I mean his human form was just tall lanky long haired hot guy so whatever. It kinda started out as Hellsing but was more like Blade.

Anyway yeah I just like reminiscing about some of the 2nd and 3rd gen books and how much they formed my view of fantasy fiction. And also after 3rd gen there was a huge gap in fantasy/science/military/alt-history fiction genre because high speed internet became a thing and nobody went to forums anymore. So many of the fantasy fictions in Korea were written and published for free on forums going even back before world wide web days then The Internet became a thing and webtoons and social media (cyworld and stuff) took over much of people’s attentions. Then Boys over Flowers hit the jackpot and catapulted young adult books written and read by girls became the main alternate literature industry. Nobody wanted to publish fantasy books written by boys or even high fantasy by veteran authors (i mean this was objectively a good thing because we wouldn’t have had webtoons industry if we were being dragged by more fantasy shonen bs). this was also the timeline when kdramas really started to find audience not just in Korea but also in Japan. So emotional love stories was the zeitgeist and that was right around the time I moved to the US and I was able to jump right into a lot of existing English fantasy fictions like Robin Hobb, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Forgotten Realms, A Song of Ice and Fire, and such. Like I didn’t have to thirst for fantasy fictions and I was able to just continue reading fantasy fictions

[petorahs]

NICE i’m glad if you’re having fun then :] 

also it’s no prob i’m still getting used to tumblr too x_x this site is not meant to be a forum i think LMAO 

interesting! i’m just about to get into oct 4 in-game actually and i dont even remember what takaya said from my original playthrough, and it’s only been five months since then. definitely will get back to you on what i think about this then (if i even have a thought. sometimes my synapses refuse to connect when aigis on screen) 

and true! the chairman can be a goofy side-villain i don’t mind him! i, too, could not even take that entire bit seriously with how sudden it was and how little i cared for mitsu’s dad at the time. pretty much another case of sloppy execution, that i can agree. the crucifixion was funny tho

ahh yeah i can understand that! lmao thats a cute quirk if i may say so. even in fiction there’s this trope where the rich families are excessively formal with eachother, yet the love is plain as day. i never denied kirijo’s love towards mitsuru, but simply conflated outwardly-affectionate to loving. kirijo’s design is quite... intense and so is his demeanor lmao, his curtness towards mitsu also did not strike me as ‘loving’ and she seemed sad/scared at the prospect of visiting him. obviously they still loved eachother just expressed it in actions more than traditional methods like yukari and her dad. but i love that story you shared :D  

and now that i see your point in it’s fullness... that’s extremely true. the problem with strega as a whole really is just that they suffer from needing to be seen as the ‘bad guys’ objectively when the topic is so subjective :0 exactly the point you made in the initial ask. there really is no grand ideological clash between SEES and strega like how we see in p5′s antagonists (even p4, if what i’ve gather of it is true) yet i think the writers wrote it that way just so there could be a human-shaped obstacle before the real final battle. fodder, for lack of a better word (and i really do hate to use it), before nyx’s fight. 

the story of persona 3 seems to work best when there is no answer. when the original intent of “not being preachy” and leaving it vague is met, i feel. which is why the manga seems to do it well, yes i can see now :0 i should def give it a read!! (I saw like one panel where ryoji had his bangs down and almost CRIED he looks the same as minato.,.,)<-- is the biggest minato arisato fan on earth

hmmm i dont know about the s.link gameplay-story dissonance but! from here on i will keep it to the main cast’s story depictions for simplicity’s sake.

LMAOO actually i do think power of friendship was in fes too like very briefly but i cant remember it. however, more importantly, i do believe the intent of modern persona is its emphasis on the cumulative nature of the ‘bonds’ you forged rather than each individual? or rather, it’s the effort each MC put into getting to know people or going through it with their fellow teammates instead of doing things solo. it’s why akechi failed while ren succeeded, why adachi failed while yu succeeded. both of them rejected the world and insisted that they were better off without anyone in their lives. (not that i agree with what general modern persona is saying, but that’s the logic behind it). maruki’s just a whole other case i wont get into <3 he had enough goodwill to achieve godhood briefly but ig PT were built diff 

thinking about it more will make my head explode i never minded power of friendship plots myself (i grew up with naruto dattebayo). my heart gets fuzzy whenever the heroes triumph from some cheesy thing like true friendship whatever that means. it truly is. an anime moment. that i will excuse for now 

i didnt know junpei gets developed in the spin-off rhythm game :0 i just knew his dance moves were sick with it. but i see your point there! you’re looking for a slight personality change rather than different actions as development.. if i’m reading this right? then there's nothing i can really say aside from, yeah, junpei doesnt really change from beginning of the game and after much from any obvious aspect (like. i’d definitely have to be thinking hard about it to come up with one which is an indication that it was bunk from the start). 

and so doesn’t yukari. i agree! she does not undergo much of a personality change either, and i never claimed as such. she was a sweet-yet-troubled girl in the beginning and same in the end. which is why it does boggle me that p3 fans cite the “character development regression” argument for anything, without ever taking the time to understand what development it was in the first place. the way i interpreted it and highlighted in the post was her way of dealing with grief over the death of her father. the way she goes from truth-seeking, to jaded, to quietly determined. that’s literally the only crux-resolution of yukari’s character to me. 

i guess by that logic, i’ve found junpei’s ‘development’ to be his aimlessness, to finding something to protect in chidori, to finding someone to live for in their stead also in chidori. from just flying through life to living life decisively. 

to me, these characters aren’t particularly that deep, and i never claimed as such since it’s like persona, the game that juggles so many characters including 22 side ones -- it’s pretty much a given they’ll be tropey. but i can say that if there’s anything p3 did right it’s depicting different levels of grief in all its characters in some capacity, which at least matches its theming. 

and what i can say it does wrong, is not extending that same care and nuance in its villains (Aside from maruki i think), just so they can fill in the shoes of “bad guy”. 

I feel like the main problem with how Strega (Takaya and Jin, at least) are written is just about the game desperately wanting them to remain excessively unlikable until after they are defeated, which is…bizarre and unnecessary, to say the least. They are never actually doing anything of importance, so the narrative relies on "dehumanizing" them into stock villains, to give the players some reason to dislike or, at least, oppose them on a personal level, hence the lack of meaningful characterization. Jin's November comment about SEES "not having a clue what will happen if the Dark Hour disappears", impliedly being about the memory wipeout, since Takaya told them outright they would lose their powers earlier, is the perfect example of this, imo. He gets cut off mid-sentence, so he doesn't spoil it for later, naturally, but it's never brought up again, after eventually being reveled by Ryoji, because that is actually a pretty solid reason for them to antagonize the protagonists (imagine waking up on the streets, with no personal documents, feeling awfully sick and wondering why no one is looking for you!) but, again, they are yet to be defeated and not meant to come off as even remotely sympathetic until then. It's just very…unskillful writing. Sorry for the long message, btw, I initially just wanted to leave a regular comment, actually, but there's just so many words it apparently wouldn't fit in less than five separate responses 😵‍💫

yoooo thanks for the input. thats also a really good way of looking at it! the game needing to make them unlikeable pretty much explains things. it just ends up being really goofy. which is a shame because they really do have great backstories that remain largely unexplored.

Jin's November comment about SEES "not having a clue what will happen if the Dark Hour disappears", impliedly being about the memory wipeout, since Takaya told them outright they would lose their powers earlier

honestly? i never made this connection myself so thanks for telling me! i could see that being true and i'm about to hit that point in my replay game soon myself so i can look at it with this context. question is how could jin have possibly have known this info... my guess is ikutsuki could have fed them that info since he also supplied them with his suppressant drugs, plus they even knew about the Ruin thing that Nyx could have brought about. honestly, including ikutsuki the "antagonists" of p3 are an interesting bunch with how much potential they have that's not really explored but i guess thats just a hashino persona game thing.

also i just think between them and ikutsuki i def see strega having more sympathetic light being shone on them since they were the direct victims of old kirijo's depravity. out of all the kids, only they survived? your comment about them "not having any personal documents" just strikes me as so fcked up. damn. hope it changes a bit in reload.

[isimpoveryou]

deja vu

harry styles x reader

face claim: olivia rodrigo

hello everyone im so glad everyone is enjoying my sour series! im so happy i cant even express anything except thank you. so for todays update i decided to write harry styles fake instagram post with my fav song in the album. now before we start pls remember this story is fictional and no hate to both olivia wilde's and harry styles relationship. i hope you enjoy todays update everyone <33

warning: age gap??

liked by hsupdated.la, y/nupdates.italy, and 12,829,090 others

harrystyles.only.angel NEW!! Harry Styles was seen walking out of (y/n) (l/n) favorite ice cream store in italy with his new girlfriend Olivia Wilde (36). Source said they shared strawberry ice cream together.

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harrykiwi didnt harry and y/n shared strawberry ice cream together??

harrystyles.only.angel YESS!! it gives me deja vu

hsupdates.la WAIT WHAT?!?!

y/nupdates.la i actually saw them.....

harrystyles.babe SAME!! they were so close

harrystylesbitch i feel something is going to happen

liked by florencepugh, kendalljenner, and 22,009,990

yourinstagram strawberry ice cream one spoon for two

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y/nlovesfoods pls be a new song PLSSS

- yourinstagram liked this comment -

harrycherry WAIT NEW SONG?!?! AND ALSO I UNDERSTAND THAT CAPTION

florencepugh BEAUTY EVERY WAY

yourinstagram ALL YOU BABE

y/nxharry if this is abt harry.......pls release it

kendalljenner 🤫

yourinstagram 🤫🤪

y/n.happier ^^ its so weird to see them interacting

liked by mitchrowland, clairo, and 12,789,091 others

yourinstagram so when your gonna tell her that we did that, too?

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y/nupdates.italy THIS IS ABT HARRY

y/n.angel ^^IM NOT READY AAAAAA

harrystyles.falling SIST YOUR BRAVE BRAVE

yourinstagram 😩😩 the best compliment ever

mitchrowland doing great 👍

yourinstagram I CANT BELIEVE MY EYES!! did mitch just compliment me??

mitchrowland im regreting everything

harryxy/n ^^^ ELITE FRIENDSHIP

clairo hottie

yourinstagram you me you??

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yourinstagram DEJA VU IS OUT NOW! thank you for all of the support from my friends, family, and fans, i love you all so much xx

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y/n.watermelon SO WHEN YOU'RE GONNA TELL HER THAT WE DID THAT TOO

y/n.dejavu SHE THINKS ITS SPECIAL BUT ITS ALL REUSED

harrystyles.cherry THIS IS THE BEST SONG EVER

gemmastyles im so proud of you, y/n/n

yourinstagram stopp your making me cry

harrystyles.updates BESTIE REALLY JUST DID THAT

annetwist ❤🤗

yourinstagram love you, anne

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- harrystyles like your post -

[nerdsideofthemedia]

I've come to terms with bb but I still want to know when it was decided to be endgame. I don't buy the "planned from the start" thing since everything in show points to the exact opposite. Maybe the volume commentary after the fact will finally put the matter to rest...or muddle things up further lol. given the likely possibility of them lying ) if it was planned from the start there should have been hints from the start they shouldnt have began hinting at bb halfway into the series ( and attempting to use bb being a same sex ship as a shield and claiming anyone who didnt see evidence just didnt see it because it was a w/w ship makes me roll my eyes "I recognize that BB is likely to become a canon ship. But given that it's a stupid-ass canon ship, I've elected to ignore it."

Have you ever gotten around to reading from start to finish the one giant post dedicated to you that goes into length about your harassment and it is now linked to in all my rwby post in the wordpress blogs, @megashadowdragon (yes, I am almost certain that is your actual real account even if my evidence is circumstancial)? Should I put a link to your tumblr profile too?

You've claimed to be in your late 20s, how the fuck can you be that old and still think it's acceptable to harass someone over a ship? and for months, no less. The only time you left me alone is when I had cut all means to do so. I shouldn’t have to do that. Have you been checking on my account every week for the last month to see when you could strike again? Get the fuck over it. BS sunk for good in early V6 (yes, the Renora/BB parallels are very clearly intentional and no, they didn’t change their minds mid-volume – that would have been likely impossible). V9 is starting in a couple of months.

If the writers told you every single hint they had to reveal BB, you would not believe them, so don’t bother feigning curiosity and pretending you’re open-minded. A person who thinks Adam attacked Yang and associated the word love without any planning on the writers' part is someone who could not care less about what the writers were trying to convey. A person who sees Yang getting associated with the ex and Sun getting associated with the unrequited love doesn’t think it says anything about story is naïve at best. And a person who keeps sending me to a goddamn post (that I’ve even quoted verbatim in one of my posts) that says “Like seriously if I was writing two characters that were only meant to be platonic, I would never write a scene like that. The implication of those words are too strong.” but tries to pretend this only applies to Renora and not BB is a deeply homophobic one. I have yet to understand how the hell you fail to see that that post makes actually a massive amazing argument for BB being planned from very early on. 

Nothing can be applied to Renora without applying to BB too. 

It wasn’t just the Renora scenes that were written by writers, the BB scenes also were, including the flirting and wink, the ship named Pride, the ex attacking and using the word love, yet classmate for Sun, Yang paralleling Pyrrha when they both helped the object of their affection in the dance arc, the Arkos/BB parallels in V3, etc. The writers decide everything. If they wanted Sun to fight the ex and not be associated with unrequited love, that would have happened. Don’t bother pointing Adam didn’t fight Sun when they were alone, that’s why he used the word classmate because the fight could have happened any way the writers wanted it to happen. If they wanted those 2 to fight (or with Blake) and use the word love, they would have.

The writers decide everything. If they wanted to associate Sun with the ex instead of the unrequited love or if they wanted to associate him with the word love instead of classmate, they would have. 

Instead of writing a post responding to all your nonsense for the 124539th time, 

let’s decide what to do with you. 

I’m guessing reporting you to tumblr is worthless because you harassed me using several accounts that no longer exist (mysteriouslypaleenthusiast, reallydelicateturtle, red2sposts, ravenstarsblog, violetcloudsworld, pleasantbarbarianfire, makofan and now lightningemperorsworld). Let’s not forget the multiple anons and the b@gmail.com and the m@gmail.com. Still, reporting to tumblr and see if they have ways to check it’s you and see what they can do about it, not off the table.  

Here’s my suggestion: you stop harassing the BB community (the entire community, not just me) and I let bygones be bygones. 

Or maybe, I inform your community (yes, I have also saved the usernames of the people you are constantly asking to bring down our posts because you can’t do it yourself – to be fair, neither can they) and let them know what you’ve been up to and how you’ve been using them to harass us. Unless of course, they already know, but they’re garbage so they don’t care. I may be willing to take a shot and find out.

Oh, and you can stop with the nonsense of being offended because I called you out on your homophobia. You don’t want to be called out on it, then stop being homophobic. For starters, stop harassing real LGBTQ+ people because your fictional straight ship didn’t become canon. 

If most saw it coming and you didn’t, then the writers didn’t fail, you did. Also, the hints didn’t begin mid-series, they have been there since the red fucking trailer. By the end of V3, a good chunk of the audience had called it. By the end of V6, almost no one thought BB wasn’t going to be endgame. 

You are one of the few exceptions. If that doesn’t scream volumes to you about your lack of understanding of storytelling/how much you live in denial, then nothing will. Live in “I’m right and everyone else is wrong” for as long as you want, but don’t ever bother me or anyone else ever again.

For the sake of honesty, I will say that I do not know if @megashadowdragon​ is the one behind the harassment of several BBers. I know with almost certainty they are behind mine, but I cannot be sure they have other victims since the patterns aren’t the same (at least, not the victims I know of). This been said, add them to the list of suspects.

I suppose I thank you for not being a complete asshole to me for the last 2,5 years, when I actually wrote the post that has you screeching for months. And now I say fuck you for being a complete asshole to me for the last 4 months because of a goddamn ship. Yet you have the fucking gall to pretend we are the toxic ones.  

TLDR: act your age (which you claimed is late 20s), and stop harassing people over a ship. No one owes it to you to pretend they did not see BB coming just because you didn’t. No one gives a shit about what you ship. Ship whatever you want as much as you want. Want to have an entire tumblr page just for BS? Go right ahead. What you cannot do is force your garbage ship down someone else’s throat. 

[mittensmorgul]

do we know why the boys were not allowed to have facial hair on the show? i feel like it was more in character than to assume sam and dean had to time to just always be clean shaven in the middle of apocalypses, being demons or possessed, fighting gods ect. on the flip side, im still confused as to how cas grew facial hair in purgatory when i didnt think that was something that happened to angel vessels?

Hi there! There's actually quite a bit going on in this question (I think this is my way of saying sorry it's taken me a few days to get to it :'D)

I'll start by saying I don't think it was a matter of "not allowed" to have facial hair, but it's actually more complicated than that. Not to mention Dean especially was almost never what I'd call "clean shaven" outside of when they were beginning a hunt and posing as FBI.

There's a video I think on the s1 dvd's called something like "a day in the life of Jared and Jensen". Wait... I found it on the youtube...

It's only about 10 minutes long, and if you haven't seen it, it's worth watching all of it. It was shot during the filming of 1.20 Dead Man's Blood, so they hadn't even been at this a full year yet. About 2 1/2 minutes in, they go through hair and makeup, and talk about shaving.

Back in s1, Sam had to be more clean shaven to look younger, and Dean had to have a bit of scruff just to look a bit older. So at first it was to visually make their ages more obvious. But it's also about continuity on camera. Remember, each episode of supernatural was filmed over eight weekdays (with a couple days for weekends in the middle). Episodes are NOT filmed in scene order. It would make it almost impossible to show normal, chronological beard growth over the span of two weeks of filming, you know?

If they film scene 38 first, then scene 12, then scene 19, then scene 2 over the course of four days, their facial hair has to remain believably consistent, not grow and shrink :'D So having a designated easily duplicatable facial hair style (and hair cut, because head hair can grow noticeably in two weeks, too, especially when it's as short as Jensen's on the sides/back) makes visual continuity actually possible. Especially when they're filming entire EPISODES out of airing order.

Think about Jensen's beard in the AU bunker battle scene in the beginning of 15.04. That was the first episode filmed of s15, and those were the first SHOTS filmed of s15 before Jensen shaved off his hiatus beard for the rest of the season. Those scenes were probably filmed in a single day, two at most, before he had to resume "standard Dean." Also think about Demon Dean's slightly longer hair that went back to normal, or Sam's beard from the first three episodes of s14 before he shaved in 14.04. Those times the longer hair/facial hair was used to show a lack of self-care for various reasons.

I think Cas's Purgatory beard was used to show the same. He was doing "penance" in his own mind, but I do think it was also the seeds of his entire depression arc that would run right through 15.18 and then never get an actual resolution (sorry, I had to at least grumble about that a little bit...). I remember Jensen saying when he asked why Dean was clean-shaven in Purgatory and Cas wasn't, he was told by someone that "Dean has knives," and would actually continue shaving for some reason, while Cas wouldn't even bother using his grace/powers to maintain his appearance there.

I don't believe the show has ever made any sort of statement about angel vessels NOT growing hair/facial hair. Plus by this point in the series, we really do have to consider that Cas's body, not as much his vessel anymore. Jimmy was long gone, and the last at least two times Cas had been resurrected, that body was also remade for him. We're at least two degrees of remove from that being a normal vessel, so even if angel vessels aren't "supposed to" grow hair or change their appearance, Cas would have an exception asterisk attached. :'D

The thing is, we HAVE seen other angels change the appearance of their vessels. I mean... Lucifer, for one, especially in s13. He grew scruff, looked messy, etc. And it was explained to be a result of having been imprisoned and his grace seriously depleted to the point he couldn't even perform small magical tasks for himself.

So why did Cas grow scruff in Purgatory? Because television is a visual storytelling medium. If you had a friend in real life who usually looked like Cas normally does, and then saw him after months and saw the guy Dean found in Purgatory, what would your immediate thoughts be about how that friend had been doing lately? Did similar thoughts about how Cas's last few months in Purgatory alone, running from Leviathans, staying alive primarily to keep the Leviathans focused on HIM instead of on Dean?

I think the phrase "run ragged" applies to Cas's Purgatory look. Sometimes facial scruff combined with smudged on dirt is the fastest visual shorthand for "yikes this guy has had it rough lately." Hence his "get clean" scene in 8.07 restoring him entirely to "normal," including clean-shaven and a decent haircut somehow. I think he'd been entirely able to have given himself that look in Purgatory, but he just never bothered to. For whatever reason, Dean did bother. And that was part of the visual narrative telling us that Dean still cared, and that Cas (outside of his mission of keeping the leviathan away from Dean) didn't.

Like, even when Cas was human in early s9, when he was on the run and homeless, even when he was given opportunity to shave his scruff (at the beginning of the episode while brushing his teeth, and at the end after showering at the bunker and before being kicked out) he still retained the scruff. The next time we saw him in 9.06, when he was settling into his "new human life" as a sales associate, even though we understand he's still technically homeless, he's actually maintaining his appearance, demonstrated by his care for himself and the fact he bothered to shave. For him, it was a visual signifier of his growing to accept himself.

To go way back up to that video above, in the makeup trailer are dozens of photos of different looks for each of them. Yes, some are purely silly, but even as shown in 6.15 The French Mistake (the "I'm a painted whore!" scene) are a few similar continuity photos. Every day of filming, every change to makeup and hair (including FX makeup showing wounds, bruises, etc.) has to be documented for the sake of continuity. Or you'd have an episode with alternating scenes of them having longer/shorter/longer facial hair over the course of what's supposed to be a single day on screen. The easiest way to maintain that continuity is character consistency, only having a drastically different look occasionally, for a specific reason.

So why couldn't they have chosen to go with a beard for an entire season? It's just as easy to maintain beard consistency day to day on set as it is to just have them shave to scruff, right? Crowley did that... he was clean-shaven the first few seasons he was on the show, and then grew the beard, so why not Sam and Dean?

As I said above, the visual language of the show actually means something. These aren't real people who might casually decide to grow facial hair for fashion reasons. They're fictional characters being used to tell a specific story. Their appearance and their clothing choices are visual shorthand to give us information about their current mental state, their internal priorities, etc. It's all part of the story, and in this story, Sam and Dean generally care enough to maintain their chosen physical appearance. They only seem to grow beards when they're either being run ragged or otherwise lack the ability to care for themselves, whether by choice or by circumstance.

I think it's less "they were not allowed to grow beards" and more "this would not be in character in the visual language of the show."

[smnthwrd]

i feel like im the only one who hated pacey and joeys first time?

okay actually no, the scene itself was beautiful, i loved it, but i hate the way it happened. like, they're fighting literally the entire episode and theres this awful tension between them, and i just really hate that it happened on the trip where it was expected to happen. the whole episode (and the episode before it tbh) it just felt like joey was being pressured. like the whole trip was setup to be about sex, and she never once seemed even remotely comfortable with the idea, and there was this looming pressure that we as the audience could feel, like "so, are you gonna do it? you know everyones doing it. pacey wants to do it. everyone expects you to do it." and even though in the end she did want to have sex with him, and the scene itself + the one where pacey turns down that one chick is really sweet, it just ultimately felt kind of untimely to me. i wish it had happened more naturally, without all this "will she/wont she" stuff leading up to it.

like there were almost no positive moments between them in the episode and i just didnt like that. the whole thing just gave me bad vibes. like it wasnt even a buildup of "im ready but im just scared to take the final leap" tension leading to her decision, it was just bad tension. like, the whole world is pressuring you to do something youre not ready to do yet bad. and while i do believe that she did ultimately actually want to have sex with him, i hate that the timing of her decision felt rushed because everyone expected her to do it.

i also hated that pacey seemed impatient? the whole time i was waiting for him to, just once, genuinely reassure joey that it was okay that she wasnt ready, but instead it was a lot of half-assed "whenever youre ready, but uh sooner would be better than later😬" (and he was borderlining nice-guy territory with the "look at me, look at me, i waited a whole 8 months to have sex because im such a good understanding boyfriend" as if he deserved a medal for keeping it in his pants🙄) like i know its realistic for a teenage boy to want sex, but pacey isnt meant to be a realistic teenage boy, hes this fictional fantasy of "the perfect boyfriend" and thats why so many people love him, because watching him be so understanding and sweet gives us hope that maybe, just maybe there are good guys out there. idk maybe its my asexuality talking but i hate the whole narrative that sex is the be-all end-all of every relationship.

personally think it would have been way better if joey and pacey had an actual conversation (that didnt end up in some weird passive aggressive bitch fight about dawson) where joey explained that yes, she loves pacey, but she just isnt ready yet, and pacey reassured her that its okay, that he loves her, and though he does want to have sex with her, he wants to wait until joey is ready and it feels right. then they go on to cuddle, sleep, whatever, and dont end up having sex on the trip, and thats what makes joey joey realize that she really is ready, and then the exact same scene happens, but after they get back.

but alas, thats just my opinion. idk i just really really really hate when sex seems forced or pressured at all, its an immediate turnoff for me. and joey and pacey just didnt seem like the type of couple to have sex for the first time on a senior ski trip where everyone expected them to, ya know? their whole relationship has been unique, completely unlike the "expected" teenage relationship, doing things on their own terms. theyre goofy, loyal, and they were alone on a boat for 3 months and they just read stories to eachother and slept in hammocks. idk i just kinda expected expected different from such a special couple

[certifiedceraunophile]

Hiya!! Caroline Forbes for the character game, if you would be so inclined.

I am so so sorry I'm so late to this ask, but I'm hoping better late than never :) [like seriously I’m answering this a month late I am sooooo sorry!!]

First impression

My first impression of Caroline was during that scene at the grill, when she was drunk and like "I try so hard and nobody goes for me, nobody wants me, everything is a competition and I try so hard and NEVER win" to bonnie, and honestly calling myself out here, but I hated her in that moment simply bc I could see wayyyyy too much of myself in her, and I felt sort of vulnerable seeing such a blatant reflection of my deepest insecurities just sitting there in front of my eyes, but at that moment I wasnt looking to self reflect or read into it too deeply [I was there for mindless cheap entertainment] so my first basic impression I believe was to absolutely scoff at her, and I was like, I already dont like this chick, but also I was expecting her to be sort of a watered down regina george character, bc that's how they introduced her in terms of how she behaves w elena, she was supposed to be the shallow passive aggressive vapid bitch who's friendship is performative at best and toxic at worst, the way she treats Bonnie as a convenient sound board and replaceable company did not go unnoticed by me, these parts I can say I did not relate to, however I saw them for what they are, which is the makings of a headbitch mean girl who's imminent “untimely” death will not be mourned so much as alluded to constantly as a warning call and/or a cautionary tale for all the nameless dangers that are lurking in their godforsaken town, basically I expected her to die as a plot-pusher and then her death + the aftermath would've served as a convenient point of mild conflict between stelena to you know add to the "forbideness" of their relationship, so at this point all my first impressions were exactly what the writer's intended and honestly I was just waiting for her to die since it was clearly just a matter of time before that happened, but at the same time, I might not have been completely aware of this during that period of time, but the grill scene struck a chord with me and stayed with me quietly for a very long time, months later after reading several ffs and metas I can pinpoint that I was basically stuck between finding solidarity w Caroline in having the same insecurities as the character, and hating the fact that I had those insecurities at all to begin w and how vividly they were shown to me through Caroline without any restraint or cushioning.

So yeah you could say her character itself left me both vulnerable and seen at the same time so it was an odd mix of finding comfort and empathizing with this fictional character, but predominantly I was feeling.....agitated and hiding away from the truth that she represented to me; these two opposing feelings conflicted with one another constantly leaving me in a place where I mostly did not know if I liked her at all and if I didnt like her was it because she was written to be a mildly irritating side character [that I couldnt be bothered to emotionally invest in] or just because I saw too much of myself, especially the parts of me I dont particularly care for, in her to ever like her.

So yeah on one side I could say I wasnt deeply bothered [in a good or a bad way] by her, and only in passing acknowledged her to be the plot-convenient side character she was in the very beginning, but on the other hand, I somehow latently knew that it was so much more than that, and I am so so glad it was in fact the latter of the two that was true.

Impression now

Listen my impression of her now, cannot be encapsulated into a well thought out explanation of why I think so and so of her and how it affects me, but I think personally right now if you ask me what I think of Caroline, I would say I see her and I think, 

Oh I....know you, I see you everyday when I think about the kind of growth I want to have, I see myself in your past and while you may have grown I havent, but I can see it’s possible, however fictional and non-existent you are, if it’s possible for you, it’s possible for me.

[Also I just wanna add here, that in no way am I, at this moment, referring to canon!caroline directly but I am strictly thinking of the Caroline I have built in my head and the growth I projected onto her when I saw her transition from vapid blonde shallow bitchy human [and here’s the thing she wasnt vapid or shallow even in her human days but the insecurities still made her feel that way] to confident, painfully real, optimistic, loyal and so overflowingly full of love-vampire who has forgiven her past self but also loves her past self because no one thought she was worth that but Caroline Forbes thinks 16 year old Human Caroline Forbes deserves just as much love as Vampire Caroline Forbes and if no one else is brave enough, real enough to give that to her she will give it to her herself, Which to me is beautiful and resonates so deeply with me and that is exactly what I would say is my current impression of her; A girl so full of love and light, even her own shadow self cannot escape it.]

Favorite moment

Every moment she beats up a guy is my favourite moment and every time she insults Klaus with a smile on her face is also my favourite moment.

Idea for a story

Ok so I’ve had this idea brewing in my head for a while and I’m really excited to make it into an extensive multichap work when I do get the time, but you know how in Legacies [gag] there’s this episode where in an alternative universe where Hope doesnt exist at all, Caroline and Klaus are the cutest Enemies of the State couple to ever exist and they both are basically fucking shit up to the point where the humans wanna end the supernatural world as they know it, in legacies the reason behind the supernatural uprising was something unnecessarily sordid and stupid but I am basically thinking of something else but will lead to the same alternate universe we see in legacies, the basic premise rn is that  Klaus and Caroline are the Supreme leaders of the supernatural community and are leading them against the humans in this war that has broken out all over the world in a bid to end the supernatural world altogether, and I kind of have it outlined to take them from However Long it Takes my Last Love to let’s discuss our next strategy to over throw all opposing world governments on this table and then proceed to fuck on it.

So yeah I kinda wanna say stay tuned for that, but I wont cuz seriously I have no faith in myself lmao.

Unpopular opinion

As much as I love to criticize other characters [mostly Elena] for being hypocritical twats regarding Caroline’s choices, Caroline herself is a hypocrite multiple times through out canon, but I myself find that I am ok with that, since I never expected her to be perfect and her hypocrisy only makes her more real in my eyes since every time she is a hypocrite she is called out on it and made to face her own double standard.

Favorite relationship

I wanna say Klaus, like seriously I really really do,  but for me personally the relationship my Vampire!Caroline has with her past human self will always be the most beautiful enriching and hope giving thing.

That and also her relationship with her mom and how it finds this transformation from a place where they constantly hurt each other and are estranged from each other to a place where they try so hard to understand and love each other and finding the other to be an unmovable pillar in their life that strengthens and holds them up also resonates with me deeply.

Favorite headcanon

This one