#the ace saying he will never die scene.... its so over....

[eroguron0nsense]

Garp, Fascism, and Parental Failure

Garp is truly one of the most interesting One Piece characters for me because of the extent to which his dogged, relentless devotion to a fascist system–and the supposed "order" it promises to uphold in the face of anarchy or rebellion–perseveres no matter how many times it fails him and his son and his grandsons. He's fully aware of the deep-seated corruption and atrocity, and feels some kind of moral obligation to bend its rules to protect the innocent (as we can see with his attempts to protect Rouge and Ace), but when faced with widespread femicide and infanticide, genocide, slavery and endless examples of egregious cruelty, he is unable to comprehend the notion that the system is indefensible, or that the only moral choice he can possibly make when faced with that level of atrocity is to leave and resist it. His son recognizing the inherent, inexcusable failures of the World Government and its armed enforcers–literally quitting the force to start a revolution– changes nothing. The order to slaughter pregnant people and infants at Baterilla can't convince him otherwise. The countless instances of bribery, the tolerance of atrocity from state-sanctioned privateers, everything about the history of the Valley of the Gods are all things he's aware of, and takes issue with, but never comes to the conclusion that he cannot affect positive change within a system designed for oppression. The public execution of his grandson–a prime example of the marine's fundamentally irrational, arrogant, vindictive cruelty clearly bound to blow up in all of their faces even before their Pyrrhic victory at the summit war–makes him waver, but even when confronted with this obvious, indefensible injustice against a child he raised and rescued by people seeking to murder him on live TV and desecrate his corpse as a show of power, he cannot bring himself to act against it in any meaningful way no matter how much it hurts him to leave his grandson to die. If he can't veto it, he'll stay Vice Admiral and suffer through Ace being sacrificed on the altar of fascist state control, and functionally leave Luffy for dead in the process while he's at it. He fails every single person he wanted to love–Ace, Luffy, and almost certainly Dragon–and allows himself to be reluctantly complicit in countless crimes against humanity again and again and again because he's so deeply steeped in this notion of preservation of order through state control that he convinces himself that even this disgusting, atrocious, fundamentally flawed and untenable excuse for a government is better than abolition, better than revolution, or just the act of expecting accountability or literally anything better from the systems that issue false promises to protect you. Dadan beating the living shit out of him and calling him a failure as a grandfather, as a self proclaimed defender of the people, is one of the most important scenes in the Postwar Arc because a lesser series might frame Garp as a tragic, helpless figure suffering more than anyone else due to conflict of love and duty, but One Piece refuses to whitewash his actions/inaction or allow the grief and suffering caused by systems he's complicit in to take precedence over its real victims: the D brothers.

There's so much I could say about statism and anarchism and the ways people have internalized the supposed necessity of state violence to the extent they can't oppose that violence even when it ruins them or their loved ones, but that horrible indoctrination and its devastating consequences for both him and his family are what makes Garp so fascinating to watch and so thematically/politically important to One Piece as a whole.

[bengiyo]

Be My Favorite Ep 11 Stray Thoughts

Last week, we all fell into intense brain rot over the ace!Kawi discourse, and did not appreciate Aou in those shorts enough or the fact that Max FUCKS. We suspect that Pisaeng may or may not have time traveled. Kawi is dealing with some of his own intimacy issues. It feels like they had their first time at the end of the episode. Also, Pear is not happy with her mom for abandoning them, Pisaeng’s mom pulled a complete reversal to support him, and Kawi reflected on his dad urging him to live his life for himself.

It’s like they knew I still was skeptical of Pisaeng’s mom, Daow, so they have her working out her issues with Pear’s dad, Phong.

I’m glad that Pear found a way to give herself peace about her mom.

I like Pear reading a poem over these scenes. The bed kissing was pretty decent.

Okay, the morning after scene was really sweet. I liked that.

I’m not sure how I feel about the flashback to a conversation we weren’t part off with the magic guy. I don’t mind the show laying out its core thesis about being present in your life and focusing on the things you can control explicitly for the audience, but it felt a bit weird. I feel like I need to brace for high-impact drama now.

Everyone has graduated, but what did Not do after getting wrecked so hard?

Domestic montages, my beloved.

I’m encouraged that these two stayed together for years, and maintained friendships with the characters we liked.

Sponge baths, my beloathed.

This timeline is too enjoyable, and Kawi doesn’t seem to have a job. They’re going to take this timeline from us. What happened to Kawi’s music aspirations?

Oh, never mind. Seems like Kawi is still involved in music.

Is Kawi about to get sick and die and then force Pisaeng to travel back to the past (Samurai Jack)?

Okay, but this actually just got super heavy. This show has not been soft about its support for gay political issues, and medical care is one of the big concerns queer people face without family and domestic protections. Some of my actual work is helping couples circumvent these blocks.

I am genuinely invested in this terminal medical condition plotline.

Oh ho! So he does go back to the past (Samurai Jack) and now we return to the day of the amusement park, now with double the time travel shenanigans!

Okay, high-key I love this. I haven’t been this stressed by the thematic implications within a BL in a really long time. We had the magic man imply that we can’t alter our destinies, but we can fix our mistakes. Kawi wasn’t destined to win the lottery, and it feels like they’re saying he wasn’t destined to save his dad either. Pisaeng is convinced that he is the reason that Kawi got sick and is facing death in the future even a Max insists that it couldn’t be his fault. Now he’s gone back to the past and altered the happy timeline we saw completely. Now he and Kawi will both face each other as time travelers trying to fix what they believe to be their mistakes in the finale. I’m so excited because we all felt that they went into that bed scene without clearing something, and now we have to face it.

[youabandonedthem]

intermission characters incl.team sleuth's opinions on the chemical imbalance theory

spades slick: .

diamonds droog: doesnt really care because hes not mentally ill nor does he personally know anyone who is mentally ill. he sees mentally ill people on the street. is inclined to disbelieve anything slick is this impassioned about. doesn't care to learn anything about it until slick puts together some kind of debriefing-style presentation about it and medical abuse and the industry. doesn't take slicks word as complete truth but won't bother to debunk it. wants him to stop acting like this

hearts boxcars: heard about it sometime many years ago and passively accepted it while not having any reason to think further on it. at some point he hears about it being a disproven theory, maybe from slick, and noncommittally looks online about it when he remembers/has free time/is in the mood to confirm. feels shocked at the information but knows on a greater level what large industries do in the pursuit of money. moves on afterwards because it's not relevant to his life

clubs deuce: trusts in it and believes one in him to be the reason for his anxiety and bouts of sadness. has been told by doctors and infographics about it. believes he is mentally ill but would never make any big deal about it. eventually does online research and comes to a conclusion that the environment can also be a factor in an individual's mental illness, which the chemical imbalance makes them more vulnerable to. (believes in mental illness as defined in DSM)

problem sleuth: has no reason to ever have heard of it, thinks anyone who gets involved in anything mental health related, such as therapy, must be very mentally ill or has been in an asylum (but holds sympathy for these poor insane people), but if it were hypothetically mentioned in his presence he would internally confirm it to be a supporting factor in female hysteria and would make further speculation on how women's brains must be intrinsically different from male brains as a result.

pickle inspector: thinks its a bit rub but uses it to validate his differences and says that everyones brain chemicals "balanced" or "imbalanced" are what make them all very unique, doesnt care to think about it further

ace dick: thnks its very plausible. probably has seen a therapist or gone to some kind of couples therapy involving wife and has heard of it. has no reason to disbelieve. probably takes pills for mild depression/anxiety on doctor's recommendation and has some kind of noir fanfiction scene about it

itchy: wouldn't focus on one topic long enough to learn about it… he would probably love tik tock…. watching it out loud all day long… after crowbar bans tick tock he switches to youtube shorts and watches a 'pop psychology' video talking about it and takes it as fact. however has no personal reltaion to the topic. it is merely one of many things he sees on a short video and regurgitates to others.

doze: i dont believe anyone has ever exposed him to this topic in any form.he must have a very isolated mind. he may have formed some of his own theories on many topics but i think everyone talks over him most of the time so we would have no way of knowing

trace: only formed an opinion if he heard someone he considers smart talking about it first. otherwise he didn't really think about this

clover: completely irrelevant to his life. he seems to note immediate behaviours only so he can choose some way to act or narrate a situation based on whatever is physically happening. may note trends in a detached way

fin: knows it's true because he thinks some people are just very stupid and others are masterminds from birth. the phenomenon must apply to other variables. tries to remember the name,because he knows a few people who have those kinds of problems in their brain, and then refers to his fellow gang member die, who is crazy in the head, and his fellow gang members eggs and biscuits, who are stupid, and they were born that way so it makes sense that the chemicals in their brain must make them that way.

die: uses it to affirm that there is something extremely wrong with him that makes him fundamentally different from everyone else. goes on and off of various medications that he is recommended to try. probably eventually settles on some kind of cocktail involving medications to offset the side effects of other medications but will sporadically quit the cocktail and experience withdrawals. has therapist appointments that he skips occasionally. passively thinks he will never "get better" and that nothing can ever "fix" him. however is not too concerned about it and often just focuses on whatever goals he has rather than spending time thinking about his mental state

crowbar: thinks it's somewhat plausible, somewhat rubbish, knows that depression is a symptom of vitamin D deficiency and connects it to the 'imbalance' of brain chemicals which gives it some credibility in his mind but he doesn't want to assume before doing his own research. learns about it during his spare time and shows his nuanced, informed opinion saying there's not any one 'big pharma' organisation that promoted the theory while it was widely believed in part due to medication advertisements… statements that his gang members derive very little out of. otherwise regards an individual and their personality first rather than any mental illness. describes his gang members as having "mental problems" due to their behaviour the way mark linkous describes his dog but thinks no further on the statement

snowman: doesn't have much concern for the topic and has no reason to do any research of her own. but if she hypothetically had a close contact suffering from issues she didn't understand she would feel curious and go out of her way to seek information about it from a trusted source (professional individual or written, NON-internet based knowledge). what this source tells her is what she would believe. still doesnt care and wouldnt use the knowledge for any purpose merely her own personal records

stitch: thinks of depression as an emotion, knows some people have more struggles than others, believes everyone can overcome any issue with hard work and mental discipline and would laugh if someone thought they were fundamentally broken

sawbuck: no clue just no clue

matchsticks: not enough information to say

eggs/biscuits: they have both formed their own rudimentary, spiritual ideas of a 'chemical imbalance' from being told all the time how fundamentally stupid they are

quarters: not enough information but he seems like he would take the concept of depression very seriously and could be unexpectedly sympathetic to anyone he thinks has a mental illness

cans: not enough information..

[traumxrei-archive]

【 book 6 pt. 2 thoughts ! 】

yeah so guess who's starting to play book 6 pt. 2 late *insert sparkles emoji* anyways. if you do wanna see my thoughts, here you go ^^

[ spoilers for 6-45 till 6-49 under the cut ! ]

~~~

[ about : vil the gaymer ]

HELP— the way idia's like "wait but you're so sparkly and a model....do you actually like games ??" and vil's like "and i took that personally—" imagining vil and his costars playing smash on a switch while waiting for their turn to shoot a scene

(no on a real note, how much shit like that did vil have to go thru,,,,like people deciding his likes and dislikes for him based on what they see he's like instead of just asking him T^T)

[ about : azul knows about twitch ?? ]

not azul pulling up with "hmm, yes, i've seen people making money by playing games and streaming it—" can you guys IMAGINE twitch streamer azul. would not know how to play the game. would get roasted by his chat. would then end the stream, practice how to play the game flawlessly for hours on end bc his pride was hurt, and consequently start streaming after to "show off his skills".

[ about : leona and chess.com ]

i find it so fucking funny that leona's only interested in chess games (probably bc he didn't have any friends to teach him abt other games) bc i can't believe its canon that he probably plays on chess.com or sumn whenever he's bored (also idia thanking them for proving himself correct bc the other three were interested in gaming,,,,,clown energy)

[ about : video games hurt academic performance ]

...as someone who had to write a whole ass debate on WHY video games hurt academic performance, riddle, i can definitively say that it only hurts your grades if you choose to disregard doing school work in favor of playing the games (aka, if you split your time up well between schoolwork and hobbies like gaming, you'd actually be more than fine ^^)

and idia is correct, there are studies that show that video games can help increase reaction time among other things (and he's right x2 when he says it's not the game's fault but the person's but also you gotta keep in mind that some games are designed to be addictive so that people will play it for hours on end)

[ about : pride wars ]

yk, i was thinking abt this before, but all the people in this room are pretty prideful about each of their respective areas (e.g. azul and his business, riddle and his grades, etc.) so i WAS wondering when they were going to get into a fight,,,,,

but i did NOT think it would happen between riddle and idia jskfjksdfj the way idia keeps provoking him is so funny to me bc riddle's probably never had someone (other than ace) openly oppose him like that. especially someone older jskfdjskf

meanwhile vil's like "yea riddle dug that hole and put himself in it" and azul's like "yea,,,,he's smart but he just got trolled"

[ about : WE GET TO PLAY VIDEO GAMES ??? ]

OH MY GOD THERE'S VIDEO GAMES ???? THIS HAS TO BE MY FAVORITEST BOOK EVER IN TERMS OF MECHANISM WWWAHHHH the way i'm. so excited. to like. play the video game omgmgggmgmg—

also this is so fucking meta, we get to play a video game inside of another video game,,,,,,

[ about : riddle the gaymer ]

ok lowkey wholesome the way they're all watching riddle game, even if he's terrible at it. like they're all invested in the story and in his progress, and trying to help him out, and teasing him, as friends should ^^

idia trying to give him tips is so funny bc he's saying "go up" and "YOU NEED TO GO DOWN OR YOU'LL DIE" and riddle's panicking jskfdjskf and riddle :'))) my boy, wdym which one is the down button

AND AZUL KEEPS FANNING THE FLAMES W/ HIS COMMENTS TOO the way riddle got offended over being called bad at games bc "i'm not bad i'm simply inexperienced !!" and relegating himself to PRACTICING. the riddle rosehearts practicing GAMING.

[ about : azul's turn ]

FUCK HELP PLEASE VIL I LOVE YOU WHY ARE YOU SO FUNNY JFKDJSKF

also omg i didn't think we'd be getting floyd lore HERE but it makes sense that floyd has game consoles.... azul talking as if he played floyd's games VOLUNTARILY sir just say you were dragged into it and go !!

[ about : leona gaming time ??? ]

ortho's so good at leading people to play games,,,,the way he butters people up is insanneee and telling a story to go with it ??? to make it more interesting ??? and the fact that he's so cute and cheerful, leona can BARELY put up a resistance jskfjsdf

and ofc it's a reaction time game,,,no doubt leona's gonna have an absolute ball playing it bc it's akin to a cat hitting a piece of string repeatedly sjfksdjfk and the way he's playing without strategy bc "it's his fault if he gets hit smh"

leona goes "tch...why am i doing this again ?" as if the clicking controller noises don't get more frantic as he continues to play LIKE SIR i can legit hear you exerting effort, stop acting high and mighty

[ about : ORTHO SHROUHDSFJF ]

leona: so ? what did you mean that this game was for me ?

ortho:

GUYS I'M FUCKING DYING THE WAY HE'S SO CASUALLY LIKE "YEA YK. CATS STARTED BATTING AT IT AND PEOPLE FOUND IT CUTE." and not the researcher doing the same to lions ??? help ???? "according to STYX's records, you're a beastman with lion genes, so i predicted you'd enjoy the game" ORTHO YOU'RE SO FUNNSYSYFUDHF

the way leona can't even refute it bc he WAS into the game and he got a high score anyway :'))) (and not vil calling him adorable,,,,)

[ about : leona and ortho ]

ok but the way leona let ortho down was so soft. he's like "yea like they said i'm such a cat, so i'm sleepy,,," bc he doesn't wanna hurt ortho's feelings snnnnniifff,,,, he knows that ortho's purely happy that he was able to pick out a game that engaged leona, so leona didn't wanna crush his spirits by refusing to play another round

[ about : star rogue, a hero's dawn ]

the way idia was SO EXCITED when star rouge was recommended to vil,,,, he really said pop off !! out loud and started to narrate the story of the game hIMSELF (i love the way he got So Serious for the narration sjfkdsjf that's me when i'm talking about the story line of games i love)

not jamil, vil, and leona (who was, ahem, "asleep" btw)just basking in silence after idia's done with his spiel,,,,,,,guys,,,please,,,you're gonna kill the guy,,,,,

the way the shroud bros both said the tagline sobs i love them sm sm,,,, reminds me about how important of a game star rogue is to them bc iirc they mentioned it before in the starsending event ? and idia's wish was that the star rogue sequel was completeddd

[ about : star rogue sequel ]

have i ever talked about how much i love vil schoenheit <333 the way he stands up against stereotypes that people have against him as a model and actor, the way he's down to trying out idia's favorite video game, the way he listens closely to what idia is saying and tells him not to just dream, but to chase that dream...

on that note, i love how everyone's listening to idia's story. like i didn't expect leona to suddenly chime in, but he did.

also idia is right. a game that's made begrudgingly bc someone's paying you vs because you're passionate and you want others to enjoy it IS different.

(but also what vil says does make sense. sometimes creators can't see the point in making a sequel to something even if they said they wanted to, but having that one fan cheering them on would make a difference)

[ about : RIDDLE.... ]

NOT RIDDLE TAKING THE WHOLE TIME THAT LEONA TESTED THE HYDRA GAME AND VIL TESTED STAR ROGUE TO CLEAR THE FIRST LEVEL ON EASY ??????

wow i love azurid, they're so funny for no reason, the way riddle's so happy about clearing the level and then as soon as azul opens his mouth he's back to frowning (and mama vil scolding them for not taking breaks jskfjdskf)

[ about : azul.... ]

sir i can't. i can't defend you anymore if you say something like this...

[ about : gaming time ]

also these are my scores for the games just bc i wanna document them:

for star rogue, i had to restart 3 times,,,,,the first time i got killed by the boss, the second time, i didn't get killed by the boss but i ran out of time, and third time's the charm >:D

[ about : vil finding out about rookepeyuu ]

vil being like "damn, why would they do something so reckless ?? were they...trying to rescue me ?" and then ortho pulls out skincare and he's like "?? hah ??" and idia's like "omg someone who FINALLY had a normal reaction !!!"

me when vil said the above: *flushed emoji* NO I'M JOKING— but also who doesn't want a kith from vil. we love vil and his tough love, the way he's immensely thankful but also knows how risky it was for them to do this, so he'll scold them <33

[ about : forgotten memories ]

ok but. river lethe beaming all the subjects + sage island residents,,,,mnemosyne being the goddess of memory in greek mythology,,,,

it's kinda...bittersweet. while the beginning was pretty unsavory— i mean. who wants to get violently kidnapped by soldiers ? —the end of their visit was so sweet ? like them all playing video games together, it's so sad that those memories will be erased too. and the way idia just accepts it like it's natural. he's like yea it was bound to happen, which is so saddd uughhhh he's probably used to all this, probably why he brands himself a shut in bc if anyone were to know him as "idia shroud" there will come a point where they'll completely forget about him once he goes to work for styx,,,,,

[ about : mysterious voice ]

*GRABS ONE OF MY SHOES AS A WEAPON* WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU ????

ortho honey, do NOT follow the mysterious, disembodied voice that is coming from tartarus. DO NOTT !! oh god no not the foggg,,,,what the hell is that black fog around him, how did this guy's blot even leak out of the facility, how many people does this guy have under his control, and how hasn't anyone noticed uurhghghghghh

oh my god wait is this guy. one of the ancient phantoms ? the titans ? the ones who the shrouds used to lead the failed rebellion against the jupiter family ?? bc if so, maybe this was what happened last time,,,,maybe the shrouds were loyal but the phantom titans promised that they could grant a shroud's wish if they gave in, and then they fell under the titan's control,,,,

[ about : NII-CHAN ??? ]

HELP ME DID THE VOICE JUST CALL IDIA "NII-CHAN" IS THAT THE ORIGINAL ORTHO ? DID THE ORIGINAL ORTHO ALSO GET DRAGGED INTO THERE WHEN HE WAS YOUNGER AND TRIED TO MAKE A PACT WITH THE TITANS ? IS THAT WHY HE WAS SO SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE VOICE ??

WAIT WAIT WAIT YOU CAN'T JUST CUT OUT LIKE THAT ARGHHHH THE CLIFF HANGERRR *SHAKES FIST*

and with that i gotta stop here :')))) bc i gotta sleep ougughghghhgh i'm so very curious about what'll happen next but sleep awaits ^^ ig i'll play more book 6 when i wake up :'))))))))))

[cheswirls]

let me / for you ship dynamic analysis

(fic link)

:)

part 1 - cyanide capsules [ if we die it's together / our fate and demise are tied as one ]

sabo

likes to be underestimated

manipulative

loves controlling ace by being a brat and acting needy and willing ace to do what he wants

ace

overtly possessive

needs to feel like he's protecting sabo

loves exerting control over sabo with physical power play

points elaborated –

sabo never reveals his true capabilities because he wants to use people's false perception of him to his benefit. he's crafty and cunning, and he knows he can get away with so much more in life if he plays the part of a sad, small puppy. completely helpless. lacking all ability to care for himself. needing someone to wait on him hand and foot. he uses this to get exactly what he wants out of a person every time. ace especially so, because if he puts up a frint and acts all needy and submissive, he knows there's nothing ace won't do for him.

ace craves acceptance and appreciation more than anything. he needs to feel like he's the center of attention, and like he's the only one that matters in sabo's life. it's why he's so insanely jealous of sabo's every interaction with and focus on someone or something that's not him. he knows he can make sabo submit, so he turns this to his advantage, keeping sabo on a tight leash and being quick to lash out of sabo's actions or behavior don't align with what ace expects from him.

-

scene-by-scene

[1] sabo takes the lead for ace and prevents him from causing a scene unnecessarily, in part standing up for ace by showing they come as a matched set - by declaring in a sense that rules and customs and laws aren't going to keep them apart. and also in part keeping ace under his thumb, maintaining control of the situation he's put them in that he needs something out of. ace could storm off and leave sabo item-less in the worst case, so to prevent this, sabo plays two sides at once, appealing to ace and firmly denying shakky.

before they leave, shakky gives sabo another order-suggestion, but this time it's ace that answers, taking charge of sabo's safety and well-being. hand tight around sabo's arm to keep him firmly at ace's side. repaying sabo in kind for his demonstration when they arrived, and showing shakky sabo is as much ace's as he is sabo's by not giving sabo a chance to answer shakky for himself.

[2] the one truthful statement is at the end, about sabo and ace each considering themselves half a person, only a whole human unit when they function together as a pair. this is a pretty standard metaphor for their relationship in general: they view themselves as the missing pieces that slot into everything the other is missing, and where life shows they lack in covering each other's weaknesses, they work on themselves individually to cover the deficit. they mould themselves to truly be the other's half in every aspect, doing everything the other wouldn't do themself.

but also there's a sickening lack of value in seeing yourself as an incomplete person. as not being enough on your own. since they both feel this so strongly, it keeps them tethered together even before the curses are cast. they are nothing without each other. they are less than human without the other at their side. and more than that, they see each other as less than human without themself present. he is nothing without me, in its purest form. and i am everything to him. having both an inferiority complex and a god complex almost at once.

extrapolating this further, this is only implied throughout the story but very much holds true. both ace and sabo function as (mostly) different types of codependent people. ace is a falsely empowered type and sabo is a disempowered type. because their mindsets are also linked so intimately, each isn't fully one type and exhibit some behavior patterns from the other. this is to say, feel free to research codependency on your own but keep in mind everything that applies to this fic/au won't fit so neatly into a single box :)

ace's lack of self-worth means he's constantly seeking admiration and praise and has a deep desire to feel needed. he's at sabo's every beck and call, to the point where no one else in the entire world takes precedent over sabo's wants and needs. but he's also inherently selfish and often seeks out ways of claiming sabo's validation that can be disruptive depending on the present situation. if he needs attention, he'll force sabo's hand and get it no matter what.

to go along with this, ace is the type of person to project an aura of being overly-competent. he's confident, he's faultless. if he's not interested in something he won't pay it mind, even if this avoidance will affect him later on. he has no weaknesses and no moderation on any aspect of his life. even if he's focused intently on a task at hand, it will never be 100% in full because sabo will always linger in his mind.

sabo needs to feel loved and necessary and will often force situations where ace is needed to feed the cycle, gaining worth through seeing how much ace loves and cares for him. he comes off as needy to keep the pleasing-please-er give-and-take going, but this also means that when his self-worth balances out temporarily he finds ace's advances overbearing and stifling. kind of an 'i want you when i need you but when i don't need you i need you to sit quietly in the corner' situation. he doesn't want ace to set boundaries but gets cross when ace oversteps sabo's own.

sabo is super dependent to the point that he'll put his general care and well-being solely in the hands of ace. he has to be at the forefront of ace's thoughts constantly, but struggles with ace wanting the same for him. he'll get insanely jealous of any attention ace gets from someone that's not him. he does not see any problem with any of his manipulative traits or monopoly on ace's time. he does what he wants and expects ace to follow at his heels. he cannot say no to ace.

out of the two, sabo is more realistic when it comes to their long-term needs and plans, and ace is better about handling the day-by-day: making sure they eat and sleep and do the bare minimum to keep from getting expelled. sabo is driven and goal-oriented, while ace is very go-with-the-flow. sabo knows what he wants out of life, but ace only wants sabo indefinitely, so he does what he can to maintain their bond.

two different codependent people in a romantic relationship to the extent these two are in means that they clash with each other a lot. it's not uncommon to find them at odds and often the resolution will be messy or temporary, OR ignored in full which is worse. they refuse to work out their problems to keep up the illusion of happiness and fulfillment. they fight for stupid reasons and come up with things to argue over just for the sake of arguing. the distance limitation means they have no room to step back and take a break from each other. sharing their feelings makes everything blurred – keeps them questioning why they have the right to be upset, deescalating things without actually talking through it so issues just keep popping up over and over. often deluding themselves (and each other! mostly each other!) into thinking everything is fine.

[3] it's a carnal instinct of ace's that he always has to make sure sabo is visibly marked as belonging to him. bite marks are easy to leave and take time to heal, so it's his preferred method.

when it's out of his line of interest, ace will ignore sabo's intent and attempt to control their schedule. if he doesn't want sabo out of bed, he'll do his utmost to keep him there. wearing sabo's shirt is another move to show possession – ownership, if you must. it's a power play to drive sabo insatiable and then deny him in the end to refocus on their day's objectives. keeps sabo wanting for him, constantly.

[4] sabo mentions closing one of ace's bite marks because he knows ace won't go for it and will give himself instead. notice he only does this after ace doesn't agree to help at the first available chance.

this comes up a few times, and always for the same reason. whenever ace is injured or it's inevitable that he'll feel pain, his focus is always on how this will affect sabo. he tells sabo not to hurt himself when he's going to cut ace open. completely unconcerned with what he's about to experience, ignoring it even. no "don't cut me too deep because you'll feel it too", either for pain-related purposes or wondering how sabo would function in healing him if he was too hurt to do so – none of this. he doesn't mention himself at all when sabo's about to dig the scalpel into his skin.

this is also the first real instance of ace displaying an interest in sabo's field of study. it'll come up more in pt 2, so i won't elaborate as much, but in short, sabo's magical curriculum wasn't his first choice and wasn't what he originally enrolled to study. ace's interest is more sympathetic than anything else, kind of like he's dragging himself along with sabo since they have little choice at this point.

[5] sabo is the one to propose performing the curses, but once ace hears of the idea, he's instantly on board to the same degree sabo is.

[7] sabo's safety is ace's top priority. this comes up a lot but can't be understated. ace won't let sabo cause undue harm to himself. this is why he removes sabo's hand from the light's reach very soon after sabo puts it there, and why he's so obstinate on limiting sabo's experimenting on the matter.

ace's physical contact with sabo while they're by the fireplace is meant to be a comfort thing. that he's right there no matter what happens, that he'll risk being overbearing to ensure sabo's physical condition. it's also a little in part a form of restraint – making sure he's able to pull sabo back quickly or keep him from a re-attempt if the first goes awry.

having ace wake up to see sabo permanently disfigured was certainly a trip. he views it as his failure more than anything. he nods off for a bit and now sabo has extensive scarring that's there for life. for ace, it's one moment to the next – sabo being fine and then sabo having mottled skin over the left half of his face. it's terrifying to know something could happen so quickly without his knowing, with him being completely unaware. sabo had to go through it alone and ace hates that. hates thinking what sabo's initial reaction could have been, what he had to come to terms with alone, what he probably speculated ace would think of it all – good or bad. it weighs on him so heavily. it forces his overprotectiveness into overdrive.

"we only need to have so much skill between the two of us to survive.” what sabo tells ace at the end of the scene is pretty much their shared life's motto. neither of them have to be competent in the same area – that's what they have each other for.

[8] this is probably the most culminate scene in the entire au because i don't delve much into anything that happens before ace and sabo curse themselves. it's meant to be a little insight into why they did what they did but mostly serves to highlight how important the magic is to them.

sabo says to the faculty that this triple bond he has with ace is not only the best thing that's ever happened to him, but that it's the only thing that makes his life worth living. implying that even his relationship with ace hadn't been enough before for him to feel like existing was worth it.

the introspection goes into how they both feel that there are days where they honestly can't tell they're separate people leading their own individual lives. this is also the scene (in more elaboration) that reveals that both of them only really see themselves as half of a human being. the fact that they don't see themselves as complete without each other is suuuuuuuper unhealthy but since it's framed with rose-tinted glasses it probably doesn't appear that way at first :)

and the last line reveals a key difference between the two at this point in time: ace would do anything in the world if it meant he got to continue living with sabo to the extent they are now – but sabo would kill them both before he let them be separated. their resolve is the same level of commitment but with contrasting morals and ideals. i don't think ace is necessarily afraid of death, but to him, it's more worth it to continue to live out his life with sabo at his side. while with sabo, he comes to an extreme ultimatum first and foremost while considering the worst of the worst. in this scenario, ace is more likely to be wishy-washy (which comes into play later!!) while sabo is ready to jump the gun and cut their losses.

also, as a last tidbit, one of the staff members highlights what ace and sabo think of the bond perfectly: curses are named such because they're cast on someone unwillingly. when a curse is performed knowing and accepting and even welcoming the consequences, then what really makes it a curse at that point? is it not simply another form of magic? it can still be old, forbidden magic without being labeled as a curse. this is how the two of them view it, anyway.

[9] sabo leaves ace's side to heed the call of classmates while keeping in mind how much distance is between the two. i always pictures the room being setup with those long lecture hall desks divided in rows, so probably ace is sat near enough to the end of such for sabo to move around and then down the stairs to be relatively still in front of ace but just on a lower level of the hall. it's not that they can't be physically apart but that they never choose to, and this is meant to be an example of such – sabo is the one being addressed, so he's the one to come forward.

sabo will always come first, ace insists, as he puts aside his bloodlust to tend to sabo's feeble form. he's willing to let go in order to take care of sabo. this contrasts a scene later where sabo is willing to get his hands dirty in order smooth things over when ace. they both provoke actions unsuited to each other, and it has to do with how long they've been bonded to such an extent for this long. that possibly, ace's quick temper is rubbing off on sabo, while sabo's more caretaker-esque aiming-to-please quirks are starting to affect ace's priority levels.

it's telling that ace say respond to sabo in such an unsure manner and still sabo is quick to put his full faith in ace. he knows he'll be okay because ace is looking out for him. another reason why he so wholeheartedly puts his well-being in ace's hands over his own.

[10] in my notes i had it phrased that the two students asked for help from and teleported sabo to get him out of the way so they could pursue their real target: ace. not with any ill intentions, but in their minds, sabo is an obstacle. with sabo gone, they're free to garner and hold all of ace's attention. despite initially starting conversation with sabo, it's a ruse because they're only trying to get ace to themselves. a pretty clever way to divide the two! if only they didn't have such a debilitating separation curse :(

ace is rightfully mad despite their apologies because they used sabo to get to him, in a sense. they teleported sabo and sabo's the one worse off since he's technically the one moving apart past the limit. it's not that sabo is unconscious and ace is the only one to apologize to, but that ace is the one currently mad at them and they're trying to appease the person they were after conversation with in the first place. they're both short-sighted enough that they can't even acknowledge how much harm they did to sabo, because ace was the one they saw in pain and ace is the one they want a connection with.

[11] this is less of a relationship note but i changed the design of sabo's gloves in part 1 three separate times. at first it curved higher on the meat of his thumb to reveal a section of flesh, then it had a circle cutout and buttoned at the wrist, and lastly it had a triangle cut so the stitching split down the middle of his palm angularly. this keeps a patch of skin always bare in case he ever needs to quickly draw blood – since the rest of him is so covered up. this scene in particular phrases blood magic as a kind of bad, sinister thing, but lots of spells require blood to function! especially sabo's magic, that involves offering a piece of himself in order to perform amazing feats. more on that in part 2 ;)

it should be easy to catch but the beginning of this scene is a memory, which is why it transitions to sabo being lost in thought. originally i had it as a dream he wakes up from, but i wanted him sitting at the desk and saw no need for him to be sleeping in a hard chair when they have more comfortable seating. actually, originally there was a small bed in the corner of the study, but i don't think i ever mentioned it in the final draft of part one so it must've been axed.

the whole point of combining the two into one scene instead of having the final curse be on its own is to highlight how much them having this third curse affects how they view themselves. it's also one of many instances that shows how them not being able to give themselves space to breathe affects their relationship. if you're fighting with someone then you separate and give yourself time to cool down. sabo doesn't have this luxury, so when ace is refusing to budge, he can only sit and stew in silence.

i didn't do a great job circling back but to reiterate – moments like this are meant to show how snippy the two are with each other on a daily basis. they can't get away. they never have opportunities to stop and reflect. they never fix things, not completely, which is why little annoyances keep popping up over and over and over, and why they're so constantly irritated with each other when they're not sickeningly in love. they bounce between two extremes so frequently with not a second to recover from either. their lives are literally so exhausting.

this is also a really good instance of sabo twisting things to go in his favor. yes, he's overwhelmed, and yes, he's angry with ace, and yes, he's really feeling all of the feelings that come with someone's thoughts of hating you being forced onto you unwittingly, but the point is that he uses these and exaggerates to get ace to do what he wants. if ace won't respond positively to sabo being angry, then maybe he will to sabo being sad and inconsolable. he's not lying but he is trying to escalate a situation that forces ace to regroup and try to tend to sabo. ace drops the whole ordeal and both refuse to elaborate on it – they don't talk about their issues and never do, they just move on when one of them decides they need to move on, leaving the other no room to argue.

coming back around to a point made in an earlier scene – ace is able to look at things a bit more objectively, and when he realizes how badly sabo is being affected by the curse, he's the one to state aloud that they may have made a mistake. sabo reacts as he does because he's so insecure and he feels like he's losing his grip on ace. him putting words in ace's mouth immediately after is his way of scrambling to regain that control.

and the ending is another point from another scene! :) sabo is entirely indifferent to everything that happened, but now that they've had such a bad moment and the cause is ace's anger on sabo's behalf, it's now sabo's turn to seek revenge on ace's behalf. what he says that ace doesn't hear is something along the lines of dealing with the students himself. he refuses to repeat himself to spare ace's feelings, resorting to acting on his own as a way to repay ace – because if ace had felt such anger on sabo's behalf, then surely sabo can return the favor.

[12] in case it wasn't evident from the last scene: ace knows nothing about sabo's ill intentions. they can still keep secrets from each other. so, having nothing to go off of, ace's possessiveness comes out in full force over sabo offering "gifts" as a way of saying let-bygones-be-bygones. he doesn't allow sabo to touch either of the boys and immediately gets touchy-feely with sabo after the two leave.

sabo raising his hood is a way to limit who sees them because he likes having moments with ace all to himself. pda doesn't bother him, but he pulls the wide hood to hide his face just a little, even as he's wrapped in ace's arms and ace is so clearly kissing him to anyone who sees them entangled to such an extent. it's also a bit like flaunting their relationship status. they can make out in the halls but not just anyone is allowed to see them do so.

[13] pronunciation guide to magical creature for funsies: SPHE is said like SS-FEE, like the start of 'sphere', or a hiss at the start of 'fee' ; REENG is said like 'ring' with an extended vowel. sphe'reeng in full, with the apostrophe dividing a word as is common in arabic names (ja'far, for example).

the old folklore book ace's knowledge comes from regarding the sphe'reeng originally was a children's fairytale. if you want to view it as such that's fine with me :) i think phrasing it the way i did made it sound more sophisticated, and ace would be more likely to stumble upon such a book on campus than something made for kids.

there's a lot of instances in part one that highlights how ace and sabo can't real each other's minds despite how much else they can do, and this scene has another one when ace just assumes sabo knows they have to kill the creature to obtain the magic vitality organ. sabo is quick to humor ace either way, but not without a bit of chagrin. this is another common occurrence and another tick in the 'we can't stay mad at each other so what am i willing to fight about and what do i have to let go of' counter. picking and choosing battles. is this really worth it? sabo doesn't seem to think so.

it'll be better explained in part two but i can offer a little tidbit re: ace feeling cold all the time. ace has a scene earlier (and it's in the p1 design) where he throws on a thermal shirt underneath his clothes. this is because sabo frequently draws on ace's larger mana supply, and when ace's mana runs low, it leaves him feeling cold. dressing more warmly that necessary is a way to subvert this.

the 'gift it to me' is a line i've had since the very start of my notes for this au. it's phrased this way on purpose. sabo doesn't want to be given this organ, he wants ace to hand over all jurisdiction of it. 'gift it' instead of 'give it' is super deliberate because he wants a present from ace, because he wants the connotation that comes from receiving such a thing from ace. ace has put them through hardship now for seemingly no reason, so sabo wants a reward for assisting now that it's all for naught. it's a very power-hungry way to demand something. sabo's not asking for the organ – but he's telling ace what to do so he ends up with it.

biting into the organ right in front of ace is also another power move. he's proving he's the better of the two, that he has more guts than ace. blah blah yadda yadda the prose in this instance speaks for itself.

[15] this scene has THE most notable example of the pair's lack of conflict resolution. they're both constantly playing each other to get what they want. it's not done out of malice, of course, it's simply an unhealthy lack of communication. they're both constantly one-upping each other to come out on top. in this instance, ace is catering to sabo's goodwill to get him to agree, and since sabo can't say no to ace once ace puts up even the smallest amount of persuasion, it ends up going in ace's favor. despite the consequences. despite the setbacks it produces. what ace wants in the moment, sabo is free to give.

later, sabo very bluntly address a point of contention by thinking that even when he's so mad, he can't just dip and leave ace behind. and even though ace is in the wrong, he doesn't offer any sort of apology. he just coerces sabo into doing something else according to his whims.

[16] the bracelet charm is a failsafe and an extremely kind gesture from ace. it's setup for part 2 so you'll have to wait til then to see the purpose :) but w/o giving too much away, yes it's a counter to the curse but it's very limited in scope so it's not intended to be smth they can keep doing forever and ever to avoid sharing pain. it's magically-inclined but they don't actually know if the spell will work as intended, or for how long either. it could have a duration of thirty seconds. it could last ten days. it could last for ten seconds and be completely useless. but it's the thought that counts :) and it's ace giving to sabo, giving sabo the chance to use it and save himself from ace's pain. he could have gotten both with an adequate amnt of funds, but he chooses not to. it's another way of showing how little ace values himself compared to how he values sabo, too.

also, this is another way of showing that ace cares more about their lives than sabo. sabo is willing to die together with ace should the moment arise, but ace is taking steps to ensure they don't get wiped out at first chance. ace is content to live life with sabo, with no specific goal in mind, because that's enough for him. it's a point of contention because sabo sees this and wants ace to have more agency, to develop a purpose outside of sabo to some extent. to have something to focus on apart from their relationship so they can avoid like what happened in the previous scene, of them being so enraptured and drawn to each other that they brush aside any and everything else. he wants ace to find a reason for living that doesn't revolve around sabo.

ace's last little declaration that sabo immediately agrees to is also another wild example of unhealthy codependency. ace wants sabo to do whatever sabo wants to do, but in turn, sabo has to cater to ace's whims whenever necessary. whenever ace deems it necessary. and sabo says yes to such without hesitation. because, as the closing line says, they're eager to indulge each other's every whim :) no matter the cost.

[belabellissima]

✨💭🍰 for the ask game!

✨ Choose three adjectives to complement your own writing:

Y’all started with the hard stuff 😅 alright uhhh

1) emotional - I feel like I'm really good at conveying what characters are feeling (at least when its angst) and bringing readers along on that journey

2) hopeful - except for my one mcd fic (but even then I wrote a second ending where it was happy and hopeful again), i only write happy endings. Like no matter how bad it gets, there's always something good waiting beyond that. Because life would suck without hope - it's imo one of the strongest things in the universe, and I like my writing to reflect that.

3) physical - i was told one (1) time during one of my classes that I was very good at writing the physicality of the characters during a fight scene, to the point that the reader had absolutely no trouble or confusion what-so-ever about where the character was, what they were doing, which hand the weapon was in, etc. and proceeded to make that my entire writing personality for years. Any time i write an action scene specifically, i think back to their complement and try to judge whether the new scene would get that same commentary, and if I think the answer is no, i go back and edit it to that internal standard. Which i think leaves the writing very easy to understand and easy for the reader to feel when reading.

💭 What is a headcanon you have about your own work?

ooh this one took me awhile to come up with! I don't really know if it means like... about my writing as a whole? or just one of my fics? So I'm going with the second. I 100% headcanon that azris is real in my State of Grace series (ace!Elain and amnesia!Feysand). I have more fics planned in this series and hope to get azris' story one day, but i don't have any ideas at all for them yet so it remains headcanon. I also headcanon that when Nesta finds out Feyre thought she was a puca she finds it hilarious (though she'll never admit to it), and doesn't let Feyre live it down for at least a decade.

🍰 Name one eight of your fave comfort fics (doesn’t have to be your all time fave).

I have so many for all the different ships let me try and narrow it down😫 and put them below the cut!

Feysand:

The A Court of Faded Dreams series and The Outlier, both by the-lonelybarricade. ACoFD is so good at making the angst of UTM and the fallout of time travel be heartwarming, and is definitely a favorite of mine to reread. Meanwhile The Outlier is adorable and definitely a comfort fic when I want to read something short and sweet with flustered!Rhys.

A Court Outside of Time by Sonata_IX - I reread this one so often its not even funny. Feyre trying to seduce Rhys while he's still wearing his UTM mask is hilarious, heartbreaking, heartwarming, and all around amazing. And the Starfall scene???? Rhys learning he's going to be a dad?🥹

What Dreams May Come by as_with_a_sunbeam - sick fic with feyre taking care of Rhys. What else is there to say? Feyre's desperation to save Rhys, only to be as self-sacrificial as him and give him up? It's so good I can feel Rhys' heartbreak every time I read, which makes the happy ending so so sweet.

Nessian:

Anything by TheTeaQueen - she writes Nesta so fucking well and has put out phenomenal fics focusing on Rhys and Nesta bonding. I'm in awe with every single one. Of Death and Resurrection specifically is amazing, and one I return to over and over again.

Begged and Borrowed Time by daughterofthesea - seriously go read this fic. Its so good and heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time. One of my favorites hands down - Cassian noticing the embroidery right off the bat? Seeing something that even her sisters haven't noticed? Nesta admitting the truth to him when she can't to anyone else? I die in the best way. 🥹

Elucien:

Slow Dancing in a Burning Room and Don't Blame Me by separatist-apologist are my go-to fics when I need a pick-me-up. I think don't blame me was actually the first of mb's fics I ever read (it is I just checked), and SDIABR will always hold my heart with the fake-courting to real-feelings pipeline, and the way Lucien reacts when he learns of the truth, running around all night to help them out.

Literally the reason it took so many days to post this is that I got sucked into rereading these fics as I linked them😅

[redhatmeg]

Back when the Thriller Bark Saga was in full swing in the anime, this scene in manga version started to pop up on the internet. This was also the moment when I decided to come back to One Piece, because I wanted to know its context.

And the scene when Zoro offers his head in Luffy's place just to spare him, saying that he may be worth less, but he's going to be the best swordsman in the world, and on Kuma's question: "Why would a man with such ambition sacrifice himself for someone else?", he gives the reply above... this was a scene that completely changed my view on Zoro. In this one small scene from an interesting character I wasn't particulary crazy about, he became a character that gained my utmost respect. I never saw him the same way ever since.

In my opinion this is the culmination of Zoro's relationship with Luffy. Remember - he joined his crew under condition that Luffy won't stand in a way of achieving Zoro's dream of becoming the best swordsman. And now, he is willing to sacrifice his own life for Luffy. He even says: "The way I see it, this is the only way to help the crew. How can I protect my ambition when I can't even protect my Captain! Luffy's the man who is gonna become the Pirate King!"

Zoro puts his nakama above his dream. He puts his crew, his captain and his captain's dream above becoming the best swordsman. Ever since Luffy first learned about it and said that he can't expect nothing less from future Pirate King's nakama than have such a lofty ambition, Zoro probably started to think that their dreams are intertwined, but here it's something's more than that. Zoro isn't a lone bounty hunter anymore: he has friends and a man he's willing to follow to the Grand Line and beyond; and as a honorable man with principles, he can't just abandon his nakama and especially his captain.

Luffy earned Zoro's respect long time ago. He earned respect of all of his crewmen by fighting for them relentlessly. Right now Luffy is vulnerable - he's wounded, exhausted and unconscious. He can't defend himself. So this is the moment when someone else needs to defend him; someone who will put his life on the line for him the same way Luffy did countless times.

And Zoro is that someone.

But then something strange happens - Sanji shows up and offers his life instead. Now, all throughout the series Sanji and Zoro didn't get along, in fact they were often fighting with each other over petty things. However, now Sanji says: "What'll happen if you die? What about your ambition, idiot?" Of course, he wants to save Luffy, but he also puts Zoro's life over his own ambition - finding All-Blue. He prepares himself for death, asking Zoro to say goodbye from him to everyone and tell them to look for the new cook.

(Probably we are to assume that if other Straw Hats were conscious, they would do the same for Luffy and each other.)

However, just like Sanji was ready to die for Zoro, Zoro is ready to die for Sanji and he knocks the cook out. He throws away his katanas and stares Kuma in the eyes. And this is when the Shichibukai decided to change the sentence: instead of killing Zoro, he makes him "experience hell itself". He uses his Devil Fruit ability to extract pain and fatigue from Luffy's lifeless body and put it inside Zoro.

"If you really intend to take his place, then you must literally share his suffering."

With Zoro's own state, this means he probably not survive this. Even tiny bit of the extract makes the swordsman experience millions of little hits that cause him to colapse. But Zoro made his mind: he only asks to do it in a different place. And so, near the forest, Zoro enters Kuma's extract.

I don't know if Luffy later learns about Zoro's sacrifice, but - as of the moment in the manga when I've stopped reading (Ace's execution) - he still is unaware of it. And probably his first mate would prefer it like that.

[frostyreturns]

Frosty Ruins Rashomon

No it's not a digimon that gives you venereal disease it's a Japanse film from the 50's.

It's interesting to me that a Japanese movie from the 50's has so much in common stylistically with western movies of the same era. The same acting styles, the same shots, the same kind of music paired in a similar way with the scenes.

The story begins very slowly and meanders. Ten full minutes of sitting around building up the story. What is it with Japanese stories and just endless hype, I thought it was mostly an anime thing but apparently even in a film from the 50's it's a thing. They just sit around describing how this is the most horrible story they have ever heard of.

The movie also drags visually, there's plenty of prolonged shots of people just walking through the woods for two minutes, stuff like that annoys me and half the time I tune out. It seems disrespectful of your time.

The worst part for me were the parts where some of the dialogue was done like a bad one man play, where the character essentially is talking to themselves by repeating an off camera characters lines back to them... even though we don't hear anybody else talking. Oh what's that you say, this is a terrible choice for delivering dialogue? Yes I agree quite bad. Oh you want to know why we couldn't just cast another character and have them say your lines. That's a great question, person off camera definitely speaking to me right now.

Then the behaviour of the characters gets baffling. A bandit tries to rape a woman out with her husband, deciding he's going to risk his life for the opportunity. Then despite the fact that he's acting suspiciously and looks nuts the guy agrees to go with him into the woods where he gets attacked and tied up. Then he decides to bring the woman to see her husband all tied up. Then the woman decides she's going to have sex with the bandit in front of her husband. Then when he tries to leave after the woman demands that one of the two men has to kill the other one and says she'll go with whoever survives. Then the bandit decides to free the man and give him his sword back. None of this makes any sense, every character is doing insane irrational things, it's no wonder the first words in the movie were "I don't understand."

If my wife fucked some dirty bandit then demanded we have a fight to the death over her then the bandit can fucking have her because she's dead to me and it has nothing to do with being a coward like she suggests later on. Imagine the fucking nerve of a woman demanding her husband and a rapist fight to the death over her or they’re not real men. And the bandit was annoying as shit, laughing obnoxiously at completely random times, and he does it constantly.

That was my reaction because its not until after watching this unfold that the movie tells us this isn't really what happened and is just the bandit characters version of the story...but the wifes version made just as little sense. The bandit runs off for no reason, the husband decides he hates her and wont speak to her, she demands that he kill her and he just sits there staring at her while she has a meltdown about the way he's staring at her.

Then there was a kind of fucked up part where they have some witch channel the dead guy to give his part of the story...which also makes no sense. By the time we get to the fourth account of this rape and murder I kind of don't care and just want all of the characters to die. The point of the film is a comment on human nature so the fact that all the characters are unlikeable scumbags is part of the point but it still makes the movie hard to watch when you hate everyone in it.

I'm not sure what my problems with this film are, whether it's cultural, whether it's simply anachronistic as a movie more than 70 years old... or if it's just a strange movie because it is a psychological thriller.

All of that said it was still interesting to watch. I've never seen an old Japanese movie from the 50's before, so in an academic sense I enjoyed watching it and can tell it's likely a movie that influenced a lot of other movies But I don't rate my movies based on its pedigree I rate it based on how much I enjoyed it and this was annoying, creepy and full of too much nihilism. I'm also not a fan of subtitles which I needed because I don't speak Japanese. 

D+

[miseryinthebathroom]

first of all, how dare you remove my ace attorney jokes Grace

Second of all,

Actually I want to add on to this because I’m mentally ill and have a lot to say about the hatchetverse.

so as I said, TGWDLM is a really good parody of invasion of the body snatchers type shit as well as musicals as a whole, and I’ll stand by that. But I wanted to dissect Let It Out and how it succeeds vs how Black Friday (the song) failed. Again, I fucking love Black Friday (both the song and the show) and was appalled when Grace said they were thinking of skipping it, but I still feel like it is the weakest of the trilogy while still being fantastic. It says a lot about the quality of your trilogy when it’s “worst” part is still this great.

so first off, Let It Out is an ensemble number. I think that having extra vocals for harmonies just generally helps certain moments hit. Like I mentioned during the Grace and Michael Power Hour(s) Richie’s death does hit. And why is that? Short answer? Harmonies.

Long answer? Having both Max and the “chorus” singing on top of Richie’s “I’M NOT A LOSER” helps add weight to it. This is something that isn’t present in Black Friday (the song), but it is present at the very end of the Monsters and Men Reprise, with Jaime Lyn Beatty coming in over top of Jeff Blim’s vocals. BUT the harmonies aren’t the only thing at play here.

We also have the leitmotif from “Cool as I Think I Am” coming back. This is also present in the scene where Steph and Pete realise that one of them has to die. It has meaning given to it by previous contexts, first as the motif that played when Pete was gaining self confidence, second as the motif that played when Richie died, and third as the motif that played when Steph and Pete were arguing over who would get shot.

But this isn’t about NPMD. Well, it is, but the harmonies rant tied into Let It Out. As far as I know there are no leitmotifs in it, please feel free to correct me there. Tangent ASIDE, the ensemble being present for Let It Out also gives Paul other characters to work with/against. Lex, meanwhile just kind of… steps out of the chokehold she was in and sings a ballad. A fucking great ballad, but it takes some of the weight and stakes out of the scene.

Let It Out also shows specific development in Paul. He’s slowly being taken over through the course of the song, being tempted by the hive mind. He says at the start of the scene “what I want doesn’t matter” which is met with the response “but we think it does!” The hive mind feigns care for Paul, trying to get him to open up and selfishly indulge in the happiness that joining the hive can bring.

Black Friday (again, the song) represents a struggle for Lex’s character but overall there’s not a specific challenging of her ideals and of her integrity. In the opening lines of the song we can see that she’s already accepted her fate. She’s not changing over the course of the song but rather reflecting on her death. She expresses anger at her circumstances but never a specific desire to change things. It takes Colonel John Macnamara showing up to get her to Fucking Do Something and again, I love this moment, it’s very cool, but I feel like Lex’s struggle just hits less than Paul’s due to the way that things are laid out and written. It didn’t elicit as strong of an emotional reaction (or really any from me, maybe just because I’ve been in musical theatre for fourteen years at this point and therefore my suspension of disbelief is shot) as Let It Out did.

I love these musicals so much, and I don’t want anyone to think I don’t like Black Friday because of my critiques of it, but there are definitely some places where it could be improved. Again, despite being the weakest of the trio (imo) I still love it and that’s a testament to its quality. In my opinion. Maybe I’m entirely wrong and everyone cried when Lex was dying and laughing their asses off at Paul becoming one with the Hive Mind. Art is subjective, don’t let me tell you what’s good and what isn’t, this is just how I feel and why I think I feel that way.

yippee!!

Because my npmd art post has blown up so hard I thought you guys would enjoy screenshots of me and @miseryinthebathroom going off about Black Fridays writing earlier (would love if anyone added on any thoughts like in tags or rbs or anything I’d love to talk more about it :3€ especially in regards to like that hypothetical rewrite just bc idk it sounds fun and I like the ideas we had laid out here,,,,)

[haru-natsuka]

Not funny (Floyd Leech x Female Reader)

Genre: Romance

Usually, Floyd would enjoy squeezing others but what if it was his girlfriend who did so?...

I got the idea when I kept on pondering over Floyd's habit of squeezing other students. So, how would you actually feel if your boyfriend hugged others? Did that mean you, his girlfriend was equal to others? It was a relief NRC is a boy school. This fanfic is kind of revenge from you to Floyd. Enjoy~~~

Azul was getting furious and more furious as Floyd kept on throwing tantrums during his work on very peak hours. We were talking about business now and it would be a loss for Floyd bad service! Every now and then, Floyd would say he was not in the mood to do the work as he was busy glaring and shooing at his schoolmates who had been given a hug by his girlfriend. That was not how it works in Mostro Lounge should be done! Even his beloved goldfish aka Riddle had make its way to his hated list when you literally beat Floyd first in hugging Riddle.

Floyd's heart kind of clenched in pain upon witnessing your arms circled tightly around Riddle's waist, head laid gently on his chest and what with the voice you used seductively saying you caught the Heartslabyul dorm head. Your voice should be his! Your body should be his! Were you playing around by having affairs while claiming his to be yours too? Floyd would never accept this kind of harem! He should be the one to squeeze you which was different from the scene he was watching certainly!

"Riddle~ hugging you is the best. Your height is just so perfect for meee"

A tray full of glasses shuttered on the ground as Floyd threw it angrily when he saw you rubbing your head on Riddle's chest. As Riddle being himself who had zero control over the situation, of course, his face had turned as red as tomato upon you being so clingy with him. He would not be someone who used such affection and he could really do nothing as his unique magic would be futile to you and the fault behind your sudden change in behaviour was not laying with yours made things harder for him. Therefore, he could do nothing except weakly ask you to stop before an eel came for his life.

Unfortunately, Floyd already stomped towards the direction of you and Riddle. His eyes flashed with enormous enragement while his mouth was curved into a maniac smile. His left arm was brought towards his right shoulder out of habit whenever he felt like he could strangle someone. One goldfish might die tonight.

"Do you want to be squeezed so much goldfish? I can do the honour instead of someone else girlfriend"

With the help from the other students, Riddle was much alive luckily. However, someone still needed to be the sacrificing lamb as you would never be affectionate towards another than your boyfriend. You must be under a spell. By midnight, when you returned to the normal you, you hugged Floyd all the time and asked for forgiveness from him as you felt rather guilty although you did squeeze others with being under a spell.

"I'll only forgive you if you tell me who is behind the incident"

"Promise me you would not kill them" You reluctantly told everything you could remember before you were cast with the spell. Let's just say the next day, Ace, Deuce and Grim got a lot of loving hugs from Floyd as he basically chase after them whenever they came into contact.

"It is not funny for getting Y/N getting involve with the three of your stupidity..."

Although the incident gave a bitter experience to some students, we could say you took advantage of it as you knew now how possessive Floyd was over you. At least you did not feel jealous anymore whenever Floyd shared his loving hug with other students as you knew how to counter his action back.

"If you squeeze Riddle again, I greatly have the right to do the same!" You claimed as you saw Floyd about to hug his goldfish again.

"Are you kidding me now, Y/N" You are much braver to threaten Floyd now. The situation ended up with both of you hugging each other whenever another person was about to squeeze another student. It was a happy ending we could say or not for Azul who needed to bear the weirdos couple as part of his life.

[oneprompt]

Yooo your writing is so good!!! If it's alright, may I ask for the monster trio's hcs on almost losing their S/O in a fight with other pirates/marines? (Sorry if its a bit angsty among all these fluff fisbg)

authors note: hii <3 im very glad you’re enjoying it , that means a lot to hear ! and yes , i do love me some good angst .. i hope you enjoy ! <3 + zoro’s takes place during enies lobby , luffy’s takes place during wano and sanji’s takes place in whole cake <3 just . thought it’d be easiest to use pre existing arcs ...!

Zoro ( Almost ) Losing His S/o Headcanons

• Zoro finished his fight as quick as he could. He knew there was possibly more keys to find... and even if there wasn’t, you all still had to reach Robin. And you.... Zoro was furious at himself. How could he let you linger alone? Not that he thought you were weak, no. You were a force to be reckoned with. But Zoro couldn’t help but worry about which Cp9 agent you were put against, especially considering he struggled within his own fight..

• He’s quick to take his key and run up the crumbling stairs of the Tower of Law. Please be okay. Zoro didn’t look the part but he was so worried, so concerned. Zoro needed you to be safe, he was praying you weren’t put up against any of the big guys...

• And finally, Zoro had found you. The sight was one he had never wanted to witness in his life. He had no clue how to react, truly. Zoro never had a person in his life to call his, no one that made him feel the way you did. So, seeing you doused in blood, the deep slices upon your chest from claws made his blood boil. You had to be alive, right? You weren’t dead. No, you couldn’t be.

• Where was everyone? Where was Chopper? Zoro has no experience with medical supplies, not like that mattered, as he had none. He tried to not stare at you, trying to steady his somewhat shaky breathing. You had been pinned up against that leopard zoan user, hadn’t you? Wasn’t that guy the strongest? Why couldn’t you have been anywhere else?

• The light tears that laced his dark eyes were quick to slip and dissolve as you suddenly touched him. The sudden weight of your hand upon Zoro’s broad shoulder felt heavy, it felt endless in this moment. Were you.. really okay? As soon as he finally looks back at your bloody and disheveled self, he’s greeted with the softest smile he’s ever seen you bear upon your face.

• You want to apologize. Say sorry for failing your battle with Lucci, for worrying Zoro. But Zoro gives you not even a moment to think of what to say, as he pulls you into an almost out of character embrace. It was full of love, of security. Even as the claw marks upon your chest stayed branded on, you cling to Zoro, giving no regards to the scene that was before you both. Zoro was so happy to see you.

Luffy ( Almost ) Losing His S/o Headcanons

• Luffy is immediately engulfed by sudden flashes and memories of Marineford. He’s reminded of the soul crushing despair that engulfed his pure heart as Ace died within his arms. And here it was, happening once more. But not with Ace, with you. You were his most prized shipmate, he loved you a lot. No way was this happening... Luffy couldn’t lose someone he loved so dearly, not again.

• He’s squeezing you, nails digging into your flesh. Luffy is pleading, begging at that point. You had to be alive, you’ve survived much worse then this. You two would make it out of here. You and everyone else would beat Kaido and Tobi Roppo, wouldn’t you? You had to! You all made a promise... you promised to be at Jinbe’s banquet with the rest of the Straw Hats, with the other samurai..

• Luffy can’t help but cry. It’s out of character but with the sight of your body bruised and molded in such a painful state, it’s impossible not to. The way you’re making... you look so peaceful, just like Ace. Ace had the same smile on his face before he fell upon Luffy, adjusting every bit of dead weight onto the younger boy.

• He should’ve been there to help. Luffy couldn’t help but blame himself. Where was he during your grand fight? You must’ve advanced to King and Queen far too quick... Why couldn’t you have waited? Luffy could’ve been there.. he wanted to help, he could’ve helped. Did you die because of him...?

• Yet, the sudden noise of coughing made his sobbing halter, at least in volume. Luffy looked down at you, your bruised and bloodied face now accompanied with the presence of your hopeful eyes. You were alive..? Luffy’s tears cascaded downward, gently splattering down onto your cold cheeks. He couldn’t believe it..

• Luffy is all over you, crying his entire heart out. But can you blame him? He didn’t want to endure a repeat of what happened with Ace, pacing through another heart wrenching death. Your well being meant everything to Luffy, it truly did. He wanted to become the Pirate King with you on his side, he needed you in order to tap into his full potential. Without you, he could never reach his dreams.

Sanji ( Almost ) Losing His S/o Headcanons

• Sanji’s rapid footsteps pattered through the wedding, slamming down onto the cracker tracks that placed themselves throughout the setting. He saw the way you fell to the ground, every inch of you slamming to the candy coated ground as Big Mom had used her devil fruit. You couldn’t be dead... were you truly that afraid of Big Mom? So much so she could suck every bit of life out of you?

• Sanji can’t help but feel completely at fault. This was all his fault. If he hadn’t came here, if he hadn’t treated you all so badly before departing, none of this would’ve happened. If only Sanji wasn’t born, none of you would have to deal with him. It should’ve been him to die, not you. He knew how awful of a man he was, he knew how happier you would be without him on your side.

• It takes him all of his strength to hold in his tears. Crying was for the weak, wasn’t it? Instead, Sanji just stares at you, almost as if he was completely numb and oblivious to the world around him. You’d get up, right? You couldn’t die. No. You couldn’t, he wouldn’t let such a thing happen to you.

• Why did you come here to save him? Why did any of you show up for him? If you all let Sanji be wedded to Pudding, none of this would happen. You and the rest of the present Straw Hats wouldn’t have been put under such dangerous circumstances. Sanji felt at fault. He couldn’t even sell his life away correctly without hurting anyone..

• The sudden embrace around his neck is enough to make Sanji gasp. Was it...an enemy? No. No, it was the best thing it could’ve been. It was you. How had you overcome Big Mom’s devil fruit, you wonder. Sanji doesn’t hesitate to hug you back, not in the slightest. He held you as tight as he could, allowing you to sob into the white suit jacket he wore, your tears seeping into his cotton button up shirt.

• Sanji carries you upward and flees further away from the wedding, all the while giving you reassurance. He feels horrible for what he put through, not just physically. Just suddenly departing, saying he’s wedding another woman, leaving his true beloved behind must’ve been soul crushing for you.. Sanji would never let that happen again, he’d never allow you to feel such a way ever again.

[sbk-zgvlt]

ITS SO AWKWARD YET SO HEARTBREAKING TO WATCH

Everyone knows Ace as the first year who punched his fucking housewarden, the guy who broke the chandelier and scorched a statue on his first day, the guy who's always at the scene of the crime with a smug smirk

And here he is broken down into tears and snot. Sebek makes him vulnerable, and anything that makes Ace vulnerable is a weakness for him. But saying that Sebek was a weakness when he has been one of his greatest strengths? He would rather die and roll over before saying anything like that

The next day, Ace is holed up in his room. His roommates, especially Deuce, are conversing in the lounge with Cater and Trey, worried for him. They dont notice Riddle letting someone into the dorm. They dont notice someone climbing up the stairs to Ace's room.

Ace hears someone knock, and he tells Deuce to bother someone else, when-

"Trappola."

He has never opened the door so fast in his entire life.

Got this ask I wanted to share, Listen…..what about….Sebek getting a part time job….as some form of training

HE INFLICTS THE TRAINING UPON HIMSELF AND DIASOMNIA HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA ABOUT IT

He hears about Yuu complaining about how their world treats like. Fast food and retail employees and says "their job is literal HELL i dont know how they do it! everyone should treat them with respect" and he's like "HMMM A PERFECT WAY TO TRAIN MYSELF!!!"

So, during winter break, he takes up a job in both a fast food place and a retail store. Alright, hold up right there. Hey. You, the one reading this. Search up "jolibee worker uniform." Yeah. That's right. That's what he's wearing in the fast food place that is unrelated to Jolibee. Yeah.

Everyone in the Not Jolibee thinks he's a PAIN to work with because he does not get how these customers can end your entire career with a single recording. Either he's too loud, or he judges a customer's order, etc.

His boss sets him aside for a bit and goes "customer is always right bla bla bla" and what he doesnt know is that. Sebek treats any higher authority's words as LAW. So his performance suddenly SKYROCKETS and everyone else realizes "oh shit bro he's just a fucking puppy man. a little guy. if a customer starts telling him to refund their order he's going to refund their order now oh shit"

These guys have to work together to make sure that Sebek doesn't fall victim to sleazy customers and Karens. Except Karens have no effect on Sebek because anything they say goes over his head. "I'd like to speak to your manager!!!" "MY MANAGER IS BUSY, BUT I CAN SET UP A TIME AND PLACE FOR YOU!!!"

They get so put off by him that they leave. Everyone cheers. Sebek is now their Karen-repellant.

Anyways, Sebek gets whiplash from working in a retail store because there are NO uniforms to follow after. At best you just have to present yourself nicely. But not a single worker in Twisted Wonderland follows this rule because they just dress the aesthetic of their store. So, naturally, Sebek feels the need to follow after them too.

...did I mention that he works in Not Claires. Yeah, imagine that. Put their aesthetic onto Sebek. Yeah, YEAHHH.

Across from Not Claires is the Scorching Point (Totally not the twst equivalent of Hot Topic), and these two stores have NEVER interacted with each other. In comes Sebek, entering the mall in the most blandest outfit ever. But these retail workers see his stoic face, slicked back hair, and think "Oh. Scorching Point guy. Alright"

Imagine their surprise when he enters Not Claires instead, asking for the job. Someone from Scorching Point faints. Before he actually does any work one of the Not Claires employees suggest that he dress up like them for the appeal and to fit in with the general look of the store. Sebek says that he will.

Everyone has NO expectations for what Sebek is going to wear because bro literally went inside a mall looking like he goes there to window shop for household appliances only for their jaws to drop when he comes in with his hair down and decked out in PASTELS (He asked for help from Riddle who asked for help from Cater because "Sebek what the fuck is a Not Claires what is that"). Sebek had to be FORCED by Cater to style his hair down btw

And the thing is!!! Even if he works at Not Claires he ALWAYS goes over to Scorching Point on and off his shifts. Talks to this specific girl for some reason. Everyone else ignores it. The second week that Sebek's been there, a Scorching Point employee finally walks up to the Not Claires girl who always mans the cashier and asks for her number.

A bridge has been made between the two retail stores, carried by two lesbians and the green haired kid they like to gush about their crush to.

...Diasomnia still has no idea about this.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

ValenTWST Day 3

Day 3 Prompt: Past / “It would be so much easier to kill you if you weren’t so cute.”

“Cowards die many times before their deaths; / The valiant never taste of death but once.”

[Day 1] / [Day 2] / [You’re on Day 3!] / [Day 4] / [Day 5] / [Day 6] / [Day 7]

Before any of y’all come for my throat or point and laugh and shout “HAH, CLOSETED L*ONA SIMP!!”, BIG FAT DISCLAIMER that Valentine prompts can be about non-romantic forms of love as well or literally about anything 💖... Anyway, consider this the proverbial “Scar throwing a bone at Zazu” scene 😷 cuz I’m throwing you a bone—

Imagine this...

It is said that the King of Beasts had an indispensable hornbill advisor at his side. Though they did not always see eye-to-eye, they made for a dynamic duo that ushered the Sunset Savanna into an age of prosperity. Perhaps their greatest accomplishment was uniting the various tribes of the land through purely diplomatic means.

“Purely diplomatic means, huh...” Ruggie peered out from behind his worn magic history textbook.

His dorm leader and the headmaster’s niece were locked in a heated argument. The air between them was so thick and charged with tension that even Ruggie doubted he could cut in with a joke to ease it.

Another week, another squabble to sit through. If he didn’t, he suspected that either Leona would tear out Raven’s throat, or Raven would peck Leona’s eyes out. (Both of those scenarios were gross hyperbole, but it made Ruggie snicker to himself all the same.)

A classic tale as old as time, nishishishishi!

“I cannot believe you skipped another one of Professor Trein’s classes,” Raven was saying, marking off a paper on her clipboard. “That’s the fourth time this week.”

“I don’t need to sit through his lectures. I could pass Ancient Curses with my eyes closed.”

“You’re still missing so many points for attendance and unfinished assignments, even if you ace the exams!! If you keep this up... just how exactly do you plan to meet the minimum requirements to graduate?”

“I didn’t realize you cared so much, canary,” Leona scoffed sarcastically. His mattress creaked as he rolled over onto his side, presenting his back to Raven.

Snubbing her.

A spike of irritation shot through the bird, but she managed to wrangle it and shove it down.

Raven scrambled onto the other side of the bed, forcing the lion to look her in the eye as she continued to chastise him. “You’ve already been held back twice.

“Congratulations, you can count.” Leona flopped onto his belly, directing his gaze at his headboard and the various pillows piled up against it.

“Three is a lucky number. Now is your chance to correct the mistakes of your past and prove that you can succeed!”

“What would you know of my past?”

“... Okay, so maybe I don’t know those details, but I know one thing for certain.” She took a deep breath and adopted a stern expression. “When one fixates on the past, it will consume you, prevent you from moving forward with your life—and that kind of a cruel fate isn’t anything I would wish upon anyone.”

The muscles of his back shifted, stiffening. “You speak as though you know from experience.”

“Well, maybe I do. And maybe I don’t want to see anyone else going down the same dark path. The past is in the past. You should just let it go.”

“What dark experiences do you even have to speak of?”

“You don’t know me as well as you think you do. Or, as a little kitty cat once told me not too long ago, ‘What would you know of my past?’”

Leona scoffed, finally drawing himself up from his mattress. He graced her with an intense stare, like that of a predator sizing up its prey. “... Hmph, you really do take after that useless old Crowley. I guess it’s true what they say: birds of a feather flock together.”

Raven bristled, her feathers puffing up. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means exactly what it sounds like. You use kindness as an excuse for being weak.” Leona folded his arms, his mouth twisting into a smirk. “Isn’t that right?”

“Wh-What...!! Don’t presume to know what I’m like!”

“If only you would extend the same courtesy to me, canary.”

“There is only so much I can do for someone that refuses to help himself. If this is how you’re going to behave, you'll never be worthy of wearing any crown.”

Leona’s expression changed. His pupils were but pinpricks, the muscles in his body tensing and preparing to pounce.

Ruggie instantly recognized the murderous intent set in Leona, the shaking rage that seized Raven. Tossing his textbook aside, he quickly lodged himself between the duo.

“Uhhh, okay! Time out!!” The hyena cried with a nervous laugh. “Maybe you guys should chill for a sec?”

“... No need,” Raven huffed, brushing by him. “It’s clear that this was a waste of time. If you will excuse me, I must be elsewhere. I have other tasks to complete.”

“We’re not done talking yet,” Leona snarled, leaping onto his feet. “Don’t you dare turn your back on me.”

But turn her back she did, and, without another word, she made a dash for the exit.

What happened next was a blur.

A flash of wild mane and muscle, feathers flying through the air, Ruggie’s mouth wrenched wide in awe. A roar, panicked squawking, the resounding THUD as Leona slammed Raven to the ground. Her clipboard skidding across the floor, making harsh contact with Ruggie’s foot.

“... Pinned you.” Leona announced triumphantly as he loomed over his catch.

His emerald eyes shone with wicked delight, even when shrouded by his own shadow. Gravity tugged on his loose shirt, revealing a sculpted chest—a reminder that he could easily crush her, whether with his bare hands or with magic.

“G-Get off of me, you brute!!” Raven demanded, flailing around—but Leona had a firm leash on her wrists. She dug her kneecaps into his stomach and attempted to throw him off, but to no avail.

“Or what?” he challenged, bringing his face closer to taunt her. His teeth were luminous, the only light she was fortunate enough to catch. “You’ll cry ‘Uncle’?”

“L-Leona-san!! Let’s not do anything too hasty...!!”

“Quiet, Ruggie. I’m having a chat with our little guest here.”

“Grk...” The hyena’s ears flattened, but he passed Raven a sympathetic smile.

“This frightened look suits you better,” the prince continued, returning his attention her. She stared back at him, her eyes wide. “Animals on the lower rungs of the food chain should know better than to bark at the wrong predator.”

His grip tightened, forcing a whimper of pain out of Raven. Magic threatened to spill from his fingertips—magic that would vaporize her into nothing more than particles of sand.

“I could kill you if I wanted to--right here, right now. I could make it so I never have to hear another insolent chirp out of your mouth ever again.”

Trapped beneath him, she quivered. A potent concoction of apprehension and anger boiled up from the pit of her stomach.

“It’ll stroke your ego, but it ultimately won’t make you feel any better,” Raven spat. “But go ahead, kill me and prove to everyone that you’re just as bad as they think you are--or you can step down and prove them wrong.”

They held onto each other’s gazes. Hard emerald and amber, entangled in a silent clash for dominance. The atmosphere, stifling.

For someone so small, Raven certainly didn’t back down. There was a fire in her, a flame that flared when prodded a certain way and pushed back against his own. It was a trait reminiscent of the Sunset Savanna’s strongest women, decorated heroes of old, and great kings of the past.

The sort of look that was inlaid in the stars above.

“... Hah. Hahahahah!! Listen to you, bargaining for your life when you’re still shaking like a newborn.” Leona’s sneer was laced with laughter. “This is life and death, and yet you can still find it within yourself to talk back. You’re really something else, canary.”

He released her wrists, his shadow receding as he stood, a hand on his waist. “Ruggie, the clipboard.”

“Clipboard, gotcha!” The hyena plucked it up from the ground and thrust it at the flabbergasted Raven. “Take good care of your things, Raven-kun~”

“... I knew you had it in you to be ‘good’,” she said, standing and tucking the clipboard under an arm. Her gaze was trained on Leona, not Ruggie. “You really can do anything if you put your mind t—”

“Don’t be mistaken. I’m only letting you live because it’d be a waste to kill off the headmaster’s cute little niece so soon.” His expression was the pinnacle of smug. “You’re good for a laugh—and as leverage. That’s all.”

Raven’s lips formed a straight line. She seemed to fight with her next words, opening her mouth, closing it, and swallowing in succession.

“... I’d better hear that you attended Ancient Curses tomorrow,” she said at last.

Then she dusted off her skirt, turned on her heel, and scurried out.

This time, Leona let her go.

And Ruggie finally burst out cackling like a mad man. All of his repressed laughter came flooding out in an uncontrollable torrent.

“Wow, you really suck at this kind of stuff, Leona-san,” Ruggie gasped out, arms hugging his aching stomach. “You got the whole ‘prince’ thing goin’ for ya but still managed to mess it up... Claws out on a ‘first date’ is definitely a big no-go, nishishishi!!”

“Shut up,” Leona roared, his expression scathing. “Do you see me laughing? No? You’re the only one that thinks this is funny.”

“And I’m enjoying eeevery second of it!” Ruggie shook his head, a massive grin on his face. “There’s always next time to look forward to~”

[forest-of-cheem]

my initial reaction to the power of the doctor was… well. bloody loving every single minute of it.

now that i’ve had some time to think it all over…

(under the cut because spoilers!!)

thirteen

this really did feel like such an excellent send-off for her.

she might well have made my favourite regeneration scene of new!who. the way she was so desperate for more time… but in the end, went into the sunrise with peace and happiness, and no regrets except wanting to know what comes next… and the visuals, on the clifftop with light shooting off in all directions…

the AI hologram!! i love that it was responsive rather than just reeling off the standard “if you’re seeing this, then i’m dead” message.

i love how expressive whittaker is. just. her face is doing so much, all the time, and it’s brilliant.

yaz

she’s come so far…

watching her pilot the tardis with her notes!! and even being able to catch ace as she was plummeting from the top of a building!!

i love her literally shoving the master to the ground and taking the tardis with her.

not to mention the way she fooled his ass, and forced him out of the doctor.

she carried the doctor!! yaz really stepped up and said i will be the goddamn hero today!!

i get the sadness over no thasmin kiss, but i guess. to me it makes sense, in a way. it’d be more painful for them to have some intimacy now when 13 is right on the brink of regenerating. and i’m a sucker for a tragic romance.

especially when new!who has only really seen two doctor/companion couples get romantic kisses in its entire run - 11/river, and 10/astrid. (yes, rose kisses tentoo, but he’s part donna, so i would argue it doesn’t entirely count.)

idk. what i’m trying to say is: romantic associations with the doctor rarely end well, for multiple reasons. that we got explicit confirmation of 13 and yaz’s mutual feelings at all is enough for me.

the master

dhawan is the best new!who incarnation of the master and i will die on that hill

inserting himself into all of those paintings was so uncalled for and so unnecessary, and i loved it

ra ra rasputin… artistic poetry. a masterpiece of the screen.

the master wearing 13’s outfit?? i am half-feral. i need more of it.

not trying to be rude, but i genuinely don’t get the people complaining that his plan/motives were too confusing/unclear. like… it was pretty clear to me…

“don’t make me go back to being me” i WILL cry.

playing the recorder when yaz abandons him…

and the way he squealed when the elevator doors closed on the way down to the bunker?? this episode really said here’s all the things you never knew you wanted sacha dhawan to do.

he was delightfully unhinged throughout this entire episode. if rtd doesn’t bring him back, it’ll be a damn crime.

fourteen

look, i love 10. he’s my favourite doctor. but i am… conflicted about his return.

for one thing, i simply refuse to refer to him as 14 when that’s supposed to be ncuti gatwa!!

also, 13 leaves full of optimism and excitement, and then the first trailer for next year sounds all gloomy and severe?? i’m not feeling it.

also, i already feel like those specials simply will not compare to POTD. this was THE anniversary special for me, and it wasn’t even really intended as such. this ep had old doctors and companions alike, and so far the 60th is three episodes of… 10 and donna. and that’s it.

some of my bitterness here may well be the fact that i’m already sick and tired of seeing people all ~hooray the boring mediocre woman is gone it’s time for my favourite MAN doctor, yay, doctor who is saved!!~ like. shut the fuck up already.

everything else

no surprise that dan left, but tbh i feel like that could have been reworked into him leaving at the end of the preceding ep. it feels weird having him only at the very beginning and then near the end.

gonna be honest, before this ep i thought kate stewart was a perfectly decent character, but simply didn’t care much about her. but she was excellent in this episode, and now i definitely want to see more of her!!

the group for past companions is such a fantastic idea and i’m amazed it’s not been done before. everything about that bit was perfect. and it was so cool seeing classic companions! even if i didn’t have any real idea who they were!

this episode is gonna be what makes me watch classic who. i tried several years ago but… i got bored halfway through the second episode. keep meaning to go back, but i never have. now i definitely intend to.

on that note, i thought this was a great introduction to ace and tegan. their bits with the AI hologram were very sweet and have left me really wanting to see their classic stories.

i really thought vinder was gonna be the timeless child daddy, and instead. he was just there. he helped yaz, fair enough, but what was he even there for in the first place?? are he, bel and karvanista investigating alien shenanigans too now??

me, pretending to be shocked when graham arrives, despite having known for months about that set photo circulating of him and dan together…

all in all, this was a top-notch episode for me. my only quibbles are with dan’s early exit, and vinder’s presence feeling a bit random… and tennant’s return that may or may not go down well next year. idk. i have faith in rtd to deliver a fantastic era, but i have my doubts as to whether this is the way to kickstart it.

all else aside, jodie whittaker and mandip gill have made one of my favourite tardis teams, and sacha dhawan has cemented his place as my favourite master. and despite most of my actual predictions for this ep being wrong, i was right about this: it was chaotic, it was heartbreaking, and it was wonderful.

[angelwiththeblue-box]

my thoughts on shang chi

obviously spoilers under the cut

- ten rings but they're actually bracelets

-i despise the romantic tension between the mother and the father in the first fight scene

- jiang li is so badass i love her

- when jiang li uses the rings, theyre gold, just like when shang chi uses them, so my theory is when xialing uses the rings, theyre blue, like her father

- the best misdirect is that shang chi is actually rich when in reality hes a valet

-the music in this is quality

- i want a friendship like katy and shang chi

- you fucking tell them katy

- the bus fight scene is the fucking best (actually all the fight scenes are the best)

- the MUSIC

- yas shang chi king shit right there

- the audacity that xu 'radiating bisexual energy' shang chi didnt ever do peace sign or finger guns is a travesty

- katy and shang chi are chaotic besties and i love them

- aw man the poor college students computer

- i appreciate that whenever shang chi or katy fell into each other it wasnt romantic in the slightest

- 'go you freak' katy im love you

- xialing could have stopped thanos by herself

- me, who lived in la for over half of my life: oh hey i know that!

- xialing shang chi katy chaotic trio when

- i love xialingxkaty so much

- wong is iconic and i love him

- 'now take your shirt off' dude whos name i dont remember you're iconic

- xialing marry katy challenge

- xialing could fucking murder me and i would thank her

- the paralells between xialing catching katy and shang chi catching katy is so funny bc when shang chi caught katy it was so platonic and then xialing had like five seconds of romantic eye contact with katy and they fell in love

- and THEN WHEN KATY CATCHES XIALING AND THEYRE GAY AND I LOVE THEM - these fight scenes are so good oh my god

- i fucking hate the father please die right now

- xialing uses she/they pronouns no i do not take arguments

- queens supporting queens

- *chanting* ace ring ace ring ace ring ace ring ace ring

- jiang li deserved so much better than the fucking father

- we deserved more scenes of xialing and shang chi being chaotic siblings

- fuck this bitch and his sexist fucking army i hope they die

- katy only cried out in anger when xialing was thrown in this essay i will-

- i want to live in ta lo it sounds so much cooler

- AWWWW MORRIS I LOVE YOU I WANT ONEEEEEE

- 'chicken pig' my beloved

- xialing i love you

- SHE GIVES THE KEYS TO KATY

- ta lo is so pretty

- i dont know what morris is but i know i want one

- xialing looks so sad when her aunt says welcome home because shes never felt at home until now

- xu xialing please step on me

- i love that you can find the similiarities and differences between the fighting styles in ta lo and the fighting stylves of the ten rings because the ten rings style radiates violence and pain while the ta lo style is more gentle, more calm, more on focusing your energy.

- THEY FIGHT SMARTER NOT HARDER - tiny shang chi and xialing are so cute

- the mother should have let the iron gang or whatever kill the father

- BE THERE FOR YOUR CHILDREN YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE

- can this idiot not see the winged hellspawn coming out of the mountain

- D R A G O N

- the mirror between the last fight scene between shang chi and his father and the father and the mother is so cool i love it

- xialing deserved half of the ten rings (also a girlfriend) (actually both)

- YASSS KATY FUCKING KILLING IT

- the shang chi cinematography my beloved

- yes xialing kill him

- their armor is so prettyyyyy

- (i dont remember what i wrote this about but its a quality fucking line) its called deceit you whore

- everyone in this movie is badass except for the villians, who are just asses

- katy being starstruck over carol danvers is a mood i love her

- i kinda love the way it seems like all magic is connected thats awesome

- wong shang chi and katy doing karaoke i love

- XIALING AS A VILLIAN IS SO BADASS YES QUEEN

tl:dr xialing and katy are a power couple, i love xialing, the cinematography in this movie is awesome, i want to kill the father

[itsclydebitches]

re: that ask you posted a couple days ago about the male and female representation in RWBY, part of what makes RWBY's whole 'girl power' thing ring exceptionally hollow to me is the fact that there are like... no women in positions of real power in remnant. like at all. except the big bad.

winter is second in command to james. glynda is second in command to ozpin. all of the headmasters are men (for no discernible reason, imo; why theodore and not dorothea?). the leader of the ace ops was a white man (and then winter seemed to take over clover's position instead of either of the women of color on the team, and she was still second to james). RWBY is an all girl team, but JNPR was led by a boy despite a girl arguably being far more qualified (pyrrha). the happy huntresses are all women, and robyn had no real power to speak of--she didn't even manage to win the election, because jacques rigged it, and then the council ceased to matter. there was one (1) woman on the council, but she was so inconsequential that i can't even remember her name. (i suppose we're lucky it was the guy and not her who james shot lol) jacques controls the SDC instead of willow, even though he's not even a schnee by blood and actually married into the family for power. (and we don't even know how he got it over his wife.)

and then there's the white fang, which ghira led and not kali--and it's ghira who leads menagerie itself, while kali seems to be a housewife. sienna had five minutes of screentime before being brutally killed and her position assumed by adam, a man. cordovin is basically a one off lackey we haven't even thought about before or since. neo was second to roman. you have cinder, sure, who is a second but to salem, a woman, and raven as the leader of the branwen tribe--but what does it really say about your 'girl power' narrative when the only women with genuine systemic power in your world are villains or antagonists with massive bodycounts??

atla has the same sort of problem--a couple great female characters, but all the leadership positions are men (except the kyoshi warriors, an all girls group, and even then the leader of their island is an old man) and the one female mentor figure also turns out to be evil--but it at least has some great writing to help overlook that fact, and it came out in the mid-00's and so has some sort of excuse of being a product of its time. but rwby didn't even start until 2013 and it's still going and still making these kinds of decisions well into 2021.

where is this supposed girl power, exactly? am i really supposed to overlook the very patriarchal worldbuilding just because the title characters are girls?

That's an excellent summary of the situation, anon, and as with so much in RWBY, it comes down to the full context. Any one of these examples isn't necessarily going to mean much on its own. It's when you look at the pattern that you can start making a case for those conclusions: Why is the show marketed on "girl power" set in a world where men hold the vast majority of that power? And, more importantly, why is that setup not the point? We could easily have a story where that lopsided gender dynamic is the problem that the girls are looking to fix, but... that story doesn't exist. Like the problems discussed with Jaune, the supposed point here exists only on the surface. Dig just the tinniest bit — the above — and you hit on a lot of structural problems with this "girl power" world.

To add just a few details to what you've already said:

Salem indeed has power, but she's never allowed to fully use it. Each volume the frustration with this grows as Salem accumulates more abilities and then just sits on them. From literally hiding out for a thousand years to worries that she won't use the Staff in Volumes 9-10, Salem really isn't allowed to be the threat she's presented as on the surface. And yes, this is absolutely due in part to the "She's too OP and the writers don't know how to let her be that powerful while still having the heroes win" issue, but again, context. That problem doesn't exclude others occurring simultaneously.

Same double explanation with Summer. Yes, dead moms are an incredibly common trauma to dump on a protagonist, but it still left Yang and Ruby with Tai as their primary influence. And Qrow. The uncle becomes the extended family influence while Raven is the absent one/eventual antagonist. It's personal power as opposed to political power, but Tai, Qrow, Ozpin, formerly James... most of the mentors are men. Maria, a key exception, has been ignored in that regard. The story announced that she was Qrow's inspiration, setup her being Ruby's new mentor, and then... nothing. Nothing has come of that. She disappeared for a volume and then went off to Amity and was literally forgotten by the story when evacuating everyone was the finale's whole point.

Like that Endgame moment I mentioned, the Happy Huntresses feel a little too forced to me. Yes, it's the same basic idea as in ATLA, but ATLA, as you say, has a lot more going for it. The Happy Huntresses feel... on the nose? Idk exactly how to explain it. Like, "Here they are! Another team of all women! Isn't this how progressive storytelling works? Just ignore how this is a one-off team of minor characters compared to the world building issues discussed above." And if you're not paying attention, you miss just how insignificant they are, with a side of Robyn being, well, Robyn. The Kyoshi Warriors, at least, are based off of Kyoshi. A woman avatar who is a significant part of their history. That is, presumably, why they're an all women warrior group (but who notably still teach Sokka). The Happy Huntresses are all huntresses because...? There's no reason except that meta "We want to look progressive" explanation. Just like having all the women superheroes team up for a hot second so people get excited and ignore the representation problems across, what? 21 films? Don't get me wrong, I love that May is among the Happy Huntresses. I think including her in the explicitly all-women group was one of the better things RWBY has done in a long time, but the rest is still a mess.

RWBY is arguably about these smaller groups as opposed to systematic power (despite the writers trying to work that in with things like the White Fang and the election. Not to mention the implication that everything in Atlas is fine now that evil Ironwood has died and taken the symbol of wealth (the city) with him. We saw a human holding hands with a faunus after all. Racism and corruption solved, I guess.) So yes, our group is dominated by women... but Whitley is the one saving Nora, helping to defeat the Hound (plus Willow), thinking of the airships, and providing the blueprints they need to escape. Salem is our Big Bad, except Ironwood is the one the volume focuses on. Ruby is our leader, but Jaune is the one leading the group into the whale and getting praised for how heroic he is. Ren does more to shake things up, even if he's painted as the one in the wrong. Oscar gets to confront Salem and destroys the whale threat. Ozpin provides the information they need to evacuate. Meanwhile, when the girls do things in Volume 8 it's almost always followed by a long-stint of passiveness. Nora opens the door so she can be unconscious for most of the volume. Penny keeps Amity up so she can also be unconscious for a good chunk of time. Ruby sends her message and then sits in a mansion. Blake fights so she can tearfully beg Ruby to save her. Weiss, as said, takes a backseat to Whitley (and Klein). They forward the plot, absolutely, but comparatively it doesn't feel like enough.

It's that pattern then, no one specific example. More and more the personal power, not just the systematic power already built into Remnant, seems to be coming from the men. Not all the time, but enough that scenes like the tea drinking moment feel like a part of a much larger problem. Pietro taking control, Watts hacking, and Ambrosius literally remaking her when Penny is supposed to already be in control of herself and her fate. Winter being presented as the active mentor to Weiss, only to turn around and claim that Ironwood was actually responsible for everything. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and May straight up commenting on how awful things are out there while Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Oscar lead the charge against Salem — with the latter three doing the most to forward that mission (no fear, semblance, cane). As others have only half-joked, Yang's supposedly badass moment was bringing up a mother she's ignored for six volumes and briefly blowing up the immortal woman for a couple of seconds (with Ironwood's bombs). Even Marrow is arguably the most significant Ace Op after Clover. Vine isn't actually a character, Elm slightly less so, Harriet is there to go crazy and try to drop a bomb (notably before admitting to never-before-existed feelings for Clover), but Marrow? He's the one who breaks out. Who is meant to heroically stand up against Ironwood. Who comments on how awful it is that teenagers are fighting and, regardless of how messed up the moral messages are, is supposedly pushing for active change while all the women in his group, including Winter, insist on maintaining the status quo. Look at all these choices as a whole, it makes throwaway worldbuilding choices like "All the Maidens are women" feel pretty hollow. Why does it matter if Amber is a Maiden if she dies in a flashback so Ozpin can struggle to pass on the power? If Pyrrha dies before becoming one so Jaune can angst about it? If Raven is one and then disappears from the story entirely? If Winter has enough power to break Ironwood's aura, but supposedly had no power throughout every other choice she made getting here? If Penny is one, but is continually controlled by men and then asks another man to help her die? It's just really unconvincing, once you look past the surface excitement of a woman looking cool with magic powers.

When you do consider the whole of the story — both in terms of our world building and who is forwarding the plot in the latter volumes, getting the emotional focus, being proactive, etc. — there are a lot of problems that undermine the presumed message RT wants to write. They say, "girl power" by marketing RWBY with these four women, but too many of the storytelling decisions thoroughly undermine that, revealing what's likely a deeply ingrained, subconscious bias.