#say what you will they're brothers

[west-tokyo-incidents]

IVE DONE IT.

I figured out why Dunstan shelves Paresse as his ultimate evil in the Evil 1.0 au(s)

Paresse is the result of Dunstan making good and evil from two totally separate souls. Originally, the idea of trying to split a soul in two seemed too... Either difficult, impossible, or time-consuming to do. For whatever reason, Dunstan originally couldn't make them from the same soul. As much as he wanted to, the technology wasn't there.

And then he hit a breakthrough on accident and discovered a way to do it without causing the soul to completely self destruct upon bisection. But this breakthrough didn't happen until a few sparse years before his own deadline. And pushing it back wasn't an option.

And so, even though Paresse was almost fully developed, he chose to make his ultimate evil a part of same soul as his ultimate good. In the end, it worked out perfectly. Their collisions are inevitable, they seek each other out as a missing piece that they are ultimately doomed to destroy. That's why their fusion at the end was Dunstan's final goal.

But.

That left one problem.

Dunstan had already put so much time and effort into Paresse, who was--in all ways--a total opposite to Ultimo.

Lanky and intimidating where Ultimo is petite and inviting. Apathetic and cruel to Ultimo's caring and compassionate. A western jester to Ultimo's eastern lord.

And not to mention the money he'd dropped into him. And he was nearly complete.

Incompetence is most similar to the sin of Sloth, so picking a sin for him wasn't difficult... It was just tamping down the sheer power and potential Paresse had. His time was too taken up by making sure Vice would be perfect, he couldn't remake Paresse from the ground up.

With proper coding, limiters were placed on the amount of energy he could accumulate from his master. Though his body was made for much more than just one of the sins, so it would cause fatigue. But he was going to be sloth, so that wasn't a problem.

Unfortunately, he still had the capacity. If those limiters were to fail... And he didn't have the time to put them through the thorough testing it needed. (A problem which he would solve via time travel, and properly nerf Paresse for non-Evil 1.0 timelines.)

He had to make a back-up plan. And he is no foolish engineer, so he makes three.

One; an emergency shut-down procedure if his emotional strength manages to break through his limiters. A simple, easy fix. Pulling the plug when the computer won't shut down. But an emotional power surge severe enough could prevent that shut down command from being effective.

Two; making sure Vice would have ample time to develop far ahead of Paresse's introduction to the past, dropping him off a mere 100 years prior to the funeral, rather than Vice's 900 years alongside Ultimo. The experience alone should give him a leg up in the fight that would be inevitable.

And three; a supplemental opposite. Another Ultimate Good who could willingly keep their power reduced and understand their role, should Paresse ever break his digital chains.

Service.

[inkskinned]

you're grabbing lunch with a nice man and he gives you that strange grimace-smile that's popular right now; an almost sardonic "twist" of his mouth while he looks literally down on you. it looks like he practiced the move as he leans back, arms folded. he just finished reciting the details of NFTs to you and explaining Oppenheimer even though he only watched a youtube about it and hasn't actually seen it. you are at the bottom of your wine glass.

you ask the man across from you if he has siblings, desperately looking for a topic. literally anything else.

he says i don't like small talk. and then he smiles again, watching you.

a few years ago, you probably would have said you're above celebrity gossip, but honestly, you've been kind of enjoying the dumb shit of it these days. with the rest of the earth burning, there's something familiar and banal about dragging ariana grande through the mud. you think about jeanette mccurdy, who has often times gently warned the world she's not as nice as she appears. you liked i'm glad my mom died but it made you cry a lot.

he doesn't like small talk, figure out something to say.

you want to talk about responsibility, and how ariana grande is only like 6 days older than you are - which means she just turned 30 and still dresses and acts like a 13 year old, but like sexy. there's something in there about the whole thing - about insecurity, and never growing up, and being sexualized from a young age.

people have been saying that gay people are groomers. like, that's something that's come back into the public. you have even said yourself that it's just ... easier to date men sometimes. you would identify as whatever the opposite of "heteroflexible" is, but here you are again, across from a man. you like every woman, and 3 people on tv. and not this guy. but you're trying. your mother is worried about you. she thinks it's not okay you're single. and honestly this guy was better before you met, back when you were just texting.

wait, shit. are you doing the same thing as ariana grande? are you looking for male validation in order to appease some internalized promise of heteronormativity? do you conform to the idea that your happiness must result in heterosexuality? do you believe that you can resolve your internal loneliness by being accepted into the patriarchy? is there a reason dating men is easier? why are you so scared of fucking it up with women? why don't you reach out to more of them? you have a good sense of humor and a big ol' brain, you could have done a better job at online dating.

also. jesus christ. why can't you just get a drink with somebody without your internal feminism meter pinging. although - in your favor (and judgement aside) in the case of your ariana grande deposition: you have been in enough therapy you probably wouldn't date anyone who had just broken up with their wife of many years (and who has a young child). you'd be like - maybe take some personal time before you begin this journey. like, grande has been on broadway, you'd think she would have heard of the plot of hamlet.

he leans forward and taps two fingers to the table. "i'm not, like an andrew tate guy," he's saying, "but i do think partnership is about two people knowing their place. i like order."

you knew it was going to be hard. being non-straight in any particular way is like, always hard. these days you kind of like answering the question what's your sexuality? with a shrug and a smile - it's fine - is your most common response. like they asked you how your life is going and not to reveal your identity. you like not being straight. you like kissing girls. some days you know you're into men, and sometimes you're sitting across from a man, and you're thinking about the power of compulsory heterosexuality. are you into men, or are you just into the safety that comes from being seen with them? after all, everyone knows you're failing in life unless you have a husband. it almost feels like a gradebook - people see "straight married" as being "all A's", and anything else even vaguely noncompliant as being ... like you dropped out of the school system. you cannot just ignore years of that kind of conditioning, of course you like attention from men.

"so let's talk boundaries." he orders more wine for you, gesturing with one hand like he's rousing an orchestra. sir, this is a fucking chain restaurant. "I am not gonna date someone who still has male friends. also, i don't care about your little friends, i care about me. whatever stupid girls night things - those are lower priority. if i want you there, you're there."

he wasn't like this over text, right? you wouldn't have been even in the building if he was like this. you squint at him. in another version of yourself, you'd be running. you'd just get up and go. that's what happens on the internet - people get annoyed, and they just leave. you are locked in place, almost frozen. you need to go to the bathroom and text someone to call you so you have an excuse, like it's rude to just-leave. like he already kind of owns you. rudeness implies a power paradigm, though. see, even your social anxiety allows the patriarchy to get to you.

you take a sip of the new glass of wine. maybe this will be a funny story. maybe you can write about it on your blog. maybe you can meet ariana grande and ask her if she just maybe needs to take some time to sit and think about her happiness and how she measures her own success.

is this settling down? is this all that's left in your dating pool? just accepting that someone will eventually love you, and you have to stop being picky about who "makes" you a wife?

you look down to your hand, clutching the knife.

[bloodfreak-boyking]

how to look at your brother in a platonic and god-honoring way

[ali3nboyfriend]

whyyyy do so few people actually put consideration into their dog's breed when assessing unwanted behaviors

[very-uncorrect]

I'm getting emotional over the unbreakable bond again like holy shit, that's his kid, that's his baby right there, he needs his kid augh AAA-

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

Hey, I was wondering why you think Roxy was destined to end up with Eridan? I get the shared wizard interest and the quirk foreshadowing I guess, but that still seems like a large stretch. It's kinda like saying that Equius and Dirk are going to end up together because they both like robots and horses. It's just seems like the sort of character remixing that Hussie uses a lot in Homestuck. But what do you think?

Roxy

- fucking LOVES WIZARDS

- is a hipster and literally wears a colorswapped version of eridans scarf

- is pink and bubbly

- uses riflekind

- has a perfectly opposite powerset to eridan (can create anything by stealing its void away vs. can destroy anything with pure belief) and are connected to each other through the matriorb

- has a crush on a troubled, eccentric prince so you know that's her type

- quirk cameo with momlonde

Eridan

- Is a wizard

- Is a hipster and literally wears a colorswapped version of roxy's scarf

- Uses riflekind

- Had a huge crush on Feferi, a bubbly pink girl whom he (wrongly) believed to be so nice she might not even be capable of pitch, so we know that's his type

- The equal and opposite powerset & quirk cameo

At the end of the day I can't tell you what to ship, nor am I interested in making anyone ship anything, but I'm kind of just saying, the things that make Roxy predisposed to liking Eridan are, like, the biggest parts of her character, and Eridan is very easy & would pretty much say yes to anybody, but Roxy is also definitely His Type and Eridan is a simp who thrives under any sort of positive attention & would do anything someone asked if they were giving him positive feedback. or attention at all. case in point kanaya fucking hates him but at least she talks to him and he's constantly praising the shit out of her

Jane and Jake also have their introductions IMMEDIATELY followed by talking about how they've got a thing for "cobalt" hunks and "cerulean babes" respectively, so setting up roxy with eridan also fits into a pattern of the b2 kids being set up to date a dead troll. still rereading this part of the comic, but it really jumped out to me how blatant it was for jake and jane

[stardust-falling]

fandom psa; there is nothing whatsoever that is inherently "problematic" about shipping characters who are "found family."

Adoption is not found family. A blended family is not found family. A found family or chosen family is a group which, through circumstances or simply mutual affection, hold their relationship to one another with equal care and importance as family members ought to. It's not the same type of relationship.

It's not incest. It's not even pseudo-incest unless you want it to be. I personally don't care what people ship, but I'm absolutely tired of people misusing the term "found family" to just recreate the idea of a nuclear family and force those roles onto the entirety of a fandom. Sure, maybe characters who are found family may view themselves like siblings, or like a parent and child or aunt and niece, but they might also just see each other as friends-- and guess what? romantic partners too! That's technically the most widely-accepted form of found family/chosen family there is!

The whole point of found family/chosen family is to have the importance of "family" on relationships that lie outside the commonly-understood bounds of that relationship. Not to recreate the "mommy-daddy-daughter-son" dynamic with unrelated characters and use that headcanon or fanon dynamic to enforce your own morality or preferences on other fans.

[halfdeadwallfly]

[sadlynotthevoid]

Since I saw that post about og!Cale solving a murder crime in Alberu's noble meeting, I've been obsessed with detective!ogCale, who solves crimes on his free time because he's too fucking bored.

Hence: bungo stray dogs crossover AU where, while a transmigrated RokSoo and company go around doing the usual "let's mess with white star" stuff, og!Cale got basically adopted by a bunch of weird professional detectives.

I'm talking about an AU where bsd happens in the world of tboah/tcf. So, while a member of the agency was going through the county for reasons, they witness og!Cale stealthy dropping a hint about a mystery to a near knight. Then he leaves, pretending to be drunk all the way to his home.

What everyone else sees is the local drunkard ready to cause trouble at the minor inconvenience.

What the detective in question sees is a very bright teen, good at solving crimes, who has nothing to do but pretend to be drunk. Needless to say, they take Cale back with them.

(It could be anyone, but it's most likely to be Dazai if they just take Cale with them and don't tell anyone. Though, I think it would be funny if it was Kenji the one who did it. Double-way adoption ensues)

Og!Cale is puzzled at how he ended up at the Armed Detective Agency as a recruit, but he doesn't complain. He even likes his job and his coworkers, even if Dazai keeps trying to unalive himself.

Besides, he doesn't have to keep with his trash act here. Everyone here is smart enough to tell he's acting. They're detectives, damn it. It would be strange if they didn't notice.

So, freedom.

And the ADA people like him too. This quite quirky, smart, witty and creative teen fits just right with them.

At some point, Ranpo has to tell him that "no, you're not smart. You're really smart. Not as much as me, although" because og!Cale's hypercompetence is normalized for him and sometimes he doesn't realize that "everyone else hasn't reach to that conclusion yet" when talking with normal people.

Fukuzawa looks at this sassy child and is like "I guess I got yet another son". Because, why would the hella rich son of some noble be so happy to join a group of strangers and do all this hard job? You can say he obviously loves his family from the way he talks about them, but he also brights up at the minor genuine act of care. It's concerning. Not urgent, but still concerning. He's keeping him. He's eighteen, legally an adult, and came on his own will. So, It's not a kidnapping.

[thevioletcaptain]

the thing about the devil's trap tattoo is that the flames around the pentacle are completely unnecessary. like the flames are not a functional part of the devil's trap at all. they just added those for flair.

[mattsmithisweirdlyhot]

Looking back on it, I find myself reinterpreting the whole ordeal with the White Hart.

Rhaenyra could have killed the Stag and proven herself worthy of ruling the Seven Kingdoms beyond the shadow of a doubt. If she had killed it then, she would have had another claim to the throne - one beyond her father's whims; one the Lords of Westeros might have heeded better.

But she doesn't kill it. Instead, she let's it go and never so much as speaks of it. The Stag appears before her - and for her alone - and Rhaenyra chooses not to claim it as a symbol of legitimacy.

I think that foreshadows the rest of her story.

Among Viserys' children, she alone had the power and right to rule, she alone was worthy of the throne, and yet she lets go of it repeatedly. First, by having no legitimate heirs. Then, by never really consolidating her power and influence as heir in Kings Landing. Lastly, by running away to Dragonstone and leaving the Hightowers in charge of the Iron Throne, instead of staying and ruling in her father's stead.

She constantly has opportunities to grab at power, to portray herself as Viserys' heir, to solidify her claim, but she chooses not to do so, for the same reason she chooses not to kill the stag.

She doesn't understand the game and is unprepared to shoulder the responsibility of the throne. Viserys makes her a player, but she never plays to win. She doesn't kill the stag because she doesn't want to kill it - despite knowing it would silence her critics. She doesn't try to rule because it is easier to leave than it is to stay and fight Alicent.

And it is so frustrating because she never takes advantage of the fact that she is a Targaryen - and constantly bows to what the Small Council dictates is required of her as a woman and princess. But neither does she grow her power the way the nobility of Westeros do - by collecting favors and debts.

And yes, I absolutely believe that the Dance was Viserys' fault. But it is also Rhaenyra's. Had she truly wanted the throne, she should have done all that she could to make it hers, instead of constantly running away from the responsibility it entailed.

[lucreziagiovane]

"He's spent the entire time being picked upon and bullied by the family. I think personally from where Juan stands he sees the hypocrisy in the family, how they can do one thing and say another. As far as Juan is concerned he's always had the best interests of the family at heart, however misguided that might be and doesn't quite comprehend why nobody understands that. Nobody seems to understand that what he does, he does for the betterment of the Borgia clan and never waivers from that. He does that in ways that perhaps aren't sanctioned by the church or sanctioned by family law."

[aromacaque]

you want to analyze a cartoon that is something children can watch? ok here's the first and most important lesson ever.

have you ever heard of "suspension of disbelief?"

ok. next step. do you know what an unreliable narrator is and can you separate the character's perspective and opinions from the writers? because i promise you that the beliefs of the main character do not always reflect the writers and the point of analyzing media is to dissect that.

[punkeropercyjackson]

Causing anti Hobie x Gwen/Miles/Margo discourse under the basis of Hobie being 'older brother-coded' is so funny to me because it's literally a bunch of grown ass niggas who're almost all nonblack exposing themselves as not only not knowing about punk culture while ALSO adultifying a canon 17 year old but also as never having had a boyfriend

[gayofthefae]

Season 2 episode 4 of Stranger Things for Byler is about how Mike is sad he didn't get to see Will all day and it ends with him finally getting to see Will.

That's iconic. Like that was his plot for the episode that had to be resolved in the final scene. And unlike when they often bookend his storylines with El with no real content about her in the middle, he mentions Will in every scene in between. I thought he didn't in the trash digging one but he did because Dustin asked him directly in the "he's your person you always know his whereabouts way" so his scenes for the episode (all of them) go as follows:

Shaking Will to get out of his trance

Watching Will leave and worrying about him

While digging through trash, mentions that Will will be there - setting up his plot for the episode with Will's first unexpected absence

Looking over sadly at Will's empty desk (that's the entire scene, nothing else happens visually, just that then it cuts away to the Byers house)

Trying to call Will but he doesn't pick up, so he calls a party meeting to make a plan to help him and plans to go to his house after school

Going to Will's house and persistently convinces Joyce to let him in.

That is literally his episode plot like that's all he does the whole time. Season 2 is wild Byler for Mike in general because even season 1 with El he had other things going on, namely his conflict with Lucas. His moments with El were always just moments in between. But as re-emphasis that Will is the point for him, all he does for this entire episode is think and talk about Will

until it can climax in a - honestly, better paced in build up than the ily speech - scene

It is canon that Mike Wheeler spent a full day with only Will on his mind. I thought that it wasn't. This post was gonna be "all but one scene! that's crazy!" But this turned out to be yet another instance of "I was already excited, but they're bigger Byler shippers than me."

Digging through trash? Why isn't Will here yet? In class? Will's desk is empty. Lunch break? Try to get ahold of Will. (He didn't pick up? Immediately assume his life is in danger) After school? Go to Will's house to make sure he's okay.

Just- I'm not over that this was fully his episode arc with the proper execution of setup, arc, and climax. Missing Will was his plot in season 2 episode 4. His only and entire plot for every moment he was onscreen.

[seaofreverie]

GUUUYYUYSSSD !!!!!

‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

KIMONO MY HOUSE VINYL!!!!!!

Also funny story which is that when my brother took these to the cashier he said something like "oh... Sparks... they were here one year ago"