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kurokens · 8 days

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In The Middle | Satosugu

anime/manga: jujutsu kaisen

character: gojo satoru & geto suguru

words: 798

pronouns: they/them

request: none

notes: probably an overused prompt but idc sue me, i needed to write one of my own. im a sucker for misunderstanding. i haven't written anything in such a long time, it's been a while im sorry, satosugu have been on my mind for a while, and i needed to write something with them because i love them so fucking much. it's gonna be a series, so hopefully i dont disappear after one part lol... later on it might be specific on some insecurities bc i need it and i thought well let's just share it with the world and other who might need it. sorry for any mistakes T-T

not proof read

song rec: SHE'S - In The Middle

genre: hurt comfort, fluff, slowburn, a little bit angsty, poly?

warnings: bad english not my first language, satosugu are in a loving relationship, misunderstanding, pinning, a lot of pinning on satosugu's end, reader is so oblivious (is that the right one?), insecure and self conscious reader

You've always told yourself you weren't the type to live with anyone, you liked your quiet and your peace. Alone in your little bubble, without a soul to disturb it. And yet, here you were awoken by your roomates lover quarrel in the room next door, for the hundredth time this week.

"Don't you love me anymore? Am I not enough for you?" a whiny voice whisper-screamed "Satoru, my love, it was a dream, it was all in your head." an exhausted voice replied

"So what?? It doesn't mean anything? Are my feelings not valid?" Gojo huffed.

"How are you so dramatic so early in the morning? Let's go back to sleep come here.", Geto carefully lifted the blanket so his boyfriend could go back exactly where he belonged, asleep and quiet in his arms.

Such occurences weren't new to you, you could even say there were your daily life, that's why you laughed hearing the bickering couple, and turned around in your bed to try and fall back asleep while their muffled voices could still be heard in the background. This was without counting on what part of their conversation your brain decided to pick up on next. "I dont know for how much longer I can do this Sugu.." Satoru sighed. "Me neither love, but there is nothing much we can do about it.They live with us." His black haired lover replied. "I know, ugh I know, but it's getting so much harder everyday. Seeing them is becoming unbearable. I can't stand it anymore, we need to do something." He went on. "Shh, I know, I feel the same. But we can't just drop this on them all of the sudden and expect it to go well." The oldest reasoned.

Your heart shattered on the other side of the wall, now sitting against the headboard, an unstoppable flow of tears falling down your face. You were a bother? You thought the three of you were friends, shit, scratch that, best friends. And yet, yet, this was how they felt about you. Fuck fuck FUCK You needed to calm down, it's okay, you're okay. It must have been a nightmare, yeah that's right, a nightmare. Your brain loved playing tricks on you, waking you up in the middle of the night with the most vivid and realistic nightmares ever, enough to send you into full blown meltdown. Nothing to worry about, it was just a nightmare, nothing else. That's what you told yourself and yet when you woke up you couldnt shake this weird feeling in your stomach. You contemplated staying in your bed all day and avoid your roomates but that would be silly to ignore them for something that was potentially just a dream. So you shook the silly feelings away and got out of your bed, made your way to the kitchen to make some breakfast. Your two roommates were already there, being lovey dovey in each others lap and the weird feeling made its way back into your stomach. "Hi there." You greeted tiredly, only to be met with an echo of short hms, and not even a nod to accompany the cold greeting. The lack of acknowledgment not helping with your already overthinking mind, you decided to take a quick breakfast and just leave them be. It could just be a coincidence, nothing to worry about haha, right? Or so you thought, because you were back in your room mindlessly scrolling through tik tok when you once again hear the muffled voices of your roommates. Your brain screamed at you to put your headphones on and drown out their conversation, but you couldn't get yourself to do it, and you decided to listen to them, to at least finally be able to know whether or not you dreamed what happened last night. And maybe you shouldn't have, but what else could you do now but listen to the cruel words of the ones you once considered your best friends. "Suguru, we need to do it soon. I can't even handle looking at them in the eyes anymore, let alone utter a word to them. We can't keep going like this." Satoru complained. "I know 'Toru, I know, but you need to understand it's not as easy as you think it is." You heard the black haired man answer. And it was enough for you, you needed to get out of there. You obviously were no longer welcomed here, and the sooner you left, the better it would be, for both parties. So inbetween tears you picked up a bag and threw some spare clothes and anything that you could think of in your frenzy state before you ran out of there, determined to never come back, at least not for a while. here u gooo!! sorry i've been away for a while, i've been finding it hard to write and staying focused, but i missed it so much, especially for these two. i'll try not to take too long to write AT LEAST a second part, but would love to do more than this bc i want it to be extremely slown burn and a little bit angsty krkrkr

#saturn's writing #satosugu x reader #satosugu x you #satosugu poly #jjk x reader #gojo x reader #geto x reader #jjk x you #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen x you #gojo satoru x reader #gojo satoru x you #geto suguru x reader #geto suguru x you #geto suguru x gojo satoru x reader

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caffeiiine · 4 months

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I read the tags on your Kunikida post… go ahead and explain, my liege

JUST SAW THIS SOMEHOW ABYWAYS TYYY

OKAY so probably going into detail about how kunikida can be considered passively suicidal since i have the most coherent thoughts on that aand warnings for stuff of that nature under the cut :D + length

[also small disclaimer, i have been procrastinating reading dazais entrance exam and so far have only seen the anime adaptation which apparently left a ton of stuff out so feel free to correct me on inaccurate details and/or missed examples or just downright incorrect information]

[note: idk if passive is the correct term bc i was thinking about it and hes not exactly like oh i hope this kills me yk, so whatever that term is lmk <3]

This stuff also sorta ties in with his ideals and their potential self destructive-ness. they tend to cause him to either negligently often risk his life with there being an apparent “other way”, or just outright risk his life with barely a second thought for his ideals.

so kunikida has very strong morals and that’s the core of his character. the main ideals referenced in the show being his infamous “ideal woman”, “how to make dazai ideal”, and the ideal that basically tells him to save people. [i forgot what that one is referred to as]. If we’re talking timeline wise i think one of the first examples of his ideals causing him to negligently risk his life would be in Dazais Entrance Exam, or The Azure Messenger arc if you’re an anime watcher.

First example off the top of my head in dazais entrance exam would be when him and Dazai first see the hostages, specifically the ones in the room

after the gas came down dazai has to actually wrestle kunikida away from the room because otherwise hes gonna die. kunikida repeatedly shouts about how “people shouldn’t die like this”. This might be a bit of a tangent but later on in the episode he remarks how he “may as well ahev set the bomb off himself” when Dazai asks about Rokuzou’s dad, implying he blames himself for Rokuzou’s dad’s death. This is of itself isn’t enough for me to say “oh yeah he’s passively suicidal” so moving on to the main manga where there are several other instances of his tendencies to throw himself directly in harms way.

[there may be examples before this i just skipped to chapter 40] and starting off strong we have the thing with Aya. This could be written up to circumstance but he had the opportunity to avoid death himself so im counting it. he’s basically hugging death. that’s all i have to say for this.

of course he ends up surviving it because of deus ex machina yosano. After the fact, Aya asks him what he would’ve done if Yosano wasn’t there. To which he replies basically he would’ve done the same thing he just did except died and basically would have been fine with the outcome as long as she didn’t die in front of him. [he would’ve been dead as well and not had to deal with the guilt] i should point out as well, he does this because of his ideals. he specifically cites his ideals around these parts usually. The not letting anybody die before his eyes is one of ideals and the most common one he uses.

[im pulling that from the fact he had no backup plans or anything to actually stop the bomb aside from Yosano, since his words could imply he would’ve tried to save Aya. and the guy with the bombs was using the fact Kunikida holds his ideals very close to him, taht he wouldn’t have allowed Aya to die if he could’ve prevented it.]

aaand i think our last example and best example for tonight

context for the scene: they’re in the getaway helicopter and tecchou is trying to take it down via his sword and Kunikida decides to take matters into his own hands and take down Tecchou. First off, HE DID NOT HAVE TO, CHUUYA IS RIGHT. THERE. HE LITERALLY SHOT TECCHOU WITH GRAVITY BULLETS EARLIER.

HE DID NOT HAVE TO RISK HIMSELF BUT HE DID. also additional context, in this arc and the previous arcs, he’s been faced with situation after situation where his ideals have failed him and he’s been unable to exercise them and save the people he thinks he should.

point being, he feels like complete shit! he probably is thinking like if he should do anything then, it should be he makes sure he gets his friends out of there. regardless of whether he’s dead or alive because he jumps out of the plane and full body tackles tecchou while being in direct contact with fucking chuuya.

chuuya “has to stay out of the fights and arcs half the time because he’s too good at his job” nakahara.

chuuya “just shot tecchou and did a decent job at keeping him back a few pages before” nakahara. you see my point.

oh and then he just attempts to blow the both of them up.

he does not care for his life at all here. not one bit. also he did not need to blow the both of them up. he could’ve made a fucking stun gun or anything else that wouldn’t KILL the BOTH of them??

my whole point is he does not care for his life here and it’s gets worse the more you progress through the manga.

anyways anyways ending off, kunikida repeatedly puts his life in danger either for his ideals or neglectfully and/or without need. this has been a ramble. this man is not okay.

also kinda funny is he’s partners with dazai of all people, actively suicidal princess bungou himself. i really enjoy their differences and how similarly different they are.

^ not actually related to anything but i almost started laughing so hard with my family in the room at this piece, junichiro looks so concerned

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carulenes · 1 year

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an analysis of wolfwood’s characterization in trigun stampede as well as his connection to vash (+ why i believe he’s likely much older than we think)

okay i’ve been thinking abt this since eps 10 or 11 were released (this show became my special interest the second it dropped if i'm being completely honest) but its been scratching at my brain ever since i read the sakuracon radio interview and since i haven’t seen anyone talking abt this yet i figured i may as well because it’s clear they really did pull very extensively from the manga and i really am loving how they adapted his character. also i occasionally keep seeing the “tristamp wolfwood is a kid/is 14-15” takes which i need to at least try to help put to rest bc they make no sense given his other iterations and would actively make the story worse.

a quick tldr of my main points before i get on my very long winded soapbox:

wolfwood in trigun stampede has been used as an undying, unkillable soldier by the eye of michael for decades.

rollo as a character, as opposed to monev the gale, was designed specifically as a metaphor for wolfwood’s backstory.

wolfwood and vash are written to be literal complements to one another.

I literally don’t think I have the space to talk abt all my thoughts, and ofc these are all my personal thoughts so any and all of what i’m saying could be wrong, but direct analysis of eps 4-7 (as I think they’re the most important) and discussion of his trajectory in general under the cut (obvious spoilers for the show but also the manga as well as tw: discussions of suicide/suicidal ideation as well as the general tw list for the show's graphic content):

Starting first with a side point that Wolfwood was never a child at any point he was with Vash during thecourse of the story, including the manga. He has always been a man in his 20s, with trimax ww having the appearance of being in his 30s or 40s. It is absolutely crucial to his and Vash’s characterizations, as well as their entire dynamic together, that Wolfwood is an adult. Could make an entire separate post about this, but I feel like starting here is important.

Onto the sakuracon japan radio interview. The team gave a LOT of interesting insight into the development of the show, but one specific point stood out to me:

This is important, because I definitely missed it during the show’s initial run, but I think it’s REALLY obvious once you know what you’re looking for, and is a big factor in why I think he’s likely older than we realized.

————

EP 4: These are the very first lines that are said about him in the show, and the very first time we see him, he is absolutely exhausted:

We know that at this point, Wolfwood is likely on his way to Jeneora Rock to meet up with Vash to fulfill his contract...until Vash and co. quite literally slam into him (and his life) unexpectedly, nearly killing him with their van. He probably should’ve died except… he’s on his feet almost instantly, able to walk perfectly fine and being a jackass as though he didn’t get launched halfway across the desert by a moving vehicle. Which is… odd, naturally.

When they try to find help and instead find the dead couple, he specifically mentions that he isn't a priest like he's been in other iterations. He's now an undertaker, someone meant to guide others through their deaths:

His personality is hard to tap down. He's goofy and childish and downright unlikeable, and there's a hint of something lurking deeper, something menacing and potentially dangerous. So much so that Roberto is on edge the entire time their group is together after being swallowed by the Grand Worm, and flat out tells Vash that Wolfwood is untrustworthy and likely an assassin, "a man who can kill with a smile on his face". And Vash’s response is… really fucking weird, given how long the two have known each other:

not to mention he's wearing sunglasses Wolfwood is rightfully very ??? in response because, what the fuck is he talking about, and why is he so genuine about it, they just met???

Fast forward to a bit later, when Wolfwood is like "hey man, you really shouldn't be so trusting. I could've shot you in the back several times now." To which Vash is like "but you didn't, though." And Wolfwood is even more confused because is this guy stupid???

And then it's time for the final act: Wolfwood reveals his Punisher, destroying the Grand Worm while giving the illusion of taking out Zazie as well. Meryl was informed by someone that Wolfwood had been the one to save them all, but when she tries to thank him, he immediately shifts the subject, being annoying and arguably completely unlikeable. Roberto points out that Wolfwood had lied about who he was, trying to get Vash to realize that he still can't be trusted, and again Vash shoots it down: "We're alive because of him."

Wolfwood showed his role as the Punisher without hesitation, and not only was Vash not really phased by it, but he actually seemed to be inspired by him, stopping his self-destructive tendencies and even repeating his own words back to him. And that's the moment we finally learn his name in the show:

But then, almost immediately, we have a complete reversal of his scene with Vash in the Worm. It’s also of note that Zazie always specifically says human lives:

————

EP 5: One of the most important episodes in this discussion, and it starts with the name alone, "Child of Blessing". Here’s a very general summary:

A young boy in a much less than ideal living situation is chosen to be 'a blessing upon the world through his sacrifice', which turns out to secretly be mutilative experimentation on children in search of a subject compatible with a mysterious medicine that can heal any injury. The meds warp him, morph him into something that doesn't even appear to be human. He tries to return home, but his mother, the only family he knows and loves, is terrified of him. She calls him a monster, and the boy finds himself struggling to articulate who he is. Then, he wanders alone alone without purpose in that unchanging altered body, a body that can withstand lethal amounts of damage directly because of the meds, for at least 20 years. All he has is a single name: Vash the Stampede, the person who promised to save him, and the one person who managed to bring back his consciousness in the end, if only for a moment.

The moment Nicholas sees Rollo regenerate is the second the switch flips. He instantly demands to know what the fuck is up with him, and when Vash responds telling him that he was too late to give him the medicine he needed, Wolfwood shuts down, because he recognizes himself. From this moment until the rest of the episode, we are no longer seeing Nicholas D. Wolfwood; we're seeing Nicholas the Punisher.

Vash continues to push Rollo to remember who he is, while Nicholas continuously says that there's no way to save him, that he's already a monster now. In the final moments, Nicholas inevitably feels tasked with Rollo's death like the undertaker he is, and when Vash angrily demands to know why he took the shot, his response is:

When discussing Rollo's killer, Elendira refers to Nicholas by name, but Conrad specifically states that no, he is the Punisher.

In vol 10 of the manga, Vash thinks to himself: “I met a strange man. Just as I thought we had come to an understanding, I found that our core beliefs were opposed to each other. I was used to such situations, but I wonder how he felt.”

————

EP 6: This episode builds directly upon the foundations set by the episode prior. Child of Blessing ended with Rollo being referred to repeatedly as a monster, and this episode begins with Nicholas in the middle of completing a kill. Right before he does, his victim gets one final glance at his assailant, an inhuman looking executioner, and calls him a monster… directly because he will not die. He’s also been shown knocking back meds like tequila shots in tristamp, which we all know was NOT possible in the manga. During the flashback scene, Nicholas is literally called the Child of Blessing.

We see a very similar sequence with Nicholas that we saw with Rollo; the horrific torture, the bodily mutilation (during which Conrad specifically mentions that the drug will heal all damage done the body, as well as rebuild and strengthen the cells), and the attempt to return home:

Something different happens with Nicholas, though. Nicholas can't go home; he’s literally yanked away from his chance at freedom by Legato. Nicholas can’t go home, likely ever again in his mind, because Hopeland Orphanage and the Eye of Michael represent two fundamentally different ideals.

Hopeland (and thus Livio) is exactly like its name for Nicholas: it is is land of hope, the only place in the world where Wolfwood was allowed to exist freely. When Nicholas was taken by EoM, Wolfwood began to die.

The entirety of the EoM is shrouded in imagery of death and rebirth, specifically in regards to humanity. Humanity in this case has a dual meaning: humanity as a species, and humanity as a concept. Their philosophy is that the end justifies the means in that humans in this form will be preserved and would likely live exceedingly longer lives but, as repeatedly mentioned, there are side effects.

Aging and death are integral parts of the human experience, the two aspects of life that we ALL experience regardless of circumstance. Can you be human without humanity?

The message behind these two episodes is to show that the process of becoming part of the EoM is a metaphorical crucifixion symbolizing the death of one’s humanity. And Nicholas is interesting, because he’s almost the perfect specimen in their eyes and is treated as such. Almost. The only thing holding him back are the two strands of humanity he has left, both which are nearly destroyed in the very next episode.

————

EP 7: In the previous episode, during the animated flashback of Nicholas and Livio, we see a few scattered scenes of other people living at the orphanage. Interestingly, while almost all of the children are seen with very sparse detail (or even none really at all), there is one person, the caretaker, whose face we get a pretty clear picture of. At the very beginning of this episode, we have the first and only shot of the inside of the orphanage in the usual style. While none of the children are familiar and actually aren’t incredibly distinguishable from one another, there is one figure in the room with recognizable hair, but looks considerably older than in the flashback:

During the majority of their interactions, you don’t see Nicholas and Livio interacting with any of the other children. They are simply a background, a set piece to the story and a representation of just how other they were forced to become.

This episode features them fighting each other, dealing each other what should be mortal wounds, but somehow remain standing, as though they’re perfectly fine. As if on cue, the soldiers stationed call them both monsters and run away in fear.

But Vash doesn’t run from the danger. He runs towards it.

Nicholas tries to stop him, and all he gets in return is “he’s important to you, isn’t he?” as though that’s enough. But it is enough for Vash. And Nicholas doesn’t know what to do with that.

Nicholas comes dangerously close to giving up, to giving into his role as the Punisher and killing the last bit of Wolfwood to do so, but it’s Vash who stops him. He diverts his shot and, instead of hurting Livio, literally frees Nicholas from Legato and Zazie’s trap. Vash tells him to make him remember, and Nicholas thinks it’s bullshit… until he doesn’t.

And when he finally relents, when he tries to emulate what the silly blonde idiot keeps screaming at him about… It works. For a moment, but Livio does wake up for a moment. Nicholas hadn’t been able to see Rollo, but he did see this. And he really doesn’t know what to do about it.

To drive the point home, Livio drives a bullet into his own head and falls to the ground in a scene very reminiscent of Rollo’s death… but is implied to still be alive. With him saved, now it’s time for Hopeland. And this is when the narrative really turns a focus to the balance between Nicholas and Vash.

The group is half convinced that they’re about to die snd that the town will be destroyed when, all of a sudden, it’s Nicholas who’s yelling that they have to do something. Because despite all the noise Nicholas makes about self-sacrifice and calling Vash a weirdo, he’s directly inspired by his energy, which is proven correct when Vash is the first one to side with him.

Then, somehow despite the odds, the two of them manage to work together to stop the ion cannon. Which should have been impossible. And because of this, Nicholas is finally willing to give Vash the chance to take the lead on things.

When Vash and Wolfwood discuss their plan to save Hopeland, and after they argue about which method is the correct one, the conversation they have is probably the clearest depiction of Nicholas’ inner struggle:

Nicholas: Have it your way. Just for today. I do owe you one… but if the orphanage doesn’t survive this, I’ll hurt you so bad you’ll wish you were dead before I kill you.

Vash: Wolfwood…

Nicholas: Shut up! I’m the Punisher! I’m not like you… I’m Nicholas the Punisher…

He murmurs the last line as though he’s trying to convince himself. He uses his persona as the Punisher almost like a mask, like a cat puffing up and hissing to deter predators. It’s a defense mechanism, and a trauma response. Except.. it still doesn’t work, because the entire time Vash is simply not listening. Regardless of what Nicholas says, Vash does not stop fighting Nicholas on the title that was forced on him by the EoM and, in fact, blatantly rejects it. And the moment Nicholas finishes speaking, when he declares himself to be the Punisher, the episode’s title card finally appears: Wolfwood.

It's a direct representation of this panel of Nicholas' inner monologue from the manga:

——

Nicholas and Vash’s roles as each other’s complements is emphasized very deliberately when the two work to stop the sand steamer from smashing into Hopeland. These screenshots occur one directly after the other:

Another detail the team mentioned often during the interview was attention to use of color. In color theory, blue and orange are complementary colors: hues that are opposite each other on the color wheel but, when used together, come together to create harmony and balance. Additionally, Vash is the character typically associated with warm hues, while Nicholas is paired with colder ones; with the colors flipped, it’s almost as if they are literally mirror images of each other.

The two are in the same position, in the middle of similar actions, both drawing strength from that which makes them “other” in order to work together to protect a common goal. And once again, miraculously, they succeed, able to do together what neither could ever have done together.

This mirror motif is even clearer when comparing these respective scenes from each of their respective backstory episodes:

For Nicholas and Vash, on top of sharing such a crucial common thread in their backstories, often in the show they are seen together, either side by side or back to back. Often they’re shown doing the same thing at the same time, almost as though they’re moving as one. And they consistently save each other over and over again, with Nicholas acting to save Vash physically, and Vash working to protect Nicholas’ psyche. Vash refuses to let anyone continue to see themselves as a monster, as lesser than, in much the same way Nicholas refuses to let anyone else be used as one.

They are a pair, a unit working together to create a force that is stronger than the sum of its parts.

They are both “other”, they are both different, and they both seek to protect the things they love and care about despite the excruciating pain it can put them through.

Nicholas and Vash’s entite dynamic is basically “I don’t understand you, but I recognize you. I recognize myself in you. And somehow, that’s enough for me to trust you.”

————

So with all this in mind, here is how I’ve come to understand Nicholas’ arc throughout tristamp:

When we first meet Nicholas D. Wolfwood we meet a weary man longing for death to save him, longing to be free from the purposelessness of his life but knowing the hope is futile. He works for the Eye of Michael as an assassin against his will and has for God knows how long. Not only is he no longer a priest, but he’s no longer religious at all, having no belief in God at all and a particular disdain for the false promises and hopes of salvation that are portrayed by it. He doesn’t care about the clothes he wears, whether he looks messy, whether it’s suited for the desert, because he literally doesn’t care about anything, really. He has no home, and can never go back to the orphanage— there’s likely no one left there that he knows anyway, and even of there were, they wouldn’t recognize the monster he’s become. Nicholas is tired, he’s angry, he’s potentially depressed. He fights impractically, sometimes leaving himself open to attacks he could probably block with his Punisher, but he just doesn’t care. He’s just here to do his job, which is to escort his piece of shit CEO’s assumedly equally piece of shit brother to him so they can destroy the world together and he can hopefully die off in peace.

Until he actually meets Vash, and he’s… really fucking weird. He’s dumb and naive and acts like he knows Nicholas on some deep level after they’ve just met, but… he’s not a bad guy. Just another crybaby who doesn’t understand the world. He can see the Punisher and not be frightened by it. That means something, means enough that he feels that he can introduce himself now. He still doesn’t know how to handle kindness, so he deflects whenever it’s shown to him, making irreverent jokes and being annoying in order push people away. But then he meets Rollo and has a flashback to himself. He learns that Vash is no stranger to false promises, has sold the same thing to the kid who ended up just like him, and yeah, Vash is no better than the EoM. He talks a big game but doesn’t actually know anything. Nicholas kills Rollo out of mercy because it’s what he wishes could be done to him; every day of living his life is torture.

But then his hometown and childhood best friend are suddenly in danger. He’d completely forgotten what it felt like to have something to lose, to protect. And without planning for it, Vash also becomes something to protect, because even if he doesn’t act like it, Nicholas desperately wants to believe in him. He doesn’t want the EoM to be right. But the feeling of having something to protect is terrifying, because it means you have something to lose. Nicholas gets incredibly stressed out by this, because it’s been so long that he doesn’t even remember what it feels like. But it’s enough to get him, for likely the first time in a very long time, to hope. And it’s Vash who helps him so that he’s able to hang on to that hope for a little while longer.

He still can’t get too excited, because he hasn’t actually finished his job yet. Before he does, though, he sees Vash’s scars (which was a deliberate choice, as in both the manga AND the og anime this scene went to the girls) and wow, if it weren’t for the regenerative properties of the drug, he would likely look the same. He drops Vash off with Knives and knows that Vash will likely be killed, but he’s also expecting to die himself in the fallout, so it doesn’t matter, really. Except for some reason, it does a bit. And then, yet again, Vash miraculously doesn’t die, and in fact changes the game and actually looks like he might stand a chance against Knives, and is clearly willing to die to do it.

And then July is destroyed. But, miraculously, Nicholas isn’t dead. He still finished the contract, but now… now what?

The show began with Nicholas at his lowest, and ends with Vash at his lowest point. And Nicholas owes him one.

————

INCREDIBLY long story short, it really is clear that they weren’t kidding, the team really drew SO MUCH inspiration from the themes trimax it’s unbelievable and I really really think we’re in for something incredible during the second phase. I also think it’s gonna hurt like a bitch.

#trigun stampede #trigun #trigun 2023 #nicholas d. wolfwood #nicholas the punisher #tristamp #tristamp wolfwood #vash the stampede #tristamp vash #this had no reason being this long but fuck it we ball and i was off work and had the time anyway #neurodivergency go brrr ig idk but like i really haven’t seen anyone mention any of this #and like it really is entirely possible someone did but like i Need to discuss it

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pinklikeroses · 11 months

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I really don’t like how one demential Stella is from helluva boss. She has the potential to be a really interesting complex character but is watered down to be a mean wife with zero development

I also don’t like how the show and the fans justify stolas’s cheating.

It’s terrible that he was forced to take part in an arranged marriage and that even though he made an effort to at least have a platonic or cordial relationship with Stella—

That she rebuffed his efforts and was a total asshole to him.

But no one deserves to be cheated on. I really hate how with a lot of media these days….characters both in canon and fandoms are written as black and white and aren’t given proper layers. And I think fandoms have ruined that. Like, you can still like a terrible character while acknowledging that they’re a terrible person without making shitty excuses for them

You can hate/ dislike a bad character without justifying all the terrible things that happened to them. I think the problem is ppl will give their faves or protagonist the benefit of the doubt or give them grace but characters we’re supposed to hate, that are written as bad, don’t deserve grace and patience and understanding

For some characters that’s true….some characters don’t deserve sympathy some characters don’t deserve redemption

But there’s a proper way to write it and I feel like creators and fans are missing that

Some of y’all already know how I feel about lore Olympus

It does a bad job of writing complex characters and holding the “bad” ones to a higher standard. So much so it backfires.

Minthe is one of the characters that was done SO dirty and was only put there to be an obstacle for hxp same as Demeter.

Minthe cheating on hades? Bad! Persephone persuing hades even after discovering he was already in an official relationship? That’s okay!

Because she’s our main protagonist! She’s nice! And not mean like that b*tch minthe!

Zeus cheating on Hera multiple times, with different women for decades? Bad! Zeus is a womanizing jerk who ditched his kids and mistreats his wife!

Hera cheats on Zeus by having an on again off again affair for freaking decades!?! That’s okay! Bc we love Hera! She supports hxp! She’s trying to set them up! She feels bad for poor poor hades! She’s constantly mistreated by her husband so that’s okay

Stolas was mistreated by Stella who was and is a terrible spouse but that doesn’t justify his cheating. I do feel bad for him sometimes. It sucks that the physical relationship he had for blitzo turned emotional and that he started having romantic feelings for him,only to get rejected time and time again. Stolas isn’t an entirely bad character we see multiple sides of him, he loves his daughter, he cares about blitzo he tried to do right by Stella. But even good characters can still do bad things.

And I don’t wanna hear “well they’re In hell lol 🤪” especially since we’ve seen multiple how monogamy and marriage are treated in this show. If the show is addressing how important it is..then it matters. If it didn’t it wouldn’t…..

It would’ve been nice to see that development and care be put into Stella instead of the classic hateful wife/spouse….

#me ramblings #Stella #Stolas #helluva boss #critique #lo critical #anti lore olympus #lo minthe #lo Demeter #lo hades #lo persephone #just something that’s been on my mind …..

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stardustdiiving · 7 months

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I have a lot of really small headcanons about the concept of “elemental resonance” I keep incorporating into my genshin fics whenever I write them bc I love using the concept that the characters can pick up on other people who wield elemental power’s energy, and the fact elements can react or resonate with each other as a really small way to give insight into how a character feels about things or people around them

I enjoy imagining and using that as almost like another kind of “body language” or mode of communication. I like using it to give characters more defined presences and personalities especially with how they’re viewed through an external POV

Things of this nature I’ve kind of thought about/written before include:

Wanderer will describe the unusually strong elemental power radiating off of Archon characters he’s around as “unpleasant” and tell the reader he doesn’t like being around gods because they all radiate this oppressive and uncomfortable energy that makes him feel very defensive…but he noticeably doesn’t seem to mind Nahida’s elemental energy despite being very aware of it and describes it in a much more pleasant way because He Likes Her

In contrast a lot of people find Wanderer’s Anemo “jarringly sharp like storm gales” or just really odd/confusing and potential sinister(????) but then Nahida just describes it as like, gentle and very nice even if it’s a bit wild sometimes :) (this would confuse everyone if she told them this)

Lynette and Freminet can tell when Lyney gets upset/anxious, especially over them, because his Vision that gives him elemental power came from his ambition to protect his loved ones, and they would describe him being worried as like, a flickering and more fast paced sort of Pyro energy radiating from him that feels very directed towards them specifically

Venti tends to passively reach out and “resonate” with a lot of elements around him, especially with people he likes or shares his element with, as sort of a way of going hello! I see you! Jean and Xiao describe his Anemo energy as very like, reassuring/comforting/makes them feel more centered (he usually does this when they seem stressed out), while a lot of the Mondstadt characters don’t recognize it’s coming from him and just feel more relaxed/comfortable/“at home” (or nostalgic for Mondstadt if they aren’t there at the moment)

Kaeya describes a lot of the pyro characters he’s friends with (Klee, Amber, etc) as very warm and nostalgic—he doesn’t say it directly but the implication is it reminds him of Diluc when they were younger. In present day he describes Diluc’s energy as “subdued heat” towards everyone else but “smolderingly cold for a fire” when Diluc’s attention is on him because their relationship is in great condition ❤️

Characters tend to find being able to resonate with the energy of people they’re close with very comforting (it’s like a hug or leaning on someone for support basically). They usually note it’s especially reassuring if it’s done with someone of the same element. They usually do this pretty deliberately but u can also have characters sort of reaching out to their loved ones more quietly if they don’t like being very emotionally open (lol)

^^ so Tighnari usually reaches out with his Dendro passively for Collei to “lean on” if he can tell she isn’t doing well and wants to like, very intuitively reassure her. Kaveh and Al Haitham both pretend they never do this but they are regularly both “checking in on each other” whenever they’re in proximity as sort of a like “are you there? Oh hi you’re here. Okay nice”

I could go on about this for a while with like every character but I find it so fun. I really love subtle characterization or adding more personalized descriptions to characters beyond just like purely physical appearance jducjfjd

#fern.txt #fandomferns #genshin #idk if I should tag all characters here there r so much #it’s hat radish . the Fontaine siblings . venti . ragbros. collei & tighnari . kavetham. etc #I didn’t focus on them but my note abt venti hc with xiao was present in xv I wrote once fihcjf #this post is so long but I just needed to braindump abt this

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navarice · 1 year

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my dearest fellow mdzs stans, i really don't want to spoil anyone's fun but sometimes some things must be said. please do NOT mistake fanon characteristics for canon characteristics because by GOD is it frustrating to dissect a character when all anyone wants to do is blindly turn away from the very vivid and metastasizing flaws.

jiang cheng is an extremely complicated character, and that's why we love him. but by god, he is a jealous, self-victimizing asshole with a massive inferiority complex who likes to torture (probably) innocent look-a-likes of his (as far as he knew) dead adjacent family member. jesus christ this isn't some simple case of miscommunication (well it is but, you know no amount of communication will ever mend the giant chasm that developed between them. especially not with asians raised within the most classical case of asian parenting, i mean come on now) but a matter of deep and intense self-loathing developed since early childhood projecting violently outwards. let me be clear. he hates wei wuxian. he loathes him. he wants to kill him with his own hands again and again so some part of his convoluted sense of justice and superiority will be fulfilled. he's a classist, a bully, and abusive to everyone around him. ong at the end of mdzs, i was nearly crying tears of joy when jin guangyao flayed him flat on his ass bc that man needed to hear it. he needed to feel it. he needed to stop blaming others and blame himself.

and!! he's homophobic!! the entire cultivation world is, yes, but he's the only one we see give wei ying and lan zhan active shit for it!!

point is...his complexity makes him interesting. as a child, he was pretty alright tbh. he was understandably upset when three of his dogs got taken away and he saw his dad give a completely random kid such a gentle hug when jiang cheng never received one so far. he was a kid, and it was sad and helped the readers get a glimpse at the already dysfunctional family dynamics before wei ying came into the picture. as an adolescent/teen, yes he had a lot of unresolved rage and inferiority issues building up when he was constantly being compared to wei wuxian by his mother and not given enough reassurance from his father (once again, all present before wei ying...everyone just likes to dump the shit on him bc it's easier to point fingers at others than at yourself). perhaps he could have turned out differently if literally either of his parents stepped up and took accountability. however, after the burning of lotus pier? after the golden core transfer? after wei ying stuck around as his subordinate just as he promised, and protected jiang cheng like he promised, and defected just to save the yunmeng clan's reputation so jiang cheng doesn't have to put up with the other clan's shit, still continuing to keep his promise? after wei ying's death? idk abt y'all, but all bets are off bro.

mxtx makes it a point to make him so irredeemable. he's an exploration of what can go wrong if you let your traumas, self-hatred, and revenge fantasies blind you. he has the worst traits of his parents for a reason, directly contrasting with the other sibling, who is a perfect picture of eldest daughters born into a dysfunctional family. jiang yanli has the best traits of her parents (in terms of compassion and standing up for her family), but the family dynamics also made her the way she was. the responsible, the mediator, the occasional mother, stepping in where madam yu cannot.

there's just so much potential to hold him accountable buried under the pretense of misunderstandings and kinnie moments. he just had so many chances, more than any other character, to make a different choice. to actually look past his misgivings and unlearn the bad habits he used to protect himself as a child. i'm not saying he has to magically heal from all his traumas, but at the very least know not to be like his parents. but he wasn't written that way. because that is what happens when you give into your insecurities and generational trauma.

bottom line: jiang cheng is a fantastic archetype that needs to be explored in all his authenticity, including his moments of loyalty and cruelty.

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peckforlovingheck · 6 months

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why it’s hard for me to have a favorite sbg character.

spoilers (but nothing from fast pass bc I haven’t read it!)

this was a thought I had last night. I love the cast. All of them. It’s hard to have a strong opinion though of them because they are still getting development in the story. With there being specific things that have been revealed, there’s like.. some spotlights.

of course we have Ashlynn’s development as we can obviously see her arc of her opening up to the group. She is the main character so of course we’d see the most development centered around her. Ofc ofc. We know the most about her as well.

We also have Tyler who was always defensive of his family being amplified due to the dangers. I wish to see more outside him being one half of a twin and the blunt sort of aggressive guy. It’s cool that he works hard around the house though, because that part of him trying to work harder and help out more was relatable to me.

Ben’s whole thing is so much insight into his development. It feels like he does care very much for the group as well even though he can’t say it. I can only worry about what would happen if the whole anger phantom thing took hold of him…

Aiden…???? His development I guess mostly comes from the shipping. I’d like to see him receive some more development that shows more to him outside “oh look at this little happy freaky dude Ashlynn get your freak on a leash pls” like what has value to him considering he’s rich so price value isn’t as much compared to his value of the people in the group..???

Taylor… Taylor.. Taylor.. my bbg. I love her, don’t get me wrong. Her positivity is brightening since everyone else is afraid (Logan mostly) or aggressive as hell. Unfortunately she’s the underdeveloped twin. We’ve seen more of Tyler’s reactions to everything and seen how Taylor cares so much about him… but in the future I’d hope she gets a chance to have development that’s unrelated to her family. She’s… augh.. she’s a lover but she sure as hell have more potential.

Logan. Oh boy. He’s currently in his development to become braver. It could become totally well written or cringe. It depends on how it’ll be. I’d say a good step is when he shot the phantom though. That was actually a good scene to have him spotlight for a moment. The whole ‘oh look at him helping his bully’s next victim out’ felt kinda.. eh.. but I think it’s heading in a good direction.

notice how I’m talking about this like it’s the start of something..?? Almost as if we are reaching a rising action. the characters still have so much room for their character to shine through. I can’t really decide to hate any of them when we’ve seen maybe 20% of their potential. However.. it’s hard for me to pick a favorite either.

they are each so interesting in their own ways and I think it’s amazing how differing each one is.

to the point where I can’t pick a favorite. The cast is so tied together.

#sbg #school bus graveyard webtoon #school bus graveyard #sbg spoilers #sbg (webtoon)

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mikeellee · 4 months

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Hi 👋

I don't know if this is just me but what pisses me off about hori is how he treats izuku but not only that what pisses me off a lot more is if you really think about it izuku is low-key the best character you can have to be your main character. What I mean is that izuku is probably one of the only characters that has a lot and I mean A LOT OF DIFFERENT PARALLELS/ CONTRASTS with other characters whether it be as obvious as izuku and all might or as vague as izuku and Dabi. Izuku is the only character who has this which in my opinion makes it so much easier for hori to develop and use him to expand on the story and world building of MHA in general.

So coming back to my original point I really hate hori for ruining izuku and it's literally something I can't get over because by ruining izuku he kind of ruined the whole story

Hey @bibibbon

Thanks for the ask. So many good points here, let go for parts.

1) I think Hori sincerly hates his MC. He has stated how Izu is all thanks to a gag. "We have ikemen characters/pretty boys and gags characters" that I could ignore as I noticed how Japan and others asian countries do think poorly on freckles. But its the way Izu's pain is written off or as a gag that cements how Hori hates Izu.

You don't see any shonen writer do such thing with their MC. Oda does love Luffy. Kubo loves Ichigo and so on...Hori? He is riding BK's dick shameless.

2) Izu has many good paralels with Shig and Dabi. Dabi has a quirk that hurts him(only Dabi has this...I ignore Aoayama bc it was so...poorly done and just to shit on Izu. I will touch on that in a min) and even coming from a rich background...Endy did absolutely nothing! Inko IS emotional neglectful with Izu and did absolutely nothing as Izu was abused for 10 years.

Izu has so many paralels with Shig...its insane. Its insane bc Izu knows almost 0 about him and Shig- while knowing Izu is quirkelss and reacting surprisingly well- knows nothing about Izu. The final showdown is sooo...meh. What those 2 know? How Izu can even save Shig at this point?(his only mission here and is EXTRA HARD for no reason)

3) Izu has a quirk that hurts him and fuck him! I mentioned Aoayama before...ok. look, Izu got a quirk that breaks his bones and UA looks and does nothig, Aoayama's retcon is how he was a quirkless boy and went to afo to get a quirk...I do think this revelation is just to hurt Izu. No, he and Aoyama arent bffs, but his past can hurt him...but at the same time Izu can't ever heal.

He was abused! Plain and simple.

Hori weeps bc...the abuse made his beloved bk look bad.

Izu? Fuck him. Hori wrote this.

4) Izu had such potential. He could have a quirk(quirkless hero Izu wouldnt work in the story) but being way more creative. Hell, imagine Izu winning the Sports Festival without using his quirk? That would be cool.

To sum up, Izu's pain is a gag for Hori. Izu is given a ridiculous impossible task and is hirt and alone. Know the worst part? Its how saving Shig is not smth season 1 Izu would ignore. Izu would help him...or try. This plotline is useless.

Hori is riding on bk till the end.

#hori is a bad writer #never saw a author hating his own mc like Hori does #izuku deserves better #love receive asks #mha critical #bnha critical

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dupliciti · 1 month

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KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER.

repost, do not reblog this

NAME: rath, debating on switching alias to terios

PRONOUNS : she/they

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION : discord 100%. i do not just use mine for rp so i don't really mind if from the get go we exchange usernames for it. will be okay chatting in IMs as long as the messages aren't too long since they're a mess to read sometimes

NAME OF MUSE(s) : sampo

BEST EXPERIENCE : honestly this has been my best time. i'm not in school so i don't gotta worry about that and i've made friends with some chill people and also enjoy seeing all my mutuals. i get to talk about sampo in this void it's great asjkdgh uh which i mean is half of the reason i made a blog in the first place, i needed to put my hcs and thoughts into something! and the fact that people are receptive and in turn will write with my sampo is all i could ask for

RP PET PEEVES / DEALBREAKERS : ship collecting. i don't want to feel like you're following me just to ship with me because i'm not into that and sampo in particular is difficult. i do not mind talking about ship potential, but if you're just following and opening up with shipping.. nope

assuming something about my muse, like something personality or motive wise i mean. sure, he's a canon character, but i have thoughts on literally every little thing in the game regarding him. analysis... headcanons... they all have their place and build upon my understanding. this is basically the only muse i write atm so i have the time to spend like this on him and it means a lot to me when people observe my flavor of sampo in the light i've tried to put him in. the same would apply to any other muses i write

ghosting. i've had this issue a couple times already within this rpc which... it's whatever. but idk, i feel like if you've made me put effort into communicating with you and you just take off after gradually putting me in limbo with you or giving weird responses... it's off-putting and makes me feel as if i've wasted my time. what i’m talking about in particular has always resulted in the other person blocking me without a word so yeah. that’s what i mean by that. outside of this context, softblock or hardblock me, no hard feelings.

not cutting posts? i can't think of anything else super pressing

MUSE PREFERENCES: i'm trying to think of the types i've written and it's usually similar to sampo in some manner? so dabbles in crime, mysterious background, hard to trust, doesn't trust others. mostly that stuff??? i think nate drake is the only example of me attempting to write one of my fave character types? which would be golden retriever-esque (but he still does illegal things sooo) but i usually don't end up writing them fsr outside of that asdjkgh

PLOTS OR MEMES : plotting is preferred and accepted for anything. uh memes are fine? sometimes i just get overwhelmed with getting a lot of prompts... like rn.... lol

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES : i prefer a happy medium especially if we have multiple threads. you could write me a one liner and the shortest i might go is a paragraph, so yeah. longer stuff will take me a bit to respond to but sometimes shorter stuff i struggle with if we haven't been plotting idk asdjkgh i prefer writing a couple paragraphs personally

BEST TIME TO WRITE : i am realizing i have more energy in the mornings for writing but i usually don't wake up early enough on work days. evenings are great, nights not so much. after an 11 hour work day i'm typically drained.. it sucks bc that's when i have the most free time

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S) : no not at all LMAO, he's v much the opposite of me in every way possible... well. i don't really trust people easily so maybe that?

Tagged by: i seen many do this, i steal

Tagging: @aventvrina, @crimsonbesotted, @deathsmaidens, @defiedlife, @voidfragments, @sagnaevi, @iiryoku, and whoever wanna !

#( dash game; )#( ◇ ᵐʸ ᵈᵉᵃʳ ᵃᵘᵈⁱᵉⁿᶜᵉ┊ ooc; )#long post

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pigeonwit · 8 months

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mr pidgeon. you made a post about crace (crutchie and race) as a ship like two months ago. they are my number one realest pairing of all time. the otp of otps. do you have any more thoughts about them? if so please share bc content is so rare and far between ty

love the way this is written like a formal request my guy. 'please sir may i have some more' type energy. love it. ABSOLUETLY yes.

so my big thing with newsies is that - to a certain degree - ALL the characters could potentially work together relationship-wise. it really just depends on how you want to interpret them, and since there are so many different productions of newsies and so much room for interpretation of all these slightly-different versions of the same characters, i have a lot of different interpretations for all of them. i've got a big empty brain and something has to fill it, and i spent so long pondering crutchie and race's dynamic in the,,, foooour years? five? five years of me being a newsies fan, that they're just,,, stuck in there and they're not leaving. so i would be THRILLED to share some thoughts*.

*every single crutchtrack thought i've ever had throughout my (approx) five years of watching and re-watching livesies and seeing uksies twice.

so my interpretation of crutchie and race as characters is like... they're both friends of jack's, but that's kind of where they end with each other. i didn't see their interactions in the musical as brotherly as other people do, i saw it more like 'we're supposed to be friends and this is how friends treat each other but it's just not landing the way it should' - in livesies and uksies, crutchie seems pretty offended (and a little pissed off honestly) that race implies it is only his limp that sells him papers. we know race is joking, but i don't think it ever occurred to race that that's not something he's allowed to joke about with crutchie. and to me, that speaks to them never having hashed out those boundaries together, which i interpret as them not having spent that much time bonding one-on-one despite both being so close to jack.

i also think crutchie being such a realist (especially in uksies, dude is kind of a jerk) made it difficult for them to connect with each other as well - i know a lot of people interpret 'king of new york' as race trying to keep the newsies from losing hope, and i imagine that that's part of it, but he literally got his name from constantly betting on horses at sheepshead, and with crutchie being such a realist ("we got the right to starve, let's just get our papes and go", rolling his eyes at katherine promising them a place in the paper, etc) i imagine that causes some friction between them. race, despite everything, believes there has to be some small chance things can turn around, whereas crutchie (again, ESPECIALLY in uksies) believes that focusing on what's real will keep him from getting stung - and THEN, during the strike, both of them seem to switch; crutchie is the one trying to be optimistic because he's finally let himself believe that they have a real chance, and race is pulling away because he knows the odds are stacked against them. and again - they are NOT getting along over it! race openly derides him in front of all the newsies! i wouldn't call them POLAR opposites, and i do agree they probably got along the way friends do, but all of their interactions gave me the idea that neither of them really seem to Get the other in the intrinsic way all the other newsies seem to. i never interpreted them as actually close, and certainly not brotherly, at least not until the strike, wherein they both start to realize there's more to the other than they thought. i think crutchie has always been underestimated by the people around him, even jack, and i think race always brushed him off as just another naive stray that jack was looking out for and didn't bother getting to know him, the same way crutchie probably brushed race off as an impulsive loudmouth gambler and didn't get to know him, either. i think their friendship became WAY more solidified during the strike for the split-second it lasted; and i think crutchie being taken away so soon after is left this massive hole race had been to oblivious to notice before.

i think race very suddenly realized the weight of crutchie's absence, especially right before king of new york - crutchie is definitely not an OPTIMIST per se, but he does clearly try to be kind to people, even when the situation is dire. but no one's doing that now. they're all wallowing in their loss and no one's there to goof off and make them smile again; hence, 'it ain't been the same without ya' (yes i made an entire backstory for that one fucking line i don't CARE okay i don't CARE you don't know how much that broke me). and i think after the strike, race - however conscious he is of it - is the one who keeps looking towards crutchie, keeps noticing all the little things he does to keep the newsies sane, keeps seeing the way he sets his shoulders when he's stressed and fiddles with his rosary when he's nervous, and doubly notices all the ways in which crutchie tries to hide that from people. i think he realizes that for all the years he spent knowing crutchie, being kinda-maybe-but-only-in-a-group friends with him, he never actually knew him at all. so he makes more of an effort, tries to talk to him more, even tries selling with him at one point, purely because race is the most annoying person alive when he's curious, and crutchie,,, DOES NOT care for it, obviously, because why is race being so nice to him NOW, when crutchie's freshly out of the refuge, than he ever has been before?

i imagine crutchie might chew him out for it, really lays into race for trying to take care of him when crutchie's made it pretty clear he's more than capable of taking care of himself - and i think race gives as good as he gets, really, because race doesn't shy away if someone's picking a fight with him. but i think at some point in the argument, race must say something along the lines of 'making up for lost time' - and that's something crutchie turns over in his head a LOT afterwards. until he realizes that oh, this isn't about his time in the refuge, it's about all the time they spent nodding at each other instead of saying hi or how are you, it's about all the times they awkwardly smiled in passing because neither of them knew what to say, it's about all the times they COULD have known each other and just. didn't. out of sheer convenience.

so crutchie turns up the next day and tells race they're selling together, and that's that. okay, so crutchie's blunt, race didn't know that - or, well, he did ("you're seeing stars all right", "ain't we got no rights?" "we've got the right to starve", etc), but he didn't... know that. not really. crutchie's polite to the delancey's and wiesel when they buy their papers, but when oscar tries to yank his papers as crutchie grabs them to make him lose his balance, crutchie stands completely firm, strong enough to make oscar wobble a little - and takes his papers with a saccharine smile and a 'thank-you'. okay, so crutchie's a decent person, race did know that, but he's no push-over, he's actually kind of tough, and race... did not know that. it was always there, and race never knew it.

so they sell, and every so often they make some attempts at conversation that, as awkward as they are, are still enjoyable. crutchie's funny, actually. not just roll-your-eyes funny, but genuinely, clutching your sides funny. he's kind of dark, too, and race loves it. and as much as race is noticing that, crutchie's noticing how smart and insightful and genuine race can be when he's not trying so hard to be a loudmouth - or maybe he was always that genuine and crutchie had just rolled his eyes and figured he was just being a loudmouth anyways.

they start selling regularly. they keep talking, asking questions - they try to keep it small, but somehow 'what's your favourite selling spot' becomes 'how'd you come to new york' which becomes 'how'd you meet jack' which... tells them a lot. and over some time, they're really starting to understand each other. it's weird - they're both very aware that race shouldn't have to ask what crutchie orders at jacobi's when they've supposedly been friends for years, they're both aware that crutchie shouldn't be surprised that race has so many cousins when he talks about them all the time, so on, so forth. but those cracks are starting to fill, and over time, they fit together. friends. real friends.

and when they're up late and drinking on the fire escape, and race turns to him and asks, "you ever been kissed? just, y'know, just askin'..." they both understand each other perfectly.

#i am so sorry for the entire fucking essay this became but. i do love crutchtrack very much #gotta make it clear that i am a multishipper through and through #so like i have a lot of these kinds of ship-thoughts. crutchbert. racevid. etc. not sprace surprisingly - at least not until i saw uksies #now sprace is locked in my brain REAL tight.#crutchtrack is just the one i happen to've thought about the most #idk why i have to make that clear i guess i just feel like i have to explain myself all the gd time but!! i hope you enjoyed this anyways!!#newsies #uksies #crutchie #racetrack higgins #crutchtrack #ask #just-pot-over-here

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radexchangeprogram · 1 year

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Ok ok- this post is gonna be me talking about my thoughts about the new game and such.

I will be honest, a big reason I haven’t been writing is bc I’ve been burnt out with Obey Me bc of the direction of the writing, but this game makes me really hopeful.

I’ve seen some people say that they think this will be a pre-mc game and that Solomon will be the MC, but I don’t see them going that direction. Solmare’s whole thing is otome games and I think a big draw Obey Me had/has is that self insert element. However, I definitely think Solomon will play a much bigger role in the game.

I think the game is going to be a series reboot.

long post w spoilers below the cut

Here’s why:

Obey Me is a lot more successful than many other of Solmare’s ips. This isn’t to say their other games don’t have fans, but Obey Me is definitely a lot larger. I don’t think they were expecting Obey Me to get this big when they were initially writing the story.

I think when the game first blew up, Solmare probably resorted right to pushing more of that fan service and provided quantity over quality to make fans happy, which I get it, it’s an otome game and a lot of us like fanservice. But I think they realized it’s a lot harder to write when you’re trying to please everyone at once and it’s a lot harder to maintain consistent fans.

Gacha games get a lot of their funding off of whales. I will be honest, I used to whale in Obey Me. I had the money and tbh, I was very impulsive. I have not opened the game since the anniversary and before the anniversary, I had not opened it in months. And I imagine many other people who are still fans have been doing the same.

I think Solmare realized this and has been trying to fix it (e.g., having events focus more on one character as opposed to shoving every character possible in there), but with the way the main story is structured, there isn’t much more they can do to make it flow well.

I think the story will definitely involve RAD and the exchange program, we can see Thirteen in the trailer at RAD.

Image taken from @animepikagirl

Solmare has also been very good about listening to the options of fans (compared to a lot of other companies of the same genre) and I know a lot of fans have been very vocal about being disappointed in recent stories and the lack of character development.

As much as it pains me to say, I think Satan is the best example of how poorly they’ve handled their characters. The poor man has been flanderized to hell and back. Compared to his season 1 self which talked about his love of cats while still giving him a personality and exploring his psyche, and you’ll see that it’s been reduced down to him purely loving cats. Even as early as season 2, he started really getting reduced down to that (e.g., the reaper’s cave. It was a funny season where he pet the trap cat and wasn’t the worst example, but I think it highlights when the writing started to go downhill). I think they realized the flanderizing has become a major issue and want to avoid it in the new series. I may be biased because Satan is my favorite character, but he was name dropped in the hints.

Another character that I think they will probably want to do better with is Asmodeus. Given that he’s pactmates with Solomon and Solomon was name dropped in the hints, I think he will also play a much bigger role in the story. Obey Me has done fuck all with Asmo despite him having the potential to be one of the most uniquely written characters. @/Neocoded has a lot of posts about how Obey Me has fucked Asmo fans over with it’s frankly poor writing and tbh, they also have a lot of posts that talk about the really cool potential Asmo could have as a character if handled correctly.

Overall, I’m very hopeful that this new game is going to be Solmare showing that they’ve learned from the writing mistakes they made in Obey Me:SWD. I think now that they have a bigger budget and likely bigger team, they’ll be able to invest more in the quality of their content to maintain their fanbase better. I’ve been playing this game for 3 years this month, I started playing 2 months after launch. This series is still very special to me but I want to see it improve instead of settling for frankly mediocre writing. This is not meant to bash any of the writers or Solmare, but is simply my honest opinion in how the quality of the writing tanked after season 1 and how I believe this new game will be Solmare showing the fanbase that they want to take the franchise in a new direction.

#obey me nightbringer #obey me shall we date #obey me #obey me theory

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akatsukitrash · 3 months

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1 - 19. all the numbers >:^)

most overrated character?

Doing this again because there are so many of those : Shikamaru and Hinata. Before someone kills me I do like Hinata, I just hate her fans. Like in what way did she surpass Neji when she can't be arsed to run without falling. Bffr Neji's the strongest Hyuuga. And Shikamaru isn't smart when his entire victory hinges on dumbing down and nerfing both Hidan and Kakuzu.

2. was sasuke right?

Answered

3. were naruto's intentions with sasuke selfish?

Answered

4. are the romantic undertones between naruto and sasuke intentional or accidental?

Accidental. Kishimoto's misogyny made him fly too close to the sun of yaoi.

5. can kishi write romance?

When he wants to? Yes. It's not the wildest romance, but he showed he can write a decent one with Tsunade and Dan (and arguable Minato and Kushina although I hate that couple for other reasons). Even ShikaTema aren't too bad. He's just clearly not interested in writing romance

6. what makes the Naruto ending bad?

Everything leading up to it. The way the antagonists (especially Madara) were treated both by the narrative and characters, the way Kaguya came out of nowhere, the way Naruto and Sasuke kept getting unearned power ups. Hell on earth. Then all this culminates into a VOTE2 fight I never wanted to see with a Sasuke who's blabbering nonsense, and then suddenly, skyscrapers and ugly ass kids of ships that got little to no development. None of the questions brought up by the story got resolved

7. should Naruto have become hokage ?

Answered

8. show a screenshot of your latest draft with no context

9. which Naruto fandom words are you allergic to?

"deserve" (always used in ship wars), "who has the saddest backstory", "babygirl", "yandere", "actually kishi didn't intend-" (amazing under theory posts /s) and such

10. is sakura a shitty character or shitty-ly written?

Shittily written. That girl did not catch a break from the moment she got introduced, and she's not the only one, pretty much every female character is shittily written. They're just one of two misogynistic stereotypes, with no fulfilling arc, no space to throw hands like the male characters etc etc. Yeah yeah Tsunade isn't too bad but she still suffers from misogynistic writing

11. is Itachi a martyr, a victim, or a perpetrator?

Perpetrator. There could've been an argument for him being a victim, but adult Itachi does say he regrets nothing so clearly he's fine with the massacre and would've made the same decision as an adult aka he's nothing but a shameless genocidal murderer. I'm not very interested in waxing poetry about how hard it was for him to kill his own parents when he had like, so many choices to make, and I think such discussions are stupid when Sasuke (and the Uchiha clan) are the biggest victims of both Itachi and Konoha and yet don't get a fraction of the sympathy that Itachi gets

12. who should've died in war arc?

Gai first of all. Why the hell did he survive 8 gates? What was the point? It cheapened his sacrifice, and made it obvious that the stakes, no matter how high, are never that serious. Frankly I didn't even want him to be the one to open the 8 gates, it should've been Lee's moment (and yes, death) but well. At least one of the Gokage (preferably Onoki and/or Gaara) should've also died. And Hinata or Hiashi should've died to protect Neji, it would've been THE perfect symbolic end to the Hyuuga issue. Oh Shikamaru should've also died, he was useless and it would've made more impact. Probs another death in Konoha 12 would be great (like Kiba maybe?) but Lee's and Shikamaru's deaths (with potentially Hinata also dying) would've been great for tension and emotional impact. Oh also neither Obito nor Madara should've died

13. was kakashi trying his best? / was he a "good" sensei?

He was a good sensei bc he made good child soldiers. He was also a good sensei bc he did try his best to keep them safe. I don't know why people argue he's the worst. Gai, Asuma, and Jiraiya are fucked up, and Kurenai got 0 screentime teaching. Kakashi also trained Sakura, and recommended her to Tsunade. The idea that he completly neglected her is fanon

14. openings or endings?

Openings, most of them are so iconic

15. Is naruto white coded for having blonde hair blue eyes?

No??? his name is literally Uzumaki Naruto, and he has monolids. He's Japanese.

16. Is tobirama racist against uchihas?

Tobirama is Japanese. The Uchiha are Japanese. No he was not racist, and he didn't do half the shit people claim he did (he didn't disrespect Madara's body or Uchiha's funeral practices, he didn't segregate them, he didn't force them to be in the Police Force, he didn't focus solely on the Uchiha and no other threats, he didn't call them slurs (cant believe i even need to say that), he didnt hunt them specifically, he didn't kill Izuna for shits and giggles, he didnt seek out Kagami to use him as the "black friend", he didnt spread rumors, he didnt spy on them, he didnt blame them for Madara's actions etc etc etc. He was prejudiced, as was Madara (who even went as far as to cut Tsunade in half just bc she's Senju. That's way more violent than Tobirama calling Sasuke an evil brat). I think it's perfectly understable why he was so cautious about them, and I wish he was given half the understanding the Uchiha get for their own backstories and actions, considering he too was a traumatized child soldiers who watched his siblings die and was abused by his father. He's a product of his times, and even he acknowledges that. That's why he has faith in the younger generations, and why he died for them twice.

17. Is Sakura useless?

Not at all. Naruto would've died in the Waves arc without her, and that's just the first arc. People just hate female characters, and belittle healers.

18. ship wars or power scaling debates?

I prefer ship wars bc I'm not rlly a shipper so I don't get annoyed and can make fun of people who get mad at me for my opinions. Power scaling tho....I'm a great power scalers and when ppl just make shit up (like saying Hinata is stronger than Neji or Itachi than Obito) I get pissed.

19. pettiest fandom opinion you've blocked someone for?

not an opinion but i've blocked people for misspelling kakuzu's name

#naruto #anti itachi #anti hinata #im not anti hinata i just dont want her fans calling me slurs in my inbox #tobirama senju

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cyberdragoninfinity · 7 months

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Oh I think I saw the post u meam and (u can delete/ignore this is its too far from the point and shit) the "The only yusei I like is a depressed one" is so. Idk? Harsh? Hes allowed to ve happy and still be written well, he doesnt need to be shoved onto other peoples sins when the series already has him doing that. He can have an implied decently peaceful life until death. Sometimes! You do so much and oull so much weight that you become something intangible and divine to someone whos never met but still thinks of u! And sometimes its one guy and sometimes its them and the last remnants of the human race out of a desperate love for both!

Idk, just let yusei be like, not suffering 24/7, they forbid him from even entering the WGRP for fun bc ig thats bad to so many characters, let him have a scrap

YEAH. YEAH. god ive been thinkin about this all day, this is so good anon you get it you're Logged In you see the Intent of it all...

again like. if the 'z-one isnt yusei' thing isnt someone's favorite narrative choice, whatever, thats your journey, but every time i see this "well he was ACTUALLY supposed to be yusei from the future for real!!!!" rumormongering i want to groan into my hands, it just feels like this desperate grasping at straws because they really wanted Sick and Twisted Evil Yusei Real and then when that didn't happen they had to make up some grand production conspiracy instead of just taking the "welp, cant win 'em all" with this one and acknowledging that's just not the story the 5D's writers wanted to tell.

i LIKE a good protagonist corruption/evil!protag AU, they're really fun, but you're so right, this sort of Insistence I see when people are like "no, it was GOING to be true, z-one WAS dark and depressed and hopeless future yusei," i just cant wrap my head around it. there's just this sort of miserable harshness to it that i'm not personally very into. (in general i cant really vibe with this idea of "i need my favorite character to constantly be suffering." just really not my thing, ESPECIALLY WITH YUGIOH CHARACTERS??) (also. like. we already did have that. with jaden. and honestly yuma also is fucking Suffering too. it's cool seeing a different spin on things. idfk!!)

i just want to like. grab people really gungho about this thing by the shoulders and ask "why do you want a Yusei who willfully betrays and gets his friends killed SO BADLY? why do you want to see a Yusei who hurts people THIS much?" I feel like it would have just been so jarring and unearned. it doesn't feel like Yusei even in his darkest hours (which imo is part of why Z-one is such an interesting character to me--the concept of someone who thinks if they can wear a fabled hero like a pelt, if he can Become them, then that will fix everything, then They can fix everything. that's so fascinating and fucked up to me!!!! i love thinking about it!!!)

this idea that in the far future Yusei's become this sort of folk hero, this "something intangible and divine" like you said, just from saving the world and doing good and helping people, that's just SO neat and has so much merit and is worth discussing!! and it's unfortunate that you have a Not Insignificant amount of people who just wont even consider the potential narrative weight in it, who are so sore Their Trope of Choice wasn't canon theyre out here weaving madeup production stories to back up their personal disappointment. just. idk. you can give the 5D's writers a lot of rightful flak for stuff in s2, but i do very much think there was great intent from the beginning to have z-one be Just Some Guy who's rotting in a body that isnt his own, and to have him reflect yusei in ways without Actually Just Being Him.

#ygo posting #asks #anonymous #anyway ty for the message this is good stuff i could talk about it a LOT #dana's ygo bible study #<--puttin this in my meta analysis tab cuz it's GOOD.#idk! folks can have their own opinions on it but for me personally i love that they didnt go with whats imo kind of. the obvious plot choic #to me there is merit even in a story that didnt go the way you thought it would invoke the narrative just you wanted. SHRUGS. AGAIN

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horizon-verizon · 8 months

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Would you describe aegon as a ‘good/deep/complex’ (and more along those lines) type of character in the book? I’m curious to know your opinion as this is how so many Aegon fans describe him.

"Good" as in morally good? Obviously no. As in "well-written"? Eh, so-so.

I may have written a long meta about him HERE, but I thought this was so that it could make clear that he still is a spoiled raping prince who feels entitled to having power--even with him saying Rhaenyra should have--by the principle of him being male. As in "heart of hearts". As one Tiktoker I-recently-listened-to-but-can't-remember-the-name-of said, Aegon II is Rhaenyra's literary foil in that he is the result of how a patriarchal society creates its own enemies in men, creates a rapist, etc. Therefore, he's "complex" in his representational value more than as a person himself.

I see him refusing to be king at first and deferring to Rhaenyra being older/sister/chosen heir as him not really wanting the actual responsibilities and commitment of being a leader and wanting to live in a male-privileged state of ennui forever.

I also think that when some people use the word "good", they want to say they find that character emotionally compelling or "relatable" but do not want or know how to explain what they find so emotionally compelling. Or what they relate to. "Emotionally compelling" vs "relatable" is sometimes kind of the same, bc the reader is matching with traits, behaviors, and motives they experience(d). But sometimes "emotionally compelling" is recognizing a character's core desire, how it developed, understanding how they could be so passionate, desperate, etc., and admiring their determination, endurance, etc. Others say "good" to say "was this character's development logical from their experiences and does it, therefore, seem natural and emotionally realistic". And others say "good" as in "was there a fair distribution and relations of social dynamics between these sort of characters and those sort of characters"--for example, how writers write their men vs. their women comparatively to their other men and women; some claim Rhaenyra is the least well-written female Targ bc she doesn't do the strategizing as they wished she does or because she herself was not as forward-thinking or compassionate as they want a leader/a female leader to be.

I think GRRM could & should have made Rhaenyra at least come up with parts of the dragonseeds or capture of KL's with Daemon and her son even with Luke's death [scroll down to section B] (the black council advised her and deliberated on the message vs outright violence with her only saying that she forbade her kids to fight in a confrontation with the greens while said greens were in KL).

I say "parts" bc I wouldn't have believed, personally, that without a POV showing me how she did it, Rhaenyra (or ANYONE) could have pushed aside her grief at Lucerys' death to think very straight to come up with a sophisticated plan without advisers.

GRRM does have a habit of making debilitating grief the means of disallowing women/potential female leaders from addressing certain critical problems in his writing [scroll down to section B],

BUT I also think (if he left Aelora and enough of other women alone simultaneously) it's unfair to expect a person, man or woman or enby--to "pick themselves up" and be the perfect leader and push away all their grief and STILL come up with plans that will "save the day" without that taking a toll on their psyches. Again, parents can and have maimed/killed to preserve their kids' lives with little to no compunction. It's a visceral/sometimes strongly reflexive bond some people will never get or have because some are infertile, dislike kids/babies and were not paternal (this word is used for the general inclination towards nurturing and parenthood), or simply do not want children (which is fine, it'd be weirder if everyone did). But they don't have to "get" it to know that it's not wise to not antagonize a caring and protective parent.

In view of Aegon having raped many women who he has a lot of sociopolitical power over, and rape being a crime/act so heinous that I think that it merits death, exile, or castration, I find it hard to understand why people wish to relate positively to the emotions and motivations of him in particular when the evidence in the show is clear AND in the book, with a personality and position as his, rape is never going to be far from his "fondling". We know this from our own stories of rape culture and overly-privileged rich boys and fraternities. We know mothers can snd do often cover for their sons. Why would it be different for Aegon & Alicent, esp when we've seen that Alicent is all for usurping Rhaenyra and endangering her & her kids' lives?! (book & show). Well, it can only be the persons have misogynist ideas of women:

cannot stand women being actual people with flaws and searching for power without having been rape victims to "make up" for that loss of control

want women to exist to "calm" men down from their naturally violent tendencies so those men can rule "empathetically" or not become tyrants

So they naturally go to stan a rapist over a woman who had consensual sex with all of 3-4 men in the show and 2-3 men in the book for all of her life AND was the one actually usurped and lost children due to the other sides' plots and ambitions.

#aegon ii #asoiaf asks to me #hotd fandom #green stan nonsense #green stans #aegon ii's characterization #fire and blood characters #fandom misogyny

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wizardnuke · 4 months

Text

im talking about the essay grade again and i got off topic and started talking about the lit analysis potential inthe vast majority of fanfictionbjust. Ignore

i feel like it's such a humblebrag for me to be like "i don't understand how i continually get really good grades in english" because i understand objectively that 1) i am very good at analysis and/or. finding quotes to support whatever the fuck thesis i decided would be easy to support (see: "good at analysis") (i think i honestly just randomly hit the jackpot on "good thesis" but on god i just looked at macbeth and gawain respectively and was like Ah. Women's Wrongs. Easy Peasy) and 2) i know from looking at other people's essays that i am just kind of. marginally-to-a-lot better at grammar and phrasing/understand the very specific madlibs-style layout i have to use and what vocabulary that i need to be putting out. it's madlibs. there's a really technical and specific layout that needs to be followed and i just kind of follow it. it's not hard. it is boring. if i could write academic papers on the shit i'm actually interested in they'd be worthless because it's niche and/or wild tumblr user conjecture. anyone who seriously writes on. hold on i need to generate a thesis. "the cyclic nature of abuse and its direct correlation to homoeroticism in cn's supernatural" could u fucking imagine. that's hilarious. that's some hackjob shit no matter how well i could keep a straight face on the matter because all that people care about is Old Shit. i have no real vested interest in actual literary works beyond "they're important and better than people think". i have extremely strong feelings on a lot of modern works, generally movies and shows and niche dnd webshows, i cannot make a career in that shit, my english prof thinks fanfic is bullshit and i see where he's coming from! i don't think it's bullshit. but. the academic perspective on fanfiction is like "they're not making original work" because the setting/adjacent themes and characters r lifted from another work and there's no real originality in it except that the best fics i've read are like.. an alternate form of literary analysis that is so far from actual essay writing that it's unrecognizable. but people can see the themes and the motifs and rehash them in a way that is absolutely a kind of analysis of the original work, but with flourishes and new ideas and batshit choices that the og media either couldn't make/didn't feel like making/tentacle sex wasn't really thematically fitting but an author decided "hey what if i put themes into this consentacles fic" and like, i want to argue that that's legit. sometimes. but i am not going to do that bc i sound objectively insane and also sometimes it is just not that deep and that will be brought up as an argument and i just don't care enough to explain that it's still an art form even if it's not that deep. is "fun and funky fresh" not a common motivator. if "new interpretations" of works like shakespeare and shit where they plunk the characters into a modern setting and fuck with the phrasing is seen as a viable art form/type of analysis then fanfic is an art form/analysis adjacent to that. not all of it though. some of it is something else that is worse. not that i think that is in itself bad. fanfic is a hobby. can't make a career out of that. but people have made careers out of that by changing the names and setting and publishing books. and that's viable apparently. i just personally am insane and enjoy writing very serious and/or emotionally driven meta on dnd shows. i like themes and motifs and i think that while a quickly written meta post on the tragedy inherent in redemption arcs that hit 50k is absolutely not as academically sound as a cited paper on a similar subject, there's Something To It and there's got to be some kind of potential in it. i like stories. idk if i could make a living out of talking about stories especially from the insane angle that i tend to hit stories at. the possibility of making it a genuine career is driven down below ground after i take into consideration my insanity about modern stories vs my neutrality on older ones. what am i talking abt. bf is yelling for me bye

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