#this specific segment is so special to me

[ratatatastic]

"I gotta have you talk about Barkov a little bit... 'cuz, you know, he's your Captain but like... What should we know that we don't know about this guy? He's so quiet, he keeps a low profile—I'm sure that's by design—but he's the quietest, incredible superstar that...When Chris Pronger was working there (VP of Hockey OPs/Senior Advisor from 2017-2020), I remember he used to say to me, 'Hey, this guy is a Top 5 player in the game.' Even when nobody was even putting him in the Top 10 at that time, you know? But what makes him so great? What do you know about him now that you thought you knew before you got there?" "You know, well, everything—because I'm with you! I knew he was in the league, I knew he was a great player but playing on the other side—I'd see him play twice a year and I wouldn't watch that much and I had no appreciation for how good he was. But the answer—I'm gonna give you an answer about Barkov and it's not gonna be good enough... 'cuz I can't answer that question about him yet, I still haven't gotten to figure it out. I don't know to do it justice but he's this extreme perfect blend of absolutely no ego and an incredible drive to be better at the same time. So usually the guys that are really driven have a bit of an ego. Ego's not bad always, right? Maybe I'm using the wrong word to describe it but he will put his teammates and his—everything—first, and it won't bother him one bit! That's exactly the way he wants it! He doesn't want to be the first guy out, he doesn't want to—it's not that he doesn't want to do interviews because of the media! Talk to this guy! You walk in our room—you don't know hockey and you don't know names—you can't tell if he's the 1st forward or the 13th forward by the way he treats people. That's absolutely the truth! And the reason he's not appreciated as much as a player is: I have never, ever once seen him even remotely cheat to the offensive side of the game to score a point. He just won't do it. That doesn't mean he's sitting back defensively! He doesn't give a rat's ass about his point totals, he just wants to win. So he's never gonna put the numbers up that he could. If Barky decided he was gonna generate points—if somebody'd convince him, 'Hey, Barky! If you just cheat the game and score—we'd got a better chance of winning!' I don't know, [he'd put up] 120, 130 points? Like he is brilliant but he will never, ever put the game—you know, what? He wouldn't put himself in front of the game. The game demands certain things and you can't get past that no matter how good you are. There are certain things you got to do in this game and usually those are hard things... he'd never once put himself in front of the game." "You can't score 120 or 130 without cheating a little bit, right? It's just a real—" "Yeah, except those guys don't call it cheating! They call it anticipating. Bad players cheat, good players anticipate." "They see things before they happen, Paul! That's what happens!" "Exactly, exactly!"

The Cam & Strick Podcast | 9.24.24 (x)

[sgiandubh]

No lies last forever, part 2: the (over)due confirmation

With the Happy Sad Confused Tenth Anniversary Live Special being made available online, I think all doubts have now been lifted about the entire Intergalactic Bullshit this fandom has been deliberately fed for years and years in a row, by a cheap, sad troll and his accomplice. Both imbeciles' determination being only matched by the cast's complete indifference to fandom drama and, as I already wrote (https://www.tumblr.com/sgiandubh/764711074507390976/no-lies-last-forever?source=share), ***'s incompetent, tone-deaf PR.

You can watch the entire recording here, by the way:

The part where S specifically addresses his (non-existent) 'friendship' with William Shatner has been explicitly planted by the end of Jack Quaid's dedicated segment. That it has been discussed and planned prior to the show is obvious. And this time, Josh Horowitz wasn't even subtle - he announced the topic way before it 'spontaneously' popped into the conversation (39:42):

Transcription follows:

Josh Horowitz (JH): 'So, what's the dream for further voiceover roles, do you want a Pixar movie, do you want Outlander -the cartoon, what do you want?'

[laughter throughout the panelists]

S: 'Oh, I'm a Star Trek fan, actually' [women in the audience boo and shout - I wonder why, seriously], 'I am a Star Trek fan, I grew up watching Next Gen, so maybe Below Decks is... come on, guys.. '

[Note: yeah, he's such a fan, he has no idea the correct name of the cartoon spin-off, in which Jack Quaid has a voiceover role, is Star Trek: Lower Decks]

JH: 'We'll get him out in a second' [note: Jack Quaid], we'll talk some Star Trek, amazing...'

See? Not even subtle, if you ask me. I think this is something S wanted out for a good while now. It doesn't erase or even ease the pain and the trauma brought to so many people in this fandom by a pair of idiotic bullies, but I think it was very brave of him and, at any rate, it's better later than never.

And so, I waited. And waited. And waited. And then, here it went (01: 02: 54):

JH (consulting notes):' Um, we also should mention Star Trek: Lower Decks, we talked Star Trek a little bit earlier...'

Jack Quaid (JQ):'And, by, the way, this is the last season of Lower Decks, but we would have loved to have you! What the fuck, I didn't know you watched the show! [inaudible, if someone caught it properly, something like 'that was so close', I'd love to know more and especially who said it - thank you] Unbelievable!'

S: ' That is so cool, man!'

JQ: 'Oh, thank you, dude! Oh, yeah, hey, let's get rendered (?), let's do this, we keep going, let's get him on, let's do it!'

JH: 'Isn't...isn't William Shatner a big Outlander fan? I feel like he is...'

S (very uneasy): 'Ah... erm... yeah... (scratches back of his head)...I hung out with him once, we went to his stables and I watched him like riding a horse and stuff.... And, I don't know, it was really weird, cause sometimes I wonder if I am speaking to him via messages and stuff, or if it's actually his assistant [JQ: 'oooh!'], I don't know...'

JQ: 'Does his assistant look a lot like him?'

S (chuckles): 'Kind of...Yeah, you can't tell them apart. Yeah, no, but I believe he was a fan, until he saw me ride'.

Despite the jocular tone, I think everything is pretty much clear, here. Definitely a prepared conversation, despite Horowitz's efforts to make it sound playful and spontaneous. Something he even took prior notes about and made sure to include in the panel - nothing more serious than that, in fact. As for the sad cretin mentioned there, what would be left to say... S sent the guy to Coventry in barely two phrases and actually poked fun at his appearance and demeanor ('you can't tell them apart'). So long for the fictional 'friendship' and 'communication' between S and The Assistant, so long for the braggadocio that horrible little man exhibited all the way, pretending he actually had a personal relationship with S (well, as we all see, he actually doesn't: he doesn't even have a name, in S's book, as acquaintances, let alone friends, do). His only claim to fame was what, in reality? Answering some X DMs sent by S to his employer? Hello? How about his threats, then? How about his repeated calumny of people he didn't even know, calling them 'crazies', 'in need of medical attention', etc?

And please, don't come after me with that sorry excuse that 'it's S's humor'. There was nothing humorous about it and I have proven it already.

I will leave you draw your own conclusions about the non existent friendship with Shatner, something that has probably been 'encouraged' ex nihilo by *** and taken to dramatic cheapness and conflict with and within this fandom by The Assistant himself, mainly, and his friend, the OG Troll. I do not remember hearing/seeing Shatner himself saying all those horrible things (please correct me if I am wrong), so until I am proven the contrary, it's only logical to have many thoughts and questions about these people's strange, very strange obsession with OL and its two main co-stars.

Not to mention the most idiotic threat I have ever read in this fandom. Something I fell upon by absolute chance this morning. I mean, I couldn't even believe people actually bought such primitive, kindergarten bullshit:

[July 29th, 2017]

' Do you still want OL to continue or not, people?'

Empty, illogical threats: why would *** cancel its actual cash cow show, just because two co-stars had something SO obvious, that people realized there was more than the official narrative to it? And what about the crazy story about Albrecht & co. investigating and allegedly menacing fans with going to court? Has this cretin ever realized the potential media scandal would have far outweighed the inanity of such a claim? That it could very well have a serious impact on ***'s company profile and future projects, even?

I really, really think both of these Unsavory Clowns should find another playground and another obsession to cling on (wasn't the first, would not be the last). Elsewhere. In a galaxy far, far away.

PS: Thank you, regular attendee who bravely spilled the tea and thank you, old shipper who came forward and confirmed. And many heartfelt thanks to all of you shippers, old and new, who also bravely stepped forward with their personal take on everything these two have done to this place.

Dare we hope this is the beginning of the end? What is sure, is that no lies last forever. Or as we say in Romanian: minciuna are picioare scurte și adevărul o ajunge/'a lie's got short legs and truth will always catch up with it'.

[Later edit]: edited to add a new, improved clip that actually does include the entire conversation.

[piningforstan]

Talking in Your Sleep

Part One | Part Two

Summary: You start to suspect that there’s more to Stan than what he tells you, at least while he’s awake. Asleep is a different story.

Pairings: Stanley Pines x GN! Reader

Word Count: 2.1k

Warnings: Not really any? Let me know if I missed one

A/N: All Most of my oneshots are inspired by songs I guess😂 I’m thinking there might be 2 or 3 parts to this one

Stan lied.

To everyone.

Perhaps it was delusional to think that it didn’t apply to you. You, your reasoning was, were special. At the end of the day he crawled into bed next to you and pressed his cold toes to your calf, laughing as you squirmed away. You made grocery lists together and raided the aisles for food and supplies. It was you that he whispered his fears and hopes to.

So you thought nothing when he lied to the tourists, lied to the banks, lied to the man who “dropped” his wallet (Stan had pickpocketed it and you forced him to return it). You thought nothing when the lies bled into your daily life, domestic bliss disrupted with the occasional white lie. You told yourself: everyone does it.

It didn’t mean anything.

Right?

The room in the Shack that you stumbled upon on accident one day while looking for warmer blankets. “My brother’s room,” he told you. The brother, that you knew, was dead. You let it be, didn’t ask questions. But if it was his brother’s, why did all of the books say his name? Stanford Pines. Scrawled in margins and on the wall like a hasty addition. You didn’t have time to inspect it too closely, but the handwriting looked too neat to be Stan’s — tidy and cramped, unlike the sprawling letters you had seen him print on your paychecks.

STNLYMBLE his license plate read. It wasn’t his brother’s car, he affectionately retold stories of his time in the vehicle before. Maybe it was a tribute of some kind?

A million instances that accumulated in your mind like clutter in an attic, each one a box that you labeled and tucked away for later.

The first snow had just coated itself over Gravity Falls when the sleep talking started. You were roused awake by Stan twitching and muttering, the alarm clock blinking the time at you from the nightstand.

Too early. You rolled over, trying to grasp at the last remnants of your dream. It wasn’t much longer before he was muttering again, louder this time, hands clutching at the sheets and his face scrunching in unmistakable pain.

“Portal…help…” whatever disturbed his dreams made no sense to you here in the real world. You listened quietly. “I promise, Ma…I promise.”

Segments of promises and reassurances, bits of stories that you hadn’t heard before and couldn’t parse out yourself. It didn’t concern you at first, chalking it up to stress — about the Shack during the cold winter months, or maybe whatever work he did in the basement.

And then they became more specific. Unsettling.

“I didn’t mean to. It was an accident. An accident.” Sweat glistened on his forehead and wet the dark curls at his temples. The weirdest part is when he would whimper: “I’m sorry, Ford. I’m sorry. The portal…”

The portal, the portal, the portal — the one reoccurring connection to all of the sleep talking.

The dreams were worse during the holidays; Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. It was sometime after the beginning of the new year and you were nestled into one another on the couch when you asked him, “What’s the portal?”

Stan kept his gaze on the TV but his body stiffened beneath you. “What?”

“The portal.”

“What’re you talkin’ about?”

You don’t know why, but you sensed that you’ve crossed a line, somehow, said something wrong. In an effort to lighten the mood, you injected a hint of humor in your voice, “You’ve been sleep talking lately and you keep mentioning a portal. Is it a bad dream or something?”

“Or something,” Stan coolly replied.

A beat passed between you, tension palpable. The TV flickered off. Stan untangled himself from you without a word and started up the stairs. You stumbled after him.

“Stan, what is going on?”

“Nothing,” he said, whirling on you, one hand braced on the rail. “I’m tired is all.”

You steeled yourself for an argument, aware of it approaching like a storm on the horizon. “For weeks — months — you’ve been having these awful dreams and talking about someone named Ford. And a portal.”

Sometimes you wake up in tears. Sometimes the pain in your voice is enough to make me nauseous. Sometimes you cry for forgiveness.

“S’probably nothin’.”

“Nothing? Stanford, I know something is wrong.”

You had both made it to the landing now, an old fashioned draw. Shadows thrown across his face, Stan possessed an unpredictable air, sharp and glinting like the blade of a knife in the dark. It slipped away just as quickly as the image had impressed upon you. Did you imagine it?

His features arranged into a semblance of shame, sheepish in nature. “I jus’ don’t wanna talk about it, alright? I’m sorry you had to deal with that. You ain’t gotta worry about me, doll.”

You wanted to press the matter. Wanted to know why he was being elusive and why his explanation rubbed you the wrong way.

But you didn’t.

A month or two passed. Spring lingered in the woods, melting snow and glimpses of greenery. You hadn’t mentioned the portal or the dreams again. Stan would go some nights without sleeping at all. You knew this only because you would wake up at night and roll over, expecting his warmth and finding the bed cold and empty.

“What are you doing in the basement?” You asked one day when you were feeling particularly brave. Stan was your kind-of boyfriend, after all, and you asserted to yourself that you had the right to know where he spent most of his time.

Stan, shoveling food in his mouth, shrugged and replied in a muffled tone, “Science stuff.”

He was off doing science stuff when you poked around the entirety of the Shack, searching for this alleged basement. How could there be no doors? You patrolled the perimeter of the building and spotted a cellar but it refused to budge. It unsettled you that couldn’t find an entry to the basement and hadn’t thought to even look before now.

“You wouldn’t want to see it, it’s boring,” he would tell you and you would believe him, his large hands roaming over your skin. “I can think of much more fun things to do up ‘ere.”

It worried at the back of your mind constantly, this idea that you were just another victim in Stan’s lies. Were you being dramatic?

The answer came to you in the dark of the night, moonlight spilling over the floor in silvery bars. Stan woke you as he staggered out of bed, muttering and bumping into the dresser that now hosted a mixture of your clothing. You sat up.

“Stan, honey? Where are you going?”

He never ceased his muttering to answer, persisting down the stairs in his sluggish manner. You grabbed a robe and threw it over yourself, following after him. After several more attempts to get his attention, you came to the conclusion that his sleep talking had now progressed into sleep walking. You knew you should’ve woken him but you curiously trailed behind, through the living room, the kitchen, and into the gift shop.

A blue glow from the vending machine washed over Stan as he ambled towards it, thick fingers pushing the buttons. Was he just hungry, sleepily venturing for a midnight snack? You wouldn’t put it past him. You reached out a hand, ready to rouse him from his trance, when a strange whirring emitted from the vending machine.

Shock rooted you in place as the machine didn’t release any food but rather swung open miraculously on its hinges, disclosing a corridor instead. Stan never even hesitated as he just continued on, broad shoulders and bedhead disappearing around the corner.

Rendered motionless for several moments, you finally decided to go after him. Where was he going? He could hurt himself.

You shuffled into the corridor. An uneasy feeling descended upon you like the legs of a spider, brushing against every inch of your skin. The chill cutting through your robe told you that you were being led further under ground, finally emptying into an enormous room.

And it wasn’t even the size of the room that surprised you, but rather the gigantic metal contraption crouched to one side. From what you could tell it wasn’t working. A huge, darkened eye stared at you from the middle of the rafters.

A window?

A portal.

Stan had ceased his dreamlike ambling to stand before this machine, gazing up at it like it might offer him some kind of absolution.

Your voice, small and afraid: “Stan?”

The trance broke, a taut rubber-band snapped in the way that his shoulders rounded and he glanced around in confusion. You could only imagine the look on your face as he turned to you.

Your name left his mouth, panicked. “What are you doing here?”

“Stan, what is that? Where are we?” Hysteria gripped you. “What’s going on?”

“You shouldn’t be here,” Stan replied.

“Did you…did you make this? What is this?”

Stan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let’s go upstairs. I can explain all this. A’right?”

“No, Stan, I’m tired of all of the lies and the sneaking around. I’m staying here. And you’re going to tell me what’s going on.”

A defeated expression crossed his face. He went over to a panel of controls and leaned against it, hip and elbow. “Ya know I would never hurt ya on purpose, doll. I-I care about you.”

You wanted to soften. But you held yourself strong, heart fracturing. “Stan?”

“I guess I don’t know where to start.” He scrubbed a hand over his face, then slowly began to unravel the story that you had pieced together over the time. Except, this time, details were changed— the truth, you realized, not the altered version he had given you.

Everything you thought you knew about this man, this man that you loved, disappeared and took on a new form. The childhood in New Jersey accompanied by a twin brother. His years as a drifter a result of his father kicking him out, not a pursuit of freedom and independence. Even the Mystery Shack, his name, wasn’t his.

Stanley Pines, he said.

Stanley. Not Stanford.

And his brother wasn’t dead but lost in time, and he was trying valiantly to find him again.

“All of this, all of the lies…are for him. It’s my fault that he’s gone and I need to fix my mistake.” Stan’s voice had taken on a strained edge, on the verge of tears. “I’ve made so many but this one…this one I’m close to fixing.”

“You come down here to work on a…portal,” you said, not sure what else to say.

“It’s the only way.” Stan took a step towards you, then thought better of it. “I-I didn’t wanna lie. But I had no idea how much you would mean to me. It was one lie an’ then another and I couldn’t take any of ‘em back. Not without you lookin’ at me like how you are now.”

“I trusted you,” you breathed.

“I’m still me.” He flinched. “Well, kinda. Besides the name and everything. That hasn’t changed. The way I feel about you hasn’t changed.”

“What do you mean? Everything has changed,” you snapped, “Everything I know about you is a lie! I don’t even know what to think right now.” You shook your head as if to dislodge the torrent of thoughts. “You led me to believe that you were someone else. That your brother — who is actually you? — died. I grieved him with you, Stan. And you just lied to me again and again like it was nothing. How do I know I can trust you?”

“I’m tellin’ you, I didn’t want —”

“To lie? But lying is what you do best. It’s all clear to me now. I-I can’t do this. I need air.”

Your feet carried you without permission, away from the strange basement and the portal and Stan. Stanley. Not Stanford. You heard his heavy footsteps as he chased after you, one hand on your shoulder and spinning you to face him.

“Don’t go. Please. I can make this right.”

“No, you can’t.” You fought back tears as you looked at him, so heartbreakingly handsome and wounded and earnest. “I can’t be with someone who I don’t even know. Everything about us has been built on lies.”

He didn’t try and stop you as you stepped out of his grip and back into the gift shop, nor did he follow you. You shoved out onto the porch and into the greying, mushy snow, gathered in piles in the corners of the forest. You didn’t know where you were going, but you couldn’t be here.

[lemoncrushh]

Live From New York

Summary: Harry's on SNL and he gets a little jealous when he thinks you're not there for him.

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1313

A/N: Super silly blurb from 2017 after Harry was on SNL. This was a request (some requests were oddly specific back then lol) that you have a bit of a crush on Colin Jost and Michael Che. It also helps that you know a couple of Rolling Stones songs that are mentioned at the end.

We gotta get away from here...

Harry's lyrics were still ringing in your ears as you watched the stage being set up for the next skit. Your stomach flipped when you realized it was going to be the Weekend Update segment. You liked this skit in particular, having always had a little secret crush on Colin Jost and Michael Che. Perhaps it was their humor, and the way they would sometimes roast each other that got your juices flowing, but they always managed to crack you up.

"Hey, come with me," you heard to your left.

You turned your head in time to see Harry walking toward the dressing room. Hesitantly, you followed him, quickly returning your focus to the monitor set up on the wall.

"Sit with me for a minute," he requested, beckoning you to the sofa where he sat.

Smiling, you did what he asked, taking his hand. "You were great."

"Yeah?" he grinned.

"Mmm hmm," you nodded. "I especially liked seeing you in that white Mick Jagger suit."

Harry chuckled. "Maybe I should add one to my wardrobe."

You scooted closer to him, hiking up your leg to lightly brush against his.

"I wouldn't be against it."

Just as Harry leaned in for a kiss, your peripheral vision caught sight of Colin and Michael on the screen.

"Oh!" you squeaked. "This is my favorite!"

"Um...alright," Harry paused as you sat up.

You thought he might've mumbled something under his breath, but then someone else entered the room to tell him to get ready for the next skit. He rose from the couch as you continued to watch the segment, giggling at everything the two comedians said. When it was over, you noticed Harry had left the room. You felt a little guilty, knowing this was his special night and you'd been ogling over two other men. Determined you find him to wish him luck on his next skit, you opened the dressing room door. Just as you stepped out, Colin and Michael were walking down the hall.

"Oh my god, you guys...I love you, you're amazing!" you exclaimed, the word vomit escaping your throat before you had a chance to stop it.

The two men stopped to thank you, and you chatted for longer than you'd expected. So long, in fact, that you missed Harry's next skit. He was just walking off the stage when you caught up to him.

"That was great," you lied, though you were sure it had been considering the comedic faux beard he had on.

"Really?" he asked with sarcasm and a deadpan stare. He knew you hadn't seen one second of the skit.

Unable to speak, you watched as he walked past you to the dressing room. You stood frozen, feeling more guilt ooze throughout your body than you thought possible. You'd hurt him.

"Harry," you muttered when you entered the dressing room.

No response.

"Harry, I'm sorry," you added.

Nothing.

You stepped closer to him, his back to you as he pulled on his slacks.

"Say something."

"'s nothing to say Y/N. You obviously had something more important to do than to be there for me."

"Harry, that's not fair," you argued. "I was there for you. I mean...I'm here! For you!"

He finally turned then, his eyebrow raised in question. "Really?"

"Yes!" When he just continued to glare at you, you shook your head, throwing your hands up. "I can't believe this."

"Can't believe what?"

"You can't be jealous because I was excited to see Colin and Michael."

"Are you fucking kidding me? I'm not jealous."

"Then what is it?"

Harry sighed, dropping his shoulders. "I'm just upset that you missed the skit."

"I said I was sorry. I didn't mean to. You're right, I got caught up in the excitement, but I truly did not do it on purpose. You're the one I'm here for. You're the one I'm immensely proud of! You're the one I'm in love with!"

The last sentence slipped out unwillingly. You couldn't take it back, but you also knew you didn't want to. Harry stared at you, his jaw set but his eyes softening. Then he separated the space between you in one stride, pulling you into his arms and kissing you on the mouth.

"I'm so in love with you," he whispered when your lips separated. He pressed his forehead to yours, cupping your face in his hands. "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" you choked.

"For..." he paused, "for doubting you."

"No," you shook your head. "I'm sorry. I should have been more considerate. I know you're nervous."

Harry chuckled, stepping back on his heels. "Is it that obvious?"

"Not blatantly," you grinned, running your hands up and down his arms. "But yeah, I can tell."

"'m so bloody nervous, 'm shaking."

"Well, babe, it's live TV. Of course you are! But you're doing amazing, and I'm so so proud of you."

"I still have another song to sing," he remarked.

"And I'm gonna be watching. I promise."

Oh tell me something I don't already know...

The second performance had gone well, and if anyone had really been paying attention, they could hear your claps and cheers the loudest.

You followed Harry back into the dressing room after the finale and credit roll where he had not surprisingly hugged every single member of the crew. You smiled when you sat on the sofa and watched him get undressed.

"So are you as proud of yourself as I am?"

He flashed his dimpled grin and shrugged. "Maybe."

"Are we going to the after party?" you asked cautiously. He hadn't mentioned it, but you'd heard there was one. You didn't want to rock the boat though, after what had happened earlier.

"Do you want to?"

You cocked your head nonchalantly. "It's your call. I'm fine with it. Either way."

Harry smirked. "You're funny."

"Me? Why am I funny?"

"You're trying not to get too excited again. But I know you."

"It's whatever you want, Harry, really. I was just wondering."

Smiling, he took her hand and kissed the back of it. "We can go. I just have to do something first."

"Okay. What's that?"

"Just a minute."

Harry turned toward the rack of clothes at the far end of the room. Then with a smug look on his face, he took something off a hanger, turning again swiftly so you couldn't see. But as soon as he stepped into the trousers, you knew what it was.

"Oh God," you giggled.

Harry looked back at you with a shit-eating grin before pulling on the shirt and jacket.

"C'mere, Mick," you beckoned.

"Wait, I don't have my wig on."

"Don't need it," you commented. "I just want the suit."

Harry finally turned around then to face you, making you grin from ear to ear.

"There he is," you murmured low. "My Midnight Rambler."

"Oh, Jesus," he scoffed which only caused you to giggle more.

"I said, come here," you demanded in a seductive tone.

"Yes, ma'am."

You rose from the sofa as he stepped closer to you. Pulling on the lapels of his jacket, you kissed him on the neck, your tongue licking and sucking his skin, sticky with perspiration.

"Hmm," Harry sounded, turning on his Mick Jagger impression once again. "Looks like someone wants some manky panky."

You laughed under your breath, pulling him backwards towards the couch. Sitting down, you urged him to come with you as you kissed his lips.

"What exactly is manky panky?" you asked. "I thought it was hanky panky."

"I dunno. Is it?"

You laughed harder, sliding your hands down his chest to unfasten the two remaining buttons.

"You fucking Brits," you mocked.

Harry lifted himself up to look you in the eye. "You know what this makes you then, don't you?"

"What?"

"A Starfucker."

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MASTERLIST | KO-FI | FEEDBACK

[fatuismooches]

wanderer saying that [name] is dottores "little pet" is so funny to me bc if you think about its the other way around

like he would actually do anything for you, with complaining some most times but yk

like a segment could be researching and they walk in, he turns into a damn puppy and just starts focusing on them while not really looking at what hes doing

you are really special, its not often any version of dottore lets go of their focus when experimenting

luv ya

Many people marvel at your ability to have the Doctor in the palm of your hand, but to you, who has been with him for so long, don't think much of it. Every time an agent or another Harbinger brings up how powerful you must be to have the segments so attentive toward you, you kind of just smile and shrug it off. Because it's just very normal to you but also extremely abnormal to others. You do suppose it's a bit jarring for others to see a segment that had worked for twenty seven hours straight, refusing to be bothered by anything, suddenly perk up and drag you in for some much-needed recharge (and then go back to work.) It's no wonder rule fifteen in the handbook is to retrieve you if a certain segment is acting out (Webby.)

But his behavior also gives you a bit of an ego boost for obvious reasons, I mean, who wouldn't get a bit puffed up having such a man at your beck and call? Of course, the segments don't do this much when others are around, because they will not be the subject of gossip for the agents and the Damselette, but well, they're not always successful. They have a very specific image to uphold - they can't be seen with you squishing and kissing their cheeks. However, it's not like anyone will have the gall to comment on you feeding him your latest sweet creation.

You don't really care about people who think otherwise or have their own misconstrued version of your relationship, they can talk all they want. In fact, some of the stories are so wild it makes you laugh, and you share them with Dottore, detailing how evil and heinous he is to keep you trapped with him. But really, all that matters to you is the love you have for each other, that no one else needs to understand.

[yourheart-inmyhands]

Second ask of the day I am so sorry if I am overwhelming you :(

But I was scrolling through your blog and someone requested Blade with a reader who was like terrified of him that they would not sleep or eat unless forced to.

Could you write the same for Dottore? I just feel like this would fit him well :D

~🍂 Anon (once again I am apologising for requesting a second time today. Feel free to ignore me)

omg no don't feel bad for multiple requests, i adore every request i get, even if there's multiple in a day :D <3

Warning: this post contains yandere-themes, including implied being held against ones will, mentions of drugging, mentions of restraints, mentions of permanently paralyzing someone, and other potential topics. Please read at your own risk!

Honestly, it doesn’t bother Dottore nearly as much as it should, but when has he ever been bothered by something this minuscule? Dottore isn’t an overly affectionate person, but he can’t deny the appeal of having someone waiting for him in his bed, it’s a nice change from the usual night spent in his lab, forcing himself awake for another hour. It’s a good change of pace for him as well, even if he has to use force to keep you compliant.

He’ll allow you free roam of the room during the day, certain you couldn’t get past the bars on the windows or the guards outside the door. When night rolls around though, it’s kicked off by a few of his segments coming to get you ‘ready’ for bed. They’ve been instructed to use any force necessary, which often means restraints or merely drugging you. This is so that when Dottore does eventually come around to go to bed an hour or so later, you’ve already had your time to cry and fight, tiring yourself out and making you perfect to snuggle up to.

Of course, he has considered permanently paralyzing you before, but a small, sick part of him likes it when you fight. Dottore enjoys the challenge you put up, so he may on occasion threaten it, among other things, he isn’t likely to actually do it.

There was an extra pep in his step as Dottore left the lab, choosing to let his experiments wait till morning in favor of going to rest with you. Normally he’d be there till sunrise the following morning, but as of late, he’s come to find that he much prefers your company at these hours. You had been extra difficult with his segments tonight, at least that was what they had told him, so they went ahead and administered some ‘medication’ to help you relax. It was a special formula Dottore had made for you and you alone, it was strong enough to keep you incapacitated till morning while also not making you weak enough that you needed assistance in breathing.  Kicking open the door to your bedroom, he was pleased to see you laying there, staring at him with tear-riddled eyes, small wet streaks running down your cheeks from the crying onslaught you had subjected yourself to. Oh dear, if only you knew how much this sight made his heart flutter.

If you never grow accustomed to Dottore’s presence, it’s not a worry, he honestly thinks it’s cute that you hate him so much. His heart is set aflutter when he sees how terrified you are of him, he thinks it’s just so adorable. I mean, everyone already hates him, thousands have nightmares of the things he’s done, but you, there’s something about you specifically that has him hooked. He can’t ever let you go.

[bump1nthen1ght]

A Very Monstrous Kinktober: Day 4 (Prostitution)

Kink: Prostitution

Pairing: Male!Android x GN!Reader

Other Kinks: Deepthroating, Cum Swallowing

Warnings: N/A

Word Count: 1047 words

Kinktober Masterlist

"Wow, it's so soft." Axel half-whispers, warm digits massaging your ass cheeks. His modulated voice is full of awe, so enraptured by the feel of flesh and muscle. Since coming to this planet where 90% of the populace are androids, cybers or other kinds of techno-life, this was a reaction you were getting used to.

Especially when it comes to your clients.

"You like?" You purr, wiggling your hops in his face. The audible whirr of his cooling fans kicking on makes you giggle.

"Y-yeah, I do." Axel mumbles, still in awe of the jiggling flesh. He gives your ass a timid slap, cooing at the recoil.

Axel was shaping up to be one of your favorite clients. He'd walked into his appointment, face flushed blue with coolant and stuttering out an introduction. He had muttered out that it was his first time with an organic, which you had already assumed but pretended to be shocked anyway. Most of your customers requested you because of the novelty of your fleshy body; you'd grown used to several minutes of petting and observation before they eventually asked you to spread open.

But Axel had been different. He had asked your name, asked if the way he touched you was okay. Even the way he fondled you felt different. It wasn't detached fascination, it was a desperate awe. He'd whispered sweet things about your body, admired your specific stretch marks, your dimples, and your skin's imperfections.

You think you'll give him your card after this session. It’s reserved for your most well-behaved, respectful clients.

But for now you have a job to do, and you want to show Axel all the things your fleshy body can do.

You flip around, pulling Axel into a hug. He squeaks, not unlike an old computer mouse, but quickly sinks into your embrace. He rubs his face into your warm skin, moaning at the sensation. Just a kiss to the cheek has him shuddering with a moan.

"Let me make you feel good, baby." You whisper in his audial port, Axel responding with an eager nod. His body readily complies as you push him back on the bed, slotting in between his legs. The sleek wiring pulses green and blue in between his segmented joins, flaring as you trace your fingers down them. It's adorable.

His modesty player is buzzing, whirring machinery underneath betraying how eager he is, if you couldn't already tell from his shaky whines and stuttered words.

"W-what are you-" Axel whispers, caught in a moan when you press another kiss to the plate, his hips jerking upwards. "Ooh, do that again, please."

"I can do you one better, handsome." Your hand caresses the seam of his plate and Axel is quick to let it pop open, sliding to reveal a pulsing phallus. It drips with a neon green lubricant, more like a vibrator in shape than a human penis. It also has several bumpy nodes, which only excites you for later.

Wasting no time, you lick up his shaft, paying special attention to those nodes, wondering how sensitive they are. Axel throws his head back with a breathless whine.

"O-oh, stars. That feels good." His voice catches with another moan as your hand wraps around the base of his shaft and squeezes. More neon lubricant gushes out of the slit at the top, which you lap up eagerly.

Yum, lemon-lime flavored.

You suck at the eager slit some more, Axels flailing hands grasping at your shoulder and neck, gently pulling your mouth closer, chasing tbe high.

"Your mouth...it's incredible!" Axel yelps. His whimpering voice sends a shiver down your spine.

You're definitely giving him your card after this.

"Your tongue, your lips, I've never felt anything like it. It's amazing."

"Hmm, and how about this?"

Before Axel can even mutter a "Huh?" you have him half-down your throat, cheeks sucked in. His voice processor glitches as he groans, those eager digits digging into your skin. "Oh stars!" He shouts as your tongue lathers around the shaft, slowly moving your head up and down.

He's a little too thick at the base for you to properly deep throat him, but you don't need to. You can see his wires pulsing in your peripheral, hear his pants and moans, and can taste the excess lubricant bubbling to the top. Axel grows bold enough to hold onto your cheek and fuck into your louth, although quite gently.

"I think-" Axel stutters, hips still humping into your throat, "I think I'm close."

You humm, the buzz around his shaft making his thrusts falter. Your lips pop off the top of his member for a second, quickly replaced by your hand. Licking excess fluid off your lips, you look Axel right in the eye.

"Oh yeah? Where do you want to come? Down my throat?" Axel nods, voice chip struggling to form words amidst his groans. It makes you smirk, giving one long lick up his phallus before deep throating him again. You set a more moderate pace, urging him to climax.

"Oh stars, ohh-" Axel's voice, even glitchy, is melodic. He sound so sweet, coming undone below you. "S-shit!" His chip distorts the audio, wires pulsing a bright flash as hot streams of lubricant shoot down your throat. It's a little sour, but also quite sweet.

You slowly let Axel out of your mouth, savoring the flavor of his phallus as you do. The running of his cooling fans reminds you of a kitchen vent, his phallus slowly sinking back into his modesty place for a quick recharge.

You climb up Axel's body, giving him gentle kisses as you do. He readily nuzzles into your skin, despite his systems already warning that he might overheat.

"That was....fantastic" Axel whispers.

The sheer reverence in his voice makes you giggle, pecking again at his jaw.

"Well, I'm not sure how long it will take to recharge but..." You run a finger up his wiring, batting your eyelashes. "We still have another hour left in our session. If you'd like to see some of the other things I can do."

Despite the warnings in his processor, despite the way his modesty plate slowly beeps as he lets it open again, Axel is eager.

"Yes please."

[thoughtfulfiction]

Social Media QB

Author’s note: reposting my old work on this side blog! Let me know if you’d like to read a specific one. Thank you for reading!

The reputation of the Chargers social media team was unmatched. They are known for being funny and up to date on all memes and pop culture references while also showcasing players’ personalities. That alone made you apply and this past year on the job had really been a once in a lifetime experience. Working with Megan and the crew was a daily adventure and you were becoming more and more comfortable calling the guys your friends. It even got to a point where you didn’t even call them by their names anymore.

Quentin was usually just “Q.” JK was always “J’Kaylin”, Derwin was “3” and your favorite nickname was definitely calling Justin “Sunshine.” At first it was a Remember the Titans reference but it became a lifestyle. Everything and everyone revolves around the sun and that’s exactly what it felt like when you were at work. All of the players were important and special but you could just feel the energy in the room shift when Justin was there. It was palpable, it almost took your breath away sometimes.

Off camera he was goofy, funny and had this uncanny ability to make the world stand still for a bit, even just for a few fleeting moments where it felt like you two were the only ones in the room. But then reality would hit and you were reminded that you work for the team and he’d never see you in that way, he was just nice to everyone he encountered. But on camera? It was all fun and games. There was a running joke, mostly based on his real feelings, that Justin hated cameras. He couldn’t stand being the center of attention or having people perceive him so he avoided the social media team altogether when phones were pointed in his direction. 

But sometimes, a rarity, you were able to get him on camera, even if it was just for a split second. The two of you reviewed the questions he was going to be asked before their Hot Ones appearance and there was ALWAYS a discussion, more like subtle begging if you all were going to have him participate in any content.

“We need Justin for this new segment we’re doing, so you’re gonna have to talk to him.” Megan sighs, grabbing her Stanley cup that was sitting on the counter. She’d just finished editing a video where she and her assistant put fart spray on the tiny mic and could still smell the rancid scent until she grabbed some Lysol spray to de-funk the place.

You were going through photos taken during practice earlier that morning and deciding which ones to post and without looking up you asked her, “why do I have to do it?”

Lorren and Allie giggle in the corner, shaking their heads. “You cannot be serious right now y/n,” Lorren gives you a pointed look.

“What?”

“We all know you and Justin have a thing for each other. Even if you won’t admit to us…or yourself. It’s pretty obvious.”

You finally raise your head up from your laptop, staring at them while also wracking your brain trying to figure out when your innocent crush had become so painfully obvious. If the girls knew, then Justin had probably somehow caught on and the thought of that made you want to dig a hole right outside on the practice field and never come out. “Is—am I that easy to read?”

“No one blames you,” Megan runs a loving hand on your shoulder. “And I’m sure you’ve been trying so hard to hide your feelings that you haven’t noticed that he’s doing an even worse job of hiding his massive crush on you.”

The look on your face sends the room into a fit of laughter. “We’re being serious. The way he looks at you and acts around you. Anyone can see he’s into you friend.”

You weren’t convinced, “I need an example.”

“Okay fine,” Lorren stands up to prepare a demonstration. “He wasn’t ready to put the mics on when he was mic’d up until you walked over and helped him get the mic in the perfect spot in his pads. And then he wore the friendship bracelet for six weeks because you handed it to him.”

Allie pipes up to put in her two cents. “And let’s not forget when he had you driving him around the golf tournament and kicked Zion to the curb. There’s no way all of those are just a coincidence.”

“Fine. I’ll go ask him if he’ll shoot the video for us but I’m not going to lose my job because of a meaningless crush on the starting quarterback.”

You waited around for the guys to leave treatment after practice and caught up with him on his way out. “Hey Sunshine, quick question for you.”

His cheeks turn a light shade of pink and he gives you a small tight-lipped smile. “What’s up?”

“I need you to do me a huge favor and be in this tik tok. It’s a short game and it’ll only take like 15 minutes.”

His deadpan face and disappointed dad sigh has you practically begging, saying “please” in your finest sing-song tone.

“Fine, I’ll do it.” You knew he’d crack, he always did. “On one condition. You also have to participate.”

You hold your hand out and he engulfs it with his much larger one. “You’ve got yourself a deal Herbert.”

“Okay the rules of the game are simple,” Megan begins from behind her phone screen before hitting record, “we’re going to give you these Canadian snacks and you’ll rate them on a scale from 1 to 10. One being it’s awful I’ll never touch that again and 10 being a solid snack that you’d eat everyday if given the opportunity.”

You and Justin nod, diving in on everything from the ketchup chips to the toffee. The video didn’t take long as promised and the quarterback went about the rest of his day with no further distractions.

In your office a few days later on the team’s off day, you were contemplating your life. Maybe you should take a step back from him so people don't get the wrong idea. Sure, your coworkers were convinced the crush was mutual but what if he was just being nice? He was always so focused on football and making the most out of every opportunity. Why in the world would he waste time flirting with a social media manager? It just made no sense. Instead of continuing to run a million imaginary scenarios in your mind you packed up your stuff and tried heading out to the parking lot. Even after all this time you still struggled to maneuver all the twists and turns of the building and somehow found yourself walking past the quarterback room. You intended to just keep walking but he was in there alone and called out your name when he saw you.

“What are you doing here? I didn’t think anyone would be in the building today.” His bright eyes staring down at you made your heart feel like it was beating out of your chest. You desperately needed to get it together.

“I came in to finish up a few things but I’m heading out now. What are you doing? I think you’ve watched enough film to last you a couple lifetimes.” That gets a light chuckle out of him and he shakes his head, the two of you knowing that his quest for perfection would never allow him to believe he’s watched enough film. “Thank you for shooting that video the other day. The fans are gonna love it, they’re always begging us to get you on camera.”

“No problem, anything for you.” He clears his throat after whispering the last part, desperately hoping that you didn’t hear it. Even though you definitely did. You should go home for the day and leave him alone in the office so he can get back to work. You should stop staring at his lips that look so soft and just begging to be kissed. He should turn around and get back to the playbook and the computer but here he is, standing still, right in front of you.

You’re just there, waiting for someone to rip the carpet out from under you, to fall on your face, for someone to tell you that this isn’t actually happening. The space between your bodies diminishes significantly, so much so that you can smell the Dr. Squatch Birchwood Breeze radiating off of him. It’s intoxicating and you swallow the fear in your gut and ignore all of the common sense thoughts plaguing your mind, allowing you to feel.

The kiss is tentative at first, he pulls back slightly, whispering if it’s okay to keep going as you feel his breath against your lips. You don’t respond but instead pull him in closer, hearing a satisfied husky moan from him as he allows your tongue access to his. His right palm rests against your cheek until he’s tilting your head up ever so slightly to deepen the embrace and he pulls you in even closer, holding on for dear life while closing and locking the door behind you. It was so much more than he imagined, these feelings that he’d been pushing aside were being confronted and magnified by the second. This innocent crush that you had on him were genuine, real feelings that created a deep ache in your bones, actively being soothed with his hands all over you as the two of you made out like helpless teenagers.

You didn’t think you’d have the strength to tear yourself away from him…until his phone rings. He ignores it the first time but it’s all you can think about by the fifth ring.

“Answer it,” you whisper breathlessly and you can feel him hesitating to pry himself away from you. The heat that was radiating off of his body that you felt being so close to him sends shivers down your spine at the sudden distance. A thousand unspoken apologies are painted on his face as he pulls his phone out of his pocket. He keeps the call short and sweet but the look of devastation is clear when he hangs up. “You have to go don’t you?”

He nods. “I’m so sorry. We can—we need to talk about this I know. And I promise we will. I just—I need to take care of this.” He doesn’t want to leave, not like this. Even if he knows you understand. Justin presses a kiss to the side of your head and whispers another “I’m sorry” leaving you in the room to think about what just happened.

You walk around the empty parking lot until you reach your car, letting out a deep sigh at the thought of what the conversation with him is going to look like after this. You need to be mentally prepared for good news, bad news and everything in between.

He is the sun after all. And sometimes when you stand too close, you might get burned. And maybe, just maybe, you’d avoid the burn altogether and bask in the warmth as long as you can.

[therealcallmekd]

Playing The Frame ! ! !

Left to Right : Lochanori (Locha) They/Them; Tiyazikin (Tiyaz) He/Him ; Mainarenzi (Maina) She/Her

finally threw together my thoughtform obesk ocs,,, theyre so silly and special to me....

They are silly creatures that I initially created as random ocs for the frame segment, they are shapeshifting thoughtforms that look alot like obesk despite their.... fun colors (very specifically the BSTRD colors for a reason :P) They're what I image the shells are that you use in that portion, I mean... they each have a striking personality so I just had to.

Plus a million doodles:

[tonythr]

Picking up Monarch Wings triggers Infected Crossroads and there is a lore reason for that

Another interesting fact that (in my opinion) is not talked about enough is that the Infection doesn't corrupt the crossroads after we take monarch wings just because it's a convenient point from a gameplay perspective to introduce the player to stronger enemies, or to show us the passage of time. It's because taking away the wings from that specific location directly affects the spread of the Infection.

In the game, we can clearly see how a specific segment of the Ancient Basin is overrun by the Infection. I'm talking about two big rooms in the western part of the Basin, one where we fight the Broken Vessel and the other where we encounter the Mawlurks. There is a third one near the Basin tram station of the lower line, but I assume it's just part of the same thing, just the Infection seeping through the ceiling of the main room. There is also the room that contains Monarch Wings, which is completely free of the Infection, but I'll get to it.

Those glowing bubbles and pulsing vines and orange clouds of fog are indicative of severe corruption by the Infection. Before Infected Crossroads, we see them only in special places (like the Glowing Womb aspid nest) where the Infection had a lot of opportunity to become gas, then liquid, then flesh for one reason or another (with the aspid nest that reason is probably the symbiotic relationship between aspids and the Infection itself, where the aspids act like carriers of the disease that help it spread).

And the western part of Basin is the most unique place in that sense, because, aside from the crossroads, it's the only place where 'that flesh came to life'. But what is the reason for that? Why don't we see those glowing blobs and lightseeds in any other part of the map, even though it's clear that even the most remote parts of Hallownest were influenced by the Infection? What is so unique about this part of the Basin?

It's the wind.

The picture doesn't show the vines and particles moving around that much, but anyone who played the game probably remembers that badass storm that we see and hear the moment we enter the room after the big spike tunnel. The orange glow of the Infection also makes its first appearance in this particular room (if we're talking about this specific part of the Basin, of course). That leads me to believe that the wind is somehow connected to the spread of the Infection in the confines of this area. And we already know why this wind is there in the first place.

The room where we pick up the Monarch Wings is the only one in this area that holds no sign of the Infection whatsoever. The wind in this room also feels much stronger, and it blows with a unique sound specifically near the Wings statue. But most importantly, it stops the moment the Knight consumes the Monarch Wings.

After that, the whole area actually becomes less infected. The changes are rather subtle, but visible.

Look:

LOOK:

And, despite the common misconception, it's consuming the Wings that serves as the in-game trigger that sets off the Infected Crossroads. You can literally kill BV without picking up the Wings, and then return to the Crossroads to see that it's still (relatively) uninfected. It's a solid proof that Monarch Wings and the wind that they create is what affects the spread of the Infection.

After we pick up the Wings, the Infectious mass partially leaves this part of the Basin and moves to the Crossroads, since that's when we see all those drastic changes. Now, that might give us some interesting implications about how the Infection actually works. Possibly, reuniting with its main source inside the Black Egg Temple gives it more power, resulting in total corruption of the Crossroads, since we see that Infected Crossroads has way more bubbles, lightseeds, vines etc. That actually leads me to believe that the Infection actually may have very specific physical limits, and that the total mass of the matter that it can create is finite and measurable (at least as long as the Sealed Vessel is still intact and holds the source of it inside itself).

Like, why doesn't it spread all throughout Hallownest even when the Seals are broken and the door is open? Even when the Hollow Knight is unchained, the Infection doesn't spread anywhere beyond the Crossroads, it stays exactly the way it was with only one Dreamer taken down or only Wings being picked up. So yeah, my theory here is that:

Picking up Wings and killing a Dreamer triggers the spread of the Infection in different ways (Wings lets another part of the Infection's mass give power to its main source, killing a Dreamer loosens the door's Seal and lets the Infection out), but ultimately leads to one result, that being Infected Crossroads.

The Infection doesn't spread past Crossroads because Hollow Knight, despite its failure, is still strong enough to hold it at bay.

The Infection operates like some kind of shapeless mass that can be gas, liquid, solid and sentient. It's basically a matter that holds a will (that will, of course, belongs to the Radiance).

That is why destroying the Infection (instead of sealing it away) was deemed impossible.

Although that leaves many questions about the Pale King and his relation to the Radiance. Did he know that the source of the Infection was his old pal Moth Goddess? Did he deliberately choose not to confront her, but instead try and seal her away? Was he stupid? Or did he have some secret internal motives?

...That is not exactly what this post is about. I would like to get back to the Wings thing now.

Another thing that led me to believe that it's that particular Infectious mass from Basin that corrupts the Crossroads after we pick up the Wings is the movement of the particles inside that part of Basin. Particularly, the Void particles. Before we pick up Wings, those particles follow the wind. After that, they start to slowly rise upwards, just like in the rest of the location. That gives us two interesting conclusions:

After we pick up Wings, the Basin Infection escapes upwards, eventually reaching Crossroads.

The Void that resides in Basin is also affected by the Monarch Wind.

By the way, another interesting fact: the orange fog that we see spreading throughout Infected Crossroads actually moves according to its position relative to the Black Egg Temple.

This means that Team Cherry does put deeper meaning into how they make background particles move, and it means that I'm not insane for reading this much into that! Yay!

Now, back to the Void being influenced by the Wind. Like I said, the part of the Void (which, probably, is also a matter that has its own mass, albeit maybe not as measurable) that resides in that part of Basin is also influenced by the Monarch Wind along with the Infection. It might imply that, like the Infection, the Void is trapped inside that area.

Or maybe it's not trapped. Maybe it just circulates there, so that something else can be trapped inside its currents. Ancient Basin is basically the Void's home, so I really doubt that whatever is going on in that area affects the overall condition of the Void as a whole. But we don't know that. What we DO know is that the Infection there is certainly trapped, unable to reunite with its source, being forced to slowly find ways to adapt, becoming gas, then liquid, then flesh, then reviving the corpse of the Knight's Lost Kin.

So what if that was the whole point?

Ok, we know that Pale King was looking for ways to fight off the Infection and eventually decided to harness the power of the Void to do so. He created Kingsmoulds, Wingsmoulds, probably experimented with the Void inside his workshop, eventually coming up with the idea of a Pure Vessel... But what if what we see in the Monarch Wings location is another part of his struggles to come up with a plan to lock up the Infection?

See, we KNOW that the Monarch Wings were Pale King's deal.

We know he wore one of those.

We know that those flies that (presumably) give the Knight those Wings are called the Monarch Flies (or rather Monarchflys? I dunno, I wouldn't trust those mushrooms on how to spell things).

And we also know that the Pale King has some connection to the wind.

So perhaps that area is a place where Pale King was trying to contain the Infection without trying to put it inside a live Vessel. Maybe it was the first prototype for his plan to see how the Void, being channeled with his monarch power, would keep the Infection at bay? Maybe there was another reason as to why that part of the Infection should have been sealed away?

Whatever it is, my overall theory is this:

The Monarch Wings contain some kind of power that is strongly connected to the Pale King. This power creates a magic Wind that makes the Void residing in Ancient Basin move and circulate, resulting in a part of the Infection (perhaps one of the remaining parts from the first time it started destroying Hallownest) being trapped in the area of that Wind's range, isolating it from the outside world and making it start to form gas clouds, liquid puddles, bubbles and lightseeds. Once the Knight removes the Wings, consuming them for its own purposes, the once trapped part of the Infection reunites with its main source at the Black Egg Temple. As a result, the Infection's will becomes stronger, and it starts corrupting nearby lands (although it's still being held back by the Sealed Vessel), creating what we know as Infected Crossroads.

Ok I'm actually done. I hope this is comprehensible enough to read and not too boring or too obvious. I just REALLY wanted to talk about it, since everything about this part of the game gives me chills.

[theriverbeyond]

#SPOILERS

ok so I watched arcane s2 act 1 and my immediate reaction is mostly mixed -- I think there was gorgeous art and strong individual emotional beats but I think it all got watered down by everything else -- I did LIKE it, I guess (?) and am reserving full judgement for the whole season until the next 2 acts release, but yeah.

warning for SPOILERS and also critiques below:

the deluge of new characters I have no reason to care about, and whom i am given no specific reason to care about (besides the itty bitty one, and that's just bc they are a child) does not hit. I dojt get it. why are these people special or chosen for the strike squad. they're just randos, and fangirls and one of them is a random dude you all seem to have grabbed off the street (?) also who tf is amara. was she even in season 1 at all?

the integrated music videos felt significantly LESS integrated this season than the last. last season it felt like the "music video" segments were just like.... really well done and stylized parts of the show, here they feel more like clipshows or standalone music videos during which the actual show takes a pause. some of them do advance the plot and all are gorgeously done but like, I dunno. feels a bit much, honestly, especially in a show that NEEDS to be incredibly economical with its time

relating to that, it feels as if nothing really happened at all besides setup, and I guess that was perhaps narratively necessary, but using THREE episodes of a 9 episode season to set up the plot feels..... REALLY wasteful, especially when i feel like those 3 episodes didnt have a tight plot OR tight character focus. everything feels very loose. the timeskip between s1 and s2 is like.... idk! why did we skip that. why didnt we just skip farther. how is Vi suddenly beloved by topside those bitches hate her!!! anyway. there is a lot happening and a lot being set up and, as i said before, a LOT of new characters being introduced and I'm not very emotionally invested in most of them. The differences between act 1 s1 and act 1 s2 are feeling incredibly stark right now.

To me, Arcane has always been a character driven work, so I can forgive it of plot issues if the emotional focus and character arcs are strong. I.... didn't feel that here! and even the big character moments didn't quite hit. for me. like ok CaitVi kissed. but like. they've known each other for a week? Why are they acting married? The most resonant and emotionally intense part of the CaitVi arc in act 1 was when Caitlyn HIT HER with HER GUN, in a way that felt deeply reminiscent of how encorcers probably hit Vi when she was in prison. And that was like at the very end. sorry but the kiss just did not hit for me. sorry. so sorry. you can kill me with Hammers if yuo want to

A lot of characters seem to be making plot centric decisions that simply do not feel within their character. Vi becoming an enforcer -- I literally do not care about the game, it is emotionally inconceivable for show!Vi to do be super down with gassing the undercity. Jinx and Sevika suddenly being buddy buddy is weird, even thought i LIKE it, it just feels.... fast. Jinx's arc, emotionally, feels the best and most consistant, and I feel like there's so much setup happening it isn't given the space it needs to breathe. Caitlyn becoming a facist is like.... fine, I guess. I really like the emotional conflict this inserts to the story but again it just feels inconsistant with her lifelong characterization as someone who is out of place on the force. also didn't she actually get fired lol. why is there a Kiramann supercomputer.

a lot of stuff just feels emotionally really off. Cait going wild with anger in her grief is fine, but then it feels.... bad that the redhead bitch who's CHILD Jace KILLED last season is a villian for wanting revenge also? maybe this is just an inherent weakness of the genre. or the source material. or whatever. i mean season 1 was pretty enforcer-critical at least in the first 2 acts. sorry for wanting a story made by people with money to be consistant in its negative framing of cops :/

l am deeply confused about the Noxian angle here -- I think it serves a meta narrative function of giving Topside and Bottom (aka, all the characters we care about, who hate each other rn) a common enemy to rally against, but there is just. a lot going on, honestly. too much? only time will tell. this all makes me deeply concerned/curious about the governmental system of Piltover though. why is Caitlyn like the town King now. why are they not electing new councilors.

don't even get me started on viktor being undercity jesus

Anyway. things I liked: the opening, especially its contrast to season 1. Jinx & Vi's fistfight was incredible I just wish Vi felt more emotionally consistant BEFORE it happened. I really LIKE jinx being given essentially a second chance in the form of saving and caring for a child in a situation that puts HER in a reversed position from her youth. like OK it definitely feels way out of left field but like, that's fine I guess. I like what they're doing with the kid. the art is gorgeous as always. I love how the enforcer squad is represented like hunting hounds, coming out of the gas. unfortunately i think their gas masks are wildly erotic. anyway. what was i saying?

that's my immediate thoughts. I'm definitely open for comments/explaining, but i really don't like the "it makes sense if you play the game/pay attention to LoL meta" kind of explanations I see thrown around -- it's a narrative weakness to be relying on viewers to know LoL lore, especially on the heels of season 1, which didn't need viewers to know anything.

[kits-ghosts-corner]

reasons i would make a great medieval monk:

• aroace - no problem with a vow of celibacy and the idea of not being able to marry isn’t a concern for me personally

• autistic - a segmented day? separated by hour? with specific things to do in those times? excellent!

• big lover of bread and cheese

• do love a little sing-song and chanting in a rhythm soothes me

• love scribing shit

• love doing those silly ass looking flouncy letters

• one of my special interests is medieval religion. so. bonus.

• oh i need to be silent for bit? i already go non-verbal sometimes babygirl that's not a problem

• monk robes provide 0% body shape. it’s all rectangle. excellent.

[shoyosoneandonlywife]

Yoshida Shoyo's Origin and his Path to Salvation

I will be covering a lot of topics pertaining to the character and events that took place in Yoshida Shoyo's life, from birth till death. This will be a very long post and I hope you enjoy it. I've tried to NOT make it as sad as possible and pertained to a practical approach.

Note: I know there will be people who raise doubts before completing this(personal experience) so let me say this, if you have any questions, there is a 99 percent chance I've already covered it in this essay itself, so please do try to read the whole study if you would like to build on this subject. If you would only like answers to a specific topic, you can lmk and i will try to highlight that certain segment for your convenience. And if you do read this and still have questions, do feel free to lmk

Yoshida Shoyo's Birth:

I would like to clarify that in my previous posts, I had discussed that Shoyo may have been born a human and then infused with Altana somehow by naturally being exposed to it. But afterwards, I had some more discussions and revisited the manga several times to get a better picture of his origin. Based on the facts from the manga itself, here is my research.

You can refer to the last Silver Soul arc and the Rakuyo arcs in case you would like to see them for yourself. I think they explain his origin very clearly. I draw many parallels from old folktales, myths, and history—whatever you choose to believe—but beings that have been born from the Earth herself are, in fact, a lot of recurring stories, which I’d like to point out (I’ve included just one example; otherwise, it would take too long to explain every single one).

So here it is: Yoshida Shoyo's creation began in the dragon veins running throughout the Earth. It’s established in Gintama how there are various dragon holes/outlets throughout Japan. Shoyo was born directly from Mother Earth and had been pushed out from one of these dragon holes.

I had previously tried to theorize how Shoyo's genesis began, and I came to the conclusion that this is the way he was born. These panels from the manga in the Silver Soul arc state that he had been reborn from one of the dragon holes governed by a temple. In this panel, it shows that at first, he had sprouted as a mass of meat out of the ocean and then had generated to become a human.

Nonetheless, this may have been how his life originally started as well. OR, he could have sprouted as a fully formed infant, like how a human is born from their mother's womb. I’m including this idea as well, as "Takasugi's Rebirth" had also been like that. Matako had found him as an infant floating in one of the water bodies in a dragon hole at the end of Silver Soul.

I still consider Shoyo as a human, though he may not have been born the normal way. More than human, I think the most accurate term to describe him would be superhuman. In the Silver Soul arc, when Nobume reveals the truth to Yorozuya and Katsura, she explains how the Altana, which is the life source of the planet and is vital for survival and advancement, is what led to the creation of their teacher, whose blood is Altana itself, and he is the literal embodiment of Altana, the Earth's life source.

So how did these dragon veins, the Altana running through the East, suddenly have the capability to produce a whole human baby with superhuman qualities? One theory is that every planet in the universe with life on it produces at least one such being. This can’t be backed up with confirmation for now, as the only other being like Shoyo is Kouka from the planet of Yatos.

So I can’t say this for sure since we only have little data. Maybe they are special cases since the Yatos are considered a very strong species in the universe, and the case for Earth can be a different reason altogether. Or simply for the plot. Either way, this is how his birth came about.

Another example of the same case is a hindu folktale/myth/history is Sita from the Ramayana(a mythology, whether it is historical or mythological is up to everyone's opinion). To summarise it quickly, Sita's adoptive father, who was a king, was struggling to solve the problem of his land suffering from having no rain and the crops of his kingdom were suffering.

After some advice from scholars, he attempted to plow the land in hopes of it being the start of his solution. He had struggled to move the plow for some reason or not been able to move his plow at all, and then dug up the ground to see what was holding up. It was a child in a burrow.

That child was Sita, and her mother was the earth herself. So, Sita was born directly from the earth, which resembles the origins of Yoshida Shoyo, who was born from the earth, but via the dragon veins and with the altana as his base.

And rather than being found in the soul, he had sprouted from the dragon holes, in a body of water. There are many interpretations to how she ended up in a furrow in the first place, but this is the most widely accepted interpretation.

Alike to Yoshida Shoyo, Sita had immense strength right from infancy, an event where she had displayed superhuman strength was when he kingdom held onto an ancient bow that was once utilised by a mighty god. It had been laid to rest in her kingdom.

When a accomplished saint had come across Sita, playfully lifting the bow effortlessly as a child, he was surprised by this brute strength of hers, as even the gods in heaven were not able to wield that bow other than the highest level of god who had originally been its owner.

Of course one of the reasons behind her skill is due to being a blessing from the gods, specifically from the the goddess of the earth, however, even though she was considered and looked human. She had still possessed qualities that surpass the average humans, and even mighty warriors and deities.

Now i want to clarify that I'm simply drawing parallels, and that such cases of interpretation of beings born directly from the earth has happened before, I'm sure this isn't the only example akin to Shoyo's origin. So take it with a grain of salt.

I believe Yoshida Shoyo also possesses the same magnitude due to the nature of his birth. His parent is Mother Earth and the blood running through his veins, his DNA all stems from the altana and dragon veins, which contrasts the brith of humans who carry the DNA, genetics and bloodline of their ancestors.

Shoyo's ancestor/parent/origin comes from the Earth herself. TO reiterate, he is the child of Mother Earth, yes all of us are made of the earth, but we descend from humans, while he had directly descended from the source herself.

My theory can further when he has been said to be, its not a direct relation to him but it does attribute to how his strength is akin and massive like that of the very earth herself. His superstrength can be attributed to the fact that he wasn't born normally and is the literal embodiment of the life source of the planet, So his power should be no surprise. (refer to manga panels below)

This was supposedly said by one of the strongest characters in the verse. Many others have said something along those lines as well. As for these strongest characters, they may accumulate an immense amount of strength, travelled and gain many things to build on themselves. But in the end, they were still descending from people of their own kind, their strength, their body has limits, depending on their ancestors.

As such, a being born from the earth herself, the planet that can swallow up these strong people without hesitation, as people, humans depend on the planet itself for sustenance, for protection, for resources, for life.

So imagine if the very thing you had relied on at least unconsciously turned against you so suddenly, even the strongest person alive wouldn't stand a chance against the very ground they stand upon. That's my take upon Shoyo's strength, as far-fetched as it may seem. But I think there are many many parts in gintama which elude to his undeniable brawn.

To summarize, Shoyo is a child of Mother Earth, and I would mainly label him as a superhuman. As to what makes a human, I'll be exploring it a bit more later on as well. (Immortal beings being produced from the planet herself is also mentioned in the manga)

Traits similar to the earth

Going by the connotation of him being a direct representative/offspring of earth, we can observe all the undeserved torture, abuse, ostracization, KILLINGS, he had faced just because he was discovered to immortality, to which he was subjected to by none other than his fellow humans.

I would see the theory of humans treating anything they do not understand or anything stronger them as something to be feared/demonic and finding ways to kill/ make them weaker somehow, mostly I'm adhering to the fact that humans would carelessly hurt or destroy anything they can't handle or understand. Which is what has been going on for the last few centuries, such as pollution, global warming, ecosystems being destroyed.

Basically torturing earth is someway right? which is kind of the same treatment Shoyo has been receiving, as he had been docile and had not retaliated when being subject to such abuse by humans, he had tolerated it, held the weight of it, like earth actually. Which is why I would say he has traits that are familiar with the earth herself.

Now this is just me drawing parallels and it doesn't mean that Sorachi did this with this idea in mind, is what id like to clarify. This is just an observation of mine, and it can be purely coincidental. And is purely speculation

Docile nature during torture phase

Since I'm on the subject of his docile nature during his torture phase(approximately 500+ years), I've always had the question, why did he not fight back?, For 500 years he had remained passive, let himself be subjected to cruelties beyond what any person would ever be able to handle. Why? He has super strength, super speed, he's superhuman, so why did he stay quiet? What was the reason behind his actions of not resisting? As far as I have seen, he was discovered by humans when he was a young child, a few years old, able to walk and act independently.

Or, another theory is that people have been seeing him ever since he was an infant, but had discovered his immortality when he was a few years older. For example, he could've died and then people witnessed him come back to life, thus coming to the conclusion that he's immortal. During the silver soul arc, the priests monitoring one of the dragon holes had discovered Shoyo reborn as an infant and took him in.

Until Gintoki had come to collect Shoyo, so possibly, when he was originally born and came out one of the dragon holes, a few priests might have taken him in, and raised him for a while, and when he was around, well I'm guessing definitely above 6 years old, his odd origin and traits would have been noticed by the people around him, thus leading to the fear and ostracisation, ultimately leading to centuries of torture.

Now begs the question, he has enhanced capabilities, inhuman strength, and speed. Yet, why did a man of such strength get tortured for so long, or to be more accurate why did he remain docile throughout his centuries' worth of agony, there are many points that I can backup this segment with.

One, humans are not violent by nature, mostly at least, Shoyo being subjected to extreme mutilations and tortures had been happening to him since he was a very young age, so one fact is that he had become indoctrinated to accept it, the way people treat him so cruelly had become the normal for him, in the final in that one flashback of Shoyos past, it can be shown how as a child and while growing older, he had stood with fear or was seen trembling in fear.

The depressing truth is due to the fact that as a child you would not be able to comprehend or understand how to save yourself from such problems, especially when in his case, the whole world apparently was out to get rid of him or villainise him as a demon.

After those two phases, we see him sprout as an adult, but this time he starts running away as much as he can, signifying that as a child he was unaware of how to handle his situation, but after reaching adulthood he had started thinking of ways to get out of his situation.

So he started to run, hide, anything to get away from humans, but as you can see he was cut down, burned and scorned once again, or to be accurate, the torturous cycle continues regardless. Now going back to my question, why did he not fight back? Granted he was more than capable of getting rid of or stopping anyone from even getting close to him, let alone viciously killing him repeatedly, so why?

As mentioned before, humans are not born violent, it is nurtured, even if there are times where we may act in times of dire needs or for survival, self-defense, etc, that is due to our evolution of over a billion years, from the stone age all the way to the current era. So that would explain our need to protect ourselves or rid of what we may label as danger in dire times.

However, if we go by that logic, Shoyo should have been fighting for his life everyday, killing or at least immobilising people left and right everyday to save him selves. Yet he didn't, yes he was unable to know how to do so as a child while growing up when he was first born, but after adulthood, why did he choose to run, when it would rather have been much easier to rid of his problem once he found himself capable?

He is afraid, he's tired, he's not violent by nature, even when I am able to say that humans, that have gone through survival and evolution for millions of years, when we have such ancestry and are not violent by nature, it's important to note that Shoyo is human, but was not born and did not come into origin the way a human being does, he came directly from the earth, from the planet's life energies itself.

The planet's energy, its life source, the altana, is something that every being in authority, every organization, was out to get from their own planets after discovering its existence.

The planet's substance that could possibly grant immortality, cure diseases, wounds, any physical problems, enhance your physical prowess and many other healing properties. As shown in Gintama itself. Some of its properties include, rejuvenation, regeneration and of course as we know, unlimited energy.

That very life force of the planet itself, had created a man from its very essence, coming directly from the altana itself, the very essence of the earth, the energy of the planet, comes Yoshida shoyo himself, every pore exudes altana, every single atom in his body is from altana, it is not alien, it is depicted to be as the very substance that allows planet earth to persevere and flourish till today.

As aforementioned, the life force of the planet. That every energy, has taken on a small form of a man known as Yoshida Shoyo, or to be more accurate.

The life force that has given life to every being on the planet, including humans, has produced Yoshida Shoyo as a special phenomena. He is generated from the very altana itself, the bloodstream of the earth I could even say.

He comes from the altana, the water bodies, and thus is pushed out via one of the dragon holes, that can be found all over the world, especially many in Japan, which is how he was born in (probably) Heian era Japan(which era he came into existence is a convo that should be discussed but as far as I can salvage I can gather than he has lived up until 1700+, [give or take] years old till the Gintama finale, as per the calculations I've made).

After the centuries worth of damnation, he then gets imprisoned far away, on some mountain perhaps, away from civilisation far away from humans, for the humans safety I'm presuming.

The humans of that time would have finally come to the conclusion that Shoyo just cannot be killed, after centuries of torture, wow a very bright and intelligent group of people aren't they. So they lock him up, he stays at the same one cell for 500 years, he never bothers to walk out, to break free, to escape.

As I have discussed, why would he do so? he will be persecuted just for the sole reason of breathing, so of course it explains why he chose to stay within his cell for centuries, away from humans, away from society, away from cruelty, away from agony.

I don't want to hear anyone saying oh did they give him food or something everyday as a prisoner... bro he was incarcerated for just breathing, they labelled him as a devil, do you think they're gonna bother whether a devil gets his daily bread or not? Especially one they've continuously KILLED every day? I don't think so, and it definitely isn't so. He was seen and treated as a literal demon that should be feared and chased away, or even not let him walk on this earth, because he was seen AS A DEMON.

People did not want him to be alive, as letting him even live or given the minimal amount of space, or even being in the same area as him, would pose a risk to their lives.

Hence they actively tried to get rid of him, but they couldn't, they didn't understand what his real nature was and what he had actually been born from. They were trying to destroy the embodiment of energy that comes form the very core of the planet that they walk upon and depend on to survive.

I don't know how many times I want to emphasize this, they did not want him to even be alive, much less even try to go anywhere near him unless they were attempting to end his life, as repeated many times in Gintama, his mere existence caused fear and anxiety to take over all of their senses, you can even see this as an example when Okita started to tremble by the mere presence of Utsuro, who was still much farther away.

Him being in the same vicinity had already struck a chord of terror in everyone. They either wanted to run or get rid of the problem all together.

So yes, he lives in isolation for over 500 years in his little cell, tucked away in a cave, that's in some mountain range, no humans, no words, nobody, just the man born from Altana. Like they have shown in Gintama, he doesn't choose to leave, he is forced to leave his abode of centuries after the jail cell fucking ROTS AWAY...

So it goes to show that his home I guess, has collapsed, he has no proper shelter, hence he is forced to leave, and walk out into society yet again. Now before we move onto him moving out, let's discuss what went down during those 500 years when he was all alone, secluded, isolated, yea everything that concerns loneliness.

I want to start off this whole theory by quoting that "an idle mind is the devil's playground" now I want to make this clear, I am NOT saying Yoshida Shoyo being diagnosed with multiple personality disorder, going on killing spree, does NOT mean he was possessed by a demon or the devil. NO. That's not what the quote means in my eyes.

That is very much his own actions and choices, as much as he was mentally unwell. He was secluded, he was stuck in a little cell, for CENTURIES. Human ourselves, if we were locked in a room or cell with nothing to do, no entertainment, nothing to keep us occupied. We will without a doubt go crazy within a few days.

Now this man was locked away for centuries, just imagine the magnitude of what he was subjected to, what he had to experience. If we can go crazy, then for a man that was locked for centuries, he's bound to lose his mind.

When the mind is not kept busy, all sorts of thoughts will come in and inconvenience or upset us, and given the agonizing life Shoyo has lived, I'm positive of the fact that literally, not even a single thought of his was able to make him happy or peaceful, it will only serve to make him spiral into madness further along with his traumatizing past.

Now going onto why he had become the victim of multiple personality disorder, I mean of course its given he will be subject to mental illness after what he's going through in his life without a doubt, but why specifically MPD? Multiple personality disorder stems from the branch of dissociative identity disorder.

Due to his repetitive abuse from childhood, is one of the reasons that led to it. Moreover, despite his physical strength, he did not defend himself, or at the very least, could not defend himself, as he was unaware of how to do so. I mean come on he was persecuted from the very age he gained conciseness and was never taught anything, all he had was himself to learn and grow, and his ever-persevering altana body of his.

His stress, his fear and rage and not being able to change his situation for himself, to be finally allowed to live I peace, also caused this man to spiral into disassociating to a certain extent. "the disorders form in children who've lived in environments where they went through frightening times or they never knew what to expect. The stress of war or natural disasters also can bring on dissociative disorders.

When you go through an event that's too much to handle emotionally, you may feel like you're stepping outside of yourself and seeing the event as if it's happening to another person. Mentally escaping in this way may help you get through a shocking, distressing, or painful time." Well, this perfectly explains's shoyo's past doesn't it.

He was subjected to killings and torture ever since he was young, and he was only able to escape this treatment when he was locked away from civilisation, alone and rotting away, mentality wise. So he truly was unable to reach any environment or situation where was at the very least comfortable or content with the way he was living, it was pure anguish everyday.

As they have mentioned in Gintama itself, he had developed multiple personalities as a way to coper with his extreme trauma. And it was not just 2 or 3 personalities, it was hundreds of them. Which is fitting that if a person, that has an average lifespan can develop 20 or more personalties, as such cases actually exist. It makes sense that an immortal man who's ONLY ever experienced pain throughout his life from birth till incarceration, had resulted him in developing hundreds of personalities.

To quote my paragraph from another post of mine to provide a little more relatable and just a basic understanding of MPD and how it starts and develops:

"To help provide an easier understanding, The average human has many voices running in their minds, and are always contradicting one another like there are different personas living in our heads, however it is to a controlled level and we are able to distinguish these to a certain extent when making decisions and taking actions.

Multiple personality disorder stems from that same phenomena of the brain but multiplied by many many more folds due to psychological trauma, PTSD, and repression of emotions as a method to cope with said trauma."

Another theory is that he has been subjected to various methods of mutilations, like he himself says, at one point he had his eyes gouged out every day for decades, which is what forced him to adapt his senses to perceive his surroundings, even without his eyes. which is what causes him to accurately move around and be precise in his actions like swinging his blade or walking/running/ defending/attacking etc.

So due to this various torture treatments from humans, I'm sure he had thought of various ways that he wanted to escape or stop it as in the act or humans themselves.

Like stopping them forcibly, cutting them down, talking to them, crying for help, simply running away, scolding them, killing them, and various other ways he would have wished he could have done to stop his unfair treatment. But he wasn't able to do so, he had to bottle up his emotions and thoughts, and it ate away inside of him.

Eventually, when he was incarcerated all those emotions, all that trauma, all the pain, agony, rage, desperation, that was bottled up, had bubbled up to the surface, or to be more accurate, erupted completely, due to how he was always constantly killed and tortured for CENTURIES, ON END.

But now suddenly. Nobody is around, not a single soul, it's just him, his cell, the cave, the wind, and the little insects crawling around.

That drastic change itself is also just a fucking slap to the face, which serves the purpose of his bottled up emotions of rage and agony exploding much more faster and in a destructive way for his state of mind. So the various ways that he wished he would help himself, the ways to escape, to stop, to find peace. This can also explain why he had developed HUNDREDS of personalities which is such an extreme amount, to of course with his said extreme trauma.

So when his cell finally rots away, he walks back into the outside world, to civilisation, with all of these personalities warring within his mind, but even with all of these personalities, what his brain knows, what every single personalities of his knows, is pain, murder, torment and violence.

This was all of what he was only subject to for as far as he can remember since he was born, he was not allowed even a moment of peace, his sudden seclusion in a cell after being subject to such horror did no good in helping him become peaceful, as by then all his trauma would never let him stay at peace, would never let him get a wink of a good rest, a glimmer of happiness, a spark of hope, he was deprived of all of them, to be more accurate, he was not even given the chance in the first place.

His history is truly unfathomable with the way it was crafted. So when all those personalities within him, are struggling to find an outlet to quell his rage with, he comes across society once again, and this time, he puts his natural capabilities to use destructive use. Like how this also was discussed in Gintama, he simply displayed the nature of what he was exposed to throughout his whole life, death and violence, terror and misery.

Which is why this explains why before his incarceration, he was a very docile creature, letting his larger-than-life body with astounding physical capabilities, be subject to abuse, as I have explained before, due to his exposure and cruelty being the only thing he was faced with, and the label that he himself is a demon.

Which was the label for him the humans had used to justify their behaviour. Hence, this explains why such a docile and mild man, had suddenly turned into the beast of killing with amazing physical prowess that he finally chose to use.

I mean given how he had 500 years to grow into this type of man, maybe it isn't a very sudden change, but for the others it will be a very drastic change and unexpected one, as Shoyo has now truly turned into a monster. Or we can also say, the beast finally shows its fangs. And then when he goes on a killing spree, truly wishing to kill every human in sight, he then heats captured by the soldiers and is dragged to the emperor.

Now he could have easily broken free as we all know, but maybe after being alive for so long and becoming numb to literally everything, he wanted to see what they were going to do or let him see since he was continuously killing people, maybe he just wanted to see what else they were gonna do now, just for his curiosity, since it would be a contrast from the cruelty and horror he had faced up until that point. Not saying he was finally given peace, no, the problems were just starting when he was brought to court actually.

But for him it was just a change of events, and he was just going to let them act to see what going to happen. I strongly suggest this as he is very much immortal, and he is already beyond what the average human does or goes through in life.

So being brought to court was just another Tuesday for him or something, and he was just playing along because why not, if he wanted to he could easily break free and make a run for it. But the problem lied in the fact that if eh did run again, they would again repeatedly try to kill him and persecute him.

Only this time he's different, he won't take it like the docile man he was anymore, he would fight back, kill, and slaughter, anyone that came to harm him.

Working for the Naraku

It is said that the Naraku was founded by Utsuro (Shoyo) himself, I want to make it clear that yes by name, the naraku did come into existence after Shoyo was brought to the monarchy, however they were the ones that had assigned Shoyo to become a "grim reaper" or an assassin. They had seen the crimes Shoyo had committed and had realized a means to an end had become available to them, to destroy or slaughter their enemies in a way that won't tarnish their name.

The Naraku is literally a secret crime organization that's working for the government all along. Which is canonically stated. So yes, by name, "Utsuro" founded the Naraku(hell), since he was known as a devil himself. However, the idea and the execution of Naraku being implicated was done by the government of that time, by the monarch of that time. If Shoyo was the leader, it guaranteed that Naraku would stand for a very long time due to his immortality as well as his physical capabilities that further proved to enhance his skills in murder and assassinations.

Thus, in name Shoyo is the one in charge, however, he simply had become a pawn in the government's hand. Now I know people will say why did he let himself be restricted to such authorities.

In spite of that, I need you to understand that he had no concept or care for higher authorities or morality, he simply wanted to give back all the pain he was given, he wanted to eliminate humans if he was given the chance. If he had refused the government, he could kill people but he would still be chased and hurt again and again, maybe even more so than he was in his past, for defying the government. So if he could continue to take out his wrath on humanity, which he was expected do to, as by the government, for a long time, don't you think he would just take the easier option.

He can continue to hate humans and yet spew his hate onto them when the occasion arises. SO at the time he would have let himself become the government's grim reaper due to the convenience at the time.

It is canonically stated about the assassination group Naraku, that "They consist of lawless people or orphans that were thrown out from society and were taken in by the group and trained." Now there are so many things that can be inferred from this statement itself.

Humans that were considered outcasts/ had no one to protect or take care of them/abandoned/ ostracised, were all taken in by the government secretly to train them as assassins instead. in a sense they took in humans that were treated the same way as shoyo, OF COURSE not to the extent to which he had been treated, but treated very badly or had nobody to back them up nonetheless. People that very similar to Yoshida Shoyo fundamentally.

Oboro was an orphan as far as we know, going by how he talked about his past as a kid, he was a working as a child labourer/ servant for a clan/family. Most likely a family in power, as they were powerful and troublesome enough that the government had sent the naraku to get rid of them fully.

At that point is when Shoyo had met Oboro and revived him by giving him his immortal blood. Making him semi-immortal (and his first blood related son lmaooo)

Nobume was also an orphan taken in and trained by the Naraku, as well as Hitsugi who had worked for Oboro and Shoyo, where he was also semi-immortal, making Hitsugi another son of Yoshida Shoyo technically.

The member off the naraku were trained to act like Yoshida Shoyo when he was an assassin, when you watch/read Gintama, the Naraku is seen as people who are emotionless, lifeless, and follow orders robotically, basically being devoid of emotions, being empty, so it would be safe to assume that Yoshida Shoyo was taken as a role model in how they should behave as an assassin(slave to the government).

So to be clear, over this span of 500 years, the people taken in to be work for nark were already traumatised or in extreme struggle as mentioned before, and had nobody to take care of them, which could explain why the government was successful in making sure these kids disappeared from society without a trace, and were then trained to become robot-like. Im not even exaggerating as in Gintama itself, the members of Naraku simply act as mindless and emotionless assassins, and have always been killed left and right, like dolls, pawns, robots, devoid of life, this is due to the tenets they would have set in the beginning which allowed the Naraku organization to be longstanding for over 500 years, up until it was dismantled finally after Shoyo died and Edo was being rebuild under a new government.

Many characters from Gintama can be seen killing or cutting down the members of Naraku without any hesitation, as that's just how much these people of Naraku were detached from their lives and were simply trained an indoctrinated to follow orders and numbly kill as told.

A very sad predicament for the people who have no one in society and were orphaned as a whole if you think about it. Fated to have your basic humanity and qualities sealed away to become a soulless, lifeless, dumb pawn, until you are eventually cut down by someone, or even by your own organization if you defy them, and then to die nameless, the fact that is isn't even an exaggeration an if anything, its an understatement. Gintama itself is a good example of displaying the dark sides of the monarchy as well as capitalism.

The Naraku were indoctrinated to reject their humanity and only have killing as their profession, without any discrimination. Like when Shoyo escaped to start Shoka Sonjuku, he was chased down despite being their leader for centuries, as that is what their tenet was, whoever betrayed must be cut down. And it does make sense as they are the ones who do the most horrifying murders and dirty work of the government (the dirty work is just slaughter and wiping out whole families, clans, maybe even towns, judging by how vital they ere to the government)

SO it makes sense that Shoyo was hunted down, he was their leader, he has seen and witness every single crime of the Naraku, and in connection, the government itself, so he had to be put down, importantly. Even if they were indoctrinated, maybe the Naraku members had some semblance of humanity, but them being constantly sent on missions to murder so many humans, authorities, families, could have ventrally lose that little hope of humanity too.

Which is what essentially leads to them being seen as the soulless machines they have become in Gintama.

This explains why when Shoyo came cross the townspeople about to attack his kids, he had interfered and said he would topple the government itself had anything happened to the children.

This is because he knows the government has been the root of all the problems, bloodshed, slavery that was deep-rooted into the country, and the branches of theirs was widespread and everywhere, even in the small spaces.

Cutting down the branch won't stop the tree from growing another one, so for a man who has seen just what the government, the monarchy, the injustices they have been committing behind the screens, he realises if the country were to flourish and truly become a space where every civilian regardless of their background can live well, the roots will have to be crushed first. And those roots are the government itself as I have alluded to.

Resurrection and buddhism

Now we come to the bane of Shoyo's existence, his ability to resurrect. And BOY, does he hate it, yes it is no secret that Gintama and especially Shoyo drew many references from Buddhism, and his life in a way is a representation of the cycle of life.

Consequently, I'll be talking about a few parts of the cycle and how he was an inescapable victim of this miserable cycle of life, and how he managed to escape it, at least for a certain while (or did he?) This cycle of life is called samsara, and this whole ordeal is known as the wheel of samsara/ the wheel of suffering(Living itself is suffering).

Breaking this wheel of samsara is what is called nirvana/salvation. Let me give a brief rundown of this cycle before I explain. Samsara is something every living creature is held under, everything that breathes will come under the laws of karma. All of those beings, and their worlds, are categorised in this wheel, each with different representations. Those are The Realm of 1. Gods, 2. Titans, 3. Hungry Ghosts, 4. Demons, 5. Humans and 6. Animals.

This whole cycle is controlled by Yama, the God of Death. Suffering is prevalent in our lives, and it is believed that the reason for our sufferings is our attachments, whatever they may be.

So by detaching, in turn our suffering will lessen and in due time allow us to break the cycle of samsara, this is a very, very watered down summary. And in order to go beyond our suffering, or in essence stop our suffering, it is said for us to realize the Four Noble Truths, which is said to be one of the most important teachings in Buddhism. These four truths are

Truth of Suffering

Truth which is the cause of suffering

Truth of the cessation of suffering

Truth of the path that leads to ending our suffering

And now very importantly, The Noble Eightfold Path is automatically connected to these 4 Noble Truths, as it serves as a guide to terminating a human's suffering.

The 4th Noble truth, which is the journey to the cessation of suffering can also be called the middle way. During this middle way, adhering to the Noble Eightfold Path is what will lead us to our ending of suffering. As said in the name, there are mainly 8 aspects to follow to embark on this journey.

Wisdom

Right understanding

Right thought

Ethical Conduct

3.Right speech

4.Right action

5. Right livelihood

Mental discipline

6. Right Effort

7. Right mindfulness

8. Right concentration

Adhering to these rules is believed to lead us to resolutely end our sufferings and achieve enlightenment and/or break the samsara cycle. Now in the first place, what are these attachments that cause suffering this life we call samsara? Yes there are many but in Buddhism it is mainly categorized into 10 shackles that tie us to samsara.

Drishti

Vichikitsa

Silabbata-paramasa

Kama-raga

Vyapada

Rupa-raga

Arupa-raga

Mana

Udhacca

Avidya

These are mainly called the 10 fetters, its important to keep in mind that the first five mentioned are known as the Lower fetters, as they are tied to the realm of senses/sensuous world. While the next five are called the Higher fetters as they are oriented with the immaterial world in mind. I will try to expand on these without taking too much time afterward.

For a better understanding, individuals who have crossed a certain umber of fetters each have a name attached to them, fro example, One that is free from 1-3 is called a Sotapanna, One, who is already beyond 1-3, and has now overcome 4 and 5, is called a Sakadagami.

And, One who is fully freed from 1-5 fetters is known as an Anagami. Lastly, One who is freed from all 10 fetters is called an Arahat. under these circumstances, as I have briefly explained, Shoyo (I mean the whole man himself, I'm not differentiating at all, Shoyo, and Utsuro are all the same man and mind, which I will delve into more specifically later on), fit into the category of Anagami.

Now as much as i would love to explore all of these manacles of samsara. I am mainly going to focus on the chains that strongly binds Yoshida Shoyo specifically to the wheel of samsara. And these fetters are Vyapada, Arupa-raga, Udhacca (most predominant fetters in his life) and some little dabbling into Mana and Avidya(essentially the Higher fetters).

To start off ill explain these terms, Vyapada in summary means ill will, or wishing harm upon others. Vyapada can also go hand in hand with Dvesha, which literally means hatred. Displaying vyapada includes, killing, destruction, ruin, evil design and malice. All of which this immortal man has done for centuries on end. Vyapada typically has 3 categories of varying vyapada, and is also considered as "wrong intention" in essence.

Those 3 are Vyapadasankappa(intention of ill will), kamasankappa (lust) and vihimsasankappa (intention of harm). NOW I CLARIFY, Shoyo had only committed to vyapadasankappa and vihimsasankappa, NOT kamasankappa, im emphasising this as i will explain why this anomaly is done so. Shoyo did have vyapada prevalent in his life but it was only the 2 aspects i had mentioned, excluding the kama one, like i said, i will explain after i briefly flit through the other shackles of samsara in Shoyo's life.

As mentioned before, this comes under the implications that in the 10 fetters found within the wheel of samsara, only the higher fetters were the challenges Yoshida Shoyo had to overcome, this leap in fetter can be contributed to the fact that his life was not allowed to be normal as he did not live like how the average human should, both in lifespan, social acceptance and treatment, as well as inability to live on his own terms.

Now, Arupa-raga, in a nutshell is defined as the craving for immaterial existence... yea i think you can see where im going with this, call it death, samadhi, moksha, nirvana. You name it, in essence, its the end of the cycle, or desire to attain heaven, dissolving the soul, salvation, there's many terms for it.

But to wrap it up in short thats what arupa-raga is. Rupa-raga is a fetter which is one step below arupa-raga, like how their names are similar, both are the cravings for the unknown, or samadhi, heaven, whichever interpretation you may have. Rupa-raga simply defined means the craving for fine-material existence. To summarise, it means the want to have a peaceful mind, with tranquility and serenity to become one's core.

And for the mind to become one-pointed, or more focused to a purpose. In this regard, its possible that we would try to conclude that Yoshida shoyo is suitable to this category, due to the way he lived his life in around those 15 years of time he was Yoshida Shoyo. However, it should be clear that even when he was Yoshida shoyo or all of his previous years before that, and afterward too after his "execution" in the war.

But yet, he had longed to become human, and wanted to embrace his humanity, despite his origin, so that can be considered his quest through rupa-ruga He had explicitly, stated he wanted to become human, embrace his human nature and compassion, but it did prove to not be fruitful as his journey with shoka sonjuku did not last very long. This is before he crosses the threshold to arupa-ruga.

Moving on, throughout his whole life, his Arupa-raga had always remained strong, however, due to his immortality, atleast when he started shoka sonjuku he had to adjust to being one fetter below, rupa-raga.

The difference is, that arupa-raga is not the end goal, it is still a fetter to overcome, so his arupa-raga was one of the strongest fetters in his life.

Nonetheless, staying stuck to it will not lead him to his salvation, which could explain why it was put off for thousands of years. Because at the end of the day, even though it is a non physical craving, it is still a mental image conjured up, thus it leads to an illusion, which is why arupa-raga is also a fetter to overcome, not indulge in.

His path as Utsuro proved to be an obstacle as even though his end goal was salvation, his craving for samadhi, freedom from samsara, desperation to end it all, it is also what caused him to get stuck in arupa-raga for a certain period of time.

Which explains his grandeur plans to end himself, the universe and vice versa. In simple terms arupa-raga is the yearning for bliss and crossing your physical limits, aligned with spirituality and the soul, possibly, it can also point to wishing for enlightenment.

I'm going to digress a bit to explain something important. If, speculation that this is, if yoshida shoyo demonstrates the path through rupa-raga, arupa-raga which is the next stage, is where utsuro, the final boss, extremely nihilistic personality, was born.

Now bear with me, if you rewatch/reread the Silver Soul arc, you will realize that in the instance where Utsuro goes to meet the space elders or whatever u wanna call them, the Harusame geezers, Utsuro had clearly stated that throughout his whole empty life, now has come to this form, this personality, born from him to finally and resolutely put an end to it all.

In essence, Utsuro is mainly his mantle, more than his name, as it was used throughout his time in Naraku. However, as much as all the personalities he took on during were violent and wished death towards, well anything in general. All those personalities didn't wish for the extreme end of the world and the universe, nor were any of them trying to speed run his death and finding options to kill himself.

Utsuro however, the moment he rises after the joui war, had actively worked towards securing the route of ending everything. In the scene of Yoshida Shoyo's beheading, Utsuro shows up among a pile of Shoyo's corpses(executed personalities) and tells Shoyo," There is no need to suffer anymore, I will put an end to everything".

So in short, Utsuro is truly the grim reaper he created, the all-encompassing destroyer that had risen within himself to finally end everything that caused him pain. I need to explain this more elaborately so ill do it in another segment below sorry.

Now back to Arupa-raga, so it goes to say that arupa-raga was the undoing that had more resolutely began Shoyo's path to salvation and nirvana.

Even though it was self-destructing in many ways. i say this as his desire to go beyond his body, to finally wear off his lifespan and end himself, is what had sealed the absolute nature of him finally attaining nirvana. As through this heavy yearning and rush to end things no matter what anyone or anything comes between his path, is what solidified his absolute end, after over a millenium of reincarnations.

After Arupa-raga, comes mana, mana means conceit, pride and arrogance. i realise that the more i elaborate on each of these steps, we can realise it also comes in line with how Shoyo had behaved until his death. If Shoyo is rupa-raga, utsuro is arupa-raga, and after that the next fetter is conceit, and as you may realise, yoshida shoyo, at the very least, did not show himself to be a gloating arrogant man, he was very much down to earth.

Nevertheless, after his birth as Utsuro, Utsuro is often shown as conceited and smug, especially when he was arrogant in the finale that he had deceived the students of Shoka Sonjuku, but his arrogance and impatience are what ultimately lead him to lose miserably to Gintoki and Takasugi (i HATE saying this cuz he is literally my majestic goat).

See how these fetters align with his life? mana along with arupa-raga is what sped up his demise, which is what he was wishing for, but the nihilistic side of Shoyo's did fail, as Earth had survived. Alas, Utsuro did come to terms with himself and finally stopped hiding from embracing humanity, in his last moments.

However, the contrast of mana is that this superiority complex also stems from inferiority complex, it can also mean, how can you think you know more than me? This can be shown when during the silver soul fight, Utsuro said something along the lines of "Can you defeat this dragon tho?"(LMAO) where he was referring to himself.

NOW BY ALL MEANS, he is truly a dragon, and the strongest man in the verse. But his blatant statements and goading during this fight goes to show that he had grown arrogant when his plan was very close to fruition. Thus this concludes his crossing of the 8th fetter, mana.

Then comes the 9th fetter, udhacca, restlessness and worry is the simple definition of it, it also defines guilt and regret. Udhacca is also a hindrance to nirvana, as it diverts the mind from reality, this is a truth for Shoyo, as his whole ordeal of multiple personality disorders, was ultimately his undoing, and is what led him to lose all the things and bonds he had built.

MPD is just ONE of his problems, his regrets, his sins he wished to wash away, his bloodthirst he had abandoned, as Yoshida Shoyo, can also be seen plaguing his mind as Yoshida Shoyo, as Katsura had explicitly stated," looking back, the vacant look he would sometimes have in his eyes, might have been him staring at the giant shadow of his past." another event that took place before this when Oboro had suggested opening a school and Shoyo had stated that he has nothing to teach, and would rather learn along with the students, of how to wash his bloodstained hands.

This shows how he demonstrated immense guilt and regret for all the murders he had committed for centuries along with how he had said that even though his sins are immense, he will try to atone for them as long as he lives(happened when he escaped from Naraku and was talking to Oboro of how he would lead his life as Yoshida Shoyo, his true nature).

Next it showed to be predominant... remember how i talked about Utsuro being very conceited during the silver soul fight especially, yea, and right after that, he had such a big inner turmoil when he realised that gintoki would be able to bring an end to him, as lo and behold, Utsuro, or more to say Shoyo, was the one that enabled Gintoki to become capable enough to end his life of hate and suffering.

Utsuro struggles and loses focus of a fight 10 v 1 that he absolutely had in the bag (still held up like a champ against the strongest characters) while thinking back on how his life as Yoshida Shoyo, such a small time spent compared to his thousands of years of living, is what had resolutely led him to almost be defeated and have his universe destroying plan busted,all because his life as Shoyo, in those 15 years approx., crafted all these students capable enough to stop and end him.

Moreover, in the silver soul fight, his inner conflict, is what led his udhacca, his worry, his anxiety to skyrocket once again, as Shoyo he was calm and collected till the end, as Utsuro he was smug and cunning, he was only ever anxious and restless before he was Yoshida Shoyo, where he was living in guilty and worry over the murders and agonizing life he has lived. An emotion that had remained dormant for over 15 years and more, finally returned during his fight in Silver Soul.

As he realized just the magnitude of his deeds and the small smile that he had unwillingly let slip, created such a wave of changes in so many people, from Shoka Sonjuku all the way to Edo. And by that, his own deeds to change himself, even though he returned to emptiness afterward, is what ultimately halted his plan of destruction.

Blatant examples are when he had hesitated to fend off Gintoki when he reminisced of him when he was a child and was teaching him, and also when Nobume had confronted him and he finally started hesitating. Yes he mostly was taken aback by the tenacity of the human spirit, but Nobume was able to stunt him for a while too, she has due credit that should be given to her.

And by that explanation, his udhacca is what stunted his success, and had let him to falter and eventually give up and jump into the dragon veins to at least get one upper hand and recollect himself. To then return in the finale and attempt to destroy the planet once more. That is how Shoyo had crossed the threshold of udhacca, the 9th fetter to reach the last fetter, the 10th manacle, Avidya.

We have finally reached the last stage, the last obstacle, shoyo's last hindrance to nirvana, and it was longggg overdue. In buddhism, avidya, or called ignorance to make things easier for us, points NOT towards lacking the knowledge to know things, but rather means our misconceptions/misunderstandings of reality. Like assuming that the wrong things are right. In this regard, ignorance is considered one of the biggest fuels for the three poisons demonstrated in buddhism. By this flow, ignorance is considered one of the, if not the hardest obstacle to overcome before attaining nirvana.

This is due to the fact that this ignorance is extremely common among humans, and is indoctrinated into us since young, a person's ego also contributes to this. Ignorance is without a doubt the most difficult manacle to break, as it involves shaking the very fundamentals of our thoughts, our personality, our morals, our ideals and beliefs. Overcoming ignorance or abandoning avidya, can very much shatter one's existence, which is tow is what nirvana also means when it points to breaking the wheel of samsara, and thus freeing ourselves from rebirth/ reincarnations.

Now, where did Shoyo demonstrate avidya? Where did he show himself to be ignorant? One such instance is well, of course, back to the Silver Soul fight. After showing Udhacca, in the end when he jumps back and talks while everyone is distracted, with only Gintoki listening in, even though he admitted that he knew the strength of humanity and that it was even capable of erasing his eternal hate.

Along with how his short life as Yoshida Shoyo is what led him to realise that that aspect of him is what he truly was and that his hatred becomes a mere fragment in front of the life of Yoshida Shoyo, no matter how cut short it was. This goes to sow that he had come to terms with himself, and was very well aware of the truth.

But yet, he still chose to go ahead with his plan, risking everything to accomplish it. When he starts losing the upper hand, mere moments before jumping into the dragon vein, he says that the humans can cry and be anguished over this state, he says that this isn't the end, and eventually, they will also be experiencing agony beyond measure, and all will be for naught. Pointing to how he also wants to make them feel the sadness and emptiness he did.

His ignorances becomes clear her as he had clearly reflected upon himself and realized humanity cannot be defeated, but yet, chooses to stick with his beliefs that humans are horrible and irredeemable, despite his sudden introspection. This goes to show that even though he was aware of the truth, very much so with first-hand experience, still chose to believe that no, humans are not worth living, and they should suffer in sorrow and then perish along with me.

This clearly shows us how he chose to stick to his nihilistic beliefs and was adamant in his hateful judgement of humans, refusing to back down from his planet-destroying plan. THIS is the ignorance that contributed to his ultimate loss. This ignorance is what made him stir up such chaos in line with killing himself along with the world, when in the instance that he didn't fall victim to his ignorance, he may have attained a much more peaceful and honest solution where he could finally attain his goal of ending his life.

Therefore, ignorance, the most troublesome ordeal to come out of, was what was stopping Shoyo from reaching nirvana long ago. I say this as of course, there are ways to overcome this ignorance, a few of them being ethical conduct, where you put the wellbeing of others beyond yours and cease doing harm to others and ourselves.

Second is Meditation, where we balance out the emotions and turmoil within ourselves, one of them is learning to let your anger go, or stop being enslaved to it, and practicing patience. Meditation essentially helps to cultivate our perception and clarity. Overall, it just makes our mind more relaxed and our life easier.

Thirdly, wisdom also plays a role in defeating ignorance. This is training the mind to be mindful of our speech, actions, thoughts and experience. Can you see where im going with this lmao, Yoshida Shoyo is a clear example of how, in his short time of running Shoka Sonjuku, had strived to overcome his ignorance.

All these traits are predominant in the character that is Yoshida Shoyo, he was by far the wisest and most broad-minded individual, and was also extremely self-sacrificial and caring. Hence, this elaborates how he DID attempt to overcome his ignorance, the last fetter, before finally attaining freedom.

Now your question may be, then how tf did he become such an evil character, Utsuro? Simple, despite his efforts to overcome his sorrow, it was just too immense for a person to handle, even though he isn't ordinary, the abuse and torture he faced for SO LONG. Is what deflected him from staying true to this path.

Even though he was very much aware of his nature and his soul, he was still a victim of Multiple personality disorder, and it is very unpredictable and uncontrollable, for the average person. Hence, even though mind-wise he did attempt to change, his pain was just too immense, that his MPD had reacted when he was executed.

Now to put things in perspective, imagine you lead a life of hate, and then you realise, that you don't want to live like this anymore, you want a life of light and happiness, and mostly peace. And you did that so, you tried your best to be kind and considerate, changing lives for the better as you go. But it only lasted a short while, before your past caught up to you, before the ignorance and ego of humans caught up to you. Now for the problems of some damn government and other species, now YOU are the one paying for their crimes. By having your children watch you die, knowing that you will cause irreversible trauma to them.

And whats worse, the child you raised, the child you wanted to do better for the world, for himself and his people that he cares about. Now he is the one who has to behead you, and god knows what damage that will cause to him. How would you feel? Hopeless? Tired? fed up? Angered? Saddened? Mostly negative emotions isn't it.

EVEN THOUGH it clearly shows Shoyo turning to smile and thank Gintoki, it also shows that he knows his mind would not stand for this insolence, this absolute bullshit that even though he tried to be true to himself and turn over a new leaf, the world didn't let him, it still spat at him, still persecuted him, and is now also torturing the people he took under his wing, innocent lives also now suffer.

Even though he was wise enough to know that Gintoki and the rest would eventually be better, From his personal perspective, deep down, wouldn't he feel wronged? that all his efforts were in vain? That he wasn't allowed to live a peaceful life even when he tried his best to?

Thus, comes the birth of Utsuro. He vanquishes all the other personalities conflicted with turmoil and finally puts down Shoyo, stating that even his kindest side, couldn't reform these arrogant humans. He finally comes to the conclusion that no matter what he tried, including overcoming these fetters, it ultimately didn't help him, and his hate for humans sparked again. This hate eats away at him, and finally, Utsuro rises(literally, from the ashes).

In my opinion, i think Utsuro would have gone about destroying the world even if the Naraku didn't accept him as their leader again, He is very much capable of acting alone, but as the cunning and shrewd man he is, he probably thought of the bigger picture, what if the surrounding forces turned on earth and humans, destroying them, wouldn't that satiate his hate for them? and in turn the universe will also perish in the war he will orchestrate. It would be a win-win for him.

So, he then embarks on this journey, enjoying his own nihilistic beliefs and turning away from the noble eight-fold path, abandoning his efforts to overcome ignorance and attain freedom, rather choosing to indulge in his hatred and fuel to destroy whatever exists. Now bringing an end to the universe itself is also pointing to breaking the cycle, he clearly does so nobody will suffer. So it was more of a universal nirvana lmao.

And even though he chose to fall back into hate, apathy, nihilism and ignorance. HE had still yearned for freedom all the same.

Which is why it is important to realise that multiple personality disorder is just one aspect of this man, regardless of the extreme spectrum of his personalities, they all stem from one mind, one brain, and hence, are all just parts, puzzle pieces that build up Yoshida Shoyo's soul. A human is made up of love and hate, apathy and compassion, light and dark. Shoyo is the example of the extremes of a human's psyche, and how his experience can orient how they live their lives through out time.

Thus, With these 5 higher fetters his only obstacles, i hope i provided better understanding of how he struggled with each of these and tried to overcome them. As for the lower fetters, they are known as sensuous fetters. As I've discussed many times before, they were no problem, as Shoyo was always yearning for death, to leave his body and wasn't the least bit concerned about physical indulgence in anything, that just how his character is crafted and made into. Sensuous points were just useless to him and he had no interest in any of them whatsoever.

The only indulgence he did however have was food, now food is the most vital thing for humans, so that is an exception, along with the fact that he has a very advanced and strong body, with the stamina that can rival the earth, it can explain that he also has a big stomach. There are actually many monks, saints, or heightened beings, who have crossed many fetters, but still favour food largely and love to eat.

So, Yoshida shoyo, had no trouble with the lower fetters, scratch that it wasn't even a concern for him, he had knowingly or unknowingly already crossed them during his first few years when he was persecuted and tortured unfortunately. As him dying repeatedly will just make him detached from his physical body.

Which is why I have said statements like Yoshida Shoyo is truly a virgin, and theres an essay for that too I'll link it here as well. Now in vyapada i had mentioned how he did not in any way indulge in kamasankappa, this is because he has already crossed the wants and needs in physical ways, which includes lust, so yea there you have it. Ive already made many posts about this so i will link it below.

Also, he has died way too many times like he died multiple times in one day, especially during his first few centuries. So his libido stays dead too. In short, lust is for those who hold a strong attachment to their bodies, so the average human, however, Yoshida Shoyo strays much much MUCH away from it. So yea there you have it.

For a more clear explanation you can refer to my post here. It isn't extremely elaborate and is much shorter, but i do get my points across. Do refer to it as necessary as you find it.

Monk attributes

Now comes my favourite part lol, Yoshida Shoyo definitely acts like a monk, and i would even say he strived for it, exempting the bloodshed lmao sorry, he did strive to live like a monk, and man do i have so many examples for it. Oboro was also aiming to act like a monk, i have short post about it but delving into the topic anymore regarding the students of Shoka Sonjuku will be done another day. For now lets focus on this monk, Yoshida Shoyo LMAOO. In a literal sense, I'm not saying he was a full fledged official one, mostly I'm adhering to the fact that his characteristics were that of one, is what I'm getting at.

One of those conditions is that he recollects his past lives, for humans it normally means of remembering your past incarnations, as much as it may vary, this itself takes practice, however, Yoshida Shoyo did get reborn multiple times, but not in the same way humans did, it was the same physical state, same body, and same conditions, as his body can regenerate regardless of whatever death or destruction he may face.

Therefore, with this upper hand, along with his immortality through out these phases, recollecting his past lives is no issue for him. As much as monks can also be views as priests, saints, people who prioritise god in their lives. In many cases, monks can also be seen as people who try to cross the boundaries they have in their lives, striving for a higher purpose, or simply set themselves free. In Buddhism, nirvana is considered the highest priority, as experiencing the wheel of samsara, the wheel of suffering, is expected to strive to break that suffering.

Hence the come about of nirvana. In short, the goal of buddhism is to reach salvation/nirvana, or enlightenment. Or both, but usually if enlightenment comes nirvana will also follow. This is a whole conversation for another time. yes of course there's the obvious fact that Shoyo wished for a definite end, which is essentially nirvana. This is one of the qualities expected when becoming a recluse, ascetic, monk, whatever you name it. Since it has already been discussed, I'll try to focus on the characteristics now. Very basic qualities are wisdom, humility, and compassion, all of which I believe Yoshida Shoyo displayed everytime we see his life as Yoshida Shoyo.

Moreover, for a man that resorted to murder for over centuries, had suddenly dropped his weapons and violence when he ran away from Naraku. For example, when he was telling Oboro of how they would deflect the Naraku members chasing them, he strictly said they will not resort to killing. This shows to go his discipline and his conscious decision to step away from violence and brute force.

Even though Naraku members were indoctrinated to be emotionless and not care about themselves, as i had discussed a few segments ago. even for those emotionless, soulless, dead inside beings, Shoyo had decided that they shouldn't be killed, even though they were at the receiving side of violence. This shows that Shoyo, despite his past, had turned over a new leaf and decided, that no matter who they may be, a life is still a life, and that life force should not be harmed.

That is one of the fundamentals of buddhism. And when he does find Gintoki, he suggest he strives to protect his soul, rather than his body or defeat his enemies. This displays the notion that one should always strive to remain true to their soul, without finding the need to put down others. Shoyo's teachings were considered radical during that era, as he advocated for individualism and free will, rather than adhering to social norms, and only finding purpose in serving a master, a clan, or a higher authority.

This would end up in posing a threat to the government, as it will destroy the submission people give to the government, and can incite rebellions, due to the mistreatment and docile nature they are expected to have.Which is why Shoyo was branded a traitor and accused of spreading propaganda, which was the excuse they used to subdue and arrest him for before the war.

Coming to Shoka Sonjuku, its no secret that in Gintama, Shoka Sonjuku was said to be a temple school, Shoyo himself had stated it a few times. This is of course, referenced from history, as a temple school, or also known as Terakoya, was something that came up during the period of Edo, the literal definition of Terakoya is a temple school, which is categorized as a private school too. Which was also said to be what Shoka Sonjuku was, where Shoyo was running it for free.

Temple schools branch out from buddhist temples and were educational facilities which descended from them. While samurai were expected to learn in a public school, other groups of people were more oriented towards going to temple schools, now at the time some samurai ran temple schools, a fictional example is Yoshida Shoyo of course.

And temple schools did last for a while up until they were abolished in the Meiji period, where public schools were then made compulsory. With the historical context, it can point to how Shoyo chose to run such a school given that the rules were strict and that he could only have some leeway to teach what he wanted to teach after establishing a private school, which was also completely free, and welcomed any type of individual regardless of their background, which was considered radical during that period.

However i would also like to believe as i mentioned in the first segment, that when Shoyo was born he was most likely taken in by one of the shrines monitoring the dragon holes, and grew up there till a young age, which could possibly explain his reason for leaning towards Buddhism and its connections when it came down to him wanting to lead a simple life.

His past experience with buddhism and temples is what could have made it much easier for him to choose to establish a private school, a temple school, rather than fighting against the laws and confronting the rigid and strict public schools that were domineering at the time. So his connections to temples, buddhism, to spirituality from the get-go, considering dragon veins were also a big spiritual belief way before its existence was established in the Gintama verse, goes to show his deep-rooted connection to these aspects.

Moreover, as a educator adhering to the branches stemming from buddhist temples. He is also expected to dedicate himself to his work and improving the lives of others, teaching them the ways of life, and prioritising the wellbeing of others, especially the upcoming generation above his. Especially in a. time of war and crisis at the time. With propaganda and indoctrination soaring and dominating the field.

Thus, this makes me see it as that Yoshida shoyo's life did resembles that of a monk in a very similar way Hell, I think that if he came back or somehow lived after the finale he would just go back to being a recluse and running a quiet temple school yet again, this time really becoming a monk to detach himself from all the unnecessary problems he had in his life and with people frl.

Crossing worldly desires

Ive already discussed this before, but the gist of it is that throughout his whole life we can observe that he never really shows a care for anything materialistic or banal, of course due to the life he lived, which contributes to this. His whole character arc shows him striving for something more, or to become something more, which many people in the verse itself couldn't really grasp and it took them a long time to understand how he was the way he was. So since I've already explained it previously this is just a short summary.

Unable to cross over MPD

This was also discussed before, as even though he had so much wisdom and knowledge given his age and more. It still leaves a blank to the audience for a while on why he regressed to such a hateful personality. Like i mentioned, before, it could be due to the fact that deep down he felt wronged yet again, he may have been hateful, vengeful and violent at first, which would explain his consequences, but now, when he finally changes for the better, quells his rage and tries to walk the noble path.

He gets shunned yet again, ending up in ending his life yet again, regardless of what cool demeanour he may show outside, emotionally he would have still been in a whirlwind. Which explains why his hate burst out yet again to consume him and in turn point his rage towards everything in existence.

MPD basically starts off when a person tries to control their emotions and thoughts too much, bottling up these feelings will eventually burst out in some ways, this is a very much watered-down definition of what MPD is, but you get the gist.

However he does not have MPD the same way victims usually do and is incredibly self aware and remembers himself.

Multiple Personality disorder is very much uncontrollable to a human, it also includes not remembering what your personalities do if it takes over. A common sign is that one personality may not remember what the other personality did, so basically memory loss or amnesia. However, in this regard, Yoshida Shoyo differs. As he can clearly remember all the events in his life, as long as it may be. There's proof of this in literally almost all of his appearances in Gintama.

The first one literally being when he fights Gintoki in the Farewell Shinsengumi, and he says the exact same lines he had said as Yoshida Shoyo decades ago, to taunt Gintoki and make him realize it is truly his teacher that stands before him yet again. It was also to catch him off guard to cut him off. So he had known exactly what words to use due to his memory. So the difference im bringing here is that usually, victims don't remember what they do, however, Shoyo remembered it all, regardless of which personality he was.

Next example is when he is on a spaceship observing the Joui 4 students and he tells Oboro how he would have to teach his students(children) a lesson yet again, now this can serve as mockery, but it also goes to show that he is still very much familiar with them, even though they never knew this vengeful side of him. Oboro also realises, as he also bids his farewell as his student(child) from Shoka Sonjuku before heading off to fight off Takasugi and eventually die.

Another blatant example is during the silver soul fight yet again, when he reminisces about Gintoki as a child when Gintoki rushes to cut him down. It's literally how parents view their children when they do something in Infront of them, they can't help but see them as the children they used to be, since well, they are the children he raised. And no matter how many of them change or may drift apart, their bond and history will still remain the same.

Like this there are many more examples, and i hope i can compile them together soon to make a post.

Shoyo is a smile Utsuro let slip

This was in fact a very well-know dialouge from Gintama, said by Nobume, Shoyo's last student from shoka sonjuku. As this suggests, this line encapsulates of how utsuro(shoyo) did not intend to let the wish to be happy deep down, to seep through the cracks and show itself.

He wished to keep it buried and fuel his hate for as long as he could, and give back all the bloodshed the humans had caused him. All the deaths to hit them back. However, he could only hold it back for so long, as this yearning for peace had also bursted through at some point, leading him to abandon his life of Naraku and pursue his own path.

Shoyo was a glimpse of happiness that had slipped through his endless agony called life, and since it was held down for so long, his smile lasted for a few years, and it would have lasted till the end, had the war not happened, and had the government not intervened in his path again. Which is why i constantly want to drive the point home that Shoyo and Utsuro are no different, it is all the one and same man.

This displays the complexities and extremes of what a human can do and feel. And completely disregarding that to treat hm as two different people, completely misses the whole point of what his character stands for.

Why it is lowkey incorrect to call Shoyo as Utsuro(in terms of legitimate name) or Shoyoutsuro and why I always call him Yoshida shoyo even when he is Utsuro

You would have noticed that i called Yoshida shoyo as Shoyo even when he was working under the name of Utsuro. Fundamentally, it should be understood that Utsuro means emptiness, void, hollow and vice versa. However, it isn't a name truly. It can be seen as more of a mantle.

It goes to show how he has abandoned his humanity, or more so of wasn't even able to embrace humanity, due to his nature and life. However, the whole thing of his smile slipping and Yoshida Shoyo suppressing his centuries worth of hate, shows how he had finally had enough of himself, choosing to change himself for the better. So it is a journey of self-discovery, and learning, despite his bloody past.

After which he chooses the name of Yoshida Shoyo. He himself blatantly states this in silver soul when Gintoki raises him for a short while. He says that he has taken on many names, but this is who he was truly who he was. You heard it from the man himself everybody. And in other parts too it suggest how Shoyo was his true self and his fundamental self. Detaching all of his past and actions too in some instances.

So when people call him Utsuro, it really just refers to his mantle, it shows how he wants to make the universe void too, make it empty after destroying it. It mostly adheres to that goal, and himself at the moment when he renounces his entire existence to achieve his deadly goal.

There are people who call him shouyoutsuro, which is to likely drive the point home that its the one and same man, however, i feel like calling him Shoyo would suffice. As even during the end, when he returns to destroy planets and earth, I see it as the man named Yoshida Shoyo taking on the mantle of Utsuro to solidify his role as the grim reaper of the universe. This is mostly because Yoshida Shoyo was specifically a name he chose for himself.

Significance behind Utsuro parting his hair

This is just a small fun detail to think about, from the beginning up until the end of his life being shoka sonjuku's teacher, Shoyo had his fringe covering his forehead. However, when the final boss Utsuro is born, he pushes back his messy fringe, leaving his forehead bare. Now this could pertain to the fact that he wanted to show that he wasn't the same anymore, he was no longer going to be nice to humans, nor was he going to be out for blood and start killing like the assassin he used to be.

He resolved to destroy earth in a more orderly manner, and by having earth destroyed completely, instead of settling for more smaller ways to execute humans. It shows how he was truly done with his previous ways of life and wanted to end everything as soon as possible.

An interesting way we could see this is that the third eye is located on the forehead, so him finally uncovering forehead and pushing back his fringe, could also possibly mean on how he thinks he is no longer blind to the truth anymore and that he is finally clear on the true nature of things and humanity, which explains his unshakeable resolve to end life itself. A bit of a thought-provoking thing to ponder about hmmm.

Fight with Gintoki

As Yoshida shoyo, we never see him fight anyone seriously, and as utsuro, we have the fight with Gintoki (backed up by Nobume and Okita), the fight with Umibozu, and then the silver soul fight, Edo vs Utsuro, and then 10 v 1). In this fight against Gintoki, its his first immediate fight after he reveals himself as the final antagonist and gintoki fights against Utsuro. In this fight Utsuro almost kills Nobume when Gintoki rises from the rubble to fend him off.

This does serve as his purpose to rid himself of loose ends, as Gintoki and anyone else from shoka sonjuku are the ones who can truly find out his weakness and bring him down. This is just speculation of course.

He also showed himself to be a smug and cunning man, taunting Gintoki as much as possible while also sneering down on all of them, ridiculing them of their weak wills and how predictable they were. However, for the strongest man in the world, and has remained unmatched thus far, he seemed invested in the fight against Gintoki, given how he was the one that trained Gintoki and now it has come to a time where his child himself will have to try and cut him down seriously, there is no more sparring anymore.

Fight with Umibozu

The fight with Umibozu did seem a bit shallow to me, mostly because Utsuro wasn't really locking in like it was life and death akin to Umibozu. Yes it did show a lot of introspective from Umibozu, stating his regrets with his wife and how he had still not gotten over her. he still calls her his wife, and he is her husband. So that was one thing that made Umibozu stand out, as he was a very much dedicated husband, who was trying to atone in ways to pay back his wife for all the pain he had caused her.

Even though she willingly left her planet with him. He tries to salvage what gift he had for her to try and bring down the immortal who posed a danger to earth, and in turn his kids, especially Kagura, his daughter. Yea Utsuro was gonna destroy the whole universe too yes thats a reason too of course.

And i digress, about that whole boner thing its kinda obvious that it was for comedic purposes and to show how endangered the Yatos were, from my reading, i mostly read that Umibozu already had a boner when fighting the Orochi, before meeting Kouka, and when he did meet her his ding dong stood up again, but this time with a more conscious reaction lmao.

So his fight with both Orochi and Utsuro was just a survival instinct for the Yatos due to them being an endangered species, Umibozu does view Utsuro as a unfathomable and fearful monster as stated by himself, much like the Orochi, or even more terrifying than the Orochi themselves.

Given how he was very much sure he was going to die and was describing Urusro as this unpredictable phenomena who was much too emotionless and monstrous. While kouka is the anomaly here as aforementioned as Umibozu deeply valued her from the get-go and literally worshipped the ground she walked on.

Since Umibozu fell in love with Kouka immediately. So in this case the Orochi and Utsuro are in the same category, Kouka being the exception and becoming his wife. Now back to the battle of these decomposing corpses, Utsuro is be shown acting nonchalant, aloof, and smiling half-heartedly, once again taunting Umibozu.

I feel like his actions were more of like trying to see if he could actually "kill" him. Given how the last time he "died" was when he was beheaded by Gintoki and then burnt on the pyre, after which he rose out of the ashes. So it would have been more than a decade since he last had his body die. When Umibozu wrongfully assumes that the altana crystal will kill him, he tricks Umibozu and regenerates to cut him down again, in which Umibozu finally becomes immobilized.

Not going all out in one or both of these fights

I will stand by this and will die on this hill, Utsuro was not going all out in his fight with Umibozu, yes umibozu is very strong, considered the strongest, but with the way Utsuro was acting it seemed like he was still unserious about the whole fight, while Umibozu as prepared for the consequences of dying.

He was aloof and smiling through out the whole ordeal, even when he was killed, and regenerated. He finally says that he's grateful that he was able to die again after so long, a mere glimpse into what the end of the cycle would look like for his immortal body. And then speaks in a complacent manner about how he would meet them all in the afterlife, considering Umibozu was very close to being dead.

As it shows right after of how he was ready to join Kouka, his love that he has never gotten over of and dearly misses, but she didn't let him, which is a metaphor for how his duties as a father isn't done yet mostly. ANOTHER fact i have to back up the claim that Utsuro did not go all out on the fight is once again during the silver soul arc fight, when he is fighting off both Umibozu and Kami, and he still fends for himself like a king(yes I'm glazing).

Even the strongest Yatos could only act as a cog in this whole organization of bringing down Utsuro along with many other people like Gintoki and the gang, Shinsengumi and his other two children, who were also extremely powerful, even all of them combined struggled to bring down Utsuro.

SO, this solidifies my statement that Utsuro INDEED was not serious during his fight with Umibozu, just like his fight with Gintoki, The only place where he did lose composure and felt like losing was in the silver soul fight, before that all his fights were simply battles that were a guaranteed win for him or just took it as an opportunity to make them suffer or taunt them, mostly to sneer down on them.

Shocked with Gintoki, not shocked with Umibozu

In the first fight against Gintoki, Utsuro was shocked to see Gintoki come back to fight him. This could be due to the fact that Gintoki will soon become aware of who he is and how their lives have already been connected. He’s literally his dad in a sense and taught Gintoki everything he knows.

Meanwhile, Utsuro is unserious and aloof until the very end, brushing it off like nothing happened, just as he acts in every other situation. The only scenarios where Utsuro was actually caught off guard were those involving his students. This could reflect that even though his personality as Utsuro was present, there was still inner turmoil going on—his different fragments fighting against each other and his past still haunting him despite his resolution to destroy everything. This is just my observation.

Fight with everyone in silver soul arc

This fight was the one where we finally got to learn more of Utsuro's thoughts, as before that, it had been stated that no one could predict or understand his actions or the reasons behind them. But when his plan came close to fruition, his arrogance caused him to fumble, which led Gintoki and the gang to crack down on him and foil his initial plans of exploding the planet, lmao.

This is the only fight, before the one in the finale, where he slips up and hesitates. He was such a formidable and unpredictable opponent before; he was considered someone against whom it was useless to fight, as it felt like kicking down on the Earth itself.

But now, he was weakened and having second thoughts, doubting himself once again and becoming agitated after realizing just how much all these humans and his past bothered him. This led to the crack down and his trying to save face by jumping into the dragon veins to regenerate and come back with a better plan, riddled with cunningness, in the finale.

Gintama Finale fight

Utsuro obviously didn't have the upper hand here, his consciousness was in Takasugi who was actively rebelling and throwing off Utsuro, along with Oboro's little help. Takasugi taking over control is what allowed Gintoki to finally defeat Utsuro. If it was Shoyo's original body, it is without a doubt that he would clear out anybody.

Which is mostly the reason Sorachi made Utsuro get stuck in this situation, so that his ignorance and arrogance cane be shown of how it led to him messing up and finally using that crack to defeat him finally. Gintoki himself states how Takasugi did the most work in defeating Utsuro as he was the one reining in control over his own body and threw Utsuro off his senses.

Only let his guard down with his students

Utsuro was caught off guard by both Gintoki and Nobume, who were students of his, in terms of dialogues they were the ones that strongly challenged Utsuro's beliefs and brought back the same self-confident energy that Utsuro displayed. The others were trying their best to bring him down and was more of a way to rid themselves of the danger that could destroy them, and overcome their fear of the form of death himself, Utsuro.

Yearning for inclusiveness and happiness

This Silver soul fight also drives home the point of how Utsuro, no matter how much he tried to hate humans, he still deeply wanted to connect with people and wanted to be included, he wanted to allowed to be human and wanted to be treated as such, but he had never once gotten the opportunity even as Yoshida Shoyo he was shunned and ridiculed, chased away from towns for his "radical views", only people who were also abandoned and shunned like him, Gintoki, Oboro, Takasugi, Katsura, and Nobume, and his other students, were able to see him as the human he was and gave him the respect he deserved.

They valued him as their guide and teacher like how they normally do in their cultures, and that is what alllowed him to be human, for a short period of time. He was content with leading a quiet life, raising his children, and taking people under his wing who suffered injustices and outcasting as well as poverty like him, But he was only able to attain peace for so long.

Significance behind different birthdays for Shoyo and Utsuro

Shoyo has two different birthdays, one is on August 4th(Shoyo) and another is on October 27th(Utsuro). I think that neither of these are the dates where he was actually born, as in where he was born as a baby through the dragon veins and being popped out of the dragon holes near the shrines.

I think august 4th is the day "his smile he let slip" and he changed his ways, abandoning Naraku and starting Shoka Sonjuku. While October 27th is the day he was beheaded as Yoshida Shoyo by Gintoki, or to be more accurate, removed by Utsuro, his hateful side of him, taking over and Utsuro being born after destroying all his other personalities.

So it was the day his hate was born anew returning back a hundred times stronger to finally put an end to it all, nothing worthy enough to stop him anymore. SO, Utsuro was born on the day his body was beheaded at the end of the war.

Proof is the silver soul arc where he says he is neither Shoyo nor Utsuro now

In the end, Yoshida Shoyo is his true self, but according to other people's views, shoyo was just a teacher, while Utsuro the Shinigami. So in the finale when Takasugi asks him to return as their teacher to Shoka Sonjuku. he states how he is neither Shoyo nor Utsuro now, this could be because even though he had been a teacher before, after his execeution, his mantle as Utsuro and the crimes he did during that time was just too immense, riddled with blood and pain. So it would be very difficult for him to return as their teacher when he was so close to ridding the entire universe, and in turn, killing his students too.

So it shows how that regardless of all these identities, he was just a being that came from the earth. he says this when the Harusame or Tendoushuu capture him and find out his past, he says the same line there too. That he is neither Utsuro nor Shoyo, or both at the same time. Regardless of his name, he had no name given to him and was only called a devil at first.

Him repeating this statement at the finale goes to show how he believed he was truly at the end, and that there was no going back for him, he just felt remorse and regret for causing hell and chaos for his students, his children, that he cared about the most, to also be the ones to suffer the most because of him.

In the end, he was just a human who had the misfortune of immortality, and had tried to make the best out of his suffering for a while and had also committed genocide afterward, which goes to show how he was unforgiving of himself and refused to let any of this problems go any further when he sacrificed himself and apologized to his child.

His consciousness is able to spread just like the dragon veins rooted into the earth

In the movie, Gintama the final, the animation shows Utsuro looking up at Yoshida shoyo when he takes over Takasugi's body, however this differs vastly from the manga, in the manga it shows his shadow being shown behind takasugi, so the more accurate showcase would be Takausgi smiling an evil smile at Shoyo before Attempting to stab him again. As this was the scene that gave many misconceptions to the audience of Utsuro and Shoyo being two separate beings, because at this scene>>>

Utsuro was simply a shadow, his conciousness was acting, Takasugi's body had still remained the same. Even in the final fight against Gintoki, physically Gintoki could only see Takasugi as he was fighting. Showing Utsuro there was just to make it easier for us to understand it was Utsuro acting out in Takasugi's physical self. Only Oboro's depiction was shown accurately, where he was beside Takasugi and helped him push back Utsuro for a while.

So i think this is where the movie screwed up, i made a small post about it too here. Discussing how he has this skill can strike up a whole new debate, so we will just assume it's one of his many supernatural, abilities and move on.

Majority tend to forget that this single man can only have one physical body at a time

As mentioned in the scene above, it was depicted inaccurately in the finale. I'm emphasizing this as Utsuro didn't change Takasugi's appearance and only showed himself to have his consciousness remain active in Takasugi's blood. The only physical body that was actually there at the time was Yoshida Shoyo's—his true self's body. I mean to say that Shoyo can only have one physical body at a time, contrary to the common misconception.

For example, in the Rakuyo fight, after his heart was stopped and he dropped dead, his decapitated arm, which was detached from his body with his heart that stopped functioning, allowed him to regenerate his body again. We can see him standing by his dead body; there was only another body, but it was already dead. This goes to show that only if the current body drops dead can he regenerate again.

Another example is in the Silver Soul fight when he willingly cuts off his arm to throw everyone off and focus on destroying the arm while he regenerates out of sight again to jump-scare his opponents.

Finally, in the finale, Utsuro was not physically Utsuro; it was simply him taking over Takasugi's brain, and Takasugi still looked like himself throughout the whole altercation with his teacher and Gintoki. Now, even though he is the same man, why did Shoyo get caught off guard by Utsuro's consciousness in Takasugi's body, and why did Utsuro trick him and try to kill him?

From Utsuro's perspective, since his consciousness has spread by getting rid of his original body, if he successfully kills Gintoki, he would have blown up the Altana core and, in turn, also destroy Takasugi's body and Edo along with it, accomplishing his goal. Now, how did both of his personalities war with each other?

Simple: at the time Utsuro's consciousness had possessed Takasugi, he was the nihilistic personality, Utsuro, while Yoshida Shoyo had literally regenerated over two times—one being born out of the Dragon Hole again, and then sealed in a chamber in his child form, regenerating very fast yet again in the finale. Since he was reborn, he stepped onto the land as his true and original self, Yoshida Shoyo.

The consciousness of Shoyo that runs in Takasugi's blood predates back to the Silver Soul arc, which is approximately 2-3 years before going by the timeline of the Gintama verse. So Utsuro's personality is the one that retained itself in its unoriginal and salvaging way in the blood of his student, while Yoshida Shoyo was born anew in his own physical body like he always was for the last few times.

Now, the consciousness in Takasugi wasn't exactly strong nor useful, given how Utsuro had remained hidden for all this time—3 years—and yet he could only get the upper hand for a few minutes.

He believed he killed himself, his original body, but it was an illusion orchestrated by Takasugi taking control again. He lost the fight against Gintoki when he wasn't even able to see clearly.

So his consciousness is outdated and weak; this is also due to the fact that his original body has risen, thus explaining the weakening of control. But I think he never had that much control to begin with, since it was just a small blood manipulation to extend Takasugi's life, and Utsuro himself was waning out and dying. So i'm sealing the canon idea and reminding that Yoshida shoyo(Utsuro) is indeed one and the same man and both are only the 2 extremes of the one and the same man. With further proof that he can only have one physical body or regenerate one single body for himself since he only has one brain and one soul

Attaining nirvana despite trying to be saved by students

Oboro died, and soon after Takasugi finds out the truth and attempted to free Shoyo from the hands of the world, as that was the time immortality was rising as a religion, and Shoyo was starting to be heralded as a god, basically a cult was rising fast. Gintoki also finds his own way of learning the truth about Shoyo, as he was the last person who saw him, and he was the only one who saw Utsuro willingly jumping into the dragon veins, while everyone remained oblivious. Takasugi and Gintoki both use their own methods to get to the bottom of this centuries-lasting problem. Soon they both band together to free their teacher from his suffering, Katsura joining in, and Nobume also aiding.

Now this is where interpretations can become more than one. When Gintoki and Takasugi talk about saving their teacher and putting him out of his suffering, did they mean to save him from the cult and bring him back as their teacher(and parent more like) and family, or did they mean that he can finally die.

I think they mostly were ready for both paths, as when Takasugi saw Shoyo, he talked about making Yoshida Shoyo reunite with all of them again and going back to being their teacher, however, he must also have been aware that death was the only way Shoyo could finally be given some freedom and salvation from all these people vindicating him.

But i think all these students of Shoka Sonjuku had small hopes, of a better more happier world, where they can all reunite together as Shoka Sonjuku. However that wasn't possible at the moment, given how Oboro died, Takasugi was going to die regardless, and Shoyo's sins were too heavy fro him to forgive himself and go back to his old life like nothing happened.

A parent's sins will soon torture the children they raise. And Shoyo must have been well aware of this, as his kids had already suffered enough. If he did somehow manage to return, they might have been happy, but the world would not let Yoshida Shoyo live in peace once again. It's either death or persecution and propaganda. And Shoyo knew that sacrificing himself and empowering future generations was the best solution.

Hence why he chose to rip out his heart and save everybody when none of them expected him to sacrifice himself. By putting the wellbeing of humans, of his loved ones, his family, and future generations above his own survival, and his final admission of all his crimes and inner turmoil. He finally returns to the noble eight-fold path, fulfilling all the conducts mentioned in this path sprouting from buddhism.

And thus, being able to finally, FINALLY, die in peace, with the comfort that at least the children of his that still lives, and all the future generations of humans, will be doing fine, and that he has made up for all his world-destroying methods and goals by saving humanity, most importantly the people that came together because of him in the tower, by sacrificing himself and all his ignorance, his restlessness, his ill-will, and his grief and hate. Most importantly, his remorse and regrets.

He was finally able to lay them all down, lay down all of his personalities, his identities that spanned for over a thousand years, he had worn down all of these identities, these false conceptions of reality and nature. And by ridding himself of all these thoughts and ignorance, the storm in him finally calms and he lets go.

Finally and at last, being able to reach nirvana and break his wheel of samsara. Going out with a smile on his face. That despite his agonizing life, there were moments where he shined through, and he finally acted out successfully by saving the planet from which he was born. This is what ultimately let this man riddled with sorrow and bloodshed and pain, finally reach salvation, attain nirvana, and freeing himself from the cycle of birth and death.

Going back to the source, the earth

After Shoyo subdues the exploding altana with his heart, we can see the altana flow back into the earth from the terminal, and since Shoyo was a child of the earth herself, meaning his existence literally sprouted out of the earth and the dragon veins, I'm assuming his body crystallizes and disintegrates, and eventually joins the altana flowing back, while his soul dissolves and frees himself from the wheel of samsara, which is what nirvana essentially means.

Helping Takasugi to be reborn

Sakamoto says saving the students is simply a teacher's duty, and isn't a miracle, which just points to the fact that Takasugi's body must have also fallen into the dragon veins and been destroyed, And with the dragon vein which is capable of regeneration and curing diseases and rehabilitating life.

When it is shown that Takasugi is reborn once again it gain pertain to the fact that he was able to have a rebirth due to falling into the altana veins, as well as with the blessings of his dad/teacher/guide, Yoshida Shoyo, as he himself would have been depressed that both Oboro and Takasugi had died in lieu of trying to save their Mentor/Dad. So if any of the upcoming projects in Gintama features Shoka Sonjuku, I hope Oboro and Takasugi come back. And that they will grow up fast at the same rate Shoyo did when he regenerated in the Silver soul arc. For the reunion.

Can be considered a deity considering he had a whole religion threatening to spread universe wide due to his nature

This is ME just dickriding, but Shoyo was turned into a deity and treated like one in his absence when the cult was rising an a religion getting popular with him as the catalysts directs us to the fat that he was on his way to being truly immortalized as a deity, given his immortality mostly and his superhuman abilities. They did briefly cover this in silver soul, which is why the students of Shoka Sonjuku were pressed for time and had to act fast to quell this rising cult and save their teacher's name and free him from this misery. And they did succeed in the end.

However, there are countless cultures where a human who has showcased outstanding qualities during their time have also been worshipped as deities long after their death. Considering Shoyo's immortality and his superhuman qualities, along with his longstanding mental qualities and tenacity, I wasn't surprised when they were planning to make him a deity or see him as one, he definitely deserved such a title, but he had no need nor wishes for such things, he just wanted freedom. But he is basically, built different (yes im glazing).

Not humane but has human qualities that make him human

I am reiterating my statement here for reference, Shoyo is human, yes he wasn't born like how ordinary humans are, but all humans body is made up of the earth, and he is all the same. The difference is that he was directly born from the dragon vein's the life source of the planet. He is the embodiment of this energy, which explains his extreme superhuman strength, speed and vice versa. Supernatural abilities along these lines too. However, he was still every bit as human as the next in my opinion.

"Humanity is not a physical state but a mindset" given how many non human characters in Gintama have also been portrayed as having humanity and compassion

As much as he was persecuted as a monster, he displayed immense compassion and humanity for a certain period of time. His pain and sorrow, his agony of being unable to cope with the life he was living, were further proof of just how human he was, despite being such a special being with a much different origin.

All the aliens, Yato, or even animals, like Sadaharu shown in Gintama, also display humanity. In summary, being human isn't just a physical condition; showing humanity and compassion isn't something only humans do. If anyone has a heart, they are considered human—not in a literal sense, but more in a metaphorical way, as they can display heart-touching humanity and care.

Essentially, the point is that humanity lies in the heart, and compassion and enriching each other's lives is a choice anyone can make. Even though Shoyo displayed his humanity for only a very short amount of time, that spark caused a domino/butterfly effect, changing the lives of so many people for the better and altering their views on how their once strict and cruel world had been. He became a light of hope for a better future and present when we are willing to change ourselves and enrich the lives of those around us along with our own.

P.S: This essay got longer than expected but i did try my best to cover as many topics as possible, i still think there are many more scenes to breakdown on so i'll see if i can work on a different essay. Writing wise, this only took me a week, but this took months for me to finish as I wanted to do my research and had to find enough time to sit down and grind on this. Which explains the delay.

I hope this helped provide a clear dive into Yoshida Shoyo's character and made things easier to understand as in some parts his actions are difficult to get or just overall not explored on.

I know i linked some posts above already related to Yoshida shoyo so i'll link my other analysis posts below just for perusal. Don't worry they are much much more shorter than this essay lol, Cheers yall.

Gintoki & Lake Toya

Oboro Analysis

Takasugi breaking down in the finale

Nobume the goat

[fatuismooches]

4.5 potion-making event makes me have many thoughts about Dottore and Reader...

You two definitely tried potion-making before, originally for the sake of classes in the Akademiya. However, both of you got interested in making potions for personal use - well, surprisingly for each other. Zandik would make you strength/endurance etc enhancing potions for making you carry stuff on long trips to the desert... On the other hand, you'd make him tranquil/relaxing potions so he wouldn't be so irritated, and hopefully could either persuade him to go to sleep, or take it a bit easier while researching. You always loved choosing the cute bottles and decorations for the potion (which he found to be useless but whatever!) Eventually, normal potions would turn out to be far too boring to concoct so you two would sometimes dabble in more dangerous ones illegally. There was probably a time when the dorm was nearly blown up in the middle of the night. Zandik stopped potion-making in the room after that.

Lisa talks a lot about how doing this is like reliving her old days at the Akademiya. I imagine fragile reader would feel the same way. There are not many things you can do properly with your current state, which often leaves you upset and bored. It irritates you to see others help him with research (that was your responsibility!) So it would be cute if Dottore invited you to create potions with him once again. With lots of precautions of course. Unfortunately, you'll have to stay away from the exploding agents for now. You keep the potions in your room to admire the pretty colors.

Also this with a specific segment. I think it's a pretty popular hc that each segment has their own research specialty/interest so it would be cute for one to specialize in potions/alchemy... many thoughts are being made as you start coughing hysterically from the smoke as a result of another explosion that happened all the way down the hall.

[onesidedradiostatic]

On Vox telling sir pentious to kill himself- was Vox using his manipul-eye? I forget. If so then Sir P mentally strong! Conversely I think Vox probably says that to everyone who fails him (that special capitalist ��if you’re of no use to the business machine, die” seasoning)

Maybe he’d send Alastor a message with “kys” if he thought Alastor knew what it stood for instead of Alastor thinking it’s a misspelling of “kiss” or something, and airing a radio segment about how modern technology is ruining literacy

Omfg what if Alastor did think it was the modern hip way of saying Kiss and used it to sign off a nice letter to Rosie in place of “amités/bisous” or “warm regards/ XO :)”

(prev)

his whole thing with his hypnosis is weird he doesn't seem to make use of it as much as you'd think, he used it on his audience at the beginning of episode 2 and those reporters but like?? after that we don't see him using it on or at least it affecting anyone else

the thing with his eye though is the spirals appear when he's just angry too. I assumed that he specifically needs to will it for his hypnosis powers to come along with it because of how many times he's done it and it's done nothing to the people looking at him. so to me, spirals doesn't necessarily equal to activating his hypnosis, it just always appears when he's angry too

like okay let's say it DOES activate those powers regardless, it makes sense it wouldn't work on val and alastor, maybe there's a limit to it when it comes to overlords of equal power to him, but it's weird for it to not work on pentious cause he was just some random sinner without much power

personally I don't think it's cause of like pentious' mental fortitude (like I love pentious but do we really think it was strong at this point?) I think vox just wasn't using it in that scene, the spirals just appeared cause he was angry, but it is weird he never like tried to use it on him when getting him to spy on the hotel, like he really just relied on his admiration of the vees for his loyalty? maybe it's more limited than some may think, we haven't really seen much of it cause the only examples of him using it are to get people to buy his products and to shut some reporters up

(the kys stuff is funny. I just wanted to comment on the stuff about vox's powers)

[rig0rm0rbid]

I would just like to sit here and analyze the shit out of Peter and Egon for a second. Thanks.

Disclaimer! I know there is some disagreement on Mr.Venkman'e name. On the Ghostbusters fan wiki, they call him Jim. I personally have seen him called Charlie more consistently so I'm sticking with it.

Peter and Egon have been friends the longest (canonically) seeing as Peter introduced Ray and Egon later on in college. So of course Peter and Egon have this sort of unspoken understanding and special understanding of each other.

Like, I especially like to look at the "angstier" episodes of RGB (yes I know RGB and GB1+2+Afterlife+Frozen Empire are different canons but just let me cook here.) Specifically, any episode involving Charlie Venkman (Peter's father.) We know that Peter has a... rocky relationship with his father.

In the episode "Cold Cash and Hot Water", Peter and Egon are a lot less obvious but still fairly present in their relationship. Egon is the first to inquire about the phone call between Peter and Charlie. When they're leaving Alaska, Peter says goodbye to his dad. And while he has to clear his throat to get Egon to stop talking to his father (and Egon of course takes the hint to wait in the plane) we see him waiting at the door, watching for Peter.

There are plenty of other instances I could go into, how the two have inside jokes, the fact that Egon will consistently mess with Peter but rarely the rest of the team, the entire segment where Peter gets up in the morning and mumbles incoherently and the joke is that Egon translates, etc etc. Peter and Egon are more consistently in physical contact and overall tend to communicate the best.

Honestly, I could go on and on about them. My friends already know this (Milo you poor man) but I'll call it here for this post. Definitely will continue to post more about them. I have screencaps and what not that will be talked about more in depth, don't worry.