#to like state very clearly it is very much okay if you dont ship them lmao

[bornetoblood]

hi! On anon bc anxiety but I’m a fairly new follower and was wondering if you tag your Laurence/Gehrman stuff as anything specific so I can blacklist it? If you don’t tag it as anything specific that’s okay! I’m just personally not a fan of it

Yeah, that's fine!! and absolutely no problem!!

I use the tag moon divorce for all the Laurence/Gehrman content I make if anyone wants to avoid that!!

[bungoustraypups]

i just checked ur dnf criteria on ur carrd and i think what you said about mori is definitely interesting! im interested in why exactly he's your favourite character, if you're okay with telling me? /gen (i personally don't like mori because yosano is one of my absolute favourite characters and i cant forgive him for what he put her through, but i swear i dont hate people who like him. im actually very interested, and i would like to expand my view of mori)

also do u ship ranpoe?

ok so first of all: kudos to you for having a reason to dislike mori that is both personal and also correct. he did terrible things to yosano and that is canon! i'm also very glad that you're open to listening since a lot of ppl in this fandom aren't (the number of times i've been accused of being a child predator for liking mori is at least 5! this is solely from twitter tho not tumblr)

also yes i do ship ranpoe. just getting that outta the way before the mori moment begins

SO

mori is my favorite character mostly for reasons unknown to me. i just love him a lot. my first bsd fanfic i posted, which is also the first one i finished in march of this year, is a fukumori mainly mori-centric fic about the two of them having a baby, and over the course of writing that i fell deeply in love with his character, both the way i wrote him and how he is in canon.

he's so very clearly (in my eyes and the eyes of other mori enjoyers) traumatized it's almost painful. combining how he is solely in canon with the experiences of the MCs of vita sexualis and the dancing girl (i have not yet read these novels but my good friend geeg has talked abt it extensively) opens up a whole new dimension to this too.

in fact, as i've stated multiple times before: of the main BSD cast, the two who i think most likely have CSA trauma (there could def be others but this is just from what i know) are probably dazai and mori (notably, separate experiences divorced from each other, meaning i 100% do not believe mori SA'd dazai or anyone else for that matter given there's no canonical evidence to support this)

he's hot. and i like characters i think are hot (and ones i think aren't but yknow this gives him more points)

he's mysterious and we know very little about him

he's so fucking tragic as a character. a man canonically full of regrets, who never considers his own feelings but uses himself for the greater good of his city and his country, who is constantly forced to swallow his true feelings because he has to appear as a strong leader all the time and can only hope to express himself even a little bit when he's alone with his own ability? the agony and hells are real

like there's so much, this is just a few reasons why i like him bc i can't think of all of them off the top of my head but i'm happy to talk about him whenever

[suffarustuffaru]

so @alderamiin said subaru for the ask…. yes your ask was the one i deleted on accident whoops 😭😭 BUT HERE WE GO I MADE SURE TO REMEMBER TO DO YOURS WKDNDN (and i LOVE subaru fr i simply could not skip over him also) (pls expect my usual chaotic rambling im so sorry i really am overusing the caps button 😳😭😭)

Sexuality Headcanon: bisexual 👍 subaru being somewhere on the ace spectrum isnt a super strong headcanon of mine compared to the bisexual hc but i am still fond of it <33 bc i do tend to just hc him as bisexual but i suppose i could kind of see it <33 :DD !!

Gender Headcanon: subaru is literally, as we’ve all discussed, like EVERY letter of lgbtq+ i swear. like natsumi EXPLICITLY being stated to be his ideal self….. what cisgender boy has his ideal version of himself be a woman…. come on….. and hes been like. dressing and trying to pass as a girl for his crossdressing pre-isekai too. like subarus Practiced A Lot at this. subaru clearly enjoys doing this and he was crushed when he couldnt pass bc of his voice pre-isekai :(( AND LIKE subaru and his complex relationship to masculinity and feeling insecure in his own skin like……………… and then natsumi being his ideal self…… natsumi being the Heroine……….. and its like. subaru clearly has a case of “do i want to be them or be With Them” when it comes to men hes attracted to (most notably julius.) so like. it could apply to women too. like. and then the way subaru reacts to felix’s presentation too………. i just think it says a lot. i dont care what tappei says but he wrote all this shit in the text fr!!! and also in general. natsuki subaru being a gender neutral name…. same with natsumi schwartz… so yes genderqueer subaru for the win. i personally hc subaru as genderfluid or bigender!! and also like. subaru being Very LGBTQ+ is so in line with rezero’s themes of self love and self improvement and self discovery and Identity. i think it hits so much harder if subaru Is lgbtq+ versus if he was just insecure straight cis man. like no wonder subaru was struggling Even More. hes so so far in the closet and struggling with like the internal homophobia and shit fr :(((

that and 1. subaru being lgbt is such a great subversion of what you would think when you first meet his character. and also a subversion of ur typical isekai protag which ADDS to rezeros subversion of isekai in general and 2. i love making Certain People mad with these hcs. like its so supported by the text the only thing missing is explicit confirmation. which. i have my doubts with tappei on that but iirc he DID say he nearly wrote a lust if with the guys…. tappei. come on. you already explicitly said that natsumi is subarus ideal self.

A ship I have with said character: im very open to most subaru ships!!! i just love a lot of them—reinsuba, ottosuba, emisuba, remsuba, julisuba… i just like how each kind of dynamic with subaru has so much range like even in just main route alone?? and then you factor in the ifs and it gets So Interesting. theres so much history with each pairing and so much to explore, whether its platonic or romantic. and subaru has a LOT of love in his heart.

i just like each pairing for different reasons hah—like ok ive talked a lot about reinsuba and emisuba already in other asks so. i DO like remsuba okay. not in the sense that i want it to be the endgame ship in main route bc thats very much not happening and i would prefer The Most Detailed emisuba development of all time. which would be more thematically relevant <3 but i DO ADORE remsubas relationship in general. like its so so complicated??? like. yeah theres the conflict in arc 2. theres the conflict in arc 7 with her waking up and being different and being so mean to him about natsumi :((( theres her “youre my hero” versus “youre not a hero” WHICH. URHGHF ITS SO GOOD….. and like yeah remsuba really do be. iffy. in terms of how healthy it is. but its so complicated bc you also have rem being like—she was like the first person, narratively, to be willing to DIE to save subaru the exact way he does for other people (including rem). and then the famous from zero scene in season one which is a MASTERPIECE but i hate how people fixate on “i love emilia” LIKE REM IS HAPPY FOR SUBARU. SHE IS HAPPY AS LONG AS HE IS. EVEN IF HE DOESNT LIKE HER BACK. but also he did like her back romantically for a time. and also of course rem had her fixation on subaru :(( subaru had his own obsession for emilia while rem had hers for subaru pre-being gluttonyed?? :(( yeah like. remsuba being so complicated is so interesting to me. like she and subaru are very passionate people yes. but also they do need to learn to tone it down sometimes you know? REM ESPECIALLY TOO BECAUSE EVEN AFTER SHE STOPS BEING MURDERY TOWARDS HIM… FOR EXAMPLE IN SEASON ONE SHE WOULD CANONICALLY GO TO HIS ROOM IN THE MORNING AND WAIT FOR HIM TO WAKE UP…. like she'd just sit there at his bedside and Stare at him... like girl chill a bit its okay T^T i havent read sloth if. but it seems like they learned to mellow out and have a happy life T^T apart from. a shit ton of people dying in the background and also subaru dying of old age and resetting back to arc 3. i am interested to see if we’ll get further remsuba closure in arc 8 yes. but also im bonking subaru on the head in arc 7 for saying even REM TORTURING HIM was a fond memory. pls let this be addressed again later i swear sodndn.

ok also julisuba and ottosuba. i am no expert on julisuba but on the other hand i have analyzed Too Much Ottosuba so perhaps i am an expert there wodndn. but YEAH i love those ships. they have so much history and moments between them and they are. definitely the more Explicit evidence of subaru being bi (between subarus Interest in julius and reid calling julisuba boyfriends and SUBARUS INTEREST IN JULIUS... vs ottosuba repeatedly being like “omg do you Like Like me?” “NO I DONT SHUT UP” and also their continued divorce arc dynamics yep). but also i will say i really like ottosuba because specifically they are the subaru pairing where theyre like. Very Much Closer To Being Equals. if theyre not already equals in something. like in terms of power levels and intellect and their very loving families and previous inability to fit in or be believed by people and also their status in the narrative as Being Just A Guy in comparison to everyone else. and yet ottosuba are the MOST important members to their camp for their jobs—subaru keeps everyone alive, and otto handles All the politics, which we see over and over again. they are literally THE power duo. otto is so so important too as the second person to die FOR subaru the same way subarus died for others. like the paralleling of otto pushing subaru out of the way when the white whale drove otto insane (and later otto tried to go back for subaru once he regained his senses ;-;;;) versus otto pushing subaru out of the way so he didnt get killed by garf ;-;;;;;. and otto being the second person after rem to also give subaru an EXTREMELY IMPORTANT speech to him (otto-rem parallels...???) <33 except ottosuba also foil a lot bc of their Different Morals. but theyre both stubborn as hell and have a tendency to go off and do shit they think is best without telling anyone bc theyre too deadset (hah) on what THEY think. (OTTO. SPENDING A WHOLE YEAR SECRETLY GETTING THE BOOK OF WISDOM AND HAVING IT RESTORED?? HELLO???) anyway yeah ill stop right here bc i have So Much ottosuba posts on this damn blog wkdndn but i really do think the appeal of ottosuba is that they Are on a more even playing ground. and their morality flipflops sometimes. ottos issues are just more lowkey than subarus widndnd. i am. however. nervous about all the ottosuba and vincent-chisha parallels in arc 8 bc………. possible otto perma death on the horizon??? 😭😭😭😭 itd CRUSH subaru.

also of course the similar flavors of julisuba and ottosuba….. u can have ur tsundere x tsundere ships in TWO DIFFERENT FONTS. anyway ill become a julius lore expert someday i promise.

A BROTP I have with said character: BROTP ottosuba and ramsuba are so so funny and great wofndn but special shoutout to garf and subaru in particular!!! i think its interesting how far their relationship has come bc they had a VERY rough start and its like. 1. im sure garf would immediately regret going into a rage and killing a shit ton of people in that One Failed Loop and 2. we learn garf is a traumatized fourteen year old whos been trying so hard to take care of the demihumans inside sanctuary while his sister and mom left him, one way or another, and hes very afraid of the outside world. and its like YEAH now your behavior makes sense. and its so good to see garfs growth and also his growth in his relationship with subaru (and otto) bc he looks up to subaru sm!!! subaru helped garf so much T^T theyre brothers guys 😭😭 i think its so adorable and so sweet. ill defend garf all day everyday. garf 🤝 subaru with their DAMN hero complexes while otto tries to keep them both on a leash so they dont do stupid shit. subaru IS a good role model for garf though ill say that. subaru tries so hard to be a good role model wkdndn. and yes i always laugh when garf teases subaru for drawing doodles and writing encouraging things for emilia in the temple.

A NOTP I have with said character: okay so. maybe i will spill some tea here. hah so i went over in ram’s ask how i think ramsuba in wrath if is actually super interesting widndns but otherwise ramsuba to me is bland. which. i also just feel like subaru/crusch and subaru/ana and subaru/priscilla are also bland. like. i dont think theyll ever feel interesting to me akdndn. like theres not. as much to work off of imo. like i just dont think theyre a good match romantically at all. like At All. priscilla especially LMAO…. and im tired of people reducing women in the story to just boobs and being fucked by subaru 😭😭😭 like i dont have anything against those subaru ships, my biggest notp is just seeing a bunch of characters be butchered just to have subaru have sex with various women. 😭😭 obviously not everyone in the fandom does that but i see this happens the most with priscilla fr. pls. shes more than just boobs :(((

anyway. my other notp is like. echidna/subaru but like. i feel similarly to ram/roswaal on this where its like. theres a potential there to show a nuanced complex toxic relationship bc THAT IS what echidna/subaru are. even more so in greed if. like theyve spent an UNGODLY amount of time together like their relationship is so fucked. like god the amount of details that were added to their dynamic in the greed if ln makes me go INSANE….. like you know how echidna said that subaru could use her body with this contract?? what she ALSO really meant was HEY SUBARU YOU CAN KILL ME IF YOU WANT. ILL JUST COME BACK BC WE ALWAYS MEET IN A DREAM WORLD AND THERES NO CONSEQUENCES BUT ITLL FEEL REAL TO YOU. LIKE HOLY FUCK FR 😭😭 and like in generally reading through greed if ln is a Trip alright. like “no yeah duh of course it is, suffaru, its GREED IF” but LISTEN……. echidna being subarus weird mother figure and then like. idk there are obvious implications i feel from like the body fluid tea and then echidna being like “you can use my body” and then theres a moment where she puts his hand on her chest and yeah its to feel her heart but LIKE…. SOMETHING ABOUT THAT SCENE FELT LIKE. SOMETHING. TO ME. AND THEN SHES SO OBSESSED WITH HIM AND HES DEPENDENT ON HER LIKE JESUS ITS A MESS. ITS LIKE HOW SHE WAS WITH OG ROSWAAL. GOD. *puts my head in my hands*

anyway my real notp is like. depicting echidna/subaru like it is a Healthy Thing like no it is not 😭😭😭😭 it never was healthy and it literally never will be unless ur changing echidnas character drastically. if ur gonna show off echidna/subaru then they are gonna be SO RANCID in like every way possible there is no other correct way to write them. she is terrible for him. she literally saw him and went “i can make him worse” and then it happened. bc greed if subaru is a Terrible Person. like. its not even a question. the biggest example i can think of rn other than obvious Rbd use is KEEPING MEILI. A CHILD. HOSTAGE AND LOCKED UP IN ORDER TO USE ELSA. HER OLDER SISTER FIGURE. JEEZ. my biggest notp of all time is treating unhealthy relationships as if they Arent unhealthy.

MY OTHER BIGGEST NOTP OF ALL TIME FOR ANYTHING IS SHIPPING A CHILD AND AN OLDER PERSON TOGETHER. subaru/petra SHOULD BE AN OBVIOUS NOTP BUT SURE DOESNT FEEL LIKE IT SOMETIMES….. guys she is a child. come on. hes seventeen and shes TWELVE. GUYS…. and then theres tappei making iirc an ACTUAL petra if????? and idk what the content in petra if is exactly but i worry given tappeis track record with the child characters sometimes 😭😭 AND THEN PETRA BEING IN LUST IF. TAPPEI…… N-NOTHING HAPPENS, RIGHT? *EXPLODES WITH RAGE*. even if petra and subaru get together later when theyre Older Adults in some AU or something its like. subaru knew her when she was a young child. and she had a crush on him then. um. personally idk if im fully comfortable with that hah T^T

A random headcanon: GONNA TALK ABOUT WRATH IF. anyway so the wrath if divergence point is that subaru gets beatrice to teleport him away and ram chases him down, ram tries to strangle him to death but fails, he smashes her head with a rock. yes. BUT OKAY when u watch the anime. beatrice comes for his aid AFTER subaru gets to the cliff and tries to psych himself up to like. jump off to save rem and stuff. THEREFORE wrath if subaru still considered trying to rbd via jumping off that cliff. he just decided not to and agreed to have beatrice teleport him away. this is something not many people seem to mention or maybe even notice (??) but I THINK ABOUT IT A LOT…. :((

General Opinion over said character: i LOVE SUBARU WITH MY WHOLE BEING. he is my absolute favorite anime character of all time. his character arc is so chaotic and complicated and i think the way he Does like still struggle with the same Inner Conflicts is so so much more realistic. recovery and self improvement are NOT linear and he shows that perfectly. and i hate how much people misread subaru T^T the whole chadbaru trend in fandom of how he should get harems or how he should leave everyone or be terrible to emilia for *insert a long list of Terrible reasons here* is so. like did we all read and watch the same damn story or what hah. the whole point of rezero is LOVE ITSELF….. and subaru ultimately has a lot of love for so many people around him. though of course i do worry for how rbd reveal is going to be handled, and im not entirely sure how to feel about subarus arc 7 development atm. rbd reveal is gonna have catastrophic consequences for Everyone. like everyone hes ever been close to finding out hes died a shit ton of times to save him?? that so many of them have like. maimed and killed him or at least Tried To Do That? like HOW are we gonna get a happy ending out of all of this—hows tappei gonna handle this?? 😭😭 i worry sometimes that when rbd reveal happens it wont be nuanced or itll gloss over certain things or it just. wont be so satisfying. bc u have arc 7 subaru out here with SUICIDE PILLS……. ARC 7 SUBARU IN REPEATED INSANE DEATH LOOPS AS A CHILD….. how are we gonna come back from this?? 😭😭 i have my doubts sometimes but tappei loves insane character development for subaru so i suppose i will hope. i just wish for all the trauma to be seen and addressed akdndn and the fact that rbd is so. complicated. it makes subaru and his relationships with everyone else so complicated. and rbd is inherently unfair in a lot of ways to both subaru and everyone hes close to. i cant wait for more subaru development but i also think after arc 8 he NEEDS a break or like otherwise, personally i think subarus gonna snap for good and not be able to return from it 😭😭 or ill just have to suspend my uhh disbelief. i suppose. but yes i do love subaru a lot!!! his hair is a Pain in the ass to draw but ill endure the pain just for him. <33

but regarding all of subarus loved ones maiming and killing him a lot—i think its fascinating how the if routes prove he is JUST as capable of ruining all their lives. like i feel like people forget that sometimes in favor of woaaah cool what if routes where subaru becomes “badass”…. but LIKE…. hes SO SO CAPABLE of so much destruction. he is choice itself. he is capable of changing the entire world and everyone around him. he is capable of causing the deaths and trauma for SO MANY PEOPLE… and like i think rezero itself and subarus relationships are like an extreme version of hedgehog’s dilemma, u know? like u get close to people to love and be loved, but ur also very vulnerable to getting hurt. and rezero is About love. and part of close relationships are that ur so close u Can be hurt. maybe you Will be hurt. but u will also Love….. unless ur one of the ifbarus then fuck u for making the wrong decisions ig wodndndn. im telling u guys that subaru is LITERALLY an eldritch being at this rate. todd is so right.

and. okay one last thing im gonna be real for a second. im a little eh on subaru being a child, honestly. like i DO like the trope of turning characters back into their child selves in order to explore their psychology that way!! but like. idk i feel like the childbaru arc is kinda too similar to the whole amnesiabaru arc in arc 6. it feels Extraneous. it doesnt feel different enough for me personally. (emphasis on personally. this is all my opinion hah.) and then he is STILL A CHILD IN ARC 8 EVEN THOUGH THE OTHER PEOPLE THAT GOT TURNED INTO KIDS ARE NOW BACK TO NORMAL…… LIKE…. im sorry but the childbaru has overstayed its welcome by the time we get to arc 8 imo 😭😭

[chigirisprincess]

my thoughts on the aot finale down below. don't click if you dont want to be spoiled!

this was a beautifully harrowing finale. the animation and the cinematography was astounding. truly i was blown away. mappa truly outdid themselves with some of the sequences and absolutely nailed isayama's usage of shifting appearances depending on whos perspective we were seeing and how eren's personhood and identity matched the eren we meet in s1 and not the eren we meet in s4 (will elaborate further down). the music and voice acting were superb. the agony in their voices sent chills down my spine and armin's harrowed screams as he sees eren's decapitated head will forever haunt me.

now onto the actual plot. I loved the original scenes that were incorporated (that line up with the volume 35 cover imo). i think it was far more cohesive to show levi, gabi, falco, yelena, and onyankopon with the newly created encampments, planting trees, and helping rebuild the world beyond paradis. in my opinion it did not make sense to jump so far ahead to where the cities were rebuilt and it was frankly too idealistic when the scene before that was the peace ambassadors discussing the state of paradis. additionally, i really enjoyed seeing historia's life and more of post-war paradis. it is heartbreaking to see how lifeless she is as queen though it makes sense considering she has no real power and is a pawn. seeing her and her daughter together was sweet and i'm glad she at least has the farm and a family to go home to.

i know seeing hitch yawn during the yeagerists rally was meant to be comedic but it is really sort of sad if you think about it. she clearly has no interest in the new military but has stuck with them for her own personal safety. seeing sasha's family and niccolo give dirty looks was golden and perfectly surmises the hypocrisy of the new military. sasha's family lost sasha, they knew of pain and hardship, they knew all that sasha sacrificed as a scout and now paradis is being led by a group of bozos who have never actually engaged in combat? yeah they deserved more than dirty looks. it's actually very sweet though that niccolo stayed with them, whilst i don't like the ship, i think its a very beautiful display of found family.

whew okay. now ... the plot. i wish we could have seen the others (reiner, jean, connie, annie, levi (?)) speak with eren in paths. that disappointed me. i know it isn't as relevant as mikasa and armin with eren in paths however i feel there is so much missing and seeing what he said to them could have filled in those blanks. paradoxically, i am glad we didn't see anything more since fans are still confused and disappointed in eren's death even though i felt his speech with armin made it very clear. it was ymir the founder's will to do the rumbling, it was her twisted bastardization of freedom that forced eren to do what he did because she was attached to him and mikasa. this perversion of freedom took away eren's choice because he was bound by destiny no matter what he did, so he blames himself due to the anger he felt for marley (and the rest of the worlds) hatred for paradis, eldia, and eldian's. armin takes partial ownership of eren's mistake because of their share childhood dreams, he gave eren his first taste of freedom, showed him a world beyond the walls with no violence, and no one else so ergo, the disappointment he felt was due to armin. and while the semantics do not matter when it was ymir the founder who caused the rumbling, this moment was meant to show how deep eren and armin's love for one another goes. they will be together, always, even if that means meeting each other again in hell. they have done everything together, they have shaped each other since childhood, idea's and beliefs don't exist in a vacuum and if that means armin blaming himself too so that eren can rest peacefully, then he'll do it.

i think a lot of people don't realize at the end of the day eren was powerless to ymir's will. and that is the point of the show. you cannot fight destiny, and you cannot have want you want (eren wants to be free, live, and be with mikasa//he dies an unwilling soldier to ymir's will.) (mikasa wants a life with eren//he dies before they could truly ever begin something) (ymir wanted to build a real life with historia but she sacrificed herself because she was living on borrowed time anyway).

speaking of ymir. i love the parallels to armin that we see. they both recognize that they have stolen someone else's life and power. ymir didn't feel the guilt until she realized there were things worth living for and that marcel had so much to live for. armin, however, spends five years filled with such guilt over stealing bertholdt's live, power, memories, wants, desires etc. i thought this was interesting. i think the idea of living on borrowed time is also why eren was willing to sacrifice himself in spite of how badly he wanted to live. he didn't want anyone to be burdened with living on borrowed time (realizing this after he saved armin, however, he'd save armin over and over again because he loves him).

i became very emotional seeing connie and jean wrap their arms around one another as they become titans and then connie joking one last time saying, "it was all your fault jean we joined because of you" knowing that his drive would have always led him to the scouts anyway. i also loved that they kept reaffirming their identity as scouts, it was very heartfilled and shows that their beliefs will never die even after the regiment collapses. erwin and hange's wishes will never die because they will keep living and fighting to fulfil them (arguably they did fulfil them by killing eren and eradicating the titans however, its sort of unspoken that there was so much more to do but the torch needed to be passed for armin for that to happen). now onto their clothing. eren grows his hair out in s4 and begins to look a lot like his father. he used to have his mother's eye shape and in spite of having his fathers colouring, he was carla's son. he was never grisha's son, that was her boy not his. but as he aged he turned into his father. symbolically i would say its because he mirrored his fathers previous desires to rise against marley however i do think this change is occurred because eren didn't recognize himself. when he appears to mikasa in the cabin, his hair his short, his eyes are softer, and he's wearing the same kind of clothing he used to. he became himself once more, he became the person they both knew. mikasa wears the clothing she wore as a child and continued to wear even after eren died. i think this was done to symbolize that they will always be connected to one another because their are parts of them that will always belong to one another. later we see eren and armin as children again, they talk for a while and grow up together. this image is a strong one. i think it was done to remind the audience and armin that the eren he grew up with was still there, he just had to hide himself literally and figuratively. armin says he can't believe eren would say something so pathetic and it takes him a moment to remind himself that eren hasn't changed, he is still the idiot hot head he loved so dearly. and while they've both changed, and cannot go back to the boys they once were, those boys will always exist inside of them. and that is beautiful :( also! the fight against the titans ymir was controlling! i think that reaffirms that how the eldian's in a way are slaves to ymir's will. their titans and likeness are being manipulated to fight by ymir the founder while they exist in paths watching it happen and being unable to stop it. she makes them complicit in her crimes until zeke uses his royal blood to stop it. its a very interesting dynamic that i still need to think on. while i don't blame ymir for acting out it is very gut wrenching. all she knows is violence despite craving connection (hence how all eldian's are connected in paths). it was very touching seeing ymir, porco, marcel, eren kruger, grisha, and bertoldt fight alongside the scouts. pieck crying because poroco was fighting alongside her, god my heart melted. she hardly got to mourn him before having to fight against his likeness, feeling betrayed even though it wasn't him. in a way it was one last act of freedom.

oh ... and levi's face when he finally killed zeke. he spent five years waiting to avenge erwin, spent five years having to play nice, his body was torn apart because of zeke. finally killing zeke didn't make levi feel better, he knew it wasn't going to bring erwin back but it could have felt satisfying but it wasn't. it was sad, and unfulfilling not because zeke allowed it to happen but because senseless violence will never make grief go away.

overall i think while this was a very gut wrenching end, it was beautiful and there will always be something new to discuss about this show. i will never stop talking about how truly amazing aot is!!!! but i wish i could rewatch it again for the first time and have that same feeling of wonderment all over again.

[teeto-peteto]

Fun question: Pick five random champions and take them on a road trip. Do they make it to their destination?

im back from the dead

OKAY This is funny and in order to make it completely random i'll let this league randomizer pick the champions.

So we got: Akali (Oh no) / Gragas / Leona (Mother of the team so far) / Shyvana / Caitlyn.

Okay this is an interesting group and there's more girls i have imagined.

Alright, so, roadtrip. On car. I assume we are talking in a very funny scenario of champions being their clunky selves but with a nowdays car wich is already amusing.

Leona drives clearly, she's responsible, she's a bit of a mom. She has the playful snarkyness and the responsability.

Gragas and Caitlyn argued about getting the copilot seat but Leona ended up picking Gragas.

Gragas IS a passanger princess. He would listen to the gossip, talk gossip about freljordian comrades. He would point to take the left path and then get it wrong so they have to pull back. He eats the snackies and then fall asleep for the 80% of the trip. A true king in my eyes.

Akali is of course the child of married couple in this situation. The 'are we there yet?' 'Im hungry'. Shyvana would try to be modest, not participating much in conversation and trying not to be a bother. Caitlyn is the polite towards the rest of them but Akali rubs her the wrong way wich might make her increase her voice tone. Basically sisters coded. Shyvana being the old sister coded, Caitlyn the middle sister coded and Akali the younger sister coded.

Akali and Caitlyn would fight cause they both want the window seats but Shyvana asked for one of them, eventually she politely agrees to sit on the middle of Akali and Caitlyn.

Here's a small conversation im thinking about:

Akali: God, how long until we get there? We've been here for ages. Leona: I know, i know, but we are almost there. Caitlyn: Leona please slow down, the signs stated a velocity and we are above it. Leona: Oh, right, sorry! Akali: Do not listen to her! There's literally no one on the road we can speed up, it wont do harm! Caitlyn: God you're not only absolutely annoying but you also dont respect authority.

Akali: Fuck your authority you dont even respect it how am i supossed to take you seriously? Caitlyn: Me?! Akali: Because your thing with Vi was surely super legal... Caitlyn, visibly flustered: That's not-!

Gragas, quickly turning his head back to the backseats: Wait what's between you and Vi? I think i fell asleep during the explaination of that.

Leona: Akali, please be respectful, authority and legality are a bit flimsy in Runeterra and there's nothing bad with wanting to endorse it...

Akali: Well, you could say that, assuming your thing with Diana was also not forbidden and that you were'nt breaking any type of rule...? Gragas, quickly turning to Leona: Diana and you what? Im so lost.

Leona, gritting her teeth: How about we all stop talking for a bit and i put some music on the radio... Akali, turning to Shyvana: Arent YOU going to say anything?

Shyvana, on a low voice: Well... I guess what matters is that we arrive safely, i dont mind lowering the speed... Caitlyn: See! She's in my side! Your argumentation is weak!

Akali: Of course i asked damn Jarvan IV girlfriend...

Shyvana, flustered: Prince Jarvan and I's relationship is entirely professional...

Akali: Professional my ass! Gragas: HOLD UP. Please summarize every single ship is happening here cause im not understanding.

Caitlyn: ...whats a ship?

Gragas: Oh like... when two people have like... romantic tension and you think they're a couple...?

Shyvana: Gragas? Could you pass me some chips?

Gragas, handing Shyv a bag of chips.

Shyvana: Oh these are good, what flavour are they?

Gragas, looking at the back of the package: Mustard. Braum recomended me these he said they tasted great.

Shyvana: ...

Caitlyn: What?

Shyvana: Im allergic. Allergic to mustard.

Leona, quickly stopping the car and putting her shield up: COVER UP, QUICK!

Shyvana transforms into a dragon, breaking the car from the inside as she becomes bigger in size.

So... To answer the question: Would they make it to their destination?

Yes. Most likely. Not by car anymore though.

[rouge-the-bat]

was tagged by @princesstokyomoon owo, thanks for taggin me :3

Rules: List your top 5 favorite shows and tag 5 people!

...can i just list yu yu hakusho 5 times LOL god i fucking love that anime so much ive been hyperfixated on ever since i first watched it a few years ago gkdbjfbf that said, biiig surprise what my number one is:

1. Yu Yu Hakusho ⭐️

THIS SHOW CHANGED MY BRAIN CHEMICALS. I CANT PROPERLY EXPRESS HOW MUCH I ABSOLUTELY FUCKING ADORE THIS CAST OF CHARACTERS. THAT LIL DUDE IN THE MIDDLE?? HIEI, THE LOVE OF MY LIFE, I ADORE HIM SO MUCH, HES SUCH A WONDERFUL CUTE TSUNDERE BASTARD. literally the main cast is full of characters with "contradicting" traits that just work SO WELL in making them interesting and fun

kuwabara (the one in blue) is a precious himbo, a very loud delinquent kid who loves to fight but has an honor code he will ALWAYS abide by and has a cute little kitten he adores!!!

yusuke (the one in green) is similarly a delinquent and, honestly, is more of an asshole LOL but he despite his rudeness he doesnt hesitate to put his life on the line for others!

hiei MY LOVE is The Edgy One and always acts like they rest in the group arent his friends but he always is there to help when hes needed and clearly worries for their safety 🥰 and he has a sister hes very sweet and protective over!!! and hes also just Full Of Trauma that i wont get into as more of his backstory is revealed later in the show. and hes just an absolute badass and really hot,,, (forces myself to move on or ill just ramble endlessly about him)

THEN theres hieis lover partner kurama (the red head, and my big kin!!!!), whos by far the sweetest of the 4, is a total mamas boy, BUT hes also a centuries old fox demon known for his thievery and cruelty and was changed when he was almost killed and had to transfer his soul into an unborn human child to stay alive, where his human mom's love changed him to be kinder :'3 (none of that is a spoiler really, this is info he literally states very soon after his introduction) but even though hes changed, hes still can be absolutely RUTHLESS to his enemies. even hiei states early on that he chose kurama as his partner because he wouldnt want him as an enemy

AHEM okay. thats enough rambling about my hyperfixation for now i think fhkzhfjd i probably wont be rambling much about the other ones i just really really REALLY love yyh

the rest arent really in any particular order, and imma put em under the cut!

2. My Hero Academia

i was biiig hyperfixated on this show for a while there, i just absolutely LOVE stories that explore the gray areas of things, so when this show gets into that sorta shit with the hero society its a BIG fave. plus the characters are really fun, todoroki is my fave hehe

3. She-ra (reboot)

another previous hyperfixation, i just really love these characters and honestly theyre so fun to ship in a big ol poly pile lol. tbh i miss being fixated on this one, i had sooo much fun with it ♡

4. Talentless Nana

this was a shorter hyperfixation, but MAN this show gave me EMOTIONS. i dont wanna say too much about it because i think its best to watch the first episode without knowing too much about it, but there is a BIG TWIST at the end of the first episode, and the "genre" of the show completely shifts for all of the episodes after it. if you like darker series, i def recommend this one :3 i just hope itll get more seasons!! but at least theres the manga to continue on with after the first season!

5. Avatar the Last Airbender

an absolute classic from my childhood ♡ itll always be one of my faves!! the characters, the story, the world, i love it so much !!! i still wish i could be a water or fire bender ^w^

honestly it feels weird not putting up a sonic show on here, but when i think about it i never was the biggest on the shows and have always been way more attached to the games canon. though sonic x is def still a classic from my childhood too owo

ah shit i was about to post this without tagging anyone i almost completely forgot HFKSHGK uhh ill tag @megalo-station @catfuyus @transgaykurama @mageofcolors @l-lawliets-pussy @yoko-kurama-the-sex-god (i did 1 over 5 bc im a rebel ��� JFLZJF)

[gretelfrei]

OK HI i DO NOT mean this as a personal attack to OP or whatever. but. as with how insane i am about this game it was inevitable that my frustration with this post was going to reach a breaking point and to be honest this is for my own peace of mind and just because the misinformation was bothering me but anyway.

i genuinely don't see how this post disproves the view that 'soushin is a toxic ship' so i wrote a response to OP's points. (again i stress i mean no hate to you, dont take this personally, everyone obviously has their own opinions, interpretations etc. and i respect that.)

with that said !! my opinions on why this doesn't do anything to prove soushin isn't problematic/my general issues with this post (under cut cause this is long)

i'll format this post as my responses to each of the main points made in the original post. for reference anything in bold is from the original post.

“Shin saw Midori like an older brother”

Actually agreed on this one. Totally valid and true.

“Midori groomed Shin”

Shin is canonically 21-22 years old while Midori’s age isn’t stated, but since they were in highschool together it can be assumed he wasn’t all that much older than him.

Okay, so first off this is an extremely misleading way of phrasing this. “They were in highschool together” completely avoids the fact that midori didn't even go to shin’s school (said in the quote "I only found this out later, but... He wasn't even a student at my school." - of which a screenshot was included so that kind of confused me), so therefore doesn’t confirm anything about his age, apart from that he was at such an age where he could pass for a highschooler, so, doesn't actually confirm anything. Also as with many points from this post, midori being the same age as shin doesnt make their relationship any better.

Also, key word: assumed. The original poster disproves common interpretations of shin and midori's relationship by saying how the ‘antis’ base this all off of assumptions (and without getting into the fact that we have so little 100% confirmed information on their relationship/past that it is inevitable that people will have to make assumptions at some point) yet they made an assumption here to prove their own point. Very hypocritical and not holding himself to the same standards.

Midori changed to Shin’s school so that he could get his signature but he also became his friend in order to make the Shin AI. He could have easily just been a highschooler himself.

True, but also, nothing more than one possible interpretation. This doesnt actually prove anything.

Many people who say Midori groomed Shin say that he groomed him into believing he had to leave himself behind and that is why he took on Midori’s persona in the death game when it’s clearly not the case in canon.

Agreed here. Shin is probably a chronic overthinker and it is clear that his imagination runs wild especially since, you know, being put in a death game with 0% chance of survival.

“And you… should become the person you want to be, so you can meet them proudly.”

This dialogue is part of Shin’s lost memory, where they are talking about Shin’s wish to meet his lost sibling. It’s one of the only shown scenes of Shin and Midori pre-canon, and he’s clearly being supportive and wanting Shin to be happy with himself.

Actually not clearly. As said, this is the only scene we have of them pre-canon, so in actuality it gives us very little insight into their actual relationship, let alone a clear one. Just as you have made the inference that midori is “clearly being supportive” of shin, someone else could make the inference that this is not genuine, which, being backed up by other hints about their relationship in game, is just as valid an assumption to make as was yours, so, in short, that proves nothing.

People often assume that Shadsou is another consequence of Midori’s impact on Shin, as if he isn’t his own character who can make his own decisions. This fandom often waters down his character and infantilizes him like this.

This is also just another assumption? It is perfectly reasonable to think shin’s character is influenced by someone who was a very central part to his life and character arc. Taking this viewpoint doesnt automatically mean that shin isnt making his own decisions, or that this thought process did not start with shin himself. Acknowledging that a character can be influenced by someone else doesn’t infantilise them. Weird point to make. Also doesnt even have much bearing on this topic because shadsou is, as OP said, most likely another version of shin (in a roundabout way - his thoughts. ykwim it's literally his shadow).

"Midori is Shin’s abuser”

The reality is that Midori and Shin’s relationship is ambiguous

Agreed. It is ambiguous.

Saying that Midori abused Shin is an unsubstantiated claim so it’s just a headcanon, not saying you can’t have that but again, you can’t be claiming it’s fact.

OP say this here but most of their points to ‘disprove’ such claims are also unsubstantiated assumptions about their relationship. Again, the hypocrisy is showing.

This is the cg where Midori is encouraging Shin to be someone he’s proud of. Not very abusive guys.

As is the emerging theme with many of her points, this also means absolutely nothing. We know from midori’s past interactions with other characters that he was ‘encouraging’ and ‘supportive’ of them too (take for instance midori’s role as gin’s school counsellor(i dont remember if that was the exact role but that's not relevant here, ykwim), but very obviously had shallow intentions towards them. While the situation is clearly not the same with shin, as midori does seem to have a strange sort of attachment/affection towards him (more on this later), this just goes to show that it would certainly not be any sort of great leap to assume that midori’s words towards shin are ingenuine.

“But it’s implied to be abusive”

Midori’s mannerisms are scary.

OP is just stating a fact here, this doesnt prove/disprove anything.

 Shin finding Midori to be scary doesn’t mean he abused him.

As unbelievable as this may be, this is not the only implication that their relationship is not healthy. Also, proving that midori didnt abuse him doesnt make this healthy. I fail to see the point. Relationships can be unhealthy without involving all out abuse. A narrow minded take here.

People claim that it has deeper meaning but really it comes down to how you want to interpret it.

Yes, this is true, but the fact that this is the last quote from that screenshot OP talks about genuinely baffles me. It skips out the entirety of “but whenever i looked into his eyes… i felt really restless… i was so scared, i started sweating, i got anxious…” and while i know this doesnt necessarily ‘prove’ anything, if you are perceiving this as a normal and healthy relationship i dont know what to tell you. Also, she fails to address possibly the most concerning aspect of this, being “he really seemed to enjoy seeing me like that…”. ?????????????????????????? to me that seems obvious that the way midori viewed/treated shin was not normal, as it literally says he seemingly enjoyed seeing shin ‘scared’ and ‘anxious’ because of him. And yes, there is the argument that it was because of midori’s research into human emotion and such, so of course he liked to see shin in an anxious state (he liked to push humans to their breaking points, of course), and that it was nothing about shin specifically that brought on this behaviour. And i would agree with that, but, regardless of the reasoning, that is still, clearly, unhealthy and not normal behaviour. The whole point of ‘oh, midori is only like this because of asu naro' etc. is completely irrelevant because that doesn’t make any change to his actual behaviour being unhealthy.

Midori’s odd mannerisms towards Shin could just be how he shows his love. awww. isnt that so sad

Sure, its sad, whatever. That doesnt automatically make his actions okay. This point is irrelevant. Just because someone has reasons for acting the way they do doesn’t make that fine. Someone can have justified and explainable reasons for acting in a bad way, and still be acting in a bad way? Im going to be honest this point really confuses me because its just stating the obvious, and doesnt mean anything in terms of this topic.

...It’s gotten to the point where people like this dear anon believe these things to be true!

While a lot of what you say here is true, the fact that midori ‘is not an abuser’, ‘is not a groomer’, etc. does, in no way shape or form, mean that the relationship between the two is a healthy one. Relationships are complicated, and this one in particular seems to be a very complex one, with many interpretations, but i think what is important to remember is that, whether you claim this ship to be healthy (which i think is overwhelmingly clear that is is not, even with your so-called ‘debunking’) or view it as unhealthy, the confirmed information we have as of right now on their relationship and past is very vague, and very ambiguous. OP claims that soushin ‘antis’ build their dislike for this ship only on assumptions about their relationship, yet he does the exact same thing here in his attempt to discredit them. I agree with him on certain points, as in, it is nowhere confirmed in game that midori abused shin, or something of that nature, but just because that is not confirmed does not mean the ship is healthy, as OP seems to imply that it is. It is not a simple fact of ‘midori is shin’s abuser, or he isn't’. Relationships are far more complex than that, especially so in a game with nankidai’s writing.)

I would like to be clear now that my aim here wasn’t to definitively prove to you, or anyone reading, that soushin is a toxic ship (although that is my opinion of it), and i instead just wanted to point out the many inaccuracies and hypocrisies in your ‘disproving’ of that view of soushin. A lot of what you said is either not true, irrelevant, or missing out on important factors. I dont mean to personally attack you in any way, as this whole post was mostly for my own peace of mind because it was bothering me that this post seems to say soushin isn't 'problematic'.

As for your last point, I fully agree, and many people do, (in some ways) inevitably, base their view on this ship off of certain people’s (non-canon) interpretations online, although that does not mean this ship is not toxic.

i am kind of insane about this game, my apologies for any passive-aggressiveness

Anyway, I hope we get to see more of the past between these two characters in shin's past episode.

OKAY wow im done now. sorry for this horrifically long post this was entirely self-indulgent.

u said ur not a proshipper and stuff but isnt soushin a proship tho.... abuser x victim>???? and shin saw midori like the older brother he didnt have../??? /gen

Originally I wasn't going to respond to this, I thought it was funny so I giggled at it with my friends and I thought that would be it. But I realized this is a wonderful opportunity to write a really long post disproving these theories that this fandom insists are canon. I’ll start by debunking some common arguments. I put a lot of effort into this and am actually using proper grammar IM SERIOUS GUYS!!! This is really long by the way

“Shin saw Midori like an older brother”

I’ll get this argument out of the way first because it’s weak, it’s a common trope in media where relationships are described as familial to show the closeness of the relationship. Even so, Shin probably said that because he looks up to Midori and respects him. If you just want to see them as having a brotherly relationship, that’s fine, but this argument doesn’t stand for calling Soushin proship.

“Midori groomed Shin”

I honestly have no idea where this theory even came from. Some people say that Midori preyed on Shin and that he was much older, while it’s more likely they are both in the same age range. Shin is canonically 21-22 years old while Midori’s age isn’t stated, but since they were in highschool together it can be assumed he wasn’t all that much older than him. Not saying you can’t headcanon that they aren’t, but you shouldn’t push your headcanons as canon to insist Soushin is proship. Midori changed to Shin’s school so that he could get his signature but he also became his friend in order to make the Shin AI. He could have easily just been a highschooler himself. Midori is an Asu-Naro agent and from what we know about them they have used underaged people for labor (eg. Kai, Sei, Hinako). If the common theory that the silhouette in Kai’s mini episode being Midori’s mom is true, it’s probable that he grew up similarly to Kai and Sei, being made to do Asu-Naro’s bidding as children. It’s not like you need the credentials of an adult to give out contracts. You could also make the argument that Midori must be older because he worked as a nurse and school counselor while trying to get participant signatures, but one could argue Asu-Naro has the connections to get him in such a position without schooling or even have higher levels of schooling to get the education in a shorter timespan. But I’m getting off topic. Many people who say Midori groomed Shin say that he groomed him into believing he had to leave himself behind and that is why he took on Midori’s persona in the death game when it’s clearly not the case in canon. It was Midori who wanted Shin to be the best version of himself.

“And you… should become the person you want to be, so you can meet them proudly.”

This dialogue is part of Shin’s lost memory, where they are talking about Shin’s wish to meet his lost sibling. It’s one of the only shown scenes of Shin and Midori pre-canon, and he’s clearly being supportive and wanting Shin to be happy with himself.

Here ‘???’ is the shadow version of himself, he is having an inner conflict of interest. Commonly referred to as Shadsou, is the actual reason Shin took on Midori’s persona. What Shadsou is exactly is ambiguous but generally it’s the personification of Shin’s devil's advocate. People often assume that Shadsou is another consequence of Midori’s impact on Shin, as if he isn’t his own character who can make his own decisions. This fandom often waters down his character and infantilizes him like this.

“Midori is Shin’s abuser”

Again, another headcanon people insist is canon. The reality is that Midori and Shin’s relationship is ambiguous and it hasn’t been explored much in canon. Soushin can be explored in many different ways because of how vague their relationship is. Saying that Midori abused Shin is an unsubstantiated claim so it’s just a headcanon, not saying you can’t have that but again, you can’t be claiming it’s fact.

This is the one cg we have of Midori and Shin pregame btw:

This is the cg where Midori is encouraging Shin to be someone he’s proud of. Not very abusive guys.

“But it’s implied to be abusive”

This is usually the evidence they use for the implication:

“He’s… a scary friend of mine…” 

Midori’s mannerisms are scary. It isn’t just Shin who thinks that he is, he’s one of the main antagonists of the game. Shin finding Midori to be scary doesn’t mean he abused him.

“Though I learned a lot of things at his house…”

It’s insane to me that people use this as evidence but, this is clearly about Midori teaching him how to code. People claim that it has deeper meaning but really it comes down to how you want to interpret it.

There are multiple points where Midori is shown to feel affection in strange ways. It’s possible he didn’t understand ordinary forms of affection, similarly to Kai who was deprived of affection growing up as an agent. Midori’s odd mannerisms towards Shin could just be how he shows his love. awww. isnt that so sad

Many people call Midori Shin’s abuser and claim Soushin is proship without proper canonical proof. A lot of people who kin Shin project onto their relationship and insist that it’s abusive because their bias rooted from their own trauma and experiences clouds their perception of Shin. This happens along with people infantilizing Shin and excusing all of his actions by blaming the supposed ‘grooming’ or ‘abuse’ he experienced from Midori. This is just a common problem with mischaracterization of Shin and Midori by the fandom. It’s gotten to the point where people like this dear anon believe these things to be true!

Then there's the people who ARE proshippers and insist that Soushin is abusive or pedophilic because they want it to be and are looking at them with that lens of thinking. These people greatly help spread the idea that Soushin is a proship, making it much harder to discern canon from fanon when much of the Soushin content is by these people, specifically outspoken adult western fans that praise proship and advocate out for Soushin being problematic, that's what the general fandom now sees it as even though it’s just not canonically happening.

At the time of posting this, Shin’s minisode has yet to come out. I’m sure that once it does it will give a much clearer view of their relationship, maybe I’ll have more to say then! For now, that is all I’ve got for you tumblr.

[fckwritersblock]

Protection Forever - William Lennox

Lennox x Reader

Description: Running into an old flame at the worst possible time.

Warning: nah. Bad writing? Kinda. Unedited because I was excited. I’ll not when it’s been fixed. Somethings may not be fully aligned with the movie but I tried 😩

Word count: 2500+

Dedicated to @merakiaes hey fren!

All gifs from @meragifs too!

You were an EMT.

The two of you pulled up to meet with the other Autobots, you exiting the vehicle before he transformed. You were in awe as he and the rest of the cars all changed.

The biggest one, their leader, gave a rundown of everything that was happening once he confirmed Sam’s identity. This was just a recap for you as Ratchet had already explained. The teenage boy just stood there stuttering not really knowing how to process everything and you frowned again. That was when you really took notice of two teens just standing there. Having known what was expected of Sam Witwicky you frowned slightly.

“I don’t know about this Ratchet, he’s just kid.” You commented to the alien you had formed a quick bond with.

“And who might you be?” The one called Optimus inquired.

You gave him your name before the other yellow autobot, who you’d later learned was Bumble Bee, uttered something through his radio. It was hard for you to hear but the other robots seemed to be use to it as Ratchet responded immediately.

“The human. I like her.” Ratchet sounding irritated.

Bumblebee made another comment and right before Ratchet could respond one of the others chimed in.

“Wait why do they get humans?” Jazz asked incredulously. “I want one too!”

“Enough! Humans are not pets.” The one call Optimus Prime stated sternly, clearly tired of their bickering. You held your laugh, highly amused.

They were like siblings. A family.

“Exactly I’m just here to help and be a better tour guide than these kids can be.” You confirmed practically forcing your services on them. “Besides they need adult supervision. From the looks of it, you all do.” You grinned at everyone around you. Optimus gave a nod, agreeing.

“She stays. Let’s move.”

In that short amount of time things moved rather quickly. You watched the Autobots accidentally destroy Sam’s backyard when attempting to retrieve the glasses, you were all arrested, you escaped thanks to the Autobots, only to be arrested again.

Fail.

Finally you ended it some secret base. How get you weren’t alone. The government had apparently been on a roll with kidnapping civilians who “knew too much “.

Things weren’t going great but quickly went left when the Decepticons, the Autobot rivals, came to retrieve Megatron.

A war from another planet had officially made Earth its battleground.

You were nervous, trying to figure out how to calm everything down before things started to escalate. Nobody was going to get anywhere with all the bickering. That’s when you saw him.

It had been what? Two years?

Still, without even knowing it, without even knowing you were present, he was still able to make your heart be slow and fast at the same time. The army had aged him, but for the better making him all the more attractive but you couldn’t focus on that right now. Especially when you heard:

“The cryogenic system is failing! We're losing NBE One!”

All the soldiers begin to pack everything that they could to prepare in a fight the way they always did. It was an mirable the way Linux game orders in his men took them without a second thought. The trust there.

“That’s good. Get all the ammo you got.”

“Everything you can carry. Bring it.”

Tearing your eyes away from your former lover you grab Sam.

“Come on, we need Bee.” You reminded him, nodding in Simmons direction

“You got to take me to my car.” Sam said, then repeated when he was ignored. “You have to take me to my car. He’s gonna know what to do with the Cube.”

“Your car? It's confiscated.”

“Then unconfiscate it.” You stared blankly.

“We do not know what will happen if we let it near this thing! -“

“You don't know.”

“Maybe you know, but I don't know.”

You rolled your eyes at the insufferable mans rambling.

This was really was more about ego who was in control more than anything. The guy running the ship, clearly was on a power trip. Unfortunately for him he was facing off against soldiers . The Captain who’s eyes you could feel staring at the side of your face.

A Captain and his soldiers. Ones that really dont like to lose and take serving their country seriously.

The guy who arrested you earlier continue to argue with Sam about getting him back to bumblebee when Lennox finally pulled out his gun sick of the back-and-forth.

“Take him to his car!”

As soon as he did so all hell broke loose and everyone from both parties pulled out a weapon.

“Drop it!”

It wasn’t until One of the sector seven agents pointed a gun at the back of Will’s head that you disable to another agent and took his gun and pointed it directly and held it directly at the one pointing the gun at your ex.

“I really wouldn’t.” You warned.

You were no soldier, but Will have taught you plenty before you broke up. So did your brother, before he passed away. He actually served alongside Will but died in combat. Biking. That’s part of why you were so hurt when Will re-enlisted. When he got promoted to Captain and chose the army over you. You were terrified of losing him the way you lost your brother. The break up wasn’t that messy but you both said things you didn’t mean. In attempts to mask your own pain and hurt one another.

You know. Hurt people, hurt people.

It’s still came to no surprise that you put a bullet in someone to protect him. Together or not you’d never let anything happen to him.

“I'm ordering you under S-Seven executive jurisdiction-“ Simmons ranted.

“S-Seven don't exist.” You interjected, earning a quick appreciative glance from Will.

“Right. And we don’t take orders from people that don’t exist.”

“I’m gonna count to 5. Okay-“ Simmons attempted to threat yet again.

“Well, I’m gonna count to three.” Will deadpanned.

You knew that look. God did you know that look and it was so wrong that you were so turned on.

Finally the Secretary of defense interfered telling Simmons to do what was being asked of him. Everyone relaxed slight, weapons lowering.

“Y/n,”

“Captain.”

The Captain and couldn’t help but watch you how do you get up and prepare to go.

“So that’s her huh?” Epps commented as Will watched you run off with Sam.

“Yeah..” Will answered, mind racing.

While he knew he’d eventually see you again, he didn’t think it would be like this. You looked breath taking.

“Damn. Shorty had your back that entire time.”

“Gear up,”

“What I’m just saying I thought she was gonna put a cap in his.” Epps shouted after his Captain receiving no response.

Will knew you had his back, you always would, the same way he would always have yours. He thought of you often, the break up between two inescapable, never feeling like he did the right thing. You were always not too far from the front of his mind. Him wondering how you were doing. If you were happy. If you found somebody else. There was no doubt he regretted what had transpired between the two of you. It was his fault. He knew that. You knew that. He had ample opportunity to fight for you and he didn’t. When he was promoted Captain he felt he had to choose between you and the army. He didn’t choose you the way he should’ve. In reality he could’ve had both. However hr so caught up proven himself to his deadbeat dad that he possibly let the best thing that ever happened to him go.

Not to mention trying to atone for your brothers death. It wasn’t his fault, but he still couldn’t shake it. So without talking to you he reenlisted. Needless to say where that got him.

Now hear the both of you were in the middle of an alien war. Yeah. This is the last place he thought he’d see you.

You were numb. The battle on the highway enough to freak you out. For mommy, just a moment you thought this might be a dream but no. This is all very real. One minute you guys were just entering the city trying to lay low, next thing you know - BOOM! The explosion knocked all of you over, injuring some, killing a few. Bumblebee’s legs were partially blown off.

Getting up off the pavement you waited for the ringing in your ear to subside as you stood up, trying to study yourself when you felt a pair of arms hold you still.

You knew it was Will just by the way he touched you, you blinked hard trying not to go down memory lane.

“Are you okay?” The concern in his voice was enough to make your heart skip a bear.

“Yeah,” you nodded slowly. “Yeah I’m fine.”

Slowly you removed yourself from his grip and went to check on Sam and Mikaela. Ratchet on the other hand -

���Hmm. His pheromone levels are-“ you quickly turned on him and glared.

“Ratchet I’ll turn you into a can opener if you don’t shut the hell up.”

The robot nearly held his hands up in the surrendering position as he followed you. Will had arranged an aircraft to pick up Sam and the cube while everyone else defended themselves against the deceptive cons in a hurry to get the cube far far away before Megatron arrived. Sam was in a panic and so Michaela, you could see Will’s short fuse getting ready to exploded. It was then you decided to be an escort.

“Sam, you can’t do this alone.” Michaela fussed.

“He won’t be alone.” You commented, causing all parties involved to look at you.

“I’m going with you.” You declared.

“No.” Will didn’t even hesitated as he stepped closer to you.

“Captain Lennox-“

“No!” You grabbed him by the front of his beer and pushed him back.

“Do you see what going on out there?!” You continued to hold on to him and you yelled at him over there chose. “We’re at a war. One we are extremely ill prepared for. So get your shit together! Sam is my responsibility. I have to get this kid to safety.”

This time your hands slid up the side of his face forcing him to look at you.

“Y/n..” he breathed out leaning down toward you, and for the first time during all this madness you could visibly see he was afraid.

“I’ll be back, Will.” You assured him, briefly resting your forehead against his.

Gathering himself he pulled away, looking toward Sam then back at you.

“Go. Go!”

And then we were running.. With nothing but an M16 strapped to your back and the pistol in your hand, you ran faster than you ever have before.

The four of you were under attack once more, you and Sam doing what you had to, to avoid getting snatched up as a fight Ironhide and Ratchet defended you. Unfortunately you were too close to one of the cars that went up in flames and you were thrown into another car from the blast.

“Y/n!” You could feel the blood on your forehead as you slowly pushed yourself up. As you tried to stand you immediately stopped feeling the pain in your thigh. Looking down could see the damage that had been done. The blood surrounding the afflicted area.

“Wha- what, what do i do?!” Sam asked frantically once he took notice of your injury.

“You gotta keep going Sam. I’ll be fine.”

He stood fo his feet, unsure of what to do. When Ironhide told him the same thing.

“Go!” You screamed once more.

Sam left and continued to run without you as you, as quickly as possible, as you tore your focus away from him to pull the shard of glass in your leg out. Ripping a piece of your shirt off you tightly tied it around your thigh in order to stop the bleeding. There was no point in going forward now but the return back to everyone else and help them fight.

You just had to avoid getting killed in the process.

You seen a car steering wheel, a Mountain Dew vending machine and and Xbox all turn into one of those freaky ass robots right before your eyes. All of which you helped others fight off. It was so surreal. In fact, if it wasn’t for the constant ringing in your ear from all the explosions you definitely think you were dreaming. You almost made it back to Lennox and his men when another Decepticon stood between between you and your destinations. They were definitely taking a beating. You saw Epps shooting a green laser indicating the robot that doubled as a helicopter wasn’t a friendly and decided to do what you could to keep the Decepticon from getting any closer to them and hurting any more civilians. In an attempt to draw it away from everyone else, you begin to fire your weapon giving it everything you had.

Unfortunately, the side effective taking its attention off the others meant putting the attention on you.

You ran trying to duck and dodge a bullets now directed your way.

But Will. Will’s heart dropped. Seeing you there defending yourself alone. His pause was brief, the air forces plan already in motion, before he started the motorcycle and was speeding in your direction.

“William!” You screamed for him fearfully as he drove straight toward the robot.

The only thing you could hear was your heartbeat pounding in your ears. You almost couldn’t breathe, you don’t remember the last time you ever felt so scared in your life. But it wasn’t your life you feared for was it?

He rushed forward and slid under the robot continuing to firing the launcher. All you could do was watch as he drove toward you. Toward the danger your mind wondering if he did that on a regular basis. Was this the life of a soldier? What he went through day after day when he was deployed?

Standing up he only spared the parts of the dismembered robot a glance before shouting and turning looking for you. In a matter of seconds he was standing directly in front of you and pulling you into his arms.

Relief.

There was nothing like physically being about to touch someone, hold someone to really know they were okay.

“So…” you began, suddenly feeling nervous. “...That was hot-“

Before you were able to get another word in, he captured your lips with his kissing you roughly and bringing you closer, hands on the small of your back. You couldn’t help it kiss him back just as fiercely put in every emotion you had into that kiss.

Every ounce of passion he had in body, put into this kiss, your lips just as soft, kiss just as pure as he remembered. When you kissed, he knew he was a goner and could never let you go again.

It has been two years since the last time you guys have been this close. This intimate. Reconnected. The feeling it gave you, the indescribable feeling, was one neither one of you ever wanted to forgo again. Pulling back slowly, you both had smiles on your faces, Will pulling you closer to plant a kiss on your forehead.

“Excuse me,” Epps interrupted.

The both of you turning your attention on him.

“As cute as this shit is it’s highly inappropriate in the middle of the battle. I’m just saying we are trying to stay alive and shit.”

———————————————

Oh my fu- I don’t even know what this isssss

Couldn’t tell you what my original ideas was or nothing. I believed this was going to short-

I enjoyed writing it though! Shoutout again to @merakiaes for being on this lennox train with me lol

I’m just....I’m just gonna leave this mess here.

Bye

- Mo

—————————-

Tags: @merakiaes @lilythemadqueen

[boypussydilf]

Shusumi for the relationship ask game

i dont know how you even found my blog but thank you *kisses your hand like a prince meeting a princess*

describe their canon relationship/dynamic

oh , you know. sumi is lonely and full of Emotions but doesn’t even know That let alone why she feels it and then a cool guy shows up and is Nice To Her and she goes omg!!! [latches onto him for reasons barely related to Who He Is As A Person] and akira goes Oh another person who wants to use me as a sounding board for their internal monologue. sounds fun :) This probably sounds mean, and almost DEFINITELY is not the dynamic the writers Intended for them to have, but i like it i think its really funny

legit sumi just wants someone to look up to and to rely on and akira was either blessed or cursed by god with a special talent for Being Relied On. she wants to feel like someones helping her and hes happy to help anyone. etc

your ideal/headcanon version of it? how does it differ from how it is in canon & why is this your favorite version? any other alternate versions of it you enjoy?

you know ive thought about royal trio and ive thought abt akesumi friendship but i dont think abt Just These Two that much.

first of all RIP to the person who sent this if they come back hoping for some Clearly Romantic ShuSumi Takes but to me they are like siblings. sumire doesnt Realize theyre siblings but akira is just constantly taking new younger siblings under his wings and she is included. theyre siblings in a very drastically different way from akira & futaba though akira and futaba are loud and obnoxious and chase each other around sojiros house like a couple of grade schoolers and sumi is not completely barred from that but her and akira are more like. they meet up and sumi talks about her Life and her Feelings and akira gives her Just Enough Advice To Be Helpful Without Being Pushy and then they, like, look at college application forms together or something. its practical, i guess is what im saying. akira Sometimes bullies and pesters her (affectionate) but her reactions dont tend to be very strong so its not as fun.

im Neutral on genuinely romantic shusumi, to me they are not that interesting as a ship and also they are both gay in the wrong direction and also they are big brother little sister mode, but i do exist in a state of absolute fascination with like. comphet shusumi. literally sumire is going I want a Perfect Life and that means Living Stereotypical Heterosexual Romance Tropes :) and she thinks she has found her opportunity here and is telling herself Yes i am IN LOVE! this is what that is! I cannot conceive of a version of the akira from my brain who doesnt know full well hes gay but if he somehow didnt wouldnt these 2 cringefail straight dating living their ridiculously played-straight damsel in distress & noble hero story be the funniest thing ever. And by that i mean fascinating and a torment labyrinth i wish them luck escaping

Also i think they are getting along fine and normal the way they are but like. sumire “used to relying on other people A Lot” yoshizawa and akira “just wants to help people. A Lot” kurusu. They can either have the perfect friendship that is exactly what sumi needs where he has the right level of involvement to help her gain confidence in herself while still knowing she can turn to someone for help. Or go straight off a cliff into bizarre codependency.

Basically I like it when things have the potential to be kind of fucked up. But they aren’t these guys are normal. They just sit in leblanc telling each other dad jokes. Akira buys a wallet just to put a comically large collection of photos of sumi’s greatest achievements in them and proudly show it off to his friends. She gradually goes from reacting to him experiencing something Comically Bad but Harmless like tripping over something with giggling immediately deliberately stifled by SORRY IMSOSORRY ARE YOU OKAY, to just openly laughing at him and he pretends to be annoyed but he’s happy about it.

what do you like about their relationship, why is it interesting or enjoyable to you?

I like Akira World’s Most Big Brother Moments #227. i like all the different winding pathways the concept of Them can go down bc i like having things to pick apart and analyze and look at from hundreds of different angles. i like. the video game persona 5 royal

what about the individual characters involved? what does this relationship mean to them, what makes it unique among their relationships?

No matter what, like. Sumire at the point in time where they meet NEEDS this, i think. Her sister just Died and she doesn’t really know it but she’s trying to figure out her place in the world Without her and also if the fact that most shujin students seem to dislike her is anything to go off of she doesn’t really like, have friends? She needs like. A hand to help her up. Someone To Lean On. Sort of like how Becoming Kasumi was not, like, The Best Solution To Her Problems, but was really helpful in getting her through that period of her life. & now she has someone who will listen to her and help her unconditionally and that is Great for her. She looks up to Akira she admires him she is eternally thankful & grateful to him. And also is convinced she’s in love with him

As for akira i . </3 For most of the time they know each other she’s kind of Just Some Girl He Knows. he definitely cares about her a lot & they have the chance to get closer in third sem what w her being Herself again & she Is part of his Little Sibling Collection. but i cant think of anything akira is getting out of this relationship aside from general Human Socialization. he just want to protect it want to see it grow up healthy (i say that a lot huh.)

favorite interaction they have in canon

Zero interest in them as a couple but sumis romance route IS one of the best things in all of p5 just for the scene where akira leans on leblancs counter Like That and stares at her just to be a Nuisance

favorite interaction they have in your head/a situation you want to put them in

oh god oh fuck i dont know uhhhhh. I think THEY should bully akechi together. I think sumi should get mad at akira. Not for anything in particular i just think sumi has the potential to be very mean if she will allow herself to Feel Negative Feelings and i like conflict between friends. Sumire tries to teach him gymnastics and he forgets hes not in a palace and does something stupid and embarrassing like faceplanting into a wall for no reason and shes very polite about it at first but in the long run she will not let him live it down. umm. thats it. i like them <3

[timingmatters]

Okay so its been long enough that i ranted and watched elite that idc for it anymore lmao. The shitty writing pissed me off, i ranted about it, and was ready to move on. But something that alarmed me happened today. Like seeing first hand the real life negative effect the messages of the series sent to people.

Its about Patrick’s character. Now i have a lot of issues with him, including the lowkey racist vibes he had towards Omar all season that were never addressed. But more than that, this is about consent. Since ep 1, Patrick tried BLACKMAILING Ander to fuck him to help Omar. After Ander told him multiple times to back off he still fully touched his dick until Ander physically pushed him off and left. This was ep 1. Now, we can rant about Ander and even Omar’s reactions and the drama. But this isn’t about the drama. Is the message of consent being shown in the series. Since ep 1 Patrick’s motivations, directly stated by him, is that saying no to him (including sexually) is a problem for the other person because he always gets what he wants. While the drama and Ander + Omar’ actions caused them to break up, it was directly bc Patrick kept trying to manipulate them both with sex and kept pushing even after he was told no. Not only in the first ep, but even when Ander tried to say they couldn’t have sex anymore because Omar didn’t want to be open anymore. He still kept pushing. He got MAD about being told no sexually.

I talked a lot about the writing from a plot perspective and the drama. But today im here to talk about consent. I wanted to be done talking about this season, but I just saw a post on fb with over 30k shares and likes talking about how they wanted to be Patrick in the club scene with Ander on the first episode (where he kept touching Ander even when Ander was like “mhmmm… lets not” multiple times). While ik the Omander relationship has been fucked by the writers, i still see comments about how Patrick and Ander could have been so good bc they are hot (and this comes directly bc a lot of viewers now don’t care for the plot, even less for the queer characters and the writers are aware, so all their storylines are incredibly sexual and viewers watch it for the sex and how hot it is). I have seen a lot of praise or wanting to behave like Patrick bc is hot. When his character has a horrible view on consent. And a lot of people are romanticizing it. Hell, i have seen feminists share it bc “it was so hot” and no talk on how rapey Patrick’s behavior is the more you think about it. His whole storyline was him being mad he was told “no” sexually in the first episode. People tend to not look at consent as hard when it comes to queer men vs girls in media (and ik girls are the primary victims of assault in real life, but online we don’t talk enough about consent within the lgbt community, including girls. We don’t talk enough about consent with wlw either). And i hate that Elite didn’t necessarily portray Patrick as the good guy, but they never addressed that kind of behavior either.

Same with Cayetana. Her and Phillipe (Philippe? I have seen different wording lmao and i dont watch with subs so idk💀 i forgot lmao). They are a couple this season and a lot of people ship them. So many vids online of their relationship. So many edits of their sex. And i have not seen people talk about how he literally tried to assault her and then said she was leading him on. At the very least, unlike with Patrick, that behavior was called out and addressed in the series, but it was still overlooked fairly quickly. This season of Elite has really bad messages regarding consent and normalizes really bad behavior, and it succeeds in doing so because people online are going with it. Thee storylines and behaviors were not written to start conversations, but rather for drama driven by sex. And for such a heavy sex show, the consent is off a lot.

It just made me really uncomfortable seeing so many people online talking about how hot these situations were and completely overlooking and being fine with how these situations lacked consent so much.

I feel like i was repetitive a lot, but alas is 5am and i’m writing this because i saw the fb post being shared about how hot the Patrick and Ander scene was in s1, when it borderlines (i think even explicitly IS) assault. To put your mouth on someone’s genitalia after they clearly said NO more than once, even if they hesitated a little or said it jokingly, is still assault and i got pissed at people praising it so i wrote this xxx

[flodaya]

Hello there, here to give an honest opinion. I disagree with a few of your takes about Lou. Most people who don’t like her in honesty just find her character random and unnecessary. They feel as if she was inserted purely for drama and not story progression. BUT I don’t really think it’s the fault of Lou’s character or the people who aren’t taking to her well, it’s the writing. Yes, there are people who want the mlm Sascha ending but I believe it’s because we were kinda sold that in the beginning. We were eased into Sascha—we were excepting him. Lou was random—seemed to be tossed into the mix as an after thought and it threw everyone off the vibe. I understand what you mean by people hating on a non conventionally attractive gender non conforming person but I think it’s unfair to state that ALL people who aren’t taking to Lou’s character fits that bill. Sure, some people might not like her for that reason, however, I know alot of people who just really adore the main cast of characters and are salty the underused characters (Finn, Yara) lost the war of screen time to new characters. If people genuinely like the idea of Lou and Ismail, great. But what I find concerning is people who are shipping them just because they feel like it’s the “woke” thing to do or that it would be a bad thing to not ship a couple like them. It seems to be with your logic that if you don’t take well to them, people automatically assume you’re body shaming Lou or not finding her attractive, again that’s an unfair assumption. Personally, I don’t think Ismail and Lou have chemistry and the “chemistry” between them that’s being written is clearly forced. I have no issues with Lou’s character anymore. I did find her a bit sus in her introduction because I wasn’t sure wtf purpose she was supposed to serve but she’s fine to me now.

hi, my friend

so i gotta be honest here and say i am not lou's biggest fan either, i am having a very hard time warming up to both new characters, there were a combined 2 moments where i genuinely liked and felt emotional for these two, 1) was when sascha came to the party in episode 1 and did his little dance thing and 2) was lou in the clip on monday drawing and being all cutesy with isi

i don't think people are always malicious when they don't like lou, not in the slightest, and neither am i saying the entire fandom is like this, i know people in this fandom who love lou or who defend lou, so when i say "y'all are horrible" i am clearly only referring to people who are mean and disrespectful and there are a lot of people making very rude and distasteful comments about her, so if you're not one of them, if you don't like her because you just dont then that's totally okay, we can't all like a character, it's an opinion after all

yet i wouldn't say people ship lou and isi for woke points, maybe, just maybe, some people genuinely like those two as a couple? i don't "ship" anyone this season, i just don't want to see constant hate for lou and isi and for people to keep denying that ismail is clearly meant to seem romantically interested in lou, ship whatever you want, but it's so easy to not be a fucking dick about a character

but it is extremely questionable how the perception of lou and sascha is so contrary, on top of that i remember how this fandom treated ava the last two seasons and it's becoming increasingly annoying how fat characters are seen in the fandom as "they are getting too much screen time" while constantly asking for other skinny conventionally attractive characters to get more screen time (eg. everyone saying yara should get more background but then complain when lou gets a backstory)

i definitely agree with you though, the writing is at fault here, they clearly set up sascha as the LI, which is also why i still think he is the endgame, so they've totally set up lou to compete against a white queer boy and we all know this fandom and their obsession with those. though i don't think we can deny that if lou had also been a white boy or if the genders had been reversed the reception and general opinion would be quite different 🤷‍♀️

so, tl;dr i am not lou's biggest fan either, i could have very well done without her or sascha, i'm just here to call out the hypocrisy of big parts of this fandom

[wygolvillage]

001 laura/shanoa!!!

when I started shipping it- i think pretty much as soon as i first got into ooe, it just seemed right lol. the more and more quests i completed the more sure i became: they were in love my thoughts- i love them <3 and i love how laura searching for shanoas heart ties into shanoas arc as a whole. and then shanoas presence in lauras life ties into HER arc... they mean so much to each other i just think shalaura Makes Narrative Sense what makes me happy about them- there are a LOT of things that make me happy but here are some key ones: i think its really Good and awesome that laura is a character who is just, very casually a lesbian and its not really made out to be a joke or anything, she just is. and theres stuff like this throughout the game with shanoa being able to state that shes not attracted to men and never having that challenged or "disproved" or anything nor is it ever considered a "symptom" of her emotionlessness or anything. AND ANOTHER THING that makes me happy is that imagining them together also means imagining an unseen, happier part of shanoas life after everythings over and she has time to heal and actually be herself rather than just a weapon what makes me sad about them- okay so this requires the context of lauras backstory, that she was constantly berated for every flaw in her jewelry that she made and has hidden low self-esteem because of that. so like. what makes me sad here is that the failed attempts to get shanoa to smile kind of pick at that old wound, and this is evidenced within the dialogue itself, like "haha i guess i just wasnt good enough", "i wonder if my skills arent up to it", "i must be doing something wrong", etc. the way she immediately defaults to blaming herself for shanoas unhappiness IS SO FUCKING SAD!!! which only makes it better when shes able to move past that at the end. i like how her problems arent solved by actually succeeding at fixing shanoas problems, but rather through working hard to improve for her own sake <3 laura is such a good character you guys things done in fanfic that annoys me- that there is no fanfic LOL things I look for in fanfic- exists who id be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other- HMMM this ones interesting, theyre so clearly Made For Each Other that its weird to imagine alternatives. especially not within ooe i dont think since theyre kind of the only eligible couple ? i dont really have an answer my happily ever after for them- living happily together in wygol with their cat ofc <3 who is the big spoon/little spoon- big spoon is shanoa probably but thats not rigid, they can switch if they want what is their favorite activity- long walks in the forests surrounding the village !!!

[sukirichi]

— 💌 ; a love letter from @kyriaan

long post below regarding broken records. cw includes adultery, physical assault, toxic relationships, broken records spoilers, and mature content

[ from the ask ] BROKEN RECORDS ; track 005

Okay! I finally had time to actually sit down and properly read chap 5 cause ill be damned and burned if i dont pay special attention to one of my favorite series here! Rather drown or be sting by bees slowly 😒

🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙃 I for the first time don't even know where to start so allow me to be all over the place cause my emotions are also all over the place with this chapter ✌️

Ill start by y/n's dad caN GO FUCK HIMSELF? Like okay sir you might have fallen in love with our mom (ill give him the benefit of the doubt regarding his feelings) BUT SIR YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN HONEST? FROM THE BEGINNING? ALSO BRUH YOU KIDDING ME??? SIR YOU LEGIT ABANDONED YOUR OTHER DAUGHTER AND THEN YOU PROCESS TO 'LEAVE US' I- YOOOOO I WOULD BITCH SLAP HIM I SWEAR!!

Also ALSO ILL SCREAM FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK NO KID HAS EVER TO BE BLAMED FOR BEING BORN!! Y/n mom's line: 'we have to atone for our sins' its legit BULLSHIT it wad NOT y/n fault her DAD COULDNT KEEP HIS DICK INSIDE HIS PANTS NOR ITS Y/N FAULT THAT HER DAD CHEATED!!! ATONE FOR OUR SINS MY ASS!! the father is the one that has to take responsibility for all this shitty situation we do NOT nor any kid out there in this situation has to be taken accountable by this!!

And now Suna 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 bruh im just gonna cry... Everything he does just makes me heart swell i feel so cozy when i read his parts like how sweet and present he is I- bruh I never had that... Actually seeing y/n breaking up with him when shes clearly falling in love with him just breaks me cause Girl for real Suna would be there for you... I get it shes afraid and shes acting on that fear but girl... Pls he truly loves you deeply not everyone is like your dad. There are happy endings. There are good people Sunas one of them pls 🥺🥺🥺 also MY LOVE TSUMU BEING A SUPPORTIVE FRIEND EVEN THO SUNA GOT THE GIRL BRUH TSUMU I FUCKING LOVE YOU MY CHILDISH YET ADORABLY SMUG BOY 😭😭😭😭😭

Nagisas a bitch btw ✌️ so far i see no redemption not excuse in what she did so far. I get her reasons but that does NOT excuse her behavior. She has to lash out at her cunt of a dad not at a innocent woman who was also a victim all along. Nor even her half sister. I get her mentality behind this but doesnt excuse her behavior at all- its basically the same as being a victim from a bully and playing bully after aswell.

Overall YOU MADE ME CRY AGAIN SUKI! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS BUT ALSO UGH MY HEART SUKI!

[ from suki ] 

BROKEN RECORDS IS UR FAVE SERIES??? babe pls you’re gonna me cry !! nah nah fr his dishonesty caused all this mess. YEAHA SAKLAA tbh I love mama lucy but her words of ‘atoning for their sins’ or her mindset of ‘we don’t deserve to be happy when we’ve hurt others’ really messed up YN. she was only 21 and vulnerable with all the shambles happening in her family + the sudden assault from nagisa, that when her mother said those words, she struggled to let go of it. to her, it became like a final verdict that dictated how she lived her life.

SUNA URGHHH PLEASE GIVE SUNA A CHANCE HE HAS PURE AND GOOD INTENTIONS BUT I CANT BLAME HER EITHER AHSJAKA. and the comparison of nagisa being a bully’s victim only to become the next bully is true. nagisa should lash out at their shitty excuse of a father. ALSO AAAAHH THE NEXT CHAPTER (007) IS WORSE AHSJKAAL

[ from the ask ] BROKEN RECORDS ; track 005

I know shins attractive I mean mans perfect?? Does he even have any flaw?? And the way he cried when he got his jersey MYGOD FHDHFHFJSKS but I still look at him and im like.... Hmmmm nah i wouldnt date him its just not my... Do i dare say type? Cause i dont think i have a type ghfhfisofbd but like I just 🧍‍♀️

I love him i just dont love him i guess

The makeout scene tho ill give you that 🥵🥵🥵 made me bark (i would still walk out next day like was a good fuck kita byeeee🚉🏃‍♀️💨)

... More drama regarding mari... And you said this will have like 10 chapters... And from 8 on will be angsty.... 🙂 *traumatized noises*

[ from suki ] 

YUUHHH KITA IS PERFECT HERE AHSJKAA IDK MAYBE ITS MY SIMPING FOR NAOYA CONVERTED TO KITA ALREADY BEING PERFECT AS HE ALREADY IS AND I AMPED IT UP BCOS THE SIMP MODE IS ACTIVATED AHSKAA. the make out scene !! pls sir i’m on my knees spare some love in ur heart AAAAAAHHHHHH. also. i assure you. businessman! kita got game. he’s gonna make you walk funny if you give him the chance HSJKA

yeah i just finished writing the outline for track7 right now and the drama is HSJKAA it gave me a headache sobs 

[ from the ask ] BROKEN RECORDS ; track 006

I want to give you my usual thoughts on the new chapter and at the same ahm...

I just saw myself on Suna... Deeply....and it kinda slapped me harder than i was expecting...there were too many things from him giving himself to mari/treating her like he wants to be treated... To deleting his best friend from social media thanks to his girlfriend... And it really hurt me ahah..

I would vent but.. Yeah

But yes this chapter i saw myself in suna and i had to take quite the long breaks cause it was getting to me 😅😅😅 also if anything i learned from my experiences is that MARI SCREAMS RED FLAGS and even Osamu can see that pls

I would honestly end Mari there, i wouldnt even bother to just retort i would walk my way into to the damn apartment and fucking take Suna for myself cause Mari does not deserve him. Shes manipulative, and in a way abusive.. Not allowing him to keep contact with his best friend his a total redflag and o know its because Suna had feelings for y/n and vice versa but Suna never gave het a reason to distrust him.

The moment he said he was best friends with y/n and was single she immediately clinged himself to him and for what? To then dump him like he was trash...

He gave himself to her, he proved he was there for her he even took her back this boy deserves the fucking world and its not Mari...

I kinda want to say it's not y/n at this point either cause the way she broke his heart was kinda the same Mari did.. Y/n disregarded his feelings and just broke it up.. Mari disregarded his feelings abd broke it up... But y/n stated from the very beginning that she would eventually break up Mari just shrugged and didn't care so i can in a way forgive y/n i cant forgive mari

Besides y/n was supportive from the beginning while Mari was obsessive and controlling.

Another really insanely well written chapter as usual (albeit this one making me ball my eyes off harder because yeah) but yes~ eagerly waiting for the next one~

Take your time tho 😌🙌

Mari can go fuck off 💗💓💞💕❣️❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍💯💝💖💋💅

Suna x y/n pls

Y/n deserves to have a healthy love life with someone she loves (hence why npt Kita) and loves her back

And Suna deserve the fucking world and be treated right

[ from suki ] 

NAHHHH cuz when you said suna was treating mari the way he wanted YN to treat her... that’s right. on point. they’re all so complicated sobs. MARI IS A WALKING RED FLAG THAT OSAMU CAN SMELL FROM A MILE AWAY. ALSO yes mari is manipulative and borderline possessive when it came to suna. like yeah, let’s be real, she could tell a long time ago that suna was in love with YN and it made her insecure / jealous, but the whole time, YN kept her distance. she was supportive over their relationship from afar as to make mari comfortable. suna also did everything he could to make sure she was well cared for. for three years, he was focused on her and only her. he gave love a second chance despite being brokenhearted. suna never mari a chance to doubt because he, too, was sure he could be happy with her.

until mari left him.

and now suna is back with YN because they will always have each other. but honestly,,,if we think about it, if mari never broke up with suna or at least gave him the chance to explain himself - if mari didn’t do the exact thing YN did to suna years ago - he honestly would’ve been really happy with mari. they were going well. like yeah mari has always been toxic by pushing suna’s boundaries and asking him to unfollow his own best friend on social media, but he did it anyway. because he trusted their relationship. he wanted the best for them. 

also yeah, the parallels between mari and YN were intentional !! 

HEHEHEHE THE KITA X YN SHIP everyone loves them im so happy about that bcos kita is so amazing in my eyes. PREACH FOR THAT THO !! SUNA DESERVES THE BEST. SUNA DESERVES TO BE TREATED RIGHT. HE DESERVES THE WORLD AND SO MUCH MORE

thank you for taking the time to send me this, kya, it means a lot to me and it motivates me to work harder on the future chapters !! <33

[theunconcernedembalmer]

what’s the issue with elisop? is it just bc you hc aesop as ace? im so concerned by seeing ppl adamantly opposed to mlm/wlw ships but im also genuinely curious about why you dislike it and other lgbt ships so much lol

hmm. that is a strong accusation, n i find it just a bit odd. are you new here? or perhaps you are taking personal offense at my dislike towards a favourite ship of yours and using the lgbt argument as moral high ground?

whatever the case may be, i thank you for asking. if u r truly looking for an answer, its below the cut n it is very very long. mind u these are all my personal opinions n i am in no way policing how others enjoy ships. just in case this wasnt clear; i dont wish to start discourse on this blog, especially since my takes are probably... unpopular.

firstly i would like to address the “disliking lgbt ships” bit, because this has very strong implications in itself. i have nothing against lgbt ships. i enjoy them, even. if the two characters have chemistry between each other, i ship it. however, the moment characterization is broken for the sake of romance, i lose interest. this is generally my stance on ships in general, n this applies for both straight n lgbt ships. 

the ships themselves are fine. however, i do have issues with the ship dynamics, so ill let u in on that.

i want to touch on mlm ships in particular; i believe u are familiar with the top/bottom dynamic that is rampant in these kinds of ships? (i wont deny that this dynamic can be found in other types of ships, but for arguments sake i will be focusing on gay ships because i feel that this occurs more commonly here) its such a popular dynamic that is prone to stripping the personality from one if not both characters, only for them to be reduced to being dominant/submissive. for a character to be pigeonholed into a stereotypical category based on... preferred sexual positions? its just downright insulting, never mind the larger more problematic implications of it. top/bottom is not indicative of someones personality, by the way. flattening multi dimensional characters into these stereotypes is so so so insulting.

unfortunately this is The Most Popular portrayal of just about any gay ship around. ive seen it being used everywhere in so many fandoms n it just about becomes apparent to me that ppl come to stories looking for a Ship. not the stories, nor the characters, just a ship. while id like to say theres nothing wrong with that, keep in mind not everyone is just looking for 2 characters that look pretty next to each other. if i ship something, i see interesting n meaningful interactions between 2 characters, which is so often not the case once u bring in the top/bottom dynamic. why is it so popular? because somehow this is what ppl like from a gay ship n hence it sells. ppl want the drama, characterizations be damned. ppl want to see the big kiss that happens in the end, n maybe the sexy parts that come after. characterizations be damned.

so u can say im a little wary of gay ships when they cross my feed. hell, as a joseph aesop shipper i see this trope everywhere n im pretty disappointed as well. small tangent but i feel like this is the reason why zh0ngli n ch1lde is so popular in g3nshin. i try to see the appeal, i really do, but after a long while of analyzing their respective characters i dont think they have as much chemistry as ppl think they do. dont even get me started on how incredibly ooc they make either of these very interesting n unique characters in ship portrayals. all because of the top/bottom dynamic that ppl want to see. i say this for that particular ship, but this is pretty much the case for a lot of ships out there, n the latter part is painfully true even when the 2 characters do have potential between each other. ill say it again im disgusted by the blatant disrespect to the characterizations if all ppl ever want is 2 pretty puppets to mush lips together. cos thats what theyre essentially reduced to this way.

n its so obvious to see when an artist subscribes to this rhetoric, because u can so clearly see it in the way they draw their characters. the “top” generally has sharper features to go with their “dominating personality”, while the “bottom” has disturbingly softer, feminine, dare i say sometimes child like features “to submit”. n thats where the uwu soft gay trope comes from, i believe. which, in case u still dont know, i hate with a burning passion.

so again for ppl with impaired reading comprehension, im fine with ships, including lgbt ones, but the moment u break characterization for the sake of the ship, im not that okay with it. u want to do it for a short crack comic? fine. but if thats the only way ur portraying the 2 characters then im immediately wary of ur content. ill still look at it cos usually the art is really good, but im very very wary. so im not “adamantly opposed”, just very critical of how the ships are being portrayed. if other ppl want to enjoy their ships like that, sure. just dont expect me to join in on something i dont agree on.

.

now id like to address not shipping “because i hc aesop as ace”. for ppl who are new to the blog (hello there), im an ace in a romantic relationship, so thats definitely not the reason i dont ship elisop. its more of being in a relationship has largely shaped my views towards romance as a whole. even before i met my boyfriend, i hated the romance genre in stories n media. most of it comes off as incredibly forced, especially those love triangles they seem to love putting into teen novels. thats one reason why i stopped reading when i was younger, but i digress.

did i partake in shipping when i was younger? i did. for a gay ship too (if anyone really wants to know, its kurotsukki from haikyuu. at least this was one that i can remember, i was mostly working on my 20 odd ocs for the longest time). i also used to write little short romance ficlets that i never posted anywhere cos i hated (n still do hate) my writing. but writing romance when u dont have experience was really just a way of projecting n probably a way of coping for myself, not that i knew at that time. but after i actually started a relationship with my boyfriend (whom i love n cherish a lot thank u very much), i began to see how much all these have skewed my views towards romance n have actually done some harm to our relationship. the bullshit that the general media feeds u constantly doesnt help in the slightest either.

quick topic shift to elisop in particular (about time, right?). i already stated that i only ship characters if i sense chemistry between the two personalities, n if u have seen the part where i dont ship elisop then u must have seen how agonized i am over not being able to have a concrete personality for eli. that is the main problem i have with elisop: eli does not feel like a solid character to me. n that is a huge problem, because if he doesnt have any defining characteristics besides being mild n nice, then he can be whoever i want him to be. (i have done this in my exorcist comics, i will admit this. n the fact that i can just do that... it really does not sit well with me personally.)

n that is dangerous.

back to young me doing lil ship things. i think its also pretty safe to say when u really do ship 2 characters, chances are u kinda really relate very very hard to at least one of them. that very quickly can turn into projecting, n shipping therefore is not “exploring the relationship between 2 characters” n it becomes “my preferred dating simulator 101″. of course this isnt always the case, but at least it was for me, n subconsciously it might be for lots of ppl too. n since this is ur mental playground, u call the shots, n there is no consequences if u slightly (or even entirely) alter one or both personalities to fit ur desired narrative. n u wouldnt even notice or know, cos ur blind to ur own biasness.

we bring our perceived notions into real life, im sure u know that. so when ur partner does not become that perfect knight in shining armour, or when they get upset at things that u do (which is a very normal thing by the way), n u think (very subconsciously), That isnt what my otp would do, something is wrong here (nothing is wrong, actually its just ur skewed perception of a stable romantic relationship). why wouldnt ur otp do this? because u are both halves of ur otps, there is no hidden secrets between them (apart from the pining part but thats irrelevant), n again they have been altered to fit ur preferred narrative. 

a real relationship requires a lot of communication between parties, because newsflash, liking someone doesnt mean that u have to like every single thing they do, they will make mistakes n it will hurt u, n guess what, the reverse is also true. if u do go with absoutely anything that they would do with 0 objections whatsoever, ur not crushing on someone, ur idolizing them, n that power imbalance is detrimental to a relationship. these things are not obvious to ppl, especially when the whole climate is hell bent on getting into romantic relationships by a certain age or some bullshit. communication is key n is pretty much the only way to solve relationship issues, because the other person has a lot that u r not seeing n vice versa. as similar as 2 ppl can be, i doubt u can have 100% the same thoughts on all things. i dont make the rules.

so in ur mental playground u focus on the fluffy parts, maybe there is communication, but rarely is there any meaningful conflict. thats unrealistic, n if u bring that mindset to an actual relationship, thats not going to end well. i say meaningful conflict, because yes, generally u shouldnt have conflicts with ur significant other. but inevitably when ur with each other for long enough, u will realize that there are habits that u must change in order to be with the other person. habits that are harmful to the other person directly, or harmful habits towards yourself that indirectly harm the other person. these are meaningful in a sense that if left alone, it will manifest into larger problems that will harm u, the other person n the relationship as a whole. its meaningful to the relationship.

all these is made even worse if ur neurodivergent. maladaptive coping practices, self sabotaging behaviours, inherent disabilities. all these must be adjusted n addressed. im so incredibly thankful for my boyfriend for being incredibly patient with me when working all these out, n it has not been easy for me to work on myself n all my problems, n im still not done working on them. this aspect is often not explored in romance in general (or properly), n there is a very good chance i would have still been stuck in the unhealthy mindset of “this isnt like my otp, maybe we’re not meant to be”. because loving someone is a choice. no one is made for each other, it is a conscious choice made between 2 ppl to make things work. this is how arranged marriages work, i am told, n i do see the appeal, not that it actually does appeal to me culturally.

special mention to the kurotsukki ship, cos from there i found a very, very good fic that explored their relationship before n after getting together, n it actually showed aspects of this problem in the incredibly slow burn of (at that time) 20+ chapters. it was just one fic (n a very good one at that, i believe it was called Leviticus), but it had a lesson i never thought i needed to learn, n learn it i did, with a lot of help from my dear. 

this is also probably the reason why i dont really want to delve too much into romance now. i know its a lot of work, n everything (mostly) that the media feeds u is really false advertising, but ppl eat that shit up n so it remains one of the most popular genres to date. im just very wary that if i do start on a romantic story, i want to be able to show it in a way like that fic did, the truths of relationships, because i dont want to make something that sells, i want to make something that meaningful to me, if a little indulgent. n that also includes being very careful in how the respective characterizations will change in a relationship. almost too careful now that i think about it, but its not something that i mind. i was never one for romance from the start, n now im very careful about shipping because of what happened to me persoanlly.

okay enough about me, lets talk about aesop. in any au u put the character in, the essence of the character must remain despite the change in environment. so lets say we have ur typical modern au. dead mom, check. shitty mentor doing illegal stuff? also check. autistic boy with social anxiety? we’re good to go. all these have implications on aesop as a character, n while ppl are aware of this, again the way they go about portraying it can go, in my personal opinion, very wrong. ppl who immediately woobify aesop completely because he has autism annoy me. ppl who reduce him to uwu soft boi cos he has social anxiety do not know how the disorder really works n as someone who has that i hate it to the core. ppl who do all these for the sake of ship have lost my respect. its insulting.

remember the top/bottom dynamic? not that elisop is completely free from that (even if i dont know much about eli, to put him in either one of those stereotypes feels very insulting to his character. i wont even say anything about doing it to aesop its so upsetting), but its not entirely made up of either. but now i want to introduce another trope i am very wary of, which is “i can fix him”. im sure u guys have seen the meme going around poking fun at this trope (for those who havent, its along the lines of “u can fix him? well i can be his worst nightmare”) n no doubt yall would have seen it n gotten sick of it in some forced hetero romantic bullshit. we have one damsel in distress with a saviour that solves all their problems just by existing n being romo with each other.

remember “my preferred dating simulator 101″? this is not mutually exclusive n from my point of view this is dangerously close to this trope. lets be real, if it was actually a thing that all ur deep rooted trauma magically disappears if someone were to waltz into ur life, we would want it. definitely. no painfully dissecting ur own problems n constantly facing them head on. real life states that this is not the case, but it will not stop us from dreaming. n so this trope is born n lives n will go on.

(finally) pulling aesop n eli into this, at least in my mind, u have one severely traumatized boy with lots of issues n u have this. nice mild guy who can be anything u want him to be. i hope u can see where im going with this, n thats the direction i see some elisop heading towards (i dont read a lot of elisop to be fair). if u came from my eli character talk, i mentioned that it is incredibly one sided. this is exactly what im talking about.

putting it all together in case u havent already, aesop is the damsel in distress, whose problems magically disappear because of elis godly kindness n little to no work on improving himself, n they lived happily n gayly ever after.

can u tell how much that does not appeal to me. 

never mind the butchering of character that inevitably happens somewhere somehow, the unrealistically perfect themes n implications of this trope makes me so viscerally uncomfortable. this is, of course, due to personal reasons, n i definitely see the appeal of this dynamic because i would probably have been interested in this once upon a time as well. but as i am now, with everything i have explained up there n everything i have been through, i would politely rather not.

n its difficult to think of another dynamic, because of how little i know about eli apart from him being this saint, which easily makes him a candidate for being aesops trauma panacea. never mind aesop rarely, if ever, does anything for eli as a character in return, n its so damaging to buy into this rhetoric, where a person like this who would solve all ur issues no strings attached exists somewhere in the world. they really dont. a relationship has to be mutually benefitting, or it will be draining n disastrous. maybe u say, Oh its nice to imagine it once in a while. n yeah, i agree, except once in a while is a little difficult to keep track of n that is sort of what happened to me. id rather stay as far away as possible from this kind of unrealistic fantasy, i just got this shit sorted out with myself n my boyfriend.

i have some other reasons, but theyre more personally problematic, so i wont go into them here. but this is mostly n generally why i do not ship elisop romantically. if u do, u do u, and have fun, but again dont expect me to join u. thank u for coming to my ted talk, this took a lot longer than expected.

[im-the-punk-who]

Hi, I dont know if you read or know anything about Macchiavelli's "Il principe", but I am studying it in school and I cant help but compare it's fundamentals to how Flint leads. I'm just curious about what you think

Eekekekekekekekekekekkek okay so first off Anon, you are absolutely, 100% right to be getting those vibes. If it’s not actually textual it is at the least meta-textual that Flint ascribes to a very Machiavellian type of leadership. His whole ‘never was there a Caesar who couldn't sing the tune’ speech is...licherally a direct reference to Machiavelli's philosophy that leaders cannot retain their leadership without sacrificing some level of ethical behavior in order to manipulate and deceive their subjects into following them.

And, Flint owns at least two books from thinkers who drew directly on Machiavellian thinking in their texts: De Jure Belli Ac Pacis by Hugo Grotus and The Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes are both visible in Flint’s cabin, and both drew heavily on the type of leadership principles established in books like Il Principe. 

(Also, my eternal quest for the book that sits *under* The Leviathan in that scene remains. Y’all I will literally pay someone for this knowledge. My best guess is Plato’s De Republica.)

In fact, the whole system that Flint’s world was operating under at this time was very machiavellian in influence. 

Henry VIII, who converted to Protestantism and who would eventually lead England in the conversion from Catholicism to Protestantism that would then in turn eventually lead the country into the War of Spanish Succession(the war being fought during the London 1705 flashbacks), was a student of Machiavellian thinking. He took the teachings of Il Principe to heart and used them to transform his country. Over the next hundred and fifty years, England would change from an entirely Catholic country to a Protestant one. Of note, Catholic scholars generally disagreed with Machiavelli’s principles on the grounds that it did not support the Divine Right of Kings.

As well, the Enlightenment thinkers that influenced Thomas Hamilton(and Flint himself) were starting to argue more for personal liberty and choice of the governed, both concepts presented in Machiavelli’s writings. (For those following along, this approach was also being used to justify slavery, as what was ‘good for the state is good for the man’ was used as justification for everything from impressment to colonization and slavery. Men were willing to set aside their morals for what they justified as good for the state. Shrug emoji.)

As James says of England when he and Thomas view the hanging in London:

“You think Whitehall wants piracy to flourish in the Bahamas?”

“No I don’t think they want it but I think they’re aware of the cost associated with trying to fight it. And I think that that sound travels.”

Here we see that Flint knows what Thomas doesn’t or does not want to accept: that England is willing to sacrifice some morality and some amount of lives(both of pirate-prisoners and the ships they take) in order to save themselves the financial burden of rooting out the causes of piracy. The justification for piracy was that it is too costly to fight, and that the nation ultimately benefits from a bit of strife as it drives prices up and allows England to place within the sights of its citizenry an identifiable enemy. (Note that Blackbeard also argues the same of Nassau, that prosperity ‘made it soft’.)

Even as he is changed by Thomas’ line of thinking, this lesson will stick with Flint and we’ll see it over and over again as he deals with the men’s hatred of himself by redirecting them towards other avenues(Vane, Hornigold, England, etc.)

And in actuality, this is what sets Thomas very much apart from his political brethren - he was *not* willing to sacrifice his morals in order to achieve a ‘more effective’ victory. Once he realizes that moral deficit shown by England, he creates the pardon plan to argue directly for a more moral and just way of governance. His whole premise for the pardons was to show England that an approach that considered the needs and wants of the governed was ultimately more effective, both in cost and in gaining the genuine good will of the people. And again, this is another likely reason why Thomas was then targeted by Peter Ashe and his father. Railing against the entire system of government was dangerous. Particularly if one was railing against the government in a way that could be seen as support of an opposing system of religion and political rule(remember how I said before that Catholics were generally against the Machiavellian systems?) Put plainly, Thomas’ rejection of Machiavelli’s leadership tactics would have been yet another argument for his treason against the crown.

Interestingly also, Marcus Aurelius - Thomas Hamilton’s homeboy - is said to be one of Machiavelli’s five “good” emperors, of whom Machiavelli wrote,

“[they] had no need of praetorian cohorts, or of countless legions to guard them, but were defended by their own good lives, the good-will of their subjects, and the attachment of the Senate.”

How we tryna be.

And so we see that Flint has - not so much fallen back into England’s line of thinking but perhaps that he never really fell out of it. And that this is actually a rift in his potential ability to conform to Thomas’ line of thinking, assuming we see that line as more morally correct. We do see Flint, gradually, throughout the course of the show, move more away from this Machiavellian line of thinking, especially once he meets Madi and the Maroons.  And to me at least it’s one of the most important character shifts we see - in contrast to the trajectory of John Silver becoming Long John Silver  - throughout the series. Just as Flint is finally starting to really value the lives of those around him, Silver has learned how effective those tactics can be in achieving his goals. As Hands says - ‘I wonder if he knows how much you learned from him.’

And in fact, Silver almost directly quotes Machiavelli at one point when he talks to Flint about their different leadership styles.

“I once thought that to lead men in this world, to be liked was just as good as being feared, and that may very well be true. But to be both liked and feared all at once, is an entirely different state of being in which, I believe, at this moment, I exist alone.” 

Whereas Machiavelli in his chapters addressing cruelty and mercy writes

"Here a question arises: whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse. The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved." 

This is clearly the approach Flint has taken - he is the most feared captain on the seas. Certainly in the colonial world and on Nassau, too, his name brings a certain amount of fear with it. Because of this he has been safe from rebellion for quite a long time - however he is also not unaware that his power comes from the people. In the very first episode he talks of his plan with Gates to “position people in all the right places so the crew would never turn.” He has, for an unknown amount of time but I would suspect from the very beginning, been manipulating the crew’s opinion of him to keep them happy. Gates himself, and Silver later, are prime examples. 

Both of them; Gates for the first ten years or so and Silver in seasons 2+3 act as a go between - being the ‘liked’ to Flint’s ‘feared’. They convince the crew - the ‘people’ in this case - that Flint’s plans are in their best interest and not truly the act of a tyrant. It is only when Flint forgets - or neglects to respect - that the will of his crew is how he keeps his power, that he really starts to fail. And, later also, that now he has a rival - Silver. 

Now, I do want to point out that personally I don’t think Flint is a needlessly cruel ‘ruler’ in the sense the crew sometimes thinks he is, nor is he trying to be as a king is to english subjects. He has power, of course, and he does manipulate, lie, and kill if necessary to maintain his power in accordance with Machiavelli’s principles, but he does not do so ruthlessly or to a degree that is unnecessarily violent, nor with only his own advancement in mind. His goals genuinely are in service of the people he leads, even if the tactics he uses sometimes put them in danger for it. Moreso, I would argue that Flint is a prince who created his own princedom. He took an existing power structure(the pirate council in Blackbeard, Hornigold etc) and took most of the power for himself, either through luck, violence, or political maneuvering. And then he kept it through skill and tactical advantage.

Silver, in contrast to Flint’s new princedom, is truly a ‘prince of the people’. He comes to power through convincing the other pirates that he has their interests at heart - even when he doesn’t. But Silver soon learns that being a well-loved leader is difficult. It isn’t until Silver kills Dufresne and Billy uses that fear to build a legend that ‘Long John Silver’ the pirate king comes into being. Silver learns, just as Flint knew, that in a world or corruption, often leaders need to make sacrifices of things they would have once deemed important. 

(I think it’s also important to note for Silver that his main goal is actually one Machiavelli writes of as being ‘a will of the people’. Silver’s main wish is not to rule, not really. His biggest motivator is ‘to be free’. To not have to make choices based on the will or subjugations of others. And so, he attempts to make the leadership forced upon him into something that frees him - unfortunately for him, Madi is right when she says that the ‘Crown is always a burden’ and it would be truly impossible for him to find the kind of freedom he wishes for while wearing it. Which, honestly, is part of why he ultimately fails in that regard as leader of the revolution.)

In the later seasons we see Flint go through this change in philosophy after he meets Madi and the Maroons. He begins to actually value the lives of the people he leads. When put to the choice of going through with the raid on the Underhill estate despite the risk it poses to the slaves on other plantations, Flint resists the idea. As he tells Madi - it would have cost them far more to ignore the ‘will’ of those people he hoped to lead - the slaves - than it would gain them to go through with the plan. And later, even though he can’t be blind to Max’s sway with Eleanor and the others, unlike Billy (and oh how the mighty have fallen, Mr. Bones!) he doesn’t even seem to consider keeping her rather than trading her for the lives of his other men. He no longer wants to trade a potential political victory for the suffering of those he leads. So, too, when he attempts to trade the cache for the fort, he is doing so with the goal being to not have to put those under his power in danger if there is another option. It is, at least to me, an incredibly moving character arc and one that is so very understated. 

And honestly, I think it’s what *needed* to happen before he could move on from his rage-hate bender and begin to find the sort of peace that one might argue those ‘good’ rulers had. Machiavelli’s principles tend to get in the way of your ability to connect with other people: when you see them just as pawns in a game, friends and foes lose their intrinsic value of just being important on an emotional level. It is only through learning to truly value his partners that Flint can learn how to be a better and more just leader.

Also, this passage in chapter 15 absolutely KILLS me in regards to both Flint, and Thomas Hamilton:

“Men have imagined republics and principalities that never really existed at all. Yet the way men live is so far removed from the way they ought to live that anyone who abandons what is for what should be pursues his downfall rather than his preservation; for a man who strives after goodness in all his acts is sure to come to ruin, since there are so many men who are not good.”

Like bitch!! We get it!! Too much sanity!!! Shut up!!!!!

Anyway, all this to say that you’re absolutely right in seeing parallels between Flint’s style of leadership and a Machiavellian prince - he is absolutely written as a prince-like leader. As are Silver, Rogers, even the Maroon Queen(and Scott and Madi as extensions of her) can be compared to certain rulers in Machiavelli’s archetypes. Even Thomas, who models himself after one of those ‘good emperors’ engenders a type of political leader Machiavelli writes about.

(Also lastly, i want to very quickly point out this guy, Cesare Borgia:

Who was a prince of ‘fortune’ who lost his princedom to trusting the wrong person. What a beard, amirite? What a face. He’s even got the rings! I’m sure this means nothing.)

So basically yeah, Flint is absolutely a Machiavelli bitch. 

[lupinuslepidus]

your favorite character from the moth story ? I love them all immensely and cannot pick one

oh SPICEY. okay i dont... really have favorite characters bc a lot of them arent fully fleshed out... but let’s give this one a try Full Name: Katvey ge Noem Gender and Sexuality: aspiring mad scientist; very gay Pronouns: they/them Ethnicity/Species: human Birthplace and Birthdate: Bone City, Bogude (second) in the Month of Fireflies 739 EC

Guilty Pleasures: sneaking into the kitchens to steal freshly baked poppyseed buns. also watching the Scarabs when they’re practicing swordfighting in the courtyard. Phobias: insects. which is a bit of an issue. they’ve become more or less okay with moths by necessity but spiders still have too many legs and worms move weird. What They Would Be Famous For: developing and publishing a new protocol for caring for shrine moths + extracting ink from shrine moths; really not so much the protocol itself as the fact that the protocol sparks an extremely heated debate in the niche corner of “shrine moth care” bc no way are the Ink Moths gonna let some upstart shrine worker tell them how to stop their moths from dying and improve the quality of their ink and there maaay or may not have been a scandal around sabotage attempts on both ends, leading to the first time in recorded history that the Copper Cicadas stepped in to defend a mere temple worker -- What They Would Get Arrested For: well wouldn’t you like to know (they haven’t yet committed crimes against the state but they’re getting there)~  they’ve definitely ‘accidentally’ swapped out painkillers for indigestion-inducing powders when Moth Tern came by complaining about a headache. OC You Ship Them With: Lezte ge Vetsdu. another employee of the Bone City temple; she’s a disaster child that maaaay or may not have connections to the lower city resistance scene, her hobbies include making fun of katvey and missing her work shifts to get into street fights with Scarabs OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Katvey ge Noem. no, seriously, they don’t know how to take care of themselves and they’re going to run themselves into the ground. a close second is Moth Tern, the Shieldbearer Moth who’s been skulking around the Bone City temple looking for signs of suspicious activity. Favorite Book Genre: katvey does not have time to read books. that being said, gay sappy romances Least Favorite Book Cliche: when authors clearly haven’t done their medical research. if you’ve been hit hard enough in the head to get knocked out for over an hour you’re not gonna be able to just get up and keep dueling, that’s a concussion and that’s gonna bite. Talents and/or Powers: the fact that they don’t have powers is a key character point -- they’ve grown up in the temple, but unlike pretty much anyone else who’s grown up there, they can’t use magic. that being said, they’re a bit of a madcap scientist and the best medic + ink extractor in the Bone City temple right now. Why Someone Might Love Them: mostly, they just want people to be okay -- they’ll always fight as hard as they can to keep a patient alive, even at the cost of their own sleep and health; doesn’t matter who the patient is or how they got hurt. They’re also avidly curious about basically everything -- they’re willing to push past what they take for granted about how the world works and seek out + hear out new ideas, and if you want an infodump on shrine moth care or anything else they’re always happy to tell you everything they know. Why Someone Might Hate Them: they can be incredibly annoying and pedantic when they feel like it; they absolutely look down on people that don’t share their work ethic or education level; if someone’s not directly involved with the Temples they’re not worth their time; they’re very insecure about the fact that they can’t use magic and means that they’re not above bullying those that rank below them. How They Change: their inclination to keep asking questions is initially tempered by the fact that they’re very loyal to the temple; this starts to shift as they spend more and more of their time working as a medic and watch both moths and people die under their watch. where they’ll go from there remains to be seen. also they realize that maybe lezte ge vetsdu has a small crush on them. Why You Love Them: baby academic! an expression of what i both love and fear about academia -- the honest desire to help others/to learn more about the world, sabotaged by the inevitable perpetuation of unjust power systems! also they’re just a gay disaster that tends to crush on inaccessible people, which is not a character trope i write often but is very fun to play with.