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#(all of which is complicated by her unique relationship with time so we don't actually know what she'd have known about the consequences)

yannaryartside · 2 months

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SYD DEREVES AN ACTUAL MENTOR

One of the funniest excuses Sydcarmy deniers use to say the relationship will not make sense is because Carmy is supposed to be a "mentor" for Syd. The reason why I think that is funny is because Carmy has not been her mentor for a whole second in the series. I speak about this as someone who had art mentors and teachers:

A mentor is supposed to be able to see the raw talent in their students and guide them to polish it and discover their artistic voices. The key to the whole situation is the word "guide." They are an external observer, providing clues, instruction, and evaluation but not pushing their voices so the students will become like them instead of following their own artistic impulses

Now, if I am honest, I don't think Carmy has been a mentor for a single character in the show. Maybe he recognized Tina and Richie's potential by sending them to places where they could learn new skills based on their previously displayed talents. But the only one actually supporting Marcus in his journey is Sydney, it is not like Carmy ever stopped to ask Marcus if he had any doubts about the fancy pastries he was making. Sending Marcus to Coppenage was Sydney's idea, which makes me wonder if he ever thought Marcus was ready for an experience like that or if he just approved it because he trusted Sydney's judgment. Besides recipe overview and leader of the kitchen flow, Carmy is not a teacher, and certainly not someone who has invested time in guiding people through individual creative processes.

Carmy has acted more as a counselor/motivator. He comforted Marcus on his mistakes. He has encouraged Sydney on her menu ideas (s2 only, we will talk about that later). He showed his belief in Tina's talent by gifting her the knife.

But he has not been a mentor, in the sense that Sydney's artistic voice is forever silenced by his lack of interest in deep collaboration or exploration of Sydney's unique talents. She provided a couple of recipes of her own creation, with some of his suggestions. But all of it has more the tone of a partnership than an actual mentorship. They were supposed to have equal weight on the menu before Carmy called it quits; he even let her suggest ingredients and finishes. He values her opinion. He is not trying to teach her things, if anything, he hired Sydney with a solid idea of her talents and used them to put keep his shaky shop afloat.

In season 1, she had to put all of her energy into guiding a staff that Carmy had previously failed to dominate, and it is not like it was easy, but she managed to put everyone on the same page. When it was time for her to show her skills in providing a simple and efficient menu idea, Carmy made a whole effort to introduce a complicated plate to the staff. It is almost like he is competing with her, but again, we will talk about that later. Needless to say, nothing in s1 was mentorship at all in my opinion. She managed with all the skills she already had. Even Carmy mentioned that managing the staff was something she had previously done but didn't like to do, and Carmy never provided them with support or advice, is almost laughable. The story repeats itself in 2 when he ignores how much she needs her presence at the restaurant; he was supposed to be a leader, and he wasn't.

Probably the thing that Carmy has taught Sydney the most is how much he believes in her, wich helps her to belief in hersef, even if his behavior rarely provides her with support for her to flourish as an artist. In 2, she picked up Carmy's work like crazy, which is not a space to create; she was merely surviving and going through a real creativity crisis.

All of this to say is that I really hope she gets the opportunity to shine in another place, even for just a bit, and maybe get another mentor, someone who recognizes her knowledge of chemistry and encourages her to explore her voice, a resolution to her creative block in s2. This is not something bad or something to think Carmy failed Syd; artists and mentors can be a rare match, and maybe because Carmy never wanted a student, he wanted a friend/partner, and ironically, he is not very good at that dynamic either. God, when defining their relationship, Syd is the first to say "partnership," I don't think she expects him to "molde" her or mentor her. Equal creative weight.

They have introduced other chefs that I think could be the mentor Syd actually needs. I am partial to Olivia Coleman's character because I think they have a lot in common. But these other two will be cool, too. Or any other chef they could introduce.

To finish here, I will say the only type of "teaching" I will like Carmy to give Sydney, will be of this nature:

Anyhow, thank you for reading. Nor credited gifs in order: @chefkids, @songkangsbottomteethcirca2020

#I will also like Syd to date Luca.#Just let me be #Sydney Adamu Character study #sydcarmy #sydney adamu #the bear #the bear fx #carmy berzatto #carmy x sydney #carmy the bear #the bear meta #carmen berzatto #sydney x carmy #the bear hulu

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likscrazy · 2 months

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KEN | Sim Jaeyun 𓏲 ๋࣭ ౨ৎ

pairing: Stepfather! sim jake x female! reader

warnings: virgin reader, fuck boy jake is actually a gentleman, kissing, fingering, insecurity, mentions of crying, slight corruption kink. english is not my first language so there may be grammal or spelling errors

Synopsis: You played with those dolls, but you longed for a Ken, which happens when your mother leaves you alone on a trip with your stepfather

genre: smut

Since she was little, y/n had played with her Barbie dolls, dreaming of finding her perfect Ken who would take her on her adventures and love her unconditionally. But everything changed the day her mother announced that she would have a stepfather named Jake. Although the thought of her made her uneasy at first, Jake turned out to be a kind and gentle man, although she couldn't deny that he was extremely handsome.

She y/n she was at a crossroads, on the one hand she felt an indescribable attraction towards Jake, but on the other hand there was the social prohibition of having feelings for someone who would become her stepfather. However, fate had other plans for them.

On a cold winter night, y/n's mother had left on a work trip, leaving her alone with her stepfather. As time passed, y/n and Jake began to develop a unique complicity, sharing deep conversations and moments. intimate relationships that brought them closer and closer. Although they tried to hide their feelings, it was evident that the attraction between them was palpable.

Even in her moments of loneliness, y/n found herself talking to the Barbie dolls, like she did as a child, longing to find the perfect Ken of hers in real life. Jake, for her part, watched discreetly from a distance, wishing he was the Ken she y/n had been looking for all this time.

Finally one night the tension between them reached its peak. The house was silent, only the sound of the rain hitting the windows breaking the silence. Jake and y/n were in the living room, looking at each other with desire in their eyes. After a long conversation full of complicity, their lips finally met in a passionate kiss that ignited an insatiable fire between them.

“Why don't we go to my room,” Jake whispered, guiding y/n towards what would become her pleasure den that night. Once inside, the atmosphere was charged with electricity, every look, every touch, caused the tension between them to increase dramatically.

“Can I be your Ken?”, Jake asked, his voice husky and full of desire, as he caressed y/n's soft skin with expert hands. She nodded, unable to contain the lust that consumed her at that moment. Her bodies merged in a passionate embrace, exploring every corner, every centimeter of skin they longed to discover.

Jake's hands roamed over y/n's body with unbridled hunger, eliciting muffled moans and ragged sighs. Every caress, every kiss, was a tribute to the passion that burned between them, a flame that threatened to consume them completely.

Between whispers and gasps, Jake and y/n lost themselves in a sea of intense sensations, giving themselves to each other without reservations or remorse. That night, time stopped for them, and there was only the absolute pleasure they shared in their intimacy.

After reaching ecstasy together, y/n snuggled into Jake's arms, feeling her heart beat in sync with his. "You're my Ken, and you always will be," she whispered with a shy smile on her lips. Jake held her tightly, silently promising her that he would never let her go, that he would always be there to protect her and love her.

And so, between whispers of love and promises of eternity, Jake and y/n sank into a restful sleep, feeling in their hearts that what they had was more than a simple physical attraction, it was a deep and sincere love that transcended the barriers of love. time and space.

Note: It's my first time writing, I hope you like it 😭

#enhypen jake #jake sim #enha x reader #enhypen #enhypen smut #jake x reader #jake sim x you #jake sim x reader #enha imagines #enhypen x y/n #jake enhypen x reader #kpop smut #kpop imagines #y/n #jake smut #kpop x y/n #enhypen x you #sim jaeyun #written by likscrazy

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pocket-lin · 4 months

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Hey!! 💕 for the fandom ask game, 5, 9 and 20? 🤩

hi!!! thank you for sending me this ask!! once again apologizing if the format for this is all janky, assume I have no clue what I'm doing 80-90% of the time!! also I found out so many of these writer's have tumblrs that I wasn't following so that was exciting!!

please note: this is all about the harry potter fandom so if you don't follow me for that, please look at my pinned post!! tldr is fuck jk and fuck terfs, I won't let her steal our joy!!

5. something I see a lot in fics and love

hmmmm... this is hard to narrow down!! so here's a few things I've been enjoying in hp fics I've read lately!

harry potter who is just so fucking earnestly in love. like, he's tripping over his feet so he can hold the door open for draco and looking at him with big heart eyes from across the pub. harry's got draco's order memorized from that takeout place he loves and he's been pining for draco for years in such an embarrassing way and all his friends are rolling their eyes and placing bets on when harry will finally make a fucking move.

adult ron weasley taking after his mother!! he makes delicious food and makes people scarves and shows his love through his actions!!

draco being absolutely rocked when he finds out that harry is queer! especially when harry is confident and completely unashamed of his sexuality. also throat goat harry

magic being tangible in some way!! like, a strong spell giving off the smell of ozone, being able to feel it in someone's hands, everyone's magic having a unique vibe.

harry as the ultimate dad. like, that dude 100% has so many complicated feelings about family and his kid(s) would be everything to him.

9. a ship that isn't your OTP but that you enjoy

I've been dipping into alllll kinds of ships lately. I love to just go look at individual ship tags on a03 and read the stuff with the highest kudos and then some of the most recent fics. I think you gotta do both to understand the ship!! here's some I've been vibing with lately (also realizing how many of these are drarry+someone else hahaha)

harry/draco is my otp BUT harry/ron and harry/ron/hermione are tied for second. that's harry's family!! they were his first friends and the first people to show him love and they literally went through war together. they know each other!! two favorite harry/ron fics of mine are Sun Kissed by @static-abyss and A tangled mess by @orange-peony! two harry/ron/hermione favorites are nineteen years later by wendydarlings and try to fix you by @maesterchill!

snarry - I was sooooo not into this in my early fandom days because so much of the ship stuff I saw was underage teacher/student stuff and that's very much not my thing. the first dip into this ship was actually through @writcraft's harry/draco/severus fic, A Life Worth Remembering, which is almost a complete subversion: Severus gets de-aged to 25 through a potions accident and has to stay with draco and harry, who are middle-aged and in an established relationship. its a gigantic change for everyone involved and the way their all find their way to each other is sooooooo good. from there I read all their snarry stuff. one of their other snarry fics I love is How We Were Warriors. I've actually been back into this ship the past few weeks and have loved On the Deficiencies of Translation Spells and old fires and phantom limbs by @liladiurne, as well as A Turn of the Page and Severus’s Story (or, A Hero’s Tale) by avioleta!

neville/harry and harry/draco/neville - I think about @kittycargo's Love to Give soooooo often. also absolutely love When it Returns by @academicdisasterfic and Touch Your Lips Just So I Know by @saxamophone!!

harry/draco/charlie - everyone go read Licurici by @lou-isfake and tell me you aren't a changed man!!!

ron/draco/harry. I can't even begin to talk about this one because we'd be here for a million years!!

20. your very first fandom!

I started doing irl fandom things for harry potter with my mom and sister when I was a little baby (I learned to read with the harry potter books!!) but my first solo (and almost exclusively online) fandom was the the teen titans!! I was obsessed with the marv wolfman and george perez comics from the 80s and completely lost my shit when they announced the teen titans animated series. that show cancellation still hurts 😭

#hi everyone sorry if tagging you all isn't the right etiquette or whatever!!#I'm new to actually posting things instead of just reblogging them!!#also is this readable at all? is there a better format for all these links and stuff?#fandom asks #ask games #fic recs #hp #drarry

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amageish · 8 months

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Spider-Man 2 Post-Credit Spoilers

Time for some more signature Amageish overthinking!

Sooooooooooooo.

How about that Cindy Moon appearance, huh?

From this Gizmodo article, we do have a bit of insight into the decision to have her appear where they mention the challenge of making a Cindy unique to the GamerVerse specifically - though it's obvious they are keeping their cards close to their chest here as well.

io9: Along with giving Miles a promotion, you’ve introduced Cindy Moon, aka Silk, into your universe. Of all the Spider-heroes, I don’t think anyone was expecting her. What made her so appealing over someone like Eddie or Gwen Stacy? Arfmann: Cindy’s always been a really compelling character in the comics who, similar to [SM1's] Martin Li, hasn’t really gotten a ton of exposure outside of the immediate fanbase. There’s something really exciting about taking a character who we love, who not everybody’s had a chance to meet, and exposing her to a wider audience. Morris: I’m so excited to see what we do with Cindy. Arfmann: Exactly. That was the real drive with her, and figuring out who Insomniac’s Cindy Moon is a really exciting challenge. And we also have this interesting complication that [Cindy’s dad] Albert is dating [Miles’ mom] Rio, and we’re thrilled to explore how that creates a new iteration of this character that folks already love.

So this confirms that they will be changing stuff too! This is going to be a unique take on her, but they are also self-aware that this will be plenty of people's introduction to the character.

The main question on my mind is a pretty basic one: Does Cindy Moon need to be shoved into a bunker for 7-10 years in order to be recognizably Cindy Moon? Her father is already in the game, so we know the "parents are missing" story is probably off the table, but does she need to still spend all that time in isolation to be Cindy?

In the comics, her time in the bunker is credited in-text with being a source of so many of her defining character traits.

It is something that separates her experiences from Peter and the other Spider-heroes.

It's something that fills her with a drive to prove herself and is the experience that made her such a talented martial artist.

It informs her understanding of modern technology and the level of pop culture awareness she has - the former of which helped her develop her uniquely positive relationship with J Jonah Jameson.

And, lastly, the time she had in isolation is credited with causing her to develop her anxiety disorder and communication challenges.

So, with all that in mind, it feels like Cindy does have to be put into a bunker, right? As it's such a core part of her backstory?

Well, no. Maybe this will be a hot take, but I honestly don't think she does.

While I do think everything I've listed here is a key aspect of Cindy Moon as a character, I don't think they need to lock her in a vault for 7-10 years in order to explain why a Korean-American woman in New York city has anxiety or practices martial arts or feels a need to work twice as hard to have her accomplishments recognized. These are all very relatable experiences that do not require a fantastical superhero origin story to justify them.

Honestly, with how emotion-forward the Insomniac Spider-Man games are already, I think her being a woman who has had a depressive episode recently which she describes as having felt like being trapped would work just as well as literally having had her be trapped by a supervillain. I would not be surprised if the ability to tell a story about anxiety and depression was a factor in them selecting Cindy as the next playable character as well - the potential for a Silk game that incorporates actual mindfulness and grounding techniques into the gameplay is really high IMHO.

I also think that the final scene kind of supports the idea too? Cindy has no lines, but she does have a silent awkward wave. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but her introduction makes me think she already has social anxiety - so unless she's already been in the bunker and we'll get a story about how she escaped, then I think she will probably jut be getting powers and moving forward from there.

Anyway, that's a lot of thoughts brought about by like 5 seconds of Cindy waving. I'm just really eager to see where things go from here and am hoping we'll get a DLC trailer or a Silk expandalone announced sometimes soon...

(PS: Having Peter already be in a committed relationship with MJ and Miles, who is also already in a relationship with Hailey, being in a psuedo-sibling relationship with Cindy is an excellent way of desexualizing the Cindy + Spider-Men relationship. I have no fears about Insomniac stumbling on that particular hurdle.)

(I do, however, have fears that I will be seeing unironic speculation about pheromones in reddit threads for the next 2 years until whenever Spider-Man: Miles Morales 2 or Silk: Cindy Moon is announced... but that probably cannot be changed, unfortunately.)

#spider man 2 spoilers #cindy moon #silk

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lady-elora · 5 months

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I've finally finished it! It turned out to be a terrible longread, but I hope it was worth it. Sorry for possible mistakes: English is not my native language. And don't forget that everything below is just my personal opinion and nothing more.

The status: "it's complicated", or a word in defense of Sylvie

So, the season 2 of the Marvel Studios sensational and popular series "Loki" has died down. It’s powerful finale probably didn’t leave anyone indifferent, even those people who aren’t an ardent Marvel fan. That's just, alas, not all viewers were satisfied with it, and it frankly disappointed representatives of a separate category of fans.

Yes, now I'm talking about sylki shipers who expected a beautiful happy ending in old Disney classic style with a kiss / wedding / going to the sunset, holding hands (underline needed) in the season finale but in the end got something completely different. Even, I might say, the something exact opposite.

And now we have as a result a disappointed "howl in the swamps" from the aforementioned shipers in almost all major social networks. Not from all of them surely (I personally know quite a few of them who were quite satisfied after the season finale although they remained some emotionally traumatized as well). However, the "howl" is nevertheless massive enough to draw my attention to it and to make me interested in it as a social phenomenon.

So I naturally wonder: what’s the reason for such diametrically opposite reactions of the same category of viewers? After all, in theory, both satisfied and dissatisfied viewers watched the same series with the same events, characters, actions and dialogues.

The answer, if you just think about it, is pretty obvious: it's about perception. Actually it’s about the emotional, mental and cultural "baggage" with which each of us, the audience, approaches the viewing. And also it’s certainly about the life experience that is absolutely unique for every person, completely different from one another and therefore often going against what the creators are trying to show us on the screen.

A simple familiar example: a person whose relationship with his/her "other half" has always been quite neat and smooth, without any significant difficulties and shocks will never understand a couple that literally has difficulties all the time, that comes together and breaks up for hundred times, that has two people who being ardently and sincerely in love stil can’t agree or even just understand each other. That classical proverbial "Full will never understand the hungry".

Returning to our sheep (very secretive, stubborn and impossibly similar sheep, I must say), the relationship between Loki and Sylvie in the series is a psychologically complicated as hell and unimaginably confusing thing which is directly influenced by both their early life psychotrauma and the impending Multiverse catastrophe.

Unfortunately not all the viewers are able or want to dig a little deeper than what lies on the surface and perceive the events of the series (in general) and season 2 (in particular) the way its creators intended.

Most of all claims are made by both "ordinary" fans and sylki-shipers against Sylvie and how she is shown in season 2. The most common of them are:

* she dared to live a calm and quiet life in the devil-knows-where-place instead of realizing her guilt and rushing headlong to search for Loki;

* she met Loki coldly and behaved the whole season like absolutely nothing had happened between them in the previous one;

* she doesn't seem to regret or suffer at all;

* she doesn’t look broken, lost or unhappy (and then they often put Mobius as an antipode example).

Maybe it's not the whole list of claims, but, again, I've shown here only the most common ones.

And do you know what's the saddest and yet the funniest thing? If we look at the purely series "picture", without any trying to look deeper, read the context, understand the psychological background of the words and actions of the characters, then all the above-mentioned claims even seem quite justified.

But let's not pick the easy way. Let's try to understand Sylvie's nature and motives to figure out what's really happening between Loki and Sylvie in season 2 and why the creators and actors of the series are so strongly bending the line of Loki and Sylvie’s "deep emotions for each other".

Let's go!

"Difficult childhood, paper toys"

I'm certainly sneering now a little, but let's take a moment away from Loki's heroic sacrifice in the season finale and the universal crying for him and go back to the past, to the distant past of Sylvie and Loki, to their very childhood.

What do we know about Loki? Firstly, his childhood was quite happy and relatively calm (the constant "background" envy of his brother and from-time-to-time-confrontation with him don't count though we all remember his turning into a snake and back and stabbing Thor with a dagger, isn't it?) He had a father, a mother, a brother... a family. In general, he had a normal childhood.

And what had Sylvie at the same time? N-o-t-h-i-n-g! Her world was cut. Her loved ones died when she was just a child about 11-23 years old by Midgard standards.

And now imagine that strange people in military uniforms come to a kind and sweet girl who dreams of becoming a hero (which is perfectly shown in the series from her games), roughly drag her out of her usual life to no one knows where and finaly destroy her entire world. Can you imagine how stressful it is even for an adult, not to mention a child?

And what about her future life? It's a natural hell! A nightmare lasting ror centuries, where you have no rest at any point in time / space, where you are constantly being chased, where you are forced to jump through the apocalypses just to hide and survive. And by the way you can easily die not even from hunters hands but banally from the consequences of on those apocalypses...

Has all of this left a giant imprint on Sylvie's personality? Absolutely yes! Something like that would have put that imprint on any of us.

In general, Sylvie should have a monument erected for the very fact that living in this nightmare she managed not to go insane and even (more or less) saved her humanity.

But during those dreadful centuries she had completely forgotten how to trust somebody… or she had even consciously cultivated her distrust to everyone in the world. And given her constant running and life in the apocalypses where people often show their worst qualities in the face of death, this distrust is more than justified.

So let's keep in mind her first psychological feature – Sylvie has had great trust problems for many centuries.

About emotional maturity and some parallels

And then Loki bursts into her "gray days", almost literally turning everything upside down.

Sylvie experiences a real affection, maybe for the first time in her bitter life. For the first time and more than ever she is acutely aware of her loneliness and she wonders: is it really necessary to be alone? Perhaps one person, a special one, can be trusted?

She lived in the apocalypses. She has never had and couldn’t have had a long-term relationships. Therefore she simply doesn’t know how to build them or, moreover, adequately maintain them.

In this regard, Loki is much more emotionally mature than her. Not even at times, but dozens of times. She is insanely afraid of relationships, trust, because trust is also about opening up to a person. And "opening up" for her is equivalent to "becoming vulnerable" that she had never been able to afford herself since her childhood.

And here I personally see a clear parallel with Sherlock and Molly from my favorite BBC show (which, by the way, also made a big noise 5 years ago). Sylvie is Sherlock: emotionally traumatized in childhood, denying feelings, considering them to be "weakness" and in many ways emotionally immature person. And Loki is Molly, who entirely understands and accepts her feelings, who doesn't run away from them and can live with them.

So let's also keep in mind her second psychological feature – due to her troubled past Sylvie isn’t yet emotionally mature enough. She still has to go this way and hopefully we’ll even see it in the future.

"Just turn around now. You're not welcome anymore"

After all at some moment Sylvie decided to trust Loki. But then (almost right after that) there comes their great confrontation in the Citadel. Loki's opinion is so diametrically opposed to her own that it amounts to the very certain betrayal in her emotionally immature perception.

Really! While half of the fandom is damning her for "betraying Loki," it seems like only a few people think about the fact that he betrayed her as well.

The whole tragedy of the situation is that both of them are right, and they are equally right, but each of them is right in their own way. Both Loki's words "But what's good in free will if everyone's dead?" and Sylvie's words "You'll just replace one nightmare with another" are the pure truth.

And since both of them are right, then there're two ways to assess the consequences of their duel from the outside: none of them betrayed each other or they both betrayed each other.

However, judging by their further behavior they both prefer considering the situation as a betrayal, and each of them judges who really betrayed the other speaking from their own tower. Anyway being more emotionally mature, Loki has understood and forgiven Sylvie almost immediately. But Sylvie hasn’t. And analyzing the things shown in 2x2, all these months she weren't even trying to understand his motives and forget her offense, but she also were rubbing salt in her wounds in every possible way.

By the way Kevin Wright (EP of the series) also confirms this:

"Everything that happens in the season, I think, is still a ripple effect from Sylvie feeling deeply wounded and saing like "why aren’t we seeing this the same way?"

So there's a clear Sylvie's resentment at Loki's behavior in the Citadel and disappointment at the total discrepancy between their viewpoints.

As for the feelings for him... that feelings haven't got away. They became just even more acute and painful 'cause of her resentment (and btw that's also perfectly shown in the series). And that’s why he’s really not welcome to her in 2x2.

"I've been chasing you for three days just to tell you how much I don't care!"*

There's quite a funny thing that begins right from the moment of our complicated couple reunion.

Almost right after meeting Loki Sylvie, who lived a quiet life, worked at the MD and didn't even think about hunting numerous Kang's variants, begins to literally follow him on the heels, appearing from time to time right where he appears.

What's the reason? Imao, it's quite obvious. More precisely, there are two of.

The reason 1: she has to make sure that her beloved idiot is OK.

Despite the fact that during the months of her "quiet life" Sylvie had been trying to convince herself in every possible way that this relationship was over, that after the Citadel a "rollback" to their former connection was no longer possible, she still didn't forget Loki. And the fact that his new reappearance in her life only opened up old wounds and destroyed all the walls she had so carefully erected, is very clearly read in her behavior at this meeting.

As a smart girl (for a stupid one just wouldn't survive in her conditions), she immediately realizes that, holly shit, she's still loving him so hard! – this, again, is perfectly shown on her face at the moment of their first meeting, when she hadn't yet had time to gather herself, to fence off resentment and to put on a "sharp mask". But, as a girl who's not only smart, but also too proud and mortally offended, she wants his apology for what happened in the Citadel. That resentment is read in all her behaviour, almost in every phrase when communicating with Loki in 2x2.

Well, what happens next only outlines that desire more clearly.

First, she goes after Loki and Mobius to fight those hunters going to cut timelines. Then she follows them through the time-door to TVA (although she could just return to her time-branch and get it all out of her mind).

Yes, according to Sophia Di Martino, at first she does all of that only to "make sure that her new friends and new home weren’t damaged and didn’t disappear". But the motives for her further constant being next to Loki can be tied to this explanation with a very big stretch.

Even at the first time, she leaves only after she's finally convinced of Loki's desire to protect the "totally rotten TVA", after her new surge of anger and splashing it out on Loki (who at that moment isn't up to her resentments at all).

Is she being somewhat selfish? Surely. But, as a deeply offended and emotionally immature person, she simply can't do otherwise. She doesn' know how. This is by no means an excuse! This is a statement of fact.

So Sylvie leaves practically "slamming" the time-door. And really why would she come back if her timeline with her new home and friends are safe and sound? She could just live her quiet life and be happy. But paradoxically she does exactly the opposite! She comes back anyway, over and over again (!), first using the hunt for the Kang variant as a kind of reason, and then – just like that, without any clear reasons at all. The reason offered by Loki firstly doesn't hold any water (well, OK, she couldn't kill Timely – so what?) and secondly isn't confirmed by Sylvie herself loud and clear (she just admits that yes, she couldn't kill Timely, and explains why she couldn't do that but not why she came back).

No, the reason is clearly not in Victor Timely but in the underlying caring for Loki, which is confirmed by Sophia's words btw:

"She doesn’t care about the TVA. I think she does care about Mobius and about Loki".

Now reason 2: a direct consequence of her continued resentment.

Sylvie literally craves Loki's apology for the Citadel events. In 3x3, she flung her demands almost right at his face.

And that’s where the main problem of this couple lies (a very typical problem for a relationship in general btw): she's waiting for an apology, while he's completely misunderstanding: a) the importance of it to her and b) for what, in fact, he has to apologize if they are both right?

But it's really vital for Sylvie to get his apology in order to close this protracted gestalt, to forgive Loki and to forget her offense. And he completely ignores this moment over and over again… which is also very typical for a man involved in an important case btw.

Maybe if Loki had instantly understood what she needed they could be able to avoid a lot of mistakes and we, the fans, would get a completely different, much warmer and more romantic story. But... Now we have what we have. Moreover, this storyline is more than psychologically true.

And there can be the one clear conclusion from all said above: Sylvie feels anything but indifference towards Loki.

PTSD as it is

And here’s another point directly related to Sylvie's childhood. I’ve already spoke about it a little above, but now let’s look at it in more detail.

Have you noticed how painfully Sylvie still reacts to the death of timelines – especially when it’s caused by TVA?

It would seem that she and Loki are in the same conditions in the season 2: both have their homeworld cut, both, in fact, have nowhere to return. But unlike Sylvie, Loki accepted it, got over it and now is ready to move on without destructive anger.

Does he care about the demise of timelines? Surelly! Do gloomy thoughts and emotions prevent him from thinking clear? NO!

Why? Because, unlike Sylvie, he got over his trauma, he worked it out, but she was completely stuck in her PTSD, which her massive crisis of trust made only stronger.

Sylvie from the beginning of season 2 is Loki from the first "Thor": a deeply emotionally traumatized person who needs a lot more rethinking before he can work through this trauma.

She still fears and hates TVA and doesn’t trust any of its people. And when Loki suggests her to protect TVA, she naturally takes it almost as a personal insult.

And this is absolutely real, authentic and normal!

Just walk for a minute in her shoes. Imagine how you would react if you were asked to defend what you fear and hate? So, well?.. That’s better!

Time DOES matter

Also, let’s not forget about one more important detail. Since Loki and Sylvie were separated after the Citadel events, there has been a great time de-synchronization between them. I think only a few days (if not hours) passed for Loki between the events of 1x6 and 2x2. And Sylvie lived in her chosen timeline for 8 (!!!) months.

During that time she managed to organize a simple as 5 cents, but still a quiet life. A life without the eternal chasing. A life without destruction and death around. A life where she could have a very limited maybe though still a constant circle of communication.

Did she miss Loki after the Citadel events? Of course! Why? Just watch carefully the final 2x2 scene and most importantly – listen to the song playing in the background (Janis Joplin – Kozmic Blues). And all the doubts will disappear immediately.

And one another thing. Judging by the fact that she’s a frequent customer of the record store who chooses (by herself or with the help of a seller) music records of a certain genre and style, her longing for Loki didn’t appear right after a new meeting with him but long before that. Probably right after the Citadel.

Yes, she was offended, angry, convinced herself that she didn't want to see him anymore, but... she missed him anyway. And the time passed, gradually creating a habit.

In those 8 months Sylvie managed to get attached to her calm and simple life and began to appreciate it. And when Loki reappears on the horizon again, one of the many reasons for her unwarm welcome is just the desire to protect her cozy little world, not to let her quiet, peaceful life be taken away.

If Loki had coming a little earlier, before her habit forming, perhaps their meeting would be very different.

"I wanna be your number one"

And now we’re coming to almost the most important thing about their relationships in season 2 – to the thing that I personally suspected from the very beginning of their meeting after the Citadel events, but that was actually confirmed only in 2x5.

It turns out that all these long 8 months of her quiet life Sylvie had been sincerely believing that she was only on the second place on Loki's personal priorities list(!) and on the first place he had the TVA. And this is another reason why she gets angry, snaps, draws an invisible line between them by her whole appearance and behavior right from the very beginning of their reunion in 2x2.

She wants only two things from Loki – an apology for the Citadel fight and a confession that he came here for her. Just for her alone. But in the end, she gets something completely different – we might even say the diametrically opposite. And this only stings her pride more, only inflames her resentment more, generates even greater distrust... that causes many subsequent events in the future.

What's interesting is that Loki tells her the truth every time. (Quite a paradox for the God of Mischief, isn't it?) But at this very moment of her life, Sylvie doesn't need this kind of truth. She needs something completely different, which she doesn't get over and over again. And finally being tired of waiting she even hints about it quite openly in 2x3 and 2x4.

That's why their evening meeting at McDonald's in 2x5 is so significant. And btw that meeting is – a drum roll! – an alternative version of their reunion after the Citadel events, according to Sophia.

First and important: unlike the 2x2 reunion, this one is much more peaceful. Sylvie perceives Loki's appearance much more friendly. She practically doesn’t get angry, doesn’t "show her claws", but listens patiently and even takes him for a drink.

What’s the reason of such a dramatic change in behavior? I think that’s because of Loki’s coming on time and alone. Therefore there was a chance for them to explain the things for each other properly.

This time, Sylvie’s not at work and she has some free hours. This time there’re no others next to Loki (some annoying others like that guy in the TVA prison uniform, and we remember: everything about the TVA still angers and scares Sylvie). This time they can talk in private without attracting unnecessary curious glances.

And they really talk, at first quite calmly and peacefully, but then again (!) the conversation turns completely away from where Sylvie expects.

The whole bar dialogue from her side is built in such a way as to find out clearly and ultimately: what Loki is fighting for. Rather, in her interpretation, the question sounds like this: Who is at the top of his personal chart?

And if Loki had said at that moment that first of all he wanted to save the world for her – that would be enough! The ice between them would have cracked completely and absolutely. If he had admitted directly and openly that Sylvie was, is and always will be the first for him, then lots of things would have turned out very differently.

However, though Loki is speaking honestly at that moment, but he's telling not what she wants to hear at all. She asks him what does he want and in his response he puts not her, but his friends – i.e. TVA – on the first place again. In such a case there’s no even matter that Sylvie is still hates the TVA. She wants to be his number one. This is of huge importance to her.

Well, we remember: Sylvie is only at the very beginning of her emotional maturity journey. And since she’s also a Loki, she has typical movie-Loki flaws which are some kind of selfishness and morbid vanity.

Sylvie doesn't want to be the second fiddle. She wants to be the first or the nobody for him.

Here, by the way, Sophia’s quote about the bar scene:

"Well, I think because she had to meet up with Loki and tell him to go and find himself and figure out his purpose, that whole bar scene is about her trying to help him figure out what he wants. And I think it’s just big seeing someone again – that brings up so many emotions, doesn’t it? – after such a long time. So she’s probably had a s**t day because of that".

Indeed, when you’re forced to meet your ex, it often causes a lot of emotions. But in most cases they’re anger, sadness and regret. Does Sylvie express anger during the bar talking to Loki? Absolutely not. Does she express sadness and regret? Oh, yes!

Why? Because despite everything she's convinced herself of, Sylvie still loves Loki and has hope for them. But again she was forced to say and hear something completely different from what she wanted. If she had really enchanted him and looked into his heart in 2x2, she would have seen the truth at once. But she just doesn't want it in 2x2, and he no longer offers it to her in 2x5.

As a result, she remains in the dark. And that’s why, at the end of their difficult bar conversation, Sylvie, being deeply offended and disappointed (once again!), with the eyes full of tears, tells Loki that they need "to write their own (i.e. separate from each other) stories" and then she leaves... to that record store where she completely drowns in melancholy.

Here I should put another Sophia’s quote about Sylvie's feelings at that moment:

"...it’s that feeling when you listen to a beautiful song and you just cry, but it sort of feels nice".

Now think about how often do you cry when listening to even a very beautiful, lyrical and soul-touching son? And in general, will you cry when you’re in a glad, joyful and/or peaceful state?

I think a lot of people will agree that a song or music makes us cry only when it’s in tune with our current mood, when it touches certain painful strings of our soul, when it reminds us of something from our bitter experience.

Yeah, there are, of course, deeply sentimental people who can be touched by any little thing. But Sylvie is definitely not one of them. Otherwise, she would have behaved and talked to Loki in a completely different way.

And here we come back to the issue of Sylvie's indifference. Think about it: if she really didn't care about Loki, would she "heal her mental wounds" this way? And would they even be – these wounds?

But nothing ever real

Actually Loki and Sylvie have two main problems in the season 2: 1st) an acute lack of time and 2nd) a total misunderstanding of each other. And the main reason for their misunderstanding is the lack of experience of real relationships for both.

Yes, as we know from their train conversation in 1x3, they both had some love affairs before. But the true feeling of love and care came over them only for each other. With all the consequences.

At the time of season 2, they’re both still learning how to build relationships and work on them. And if they had more time, they would certainly have learnt this.

But unfortunately a cruel fate in the face of the show creators decided otherwise.

Breaking the ice

So Sylvie comes to season 2 with all these inner mess. And it’s manifested by sharpness, coldness, anger.

However being next to Loki, she seems to slowly thaw and becomes softer. And at the moment of their final "farewell", where Loki reviels her the price they have to pay to save the Multiverse, she’s no longer angry, she’s not trying to stop him. Instead she demonstrates full acceptance of the situation and the pain that Loki got such a hard lot.

We can see the tears in her eyes. Her pride, resentment, stubbornness – that all disappears before the coming catastrophe. She finally realizes it’s inevitability and (please, mind it now!) she doesn’t even try to stop or dissuade Loki in any way. She only says that she’ll not bless him to kill her.

Once again: she’s not resisting at that moment! Sylvie – is – not – resisting! Not at all! Surely, deep inside she knows, she feels that Loki won't do it, he’ll be able to find another way. Btw, Sophia also talks about it in the interview I shared a link above, about their hidden unspoken rule – not to kill each other.

However, the very fact that Loki was faced with such a choice causes Sylvie great pain.

"I need to get out there!"

And then comes the epic finale. The moment of truth. Loki makes his difficult choice and goes down the stairs to the door leading to the Temporary Loom.

At the same moment – mind it too, please! – the others are just staying and it seems like they aren’t even noticing what’s going on. It’s only Sylvie who Immediately realizes what Loki is up to, and who first rushes for him with an expression of not just concern, but almost panic on her face. And only then Mobius goes as well.

Sylvie tries to break through the door (with a very expressive exclaim btw: "No! No, Loki!"), but she just can’t open it. And then she rushes upstairs, turning to O.B.: "I need to get out there!" Unfortunately even such a technical genius as O.B. can’t open that damned door. I guess Loki, who had become a great tech-savy during those centuries, blocked it really good.

"I need to get out there!" That one phrase shatters down all the claims of some viewers to Sylvie's feelings and behavior at that moment.

She didn’t just "stay and stare" as Loki actually sacrificed himself. She was ready and she wanted to follow him. It was him who didn’t allow that.

"Soft gets you killed"

And so the die is cast. The sacrifice has been made. The Multiverse has been saved, and all the show characters have to find their place in it again.

And then we got a lot of viewers (especially among the sylki-shipers) who ‘came really outraged by Sylvie's "too happy" smile in the end of her final conversation with Mobius. Like while he stands being completely broken and lost, she squints in the sun and smiles "carelessly".

And for unknown reason, no one... well, almost no one comes to mind that this scene is mirroring the dialogue between Loki and Mobius from 1x4, when Loki is informed that Sylvie has been cut.

Remember: what does he do after hearing that? A few seconds of a complete embarrassment and then he leans back in his chair and smiles, trying his best to hide the pain. But his eyes and the crack in his voice are instantly catching him red-handed.

It's exactly the same story with Sylvie in the finale. She smiles and "flippantly" shrugs her shoulders after Mobius' question of where she's going to go now. But just a minute earlier, she says: "It's weird without Loki here, isn't it?" with exactly the same voice crack, and tears are shining in her eyes exactly the same way.

Sylvie has been used to hiding pain since her childhood. Softness is a weakness for her. And she can only show her weakness and vulnerability to one being in the Multiverse. And it's definitely not Mobius.

P.S. A few words about Sophia

In conclusion, I want to add a few thoughts not just about Sylvie, but about the series as a whole, and a little about the fandom.

If you've read the full Sophia's interview I put the links above you must have noticed how carefully and as if with constant caution she speaks about her character's relationship with Loki. Unlike the screenwriter and EP, who openly talk about deep feelings Loki and Sylvie are having to each other, she prefers to call what's happening between them not "love", but "quite strong trust" (which btw significantly contradicts the behavior of Sylvie herself in the series). And although sometimes the idea that Sylvie "definitely won't let things just go" breaks through in her interviews it's like she always tries to soften her answers to the overwhelming number of questions about Sylvie and Loki relationship.

Many fans of the couple may be upset by this, but if you think about the root cause of such caution, there'll be no reason for such an offence.

And the root cause is just the fans themselves, the fandom, the violently negative reaction of a certain fandom part to the character and to her romantic line with Loki.

Remember the storm made by the fans of that fandom part (we all know what is that part, isn't it?) at the end of season 1. Remember those tons of negativity poured out not only on the character itself, but also on the actress who played this character! Because of this negativity, Sophia was eventually forced to close comments on her Instagram profile. And since then, she has become much more careful about speaking out something about the series in the interviews.

However, despite all of that, she still allows herself to be a little frank on Instagram sometimes. As a huge fan of Sophia, Sylvie and the series in general, I strongly advise not to ignore that fact.

If you doubt that Sylvie's feelings for Loki are true, just go to Sophia's Instagram profile and look at some of her stories and posts. Her playlist "Sylvie Mix Tape" on Spotify alone says ten times more than all her interviews.

P.P.S. UST and fans' interest

In the end of this huge meta, I want to add a few words about the good old UST (Unsolved Sexual Tension).

There's a wonderful phrase in one of my favorite sci-fi writers novels: "Always happy character isn't interesting." Indeed, the hero, whose life is a continuous Carnival and who literally reaches everything easily, ceases to seem real very soon, causes readers' boredom and even begins to annoy at some point.

It's really interesting and exciting to follow the hero who's overcoming difficulties – physical, psychological, romantic – no matter. And the more difficult the task, the higher the stakes and the more desperate the struggle, the stronger the reader's or viewer's interest is.

The same goes for romantic relationships between characters in a book or movie. I.e., paraphrasing my favorite sci-fi writer's quote: "Always happy relationships aren't interesting."

Yes, our fan hearts are certainly warmed by "happily ever after" for the beloved characters. But let's be honest with ourselves: how long will our interest and empathy for our beloved couple last, if everything settles down and everything goes well, if there're no more difficulties and struggles in their lives and relationships, if that notorious UST (the sexual tension that hasn't found a way out) disappears (you know, that thing when between the characters everything literally sparks and blazes, but at the same time they stubbornly don't admit their feelings either to themselves or to each other)?

Something tells me it won't be for long.

And as a quite vivid (even, I might say, a classic) example of UST, I can cite the relationship between Mulder and Scully from another sensational series – "The X-Files". The twists and turns of their relationships, shown by hints and semitones, were incredibly interesting and even hot to watch ... exactly until season 7, where their UST was finally resolved – clearly and unambiguously.

Another classic example of UST is the relationships between Sherlock and Molly from the BBC series "Sherlock". But in the case of this couple, the show creators acted more competently. The sexual tension between them remained unresolved in the finale. The audience was given only a hint, thereby leaving both interest and space for imagination.

Exactly the same (and maybe fortunately) happens to Loki and Sylvie. Their story is not over yet, as both the show EP, the screenwriter and the actors say in one voice. Here and there, insides pop up that Marvel still has plans for these characters.

Would it be interesting to follow the new adventures of Loki and Sylvie if they were an established couple? Maybe. But something tells me that it's not nearly as interesting as it is now, when they are apart again, and their "sexual tension" hasn't been solved.

This is what the Marvel leadership has been playing, is playing and will continue playing on. And UST has always been, is and will be, perhaps not the main, but a very significant thing to drive the plot.

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for your attention! And if all written above hasn't shed at least a drop of balm on your soul wounds made by season 2, remember: there's no such a finale that couldn't be fixed by a good fanfiction. ;)

* My favorite quote from "An Ordinary Miracle" by Eugeny Shwartz.

#loki series #loki meta #loki #sylvie #loki x sylvie #sylki #pro sylki #lovie #lovedaggers

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the1975attheirverybest · 1 year

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i would honestly like to hear the debate between him and his girlfriend on her favorite book. 😭

Okay, then. Here's a little something. just a trigger warning though, the book they discuss includes suicide.

-----

"I'm confused. I thought you'd like it. It's got everything that you love about art, instability of memory, open-ended-ness, blurring between fiction and reality....what seems to be the issue?" She crosses her arms over her chest, and Matty can tell she's unhappy. He laughs and tells her to just "forget he said anything," but she's persistent. "C'mon, let me hear it."

"Fine, alright- would you like some tea?" He walks away from the kitchen table and towards the kettle.

"Sure." she nods.

"Alright, so. The whole point of the first half of the book is to establish the contrast between Adrian and the rest of the boys, yeah?"

"mhm..."

"And the difference is- uhh- what exactly? That he's an idealist?" Matty stands at the kitchen counter, with his back towards her, pulling two tea bags out of the canister.

"Yeah, that he doesn't possess that sense of doom that teenagers often have. He believes in goodness over fame, he maintains a grid relationship with his parents despite their divorce, he has a sense of moral identity..." She watches as her boyfriend turns to face her, leaning against the kettle as he waits for the water to boil.

"Right, yeah, exactly- so it makes no sense whatsoever all that stuff he does in his diary! He's got a mathematical equation. And this...absurd idea that- that he "evaluated things logically," and reached the conclusion that "life is a gift," which he decides to reject. don't you see how nonsensical that is???"

"I don't, actually. The only nonsense I'm getting is out of you." she looks him dead in the eyes.

Matty groans in frustration, running his fingers through his hair. His lips part, ready for a rebuttal, but the kettle makes a noise, indicating that his water's ready.

"Darling, my sweetest girl, my truest love....use your brain for half a second." He pours water into the mugs.

"Excuse me?" she gets up from her seat, opening the fridge to pull out some milk for the tea.

"If Adrian's the idealist that the book suggests he is, then don't you think it'd be inconsistent of his character to reduce human relationships to mathematical equations? and use "logic" to weigh his options about whether to kill himself or not? life's complicated! it doesn't work like numbers do! don't you think his fuckin...he goes to Cambridge doesn't he?- yeah, don't you think his fancy Cambridge degree would've taught him at least that much? Besides, people who are in a suicidal state aren't 'logical.' Makes no sense!" He sets her tea mug in front of her, and his own, in front of him.

"Matty, honey, you of all people should know...perceptions are biased. We don't actually know the true nature of Adrian's character. We only know Tony's view of him. And, to make matters even more complicated, Tony is remembering him years into the future. So, his memories aren't accurate. We all remember our childhoods with rose-tinted glasses. I would argue that the diary stuff shows us the real Adrian. And Maybe Tony's reaction is cuz he can't accept the truth!"

Matty takes a long sip of his beverage to buy himself some time to think. "Well- umm-"

"Well what? You've got nothing!"

"Fuck yeah, I do! The way he's so considerate of others upon killing himself? don't you think that, if he's thinking this hard about how his body would be found, then he's clearly passionate enough about things to...stick around? Again, the characters and the plot are entirely unrealistic."

"That's the point Matty! You're meant to question the accuracy of the narrative!"

"And the whole paternity thing- what the fuck's that about. Cheap shot, if you ask me? The book takes pains to establish this character as this unique individual, and then falls back on old tropes."

"Okay, that's a completely separate issue, but, again, that's the fuckin point! Even the most unique among us is, in the end, still a cliche because they're still human. susceptible to the very same human troubles as the average person. You've clearly not read the book closely enough." she picks up her copy, slamming it into his chest. "read it again, then we'll talk."

Matty chuckles. "Fine, for you, I'll read it again....but only so I can find more flaws."

She rolls her eyes, despite smiling. "You won't find any. it's a perfect book."

He leans over the table, kissing her lips. "admitted, darling. Your favorite book is ridiculous. Just pick a new favorite....make sure it's better, though..."

#matty concepts

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septembersghost · 1 year

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What do you think is the actual deal between Harry and Taylor? Because they seem to be each other's muses- and with the lyrical back and forth that's been going on, EVEN AFTER A DECADE- it can't be nothing. They give off major soulmates vibes (musical-wise) and even relationship-wise (although they could also be star-crossed lovers) with such shitty timing everytime 😂 i've supported joe and taylor for years, but I've got this inkling in my mind like someway and somehow, H and T might still find their way back to each other. Joe just seems meh :/ tbh.

i almost feel like i shouldn't answer this because it's a bit loaded, but it's 3:30 am so why not 😅💕

i'm going to first defer to my friend @cowboylikedean who said:

"they can be soulmates, but not romantically. Consider: their whole relationship has been leading to a friendship which was always destined, but needed a contextual foundation that only an ill defined on again off again/only communicating through sex then song could create. Consider that. Joe is Taylor's forever person. doesn't mean Harry has to be nobody."

we don't know if they've forged a friendship behind closed doors or not, and whether we ever know anything about that is up to them. their interaction at the grammys was warm and familiar, which at the very least speaks to their feelings of respect and kindness towards one another as artists and people. taylor's support for him was clearly genuine (though you could say that of her support for basically everyone in that room). i think it's really important and meaningful to acknowledge that there are a vast array of dynamics that can be considered a soul connection - not only romantic, but familial, platonic/friendship, artistic, those can all be transcendent and vibrant relationships too. i personally feel there's a soul element and connection within their music that needed to exist as a spark to get them where they are today. (had they not been what they were to each other, what would their careers even look like? what would 1989 be? what would hs1 be? etc) and they were also, in many ways, peers when they were together, and in unique positions of fame at a young age that most other people couldn't understand. their timing was consistently wrong/off, but that connection in their hearts and art still came through clearly. to me, it's part of the invisible string - they had to meet and have that complicated on/off thing and have love for one another to be on the paths where they were supposed to go, in different ways, and to be able to stand in a room together where they're both succeeding and both feeling gratitude for what all of that meant.

i think it's a disservice to joe to...not pay attention to what taylor has explicitly said about him, and why that relationship is so different and profound for her. i've seen a LOT of commentary lately about him being boring and not "getting" their connection, and it strikes me as somewhat unfair because we don't see it, we're not privy to it, and we shouldn't be, that is very much by their design. (she did say romance isn't dead if you keep it just yours!) but because someone like h is sparkly and charismatic and a musician, and joe is somewhat more reserved and less obviously visible and an actor, there's this sense that we "know" him less, which can easily seem less interesting, but keep in mind that how any fan sees him and how taylor herself sees and describes him are totally different. he's home to her, he's that gorgeous dream to her, he's the daylight to her, and that's what matters. he's who she's built her life with and found her peace with for many years now, and vice versa. h hasn't found that yet, but i hope he does. but that doesn't necessarily mean harry has to be nothing to her. whether that's fondness and recognition of their influences on one another and gentle nods to the past, or whether that comes in actual friendship, i think it's really important and valuable to acknowledge that the soul connection can happen and NOT be romantic, or initially be romantic/sexual and then transform into something else later, and it's no less of a cosmic pull. in one way or another, they'll always be connected, even if it remains in lyric and melody - and that's also always going to keep having a life of its own.

#i hope this makes sense #anonymous #letterbox #haylor #(platonic; artistic)#thrown out speeches #joe is (to borrow her words) the guy on the screen coming straight home to her and her one and only her lifeline #other people can still have value and unique places in someone's life even when they've found their love though!#i'd love to see them be friends for personal reasons of course <3

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darkfictionjude · 13 days

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Etymology nonnie here!

I realized I had so much to say it was better to do different asks. Already the last one was very long. But most of it didn't focused on the new update (funnily enough, I had more to say about the previous one). I still have some things to say about the previous update, but I pretend to speak about the one you pushed yesterday. Also, apologies for not messaging yesterday. I had to go to classes when you released the update, so I only got to read it quite late. Today I probably wouldn't have been able to write you anything, but I found the time amongst the things I have to do.

About this new update. I loved how the interactions with the RO's went. Now, as you know, my MC (Indiana) is romancing Imre. And while I expected lust (and there is some), I think it has been very cute as of now. And evident. Since both Nia and Lorcan have showed some reaction to it.

Probably the most surprising thing for me was the phone call with Nia. The way I would love to have her POV of the scene. My MC calls so excited about the case, realizing that Sammy's murder doesn't fit the case profiling that they had been doing (not only due to gender, but also age). Like, we cannot go all Criminal Minds in this one, boys. At least, not yet. So, what would Nia think of this? MC, always so apathetic and seemingly uncaring about the world, so invested on a murder investigation? It's at once so suspicious and intriguing. Is this because of guilt? Out of murderous fascination with death? A weird, and probably ineffective attempt to clear his name? Nia's head must be full of theories.

But there is also the fact that MC seems to be so compatible and friendly with Imre. Like, I do suspect Nia told Imre to keep distant more to protect MC rather than because she actually believed they wouldn't get along. But I also believe she also thought the latter had some validity. So, it must be shocking that MC seems so excited and receptive to Imre (at least mine is, I know not all MC's are). Probably, a part of her is also worried about how everything is going to end.

There is also an attempt to reconnect with MC. But is a careful and, not exactly hesitant, yet not entirely trusting. Which makes sense, of course, from her perspective. Once again I would love to have her POV. Even though I'm romancing Imre, nowadays is her friendship with MC the relationship that intrigues me the most. It's in such a complicated and unique situation.

This always happens to me, but I just cannot wait for the next update. And this one released yesterday. I just had to mention it.

Then, there's Lorcan. He's so fun. So petty, so immature, so dumb. I love him. The more I see of him the more I'm convinced I have to do another playthrough where I romance him. Yet it comes with the trouble of designing a different MC than my Indiana, and that means I'm back at the name choosing crisis again. Alas, I'm not surprised.

Also, the case. The more we learn, the less my theories seem to hold in place. As of now, everything points to a supernatural entity, or multiple murderers, or a cult. Maybe all three. The trouble is that I don't know how to connect these with any of the other suspects I had. Of course, we also have very little information, so any theory is subject to be disproven or strengthened as we gather more data and clues.

Finally, there is some things I wanted to comment about the previous update, and the character creator. I still find funny you used golden beryl as a color choice. Even though I know what you meant, I still imagined my MC as a Simpson, given how yellow that color is. Yet, in the previous update, when MC is looking at himself in the mirror, you used another descriptor I think it's more accurate, by saying the skin tone is olive (now, olive has its own set of issues, as it can refer to both shade and undertone and mean different things, but that's English fault not yours, dear Jude).

I think I mentioned once I wanted to do an anti-Imre initially. Now, I must admit, my love for Imre has escaped the confines of this IF and flooded over others. As, all my MCs are heavily inspired by Imre's appearance. Including my dear Indiana Crown. I think there is one demo in which I even named my MC Imre (I think I told you once already I fancy him in part because his name fascinates me). So my Indiana has olive skin, brown hair, and blue (technically indigo, so it's a bit more purple than blue) eyes. Which reminds me the fact that a lot of people date others very similar to them. And, in the case of gay couples, sometimes they look like clones. Here is not so much the case since Indiana is lithe, I imagine him shorter than Imre, and has plenty of scars. Including at least two on his neck (both the nasty one from 1992, and the one from when he sliced it as a child with a knife).

There another thing I wanted to comment. About child MC being in beauty pageants. I don't know if I skimmed over that part before, or what was I thinking I didn't notice that. And it's so fascinating. Not only it shows how the Crowns, and Prudence specifically, care about appearances so much. As well as how abusive they can be. But also that MC was, at least back then, beautiful enough to participate in such things.

That said, I just have to know how those went. No matter how cute MC may have been… He has dead eyes. How creepy must he have looked! Perhaps MC was a bit like a doll back then. Beautiful, yet dead inside.

There is also the reinforcement of distance and the asymmetrical relationship between Prudence and MC, as well as her potential lack of love towards him. After all, most mothers wouldn't force their little kid to stop saying Mommy to say Mother instead. Like, there are mothers who get sad when their kids go from mommy to mom. So the fact that Prudence is deliberately creating such instance does give a good idea of how she doesn't want to he close to MC.

The Crown family is truly a mess, huh?

Ah I was waiting for more in-depth reactions to the update! I feel like no one has given me any thought on what they thought of the complete 180 the investigation gets because of Sammy (all I've gotten are what's the word to the question Imre asks 😭)

What I love about MC's relationship with Nia is that it is riveting both as a romance and friendship, sometimes I feel friendships are less worked on than romances in some IFs so I'm glad you like it

Also Lorcan is the group comedian I gathered and he wasn't even looking to be he's completely serious when he asks the poop ask 💀

Yeah so MC never won those pageants but they were always in second place and it had to do with their lack of charisma and talent on the stage, the dead eyes were another disadvantage. I imagine to look like a creepy porcelain doll

#lowkey flattered you used Imre's name for another character #etymology nonnie #his impact is amazing #impressions #Imre #Nia #Lorcan #episode 4 #part 2 #we wretched creatures

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zalrb · 10 months

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The Summer I Turned Pretty 1x06 Review -- Why is this show so bad with details?

The funniest thing about Belly's dream about waking up in bed with Jere and then Conrad is that it's premature. It's the dream she should have when Conrad actually professes that he wants to be with her because he hasn't actually said that yet, he's just said I think about you but I can't be with you.

I haven't actually gotten to the switch from Jere to Conrad yet but if it's Conrad kisses her and she's like YEP OK I'ma go tell Jere, I feel like it would be less terrible if there was a pause and she'd have something like this dream before making a choice.

"Even my dream life is complicated" you could just not make out with two brothers.

"You've always been so good to her" -- haven't seen it. "Remember when you were the only one who would let you tag after her and the boys?" haven't seen that either, just one dance flashback.

Conrad was the only one who let her tag after them but Jeremiah and her are the best friends? This is also the issue, I'm not sure how her and Jere differ from her and Conrad and vice versa, they all seem to do the same things and react to each other in the same ways.

Like, in the drama True Beauty, I remember finding it to be an interesting love triangle in the way it was all pretty level because to me, Suho and Seojun were both doing the same sort of things for Jukyung so rather than one being better than the other, it was really a matter of who you liked her with more (although it was clear t ome that it was always going to be Suho for Jukyung) but even though they were doing the same sort of things for her, their contexts were different which made their dynamics different i.e.:

their affection manifests itself in ways that come down to preference

rather than which one is better

and that’s where the tags lose me.

Because certainly, Seo-jun and Ju-kyung have really sweet moments, I loved this moment

but I don’t think that’s inherently better than Suho keeping her secret and then ensuring that she had time in the bathroom for herself to wipe the cake off her face

so Seo-jun and Ju-kyung bicker and they’re quirky and they communicate through teasing, I totally get that, I totally love dynamics like that and I do really like this one

on the other hand, Suho and Ju-kyung, their relationship is rooted in seeing the other at one of their most vulnerable moments from the jump (no pun intended) -- for context Ju-kyung was severely bullied and she went to the rooftop where one of Suho's best friends, who was also Seo-jun's best friend, committed suicide

and then slowly peeling away different layers to access different aspects of their vulnerabilities

and embracing their insecurities

and that's my problem here, what is unique about each of her relationships to these brothers that when they do something for her or with her that is relatively the same those actions are contextualized by what their individual relationships to her mean. I don't get any of that.

Also Conrad's switches happen way too abruptly, one minute he's happy and the next minute he's pissed off and snapping at writer dude and that's what it should look like to the people around him but we should see him at least for a second internalize so instead of him grinning at Susannah when he says he'll think about playing in the tournament and then cut scene, we should linger on his face when he turns away for at least a couple of seconds to see that his mood is shifting so that when we get to the wood rot scene, it isn't bad whiplash.

This panic attack scene would be sweet if I cared about any of these characters.

And I see what they're doing here with his father figure vs his actual father because his actual dad is like "you're the oldest it's your job to look out for the younger kids" and his father figure writer dude is all "it's not on you" and that would actually be interesting if they leaned into that more, if it was more than just one line about how Conrad ha to look out for the other kids, if we see the pressure Susannah and even Laurel put on Conrad for being the oldest but we don't because Susannah is putting pressure on everyone, she bulldozes Belly into doing the debutante, she tells her, like, fifteen/sixteen year old son to never change, not even to always stay true to himself, which is different, but to remain exactly as he is, so like if we just got casual things throughout the episode that indicate that they expect Conrad to shoulder burdens and "be the eldest" without realizing the pressure they're putting on him or it doesn't even have to be Susannah and Laurel it could just be their dad but for more than one line or more than one episode, it would give this scene more weight.

Yeah, see Taylor has all the right lines and does all the right things but the actress is forcing it and trying way too hard to be That Friend even the way she does the hand gestures with "Need I not remind you" and the shrugging, she doesn't have the attitude for it so it's awkward to watch, Candice just had the attitude

Shayla is the best character on this show. Lmao.

And this is when I'll be able to understand Belly getting angry when she inevitably does because he asked her to the deb ball like he wanted to take her and then told Nicole it's because his mom asked him to and obviously Nicole is going to tell Belly or Jeremiah is going to tell Belly that he's going with her because Susannah asked and that's embarrassing. I'm also over here like honestly Conrad you couldn't also say oh but can you not tell Belly my mom asked, it's kind of embarrassing to find out that your friend's mom asked him to take her to the dance. BUT THEN THE DRAMA WOULDN'T HAPPEN ZAL.

I need to speak to the person who does the music. Bad Girls doesn't GO with this scene. I get it, they're bad bitches playing volleyball but it doesn't work. In TMP when Mindy is running through the subway to get to surgery and then is IN surgery and is a boss in it and it plays, that makes sense. This is a tournament for charity. The fact that Belly is so focused on winning the trophy instead of helping women at the shelter is just indicative of her self-centeredness. Like, it's not even as if Belly has been established as a particularly competitive character either but now she suddenly is. And before someone goes, well as a teenager --- if Blair and Serena had a conversation about charity, Blair being like "oh who cares about the shelter, I just want to raise more money than Nelly Yuki" that would be a commentary on who Blair is as a character, you would just love her anyway because Leighton as Blair is great.

I can't do another long volleyball scene that's only this long to make up for the lack of personality Belly has as a character. "We can't tell you who she is but you know what, she's good at volleyball."

Like, Conrad is supposed to be good at sports and Belly is supposed to be good at sports and you mean before this we couldn't even get a Yousana-like montage??

you guys are killing me, man. Just put in the effort.

I'm sorry I have to forward through some of this volleyball shit, I don't care.

LMAO Susannah being the one to tell Belly that she asked Conrad is funny but it also doesn't make sense because she tells Conrad that everyone knows he's her knight in shining armour so if she knows how big a crush she has on Conrad then she would know telling her that he only asked her out because she asked would be humiliating.

"if a piece of my heart still beats--" these writers need to be stopped.

because you're boyfriends.

"I'm not THAT rich. I never went to boarding school and I saw my parents for more than once a year." I feel like we could've done better distinctions.

Steven is so neglectful of Shayla.

... I mean, Nicole and her friends took their clothes but not her phone, she could easily text/call someone to pick them up. Like Conrad JUST texted. Just be like hey your kinda girlfriend took all our clothes and we're at so and so place can you please get us some clothes and meet us here?

It's also a trope.

Like The Parent Trap, Hallie and her friends stole Annie's clothes

Now and Then where they took the boys' clothes as vengeance

That 70s Show where their clothes were stolen

I'm not saying that to be like Nicole and her friends are right because it's shitty, I'm just like yeah, I know this trope and Taylor and Belly are making this harder than they need to. Call someone.

And I can see as a sixteen year old wanting to figure things out yourself but with no other real options and you have a phone, then you'd call someone.

"It's about doing things the right way." Then break up with Nicole?

And this isn't?? This is what I'm talking about, at a certain point ONE of you has to be smart enough to fucking CALL SOMEONE.

And that could also be another source of drama where Belly feels comfortable calling Susannah because she views Susannah is a carefree, non-judgemental mother and Laurel is like ... uh wtf?

I think this is funny

because Conrad isn't active enough for this.

"But isn't love supposed to be a little scary?" she said she kissed him not that she loved him.

Jesus Christ, finally. This call took way too long.

See, NICOLE is the one he's being an asshole to. "Nicole, I swear, my mom really did ask me" SHE SAW THE TEXT, CONRAD.

lmao are you going to second in front of your house? can't you two at least GO somewhere.

and it's funny because you don't like him, Belly, you like that he likes you.

"When The Party's Over" is wasted on these two too. I get that the situation is supposed to match the lyrics but you need some serious angst and chemistry to match this song and they don't have it. The s song should be accompanying their intensity not providing all of it.

Even her "It's too late" doesn't match the situation. Like Tim and Tyra did this better and Tim's voice is quiet but desperate, liiiiike

*siiiiiiiiiigh*

#review #i keep forgetting to tag

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ask-zaukodar · 7 months

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Miraculous Awakening Thoughts

So now that I've actually had time to digest (and re-ingest and re-digest) the miraculous ladybug movie I want to gush out about what I did and didn't like. Spoilers below the break.

WHAT I LOVED

Marinette's lack of having it together in the beginning and having the anxiety about messing up because she kind of is a disaster was a great starting point for her character in this movie.

Gabriel Agreste got a lot of improvement. Outright evil to morally gray, actually behaving like a fashion designer and not just a big business man, using his miraculous taking a serious toll on him, those fucking pipes of his...I could go on, but I like this condensed but complicated villain more than the series. Especially at the end where he faces actual consequences and doesn't get to peace out on his terms.

The Ladynoir development, which was clearly the main focus of the movie, felt a lot more fun even when it was being condensed (rushed?) for the sake of time. I've seen a lot of critique of how LB and CN don't just spend more time hanging out and goofing off with each other and seeing them do just that felt great, especially when they have their teasing nicknames for each other and you get to see them grow from insufferable rivals to best friends and more.

Adrien having more of a spine in the movie than in the series felt good. Him telling off his father was a satisfying moment, and his frustration evolving into anger in the final fight felt natural.

I like that Tikki and Plagg chose their holders instead of having their holders chosen for them. Sure Adrien didn't get a Master Fu moment that showed his worth to Plagg, but Tikki basically seeing Marinette do her thing and going "yeah i want her" before slipping into her backpack seemed more earnest.

Speaking of Tikki: she has SO MUCH MORE SASS and I love it. I've always loved Tikki and how sweet she is with Marinette, but now having that extra layer of vibrant energy was a great touch. Especially when Marinette tries to ditch her, Tikki shouts "YOU D-", and then just pops back in. Also the shameless shipping gestures. Love her.

THE FINALE REVEAL, AAAAGH IT MADE ME FEEL SO MUCH STUFF. Putting aside just how gorgeous that dress is, that emotional climax of the two lovebirds finally knowing each other and getting to be together without any secrets felt amazing. Adrien crying tears of joy felt perfect in that scene.

"Stronger Together" is probably the best song I've heard in a musical movie in a very, very long time.

Marinette's dad getting more screentime and focus was great, even if it only happened for two scenes.

All the little nods of how the two heroes are made for each other: the beginning intro, all the photos on Alya's phone, the back-and-forth scene cuts where they're talking opposites about each other, how dorky the two really are...soup for the soul.

Special shout-out to the thumbs-up scene for making me laugh harder than it really should have.

Second shout-out for Careless Whisper being used correctly in both the ironic and unironic senses.

WHAT I DIDN'T LOVE

Poor, poor Plagg: most of his subtle points and nuance just got tossed out the window just so he could become fart jokes?! Why?! Granted the cheese was going to be a thing, but...man, where's the rest of his character? The friendly chats with Adrien? The glimpse of his relationship with Tikki?

Why didn't Ladybug have Lucky Charm or Miraculous Ladybug during the second fight onward? Okay she wouldn't have either during the first fight, but we don't get to see her unique thinking process with weird items or see her repair the damage of all those fights, which is an under-utilized quality in superhero media these days.

The Adrienette angle of the love square didn't get the proper exploration it needed, and while I realize there wasn't enough time to fully do it justice it would have been nice to see Adrien also have a moment or two where he's starting to see Marinette in a different light and having the same conflict that Marinette had over Adrien vs CN.

The final battle didn't feel quite epic enough, and it's clear there wasn't enough time to do it properly. I would have added a few minutes more where LB and CN actually get their act together and make a bigger dent in HM before they get curbstomped, at least.

The Volkswagen product placement was jarring, and the heroes being there to endorse the cars under the Eiffel Tower felt out of character for a couple of teenagers who are taking a relative serious duty. They're teens, but they're not out for fame or fortune.

Nathalie was waaay under-utilized, but again I get that this was probably because of lack of time, which is a shame.

There's probably SO MUCH MORE I could take apart, but I should probably stop here. Suffice to say: I love this movie, it's a solid 9/10, and I can't wait for the next one in this specific universe.

#miraculous ladybug #mlb #miraculous awakening #mlb movie #miraculous film

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recurring-polynya · 2 years

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(Inspired by your recent post on Haineko and also that fic you wrote about Hinamori getting the hogyoku) I bet Matsumoto and Hinamori could get an epic combo move, I read somewhere that if you tried to get too close to a volcanic eruption you'd get encased in volcanic ash and die inside the solid shell it'd form. Which feels somewhat thematic for them based on vibes alone.

yeah YEAH!

Rangiku and Momo are two characters I would love to see hang out more. It's clear that they already have a good relationship prior to Aizen's defection--we see them conspiring to do something for Hitsugaya on his birthday in the fireworks flashback, and Rangiku is the one who brings Aizen's letter to Momo when she's in prison, even though it's technically evidence or something.

It's actually a little weird that we know absolutely nothing about Rangiku and Gin's relationship once they left the Rukon. I kinda get the feeling that Gin blew her off completely, but maybe there was a period where they had a relationship again. I get the definite sense that they are estranged at the time of the defection. My point in this is: did Rangiku have any sense that Aizen was not what he seemed to be? I feel like out of all the people in Soul Society, Rangiku is the one who might look at Aizen and, in particular, his relationship and actions toward Gin, and say, "wow, there is definitely something about this dude that does not add up." In other words, I also don't know if she had any sense of Momo being gaslit by Aizen while it was happening. That being said, I am at the age where, a couple of times now, a friend tells me they are getting a divorce and it feels like it's coming out of nowhere, but at the same time it doesn't. It's a really complicated feeling of "I should have seen this" but also not, because hiding the broken parts of a relationship are often part of what makes it so broken. All of this is to say that I think that Rangiku would have really been there for Momo in the aftermath, partly as an exercise in dealing with her own lingering Gin-feels, and I love they idea of them working some of this out through developing some sick moves.

I do not know a lot about volcanos, but I know that they exist in one of those batshit regimes of physics where temperatures are so high that you run into all kinds of nonlinear effects dealing with the compressibility of air and ionization effects. If you wander through the rabbit warren of volcano-related horrible-things-that-will-kill-you-but-have-really-cool-names, it's all stuff like "oh, this happens when pyroclastic debris hits running water and accelerates to insane speeds" or "if the eruption column can't entrain enough air, it will collapse and rains molten material down on everything"

In other words, I think Tobiume and Haineko are two great tastes that would go even better together. Rangiku could embed Haineko into one of Momo's lava jets and use it to make a controlled lahar to throw in people's face. Momo could create a pyroclastic surge with Haineko, and sandblast the landscape, gaining the sort of +2 spiritual damage you get from hitting things with a zanpakutou. The possibilities are endless. It's not even just a case of being able to do unique things, but just taking advantages of each other's strengths. Maybe it's easy for Momo to create magma, but hard to move it around, but Rangiku can do that easily. Releasing Haineko in an area where Tobiume is going off is going to add auto-fire damage, that's a freebie.

This would take so much practice and be so much fun and Hitsugaya would be in favor of it in theory, except that he's sitting in his office with an ice pack on his head, doing all of Rangiku's paperwork because he knows she's going to be "too tired" later. That is, until Momo comes running in with the latest research journal she got Lisa to import from the Living World for her, because it turns out that with a combination of hot gas, ash and ice particles you can make volcanic lightning.

#rangiku matsumoto #momo hinamori #haineko #tobiume #they should have let me write that episode of the zanpakuto spirits arc #it would have been sick as hell and probably everyone would have died but again. sick as hell #if hitsugaya refuses to learn the lightning thing rukia would DEFINITELY be up for it #the ENTRANCE POTENTIAL #imagine getting wasted by these two fiery volcano friends and all of the sudden there's this huge crack of lighting and RUKIA IS THERE #renji off to one side doing the will smith 'behold my wife (and her friends) gesture with the giant so-oh zabimaru skeletal arm #i would just leave immediately

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romance-of-three-memes · 5 months

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Clearly there are the very obvious differences between Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors but there are always the tiny subtle ones that catch me for whatever reason. Like in Samurai Warriors there's a level of character between playable character and your basic bitch npc, there's a character with a unique model who isn't playable and their character design is also somewhere in between the npc basic bitch and the campy Warriors aesthetic. They're still a basic bitch but not as much as the others.

And there's the fact that if a man's kids or wife/concubine isn't playable, they're never ever ever mentioned in Dynasty Warriors until they become playable, but in Samurai Warriors that rule is a bit relaxed. Like in Chronicles 3 there's this conversation where Akechi Mitsuhide off-handedly brings up his wife. And you know, he has a daughter that's playable there, so it's insinuated that there was likely a wife or concubine involved, but it still feels so weird because I'm so used to the series acting like they don't exist at all and their children just came from nowhere someday. I can't decide if it's weirder than the Dynasty Warriors situation, honestly.

Also there's Hojo Ujiyasu, who actually does talk about his npc wife who as far as I know has never been shown with enough frequency that makes her feel like she really exists. So congrats to him for being probably the only male character in the series who achieves that, I guess.

There's also the whole issue with concubines, like the Warriors series doesn't really want to admit concubines were a thing, as far as I can recall only two have been made playable, Diaochan and Koshosho. Diaochan's whole situation with Lü Bu and Dong Zhuo is presented in a way that's just vague enough for you to think maybe her relationship with Lü Bu is more of a girlfriend situation and Dong Zhuo is her weird, uncomfortable boss (plus how she's aged up in the series whereas in the rotk novel she's 15), but with Koshosho it's so awkward.

If someone playing the games wasn't really familiar with how common concubines were among upper class men and how they were seen as a symbol of status and wealth since most men could only support a single wife (say a 12 year old western kid, I dunno), they might be very confused as to what her relationship with Chosokabe Motochika is supposed to be since they're extremely vague about it. When he gets upset over his son dying she's very awkward in the way where your friend is upset about the death of someone you barely knew but you don't want to be callous and ignore them, basically. Which makes sense since he has the son that died with his Official Wife who they don't want to acknowledge the existence of because then that would be admitting concubines were a thing, but I can imagine being caught off guard if you assumed she was his wife and there wasn't anyone else involved. Man, does this lady really care so little about her own son? (who isn't actually her son, but shhh we don't talk about wives vs concubines here because that would complicate things and we don't like that)

And most of the time this works fine. Except where you have instances where the concubine AND the child of a male character both playable and it's clear the concubine is way too you to be the mother of her partner's child, like with Diaochan and Lü Bu's daughter Lingqi. Kinda awkward.

I dunno, the gender and relationship politics in this series are so weird and fascinating.

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rubypond · 2 years

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jo wtf i thought i’d been following you all this time. have amended that error, i’m so sorry! wondering what your thoughts are on the 2019 little women adaptation and how you’d rank the march sisters?

oh arden what a lovely question, i hope you don't regret enabling me like this (and literally don't worry about trivial matters such as following me back <3)

here's my lw meta masterlist in case i don't articulate myself very well here (well. lw IS one of my biggest obsessions and i'm a rambling catastrophe)

for the actual question, let me start off by saying that i love the 2019 movie! but i sort of view it as a spin on the original story rather than something that is meant to compliment it entirely so my opinions about each don't always line up. i love that! because i developed this mindset where i stopped expecting adaptations to match the book perfectly and became more interested in the director's unique understanding of the material. (to say that i'm not too big on movies that aim to satisfy everyone and are primarily created to be liked) i'll share some thoughts on a few things the movie gets criticized for, just off the top of my head.

i love the way time works in lw2019 (because the concept of time in media is my ultimate weakness) and i love the space that kind of storytelling leaves for interpretation because not all of it has to be necessarily true in reality (and this goes beyond the big moments, like what is shown with jo/bhaer, i think the specific perspective on some events doesn't have to be the objective truth which is always fun to think about and this movie is inherently about the importance of the in-between instances that make life what it is + jo's struggle with the differences between the bookish and the world around her supporting that logic) and that IS how memory works. i adored jo and laurie in this film (my focus is usually on the platonic relationships rather than the romantic ones) and i don't exactly get how can anybody think that the text reads as romantic on both sides with them. (i am doubtful of the nature of laurie's feelings as well, you CAN interpret yourself falsely especially if what you feel is strong and society norms keep pushing you in the wrong direction, more on that here) jo doesn't want to lose her friend, losing her friend feels earth-shattering to her and her internal conflict comes from the inability to match what she feels with what the world wants from her. her being willing to sacrifice her future and comfort for laurie's sake is messed up, but it doesn't mean that she loves him romantically, just that friendships can be as complicated as romance is.

she doesn't say that being a wife is what would make her happy!!!!! she never entirely opposes that statement, she only ever claims how living her life without laurie beats it in intensity. i n s a n e

as for my ranking of the sisters, jo is the one i most relate to, but the characters i relate to are rarely my favourite characters. i love encountering perspectives that are foreign to me and doing my best to understand them, i think that's how we learn and gaining knowledge is the number one goal to me when it comes to anything bdjdjskdk amy used to be my favourite, but she is way too similar to jo for me to list her as my favourite sister. this is my current ranking: 1) beth/meg; 2) amy; 3) jo. meg used to be my least favourite (doesn't mean that i didn't like her !!!), but i love these moments in every day life when i suddenly get her (especially book!meg) and i will probably reread the book once again just to do a study on her character.

sorry for taking this... well everywhere at once, i hope i wasn't a bother <333

#little women #little women 2019 #jo's rambling issues tag #irl amy pond tag #restless wind inside a letter box💌

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elytrafemme · 2 years

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31, 34, 36 :}

31) Do any system members have a different gender or sexuality? How do you guys handle this?

oh Boy, don't we.

so, yes, every single person has a unique gender identity and sexuality. to give a very brief rundown (with some detail lacking): i'm genderfluid & an arospec ace lesbian, dahlia is cis girl and aro bi, klav is queer in very way but sometimes IDs w bisexual, nightshade is gender apathetic and mspec, rory is cis guy and gay, cynthia is demi girl and something .

i could talk about this for a while, but this kind of thing actually crops up a lot of different issues or interesting phenomena. for one, gender dysphoria is shit when certain alters from -- rory gets horrible dysphoria and dysmorphia, klavier does as well, the others are more dysmorphia than dysphoria though. secondly our body has lived a very complicated life in terms of relationships and romantic/sexual attraction and having people be allosexual or alloromantic is kind of a mindfuck for us (looking at you klavier -_-)

the most interesting thing actually pertains to klavier, which is that the two of us have very closely linked experiences when it comes to attraction, and i'm a lesbian and he's a queer guy sort of creature that has a heavier preference towards men as a whole. meaning that i actually 'resonate' or 'feel like' a gay guy pretty often and he 'feels like' a lesbian pretty often because those experiences have overlap. it's really strange but a true bestie moment.

34) Do you see your system more as family, more as friends, more as roommates, or anything else?

there is no term better than systemmates, honestly. i've tried but it's pretty hard to figure it out because everyone has different relationships with one another.

some examples: klavier has in the past considered the system his family. he, dahlia, and i have called ourselves best friends, but i would not individually refer to dahlia as my best friend and vise versa. me and nightshade have a very non personal relationship and are the most distant of everyone in the system. rory and i could be considered to have a somewhat familial bond. cynthia is someone i consider a friend. klavier and dahlia lie somewhere more than friends but have no explicit relationship. etc.

36) Name your favorite quality of all the members you can think of! Including yourself! ;)

YAY YAY YAY OKAY.

me: i always want to improve myself and do better, as a host but also as a person, and have never really lost the desire to become a happy person, which is an extremely admirable quality for the hardship i have been through.

dahlia: despite an angry streak, she is able to keep a cool head when she needs to protect the system -- she holds me accountable for the things i do to wrong her but has never let her temporary annoyance with me get in the way of keeping me safe (same goes for everyone else in the system)

klavier: absolute ray of light, has gone through so much and yet is so endlessly kind, always lets himself feel things no matter how difficult it may be.

rory: knows his own boundaries but also supports other people as long as he physically can, will front to help me out but will not front long enough to experience the mental anguish he gets from prolonged times in the body, very trustworthy in that sense.

nightshade: has found a lot of joy for themself and has been able to strike the balance between work and relaxation.

cynthia: i know very little about them but they have nice music taste!

#nightmare.system #long post

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its-tie-kir-ra · 2 years

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You’re an absolute trooper for watching this garbage show for us. I’m sure you’ll cover it in your s2 video but what are your thoughts about Setsuna suddenly becoming so enamored with Rin after learning she was their mother? I felt so out of character.

Thank you! Honestly I'm just being a drama queen at this point. I'm having a good time! The S2 video will be absolute chaos, it's set in stone at this point, lol. There will be screaming, wine, and bitchiness, I decree. I've already gotten one of my best friends helping me write it oh no 😭

Personal anecdote time, I am adopted. So I feel like I got some unique insight here. Unfortunately adoption/child abandonement and the complicated feelings that arise are rarely addressed with nuance in fiction (it's almost always instant bond/I forgive you kinda thing and that has rarely been my experience) and Yashahime is on that train. That is where the issue lies.

My dad met and married my mum when I was about 1, and he officially adopted me when I was 3. My biodad wanted nothing to do with me. As an adult I went out of my way to seek out other people that were adopted because being adopted is fucking weird, and it can be very isolating in a way that a lot of people who aren't don't understand. Like the line "blood doesn't matter" makes my eyes roll because that is not the experience of most adopted children. Every adopted child has wondered at least once. Most of us want to know. To be clear, it's not always, and it's totally valid if you never want to know, it's just not the norm.

It's extremely messy and complicated, so I'm not gonna get into too much detail, but I don't have a relationship with my bio dad's family and he died when I was 17. I never met him. And it's fucking weird.

It's weird to know that there's this whole group of people out there that in an alternate universe we would be in each other's lives. And as a kid I did romanticise him a lot, because my childhood was quite traumatic (did you think I became this funny by accident????). I'm not quite sure how I would've reacted if I had met my father face to face when I was 12 and before I realized what an actual shit bag he was. Even now I'm not sure how I'd react if one of them messaged me wanting a connection.

I don't think it's entirely weird that Setsuna would see her mom and immediately feel a connection to her. What is weird is that it's the first time it's come up. As a child I thought about my biodad all the time. I still think about him a lot.

Setsuna never displays any real curiosity in any sense about Towa or Sesshomaru before that and that's what's weird about that scene. Like I talked in my vid about how Riku telling the audience about SessRin was extremely weird, because if you go your whole life not thinking you had a family and then suddenly you had a sister you'd have a lot of questions. Towa spends the entire series trying to impress Setsuna, she puts a lot of stock into them having a bond, and she never wonders about Rin or attempts to make a connection with Sesshomaru. Even in the scene where Kaede tells her about Rin it's not Towa who brings her up. It's weird.

Some adopted people don't want to know. And this is valid and fair. Setsuna was set up to be that kind. Which does happen, I've met quite a few that don't care to know, but it's the minority. It would've been different if after they met Setsuna asked if Towa remembered their mother, or displayed any curiousity towards her father.

The series unfortunately just doesn't seem to be all that interested in exploring the very complex relationship that adopted kids have with their biological families, and just seems to want us to care about Rin being their mom because she's their mom.

Like that's one gripe I have with the Inukag scenes; Inuyasha and Kagome aren't Moroha's parents, not really (watch me get yelled at lol). I'm sure they love her and it was great seeing them reunited, but they're not her parents. Not yet, at least. It's going to take years to build up the intimate relationship they would've had if she had been raised by them and even so that trauma that Sesshomaru and Koga put her through will never entirely go away. There's always going to be moments for Moroha where she's going to mention something and Kagome is going to be sad she missed it or Inuyasha is going to be angry it happened. It's a bubble; for the first little while you're happy to meet them and then suddenly you have to deal with them being real people.

There was a show in the 2010s (I can't remember it's name) that kinda dealt with it; a girl in foster care sought out her birth parents in help getting emancipated and found herself being put into her biological parents hands. Because imagine being 14 and suddenly after years of not being told what to do, you have a mom who's telling you what to do. It'd be like "what the fuck, bitch, you were gone for 14 years, you can't tell me what to do".

So yeah, it's out of character. I will bet money that one day they'll turn on the music, they'll all hug, Towa and Setsuna will call them "mom and dad" and I'll be expected to cry over it but instead my eyes will fall out of my head.

(This was written in the bathroom at work on a timer so plz forgive any messiness)

(I also do acknowledge that Yashahime is a show primarily for teenagers/tweens but I hold in my heart that most kids are not stupid and are able to grasp these complex situations because a lot of them have lived these complex situations)

PS: also to all the shippers who invalidate any adoptive relationship in the process of trying to validate your ship, you're an asshole. Done and done. The people who are around you who do have adopted families are listening, and the feeling of being lost sucks enough already without you throwing your "Sota is not Towa's real dad, Sess is her dad" GARBAGE into the pot. My dad is my dad. I say this with my whole chest:

Fuck You

#anti sessrin #anti yashahime #anti hanyo no yashahime #yashahime #hanyo no yashahime #anti rinsess #setsuna #adopted kid #adoption discourse

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