#that's not about being Right About Characters but rather validating your own perspective and other peoples' and acknowledging they coexist

[the-cosmic-cauldron]

🧚🏽‍♀️𝒫𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝒶 𝒫𝒾𝓁ℯ: 𝒢𝓊𝒾𝒹𝒶𝓃𝒸ℯ ℱ𝓇ℴ𝓂 ℳℴ𝓉𝒽ℯℛ 𝒢ℴ𝒹𝒹ℯ𝓈𝓈 🧚🏽‍♀️

Welcome to 10 Days, 10 Posts from The Cosmic Cauldron! Over the next ten days, I’ll be sharing a blend of astrology and tarot posts, each designed to spark your curiosity and guide your journey. If you find my content interesting, fascinating, or engaging, be sure to click the follow button for more! Ready to dive deeper into your personal journey? Head to my homepage and book a reading — you won’t regret it.

ᑭIᒪᗴ 1

Here, I am your Mother Goddess, offering you some advice for your healing journey and your current stage of life. First, I want you to focus on positive things. Sometimes we lose track of the good, but it’s important to recognize the positives each day. I encourage you to write down or verbally affirm three positive things each day, even if it’s just speaking them to yourself in the mirror. One of those positive things should be about you—how you look, how you act, and appreciating yourself. You need to learn to appreciate and affirm yourself. This will help you stay positive and, more importantly, build confidence. Self-acceptance is essential for you right now.

I also want you to stop being so impulsive and spontaneous. While those traits can be exciting, I believe this is a time for you to slow down and create a plan of action. Rather than acting on a whim, take your time and be patient. Life will unfold in its own time, and you have many years to do everything you want to do. Focus on what you can do right now—establish that in the present. Accept where you are in your journey, including the pain, your past, and even the parts of yourself that you might not like. Even if something doesn’t feel wholesome or it makes you feel less confident, accept it. Acceptance is a crucial part of your life right now.

Instead of seeking validation from others or focusing on what others think of you, focus on self-acceptance. This will be freeing for you. By focusing inward, you can cultivate patience with where you are right now. Instead of rushing to move forward, allow yourself to embrace your present reality. Accept where you are, what you have, and what you can do with the tools and resources available to you right now.

You need to be more intentional. Take your time, plan, and stop rushing. Don’t expect things to happen randomly. Accept your reality and use what you have in this moment. Focus on yourself—your work, your effort, and your development. This phase of your life is about self-acceptance, and it’s time to put in the work. Lay down the groundwork, pay attention to the details, and don’t skip over them. Set goals, make plans, and be intentional. This requires inner work, not trying to gain approval from others. Start liking yourself and put the effort into developing your true self during this time.

ᑭIᒪᗴ 2

Here I am, your Mother Goddess, offering you advice for the healing stage you are currently in. One thing you need to focus on is that not everyone is going to agree with you, resonate with you, or be on the same page as you. Don’t try to force your way or get people to see your perspective. Some people are only interested in asserting their own views instead of understanding yours. Not everyone will be understanding, and it’s important to accept that. If someone is not receptive to what you’re saying, accept them for who they are. Trying to change their perspective or improving yourself to fit their expectations is only exhausting your energy. It’s causing you to become frustrated, aggressive, and out of alignment with your true character. You’re investing your energy into people who aren’t reciprocating the positivity you deserve.

Right now, your focus should be on self-protection. Protect your energy and find ways to shield yourself from external influences. Outside pressures are strong, but this is a sign that you need a stronger core. Start journaling and reflect on who you are, your opinions, values, and beliefs. Stand firm in them. 2025 is the year to stand strong in who you truly are. Be clear when communicating with others, and let them know that while you are emotional, you won’t allow your emotions to dictate how you communicate. A clear mind is essential for you right now.

This period calls for you to step away from the crowd and reconnect with yourself. Take time to meditate, journal, and channel your thoughts and words in a way that isn’t excessive or full of resentment, bitterness, or anger. Aim for balance and communicate from a place of confidence and clarity. Accept that there are situations in your life you may not feel good about, but to protect yourself, you need to understand how you ended up in those situations. Self-protection involves understanding the root cause of your circumstances.

If you’re grieving, frustrated, or sad about something, ask yourself: What is the core of this emotion? Did you put yourself in this situation? Did you lack boundaries or intention? Did you lack clarity? These are the necessary questions you must ask to start honoring your happiness, joy, and peace. Self-protection is about honoring these aspects of yourself. By understanding the experiences that led you astray from your true self, you can set new intentions to focus on your happiness, joy, and peace moving forward.

Let go of the idea that everyone needs to agree with your life or respect your decisions. Not everyone will approach you in a respectful way. Now is the time for you to take space for yourself, to re-establish your sense of self-protection. This will help you avoid falling into the same cycles of hurt and pain. Let go of your defensiveness, anger, hostility, frustration, and animosity. Shift your focus inward so you can protect yourself from negative situations and move closer to happiness, joy, peace, and love.

ᑭIᒪᗴ 3

Hi, here I am, your Mother Goddess, offering advice for the healing stage you’re currently in. This period is all about honesty and truth. You need to tap into both. The thing is, you’ve been seeing things through colored glasses, perhaps a bit of delusion. And that’s okay—sometimes delusion helps us manifest things, but it can also hinder our authenticity and clarity when it comes to facing the honest truth in our lives, which is necessary to heal wounds.

It seems like you’re going through a lot emotionally and mentally. There’s a lot happening in your life that you simply don’t enjoy, and it feels overwhelming. It’s important now to be honest with yourself about where you’re at. Don’t sugarcoat it—take the time to sit down and have an honest conversation with yourself. Write in your journal, make a video, or even record voice notes on your phone. The key is to be clear and honest with yourself. I sense there’s some self-deception going on, perhaps because you’re repressing emotions or avoiding dealing with them. But these emotions are affecting the way you think, clouding your mind, making it chaotic and hectic.

We need to get you out of this chaotic place, and the way to do that is through clarity and honesty. This period in your life demands this. You need to confront those truths, even though they will be hard. It may feel like you’re being tossed around in a blender, shaken to your core, but guess what? It will lead to something great. You must explore your own truth and authenticity now.

Your mind is cloudy, and when you start confronting these truths—when you acknowledge that your life is not where you want it to be—you’ll start to understand the root of the problems and where they came from. Look at the past for what it truly was, not what you wish it had been. Accept that certain things happened in the past, and no longer view them through rose-colored glasses.

Once you can see how your emotions were affected by those situations, you’ll begin to understand how those emotions have clouded your mind. Your mind has become unclear, scrambled, and chaotic. Now, you need to figure out how to release these thoughts and emotions. Journaling is a great tool for this. Whatever method works for you—writing, recording, or speaking—use it to clear your mind. Brain dump everything so that you can think and communicate more clearly. This will help you start engaging with the world more authentically, without your mind holding you back.

Trust me, facing the truth and being honest with yourself will cause some upheaval in your life, but over time, it will smooth things out. It will lead you to live a beautiful life, rooted in authenticity. You’ll be able to show up as yourself, and the old wounds will begin to heal because you will be living in your truth.

ᑭIᒪᗴ 4

Hello, here I am, your Mother Goddess, offering guidance for the healing period you’re in. This time calls for you to let go. The theme right now is simply to release���the anxiety, the overthinking, the self-doubt. I know it’s not easy, but I’m here to guide you through it.

The first thing I want you to realize is that things you think are personal are often not as personal as you believe. People act based on their own thoughts, not yours. And while they may interfere with what you want, you cannot allow their actions to become a reflection of who you are. Instead, allow people to just be. Let them be, and choose how you want them in your life. You hold the power, not to control their actions, but to decide how you respond and what role they play in your life based on their actions.

Instead of constantly getting caught up in your feelings, always feeling the need to defend yourself or speak up, and getting into altercations with people who don’t think like you—let it go. This is the time to release so much: old habits that no longer serve you, outdated beliefs about what success is, and what you believe is good for you. It’s time to adopt new, positive beliefs rooted in femininity, love, nurturance, art, and creativity. You need to become more fluid, allowing yourself to enjoy life more and embrace the fruits of your labor.

Take your self-care to the next level. Really invest in a solid routine that focuses on nurturing yourself. Change your environment if necessary. If your room or house feels stale, change it. If you’re wearing the same clothes, switch it up. You need change. Let go of all the things you’ve been holding on to, believing you needed them. A key area is your self-care routine. If you don’t have one, it’s time to establish one. If you already do, then re-establish it for 2025. Let go of last year’s habits and create new ones to care for yourself. What will you do for yourself this year?

It’s time to let go of the past. Let go of what you thought you had to be, and choose who you want to be in this moment. Focus on filling your cup and prioritizing your emotional well-being. If you’ve been focusing outwardly on others, it’s time to shift inward. Start small—maybe it’s watching a movie with a tub of ice cream, or going to your favorite restaurant, but begin somewhere. Shift from giving to others all the time and start giving to yourself. It’s time to look up and nurture yourself.

Stop twiddling your thumbs—make decisions for yourself. It’s time to let go of the old. Apologize to others, accept your own shortcomings, forgive, but most importantly—move on. You need to release and let go. Write things down and then burn the paper as a symbol of release. Record a video expressing all your feelings and thoughts, then lock it away. In a year, look back and see how far you’ve come.

Letting go is essential now. Let go of old possessions, material items, emotions, lack of forgiveness, neglecting self-care, focusing too much on others, defensiveness, anger, animosity, frustration, anxiety, self-doubt, and worry. Free yourself to move forward and focus on being present. Ground yourself in the now, not in the old version of you. Focus on who you are becoming, and begin building this version of yourself from the ground up.

[valtsv]

This isn't a gotcha, so please don't take it as such, but would yuou be willing to explain what it is about VAL that makes her such a favourite of yours? I can't stand her myself, she comes across to me as a bully given god-like power that she abuses for her own amusement, and I've seen you acknowledge as much, but we draw completely different conclusions from that. I just want to understand your perspective.

i've been anticipating a question like this for a while now, so i'm more than happy to answer for you!

you're right, VAL is in some ways a "bully given godlike power" as you put it, and there's no avoiding that (nor do i want to). and yeah, i do like her in part because of that, because i have a fondness for horrible fictional characters and in particular "bad victim" archetypes, of which VAL certainly is one. but i think what makes her compelling to me, rather than repulsive, is that she is fundamentally a cautionary tale and a tragedy. in-universe, she's the scapegoat. the example. the "make the right choices or this could be you". she's inescapably, heartbreakingly human in her awfulness, and that makes her terrifying, but it also makes her deeply sad (at least to me).

i also strongly believe in rehabilitative/restorative justice, so for me, wanting better for VAL is about my real-world principles to a degree. i can't and won't argue that VAL doesn't function as an uncomfortable allusion to a lot of atrocious crimes against humanity (by humanity) within the narative, and that anyone who finds her upsetting or even hateful for these reasons is absolutely justified in doing so. however, she's still a fantasy entity at the end of the day. she's not a 1:1 stand-in for real-world abuses any more than, say, a vampire or werewolf, which plenty of people are more than happy to explore the nuances of. and there's also the question of what punitive measures would even achieve in her case, beyond personal satisfaction for the one administering or spectating them (which is not to say that wanting to punch VAL makes you as bad as she is, just that her arc is, among other things, about how cycles of abuse and violence perpetuate). the worst that could possibly happen to her has already happened. she's been tortured. she's been taken advantage of for her mistaken belief that working for and with the system has the opportunity to benefit her, and died for it. there's nothing to be "learned" from her punishment that hasn't already been shown to us. that she hasn't already internalised. if she were ever to develop a stable conscience, that would be punishment enough in my opinion.

despite being a victim of people not entirely unlike VAL, i personally am not her victim, so treating her with sympathy and kindness whilst acknowledging the elephant in the room that is her many (fictional) war crimes is not something that requires any cognitive dissonance on my behalf. i would cautiously argue that the narrative agrees with me somewhat in this regard - the few times VAL is treated to a genuine act of kindness with no ulterior motives, it shatters her composure and outward conviction that what she's doing is necessary for her personal satisfaction, and even prompts her to reconsider on occasion (sparing the woodsman comes to mind). i'm not saying anyone needs to hug her and tell her she's valid, but if all it takes is some genuine good intent to get her to engage in introspection, i'm willing to be the person to offer it.

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/756599406195818496/i-feel-like-such-a-hypocrite-reblogging-all-these?source=share

it seems like our perspectives are too different for talking to you to help me but I have nowhere else to talk about this so

it doesn't make me uncomfortable because other people say I should like female characters, it makes me uncomfortable because I wish I did

and I wish I did because I AM a woman; if some/many slash fans turn out to be trans good for them, but I don't wanna be a different gender, I just don't wanna feel like mine is inferior

if characters have to be male for me to appreciate and empathise with them, then I can't appreciate or empathise with myself

I only think it's cool/attractive/emotionally moving when men do things; if it's a woman doing the same thing it's automatically off-putting -- so anything I do is off-putting

I'm not saying this as a universal objective logic thing, I'm sure there are women who only like slash and have no self-esteem issues related to it, but I do

but maybe it's not "fictional women are off-putting, therefore I'm off-putting", but rather "I'm off-putting, therefore fictional women are off-putting" -- so maybe I can't try to fix it by just liking the fictional ones more, I have to learn to like myself first, but the only way I've ever changed my mind/feelings about anything was by consuming art about it so idk

my point is, I think *my* exclusive enjoyment of male characters *is* related to internalised misogyny and it makes *me* suffer, and I feel invalidated being told I just fell for other people's nonsensensical moral panic

but I understand you're just not gonna be the person who validates me on that and that's your right

--

I think most of that genre of post is silly in a way that this is not.

Self esteem issues are real. They can be addressed—not easily banished forever, no, but addressed.

The reason the typical post is garbage is that it's not personal. It's always projecting on other women rather than seeking help for oneself. That's just shitty to other women while doing nothing productive.

No, I'm not going to validate a broken coping mechanism that makes the tumblr space more hostile to women having fun. But if you want people's advice on how to improve one's own self esteem, perhaps someone will have ideas.

[slightly-sigilant]

I feel like the thing that the Fallen London fandom knows me for is Correspondence, and indeed, I love the squiggles. But in truth, the part of the setting I think about most is Parabola, the world behind the mirror. The land of the Is-Not; the realm of dreams.

I've had some flavor of chronic fatigue throughout my life. Without getting into the gruesome details, no doctor in a decade-plus of searching has been able to diagnose or treat it. At this point, I've more or less moved on to trying to accept it, work around it, and not linger on the looming dread I feel whenever I think about being disabled in This Society We Live In. I'm fortunate enough to have a remote job, one that mostly tolerates me working weird hours and sneaking off now and then to nap, so my days are something like a patchwork. Irregular swaths are cut from my life for sleep, and for lying in bed trying to muster up my energy, with the things that I need to do packed into the periods in-between, the precious moments where I feel well and truly awake.

At some point, I decided that if sleep was going to take up over half my life, I might as well make the most of it. I wouldn't call myself an expert on dreams - I've read Some websites on lucid dreaming, and One (1) book. But I do have vivid dreams on the regular, and I try to engage with them with my own particular means.

(It looks something like this: I let myself sink, and then, at a place between waking and dreaming, I float. I focus on my childhood room - a place my dreams have taken me, again and again, as of late. I brush my fingers along the walls, asking them to keep the terrors out, rather than trap me within. I speak to the ghosts that haunt this memory-place, inviting them to truce, to rest. I remember my present - of being an adult in a household that respects and cares for me - and breathe it into my past. With luck, the next time my dreams take me here, this place will be a sanctuary, not a prison.

Or like this: holding still, careful and quiet, in the moments before a dream dissipates. This one had been suffused with a powerful, yet curious melancholy. I hold onto the feeling as best as I can, studying the curves of its sorrow, the angles of its longing. I realize that it is a feeling I have taught myself to no longer feel in the waking world. The realization cuts, like a scalpel.)

It started as a necessity. A tendency to have nightmares doesn't mesh well with a life riddled with opportunities to have them. But it also became a quiet passion. Small wonder that it would be Parabola that would be my hook into Fallen London's world. While I only became an active player a year ago, I spent much longer than that reading the wiki. I remember combing through Wikidot for every scrap that I could on the mirror-realm and its inhabitants. I remember being elated to find out that you could become a Silverer (or "Glassman," as they were once called) and that you could set up a Parabolan Base-Camp of your very own. When I made Lukas, my current main, I planned for him to become a Silverer. His character arc took him down the path of a Correspondent, but Rafael would take up the cosmogone spectacles instead.

My readings are not the only valid ones, of course. But it never appealed to me to treat Parabola as just a wacky otherworld, and the Fingerkings as just sinister. My personal experience has been that dream logic is logic, something to work with rather than against, shown respect rather than bullied into submission. It is reciprocal - in order to shape my dreams, I allow myself to be shaped in return. They yearn and I yearn; I feed them and they feed me; we move together in ever-shifting dance.

This is the kind of perspective I try to weave into my interpretations of Parabola. I would like them to live somewhere other than just in my head, and I've thought at some point of creating some kind of compendium of My Personal Parabolan Headcanons. But that format doesn't really sit right with me - it's a vibe, not a set of rules. I think I would like to write some kind of playable fan-Exceptional Story, but it's really hard to beat the feeling that It Has To Be Perfect. The perils of writing about something that you're passionate about, I guess.

For now, I daydream and I doodle and sometimes I inflict my thoughts on my friends via Discord. But someday! Someday.

[thepoetjean-makes-stuff]

HOW TO ACTUALLY WRITE -- THE BASICS (AKA STEP 0-1)

(AKA ThePoetJean justifies their Master's degree and makes it everyone else's problem)

1) "WRITING IS REWRITING" AND WHAT THE HELL THAT MEANS -- No writing is law or set in stone upon the first draft, and whoever taught you that is a bum. Even permanent glue can be removed by nail polish remover, so why is editing your first draft no different? When writing for fun, oftentimes you can edit the post and clean up the story when things are no longer working (it's called a cutting room floor for a reason). When writing for publishing, you'll often be paired with an editor who'll send tweaks back-and-forth to you, chipping away at any structural mistakes or grammar flaws to bring out the point of your writing piece in the process. The first draft is just about getting the general vibes of the story down: like the batter for the cake recipe before you start baking it. This part is meant to be fun and messy and no one expects you to serve them go when you're just cracking your eggs open. Let yourself be messy cuz (burnt or fluffy), this is the first step to making your story, so no need to have something be all pretty and presentable the first time around! Again, a lot of writing is just rewriting cuz drafts are a thing so getting stuff down is most important. And another amazing thing -- if the story sucks, you can always change it later! You gotta trust yourself to get it done in order to get it out to the world one way or another, so go do that!

2) LEARN YOUR OWN WRITING PROCESS! -- (OH MY GOD PPL, LEARN HOW YOU TO THE THING IT'S HALF THE BATTLE!) Most of the struggles I see with newer writers is never learning how they write, and that sucks since have the joy of making things is making the thing -- so why make writing stories so arduos for yourself. Learn your own methods and use them whenever you get to writing! Learn the writerly basics like plot, structure, framing, character voice, setting, time period, etc and learn how best you can utilize them in your own stories! On a purely craft level: Learn ALL THE WRITING CRAFT and keep in mind that all writing craft is meant to be guidelines rather than hard rules. Learn many ways about how to write in general cuz no writing advice is one size fits all and being embarrassed of your process is dumb and hinders your creative growth. Trust yourself as a writer, you'll improve faster that way. Believing you can and believing it's possible is the first step to doing anything! (Plus all writing is rewriting anyhow to there's no need to feel embarrassed about something you can fix later, anyways, right?)

3) Read projects like your project in order to get a better feel of your project. Whether it be writing style references, basic literary craft examples, or just you want to break down the vibes of the stories so you can better emulate in your own -- GO AND WATCH/READ/LISTEN ETC TO WHATEVER STORIES YOU THINK WOULD MATCH THE VIBES OF YOUR OWN!! Now, this isn't a 1-to-1 copy, you're not mean to make a clone of the thing you like or take properties for the IP that you're into -- that's more along the lines of fanfiction (which can be fun and is ofc, super valid) -- BUT! To create your own stories, you need to learn where you get your ideas from, and learn how to implement, borrow, twist, etc from the story structures and properties you gather your inspo from. Other writers are your peers, not your enemies -- so treat their work and your own with the respect it deserves. No two chicken sandwiches are ever exactly the same; true artists steal from many places, so learn how to be a good thief (creatively speaking). Example from my own secret WIP novel: I'm writing a New Adult Urban fantasy novel with a dark, powerful lady protagonist that uses lots of philosophical themes, alternate history perspectives as well as using mythology as a basis for a lot of the magical roots and setting roots. Likewise, this a story about friendship and romance after major loss and trauma, and how to come back to yourself after grief, so I've been looking for stories that cover those themes in their plots, which has made the story a lot more fun to read and write outside of just being a cool concept to play with.

If you're writing a second-chance romance story, read romance stories. If you're writing a sci-fi story with lots of robots, read stories about robots. Presumably, you enjoy the same stories you're writing in concept if not in execution, so don't hesitate to seek those stories out, and break down how those stories work in order to scrap them for literary parts. You're smarter than you think you are, and breaking down stories is a lot of fun once you get the hang of it, so please consider doing this as you go into your next project, your writing will thank you for it!

OPTIONAL:

4) If the story works better as something else, swap the format and see what happens.

Have you ever read something and been like "Huh, I like this book, but with how iconography is used in the actual text, it might be better as a movie or a comic book"? So have I!

So, if you ever feel like the story you're writing isn't working so well as a novel or a play, consider turning it into a movie or a webcomic! Of course, this is all easier said than done, and every writing format comes with its own rules and limitations, but I'd give it a try if you ever want to see your project from a fresh perspective! If nothing else, you'll learn something new -- and become a better writer for it!

Til next time, beloveds~

__

PS. Take all advice with a grain of salt. I am not your parent or your principal, I'm just a lady with a writing degree and a lil free time. Take what resonates, leave what doesn't, etc. PLEASE SHARE THIS POST AROUND TO ANYONE WHO IT MIGHT HELP! THANKIES :3

KOFI: https://ko-fi.com/thepoetjean

[kyouka-supremacy]

hello!

I saw your recent post and you hinted that Atsushi is actually kinda twisted and that yoh don't agree with his morals?

If its alr with you, do you mind elaborating? ❤️

Alright, to be fair, I *am* self aware enough to realize a lot of what I say about Atsushi is probably fairly detached from canon. When push comes to shove, he's just a guy trying to get through. A polite dude. I like to stretch on how a lot of his well-mannered behaviour and his desperate attempt to prove himself good are moved by deeply selfish reasons of validating his own right to live, but that said, that doesn't make him inherently evil, either.

Atsushi's double morality is something that comes up a lot, so please check out these posts!! (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8). But overall... Is a good action that is done for deeply selfish reasons, still good? I'm not sure. But when I watched the anime for the first time, and in episode 8 it turned out that Atsushi was not helping the train passengers out of spontaneous inclination to help people in need, but rather just due to a self-interested aim to validate his own right to live... Idk, it didn't positively impress me? I was even less positively impacted by the later line “people can't live unless someone tells them ‘it's okay to go on’! ” The thing is, both scenes feel like more of the author's underlying worldviews that end up being conveyed through the series' protagonist, and that's a consideration to be made by its own– it's not an issue I have with Atsushi specifically, as much as me fundamentally disagreeing with most of bsd's perspectives on the world, as I've already said before.

But that doesn't change the fact that Atsushi is fundamentally selfish¹, does it? The difference is - I think - that for the author, more or less all people are, while to me no one is born selfish. But that still makes Atsushi not really morally virtuous, and I think that's narratively interesting to explore by its own!!! What if there was a character who only did good because (he thinks) that's the only way he has the right to live? What if there was someone who believed the right to live had to be owned in the first place? After having overcome the admittedly jarring sentiment I felt when first engaged with the character, I must admit those are some compelling concepts to explore, even despite disagreeing with the underlying morals.

At the end of the day, it's just a complex nature of the character? I like to emphasize on Atsushi's uncommendable selfishness especially as opposite to Akutagawa's hidden selflessness; but all said, a man who tries to do good despite it not being his first nature is a better man than any of us, isn't he?

¹ And Atsushi is profoundly selfish. I think that Beast in particular proves that he's ready to commit evil just as much as in canon he is to do good, if it's to pursue the goal of his own survival. The first thing we see him do, at the very start of the series, is, symbolically, contemplating robbing other people for his own survival (though in real life I would never judge someone's morality in life and death situations... But maybe since this is fiction, that can still hold narrative value). He will stop acting good as long as it's no longer required of him (each of his interactions with Akutagawa). Maybe it's a little pessimist way to interpret the manga, but perhaps still a consistent one?

[kenonade]

for the ask game—3, 5, 18, and 25 for peter wiggin?

THE GUY!!!!!!!!!

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

It’s hard to say because, and I say this with shame—I haven’t read the books in a long, long time. Off the top of my head though, I didn’t like that part in Ender’s Stocking where he became weirdly misogynistic. That was weird. I’m not and have never been a genius teen boy with a younger sister who got rejected by a girl at high school so I can’t say if the interplay between those specific factors would create that outcome—but I sure can say, I didn’t like it.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Ether Strike - Akira Complex. It’s hard to explain because it’s a rhythm game song (hello Arcaea fans) whose lyrics consists of like 4 unique lines but I’ll try. “An intense dissatisfaction with the world / And a compulsion to do something about it / Heaven and Earth / My guiding star” It is a compulsion, right? The way he decided he’d be the one to be in charge of it all. Fueled by a sense of desperation for any amount of validation and the guilt that came with. “My guiding star” reminds me of the conversation he had with Ender at the end of Shadow of the Giant where he said that he’d always think, what would Ender do? It helps that I hear a lot of grief, longing, and determination in the drop, too. Honorable mentions to All You Had To Do Was Stay by TS and Mirror Man by Jack Stauber.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

Admire is a weirdly specific word in this context. There’s Bean, Petra, his parents, Graff, Achilles, Ender, Val whom I can see him having notable relationships with. Honestly, none of them are quite admirable? These relationships are interesting and complex and I like reading about them but I wouldn’t say that I look up to them for guidance on what to do with my own social life? The only exception is his relationship with Petra. He gave her space to grieve and a cushion to fall back on. He learned to love and they learned to trust.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Dude, the first time I read Ender’s Game I was 12 years old. I don’t even remember how I felt towards the book overall. If I had to guess, I probably didn’t like him. At that stage in my life I would’ve related more to Ender. I do, however, remember the first time I picked EG up for a reread. I fell in love IMMEDIATELY. From the moment the book underlined his hatred with how he felt he wasn’t good enough, I knew he was THE standout character. The scene where he apologizes to Ender thinking that Ender’s asleep… HEARTWRENCHING. His heart-to-heart with Val… MY HEART BROKE. Meanwhile he was also so silly and goofy… literally the most crass character, always saying some wild out of pocket thing that made me go “hang on, we read this in sixth grade??!??” Now, with the part of the Enderverse that pertains to him completely in my pocket, it’s hard to pin down how I feel about him. From a personal perspective, he’s still by far my favorite character. His struggles and triumphs are vivid in a way that the other character’s just don’t live up to, and his failures are incredibly real. Viewing the books from a more critical view, Peter’s existence is interesting in and of itself because he occupies a lot of gray areas in the narrative. He’s a major antagonist in EG, and the only one that changes from an antagonist to a protagonist. He’s meant to be untrustworthy while being likable, making him rather unserious. In a narrative that usually frames characters as People We Should Listen To and People We Shouldn’t Listen To, Peter is the only character that we sorta kinda maybe should listen to depending on how much despair he’s experiencing. He’s explicitly allowed to make terribly embarrassing mistakes that threaten to debase his entire character, but he’s allowed to be helped. He’s allowed to crack jokes; the narrative is allowed to crack jokes about him. There’s an inherent levity to any scene he’s in. He can’t take the moral high ground in any argument—we’ve all seen him at his worst—yet he’s also working towards putting more good in the world. He’s a character filled to the brim with contradictions and even more determination to work through them. As a result, his viewpoints have a nebulous, fluid quality that made it impossible for OSC to use him as a personal megaphone, since, though the reader encouraged to challenge Peter’s assumptions, at the end of the day we’re still on Peter’s side—we want him to succeed, but we know that he WILL fumble doing it. He’s personable. And vivid. Which makes him a poor tool and a fabulous icon. A role that sort of echos his treatment in the novels themselves. Anyway. I think he’s neat.

[tarot-by-e11e]

Hello!

Could I join the cocoon game?

Favourite song that inspires you to make scenarios in your head: Love Dive by IVE.

Favourite movie because you can never get over the plot: Knives Out.

Favourite fictional character with the best character development arc: Elle Woods.

Thank you!

W 🎠

(reminder: this is for entertainment purposes only) Hi W,

Thank you so much for participating in

my "COCOON" ask game.

I'll give a listen to that song and I watched Knives out and it's so fun!

Yesss Elle Woods is OG peak character development blueprint!!!

The cards I pulled for you are:

Page of Swords, World, Emperor

Based on the first card, you are called to let go of this hypervigilance to always know everything. I find it interesting that this card got pulled in your reading but the energy feels rather prominent.

It's giving "Look before you leap" gone extreme. You don't do anything and move forward unless you have thoroughly researched every pros, cons, and perspective in this specific endeavor.

It seems that being well-informed gives you so much comfort and security that it's giving the opposite energy of the Fool card in the tarot.

It seems that you are called to try to still move forward as you learn on the job. That you don't have to know everything in order to feel safe to move forward.

It's great that you aspire to be well-informed and prepared, but this tends to lead you to analysis paralysis. No matter how much you research, your progress only starts once you start taking action on your goals in life.

Dreams without actions remain as unfulfilled fantasies.

The second card calls for you to actually complete a task. It seems that you have a goal that you really want to achieve within a certain reasonable time frame. You are asked to let go of this analysis paralysis procrastinating cycle so that you can finally prove to yourself that you are more than capable of achieving your dreams into existence.

With this card, it means that you are called to pave your own path, even if it means separating from the crowd. If your dreams are deemed too big and realistic, you are simply in the wrong crowd. With that, you are encouraged to find like-minded communities that support you and/or are on the same path as you. As such you need to be aware of something crucial, you can take everyone with you as you achieve your dreams.

The reason is, that not everyone is capable of supporting someone they struggle to understand. Your dreams may not make sense to others but by no means, are you to give up on your dreams. They are YOUR DREAMS for a reason, not theirs. And your dreams are valid, even if other people don't get it. Okay?

Finally, the last card is encouraging you to expand your horizons beyond your current lifestyle/systems. As this card usually speaks about stability, discipline, or focus. What you are called to let go is this niched specialist approach in life, in order to open you to new possibilities that you have yet to discover.

This does not mean to abandon your systems, you are simply encouraged to explore potential side quests in your life. Instead of being a specialist way of living, you are suggested to explore and be a generalist and live life as you move through it.

Experiment, explore, and have fun with making mistakes. This was actually a rather unusual message to channel, but it strangely feels right.

Channeled song for you is:

7th random shuffle from my dice throw

Last Intuitive Message to end this reading:

I find channeling this song for you really interesting because this is a song suggested by your Inner Teenager. The neighborhood birds started chirping loudly as I typed that so I'm taking it as a sign of confirmation for you.

It's like your Inner Teenager is asking you to be brave and explore, even if it'll hurt because every life experience you overcome holds gifts of lessons for your personal growth.

True, it's scary to do something even know you're fully aware that you are likely gonna get burned, but it seems that your Inner Teenager is encouraging you to go through it, despite the pain because they really feel called to push you to learn things the hard way.

Now of course, as a disclaimer, don't do anything that would put your life in peril. This is more of (I can't believe I'm actually gonna type this), you are encouraged to F around and find out. I dunno why but it seems that your Inner Teenager has this rebellious streak and that causing me to worry for your safety.

So just, only do these experiments if you are with someone you can truly trust to have your back. Like, don't go to clubs/bars alone. Make sure you have friends who'd help you hold you hair up when you decide to drink more than you usually do.

So just be careful, okay? It's okay to have fun, so just do so with a friend.

You're not required to take everything to heart and just pick and choose which part of the reading resonates with you~

Thank you for taking the time to participate in my new ask game.

Feel free to head back into my ask inbox to send your feedback.

If you want an in-depth extended version of your reading, please head into my Paid Readings and purchase a reading with me.

Want to show me a bit of appreciation other than your feedback, I accept tips in my Buy-Me-A-Coffee link.

[loaffofbred]

what a wild day of qsmp lore

All people discussed here are characters

So much has happened, here is the gist of it, sorry if i miss anything! :

1. Foolish and Tazercraft's friendship has now mended! Tazercraft used a photoshopped photo of Leo's bed gone which implied her death, which Foolish responded quite aggressively only to found out it was all simply a prank. Foolish, now learning his lesson, told Tazercraft what happened within the day of their imprisonment.

2. Bad and Max have now officially put Elquackity off the presidency, killing off his last life. Bad using explosives and a lasso and Max killing Elquackity off last minute! Elquackity said that 'You fucked it up for everyone' and logged off after that.

3. After all the solved puzzles, Cellbit has handed all the evidence to a specific coordinates. Once done, he was led into another place that had an elevator, which headed into an office where Cucurucho spoke its gratitude of completing a task, implying that all this time, he was working with the Federation WITHOUT his knowledge! This implies that the federation DID threaten Richas life, and all evidences and books are now at the hands of the Feds. As a reward, he received a keycard!

From what I know this is all thats happened! Here's my thoughts on em :))

Cellbit: Employee of the Month

- Watching his reaction live was nuts, it was a twist that, while definitely expected, still impacted so much on him. It felt heartbreaking yet I was laughing my ass off. Though, this implies a lot of things about the Federation. The Federation now had threatened an egg! Not only that, had used manipulative ways to make Cellbit work with them, establishing that the Federation are fully aware the distrust he had of them, only to use this to their favor. Props for the smart af plan Feds, you continue to be one step ahead.

Bad and Max: Regret?

- After Elquackity's response, they definitely started to think if they possibly did the wrong thing. For me, in character, it makes sense for them to kill Elquackity based on their perceived concept of Elquackity not being the real one, and the Federation possibly rigging the whole election. They were justified in thinking he wasn't the real one or was one brainwashed or memory messed with based on Max's interview and his overall mannerisms, such as not caring if he couldve killed an egg during Wilbur's party. Personally, I think that killing him may become a mistake, but as of now, I think is the right move to see how the Federation responds to this. Unfortunately though, they've officially put a target on their backs, not only them, but the eggs that Bad cares for. Bad isn't necessarily 'bad' to do this, rather the opposite, he cares too much about the eggs to risk Elquackity's possible rigged election.

Foolish and Tazercraft: Honesty and Consequences

- Big props to Tazercraft for the prank and giving a heart attack to Foolish and the doozers(includingme)! This prank was genuinely such a good response and revenge to Foolish. Not really harmful yet leaves a mark that stays in the back of your head. It shows how there are always consequences to his actions, whether its outside of himself or not! It shows Foolish a different perspective that isn't clouded by his own moral compass. The whole convo itself showed Foolish and Mike being a possible threat to the island if they're messed with. But by far, this whole convo with them gave me so much respect for Foolish even more. After the prank, he told everything, even the lie!, on what happened during the day of their imprisonment. His lie was a form of assurance and to gain information, he did this for two reasons;

- Selfish reason - To make his reason for their imprisonment more valid since most members don't view his reason, finding Mr.Mustard, as a valid reason.

- Not so selfish reason - To see how Jaiden responds, whether she will refute it, tell it to others, or keep it to herself. Foolish suspected she was going to tell others, which is why he chose Richarlyson rather than Leo as the possible victim.

- The fact that he thought that up, WHILE speaking to Jaiden during that day is nuts btw- Anyway, moreover, Foolish couldve kept that lie going for a long time, yet chose to do it despite it not quite favoring him. He even told Jaiden directly about it, not wanting to continue anymore lies since he himself doesn't like to lie. Sure, he doesn't fully regret his actions and may even do it again (Pac even agreeing with this if he was also in that situation), but reassured them that if THEY wanted to imprison him, he wouldn't mind either way. He doesn't feel full remorse towards his actions but learned that having Tazercraft against him was simply not a good idea, and may even avoid targeting them moving forward. At the end of the day, they communicated to each other and are all good in the end! Secrets are still hidden ofc ;)

anyway, thats about all my thoughts, byeee o/

[gojonanami]

Hey Sab! I saw your tags talking about how you'd be open to having a conversation about your stance on aging up minor characters, rather receiving blatant hate. Can you explain why you think it's okay then? I'll be honest with you, I'm of the stance that it's wrong. But if you're open to having a discussion, I'd like to hear what you have to say about it, and where you're coming from.

hi friend, first I want to thank you for your very respectful ask — and for feeling comfortable enough to come and ask me about it! I completely respect your opinion and it’s valid— I’ll explain a little what my perspective is on this is—but first:

For others: this is not an invitation for people to come into my inbox and attack me, this is not me opening people up to tagging me in negative posts or messaging me bullshit—if you don’t agree with me, totally fine! if you don’t want to see my posts, just block me. You can have your opinion without feeling as if it’s an attack on you — just as I don’t view yours as an attack on me.

anyway back to the point:

for myself, writing is very little about writing from my perspective, usually it’s about taking an idea and spinning it into a story. the way I write my fics is honestly not much different than I write my own books — except the main character (in this case, reader) is not described much and has a more flexible personality / background. i never self insert myself into stories and even reading fanfiction, it’s more for the story than anything else. just to give some context for my writing process.

I personally would never write a fic about a character is underage engaging in adult acts in fanfiction, that’s just my personal preference. I enjoy writing characters who are older — usually college age and up. I don’t really enjoy writing romance that involves high school or younger, because media is saturated with that (re: every teenage romance show in existence — riverdale, teen wolf, etc). but this is about taking a character (who in this present day would be of age) and placing them in a setting where they would be of age, with other characters who are of age and, in my fic’s case, the exact same age.

I don’t see a problem with taking a character and imagining what they are like older — they are fictional, they do not exist, they do not have rights, they don’t even have a consciousness in any way— and placing them in an environment where they are older and do things that older people do. I see no difference in this and than an author doing a timeskip and showing what the characters are like when they are older. I assume wouldn’t have a problem with this if we ever get designs or a timeskip in JJK, like how the haikyuu fandom did. There’s also a difference between that in RPF, which I’m not a fan of, and aging up real people who are minors — that’s a whole different story since those people actually exist. I understand people’s outrage and want to protect minors from these depictions of them — but I don’t understand why in the case of fictional characters where they don’t exist in a vacuum, AUs exist where people literally make them into eternal beings, monsters, royalty, etc — why it’s a problem to put them in a universe where they are of age and have grown up and get to live normal lives as adults, including engaging in adult acts. Because we see this all the time done in media and also we see minors depicted to engage in adult acts in media today — in books, TV, movies, etc. while I’m not okay writing fiction (fics or not) about that, we cannot lie and say it doesnt happen every day.

now this also leads into censorship in literature and media, which is a major issue all over the world, including the USA (where I live). obviously some things in literature are NEVER okay in real life — but if we start censoring certain things because they aren’t okay in real life, what will come next? we can’t show murder because it’s not okay irl? we can’t show assault because it’s not okay irl? some of these things yes, shouldn’t be depicted gratuitously in fiction, for no reason, but at the same time, once we start drawing this line, it becomes a slippery slope. soon, we can’t show violence at all in fiction — which sometimes it’s necessary for the story you’re telling. for some others, depicting these acts in fiction is a safe way for them to process their trauma — dark romance fiction in general has seen a rise, especially on TikTok, and I think we all have read or seen things that characters have done in a tv show or book or fic where we’re like maybe that’s hot in that fictional setting, but if someone real said that to me, I’m calling the police (see the trend on TikTok of people quoting fictional men saying ridiculous things that have people kicking their feet but in real life would have you putting them in jail). but fiction is a safe way to explore these things without any danger. and that’s okay!

also censorship is used as a dangerous tool to make people ignorant and it’s easy to draw a line where violence shouldn’t be depicted to ‘let’s ban these books because they depict violence but also other things we don’t want people learning about’ — like the book ban that plagues the USA — from books about genocide, slavery, etc.

I think fiction should be a place to explore ideas, even ones that are uncomfortable. And that doesn’t mean I’m saying that means its okay for pedophiles to write creepy things about underage girls. I think we can all agree that’s not okay and that’s a straw man’s argument at best because we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about aging up a fictional character and placing them in an environment with other like aged characters.

Are we going to stop people from writing murderers in fics / literature because we’re afraid it will cause them to murder? We have to be able to distinguish between what is reality and fiction — just because I watched a show about a fictional killer, doesn’t mean I’m going to go murder people. If other people can’t, then they shouldn’t be reading fiction and should be seeking professional help.

For the context of my yuji fic that’s been catching a lot of heat because of this, it’s a childhood best friends to lovers fic. it’s a reader who grew up with yuji, came to college and ends up in a friends with benefits with him, only for her to fall for him. The actual act of sex is just used as a plot device — the point of the story is them falling in love, and reader seeing yuji in a different light. People who are in college have sex (for the most part) it’s a part of adult life and growing up (again for the most part).

overall, we’ve all seen this discourse time and time again — and it’s just a matter of preference at this point. this is why people have tags and warnings — if you don’t like it, just block the person or don’t read it. it’s as simple as that. people are never going to agree on this issue. and everyone is entitled to their own opinion as long as it’s not hurting anyone or themselves. and if all of this sticks to the fictional world, I don’t see a problem

I completely respect your right to have your own preference/opinion on this, and I hope you can do the same for me! thank for being so respectful!

(Also others who disagree with me, just block me. Don’t send me asks, don’t send me hateful messages, don’t try to argue with me, don’t tag me in rude posts — just block me or ignore the post).

this is going to be my last post on this issue. I don’t like to make this blog about discourse. I hate discourse. This is my hobby. It’s for fun. If I wanted to have an argument, I’d go pick a fight on twt. so please don’t bother. I like the discussion, it’s important. But I don’t want to argue pointlessly.

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

i get where you're coming from with your frustration with the framing of "whatever you would have done during [insert past humanitarian crisis here], you're doing now", but with all due respect, i don't agree with your take. i actually tend to look at that sort of statement from the opposite perspective. maybe this is just a cultural difference because i'm from the us, but here there's a lot of mentality surrounding events like the civil rights movement of perceived and unearned moral superiority. a lot of white people i know fall back on insisting that they would have been different than other white people and would never have committed racist or violent acts against black people had they lived back then. this can often serve to validate their feelings as a hero for being more progressive in this time just by virtue of being from this time, while at the same time making them feel like they're exempt from enacting racism and violence upon black people today. it's why in hollywood a lot of films about the struggles of black people in america that are made by white people feature a white person who redeems the white audience's guilty conscience by being supportive of the black characters. it might not work for many people, but there are some where it could be a wake up call.

okay but that's what i'm saying tho, there's an assumption about the level of power and privilege that the person they're talking to has got access to, it's assuming they're the person who would have the power to improve that situation rather than being the person having a shit time. and if you're talking to people who do have that power and do have those unearned hero complexes then maybe it's a useful framing. except what i see constantly is people using statements like this as a bludgeon against other marginalised people who are already just trying to survive their own governments' violence and i just don't think people ever really think about who they're talking to with stuff like that

like i said, it feels like it's aimed at white abled cishet people (+ should've added middle class, in the english sense of the phrase, bc that's often a factor too) and often used by white abled cishet people with a carelessness that betrays the fact they haven't thought about how the other person might have a completely different relationship to power and privilege in situations like that

[greatqueenanna]

I've noticed that a good portion of people who dislike or downright hate Frozen 2 are Helsa/Hanna/Hans fans. I've legit seen these fans get angry at the charades scene or the part where Elsa destroys the snow memory of Hans meeting Anna and call it 'bad writing.' Like they've seen the first movie, right? I admit I like Hans as a character too, and Helsa is a guilty pleasure ship of mine but I never got mad at any of those scenes. I'd stopped following some Helsa blogs I liked because of the negativity they were spewing when the charades scene was posted and got nasty about the sequel before & after it came out. I seem like a rare case of a person who likes Hans but not getting all Surprise Pikachu Face whenever Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf, or anyone takes a jab at him and rightfully so. I get he was likely abused by his brothers as a child but Hans still made his choices. None of his brothers forced him to try to kill Anna & Elsa.

Is there something I'm missing here?

I can’t speak for an entire fandom, only on what I’ve seen from mutuals and my own experiences.

From what I understand, the silent majority of Hans fans don’t actually care about how F2 portrayed Hans, and mirror your sentiments. They just ship Hans with their preferred sister (or Kristoff) and engage in fan content, not caring too much about canon. I find that I’m more in line with this side of the fandom, and enjoy Helsa content away from canon.

For the loud minority that try to make canon a huge deal— I think that there’s quite a bit of layers when it comes to this.

These fans are defensive because a lot of them were heavily bullied and insulted back in the day for liking the character and shipping him with other characters. This defensiveness manifested into being spiteful towards any interpretation of Hans as a villain, or when he is made fun of.

F2 has Elsa, of all the characters, disregard Hans in a pretty big way. She says she finds him irredeemable, and destroys his memory with disgust. Most of these Hans fans lean for Helsa, so this was like the writers were adding salt to the wound by making Elsa essentially reject him as a person.

Canonically, this obviously makes sense. The person Elsa loves more than anyone or anything is Anna, so naturally she would hate the man who hurt her sister.

However, from a fandom perspective, one that has been hurt and bullied in the past for this same reason, this was like a rude awakening and an insult from the writers.

The basic point is that this fandom basically wants validation for their ship or for liking Hans, due to years of bullying from other fans, rather than thinking about what is canonically relevant. A redemption arc and ship confirmation would be the ultimate validation. Because F2 didn’t give that validation, it made them bitter for the sequel.

Again, I can’t speak on the experiences of every person within the fandom, but from my experiences since 2013 and the experiences of mutuals from then until now, this is typically the problem.

[fractualized]

I totally see where you're coming from with how you like your mix of comedy and seriousness and I think I'm really similar! I can definitely tolerate a lot of cheese but I'll almost always consider it a one off situation. I recently rewatched Batman and Robin while my wife was making a cast of my body so we could make cosplay and it was just so funny and silly that like it reminded me of what one of those really campy comics would look like in real life and I respected the fact that they could commit to it that way and make an artful movie that brought that to life but there were a few elements that didn't make sense to me like Barbara being Alfred's niece that I was just like whatever man and I knew I couldn't like... use it as a foundation for my basis of characterization, like I can with other media! I really love the animated series too, I grew up with it being my first experience with Batman and I always really respected it as a medium that I could trust to be satisfying and whole. I also really really liked Batman beyond because it felt like the closest continuation of that story even though I know it's really not canon and it kind of doesn't work, I like to view it as like a semi-official what if fan fiction from the original writers lol

I completely get what you mean about the comics, cuz I kind of view official comics like fanfictions even in their own right? I mean when you think back on like Bill finger and Bob Kane like eventually every other writer is going to be writing fanfiction of their characters but it's really fun to go through all the different Batman media and see whose stories you kind of like more and then whose stories you kind of tend to avoid

and when I mentioned I knew you liked comics, I was also speaking more from the perspective that you seem to have more knowledge about them Rather than I thought you had a preference for them, because you put together that comic PDF with batjokes moments and I was really impressed with that ☺️

i love your telltale fics and the games as a beautiful breath of fresh air into the life of batman so sometimes I like to imagine the animated series would be a great way to say where is juce 10 years later, if those universes were more cohesive setting wise lmao

Yeah, Barbara randomly being Alfred's niece is definitely one of the aspects of B&R that just… I guess it breaks up the campiness? That and Ivy being in love with Freeze for no discernable reason. And teaming up with him even though he'll kill her plants. And poor Bane! And then that weird bit at the end where Freeze is sort of forgiven but Ivy can't be? And Alfred almost dies. Should taken all that stuff out and added more camp.

I really enjoyed Batman Beyond too! I didn't even realize a lot of people didn't like it until recently. Honestly it's one of those things where I don't look into the reasons too much. lol I liked it and I'm fine with having liked it, no notes!! (OK I sorta lied. That bit in JLU where they made Bruce Terry's bio dad, that was bizarre.)

I am definitely in the "anything not created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane might as well be fanfic" camp. Like, sure, if DC puts resources behind a project, it has a better chance at being worth your time, but when I get down to it, I can't put a lot of weight behind the idea that someone's official derivative story is more valid than another someone's derivative AO3 post just because there was a cash exchange with a company that owns the original "asset." People who want to lean into that idea, that's their business.

The wild thing about the batjokes spreadsheet is I know that it's only a fraction of what's out there. I have read hundreds of comics at this point and I still feel like it's not enough to totally have a handle on things. Especially knowing how little I've retained. 😅 But that's another reason for the spreadsheet!

Thank you for enjoying my fics! And for implanting the idea in my head of a Telltale universe animated series… Just hijinks and maybe a little more murder with John and Bruce, bestest buddies.

[roydeezed]

Chainsaw Man-Chapter Round-Up(Chapter 124)

Asa needs to stop being so damn relatable. Forget Patrick Bateman and Travis Bickle, Asa is the poster child of “literally me” now. Okay, enough joking around. Because this week’s chapter was an emotionally resonant capstone to Asa’s journey. The reason it’s so relatable is because Fujimoto earned it. Had she just come out and said these words would we have understood her as much? Maybe. But it would’ve been a soundbite to a character. Now it’s a defining moment.

And that’s because at the base of it all is Asa and Yoru’s relationship with us and each other. It begins with the core concept of lying and dramatic irony and ends with acceptance. We as the audience knew Asa had been lying. About pushing everyone away and her loneliness. And Yoru knew it when she took over. And Asa even knows it. But she lies to herself and everyone around her and refuses to admit it. Even her internal monologue was lying at the beginning. The change began after she thought she was stood up. She started to talk to Yoru about her feelings, for the first time really letting someone in, but eventually landing on wallowing in sadness and self-pity. It wasn’t until she was faced with the mortifying ordeal of trusting someone that she finally accepted her fears and acknowledged them. That’s why it’s so impactful, because it’s real and earned and gets to the heart of the fear of letting others in.

But then we get to the other side of the coin. And that’s Yoru. She’s been lying as well. As much as she doesn’t want to admit it, she cares for the girl she’s taken over and the life she’s started to lead. But for now she can hide behind a facade of self-preservation that Asa never could. Asa’s hurt ran so deep that she would’ve rather died than trust another, even someone sharing her own body. But we’re beginning to see those barriers break down as the two accept each other. 

And that gets us to acceptance. That’s what a big part of Chainsaw Man is. Acceptance. That’s the only way you overcome your fears. Denji accepted the fear that Makima didn’t love him. That’s why he was able to win. And then in eating her, in a very Chainsaw Man type of way, he accepted her again. And in semi-adopting Nayuta, he accepted her again. Chainsaw Part 1, from Denji’s perspective, represents all of the outside factors that stand in the way of our acceptance. Asa’s story is about our internal struggles in regards to acceptance.

Now jumping to another moment in the chapter, a strong moment that also jumped out to this sleep deprived brain, I want to focus on what Asa does right away, to stop them from dying. She hurts herself to stop focusing on the pain. It’s immediately pointed out as the wrong strategy as it leads to mistrust between the two, but it is another facet of acceptance. Focusing on other things, focussing on the pain, compartmentalizing, those are all valid strategies to not feel the fear, but it only delays the inevitable.  It only prolongs the suffering until acceptance. It only hurts in other ways.

Once again, these Chainsaw Man chapters are centered around one central moment in the chapter while other things simmer and begin to boil in the background. While the chapter focused on Asa’s emotional revelation, we also get Yoru getting closer to Asa and doing her damndest to save her while the Falling Devil plot advances.

[disneymbti]

heyyy !! could i request one for emperor kuzco kronk and if no one's already asked? thanks :)

Hi there, Mikey! I really hope you like this a lot!

Emperor Kuzco's MBTI Type, Big Three and Enneagram Type

MBTI Type: ENTP [The Debater]

As extroverts, ENTP types have higher levels of energy and love being around other people. They tend to avoid being alone.

They are more interested in the big picture than on specifics and details. They love solving complex problems and have a great sense of intuition. 

Debaters make decisions based on logic. They care less about what makes people happy and more about what’s right.

They dislike schedules and routine, preferring to keep their options open. They love surprise experiences and challenge the need for rules and regulations.

Big Three: Leo Sun, Gemini Moon and Aries Rising

Leo Sun: The Sun rules the sign Leo, which is why Leo Suns all about ego, will, and character. They’re known to be creative, playful, and bold.

Gemini Moon: Ruled by winged messenger, Mercury, Gemini Moons enjoy discussing their complex feelings with others in order to gain a mindful and clear emotional perspective.

Aries Rising: Aries ascendants are known as the go-getters of the zodiac. They don’t let anything stand in their way of achieving their personal goals.

Enneagram Type: 3w4 [The Expert]

Basic Fear: Enneagram type threes with a four wing are afraid of failure. They tend to throw themselves into their careers and do anything it takes to succeed.

Basic Desire: Their most basic desire is to succeed and feel valued. They may show this by seeking validation of their hard work and successes.

Experts defend themselves by adapting or changing their personalities to fit their environment. This makes them great communicators, but may also lead them to being misunderstood or feeling fraudulent.  

Kronk's MBTI Type, Big Three and Enneagram Type

MBTI Type: ESFJ [The Consul]

As extroverts, Consuls are talkative, energetic, and thrive around people. They prefer not to spend too much time alone.

Highly observant, their focus lies more on the details than on how everything connects together. They trust facts over theories—and they make decisions based on what they can see right now.

ESFJs are feelers who prioritize emotion rather than logic in their decision-making.  Empathetic and diplomatic, they do what feels right rather than what makes sense.

They’re structured and organized, preferring to plan ahead so they know what’s going to happen. They like rules, processes and schedules.

Big Three: Libra Sun, Pisces Moon and Sagittarius Rising

Libra Sun: Libra is ruled by the airy part of Venus, making them bon vivants, critical, and artistic — as well as forever stylish.

Pisces Moon: Pisces Moons are hyper-attuned to the needs and emotions of others. They're likely to predict what's on your mind before you even say it.

Sagittarius Rising: Sagittarius risings are jovial, optimistic, and full of energy. They sparkle with confidence, and you can't help but sparkle back when you're around them.

Enneagram Type: 2w3 [The Host]

Basic Fear: Enneagram type two wing threes fear being unwanted or worthless. They usually avoid this by building personal connections with others and working hard to meet the needs of the community.

Basic Desire: Their most basic desire is to be loved and accepted. They may express this by being extremely attentive and attached to other people.

Hosts tend to suppress their own negative emotions, which, when done frequently, can lead to high levels of stress or unexpected outbursts.

[tonydaddingham]

hi! i love reading your thoughts because they're often so different from my own, but i wanted to ask you something about crowley and the way the abuses he's suffered at heaven/hell's hands have manifested in him. specifically, in his avoidance/tendency to flee as a means of protecting himself & aziraphale. i think it's rather unkind of fandom to just jot that all down to cowardice and to constantly criticize him for "running", esp when in never actually follows through on those threats. (part 1)

good morning nonnie!!!✨

sure thing, more than happy to discuss and at least put down my own thoughts! first thing im going to say is that whilst this is a recurrent theme throughout the whole show, ep6 feels like the pinnacle of everything re: crowley's trauma, and as i said to someone else recently, the reason why i find the Feral Domestic™ so delicious is because it is so well written. these are two characters that are having their own one-sided conversations, even if the dialogue matches up and fits coherently; they chronically misunderstand each other, are both crumbling under the things not being said, and each time you watch it, you can see things from the other's perspective and think that they are in the right. suffice to say, to my mind, there isn't necessarily any right way to interpret it, and all interpretations are valid!!!

let's talk crowley; i mean, you're right - it's not cowardice by the definition of the word. crowley doesn't lack bravery, but the way he manifests that bravery is very different to aziraphale's. i feel in this particular dilemma, personally, aziraphale had the right of it (fighting for change, however it may have come across to crowley, and however naive) - mainly out of the projection that i think it's the logical, most meritable action to take, if successful would actually mean they can be potentially be together in peace, and i would probably have done the same thing. now, we can surmise that that's not at all how it'll go down, and it certainly doesn't mean at all that crowley's reaction is wrong.

i do feel that sometimes the fandom does gloss over crowley's more... problematic... tendencies, and justify it by his trauma. his actions borne out of that trauma are understandable, they hold water, but they're not excusable. again, personal interpretation, but i can't rationalise some of crowley's actions out of anything than avoidance and a maelstrom of harmful, emotional internalisation - manipulating aziraphale/tempting him to kill adam/warlock, keeping key information from aziraphale especially that directly affects aziraphale, his saviour complex going too far and not only robbing aziraphale of some agency by doing so but it resulting in aziraphale believing it's necessary to make crowley happy, his superiority complex (aziraphale has one too, i will add), his habits of putting aziraphale down during stress/desperation... again, we can trace these all back to elements of his trauma, but it doesn't justify them.

that to me is a kind of 'running away'; it isn't that he's a coward and won't face up to the trauma in any meaningful way - it's not a question of a lack of bravery - but that he's so avoidant of examining that part of himself and his history that it holds him back from healing, and in doing so, i think, he possibly expects and anticipates aziraphale to live in that pain with him. maybe because aziraphale is a comfort to it, a balm that lessens the sting? maybe because he needs something to make him feel better about himself? idk, but whilst all things i can empathise with, one of the first things i saw in that scene is that crowley seems to think aziraphale should have remained in that inertia with him, kept the status quo, run away together. and when it turns out aziraphale truly belongs outside of that pain and doesn't want to live in it... well, put very over-simply, crowley couldn't handle it.

crowley is not at all wrong for running from his trauma. it was and is, by all inference of the material we have so far, incredibly painful, and possibly even shameful and humiliating and lonely. but in the same way that humans who don't reckon with their trauma are not lesser for not dealing with theirs by avoiding reconciling with it, it doesn't fix anything to do so. fix is the wrong word actually - it doesn't help at all to keep being in that pain. and it will usually result in it hurting those around you too, those that you love and love you in return. and bearing in mind - whilst aziraphale is smart enough to definitely know at least the general impact the fall had, and how heaven had treated/harmed crowley in the events that followed, crowley's never actually told aziraphale any of it (as far as we're aware). he even downplayed it to aziraphale - "sauntered vaguely downwards"... aziraphale is smart, but he is likely to take crowley's word at face value in this respect.

ultimately you are completely correct; it is not at all fair for anyone, aziraphale included, to expect crowley to return to the source of his pain. we know that, we know that the suggestion of returning, of being restored, must be inconceivable to him. but does aziraphale know that? how can he possibly know the full depth of why crowley won't return? beyond saying "they're toxic", and "when heaven ends life here on earth, it'll be just as dead as if hell ended it"... both of these reasons for rejecting the offer, bear in mind, are reasons why aziraphale wants to go back - to change it! it's fixable! he can resolve that! but if crowley had said, "i can't go back, it's the source of all pain for me and i want nothing to do with it"... im not entirely certain that aziraphale would have left.

can't also disagree with you that aziraphale isn't manipulative in his own way, because he absolutely is! aziraphale is equally a little shit for it throughout the entire show! but i truly don't think this is the scene where he's trying to be, or even is - i think he truly sees the offer as a way in which crowley could be happy again, create in utter joy like he did in the pre-fall scene, be shown respect and a means of apology for making him fall... it's meant, to me, out of love and devotion to crowley as a person, this good and kind person that he loves, and wants to facilitate in his happiness as aziraphale believes it could be. now we know that that would never be the case, and it's incredibly naive and reductive for aziraphale to assume this... but does aziraphale? it's not an action or offer made out of any superior or malicious intent, imo, but a way that aziraphale can protect crowley and they can be together without needing to run away... something that aziraphale only considered once offered the power to restore him.

i could talk a little more on crowley physically running away, especially how it's depicted in the book vs. show, but i think my answer is likely to get completely unwieldy if i do rn! but hope that maybe goes some way to at least depicting my understanding of what happened... again, i don't think any interpretation is necessarily wrong, and until s3 comes around and these two buffoons actually talk to each other, we won't know for sure!!!✨