#obviously desperation can also be a factor and the details there are as of yet undecided

[wiremotherofficial]

i'm not good at villains because evil always feels so unrealistic to me, so i gotta ask: is half a million dollars a reasonable amount to inspire some serious evil in a character who's otherwise only a regular grade scumbag?

[aparrotandaqrow]

A lot of folks, especially in the Jewish community, have mixed feelings about Harris picking Walz as her VP over Shapiro. Some wanted Shapiro for the Jewish representation, especially a Jew who is Zionist and yet decries Netanyahu and expresses the desire for peace that so many of us have. Some worried that having two Jews in the White House would provoke yet more antisemitism and possibly even sink the ticket, given the massive surge in leftist antisemitism recently.

Many of us were frustrated and angered by seeing leftists campaign for Walz being the pick over Shapiro more or less entirely because Shapiro is Jewish—and felt a sense of dismay that perhaps Harris had caved to the antisemites.

I'm a Jew but I'm also a Minnesotan. I was glad to see the Walz pick for many reasons unrelated to my Jewish identity or Israel. But I want to also submit that Walz, uniquely among the politicians Harris could have picked, brings something to the table that is desperately important both to the nation more broadly and our community more specifically.

I present as Exhibit A, this archived NYT profile of Walz from back in 2008:

The teacher, Tim Walz, was determined that even in this isolated place, perhaps especially in this isolated place, this county seat of 9,000 that was hours away from any city in any direction, the students should learn how and why a society can descend into mass murder.

...

“The Holocaust is taught too often purely as a historical event, an anomaly, a moment in time,” Mr. Walz said in a recent interview, recalling his approach. “Students understood what had happened and that it was terrible and that the people who did this were monsters. “The problem is,” he continued, “that relieves us of responsibility. Obviously, the mastermind was sociopathic, but on the scale for it to happen, there had to be a lot of people in the country who chose to go down that path. You have to make the intellectual leap to figure out the reasons why.”

My ancestors immigrated to the US around the turn of the century from Mariampol, Lithuania and Luboml, Ukraine. When the Nazis arrived in those towns some 40 years later, the Jews there (many of whom would have been my ancestors' relatives) were massacred not by Nazi soldiers, but by their neighbors, who welcomed the Nazis with open arms. You cannot truly help protect the Jewish community from antisemitism if you don't understand this crucial detail about how the Holocaust happened.

So Mr. Walz took his students [...] and assigned them to study the conditions associated with mass murder. What factors, he asked them to determine, had been present when Germans slaughtered Jews, Turks murdered Armenians, the Khmer Rouge ravaged their Cambodian countrymen?

...

They read about civil war, colonialism and totalitarian ideology. They worked with reference books and scholarly reports, long before conducting research took place instantly online.

...

When the students finished with the past, Mr. Walz gave a final exam of sorts. He listed about a dozen current nations — Yugoslavia, Congo, some former Soviet republics among them — and asked the class as a whole to decide which was at the greatest risk of sliding into genocide. Their answer was: Rwanda. The evidence was the ethnic divide between Hutus and Tutsis, the favoritism toward Tutsis shown by the Belgian colonial regime, and the previous outbreaks of tribal violence. Mr. Walz awarded high marks. The next April, in 1994, Mr. Walz heard news reports of a plane carrying the Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana, being shot down. [...] Mr. Walz’s students, now juniors, saw their prophecy made into flesh and blood.

...

“You have to understand what caused genocide to happen,” Mr. Walz said, with those grim anniversaries in mind. “Or it will happen again.”

Y'all, Tim Walz is not Jewish. He's a white guy who grew up in Nebraska and then lived in one of Minnesota's smaller cities, up until going to Congress and then the Governor's mansion. No, he does not provide us with representation, nor will he ever truly understand what it feels like to be Jewish in America in 2024.

But he gets it. He understands not just academic history but people, and understands that "Never Again" is only feasible if we look at root causes, and strive to nip the factors that lead to genocide in the bud. We have all understood that allyship for Jews is only meaningful if you're here defending us before it gets violent.

Governor Walz represents an opportunity to have someone in the White House, on the national stage, who understands the big picture and the history well enough to actually be able to navigate incredibly complex and painful issues like the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, like the regional conflicts within the Arab world, like the experience of progressive Jews in the US who would have found ourselves ostracized and alienated from increasingly hostile leftist movements. I cannot begin to explain how rare it is to have a politician at this level who also carries an experienced teacher's grasp of both history and empathy.

Maybe Josh Shapiro would have also brought that. But honestly, I'm not so sure. Walz may not be Jewish. But I think we're going to find that he'll be an ally, and a deeply learned and wise one at that. And I think we really need that right now.

[defdaily]

BEAUTY+ Magazine May 2021 issue featuring JAY B: The Second Act

Translated by defdaily

Among the past, present, and future, which do you think about the most?

The present. I believe that the present is the most important. The future makes you worry constantly, and the past makes you regret constantly so I try not to think about them. Now, I try to make decisions I won’t regret.

Do you think about your current state and things you want to do?

I contemplate a lot about the state of my emotions or what to do in my current situation. Ever since I was young I thought it’d be good to live like the flowing water, tranquilly. You know how water changes its state based on its surroundings. I want to be someone in the free water-like flow.

Has your life until now been like free-flowing water?

My life itself may seem spectacular, but I think the flow of my life itself has been. There was a lot I was lacking in since debuting with GOT7 but I tried my best to show a colour suitable for GOT7. I changed myself according to the container I was in, and instead of being stagnant in one place, I think I flowed here well.

You seem to be careful with choosing an agency. What factors are you contemplating about?

I think about whether I will suit the company. It might be tiring for others to see because I���m so meticulous, and I may seem selfish but I think that I should be selfish right now. My future depends on it as well as the future of the company I will be going to. I think I will have to be selfish for both sides to produce good results.

The members showed their natural sides in the Encore music video. Looking back to 7 years of GOT7’s activities, what is the most memorable moment?

Since we’re performing artists, I remember a lot of moments on stage. 2-3 years ago in Thailand we performed our solo tracks for 7 days and then performed OUT all together as a group. I think a lot about how we were all so excited to perform. I think of those times we were together as seven.

What kind of team was GOT7? Judging as a leader?

The direction of GOT7 I thought of was a fun and free-spirited team. Since Look came out, I’ve been telling the company that we “shouldn’t try too hard to set the mood or look cool. Songs with a style like Look will be our strength.” I don’t think things turned out the way I thought they would. But as you can see from our last album’s song ‘Breath,’ it feels like we went in circles and came back to our original spot. There is some regret about how it would've been good to go more in that direction, then we could’ve shown a more solidified colour. But as a result, it’s a fact that we became a team capable of pulling off various colors.

Did you make those suggestions thinking about the members, because you thought it was what set you guys apart from other groups?

I talked a lot with my members. It seemed like they had the most fun with bright, fun, and chill performances. With performances like that, we think about harmony rather than how each of us can look cool. It leaves a greater impression on the fans when we are visibly having fun.

It seems like the public has also watched over the growth of JAY B. Starting as a bboy to a main vocalist, and writing many remarkable K-pop songs. You also played a huge role in establishing GOT7’s colour. What led you to grow and develop in that way?

I thought that if I felt like I wasn’t growing, then I should quit music.

Does liking it not serve as a reason?

Because it’s my job. Being able to do what you like as a job is something to be grateful for. But if my skills don’t meet the standards and if there is no growth despite my efforts, it’s only right to do it as a hobby. I didn’t think that there was no growth when listening to my music. I thought it could work if I tried a bit more.

What was a song you feel like you reached a new level?

‘Teenager’ and ‘PAGE.’ I think the team’s color was completed with those songs. It helped me realize that I had the potential to write such songs. At first, I was persistent with sticking to my musical color. Later, I changed my thoughts and decided I should write songs suitable for GOT7. It’s something I should obviously do as a member of the team. I think that’s where ‘Teenager’ and ‘PAGE’ lined up very well.

The album 7 for 7 containing ‘Teenager’ was a turning point for GOT7. Through that album, we got the feeling that you guys found your color and most importantly, the quality of the songs written by the members was great. What happened during that time?

I think that’s when our potential exploded (laughs). GOT7 had three turning points. The first was ‘Stop Stop It.’ We heard the song and thought “Wow, this is it.” But the outfits were a bit regretful. The music and the visuals didn’t really match. We wore overalls (laughs). The second turning point was when the Flight Log trilogy was released, and the third was ‘Teenager’ of 7 for 7. That song later led to ‘Look’ and we got to sing ‘PAGE’ and ‘THURSDAY.’ Then we suddenly tried to change our direction to ‘ECLIPSE’ and ‘You Calling My Name’ but eventually ended up back to ‘Breath.’

When you listen to ‘Look’ or ‘PAGE’, do you feel like GOT7’s musical colour reflects your own preference and style? And you’ve made many GOT7 songs with ØFFSHORE crew.

It’s hard to say it wasn’t reflected. But according to my standards, they are songs I wanted to write for the team. I talked a lot with the crew about what (kind of song) should GOT7 do and what would suit GOT7. ‘Look’ was a song that was released because the mood suited GOT7 well. After that it was ‘PAGE’ and ‘THURSDAY’. Our colour was included naturally.

The 8 members of ØFFSHORE are consistently releasing albums. How is that taking place?

We talk about what we feel and decide on a theme whenever we want to release an album. When we decide on a theme, each person would write songs relating to the theme, we select songs and release an album. The themes usually come up as we are talking casually about life. For example <Scene 1> contains the process of leaving on a trip until coming back. Rather than the lyrics, the moods of the songs are like that. When you start the trip you listen to fun songs then (we) get a little calmer as the trip comes to an end. I organised the order of the songs for <Scene 2>. When talking with friends, you usually start by talking about work then you talk about life, the future and then you end up talking about love and relationships. I organised it as that kind of story. There is no specific goal. We spend the revenue from albums on production for the next album. Because everyone in the group are people who make music, there are things that were settled music-wise through these promotions.

You must have been influenced by your friends a lot not only musically, right?

Yes, of course. Regarding life too. I listen to what my older brothers/friends and my parents have to say. I think about the stories of the people who experienced it first once again. One older friend said “We are not doing this for a huge goal, don’t get stressed and let’s just make music.” When I was pondering about how to do better, I heard that and it hit me. Should I say, those words painted my life with colour. I felt like working with energy and strength didn't suit me at the time.

Is it true that you have made 3 albums? Do you only work on songs every day?

Yes. I usually stay in the studio when I can't do my hobby. And since the people I meet are friends who do music too. I don’t know if I can release an album but I’m preparing and working on it.

What kind of albums are they?

In the past, I made powerful “performance-type” songs, but for this album the mood is calmer and the sound is minimal. There is an acoustic feel too. There is a soft tender album, a sad album and a melancholic album too.

Where did the desperation come from?

The desperation of life. I can’t talk about it in detail but there was a topic I really wanted to talk about when I made the album. It could become an album that people frown upon. But, for the music I do alone, I thought I should include honest stories that match my situation.

Did you write about the pain and difficulties you’ve felt all this time? On the surface, you seem to be a recognised leader of a successful idol group, but you must have faced difficulties.

Yes. It’s one part of my life too. Looking back, the difficulties were caused by my own tendencies rather than external factors.

Is it because of the perfectionism you push onto yourself? It seems like the uncertainty and fear contributed to creating your current self.

Yes, I’ve never thought of myself as a perfectionist but people around me often tell me so. They must have a reason for saying that so I ended up acknowledging it myself. I was really ambitious with GOT7 too so I felt a lot of disappointment and stress. I work hard because I know if I don’t, it’ll come back to me as regret. It’s okay to look back to times when I didn’t know well enough and think, “I should’ve done this, I was naive.” What I hate is doing just enough because of reasons like lack of stamina despite knowing what I need to do and knowing that I’m not yet satisfied.

Until now, you’ve made music with the name Def. and through the JUS2 comeback, you also let us hear dreamlike songs from a baritone. Escaping from the category of idol, you now need to create a new identity – is there a kind of music you would like to do fresh?

It’s hard to say it rashly now but, whatever I do, I want to do it properly and solidly. I do prefer a relaxed and easygoing mood, but when it comes to music genres, R&B, hip hop, urban and pop will definitely be the groundwork. However, I do hope that my image will not be fixed to one (genre). It’s no fun to keep doing the same kind of music. And I’m sure there are times when I’ll have to become a little wilder. It’d be great if (I had) a free image. I also hope it’s an image that I won’t be embarrassed of. After coming to a new company and releasing an album, if it doesn’t do well, I think it would be right for me to leave.

Aren’t you fearing failure too much? How would it be possible to achieve what you wish in one go?

Of course, I’m scared. I’m very afraid of failure. Naturally, it won’t be possible to succeed in one shot, but I do have the standard of my Maginot line*. That is what I am referring to. I am usually the type that thinks of the negative things first. It’s not good to be unprepared for the worst-case scenario.

*Maginot line – taken from the fortifications that created the French line of defence, now coming to mean “a defensive barrier or strategy that inspires a false sense of security”

You’ve said that GOT7 has not disbanded, however since all the members are under new companies, coming back together as GOT7 will not be an easy thing to achieve. What kind of method are you thinking of?

I’ve talked a lot with the members. It’s our goal to write one song each month for GOT7. If it’s 1 year, then that’s 12 songs. All our members write songs, so if each one of us does that, then we can accumulate a lot of songs. Everyone is in different companies which will have their own situations, so I can’t make promises for certain, but our goal is to release one album every year. It would be great for that to happen, and I personally think that it should happen. Because that is the minimum courtesy we should show to our fans. It would be even better if we could have a stage.

It would be a new concept.

We heard that the release of our song ‘Encore’ was in an unprecedented manner, and this made my sense of duty and responsibility bigger. Because the steps we take in the future could influence the direction that others may take in the future too. I thought it was the end, but it’s only just the beginning,

Amongst your many hobbies, is there anything you would like to recommend?

Camping. Activities such as setting up tents and cooking really make you think. Even just sitting down in a chair surrounded by nature is really great. Waking up to the sounds of birds singing is amazing; the sound of water running too. Recently, I bought a folding furnace and create my own little fire space. It could be seen as something embarrassing but while having the fire there, if negative thoughts come up, I write it down and then burn it in the fire. If you think that camping may be tiring, glamping would be good too.

Since the name of the magazine is Beauty+, I wanted to ask, is there something that you thought was beautiful recently?

People passed by me laughing and making some noise, and as I saw that, I thought that laughter was something really beautiful. I realised why smiling and laughing is a beautiful thing. It’s not just laughing or smiling, but the emotions that encompass that are really so beautiful. Everything natural is beautiful.

Translated by defdaily.

[river-bottom-nightmare]

Nightwing 79 Review

i said i would and i will. i did like this issue! not as striking and attention grabbing as 78, but i think this issue was meant to be a foundation one, laying out the groundwork for the future. overall, pretty good. also there wasn't enough bitewing. as promised, overly extensive metaphors and me reading too much into things under the cut

i know i've talked about this cover before, but this particular thing is oddly important to me, so i'll talk about it again

this is me, once again screaming about how artists put nightwing in traditionally feminine poses and how every time i see it i just get whiplash. i mean, true, the main reason why is because nightwing is a so often sexualized character, and putting him in these poses just increases the objectification, which is a goal that dc producers have. but there are very few popular male characters that do this. the only one i can think of off the top of my head is deadpool, but that was so obviously a critique and a way to make fun of the media industry. when they draw dick like this, they’re being serious. they’re putting him in appealing poses meant to show him off, and that’s something that’s traditionally only been done to women.

it's a very direct and very loud breaking of traditional gender roles in media, especially for a character as high-profile and historic as dick grayson. colour also plays a factor in this. the entire background is pink. i was absolutely shocked when i first saw it, when the teaser came out, because i cannot think of any comic book covers of male comic heroes this high-profile where pink is even just prevalent in the cover, let alone the majority of the cover. the pink does look beautiful: it offsets and highlights the black and blue of dick's suit gorgeously, but does it with more finesse than orange or red. but the fact that the stylistic choice was made to accent and draw this cover with aesthetic and beauty in mind, completely ignoring traditional hard-set gender rules in art, was a conscious choice and one i wholeheartedly support.

just another example of the sexualization i was talking about. i remember seeing harley quinn in this exact pose in suicide squad.

so far, taylor's been pretty dead-set on bringing alfred to the forefront of importance in this series. he wants people to know how much he loves alfred's character, and how much the butler meant to dick growing up. he was dick's father too. but what i adore is how taylor managed to stress alfred's importance in a way that didn't insult or belittle bruce.

this is one of the best bruce and dick interactions i've seen, and it's done in one simple interaction. in this, bruce is tough and harsh. he knocked dick down hard, but then he reached a hand down and helped pull dick back up. let me analyze their dialogue for a minute

on your feet: this is bruce telling dick to get up. he's trained dick, he knows what the younger boy is capable of, he knows his limits, and he knows what dick can do. this is bruce telling dick i know you're strong enough to get up, so get up and prove me right

are you just going to knock me down again?: surface-level, it looks like dick's complaining. he doesn't like bruce's rough training, and he's tired of bruce knocking him down. but look at his face in this. he's smiling up at bruce, knowledgeable and a little hopeful. he knows that bruce is doing this to help dick better himself, he's completely on board with the rough training, because they both know the rewards are incredible. also, he's teasing. he's bantering with bruce. there's an ease in that joking statement, one that belies affection and intimacy. they've only known each other for a little bit, but they're already slipping into a close familial relationship.

it depends on how fast you learn: this is bruce bantering back. this is bruce not being a stoic, unfeeling asshole. instead, he's shown with the dry humor that a good batman writer knows is a staple of the character. he's teasing dick, telling him he'll basically whoop his ass if dick doesn't learn fast enough. it's incentive for dick to train harder, while also being lighthearted enough to tell dick that believes in dick and doesn't want him to push himself too hard.

gosh i love the titans. also it looks like wally's staring at dick's ass.

this was cute. a prod at dick's silly and playful sense of humor, while not dumbing him down for the sake of a laugh. instead, he's joking about food, which is stuff everyone jokes about. this is the kind of stuff that'll actually make me laugh, instead of just making me vaguely uncomfortable.

bludhaven's almost always portrayed as a cesspool of a city. and to be honest, it really is. but this panel gives the city a meaningful history, while also giving us a reason for why dick moved there.

it talks of a time when people still thought they could beat the monsters. that if they fought hard enough, they could win the fight. it was a tentative hope that you could always overcome hardship.

dick's little "i like that it's still standing" shows how he still believes that, despite what the rest of the world thinks. despite everything that he's been through, dick is still tentatively an optimist, and believes he can fight the monsters of the world and win. it's a beautiful testament to his character, and i'm like that they added his signature element of hope back in. it used to be what he symbolized as robin, and despite his growth and character arc from robin to nightwing, this is one aspect of robin that i'm glad nightwing still has.

remember when i said "things that make me vaguely uncomfortable??" yeahhhh,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Shooketh Dick: A Sequel

(the expressions in this series are just,,,,on point)

this was an incredibly sweet and kindhearted thing for dick to do, but i found it kind of,,,,,,,,desperate? maybe that's just me, but let me explain.

dick's suddenly a billionaire, and he has entirely too much money that he knows what to do with. it's also alfred's money, what the man left to him, so dick forever links it with alfred. in addition to that, he's back and bludhaven and looking at it with "fresh" eyes. (at least, from a different point of view since he got shot in the head. then mind controlled.) he's desperate to do something with the money and he's desperate to help the people around him that so obviously needs up, so he comes up with an on-the-fly solution that's a little impractical and a little crazy, but it still helps and still does some good.

to me, dick seems a little lost. he hasn't completely found his balance yet, and he's trying to do things that will. he tries charity, because that's what bruce did and it's what he knows, even though he admitted that he always thought bruce could have done more as bruce wayne than batman.

they have a family group chat guys yall were right.

also, do i think that dick would ever actually get his wallet stolen?? no way in hell, he’d notice someone getting ready to pickpocket him a mile away. but i suppose it’s important to the Plot. 

okay this is getting interesting. first blockbuster, now maroni (+ the weird heart stealer guy). i can officially say that i am intruiged

this particular artistic quirk is shown a lot in this issue, and from this art team in general, but i feel like this panel is one of the best examples of it. it was stunning enough to take up a full page, and it’s well deserved.

the way they show dick moving is absolutely brilliant. as a reader, i like seeing these smaller versions of dick getting clearer and in more detail as they come closer to the screen. not only do they show depth in the picture beyond what a simple 3 dimensional piece of art does, it also shows the passage of time.

in addition, it showcases dick’s skill. dick spots these mobsters running after a group of petty thieves. he then, and follow me here, leaps off the roof of one building feet first, springboards backwards off the side of the adjacent building with his feet, gracefully continues his backflip, rights himself, shoots a line with perfect timing: just in time to soften his landing but not slow him down, execute said landing on top of a moving bus, keep running on the moving bus without missing a beat, shoot his grapple, use the grapple to swing, use the swing to build up momentum, then use the momentum to deliver a powerful blow to the mobsters. and he did all that fast enough to catch up with the mobsters, even though he was a ROOFTOP OVER. 

d a m n  s o n

this panel, the very first in the issue, is also another example of that art style, but a little more distinctive. i love the way they showed dick’s different costumes through the ages, along with him simply growing up. it’s a little heartbreaking, but a lot uplifting to see how far he’s come. thank god he got rid of the red. now all we need is the fingerstripes, and we’ll be golden

discowing my beloved. also i can’t clearly see discowing’s hair but it definitely looks like it’s pulled back. it looks like he put it in a ponytail. guys. guys. dick had a ponytail omg. 

he’s having a Hero Moment

are you talking about the city, dick, or are you talking about you? the kgbeast, the court, the joker. dick fell to each one of them, no matter how hard he fought. he won in the end, eventually and with his family’s help. but i think he’s feeling a little low, a little defeated right now. it’s almost like he needs a win, he needs to feel victorious, he needs to feel like he helped someone (hence the food and the hotel room), just because he needs to remember what it feels like.

these lines were supposed to resonate with you, and goddamn they did.

i looked at it from two ways. first, it’s the girl asking, begging nightwing not to hurt them. bludhaven doesn’t know dick the way gotham does, they’re still a little frightened of him. this child was brave enough to step in front of all of the other hurt and homeless kids and ask, to a strange man in a mask, if he was going to hurt them like the other men had. it’s heartbreaking, but commendable, and an echo of the city itself that dick’s decided to protect. they’re bloody and broken and terrified, but still gritty and brave enough to stare what they fear in the eye and ask it not to hurt them.

second, it’s dick seeing the question reflected in himself. recently, he got shot in the head and lost all his memories. while i think that the way ric reacted was a perfectly valid and human response to the situation, i think dick still regrets how callously and rudely he treated his family. then, he was manipulated by the court of owls, then he was brainwashed with a magic crystal by the joker. dick does have a guilt complex. it’s not a big as bruce’s, but it’s there. and right now, with this girl begging her not to hurt them, dick is probably thinking about all the times he hurt people, in control of his own actions or not, bc he “didn’t have a heart.” 

little ambitious don’t you think, dick?

also just look at the sunset colours loOK at the they could not make this any more obvious oh my godddddddddddddddddddddddd

in conclusion, i need more of her

[teresa-moyocoyotzin]

QOTS 5.09 “I Love You” Scenes Meta

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR 5.09 OF QUEEN OF THE SOUTH ABOUND

Okay this is basically just me trying to place James and Teresa’s ILY scenes within the larger context of their relationship and other kisses, and analyzing their respective reactions!

(Also just a disclaimer that obviously this is just one fan’s interpretation, there’s no right or wrong here! This is just how I see it and hopefully it’ll connect w some of y’alls insight too!)

Oh boy okay so I’m just gonna do this in the style of my old Bolivia visions meta b/c I think the best in bullet point form, so we’re just gonna go thru the scenes like super in depth, w/ way more detail than necessary. Think of it as a close reading, but instead of a piece of writing, it’s a tv show, and it has no sources except My Opinions lol

I’m still planning to actually write out my reactions to the whole episode when I re-watch it, but I can’t stop picking apart the I Love You scenes b/c honestly there’s so much going on there! Come on y’all this has been building since the second episode of this show there’s a lot to unpack here. I’m mostly focusing on how these kisses are vastly different from any of their other kisses IMO and how that affects the love confessions!

THIS IS GONNA BE UNNECESSARILY LONG AND NOT VERY ORGANIZED, BE WARNED

Let’s start when James says “You wouldn’t let me do it, so why should I let you?” shall we? B/c THIS MOMENT

SO as others have pointed out, this line really feels like a love confession in and of itself, and I’m sure if they hadn’t confessed their feelings in the same scene we would all be obsessing about it. I low-key am anyways..

Sure they’ve acknowledged that they do things to protect each other etc. etc. but this is really James making sure that she knows that he knows that SHE knows that they both feel the same way, and he’s not dancing around it anymore, not when she’s throwing herself into danger yet again. Teresa doesn’t have an answer, but it does make something click in her brain. No matter what moral code she’s following these days, if James was walking into a death trap like that she wouldn’t want him to go and would try to stop him. And right now, he’s feeling the same thing for her, he knows that she cares as much about him as he cares about her and that it’s a LOT, and he’s telling it straight to her face.

When she kisses him, I think it’s an acknowledgment of that, as well as her sort of trying to return the sentiment. And also, she doesn’t have a good answer to his question and wants to kiss him so she does!! James is clearly surprised by the kiss, as evident by his posture and slowly relaxing into the kiss. But THEN

After James’ brain catches up, he kisses her again, and even tho it’s short it looks to me like a pretty powerful, strong kiss!!?? (hard to tell b/c as usual…. they filmed it in a black hole..) and to me, it reads like he really let all his true feelings come through in that kiss POSSIBLY FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER

Now, lemme explain. Their first kiss in 3.05 was undeniably full of feelings and emotions, and I’m sure that night was super passionate and full of love! However, knowing what we know now about how everything plays out, I don’t think they were really at the point of saying ILY yet. Even if they did both love each other then, and I think they did, they had a lot of trust issues and abandonment issues to work through first. And as we all know, after that night everything goes to shit and they go about 12 steps backwards. My main point here is that I think both James and Teresa are still feeling generally unsure about each other’s feelings during their first kiss. This is also true for.. literally all of their kisses? Until now. Because in 3.09, they’re just super horny from taking over Phoenix but Teresa is just barely getting over Guero’s death in that episode.. I think that kiss was more about them feeling like the King and Queen of phoenix and less about their Actual Feelings (just imo obviously). And then they kiss after Teresa gets back form Bolivia but Teresa is suspecting him then and he’s certainly feeling her hesitation so no big feelings in that kiss either. Then of course there’s the goodbye kiss at the end of s3, and yes in that one I do think they were both letting their true feelings show in their kiss but they were both misinterpreting the other’s feelings and both were in a way lying to the other in that scene. James about his reason for leaving, and Teresa about her true reasons for wanting him to stay. And THEN, the kiss at the beginning of s5 is very much a “I’m happy you’re back, I want to be with you, but we can’t” kind of kiss, and again, there were feelings there but they were both still holding something back, and still not on the same page about what they wanted and were working towards. But in this kiss, they are on the same page , working toward the same thing, which is to get themselves OUT, together. Ever since they made that decision, there is an implicit agreement between them that they’re getting out together, and I think they both know that they want to be together if they make it out. And they both are desperate to have the other know their feelings before any potential deaths. However, they don’t really KNOW that they’re on the same page until that KISS.

SO ALL THIS TO SAY that in my eyes, the main reason Teresa’s so shocked is that this is the first time that James didn’t hold ANY of his love for her back when he kissed her, and she FELT IT babeyy. Teresa initiates this kiss to show him her true feelings, which takes him bit by surprise, but then he returns the feelings Full Force which takes Teresa totally by surprise.

I mean just look at her face after they part, before he says ILY. She looks shocked and confused, almost a little angry? I don’t think it’s really anger though, so much as it is being taken aback by the emotions that James is laying all out on the table for her to clearly see. Her face here is actually what drove me to write this meta, because at first I was so confused as to why she looked so shook up after the first kiss, cuz like girl U INITIATED IT?? I think part of it is that Teresa was a bit taken aback by the strength of her own feelings in that moments and the urge to kiss him despite them not being out of the business yet. She’s realized that if she’s gonna die tomorrow, she wants to kiss James first, and she wants that like, really bad. And also she loves him and was overcome w the urge to show him. But mainly, I really don’t think she expected to be met w/ such strong love from James’ kiss, because all the other times, he had been holding back his feelings.

James’ face after the kiss totally plays into this theory for me - he looks like he just got CAUGHT. She’s looking at him like what the Fuck was that!!! And he’s like oh SHit now I just gotta say it. The way he looks at her and shakes his head a little like, wow I’m really about to say it. I think it’s been on the tip of his tongue all episode, but he realized he just totally showed his hand with that kiss and there’s no going back now.

But omg you guys his face when he says it just SENDS ME TO THE FLOOR his little smile???? Like he’s thinking “how did we end up here? am I really about to tell Teresa I love her? YEP”

I don’t think she had any intention of telling him her feelings so outright yet, to me it totally makes sense that he tells her first. At the beginning of the season, Teresa made it clear that she does want to be with James, but she felt restricted by their life. So, James has spent the past season coming to terms with a) that Teresa still wants to be with him if they can get out of the business, b) that she’s changed a lot and no longer follows her old moral code, and c) that he still loves her even if she’s not entirely the same person he fell in love with originally.

Meanwhile Teresa came to terms w/ the fact that she wanted to be w/ him early in the season but pushed that Right down after indulging in 1 kiss (which I think was also meant to be a reassurance that she did want to be with him) but spent the rest of the season trying to grow her business, which in her mind would forever keep her from being able to be with James. So even if she acknowledged her feelings, she was not letting herself dwell on them. James, however… oh boy has he been dwelling. Especially since Dumas so kindly pointed his feelings out to him lol. So I think Teresa’s strong feelings for James have been building under the surface but she wasn’t allowing herself to acknowledge them at all, and therefore I think she kind of surprised herself a bit by kissing him, was then even more surprised by how strongly her feelings were showing, and then James hits her with a Big Feelings kiss and then an I Love You??? Oh boy

Taking this into account it totally makes sense that she looks super shocked after James tells her, even if they both have ~known~ for a long time. Y’know?

Okay so then there’s the sex scene which I LOVED omg, like absolutely zero complaints, super hot, exactly what they and we deserved. I’m not gonna get into it b/c I think it speaks for itself, but like, would happily read a meta about it if someone wrote it 👀

Anyways I think the morning after, when Teresa is laying in bed admiring James, is when Teresa is really digesting all of these feelings and the fact of them being out in the open, and she’s deciding that she needs to tell James she loves him, like ASAP. She is also at the same time having to accept that she’s going on a super dangerous mission today that she night not come back from, and if she does come back from it, they’re gonna have to still find a way Out. All in all, safe to say she’s got a lot going on in her mind, but it’s clear by her gazing at him that James is a big factor in all of it.

I love the next scene so much omg

They’ve gotten ready for the day and James is once again pulling tricks out of his bag to ensure her safety, and she’s just.. staring at him. My personal headcanon here is that Teresa’s intuition was telling her that a) the phonegun was gonna be irrelevant, and b) that she had about 30 seconds before her phone rang and she had to leave for potential death. Therefore it just blocked out literally everything but James and needing to tell him that she loved him. The moment I love the most is actually when James says “Here, try it” and he steps closer and she sort of jolts like they’re physically connected. The first time I saw the scene I literally gasped from that one step he takes because they just had this electric pull between them that was so obvious that I literally felt it. The chemistry!!!!

She’s just so focused on him in that moment and that whole scene, and the way she whispers “I love you” likes she just HAS to say it, she has to make sure he KNOWS she loves him before she runs off to risk her life. And the fact that it happens while James is actively trying to set her up for protection??? POETIC CINEMA I tell you. Kudos to Alice for that because apparently it was her idea and it’s my FAVE

Another thing that I really don’t know how to interpret but I find interesting from a cinematic point of view: James and Teresa are literally left in the dark during James’ love confession. It’s at night, and there is NO DAMN LIGHT AT ALL ON THEIR FACES (I bet the gif makers really appreciated that one huh…) so we can’t even see their reactions very well. Meanwhile, when Teresa confesses her feelings, it’s super brightly lit, in a white room, she’s wearing white, we can see all of the emotions on their faces. IDK what this is meant to symbolize exactly, so if anyone has thoughts PLEASE share them.

James seems a little in shock after, I think he really didn’t expect her to say it, even if he assumed she felt the same. And I think he was okay w/ that and had accepted it, knowing it would be really hard for her to say. After all, once she acknowledges it, it’s that much more painful if they have to say goodbye…

I think the way she says it perfectly captures how hard it is for her to get the words out, even if she feels an overwhelming urge to say them and make sure he knows. She seems very sure of her feelings, and I don’t think she hesitated to tell him at all, but it’s still a big step, and presumably the last person she said ILY to, in this context, was Guero. And his death destroyed her, so ofc she’s be scared to admit that she’s in love and put herself at the risk of losing it again. God Alice did such a good job w/ that line it really gets me every time. So sure, and soft, but with no room for doubt. Like she knows he doesn’t expect her to say it, but she can’t bear to let him think she doesn’t love him back. And it’s so simple too, like she’s saying “of COURSE I love you, how could you think I don’t?” AHHHH

And just the way she stares at him the whole time like she’s just waiting for him to stop talking so she can say it, and while she waits she’s perfectly happy to ignore the situation at hand and think about how she loves him and he loves her and also probably how good he FUCKS cuz like……………y’all saw his hand goin’ down there after he flips her over right 👀 okay ANYWAYS

So she finally tells him!!!!!! That she loves him!!! And kisses him!! Just to really drive the point home. And because, again, I think something was telling Teresa to kiss her man and tell him she loves him because she was about to get a call from Kostya’s men any second.

I really think James’ sort of blank look after she tells him is just him being in shock that she actually said it. I would have loved to know what he would have said after that, but alas.

That final shot before the phone rings though ❤️ their foreheads together, her hand on his heart and his hand on her hand, also the way that visually her arm (clothed in white) is across his body (clothed in black/gray) and vice versa w/ his arm is across her body, sort of continuing the sort of yin-yang theme they have going this season, I just think is a cool touch on the behalf of whoever choreographed/directed the scene.

I also interpret it as a very grounding moment for both of them, rooted in physical touch but not sexual in any way, just comforting. They finally can completely take comfort in each other because their feelings are out in the open and they’re completely connected. AGH they really have me in a chokehold lol

Anyways this is so fucking long and rambly, I don’t know if it makes sense but I did my best to proofread, I’m so sorry but thank you for reading if you’ve made it all the way here, or like even if you made it thru 1/16 of it lol I APPRECIATE YOU

I’m not sure what the main point is here, but anyways I think the actors, writers, directors, etc. did an amazing job w/ their I Love You scenes and I’m personally feeling v satisfied w/ it!

[ladder-discourse]

Please... I wanna know more abt the urban fantasy AU... it's so fun

@collaberal-damage OH GOSH... mLKDfsmmdslk this is the part where I have to reveal the fact that I’m a sham and I actually have VERY little worked out. LIKE. I’VE BEEN DESPERATELY WANTING TO COME UP WITH WORLD BUILDING STUFF... Rules of the setting and details about other characters and whatnot??? But the two people I talk about it w/ the most aren’t canon familiar past the trilogy so I haven’t done a ton of bouncing ideas around yet. Which makes this ask a blessing?? I actually worked out a few things in the course of writing it, so, thank you for that :’)

This got horrendously long and is probably way, WAY more info than you were asking for, I’m so sorry.

Unsurprisingly most of what I have worked out has to do w/ Edgeworth and how werewolves work?? Because this whole thing really started with narumitsu fluff/angst and just wound up expanding beyond that when I began to ponder what kind of monsters/entities the other characters would be.

Lycanthropy in this setting: I think it comes in a lot of different flavors and can be passed on to someone else by a number of means? But the old rule of Receive Bite From Werewolf = You Are Now Also Cursed, definitely still holds true, and the contagious factor of the condition is just one of the reasons why they are frequently stigmatized within supernatural society.

They’re also generally perceived as being volatile and dangerous, because transformations outside of the full moon can trigger if the individual is put under enough stress (hence Edgeworth getting ‘furrier’ whenever he gets flustered. Which, INCIDENTALLY, never used to happen before Phoenix showed back up in his life, DAMN That Man). There’s this perception that no ‘upstanding/upper-class citizens’ are werewolves, basically, and Edgeworth has been conditioned to believe that it would ruin his career if his “true nature” were exposed to the public.

Apollo is also a werewolf, but he hasn’t been conditioned to hate himself in the same way Edgeworth has, so he’s more in touch with that side of himself. PLUS, he doesn’t have the same image to keep up that Edgeworth does. Obviously he has OTHER problems going on, but being constantly in fear of being exposed to the world as a wolf man isn’t one of them.

(CW for this next bit, emotional abuse of a young child) Miles has had lycanthropy since he was very small and MVK uses his condition as an additional means by which to emotionally abuse and manipulate him. Mainly by doing gross shit like:

subtly implying that he’s sub-human!

reminding him that his emotions make him a danger to others and that it’s his responsibility to lock them all away. (If it serves the interest of turning him into a stone cold conviction machine, all the better)

Shit talking monsters and supernatural entities in general, as if Miles isn’t even there and listening to all this shit.

In terms of SETTING and what society looks like in this AU, here’s some loose ideas that I’m still ironing out:

Magic/Monsters/Etc are sort of a “loosely kept” secret, like the rest of the world can’t know about (or interact with?) the whole supernatural community for Reasons that I’m still trying to settle on.

There’re a handful of privileged humans who help keep the lid on this whole secret side of society by using sorcery and such.

MOSTLY the people in these positions are just those who have the means/connections/social standing to be able to learn magic in the first place. Like magical capability in humans is not based on a particular natural aptitude or anything, it’s just, “can you get access to the resources you need to learn to cast spells safely”.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of the people in these positions of power are basically hoarding influence/wealth under the guise of keeping both worlds “safe” from each other.

Some other tidbits we’ve worked out...

As he’s part dragon, Phoenix has some VERY minimal rain/weather based powers. Unfortunately they’re SUPER unreliable and he can’t really control them? Like he rarely knows for sure if any particular rainstorm is actually caused by him or not.

Sometimes it starts raining while he and Edgeworth are out somewhere, and Phoenix just absentmindedly apologizes for it without explaining why.

This baffles Edgeworth immensely. Why in the heck is this idiot apologizing on behalf of the WEATHER???

Later on, when the “I’m part dragon” conversation does finally happen, he looks back on these moments with horror and wonders how he didn’t logic that shit together sooner.

Larry Butz is just a normal human dude, but his whole family has been like, immensely cursed? He’s basically Stanley Yelnats. The poor man just keeps stumbling into fucked up supernatural scenarios.

Y’know that whole upper crust society of people who’re trying to keep a lid on all this magical stuff that I mentioned previously? They have basically just given up trying to keep him out of this shit, because it just KEEPS HAPPENING.

Regarding the Feys: I think I’ve settled on them being a very old family of fox-folk/kitsune(?)?? The Kurain channeling technique in this case is like a very rare form of spiritual magic that only they can master, but they’re also adept at other kinds of spells too! Maya frequently uses her abilities to pull silly pranks on Nick.

Franziska likely got cursed with vampirism at some point in the months after her father was convicted for killing Gregory. MVK was not a vampire himself and generally held disdain for non-humans, so uhh. That’s a fun new issue for her that I’m looking forward to potentially exploring a bit further :’)

Will Powers is also a werewolf. This is part of what draws Edgeworth to the Steel Samurai series, because it’s inspirational to him that the guy behind the mask has the same magical condition that he does!

Regarding the Gavin brothers: I think they’re both demon or fey or something. I haven’t worked out much beyond that, but I’m open to suggestions!

Pretty much anyone who has an animal sort of aspect to them inherently has the ability to shift into that animal, just bc I think that’s fun. Kay can turn into a crow, Maya and Pearls can turn into foxes, Edgeworth and Apollo (obviously) can turn into wolves... The exception is Phoenix, who can’t turn into a dragon... At least, not that hes’ aware of?? IDK maybe that’s an ability he can unlock further down the line. The idea of noodle dragon Feen IS extremely appealing.

I have not figured out any explanations or roles for Trucy, or the Gramaryes, or the Perceive ability just yet, but it is ON MY LIST. Trucy is best girl and and I don’t want to leave her out of the fun.

[just-like-playing-tag]

Me???? Still not over that Apollo Ray AU in 2021?????? It's more likely than you think.

I jumped into the water and now I need to keep swimming

If you're new to the AU, you can check out this post where it's explained where the name comes from and this other post on what Apollo Ray differs from Minerva Norman.

Tonight, I'd like to expand the plotline that Apollo Ray would choose to imprison Emma and Norman to prevent them from getting in his way to demons' eradication. I know y'all might cringe at this but you have to understand, he's REALLY convinced it's for their best.

This is how I can imagine things to go: Ray kinda tricks them and traps them somewhere inside of the Paradise Hideout. Not really a prison, he'd probably just lock them in a room and be like “you just got back from a long, dangerous journey, why don't you take some rest? In the meantime, I've got some stuff to do at, let's say, the Royal Capital :)”

Sounds familiar?

Like mother like son

Very relevant detail is that the room MUST be without locks. Make it an electronic key or a biometric iris recognition lock or whatever. Ray knows Norman well enough and he's not falling to the magical hairpin trick lmao.

Now, I like to think Gilda would take sides with Ray. I've always thought about Ray and Gilda having a lot in common (often seeing the glass half empty, loving Emma unconditionally; furthermore, they were the only ones who agreed that escaping from Grace Field with everyone was unequivocally impossible). At some point, paralleling how Norman asked to talk with Gilda and Don, Ray asks for Gilda only to come into his study. They have a long talk, during which he persuades her to join him. On Ray's end, he needs somebody he trusts to stay in the Hideout while him and his squad go to their fun trip to the Royal Capital, to keep an eye on Emma and Norman and make sure they won't escape or try and go to the Seven Walls. Now, Gilda probably wouldn't look like his first choice, for she is endlessly loyal to Emma; however, Ray plans of making that very factor, her love and dedication for her friend, his trump card. By talking to Gilda and calmly describing their situation, he makes her understand how hopeless is the mission Emma is so desperate to fulfill; that no one ever came back from the Seven Walls, and they're most likely to die there. Moreover, Ray persuades Gilda to believe that his plan of demon eradication is without doubts the most certain route, that will surely lead to the safest future for her friends - even though they can't understand it yet. However, their safeness and happiness is above anything else, even their own temporary freedom- isn't it? They will understand, once everything is over, that him and Gilda were only acting for their best.

Although initially hesitant, as never in her life she had gone against Emma, Gilda ends up firmly accepting, for she's determined to do anything to save Emma's (and Norman's) life- including betraying her.

I don't think it shouldn't be too surprising to have Gilda accept Ray's plottings; already in the manga, she's shown as being maybe the most condescending to Norman's plan, since she believed it was the less dangerous route to secure Emma's safety- and, to her eyes, consequential happiness.

In this AU, Ray's using the very feelings of affection that build Gilda's loyalty to Emma to bring her to his side; he's persuading her that the mission Emma and Norman are trying to carry out is a suicidal one, and that if they let them go they will lose them forever- which is something he knows Gilda would do anything to not let happen.

I know it may seem like he's manipulating her to get what he wants, but I want to underline I don't think that'd be the case: by saying he's worried Emma and Norman are going to lose their lives going after the Seven Walls, he's putting genuine sentiments on the line, and he's as determined to prevent it from happening as Gilda is. In comparison, Norman has been way more dishonest when he spoke to Gilda and Don- as Gilda would have later learnt, he was never intentioned to spare Musica (thus having plainly lied to them).

On the contrary, Ray's intentions of simply wanting to protect Emma and Norman were sincere, and he was way more honest with Gilda with his plan, fully entrusting her with it.

On the other side, Don would obviously take sides Emma, which would eventually lead to a very cool conflict between Gilda and Don?? I'm certain Don would support Emma because he grew up to be very similar to her. Brings back to my mind this old old post I once made, which considers the events of chapters 138 and 139: Don shares Emma's point of view on many matters, so I'm confident he would be ready to support her. When you think about it, he was the fastest to take sides with her in canon too, probably second to Ray only; and when Ray's choice was likely driven by his undying loyalty to Emma, chances are that Don was supporting Emma not only because he believed in her, but also because he was the first one to truly believe in her ideals as well, the first to believe they would have really been able to find a solution that would have brought happiness for everyone.

Now Don openly supporting Emma would inevitably lead to him and Gilda clashing which I find being the absolute COOLEST thing. I mean I love them, and I love how they love each other; still the thought of them being compelled by the circumstances to collide intrigues me so much!!!! I think they'd have this extremely angsty confrontation that will eventually end with Don convincing Gilda that trusting Emma has took them so far, and that the best thing to do is give up and help him to free Emma and Norman (maybe Ray had entrusted her with the keys / password to open the room Emma and Norman were locked in?? Dunnot)

Besides, I think it would make a lot of sense taking the whole tpn plotline?? It would end up paralleling Gilda and Don's chapters in Grace Field in so many different ways. First of all, I have to say it would be very nice to have a new spotlight on Gilda: her role in the first arc was relevant indeed, with her and Don being the key to the success of the escape; however, she didn't really got to have enough space for character development. The moment when the trio revealed them the truth was more about Don, while Gilda had never doubted of their words in the first place; moreover, the space she had as a possible spy was mostly used to deceive the attention from the true spy, and the revelation that she was never intentioned to betray them was more of character development for Emma, who consolidated her will to trust and protect her family, than a growth of Gilda herself.

But now, for Gilda to take sides against her dear Emma, the person she's more loyal and devoted to, what a great potential for character development that has!!!!!!! I can imagine her, once she finally accepts to help Emma, to echo the words Emma once told her at Grace Field: “I'm sorry- to protect you, I was prepared to be hated by you; yet, I wasn't ready to believe in you!”

To sum up: the Apollo Ray AU is still my jam and Gilda and Don deserve way more space than what they were given in the manga. Also stan Gilda.

[miekasa]

do share your thoughts on the SnK final chapter and ending if you read it! <3

OKAY!! Here are just some of my thoughts, none of which are uniform lmaooo and are subject to change if I think about it long enough <22 lots of stuff I haven’t completely figured out or reconciled with yet, but here we go 

Eren’s death

I wanted him to die, and one way or another, he was destined to die; so this is kind of the ending I asked for. 

I wanted him to die for a few reasons, most of which revolve around my desire for him to finally rest and not have to shoulder all the burdens that have been put on him for any longer. So, his death definitely did that for me, and I wouldn’t change it. 

BUT it was heartbreaking to see that, for once, he genuinely did not want to die, and wanted to have time to spend with Mikasa after everything. Eren has asked to die multiple times in the past, and his death was inevitable at some point in time; so to see that in his final moments, he finally said/realized he didn’t want to go made it so bittersweet. 

The thing I’m happiest about the most is that he achieved his original goal: to kill all the titans. As a titan himself, he was always a part of that plan, so, again I’m okay with his death. But it’s a twisted, beautiful sort of tragedy that in wanting to kill himself to achieve his dream, he found a sense of personhood that made him think life was worth living [even if his goal wasn’t achieved]. 

Another important reason I believed he needed to/should have died is because I didn’t want him to have to suffer at the hands of any other government or empire again. Even if none of the shit with Marley or the other nations happened, and he found away to “free” everyone without murder, the government of Paradis wouldn’t have trusted him. They never really did. 

Eren has been locked up and/or under constant supervision since he was 15. And when he wasn’t, it’s because he was kidnapped and somebody else was preying on his death. Even when he desperately pleaded to help and showed that he wanted to use his titan to help, he was treated like a criminal, and less than human.

You can’t... you can’t treat a kid like that and expect him to turn out normal 😭😭 or to not want to go to extremes, or to become a pacifist, or to spinelessly hand over his own life and ambitions. (Honestly... think he should have started with murking a few people in Wall Sina, but whatever 🙄)

This is all to say, that if he continued to live, free of the 13 year curse, he wouldn’t have been free in any nation. He probably would have been executed, or at the very least, locked up until he died. So, I’m happy that he was able to die at his own hand (and Mikasa’s, too). 

Eren’s character

I obviously still love his character, and I don’t think his actions in the final season ruined him for way. There’s a lot to come to terms with, but I like that about him. I’ll work through all the details one day, and I’m okay with that. In fact, I don’t think Eren even ever got the chance to figure himself out independent of his titan.

His secret keeping was questionable, but not out of character. He’s always ruminated until he figures something out, or gets stuck and needs help—he’s always had the whole thing about doing everything on his own. 

Until that one conversation with him, Mikasa, and Armin after the fight with Jean in s3. I’d always read that as him beginning to understand that he didn’t have to everything on his own, and that he was going to be relying on his friends from thereon out. But, sometimes, I feel like that realization got erased...? I don’t know, maybe the more I think about it, the more it’ll make sense, but that’s one part I’m still working through. 

The only other thing I didn’t understand is how he got so smart LMAOOO. His plan and actions required quite a bit of thought, foresight, and sacrifice that he’s never really shown before; at least not to this degree. Like I said though, if you factor in how his was treated, and how his life always had an expiration date, it begins to make sense why he was so quick and insistent to act, so it’s not completely out of left field for me—and I could even make the argument that he wasn’t really that smart and was just as impulsive (ish) and hot-headed as he’s always been; but like I said, I’m still figuring it out. Not sure what it was that awakened his braincells but I’ll get there LMAOOO

Eren + Mikasa

Fuck y’all I like Eremika goodnight. I can’t help it, I’m a simple bitch: I see childhood friends to lovers, and I fold. You should too smh.

I... don’t think the little cottagecore timeline from 138 was out of character for either of them. I see the arguments that it was, and that’s cool, but I see it as something very real and plausible. 

Eren showed that he did all of this to ensure that even if he couldn’t bring peace to the whole world, at the very least, he could do his best to make sure his friends live long, happy lives. An alternate way for that would have been to give Mikasa the opportunity to spend his remaining years with him. 

Eren has always done his best Mikasa and Armin, even if his methods seemed harsh or apathetic. The way I see it, running away with Mikasa in his final year is not only becoming and telling of the kind of friend/person his is, but it would have been his way to atone for being an idiot and not acting upon his feelings [in a more traditional sense] earlier.

He knew either way it was too late, but he also knew that he owed her—and himself—even a piece of peace before it all ended, whichever way it was going to end. And I think that’s a part of Eren’s character that’s often overlooked. 

Mikasa’s ending

I think that Eren ultimately killed himself, but it’s undeniable that Mikasa helped, and I’m glad she did. If Eren was going to die by anybody’s hands, I wanted it to be Mikasa’s or Levi’s. 

I think Levi would have been symbolic, given his speech in the courtroom in s1, about how killing Eren is the best he could do, and that there was no in-between. But I’m happy with Mikasa doing it too, because, in a way, I think she ended up being able to do the one thing Levi didn’t have the physical strength left to do. I also like it as far as Mikasa’s relationship with Levi goes; she kind of becomes him in this complicated way, and it shows how far they’ve come in terms of trust. They’re a pretty good team. 

I don’t see why anyone would give her shit for sitting at Eren’s gravestone. It had been only three years since he died, and regardless of the amount of time that had passed, if it was the anniversary of his death, that’s a perfectly normal thing to do...? So many people hate her for being in love Eren and I don’t get it. She’s just mourning, and she’s well within her rights to do so. 

Actually, I think that Mikasa being shown to have loved and mourned for Eren so outwardly were the most profound displays of bravery in this whole series. 

It takes so much courage to love, especially in her world, but Mikasa has never shied away from it. I would even go so far as to argue that she is the character with the strongest sense of self and self-worth. I don’t think people realize how much it takes to know anything about yourself that assuredly—so many characters are left with unanswered questions about their world, themselves, and their place in it—but Mikasa has always known that she loves Eren. 

That’s an insanely hard thing to know and to do. And she wasn’t blind about it either, nor did she believe her love was unconditional (and if she gets shit for having hope for Eren, then so should Armin, but we know why he doesn’t get the same heat for it). She heard out the concerns of her friends, she let go of the scarf, and she killed him in the end. 

I would have liked to see her talk to Kiyoomi again, and perhaps see her being associated with that nation/country/whatever it was. But she’s still thee baddest bitch and the best girl. 

Levi

WE IN THIS BITCH!! WE ABSOLUTELY IN THIS BITCH!! 

ROUND OF APPLAUSE LADIES AND GAYS AND THEYS FOR THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND HIMSELF!! 

If he died, I would have rioted. On god. 

This is the EXACT ending I wanted for him. I’m so happy that he gets time to rest knowing that none of his decision were in vain; and that he shouldn’t regret anything he did.

l know the wheelchair was literal in the sense that he was injured, but I also think it’s metaphorical in that he no longer has to standing on his own two feet, and carry everyone on his back. For once, for fucking once, he can literally sit back and read a fucking book in peace. 

Also Gabi and Falco taking care of him is so fucking cute, I loved that so, so, so much. 

Others

I don’t think Hange needed to die, goodbye. I get why they did, and I’m glad they went out in a way they wanted do, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it BYE. 

Pieck is far too sexy for her titan to have been that ghastly. Porco, too. Speaking of Porcupine, I fucking love him. I didn’t think I would like him this much, but I do, and now I miss him. 

When did Connie get so s*xy

I stand by the belief that this wouldn’t have happened with Erwin around—and for the worse. Yes, I think Hange waited longer than they should have to act; but I understand they were overwhelmed, and had a lot of responsibility, and regret, clouding over them. 

That being said, I think Erwin would have been 10x worse LMFAO with all his secret keeping and mystery. With all the shit going on, all the information being revealed to Paradis, and with Eren’s own secret keeping, I don’t think Erwin’s character and way of planning would have been conducive the new environment. RIP tho Erwin, you a legend for the shit you did, big ups on that my guy. 

I... guys, I like Reiner. Like, a lot. What goes on. 

I still hate H*storia and I think she caused a lot of problems that could have been resolved relatively quickly if she left 😐😐  yeah, yeah, girl power or whatever, but I don’t like it. I don’t like her. Bye. 

I have more thoughts on Marley and the other nations, but that’s a whole separate rant that I will spare you from for now 

[wildcrisis]

The Detriment of a Pro-Hero Society

Also known as: Kids are kind of being brainwashed into being heroes, let’s look into that.

Dedicated to @deafmic for getting me back into this bullshit and inspiring me to finish something I had started noting out about two years ago. By now, I’m sure much of this has been said over time by various people, and it makes me happy to know that there are others out there who like to look deep into the background culture and settings of their favorite manga!

I apologize in advance if you notice an idea of yours here; I haven’t been active in the fandom in two-ish-years, so I may be restating some things you guys already have. I consider this rambling analysis to be free to use and abuse by anyone, no credit necessary! I only get a little bit of time on the weekends to really be on my PC, so if you send me an ask or reply to this, it may take me some time to reply back!

Anywho, onto this mess I’ve made. It’s not very tidy and is more a collection of thoughts than a properly detailed analysis, but I ain’t got all day. Again, this is messy but I don’t really have the energy to make it nice and neat.

Looking for something in specific? You might wanna ctrl+f around these titles, because this is very long and rambling.

Part I: The Beginning of Quirks and their Effect on Society Part II: What Makes a Villain Part III: M O N E Y and F A M E Part IV: Brainwashed Part V: Ignoring Those Who Need Help Part VI: Cycle/Conclusion

Part I: The Beginning of Quirks and their Effect on Society

So, we know through the manga that, as quirks first began to evolve and more and more people obtained them, the world was thrown into chaos. People had obtained power, and power is as power does, and it corrupts.

As people began using their quirks for evil deeds that broke the law, law enforcement around the world was essentially powerless. After all, during the birth of the quirk age, quirks were the minority. The powerful minority. Against that, men with tasers, batons, and guns hardly stood a chance.

However, just as the rise of quirks gave birth to people who would use that power for misdeeds, so did it bring life to those who had the inherent desire to protect others. The beginning of the age of vigilantes, which would lead to the age of Pro Heroes.

Obviously, All for One was very relevant during this time, but we’re not here to talk about him. For once. We’re here to talk about society as a whole.

The world order was too chaotic. We are aware of this due to the monologues of certain characters, and I assume we’ll be learning more as more of the former carriers of One for All become present in Deku. In this beginning, it wasn’t so much “heroes” versus “villains”, more than it was law abiding citizens versus law breakers. It’s likely that precedent hadn’t yet been established for “no quirk use”, as there were hardly enough people who could actually enforce such a law.

As more of society began to develop quirks, the Police Force made a decision to not use their quirks to take down law breakers. They moved to a more leadership position, and took a backseat to those who did use their quirks for good. At first, it was a hard decision to allow such things as Pro Heroes to take on law breakers who were too dangerous for someone to take down without a quirk.

But why, after all this time, have the Police and the Pro Heroes remained separate entities? Why have they never combined, and why do they remain so polarized in how they approach situations?

The answer is simple, yet multi-layered. Heroes and Villains ... they’re popular. They attract attention.

Part II: What Makes a Villain

If you assign a person the label “Villain”, you de-humanize them. They are no longer a “person”, per se, but a monster. Evil, in the eyes of most people. It’s easier, then, to accept their fate of being beaten by a Hero, and being carted off to prison.

This is an important distinction to make. If you remove the labels of Hero and Villain. If you remove their Quirks. Do people still react the same way? Do they cheer and adore the hero, as the hero beats the opponent senseless? Of course not. In a battle of man vs man, in the moment, humans don’t react in such a way.

We can understand why an adult who lived a hard life may turn to a life of crime. But, hardly to we look as to why or how they got there.

In this world where quirks have become the norm, but are constantly evolving, we must wonder; how are quirks judged? How are they defined? How are people treated, for the quirk they possess?

We have many examples of outcasts, and they possess a wide variety of quirks from “extremely destructive” to simply “strange, odd, not okay in society”.

Shigaraki and Overhaul are both examples of terrifying, destructive quirks. Is it any wonder that their lives turned out the way they did? The power of death was etched into their very DNA. We know Shigaraki’s backstory and how he became who he is today. It’s implied that Chisaki was abandoned or ran away as well.

Then, you have the more odd quirks that, on the surface don’t seem nefarious, but when explained in context, would make people feel uncomfortable. Toga, who’s quirk is to drink blood and transform into another person. Twice, who can make copies of any person and used his quirk for an evil deed. Nemoto, who can force anyone to tell the truth, and lived a life where he realized everyone was lying to him.

Even Shinsou Hitoshi, desperate to become a hero, was put down for what his quirk DOES. Brainwashing. That’s a “villain’s quirk”. Fellow children said that to him so casually, and behaved as if they were terrified of him!

Eri, with her quirk that made her father disappear from existence itself ... Had she not been rescued from Overhaul, what would have become of her? Forced to believe her entire existence was a curse, told that she does nothing but harm people -- as she grew older and gained control of her power, would anyone honestly think she would have led a life of goodness, considering how she was raised?

How many people labeled Villains are currently in prison, because they were treated like outcasts from the moment they developed a terrifying quirk? Was there anyone there to help them figure their way through this world, considering what they’d been born with? Are there services for people who have trouble controlling their quirks, which are truly destructive? Even with laws in place saying that you can’t use your quirk publicly, just LIVING with that knowledge that you were born ... with a scary quirk ... a villain’s quirk ... How people treat you because of that, how you look, what your quirk can do -- do you ever have any friends? Any real friends, that aren’t just people who are scared of you?

Is it any wonder, that people like this turn out to be “villains”? Society is GROOMING THEM to BE VILLAINS, simply for who and what they are and are born with.

Part III: M O N E Y and F A M E

Throwing oneself into harms way sure is a dangerous move, that most people would never bother doing. How, then, do you entice more people to become heroes and take on the villains that are popping up all around for obvious reasons?

You make your Heroes popular. You make sure they look stylish. They have cool attitudes. You make them popular among the children. After all, getting fellow adults in on the Pro-Hero train is good and all, but much like a pro-athlete, one can likely only do Hero work for a certain span of time before their body is unable to take the strain. Maybe say, ages 18-40?

Besides, with more and more people being born every day with quirks, the number of people who turn to villainous activity will grow, right? Especially if you’re not actively helping people manage their quirks, because hey, they’re not allowed to use them publicly so what does it matter?

Kids. Kids will watch heroes on TV, and see it just like any other super-hero show or cartoon. They’ll buy the merchandise. People will begin to hemorrhage money over these heroes, because they’re flashy. They’re kind. They save lives.

Now, not to say that Heroes are just there for the paycheck -- not at all. Many people become heroes simply because they do love to help people. Some become heroes because they want to stop bad guys. Sure, there are some who do it to maybe someday live an easier life, or because it pays really well and they have family to support. But, I do believe that most people go into the Pro Hero business with good intentions.

THIS, is part of the reason that Pro Heroes have remained separate from law enforcement. They are now a business. A very wealthy business. It’s not just hero agencies that make money off of the Pro Hero business. It’s toy manufacturers. Comic book stores. Prisons. Hospitals. Roots of Pro Hero society reach into nearly every type of business that there is, whether directly or indirectly.

Nobody wants that money to disappear by folding Heroes back into the police force. No, they want MORE heroes. More heroes, and more people for the heroes to fight.

tldr: heroes = $$$, so keep ‘em coming

Part IV: Brainwashed

There are a lot of factors that go into making society as a whole okay with something. It takes a lot of time, for one. It takes powerful, well spoken people. It takes lots of media attention. Before you know it, everyone is eating up the same exact thing quite willingly ... and it spreads to the next generation. And the next. After that happens, its something that is well integrated into society, like a freckle that’s always been on your arm -- its just “always been that way”.

I’ve mentioned several times that its odd for people to be so okay with one person beating another person senseless. Again, we know that its considered acceptable, because of the labels we’ve put on these individuals based on their actions: Heroes and Villains.

What I wonder is: How long have people been okay with this? Do they not realize that, in a way, this is history repeating itself?

We know why people don’t dig deeper into this. Pro Heroes are popular and people love them. The media has hand fed the Hero lifestyle to children for some time now. There are schools, MORE THAN ONE SCHOOL, that teach your child how to become a pro hero.

Think about that. It’s not just some extra-curricular activity, like sports. These are schools, designed to take in freshly graduated MIDDLE-SCHOOLERS who have not finished their regularly schooling education, who still have growing bodies and minds, and ... crafts them into perfect pro-heroes. AND PARENTS ARE OKAY WITH THIS -- SOMETIMES EVEN MORE THAN OKAY WITH IT.

These schools send young teenagers onto the streets under a pro-heroes wing to witness and be a part of fighting crime. Not organized crime, like a ring of bad guys or something, but ... random crime. Disasters. From a young age, they may encounter situations with actual dead people. Their training is dangerous. Their powers can be dangerous. One wrong move, and a student, someone you worked alongside, had lunch with everyday, is just ... gone.

There exists a police force in society. There are already pro-heroes. Why, then, is society okay with multiple schools that are practically breeding child soldiers? They are teaching kids everything about how to kick ass, how to take down these terrifying people, how to fight, how to save lives ...

Why is no one looking into why villains exist in the first place? Are these kids ever taught de-escalation tactics? To talk their opponents down? Not everyone out there is using their quirk to be evil for the sake of being evil. There’s always a reason, a purpose.

Part V: Ignoring Those Who Need Help

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Hey, Star Wars had some good points!

I’ve discussed before what makes a villain. People who are afraid of what they’re capable of. People who society has turned their back on. People who desperately need help, but there is no one out there willing to give it.

These people will always find each other in the shadows. They begin, at a young age, being terrified of what they are. What they’ve done. What they can do. Maybe they’ve been kicked out of their families. Maybe they’ve killed before, completely on accident.

The average person turns their back on people like this.

These people begin their lives terrified. Constantly being told that their quirks, their past, their family, what ever it is, will make them end up a bad person. Or, maybe they tell them they’re already a bad person. That fears breeds anger and hate. Hate for this society that would rather see them burn, than offer them any help.

A young boy grows up into a man. He had a potentially devastating quirk that he never really got a good hold on, because he was never allowed to practice with it. Everyone is too scared to let him try. Then, one day, something happens -- completely by accident. He causes a scene. A massacre. He hurts people.

Parents are excited to see which of their quirks their baby displays. Instead of being one or the other, or even a fusion of both, the unthinkable occurs. Its a mutation. The toddler hurts a sibling, a parent, a friend. Terrified, the parents abandon the child, for fear of losing their entire family.

A child is told, over and over, that his quirk will never be good for anything other than being evil. This knowledge rests heavy on his shoulders, its repeated to him yearly as he grows. Then, when he acts on what everyone has TOLD HIM FOR YEARS HE WILL DO, they are surprised. As if they hadn’t imprinted the very notion into his mind.

In a way, Overhaul was right about one thing. Hero society is a disease. People look forward to watching Heroes take down Villains and save the day. They don’t think at all about why these people are villains, how they got there, where they came from. They will never admit to potentially being the reason villains exist in the first place.

Part VI: Cycle/Conclusion

Wow, I have rambled a lot. I don’t think I hit every point that I’ve ever thought of for sure. There’s ... a lot of them. And a lot of comparisons I wanted to make to other superhero anime, specifically Tiger and Bunny, which I believe does an excellent job of showing the ups and downs of hero societies.

What I wanted to make clear in all this rambling mess (which, if you read all of it, I am SO SO SORRY), is that the very existence of Pro Heroes and Villains exist solely because of a few factors that exist in a cycle.

Pro Heroes = $$$ -> Schools for more heroes -> ignoring quirk-related-problems -> more villains -> pro heroes beat up villains -> pro heroes =$$$ etc

There is someone, or some organization, that sits above all of this. There has to be. There has to be some more logical explanation as to why this type of Hero v Villain culture has been allowed to exist all of this time, and things have not drifted more back in the direction of police vs lawbreakers. There has to be a reason that its okay for heroes to be so popular. There has to be a reason that children are allowed to be groomed into becoming heroes. There has to be a reason that there isn’t more help out there for people with these types of potentially destructive quirks.

There has to be reasons.

There has to be reasons for how the Hero Commission moves. There has to be reasons for how the police move. There has to be a reason that society is still allowed to go on like this, and that its become culturally acceptable.

If anyone out there can put all my rambling into clearer words and actively wants to, I would love that. Thank you for taking the time to read my mess!

xoxo Wild

[magicofthepen]

Tell us about Making Out Is Not a Healthy Coping Mechanism and Aro Solidarity: That Platonic Fake Married Fic, please?

Send me a WIP doc title (list here) and I’ll talk about it!

I love that you asked about these two because they’re both Romana and Narvin fics, but quite different takes on their relationship!

The quick explanations (I’m gonna put the long ramble-y ones under a cut):

Making Out Is Not a Healthy Coping Mechanism: Narvin/Romana, post-Devil You Know. Stressed, grieving Time Lords are trying to run the CIA in the middle of a war, there are the added factors of Narvin’s exhausted anger and Romana’s exhausted guilt around Leela’s mission, everyone is very bad at talking about anything. They end up kissing rather by accident, and it’s very emotionally fraught and no one wants to think about or discuss the implications. 

Aro Solidarity: That Platonic Fake Married Fic: Narvin & Romana, set shortly after Enemy Lines, a combo of "accidentally getting stuck in a fake married situation apparently counts as workplace bonding?” “I don’t typically headcanon Romana as aro but I could totally see it and I really want to write about it!” and “I don’t typically headcanon Narvin as aro but I could totally see it and I really want to write about it!”

The (very) long ramble-y versions: 

Making Out Is Not a Healthy Coping Mechanism

I love exploring time gaps in Romana and Narvin’s relationship (that nine month gap between Forever and Emancipation where they’re on their own as President and Chancellor! that Enemy Lines to Time War gap where they clearly build a really great partnership in the CIA together!), but one of the gaps I haven’t written a fic about yet is the time between The Devil You Know and Desperate Measures (I’ve referenced that time frame in my Time War 3 fic, but I haven’t actually Gotten Into It).

Because the ending of The Devil You Know is extremely tense, and we never really see that immediate interpersonal fallout? So I want to write something set in this time frame, when they’re both stressed and terrified for Leela, but they can’t really lean on each other because Narvin’s angry at Romana for pushing for the mission and Romana’s blaming herself for pushing for the mission (“What have I done?”), but they’re both putting up a We Have a Job To Do front and pretending they’re okay at work and.....yeah.

There’s also been a certain degree of unspoken romantic attraction between them for a while (perhaps they haven’t even admitted it to themselves) because navigating their professional and personal relationship is complicated enough as it is without introducing another element. Also they’re both very good at “let’s shove feelings down and not talk about them.” (I have so many takes on Romana and Narvin’s relationship, but during Time War I get such simultaneous “old married couple” and “haven’t actually admitted to feelings” vibes from them, and I want to write about that.) 

So they’re both very isolated and hurting in their own ways and there’s this background unaddressed Thing between them, and eventually everything just comes to a head. And I haven’t actually written this fic yet, I just have notes and keep playing through this scene in my head in different ways, so I don’t know the details about what will happen? Not sure if there’s going to be a proper fight, if they’re actually going to get into the blame question around Leela’s disappearance, not sure how much of that grief they’re actually going to show? 

The bottom line is: they end up crossing paths in Leela’s rooms (where they both occasionally go to have an emotional breakdown), they’re exhausted and every emotional boundary they need to keep up because they work together is crumbling away, and they end up kissing. But it’s not exactly a positive development, more of a “this is easier than talking” sort of thing. Also I haven’t decided what their exact relationships with Leela were (in the context of this fic), but either they were each in a relationship with Leela or they each have feelings for Leela but never admitted it? But regardless, they both Know that the other has feelings for Leela, and so there’s an added dynamic of them both thinking “obviously this means nothing to you because it’s not me you’re interested in, and you’re only doing this because you’re missing her, and so obviously I’m going to pretend it means nothing to me, too.” So it’s just poor communication bad times all around!

I don’t actually know how/if this resolves? I don’t think they’d have a proper conversation at this point in the audios, but I’m not sure if I’m just going to end this fic on “welp that happened” or if there’s going to be some kind of emotional shift/release of tension somehow? (There will probably need to be because their relationship in Desperate Measures and TW2 is quite good overall, so I probably won’t leave things in this tense place?) But again, this fic isn’t written yet, so everything is pretty up in the air. 

Aro Solidarity: That Platonic Fake Married Fic

Arguably, this is more of a concept than an actual wip, but even though I may never actually write it, I do love it dearly? 

I’ve been wanting to write something with aromantic Romana for a while - and this might sound strange coming from me, aka someone who’s written a variety of shippy Romana fic and can very easily interpret her feelings and relationships with other characters as romantic, but I so often have multiple contradictory headcanons for characters that live in different pockets of my brainspace. 

My aro Romana thoughts are mainly fueled by series 4, because whenever marriage/romance comes up around alternate versions of herself, she’s always fairly surprised and baffled and gives the impression that it’s not something she’s ever considered? And in general, she’s kinda awkward and uncomfortable whenever there’s flirting happening (which could just be the circumstances or her personality, but could also be interpreted as her not clicking with romantic gestures). And of course while fandom ships her with many characters in the dw universe, she’s never stated to be romantically interested in anyone (well. I suppose that depends on your thoughts about how canon the Prime computer ads are, but putting that aside.......). Not that there has to be overt evidence for headcanons, but I do think there’s a solid canon-based argument for aro Romana, you know? 

And part of me really likes the interpreting Romana’s friendships as totally platonic because the intense Friendship-as-Love-Story journey is there already, that’s what the audios are giving us! And I don’t really see that kind of centering of deep, spend-the-rest-of-my-life-with-you friendship in media and it’s so good! (Related point (I know I say this a lot, but it bears repeating): I do very much ship the ot3, but am also very much into reading all of the main trio’s relationships as totally platonic – and I never actually want those relationships to be romantic in the audios themselves.) And I’ve had Thoughts for a while about how for Romana the big important line is between professional and personal relationships, and whether the personal relationship is romantic or platonic is probably less significant. So I could see her as someone who either doesn’t experience romantic attraction at all or just doesn’t distinguish between romantic and platonic attraction. What’s important is the distinction between professional relationships and intimate personal relationships – separating out the nature of that personal intimacy isn’t really something she does?

So anyways, I’ve been wanting to write something that explores Romana being aromantic, but for a while, I didn’t really have a vision for what kind of fic I wanted to write? 

Separately, I’ve had the “platonic fake married” idea kicking around in my head for a while. The “post-Enemy Lines” time period is so fascinating to me when it comes to Romana and Narvin’s relationship because somehow they go from “Romana’s just swooped in and taken Narvin’s job that he’s worked hard for his entire life” to the genuinely solid friendship and team dynamic we see in the Time War audios? So I’m fascinated by that journey from things probably being very emotionally fraught and a lot of tension and stepping on each others’ toes to working really well together. And somehow, at some point, my brain went: what if new CIA Coordinator Romana and Deputy Coordinator Narvin who aren’t getting along very well accidentally end up in an off-world situation where they have to pretend to be married? (My brain also went: I’m not sure I could handle writing the secondhand embarrassment of this situation, but also I’m very into the idea of a Narvin & Romana platonic fake married fic that ends up functioning as a “how do we save our friendship?” story.)

And then more recently, I realized I also really wanted to write something with aromantic Narvin. There aren’t necessarily specific moments fueling this headcanon (as much as with Romana), but it definitely comes from a similar “I really like interpreting Narvin’s friendships as totally platonic because the intense Friendship-as-Love-Story journey is there already!” place. 

You know that “I have feelings for you” / “The feeling was “friendship” but neither had ever experienced it” quote? Yeah, that pretty accurately captures my thought process when it comes to aro Narvin. He genuinely doesn’t seem to have experienced friendship before Romana and Leela, so it’s very plausible to me that he assumed he was experiencing romantic attraction at some point but nope, he just really loves his friends and is experiencing really intense platonic affection for the first time. (This is also me going ‘I know this is a wildly unpopular opinion, but I’m totally down to interpret Erasure as platonic.’)

Anyways, at some point recently all three things fused together in my brain, and I went: what if new CIA Coordinator Romana and Deputy Coordinator Narvin who aren’t getting along very well end up in a situation where they have to pretend to be married.....and also they’re both aromantic? Writing a fic like this feels like an excellent opportunity to actually sit down and have a think about ‘what are the cultural associations and expectations around romance on Gallifrey?’ (‘what does being aromantic mean by Gallifreyan standards?’) And ‘what are romantic associations and expectations on whatever planet they’re on?’ And the potential bonding experience of two aromantic people trying to navigate those layers of expectation, while also grappling with the interpersonal tension in their friendship and slowly learning to communicate better in the process....this is a very interesting story to me!

No, I have not actually figured out the details of the off-world diplomatic situation/mission they would accidentally end up in that would require this, and thus I probably won’t get around to it for a while. Also this would probably be a longfic and I’m trying to stick to a ‘one big project at a time!’ rule, and my current big project is the post-Time War fic, and then fantasy au has been waiting its turn for so long (and actually has, y’know, plot points). But I simply love this concept, and so I’m keeping the doc in case I maybe figure out a way to keep the fic short, or get a particularly good idea and decide that I really want to write it? (But also – if someone else wants to run with this concept, please do!)

This has been such a long answer to your ask, whoops, but thank you so much for giving me the excuse to ramble on about all of these things!!

[jokertrap-ran]

(未定事件簿) 莫弈 [剧情: 第2章] [Tears of Themis] Mo Yi Private Story Translations (Chapter 2-6)

*Tears of Themis Masterlist / Mo Yi’s Masterlist / Mobile Masterlist *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Mo Yi’s Private Story tag is #Tears of a Personal Psychiatrist. *Chapter 1 can be viewed here!

Location: Mo's Mental Health Research Center

After the questioning session, Mo Yi and I both came to the conclusion that Li Yu had been lying.

But a coffee shop with a huge influx of customers wasn’t really the place to be talking about things like this, therefore, we both returned back to Mo Yi’s Research Center to continue our discussion about Li Yu.

MC: You think Li Yu’s lying too? I was worried that maybe I was just overthinking things.

Mo Yi: Of course; the contradictions on her person were obvious enough, but before that...

He poured a cup of tea, gently nudging it towards me.

Mo Yi: Humor me and my selfishness a little, would you? Can I hear what you think about this first?

MC: Sure. You can also help me see if there are any loopholes in my own conclusions.

Mo Yi: Okay.

MC: The story that Li Yu told was very distinct, and very confusing.

MC: The “Five-step trapping method” was perfect and complete without a single fault or flaw; so much that it was to the point of being fake.

MC: But;

Mo Yi: But, what?

MC: Maybe she wanted to put the focus on the five-steps. That’s why she glazed over the more important details of the questions.

Li Yu’s slightly panicked expression flashed through my mind, making me frown.

MC: Firstly, she’d secretly downloaded the social application that everyone around her had been using out of curiosity; intending to try it out for herself.

MC: The system recommended Wang Chen to her after she had filled in the APP’s information collecting questionnaire. That’s when they both had their first contact with each other.

MC: ...But if that’s the case here, then some of her previous statements as well as some of the things she did will be, logically speaking, contradictory of itself.

Mo Yi: Oh?

MC: At that time, I had asked her if she usually used social software like this. Her answer was no.

MC: She'd also added that she had only wanted to take a look before deleting it immediately after.

MC: If so, then why would she waste so much time filling in that content-heavy questionnaire? And even then, why truthfully so?

Mo Yi: Maybe it's just a mandatory requirement from the software itself? Or perhaps Li Yu's just the type of person who's so serious that she's stubborn to a fault?

MC: ...We can't rule out that possibility either; but this isn't the only strange thing at this point.

MC: How would Wang Chen have ever known about that one unique line of hers if she didn't set up her own profile page?

MC: Even if the system was able to match people in accordance with their interests, even taking it a step further and connecting the two who both love the same title.

MC: This is still a line unique to herself. So just how will someone else, not to mention, a stranger, even learn about it all so easily like that?

I looked at Mo Yi, seeking his opinion.

He nodded.

Mo YI: Any other suspicious points?

MC: Yes. The second strange thing about all of this is the reason behind her suicidal scars.

MC: Li Yu said that those wounds were inflicted after they had broken up, because she couldn't bear to leave him; and used this as a way to convince him to get back together with her, but...

MC: But the end-goal of all PUAs tend to be the complete emotional obedience of the girl.

MC: In order to attain this goal, they'll have to be the one to take the initiative throughout all their interactions together and take control of their relationship. This is the only way that PUAs can guarantee that the girl will be put through the "Five-step Trap" according to every dictated step, until they completely fall apart in a desperate mess.

MC: But in Li Yu's case, this dynamic appears to have been switched since Wang Chen was the one making the compromises. This fails to fall in line with the usual PUA line of thought.

Mo Yi: But then, what if Wang Chen’s motive was to crush Li Yu’s self-esteem? He did accomplish that in the end after all.

MC: No. Generally speaking, when the girl reaches the state where their self-esteem has been all but crushed, they'd have already built a high level of emotional dependence with the PUA.

MC: Only through doing this, will the PUA be able to make a mountain out of a molehill with the girl's mistakes, using it to completely destroy their personality.

MC: Let's suppose that Wang Chen wished to use how she had "previously tried to break up" as the mistake to amplify; if so, then,

MC: He'd have to first ensure that Li Yu's emotional dependence on him is at a high enough level that she'd definitely want to get back together with him after breaking up; but…

I recalled what Li Yu had said back then.

MC: Li Yu suggested a breakup because she couldn't stomach how Wang Chen was also simultaneously dating many other girls. This goes to show that she has still maintained her sense of reason.

MC: Under these circumstances, there is a higher chance that Li Yu wouldn't get back with him. On the contrary, Wang Chen blocking her seems to be the more reasonable response here.

MC: If I were in his shoes, I'd much rather maintain the romantic relationship we have going between us and continue "brain-washing" Li Yu, rather than to run the risk of losing my prey.

MC: This way, all the previous work I've done doesn't go to waste, am I right?

MC: Besides… How should I put this…? The way she presented herself already exposed her.

Mo Yi: ……

MC: If I'm not wrong, that shiny thing under her eyes was probably to make her lower eyelids appear plumper to sell the "teary eyed" look.

MC: And judging from the color of the scars on her hand… I'd say that that was special effects make-up at play.

Having said that, I couldn't help but to sigh, feeling conflicted and semi-dejected about it all.

After hearing my explanation, Mo Yi's mood appeared no worse for the wear. He lowered his eyes as he thought on it for a while before the sides of his mouth slightly lifted.

Mo Yi: It looks like you don’t need me to explain anything anymore; you’ve already thought this whole thing through.

MC: Did you conclude that Li Yu was lying through these factors too?

Mo Yi: Not completely. The reason why I deduced as such was mainly through her moods and state of being as she spoke.

MC: Her mood and her state of being?

Mo Yi: Correct. It's normally a difficult feat for someone to remain completely impartial and rational when it comes to someone else, or another matter.

Mo Yi: This is especially true for PUA Victims. As they sink deeper and deeper into the web of lies that the opposing party weaves, they'll end up losing their judgement towards reality in exchange.

Mo Yi: If you study the self-accounts of these victims in detail, you’ll come to realize that most of them veer more towards “feeling” than “reason”.

Mo Yi: It is hard for them to take an impartial stance and completely tell someone else about the PUA techniques that they’ve been subjected to.

Mo Yu: But Li Yu was different.

I don’t know what thought had just slid into his mind, but his lips quirked up in a hint of mockery.

Mo Yi: The logic and explanation she gave was clear; the important points were all clearly highlighted. All the steps of the “Five-step Trap”; it’s progress, is clearly shown in her story.

Mo Yi: Also, Li Yu didn’t have any emotional fluctuations while she was re-telling the entire story, asides from the couple of times where she displayed some un-interesting waterworks, if it even counts.

MC: ...No wonder she gave me a weird sense of disconnect when I talked to her; It’s just as if she’s...

Mo Yi: As if she’s a third-party, who’s telling a story that has absolutely nothing to do with herself. It doesn’t hurt, nor does it tickle; but she has to put on an act by faking emotions.

MC: That’s it; that’s just how it feels like! Although she’d occasionally break out into tears at the table, I can’t really feel that she’s actually upset or anything like that.

MC: But based on what she said, she’d obviously already gone so far down the hole that she even contemplated suicide. If so, then how can she still be so calm?

Mo Yi: That’s precisely the case here.

MC: ...I’ve still got to give Li Yu a pat on the back for being able to make such an almost realistic lie.

MC: Truth to be told, if I didn’t notice the way she had presented herself and held onto a shred of suspicion, it’d be hard for me to say for sure that I wouldn’t fall for her bluff.

Mo Yi: Actually, what Li Yu said wasn’t entirely a lie. It was something fabricated from truth.

MC: A lie fabricated from truth!?

His words held such profound meaning that it shocked me the moment it came out of his mouth.

MC: Wha… Sorry, Dr. Mo; I really don’t understand what you’re getting at this time.

Mo Yi: It’s a very clever and high-handed way of doing things. I’d never have thought of this either, if I hadn’t noticed her little slip ups during her conversation.

Mo Yi: Earlier, you said that she had presented many loopholes when speaking of the details pertaining to the matter throughout the conversation; correct?

MC: Yes.

Mo Yi: Knowing all of the specifics detailing the “Five-step Trap”, yet nothing about the details when it comes to daily life.

Mo Yi: There's only one way this sort of narrative will appear in PUA-related cases.

MC: How?

Mo Yi: Most of the so-called "relationship mentors" use this sort of narratives to share their "hunting methods" with others when writing their own accounts.

MC: Dr. Mo, are you saying that Li Yu is...

Mo Yi: That's right. I think Li Yu should be someone from the PUA group herself; a staff member who’s responsible for converting the experiences of the Mentors into actual text.

Mo Yi: She put several cases to her knowledge to use by piecing them into a story. And it’s precisely because she’d haphazardly pieced them together, that the logical loopholes came to be.

Mo Yi: I think that the truth that binds all these stories together beneath the lie should be that Wang Chen had found a girl to target through a social media platform.

Mo Yi: Disguising himself as his persona of a “poet”, he approaches his target through an extremely targeted approach, succeeds, and everything goes smoothly without so much as a hitch.

Mo Yi: But the good times didn’t last long, for the girl realizes just who he really was and asked to break up; Wang Chen could only accede.

Mo Yi: This story should have ended here, at this point; but a story like this isn’t captivating at all, so she added suicide to the fray.

MC: Captivating…? So, you’re saying that Li Yu is knowingly trying to get us to investigate Wang Chen by guiding us to him?

MC: Hang on… I remember that she’d asked about the whole incident with He Kunpeng before she left, which means...

MC: Li Yu came charging headfirst at us! The groups that both she and Wang Chen hail from should be the very same one that we’re looking for!

Mo Yi: Correct.

MC: But if that’s the case, then wouldn’t it mean that the progress of our investigation has already been exposed?

Mo Yi: Probably not; Li Yu wouldn’t have asked you over and over again if you’d found any important leads otherwise.

Mo Yi: This is similar to how that chat group has suddenly disappeared; I think the other party is only aware of our actions.

Mo Yi: It’s just that this time, they got the information from somewhere or another that we were looking for a PUA Mentor who had hurt female students before, so that’s why...

Mo Yi: Rather than being a sitting duck and awaiting their own doom, how about taking the initiative and making the first move? Maybe abandoning this “pawn” that’s already been targeted will be able to save the rest of this game of chess.

Mo Yi: And Wang Chen just so happens to be both the one we’re looking for, and the “pawn”.

He expressed his deductions slowly and impactfully, answering several of the questions that had been nagging at me along his train of thought.

MC: So, we’re still going to investigate Wang Chen?

Mo Yi: Of course. A “pawn” he might be, but as long as he’s been on the chessboard before, he’ll have definitely left traces in his wake.

MC: If that’s the case, then let’s make the best of our time and act fast.

I enthusiastically voiced my assent and invited him to proceed on together, but he had suddenly gone quiet.

He looked at me quietly for a while before he finally spoke. But the words that left his lips were akin to a basin of cold water that had been set outside in a cold winter’s day, bearing a cold and biting chill.

Mo Yi: It'll be for the best if you don't take part in the upcoming course of action.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Previous Part: (Chapter 2-4) | Next Part: (Chapter 2-7)

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece Wano Theory - The Fall of Onigashima

Spoilers for Manga Chapters leading up to and including c997

So yeah, that happened Not content with just throwing his weight around in beating 8 Scabbards at once, Kaido decided to up his power play by LIFTING THE WHOLE DAMN ISLAND which he’s gonna then carry across this storming sea, to the Flower Capital - which is in the midst of the Fire Festival and completely unaware that this raid is taking place - which he likely will drop on top of the Flower Capital with the people below: destroying its aristocracy, a large chunk of rebels and leaving the weak and weakened at the mercy of Kaido’s (and Big Mom’s) military might.

So now we have more stakes to deal with, 2 stakes primarily:

Stake 1 - Defeat Kaido before Onigashima leaves the ocean, allowing the island to fall before it damages any populated area in Wano Stake 2 - Prevent Onigashima from falling on the Flower Capital, but at the same time defeat Kaido Obviously, neither are easy, but 2 is much more difficult than 1 to achieve, which means that Stake 2 will almost certainly come to fold, so the question is this: How does the Alliance STOP Onigashima from Falling?

No easy feat, but maybe this is a place for other Straw Hats and side characters to shine. So far I have 7 possibilities linked to who could help save Wano from ‘New Onigashima’.

Option 1 - Gods, Titans and Homies

Option 1 considers the idea of what, or better yet who, can amass to such a size to cushion Onigashima, and the first answer that comes to mind is Prometheus and Zeus. We’ve already seen Zeus and Prometheus grow to incredible sizes in Whole Cake Island and they both are able to carry Big Mom with ease, so who knows how much weight they can carry at that size. Zeus is probably the easier bet for cushioning Onigashima since Prometheus would burn everything too, allowing Zeus to be the pivotal character also allows it to go two ways, either Nami reclaims Zeus from Big Mom in some manner - which will likely lead to BM’s defeat - or Big Mom turns on Kaido and works with Nami to help. This allows Nami to show the strength of her Clima Tact, being able to strengthen Zeus beyond Big Mom’s own capabilities.

Option 2 - The Last Gift of the Minks

Currently the Minks are completely weakened by fighting Kaido, despite their Su Long form they have been left with a stalemate, however the Minks do have a disadvantage: if they turn off Su Long they are out for a considerably long time, too long to return to the fight, but if they don’t turn off Su Long they will die from exhaustion. Unfortunately I am convinced that many Minks will fight to the death, including at least one of the leaders, but there is a more valiant way they could go out, and it’s a power all minks had which is overlooked: Electro. Electro is born from every mink, the ability to produce electricity which is further empowered in Su Long, but when Carrot fought Big Mom’s fleet she was able to somewhat float off the ground, and that is what can help Onigashima float. If enough Su Long Minks surround the bottom of Onigashima, they could provide an electromagnetic field that can keep the island from even touching the surface below, pure static electricity as the Minks give every ounce of their life to save Wano.

Option 3 - Rise of the Kozuki Dragon

Momonosuke has an artificial Devil Fruit of a Dragon, one where he too is able to produce these clouds to float. The problem however, is that he doesn’t know how to use them, Momonosuke has been so busy training his human form that he’s never considered the benefits of a dragon form. Of course, this means Momonosuke cannot do this alone, but fortunately he’s got people who can help; Yamato has extensive knowledge of how the clouds work, Nami has weather magic, Shinobu’s ‘maturing’ theories could help strengthen Momo’s dragon powers or even his own age and experience and, should she turn on Kaido, Big Mom could imbue the clouds with souls to make them Homies, not only being able to funnel more power but give more sentient intent to the clouds themselves, she could even enthrall Kaido’s clouds this way.

Option 4 - Combined Might and Monsters

While we expect at the least Luffy and Zoro to have a crack at Kaido in the final fight, and hopefully more if not all the Straw Hats, there becomes a matter of what others can do to stop Onigashima from falling. We’ve seen Nami’s potential with Zeus but others can also combine in strength. First is Robin, her Gigantesco Manos or even a Spider’s Web could help resist the fall, but of course even she cannot carry that much weight. This is where Chopper’s Monster Point and Franky’s Iron Pirate can also assist with their raw strength, and this is where Usopp can also shine. Usopp’s weaponry appear to involve plants now thanks to his pop-greens, but what if he could influence existing flora? One of the main pieces of the Flower Capital is a giant tree and if he could influence that he too could be able to contribute to pinning Onigashima above him. But it can go farther, Tama’s DF allows the opening to control the entire flying squadron, anyone Tama brought with her (remember she has something brewing in 3 minutes), Drake’s Allosaurus form, Hawkins’ giant Straw Demon, Jimbei can even call the giant Koi from the waterfall (though it may serve more to drag it back), Marco’s phoenix flames may also have influence on top of Apoo’s sound manipulation, Kid’s metal, even Law’s shambles could assist - since I don’t think he could make it big enough to cover all of Onigashima. There’s also the matter of Perospero’s candy if he survives to help and anyone else not revealed to have been present in Onigashima, the possibilities are wide and combined could hold up an island. 

Option 5 - Outside Parties

By raising Onigashima from the ground, Oda wants to give us the perception that no other external forces can roll up to Onigashima and support for or against Kaido, but that could be a misdirect. Currently on the surface as far as we know, Big Mom’s remaining forces, Law’s remaining crew and any other samurai, prisoners, SMILE members Tama had taken control over and as far as we know Hiyori, Hitetsu, Onimaru and Caribou, maybe even the Mountain God(s) from the Oden flashback. But outside of who we know is in Wano could be others we didn’t expect to be there; Germa 66 for one may come to ‘repay’ Big Mom for her attempted assassination, reengaging Sanji with his estranged family - and Baeju...which holds bias in this hope - which could just send all the other North Blue boys in a frenzy. The other outside factor is the Marines, Drake may not have called for help but circumstances outside of Wano may call for it: the marines going for a Warlord we didn’t know about (We only knew about Weevil, Mihawk, Boa, Buggy and Kuma, meaning Law and Doffy’s replacements were unknown), if Fujitora also shows up then Onigashima is no problem to his Gravity DF, but it will snowball another conflict.

Option 6 - The Sky Ships

This is probably my most deep-cut part of the Onigashima theory. As much as Luffy has to defeat the Yonko, Wano will never be free unless they see it for themselves: Orochi dead, Kaido defeated, until that is something the people can even believe in, Wano can never truly escape that oppression. Which is why arriving at the Flower Capital during the Fire Festival may actually allow ‘Wano’ itself to help save the country and a key part of that is the Sky Ships. Oda made note of paying attention to it, and making sure that the Fire Festival is as big as ever because this is the 20 year prophecy, every person in the Flower Capital right now is as spirited as ever because they desperately are clinging to the idea of salvation, so what if Oda is actually giving them an opportunity? The Sky Ships alone may actually be imbued with the spirits, the will of those who died for Wano, in that way the spirits of Wano itself could prevent Wano from falling atop of them, the same way Skypeia’s golden bell was to reach Noland and Calgara. It may be simple as these mythic powers from Wano’s culture, but it could be ushered by someone else - Brook. In WCI Brook proved himself capable of suppressing souls of chess soldiers via his DF, able to harm homies via Soul Solid, so what if via his Soru Soru no Mi he would be able to temporarily raise the souls of Wano’s dead and empower them through the memory and belief of the people symbolized by the Sky Ships they would release into the sky. 

Option 7 - All of the Above Outside of Luffy suddenly awakening his DF and making the island bounce off or a surprise Katakuri appearance, there aren’t many other options outside of the six detailed. But, why settle for only one option? Each of these options are feasible together as well as apart; Nami can empower Zeus and Momo’s clouds while Usopp, Robin, Jimbei, Chopper and Franky provide weight support as the Minks surround the island and Momo’s clouds with electro and raised by Brook’s soul-powered Sky Ships. A culmination of an absolutely bonkers scenario we’ve found ourselves in which can allow every Straw Hat a vital means of contribution but also allowing Wano and its citizens to have a large part in liberating its country from Kaido, Orochi and the Isolationist Regime Wano currently has.

Whether that comes to be remains to be seen, there are many pieces moving and as with this moment itself, it can go any manner of directions, we just have to wait for Oda to weave his magic.

[aijee]

Hi, aijee! how are you? It's been so...long since I visited your tumblr account. I've been reading your rants and thoughts about your personal life and mw prompt and I really appreciated it. As someone who also having a hard time in my workplace, I've been feeling so lonely and depressed these days. I'm happy that I finally got a job and will be able to help my family in terms of financial but I'm feeling lonely because of the people I've been working with (1/2)

I feel left out and sometimes, i feel like they don't like me or is it just me, overthinking ㅜ.ㅜ anyway, I miss reading your fics. Hope, you're doing well these days!~

Hi anon, I'm feeling alright these days, thank you for asking. :) Not the best that I can be, to be frank, but I'm trying to remind myself that recovery and healing is a slow process, equally for physical and mental/emotional ailments.

Excuse the long read below (though I feel like you probably anticipated that!) I resonated with your messages.

If you'll let me vent a bit, I don't want to beat myself up for not being as energetic/productive as I used to be. The worst part of my brain keeps thinking, "Yeah, sure, we're in a pandemic, but life has always been hard, and there are so many other people who are doing just fine in this pandemic." In reality, a pandemic is a pandemic. It's unprecedented, a big fucking deal, and vaccines don't solve the wider societal issues connected to it. None of us have ever prepared for this sort of thing. Plus, we will never really know if people are truly okay based on face-value and assumptions; hell, fully vaccinated people are still suffering worldwide—financially, socially, constantly weighed by the pressure of, again, a global pandemic. I don't want to keep reminding people of it, but I guess I'm trying to remind others (and myself, honestly) that this never-ending feeling of burnout isn't out of nowhere and isn't a direct reflection of our capabilities.

To actually address your messages, first of all I want to congratulate you on your job and your newfound opportunity to financially support your family! Your family is lucky to have someone like you financially supporting them in a difficult time. Hopefully that part of your life isn't too big a burden. (I know too many people who work hard for their families, only for families to leech off of them, largely due to this societal expectation in many Asian cultures that earnings and resources are for the betterment of the whole family.)

I'm sorry to hear that your workplace life is on the more sad side of the spectrum, and that you feel lonely and depressed there. If I correctly recall, it's a medical job, right? I imagine The Big Health Problem worldwide isn't helping, if not already exacerbated medical workplace environments since long ago.

If I may offer some perspective, I understand the feelings you're feeling. Starting a new job is really tough! You're the new person so you haven't established relationships with others yet. You don't know everything or where things are located as easily. You need to ask for help. And if the people around you aren't receptive to that "baby worker" stage, then it can be tough to feel like you belong. It'll feel lonely, like you're not doing something right and/or other people don't like you because of inevitable gaps in what you know.

I felt super incompetent through the first few months of full-time work, like my boss only hired me because I worked part-time for them as a student (which is nothing compared to the real job). Everyone around me was always busy, smart, accomplished, etc. But I realized that because everyone is so busy (+ social distancing always in the air), hanging out is rarely on the mind. I had to go the extra mile outside my comfort zone to invite people to eat with me, or talk about non-work things, etc. Most people were pretty receptive to that! Those who weren't might not be in the mood (they have their own complex lives, after all) or preoccupied; maybe a different day/time, or maybe they're just not someone I should engage with. That has nothing to do with me. I know not every workplace is like that, but I like think that normal human beings with some heart would be glad to socialize or eat together if invited.

I don't want to push advice onto you, because that's not what you asked for. But my intention is to hopefully lighten your burden by pointing fingers at uncontrollable circumstances and the personal lives your coworkers live outside your knowledge.

Additionally, I'm a huge introvert with anxiety and depression, and I'm the type of person who would obsess over how I think other people think of me. But through some therapy insight, lots of reflection, and even more time, I've come to the realization that how I think people think of me is not the same as how people actually think of me. It makes sense that we'd have that defense mechanism though, right? To minimize conflict and to protect ourselves from hurt. But then I'd overthink literally every interaction I'd have with people and run my internal self ragged with negative opinions of myself that didn't come from others—they came from myself. I imagine that the "perfection" expected of medical workers could factor into this defense mechanism and cycle. It took me a long time to learn that I can stop bending myself backwards in the desperate hope of preventing negative opinions about me, since those will exist no matter what.

This isn't something that can be fixed, clearly, and might not even be that relevant to you. But I wanted to mention it anyway in the chance it would be.

I obviously don't know you personally, or the nuances of your workplace. There are probably a million and one other pertinent details I can't address. And there's also obviously a balance between not giving a shit about other people's opinions vs. acting in a way to maintain workplace harmony. But hopefully one or two things I've written in this long-ass post will be of some help to you moving forward in your work. There is still a lot of potential for positive change. It'll take time.

[aqvarius]

I been wondering how many untranslated sub stories hlitf left? And which one, that u want to be translate asap

at first i was just going to answer this as “a lot”, but i was curious and really decided to count the actual number. and the answer is A LOT. 129 untranslated substories to be exact!! (128 when ayumu’s episode 0 comes out). i also didn’t count “discontinued stories” or reward stories (the ones you can only get if you met campaign requirements) or repackaged stories (there’s a substory which is just the text version of goto/kaga/shinonome’s voiced stories, and another 5 which are just goto/kaga/shinonome’s voiced stories split by chapter rather than character. i also didn’t check koi cafe. 

there are so many that i want to be translated!! but let me list a few of the ones i want the most:

all of the 勘違い ♡ BABY stories, also bc the SP (bodyguards) appear in these stories~

in kaga’s one, you go on a diet cause he squished your stomach and said it was soft while he was sleeping lol and also bc ayumu is compiling photos for something like a yearbook (graduation album) and saw you about to eat a doughnut and told you that the camera adds 10lbs. because you go on a soy-heavy diet, your period isn’t arriving and you go see an obgyn as recommended by riko. in the hospital, you bump into katsuragi!! anyway you left your phone in the obgyn department and get called to retrieve it on the loudspeaker so katsuragi and shinonome hear it and assume you’re pregnant. you tell shinonome to keep it a secret and then he blackmails you into helping him with the grad album and kaga gets annoyed since you’re listening to someone other than your master. when he finds out that you went to the hospital to see an obgyn he’s just... SO SOFT AND CARING???????? he makes you lie down and sleep and he makes you so much food and is relieved that your complexion is back to normal and when you tell him the reason you started dieting he APOLOGISES ALSKDJFLAS. one of the options to respond to his apology is asking him if he has a fever lol. another option is telling him to stop (apologising) and be mean like he usually is and then he’s like are you a masochist lmao. 

anyway he tells you that if you really are pregnant, don’t hide it next time since “it’s OUR problem” and not just yours. he also says that not speaking up might harm you and that he doesn’t intend for your relationship to be loose/casual (meaning he’s serious about being with you). HELP I LOVE KAGA.

afterwards, katsuragi is in the instructor’s room to do something and then he thinks you’re pregnant so he gives you a congratulatory bouquet from your team and ayumu literally loses it. 

I LOVE THIS STORY SO MUCH i can’t WAIT until it’s translated!! you all know i love soft/caring kaga the most and getting that + pregnancy misunderstanding + katsuragi + ayumu being a brat all in one story? *chefs kiss* incredible. i read this story on sato’s room, my favourite jp blog for hlitf content.

in goto’s one, where you go to a drinking party with naruko but it turns out to be a group date (goukon). sora and kurosawa make an appearance (naturally!!)

kaiji makes an appearance in ishigami’s route in which you go to his place to retrieve some documents for him and find lipstick and a lingering scent at his place after he cancels a date because he’s busy with work...

shinonome’s one is the one i’ve briefly mentioned before where his mc ends up with a porn dvd by accident. ayumu also gets jealous of mizuki in it (since his mc in particular just loves mizuki and is starstruck every time she sees him lol, the same thing happens in one of his vip room chapters too )

soma’s route is the one i also posted about recently where you have a matchmaking meeting with subaru. i’ve mentioned this like 5 times before but i literally am dying to see subaru/soma dynamics since subaru is usually so alpha male but soma was his mentor and senpai and trained him in criminal affairs and he really respects him, so i’m desperate to see them interact particularly in a competitive(?) setting. 

there’s another substory i want which is just for kaga and soma called ふれない夜を過ごすとき (when you spend a night without touching). the common factor in both stories is that mc turns down kaga and soma’s advances in bed (because of different story-related reasons) and it results in a ‘cold’ night where they just go to sleep. it’s so appropriate for these two considering they’re the most sexual/physical in the whole title. 

in this substory, voltage alternates between your pov and his pov for each chapter which i think is so interesting. i also love seeing both instructors being so ANXIOUS? about being turned down, since it never happens. and they’re so accepting of your rejection but so worried and hurt asdlkfs i love it. seeing soma being rattled for once is an incredible feeling lmao. and also seeing the third chapter from his perspective is so cool because you really get to see him put his detective skills to use when it comes to gathering information.

a fun detail in kaga’s route is that at the beginning you watch a film together called “ 私の名は” (obviously meant to be playing on “your name” kimi no na wa) haha. by the way, this is also the substory where we meet akane (who you may have seen in kaga vip room stories and ss3). i’m not going to spoil who akane actually is but let’s just say it was totally unexpected... 

aside from these two i want:

入捜査は蜜の味 which is a substory about going on undercover mission with your man. by the way, in this substory, kosugi from my sweet bodyguard is already a famous actress whose shows sell out in under a minute. 

離れるの禁止！－手錠で１日独り占め♡ー a substory just for kaga, goto and shinonome where you end up handcuffed to your instructor for a day

私を見つけて☆王子様 an AU substory with kaga, shinonome and namba routes since they won places in the 2015 election. the concept is like a cinderella x tanabata situation and it’s honestly HYSTERICAL. 

in the kaga ver, shinonome and soma are your evil stepbrother and stepfather respectively and you can only see kaga once a year. you met him in town last year and you spent a day (and night ;)) together and now you want to go to the ball this year. goto and kurosawa are your wizards (fairy godmothers) and their sprites wear giant witch hats with their regular suits. it’s literally so funny. ishigami is kaga’s butler and honestly, he is such a claude lmao. kurosawa reappears disguised as a prince and tries to get you to dance with him and prince hyogo literally tosses him out of the way and calls him nouveau riche ;alskfdjls. anyway he does the whole “i don’t care about your status” thing and wants to be with you. turns out it was a dream the whole time and you tell kaga about it and he’s like i don’t want that fucking megane to be my butler lmaooo (amongst other cute things that he says)

in the namba ver., kaga and shinonome are your stepbrothers A and B. they’re bullying you as usual and then prince namba shows up. i love how kaga is prince hyogo but namba is just prince namba. he whisks you away to a bar somewhere after joking that you don’t have sex appeal because you’re <30 year old and then butler ishigami comes to get him lol. prince namba tells you to grow a little next time you meet and then ishigami is like stop it with the harrassment, you are already being complained about by princesses from neighbouring countries lmaoooo. anyway you get grounded by stepbrothers kaga and shinonome and your evil stepfather soma and made to stay indoors and do chores for the rest of your life while they go to the tanabata ball. wizard goto appears and he’s SHY LOL and he uses his magic to dress you up and whisk you to the ball, where you see prince namba again. you’re about to kiss and then the bell rings and you flee before the date changes (since wizard goto’s magic only works on july 7 lol). literally an entire year passes and you wish to see prince namba at the ball again and wizard goto shows up to grant your wish. however, your evil stepfamily burst in and tie you and wizard goto up because they knew you used magic to go to the ball last year hahahahahhaa. you somehow escape and ride goto’s horse to the ball and namba sees you cause your horse is like screaming/making some really weird noise. he brings you inside and has a whole bunch of gowns and accessories laid out and is like “this old man doesn’t know what kids like so just pick whatever”. you get all dolled up and he tells you he’s impressed by how mature you look and that he was waiting for you and long story short he takes you on a garden stroll and gets on his knees and asks you to be with him forever. naturally, it’s a dream and you wake up in the reference room where you chat a bit with namba and then you end up going for ramen but this is before namba ms2 probably so you aren’t together yet and you lament that he just sees you as a trainee. 

i can’t find a copy of shinonome’s ver online and i spent all my money on intl voltage so sadly i can’t summarise it but i bet it’s equally ridiculous and funny. 

カクテルグラスに愛をのせて a really cute set of substories featuring ishigami, namba and soma which are all about “cocktail language” (as in cocktails having different meanings). i want soma’s one to be translated so badly so i can see dumbass mc being fooled over and over and over again by everyone’s lies and then soma ultimately being SO cute~ 

彼が野生動物だった件 this one is basically about you and your man not being able to touch each other because you need to hide your relationship from tsugaru’s surveillance - but when it’s over, you get devoured by your frustrated boyfriend... 

カレが妬くと大変なことになりまs aka all of those rival jealousy stories. naturally i’m most desperate for soma v shinonome. also, the first of these stories to come out (a while before any of the other ones) was kaga vs tsugaru, so i thought haha they replaced the “す” with “s” for sadist. they kept the titling like this for every single rival pair (namba v kurosawa, ishigami v goto, soma v shinonome) and i was like oh that does undermine it... but then i realised that as tsugaru once said, their entire department is full of sadists and public safety division should be renamed to SM division so~

aside from all of those, i want all the anniversary stories as well with their accompanying CGs and/or manga!! 

ahh... there’s also the 2/365 birthday story (which is where ishigami gifts you the matching watch btw) which is literally just everyone spoiling you and it’s so cute. anyway if i don’t stop this now i will keep going on and on and on but basically every single hlitf substory is AMAZING? i hope they release the untranslated summer ones soon too as summer is coming up!

ETA: I FORGOT TO MENTION I ALSO WANT THIS WHOLE SET: 逆転バレンタイン- 恋人は専属補佐官 which is a valentine special where basically the roles are reversed and you are the instructor and he is your exclusive aide~ 

and i want the entire kare kiss set as well because you know how much i love a jealousy plot ;) 

EDIT 2: I ALSO FORGOT TO MENTION 加賀兵吾の再調教 if only just for this one image 

and this formalwear sprite

and also just the drama of you being locked in a cage barely conscious for days while kaga has to pretend to sell you to a perverted millionaire 

by the way, the heart necklace you’re wearing in the cg is something that kaga gave in one of his main routes iirc and he literally tramples on it in this special... the DRAMA

[peachdoxie]

It’s always an experience to look back at myself as an adolescent and realize how much of my behavior was influenced by the fact that I am asexual and aromantic but didn’t yet know that.

In elementary school, I mostly wore t-shirts and pants of some sort. They were vaguely feminine, but not very much. To be honest, I don’t think I paid that much attention to what I wore in elementary school, though I was obviously influenced by external factors. But in the fifth grade (age 10-11) is I think when I started to actively reject femininity. It definitely happened once I started middle school (11-14). I opted more for a gender neutral look rather than a masculine look, though I didn’t think of it that way - just “not girly”. This trend followed me into high school (14-18), though around age 15 or so I got over my “not like other girls” mentality, which was never super strong but definitely present.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to dress more femininely. There were times when I wished I could wear a blouse instead of a t-shirt and get a hair cut or something. I didn’t want to be super feminine and wear makeup or jewelry or whatnot, but the t-shirt look is hard to pull off and still be seen as mature and have people take me seriously as I grew older. I actually enjoyed the chances to look rather feminine when the circumstances allowed it – namely, dances at high school (until I stopped going to them entirely) and prom.

The problem was that I didn’t like the attention I got whenever I made a change. If I wore a nicer shirt one day, people would comment on it. If I got a hair cut, people would comment on it. If I did anything out of the ordinary, people would comment on it. And save for social situations that were intended for fancier clothing, such as school dances, I did not like the attention. At all. It was mostly from teachers and other female friends who were genuinely nice about it, not even unwanted attention from boys or men. It didn’t help that I went to a small K-12 school, meaning I was with the same 100-odd classmates every year and regularly encountered my old teachers. There were no good transition moments to make any changes besides summer, and even then I didn’t.

I used to wear my hair in a ponytail all the time – initially just to keep it out of my face, but then because I did that constantly, any time I would wear it down on a normal day, someone would comment on it. It got to the point where I would keep it in the ponytail all the time. It was somewhere past my shoulder most of the time. One day when I was 15, during my regularly scheduled hair cut, I decided to cut off enough inches to donate the hair and my stylist straightened my hair for it. It was cut to a bit above my shoulders. I wore it down the next day at school and got a lot of compliments about it. It made me so uncomfortable that I put it back in a ponytail the next day.

(I eventually got so sick of the ponytail and the way it made me look too gender neutral that I forced myself to get it cut short enough that I couldn’t put it in a ponytail and I just dealt with the discomfort until my shorter hair was normalized.)

It did vex me, back then, why I didn’t like any attention that focused on how pretty I looked whenever I made some change to my physical appearance. I didn’t think that it was because I didn’t think I wasn’t pretty and that’s why I didn’t like the attention – I was fairly aware of how body image problems in teenagers worked, and to my recollection, that never played a big role in my dislike of attention. I knew I had good skin and pretty eyes and did think my face was pleasing when I looked in the mirror. And rejecting femininity a bit helped me find solace in not conforming to beauty standards. I also must give credit to my mother, who was nothing but supportive and never pressured me to perform femininity, and neither really did any of the other adult figures that had a significant influence on me, which certainly helped.

As an adult who has studied queer theory and feminist theory, and who has reflected on my experience as a young acearo woman, I’ve come to realize how much my sexual and romantic orientations impacted me in this regard. It resolves the paradox of wanting to be more feminine-presenting to look more mature while simultaneously dreading any attention I’d get for making a change towards femininity.

To a younger me, any attention to my appearance when I presented even a tiny bit femininely meant that it increased the chances that a boy might ask me out. Not hit on me, but ask me out. It was one of the interpersonal things I dreaded the most during high school. I did not want a boy to ask me out because I knew I would say no because I wasn’t interested in dating. I was desperately afraid of making things awkward between me and whoever it was, because the boys that were most likely to ask me out (in my mind) were the boys I was close friends with. In my mind, knowing that a friend of mine in high school had a crush on me was a terrifying prospect – knowing that I had rejected them while they were still “in love” with me. The influence of media was definitely there, as I’d seen way too many Disney Channel TV shows and movies where the guy was rejected by the girl and it made things awkward. I didn’t want to lose any of my friends that way. (I won’t go into details, but my reluctance to date anyone did end up backfiring on me and I did lose a friend, though that was largely due to my own awkwardness on not understanding why I was so reluctant to date anyone.)

The romance part would have been okay-ish, but at that point I didn’t yet have a split-attraction model to go on and so, to me, any act of dating would necessarily involve holding hands, cuddling, and kissing, and possibly sexual activity, all of which I knew as early as age 11 that I did not want. And because I was repulsed by the idea of physical and sexual intimacy, dating was out of the question. I knew it was okay to not want to date anyone and to not want to have sex with anyone, during high school or ever, because my mother had raised me to think those are valid options (thanks Mom), but at the time, I didn’t have a concept of what being sex-repulsed was.

I think that made it difficult and uncomfortable for me to process the idea that someone could be sexually attracted to me. I wasn’t so ignorant to believe that other people were also repulsed by sex and I knew other people enjoyed sex, especially teenagers. But the mere idea that someone could view me in a way related to sex – even if they didn’t want to act on it – was so unsettling to me that I couldn’t stand it. I don’t think it was about being seen as a sexual object by boys, since those were easy to turn down (and I did have a few male classmates ask me out), but rather seen as being sexually attractive to boys I already had a good friendship with.

Also, while I was aware of homosexuality from a young age and had no problems with it, there were no girls out as wlw while all of this was going on, so it didn’t occur to me to be wary of their attraction. I knew as well that I wasn’t interested in girls, so – because my framework was “straight or gay” without a concept of asexuality – by default I must be interested in boys, and them with me. There’s also the gendered stereotypes of girls sharing everything with their girl friends, but not sharing emotional intimacy with boys. But most of my good friends were boys, and so if I were to be emotionally intimate with any of them, I’d have to date them.

Of course, I lacked the knowledge and self-awareness to figure all of this out until much later, and it took longer to come to terms with the relationship I had between femininity, others’ sexual attraction, and my own self-image (though none of that is static, nor should it be). I also lacked the awareness that the boys I was friends with who might be interested in asking me out might also not be interested in a physical and sexual relationship. I didn’t have the concept that an emotionally intimate relationship in high school could be anything but physical or sexual. I think a lot of it came down to the fact that I didn’t know how to process any potential awkwardness, but I wasn’t fully aware of my inability to process it, so I just avoided it as much as I possibly could. Looking back, there were definitely some contradictions in how I thought and behaved, but hey, I was a young and socially awkward teenager navigating an uncharted territory that I didn’t know was uncharted.

Besides being fairly vocal to my friends about the fact I wasn’t interested in dating (which I explained away by saying “I don’t want to be distracted by dating during high school”, such a typical excuse of non-straight folk) the best weapon I had against people finding me attractive was to downplay my appearance. And so I desexualized my appearance – or, rather, maintained the neutral appearance I’d had from elementary school and made it even less attractive to boys (at least, in the opinion of my adolescent self.) Any act of femininity that was noticed by a teacher or female classmate was something that could be noticed by a boy in my high school, which meant that they may be inspired to ask me out, which meant sexual attraction, which was repulsive and uncomfortable to me.

I hold no ill will towards myself for not understanding this when I was a teenager, and I don’t blame any of the authority figures or educators in my life for not helping me understand this. It’s likely they didn’t understand any of this themselves, and it’s not like I was fully aware of why I felt certain ways and did certain things either, nor was I very open about all of this either because I can be a rather private person at times. It’s also not like asexuality, aromanticism, and sex-repulsion are well-known things, let alone discussed frequently in books about childrearing and queer adolescents. It’s just another sign of how the hyper focus on heterosexual monogamy (also known as amatonormativity) in Western culture and society actively hurts queer people, especially when they’re young and aren’t aware that they’re not straight, or are but are struggling to come to terms with that (it also applies to non-cis folk, but that’s not relevant to my experience.)

Ultimately, I see my struggles with gender presentation and interpersonal relationships, and the stress they caused me, during middle and high school as a symptom of our culture and society’s failure in general to represent a wide variety of queer experiences – particularly outside of lesbian, gay, and trans identities – to young people so that people like me can better understand themselves. I can’t deny the fact that the social norms about dating and relationships in high school that I found in the media I consumed had a major impact on me, to the point where they sometimes contradicted how my mother tried to raise me. This post is in part a reflection on myself that struck me recently, but also yet another piece of evidence about how the lack of representation for ace and aro people actively damages our lives.

[moved-builtintripping]

Setleth AU: Weathering With You

CONTAINS SPOILERS, MENTIONED MATURE THEMES, AND A LONG READ!!

(While I’ll be assigning both Byleths in my preferred roles for them here, feel free to switch Beleth and Beles if it’s your cup of tea!!)

F!Byleth as Hodaka. 15 yrs. A highschool runaway from a rain-kissed island town who desperately seeks the shy sunlight in the city. Her life will forever change when she realizes that somebody dear to her is worth so much more than the hiding blue sky.

Seteth as Hina. ‘19’/16 yrs. His strict expression doesn’t best describe his identity as a sunshine boy. Values Flayn above all else until a certain somebody enters into (and saves) his life. Used to only clear the sky whenever his little sister excitedly asks for it.

Flayn as Nagi. 10 yrs. Lives alone with only her big brother. She seems to gain a sort of situation where most boys in her school would swoon over her charm, which she is unaware of (yet Seteth knows nothing about this). Becomes instant best friends with Byleth.

Jeralt as Suga-san/Keisuke. ?? yrs. Head of the J&A ‘news’ site (that will eventually grow into its own company). Compares Byleth (whom he hired) to his own child, who’s taken away from him by his mother-in-law. Still loves his dead wife dearly.

Leonie as Natsumi. 25 yrs. (post-timeskip design) Jeralt’s trusted and loyal apprentice and (surprisingly) niece. She’s currently job hunting, but her impatience is one factor why luck hadn’t been so kind to her. Would probably make an excellent speed cop.

M!Byleth as Moka. Jeralt’s son, who shares the same name and almost the exact same look as the girl his father hired. Despite the many phone calls they’ve shared, he still misses his father very much and wishes to see him everyday.

Cyril as Ame/Rain. A stray brown kitten who stares with his red eyes and bears a scar by the left side of his forehead. Adopted and cared by Byleth and eventually spoiled rotten by Jeralt.

Solon as Yasui. (Tomas looks) An aged and experienced police officer, who’s tasked to look for the missing highschooler and wielder of a lost gun around the flooding Tokyo.

Thales as Takai. A younger police officer who’s assigned to assist Yasui on their shared mission. Manages to get ahold of Byleth, but his grip on her had slipped more times than he hoped.

Kronya as the Dude who’s offering Hina the strip club job. (idk his name, rip) Harasses Seteth into offering him a job, a naughty one. Is stopped by Byleth and the warning shot she was threatened by her face.

Detail Changes!!

Not everything in the movie will be covered as I haven’t thought up some changes yet, especially the part when Keisuke’s child, Moka, was shown the first time and they all were just bonding. This should still be a lot already! Hopefully I can add some more and fix this eventually~

Byleth’s Yahoo!Answer username was ‘TheAshenDemon’

During her first days in Tokyo, she was silent the whole time, not even uttering a single word since she could just nod, shake her head, and bow, not even when Jeralt saved her from the crashing rainfall nearly slipping her away from the boat.

Jeralt thought he saw his own son in grave danger, so he jumped to action. He didn’t realized how panicked he must have looked until a blue-haired quiet girl (almost) blankly stared up at him. He tried to brush it off with a shrug, but he swore his heart was beating fast.

She pointed to Jeralt the beer vending machine, which she plans to give him one as an exchange for sparing her from death. Jeralt politely declines, yet she insists only to realize the price to be much higher than her budget. She bought one anyway. “I told you you didn’t have to, kid...” “*bows and sweat drops*”

During her stay around the city, Byleth had been hearing news about a killer who leaves their bloodied victims lying in alleyways, always sprouting knife wounds around different part of their body, plus they’re dismembered. Byleth didn’t know she would eventually encounter the said-killer herself.

The lost kitten Byleth found by the alleyway stared up at her, but not meowing. He hissed when she offered him some candies, but eventually he ate it gratefully. This was the first time a smile bloomed on Byleth’s face since arriving.

When she woke up from her unintentional slumber, Kronya (plus two more grinning men lingering by her side) were staring down at her. “What’re ya doing here, girlie? This is no place for a street rat like you, so I suggest ya scram… Unless you want to join the fun with me and the boys. *winks and licks lips*” “*fuCKIN SCRAMBLES UP AND RUN*”

When Seteth laid down the burger, Byleth was so shocked she stared with large eyes up at the strange kind worker above her for a long time. “… Stop staring at me. It’s going to get cold if you don’t eat that soon, and my money would go to waste.” “… *blinks*” “… Just… Eat it.*walks out*”

Byleth still hadn’t said anything, but she cried for the first time for not only satisfying her empty tummy after so long, but for also kindness to miraculously come her way in this cruel city.

During the bus ride to Jeralt’s place, she silently pitied Flayn several seats behind who’s obviously oblivious from the two young boys’ mission to capture her heart.

The moment Leonie wakes up, she thought Byleth to be a theif. As she shouted threats at the intruder (and shrieked at her for staring at her chest), Byleth nervously held up the business card Jeralt gave her.

When Leonie confirmed that Jeralt indeed invited the kid over, she quickly welcomed her with open arms as if she never shouted exactly a moment before. She introduced their home as the ‘holy sanctuary of the proud journalists’.

Leonie was clearly passionate as a J&A journalist, possibly much more than the head himself, to the point that she would insist on Byleth to read every single article they had ever written. “Alright, kiddo! What article was written on June 15, 2021??” “*shakes head in resignation with a tired look*” “SILLLY! It’s the first one you helped me out with!! The title is ‘The Magical Wonder of a Sunshine Girl’, which discusses about the blablabla--” “*cries inwardly*”

The second time Byleth sees Seteth, he was gripping his umbrella hard as he tried to quickly walk away from Kronya, who was following, cat-calling, and basically harassing him. Eventually she slyly offers him to ‘work’ with her with a promised high pay, which made Seteth abruptly halt on his tracks.

Byleth rescues Seteth from Kronya by pretending to be his girlfriend (Funnily enough, “HONEY~!” was her first ever word on Tokyo and also a foreshadowing of their future relationship). She then attempted to drag a spluttering Seteth away as she cooed, “Come on, sweetie~ We can’t miss the big day!” “B-b-b-but- I thought you’re mute-” “I said *grips Seteth’s arm too tight* Come. On.”

Infuriated for taking away her potential partner, Kronya whipped out a knife and charged at the two. Seteth instinctively grabbed Byleth’s hand and together, they ran.

They eventually reach a dead end, which Kronya took advantage of by literally jumping over the two, then pinning Byleth down. “Move a muscle and I’m going to cut your girlfriends’ throat.” “SH-SHE’S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND! AND LET GO OF HER!”

Byleth struggled to reverse their position and had been successful. She pointed the gun on Kronya and, as the rain poured, blasted a warning shot by her left ear.

When Seteth snapped out of reality, he grabbed Byleth up who was about to shoot Kronya’s forehead (whose left ear was slowly bleeding). “GET UP! GET UP! LET’S GET OUT OF HERE! WE HAVE A DATE, REMEMBER!?”

Once they retreated to the abandoned building, they argued. “Did you really think you should just- just interfere just like that!? You have a gun, for god’s sake! We’ll get in serious trouble for that, or worse go to jail!” “You ungrateful- I just saved your damn life like you saved mine-” “Plus sh-she’s a woman! We shouldn’t have been too harsh with her-”“Look, you can be a prostitute for all I care, but that woman was harassing you and that’s just wrong!” “You listen here very well: I am a grown man, and I make my own decisions!” “Yeah!? Decisions to get yourself killed by that murderer! Can’t you see she’s the recently wanted person who had been killing off men in the alleyways!?” “I…! You…! *growls and shoves towel at Byleth* *stomps away*”

Believing it to be useful, Byleth was about to pick up the gun she previously threw out of frustration, but Seteth’s voice interrupted her. “I thought about what you said, and you’re right. I’m sorry. What can I give you in return?” “Er… Your… Apology, I guess?” “That’s already given! I meant something else, more than that!” “... Hmm…”

Byleth spaced out. She couldn’t really think of anything she wanted other than... “I’d like for the sun to stick around, but *chuckles dryly* I know you can’t just magically clear the sky…” “… Actually…”

Byleth silently (and comically) screamed when Seteth prayed to draw the curtains of the clouds and make way for the blue sky and the sun to smile down on them.

This is the first time Seteth clears the sky for somebody else other than for his little sister, so he smiled. There, they shared each other’s names and age.

While trying to appear mature, Seteth awkwardly rambles about how he was old enough to make his own decisions and do adult things, basically justifying his consideration on Kronya’s offer.

“Seteth, that’s... That’s nothing to be ashamed of. There must somebody you want to protect. That’s why you’d go to lengths to commit acts like that.” “… How did you know??” “*shrugs*”

Ever since meeting Seteth, Byleth began to speak much more frequently than before, but was still overall silent. She only says more whenever she’s around her new friend.

Seteth cooked a seafood dish for his guest when Byleth visited to discuss about their new business. As Byleth observed around the house, she saw lots of cute objects such as the colored fish-shaped glass curtain. She assumed Seteth’s little sister had wanted it.

When Flayn arrived home, she beamed that finally, her big brother had made a friend! Meanwhile Byleth recognized her as the oblivious girl who had a lot of boys to answer to, so she awkwardly greeted Flayn back, who was shaking her hand too rapidly.

Flayn had been more than willing to wear the teru teru bozu mascot. Although Seteth secretly thought it looked adorable, he simply didn’t approve of it.

After their first successful job, Flayn in her mascot told Seteth, “Onii-sama, won’t you lighten up?? You’ve finally cleared the sky for all the people! Isn’t that amazing???” “F-Finally? Flayn, how could you just forget the joy of just the two of us sharing our secret…” “Stupid brother! You’re the sunshine boy here, and sunshine boys should smile just like the sun! Look at Byleth-nee! She would make the perfect sunshine girl had she got your magic instead!!”

“Byleth?” Seteth wondered out loud and looked at the said-girl a few strides ahead of them, who was grinning ear-to-ear as she admired the sun. He tried to observe her enthusiasm like Flayn suggested. He ended up mindlessly gazing at the girl even when Flayn was already demanding for his attention.

When Byleth found out that Seteth enjoys writing, she suggested him to try working for J&A to earn extra cash. “Hm… I suppose I can give it a chance... Yes, this will make a great opportunity indeed.”

When Seteth visited Byleth’s place and found out that their intention and business were all a fraud, he backed out. “This is scam! I cannot feature my literary works in a shady manner such as this!” “WHAT THE FUCK!? YOU’LL CONSIDER PROSTITUTION, BUT YOU WON’T DO THIS!?!?!?” “…Uh. Language...”

During the firework festival, while Byleth hadn’t bother to fix her hair, Seteth smoothed his as well as tied a tiny pony. He almost frowned at her messy hair the first time he saw her, but held back when he saw the businessman standing beside her (i mean can u just imagine the beauty of him wearing a kimono while byleth in a formal suit omg im crying kjasdhjkhas--)

“Mr. Jeralt.” “Yeah, kid?” “If I am to give you a present, what will you ask for?” “Hmm.... Let’s be perfectly honestly: a good ‘ol beer is all I needed to remedy my past sins... Unless you can bring my wife from the dead, then *smiles sadly* I’d appreciate that.”

When someone on Yahoo!Answer suggested (jokingly) to gift Seteth a ring for his birthday, Byleth turned to Flayn for advice instead as they began walking home together while the love-strucked boys waved her good-bye. “Well, Mother told me that you shouldn’t limit your choices of gift just because your friend was born with the body they have. For example, even when society isn’t entirely ready to accept it, there are men who enjoy wearing dresses!” “.... OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH, SENPAIIIIII”

The next day, Byleth spent the entire day checking on every corner of the nearest mall to find the perfect ring, only to return empty-handed, exhausted, and bummed out. When an oblivious and excited Leonie shoved one of their old magazine copies (back when they could still afford printing their issues) on Byleth, she retreated to her room for the older girl to leave her alone.

Still tired, she flipped one of the pages and saw an article about a ring that can boost the wearer’s creativity and motivation to write many promising stories with the help of jewel’s powers. (aka, the ring in canon) Amused but resigned, Byleth shrugged and decided.

Byleth spent a much longer time looking for the tiny shop, which only had one branch, than looking for ring in the said-shop itself.

Meanwhile, police officers Solon and Thales had captured Kronya. Both are interrogating the criminal for what exactly happened when the missing girl, the one both officials were looking for, threatened to shoot Kronya.

Leonie nearly punched Byleth for accidentally staring at her chest again as the she struggled to sink in the information that Jeralt and Leonie are related and absolutely not 'lovers’.

Byleth lend her jacket (aka, her cloak in canon) to Seteth when he was nearly whisked away by the wind.

When the police were questioning the runaway kids, Seteth tried to ward them off with a slight glare all the while remaining polite. “Our family will continue to worry if we remain longer in the rain, so if you will please let us carry on...”

“Happy Birthday, Seteth!” “*inwardly: OH MY GOD IT’S A RING IT’S A RING HOLY SHIT DOES SHE ACTUALLY WANNA-- NO NON ON  THAT CANNOT BE IT, THIS IS TOO SOON-*” “This ring is supposed to help you write good, boosts your creativity and all. Not that I believe it, nor care, but I hope you like it~” “.........................................................Oh.”

“I... *clears throat* Th-thank you. I-I appreciate it.” “What’s with that stupid look though? Did you really think it was a proposal? Seriously, no way. I doubt it... *lies down, stares at ceiling, blushes* Unless you wanna...” “W-W-WHAT!? NONSENSE!! AND EVEN IF IT IS, YOU AND I BOTH KNOW VERY WELL THAT WE ARE TOO YOUNG FOR- FOR THAT!!” “You don’t say, you old geezer ;)”

“But Byleth... What are you doing? Oh no. No, this cannot be. I was even fully prepared... But if you were to part me with a gift, I’m going to leave with regrets...” “Regrets? Leave? What’re you talking about?” “Don’t you understand!? Back when we were walking our way home and you saw my skin? Don’t you see- *shuffles for robe*” “OH MY GOD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU PERVERT!?” “*reveals chest, skin magically distorted* I’M DYING!” “...Huh?”

Like her first days in Tokyo, Byleth didn’t speak the entire time when she and Flayn were caught and escorted to the police car. When Thales mentioned Seteth’s real age to Byleth (16), Byleth shouted, “SIXTEEN!?” much to the police’s shock since they thought the girl was mute or refused to ever speak.

“*inwardly: ... Seteth, you damn liar.*”

Flayn’s borrowed disguise from her male friends was a cap, hoodie and baggy pants. “Flayn, I thought he was your ex! What’s he doing here stealing you away from me?” “Ex? Stealing? Whatever do you mean; I thought you two are wonderful friends! And please hurry up!”

“I’D MAKE AN EXCELLENT SPEED COP!!” “... No, you won’t.” “I HEARD THAT!!”

Jeralt always compared Byleth to his own son due to how dangerously similar they looked and acted. He tried not to see her as a sort of child to him since the girl was not his son at all. However, Jeralt does end up acting like a father-figure to her, especially when he saw Thales pin her down as she repeatedly and desperately shouted her loved one’s name. Who knew that quiet kid had it in her to fall in love, just like Jeralt himself?

As Flayn ran towards Solon to pin him down, her cap flew away and her hood fell to reveal her long green hair. “It’s not your fault, Byleth-nee... Neither of us has foreseen this... But I will always trust you no matter what... SO PLEASE! BRING MY DEAR BROTHER BACK!!”

While Seteth did jump to reach for Byleth out of instinct (and love, coughcough), he tried to pry away from her as they fell no matter how much she desperately confesses her love for him. “The people would no longer have sunshine! Isn’t that what everybody wants, you included!? It’s why we even made that business! It’s best I leave this world for all of your sake!!”

In her fury, Byleth reached out to Seteth with more effort than ever all the while muttering, “Come here- Come here you stupid old geezer--” When they finally held hands, she slapped him hard.

“DON’T YOU GET IT, YOU DUMB IDIOT!? FLAYN AND I DID NOT GOT ARRESTED, NARROWLY ESCAPED, HAD TO BE RESCUED BY LEONIE, RAN ALL THE WAY TO THAT BLASTED BUILDING, ALMOST STOPPED BY JERALT, AND NEARLY GOT SHOT BY FOUR DAMN PEOPLE TO RESCUE YOU FOR NOTHING! SETETH, I LOVE YOU!”

“*giggles* You look gross when you cry.” “Shut it, Byleth. Seriously, at a time like this... Let’s... Let’s just go home.” “Yeah...”

When Byleth returned to Tokyo, she had her hair dyed into light green since she felt like it (and reminded her of someone dear to her).

Jeralt happily showed Byleth the photo of Flayn (who barely grew an inch), his son Byleth (who’s almost reaching Flayn’s height), and Leonie, (wearing a cop’s uniform imean they should have seriously made natsumi a speed cop too, jeezus).

When she and Seteth reunited, his first words to her (other than, “Byleth!”) were, “Your hair...” “*grins* I know what you’re thinking, it doesn’t suit me.” “No, not at all. *touches Byleth’s hair with the hand wearing the ring* You look beautiful.” “*tries to pout, but melts into a winder grin* Not before?” “You always have been.”

Yay, it’s done!! I’ve had this AU for a long time now actually, but only got to post it now that the movie’s out on the west!! Now watch me ignore this shit for the next years, rip

Again, every detail in the movie isn’t covered here since I haven’t seen their potential setleth au differences yet, but the overall plot remains the same! Note that I haven’t actually finished the other routes yet other than the beagle one, so there might be a lotta ooc stuff here. Maybe when I’m done with them all, ima get back to this and fix it and add some more.

As you can see, I made their dynamic more on the teasing side unlike hodaka&hina’s, mainly because i interpret byleth to be playfully sly and ofc seteth’s distrust on her on the start of the game. I personally enjoyed them to be a bickering old couple, so they’re like that xD

Honestly, i’m torn in between assigning rhea as either the two green peas’ mother or jeralt’s mother-in-law. the former for obvious reasons, the latter since rhea sorts of ‘hides’ away the little kid from jeralt like in canon, but for another reason.

As for the taki and mitsuha cameo, I feel like that would be a completely different thing, so I didn’t include them here. But for sometime now, I’ve been imagining them as ferdinand & dorothea, manuela being their okudera. but this au isn’t house biased (leonie’s there cause of jeralt), so i didn’t include them.

Huge thanks to my sister for helping me shape this au!! Actually half of these ideas belongs to her, even more perhaps. Hope I can link ya’ll to her accounts once she’s done fixing ‘em so ya’ll get see how much of a genius she is!! <3

I wanna make a manga/fanfic outta this one day, but for now, here’s the idea compilation of my setleth au nobody asked for!! Thank you for reading!! :D