#soulmates indeed

[crowleyanthonys]

Play dumb! Not that dumb!

[hauntingofhouses]

Very interesting to me that a certain subset of the BES fandom's favourite iterations of Mizu and Akemi are seemingly rooted in the facades they have projected towards the world, and are not accurate representations of their true selves.

And I see this is especially the case with Mizu, where fanon likes to paint her as this dominant, hyper-masculine, smirking Cool GuyTM who's going to give you her strap. And this idea of Mizu is often based on the image of her wearing her glasses, and optionally, with her cloak and big, wide-brimmed kasa.

And what's interesting about this, to me, is that fanon is seemingly falling for her deliberate disguise. Because the glasses (with the optional combination of cloak and hat) represent Mizu's suppression of her true self. She is playing a role.

Take this scene of Mizu in the brothel in Episode 4 for example. Here, not only is Mizu wearing her glasses to symbolise the mask she is wearing, but she is purposely acting like some suave and cocky gentleman, intimidating, calm, in control. Her voice is even deeper than usual, like what we hear in her first scene while facing off with Hachiman the Flesh-Trader in Episode 1.

This act that Mizu puts on is an embodiment of masculine showboating, which is highly effective against weak and insecure men like Hachi, but also against women like those who tried to seduce her at the Shindo House.

And that brings me to how Mizu's mask is actually a direct parallel to Akemi's mask in this very same scene.

Here, Akemi is also putting up an act, playing up her naivety and demure girlishness, using her high-pitched lilted voice, complimenting Mizu and trying to make small talk, all so she can seduce and lure Mizu in to drink the drugged cup of sake.

So what I find so interesting and funny about this scene, characters within it, and the subsequent fandom interpretations of both, is that everyone seems to literally be falling for the mask that Mizu and Akemi are putting up to conceal their identities, guard themselves from the world, and get what they want.

It's also a little frustrating because the fanon seems to twist what actually makes Mizu and Akemi's dynamic so interesting by flattening it completely. Because both here and throughout the story, Mizu and Akemi's entire relationship and treatment of each other is solely built off of masks, assumptions, and misconceptions.

Akemi believes Mizu is a selfish, cocky male samurai who destroyed her ex-fiance's career and life, and who abandoned her to let her get dragged away by her father's guards and forcibly married off to a man she didn't know. on the other hand, Mizu believes Akemi is bratty, naive princess who constantly needs saving and who can't make her own decisions.

These misconceptions are even evident in the framing of their first impressions of each other, both of which unfold in these slow-motion POV shots.

Mizu's first impression of Akemi is that of a beautiful, untouchable princess in a cage. Swirling string music in the background.

Akemi's first impression of Mizu is of a mysterious, stoic "demon" samurai who stole her fiance's scarf. Tense music and the sound of ocean waves in the background.

And then, going back to that scene of them together in Episode 4, both Mizu and Akemi continue to fool each other and hold these assumptions of each other, and they both feed into it, as both are purposely acting within the suppressive roles society binds them to in order to achieve their goals within the means they are allowed (Akemi playing the part of a subservient woman; Mizu playing the part of a dominant man).

But then, for once in both their lives, neither of their usual tactics work.

Akemi is trying to use flattery and seduction on Mizu, but Mizu sees right through it, knowing that Akemi is just trying to manipulate and harm her. Rather than give in to Akemi's tactics, Mizu plays with Akemi's emotions by alluding to Taigen's death, before pinning her down, and then when she starts crying, Mizu just rolls her eyes and tells her to shut up.

On the opposite end, when Mizu tries to use brute force and intimidation, Akemi also sees right through it, not falling for it, and instead says this:

"Under your mask, you're not the killer you pretend to be."

Nonetheless, despite the fact that they see a little bit through each other's masks, they both still hold their presumptions of each other until the very end of the season, with Akemi seeing Mizu as an obnoxious samurai swooping in to save the day, and Mizu seeing Akemi as a damsel in distress.

And what I find a bit irksome is that the fandom also resorts to flattening them to these tropes as well.

Because Mizu is not some cool, smooth-talking samurai with a big dick sword as Akemi (and the fandom) might believe. All of that is the facade she puts up and nothing more. In reality, Mizu is an angry, confused and lonely child, and a masterful artist, who is struggling against her own self-hatred. Master Eiji, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

And Akemi, on the other hand, is not some girly, sweet, vain and spoiled princess as Mizu might believe. Instead she has never cared for frivolous things like fashion, love or looks, instead favouring poetry and strategy games instead, and has always only cared about her own independence. Seki, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

But neither is she some authoritative dominatrix, though this is part of her new persona that she is trying to project to get what she wants. Because while Akemi is willful, outspoken, intelligent and authoritative, she can still be naive! She is still often unsure and needs to have her hand held through things, as she is still learning and growing into her full potential. Her new parental/guardian figure, Madame Kaji, knows this as well.

So with all that being said, now that we know that Mizu and Akemi are essentially wearing masks and putting up fronts throughout the show, what would a representation of Mizu's and Akemi's true selves actually look like? Easy. It's in their hair.

This shot on the left is the only time we see Mizu with her hair completely down. In this scene, she's being berated by Mama, and her guard is completely down, she has no weapon, and is no longer wearing any mask, as this is after she showed Mikio "all of herself" and tried to take off the mask of a subservient housewife. Thus, here, she is sad, vulnerable, and feeling small (emphasised further by the framing of the scene). This is a perfect encapsulation of what Mizu is on the inside, underneath all the layers of revenge-obsession and the walls she's put around herself.

In contrast, the only time we Akemi with her hair fully down, she is completely alone in the bath, and this scene takes place after being scorned by her father and left weeping at his feet. But despite all that, Akemi is headstrong, determined, taking the reigns of her life as she makes the choice to run away, but even that choice is reflective of her youthful naivety. She even gets scolded by Seki shortly after this in the next scene, because though she wants to be independent, she still hasn't completely learned to be. Not yet. Regardless, her decisiveness and moment of self-empowerment is emphasised by the framing of the scene, where her face takes up the majority of the shot, and she stares seriously into the middle distance.

To conclude, I wish popular fanon would stop mischaracterising these two, and flattening them into tropes and stereotypes (ie. masculine badass swordsman Mizu and feminine alluring queen but also girly swooning damsel Akemi), all of which just seems... reductive. It also irks me when Akemi is merely upheld as a love interest and romantic device for Mizu and nothing more, when she is literally Mizu's narrative foil (takes far more narrative precedence over romantic interest) and the deuteragonist of this show. She is her own person. That is literally the theme of her entire character and arc.

[roominthecastle]

Siegfried & Audrey + her hands that hold his world together

[bean-writes]

Me: *trying to break the ice at a party*

Me: "So... Shall we gather for whiskey and cigars tonight?"

[woodohwanedandproud]

@ihamtmus - seraphsfire #prev tags said robin hood and bitchy legolas and you know what? it's true#have i mentioned these two broke into my house and murdered me in cold blood#and then tried to murder each other#what have i gotten myself into#my country…

i think hwi & sunho were the sun & the moon in their past lives. i bet that’s why they seem so inseparable in this lifetime. 

[zombified-hoglin]

Got a silly idea of a soulmate au with Xisuma who's trying his best and somewhat failing at not being jealous of Joel being Etho's soulmate in secret life

Joel's great, he's a very neat guy for sure, truly a wonderful servermate, but... Xisuma can't deny that he's not fond of soulmates in general

It's a fairly rare phenomenon, it's not just the red strings of fate that connect soulmates, there's a few different types, names or timers on wrists, words that appear on your skin, matching tattoos, songs stuck in heads

He doesn't know which is worse, having someone that knows everything about you or knowing that the universe didn't deem you worthy of having someone like that

Xisuma had a soulmate mark at one point in time but it's long gone now, a scar covering where the name used to be, it was thought that if the universe wanted people together so badly that it'd even be able to happen when one of them was missing their mark

He hasn't thought about soulmates in years until after double life and Etho had brought it up, not noticing how Etho looked at him out of the corner of his eyes, like he was expecting something

Etho didn't bring up the topic of soulmates again for a while, not until they were on the roof of Xisuma's base, watching a meteor shower

It was nice having the warmth of Etho beside him, the air around them a little colder than he usually likes it

Xisuma gets startled by Etho tracing over the scar where his soulmark used to be, the sensation sending shivers down his spine, he hears a soft "oh..." as Etho's eyes narrowed

He tries to laugh it off, redirect the conversation before he stops in his tracks as Etho tugs down his glove, showing a name resting on his wrist, Xisuma's name

Oh

[np-c]

soulmate au, in where if one person dies, their soulmate follows, but also there are known cases where one soulmate survived impossible odds because of the other's stubborness: Dazai can't die because he is the soulmate to one of the most impossible people on the earth

(soulmate au where Chuuya is someone who is impossible to kill, someone who survives Corruption and worse, because Dazai simply refuses to believe that a universe, where Chuuya is dead, exists)

[narwhalandchill]

oh my fucking god i feel. SO stupid rn at How i didnt make the (super sane very normal just absolutely. Yes. Surely) connection earlier but uhh

so anyway im now like 89% certain that whatever the "traces" of the narwhal that remain on ajax and facilitate their (ever-growing) innate connection are like. an actually fundamental aspect of it (them?) more or less.

why? because if you consider its pov just for a moment. the narwhal was literally about to depart teyvat for good. it had nearly finished consuming the primordial sea and preparing to breach surface to finish the job by eating the french for the leftovers their human bodies were made from. its an interstellar voyager it does not linger on planets it devours. it goes glug glug and it leaves.

and like if it wasnt for traveler intervening its confirmed through narzissenkreuz and renes world formula that teyvat wouldve just been destroyed. no one could have stopped the narwhal not neuvillette not focalors not anyone.

so what was the one other thing it did right before going for that french brunch? calling for ajax. getting them reunited in the primordial sea. like all the possible implications aside bc theres many different ways to speculate on the exact reasons why and the nature of that link. the point remains.

it wasnt leaving teyvat without finding him.

like the narwhal is about to fucking Dip from this cringe planet and whatever part of it that ajax carries within himself his narwhal Absolutely wanted to be reunited with. what the fuck am i supposed to read from that. hoyo???????!??! answers?!?!?!

and its not only the calling from the narwhal side itself either bc this is ALL coinciding with the growth of a 'restless power' within ajax and his vision malfunctioning (the things celestia is literally confirmed to harvest energy thru to repair its damaged authority) and his connection with the narwhal reaching an actual conscious level (arguably subconscious n emotional too bc i find it Curious his mood is poor right as the narwhal is repeatedly described as positively malding to the point its boss fight mechanic is literally a rage meter). ajax' power is growing. his destiny is starting to shift and something is drawing him to fontaine... right as the narwhal is getting close to finished with the primordial sea. funny how it overlaps eh. how it aligns 🤨🤨 why are they orbiting each other like this (they should kiss)

(& not to even Mention how ajax just Happened to get that absolutely exponential and borderline unbelievable feat of power spike in extending his foul legacy endurance as massively as he did. while. within the primordial sea. with his narwhal. who had at that point all but incorporated the power of that sea into itself. i s2g if childe was getting passive home turf co-op bonus exp with a 4x multiplier automatically the whole 40+ days 💀💀)

[gab-ri-elle22]

The level of trust it requires to pull such move is immense. Seldom are those who would trust each other to do so, and clearly, CarLando is one of those rare pairs. 🥂

I've been seeing some takes about how what Lando and Carlos did was unsportsmanlike and that we’re already dealing with RBR and AT being sister teams and we don’t need unaffiliated teams to start acting like they do, and that is it hadn’t been Lando then Carlos would’ve just done the same thing with someone else.

I call bullshit.

Something like this would have NEVER worked with Carlos and another driver. Why? Because the bond and understanding between Lando and Carlos is on another level. They know each other so well and that's why it worked. They're former teammates, they shared everything back in McLaren when it came to data and the way they drive.

They know each other so well.

I don’t even think people who are outside of the Carlando bubble actually realise this. Carlando isn’t just a work bromance made up for likes on IG and more engagement from fans. They care for each other, respect each other, love each other. They are collageus but that’s not what they truly are. They are friends, I might even go as far to say they’re the racing equivalent of soulmates.

Those saying that Carlos wouldn't have done it with anyone else are right. He doesn't have that level of trust in anyone else. It was amazing to see them understand each other without actually talking to each other. Carlos more than deserved that win after such a genius strategy that he came up with himself.

No one else deserved the P1 because no one else came close to his mentality all weekend.

[grahamcarmen]

[embracing-the-ineffable]

Did anyone record a video of Rob Wilkins' panel at Ineffable Con this year? The Ineffable Detective Agency would be very grateful to watch it for reasons... and helping us out would be a very nice thing to do 😍

The @ineffable-detective-agency thanks you for sharing this gif of smitten gratitude - and our request - far and wide!

[madebypointlesswords]

That one time Gwaine got Merlin drunk

Gwaine: tale as old as time Merlin: meme as old as vine Merlin and Gwaine: *singing in unison* Beauty and the yeet Arthur: what- Leon: Don't. Questioning it only encourages them

[kashilascorner]

Oh ok. I get now why a lot of people didn't vibe with the ending.

All and all: excellent manga, overall very good final act, too rushed final 2-3 chapters but weak and honestly mediocre epilogue, which makes the high of the ending kind of leave a bitter taste. I think Noda had a good steed and suddenly he had to finish and had to rush all. So the ending in the sense of the final arc was good but the ending proper (final couple chapters) + epilogue......... Not so much

[pluttskutt]

name core

@cljordan-imperium tagged me in this, thank you dearie <3 it was a nice distraction ⸜( *ˊᵕˋ* )⸝

rules: search "your name + core” on pinterest, post the first six photos, and tag 6 more people

I have two names so I did two boards because I wanted to and I. will let them speak for themselves

tagging: @aether-wasteland-s @aziz-reads @queerlilchinchin @imbrisvastatio @saphoblin @lieutenantdarvell + open tag (^-^*)/a

[alpinelogy]

Blue for the word game

legit write this like six hours ago lol. the only blue in any of my wips adfsgdh

Alex closes the distance, presses his lips into Logan’s. There are no fireworks going off in the distance, there is no celebration, only the quiet hum of the paddock and the distant roar of the deep, endless, blue sea far, far away. Logan never wants this moment to stop, Logan never wants to stop kissing Alex.

send me a word for a sentence from my wip ask game

[usertoxicyaoi]

BOUNPREM + PHOTOSHOOT PARALLELS.