#that would be fun too of course

[mixmioart]

also I really mean it when I say I’m working on a longer project, I’ve applied to go an extra project year at my school, which means I could potentially get to spend an entire year just drawing on my comic!! That would be huge but of course I won’t get to know if my application has gone through until sometime in June rip:,]

[pricklenettle]

inspired by this post, Danny’s lost in the ghost zone and comes across pariah dark’s keep. I had to draw it and had The most fun with the spooky green ghost zone

[justjonesingaround]

wanted to try the ability form trend by @n0rtist with my favorite lil guy!!

[the-barefoot-hatter]

pediatricians are hard to find.

you aren't broken and other important things a triangle needs to hear

[hauntingofhouses]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[shroomerr]

Oh, help me God, this hellboy got me coming back for more

reblogs super appreciated !!! close-ups under the cut !

[demaparbat-hp]

Yoi is a babe 🫶

A diva, is what he is.

[vaguely-concerned]

seeing people claim that lucanis is 'bad representation' is hilarious to me because in so many ways he's really the closest anything has ever gotten to capturing my own personal experience. sorry for being bad real life queer and mental health/neurodiversity representation folks 😔 I'll take time to reflect and do some work on myself and try to do better in the future

[dermyartsz]

How it started vs how it ended

[gallusrostromegalus]

So could it be said that Seiretei is Yamamoto sneaking his unionizing underneath the nobles' noses, if I understand correctly what he pulled, by getting all the psychics signed up to have food and wages and some sort of job security?

That is *EXACTLY* what he's doing.

Well, its the extremely sexy and cunning plan his Wife Tsubaki came up with but fortunately for him she thinks it's equally hot shit when he's a huge fucking problem for the Bourgeoisie on her behalf.

After she leaves him, his plans aren't quite as... subtle, but the willingness to be a huge asshole for the benefit of future generations remains, and what he can't get my subtle manipulation or cunning tactics he's more than willing to achieve with strategic use of extreme violence.

His first few years trying to manage Zaraki are... Difficult. Yamamoto often muses on the old curse of teachers that one should suffer a student just like yourself, as he struggles with another catastrophic asshole who unfortunately has the physical chops and social skills to back his bullshit up. The Giant Bastard's monstrous Reiatsu is it's own problem but unfortunately Zaraki is also in possession of a startlingly cunning mind, a long memory and a fiendish sense of humor. Tsubaki's influence on the lad became clear in the first captain's meeting when Zaraki dog-walked him through naming specific statutes until he had to admit defeat and let him restock the 11th with every freak and monster in the Rukongai.

...a week after The Calamity In Hiroshima though, Yamamoto realizes that A Giant Bastard is *exactly* what he needs.

It's midnight when he arrives at the 11th Division to 'have a little walk' with Zaraki.

It's 1:04 AM when he gets over to the 4th Division where the man actually is.

As the Giant Bastard is redressing (and Unohana is indicating via Very Pointed Eye Contact that there will be Consequences (TM) for this interruption) Yamamoto explains he needs Zaraki to come with him on a trip to "A Place several people who legally I do not know the names of- much less their professions! are gathering in secret. They have tremendous sway in the governing of Soul Society, and somehow they have gotten ahold of a Schematic for The Device. I think it only appropriate that they be reassured that the construction of such a device should not even be considered, as there is More Than Enough Destructive Power between the two of us, isn't there?"

Zaraki peered down at him with the one functioning eyeball (and the malfunctioning one too, if the prickling in Yamamoto's thumbs was anything to go by) for a minute and he worried he might have to try again with smaller words when Zaraki grinned in comprehension.

"I get it now!" He laughed, patting Yamamoto's shoulder and the old man sighed with relief.

"-Gotta say, it was kinda buggin' me, but now I see what Madame Tsubaki saw in ya!" he laughed, and Yamamoto realized several decades too late that Zaraki's former Employer and his own Ex-wife were one in the same.

"C'mon Grandpa, show me whose head needs knocking into the outer districts."

[night-scribe]

Off and on i think about how borrowers can’t really enjoy hot drinks because a little drop or two of a hot drink would go cold too fast for it to actually be hot by the time they drank much of it

But now i’m wondering.. what if, because of this, communal hot drinks are part of borrower culture..? Like, if everyone poured themselves a cup of tea, they’d have a bunch of room-temperature cups of tea pretty fast, but if the tea stayed in a pot over a small fire and everyone drank directly from that..? Either sipping it slowly through something like a straw, using a dipping utensil and plain ol’ surface tension to bring up little drops to sip, or even maybe using a short length of string like a wick and sucking on the end of it. Even if the water is boiling, i assume it would cool to drinking temperature by the time it got to their mouth, if they do it right.

Maybe in cold climates, it’s normal to have a pot of water constantly simmering on the fire to warm oneself up with periodically, since tinies can’t hold onto body heat as well.

[sysig]

I think the world is so wonderful... (Patreon)

[aquanutart]

She is offering water to any lost travelers! However, it's so hot that the water has become tea, so she's adjusted accordingly!

[nelkcats]

Amity Candy Store

It turns out that having a portal to the Infinite Realms gives you resources to materials you've never seen before. Due to the recent peace treaty between Amity Parkers and ghosts they had begun to exchange products.

Some ghosts felt very nostalgic and wanted to try the food of the living again, or have access to objects not available on the dimension. Others simply wanted to show their shiny items to the liminals, after all there were so many portals on the dimension and they had a lot to trade!

One of those items was Kryptonite, ghosts were sure it was candy of some kind and told the liminals that and since ghosts and liminals could eat it without any consequences (Frostbite approved) the liminals assumed it was some kind of special candy. Like shiny rock candy.

So it is not surprising that when they opened a candy store they began to sell Kryptonite there. When the Justice League began to investigate the town's sudden silence from the outside world Clark didn't expect to feel extremely weak walking past the local candy store. Or that being around the local children would make him sick.

[gangles-toybox]

Ford, reading the Catcher in the Rye in highschool: *reads it like a good student but doesn't really understand why people like it as much as they do at the time, Holden is hard to relate to for him probs* [he would understand him more as he grew up]

Stanley, actually reading a The Catcher in the Rye and not cheating off of Ford for once: HE LIKE ME! HE JUST LIKE ME FR!!!!

[goqmir]

would love to be a little animal rn. feeling very like. wanting to be cared for tonight. like a little pokemon