#nothing was safe

[roseworth]

best part about comic tumblr is that it is the only fandom i’ve been a part of where no one says “i just love the fandom so much we’ve created such a safe space here 🥺” like i have never seen even one post about how much someone loves the dc fandom. this is not a happy family this is a cold war and im just glad we all know that

[astraystayyh]

They have since left four premature babies to decompose on their beds. They have since kidnapped, stripped, tortured civilians and tried to frame them as Hamas fighters for their propaganda. They have since shot people at refugee camps execution style. They have since targeted academics and poets and directors. They have since killed 86 journalists. Still no ceasefire.

psa: i know that many of us did NOT doubt this for a second, neither did i. this is targeted at the people who educated themselves for the first time about this genocide and discovered the absolute horrific things that Israel is capable of doing to Palestinians, with the unwavering support of its allies.

[bacchuschucklefuck]

january month of yuugi

[misterpseudonym]

[stromblessed]

Mizu, femininity, and fallen sparrows

In my last post about Mizu and Akemi, I feel like I came across as overly critical of Mizu given that Mizu is a woman who - in her own words - has to live as a man in order to go down the path of revenge.

If she is ever discovered to be female by the wrong person, she will not only be unable to complete her quest, but there's a good chance that she'll be arrested or killed.

So it makes complete sense for Mizu to distance herself as much as possible from any behavior that she feels like would make someone question her sex.

I felt so indignant toward Mizu on my first couple watchthroughs for this moment. Why couldn't Mizu bribe the woman and her child's way into the city too? If Mizu is presenting as a man, couldn't she claim to be the woman's escort?

However, this moment makes things pretty clear. Mizu knows all too well the plight of women in her society. She knows it so well that she cannot risk ever finding herself back in their position again. She helps in what little way she can - without drawing attention to herself.

Mizu is not a hero and she is not one to make of herself a martyr - she will not set herself on fire to keep others warm. There's room to argue that Mizu shouldn't prioritize her quest over people's lives, but given the collateral damage Mizu can live with in almost every episode of season 1, Mizu is simply not operating under that kind of morality at this point. ("You don't know what I've done to reach you," Mizu tells Fowler.)

And while I still feel like Mizu has an obvious and established blind spot when it comes to Akemi because of their differences in station, such that Mizu's judgment of Akemi and actions in episode 5 are the result of prejudice rather than the result of Mizu's caution, I also want to establish that Mizu is just as caged as Akemi is, despite her technically having more freedom while living as a man.

Mizu can hide her mixed race identity some of the time, and she can hide her sex almost all of the time, but being able to operate outside of her society's strict rules for women does not mean she cannot see their plight.

It does not mean she doesn't hurt for them.

Back to Mizu and collateral damage, remember that sparrow?

While Mizu is breaking into Boss Hamata's manse, she gets startled by a bird and kills it on reflex. She then cradles it in her hands - much more tenderly than we've seen Mizu treat almost anything up to this point in the season:

She then puts it in its nest, with its unhatched eggs. Almost like she's trying to make the death look natural. Or like an accident.

You see where I'm going with this.

When Mizu kills Kinuyo, Mizu lingers in the moment, holding the body tenderly:

And btw a lot of stuff about this show hit me hard, but this remains the biggest gut punch of them all for me, Mizu holding that poor girl's body close, GOD

When Mizu arranges the "scene of the crime," Kinuyo's body is delicate, birdlike. And Mizu is so shaken afterward that she gets sloppy. She's horrified at this kill to the point that she can't bring herself to take another innocent life - the boy who rats her out.

MIZU'S ONE MOMENT OF SOFTNESS AND MERCY, COMING ON THE HEELS OF HER NEEDING TO KILL A GIRL TO SPARE HER THE WORST FATE THAT THIS RIGID SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER WOMEN, AND TO SPARE A BROTHEL FULL OF INNOCENT WOMEN WHO ARE THE CASTOFFS OF SOCIETY, NEARLY RESULTS IN ALL OF THEIR DEATHS

No wonder Mizu is as stoic and cold as she is.

And no wonder Mizu has no patience for Akemi whatsoever right before the terrible reveal and the fight breaks out:

Speaking of Akemi - guess who else is compared to a bird!

The plumage is more colorful, a bit flashier. But a bird is a bird.

And, uh

Yeah.

I like to think that Mizu killing the sparrow is not only foreshadowing for what she must do to Kinuyo, but is also a representation of the choice she makes on Akemi's behalf. She decides to cage the bird because she believes the bird is "better off." Better off caged than... dead.

But because Mizu doesn't know Akemi or her situation, she of course doesn't realize that the bird is fated to die if it is caged and sent back home.

Mizu is clearly not happy, or pleased, or satisfied by allowing Akemi to be dragged back to her father:

But softness and mercy haven't gotten Mizu anywhere good, recently.

There is so much tragedy layered into Mizu's character, and it includes the things she has to witness and the choices she makes - or believes she has to make - involving women, when she herself can skirt around a lot of what her society throws at women. Although, I do believe that it comes at the cost of a part of Mizu's soul.

After all, I'm gonna be haunted for the rest of this show by Mizu's very first prayer in episode 1:

"LET" her die. Because as Ringo points out, she doesn't "know how" to die.

Kind of like another bird in this show:

[crazycatmilo]

We don’t talk enough about how Martin was likely mostly running the institute by himself (cuz Peter probably wasn’t all that helpful, Martin for sure never wants to see a spreadsheet again) while in a depressive episode AND manipulating Peter to make him think he’s on his side. Like holy fuck bro. It pisses me off when people act like he’s dumb because did we listen to the same show??

[idontmindifuforgetme]

As if to reinforce how few fucks it gives, Israel carpet bombed Rafah yesterday (on the same day there was an ICJ hearing about its ongoing genocide). Today it broke that its relentless bombardments have demolished a mosque in Rafah—not a new move for Israel, as it has already destroyed several mosques in Gaza. And this isn’t even part of the ground offensive Israel intends to embark on in Rafah, fully unstopped because anyone who has the power to stop them doesn’t give a fuck for Arab lives. We are watching the erasure of Palestine in real time, from its sacred sites to its people themselves.

[whirlpool-blogs]

“little brother goes in the middle” is my favorite Hughes Bros permutation

[enden-k]

serving dinner

[dr-mohan]

So.... All this, because I've ... because I didn't get you a desk? Not everything is about you, Mulder. This is my life.

THE X-FILES — 04x13

[chameleon3]

masterlist of every robert sean leonard film i could find free on youtube bc i’m bored

Dead Poets Society

The Boys Next Door

Tape (2001)

My Best Friend is a Vampire

Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead (just ethan hawke)

In the Gloaming

Married To It

A Painted House

Bluffing It (this one has a fucked up start and horrible quality but at least there’s baby rsl!)

A Glimpse of Hell

Safe Passage

Ground Control

Chelsea Walls

The Invention Of Love (play)

The Boys Next Door (if it’s not available where you live)

A Painted House (if it’s not available where you live)

Dead Poets Society (Google Drive) (special thanks to @moon-walkman!!!)

MAJOR shoutout to this playlist, which is where i sourced many of these :)

lmk if i missed any, i’m currently scouring youtube for more so i’ll update this as i find more!! (btw i haven’t watched most of these all the way through, just checked to make sure they actually have my darling boys in them so lmk if there are any issues!)

[papanorth]

Motherfuckers got me again

[fandangomuz]

having my little insane moment and i cant stop thinking about this part from the devil ending to the ghost of you. do u guys see the vision

[dragon-of-grandeur]

I'm not sure you understand.

I'm not sure you understand how excruciatingly lonely someone can be.

How lonely do you think you'd be if you grew up hearing every day that your opinion didn't matter? That no one would be attracted to you because you're too chubby? How embarrassing your own mother thought you were? How your accomplishments were pathetic compared to hers? Hearing about all of the things that were so incredibly wrong with you. Hearing how much of a disappointment you turned out to be.

How lonely do you think you'd be if the only people available to make friends with cared exclusively about the one thing you couldn't do no matter how hard you tried? If everything you ever cared about was considered evil and got taken from you the moment you found it? What if you knew that the moment you were finally free to be a person, everyone you ever loved would abandon you for it? That they would decide they never wanted to see or speak to you again? Every single one. What if you realized you were alone before that even happens? What if you realized all the love you've ever experienced in life was fake?

How lonely do you think you'd be if you grew up so different from everyone else around you that you didn't even feel human? What if you were made to believe that you didn't deserve to exist? What if you were told you were going to die a horrific death for being everything you were inside?

How lonely would you be if you spent every night terrified and trying desperately to cover up your sobbing because you can't tell anyone about any of it?

What would you do?

What would you do to have a friend? What would you do to have anyone? How desperate do you think you'd be? How would you even accomplish that if you weren't allowed to talk to anyone else outside of your family and their friends? Where could you possibly find someone else to connect with someone as awkward, strange, angry, and sad as you? Someone who could know about all of the things inside of you and still love you.

I made someone.

I gave him my passion, my strength, my courage, my confidence, my sense of adventure, my stubbornness, my sense of loyalty, my sense of humor. I gave him my love of dinosaurs, my love of cars, my love of horror movies, my love of 80's music. I had his entire life figured out. I named him. I thought of him whenever I was lonely, which was always. He was the only way I could safely love and be loved by in return. He never went away. Why would he? He's my best friend.

What good would memory barriers have done? How useful would it be if we didn't even get along? What purpose would there be if it caused me any distress to have Alex?

True loneliness can be traumatizing.

Non-disordered plurality can exist.

Created headmates can be life saving.

[serendippertyy]

posts this and runs away so fast I trip and fall on my face