#people not aging probably isnt a shock to him

[byers-bowlcut]

Mike’s love for El being platonic, and not romantic, and realizing it over the course of season 3 reconciles nearly every contradiction with his behaviour.

He stands like a gay scarecrow as she kisses him in front of Will’s closet. That's him realizing that when he blurted out "I love her and I can't lose her again!" he meant it platonically. But her saying "ily too” WAS CLEARLY NOT PLATONIC, so now he’s left very confused (If he was simply shocked by the fact that she overheard him, he would’ve been surprised initially, and then kissed her back, and been all emotional and happy. But he wasnt.) 

In fact he probably realized his heart fluttered when Will said “not possible” to him in the scene literally 1 minute prior, but NOT when his gf was attempting to make out with him? That’s clearly a problem! lol

This leads flawlessly into season 4.

Mike has apparently been refusing to even write the word 'love’ in his letters for 6 whole months. Why? Cause he didn't want them to look like love letters.

Meanwhile, he’s jealous of Will painting something for a girl. So he argues with Will about growing apart.

El argues with him about not saying ily. In the fight, he deflects romantic connotations with words like “care” and superhero idolization that he seems suuuper into this season.

He NODS when Will says “What if they don’t like the truth?”. That’s him thinking “Yeah, El won’t like the truth that I don't return her romantic feelings.”

In the van, he says their meeting was dumb luck and anyone could've been there for her that night. That’s hinting that he was just being a decent human. Not that it was a fated love at first sight meeting.

Then Will says, “You’re afraid of losing her”. And THAT is the true issue here.

This whole concept of ‘losing El’ (be it in relationship/daily life, or in death), is scary to Mike, because of what he went through seasons 1-2. At 12 years old, he saw another kid that he developed a bond with, die right in front of his freaking eyes. But they didn’t have a body or anything. So Mike kept getting signs and intuitive feelings that she was still alive. So he questioned his own sanity. For a WHOLE YEAR. Can you imagine how traumatic that is? And then for a kid that age?? That’s exactly why he develops an unhealthy codependency with her in Season 3. And we see it have a negative impact on the unity of the party, and on Will.

But a traumatic response doesn’t change the fact that Season 3 transitions us through the party’s puberty and growth into teenage hood. 

And because of said puberty, Mike starts to realize what actual attraction towards someone is, or in this case… isnt.

Like if we think about the first two seasons, for a 12-13 year old living in that type of society, era, and a picture perfect white suburban American family, it would’ve been really really hard to figure it out back then! Like simply becoming very close friends with the opposite gender caused everyone (cough Nancy cough Lucas) to tell him that “ooooh you must like her”. So yeah, he thinks “I really must like her”. Because he does! He just can’t separate it from actual romantic attraction at that point due to age, and strong heteronormative standards, and no role models like Jonathan telling him “it’s okay to stray from the norm bro”. So of course he acts on it? That’s the NORM. He’s like, “You’re supposed to take a girl you like to the ball”, “We're supposed like girls now”, “This is what growing up means”, “This what old people do”. Like HELLO? Mike says stuff similar to that constantly. Dustin and Lucas do not. So yeah, it can be easily be read as heteronormativity. Not romantic attraction!

And so despite wanting to spend every day in the summer with El because of copious amounts of trauma from S1-2, he can’t continue believing its romantic attraction when his hormones say otherwise. 

Like just look at their kissing scenes S3-4:

Seasons 3 starts with him pulling her hands OFF of him when kissing. He’s voluntarily kissing her instead of spending time with his friends, cause he thinks that’s what he’s supposed to do as he’s “not a kid anymore!”, yet he’s evidently not even enjoying it if he’s taking her hands off lol. Then by the end of the season he doesn’t even kiss back, and has his eyes wide open. Then six months later, when he’s way more self aware of his own feelings, this dude wears SUNGLASSES to the airport. We (and all the characters there) can’t even see his true expression when kissing her. And what’s more, he puts the bouquet of flowers between their bodies, to SEPARATE FASTER. When he could’ve very easily put that hand/arm around her, not between them (that's what he does with his other hand holding the bags).  

And all of this: all this repression, the contradictions, the unsaid things... it all culminates to the monologue. Will told Mike in the van that El really needed him. And then Will reminds him of this again when El is in the piggyback, cause Will is annoying! (jokes lol). So of course, all rationality, all of Mike's realizations or progression, goes out the window. After all, he is THE HEART. He is needed by her. He can’t go through what he went through in season 1-2 again! It doesn’t matter if it’s not totally true. He needs to tell her what she wants to hear so she won’t DIE. The stakes are extremely high. So he delivers. He even takes all his knowledge of mediocre romance stories, and blurts out that it was love at first sight. It's silly to us the audience, cause if you actually go back and watch season 1 you can see that it's not even fucking true. 

So why would he lie? Well because he doesn’t KNOW when he fell in love with El. Because he never fell in love with her. So yeah. It’s PLATONIC with a capital P.

(And to add a cherry on top, he gives his sister’s ring to her jfc) 

[thepepsislvt]

What if we had another Barto fic because were so starved for his content esp in writing if the reader was like a strawhat that luffy picked up in like skypiea maybe..like a shandorian with the little wings 👀.. just a thought..

I WIN yes i will write more of Barto bc i love him and im glad so many other people love him too!

this one seemed rushed and i apologize i wrote this before my second shift of work :(

Bartolomeo x Winged! Gn Reader

warnings: all fluff, some cursing, mention of doflamingo

you were born on Skypiea and thats all you’ve known

you were always so curious as a child but nobody would tell you what the rest of the world was like

So when you hit your teenage years you decide that one day you're going to leave the floating island

You had wings so you could easily fly away but you couldn't navigate the ocean by yourself

Most nights you would hope and pray that someday, someone would save you.

That's when a certain pirate with a straw hat came and fucked shit up on your island

At the age of 19, you knew this was your getaway, a savior you had spent all of these years praying for

After he won the battle he was fighting you came up to him and his crew as they were about to depart

“Strawhat! You must take me with you! I will prove myself worthy to join your crew-”

“Ok”

“-and I won't take no for an answer! Wait did you say okay? That fast?” you looked at the pirate captain with confusion and shock

All he did was smile and nod

So it was easier than you thought

It didn't take very long to get along with the rest of the crew members

You would give Usopp, Chopper, and Luffy rides through the air

Zoro taught you how to use a sword

Naomi taught you to pickpockets even though you probably won't use that skill

The Entire crew loved you

When Frankly and Brook joined the Straw hats you easily got along with them as well

When you got separated for two years on Sabaody you couldn't have been happier to see them

Your wings had fully grown and you could now use them to their full potential

You guys may have changed a lot physically over the past two years but nothing has changed between your friendship

During the events of Dressrosa, you decided to follow Luffy to the Colosseum to make sure he doesnt give away his identity and draw unwanted attention towards him

While you and Luffy were watching the fight, a certain green haired rooster head had caught your eye

he was hated by the crowd for being vulgar but thats what you liked about him

after his victory in Block B you knew you had to go and greet him

what you were not expecting was him to start crying and saying how much he wasn’t good enough to be in your presence

how can such a scary looking man with the title “Cannibal” fall to his knees over someone like you?

you were flattered by his kind (?) response and had to console him

he asked you to sign your wanted poster he kept

after the defeat of Doflamingo, you hung around Bartolomeo more, falling more and more for him and his wild personality

he had finally accepted that you were actually his friend and took his fanboying down a notch (he still has his moments though)

you had asked him out since you know damn well he wouldnt have the balls to ask you

when you did he just about died on the spot

but y’all had the best time on your date

Sanji and Nami had helped you dress nicely for the event

at the end of the night Barto and you were just star gazing as you told him all about each constellation

Barto knew he had to something he just didnt know how

“you see those six stars up there forming a ‘W’? they call that one the King of Pirates in honor of Gol Roger himself! isnt that cool?” you had explained while pointing to the sky

after you didnt get a response from him you looked over to see if he was alright only to be met with his face close to yours

“Barto? are you alright?” you whispered to him

He just stared into your eyes before kissing your cheek, leaving you flustered and your wings spread out in suprise

“was that okay? should i not have done it?” Bartolomeo started to panic and think of every possible negative outcome before you kissed his lips gently

“more than alright”

he Smiled and started giggling all giddy

“I GOT KISSED BY MY FAVORITE STRAWHAT!!” he yelled out into the sky

you only laughed and kissed him again

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for telling my hairdresser the truth?

So I've (25f) been going to the same Hairdresser (27F) for over 7 years. Shes amazing and I love her. I have a guy friend D (31M) who used to go to the same salon i did, but ended up leaving and going where his mom did. About 5 years ago I encouraged him to try her service and he did and has been loyal since

I had a falling out with him over a few issues, mostly personal (such as him calling me names as "jokes", him getting drunk and telling our friends we were celebrating his birthday with that I was a whore, etc). He claims he was drunk the one time and everything else was him joking and I needed to lighten up. I almost agreed, he is very good at talking, and then he came out that he was dating a girl. Who was still in high school.

I dont typically have an issue with age gaps when someone is of a certain maturity, but I knew the girl and she was very immature (never having had a relationship, didn't know what career she wanted, etc). He has everything figured out for himself and has bought a house and lived in it, he just wants a wife.

Well they surprised everyone and got married prior to the original date they had set. Which brings up the Hairdresser because he went to her the day before to get his hair done and mentioned he was getting married the next day.

She was shocked. She asked me my honest opinion and I told her it. I said we don't talk much anymore, I wasnt invited (they had about 15 people invited) even though the rest of my siblings were (one was working and couldn't go the other went as D was best man in his wedding). I also told her I am concerned that they have only been together less then a year and she's just now 18 (which I didnt know prior). I felt concerned because he is encouraging her to quit her job and stay home to cook and clean. I had previously expressed my concerns to the girl which D obviously didn't like and he called me drunk yelling at me one night.

The hairdresser was shocked again and didn't realize how young the girl was. She said she felt uncomfortable with a few things he had said and done during the last session but she wanted to make sure she wasn't overreacting (j dont know exactly what was said and done). She mentioned she probably won't have him back as a client.

I told my siblings at our monthly dinner, and the one who had him as best man actually was the one who didn't care and said it was my opinion. My sister told me I shouldn't have said anything and was smearing his reputation and pointed out that one of the reasons I was mad at D was because he had been going around to our mutual friends (including some mutual friends' parents) and had talked bad about me (alluding to me having a drinking problem and sleeping around, when I hadn't drank for over 6 months at the time he did this and im a virgin lmao- not like im going to correct his thinking on if I am a virgin, because it isnt any of his business, but I have no clue why he thinks I'm not).

So AITA for telling my hairdresser the truth and potentially getting her to remove him as a client?

What are these acronyms?

[tacagen]

Healthy Eobarry AU

(yes its just called that. no there is no actual romance, the word eobarry is here only so i dont have to write 'barry and eobard' all the time im talking about them. some things are very close to that tho but thats just the way it always is with thawne.)

the core idea: eobard is still a flash fan from the 25th century with a huge crush but he never wanted to be a hero like barry. he always wanted to go back in time and become flash's archnemesis instead, so there is no rejection abandonment and disappointment drama at all. not a single trace of canon hatred, thawne just wants to have some good time with his favorite hero in a weird way. barry, on the other hand, has no idea what the fuck is even going on. the vibe is most reminiscent of silver age eobarry. their dynamic:

ALSO their dynamic: this jla short

the lore:

they first meet in 21st century. eobard just finds barry, comes up to him like 'omg hi flash!! im your fan from the future and i just synthesized myself the speedforce connection to go back in time and meet you irl :)', waits exactly until barry believes and starts marveling at that fact, goes 'BUT THERE'S ALSO THIS LITTLE THING YOU SHOULD KNOW :)))) youre probably wondering why these colors. well, i call myself the reverse-flash and actually im here to cause problems for you on purpose. NOW CATCH ME IF YOU CAN :D', runs off to break the brakes of a bus carrying children or something like that while barry stands for a few seconds like 'huh. reverse? where are you going?'

right after barry, utterly confused and shocked, averts the situation thawne caused, he goes 'WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL WAS THAT?? DIDNT YOU JUST SAY YOU WERE MY FAN??' which thawne answers with 'wow. you really thought i was one of these boring "my favourite person of all time inspired me to become a hero like them" rip-offs with no imagination, didnt you? tsk tsk, i am so disappointed'

secrecy of their identities to each other isnt a thing since the very first fight. 'by the way, my name is eobard thawne! and i know you're barry allen, i actually know most of the 21st century heroes' identities but i promise you can trust me with that!'. indeed, he doesnt reveal this to anyone or threaten to do so but trust isnt exactly the right word either as thawne fucking loves visiting barry while they're both in their civil clothes at times + itwasmebarry still becomes a thing (elaborated on further below).

thawne is faster than barry here from the very beginning on pure theory and little to no speedster experience but only because barry just desperatly tries to process all the information he recieves from thawne every time they fight along with handling whatever endangering civilians shit eo does and he isnt doing well. at all. like, it does require a lot of hard effort not to lose your mind while constantly being hit with stuff like 'OOOHH DID I MENTION THAT I WORK AS THE CURATOR OF THE FLASH MUSEUM IN THE 25TH CENTURY?!? BTW WE STUDY YOUR HISTORY IN SCHOOL IN COMICS FORM, ISNT THAT AMAZING?!!'

thawne never shuts up. thawne genuinely enjoys the whole thing and admires barry an impossible amount and he's always fascinated by every aspect of the speed force, especially seeing and using it in action. thawne never acts like a normal villain as in 'commit crime->run away/fight the hero/watch the chaos'. he does something that endangeres people's lives (ALWAYS in front of barry because that is the whole point) then runs alongside barry as he saves everyone, never initiating the fight and ENDLESSLY commenting on everything barry does with consideration of flash facts, speed force and other physics stuff and even barry's personal background. it always goes like 'must do this and this to get everyone to safety!-' and thawne, instantly from somwhere behind barry's left shoulder: 'YES you DO, because this this and this and of course you could try that but-' and it goes on for 5 minutes on superspeed at the very least. from a non-speedster perspective, it looks like two blurs with lightnings, red and yellow, are saving people and going with some kind of weird squeaking high-pitched sound, which is never there if there is only flash around.

by the way, the rule that it is Very important for thawne to touch barry at any given chance and prolong it by going faster than him is still present. the same goes for becoming a speedster partially to have an opportunity to get away from 25th century and its mildly or not so dystopian shit and boringness. doesnt really realize the first part tho, sometimes casually drops some crazy ass facts about his future as something totally normal (like that one good-bad detection chair from silver age that gets a cameo in rs) and gets confused when the reaction is something like '.....i am so sorry.'

THE SAME ALSO GOES FOR 'IT WAS ME BARRY', its just way more lighthearted and has the purpose only of annoying and messing with barry through slight inconveniences in his life and it is a whole another part of their enemyship outside of the usual tag games. examples: 1. barry in his lab, extremely tired and almost exhausted, stumbles on air, says 'dammit eobard, this again??'. thawne unphases nearby with an offended look, goes 'HEY. THAT WASNT ME.', demonstratively pushes barry's mug with coffee off the table like a cat, 'now this was me, barry', grins and runs off before barry can do anything; 2. imagine thawne's excitement when he plays chess in iron heights, looks away, notices yellow lightnings with the corner of his eye and turns to the board again only to find that his queen is gone. the very next encounter starts with thawne running around barry in circles like 'it was you. it was you. IT WAS YOU! ITWASYOUWASNTIT!!'

this thawne is incapable of murdering anyone close to barry or ever hurt him at all. the best he can do is threaten anyone's life in barry's sight (and he knows barry will save everyone. more, he never arranges the events with the chance of barry not being fast enough to save every single life threatened so it isnt a big deal) because in other case he just wont come out to play with him :( ((i dont think thawne's generally capable of murder here? he feels too silly for that to me))

following important things: 1. barry obviously never killed thawne because he never did anything that extreme. 2. nora allen is alive and well and probably met thawne personally. he visits her in his civil clothes and acts in the nicest way possible, barry hears about the mysterious friend from work he never mentioned later and chokes on tea as nora recalls 'what did he say his name was? edward taurine?' 3. BARRY'S DOG IS STILL DEAD THO but it actually was an accident. he still blames himself for not shutting the back door that day in the way he blames himself for the not emotional enough postcard for his grandma in dc superhero girls. (see also: this vid but its about the dog instead of nora) ((ALSO thawne is most likely actively empathetic about it because he cant stand seeing barry sad or hurt. unfortunately he is also actively neurodivergent so that turns out to be awkward))

they team up often but barry is never aware of that as it happens out of his control. thawne has every single event that threatened barry marked in his calendar and an alarm set for it and he just shows up there like 'fuck you, this is MY archnemesis/idol/inspiration and nobody is going to fucking hurt him'

barry is generally always in the state of confusion when it comes to thawne. he doesnt understand what's going on like 80% of the time. as thawne never gets any clearer to him, barry just accepts that this, at some point, is now a part of his life.

instead of love letters, thawne writes and sends barry personally discovered speed force equations like 'look!! this is how it all works there!!' and occasionally mentions other science things discovered after 21st century. barry reads all that, understands and sometimes uses those against thawne who is completely delighted by that.

one day thawne manages to lock barry up in anti-meta cell and spends the following 3 hours on MATHEMATICALLY PROVING THE EXISTENCE OF THE SPEEDFORCE TO HIM STEP BY STEP, reciting his dissertation verbatim which was written in the context of no one knowing and caring about the concept.

thawne participates in the legion of doom and other supercriminal associations out of 'is flash gonna be there?? whatever youre planning im in, just leave him to me and me alone'. probably doesnt even listen to the scheme details and learns about it directly from barry in the final fight when he asks him 'eobard?? what?? the?? fuck?? why are you participating in something that's ultimate goal is DESTROYING THE FUTURE??'. (or others just stopped telling him the details, OR he doesnt listen on purpose after that one time he edited the whole plan like 'oh cmon do you actually think you could succeed with THIS?? let me show you how its actually done' only for them to lose epically. whats worse is that thawne saw it as something obvious. 'wait you really thought it would work?? cmon the whole point of being a supervillain is that the good guys always stop you no matter what you come up with.' they naturally never let him speak on the plans again which he responded with 'WHATEVER. YOU DO YOU IG. NOT GONNA INTERFERE AGAIN :/') unironically protects barry in group fights if any other villain is trying to aid him against the flash and attacks his own allies for that (barry once uses that to his advantage to take out the whole legion one by one lmfao. thawne genuinely doesnt notice that he is the only one standing until barry mentions it. he takes a moment to look around and that's when barry takes him out, too). as you can figure, he doesnt get invited into villain associations often, and if he does its usually the last resort bc he is a Genius Even By Future's Standards and therefore one of the most competent scientists out there.

nobody wants to sit at the same table with thawne in iron heights or interact at all because he instantly starts infodumping about the flash and their relationship. you accidentally get closer than like 2m to him and after a few seconds he just goes 'me and flash are best enemies, you know? we even always wear matching suits, oh and did you know-'

thawne gets mad if you compare his suit with kid flash because his suit has a Deep Idea and acktually he got to 21st century before wally was also struck by lightning and therefore was here first (yep, he did that on purpose and it gets revealed the very same moment he mentions it)

speaking of kid flash. thawne argues with him at any given chance because fighting a literal child on who is the biggest flash fan is something he would do on a daily basis. it just feels right (and it shouldve happened in canon at this point at least once. fucking Come On dc. almost 60 years of thawne's existence and for what!!). his points are that: he is the flash's Equal (even in height. thawne is very fucking proud of that fact) and not a pathetic sidekick; he got powers after years of hard scientific work and not by coming to barry's lab at the right moment; he is an Expert, a Professor, a Curator of the flash museum and knows everything about flashes, including the things they dont know themselves yet (he accidentally reveals that wally is also gonna be the flash but is quick to claim that he was the slowest and dumbest of them all and actually fuck you ima erase that from the timeline later), 'therefore l + ratio + IM his biggest fan and there is nothing you can do about it' 'lmaoooo who the heck taught you these words?? dude you sound so cringe. like do you even know what ratio means??' '*thinking it's just a figure of speech from 21st century literature classics or something like that for his whole life* well i- h- wh- DONT CHANGE THE SUBJECT.' wally doesnt care at all and just trolls him, harshly at times. he doesnt take thawne even a little bit seriously, which eo tragically doesnt realize.

thawne's comedically jealous of barry to iris between the lines and is completely unaware of that. the same thing going on with the rogues about emenyship with barry but that one is direct and on purpose. probably fucking jumps in their fights with flash like 'hi i just took out cap cold for you no need to thank me <3 now, can WE dance?? :|' every now and then. probably it gets super awkward when they inevitably end up in iron heights together that same day. honestly i think every supervillain who met thawne wants to kill him at this point. he's extremely annoying, both on purpose and not

thawne finds and starts nitpicking the first curators and architects of the flash museum in 21st century from the very project stage like 'NO it should stand THE OTHER WAY everyone shut up im from the future i Know Better'. it continues right until barry comes to pick him up and apologise for the inconvenience. 'eobard, i know this place means... a lot to you but please let history run its course. i mean, arent you risking your whole existence by trying to make these changes?' 'BUT THEY'RE DOING IT WRONG >:('

CANONICALLY ALMOST DROWNS 3M AWAY FROM A BRIDGE WHILE TRYING TO RUN ON WATER WITHOUT KNOWING HOW TO DO THAT YET OR AT LEAST HOW TO SWIM. every time barry mentions that incident thawne blushes like hell out of shame. imagine being saved from the lake by your crush/nemesis/everything who is actually Worried that you almost drowned out of your own stupidity which kind of covers the cringefail at first so youre enjoying the Moment but then you hear 'why did you even decide to run across the lake, there was a bridge nearby?'. thawne BEGS barry not to tell anyone (and especially wally). that probably was the first time thawne actually stayed in iron heights for longer than half an hour without getting out the very second everyone looks away on barry's condition of secrecy. now, the funniest part? if thawne hadnt shown that it was cringe even to him, barry wouldnt even say a single thing any further. to him it was a usual impossible to grasp shit thawne does every single encounter.

thawne considers heroes and their morals objectively dumb but his thoughts on barry having the same mindset are 'god he is SO adorably naive. so pure. so innocent. havent done anything wrong in his life. sweetest cinnamon roll of all times'. occasionally tells him that out loud because he has no fucking shame except when it comes to the lake incident

his own set of morals is just 'be gay do crime' where be gay stands for teaming up with barry on practically everything that isnt their one on one fights.

following: other villains are dumb to him as well. sometimes complains to barry about how nobody Understands him and his superior taste in being a supervillain, especially in the legion. poor barry just tries to get some rest between work and superheroing and then thawne casually comes running out of fucking nowhere, lies down on his lap and starts venting about how barry is the only one that Gets him on superspeed.

[haljordns]

i always think about how much school Jason missed when he was in the ground, like he couldn’t sign back up for school since he is legally dead, he must’ve stopped school when he was 14-15, he didn’t experience prom or surprise exams he didn’t write long essays or meet people his age or even make a bestfriend. :( If he did try and catch up on his studies when he comes back it would probably be really hard since math changes every year, i like to think once he goes back into the manor

((like freshly 20 since jason isnt that much older then tim but people like to think he is since he’s done so much and he was only 17 when he was arkham knight video game wise))

but i like to think Alfred was helping him try to catch back up so he can try and go to college or would he ask Tim since Tim is around the age where he stopped doing school. Would he even tell Bruce he’s trying to catch up in his education? and he probably wouldn’t have time when he was barely red hood because he was running his underground stuff, he was like red hood 24/7 because he’s not supposed to be alive

:(((( hes just a baby to me

-🦦

yes!! I think about this a lot too! I would like to think that Jason didn’t require as much catch up when he came back; just because I assume that the education he was getting when he was living with Bruce far exceeded the education that he would’ve received at a public school.

(cut cause this got long, sorry!)

I’d also like to think that maybe while he was in prison he was part of some program to get his GED! I would love if canon talked about Jason going back to school at some capacity— even an online thing or even a throwaway line about him getting his high school deploma.

I think that Jason wouldn’t tell any of the other Bats while he was going through the process of getting his GED for a mix of reasons. 1) I imagine it’s before he’s on solid ground with any of them and 2) it would probably bring on feelings of shame and grief over the things he missed out on.

I think it’d be funny if he just casually mentions going to college one day and everyone is shocked cause they didn’t even know he finished highschool.

As for Tim and Jason’s ages!! I completely agree. Based off the early comics (that have probably been retconned but I do not care 🥳) Jason and Tim only have like a two year age gap. Jason dies at 15, Tim is Robin months later, Tim is 13 when he starts ergo 2 year difference.

Extra thoughts: going by which comic you’re reading it can be argued that Talia may have cared about Jason enough to have him educated! Not to mention the things he probably learned at the all castle. I think that Jason has an eclectic assortment of extensive knowledge. He’s ridiculously intelligent but I do think he would put a certain importance on having a high school diploma because it would feel like getting to have an experience that was stolen from him.

[bathroomtrapped]

What are the basic differences between saws original script and the outcome? Why did they not play those scenes?

theres a lot of superficial changes, like their ages and adams last name being denlon. honestly still not sure where faulkner-stanheight got confirmed as his last name!

a lot of the things that were cut had to do with adams character and im not entirely sure why it was cut. his reason for being there was because he was suicidal. jigsaw said something along the lines of "everyday youve wanted to die". he wanted to go to vet school and had an interaction with some cat in his apartment. theres a scene where his mother calls, saying his father isnt mad and that he should call them. he writes on a sticky note "call mom" then adds a "?"

he has an interaction with a shitty neighbor, begs god to become a better person

theres probably a few small details about him im forgetting bc its been a while since ive reread the screenplay but the common theme is that the saw movie cut out a MASSIVE amount of context for adams character.

im not entirely sure why, i think some scenes might have to do with cutting down on time (the cat scene would probably get cut for time before filming once they actually start working on the project) vs something that was cut to make the story tighter and change adams role in the story.

he tells lawrence that basically, be hid the photo because he "didnt know what he would do". aka he was scared that itd motivate lawrence to kill him more. not sure why this is cut because some people clearly did not pick up on that lol

basically everything we know about adam is only known to us because it has something to do with lawrence. we know it because lawrence needs to. its unfortunately bc i like adam enough to want to know more but it serves the story better. hes the audience. we know what we know bc adam knows it or learns it. hes the one behind the camera. hes a voyeur. hes literally nothing. he died forgotten by basically everyone and hes just BARELY there in the narrative bc hes just... nothing.

at the end of the day, he was just a pawn. hes not important to anyone but lawrence because this is his story. this is his test and were just the people chained up and forced to watch it play out. i imagine his backstory and personal information was cut for this reason.

during the editing process, there were scenes cut. i know the trap was supposed to be more elaborate originally. i think the cat scene was cut out to save time and the mom scene/motivation/history was cut to firmly center the narrative on lawrence

one change that fucking BAFFLES me is that at the end during the love scene, adam originally asks lawrence "am i going to be okay?". in the film its "are WE going to be okay?" umm im honestly not quite sure what series of thoughts propelled them to make such a gay film by accident, call the end the LOVE SCENE publicly, and then proceed to be shocked when people call them on it? leigh was shocked to see chainshipping fics back during the ff.net days (fun fact: the first ever chainshipping fanfic was published on ffnet called rebirth. its still up)

my best guess is that leigh wanted to push their "relationship" (whatever they think that is) further for more emotional pay off. most of the changes seem to pull their themes tighter. it ends up working in its favor. adam is lawrences test and his moral core or whatever, so they have a pretty instant connection. it was probably done to make lawrence suffer more! or maybe make it gayer and leigh is just doing a bit

theres also the lampshade song lol. some dumb shit leigh made up and cary refused to do, so they changed it to the weird little piggy thing instead. MINOR minor improvement

certain words were changed because cary just kinda... rolled with it. he adjusted the script a few times bc he rly liked lawrence for some reason. he still does. leigh just accepted it and let him do his thing

amanda was also amanda denlon in the screenplay im pretty sure

tapp was dunked on by john as he assassins creed-ed him in the throat for being a 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN! absolutely insane

the way adam finds out lawrence is a doctor is different, he talks about possibly being injected with rohypnol LOL

the heart was actually a clue leading to the word toilet written over his heart, under his shirt. the blood heart wasnt in the script LOL. i imagine cary didnt want to have toilet written on his bare chest for the film? a shame

theres more interactions with tapp, sing, lawrence, and brett (his lawyer) im assuming its what happened before they asked lawrence to sit and watch amandas testimony. they say his fingerprints were found at the scene, not a pen. i think either way its interesting because. wow! lawrences prints are in the system which means he has a record. the implications are kinda funny, it makes how baffled he is that tapp dare accuse him of such a thing! even more ironic. now we know that mark was involved in the police and planted the pen, so he probably just out his prints into the system as well

amanda works at lawrences hospital. not sure why this is cut? possibly bc shawnee was begged to join bc james had a big crush on her and she didnt even want to originally. she might notve wanted to do multiple scenes or something at the time before she decided on returning as amanda (for whatever reason, im not quite sure why she became so attached to the series after not joining as enthusiastically as cary did after watching the 2003 short)

amandas reason is also different. i think jigsaw literally hated depressed ppl so much in the script bc she was there for therapy or something LOL. not drugs. prob just cut to improve it

thats all i got. theres a lot of changes for logics sake related to the trap, wording changes for flow (im assuming), time constraints, and to streamline the themes and center it on lawrence

[zoloftking]

How the gang would react to you having sh scars

tw for selfharm, scars, and suicide

Darry Curtis

He would notice your cuts/scars if you wore something that showed them, but he never really looks if you’re not

Darry’d be the type to not mention it til he can pull you to the side or have a private conversation

Really acts like a parent, i mean, he’s had to be one for awhile so the habit forms!

Also he’s really confused at first, he doesn’t know that type of stuff.

it is the 1960s or 80s (depending on book or movie) so its not something socially acceptable or known

Probably would try to get you to give over whatever you harm yourself with

He’d make the gang hang out with you more so you dont have time to do it

Also does checks after, probably more of the “Arm, show me,” way but he really does mean well

He never means to make you feel bad or guilty for selfharming, just doesnt understand yet and doesnt know how to handle it

Sodapop Curtis

He would make a scene, not even intentionally. He cannot be quite when he finds out something shocking for the life of him

Would probably hug you a lot, and i mean A LOT

Thinks he needs to give you more love cause you feel bad

Soda’d tell the gang, not in a “that weird insane person” way, but in the “How do i help them??” way

He’d try his damnedest to get the things you sh with, even if its stealing it

Sodapop just wants you to stop, and doesn’t understand that people just dont stop this type of thing

Of course, you get more and continue, it tears him apart. Eventually he has an actual talk to you about it

After trying and failing to get advice from Darry

He’s really the one breaking down, just ‘cause he’s so torn up over you harming yourself.

Eventually, after talking it out, he decides to just try and help you quit

Ponyboy Curtis

He would notice immediately, by just the slightest hint or glimpse of your self harm. I mean you’ve seen how he is in the book!

Pony wouldn’t talk about it though, he assumes it’s not something you would want to talk about

Boy does he worry though! Johnny gets an earful of his worries about every 5 minutes

Johnny is the one to urge him to ask you about it, he knows its somethin that needs addressed

Pony tries to make it as private and comfortable as possible, bringing it up when just you and him just so happen to be together

He asks if you self harm tenderly, and tries not go push or upset you

You’re defensive at first, obviously. Its nothing to be proud of in that day and age, you’d get thrown in an asylum

He comforts you the best he can, though he isnt great it at; basically just says “Its okay,” a lot

Ponyboy wants you to quit and he says as much, but it’s a process. A slow, slow process

Two-bit Matthews

At first he really just thinks you’ve been in a fight, or accidentally got hurt

Over time he notices it’s way to much, and constant, for it to just be an innocent reason.

He ain’t afraid to say much, and sometimes has bad social understandings with touchy subjects

So he would ask ‘bout it openly or just grab at wherever you happen to harm yourself, gives you a heart attack

Two’s oblivious though, to why you dont want to show him, to talk about it, or even acknowledge it

Then, after the fact or course, probably while he’s just layin’ in bed, it dawns on him that you could be doing this to yourself

He is absolutely worried sick, brotherly instincts kick in 100%; you can thank his sister for that

He wants to clean the wounds, comfort you, hug you, let you cry, do anything to help

Hes your friend, and hell be damned if he’s just gonna let that happen

Two won’t ever really sit you down like a parent, more like sit with you on the couch and very very gingerly bring it up

He doesnt want you to get apprehensive like last time

When he gets through to you though, he’d be perfectly fine letting you cry and talk all you need

If thats what you need of him, he’s gotcha!

Two-bit will check on you frequently, very very often.

Stopping by? check in. Goin to the movies? check in. You just woke up? check in. You’re goin to bed? check in!

Its surprisingly not so annoying, more of a “Hey kid, how you doing? Been good? No problems?”

Two’ll still worry to death even after you’ve quit, he always will unless he’s blackout drunk or having wont of his dim-witted moments

Steve Randle

Doesn’t get it, at all, but he finds it strange how your scars look purposeful.

He isn’t dumb though, he connects it after a few minutes. Then hes like “O h. . .”

Poor Steve, a tin can expresses it’s emotions better than him

He’s worried, Sad, and honestly frustrated that you’d do that to yourself. The anger is mostly just him being mad about not understanding his feelings though

He confronts you bluntly, not caring who’s there to hear it. He sees it as somethin’ that can’t be ignored or put off at all

“What’re those on yer arms? Huh? Tell me.”

It can either turn into an argument or you getting embarrassed and upset, either way he’s still pushing you

Soda or one of the other guys would help try and defuse the situation, especially if you’re upset or Steve’s yelling.

They’d probably get you all somewhere private, and make Steve shut up so you can talk

He still doesnt understand why, which still annoys him

Steve does see that being confrontational about it isnt going to work, so he asks less demandingly

“I jus’ wanna know why,” He’d say something like that

After you explain it the best you can he’d feel awful for you, genuine pain for you; like the type of sad that physically pains you

He doesn’t express though, if anything he gives you eyes that try to somehow express everything hes thinking

He can’t communicate at all, he never has. So he’ll take your self harm mechanisms away blatantly, he doesnt care if you fight

He just wants to keep you safe, and doesnt know how else to express it

Eventually, after counseling from Soda he’d write you a letter. Soda thought it’d be a good way to actually say what he thought instead of argue

It would say how he only wants you to be happy, to not harm yourself, and somehow he feels like he’s failed you in some way. He apologizes, which isnt any small feat for this little emotion suppressing guy

Johnny Cade

He’s known really, picked up on the behaviors and hints

You steal razors when you’ve already got them to shave with, steal lighters, go without food, anything you do harm with

He isn’t a stranger to selfharm, in the movie and book hes talked about suicide so it isn’t a stretch.

Even if he doesn’t physically harm himself, he has tendencies that show a clear lack of care if he gets hurt, whether it be purposefully sleeping in the lot where he knows he might get jumped, etc

He would tell you about himself first, to make sure you know you arent being judged

You dont need to quit immediately, as long as you try

He’d definitely give you little gifts (stolen by Dallas) for your milestones in quitting

He’d say he’s proud of you, and he genuinely is

Dallas Winston

Dallas doesn’t pay attention to much besides breaking laws, fighting, chicks, and picking up on hostile situations

or making hostile situations

He wouldn’t notice unless it’s really in his face, for instance:

You’re at Buck’s crashing after a party, and while you’re passed out he would notice your wounds if they were just out in the open

This guy knows purposely done injuries from accidental ones, he’s been around this stuff too long not too

At first he thinks someones doing this to you, holding you down and just cutting, burning, etc etc to you

Then he remembers his childhood, the things some guys would do to themselves after being pushed so far

He doesn’t want you to be like that, even if its just that he doesn’t want to see it again

He’d wake you up, drag you to somewhere private, and make you talk

You dont get to avoid this. He’s serious and those eyes are pinning you right to where you are

Dallas forces you to explain, then to cough up your devices for it, and then threatens “If you keep doing trash like this, I’ll kill you.”

Of course, though you know better, you continue. Self destructive habits take hold

Dally keeps a close eye on you now, not wanting to see you end up dead or locked up in a hospital somewhere

He catches you, with his habit of never knocking and not caring to. You’re sitting there holding a brand new thing to hurt yourself with

He’s pissed, takes it from you, and though angry bandages you up. All the while throwing curses and threats

Then he tells the gang, ‘cause he cant baby sit you all the time

eventually you’re forced to stop, though the urges dont exactly disappear, but they get better. The gang supports you, and you understand that Dally is really just ranting and raving because he cares

Bob Sheldon

“ew gross weirdo”

the end!!

[everythingsinred]

I spent a whole day reading your Natsume analysis and am so excited to read Mikan's version. I wanted to ask about your thoughts on what Natsume was doing during the four years he was apart from Mikan. In Kageki, we learn that he took a lot of missions to get credit. But what do you think his mental state was like? Do you have any fic recs? I love making myself sad from Natsumikan angst.

hi! im so happy you read the natsume analysis! it makes me happy to hear people enjoyed it! i just recently made a table of contents for my essays and general ga postings so if you need help navigating the mikan essays, check out my pinned post <3

to answer your questions about what natsume was up to while mikan was gone, im pretty sure in kageki narumi mentioned that natsume had some negative behavior and attitude, but the extent of that is left vague. allegedly the missions he went on after she left were not alice-heavy or life-threatening but we know that one of those missions was to be toma's bodyguard and... bodyguarding tends to be dangerous? thats in the job description, pretty much literally. im not entirely sure how he was expected to bodyguard WITHOUT using his alice, but thats what they imply. did he take martial arts? did he carry a gun? who knows really. either way he should not have been permitted to continue doing any missions.

just in general, i think he was pretty depressed without mikan around. i mean natsume was in a HORRIBLE suicidal depression for two years before he met her and falling in love with her happened because she saw value in his life that he hadnt seen before. while she was there, he had developed a sense of purpose in his life and a will to live he hadnt had. it was bc of her that he started bonding with class b. now that shes gone, im sure hes very upset especially because its not certain he'll ever be allowed to see her again, granted he even lives that long.

but as much as i see him being depressed and a little miserable, he still has friends and a strong support system at the academy now. he has his best friend, plus the kids he allowed himself to befriend while mikan was around. theres pictures in the memorial book that depict middle-school aged natsume hanging out with The Boiz, and there's photographs in kageki that imply he wasnt completely isolating himself from his classmates during mikan's absence.

so with that in mind, i think he's depressed and sad about mikan being gone for sure, but he still has a will to live, a support system, and a sense of purpose (seeing mikan again) so that he isnt ENTIRELY devastated during those few years.

we can see when he reunites with her that he kinda expected her to remember him as soon as she saw him, and that gives us insight into how exactly he processed her stolen memories. (smth like, "she doesnt remember anything. so even if i did see her id probably have to make her fall in love w me again and im not even sure how i did it the first time! but she did love me right? i mean if she really loved me, she'd remember me eventually. i cant imagine forgetting her so im sure since she loved me that she'll remember as soon as she sees me!" and then he holds onto that thought so tightly that he ends up shocked that she doesnt remember). those thoughts probably kept him afloat too.

i really have mixed feelings about mikan leaving the academy in the first place though. i just dont think that plot point was executed very well so i never really got very into it.

as for fanfic recs, i cant think of many off the top of my head that have much to do with that time period of natsume on his own, but there is this one, (paths that lead home by MCaroba) which is about natsume going on a road trip with his friends!

as for angsty fics that are NOT related to that specific time period, here are some:

Ten Years to Date by November Romeo (the kids are assigned to write about their futures and natsume refuses. canon!verse one shot) (ps lots of her canon fics are in the same universe and theres a deal of angst involved there too, though her canon!verse fics take place in an alternate future of the kids in high school. i do recommend reading pretty much everything she's written for ga)

Tired by FearandLoathingXIX (hurt/comfort related to natsume's sickness. canon!verse one shot)

My Happy Ending by Little Miss Giggle (au where the kids go to a music school.... it starts off silly and fun but it gets pretty damn angsty. multichapter and one of the better known fics in the fandom)

Steal (my breath away) by Rock-n-Round (au one shot where alices exist but they're a bit weird and hard to explain. this one is EVISCERATING. and very beautiful)

Before You Hit the Ground by Ducky-san (au multi-chapter fic where mikan runs away from an abusive home and meets natsume who is in a gang against his will. i actually LOVE this fic so much... but it does contain some triggering material, like discussions of child abuse and implied sexual abuse.)

Right Before Your Eyes by pressuredtreasure (au... i don't think i can say much about this without spoiling it, but it's basically mikan missing natsume)

Oh Hello World also writes a lot of one shots, some of which are pretty angsty.

i'm really sad.... i was gonna link some other fics but i couldn't find them or remember their names and i'm scared they've been taken down. ah the pain of being in an old, less active fandom...

i also write fics too! ive only written aus so far (incidentally, not on purpose), but the angstiest is probably all things rancid and delicate, which is about mikan in a cult (it has a lot of dark elements to it)

im sorry if youre not much an au person, but i havent read much new ga ffn recently and not many good ones have survived the test of time it seems. it's all very sad. i miss reading fanfic all the time AND having lowered standards for gaffn specifically...

i hope i've answered your questions! if you have any other questions feel free to shoot me another ask! i love talking abt ga <3

[spicybylerpolls]

WOW that lumax sex scene was such a killer ask!

i too have thought about that, and never said anything lol. this is also my first ask on this blog... uh, hi! *nervous wave* long time lurker, first time caller lol

so i voted number 4. "it would not make sense for their arcs."

and it got me thinking about all the bylers who dont think a sex scene would be necessary for mike and will's arcs.

firstly, i think a lot of that is compensation: people acknowledge that sex and sexuality is very important for will especially, but that a kiss scene 'will suffice'. which implies subsidisation and euphemism, aka a kiss being metaphorical for a sex scene. they used to do this in old hollywood with dancing (sex) and smoking (fellatio). in 2025, it might seem a tad tame. and possibly disrespectful to the queer arc itself. why hide gay sex unless you, or your audience, would be repulsed?

or perhaps its because you the viewer feel shame and some accidental internalised homophobia at the idea of seeing gay sex, so you stop with a kiss?

which leads me to my second thought.

internalised homophobia is still very much a thing for people of all orientations even if they are openly queer/an ally/love gay stories. there is some leftover prejudice that probably wont be gone until well into the future, when gay love is a fully integrated part of society. as much as it might seem disrespectful to the queer community, i want to say as kindly as possible that i love to see gay stories in this transitional era we are living in: an era when they are still controversial. its thrilling to watch the excitement and forbidden-ness that still, unfortunately, exists for a gay love story. taboo makes for excellent and groundbreaking storytelling, because it creates conflict in the viewer as well as between characters.

back in the day, class divide (upstairs downstairs) was the go-to taboo in love stories, followed by racial divides (such as save the last dance from the early 2000s). nowadays, stories with interracial couples can still be controversial, but the prejudice is rightfully fading.

less progress has been made with gay stories yet.

so this is interesting for lumax isnt it? why did anon choose this couple and not dustin and suzie as a comparison? or even mike and el? and its extra interesting because lumax are an interracial couple in the 80s, so a compelling story about their place in society COULD have been elaborated on what with billy in s2, and that could have led to a sexuality arc. i mean, it still could.

and my third point is that a natural human response to seeing sex/sex on tv/simualted sex/fictional sex bla bla bla, is arousal. just as a happy scene hopes to make you laugh, a sex scene has to acknowledge that it may well arouse an audience as well as make them feel other things for the characters like joy, relief, satisfaction, comeuppance, justice, and a sense of peace. the question is how the duffers might frame a mike and will sex scene: there are lots of options. it probably would be sweet, romantic, a little awkward. the aim for the audience would be relief, joy, a sense of justice and happiness for these characters moreso than titillation. this would be a way to do a cool sex scene that speaks of coming of age rather than the male gaze or american pie style shock factor.

i also think a part of it is how the actors appear and how their characters appear in the show. for example, lucas is steadfast and strong, a fighter. it wouldnt be totally odd to see him in a sexual light, like it would for someone like murray.

meanwhile max's story is taking her to a place of deep vulnerability, so at the moment sex only seems appropriate as a way for her and lucas to physically communicate their love to each other. communication has been part of their arcs with the letters, and 'im right here' is a statement about physicality as well as emotionality.

dont you think these two character descriptions sound similar to mike and will? a fighter, and a vulnerable character? miscommunications?

max had a fantastic arc that explored her mental health, and it involved lies, but she didn't have any sexuality associations. lucas was associated with sexual imagery a lot more obviously than dustin even, with the 69 sign and the things under his bed.

but mike and will have both been associated with blatant sexual imagery - mike moreso than will independently, unless you count the metaphorical monster stuff - and their story at the moment is also partly about unrequited (paha) love and sexuality. of course they could resolve this arc with just a kiss, but that would not stop the implication that more will happen off screen.

it would instead simply look like a clipped story, cut short for coy censoring purposes rather than storytelling ones, to appease an audience who may be repulsed not only by a gay love story with sex, but by these two particular characters (and by extension, actors) portraying it.

the most important thing is that every scene serves the story. if the duffers think that us seeing mike and will get jiggy with it (sorry, im tired), then we will see it. so if you can think of any good reasons why it might add something to the story to see this, then there is a good chance we will see it.

the only question to ask yourself after that is... even if it would add something to the story to see mike and will have sex, would i still be uncomfortable with that? and why?

i wouldnt be uncomfortable - it should happen and i want to see it

it needs to happen for the story, and i am both uncomfortable and also excited, its a weird mix

it needs to happen for the story but i am still uncomfortable, because of not wanting to see these actors despite the fact they will be grown

it needs to happen for the story but i am still uncomfortable, due to some leftover internalised homophobia which i still unfortunately have (no shade! we all do sometimes)

i really dont think it needs to happen for the story - a kiss would tell us everything we needed to know, the audience can piece it together, but i wouldnt be uncomfortable seeing it

it doesnt need to happen for the story, and im glad of that because i would be uncomfortable seeing these actors despite the fact they will be grown

it doesnt need to happen for the story, and im glad of that because i would feel uncomfortable due to some leftover internalised homophobia

i am uncomfortable for other reasons like not enjoying watching sex on screen

i am uncomfortable because i think the actors would be uncomfortable performing it

Please note that the purpose of this blog is not to be creepy or to make anyone uncomfortable. That's why I created the #spicy byler tag (I will tag all polls with this). If you don't want to see this blog or anything related to it on your feed, please block that tag. Not everyone is comfortable with this sorta stuff, and that's okay.

[peaterookie]

Lupin III Chapter 40 Review

hi tumblr it's me day 2 let's see how long i can go for once again never take any of this seriously this is just for fun ok thanks

this chapter starts out with a sussy looking man trying to escape out of prison!!! who the fuck is he????

from the left bottom panel over there we can see that he's been caught by the police, who then escorts him in a car with two other people who seem to know him

look at their faces thats very sus

then we switch to kid lupin in his mansion listening into the convo happening in the police's car it seems to be connected to the police's walkie talkie but suddenly! he is in shock and bolts out the house what did he hear in the walkie talkie?? and where is he going???

well well well the walkie talkie speaks of the various prison escapees... and one of them, the man whom we saw escaping earlier WAS NONE OTHER THAN LUPIN II, HIS FATHER!!!!!!!!!!!

i hate him so much anyways ahem ahem Lupin iii on the other hand runs out to a cemetery, which houses the gravestone of his father?? he is equally just as shocked to hear this chapter plot twist, his father whom he thought was dead was alive all along!?

apparently it was arsene lupin that told him that his father was dead, we never get told why he did it, but i wonder maybe because a lupin who fails at his job is no longer a lupin in his eyes, so since lupin ii was captured and thrown in jail, he is nothing but dead to him it can also possibly explain why lupin iii got put in so much rigorous training at such a young age and become conditioned to pass on arsene's legacy because his son couldnt but enough with overanalyzing the plot, let's move on

ANOTHER lady (i dont think its been the same one since this entire kid lupin series???) appears and says that she's known the truth for years now and i guess they just go back to the mansion ah yes ive learned that my father is actually alive lets not do anything about it nah jk hes probably trying to process everything poor kid

going back to lupin ii's side, the police turns out to be one of his allies and gets them out of prison along with handing them guns n shit then one of his friends just shoots the police??? and lupin ii is reasonably pissed like wtf you killed the dude that worked with us then the guy reasons that the guy is still a cop and they still shouldnt trust ok whatever fine lets go with that then

i cant bro is so angry apparently in this panel he says "HE WAS MY BEST CONTACT!" and im just wondering what he meant by that maybe its just tokyopop translation spouting bs again but it may just be something from the og manga im thinking maybe he was trying to monitor lupin iii? currently the plot isn't at the point where i can explain my idea though

now his next plan is to find lupin iii, whoom he claims is posing as a fake and his son was supposed to be dead???? shits getting wild

theres so much shit to absorb in just these panels

the cityscape looks so fucking cool???? i want to draw like that…

LUPIN III IS JUST LYING ON HIS COUCH HOLDING A TV UP TO HIS FACE??? HES JUST USING IT AS AN IPAD HELP IF THAT ISNT THE FUNNIEST WAY TO WATCH TV EVER IDK WHAT IS

LUPIN II JUST FUCKING POPS OUT OF NOWHERE??? IS BRO FLOATING PYCAL STYLE????

anyways lupin iii gets attacked by them prison men! lupin iii sees his dad and hes like you're not my dad prove it to me then lupin ii is like you're not my son!

then they like fight or something

lupin ii holds the woman earlier hostage and is about to rape her, then lupin iii says that they're surrounded by the police and hes about to get arrested anyway (this is so stupid) then lupin iii leaves thinking hell get arrested, and it turns out that the woman and lupin ii were just faking it and this was just a test for lupin iii

Panel 1: "You can put your clothes on." "Oh, are we done now?" Panel 2: "He's not ready to take over the family business." "Well, at least tell him the truth, you owe him that much." Panel 3: "Not yet." "Not until he proves his worth."

the lupin family is just like a traditional asian family you better start burning at least 90 houses until you're allowed to eat dinner again then lupin ii retreats and dresses up as a police officer, he tricks the detective guy (from the earlier chapter) into thinking that he has escaped into the mountains

then he hops on a motorcycle to escape, and oh? it seems like lupin iii already found out his plan and was camping in the sidecar to wait for him but unfortunately… his father rams him onto a tree.

great job lupin ii great treatment of your son you havent seen in years :thumbsup: but this is the end of the kid lupin chapters! we will be resuming back to the monkey man tomorrow. (nevermind i have something else planned for tomorrow no chapter 41 til thursday) lupin ii will never been seen in the lupin manga for a long long time…

also i like how this chapter singlehandedly explains why motorcycles with sidecars are no longer a thing anymore today.

[imsociallyanxiousgetoverit]

I started this as the intro to a fic about Age and Wild meeting but it devolved into my feelings on it instead

(TW death, trauma, angst, loss, grief, guilt, twins tragedy, brief abuse mention)

Thanks @alasse-earfalas @quasar-crew for putting this idea in my head by accident /genuine

Alasse’s HC that AoC Link and BotW Link are Twins but the other Died thus causing such branch in the Timeline

Which fn sucks cuz it would cause such a self esteem issue for Wild and probably a huge guilt and anxiety issue for Age

(personal stuff starts here)

Like my twin died so I grew up with only an abusive half sibling and I had guilt about my twin’s death since before my mother ever told me about him. I can’t find it anymore, but I first realized i have LTS (Lost Twin Syndrome) from a webpage online when I was younger. It stated clearly that even living people who’s twin died in the womb fundamentally know they lost someone important to them. I checked almost every single box on that list.

(personal stuff ends here)

I cant imagine finding out (twin or trauma first doesnt change it) you gave a dead twin then the pain they might have gone through if you died instead BY SEEING THEM ALIVE AND SUFFERING RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU or from the opposite end seeing someone you know isnt you but may as well be cuz twins right but somehow you’re the “failure” of the two, somehow you messed up and he didnt, because you dont have the details on what created the life he has just your interpretation of your own.

Like their minds must be in such turmoil and shock but this is probably happening during an AoC au right so they have no time to process it, not really, there’s a war going on; so they push their trauma and feelings aside as usual to try saving the day.

I cant cover all the details cuz ive only watched AoC once but like there is SO MUCH to unpack here

[theygotlost]

well i finished reading this one. im tired of typing out the title cause its so long. there were some things i liked about it and some things i did not like. spoilers and mentions of rape/sexual assault under the cut

this was the first and probably the last of haruki murakami's books I will read. if murakami was normal about women, I think I would like enjoy his writing a lot more. this book would be pretty good if everything about it was different.

this book exhibits 3 things that straight male writers often do with their female characters that I really can't stand:

write the rape of a female character, not because they want to discuss bodily autonomy or gender politics or anything like that, but simply as something ~shocking~ and/or a quick and way to give a woman trauma. this book is wholly uninterested in solving the mystery of either shiro's rape or her murder. which like, it's not a mystery book, it's supposed to be a grounded and realistic story, and in reality a lot of mysteries just go unsolved and there's nothing you can do about it. but shiro is essentially the narrative's punching bag, a Woman That Bad Things Happen To. tsukuru at least gets to talk face to face with his other three friends at get some kind of closure from them, but we never get to hear shiro's side of the story because she's dead. she haunts the narrative but not in a good way. it just feels dehumanizing.

describing the allure of a woman's breasts, legs, hips, etc are in a mundane situation that is otherwise decidedly unerotic. can you not be horny FOR FIVE MINUTES?! ive already posted my complaints for the worst offender ("tsukuru felt his penis begin to stiffen", earning my nickname of "the penis book"), but when tsukuru hugs eri/kuro, murakami can't help but describe her giant bazongas pressing against tsukuru's body, not only in the moment but every single time he remembers the hug. it's especially insulting, even creepy, when talking about shiro's murder, murakami describes her killer strangling "her lovely slim neck". WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?!

protagonist who sucks and nobody cares about him except for a hot woman who is inexplicably attracted to him and acts like a mother or therapist to him in an attempt to "fix him". the book drives home quite frequently just how unremarkable and uncharismatic tsukuru is. he has basically no friends after high school and none of his girlfriends stayed with him for long. if people in tsukuru's life don't care about him, why the hell would *I* care to read about him? the answer is because the book isnt actually ABOUT tsukuru. the story just HAPPENS AT him. sara is basically his therapist and goes through a ton of effort to help him address his unresolved issues. she only exists in the story to force tsukuru to find closure with his former friends and be an outlet for his sexual desire (and yet he cant even get it up for her. whatever.) at least she may or may not be having an affair with an older man.

HONORABLE MENTION: the 2.5-page-long extremely graphic sex dream i also posted about. luckily that was the only time the book was ever that detailed, but it's burned into the back of my eyeballs. what i didnt mention last time was that shiro and kuro appear as teenagers in the dream, the age that tsukuru last saw them, and he continues to have these dreams well into his adulthood. it was a very excruciating experience reading an adult man's sex dreams about underage girls. a mutual has informed me that this is something of a theme in murakami's work. 😐

all of these things undeniably hampered my enjoyment of the book, and because of them, I can't really recommend it to anyone in good conscience. however, despite all this, I still found that this was a book I actively wanted to keep reading, and that I felt compelled to finish. i can't explain why. I guess I just liked the writing style? which is weird, because it was pretty dry. especially the dialogue, which lacked any kind of personality. I didnt care about any of the characters. by all accounts, I SHOULD hate this book. but for some reason, I cant bring my self to say that I hate it. I was invested enough to finish the whole thing and aside from the uncomfortable parts outlined above, I never considered reading it difficult or unenjoyable. idk.

[richardsphere]

Rwby Catchup: V8E2

Oh no Jaques is still in the plot. That sucks, i really hoped they wouldnt make him overstay his presence. (but then again, people above are all locked up with Ironwood with no outside help incoming, we’ve got a limited cast so i’ll look the other way). Seriously, why hasnt Captain Despot just executed Watts? I assume they’ll claim he’s “trying to gather information from Watts”, but the scene is not selling it (not nearly enough indications of Watts having been tortured for information Gitmo-style to sell that idea). Also they all share prisons so i guess this is going to be one of those “lets make an uneasy alliance” plotlines that inevitably falls flat on the heroes faces? Jaques still thinks that Captain Despot has a fear of lawyers apparently. how  did you get to be in charge of a global megacorporation with this little sense of how the world works? YES they are going to torture him for intel! Ok his survival is at least semi-justified now. Yang gets a new motorcycle (the old one is still at the bottom of the river) and immediatly does an unnecessary wall-ride flip-stunt thing for no reason, fires her shotgungauntlets for good measure (wasnt it an established plotpoint that James was hoarding all the dust for his plans and that the entirety of Mantle was running low on all supplies? Seems a bit wastefull) Jaune is such a defensively spec’d character, even his grenades are shields. Ozma is talking again, god does he ever stop talking about how “we all need to work together”, its his favourite thing to jabber on about (right after “trust me the secrets i keep are for good reasons and definitly wont bite you in the but again”). Also he says he’s “been regaining his oldest memories”, as if to imply he’s just forgotten most of his history with salem somehow? How has humanity made it this far with this guy at the helm anyway? “all the drones report to the company, not the general”. You mean the company whose owner is now in prison, and whose personal password to everything has been taken by Watts?  Btw, is it me or are they really overplaying the “emotionless robot-voice” on Penny ever since they returned her from the dead?  Wait did she legitimately consider James a friend? I really like sheepgirls power to just “absorb anything into her hands”, it means we get to have a named character who is both combat capable as well as not carrying big-ass weapons everywhere all the time.| Moleman is back for a second scene. (i assume it’ll be his second-to-last. He’s got real “going to be murdered to motivate Oscar energy about him) Huh, moleman is “phi”‘s uncle. I stand corrected, he’ll die to motivate “phi”. (have we gotten a full name yet? Anyway she’s my favourite of the Huntresses. But then again i love myself a heart-of-gold goofball) Congrats Knightboy, you have killed your first actual dragon. (at least im fairly certain i saw one shoot fire in an earlier scene. TBH a lot of these grimm’s abilities start to run through eachother at this point) Sniffygrimm is Biteygrim. Oh so now the grimm can shapeshift themselves at will to alter themselves at-will?  “but grimm arent that smart” Didnt Oobleck tell the girls in like, season one or two that grimm get smarter as they age? This doesnt seem shocking to me. And it can talk, ok maybe it isnt old but probably just a second Tyrian-level-loyal human a grimmsuit.  Why wait until NOW to grow those wings, If you are supposed to be so tactically minded dont you know how adventageous an aerial advantage can be? Have i mentioned how much i hate the “you wouldnt believe me if i told you” cliche, i mean there are definitly stories and places where it has its place but “Phi” is aware of Salem at this point thanks to Jimmy’s Mantle Broadcast. I think a simple “Teammate captured by Supergrim” would not be disbelieved.

[lemon-sugarcoats-nothing]

new character idea...

So i have this character Kodiak, wolf man, he's well known for coming from a huge family and then going on to create his own big, but not quite as big, family-

Its been up in the air as to whether he's a middle or youngest kid but honestly, after 10+ siblings i dont think the "Oldest, middle, youngest" dynamic really applies anymore. SO technically he is a middle kid, but that doesnt really affect anything, his brothers and him were treated p much the same. Yknow, brought up to be respectable boys that treat women with respect, but also catholic (or catholic adjacent) and some of the more....questionable preaching that CAN come with it (i.e. queerphobia)

Now he's only ever been mentioned to have brothers, but most of the time it's mentioned was in the flashbacks to his teen years, and then every now and again when some of his brothers pop up for visit or smth.

wHAT if - he has some younger siblings we havent really seen yet. Specifically what if he h a d a sister, but when Kodi was in school she was likee...10 or smth, so there was a big age gap, and they didnt hang out as much as kodi did with his older and similarly aged brothers. THEN when his sister graduated she went off, did her own thing, she basically quietly cut ties with the family.

Heres where the FUN part comes. What if Kodi just decides to get the whole family back together some day. Like..."I miss when we were younger and hung out all the time, lets get everyone together" and he basically makes a big post on Facebook to hunt down all his siblings and organize a family reunion. And he succeeds, he hears back from his parents who agree to help round up all their kids, and he personally gathers his older and same-age brothers since he's closest to them.

And then all his brothers, now aged between late 40s to mid 20s actually shows up; but his sister doesn't. 1 hr passes, people start trying to get in contact with her, but eventually a car pulls up. Someone steps out but no one recognizes them- They vaguely look like their estranged sister, but this person has short hair, stronger jawline and facial hair- They look like one of the brothers but they've never seen them before-

"Hey guys its uh....its me-"

Everyone is confused, some are annoyed from their confusion. Kodi looks at em, and it just clicks; Oh duh, his "sister" isnt his sister anymore, they're his brother. It only makes sense for Kodi to recognize it first, and he welcomes them with a nice warm hug.

Then his new brother would probably reintroduce himself by his new name, etc etc unless they decide to keep their old name or a variation of it (in my head i've been using Sam to refer to them ; Samantha being their deadname, Samuel being their new name).

Whether or not the parents would handle this change well could go either way.

-Either they could be accepting immediately; "Oh we've seen this before with Gay kodi, how different could this gender thing be"

-or they could reject it at first; "oh you're our only girl!" "you'll always be my little girl" "this is nonsense" but accept him after taking a min to think and from a stern lecture from Kodi

If the first option, it might be good for the parents to meet Kodi's nb/trans kid(s) first before Sam comes to the reunion, that way it might make more sense that they're less shocked about the gender stuff (being cishet and not very interested in doing a whole lot of research into the queer zone). Get the awkwardness out some like: "My newest granddaughter-" "Actually father, they're just your grandchild/grandson..." "Oh! my newest grandson...you're such a beautiful little girl" "boy-" "beautiful little- boy!" (well meaning and loving but trying their best and gets the hang of it before Sam arrives)

If the second option, maybe their ignorance on the topic could still be shown by them being introduced to Kodi's trans/nb kid(s), but in the form of not knowing what to call them, and not really correcting themselves much when they mess it up. "My newest granddaughter!" "Actually father, they're your grandchild/grandson" "Oh well isnt she-" "He" "...he- just a beauiful young lady" "Okay father, lets take a step back, this is my s o n -" (well meaning and loving, but still needs work and they slip up often)

The reaction could also be different between parents like when Kodi was forced out of the closet; mom being more accepting but still concerned, and dad being just flat out not accepting until big thing curved that some.

Just thought it only made sense that at least one of his many siblings would be queer alongside Kodi B) who knows, maybe one of his "brothers" are closet transfem too, that'd be fun.

[softness-and-shattering]

Actually no!

So in that HtN passage theres kore evidence of dissociation but I didnt find what I was looking for. Going back through the end of Nona in case it was there, there is this bit thats ambiguous, as theyre walking doen from the landing pad towards Crux

As they walked further, Nona felt the twinge getting stronger, and she felt something else; something at once familiar and unpleasant, squirming far off in the darkness...Many things -small things - things she'd seen before, once, but didnt feel up to seeing again. Grey shapes swam in front of her eyes...

Counter evidence, Nona sees Crux and doesnt seem to recognise him, probably.

He was quite simply the oldest person Nona had ever seen, and Nona had always collected old people....

Ok back to weird shapes in the dark and familiarity

Nona was distracted...by a flicker in the dark archway, the one from which they'd just emerged. She felt again that familiar sense of the familiar made awful - like coming back to your own bed and finding it covered in stains and slimes that hadnt been there when you left it.

This could just be about Alecto sleeping in the tomb, and she would have seen the Ninth on her way in, but would it feel familiar, like a bed?

When I first read these passages I assumed she was sensing the devils, but thats not explicit at all. So far. (Okay wait she does immediately say hey theres more).

Ok ok Nona laughs at an ass joke

At the laugh, the old man stared at her with frank dismay and reproof - then his face closed up somehow, left off its look of horror and awe, and he looked at her with a totally different expression. He really did look like a skeleton mask, with his age-spotted pate and his deeply shadowed, bitter eye.

I might be reaching. Its not a blank expression its a different one. And he's bitter. He could have just realized that Nona isnt Harrow.

K she doesnt seem to recognise Aiglemene either, and is shocked at skeletons walking around. Surprised that people are showing her respect as Harrow. So if Alecto didnt front I dont think it was the Nona part.

It might've been a later HtN flashback, or I extrapolated off of Crux's comment. Ill have to keep looking.

sorry if this has been answered before or if there's a post about this, but I've been seeing a lot of posts labeling harrow as schizophrenic and/or having trouble recognizing reality, including the one you just made about crux as harrow's caretaker and reality-indicator.

I realize that these interpretations come from htn, but I'm curious as why people feel that it's always been a trait of harrow's instead of a side effect of the lobotomy?

I was under the impression that she created the reality problems as an excuse to cover the blocks in her memory, especially since we know that wake/the sleeper didn't possess her until after gtn and most of her confusion happens in the river bubble.

even the "hallucinations" of the body don't really impact her perception of reality, and it's actually alecto's soul not a real hallucination. the only questionable moment I can remember is when she sees cytheria under the bed and ianthe says there's nothing there, but we know ianthe is a duplicitous legend so I read it as ianthe lying to harrow lol

long story short, I was wondering if there was scenes in gtn, ntn, or post-realization htn that indicate harrow has had these reality problems pre-lobotomy? or if you know of a post analyzing it further? sorry to throw this at you, I just haven't seen any analysis of it but I saw your post so I was hoping you would have more info :) I really adore all of your tlt analysis posts!

Hi! Yeah, if you go into my '#harrow's schizophrenia' tag, I've made several posts about it, and other people have added on to a few of them with further elaboration.

But I don't think I've ever laid it out fully like a thesis. And I have several stressful things I should be doing right now, so I can't think of a better time to get into it.

When Harrow's brain is editing Gideon out, there's an effect a little like a record skip. Her memory snags on something, very briefly, and then quickly moves on. Or she'll make an assumption or say something that doesn't actually make sense without Gideon in the picture, but she won't notice. The most prominent example is the details in chapter 3 surrounding her opening of the Tomb:

Just ellipsis "found out" ellipsis to skim over the very large part Gideon had to play in those events. If she were to interrogate the memory, it would be strange that she doesn't remember how her parents found out, but doing so would make her brain bleed. She would black out, and most likely forget what she was trying to remember.

And an example from the same chapter of a statement that doesn't make sense, unless you know about Gideon:

Two things are important about these examples, the first being that they don't upset Harrow. She doesn't think they're strange, because she barely thinks about them, which was sort of the point of the lobotomy in the first place. The second is that they can be immediately explained by plugging Gideon into the Gideon-shaped hole in Harrow's memory. If you know about Gideon, and what Harrow's done, there's no mystery remaining.

In contrast, there are other details in chapter 3 about Harrow's childhood that Harrow did, and does, find strange and upsetting.

Gideon didn't attend services, and she most definitely didn't participate in chants. Putting Gideon back in the picture does nothing to explain the "weird, thuddering beat" Harrow finds disruptive. But it does sound an awful lot like an auditory hallucination, as does hearing doors open and close where no doors were opening and closing.

Maybe we could try to explain the doors by supposing she was hearing Gideon coming and going without remembering the source, but that doesn't really track with how we know her mind processes the missing pieces. If Harrow were papering Gideon over in her memory, it wouldn't be important who was or wasn't opening doors and where. The focus of her memory would quickly shift, just like it did when trying to remember how her parents found out about the Tomb, in order to avoid looking at what she's hidden from herself.

Then there's the next paragraph:

Again, plugging Gideon into this memory does nothing to explain it. Even if Gideon had been in the habit of sneaking up behind Harrow and attempting to choke her out—which, yikes—Harrow has already seamlessly blocked out the memory of one attempted strangulation. Then there are the phantom ropes she sees, her parents' method of suicide haunting her.

The forgetting where she was, losing time, and false memories do seem at first glance like they could be explained by the lobotomy, seeing as that is sort of the whole purpose and effect. But I'm pretty sure even these are real memories. Again, because of the focus of her attention. She's remembering having forgotten, while the lobotomy make her forget to remember.

Then there's Harrow's overall behavior. Her reactions to her hallucinations, especially in the River bubble, which imply that not all of this is new to her. She isn't shocked, or caught off-guard. She has coping mechanisms. She's figured out what evidence she can probably rely on to rule out hallucinations, and what's more likely to be suspect. A lobotomy, even a necromantic lobotomy, doesn't come with built-in tools for coping with its effects. Her memory of her past without Gideon in it is fractured and incomplete, not an entirely new life story with new life lessons.

Finally, from Nona the Ninth, some evidence that Harrow's problems with reality definitely predate the lobotomy:

Crux remembers them.

[churchoftheolia]

When you keep running into the same kid over and over again and yet they dont seem to age a day