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somnimagus · 5 months

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My page for @sheikahzine; about Impaz's duty to her village, empty of people and full of memories.

[id in alt text]

#legend of zelda #loz #twilight princess #loz tp #i'm still reeling that someone sent me an ask about this one.. that they took the time to find my tumblr and tell me they liked it #it really meant a lot; thank you to anyone that stops to leave comments like that. they make me happy #but yeah! here's the usual symbolism ramble:#i thought it'd be cool to have the 'spirits' flowing one way and the cats walking through them the other way #to kinda show the difference in life inhabiting the village in the past and present #link's face is covered because impaz was just waiting for 'the hero' so his clothes are what matters; not his face #and it (hopefully) gives a surreal and intangible sense to 'the hero' she could only hope would actually show up #you can feel free to interpret the glowy blue sheikah as ghosts or just as memories of the past! i couldn't decide either way #the one on the bottom left is oot impa since she's implied to be the village founder. so i guess she would be a ghost actually?#fan art #my art #project stuff #and ahhh the book-- everyone's stuff is so beautiful!!#especially the writing. some of the fics made me really tear up and some were so fun and clever. i really love them #a lot of them captured the sheer burden of the role of the sheikah; all of the time and grief and doubt #i know i always say this stuff about every project but. the people i get to work with in these are truly so skilled every time

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fox-guardian · 8 months

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hey guys did you know that um. did you know. first of all did you know i'm losing my mind, secondly, do y'all remember in tma how when someone reads a written statement, they don't really Stop unless they're interrupted? and they read the whole thing easy cheesy, no issues with reading whatever words are there? like. jon literally could read french for a whole statement and was Fine. granted, that's Jon, but like nobody else struggled with pronunciations and whatnot (that i can recall)

presumably, this is an eye thing. either as employees of the institute, or because everyone there is just also eye-aligned in some degree (melanie had the ghost hunting show, the eye is fond of martin, etc)

and then there's tim in season 3 ep 86

[Sigh] Statement of… uh, Benjamin Hatendi… Hateendi? Regarding a… [papers rustling] a blanket. Dead friend. Monster. Regarding his unavoidable and gruesome end. How he tried to hide. He couldn’t. Statement is from… 1983, March 2nd. And I guess… [long sigh] I guess I’m doing this one. Tim Stoker. Archival assistant… Archival prisoner at the Magnus Institute.

correct me if im wrong but i don't recall anyone struggling with pronunciations before this bit. but that's not even the biggest thing here, that's just a lil Taste, a lil Flavor.

note the phrasing there. "Regarding his unavoidable and gruesome end." why would he say this when the written text on the statement says this:

Uh, right. Benjamin Hatendi’s account of… [rustling pages] oh for… a, a strange encounter. Er, statement date, March 2nd, 1983. Melanie King recording. Apparently.

"a strange encounter". that's it. nothing about an unavoidable death, just a "strange encounter". Tim Why Did You Say That.

why would our dear timothy bimothy, who is being pushed to the brink, who is becoming rapidly more depressed and losing hope, say this?

this isn't the only time he's said some weirdly grim shit tho (ep 104)

There was never really any hope for me, though, was there? This was how it was always going to go.

and then there's this bit from elias apparently having Looked into tim (also 104)

TIM All right, hit me with your X-ray eyes then, boss. What do you see? ELIAS Disruption. An unpredictable, angry man with nothing left but the desire to feel in some way revenged. TIM [Sarcastic] Ooh, terrifying! Surely only magic could have let you see so deep inside my very soul.

"nothing left" but the desire to feel revenged. and tim doesn't dispute this, because it's true.

when he first joined the institute he did so in order to look for answers about danny, but then he stopped seriously looking. and now that the circus is back, this is all the drive he has left. not looking for answers, just wanting revenge. closure. an end, if you will.

this is Literally It For Him. a couple lines later he suggests elias kill him, he's At The Breaking Point.

he is so tired, he's lost all hope, and he's saying all this grim shit about "unavoidable death" and "this is how it was always going to go" like hmmmm sounds familiar doesn't it. DOESN'T IT (<- is going insane)

(ep 11) [....] despite the rapid response of the paramedics and how much of his medical history I had immediately to hand, there was nothing I could do to save him. (ep 11) I have no responsibility to try and prevent whatever fate is coming for you. Based on my previous experience, such a thing is likely impossible anyway,[....] (ep 121) There. That was it. That was our fate; where we would always be.

hmmmm sounds a bit like oliver huh? everyone's favorite ex-accountant avatar of the end?? right??

but then there's this last bit i have from ep 86.

why did he stop reading the statement

Statement. “My parents never let me have a nightlight. I was always afraid, but they were ju–” Ugh, this is stupid.

why did he do that. again, correct me if im wrong but when else has someone just Stopped Reading like that without someone or something else interrupting them? why could tim just stop himself?

my theory is this: at this point, tim is completely gone from being aligned with the eye. he no longer seeks to know what happened to danny, he just wants closure. he doesn't wanna do any statement work, and he keeps mentioning these tidbits about hopelessness and the inevitability of terrible events, specifically death.

the eye isn't compelling him to read the statements like it does the others, because it doesn't have as strong a hold anymore. the grip is slipping from him. and by the time the unknowing rolls around, maybe it's lost him for good. maybe he finally fell into a different power he never meant to serve, and yet, he does.

and maybe. just maybe. because i'm so not in denial. but MAYBE. he did die in the unknowing. but maybe he got better.

basically end!tim truthers rise up, this is how end!tim kayaking with his bf oliver banks can still win, etc etc I'm Going Feral <3

#ramblings with major #the magnus archives #tma #tim stoker #oliver banks #timoliver #lil bit uwu #tim stoker tuesday #end!tim #cursing #tma angst #ig #i hope this is coherent and makes sense im losing my MIIIIND im losing my Mind

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theendlesseyes · 3 months

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The canary statement in the first episode of TMAGP really reminds me of the role that the angler fish episode played in TMA. The angler fish served as the first warning and was in it of itself descriptive of its role; the statement was the lure, and the trap. It was its own warning of what was to come. The canary statement reminds me of the saying "canary in a coal mine" from when miners would bring canararies down into the mines to warn them of when oxygen became too low. The bird would run out of oxygen and stop singing, likely dying. Red Canary went underground and "sang" about what they found until it killed/injured them. They are the first warning and died as a sort of warning to others- to get above ground, to get away while it was still possible. Both statements are a warning and a descriptor of what's to come.

#tmagp #the magnus protocol #tma #the magnus archives #milo rambles #forgive me i am half asleep and its almost midnight but i needed to ramble about the new episodes #hope this makes sense to other people #tmagp spoilers

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hiyyihrts · 1 month

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The way he says “You are… Pen.” so casually, as if she’s of another category all together. Most people see this as something negative, but I like to think that he respects her so highly and uses the term friend just as a descriptive, but he holds her in an even higher regard than just a friend. She’s his Pen, not a stranger, but not just a friend, either. She’s something more and different at the same time.

#me rambling once again about absolutely nothing but I hope this makes sense #bridgerton #polin #bridgerton season 3 #bridgerton s3 #colin x penelope #penelope x colin #penelope featherington #colin bridgerton

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sparrowmoth · 11 months

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Does it ever make you a little crazy insane thinking about how Jesper and Wylan both have these gaping absences in their families, these needs that haven't been met for years, but as their stories become parallel, they find exactly what they need in each other's lives?

Because okay, hear me out, Jesper couldn't save his mom, nor can he ever bring her back, but he was able to help Wylan save his mom. His mom who was supposed to be dead. He was able to help bring her back in a way that he will never able to do for his own mom. And no, she'll never be Aditi, but I think she'll grow to love him as a son-in-law.

Wylan, meanwhile, lost his father's love at a young age. He will never be good enough for Jan, because Jan refuses to love or accept him as he is. But Colm, Jesper's father who loves him, who only wants the best for his son, meets Wylan when he's easily at his lowest point in life, when he's wrapped up in crime and scandal, and what does he say? "I think you’d be good for [Jesper]." And that means everything.

Jesper and Wylan don't just complement each other as a couple, their lives thread together like stitches closing long open wounds.

#wesper #wylan van eck #jesper fahey #shadow and bone #six of crows #crooked kingdom #I don't know what to tag this #in terms of my personal tags uhhhh #my thoughts #I guess #new tag for ramblings idk dajkgjdkgd #I just couldn't stop thinking about this #jesper and wylan are SOULMATES it makes me insane #anyway I hope this makes sense I'm just so !!!!!!!!

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arodabi · 4 months

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Just to say it one more time: I’m aro and that makes me queer!!!

I will never let that go. Back when the first round of ace discourse was kicking up, i remember the first debate i saw wasn’t “aces aren’t lgbt” or “aces aren’t oppressed” it was specifically that aros and aces couldn’t reclaim the slur word queer because it was never used against us. And i saw that argument used as a wedge to further and further separate aspecs from the queer community. Eventually they just came for the word itself, that’s how the “queer is a slur” bullshit popped up at the same time. “Queer was a horrible horrible slur that nobody, least of all weirdo straights aros/aces, could reclaim.”

And that showed that the people behind spreading ace discourse, namely terfs and all the other exclusionary assholes, were the same people trying to squeeze the freaks out of the lgbt community. We know terfs used as discourse as a gateway to get people to hate trans people and trans women specifically. If you can convince someone that one group of queer people are horrible straight invaders who only want to destroy gay culture, then you can convince them that another group is too. So many of the common arguments against aspec ppl at the time stemmed from old school homophobia even. “Ace people are just mentally ill and need to be fixed” “ace people are pedophiles who want to make the children like them” “ace is a new fad that popped up, not something with any history” who benefits from that except terfs and their alt right sympathizers.

If you really want the community safe then why the fuck are you fighting those ppls battles? The same people who would kick you to the curb as soon as they finish with their current targets?

We can’t do another aspec discourse. We need to remember that the last one wasn’t just “ace ppl are cringe” it was an attempt to silence and destroy a whole group of queer people. And if they do it to aspecs, they can do it to any other group.

#long ramble that i hope makes a little sense #idk #void screams #aromantic #aro #ace #asexual #queer #lgbt #lgbt+#lgbtq #lgbtqia

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wilsonsmcgillsweatshirt · 6 months

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Listen, I know that canonically House is supposed to have very strong antisocial and narcissistic traits, but I will continue to shout from the rooftops that I believe he actually experiences hyper-empathy due to his autism. However, on the flip side, it would not surprise me at all if Wilson genuinely had both antisocial and narcissistic traits. Maybe or maybe not enough for an official diagnosis, I don't know. Either way, he strongly exhibits so many of those traits, just not in the way you'd typically expect. He's literally known for seeking out desperate and hurt people so that he can play saviour. He needs to be needed. He doesn't help people because he genuinely wants to see them get better, he helps people because he wants to become the center of their world and their only focus, and as soon as they're healed and stronger, he leaves. Because they don't need him anymore. Because he's not their only focus anymore. House even talks about it in the show.

I think that House and Wilson are genuinely just both so good at masking that they appear the opposite of how they genuinely are so strongly that their personalities and traits get mixed up.

#Someone please understand what I mean because I feel like I make no sense #I'm jsut rambling at this point #house md #house #greg house #james wilson #gregory house #hilson #hate crimes md #hatecrimes md #wilson #housemd #I hope this doesnt come across as a dig towards people with aspd or npd because its not meant to be at all #and obviously just because someone has those things does not make them a bad person #you can be a good person and do good things #I am obviously not a psychologist

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drawnfamiliarfaces · 1 month

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i... wrote a smol fic (っ´▽`*)っ

also!!!!! If you haven't seen it - shoutout to first ever published fic in Ninja Showdown/My Immortal Soul tags - Lustrous Red by @missadmyre !!!

#ninja showdown #my immortal soul #first ninja x chase young #rc9gn first ninja #first ninja #rc9gn #chase young #xiaolin showdown #randy cunningham 9th grade ninja #rc9gn plop plop #well i say smol fic.... but those 4k words felt very long.#i did say i was going to direct my energy into writing >.> and now look at me ive gone insane #no actually dont look at me im just gonna go cry over my 20k words of rough drafts for like dozen ideas that are now going #to haunt my every waking moment like JESUS i woke up today and literally wrote out 1k words of an idea for a modern au for those two TToTT #its literally an au where its a meet cute turned meet violent and first is randy's sorta dad and chase wants to adopt omi #not to mention a different AU where its an epic mystery adventure AAAAAAA someone heeeelppppp meeeee #also. its been a month but im still staring so intently at missadmyre's fic hoping for another crumb. like thank you sm for the food!!!!#ive literally been rereading it several times after i went insane about it on my main blog and im still slurping at it like a starved perso #Ive been collecting my ideas like a dragon but after reading that fic i was like: I WANT TO READ MORE FICS ABOUT THEM #but i dont wanna be a whiny baby&beg others and be annoying about it. So i put on my big person pants and was like f it WE R WRITINg NOW #so i dont care how bad my writing will be. we gonna be balling on those ideas and YES it doesnt make sense im just v rambly rn

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chronicpaingirlie · 8 days

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something i find really frustrating is the way able-bodied people seem to struggle so much to understand that, when you're disabled, your abilities can fluctuate from day to day.

"but you could do that thing yesterday-" but today i can't. what my body can & can't do isn't a constant, reliable thing. i don't get to pick and choose when i do what. and i PROMISE this is just as frustrating to me as it is to you (if not more).

it also really bothers me that, rather than trying to understand and accept that my abilities change from day to day, the default assumption tends to be laziness. if i could do a task last week but can't do the same this week, it's because my body physically will not allow it, not because i'm being lazy and just don't want to do it.

before i became disabled, i never questioned whether i would be able to shop every week, or whether i could go on a daily walk, or whether i would be able to get out of bed in the morning. since having a disabled body, all i do is question whether my body will be able to handle the most basic tasks.

i plan ahead for things i know need to get done, and i often have to rest for days before things like a trip to the grocery store, or a doctor appointment. it's endlessly frustrating, not being able to know what i'll be able to do on a given day.

i just . really wish that able-bodied people would try to be more understanding and forgiving of disabled people when they're unable to do things. we're not being lazy. we're not doing this on purpose. we're just living our lives with bodies that can't always do what we want, when we want.

#this is so rambly i hope it makes sense #stuck in bed today & it's so frustrating knowing i'm being judged for not being able to do stuff when i could yesterday #chronic pain #chronic fatigue #disability #disabled #0

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stiffyck · 2 months

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had a thought yesterday i shared with a friend but i think some people might like it!

trans grian whos a bit jealous of scar who doesnt seem to have any dysphoria. scar doesnt wear a binder and he doesnt care about how hes presenting to most people. he cares about his friends who know hes a guy and thats all that matters to him.

grian on the other hand has horrible dysphoria, especially when it comes to his chest. grian struggling to get out of a binder and having to ask someone to help. he considers mumbo but mumbo isnt trans as far as he knows and he feels weird about people seeing him without his binder, especially his cis friends. he still feels uncomfortable when messaging scar to help but he knows scar wont care. he knows mumbo or any of the others also wouldnt care but its about the fact that scar is trans and can understand. somewhat.

maybe grian admits one time hes jealous of scar. scar asks him why. "because you dont have dysphoria. or at least it looks like you dont".

and to scar thats very bittersweet.

hes lucky to not experience dysphoria but the reasons why are... less then pleasant. he had no one when growing up to compare himself to, there were no gender roles and there was nothing to make him dysphoric. he was just him and thats all that mattered. the zombies didnt care what he was, after all.

#stiff talk #does this make sense? i hope it does #anyway take my trans rambles #desert duo #can be shippy or not #gtws #grian #t4t besties

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somnimagus · 7 months

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My page for @kairizine. It was such a huge honor to be part of this wonderful book with everyone, I had so much fun!

[id in alt!]

#kingdom hearts #kh #kh kairi #kh xion #kh namine #i don't really feel proud of my own stuff usually but #i really think this is the drawing i'm most proud of from this past year!! it made me think 'oh maybe i can draw' haha #i'm still kinda bad with colors but something clicked with this one. and i feel like i got the sentimental feeling i wanted!#ooh but this project's about flower symbolism so ramble incoming:#protea symbolizes resilience transformation and diversity; hollyhock means 'please remember me.'#so my general theme was finding a sense of self.#these 3 have struggled with finding their own identity; they tend to get left behind both in-universe and in general plotwise #and naminé and xion both resemble kairi and were overshadowed by her memory. but i feel like all 3 have transformed into their own people #xion and naminé have their faces covered partially by hollyhock to show their wish to be remembered for who they are-#instead of the parts that they share with someone else #and the protea bouquets show how they each held on and resiliently grew into their own person despite it all #i put a little swervy path on the hill behind kairi to give that hopeful sense of growth and moving forward. it's a little hard to see #hopefully that makes sense! i really love symbolism but i think in visuals so i'm really bad with words #but gosh working with everyone on this project was so fun. it was like impossible not to get swept up by the team's hype for this zine #i need to hunt down everybody's work and rb it #ohh and everybody's flowers are so crisply drawn it's insane!! i think if i lined all these flowers and leaves i'd die haha #fan art #my art #project stuff

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desmorotu · 1 month

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more redacted headcanons!!!

some might be angsty? most of them?

꒱࿐♡ ˚.*ೃ

- i saw a hc where milo isn’t necessarily short, but the other guys are just unbelievably tall. in my head milo is 5’11, ash is 6’5, and david is 6’9. tank is the only one who looks deceiving bc they’re like 5’10 in my head but their wolf is as big as david’s. ppl from the outside make the joke that shaw security is secretly a tall person club

- guy was a music major before he switched to writing. i mentioned it in his playlist post but i get those vibes HARD. he also writes honey poetry because he knows they secretly like it

- i like the idea that darlin and angel came from a rough family upbringing because 1. it’s relatable to a lot of ppl and 2. it would explain why tank shoves themselves into harms way and why angel is so outgoing now. it shows different responses to trauma imo.

- babe sometimes has crippling panic attacks on the thought of angel being a latent empowered and leaving them alone as the unempowered person of the group, but in my mind babe is the latent one and they’re a fire elemental.

- sweetheart feels guilty sometimes for being empowered while the other mates aren’t. they know it has absolutely nothing to do with them and that they can’t do anything about it, but sometimes they feel a pang in their heart at the fact that the other two won’t feel their core swell and warm up when looking at their mates.

- starlight has night terrors about the time they fell down—both times. they also think about when avior fell and they can’t help but intrusively picture what he looked like when he finally landed. it makes them physically ill. avior has to be extra careful when talking back about their experiences sometimes.

- lovely is still goes to therapy every week to work through the trauma of adam, dying, and now they’ve added the summit on top of that. they’re withering away into a husk of themselves. they’re so exhausted with dealing with all of this pressure, but they’d do anything for vincent (and i think that’s going to be their downfall).

- gavin has been brought to tears on multiple occasions at the thought that freelancer loves him for him and not just because he’s an incubus. he’s had to muffle his sobs because he genuinely does not know how he deserved someone so loving. he hasn’t brought it up to them yet.

- i think that freelancer is on the ace spectrum (greysexual maybe?) and that gavin was the only person they’ve ever really had sex with, or wanted to have sex with. they trusted him enough to “show them the ropes” and he built their confidence to where it is now. gavin helped build their relationship with sex and while they’re still on the spectrum, they’re more positive about it and they enjoy that kind of intimacy with him.

꒱࿐♡ ˚.*ೃ

that’s all that i can squeeze out of my brain rn >:( i haven’t been on tumblr that much and UGH it’s just bc my real life is more interesting than my redacted life (which is a very good thing, but still it makes me sad) and i have no motivation to post 💔 but here are some hcs that have been on my mind lately :3 i hope they make sense

k byeee 💟

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haunted-xander · 19 days

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Do you think Saix' emotional co-dependence started as a Nobody or did it start as human Isa and just grew to an unhealthy degree?

#i like to think it started as a human partially bc that would make the most sense to me #(as xemnas/org xiii likes to use its members established weaknesses against them and saix/isas attatchment to axel/lea would be very easy to #manipulate him)#but also it furthers the parallels between saix' jealousy and rikus arc in kh1 #which i think is fun #obviously it wouldnt have been nearly as big a problem back then as it ended up being later on #partially bc isa wouldnt have been manipulated and gaslit so much but also #bc he wouldnt really have any fuel for it like saix got #no super-important super-secret mission they have to do #no forced emotional distance #and the idea of being 'replaced' would have been much more fueled purely by anxiety than any actual possibility of happening #oh and he also would have at least one other friend (subject x)#even if its one he wouldnt be able to talk to all the time #anyway im rambling. saix/isa got fucked up bad and i hope he gets loads of therapy bc god does he need it #isa #saix #lea #axel #leaisa #akusai #it feels kinda wrong to tag their noboy names when its them as a kids #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts birth by sleep #kh #kh bbs #art #my art #xanders art #digital art #fan art

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angelcasendgame · 4 months

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This post by beloved @angelsdean is making me think a lot abt Dean + vulnerability, and how I'm reconsidering John's opinions on being openly emotional. And I used to think John would berate Dean for not being tough enough but these days, I think it comes from Dean not wanting to add to John's distress

This isn't to say John's never told Dean to put his emotions away, I'm sure he did at some point, esp with masculinity from the 80s to 2000s + the hunting community as a whole, but by in large, I don't think it's as cut and dry as John strictly telling Dean to "man up" or not show any emotions

In 1x09 Home, Dean calls John crying on the phone saying he's scared and he thinks the thing Mary killed is at the house, and I think if John outwardly berated Dean for being emotional, he would have rerecorded it to sound stoic/serious. I think what's more likely since John was so wrapped up in his own grief/distress, Dean's emotions were brushed past overtime and he stopped turning to John for for comfort/reassurance. And we see Dean and John both switch between father-son and drill sergeant-soldier mode, which doens't help

Growing up, Dean sees John struggling often with grief over losing Mary and the horrors of hunting, and not only has Dean comforted John about it, John has openly accepted the comfort!! And with Dean being forced to place himself between John and Sam constantly bickering, there wasn't enough space for him to show or priortize his own emotions so he simply remains as the Emotionally Supportive One while he (and John) neglect Dean's emotional needs

This isn't to say it's not neglect and abuse, it absolutely is!!! John never should have put Dean in this position where he's continuously comforting John because he doesn't have any adult friends to turn to for emotional support and makes his CHILD feel like he has to be the one to do it

And this is where Dean's facade comes from where he's reluctant to talk about his own stuff. When Dean says "no chick flick moments" in 1x01, it's because Sam is apologizing to Dean for how he spoke about Mary. And throughout the show, Dean shuts people down (mostly Sam lol, he does very easily open up to others) about wanting to talk about his own emotions but he doesn't express discomfort with listening, validating, and being there for others or making them feel uncomfortable for showing their own emotions, and that comes from years of experiences of supporting a super outwardly emotional John who isn't afraid to be vulnerable

#lots of rambling on little sleep i hope this makes sense kdjfhsgkjd #anyways thank you victoria!!!#john's neglect has been bouncing around my head for a while but i had no idea how to solidify my thoughts and your post was so perfect!!#<333 #renu rambles

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emailsquid · 5 months

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i think sumi is a rlly good inversion of akechi actually.

akechi hides his true self by being pleasant and agreeable, and sumi tries to do much the same. for akechi, its because he feels like revealing his true self will hinder his goals, and fears the retribution. for him the adopted personality is a curse he has to endure to get what he wants.

sumire is essentially forced to abandon her true self, but at her own desire. freedom from the burden of being herself is her end goal, working in the complete opposite direction to akechi.

between them is akiren, who strikes a balance between them. he never tries to abandon his true self, its able to come out in the metaverse and at times with morgana and the thieves. at the same time, he uses the same people pleaser tactics as the others whenever he talks to anyone, even the thieves. he seems comfortable with both though, happy to wear different masks in social situations but not wanting to shun his true self.

i think sumire's reaction to maruki revealing the truth is by far her best character moment. she's revealed to have such strong self hatred she'd prefer to just. not exist. and this doesn't go away, evem after rank 10, since if you take maruki's deal kasumi doesn't come back, sumire just becomes kasumi again (this kind of assumes that maruki's happiness thing takes into account the extremness of her self hatred, since it's not like anyone else transforms into someone else in his reality)

much like he takes away sumire's self hatred, maruki's deal removes akechi's external anger, turning him into the facsimile he acted as. maruki can't allow akechi's true anger and bitterness and trauma, so akechi's true self, that he wants to be, becomes that pleasant outward demeanour.

to conclude i guess i think sumire and akechi are good vessels to explore hatred, societal expectations and self acceptance. akechi cannot be himself because of his hatred, and how that conflicts with societies expectations. personal thoughts on societal and interpersonal expectations cause sumire to hate being sumire, and prevent her from accepting herswlf. (wow its the theme of the game. no way. sometimes p5 is coherent).

this is what sets them apart from the other thieves, who have generally accepted who they are and the fact that they will not fit into society in a conventional way. the royal trio forgo being themselves in order to fit more easily into society, letting society's expectations mold them into a shape that fits for their role.

this commentary would probably go deeper if i had more confidence and understanding on japanese societal norms, but from what i understand this seems relevant to japanese culture's collectivist tendencies, with regards to supressing your personality to fit in.

#persona #persona 5 #p5 spoilers #persona 5 spoilers #goro akechi #sumire yoshizawa #kasumi yoshizawa #akira kurusu #ren amamiya #its 5am and im rambling i hope this makes some kinda sense #been doing royal brainrot #as you do #squid emails

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strixcattus · 3 months

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I really enjoy looking at this still from Slay the Princess:

In the midst of all the weird imagery from the first part of the Stranger route, you see for a moment—and it is cut off at the end, so I had to be quick with my screenshot—every route laid out in front of you, paired up as the game does elsewhere, and described, interestingly enough, from what I can only believe is the Voices' perspectives, or perhaps the relationship between the Princess and the Voice of a given route.

Consumption: The Beast (Hunted), the ribcages in the bottom right. Being eaten, alive or half so, is one way or another the outcome you face in the Beast. This one seems to be the least connected to its route's Voice, though I can still see it in a relational sort of way. Betrayal: The Witch (Opportunist), the nail-studded... I can't tell what it is, but it's at the top left. Betrayal on your part is the cause of the Witch's route, and it too is inevitable in some form once you're on that route—the Opportunist is very vocal about it.

Skepticism: The Prisoner (Skeptic), the chains at the bottom. Pretty clear analogue given the name of the Voice, but not to neglect—you reach the Prisoner by taking the blade (distrust of the Princess) but ultimately using it to free the Princess (you take the time to think critically about what you're being asked to do, and decide the Narrator is less trustworthy). Blind devotion: The Damsel (Smitten), the... I can only imagine locks of hair at the top. You reach the Damsel by immediately and wholly assuming she has no ill intentions, an attitude made manifest in the Smitten.

Rivalry: The Adversary (Stubborn), the spikes to the left. The Adversary route is, so long as you embrace it, about your probably-a-metaphor-for-sex-I-mean-the-Eye of the Needle-isn't-even-trying-to-veil-it eternal fight with the Adversary, with the Stubborn in strong support. Submission: The Tower (Broken), the stone columns to the right. One of the most clear-cut "this is about the Voice" examples—the Broken has completely submitted to the Tower's will, even though the player still has a few chances to resist her.

Terror: The Nightmare (Paranoid), the eyes in the upper right. Of course, the Nightmare is all about fear, and the Paranoid is the embodiment of your fear of the Princess—the fear that made you lock her in the basement and the fear that stopped your heart when she broke free. Longing: The Spectre (Cold), the wisps in the bottom left. This one is interesting, and almost made me second-guess my "Voices" reading, as the Spectre herself is clearly a creature of longing—but then what about "Submission?" The Tower is not "submitting" to anything. That's her whole deal. Perhaps this one is connected to your desire for something other than what the Narrator calls the "Good Ending..." or perhaps it has something to do with the Cold's interest in feeling something, which he expresses in a few routes (the Greys being the most obvious).

Pain: The Razor (Cheated,) the spikes at the top. She skewers you, and you die. Over and over again she skewers you, and you die, and it is painful over and over again. I'm not sure I have much to add to this one. Unfamiliarity: The Stranger (Contrarian), the abstract DNA-like strand at the bottom. You reach the Stranger by refusing to interact with the Princess, leaving her an unfamiliar blank slate whose actions you cannot predict and thus fracture into every possible image of her.

And at the heart of it all, an emotion that can only be described as—what? The Narrator doesn't get the chance to finish his sentence before you wake up in the Prisoner's basement, but I'd think the answer is obvious once you've finished the game.

After all, this is a love story.

#slay the princess #less analysis more rambling but boy did I need to get this out #anyway just. the imagery of this one.#the way the stranger is infinite potentiality #reflecting every possible version of the Princess in such a way that she cannot be any of them #and how you get the clearest glimpse into what's going on in this moment #but expressed in a way you could never hope to understand without context #it's a map of the whole game but you need to find the key yourself to make sense of it

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