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0daylighthours0 · 23 days

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My Mother's Unbiased Byler + Milkvan Opinions - Viewing ST for the 1st Time!

(UPDATE)

My Mama has now witnessed Stranger Things in its entirety. Her favourite season was the third, her favourite characters Hopper and Joyce, her favourite pairing would be those guys too, and her most disliked pairing? Can only assume.

I wanted to write out her thoughts on the second to last episode previously, as she'd held many, but before I knew it we'd finished the whole show and I was forced to an income of NEW opinions which ruled out my memory of any old ones. Shucks. But boy did this lady have much to say. The only way I can break it down is by providing a sample of quotes she'd delivered, in order, a day after having finished the series.

All are just things she said about milkvan and byler, as they're this post's main focus. There's simply much to say about these relationships too, being so up in the air over where they ought be expected to turn out. These are all direct quotes too (as I typed as she talked, unkown to her) so you'll have to excuse the natural way in which some lines come off as unfocused, being written after real time conversations. Let's get into it:

Ok I really don't know whether she likes Mike very much. She actively disliked the guy earlier on, and now her feelings appear to be more mixed. A lot of her discussion was solely around this guy's actions.

"It's almost like he's [Mike] forcing himself like- ok Hopper he was kind of very passionate and kissing, you know he sort of instantly- with Mike, from being obsessed and spending so much time with her [El], suddenly he starts cooling off more and more and suddenly- they even separated right? I mean yeah that was out of his control but he, but he didn't really seem like he missed her you know it's like he just got on with it."

This point caught me off guard. I don't know how much I agree with my mother on this. It made me realize that during Mike and El's separation, there weren't many quiet Mike moments in which he expressed worry for her, beyond a couple that blend into him simply having breakup concerns. Any time Mike mentions distress for her whilst she's away, his talk evolves into him simply anxious over the state of their relationship. As a group, everyone in our Cali gang clearly wanted to save Eleven, but Mike really should have gotten more heartfelt moments in solitude (that means without Will you suffer bros) in which it is demonstrated to the audience that he really does miss her, as someone who is in love. Her being away shouldn't simply come off as a writing excuse for him to vent to Will. There wasn't enough of that tenderness milkvan desperately needs, and if anything I watched was an attempt then it really wasn't translated well - never trumping everyone else's familial or close frienship-like fret for El, never showcasing his concern to come from a more personal place. I mean how hard is it to have him in her room, staring longingly at a photo of hers, with a background composed of soft music. Then literally leaving it at that. I mean that is it. No Will rushing in there to insist, "you can tell her that thing when you see her k? It'll all work out trust me ight, you're the heart you're the HEART!" que affectionate gazes, constructs a byler scene for no reason I guess .

"I mean how do we know that he missed Will? He articulated it. Why didn't he articulate this the same way to El?"

True. I mean the fact that I can't remember a moment after they find El in which milkvan ask oneanother how they are, and communicate how much they missed eachother, does indeed say something. They shared a hug and touch when they first reunited, which was gladly interrupted by Will. That pineapple + pizza thing was not long enough, or sensitive enough, to be their moment. There was clear bonding, but it didn't breach a level of romance and chemistry nearly decently. It's good that they got at least that, I mean we need to know that these guys are at LEAST really close friends. And then the camera just felt like panning over to Will about to burst into tears in a corner. Like huh? Bruv you've now made it so that milkvan's pizza bit leaves a bad taste in our mouths. If I were a milkvan I'd be furious.

"You know what, I think it's done purposefully to create that sort of cold, distant, confused, you know they wanted to make people say he's [Mike] bisexual. For people to question. They want to get people to think that."

My Mama believes writers intentionally soured milkvan for viewers to "confuse" audiences, build up anticipation, make them question milkvan's relationship and wonder if our main man will spin to Will. I agree. They want that good ol' triangle comeuppance.

"They really are trying to bring that across- so that people start thinking Mike, you know he doesn't love El, he loves Will. They're really trying to, make people think that. Giving them [milkvan] a really nitty gritty relationship."

Yup.

"When you're gay. Coming out like that it's- it's terrifying. You have to be very careful. And Will could, he could tell. You know when someone is attracted to you. I think, things became sort of- sort of complicated. And Will sensed, he could feel that Mike is attracted to him. And that's why he could open up like that. Because you can always tell. You know, you just know, so that's why Will was able to confess these things to him [she sees painting scene as a confession, whether Mike realized it or not, and so do I]."

Well damn Mama. And there you have it folks. My.. I'm not gonna call her the h word but.. my- notabigfanofgaythingsandwouldbehappytopretendtheydon'texist mother, perceives Mike as a homosexual kid, and just that. Well bloomin heck that's all the confirmation I need.

I didn't expect this as a turnout, I mean so particularly. My Mama actually didn't like byler - I think. Well. Bloomin heck. She actually enjoyed Vickie x Robin, and this shocked me to my core. I don't know whether this is simply due to her being a fan of Vickie's actress (recognizing her from Anne With an 'E'), but I do know that my mother has a bias in gay relationships and sees ones involving females as more "pure" than that of two males. So her language when describing Will has changed since her realization that he loves Mike for sure (which became undeniable in the van scene). She describes him as being 'obsessed' with Mike, and says writers really wanted to get that obsession across. I agree with Will having been one note during season 4, him hopefully having more time to shine in the approaching season, but I thoroughly disagree with him coming off as obsessive. I suppose our camera man displayed the guy's little glances at Mike so often that my Mama felt it was overdone, and unable to be ignored. I also think she's just avoiding use of the word 'love' when describing anything homosexual.

She still doesn't think Mike demonstrates how much he loves El enough to leave no room for debate. According to her, his moments with her seem surface level. Just as a reminder she does not know my thoughts. She watched that entire 'I love you' thing and still isn't secure in any genuineness of the guy. I believe she supposes that we're intended to acknowledge milkvan's romance, but also probe it.

I now wonder whether my Mama was good enough representation for the average audience, because she actually does own a bias - this being that she usually actively dislikes gay things. So I puzzle over whether her brain overanalyzed any of the boys' highlights, wanting to "expose" their homo intentions. At first things were up in the air, but it became clear that Mike did not pass her gaydar, he was simply too intimate with Will to make that pass. And this wasn't the case in other seasons, she never questioned their friendship til now. She also hasn't acknowledged any supposedly queer relationships besides rickie (vobin?) and byler, meaning that other fan favourites such as elmax, steddie, ronance and such else didn't stand out as gay to her. This doesn't signify those other relationships to not have a chance, I'm elmax's personal cheersquad, it's plainly clear that my mother didn't have a tendency to point at every same sex relationship and yell suspicious. Byler was purely undeniable. You can thank Will's love being canoned for this, otherwise noone would have a need to read into Mike.

I don't know whether she supposes byler to have a chance moreso than the milk in the van, even with Mike's ambiguity. It would seem that as of right now her guess is that watchers are intended to second guess both relationships in order to build up interest. However, she doesn't know how unlikely Will's love life is to turn out negatively seeing as those damn writers manipulated crowds into consistently sympathizing for him. Dunno about the rest of you but that sounds like good news to me.

I have no idea how to close this analysis. Is it an analysis? There's much more I want to say, much more she said, but I fear this to be too jam-packed and aimless as is. I'm writing a third part to my most recent milkthevan failing relationship deep dive, and that'll possibly consist of thoughts I wish to input after gathering so much data from my mother.

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devourable · 11 months

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So, I love all of your OCs so far! I’ve been wondering: how would the yanderes feel about a darling with a young kid? (To make it simple, other parent isn’t in the picture, aside from maybe sending money.) Please, thank you, and have good day!

i decided to answer this for all of my yandere ocs bc im a sucker for found family/single parent tropes 🫶 cw! spoilers for future ocs + mentions of child neglect

🚼 the yanderes x single parent darling

⛪️ | abraham would be a bit surprised, to say the least. but he comes from a community where people get married and have kids the moment they’re out of high school (if not the moment they become adults) so while he would be sort of caught off guard, he’d adapt pretty quickly. he’d definitely fantasize about becoming a little family unit, probably even subtly propose the idea of expanding every so often. he wouldn’t exactly love your child — at least, definitely not the way he loves you — but you wouldn’t be able to tell with how well he treats them.

🚬 | the delinquents would be more like four older brothers more than anything. theyre all a bit too young to take on a proper parental role, nor would any of them have a real desire to, but they’d definitely have fun sharing their singular shared braincell with your kid. your child would probably grow up to be a massive little troublemaker thanks to their influence, but that’s why you love them, right? if the other parent is still involved one way or another though, they’d immediately put a stop to that. no reason to be involved with your ex now that they’re in the picture.

🌲 | mykolas would be curious of your child. he’s never seen such a young human up close before (considering he was always accused of eating them) so having a chance to actually be around one would be a new experience for him. he’d quickly start to refer to your child as his own, calling them his cub more than their name and carry them around on his shoulders or head whenever they go out together. it wouldn’t be uncommon to see him protectively curled up around them while they’re taking a nap.

🪸 | similarly to mykolas, the mermaids would be sort of curious about your child, though arguably less so as they have seen human children before. they have a very vague understanding of how to care for your child and would constantly search the sea for things that could come in handy for caring for them — you can expect to have a constant supply of eroded toys and suspiciously good quality clothes for them. they’d also try to teach them things that they’d teach the fry of their pods, though obviously they can only do so much teaching something that isn’t meant to live in the sea lol.

💪 | valentina grew up as a parentified older sibling, so while she wouldn’t particularly enthused about taking the role again so soon after getting out of it, she’d be capable of adapting to the role. she knows how to take care of a child and would ensure your kid’s cared for when they’re being watched by her, but she probably wouldn’t be able to establish much of an emotional connection to them without making an active effort to. but she does love children, so she’d learn to love yours too.

👑 | althea would hate your child. plain and simple. she’d view them as the living embodiment of you not keeping your promise to her, of you giving your love to someone else before she had the chance to have you to herself. while she’d never overtly mistreat your child, she’d be incredibly cold toward them and try to find reasons to avoid interacting with them. they’d be spoiled relentlessly with the hopes that if she gave them everything they’d need to live, neither you or her would have to deal with them.

🥩 | rhodes wouldn’t think much of your kid for the most part, but they’d express a gentle fondness for them the few times they do meet them. they’d affectionately greet them, offer them a treat, and hold a little conversation with them to keep them busy for a bit while you run errands or eat or whatever you need to do. they’re kind of awkward with children given they have nothing in common with them and have little experience with them, but surprisingly they’re a natural with yours.

🫀 | melchior has no interest in human kids. therefore they wouldn’t care much for yours, seeing your child more like a pet or something along those lines rather than a sapient being. their treatment of them would reflect that; they wouldn’t be necessarily mean or anything, but they’d be a bit patronizing and talk at them more than they’d talk to them. it isn’t out of malice, they’d genuinely think that that’s how you interact with children and any attempts to correct them would be met with confusion and frowns.

🕷️ | the alt kids would be wonderful parents to your kid. they’d more or less be sort of a mix of abe and the delinquents, but with the added bonus that they’d care deeply for your child as they’d see them as an extension of you rather than a mix of you with someone else. they’d come up with a system to help your child have a good upbringing and stick with it — faust would take up helping them study, anton would teach them manners and etiquette, and delta would help them with their social life. they’re so good for you and your child, see? they live for the idea that them treating your child well and loving them will make you love them all more in turn.

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corvuscorona · 4 months

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"You Never Forget Your First Love."

The other day, a mutual (hi! you know who you are I think probably hello hi! thank you for the Posting Impetus!) said something that made me curious (for, like, the 80th time, actually; lol. I Have Thoughts) about something: what's the split on people who subscribe to the "Stranger of Paradise probably intended for us to believe that Jack & Sarah were in love" mindset, vs. not? In general, but ESPECIALLY around these parts.

I genuinely didn't read it that way myself (& I do NOT normally give media (general) this much credit, but the writing in this game is sublime; I had no choice but to fully engage Scholar Mode on it), + I think it's interesting that SPECIFICALLY any of my fellow tumblr people / AO3-heads / Gay People Online / etc. seem to have. (I expect nothing from people who haven't been basting themselves in the same online sub-subcultures as me for over a decade. They're allowed to write wrong things on wikis, and have done so already; it's whatever.)

I wanna metapost badly again, so let's go. Join me. No poll. If you have an opinion on this, I'm looking directly into your eyes and beckoning you towards your own keyboard + also the reblog button / comment section, like a weird ghost. What did you think when you first played the game?? What do you think right now? What are you about to think after you have read a bunch of my words. Tell Me. I Need To Know This.

Spoilers for, idk, everything? Today we will use everything we've got to talk about Princess Sarah.

1. As a Narrative Element

This game makes a point of referring to Sarah as things like "a symbol of hope and peace" as often as possible, & when it isn't doing that she's usually in the role of An Object Or Device Of Some Kind, anyway. She's important because she's capable of holding light and dark in balance & SOMEONE'S gotta hold onto this dark crystal for safekeeping, and also we're gonna need to upset that balance on purpose later. There's that conversation in the Wicked Arbor about whether the Strangers would "choose" her (as opposed to "treasure") as the "reward" for succeeding in their mission[1], & there's the one in the Sunken Shrine where Jed asks Jack what he thinks of her and Jack says that he doesn't care about her as a person[2] BUT that protecting her is mission-critical (lol), too.

Sarah's death is metaphorically charged. It's the point of no return: the dark crystal breaks, the balance of light & dark gets extremely ruined, & Literally All The Darkness In Cornelia converges in one place (Fool's Missive XXVII). That's the payoff for the "symbol of hope and peace" motif, and communicating this idea that "the metaphorical light of hope just For Real Died, Like Catastrophically Imploded, No Take-Backs" feels to me like it was the highest priority here. Second-highest goes to "Jack had way more humanity before, but he set it aside on purpose and is actively in the middle of losing the rest of it." "Sort of." "I'm not getting into what counts as humanity or doesn't because if I did we would be here forever."

Basically, I'm saying that the tidiest read on the situation is "Jack despairs because Sarah dying means in a very literary and final way that everything is ruined forever, which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with, like, Love (romantic)." I don't think the text of the game is particularly signaling that Love (romantic) is involved, and I think that if it meant to, it would be more obvious about it. You could bundle "an romance" into the "humanity" thing if you wanted to, but I'm not inclined to, based on some additional list items that you can read below this one.

[1] The fact that Neon ALSO says she feels bad for her for being thought of in this way only reinforces my conviction that the game is pointing at Sarah & yelling "REMEMBER THAT SHE IS MOSTLY A SYMBOL!", tbh. Who wants to go point out how freaky the mechanics of Being An Royalty are w/ me and the boys??

[2] I will give the Wiki WrongPosters this: I can totally see this as some kind of irony thing, given that he's still missing like a fucktillion of his memories when he says it. However! As mentioned above, I have other reasons not to read it as evidence that he was ever, like, romantically interested in her.

2. As a Sheltered Youth™

We don't have a TON of information to work with RE: Sarah as, like, a person, but here are a couple of hard facts to start with: she's 19 (per the data book, but she'd have to be somewhere in the 18-to-early-20's age range regardless or her whole deal wouldn't really make much sense, imo. She's a baby...!), and she's royalty. I think this ties into her utility as a walking metaphor, among other things; she's archetypically young, fresh, & idealistic. I'd call her naïve but the game obviously isn't interested in portraying it as a weakness, so positive words only; why not.

You could argue that people look to her as a symbol of hope because she hasn't directly experienced enough strife to exhibit hopelessness or fear in response to bad news in the abstract. I find it interesting that before Jack, like, knocks the wind out of her & tells Sophia to take her outside so she can see for herself how bad things have gotten at the end of the game, she says that her duty is to die with her people if she has to, & it doesn't even seem to occur to her that she could lead at least some of them away to safety...? When she changes her mind, she still talks about herself as a symbol before she ever uses the word "leader". She sees HERSELF in terms of symbols and metaphors, and takes action based on her designated role As One Of Those. Not very practical.

There's also the dialogue you can have with the queen the first time you're allowed to run around in the throne room at the beginning of the game, where she asks Jack to smile in front of her daughters (NOT just Mia; daughters, plural). Even if she only means "dude can you be polite please," the fact that this is The thing she has to say to Jack is telling. Is it going to upset your 19-year-old daughter to see that the Guy Whose Job It Is To Kill Monsters looks serious? Why do you think this? Does your 19-year-old daughter understand how serious the situation is, generally speaking? Do you not WANT her to for some reason? Boats don't work anymore unless a weird elf messes with them first. Not thinking very hard about the implications of this is something a sheltered person does.

Residual time loop un-memories aside, a young woman in this situation is so obviously going to have a huge crush on Jack Garland no matter what. He Is So Cool, first of all, & he's also Different from the adult men she gets to see on an everyday basis (family, guards, rando townspeople[3]...). It's not like the political social scene could POSSIBLY be thriving in this world, either; it all seems to be one kingdom we're dealing with and they're kind of busy with the external threat of being Under Fucking Attack By Monsters. Does she even get fun treats like "handsome visiting dignitaries" & what-have-you? The game doesn't present us with any potential options, here. Jack is mysterious, he has special-boy Warrior of Light status, his one job & apparent life's purpose is protecting the kingdom she loves, he's pretty nice to her (even in later cycles he at least goes out of his way to be polite!), & additionally, he's shredded. THIS makes sense to me.

There's a Q&A in the data book that has something to say about JACK as a symbol & what that has to do with this whole thing but we'll get there. We'll get there.

[3] Tangent: what's up with how Cornelia's entire adult male population appears to consist of aging queens. Why did they only make models that look Like That for the NPCs? It's awesome but I have 1 quastion

3. JACK JUMPSCARE !

I'm not about to say that he's just humoring her, or anything, but please humor ME for one second & put yourself in Jack's shoes. Not the default shoes; we can have more fun than that. Maybe the Banded Boots. Blurple ones? Shaped like a cartoon would wear them? Big spikes on the back for no reason? I love those things. Anyway, you're Jack. You're working for literally the king, & the work means Everything to you for reasons you can't even necessarily explain except to say that it JUST does. The king's eldest daughter (very young adult; Never Been Outdoors; a little overly-sociable but nice enough & what do you expect from a princess, anyway) has imprinted on you like a duckling for whatever reason. You would be nice to this person, yes? You'd be patient with her while you're in town. You have Brutal Murders to be doing, but not until, like, 2 days from now, or whatever; you're sharing space with her in some capacity in the meantime & it's in your best interests to keep her happy. (You probably even enjoy doing this, if you're Jack of a Way Earlier Cycle; I'm in no way ruling that out. Sharing your music collection with an enthusiastic Baby Adult? That's fun. I think he was probably having fun. Okay, you can step out of the fun purple shoes if you want; the Humoring Me Minute has concluded; thanks.)

Also, @2000sanimeop and I think that if Jack felt that way about her Astos would have been a little More Something about how much it was gonna suck for him when she died. In Fool's Missive XXVII he uses the word "painful," but that's about it. He doesn't even bring it up in XXV, which is the one where he says he's curious about whether she'd survive being turned into a fiend (side note: Astos fucking rocks. Why did he write that down?? I love him). & Hey SPEAKING OF ASTOS,

4. I wouldn't put Jackstos on a wiki, either.

The writing in Stranger of Paradise, SERIOUSLY, WITHOUT EXAGGERATION, is some of the best I've seen in literally anything ever. It suits not just its medium but also its sort of Place in History Relative to Other Video Games & the things it chose to DO with that medium & that niche INSANELY well. It is CUSTOMIZED. It's SO INTENTIONAL. I can't get too far into this or we'll be here all day, but the essence of what I want to say here is: there are relatively few facts presented to us by this game, compared to the implications we can go about drawing from those facts & other, external sources of context.

Sarah calls Jack her first love; that's a fact. No facts are presented to us that REALLY say much one way or the other[4] about what Jack thinks of this, himself; "fucktillion memories missing" Jack says he doesn't care, but he's missing a fucktillion of his memories, and DLC2 Jack has a set of dialogue options (hi Anne the Malboro I love you Anne the Malboro) that can point either way depending on what the player chooses, which is kind of nothing, on balance. As the audience, we can (should!) draw whatever conclusion we want about it, but none of those conclusions are text.

[4] I WILL GET TO THE DATA BOOK IN ONE SECOND. HOLD ON.

And, okay, please let me level with you. Let's be on the same page. Jack & Astos had some kind of thing going on, imo, OBVIOUSLY, but I want to be CLEAR and I want to get CREDIT for the things I'M bringing to the table to help generate this conviction. I drew that conclusion & I read that reading based on subtext, context, personal history, personal preference, & sheer gay zest for life. It is also, emphatically, NOT TEXT.

Astos refers to Jack with the ol' "...friend" in Fool's Missive XXI. He calls him "my Jack" in Fool's Missive XXXI. Canonically, textually, he has some big fucking COMPLICATED fucking feelings about this man. These are facts. If you're playing this game as Some Guy, I can see how you could potentially absorb these facts & still pay them much less regard[5] than I did & continue to. My argument here is that god I wish I lived in a world where Some Guy could extend the same courtesy to me and not treat Sarah's textual affection for Jack as something that necessarily indicates Some Kind Of Reciprocal Romantic Whatever, Definitely, Obviously, Of Course.

[5] Longer Tangent: I have been informed that the Some Guys of the world are currently pretty good at Recognizing a character that behaves in a way that's Pretty Gay, but tend to stop there, possibly for the combined reasons that A. they're not very familiar with a lot of the the ways gay relationships often work (you know, soul resonance. mutual recognition. sharing a brain etc.) and B. the Object Of Affection is usually the player character and they subconsciously shy away from thinking of a Guy They're Supposed To Identify With as gay. This is practically a lead-in to an entire separate post I could make, so I'll leave it at that, lol.

The writing is too good for that kind of assumption! I'M SERIOUS!! It's mind-blowingly subtle & endlessly fascinating to hold up to the light & view from every possible angle, and "Jack & Sarah were in love" + "Jack & Astos were in love" are BOTH ANGLES. I'm personally very very interested in giving the text credit for that. I think it's impressive. I think it's really, really cool, and I think it was on purpose. Speaking of which,

5. Word of God agrees with me, btw

This is from the Q&A section on page 156 of the Confidential File. The translations below are my own (I think they're straightforward enough, but lmk if you know more than me & I'm actually being stupid in there somewhere. Alt text has the JPN, if you want to copypaste it or something). Someone asked:

Why is it that you established Garland as someone Sarah has a romantic interest in?

The answer is from Daisuke Inoue (director, one of 3; the other 2 are from Team Ninja; he's from Square Enix):

That was because, from a narrative standpoint, we wanted Sarah to be the kind of person who holds onto hope. You can imagine that she saw the "hope" to save the world in Jack, a potential Warrior of Light. Sarah is seen by her people as a symbol of a bright future, but if there were nobody to give her hope, that might destabilize her emotionally. As for whether she felt genuine love for Jack, or just mistook her feelings of admiration towards him for "first love," we'll leave that to your interpretation.

The first time I read this, I thought the question was implying the aforementioned Reciprocal Something, but on closer inspection that doesn't even seem to be true! "思い人" seems to indicate a directional relationship; as in, the question assumes that Jack is an object of affection to Sarah, but assumes nothing about what Jack thinks.

Also, the answer uses the word "初恋" (hatsukoi), which is a very established Concept as far as "first love" goes, but in that one cutscene, Sarah says "初めての恋" (hajimete no koi), which is. Different, but I couldn't tell you how, lol. It's Not The Exact Same Phrase, but I'm not sure whether it's meaningfully different in this context. If I had to guess, I'd say that IF ANYTHING it could be a way of saying "first love" without invoking the cultural CONSTRUCT of First Love (as much)? But it's whatever. The localization holds up. All sources show that Sarah had Feelings about Jack, and all sources CONSPICUOUSLY neglect to mention Jack's feelings about her.

It was on purpose. This is my license to be as annoying as I want for one second here. I am right. All the other writing in this game is notably subtle, efficient, intentional, and skilled, AND ALSO, WHEN do you ever see anyone write such a richly beautiful, mostly-subtextual relationship between two men, which can easily be read as a romantic thing, and NOT explicitly canonize a very possible romantic relationship between at least one of those men and a woman, like not even in an interview or anything. What the fuck, man.

I'm putting away the Respectable Scholar Hat now. This is so funny. The person asking this question didn't EVEN go as far as assuming Jack & Sarah had any kind of Actual Romance going on, & the answer STILL dials it back to "she might have been conflating her feelings about Jack AS A SYMBOL with actual affection, also. We'll let you decide : ) ". This game is everything ever.

#stranger of paradise #that's it that's the only tag. there's enough words under that readmore for anyone&everyone. happy weekend!!!

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chaikachi · 10 months

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Hi! I was wondering if you had any favorite headcanons (made by you, or thought of by somebody else) about RoseGarden? There's a lot of things one can come up with for this sort of pairing, so I'm really curious about them.

I've seen some posts from others in passing, but can't tell you any one place to look for them specifically. I do invite anyone that sees this post to share any they have though!! As for me... ough where to start aha. oh wait an easy one

OSCAR FELL FIRST RUBY FELL HARDER AND I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL.

Bro literally said "woah" when he first met her and is Aware of just how Down Bad he's been this entire time. He's fine with it never being reciprocated though and doesn't want to pressure here. A very selfless love. Whereas I expect Ruby to get back from Total Trauma Island to a series of small "oh." moments that build up to a much bigger:

"Oh."

I like to think Ruby is demi-aroace. I can see her realization being an 'oh i have been a little bit in love with him this whole time' situation, but she just didn't realize because - like all her other feelings up to that point - she had been suppressing them. OR she looks back, acknowledges how much she's always cared for him and has a sort of "if it was ever going to be anyone, it was going to be you" moment. And in the face of all her loneliness and fear and grief she decides to 'trust love' and be a little bit selfish about this one thing.

aka just as Ruby chose adventure and adventure chose Oscar, Ruby chooses to love Oscar on purpose while he is sitting there like "I never had a choice but to love you. Okay this is getting long and less narratively focused so i'm gonna put it under a read more:

I like to think that Oscar doesn't stay a 'morning person' and instead becomes reallll grumpy if you wake him up too early, which Ruby does often cause she's always been an early riser. Meanwhile if Oscar manages to get Ruby to sleep for 'five more minutes', she turns into the grumpy one.

While still travelling together or working as huntsmen, Oscar always carries around some grab and go snacks that he knows Ruby likes cause she can sometimes forget to eat and giving her food is one of his love languages.

Speaking of 'love languages', I know the system has some ~questionable~ origins, but I do like to think Ruby is more of a "physical touch & words of affirmation" girlie as opposed to Oscar who is more "acts of service & gift giving". They're about even when it comes to quality time together. Are happy to be very engaged in whatever activity they've chosen or just like enjoying the other's company while they're both doing their own things.

Sparring is one of their favourite things to do together, but they are also known to dance (slow or silly) in the kitchen while they're waiting for baked goods to come out of the oven.

Oscar isn't a fan of dogs after the Hound incident and Ruby isn't big on cats after the Ever After, so they either don't get pets or choose something a bit more adventurous. Like a bunny or a lizard. Maybe chickens.

Oscar is very affectionate once they're properly in a relationship and he doesn't have to hide how he feels, but the two of them are never 'loud' about it. It's always been a quiet, subtle, natural thing. Very balanced and good communication. Patience and understanding whenever the other needs it. And they almost never fight... until either of them is about to do something dangerous and Protection Mode is activated, in which case all bets are off.

This is all I can come up with for now. Thank you for giving me an excuse to ramble abt RG and for your patience in how long it took me to answer. And again to anyone that would like to share their headcanons, please do so!!

#asks #ask #anon #anono #rosegarden #rwby #ruby rose #oscar pine #headcanon #headcanons

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thefirstknife · 1 year

Note

I have multiple questions, of which may be already known to people who've played the gamr recently (I personally came back for Lightfall, left after the raid). Don't feel pressured to answer all of them.

Has there ever been an instance where a known Exo Guardian undergoes a reset but still have to do their duties as a Guardian?

What has Eris and Drifter been up to since Beyond Light? Have they continued to communicate with the Nine?

On resurrection, does a Ghost become aware of everything that their Chosen knows about? Do they share a mental bond that ties them together? Can one hear ones thoughts? And on that line of thought, would that stop a Ghost from resurrecting a known Ghostless Guardian like Osiris?

Hi!

First question: seems like the answer is no. Exo Guardians that went through a reset are extremely rare and so far it seems none of them really resumed doing the same. From Lakshmi-2's search:

Historical Basis for Spontaneous Reset Syndrome —Heyka-3/4: Notorious Dark Ages Warlord. Post-reset, became a lone raider. —Vander-2/3: Rescued from the Great Disaster because reset incapacitated him. Served as City guard post-reset. Ghost destroyed on Luna. (Pre- or post-reset? Do Ghosts protect Exo Guardians from spontaneous reset?) —Lilakee-5/6/7: Curious case. Known sufferer of severe DER-related nightmares and outbursts. Commandeered a jumpship and vanished. —Selass-7/8: Technician sent to data mine Titan settlements. Reset occurred in return transit. Post-reset, remained research technician assisting Cryptarchs.

It's unclear for Heyka-3/4 what "lone raider" means, but given they were a Warlord first and then stopped, it probably means that simply resuming the same duties is unlikely. Vander-2/3 is also curious since we know for a fact they were a Guardian, but they lost their Ghost in the Great Disaster. Being a City guard is not the same as being a Guardian, but that could also be because they lost their Ghost, and not because of the reset. For the last two, it's not clear if they were Guardians. But given that they all changed their jobs, it's very likely that a Guardian that underwent the reset would no longer act the same and would probably not take up the same duties as a Guardian after the reset. They'd most certainly be excused in some way.

Second: Eris and Drifter did not resume speaking to the Nine, so far and that we know of! Drifter is always kinda tangled up with them due to the nature of Gambit, but he hasn't done much with them since Prophecy. I definitely expect the Nine to pop up again some time, maybe this year? I'd expect Drifter to be a part of any storyline with them.

Instead, Eris and Drifter worked together on some egregore research back in Haunted and they also worked together on Nezarec's relics in Plunder for a bit. They both have ties to this sort of Darkness stuff, Drifter especially since he both had a relic himself and he also has egregore in his ship. We've not had much updates on Eris since Plunder, though we do know that she's friendly with Eido and shares tea with her. Drifter on the other hand is still shown as actively helping the Eliksni in the City.

Third: Ghosts definitely share a bond with their Guardians, though I'm not sure if it's mental. There's definitely something more and metaphysical going on when a Ghost and a Guardian bond. For example, Fynch claims that he can hear his dead Hive Knight, both before he was chosen at all and now that he's dead.

I know. I know you don't want to be dead. I know that! You think I don't know that?!

I watched you shoot a Guardian. And her GHOST. Dead. All because I could hear you, in the back of my mind, needing me to bring you back. And I listened. I listened to the others… then to you… to everyone except myself.

I didn't expect miracles, but… I expected something!

Yes, you're dead now. And I can hear you—but I can't. Don't you get it? I just. Can't!

It's impossible to say if this is standard; Fynch having a Hive Lightbearer might have something to do with it, but maybe it's something that all Ghosts feel. However, beyond this very strange effect that death in general has on Ghosts and Guardians, it's unclear if this bond manifests as Ghosts being aware and able to hear their Guardian's thoughts at all time.

I'd say it's not applied broadly to the relationship between them, as Ghosts and Guardians still have to talk to properly communicate. For example, Ikora had a bad relationship with her Ghost Ophiuchus and stopped talking to him for 61 years (!). When she spoke to him for the first time after that, he was shocked. He spent all of that time just observing her. If a Ghost could simply mentally connect with their Guardian, then this communication issue between them wouldn't have impacted him that much.

Speaking of Ophiuchus, and related to the question, he and Sagira had an interesting conversation once about the reason for Ghosts having only one Guardian.

Anyway, O said he had a theory why there was one Ghost for one Guardian. He thought that each of us had strengths that complemented weaknesses in our Guardian, and vice versa. That we needed to be together, or neither of us would be whole.

"Like soul mates?" I asked. "Because I'm not in love with Osiris or anything. Not only would that be really weird, he kinda gets on my nerves a lot of the time."

"It is not a romantic attachment," O said. If he had eyes, he would have rolled them at me. "It is my belief that the Traveler understood that normal people would not be enough to protect humanity. That it would take those who are extraordinary in both body and spirit. And that only by the merging of Ghost and Guardian into a single unit could this be accomplished."

Interesting! Ghosts don't really agree on matters like this and they tend to have a lot of different opinions on their own nature and the nature of the bond between a Ghost and a Guardian. But a bond definitely exists and is probably a reason why a Ghost will not pick another Guardian or why a Guardian that lost their Ghost won't pick another Ghost.

The relationship between a Ghost and a Guardian is unique and emotional and very deep so the idea of just getting another Ghost, like they're a tool, is deeply unsettling to most. It's technically possible, but most (both Ghosts and Guardans) will simply choose not to try due to the emotional toll. Similarly, an unpartnered Ghost will most likely never choose to pick a Guardian that already had a Ghost but lost it, because that unpartnered Ghost must have their own Guardian somewhere.

The one exception is, as usual, Shin Malphur who inherited Jaren Ward's Ghost. This has somewhat more sense when you know that Jaren and Shin were basically father and son so Jaren's Ghost was already deeply familiar with Shin and had a bond with him as well. We're still unclear if Jaren's Ghost can have full functionality with Shin though. Shin already had a Ghost prior, as a baby, but it died. Shin's situation is very complicated overall so it's not entirely useful as an example, but it's worth mentioning in this case.

#destiny 2 #guardians #eris #drifter #ghost #long post #fynch #ophiuchus #ask #hope this helps :)

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sarcastic-sketches · 1 year

Text

Meeting the 501st

Carrying on from my Force of Nature AU post where I mash the TV show Primal (Genndy Tartakovsky) with the Star Wars prequels, Anakin has crash landed on a hostile planet and is now a feral amnesiac. He’s half-force and he’s going to use that to his benefit to survive this place.

So, years after Anakin has forgotten everything about himself, the Clone Wars are in full swing, the Galaxy is ready to tear itself apart, and both Dooku and the Jedi Council have taken notice of a very biologically active planet that has a bright star of a force signature on it. A force signature that could sway the tide of battle. Is there a nexus point on that planet or is it a person?

Both sides obviously don’t want the other to get it and use it against them so Obi-Wan, his padawan Ahsoka, and the 212th/501st go to the planet to check it out. (The 501st are kind of a satellite Legion that attach onto other Jedi led Battalions as and when needed… they are claiming Ahsoka as their Jedi if the war is still going when she's Knighted.) Expecting resistance from the Separatists, they don’t really anticipate the planet itself to resist them.

They soon realise this planet is hellish and the less men they have on the ground the better. Miasma fog that disorientate you and alter your memories, entire forests that move to grab ships flying overhead and bring them down to the forest floor for carnivorous fungi to feed upon, a crimson moon that crests over the horizon inciting predators to swarm and hunt on mass.

Rex says he can handle this with just Torrent and he’ll keep in regular comms with General Kenobi who is probably needed elsewhere more. Obi-Wan wants to stay, because hot damn does that force signature feel familiar but it can’t be, Anakin has been missing/dead for 4 years, and he can’t keep his priorities in order. So he leaves Ahsoka with them to keep an eye on the Force signature (that's been moving) but so far it’s keeping to the dense jungle that seems to take up half the planet. They set up camp and wait, feeling very creeped out by all the life on this planet that wants to eat and kill everything else and not seeing any clankers. Ahsoka's hackles are raised near constantly.

Fives: This is like Umbara all over again Echo: Don’t.

I’m gonna say all the boys are here because I want them to be and having only Obi-Wan lead them would have changed which battles they went to and how they fought them etc. (Also no Krell, because that guy can choke). The legions would have been shuffled around as there is one less Jedi General (who could pull a win out of his ass) to send off to different campaigns. Whenever Obi-Wan isn’t actively giving orders, he just lets Rex and Cody team up to do what they do best tbh. Rex wasn’t made a Captain of the most elite trooper calibre for no reason and there are three additional ARCs in Torrent.

They are shocked to discover that there are actually people living here but they are kept neat and secure behind their fortified walls. Tiny civilisations that strive to keep the nightmares out, by any means possible with vastly different lifestyles. You’ve got the witches who steal the life force of others to create more of their own, the humanoids who live exclusively underground to keep out of sight from aerial predators, and the more advanced communities who Do Not Leave their borders that they’ve made safe.

So the boys do similarly, making camp in a sort of fort - electrified fences, flood lights, constant fires, etc - and they are keeping watch when suddenly someone is sitting on top of a stack of crates handling their weaponry. They have no idea how he got past them but he looks human and doesn’t seem to want to eat them so they’re startled rather than threatened after a few minutes of watching him (they think it’s a him) not do much of anything. He’s clearly curious more than anything and he’s nowhere near as built as any of the clones. They could take him, right? The person looks kind of amused by their reaction anyway and darts off to a higher vantage point when one of the troops makes a grab for him. He’s a dark blonde, with hair that has grown into a curly mop, and the kind of lanky frame that's all limbs but with obvious deceptive muscle and strength to haul himself around that gracefully and that quickly. There’s also some nasty looking exaggerated canines and the clones are pretty sure humans don’t normally have reflective lenses in their eyes.

Hardcase: Uhhh, Rex, you copy? Rex: Yeah? Hardcase: There’s someone in the camp Rex: Repeat that?? Hardcase: He’s not wearing boots either. We think he came out of the jungle. Rex: On my way

Ahsoka, taking one look at Anakin, perched on top of their ship and looking down at all the gathered troopers like a cat in a tree, points and goes ‘that’s him. He’s the one we’re looking for’.

Still doesn’t really change the fact that he seems quite content to just bother them by being a nosy bastard about their camp but other than that he’s not really causing a problem. Or running away. He also has some amazing adaptation abilities - if he’s half-force, does that mean the Force is responsible for half of his genetic code? How much weird shit could come of that if the Force can handle slight morphological changes - He can grow gills if he’s kept underwater so he doesn’t drown. The reflective pupils aid him to see in the dark but during the day they are absent. Some of the men swear they’ve even seen him sporting a long flexible tail to hold things from time to time. The men all start bonding with this bizarre cryptid while Ahsoka and Anakin compare how big their fangs are and how sharp their claws are. Ahsoka is ecstatic that she now has a hunting partner because finally, someone gets it.

Rex: Didn’t think humans could get fangs like that, or claws Ahsoka: I’m not sure he’s entirely human. Seems too wild for that Anakin: Thank you Rex/Ahsoka: What

Up to this point he’s been entirely non-verbal and the troops assumed he couldn’t understand Basic. He absolutely can (retrograde amnesia doesn’t make you forget language) so he’s just been fucking with them. That’s ingrained, amnesia will not make him any less of a little shit. Thus begins the million and one questions they have for him once they realise he can speak and does understand them. He can also understand their droids.

They all start to let their guard down because huh he’s just a dude after all, trapped on a horrible planet and had to make do. It’s all fun and games until they see Anakin go from stationary to launching himself at a T-rex's throat that just charged out of the jungle in under a second.

They respect the fact that he is also an apex predator on this planet from that point onward.

#star wars #star wars writing #Anakin Skywalker #Captain Rex #Ahsoka Tano #obi wan kenobi #501st battalion #the clone wars #star wars au #sw au #Force of Nature #feral!anakin

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bvtchcr · 28 days

Text

Thanks for reading my guidelines. I go by the mun-alias Midnight, also Raven (she/they), early millennial, living in the CET timezone. My activity level is medium to low, my reply speed is slow, please don't rush me. English is my second language. I'm from a german roleplay community and immigrated to Tumblr in 2022 after our old platform got shut down. I'm still learning about Tumblr rp etiquette and guidelines, please be patient with me. If you see me doing something unusal or weird feel free to correct me at anytime but be respectful about it.

01. To interact with me, you have to be 18+ (mun and muse). I am not affiliated with The Boys, its creators or the actor Karl Urban and I don't own the character Billy Butcher. I claim ownership of my own written headcanons and texts only. The Boys is an R-rated series and this is a general trigger warning for mature content such as blood, gore, violence, abuse, trauma, sex, sick humour, foul language, weapons, drug use and overall rude behaviour which can be expected from this muse.

02. It should go without saying but at the same time cannot be stressed enough: mun ≠ muse. On some occasions people were not able (or willing) to differentiate between me and my character which led to them feeling offended ooc and hardblocking me midconvo without communicating their discomfort. Butcher can be tremendously rude and aggressive, he swears excessively and is quick to insult your muse if he dislikes them or feels provoked. Writing him close to the canon is very demanding and getting his tone of voice and demeanor right is one of the greatest challenges that I've ever came across in 15+ years of writing. It's such a bummer when I put in the effort and the result is totally misinterpreted. Make sure beforehand that you can absolutely handle interacting with such a muse and do not take anything from him personal or too serious. I am completely different from him, I consider myself friendly, patient and very chill about most things and I'm always willing to talk things out.

03. Besides roleplaying I am also a hobby gif maker, therefore personal blogs are welcome to interact with my posts. Just make sure you don't reblog or comment on roleplay related stuff which includes tag games, writing examples, headcanons, threads and answered asks. Speaking of asks: I will generally react in-character whenever possible. I've received some messages in my inbox that I can't quite classify. If you want to talk to me, the person behind, please put your text in brackets or mark as "for the mun" so I know for sure you're addressing me and not my muse.

04. I haven't very much in-character text on this blog yet, since I mostly rp privately in DM's or on sideblogs. I'm very open and curious to try threads, I'd love to have some writing on my blog whether it be novels, oldschool style shorter postings or some in-character chatting. This would come closest to the 'Pinnwand' we had on our old platform and I still miss it a lot. I'm using the beta editor, which should be standard at this point anyways, and I am able to trim posts. Feel free to hit me up if you're interested and are comfortable with doing any sorts of public threads. You can also just send me an ask (off anon to start a continuous interaction) or tag me in a starter. I highly prefer german and I'm not open to english advanced literate, where complex prose is required. I have little to no experience with it but maybe I'll get more comfortable in the future.

05. When it comes to writing, I ask for a few things: no godmodding, power play or meta gaming. I also don't like forcing or rushing certain interactions that don't feel like natural character progression. Plotting beforehand is welcome but not mandatory. If it ever feels like being stuck we can pause the writing and have a small plotting session between scenes or even for the same scene. I am a big fan of the "yes, and" approach. Give me something to work with, don't let your replies be "dead" and passive. I get discouraged very quickly when I get little to no input and have to come up with moving the plot or interactions myself all the time. I don't have an estimated length for texts, it always depends and I usually don't match length just for the sake of having written a lot. I am not too fond of texts that are artificially bloated and there's essentially nothing happening.

06. I'm multiship and multiverse, meaning every ship takes place in its own verse if not communicated otherwise. I personally enjoy shipping a lot if there's good chemistry but Butcher is difficult to ship and due to his background pretty much unavailable for romantic bonding. It's not impossible though. I'm also interested in any setting where I get a chance to write him as an unhinged villain and diverge from the canon more liberately.

07. My approach to curating my dashboard is quite different, I would say, compared to what's considered standard (clean dash, small circle of mutuals). I follow a lot, and I mean a shitton, of people. I follow every blog out of interest and curiousity but please understand that it's impossible for me to interact with everyone. Also due to my gif making I get quite a bit of notifications when I'm actively posting sets, I'm prone to accidentially miss out on notifs about new followers/mutuals. My dashboard is fast and busy and I like it that way, I've made a conscious choice about this. It has become a wind down ritual for me, just silently scrolling, catching up and finding lots of stuff I enjoy without feeling obligated to contact people or getting replies done. Yes, I am here for rp, but I like to do lots of other things on Tumblr, too. There's periods of time where I don't have the energy to work on drafts or talk to anyone, not even folks who I have grown to genuinely like. Rest assured that you never did anything wrong when I disappear for a while. If I have any sort of issue or problem I will communicate it. What I'm not willing to do is constantly giving activity updates on a schedule. If I go on hiatus for longer I will most likely make a post about it. It's my personal opinion that no one should ever feel pressured into explaining why and for how long they are away.

08. Don't be a cunt. I have zero tolerance for homophobia, transphobia, racism, ableism, sexism, hateful comments in general, out of character drama, gossiping, constant negativity, passive aggressiveness, vague posting, guilt tripping, gaslighting and other similar behaviour. Just be a decent person and we're fine.

#「𝟶𝟷」⸻ 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝖿𝗂𝗅𝖾. ⊣⊢#「𝟷𝟻」⸻ 𝗈𝗈𝖼. ⊣⊢#fakevz

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pineapplerightsideupcake · 4 months

Note

From your debate with transmascpetewentz, you said that you experience dysphoria and alleviated it by not engaging with your physical body and approaching it from a detached, impersonal perspective. Do you think that this is because you find that current transition treatments won't get your body to become what you truly want it to be? Do you find it normal and expected that you do not feel comfortable in your body and that your body is something you must dissociate and detach yourself from?

Hi! This is completely incorrect! My body is not something I have to detach from. My body is my home. I don’t shower in the dark anymore. I can look at me in the mirror. I wear short shorts on really hot days and don’t worry obsessively about the male gaze or a stray body hair. I stopped shaving my arms, armpits, and bush. I mostly stopped shaving my legs. I don’t tweeze my eyebrows or slather on makeup!

Body neutrality is not dissociating, it’s the reframing of a sexualized and/criticized body as neutral.

Some of the exercises I did with my therapist went like this:

Therapist: okay name a part of your body you hate

Me: my legs. I hate them they’re fat and have cellulite and are too hairy for a woman

Therapist: okay but legs don’t exist to look good. What are some things your legs do for you?

Me: well I love going for walks/hikes

Therapist: great, so whenever you think about how much you hate your legs, remember what they do for you. Thank them and be kind to them

This is of course a VERY condensed version of things but we basically went over my body piece by piece and sort of anthropomorphized them. This worked because I am good at being kind to others but not myself and I didn’t want to be ‘mean’ to my legs

And then when I got used to all that, we put me back together. My legs only function because I have blood and skin and bones. I have the energy to move them because I have a digestive system. I have the balance to move because I have an inner ear. I know where to go because I have eyes. Etc.

And then when I got used to THAT, she hit me with- that’s you. It’s not a body you pilot. You are your body. Just like your legs and eyes are all part of a whole, you are not a consciousness apart.

Again I’m condensing years of therapy. Whole periods of time where we just talked about my trauma related to those issues. But it worked.

I don’t say I’m cured of dysphoria for the same reason I don’t say I’m cured of anxiety or depression- mental health is reffered to as “controlled or in remission”.

What radical feminism gave me is equally important. It gave me my anger back. It gave me my trust in my own perception back. It gave me pride in womanhood and a community of like minded women.

And I know this is already an essay but I want to speak to the idea that my main issue with transition is it wouldn’t make me enough of a man.

Every TRA needs to hear just how far into sci-fi territory their ideas are. Right now the best I could hope for is painful scar tissue around my repositioned breasts and a pit dug into my leg or arm to harvest flesh for a micro dick that doesn’t get hard without help.

That’s the BEST CASE. The worst case is I get so many painful and humiliating complications I DIE. One of the blogs I follow on here had exactly this happen to her friend. She got bottom surgery and it killed her.

Let’s say we get to the level of science that’s at least perfected the cosmetic aspects. I’d still have a dick and balls that would never produce sperm. My body would still have ovaries and a uterus to remove. My endocrine system would still be female. My skeletal structure would still be female. My lungs and heart and muscles and blood and hair would all still be female.

Your sex is decided at conception. You are built from a single cell around the absence or presence of an active SRY gene.

Imagine you built me a dresser and I came in and said “actually can you make me a wardrobe instead?” And demanded you only use the same materials you already had. What could you possibly make me when the wood is already cut to size and shaped?

#personal #anon asks #radical feminism

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mdhwrites · 7 months

Note

If Marcy met Andrias again in the timeskip, how do you think their interaction would go?

Honestly, that's very much so a dealer's choice sort of thing. That's not even a bad thing. Part of why I think the Amphibia fandom has felt like it's stayed alive better post its finale than TOH's, especially without resorting to mostly writing about OCs in one way or another, is that the cast is dynamic enough by the end for a plethora of options. Sasha will always have her manipulative lessons of old but how does that mix with her as a therapist? Does she fear them? Use them when not on the job? How do those experiences dictate how she helps her clients? Or maybe even use those manipulative tactics on her clients to force them into corners that require them to be honest with themselves in order to grow. And those are only all of the positive sides of ONE element of Sasha growing into a more mature version of herself.

Marcy is similar, despite how little we get of her in the show. She already had so much promise and such complicated feelings about relationships that it's a good question how she sees others now. Is she happy about her community around her webcomic, freely interacting with them and sharing their love? Does she think they see her as a commodity and lives in fear of the day she presents an idea they dislike and they vanish? Much like she probably feared her friends would do if she ever pushed too hard with her interests? Or does she keep them at arm's length, just focusing on the creation of her comic and interacting with her community as she needs to but keeping them out of her mind mostly?

And this is all preamble to the point that how she reunites with Andrias is kind of dealer's choice. Not just with Marcy but also with Andrias. After all, while he obviously should feel guilty and remorseful, those are painful emotions that manifest in a lot of different ways. Does he try to seek forgiveness from her? Does he believe forgiveness is possible? Does he avoid her, even if assured that she holds no ill will towards him, because he believes himself to truly hurt Marcy too much? After all, what he did was reprehensible and he knew how terrible it was the entire time. Not only that but time obviously eroded Andrias to the point where much of the evil he'd committed was almost easy for him. If not as simple as breathing at times. Do you ever trust yourself with that again, let alone if Marcy IS willing to forgive?

(Petty sidenote: THAT is how you write a character who has the right to believe they shouldn't get involved no matter what. By having them have actively chosen wrong in the past and done so all too easily and so they don't know if they can trust themselves. That they themselves don't know if they won't fall into temptation again because they have shown themselves to be weak before.)

And again: IF Marcy is willing to forgive. Marcy never went through the same arcs that Anne and Sasha did. While she has a kind enough heart to be forgiving by her base nature, she might not be willing to do so for this. That might even be what Andrias would prefer. He practically comforted himself through believing Lief had given up on him after all because it made his evil easier to do. If Marcy hates him, his self imposed exile and hermitage that the end hints he's gone on to do will feel all the more justified and correct to him.

Or maybe they're not on the same wavelength and Marcy is furious at him and that catches him off guard. That Marcy has grown up so independent and better equipped to defend herself makes her all the angrier at him when he was still expecting young Master Marcy who might accept his apology and want to hear about what he's learned in her absence. Maybe she is willing to forgive him but he actually gets enraged at that? Instead of avoiding her, in fact playing the bad guy briefly again to explicitly see about trying to make the lesson he thinks she should have learned stick. That not everyone can be good. Let alone him.

The way Amphibia ends is ripe with questions like this that a series post time skip could easily draw upon. Hell, if they were okay with retconning the ending, we only see Amphibia couple years after the events of the show, not the full ten so we could pull in the girls as older teenagers or just barely 18 for a second visit. It would still be different than the full ten years version of them and seeing them inbetween their fully mature adult counterparts and them at 13 trying to handle what the lessons they learned mean for themselves could be neat.

I do want to make something clear though: I consider all this open space, all this stuff they could do in the future a STRENGTH of the ending. The ending itself is still very powerful and great for the series itself and I wouldn't want them to have tried to touch on these complexities and muddy the water or the like. Not only that but having these questions less highlights flaws with the ending and more to me highlights the strength of the character writing. That we can ask such large questions about how a scene like that would go down, the fact that a definitive answer is close to impossible without more details on the older selves, is GREAT for fanfic writers, comic creators, etc.

It also will continue to make my eye twitch since even with me wanting to do monster themed stories for Amphibia and knowing all this potential space exists, my brain STILL won't let me just dive in. *sigh*

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#amphibia #marcy wu #king andrias

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animeomelette · 1 year

Text

Post-Owarimonogatari spoilers I guess

Koyomi and Tsubasa would make a terrible couple because Tsubasa lacks self-awareness (at least around the time of Kizu, obviously her character develops later on) and is really bad at communicating her own feelings in any meaningful manner while Koyomi is extremely self-concsious but is also really poor at reading other people

Tsubasa's poor understanding of her own feelings and emotions makes her think she's in love with Koyomi, but the reality is that she's no more in love with him than she's in love with Hitagi. They're both people she is sexually attracted to and they're both friends who mean a lot to her. The difference is that at the very least Hitagi is a good sexual partner for her who doesn't have the same combination of late-adolesence hormone-driven high libido, low-key sex repulsion, and inability to read other's feelings clearly that Koyomi has

In contrast, Hitagi is a very good partner for Koyomi. She's less perceptive of others than Tsubasa is, sure, but she's still a fairly astute woman who more importantly is very aware of how she feels and does not hesitate to communicate that directly and clearly, which is what Koyomi needs more than anything. The bloke doesn't even perceive other people in the urban environment whose existence isn't directly relevant to him right now. He really needs someone blunt in his life

Koyomi sees Tsubasa obviously lusting after him and thinks that his inevitable physiological response to this must mean he's sexually harrassing her, Hitagi sees Tsubasa being obviously sexually repressed after years of living without privacy and thinks "damn, Tsubasa really needs to get laid" and then goes ahead, comes on hard to Tsubasa and then sleeps with her

Koyomi's trouble perceiving what others are thinking or feeling without having it stated to him extremely bluntly a big part of the significance of Sodachi's character. Sodachi is the anti-Hitagi in a lot of ways. She expects Koyomi to pick up on what she is feeling and what she wants from him because it is glaringly obvious to her and she can't conceive of him being as poor on picking it up as he is, which frustrates her because she knows that Koyomi is the sort to view a situation entirely through a lens of trying to actively help or at the very least give advice

Koyomi completely lacks a super-ego where Tsubasa's entire personality has been consumed by the super-ego, and much of her character development revolves around the process of her finally gaining a proper sense of self after eighteen long years of only existing in relation to others, and even then those relationships with others have often been hollow shells of what a familial relationship is supposed to look like, so estranged from her supposed parents that she doesn't even have her own bedroom. In this sense Tsubasa is the anti-Koyomi much as Sodachi is the anti-Hitagi, and that is why I ship Sodachi x Tsubasa

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digitaldiscipline · 25 days

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Not sure that dreamshit was worth the wait, but almost.

Last night was a doozy, even by my standards, but tossing and turning for hours first, even with the help of some melatonin and chamomile gummies, was deeply unneccessary.

We begin with me walking back towards my house from the vicinity of my high school in the company of one of my coworkers, who answered my sensible but pointed questions about why she parked a mile and a half away by pointing out it was how she was able to walk a lot more for health reasons. I point out that there's no reason she should give me a ride once we get to her car, since we'll be two blocks from my place, and we decide to duck into a little shops-and-restaurants plaza that doesn't exist in reality so she can pick up some stuff she ordered, and then go to the Mediterranean restaurant next door for some dinner, and that's where shit got unreal.

The restaurant was of the sort where the two-tops are all pushed together to fit whoever's there, so we end up seated in an impromptu eight-top with some NPCs and place our order. In the time between then and when the food arrives, we moved to a separate table of our own closer to the back wall.

My order was for some dolmas (rolled grape leaves stuffed with rice and lamb); what I got was a styrofoam soup bowl full of pistachios and an assurance that my dinner "will be right out." Reader, it was not. Everyone else had their meal served, eaten, and cleared by the time my second "course" came - a handful of ghost peppers (which looked more like white cayenne peppers than the real thing, and tasted surprisingly good - hot but sweet) and an apology for the terrible service.

Fine, whatever. Where's the bathroom?

Through an unmarked door, down a flight of stairs, and into what was basically a fruit cellar with badly-hung doors and the general atmosphere of the shitter from Trainspotting.

Uh, no. Next?

Through an entirely different restaurant (homestyle Southern by butch lesbians), up another flight of stairs, and... open to the landing. It was just a toilet seat over a hole in the floor, and the proprietor, standing there with a hose, on bidet duty.

Uh, no thanks. Is there another one?

Three flights of rickety stairs down, around a corner, and into a very fancy Ethiopian joint (marble floors, staff in black and white, the whole shebang). Their bathroom was both crowded and somehow no better than either of the previous ones.

Whatever. Maybe my food is ready.

It was tamales. And by that point, they were already down to room temperature, so I got them and the remaining peppers to go, and decided to head for home.

Unfortunately, a call went out - there was an active shooter outside, which caused the expected amount of chaos and panic among all and sundry.

On the upside, it meant skipping out on the dinner bill.

Doubly unfortunately, my subconscious' love of going Dark City on me had awakened, so there was no longer a door out (thanks, Edward Hopper), so it was back down to the butch nook and out, into the recently-resolved crime scene, where several dozen cops in riot gear were standing around a lump of meat and two twitching hands that had apparently been the shooter, and which they referred to as "Grasshopper."

Hm. There isn't a double trolley line anywhere near my place, nor is there a slope nearly this steep leading to an underpass filled with women's college students heading back from class to a partially-flooded underground pseudo-commune slash permanent rave.

William Gibson's characters from the Bridge series would have felt right at home. I did not, but taking a modicum of initiative, I asked if they had a bathroom.

They did, but it was no better than any of the other ones, and, getting lost on my way back to the surface, I found myself in a small bistro, where I was very, very happy to discover that a new recurring character has decided to make an appearance in my dreamshit - a young woman known to dream-me as "Hottie" (a sluttier version of Fairuza Balk circa The Craft, and who referred to me as "Mister Bad"), and an unknown friend of hers, who she was in the middle of pranking by ordering... a pint glass of Ouzo that she said was water.

I don't normally get sexytimes in my dreams, but we made out briefly and with much vigor before I decided once again to make my way home.

But first, I apparently had to play the part of the world's worst school bus driver, and flush several children down a slightly-less-disgusting bidet to yeet them towards their homes. Unfortunately, the last kid got stuck, rendering my hopes of finally being able to relieve myself dashed once more.

I still got cold water sprayed up my ass despite not trying to use it.

Rude.

Remembering my Hitchhiker's Guide minutae, I realized that I needed to get out of the first building via a different opening than I'd entered, so I had to do a lot of backtracking, and eventually found myself standing in the middle of the main street (which in reality is literally called Main Street), waiting to cross and get the last bit of the way to my destination. A regular cop gave me the stink-eye as he drove past. I raised my middle finger at him (thank you, Raven D'Arkness Dementia Way).

I heelied down the hill towards my house.

Then, and only then, did I finally wake up and pee.

#dreamshit

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donnerpartyofone · 2 months

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It has been a little more than a year since I started going to St. Mary Star of the Sea. Since I moved it hasn't been as easy to roll out of bed, get something to chew on there, and start my day, and the ladies are a little mad at me. I know it's just how they show their concern, but I'm tempted to explain that demanding my attention is a great way to make sure you don't get it! I find attention-seeking extremely unattractive and I have complicated feelings about my own exhibitionism vs. my constant need for solitude. This topic has been a central part of many relationships; insofar as a lot of human interactions are driven by the subconscious urge to play out the individual's unresolved psychodramas, people who crave validation love to start shit with me because they sense that it's not easy to get my approval. Over the course of years of friendship or even just one night at a party, I seem to become symbolic of their problems with rejection and they'll try to bait me into reenacting their personal narrative with them--and it kinda works because I will instinctively slam the door on anyone who acts entitled to my attention, or who enjoys testing my loyalty. But uuuhhh that's kind of a different story, I go to the church for reasons that are private and hard to explain and I just cannot take it personally if I seem to disappoint anyone.

On Tuesday the brilliant monsignor I'm obsessed with spoke about scandal and hypocrisy, and I thought he kind of soft-pedaled it (he usually doesn't) but it's probably still good for people to be reminded of church failings by their priest instead of their perceived enemies. He said everyone needs reconciliation including the clergy: "My priest is the Virgin Mary, that's where I go." I really liked that, I had never heard it before; Mary the priest. I like the hint of gender confusion ("priestess" would be an intense word to hear in a church I guess) and the reminder that she is an authority and not just a nurturing repository for complaints. It got me thinking about the coronation, Mary as the Queen of Heaven. What does it mean to be the Queen of Heaven? Isn't everything both perfect and eternal in Heaven? In that kind of stasis there would be no need for authority, everything would be sort of a foregone conclusion. It's strange to think of being an administrator in Heaven, to have to litigate things that go on there. But a Queen isn't always an active ruler, a Queen is maybe more often a figurehead, a sort of living template, an example.

Today the brilliant priest I'm obsessed with spoke about how you neglect your own potential when you model your whole persona on the expectations of your demographic. He talked about the role he is expected to fulfill during Black History Month as one of two Black priests in the whole diocese, and the experience of growing up with certain protocols of what Blackness is within his community, indicating that while that all is a part of him, it sort of distracts from his individuality and all the other things that he is--and then he turned this around on the pews full of old white Italian- and Irish Americans. His point was that everyone is susceptible to performing a certain fixed identity informed by their statistical profile, and that this can radically limit your potential and your understanding of yourself as a person. He then extended this to God: "God is not that guy with the big beard who always looks like he smells something bad." He said God is both a man and a woman, and also more than that. He isn't really a "He", we only personify "Him" as an unavoidable convenience so we can talk about Him.

That priest always has very cosmic, borderline psychedelic things to say that are very exciting to me, and both he and the monsignor regularly challenge their majority old, white parishioners to check their prejudices and not let their sense of religion become this dead, rote thing that they never examine. Setting aside my very esoteric reasons for being there, it's helpful to me to know that there are more provocative things going on in some churches than what I would expect if I never visited one.

I always try to listen for at least one part of the readings that I find piquant, and today it was Jeremiah 17:9:

"More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?"

In 17:10 God answers that, of course, only He can understand it, but I find it more powerful to leave this as a question.

#star of the sea

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wondersofspite · 1 year

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I just realized that most of Helluva’s main cast are POC (Alastor is mixed race, Vaggie is Salvadoran, Nifty is half Japanese) + Nearly all the center characters are heavily implied to have had bad past/current life condition, and that Charlie, a rich white person, is painted as the ones to help them/”redeem” them. (Not exactly biologically “white” per se, but look at me in the eyes and tell me she isn’t an walking talking white chick both in appearance and personality).

While that bit thought, popped up a possibly of “White Savior” sort of situation that was pretty darn uncomfortable, but at the same time, interesting. Like, if the writers fully twists the knife and actually delve into that concept. Charlie, a very privileged aristocrat who’s the least equipped to understand, deal or even have experienced any hardship, thinking her very simplistic, ignorant ideas of rehabilitation would be clue to all sinner’s problem. Like:

“Homeless? Here’s a hotel! Just ignore the horrors trauma you seen living on the street and be expected to completely obey every one of my orders! I am very friendly! Why would you paranoid of me? I in fact do no see the trouble with how folks like me (rich/upper class demons) who is the reason you got kicked out in the first place shall be untrustworthy and unreliable!”

And with that sort of attitude, let’s say, the hotel absolutely fails miserably. Because it’s both funny and slapstick and kinda reasonable. Patronization can only go so far till it turns off people. So, with that, let’s hop down to when the narrative hits it’s absolute lowest point. Thematically an era of the story where every character/narrative/protagonist are at their lowest point. Of addictions becoming worse due to the minimum supervision, grudges igniting out of bitter entitlement and poor communication, and people like Angel and Vaggie who are in possibility of begin attacked by outsiders/dragged back by abusive figures -

Except Charlie. She, at best, is stressed. There is no permanent physical or mental harm threatening her.

Now, say, the only redemy for this is for the hotel is to release all the occupants, for them to gain distant, to rinse itself and try again with other set of people. But, despite the character’s suffering, ironically, perhaps the hotel is in it’s peak popularity. People actually keep coming due to the lax law, for the free place, perhaps something even the main cast did attracts traffic. But the original occupants: The people most important and central to Charlie’s pitch is begin seriously hurt under her terrible management.

But Charlie, the old girl here, cannot truly comprehend the gravity of it cause she never faced those type of issues. Never ever had to.

So she keeps it going on, promising and swearing that things will get better, speaking of everything in rose-tinted glasses instead of facing the harsh truth. That what matters is the hotel is becoming mainstream, more people are coming: Unintentionally, prioritzing her hotel over her friends.

In an odd way, it would actually suit her premise as the child of Lucifer.

> Promising better future, only to actively benefit from other’s suffering.

> Constantly lying, lightening the gravity of situation, making “tempting” offers and promises

> Feeding into other people’s bad habits and keeping them in harmful environments.

#hazbin hotel critical #Is this dramatic? Yes #Is this very speculative? Yes #But any depth and analysis outside of Angel and Alastor is very nice.#Especially when it's about the literal main character.#speculations.

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catty-words · 1 year

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I am interested in how the Boink voucher is going to go. Will they have sex? Will they not have sex? We know Ben will be dating Margot in the first episodes and Devi has a thing with that new guy (hopefully we don’t have to see either of them for too long) but something must have happened that generates some level of miscommunication between them.

I am sure Devi finds out Margot and Ben are dating on their first day of senior year. which makes me wonder, what happened during the summer? it became awkward? they didn’t talk? I hardly doubt this because they’ve been involved in very awkward situations and they didn’t stop talking to each other and Ben has been the type to talk about things. Did they make some sort of a pact? (it’s very Devi and Ben could just go along with it). Did she not communicate that she’s not going to Shudland and Ben is surprised to see her back to school?

I’m positive the scene with Devi walking all smiles is the first episode and that’s when she sees Ben kissing Margot. It seems like she comes from a good place and given the leaked script she wasn’t expecting Ben to date anyone. I also think the new guy thing won’t be like a Des situation. IF Devi did had sex with Ben, maybe she’s playing the field with her new found confidence (and Ben is with Margot so that’s also Devi just being Devi out of spite).

Mit said on a interview for the Nintendo red carpet that it starts right where we left off and with drama, that usually the drama starts by the middle but the stakes are high since the very start so I’m sure the new season opens with the boink scene and something happens that shapes the miscommunication arc.

What would you hope happens? Do you want Devi and Ben to lose their virginity? I think it would be interesting to see because it ads a layer to their interactions because now it’s just not about the mutual pinning but they knowing what is like to be with the other in that way. And it would be interesting to see Fabiola and Eleanor’s reactions to learning this info.

i'm gonna be honest with you, chief. i find trying to predict What Will Happen Next a deeply unpleasant way to engage with a television show. like, long-established and nothing to do with your ask, i'm not trying to guilt you for sending it, i love you for wanting to discuss this show with me. i've just found, after a decade and some change kicking around in fandoms, that this particular activity is not my style. and in the case of nhie specifically, being too concerned with the promos and building up expectations actively undermined my ability to accept season two for what it was.

so, the short answer is: i'm excited to see how it all plays out, but i'm not hoping for anything in particular. i want my heart open to loving however the writers decided to conclude this series that's now hardwired into my dna.

the longer answer, because i don't wish to leave you hanging, is that i did actually watch this teaser, and i'm of the opinion that the ben becoming 'a stud over the summer' vibes are contingent on the kid having sex for the first time and deciding he's hot shit about it. also, when i was watching 3.10 for the first time, one of my immediate thoughts after it finished was about how ben doesn't know devi's not actually going to shrubland, so i believe at least a little of their conflict will be born of that, if not something else that happened between them over the summer. that's as far as i'm willing to go with conjecture.

#anon #replies #never have i ever #nhie spoilers #to be safe

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justmaghookit · 7 months

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2+3 for all sections

Baldur's Gate 3 Companion!Tav Ask List

General.

2. Do the other companions have special comments or reactions upon recruiting your Tav?

I have thought about this So Much

Karlach and Wyll will comment that his accent is balduarian, Karlach especially will comment that he swears like the people she grew up around. Gale makes note that he seems a scholarly type and it'll be nice to have someone to discuss the arcane with. Lae'zel will admit that something about him makes her uneasy and if the tattoo on his neck comes up she's the only one that knows what it is, because its a symbol that only a single Gith knight has ever returned to tell of[The Friends are very active in the Astral Sea] she thinks he's dangerous, and she would be right! Shadowheart enjoys his company, but will comment that his insightfulness is borderline scary, though he seems the kind of person you can confide in. Astarion will tell you he's the kind of pretty face that will get you killed if you're not careful but that he seems useful to have around[they will have A Thing if you don't romance either of them]

3 answered here, sort of honestly deserves its own post break down

Story Specific

2. How do they advise the player character on Raphael?

Donnie will advise you in no uncertain terms that you should not deal with Raphael, that no matter how good the terms may seem a Devil will always come out on top in any deal, no matter what they say. If you speak to him about it again in act 3 and you're on good terms he'll admit he was ahem involved with the man in the past and will tell you Raphael is short sighted and quick tempered and well if you really really want that hammer... well Raphael never changed his locks so he can get you in to the House of Hope.

3. How do they react to Astarion biting the Player Character?

Donnie doesn't judge nor does he kinkshame but he WILL ask you if you're comfortable telling him how it felt because he is honestly curious about it. Both in the scientific way and in the horny way

Romance

2. Does your Tav need to be flirted with to start the romance, or will they approach the PC themselves if approval is high enough?

If you flirt Donnie will flirt back because he thinks its fun and he's the kinda guy who flirts with his friends, if you're serious about romancing him you'll have to be upfront about it though. He likes to be wined and dined and usually isn't the kind of person to be swept up in a romance in the middle of a high-stakes adventure. He's very clear with his boundaries, don't expect to be sleeping with him in act 1, if you try to pressure him he WILL slap you in front of all your party members. He wont approach you himself, because of the aforementioned isn't the kinda person to seek romance in a high stakes adventure, and honestly he doesn't really pursue people in general, mostly because its always ended in a broken heart or very bad decisions

3. Are they a polyamorous or a monogamous option?

He's polyamorous, but he expects you to communicate, if you're with him first and you sleep with someone else without telling him he will be upset with you, likewise the other way around. He wants to know where he stands with you and with the others. Do you want the relationship to be open? are you looking to be with two or more people equally? Do you want HIM to be involved with the other person[s] as well? You can tell him from the beginning you want a physically open relationship and he'll be fine with anything you do, he will ask that you make sure you're being safe about it and if you're NOT being safe about it by the gods have him on stand by in case anything tears. [looking at you halsin bear form YEOWCH]

#bird chatter #oc chatter #ask game

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