#not heavy but its implied and i know some people aren't into it

[quixtrix]

let's talk BL manga lore; on grooming, identity, and racism

spoilers for the official captain laserhawk bl manga ofc, plus brief discussion of grooming I've refrained from speaking about it because of spoilers, but it's been well over a month and I believe that it's time to openly discuss it. if you would still like to read the manga before reading this discussion, here's the link to buy a physical copy and you can search up 'Captain Laserhawk: Crushing Love' in your digital book store for it. okay time to talk about two, basically three subjects; racism, identity, and grooming. i'm starting with the grooming first, because that's the main focus of this manga. i would have to preface this by saying i've already discussed this topic in an earlier post (albeit it is a prediction, but it is a spot on prediction.) i'll briefly elaborate on it right now with what we know.

dolph's very first day with alex was carefully calculated to where dolph would be exposed to the world, but heavily rely on alex. he is shown around to alex's friends and is able to buy his own clothes, but it is under the heavy scrutiny of alex. alex ultimately decides what dolph wears, alex decides how the day goes, alex leads dolph. even when they have a beach day, take note of how alex holds dolph, dragging him around.

even the romance and the events leading up to when alex takes dolph's virginity are calculated. note how alex grasps dolph's hand, grabbing on tight enough to almost press down on his knuckles, loosening his hand, making dolph relinquish control. the context for the fight page is that after their sweet lil beach day, alex takes dolph down an alley where alex knows that he'll come across people who aren't the fondest of him. this event was calculated, alex knew it was going to happen, and he used it to test out his new lil boytoy.

also, alex taking dolph out to fight isn't just so he can get in the pants of a barely 18 year old. while holloway notes during this flashback that adrenaline is the greatest aphrodisiac, this is a test to see how good the new weapon he picked up is. how the new boy works, to see how eden's boy robot can benefit his group, not just him. its literally in the morning panels we get where alex talks with that woman, anna. they're talking about how loaded he is with tech, and while alex does consider that, he still actively thirsts over dolph.

also im jus saying if i personally was talking with one of my greatest confidants and they refer to someone i'm thirsting over as KID, i would personally be icked out. i would have a conscious and not do some weird shit, like literally refer to dolph in passing as kid in the next page. dolph aint even the first one who alex has done this shit to, as evident by this line by one of his friends, grace.

alex is a groomer and groomed dolph, case closed.

anyways! time to get on with what i really wanted to talk about, how racism and loss of idenity ties into dolph's character!

in this manga, during pillow talk between dolph and alex, we get dolph's backstory. dolph literally has only known this man for a day and he's giving him lore because alex treats him more normal than eden did. god. ANYWAYS ENOUGH DWELLING ON DOLPH BEING A VICTIM IN ALL WAYS INCLUDING BEING ONE OF THE OXFORD STUDY, we get to know about his brief life before eden took him in.

now let me turn for a moment to the show, and how we were told about dolph's backstory. this is VASTLY different than what we got in the show, with it being implied that dolph's parents were a white prostitute and a darkskinned immigrant man. this adds onto the idea that this supposedly impoverished, crack addicted boy came into this world not as an act of love, but as a mistake. not just a mistake though, his parents are supposedly the epitome of immoral, a prostitute and a criminal. not to mention that this also ties into the idea of the uncultured brown man and pure white woman, basically a racist idea that the scary immigrants who aren't like us good white christian americans (and honestly jus any homogenous group in general, though in america its ofc more applicable to white people), are corrupting our mother marys, our women. eden takes on this perspective in order to subconsciously frame in the minds of post american viewers the idea of this man as an other that they are helping and didn't at all snatch up from his mother for child experimentation. the concept of other is something that finds it's origins in fascism, and in order to mask the presence of said fascism, someone who is seen as apart of the other is given a seat at the table with the collective us, (as in the majority, or the ones that are supposedly superior), and will ultimately serve as an example of why the other are labelled as such. i go into this more with my rayman analysis. I brought up the specific portrayal of dolph's backstory from eden's documentary to showcase how eden has manipulated the view people have of this man. eden has not only manipulated the view of the in universe audience, but eden has manipulated our view.

in the propaganda documentary, we are shown photos of this man being a captain, someone of relatively high rank in the military. you can't even normally earn that through having an education, you'd have to have years of experience. he's portrayed as older than he is.

another thing, dolph fans, let's be honest with ourselves; before the manga, it was not uncommon to headcanon that man as a FREAK. with both the supposed images of dolph at a nightclub and the flashback of alex and dolph meeting outside a club, it wasn't too hard to think that the hottest man alive in that show who was fully born human was a freak. a sexual deviant. someone that a christian mother would be horrified enough by that she faints. the manga however, shows us that dolph really isn't any of that. hell, he didn't even get to go to a club before he met alex. in reality, he's around 18 years and his only sexual experience is his groomer.

say that again with me, he's around 18. he's just around 18, he's a young adult, and the environment he's grown up in has stunted him by treating him as a subject, a thing, cutting him off from anything that would humanise this child by not allowing him to see his mother. hell, even his childhood best friend serves eden by being the one in his ear, having him at her beck and call all in the name of eden.

we get none of dolph's true backstory in the show for any number of reasons. maybe it's on purpose, maybe it's a result of having to possibly cut down episodes, who knows? what matters though is that this adds a layer to the core problem defining dolph's life; the perspective others have on him warping who he is.

back to the pages with dolph's memories of his mother, we see dolph as he was when he was just a boy. he's his mama's boy, her son, a child. even when eden takes him in, he stubbornly clings to that bit of him that's pure, untainted by the idea of him being an experiment, a tool. this bit of him, this hint towards who he is supposed to be as a person, is something he clings to desperately. it leads him to follow eden's orders again because they promise that they've found his mother.

and yknow what happened with who dolph was told was supposedly his mother?

she was just a random ass indian woman.

wasn't even the right woman. they just used his identity issues because he's indian, and she was indian and in a cult that eden needed to take care of.

this, while admittedly is kind of funny, (like the confusion is funny in the moment look at ts) is actually fucked up crazy racism. they literally said that this random ass woman who happened to be indian was his mother like HELL!?!??!?!?

this insane fr. lucy didn't even double check LIKE GIRL THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE YOUR FRIEND'S MOTHER WHO HE HASNT SEEN SINCE HE WAS LIKE 6 AND YOU DIDNT EVEN DOUBLE CHECK IF SHE'S THE RIGHT PERSON?!?!?!?

moving on from that, this actually brings up a deeper layer of dolph's identity issues; the lack of cultural identity.

i want to preface this by saying that i am not entirely sure if this is the right term for this identity issue nor am i claiming to be an expert on the type of identity crisis that i am about to discuss. that being said, this specific disconnect of cultural identity that dolph has is actually reminiscent of those adopted from other countries, or transnational adoptees. there seems to be a need within these adoptees to find out more about their own heritage or their own mothers and families that they now struggle to find. while dolph does not actively go out to reconnect with his heritage, he does exhibit desires to find his birth mother. this type of identity issue seems to ask the question of 'what could I have been if...?,' and it tends to mess with the idea of the self. adoptees that struggle with this question hold a desire to go back, to almost reclaim what would have been. yes, dolph is not adopted into a family, but he is still a child under the care of eden, which became like his family, which is why i believe that this kind of identity issue could reasonably be applied to dolph. it explains why he does what he does in the manga, and how it's ultimately wrapped up by him losing this desire and moving forward. albeit he moves forward by alex instead becoming his main purpose, but this serves as the first chain of the past that he leaves behind. with this, he severs a tie that would have made him continue to be stuck under eden's control, and possibly find himself. he answers the question of what could have been with 'it doesn't matter anymore.'

but actually, he doesn't answer that question. he leaves it be.

i am reading way too into this tho lol. i would say that he doesn't explicitly say it, and that we do see a lack of dolph's past being used against him in that way because dolph has freed himself from that part, but in reality, it's because eden can't pull the same trick twice. im aware that the manga focuses HARD on dolph's grooming, but i feel like they really could have properly wrapped up dolph's identity arc with his mother if it was acknowledged at the end, but i fear we are left unsatisfied. that's one of my gripes with the manga. it gives us things that tie up loose ends, but some of these ties have entirely missed the holes they were supposed to secure. but what is done is what's done, and here we are.

tl;dr, dolph was groomed by alex. dolph's identity has also been warped by eden heavily, by how they dehumanised him as a child to be a weapon internally, to how he's shown to the public to be a case that they've saved, and yet he still becomes something that is "disgraceful." textbook example of this poor boy that we have saved that is actually jus like all the others that we know. dolph also suffers under similar identity issues as adopted children do, and this specific issue of his is let go in order to allow him to begin moving on and finding himself.

as always, im open to discussion and critique! my askbox is open as well if you want me to yap abt smth else in the show :P

[aro-geo-turtle]

Malevolent ep 51 liveblog:

have we time skipped again? what's happening??? who's dying? we're seeing lillith already???

okay flashback good the company isn't just dying offscreen. supernatural bad luck huh

black stone drives people mad...thats probably bad. i don't like this creepy smile description. corruption that still keeps you yourself thats extremely creepy. a key?

SIR VALE?!?

she needs arthur to take it, she can't. can we find out her feelings about Kayne???

what was his dying wish?

haha gender is primitive. lillith above and beyond gender for realllll

their meeting wasn't chance? are we getting back to the fate stuff from the s1 finale maybe? "where I was, time tends to move differently" ...Dark World maybe? Yeah I'm thinking maybe Dark World. her "realm"

is she implying butcher could have survived on some level?

nooooo RIP Vale T_T ...kill Vale in case he would otherwise turn into a zombie or something T_T

warped glass reveals the truth of her. What happened to Alia then, if Antione was the 2nd to get sick and is still slowly dying? Is she still around?

3 keys, grey stone, black stone, crimson stone. I can't help but associate crimson with Kayne... hey good of arthur to defend Kayne's chosen name, even though he hates him!

grey stone and crimson stone are the spirit and soul of azathoth--makes me think of alchemy--wait wait hold on i know this!!! aren't there three stones you need to make the philosopher's stone, and ones red and ones black??? and they represent like, a trinity of soul, spirit, body??? fuck if these stones represent azathoth's soul, spirit, and body would bringing them together wake him up?! I know enough lovecraft to know that would be the end of the universe and mother darkness said lillith was going to use the stones to end the world!

the flesh yeah fucking called it

eat the elephant mention!!! day of wrath is near??? uh oh. I don't understand. how is Lillith the day of wrath, I thought it was Arthur and John. "Her words are her power." that's going to be important somehow. is the box warded somehow? it better be

Antione's scratching is definitely a symptom he's trying to hide. so that's how arthur got the notion of a cage

malevolent fire symbolism my beloved. "it isn't here for comfort," he's said twice now. so what is it for? maybe...a signal fire? or something similar. I like the line "it stands no chance against the heavy drops that fall from the heavens." that's symbolic. "why light a fire that is sure to die?" absolutely is too. what are you going to answer, arthur?

"Let me end the pain" oh really lillith? for claiming him as your favorite, you know nothing about arthur. he's denied that offer a thousand times, its not going to change now

oh Alia's in some kind of magic coma?? damn she got over-the-garden-wall'ed. at least there's some hope she could conceivably come back from that, even if its not in canon. I wonder what her spooky magic nightmare is. probably not great with everything she's gone through.

good on antione for not giving up the map. lol antione is thinking arthur is insane talking to nobody. not knowing is driving arthur's poor detective hear insane

maybe alia will wake up once she can no longer be an impediment to lillith's plans and she'll be okay! I CAN DREAM. oh one last message for our boys--cmon we don't get to know yet??! WHY

its not alia who shares the nightmare? well at least she gets a nice dream...i think she deserves whatever life she can make for herself more lilly, cmon respect her own choices. you don't get to decide that sort of thing

oh boy lilly's getting real deep into the overarching themes here! what is the worth of humanity? well prepare for a big heroic arthur monologue here we go! get owned hypocrite

"is there anger in the words, or who taught them to you" DAMN hitting the fathers and daughters theme!

oh mannnnn lillith having been permanently changed by her experiences as Scratch in the same way that Yellow cannot ever be the King again! and again her refusal to call kayne by his chosen name, baggage there, but why? perhaps a resistance to admit someone who hurt her could change his whole identity? for better or for worse?

arthur's completely given up on not talking to john in front of Antoine lol. I'm hopping for a really good john moment here, its been too long since we got one. yorik won't talk WTF?! he never stops talking!

we're... taking the stone nowhere? what? I don't understand. i am completely in the same boat as arthur here

damn. the purpose, of life and of this specific quest, is in the mere effort of trying. of hoping. of living. we burn the fire, even if it will one day go out.

"I will still fight to exist because that is my purpose. And on a personal level, because fuck you" is the most arthur lester thing arthur lester has ever said and i love him. and of course the rain passes because it always does. the fire burns on, for now

stomping on the fire is a really childish move lilly.

"sometimes the things that were in our life for far too little time, make the biggest impacts" *cue Faroe's song* Gahhhhhhh T_T T_T and sometimes its in the darkness that you see the true light

wer'e ending there?! goddamn it harlan! nooo I need more! not enough john this :(

I have no idea what next ep is going to be. Uhhh dream confrontation between Lilith and Arthur? And John’s also there somehow? Please I need more cool badass John moments for my health. Lilith Kayne confrontation maybe? Who knows! See you guys next month!

[starlitvases]

do you have any resources you would recommend to learn more about RAMCOA and C/HC-DID? i feel like most of the information i’ve found isn’t super helpful or is just blatantly misleading

thanks!!! <3

Hi! I can absolutely try my best to point you in the right direction. I will say that HC-DID isn't generally an accepted term due to its origins coming from a racist groomer, iirc. It also isn't accepted because it implies a higher complex form of dissociation that supercedes C-DID, which goes against the Theory of Structural Dissociation. While some people may use the term despite this, I don't. I simply say programmed DID when referring to systems formed due to programming.

With that out of the way, I'll give you some self-help resources. I don't want to give you any material that can be graphic or heavy right out the gate since I don't know what stage of recovery you're in or how you may react to heavy readings. If you want heavy resources, I highly suggest bringing up that desire with a therapist and putting safeguards in place beforehand.

-> Books

- The Haunted Self by Van de Hart ▪︎ Overview of DID/C-DID, ToSD, etc.

- The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van der Kolk ▪︎ General dissociation and trauma overview

- Diagnosis and Treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder by Frank W. Putnam ▪︎ Overview of DID, includes real cases (ot at least examples if they aren't real), how to diagnose, how to treat, etc.

- The Dissociative Identity Disorder Sourcebook by Deborah Bray Haddock ▪︎ Written for people with DID, goes over the treatment process, includes real cases (or at least examples if they aren't real), etc.

(The last two books I actually gave to my co-worker to borrow to learn about my own diagnosis with DID when I came out to him, and he said he actually found them quite helpful for beginners.)

-> Papers/Website

- The B.I.T.E. Model by Steven Hassan from chapter four of Combatting Cult Mind Control ▪︎ Goes over the components of cults and how they work/recruit

- endritualabuse.org ▪︎ a website that contains papers and articles around the topic of ritual abuse and OEA

- smartrecovery.org/meeting ▪︎ website where you can find meetings and support groups around your area

- nami.org ▪︎ website dedicated to mental health recovery, support groups, education, etc.

Good luck!

[centrally-unplanned]

Oh I had a book review that I never did - Apostles of Mercy. Third in a series that I like, but while still "good" its the worst one so far! The Noumena series is a First Contact story set in Bush-era USA, telling the tale of Cora, a down-on-her-luck "everygirl" who gets dragged into being an interpreter/uncomfortably-intimate pairbond for an alien refugee named Ampersand whose home species is probably gonna wipe out humanity as a threat prevention/"why not" measure. Lets complain about things on the complaining-blog:

(The cover art continues to slap, no downgrade there)

Book 1 of the Noumena series is, fundamentally, the story of Cora and Ampersand, and how they connect. It is done really well, their differences stack on their shared contexts and a bit of alien magic to make it really believable that they become a found family unit. So in book 2... Ampersand kind of PTSD's into becoming a reclusive asshole, and Core spends most of the book away from him connecting with other people? It is an odd choice but, you know, this can work. You create space in a relationship, they grow and change from the space, then reunite and that distance in fact builds the foundation for new stuff. Its bold for book 2 but fair enough. But then she does it again in Book 3!! Cora goes off to deal with other issues and hang out with someone else, and is primarily annoyed by or made deeply uncomfortable by Ampersand's presence and decision-making for most the book. Its not as severe this time, but still; you can't play that card again, like come on! Are you telling your Transformers meets Beauty & the Beast fanfic or aren't you? Make up your mind! It comes off as too-clever-by-half, someone uncomfortable with doing the "typical" and having to constantly ~subvert, to ill effect.

Speaking of, the distraction du jour for Book 3 is Paris, Cora's new girlfriend. And she is very, very boring. She is just A Person, spends most of the book a prisoner trying to survive alien captors who don't understand her, and pretty much just has to be rescued at the end. There is no connective tissue - skills that she has that are crucial, themes she is the lodestone for, etc. In Book 2 Cora's partner Kaveh was far, far more interesting - he pushed the narrative forward, he was audacious and witty, and he had a deep internal narrative as to his motivations and goals. Paris seems like a checkbox in comparison. And I think there is something to that - in an interview Ellis remarked that she has gotten far less "critique" on her male characters than her female characters from the lens of making them interesting to read. She implies a degree of audience sexism there, but I think its probably the reverse - besides Cora (who is great) her male characters are just way more fun because, surprise surprise, they are allowed to be assholes sometimes in ways that make them complex and interesting. Even Kaveh, who is a very positively coded character, is a thirty-something rich guy sleeping with a college-aged broke trauma ball and is shamefully kind of loving being the fixer to her broken bird. That is good shit to read about - Paris could never because she is simply A Good Person. Because of Woke.

And speaking of politics! So this part of the series was always a little cringe - Ellis as a writer wears her politics on her sleeve and they are definitely a form of unsophisticated leftism with some really heavy-handed moments. But I don't mind reading the works of people I disagree with, I quite love it in fact; in the first book it is generally fine, because she sets up competent and realistic opponents. In Book 1 its the CIA embodied in Sol Kaplan, who believes in the War on Terror and all that jazz and is one of the best side characters, and Cora has to face brutal consequences for her own ideals. In Book 2 the cringe ratchets up a bit but still, here the debate is over civil rights & strategic approaches to the now-public alien refugees, and the "right-wing" factions are portrayed with intelligent arguments around security & deterrence, and also score their own wins. In Book 3, the main plot revolves around a sister alien faction's camp who specialize in biotech. And they have this whole thing where they move from place to place for secrecy, and to be away from people they find themselves in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, and then an uncleansed mine field in Cambodia. At which point they start saying things like "we should eliminate the humans, we would steward the earth better" and you in the audience are totally supposed to be sympathetic to that. Its incredibly eyeroll, the large majority of the planet is rural countryside they could escape to with nothing close to that scale of damage, they literally chose the worst possible locations on two coin flips in a row. How are they not in Montana. Or Siberia. Its cringe, guys. She does the same thing with the CIA in this book, who eventually get commandeered by a US general who literally thinks of ethnic minorities as subhuman and says so explicitly. Incredible cringe.

Finally, Mary Sue problems. Cora interacts extensively with three humans in this book, and two of them want to fuck her and the third is her evil dad. Said dad spent the first two books being a distant figure pulling off big moves; in this book he literally does nothing but putz around, with no clear agenda but "butter up Cora", who sees through it immediately and fucks him over at the end. Like you spent two books setting this guy up? That is it? So Cora can look smart? We already knew she was smart. Someone says he loves her an "angelic" platonic way. Its not a good look and tbh a little baffling coming from Ellis, who is not at all someone who typically does that kind of stuff. I have to chalk that up to "ah fuck how do I wrap this arc up" syndrome.

Okay, done! Tbc the core of the book was still solid plotting and there was progress on interesting fronts. Its just sad to read Book 3 in a series where it commits mistakes the first two books explicitly avoided, like she ran out of endurance. Hopefully this is a book where she just got it out of her system.

[warsamongthestars]

There's a whole heaping lot of nonsense in TBB, honestly, and its not even the good shit.

I mean, there's bits, but a bit ain't a scene or an episode, yeah?

TBBshow seems to run on the idea of that character interaction, conversation, quirks or just breathers, are all filler--that anything that isn't immediately serving the (immediate) plot is pointless.

And I'm gonna tell ya--that's a bit like serving pie without the filling. That's like serving bread crust because the soft light bits were "filler". That is like creating the aroma of frying eggs or onions--and then just serving a cup of the resulting grease instead.

Like, congrats, you know how to mid-max speed run 100%... in the wrong fucking medium.

If you're wondering by now, what I mean by heaping nonsense--its literally the Plot Pushy Bullshit. Congratulations, doing things that only forward the maiden plot, makes your story stupid. If I want something that is simply pure plot, I would pick up a Pre-Schooler's Naptime book.

There's a reason the strongest episodes in TBB are those that center around its main characters (That aren't Omega)--the Single Crosshair and Single Tech episodes, are the strongest episodes and stories, on show, because they rely on the development of their already strongly written characters.

When you sacrifice Character for Plot, you have effectively boiled something down to being a blank pawn on the board.

Too many fall under the idea that everything that isn't immediately action oriented plot, must be Filler, and I gotta tell ya pal, if you don't have the patience to reach the story at it strengths--the problem isn't the story, its PEBCAK.

( Part of it is the environment we've all been in. High pace information environments have this bad habit of destroying natural animal patience. Which means actually sitting yourself down, and learning how to watch paint dry is probably the best cure for it. )

Any writer can do character. In fact, for example, most fanfics are nothing but character driven.

The strongest shows out here, are all character driven.

... Star Wars OG, while it started with being driven by plot stocks, became character driven by the end.

Most of the Prequel Series is character driven (if too dialogue heavy... )

The whole TCWshow is character Driven, in fact, it turned the Clones from CGI Carboard cutout redshirts into a full blown implied culture of people.

( In fact, TCWshow is So character driven, they had to plot out why these characters would have to fail come Revenge of the Sith, because at the rate they were going, they were about to hit critical AU and solve Star Wars before the OG trilogy could )

So "Logically Following Plot" is just as bad as characters "Following Logical Actions at All Times". I cringed every time I saw TBB try to "logic" its plot out every episode (which honestly makes me think that AI was involved as some point, because it was almost dream-like how it tried to march to... a conclusion. Certainly none of the ones we got, but some imaginary conclusion. )

( It air and write during the Writer's Strikes, and a lot of Disney stuff was AI written as a result. Lookin' at you, Wish. )

ADDENDUM:

Folks keep saying "If they only had more time". DUDES. OVER THE GARDEN WALL, BY CARTOON NETWORK, WAS ONLY 10 EPISODES, MADE (Written, Voiced, Animated, All of it) IN UNDER A YEAR, WITH CHARACTER, SYMBOLISM, SECRETS AND AN ALL STAR CAST. I am tired of hearing about "Oh they needed more time". That's an excuse at this point. No they didn't, they need actual Talent and Skill and a Love for the Process.

[aries-of-spades]

⭐^-^

(I definitely didn't have to run back to the post I reblogged cause I already forgor what this meant XD)

Hi! You're getting a list of every scene in Zombie Fungus where there were ghosts present! :D

(The best part is that most of these aren't directly stated in Canon)

1. Chapter 10:

That was when he noticed Ren’s mooshroom. That repelling creature. She had stopped trying to climb on things, and was just staring at a wall. How long had she been doing that for?

(Context is that the resistance is discussing the fact that they just murdered Etho.) In response to the mooshroom's strange actions, Ren makes a comment about how some people say animals can see ghosts(the indicator for many of the ghosts in the story), which unsurprisingly upsets Grian. The ghost in this scene is Etho, because a) they're discussing him, and b) he's sort of the only option at this moment in the story

2. Chapter 15:

He fell silent after that. For a minute, Scar thought he might have fallen asleep again, or maybe- But then Bdubs stirred. He looked up at Scar… or perhaps past him, it was hard to tell… A tired smile broke out across his entire face and tears fell from his eyes. And Scar realized that this whole time, Bdubs hadn’t cried. Until now.

“Oh.” The whisper was barely more than a breath, and Scar almost didn’t hear it. But it was so deliberate, at the same time. “I missed you.”

Alongside animals, people on the edge of death can also see ghosts. It could seem like Bdubs is talking to Scar here, but the implication is that he doesn't see Scar... but he does see someone else. And while that someone could be one of the Hermits, I wrote his reaction to be surprised because I think it's far more likely to be someone he hasn't seen in a long time; his brother, Pungence.

3. Chapter 15:

Grian tried to stand, but was held down by the crushing knowledge of being surrounded. The wolf was growling, its hackles raised in defiance of the jungle. A breeze swept through, stiff and unforgiving, cold hands against Grian’s skin and throat.

In this scene, it would be entirely plausible that Grian is just going crazy, if it weren't for the fact that whatever is there, the wolf senses it too. (It was REALLY fun to personify aspects of the scene to imply a presence.) But unfortunately, he's not being tormented by one ghost, but four. Etho, XB, Mumbo, and Bdubs. Everyone who's died so far, Grian had some involvement. And therefore guilt.

4. Chapter 16:

Jellie didn’t get up to greet him, or even look his way. She sat where she was, purring loudly, her head tilted back in that way she did when someone scratched her chin.

This one is much less obvious than the others. The idea that I was going for was that Bdubs was there petting Jellie(cause he's had Jellie around a bit before, and I think overall Jellie likes him, even if he's a ghost).

5. Chapter 16:

“...don't know why I’m waiting. It won’t get any easier.” He spoke slowly, the words blending at the edges in a tired way. “I guess I’m scared. Were you… scared? Arg- stupid, stupid, stupid.” A heavy sigh. “It won’t let- I don’t know how I’m going to do this. It’s so hard not to think.”

This was a fun one because there are ghosts and they are implied several times in the scene, usually because Grian can see them, and is talking to them. It's my belief that the one he's talking to is Mumbo, but all of them are there. The only implications of this is as Scar enters the tunnels. The ground falls out beneath him(described with similar wording as when Mumbo fell). "But in one direction, he heard the strange echo of water rippling, a melody that sang of cold nothingness." Is alluding to Etho, who drowned. There's descriptions of mushrooms along the tunel, which make sense to be there, but also referencing XB because the mycelium is what killed him. And lastly, Bdubs. "But what he did see was Grian’s face above him, twisted in a scream that didn’t quite escape and a look of concentrated fear in his eyes. A fear Scar had seen once before in a different pair of eyes." Both Bdubs and Grian reacted with horror to seeing Scar's magic. Also Scar holding both of them when they died is a bit of a parallel.

tldr; Grian is so close to dying from the mycelium that he can see 4 ghosts.

6. Epilogue:

The parrot sat there long after he was gone. It saw him disappear along the line of trees, and eventually take to the sky in the distance.

And it saw the figure that sat on the tall stone, watching after him with a soft smile on their face.

I do love this being the last line of the fic. Also it's the only time there's direct confirmation from the narrator of a ghost. Obviously, this is Grian, who was there the whole time as Scar talked to him with no idea he was there. :)

Hope you didn't mind getting a very long ramble XD

[loonela]

I'm currently behind on typing up my current progress on Mirror Souls so I decided to write an alt POV! Life's been really shitty lol and I gotta take it out on fictional characters.

I took issue with Itadori's willingness to go along with the prank on Kugisaki and Fushiguro. That's the only point in S1 I wish didn't happen because it felt OOC. So like any good writer in denial, I'm changing it. Plus, daemons change A Lot! I want to bring out the emotional intelligence Itadori shows from the start. He does what he feels is right, and he's perceptive of when people aren't being truthful to him. He just needs his experience and wisdom to catch up. His teacher, in comparison, hides behind walls higher than China's. How does it feel to be perceived past those walls? How does Gojo navigate the tendency for daemons to reveal more than what is wanted? They're questions that Gojo can't even answer himself despite me being nice and giving him better mental health than canon.

So, I've been writing the alt POV of Gojo facing Itadori's death in the Curse Womb arc. I don't think it'll be in his POV, and I may never end up posting this in full, but I like sharing snippets and I like yapping about my writing. This is just after Itadori dies and the other first years return to Jujutsu Tech.

Some references of note:

Getou is still alive. SaShiSu my beloved.

Yonezawa Kiho (OC), is an upperclassmen of Gojo Gojo was stated to be overseas rescuing a grade 1 sorcerer, implied to be dead. Kiho is that sorcerer. She's touted as the next Kusakabe in New Shadow Style, focusing on polearms.

Gojo and Hakushin have a pretty mangled bond. It's not broken, but heavy damage was done at some point.

Shoko typically heals daemons either by forming a bridge or Shinobu directly heals them. If the damage isn't severe, Shinobu usually heals.

My interpretation of Six Eyes has them as metaphorical, but Gojo can send individual Eyes out on specific areas. They also have a presence that can be detected if he's not careful. Normally, he keeps an Eye on Shoko for both of their sake.

Shoko's RCT is vastly expanded on. She can read positive energy feedback, and her energy levels are hard to see because she's constantly converting cursed -> positive. There's more too.

Sorcerers can "share" energy with each other in some cases.

Hakushin paces between Satoru's legs, agitation working its way through both of them until he's almost choking in their cursed energy. Their shared energy toes the boundary of tolerable and suffocating even without failure choking him. Itadori Yuuji, dead because of hasty measures taken. Because someone targeted Kiho and he has to keep her alive both for his own selfish reasons and because she is good and kind and a force of change where Satoru can't reach. Because a mission to send three first years into a curse womb is completely within the moral lines that the higher ups are willing to jump like a fucking skip rope, because they dislike Satoru and the easiest way to him now is either Shoko or his students. Because he isn't enough, never has been, and never will be

"I'll tell Shoko you're thinking that way," his soul presses into him more, and Satoru stiffens in response, withdrawing Six Eyes into himself. "We both know it's the higher ups that want these children dead that have sole responsibility for this." Right.

"They targeted Megumi and Kugisaki too, right?" another voice chimes in. Hakushin stoops to greet Shinobu, even as the other daemon avoids the touch and just returns with a head bob. "I healed Kugisaki's daemon first, she will be here soon. Don't want to accidentally surge by touching you, sorry Hakushin." 

"Will she need my energy?" It's pure habit that has Satoru asking the question, the most careful extension of Hakushin's energy that he's ever felt weaving over to Shoko just down the hall. For all that Six Eyes gifted him and him alone, not his soul, he's never been able to sense Shoko's true energy, just like he can't sense her mother and grandmother's. He's forced to ping her the same way she does him, just much more clumsily.

"She should be okay, but you know us. Just like we know you." Shinobu turns his eyes on Satoru especially, and he thanks the blindfold for hiding his vulnerabilities. "Come down to earth, you two." 

"Already here, Shinobu. No need to worry."

The door flies open, the click of heels following. "We do anyways."

[arthurmargon]

LMFAOOOO it was the exact same post, it is tired, esp since dutch has been acting erratic since chapter 2, where he switches up on arthur calling him the best man he knows to a man that's going to betray him, his head injury didn't cause that, it's the paranoia because dutch knows that the law is closing in on him, and that the gang is in dire circumstances, and are living in a world that doesn't want them no more and he knows this but is refusing to accepting this and trying his damndest to fight against it.

I'm not like, denying that dutch isn't mentally ill in some way, he definitely is, though I'm not experienced and knowledgeable enough to like. know exactly what he's suffering with, other people can do it better, like pinkyberg(?) but despite this, he is still a bad person. they aren't mutually exclusive at all

his mental illness didn't cause him to take advantage of a genocide for their own benefits and leave the wapiti tribe to suffer the wrath of the military by themself, and inadvertently cause eagleflies capture and eventual death, that's just him being a bad person, his mental illness didn't make him abuse his girlfriend and try to cheat on her with a younger women, that's just him being a bad person, his mental illness didn't cause him to betray his family, that's just him being a bad person (though I will not deny it did likely play a role, it isn't the reason why he did all those things and more)

implying that his mental illness caused him to do all that just makes it worse for everybody imo

its just a lot more nuanced than that

anyway it's like. 5am and I just woke up so it's not like my best forgive me

i hope you have a good day

agree with everything you said! heavy on him not being evil or a villain because he has a mental illness—his illness just adds another layer to his incessant, greedy pursuit of riches and infamy and his delusion in thinking he can outsmart entire governments since he’s just so special.

tbfh i don’t buy the “bonked his head” excuse whatsoever like brother dutch BEEN unhinged way before the trolley accident. he doesn’t become crazier bc he hit his head… it’s bc he watched hosea get killed, lost all his money, and damn near drowned in a shipwreck in the span of 48 hours. put me in the same situation and i too would see my already terrible traits become so overwhelming that i devolve into a shell comprising the worst parts of myself. let’s lay that head bonk excuse to the grave, i am on my knees begging

[bluegekk0]

I’m sorry to bring this up if it makes you feel unoriginal but I love how many troupe headcanons we share

-Divine is the costume designer

-Brumm has feelings for the master

-Grimm cannot cook to save his life (Brumm, a seasoned chef, has actually banned him from the kitchen on account of him burning one too many recipes) and only knows how to make tea

It’s just nice to know I’m not the only one with these thought processes lol

Though it does make me curious. What species of bugs do you headcanon Brumm and Divine to be, and where would they be from if this was our Earth? Also, do Divine and Leg Eater still get together in this AU, and if so, does Leg Eater still… meet his rather unfortunate end?

Oh no don't worry, it actually feels really nice that people have similar headcanons! I know Brumm having feelings for Grimm is pretty common but the other two are such a fun coincidence! I love that.

Something about Divine to me just screams "she loves fashion" (maybe it's the fancy mask?). And rewatching The Hunger Games, Effie's character gave me even more inspiration for my interpretation of her. So I headcanon her as quite eccentric and flamboyant, very much a perfectionist with an eye for beauty. She wouldn't be as shallow or manner focused as Effie, though, I do imagine she has a bit of a snark to her. But that bright, energetic personality, and her impressive talent for costume design, definitely made her very popular in the Troupe. She's very involved in the costume making process from start to finish, she wants to make sure each Grimmkin gets a costume that fits them perfectly, and she'll contribute during the sewing process, instructing her crew and assisting them in any trouble.

Brumm's feelings for Grimm were initially just a small nod to the relatively popular ship of these two, but it evolved over time into something that explores both of their personalities to a slightly larger extent. It emphasizes Brumm's loyalty and commitment, but also implies that deep down he wants something more. He lost his family before Grimm invited him to the Troupe, and one of those dead loved ones could have been his partner. Perhaps there were similarities between that partner and Grimm which eventually made Brumm have feelings for him. But then you might wonder: how much of it is genuine, and is it possible that he's just projecting his loss onto Grimm? I doubt he knows the answer himself, but at least Grimm was clear that he wasn't interested and spared Brumm the trouble of figuring it out. So he got the confession out of his system, and was able to sort his feelings out and move on. Well, at least mostly. I think he does still feel attraction towards Grimm, Brumm's subtle glances at Grimm's body whenever he lifts his cloak tell you that much, but that's nothing new for Grimm. He made his body desirable on purpose, so he's used to it, and in his eyes those stares don't mean anything. But at the very least Brumm realized that he needed to move on from his feelings towards Grimm, so those glances aren't as emotionally driven as they were in the past. Just a quick look to admire, that's all. Or so he says.

I made a post about Grimm being terrible at cooking already, so I won't repeat myself. But that is when our headcanons differ a little bit. While Brumm is definitely better at cooking, I wouldn't call him a seasoned chef. The Troupe has its own dedicated cooks so he doesn't visit the kitchen that often.

---

As for the second half of the ask. I mentioned before that I don't see the "bugs" in the AU as actual bugs (insects). To me they're just fictional species, though some of them do resemble real life animals (bugs or otherwise). So neither Brumm or Divine are an existing real life species of bug, though Divine does take heavy inspiration from termite queens (though she isn't actually meant to be a termite queen in my eyes, shes still a fictional creature). Brumm? He's definitely more mammalian in my eyes, maybe a bit bear like? Or perhaps he'd resemble something like a badger a little bit.

I'm not sure how to answer the Earth question, especially since, again, they are a fictional creature species to me. But maybe I could mention what kind of regions they're originally from.

Divine would be from a warmer region, maybe something resembling the mediterranean climate. Warm and dry summers, and cool and rainy winters. She's definitely from far away relative to Hallownest, Grimm would travel the whole world back then so that is why the two first met. She doesn't handle the Hallownest cold very well, you'll very rarely see her outside during the colder months, and she wears a lot of outfits with furs.

Brumm is from a colder region, something like taiga. His home land definitely had a lot of forests and long, cold winters, which made him adapt very quickly to the climate in Hallownest. He's covered in fur similarly to Grimm, though his isn't as much for show as it is to protect him from harsh temperatures. Consequently, his home isn't that far from Hallownest.

---

And lastly, no, I decided that Divine and Leg Eater don't meet. There is a lot about my Divine that I changed from canon for personal preference reasons. The charm making process in particular is... A bit too much for me personally hahaha. And I headcanon my Divine as gay, so she wouldn't be interested. Lucky for Leg Eater haha.

[itsbebebrainrotting]

Rant incoming, sorry!!

Do they even know WHY they are fighting and killing??

Im still trying to figure out why tubbo and bad thought to attack red first and then yell revenge when red retaliated. Like, why?? (I'm crow and red main so I probably won't watch the others for the lolz) Chaotic angst energy.

And people keep saying because of Dapper and what Dapper said. And I'm like "what?" Because with that same logic/energy qPhilza can say the same if decided to do the same. "Chayanna said to protect Tallulah no matter what- so Ima kill everyone in sight for whatever reason." That sounds crazy. Right? (Is it just me??)

Like we(their little community/family) been talking and communicating all this time why now does it go out the window? because some random guy who doesnt like us said so? (Quackity did warn them in Brazil tho)

We know the fed dont like us and can't be trusted so why are we not having that same energy towards this guy?

Like I get it, I do. Things are on the line or so it seem but why aren't we actually thinking things through?? Talking?? Coming up with a plan to get everyone and the eggs home. Do we not care for all life anymore?

Its about to be Day 3 and I am so drained from Day 1. Like Charlie's voice, I'm struggling now. My soul is heavy as a red pov.

And yes we won Day 2 but everything has consequences... like please..

I- I just want them to talk for more than a couple seconds.. minutes before thoughts of killing off rip..

*peepoHands*

(I hope it was okay to come to you)

Dont worry about the rant! I like hearing other peoples opinions on things and dont get many asks often so anythings appreciated.

As someone whose main povs are team blue i still understand you entirely but also can explain a couple things (in a similar ranty form lol):

First of all as to why they were killing: I think on day one the competitive nature of the event was at the forefront of blues mind. Bad had been told by his son (who, remember, he literally kidnapped a worker to save) to do anything to win even if it hurt others. Which honestly does imply hostility a bit more than chayannes message. Tubbo also wants chayanne and tallulah (and richarlyson) back like theyre his own children (and has definitely been over excited and trying to prove himself as leader of blue so is being more competitive for his own pride). They were thrust into this situation with all that in mind and just wanted to win by any means, or at least thats the vibe i got.

None of them fully understood the rules of the event either. They tragically fell to the tragic mcyt curse of not reading instructions. They didnt even think about the cursed team until i think it was slime who said he thought red was cursed at which point niki insisted (and still insists) she doesnt think there is a cursed team. Tubbo thought the cursed team changed daily, if you want further proof that rules were not at the forefront of their mind. They just wanted to win since that was what the eggs had said to do. Of course now ccs are more aware of the rules they are keeping them in mind but no one seems to be proposing full teamwork yet.

Funny enough, i think ive mentioned it in a post before but red being their target on day 1 was entirely on accident. Bad killed slime first under the impression he was on green and then continued to go for his team because they happened to be not too far. From what ive gathered, green was bloodthirsty but struggling to find the other teams so thats why blue and red originally started fighting. As for getting angry at retaliation? I think thats just competitive spirit getting in the way.

The whole thing was slightly frustrating personally from a viewer pov because im exactly with you in the fact that they should be talking. They should be figuring out the cursed team. They should be boosting the cursed teams stats. But they didnt understand that and instead went hostile immediately due to the newness of the whole thing.

Even yesterday bad was considering killing red and i was a little frustrated. I get that he was annoyed (if u dont know yesterday blue grinded global tasks but were barely gaining percentage compared to etoiles - at one point they handed smth in and got like 1% - and bad thought kills may have helped them a bit) but blue didnt need to win day 2! If anything that wouldve been detrimental to them considering the cursed team is still unknown (but bbh thinks blues cursed so...). Eventually he settled on bargaining with them by offering something in return for a kill but never got a chance to because he ran out of time. Still, the suggestion was a bit frustrating at the time as someone who was seeing red having a terrible time from liveblogs.

I definitely consider most of day one out of character, as there is no way in hell the characters shouldve been acting the way they did considering all they were supposed to know. Even if qbbh would do anything for dapper he definitely wouldnt outright hurt his friends or risk the other eggs chances of survival. (Also this entirely broke cellbits current arc of being very agressive considering how badly hes been beat down this event.)

Even just hearing about red on both days was draining for me. The one reason im not vodwatching them is that i could feel the draining vibes from liveblogs alone so i cant image what it must be like to main them and while im happy they won, their strategy today was a lot more aggressive compared to everyone else who was trying to tone it down a bunch so i fear for the next few days on everyones povs as the aftermath of that plays out.

Thankfully ive heard bagi wants to unite the teams and bad and baghera discussed getting a group together to theorise about the cursed team so maybe between the three of them things can start moving in the right direction and return to being in character and communicating. Todays the event which may not allow for anyone to unite everyone immediately but i hope they do sooner rather than later.

[deviantartdramahub]

Noname234252: Makes the claim or implication that being banned off of certain sites is a badge of wrongdoing.

Also Noname234252: Keeps complaining certain people should be banned despite the site saying those people aren't breaking rules, as if he didn't already imply that not being banned is a sign of not having done any wrongdoing, and saying others are being falsely reported which would imply bans would not correspond with guilt.

Also Noname234252: Gets banned off of Reddit thirty times with heavy documentation, or rather his thirty comrades got banned if one is to believe him, though he himself contradicts him when in video descriptions he compares himself to a hydra whose posts will keep growing back each time he's reported.

Yeah, that's a good question to ask here, what is this place's philosophy? Is it a badge of wrongdoing?

And here I'll make my case.

A week ago, I might as well have predicted he'd act this way, going to show it's not rocket science to infer it's him who is in the wrong, and it has also been predicted he's not doing this genuinely, he's doing it for the bluff, with some hinting they're sick of him (who shouldn't, when you outright admit to just trying to find new avenues for harassment) as well as defending him in ways that imply they have no point to make and just wish to attack others, such as defending the act he and EvieJulia/Oh-my-arceus/Morothias/MagistraInferna/Jellybeanism (who I will say to take her own knights' advice about her well-documented complaints on the matter) cite as his motivation to attack others over, all while he even pulls outright peer pressure moves to inflate himself and while many who fall for his peer pressure treat bans like a game while not caring when their friends break rules on the site. His YouTuber subscriber count is also increasing after it was criticiqued but interaction on his content isn't, an infamous symptom of buying subs on YouTube to make up for losing.

It's possible that, by the time this post is read, the thread's poster will have been banned for other reasons, a precaution on any site, with the thread removed, so a Wayback of it has been archived showing the post has reached its ten day anniversary at the time of this post and the archive in question, and that Noname234252's threat to report it is itself two days old, not that nobody else has reported it and failed (and the forums have an epidemic of abortive spam that the mods are dealing with after over-appealing to it in a well-documented way, so we know they aren't just turning a blind eye). Perhaps this is all frustration about how ill DA culture has become and how that's leaking into other places which meshes with a sense of counter-obsessiveness.

To all who question his victims, this post may be linked to, because Noname234252 undeniably are attackers with nothing more than a grudge and the side effect of demonstrating the dubiousness of anyone claiming to be anonymous, not that his selfie blunder doesn't give that away, though a bigger contradiction strikes his supposed goal of awareness if his goal really was image.

In a world where he has definitely lost, he's not taking it well.

[characterswithcolorsnamesfight]

If you haven't filled the survey completely yet, can you please send in [Phenomena by Ruben Eliassen] which Azur is from among the novels? The Norwegian publisher is treating it like crap these days and print fewer and fewer copies rather than celebrating its 22nd anniversary and being grateful for it being one of the first (and best) Norwegian fantasy book series. It was the one that made people start taking the genre seriously in Norway so it'll be depressing if it just disappears..!

Cool things for it's time and still is:

The hero has a love interest, the heroine doesn't, the author has later said that she's an aroace lesbian.

A 12-year old girl becomes friends with a guy in his 20s, they do not end up together and stay friends for the rest of the series.

The author manages show don't tell in a book, and discusses the weird misogyny that was around in the 2000s rather than acting like it never happened.

While there's unfortunately some implied r**e, are the ones doing it not glorified or end up with their victims. One of the victims is a man and treated as just as terrible as the other one and is never joked about.

One tribe that were used as slaves take the cousin tribe of the tribe that kept them as slaves as their slaves, this isn't treated as okay.

Adults aren't always right.

The protagonists both have ADHD but are presented as intelligent in their own ways despite being twins.

Is just very good.

Oh sure ! This seems really promising and rather woke for a 2000s book (some of you need serious updating and should come with special warnings but we love you 2000s series)

Here's the survey for those who'd like to help ! Reminder : we're talking about Phenomena by Ruben Eliassen (Norwegian book) and Ragnarok by Odin Helgheim (Norwegian comic). All hail Norway !

(Just a thought from someone whose country has a heavy colonial past : Not sure the "ex slaves turn easily into oppressors when given power" is actually a good take since I believe the "they'll do the same to us if given the occasion/as revenge on us" was the kind of saying used to oppose the end of slavery. It doesn't mean the book doesn't have great takes or that the author and readers are racist, just that it's possibly a poor/clumsy take)

You had me at twins with different personalities ! (I'm joking, I was into it when you said fantasy from Norway and I realized I didn't know what Northern fantasy looked like as a genre) If they translate it, I'll do my best to get my twin to read the copy I'll get

Funnily enough, my favorite kid/young teen series is a French series who never had been translated which title is Phaenomen (from the Latin noun, all the chapters have a Latin title). It's about kids with different kinds of disabilities (unnamed but quite reminescent of autism and other mental or physical disorders -with a supplementary 'magical/sciency' touch but I promise no magical superhealing stuff- : dyspraxia, hypermnesia, migraines, hyperfixations, hypersensitivity to light, difficulties to communicate, anger management issues etc.) who flee the special needs type of clinic they're in and find themselves in quite a lot of trouble as they try to survive together as a makeshift family and run from some powerful Templar sect who's taken an interest in their uncommon abilities (special vision, superspeed, soul manipulation... all are the other sides of their disabilities)

It's been a while since I've last read it but I used to reread it several times a year. Some stuff in it might be problematic (ableism-wise) but I also have autistic friends who love the series too

If anyone else wants to mention childhood/teenagehood/pasthood reads not translated into English from their own countries, don't hesitate ! (Also works for movies, games and whatnot)

[jaylleoo14]

- 🌷🌷🌷 -

DNI

❌Do not mix my content with reality. If you cannot tell between fiction and reality then I ask of you to simply not interact at all

❌ I understand if you are disturbed or bothered by dark content, but I ask you to not bash at me. Simply not interact at all, I create sfw and lighter work for those who do not enjoy such content

❌ I will not allow any negativity on here, so have some basic manners will you?

❌ No incest/bots/homophobia/transphobia/bigots (The amounts of times i've been so enraged due to the disrespect and discrimination!) General hate/ Pedophilia

❌ Blank blogs. If you dont want me to interpret you as a bot please at least have some pfp and picture or bio on your page. SOMETHING to lmk ur not a bot because if not then I will block you!

❌ I ask of you to please not trauma dump when I do not know you

To Note

❗I would like to make my blog a safe space for everyone, please dont be shy to share your little rambles, dark or wholesome I'm willing to read it!

❗ I wont be writing/drawing anything NSFW (smut).Though I am fine with making dirty/sexual jokes for the fun of it. At most it'll only either be heavily/lightly suggestive or/and implied if I ever were to write/draw anything in that area or were to include it. (I have my thirst moments too after all)

❗I really like horror, so dont be surprised if I expand to gore or the general field of horror. Sometimes i like to focus on the horror aspect more, so [said character] may or may not be an automatic yandere for that purpose

❗ I love yanderes!!! I think they are personally fun to write about and think about. But of course I love characters who aren't in the yandere themes as well (such as Miyamura or Genya)^^

❗My Blog is Multifandom. Dont expect me to only post content for only one fandom. Though asks are open and free for you to ramble!

❗ I'm a little shy in all honesty but please dont be shy to say hi<3 I'll start warming up to you if we interact often and i'm pretty friendly!

❗If you want to be mutuals please actually interact with me first before asking.

❗I am alright with being tagged in posts<3

❗ I am open to suggestions, chit chat, or your little rambles! It might help me wrack up another idea to write or draw about ^^

❗Please depict the characters as 18+ please because I usually like to write in settings where you'd be of age to attend or do such things (such as working in a specific profession or going to raves) unless stated or interpreted as otherwise.

❗I do not condone any toxic or your typical yandere traits in real life, along with a lot of immoral and dark themes. I know what im doing, I simply enjoy these themes in fiction. Do not base me as a bad person in real life because of that

❗I wish to Indulge in you to put it quite simply<3

Request Rules

✔️ As long as you can provide me a scenario/situation/idea/plot of a character I can make do with it!

✔️ Preferably limit to 5 people when asking at most!

✔️I have the right to refuse a request if I seem uncomfy/iffy/or unfamiliar with what's being requested

✔️ It would be great if you were to be specific with what you would like to request, in that way I can fit it to what you desire! I'm willing to indulge in you <3 Though its fine if you were to make it broad or general

✔️Although being neurodivergent myself I would like to ask you not to be too heavy on such specific topics when requesting.

✔️ Theres no specific way to give an ask, so just go for whatevers on your mind! <3

With that, I think I added all that I could think of. So please do enjoy your stay, that is if you decide to🌷

~Sincerly, Jay/Jello

Due to be edited anytime if needed

[lesbiansanemi]

If I’m to be frank… I think RGU just wasn’t your taste and that’s valid. But I don’t think it was executed sloppily or had bad writing. I think it’s worth seeing why many people find RGU great and/or impactful, because while it wasn’t for you, I don’t think that it’s nice to imply that other people’s tastes are questionable because they love RGU.

Hope this doesn’t come off as rude. You were rambling, but RGU means a lot to me so… I wanted to give a response.

So.... I do fully acknowledge that quite a few of my complaints with RGU do stem from certain choices/storytelling techniques that just aren't my personal taste (as I mentioned in the original post) however... I also fully stand by my opinion that it did have some poor execution and sloppy writing in certain aspects. I like to think I have decent enough media comprehension to tell the difference between just not liking something personally vs it being poorly technically done

I went into the series really, really wanting to enjoy it, and it was pretty much within the first episode or two that I realized no matter what, I wasn't going to. Part of this had to do with the heavy emphasis on the "slice of life" aspect (as this is not something I enjoy), as well as the storytelling techniques that were being used (heavy emphasis on repetition, extremely overt visual metaphors. etc). I do acknowledge that's all personal taste though, and has nothing to do with a series being good or bad. Regardless, I was a bit disappointed by that, but I did my best to keep good faith while watching because I know it's a series a lot of people really enjoy and think is good, and I wanted to understand why.

Unfortunately, I was pretty consistently let down. For starters, I think the series made the mistake of leaning far too heavily into the aforementioned storytelling techniques that it ended up with bad pacing. It was so focused on its patterns of repetition that it lost itself (and audience attention).

Beyond that, my main two complaints are the imbalanced way it tried to integrate anime-typical slice of life shenanigans and.... literally everything else it was trying to do, and, one of my least favorite things a piece of media can do, lean far too heavily into its own subjectivity to the point that it hindered itself.

I see what the series was trying to do in both those regards, but again, I don't think it did it as well as it could have, or even... that well in general. It's late for me and I have work in the morning, so I don't have time to write up everything I would like to say about this (hopefully I'll manage it in the next couple of days, as well as talk about the aspects of it I did actually enjoy) but that's the gist of my complaints.

Finally... So like, I get the series means a lot to you, and you don't have to agree with me, but I also don't have to agree with you. Just because a lot of people like the series or think it's impactful and put together well doesn't mean it fundamentally is. It definitely doesn't mean I have to think that.

My snarky comment of "I don't trust your media tastes if you tell me this is perfect high art" is a bit of an unfair generalized blanket statement that obviously has more nuance than that. I could have phrased that better, but tbf I wasn't expecting many ppl to read the rambling tags on an untagged post

However... sorry.... but a part of me is standing by that. I disliked the series, and did not think it was nearly technically as good as I've seen people tout it. Therefore, if I see someone very confidently talking about how much they like it and how good it is... It's safe to assume we have very different media preferences and criteria for what makes something technically good. That's fine, but I'm not going to trust a lot of other opinions about media from them, because we're likely to continue disagreeing. That feels like... a fairly logical conclusion to me but idk

I'm not the end all be all of media criticism. I'm not saying you have to agree with me, but I'm sticking by what I said. Sometimes people say/imply media I enjoy is bad, and therefore if I like it, that means I have bad taste and opinions on media. It happens when you're talking about media, especially on the internet. With something so subjective, there is never going to be a piece of media that everyone comes to the same conclusion on, and you kinda just have to learn to accept that.

Idk, I also hope this doesn't come across as too asshole-ish, I'm just saying I don't agree, and I don't think I have to acknowledge that "RGU is that good actually, I just didn't like it personally" if I want to criticize it because I don't think that

[trashcatsnark]

I found your AO3 name thanks to a previous ask and realized that I already read and loooved all your V/Johnny stories! When you were talking about your V and her hearing impairment, I actually remembered reading « He's Not Real, She's Not Pretending » but couldn’t remembered the title or your name! Anyway, all your silverv stories are amazing and reading your answers here is a bit like little small one shots in the best way so please keep telling us about your canon ideas for Aidan and Johnny

Ahhhhhh thank you so much! It means a lot that you enjoy my fics and V!!!!!💖💖💖 

Honestly, reading my fangirling and ideas is a really easy way to get an idea of things I wanna implement as I get further into Aidan’s fic, though right now its still Act 1 bro time with Jackie. I plan on having a lot of horniness, angst, and chaos because I’m a pervert who lives to make my ocs suffer before they receive any sort of happy ending, hehe. 

I’m definitely always a little awkward of doing it without someone like asking or prompting me, because I know I can get very caught up in gabbing about my ocs. So, it’s honestly been so nice having people take interest, ask questions, and even through general V have a way to just word vomit all my internal bullshit. 

Cyberpunk 2077 Spoilers within this

So, here’s a little idea i wanna try to implement into her canon, cause i find it cute. As I kinda mentioned before, my V, Aidan, has never been on a proper date before. When she was a kid she had a huge crush on a girl and convinced the girl to runaway and join her nomad family. (something she immensely regrets now as an adult because her nomad family is awful, but as a kid she was caught up in what she thought was love.) While she was with the nomad family, she never pursued anyone outside of this crush, despite this girl truthfully being very toxic and bad for her even as a friend. She had all these fantasies of doing big grand gestures and sweeping the girl off her feet; but all it culminated in was a bad friendship, a shitty hookup, and the girl swearing her not to tell anyone because she was ashamed of doing anything with Aidan. Once she left, she never felt comfortable getting close to people emotionally and never felt she could handle, or was truthfully worthy of anything deeper than a one night stand or friends with benefits. However, there still is buried deep down that sort of romantic believed in love at first sight kid within her, that wishes she could have a true blue romance. 

So, when it comes time for the Rogue date, she’s equal parts trying to ignore/smash down this growing jealousy by overcompensating and kinda living vicariously through Johnny’s date. Like she’s like, we need to get flowers, (at first she tries to recommend violets because she’s thinking of what she wanted to give her crush as a kid, then quickly realizing they dont have the same meaning for Johnny and Rogue that it would for her and her crush), she considers chocolates, maybe after the drive in they can get dinner, she wouldn’t mind paying for a reservation for them, or ooh no, better yet she can put together a picnic to take to the drive in- And Johnny is like kid chill, what is your fixation on this, I think you’re more excited than me or Rogue combined and you wont even be there? And she awkwardly admits that, you know, please don’t laugh, but at twenty years old she’s never had a date and...she knows she’ll never have one, so she’s kind a wants to enjoy the role she can play in theirs... And she expects Johnny to laugh, to mock her, but he’s just...kinda sad for her and is like, “hey, you know don’t say never, I know it’s weird now, but once you get me out of your head, you’ll have six months to find someone..”  And she just shakes her head, what would be the point of going on a date with someone, getting attached, just to know you’re gonna die... She refuses to be serious with anyone, knowing she’s just gonna croak on ‘em. 

And while Johnny would, love love love love to be the one to take her on a date. To give her that little normal pleasure to make up for all this chip is taking from her. He knows he can’t give her that, he can’t put together a real date for her. So, he’s not sure what he can do, if he can do everything. But then, she does some more stuff to help him out. And...as much as it sometimes makes him wanna scream...her and Kerry get along pretty well. He’s was honestly more than a little terrified of them having sex at the start there and still...kinda worries about it. And on one hand he hates her the idea of her being romantic for anyone other than him, hates the idea of anyone else making stuff up to her and righting the wrongs of this chip other than him. But, god damn it, she deserves to have herself at least one real date before this whole disaster takes her out. 

So, he asks to take control of her body one last time, and he knows he said the samurai gig would be the last one and he was scared for her then, but its been a while, she’s been doing alright. And it will be so quick, he just wants to take care of this one last thing, he swears he’ll be in and out so quick, she wont notice. And she’s rolling her eyes, because he doesn’t have to sell her on it, she trusts him, all he’s gotta do is ask. 

And he swallows all of his god damn pride and he asks Kerry to take her on a date. A really proper, great wonderful date, pull out all the stops for her Ker, bUT TO BE CLEAR, YOUR JOB IS TO TREAT HER TO A NICE NIGHT OUT, NOT TRY TO GET IN HER PANTS. And Kerry’s a shit so he’s just like “No promises, but I’ll take her on a date...or three, ya know however it turns out.”  And Johnny’s not a hundred percent sure he made the right choice. 

[tac-bat]

Why I love How Sky Portrays Death

Before I start, I go into detail about death and loss, and description of the afterlife and dying and examples of it in sky and a little mention of religion irl.

I wrote this while sleep deprived if this makes no sense, i'm not sorry

Take this all with a grain of salt as this is purely my observation and interpretation

To many, death is scary, unpredictable, and inevitable. Death is frightening because it represents the end of life, the loss and grief it brings, and the uncertainty of where we will go. Every religion has its own version of the afterlife, from our soul moving to a new body, places ranging from rewarding good and punishing evil, to simply being nothing. Death is scary because we'll never truly know what lies beyond or what awaits. It's complicated ,heavy, and it's something that many have delved deeper into too. I only bring this up because the sky not only answers, but embraces death. How? Let's take a look.

Orbit

Sky's interpretation of the afterlife is perfect. "All are given breath by starlight," as stated in the intro mural, everyone ends up back in the stars someday, becoming spirits that travel to this small part of the galaxy. They even seem to become one with the light and stars if they so please. And it's relaxing; it's soothing.

They know it exists.

Spirit's have shown from the beginning of the game that they can descend and ascend whenever they please. See all TS's, Grandma, and event spirits like Yeti, who appear briefly during Feast to cast a snowman spell before ascending. According to this logic, orbit is widely known because ancestors were bound to descend to explain what happens. And spirits aren't gone from their loved ones' lives; they're still present. They're not gone and can visit anytime they like; it's not hard for me to imagine them visiting others during holidays and events.

Gravestone's

In every social space, there are gravestones for every base-game ancestor. What's interesting is how they're laid out; unlike regular graveyards, which are organized in a line, none of the graves are uniform, some being lengths apart. This is very clear in Prarie, with one near the closet and another nestled in a cave; even irl graveyards that are less uniform don't tend to put burials that far away, but Sky does. It almost seems like an ancestor could've possibly chosen the placement themselves. You also have the special burial site at the 8-player door, a working elevator and all, the graves have their own little buildings and stones draped in gold, implying a ceremony as we know. Not only that, but Valley's way of honouring death is extremely interesting.

Let's talk about Samekh's temple

Valley really demonstrates how death is viewed—not in a morbid way but in an honourable way. The hallways of both races are lined with gravestones, with the exception of some open spaces. When compared to decorations such as the eight-player door, the gravestones themselves are painted in gold. They're unlike any graves seen so far, and you can argue that these were reserved for champions, and if so, I feel like the halls would be packed considering this is the valley of triumph, but no, there are still a few open spaces. Which makes me adore how there are gravestones in the twin's temple.

Their temple is the only one that not only has gravestones inside, but is lined with them! And considering their position and how we know they play a big role in the sky as leaders, to the point where they have a temple, it makes the fact they share it as an ancestor's final resting place so heartwarming to me. They were under no obligation to place gravestones; they could have dragged the banners down, added more statues, or even designed something similar to Daleth's temple like the murals we see, but they didn't. They allowed the room with their shrine to be a graveyard, they value their people's lives; they regard it as an honour, and whether those are the graves of champions or ordinary people, they value them all the same.

And it still hurts.

Even in the sky, where the question of death is answered, it still hurts.

It hurts when Mindful and a Tearful miner witness the deaths of their friends, Tearful having to bury their own. It hurts when Teabrewer returns with herbs for their loved one who died while they were away, so much so that they become anxious when they leave anyone alone, as seen in their info card. It's horrifying to know how many ancestors died in the war with no way to escape, faced with the fear of death every day.

Death is still scary in Sky, and I love it for that. Even when you know where you'll go, you still value your life; you don't want to die, and you don't want to go. But when that time comes, when you choose to be one with the universe, or roam your home with your star-kissed body, you'll never be alone. And that's why I adore the way death is depicted:

Because it's bittersweet.