#specifically SPECIFICALLY about people who misinterpret songs

[prodigalhound]

smiths fans are truly some of the worst and it is mostly popular band syndrome I KNOW but it still makes me wanna kms

[project-sekai-facts]

Hey I've been wondering, could you explain Akito and his death symbolism? It's been constantly mentioned or implied in his recent focus songs and VBS covers (getting lines about "death" or "dying" and the likes)

It's just because the fandom is using that to mischaracterize him as an overly depressed and suicidal guy (another Mafuyu copy; pls save him and Tsukasa) and I just don't think that's what the writers mean to say and the point of his whole character!!!

(prefacing this: I'm aware there was a thread about this going round twitter a while ago, I haven't read it specifically because of this ask and if anything is the same that wasn't intentional and I apologise)

A large part of Akito's character arc is his difficulty with improvement and his sheer determination and passion that goes alongside it. He had always viewed his lack of natural talent and unrefined skills as something that made him inferior, which only led to him pushing himself to his extremes, and trying to face things independently and head-on. This is something that's touched on heavily in the STRAY BAD DOG event, where we get to see him learn to rely on his teammates more and realise that he isn't alone. Find A Way Out continues his arc of personal development, with him realising he's actually not so different to the people he looks up to, and finally learning to accept and feel confident with his improvement instead of just pushing forward almost desperately. It's that idea of him finally realising that he won't always be a step behind everyone else and good things are actually coming with his hard work.

Building off that idea, it's like a sort of rebirth. And that's where the links to Kashika come in. Kashika is a song about death and longing which gets horribly misinterpreted and has led people to believe Akito is suicidal which is simply untrue. The thing that's dying in this context is Akito's old self. The child who had no talent and was falling so far behind everyone. The child who worked so, so, so hard to be perfect is dying. And that sounds like a negative thing but it's really not. It's a metaphor for Akito reflecting on himself and moving on from the past and breaking new ground.

The 2DMV adds another layer to this with its marigolds, which not only symbolise death, but also can symbolise a renewal. And in this case, renewal refers to Akito's growth following the events of FAWO. He finally faced up to his past mistakes and overcame them, but even then he won't let himself feel relief. It's only with the help of Taiga's story about Ken that he's finally able to be more satisfied with himself and how far he's managed to come. He's finally able to break out from that belief that he's forever going to be stuck behind, and he's able to have faith in himself. Realising that Ken was just like him and managed to get to such a high level of skill and be so respected by those around him finally lets Akito believe that he too can reach that same light.

The butterflies in the background again symbolise renewal or transformation. It's not about death as per se, it's about change. Change and growth and transformation are recurring themes in prsk's character writing, and Akito is no exception. While on a surface level, Kashika is about death, if you put it next to the story, it's about regeneration. Akito is moving forward and leaving the old him behind, he says as much in the FAWO story.

If you actually read the lyrics to Kashika, it's genuinely kinda shocking to me how much people misinterpret its connection to Akito as a character. Like I get the song talks about death a lot and wanting to die, but particularly in these extracts you can see some of the key points of the FAWO event - Akito's determination, passion and self-acceptance. It's a song about Akito growing up, physically and emotionally, and saying goodbye to his past self.

Now as anon pointed out, the marigolds previously appeared in his card from Light Up The Fire. And while in the case of this event, it was most likely drawn to connect with the story surrounding Nagi's death, but it's worth mentioning that every character had their own flower, so the marigolds are specific to him.

As I mentioned in today's fact, aside from being associated with death, grief, and mourning, marigolds can also have positive connotations of optimism and passion based on their warm and vibrant colors. One of the key elements of LUTF was despair and grief, shown through more ways than one. Whilst the truth of Nagi's death came as a shock to the VBS and the others, the following battle with Taiga crushed their hope to the point that everyone except VBS gave up. VBS decides to keep trying for Nagi, and again there's that idea of a renewal. They know the truth now, and are going to come back and get better. Now while this is more general about VBS, the marigolds are still specific to Akito, considering how he's always been the most determined one who has taught himself that the only way he can succeed is through sheer perseverance. Whilst it applies to all of VBS in this instance, it applies even moreso to him.

Also it leads very nicely into his fes card story, which follows after the events of LUTF from his point of view. Something notable about his fragment sekai is that it's a completely barren wasteland. It's dead. And to top it all off, he gets amnesia. However the whole point of his sekai is to remind him of his determination, remind him that he has never once given up on this dream, how he's fought and fought to hold onto it and shouldn't let what happened with Taiga and the truth behind RW strike him down. Despite the area being dead and barren, and despite the fact he can't even remember who he is at all, he still pushes forwards and keeps walking through the dangerous environment because he knows he can't just sit around, he knows he has to do something. He knows it's not a choice, it's a necessity for him to persevere, even if he can't remember why. In the end he does remember, and finds a single flower that is managing to flourish despite the harsh conditions, and he even compares himself to it because truthfully they're one in the same. Even in a hopeless situation, Akito manages to pull through. In a metaphorical sense, he can't truly die, he still finds a way to thrive even if the world is against him. His determination truly is the core of his character.

And that leads us nicely to BURN MY SOUL, which I would consider to be the end of his first character arc. Despite having learnt a lesson about his true strength and potential in FAWO, he still hasn't reached that full potential, and he still believes that he needs to keep pushing and keep working. Through Ken's advice, he's able to realise that he's been so focused on perfection that he's bottling up all the passion inside of him. Because he's so passionate about music and it's this passion that fuels his resolve that is ultimately his core, his soul. And especially after everything that's happened, the fact that there's still a lingering sense of despair after the incident with Taiga, he needs to truly let that passion burn and realise that his true potential has been inside of him all along. His role as assigned by Ken is to light up a fire amongst the people again, so he let's the fire within him burn freely for the first time, and it works exactly as needed and is able to rekindle hope throughout the town and in one of his teammates.

Back to that idea about how metaphorically Akito cannot die, I really like the symbolism of fire within VBS and Akito in particular because it's framed in such a way that the fire lit by RW is a flame that can't burn out. Even with things such as CRaZY's "I'm so ready to die" and the "I'm going to pry it open like I'm going to die" voiceline that plays when you pull his WL card, it's not meant in such a way that he wants to die, but in a way that he's going to put his all into it as if it is the last thing he'll ever do. Akito doesn't want to die, he wants to live to see things through to the end. He's too determined to let anything snuff out his flame, and even then that makes me think of the original usage of snuffing out a flame, which was actually to trim the wick so the flame could burn brighter. If you care enough about that dumb candle analogy, you could say that Taiga/the events of LUTF tried to extinguish Akito's flame, only for him to come back from the dead (and quite literally considering the wasteland in his fes card), and now he's only burning brighter and stronger.

Akito's death symbolism isn't a negative thing. Akito isn't someone who wants to die, he's too determined to die. No matter how much the universe tells him to give up he'll never stop pushing and never stop breaking down the walls around him until he sees his dreams through. All his death symbolism is equally tied to the idea of rebirth or even just living. Kashika is about him leaving his past behind and moving forward, his fes card is about his passion counteracting despair, and Burn my soul/CRaZY/Break down the wall are all about him being so fired up that he's going to act as if it's his final day. He's learning to be satisfied with his life and where he is. He's ready to live and to say he wants to die is a great injustice to his character arc.

[tarot-by-e11e]

PAC: "Little Warnings"

(this is strictly for entertainment purposes only)

Unfortunately, this is gonna hurt. So, don't read through this if you're already going through some pretty harsh stuff.

When I felt called to do this PAC, I felt that we needed to be humbled and check ourselves occasionally to see if we were being a bit too arrogant. It's such an odd feeling to be called to do this theme for this specific PAC, but hey, even if not every loving call out may be meant for others, every message is still, in some shape or form, valid. Not all of it may resonate with you, and that is still okay~

But I am manifesting that you will encounter this when the universe deems you need to be lovingly knocked down a few pegs~

Nothing wrong with a little loving call-out?

Pile 1:

Cards Pulled:

Queen of Wands, Hierophant, 5 of Coins

Hi Pile 1, if you chose this pile, whenever part of your journey you read this, here are your little warnings you might need to know, so only take what resonates with you, okay?

"Aren't you getting a bit over your head lately? Nothing wrong about being confident in your own abilities but you don't need to rub it in other people's faces that you know you're that Queen B~"

"There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance, my dear. If you don't want to be perceived as someone abrasive or cheap, you know what you need to do."

"Traditions are great and all but there's always room to make new traditions. Honoring the past doesn't mean you have to continue living in the past."

"Which would you prefer being ruthlessly right all the time and be hated? Or learn how to communicate compassionately without sacrificing your truth?"

"Don't expect different results when you're clearly stuck in your ways."

"No matter how much you mean well, if you don't know how to respectfully convey your messages properly, you will not be understood in a way that you'd prefer."

"Don't expect other people to pick up on your body language and subtle hints. Not everyone is as painfully self aware as you."

"Your Past pain is valid but your attitude is not."

"You keep behaving like you can't get passed your trauma from your past then btch out on how cruel life was for you, so you project your hurt towards others, especially towards people who are living the life that you want. Seriously, pick a struggle and push through it. Make it make sense."

"You are not bound to the environment you grew up in, because you have the power to change your destiny. Remember, at the end of the day, only you can save yourself from your circumstance."

"You are more capable than you let yourself believe you are. You just chose to live in your pain when you know you have to put in the effort for you to change your life for the better."

"You are bound by your own self imposed limitations. You are imprisoned in your mind by your own fear."

Channeled Song:

(this concludes the end of your reading)

(this is strictly for entertainment purposes only)

Pile 2:

Cards Pulled:

Queen of Swords, Chariot, Strength

Hi Pile 2, if you chose this pile, whenever part of your journey you read this, here are your little warnings you might need to know, so only take what resonates with you, okay?

- "I'm all up for honesty, just not verbal abuse. So be discerning if the receiver of the message is too soft hearted or easily traumatised."

- "Words are double edged swords. The same words that can heal can also break someone's heart."

- "Discern which battles are worth fighting for. Know when to retreat your words when you know that how you speak may bring more harm than good."

- "Being assertive and a goal getter is nice and all, but remember, your passion may be misinterpreted as abrasive and uncouth. Remember to respect other's personal boundaries."

- "Going after what you want is normal, disregarding someone's feelings and free will isn't."

- "Think before you speak or do."

- "Your way isn't the only way."

- "Impulsive behaviour leaves you susceptible to disaster and unnecessary quarrel. It won't kill you to think before you leap."

- "You don't need to so harsh and dominant to be perceived as strong."

- "Having strength does not warrant you to be mannerless and disrespectful."

- "Hypervigilance doesn't mean you're strong. It means you've been pushed to the corner where you had no one to rely on, especially during the times you need anyone the most."

- "Being able to do everything on your own doesn't mean you don't need help. You can lean on to others unharmed too. Not everyone is out to get you."

- "Just because you used to being in pain and on your own, it doesn't mean that what you've gone through is something you deserve. Don't catastrophize every bad thing that's happened to you as a punishment from the universe. Unfortunately, bad things happen for no reason. You were just unfortunately at the wrong place in the wrong time."

- "You don't deserve to be stuck in your hyperindepence and wear your lack of trust in others like a badge of honor. Your body can only hold so much trauma before it starts completely wrecking your nervous system and have it physically manifest as an illness. Ex. You struggle to lose weight no matter how much you work out because your body doesn't feel safe to exist. That's why you body stores fat as a cushion to help make it feel safe to exist."

- "How far will you keep pushing the people you love away? Are you waiting for their patience to run out so that you can subconsciously prove to yourself that everyone would leave you?? You're so hellbent in your skewed narrative that feeds your self-sabotaging tendencies and lack of self worth that you'd do anything to have your negative self talk to manifest into your reality. Stop feeding yourself the BS that (If they're meant for me, they'll stay. News Flash, no one wants to willing stay with someone who refuse to grow out of their own toxicity. No one can save you but yourself. EVEN YOUR LOVED ONES HAS LIMITS TOO."

- "Be a dear and search up the meaning of the ff. words: GASLIGHTING, STONE WALLING, COVERT NARCISSIST, ACCOUNTABILITY, EMOTIONAL MATURITY, JEALOUSY, SOFT FBOI/GURL, SHADOW WORK, MALADAPTIVE DAYDREAMING (Feel free to see which words hurts the most for you and start working on that)"

- "No one can save you from your own self imposed mental prison of scarcity and unworthiness. People around you can only do so much for you. The power to trap you and free you has always been in your hands."

- "Are you done thinking that everyone is out to get you? Hopefully you'd come to realise that people don't think about you as much as you think they do. Everyone's busy barely surviving their lives to be bothered to meddle with yours."

- "You're not as strong as much as a target you think you are, and that's okay. You don't have to be in everyone's mind and in everyone's DM to feel important. You are worthy and deserving of all regardless if you are in the spotlight or behind the scenes."

- "Two things can be true at the same time. You are the Main Character of your life and also be a background character is someone else's storyline."

- "What's serious for you may not be serious for someone else. So don't expect others to adjust for you when you made zero efforts to properly communicate what you wanted to say."

Channeled Song:

(this concludes the end of your reading)

(this is strictly for entertainment purposes only)

Pile 3:

Cards Pulled:

7 of Swords, Ace of Swords, 6 of Wands

Hi Pile 3, if you chose this pile, whenever part of your journey you read this, here are your little warnings you might need to know, so only take what resonates with you, okay?

- "Just because someone broke your heart it doesn't give you the right to leave a trail of broken hearts in your path. Your pain is valid but your attitude and actions afterwards aren't."

- "Being betrayed in the past doesn't mean you should play and to toy with someone else's feelings. You are becoming the player that you hated the game for."

- "Not all people mean to use and abuse you. Other people are just good natured and mean what they say. Don't confuse someone's genuity because someone else broke your trust before."

- "Discernment is highly encouraged, projecting your pain and jealousy isn't."

- "It's great to chase new ideas, what's not great is to chase the idea of someone new then cheat on your current partner just because things got bored. Don't be a part of the problem."

- "Don't even dare entertain anyone new just because you chose to be lazy and not put in the effort to communicate on how your current relationship can get better. Emotionally opening up to someone is cheating. Having a work husband/wife is still cheating. Putting yourself in any situation that would cause your partner to doubt your loyalty is a breeding ground of disaster of the life you currently know."

- "If you caved in and cheat now, you are bound to cheat again. If you allow yourself to be tempted now, you have proven yourself unworthy to even be in a loving relationship. In short: you have become part of the problem. So don't expect receiving anything you refused to give. You have no right to the privileges of an exclusive and healthy relationship if you fck around and find out. (because you actively chose to play whack a mole and find out what it's like to have std because of your recklessness)."

Channeled Song:

- "How far will you go just to win? Will you cheat on your partner just to have a promotion? Will you pay someone to ruin your competition just to win? Will you start a smear campaign just to go ahead? Will you drop little white lies to make yourself appear as the better option? How illegal and immoral would you allow yourself to become just to get ahead? Is it worth it? Lose your friends and family along the way? Just to win that empty cup?"

- "Will you abandon your morals just to win?"

(this concludes the end of your reading)

(this is strictly for entertainment purposes only)

Pile 4:

Cards Pulled:

6 of Swords, Knight of Cups, 7 of Wands

Hi Pile 4, if you chose this pile, whenever part of your journey you read this, here are your little warnings you might need to know, so only take what resonates with you, okay?

- "Unfortunately, leaving the problem behind without any explanation or letter won't make it go away."

- "Ghosting, just to protect your ego, is never the answer. Face your issues like an adult and accept the consequences of your actions accordingly."

- "No amount of dr*gs, alcohol, smoke or flings can help you tun away from your own willful ignorance. You can't run away from your own feelings. The only way to get away/rid of your problem is by facing it. This is one of the moments in a person's life where DELULU is NOT the SOLULU."

- "Fleeing the country won't keep you from feeling your feelings."

- "Just because you understand how people work and emotionally operate, it doesn't mean that you should use that to your unfair advantage. Stop binge watching those dark psychology videos. And you wonder why people pick a bad vibe from you? What do you expect? You are indeed the problem: the not so covert manipulative problem."

- "Stop using the promise of helping others with their dreams just so you can trick them in making your dreams come true at their expense."

- "You can only spin a web of lies so far."

- "You're not as convincing of a gaslighter as you think you are. People can see through your lies, they just chose not to speak up because, yes, they do it out of pity."

- "Resilience is incredibly admired but bulldozing other people out of your way to get the results is out of the question."

- "Not seeing the results that you want then btching about not having slept enough and feeling like you're about to collapse? You chose to overwork and overburden yourself to the point of burn out, and you're shocked that your health and sanity is fcked up? Dear, make it make sense."

- "Has it ever occurred to you that just because you put in the effort to win someone over, it doesn't mean that they're obligated to choose you? Free will and preferences are a thing, you know? You can be everything and more to that person, and that person is not required nor obligated to choose you. You can the most ideal man/woman and still not be chosen."

- "Don't expect exclusivity from someone who told you from the beginning that they're there to fck around. You can't change someone just because you stayed. You can only keep someone that wants to be kept by you."

Channeled Song:

(this concludes the end of your reading)

(this is strictly for entertainment purposes only)

Feel free to check out my feedback herePaid Readings are AVAILABLE

In all honesty, I feel so bad for releasing this PAC but there's this oddly strong gut feeling that we all need to be humbled and wake up to the toxicity we all chose to lie with at night.

In fact, some things we've gone through, unfortunately are the results of our own lack of accountability.

Sorry if I hurt your feelings, but some painful warnings need to be said.

Notice:

Exchange Readings are OPEN

Feel free to send me some support in the form of tips,

Head to my Buy-Me-A-Coffee here 🍀

[if-you-heart]

Analysing Soul’s character with animal behaviour

Something I’ve noticed about how Soul is treated by a portion of the fandom is that, to be honest, their character is extremely misunderstood by a lot of people. And that’s pretty sad! Because I think Soul is a very interesting and complex character. The main thing I’ve noticed is how Soul is often portrayed as the “big bad villain” because of a handful of lyrics throughout the cccc album. I’m not really going to go into the lyrics right now, but I feel like a lot of people are misunderstanding who Soul really is, and are more so looking for a character to pin all of the blame on for everything that goes down in the album.

Thinking about this made me realise that Soul reminds me of a wolf. Specifically, how a lot of people are quick to perceive a wolf’s social behaviour as “aggression” and them simply just being violent towards a “weaker” wolf.

The behaviour wolves display towards other pack mates (growling, nipping, etc) is almost always framed as them harming the other wolf. It may LOOK threatening, and the wolf’s teeth may seem intimidating, but in reality the wolf is being very gentle with its pack mate. It’s more so a corrective behaviour, or a way of showing social status, in most cases. I think Soul suffers from this misinterpretation when they’re lashing out within the lyrics of some of the songs. I believe the main reason it’s misconstrued is because of a general lack of understanding behaviours the viewer hasn’t personally experienced. Ofc this is a literal animal I’m comparing this to, but there’s still something to be said here regardless.

I’ve seen many people so far perceive Soul’s attitude towards Heart and Mind as pure evil and malicious, and barely cutting them any slack whatsoever. Soul isn’t a villain. They’re just exhausted. They’ve been stretched thin over the stress of feeling like a puppet to the other two. They’re what’s left when emotion and logic separates; a husk that’s struggling to survive. When you villainise them solely for how they act in the music, you’re also disregarding that both Heart and Mind are… just as bad. I mean Heart literally tried to kill Mind. None of these guys are evil, but they’re not good people either. The only way they’ll become whole is if they learn to get along, that’s what the album is about. Not one being more right than the other, but about them finally opening up to each other’s viewpoints and accepting one another, albeit hesitantly.

And yes, Soul’s behaviour in the album is ABSOLUTELY pretty toxic. But that’s what stress and depression does to a person!!! They’re very clearly tired of Heart and Mind fighting all the time. They don’t hate Heart OR Mind, but their patience with these two and their nonstop bickering is growing very thin. And that’s completely understandable. Every single one of these freaks start off with an unhealthy dynamic and difficult mindset. But they learn over time to get along until they’re eventually Whole again. There’s no “villain”, and none of them are completely innocent either. It’s just three really depressed guys who desperately want to see the light.

Anyways,

[licorice-and-rum]

My response to some "critics" about Babel

Okay, I'm gonna start by saying this: English is not my first language so I may commit some spelling and grammar mistakes here but I felt like I just had to write this down, especially because of the negative reviews this book has that just… didn't get it.

Don't get me wrong, of course you're allowed to not like this book, I recognize that it's most certainly not gonna be everyone's cup of tea but some of the people here just didn't get what this book was all about. Babel isn't a fantasy like ACOTAR, or HP, or whatever (in the sense that, for those, the story guides the message while Babel is the contrary): like many classical books, Babel was written to make a point, it's a romance, sure, but it was written to argue for something - the necessity of violence.

So, first of all: Babel is a historical fantasy, it talks about colonialism, racism, sexism, and other matters with no qualms, no embellishing to make it digestible, no allegories or metaphors because this isn't the point. Kuang's "lack of nuance" as someone here pointed out is very deliberate and extremely important for the story because the points she wants to make are always lost in nuance (just think how many people go on misinterpreting Star Wars, Hunger Games, or even anti-system songs like The Wall ffs), and the message is too important to get lost in allegories.

Second, as to the story, many people seem to think what she's pointing out is obvious "ur dur colonialism is bad, we get it". No, you clearly don't. There's a profound difference between getting it and actually comprehending it to an elemental level. Robin's travel to Canton illustrates that perfectly: he knew that colonialism was bad, he knew it was violent but he didn't comprehend it until he was forced to face it happening in front of him - to people who could've been easily him. More than that, because that was when he finally connected the theory with the reality, it became palpable to him.

It's not enough to get it, you have to actually stay attuned to it, to feel the flow of its violence throughout the world because then, and only then, I'll realize you can't be complacent, you can't turn your head from it. And Babel is an attempt, however tiny, of showing this to you. Of telling you "Look, you're ignoring it, the discomfort you felt reading this is your conscience telling you you relate to that". So no, I refuse to accept that Kuang should have been more nuanced: she was as clear as she could because she knows people say they get it but they don't, not really.

Third, the magical system is just chef's kiss. I've seen many people complaining about it but the thing is: the silver working is not about having magic in the world, it's about creating a palpable, material place where Kuang could center her attention as she talked about the economic aspect of colonialism. That's because colonial power is not centered in one place or thing, it is scattered all around but you can't hardly make a point like Babel's if you have your characters fighting off colonialism in all corners of the world. Like the Capital in the Hunger Games, Babel is a material place that symbolizes something.

Moreover, the silver working symbolizes the Industrial Revolution and its need for the advance of colonialism. More than that, silver-working is about capital, it's about technology to generate more profit, quicker, for a specific class that doesn't care who they have to kill to continue, doesn't care whether it is good or bad for the common folk.

Fourth, many people pointed out how academic Kuang's writing style felt during Babel and they're right, it is indeed very identifiable. I'm sure I even commented something along the lines of "it feels like I'm having the best History lesson of all time". But I'm going to challenge people who say things against the notion that the historical description of Kuang was unnecessary: every time Kuang chose to give the readers historical context has served somehow to the narrative.

I remember early on in the book when Robin was still a teen walking through London and reading anything he could put his hands on, and then we get two paragraphs of historical and political context for the time, then Robin comments that he didn't understand why this mattered so much. That paragraph served so much, both because it made us know a little more about Robin and because it served to make us understand the profound environmental change England was going through at the time.

And every time she did this, it served for something. Again, Babel is a historical fantasy, it is supposed to make you think about the point Kuang is trying to make but you won't understand it if you don't know the context of which Robin and the other characters in the book are coming from. It was a time of decision: either England would consolidate itself as an almost all-powerful oppressor, or it could go down… if the oppressed people - who share a common enemy - understood their responsibility to do something.

The strikes of the English working class, the violent acts of rioters, the advancement in technology, the possibility of the Opium War, the colonialism… it's all important. It's important because it allows us to understand the deep connection between it all. It allows us to understand who profits off of it, and who doesn't; who is able to understand and who isn't. It's why Letty is upper-class. It's why Abel isn't.

It's not as simple as some people think to understand colonialism, the flows through which one thing is tied to another. Why do people ask "How does this affect me?" when we point out deeply unfair things like unpaid maternity leave (I actually saw an American once saying she "wouldn't want her tax money to go to someone who didn't plan through"), like the fact people starve when we have the ability to feed a world and a half, of that Palestine is going through ethnic cleansing? Because they are unable to understand how closely their lives are tied to other peoples they have never met and probably never will.

Kuang's message is not "colonialism is bad", she's saying "These are all the forms through which colonialism is bad to everyone but a few, do something about it", she's saying "Every single one of your struggles is tied together in more ways than you even understand. A person in Haiti, in China, in India, in the other side of the world, has more to do with you than these white rich people, fight with them, stand with them."

Fifth, I can't believe I gotta say this but I'm not going to even bother with you if you think this book is somehow "anti-white": just get over your main character syndrome. We're talking about a historical fantasy set in England in the epitome of colonialism through the eyes of a person of color. Of course, most white people are gonna be bad, get over yourself ffs!

The actual entitlement to the protagonism white people have is maddening. As a white woman (in Brazil, at least), I'm ashamed of some comments here. It's not because white people in this book are majorly racist (which, according to the setting is 100% accurate) that Kuang is talking about you (although, if you're so bothered by it, it's probably about you anyway). This is a book about the experience of people of color under the oppression of colonialism: white people are the problem!

You can't just expect someone to write about colonialism and not talk majorly about race. White people reap all the privileges of this system and not just that, they are responsible for it, and all the crying about being the bad guys is just insufferable (they're actually so right about having to console Letty once she learns about the racism they suffer).

Be f*ing accountable for your privileges, take responsibility for your internalized racism, and be accountable for the system that privileges you. It doesn't matter that it wasn't your fault, that you didn't set up the system, you still benefit from it anyway so get a grip. This story isn't about you at all, it isn't about how some white people fought against slavery or oppression, it isn't about you.

Let's be very clear about this: most white people who fought against slavery did so to serve their own interests, exactly as Kuang points out. This doesn't mean none of them were good people who actually believed slavery was bad but we're talking of a time when racism and racial discrimination weren't even discussed seriously. Most white people, even the ones against slavery would have a deeply ingrained racism in them, so get real.

More than that, though: if those people who actually have no shame in saying Babel is "anti-white" had actually read the book through, they would know that some white people actually help and are good people in the story.

Anyway, Babel is so good, it's so painfully real and so passionately well-written. You can feel Kuang's love for her people, the struggles of what it means to love something but still not be a part of it, the deep understanding of how the world works, and how intricately every single thing in our lives is.

I just felt so heard (as a person from a third-world country) reading Babel, like someone was telling me all this rage and indignation I feel is justified, it's valid. I just treasured it so much, how I identified with Robin's need for security contrasting with his indignation for the price of it; with the rage Griffin carried around him, sharpened and well-directed even in its volition; with the love Victoire had to learn to have for her country and its story; with all the pain I was able to share with someone who understood it.

It's an honor to allow words to change me so fundamentally. It's humbling to realize I'm not alone, that my actions and my feelings are shared by other people. It is really precious, you know, to be able to become a better person than I was before because of a book.

[theaviatorthatcouldnotfly]

about simon’s social media plotline

instead of deleting it, why didn’t simon just temporarily deactivate his instagram/make a private account?

all season, simon has been trying to find workarounds to his worsening situation when it comes to outside pressures and an increasingly stifling environment. he tries to find ways to still be himself and have some sense of freedom, even with all the criticism and negativity being hurled his way.

he’s hit with a barrage of hate comments everywhere? fine. he’ll reply to some of them, just to make sure that everyone gets a sense of who he really is. but he soon finds that when he does so, he’s only met with even more hatred and people coming for his throat. and wille himself tells him replying will only make things worse, so he should try to refrain from doing so.

okay, then. he might not be able to directly comment and tell the world who he is and how all of this is making him feel, but he can show them. so he uploads the video of him singing, the thing he loves most in the world, and he expresses himself through that original song. but that doesn’t work either, and wille tells that simon shouldn’t be posting those things on social media because they can easily be misinterpreted and cause harmful speculations and media attention. and to make things worse, there’s a whole new barrage of hate comments, this time leaning into more sinister territory.

but simon is not going to give up so easily— even if tons of people online are telling him that he’s a golddigger and pathetic and chasing fame, he knows that those aren’t his intentions. he’s with wille because he loves him, and he’s not looking for fame or wealth out of it. and all simon wants out of life is to make some positive change in the world. so of course he can’t help himself when he adds himself to the post of the picture he took with the younger boy who looks up to him. he’s hopeful and a little giddy about it all, because he is making a change. he is helping and inspiring others. he wants to share that with others.

and then simon goes home to find that an anonymous stranger has thrown a rock through his window, into his house.

simon loves his family dearly. he would do anything for them. and someone he likely doesn’t even know hated him enough to threaten his family’s safety, his mother’s safety, by finding his house and breaking the window with the rock. being harassed on social media and in person by reporters fucking sucks, but in simon’s mind, at least that’s only affecting him. but this? this is too far. this is his family, and they’re unintentional targets now, too. they aren’t even safe in their own home anymore, where they’ve lived in the last fourteen years.

so when jan olof and farima come by and tell simon to delete his social media accounts for his own safety— not temporarily deactivate, not make private, specifically delete— simon does it. because private accounts and deactivations are workarounds, and to simon, workarounds have only made things worse. it’s not just him on the line anymore, it’s his family and safety and his relationship with wille altogether, so he does exactly what the royal court says and deletes his accounts. workarounds just aren’t worth it.

okay, but why is deleting his instagram account such a big deal? he can always make a new one, so why does it matter?

one of the first times that we get a deeper look into who simon is, not coincidentally, through the contents of his instagram account! when wille is lurking on simon’s profile, we get a solid introduction into the key aspects and people in simon’s life. he he has two best friends who he adores, he loves his sister and his mother, and even his bio says “music makes my world go round”.

but looking past that aspect for now, we also get to see who simon is outside of social media and these close relationships: he’s very outspoken, doesn’t let others silence him (even in his very first scene, he sings louder when vincent makes fun of him), is unafraid to call others out on their bullshit and has strong values that he’s quick to share.

but throughout season three, as simon is faced with more and more pressure and cruelty on behalf of the public and royal court, he starts losing himself. he finds that singing isn’t as enjoyable anymore, he becomes quieter and quieter. he initially fights back when he feels that the royal court is being unreasonable, like when he was first told by wille about being careful on social media, but eventually just reaches a point where he stops and just takes it. he ends up going against his own values just for the sake of not fighting with wille during the sit-in, despite clearly being bothered by it. and of course, this isn’t helped by the fact that he’s not on speaking terms with sara again until much later and his relationship with his mom is strained until mid-season, so a integral part of his support system isn’t able to help him until he was a little too deep into all this.

so looking back at the social media aspect, simon deleting his instagram accounts is the nail in the coffin. he publicly displays his unabashed love for his family, friends, and music through his posts, all of which are essential to his sense of self and who he is as a person, and we see him literally delete it all. this drives home the point that simon is deleting himself, and marks one of his lowest points in terms of losing and changing himself to try and fit into a space that will never be made for someone like him. square peg in a circular hole.

so yes, realistically, simon deleting instagram is a sad thing to see, although not necessarily earth-shattering. but metaphorically? it’s everything.

why were there only hate comments? sweden is very progressive in terms of queer rights and social acceptance, so it couldn’t have been that bad.

of course, i can’t speak for lisa and the rest of the team, but i feel that this was an intentional detail. because the truth is, there probably weren’t only hate comments! we even see the initial response after simon posts the clip of him singing, and it’s positive.

but as an overall society, we tend to take criticism harder than we do compliments. you likely don’t remember that one time last week where a stranger complimented your hair or outfit or handwriting, whatever it may be, but you probably do remember the last time someone told you that your efforts weren’t enough. you probably remember the last time you got a bad review or a bad grade on something you tried hard on, or when someone made fun of your interests. and speaking as a teenager, i can confirm that this is a huge thing to us as well— we want to be accepted and complimented, we want to be wanted, and when we aren’t, it feels like it’s the end of the world.

so of course simon would take all those disgusting comments to heart. anyone would, especially when they haven’t had any time to prepare for it. so as more and more hate comments roll in, it’s harder to pay attention to the positivity that may also be there. from simon’s point of view, the hate is everywhere and too much to ignore, so that’s what we get to see. we see criticism and threats and people being mean, because those are the responses and the view that affect simon the most.

tldr; simon deleted his instagram because he felt that using another workaround in deactivation/private acc would be a risk, it’s a big deal because by literally deleting his social media the writers show that simon is deleting himself, and there’s mostly hate comments because through simon’s pov those are the ones that are the most impactful.

[naomihatake]

In search of freedom (Ch. 3)

3. A change of heart

Chapter 2 ; Chapter 3 ; Chapter 4

⠀⠀⠀⠀She's been searching for freedom her entire life and everytime she thought it was laying right in front of her eyes, she was mistaken. She was running around the East Blue, seeking herself and her dreams, meeting people she never forgot. No matter how much she traveled, she could only catch a glimpse of peace before realizing everything would crumble at her feet.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Maybe it was destiny that brought her on that ship with three strangers — foolishly, that's what she tried to believe when the moon shined beautifully and hope settled in her chest, squeezed by the same ribcage where feelings were blooming.

Pairing: female!reader x OPLA Zoro Roronoa.

Warnings for this chapter: anxiety, tarot readings, canon typical violence, tension, mutual pining

Word count: 8k (um? It wasn't supposed to be that long, but I'm not unsatisfied at all)

Theme song: “Hoist the colors” by Bobby bass (click on the link)

A/N: I tried my best to add Zoro's perspective in this part. I don't know if I did a good job or not, but I'm experimenting with writing specific characters and personalities. I think I understand him a tad bit more than I did last time — in case you haven't noticed, I love psychoanalyzing my favorite characters and Zoro is one of them. The last chapter felt quick paced because of the fight, but this one is slow paced; I wanted to stretch the tension that way.

The reader is referred to as "Witch" because I have no intentions of using "Y/N".

I'm open for comments and opinions <3

"He has quite the bounty on his head," the witch commented as she looked at Buggy's wanted poster. 

Zoro's fingers gripped tighter at the hilt of his white sword after he huffed. 

"I should've killed him."

"And how were you supposed to be paid for it when you're a wanted man yourself?" Luffy laughed at him. 

Another huff left the swordsman's lips and he averted his eyes with a scowl. 

"I guess that's also right."

He tore the poster from the wall and squeezed it in his fingers, the paper getting destroyed right in front of his eyes. 

"Stupid clown," he muttered. 

A light chuckle got his attention; the witch who stood with her arms crossed right next to him didn't seem lively at all. Ever since they stepped on land in the Syrup Village, color drained from her face and she was constantly fidgeting and playing with her fingers. It was weird; the swordsman didn't spend much time with the other three, but they weren't impossible to read. 

She didn't seem the type to be so awfully quiet. She had smart comments sitting on the tip of her tongue and it wasn't necessarily hard to make her smile; if anything, Luffy's smile was so contagious and it influenced her greatly, Zoro observed. The straw hat wasn't the only one in that situation — each one of them was. The witch somehow knew what to say and how to treat them, how to approach a topic. 

Maybe that's why she was called a witch. For the life of it, Zoro didn't like to read between the lines and his usual blunt personality drew people away because they misinterpreted it as rudeness. Did he care? Not really. So why did he suddenly think too much about it? Why was he thinking of ways to get a word out of her mouth? 

The woman his eyes were fixated on didn't hear Nami when she appeared, coming back to earth only after Luffy nudged her side with his elbow. 

"Let's go find a ship."

She only nodded and followed along, burying one hand in the pocket of her pants. He saw when she bought a pocket knife from a stand and hid it. Zoro guessed her fingers were always curled around the knife for safety reasons, even if her fear seemed irrelevant — nothing was suspicious in that village. 

They were the only suspicious people around there. A navigator who is a thief, a green-haired tall man with three swords attached to his hip, a pirate who wore a straw hat and a beautiful witch. 

Beautiful, indeed, even if that word alone didn't do the woman enough justice. Not only the way she looked was pretty, but the way she carried herself, how stable she was on her feet, the sparkle in her eyes, the taunting mischief of her gentle smile. 

A smile that has been gone for half of a day, now replaced by anxiety. Even a blind man could see the unsettling feeling she was carrying. 

Zoro didn't realize when he took the opportunity of looking at her hair bouncing with each step after he chose to walk behind them all. He shook his head and shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants, moving his gaze away. His mind shouldn't be wandering on useless things. 

Nami stopped in her tracks once they reached the dock. 

"We don't need something flashy, we have to sneak it out of here without anyone noticing."

"You mean we're gonna steal a ship?" Luffy furrowed his eyebrows. 

"Yes?" the navigator frowned. "Wasn't that obvious already? How else are we gonna get a ship?" 

"We can ask for one!" he beamed.  

"So you think that just talking with someone would bring us a ship?" 

The witch only sighed and shook her head at the other two's argument. 

"Fine," Nami gave in after looking for too long at Luffy's puppy eyes. "But if it doesn't work, we do it my way." 

"Deal."

Instantly, he walked away in search of a ship. 

"So, what's the actual plan?" Zoro asked nonchalantly. 

"You two look around and see how lax the security is around here. I'm gonna look for a ship and if we have enough luck, we will bribe Luffy into stealing one."

"I wish you luck," the swordsman smirked. 

That's how they split up, Nami heading in a different direction while the witch walked straight up ahead with one hand still in her pocket. He approached her after a few long steps, merely looking at her from the corner of his eyes. 

"If you keep walking around so stiff, people will guess we have something to hide."

"The only thing I have to hide is a pocket knife. On the other hand, you have three swords and no one looked at you suspiciously yet." 

Finally, she said full phrases. However, there was no change in her expressionless face. 

"What's up?" he fully turned his head towards her. 

"Hm?" 

Those beautiful eyes looked up at him curiously. 

"Is someone suspicious?" he asked. 

"No, just the air." 

Once again, she turned her face away before he was able to read what she was hiding. It didn't seem like something big or dangerous, but she was definitely acting shady. 

On top of it all, she wasn't exactly paying attention to her surroundings, since she didn't notice the two marines walking around the corner. Zoro wrapped an arm around her middle and placed a palm over her mouth, shoving the both of them between two buildings. 

Her fingers grasped at his wrist and if she wouldn't have reminded herself to let go of the knife, she could've cut him. 

"You could've just warned me," she whispered to him after she moved his hand away. 

They both noticed their situation way too late. Her back was pressed against his chest and his arm was holding her securely next to him. His fingers burned her skin even through the large shirt she was wearing. The air got knocked out of her lungs and for a moment, she remembered the second reason for her unsteady feelings — him. The pirate hunter she didn't like thinking of because it was better that way. 

When Zoro noticed the marines went away, he let go of her, even if too slowly. He let his suspicions get the best of him. 

"What are you hiding?" 

The witch — who just grabbed at his arm to move it away —  was in that moment frozen on the spot. 

"Nothing important."

From behind her, he couldn't see the way she frowned. 

"You're like a walking ball of anxiety." 

"I told you, it's just a shift in the air. Nothing important," she gritted her teeth, getting irritated. 

Why was she distant? Did she think he wouldn't believe in her intuition? — that's what she'd probably call it. 

She moved away after what felt like years, but her shoulders relaxed. It seemed like she figured out God-knows-what. 

"I don't like the energy. It feels like I'm gonna die soon."

"Did you see a black cat?" 

"No, I feel something crawling up my throat."

She resumed her walking and he kept up with her for the second time that day.

"Everything seems fine. I saw only those two marines and they were awfully relaxed," Zoro changed the topic. 

"Then, just like Nami guessed, the security isn't exactly top class," the witch responded. 

They walked around in silence, spotting Luffy on a ship with a goat figurehead. The swordsman could see the happiness bouncing around the straw hat who just called out at them. 

"Guys! I found it!" 

"Did you think for more than two seconds before choosing it?" the witch arched her eyebrow, amused. 

"Actually, one glance was enough to know this was the perfect ship for us."

"Why am I not surprised you were right?" Nami sighed. 

"He will sell it to us," Luffy pointed at a young man who walked behind him. 

"Um, actually, this is not for sale," he tries to smile, rubbing at the back of his neck in embarrassment. 

His golden-brown skin glistened in the early sun rays, which most probably meant he was working on something. 

"And I'm not a salesman," he added. "But my friend owns this ship." 

•┈┈┈•┈┈┈•┈┈┈

They found out his name was Usopp and the friend he was talking about was a girl who was celebrating her coming of age on that day. Kaya not only invited them to dinner, but insisted they could sleep over, considering they were “Usopp's friends”. The witch was still getting used to being called a friend or comrade, since she doesn't remember the last time that word was met with serious intentions. 

The girl's mansion was… big. It was like a labyrinth and even if Zoro was bad at directions, she thought it started to rub off on her the moment she walked towards the dressing room after taking a bath. The lights weren't particularly bright and the sun was setting by that time. The curtains were tied together, leaving space for the warm golden lights to bathe the hallways. 

Mystery clung to each artifact and painting. It was beautiful, yes, but there was a certain aura of that place that unsettled her. 

Not to mention the staff — she never thought it would come a day when she'd say “these people are weird”. For the past two years she's been traveling alone around the Blue East and she met dozens of people, one more intriguing than the other. However, that butler was suspicious. She wanted to believe he was just a father figure for Kaya and he was protective of her, but she couldn't. 

From the moment when she entered the dressing room — she's surprised she even found it —, she decided to answer some questions of her own. 

She shuffled her tarot cards in her hands, meticulously arranging each card that fell, putting them in order. It was confusing her — it was the second time she does the same thing, with the same question in mind, and she received the same ambiguous answer. Why did the cards have to be particularly hard to guess on that day? 

She ran her fingers through her hair and ruffled it, accidentally tugging harshly enough to make her frown deepen, but she held back a hiss. Maybe some pain would help her focus, instead of letting her mind waver. Luffy, who sat cross legged on the carpet, just like her, was analyzing her reactions because he had no clue what she was doing. 

"What do you see?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"Why are you whispering?" Zoro asked. 

The swordsman hasn't moved since he came into the dressing room and sat on a comfortable chair. He flexed his arms when he crossed them over his chest and threw one or two glances at the swords leaning against the armrest. 

"I don't know," Luffy whispered again, snapping his head towards him. 

She didn't pay attention to them at all. She had to admit that she felt better than an hour ago, before having the opportunity to take a bath, the reason why she was wearing a dressing gown only. It was so soft and the material felt perfect against her flushed skin, her collarbones exposed entirely. 

She was completely unaware of the gaze locked on her. The woman had no clue a specific swordsman was thinking more than he usually does. There was an inner battle he couldn't fight by using his three swords style. He occupied himself by focusing on the material things; the carpet was soft. 

Just as soft as her body when he glued her back to his chest to avoid those marines. 

"What do you think?" Nami smiled proudly after she appeared from behind the room divider. 

"You look like Nami," Luffy shrugged. 

The witch chuckled at the response. She didn't smile once since she entered that mansion, but she couldn't help her reaction. Instead, she raised her head to the orange-haired woman whose shoulders fell at the answer she received. 

After a few seconds of thinking, the witch decided to give her a real opinion:

"It compliments your body, but it isn't necessarily flattering — maybe you can find a few other options?" 

Nami nodded, moving around to search for something else. 

"I kind of feel bad for Kaya… she must feel lonely in such a big house," Luffy commented. 

The witch decided to avoid the conversation, her eyes stuck once again on the few cards splayed over the carpet. She took in a deep breath and then sighed. It made sense, but it didn't feel like a complete answer. She decided to turn the rest of the deck upside down and take the card on the top. 

"Dammit," she cussed out. 

It confused her even more, so she just put the card back in the deck. 

After a minute of spacing out, she managed to focus on the other three in the room. 

"Rich people don't feel emotions the same way we do," Nami said flatly. 

"She seems kind, though," the witch hesitated as the words left her lips. 

"That's a big word," Nami probably rolled her eyes, considering her tone. 

"Probably. She seems better than the butler, by the way."

"Have you guys seen him before?" Zoro asked, shifting in his seat. 

Immediately, the witch moved her head towards him. He answered a question she didn't even ask and her fears felt validated for a brief second. So he also found that man suspicious. 

"No, but I don't like him at all," the witch responded firmly. 

"How come you can talk so easily about people you just met? No offense."

Nami was still looking around for a dress when she talked. 

"It's not that I'm being judgmental — I can't assume what those people did or not. However, tell me, what about the staff makes you go 'oh, yes, they're good people'?" 

"Good point," she pulled her lips together in a straight line. "They're weird." 

The shuffling through clothes stopped, which meant Nami found something. Except, it wasn't for her, but for the swordsman who caught the caramel silky shirt that was thrown into his lap. 

The witch let out another long exhale and closed her eyes. She hoped she could ground herself in a way or another, despite the unhelpful air surrounding the entire house. It was suffocating and it felt as if there was a heavy press on the crown of her chest, making it hard to breathe. 

Seconds passed and the only thing she found in the depths of her thoughts was doubt and uncertainty. Nothing felt right, but she couldn't point out exactly what gave off that kind of aura. Slowing down her breathing didn't help either. 

By the time she gave up and huffed, Nami and Luffy were out of the room. She saw the glimpse of a red silky dress pooling around someone's legs. Said person was Nami, surely. 

A dress. Maybe it would be easier to hide a knife in her thigh holster. 

"You're staring at these cards like you're gonna find out something, but I doubt you found anything," Zoro got her attention. 

Once again, her fingers gripped at the strands of hair. Putting her confusion into words left a lump in her throat. 

"I don't know what's going on and it's annoying. I don't have time for life lessons."

"Going on with what?"

"This entire mansion, maybe?" she looked at him. 

His gaze made her skin tingle and she didn't know if she welcomed that foreign sensation or not. Everytime he talked, he managed to get her out of her thoughts, and she was both grateful and angry about it. For some reason, his stoic personality was safe in that maze. 

"The butler is hiding something, that I know for sure," she whispered this time. "I never saw him, but something doesn't feel right at all. Protecting Kaya? It sounds like bullshit to me, Zoro."

She was stubborn about the opinion she has of that man and maybe it was wrong, but did she really care? 

The swordsman didn't expect the sound of his name rolling off her tongue to stir something inside of him. It almost stung, her voice craving words in languages he's never spoken on his ribs. He paid attention, even if on a normal day he wouldn't listen to superstitions and the words of a probably insane witch. 

Except it sounded like she was the most sane of them all. 

"It probably won't make sense for you, but he's lying about something. He's not just a butler," she continued after glancing back at the cards. "He's fooling everyone and he's doing it well. This isn't what I'm actually concerned about — there's another lie I can't point out. The cards don't help. It feels like I'm being deceived, but for a good reason."

"By who?"

"I don't know. Or maybe I just want to avoid the answer."

She always hated her suspicious nature, the way her trust could be gained only by a few, and all of these people have been gone for years. She shouldn't be like that, it would be better if she'd have some faith in the people around her, if she'd allow herself to believe in them and their words. The ability to trust was a desire — something she wanted, but didn't have. 

Zoro's body tensed and his frown deepened when he realized she was suspicious about one of them. At the same time, her attitude didn't match up because she seemed to despise her own suspicions. 

Why was he so concerned about her? Yeah, right, he has no clue. Amazing. Perfect. 

"I hate this," she muttered under her breath. 

The witch put all of her cards in the deck and threw it on a chair after she stood up. Her eyes fell on the variety of clothes and she wondered what the fuck she was doing there in the first place. 

Why was she there? She didn't promise to stay with Luffy. She had the opportunity to remain in Syrup Village for a while and then leave, just like every time. What was she doing in that mansion, looking at too many clothes hung in a huge room? 

"Aren't you also gonna change?" she said without turning towards him. 

"Do you even trust us?"

The question had the same effect as the tight embrace she was pulled into a few hours ago. Her breath hitched and she hesitated, fingers clutching at the material of her dressing gown. 

The truth was other than what she thought of this entire time; yes. Yes, she did, and that was the most dangerous situation of them all. 

"I wish I didn't," she whispered. 

It was inexplicable, the faith she had in humanity after meeting Luffy. She would clutch at her heart and talk about how humans don't deserve her trust, she would talk for hours about how mischievous people are, that they adore taking advantage of others. 

So it was normal to despise that feeling of longing, the desire to get attached to people, the need for a connection. It was normal to fear a bad ending and it was even worse that she thought such a thing couldn't happen anymore. 

That was why the tarot cards confused her. They told a story different from the one her soul knew. What betrayal? What secret? Who was in pain they couldn't express? And why did she get the feeling that it wasn't exactly betrayal? 

Her answer probably satisfied Zoro, since he got up from the chair and took a black suit he noticed minutes ago. He didn't say a word, but his shoulders were relaxed again. 

•┈┈┈•┈┈┈•┈┈┈

The witch was the last one to arrive downstairs, in a room that seemed like a living. She found it uncomfortable to wear a dress in a house filled with strange people, since it held her speed back and it wouldn't be exactly easy to defend herself. She opted for a dress she could move in, only squeezing her waist and chest, fluttering around her knees. It was long enough to hide a knife in her thigh holster. Getting discovered wasn't on her to-do list, but she had to ensure her own safety. 

While she changed, her mind wandered… would any of them help if something happened? Her guess was that yes, they'd jump into action. 

Without noticing, after she walked down the stairs, she gravitated close to the swordsman. She was with her back at one of her comrades, never out in the open, sharp eyes scanning each corner of the room. The table in the middle was strong, she figured out after she tapped her nail over the surface. If there were guns involved, she could use it as a shield. 

"You should try these!" Luffy spoke with his mouth full of cookies as he looked towards her and Zoro. 

"I have everything I need right here," the green-haired man responded with a smirk. 

There was a glass of cocktail in between his fingers and he took a long gulp, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. Only now, the witch took her time to gaze at the expense of his shoulders, the suit fitting him perfectly. Considering how casual he dresses, it was surprising to see that kind of formal attire hugging his body so deliciously. The usual cockiness of his smirk was still present, just like the hand shoved into the pocket of his black suit pants. 

Roronoa Zoro was more attractive than she liked to admit. His sharp jawline and the smallest bump at the base of his nose, the tall stature, those deep brown eyes sparkling in the light of a candelabra — damn, he looked like he'd been sculpted by the gods, despite the lack of belief he had in such almighty beings. The air was tight when she inhaled and she almost felt bad for ogling at him — almost, because the first time she met him, she was busy sweeping the floor with some Marines. 

A feeling of control and steadiness oozed out of him, pulling her closer like a spell. For the briefest moment, her shoulders relaxed at the reminder that she's not alone there, that there are three other people she can put an ounce of trust in. That was the least she could do at that time. 

With her arms crossed loosely over her stomach, the witch watched the interaction between Nami and a businessman — he looked and acted exactly like one, but lacked the mischief. 

She missed the glance the swordsman threw at her, a look that lasted for too long to be friendly, but short enough to miss it. No, he thought to himself before taking another gulp of the liquor in his glass. He doesn't have time to indulge into such things. 

The witch sighed at her own observations; she should unwind for a little while. She picked another glass of cocktail that was on the table and sipped, furrowing her eyebrows. 

"It's sweet," she mumbled, surprised after licking her lips. 

"Don't confuse sweetness for how strong it is," Zoro chuckled. 

That simple sound made her heart skip a beat or two, bringing an uncomfortable sensation in the pitch of her stomach. 

"Beginner's mistake, I suppose," she shrugged. 

Too bad she wasn't exactly a beginner. 

The talkative Usopp and Luffy stopped, which caught her attention; these two were the loudest people she's ever met in her entire life. Kaya was walking down the stairs, her slim arms curled around one of Klahadore's — the butler. 

Only now, the witch took her time and looked at her. The pastel pink dress drained the life out of that girl, as if her pale skin didn't do that enough. Her cheeks were sunk and her smile seemed fragile like glass. She still remembers the cough that ripped through Kaya's lungs like an old knife. 

Usopp looked at her as if he saw his dream before his eyes. He was love-struck. 

The witch smiled at the realization. A puzzle so easy to solve.

The only thing Luffy loved as much as his dream and crewmates was food. Behind the door where the stairs ended, there was a big table filled with too many plates to count and a variety of dishes. His eyes sparkled as if there was gold. 

A simple minded person, indeed, and maybe that was for the best. 

She couldn't rest. She was on high alert, her heart beating faster each time her eyes glanced over at the butler. The fork in between her fingers stabbed the meat in her plate once in a while, but the knot in her stomach was difficult to undo. The only reason why she managed to remain steady was the swordsman who sat to her left and — by some powers bestowed by the gods — felt steady and safe. His presence pulled her back to reality, stealing her attention. The witch has never been more glad not to be alone. 

"We wanted to talk with you about a ship," Luffy said with a big smile on his face. 

"Right," Kaya smiled back, letting her fork down. "Usopp told me you are sailors."

"We aren't sailors, we are pirates."

Damn it, Luffy! 

The witch gulped, squeezing her eyes shut at their captain's excitement. This was about to end very badly. 

•┈┈┈•┈┈┈•┈┈┈

The dinner ended abruptly. Kaya had a coughing fit and she wasn't feeling well, meanwhile, the butler blamed it on Luffy, who got on the table and had an entire speech. They weren't welcome there anymore and were supposed to leave at the first hour in the morning. 

The witch found each opportunity not to be alone, aware it wouldn't be in her advantage in case something happened. When she saw Nami head back to their guest room, the witch followed her. She needed to change out of that dress into something she could run and fight in, like her usual clothes. 

After locking the door behind her, she looked at Nami who was already slipping her arms out of the sleeves of that beautiful red dress. 

"I didn't get to tell you that you look stunning in that, by the way. Definitely the best choice," the witch mumbled as she averted her eyes to offer some privacy. 

"Not really the moment to talk about dress up, is it?"

"I know, but some compliments wouldn't hurt anyone, right?"

Wrong, apparently, since Nami stilled in her tracks. The witch decided to sit in silence for a while, while she changed from the dress as well, pulling on a plain t-shirt and some comfortable jeans she tucked into her boots. 

The woman was aware of Nami who was moving behind her, now holding a pillowcase in between her fingers. It was clear she tried to move fast and leave the room before she could be noticed. 

"Wanna be petty towards that rude butler?" 

"It's not like anyone would notice. She's filthy rich," Nami mumbled through gritted teeth, disappointed about being caught. "Do you have eyes at the back of your head, by any chance?"

"Nope," the witch accentuated the p sound. "Just associating the rustling with the source." 

"Did you eat some kind of sensory devil fruit?"

"Got born with it," the woman joked lightly. 

Only then, she turned towards Nami, who stood tall, head tilted towards her. The witch was convinced about the suspicion she had while doing that tarot reading, but this time there wasn't a turmoil in her chest. The thunderstorm stopped, despite the clouds still covering the sky of her mind. 

"Be careful roaming around with a pillowcase in your hand. We'll get in trouble if anyone catches us, especially the staff. They're creepy as hell."

"The girl hissed at me," Nami scoffed. 

"Gods," the witch placed her hand on her forehead and shook her head. "Do you have any guesses about where the others might be?"

"Zoro drank like two bottles of alcohol, so I'll suppose he's searching for more."

The witch smiled softly at the response, despite the fact that she missed the undertone of Nami's answer. 

"Don't tell me you were curious about Luffy or, worse, Usopp."

"Hm?" 

An intelligent retort. The witch gulped down and looked away, biting at the inside of her cheek. 

"I mean, Luffy gets himself in trouble all the time, it's not hard to find him."

"Are you acting stupid with me?" 

Nami was grinning like the devil itself. Dammit, did she really have to be so observant? 

"I'm pretty aware I'm smart, actually, so I don't get where this comes from," the witch whispered. 

There was a hue pink covering her cheeks and she was fidgeting with her fingers behind her back, doing all of these gestures unconsciously. She felt like an idiot at that moment, she had to admit. 

Then, as if lightning struck her, she widened her eyes for a brief second. She didn't even know why she was there, in that mansion, surrounded by strangers she wanted to put her trust into. 

"What are you thinking of?" Nami asked. 

"None of us promised to become a crew," she shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

The navigator narrowed her eyes at the witch whose shoulders fell, the shyness she felt earlier deflating. 

"It looks like it matters to you, though."

"That's exactly why I'm saying it," she smiled sourly. "Gotta make myself believe otherwise." 

Silence stretched between the two of them. Two women who had stories and feelings to hide knew when to stop from asking questions, even if it would end up bloody later. It was clear both of them wanted to avoid sensitive subjects, even if the witch barely noticed when Nami started being the interrogator. 

"Be careful, Nami," the witch smiled at her sincerely. "Usopp may be good at bluffing, but I'm better at playing the innocent. If you need someone to gaslight the shit out of the butler, just tell me."

I know what you do is wrong, but I believe you'll make a wise decision by the end of this all. I believe in your reasoning and I hope you can put your trust in me as well. 

"Noted," and with that, the navigator left the room. 

The witch almost got lost in that labyrinth again. She wanted to go to the kitchen, place where Luffy most probably was, but maybe she walked down a bit too many stairs and headed to the wrong side of the mansion. 

She saw a tall figure in the dark basement where barrels full of wine were arranged with utmost care. She furrowed her eyebrows when she saw Klahadore standing in the way, making one step back. Face to face with him was Zoro, who was ready to draw his sword out of its scabbard, but he quickly got hit in the back of his head by someone.

The witch's eyes widened, but she received the same treatment by someone who managed to sneak behind her back. 

•┈┈┈•┈┈┈•┈┈┈

Her head ached, sending daggers all the way to her forehead. The witch let out a guttural groan and her hand flew to her nape, caressing the sore spot.

When her eyes opened, she was greeted by the dead body of Merry, the business man she noticed at the dinner. She flinched, scrambling to her feet, which wasn't an intelligent idea. Her vision blurred black and she felt dizzy, suddenly unsteady. If not for Zoro's grip on her arms, she would've fallen ungraciously on her butt. 

"What the heck?" she mumbled. 

After a few seconds that felt a bit too long, she couldn't understand exactly why it was so cold in that place. Her chin tilted back so she could look up at the night sky. 

They were at the bottom of a well. 

"We have to get out," Zoro spoke in a gruff voice. 

He sighed heavily and let go of the witch, while she looked at him with the face of are you fucking serious? 

"How?" she spoke without thinking. 

After a failed attempt to escape by using a long rope with a big hook attached to it, she tried using her short knives to stick the blades in between the rocks; it didn't work either. 

There was only one option left and she was speechless. 

Her heart sank when she watched Zoro grip at the rocks. He was strong, yes, definitely stronger than her on the physical side, but what if he couldn't climb up? What if he would fall? 

Then I'd catch him. We either die here together or we get out together. 

Her mind was set. She watched him carefully, gulping when she watched him struggle. His weight might do some damage if she dared to be reckless enough to catch him, but he was the only one who could climb those rocks. If she would've tried, she'd surely fall.

Just like she supposed, his fingers didn't grip well enough at one of the rocks and his feet slipped. He lost his equilibrium and wasn't fast enough to clutch onto another rock or stabilize his foot in time, and he fell back. 

Maybe that witch was more reckless than anyone would've guessed. On top of it, she was selfless enough to believe that if he managed to get out and get help, it didn't matter what happened later, so she tried her best to mitigate the impact.

She was right — air got knocked out of her lungs when his body fell on top of hers and she groaned, but at least he didn't break some ribs. Her arms were wrapped around his waist and her fingers clutched at his shirt. Pain traveled through her body quickly and didn't disappear, but the adrenaline paid off. 

"Are you alright?" she asked him in a hurry. 

"You're insane," Zoro concluded, exasperated. 

His back was glued to her chest and he tilted his head to the side to look at her. Maybe, for once, he was right about her. 

"I'd rather break one of my ribs. You're the only one who can get us out," she argued with a frown between her eyebrows. 

The witch looked away and blinked. She didn't want to focus on how hot the air felt, despite the bone chilling cold in that tight space. The butterflies in her stomach could be ignored if she gathered enough self control in time. 

However, Zoro didn't move. He seemed troubled, completely out of it as he continued to look up at the night sky with a scowl on his face. His entire body was tense and he was deep down in his thoughts, especially since he didn't move a finger since he disagreed with her idea of "helping". 

As if struck by lightning, he got back up, following the same steps from earlier. 

"Be careful." 

He stopped in his tracks right after his fingers gripped at some rocks. 

"Move away if I fall again."

"I won't move and you won't fall." 

It pushed him at the edge, mingling with the memories flowing through his mind about his long lost friend, about the girl whose strength he admired so greatly it made him move again. For a brief second, he thought of himself as a coward for overthinking the process. He either got out alive and managed to get her out as well, or they were both doomed — there was no in between. 

Steadily, a tad bit slower than before, he climbed up the wall. His body ached at the effort when he was more than half way through and he would stop for a few seconds before making another move, clutching at another rock that would get him higher. 

Despite being so low, several meters under the ground, her trust in him didn't waver. Her heart squeezed with worry, but she wanted to follow her instinct and how much she believed in him, even if it was unusual. Maybe it was because of his stubbornness, since if he was set on something, there was no way of stopping him. 

He lost his equilibrium for a fraction of a second. Her breath hitched, eyes widening, his name stopping on the tip of her tongue. 

His foot slipped and some dust fell to the bottom of the well, next to her. She breathed out in relief when he was quick enough to grip at another rock. 

The witch didn't doubt him one bit when he finally got out of the well. He kept the rope he found in the well at his waist while he climbed up, so he could help her get out too. 

From up there, Zoro held tightly onto the rope, just as tightly as she did, even if her fingers hurt and she didn't exactly trust her body to be strong enough. She gripped at the cord and climbed the stone wall, gritting her teeth whenever it seemed like she might fall.

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat.  

It was a slow process, which was worrisome from her perspective. She advanced, but the longer she struggled, it felt endless. 

For the record, she believed in Zoro more than she believed in herself — she didn't have low self-esteem either. 

"Look up," he reminded her firmly. 

He prompted his feet into the ground and held tightly, waiting for her. 

"Trying," she mumbled to herself. 

Slowly, she got closer and closer to the exit. Zoro bent his torso and curled his fingers around her forearm, managing to help her out. 

"Fuck," she cursed. 

Her breath was labored and she was sweating heavily, a droplet falling from her temple to her jaw and down her neck. She let herself on the grass, her arm still in his hand. 

"I owe you my life," she breathlessly mumbled. 

Unconsciously, her fingers were clutching onto his arm for support, even if her knees trembled from the tumult she went through. 

"We have time for that later," he brushed it off. "We have to find the others." 

"That butler isn't new to killing people who stand in his way. We better hurry before he chops us off." 

"His name is Kuro. He was the captain of the Black Cat Pirates and supposedly died three years ago, when Axe-Hand Morgan killed him — the Marine Captain we encountered back in Shell Town."

The swordsman kept his grip firm on her, carefully bringing her back to her feet while he talked. 

"I saw his face on a wanted poster some time ago, but since he was presumed dead, no one cared anymore."

"He looked very much alive to me," the witch retorted. 

"I was with Usopp when I went to get wine and he managed to escape from the butler. Maybe he went to search for help, even if I doubt any untrained person could harm these pirates. Luffy was in the kitchen, eating some weird blue food." 

Zoro let go of her and walked in the opposite direction of the mansion and she looked at him confused.  

"Oi, Zoro, the house is the other way—"

Then, when she looked at the path that went through the forest surrounding the mansion, she felt a pull towards it. She furrowed her eyebrows and continued staring.

"You go that way. Nami is surely still inside."

"You just said I went in the opposite direction, though?" Zoro arched his eyebrow at her. 

"Usopp searched for help, but if we think about it, Kaya said he has a lot of stories to tell. He's bluffing a lot, even if with no bad intentions. Maybe he found someone — if there's no sign of life on the path, come back."

"And you?" 

"I'll find Nami and Kaya somehow." 

Zoro didn't believe in superstitions and higher beings, but he trusted her instinct, so he headed the other way. The witch opened the door slowly, making no sounds. She slipped inside and looked around for an insane pirate who hisses — these two were creepy. 

The young woman flinched when all the light suddenly disappeared and behind her, a heavy metal wall met the floor, stopping everyone from moving in or out of there. Fuck. 

She gripped with both of her hands at the daggers she held at her hip, holding them securely. With slow steps, the witch made her way through the house. The big candelabrum hanging from the ceiling marked the way to enter and leave the house. To the left was the kitchen and to her right was the living room. The guest rooms and dormitories were upstairs. She still remembers which one was her room for the might and the bathroom. 

If she didn't want to die there, she had to quickly figure that place out. 

She heard one single step from the stairs and her attention shot up. Sham looked at her perplexed, but grinned widely. 

"You were supposed to be dead, little mouse."

"Don't confound me with your food," the witch held the knives tighter. 

Instantly, the woman jumped at her with a mop in her hands. The witch dodged the attack with a knife and the one that followed, bending her knees to avoid getting hit again. She tried to cut Sham's leg with her knife, but the maid was fast, jumping back in time. 

Zoro, if you get lost on the way back, I'll wake up from the dead and kill you, she thought to herself. 

"Captain Kuro will kill Kaya tonight and there's nothing you can do to stop him." 

Sham's wooden mop clashed against the witch's dagger and avoided the knife which almost sunk into her shoulder. Sham attempted to make her fall by kicking her legs, but the witch made a light jump before she could fall. 

It would draw attention to her and the cook might appear out of nowhere, but the witch sheathed one of the knives and pulled a pistol, aiming at the hissing woman. 

"I'm too fast for your shitty guns, girl."

Yeah, sure. It was her time to grin at Sham. 

Her eyes followed each of the maid's movements, moving her arm just in time to shoot her side. Sham was lucky enough to move out of the way, but the next bullet scarred her upper arm, another hiss leaving her lips. 

"Fuck."

Aw, the kitty was angry. 

The witch widened her eyes when she saw Sham pull a sword that seemed more suited for decor. She had to dodge the next attack, the blade almost touching her neck when she stopped it with her knife. 

"Hey, Sham, do you need some help?" 

The witch gulped at the new voice. It was the cook. 

"I don't really think so." 

The witch jumped back before her neck got cut, breathing heavily. She had to block other attacks while she attempted to find a weak spot, an opening to shoot and do it well. 

The witch groaned when the blade left a deep and clean slice on her left upper arm. It stretched horizontally on the side. The shock almost paralyzed her and blood was quick to flow down her arm. 

She tossed a knife through the air, the tip sinking straight into Sham's right arm. 

A weight sound caught her attention and she turned her head towards the metal wall behind her that was slowly being lifted up by strong arms. Who the fuck could—

Oh, right. They had a bulky swordsman as part of the crew. 

"Took you long enough," the witch muttered through gritted teeth. 

Luffy bent down and smiled at her widely. 

"Sorry for that."

"Keep apologies for later. Go after Kuro — he wants to kill Kaya." 

Zoro followed the straw hat, straightening his back when he got inside. His eyes narrowed when he saw the crimson liquid covering the witch's arm, drawing his swords out. He could use the adrenaline pumping through his veins against the man who launched an attack at him. 

"Go, Luffy. We'll keep these two occupied," he instructed. 

The scent of blood filled the witch's nostrils. She aimed the gun at Butchy and the bullet flew right next to his ear, stopping him from hitting the swordsman. Sham was bold for taking the knife out of her arm and running towards the witch with the weapon in her hold. The witch stumbled and her back glued the floor, both her hands gripping harshly at Sham's arm, stopping the tip of the knife a few centimeters above her eyes. 

"You little bitch," the pirate hissed at her. 

The witch kicked the maid into the stomach with her knee, pushing her off of her. Luffy disappeared and the sound of blades clashing against each other filled the room. 

Zoro used raw strength whenever he attacked Butchy, his swords almost cutting through the man with swift gestures of the wrist, elbows angled perfectly. He had more fighting experience than her and it showed, so she was more than just happy not to get sliced in half by the other two. 

She cussed when she remembered she had only one revolver, the other one left in the room. She had three bullets left. 

Her head got cloudy when she quickly got back to her feet, her breathing labored. She was tired and the only reason why she ignored her bleeding wound was the adrenaline. 

This time, when Sham attacked with the mop, the witch only moved to the side and took advantage of the opportunity to cut with the knife through the flesh, the tip sinking deeper and deeper into the maid's stomach, until her body went limp. 

The witch let Sham fall to the floor and stepped back. She felt her pulse pump through her head, slowing her down. She tried to focus on breathing evenly and eventually not passing out. 

She heard a loud thump — the cook was down and Zoro sheathed his swords. He didn't break a sweat, or so it looked from her blurry perspective. 

A sound rang through the air sharper than her daggers and it lit her on fire. The sound of her name being spoken with worry latched onto Zoro's voice. 

He walked down two or three stairs at once, undoing the bandana from his head and wrapping it around her wound. She hissed when he knotted the material tightly in order to stop the bleeding. 

"Thanks," she whispered, her body still tense. 

•┈┈┈•┈┈┈•┈┈┈

"Don't mention it," Luffy smiled widely at Kaya. "We couldn't have let him hurt you or deceive people anymore."

If it wasn't for his rubber body, maybe they wouldn't have gotten out alive, but luck sided with them again. 

"I could never thank you enough, but this is all I can do for you now."

The witch stared at the goat figurehead of the ship Luffy was enamored with. Kaya talked, but the words weren't registering in the woman's ears since a small little creature curled around one of her legs. The black cat mewled sweetly and begged for attention, a luxury it received quickly. The witch crouched down and petted the animal with a smile on her lips, brushing her fingers over the soft fur. The cat purred loudly, rolling on its back and pawing at the woman, greedy for affection. 

"How's your wound?" 

When she lifted her head, her eyes met Zoro's. One of his hands rested on the hilt of his Wado Ichimoji and the other was stuffed into the pocket of his jeans — she learned that was one of his most relaxed stances. 

His bandana was still wrapped around her upper arm and the bleeding stopped long ago. She didn't get the chance to properly clean her arm or tend to the cut, but she felt content. 

"I'll care for it on the ship after we set sail," she said in a soft voice. 

Yes, that was the voice that made his heart hammer in his chest, he remembered. Finally, after a day filled with anxiety and panic, he could watch her shoulders relax, even if he wasn't exactly pleased with her lack of attention. 

"Let's go!" Luffy shouted at them. 

The witch stood up, wincing at the smallest movement of her arm, and that didn't go unnoticed by the swordsman. 

She still avoided his question, he concluded. She said she'll care for the wound, not how it felt. 

He tapped the hilt of his sword repeatedly and took a decision he didn't know if he'll regret later, following close behind her. 

Tag list: @emelia07 @dimplewonie @tfamidoingwithmylife @murnsondock @the-skys-musical-echo @conspiracy-crows @hallow33nz @ramae17 @gaslysainz @bunntsu @katt58 @katiemrty @hopefulrascalstatesmantoad @freyademartel @boofy1998

[smertelig]

Fuck you for using Against Me, a band fronted by a trans woman, specifically a song about being trans unashamedly, to make a post about an IP owned by a woman who wants us dead. Please do educate yourself on this instead of blindly hiding behind the excuse of separate the art from the artist when the artist is using profits from the art to lobby for laws that make children kill themselves. Go fuck yourself also

Hi. Thank you for your comment. I think what you’re saying is incredibly important and your anger is justified, but misdirected. Please believe me when I say I am sorry for how that post can look. It can be misinterpreted and I should have thought about that and made the context more clear. I am myself non binary, an avid LGBTQ+ and trans rights activist, an Against Me!-fan and a literary scholar, so I hope you take me at my word: I do not support JKR WHAT SO FUCKING EVER. I’d say she should go to hell, but not even hell deserves shit like her.

As such, I should have recognised how references to the HP universe are triggering and can be read as supportive of the author. My post, however, was intended as a reference to the Maurauders universe, a spin-off universe based on fan-writings by independent creators, whereof the ones I follow are openly opposed to Rowling’s despicable actions and opinions.

I believe the Marauders-fandom is heavily influenced by people like myself - queer kids who grew up loving HP, only to have that joy broken and spat upon when JKR showed her true colours. I personally find it healing to read fan made Marauders-works that include and celebrate diversity - in ethnicities, religion, class, disabilities, body types and, perhaps most importantly, gender identities and -expressions.

So when I say I think Sirius Black would’ve loved Against Me! and Laura, I’m referring to a fan made, queer & gender nonconforming kid from the 70’s (and I take immense pleasure in how that would piss JKR right off). Laura’s battle with self destruction and gender is something I believe that version of Sirius would find strength in, just as I and many other trans people have.

I do not believe in separating the art from the artist. I do, however, enjoy the act of taking back something that has been made hurtful and turning it into something healing and joyful again. Now, whether we agree on that or not is a different discussion - but either way, I love your anger. We SHOULD be angry. I myself am pretty fucking furious, so I’m right here with you.

Tl;dr:

JKR is trash, I hope the thought of gender non conforming Sirius haunts her nightmares. May all TERFs choke and die.

Best regards, Robin ✨

[finisnihil]

Watching people fight about death of the author and reader response is exhausting like yeah I have respect for death of the author but why are you using death of the author to erase their specific experiences?

Like I see people on TikTok chewing out queer people who get upset when they completely misinterpret Good Luck Babe, like yeah probably because the authorial intent is rooted in queer experience and grief so your reader response of making it about straight women marrying shitty men contributes to erasure of queer experience.

It is well within one's right to declare an author dead and that is healthy for fanbases. Like as an example, lot of Void Archives content I see is rooted in death of the author, because that's how you play with fiction, thats how you make fiction into your own story, you kill the authorial intent and loot it for the concepts you like. It keeps you engaged in the down time between updates on that character's place in the story.

The difference I see between like character/story oriented death of the author and music/art death of the author though is that character/story disregard of authorial intent still uses it as a reference or still reveres core aspects of the character/narrative. For example, Epic the Musical v. The Odyssey. Epic may rely on death of the author in some aspects of the story and characterization, but it still utilizes aspects of the authorial intent. It's an apple that doesn't fall too far from the tree, which is expected for an adaptation of something, but it goes to show that someone liked this character/story as it was. To retextualize too much will make it unrecognizable. It loses what made you fall in love with it.

Stuff like songs, on the other hand, can be liked more freely for other things, like their beat and their style more than their message. It's much easier to have conflicting reader response because I may like Good Luck Babe for its meaning, but so-and-so may like Good Luck Babe for its style and beat and as such, a personal meaning is attached to it that is wildly different from authorial intent.

At the end of the day I feel like it's a delicate balance with lots of nuance. Reader response is valuable but authorial intent is as well, especially when the subject matter struggles to exist without the context of the author. Sometimes, the killing of authorial intent is an act of malice and negligence and sometimes it's a new perspective on a broad environment and discussion. I feel what's important is knowing when and where to prioritize authorial intent or reader response. For as many specific pieces of art, there are also vague ones meant to have a personal value based on your experience with it. Extremism kills nuance, and putting too many coins in one side's scale will only break your place in the measurement.

[lionheartedmusings]

oh boy, listen, the qsmp election should just be renamed the broken telephone event bc there's no way people are misrepresenting everyone's platform and to be fair character (and, a note, literally all of this is also about characters AT NO POINT DO I MEAN CCS i just get lazy typing the q! tbh) so much. maybe it's a language barrier thing, maybe it's difficulty in being the devil's advocate but it's wild to see in real time.

i watch bad religiously, try to watch as much of forever's pov i can live and what i can't i watch in vods, cellbit i catch when i can, baghera i do my best but french and me don't mix well in my head. this is coming from someone who is a native portuguese speaker and perfectly bilingual when it comes to english. i say this to illustrate that especially between the english and portuguese speakers, i'm not getting lost in buggy translations or difficulty undestanding.

do i disagree with insaneduo? yep, but that's a personal opinion. i also entirely understand not only their stance during the debates (do i enjoy it? not really, the tone — which is not aggressive, it's assertive — is anxiety inducing TO ME PERSONALLY and so i struggle) but also their platform. they're doing the best with what they've been given, and keeping your enemies close is the only thing in their opinion has truly shown any sort of result. using the federation's resources is an opportunity they can't pass up! they have great ideas, good implementation plans, and cellbit isn't even running so really, forever is doing the most as he should. i understand why he doesn't understand the anarchy route in this situation. yes, their platform has been misrepresented, but that's because ultimately what they showcase in public forums aka debates for all to see does come across as very assertive (which is what debates are for, asserting your stance) and at times a bit tunnel vision imo. listening to them properly out of the debates would do a lot to stop whatever circus has been going on.

now, i have seen an insane amount of people almost mischaracterising bad and baghera as a response to the misinterpretation of insaneduo, and that's not fair either. bad and baghera have spoken at length about their issues with presidency, how they don't want to centralise power, how they don't trust the federation and they definitely don't trust anyone who will be actively pulled around by them. are they all puppets? yes, but do you want to give power to someone who willingly or not is giving up their own strings? it's normal that they're reluctant or just blatantly refusing of that idea. they don't think insaneduo are power hungry dictators, they've in fact spoken multiple times talking about how they think BOTH cellbit and forever would be good presidents (bad specifically mentioned it even last night) but that the concern isn't them, it's the federation.

bad making a joke about helping foolish assassinate anyone other than baghera and gegg is… a joke. it's literally a silly goofy joke based on "my coalition vs everyone else" and the idea of political assassination. there's quite literally no need, and frankly imo a disservice to the relationship that bad and forever have to mischaracterise that. if i remember correctly, wasn't forever the one talking about how they should be killing each other bc it'd be fun? i might be wrong there, but i vividly remember that.

my point being, this election is ultimately an exercise in futility bc they're all fucked regardless, this isn't "giving someone power" it's the federation sticking a pacifier in their mouth for soothing and telling them they'll sleep better. it'll end terribly either way, and no character is safe. it's a ridiculous plotline but a wildly interesting one, BECAUSE it's doomed to fail and yet everyone's doing the song and dance.

enjoy the content. laugh. analyse the character dynamics, motivations and plans. don't go out of your way to mischaracterise and demonise any character bc that not only goes against everything the qsmp stands for, but it also sucks the fun out of it for you and everyone else. no one is after anyone, no one is isolating anyone to be mean to them, these people are friends playing characters who are friends. have fun! my god!

[intotheelliwoods]

-> -> -> 2AL playlist drop!

Answered all the music related asks under the cut!

Question reference btw!

---

@teainthesnow

4 - a lyric you like

"Triangles are my favorite shape" From Tessellate by Alt-J !! Do I know why? Nah. I just also like triangles :)

11 - a popular song you think is Good, Actually

On Time by The Disco Biscuits !! Its not popular more than it is mainstream? Its one of those songs you swear you have heard everywhere, because its very much played everywhere, but like its actually good! Either its played everywhere or it just gives me loads of nostalgia? Eh whatever, its still good and im bestowing it upon you.

13 - a playlist name without context

"To Enter The Beyond" Past Human City Soundtrack

18 - a song or lyric that reminds you of the asker

Oh this for sure belongs on your AMW playlist!! Gives some absolute Tea vibes!

---

@dandywonderous

5 - ramble about a song

FORGIVENESS BY ALICE GLASS!!!!!!! OUGHOUGHOGH I LOVE THIS SONG WITH ALL MY HEART god something about it just vibrates my insides and tickles my eyes. I dont know how to describe it other than each time I hear this song I feel nothing but pure power and hopelessness at the same time. Drifting along in never ending darkness, and the only thing you have with you are the spirits and memories of those who have passed. The spirits call for freedom. You should listen to them. This song gets real for me alright?

7 - a song for which you like a cover more than the original

Not really a cover moreso than it is a remix!? But im counting it! Silk by Giselle, the original, somber and sweet but just sorta missing something you know? This remix by Favored Nations though? SLAPS. Its so upbeat and I am so here for it!

11 - a popular song you think is Good, Actually

Honestly literally anything by Electric Light Orchestra. Though to be more specific, Evil Woman!! Alright is also a good one, but less popular!

16 - do you sing or play any instruments?

No instruments here! I actually have one really nice/complex song memorized that I can do on the piano but unfortunately thats about it whoops~ As for singing apparently I actually sing good when I try!?

23 - a song you remember liking as a kid

You are going to laugh at this one. Actually. I still like it. But damn was I a weird kid. I once had a solid 150 digits of pi memorized because I would just play this stupid song on loop for like a whole ass hour every now and then???? I think I still have about 50 memorized thanks to this song.. whoopsies

---

@thimbell

5 - ramble about a song

YESSSSS YESSSSS I GET TO RAMBLE ABOUT ANOTHER SONG The World Is Ending by Matt and Kim !!!!!!!!!!!!! good GOD this song is so dear to me. Not because of the song really, but because of what the song means to me? The connections I have too it?????? Longish story short, someone made a killer AMV using it? The AMV using clips from the show Final Space! No clue if you have seen the show but no matter. Final Space is definitely up there as one of my favorite shows, not only because its good but because it actually helped me get closer with my dad, we watched it together! In other words I associate this song with just so much joy. The AMV if you were curious btw!

14 - an unpopular music opinion

Glass Animals is overrated <3 <3 Dont get me wrong I love their music! It just gets so tiresome hearing them everywhere!??? Probably just a me problem though

24 - a song people often misinterpret

I dont think I have much an answer for this one, apologies! Mostly because its not too often I pay attention to lyrics, and even then I think its cool that everyone has their own interpretations of someones song!

---

@wraenata

17 - a song that has made you cry

... honestly? Any song in a tv show that is played during a sad scene! A REALLY sad scene... one that comes to mind is Enter One by Sol Seppy (would recommend skipping to about 2:30), because it is played in the death scene of one of my all time favorite characters... alright im going to weep about that death scene more now because listening to this again is NOT helping pfft... oughh honestly now im tempted to add it to the 2AL playlist... maybe.

24 - a song people often misinterpret

Answered above!

30 - a song that makes you nostalgic

Divinity by Porter Robinson, listen this used to be my favorite song for the longest time... and it might even still be my favorite song?? Either way, I DARE not listen to it anymore for the sake of I fear for the day where this absolutely nostalgic gem gets tiresome for me...

---

@unfortunate-songbird

17 - a song that has made you cry

Answered this one above! Though for a less serious answer, any of the finale songs in Centaurworld... oops.

---

1 - which artist(s) have you listened to the most lately?

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour has been a fav in the past month! Heres a good song by them if you would like~

I am going to use this ask as a chance to also say how much I love Hugo Kant!! He makes great stuff to chill too when working! If I could log hours on youtube, my most listened to videos are so just listening to the guy live!

21 - favourite album

Not to pull out my inner cowboy, but Harlequin Dream by Boy & Bear. I fear for the day I get sick of this album its such a trip for me!

28 - rank the songs in an album

THATS IT IM RANKING ALL THE SONGS IN PAGANS IN VEGAS BY METRIC. I love this album.

#1 - Celebrate. This is the song that introduced me to the band and gives me SUCH a blast of nostalgia each listen, and it shows. Best song in the album by far. Its so weird though since I knew this song before I knew about the rest of the album, so when I finally discovered the whole album each time this song comes up its so out of place pfft! Still such a bop though!

#2 - Blind Valentine. This is just one of those songs I love singing too whenever it comes on alright!?????

#3 - Lie Lie Lie. This is the first song in the whole album, and honestly? What a knee slapping way to start an album too god damn!!!!

#4 - Cascades. I am begging you to skip to about 3:15 in this song, its a little on the plain end before that end, but THAT ENDING??????? SLAYS.

#5 - Too Bad, So Sad. ITS SO GRINDY I LOVE IT. I FEEL LIKE A PUNK IN A DESERTED WASTELAND

#6 - For Kicks. The beat is just so unique here!!!!!!???????

#7 - The Face Part |. Just some funky cool down beats at the end of the album that are very enjoyable!

#8 - Fortunes. A decent enough second song in the album, helps sets the tone for whats coming!

#9 - The Shade. Its actually a good song, just nothing special about it you know??

#10 - The Governess. vibes are there, the vibes are sure there

#11 - The Face Part ||. Just more cool off tunes to end the album with

#12 - Other Side. No. Why are you here. your ass does NOT fit with the rest of this god-tier album. goodbye.

---

Edit: @kiaxet Thought I should add you to the masterpost here!!

5 - ramble about a song

Ok. Adventure Time by Yoann Turpin. I am usually not too big on 16 bit video game sort of vibes but this??? Is such a MASSIVE exception. Holy????? THE HEART THE GUY PUT INTO THIS SONG MAN. The beat is just so unique, its impossible to try and guess whats going to happen in the song next, you strait up feel like you are on an ADVENTURE. I am so here for this song, god and its so upbeat I am in LOVE.

By the way, I linked the whole ass album because the whole album overall is so nice to listen to to pump you up when doing dishes or something lmaooooo, the first song in the album is also an amazing trip!!

8 - an artist you think underrated

HUGO KANT!!! God!!! mentioned above as well, I love Hugo Kant with a passion! He makes such good stuff just to chill too, and him live is absolutely incredible!

With the ask above I linked a video from him preforming live, so this time around I bring you two favorite albums of mine!! Far From Home and Out Of Time

I get in SUCH a zone listening to his stuff!

9 - a song you think is underrated

Phleps by C418!!! C418, the producer of the original music behind minecraft, but the guy has so much underrated personal music that is SO underrated! This song in particular, is vastly different from his usually stuff and I love it for that. Definitely underrated for being overshadowed by his work on minecraft and his work that isnt minecraft but sounds like minecraft..

29 - what do you look for in a song or artist?

I always look for something where you can tell it has genuine love and heart put into it! That + something that just sounds truly unique in its own right!

[gunsli-01]

I was tagged in this by @tired-and-unjellied @rainbowghostcat and @a-star-that-burns-brightly,

cute thing im coming up with this picrew of yourself and your current hyperfixation !!

Thank you all for tagging me I was happy to see it and it made me feel really included! I love being tagged in things generally. So, it really made my day to see these as I was going through my days!

I hope you're all enjoying yourselves and the new timeline information!

Oh, and Rainbow on a milgramblrgram note did you like the long greeting. It's getting great reviews-

How was the portrayal of Mikoto, I'd like to know your thoughts if you have time to read all that- that is. No pressure if you don't though. It's pretty long.

To be honest my current hyper is actually just me, myself, and fucking I. Yet, that's not a media and I did just write all that so ya already know I'M- (<- Accurate depiction of the fanbase falling into super hell trial three. I'll be fine though~ Because I was already in hell. So, I'm just going to be going, "Super!")

I've pretty much been embodying this song. To me selfcare is recognizing when I don't want to speak to anyone and not pushing myself to do so out of a misguided fear of missing the opportunity to, or misinterpreted my own feelings and ways of display care and consideration one-sidedly. Ultimately causing a lot of undue stress. That and generally recognizing that no one is ever entitled to the ability to access/communicate with someone else especially if someone is abusing that ability.

This may sound antisocial, maybe on some level it is. Yet, this is actually the most social I've been in a year. It's more just a reminder to myself to just not talk to people who make me feel bad about talking to anyone at all or about my hobbies. Something that some may be able to tell I've been really getting back into.

So another current hyper fixation has been my many ocs. Right now with a big focus on my little sweetie Daniel-

Who also fits that song quite a lot too I'm realizing,

Daniel: Yeah, it’s a real touristy place but a lot of students where I go hangout there due to it. Easy to get lost in a crowd. So, sometimes I just get a ride out there when invited or someone sends a ride to me if they really want me there. Nayo: Sounds fun- though it also sounds like the times you go there are very conditional. Have you ever been there without being invited Daniel: I mean yeah. Why else would I go there? Nayo: Was just curious- since you did just say that you tend to either pay for a ride when you’re invited out or someone sending one to you. For all I know, it could have been specifically to meet up with people. Daniel: Yeah, it was just to meet up with others. Not like that’s a crime though.

"I've gone outside and taken Ubers my friends have made me go."

I've been trying to to plot out the best way to finish his trial. I'm also really into Mugram (Mayumi and Masaru the oops we fucked up at work duo that is if Masaru is running a gambling scam to make quick cash.) and Tsumigram (mostly still really fixated on Toa) still. Plus, I'm interested in seeing a-star-that-burns-brightly opinion on the new timeline today. Sorry about that at first disjointed explaination on the pregnancy entrapment theory by the way I fuck up spelling a lot and sometimes forget connectors are necessary hope the edited version connected things in a more understandable way.

Also more proof for that pregnancy entrapment Yuno theory just dropped thanks to Nott sending me the graffart. Where staff just decides to highlight the red ribbon that's tied to the balloon reflected in Yuno's eyes within Umbilical the one she was aiming seeming just in case her first songs visuals were to subtle about it,

Since the graffart is directly referencing things in the prisoners first trial songs,

I messed up I found out- Is right!

Yuno as soon as she found out that was Yellow's baby,

"Oh, please! Gimme that baby and I'd yeet it off a tower."

The fanbase trial three are about to be out here like, "What?!"

Oh damn that's gonna be funny if it's actually the case.

So, yeah I've have a lot things that I've had my eyes on lately. Sorry for the more long response. I just didn't want to just slap all your tags together answer and say nothing else. So I brought up a few things I thought might interest all of you.

Also, go check out @apatchworkstar they put a theme on her blog for desktop that's very cute. Also on that note thanks for the all the help Tired-and-Unjellied I really hope it wasn't too much of a bother.

Oh also I'm tagging Star and @purgemarchlockdown for the tag game. Neither of you have to do it if you don't want to, though.

[seasonal-writes]

“how do you talk to star?” - title from the song of the same name by everybody’s worried about owen (since it’s back up, ao3 link is here!) characters: jimmy (mainly)/tango cw: none unless you consider the insane amount of introspective themes throughout this thing. so! little note! guess who wrote something new and finished it. for the first time in months. it is short, i am rusty, and i DEFINITELY wouldn’t say it’s my best work but i like the concept a lot and churned this short and sweet little introspective fic last night in a writing haze! i missed four calls from my family members help.

It is based on this prompt list, specifically number 7. :) hope you all enjoy this super short, ramble-y, jimmy is very much pining one-shot! ~

Jimmy has learned it takes nothing. Barely a glance, he has found, for all of the sediment—that he thought was long stationary—to be kicked up again, to clog every artery and leave him struggling to breathe.  His conundrum lies in the side profile of Tango. The curve of the tip of his forehead, drooping into the bridge of his nose and rolling over two delicate hills of pretty, thin lips. Yes, he with the dancing eyebrows and teeth flashing, pulling against his lip when he grins and eyes that almost sparkle in sync. Tango—devastatingly, heart-achingly, undeniably and beyond beautiful Tango who has yet to notice his staring.  If Jimmy were to be grateful for anything, he’d be grateful for the obliviousness of his quarry.  Tango, in a stunning move, laughs without a care in the world. It’s so loud and clear and Jimmy feels a smirk tugging at the corner of his lip, the cause of such being obvious to anyone who may notice his ogling. Though, making a home in the corner of this crowded living room, he has no intentions of intruding. Of course, maybe he wishes he was the one making Tango laugh like that. Maybe he wishes that intoxicating gaze could be on him, rather than those who engage him. “You know, you can just go talk to him, right?” Grian asks, a gentle nudge of Jimmy’s elbow making him turn. Jimmy snorts.  Maybe that’s the problem, isn’t it? Jimmy probably could just go talk to him. He’d been watching him for so long, for so many occasions—if he were a more attentive man, he’d have studied the patterns by now. He’d understand every little joke, made a note of everything that could make him more appealing, more fun to talk to. Instead, he gets lost in it. When he tries to keep track, he fails. Being analytical was never his strong suit, and it never failed him more than when he was trying to figure out how to talk to the one he is very much in love with. The one who, as far as he knows, is very much not in love with him.  “We talk,” Jimmy says, “We’re just friends, that’s what friends do” “Yeah, Tim, and I’m just an idiot.” “You said it, not me.” Jimmy tries to say it seriously, but he can’t help the grin. “I bet he’d like to chat. You two always get along well,” Grian says, dodging the jab flawlessly and turning his eyes to Tango, the two now watching from the shadows.  “Well- yeah, I guess.”  Another problem. They did get along well. Too well, in fact. He had friends, had people who he could count on and talk to or laugh with. Jimmy even knew what it felt like to be flirted with, to be teased in that way. But it never quite felt the same when it was with Tango. And it just confused him anyway, was Tango flirting with him? Was he flirting back? He knows well that sometimes he just stumbles into things without looking first, that was no doubt. It could very well be that Jimmy was just fooling himself, wandering into something that he didn’t get a good look at before exposing his neck to the danger of misinterpretation.  Maybe, in reality, Tango was just indulging him—even if he is a really, really good guy, the concept was dangerously easy for Jimmy to trust.  “I just think that if you’d get off your perch and just go up to him, or wave or- geez, just stop staring and do something, it’d probably be fine.”  “I appreciate your suggestions, but I am comfortable right here,” Jimmy says, “He’s busy, anyway- see?” He nods up in the general direction of Tango, noting how he is casually conversing with Impulse and Zed, who keep him engaged. Grian groans.  “Not gonna be busy forever, man.” “Well, I can’t go talk to him right now, then. Maybe later.”  He feels Grian clap a hand onto his shoulder, sighing. “Whatever you say, Tim. But those feelings are just going to fester till you say something, you know.” “..I’ll- I’ll take my chances,” Jimmy mutters, swallowing hard.  He only glances at Grian for a second while he moves off into the rest of the party, not bothering to track where he’s heading once he leaves.  When he finds Tango again, there’s not much of a difference. Zed left. Impulse still has him explaining something. He can tell by how his hands move, how his gestures get big and small and create the shapes of whatever figures are drawn out in his mind. Jimmy always admired that. He’d gotten it up close, once, when Tango got into one of his redstone rambles and talked at Jimmy while he just nodded and smiled and listened, despite having zero clue about what he was saying. Jimmy may not be good at redstone, but he’s sure if he was asked what he liked about Tango, he would go into the same sort of ramble. Big hand gestures, small hand gestures—anything to properly convey how smitten he had him.  Tango had no idea.  Jimmy was sure, at this point, he was destined for a forever’s worth of pining. A lifetime of restless stomachs, of rocking heartbeats that sound more like scattered drums than something meant to keep him alive. He will spend the majority of his days avoiding the fire and getting used to the cold of the corners, growing fond of the way his eyes glaze over as if he has stared at the sun for a little too long. … and.. still.  Something inside of him roared, clawed at its cage and said let me out, said tell him. He couldn’t really tell what was holding him back—was it just fear? Anyone would be scared to confess, sure. It could be the rejection, the dreamt up, awkward and letting-you-down-easy smile. The sorry, I’m just not into you that way. Or, maybe, it was the worry that things would go well. After all, they had gotten to know each other closely. Teaming up will do that to you. Talking almost every day will do that to you. Running into each other at parties, taking walks, talking about redstoning and building and bearing your every wound to each other almost shamelessly on the bad days and sharing in the joys on the good days, as if it was always meant to be just like this. Jimmy feels himself suddenly come back into himself like a head slamming into a wall, taking note of an astonishing development.   Tango is looking at him. Impulse now gone from sight, he leans against the same wall, but he is looking. Then offering an adorable wave with a tiny smile, Tango straightens his shoulders when Jimmy waves back, like some attempt to make himself look taller—and with the rush of feelings rolling over Jimmy, he feels adrenaline-fueled laughter forcing its way to the surface; it comes out in a quiet wheeze.  It finds him right away. The familiar sensation of Jimmy’s insides dropping like a sinking building, leaving nothing but dust-caked breaths that feel sticky, catching in his throat with every other inhale. He is a ruined mess of a man. A weak, mumbled puddle of warmth and heavy pulses and heat.  He is fucked. Royally, deeply, this-is-it fucked. And they stay that way for seconds, but it feels like years, and Jimmy can’t get enough of it.  Loving someone does feel quite good, doesn’t it? And maybe, being loved right back could feel even better. If he could just get over himself and try.

[melit0n]

Something that irks me within The Oh Hellos fandom (and Half·Alive because I'm gonna talk about them too) is people who listen to their music, mainly starting off with Solider, Poet, King because that is arguably their most popular song for multiple different reasons, say they really like it, and then find out The Oh Hellos' are Christian based (similar to Half·Alive), and then suddenly they say they hate it.

(ranting and explanation under the cut)

Like yeah, Solider, Poet, King is originally written about Jesus (and his supposed second coming) and or about Judas, Mary Magdalene and Jesus (Judas=soldier, M.M=poet, Jesus=king), but I don't underestand why that has an effect on people liking it (A). Or even religious people getting straight up mad about others misinterpreting Soldier, Poet, King, or misinterpreting the song themselves in general (B).

(A). This is like, one of the hundreds of comments I scrolled through on just a lyric video for Solider, Poet, King. Like come on.

(B). Taken from @lovejoycdinnit post which inspired this rant.

Don't get me wrong, I understand why some people are adverse to Christianity, coming from someone who was raised on Catholic Christianity, I can easily understsand the traumas that revolve around the religion, and, considering how many Christians act, the general hatred towards them as well. But instead of denoting the song, just because it's Christian and you've got issues with the religion, think about how many layers that adds. In The Oh Hellos' music, they constantly preach about forgiveness, kindness and loyalty, especially in their newest albums (I mean, take a listen to Soap from Zephyrus).

Same can be said with Half·Alive's Creature. People will listen to it, say it's really good, immediately put it into their character playlist (either OC or fandom character), maybe even find themselves in that song and then find out Half·Alive is based within the religious faith held by the main singer, and suddenly people don't like it.

Further, people need to stop being hypocrites when it comes to religious bands and or musicians who take ideas from the Bible for their work and say they like them, but not others. It's impossible to say Hozier and Ethel Cane for their religious ideals and ideas they take out of different Holy Books, but then dislike The Oh Hellos and Half·Alive for the pure fact of being religious.

Just because the songs are religious (either about general faith, or Jesus Himself) doesn't mean they can't be about your blorbos anymore! Solider, Poet, King can still be about your DnD characters, your group of friends, your own OCs or just fandom characters in general. Creature can still be about your DnD characters, your struggle with being human in a mental and physical sense, your own OCs or fandom characters. It legitimately doesn't matter. I get finding out the true meaning of a song can make people dislike it, but when it's specifically religious that's just straight up wrong. At that point it's just misotheism.

[icedteaandoldlace]

Barry and Cisco for the niche questions character ask game pleaaaase :)

Barry

A song that reminds me of them: Try by Rick Astley (yes, that Rick Astley—no, that link is not a Rickroll). And also Try Everything by Shakira. Same general message, different energies, both of which are Barry to a T.

What they smell like: A raspberry Tootsie Pop. I'm not saying that's what he ACTUALLY smells like (I'm also not NOT saying that), but that's the first thing that comes to my mind. Also like spruce or juniper leaves (needles?) and that first-step-into-a-shoe-store new leather smell.

An otp: Barrisco and Westallen! I feel like Iris was the perfect person for him to end up with in canon, but Cisco is the person I'm most interested in seeing him paired with in fanfiction (and he's 100% the person he would've ended up with if wasn't with Iris). They're the two people that Barry loves the most and that he can't live without, and he's completely enamored with both of them.

A notp: I simply can NOT get into Olivarry. It's just boring to me. Wtf are they gonna do on a date? Argue about ethics?

Favorite platonic/familial relationships: Also Cisco! They were a brotp before they were an otp, and I still value them as friends without my shipper goggles on. But after him, Joe. I'm a big sucker for a good adoptive/chosen parent-child relationship.

A headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that I disagree with: I'm not sure about headcanons so much, but there are several misinterpretations of his actions and his motives that drive me crazy. Whether they're making him out to be a bad friend or hailing him as The Only Person Doing The Right Thing when he is very clearly wrong, there are multiple takes in the fandom that are just...incorrect. For example, the idea that he was being selfish and manipulative when he got Cisco to open a breach to Earth-2, or that he was just doing what any good husband would do when he pulled Iris and only Iris out of the Mirrorverse. Like, were some of these people even watching the same show?

The position they sleep in: Barry is a big time side sleeper, with the arm on the side that he's lying on curled up in front of him.

A crossover AU I’d love to see them in: I mean I am writing a double crossover about him that's set in Dalton Academy with a plot that's a rewrite of Pretty In Pink.

My favorite outfit they’ve ever worn: There's a specific outfit in the back of my mind, and I can't remember what it is or what scene it's in, but these ones jumped out at me while I was on my wild search for it.

(SAVITAR TOTALLY COUNTS!)

Cisco

A song that reminds me of them: You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home by Hannah Montana. Because he's changed a bit over the years, and he can be a little lost sometimes, but who he is at his core is always consistent. And because you know he's gonna find a reason to move back to Central City at some point. Also Brave by Josh Groban, which is self explanatory.

What they smell like: As mentioned on your post, cypress and tea tree oil is what I think of his go-to hair/skin product scent being. But there's also some lingering metal and oil smell from his workshop, leather (more like a car with leather interior than the shoe store smell though), and a teensy bit of artificial strawberry from whatever the last candy he had was.

An otp: Kamilla and Barry, my beloveds. 💖 Barry, of course, you already know why, and Kamilla for similar reasons. They both adore Cisco, they're protective and supportive of him, and they like a lot of the same nerdy stuff that he likes. Plus both ships are just adorable together. Barry and Kamilla are both sweet and gentle and affectionate, and that's just what he needs in a partner. They're also the only people that I feel like really deserve him. A relationship with anyone else would feel too unbalanced.

A notp: Everyone else. Just kidding (kind of). He has amazing platonic chemistry with everyone, and romantic chemistry with like maybe 5 people. As far as ships I actively dislike, I am very much squicked out by seeing him shipped with Caitlin and Harry. I love their canon/platonic relationships, but I can't do them in any other context. There are more, but those are the main two that are an absolute no for me.

Favorite platonic/familial relationships: Caitlin! 💖 Their friendship is so sweet, and the sibling energy is off the charts. I love them so much!! Best friend goals for life. Also, Cisco and Ronnie's relationship is super underrated. I wish we could've gotten more of them. :(

A headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that I disagree with: That his parents were abusive. They're definitely overly critical, emotional unavailable, and they favor Dante over him, but I don't see them as intentionally cruel. That's not to say I'm totally against them being written that way, because I've read some good fics where they are, but I prefer to think that their issues come from a lack of understanding of him, and also refusal to accept that their golden child is actually their problem child, and vice versa. I think that they do love Cisco, and they do try somewhat to have a good relationship with him, they just don't try nearly as hard as they should, and they go about it all the wrong way.

The position they sleep in: Oddly enough I think he's a back sleeper. That's if he's in bed by himself, though. If he's with a partner, he loves to be the big spoon.

A crossover AU I’d love to see them in: See the answer for Barry.

My favorite outfit they’ve ever worn:

Also I can't find a good gif of it, but that red suit he wore for Barry and Iris's vow renewal + the S.T.A.R. Labs stole. Also, the S.T.A.R. Labs T-shirt. It hits different on him.

[archivalofsins]

Recently, I said I wouldn’t be discussing Kotoko’s case. Mostly because I believe I’ve already interrogated everything regarding the information provided already.  

However, I never said I wouldn’t discuss her ideology.  

So, let’s talk about Kotoko’s ideology and why she’s pivotal to Milgram’s progression and Jackalope says this,

Firstly,

What about Kotoko is too good to be true?

Well, her ideology of course. It fits far too well with what Milgram is trying to examine. Something the experiment the series gets its name from tentatively touched on. Fascism.

Particularly the Milgram experiment was done to,

CommonLit | The Milgram Experiment: X

Now I feel it's important to say out of the gate that by bringing this up I'm not stating I believe Kotoko is a nazi. While fascism has ties to Nazism not all fascists are nazis.

I'm toeing the line here and trying to use extremely specific wording as not to be misinterpreted. Because simply boiling down Kotoko's character to that concept alone would be a disservice.

When it comes to discussing Kotoko's ideology and how we've interpreted it I feel it's important for others to understand and recognize that fascism does not exist in a convenient vacuum where one can always tell that it is that from a glance. Poison comes in many forms and sometimes it can taste delicious going down.

One could frankly assume by me saying Kotoko has a fascist ideology that means I'm saying/believe she's a nazi. Because people tend to like to attach terms with things, they already have a firm understanding of and nazis are the most prominent type of fascists.

Many may go well I can tell a fascist when I see one. I wouldn't be tricked into falling for or supporting that sort of mindset. I have a firm understanding of right and wrong. I'd never knowingly support someone who's an exclusionist, bully, homophobic, ableist etc. Because I know better.

However, that's hard for me to believe from an outsider perspective considering Kotoko did have the highest Innocent verdict of trial one.

Firmly affirming that her crime was forgivable. That and by proxy her ideology that people who offend will always be offenders and there's no room for redemption or reform regardless of the scale of the transgression was correct.

Something she goes to no lengths to hide during her first trial song.

"I can’t forgive the evil hurting the weak."- "I hate all the evils in this world, I feel like I’m about to break." -"I’ll teach you the pain you caused. It’s a tie after saying sorry? What are you hoping for? Shall we replace the poor soul, and the miserable delusion. "I didn’t mean to offend”, “I won’t do it again” How many wins in a row?"

Milgram goes further making it clear through Jackalope in the second trial commencement notice and Mahiru's second interrogation that Kotoko's actions are heavily tied to her beliefs and ideology. Something she cannot let go of. If one were to just compare Kotoko's mentality to that of Nazism the focus would simply go to the idea that she is protecting the weak. Something that those sorts of fascists weren't known for doing.

This is why I'm making a point to state I don't believe Kotoko is a nazi and I do believe she thinks her actions are having a positive impact. However, I believe the ideals she shapes her actions around directly align with and can be labeled as fascist.

One of the reasons why fascism is so insidious and easy to fall into is because it can take many forms and look right up until the moment it begins to negatively impact the person viewing it.

This is why there's been so many videos on the concept and how to recognize it.

The Philosophy of Antifa | Philosophy Tube One hour and seven minutes and five seconds long.

Triumph of the Will, or, "Yes, You Might Be a Fascist" | Cinema Antifa Time 11:29 to 19:11. Twenty-two minutes and fifty-three seconds overall. The part time stamped goes over a list of features that tend to crop up when fascism is being applied. I'll go into that list later but yeah Kotoko's behavior and some of her second song's lyrics align well with this list.

Overall fascism isn't synonymous or specific to one movement. It is just an ideology and practice that can be shaped to fit the means the individual using it are trying to achieve.

"From the beginning I've never asked for your understanding! My actions, one by one, are bringing earth closer to peace. Useless weaklings should just shut up and let me protect them!"

It's also telling that her first song Harrow is about her protecting the weak from the evil. Yet her second trailer voice line is her lashing out at the weak. Meaning the weak are only important to her if they are able to be used to support or excuse what she wishes to do already.

Secondly,

Can you prove Kotoko has an ideology? And if so how do you know for sure it's fascist one?

When it comes to the f-word or any forms of isms. No one really likes to consider it outside of its more popularly known application. At points people may even default to believing that the word is meaningless. Stating that the word has been over applied and connected to almost everything at this point.

However, not everybody who doesn't get along with people who happen to have different religious beliefs, ethnic backgrounds, sexualities, or genders is a bigot. Sometimes people just don't get along. Just because people fight sometimes, or one person jumps another, it doesn't mean it's motivated by any external biases.

People can argue and it not be that deep.

However, that's not the case with Kotoko and Milgram blatantly states this.

Jackalope bluntly stating that he's,

"Never seen anyone so ideological and aggressive."

Why do I think Kotoko's ideology is fascism?

Okay , okay. So, there's some evidence and downright statements that Kotoko's behavior may be the result of her ideological beliefs. So, some could accept that she has an ideology but does having an ideology alone make a person a fascist?

People are entitled to their own beliefs after all.

Well, firstly with the way Amane's verdict is veering into Guilty-

No, they're not and consistent voters have made that abundantly clear.

Amane's case is kind of sad when you think about it in conjunction with this information. Because the voters are actively persecuting her for having religious beliefs that deviate from the standard while voting someone who could, and I believe does have this ideology Innocent. Possibly even doing so twice in a row.

Something I feel would really highlight how history is doomed to repeat itself in perpetuity if people fail to remember and engage with it critically. However, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Pettiness aside-

It's not as though Milgram was really trying to hide Kotoko's ideology. People just extended an immense amount of the benefit of the doubt with her case and took a lot of things at face value.

Milgram put her ideology on full display right out of the gate and has continued to.

From having Jackalope comment this,

"Prisoner 10, Kotoko. You can tell just from her aura that she’s not your everyday person…… You come across people like that sometimes."

To highlighting how she views those who do not agree with her as inhuman and those who'd agree with her as genuine human beings.

X

Q.03 Do you think any other prisoners who committed the same sin as you deserve to be forgiven?

Kotoko: Of course. Haven’t I already said that I believe my actions have been correct?

Through doing this she creates a us vs them situation where if someone were to say she was wrong they'd be the wrong one. However, unlike with Amane and Futa this actually worked for her.

"Eat this! Don’t act like you have no idea! We won’t forgive you! You’re the crazy one! Ban-Ba-Bang!"

"If you claim what I did was a mistake. I believe you are the one in the wrong."

Q.09 Which of the other prisoners do you think resembles you the most?

Kotoko: That’s a hard one. I’m only able to answer based on my guess on what they did. But I think the one that probably resembles me the most is Futa? Though he’s also the person who resembles me the least.

"I won’t stop until you say “sorry”!" - "It’s a tie after saying sorry? What are you hoping for?"

Milgram has been doing everything in its power to highlight Kotoko's ideological beliefs at this point without blatantly turning to the camera and yelling what they are. Even though it did that too in a way.

Well okay fine she thinks people who believe she was wrong aren't human but like you pointed out the others have voiced that if we view their behavior as wrong then we're the ones who are incorrect. Plus, someone would have to be a very inconsiderate, uncompassionate person to think she should have just let things continue as they were. It makes sense for Kotoko to believe that anyone who would persecute her for protecting others is wrong or inhumane. What should she have done, just ignore it? All these systemic failings and wrongs?

"I can’t forgive the evil hurting the weak. It’s unforgivable, I won’t allow it, I sweared."

Q.12 What is your motto?

Kotoko: “There’s no other way that could let us live, so I walk this path.” [TN: Quote from Mushanokouji Saneatsu.]

I too can quote people known for writing news articles in support of the second world war and being the younger brother of the Japanese Ambassador of Nazi Germany from memory.

A perfectly normal thing to be able to quote off the top of one's head verbatim.

No, red flags or dog whistles here.

Alright well that is odd, but it could be highly coincidental. That guy is a well-known writer and poet after all.

Besides Kotoko's focus is on protecting the weak from the evils of the world. The most well-known example of fascism is the exact opposite of that. They showed clear disdain towards disabled people, people who didn't practice the same religion as them, and people who did not look like them.

They were judgmental exclusionists who didn't care about anyone outside of their in group.

Kotoko isn't-

21/10/24 (Shidou’s Birthday) Shidou: ……oh, Yuzuriha-kun. It’s unusual so see you around this early. Wishing me a happy birthday…… probably isn’t the what you’re here for, huh. Kotoko: No, it is. Happy birthday, Shidou. Though it’s not like I bought you a present or anything. But while I’m here, I’d also like to ask you something. Has anything changed for you recently? Having nightmares, hearing voices, feeling anxious…… anything like that. Shidou: Not especially, no. ……ah, so this is about how Kajiyama-kun and Shiina-kun have been strange recently? And she’s been trying to hide it, but Amane too…… We’ve been living in these conditions for a while…… it’s not unusual for there to be an impact on us mentally. Are you worried about them? You’re a very caring person. Kotoko: Hmm, so you noticed? If nothing’s wrong with you, then that’s good. ……if I’ve understood properly, that means you’re safe…… Once again, happy birthday, Kirisaki Shidou.

21/12/15 (Kotoko’s Birthday) Haruka: Ah…… H-happy birthday, Kotoko-san. Kotoko: ……thanks. You’ve definitely changed a bit. Do you remember before? You could barely even talk to me. Haruka: I-is that so? Now that you mention it, I, I maybe have got a bit better since then. ……m-maybe I’ve got more used to being around people. There’s other people here who are interested in me, and, um, in particular Mu-san pays a lot of notice to me…… I… I’m enjoying myself here…… Kotoko: ……hmm. It’s just a theory I have right now, but I get the feeling the outcome of Milgram’s judgements are having some influence on our mental state. Well, I only noticed because I happened to be last up though. Good for you, then. This must mean that you’re fine. ……I’ll accept those birthday wishes.

22/12/15 (Kotoko’s Birthday) Mikoto: Ah, Koto-chan. It’s been a while. Both of us have kinda split off from the group, but how’ve things been? A lot’s happened, but for now let’s try to get along. I mean, it’s your birthday today, right? I got the feeling nobody else was going to do anything, so I came to celebrate. Kotoko: ……how carefree. It doesn’t matter, a villain like you won’t be forgiven next time either. And when that time comes, it’ll be the end for you. I’ll make sure of it myself. Mikoto: Ahh?? Just try and do it, you nutjob. I’ll crush anyone who hurts me…… You’re gonna be totally beaten at your own game……! [TN: The word “me” here uses first person pronoun “boku”.] Kotoko: Hm. The border between the two is getting a lot vaguer. Your entire existence is a crime. And I will see you’re punished for it. That is what Milgram, and Es, and I have chosen.

"I said before that I’m willing to follow your judgement, but you were soft on them. There’s some more that I wouldn’t have forgiven. If only I was the guard instead. Well, no use in complaining." X

Okay, fine that all looks sort of bad when framed in that light- and laid out in that way. All together.

But "I" personally don't interpret it as bad thing. Everyone in Milgram is a murderer. She has good reason to be on guard and keep to herself. Kotoko wasn't attacking innocent people she was killing criminals.

People who were skirting around the system, evading the law, and offending repeatedly. Getting rid of those sorts of people would make society better overall.

I mean child kidnapers and frauds cause damage to-

Okay, now you're just poking fun at Kotoko enjoyers.

Okay yeah, I am slightly but I'm also recommending you watch or read Death Note too just to better appreciate this joke. Sorry, sorry for that one, it really was just a low hanging fruit and far too good to pass up.

I can't lie I'm having a great and terrifying time writing this up right now. I only thought it'd be like ha, ha look at all these similarities between Kotoko's mindset and fascism isn't that odd.

Then I stumbled upon the fact that the person she directly quotes from memory in her first trial interrogation is a recorded supporter of World War 2. That's sort of really terrifying not going to lie. However, that just shows how much Kotoko has always been like this. To an extent this whole post has been writing itself because this is just a as soon as you see it you can't unsee it thing.

I really didn't think I'd find this much. I thought I'd go in an be like hm maybe I'm reading too much into this and there would be very little information within Milgram that supported this framing. However, there's weirdly a lot of stuff that does. Just all the way down this is how she is. Some have to admit that sometimes Kotoko's defense of her actions being we're stopping the bad guys is weirdly comparable to Light Yagami.

I mean no one has to but come on? It's kind of funny- It's at least funnier than the scary implications of her mindset and what that mindset garnering over sixty-percent support from people says about society as a whole. Let me tell you the Death Note comparison is certainly a lot funnier than that. Because the second thing is actually an issue that needs to be interrogated further.

Still, even after all this one could easily say despite everything, I haven't concretely stated why I believe Kotoko is a fascist. That all of this is just my subjective interpretation of the information provided mixed with a bunch of really weird coincidences.

However, that's the point of fascism, it's not meant to be recognizable until it is too late. It's fluid, flexible, ever changing and evolving. It changes to fit the environment, the goals of the party involved, and the people they wish to bring into the cause or exclude.

It doesn't always have the same tells in every instance it occurs. So, people can get tripped up by the deviations or even agree with the goal being strived for. However, it does have tells and Kotoko's behavior aligns with a lot of them.

Remember that second video which listed the core fundamental ideas that all fascist movements may build themselves from. Kotoko's behavior aligns with so many of them that again I just have to recommend you watch it but I will list the ones that stood out to me,

"4. Disagreement is Treason Because of this faith in tradition, which is inherently syncretic and self-contradictory and therefore can be easily deconstructed by an analytical mind. People defending that tradition hate when you point out its flaws." "5. Fear of Difference Disagreement is a sign of diversity of thought. Ur-fascism hates diversity. Because it can only operate through consensus. By force, if necessary. So, it always makes an appeal against the intruders. Who are these intruders? Honestly, it's entirely arbitrary. Anyone who doesn't fit."

"You'd understand, if you're a human."

Q.14 Are there any prisoners you don’t get on with?

Kotoko: Mikoto. He’s loud and bothersome.

20/07/01 Mikoto: Hey, hey, Koto-chan. I’ve been thinking this ever since I first heard your name, but don’t you think the names “Mikoto” and “Kotoko” kinda sound like siblings? Kotoko: No. Mikoto: Don’t say that! Let’s get along well from here on as the Koto-Koto combo! Kotoko: I’m not doing that.

Kotoko has shown that she disliked Mikoto from the start. Even refusing to wish him happy birthday before his trial even came up until he kicked up a fuss about it.

20/10/06 (Mikoto’s Birthday) Mikoto: ■■…… gh…… Gah…… ■■…… aaa…… nh…… ■…… ■■■■■……!! Kotoko: …………hm. Have you finally calmed down? Kayano Mikoto. ………… So, you want me to wish you a happy birthday? I don’t really mind, but is that really something for you to be saying to me? Mikoto: You’re the last person I need to have the whole group. If there was just one person left it’d be bugging me all night and I’d never get to sleep, right? At times like this you have to abandon your pride and just say something, right~? Kotoko: Ok, here you go. Happy birthday. ……if this is what will help you sleep soundly. Mikoto: Oh, thanks! Now I don’t need to worry~

Literally everyone told him happy birthday but her. They are in a panopticon. It's incredibly difficult for her to have not known it was his birthday if everyone had gone up to wish him happy birthday already. She just chose not to say. I don't know why she dislikes Mikoto specifically, but she does.

Even going as far to say taking care of him isn't just Milgram or Es' choice but her own as well. We've also gone over that Kotoko has a group. So, this is further illustrating that she's considered Mikoto's existence and intrusion in that group since before he was voted Guilty.

"7. Obsession with the Plot To ease this frustration, Ur-Fascism reminds the frustrated class that they are united by the virtue of having come from the same place. And what better way to unite than by forming a common enemy. The nation must always be under seige. There's always some shadowy force working from the inside and the outside to fundamentally change our way of life. Who is this force? Again it's arbitrary but usually it's some kind of foreigner."

Harrow "I can't forgive the evil hurting the weak." - "Whose fault is it? This is getting ridiculous. What should the punishment be? Want to find. I feel like I'm going crazy after straining my nerves. The person that can't be saved is now understanding the abnormality." - "It's ok to dislike, right? Losing it, losing it- What should I hope for? Good night. 'HARROW, HARROW'. Laugh and I can get to like myself."

"8. The enemy is strong & weak. The populace is taught two mutually exclusive ideas. One that the enemy is humiliating us through their wealth and power. Two, that they will easily be crushed by our wealth and power. Through this dichotomy the enemy is both strong enough to pose a threat but weak enough to defeat. Dangerous but impotent."

This is displayed through Harrow by having the criminals Kotoko attacks be strong enough to evade regular law enforcement or take advantage of the existing flawed system. Yet, weak enough to be taken care of through Kotoko's methods.

Something put on full display by having Kotoko triumph over this criminal that the police couldn't even catch in the end on top of showing her deliver justice to the bad guys repeatedly. Not just once overall.

"9. Life is Live for Struggle The belief that there will always be an enemy. So, life is always understood as permanent warfare. There is always a conflict, always a new battle. Therefore, pacifism is working for the enemy."

The ultimate message from Harrow is that the system we have now is flawed and it's up to the people, the real humans, to fix it. By any means. Through taking it into one's own hands if one needs to.

Q.04 When did you start learning martial arts?

Kotoko: When I was in primary school, I think? Without enough power, justice won’t be upheld.

Q.05 What do you do to pass time in the prison?

Kotoko: Training and meditation.

Q.12 What is your motto?

Kotoko: “There’s no other way that could let us live, so I walk this path.” [TN: Quote from Mushanokouji Saneatsu.]

Q.15 Which is more important, the objective or the means?

Kotoko: Objective. Does that not go without saying?

Q.17 Tell me what the merit is in working with you.

Kotoko: I will act according to your will. I can also act as your guard. Have you forgotten that you were about to die before?

"10. Contempt for the Weak Not just physically weak or morally weak this is a form of mass elitism. Everyone in the nation looks down on the other nations of the world. Everyone in the party looks down on everyone not in the party. Within the hierarchy of the party, everyone is taught to look down on their inferiors. And the leader looks with contempt on everyone because their authority is based on the weakness of the masses. After all, if they weren't weak, they would not need a leader."

Q.20 What do you consider “evil”?

Kotoko: The persecution of the weak and innocent.

"Useless weaklings should just shut up and let me protect them!"

If these people were not weak, they would not need to be protected.

Q.14 Are there any prisoners you don’t get on with?

Kotoko: Mikoto. He’s loud and bothersome.

"Your entire existence is a crime. And I will see you’re punished for it. That is what Milgram, and Es, and I have chosen."

"11. The Cult of Death or Everyone Can be a Hero The hero, in myth, is an exceptional figure who through struggle and sacrifice makes society better. In Ur-facism everyone is taught to be exceptional and of course the ultimate act of a hero is sacrifice. The belief that through glorious death we can reach transcendental happiness. In Eco's words, 'The UR-Fascist Hero is impatient to die. In their impatience, they more frequently send other people to their deaths."

Harrow

"Every time death comes the soul moves forward." - "Shall we replace the poor soul, and the miserable delusion?" - "Newly born “HARROW HARROW”. It’s ok to dislike, right?" - "Laugh and I can get to like myself."

Deep Cover

"So, I became your fang. I've chosen the awaited hero. I've engraved the answer. Why? Why stop me? Don't stop."

"12. Machismo This is the principle of permanent war and suicidal heroism brought into sexuality. Masculine sexual dominance is valued, and everything else, from femininity, to submissiveness, to chastity, to homosexuality- To anything outside of the ideal of dominant masculinity is shunned."

Q.10 What do you think of the term “femininity”?

Kotoko: A means. It’s something you can choose freely depending on the scene, not something you have to adhere to.

"13. Selective Populism Ur-Fascism relies on the people to function. But unlike in democracy, which works for individual rights, where individuals impact political decisions through the quantitative voting process Ur-facism treats the people as a qualitative function. As monolithic voice of the common will. Since no group is a monolith, and every populace is made up of a diverse number of voices, and as mentioned before facism needs consensus and abhors diversity- the leader serves as the sole interpreter of this will. So, the people only exist to serve as a rhetorical device commonly used to undermine democratic institutions that for one reason or another no longer represent the will of The People. And this, combined with the aforementioned, racism and xenophobia, serves to narrow the definition of who The People are. Eco speculates that in the future a TV or internet populism could also serve this function."

"The leader serves as the sole interpreter of this will. So, the people only exist to serve as a rhetorical device."

"I can’t forgive the evil hurting the weak. It’s unforgivable, I won’t allow it, I sweared." - "From the beginning I've never asked for your understanding! My actions, one by one, are bringing earth closer to peace. Useless weaklings should just shut up and let me protect them!

"Hm. The border between the two is getting a lot vaguer. Your entire existence is a crime. And I will see you’re punished for it. That is what Milgram, and Es, and I have chosen."

22/08/05 (Kazui’s Birthday)

Kotoko: ……Mukuhara Kazui. Thanks to you, I wasn’t able to properly serve justice to those who did something unforgivable. I’m currently acting as an agent for our prison guard Es. Don’t get in my way next time.

Kazui: Oi oi, don’t be silly, Yuzuriha-chan. There’s no way I could just look away from your outrageous display of violence. Anyway, even disregarding the fact violence against those voted guilty isn’t a part of Milgram’s system, what you’re doing is just acting recklessly based on a broad interpretation. As long as I’m free myself, I’ll stop you.

Kotoko: ……what a pointless argument. Hmph. Since Es forgives you, I have no choice but to forgive you myself too. If you're to keep to your words, then you’d best do what you can to keep being forgiven. If you’re not, then next time you’ll be one of my targets.

Kazui: Oh, how scary. That girl truly is frightening. ……well then, I wonder what the guard will decide to do with me. That’s the one thing I really can’t make out. Honestly……

Deep Cover

"Don't stop! I need a good reason to give justice! Give me my next purpose!"

Kotoko constantly uses the people around her and their struggles as an excuse for her behavior. Despite admitting she's never had to face any of the persecution or judgment she's more than happy to hand down to others.

Q.18 Have you ever personally been persecuted in the past?

Kotoko: I haven’t. But are you trying to say that if you haven’t had those experiences you can’t hate evildoers?

Now she's just using her relation to Es and their apparent agreement to justify her current behavior. Even if as Kazui pointed out attacking the prisoners because of their verdicts is not part of Milgram's system and she didn't even bother to ask what Es wanted her to do in their agreement.

She just made up these terms stating she'd take being voted Innocent as confirmation that Es wanted to work with her. Regardless of if she was voted innocent due to some other reason entirely or not. So far, all the prisoners' interrogations have highlighted that they aren't entirely aware of why Es made the verdict they did but they have some speculations based off the voices they'd been hearing and how they interpreted those.

So, she's truly just working off of her own interpretation of Es' and the audience's judgement.

Yeah, that's all I've really been able to gather on this idea and my thoughts on it. I don't know how comprehensive this will come off as and it may have spelling errors, but I hope people like it and use it to interrogate Kotoko's behavior can come off from a different angle. Because it's not as simple as a good deal of people have made it out to be.