#so to some extent this was inevitable

[ai-dont-care]

my partner and i broke up so I am now going to be a slut (I am emotionally incapable of being a slut)

[hopeswriting]

was thinking about takeshi and how he's my favorite brand of unconditional devotion btw. the utter and absolute and all-consuming kind that runs so deep to the very core and is so intrinsic and fundamental to it, it can only express itself in the most casual and natural and certain way. without second thoughts, without any room for doubts or for any moral dilemma to be had over it, because of course he ought to always be breathing and living for his chosen person first and foremost. of course he ought to hang on their every word and make them true no matter what, no matter what he has to do to make it happen, no matter what he has to do to other people to make it happen, and no matter what it might turn him into in the process. because it's obviously the way the world should be for his chosen person. at their feet, ready to bend over backwards and break and build itself again to better answer to all their needs even if they don't ask it for it. it's the only right way it should be for them, and of course takeshi's going to do his utmost at all times to make it a reality as much as possible.

and his devotion comes out as naturally as breathing, comes out lighthearted and nonchalant like he might as well be talking about the weather, but it's not unaware of itself. it's not that takeshi doesn't know it's unhealthy and wrong and that he's willing to go entirely too far in its name for anyone's good. it's not that he wouldn't hear you out if you were to sit him down and explain to him just why he needs to tone it down a little (a lot). logically, he'd agree with you and know you're right. and then he'd tell you he's still not going to do anything whatsoever about it. that he's not bothered by it and doesn't feel the need to change anything to his attitude. makes it a point to never let anyone or anything sway him even an inch in the stand he took when it comes to that, no matter how many thousand of times you might go over the subject with him.

because the morality of his devotion isn't the point at all. is entirely irrelevant to it and doesn't affect the way he expresses it all. it's not the metric with which he draws a line in the sand to hold it accountable to. because the thing is, takeshi's entire world revolves around tsuna--tsuna is his entire world altogether, and it's just a matter of fact, that simple. to him it's a truth as unchanging as the sky being blue, and so being the way he is according to that truth is the only way he can imagine being that'd feel right to him. and so the actual and only metric that matters here is "would tsuna be happier if i were to do this?" and/or "is this something tsuna needs me to do?"

and like. i don't think takeshi ever stops being a kind person capable of compassion and understanding and mercy and forgiveness even ten years later once they became mafia through and through. and i don't think either he grows up to be feared and called a monster per se despite the things they inevitably had to do during those ten years (and the things they'll inevitably keep having to do as long as they keep being mafia), at least not in the way, for example, they'll never stop fearing and calling mukuro one. but i do think that among the tenth gen, he ends up being the one with the most ruthless, merciless and horrific blood on his hands of that particular and distinct loving kind. you know the one i mean, right? he comes to be the one most expected and the one first expected to be willing and to take it upon himself to go through with it when the need arises. and to think little of it after, if anything at all. all in the name of making tsuna's reign as easy on him as possible.

and it's to the point where it's the kind of blood that makes even mukuro pause at times. or, when takeshi is the one coming up with solutions himself during meetings, makes even reborn blink. not because it's unjustified or wouldn't be safe or efficient or anything of the sort, but because it is unwarrantedly thorough in its retaliation. and sometimes, at times like this, he's the one tsuna needs to step in for the most, because he's the only one who can reason with him that "yes, this would work in getting rid of our problem" but "no, please, don't do that takeshi". because if tsuna is the only thing that infers on just how much and in what ways he'll let himself be devoted to him, then of course, he's also the only one takeshi's willing to reign himself in for without second thoughts. because he'd hate to ever do something tsuna would disapprove of or wouldn't want him to do. or do something that'd make tsuna see him differently or love him back less even in the slightest.

and it's also like. his devotion isn't an undisciplined one. it's not one he doesn't have control over, the very opposite. it's a very purposeful and conscious choice he chooses to keep making over and over again every step of the way, and he taught himself to have control over it, to know when it's needed and/or wanted, and how much and in which ways it is when it happens, and to keep it down otherwise. and, yes, to also reign it back in at tsuna's request at times when it still slips past his control. because it's all about making tsuna's happiness easier and secure and long-lasting, and never about burdening him with just how committed he is to do that.

so it comes down to this: takeshi willing to go above and beyond and more for tsuna unless tsuna explicitly asks him not to. and to tsuna needing to ask him not to every now and then. and to other people pointing out to him how too many times tsuna's already needed to stop him, and that maybe there's a hint for him to take there. and to takeshi seeing the hint, looking it straight in the eye and recognizing it for what it is and just. deciding it doesn't apply to him because it's all perfectly normal behavior to him. because it's the only kind of behavior that makes sense to him and feels right.

and so—to circle back to my first point—he can only express his devotion as naturally as breathing, so casually, almost like it's something inconsequential and not worth talking about despite how unmistakably it couldn't be further away from being the truth. it's the only way he could have always known how to express it, because, after all, who has ever taken time to ponder about the details and the hows of the way they breathe?

and i, for one, absolutely eat that shit up every time, thanks for coming to my ted talk <3

[demonwebs]

i also think it's kind of crazy how vhaal of all ppl, despite his aloof front, would empathize w every single villainous bitch in the game

[blujayonthewing]

the thing is I know the good and healthy way for me to deal with 'people are going to bizarrely misunderstand you and your feelings and intentions no matter how desperately you try to make yourself clear' would be to go 'then I guess I can should and must do whatever I want forever and not worry about what anyone thinks, as long as people are gonna be Wrong About Me no matter what'

but my heart and soul are stuck sitting on the floor wailing 'I DON'T WANT THEM TO BE WRONG ABOUT ME!! I JUST DON'T WANT THEM TO!!!'

[getmenaced]

Preparing this underdark campaign this semester while im taking a Russian literature class has been so disastrous. What if Menzoberranzan was St Petersburg 1861.

[margindoodles2407]

hi Margin! idk if you're still doing those 3-sentence fics, but in case you are, here's a prompt suggestion: "dawn"

bonus points if it's HW zelink? <3

Ohohohohohohohoho YES >:)

(full disclosure this was sitting in my inbox for weeks because i couldn't figure out what to write but i did it today in math class so here you go)

He was stern, and cold, and dispassionate; a statue, they called him, beautiful and unfeeling and as pristinely white as marble, resistant to the colors of love and laughter- or at least, that's what they said.

She was beautiful too, but not in his opaque, colorless way- if he was a marble statue, she was a stained-glass window, full of light and warmth and color, and her soul was the dawn that shone through and cast her illuminating hues on the grey congregation of the soldiers around her.

And when he was with her- when the dawn of her smile graced the Captain, not grey and battered like his men but pristinely alabaster- he absorbed her color; the white and colorless turned brilliant shades of gold and green and blue, and the few blessed to witness this transfiguration swore that, for a moment, she could make their Captain look almost human.

[ridgystacis]

people saying papyrus can’t be the knight by pointing to him being an undertale character as evidence he won’t be important makes no sense to me cause like rejecting a theory outright without actually considering it is functionally the same as locking into a theory and refusing to look at alternate possibilities

[tachyon-omlette]

nearly finished with Armada and lowkey WHY is Unicron so got damb horrifying. whyd they have to do that and how did they do it so WELL

[mantisgodsdomain]

Very fun to be an dormant Homestuck in 2023. We saw a post with an aside about the mid-to-highblood bias present in the fandom and we took a moment to think "wait, what?" before remembering how much people posted about Mallek, Lanque, and Marvus. Obviously no one asked our opinion on the matter but we think that a lot of the bias here may just be because fandom people will jump at any vaguely conventionally attractive male character who can say something angsty, and we don't see 99% of this effect because we rapidly get fatigued with any character who is overly present in the fandom and any ship that has overrepresentation in the sample size and start blocking tags.

Very highly effective approach, admittedly, but it leaves us a bit out of the loop. We only really start encountering Issues with that approach in smaller fandoms when blocking any given popular ship will instantly shrink our mutual circle to Just Us and maybe, like, one guy who we dragged in here ourself, so we have to relax blocking standards somewhat and just make it "blocked for a week" or something similar.

[unnecessarilygrandiose]

randomly remembered the fandom wide disappointment after mister impossible came out and started laughing bc what was that even about. every single post i saw from somebody who didn't like the book was like 'but what about adam' and don't get me wrong i love adam he's my favourite but also why did people expect him to be there? he is not the main character of the trilogy. ronan and hennessy are. but then again there were also some people on the other end of the spectrum who were like 'oh but the book totally sufered middle book syndrome and the plot didn't progress at all in a meaningful way, adam's two minute appearance was the only saving grace' and my dudes. my guys. what

[fujimilovers]

going through gwyndolins tag all last night and seeing just how transmisogynistic the “gay and trans” website is cause its very obvious what groups are excluded when ppl talk about tumblr as the “gay and trans*” website

[raziraphale]

can't find it rn but I'm thinking about that post that was going around recently that pointed out that claiming anime is uniquely sexist or sexual and attributing that to japanese culture is racist as hell. that post is correct -- this isn't to dispute that but to add onto it -- and I think a part of that perception is how "anime" has been shaped into this weird consumer category by corporations, where it gets treated more like a genre than a medium (animation) of a particular style and context.

what comes to mind when we think of "anime" in the english-speaking world largely depends on what shows get licensed, translated, dubbed, and merchandised outside of japan. fan translations and bootlegs have always existed, but sanctioned releases from large companies bring larger audiences, so companies dictate to a certain extent what gets popular, and therefore the popular perception of "anime" as a category.

a lot of cool and unique things make their way over here, but do you know what a lot of it is? shounen. light novel adaptations about increasingly specific male power fantasies. action series. a lot of it is stuff made with teenage boys as the target demographic in mind. again, a lot of other anime exist, but when you think of the "blockbuster" series every season, it definitely skews more towards one gender.

if my exposure to american media was mostly limited to its most juvenile action movies and the lobbies of popular online shooters, I would also conclude that america is uniquely horny and has an issue with women. the only difference between america and japan in this respect is that, for whatever reason, the U.S. has largely relegated mainstream 2D animation to the kids' table outside of specific adult cartoons. there just really isn't a good american equivalent to the kind of shows people are most likely to think of when they think of "anime"

like this doesn't mean that popular anime don't have these issues with them -- you can (and should) critique media no matter where they come from. it also doesn't mean that attitudes and beliefs don't vary between countries and cultures. but the instinct to attribute the issues with (your idea of) anime to the country it came from first rather than considering the target audience of the specific show you're watching and comparing it to similar media in other parts of the world is definitely rooted in racism

you are sitting on your laptop watching the shounen anime du jour and thinking "wow, this is a country with no respect for women" while your younger brother is in the other room running over hookers in gta. maybe broaden your perspective of the issue beyond national borders

[vamptastic]

society if they let me write danganronpa.........

[yarrowleef-babbles]

i loved the raven cycle (and TDT by extension) and also i am so infuritated with the raven cycle and a lot of it has to do with the conflict-to-resolution ratio being so very unbalanced

like i think i peaked Fixation Mode between Dream Thieves and Blue Lily, like i was so indescribably hooked on the build up of all this emotional conflict, but what gets me hyped on that stuff is the awaiting of some kind of cathartic resolution to all the interpersonal mess and I was just!! not given it!! the love for each other despite everything and the desire to fix things was clearly there but never properly acted on. because ~they didn't need words~

you know I think maybe you do actually need at least an attempt at words sometimes. i think maybe when your relationships are built on eggshells and the same arguments keep happening over and over, a couple (unrelated to the root of the conflict) grand gestures and knowing looks are actually not a resolution. that's just sweeping the problems under a rug until they inevitably come up again another day when you trip over all that baggage building up underneath

the characters fighting so so much only works if a good amount of time is given later to actually resolving them, otherwise it leaves the whole relationship(s) feeling doomed to fail. which is so frustrating because that's clearly not what its supposed to be about. i'm in agonies

[arolesbianism]

If I had the freedom of not knowing there is going to be future new lore stuff added to oni I would do unspeakable things to so many of these guys. Or Id just make them normal guys who just sorta exist. Either or.

[veliseraptor]

#but also 👆👆👆 this is so crucial and so important because this is like. the fundamental disconnect between nmj and jgy #nmj was born and raised from childhood to know that death is coming for him and it is inevitable #jgy spent every moment of his life desperately trying to survive and outrun death #by violent johns or by jgs's lackeys or by miserable poverty (via @thatswhatsushesaid)

"Nie Mingjue would still have died young even if Jin Guangyao hadn't killed him" Not as in "So it's fine to kill him because people who won't live for much longer have obviously already forfeit their lives" (what) But as in "If you don't get that Nie Mingjue has had an inevitable young and violent death hanging over him since he was a young teenager and has embraced it you can't fully understand his character"