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stromblessed · 6 months

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Mizu, femininity, and fallen sparrows

In my last post about Mizu and Akemi, I feel like I came across as overly critical of Mizu given that Mizu is a woman who - in her own words - has to live as a man in order to go down the path of revenge.

If she is ever discovered to be female by the wrong person, she will not only be unable to complete her quest, but there's a good chance that she'll be arrested or killed.

So it makes complete sense for Mizu to distance herself as much as possible from any behavior that she feels like would make someone question her sex.

I felt so indignant toward Mizu on my first couple watchthroughs for this moment. Why couldn't Mizu bribe the woman and her child's way into the city too? If Mizu is presenting as a man, couldn't she claim to be the woman's escort?

However, this moment makes things pretty clear. Mizu knows all too well the plight of women in her society. She knows it so well that she cannot risk ever finding herself back in their position again. She helps in what little way she can - without drawing attention to herself.

Mizu is not a hero and she is not one to make of herself a martyr - she will not set herself on fire to keep others warm. There's room to argue that Mizu shouldn't prioritize her quest over people's lives, but given the collateral damage Mizu can live with in almost every episode of season 1, Mizu is simply not operating under that kind of morality at this point. ("You don't know what I've done to reach you," Mizu tells Fowler.)

And while I still feel like Mizu has an obvious and established blind spot when it comes to Akemi because of their differences in station, such that Mizu's judgment of Akemi and actions in episode 5 are the result of prejudice rather than the result of Mizu's caution, I also want to establish that Mizu is just as caged as Akemi is, despite her technically having more freedom while living as a man.

Mizu can hide her mixed race identity some of the time, and she can hide her sex almost all of the time, but being able to operate outside of her society's strict rules for women does not mean she cannot see their plight.

It does not mean she doesn't hurt for them.

Back to Mizu and collateral damage, remember that sparrow?

While Mizu is breaking into Boss Hamata's manse, she gets startled by a bird and kills it on reflex. She then cradles it in her hands - much more tenderly than we've seen Mizu treat almost anything up to this point in the season:

She then puts it in its nest, with its unhatched eggs. Almost like she's trying to make the death look natural. Or like an accident.

You see where I'm going with this.

When Mizu kills Kinuyo, Mizu lingers in the moment, holding the body tenderly:

And btw a lot of stuff about this show hit me hard, but this remains the biggest gut punch of them all for me, Mizu holding that poor girl's body close, GOD

When Mizu arranges the "scene of the crime," Kinuyo's body is delicate, birdlike. And Mizu is so shaken afterward that she gets sloppy. She's horrified at this kill to the point that she can't bring herself to take another innocent life - the boy who rats her out.

MIZU'S ONE MOMENT OF SOFTNESS AND MERCY, COMING ON THE HEELS OF HER NEEDING TO KILL A GIRL TO SPARE HER THE WORST FATE THAT THIS RIGID SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER WOMEN, AND TO SPARE A BROTHEL FULL OF INNOCENT WOMEN WHO ARE THE CASTOFFS OF SOCIETY, NEARLY RESULTS IN ALL OF THEIR DEATHS

No wonder Mizu is as stoic and cold as she is.

And no wonder Mizu has no patience for Akemi whatsoever right before the terrible reveal and the fight breaks out:

Speaking of Akemi - guess who else is compared to a bird!

The plumage is more colorful, a bit flashier. But a bird is a bird.

And, uh

Yeah.

I like to think that Mizu killing the sparrow is not only foreshadowing for what she must do to Kinuyo, but is also a representation of the choice she makes on Akemi's behalf. She decides to cage the bird because she believes the bird is "better off." Better off caged than... dead.

But because Mizu doesn't know Akemi or her situation, she of course doesn't realize that the bird is fated to die if it is caged and sent back home.

Mizu is clearly not happy, or pleased, or satisfied by allowing Akemi to be dragged back to her father:

But softness and mercy haven't gotten Mizu anywhere good, recently.

There is so much tragedy layered into Mizu's character, and it includes the things she has to witness and the choices she makes - or believes she has to make - involving women, when she herself can skirt around a lot of what her society throws at women. Although, I do believe that it comes at the cost of a part of Mizu's soul.

After all, I'm gonna be haunted for the rest of this show by Mizu's very first prayer in episode 1:

"LET" her die. Because as Ringo points out, she doesn't "know how" to die.

Kind of like another bird in this show:

#blue eye samurai #mizu #akemi #kinuyo #bes #women are birds okay they are BIRDS #the let me die line is so SCARY AND SAD like a part of Mizu wants death but she cant? she doesnt know how?? excuse you show???#when all these other delicate birds are dying all around her #akemis character gets more and more gutwrenching upon subsequent rewatches because whenever she says her life is in danger #NO ONE BELIEVES HER - certainly not other women #because shes rich and pampered and that means shes safe and is worrying about nothing right? right?????#and it turns out that all of akemis instincts were right and she was in danger the ENTIRE TIME #also I need to make a post just for kinuyo because I am sad

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suiheisen · 2 months

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the h in nhl stands for homoerotic

bonus intricate rituals:

#this is my new fave live game :')#chiarot tried to scruff sid and my precious gigantic baby son drew said: NO!!!!!!#also it is my duty as a crazy sid/ek fan to say that after sid was freed from the box and was later back on the bench #ek who was still on ice circled back and skated towards him #and tenderly held him by the chin and said something to him (sweet dirty nothings i'm sure)... sid giggled like a schoolgirl about it #anyway. again a very good game for me sid/ek-wise #ek with his arms open waiting for his victory prize aka sid barrelling into him after the otgwg and keeping his face pressed close...#if they don't simply fuck dirty on ice during the er1k celebration...#sidney crosby #pittsburgh penguins #ben chiarot #detroit red wings #again #long post

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44del · 9 months

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sorry i don’t even know what to say about paintbrush’s interview it was so bad that im literally speechless

#like there’s nothing for me to say #this literally cannot be the same person from s1 and s2 #and everyone is eating it up like it’s so sick #also can we talk about the fact that paintbrush’s voice actor literally didn’t watch ii before they got the role #and also genuinely thought that lightbrush was infact a romantic relationship??? like it’s so over for us #NO HATE TO THE VOICE ACTOR BTW!!!!!#but people cannot brush over it and act like that doesn’t interfere with the character themselves.

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bizarrelittlemew · 8 months

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Stede facing the crew after finding out about their (attempted) murder of Ed

#ofmd #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #our flag means death #ofmdedit #ofmdsource #ofmd gifs #ida.stuff #ofmd 2x3 #stede bonnet #izzy hands #rhys how fucking dare you this devastated me #experiencing shrimp emotions about this #it's like he can see how they felt they had no other choice #but he has nothing to say to them #just that fucking look containing a mix of emotions i can't convey via text

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tevintersnakes · 25 days

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Lab tech brain compels me to ramble through my OC

#fallout #arcade gannon #my art #you fools- by liking my previous art post you compelled me to do more art #anyhow I suppose that the one upside to wasteland medicine having less people involved is that there's less room for miscommunication #this is one thing on a canvas with far too many things #and the one other finished thing can sit in my drafts to post later for the illusion of me doing more art than I have haha #woe be upon y'all I can only post non-OC art when it's with an OC present it's just the law of my brain #it's a significant motivating factor I cannot sidestep around #anyway if you read these tags know that his speaking cadence is 1000 miles an hour #one of them say nothing OR flip a switch then be a chronic yapper kinds (like myself)

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joy-crimes · 11 months

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What would you do if you found out your Girlfriends guilty pleasures were South Park, Attack On Titan & Helluva Boss? Since she would be problematic, would you break up with her, cancel her, both, or something far worse?

It's truly hypocritical how you liberals abandon your "morals" and harasses & beat down others because of inconsequential & meaningless interests. You people don't care about a better & enqual future for all, you never have. All you ever do is sit like vultures & wait for your prey so you can tear them to shreds. All "cancelling" is is an excuse to justify mob mentality.

sorry i just had to post this, this is the funniest ask ive ever gotten LMAO

#i barely know what to say #what kind of person sends a message like this???#also what is this even based on????#this seems like it has literally nothing to do w/ me

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thedreadvampy · 1 year

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Losing my shit about this article in which a transphobic Tory was so busy panicking about existing in the vicinity of a Trans that she almost certainly misheard "jeans" as "penis" and decided that not only was this a problem with the other woman, but also that the world must be informed of this pressing danger.

"a trans woman! I had to stand directly behind her....I thought, 'this is going well', I'm handling The Situation fine'..."

translated: I saw a tall woman with broad shoulders. How would I get out of this alive? I thought. she has a PENIS. PENIS PENIS PENIS. through some force of PENIS I mean will I managed to PENIS behave normally towards her. My hands were PENIS PENIS PENIS shaking as I tried to dry them. summoning up all my PENIS courage I said 'dryer's crap innit'. she turned to me and said " yeah I'm just goiPENIS PENIS PENIS"

It's been a week and I'm still shaking. This proves trans women are the problem and I'm not weird. I'm fine. It's fine. If you think about it I'm the hero hePENIS!!!!!

very this

#red said #it's just. I'm obsessed.#everyone on Twitter is saying 'never happened' and i think they're wrong #this absolutely did happen and she's been obsessing over how vindicated it made her feel enough to WRITE AN ARTICLE ABOUT IT #because she MISHEARD SOMEONE IN A CASUAL CONVERSATION #i lay out my reasoning thusly: if you were INVENTING a scary trans woman in bathroom story out of nothing. why would it be this?#why would you go with 'we had a banal conversation until she said a sentence that makes no sense and that no human has ever uttered #but which does coincidentally sounds almost exactly like a mishearing of a very NORMAL thing to say in the circumstances #then she left and nothing else occurred'#if you were going to INVENT a story you would probably make it MAKE SENSE or SOUND THREATENING #i truly believe this is a very authentically told account of what she thinks happened #because who would. by means other than mishearing. think 'I'm going to wipe my hands on my penis' makes any sense at all.#a) 'I'm going to dry my hands on my genitals' says the presumably fully clothed woman #b) who then proceeds to leave without doing anything threatening #c) WHO SAYS PENIS THREATENINGLY? sorry it's writing out 'penis' repeatedly that made this jump out to me but like. who says that?#you might hear someone talk casually about their dick or cock but i stg it's only doctors and TERFs who casually use the word penis much #it's so. clinically descriptive. it's a weird use of language. but it IS. something you could plausibly mishear from 'pants' or 'trousers'

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ryllen · 2 months

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🫢

#🤭#wh at's wrong with being sebek ?? there's nothing wrong with me he said yea nothing wrong nothing wrong at all #twst #twisted wonderland #sebek zigvolt #twst baby #twst yuu #twst mc #fanart #i cancel the post from this morning bcs i feel like it's ooc for him to say beautiful with the delusional memory i can't confirm yet #look at him getting into a fight and find refugee in his daughter

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theygender · 2 years

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The more I learn about judaism the more I wonder where tf christianity got all its bad shit. Why is divorce a sin in christianity when judaism has recognized the right to divorce for nearly a millennia and has codified religious laws for it. Why does christianity consider sex to be dirty (to the point where puritans considered it a sin to enjoy having sex with your own spouse) when in judaism it's considered holy and it's a literal mitzvah to have sex with your spouse on the sabbath. Why does christianity consider it a sign that you're faithless if you question your religion when in judaism that's considered an essential part to developing your faith. I'm probably stating the obvious here but I still can't get over the fact that there's no historical basis to any of this shit before christianity started, it's like christians just said "hey guys what if we took the torah and built a new religion around it but this time it was actively hostile to human life"

#rambling #disclaimer this isnt about individual christians im speaking about the religious trauma i experienced in my own life etc etc #these are just a few examples that I've noticed but they're definitely something #the part about sex in particular shocked me bc sex is pretty much viewed as actively evil in a lot of christian denominations #like you should only do it to create children and if you take pleasure in it (even if its with your own spouse) youre a dirty sinner #there arent as many examples like this nowadays but if you read puritan laws about sex it's like #you're allowed to have sex with your wife basically 10 times a year but you have to be fully clothed with the lights off #and you cant have sex on a holiday or a sunday and you cant touch each other and you have to try as hard as possible to hate it #literally WHERE did that mindset come from?? like for real #in judaism having sex with your spouse is basically considered a celebration of everything holy #and if you have sex on the sabbath (the holiest day in the jewish calendar—above every holiday)#its considered TWICE as holy #make it make sense #this is one of the things people mean when they say that lumping judaism in with christianity as 'abrahamic' religions is meaningless #theyre literally nothing alike #the only similarity is the torah but thats only half of the christian bible and one third of the jewish one #AND christianity interprets most of it completely differently from how judaism does #im tired #greatest hits #hall of fame

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fumifooms · 5 months

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#i miss my wife tails #dungeon meshi #chilchuck tims #Dunmeshi memes #girl with merch meme #Hello chilchuck nation #I have nothing to say for myself. Doing this was like art therapy #This is gonna be me when we win and there’s so much dunmeshi merch out #There are panels I didn’t get to put in… Sad

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archivebottles · 6 months

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Happy birthday to the most special girl in the universe!! Wanted to try something ambitious and ended up with the biggest comic I've done to date

#signalis #ariane yeong #elster #overestimating elsters ability to paint so ignore how it looks probably way better than she could have done ok?#myart #i have nothing cool to say here i am so tired. i baked a cake from scratch lol and that took so much out of me...#im old..#im like cycling(hah) thru three diff elster designs bear with me here #elster seems like the type of person to be really good at gifts..kinda feel like u gotta be when ur on the same ship for um like. 15 years

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lazylittledragon · 4 months

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isn't it weird how if you get up at 7 or 8, do your work all day, then have free time and go to bed at 11 that's absolutely fine

but if i said i get up at 10, do fun stuff in the morning then work in the evening and go to bed late, i could be called lazy, nevermind that i'm getting just as much or MORE work done as i would in a traditional work day

#ramble #idk if this is a me problem or not #i've tried to do the early rise early bed thing again and again and it just does not work for me doing freelance right now #maybe it's bc i used to work at a bar so i'm more comfortable being active in the evening #i love working at night because there's less going on to distract me #what used to happen is i would get up early then fight executive dysfunction all day saying i couldn't do fun stuff until i did my work #then my will to work would hit at 10pm and i'd be up till 2am anyway #right now my routine is waking up later and playing a game or knitting for an hour or so and then working in the afternoon and evening #something something capitalism and 9-5 and adhd don't go together #this sounds like i'm just making excuses but it works and i'm actually getting shit done and sleeping enough so i don't see the problem #i just figured i'm probably going to sit and do nothing for a few hours in the morning anyway so i might as well give myself permission to

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rainbowsuitcase · 3 months

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So much BTS lore feels like fanfiction and I can't get over it

Two of the members hated each other at first. They argued a lot and one time, they threw folded clothes at each other and the member who folded them had to come scold them. And now they keep reminding everyone how long they've known each other for. They wrote a song together where they said that "respect is a higher tier than love" and then called each other "my respect."

The smartest member of the group (one the previous two morons btw) didn't know how to tie his shoelaces until highschool. He doesn't eat seafood because he loves crabs. He's a literal geniues and he's so clumsy and such a dork (and I relate so deeply). And that body, guys, I'm telling you. This whole guy was made by a fanfic author.

Their company was near bankrupcy when they debuted. One of the members, who was getting offers from so many other companies, joined this one because he admired another member who was already a part of it. When these two met for the first time, member two was only wearing underwear and member one said "wow, thighs."

Another member came to an audition, not to audition himself but to support a friend. He was the only person from that audition round to get in. The friend did not.

Another member, who was studying to be an actor, was street cast on a bus.

One of them lost confidence and tried to leave before the debut, but another convinced him to come back, because they "needed him."

The whole industry hated them when they debuted and now they're arguably the best kpop group worldwide. (Arguably, read: argue with the wall)

(Add your own pls, I want to make a collection from this)

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bixels · 1 month

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This Twitter MLP human redesign drama is a mess, leave me the fuck out of it.

#saw people posting my designs to put down other artists' designs saying that i'm the “correct way” of doing things #don't do that #i don't give a SHIT if people are redesigning these HORSES to be fat or “”“ugly”“” people they're all valid #this whole thing is so dumb just say “i don't like the art style” and move on #“hey op i spent 4 hours of time and effort to redraw your shitty redesign and show you how it's really done” you're fucking weird #you know that right? dedicating that much time to cash in on a hate trend when you could be creating something unique and original with lov #your insistence that human redesigns need to be attractive and symmetrical and anything deviating that is woke psy-op brainwashing #is fucking weird. saw an entire tweet reposting my designs listing off how i “got it right.” bullet point: “looks like real people”#the black fat pinkie design with braces that went viral looks more like a real person than any of my designs you asshole #or maybe you spent too much time in high school bullying people who look like that to notice #personal #delete later #do not use my art to belittle artists who've done nothing wrong this legit made me really angry today

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gum-drop-glitch · 14 days

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This was going to be just a quick warm up doodle before other work, but I liked it enough to finish it.

#it’s the twin injuries for me #nothing says soulmates like matching bloody noses #I wanted to try something real funky with the colors this time #hermann gottlieb #newton geiszler #newmann #pacific rim #gah-art #blood cw #bright colors

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hellt00th · 8 months

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I really don't mind ace astarion headcanons bc it DOES work with his character, after he's had time to figure out what his preferences are but I need yall headasses to stop saying he said he's ace.

What he ACTUALLY said is he doesn't know how to be with someone, no matter how much he'd like to be. WILDLY different than saying he's ace. He's got severe ptsd when it comes to sex and having sexual trauma does not equate to being ace automatically. At best thats incredibly belitting, and at worst its outright homophobic bc you're erasing someone's identity because they have trauma they haven't processed/healed from.

#astarion #mind you im saying this as a bisexual that could fall into the definition of ace #bc nothing about sex is enjoyable for me #but im not ace #i have trauma. that I gotta work through.#so this is like. a thing that Means Smth To Me #astarion ancunin #baldur's gate 3

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