#listen!! i don't dislike the idea! i just tend to over-explain when it comes to my own thoughts on them (which have evolved over time anywa

[journey-to-the-attic]

3rd anni req 24: luke / outing

ao3 link

note: okay, so the original request did refer to a restaurant, but i was having trouble figuring out what to write for that setting, so i ended up swapping it - but the scenario still works as a silly little date as specified, so hopefully that's okay!

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“I still don’t get what we’re doing here.”

“You’ll understand as soon as you get in.”

“Are you sure you can’t come with me?”

“So many questions. Yes, I’m sure.” Lucifer sighs. “You’ll have company once you get inside. Call me once you’re finished.”

“...fine.” I huff, allowing him to push me through the door.

A bell rings, and Lucifer nods at me one final time before disappearing back out onto the street. I don’t even know where this is, but this looks like a reception, so I shuffle hesitantly to the demon at the front desk.

She looks up from a notepad as I approach, and offers a friendly smile. “Can I help you?”

My mind blanks. I think Lucifer told me what to say, but—

“IK!”

“Luke?”

“You took ages! I was getting worried.” He turns to the receptionist with a polite cough. “Oh, um, this is the friend I was talking about.”

“I see,” She says with the same smile as before, then indicates a door to her left. “Well, go ahead. Enjoy yourselves.”

“Thank you! IK, come on.”

“What’s going on?” I ask, bewildered, as we step into a finely carpeted hallway. “Is there a party or something?”

“It’s afternoon tea,” He says patiently - as if he’s reminding me of something I already know. “Did you forget?”

“I didn’t know there was anything to forget.”

“Lucifer didn’t tell you?”

“No?”

He stops walking. I do the same. We stare at each other for a moment.

Clearly something’s been lost in communication here. Was Lucifer meant to tell me? He certainly wasn’t acting like he intended to. He’s got to have set this up, right? It’s definitely not a coincidence that Asmo had a new tie for me this morning, either. Maybe everyone’s in on it…

“...well, never mind,” I say after a moment - Luke is beginning to look panicked. “Did you say afternoon tea?”

“Barbatos recommended it. I thought…” He trails off for a moment. “...well, I wanted to try the sweets. And I felt bad about the thing in Enchantments.”

I’d forgotten about that as soon as we left the classroom, to be honest. (I’m not one hundred percent sure I didn’t break something, but Simeon was so quick on the ball with his healing that I couldn’t tell.)

“I did tell you it was fine,” I say, indicating for him to start moving again. “But this is nice. You didn’t invite Simeon?”

“Oh, um… no.” He looks a little embarrassed. “He said he was busy.”

He indicates a door and ushers me into a dainty little parlour room. It’s opulent in a subtle sort of way; the decor is quaint, but it’s clear that whoever owns the place isn’t skimping on costs to keep the charm of the aesthetic up. I recognise those special ambient candles - Asmo uses them for photoshoots, and they definitely don’t come cheap.

One of the chairs is already pulled out, but despite the vast spread of sweets across the table, Luke clearly hasn’t touched anything yet. He shows me the catalogue of teas on offer - the names are so flowery that they all kind of melt together into an indistinguishable haze. Eventually I spot one that I recognise from Barbatos’s own collection, and quickly latch onto it.

“You’re really good at this,” Luke says happily as I pour him a cup. “Oh, wait!”

He leaps up, rounds the table, and quickly pulls out my chair for me with a little bow. “There. Like a gentleman does it.”

“Thanks,” I say with a laugh. “Did Barbatos teach you that?”

Luke returns to his seat, a little pink-cheeked. “Raphael, actually. Okay! Let’s try some of these cakes!”

The menu is extensive: a vast array of confections, iced in a colour wheel of hues, topped with everything from spun sugar to dried fruit to little edible figurines. There are some I recognise - Battenberg, castella, chiffon, babka - and even more that I don’t.

Most of them are rendered in miniature form, so that as many can be sampled as possible, with the exception of the house special. This one is a pure Devildom creation, though it looks to me a lot like a Swiss roll with an especially large, almost dizzying swirl. It feels like I’ll fall into it if I stare too long…

“Look at the rise on that,” Luke says in awe, holding up one of the ones I don’t recognise. “They’re so teeny, but they look absolutely perfect. Mm! It’s not sour at all, either! Mine always come out too tart.”

“Hey, I know this one.” I pick out a little rectangular one with layers of puff pastry. “This guy’s French. I think it’s called mille-feuille.”

“Mille-feuille,” Luke repeats, then giggles. “That’s fun, isn’t it? Mille-feuille.”

“A lot of these are French, actually,” I ponder, pointing at several in quick succession. “Eclairs, macarons, and… well, we call those French fancies, but I don’t think they actually are. You call all these petits fours.”

“Petits fours,” He copies, then draws out the vowels a bit more. “Petits fours.”

“Petits fours,” I agree.

“Petits fours...”

We pass the words back and forth, making it a little more French each time, until the consonants completely disappear and we’re practically just cawing at each other, and finally reduce ourselves to laughter.

“You’re good!” I manage once we’ve calmed down enough. “Your French is really good!”

“Is it?” He takes a few deep breaths and grins helplessly across the table. “I was just copying you.”

“You do it better than I do, I reckon. Whew…” I compose myself with a sip of tea. “And you don’t even have France in the Celestial Realm. Actually, the Devildom doesn’t, either, so what’re all these French sweets doing here?”

“Maybe they’re just that good! Actually, even in the Celestial Realm, human-world sweets are even more popular than our traditional ones.”

“The French do really know how to bake. It might the second best thing they do. After revolution.”

“Revolution?”

“And chopping people’s heads off.”

“What?”

“Did I never tell you about the guillotines?”

I wouldn’t have blamed him for asking me to stop (we’re eating, after all), but Luke listens to the whole history lesson with starry-eyed fascination, and it doesn’t stop him from sampling a mini madeleine and two financiers while he’s listening. Morbid history is much more Belphie’s thing, but Luke asks questions even he hadn’t thought of - like how long the heads stayed ‘awake’ for after they were cut off, which is possibly the most unsettling way he could have phrased it.

A year or so ago, I don’t think he could’ve gotten past de Launay’s head being on a pike. I don’t think I could’ve identified nearly as many of the cakes laid out in front of us, either. (Now that I think about it, it’s a shame there isn’t any angel cake.) Clearly we’ve had very different effects on each other.

Once I’ve exhausted about as much of the history lesson as I can recall, it’s Luke’s turn to tell me about the time a seraph, pursued by some heavenly equivalent of a polar bear, crossed the entire Celestial Realm thrice over in a trial of justice and courage. Though the point seems to be more about the spectacle - and it sounds more like the seraph Uriel just did it for fun. A trial of courage probably doesn’t involve pole-vaulting over a perfectly level field.

Somehow, no matter how long we talk, the sweets never get sickly, for all there are so many of them. I really must have learnt something from Barbatos; something about the occasional sip of tea stops the cakes from getting too cloyingly sweet. Still, eventually we’ve both had enough for the day.

I can’t say I’m not worried about all the sugar - but somehow I don’t feel the buzz as we keep talking, either. Maybe it’s cancelling out, somehow. It’s easy to keep up the energy with such good company.

Luke excuses himself to go ask for something, and it’s only once the room is silent that I realise how much time we’ve whiled away. I decide to shoot Lucifer a message - because he likes to fret about timings, even if he denies it - just to let him know that we’re still doing fine.

As soon as I press send, there’s a muffled musical note from somewhere suspiciously close by. I pause, then turn around. There’s a large potted plant blocking the window from the direct view of the table.

I narrow my eyes. Then I get up, round the table, side-step aside the potted plant, look out through the window - and make direct eye contact with Simeon.

He, at least, has the grace to look embarrassed. Lucifer, standing plainly beside him, does not; he just raises an eyebrow at me and jerks his head, as if to say ‘continue’.

I don’t know whether or not to be annoyed at him. Actually, I still don’t know why he made such a performance of getting me here in the first place. ‘Do you want to go to a sweets parlour with Luke?’ would have been a perfectly fine way to set it up. Did he think the fancy hotel would intimidate me too much?

Luke isn’t back yet. I unfasten the latch and open the window, half-expecting them both to disappear, then hiss, “I thought you were busy.”

Simeon smiles sheepishly. “I wanted to make sure things were going well.”

“Have you been here the whole time?”

“Oh, no, just for a few minutes. There’s a little cafe just out front. We were having coffee…”

“And spying on us.”

He winces a little. “That’s a strong word.”

I turn to Lucifer, who still doesn’t look as if he thinks he’s done anything wrong. “Why wouldn’t you tell me what was going on?”

“I thought it might spoil the surprise,” He says lightly. “Well? Are you having fun? Is Luke behaving himself?”

Simeon shoots him a look. “Of course he is."

“I’m afraid I wasn’t asking you.”

“We’re having fun,” I interject, exasperated. “Lucifer, behave.”

He quirks a brow and folds his arms. “That’s an odd way to speak to the demon who’s paying for this.”

“Don’t listen to him, IK,” Simeon says. “We agreed to split the bill.”

“If you’re so quick to make corrections, perhaps you should pay for the whole—”

“Okay, that’s enough,” I announce. “Go do something fun, alright? I’ll save you some cake.”

I shut the window (Simeon waves a little meekly), then draw both the blinds and the thick velvety curtains for good measure. To be honest, without magic, there’s very little I could do about them eavesdropping if they really wanted to, but it’s better for all of us if they just listen.

I’d better light some more of these candles, too. It’s kind of dark in here now.

Luke returns just as I’m done doing that. He shuts the door behind him, then pauses. “...what’s this?”

“There, uh… there were a lot of people walking by the window.” He might start panicking if I told him the truth. Or, worse, get mad, and storm off to chew Simeon out. “It was kind of dark, so…”

“Oh! Right.” He coughs and comes further into the room. He seems a little flushed. “Ahem, anyway, I asked, and all the cakes come with the package, so we can take the ones we don’t finish home. I got some bags from the front desk - they’re really cute.

“Alright… are we leaving?”

“Well, we don’t have to. The lady at the desk said the room wasn’t booked for the rest of the afternoon. I was just thinking…”

“I could put on a bit more tea,” I suggest. “Barbatos says the neptune-blue is good for talking after sweets. If you’re not sick of me, I mean.”

He beams. “Come on, I could never get sick of you. Yeah, let’s stay a little longer!”

[khaire-traveler]

I'm so sorry for the unclear question!! I was referring to the connection people feel when worshiping a deity. Feeling their energy, building the relationship etc

I was wondering how you can tell the difference between that feeling compared to the feeling that comes with becoming emotionally attached to an idea of something

eg. Worshiping Apollo and feeling his energy and a genuine connection vs worshiping him and becoming attached to the idea that someone out there is listening to me and helping me

I hope hope hope this makes sense! It's so difficult to explain ;-; Basically how can I tell if there issss a connection building or if it's my own imagination and false attachment 💕

Hey, Nonny, no worries about my confusion! Thank you for clearing this up.

For the past few days, I've been thinking of how to answer this ask, and honestly, I don't really know. These sorts of things tend to vary from person to person, and from what I understand, it requires some level of having faith. It sounds like you may be having a lot of doubts in your practice, and although "having faith" seems like a ridiculously simple answer, it's the answer that's worked for me in these situations.

I've had similar doubts within my deity relationships, questioning if I was making things up or if this was truly happening. What I did was A LOT of divination - of many types - to ask my deities what our relationships were like for them. I also prayed quite often, and back when I could meditate, I'd meditate to discuss things with my deities. The biggest factor that I was missing throughout all of this, however, was faith. Having faith that your relationships are as they seem, having faith that your deities will let you know if anything changes, having faith that your deities care for you in the ways you feel they do. It all comes down to having faith. It's a lot easier said than done, especially if you have prior experience of faith in a deity being broken, but with practice and a lot of hard work, it becomes easier over time.

You will never have faith 100% of the time, and that's not what I'm saying you should do. It's natural to have periods of doubt - ups and downs, peaks and valleys, etc. - but try not to let these moments of doubt ruin your experience entirely. If you find yourself having a lot of negative self-talk like, "My deities actually hate/dislike/don't care about me," or, "I'm making this up and forcing my deities to have a relationship with me," my advice is to examine those thoughts further. Get to the root of them because I'm telling you now that I doubt they're just random. Ask yourself things like, "When was the first time I felt this way?" and "Has anyone in my life made me feel this way before?" Another thing you can do when these thoughts and feelings arise is to acknowledge them like "Ok, I hear me, I hear what I'm saying" and then ask yourself, "But where did I get this information from? Did a deity straight up tell me they felt this way, or did I come up with this thought all on my own? What is my proof that my deity feels this way? What is my proof that they don't?"

Another thing to keep in mind is that a deity probably isn't going to string you along. Sometimes when we think our relationships aren't real, it seriously is just anxiety. If a deity didn't feel a connection with you at all, they are mature and considerate enough to make that clear and obvious to you. I experienced this second-hand when an ex-friend and I approached a deity together (on the ex-friend's behalf), and the deity made it very clear that he wasn't interested. They're not going to lead you on, and you need to trust that. Obviously, that's easier said than done, especially if you have any problems with trust. It's a matter of time and practice, to remind yourself of these sorts of things. Be patient and gentle with yourself.

I hope this helps in some capacity at least. This question was a lot more philosophical than what I was anticipating lol. I may not have answered this perfectly, but I did the best I could. Take care, and have a good day/night. Thank you for being so patient. <3

[atopvisenyashill]

What are your thoughts on pol!jon? I’m no fan of j/d but pol!jon feels so out of character and cruel that I really can’t see it

Oof okay that’s an interesting question.

I think there's a lot of elements to the political!jon theory that people tend to just conflate into one big theory similar to how the grand northern conspiracy has some parts that are a little galaxy brained and some stuff that makes perfect sense and has a lot of grounding in the text.

So for anyone who is unaware - I know a lot of my oomfs didn't get into the series until after the show stopped airing - the pol!jon theory came from s7 of the show to explain the absolutely inconsistent and stupid decisions jon makes in s7 and s8. The idea was that, basically, like Torrhen Stark before him, Jon Snow bent the knee to Daenerys at Dragonstone not because he actually wants the North to be tied to the Iron Throne again or because he's loyal to Daenerys but rather because he is attempting to manipulate her; when he realizes that she will not come North to save his people but did cross the Wall to save him he makes the decision to seduce her in order to bring her to the North to defend his people.

Now...a lot of people really dislike this theory. They feel it's too cruel of Jon to do, it's OOC, I've even seen some people say that any sex between them is noncon (which...aight), etc etc. I do understand to a certain point why people think it's out of character for Jon to do this but the thing is...he literally has already done something very similar in canon. Look at his relationship with Ygritte:

Two hearts that beat as one. Mance Rayder’s mocking words rang bitter in his head. Jon had seldom felt so confused. I have no choice, he’d told himself the first time, when she slipped beneath his sleeping skins. If I refuse her, she will know me for a turncloak. I am playing the part the Halfhand told me to play. His body had played the part eagerly enough. His lips on hers, his hand sliding under her doeskin shirt to find a breast, his manhood stiffening when she rubbed her mound against it through their clothes. My vows, he’d thought, remembering the weirwood grove where he had said them, the nine great white trees in a circle, the carved red faces watching, listening. But her fingers were undoing his laces and her tongue was in his mouth and her hand slipped inside his smallclothes and brought him out, and he could not see the weirwoods anymore, only her. She bit his neck and he nuzzled hers, burying his nose in her thick red hair. Lucky, he thought, she is lucky, fire-kissed. “Isn’t that good?” she whispered as she guided him inside her. She was sopping wet down there, and no maiden, that was plain, but Jon did not care. His vows, her maidenhood, none of it mattered, only the heat of her, the mouth on his, the finger that pinched at his nipple. “Isn’t that sweet?” she said again. “Not so fast, oh, slow, yes, like that. There now, there now, yes, sweet, sweet. You know nothing, Jon Snow, but I can show you. Harder now. Yessss.” A part, he tried to remind himself afterward. I am playing a part. I had to do it once, to prove I’d abandoned my vows. I had to make her trust me. It need never happen again. He was still a man of the Night’s Watch, and a son of Eddard Stark. He had done what needed to be done, proved what needed to be proven.

Now, I don't think this is rape on either side but it's certainly uncomfortable, dubious consent wise, and not meant to be just a straight romantic scene. Ygritte isn't aware - though she does suspect - that Jon hasn't truly joined their side. Ygritte feels he's holding onto his vows out of stubborn pride or perhaps ignorance; she does not suspect he's actually going to betray them, but she can tell he's clearly conflicted over his desertion. Jon, meanwhile, is only having sex with Ygritte to prove he's a true deserter; he is actively manipulating her by playing on her fondness for him and invoking Wildlings customs like bride stealing when they have sex here.

So the idea that political!Jon is out of character doesn't really work because while Jon is clearly guilt ridden over it, he can and has used sex and romance as a manipulation tactic before. As for it being too cruel, well, let's ask Gilly about Jon's capacity for cruelty then hmm?

“You will make a crow of him.” She wiped at her tears with the back of a small pale hand. “I won’t. I won’t.” Kill the boy, thought Jon. “You will. Else I promise you, the day that they burn Dalla’s boy, yours will die as well.”

Jon is quite capable of cruelty when he wants to be just as surely as he's capable of manipulation. This doesn't mean he doesn't feel guilt or that he doesn't care for the people he manipulates. On the contrary, I think part of why Ygritte continuously echoes in Jon's mind as a sort of mentor figure is because of the guilt he feels for leading Ygritte straight to her death. When Ygritte briefly opens up to him about a past abusive relationship, he doesn't dismiss her at all, and seems to make an effort to otherwise be kind, affectionate, and loving to her. He's just also planning on betraying her because he feels the Wildlings as they are currently organized are too dangerous to just be set free on the unsuspecting North (and he's not wrong - his alliance forces the Wildlings to put down their arms, yes, but it also empowers the Wildlings to come to the negotiation table as equals, as people of Westeros rather than as nameless, faceless barbarians).

So no, I don't really think it's OOC for Jon to realize that the enemy he is facing is too dangerous to deal with as is but if he maneuvers them in such a way that they have to listen to him and negotiate as equals, he can keep his own people safe while in a prime position to deal with the threat if it gets out of control. He is also capable of ruthlessness - the entire battle at the ending of ASOS, killing Qhorin, the baby swap, killing Janos Slynt, etc - and cruelty and sexual manipulation.

I also think - and basically everyone agrees, it's not just me - that their "romance" is written incredibly badly and weirdly. So much so that I think it made sense that people would wonder if Jon has an ulterior motive. I reblogged this gifset to my personal a few years ago and you can really see Jon is just over everything that's happening on Dragonstone, he's incredibly unimpressed with Dany, he refuses to even indulge in her fantasies the way he does with Ygritte (like when Ygritte makes that "oh let's disappear into the caves" comment, Jon is wistful! He brings it up as she's dying to comfort both of them! He doesn't like what he's been doing even though he feels it's necessary!), and I know Kit has never been particularly gifted at emoting but he looks just straight up miserable the entire time he's with Dany.

So...even back in s7, I didn't think Jon was actively plotting to murder Dany but I did think he was manipulating her to get the end goal he wanted (protection for the North) and that there was a high chance he was going to turn on her later when the time was right. It wasn't like he was thinking "alright so once the Long Night is ended, here's my twelve step plan to get Dany off the throne and murder her" but I do think he felt like well, once the Long Night is dealt with, there's still a lot of other problems we have to deal with and who knows what might happen as those problems arise. I never thought he was interested in her long term. Some people seemed to think that was beyond the pale but like, that's literally how he felt about Ygritte - he never considered this a long term relationship even if it was a serious one.

If we get anything like that in the books - Jon seducing Dany to get close to her dragons - I generally imagine it going that once he figures out how to ride one of the dragons, he just makes off with it and leaves her high and dry. Maybe he plays up the "we're the blood of the dragon" angle as a distraction of some sort. But like - is he actively manipulating her specifically to usurp her? No. But is he worried about the North and willing to once again put his sexuality, emotions, honor, and body on the line to protect it? Yeah, I think that was the initial plan when they wrote s7 and if Joner.ys happens, I do imagine it's going to go like that; not actively trying to kill her (anymore than he was actively trying to kill Ygritte) but definitely using her feelings for him to get the goal he's aiming for (protection for the North).

[king3thzn]

pond child au matt is very interesting to me

honestly, the characterizations and storytelling of the au in general is so,, good??? i love it so much. the way the mcs are indirectly characterized just scratches my brain the right way. I wanna just- put my thoughts on everything here

I'm gonna start with Matt because hooo boy. isn't he Something. despite how much I hated him at first, there's something so human in him. he's an asshole, yes, but he has motives. what they are? it's unclear... Throughout the entire comic, he's shown as more of the leader of the group who doesn't take shit from anyone, especially Tord. He's generally disliked due to his contempt for Tord as the story is told from his POV and therefore better understood. Matt is seen as unreasonable because of his hatred towards Tord, and dislike towards Tom, all despite Tord doing his best. He may not be charismatic or calculated, but he sure as hell is trying. It's also apparent that Matt only cares about himself, from that one scene of him trying to convince Edd to drop the other two. He thinks of himself as the saviour, the one that has to make the harsh decisions for everyone else. He thinks of other people as inferior, as though they are not able to make important decisions without fucking up in some way. But, he also is scared, he's stressed, it's obvious he's nearing his breaking point. His way of thinking is getting to him, and he can't keep up; always being in charge and forcing himself to make decisions for the entire group is draining. It's shown that he does care about Edd, but the main thing he cares about is himself. He can't fathom how Edd could possibly care about others such as Ringo or the other two more than his own safety, and that infuriates him. He wants to be selfless, he thinks he's selfless, but in reality he's very fucking selfish. There's something that makes him so human, like he could be someone that you know… He does things without realizing, his actions make him the opposite of whom he wants (or claims) to be. He's someone that could actually… exist??? His character just has so much depth to him, and it just makes me Think, Okay, after re-reading the comics, I noticed how Matt often monologues and I don't really have any idea why he would; it's just something he does /shrug. Though, he also thinks everything revolves around him which is very interesting, in some way it resembles the narcissistic Matt trope..?

Now for Tord, the MC/protag. The story is told from his perspective, obviously making everything biased towards him. From the start of the comic, he's characterized as very... hmpf. He comes off as very headstrong; he's loud and has almost no filter, he thinks he's always in the right and refuses to admit that he's wrong. He's also very... dramatic. He thinks the worst of people and refuses to hear others out. The way his text is in all caps was a very smart move to help portray his character too, imo. From his actions, it seems that he thinks that he's better than everyone, similar to Matt, but in a different way..? Which, would explain why they hate each other so much. There's not much here to analyse about Pond Child Tord 'cause he's pretty transparent with his thoughts… (and I don't know what else to say)

Now for Edd. Right off the bat, he's seen as warm and welcoming. I'm not sure what the bit about him getting so.. into the video game was supposed to mean (or his lower-uppercase dialogue), so I'll ignore it for now. It's very obvious that Edd cares about other people, and tends to listen to others rather than be the one to command them. He tends to put feelings over facts/not think about the most logical course of action. He just wants to be happy! He wants his friends to be happy! This makes him somewhat… shallow? as a character. Or rather, simple-minded. This also makes him feel somewhat… empty? Hollow? Something along the lines of that… it's rare for him to express his emotions, so when he does, you know shit got real. But otherwise, he's hard to understand from my perspective.

As for Tom, he's a complete mystery.

I find this post kinda ironic that I have the most to say about Matt, considering he is usually my least favourite character out of the 4. He's personally so hard to characterize, but pond and neep have done it so well! Also maybe he's kinda relatable… oops. Anyway, the brain worms wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote all my thoughts here

I love this AU so much.

[grayyxv]

A Comprehensive Analysis of Eustass 'Captain' Kid

I've been wanting to write this for awhile now as Kid is undoubtedly one of my favourite characters in One Piece. Also, I'm majoring in Psychology so I can't help but think about why I love his character so much.

Disclaimer: As we all know, Kid doesn't have much screentime so it's quite difficult to understand his character completely. So, whatever you read will be my own intepretation of his character (based on the little amount of scenes that he has). Of course, you don't have to agree with it but it might give you a bit of a different perspective!

So, withour further ado, let's begin!

*P.s I'll try to make it flow in but it might end up really messy so I apologize for that*

Note: NOT SPOILER FREE!!!

1. Assumptions

I guess I'll begin with some of the common assumptions of his character based on posts/videos I've seen about his character. They frequently refer to Kid as 'cruel' or 'heartless'. Basically, there are many negative remarks about his character that makes him seem like a total psychopath.

Their reasoning for this would be because:

- He mentioned that he would kill anyone would mocked him

- His high bounty = He's notorious & violent

- The way he acts makes him come off as a bloodthirsty pirate

From another standpoint, I can see why people might think that way about him. The way he speaks and acts does make him look villainous. In addition, his primary role in One Piece is to be Luffy's rival. (I'll expand on this point later.) So, one might think that his morals would contrast Luffy. Whereas Luffy is the kind and benevolent pirate, Kid is the 'bad guy' who is cruel and heartless. The question is, though Kid is rival character, why does that necessarily mean that he would be a bad guy? I strongly disagree that Kid is a psychopath and that he is heartless. Firstly, the term 'psychopath' shouldn't be used so loosely. A true psychopath would have no regard for other's feelings which is not true of Kid because he cares very much for his crew. On the other hand, Doflamingo would be a good example of a psychopath. Next, even if Kid WERE a psychopath, not all psychopaths are violent. So it'd be nice if people stopped misrepresenting psychopaths.

Now, if there is one thing I learned in psychology, is that people tend to make assumptions about a person's actions as part of their personal dispositions rather than because of situation. This would be the Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE). What do I mean by this? Let's take a look at Kid's scenario. He mentioned killing people who mocked his dream. Killing people would make people automatically assume that Kid is 'violent'. But here is a different perspective, what if 'mocking him' had meant that they tried to start a fight with him? Provoking other people repeatedly would cause anybody to get angry. There are many other characters who acts this way as well. Sure, Luffy doesn't go as far as to kill them but I'm sure that many other characters do because they are PIRATES.

In contrast, I think of this situation as Kid standing up for himself. He believes in himself and he would beat anyone up who tells him otherwise. If you think about it, Luffy is kind of similar because he ends up fighting anyone who tries to stop him from attaining his goal.

That is pretty much all the assumptions that people make about his character. It's sad how they don't delve deeper but fret not!! I still have more to say.

2. Pre-Timeskip vs Timeskip Changes/Growth as a character

During Pre-timeskip, Kid is seen as overconfident. I actually agree with this statement quite a lot. His high bounty was a result of his reckless behaviour. He could easily triumph over anyone before the timeskip. That was when he started to become a little too full of himself. Consequently, he suffered heavy losses. His arm was taken by Shanks, his crew was utterly defeated by Kaido (curse you Apoo) and his reputation as the top supernova was instantly lost to Luffy. His true character development was in the Wano arc where we see how he starts to take a step back and re-evaluate his situation. The most obvious evidence for this was when he got captured in Udon. He was quiet (before Luffy's arrival) and deep in thought. So many things had happened to him, you could even argue that he was feeling slightly lost and helpless (not depressed) because he was utterly defeated. The motivation and drive he had in pre-timeskip was shattered- Until Luffy arrived of course. When Luffy arrived, he was battered and bruised but he was still ready to fight. Kid, who saw how Luffy still had his fighting spirit, was somehow inspired to keep on fighting. It's almost as if Luffy is Kid's drive to be stronger.

So, what does this all say about Kid?

I think that this makes his character believable as it can represent real life. There are some points in our lives where we could be the greatest but, sometimes, life can be pretty cruel too. If you get too cocky or overconfident, the world will punish you. I saw a comment that says Kid is Luffy but without the plot armour. That is very true. Kid isn't perfect. He made tons of crappy decisions and dealt which the consequences. I'd say he's as reckless as Luffy, perhaps LESS reckless than Luffy but he suffers more than Luffy does. While Luffy could bask in glory, all Kid got was the short end of the stick. I think that is the reason why I find Kid such an appealing character- because its an accurate representation of real life. Sometimes you can try as hard as someone else but you won't always get the spolight.

The other appealing aspect is his persistence. He made mistakes and bad decisions but he knows that he can't undo them and has to move on. Kid isn't as lucky as Luffy because he didn't have someone like Rayleigh to train him so, he had to put in more effort somehow. The main point is, he had to learn everything the hard way. Yet, he still strives to be the best which is very befitting of a rival character.

3. interactions & Personality

Another thing I frequently see when people Kid and Luffy is that: People say that while Kid makes enemies, Luffy makes allies which is why he has so much support from others around him. I was thinking about this a lot and I can't help but disgaree. I saw another post where they mentioned Kid's MBTI personality is INFJ which made me think even more about that statement. From here on, I will include several headcanons about his character as well.

Let me offer you a different perspective. Perhaps Kid isn't good at expressing his feelings. The way he speaks may come off as cold which makes other people dislike him because they think he is rude whereas he simply doesn't know how to communicate with others very well. Luffy is no doubt an extrovert, seeing how he is easily able to interact with others. Kid on the other hand, if he is an introvert, it could be an explaination to why he doesn't have many interactions with others. I don't see him as someone who's very 'sociable'. So he could experience some difficulty when communicating his feelings. He's shown to be closer to his crew more than anyone else. He is deeply respected by his crewmates because he is sensitive to their needs as well. He isn't the tyrant that everyone paints him to be, he earned that respect by first respecting his crewmates. Also, he would essentially DIE for any of his crewmates. This part is quite self explainatory if you've read the chapter where they revealed what happened to Kid and Killer in Wano.

I just want to add that while Killer suffered so much in Wano, imagine how much it hurt Kid to see his first mate suffer and how he couldn't do anything about it. The expression on his face is perfectly the anger he had towards Kaido, Apoo and more importantly, HIMSELF for not being strong enough. Yet, people call him heartless though he would literally die for Killer.

But anyways, Kid is an excellent listener and he cares very deeply for people he is close to. I just think he's bad at communicating. Look at the way he talks to Luffy. In Wano, you can see how Kid actually does LIKE Luffy as a rival. He just has trouble expressing himself. Anyways, this is just a headcanon but I think that he's rather sensitive to other's feelings- Especially when it comes to his crew. I really like the idea that he's an INFJ because he seems more like the 'advocate' type of character. I still think he makes a very good leader but his approach would contrast Luffy's.

4. Intelligence

I could probaly go on forever about why I love Kid but this is another thing that I see about Kid and kind of annoys me. I'm not sure why everyone seems to think he's a dumbass. Like REALLY. I think he's pretty intelligent. He even kept tabs on the whole SMILE situation and Doflamingo and planned the alliance. He IS intelligent but his recklessness just makes him seem like an idiot.

Kid isn't perfect, he is flawed just like a real human being would be. By no means is he a GOOD person but I don't think he is as 'cruel' or 'bad' as people paint him to be. He cares a lot for his crew. He is very driven by his own personal values and he wouldn't 'change' for anyone. He believes in himself and if anyone tells him otherwise, he would simply beat them up. He isn't happy go lucky like Luffy, he is much deeper than that. He would consider his options and plan- to a certain extent because he is also quite idealistic. Hence, the reason why I feel like his character is such an interesting one is because there is a lot of opportunity for him to grow and stray away from stereotypical anime character traits. His character is believable because his personality is realistic, it could reflect a real human being.

TLDR: Stop sleeping on Kid.

With that, thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Anyways, that's it for now! I'll make a part 2 if I feel like I want to add something. If people like this, I'll consider making another analysis for other characters. Currently I have Law, Ace and Sabo planned in mind but we'll see how it goes.

Thanks for reading!

[remysims]

20 - 35 for the Oc ask thing

20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)? Alfie is the only one that can really sing SING, she plays the guitar and her voice talking & singing claim is Ella Mai.  21. Your most artistic OC Will. He gets paid good money for his art. 22. Is there any OC of yours people tend to mischaracterize? If yes, how? Grayson. Some people think she’s mean and anti-social, she’s just unfiltered and socially selective.  23. Introduce OC that has changed from your first idea concerning what the character would be like? 24. If you could meet one OC of yours, who would it be and why? Will. The way I see him and have him I feel like I’d just like to be around him. 😊 25. The OC that resembles you the most (same hobby, height, shared like/dislike for something etc?) Since Sloan and Grayson were my first two sims I gave them each a piece of me, Sloan would be more of me, sensitive, shy, awkward, dramatic, loves mangos,  hates being lonely, caring of her family & friends more than herself, a girly girl(I use to be so much), an animal lover(fluffy puppy the most), wants a ferret, loves pretty and expensive things, favors silver over gold, I pick games where I can decorate or dress up my character cute(Sloan loves to decorate and dress up). 

Grayson, she’s 5′11 like me, like 90% of my clothes are just black, socially selective, dramatic, likes to be alone, loves pineapples, love taking pictures of other people, sometimes I shock/unintentionally offend people with the things I say, go hard for family and friends, how she types is how she talks most of the time, she likes to annoy the people that she likes.  26. Have you ever had to change your OC’s design or something else about them against your will? No. If I ever change my OC it’s my decision in the end.  27. Any OCs that were inspired by a certain song? No, I don't think so. 28. Your most dangerous OC? Will. 29. Which one of your OCs would go investigate an abandoned house at night without telling anyone they’re going? Nether. They black. 30. Which one of your OCs would most likely have a secret stuffed animal collection? Sloan has 2 stuffed animals from her childhood, but it’s not a secret. 31. Pick one OC of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really) OR...now hear me out. Y’all can just follow and see their blogs instead. Sloan Grayson Will Alfie 32. Which one of your OCs would be the most suitable horror game protagonist and why? Will. He has good survival mode, don’t play around when it comes to safety and staying alive, always willing to help a fine sexy lady or three, a gentleman but will tell you to shut up and go sit down if he needs too, he listens, kinda headstrong and stubborn, can take a beating but better at giving them, likes guns. 33. Your shyest OC? Sloan. But after a while, she gets more talkative.  34. Do you have any twin characters? No 35. Any sibling characters? No

[ijustliketorantsometimes-blog]

Just Because I don't Agree With You Doesn't Make Me a Fucking Liberal

      The internet is an amazing invention of mankind that allows people all over the world to connect to each other leading to a variety of conversations with all kinds of different people. Unfortunately  many of those conversations end up being kind of fucking stupid because regardless of age, ethnicity. sex. nationality and so on humans in general are self absorbed, biased, jack asses that have a limited understanding of how the world as a whole works and even less how to form a proper argument. Seriously we need to make debating a  a required course for public education or something because it gets pretty annoying after a while. Anyway one thing I notice that often happens particular during periods of political tension such as elections or the aftermath of a mass shooting is that people make assumptions and a lot of them which you know what they say assuming makes you an ignorant ass moron. Wait that isn't the saying? Well screw it I am sticking with it.         Now to set the stage for this particular story we shall start with a little background information. See I have habit that when someone posts something on things like facebook that is completely devoid of any logical base regardless if the conversation involves me or not I feel the need to explain why what they said was completely wrong and pointless. Think of it as retribution for me having to suffer through seeing something so stupid on my feed. Anyway so I have a facebook friend who is quite pro gun control and Liberal in general which is whatever, he can do whatever he wants. The whole topic of gun control and gun rights is something I dislike getting into because It is more often than not an issue argued with emotions rather than logic and both sides tend to be a little too extreme. I'll will tell you right now that everyone having a gun is just as poor of an idea as it being illegal for anyone to own a gun. The answer to reducing needless firearms related death probably requires ideas from both sides as well some that neither side every considers because deep down that is not their main or true goal, but that is not the point.                               So somebody responds to my friend's pro gun control status with a poor analogy. They said that if you are going to ban guns you should also ban pressure cookers since they can be used to kill a large amount of people too. I am a big fan of analogies so when people sit there after a bad one and seemed to think they said some smart shit I  feel the need to correct such confusions.                                                                                                                 Now dear reader please tell me you understand why this analogy is terrible. If you do understand please feel free to skip to the next paragraph if not then listen and I shall explain. The reason is simple, when someone uses a gun to kill a living being it is in fact fulfilling it's primary function. regardless whether you use it to hunt for food or protect your family it's function is to launch metal projectiles to pierce flesh which often leads to death. In short guns are designed to kill things or at least put some nasty holes in them. Now a pressure cooker is not, it is designed to heat up and cook things, normally food. In short a pressure cooker's design and function is to cook. Using it to kill people usually involves modifying it for a new functions to turn it into explosive though i suppose you could beat people over the head till they die but you can do that with most things.  Guns come off the shelf able to kill people once you load some ammo into it while pressure cookers come off the shelf able to cook food once you add some water. Okay are we good? well if not screw it I did my best, well not really but the best that I am willing to at the moment so you are just going have to live with your ignorance I guess.        Of course the person responded but instead of addressing why his analogy was not complete garbage or accepting that it was trash  instead mostly blabbed off the standard rehearsed pro gun rights rhetoric that most gun right advocates default to which is one of the reasons every single damn gun debate turns into a stupid pointless conversation that America has been repeating since the day I was born and that shit makes me fucking crazy. Like I wasn’t even talking for or agaisnt gun control I just speaking out about his illogical  and poor analogy. He did at some point managed to make some kind of argument among his walls of pointless and irrelevant text. Of course I quickly shoot down his weak argument or at least the parts that were remotely relevant which was not much as everything he said did not refute anything I said.  Before I knew it I was being called something along the lines of a stupid liberal and assumed a lot about my life and beliefs. Of course most if not all of them were wrong because while most people think they have the ability to infer and analyze others words and actions well people actually tend to suck ass at it from my experience. eventually the conversation broke down and became a mess. I ended the conversation explaining that nothing he said changed the fact that his analogy was fucking stupid and that he might want to learn how to argue better preferable by learning basic reading comprehension because by that point we where having two completely unrelated discussion because of his lack of ability to read and make reference to what others say.        The thing is i have seen this happen multiple times, like no joke I have ran into quite a few people who seemed to only know how to discuss with a certain framework and if you don't fall into it they have no ability to have an actual conversation. Like they assume if you disagree with them then you must automatically must be a part of some opposite group of thought or ideals. Like bro it has nothing to do with liberals and conservatives  or pro this or that. It has everything to do with you being a idiot or at least misinformed but I guess that thought doesn't cross most people's minds. there are probably a lot of reasons for this but this rant has gone on long enough and would require covering topics about psychology and sociology and honestly i am not ready for that.So to conclude just because i disagree with you doesn't mean I am fucking Liberal you stupid shallow minded fucks. P.S going try to have future entries not be so long though It honestly is going to vary based on my mood and the topic at hand