#who said that sb

[beetle-beep]

yeahg...

[celestial-jesters]

i think they should be allowed to see the sun ☀️

[thatfangirlofsb]

¿Quién dijo eso? (II)

Respuesta anterior: Nikolai Lantsov/Sturmhond.

[sun-e-chips]

You returned to your favorite childhood waterpark!

Kids say the darndest things and unfortunately someone will never let you live it down

[spaciebabie]

peepol are like "spacie i love your shading o(〃＾▽＾〃)o" i have no idea what im fuckin dointg

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

When discussing or analyzing Dazai, one thing I hope you will keep in mind when reading anything I write about him is that from my perspective, he is always, always both.

What do I mean by this? Well, I find there tends to be a general split among people who hold the opinion that "he's a manipulator and will always be manipulative" and "he's doing his best to be good and helpful and live up to Oda's last wishes for him", of which, neither is completely right - because he is both. But even among the people who hold to this dual-nature interpretation, I find that his individual actions and motivations still tend to be thought of in a dichotomous manner - is it manipulative, or genuine?

Again, I think it's always both.

Dazai has a very pragmatic view on a lot of things - he is always looking for the usefulness of things and people so that the situation turns out in his favour. He's incredibly adept at this, and his prediction and placement and careful reveals are all manipulation tactics to get his allies and enemies doing exactly what he needs them to. I don't think anyone can contest this since we see it over and over in the series.

But that's not all there is to it. He's not solely manipulative and he does, to some extent, sympathize with others - I think there are several instances of this in the series, but I want to stress that this has been apparent since Chapter 1!

For context, Dazai is recalling what Atsushi said to him a few minutes earlier, but it's very interesting that it should be this specific part of the conversation. He could've flashed back to the part where Atsushi said he had nowhere to go; no money, no food - he is about to trick him into joining, after all, and this is the key piece he uses to basically force Atsushi into the Agency. But instead it's Atsushi's self-deprecation that catches his attention, and it really does, because even during the conversation, he turns to look at him after he says this with an odd expression.

You could say that this makes Atsushi easier to manipulate, if that's your angle, but that can't be solely it, because in the later conversation with Hirotsu, we know Dazai was planning to bring Atsushi into the Agency and set him up as one half of the new Double Black the moment he met him. The panel shown there is the riverbank, set much earlier in the day than this scene. He was already planning to pair him with Akutagawa since he figured out he was the tiger, so what's with this reaction?

Well. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best.

He manipulated Atsushi into joining with the intention of utilizing him in his future plans. He also helped him and gave him a place to belong, and importantly, he likes this kid! It's both.

I think much of it might be that his brain just kinda works way too fast - he's such a natural at crafting these elaborate plots and seeing how things connect and gathering useful people like resources that it's practically automatic - though this is not a great means when you're trying to be a kinder person. There's an omake, I believe, that has him saying "I like using my head for justice", i.e. using these underhanded means to act for the better. Not great, but those are the kind of gifts he has. He's way more suited to exploitation, but is choosing to use these tactics to save people now, which is quite reminiscent of what he tells Kyouka. Kyouka's talents lie in killing people - when what you're good at isn't who you want to be, what do you do? Well, I expect you use what you have, even if it's not ideal.

Now, about the current situation with Sigma - I think he definitely likes him, and is intrigued by him and his situation. We did get a little thought bubble where the guy amusedly compares him to Atsushi, and you can't tell me he doesn't care about Atsushi (listen to the onsen drama cd, or read 55 Minutes if you somehow don't believe me). But also, it's undeniable that Sigma is in a very vulnerable position of being homeless and having had no one be genuinely kind to him before. His trust is very easy to earn, and with the latest chapter, Dazai has now saved his life multiple times. There is, as always, a practical purpose he needs him for. And I have to be somewhat amused because Dazai is quite literally telling Sigma everything he ever wanted and needed to hear. It's a brilliant means of quickly endearing himself to Sigma - but I don't think that's all it is.

Look. The most honest moments we get in this series from Dazai are, interestingly for an expert manipulator, when people are at their most vulnerable. In spite of every pointlessly cruel act he inflicted on Akutagawa, his first meeting with him was open and transparent; much like the orphanage director, it seems he thought this treatment would make him strong and adaptable (he's wrong but that's not the point of this). He cuts Kyouka off in irritation and says "don't give me that" when she implies that she would fail the entrance exam. He tells Atsushi it's normal to cry after losing a father figure and to feel however you feel, even if that person caused you nothing but incredible pain and cannot be forgiven. He refuses to entertain Sigma's assumptions that Dazai sees himself as a superior being to him.

Selective honesty can also be utilized to great effect; Mori does this, and undoubtedly it serves this purpose for Dazai too. But I want to stress that I do sincerely believe this is all still honesty from him. Manipulation, or genuine?

Both. It's both.

[hahskeleton]

small harpy warm-up

He does this thing where he just… sleeps in the most random ways sometimes when he’s overly tired.

[ennard-is-near]

I’m literally such a huge fan of Helpy. Look at his face when you lose the pizza shooter (Rider Rocket?) game thingy oh my goodness. When you’re getting sued? Girl he’s got glasses on I’m screaming. He just sits on your computer during the office gameplay? My little guy, he’s so small. He caught a little egg in the ballpit? Joyous day! He fucking dies? Incredible!

Helpy haters DNI!

[velvetwyrme]

👀 any hear me out? Please :3c

ask game

hello hello!! one random hear me out coming up!

i span a wheel because i couldnt decide svfnfrhjbfkdk

i like those lil jester guys!!! 🌞🌜

i cant even say i was swayed by the cool fanart of them... the instant i saw Sun while i was watching a playthrough of FNAF SB i just went "oh no. he's going to be my fav, isn't he??" and it was just hammered home when Moon was revealed...

[helianthus21]

oh my god armand watches the X Files

[jishing]

I FINISHED MY RUBY GLOOM REDESIGNS YAAYGAHHH

i will draw poe scaredy and booboo one day but for right now . squee

(sexuality/dynamic headcanons under the cut)

[tragedia]

there's not a single city elf origin playthrough where loghain was recruited. reyna would sooner die herself than allow him to become a warden after he turned a blind eye to what happened in denerim's alienage re: tevinter slavers.

[human-centipuppy]

my sweetie pie mxes my sweetie

[itz-pandora]

Huh. If my life was a quote, it'd be "one of those sad ones with a deceptively happy tune"

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

BIRTHDAYS ARE SUGGESTED TO ODA? He doesn’t choose them? You’re gonna tell me mihawk and shanks having the same birthday is not some hint?????? WHERE

oh yeah, a lot of character birthdays are 'revealed' in the SBS column (a q&a feature of the published volumes of the manga). that's also where some technically canon info that isn't revealed in the text comes from—like zoro and kuina being (distant?) cousins, that's an SBS answer.

shanks was given 3/9 as his birthday from a fan suggestion in the SBS for volume 54 (because シャン sounds like 三 and クス sounds like 九). buggy was given a birthday of 8/8 in the volume 60 SBS for the bara-bara fruit (because バ sounds like 八).

the one piece fandom wiki is a handy place to learn where trivia like this comes from! they're pretty good at citing their sources.

for what it's worth, mihawk's birthday comes from a databook. i learned the hard way as a kid that stuff in databooks doesn't always stay canon, but at least that one seems to have been picked without fan influence?

[thewingedwolf]

deeply annoying when people say quinn would target leah over her not reciprocating his crush, he already knows that and he’s known it for weeks. i think people are being overdramatic about leah, i think it’s certainly a,,, idk mean strategy to just gaslight him about how she hasn’t been consistently talking shit about him, exaggerating what he says to make him seem worse, and saying she’s gonna nominate him, but like…so is the rat game quinn was trying to play, so is blindsiding people, like it’s a mean game, there’s a reason most people need therapy after this game even during seasons where nothing Genuinely Awful happened.

but targeting her Specifically bc she doesn’t return his crush IS douchey, and it’s also Not what he’s doing or would do if he found out what she’s been saying bc again he already knows she isn’t interested in him romantically. what he doesn’t know is that she has no interest in working with him & seems to dislike him enough that she doesn’t even want to be in jury with him. i don’t think either of them have done anything wrong, they just don’t vibe the way turner & jasmine didn’t or the way bowie jane didn’t vibe with the rest of bbb, and “we don’t vibe” is a perfectly legitimate reason for them to be targeting each other, you don’t want your fucking opps in the jury now do you??