#man apparently i have a lot to say

[utterlyazriel]

Your series is fantastic. My only question is how exactly is the reader pretending to be a male?

thank you very much!!! no worries my friend, it’s understandable how you might’ve missed the little things i’ve dropped in but there have been little clues !

truly the reason you can actually get away with your lie is because you started when you were so young— back at the age where boys and girls don’t look too different from one another.

but beyond that, in one of the early chapters it’s mentioned that you cut your hair short, shaved it all the way down to the skin - later on it’s mentioned that you have it in a similar style to cassian, on the longer side. still the way males keep their hair though. on top of that, there’s a few mention of bindings on your chest— indicating you wrap your chest to keep it as flat as possible.

there are things that should give you away— like your height and such— but because you’re a bastard, nobody paid enough attention when one female went missing and a male showed up in their place. a lot of the muck and mud of the mountains helps to cover your scent and there’s also some mention on how you delayed your cycle for as long as possible (like mor did in the books)

because it’s basically a mulan au we’re running with the fact she tied her hair up and put on some armour and nobody knew lmao

you get away with it because no one is expecting it — and so no one is looking closely enough! you’re a respected enough warrior that you can keep your distance during your cycle now and the other warriors won’t bother you, but you can’t complete in the blood rite because the risk of being exposed is too high.

i hope that answers the question!

[puppyeared]

horrible truth bomb dropped on my head 20 min ago

[grimme-and-specs]

You know I had to do it to 'em too

Bonus:

EDIT, 2024-4-5:

If this gets to 213 notes before 4-13 I will personally redraw this earlier than planned.

[carpetbug]

A fluffy fbau!trixx offering to eat his new holders bratty sister for her. what a gentleman. ignore how completely random the shading is

[tiredandoptimistic]

Fresh off a rewatch of Geothermal Escapism and feeling emotions (this turned into an overlong Troy Barnes analysis post and I'm inviting you on the journey)

The thing that really sticks with me, especially when you consider the rest of season five (and also the show as a whole), is how truly I'm convinced that Troy did need to go on that voyage. He went from a guy who wore his letterman jacket to college and bragged about being prom king, to somebody who was unapologetically himself and content with being judged for it. Despite all this growth, Troy still wasn't his own person; not entirely.

I keep thinking about the bit in Repilot, where Jeff argues that Troy's life was ruined by Greendale because he now revolves entirely around "another man." Putting aside the blatant homophobia, Jeff is kinda right. When asked what he's doing with his life, Troy excitedly talks about what Abed is up to. Now, there's nothing wrong with being supportive and it's clear that Troy feels content with putting Abed's goals first, but it is concerning when you think in context of his arc. In season three, there was the pillow and blanket war as an extension of Troy's frustration with always being the sidekick. Even though they work through a lot of their issues and have an honest discussion about how Abed never saw Troy as lesser, there's still clearly some level of fear that one day he will. We see this in season four, during Inspecticon, when Troy is genuinely afraid that Abed will leave him for someone who (in Troy's mind) is a better match for his intellect. Once again Abed proves that he wouldn't want anybody else, but that's not the end of it. By the start of season five it's great that Troy is comfortable playing support to Abed's goals, but he still hasn't fully resolved the base issues. Yes, he's confident in his worth as a supporter rather than a leader, but he's still never figured out who he is alone.

Looking back at Troy's season one characterization, it's clear that his main struggle as a person is not knowing who he is or what he wants. He defines himself entirely as a quarterback and prom king, even when it's clear that nobody else actually takes that seriously. Even Annie, who knew Troy as the untouchable king of the popular kids and is seriously crushing on him (in a comphet way but that's another post), sees his jock identity as something that's holding him back. In the pilot, Troy has a chat with Jeff about his letterman jacket; expressing how insecure all the jokes make him. It's clear from this that he has no confidence in his own identity. He wears the letterman jacket because he's Troy The Quarterback, doesn't know how to handle that being seen as a bad thing, and goes to Jeff for advice because he needs someone else to tell him what version of himself to become. Whatever choice Troy makes for how to dress, it's about finding the quickest way to balance likeability with the illusion of his own convictions. Like Jeff tells him, "either way, it's for them."

Throughout season one, Troy struggles with his own identity through his friendships with the entire study group, most notably Abed. Despite his meathead persona, Troy's silly side starts to come out in the very second episode, when he and Abed do their iconic Spanish rap during the end card. After that, we see their friendship gradually develop through these short comedic bits. During this time, in "Football, Feminism, and You," we see Troy caught in a conflict between Jeff (who wants him to go back to football) and Annie (who wants him to become more academic). In the end, Jeff and Annie both feel bad for trying to warp Troy to fit thier ideals, and Troy settles on playing football purely because he enjoys the game. After that, Troy and Abed's friendship finally comes out of the end cards and into the show itself. The example I wanna talk about is "Environmental Science," when Troy is once again forced to choose between what he wants to do and how he wants to be seen. At the start of the episode, he embarrases himself in front of his science class by freaking out from fear of Fievel the rat. For the rest of the episode, Troy is unwilling to commit to helping Abed find Fievel by singing their romantic duet because he's already admitted weakness and that highlights his insecurities. He's been getting more comfortable goofing off with Abed, but suddenly he feels all the ways in which his expressions of his actual personality have opened him up to ridicule. Of course the episode ends with Troy joining Abed in their duet to save Fievel, and he even faces his fear of touching the rat to get him back to his cage. From that point onwards, Troy and Abed's friendship is more or less firmly established. I could go into all the ups and downs, but this post is long as hell already and I've still got more to say.

During seasons two and three, Troy almost entirely gives up the tough guy act and accepts that he's a big softie who thinks Abed is the coolest guy in the world for being so unapologetically himself at all times. He's always denied his interests for the sake of appearing likeable and tough, so meeting Abed and seeing that it's possible to be happy and loved a weirdo who never pretends to be anything else is kinda groundbreaking for him. He still has his ups and downs (like when he ditches their matching costumes for the sake of attracting girls in "Epidemiology"), but for the most part he's found a comfortable new role as Abed's Best Friend. Hell, during Shirley's wedding in "Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts," Troy is the one who decides it's not worth trying to be normal when they can be themselves. In "Early 21st Century Romanticism," Troy gives up a date with a girl (something he supposedly really wants) because she won't accept Abed's weirdness. What I'm getting at here is that Troy has given up his high school identity and adopted a new one, but that brings with it some of the same old problems.

By the time season five rolls around, Troy is not an individual. He is one half of a pair: TroyandAbed. This isn't an inherently bad thing; we are a communal species and it's normal and healthy to embrace the fact that you can't function independantly of others. The problem is that he transitioned so smoothly from Prom King Troy to Abed's Best Friend Troy that he never had time in the middle as just Troy. It's wonderful that Abed helped Troy discover one way to express himself and be genuinely happy, but he still only really learned how to do that on Abed's terms. The only thing we see Troy do without Abed is build a blanket fort, which is still fundamentally about Abed. He also dates Britta, but that feels more like Troy trying to prove that he can have an adult relationship and Britta trying to prove that she can stay with a guy who isn't the fucking worst (I love you Britta but your taste in men is rancid). It's clear that both of them are more in love with the idea of a stable relationship than with each other. For their entire relationship Troy is more invested in Abed and Britta is fine with that. He may be sleeping in a separate bedroom, but he's still living in the blanket fort, y'know?

This brings me back to Pierce's will, and his final gift to Troy; a chance to become his own man. Pierce may have the worst opinions on everything, but I still think this opportunity is what Troy needed at that point in his life. He finally gets a chance to explore everything the world has to offer, entirely detached from other people who can warp his opinions. Troy is a mirror, he reflects what's around him. He needs some time on his own to figure out what it is he really wants for himself. Plus, getting to dock in places all over the world gives Troy the chance to be whoever he wants without fear of meeting expectations. He can do anything, try anything; comfortable in the knowledge that he's not impressing anyone. And, at the end, he is able to look back on everything he's experienced and decide once and for all what his happiness looks like. I choose to believe that it's going home to Abed, fully informed of the alternatives and aware that playing support doesn't mean giving up your own identity.

[sesamestreep]

“requiem for methuselah” crazy ass episode for many reasons. Kirk is being fully insane, like I don’t actually think, even controlling for how quickly and easily and readily he seems to fall in love with anybody at the slightest encouragement, that he’d go that bonkers for that android woman he just met while everyone on the ship was this close to dying, but that’s neither here nor there, because in the background you’ve got an equally but much more subtly insane episode for Spock, who extremely uncharacteristically admits to experiencing an emotion (or nearly experiencing, whatever) and that emotion is ENVY of all things. And then spends the rest of the episode warning Kirk away from this new love interest (something that doesn’t usually happen, even when Kirk has very inadvisable love interests) and is, in the end, the person who accurately identifies that Rayna’s competing love for Kirk and Flint is ultimately what overwhelms and destroys her with the most killer line in maybe history???

And then to wrap it up we get an equally uncharacteristic sort of denouement scene (TOS loooves to cut an episode off right after the actual climax, leaving little time for falling action or character reflection, or to stick a sitcom-y button on the end where the gang all smiles and laughs at their misadventures and everything resets to zero, which is not a criticism, it’s just the style of that era of tv, honestly) where Kirk is literally miserable over Rayna’s death (again, kind of unusual for a lot of his love interests, he tends to be able to move on pretty quickly) and Spock goes to see him and he falls asleep right in front of Spock (also odd) and then when Bones comes in to give the final word on Flint, Spock waves him off from waking the Captain (tender) and Bones gives him that awful speech about how it’s sadder that Spock can’t even imagine the love Kirk felt for this random android woman than it is that Kirk lost her in the first place (debatable but also rude) and how his great tragedy is that he can’t love at all like they can and how all he wishes is that Kirk could forget about all of this and move on. AND THEN, to have Bones leave and Spock go over to Kirk and very gently, tenderly, reluctantly touch him and put his hand to his forehead and tell him to forget and HAVE THAT BE THE END OF THE EPISODE??? What am I supposed to do with that??

[oddly-casual]

Fiona and Cake spoilers seriously

(Something I noticed abt Betty and Simons relationship)

I love Betty and Simon’s relationship, I think their back story is so cute and romantic and all that lovely stuff don’t get me wrong.

But there’s this under tone of Betty constantly giving things up for Simon and we don’t really talk about it a lot???

Like, Betty let Simon have his moment with the artifact and the pubic, she also doesn’t go to her trip in favor of going on an expedition with Simon. Then when she goes to leave again she stays for Simon.

Even Fiona is like “you went with her on the bus?” And Simon just looks all confused like “what? No, why would I do that?” Like- hello???

Then after that she gave up her entire life and mind to get Simon back to the point where she literally says “I don’t know who I am without him anymore.” And that just sucks! Since the beginning Betty has been the one giving up the most, her mind, her own possible career, and it’s a story of love of course and it’s very sweet but it’s also a story of sacrifice.

Their love wasn’t a perfect solution, it was already sort of imbalanced when it started and I lowkey love how we see those cracks even before they’re together.

Again, I love their relationship and I think it’s sweet. I just think we should talk about Betty’s side more, especially when she tells a story of what most women do in relationships, sacrifice.

[kiwikipedia]

it’s actually astounding how quickly a fandom can devolve a well-written Character to One (1) Character Trait They Exhibited Once Forever

[dazais-guardian-angel]

kinda wild to me that one of the most compelling aspects of both Chuuya and Kunikida's characters to me, that I never really see talked about, is how they're heavily set on a doomed crash course towards complete and utter destruction, and how I am so, so worried for them both.....

[ratatatastic]

dont be fooled this is a lundy interview roddy just makes a special cameo because if hes not within 5 ft of a finn he will die

"i dont think i can tell yet because hes listening—rod is listening. rod?" (roddy who has gone to finland with the avs in 22 and everyone knows this) "i did it 2 years ago i know-" [giggles of pure glee at being able to disrgruntle roddy]

"my favourite finnish meal?" "salmon soup baby" "i will say salmon soup 😃" "yeahhhhhh" "so 🙂"

erod who has been given explicit permission to interrupt the interview because hes been acknowledged by lundy and like a mouse being given a cookie he'll ask for milk too so he gets in a "salmon soup baby" to which lundy does not argue it at all because we didnt ask for audience participation but the peanut gallery sure is chirpy today i guess we will phone a friend??

florida panthers @ buffalo sabres pregame interview | 10.28.24 (x)

salmon soup...

[eisthenameofme]

love when it gets to the point of The Discourse where i feel the need to key word search otherwise chill people's blogs for rampant bigotry before following them. Like this isn't exactly what happened with 'ace discourse'

[faaun]

i feel rly sad and conflicted abt one of my best friends on earth but idk who to ask for advice bc i usually would have consulted her in this situation lmao

[longagoitwastuesday]

Kusakabe, dear, you're too beautiful to be saying that kind of stuff

[prowerprojects]

"Every Shatterspace contains a shard: creates a distorted version of our reality"

"If we bring them back here, and connect them to this real one— then maybe there is a chance..."

(Sonic Prime is not a multiverse story, it's one universe that got destroyed/distorted)

"They're not your real friends"

"Nine and all the rest of them are real!"

Sonic, you do understand that if reality gets restored, and the Shatterverse stops existing (because it wouldn't be shattered anymore), so would the shatterspaces, and everyone who lives there: everything would just go back to the way it was before.

But if you consider them real, you only have two choices:

Bring the shards together and restore your reality, bringing back your friends in the process, but the people created by the shattering of the Prism would go back to being just parts of your friends and seize to exist separately?

Or leave it be, and lose your friends forever, but their counterparts would still exist as their own entities?

So what would it be, Sonic?

Who has more right to exist?

[worstloki]

Jujutsu Kaisen asks many important questions such as: mentally healthy daughters that are happy but racist OR son that isn’t racist but is so mentally unwell he rarely smiles and has no will to live

[lillotte17]

..