#you can have a group that has deep flaws but that doesnt make them a cult

[oflgtfol]

“the mandalorians chanting ‘this is the way’ really sounds like a cult huh?” wow almost like chanting has always been a culturally important thing across the world and throughout human history! almost like chanting as a group is an activity meant for connection and community

[puhpandas]

What about beckory is so appealing to you? /gen

outside of them themselves and my own personal preference, them being a mlm ship and also not canon and completely hypothetical are huge factors to me. it's so interesting building them up in all of these different interpretations since theres not much canon to go off by, but the canon we DO have is really good

and now speaking of the ship itself the last point I made applies because ggy the book is just. really good. when you read it for the first time it's fine but then you reread it and notice things and look deeper and you find all of these things making the friend group you thought was average way more deep and you see everyones flaws, and that makes them interesting. the book revolves around tony and ggy so we get the most about them, and what it shows us about them makes me claw at the walls

it showed us how tony is obsessive when it comes to mysteries because of his dad being put in prison and how he cant handle not getting to the bottom of a mystery because of it, and that obsession has driven a wall between everyone and him. then he meets the most mysterious guy in the universe Rab and he becomes obsessed with ggy to an unhealthy degree while also slowly starting to prefer greg over his best friend since he was 4 (which like how am I not supposed to like the ship when tony inadvertently became obsessed with Gregory throughout the whole book that's so funny😭)

they're both flawed people and even outside of ggy Tony's relationship with Gregory is almost purely hypothetical since they never actually met. but making aus or story ideas where tony survives after the end of ggy has so many possibilities for his and Gregory's relationship

theres a whole new world if you think tony dies and Gregory mourns later on when he gets freed, theres whole new worlds if tony goes on a quest to save Gregory or if Gregory fights back against ggy to save Tony's life or whatever could happen. everything u could think of has potential and it could all be unique and different and could hit off their relationship in tons of different ways

and their relationship has so many directions it could go becuase of their respective characters. in my personal interpretation of them, Tony's obsession doesnt go away after he survives the ggy attack and he tries to track down greg after he goes missing after the attack, and when he finds him it's a year later and greg isnt actually greg at all but Gregory. to me the idea of tony having an idea of Gregory in his head that was never him and that he has to unlearn would cause drama between them but it makes their bond stronger. tony has to get worse before he can get better to me, and that playing out with Gregory as they get older is so good to me

and amneisiac gregory is one of my fave things so the idea that Gregory slowly remembered tony over the course of living with 3 star fam and had an idea of him too, and when he shows up on his doorstep hes excited to meet him and the fact that tony is from Gregory's past thats a whole mystery to him he means a lot to him immediately

I guess tldr they're so interesting to me because they have all the potential in the world and a thousand different things you could do with them, but also their characters themselves are already just so interesting and fleshed out that it's fun to see how they could get to a relationship from their starting points and how flawed they are. they're not immediately compatible and they have so much about themselves and their personal stuff to work through at the time they meet but they go through growth together and it makes them rlly close. they make eachother better people as they get older :)

[year2000electronics]

HLVRAI 2, and Super Paper Mario 11?

YOU GOT IT

2. …my three favorite characters and why I love them so much.

GORDON: i love the way wayne plays such a frantic protagonist. he's simultaneously the straight man to a lot of the science team's bits but that's not the whole story because every bit of character this man is given makes him feel deeply DEEPLY abnormal. hes convinced hes the only one here but his dream is to stream on justin.tv. love it when men Yell.

COOMER: not only is holly hilarious but coomer has the strongest narrative arc in the series. she found a concept and STUCK with it. coomer perfectly interlaces "most comedic old man ever" and "deep existential dread" and neither parts of him feel like they clash with each other its just so. banger. hes so funny but i care him so much. when hl2vrai drops i just know whatever happens w him is gonna be INSANE

BENREY: yeah i mean. yeah. benrey is easy to overhype i get it especially cos theres so many ways to dilute how literally funny his character is. i love how weirdly polite he can be when hes not antagonizing gordon. hes such a little brat and yet hes so niceys. he also just works really well in the idea that like yeah he is the antithesis to improv but also narratively speaking he allows gordon to funnel a lot of negative energy into him, and having a character who is primed to NEVER agree with gordon makes the group dynamic twist up in hilarious ways. i just also think the way scorpy does bits is funny as fuck

11. …what I think of the central character(s).

THAT WOULD BE THE FOUR HEROES YEAG... i think a very common and very true critique levelled against SPM specifically is that sometimes it feels like youre happening to play a game that has mario In It. like yeah sure mario is the hero of prophecy but thats only because the game is directly telling you that. what doesnt help is that although i think the four heroes each have pretty cool and distinct flavours of being written, i think it gets lost in the waysides a little as you have them available as playable options 90% of the time, which means that the only standout moments are when control of them is wrenched from you (ie the character statement of peach being the only one who ends up in the overthere, the world 8 boss fights against the bleck minions, Luigi) so its like. i wish i could get into em more but i think its just a flaw thatd always be there. i dont know. i dont know.

luigi counts as one of the four heroes though and super paper mario luigi is one of my FAVOURITE luigis for this exact reason. because you only have him playable for a world or two, that means he makes a lot of decisions and has a lot of screentime that Only Luigi Could Have so hes BURSTING with personality. honestly spm luigi is one of the most interesting portrayals of luigi i could go on and on and on

i guess tldr theyre pretty good i wish they were connected to the story more

[testudoaubrei-blog]

do you really think queer rep doesnt matter because that seems like the opposite of a lot of things you have stated before.

Short answer, no, I don't think that queer rep is irrelevant or even unimportant. It's more that, I think that the question 'is this good representation?' isn't the best way to go about artistic and cultural criticism from a queer perspective. Instead, I think there are better questions we can ask that get at the same things but encourage deeper and more meaningful encounters with art and more critical appraisals of mass culture.

So when people examine something to see if it is 'good rep' I think there are two questions contained here. First, is what is represented queer at all? IE is X character of Y identity? Secondly, is the way this character is represented good?

I think this framing of the questions encourages or at least, doesn't discourage somehat reductive answers. For 'is this representation at all?' if we are asking that characters represent us, this framing encourages us to look for explicit identities. Characters saying that they are bi, or trans, etc. Often one encounters online the idea that non-explicit identification doesn't count. Which is valid when we are talking about queerbaiting or cowardly narratives that play up gay subtext but never make it text. But what about allegory, or fantasy or hell, old fashioned ambiguity? Queerness is often about the liminal spaces between sexualities and genders, or understandings of gender and sexuality orthagonal to stroaght society. If we ask 'am I represented by this character?' we might close ourselves off to subtler ways of encountering queerness in art. For instance, in Nona the Ninth there are no characters that walk around and tell people 'I am trans' and only one character that uses they/them pronouns. But the book is full of characters that are in the wrong body (yes, when used in our world this is a reductive framing but I think it works here), and Pyrrha in particular is depicted as dysphoric. The experience of these characters is reflective of the trans experience (see also, the Matrix and Ghost in the Shell). I think Nona is a far more trans book than many more conventional stories that have trans characters. On the other hand, I have seen folks online seem happy with like, pride flag color coding in characters that have no narrative impact, like a gay version of 'spot the reference'. Some examples of this make me feel like that girl power scene in avengers endgame. It feels both pandering and unearned on the part of the corporate behemoth producing the media we watch. Again, I think this isn't just people not thinking deeply but that it reflects a flaw in the underlying question.

Even more fraught is the question of whether representation is 'good' or not. Generally 'good' is taken to mean several things, which are defined negatively - IE good rep is simply rep that is not bad. The thrre main ways rep can be bad, by most definitions, is if a character is stereotypical (in a negative way), villainous or if theor story has a tragic end. As far as I can tell, the two forces driving these definitions are establishment gay groups like GLAAD and fans. And a lot of concerns by both parties are valid! The Hayes Code basically mandated that implicitly gay characters had to be villains who came to bad ends, and characters were coded as queer through negative stereotypes. But this negative idea of avoiding bad representation also doesn't guide our analysis into very deep places. How often have we seen this idea of good rep turned into a demand that queer characters be virtuous heroes who love happily ever after? And this makes sense. GLAAD is worried about making us look good for the straights, and fans of all kinds want fanservice.

Put another way, a problem with framing queer art and queerness in pop culture in terms of representation is that this is a kind of atomistic way of looking at a narrative and its characters. It breaks the cast into individual people and those people into a list of traits and the story into character arcs (but mostly a list of outcomes). It does not view the work as a whole and so doesn't touch on themes or style or anything like that.

So are there better questions we can ask? Yeah I think so. What of we ask ourselves 'is this an authentically queer story?' Or on a more personal level 'does this reflect the queer experience?' Or in a more open ended way 'what does this work have to say to queer people about who we are and how we love our lives?' or 'what part of our lives is reflected in this?' I think these questions encourage a more interesting line of inquiry.

[volterran-wine]

so we know that heidi can lure in like a group of around 20-ish people at a time for feeding but doesnt anyone ever get suspicious of that.. be it for example the people of volterra. I just would like to know your opinion as to how the volturi can pull this off please?

Greetings Anonymous, at first glance the whole operation does seem quite flawed indeed. But I do have my opinions.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢 & 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐬

Well, this is in fact explained quite well in canon.

Heidi utilises Volturi owned vehicles and private jets in order to get the humans to Volterra, they never travel through public transportation either by land, sea or air. They even have a private landing strip at their disposal, this being possible because The Volturi owns Volterra the town and some of the surrounding area. So, no form of border control would log and register that these people even entered the country.

These groups actually never enter the town either. They are led along on a tour that ends at a beautiful old church outside of Volterra's walls, this church has a hidden passageway in order to enter the Palazzo's underground structure. Heidi luring the humans inside and taking them deeper into The Volturi's home, through halls and passageways in order to reach their final destination.

It is my personal headcanon that the "Dining Room" is deep underground so that the general population and visitors to the public areas of the Palazzo would never be able to hear the screams.

Heidi is quite good at her job, I headcanon that she makes sure to find people who have few or no true connections to other humans. That makes their disappearances easier to cover up, sadly some people do not have anyone that would miss them if they disappeared. It doesn't help that once you have met Heidi, it is especially difficult to refuse her offers. For what it's worth, I don't think The Volturi discriminate when they pick humans to feed upon. A meal is a meal, everyone is equal when you become prey to a vampire.

Those who are lured by her never hear the word 'Volterra' at all, in truth this is a group of people with no idea about where they are headed. Sure, some catch on to that they may be somewhere in Italy; but most of them don't. I think Heidi's gift is quite potent and gives them all a false sense of security, everything seems to check out; we are just on a lovely free vacation or about to get an amazing job opportunity in this beautiful Palazzo.

It is too late when the double doors slam behind them, and it suddenly is oh so quiet.

[yellowbluemoonshine]

Tbf the heroes don't know what happened to Tenko. They look at Shiggy and see a guy who attacked USJ and tried to kill the Symbol of Peace, who organised attack on a summer training camp and kidnapped a kid, who leveled down a whole city and who now is leveling another one. They don't see a victim bc they don't know he is one. But they do see the damage he does and act accordingly.

Yeah but thats not all they see. Especially this arc. Heroes arent stupid. They have enough information to see Shigaraki as victim.

1- They know that there is no sign about Shigaraki in records which means hever never go to school like normal kids, he didnt get quirk counseling, but most importantly it means that society never support Shigaraki Tomura, if they were, they would know.

2- They know Shigaraki is mentally child and they also know that he just NEW started to grow, they immediately realized there might be some adult behind the kid. Someone who groomed him.

3- Then, later they found All For One. The person who is behind of the kid. Afo is a man who is famous with manipulating people. When they heard about this, again, they could understand. Afo made it clear that he wants Shigaraki to be successor and again another proof that Shigaraki was groomed.

4- Shimura Tenko. Allmight and Gran Torino literally know what kind of person Afo is. They even knew that Afo targeted the kid, they must’ve been understand there is something wrong with this sitution, like Shigaraki didnt become this way because he is evil but they kept it as secret. They said they will research but there is no voice since then.

5- Kurogiri. They literally saw that how Shirakumo, hero student became a dangerous villain. Not only they saw how good person can become a villain but also they saw Shirakumo is still in there. That there is a hope.

6- Noumus. Heroes knew that noumus are people who are victim of science. Shigaraki was in one of that tupes, he was being used and treated as tool but instead of thinking he might be victim, they dehumanized him more and more.

etc etc etc.

Its not that they dont understand Shigaraki is victim but easier to believe that he is not cause saving him would be hard.

Now, you might say that somes knows nothing about those informations, they dont know everything.

For the ones who knows something, they are the ones who could’ve change things but they chose not to. Like Gran Torino who knows Afo and Shimura history or Aizawa who literally ignored the evidence that Shigaraki is might be just like Eri, just like Kurogiri.

Well, for people who know none of them, i wouldnt fully blame them but problem is more like the way system is. The heroes who knows something about it, literally covered it up and didnt even warn people about it. The posibility that Shigaraki is a victim.

Because they dont actually interested in changing things or rehabilition of villains. The system is normalizied the violence towards villains that most heroes ignore the fact that villains are humans too.

You might say what else they could do? Well, many things actually cause heroes are the ones who have the power in society. They are the ones who control of the sitution.

They could talk about this subject, instead of covering up. They could research about it more. They could at least listen and trying to understand this sitution.

You might say They have no time to talk.

But funny, they have time to blame him for existing.

And yeah, i guess, burning someone alive or trying to kill him is easier than talking...

You might say But Shigaraki needs to be stop so they have no choice to do this.

Yeah, Shigaraki needs to be stopped, of course, they cant let people die. But they have no choice? This is not true.

In story, many times it shown that heroes know how to be amazing when they wanted to. They can make a lot of miracles in most impossible situtions and at least, they always try. Why? Cause they think its worth it. And in those times, they will try their best.

It’s not that they cant save Shigaraki. Its that they cant bother with it. They think its not wothy to save someone like that. They will literally ignore every evidence in front of them. Even though, Shigaraki literally showed his suffering in front of them.

You might say why they would care about murderer’s suffering but again, its about the system they are in. The way villains are treated. Just because someone is criminal or villain, it doesnt mean they deserve to die or being treated as less human being. They ignore Shigaraki cause thats how villains are treated in society and they dont plan to change it cause they are so blinded by system.

And again, they wont try to save Shigaraki cause he doesnt cry like Eri or openly asking for help. They think good people will always stay good and they will hold their feelings forever but this is impossible cause everyone has breaking point and despite heroes knows in deep that they will still ignore it.

And you might say Shigaraki and other villains didnt have to kill people etc etc but Like Shigaraki and story explained it many times;

the people in league, they were good people and they tried, they endured, until enduring pain is not being a option, since society doesnt listen, destruction is literally the only way of victims can express their pain.

So; Villains can only express theirselves with destruction cause noone will listen to them. Heroes can do something but they wont cause they dont understand the suffering of victims in society.

Now, dont get me wrong. I love heroes cause i love the idea of saving someone but in bnha, heroes are really not heroes. All hero side is have is idea of hero, ieda of justice, they are in love with idea of heroes so much, they will ignore the victims who needs to be saved.

I dont necessarely think that they are bad or good people. When i analyzie someone, i only focus that person, not all at once. Not every heroes are same kind of person. I am sure that some of them are really good intentionally people, just like Deku but some heroes are really at fault and they intentionally ignoring things and make it worse.

The problem with hero side is not that they are evil but they are in pretty messed up system and they dont even try to change it cause they dont understand how much messed up it is. Some truly dont understand, some ignores, some use this for their selfish desires, with every way, its hard to root for them when they are supporting this messed up system while ignoring victims They dont even try to understand which is so frustrating, especialy as we readers know flaws but heroes ignores and they dont even make any effort :///.

And again, i love justice, heroes etc etc but i have no intention of ignoring what they are doing right now. Cause villains at least admit but heroes always justify it and call it as justice and thats so messed up.

Lets say; I truly believe that Deku is kind, good person (he is my favorite character with Shigaraki) but i also think that what Deku doing to Shigaraki right now is wrong cause its not that Deku cant understand or do something else. He can but he doesnt see Shigaraki as worth it cause he is villain and in hero society villains are meant be destroyed by heroes. But i want Deku to face and understand this why its wrong, one day.

The reason i mostly rooting for league, despite loving idea of heroes is because league, villains are pitifull. They are live in pretty unhealthy environment, they live with heavy mental illness, they are treated as monsters and i dont see what else they could do but hero side, they are at least live in healthy environment, they have lifes, happy moments and they can do something but they chose not to. And at least, the things league, villains did are changing things, challeging the system but heroes dont do anything. I also believe that we are meant to root for Shigaraki’s group too, especially this arc.

(Hope you understand me, i dont really hate heroes and i have different opinion for every characters, i dont just divide them as villains and heroes but right now, its exteremely hard to root for them, well, i hope they can get good character developments already.)

[crazyyfilmyfreak]

The Devil All the Time ( 2020 )

OBVIOUSLY SPOILERS FREE REVIEW

"There's a lot of no-good sons of bitches out there"

Okay alright first of all 

This is not your generic go-to netflix crime thriller if you are watching it with that intention everything is wrong with you 

This Film is dark , not just dark but dark as hell which is filled with gore elements which also includes a multi layered story telling and the film is filled with a group of astonishing cast members and every one of them has a potential to carry the whole film on their shoulders with no hard work but just with grace and ease so these reasons altogether might have over hyped few people's expectations and i think that is the main reason why i am seeing some mixed reviews here and there online or maybe just because you started watching this film with a very wrong intent or wrong mind set like i said before and i am stressing this so much because of in my opinion this film is just perfect maybe there are flaws obviously every film will have flaws but i just couldn't see them ? Maybe because i am a big fan of tom holland i might be little biased but to me this film is top notch and this is a perfect film film 

Now speaking about the cast & film overall 

This is a very slow paced slow burning piece of art 

It takes you to the places you can never think of mentally and it makes you feel completely lost in emotions by the end of the film making you numb 

Antonio Campos is a fucking genius i love his way of story telling 

He's honest , he knows what he is doing , he loves taking risks and he never fears when ever he goes out of the conventional film making style and i very much love how he connected every character in the film like i mean every character in the film is interconnected and if you remove any one character you will feel the void , disturbance and unbalance in the film. 

Film lovers might argue with me or hate me for saying this but i feel this film is so much better than christine 👀🤝🏻 atleast to me ? And this is coming from a person who also loved it a lot 

Now the cast 

I cant speak about everyone in the film because this has such a long list of talented actors 😭 who rocked in the film i am only going to speak abt some of my favourite performances as of now i promise to speak about every other cast member and their performance in the later days coz i am very sure this is a film i am going to talk a lot from now and this is also a film that i am going to watch and enjoy in the future days 

First TOM FUCKING HOLLAND 

I have been seeing this dude's films even before the civil war where he played the spidey role and i always felt he was a very raw and potential actor since his childhood but after seeing him in civil war and spider man hoco its just impossible for me to not like him as an actor ? HE IS SO GOOD ON SCREEN and he makes you believe everything when ever he's on screen maybe its swinging from wall to wall or putting a donut or whatever into a guys mouth while kicking his ass and making it look bad ass af🔥 few might feel this are such a silly examples to say but to me this is about how tom brings a realistic approach to a scene and makes it good and i have always been a big fan of tom holland since spiderman hoco and this is nothing related to tdat but y'all might already know timothee was the second closest option of mcu to cast as spidey and tom grabbed that role ever since tom is just busy with mcu films and where as timothee had a incredible and unbelievable growth as an ACTOR for real to me that is stunning because he did it in such short of span and to me as fan of tom holland part of me was always loving him as spidey but a big heart of me felt a void and sad because tom is missing a lot of great opportunities which has a chance to showcase his real acting abilities which made me think what if timothee got the spidey role instead of tom? Maybe we would have seen a serious tom holland as an actor and this thought killed me everytime but everything happens for a reason and tom holland is undoubtedly the best spidey we have ever got and anyways when films like tdat happen many people realise and understand how great and how fucking incredible tom holland is as an actor and i love when everyone appreciate him for this !! It makes my heart very happy and this is the exact reason why this film is so personal and special to me 

Sorry for completely deviating from the film but this is tumblr and i am not a serious film critic lol so forgive me. 

And speaking about his performance in the film he is just surreal and outstanding . The character that he played is a very complicated one not many relate to that character but every one can understand his emotions, actions and intentions in the film and all the credit goes to tom for bringing a life to that character and playing it in such a beautiful way listen to me very carefully when i am saying this not many actors from this generation can bring bundle of emotions at the same time in a same scene but tom holland does that with such an ease and i stg i am not exaggerating if you watch the film you will know what i mean !! And i am very proud to say i am his big fan 

Now Robbert pattinson 

What the fuck should i talk about this asshole 😂🖕? 

My dude's been killing it since remember me and as an actor like i said in the Tenet Review he has matured a lot as an actor since good time and he played a very powerful and sick role in the film i am not gonna spoil it for others just go and watch the fucking film atleast for him he did a great job and i dont understand how the women and gays are dealing with him? Seriously even as a straight guy its hard for me to concentrate on the film or scenes where ever he's present because this asshole is so fucking hot and sexy 👉👈 The directors should either deglamorise him by making him fat or bald or just hide his face with prosthetic make up or sth just like how directors hide tom hardy's face in every film he's in 🙄. Now coming back to his performance its really hard to dominate him when ever he's on screen dude just want all the attention towards him , such a selfish actor huh 

Bill Skarsgard 

He played a very important and crucial role in the film he maynot have big screen time but we can totally feel his presence through out the film i think this one sentence explains how important his character is to the film and how well he potrayed the role and he's the only guy in the film who got an incredible character growth throughout his journey in the film

Harry Melling 

It would be very unfair if i dont speak about harry's performance in tdat 

DUDE KILLED IT . HE SCARED ME WITH HIS EMOTIONS AND EXPRESSIONS . He didn't even a play a negative role but he just added a lot of depth not only to his character but also the film with his intimidating portrayal 

Sebastian stan 

This is the most honest and a very raw performance from Sebastian stan so far ( i am saying this based on the films that i have seen of his ) i just wish he had more screen time thats the only thing that i didnt like in the film also there are so many blanks that needs to be filled about his character 

Eliza Scanlen

I dont remember her from any film or tv series that i have seen before but she's outstanding in the film , the character doesnt have much something new to offer so i can't speak a lot for her but as far as the character concerned she did her best and her performance is a impressive one and many people are gonna love her . 

Riley Keough 

Unlike the previous films & tv series she's been in 

This film gave her a very challenging role and she's the only women in the film who's been through ups and downs and has a very complicated but a impressive character growth with minimal limitations and dimensions 

She was fabulous and incredible . It just stuns me how the character has begin and how it ended at the end 

And special mention to jason clarke and the old couple who played grandparents ( kind of ) to Arvin Russel and lenora . Not all heroes wear the cape. 

Finally despite the mention of god several times in the film this is not really about god at all its about the DEVIL , The DEMON that carries and plays a very pivotal role in the film you cannot see it but you can sense it and feel it 

Its about the blind faith, its about the irreversible & inescapable fate . I really love how Antonio Campos has connected all the dots by the end of the film with a very impressive film making and with a steady gothic theme running till the end internally and i haven't completely finished the book ( The devil all the time ) but if anyone really wants to completely bring the book life they cannot do it in a single film it will take you atleast 4 or 5 tv series to do so but Antonio Campos did it with a single film and added a very deep meaning to the core of the film w/o deviating from the roots of the book & even touched the aspects like duality of a man and some of you grateful fucks are complaining about him 

OBVIOUSLY films ard subjective but you all need to be more open about this film 

In simple words please fucking watch this film guys 🤗❤ 

This one is not for everyone but everyone will have atleast a small aspect in the film that y'all are going to like / love / hate / discuss about. 

The devil all the time is violent , brutal , honest and perfect in every possible way atleast to me and i really want you all to watch it if you're into such type of stuff 

Remember No country for old men ? Now make it 10 times more violent but add some meaning to it with a realistic approach but more slow burning drama and a little bit of darkness ... now that is what The Devil all the time is .

Gif credits : Milesgmorales

[dojae-huh]

I hope i'm not making it worse for anon but i wanna advise that if leaving a fandom is too much, slow withdrawal or limit your time and attention for them could do some good. Choose only what matters most to you. For now tho, consider taking a step back from social media and dont read about the issues till you feel more prepared.

I'm speaking as someone who has formed an emotional connection with 127, tho i try to be moderate with my feelings. i'm a casual listener of other subunits, so i don't know if my suggestions can help you completely with your issue but i've seen how affected weishennies/ppl who follow all subunits closely are. I'm not specifically promoting solo stanning and unit stanning. Everyone has the right to do it or not do it as long as they don't turn into akgae attacking other neos. But my experience is that I used to try to keep up with all subunits but all the fandom fights made it tiring so i started to focus only on 127. Its ok to only focus on what you love the most to protect yourself while being happy for other subunits success.

That doesnt mean i'm unfazed about LC issue. I feel bad for Wayv. Tho I dont follow LC closely, I was still shocked even tho i keep in mind all the time that no one knows any idol for real. I'm not accusing LC of "everything" since no one can absolutely confirm to what extent he did it but some of the evidence cant be denied, so i believe there's at least some grain of truth. This is where we should try to accept it. You can take it slow. If you're very affected, this is a sign that you should take a step back from social media and like user dojae-huh suggested, consult professionals or at least, talk to someone you can trust.

What about 127 and the emotional connection we have with them? What if something similar happened with them? Imo, it's rare for us to not feel any emotional connection with idols and i would be heartbroken too if something like this happened to my faves. But i can only say again that it's important to always bear in mind that we really know no one personally and ppl can change or something unfortunate can also happen anytime.

Personally I trust they are good friends from what i see. I also agree with user dojae-huh that it's hard to completely fake everything but i acknowledge that there are fights and makeups that we'll never know about, just like all of us humans. Don't we all fight with our closest friends sometimes? If we dont fight, we still have some things we dont like/disagree with them and vice versa. It's normal. No one likes everything about others. What matters is how they deal with their differences. But imo, if 127 really can't stand one another, i don't think any of them will go such length for one another for many times all these years. Same goes for Wayv and Dreamies. Even with the LC issue, it seems near impossible to me that everyone hates each other's guts and fakes everything.

What about idol personalities then. I'm sorry for bringing other idols into this but you can take RV irene as example. She was criticized for not speaking kindly to staff but then some other staff came to defend her. She did apologize and promise to be more careful. Once again some truths can be shocking but not everything is a lie. This example cant compare to LC's supposedly more severe case but i used it to show you that as long as it's not something criminal or immoral, we should wait for proofs and see how the idols improve themselves. Hold them accountable but give them chance, even if you feel your image is shattered, when it's not a huge issue.

No idol is perfect and all groups have fought. That's a fact. Time will tell us their overall personalities and dynamics, if everything is a lie or if they are partly flawed, just like us all.

I think you already know what i said deep down in your heart but after taking a social media break and deciding what's best/how much is best for you, these truths will become clearer. For now i believe your first step should be refrain from reading about some issues and consult with others.

I still haven't read anything on Lucas, so I don't know what are the "real proof" you are talking about. I will only remind everyone that: a) pictures can be easily photoshopped, deep fake technology allows to make "deep fake" videos as well. If you saw last Star Wars you've seen how Leya was present despite the actress' death. Actors are now "play" in an advertisement without setting a foot onto the shooting location. All they need to do is sell the right to thw uae of their face. b) people tell a story from their viewpoint, which can be wrong, biased.

[kendrixtermina]

Further reactions to "The book of lost tales":

I appreciate that Idril canonically wears armor and does swordfighting.

I feel like I can actually imagine adult!Idril much better now like in armor and with open hair, distraught but ready to fight while babby Earendil does not yet realize the danger...

My first thought is that Earendil was probably cute in that baby chainmail. My second thought is OUCH, Idril and Tuor always made sure their growing baby had fitting chainmail cause they felt the apocalypse might get them at any moment. Imagine that, imagine them having the baby armor fitted every year or so :(

Its fun how much of the basic structure already exists but most of what you'd consider the main characters doesn't exist or is scattered across various minor roles The only Prince anywhere in sight is Turgon - Except for Team Doriath, theyre all accounted for. I suppose Maeglin is kinda there in name only with vaguely the same role & motivation, but looks personality and background all did a 180 since. Luthien is still pretty much "princesd classic" at this point, not quite the fearless go-getter from the final version - markedly this version tells Beren that she doesnt want to wander in the wilderness with him whereas the final one says she doesnt care and its Beren still wants to get the shiny so as not to ask this of her and also for his honor.

I mean in the finished version Id consider the 3rd and 4th gen royals to be the main characters (well, alobgside Team Doriath and the varioud human heroes) and theyre hardly here. Imagine the silm with no Finrod!

Feanor had no affiliation with the royal family whatsoever, and is also generally less super. He's just the guy who won the jewelsmithing competition, not the inventor of the whole discipline. Still seems to have been envisionad as a respected member of the community who gets called to the palace for crisis meetings and is listened to when he stsrts giving speeches. From the first he already has the backstory of going off the deep end (or at least growing disillusioned with Valinor) after a family member is killed by Melkor and theyre still the first to die, but its just some other rando unrelated to the royals

The situation regarding the humans is different - instead of Melkor leaking their existence, its Manwe who explains that the other continents were supposed to be for them eventually. So Feanor goes off on a tirade about weak puny mortals comes off as a more of a jerk unlike in the final version where Melkor barely knew about the humans and described them to the Noldor as a threat. On the other hand in this one, also very much unlike in the finished product, Melkor dupes even Manwe into being unfair to the elves as a whole. In this the final version is a definite improvement, both Feanor and the Valar come off as a lot more sympathetic and though still deceived he's partially right in some things at least, so you have more of a genuine tragedy rather than a simple feud

There is something to the idea of Commoner!Feanor tho. I guess some of this survived in his nomadic explorer lifestyle and how both his wife and mother (who arent mentioned here) eventually were the ones to get that background of being not especially pretty ladies who are not from the nobility but got renown, respect and acclaim for their unique talent and contribution to society, with each having invented things and Nerdanel also being renowed for her wisdom. Hes sort of an odysseus-like Figure in that sense. I suppose later developements necesitated that Maedhros & co. have an army not just a band of thieves, which means they needed to be nobles/lords. That said this being a society where artisans are very respected and half the lords have scholarly/artistic pursuits going, the gap was probably not as big to begin with as it might have been in say, medieval England. Esoecially since Nerdanel's father had been given special honor by one of the local deities and that the social order might have been a very recent thing in Miriel's time. One might speculate that the first generation of Lords started out as warriors during the great journey, or perhaps just Finwe's friend group.

Also found that bit intetesting where the Valar have to deal with the remaining political tensions and effects of Melkor's lies on the remaining population in Valinor... - i guess with the change of framing device it was less likely for news of something like this to reach Beleriand. That, or the existence of Finarfin and his repentance made this go smoother this over in later cannon

Turgon's go-down-with-the-ship moment reaaly got to me. Im half tempted to write a fic where his wife, siblings and dad glomp him on arrival in Mandos. I dont care that none of them exists yet in this continuity i want Turgon to get hugs

I love all the additional Detail that got compressed out in the shift from fairytale-ish to pseudohistoric style especially all the various Valinor magic insofofar as it is compatible with the final version - particularly love the idea of the connection between the lamps and the trees that is now integrated into my headcanon forever

Its actually explained what the doors of night are

If I had not already read unfinished tales or volumes X to XII where this is also apparent, this is where I would say: Ah so the Valar were supposed to be flawed characters. Manwe has an actual arc; by the time he sends Gandalf he finally "got" it. I think in the published silm the little arcs of Ulmo and Manwe are mostly just lost in compression/ less apparent when only some of the relevant scenes got in but not all

It occurred to me way too late that the "BG" chars are the most consistent because theyre at the start and most stories are written from beginning to end. Finwe doesnt get a dedicated paragraph of explicit description until HoME X but my takeaway was that he's described pretty much like I always imagined him anyways/ same vibe I always got from him... charismatic, thoughtful, enthusiastic, sanguine temperament, brave in a pinch but at times lets his judgement be clouded by personal sentiment (though that last bit is more apparent/salient as a character flaw once he became the father of a certain Problem Child) ...i guess this would be a result of jrrt having had a consistent idea of him in his head for a long time.

This means Finwe's still alive at the time of the exodus which is just fun to see/interesting to know... Interestingly he sort of gets what later would be Finarfin's part of ineffectually telling everxone to please chill and think it over first while Feanor simply shouts louder (which is consistent with his actions before the sword incident in later canon where he initially spoke out against the suspiciozs regarding the Valar) - but its not exactly the same, he's more active than Finarfin later in that when "chillax" availed nothing he said that then at least they should talk with the other Kings and Manwe to leave with their blessing and get help leaving (This seems like it would have been the clusterfuck preventing million dollar suggestion in the universe where Feanor is related to him and values him) but when even that falls on death ears he decides that he "would not be parted from his people" and went to run the preparations. I find it interesting that the motivation is sentiment/attachment (even phrased as "he would not be parted from [his people]" same words/ expression as is later used for the formenos situation), not explicitly obligation as it later is for Fingolfin (who had promised to follow Feanor and didnt want to leave his subjects at the mercy of Feanor's recklessness )

Speaking of problem children. It seems the sons of Feanor were the Kaworu Nagisa of the Silmarillion in that originally all they do is show up at some point and kill Dior as an episodic villain-of-the-week. And then, it seems their role got bigger in each continuity/rewrite... probably has something to do with the Silmarils ending up in the title later making it in the sense their story that ends and begins with them. They have zero characterization beyond "fierce and wild" at this point, though in what teetsy bits there is we already have the idea that Maedhros is the leader and Curufin is the smart one/shemer/sweet-talker, though not the bit where Maedhros (or Maglor, or anyone really) is "the nice one". Which I guess explains why "Maglor" sounds like such a stereotypical villain name.

"The Ruin of Doriath" was purportedly the patchworkiest bit of the finished product, but I never noticed and it actually left quite an impression of me upon first reading, the visual of Melian sitting there with Thingol's corpse in her arms contemplating everything thinking back to how they met... she had the knowledge to warn him not to doom himself but couldnt get him to understand it because he doesnt see the world as she does.... After reading this though I wish there was a 'dynamic' rendition that combined all the best bits like, youd have to adapt it to the later canon's rendition of the dwarves, have Nargothrond exist etc. But i mean that just makes Finrod another dead/doomed relative of Thingol's whom bling cannot truly replace, like Luthien and Turin. In the Silmarillion you could easily read it as just an "honoured guest treatment" but here and in unfinished tales I get the impression that Thingol actually did see Turin as a son.

Already you see the idea of trying to make the stories all interconnected but there is less than there will be (the human heroes aren't related yet and there is basically no Nargothrond, which is later a common thread for many of the stories - a prototype shows up in the 'Tale of Turambar' tho complete with half baked prototypes of Orodreth and Finduillas

O boi im not even through yet

[hcpefulmarshmallow]

Anonymous said:

Hi! Sorry it took me so long to reply! Know that you say it, it's true that both Akechi and Nagito share some kind of character archetype. I was mostly curious because, although they share similarities, they are different in other things. I tried to like Akechi, I really did, but the fact that he doesn't seem to feel remorse for his actions and sometimes is sadic when he kills shadows. (1/2)

And (SPOILER!) he worked for Shido to gain his trust and eventually kill him, but somehow was surprised to learn what Shido really thought of him?. Yes, Akechi sacrificed himself in the end to help the Thieves (I'm not fond of the "sacrifice redemption" thing) but doesnt excuse his actions. Meanwhile, Nagito cares for his classmates, tries to do what he thinks is best for everyone (but is bad ofc) and is kinda influenced by his illness. (2/2)

Then again, i watched the game on youtibe so it's not the same experience that playing it myself....

Here’s the thing, Anon: as someone who began Persona 5 feeling a deep, debilitating rage every time Akechi showed his stupid fucking face onscreen, to possibly maybe shedding a tear or two for him by the end, I’m not going to try and convince you to like him. Partly because it’s a silly endeavour, but partly because I understand that he just isn’t an easy guy to like. And I say this fully recognising that, just before, I called him extremely likeable. I hold the same to be true for Nagito, as well. It’s one thing to tolerate a character’s flaws when you understand their deepest and most sympathetic motivations; it’d be another if you met them in real life and were blindly subjected to the worst of that their personality has to offer. 

(continued under a cut for heavier spoilers and length i guess)

 That said, I’d argue Nagito is just as remorseless and ruthless as Akechi is. In his mind, so long as an action is committed to further a great hope, it is justified. I suspect their differences are less a matter of contrition, and more a matter of time. I found Nagito easier to sympathise with at first, because it’s easier to see his humanity than it is to see Akechi’s. Despite his habit of pushing people away, Nagito remains so desperate to be recognised, he seemingly can’t help letting his cheerful, apathetic veneer slip here and there, giving glimpses of his true motivations from the beginning. It also helps that, as Hajime, we - the player - notice it early on. Hajime observes pretty quickly that Nagito has probably been through a lot, and that he seems kind and understanding if a little strange. On the other hand, due to the nature of the game, Joker’s initial opinions of Akechi are entirely up to the player. You won’t see much of his true personality early on unless you’re really looking for it. This, for the longest time, he’s nothing more than a vaguely antagonistic presence with who knows what motives.

 Furthermore, Nagito’s betrayal of the group comes much sooner which, I’d also argue, helps ground his character. It gives us time to explore those motives, the implications, and how he might still fit in a group dynamic. Whereas, by Akechi’s about-face, we’re pretty late in the game and he still isn’t wholly part of the group, having distinguished himself from the PTs by demanding that they disband in exchange for his help. 

 In all, while Nagito is willing and eager to make his true self known, Akechi hides himself until the very end, making it harder to understand and explore his character. Even in the third semester, with his demise imminent, he’d rather keep the other characters at arm’s length than live his final month or so in good company. He really is that ruined for other people. With time and patience, he could become as open as Nagito is, but the game simply doesn’t have that time to give at this point. And that, I suspect, is the cause for the trouble you have with his character and not Nagito’s. Akechi isn’t allowed to be a person for very long. Anger, hostility and fear trickle through as unadulterated sadism, because we aren’t privy to his whole side of things as thoroughly as we could be. 

 With regard to the Shido thing, I kind of read that as a rare moment of his emotions getting the better of him. He’d always wanted to get back at his father for abandoning him and his mother. Make him pay for the hellscape of a life he trapped them in. Much like Joker, he’s met with a perceived injustice, and he wants to right it via his own means. Of course, whether what he’s doing is “right” is up for debate, but I digress. To find out that Shido knew who he was all along and was still, after all this time, willing to discard his own son must’ve hurt. To realise he never stood a chance, for his life’s work to suddenly become nothing. You know, the whole “My expectations were low, but HOLY FUCK” thing? The game puts a heavy emphasis on Rotten Adults failing kids, but with his charm and sophistication, it can be easy to forget that Akechi is one of those failed kids too. I think he reacted like a child because, deep down, he is: a child fueled by a childish anger, and that’s why the game doesn’t condemn him the way it does Shido himself. There’s this implicit hopefulness that, through atonement and support, Akechi could change himself. Become a better person. But, because of his terrible, horrible, bad, bad father, he’s once again robbed of a chance of a better life, and it’s all he can do to make sure he doesn’t drag others down further than he has with his bad choices. 

 Yeah, I’m not too fond of the Sacrifice As Redemption trope, either. I would have preferred a proper character arc. But, I do think it demonstrates an ability to be selfless and contrite, if not a willingness. Stripped of his dreams and left with nothing, he really could have done anything in that moment. And he did That. 

 Of course, it’s possible that my interpretation of Akechi is a little charitable, do bear that in mind. I have a weakness for these types of characters, and my perception may well be biased. Due to my experience with other complex characters (like Nagito), I kind of just want to see the best brought out in him. (What can I say? I grew up shows like Avatar, complicated characterisation and quality redemption arcs Do It for me.) That said, it’s not at all invalid to find Akechi’s arrogance, selfishness and disregard for others offputting, with or without a reason for him to be such. The way he exists in his story vis-à-vis the whole foil thing I discussed in my last post is similar to Nagito’s role, and they share a lot of characteristics that are fun to discuss. But they are, ultimately, different characters. It’s okay to feel wildly different about them. 

[normal-thoughts-official]

Ok uhhh claia, lukemaryse and malec superhero au headcanons

first of all, id just like to say that i love this new trend of u guys sending me really vague prompts and giving me complete creative freedom to do whatever i want with them. i think it really shows that u trust me to create good, interesting content, and that means a lot to me. second of all, that trust is entirely misplaced. why would you ever think that id make something good. have you met me. what im trying to say here is basically: this is your own fault

behold:

In a world where everyone has a superpower, the world is bound to work a little different. No one knows what determines people's superpowers; some are fairly common (like teleportation, which led to a lot of ppl working as cabs, taking ppl to and from wherever they need) and others are unique and particularly powerful (and also dangerous, which is why particularly powerful people are part of an elite squad dedicated to keep the world safe; our very own superheroes)

Alec's superpower is definitely unique: he can sense trash. That's it. Hes just going around, living his life, sensing trash. He knows when people are littering. He can sense it from a pretty far away distance. Everywhere he goes, he knows where all the trash cans are. His life is just. Him and the trash, everywhere, haunting him

No one's ever heard of this before. Alec's mom, maryse, can bend all four elements, and is part of the Elite Squad; so is his father, although he retired from action and works behind a desk now. His sister izzy has superspeed and was trained to perfect combat in the hopes she would follow their footsteps, but ultimately decided to give it up and become a biologist instead. And Alec. Can sense trash

This was the source of a lot of Family Drama, since alec's parents were pretty strict and held their position as elite superheroes with pride, expecting nothing less from their children. But after many years of trying and failing to somehow make up for it, Alec decided to say fuck them and fully embraced who he is, refusing to live in apology. Once he finally left their house to live on his own, maryse realised he meant wanting to cut them off his life for real, and came around. Robert's lack of understanding was one of the factors that led to their divorce

Alec became an architect and works to build better and efficient waste collection systems in the country. Due to his power, he knows which places need the most infrastructure investment, as well as the problems that lead to the littering. He also knows which companies are illegally discarding their waste and how, the exact effects of that on the environment, and a lot of stuff that would otherwise only be possible through extensive research. He is an activist for both a better public, free, universal waste removal system, and stricter regulations on companies that profit from environmental destruction.

And the thing is, he likes this life. He's passionate about it. Everyday at work he gets to do a little something to make the world better and fight against injustice and use his place of privilege that comes from his education and his so-called "useless" superpower for change. He wouldn't trade it for the world and he's really passionate about what he does, even if it does take up most of his time

So when his mom comes in one day saying that a new villain named Trash Man is going around and killing people and they need his help to track him, Alec is not. amused.

First of all: Trash Man? come on

But he kind of has no choice, since this is top priority at the moment and the very ministery of security is calling him or something - every citizen is required to register their powers so they know exactly when they're needed

So he goes, and for the first time, he meets the rest of his mom's Top Secret team; first of all, there's the leader, Luke: his power is persuasion and hes very good at de-escalating events to guarantee minimal damage and better solutions, making him the most valuable asset of the team. Then there's Maryse, and under them, a team of relatively young, but very powerful, heroes: maia, a shapeshifter; clary, who can summon weapons and is very good at Stabbing; and Magnus, who can bend time and space

Magnus is also kind of the Group Genius; his power also got him an special interest in physics and chemistry, meaning that he is not only able to use his power intelligently and creatively, but effectively enhance it; he's also very good with tech and responsible for a lot of their non-power-related assets. Honestly, he likes that part way better than the crime-fighting blah blah blah, but he kind of has no choice over what he does because he's an orphan and extremely powerful, meaning he's viewed as a threat by the government while simultaneously being dependant on them, and would pretty much have nowhere to turn to if he didnt start working for them

But really, he wants to be a scientist. He wants to do good things. He wants to create stuff that will make people's lives, and the world, better. He doesn't even believe in this whole "crime fighting" shit; he believes in a just world crime would be minimal and using their resources to fight bad guys instead of working on crime prevention is an absolute waste. But it's not like anybody asked for his opinion.

Alec and Magnus immediately hit it off; Alec was kind of tense at first because surely these guys would have the world's hugest chip on their shoulder, right? But instead everyone welcomes him, and Magnus kind of jokes that he envies him, which takes him by surprise

Because Maia and Clary are both Magnus' great friends as well, Alec also gets closer to them; Clary can be a little self-centered and annoying, but she's cool and Maia always calls her out on it. Maia is a fierce, amazing, smart girl and Alec can totally see why she and Magnus are so close, with their similar sense of humor, shared experiences (Maia is not an orphan but she ran away from home when she was pretty young), and gleaming, almost mischievous intelligence and talent. Alec can hold a conversation with them alright, since as an architect he needs quite some knowledge of physics and as an activist he can also hold pretty good and deep conversations with them about the system and its flawed, unjust logic; but there are some topics they get into that just kind of escalate and seem to get them in their own little world. Alec finds himself watching from the sidelines sometimes, and while he admires that - and doesnt miss the way clary will sometimes sit beside him and watch them as well, a small smile on her face that tells him everything he needs to know - he finds himself... a little upset by it, too

Not that he has a problem with them, but he finds himself wanting to feel like he belongs, and that's kind of- new. It's not like his life is a sad wet sock of loneliness or anything, he has his sister, he has some friends, but he's a private kind of guy and he finds himself more comfortable at the sidelines than the spotlight, except when it comes to his work, because hes good at that

It's just his luck, then, that Trash Man turns out to be really smart and hard to track due to [vague plot noises], giving him all the time he needs to, well, figure this out

So he spends more time with them, particularly Magnus. The both of them will sometimes sit talking for hours, and soon learn a lot about each other. Magnus listens, enraptured, whenever Alec goes on a passionate Trash Rant™ and Alec is always in awe by Magnus' smart solutions. They begin some sort of camraderie that's also laced with Magnus' oh-so-smooth flirting, which started strong and eventually died out as Magnus began to realize he really liked Alec and his usual confidence and devil-may-care attitude vanished. But Alec mistakes this as Magnus losing interest or him seeing things. Cue lots of mutual pining

At least once Alec gets thrown through a wall by some villain; but, little did he know, it wasnt just a normal wall that he broke; it was the fourth wall. Alec looks straight into the reader's eyes, and goes: "I can sense trash. That's why, in this AU, i was never friends with jace". Then Magnus comes in and takes him back to the other side of the wall, and Alec blinks, confused, not remembering what had just happened. This is never mentioned again

Idk theres some gay shit in here, Alec introduces Magnus to Izzy and Magnus is absolutely in awe with her work. Izzy specializes in pollinators and works trying to restore the bee population and guarantee a more sustainable environment. Her work crosses with Alec's a surprising amount of times, and Magnus, who loves both animals and the incredible amount of knowledge her research requires, and they become super good friends almost immediately, which makes Alec very pleased.

More gay shit, Alec and Magnus decide to team up to try and get Clary and Maia together, only to be knocked sideways when they find out they're already dating. Maryse is like "do the four of you ever work" and Alec is hit with the realisation that his mom, too, kind of lives in the sidelines when it comes to things that arent work; luke seems to be kind of the mediator between her and the rest of the team, which is kind of sad. She does seem to have a good relationship with Luke, tho

Eventually they defeat Trash Man and Alec is no longer required to work for them and can go back to his trash activism; and when he does, so does Magnus, who is invited to work with izzy's team, which he gladly accepts

Somehow Alec confesses? And Magnus is in awe because he of course never expected Alec to like him back but. It turns out Alec is the most confident out of the two of them despite their exterior telling most people otherwise. And Magnus just says that yes he likes him back and will go out with him and they kiss passionately in the middle of the lab surrounded by bees but there are also flowers so theres that. And then they get married. I mean not right after but some years later

Magnus leaving inspires the rest of them, in some ways; Maia, Luke and Maryse start actually fighting to change the crime fighting policies to investment in crime prevention because new supervillains will always keep coming. The romantic tension between them finally snaps and they start going out. Maryse seems like such a different person now, more open and happier. Alec is pleased

They save the bees and the trash and the impending environmental apocalypse that looms over us is avoided idk that's all Ive got

Again this is your fault

The end

[1nkweaver]

PICK N OPAL!!! 1- What happens when your character doesn't get what they want? 2- How well can this character resist their emotions and impulses? 3- If the character were to come face to face with their darkest fears in a nightmare, what would they see? 4-Do they prefer sweet, salty, sour, meaty, spicy, or neutral tastes? 5- whats their feelings on the groups their with lately?

1- What happens when your character doesn't get what they want?

Opal: It really depends on what it is tbh. Opal will either let it go immediately, or he’ll keep pushing subtly, or he’ll have a “do it yourself” attitude to it. If it’s some kind of divine plan thing, he’s -going- to make it happen, that’s the long and short of it.

Pick: He probably just whines really XD but if he’s not getting what he wants because his opinion or thought process is like being put down then he’ll get aggressive. He really buts heads with people on moral issues and developing plans because I think he thinks that you should always debate every possibility.

2- How well can this character resist their emotions and impulses?

Opal is stoic as fuuuuuck man...it’s hard to really feel like he -has- impulses, but I definitely want him to almost be like -TOO- in control of his emotions. Yknow, like seeing your church get destroyed with your people inside it and seemingly not reacting super duper hard, just kinda...staring at it. (Yeah Baughn, that’s basically what he did when that happened do you feel bad?)

Pick is very emotional on the other hand. He tries so desperately to think about what would Anders do because he always felt Anders was smart, but Anders almost always acted on his feelings, and he instilled that in Pick a bit. Pick thinks first with his gut, then with his heart, and last with his brain- but he uses all three. Goblin nature in my mind is to be very id driven, so he very often just -goes- with his instincts and feelings, he doesn’t question them bc he feels that’s the truest part of himself.

3- If the character were to come face to face with their darkest fears in a nightmare, what would they see?

Opal dreams of building something, and while those things have been destroyed before and he’s had to start over, there has always been a sense of rebuilding. Opal’s worst nightmare would be that sense of total defeat- he’s dying, his friends are dying around him, and everything he built is being destroyed in one fell swoop. It’s kind of dramatic but Opal doesn’t really think about things on a personal level, his worst nightmare is being there for the end of the world.

Pick’s nightmare is a lot more real and personal. He’d be back in a place he was before. A place with music, and laughter, and a lot of voices...and he’s looking at it while either standing over a corpse, or looking out from between bars.

4-Do they prefer sweet, salty, sour, meaty, spicy, or neutral tastes?

Opal definitely has a sweet tooth- I remember in waterdeep he had the equivalent of fish and chips and he found it..interesting but strange. I must imagine he loves things like custard and candied apples and the like, probably caramel too, things of that nature would really make him feel happy.

Pick eats a lot of things so he has a really expanded palette, I mean the guy will eat garbage. I think it’s partially goblin instinct to like salty and meaty things, like gamey raw meat and stuff like that. But I also personally think that now, especially with the gourmand feat, that he has a real big love for spicy. Not necessarily spicy hot (though he’d love that) but spicy flavorful, like with indian food and the like. Just really powerful flavors.

5- whats their feelings on the groups their with lately?

The Opal of Waterdeep has developed very slowly, I last left off with a month long timeskip while we rebuilt trollskull manor. He thinks that he can help them, but he needs their help too, and he’s been learning their secrets and keeping his close. I remember I wrote out a whole speech for Opal because he believes he got one of the characters backstories figured out, and meant to confront them about it. 

Opal of Avisten is a little bit different- he’s older, wiser, but more grizzled and lives in a more dangerous uncivilized world. It was his plan to actually assemble the party itself, he gathered these people and chose them individually for a reason. They are his people, they are his flock. I hate to use the religious allegory but Opal sees himself as the “jesus” figure and all of the rest of the party are his “apostles”. Maybe they’ll listen to him, maybe they’ll betray him. But they’re all integral to each other and they all have something that Opal needs to do for them, and they will do something in return for Opal. Deep down they are good people, flawed people, but they need each other. As Ida would say they are twisted.

Picks ideas on the party are...complicated, a lot now, like a lot. Let’s break it down:

Jin- The first person he met, didn’t think much of him at all. A very typical roguish type- talks a lot, not a lot of wit, good with his fingers, a himbo. They’re fast “friends” but Pick really wants a rivalry. Jin is proving to be more than what he appeared, smart, multifaceted. Pick still thinks he’s “better” but he thinks Jin is also necessary. The first person Pick would call a friend. Jins sexual advances make Pick confused and uncomfortable. Pick wishes that Jin would be more real- he saw Jin having his nightmare and associates strongly with him. Pick wants to be able to “hash it out like dudes” but Pick is not one for heavy drinking or drugs or sex. He’s not about to bond and tell sad backstory over getting drunk, which he thinks is the main way that it would come out of Jin. He kinda also wants to see Jin angry, because he thinks that Jin is closing that off too. He thinks Jin is being friendly but he isn’t being “real” with him, which is ironic because Jin is very “down to earth, says it like it is” kind of dude...but he’s not -really- doing it. He’s not being -really real- with Pick right now, which is fine, it’s not the time for it. But can they just have a real conversation? Please? 

Kai- Technically the second person that Pick met after Jin. Strange, youthful nature, naive, good heart. The kind of person you call kid and ruffle up his hair. A tiefling- weird, foreign, strange. The thing Pick honestly doesn’t understand at this point is why the fuck does everyone baby this kid. Yeah he gets scared but that’s a good thing- and hello don’t know if you realized it but Kai is stronger than most of you. Where Pick sees others trying to protect Kai’s innocence, Pick sees someone that needs to be seriously trained if he’s staying in this group. Stop babying him and show him how to properly use his sword. Don’t keep him away from things that give him fear, show him how to kill his fears. Pick doesn’t consider Kai a friend, but he considers Kai the “goodest” person of the group. Pick sees Kai as someone who by every right should turn to evil and is choosing to do good, instead of someone who was just born good and did what was expected of him.

Aspasia- Strange, strange woman. Strong, obviously- but out of place. Why is she here? Why is she connecting with these people. There is a mind behind that muscle that is being ignored- and god Aspasia is literally always thinking about other things. Pick initially thought Callie and Aspasia were lovers- he’s still not really sure? But apparently Sia also is loosy goosy with Jin, he doesn’t understand their friendship at all. Pick and Aspasia haven’t spoken but he feels an unspoken energy between them. Their desire to fight, and OOC I know if they talked their goals would align more strongly than anyone else’s in the group so far. Pick thinks Aspasia needs to speak the fuck up with her words more than her muscles as of late because she’s not talking.

Ida- The absolute largest conflict of interest all in one person. Ida both reflects things that Pick severely, severely hates in this world, while at the same time being the one that most accurately reflects Anders as a person, the person Pick respects the most. This has led to a very very difficult understanding of Ida in Pick’s eyes. Pick hates Ida, he hates that she’s so nice, self sacrificing, puts herself down, acts like the mom, and he hates clerics. He doesnt’ think she deserves to be lied to however. He may hate a lot of the things that Ida represents, but not a single person in the party has Picks -respect- besides her. Pick was going up that hill, and everyone could have yelled at him to turn back and he would not have, the only person that could (and did) convince him in that moment was Ida. Pick will argue with any member of this party but in the end he will do what -Ida- says to do. That’s what she deserves. Not his kindness, not his love or admiration or friendship, but his respect. He’s respecting her because she right now is the closest thing to Anders. And damn if Pick hates that.

Callie- Quiet, curious, Callie. Pick thought her and Aspasia were lovers, he’s still not really sure, but their inseparable nature reminds him of him and Anders- he would never get in between them. Except...for the fact that for whatever reason he fancies Callie. It might be just because she’s someone he can literally talk eye to eye with, but there’s more than that. He appreciates that she doesn’t have to talk a lot, he finds her care for animals endearing even if he’s afraid of horses, and her abilities in combat are varied. Her use of magic frightens him, but she’s hard to read. He does straight up find Callie cute, attractive. In a way that he hopes isn’t creepy he likes...holding her hand and stuff? He thinks she’s very soft, he sees a kind of...goblin nature inside of her? Kinda like a little flame of passion that she keeps really really well hidden- but her understanding of nature, her “going off alone” ness..very goblin like and that draws him to her, and then she doesn’t have a goblins (admitedly, freakish) outward appearance. He likes her a lot, he’s sad that she seems to pull away so often, he blames himself..? Wants to find a way to get through to her. Now that Callie has a wolf Picks childhood dream of being an Outrider was reawakened.

Siril: Big man. Pick does not understand why the hell Siril is here at all. He is by far probably the most out of place person in the group in Picks first impressions, but he’s sticking around. He has been wanting to have an actual just good old getting to know you talk one on one with Siril since the very beginning just based on the fact that he’s interesting! Pick has never seen a Firbolg before, they’re so -different- as people and Pick is totally okay with that! He wants to talk about it! He thought maybe on that watch that they had together last game they’d finally talk but it seems that they most likely spent it in silence. Seeing Siril go from really aggressive to Jin to almost warming up to him, as well as warming up to Sia...hurt Pick a little. Not necessarily as jealousy, but perhaps something similar. Pick thought they had a lot in common, they were the new guys to the group and in Picks opinion he thought they were really the “freaks”. They’re the weird races, and he just feels like he’s...missed out on a shot. He thinks Siril doesn’t really find him interesting and he really can’t place a finger on it but ever since he came to the party Pick wants to impress Siril. That’s why he gave him space when it was clear he was annoyed, that’s why he went along and did as much work on the murder case as he could, it’s why he -went- with Siril to see the widow and gave her all his gold. It’s why when Pick was asked by Siril if he was a good person Pick gave him a truthful answer of “you are useful” because truth is what Pick gives to people that he feels are deserving of a harsh answer. He thought they’d talk more since then and they really haven’t, and Pick wonders if all that time trying to impress Siril was for naught, he really doesn’t have the emotional maturity to figure out why he’s feeling what he’s feeling, but he just has those base feelings. Does he “like” Siril, is he “attracted?” He doesn’t know how to process that, but he had an instinctual desire to impress him, to be seen as useful or interesting to him, and seeing him bond with other people that Pick wasn’t expecting him to (ie, not me, the other “freak”) he feels...hurt by it.

[thevillagehidden-inthevoid]

Character Development Questions: Hard Mode(Credit to: @i-see-light-blog )

Q: Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which one are they closest with?

*A: Yes to family members, just Itachi is all I can think of because he plays a very important role in Hitomi's life. They have been close since they're birth.

Q: What is/was your character’s relationship with their mother like?What is/was your character’s relationship with their father like?

*A: With her she has a very strong bond, she was sorta a stay at home mom. With the occatilnal baby sit with Uncle Jaraiya, Uncle Orochimaru, and Aunt Tsunade.

As for her father, he is non existent since he became a rogue ninja shortly after Hitomi was born.

Q: Has your character ever witnessed something that fundamentally changed them?

*A: later on in life yes, they entered a war at the young age 18, they kinda weren't the same after that.

Q: If so, does anyone else know?

*A: everyone can see the personality change in her, but they don't know how deep the damage goes.

Q: On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?

*A: Younger, she would use scrolls to carry stuff like weapons, but usually would have brushes and paper on hand for drawing/writing.

When she got older though, around 15-18, you would find similar things just expanded on. So training scrolls, practice weapons, drawing utensils, Somme 'special' type books, and bandages.

Q: Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams?

*A: Being home on the back porch, they're sitting their with someone, drinking tea in silence. It's peaceful, silent, the only thing she can hear is the light sound of dripping water. When she notices it and turns to ask the person next to her if they hear it, she wakes up immediatly. She still doesnt know what it means.

Q: Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares?

*A: Yes, shes on a batle field fighting what seems like an endless wave of enemies, trying to protect whats most precious for her and all that shes worked for. By the end though she gets stabbed in the back by an unknown person and wakes up.

Q: Is your character’s current socioeconomic status different than it was when they were growing up?

*A: for most around her, it's change drastically. While for some(cough*elders*cough) it has remained the same.

Q: Does your character feel more comfortable with more clothing, or with less clothing?

*A: Less clothing/PJs when they're alone. More clothing when they're in public.

Q:In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?

*A: On the battlefield when they were one of the last soldiers standing, then rest of their platoon had died or retreated, they were protecting Mirai who had joined her on the field for a mission but got hit. She didn't know if her sister was dead or not, but she wasn't gonna leave her there.

Q: In what situation was your character the most calm they’ve ever been?

*A: Prisoner of war for about a year.

Q: Is your character bothered by the sight of blood?

*A: Not really.

Q: Does your character remember names or faces easier?

*A: Faces.

Q: Is your character preoccupied with money or material possession?

*A: Material I guess? A lot of gifts given to her were very special ones from Jiraiya, Tsuna, Orochimaru, and her Mother.

Q: Which does your character idealize most: happiness or success?

*A: Happiness, because you can't succeed without it(and hard work.)

Q: What was your character’s favorite toy as a child?

*A: A paint brush and ink from Jiraiya(to bring out her creativity and not be bored,) a board game from Orochimaru(to keep her mind together and actively thinking,) and a card deck from Tsunade(She would teach her to gamble with it.)

Q: Is your character more likely to admire wisdom, or ambition in others?

*A: Both? They kinda admire any unique quality about a person. They also understand how hard it is to become efficient/consistent in both.

Q: What is your character’s biggest relationship flaw?

*A: Not being open about their feelings for others and certain situations about them.

Q:Has this flaw destroyed relationships for them before?

*A: Yes, but overall it's mostly just kept relationships/friendships from going further.

Q: In what ways does your character compare themselves to others?

*A: Beauty and strength wise, because for a long time she struggled to be those things.

Q: Do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism?

*A: It's more of just self loathing and past experiences.

Q: If something tragic or negative happens to your character, do they believe they may have caused or deserved it, or are they quick to blame others?

*A: They blame themselves 80% percent of the time. Especially if they thought they had any amount of control in the situation.

Q: What does your character like to other people?

*A: She's has a bright aura to her, kinda a turn off to traditional Uchiha's, but a welcoming person to the Senju. Ambitious and hard working over all.

Q: What does your character dislike in other people?

*A: Prejudice or unreasonable disbelief in others for no reason.

Q: How quick is your character to trust someone else?

*A: Instantly, always make friends on every side.

Q: How quick is your character to suspect someone else?

*A: Instantly, always gotta be on your toes, everyone has a motive.

Q: Does this change if they are close with that person?

*A: Yes, if the person doesn't give any more reason to trust they will always suspect them of something, or keep them in the suspect box if something goes wrong. If the person makes an effort to find and gain trust with them, then they're relationship will flourish.

Q: How does your character behave around children?

*A: They get really happy and gushy around babies and little kids. With older kids they're more chill or kinda awkward.

Q: How does your character normally deal with confrontation?

*A: Calmly and stone faced, but if they can avoid it they will.

Q: How quick or slow is your character to resort to physical violence in a confrontation?

*A: Depends how big of a push you give them, or which one of they're loved ones you push first.

Q: What did your character dream of being or doing as a child?

*A: A powerful Ninja and Uchiha Clan Leader.

Q: Did that dream come true?

*A: Spoilers...

Q: What does your character find repulsive or disgusting?

*A: Hospital medicine, and unwanted attention.

Q: Describe a scenario in which your character feels most comfortable.

*A: A familiar place, hanging out with friends or alone. Drinking or having a meal.

Q: Describe a scenario in which your character feels most uncomfortable.

*A: Unfamiliar place, no one familiar around.

Q: In the face of criticism, is your character defensive, self-deprecating, or willing to improve?

*A: Willing to improve if they trust the person.

Q: Is your character more likely to keep trying a solution/method that didn’t work the first time, or immediately move on to a different solution/method?

*A: Immediately move on and try something different.

Q: How does your character behave around people they like?

*A: Bubbly, open, talking about life and deep conversation.

Q: How does your character behave around people they dislike?

*A: they're nice to them, but subtle body language will change.

Q: Is your character more concerned with defending their honor, or protecting their status?

*A: Both since they go hand in hand.

Q: Is your character more likely to remove a problem/threat, or remove themselves from a problem/threat?

*A: if it seems like problems that will still effect the surrounding people/area, even if they leave. They will remove it.

Q: How does your character treat people in service jobs?

*A: Kindly.

Q: Does your character feel that they deserve to have what they want, whether it be material or abstract, or do they feel they must earn it first?

*A: They must earn it.

Q: Has your character ever had a parental figure who was not related to them?

*A: Yes, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Their older sister.

Q: Has your character ever had a dependent figure who was not related to them?

*A: to their knowledge they're not sure, but if I had to really sift through, I'd say Sasuke 75%(like an older sister or second mother,) with Naruto mostly like that cool mom that lets you learn from your mistakes by making them, and with Sakura more of a sisterly vibe.

Q: How easy or difficult is it for your character to say “I love you?” Can they say it without meaning it?

*A: if your death would greatly affect them, they can say I love you as easy as pie. It's very hard though to say it seriously with romantic meaning.

Q: What does your character believe will happen to them after they die?

*A: they're not 100% sure, they just hope to their loved ones again(or get reincarnated.)

Q: Does this belief scare them?

*A: The thought of leaving their family behind? Yes?

[lastofmars-a]

 but hlksdrljasljdr i keep thinking abt mars being a polytheist society where its kinda like ancient greece where like all the different gods are acknowledged n worshiped but different churches / sects worship different gods so like jonns dad was the head priest of h'ron'meer but there's also c'erid'yall, and other gods that i cant remember that im gonna look up on the wikipedia cuz theres a few others i thikn idk. anyways jonn is also an active worshipper of h'ronmeer (whos god of death and dreams and fire and some other stuf iicr) and still practices as a worshipper, mostly thru meditation / prayer. he likes to keep that religious practice alive and others and is always happy to talk to ppl about his religious and spiritual beliefs as a martian bc  he wants to share the little slice of his culture hes preserving with his friends and family. i havent decided abt major religious holidays or aything in mars culture but i believe that mars isnt a capitalistic society ( tho it probably still has some different social classes which is a whole nother thing ) so idk like...... what holidays would be as a concept bc if every day is technically a day off for ppl who dont need to work then  hm.

god i have so many ideas abt martian culture and im FASCINATED by the concept of a species that doesnt really have an economy like earths bc its outside of capitalistic structure so everyone focuses on like, arts and sciences and doing whatever the fuck you want mostly. i think there is still class structure but i think its a lot looser than one would expect. i also think there is some kind of oligarchy / council running things but for the most part its technically just for show . anyways theres SO MUCH abt martian culture thats just interesting to me, besides the fact that its outside of a rigid binary or even rigid adherance to the CONCEPT of gender as a whole and like ........ no capitalism = more focus of the arts and sciences . also the role that manhunters have in this society if not to uphold a patriarchal, racist capitalistic status quo like cops do in our society like .. .. theres so mch that can be explored while still examining the flaws of martian society ( mainly deep, deep ableism and a lack of understanding or care abt ppl with disabilities as a whole and a  lot of denial / shadiness towards the white martian / green martian split way back when generations back where white martians were mass exiled from mars and a whole lot of other stuff but yeah )

also theres no imperialism bc theres no army , just a ‘militia’ pf peacekeepers in the form of the manhunters ( who do have an academy for training but it is 100% volunteer and also a part of martian culture as a role and a highly respected one at that ). what does class look like outside o f the context of capitalism? outside of ppl who dont have needs like food or water? i mean shelter is a need but i dont think homelessness is a problem on mars ? what is a society that can ignore conquest and imperial pursuits and colonialism like? 

they do have good defenses but p much all weapons are banned on mars. nobody has any interest in making them and martians are usually physically strong enough to defend themselves w/ out one. but what about ancient mars history? there WERE weapons back then, and there WERE poisons and other horrible things but they arent being used and they were p much left to rot or put in museums. 

does the concept of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ exist in the same context on mars? jonn though he loves earth clearly struggles with a lot of crimes and atrocities he has witnessed since coming here, and i truly think he understands that humanity is inherently good despite that. honestly i htink aliens who judge a species/humanity on the crimes of a certain group instead of understanding that society as a whole is a deeply complex and often flawed thing is an overtired trope. i dont think jonn believes humanity is right or wrong but rather a species and a population of ppl with vastly diverse cultures and beliefs and structural imbalances that sometimes need some help righting. i think jonn can identify with the struggles of humanity without condeming it and writers who write him as disgusted with the evils of humanit y without really examining the roots of those evils (lookin at you b.endis and s.cott s.nyder ) are lazy writers who overplay the same tired aliens are black and white trope .  i also think that jonns outside (read: not objective but OUTSIDE) perspective is so important when dealing with issues and when raising questions and he can bring things from a martian perspective to solve problems and i love that abt him!! jonn is in such a unique position !! and he uses 1000% of it to do good, which is why i love him as a character, despite him being flawed and makin mistakes he is 100% a good person. 

[cadetbird]

Name: Leanh Age: 19 Gender: Female Race: Mermaid -Physical Details-   Tail is 5x times her torso size (19'~)   Torso alone is 3' 10''   Hair goes down a couple inches past her hip bones   Her tail color base is a light purple but has glimmers of pink and blue   The flowers she wears are don't need to be replaced as often as they live longer Body Type: Agile, Quick swimmer Height w/ tail: 22' 11'' Skin: Her torso is adorned with small scales that grow and fall off naturally, her tail has small to large scales Hair: Her hair color is a really light purple with white in it, it is silky and long but she likes to wear it in a broad as it keeps it out of her face while swimming but he isn't apposed to ponytails and such Eyes: Deep purple color Habits:   Makes friends with everyone she meets   Talks to herself a lot   Likes to explore even if it gets her in trouble Voice: Friendly approach but when you get to know her she's more casual Style: She loves getting many different types of flowers and putting them in her  hair and on her tail. Her pod lives next to a large vine area that grows stretchy vines and natural purple flowers -Personality- Leanh is extremely friendly to everyone new she meets although she is really bad at reading the 'mood' in a social situation and tries her best to fit in. She likes exploring the depths of the ocean with a group or a partner as she doesnt like dark deep places but she loves to explore the surface alone so no one can bug her about doing something shes not meant to. She extremely likes to collect things from her adventures and glowy stuff is her favorite. When she goes to the surface she loves to explore the edge of the island her pod lives next to and sometimes she will take a sand bath and relax in the sun if its not to hot out that day. She loves to hang out with her pod but humans scare her so she keeps away. She love the guppies in her pod and the whales that swim through the area. Swimming with the fishes are a main part of her adventures as they show her new areas that she hasn't been to before. Loves:   Flowers   Food   New friends Hates:   Aggressive fish   Humans   Heat Hobbies:   Exploring new areas   Playing with the guppies in her pod Talents/Skills:   Really fast swimmer   Good at braiding Hopes/Dreams:   Exploring the whole ocean   Becoming a leader to her own pod Fears/Nightmares:   Being captured by humans   Being alone forever Best Quality: fastest swimmer in her pod Greatest Flaw: explores places she's not meant to be Character Strengths:   Fast Swimmer   Extremely friendly And the coinciding weaknesses:   No body strength   Can't read situations well Quirks:   Good sense of humor   Friendly   Likes hair tied back   Likes braiding   Fiddles with her hands alot   Loves to pick flowers   Likes to see the birds fly   Takes sand baths   Talks to the plants and animals   Doesn't like going deep in the ocean alone   Night owl   Likes to collect   Likes smaller groups over big ones   Collects charms and nacks How does the character picture herself?   She pictures herself as the friendly's in her pod   She doesn't think she looks that nice as she wished for a blue tail   She doesnt ever think the she comes on to strong or knows how to stop when the person doesn't feel good How do others see her?   A lot of people wish to court her   She seems extremely bubbly with her personality   Many see her as a friend and a leader Five adjectives that she would use to describe herself.   Fit   Odd   Vast   Kind   Long Five adjectives others would use to describe him.   Attractive   Lively     Polite   Refined   Friendly Most valued possession: A silver heart necklace that she found on the floor of the ocean Darkest secret and/or treasured memory: The reason why shes scared of the deep is because her parents went down and never came back Most proud accomplishment and or greatest failure: When she was 10 and out swam the fastest person in the pod What kind of energy level do they usually have? perky, somber, tired, aggressive, pumped, mood swings? How does she show and/or handle: love, affection, grief, pain, anger, sadness, conflict, change, loss? Love: She doesn't notice when someone is crushing her so she just acts friendly Affection: She loves it and gives it back Grief/Anger/Sadness/Loss: She likes to deal with it alone Conflict: She likes to work it out Change: She tries her best to work with it and not flow against it Does she have a temper? No How does she respond to the surrounding world, the ‘unfamiliar,’ and other people in general? She loves to explore it but if its populated by humans she will stray far away Polite or rude? Polite Stingy or generous? Generous What kind of ‘public’ face does she display? Put up a front, open emotions, two faced Leader or a follower? Leader More happy by themselves or in a group? Small Groups What is her sexual preference/experience/values?   Bi   Little to none   That it should be wanted and not forced -History/Background- lol ill type this later xoxo -burb Setting:       2000 era       A island in the middle of the ocean       A war just ended on NOT EARTH Occupation: Food gatherer Educational background/other learning experiences: Learned from the mentors and the elders in the pod Short Term Goals: To explore Long Term Goals: To make a pod of her own Family: Mother: MIA; disappeared at age 5 Father: MIA; disappeared looking for mother this took me 2 hours

[lilacflamesss]

Hi. I don't like ayahina but i think the anon went to far in calling it triggering. but I dont think that ayahina is as healthy as you seem to put it either. I dont like the ship because I think hinami shouldnt be with ayato. he is not healthy for her. hinami is innocent and pure. she's caring and she has never killed or wished any harm on anybody. ayato is the complete opposite. i don't hate ayato. i really like him. but his development cannot change his past and the kind of person he is -c-

he kills and he enjoys it. he has hurt people (his own sister!!!) and kind people like banjou have suffered under him. it’s something that cannot change. i think for hinami, it’s important that she’s around people who are just like her and are pure and innocent. ayato is not healthy for her because he’s a bad person in general, no matter how kind and supportive he is. he’s a bad sort of influence in her life. aogiri was in general and to her, ayato is a connection to that past, i think. -c-

and when ishida made hinami go back to aogiri and to ayato for comfort it is him showing how damaging the situation is to hinami. so bad that she needs to turn to the bad part of her life for help. it’s because the ‘good’ part of hinami’s life is causing her pain now. and i think the moment she finds herself able to find comfort in people like kaneki and touka again, she will not need ayato anymore. because he stands for what she isn’t. does this make sense? -c-

it is like returning to unhealthy coping mechanisms just because we think it is good for us. something like that. basically my point is that ayato is an 'evil’ person because he has killed and he continues to kill and he shows no remorse for it. he’s really quick to rush in to fight people he considers enemies and he doesn’t show mercy. (his profile says he likes brawls i think that is important) and hinami is the complete opposite of this. her influence on him is good -c-

he became a better person, but he still kills and hurts people. but ayato’s influence on hinami isnt good. she takes part in fights now and she doesnt stop it, but in the past she stopped touka from killing mado. i am sorry this took so long. it is something i have wanted to say but im scared of getting hate from shippers. i dont want to hate or be mean. i hope you understand. i still love your fics because you write well. but you only write ayahina ;; thank you so much if you read this fully

Anon this is SO LONG. But I want to thank you because even ifyou don’t like Ayahina, I don’t mind your message at all because it is reallynice of you to remain calm. And it’s so much better than sendingbaseless hate because you actually explain yourself. So even though you’recriticizing Ayahina, thank you for providing me with an interesting perspective.But given that, I am sorry but I have to disagree with you on this. 

Yes, Ayahina might not be a healthy ship in terms of how we mightdefine it in everyday terms. I mean I have had people saying to me that hestill kicked her before to protect her and that’s not a thing you should do. I’mnot going to argue with any of this because it’ll take too long but I’ll justsay that I think it’s important to realize that the TG universe provides adifferent kind of environment than what most of us are used to.

You talk a lot about how Hinami shouldn’tbe with Ayato because he is too wrong for her since he had killed before andall. And you say that he represents a bad part of her life while people likeTouka and Kaneki represents the good part of her life. But I just want to askyou, how exactly is Ayato any different from Touka and Kaneki? Touka has killedbefore and she still kills people now— ie. when she saved Tsukiyama and whenshe was in Cochlea. Kaneki continues to kill as well. Ayato feels no remorsetowards his victims, but neither does Kaneki. In fact, he showed more sympathyto ghouls back when he was Haise than he does now. Let’s not forget Kanekitortured Ayato when he broke his bones. I know it’s not as bad as what Kanekihad gone through but it was still torture and Ayato was still a child. He wasHinami’s age. Kaneki showed no remorse for this and instead went on to justifyhimself by saying that Touka has gone through more pain. You might find mebiased but, I don’t think that’s how you should really treat a child. Idk. Imean Ayato was pretty much already defeated and shaken up by the conversation.Anyway, I’m not here to discuss the 103 bones scene. Basically my point isthat, Hinami’s past is filled with violent ‘murderers’ and she grows up aroundthem in Anteiku, the 6th Ward, Aogiri and now Goats. This makesAyato no different from any of them. Sure, Ayato might have killed a lot ofpeople because he was in Aogiri and he might tend to derive a little enjoymentfrom it when he was younger, but so had others. Tsukiyama and Nishiki did. AndI’m guessing you count them as under the ‘good’ part of Hinami’s life as well, right?

Ayato wasn’t a bad influence in herlife. In fact I think he was a good influence on her, just like she was withhim. Being in Aogiri and with Ayato hadn’t changed Hinami as a person. She’sstill the same nice, kind Hinami who puts others before her. But it has madeher a stronger person and it has given her the courage and confidence to fightto protect the people she loves. There’snothing wrong with this. Sure, she fights now but Hinami has only ever usedkagune to protect rather than to hurt. She wasn’t badly influenced at all.

I think you’re somewhatmisinterpreting Ayahina’s relationship. That’s how I see it at least. Ayato isn’ther connection to Aogiri when she was in Goats. He’s her connection to Toukaback when she was in Aogiri. Which is why the first thing she comments on whenthey met was that he reminds her of Touka and which we have her confirmingagain in the novel. She goes back to Aogiri because she wants to seek the strengthshe once sought when she joined— that is true. But the reason she brings Ayatois simply because she feels better with him. In the first place, in Re, Ayatowas associated less with Aogiri than he was in TG (in Aogiri arc he was the ‘face’of the organization for readers and I remember Ishida saying in Zakki that heended up redrawing the picture of them because he wanted Ayato to be moreprominent). His plot in Re was about breaking away from them, he doesn’t appearin any Aogiri ‘group pictures’ and as time went on, he appeared less and lessin omakes with them. It’s unlikely that he’d represent Aogiri to Hinami becausehow is that possible when he himself is no longer associated with it. When Aogiri was at it’s final stand, Ayato was with his sister, Yomo and Banjou trying to save Hinami after abandoning Aogiri. 

Her going back to Aogiri doesindicate a flaw in Goat and that’s the fact that she was unable to find comfortin the adults of the series and the people who were involved in the Madoincident with her— you know, people who could relate to her over that specificissue. So she turns to Ayato because she knows she can find comfort. She’s notusing his as a substitute. It’s because of how close they are, she knows hewill be there to support her. And he did. He didn’t say anything about how hethinks she should act (Kaneki seems to think she should save Akira). Ayato justlets her all out and that’s a really good way of dealing with people.Sometimes, just being silent and letting someone voice everything out and maybeproviding a little physical comfort is better than imposing what you think onthe person in distress. And Ayato does this well. He just silently reaches tocomfort her.  

Even if they’re not in a romanticrelationship, these two are REALLY GOOD FRIENDS. And I think that whether ornot she settles her issues with Kaneki and Touka wouldn’t change that. Wouldyou abandon a friend entirely just because you managed to settle problems withyour old friends? I mean, if you do then you’re scum and we know Hinami isn’t thiskind of person.

I think there are more similaritiesthan differences between them. Both Ayato and Hinami were broken, lonely kidswho were forced into a world they were too immature and naïve to deal with.Hinami was manipulated in joining Aogiri by Eto and she obviously didn’t reallylike it there. I personally always thought that Ayato was somewhat manipulated andbrainwashed as well. Because when he grows up it’s obvious he doesn’t see theworld the same way either.

It’s just that despite the sameissues they were dealing with (ie. losing their parents at a young age, beingforced into such a world alone, not being able to find comfort and guidance inthe adults around them) they just managed them in different ways. Ayato takeseverything out on the world and Hinami chooses to bottle everything in and bearwith it in silence. Both are damaging, especially when you’re as young and immatureas them. But it feels to me that together, they were probably able to ease eachother’s burden because even if they can’t resolve the other’s issues, theloneliness they felt was eased. They’re not alone anymore because there’ssomeone beside who’s going through the same thing.

Ayato is not an ‘evil’ person. Ithink that deep down, he’s actually a really good person. The Ayato we wereintroduced to was a shell, in a sense? It was something he put up as an act toappear strong and to ease his own fears and worries about being weak. He’s kindand he cares for people but to him, these are all signs of weaknesses becauseit’s stuff his father used to exhibit. It isn’t who he truly is. He has allalong been the same Ayato who would run back for his pet bird even when hislife was on the line. It was the same with Hinami. He tried to run back to hereven though it was dangerous because she’s important to him. And yes, he hasdone terrible things at the earlier stage in his life but it doesn’t make him a badguy because his heart is in the right place. He just chose a wrong path andbecause of that made terrible mistakes and for a short while kinda losthimself? But that’s not the case anymore.

You pointed out that Hinami hasn’t stoppeda fight anymore and that’s true. But this case is different because they’re atwar in a way. She cant just go to the middle and announce a ceasefire. Hinamiis supporting the Goats. But she still hasn’t killed for her own sake. Whichwas what the issue with Mado was about— she doesn’t want to kill for revenge.

And there’s this part I findinteresting and that’s the fact that among everyone involved in the Clown Raid-Lab mission Ayato is the only one who wasn’t involved in a fight and instead hedragged Kaneki away from one. Even Hinami was involved by commanding the fight andsupporting the White Suits. It’s just an important point to add on to his developmentthat no one seemed to have pointed out.

Also, his profile seems to imply helikes RABBITS (only rabbits iswritten like this, with the caps and bold in the official English translation)a lot more than brawls. And it’s just brawls. Come on, the kid likes to fight alittle. It’s not like it’s said he likes to kill. I seriously wonder if he doesn’thave any remorse, honestly. Because we’ve never actually had him sayinganything about it, especially recently. He seems to not want Hinami to dirtyher hands so we know that he sees it as something that is wrong. I feel like he’sprobably so used to it that he sees no longer thinks much about killing. Becausehe’s been immune to it after killing so much in the past. And because of how hewas, I don’t think this is entirely his fault.

The part about him doing all thedirty work for her shows how good he is for her. Because Ayato can easily justslowly get her to kill and teach her how to do it. But he doesn’t do that andhe takes on the task of doing it for her sake. He openly expresses how hethinks Aogiri is damaging for her and implies that she shouldn’t stay there.And I think these are all genuine bits to show how Ayato really is a goodperson to be around Hinami because he cares and wants what’s best for her. I feel like it’s because she had him, she was ableto make it through. And I’m sure Hinami feels that way as well, which was whyshe wanted to honestly express her gratitude to him in the novel (AND MAKE HIMHAPPY OMG).

I probably didn’t finish answeringall your points and I’m sorry. But I think that basically, just know that Ayatois not wrong for Hinami. He’s good enough for her because she’s not the perfectprincess and he’s not the worst scum. And even if you don’t ship them, it’sokay! But it’s important to note that as of right now, Ayato is Hinami’s strongestsupport and I think that says something!

Also, anon, you are really sweet!And I’m so thankful you’re so kind. You can read my writings. If you don’t wantto read Ayahina, you can just request whatever you want me to write! Once AyahinaWeek has ended I will get right to my other requests. I wrote Hidekane and Akiramon before as well and I wrote one fic focused on Urie. You could check them out. And I’m glad you managedto express your opinions on my blog. Don’t worry about getting hate from me. Ifyou’re nice and civil, I’ll be the same as well. Really, thank you so much!