#ok i think that answered my own question

[whoswels]

are there still any docwels/welsdoc shippers,, I've been thinking about them ever since 2022 but there's literally nothing about them ..!!sighs! Anyways ill probably make a video about them, just scared to post it HAUAIjaika

[2129888]

i don't remember how i stumbled across this interview but i've never seen anyone mention it so i'm dropping it here <3 it's a little dated but still like super valuable and a decently in depth look at higuchi-sensei's previous works and how she works and thinks as a mangaka... personally i think it's the most i've ever learned from an interview of hers. super interesting stuff :0)

[hiraganasakura]

Hi so me being me I've decided to hyperanalyze the conversation Qrow and Raven had in Higanbana practically line by line bcus I have Many Thoughts and this is the best way I can think of to get them all out. If you can't tell I'm absolutely obsessed with these two. Btw.

Thanks to the RWBY wiki for providing transcripts for every episode, otherwise I definitely would have missed smth despite having just watched this scene recently lol

I put it under the read more for easier scrolling due to how long this post got!

I immediately noticed smth in the very first lines of the interaction:

Raven: "Hello, brother." Qrow: "...Raven."

You'll notice throughout the whole conversation that Raven never calls Qrow by his name, only condescendingly referring to him as "brother" this one time and never calling him anything else. Meanwhile, Qrow directly refers to Raven a total of three times throughout the conversation, and only one doesn't call Raven by her name (which we'll get to shortly)

On the other hand, Qrow doesn't bother with even so much as a greeting beyond simply stating Raven's name

It's different ways of communicating their distance. While Raven holds her relationship with Qrow over his head — never once, even outside of this scene, does she call him "brother" with affection iirc, only derision and condescension — Qrow doesn't seem to rly know how to greet her. He hesitates before saying her name and approaching her, as if trying to assess the situation before acting

Qrow: "So, what do you want?" Raven: "A girl can't just catch up with her family?" Qrow: "She can, but you're not. Now how 'bout we get on with it? Unless you plan on keeping these [drinks] comin'."

Again, Raven seems to bring up her familial ties with Qrow as a tactic to get him to do what she wants — in this case, stick around to talk to her despite him not seeming to rly want to. Frankly, it feels manipulative. We're gonna put a pin in this for now and come back to it in just a moment

Additionally, Qrow already knows that Raven's not just here for a friendly chat between two siblings, and sees right thru her facade that it is. Raven is here bcus she wants smth from him. But interestingly, it is Raven in V5 that says, in an almost frustrated/disappointed tone, "Family. Only coming around when they need something." There's another pin; keep both in mind

Raven: "Does she have it?" Qrow: "...Did you know Yang lost her arm?" Raven: "That's not—" Qrow: "Rhetorical question, I know you know. It's just obnoxious that you'd bring up family and then carry on like your own daughter doesn't exist." Raven: "I saved her." Qrow: "Once. Because that was your rule, right? Real 'Mom of the Year' material, sis."

Qrow dodges Raven's question about the Relic and instead brings up her hypocrisy in how she treats family. And it's a good point. Here she is lording her siblingship with Qrow over his head while simultaneously defending and upholding her rule that she is only obligated to help her own daughter a single time. Another pinpoint on our little conspiracy board

Also, here's the one time in this conversation Qrow refers to Raven as "sis". Like Raven's use of "brother", Qrow's use of "sis" is very pointed and with intent. But it's not to manipulate Raven, it's a snarky jab meant to rly hammer home Qrow's point

Raven: "I told you Beacon would fall, and it did. I told you Ozpin would fail, and he has. Now you tell me. Does. Salem. Have it?" Qrow: "I thought you weren't interested in all of that." Raven: "I just want to know what we are up against." Qrow: "And which 'we' are you referring to?"

A few things of note here. At some point in the past, Raven expressed an outright disinterest in Ozpin's inner circle, at least to Qrow. Qrow also feels excluded in the "we" Raven mentions being against Salem. To me, there seems to be a distinct possibility here that it wasn't that Raven felt personally disinterested in Ozpin's operations, but that she somehow felt excluded and feigned a lack of interest in order to protect herself. An idea that is further supported in my eyes by the following dialogue:

Qrow: "You should come back, Raven. The only way we'd beat her is by working together. All of us." Raven: "You're the one who left. The tribe raised us, and you turned your back on them." Qrow: "They were killers and thieves." Raven: "They were your family." Qrow: "You have a very skewed perception of that word."

And there it is. Raven's problem is laid out here for us, loud and clear: She feels like she was the one abandoned, not the one running away. She says it outright! "You're the one who left." To her, Qrow is the traitor, the one who left their family behind. If you ask Qrow (or, for that matter, Tai, Yang, and even Summer based on the scene in V9), it's the opposite

Bcus they have different definitions of family

Another thing to pin (I promise this will all become clear soon)

Raven: "I lead our people now. And as leader, I will do everything in my power to ensure our survival." Qrow: "I saw. The people of Shion saw, too." Raven: "The weak die. The strong live. Those are the rules." Qrow: "Well, you've certainly got someone strong on your side. I've seen the damage." Raven: "We couldn't have known the Grimm would set in as quickly as they did." Qrow: "I'm not talking about the Grimm. And I'm not talking about you, either."

Notice Raven's shift from "the tribe" to "our people". More of that guilt tripping!

Additionally, Raven is *obsessed* with rules. One save. The weak die, the strong live. Raven lives and breathes rules, even seemingly arbitrary ones. Guess what this is? Another pin!

Raven: "If you don't know where the Relic is, then we have nothing left to talk about." Qrow: "I don't know where the Spring Maiden is, either, but if you do, I need you to tell me." Raven: "And why would I do that?" Qrow: "Because without her, we're all going to die." Raven: "...And which 'we' are you referring to?"

Qrow's "either" here implies that he also doesn't know where the Crown of Choice is, which is... interesting. He's one of Ozpin's closest lieutenants, and is in the dark on where Beacon's Relic is? Wherever it is, it is such a closely kept secret that even Ozpin's best spy doesn't know where it is (maybe so that in the event Qrow gets captured by Salem he can't be forced into giving her the information?)

Meanwhile, Raven's "And why would I [tell you]?" implies that she does know who the Spring Maiden is (obviously. Raven's the Spring Maiden lol) but refuses to disclose to Qrow

A lantern sputters out after Qrow says "Without [Spring] we're all going to die." Now, I genuinely can't remember if this is headcanon or canon, but iirc Misfortune seems to act up when Qrow's upset. He's clearly tired of this little game of dancing around topics that Raven's been playing with him

And once again, Raven indicates a feeling of exclusion from Qrow's life in the iconic final line. She gets the final word in before leaving

We've finally reached the end of the conversation. Now what does all of this tell us?

And here is where all of those pins I wrote down are relevant. As I mentioned, the twins view family very differently

Qrow's view is pretty obvious: he views family as the ppl in his life who matter most to him. Unlike Raven, he does not view the tribe as family despite the fact that they raised him, disgustedly referring to them as "killers and thieves". It's implied that he was, in fact, neglected and/or likely abused by the Branwen tribe, saying in V6C4, "No one wanted me... I was cursed..." further explaining his distaste for them. Furthermore, despite not being related to Ruby by blood, they clearly consider one another family throughout the series, and he even seems closer to her than he seems to his niece who's actually blood related to him (I personally headcanon that he keeps more of a distance from Yang bcus she reminds him too much of Raven, who he feels abandoned and hurt by, but that's neither here nor there). Bloodlines and debts are secondary compared to loyalty, if they're considered at all. He is obviously furious that Raven only insists on saving Yang once and never directly interacting with her beyond that, despite Raven constantly guilting Qrow over abandoning his so-called "family" of the tribe. And yet. And yet. He still offers Raven a place back in his life, even if only to unite against Salem

Raven's view, to me, has been an enigma for a while. But after hyperanalyzing this conversation, after noting down all of those points of interest, I feel like I've finally cracked the code. Raven views family as an obligation, an exchange that always has an ulterior motive behind it. She seeks out Qrow only bcus she desires smth from him despite showing distaste when someone does the same to her; condescendingly calls Qrow "brother" more than his actual name and calls the tribe their "family" to try guilting him into doing what she wants; and feels fierce loyalty to the tribe but barely interacts with her daughter, only seeming to count one of the two as true family. She views the concept of family with cynicism and seems to feel an obligation to the tribe, as if she "owes" them for raising her

I think the two's perceptions of what defines family are all to do with the way the tribe treated both of them. This crosses a bit into headcanon territory, but as you can see by the above quotes and analysis, I rly don't think I'm just making it up entirely

As I already mentioned, I think it's implied that the Branwen tribe neglected/abused Qrow. In fact, we could probably blame their treatment of him for the deep self-loathing he has due to his "cursed" Semblance. But what about Raven?

Well, it's simple: I think she was abused, too, just in a different way. While Qrow was likely shown and told on a consistent basis that he was unwanted, unloved, undeserving of good things, Raven may have been shown and told she was wanted, loved, and deserving of good things... if she did what the tribe told her. If she repaid them for raising her and her brother, for being her "family". The way she uses her familial ties with Qrow as almost blackmail may be exactly the way the tribe treated her. Her obsession with following rules may stem from the fact that she had to follow the rules the tribe set for her in order to be accepted and deemed worth smth

As for her distance from Yang... honestly, I wonder if Raven is aware that Yang deserves better and keeps her distance as her way of doing that. When Summer confronts Raven in the V9 scene, Raven says, "...You're better at that life. Better than I was." She seems to have a fear and insecurity about being a good family member, a good mother, and maybe that's why she fled. Maybe she was scared of being like her abusers due to how she emulates them as a self-preservation tactic in so many other ways. Not entirely sure about this point tho

And I think too this is why the twins don't rly understand one another. They may have been unaware of the different ways in which the other was treated. Qrow, constantly unwanted and loathed, can't understand why Raven sticks around with the tribe; Raven, who obeyed the tribe and, in doing so, garnered enough of their favor to even eventually become leader, can't understand why Qrow can't just be "good", earn respect, and stay

This dissonance between the two experiences may also be completely intentional on the part of the tribe; abusers will often eliminate their targets' support systems in order to make them completely reliant on the abuser, so it's highly likely that the wedge was intentionally driven between the two siblings so that they could not find support in one another. This would also tie into why the twins seem to feel excluded from one another's lives and abandoned by one another: bcus they were made to feel that way by their common abusers, and did nothing to challenge these assumptions bcus they saw no reason to — and only seemed to keep proving one another right if they did

Which rly has some disturbing implications about how the Branwen tribe works. Like, do they just pick orphaned kids up off the street and abuse them into being perfect little bandits, molded to be of the greatest possible use and discarded if they're deemed worthless? Plus Qrow says his Semblance is how he got his name, which implies that the tribe also renames the kids they scoop up (possibly as a form of control or a way to make sure they can't be tracked down by any remaining family)? Plus there's the whole thing where Qrow and Raven were originally sent to Beacon to learn how to kill Huntsmen, which carries with it the implication that the Branwen tribe grooms literal orphan children into becoming stone-hearted murderers? What. The heck.

And if I'm right, if the Branwen tribe is that severely abusive, then like... wow, no wonder Qrow and Raven are Like That. They're both very deeply hurt people expressing it in different ways

I was considering adding their conversation at the Battle of Haven to this post, but I think that would be better as its own thing. Also I haven't gotten there on my rewatch yet so I may miss some details if I try to analyze it rn; it's better to wait overall methinks

But I have reached the point of my rewatch where we see Weiss and Whitley interact, and I think it would be very efficient to sum up what Qrow and Raven's relationship seems to be by using those siblings as a point of reference. Qrow = Weiss, actively trying to break free from and fight back against their abusers in different ways, while Raven = Whitley, continuing to do as their abusers want and have wanted as a method of self-preservation. Only, unlike Weiss and Whitley, Qrow and Raven have yet to come to a point where they can understand one another. I think that's a good way to briefly summarize the uh. Absolutely massive post this is.

In conclusion, I may have cracked the majority of the Branwen twins' pre-Beacon backstory purely by hyperanalyzing a single conversation. Oopsies

[shallowseeker]

why do you think it’s such a popular idea in fic for post-empty rescue cas to be mad at dean for letting jack become god?

like not that this trope even necessarily bothers me, i’ve read many fics that include it that i’ve absolutely loved!! it’s just a really interesting fandom trend to me cause (i think) the thing that made jack and cas’s relationship complex was that cas wanted jack to make the world better peace on earth style and all that, and like. being god would let him do that right? idk i just think it’s super interesting that this is so popular even amongst writers who like truly do love dean, if that makes sense, and i’m trying to understand why. thanks in advance!

I actually haven't read any like that, so I may not be able to answer this very well, except for the context you've given me.

In short, my TLDR; is that fandom can emphasize anything, and if they want to emphasize Cas's good qualities, I love that! I feel a little uncomfortable talking about fics, per se, because I do feel like fics have every right to live outside of meta and canon, or to take the best parts of it and run with it!

BUT. That said. I'm going to pull out the line I think you're asking about, which is, "Would Cas be okay with Jack wielding Godly power?"

///

My answer is, "it's complicated." In my world, this challenging aspect of Jack, "His Destiny" is such an overt, deeply embedded Cas arc... and I view it as affecting Cas more heavily than other members of TFW.

CAS x FREE WILL

Despite being an overarching champion of free will, the ugly truth is that Cas struggles with free will, all the way up until the end of the series.

Cas repeatedly struggles with the idea that "other angels aren't like me" and, in my opinion, he tends to reach for authoritarian "kingly" power to solve problems, like how he behaves throwing his weight around with the guard-angel and Dumah in s14 Jack in the Box. Cas is absolutely at the end of his rope, but also, he clearly expects to march in and see Naomi right away; he is acting, still, as Heaven's commander.

(Contrast this to angels like Hannah, who were messily trying to have a "court," where the "angels governed themselves.")

Jack himself is, in my opinion, treated in some ways like "a royal heir."

I like to think of Jack as the embodiment of "the good King fallacy." It's this tempting idea that power isn't the problem (even though it is); it's just going to take the "Right, Good King" to wield that power.

//

CAS x DUTY

And Cas loves Jack, of course he does!

But it takes Cas a very long time to come to terms with the fact that he's allowed to love Jack irrespective of a mission or duty (s15 Gimme Shelter, Despair).

Cas has always been tied up with duty, and he almost tends to... convert what he cares about into missions.

(Aside// Tragically, even when Cas says "I love you" in s15 Despair, it's wielded like military strategy, with so so much pragmatism, it hurts.)

I think, on the whole, Cas flounders whenever his sense of mission stalls, or especially when he feels too weak to complete the "mission."

(SEE: Cas failing to protect his cherished human family in s12, Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets, Stuck in the Middle with You.)

And I personally think that's why the "mission" of raising Jack was so attractive to him in the first place. It was something otherworldly to "honorably" tie Cas to earth. Jack was something good and strong that would restore Cas's own sense of power/accomplishment, that would make Dean feel "relieved," and would make Sam feel "free.")

Cas eventually learns that Jack doesn't have to be cosmically important in order to be important to Cas.

///

JACK x BEING UNBURDENED & "NOT SPECIAL"

But anyway! Back to your point. Jack opens up about the need to be not special to... Dean, actually. (s14, Unhuman Nature)

This might get swept under the rug too easily. Even Cas knows that Jack opens up to Dean about the things that truly bother him; it's why we see them "switch kids" in Peace of Mind. In some ways, Sam is more like Cas; Jack is more like Dean.

But it's complicated.

Dean ends the show on his lowest note ever, and there's little grace to be found for his plight.

//

CAS x DESTINY; DEAN x REVENGE

On the back-end of s15, things have imploded.

Dean and Cas are having their respective existential crises re: revenge and destiny, and Dean's crisis is much, much harsher and uglier than we're used to seeing from him.

But that doesn't change that Dean has a long, rich history of resisting destiny. He has arguably been THE most wary member of Team Free Will when it comes to power. But in s15, Dean is having a crisis, and he gives into fatalism... for a time. (This speaks volumes about how losing Mary and losing Jack were twin wounds that damaged him more than ever before.)

It's Cas who resists Chuck the most in s15, at the beginning.

BUT, IMHO, Cas's character is overall shown to be "most okay" with Jack's intense power imbalance. (Perhaps because Cas himself is... overbalanced with respect to the human family.) Tragically, we see that continued in s15, when Cas encourages Jack to "strengthen his vessel" by eating angel hearts.

Dean balks at that, but he trusts Cas. Like Cas, Dean doesn't want to push back because he doesn't want to lose their tenuously restored family.

Effectively, when Dean and Cas discuss Jack's "destiny" in s15 Destiny's Child/Galaxy Brain, they say the SAME thing but with different motivations. Cas wants Jack to take power, and Dean wants Jack to dole out some punishment.

Their motivations are different, but the end result for Jack is the same. Cas's is draped in euphemism; Dean's is brutally honest.

And we have sympathy for that! Jack died! If he's strong, then maybe Chuck can't kill him, and they'll be spared that pain forever.

But in terminal s15, Dean goes down the same path that John, Godstiel, and NBK!Mary go... he winds up losing sight of the things he wanted to protect in the first place.

///

TFW x JACK'S POWER

But here's the rub: they all show signs of liking Jack's dominance. Not just Cas.

Sam veers into this immediately, that so long as Jack's power is "molded the right way," as he tells Donatello in s13 Rising Son, that his power can be a good thing.

We see AU Bobby do an about-face about Jack after Jack wallops the angels in War of the Worlds. He's, to quote the script, looking at Jack with starry-eyed hero worship.

And even Dean begins to chomp at the bit at the idea that Jack will be able to "end all the evil in the world." He returns to the trap of the black-and-white mentality, that things can finally be solved, invoking a Purgatory-style manner of looking at the world: "it's like shooting freaks in a barrel." (In s13 Let the Good Times Roll. Dean was looking forward to passing the torch to Jack... and to his own retirement!)

I think that TFW were all "okay" with Jack's power at different turns, and this desperation is often at odds with their idealized core values. This... tragic faith in Jack is at its heart because they love and trust him.

(A la how Chuck trusted Lucifer...)

And with respect to Jack fighting Chuck and being "allowed" to take in that power, their backs are against the wall. They feel Jack is the only option.

To quote Rowena speaking of her past as a poverty-ridden peasant, "What do you do when all the choices suck?"

///

A few last things...

CAS x TOYS

It's been pointed out by clever folks that Cas is lovingly associated with childish toys! Charitably, I think you can take these associations for Cas as stand-ins that he longs for Jack to be "normal/unburdened" too.

(I'm thinking of when Cas plays Connect Four with Jack or how we assume Cas was involved in buying Marvelous Marvin the Talking Teddy for Jack in parallel to how he bought Grumpy Cat for Claire.)

I've seen a few essays sensibly point out Cas is the one who lets them be children because he buys them toys, not weapons. This is in contrast to how Dean gives Claire a gun, and how Sam teaches her fraud.

So, with respect to your question, I think it's lovely when writers take this and highlight it for Cas, giving it wonderful implications for Cas "letting kids be kids."

On the other hand, despite giving his loved ones silly tokens of affection, what is the first way Cas spends time with Jack? Teaching him battle and military skills (s14, The Scar). A hunting trip.

So clearly, childish tokens aren't the full story.

///

CAS x MUNDANITY

There is also Cas's line in 15x18 Despair:

"We don't care about you because you're useful or because you fit into some grand design. We care about you because you're you."

This line may be charitably carried to a healing place: that Cas has made peace with throwing off the chains of destiny.

It's only natural to want this. Maybe the fandom is like Dean in some ways. We want to rely on Cas and believe in him the way that Dean does. That's Cas'll do the right thing and say the right thing... at the right time.

Cas is shown to be very impatient, and he's not what I'd call an expert communicator. It's because of this, I think, that he's prone to making sweeping gestures and grand testaments, especially when the shit has hit the fan... when it's already clutch time.

But I suspect that... in the day-to-day, Cas might struggle.

But it is nice to me as well if people want to take his good qualities and carry them further, to give him peace. :-)

[mtt-burger-emporium]

thinking about chara and the implications of the line "chara hated humanity. why, they never said..." like ok i KNOW something was happening at home. chara baby you didn't deserve that shit i'm so glad you fell down a thousand feet in a cave hole and right into the arms of people who would keep you fed roof over your head and would never raise their hand against you. "eradicate humanity" you're 10 years old how about eradicating your shitfucked surface fam by calling cps first

[royalich]

How do yall like.. draw i guess damn

[kirkwallers]

Nothing in the substance comes even remotely close to being as gross as the way they portray food in that movie

[marinerainbow]

And Henry, (you bastard), I have 2 for you.

6- What is the hardest thing you've ever had to do? (I want to know what's hard for him, if abandoning a sweet woman and taking everything from her isn't! Very genuinely intrigued! ^^)

And 13- You're given an unlimited budget to build anything you want! What do you build and where do you build it?

-👠🐊👠

Ah, the bastard. We just need Ben to complete the set! XD

6. What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do?

"Me? Bah. Nothing's hard for me." The fox claimed, folding his arms over his chest with a smug smirk. His tail behind him was swishing similarly to a feline, "I just do what I gotta do. Ain't nothin' to it."

When you mentioned the name of a familiar face, that rabbit actress, his grin falters ever so slightly. He didn't think that nane would be mentioned again... Though his smirk quickly came back, and he just waved a dismissive paw, "Her? That was her name? I thought it was Posey or something- that was gonna drive me crazy all day, so thanks... But yeah, it took a bit longer, but she was pretty loaded for a while. Can 'ya blame a guy for sticking around?"

(Henry is a sly fox... But Poppy was the only woman he took his little 'I love you' scheme as far as he did. She was supposed to be a one night stand.)

13. You’re given an unlimited budget to build anything you want!  What do you build and where do you build it?

At this, the fox's eyebrows shot up in intrigue, "Whatever I want, eh? Unlimited budget? You tryin' to get me to run off with it?"

Henry laughed, but he didn't reassure it was only a joke. The toon leaned back in his seat and scratched his chin in thought for a quick moment, "Hm... A bar. A really nice one, too. All I gotta do is hire some staff and make sure everything runs smoothly, and cash will be flowing soon enough! Maybe I can convince that little thief at the club to pick pockets for me, too..." seeing the look on your face, Henry just scoffed, "What? You have any idea how many drunks there are in this town? I can bleed those assholes dry. You wanted honest answers, you got 'em!"

When Hebry finally managed to get away from this 'interview', or whatever it was meant to be, the fox let out a huff before reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a photo.

The photo was of a little baby fox, all happy and smiling like nothing was wrong in his little life, while holding a big, fluffy brown chicken in his arms. Even though the fox in the picture and the fox currently holding it looked identical, it'd b difficult to believe they were the same person, "They must never know..."

(This is kinda a joke, but kinda not; Henry really wants that chicken farm XD)

Thank you for asking! It helped me develop Henry a bit more ^^ if you have any other questions, for Henry or my other characters, I'd love to hear! ^^

[ssluggishh]

literally just sitting here minding my own business doing a lab over oceanography and hurricanes and sudednly my brain reminds me of the time in fifth grade when i embarrassed myself by answering a question with too much detail and my teacher just stared at me like this

[dreamwinged]

just had to fill out an intake form for my counseling appointment today bro i did not want to think about that shit at 1pm in the afternoon

[thats-a-lot-of-cortisol]

My mom just sent a message to the family group chat suggesting that my siblings download the 'For the Strength of Youth' magazine on their Gospel Library app and talked about how much the youth magazines helped her testimony growing up and like, cool. Fine. Don't know why the 'sending random spiritual thoughts in the gc' thing started out of nowhere when it hadn't been a thing for a decade but this is just another one of those, and you're ofc allowed to talk about things that are significant in your life.

I don't think sending the 'What I Did When Someone Close to Me Challenged My Faith' article right afterwards was strictly necessary though 🙃

[euclydya]

Soooo. A question.

Am I/Would I Be considered a bad person if I have little to no empathy, and have a very hard time showing sympathy for others. I don't even know where I stand w compassion either also.

like. Does that inherently make me evil or some shit lmao

[blue-dream-rhapsody]

Questions of varying importance I’d ask if I had Klub Outside bc I feel like no one who does would want to (you’ll never guess the theme)

- Does Shishigawara work under Y. Hans Enterprises too? What industry does he work in?

- For that matter, Yukio’s company seems to be a conglomerate with multiple interests, including fashion, television broadcasting, and philanthropy. What other areas or industries does the company have a hand in? What are they known for most?

- Ginjo is someone who has taken lives by his own admission, yet he did not end up going to Hell. Was this because of Hell “acknowledging” his justification for doing so? Or does it have something to do with having Hollow in him from birth, meaning all his sins were done while he “was a Hollow” and then purified by Ichigo’s zanpakuto? Or is there another reason altogether? If he dies as a soul, will he go to Hell then for the strength of spirit energy he has now? Would he ever qualify for the usual cycle of souls after some time if he’s unwilling to enlist with the Court Guards?

- If the story behind Ginjo becoming a Shinigami is still a secret, what about his life before then? Did he have a family, and are they still alive now? Same for Tsukishima, did he have a family (other than his aforementioned Grandpa Rin), and how did he lose them before meeting Ginjo?

- Ginjo combined his Combat Pass with his Fullbring sword, and it changed form. What was the purpose of doing this before he started taking Ichigo’s power? Related, the Combat Pass seems to resemble parts of Ginjo’s powered-up appearance. Is this due to the Pass being integrated in with his ability? Or could this be because the Pass’s design was decided on at its creation, to reflect his power specifically, as he was the one it was made for?

- Was the name Xcution first used by the group we see active in the Lost Agent arc, or did it start with the group of Fullbringers before them?

- How did Shishigawara and Tsukishima meet? It’s funny to imagine a bookish Tsukishima being so admirable to a delinquent, but perhaps it’s because Tsukishima also has the rotten personality of a delinquent.

- What about the mansion in the woods Tsukishima uses as his base of operations? Was it already there, or did his Fullbring bring it into reality? If it was there before, does it have any significance from before being his base of operations?

- Did Ginjo’s zanpakuto, if that’s what’s seen in the flashback of him, get a shikai or bankai name? Did he always need to use the name when trying to draw out its power, or does Fullbring somehow let him circumvent that since it can draw on and manipulate souls?

- When Ginjo uses bankai, he takes on a form with heavy Hollow influence, and it seems like it’s not a normal bankai. It reminds me of the form Ichigo takes in the Horn of Salvation chapter, but is there a form we’ve seen in the series that actually matches Ginjo’s bankai most closely?

- Shishigawara is from Miyashita high school, and so are the delinquents who Ichigo and Uryu thrash in front of the school, and the boy who takes Ginjo’s bag in the first place. Were these other delinquents roped into a scheme because of their schoolmate Shishigawara’s involvement with Tsukishima? Or did they just happen to be from the same school and get drawn into the scheme separately?

- Was Tsukishima always going to end up a little twisted, or did he turn out that way because he met Ginjo?

- For that matter, Ginjo chastises him for having mentally broken several people before. Were these enemies of them specifically that Tsukishima had targeted for that reason, or was this ever just for his own amusement?

- Fullbring powers seem to develop to reflect something of the circumstances of the person, in their personality or their history. Is there significance to why Tsukishima’s Fullbring manifested as an ability to change the past? Or why it manifests with a sword shape when he is not one of the Fullbringers who was also a Shinigami?

[burinazar]

(Note: this is a twitter crosspost with a little bit of editing and extra links, so if you saw this as a thread on my twt, then there isn’t really anything new in this post, unless you never saw my Freshly Tatted Baby Waz art since the main thing I added was a link to it.)

One of my drafts, “Scars and Ink”, is about Irumyuui comparing her marked skin to Vueko and Belaf’s scars. The parallel that all three of them bear physical evidence of violence/abuse has always struck me as incredibly poignant and folding well into the parallel we were already invited to draw between Vueko and Belaf’s scars and how the two might regard these reminders of what they’ve lived through. Anyway, I wondered if it would belabor the story to add a smol moment with Wazukyan; they aren’t close, of course, and the focus of the story will remain on Irumyuui’s relationship with her parents, but it feels like a great opportunity to incorporate that Waz has tattoos, which i headcanon as rooted in trauma like Iru’s own tattoos.

Corollary: I struggle to pin down a precise estimate on how upset or resentful Vueko, Belaf, and Irumyuui as individuals ever actually were with *him* and the agency he had in the situation, but to me, canon hints strongly B and V far more blamed themselves. As for Iru….hmmm. Well. I wonder.

The entirety of Irumyuui’s character/feelings and how it’s handled by the narrative is very interesting. Some folks have said they found Irumyuui undercharacterized; while I respect where they’re coming from I disagree. Instead a lot of her characterization is presented indirectly, blanks we must fill in reading between the lines, versus her actual scenes and dialogue.

Wishes and desires made manifest is, of course, of central importance of the Ganja/village arc. And it was irumyuui’s wishes and feelings and their manifestations that were the most important of all — yet there is explicit textual mystery to the shape and extent of those wishes.

Vueko, Belaf, and Faputa all have their own necessarily partial and biased guesses on how she really felt, what she really wanted, and how that shaped the events that came to pass. Besides input from these characters, we can also glean information from the village’s function. Why did Irumyuui give what she gave to Belaf and then all the other Ganja (except Vueko)? What does that say about how she felt towards them? We are invited to answer for ourselves.

imho a crucial element of Faputa’s growth during the climactic events is that she reassesses her self conception in light of receiving new information on Irumyuui, because she reevaluated what Iru “really wanted” as well as accepting the incompleteness of her prior knowledge. To me this part is also the text itself engaging with the viewer and inviting us to draw conclusions on how Irumyuui really felt, what she wanted, whether she ever really wanted revenge or simply the end of her own suffering, whether she ever assigned blame at all.

I think of this sort of thing as characterizing through the use of negative space. Afaik this is not a real storytelling term, I made it up lol, but I’m getting at something a bit more specific than just “the story leaves something ambiguous” (also something different from “this isn’t even in the story so we can decide it ourselves”, which I’ve also been known to describe using the concept of negative space as a metaphor for...oops sorry!) That is, although it seems at first that some element is not clear or specified, upon a second look we find that the outlines which are around that white patch of canvas contain the shapes and clues that give you a pretty good idea of what is in it.

[waywardsalt]

theres a lot abt post-ph ive never really mentioned. grants theres also a lot i havent figured out

[queerstudiesnatural]

ok well. just went to see a neuropsychologist and all she asked me were the standard questions you find in every internet autism test. which i KNOW don't apply to me ("do you find it difficult to infer people's intentions", "do you find it difficult to read between the lines" etc) and like she was literally reading off of her computer and asking me to pick one of the options between "strongly agree" and "strongly disagree" and it's like girl i could have done that at home. sure hope she's not stopping there and that she's not gonna just look at what i said but at the way i said it. idk it irked me that she just pulled up the old (as in outdated and reductive) standardised test on her computer and acted as if those questions would make me question myself like girl i've done this test fifteen times. not only is it not going to tell you anything about me but it's not going to tell you anything about most people. and most autistics. and she did suggest i come back for a more formal and global assessment, but she also kept using the words "cognitive deficit" to describe autism. which i realise is a commonly used term, but it feels reductive idk. so overall i'm not overjoyed with how this went lol.