#then at some point i was trying to connect the dots with someone about characters that were an origin point for me

[skeletalheartattack]

Using anonymous because interaction scary but I want you to know when I saw Zarbon while playing Sparking Zero I thought of your blog.. its neat how one very dedicated person on the internet can change your mind on a character

*dialing my rotary phone to call the press* the hyperfixations are working. inform every body immediately!!

[thekeeperof-thefandoms]

Hazbin Hotel characters react to your stims

(I'm doing my personal favorite characters, so if there are others you wanna see, ask me. They may also be slightly OOC.)

Vox

You can't convince me this man doesn't also have ADHD. He's just spent decades masking it, as well as most of himself, to present a perfect image. Probably heard the term as it got more well known but didn't really connect the dots until meeting you.

He fidgets a lot, tapping his claws, bouncing his legs, can't sit in a fucking chair properly.

Doesn't realize he's overstimulated and burnt out from multi tasking dozens of screens until you point it out.

Once he's aware of it you help him manage his work better so he can be less stimulated and tense. You buy him proper fidget toys to mess with and he makes himself some top of the line bass boosted sound canceling headphones. He gives you a pair, too. When you're both alone, you look up songs with loaded bass in 8d just to watch each other twitch and involuntarily move your head with the sound.

That's about the extent of the conscious level of unmasking he'll do though. He gets self conscious.

But, he adores the fact you're comfortable enough to stim around him. Or in public. He can and will violently end people for even giving you dirty looks for stimming in public.

If you show excitement and joy over being around someone through happy noms he will literally get heart eyes. Just be careful where you bite him because it may lead to something else.

He's happy to let you stim, which means tricking him into doing it more.

He remembers and sub consciously absorbs your echolalias or any word replacements you use. If you do a lot of call and response vocals he learns them. (Call and response is basically when you memorize a sound with two people. One calls the other responds. You can just say both parts yourself ((I do)) but it's more satisfying with someone else).

If you do happy flappies this man will short circuit. (He will laugh if you accidentally smack yourself though).

If you squeal and kick you may give him a heart attack. He thought you were hurt or something. He gets used to it eventually but it still startles him.

Vox is also a chatter box so you two can info dump about special interests to each other for hours. Neither one of you expects the other to remember details, but the fact you don't tell each other to shut up and are content to do your own thing while listening to your partner/friend gush is enough.

He has long since forced himself into strict routines so if you struggle to get tasks started or get distracted in the middle of them he's understanding but stern. Tends to cause more harm than good because he talks down to you unintentionally.

If you're a visual/hands on learner he also gets frustrated with you for wasting hours trying to figure it out yourself and getting yourself upset instead of just letting him do it for you. You get into a lot of fights about it at first. He gets better when he sees it genuinely prevents you from enjoying things or trying new things and that you just kinda default to defeated and helpless. He didn't mean to make you feel dumb, he just doesn't understand why you wouldn't want help. Until the tables turn and as he's getting worked up over something he can't figure out and you just stare at him.

He finally snaps at you what the hell you're doing and you smirk "need help? Why don't I just do it for you and you watch? Come on, you've been struggling for an hour, stop being so stubborn and just let me do it. I'll show you later, it's not hard." You feed his own lines back at him and his stomach drops.

"Oh....that feels...mmmm. Nope! Don't like that. Ok. Won't happen again, doll."

Realistically if you work with him and you make mouth noises a lot (bird whistles, tongue clicks, humming, random shrieks) he will get annoyed. It's distracting him and sometimes you don't realize you're doing it and mess up anything he tries to record. The first few times he snaps at you and it causes problems (hello rejection sensitive dysphoria) but eventually he learns how to better talk to you/communicate without accidentally convincing you he hates you.

Alastor

Probably on the spectrum himself, but it also could just be his anti-social habits. Either way he finds you entertaining and your bouts of sporadic energy and gremlin like behavior don't phase him. He's been dealing with Niffty for years.

If you sing or hum a lot to get work done, or listen to music he's all for it. But if you're the type of ADHD where work fast music=horny and bass he'll insist you wear headphones. If you're content to listen to swing (he'll compromise with electroswing) or jazz, he'll play the radio for you.

He doesn’t even care if you're a good singer or not, he just likes seeing you get into it. Will show off by singing it better than you though.

If you're someone who picks your fingers or skin, he'll slap your hands. You bleeding is making him hungry and distracting him. He'll find you something else to do with your hands. Same with nail biting.

He tends to pull his hair when stressed so if you stim with your hair he gets it and unless it's harmful (eating/pulling) he'll leave it, but if you're like him he's either cutting your hair short or braiding it.

Will die before admitting it but thinks you flapping, hopping, clapping, squealing is the most adorable thing ever. Also, laughs at you if you smack yourself, though.

Doesn't understand your memes so half your echolalia go over his head and he just kinda stares at you.

Scolds you for not sitting in the chair properly.

Smiles, nods, and occasionally says "that's nice dear" when you info dump. It's not that he doesn't care, he just can't listen to something he's not interested in for that long.

Mouth noises make his eye twitch but so long as they don't interrupt him, he won't scold you.

He understands you're not dumb but he also doesn't have the patience to help your or wait for you to get things done so he does them for you and tells you stop pouting when you get upset with him.

He likes you enough to not reject your touch and enjoys being in your space, but please refrain from happy biting the cannibal. He will bite back and it's less cute when he does.

Lucifer

The original AUDHD. You two chatter for hours about special interests.

He makes you stim toys.

You two do the adhd laugh so hard over dumb shit you gotta hold onto and smack each other thing. You both wind up on the floor.

Literally would never talk down to you or trigger your RSD. He's spent centuries feeling like he's constantly annoying, dumb, and struggling to time manage and do tasks.

Is equally fed up with people offering to do things for him because he can do it he just needs help getting started. The more you ask if he wants you to do it or when he's gonna do it the harder it is. So you two just sorta hobble together a system for getting shit done.

It's not perfect but if it gets outta hand he can just snap his fingers and fix it.

He happy flaps with his hands and wings and constantly knocks you or other shit over. It embarrasses him but you're in love. You two sometimes hold hands to do the happy bounce squeal, shaking each other.

He initiates happy bites more than you do. Honestly you both start looking like chew toys.

You two echolali all the time and share new ones you find. If you ever can't find each other, just shout one of your current vocal stims and he'll respond.

Literally, the definition of choas couple.

[olderthannetfic]

I accidentally killed my own desire to write, and I need some advice. To be really blunt about it, what's the point of writing? When I would spend lots of time laboring over making a good story with a plot and characters who were in-character and connecting all the dots narratively so payoffs were satisfying, my reward was dead silence and virtually no clicks. I posted some mindless smut to my side account one day and got more hits in a day than most of my other works combined got in a year. I know, I know. "Write for ~*~yourself~*~" is the common response. It's the "be yourself!" of writing. It's supposed to be a magical phrase that'll make everything okay. But... I don't like knowing that something I spend months working on won't be read by anyone while something I write in a car while bored got thousands of clicks. I don't like making something I'm proud of and then no one ever looks at it. That's not fun for me. It's not fulfilling.

For a solid decade, I've tried to ignore how the level of interactivity in fandom is falling. Fewer comments. Fewer kudos. No comments in the bookmarks. You put your tumblr and Discord in the AN and get a handful of asks and one person who adds you, talks to you twice and then ghosts you. Most of the comments are "well, actuallys", made even more annoying by them being wrong as opposed to actually correcting an error. I avoid fandom drama, wank, and infighting. I don't engage with things I know will make me unhappy. I try to be happy over in my own little corner. I comment on every single work I read. I want people to enjoy fandom. I used to.

Some dumb smut I wrote in 40 minutes gets five times the hits of the writing I'm most proud of, and it gets it in just under three months. I am not a great smut writer. I haven't stumbled onto an incredible talent I had that makes it so the issue is that I'm so amazing my smut brings all the boys to the yard. People just don't like what I write and put effort into. It's very likely that despite 20 years of writing fic, I suck at writing. And people enjoy my writing most when they don't have to put up with anything substantial and can just skip to the sex.

So for the last eight months, when I write, I just sort of give up. Close the Word doc without saving. No one will read this. No one cares about this. There is no fan eagerly awaiting every update like I await updates from my favorite authors. There's not even someone saying, "update soon!" Close the Word doc. Delete old WIPs. There's no point. I do not tell stories worth reading. I used to. In the FFN days people genuinely enjoyed my work. I'd never have had an opportunity to do the 'I won't update until I get 3 reviews' thing because getting that many on a chapter was usually something I'd do overnight. Post before bed. Wake up. Read the reviews before school. I peaked in high school, I guess.

And now I'm just sort of lost. I still have lots of ideas. Ideas for fics fall into my head all the time. That's never been a problem. What I don't have is any motivation to write them. What's the point of writing? If no one else is reading, I guess the point would be so I could go back and read my own story and have fun with it. Write for myself. But I can review the story and have fun with it in my head without writing it down. It's substantially faster and more importantly, isn't incredibly depressing.

So, at the risk of definitely being calld the second-coming of True Art Anon or a troll or validation-seeking or haha mentally ill haha... what's the point of writing?

--

Okay, so write porn in a car while you're bored.

Look, you can whine all you want about my response, but what you've written here is blatantly about depression.

Lots of people in fandom are still interacting. And no, it isn't just on fics that are objectively written to some pro fiction standard or whatever. Teenagers still breathlessly review poorly spelled cracky masterpieces about this year's big anime and so forth.

Yes, there may be reasons why you in particular are in a slump when it comes to fandom friendships or "plz update" comments. We can talk about that. But this ask is all gloom about fandom in general. That's not realism: that's you having a problem.

--

As for why a person should write: because the actual hours you spend doing the writing are fun.

If they aren't pleasurable in some way, find another hobby.

--

But if you want an answer to the age old "Why did my 5 minute fic get 1000000x more asspats", I've seen meta about this for literally decades.

The most likely reason is that the fic we write quickly and without much thought often feels fresher and more fun. The things we labor over endlessly can feel overworked. Even in cases where they don't, they're often heavier subject matter or more niche subject matter. On top of all that, we just care more, so even a high level of feedback doesn't really feel like enough for the effort and care we put in.

--

Do you really need me to tell you why you don't feel the same as in high school when things were fresh and new?

Go read up on combatting burnout or dealing with post-college anxiety or managing stress in a dead-end job in your 30s or finding meaning in your 40s or whatever is going on.

Everyone goes through fallow periods in fandom and in life.

Feeling reinvigorated has to do with internal factors and some general life circumstance stuff. It doesn't have that much to do with number of kudos. That's just the surface trigger for a mood that was already there.

[niennawept]

I want to combine my two favorite unhinged fan theory factories into one:

Gil-galad is Adar's son

Okay, now that I have your attention, let's go on a journey that starts with two things:

Thing the first: I really love people's unhinged theories that Adar is a canon character. I don't think he is; I think he's just some guy that Rings of Power made up but it amuses me to no end when people come up with convoluted theories to make him a guy from canon.

Thing the second: The Silmarillion fandom has a long-standing in-joke about who Gil-galad's father really is. Christopher Tolkien told us that it was Fingon in the Silmarillion and later regretted it, because there was so much confusion in his father's notes on the subject and so many different candidates. Cue all kinds of cracky theories of who Gil galad's gil-gal-dad is. I would like to submit mine.

How does this theory work?

Well it's quite simple actually. Adar and some elven thrall lady hit it off in Angband and have a kid together kinda by accident through weird Angband-based magic. That is a problem because now she's got this like elf-looking baby that has black blood and also Angband is no place for an elf-looking baby. This could get them both into extremely capital 'b' - Bad - trouble.

So, Adar takes that baby and he sneaks into an elven camp and he does that old movie trope where he leaves the baby on the doorstep and then makes a noise so that that people inside the house will hear it. Only this time, it's a war tent and the person inside is Fingon.

Fingon picks up this adorable baby and the baby kind of looks like him and he's like well - I could adopt this baby right? So he goes back to a fort with this baby and Fingolfin takes one look at his son and takes one look at that baby and says to himself "my very gay son did probably did not produce this baby. However, it is probably the only grandchild I will get from him and he is my heir." So welcome home, son and grandson.

Is there any evidence?

Exhibit A: The GIF set that started it all. Look at the similarities! Connect the dots! And thank you, @fukutomichi, for starting off this crazy unhinged theory.

Exhibit B: During Season 2, Episode 1 "Elven Kings Under the Sky", there is a moment where the camera lingers on Adar while Gil-galad is singing his song. Now they actually probably did that because they wanted to remind the audience that Adar was formerly an elf, but this is an unhinged theory, so we're going to ignore the obvious reason they did that and assume that they're trying to connect them for some reason. Yes, that's right. They're trying to tell us that Gil-galad is Adar's son.

Exhibit C: Their their armor matches. The gorget that Gil-galad is wearing in Season 1, Episode 5 "Partings" is a perfect match to the river pattern that Adar is wearing on his armor. Coincidence? Normally, I'd say yes, but in this unhinged theory, I think not.

Exhibit D: In one version of the story, Gil-galad is his mother-name. Is that because his father-name is not elven? Is it because it's potentially uruk in origin?! And don't come at me with that Ereinion nonsense."Scion of kings?"* Sounds like someone's trying to underline a point there, eh? Almost like they're worried people won't think he's kingly enough.

Exhibit E: Gil-galad, despite ample time and opportunity, never marries or produces an heir. Why? Because he knows. He knows that if he does, some one will be close enough to learn his deep, dark secret: he has black blood and his child might too.

Are there holes in this theory? Absolutely; all the evidence is circumstantial at best. Do I care? Nope. This is for the pure, unhinged fun of it. Anyhow, if you need me I'll be headcanoning this for the rest of the run of Rings of Power until they show me Gil-galad's blood, mmmkay?

Thank you to @hellofeanor, @fishing4stars, @baddybaddyadardaddy for spitballing with me.

[moretheta]

i get the feeling there are a lot of people here who haven't read / don't remember the detailed account of the kurta massacre from kurapika's backstory in chapter zero.

Transcript: Several years prior to the 287th Hunter Exam, the Phantom Troupe approached the Kurta Clan for their valuable Scarlet Eyes and massacred all 128 villagers. It's reported that family members were made to face one another and stabbed multiple times, with their heads severed while they were still alive. Pure clan members had their eyes gouged out, while those who married into the clan had their eyes squashed and sustained more brutal wounds than the others. The adult males had the most wounds, but it's assumed that these were sustained during a struggle before they were captured. Those who were not related by blood to the clan were said to be mutilated in order to set an example. After this, the heads of those with Scarlet Eyes were all severed successively. Since the scarlet color is caused by anger and makes the eyes more valuable, it's reported that the Troupe members mutilated the children in front of their parents in order to intensify the scarlet color. Lastly, a message was left behind that read: "We'll accept anything you leave here, but don't ever take anything away from us."

This chapter is the foundation of various theories involving Sheila, the Phantom Troupe, Meteor City & The Bum Incident, the Kurta DC connection, etc. that get circulated but IMO are still not widely understood. But I'm not here to try and prove the PT didn't really do it, or that they were manipulated by Sheila or transmasc Pariston or Tserriednich or whoever- or that the Kurta secretly deserved it (ew. stop with that). I just think it's necessary to understand the immense weight of the Phantom Troupe's crimes before we can talk about any form of redemption. I personally find the troupe to be an interesting and sympathetic group of characters (some more than others... I love you forever Paku), but that doesn't mean i can outright say they were innocent or redeemable.

And I think if you are looking to prove the dots aren't lining up, it's better to point out how the brutality & mechanics of the killings mimics that of Sarasa's (see chapter 395), and what that says about the original members willingness to partake in them- rather than relying on the "but they seem nice!" defense. Because again, even if someone like Tserriednich paid them off or manipulated them or whatever- those were very intentional killings. that was a very meticulous fucking massacre. (So yeah, it's understandable why Kurapika was so fucking pissed when Uvogin said he didn't remember the Kurta at all, when he presumably spent hours torturing kids in front of their parents so that the boss could get the prettiest eyeballs possible.)

and i'm really truly not here to dunk on anyone who likes the bad guys etc (i once more profess my love for Pakunoda), it's just important to get the full scope of things. if you're going to support Spider Rights, you might as well know about Spider Wrongs.

[layraket]

Day 2 - Trust Issues

Character(s): Warriors (LU)

Words: 862

Summary: Even if Wild is a great cook, some habits can’t go away so easily

Whump scale: 1 (see the full scale here)

Part 2 is in Day 23

-

During the war there wasn’t space to form relationships and make friends. It doesn’t mean that the Captain didn’t really had some, at all! It’s just that it wasn’t the main focus.

He talked with the soldiers when needed, to give orders or make sure that they didn’t lose a lot of them. If he was distant at the start, it went worse by time passed.

A group of soldiers were with the enemy, betraying them in the middle of a mission and bringing a lot of problems. They lost a big part of their army that day.

Since then, he distrusts almost anyone that dares to come across his path. The only people that he felt like were worth of trusting completely were the princess, Impa and these two kids that came to aid them during the war.

Attempts to try food poisoning him started to be frequent, even after the end of the War of Eras. There were still people out there that wanted him dead.

When he joined the Chain at first he played safe, not giving them almost any information about who he is in case they were a bunch of assassins trying to trick him. After a while he came to a conclusion: No assassin would be as stupid and self-sacrificing as them. He loved them as brothers, but sometimes he wonders if the Zeldas would share some of their wisdom to keep them alive.

Something that almost all of them share is that cooking is not something that the goddesses bothered to gift them with. Wild is the only one who seems to know what is he doing. Until they found him they were eating his cans of military food and some dry meat. When they tasted the champion’s cooking nobody wanted to eat anything from him or anybody else.

“Today’s dinner will be some stew” Wild had said when they stablished camp, already taking out of his sheikah thing the ingredients and a pot.

He never had problems with eating anything cooked by the champion, in fact he was glad that he made food for them. It’s just, some old habits don’t go away too easily.

“Hey Wolfie, can you smell this really quick?” He put the bowl closer to the wolf’s nose, this one taking a sniff and giving a friendly bark “Alright, thanks buddy” With that he started eating.

Giving some of his food to someone and see their reaction, letting Wolfie take a bite or smelling it, just waiting for the rest of them to eat their part and if they don’t get sick he can safely eat his own food.

It was wrong to distrust Wild, he knows that, the kid couldn’t do any harm to any of them even if he wanted to. But putting his guard down will mean his and his brothers safety in danger.

Tonight’s stew didn’t look different from the one two days ago, some pieces of steak with potato and peppers, nothing new. He was about to ask someone how it tasted, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“You shouldn’t be this stressed, Captain” Time–his not so little brother anymore– commented with that calm expression, he knew that behind that mask there was an energetic and chaotic kid who just wanted to have some fun whenever he could “We aren’t in the war anymore, nobody will do damage here or try to poison you”

He thought that nobody noticed his concerns, but obviously the man that he raised at some point was the only one who connected the dots.

“I’unno… I just want to make sure” He consider them all his brothers, but aside from Wind and the old man, there was nobody that he could blindly trust.

And that’s the thing, he trusts Time.

“I know, but it’ll make you good not to worry at least one time, I assure you that you’re safe” Time always searched to comfort him even during the war, little Mask slipping some sort of snack that he stole to Wars’ tent when he was upset always made him feel so much better.

Warriors hummed “You might be right…” He brought the spoon to his mouth and took a sip. It tasted the same as always.

Time kept that smile in his face, never moving his eye from him. That was a, huh, little creepy.

“How’s it?” He asked, always keeping his good eye fixate on him, taking in count all his movement.

“’s good” His mouth felt a little more rigid than usual, that was weird. He took another sip of the stew.

That’s when the world started to feel weird.

“Already tired? It’s been barely 5 minutes” That was Wild’s voice, there was nothing that made it sound different.

“I thought he would last longer, guess the O Hero of Hyrule didn’t manage well some poison” Legend. What was he talking about?

“Wait, what’s wrong with the Captain? Guys?”

Oh.

Time’s voice came again, but everything was blurry already “Just letting you know, I didn’t lie about the safe part. This is so much better than the other option”

Warriors was blinded by darkness. 

[oscconfessions]

the most frustrating part about Taco talk atm is not just that a ton of people are in a black or white mindset (even if they don’t realize it) but that they are not referencing outside of her, acknowledging a theme that some have recognized but haven’t like? connected the dots? between them? i guess? It’s the theme of how the mindset in realty shows show off the worst in people and ruins relationships. but if taco was the only instance of trying to work against that that would be pretty poor fucking theme.

why haven’t we mentioned Marshmallow recently? she literally left ii of her own volition because she noticed that very thing. and maybe not someone who connected it to the game itself, but Soap had a good point as well. She also noticed these themes happening in her team, and although she didn’t relate them to the game, it’s still important. and this is not mentioning the times we can see this theme unspoken, often with those who go along with it rather than against.

but Soap didn’t have the ability to do anything about it except her words. Marshmallow, nothing against her, really, but she just left without a word. Taco knows she’s antagonistic. Taco knows she can have leverage over people. Taco uses this semblance of power she believes she has to prove the very same point proactively. It is muddled up because of her antagonistic nature, yes, but it is the same. i’m sorry(/s) if she hurt your favorite characters feelings, or just your feeling alone. that’s not the point. her point was to show how the game changed them. she literally said so. how good you think she did- well that’s up to you- but Lightbulb did leave actively. in an environment where she felt uncomfortable and pressured and was TOLD that she can “win for her team!” despite how she feels, despite where she is mentally. in the beginning of tacos questioning you can literally take away: LB felt she had to win for her friends (as seen with PB, or she’d be a disappointment) but she felt she couldn’t do that. Tacos words rang true to Lightbulb.

Taco is antagonistic, yes. she knows and exemplifies that. Taco also partook in the theming, of ruining friendships and being a worse version of yourself, yes. she acknowledges that, she knows that. that may as well make her better for the part. as much as i’d like to address things unrelated/less related to theming on how i feel people are simplifying or straight up lying about Taco, i’ve easily gone on long enough. and frankly, i probably wont later. i am very tired of all of this ALREADY and it’s only been five days as of writing this. i guess the tldr is that taco and ii itself is morally grey, who knew?/s thank you for coming to my ted talk. -💥

.

[66sharkteeth]

Weekly thoughts, ep 177-

And do I have thoughts this week! As well as things to point out.

I was pretty excited about this episode and it's kind of something I've been building up to for a while. I've talked in the past about Claude's development being some of my favorite in the series, and this ep is kind of what these past few eps have been building up to. I know the last few eps haven't been the most thrilling- Which is normal, to have some calm eps after a huge events, and I have been sprinkling important scenes in there (I mean, Rex got The Memory™), but another big thing drawing these past few eps out were getting Claude to this moment. I think in the original outline, this scene actually came a lot sooner, and it just felt...far too sudden to me. It needed those scenes we've seen the past few eps of Jericho confiding in Claude and him realizing Jericho is too far gone.

Which honestly, I think is kind of sad in a way nobody's really pointed out- Jericho revealing all his plans to Claude because he's the one person he thinks he can trust, and then Claude going behind his back with the information. But like Claude said in the episode, he does this all with the best intention for Jericho- He realizes he's gone too far now and he's trying to put out the fire Jericho set before the bridge is entirely burned.

Now as for his actual plan and if he'll get away with it... Haha, well, I even said last week these panels were important information that I knew people were gonna gloss over and sure enough...

Maybe it would have been more obvious if I put him in...literally pants lol. but yeah, dude was under a blanket the whole episode and it wasn't because he was cold:

That said, I do think the majority connected all the dots, but there were definitely a few people who didn't quite catch onto Claude's plan.

Now I DO think a more valid question is if Jericho could feel what Claude was writing. Which honestly, I just... Didn't really even think about until people started asking, but...

Maybe he just wrote on his human leg

I actually don't think the blank space can feel anything? I mean, we saw Jericho getting ripped and torn apart by scientists and he talks about how it didn't actually hurt.

After people pointed it out, I got curious and tried to write the note on my own leg and... honestly I dont think I would have ever known what someone was writing. I think I would have just thought it was a grocery list. So I think even if Jericho COULD feel it...he still wouldn't assume it was anything but a list of medicine and maybe some other things he needed.

That said... I think everyone is very valid to see a giant death flag over Claude now LOL. You'll just have to keep reading in regards to that.

Hm... I feel like I'm forgetting something. I think the only last thing I had some thoughts on were the small percent of people who still hate Claude and don't see this as any kind of redemption. To which... damn, yall are harsh LOL, but okay. I do kind of think those people are missing...a lot... in regards to Claude's development and his struggles but... w/e he's a fictional character and the enabler of the guy who has killed two protagonists now, so I get it more than like... Lyss. Who just made made wrong choices with the best intentions.

[kero-cure]

I'm sorry for posting about them so many times now. But please let me yapping about Tiremeter some more

But think again, I didn't post anything about them since earlier so I have so many things to say... sorry not sorry anyway lmao

Well, After the big bomb of EP 37 dropped, Everyone in the nation lost their mind for sure. What we saw changed our perspective about them a lot. Make shippers like us connect the dots that we saw in every episode so far. And make non-shippers look back to the sign that they already gave but they didn’t notice. I have many thoughts about them and I’d like to share them with you guys here. Brace yourself well because this will be a long ass thesis about them. And this broke a record of being the longest af post I’d ever written here. So grab your drink or some snack, And let’s go.

DON'T YOU DARE IMITATE MY MAN

One thing that I realized after watching EP 37 again is, Taiya looks visibly mad. His voice and his gaze are so cold and has zero hesitation to fight. You guys knew that he had a cold gaze since the very first time he saw the imposter, But his voice was already cold when he said "Can you handle that?" too. And when he said "Let's just end it. You talked too much" It reminded me of EP 34 when he said "Just shut up already". It's the same level of coldness. Coldness that mixing with anger.

Why was he mad to that level? Who he fought was just a creation from monster of the week. Not a big villain who did such unforgivable things to the level like what we saw on EP 34. So, as a mushy brain shipper like me, what I think is maybe he was like "How dare you imitate him and try to fool me with that? I know him much more than you estimated and our bonds are stronger than you thought. Seeing you wearing the appearance of him makes me sick. I feel like we both were insulted by you. Moreover, you tried to make us believe that he's betrayal. So prepare to die because I won't hesitate!"

In lots of anime or movies, when it has "an imposter who imitates another character" episode, The character usually has a struggle to fight back or finish it off because even though they know that it's just an imposter who imitates someone they know. It still has the same appearance of that person. So it's pretty hard to finish it off. But Taiya has no doubt to fight or finish it with his hand at all. Because he knows so damn well that the person in front of him isn't the real Ishiro, the person who he knows to the core. Nobody can replicate him and the dynamics between them. So why should he hesitate, right?

A little thing that JP fellas pointed out is when the counter program activates, They can feel the vibe of “HA! Eat that. My man’s so smart he put an excellent program into our system. You’d never stand a chance. He’s such an amazing guy like this.” from Taiya. And when he said “I believe in him!” I kinda saw him smile. (maybe just me being delulu) So I think that He’s so proud of Ishiro and surely glad to be able to trust each other with all of their hearts.

HE’S GONNA BE OKAY

As I said before in a previous post about they trust each other at an extremely high level. They don’t worry about each other whatever trouble happens because they know so well that each other will come through all of that and will be able to meet each other again. They don’t need to wait for each other to come for help because they know how strong each other are. And because they both think like that, This makes me think back to the last scene of EP 8. This scene is one of my favorite moments that I have to look back on many times. Because only a brief 10 seconds told us many things.

Ishiro always thought that whatever happens with Taiya, He’ll be alright and able to come through it for sure. So seeing Taiya fainted towards his eyes is something that he'd never imagined because he was so sure that it'll never happen. Ishiro literally froze from shock for a brief moment because his brain couldn’t progress what was happening before his eyes. And when reality hit, he lost his calmness, yelling Taiya's name with such a painful voice. He was so desperate and couldn't accept the truth that the man who he trusted more than anyone and strongly believed that he'll be okay whatever bad thing happened, was heavily injured and fainted in front of him.

And this has a development afterwards. After Ishiro had this experience and learned that the enemies keep stronger, I think he developed a thought that "Okay, Something like this might happen again." And now he is able to keep calm and fight back. I was really impressed by what he did in EP 24. "Oh no! Taiya was down. Who did this? Okay, you. You messed with my man, I won’t let you get away!" That was such a cool move my boy! Protect you man!

"They have an absolute trust for each other", This fact is still the same and will never change. But if by any chance something really bad happens, This will turn into a power to fight back and rush to each other's place. Another good example is this scene in EP 30.

And when I reached this thought, One scene of EP 3 came to my head. The scene where Taiya receives a call from Ishiro and the conversation (that we heard) is only calling the name and only one question. Taiya realized that something wrong happened and he immediately went to where Ishiro was. Yeah, Even though in the next scene it wasn't actually a harmful situation, Just a monster of the week rampage in the city. But if one of them really needs help, They will definitely go where they are.

Well, “If it’s a really dangerous situation” I say. For funny stuff like this, if I'm Taiya I’ll just watch Ishiro’s reaction and think “Ah, he's so cute” lmao.

Oh, Little add-on. Even though the fact that "They don’t need to be overprotective for each other” is real, We usually see Ishiro stepping in front of Taiya to protect him from the monster’s silly attack many times. Yeah, I think he knows that Taiya could dodge that easily or even if by any chance he got hit, He’ll be able to do something to get away with it. But Ishiro chose to become a shield anyway. (Even though Mira already yelled at him in EP 14 lol) I think this may come from a mindset like “Noooo! I don’t wanna see my man in that pathetic way! I’d rather be the one who gets attacked and does miserable things! You have to be the one who’s still safe and come help us later!” lmao

TO WHERE THE LIGHT SHINE

One of my local friend (who’s the one who made me fall into this rabbit hole) is good to blend into CN nation fellas. (Like me who’s blending into JP nation fellas. We share the information from both sides.) She told me that CN fellas pointed out the lighting in this scene. This scene, Ishiro has some last conversation with an ex-coworker who is a spy. The place of this scene is in the dark warehouse. And then he walk out to where the light shine. This is completely fit to the lyrics part that I posted before here. He was born and living as a spy that doesn't have any praise or honor. Just do the duty that others give him. No dreams, Nowhere that he can rest, Nothing to believe outside of himself. Until one day he found the "light" that he can rely on and fully trust. Even though he's still working as a spy, Now he doesn't need to only live in the cold darkness anymore. And he's clearly happy to be living in a warmer and brighter place.

"That's why it's worth running together (with him)"

IT WAS REVERSE

About the double transformation scene. I’ll not talk about how they clashed their changers and facing the same way because this tweets of another comrade already talked about this. So I’m gonna talk about how they hold their changers in this scene.

This is how they usually hold their changers.

And this is how they hold in EP 37

See? It was the reverse of how they hold! They hold their changers in each other’s usual way instead. My friends point it out and it’s such nice details. 

Talk about the reverse. I think back to EP 25 when BoonBoomgers have a firework festival party at the rooftop. I realized that while Ishiro was enjoying red apple candy, I saw Taiya holding a bottle of ramune (lemon-lime flavored soda). Interestingly, the ramune bottle color is usually blue. It was just a short scene but I was able to catch this. Seeing that sometimes they do something that is likely to be each other’s things makes my heart flutter.

On a side note, Recently on Instagram, Yuki Hayama (Ishiro's actor) did a drawing competition with Haruhi Iuchi (Taiya's actor) and that was funny. Then I realized that they used each other's character's color to draw. (Yuki used red pen and Haruhi used blue pen) Aww...

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

When the news about manga adaptation was out. I always wonder why they chose the word "Your Eyes Only" as how to read kanji 秘密 (secret) specifically for title name. For the spy-theme media, I usually see words like "top secret" or "confidential" much more frequently. So mushy-brain shippers like me feel that the word "Your eyes only" has another hidden meaning. Thanks to JP nation fellas, They pointed out the film "For Your Eyes Only" from the 007 franchise. The last scene of this movie had some sexy scenes and the female said "For your eyes only" to invite. This became another meaning of this word. ("Look at me. Only you can see me like this. I'm all yours" vibes) Even the theme songs "For Your Eyes Only" by Sheena Easton is a completely love song that has this way of meaning. It's have no doubt that I had a mushy brain after finding out about this.

And then EP 37 dropped. Seeing them able to understand what each other think by just looking at the eyes. THIS EVEN COMPLETELY FITS TO THE LYRICS OH MY GOD!! And what I posted here is only one part. ALL OF THE LYRICS FROM THE ENTIRE SONG ARE SO THEM!!!

You really know me, that's all I need to know Maybe I'm an open book Because I know you're mine But you won't need to read between the lines

Talk about "knowing each other well", Let's go back to EP 26. The return of (not actually) honest toilet monster. The story of this episode was 90% recap episode but still managed to have some interesting things for me to point out. Because of the experience (Or could I say trauma lol) Ishiro had with the toilet monster, He really thinks that the toilet water will make him speak the truth that he doesn't wanna say it out loud in front of anyone. And when he gets hit by the water, According to the production blog…

He got splashed with water and thought, "This is an enemy attack. Well, Let's just say what I really think!" And he went on worrying & praising Taiya mode.

I can clearly hear that the voice that Ishiro used that time was different from usual. It has more tension in that voice. That is so obvious. But Taiya said that it was “You as usual”, So that time I had a question. This is obviously the voice that I never heard but for Taiya this is usual? That’s mean you guys have another side that only you guys know? And as the story went on after this episode, We saw that they usually have a secret that only they knew. (EP 34)

And then EP 37 was out. Seeing them having heart to heart communication like that answers my question. It wasn’t about the voice Ishiro used that time. But it was about how Ishiro is always caring and admiring Taiya, is “an usual thing”. Even though they don’t speak out loud, But just look at each other's eyes, They will know how each other thinks. The trust and love they have for each other are sensible by just the gaze. And only they could understand those. They’re an open book only for each other. This’s the secret of them, Truly “For your eyes only”.

Ps. But I still wonder why Ishiro tried so hard to make sure that Taiya won’t get hit by the water. Did he worry that the secret that only they know will be exposed? The secret like… They’re secretly in a relationship for real lmao

OUR PERSPECTIVE WAS CHANGED

Actually, Tiremeter caught my attention since EP 1 because of the word “love” in production blog, Then “Your words “fall in love” is so unfair” in EP 2, Then “I believe in what you see” “I know” in EP 3, And when I let my guard down they came back with “Don’t leave me behind this time” in EP 9. They did such a good job to lure me to the rabbit hole. And thanks to one of my local friend who drew lots of fanarts in her account to lure me too, It work lol. After I spent some time (Maybe around 2-3 months. I had another main hyperfixation back then.) learning about them weekly, I was sure that I really love them. Finding out that they have lots of my favorite ship dynamics pack in them lit my fire.

I'm blending inside JP Tiremeter nation for pretty long time now. When I enter the rabbit hole and find fanworks to read from JP fellas, It usually starts with one-sided love lore. Because in the beginning, According to how the storytelling gave us, This is how we saw the arrow point in the first place. (I used relationship diagram to make you guys understand better)

You can see that this is pretty much one-sided love lore. We only saw how heavy the love is from Ishiro because of how the production blog was written on it and how he acted in the series. But we couldn’t know how Taiya thought about him in return. (And even Haruhi didn’t know at that time. ….I’m pretty sure that someone on the actors' side talked about how they didn’t know what Taiya actually thought about Ishiro. But I’m not sure who said that. If I’m wrong please correct me. Thank you very much)

And this is after EP 29. The time that we had a new lore about how the sentence division made them misunderstood. Because EP 2 we saw this scene as Ishiro's POV, and EP 29 we saw as Taiya's POV. I talked about this in this post.

And this is after EP 37. (Ps. Play the hook part of "trust you" by Yuna Ito for maximum experience lol)

Holy moly. No more one-sided unrequited love lore based, or misunderstandings/passing each other without noticing lore based for them. THEY ARE MUTUAL! THE LOVEBIRDS! Love for each other is both big and heavy. Well well��� Only thing shippers like us can do is thinking about them having good time in the (redacted) Oh… What did I say? lmao

Ironically, Ishiro is a spy who has to be really good at keeping secrets. But about hiding the feeling of love, Taiya does it better and keeps it cooler. Well, it's the first time Ishiro had his heart shaken, stolen and fluttering, so I guess that can't be helped. lmao.

So… That was my yapping about them, The hyperfixation of 2024. Oh, That was long, long yapping. Since this post broke a record of being the longest post yet (Last time I wrote a long ass post was around November last year) So next year I have to write a much longer post? Nah… If I have an extreme level of hyperfixation or in the peak mode maybe lol. I’ll continue posting about me reading Your Eyes Only manga every week. So please check it out. See ya sometimes soon.

Ps. I’m gonna end my essay with this video. Nice reaction from fellow nation comrades. And I feel so grateful to see my otp receives so much love like this.❤️💙

[robin-hood-marks]

Connected some dots

This is 100% going to be something that's incredibly obvious to a lot of people, so bare in mind my stupidity, but I was just thinking about the book and had a little thought.

So, we all know that the novel itself is a critique of the pretentious nature of 'intellectuals'; of how most of them (us, maybe) believe themselves as of greater importance and see themselves to be separate to 'normal' people. Well, I was just thinking over Bunny's character and recently I've seen some things on here about how he really isn't this big malicious character he's made out to be by the narrative but just a college kid doing college kid things and I thought, hm, wasn't he the dumbest too?

Stay with me lol

I remember it being mentioned that Bunny was either dyslexic or something along those lines, had the others do his homework and was older than them because he was held back a few grades in his earlier years of school. Now, taking in mind the overall point of the novel, it makes sense that he's villainised because he doesn't fit with their image of what makes them special or above everyone else. Bunny is just a young guy who wants to be cool and fit the images people have of him, and is murdered because he doesn't fit their criteria of what it is to be better.

It's a reoccurring theme whilst he is actually alive that the group looks down on him for being the least intelligent, the least capable, but they themselves aren't all that brilliant at the things they claim to be. With the exception of Henry (whom I could write a whole analysis on, but I'll spare you that), the group aren't that great at Latin or Greek or any of the things they study. Firstly, everyone's favourite line "Cubitum eamus?" is just a very weird translation of what he's trying to say and, while it makes some sense, isn't technically the way one would ask that question. Plus, the way Richard is introduced to the group (when they're all working on the tenses of something, I think?), I remember seeing someone talk about how that's not really all that complicated if you're actually good at the language? Not entirely sure about that one, so forgive me. I just find it all incredibly ironic that they revile and brutally murder someone for essentially being slightly less intelligent than them, when they themselves aren't all that genius. That's not even to mention how they worship people they perceive as smarter.

In short, Bunny was just a guy who was trying to be clever and cool. He fell in with a bunch of precociously mature, self-righteous intellectuals and understandably freaked out when they ritualistically murdered a man. I might dislike him, but I'll defend him.

Anyways rambles of a madwoman over, enjoy your day!

[wayfayrr]

So this is very much a self indulgent mini-fic, venting about some stuff that I've been dealing with recently <3 I'm working on requests and some other fics but I got told to post this to get it off of my chest anyway @cloudninetonine @angry-trashcan thanks for the confidence boost to be able to post this

“Hey, you’ve been sitting over here for a while, you feeling alright?”

“Just been thinking… I was part of some drama before I was uh brought here. It’s just, it’s just messed with me a bit I guess. I’ll be fine when we need to start moving again, don’t worry wars.”

After a brief second of fabric shuffling, he sits down and leans on me. It’s an oddly comforting feeling, different too like he’s bothered by something? What could’ve set him off so badly?

“Would you mind if I asked you about it? It’s clearly bothering you so, you should get it off of your chest and well, I’d just like to help you through this.”

“If you really want to know, it’s a little complicated though and while I can make a lot of it make sense to you I’ll have to leave a couple of things out.”

“Sounds like you’re willing to get it off of your chest though, so would you care to explain it to me honeybee?”

He’s being more persistent than usual too, have I really been looking so badly bothered by my thoughts? The worry does feel nice however, it feels more like talking to an old friend than anything which is wonderful seeing as I’ve not been able to reach them recently. I’ve just been stuck rereading old messages in a new context while my phone endlessly buffers to reach impossibly far servers.

“It’s… I’d been having issues with this person for a while… they used me more than anything, kept asking me for advice and making everything about them and brushed anything I or my other friends were trying to say off and sent things they really shouldn’t to people unwarrented… and then everything else.”

“Everything else? You don’t have to cut yourself off, with how you’ve been acting the rest feels like it’ll be worse anyway.”

“They just - someone connected some dots and pointed them out to me and I just… I’ve been going back over what they said and - and - and it made me think. They told me they associated my voice with a character they always got weird over, they kept fawning over my accent and how they’ve only ever heard it in fiction before, they gave me weird compliments when I was talking about things I did as a kid and that’s not even getting me started on how they treated my friends. I just… I feel so disgusted, seeing it in this light. Every bit of my skin just itches with disgust towards myself. Sorry I didn’t mean to share so much at once - I’m just tired. They didn’t even like me, it was like they only wanted me for where I’m from.”

The way he stilled sent a shiver down me, did I say to much? He might have not meant it when he said I could share… I mean theres no way he could’ve known… or does he think I’m simply overreacting? I’m probably just overreacting anyway.

My heart started beating again when he softened and pulled me to rest on him.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that all. They’re the one who is disgusting, not you, never you. I’ll speak to time, you should just rest for the rest of the day. I can lend you my scarf and you can just have a nap or I could ask wild to make your favourite food and you can just rest.”

I didn’t get a say before he’s already draped it over my shoulders; he’s leading me back over to the others and setting me down next to sky as he goes to speak with time. 

“Hmm? Did something happen, are you feeling alright dove?”

“Ah well, wars is going to ask time if we can stop for the day because I’m just dealing with some memories. I hope it won’t bother the others.”

“I doubt it, everyone’s been tense and tired recently. I know I have, I’ve been about dying for a rest. Would you care to join me too?”

Leaning back against him is all the response he needs as my eyes flutter closed, he’s so warm and comfortable. There are few people I’d prefer to rest next to. 

><><><><><><

“So then old man, I think that’s a good enough reason to settle for the day, don’t you?”

I know he’ll agree, asking him like this is simply a formality. After all, how could we continue when a member of the group is in such a state? On the verge of tears just from thinking about someone for a little bit too long. 

“You’ve never asked this for anyone else, but fine.” “Thank you Time, I’ll pay you back for this.”

“And Wars?”

“Hmm?”

“Go take your anger out on something, it’s not a good energy in the camp. Not if they’re so fragile right now. There’s apparently a standard bokoblin camp just a little south.”

He’s seen right through me then, but now I don’t need an alibi for when I come back.

[alleycatchitchat]

Kung Fu Panda 4 Initial Reactions

Just got back from the theater! Here are my thoughts. I'll try to be vague about the plot, but be warned: spoilers below.

---

So I went into the theater with rock-bottom spirits. I had seen the cringeworthy previews, read the disheartening reviews, connected the unsatisfactory dots and concluded that the movie I was about to see would be a nasty dumpster fire of a train wreck. And yet kfp played such a big role in my childhood that I couldn't just stay away. Filled with dread and morbid curiosity, I braced myself for the worst.

And it wasn't that bad.

Don't get me wrong; this movie made some decisions that I HUGELY disagree with. And compared to the other kfp movies, it's undeniably lousy. But it didn't ruin the franchise for me and I actually enjoyed myself in the theater.

Listing off my thoughts in no particular order:

Zhen. She is, to my surprise, a lot less irritating that I expected. The trailers don't do her justice and Awkwafina's voice was a whole lot less jarring than I expected. In terms of actual personality and even backstory, I liked her! However. Let's be honest, her design is shit. She looks like someone's Zootopia self-insert. She feels totally out of place in this movie -- particularly, during the end credits when she's side-by-side with the five (who all have the most beautiful stylized designs). Also, plotwise, WHAT is she doing in this film? Spoiler alert: she becomes the new dragon warrior. Spoiler alert again: yes, this is every bit as random and undeserved as you can imagine.

Furious Five: Were not in the movie. First of all, fuck you dreamworks, how dare you withold my children? My darlings? The loves of my life? Their absence is keenly felt and the plot is emptier without them, and I mean that with complete sincerity. I’m also going to point out the obvious; if there has to be a new Dragon Warrior, and I’m not saying that’s a good plot idea, but if there has to be, it should be Tigress. It makes the most sense thematically and the possibilities are just so good – developing her relationship with Po as he provides guidance, facing her feelings of inadequacy, exploring her connections with Shifu and the rest of the five — I could go on and on. The wasted potential is breathtaking. To be honest, it kinda feels like Zhen was written to replace her(using a hug to de-escalate a fight with Po, anyone?). Fanfic writers, I need a rewrite of this movie with Tigress, stat.

TAI LUNG! He was obviously played for nostalgia and there was no concrete point to his lines or presence. He was also written, if you ask me, pretty out of character. I’m still fuming over the fact that they brought him back and we don’t get to see Shifu’s reaction at all. Again, the wasted potential is breathtaking. When compared with Kai and Shen, who have NO speaking lines, it’s obvious that dreamworks just didn’t want to pay for extra actors. I thought that his acceptance of Po as the Dragon Warrior at the end was super cool, but there was NO lead up, NO meaningful character development to make this feel sincere, and again, it would have hit much harder if Tigress or Shifu were also there or if Po was NOT giving up the title. That being said, I never thought he would appear in a movie again, and I’m happy to have any crumbs I can get. They did a bad job, yes, but they BROUGHT HIM BACK. 

Po’s dads! Their side story was goofy and unnecessary but fun, and I enjoyed it. Also maybe it’s just me but the romantic tension between them is AMPED UP – does Li, like, live at the restaurant now? And they spend the movie acting like the most married couple ever. And when Li bursts into the tavern to rescue Mr. Ping, who looks at him with those starstruck eyes – well. I’m just saying. I think there’s something going on there.

I liked the Chameleon! Yeah, her whole gimmick is a little bit ripped off from Kai, but she’s sinister and greedy and badass, so she’s the real deal. I actually thought she was scarier than previous villains – there was less comic relief, maybe? I can only think of one instance where she’s presented in a comedic light, and even then, the tension just picked right up from where it left off. Which is strange, because the rest of the movie is a lot more lighthearted than previous films.

The pacing was weird. Too fast.

Shifu was cute in this movie. More Shifu please!

The reaction to Tai Lung’s return was WEIRD. It’s obvious Dreamworks didn’t want to dedicate time or effort to what was, essentially, a red herring. But. Plot-wise, it’s SO WEIRD that Po would try to face him with no backup. And the fact that we didn’t get to see Shifu’s reaction AT ALL, ugh. Realistically speaking I think Shifu would try to go face Tai Lung, no matter how “inner peace”-y he is now. Like come on, Tai Lung was his son, for crying out loud! 

The goats at the start? Also weird designs. Feel out of place.

Mantis got married! What the heck? (neutral about this, but it was definitely unexpected.)

In general, the plot was weird. It didn’t feel meaningful and it didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the kfp universe. Storytelling decisions were just plain bad. But as a standalone movie, it was not… terrible. Not irredeemable. I think, if Tigress had taken Zhen’s place, this could have actually worked. But she didn’t, and it didn’t.

So I’m going to headcanon it as fake and just stick to loving the first 3 movies. I don’t regret watching it, but there were huge problems that prevented me from enjoying it to its full potential.

[darkvioletwonderland]

Heartsteel Headcanons { First Impressions, how they fall in love, confession }

Seems people like the headcanons I write, so here's more! I try to be as detailed as I can while also keeping my perception of the characters. I apologize if theres lack of detail, I do write these very late at night. Lmk your thoughts in the comments! Ty if you decide to read! Ps. This one is pretty lengthy so, yeah, keep that in mind.

Ezreal

When it comes to meeting new people, Ezreal is as friendly as they come. But upon meeting you for the first time, he seemed to smile a little more genuinely.

He was quick to find a way to interact with you in some form that wouldn't hinder anyone. It's hard being a rockstar after all, specially a popular and busy one like him. Befriending you was that first step.

He's open and kind, curious to a fault but otherwise respectful of you. The two of you find common ground and become great friends. It's not until a while of many fun events and activities together that he starts to fully fall for you.

There's shyness when he realizes, unsure if to bring it up at all with you was a good move to begin with. He does his best to hide it, but it's inevitable to not act sweet and romantic towars you. Always throwing throwing compliments and giving you support.

In the end, he confesses to you after you had long picked up on the compliments. Afraid but putting up a brave face if you do end up not feeling the same for him. Though his eyes do shine when hearing you feel the same. Showing his affection in the form of a sweet kiss.

Kayn

It's no secret that Kayn upon first encounter is a bit too intense for a person. Let alone with someone who's impulsive and wild like he was. Though upon meeting you, he isn't afraid to show a grin.

He tries to get on your nerves, just to see how far your wit goes. Though he doesn't expect you matching his level in the slightest. That gets you two to become close, causing mayhem to the behest of the other band members (or Yone, as the unofficial mother of the group)

Theres banter and much joy in the chaos you two find yourselves in, Kayn feels alive doing activities with you. It's not surprising when he falls for you because of it.

He doesn't say his feelings, he'd rather shrivel up and hide than say anything at all. Instead, his actions speak more than his words ever could. Leaning on you, always hovering by your shoulder and sometimes even hugging you out of nowhere.

His odd behaviour doesn't go unnoticed, and it takes some pushing in order to even get a "I like you" out of him. He tries to be brave an face you, but also stand close enough to the exit if you end up reject his feelings. He's surprised to say the least when you actually accept his feelings. And he doesn't hold back on showing you just how much you mean to him. Using bites a a sign of affection.

K'sante

K'sante is used to being a talkative person when it came to being around people, being always quite open to conversation. Having to be that interactful person for the sake of Yone most times. Though seeing you for the first time, he felt like he could give an entire TED talk.

His approach is like a host at a house warming party, wanting to get to know you and what you do for a living. Actually taking the time to meet and understand who you are. You two become quite close.

With him, theres always a story to tell or a topic to talk about. He enjoys listening and commenting on everything you wholeheartedly tell him. It takes him time to truly connect the dots that he's actually fallen for you.

His behaviour towards you doesn't change too much, but he does become more of a gentleman in a sense. Keeping a nice apperance, wearing cologne, opening the door for you among other actions.

There is a point where the two of you get into the conversation about partners and love when K'sante confesses his love for you. Keeping himself humble and reassuring you nothing will change if you don't like him back. But when you show him that you do, he becomes the luckiest man on earth. Holding you close and kissing you passionately.

Aphelios

Although being unable to talk to others, Aphelios finds ways to be entertaining for everyone in a room. Mostly playing instruments. Though when seeing you for the first time, he did look to try a little harder than usual.

With the help of Alune, he is able to communicate with you a little and actually share contact information with you. That's how he's able to get to know you and become great friends with you.

He's attentive and empathetic, always listening to everything you say or text him. Finding beauty in your mutual appreciation for eachothers interests. As well as quickly finding how hard he's fallen for you.

Of course Aphelios is extremly good at hiding his feelings. Though you do notice how quick his response time is to you, always answering seconds after you texted him. Sharing with you music he knows you'd enjoy as much as him.

When you two are together one day though, he does give you a hand written note. It's his confession. Patiently waiting for you to read it through although nervously. Unsure if you'd actually accept someone like him at all. But he does become surprised when in the same silent manner, you return the feeling writing an affirmation on the back of the paper with a smile. Aphelios' expression of joy could be louder than a thousand word. But trapped within silence, he simply shows it with a gentle kiss.

Sett

Sett thrives interacting with others and just being silly all the while. He's big man after all, having to show off in some way. But meeting you for the first time, he became even more silly.

He quick to make jokes and find something to talk about. All to befriend you and make you smile. He likes making friends and making them smile in some way.

You two find have fun in the most mundane things and enjoy working out in your own paces. Such joy of life doesn't go unnoticed by a happy guy like Sett. He falls for you and it's impossible to get you out of his head.

Unlike everyone, it's super obvious that he likes you. His face red everytime you even as smile his way. Stuttering slightly when you ask him if he's okay.

Sett ends up confessing pretty quickly after noticing. Apologizing if he accidentally made things uncomfortable. Though when you affirm that it's okay and that you feel the same, he is overjoyed. Picking you up and spinning around with you, laughing and kind of crying too at the same time. All from happiness tho.

Yone

Yone is used to keeping up a professional apperance, it's become second nature at this point. To leave a good impression for the band's sake. But when interacting with you for the first time, he did a check on the charm box.

His demeanor and way of talking got the two of you to talk for quite some time, even to the point of exchanging contact information. The frienship blossomed well

Yone wasn't much of a texter and he let that known quickly. So instead of texting, you two called eachother every now and then to share ideas and talk about life in general. Yone was at peace knowing someone like you was around, so it wasn't a full surprise to him when he noted a development in the way he saw you.

He didn't let anything show, keeping up apperances and interacting with you like normal. Though you did start to notice how he'd smile at you whenever you were together.

Sitting you down face to face, he does eventually confess his long held feelings for you. Assuring you that even if you don't reciprocate them in the same romantic way, he'd still care for you as a friend like normal. He does seem glad when you affirm them, bringing you close and expressing how much this means to him in loving whispers.

[chemicallady]

I WANNA FEEL LOVE AGAIN

Part 1

Couple: Noah Sebastian x Fem!Reader

Content Warning: none. It's gonna be a slow burn, baby! Just a couple of bad words and some references to sexual intercorse. Should I add Matt to the warming just because it's part of this?

Taglist: @ada-clarence, @badalmondzzzz, my wifey @starsomens

Summary: Reader is Matt's sister and PR for Bad Omens. After a long relationship that ended quite bad, with her brother help, she decides to give herself a fresh new start in Los Angeles.

A/N: from now on, I'll post my notes at the end of the chapter to avoid spoilers!

As always this is just a product of fiction, nothing in this ff is real, my intention is to entertain myself and all of you.

Enjoy 🐕

I don't know if I count, but I'm trying my best.

This is not a story with a happy ending.

This is not one of those scenarios in which the grumpy old brother, after a significant amount of time, realises that his sister and his bestfriend are in love and the two of you can live happily ever after.

This is the real life, not an urban fairytale.

And there's a lot to unpack, emotionally.

First of all, you and Noah are not in love. You weren't aware of who he was before an hour ago. In your head you can ear in loop Eric, Eric, Eric, and it's fucking annoying that you actually had had the feeling you know him but you didn't recognised his throat tattoo after licking it. Or his nose. He has the most perfect nose you've ever seen, but nothing. It's not even an excuse that you haven't seen each other for three years because Matt shares videos from their gig on weekly basis, when on tour.

It's the fucking Clark Kent paradox, but instead of a pair of glasses, he got those long, perfect silk hair cut.

Losing the 25% of his charm, in your modest opinion.

But it doesn't matter.

Because when you met Eric, your first impression was that he seemed to be genuine, but shy maybe, in a good way a bit weird.

But genuine.

He is not genuine for the fuck sake! He lied on who he is and now you both have a problem.

Matt hasn't noticed yet, but only because he's too invested in the production of the music video to connect the dots. The way Noah stood in front of you, paralyzed, without talking, was loud enough for someone to notice.

You're sure about that.

After that stupid exchange of words you ran back inside the house telling everyone that it's too hot and you are not use yet to California's sunny day.

Dumbest excuse ever since is almost november, and Texas is warmer than here. But it worked so you can sit on the kitchen counter, and reflect about how much fucked up you are.

This is not even a story in which the main character is overreacting. You're Not. Matt has always hated every boy who laid and eye on you. From the very first boyfriend in mid school to a couple of classmates in highschool that just asked for your help with homeworks. Then, Shawn. He has never tollerated Shawn even if the rest of your family accepted him as a son. Matt never made up a scene in front of him or mistreated him in any way. But behind his back, he talked a lot shit, made you furious every time. He said that Shawn wasn't genuine enough (this adjective is starting to sound funny, at this point), caring enough, that he was drinking too much at your parents dinner table, that he looked too possessive.

In your modest opinion, your brother is terrible in judging others. For real. The issue on the table is always the same one; he is afraid you can get hurt. Matt can't physically stand the sight of you crying or being miserable.

Now, after this long mental digression, it's fair to say that he doesn't have to know. Absolutely. And you need Noah to be on the same page about that. You have to cut any contact with him that is not related to work. The date you have for friday is deleted.

It's sad because you really enjoyed having Eric around.

But he's not fucking Eric.

You don't have the chance to speak face to face with noah until after lunch. When the nerds move on Orie's room to give a first look at the unprocessed scenes and Jolly joined Folio in the pool, Noah is the one who actually comes looking for you.

You are on the sofa, petting Harper. He indulges just one second on the sight of you cuddling the adorable princess of the hous, before take a seat next to you. 《 Harp likes you.》

《 Well, she is not the only one. Isn't she?》

Noah release a long, loud sigh, while is cheeks get pink-ish. 《 You really are outspoken, are you?》. He gives a look at you, straight into your eyes. You are ready. You can feel how reticent he is right now, almost scared to say the wrong thing. 《 You are not gonna tell your brother about...》

《 About you eating me out in you car?》 It's your question, whispered between the two of you like the biggest secret in the world. 《 initially he won't believe us, but further investigations will follow; Maybe he will take the fingerprints from the back window. My hands were there while you were fucking me from behind. And he loves CSI.》

《 I'm serious. Are you going to tell him?》

And he is serious. You were joking, maybe because you feel a little embarrassed, maybe because your dad is right when he says that making fun about serious situations sometimes helps in facing them. But Noah on the other hand doesn't look amused. He looks like thinks you're mocking him.

So you hinale deeply, before looking back at him, leaving all your bullshit behind. And that's the moment in which you start to feel how tense the situation is. 《 I would rather chop my own foot than telling him I fuck with his best friend. He's gonna be furious. To me, but also to you. Do you have any deathwishies? Because I just got a fresh new start and I intend to survive the beginning of the week.》

Noah nods with a slow motion. He seems to have already evaluated any bad scenarios and keep it quiet is for the best of all of you. Especially Matt, who doesn't deserve to end up in jail. 《 So it's a secret between you and me now, Vanessa.》

《Don't you even try to use this card against me, Eric. 》

Noah brings his hands to his eyes. He looks even more concerned than you are. Matt once told you that Noah never had a real family, growing up. He was always on his own, so he formed a family with the friends he chose. Probably he is scared to disappoint Matt as much as you are.

《 Why you lie? Why you told me your name was Eric?》

With another sigh, Noah looked back at you. 《 I don't know. Sometime I ... fuck, you're going to have a bad first impression of me.》

《 Don't worry. I already had a bad first impression of you. 》

When he see you smile softly, he chuckles. It's pure tension right now and not the good one. He is living the horror of being caught with his hands in your honey jar. 《 ...When I meet a girl that sounds like troubles, I never bring her home and I give her a fake name.》

《 Did I sound like a troubles, to you?》

《 Yes because I knew I've already seen you.... but I couldn't recall were or when. And when you told me you had just moved in with your brother for a second I thought 'oh shit its y/n, her tits got bigger'. But then you lie as well and I believe I was in the safe.》

《 You didn't remember anything else but my breast size?》

It makes sense.

In some ways.

Half of fault is on both of you.

《 Sorry I lied》 , he says while rising from the sofa, ready to join his friends and check how the video is going 《 and sorry for... you know. 》

《 ah, don't say anything, we both enjoyed that part》 .

《 yeah, it was...》 Noah stays a couple of second in silence before biting both is lips. 《 We have to stop anyway. I cant loose Matt and he gave us a lecture about NOT fucking around with you, before you arrived.》

Now it's your time to sigh loudly. Yeah, you have seen that coming. But it's fine since you and Noah didn't planned it. You call it a casuality more than an incident.

You haven't big aspectation on Eric, anyway.

You feel like you've lost the capability of love long, after Shawn.

《 I agree. It's not gonna happen again》.

He smiles at you in relieve and you feel the same. 《 Can wait to work with you, than 》

《Otherwise》

He waves his hand before turning around and leave you in the living room. Harper is licking your hand so you start to pet her again, feeling better.

Matt will never know about your rendezvous.

You're washing the dishes after dinner, while Matt is picking up a movie. Even if you convinced yourself that you and Noah took the most resonable way, and also your conversation was short but clearifyng, you cant help yourself but feeling a bit down because you're not going to meet Eric anymore. And you know that Eric doesn't even exist. You will see Noah on a daily basis, and this will help a lot in moving on, but it's gonna be tough for the first week or two.

Because you and Noah are not in love, but you can feel the first syntomps of a beginning crush. Which is legit because Noah is funny and goofy and good-looking. More than that, he was nice to you and didn't force you in silence or nothing. You two have a conversation and reach an easy solution that makes everyone safe. Safe from Matt. After clearing the air, he also asked you for some advices because he never had a PR. It's his job usually and the two of you should work on that together. The prospective makes you nervous since you have no clue about the job itself, and Matt noticed. You know he did.

And you also know that he was waiting the vulnerable silence of your shared flat to talk about this with you.

《 What's wrong with Noah?》

You don't look back at him, rinsing the dishes from the soap. 《 What about Noah?》

《 He froze when he saw you this morning. And then you didn't look so happy about working with him》.

Matt and his way to be fucking direct.

You scroll your shoulders, epically good in lying. 《 I can't tell about him freezing in front of me. But I'm not looking forward to be his assistant and bring him his favorite brand of coffe.... or fold his underwares.》

《 That's not your job. He can make his own caffè and he won't let you fold any of his clothes. Trust me, that man on the edge of an OC diagnosis 》. You mumble something about being good in folding clothes while Matt approaches you, crossing his arm on his chest. 《 C'mon. Do I have to pull the big deal out of you kicking your ass?》

You're trapped because you two are too similar. You can read your brother like a book written for kids. Really dumb kids. And it's the same for him. You can't fool him too long.

《 Alright. I met a guy at the gym. He's name is Eric and he looked nice, but now I'm convinced that he's fake like a three dollar coin. Happy?》

You wait for the ocean of question that Matt is going to storm on you, but.... Nothing. He simply exhales before helping you, drying the dishes and the glasses with a cloat. You feel like you just turned twelve again and he was always around helping with the cores your mom gave you.

《 It's good that you're moving on fast. When I brought you here, I was afraid to see you again in the sane state you were in Texas. Close in your own room, drowing your bad feelings under the blankets. It's a good thing that you go to the gym and meet new people but be careful. People in LA are different from what you're used to. 》

You don't know what to say. You were aspecting Matt to start a lecture about rushing your new life and instead you got a boost. That's a progress.

《 Thanks for the advice》.

《 Just text me every time you're with him. And send me the position in real time so I can check.》

There he is! 《 You almost got me scared. I was wandering where my medieval-mind brother was. 》

《 Shut up!》

A soft laught leaves your mounth while he pours so water from the sink on you. And you oblige, doing it back on him. 《 I won't see Eric again, anyway.》

《 Who's Eric?》

《 Gym guy. He left.》

Matt finished drying the last fork before push you a little, playfully. 《 What did you say to make him run?》

《 Nothing! You asshole!》

The two of you reach the sofa, but apparently he is not done with the conversation. 《 Can you promise just two things?》

《 Alright, shoot》

《 In case this guy will be back and you won't be interested, just call Noah. He is enrolled to the same gym》.

You have to do your best to not laugh or betray yourself in any way. 《 Promise. What else?》

《 You are more than allowed to look for some happiness. You deserve to be loved by someone who is not an idiot as Shawn. Someone who sees the real you.》 You smile with some commotion to these beautiful words, reaching for his hand on the cushion in between you two. 《 But please never date anyone from the crew. No one wants drama while we're hitting the road.》

The smile froze on your lips without giving your brain the chance to process why you suddenly feel so .... disappointed.

《 y/n, pinkie promise?》

A bit reluctant, you grab his pinkie with yours, like you have done billions of time.

《 I promise》.

And you really hope you will be able to keep it.

It takes six days to meet again Noah at the gym. Matt helped you find a class about management and public relations, and day after day, you're learning how you can be useful for the band. Working on websites, taking care of the agenda, and defining schedules sounds scary, but you feel more confident day after day.

Noah is sitting outside his jujitsu class, his mitts next to him, and some bandage in his hand. The other one is busy scrolling the screen of his iPhone. You're reticent in bump into him, but just for a second. You know that if you start to avoid him, it will be a bad habit to lose. So you approach greeting him.

He looks surprised, but just for a couple of seconds, while he's buring the cellphone in his shorts' pocket. 《 How is yoga going?》

《 Fine, nothing noticeable》 , you take a seat next to him, smiling. 《 How jujitsu is going?》

《 Today, not so good》 he answers, showing you his brushed knuckles. Some blood on the right hand is almost dry. 《 I have to change my mitts. These are fucked.》

That's an amazing start of conversation for two people who had sex and then started to pretend that never happened in less than 24 hours.

《 Let me help you with that.》 With a nod, you indicate the bandages. He slowly gives the box to you, and after cleaning your hands with the sanitizer you have in your gym bag, you start to wrap the bandages around his hand gently.

《 How's school going? Matt said that you're taking it so seriously》. There is something in his voice that is illegible. Is he mocking you? Or maybe he is amused? You're focused on his hands to pay attention to his sminking face.

《 Well, I'm supposed to, right?》

《 Why? Why do you want to work with us? I mean... you can find a job as a piercer. I saw you in action and you're really good at it. 》

After fixing his left hand, you proceed to the other one, avoiding his gaze. 《 Do you want me to be honest?》

《 You can be honest, or you can be Vanessa 》.

A sigh escapes from your lips, uncontrolled. The audacity of this bitch. 《 Because I want the money. Because I want to spend a lot of time with my brother. Because I want to choose my job and leave the one my prick ex chose for me behind. Because I have nothing left to lose. I want to love my life again, waking up in the morning with a purpose.》

You have no idea why you're opening up to someone you barely know. But it is what it is. You can't have a fresh new start if you are not honest with yourself.

And when you look at Noah, you find respect in his gaze. 《 You just move in LA, and i'm not gonna lie to you: it's hard work. Are you sure you can take this?》

《 I'm used to fight any battle at my lowest》 it's your answer. The most honest one you can guarantee to him. 《 I'm ready to drag myself if it's necessary and only if it's forward. I need a hurricane to shake up my entire existence》.

《 Well well, you might have found the right one. Our new record could be a total disaster or grant us more than I can even imagine. You pick up the right train or, at least, you will enjoy every second of my downfall》

《 You're so drammatic, like every singer. 》

Noah giggles at your last affirmation before checking his hands. 《 thanks. You're already an amazing assistant. 》

《 I'm not your fucking secretary. 》

《 So who are you, y/n?》

A broken doll.

A girl that just wants to be love.

A woman covered in scars, who has a heart hidden in meters and meters of barber wire to prevent everyone from hurting it again.

《 A friend, Noah.》

And you can tell by his smile that it's the right answer he was waiting for. And this beautiful and sincere smile could be enough to put aside any crush you can develop in order to gain a true friend.

《 Lets grab a beer, then.》

A/N : I know that probably a lot of you are here for the smut, but I rethink this ff with a lot of realistic scenarios and the idea of writing a friends to lovers. It's my first attempt on this topic, and I'm thrilling to recieve any thought about it from you! I left an important hint for the future in the text by the way.

You can also send me inbox about my ff, about Bad Omens in general or headcanons! It's gonna be fun if you give me some credit ♡

I also added a song in the beginning that should be a sort of soundtrack for the chapter. I added it to the first chapter as well if you want to check!

Lastly, if you wish to be added to my tag list, comment here or send me a pm!

[femmefatalevibe]

How do I sound and appear more intelligent and sophisticated? I've read books and stuff but how do I apply the knowledge in real life? How do I make my everyday vocabulary more sophisticated? Ik the general advice to read books and converse with people etc, but how do I actually apply it irl?

Hi love! Here are some of my suggestions/tips:

How do I sound and appear more intelligent and sophisticated?

Keep your language and explanations simple & concise

Speak slowly & deliberately: Take your time between sentences, and pause between your thoughts. Always think before you speak. Silences, while slightly awkward, are not always best avoided

Use the proper propositions when speaking: Avoid small grammar mistakes (know when to use less vs. fewer, I vs. me, graduated from an institution, etc.)

Articulate complex concepts into layman's terms: Break concepts down into different parts of the conceptual equation – chronically, from beginning to end or outcome to origin, simultaneously moving parts/micro-stories or situations; Use analogies (metaphors, mundane/real-life examples, or hypothetical situations) that require the same thought-process or methodology)

Apply conversational "show don't tell" when sharing a story: Describe the situation using the 5 senses to convey the implied meaning (e.g. "I could feel the pit in my stomach." vs. "I was nervous.")

Use subtle tonality to convey particularly emotional or significant points while speaking

I've read books and stuff but how do I apply the knowledge in real life?

Relate cultural references or learned concepts to add clever humor to everyday conversations

Create parallels and analogies to outside information to convey your understanding of what someone is saying, ask more thoughtful follow-up questions, or smoothly transition into a new conversation topic

How do I make my everyday vocabulary more sophisticated?

Use everyday/simple sentence structure and replace one simple word choice with another more sophisticated word that is equally apt to the message you're trying to convey

If you're ever confused about whether a particular synonym makes sense to use IRL, look at how it is used in the dictionary sentence examples and in other books/articles

Ik the general advice to read books and converse with people etc, but how do I actually apply it irl?

Reiterate a concise, simplified version of the other person's anecdotes to convey your understanding. Drive the conversation forward by asking specific follow-up questions based on one "part" of the idea or story

Use cultural parallels to convey your understanding of what the other person is saying (sounds like this TV show character, like a certain artist, historical/current event, etc.)

Leverage metaphors to connect the dots between the points you and your conversation partner are making. Make an insightful connection to break up the air time between their anecdote and contribution

Conversational word choice should be used to create vivid images in people's minds – to paint a picture of the concept, scene, emotions, or sensations one would engage with or experience if the person was living your conversation in the present moment

Learn how to use wit conversations – context and delivery are vital to its success and positive reception

Hope this helps xx

[thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai]

YOI-meta: Viktor's apparent insensitive reaction to Yuuri's love confession & what it might mean

There are several ways to read Viktor's comment on Yuuri's love confession depending on the level of his knowledge of the Japanese language and culture at this point in the series. While his words seem insensitive and blunt at first glance, plausible explanations for the choice the creators made here align rather with Viktor's character and the concept of the show than Viktor only caring about Yuuri's appearance in one of the most significant moments of their relationship.

So let's break this down!

1. Language barriers

The press conference of the Japanese Skating Federation, where the skaters participating in the Grand Prix Series present their season theme, is broadcasted on Japanese TV for a Japanese audience. Hence, Yuuri speaks Japanese in this scene. By now, Viktor has been living in Japan for about 5-6 months, and while he possibly knows enough Japanese to get along on his own and communicate with Yuuri's family about basics like food or the weather, complex speeches are probably still beyond his abilities.

Besides Russian, Viktor speaks English and French, so we can assume he has a knack for languages. But whereas Cyrillic and Latin characters have some resemblances, Japanese has three different types of characters (hiragana, katakana, and kanji), and these differ vastly from Western scripts. Beginners spend a hell lot of time learning these in addition to vocabulary and grammar. It's not a stretch to assume that Viktor understood parts of Yuuri's speech but not enough to connect the dots. Like "here, Yuuri presents his season theme which is about love... Oh, I heard my name! He's talking about me now! ... Was that something about a gold medal and Grand Prix Final? That's my Yuuri! He's so fierce! I love this! But ugh, he really needs a new tie! That hideous thing doesn't fit his new image at all!"

2. Utter shock

That face...

Looking at this scene, Viktor is either completely shocked because he didn't see this coming or trying hard to understand Yuuri's speech. While in my personal headcanon, language barriers keep him from understanding the speech, a person who is described as a genius and already speaks three languages might be able to follow the speech after living in the country for several months (I'm not sure about this though, but some people learn at lightspeed once they start obsessing over a subject). In this case, his reaction is a coping mechanism due to overwhelm. So far, Yuuri has said a few sweet things that showed Viktor how much he matters to Yuuri, but this is a whole new dimension of expressing affection, especially coming from someone so reluctant to voice their feelings. And while Viktor undeniably has been hoping for Yuuri to love him back, seeing his love confessing his feelings live on national TV is quite something to process.

Which leads me to...

3. Viktor doesn't take Yuuri's love confession seriously

This interpretation falls into the category of "Did we watch the same anime?" and I will briefly explain why using some past instances of Viktor's reaction to Yuuri using love language:

Episode 2 "I want to eat katsudon with you!":

Episode 3 "I'm going to become a super tasty katsudon. Please watch me!":

Episode 4 "I want you to stay who you are":

We see the occasional confusion, which is attributed to the fact that Viktoir is still familiarising himself with Yuuri's unique way of expressing his feelings and desires. However, in all these scenes, Viktor is genuinely happy that he means so much to Yuuri. Although Viktor can be insensitive at times, he never mocks Yuuri, which speaks volumes about his character. Not even when Yuuri says things like "Katsudon is my eros!" It's not in his personality. So far, throughout the series, Viktor has helped Yuuri become more confident and express his feelings. As soon as he understands Yuuri's speech and has processed the meaning, he would burst with happiness because Yuuri loves him back and pride because of how confident Yuuri became. But mocking Yuuri for his necktie when he just expressed the full dimension of his feelings? Just nope. He's not JJ.

Bonus: Viktor's reactions after episode 5 (the pattern continues)

4. The necktie is a metaphor

This interpretation came up in a Twitter discussion with @maetae2288 (kudos to her for bringing this up!) and it can coexist with interpretations 1 and 2. If you tell a story that needed to be condensed to 12 short episodes, you don't waste precious air time on throwaway lines.

For this interpretation, I would like to refer to Tumbleweed's translation errors master post. It's a super long post, so I quote the relevant part:

「 初めて自分から繋ぎとめたいと思った人、それがヴィクトルです 」 [...]'For the first time in my life, there’s a person I want to hold on to. That person is Victor.’ Also, while I think this word choice is the best choice, 'hold on to’ doesn’t quite get all the connotations of 繋ぎとめたい across. Tsunagi tomeru is composed of two words, tsunagi = bind and tomeru = stop. It means tying the subject to something and stopping it from going away. Since he added 自分から, 'from/by himself’ in front of it, it infers Victor being the first person Yuuri wants to reach out to and bond with, and with those bonds, bind them together so that they would never part.

I highly recommend reading the full post if you're interested in the linguistic nuances of translations from Japanese to English regarding Yuri!!!.

In his speech, Yuuri voices his desire to form an inseparable bond with Viktor (it's quite a lot like "stay by my side and never leave" if you think about it, although he uses a different vocabulary). Bonds are often symbolised by a knot. In this sense, the necktie comment would refer to the new bond Yuuri and Viktor will form henceforth.

It's unclear when Viktor learns Japanese love language and dating culture (you can read my post on Japanese dating culture in YOI here). In episode 9, Viktor correctly identifies Yuuri's (accidental) marriage proposal, but when did he brief himself on these things? In fact, he uses love language as early as episode 3 ("I love katsudon"), but was he aware of this? Whether or not he is, it's beyond doubt that the creators knew what they were doing when they gave him this line. In this light, his necktie comment suggests that he understood Yuuri's kokuhaku very well and gave a unique response that refers to their future bond and is true to his character. This is top-notch storytelling.

To sum this up, whether Viktor understood Yuuri at once and responded accordingly, or this line foreshadows that he will understand somewhere between episodes 5 and 6, his comment implies that they will start dating soon after. And we see the result in episode 6.

If you enjoy my meta posts, please consider giving my blog a follow or checking out my works on AO3(link in bio). You will find the results of my meta musings in there!