anyway mulling over the hawker as a distraction from other brainrot and what i keep returning to with him is the wordplay on ‘hawker’ as a person who hawks wares and a person who hawks (<- as in falconry) and a british fighter plane in use during the 1930s-40s (<- the hawker hurricane, new info to me as it came up when i went to double-check hawker as a real synonym for falconer, but there’s an… interesting congruence with our hawker in that one of their notable uses was evidently being sailed around in merchant convoys(!) and catapulted(!) at hostile bombers whereafter pilots would typically bail and the aircraft would be lost(!), making them in effect a single-use emergency line of defense(!) in a stopgap system cobbled together before adequate escort aircraft carriers were available. see also catapult aircraft merchant ship i’ve been staring at wikipedia like Excuse Me? for a solid twenty minutes)

which is all very—i mean it’s wonderland, wordplay is mandatory. but then he’s also this adorable parrot-like bird (<- borogove) who wanders about selling mud cookies (<- mimsy bc nobody buys them and this makes me very sad) in a marketplace whose other denizens include these… smooth excitable creatures of indeterminate nature one of whom sells cheese (<- definitely slithy and probably toves) and which is itself a spiraling structure (<- so you gyre in it) in the center of a large lake (<- so the market is a wabe, because the lake goes a long way behind it and a long way beyond it in any direction). i do not have the wherewithal to comb the background of every shot for raths but the girls are certainly mome and the forest around the lake is tulgey, so raths or no jabberwocky is loudly everywhere well before the jabberwalker makes an entrance. so it all tracks as a subtle repetition of jabberwocky’s first stanza with the hawker being the element most clearly in focus but then we get this reversal of meaning from hawker into hawker and this formerly harmless and adorable parrot, who is really quite large and as it turns out rather more hawklike when he’s screaming battle-cries and hurtling talons-first toward the camera, not only goes toe-to-toe with the jabberwalker but also does fairly well at first (<- he fully stops the jabberwalker mid-charge and bowls it over in his first strike, and then we hear him keeping it pinned down while the cat talks to ruby; he only gets into trouble when the jabberwalker snags him out of the air, which is also something it does to ruby mid-burst—so this is not a clear-cut case of a civilian getting curb-stomped necessarily because we’ve just seen that this creature’s reflexes are faster than ruby’s semblance.)

and like borogoves are not the only kind of bird mentioned in jabberwocky; there’s also the jubjub bird (<- note singular), of which the poem’s subject is advised to “beware.” in the hunting of the snark, the jubjub bird makes a somewhat more detailed appearance: it lives in a cold, narrow valley and is an evidently nocturnal bird whose arrival is heralded by a “scream, shrill and high.” the jubjub bird is temperamentally “desperate” because it “lives in perpetual passion” and in appearance it is “entirely absurd” because “its taste in costume […] is ages ahead of the fashion”—so the literal suggestion here is that the jubjub bird wears clothes. further it is, while fearsome, not a bad creature; “it knows any friend it has met once before:/it never will look at a bribe:/and in charity meetings it stands at the door,/and collects—though it does not subscribe.”

so, while jabberwocky does not elaborate whatsoever on the jubjub bird’s nature, with snark taken into consideration, the hawker suggests the description of the dangerous but also amicable jubjub bird to a much greater degree than he does the hapless borogoves. the ambiguous dual meaning of his name (<- i.e. purpose) is thus reiterated in his allusion, at passing glance to the borogoves but with a little more attention (and familiarity with carroll) revealing himself as the jubjub bird. and then there’s the convoy catapult emergency bomber-intercept hawker hurricane whose purpose is to sacrifice itself to protect seafaring merchants as a stopgap until the arrival of more suitable escorts, which is either an absolutely hysterical coincidence or else someone on the writing team couldn’t resist the allure of “hurricat.” (<- REAL TERM. do note the pilots of these planes bailed and were then collected by their convoys unless things went really badly awry, which is somewhat reassuring as to the likelihood that neo’s fake jabberwalkers can’t permadeath the denizens like the real one can.)

AND THEN like, the cat says they gave the hawker something new to do and people have generally put that together with the inexplicable electric-blue eye light trails to conclude that the cat outright brainwashed the guy, but i don’t think that’s the obvious smoking gun people think it is—the light trails match the bright blue color on his beak, and his eyes and the teal stripes on his cookie tray are the same color desaturated. (and this is the second time rwby has given eyes of flame to the opponent of the eyeless jabberwalker, with the first metaphorical instance also being reified through yang popping her semblance to land the killing blow, so like. it’s a thing. to read the poem you have to hold it up to a mirror thus by extension you cannot encounter the jabberwock except by coming face-to-face with yourself, is the idea being played with here. maybe the jabberwock is you.)

and taken together with the hawker of goods/hawker of hawks wordplay and the jubjub-bird-masquerading-as-borogove allusion and the catapult bomber intercept hawker sacrifice merchant convoy thing… like for as little presence as the hawker has in the episode there’s really a lot of thematic density and all of it is singularly focused on constructing this holographic identity. this hawker is for selling and that hawker is for hunting, superimpose the two and you get a fierce-silly-sociable-scary interference pattern of the jubjub bird peddling cookies and knocking the jabberwock on its ass and going down fighting to defend the local market; did the cat force a new purpose on him or just tap him for the reverse angle of the purpose he already had?—and this question arises in the context of an arc narrative set in wonderland-through-the-looking-glass and working with mirror-image and reversal and optical illusion and hidden meaning as its fundamental symbolic building blocks and exploration/interrogation of identity through changed perception of the self as its central thematic conceit! like! there’s a lot going on in here!

Spencer Reid x she/her!reader

A/N: returned from me depressive episode for a professor reid fic BARK BARK ANG ANG ANG GO MY TEETH ON THE BARS OF MY ENCLOSURE daddy issues? gottem! 🤠 pls lmk if you guys think a part two’s needed for this one bc I’m honestly torn??

warnings: age gap baby we out here fr (but it’s all wholesome bc Spencer isn’t a creep x)

Someday

Graduating from university was a bittersweet experience for you. On the one hand, you achieved exactly what you set out to, exceeding your own expectations in your capabilities as a student and working towards your dream career; you had dedicated years of your life to your course and earned a sense of pride in yourself that you had only previously hoped for; you had made friends you hoped to keep in touch with for the rest of your life, but even if you didn’t, they were established pillars to you, memories you would never lose, wrapped up in the campus of your university. On the other hand, one lingering thought was enough to sour the joy you felt. One isolated thought, as you celebrated with your friends with graduation caps flying overhead and cheers erupting all around you. Because while everyone was lost in the celebration, you were distracted from it, pulled by a gravity that others appeared to be immune to. Through the crowds, you locked eyes with a man who had made the last year of your course the most important of all. The smile on your face softened, and his matched yours, the same thought floating from your gaze to his: this was to be the last time the two of you could ever hope to cross paths. You were no longer part of the campus, instead, you were to be on your way to your dream career, while he stayed put, watching you fly away like a dove against a perfect landscape.

To you, Doctor Spencer Reid had singlehandedly revived the joy and drive you felt when, by the last year of your university course, those aspects of you had begun to dwindle. He was the best professor you had ever had, becoming your favourite from his first guest lecture. It had been so profoundly impactful to you that when he waved off the other students in the hall as they left, you stayed behind to personally thank him. You divulged the length of your course, how strenuous the workload had begun to feel, but how his passion for profiling had given you a second wind. To Spencer, you were the first spark of light he’d seen since getting out of prison; you looked at him like he was something special, something good, and while he couldn’t thank you for that without becoming far too emotionally intimate with you, you became the reason he sought out a permanent position at your university. If he could make the difference in one person’s life, encourage someone into the career he loved while trying his best to prepare them for the hardships he hadn’t been ready for prior to joining the BAU, perhaps that could play a part in him redeeming himself. Viewing himself as worthy of the way you had looked at him, the day you had met.

Truthfully, Spencer’s intentions with you had been nothing but sincere. He knew you were an attractive young woman, but that was an observation he would make had he only passed you in the street in a fleeting moment; it neither added nor subtracted to his motivations, his existing desire to teach, to help, to inspire - if he dared wish he was capable of such a thing. When you returned to your campus after a weekend barricaded in your dorm, studying in a heap of your own making, to find Doctor Spencer Reid had taken over the majority of lecture slots on your course, to say you were overjoyed would have been an understatement. The grin you gave him when you entered the lecture hall, and the smile he returned, felt like the world’s most wholesome secret; both of you aware you’d played a part in each other’s being there that neither of you understood the scale of. 

From then, the two of you became as friendly as two adults in your positions as a professor and student could, within the bounds of what was appropriate. You would share smiles at the beginning end of every lecture, he would praise your constant ability to hand essays in early, you would retort by praising his continual skill at holding your attention in the topics he delivered and thus being the reason you felt inspired to hand in said essays early. Outside of the lecture hall, you would smile at each other across campus in the event you crossed paths. While it was true that it did seem the two of you were more aware of each other’s presences than you perhaps should be - like a sixth sense for the arrival of the other, looking around until your eyes or his found the other, knowing you would be somewhere close by, somehow - it was not something either of you acknowledged. The tether was as invisible as it was deliberately ignored.

Naturally, your friends would often joke that you were no more than a silly girl with a crush, but even they knew that was not the case. There was nothing immature about the way you felt, or the way you handled it. Yes, it was inappropriate of you to feel as giddy as you did before each of his lectures, daydream of him in between said lectures, and spend far too long swooning at the memory of the one occasion in which his fingertips brushed yours when you handed him an essay you’d completed early, but you were sensible enough to keep those things to yourself. The alternative timeline you dreamt of, where the two of you had met in different circumstances and thus been allowed to pursue whatever it was in the societal norm of two consenting adults, where you shared walks in the park hand in hand, cooked dinner together, discussed baby names - that was entirely fictional and safe in your own head. While you acknowledged they were inappropriate, you allowed yourself to enjoy the pleasant feelings, knowing you could never act on them, and that the time you had together was counting to a definitive end. That is what made the feelings harmless; you knew they couldn’t last.

In Spencer’s mind, things were quite different. He thought he had a knowledge on love and its many forms, though his own experiences were limited, his eidetic memory was painfully keen to remind him of the tales of unrequited love he had read and applied to himself throughout his life. He remembers well, what it was like to be a boy and feel like a particular girl in his class was the center of his solar system, but he had been laboring under the misapprehension that such feelings were restricted to when he had been a boy. Of course, Spencer repressed every trace of feeling he felt for you with an efficiency like you would not believe; not only because love had burned him in the past, but because he knew, as you did, this couldn’t develop or last in any conceivable way. It was doomed. A tragedy already written. He had accepted that as you had, and for the most part, he lived in a peaceful sense of denial about any feelings existing between the two of you. It was only in isolated moments, his resolve crumbled. Every single time you had smiled at him, something had fluttered in his stomach, a palpable skip of his heart was felt in his chest; physical symptoms such as that, he couldn’t deny. He was a man of science, who existed to deny every detail of you that enamored him, until your fingertips brushed his when you passed him another essay you’d completed early, and suddenly the universe around him fell back into place. Every star flickered in the sky above him, an eclipse over his heart that allowed a momentary lapse of judgment, just a microsecond in which he was defenseless to the montage of you that played in his mind of an entirely hypothetical future that could never be. 

That day, and that last shared gaze, you knew you had no choice. You were powerless to the pull of him, and you pushed through the crowds at the same time as he was already turning to you, knowing you were on your way before you’d even decided it for yourself. 

“Professor Reid.” You greeted him, as professionally as ever, and his smile widened into a chuckle, your own smile growing at the sound. 

“(Y/N).” He nodded at you in a polite gesture of respect. “Congratulations. You earned every second of today’s celebrations.”

You felt your cheeks warm, and you avoided Spencer’s eyes shyly, glancing at the grass beneath your shoes and his. 

“Thank you, Professor, I…I just wanted to thank you, again, for everything. I can’t wait to brag to every profiler I meet that I was lectured by THE Doctor Spencer Reid!” You couldn’t resist teasing him just a little, even in the midst of your sincere gratitude.

That earned another quiet laugh from Spencer, as you’d predicted it would.

“I’m hardly deserving of being your bragging right, or subject to your gratitude. You got yourself here, I was just lucky enough to be a part of it. I hope to see your name appearing in solved cases before long.” He beamed at you.

“I’ll make sure they only ever put my name in with credits to you in brackets right next to it.” You joked, rolling your eyes playfully at Spencer’s implication of you being on your way to cracking criminal cases in no time. 

“I’ll keep an eye out for that, too, then.” He amended, his smile softening at the same rate yours did with the subtext of his words sinking in: he’d be watching out for you and your successes, wishing you the best all the way. 

“Don’t go retiring early now, I’m counting on seeing you in the field someday!” You raised an eyebrow at Spencer, and the slightest hint of a smirk curled at the corner of his mouth.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry, I’ve got my reasons for sticking around for a while.” He nodded to you, then looked over your shoulder and nodded at your friends. “I think your presence is being requested elsewhere.”

Glancing back over your shoulder, following his gaze, you saw your friends waving you over, and you sighed. If only you could freeze the world around you. But, there was a countdown with every moment spent in Spencer’s company, as there had always been.

“Yeah.” You breathed, turning to face him again. “See…your name someday, I guess.” Your eyebrows furrowed, unsure of what the correct terminology for a goodbye such as that was.

But Spencer snickered, so whatever words you’d chosen were the right ones.

“Yes. See your name, someday.”

With that, you headed back over to your friends, casting one last look over your shoulder to find Spencer still watching after you with a softness in his eyes that you’d not seen before, because usually he had enough time to compose himself before you caught him. You waved at him like it was just another instance of crossing paths on campus, and he returned it, before your shared gaze was swallowed by the crowds, and you were whisked away by your friends.

They say time flies when you’re having fun, but you would be the first to argue that time also flies when you are going through rigorous training and extreme stress almost everyday for over a year. There were moments of fun during it, of course, but for the most part, the mental and physical strain was an endurance test that you were far too stubborn to allow to get the best of you. Nobody ever gave you the impression that the FBI academy was an easy avenue, and your favorite professor had warned you of the most challenging aspects of the training in advance. You’d be lying if you said you hadn’t thought of him during the most difficult points of the past year; the advice he’d bestowed upon you had proven to be infinitely valuable already, and whenever you happened to mention him to others, the expressions of shock and awe you’d receive were testament to the fact he very much had been worthy of being your bragging right - if you could see him once more just to say “I told you so”, you’d take the chance in a heartbeat.

You hadn’t expected to be effectively scouted as quickly as you were, following university. Originally, you had your heart set on some local police work, hoping to climb the rankings and edge your way towards the FBI that way, to have some experience in the field to assist you going forward. Fate had been on your side when you were given the opportunity to showcase your skills on a particularly challenging case that the local police force you worked with were not equipped to handle. A couple of FBI agents had been sent to assist with the case, and by the end of it, the two of them gave you a recommendation to the academy. 

In the year that’s passed since, you have done everything in your power to prove yourself to be exceptional, and now, you are taking the elevator to the floor dedicated to the Behavioural Analysis Unit. Everything you have been working towards has built up to this moment, and while it is only an introduction to the team, you were the only one amongst your peers to be offered this opportunity. There are no vacancies on the team, as far as you’re aware, so they aren’t urgently in need of anyone, meaning you are likely being recommended to shadow them, which could lead to a permanent role if you play your cards right. Once that is secured, all of your hard work will have paid off, the years of your life you have thrown into this will have been worth every second, every tear, every drop of sweat. 

The elevator dings, and you take a deep breath. The second the doors open, you step out of them, only to be greeted by a dark haired woman who has an intimidating stance until she sees you, and then she’s smiling, holding her hand out for you to shake.

“(Y/N), I assume? Great to meet you, I’m Emily Prentiss, the Unit Chief.” She introduces herself, and your eyes very nearly fall right out of your head as you nod, shaking her hand.

“Oh, wow, it’s amazing to meet you! My whole class has heard so much about you!” It’s an exclamation you try your best to deliver as calmly as you can, but you are substantially awestruck.

“That’s very sweet of you,” Emily’s smile warms as she lets go of your hand. “-I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about you, too - your training coordinator’s been singing your praises.” She expresses, gesturing for you to walk with her.

You scoff, feeling a little bashful, but still proud of how far you’ve come. 

“He’s not been annoyingly insistent about passing me off to you guys, has he?” You joke with a cringing expression, causing Emily to laugh as she holds the glass doors to the bullpen open for you, shaking her head.

“No, no, not at all! I actually requested you come up here; given how well you’re doing, and this is where you’ve stated your goal is, I figured it’d be good for you to learn what you can while the team’s in a stable position.” She explains, and you nod along, keeping your eyes fixed on her as she talks, wanting to take in her every word.

You know what she’s trying to say; you’d been right that the team don’t necessarily need you right now, but that’s a good thing - it means you’re safe to learn at your own pace, without any pressure of being expected to take on the role right away, you’re just here to learn. 

“That’s reassuring, thank you.” You smile at Emily, and she returns it. 

Walking through the bullpen, Emily takes the time to introduce you to the different members of the team, and you use that as an opportunity to profile what you can about them. Emily has evidently always been a natural leader, but she’s not quite comfortable in her position yet. Luke is the epitome of the golden retriever personality, Tara is total badass but still a sweetheart, Rossi seems to be the father figure of the group but begrudgingly, JJ is a very protective mother figure despite being around the same age as a few members of the team, and Penelope is the sweetest woman to ever exist - not too difficult to suss them out. 

“It’s such an honor to meet all of you!” You’re gushing unabashedly, but you can’t help it; the thought of working with these people is literally a dream come true for you.

“She says that, and she hasn’t even met our genius yet!” Luke laughs, waving the file in his hands before setting it down on a very neatly organized desk. But, something on that folder catches your eye.

It couldn’t be. It absolutely couldn’t be.

“Sorry, can I see that?” Your heart is already pounding.

Frowning in confusion, Luke passes you the folder he’d just set down, and you take it with clammy, shaking hands. Your eyes scan over the printed text at the top of the brown folder, not opening it to view the contents within, because the front was enough to make your stomach flip.

See your name, someday.

The team of profilers that surround you are exchanging glances, and it doesn’t take them long - considering their unique skill set - to come to a conclusion.

“Have you…heard of Spencer?” JJ poses the question to you as gently and vaguely as she can, and you nod unsteadily.

Do you-? In the alternative timeline you entertain inside your own head, you are happily married to that man with three kids and a house with a wraparound porch. Do you know him?

It takes a few seconds for you to regulate yourself enough to look up from the folder and place it back on the desk that you now recognise has to be Spencer’s. Clearing your throat, you laugh at yourself awkwardly.

“Yeah, uh, he was actually a professor at my university, just over a year ago.” You elaborate, feeling like you almost have no choice, given the way your own reaction outed yourself.

In the adrenaline rush that hasn’t left you since being sent to the BAU floor, you’d failed to connect the dots in your own mind, or maybe you didn’t want to get your hopes up in believing that he’s still part of this specific team. That today, he happened to be in the office, not away on a case, or lecturing somewhere, or literally anywhere other than right where you were due to be today.

The team exchange glances again, a silent conversation, but this time it’s one of understanding rather than confusion. All at once, they’re starting to smile at you.

It isn’t your business, so they don’t go into detail, only divulging to you that Spencer hasn’t been himself lately because his mother has been unwell and that it shouldn’t be fatal, but because that’s the only family he really has, he’s been worrying himself exponentially. Regularly stepping out of whatever room the team are in to call the hospital, or talk to his mother directly, and barely talking to the team about it whenever they ask about it. The reason they tell you this is because, knowing Spencer as well as they do, your presence can most definitely serve as the perfect pick-me-up to his presently busy and anxious mind - so, you and the team quickly form a plan.

Twenty minutes or so later, Spencer steps back into the bullpen with a forlorn expression; the vision of a man with every ounce of life pulled from him, drained beyond belief. He barely acknowledges Emily or JJ - the rest of the team being in Penelope’s office, watching via the security cameras and her monitors - instead moving past them, towards his desk.

“How is she, Spence?” JJ asks softly, patting his back in an effort to reassure him.

“Mom refused to pass the phone to the doctors and couldn’t even tell me if she’d taken her antibiotics for today.” He all but collapses into his chair, eyes closing in a pained blink.

Phone calls with his mother have often been difficult, but when she’s sick, her schizophrenia and consequential lack of trust makes them especially so; convinced the government are listening, she won’t relay what medicine she’s taken or when, and without confirmation from a doctor, Spencer has no way of knowing whether his mother is actually recovering from any other sickness that ails her. 

“I’m so sorry, Spencer.” Emily sighs, looking at him with sympathetic eyes, and Spencer can only nod his thanks.

Opening his eyes, he looks for something - anything - to distract himself. His gaze lands on the folder on his desk, and he picks it up absentmindedly. It’s then, Emily and JJ take their cue to leave, pretending they have a very good reason to head into Emily’s office and close the door behind them; pretending they aren’t discretely peeking through the closed blinds.

Vision not entirely focussed, Spencer flips the folder over with a sigh, barely glancing over the front of it, until something sparks to life in the mess of his mind. He pauses, frowns, and looks back over the front of the folder. His chest feels tight. 

“Folder contents to be provided to: Agent (Y/N) (Y/L/N) - (with credits to Doctor Spencer Reid).”

Spencer stands from his desk like he’s been electrocuted, looking around the now empty bullpen and immediately realizing that his team, his beloved friends, his family have helped plan something just for him, and his heart is already racing. 

His lips part to call your name, but no sound comes. It doesn’t need to; his heart has been singing it in a secret mantra, everyday since he last saw you. Summoning you, but taking its sweet time. 

On the other side of the bullpen, you rise from where you’d been hiding under one of the other desks, out of Spencer’s line of sight, now appearing before him. Your gaze locks with his from across the room, a desk’s distance separating you, but it doesn’t obstruct the tether even remotely. Nothing ever has.

Spencer watches as time slows to reveal a smile spreading across your face, one that is so beautifully familiar he has to catch his breath before remembering his own smile. Every detail  of you, he recognises. The color of your eyes, your lips, your hair - each and every one, his favorite shades to ever exist. He notices every minuscule detail of you that has changed in the time that has passed, and immediately finds himself listing praise after praise towards each and every one, in the confines of the mind you have enchanted to emptiness. While his conscious mind has continued to deny the power you hold over him, his subconscious mind has been plagued by dreams of the way he’d hold your hand, the kisses he’d leave on your cheeks, should you ever be so gracious as to bestow the honor upon him. He was foolish to even try and convince himself that your beauty was a passing observation; should he ever dare think such a blasphemous thought again, he’ll request a psych eval on himself. 

“Hi.” He breathes, too lost for words to say anything else.

“Hi, Professor.” You answer, the sound of your voice that of his favorite song returning to him after far too long. 

“You aren’t required to call me that now, you realize.” Spencer clarifies, an almost imperceptibly playful tone laced into his words.

“Should I call you Doctor Reid, then?” You offer, raising your eyebrow at him, as though challenging him.

He doesn’t even realize he’s doing it, but he’s walking towards you, closing every inch of space he can’t allow to exist for another second, until only the desk separates you. 

“Just Spencer, would be preferable.” His own voice is softer than he’s ever heard it.

“In that case, I look forward to working with you, Spencer.” You beam, placing deliberate emphasis on his name and holding your hand out to him.

Every thought he has ever had about every germ that has ever existed, erases itself from his mind. He doesn’t hesitate.

“Likewise. It would seem my list of reasons to delay retirement has just grown exponentially.” Spencer’s hand reaches for yours, shaking it so gently - his hand very nearly swallowing yours and not letting go for anything - crossing the only barrier and turning the tether into something tangible, for the very first time. The spark that previously only existed between your eyes, bursts to life in a warmth that blossoms between your hands now, but not just there. It lingers everywhere. It’s in your cheeks, already aching from how hard you’ve been smiling at each other, and it’s in your chests, your hearts fighting with equal strength to forego your ribcages and fly away; a pair of doves into a perfect landscape.

So my darling frond @phoebe-delia gave me the following prompt:

Okay here's what I got: Drarry coming back from a date where everything went wrong. Doesn't have to be their first date, but an early one. The waiter got their food wrong, one of them was late bc of stuff out of their control, an ex showed up on a date—your call. Anyway—one insists on walking the other home, and when they arrive, they're both laughing, and a comfortable silence starts, and they realize they don't want it to end. And one says, "D'you want to come in?"

My dear, this is what came to mind - I hope it suits!

Drarry, T, ~1200 words

Tags: first date, bad date, like epically bad, brief mention of accidental minor injury/blood, gratuitous use of italics and parentheses

This is, quite possibly, the worst date Harry has ever been on.

Okay, to be fair, the date a couple of years ago, with that French wizard, would probably be considered worse, technically, given that it had ended with Harry in St. Mungo’s on blood-replenishing potions and the guy being arrested. 

Or the date with that witch who had, it turned out, been utterly delusional and convinced that Harry was not only the second coming of some obscure American deity (who even knew the Americans had gods?? Not Harry!) but that Harry was particularly eager to plant the third coming of said god into her… how had she put it? Oh yes, her exceptionally fertile temple of joy.

Just the memory of it makes Harry shudder.

So yeah, he’s been on some bad dates, and while he’s pretty sure this one won’t end up with anyone being arrested or sectioned to the Janus Thickey ward, it’s still been terrible.

First, he’d been late. Really late. Like, not just fifteen minutes but three hours. True, he’d been splashing through a mossy swamp after some asshole criminal and he’s pretty sure Draco had believed him given that Harry had apparated directly to Draco’s townhouse from the swamp,  as he’d been so anxious about being so late. To Harry’s credit, he’d sent several Patronuses and Draco had replied telling him not to worry but still. Late. Very, very late.

And, did he mention, he’d been in a swamp? So he’d showed up, not just late, but also dripping and smelling of swamp. Not a good look. Or smell. Draco had gotten him sorted out, loaned him some clothes, and they’d headed out to the fancy restaurant.

Except that sometime during the two weeks between when Hary had optimistically made the reservation and showing up for tonight’s date,  the restaurant appeared to have changed ownership and now had a very different theme. Much less high-end Italian cuisine and much more, well. BDSM club. They didn’t even have entrees. Just finger food.

And for some reason, Harry had felt compelled to stick it out, so they’d ordered drinks and food while watching a demonstration of something. Harry’s not sure what, but it had looked… complicated and uncomfortable. In any case, the drinks had been overpriced and watered down, and the food had managed to be simultaneously undercooked and thoroughly scorched. Harry’s not even sure how they’d managed to achieve that particular balance. 

The server had been, well, not rude exactly, but more, just… profoundly incompetent. It had taken her twenty minutes to put in their drink order, and then after another half an hour, she’d drifted over to ask if they’d like dessert menus and had seemed genuinely startled when they’d politely mentioned that they hadn’t actually ordered dinner yet.

The club had been so loud, they hadn’t been able to make conversation, and when the band had started to set up, Draco had given Harry a panicked look and suggested that they might want to head out. Harry hadn’t been able to hear him, and when Draco had leaned in to shout in his ear, Harry had accidentally smacked Draco in the nose. With his head. 

They’d gotten the bleeding stopped, but Harry is pretty sure Draco’s lovely, silk tie is never going to be the same.

So now, Harry is walking Draco home because Hermione had insisted that was proper, but he’s pretty sure this date is going to end on the doorstep of Draco’s townhouse, and with it, all of Harry’s hopes for more, better dates.

“So,” he says glumly and wracks his brain for something to talk about that, and then, of course. It begins to rain. Not just rain. It’s pouring.

It’s freezing cold, they’re already both soaked to skin, and it’s the worst date Harry has ever been on, so when he hears a strangled noise from Draco, it’s not surprising that he immediately thinks Draco is crying. Not that Draco’s much of a crier usually, he’s more prone towards snark and sulking, but still. So Harry stops, turns, opens his mouth and is about to apologize when he realizes.

Draco isn’t crying. Not at all. He’s laughing. He’s laughing so hard that he has to stop walking, and is just standing, bent over at the waist, hands on his thighs as he howls. Harry stares at him in astonishment. 

Finally, Draco manages to calm himself down, straightens up and grins at Harry. He’s as wet as a person can be, hair hanging in his face and his shirt is saturated to the point of translucence. He’s shivering but his grey eyes are shining and he’s so, so beautiful, all Harry can do is stare at him, aching with want.

“That,” Draco pronounces with glee, “was quite possibly the worst date I’ve ever been on, and I have to tell you, Potter, I’ve had some bad dates.”

Harry swallows. Draco doesn’t seem angry at all, or even disappointed (which would be far worse, Harry thinks). No, Draco is so clearly amused and Harry starts to think that maybe, just maybe, he hasn’t ruined this. Not yet.

They stare at each other and Draco’s lips quiver as he tries to hold back his laughter, and as lightning flashes overhead, Harry gives up, throws his own head back and starts to laugh as well.

“It really was terrible,” he agrees and takes a step closer to Draco, who just watches him approach, eyes knowing and sure. Thunder booms so loudly that they both flinch. “Not my best work.”

Draco snorts, reaches out and snags Harry by the belt loop. “I should hope not,” he agrees as he reels Harry all the way in, winding his arms around Harry.

“I can do better,” Harry whispers, and then Draco closes the last bit of distance between them, his mouth warm and insistent on Harry’s.

Draco tastes of cheap vodka and rain, and Harry reaches up with one hand to push Draco’s sodden hair out of his eyes while the other hand lands low on Draco’s hip. Harry feels sparks under his skin everywhere they’re touching, and he groans as he pulls Draco even closer.

They stand like that for moments or hours, Harry has no idea how long, he’s lost to everything but Draco in his arms. Finally, Draco pulls back with a gasp and as the silence between them is broken by another crash of thunder, Harry realizes that he’d missed the lightning strike that preceded it, too caught up in Draco to be dazzled by anything else.

“So,” Draco says and Harry can hear the smile in his voice. “Do you want to come over?”

“Yeah,” Harry whispers, his voice rough. “I really do.”

“Well then,” Draco says, and plants an affectionate kiss on Harry’s chin. “Why don’t you do that?”

As they make their way down the wet pavement to Draco’s townhouse, Harry slips his hand into Draco’s, feels the way Draco’s fingers thread perfectly through his own, the way Draco holds on tight, and when Harry slants him a sideways glance, Draco is looking forward and smiling.

Draco is smiling, it’s pouring rain, Harry is starving and there’s nowhere else in the world he’d rather be than right here, right now, just like this.

Best. Date. Ever.

What Russian movies would you recommend?

oh my god where to even start!! i really love soviet cinema so this is most of what i will suggest probably (im kind of meh on most recent mainstream russian cinema, even tho it has great pieces of guilty pleasure movies lmao) alright so settle in well okay lets start with the classics: andrei tarkovsky is my favorite filmmaker, literally anything and everything by him (just dont watch nostalghia first, but i highly recommend the mirror, stalker, solaris if you like SF, or hell even andrei rublev if thats your jam bc personally it is and i LOVED), very contemplative and slow movies though, like. you will need patience to get through his stuff, but personally i always say it feels like someone recorded a dream and you're watching that. it feels really oniric and its like you dont exactly grasp it all and when you try to explain it you cant really but good god its good

then! i will recommend one of my all-time favorite movies, and i mean it, of ALL times, the ascent by larisa shepitko. its about two soldiers during wwii who are sent off to find food, and its one of those war movies that arent really war movies you know but they are about it, and moreso, they're about like Humanity™? anyway one of the most haunting, beautiful and devastating movies i've seen ever. just beautiful in the cinematography, in the acting, in just everything honestly, its raw and profoundly human and also if youre like me and youre all about that religious symbolism? youre in for a... sad sad treat, but a treat nonetheless. it really like. got me deep like i didnt know what to do with myself after watching it but its a masterpiece 10000% (also while im there... also watch larisa sheptiko's other movie, wings)

now another classic is of course the cranes are flying, everyone knows but i need to reiterate it really lives up to the hype... just. some of the most beautiful cinnamon tography ive seen ever. like ill be honest even if i love cinematography in general i rarely go look up a cinematographer specifically but for this movie i HAD to bc some camera shots are INSANE. just one of the most gorgeous movies ive seen ever

if we're still going about aesthetic bc why not... if you liked hamlet by shakespeare, you HAVE to see the 1964 Hamlet movie its sooo gorgeous and such a good adaptation in my opinion like i just think this movie understands EVERYTHING about the essence of the play

now the next one i wouldnt necessarily put on the same scale as the others but good god is it a good watch, and its ballad of a soldier yes its another classic idc the soviet classics arent classics for nothing. this one is a really nice watch. just felt..... really nice and once again war movie thats not really showing you the war itself, i dig this hardcore

okay also ! not soviet lmfao but HUGE mention to alexander sokurov, you probably know of russian ark, if you dont, its not only a fucking prowess of cinematography, its basically one single continous shot for the entire movie and not like. a fake one like 1917 -tho dont get me wrong, loved what 1917 did-, like its deadass. press record, do the entire fucking movie, press stop. its INSANE and its BEAUTIFUL and im in love with sokurov's style, not as well known but i also loved francofonia, tho its a lot more experimental imo and is more documentary than movie, but also not documentary per se, i guess an essay of sorts, kind of confusing but i enjoyed it

i could not do this without of course mentioning one of my comfort movies™, which is я шагаю по мосве (translated as different things, like walking the streets of moscow or i walk around moscow) just a short and really sweet and light movie about . life i guess. LMAO its vague but theres really no real plot in there just a good time and very genuine and also has one of my favorite final scenes ever quick special mentions: courier, which was not my favorite but a really good movie still and it gets me bc its 1980s russia aka my jam, crime and punishment 1970 IF youve read C&P bc umm its an entire vibe, and remember when i said modern russian cinema guilty pleasure? okay well i rewatched движение вверх recently and like. it still slaps. if youre wondering (???) i need you to know i havent watched a zvyaginstev movie since i was like 16 so i dont have a concrete opinion on his stuff lmao)

sorry i wrote like SO fucking much but jaksfbajfbajsfh i hope this can provide you with some stuff of interests and btw a lot of these movies can be found with russian film hub, which basically like searches youtube and whatnot for you since mosfilm are actually pretty cool and do put their movies online

omg you read we need to talk about kevin? what did you think? i went through a whole range of emotions, most of them bitter & negative, bc i saw too much of my mum & brother in eva & kevin, something i’m still working through. i started off hating eva bc i projected my resentment towards my mum onto her, but i found myself sympathising with her a bit more towards the end. it’s helped me sympathise a bit with my mum too. this book has probably had the most lasting effect on me than any other!

man, I love that book. I first read it years ago and liked it then, but I recently reread it and I loved it even more. it's such a brilliant book -- profoundly uncomfortable and incredibly bleak, but I think it asks so many important questions that, face it, most people are too scared to even acknowledge. it simultaneously asks the huge taboo of a question -- what if you regret having your child? what if a child is just born bad? -- and also combines it with that other big question: why do kids shoot up their schools? the nature vs nurture debate has been absolutely raging for years regarding children who commit violence at school; as someone with an academic interest in this particular crime, it's one I've banged my head up against multiple times. people seem to always be firmly in one camp: the parents are to blame, or the kid is just evil. nobody seems to consider the interaction between these two things, and how it's always ultimately a choice.

the book is a pretty intense read for me, as I'm sure you can relate. the difference is that while you can see your mother and brother in Eva and Kevin, I actually see myself and my mother in Eva and Kevin. I was an unwanted and a resented child. my parents did not want to have me. I was what my parents referred to as "a surprise", said in the same tone as you would describe a sudden house fire as a surprise, or bad news at work as a surprise. the major difference between my parents and Eva and Franklin was that they had me very young (they would have been 19 and barely 20 when they found out, and 20 and barely 21 when I was born) and this most certainly added to the resentment. my father was always away for work, often getting to go to some pretty interesting destinations; my mother wanted to be the kind of woman who wanted to be a stay-at-home mother, but she hated it. like Eva and Kevin, my mother and I were very, very alike in personality and what we did and did not want out of life, and we were engaged in some level of warfare for my entire childhood. while I wasn't quite on the level of Kevin in terms of blinding my siblings and whatnot, I was quite the terror as a child. by the time I reached my teenage years I was uncontrollable and my parents had given up trying. I could not be punished. I did not care. any punishment they did hand out, I was maliciously compliant to the point of infuriation. I'm sure my parents could argue that I was born evil, and indeed that's what they told the extended family. I admit I was not an easy child. however -- I was a child.

I did not ask to be born, and when my parents made the choice to have me and then resent my existence, that was on them. a child knows. a child can tell when he's not wanted, when he's an inconvenience. I knew it very well, from an early age. my parents' resentment of me resulted in them abusing me right up until I left home. I was like an unwanted pet, except they couldn't dump me off at a shelter. no, they never laid a finger on me physically, so they can claim they didn't abuse me -- but emotionally and psychologically they were abusive, and especially in my teenage years, they neglected me severely. (think along the lines of being left at home alone for extended periods with no food, no money, and no way to get supplies as we lived in rural Ireland and the closest supermarket was 30 minutes away. this was not something they did out of malice, but rather something they did because they did not consider me at all. they forgot my existence, most of the time, or they deemed me so inconsequential that making provisions for me was a task that could be forever put off.) understandably this made me hate them in return, and I took great pleasure in being a little shit. it was all I had. nature vs nurture, which is it? my parents weren't exactly nurturing, and they taught me very bad behaviour -- but at the same time from the moment I was born I had my mother's personality, predisposing me to being a little shit. even now, grown up and after many years of working on myself, I still find myself fighting the urge to be as cruel and as judgemental as she could be; likewise I see those positive qualities she had, that she could have shown more of if she had put the work in like I had. we went from being furious carbon copies of one another to an example of the best and the worst case scenario.

basically what it comes down to is choice. Kevin and I had a similar situation going on, but Kevin chose to try and find what he was looking for in mass murder, and I chose to try and find it by getting out of my house and never returning. I mentioned earlier that I have an academic interest in the kind of crime that Kevin committed; since the age of 17 I have been researching these things, and now have expertise in several specific incidents. I bring this up to illustrate that this crime was on my radar when I was around Kevin's age, when I was suffering from the same problems as he was. thousands of kids find themselves in this position, yet so relatively few commit the act. why? it's choice. nature, nurture -- it doesn't matter. there comes a point where you have to make the choice, and honestly? it's chaos theory, baby.

as well as researching this kind of thing I'm also an amateur meteorologist. I love weather. I love trying to work out what makes it tick. and weather is a good example of what I'm trying to say here. weather cannot be predicted. we can get decent ideas, but at the same time we never really know for sure and also weather acts differently every time. there are too many variables. it's the entirety of the earth's atmosphere we're talking about here. identical weather conditions can arise time and time again, and each time the weather is different. a sunny afternoon one day is a washout the next. this is because -- and I broadly sum it up here -- there are so many tiny variables that we cannot possibly predict how they will change the weather. and I mean it's tiny variables. I'm sure you've heard of the butterfly effect -- this comes from the idea that a butterfly somewhere on the coast of Africa can flap its wings, and this tiny reverberation can spread through the atmosphere, creating a bigger and bigger ripple, until a hurricane smashes into the Gulf of Mexico. tiny atmospheric changes all interacting in ways we cannot imagine. this is why some kids shoot up schools. it's easy to look at psychology broadly, but no two people are ever the same. siblings growing up in the exact same house are not the same. identical twins, genetically identical to their very DNA, are not the same. tiny, tiny events, microdoses of chemicals in the brain, exposures -- they all change us in subtle ways. two people -- Kevin and I -- can grow up with almost identical familial issues and outlooks, but Kevin shoots up his school and I study my ass off and get myself to university to escape my parents. why? I don't know. I don't know what tiny little things might influence me one way and another kid in the other. personality, brain chemistry, waking up that morning and having enough or not -- I don't know. it's chaos theory. the variables are too small to say. nature vs nurture are only two variables out of millions. it's an oversimplification.

so to go back to the book -- who do I blame? neither of them. it was a perfect storm. we could say Eva didn't help, but I know of plenty of kids with decent parents who still committed such a crime. we could say that Kevin was just born bad, but there are plenty of people with his resentful outlook on life who don't commit mass murder, or any harm against anyone whatsoever. it's like how every tornado comes from a supercell, but not every supercell will spawn a tornado -- that final genesis point is unknown to us. we just can't predict it. there are no easy answers. there is no simple formula. we just don't know, and that's what makes Kevin's story -- and its real-life counterparts -- so terrifying.

How do to think Pure would have been different had Sara lived? Do you think she could have given up her Pearl (since mermaids can kinda sorta live without bc of Luchia)? I would have loved to see Sara making amends and helping to rebuild her kingdom, Kaito and Gaito getting to have an actual relationship, and Seria getting to meet Sara!

Wow I gave a thought to this and it turns out this thought just branches out into so many rabbit holes that I’m not sure if I can completely answer your question, but I’ll try!

From your ask, I gather that you assume that Gaito would live as well. I’m also going to assume here that Sara would still follow Gaito even if they had lived. Aqua Regina did note in the final episode of the first season that Sara’s duty is to save Gaito’s soul. Which means that even if she lived, it is possible that she still would need a successor in Seira. Seira would be still too young to lead a rebuilding of the Indian Ocean Kingdom, so I don’t think we would see much of that in Pure anyway, even if Sara had lived.

Even so, everything would be very different. A few reasons summed up here: 1) Taro probably would not have left Japan, 2) Sara would be the one taking care of Seira rather than Luchia, 3) all the Mermaid Princesses will be present.

1) Taro probably would not have left Japan

A bit of context here: I am making a few assumptions here for the canonical story. The biggest one is that someone had to break it to Taro that Sara is gone. Through the events of the finale in Season 1, Taro was mostly unconscious after his brief reunion with Sara, right before the final battle. The evidence is that Sara bid farewell to Taro while he was still unconscious on the back of Hippo.

Had Taro been unsure if Sara was still alive or not, he might have returned to India out of desperation just for that chance to see her again where they met. (small headcanon: Taro and Sara met at Rama’s Bridge in Tamil Nadu. Where else but a bridge that Suvannamaccha the Mermaid Princess disrupted?)

But it is more likely that either Luchia, Hanon, or Rina had to gently break the news to him. After composing himself, he would then decide to further study music in Germany in order to let his inner melody flow, as a tribute to Sara.

Now, assuming that Gaito’s castle still sunk anyway, but not into the deepest depths of the ocean floor, the location of Gaito and Sara would still be off the east coast of Japan. When Taro wakes from the ordeal, he would still ask about Sara’s whereabouts. Luchia, Hanon, and Rina would still have to break bad news to him, but something quite different: that Sara has chosen Gaito over Taro. But the key difference is that Sara lives.

It is possible that Taro could have wished Sara well in his heart and continued to pursue music. But I think it is more likely still that he would stay in Japan, constantly looking out to sea as long as his mermaid princess was still alive.

Which brings me to the fact that we would have seen how Taro and Hanon would both had to learn how to let go at the same time. Nagisa would still appear as part of the story, and Taro would still gift Hanon his music score. But with Taro’s constant presence (and Sara’s choosing of Gaito), Hanon would be more determined than ever to win Taro’s heart. Taro would then have to constantly gently reject and refuse Hanon’s advances, and maybe set Nagisa and Hanon up. (which he kinda did already, even if he was far away in Germany)

Sara would resurface every now and then, and Taro will then have to struggle with practicing what he preaches. He would have kept telling Hanon to move on from him, but likewise, Sara would have had to give him similar advice that he would have to follow.

Which reminds me, I haven’t even talked about Sara proper yet. 😅

2) Sara would be the one taking care of Seira rather than Luchia

This is interesting because we go into the details of what exactly is the relationship between Sara and Seira. Generally, we’ve been considering Seira and Sara as two separate mermaids, two separate souls. However, Hippo noted all the way in Episode 1 that “Pearls are an element of mermaids”, or even more specifically, “真珠わ人魚の分身” (lit: pearls are a “clone”/”alter ego” of mermaids). This suggests that while it is definitely possible that mermaids can be alive without their pearls, they would also be incomplete without them. Which means to say, that the pearls contain an essential identity inseparable from the mermaids who possesses them.

This raises the question of the Orange Mermaid Princess’ Pearl: if Sara is still lives, can Seira be born? Which leads us to think about something even more interesting: can we consider Seira as a reincarnation of Sara? And there’s even more: do the Mermaid Princesses have friendships that lasts beyond lifetimes, reincarnation after reincarnation?

This is of course, assuming that every mermaid owns a pearl that they keep in their shell necklace. But, if we assume that the pearl is more like a Crown Jewel for each kingdom, then perhaps it is possible for Seira to be born at the will of Sara’s abdication being approved by Aqua Regina.

Even so, I cannot imagine the relationship between Sara and Seira to be anything but profoundly deep and intimate. Even if we allow for the fact that the ownership of the pearl can be transferred when the previous owner is still alive, there is a sense that Sara is at once Seira’s mother and other self. Sara has so much to teach Seira about the beauty of the Indian Ocean Kingdom and all her culture. But consequently that means that Seira will spend more of her time in the Panthalassa Palace with Sara and Gaito. It would be nice to see Gaito’s humane side for once, responding to the antics of a kid. At some point, Seira would surface, not only to experience the human world but also to socialise and meet with the other Mermaid Princesses. Which brings me to:

3) All the Mermaid Princesses will be present.

The power of the seven Mermaid Princesses have been shown to be invincible when they are combined. Michel would be somewhat less threatening, even though he is still as powerful. Seira would have been protected during her birth in the Indian Ocean, considering the fact that Sara could have more easily gathered all the Mermaid Princesses to witness and protect the birth of Seira together if she was alive.

If Michel was successful in absorbing Seira’s power though, Sara would have been the caretaker of Seira’s pearl, which would have been even more interesting to see what Sara might confess to Seira in their private moments alone in the subconscious realm.

Other stuff:

It would have been interesting to see how Kaito and Gaito interact as brothers, but also at the same time they were both brought up in vastly different environments; it would take a lot of communication for them to kindle a sense of brotherhood. If Sara had lived, I would also be keen to see how she would make amends to Coco, and perhaps a couple of episodes following the duo as they explore the human world.

Thank you so much for the ask, anon! This was such a fun rabbit hole to dig into. 😆

top ten tagged by @linkspooky 🍊 explanations under the cut! sorry for rambling xo → rules: name your top ten favourite characters from ten different fandoms, and then tag ten people - @osomanga @kara-suno @anonimarevolts @zeninmaki @wildbishonen @shysheeperz @tkmewthyou @kaldurlenn @joxterism @marshmallowdonutsprinkles

snufkin okay so he’s the only one not from an anime or manga but i had to put him on bc he’s the most important fictional character to me, ever. i grew up watching the moomin cartoons in the 90s and thinking about it instantly calms me down - they used to air the episodes early in the morning when it would still be dark outside: the landscapes were moody and cosy, the characters were so softly spoken and articulate... it’s just peak nostalgia. anyway, snufkin is moomin’s best friend; he returns to moominvalley every year to be with his friends during the spring and says his goodbyes to go adventure again come winter. it upsets moomin when he leaves but snufkin is adamant that quiet and solitude are important and healthy, and it’s not fair to expect him to compromise on his independence - that made a really big impact on me as a kid, especially as someone who never really had their ‘own’ space (twinsies). relationships aren’t weakened by physical distance or time, they’re about communication and understanding. that was important too. i don’t think i realised just how influential it had been until i was an adult but snufkin is an anarchist. he first shows up in the comics when moomin and sniff are talking about opening a bank - he tells them they should plant fruit trees instead. he destroys private property and rescues orphans, he refuses to participate in things that don’t bring him joy. when he’s asked where home is, he replies, “nowhere. or everywhere! it depends how you look at it” - the whole world belongs to him, and the whole world belongs to everyone else too.

yomo renji in general, i like characters that trudge along in the background and do the nitty-gritty work that supports the main story. i like people like that irl too. more than anything else, yomo is desperate to form human connections, even though he’s shackled by self-doubt and self-loathing. he just wants to positively contribute to a community, thinking he’s most useful keeping a quiet eye on people who might need protection/guidance (while still giving them space to grow and act themselves) or foraging for human corpses so that others aren’t in danger or moral anguish doing it for themselves.

bird boy is a total weapon - “the perfect ghoul” - and you’re reminded over and over again but a lot of his growth is about rejecting violence and repurposing his power as something productive that he can use to help the people around him instead of hurting people (the yang to uta’s yin). in the first few chapters, he says he kills humans (he’s a ghoul, humans are food, it’s natural) and yet he’s consistently framed as a scavenger who seeks out ‘roadkill’ [suicide victims] for sustenance, even before coming to anteiku, and implements a system so other people can do the same.

suguru getou i was originally gonna say meg bc i love him but, having just finished The Flashback Arc, i can’t stop thinking about getou and i’m beyond impressed with how akutami has managed to ground him so well, so sympathetically. getou is the sick, warped darkness to the hopeful light that gojou commands but... in an uncomfortable twist, the reverse is true, kind of.

actually, gojou is arrogant and confrontational and hyper individualistic. he’s a dissident. getou is obedient, compassionate, self-aware... he has a sense of social responsibility and passionately believes that his skills should be used to protect those who can’t protect themselves - non-jujutsu sorcerers - and all of the suffering he endures as a result is worth that. idk if others are reading his downfall differently but, from where i’m standing, that overwhelming responsibility never goes away, he doesn’t give up on it - he just starts to view the social landscape differently and begins to see how jujutsu sorcerers are vilified and mistreated in spite of all the good that they do. the ‘weak’ aren’t really weak when they’re able to organise and assert collective power over a minority, and so his sympathies shift.

the nail in the coffin for getou is learning that the hurt and pain could be eradicted from the world by cutting the head of the proverbial snake: non-jujutsu users generate cursed energy, so get rid of non-jujutsu users and cursed energy won’t be generated. it’s all horribly, weirdly rooted in good intentions that weigh him down and misdirect him.  shinazugawa genya i feel like the bond that slowly starts to develop betwen tanjirou, and zenitsu and inosuke (in particular) is nicely foiled by genya’s lonely journey towards becoming a pillar. after losing almost all of his family and having sanemi walk away, genya is angry, antisocial, rude, violent, evasive...

he’s characterised as competitive, as if he hates his peers and wants to leave them in the dust as an act of self-satisfaction, a power fantasy or whenever, but this is a deliberate misdirection to cover for the fact that he’s scrambling to be a pillar so that he can reconnect with his brother and prove to him that he can protect himself; that sanemi doesn’t need to shoulder everything alone like he used to. his entire goal is an act of apology.

and in a story where so many characters are able to hone these exceptional skills, genya is uniquely disadvantaged as the only one who can’t master breathing techniques. rather than having a hero moment and powering up, his need to reconnect with sanemi is so strong that he essentially decides to compromise his humanity and become a kind of monster by ingesting the demons he’s pledged to annihilate. amajiki tamaki i wish i had a a longer explanation for this one but it’s actually super simple: tamaki is a really, really, really good portrayal of a person burdened with severe anxiety. the way he physically carries himself, the way he hides his face, his manner of speaking, his dependency on his mirio, how he interprets compliments as trickery, how he needs to be pushed and pushed and pushed before he’s finally able to release his potential... every single scene with tamaki felt deeply personal when i was reading bnha and i knew exactly what he was supposed to be feeling. shinmon benimaru sometimes good, nice people don’t fit a little friendly mould and i like that benimaru is hostile and rough and antisocial, even with people he cares about. he doesn’t expect anything of people, he doesn’t want them interfering with him, and he wants to help and support them all the same because he believes in community. he’s completely oppositional to the special fire force because he thinks it’s a tool to pursue an ideology rather than to protect people, which is why it’s so important when the eighth are finally able to win his approval - they become the only company the seventh consider allies, and it’s proof that their objectives are righteous. despite his reputation as... kind of a nuisance, his skill is acknowledged by everyone and he’s universally regarded as the strongest fire soldier there is. in spite of his antisocial attitude, he agrees that it’s important to share that with younger fire soldiers - he’s incredibly patient and understanding with them, helps them to individually adapt. the way he (and others in company seven) operate in contrast to the other companies when fighting infernals is really cool to me for two reasons: (1) it provides a commentary on how cultures and traditions often struggle to survive when they’re systematically (forcefully) replaced through power and wealth - although the subtext is a little troubling because it’s unclear whether ōkubo is conflating multiculturalism with globalisation which, uh, big nope; and (2) philosophically speaking, the approach to death is interesting. where the other companies essentially perform last rites and offer absolution to the deceased, benimaru personally takes responsibility - at the request of the people in his district - for sending them off in huge public display, kind of like a festival intending to celebrate their life. i think it speaks to how profoundly he values life. akihiko kaji i liked akihiko from the beginning because he’s stoic and introspective and also excitable and dumb. he’s a people watcher and waits for opportunities to softly guide uenoyama and mafuyu when they’re quietly crying out for help but doesn’t interfere any more than he thinks is necessary because he knows they can make their own way to where they need to go. i liked akihiko even more when he got really fucking messy. his relationship with ugetsu is sweet and it’s incredibly ugly and unhealthy because they both fail utterly to communicate with one another - they’re both to blame for avoiding and hurting each other, and i think that’s a really normal issue that people find difficult to overcome. i’m super interested (and really nervous) to see how his relationship with haruki develops. he’s done some horrible things to haruki and i want him to be accountable for those things and have them affect their relationship in a realistic way.

tanigaki genjirou one thing i really, really love about golden kamuy is the way noda satoru incorporates the importance of minority cultures into the story, and tanigaki’s apparent abandonment of his matagi heritage is really beautifully written. matagi hunting traditions shaped his life as a young man, it’s how he was able to really assimilate to the people around him and form relationships and - without getting too spoilery - he divorces himself from it all when he’s overcome by grief and hatches a plan for revenge against the person responsible. so, by allowing himself to surrender to negative feelings and thoughts instead of seeking support and learning to heal from what happened, he becomes a total shadow of himself. 

makimura takeshi i know i’ve gushed about it before but i can’t properly explain just how incredible it felt seeing an asexual character in manga dialogue about being asexual, and devils’ line does it twice. the reason i’m so attached to makimura in particular is because he doesn’t seem to have fully figured it out - and he’s kinda... comfortable with that. he wants to be with someone and he wants to be monogamous but he can’t understand why he doesn’t feel sexual desire towards her; he knows his feelings aren’t platonic but doesn’t know whether they can really be called romantic either.

not to go dark mode but i very vividly remember just how lonely and horrifying it was battling with those uncertainties when i was a teenager, thinking i was broken because i didn’t have Normal Human Feelings and needed to be fixed. i was so worried about it that i thought about all the boys i knew, picked the one i thought was the nicest and actively tried to develop a crush on him. it was dumb as fuck but, ten years later, i realise it was really desperate and sad too. i forced myself to have ~my first kiss~ (it was horrible) because i felt like i was getting left behind and i think i would’ve put myself in worse situations as i got older if i hadn’t suffered with such bad social anxiety.

i hadn’t really thought too much about a lot of this stuff for yeaaars but it all came flooding back when i was reading devils’ line. it was bittersweet bc i was remembering all of those shitty feelings but also watching this character grapple with those same questions and go: i don’t know yet and that’s not weird, let’s just grow with it. i still don’t totally know whether i’m ace or aro or bi, or whatever, but i’m trying to be okay with just... not knowing.

misora shuuji anyway, devils’ line isn’t actually a manga with a specific focus on sexuality and gender but shimanami tasogare is and all of the characters are written beautifully. if you haven’t read it yet... then why haven’t you read it yet? misora is only about twelve years old and watching them battle with their growing pains is really compelling - they’re closeted but, through the lounge, they have somewhere to explore their gender and all the questions they have about it. they’re amab and present as traditionally feminine wrt clothes, wigs, makeup, etc. but can’t quite tell if they see themselves as a girl, a boy or non-binary.

with the onset of puberty and anxieties about physical changes to their body, misora’s story puts a lot of emphasis on the pressure they face to just ‘make up their mind’ about something that’s actually incredibly complex and doesn’t have any easy answers. they snap and shout and get upset, especially when tasuku (the protag) tries to push them into a corner because he wants a concrete label or identity he can attach to misora, even though space is exactly what misora needs.

I'm truly sorry if this comes off as invasive and you can definitely just ignore this ask if you want to but I was wondering if you've come to some kind of conclusion with the gender thing? (this sounds so stalker-y but I remember you hinting at some kind of a confusion a while back and now your about-page says any other pronouns along with she/her are fine so I was just curious.) Sorry again if this is in any way too nosy!

hey, it’s okay! I totally get the curiosity! this is going to be a fricking long rant (sorry for having to scroll through this in advance but read more links won't work with mobile).Also: this is the first time I properly address this publicly on my blog and it feels sort of terrifying, so don’t be surprised if I delete this answer in a couple days of time. the answer is nope, I haven’t really come to any sort of a solid conclusion that I would have been able to stick with for more than a couple of days without feeling like I was over-exaggerating the issue (I don’t even know if there is an issue.) this is not to say that gender confusion isn’t acceptable or normal, I think that it absolutely is, but I really am just such an overthinker that I wouldn’t be surprised if all of this just turned out to be something that I completely made up for myself to be even more confused of what “me” means.that’s a confusing clusterfuck of a statement. I’m going to try again.basically, all I’ve ever addressed publicly on my blog is that I’ve sort of always had weird periods of time where I find myself unsure whether or not I am 100% a girl.Most times this is something I’ve brushed off by telling myself that this confusion only comes from the mindset that society has brought me up with: which is to say that my internalized idea of a girl/a woman is so narrow, that I find it hard to relate to it because I don’t relate/conform to the roles or characteristics that are often associated with my assigned gender.for as long as I know, this could actually be true. It might just be that I still have those ideas so profoundly ingrained into my brain, that something inside me tells me that “no, you cannot be a girl, because you are not like girls are supposed to be” which is bullshit because fuck gender roles and blah blah, so forth.Also: I find no particular discomfort in being referred to as a girl. I understand that that’s at least what society views me as, and I don’t find it necessary to correct anyone, no matter if the confusion actually leads to some kind of a moment of enlightenment at some point. she/her pronouns are also completely fine and so is my name, which is also very feminine.so, what exactly even is the problem? there are a few. first off as much as it’s ok for me to be called a girl, for some reason the word “woman” when used to describe me, feels very off. I don’t know if it’s just an age thing - maybe I’m just so used to thinking of myself as a kid, that the implication of being grown up feels wrong to me. might just be that, or might not be. time will probably tell.secondly: as much as being called a girl and being seen as a girl is okay, I sometimes get the feeling that that’s not the whole picture. when it comes to labeling myself, ever since I was taught the difference between girls and boys, I felt the need to place myself a bit in the middle. this was when I was just a kid. also, at 12, I vividly remember writing an essay about “instead of being blue or red, I want to be purple” (this sounds like a fucking halsey song all of a sudden) and at 13 after learning about nonbinary identities for the first time, I actually went through a short phase during which I identified as demigirl (I stopped when I learned more about trans identities and struggles, and started to feel extremely gross and distasteful for invading something that wasn’t meant for my cis ass.) so, this “problem”(/confusion) has been around for a while.I’ve found it hard to talk about this for the longest time, and I think there are actually like…three people I’ve ever really talked about it with properly? the truth is that as much as I believe that nonbinary identities are valid (science backs me up there) and not about seeking attention or trying to be special, I know that seeking attention and trying to be special are both very strong personality traits of mine so lmaooooo basically ngl I would not be surprised if this is something I completely made up in my head. btw the things mentioned above that cause this confusion aren’t the only things that have made me think about this, but this is where my ability to express them ends. I cannot describe the feeling of something I barely even know myself with words. that’s all it is, really. a feeling, that could also be wrong.then there’s also the whole deal with my body image issues and whether or not they play a part in this whiCH I DONT FUCKING KNOW but we’re not going to get into those bc this would turn into a fucking novel with three sequels if I did thatif you read this whole thing, congrats. basically nothing has to change. I might come into conclusions, or I might not. I do however fully realize that I’m privileged as fuck with all the time I have to figure myself out, and I really don’t want to compare this fuckery to the actual struggles people go through with their gender identities when being trans/nb.btw if all of this is sounds like a bunch of bullshit that I made up to be Cool and Hip then I suggest you move along instead of beating me up about it bc the chances are that whatever nasty you have to say, I have already told myself the exact same thing a thousand timespeace

A Brief Look At The Different Types Of Martial Arts

A Concise Take a gander At The Various Sorts Of Martial Arts Different sorts of martial arts exist, with every one of them having a one of a kind reason in battle. A portion of these styles have been around for quite a long time, while others were created in increasingly present day times. What these styles share for all intents and purpose is they show a type of battling to their supporters and enable these people to protect themselves when fundamental. These martial arts are likewise separated into different areas, such as striking, hooking, and takedown styles, allowing individuals to become familiar with various trains en route. I'm going to start taking a gander at some which nowadays are apparently more in the game field than martial art. Boxing Boxing is one of the most outstanding martial arts on the planet as a result of its prevalence as a game. It is accepted that confining started 688 BC at the Olympic Games in Greece, as records show individuals punching each other around then. Enclosing was likewise prevalent Rome during a similar timespan, with warriors wearing crude types of gloves and substance regularly finishing off with death. The game diminished in prevalence after the fall of Rome until the 1700s, as it ended up huge in Britain. This ubiquity proceeded and new principles were acquainted with make it into to a greater extent a game. For instance, the hitting of a brought down rival was restricted, as were low blows. In the end, the Marquess of Queensberry standards were presented that laid out the ring, the utilization of gloves, and numerous different guidelines that are as yet utilized today. Kickboxing Full Contact Kick boxing created from Thai-Boxing and other Martial Arts impacts, the primary sessions being found in the mid 1970's. Nowadays anyway it is by all accounts lighter contact, with a huge accentuation set on light quick strikes scoring focuses. Muay Thai Muay Thai began in Thailand at some point somewhere in the range of 1238 and 1377, as it was common during the Sukothai Time. There are a couple of various angles to Muay Thai, including kicks, punches, knees, and elbows. A secure is additionally utilized by numerous experts as an approach to open a rival to these strikes. Gloves are utilized by contenders and a decent kick fighter can dodge various strikes in a proficient way. This is a generally new sport, as it was recently utilized for self-protection purposes, however it has turned out to be extremely famous in a brief timeframe in different places everywhere throughout the world. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu One of the more well known catching arts on the planet is called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is mostly founded on ground battling, in spite of the fact that it incorporates takedowns. Entries are the fundamental weapon utilized in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, as specialists can either gag an adversary out or control, or break, joints utilizing weight. This is a compelling type of self-preservation since specialists in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are entirely agreeable on their backs, making it feasible for them to shield themselves in a wide range of circumstances. The watchman position is particularly compelling, as it is utilized when attempting to keep an aggressor from doing any harm to you. Wrestling Wrestling is regularly perceived as the principal martial art, as its causes return the extent that people have existed, as cavern sketches delineating the games are as much as 15,000 years of age. Increasingly current variants of the game have been around since around 1100 Advertisement, which was the point at which it started to show up in Europe. Wrestling for the most part includes takedowns and ground battling, albeit different structures exist. Separate martial arts like Judo and Sambo depend on wrestling, as they include tosses and takedowns too. Find wrestling is a subsection of the game that includes accommodation holds and was mainstream in the beginning of blended martial arts. Wrestling is additionally a game in the cutting edge Olympic Games, with Greco-Roman and free-form structures being utilized. The game stays prevalent everywhere throughout the world and American universities and secondary schools often have wrestling crews go up against each other. It ought to be noticed that regardless of the comparable name, proficient wrestling has not very many similitudes to novice wrestling, as beginner wrestling is a genuine game. Judo Japanese Game - Created by Jigoro Kano from Ju-Jitsu, infact it was initially known as Kano Ju-Jitsu. Nowadays it's about challenge, it's deciphered as the Delicate Way, however frequently the delicate side is by all accounts overlooked and there is a ton of solidarity utilized. A game focussed on taking your assailant to the ground with tosses or excursions at that point moving around attempting to immobilize your adversary with locks or sticks. Useful for Wellness, can be useful for adaptability. Sambo A Russian Martial Art, that has part into 3 unique territories, it has an unadulterated game side, that while it has been exhibited at the Olympic Games, has not been perceived by them. A ton of likenesses to Judo. It additionally has a handy self-preservation side too, taking a gander at cautious methods, in conclusion it has battle Sambo using tecniques from both of the above just as its own, and applying its very own dreadful turns. Kickboxing Game, Basically all over - Full Contact Kick boxing created from Thai-Boxing and other Martial Arts impacts, the principal sessions being found in the mid 1970's. Nowadays anyway it is by all accounts lighter contact, and a major accentuation set on light quick strikes scoring focuses. Karate Karate is an old martial art that includes using open hand strikes, punches, elbows, kicks, and knees to increase a bit of leeway over a rival. Specialists are additionally instructed to square approaching strikes and execute legitimate breathing methods so as to stay effective. Notwithstanding striking, a few types of karate incorporate tosses and accommodation holds. This enables professionals to guard themselves in any position, which is the ultimate objective of the martial art. Ju-Jitsu It's my most loved as you may anticipate, its a Japanese Martial Art, around for a long lengthy timespan, difficult to follow accurate beginnings, yet can be followed back to Samurai and some time before. Incorporates everything, practically, punching, gnawing kicking, knees, eye gouge, weight focuses, whatever it takes to win a battle. Striking isn't something that Ju-Jitsu covers as much as some different arts, due in part to the history, this was a front line art, to be utilized when the weapons had been lost, anyway observing as your rival would for the most part be wearing armour,hitting them was not the best alternative, however tosses, locks stifles, chokes all have an impact. What exactly level or degree you are trained a portion of these will be resolved a great deal by the school that you go to. In the course of the most recent couple of years, and I mean ten to twenty there has been a developing resurgence in Ju-Jitsu, however generally centered around the wearing side, because of the immense accomplishment of individuals like the Gracies, yet then there are those of us that like to cover the majority of different bits too, the stuff that a games manages more often than not stop you learning. Basically, in the event that you need a decent all round Martial Art, one that is profoundly viable, at that point this is a decent one. Aikido Again a Japanese art. By and large terms, a serious present day art established by O-Sensei Morihei Oeshiba,this is an art gotten basically from Ju-Jitsu, focussing more on dis-commitment securely however, uses the round movements vigorously, truly adept at utilizing an assailants power against them. There are a great deal of "delicate" schools out there, the "elegant" kind, while they have their place, they speak to an alternate thing to the first thing, In the event that you have ever been tossed by somebody who truly comprehends what they are doing in Aikido, at that point it's not delicate and it works. I used to imagine that individuals just hopped and went with the tosses, as Kotegai ish, and to a degree they do, however that is in such a case that they don't go with it a piece, they lose their wrist. A decent streaming art, hard on the joints, particularly wrists and knees, extremely customary. Iaido A Japanese art, normally moderate and controlled, covers drawing the sword from the sheath, striking or cutting the rival, expelling blood from the sharp edge and supplanting the edge in the casing. A great deal of service, I've had it portrayed to me as a control monstrosities art, I hurry to include this was said by a second Dan in Iaido! Kung Fu A Chinese art, that has numerous structures or styles, utilized a ton in Movies, can be extremely showy, however can likewise be successful whenever done right. It has turned out to be extremely prominent over the previous decade or somewhere in the vicinity, on account of movies with Stream Li, Jackie Chan and after that enormous visits by the Shaolin Priests were individuals have been astonished by the things they do. Useful for wellness, adaptability, whenever done incredibly well, at that point it very well may be great self-protection. Wing Chun A Chinese Martial art, legend has it that it was made by Yim Wing Chun, and it is great as a nearby quarter battle martial art. Great around other people self-protection. Great at the catching separation where a ton of arts are let down. Pencak Silat An Indonesian accumulation of Martial Arts, when seen or attempted, at that point a portion of the developments can appear to be fundamentally the same as certain types of Kung Fu. Escrima A Filipino Art, focussing on stick and here and there swords. Most current Escrima you see will in general concentration around the stick work, quick and noteworthy when done right. Useful for the core interest. Krav Maga An Isreali art, concentrating on close quarter work, taking a gander at killing any risk as quick and hard as could be expected under the circumstances and leaving, utilized by Isreali exceptional powers, utilizes everything without exception to win whatever the expense. Awful, yet successful a decent chief pushed here is whatever you do you continue pushing ahead, when you've started to assault you continue onward, and I was astonished what number of individuals battle with this idea. Judo A Chinese art, in spite of the fact that nowadays it will in general center around the mending, delicate non-sway style, it merits recollecting that it is as yet a Martial Art, and thusly it's moves whenever instructed and connected accurately, are still there to really cause harm. In spite of the fact that increasingly more this side. Business Name: Tokon Martial Arts Street Address: 1920 Terracina Drive Suite 200 City: Sacramento State: CA Zip Code: 95834 Phone Number: 916 835 7717 Website: www.TokonSacramento.com Business Email: [email protected] Business Hours: Mo - Fr 5PM - 8PM Saturday: 8:30AM to 11AM

A Brief Look At The Different Types Of Martial Arts

A Concise Take a gander At The Various Sorts Of Martial Arts Different sorts of martial arts exist, with every one of them having a one of a kind reason in battle. A portion of these styles have been around for quite a long time, while others were created in increasingly present day times. What these styles share for all intents and purpose is they show a type of battling to their supporters and enable these people to protect themselves when fundamental. These martial arts are likewise separated into different areas, such as striking, hooking, and takedown styles, allowing individuals to become familiar with various trains en route. I'm going to start taking a gander at some which nowadays are apparently more in the game field than martial art. Boxing Boxing is one of the most outstanding martial arts on the planet as a result of its prevalence as a game. It is accepted that confining started 688 BC at the Olympic Games in Greece, as records show individuals punching each other around then. Enclosing was likewise prevalent Rome during a similar timespan, with warriors wearing crude types of gloves and substance regularly finishing off with death. The game diminished in prevalence after the fall of Rome until the 1700s, as it ended up huge in Britain. This ubiquity proceeded and new principles were acquainted with make it into to a greater extent a game. For instance, the hitting of a brought down rival was restricted, as were low blows. In the end, the Marquess of Queensberry standards were presented that laid out the ring, the utilization of gloves, and numerous different guidelines that are as yet utilized today. Kickboxing Full Contact Kick boxing created from Thai-Boxing and other Martial Arts impacts, the primary sessions being found in the mid 1970's. Nowadays anyway it is by all accounts lighter contact, with a huge accentuation set on light quick strikes scoring focuses. Muay Thai Muay Thai began in Thailand at some point somewhere in the range of 1238 and 1377, as it was common during the Sukothai Time. There are a couple of various angles to Muay Thai, including kicks, punches, knees, and elbows. A secure is additionally utilized by numerous experts as an approach to open a rival to these strikes. Gloves are utilized by contenders and a decent kick fighter can dodge various strikes in a proficient way. This is a generally new sport, as it was recently utilized for self-protection purposes, however it has turned out to be extremely famous in a brief timeframe in different places everywhere throughout the world. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu One of the more well known catching arts on the planet is called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is mostly founded on ground battling, in spite of the fact that it incorporates takedowns. Entries are the fundamental weapon utilized in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, as specialists can either gag an adversary out or control, or break, joints utilizing weight. This is a compelling type of self-preservation since specialists in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are entirely agreeable on their backs, making it feasible for them to shield themselves in a wide range of circumstances. The watchman position is particularly compelling, as it is utilized when attempting to keep an aggressor from doing any harm to you. Wrestling Wrestling is regularly perceived as the principal martial art, as its causes return the extent that people have existed, as cavern sketches delineating the games are as much as 15,000 years of age. Increasingly current variants of the game have been around since around 1100 Advertisement, which was the point at which it started to show up in Europe. Wrestling for the most part includes takedowns and ground battling, albeit different structures exist. Separate martial arts like Judo and Sambo depend on wrestling, as they include tosses and takedowns too. Find wrestling is a subsection of the game that includes accommodation holds and was mainstream in the beginning of blended martial arts. Wrestling is additionally a game in the cutting edge Olympic Games, with Greco-Roman and free-form structures being utilized. The game stays prevalent everywhere throughout the world and American universities and secondary schools often have wrestling crews go up against each other. It ought to be noticed that regardless of the comparable name, proficient wrestling has not very many similitudes to novice wrestling, as beginner wrestling is a genuine game. Judo Japanese Game - Created by Jigoro Kano from Ju-Jitsu, infact it was initially known as Kano Ju-Jitsu. Nowadays it's about challenge, it's deciphered as the Delicate Way, however frequently the delicate side is by all accounts overlooked and there is a ton of solidarity utilized. A game focussed on taking your assailant to the ground with tosses or excursions at that point moving around attempting to immobilize your adversary with locks or sticks. Useful for Wellness, can be useful for adaptability. Sambo A Russian Martial Art, that has part into 3 unique territories, it has an unadulterated game side, that while it has been exhibited at the Olympic Games, has not been perceived by them. A ton of likenesses to Judo. It additionally has a handy self-preservation side too, taking a gander at cautious methods, in conclusion it has battle Sambo using tecniques from both of the above just as its own, and applying its very own dreadful turns. Kickboxing Game, Basically all over - Full Contact Kick boxing created from Thai-Boxing and other Martial Arts impacts, the principal sessions being found in the mid 1970's. Nowadays anyway it is by all accounts lighter contact, and a major accentuation set on light quick strikes scoring focuses. Karate Karate is an old martial art that includes using open hand strikes, punches, elbows, kicks, and knees to increase a bit of leeway over a rival. Specialists are additionally instructed to square approaching strikes and execute legitimate breathing methods so as to stay effective. Notwithstanding striking, a few types of karate incorporate tosses and accommodation holds. This enables professionals to guard themselves in any position, which is the ultimate objective of the martial art. Ju-Jitsu It's my most loved as you may anticipate, its a Japanese Martial Art, around for a long lengthy timespan, difficult to follow accurate beginnings, yet can be followed back to Samurai and some time before. Incorporates everything, practically, punching, gnawing kicking, knees, eye gouge, weight focuses, whatever it takes to win a battle. Striking isn't something that Ju-Jitsu covers as much as some different arts, due in part to the history, this was a front line art, to be utilized when the weapons had been lost, anyway observing as your rival would for the most part be wearing armour,hitting them was not the best alternative, however tosses, locks stifles, chokes all have an impact. What exactly level or degree you are trained a portion of these will be resolved a great deal by the school that you go to. In the course of the most recent couple of years, and I mean ten to twenty there has been a developing resurgence in Ju-Jitsu, however generally centered around the wearing side, because of the immense accomplishment of individuals like the Gracies, yet then there are those of us that like to cover the majority of different bits too, the stuff that a games manages more often than not stop you learning. Basically, in the event that you need a decent all round Martial Art, one that is profoundly viable, at that point this is a decent one. Aikido Again a Japanese art. By and large terms, a serious present day art established by O-Sensei Morihei Oeshiba,this is an art gotten basically from Ju-Jitsu, focussing more on dis-commitment securely however, uses the round movements vigorously, truly adept at utilizing an assailants power against them. There are a great deal of "delicate" schools out there, the "elegant" kind, while they have their place, they speak to an alternate thing to the first thing, In the event that you have ever been tossed by somebody who truly comprehends what they are doing in Aikido, at that point it's not delicate and it works. I used to imagine that individuals just hopped and went with the tosses, as Kotegai ish, and to a degree they do, however that is in such a case that they don't go with it a piece, they lose their wrist. A decent streaming art, hard on the joints, particularly wrists and knees, extremely customary. Iaido A Japanese art, normally moderate and controlled, covers drawing the sword from the sheath, striking or cutting the rival, expelling blood from the sharp edge and supplanting the edge in the casing. A great deal of service, I've had it portrayed to me as a control monstrosities art, I hurry to include this was said by a second Dan in Iaido! Kung Fu A Chinese art, that has numerous structures or styles, utilized a ton in Movies, can be extremely showy, however can likewise be successful whenever done right. It has turned out to be extremely prominent over the previous decade or somewhere in the vicinity, on account of movies with Stream Li, Jackie Chan and after that enormous visits by the Shaolin Priests were individuals have been astonished by the things they do. Useful for wellness, adaptability, whenever done incredibly well, at that point it very well may be great self-protection. Wing Chun A Chinese Martial art, legend has it that it was made by Yim Wing Chun, and it is great as a nearby quarter battle martial art. Great around other people self-protection. Great at the catching separation where a ton of arts are let down. Pencak Silat An Indonesian accumulation of Martial Arts, when seen or attempted, at that point a portion of the developments can appear to be fundamentally the same as certain types of Kung Fu. Escrima A Filipino Art, focussing on stick and here and there swords. Most current Escrima you see will in general concentration around the stick work, quick and noteworthy when done right. Useful for the core interest. Krav Maga An Isreali art, concentrating on close quarter work, taking a gander at killing any risk as quick and hard as could be expected under the circumstances and leaving, utilized by Isreali exceptional powers, utilizes everything without exception to win whatever the expense. Awful, yet successful a decent chief pushed here is whatever you do you continue pushing ahead, when you've started to assault you continue onward, and I was astonished what number of individuals battle with this idea. Judo A Chinese art, in spite of the fact that nowadays it will in general center around the mending, delicate non-sway style, it merits recollecting that it is as yet a Martial Art, and thusly it's moves whenever instructed and connected accurately, are still there to really cause harm. In spite of the fact that increasingly more this side Business Name: Tokon Martial Arts Street Address: 1920 Terracina Drive Suite 200 City: Sacramento State: CA Zip Code: 95834 Phone Number: 916 835 7717 Website: www.TokonSacramento.com Business Email: [email protected] Business Hours: Mo - Fr 5PM - 8PM Saturday: 8:30AM to 11AM