#what i went through growing up :/

[aesterblaster]

Shidou is the one who teaches Sae that it's okay to have boundaries in relationships and helps him feel safe, if you even care. Sae is used to being hit on, touched by fans and interviewers since he was 11. Sae is used to people wanting him and his body and his fame. He can handle that aspect of Shidou.

What really gets him is when Shidou starts asking questions. There's no expectations and yet he asks if this or that is okay, he calls him just to ask how he's doing. Sae gets this throbbing anxiety in his chest whenever he wants something as simple as a hug. Afterall, he's the badass soccer prodigy. He shouldn't crave affection when he has such a fulfilling career. Or at least that's what he believes until his new boyfriend gently slips his hand into his at a cafe. And suddenly he's remembering all the time he spent denying his sexuality, all the times men and women so much more experienced than him told him to just suck up his pain because this was all the love he was going to get. All the times he felt unsafe expressing the slightest bit of affection for another man in public and intentionally distanced himself.

It's like you don't even like me, his past flings would whine. Why do you flinch away, his exes chided. They simply hadn't seen what he had, hadn't heard the locker room talk about what one of his teammates would do if he found out he was on a team with a queer person. Shidou scares Sae sometimes with his loud makeup and dyed hair. But damn, does he feel like home. His hand is warm too, feeding Sae's skin hunger. That comfort doesn't stop him from slipping out of his grasp and shoving his hand in his pocket though, glancing around to see who saw them.

Shidou just smiles and leans back. Sae doesn't have to apologize or say anything. He doesn't know what Sae's been through yet, but he can feel the anxiety coming off of him in waves. He doesn't know this yet, but he's the first person who's been gentle with Sae. Who understands that jumping hugs and private comments look much different off the field. No, he doesn't take offense when Sae flinches at pda, and that just makes Sae want him more.

[casualavocados]

We agreed that I'm in charge of the bars. But you come here all the time to watch me. How am I supposed to lead my people? Use your head, okay? Suit yourself.

KISEKI: DEAR TO ME Ep. 04

[murdockhawkeye]

this is *maybe* a bit of a stretch but i still find interesting to think about? don't know if i have everything right

but

i feel like with the elemental opposite duos - emma & rikki, cleo & bella - you could reasonably say their arcs'd mirror each other in a way

like

emma and rikki have issues with responsibility/expectations but on opposite ends of the spectrum

emma was a gifted child, everyone had high expectations for her and she tried to meet those expectations the best she could. she’s responsible emma, who makes sure everyone is looked after, and everyone “knew” was going to become a top athlete, because look at all those trophies on her shelf

and then rikki on the other hand, was alone for “her own good.” she admitted to elliot that no one really liked her growing up, so when somebody did, it made her feel weird and she pushed them away. she stayed away from other people, made sure they never had any expectations of her

they both avoided disappointing others, by going to opposite extreme lengths

and then they overcame these issues, with emma facing a sudden change in her life (becoming a mermaid) that meant she had to give up her swimming dreams and disappoint the people in her life (that had to suck for her, honestly.) she had to come to terms with that - but then, she also found a whole new world that she’d never have been a part of, if things had gone the way she planned

and as for rikki - her biggest change wasn't the tail, but becoming friends with emma and cleo. had she'd her way and zane’d never gotten cleo stuck on that boat, she’d never become friends with them. rikki had to learn the hurdles of friendship and of keeping them, like when she mistook the different kinds of fish, when cleo and emma didn't support her relationship with zane, etc. they had their issues - but in the end, they were there for rikki, and rikki was there for them back. she'd have never gotten that kind of solidarity, had things gone the way she thought it would

and then there’s cleo and bella

bella - unfortunately, didn’t have much in terms of development, since the writers prioritized will’s relationship with her over expanding her character background+ for some reason ??

so i'm just mostly going to talk about cleo here first - but i'll get to bella in a second

cleo by s3 is a very confident and self-assured person; but she didn't start out that way. she was insecure, somewhat naive. she grew up overshadowed by her two best friends, the both of them being gifted in their own rights - emma, the young up and rising athlete, and lewis the science genius, they were sure to go places. cleo, on the other hand, was overlooked. she didn't have much going for her - except for adequate grades and a love of the marine life that was hindered by her fear of water

and then cleo became a *literal* mermaid. either she was going to avoid it or overcome it. in the end, she didn't just overcome her fear of water, but she also took a risk by taking that job at the marine park, where she'd be working right by the marine animals. she let her fear control her before, and she wasn't going to let it stop her from wanting to pursue things anymore

(funny, she started out with a fear of water, then became a mermaid. she struggled with her grades, then became a science genius)

bella, much like cleo - had her own issues when it came to the kind of attention she got, but the other way around. her first appearance, she was being catcalled. same ep, nate is drooling over her. they've made her beauty a point throughout s3. even cleo and rikki's brought it up. it. could not have been easy for her to deal with that, especially with her secret in mind

seeing that, even with the different issues when it came to attention, i think they'd still have had the same feelings about it. a younger bella, probably would've been similarly insecure/anxious as cleo had been - until she learned to be more sure about herself and grew into the bella we know and love today

(we should've gotten way more lore and background about bella, agh)

tldr; emma and rikki have same feelings but opposite reactions (people pleasing and people avoiding.) cleo and bella opposite situations but same feelings (overshadowed and center of attention)

yk, rikki was right in a way i think about the "universal law," but like, more about keeping in balance and not about trios. emma and rikki balance each other out, cleo and bella were *meant* to balance each other out. but in s2, bella wasn't there - charlotte was

do i blame the antagonizing of charlotte and cleo's out of characterness on the writers, or do i blame it on some magical semi-canon mermaid universal law about balance

blaming it on a mermaid universal law sounds more fun, and could have interesting implications. (though the writing grates me, still)

[syringa--vulgarix]

Wanted to do proper designs for my interpretations of some Termina Guys, starting with the Prehevil kids ! I'm a Bit of a fashion history nerd, so I got a little silly,,,, I Also opted to give them bags, for reasons of Physical Inventory Space, I guess. Maybe the bags work by Mary Poppins logic and they can fit everything in the world, 3 guns and 6 disembodied heads in there?

For Samarie, I kinda went for a general vibe of 'her ass left school and proceeded to not step into a single shop to buy new clothes, so she still has the same pinafore and the same backpack'.........

[faunandfloraas]

It is kinda funny seeing people talk about Seungmin lately because he definitely has gotten more bold and confident for sure. He's also just getting opportunities to be perceived as an individual on his own as well for the first time in a while but it's still jarring to see people be like Aw he was always such a quiet goodie two shoes little nerd and it's like...... he was the one to leave and seek out his own vocal coach and blatantly talk about it, which of course lead to I.N and Lee Know also doing the same, he was the one to go on bubble and tell off sasaengs who used to camp outside their old dorm for invading members privacy but also because it effected other residents and staff at the complex, something that i'm certain upper management wouldnt have been happy about, and he wasn't curt or nice about it either. like he's never actually been a wallflower, he's always had a pretty strong backbone and seems to stick to his principals, its not really new.

[iwasbored777]

"But why did Gwen push Miles away like that if she loves him so much?" You ask as if in the same movie we didn't watch her father, the person she loves more than anything and the person that she thought that loves her more than anything, disown her right away because he learned one thing about her that he didn't like.

[seyaryminamoto]

Fic-to-Art #27: Azula, Mai and Ty Lee's friendship

This month's prompt was friendship, and while the contest was fierce, ultimately the oldest of Gladiator's friendships won out. Therefore, I drew these small pieces to show the progression of the bond between these three within the story :D

The first two scenes aren't 1:1 with anything shown in the story, they're more along the lines of things I never got to write but always imagined likely between them. I'll always believe Ty Lee was the instigator of this friendship, and I can't imagine anything more suitable for her than to pick out the two girls she found interesting in school and deciding they would all be friends, while the two girls in question remained entirely confused about the whole thing.

Fast forward a few years later, and as a lot of the baggage and chaos from canon never happened, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee get to stay friends as they grow older, bonding over things that weren't depicted here (such as their experience in Ember Island, sans Zuko, where they got to understand each other better, Ty Lee's fall from grace, Mai's choice regarding who to marry...), mainly because I really didn't have the time to expand on everything. So, as tough as things could get, these three stuck it out together and no matter if Azula is too busy to hang out with them sometimes, theirs is the kind of friendship that all of them can always return to, with full awareness and trust that they'll always have each other's backs.

The last scene is my favorite scene between them altogether, and it's their conversation right before Ty Lee's wedding. It's a really heartfelt moment where Ty Lee is unusually vulnerable and very honest about what these two mean to her, and this time both Azula and Mai drop all pretenses and are completely honest about how much they care about her too. It's pretty much the crystallization of that friendship in one of my favorite chapters to write, ever!

So... there we go! Hope you guys like it! If you want to be part of the creative process behind these pieces, a $1 pledge is enough to make you eligible for suggesting and voting for prompts, as well as reading Gladiator snippets 6 days before the new chapter is released!

[atanxdoesstuff]

nejisasu doodle! a universe where the hyuuga's slavery bs doesn't get ignored and Neji and Sasuke are better off for it (and also they're married)

[the-blossica-fan]

I have been awake for about 12 hours now.

Anyways, do you think Blonney would be the one to get pregnant between her and Jessica? I think so. I'm tired.

...Please get some rest

As for your ask, I took a moment to consider whether yes or not, and my answer is yes.

Hear me out though, this has some implications (yeah I put some thought on this)

Jessica is, after all, a shape shifter. Not sure how the body would change according to these shifting abilities but let's say she can change her body composition, which is highly possible, to be able to have this advantage.

Aside from that, how would a baby live inside a shape shifter. The deer woman (Jessica's mother) was the one to get pregnant, so we have little to no information on how a baby would react inside the body of a shape shifter. Would it survive the multiple changes? We can't be too sure about that, and it's not like Jessica wants to stay in one form for 9 months or more, she wants to be free without limiting her powers.

So, that leaves Blonney, a normal arcanist who can get pregnant and cause no changes to her body composition. The safest option.

Now, I actually think Blonney tops. It's a common headcanon that Jessica tops, and I can see why, but not for me (I think both are switches but one is more prone to being on top)

At least at the beginning of their relationship, Blonney would guide her, and I think Jessica is quite into that. It's later on when the papers are explored and changed around constantly for the comfort of both.

So, Blonney had this discussion with Jessica, which I have to mention was a bit complicated for both, and they got to this agreement.

Why did I put so much thought into this? Don't question I will not answer.

[scattered-winter]

every day i kick a rock and bash my head into the wall because i'll never get to go on a big space adventure and become tightly close-knit with my new found family up there <//3

[scoriarose]

An update on Sakura, who when I first got her would panic and blindly flail (sometimes throwing herself into her water dish or other unpleasant things) now coming to me of her own choice when I talk kindly to her.

This is months of work from both of us. She has worked very hard to be brave, and I've been trying very hard to show her that humans can be kind, safe, and good. This moment means so much to me, at one time I wasn't sure we might ever get here.

I won't deny her sister Scoria helped greatly. I've seen her comfort Sakura when she was scared, and Sakura be infinitely more confident with her sister near. Sakura would watch Scoria and me cuddle, and learn by watching her trusted sister.

I hope that with more patience, and love, and consent based interactions we can form a bond too.

No matter what happens though, I will love her and her sister and do anything to be sure they are happy.

[donttouchtheneednoggle]

don't mind me just dethorning the bramble in my stick insects' cage because a CERTAIN beautiful old lady

managed to snag her wing on one and got stuck there until I saw and detangled her and I am not eager to repeat the experience!!

ALSO I finally managed to get a picture of the whole family as it is now :DDD

1 adult Indian stick insect, 1 adult Pink Winged stick insect and three Pink Winged stick insect nymphs at various stages of development

(I also have an Indian stick insect nymph but she lives in a separate enclosure at the moment and is so tiny getting her out would be way to stressful for both her and me)

[theemmtropy]

Posts on this site will be like "Every person who is a minority shouldn't have to educate you! There are so many already-existing resources you can seek out!!" And then turn right around and say "Minorities need to be the better person when challenging and educating people who have bigoted beliefs!!" I'm fucking tired, and I'm not gonna waste my fucking time trying to convince someone that I deserve to be treated like a person.

[marciabrady]

Hi! I was surprised to see somewhere you mentioned you don't like Lily James's Cinderella. I'm not judging, just surprised bc she seems to be widely considered the best live action princess depiction. I do think her Ella is less spunky and interesting than OG Cinderella but what criticisms do you have? Do you think she's as bad as Rachel's Snow will probably be?

I don't think anyone will ever be as bad as Lily was in her film, not even Rachel. With Rachel, it's a difficult situation because people keep changing what she did depending on what the public reaction is to absolve her of any wrongdoing so the internet can baby her. If people are upset with her comments about disliking Snow White, everyone will rally to her defense and say, "But she DIDN'T say that- watch her interviews!" and if someone clips exactly what she said, the goalpost is changed to, "OK, but it's an 80 year old movie; she was right!" So there's no merit in any discussion regarding Rachel, though I do think it's an out and out shame to have one of the most influential films and characters of media history be seen through such a banal lens, with criticisms which don't even hold any weight and all likely originated by an apathetic dullard that had beef with their childhood and took it out on a Disney film, and those criticisms kept getting passed around decade by decade (like I don't think these people who parrot these things to attempt to be intellectually superior to whatever they perceive to be the dominant culture of the past realize that they're really just repeating misogynistic trite half the time; like at Lindsay Ellis' character arc on The Little Mermaid from the late 2000's to today). I don't think anyone who actually watches Snow White for themselves, Rachel included, would have the takes she touts to have if they had to use their own head to come up with those opinions. But that groupthink and monoculture is an entirely different story for another time (and we can see how it's evolved, from everyone agreeing with the things she said despite it not lining up to the movie, to then morphing to the point of actually trying to pretend that Rachel loves the character of Snow White; posting pictures of going to the parks near the character's merchandise after being cast as the character is something different entirely to showing an understanding and appreciation of it, both of which Rachel is completely lacking in. The only thing she admires about Snow White is her reflection in it, now that she's been cast).

With Lily specifically, I think it's much more heinous for so many reasons. Not to compare traumas, but Snow White goes through more than any other character- male or female- in the animated canon. So while she, too, suffers abuse in her lifetime, I think Cinderella's film is the one that's kinda become the posterchild for surviving abuse so I think Lily opening her uneducated mouth and cosigning on victim-blaming rhetoric was not only incredibly inane, detrimental, uncalled for, and harmful of her to do, but also just...incomprehensibly dense when she gave us someone that more closely aligned with the victim doormat she accused the original of being? To be pompous and as self aggrandizing as Lily is, going to movie premieres that are only possible because of the original production which was the labor of love for thousands of artists, and to put it all down and paint abuse victims in such a shallow, unintelligent light, lacking any perspective, and propping your version up as the "stronger," more "empowered" one, when she gave us one that was more centered around a man, objectively weaker in every possible way, less nuanced, and hyper-sexualized, pandering to the male gaze...to me, it's everything wrong with these Hollywood hypotheses today in a nutshell.

Ilene Woods' Cinderella is so multilayered and human. and with it being a realistic portrayal, it can be alienating- because it reflects life. Some people like you, some people don't. Ilene's Cinderella had limits and could be curt and struggled with her faith and resented her situation, but she also had a fighter's spirit and was resilient and had humor and courage. You got a sense that, this was someone who never had any resources of their own and became, to everyone else, what she never had for herself, which created a path toward her inevitable freedom and success. Lily's...smiled dully, communicated ineffectively, and was a mess from a characterization standpoint. All the ways they tried to make her "empowered" or "develop her" hurt the story. The film is called Cinderella- by trying to develop her relationship with the Prince by making them meet in the woods before the ball, they changed the motive for Cinderella going to the ball to meet the Prince again. That's a HUGE step back and more closely aligns with Lily's insane comments that the original "just waited for a Prince to save her." In the original, she didn't even think she'd ever see her dance partner again after she left the ball. Her fighting for her right to go to the ball was symbolic of her demanding to be seen as a person in the eyes of their society and refusing to be bypassed once more. She didn't come for a Prince- you can see that by the way she showed up to the ball by herself and journeys through the Castle, admiring the architecture, while everyone else- including Anastasia and Drizella- are lined up to meet the Prince. Never once does she mention a man or love in any way until after he approaches her at the ball. She even leaves the Prince at midnight and doesn't know until the next morning who he is or that he's looking for her. That's a long step away from Lily's portrayal, 65 years later.

They try to give Lily more "snappy" moments to prove that she can assert herself (which original Cinderella had no issue doing) but they do it in a way that's largely ineffective. She challenges the Prince, but that's the only person and the way she does it...oof. When he asks her about her family, she passively whispers, "they treat me as well as they are able." But she's comfortable yelling at a stranger with weapons about hunting??? How is this the same person???? When she speaks back in French to her family, but the audience doesn't know what she said and neither does her stepfamily- and after it, she just runs along and does their bidding anyway? There's so many more examples. And, of course, her spinning around in circles and singing out-loud in the attic is the most obviously heinous example of her characterization. I swear, it's crazy to me that these real people half a century after the animated films, that accuse the originals of having shallow and regressive characters, give us just that. It's also funny to me that Lily James went on a press tour bashing the original Cinderella and looking ignorant as it pertains to abuse and feminism, and then got offended when reporters asked if her waist was photoshopped and she had the gall to reference the fact that we should be in a time where women support women. Lily's production of Cinderella reinforces Eurocentric beauty standards more than the original- the stepsisters, Lady Tremaine, and the Fairy Godmother all fit a very similar type of conventional beauty- young, hyperfeminine, white with VERY similar features, and stylized. They're completely monolithic in terms of body type and appearance, and took away the diversity of age ranges, body types, and physical features in the original. Then for Lily to gape about people asking her about her diet, after she spent an hour bashing the original female character as being "passive." Lily even openly admitted to being laced within an inch of her life, naturally being thin with a small waist but having to go on a liquid diet because she couldn't fit into her clothing otherwise. She laughed about having to belch in the Prince's face over and over again because she was so tightly laced and her stomach hurt from only being able to drink liquids and not eat...idk she just lacks in any intelligence or charm to me. I think it's also harmful because it's become the favored version, with Disney writing it into the original's novelization in contemporary books, with people think Lily's character was what the original one was and forgetting their differences, ugh I could go on about this forever. Just know I think Lily's performance in this film is the worst in cinema history lol

[iheartbookbran]

I feel like with this whole Liam Payne situation and the resurgence of 1D content (which I’ll be lying if I said I haven’t been enjoying) it’s easy to forget what a real tragedy this is—because obviously I don’t know any of these men personally nor will I ever, but the 5 of them where still incredibly important to me in a very dark and yet very formative period of my life, and they deserve that recognition on my part at least. Growing up I very rarely thought about how the 1D members were very close in age with me, only a couple of years older, yet while I was living the last years of my childhood protected by my parents, they were literally plucked from their homes, overworked to the bone and thrown to the wolves.

Liam became an abuser and an addict, there’s no denying that, but it’s very hard for me to think that the boy I used to eagerly watch videos of everyday when I was a teen started off that way—and this isn’t me trying to put my nostalgia above the pain of his victims at all, I’m just pointing out how the cycle of abuse perpetuated by the industry can only end up ruining lives. Liam’s life absolutely did not have to end the way it did. Ultimately Maya Henry and the rest of his victims don’t deserve to be blamed for this, they should receive nothing but compassion and empathy from us, and so should Liam’s family, especially his son.

I think I will, bearing that in mind, allow myself to mourn Liam, and the girl I used to be and that he was such a huge part of. I can never be that girl again, I’ve lost and gained too much over the years to ever be her again.

I will also allow myself to mourn the rest of the 1D boys too, because while I don’t want anything bad to ever happen to them, they aren’t those boys anymore, the pedestal they used to occupy no longer exists in my heart, but a part of my love for them will always be there.

[faepunkprince]

Feelings are so strange, like why do I feel like I'm going to get in trouble for talking about things that happened to me even still? Paranoid little goblin in my head