#this isnt supposed to be serious btw

[beatcroc]

what kind of frivolity would you engage in, mecha?

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---

[fiendishartist2]

whos that pokemon? its me!!!

[biggie-chcese]

Why I think Yomi Hellsmile should've died in Chapter 4

(this essay isnt what you think it is. spoilers for the whole game btw)

Alright so let me preface this by saying that this is not a Yomi Hellsmile hate essay. I like Yomi. He's my favorite peacekeeper. He's funny, he's entertaining, and he makes for a very effective antagonist. So why have him die? Well, for the same reason I wouldn't have Yakou live: I think it makes for a better story.

So here's the true title of my essay: A Critique of how Rain Code's Narrative Handles the Peacekeepers (and by Extension, Yomi) and their Downfall

Let's start with Yomi's downfall in canon. Yuma and Vivia find out his role in Huesca's murder and, ultimately, Yakou's death, and are angry beyond belief. But they're also helpless to do anything as they escape the labyrinth with vengeance on their minds. Of course, this gets shut down immediately, and then Makoto ex machina comes in with Martina in tow to arrest Yomi for his money laundering and bribery. And right then and there, in one fell swoop, the peacekeepers are completely eliminated as a threat in the story to be replaced by Makoto.

But okay... isn't that super underwhelming? The peacekeepers and Amaterasu corp have been the main driving force of the game's primary conflict, and yet somehow they are completely eliminated as a threat because Makoto grabbed a few files off screen. And also, this brings me to my first major issue I have with this ending:

Part 1: Why the fuck do they care?

No I'm serious. Why do the peacekeepers care? So what if Yomi bribed his way to the top? You mean to tell me that the cops who spent the entire game assaulting and antagonizing civilians give a shit? They're never shown to have any sort of problem with their corruption. They send people to be executed on whims and knowingly, regularly falsify evidence on murder cases. At best the peacekeepers are indifferent to the suffering they cause, and at worst they are gleefully complicit in it. So, again, why do they care about Yomi's money schemes? In fact, they only benefit from Yomi's rule because he gives them the power to freely instill fear in Kanai Ward's citizens. The game never, at any point, has an "are we the baddies?" moment from them nor does it ever even try to have at least one peacekeeper question Yomi's authority, even when he's throwing them under the bus. Throughout the whole game, they stand as a completely one-note, cartoonishly evil representation of police corruption.

So why the sudden heel turn? The resolution of chapter 4 feels so jarring to me because the game has zero buildup to it. This also applies to Martina's return. Actually let's also talk about her.

Part 2: So... Martina's return lowkey is kinda lame

Don't get me wrong, I was pretty hype when she came back. But also, the magic wore off pretty quickly for me because I didn't understand why she was suddenly a whole different character. I suppose her brush with death gave her some time to contemplate her actions, or perhaps she felt indebted to Makoto and asked him what she should do, or maybe Makoto held her life over her head and told her to change her act or he's letting her get cubed. Who knows? We get nothing expanding on this so it could be anything.

I feel like people kinda forget that Martina was just as corrupt as Yomi? Like, she is not his helpless victim. I'd even argue that their relationship isn't abusive. Martina is in it with her own interests in mind in addition to just being a massive sadomasochist. I cannot stress this enough: whatever tf she and Yomi had going on, she was completely into it. Even at the end of chapter 2, she was drooling over him and the idea of punishment... until Yomi crossed a line.

Y'see, Martina thought she was special. She thought that whatever punishment Yomi had for her Aetheria Academy blunder, she'd come out of it alive, because she's his beloved right hand. Yomi then showed her that she's just as disposable as the rest of his underlings by ordering her to be brutally executed. That is when she becomes a victim.

Anyway, I'm saying all this to make a point that Martina hasn't shown any interest in being an honest cop until chapter 4. It's completely out of nowhere, just like with the other peacekeepers.

"But Biggie," you may be thinking, "why would Yomi dying fix these issues?" Well I'm so glad you hypothetically asked!

Part 3: We love missed potential, baby!

Kodaka sometimes does this thing where he introduces an interesting concept that plays with the rules of the game... and then doesn't commit to it. Think like the double murder clause in Danganronpa V3 chapter 3, where they mention that if two separate murderers act in the same day then only one of those murders counts. Then they do nothing with this, and instead create a very weak chapter.

This is a similar problem I have with the tail end of chapter 4's mystery labyrinth, which is a really amazing labyrinth that introduces a really amazing concept: taking down a secret mastermind. After reaping the culprit's soul, they have this cool, brand new secret area that... does nothing. No, I'm serious. Nothing happens. All it does is piss Yuma and Vivia off and waste everyone's time. They find out Yomi's involvement in the case, but they still don't do anything with that. Sure it brings a whole new feeling of hopelessness, but doesn't that make Yomi's downfall literally five minutes later through the mundane actions of someone else off screen seem all the more underwhelming? From a gameplay and storytelling standpoint, I think this is just... a cop-out. I think it'd be cool if he was involved enough in Huesca's murder to count as an accomplice, then with Vivia and Shinigami at his side, Yuma reaps Yomi's soul. It's a decent payoff for the NDA and the player while supporting the game's message about the importance of finding the truth. And god does the game need support in that regard, because the Mystery Labyrinth almost never helps and Yuma instead gets saved by someone else (which would've been nice to expand on if we go this route bc there's something interesting about Yuma calling for the labyrinth to kill people for ultimately no reason, but they don't do anything with that and that is a WHOLE other essay lol).

But this is not my main reason that Yomi should've died here. I wouldn't feel so strongly if that was the case. No, my problem lies with a character that isn't Yomi, and what is part of the entire reason Rain Code's plot exists.

Part 4: Is Makoto fucking stupid?

"/lh" by the way. Makoto is my second favorite character in this game behind Yuma, and I adore him. His story, his motivations, his undying will to be a protector of a people that no one else will protect, by any means necessary... he is such an incredible character and antagonist and I genuinely adore him. But I have one eensy weensy, teeny weeny little issue with him:

Why did he need the detectives to oust Yomi?

Makoto claims in the ch 5 labyrinth that the reason the detectives were brought over was to oust Yomi, which leads me to believe the command for the detectives to come to Kanai Ward was his work, not Number One's, then Number One simply caught onto this and took advantage of the situation to sneak in. Though, that's just a guess on my part, mind you. So I suppose he was just desperately hoping at least one of them would take care of Yomi, but isn't that weird?

The detectives don't ever find the evidence of Yomi's money laundering and bribery. Makoto does. The detectives don't ever bring Yomi's corruption to light. Yomi... already does that without their help. Actually, why didn't he secretly team up with the Resistance for that? Too busy ignoring Dohya District's glaring issues, Makoto? Too busy turning a blind eye to your people's suffering?

Uh. Anyway, the only detective that actually does something beneficial for Makoto and kills Huesca is Yakou, who was already in Kanai Ward. And don't tell me that Makoto accounted for Fubuki and Desuhiko's fortes here because that part of the plan was all Yakou's idea. If Makoto could've predicted this, he would've just called the detectives necessary to this plan instead of luring in a bunch of them at once to get slaughtered.

Tons of detectives died coming to Kanai Ward to do... what? Distract Yomi? Could the World's Greatest Mind truly never come up with a better distraction for a guy who didn't even realize his Martina Cube™ order never came in? Yomi isn't shown to be some sort of hypervigilant supergenius nor is he nearly on Makoto's level. Could he truly not have outsmarted Yomi and led him astray long enough to grab a little binder of paper?

So, once again, you may be wondering how Yomi's death would fix this. Well, Yuma, a detective, is the one who kills Yomi.

Makoto is well aware of Yuma using the Book of Death at this point. So what better way to get rid of Yomi than to carefully manipulate the detective who has the Perfect Criminal Murder Tool™? Makoto can't just assassinate Yomi himself- that would make him the main suspect and he'd have to do a lot of PR maintenance to get the rest of Amaterasu Corp off his back. But Yomi mysteriously dying of a heart attack while Makoto isn't anywhere around... well, that's different.

"But wait," you may be thinking, "doesn't Makoto want to keep Yomi alive because he's a Kanai Ward citizen, and he loves Kanai Ward?"

Good point! But doesn't that also apply to Yakou, whom he also had a hand in manipulating into that crazy sui-homocide of Dr. Huesca? Or, what about Fink? Remember him? Makoto killed him for "knowing too much." I know that information is missable, but it's there. And don't tell me it's just because he's a hitman and has killed other Kanai Ward residents, because Yomi has sent many residents to their deaths without trial... not a huge difference. So a body count isn't really on Makoto's "should I kill them" conditions, it seems.

If Fink gets killed for "knowing too much," then Yomi shouldn't be exempt from this, especially when he was leaking homunculus information to the outside world. That goes far beyond "knowing too much." It just doesn't make sense.

But you know what does? Makoto actually using the detectives to wipe his hands clean of Yomi's mess. Yakou is used to take care of Huesca, Yuma is used to take care of Yomi, and Makoto gets to sit back, relax, and watch everything play out just as planned.

And later, in the next chapter, when Yuma learns about Makoto using him like this, he realizes that he's truly been had.

Part 5: How I think it should play out

I'm not being a hater. In fact, I deeply love this game and have a lot of respect for Kodaka and the writing team, so please don't take my little rant as some sort of effort to bash on my favorite video game because that's not what this is. I'm not gonna prop myself up as a better writer than anyone on the team because I'm not, but I'll still try my hand at rewriting this scene to fit my personal taste. So I would like for you to imagine with me, the end of chapter 4...

Yuma and Vivia find the secret area of the labyrinth and find out that Yomi has been masterminding Huesca's murder. Shinigami points out that, hey, that's why the labyrinth is falling so slowly: we haven't finished it off! Vivia stands by Yuma's side, and all of them, driven by their rage and desire to see justice be done, reap the soul of the true mastermind through one final strike of the solution blade. Labyrinth collapses, snap back to reality, oop there goes gravity, oop there goes Yomi, who collapses on the ground.

The peacekeepers are surprised and approach the body. They find that Yomi is dead. They're shocked, and as this is happening, Yuma isn't sure what to feel. Is he glad that he managed to avenge Yakou? Not quite, because Yakou is still gone, the hitman is still out there, and everything still hurts. But a part of him feels... vindicated. Vivia seems to have equally complicated feelings about this. For once, it was... kind of worth it to find the truth, even if a bit messy.

Well now the peacekeepers confirmed Yomi is dead, but now they're accusing the detectives of this. And they're honestly kinda right. Yuma and Vivia realize that they're in kind of deep shit, but the sound of Martina's voice comes from off screen asking what on earth is going on here, making everyone freeze.

Enter her, Makoto, and Seth (I'll say why he's here too in a moment). They're surprised at the sight before them, but Makoto only pretends to be. Then you see it... Martina and Seth go from visibly suprised... to relieved. And there's something oddly triumphant, yet a bit chilling about Makoto and the two people we've witnessed Yomi throw under the bus standing over his corpse. It feels thematic now, as if righteous judgement has come. And... it also solves the "what happened to Seth" question, lol.

Makoto shakes his head and sighs, stepping over the corpse and approaching Yuma and Vivia as he comes up with an excuse: "I always told him that those temper tantrums weren't good for his blood pressure. I guess his heart couldn't take it anymore."

He then nods to the others. Seth instructs the peacekeepers to clean up the body, as they rot quickly in this city. There's this foreboding feeling in the peacekeepers' obedience and efficiency, and Yuma begins to wonder if he did a good thing. Did his actions change the peacekeepers for the better, he asks himself, or did he simply shift the power over to someone worse? Shinigami tells him she doesn't know.

Makoto approaches them with good news: they found and arrested the hitman! Yuma, frightened, does not address that and instead asks him why the other high ranking peacekeepers are here. Makoto says that they... owe him a favor. Martina expresses her gratefulness for him stopping her execution order and asks if they can do anything else, to which Makoto replies telling her no, they're doing an excellent job. After some more conversation, Seth, Martina, and the peacekeepers then leave with Yomi's body to let Makoto talk privately to Yuma and Vivia. Makoto apologizes for their loss of Yakou and offers some faux sympathy. They're both... still conflicted about this conclusion, but Makoto tells them they're free to go, so they'll think about it later. Oh, but before they leave, he gives Yuma a little gift: a suspicious black box. Of course, Yuma can't open it just yet- it's a surprise!

Then the rest could play out pretty much normally (though an encounter with zombie Yomi chapter 5 seems inevitable and also awesome).

I think this alone would solve every issue I addressed before. The peacekeepers do not change out of nowhere. They simply reallocate power and there's still this feeling of them being a threat as they're now directly connected to the game's true antagonist. There's now a theme to Martina's return with Seth's presence as well. There's now a narrative purpose to that final section of the mystery labyrinth with proper payoff. And, most importantly, Makoto's motivations to use the detectives make more sense.

By the way, if any Yomi lovers think that he should stay alive for a potential return in the sequel... isn't it such a blessing that Yakou's DLC introduced this pretty neat little pill that could still make that possible? Just saying.

So yeah. Yuma, for the sake of narrative payoff and character writing consistency, please kill this clown. Thanks for reading <3

[artdcnaldson]

ararararararar uuuggghhhh shes so terrible, anything to torture him back. i luv luv luv!!!!

will gladly elaborate on this, but im convinced that after this pats sister is doing everything within her power to recreate that night. every party she gets just that little bit drunker, grinds just a bit more scandalously, flirts just a bit more obviously. anything to get a rise out of him, because as much as she pretends not to with her fake tears, she loves it when he gets mean

i think one night shes had a bit too much to drink and has been flirting way too much with matt from the swim team (who btw looks an awful lot like art... but hes to caught up in his jealousy to bother with that rn). this time art isnt dealing with her shit, he just walks over and puts her over his shoulder, telling her its bedtime. right in the middle of matts sentence, talking about the upcoming swim meet or something, she really wasnt listening. shes making more of a fuss about it than usual, complaining about him being controlling, and really shouldnt he just be happy that youre trying to fuck someone other than him!!!! isnt this what he wanted!!!! (they both know its not lol)

i think she lets it slip, she forgets that she was supposed to have been blackout drunk and clueless, but she begs him to let her see his pretty cock again. youll show him yours if he shows you his :))) drunkenly slurring it out when shes sitting on his bed. i think he would get so pissed at her for making him feel so guilty for so long. hes felt like a huge creep, a perv, felt like he had taken advantage of her. when in reality she really is just a spoiled brat and a desperate slut.

i need him to like slap me in the heat of the moment, not super hard of anything but just right across my cheek. i need him to feel so bad right away, ready to get on his knees and beg for forgiveness. he doesnt know what came over him, hes never done anything like that before. and then i need his eyes to darken when he realized my only reaction is a loud moan and telling him to pls do it again, harder. :))))

-🐞

GODDDDDD I actually like had a physical reaction to this it’s so serious.

You know you fucked up the second you say it, when you’re sitting on his bed looking up at him and you see the recognition in his eyes. Sobers you up real fucking quick. And there’s nothing to say, so you’re just quiet, practically holding your breath.

It stings when his hand slaps across your cheek, and your eyes fill with water and you’re holding onto the hot stinging skin like, oh!

And in an instant he’s literally on his knees in front of you, big hands wrapped around your knees as he apologizes again and again and again.

“I’m so sorry, that was— there’s no fucking excuse,” he’s stammering, mumbling, feels like he might puke over it. Because he hit you. And he’s never felt so awful in his life. He’s the worst kind of person— he let his anger take over into pure basal instincts.

But then your legs are parting, you moan softly when his grip on your knees tightens. “‘S okay, Art,” you assure. “Do it again. Punish me for lying, for being a slut and letting you feel guilty about it. Hit me harder.”

It only makes him angrier, makes all of the guilt wash away. He grabs your jaw tight, makes you whimper. “You’re fucking disgusting.” You nod, agreeing. You’d agree with whatever he’d say, honestly. He pops your cheek again, makes a soft moan escape your lips.

He shouldn’t like it as much as he does. But god, you make him feel insane. He squeezes your jaw in his grip, makes your eyes widen at the pressure and sting, then drops you completely. You collapse back onto his bed, still holding your cheek.

“I’m serious, this is the last fucking time I put up with you,” he says, but even he doesn’t believe it. He’s still seething as he turns out the lights, as he sleeps on the pile of blankets he had laid out on the floor anticipating you coming back to his dorm anyway.

You stay awake, pretend not to hear him fisting his cock beneath the blankets, pretending he doesn’t groan your name muffled into the pillows when he cums.

[a-girl-in-neverland]

Wait wait wait

So i just whatched the actors on actors interview with Jonathan Bailey and Naomi Watts (and it was sooo good btw)

And Jonny said that he starts filming for jurassic park in june

But wasnt bridgerton season 4 supposed to start filming in june too???

I really hope this doesnt mean that he wont be coming back for s4. Like im aware that he can do two projects at the same time, specially if he isnt the lead in one of them. But after hearing how he did 3 PROJECTS at the same time (bridgerton, fellow travelers and wicked), i would very much like to give this man a rest

Also, if shonda knew better he would give Anthony (and Kate) a proper storyline and more screen time even if they are secondary characters in S4

Like you dont understand, i need benedict with his bestie-bro Anthony. Its that serious 😩🤧😭

[watchyourbuck]

I've got a serious question...now that we (finally!) Got bi buck canon, do you think we will get buddie canon? Because I really want to, but idk if they will give it to us

oh dear,,, okay so this ask is from the bi buck canonization night (april 4th). i answered a few of these same questions a while back saying that i didnt think it was happening within s7 and obviously now that thats over i can say i was right. HOWEVER. i dont think we should lose hope yet? i think s8 is gonna be a gut punch in many ways and theres a lot of unspected things coming our way bc theres 18 episodes and tims been probably plotting since we got renewed which was ep 3, so i think theres a lot we're gonna have to digest. i think its still possible (and the fact that tommy was supposed to kiss eddie at first is also kinda telling you feel me???) ((also this isnt tommy or bucktommy bashing btw bc im a multishipper. but ya.)). I GUESS we're gonna have to wait and see. dun dunnnn.

[internet-cheesecake]

so the current comic is taking a pretty long time, might make a fanfic version for anyone who wants to know the plot but doesn't wanna wait on me to finish lolololol

(edit:)

here ya go ! heretic rabbit p1 should be up !

basically, the original comic was supposed to be a short comedy about Lamb being clumsy & losing stuff constantly, but then i got really attached to rabbit girl after drawing her a bunch (her name is hera btw, yes it's a pun, but it'll be explained later in the comic/fanfic) and didn't wanna kill her off like originally intended, so developed her a bit more and have a whole backstory written for her now lololol

she tries so hard to be serious but she just ... isnt lolololol

[general-ysines]

im gonna shoot myself if i see one more person say in complete confidence that the hightiers were never held accountable for what they did, that john was punished too severely in comparison, or that the high tiers didnt grow as characters.

johns actions are much more extreme than the high tiers', except maybe arlo. isen, blyke, remi, and most other high tiers were more focused on their own lives than terrorizing weaker people. most of the high tiers' (basically all of them sans arlo) problems were naivete, not realizing the flaws in their system. while johns actions did serve the purpose of showing the high tiers what its like to be weak so that they can realize what is wrong with the hierarchy, johns violence was more extreme than his bullies' and lowkey he was terrorizing EVERYONE, even the people who never did anything to him. johns actions are more extreme, so he gets more extreme repurcussions.

unordinary fans look me in the eye and say that john, who had been terrorizing everyone for at least a month Minimum, shouldnt have to deal w people bsing terrified of him. girl use ur brains. people are scared of john bc he has proved himself unreasonable and cruel, while none of them had problems w arlo (bc arlos actions towards most of them were 1. almost 3 years ago, and 2. considered normal by their society bc as the leader of the school he is also considered the disciplinarian whenever students act up, not considering teachers. his beating up people was different than johns beating up people) and none of the other hightiers had done really anything. cecile isnt innocent btw but none of them had problems w her either bc the few interactions weve seen her have with the common student (juni) seemed friendly..basically the people had little reason to fear the other high tiers outside of their power but john had taken his time making himself a person to fear. fr he was trying to terrify them?? why are we prtending that its unreasonable for them to be scared of him can we please be serious

also johns legal punishment in new bostin and suspension in wellston were both reasonable bc he was regularly hospitalizing people and completely out of control. i dont think u guys realize how strong john is. whenever someone who is seriously described as godlike in power ("god" tier as a term is not that much of an exaggeration by regular human standards) starts going around and beating the shit out of everyone important in a show of power something has to be done. john was EXTREMELY dangerous. also "the punishment wasnt equal" is literally kind of the plot. johns mental spiral at wellston was supposed to expose the unfairness in the system and show how bullies and vicious people should not be able to get away with the things they do to weaker people. we dont think john is that strong bc we're surrounded by the strong in the story, but he is IMMENSELY powerful and should not have been left unchecked. (note, im not saying he deserved readjustment. there should have been a punishment for his literal several counts of felony assault but readjustment was literally psychological torture and he was a month into being 16.)

the hightiers were criticised and held accountable, either by themselves or others. arlo knows full well that he played apart in johns mental spiral and apologised multiple times. remi knows full well that she was naive and should have realized the problem sooner, then takes active steps to solve it and creates a safe space for people of different ranks. blyke literally apologised for shooting at john and had a whole arc of realizing low tier conditions during the x rei outings and trying to be nicer to john and low tiers. idk if isen apologised properly but it is also clear that he knows better than to do what hes done now. the safe house was literally their way of trying to fix their mistakes and be better going forward. aka taking accountability and then working towards being better people??? hello???

also saw somebody say that they acted like the royals had the "moral high ground"... as if they didnt. hello who were the ones actually fixing the problems. who were the ones with real solutions. john was the last in the cast to take accountability and work to be better. john was the schools resident terrorist ??? hospitalizer ??? FELON ??? he has literal FELONY ASSAULT charges fam. and LOTS of them. half his graduating class is actually crazy. since he was rank 427 or something when his ability hadnt come in yet, we can say that there were probably at least 100 people in each grade, since hs is 4 grades. a graduating class is a grade. john beat up 50 people not counting zirian and whoever else in different grades might have attended, not assuming the half the grade thing was an exaggeration. we also arent counting the charges he added at wellston itself. seriously this guy is an absolute menace and the royals were actually better than him morally i dont know why thid is a controversial take in the unordinary fandom. do i have to spell out why "guy with criminal charges for severely injuring 50+ people, probably sending them to the hospital considering he put HIGH TIER remi and blyke in the hospital, who has been terrorizing the school for a while at this point" is worse than "trio of individuals who were raised ignorant to their society's flaws realize the problem and take active steps to fix it, even being so kind as to eventually forgive the guy that put two of them in the hospital like a month prior"

the joker arc is as much johns mental spiral as it is the high tiers' character developments. if u somehow didnt realize that the characters were changing for the better then now u know why fhe english teacher wants you to analyze why the curtain is blue. media literacy come back the kids miss you

[croutonconfidential]

juvia got done dirty cuz shounen manga couldnt handle such a complex female character like her and mashima the author focused on using fanservice more later down the line and overused comedy in his writing(he still made a really great manga that i love very much tho)

i saw the first few of juvia's appearances in the manga and was not ready for her to turn infatuated with gray the moment they had their first conversation on their first meeting, she was used for comedy instead of her being a sad bad ass s-class wizard

she had such a strong presence in her first appearance, with sharp yet sad eyes and a cool look and i expected her to have mental fortitude and really give it her all for a fight especially for someone mashima spent so long hyping up as a powerful wizard and formidable opponent, but instead of taking something seriously mashima went for the humor of juvia falling in love like she was plummeting off a cliff

that said i did think it was pretty good thematically for where mashima decided to handle the ending of juvia vs gray fight and engaging in her backstory mid fight while gray is entirely unaware of her internal monologue and introspection so hes really confused ( i did honestly find it funny and endearing of juvias character that shes the type to jump too conclusions and have strong emotions but the way she developed feelings for gray so quick it felt unnatural and put me off a bit)

and despite her fluster and sudden infatuation shes still strong and powerful in the fight so its not like she was hyped up for nothing, midfight she does put her new feelings aside to engage in combat against gray after he shoots her with ice spears

when she tries to talk gray out of fighting she offers a way to settle the fight peacefully by him turning over lucy to phantom and her convincing jose to send phantom to withdraw (this also shows some of her naivete/the shallow understanding she has of her guild master compared to gray because jose wouldnt abandon his vendetta against fairytail just because the job to kidnap lucy and return her home was complete, he wasnt even going to complete the job he was going to use lucy as leverage to extort lucy's dad for all his money) so that she doesnt have to fight gray because she doesnt want to fight someone she likes, who is also still recovering from an injury btw, in serious combat , this is a good moment in the story because it highlights the difference in their perspective and values that they developed in completely different environments of their respective guilds

but then it takes another turn in the comedy direction of her perceiving gray's declaration of never turning on his friends no matter what as a declaration of gray's love for lucy and its supposed to be funny about how she jumps to conclusions and has a short temper when it comes to romantic rivalry but its just odd to me (although it does showcase how juvia doesnt have a naturally gloomy disposition and shes really high energy and strong in a fight when her emotions are running high)

in actuality i feel like an emotional appeal was really the only way gray could beat juvia who is an s-class wizard and reasonably couldnt be beaten by gray, especially when hes still injured from the mission on galuna island

so ya, im dissatisfied with the comedy cheapening this moment in the phantom lord arc and the nature of the comedy, but realistically its the only way gray would be able to win against juvia and juvia isnt a stone cold bad ass like her reputation made her out to be, shes a teenage girl with a wide spectrum of emotions which is part of what this part of the arc shows during the gray vs juvia fight

unfortunately great stories can sometimes be hurt by author's choices in the direction the story takes and constrained by their genre and target demographics but that how it is sometimes

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

wibta if i held an intervention for my cousin?

strap in bc this is gonna be long, but first i need to introduce this little cast of characters: I (26f), my sister (23f) and my cousin (22f) are literally the only young ones in my family. my fathers siblings never married, and i have only my mother's sister (50sthF) who has married and also has a kid. so this made us kind of close since we were kids, especially my sister and my cousin (due to their close ages) were always together. we did live far from each other, and could only meet one or two times in a year.

my cousin and my sister have ocd. i have depression. we all have anxieties. my aunt and my mother both have anger issues, so we kind of can guess what kind of house my cousin is living in. and also from what we could see during our short visits. so yeah, we're all fucked up, but ever since i started therapy and forced my sister to go as well, things started to change. my cousin kept making excuses about money issues, and not really needing any therapy, but her ocd started spiraling down very quickly after her cat got sick last year (we'll get to that soon).

so here's where the problem lies: my cousin has ocd, and needs to constantly ask for approval. she also has severe separation anxiety, to the point that she cant even think about a family member or her cat dying. and see, i get that! we also had beloved pets who died and honestly it still fucks us up, but she is getting delusional about it. god forbid we mention that the cat is now an old lady, or say that shes not as sharp/agile as she was before—this makes her cry immediately. also her ocd is very focused on her cat: she thinks she can carry diseases to her cat, she gets hysterical if we change our clothes near the cats bowl, asks everyone repeatedly if sth unrelated might make the cat sick. shes also of the belief that if someone uses an insect spray, then the poison will stay there till she goes to that place and carries the poison to her cat and making her sick. we kept explaining to her that if the sprays would work like that then we wouldnt suffer from a serious ant infestation for the third year in a row, but as it goes with ocd, she just cant accept it. she only believes what her mother says, and well. her mother gets agitated Very Quickly and they start fighting which makes everything worse.

usually id interfere and tell my aunt to just get along with my cousin as shes going through therapy and medication, and i saw it first hand on my sister that it takes time for ocd to get calmer. its not like oh u started therapy? why arent u already performing like a mentally healthy person?? this is what i suffered from when i first started my therapy. but my aunts main issue isnt her ocd. the ocd is par for the course—the main problem is that my cousin never helps around the house.

we knew this, since we have been together forever, that my cousin never works. she complains a lot, even snaps if u ask her to do two things at once (even if its like hey check the kettle and btw put this glass in the sink as well). and my aunt has zero tolerance for her attitude, which leads to her doing the chore herself and well this kind of encourages my cousin to get away from the chores by complaining. she was like this ever since we were KIDS. she'd play with us and make a mess, but when we were supposed to clean everything shed either not do a thing (saying "i dont know how to" even to simple things like put the thing in the basket) or shed just. vanish. whenever we ate lunch or dinner, shed immediately go to the bathroom, and come out after everything was cleaned and washed. and before u say there might be sth else, it really wasnt. she even admitted to it later. she just didnt want to do a single shit. and well, now that shes older, its getting kind of upsetting. whenever she's alone at home she does NOTHING. and when my aunt comes back from her trip SHES the one who has to clean after my cousin, even tho she has just arrived home. this is why no matter how much she asks us to go stay with her when shes alone, we never go. bc we dont want to clean after her. or when she comes over to our house she just. barely does a thing.

this is taking a huge mental and physical toll on my aunt, bc shes physically disabled (severe migraines caused by a bubble in her head, and recently due to her bad workplace her right hand and arm are also not doing well), and even tho she kind of brought this on herself (but indirectly encouraging my cousins behavior), its still really upsetting. whenever we go to their house, my sister and i try to shoulder a part of chores, bc 1) our aunt shouldn't have to do everything by herself and 2) we were taught to help. my parents never had any tolerance for us slacking off.

cut to last week when we went to their house, and it was a huge war zone. my aunt kept shouting at my cousin for things that werent her fault (like her asking for approval or complaining about sth someone did), and on the other hand my cousin kept dodging the chores, and when my aunt asked her to do ONE thing she kept snapping at her and complaining like it was a huge deal (it really wasnt. example: my aunt asked her to put her clothes which she had already folded and put on her bed away. my cousin snapped at her that she would do it and she should get off her back and then kept complaining that her folded clothes arent bothering anyone and she shouldnt be forced to put them away. this is not an exaggeration.) i also realized that part of the problem with their relationship was how my cousin kept complaining about everything to my aunt, which makes my aunt go insane bc she needs a break from the negativity, but my cousin is very clingy and would call her multiple times a day just to bitch about sth. and hey, i also bitch about things to my mother, but i dont call her that much when shes/im away, and also i try to balance it with good fun stories. i know my cousin isnt like having a very bad life, she just likes to complain about everything. but this, coupled with her insistent need for approval, and her clinginess, makes for a bad recipe.

so, when i finally had a private moment with my cousin, i told her that she needs to do chores, and this would do wonders to the current tension! i said this very gently and very quickly bc i didnt want my aunt to overhear us, and my cousin started crying and nodding and said she would try. this made me feel a bit calmer about the whole situation, until the next fucking day when my grandparents came to my aunts house and my cousin, u guessed, did nothing to help my aunt. at one point my sister found her kissing her cat instead of setting the table, and it made us both extremely mad.

i think that gently talking with her wont do good, bc she'd probably do the same thing again. i feel like i need to be more stern and a little bit harsher to hammer the point home, bc apparently she doesnt understand anything unless its shouted at her. im not gonna shame her or anything, im just gonna say that she needs to a) continue her therapy (which she has dropped for 5 months) b) take her pills regularly (which she doesnt) c) enforce a clear boundary between herself and her mother no matter how close they and d) do the chores. if she doesnt do these stuff, then she wont be able to get any sympathy from me, and my sister. also cant complain about it anymore if she's not going to do any fucking thing to improve her situation.

so, wibta?

What are these acronyms?

[iwanttofuckereh69]

now reading: 2ha vol 2

ch 71 - 88

lets go 

1. Mo Ran is more in love with concept of Shi Mei than Shi Mei himself

It started to dawn on me a while back but it slowly became clearer and clearer. Like, before there could be multiple explanations of his lack of interest in Shi Mei. Because their interactions in the first book were so sweet and wholesome and njgvtfninvghbjuvif but like reading how they cleaned up the house in silence was fucking painful. It’s like he tried to convince himself he was and he is in love with Shi Mei. Maybe he never really was, maybe only after he died Mo Ran began to convince himself he always did. Maybe he saw it as more than it really was because of grief. And because he is stupid. 

2. Shi Mei is a snake isnt he

I said it in my emotional post before ab ch 74, he totally pretended to be sick. I CONSULTED ALL MY FRIENDS (what i mean by that is my bestie and my boyfriend because im a loser like Chu Wanning) AND ASKED THEM TO TELL ME IF HE WAS SUS OR NOT. The verdict wasn’t clear but as i kept reading, it became super obvious. It was soooo sus when he just casually got out of bed while he was supposedly sick, just to menacingly and mysteriously stare at Mo Ran out of the window. As if it wasn’t clear enough before when he acted like a dainty lady all of the sudden. jnfjnju i love him, but omg im scared of what that little snake would do and what is his goal. Is that Taxian-jun’s dick really that fine 

@rosemary-screams i don’t know… how much longer i can take it… how much longer i can be true to my principles… to my love… its so hard… the weight of evidence seems so overwhelming…

3. i didnt realize before that Mo Ran’s grave was under the haitang tree. Maybe that wasn’t mentioned or maybe i forgot about it by the time i realized haitang tree’s significance nvgjnvgjvg NOW I KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS MEANT when you said its obvious from the beginning he loves Chu Wanning. (i mean im still not super convinced by the narrative; that doggo Mo Ran needs to try harder to connect those two lonely neurons scattered inside that thick skull of his)

4. I dont like that it was mentioned that infatuation pills exist in this universe. I dont like how they are introduced out of nowhere. That could be literally anything. Magic viagra. Or dick enlarging pills. ANYTHING. But no. It has to be infatuation pills. I dont like the fact that it seems like those are important. I really dont like that thought.

5. Shi Mei’s resemblance to Song Qiutong has been mentioned twice by now. Basically every time she appears, Mo Ran makes sure to note how she was similar to Shi Mei. And from what I understand Butterfly-Boned clan is pretty unique in their appearance? Is Shi Mei somehow… related to that clan? Like maybe only in a tiny bit tho… Or he's just THAT pretty <3

6. That person in black at the end of vol 2 is me trying to get my ship to work

But on a serious note, what an ending, what the hell is going on. Did someone else really got reborn as well? Wasn’t it supposed to be rare? tjnfgvtfbvgfnbvgjnik And like… when Mo Ran is trying to figure out who the hell has water element from the people he knows… He basically goes through everyone from the main cast aside from Shi Mei… I CHECKED TWICE. It gives me goosebumps. But Maybe Shi Mei doesn’t have any? Like, his cultivation is super lame.

And the fact that Mo Ran forgot that whole interaction... njrigvkrhiuvrfjhiukvgnh no wonder there's gonna be like 8 books or more....

In all honesty I don’t even know what else to say, im so stunned! What the fuck is going on! I NEED BOOK 3 NOW

BTW! Tell me what character from 2ha i should draw for kinktober and in what crazy situations would you want to see them. I'm too lazy to draw two people so choose wisely lol (leave a comment or send me an ask)

[wawawawawawawawawawawawawa]

out of interest, how do you think izaya developed aspd and npd? i know that pds typically develop as a result of trauma so i suppose his parents always being absent would be a factor but id also like to hear your thoughts on it. love the aspd izaya headcanon btw

first off, thank u!

and secondly, his parents being absent would definetley be a factor. i read somewhere that its actually children whove been neglected that are more likely to develop aspd rather than children who are abused, because the complete LACK of stimului contributes to aspd more than bad stimuli does. take this with a grain of salt though because my source is "i saw it somewhere" and im 90% sure that place was NOT a study so it might be wrong

but either way, both pds are known to be caused by trauma and both have a genetic component to them. the genetic component isnt SUPER well known, but it IS known that there's a hereditery component here

so honestly? i think izaya was born with antisocial tendencies. NOT aspd, i must stress- at a very young age, if he was given adequate support and treatment, they could've stayed tendeicies and he wouldn't have developed fullblown aspd. he couldve turned out like one of those guys with a bit of a skewed morality system but is otherwise mentally healthy enough to participate in society without wanting to kill himself or others. quirks over disorder

but from pretty much every account i can think of, izaya was ALWAYS an odd child, to the point where it was his father that instilled a love of humanity into him

When he was younger, I saw he was distant from others, and that made me worried. And so I wanted him to come to like humans and become a man who could strongly love people twice as others would. (source)

of course this isnt exactly very detailed wrt izayas behavior, but if its enough that his absent father noticed, it mustve been pretty serious

so wrt his aspd, i think he was born with those kinds of tendencies, which were then exasperated by the neglect and ergo got worse and worse over the years, culminating in high school with his friendship with shinra, blackmailimg of nakura, and his beginning to poke his nose in the underground

his npd is a bit trickier

so, the way i personally developed npd is that my mom would seem to have two perceptions of me in her head, depending on wether or not i was following the Good Perception or not. the first me, the good one, was intelligent, kind, and filled with potential. the other one was a stupid lazy monster. i was the good one, up until i did anything she didnt like, then i was the bad one. these two ideas getting fed into me led to me clinging onto the Good Perception as how i really was, and if something even for a second made me slip, i'd crash down from total egoism to total repulsion. And It Sucked!

(disclaimer: do not armchair diagnose my mother. i have my theories but they will stay private and i absolutely do not want a STRANGER butting into this, especially when they could know less abt mental illness than me and thus spread misinformation)

now, i dont think izaya's parents were like my mom- but there was still a dichotomy at play here. he would go to school, where he would be a smart student and praised by his teachers, even if he kept to himself. then, he'd go home, and be alone. as he got older, it only got worse- humans are social creatures, and we don't take well to being lonely. the mind starts to cope with it however it can.

as izaya started to venture deeper into the underground, he couldve started to develop a superiority complex about it. see, look- he's smarter than everyone. better than everyone. that's why he's alone, its because he's too good to be around them. not because he's worse. he's better.

because, especially once he gets to high school age... izaya is smart. izaya is perceptive. izaya would be able to tell that there's something different about him, and that's why people avoid him and he avoids them. there's something wrong with him in a way that's repulsive and unpalatable to most. that'd wreck a kid's self-image, especially a neglected kid's, since he'd already have low self-image from, yk, the neglect

and the dichitomy of the low and high self-image makes him develop npd- the ego masks the low self esteem, but both are equally felt and true, its not like his egoism and god complex are fake- it's all very real, he feels it all and believes it genuinely, and he clings onto it because if he slips, he KNOWS where he's gonna plummet

anyway thats just my take on it!! "it was his childhood" is prolly a boring answer but honestly a lot of mental illness has that answer at the root of it. art imitates life and all

[a-new-nobody]

y3@h b□t y0u st1ll h@d 1t t@k3n fr0m m3 by 1nv@l1d@t1ng 1t, @nd s0, s1nc3 y0u w3r3 th3 0n3 wh0 t00k 1t, 1t 0n|y m@k3s s3ns3 th@t y0u b3 th3 0n3 t0 r3turn 1t.

"how?" y0u ask, n0t kn0w1ng 1 h@v3 t0ld y0u h0w b3f0r3.

@p0l0giz3. *g3nu1n3ly*. th3n, 3v3n 1f y0u d0 n0t tr□lƴ b3l13v3 1t, y0u h@ve t0 @dm1t th@t @ll pr0n0un$ @r3 v@l1d. "he" us3d t0 b3 th3 s1ngul@r y3t p|ur@l pr0n0un, ƴ'kn0w? (@nd y0u h@v3 t0 s@y y0u'r3 r3turn1ng mƴ pr0n0un t00.)

@nd 1'v3 r3f3rr3d t0 th3 b0n3 3@t3r c0ll3ct1v3 @nd th3 1nf1n1tƴ Cu|t @s "they" (@lth0ugh th3 c0ll3ct1v3 1s m0r3 0f @n "it" 0r @ "xey") @nd th3y'r3 s1ngul@r n0uns, @re th3y n0t? @ s1ngul@r cu|t, @nd @ s1ngul@r c0ll3ct1v3, y3t "they" 1s st1ll c0rr3ct th3r3, r1ght?

@nd @s 1t curr3nt|ƴ $t@nds, th3 cu|t r3fus3s t0 1nt3r@ct w1th y0u unt1| y0u @p0l0g1z3 @nd tru|ƴ ch@ng3, b3c@us3 0f th3 h□rtfu| th1ng$ y0u'v3 b33n s@y1ng, @nd h0w y0u've n0t 0nlƴ h□rt th3m, ɓut @ls0 c0untl3ss 0th3rs t00.

[Plain Text Translation]:

[yeah but you still had it taken from me by invalidating it, and so, since you were the one who took it, it only makes sense that you be the one to return it.

"how?" you ask, not knowing i have told you how before.

apologize. *genuinely*. then, even if you do not truly believe it, you have to admit that all pronouns are valid. "he" used to be the singular yet plural pronoun, y'know? (and you have to say you're returning my pronoun too.)

and i've referred to the bone eater collective and the Infinity Cult as "they" (although the collective is more of an "it" or "xey") and they're singular nouns, are they not? a singular cult, and a singular collective, yet "they" is still correct there, right?

and as it currently stands, the cult refuses to interact with you until you apologize and truly change, because of the hurtful things you've been saying, and how you've not only hurt them, but also countless others too.]

(quick break from the silly and insane for a smal dip into the serious for this one. will return to silly later. maybe. (the infinity cult isnt actually upset btw! /nm and /nsrs all around here!))

-🧃[he/???]

I am being told by another anonymous user that the sincerity of my words maters greatly, so I cannot apologize as I still believe the same way. Though I suppose you can have your pronoun.

A cult and a collective may be singular nouns but they imply many people, thus the use of "they" being valid. "It" is also not a proper pronoun to refer to a person as, very dehumanizing, but if the bone collective is comprised of creatures or animals I see "it" being acceptable. "Xey" is not a word.

I am saddened that the cult does not wish to speak with me anymore, though I can understand to some extent why. They have likely seen many more infinities then I could ever dream of, there is likely a world they have seen where all of which I disuse is complete nonsense and highly incorrect, and being of infinity they would likely all get mixed together in away that would make one wish for every infinity to be a bit more similar to each other.

[silver-wield]

from what what I've heard the sakaguchi thing and aerith's death has nothing to do with his mother. The movie that , that rumor pertains to is actually the ff cgi movie souls within something like that? I forgot the title but it wasn't famous.

And tbh ff7 story writing isnt even good to begin with. Like are you serious right now? I'm still hoping to be proved wrong in this regards because I'm about to send them a link to niel gaiman's masterclass program.

FF x-2 had mixed reviews btw. Because it kinda took away what made ff10 special at the end.

And being that ff12 and ff14 are my favorites, you should try them out because good god they write such well written characters.

In the first place. If this girl was really meant to signify his mother, wth would he agree to write her into such a selfish bitch who only thinks about stalking and moving on? You had to drag her so she would just do her duty for christ sake. If this was someone who's supposed to be similar to his mom, wouldn't he be giving her more respect and importance? If so, sounds like to me toriyama has more power than him then. So is his loss really that big of a deal when you can't even feel he's there when he's still there?

And tbh, if there was a better example of "everlasting love" why not focus on everyone who died? Cloud doesn't even bring up his own mother like tifa does which is weird right? Especially if this is about his mother. That's why it's a shame why the "we'll see them there over the mountains" being fckd over by sena is irritating. And why the lack of bringing up and expanding on Zack and Claudia and everyone else like avalanche irritates me so. Like fr, why is jessie the only one that got brought up? Wedge and biggs were his friends too, The first friends he made on his own after zack and tifa.

I honestly don't know or care what sakaguchi's inspiration was. Even if he did mean it as a loose homage to his mother, the way it was written is ass. The creepy tunnel vision obsession with this two faced pink bitch just irritates me. They all lost people they knew and cared about for longer than her. Why is she being treated like the next JC? She wasn't even nice to anyone when she was alive. They're all fucking weird.

[gribblehusband]

*crawls out of the depth of the earth*

I arrived!

I would have asked more questions earlier but life got in the way. Sadly I didn't come so far to listen to the other playlist on YouTube BUT my god I have been listening to the music on Spotify so much.

It's too the point where I hear certain songs from the playlist and think about your fic.

I vaguely remember that you said it's alright to ask what you have planned for the side fanfiction and I stand here to ask just that :33

omg im so curious about which songs specifically you associate with dotf. the one i associate most with vos isnt even a serious one (xoxo kisses hugs) but everytime i hear it i see that little freak doing a little dance in my head

alas i dont have a lot planned out for balm for the soul. i wanna finish dotf first, which im currently taking a break from writing right now until i get some stuff sorted out. however! i will tell you my unorganized thoughts i have right now.

if the main three love interests from balm for the soul were animals theyd be: tes would be a wolf, helex would be a grizzly bear, and tarn would be a bird of some sort. probably a bird of prey.

i have a scene planned out where helex and the mc lady and the tramp a really juicy peach reminiscent to how he was supposed to do that with a brain in the comics before it was scrapped. and it will be sexually charged mark my words.

tarn is going to nickname the mc after a city on cybertron to cement their place by his side. because hes possessive like that. you will see this in dotf btw.

tes will have long fluffy hair that’s naturally very soft. he melts when you run your fingers through it.

im still working on exactly how tarns transforming addiction will translate when he literally can no longer transform. he will take up a vice of some sort to replace it. im considering smoking although i do think hed be the most insufferable pretentious vaper to ever walk the earth

the mc knows how to play various instruments. violin and piano being two of them. i headcanon that music on cybertron is very synth heavy and industrial so itd be new sounds to tarn that he would appreciate and be fascinated by. its what bonds him and the mc together at first. thinking about having him call them his songbird.

some songs that remind of of balm for the soul include: concertina ballerina by alternative radio and like a dog by ferry!!

this is so disjointed and im sorry i have nothing actually concrete but i thought i should share what i do have >:33

[barbieb0y]

going through it rn (it: stardew valley brainrot. i can see why people are obsessed with this game)

i have. so many thoughts a whole fanfic is being written in my head as we speak i am serious about an oc for once and so i have to put it down somewhere but like this is kinda cringe so im putting it all under the cut LOL

i want to say meet me but atp he feels like an oc that vaguely resembles me so. he has my name and bits of my traits and experiences tho so lol. meet my farmer oc safar but also i wished i named him link instead

hes supposed to have glasses why does this picrew not have glasses i wished i was good at drawing

hes a twink. thats literally the first thing that pops up in my head when i think about this guy. friendly, easy-going twink who was a bit nervous when he first arrived in pelican town but now hes always bothering people

literally prefers doing anything else but actual farming but everyone calls him farmer anyway. loves fishing especially and is #besties with willy (not actually canon ingame bc i keep neglecting willy IM SORRY) tho he absolutely despised it at first bc he found it hard + had a bad experience with fishing when he was little (this is actually true. this is canon irl safar lore i just buried it in the depths of my mind bc it hasnt been relevant until now)

married to elliot bc he is a disaster gay who put in all his goddamn effort he could muster in his tiny body in wooing the hermit writer by the beach when he realised he's actually attracted to him and that hes not just platonically-inclined to him bc he lives on the beach and therefore a potential fishing buddy

also besties with penny bc idk i like penny

just wants to get along with everyone but damn some bitches do be bitches

has a grey tabby cat named pumpkin :D

wants to blow up joja mart

also chose to have fruit bats over mushrooms for that cave thing

this is just me being delusional but one time i fished beside leah at the pond near her house bc i thought itd be funny but then i had this vivid scenario consisting of this dialogue:

"wow, you really are good at fishing. no wonder elliot's got a thing for you"

"he WHAT now"

"um"

somehow forgot elliot's birthday in year 1 and now hes all dramatic about it while elliot himself doesnt really mind but im like "BUT BABE"

refuses to upgrade the farmhouse for the 2nd time. a nursery is the last thing he wants. robin refuses to replace it with anything else

games on lazier farmer days (they do have good internet in sdv right. right)

elliot was on tour during new years and new years eve and hes somewhat still salty about it and pretends to sulk when elliot finally came back a few days into spring

elliot is a bit concerned with his husband's naming scheme for the ducks. one is named duck. one is puck. one is buck. he fears what the next one will be named

favorite gifts would probably be pink cakes (or anything pink really), pizza, apples, snails and tulips

hated/disliked gifts would be all vegetables. and joja cola

will add more if i come up with more shit (pretend theres a saluting emoji here my phone doesnt have it help)

this is what he looks like ingame. btw bc that picrew isnt really doing him justice lol