#yeah cause that’s….. not the point? and is barely relevant to it?

[abowlofpetuniasandawhale]

anytime I see someone try to seriously critique rwrb’s politics it feels the same as when people complain about space explosions in sci fi movies making noise

[itsastrobixch]

Astrology notes part ?

I've honestly lost track of it all ಠ⁠﹏⁠ಠ

Also a/n : it's very short cause i just wanted to get back into the swing of things. College is sucking my brain juice dry and tbh i barely get the time to come to Tumblr much less make content.

So enjoy 😃

♡ Wherever Pluto sits in the chart, it attracts jealousy and irrational emotions. For example, my friend has Pluto in 4th house, the IC is associated with home mother etc. Her mother has expressed multiple times that she's jealous of her, and sees her as a competition to her fathers affections. All of this with no actions on my friend's part.

♡ Mercury dominants or especially geminis they need to stay updated on everything thats happening in their immediate surroundings. The tv show everyone's watching ? Yeah they watch it or atleast watch recaps. The drama or gossip everyone's talking about ? They know the deets on that ish. They have an inner urge to stay connected and relevant.

♡ People always have a negative opinion about saturn. Its a karmic planet and the planet of delays and lessons. Everyone is a bit cautious around the saturn placements of your chart. But imo saturn is a harsh judge yes. But if you understand what its trying to teach you, the lessons then you'll get bountiful returns in the very same endeavours as well. Lets take me as an example, i have saturn in 7th house and my first relationship was abusive and horrible. After that the flings i pursued were all emotionally unavailable men. But once i learnt my lesson and was brave enough to imagine a life without a partner, i was blessed with my current boyfriend. Saturn forces you to confront your worst nightmares, and when you've mastered it it rewards you plenty.

♡ Sun conjunct Mercury is a powerful aspect and it manifests in different ways depending on the house of conjunction, the signs involved in the conjunction etc. But one thing in common between all of them is that these natives will be known for their speech like the way they speak. Whether it be the tone or way of putting things. It'll make people admire them for ghat specific quality and they maybe famous for their speech as well.

♡ Second house rules money, and the ways in which a person can gain money easily. Positive planets in the second house can lead to them retaining the money they make and malefic planets there can point to natives losing money easily. That being said, the planet in 2nd house can point to how they can earn money easily. Neptune in 2nd house can earn money through metaphysical endeavours such as tarot, reiki healing, pranic healing etc.

♡ intercepted houses are a menace in peoples' charts. They will create chaos, confusion and will pull the native In two directions at once.

♡Aries in 4th house or IC were either bullied or were bullies themselves in their childhoods.

♡ People with mars in first house can either have a prominent scar or a mole in their face. This can also apply to people with mars-ascendant aspects whether positive or negative.

♡ Capricorn in 2nd house people have very expensive tastes in clothing and jewellery imo. They like the "classics" - Gucci, Swarovski, Ysl, Louboutins etc. they dress for class rather than for making a statement about themselves. Neither is wrong. I am just suggesting they prefer class over expression.

©itsastrobixch Do NOT repost my content or plagiarise it.

[ropebunnykant]

Hi!! What are your thoughts on the confrontations at the empty pool vs the ocean? Obviously the ocean is relevant to kant's past but the juxtaposition of the two is so interesting to me but I can't really figure out if that was just an aesthetic choice or if there's actually something to it.

Looking forward to your thesis about the boat scene!!

omg thank you for asking and i will absolutely be writing an in depth post about the boat scene probably later on cause it was sooo chock full of things and first kanaphan deserves every fucking award possible for that scene

i will say, i think when it comes to analyzing media, there are so few things that are done and chosen "just for aesthetic." i've had other people comment on that when i've talked about the religious imagery, and while yes, aesthetic is important in media and often times can be reason enough for directors and designers to choose them, i would say more often than not there is also meaning behind big choices like set. they put fadel and style in an empty pool for a reason, just as they put kant and bison on the boat for a reason.

now, the boat was likely a very obvious choice for bison because like you said, it's relevant to kant's past and kant told him on their first date that he was scared of the ocean. so, of course tying him up and putting him on a boat surrounded by water to confront him would be the exact sort of psychological torture bison would want to inflict on kant.

but when you compare it to fadel and style, i think it's also a way of representing openness, and in a way it's a representation of each couple.

because fadel confronts style in an empty pool, and he's stripped style almost completely naked. style is laid almost totally bare, and that's true in a literal sense as well as a metaphorical sense, because fadel knows he's a "snitch." and the thing about fadel and style is that while yes, there's been lies and deception there, style has also been very earnest in every way he can be. it was only more recently that he had to start lying for real, and even then he still sneaks in as much truth and openness with fadel as he possibly can. and it's exactly what he does here - even with a gun to his head and fadel telling him not to say he loves him, style still says it because it's true and style doesn't know how to be anything but open and honest with fadel.

and then when it comes to the bison and kant of it all, there's a lot more lies and deception. kant is not laid bare in the same way - bison even has him in essentially a costume by putting him in the patient scrubs. but at the center of it all is the fact that even with all the lies, even with the murky waters, kant has been honest with bison. he's been vulnerable with him. and that's how bison knows putting kant on a boat and telling him to jump overboard is the cruelest thing he could do to him. it's fair game to bison because of what kant did to him, but it also shows that even if bison thinks everything was a lie, there was always some amount of truth to it. because kant never had to give an assassin his biggest fear, but he did it anyways.

i also think the empty pool vs the ocean says a lot about bison and fadel's intentions in the scene, even on a subconscious level. i don't think fadel at any point planned to actually hurt style. maybe he told himself he would, but i think deep down he knew he would never be able to go through with it. so, he puts him in an empty pool where yeah, he can get hurt if he pushes style into it and he hits the floor of the pool, but those injuries likely won't be serious enough to kill him - and he won't drown.

whereas bison, despite likely also knowing he can't actually hurt kant himself, took him somewhere he could make kant do it for him. and even then, it's clear he regrets it as soon as kant hits the water, because he's calling out to him as soon as he jumps off, as if he didn't expect him to actually do it. bison wants to hurt kant but he knows he can't, whereas fadel wants to want to hurt style and knows he can't. and those are two very different things.

[cablepowerhouse]

While I’m still on the subject of Ninjago here on my blog I’d like to express something about dragons rising s2 that I especially loved.

When the ninja arrive at cloud kingdom and have their first proper battle with Cinder Kai comments on the fact that Cinder is the second master of smoke that he has met AND that he beat the last one. This would have honestly been enough for me, after all it’s a reference to one of the best (imo) fights from the tournament of elements and it’s deserving enough feat for Kai to brag about without coming off as cringey because it’s actually a relevant quip for him to make. But what makes it even better, the thing that made me audibly go “YEAH!” Was when Kai proves exactly how capable of a fighter he is by using the same techniques he used against the Ash all those years ago on Cinder. He is able to predict how his opponent will avoid and attack to the point of being able to get within his blind spot, cinder has barely a second to react being Kai lands a solid blow to the smoke elemental and send him literally flying. Not only did he get the one up on an opponent who was previously seen to be untouchable by literally every other main character so far he was able to do it in a way that made him look cool while doing it.

I swear to God this undid multiple years of damage the previous seasons had caused to my favourite ninja

[markantonys]

More Twitter nonsense.

"Rand has no connection with Tam in the show."

"Rand's relationship with Tam is so central to his character and his development that he feels like a different character without it."

Like...what? It's not missing we just didn't get as much of it as we would've liked. And how is he an entirely different character than book Rand? I hate this idea by the fandom that Rand is an entirely different character than he is in the books cause they didn't include this one specific thing. Rand is probably one of the closest adapted of the EF5 imo

rand's relationship with tam in the books is just a few scenes in book 1, the very occasional thought in books 2-11, and a few scenes in books 12-14. it's not that much! i remember spending much of my readthrough going "okay the rand-tam relationship is sweet but why does it get THIS much love in the fandom? it's barely been in the story at all after the first book?" their relationship is significant to rand's character arc only in books 1, 4, and 12, and even then, only book 1 has it as a book-long theme whereas it just comes up briefly in 4 and 12, but in 12 its brief relevance happens to be as part of rand's biggest turning point in the series, which makes people remember the relationship as being a lot more significant to his overall story than it actually is imo.

if you take all that and adjust it proportionally for the 4 million words:64 hours book:show ratio, then yeah, that's not going to work out to be all that much screentime. the show has and will continue to fit in what they can for that relationship, but it has rightfully deemed rand's relationships with his fellow primary characters as more important to the overall story than his relationship with tam, who is a secondary or tertiary character. and that's the case in the books too; i'm fond of the rand-tam relationship but it 100% is overhyped and isn't nearly as big a part of the story as people think it is.

plus, the thing that's "central" to rand's character arc is the idea that his upbringing and his roots in the two rivers have shaped him into a good, humble man who can succeed where LTT and his arrogance failed. in the books, the rand-tam relationship is one of the vehicles for that, but it's that broader idea that's important rather than the specific relationship. all the show has done is shift the focus to use the EF5 relationships as the vehicle for the very same idea, since the EF5 relationships are a much larger and more constant presence throughout the story than the rand-tam relationship. it was a good narrative choice for a time-constrained medium that must tell the story as concisely and efficiently as possible (the rand-tam relationship only serves this 1 theme & function, but the EF5 relationships serve many themes & functions and serve multiple main protagonists' arcs instead of only rand's, so you get more bang for your buck with them, so to speak). but a lot of book fans really struggle with the idea that the show can and does convey the same themes and emotional beats using different scenes/characters/relationships/etc, and so many Show Complaints stem from that inability to see the forest for the trees.

(also! it's very easy to "shortcut" parent-child relationships because the audience has a prebaked assumption of how deep such a relationship is and we thus don't need to spend much screentime showing its depth. for example, rand and tam had only a couple scenes in s1, but my show-only mom was very emotional when tam asked about rand in nynaeve's test in s2! i don't doubt that if the TGS scene were to make it into a later season, it would hit very hard for her regardless of how much time was spent on that relationship in prior seasons.)

[codenamesazanka]

absolutely insane to me that Deku went and saved Shigaraki without a single thought about him and his situation. and it was justified. I know it's supposed to be brave and heroic and admirable, that he just ran head first into 'wanting to save that crying child', and in some ways it is, but it just. weird how we barely get any reflection or inner thoughts about it from him.

it's not like he was facing any strong opposition to saving Shigaraki - no questions of 'but shigaraki is dangerous, is this the moral thing to do, does he deserve this, why focus on him and no one else, why do you feel so strongly about this, if you hadn't seen that crying child then what?', so it wasn't even like he was shrugging off those hard answers. Ignoring naysayers and obstacles. Powering through with an iron will. Didn't need to address it! 'I wanna save that crying child'.

Even Shigaraki asks him, via the memories of Stain and Overhaul and ReDestro. But Deku just says 'no!' and that's that.

Ultimately the answer we get is 'he just wants to relieve Shigaraki's pain, he believes everyone has the same hearts'... but that motivation doesn't even come from him in the form of a shonen protag shout proclamation. Someone else has to do it for him?????

And that reasoning is nice and all! but it's so easy to bring up examples like Muscular, or AFO, and wonder if he thinks they have the same heart too, and wouldn't he want to help them as well? And because like I said above, he's never challenged on this, he never elaborates on why he might save Shigaraki but not Muscular, it makes the 'same heart' creed vague. it makes it feels like either some people actually don't have the same hearts because they're innately evil, or he needs to see them cry before he wants to help. or, idk, they did stuff so evil their hearts doesn't matter any more. Shigaraki did that too, evil stuff, but what separates Shigaraki from them is The Crying Child. And so good thing AFO has never shed real tears even as a baby (because he's innately evil).

admittedly it's really only when the societal angle was at play in Shigaraki Tomura's development that those questions are relevant, so now that it's revealed AFO plotted everything, none of that really matters. Questions of what is deserved, whether it's right to save this guy who wants to annihilate entire islands, if he even should be paying attention to villains - all rendered irrelevant. AFO was behind all of Shigaraki's actions, so the questions can't be applied to him, he was a puppet victim, so Deku was right to want to save him.

head empty, only 'save shigaraki'. and then—'head empty' justified, because none of the issues surrounding Shigaraki was real; 'head empty' justified, because things like 'what creates victims? what turns them into villains? why are they doing what they're doing' doesn't matter. AFO was behind it all.

Yeah, yeah, I know other people that addressed the non-AfO-caused issues. But that's the thing. other heroes addressed it. Not Deku. Shouldn't he have been part of addressing it, since he wants to be the greatest hero??? Oh, but maybe it's better if he doesn't, because then he won't be a pillar? the work is shared?

idk. Just doesn't work for me. must be working for other people though, and I'm jealous.

also. this all makes moments like at the mall and Jaku, where Shigaraki was essentially point blank giving away his damage - All Might smiling like there's no one he can't save, Heroes sweep pain under the rug - terrible in retrospect cuz like. he just ignored Shigaraki. You might say that what Shigaraki said was too vague for Deku to make out, but it's really not. literally, "All Might smiles because he thinks there's no one he can't save" is just overflowing with resentment, and in Jaku Shigaraki looked like this:

beseeching to the heavens.

It's not quite that Deku sees pain and wants to relieve it in general, else he would've wanted to help Shigaraki from the start. It has to be in the form of someone super sympathetic. the crying child.

I guess I have to hand it to him that once he finally does feel sympathy, Deku will stop at nothing to want to save.

I just think that's a terrible pre-requisite.

[andy-y]

Restaurant

(niko x y/n)

Warnings: kissing?

Hii, so here's my first fic!!

Hope you guys like it! Feel free to tell me what I should improve for better fics

♡♡

And there you were, in that stupid restaurant where you actually thought that you were capable of love once again.

You are a famous content creator, but with one catch, you have never shown your face.

You were walking down the street, near a coffee shop that you loved, when all of the sudden, a tall man and no so tall man approach you, but you recognise them, you've been following their content for quite a while, thus admiring the amount of good videos they could put out from the point of view of another content creator.

- Hi! Sorry, we are a bit lost, we are trying to find the square - said the tall man (which, to be fair, the town is like a maze)

- Yes! The square, right, uhmm... if you go down this street and then turn to the left you will see this liquor shop, if you go behi-

- Do you mind actually taking us there? We are so very lost as of right now, I'm scared if we go there we might not be able to come back from whatever this place is. - the short man added - If you're not doing anything relevant of course.

- Uhmm, sure I guess - you answered, but deep down you were just nervous to even be talking to them.

On your way there, they tried doing some chit chat so that it wasn't all that uncomfortable.

- So what do you do for work? - the tall man asked.

- I'm a content creator, I do mainly youtube tho.

- Oh! So you're just like us then - the tall man added.

- Yeah! You're Niko and Aj, right? From the Betasquad? - you tried to pretend like you barely knew them 'cause you didn't want them to feel uncomfortable thanks to you fangirling all over them.

- Ohhh yesyes, you know us - Aj answered.

Anyways, you already got there, when all of a sudden, Niko invites you to this restaurant, as it was getting lunchtime and you've just did a 30min walk with them just so that they wouldn't get lost, which you gladly accepted.

You get in the restaurant, and get ready to order. You decide to get some fish and chips as you hadn't had them in a while. When you look up, you immediately lock eyes with Niko, but none of you said a thing. All of this being interrupted by the waitress coming to take your order.

You start questioning, everything, since you thought that maybe you are just exaggerating everything, but there he was, looking at your lips.

During the lunch, you talked about your job, and you actually showed them your channel with over 6M subs, and let them be the only ones that have seen your face knowing it's you.

By the end, Niko proposed sharing phone numbers just 'in case they got lost', but you knew something was up with him, still, you have them your number.

~~~~~ 1:24 a.m - that same night ~~~~~

Niko: you up?

Y/N: yeah, wyd?

Niko: just chilling yk

Y/N: I was actually about yo start editing a video

Y/N: to*

Niko: nice

Niko: we should hang out some other time, it was nice to get to know you

Y/N: oh I would love to hehe, it was fun meeting you guys

Niko: tomorrow we were actually going to film some stuff around here if you would like to join us

Y/N: sure!

Niko: nice

Niko: cya tomorrow then

Y/N: gnn

~~~~ 10:36 - at the shoot ~~~~

You were showing them the city around for a bit, and showing them the main landmarks and monuments, as that was one of the challenges they had settle for their video.

Walking down the alleyway, Niko walking next to you, your hands touch, but once again, neither of you says anything or makes a distance between the hands. You look at him in the eyes, and you realise that he is trying to play it cool by talking to the camera, that was focused only from your upper torso up.

Aj wanted to go buy a gift for their opponents, so you decide to take them to the one shop in the city that had everything. Looking through the shelves, you look up, he was already looking at you, but decided to break the eye contact quickly.

This went on throughout the filming.

- So...what are you doing tonight? - Niko asked as soon as the shoot finished.

- Well... I don't know, have a date dinner with myself... I guess - you tried to play it cool, 'cause you knew something was up.

- Mmm... how about... you join me for dinner, just you and me, and we can go to the restaurant we went last time... What do you think?

- Yeah! Sure! Why not

- Okay, 7:30?

- That sounds fine to me!

~~~~ 6:30pm - getting ready ~~~~~

You really thought you were incapable of love after what happened last time, the guy left and said no words regarding why he was even leaving you in the first place, and that one being your one and only relationship, it really stuck with you.

You thought that no one could love you, and that maybe, just maybe, you could get into a relationship again.

But still, you didn't want to get your expectations high, but you still kinda did either way.

~~~ 7:00pm - ready for dinner ~~~

You were wearing a beautiful little black dress, with some Swarovski jewelry, some perfume, and you should be getting ready to go.

~~~ at the restaurant ~~~

There he was.

Who could say that he could actually wear a suit with matching pants on.

He was waiting for you.

With a flower on the table, a rose, a red rose, maybe he actually is interested in you.

You sit down, and god was he staring at you with his big doe brown eyes.

You decide to order, you chose some steak with some cheese, he chose the same as you.

You were eating, and talking about common interests, you realized that that was the funniest man you've ever met, he made you genuinely happy.

As dinner went on, he starts flirting more and more with you, those looks, the hands...

And that's when he pulled your hand and kissed you, very softly.

You broke the kiss and start nervously laughing, which he did too.

- Sorry, sorry, maybe I shouldn't have-

- Oh shut up and came here again - you said as you went in for another kiss

Strangely, none of you felt uncomfortable, it's like you were both knew this would happen tonight.

You wanted to pay for dinner, but he decided to stop you and pay for dinner. You even tried to have him split the bill, but he wouldn't.

You left the establishment, not realizing that you were both touching hands, and then holding eachothers.

You started walking towards your car, with him holding your hand.

- You comin'? - you asked him

- Don't even doubt that - he said as he leaned for another kiss, this time in the car with you.

You were approaching the place where he was staying at to drop him off.

- Soo... are we doing this again? - you asked

- Of course, whenever you want - he said with a smile

You laughed and leaned for a kiss again before saying goodbye to him.

~~~ the next day ~~~

Y/N: wyd

Niko: well, I just finished a beta squad shooting soo... as of right now... I am doing nothing right now...

Y/N: oh, I like how that sounds hehe

Y/N: wanna do smth later?

Niko: always

~~~ 2h later ~~~

Y/N: wanna hang out a bit?

...

Y/N: yk, I had a lot of fun yesterday

Y/N: i'd like to repeat that ;)

...

Niko: hi

Niko: umm sure, same place same time?

Y/N: hii

Y/N: yes, omw to get ready :)

As you were getting ready, for once in a very long time, you weren't overthinking everything, because you didn't feel the need, because you were going with the flow.

~~~ at the restaurant ~~~

Surprisingly, you were first, so you decided to take a table and ask for a water while waiting for him.

Time was passing by

Y/N: hii

Y/N: where r you

....

Y/N: you know I'm waiting for you, right?

....

Y/N: are you even coming?

....

And there you were, in that stupid restaurant where you actually thought that you were capable of love once again.

[ballad-of-birdy-lamb]

Could I please request a Lucy Gray x fem!reader where Lucy Gray and reader have grown up together and they realize they love each other, but reader's parents would be TOTALLY against it, so she's hesitant. Lucy Gray tells her it's fine to love whoever you love. I would love to read it if you could write it. Thanks for reading my request:] <3

If you were a boy

Lucy Gray Baird x Fem! Childhood friend! Reader Summary: Fem! Reader is a childhood friend of Lucy Gray and fall in love with each other. While spending a night at the lake house, the idea of a romance grows and makes you question what you had learned long ago. Warning: homophobia, internalized homophobia, girls kissing 😨, friends to lovers' trope, reader is mentioned going on a date with a man but it's for plot relevance, lowkey angsty, I don't know how to write internalized homophobia so be warned. Word count:2.7k

♫⋆｡ ♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ.

"Would you have kissed him?" Maude Ivory poked fun at you, grinning widely at her question. You scrunch your nose at her willingness to ask such a thing.

"No! I don't kiss boys after our first date," you giggled as you spoke. The rustle of the tall, yellowing grass brushed against each other, making 'wush' as you walked past. The blinding white sun shined onto you as you walked next to Lucy Gray, Maude Ivory walking between the both of you.

You were correct about that though; you would have never kissed a boy after your first date. The idea made you feel so gross. You barely knew those boys and they always gave you a gross feeling whenever they told you things you didn’t find attractive. Either way, you never kissed them.

"Don't ask such personal questions, it's rude," Lucy Gray remarks, tugging at the young girl's hand to get her attention to something else. Maude Ivory laughs and continues walking next to her. “But seriously, you never kissed them?”

“Hey! You can’t ask that, that’s personal!” Maude Ivory mocked the girl, which caused Lucy Gray to scrunch her nose, smiling, nonetheless. She turned her attention back to you.

“No, they were so odd. They seemed like sweet guys, just not my type,” you remarked, waving off the idea of dating those men.

__

The day passed quicker than you would have preferred. The moon now hung over the lake, shining a silver light over the dark blue water. The rest of the Covey had gone to sleep in the lake house, having laid blankets on the flooring of the cabin. On the other hand, you and Lucy Gray were outside hanging up the wet swim clothes.

The conversation had started off peacefully, making talk on Billy Taupe and his sudden appearance at the Hob a week before and how your life was going with your job and helping with the Covey. But it all trailed back to one event in your past you would have preferred keeping hidden.

"You remember when we were younger, and we were at your home when your parents weren't home?" Lucy Gray said quietly. You nodded; you remember it vividly. Lucy Gray was invited to your home, but your parents needed to go to the market for food. So naturally, you played together in the garden. You remembered how you had kissed her, it wasn't out of any friendship like love, it was something that made you always feel fuzzy. At some point in your life, you pushed off the idea and never felt it again.

But she kissed you back.

"Yeah, I remember," you replied and nodded your head, looking over at her. Her dark eyes stared back at you, looking deeply into yours. You looked away from her quickly, wondering if you gaze long enough, you would have gotten lost in her eyes. “When you…”

“Kissed you? Yeah… that’s what I mean,” she finished your sentence for you, holding one of the swimsuits to the clothesline. You press your lips into a line and do something similar to what she was doing, hanging the cloth with a wooden clip.

“Why’d you bring it up?” You asked and glance at her. Lucy Gray's deep purple dress seemed to blend into the dark night surrounding you two, the only parts you could really see of her was her tan skin unhidden by the dress.

"You liked me, did you not?" Lucy Gray says and gazes at you, expecting an answer. You purse your lips, wondering if your answer was truly as important to her as it was to you. Lying was an easier answer. You did like like her but not anymore.

"I don't remember, Lucy Gray. It happened a long time ago," you answer plainly. It was a plain old lie, you remembered it very well. You remembered how the flowers smelled and what colour her dress was the day you kissed her first. As little as you wanted to remember such vivid imagery, you could basically smell the flowers each time you thought about it (which was very little). "It was just a phase I went through, everyone goes through that time in their life."

She tilted her head at your last sentence, hesitating to continue moving. Nonetheless, Lucy Gray accepted your answer, pressing her lips into a line, then looking at the grass below her feet. Her fingers picked at her dress mindlessly, bringing it between her finger and thumb then dropping it back against her leg.

“I haven’t been to your house in a long while. Are your parents still doing well?” She inquires and bends down to grab another piece of clothing.

“They moved across town, let me keep the house since they didn’t want me moving to a random spot they didn’t know about,” you answer blankly.

"That's nice," she smiled and glanced at you. The silence lasted an eternity (or what felt like it) until Lucy Gray spoke again. "Why don't you like the boys you date? I can understand finding a red flag and not finding them attractive again, but you just keep going on these dates yet none please you...?"

The question made you pause, the wet cloth causing your palm to grow cold. "Just... trying to find someone good enough for me," you assure and clip the cloth to the wire.

She sighed and finally set the clothes back in the basket. "(Y/n)," Lucy Gray says calmly. "No one goes through a phase where they want to kiss girls."

"What does that have to do with anything?" You ask, slightly annoyed at her suddenly going on about the kiss you shared.

"I'm just saying that...," Lucy Gray trailed off, looking down at her hands, which fidgeted aimlessly. "Please tell me you weren't in love with that boy. Any of those boys."

Her words shocked you. You had gone on and on about how the guys you had dated weren't people you even liked, hell, they weren't even kind to you. Now she's showing she cares about the possibility you're in love with someone.

As much as you didn't want to admit it, you weren't in love with those boys, each date felt bland and never brought you that flurry filled feeling Lucy Gray's kiss had given you years ago. You swallow thickly.

"No...," You finally answer. It was almost like it was against your will to answer. But if you hadn't, Lucy Gray would have accepted it. "I wasn't in love with those boys, you know that."

She looks down at her hand and lightly, mindlessly, traces the veins on the back of her palm.

"You're in love with someone, you've said so. I want to know who it is," Lucy Gray pleads, sucking in a breath. "I promise I won't tell a soul. You can trust me."

Your eyes watered at her request, your mouth growing sour from your growing tears. You knew how stupid it was to cry at such a question, but you couldn't help it. Your lips drew back into a line, hoping to stop you wanting to cry.

Each second that passed made you realize how little you loved those boys, like wasn't even a good enough term to give your feeling for them. You simply felt nothing for them. Every date you went on made you so bored and made you wish you were with someone more entertaining, more lovely than them. Lucy Gray was a good fit for that someone.

It finally hit you. You were in love with Lucy Gray. As many times as you had hoped she would press her lips to yours again and wished you could hold her hand like a boy would a girl, you never understood why you felt that way. You would supress that feeling each and every time you felt it and went on your way to find a boy to love, which never worked out.

Your line pressed lips drew back into a slight snarl look, but you felt no anger, only despair at the realization. Falling in love with a woman, truly horrific. As odd as it sounded, you wanted to at least calm your nerves and know you were normal. Normal in the way that you loved, being held by and kissing by a boy. Your eyes were sparkling in the lackluster moonlight.

"You," You blurt out. Your tears blurred your vision, causing you to look away out of not wanting her to see you so tearful. "It's always been you, as little as I want to be."

Lucy Gray gave you a blank look before swallowing thickly, her hands pulled away from yours. “Oh,” she says quietly, looking down at her skirt covered legs.

Hesitantly, you brought your hand to wipe your tears from your eyes.

"Would you kiss me?" Lucy Gray muttered, looking down at her hands with a look of sadness. Your mouth filled with sour saliva, you desperately wanted to cry. Sob to her that something was wrong, something made you want to kiss her.

"If you were a boy, I would have kissed you so many more times than I already have," you swallowed thickly, praying you wouldn't burst into tears about the idea. It wasn't that big of a deal either. You didn't care about the fact that Barb Azure was dating a woman. Personally, you were happy for her. But you could never bring yourself to think of being with a woman in the way Lucy Gray wanted to be with you, not without thinking it was disgusting.

"If I were a boy...," Lucy Gray drew her lips back into a line after repeating your words. Her nose scrunched at your response, you knew you gave an answer she wouldn't understand. "Why must I be a boy?"

"I wouldn't feel so guilty if you were one," you answered brokenly, your voice squeaking softly. "I've always felt something for you, I've known that. No matter how many times I went out with a boy, I couldn't help wishing you were with me. I may hate myself for how I feel for you, another lady, but I will never view you with hatred because I would break my own heart."

Lucy Gray's eyes widen at your confession, her eyebrows scrunching upward. You tried taking in breaths, hoping to calm yourself from how emotional you got over a simple confession of feelings.

“You don’t like that feeling,” she said simply, as if you didn’t already know that. “I remember your parents told me not to come around a lot since they thought I was a bad influence… You told them about that, about the kiss, didn’t you?”

You didn’t look at Lucy Gray, wondering if she was just really good at hiding her anger or if she truly was not angry. Nonetheless, you nodded, finally giving her an answer. Gazing at her again, she sighed.

“It’s fine. You didn’t know they wouldn’t like what we did,” Lucy Gray answered, accepting your reaction. “It rubbed off on you too.”

You tilted your head at her words. “Rubbed off on me?”

“Yeah, they didn’t like what we did and neither did you.”

“It didn’t rub off on me,” you say defensively, hoping she would understand that you liked that kiss as much as her. You give her an angry look.

"(Y/n), why don't you want this? I like you, you like me, why can't we have something?" She inquired, almost pleaded for you to answer. "If you have something else in your life, that's ok, you can tell me."

Looking down at the empty wicker basket, you thought about her answer. She liked you and you liked her. It was already sickening enough to think too hard about that. It brought a sour feeling in your mouth.

"I don't know," you sneer and look away from her again.

"Not that good of an answer," Lucy Gray mumbled and looked down at the green grass under her feet. She was right, it wasn't a good answer.

Several minutes (or what you felt were minutes) passed by without a word from either you or Lucy Gray. Maybe it was to calm you or because there was genuinely nothing to say. But, at some point, she couldn't help giving you an offer.

“I can kiss you again, if you’d want,” she mutters, looking down at her hands which had her fingers curled around each other nervously. The idea scared you a bit, wondering if she would be as gentle as she had been so long ago. You blinked away your tears.

"What if I don't like it?" You ask, though it was more so a whisper. "There's a possibility that I won't feel kissing is my thing."

Lucy Gray took in your words and nodded quickly. "You can kiss me and see if you like it. I won't do it again if you don't feel kissing is your thing," she assures and takes a step closer.

You press your lips together, making a slightly downturned shape. "Fine," you say reluctantly, as though your heart wasn't beating faster than ever before.

"I'll be gentle with you, alright?" Lucy Gray muttered and stepped closer. It was a bit awkward, preparing yourself for the kiss you partially (fully) want.

She leaned her head forward, but the suddenness of her movement caused you to lean back cautiously.

Your hesitation caused Lucy Gray to pull away, which immediately made you grab her hand to pull her closer again. "I mean it when I said I wanted to see if anything changed," you state and tighten your grasp on her hand.

Lucy Gray nodded again and leaned closer to you, causing you to suck in a breath. Her hands go to the sides of your face, her tan fingers grazing your cheekbones, holding your face in her hands gently.

"I'm a bit nervous," you mumble, hoping to lighten the mood from how awkward it felt to get to kiss your best friend again. Lucy Gray smiled and took another step closer, which you didn't think was possible.

"That's alright," she said quietly, not trying at all to hide her grin. "I won't move too fast."

Nodding, you swallow thickly and wait for her to press her lips to yours, which came quicker than you had realized. Lucy Gray's lips were soft and warm and much more experienced than when you were young. The one you had together in your parents' garden was similar to a peck, having pressed your lips together and pushed them out, making sure her nose wouldn't touch yours.

But now, this was sweet, the kiss was sweet, she smelled sweet. Your senses seemed to heighten at the feeling of her pressed against you. You could feel her breathe through her nose, the exhale brushing your skin. You didn't try opening your eyes, hoping you wouldn't make it awkward for yourself.

Lucy Gray didn't pull away immediately, she kept you close, holding your face in her delicate grasp. The small voice in your head that made you feel that this was wrong faded out, making sure you only focused on the girl who was kissing you.

Your hands trail from your side to her arms, grasping at the soft skin of her wrist. This was what you were told to hate? This was what you didn't want yourself to have? You couldn't believe you would keep yourself far from her romantic affection, the thing you have longed for, even if younger you didn't want to admit it.

Lucy Gray finally pulled away, as much as you wished she didn't. "Did you like it?" She asked, her index finger brushing your cheek in a petting motion. She couldn't stop herself from grinning from ear to ear, obviously giddy at the romantic gesture.

Your eyes were trained on her, your face growing warm with something you could only point out as affection. Affection for Lucy Gray. Again, you were hasty to initiate the kiss yourself, your hands pushing her hands from your face so you could keep her close.

A small smile grew on Lucy Gray's lips, letting out breathes from her nose in soft spurts, mimicking a laugh. You would have laughed too if getting a kiss was your only answer too.

"If you were a boy, I would have kissed you so many more times than I already have." Thankfully, Lucy Gray didn't need to be a boy for you to kiss her, kiss her as many times as you wished, and drink up her affection like it was fine wine.

♫⋆｡ ♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ.

I woke up from my slumber to write about lesbians, Lucy Gray, and lesbian Lucy Gray. Also, I JUST started making my shit aesthetic. My tbosas masterlist

[theravequeen]

Nightwing name headcanon post

Yeah I've been wanting to make this post for a while but I just kept forgetting LMAO

Anyways here's to hoping I can word this correctly.

So. Nightwing names. They're really on the nose, right? "Secretkeeper" kept moon a secret forever. "Moonwatcher" watched the moons as a kid. "Clearsight" has the best future vision in the series. There's names like Mindreader.

I know the point is that in the olden days future seeing mothers could tell what their kid would be, and 2000 years later, nightwings just want to keep up their haughty, superior, mysterious personalities,,,,,but I wanted to have a little fun with it.

So I propose to you: Nightwings start off with a nickname, until they eventually do something to "earn" their full name.

The only way I can think to explain what I mean by this is to use my own OC, so please bare with me here.

I have this OC, Strangesight. My followers may or may not know him. Anyways,

Strangesight comes from a very strict family. His father, Sharpstone, is an animus, and he insisted on hatching his first born child under the light of the full three moons, so that he might get these powers too.

That was Strangesight's older brother, Ichorhunter. Ichorhunter had mind reading and future sight, but no Animus magic.

Strangesight was the next born, and he only had future sight, but he did have Animus magic too. Despite this, Sharpstone didn't care enough to name him and just told his wife to call him whatever.

Because she thought it was cute, his mom called him "Stag" as a temporary name.

Later, Strangesight has a vision about Ichorhunter living up to his true name, and becoming a vampire.

Enraged with this vision, Sharpstone named Stag "Strangesight" because there's no way in the three moons that Sharpstone's golden boy would ever become something so vile (spoiler alert, he does)

Anyways so do you see what in getting at here? A temporary name (i.e "Stag") that Nightwing parents give their child (can be relevant or not relevant) until a bigger moment (i.e., Strangesight's vision) causes the parents to come up with their true name.

Sometimes it happens quickly, other times not so much, and not every Nightwing parent will follow this rule.

Some headcanons I have:

Deathbringer: got his name after his first successful kill (so...tempest? I actually don't remember if that was his first one)

Morrowseer: Always had that name. His parents were just as haughty as he was

Moonwatcher: Previous name was just "Moon" until Secretkeeper caught her looking up at the moons, and added the suffix

Starflight: The guardians named him, and since they barely knew the practices (including Morrrowseer given the circumstances of his own name) they just named him something they thought fit. (Stars in his wings = starry flight obviously)

Anyways I hope this made sense I'm really bad at explaining things. I realize this just kinda makes them all seem like warrior cats but c'mon. Nightwing names already were warrior-y in nature

[shrinevandal]

Initial thoughts on Double and Neoplasm - Who is guilty? What's true and what's a lie?

Hello! This is a (fairly long, sorry) post analysing the MV for Double, as well as Neoplasm, and what it means for Mikoto, Orekoto, a potential 3rd alter, their relationship as a whole, and Mikoto's judgement.

Note: I am a system myself, I am usually not very open about this so please don't ask about the details. But I think it's important to state that I do struggle with a lot of the same stuff Mikoto* does, and so my perception of it comes from a level of understanding that singlets may not have.

Obviously this contains spoilers for both Double and Neoplasm, I would recommend you watch/listen to both beforehand. This is also just my initial interpretation, I have purposefully avoided any other posts about it to make my theory/interpretation as straightforward and from-the-source as possible.

Some terminology notes: I will be using John to refer to Orekoto, as Es has so thoughtfully dubbed him. Also, if I say MILGRAM in all caps I am referring to the project itself, and if I say Milgram in title case I am referring to the location/entity which Es works for. I also believe the 3koto theory, which will become relevant at various points here. Any translators or sources will be linked at the end.

Alright, let's get into it. Music video analysis:

Double - Visual Motifs

There are a lot of visual elements to Double, which I will break down into different sections.

Phone (& Tarot)

There are two major instances of Mikoto's phone being important in the song: Right at the beginning, when he's getting several texts and then an incoming call from "Chief" (almost certainly his boss), and in the middle of the song, when he gets a call from his mom. In the beginning, Mikoto* doesn't even look at the texts, and when he answers the call, he seems to barely be listening.

Translation of the texts are as follows (thank you rochisama on wordpress!):

- Regarding the first draft you submitted today, I think option B might be the best after all, so can you remake it by morning.

- Also, I forgot to mention, but you made a lot of mistakes with the one we spoke about earlier, so make sure it’s all fixed too. This one also needs to be ready by morning, so I’ll leave it to you to get everything ready.

- Oi, get back here now.

- Are you going to abandon your duties?

There are also two fun little details here with the phone: His lock screen is a picture of the Hanged Man, the same version that was on his shirt in MeMe:

Also, His battery is at 29%.

Two of prisoner nine.

Later in the song, when his mom calls him, he immediately picks up, greets her energetically despite the bags under his eyes, and informs her he's doing well and not to worry.

"Oh, hello? Mom? It’s been a while. Yeah… well, I mean, some days are hard, but… I’m doing alright, don’t worry. How’ve you been? I’ll go home next time I get some time off."

He also hangs up very quickly, as if he doesn't want to talk to her. He gives her placating words and then ends the conversation as soon as he can.

According to his S1 Interrogation questions, Mikoto's family consists of him, his mom, and his younger sister. His parents are divorced. He gets along well with both his mom and sister, but also states that he can't let his mom worry. This checks out with him hiding the truth from her, as letting her know just how badly he's doing would certainly cause concern. Keep all this in mind, it will become important later on.

Eyes

I don't have much of note to say about it right now, but eyes are a pretty heavy visual motif throughout the whole video.

One thing I will say about it, though, is the large eyes across the whole screen show up twice: Once as orange, symbolizing John, and then as a grey-blue, symbolizing Mikoto.

Colors

There are five important colors: Blue, Green, Red/Orange, and Pink.

I'm grouping red and orange because I believe they both symbolize John. Blue is obviously Mikoto.

As I've mentioned, I am a fan of the 3koto theory- The visuals in the MV for MeMe, and even the composition itself, allude to 3 different entities (Music theory nerd here, hehe - I wanna write my own take on the 3koto theory eventually and talk about the way the song itself changes, but that's for another time.) And now in Double, it seems like there is still that imagery, albeit much less strongly than before.

So green, like in MeMe, symbolizes Midori/Midokoto/whatever you wanna call him. Pink is a little bit of a weird one, so I'll get to that in the moment. Anyway, let's start with some John moments.

The red glow in the back shows that John is the one fronting in all three of these shots, with Mikoto being asleep behind him in the second one.

An example of blood splatters with an orange tint. This is part of the reason I think both orange and red symbolize Mikoto, since they're so interconnected here. Also, as mentioned in the eyes section, the eyes there are very orange whereas John is usually associated with red.

Speaking of eyes,

Huge 3koto implications in a few frames from this shot. John's body flashes green at one point, and the background and fire-halo are green when John's eyes are glowing orange. In the next image, the body's eyes are scribbled over in green. This scene in particular is very interesting to me, with both implications of Midori's existence and his connection to the eye motif. It also calls John "savior"

Here's another notable instance of 3koto near the beginning, right after John throws Mikoto's phone. Notice the color progression in the scene. Green background with blue text, down to red background and red text. John is clearly being portrayed as an outsider here, with Midori and Mikoto being a duo.

Going back to blood splatters, there are various points in the video where the "inverse" of the blood is either green or blue. This also checks out with both red and orange being John's colors; Blue is the opposite of orange, and green is the opposite of red. This also doubles (haha) as another example of John being the opposite of MikoMido

The train itself has a lot of green highlights. When John stares out the door into the other train cars, it flashes green a few times. It's not pictured here, but the door also flashes a staticky pink once, and so does Mikoto's body earlier in that same scene I showed where it's fully green.

Alright, more on pink now. I'm actually not entirely sure what it may symbolise, but my main guess is it's Mikoto's victims.

Aside from the instances mentioned above, these are the most prominent pink scenes in the video. Similar to how orange was juxtaposed against both blue and green, here it's against blue. In context, these scene also seems to me like a switch, a realization of what Mikoto has done. A brief instance where his memories coexist with him, and he's horrified at his actions.

Double - Overall Analysis

As pointed out in the colors section above, Midori seems to be very present still. He seems to be haunting the video in a way, lying just underneath the surface.

A really important aspect of DID that hasn't been directly addressed by MILGRAM is the fact that it's caused by childhood trauma, usually around the ages 9 to 10 or younger. For those who don't know, this is because young kids have not fully formed their identity and sense of self yet. Usually, kids will eventually consolidate all their various parts into one, which becomes their sense of self. But trauma literally changes how the brain works on several levels, and for some kids, that interrupts the process of those parts fusing together. (This is also why there's discourse behind the idea of an "original" personality - Which one is the "original" between a pair of identical twins, for example? One cell divided into two, so really neither of them are that first cell.)

My theory for Mikoto's childhood trauma and subsequent DID symptoms, is that Mikoto in his current form is the body's "first" alter, and that Midori was the original host. (I have several reasons for believing it's this and not the other way around, but it's not that important for this post. But do think about, "I'm already the fake one.")

We know that John specifically was created as a result of Mikoto's job stress, meaning he was obviously not around when Mikoto and Midori were kids. By the time the events of MILGRAM roll around, it seems like Midori is completely dormant, or at least very rarely fronts, as John seems to pretty clearly imply just his and Mikoto's existence in both Double and Neoplasm. But if John wasn't around when Mikoto was a kid, there has to have been at least one other alter throughout the course of Mikoto's life. You don't just suddenly develop DID at age 23 without having had it since you were traumatized (Unless the MILGRAM team is just clueless about DID, which is possible too but imo they've done a pretty decent job so far so I would rather believe in 3koto. I have faith in them, maybe that'll bite me in the ass eventually, who knows).

Mikoto's childhood trauma is not very clear, but I think it can be one of two main things, and they are likely connected: Either something to do with his parents' divorce, or the reason he is so against worrying his mom.

Mikoto clearly loves his mother a lot, but it seems like doesn't trust her on some level. He doesn't want her to worry, which is an understandable emotion, especially if she puts a lot of pressure on him to perform well, which I have a feeling is the case. (Full disclosure, I could be projecting my own experiences here, because I have had these same struggles with my own mom pressuring me to do well in school and such. But I think it's worth mentioning)

Mikoto clearly hates his job, but he doesn't get a new one. Referencing the Interrogation again, while he seems to enjoy the career path he's on (ie graphic design), the job he currently has is purely to make money, and not for his enjoyment. He also mentions in the Interrogation that he hopes someday he can start his own indie company. In the real world, it's actually very common for graphic designers to start with jobs in advertising, because it makes a lot of money. Then once they have enough to support themselves, they go on to projects they're more passionate about. So Mikoto's reasons for sticking with his advertising job could be either to make money or to satisfy his mom, or both. Again, I could very much be projecting here.

Now onto his dad and the divorce. I won't lie, I am not at all an expert in Japanese law, but I'm fairly familiar with US law because my mom is a lawyer here. So how it usually how it works in the US is that parents divide custody by either working out a schedule or by simply choosing which kid goes with which parent, unless one parent is abusive, in which case all kids go to the non-abusive parent. In Japan, however, apparently the mom is the default parent that kids go to, regardless of other situations, except in some extreme cases probably. Again, not an expert, but it seems that even if Mikoto's mom was abusive in some way, the court system would still give Mikoto and his sister over to her, especially if her form of abuse is purely psychological with no physical evidence. So this is one possibility, but even if both parents were good people and separated on friendly terms, divorce can be traumatizing for kids. It's unclear at what age Mikoto's parents divorced, but it seems to have been long enough ago that he doesn't even consider his dad part of his family. Meaning it's very possibly the main source of trauma that cause Mikoto's DID.

Neoplasm

Alright, finally it's time for the audio drama! This is a much shorter section, but there's a LOT here and I'm really excited about this one actually, because it seems like a step in the right direction for Mikoto and accepting John. He doesn't know it's DID, nor does Es try to tell him, but he acknowledges it as "sleepwalking", which is still super huge. If Kotoko and Es ever choose to inform him, it seems like they have a much better chance at getting across to him now than when MILGRAM started.

John being much more present and coherent is also big news, as he has a full on conversation with Es, and even receives a name from them. Although he expresses concern about this and "wishes he had stayed a monster", I honestly think this is amazing for both him and Mikoto. Along with the sleepwalking analogy, it's progress on their ability to accept themselves and each other.

John also sheds some light on his and/or Mikoto's murder, claiming that there were several indiscriminate victims, and that his memories are also fuzzy, citing that it's likely because he had only recently been born. To me, the most interesting part of this is the fact that John's memories are not intact. While he seems to think it's just due to not really being used to being alive, I think there's another explanation for it. Fuzzy memories are a very common symptom of DID, and most notably happens when one alter tries to access another alter's memories, often because they're being blocked. Maybe in a similar way to how Mikoto doesn't remember anything? 🤔

Another important thing here is that John claims that he is the one who killed people. But the most pressing question is, is he telling the truth?

We know that Milgram's criteria for what counts as murder and who counts as the perpetrator is very loose; For example, Yuno's abortions are enough to qualify her, and Fuuta doxxing Killcheroy is enough to qualify him. So it's not a stretch to think that maybe John really is the killer, and that Milgram just picked Mikoto as the person to be judged since he's the "main" alter. But this honestly doesn't sit right with me.

If there's one thing we know for certain about John and his dynamic with Mikoto, it's that he would do anything to ensure Mikoto's safety. Notice how he was incredibly nonchalant about the murder until Es pointed out that even with psychological evaluation taken into account, the death penalty is still very likely for Mikoto. As soon as they allude to Mikoto being in danger, John's attitude immediately switches, claiming over and over, very relentlessly, that he was the sole killer, and that Mikoto is innocent. His frantic behaviour is a very clear sign that this is survival mode; why would he tell Es the truth if it could put Mikoto in danger?

All of this really goes back to the major differences between them; Mikoto is honest and uses humor to cope, John avoids being open and lashes out at people. Mikoto straight up blocks all the bad memories, John is aware of them but has a hazy recollection of events.

So while it's a possibility that Mikoto is innocent and that John is the killer, I find it much, much more likely that Mikoto did it and then blocked his own memories, and that John is lying about the situation to protect Mikoto. It's what he's always done, after all.

Final thoughts - Forgiven vs Unforgiven

This may be an unpopular take, but I think as of right now, my first instinct is to vote Mikoto as Unforgiven. I'd like to point out that there's a difference between Innocent vs Guilty, which is how the terms are officially translated, but in Mikoto and John's case I think they are interconnected. There are cases in Milgram where I think they're completely separate ideas and cases where I think the difference is moot, and MikoJohn definitely fall into the latter one.

I also am very conflicted on the concept of Metavoting; for example, Amane being voted Unforgiven was an incredibly stupid decision on the majority's part and I'm not afraid to state that. (Tbf Her mental state is delicate enough that forgiving her would also not end well, but lesser of two evils imo. But all that's for another time.) However, with MikoJohn, again, it actually aligns very well with my actual judgement. John very clearly states that it's his belief that forgiving Mikoto will reduce Mikoto's stress, and allow John to fade away. Whether this is a good or bad thing, or neutral even, is pretty complex honestly, but I think for me personally, I would view it as a bad thing.

Again, I am not very open about my system-isms, but I relate a lot to Mikoto in his current state of being unable to accept John's existence. I was in that exact same position once, and for me, accepting the existence of my alters was very beneficial to all three of us, and we are much closer now and less stressed overall. If John continues to exist, that means Mikoto will have a chance to figure things out and accept John's existence. But if John fades, he may be still caught in that perpetual state of half-existence, with Mikoto being unable to accept him.

So with all these things together; the fact that Mikoto is the one we are judging and I am pretty sure he is the killer, the fact that John may fade if Mikoto is forgiven, and how that isn't a good thing in Mikoto's case, and the fact that - I am pretty damn sure I want to vote Mikoto as Unforgiven. This isn't the be-all, end-all, of course. We don't know if John's prediction is correct about disappearing, we don't know if voting Mikoto Unforgiven will actually have the opposite effect that I hope for and drive him to his breaking point, hell we still don't know who did it. My opinion may change because again, this is just my initial thoughts. I'd love to interact with other systems about this and see their thoughts and opinions. Thank you for reading if you made it this far!!!

Translations, Resources, Etc

Chief's texts, translated by rochisama on wordpress

Interrogation questions, referenced from the MILGRAM Wikia. I'm unsure of the translator, sorry.

A/V of Neoplasm, edited by ac on youtube, featuring translation by onigiriico

kayanomikotoba's Triokoto theory (fun fact, this post is one of the main reasons I got into MILGRAM!)

A quick overview on Japanese divorce law, specifically by the US foreign embassy but it's good enough for my purposes

[melonteee]

sometimes in your vid essays when you briefly diverge into the topic of powerscaling and such I find it hilarious in regards to One Piece specifically because that series is so allergic to that kind of discussion. like as someone who's well-versed in regards to How Powerscaling Works, OP straight up does not give numbers the way other series do and if you go to any powerscaling type wiki/website their OP pages are in fact just born from a million assumptions. One Piece will have a dude say "Im Big Dick McGee" and do one insanely cool thing that has everyone freaking out and powerscalers will be pulling their hair out because *they can't quantify that shit* and have to make a million assumptions as to how strong OP characters really are.

And i feel like Oda has the same mindset because he introduced the doriki system as an actual Power Scale System in water seven and then threw it the hell away mid arc with no reference to it ever again and YET because it's the single point of actual in-series power measuring youll find forums today still using it to make 15 more follow-up assumptions for characters in the current canon. no one can handle the silly goofines of this whole thing and thats not even counting how OP powerlevel discussions become lore discussions too bc how are they going to account for everyone being superhuman due to their planet being far more massive and thus having stronger gravity.

its so hilarious no other shonen could ever resist not introducing a consistent powerscaling system for 2+ decades

EXACTLY DFGHJKDF this is why I've been SAYING you can call One Piece a battle shonen all you want, because there ARE battles in it, but Oda so CLEARLY puts narrative over ANY sort of power system. Every time someone asks Oda any battle relevant question, he always answers with some bullshit JHKFGD like "how far can Luffy stretch?? oh about 20 gum gums" LIKE HHHH he so clearly DOESN'T care to stick to any strict power system. I mean the most recent huge fight was a TOM AND JERRY inspired fight for god's sake, Gear 5 throws any and all power scaling conversations out the window for all we know Gear 5 can do fucking ANYTHING.

I've literally seen One Piece guys and Dragonball guys fighting about whether Gear 5 could beat Goku, and it's like, mother fucker for all we know Gear 5 could just bugs bunny a kamehameha back at him JDFHGKD like we literally do not know the scale of Gear 5. Hell we don't know the scale of MOST characters in One Piece. I was SO confused as to why the term 'admiral level' was a thing cause we've barely seen the admirals...do anything?? Like yeah Akainu can turn into magma and whatever, but what else??? Why is this term even a thing if we haven't even seen the scale of what any of these guys can do JKFGDFGD I will admit I have a much more plot/narrative driven head but I truly cannot understand how One Piece power scalers get any of their arguments or data hhhhhh

[cbk1000]

So, just got home from my appointment with my new doc. I gave him the Cliff Notes version of all the issues I've been having for the last few months, and I forgot a copy of the initial iron panel that I had done, unfortunately (I meant to bring it and even left it on my computer so I would remember; how did that work for you, dumbass?) but I remembered my numbers, and as soon as I told him what the results were for my initial iron panel, he immediately said, 'That's low."

I KNOW. PLEASE TELL DR. CRAZY THAT.

Basically, he listened to everything I said, asked relevant questions, asked if I'd had my thyroid levels checked (because thyroid can definitely cause some of these problems), said if necessary in future if there are still issues, we can do a thyroid scan, but let's get an updated iron panel done to see where I'm at and if we can increase my dose, work on the iron deficiency, and then go from there. I asked about iron infusions to speed things up, and he said, "Yeah, definitely, we can see if we can get that covered for you if you want to do that." I said I know insurances are a pain when it comes to coverage and a lot of them won't pay unless your hemoglobin is low, and that I have a health savings account and am able and willing to pay out of pocket, and he was like, "Ok, good."

He also offered to refer me to a hematologist, and I said I had thought of asking my last doctor for that, but he was difficult to work with (understatement of the year) and that I figured an appointment with a hematologist would probably be pretty far out anyway, and I'd prefer to try and get in a lot sooner if possible for an infusion. He said, "Yeah, hematology is always backed up." I did say I had been in touch with a telehealth hematologist about possibly ordering an iron infusion, but thought it would probably be faster to go through a local doctor if it was possible to get it ordered through him, but that's at least an option; he was glad to hear I'd been in touch with a hematologist. He wants to see where I'm currently at with my iron panel (I haven't tested it for six weeks) and then figure out what the best course of treatment is based on my numbers. (If I'm at a certain level, an infusion wouldn't be safe, because I'd risk overload, but considering that in four weeks of supplementing, I went up nine points, and then in another four weeks, I went down a point, I'm gonna' be extremely shocked if he comes back like, "Yeah, your ferritin went up to 150, so we can't do an infusion right now."

He actually even brought up POTS and said some of my cardiac symptoms were similar, and I said, "Yeah, I had thought of that, but my heart rate isn't really consistent." He asked if I meant that it wasn't going up when I changed positions, and I said, "Well, it's been coming down as I've been supplementing, and I don't think it would do that if it were POTS. Also, my normal resting heart rate is in the 60s, and on bad days, just lying down in bed, not doing anything, my heart rate is in the 90s. It goes up higher the more I exert myself, obviously, but even lying down doing nothing it's a lot higher than my normal resting heart rate."

I told my previous doctor all of this, and he just ignored all of it and continued to blather on about how the shot had given me POTS.

Do you know what this doctor did? He said, "Oh, yeah, probably not POTS then. Also, if cardiology already checked you out and they didn't even mention it as a possibility, it's probably not."

He also asked if I had a history of iron deficiency anemia, and I said I hadn't had labwork done at the time so I didn't know what my iron levels were or if my hemoglobin was abnormal, but many years ago after a blood donation I started feeling really sick, had the high heart rate and shortness of breath and could barely get off the couch, and I was still living at home at the time, and my mom was a nurse and just put me on iron supplements and that resolved my symptoms, and that those cardiac problems seem to just be how my body responds to low iron.

And he just. Took that at face value. Like, ok, you have a history of this, then, let's work on getting it sorted out and then look at other possibilities if it doesn't all clear up with iron treatment.

So I'm getting my iron panel done Friday, and then we'll go from there with treatment options.

[accirax]

Disventure Camp All Stars Power Ranking (Round 6)

And, we're back! I'm so glad that the leaking issue didn't wind up making the team have to delay their episode releases, both for their sake and ours. I've been highly anticipating this teaser release, and look forward to cracking into the next round of Power Rankings.

In case you didn't see my last power ranking for Episode 5, the Power Ranking Format is essentially a way of ranking how well each player is doing in the game. So, in essence, this is a long form way of predicting who I think will be eliminated from the competition in the next episode. There will be spoilers for last week's episode (obviously) and its power ranking, so make sure to read that first if you don't want to be spoiled on how I ranked our last boot. If you want more clarification on the rules, that first post will help you out as well. Furthermore, I'm going to be spoiling the preview for next episode, so if you want to go in TOTALLY blind, save this for later. Let's go!

Recap - Connor's Elimination

Current Point Total: 9 acquired/14 possible

'Cause now we have lore! >:D

Well, turns out that my assessment that the Season 2 cast was safe turned out to not be true. At least Connor was my second lowest positioned of the S2 characters, and my bad vibes about the Yellow Tribe were on point... Yeah, that's some copium right there. Seems this whole predicting business might be harder than I thought. Genuinely, though, I'm glad that Connor was at least in the better half of the contestants ranked (barely).

While I'm a little disappointed that Connor didn't make it farther this time around-- I think his placement was nearly identical to how he did in S2-- he wasn't particularly one of my favorite characters, so the loss didn't hurt me that deeply. Instead, he was an understandable sacrifice in terms of making the villains out to be more of a threat, much like what I theorized for Grett. Lesson learned that sometimes the most obvious boot from a tribe simply will be the boot.

Trailer Analysis

Looking back on the last power ranking, I feel like I could have done a lot better if I'd been paying more attention to what we were shown in the preview beyond the song snippet. So, combined with the fact that I'm just really excited to figure out what's going on next episode, I decided that this time around I'd take a closer look. I've never been a fan of analyzing a trailer so closely that you basically spoil the entire story before it happens, but, I don't think that'll happen here...? Depending on how accurate I am, maybe this section will suddenly disappear next time. Who knows.

So, a compilation of relevant things that I think will happen next episode:

Connor and Trevor will have a conversation. While I doubt that this will have anything to do with the elimination order, it is interesting. I'm guessing that Connor will give Trevor some sort of advice regarding his feelings for Derek? Or, even if it can't be counted as advice (given the L he took with Riya), Connor could at least relate. I don't think this is foretelling that Connor will reenter the competition now, though.

Somebody set up a trap to catch a squirrel. My guess is Tom, as a continuation to the drama between Gabby and the others over killing and eating animals. (Aiden confirms in Episode 5 that catching the chicken was "Tom's trap.") However, it could also be something related to Jensen and/or Trevor and Derek, if they started trying to kill the forest animals again.

Yul will take more orders from Emily to make Grett happy. This means that this is an ongoing plotline.

Tess and Ally will reunite at some point. Interesting.

Tom and Jake are definitely going to fight. Given that Tom looks surprised in one screenshot and regretful in the other, I think he's going to realize how much his relationship with Aiden has been hurting Jake.

The challenge will be contestants pushing balls of yarn(?) down towards other teams' arches, trying to score a goal, while other members of the teams try to block them. All teams appear to have arches and people pushing balls. This is definitely another challenge taken from Survivor, I think possibly Gabon...? I'm pretty sure that, in real life, they had to stop doing this challenge because it injured people too much, but that's the beauty of animation!

At least Yul and Aiden will be knocked down, which could be a good thing or a bad thing. Does that mean they gave it their all to stop a ball, or that the ball trampled their attempts to stop it...? Focusing on the second screenshot, though, the Cyan team is stopping yellow and magenta balls at the same time. Assuming the contestants have any say in where they aim, I wonder if the Yellow (Grett) and Magenta (Ashley, possibly Fiore?) teams will align to target Cyan because they have five members. That could be an in-universe reason to keep the teams even with a Cyan elimination, despite Cyan being pretty physically fit.

"Sure, princess. Whatever floats your boat~!"

Given Fiore's placement in both of these screenshots, it seems like one image must happen right before the other, so Fiore is probably addressing Jake. She sounds really confident and mocking... for some reason? Not saying that's out of character for Fiore, but did something happen to make that confidence warranted as opposed to her anger at being on the bottom? Here are my two guesses: 1) Fiore, Ashley, and Ally have made a girls' alliance, so Fiore is dismissive towards Jake because she knows he's on the bottom. 2) More likely, this might have something to do with Tom and Jake's fight. Jake ran in to urgently tell Fiore something, which could be about a development in Tom and Jake's relationship. Fiore doesn't care, so she gets sassy. I'm honestly kind of confused by this, but we'll see what happens.

Those are all of the scenes from the trailer that I thought were important/I was actually able to get something of value out of. Onto the main event: the actual Power Ranking!

Power Ranking

#1: Jake

Other than... being a S1 character, I guess? There really isn't anything that makes me think that Jake would be headed home this week. He's entrenched in drama, he seems to have the numbers on his tribe, and I don't even think that Magenta is going to tribal. To me, it's so clear cut that I don't have much to say. If he does go home, I'll be very surprised.

#2: Alec

Woah, check out that jump! From 12th to 2nd. Adventure Camp Dan wishes he could've had that when moving to Disventure Camp.

Now that Alec has survived one Yellow vote-- which turned out to be Connor-- I think he's pretty safe. The idea of Riya, Yul, and Grett suddenly now turning around and all working together to eliminate their leader feels laughable, given how dysfunctional the three of them are. Like, could Alec really lose that much social capital in the span of one episode, in a challenge he'll presumably be good at...? I'm kind of anticipating a merge at 12 (Episode 7), so I'm hoping this would confirm that Alec makes the merge.

#3: Ashley

Speaking of making the merge, I honestly think that Ashley will be there. After exploring some more of DC's behind the scenes content (the charity livestream they held 4 months ago and Silly Billy's S1 cast interviews), I've come to learn that the DC cast really likes Ashley... for some reason.

Look, it's not like I hate the gal! I just don't see her as the standout, heroic and hilarious character that a bunch of the voice actors seem to. Because I held this opinion, I was unaware of the possibility that Ashley was brought back because she was some huge fan favorite that everyone wanted to see done to justice. If that's the case, I have a hard time seeing the DC writers eliminating her as a premerger again.

I don't think Magenta is going to tribal, and I think that Fiore or Ally would be more natural boots than Ashley would be anyways. Congrats on ranking this high even though you're currently being hunted for sport, S1 girl. I still don't think you're going to win overall, but you'll probably make it through the day.

#4: Yul

Another big jump! Yul's new position is aided by two major factors. The first is that he's one of only two S2 boys left in the game, after James, Hunter, and Connor were eliminated (side note: I did NOT notice that the game only started with three boys from S1. I wonder what level of safety that grants them. Why did they bring back every S1 girl except Lill. That's so many.)

The second is that the plotline between him and Emily is clearly continuing to have relevance. Perhaps I'm relying too much on the rule of threes, but it would be strange, in my opinion, to have Yul lean on Emily for assistance more than once, but still only twice. Perhaps Emily's character was largely designed to assist a major Yul plotline, after all.

He also doesn't seem to have suffered too greatly from that stage light falling on his foot last episode, which bodes well for his odds. Unfortunately, it seems like the viewing public is going to be subjected to Yul for a little while longer (/lh).

#5: Aiden

Woohoo, the other surviving S2 boy. I honestly wanted to put him higher, but the fact that I'm really feeling like Cyan is headed for tribal couldn't let me justify higher than 5th place.

And, there are genuine reasons why I think he could go home now. If that conversation between Tom and Jake ends in them reconciling, the writers might not want Aiden around anymore to continue being a barrier between them. (And, now that the music episode has passed, they don't need to keep him around for his pipes, either ;).) It's been long enough now since Lake's elimination that I don't think Aiden's elimination would feel super weird. He's had a bit of a chance to play for himself, so if his fate now becomes to hang out in a cool hotel with his boyfriend and bestie for a couple of weeks, it wouldn't seem so bad.

...But I still think Aiden isn't going home, dammit! Knowing DC, I doubt Tom and Jake would make up so early unless one of them was going home, not Aiden. They love the drama. Tom and Jake's relationship is more likely to get worse before it gets better. Not to mention, I still find the "James returns" theory very compelling. Although the Cyan girls have plenty of reasons to eliminate Aiden, I still don't really think they would.

#6: Ally

Is it just me, or would Ally's elimination feel... really random right now? Like, how would it happen, and what narrative point would it serve? The show has very deliberately shown Ally bonding with each and every member of her team. She's had multiple one-on-one conversations with Ashley cementing their friendship, she grew closer to Jake by relating to him through song, and was always the one to defend Fiore from Hunter's attacks. All three of them have reasons to like her and want to work with her, so why would they let her go?

However, Ally doesn't cement a higher placement because I do think there are ways that they could swing her elimination. It's possible that the writers only established relationships between Ashley, Jake, and Ally so that there'll be high stakes and tension between which teammate Ashley and Jake will pair with if Magenta does go to another vote. For Ally to go home, they would have to choose to side with Fiore, but that's not totally unreasonable given how they voted last time.

The fact that Ally and Tess seem to reunite in this episode is also troubling. We have the dangling plot thread from last episode that Ally is worried that she and Hunter won't be able to spend that much time apart (which she believes is good for them) before they have to reexamine their relationship. If that fear turns out to be true, I could see that giving Ally an opportunity to quickly get some advice and closure from Tess would allow her to head to the Losers' Motel with a plan of how to handle Hunter in the future.

I still don't think that Ally or Magenta has anything to fear with tribal, though.

#7: Tess

A definite downgrade from last week, but still not that terrible. A lot of Tess' new placement is that, as I keep reiterating, I think Cyan is very likely to go to tribal, so it's hard to justify putting anyone on Cyan too high.

Having the opportunity to reconnect with Ally is also potentially bad for Tess, although probably less problematic for Tess than for Ally. If the writers were like, "well, Tess got one conversation with Hunter and one with Ally, now she's out!", that would be kind of silly, imo. But, still, that chat will eliminate the sort of "immunity" from getting booted that I gave Tess previously.

It's also not like there's no reason for the Cyans to take out Tess here. The swing vote is usually a fairly protected position, as both alliances should be looking to her for aid. But, if neither side finds her trustworthy enough, they could unite to take her out. I can definitely see a potential character arc of Tess' indecision taking her out from the game. If she can truly never make up her mind about whether to trust Ellie or not, everyone could unite to take out their unreliable teammate and save their own asses.

However, from a narrative perspective, this would further postpone the conflict between Ellie and Aiden, which could be kind of anticlimactic. It would also throw away Tess' character over a trait that wasn't even particularly pronounced in her original appearance. Then again, we saw what the writers did to Hunter, so we can't be too sure that Tess isn't headed in a similar direction.

#8: Grett

Much like Alec, I'm a bit less worried about Grett in this episode after we had the Yellow elimination last episode. She's also picking up points from (presumably) being involved in the ongoing Yul and Emily plotline, which could give her some plot armor moving forward.

If Yellow is headed to a vote, I don't really see why Alec and Riya would choose to eliminate Grett over Yul. Riya really dislikes Yul, he's still possibly injured, and Alec has a history of working with Grett, even if it ended on kind of bad terms.

Why put her so far below Yul, then? Well, first of all, Grett is a meta-threatened S1 girl, while Yul is a meta-protected S2 boy. Secondly, I do still think that Yul will probably be the cause of Grett's elimination at some point down the line, even if it's not this episode. Perhaps I should make an overall theory post talking about some of my thoughts on potential endings someday. And, third, I actually did think of one reason why Alec and Riya would choose to keep Yul over Grett... kind of. If Emily wanted to keep Yul in the show for whatever reasons, she could use the earpiece to instruct Yul on clever, strategic things to say that could also convince Alec and Riya that he turned over a new leaf. Basically, it's possible that Emily could girlboss her way into keeping Yul in the game, rather than Yul staying in due to his own merits.

There are other S1 girls (and others) that I believe to be in a spicier position now than Grett, though, so she lands at #8.

#9: Fiore

With Fiore, we enter the realm of players that I seriously believe could be in danger of elimination this episode. Yes, despite my claims that I think Fiore could be the winner, I do think that, if Magenta goes to tribal this episode, Fiore would be the boot. I just don't think Magenta really is going to tribal; ha ha!

It's really that whole, "whatever you say, princess~" that has me worried for Fiore. I'm concerned that, after getting a taste of power with the Hunter boot going her way, Fiore has become overconfident in thinking that Ally is definitely the next boot and that she will make the merge, whenever it is. (Basically, Fiore would think that Ally's presence gives her enough of a buffer that she thinks the merge is essentially secured.) If she goes back to demeaning Jake and Ashley, they could easily choose to turn on her and protect their newfound friendships with Ally instead. Fiore's status as a S1 girl isn't helping that read.

Again, I feel like all of the current Magenta team members are probably going to make the merge at this point, so Fiore should be safe. However, as (in my opinion) the most likely Magenta boot, Fiore winds up at #9 in case of emergency.

#10: Gabby

Thinking back on it, other than being a S1 girl, my reasoning behind Gabby's elimination wasn't that strong.

Or, maybe it was, before Ellie absorbed even more of the villainous energy last episode with her comments about torturing Jake. With comments like that, it becomes even harder to believe that Tom and Aiden would choose to target Gabby instead of Ellie. The farther Gabby makes it into All Stars, the less of an excuse there is for her to be eliminated with very little focus beforehand.

Still, I think Cyan is in trouble, blah blah blah. If some sort of twist does occur that gives Ellie individual immunity amidst her team-- and I don't think that would be a totem, as Ellie using a totem on herself and inadvertently sending Gabby home would basically require her to make her totem publicly known before the vote-- then they could target Gabby instead.

It is harder to predict DC than Survivor because DC has more of a penchant for pulling random shit out of nowhere, like that vote in S1 where Gabby just straight up obliterated Ashley. I wonder if that relationship will reemerge later in All Stars... Gabby would probably need to be around for it to happen, so, clearly, she should stay in.

#11: Tom

When I was drafting out my initial thoughts for this list, I originally put Tom really high. Like, top 3 high. But, the more I thought about it, the more I started to feel like Tom could be on the chopping block this episode.

For starters, the love triangle. I said last episode that, because Tom is the central leg between Jake and Aiden, he wouldn't be at risk of elimination. Well... I take those words back, sort of.

Let's look at it this way: if you eliminated any one of Jake, Aiden, or Tom, what would happen? If you eliminate Jake, Aiden and Tom are left. That's pretty boring, because then they could just be friends without any particularly strong (or at least personally motivated) opposition. If you eliminate Aiden, Jake and Tom are left. That's definitely better, because Jake and Tom could simply continue the will-they-won't-they plotline on their own, but you'd still lose Aiden as an obstacle without Jake having any hand in it.

If you eliminate Tom, Jake and Aiden are left. In my opinion, this is by far the spiciest option. Jake would probably be super mad at Aiden for not doing enough to protect Tom from getting voted out, leading to Aiden being justifiably angry that Jake has been so aggressive towards him despite Aiden not wanting Tom to go home, either. I think that having Tom's two "love interests" left to fight each other without him actually being there is the most interesting way in which one corner of the triangle could be eliminated.

But that's all about why Tom "should" be eliminated; what about why he would get eliminated? There are a couple of possibilities here, too. First of all, that argument between Jake and Tom in the preview, which ended with Tom pretty clearly being remorseful about what he did. If Tom gets super demoralized about screwing things up with Jake, it could cause him to be seen as a liability. Or, in an extreme case, Tom could feel so guilty about his and Aiden's kiss that he would ask the girls to target him instead of Aiden.

Alternatively (or even additionally), we also saw that squirrel trap in the trailer, which I said could be hinting at further conflict between Tom and Gabby over the team's diet. If Gabby got really fed up with Tom's carnivore side, she could ask Ellie if they could target Tom instead of Aiden, which Ellie might agree to.

Despite all this, I can also totally understand why the writers would want to keep Tom around. After his kiss with Aiden, his visibility and importance seem higher than ever. If James does return to the competition later, having him chat with Tom would be... interesting, even given James not caring that his boyfriend was stage-kissing another man. And, Tom potentially has a winner plot set up, given that the writers found it important enough to tell us what Tom would do with the prize. With Cyan likely going to tribal, however, the possibility of a surprise Tom boot felt more viable than ever. I'm not putting him in last place, but if Tom does wind up going home, I'm gonna feel pretty smart.

#12: Riya

Much like Fiore, Riya is here as my safety net for who I think would go home if Yellow does wind up going to tribal instead of Cyan. However, I feel like a third Yellow tribal is, on the whole, more likely than a third Magenta tribal, so Riya gets kicked all the way down here.

Without Connor as a shield, Riya is in a much worse position. Yul already dislikes Riya in general, but that only increased after she caused the light to fall on him, and would only increase more if he ever learns that Riya was the one to fire that stray vote at him. Grett would probably work with Yul, which is already 50% of the votes against her.

Alec is definitely Riya's best lifeline, and it could work out in her favor. After all, if Alec continues working with Grett and Yul, if they go to tribal again, the couple would most likely vote him out. However, I think it's really a question of how much longer Alec thinks he has before the merge.

Here's my logic: if Alec thinks there's still a long time until the merge, then, yes, it would be better to work with Riya to have a chance to eliminate Grett or Yul. That's because, the more team challenges there are, the greater opportunity Yellow has to lose again, and the greater possibility that Grett and Yul vote him out.

However, if Alec thinks that the merge is soon, it's better to vote out Riya. If Alec and Riya managed to eliminate, let's say, Yul, then Alec is essentially losing two members of his villains alliance-- one due to Yul's elimination, and one due to Grett presumably withdrawing. Alec has already burned her once before.

That would cause the villains alliance to go into the merge with a maximum of only four members: Alec, Riya, Fiore, and Ellie. The other teams have already been primed to believe that the villains are a huge threat, and with such small numbers, they would be very easily eradicated. Even beyond others, Fiore and Ellie might also be mad at Alec for him dragging them onto his sinking ship of a plan, and try to desert as well. My point is, sticking with Riya could go really badly for Alec.

So, combining that doomsday scenario with me at least thinking that the merge probably will be soon, and the fact that Alec choosing to side with Riya would only put them at a 50:50, NOT a majority, and I can totally see why Alec would choose to vote for Riya.

And, that's not even taking into account Riya's poor behavior! The Yellow Team did lose the singing challenge due to Riya's influence, and they suffered during the diving challenge due to her fear of the depths, too. She's a challenge liability. She was also shown hogging the shower, and is now sunbathing during camp life, proving that she's not a team player. She has way too much confidence in her "power position," as she put it last episode, for where her game actually is. If it's not Cyan that goes to tribal, I can totally see the threads coming together to lead to a Riya elimination.

#13: Ellie

It's just simple math for me at this point. I think that Cyan is almost certainly going to tribal next episode + I think Ellie is by far the most likely boot for Cyan's next tribal = I think Ellie is really, really likely to be the next boot. She's even a S1 girl.

My argument is pretty much the exact same things I said last episode, except now they're even worse. The screenshots from the challenge now make me think that Cyan will go to tribal next episode, as opposed to my confusion about why Cyan would lose a music challenge. We also saw that Ellie has begun to prioritize suffering over strategy, which both increases the odds that people like Tess would want to take her out and decreases the odds that she'd be able to pull off an intellectual move to save herself.

I'll honestly be pretty surprised if Ellie doesn't go home next episode... but, hey, I was surprised by Connor's boot last episode, too! If Ellie does manage to survive another episode, I wonder if I'll have to start reconsidering putting her so close to the bottom. Part of it would depend on how she survives, of course.

The only way to know for sure is to actually watch the episode myself, so, see y'all on Thursday! Thanks for reading!

[fictionfixations]

penacony spoilers (this will mean nothing to you if you dont know it but like uh. memory zone meme? that one battle.)

what in the fuck thats freaky

ive never seen this fight im not gonna lie (ive seen the story and sunday and aventurine's but nothing else)

so wait does killing that bring him back??

WELCOME BACK YOU MADLAD 😭 how does. temporary.. death?? feel?

i keep forgetting to save skill points for the healer so my characters can ACTUALLY heal my bad

AGAIN?

what is your obsession with this man memory zone meme. like. if it was robin id understand cause thats kinda story-relevant but like...

genuinely so freaky (ive always been targetting the person itself so i dont think ive seen the follow up attack and im kind of scared to)

okay now PLEASE stop being oneshotted

no matter how much i try to build my characters it always feels like they're still that shitty team thats barely built. like. yknow the team for casual hsr players that dont spend that much time grinding cause they're more story-focused or something??

fhuisdhf iwish i had aventurine cause i feel like ive been getting into a really good groove with planning on how i should play with aventurine as like the support character (support as in im taking an aventurine from my friends lol) but also. the one thing that infuriates me is that you just. shields cant heal you. so theres just that chunk missing from the hp bar that cant be fixed until the battle ends and i go to like a space anchor (or use consumables but i forget they even exist)

but theres just something nice about not taking damage at all because the shields are taking it for you. ...but anyway shields or no id probably still get fucked over

(sometimes probably gonna comment and be like 'aCTUALLy you're getting oneshotted because you keep doing [action] when there's a symbol over it so then it triggers [so and so] and im just like. i know. but i play by ignoring the stuff that triggers the enemy to attack so like--)

okay now what am i supposed to do LMFAO (i cant tell if the eye means even if you like use your skill instead it'll trigger because ive been using basic attack when they get oneshotted. so idk maybe it doesnt matter what you do it just chooses the last person's turn basically)

(well i could trigger an ult but. so well hi im future me but if i had any ults they were probably being saved. like natasha's healing everyone ult.)

i want to scream

ended first. uh. round? is that what you call it? then it took out TWO of my team members. was prepared to yell obscenities at it but then cutscene happened so i hoped that that was it

but oh my god YOU TOOK MY HEALER??

actually. kind of off topic. i wonder what happens to aventurine's shields if he dies?? like cause the turns are counted by when it reaches that characters turn again (which no duh that means a whole turn has passed. i just remember it better describing it this way) ..but if no turn does it just. disappear?

OH

anyway 'two characters who act of their own intiative' ... you. bitch.

okay. im. gonna sacrifice robin and ratio. since i can do that i guess. (if i had to rank characters on team of 'absolutely need to keep alive or im actually fucked' then these two would be at the bottom...)

wonder if her ult just disappears if she dies

yeah ult is gone

black swan made it so much easier but oh my god i hated that (and i know im going to hate the future bosses so yayy)

no but its actually really cool to basically have allies turn on you like that. its. really really cool.

i just am not a fan of actually playing against it. im gonna be honest i hate bosses with other enemies around them cause they always end up screwing me over 😭

[sehtoast]

I'm glad that I finally found you. I love your fics and your OC, Ben. I'm sorry that the boys ruined a lot of stuff this season for you and your fics, but to be fair this season is hard for all of us. I rp Homelander and season 4 especially the with the new episode it is just not sitting well with me, but please keep writing fics (if you want to of course) because they are so good to read and enjoy.

anon i love and appreciate you so much, and i'm happy to have you on board <3 this season has been rough, and i feel like the writers are just jerkin' it at the table at this rate.

interestingly, i don't feel so much that the transphobia (i'm assuming that's what you mean as far as ruined things for my fics) is a nail in the coffin for my fics so much as it is kripke blindly trying to make commentary about something that has no relevance in the show (do we even have trans rep in the show beyond gen v? like is there anyone actually in the boys itself, or?) and it flounders because it has no foundation upon which to stand for the content that's trying to use it.

it's blind commentary on outrage politics and it barely works for the intent he's trying to put behind it, and all it's doing is boomeranging back and landing poorly and painfully trans audience members. at least, it does with me and those i've talked to about it.

the thing with homelander spouting it is that homelander doesn't believe 99.9% of what he says to his base. it's something that incites outrage and riles them up for his cause. we've had more than our share of 'he'll say whatever the fuck for the boost in ratings.' you also can't particularly convince me this man could change his lockscreen on his phone, much less know shit about trans identities lol.

when he says it, it feels like parroting of something he knows just works because it does. if he had oomph behind his beliefs, i think he'd have been able to follow them up when his line about "transgender illegals" (which just sounds like he strung together two words he knows incites outrage) was shot down by the politicians before they started in on the economic and policy questions.

i think the only group of people homelander holds ill will toward period is humans. humans have hurt him his whole life, made him their toy, broken him countless time for their own gain and amusement. but he can't say that to his base of mostly humans. so he incites humans to tear at one another.

i think homelander would make exceptions for any number of things he stunts against in public if these qualities were present in his partner or someone he loved. the man is a hypocrite.

but yeah, i don't feel like the anti-trans rhetoric is anything more than ham fisting from kripke as social commentary gotcha points that fail to do anything more than fling shit back to his audience. i think it worked as commentary when firecracker said it, because there was a brief second where it seemed like the show was going to do something really cool by having her be aware of and fully acknowledge that she is little more than an outrage farmer saying anything and everything to incite singular nobodies into angry mobs of somebodies. then they lost it, and they lost the foundation upon which this commentary could have had something solid to stand upon to represent the real world issue it so desperately wants to.

anyway, my take?

i'm going to give Ben and Homelander such a fucking healthy relationship. I'm shipping them harder than ever. Homie loves his little spider, and that's just facts. sorry kripke, seethe and cope that homelander is in a healthy happy GAY relationship w/ a trans man.

[gaykey]

Hello!!

i'm not wildly invested in this whole key situation(s) but i've just seen so many posts about it and i was curious about your response as you've been very vocal within this discussion haha (pls read this ask in a nice chatty tone, not an argumentative one!). and sorry for the massive text below, you don't have to answer this ask if you don't wanna <3

But, i feel like a lot of the things ppl have gotten angry at key for lately are to a degree unavoidable for him. Like the m*donalds thing: i thought he'd signed an exclusive contract with them way before people starting caring that the chain was in support of isrl. He can't exactly back out of it? i also heard the general opinions of ppl in korea are pretty apathetic towards the current conflict (tho that is it's own conversation) and are unlikely to consider how supporting a brand would impact the situation. it's a lot to expect the average person to display overt political reactions when the conversations they're hearing don't influence their respective communities. Take us, for ex: we wouldn't be as opinionated about this if the spaces we occupy online weren't as vocal as they are. i know the ppl i meet irl don't really talk about it much, who's to say the ppl he knows talk about it? Just a general observation, not an "excuse" for their apathy rly. I just don't see a possibility of him cancelling his contract with them, to sum things up.

As for the Hyuna thing: he's still a person and a celebrity. It's not really like he can just suddenly go public at exclaim to the world how little he wants to associate with her. A response from him would only make the matter worse really, no? He would offend a lot of personal and public people whom he needs to associate with regularly. It would impact his group (shine as a whole) and all the people he works with (like I live alone/amazing saturday casts/etc) and the multitude of brands he is the face of. It's a huge cost to take a stance on a conversation he didn't start (cause hyuna brought it up, not him right? -- sry i don't know much i could be wrong!!). i feel his silence on the matter makes more sense then acknowledging the issue - as sad as that is. and if they have been close firends for years, is it not alot to ask him to drop all contact forever? <perhaps a controversial question, but i would not so readily throw away my own friends. I would hope they come to their senses and/or i'd find a way to make them lol

as for the colorist comments... yeah, that's a long conversation. i'm glad he apologized and has decidedly not said anything like that since..? bare minimum, but don't have much to say on this aspect. he said something truly nasty, but acknowledged it and the harm it did at least.

Just in general, i feel a lot of what he's getting slack for are out of his control and not necessarily indicative of who he is as a person. There is so much ambiguity to how he must behave given his career, it feels like his lack of response(s) are fairly justifiable. Shinee has been trying so hard lately to become as relevant as possible so they can compete with newer generations of kpop. I don't see him realistically putting that at risk. But, perhaps i'm wrong! who knows!

i've thought long and hard about this ask, which is why i left it a little while, because tbh, i do think you have some points. i'll be so real with you though, i've had some wine tonight, so this might not be the best time to reply to this, buuut here i am

so.

kibum is the kind of person, though incredibly professional, has always spoken out when he thinks something is wrong, or if there has been injustice. he's not the type to hold his tongue. he, on many occasions, has spoken out against the company HE IS STILL CONTRACTED WITH.

i get not being able to brush off hyuna on national tv-

i get maaaaybe be tied to a contract you can't get out of (though it was established that he very much could have if he wanted to)-

i even forgave him for his ignorant & shitty colourist comments-

but what about his behavior since?

key, who is well-known for not giving a fuck about the 'idol image', who has spoken out against his company, the industry...has had nothing to say.

he could have NOT signed up for more contracts with shitty israel supporting companies, he could have given a statement in regards to hyuna, he could have been outspoken about donating to charities and fundraisers aiding palestinians, and the cause?

and yes, i know the other members have not either, as well as many other idols, but, i don't think it's crazy of me to think that DUE to the shit he's done over the last few months, he should be held MORE accountable in a way?

i don't think it's a wild concept to expect these people to have basic good morals?????

non eof this was out of his control. these idols are more than gold enough at controling their image when they want tl.