#I just. I have so many rejection and abandonment issues already I don’t know if I can handle more | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jenyifer · 7 months

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Only Friends in Brain Soup

If you have seen my posts before you’ll probably recognize I use the term brain soup a lot. To me they are posts about my random questions I have while thinking about only friends. And I hope they feed your brain with new ideas about things. I’ve compared contrasted every character to Boston because he lives in my heart uwu. But I’ve realized something from making many many brain soups.

All of the Only Friends characters are alone. In their own minds each one is lonely this drives each of them to the point of desperation and moral grey.

Mew the intellectual desire to be in a relationship with Top. I think it was really telling when Mew said he should like ray he’s always been there. Very objective. Mew tried to think about Top in this way when they got together. Mew feels disconnected from his friends above them. He thinks he knows everything about them and they can’t understand him. He’s not gullible like he told Boston. He was always fearing the worst. Because he’s alone in his own mind on his pedestal and when he met Top join him there Mew can’t let go.

Top is the definition of an obsessed with aliens kid due to parental neglect. He is extremely self dependent. Arrogance that he can charm any person into dancing for him. But no one cares about who Top is and before Mew he kept the real Top who likes art hidden away. He can call Boeing or Boston to have relations with them because they don’t mean anything to Top so why would Mew care.

Sand’s conversation with Nick about talking to himself because he was lonely was very telling. I’m sure Sand did have people who considered Sand their friend but because of his emotional parentification he felt like no one could or should be there for Sand. He’s shocked when Nick wants to live with him because I bet he didn’t consider Nick someone who would help him out. He’s selfless to Ray because he is already expecting to be treated that way. Pushed aside not a priority and he feels like shit when he lets himself believe ray could challenge his place in life.

Ray 🥲 do I need to talk about him again. He has abandonment and depression issues from his mothers death that has lead to a mask. Shallow friendships. Shallow life. Ray is only a visitor. He can let go of Mew and Boston so easily because they didn’t really know ray anyway in his mind. Even Sand Ray held him so far away because he couldn’t believe sand wants to be patient loving to him. He’s afraid of the rejection the pain that can come with Sand being too close. But Sand keeps pushing his way in.

Boston someone who never received love before and thinks that is normal so he never gives it. Boston does feel love for his friends and Nick but showing it impossible. To protect himself he has meaningless flings never letting someone expect love from him. He keeps the reins of control because love scares him after his life of upheaval and neglect. He’s just a liability a temporary problem. He is going to leave soon. Internally Boston feels horribly alone because no one loves who he is because it’s so locked away there is no road of love in. But Nick sees it.

Nick doesn’t believe anyone could love him. Nick is extremely insecure about himself. He would rather people look at his outward appearance and ignore what he really is. The stalking is just a performance so Nick can be the one with all the knowledge in the relationship so Boston won’t see the horrible person Nick is. Nick can’t even let Sand really love him in a friendly way. He tricks himself into thinking it might be lust just because he has positive fuzzies for Sand. He can’t accept sand might just enjoy being about Nick for Nick.

Loneliness that binds them and keeps them separate. The great push and pull. Only. Friends. Lonely Friends.

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annoyinglandmagazine · 1 year

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Elrond and Gil Galad before the fall of Eregion

This piece makes a bit more sense if you’ve read my Headcanons about Elrond and Celebrimbor’s relationship. You absolutely don’t have to to understand it it just provides some context.

‘Are you sure this is a good idea?’ Gil Galad pleaded as Elrond grabbed his armour. ‘You said yourself you have a bad feeling about all this, you know you’re rarely wrong when it comes to this sort of thing.’ Elrond began to strap on his breastplate as he replied with a tone that Gil Galad knew meant he would not be persuaded.

‘I have to go. Tyelpe’s safety depends on it. I will not let him die, he’s some of the last family I have left on these shores.’ Gil Galad spoke more quietly here ‘but what about Celebrimbor. I saw you when you came back from Eregion the last time I hadn’t seen you so upset in many years. The things he said to you- and banishing you! His own kin who was only trying to help him! He’s not himself and I’m not sure if going back there is a good idea. I don’t want to see you get hurt if your efforts to reach out are rejected again.’

‘I care about him still. You’re right he was not himself but the person he was is not dead. I love him, as my own blood, and will still do all I can to help him.’ Elrond spoke this as if it was an obvious statement of fact. Why wouldn’t he still love a cousin whose comments on his mental state had left him in tears?

‘You forgive far too easily. And give your love too freely even at times when people are not deserving of it and cannot see its great value. It’s hurt you before and it will continue to. You have a right to anger and in many situations it is a much healthier response.’ This was an issue that had come up many times before between them, though normally in relation to a certain minstrel. And it still upset Gil Galad to think that someone so kind who deserved all the love and happiness in the world would continue being hurt and abandoned by the people who he attached himself to. The people who should have been protecting him.

‘I know that I have a right to anger. I have a right to anger over a lot of things. I could be angry at Eärendil for leaving us. I could be angry at the Feanorians for the kinslaying. I could be angry at my mother for leaving us to die in that kinslaying. But I’ve seen enough anger already and I’ve seen what it does to people and the people around them. So if I can focus on seeing the good in the people who didn’t deserve what happened to them anymore than I did, why shouldn’t I? I can choose to be bitter over what pain was inflicted on me or I can choose to return what kindness I was given, even if it is small in comparison. Because kindness is far more needed than anger and I choose to give it to those who wouldn’t receive it from anyone else. So if I can find it in myself to forgive I will. Isn’t that a beautiful thing?’

And Elrond had tears in his eyes as he looked imploringly at Gil Galad as if he needed him to understand. Gil Galad wasn’t sure he could quite. He could only look in wonder at the person before him. How one could hold so much love for others despite receiving so little from the world made no sense to him. The next time he spoke he realised he had tears in his eyes as well.

‘Please don’t die. I couldn’t bare to see you gone. You are the most incredible person I have ever met. And I am more sure than ever that this world never deserved you. I know I don’t. But please don’t leave me.’

‘I will not die, you need not worry.’ But this was not said reassuringly, more with a certainty and melancholy that Gil Galad had come to associate with Elrond’s foresight. He was telling the truth but it was not wholly a good thing. Then Elrond jested, albeit through his tears ‘I’m made of sturdy stuff, you know, part Maia and all that!’

Gil Galad leaned forward and pressed their foreheads together, both their cheeks now thoroughly wet with tears. He pressed his lips tenderly to Elrond’s brow and watched as he turned to leave.

#Silmarillion #tolkien #i know I’ve posted a lot about their friendship #I just really love the dynamic!#elrond peredhel #gil galad #Elrond and Gil-Galad #Celebrimbor #angst #kidnap fam #elrond is really too good for this world

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signanothername · 7 months

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Part 2

Blades (ngl, this might just be longer cause he’s my favorite character <3): Lower Class (servant). I think Blades would be the only member of the sigma not originally hatched with a name. I don’t really believe RB’s version of Blades is a gestalt, but wouldn’t it be great if Hot spot, Grove, First Aid, and Streetwise were still in a way present? Maybe instead of being his brother they were fellow lower class bots that grouped together under the “us little guys have to stick together” mantra (I’ll admit I’ve given way to much thought to each of their stories 😵‍💫, but imma keep it brief). I’m willing to bet they nicknamed him Blades because the more “hands on” / bruiser type members of their makeshift team would often times get hurt and Blades (alongside First Aid) would have to take care of them, most times by operating. What I’m trying to get at is that they landed on Blades because “scalpel” and/or “knives” didn’t have the same ring to it. (Bonus points of FA is actually younger than B, but was in the group first, hence why B wouldn’t get his name). When Megatronus started the uprising Blades wasn’t sold on it, but he did take the chance to leave his caste. Maybe other members of the team were on board and became branded decepticons and that resulted in them bitterly spitting up [abandonment issues have entered the chat]. Blades upgraded his nickname to actual name and with a drive to help, already somewhat developed medical skills, and the required thin platting, he turned to the Rescue Bots, the only force who wouldn’t reject him based on his background, and wouldn’t throw straight to the battle front. He was half right, the rescue bots did take him in, but he was being constantly being tossed from sigma to sigma since, despite not being an actual decepticon, him being a low caste bot who “cheated” the system was enough reason for others to doubt him [abandonment issues have amplified]. Sigma 17 would be the only team that doesn’t reject him, but at the cost of him just not sharing anything about himself either. Blades loves being a rescue bot because, as someone who knows fear so personally, being rescuer means he can help others never feel the same way he did/does.

RB Heatwave: In this version, I see Blades sticking close to Boulder at first (being someone with similar background, and having a calming presence) until he clicks with Chase (a solid guide to the new environment, who believes firmly in justice for all). HW however, being very vocal of his distaste for decepticons would be a source of conflict. Blades doesn’t believe the decepticons approach is the right one, but as someone who was so heavily affected by the social structure, he can’t stand when they’re summed up as “power hungry”. Ironically, the biggest decepticon hater would be the same bot who believes in Blades the most and just refuses to give up on him. Blades would come to understand that HW is more frustrated about his planet having to tear itself apart for peace rather than the bots who did it, and that’s when tensions start turning to friendship.

Oh my god Anon allow me to fucking cry this is so sad but so sweet

Ok ramble number 2

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Blades being a servant breaks my heart, cause you look at this sweet and kind bot and wonder how the world could be so cruel to him, and aaaahhhh the idea of First Aid, Groove, Hotspot and Streetwise being close friends is so adorable!!

The fact Blades upgraded his nickname to his actual name, combined with the possibility his friendship ended on a bitter note? He could’ve come up with a new name but nah he kept his nickname and that makes my brain so happy

Also Blades being tossed from sigma to sigma??? Imma cry ugh my sweet little boi aaaahhhxbxjxhxb and I find it interesting that sigma 17 would be the one taking him in, and I feel like even if he did reveal his past to them, aigma 17 would still keep him

But if he did get tossed to so many sigmas and with how his friendship ended I can absolutely see how it can affect him and how it got him to fear rejection and abandonment, and let’s be real, Blades canonically has abandonment issues, and they absolutely came from somewhere he won’t have them for no reason and your take on his character and his past??? Chef’s kiss

And i can absolutely see how someone who knew fear would be happy to make sure no other person has to ugh 😭❤️🌷✨

And yesssss I think Blades would definitely click with Boulder first, Boulder is a ball of sunshine it’s genuinely easy to get acquainted with him quickly, Chase would be a tiny bit harder but not cause he’s not accepting, I feel like to an extent, Chase can seem intimidating, and with how corrupt the police force is on Cybertron, it’s easy to immediately be suspicious of him and with Blades being a low caste? Kinda hard to immediately trust a police bot, until you realize he’s an absolute nerd and as much of a sunshine as Boulder is <3333

HW can definitely be a bit bitter and harsh, with misplaced anger, tho i feel like Blades would try to befriend HW, maybe with HW resisting at first, but once they became friends? God forbid an idiot even looks at Blades the wrong way or even try to use his past against him, HW probably got into trouble for fighting some people cause they treated Blades badly

The thing is, HW can be a bit insensitive or insulting at times, a bit tempered, but I wholeheartedly believe he never was a bully, in fact HW gives me the vibes of the jock of school who beat up the bullies rather than being a bully himself dhzhhdhzh

But yes, the moment Blades and Heatwave become friends? Blades never felt safer <3333

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Here’s another art I never intended to share but you anon get to have it <3

Part 1 (of this ask)

#anothers ask #Ano saves asks

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tortoisebore · 1 year

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not sure if this would count as for want of a nail or as AU, but… what if Remus had a boyfriend at the beginning of Hey Sharpshooter?

unusual and specific asks fame!!!

OOOOOOOF

this

made me have to think in a way i was unprepared for

okay

i like……don’t want to spoil future chapters. but. i don’t think remus was in a place where he could/wanted to date anyone for the majority of college. and i’m not talking hooking up (he most definitely did do that but we’ll touch on that later fbfbfbfb) i’m talking about dating. like, committed, ‘i have feelings for you’ dating.

he had a very exhausting and heartbreaking experience with dating in colorado—his only experience with an actual boy/girlfriend—and that turned him completely off of dating for a very long time. part of his character arc has been learning to trust the soft parts of his heart again instead of throwing up walls and shutting people out in an attempt to protect himself from pain. he’s been working through that (and some significant trust/rejection/abandonment issues) while simultaneously getting to know sirius, so sirius himself has played a huge part in that arc of him being ready to let someone in enough to call them a partner.

if he had a boy/girlfriend at the beginning of this story, it would mean he’s already worked through at least some of those issues. by the beginning of his senior year i doubt he would have been with anyone for very long at all, considering how much time he needed to take to heal and process his experience back home, so it would most likely either be a situationship/very new relationship or a casual thing. i’m very much a “remus and sirius are soulmates all the time in every universe” truther so i do think that he still would have had an internal meltdown the second he saw sirius, he would have been anxious about meeting/talking/knowing him, and he ultimately would have called off whatever was going on with anyone else because of that

his past experiences put him in a place where he would never continue to see someone while being actively into someone else. he would not even consider exploring the boundaries and definitions of that relationship—even under the pretense of it just being “friendship”—while still seeing a boy/girlfriend. he’s been on the receiving end of that kind of behavior too many times to not break it off the second he realizes he’s not completely committed to the person he’s dating/seeing anymore

(bonus fun fact i’m 95% sure he has an earth moon so he would most likely come off a little too practical and to-the-point when breaking up with someone and would most likely inadvertently hurt their feelings in the process fbfhfhfh)

(also i feel like it almost doesn’t even need to be said but sirius would be a raging jealous mess and would have no idea why he was so jealous for a truly comical and concerning amount of time)

#u ask tortoise answers #anon #ask game #hey sharpshooter rambles

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fyeahfandomtrash · 2 years

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Extraordinary Attorney Woo and Comforting Endings

My favorite thing about EAW’s ending was the fact it was a pretty quiet affair.

Most of the drama happened in the courtroom, and the conflict that was brewing ended up serving as a means to allow a satisfying reconciliation between characters as opposed to making it a plot-driven show for the sake of entertainment. I was honestly very worried when the tae sumi stuff was starting to look like it was getting out of control in the second half and that moon jiwon had written herself into a corner, but what i got was the opposite. The ending didn’t feel like a bandaid to a catastrophic disaster, which sometimes can happen when a show rushes a happy ending. Instead, it felt right, appropriate, and even realistic. The pacing was comfortable and not jarring. Tae sumi has irrevocably damaged her relationship with youngwoo, and youngwoo also does not wish to pursue something with the mother who abandoned her. Instead, youngwoo uses empathy to get across to tae sumi how she will irrevocably damage her relationship with her son if she were to proceed further down a path that is so wrong with her, and the resolution that follows feels perfectly in line with the show’s intention and the characters that inhabit our screens. You can argue that the plot is contrived, but that doesn’t negate how hard the emotions hit during moments like these. And besides, didn’t I just say this show is more character-driven than anything else?

Like many others I was upset when junho and youngwoo had issues in their relationship in episode 14 and was annoyed when I thought it was dragging in episode 15, but I think I had to put into perspective that this relationship between youngwoo and junho is pretty new, and there are growing pains between two people who come into this relationship pretty inexperienced in certain things. Junho and youngwoo do not need to have grand gestures to declare their love, to know that their feelings are genuine. They in fact just need to talk, to affirm to each other again and again that what they have is real, that it is precious, and that they want to continue despite the challenges that may arise between a partnership. Their love works seamlessly into their own personal lives, adapting and going with the flow.

The last scene at the restaurant was also so lovely. Seeing all those characters around youngwoo look at her with genuine love and adoration was pure comfort. Found family never gets old. We see in this scene the manifestation of youngwoo’s personal development. Finally she feels like she has found her people, people who understand her and want nothing but the best for her. Navigating the world by yourself is so incredibly lonely, but now she has people who understand her, who have seen who she is and have embraced her and instead of rejecting her. I always stood by my belief EAW was about exploring our need for connection above all else, whether that be through friendships or a significant other or family, and that scene is a perfect concluding statement to the larger point the show is trying to make.

Last but not least, we have youngwoo’s daily routine, a perfect parallel to the beginning of the first episode. We have come full circle. People have already heaped praise on that ending, so I’m not going to contribute anything new. In short, it was an absolutely perfect way to end a show. I could not think of a better ending. We don’t need something big or grand to make a statement - this show has never been about that, and what greater joy is there in life than feeling a sense of fulfillment from the small joys and accomplishments you achieve on a good day? How a good day is a good one because we have become happier with ourselves, that we understand our place in the world a bit better and are satisfied with that? We have seen youngwoo through her highs and lows, and to see that she has come out of that journey the way she has evokes nothing but immense happiness and love for this character.

It has been an absolute pleasure being with this show for the past two months. EAW will stay with me for a very long time. Things remain up in the air for the continuation of the show, but regardless of what happens, EAW will leave an impression on me for a long time.

#extraordinary attorney woo #more thoughts to come just wanted to say i absolutely loved the ending #number one priority for me is youngwoo and she got her happy ending and that is literally all i ever wanted #word vomit i am so sorry i just have a lot of things i want to say

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madcatdaderpydrawer-blog · 2 years

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Too late I’m making the angst anyways

So here’s how moon would react to a rejection of feelings/ catching feelings for a employee who isn’t committed to it (aka rejection)- in several aus! Because I’m big sad and now so will you be.

Normal: he’d try to play it off by putting on a mask of his normal calm demeanor, saying that he understands and thanking you for trying to communicate with him. He doesn’t get as much attention as his brother, so when he gets attached he gets attached BAD, and realizing that one of the few humans that seem to be not afraid of him doesn’t return his feelings hurts. He’d never say that though, he doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable. And really, he feels he should’ve expected that; Of course you wouldn’t like him that way, he’s just a robot. One that not many people like. He’d probably grow distant after that, avoiding talking to you unless strictly necessary and sending Sun to do it for him when he can. Even though he tries to act unbothered, Sun still hears him crying at night sometimes and is a bit upset at you for hurting his brother so much. But he tries not to let that affect how he treats you, as you have a right to their feelings.

Redemption: Embarrassed. He would be so embarrassed. It was hard enough for him to even admit his feelings towards you to himself, much less to you directly. You went through all that effort of getting to know him, of getting past all the walls he put up around himself emotionally, just to lead him on?? His brain is basically on overdrive 24/7 and with how much he’d be hurting he would explode. Nearly kill you in a fit of emotional rage. After that you’d avoid him, obviously, as he now hates your guts. After you flee from the daycare he would trash the naptime room, the daycare itself, tear a hole in the wall, anything and everything until his rage finally settles down. Leaving in it’s wake just sadness, one that he doesn’t know how to cope with. Sun would avoid him while he processes these emotions, as trying to interact with him while he’s in such a volatile state is sure to lead to an ass kicking. He wouldn’t really get why you did it, but be too busy prioritizing his own survival to care.

Reversal: Moon would be absolutely devastated. He’s fragile as glass already, with all the pressure from running the daycare alone and losing his brother, finding out that someone he really liked didn’t feel the same would destroy him. He wouldn’t be able to hide his devastation, and he would ask in about a million different ways why, if he did something wrong, if you still want to be friends with him, please still be friends with him!! Best case scenario, they awkwardly try to calm him down before leaving asap, and worst case scenario they obviously display their discomfort before leaving mid melt down. Infected Sun would find it hilarious, reminding Moon that he told him you wouldn’t like him, cause who would like someone like him?? And Moon believes it, because clearly he did something wrong if you don’t like him anymore.

Crazy twins: Similar to the redemption au, but with some differences. He’d be a lot less mad and a lot more hurt and sad, as he is insanely clingy as is his brother after not having proper socialization for a while. He’d have a slightly lower amount of desperation as in the reverse au, but would still beg for them not to leave because he has severe abandonment issues. He can’t be alone again, not when he likes you more then anyone he ever has before! It would definitely end in him storming off to hide before promptly bursting into hysterical tears. While he balls his eyes out, you’d be stuck trying to escape a enraged Infected Sun because holy shit is he protective of his brother. If you ever return to the daycare, that is if you even escape alive in the first place, Infected Sun will laser in on you like a fucking missile. When he’s not trying to commit homicide, he’d be trying to cheer up his very sad brother.

Don’t know why I made this, but it was fun X3 Would love to see what you guys think of it!

#angst #fnaf security breach au #redemption au #role reversal au #crazy twins au #daycare attendant #fnaf moon #moondrop #fnaf sun #sunrise #sundrop #y/n x moon #reader x moon #romantically for once #for the angst :D

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phoenixfeathersinfall · 2 years

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I don’t mean to be overly negative, and I certainly don’t want to ruin anyone’s enjoyment of the new Trek trailers/future content. But, I’m having some complicated feelings about Picard’s last season and I kind of need to get them out. (I hope I’m not the only one with apprehension?) To be clear, I will be engaging with Season 3 in some capacity, and there are several things about the show I’ve very much enjoyed. But, I really don’t see how they can stick this landing given the situation they’ve gotten themselves into.

Most of my concerns revolve around the Great Cast Reshuffle. The rest stem from the tone/themes of the trailer itself. (Analysis under a read more because this got way longer than I planned.)

The Great Cast Reshuffle

Soji, Elnor, Rios, and Agnes are gone, leaving behind only Picard, Seven, and Raffi. Raffi is the only new character introduced specifically for this series/not a “legacy character.” I’m all for seeing old favorites (God knows I primarily started following the series for Seven) but not at the cost of new characters and stories. I think, despite its tonal and plot issues, Picard had a very strong cast of characters who many people connected with/related to and wanted to see them carry this show through to the end, becoming part of a rising generation of Trek (the Trek renaissance if you will?) One of the most compelling aspects for me personally was that all of these characters were a little broken/had endured a lot of trauma, but they were all dealing with it in different ways and learning to find solace in each other. They weren’t the conventional Starfleet crew, but that something which made them interesting! And to toss out over half of them going into the last season? We’re at the finish line! Absolutely terrible timing. These characters and the actors which dedicated so much time and effort to bringing them to life for us deserved better than that.

Everyone was replaced with the old crew from The Next Generation. Again, it’s always nice to see old friends, but they need to be balanced with the new characters and shouldn’t completely take over the story. TNG has never been my favorite series (full disclosure: I prefer Deep Space Nine and Voyager,) so I don’t quite share the excitement of the avid fans at this development. Even laying that aside, this is not the cast that was promoted and promised for the series. We know Patrick Stewart was clear coming into the role that he didn’t want to re-hash or expand upon anything from TNG era because he felt those stories had already been told and concluded. (They have!) But now he’s helming what many have called “TNG 2.0.”

But! Legacy characters aren’t safe! This might be more important to me than it is to other people, but it strikes me as weird that all of the XBs aside from Seven (Hugh and Icheb) were killed off for shock value, both in especially brutal ways. These were the only people in the galaxy that were like Seven and could understand her. Hugh was trying to change all that, but the writing said “no.” Color me upset.

If we’re doing legacy characters, where is Seven’s family? Why has every single reference to them been colored by trauma or pain? Why has Seven been abandoned again? Rangers are secretive as part of the job, sure, but you can’t tell me she didn’t need support after she came back to a planet she’d never really known as a visibly “enemy other,” Starfleet rejected her, Bjayzl betrayed her, and Icheb died in her arms. You can’t tell me the crew just..doesn’t care how Seven is doing.

A lot of the TNG crew have already had their turns to play a part in the story. To date, with what’s aired so far, we’ve had appearances from Data, Will Riker, Deanna Troi, Hugh, Guinan, Q, and Wesley Crusher. Jean-Luc Picard is, of course, heading the whole thing, it’s his show. Heck, that means the only characters we haven’t seen are Beverly Crusher, Geordi Laforge, and Worf.

As many people smarter than me have pointed out, the new situation means that the optics of the third season in terms of diversity are…less than stellar. If we consider the group we saw at the conclusion of the first season to be the “main crew” (Jean-Luc Picard, Cristobal Rios, Agnes Jurati, Raffi Musiker, Soji Asha, Seven of Nine, and Elnor) Picard began the year with a cast of three white actors and four actors of color. Michelle Hurd (Raffi) is Black, Isa Briones (Soji) is mixed-race Filipina, Evan Evagora (Elnor) is Māori, and Santiago Cabrera (Rios) is Hispanic (Chilean.) Three of those actors have departed, leaving only Hurd. This was presumably to make room for six of the TNG cast, four of whom are white actors and two of whom are actors of color. Lavar Burton (Geordi Laforge) and Michael Dorn (Worf) are both Black. Voyager, which began airing over twenty-five years ago performs better here, with four characters of color, each of a different background. This is particularly troublesome given the Trek renaissance eagerness to reflect greater diversity (and market itself as such.)

This is again a matter of personal taste, and something the show has had a problem with from the beginning, but of a cast of eight characters, only two are non-human*, and one of them is hybrid who looks completely human. It’s….just not Star Trek if it’s all humans, folks. Where’s the cross-cultural explorations? Where’s the commentary? Where’s the reminder that this is a sci-fi in outer space in a very big, very diverse galaxy?

Tones and Themes

Another problem since the beginning, Picard has problems figuring out what its tone wants to be, and to some extent what its themes are/if they’re congruent with the history of the franchise. Historically, Star Trek is often whacky to the point of silliness, philosophical to the point of over-dramatic, and optimistic to the point of being campy/cheesy. And that’s good! Bad things happen, but we have fun along the way, and we trust that things will turn out well in the end. Picard falls into the “good show= quote on quote realistic show=gritty grimdark high stakes show” trend when it isn’t careful. Newer Treks on the whole seem to have this habit, from elements of the reboot films to the plots in Discovery to the “Section 31 show” in pre-production right now. It’s not isolated to Trek either; it’s spread like a virus across so many forms or media over the past several years. Even so, it feels particularly odd in Trek, given the general trends in the franchise, and harsher critics say it “doesn’t feel like Star Trek.” I think what they mean is that Picard (and its brethren) seems to take itself too seriously: we’re lacking the whimsy we’ve come to expect, so little time is afforded from the overarching plot that we don’t see as much on-screen relationship development as before, and almost nothing funny happens aside from the occasional sarcastic quip. There’s no release of tension between major plot beats, leaving viewers stressed and drained by a constant push forward to the high-stakes climax with ever-more hardship poured onto the pile. There’s no room to breathe. Where’s the fun, where’s the wonder, where’s the hope? For God’s sake the event that kicks everything off is the destruction of a planet and the deaths of millions of people while the Federation stood by and let it happen.

The tone shifts —sometimes dramatically—between seasons, between episodes, and even within episodes. The plots and subplots also don’t gel together well (maybe it’s all those cutaways? It’s rare that we can finish one segment of a given plot before we cut away to three more.) Irs emotional whiplash, and I’m dizzy just on a visual level.

This may be a case of just playing up the intrigue to pull people in, but the trailer itself doesn’t give a lot of reasons to hope things might lighten up? Everyone looks sad or grim. People are talking about sacrifice, hardship, and injustice. Picard says we’re never without hope but uh…he sure doesn’t look it.

Even more people smarter than me have pointed out that Raffi’s “You have no idea how hard it is to be in this world” is particularly gut-wrenching, and she’s been through quite enough already between the loss of her career, her falling out with Picard, her addiction, her estrangement from her family and subsequent fears of being abandoned/alone and unloved. Then she spent almost the entirety of season 2 mourning the death of Elnor, a surrogate son by all appearances, and believing it was her fault because she convinced him not to go back to Romulus when he was having doubts about the future. There was also quite a bit of discord between her and Seven in the middle, which resolved happily in the end, but still. Seven got re-assimilated and almost died first. Given Trek’s track record of giving the harshest stories to minority characters, especially POC (and how wider media in general shows the same problem,) it’s no wonder there’s speculation about “trauma porn.” Its not like we got enough of that in season 2. Yes we did, writers please stop this ride .

I must return to my dear Seven. So season 2 showed Seven was rejected by Starfleet for her Borgness and subsequently fell out with Janeway. It brought her to a timeline where she was the leader of a totalitarian regime, brought her face to face with a Borg Queen who remembered her, took away her Borg physiology and by extension some of her sense of self (she seemed happy but I was not), murdered one of the first people to show her kindness in years, put her at odds with her partner, gave her flashbacks to her lifelong trauma, cost her a crewmate/friend to the Borg, and put her in a showdown that she didn’t think she’d survive. And it ends with her almost bleeding to death, being reassimilated, and what sure looks like the destruction of her family for a third time given the casting changes. Thank goodness she got a girlfriend, a kiss, and a field promotion out of it. In addition to sporting a Starfleet uniform in the trailer AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, she speaks with a quivering, almost broken voice about how she “thought she could inspire people and bring justice to an unjust world.” Trek again has a problematic history of putting marginalized characters (women with ambition, aloof demeanors, nuanced relationships with femininity/its expectations, and oft-traumatic pasts) into devastating circumstances/suffering huge loss to remind us they can be “properly emotional women.” (See: Tasha Yar, Kira Nerys, B’elanna Torres, and T’pol.) In-universe and among audiences, Seven fulfills those hopes many times over (there’s a reason so many queer, neurodivergent/disabled, and otherwise-“othered” people love her.) Seven can be an inspiration and a fighter for justice. She has. I know because she’s done it for me.

To make an extremely long story short: I want MY cast back and I want them to be HAPPY!

*Whether or not Seven is human, alien, or something in between is a matter of interpretation. My preferred reading is “hybrid,” but I counted her as human for the purposes of this post.

#dove talks #meta #I should start a tag for my star trek thoughts #star trek #star trek crit #I am so concerned trek community #thank u to all the fic writers who’ve helped me so far and to all of u will surely do so as we leave this series behind

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daydreamerdrew · 1 year

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some Shazam! Fury of the Gods prompted ramblings:

I don’t think I’ve ever really acclimated to Post-New 52 Reboot Billy or the current movie universe Billy so this characterization of him as wanting a family but not feeling secure it in is strange for me because I still think about the character primarily in the terms of the two main versions that I like.

I started out as a fan of TPOS!-era Billy and early on in the ongoing series Dudley makes an offer for Billy to move in with him which Billy declines, even though he likes and trusts Dudley and the superhero secret identity thing isn’t an issue as Dudley knows that Billy is Captain Marvel at this point, because he’s more comfortable living on his own, which he’s been doing ever since his parents died and then uncle who was supposed to take care of him abandoned him. And then later on he agrees to be adopted by the Bromfields because it would mean that he gets to live with his sister again, but he struggles with the loss of freedom and doesn’t think of them as his parents and didn’t have any sort of instinct to go to an adult for help when he had a problem because he was used to handling things on his own. So his arc there was about learning to be a kid within a family again and to not be so self-sufficient. That Billy never felt insecure about his relationship with Mary despite the years they spent apart and never felt insecure with the Bromfields because he grew to want a relationship with them after he’d already moved in with them and they’d adopted him.

And then I became a fan of the original version of Billy published by Fawcett Comics which sticks with Billy as a kid on his own and has him as essentially a mini-adult who has a good job and can comfortably support himself and there’s no expectation or narrative pressure that he has to adopt a traditional child-within-a-family role. Like Billy originally essentially never had a family because he was orphaned as a baby and then abused by his uncle throughout his entire life before his uncle abandoned him. And he starts out from there surviving and was himself in the sense that he’s the Billy that he stays as throughout the rest of his stories, he didn’t need a family to become the character we know. And then he fell into having a family through forming such a positive relationship with his boss and randomly meeting Freddy and Mary and making so many friends over the course of his adventures.

Post-New 52 Reboot Billy’s whole deal was that he was a part of lots of different foster families while wanting a relationship with his biological family. And because of those experiences he has to learn first to want the foster family he joins in his origin story and then to feel like he has a secure place there, which I think is a pretty different story.

And maybe, if the story that first established it hadn’t also rejected other core parts of the character, then this take on Billy’s relationship with family and self-sufficiency could come across as a progression from how the 90s reboot changed the original kid-on-his-own concept from the 40s, but as it is it’s just not the character to me.

#I like rarely make text posts nowadays I just talk in the tags of my comic panels posts #I’m always having thoughts just nothing I think warrants an actual proper post #so maybe I should do more random stuff under readmores? idk #my posts #read more posting

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lesser-mook · 1 year

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“It’s A Gundam’s” video is flawed: Do NOT reject comics for MANGA

Reject Comic Books Embrace Japanese Manga

One hand, yes, being belittled by your media is a deal breaker, that “toxic masculinity” shit being said when women being toxic is a thing too.

Yes, cringe identity politics is cringe. Agreed.

Yet having double standards doesn't help the credibility of said opinion.

IE. While he rightfully criticizes modern comic creators being fetishists? Living out a fantasy-

X-Terminators #4

He conveniently misses the part where Mangaka do exactly that, often, consistently, too often, regularly actually. SO regular it IS the culture.

His reasoning is selective and biased because you have to ignore the same issues in Japan's media to say people should use it as an alternative, while criticizing "Fetishists" & other issues in the West in the same breath.

Giant Ojou-Sama, i swear to God the entire Manga is just her ass in the goddamn camera & Sebas (her companion) commenting how big her ass is.

I felt like i was reading a bizarre Deviant Art entry.

Another day, another Macrophile being a cringe factory on full display, but you see THIS author projecting their brain dead fetish isn’t a problem even though the sexual pandering gets in the way of what could’ve been a solid, wholesome, funny Superheroine story.

What SHOUD be funny situations are absolutely held back by the Author’s imaginative limitations and lack of restraint, having to revolve everything around a Giant Rich Girl being Giant and her ass is in plain view, that’s his fetish, so that’s the manga.

But you see it’s not a Trans woman, a Lesbian or a Gay man, it’s not political- so it’s either 100% okay or nobody knows this shit even exists (lucky them); So the double standard doesn’t exist because you don’t know what you don’t know right?

Not cringe at all, despite my wanting to cringe so hard i poof out of existence.

Thus the title of the video is bullshit:

*Do NOT abandon comics for MANGA*

Just because current content is trash doesn’t mean there aren’t things to read that's been published already.

Point being, he should’ve specified which manga by genre that people should be turning to, just telling people to just to “Embrace Manga” is reckless because Manga is a mixed bag as well.

As i’ve demonstrated with Giant-Cringe Sama, vs a good Manga like Bokurano, which everyone should read.

Which ironically has an underage pregnancy involving a teacher because OFC, cause Japan amiright? Babies having babies, jfc.

I apologize for the spoiler, but i need to enforce the point. I won't spoil who it is though.

Or something Ecchi and actually funny:

Desert Punk (aka Sunabozu)

Too many genres to just say, "Leave comics, embrace Manga for the sake of Manga, because...MANGA!"

The main difference is aesthetic, but both have their own cultural deviancy issues.

I see he has Ochako in the thumbnail like she's prominent or even a main character yet MHA is one of the most incompetent reads i’ve been on.

Its a narrative embarrassment.

What it does right is backtracks on because the Author is afraid of change if it means mixing the formula. Status Quo-

And how is that any different from Comics? It’s not different.

Because that same character barely gets anything to do until its barely plot relevant (where the most she’s gotten to do since the Sports Festival & Jaku Raid was give a goddamn speech in the most contrived situation possible chapter 325 was fucking hilarious).

She’s not afforded a w when its organic. Barely involved in what’s really going on like Todoroki & Bakugou, always a sideshow.

NOTHING LIKE Katara who is consistently involved, or getting active in the action.

Ochako is rarely allowed any real W's like the male characters. Urakaka's been under-utilized and sidelined horrendously for 6+ years now.

*The Maxx is a better book with a better/more compelling female lead in just the first 3 issues vs all 350+ chapters of My Plotarmor Academia*

All the good comics have been published already, and some gems slip through in current day as well.

You just have to stop getting caught up in Youtuber melodramatic anti-woke hysteria and actually look for yourself, Action comics #1040 (2016) is an excellent Superman comic.

1930s to year 2000s+ 70-80 years worth of material, why pretend that doesn’t exist or invalidated because the industry is going through a rough phase right now and then hype up Japan like they're the paragon of storytelling when the best they've got is making it nice to look at but are just as corrupt.

All because mangaka/anime can draw/animate worth a shit (regardless if the writing is shit or not) it just looks pretty and can not be political about it.

*Which is what this is really about, not the quality of writing, but the politics.*

Not that Japans pandering is any better, not that it's any good, or not creepy, it's just not woke. That's all the issue is.

Cause if you had a Trans woman in a comic but she had the physical complexion of Mirko, Lucy Heartfilia or Lady Slan and drawn sexy as shit by an artist worth a damn.

And infantile like a baby looking for the approval of her male romantic interest 24/7, can cook, docile, feminine. Absolute waifu matierial:

People wouldn’t be bitching and moaning at the same frequency because people don't care about writing as much as they do looking at something well animated/drawn.

That’s the bare minimum to win people over. Pandering.

And Japan knows this and panders accordingly, but that’s not a problem:

Furthermore, many mangaka are too pedophile for me to take most manga seriously these days. But again, it depends on the genre.

Mitsudomoe’s Author is a woman, the Anime & Manga are hilarious but some of the jokes lean too far into pedo territory ( Marina Sugisaki is an open predator/ PEDOPHILE)

As you can tell, this toxic leniency with pedophilia is an across the board a moral bankruptcy issue in Japan.

i’d rather deal with a cringe coming out story that i can meme, than deal with yet another casual pedophile adult in a story involving 12 year old children.

That aside, I’ve watched the show twice, it’s gross, it’s wholesome at times when it’s just the main 3 girls and their Dad. And it’s peak.

#SingleDads

Fact is, a lot of these Japanese content creators aren’t projecting their real life experiences to tell a good story, like Stan “The Man” Lee:

Instead too many of em are projecting their kinks and regressions to live out some fantasy just like these metrosexual weirdos in the West.

*Its pathetic artistic bastardization deviancy on both sides.

The Anti-Woke camp just seems to conveniently ignore the one side of the coin to complain about the other.*

Sexualizing middle school kids constantly in books, and Japan as a society does NOT give 2 shits.

*Hoozuki no Shima* is a good read, when it's not a creepy pedo fest.

A literal child, 11 year old, is highlighted for: Panty shots, nudity, changing clothes, in the bath buck ass naked, shot of her bare ass, getting caught naked by another kid, having NO panties on in multiple scenes, teacher finding her naked then taking off her panties to sniff it hence how she lost her panties in the later scenes etc.

An eleven year old little girl. (Hoozuki no Shima, Chp 3, if you can stomach it, i PROMISE you this is not a Doujinshi.) Written by a grown ass man.

But Bi-sexual Superman sales is what we’re nitpicking? That’s what has our attention...

And the manga was only 27 chp but the Author found the time to exploit this 11 year old child character in mostly all instances, one of her first 2 introductory shots in the manga is her dripping wet in the ocean from the waste down, school gym uniform.

How do we know this? The author made sure to give us a view of her ass in both shots, & some thigh gap in the 2nd so we could see what she’s wearing. (CHP1)

ELEVEN YEARS OLD.

But your biggest concern is a TRANS Woman in a DC comic with a Trans flag on a baseball bat?

Are you kidding me? (Is it cringe, YES, but i’d take that over a grown ass bastard sniffing a 11 year child’s panties, with the insinuation being he’s doing to deflower her)

One panel is literally supposed to be a serious revelation of a plot threat for one of the boys, Kokoro, but that 11 year old little bottom is just in the frame, not her face, her little butt. (Horikoshi might’ve taken notes from this)

I bust out laughing at how desperately creepy and unnecessary this was, this is what happens when talented creeps assume their audience is as damaged as they are:

But the premiere concern in the video is a weird segment about women roasting a dude for having a piss fetish. Is it weird, yes. Does it top the insinuation of an 11 year old mute child getting raped, while unconscious? You tell me.

And yet, nobody in the anti-woke camp panics about that, or brings it up i nthe comments because most of your Manga/Anime Palate is:

Seinen

slice of life

and A LOT of that Shonen garbage.

They don't even know these examples of Manga being a scumbag paradise even exists, cause despite the vocal opinion some people have, most of us have very little experience and exposure in the media we're hyping to death.

But roasting fetishes in the same breath.

And i’m not even woke, I agree with the guy but the double standard is what’s hurting my intelligence.

The guy goes on a tangent to shill Demon Slayer, not Monster, not Gunslinger Girls, not Noir, not Blue Gender, not Moribito the Guardian of the spirit- but DEMON SLAYER

Normie bro, fuckin normie.

Most people don't read the in-between genres and it shows, because if more people had that exposure, we as a collective would know his entire video both has a good point but full of bullshit because it's overlooking a media problem to complain about a media problem.

*I can read Power Pack 2006 trusting the author won't dedicate a panel or two to the youngest member Katherine: 8 years old showering or showing us her panties, a character commenting on how soft her skin is, hitting on her older brother, or bending over for a shot of her ass, because culture.*

I just need a good character driven story. That’s it.

And you can get that with already made Comics, abandoning comics for Manga is idiotic.

You don’t need to whore out teenage/child characters to tell a story, but that’s exactly what Japan allows.

*This is why i say specify the Manga genre.*

Because NOT ALL MANGA is pedophile bait but too much of it is to say abandon the west content and ignore the clear issues JAPAN has just because identity politics is spooky to you-

But actual creepiness in Japan's subtext somehow doesn’t compare to a Trans Woman or you conveniently leave that part out to shill for Japan’s industry.

Point being, there are good Manga/Anime (MONSTER, Hokuto No Ken, Ah My Goddess, or Psycho Pass, Bokurano, Getter, Gundam, Evangelion, Junji Ito’s Collections) but not all of em are bangers nor are free of their fair share of Authors being weird; The same logic you're criticizing Comics by, hold that energy to how scummy and creepy Manga & Japan is, and still is.

*There's a trans person being corny in a DC comics so lets bitch about that, but instances of underage kids being objectified in stories, belonging to a society and culture that sees no issue with grown ass men fighting for the right to make Child porn legally & clear instances of that attitude is projected into the stories with confidence. THAT's part of the media called Manga that i'm going to endorse to people.*

-Criticize the West media for Fetishes and weird shit

-But endorse the East media, despite their Fetishes and weird shit

When all your issue boils down to is the fact that Manga & Anime look pretty and it's not political, it's all about the aesthetic at that point.

Then you don't have a leg to stand on, because you're not holding both to the same standard.

Criticize one, but glorify the other when what you're shilling has more problematic issues than a trans woman, a Bi-sexual man, or preggy Joker.

That's what most are hung up on, not the quality of writing, not the storytelling, not even the execution. The style points, how it looks, how it makes you feel, and how much of the pandering is what YOU WANT it to be.

100% Biased, selective criticism.

I repeat,

*Do NOT abandon comics for MANGA*

I understand the title of the video is likely to be hyperbole, but even as hyperbole, it’s moronic to say with a straight face.

Because you have to ask yourself: What exactly are you willing to ignore, just to spite your political enemies.

Because it’s no secret Japan cares very little about Child protection laws in terms of media, so you shill for Japan because no Trans politics but pedophiles are KNOWN for being prevalent in the industry.

Look at My Hero and you tell me Horikoshi isn’t wrestling with his own sexual hang ups, cause i can make all the MY SUS ACADEMIA’s i want but that weird shit i’m mocking is actually CANON.

I repeat, just because current content is trash, cringe or struggling, and it is- doesn’t mean there aren’t things to read that's been published already.

Go back in time, and find the literary Goldmine.

Image comics, Marvel, Darkhorse, DC, Wildstorm, Indie’s is all there.

300 is Darkhorse Comics owned.

Not all of it’s 9/10′s but just because it’s not new, doesn’t mean reject it because the modern is bad for Japan’s stuff like the older better shit doesn’t exist.

#it's a gundam #disagreed #off my mind #comics #manga #mangaka #double standards #media

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mrm-pachypodalt · 6 months

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Vent under the cut. If I don’t post it then I think my brain will cease function but don’t read it ok. It’s general nonsense so don’t worry about it.

I WANT TO FUCKING EXPLODE

I HATE MY ABANDONMENT ISSUES BRO I WISH IT COULD STOP. I WISH IT ALL COULD STOP. JUST. WAUGHHHHH FUCKING HELL AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Ok. Ok. I’m sorry. It’s just. Partner is. Not good at communicating. I have separation anxiety. Stems from fully thinking that my mother was dead for a year because she simply was gone and never texted back etc. I hate that I had to get capital I Issues™️ from that experience because it’s one of my many horrible qualities.

Anyway. I’m trying to organize anything with this man. And gods, I love him I want to shout it from the rooftops. But. He can’t text back for the fuckign life of him. And this is important and time sensitive planning bc it involves a third party!!!! But he just. Doesn’t fugking read any of my messages. And gods I miss him and want to hold him and I want, nay need to tell him about how. How this type of situation feels like fumcking shit, ya know?

And I would talk to a therapist, if I had one. I would talk with a friend about it if I wouldn’t feel more like a burden about it than I already do. I’m convinced all my friends fucking hate me, man. I feel like I’m just upsetting to them. By existing. How do I know this? Definitely paranoia. Definitely the immense, deep-rooted self hatred that I’ve felt for myself ever since I could remember.

I’m failing all of my classes. I’m in college. I can’t afford to fail. I. I can’t.

I have this one friend. Who is. Succeeding in every level that I don’t. Has reached that level in the social media art world where their work is found everywhere. And I’m so, so proud of them. Genuinely, I really, truly am. But. I envy them. So much. I wish I had their drive. Their ability to actually make anything. The ability to post art without fear of rejection consuming them.

Doesn’t help that my entire sense of self-worth has been directly tied to my ability to “make cool art” and “sing nicely” for almost a decade of being alive on this fucking earth.

I’m so tired. I’m so fucking tired.

And it doesn’t help that I can’t bring myself to tell anyone. Especially since I have nothing to offer to make up for it (what is ‘it,’ though? Venting, having emotions, existing?) I can’t be sad. I’m not allowed to be. I don’t have anything to offer in return other than tears.

I promised my partner that I wouldn’t cut myself anymore, but it’s so hard. Why is it so hard to abstain from self-harm? I’m sticking to writing on my arm, instead. The sting from the ink seeping into skin kind of helps. But it’s not enough.

It’s fine. I’m fine.

#personal vent #minor suicidal ideation #but it’s fine. I’m fine.#just needed to scream where people could see it but probably won’t anyhow #don’t read it. please.

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financialsmatter · 2 years

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Italy, Fascists, Wokeness, Desperation

You might be wondering what Italy, Fascists, Wokeness and Desperation have in common. It’s simple. Giorgia Meloni, the newly elected conservative, mother, woman, Christian – and now Prime Minister – meets all the requirements of the Globalist Woke crowd’s fear and loathing. Simply stated, they hate her…despite getting sixty-three percent of the votes. As a result – and as if on cue – they’re (CNN) already saying she’s “the most far-right government since the fascist era of Benito Mussolini.” LMAO! Wokeness and Desperation This is definitely a sign that the Boyz are desperate because the voters in Italy have proven their disgust for how most of Europe is devolving into the GREAT RESET. You would think that the creepy leftists would celebrate Italy’s first female PM. But Noooooo! And only in today’s world could someone like Meloni be condemned for stating such basic facts like: “I am Giorgia. I’m a woman, I’m a mother, I’m Italian, I’m Christian.” Meloni’s victory is a sharp slap in the face to the current Wokeness that’s poisoned Europe. Why? Because she’s fighting to uphold traditional Italian values rather than submitting to the globalist agenda of abandoning ethics for the new world order. Maybe she’ll really piss everyone off and start wearing a red hat that says Make Italy Great Again (MIGA). Or Maybe she’ll gain more support for doing what’s right for her country, unlike most politicians who’ve already sold out to the Klaus Schwab crowd. Afterall, there’s something to be said about wanting to preserve your culture. Or Maybe JUST MAYBE, this is part of a bigger trend of people straying from what the Whores-Of-Babble-On Presstitutes wants them to believe. More Signs of Wokeness and Desperation Ironically (or NOT) people who have congratulated her in the political world are considered far-right extremists. Sounding familiar? As we have said, many times in the past, the markets hate socialism. READ: Why the Markets Reject Socialism June 10, 2022 And as we say every week in our Sunday Funnies: As difficult as things might appear, Evil Always Overplays its Hand…And Righteousness Prevails. So, we want to congratulate Giorgia Meloni for wanting to preserve Italy’s culture. And by fighting to casting out those submitting to the globalist agenda of true Fascism. You Go Girl! Be sure to read how the collapse of Europe is inevitable and how to position your portfolio accordingly in our October issue of “…In Plain English” (HERE). Share this with a friend…even if they don’t know who Giorgia Meloni is. They’ll thank YOU later. At Financial$Matter, We’re Not Just About Finance. We simply use finance to give you hope. FYI *************************************** Invest with confidence. Sincerely, James Vincent The Reverend of Finance Copyright © 2022 It's Not Just About Finance, LLC, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Read the full article

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panharmonium · 3 years

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this is legitimately one of my top five favorite kakashi scenes.

i love seeing kakashi break the rules in the name of doing the right thing, and this scene especially is particularly satisfying to me, because his moment of defiance here is, to my mind, long overdue.

one of my eternal frustrations in early naruto is how the leaf village administration gives kakashi the job of caring for a group of super high-needs children and then continually makes that job as difficult for him as possible. they task him with being solely responsible for the development and well-being of three twelve year-olds - a group that includes naruto (a walking disaster with a god’s power trapped inside his body) and sasuke (a genocide survivor fixated on killing his own brother), BOTH of whom are being hunted by different groups of supercriminals - and then the village keeps getting in kakashi’s way or dropping the ball or actively ordering him to prioritize other things.

so much of what goes wrong with the kids in this period is the result of other people interfering with kakashi’s work or being negligent or endangering the kids/putting kakashi in impossible positions. team 7’s first big mission sets the tone for everything that comes after, with someone else’s lie putting kakashi in a situation where he has to single-handedly protect not just the client who deceived him, but the three children who were supposed to be the clients’ other protectors. and after that, the list just multiplies:

ten anbu operatives can’t manage to protect sasuke’s hospital room from orochimaru’s minions, so kakashi has to do it himself and then whisk sasuke out of the village for a month, leaving naruto in the hands of a substitute and sakura with her parents

genma orders sasuke to chase after gaara when the chunin exams blow up, saying “you’re at chunin level already,” which forces kakashi to immediately dispatch more kids to bring him back, because “ffs NO i do NOT want him out there doing that why the fuck would you tell him to do that?!”

aoba runs his mouth off about itachi when sasuke is standing RIGHT THERE, instantly undoing all the work kakashi just did to prevent itachi and sasuke from coming anywhere near each other (and thus sending sasuke to that disastrous first encounter, the outcome of which ultimately leads to sasuke’s defection)

jiraiya decides he should let sasuke try to fight itachi himself, “out of respect for the boy’s feelings,” leading to sasuke ending up in a tsukuyomi coma

tsunade orders kakashi to drop his teaching work and leave the village on a mission even though a) he’s just gotten out of his own torture-induced coma and b) sasuke is having a crisis that kakashi is trying to manage

and then when kakashi gets back from that mission and finds out that surprise, all of this meddling has led to a disaster, tsunade tries to order him away AGAIN

but this time - he just says no.

he walks right out of her office. he turns his back on her. and there is NOTHING i love more than seeing kakashi embody the philosophy that he’s chosen to adopt as his guiding light: those who break the rules are scum. but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.

it’s not that he doesn’t understand where tsunade is coming from here. but he knows she’s wrong. she’s making her decisions based solely on concerns about the Leaf Village being in a tight spot - feeling like they can’t turn down missions because they’ll appear weak and thus become vulnerable to attack when they’re already operating at half strength. she sends a group of twelve year-olds to bring sasuke back because supposedly the village can’t spare anyone else, “even if it means letting the sharingan fall into orochimaru’s hands” - but like. it’s not the sharingan. it’s a child. sasuke isn’t just a repository for his hereditary jutsu; he’s not a pair of eyes to be passed around from one wielder to the next. he’s a human child.

tsunade doesn’t know sasuke. she’s new to the situation and doesn’t know enough about it to understand how serious it is. i don’t even think she was still in the village when the uchiha massacre occurred; the timeline makes it sound like she left long before that. she doesn’t really understand who sasuke is or how much trouble he’s in - she makes her decision because she feels like her first priority has to be the well-being of the Leaf as a whole, not the individual people who comprise it. kakashi, though, who a) lives his life by a very different philosophy and b) does understand sasuke’s situation, would not have dealt with the issue like this, and if the village had let him do his job from the beginning, things wouldn’t have gotten to this point in the first place.

kakashi is horrified that tsunade sent a bunch of twelve year-olds out to fight orochimaru’s ninja, and i think he’s also probably angry and/or frustrated about having been ordered out of the village in the first place. he was dealing with the situation before tsunade sent him away. he interrupted the fight between sasuke and naruto even though he himself had literally just gotten out of the hospital, and then he continued addressing the issue with sasuke privately (unlike jiraiya’s non-attempt to address it with naruto, when he said he was going to give naruto a talking-to but actually flaked out). kakashi knew sasuke was struggling, and he was doing all the things a teacher is supposed to do to address it, but then he was ordered away, and even though it was just for two days, it was enough time for everything to go to hell.

if people would just let him do his job - if the administration would let him focus on the task they themselves assigned to him - things would be different. but everybody wants him to do everything. they want him to be everywhere. they want him to protect the nine-tails jinchuriki (who is also kakashi’s dead teacher’s son), and train the last surviving uchiha (which is a task only kakashi and his sharingan can perform), and give equal attention to a third kid, for good measure, and they want him to do it without stepping away from any of his other burdens, all while other people around him constantly frustrate the progress he makes.

so this time, when tsunade tries to send him away, he refuses. he disobeys her orders and walks out of the room. he doesn’t care about the rules or what he’s “legally” obligated to do. he knows what the RIGHT thing to do is, and so he rejects his new mission in favor of rescuing the kids.

i love these moments. i love when we’re shown so clearly the person kakashi has chosen to be - someone who does what’s right, not just what he’s told. he made an active choice many years ago to adopt that philosophy, and he’s been living by those new rules ever since. he's wiser now than he was when he was a child - sometimes you have to break ranks to do the right thing. sometimes you have to buck the system, even if it means you might face severe personal consequences.

he had one of two choices: either save the mission or his comrades. of course, according to the law of the village, you cannot abandon a mission. but to save the life of his comrades, he put the mission on hold.

kakashi may have spent a good chunk of his childhood trying to reject everything the subject of that story stood for, but none of his attempts to harden his heart ever stuck. he is, in the end, his father’s son.

#naruto #pan watches naruto #meta #i got lost on the path of life #*#anyway i just LOVE seeing kakashi break the rules #gives me so much satisfaction #he's worked so hard to become who he is today #and he's grown so much #on the other hand...#i HATE seeing kakashi take all of his frustration with how the village has mishandled things #and immediately turn it around upon himself #'i was too naive'#'i'm too late'#'it was my cowardice that drove the three of you apart'#'i'm sorry you have such a careless sensei'#none of that is even REMOTELY true #literally the last thing kakashi ever was with these kids was 'careless' or 'cowardly'#the deck was stacked against him from the beginning and he still did EVERYTHING he could #but he blames himself for all the things that went wrong #even when they were completely out of his control #and that's why i maintain that the last hurdle kakashi is going to surmount in this story is guilt #that's the natural progression of his character arc #the one thing he has never been able to do -#despite all his other achievements and hard-won personal growth -#is let go of his guilt and shame #that's why his character design looks the way it looks #the way he wears that headband isn't a fashion choice. it's a symbolic representation of how he hasn't cleared this obstacle yet #he has never released himself from blame or forgiven himself for anything #maybe someday...but i guess i'll just have to wait and see

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thequackcity · 3 years

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Quackity and Schlatt’s Relationship - More Complicated Then You Think

(this is all /rp and about the characters from the dream smp! pls assume i have the dignity not to write analysis of youtubers)

recently there was a bit of discourse surrounding the relationship between Quackity and Schlatt floating around on tumblr. tho i never saw the original post that sparked the conversation, i did see a few posts that were inspired by it mentioning how they disliked that the original post implied that Quackity and Schlatt were mutually abusive and/or equally bad for each other

since i never saw the original post, i can't be sure if that's what the op meant to imply. it's not really my place to speak about a post that i never got the chance to read. BUT the conversation that was caused by the post in question did get me thinking about how this fandom treats the relationship between Quackity and Schlatt and how little nuance there is in discussions about it

now before i say anything else, i want to make a few things clear:

i don't think Quackity and Schlatt’s relationship is mutually abusive. no need to worry about hearing that from this post

i don't look down on ppl who have different interpretations of their relationship

there will be potentially triggering content in this analysis. i will place a quick warning whenever i think one is needed!

their relationship is romantic in canon and therefore i’ll be treating it as romantic

alright now that we’ve gotten all of that out of the way, we can finally get on with the analysis! i apologize for how long this is gonna be

part 1: let's talk relationship!

i think we can all agree that Quackity and Schlatt’s relationship was not exactly a healthy one. tho it didn't start out that way, it certainly turned into what could be read as abusive or toxic (i personally read their relationship as being abusive in its later half due to evidence provided by the text, but i understand if others prefer to view it as just toxic instead)

but what happened that led to their partnership ending so badly? what caused all of this mess?

well, it was a lot of things. but we will get to that later. let's talk relationship first!

from the very beginning, Quackity and Schlatt’s relationship was pretty one-sided. tho they both clearly liked each other as friends/partners in crime both before and after the election (yes they did interact before the election!) Quackity was also interested in Schlatt romantically- something that Schlatt wasn't fully committed to

as we all know from the infamous date stream and from a few other moments, Quackity and Schlatt enjoyed playfully flirting with each other- tho it was pretty obvious that Quackity was more serious about it then Schlatt was even tho Schlatt considered Quackity to be very attractive

in my opinion, Quackity is someone who wants a long term relationship, while Schlatt is more interested in flings. this can be seen in Schlatt refusing to marry Quackity and rejecting most of his advances while Quackity tried his best to convince him to feel otherwise. Tommy put it best: Quackity is just one of Schlatt’s many bitches U_U

to Quackity, the romantic aspect of their relationship was very important. because Schlatt never actually shot him down or told him that he didn't feel the same way, Quackity took that to mean that they were truly in love. Schlatt on the other hand wasn't very invested in the romantic side of things but clearly valued Quackity’s looks and his support as an ally against Pogtopia so he never fully rejected Quackity’s advances

this might not seem like too big of a deal considering the other things that happened between them, but i think it shows part of the nature of their relationship. there is a lot of miscommunication and, on Schlatt’s end, manipulation of emotions. love is a strong motivator for loyalty and Schlatt is a smart guy who would know how to use that to his advantage

but that isn't to say that Schlatt didn't ever care about Quackity!

Schlatt is a complicated guy and figuring out when he's actually being genuine can be pretty difficult. but i think there are some moments that point to Schlatt genuinely caring about Quackity

when he was alive, Schlatt was pretty paranoid. not as paranoid as Wilbur, but certainly up there. but there were never any times where he truly questioned Quackity’s loyalties after his first day as president. Schlatt also seemed truly upset that Quackity betrayed him, bringing up their status as partners in crime while ranting about how much it hurt him and singling Quackity out while talking about how he had been abandoned during his time of need

Schlatt also spent a lot of time sulking after Quackity betrayed him and whining to Ponk about needing a new bitch. this is in contrast to how angry he was after Tubbo betrayed him- both during and after the execution

there is also the situation with the Big Man Gym

after being dead for a while, Schlatt contacted Quackity despite them leaving off on bad terms and asked for him to visit him in his cave gym. when Quackity showed up, Schlatt talked about how he valued their relationship and the good times they had together. tho this can easily be seen as emotional manipulation, Schlatt’s a lot smarter than he seems and- if he doesnt have memory issues due to being a ghost- would know that Quackity’s opinion of him was in the dump at the time of his death and most likely wouldn't have improved since then. Fundy has a higher opinion of Schlatt than Quackity does and is someone who obviously craves validation. but Schlatt went to Quackity first anyway and trusted him to help revive him

i think that this is all good evidence that points towards Schlatt truly caring about Quackity as much as someone like Schlatt can care about anyone- or at least valuing him as a companion

i also think that it is pretty common knowledge that Quackity cared about Schlatt- and possibly still does- but i will go over a bit of evidence that i haven’t already mentioned before we move on to the next part

Quackity tried multiple times to impress Schlatt (like when he lied about knowing how to play chess), would attempt to help Schlatt when he was drowning in water, sadly said that they could have had something together while Schlatt was dying in the caravan, and implied that he wouldn’t have left if Schlatt hadn’t taken down the white house. Quackity also willingly went to the Big Man Gym after being summoned there by Schlatt and wanted to revive him long before the revive book became part of the story

part 2: what made it fall apart?

everything i've said so far has been pretty interesting (hopefully) but it doesn't really answer the original question: what went wrong to turn Schlatt and Quackity’s mainly positive partnership sour?

well it comes down to two things in my opinion: their incompatible desires for political power and Schlatt’s deteriorating mental state

Quackity wanted political power from the beginning and wasn't afraid to be open about his desires. he pooled his votes with Schlatt because Schlatt offered him the position of vice president, something Wilbur and Tommy weren’t willing to give to him. tho Quackity obviously cared about L’Manburg and wanted to see good things for it, he also desired power and was willing to team up with someone he didn't fully agree with to get said power

at 32:40 in this video, Quackity talks about how in politics everyone uses everyone so it's alright if Schlatt is using him. he then talks about how he doesn't want to be a man with no power and how he understands that Schlatt’s main goal is also gaining/keeping power. Quackity also shows a bit of his naughty evil side by saying if he overthrows Schlatt then the fun ends too early!

(side note: these two are pretty evenly matched in intelligence and manipulativeness, i love it!)

it's a bit of a fandom misconception that Quackity was a love sick yes man during the Manburg era. tho Quackity did want to please Schlatt and was in love with him, he didn't shy away from standing up to or disagreeing with Schlatt when he believed it was needed

at around 26:12 of this video, Quackity and Schlatt meet together in private and Quackity tells Schlatt off for playing down his role in the power structure of Manburg. since this was very early in Schlatt’s reign, Quackity shows no fear towards him and confidently tells him not to treat him like that

Quackity also broke Niki out of jail after regretting letting her be put there in the first place, tried to convince Schlatt to not execute Tubbo, jumped in front of Fundy when Schlatt tried to attack him, tried to stop Schlatt from tearing down buildings, and attempted to protect the white house he built from being destroyed by Schlatt. these are not behaviors of a pure yes man but of someone who, despite fear, has the confidence to speak up for himself even when disrespected by someone in authority

Quackity has always been someone who wanted power and someone who was never a yes man to authority. this contradicts with how Schlatt believed Quackity should act as vice president. in Schlatt’s opinion, Quackity’s one job is to sit around looking pretty while Schlatt does all of the important things and holds all of the power. Schlatt was a big fan of promoting people to worthless positions of authority and its pretty obvious that he considered vice president to be similar to the fake positions he gave Fundy and Tubbo

in the end, this was a big part of what destroyed their relationship. like it or not, Quackity’s a power hungry guy and always has been. he didn't like that Schlatt constantly shoved him aside and refused to listen to him

now onto the nasty bit...Schlatt’s mental state

cw for mentions of alcoholism, mental deterioration, and abusive behavior

before i say anything more, i just want to say that i don't think having issues with alcoholism makes someone a bad person. i personally have some issues with such things so it would be pretty stupid of me to say being an alcoholic makes you a bad person. alcoholism does negatively affect your cognitive functions tho and, combined with other health issues, can cause some of the very serious mental problems that Schlatt clearly struggles with

throughout the Manburg era, Schlatt’s mental state rapidly deteriorated. he went from a pretty normal- if eccentric- guy who had a drinking problem, to someone who was delirious most of the time. it's a sharp and noticeable decline that caused a lot of pain for Quackity due to Schlatt often taking his excess aggression out on him by yelling at him and/or belittling him. tho Schlatt often belittled Quackity before he went fully off of the deep end, it was never as aggressive as it was when he was in this delirious state of mind

it was during one of Schlatt’s most aggressive and delirious moments that he tore down the white house despite Quackity’s protests. as we all know, this caused Quackity to snap and kill Schlatt (it's more complicated than that but we will get back to that). as mentioned previously, Quackity implied that he would have stayed with Schlatt if the white house hadn’t been destroyed

in my opinion, these two things combined are the biggest reasons why Quackity and Schlatt’s relationship fell apart. their differing desires for power were not compatible and Schlatt’s awful behavior while his mental state declined caused a rift between them that couldn't be fixed

part 3: how toxic was it really?

cw for emotional and physical abuse

as i said all the way back in part one, Quackity and Schlatt’s relationship was not healthy. i have provided many examples in the other two parts that shine a light onto why it wasn't healthy, but i didn't show the entire picture

there are many moments that show exactly how Schlatt treated Quackity when he was acting at his worst and none of them are pretty. tho Schlatt was never truly aggressive with his insults until he started to go off of the deep end, that doesn't mean that what he said wasn't negatively affecting Quackity

Schlatt would belittle, insult, and mock Quackity for his appearance not being up to his standards, for his opinions, and for being emotional in ways that Schlatt disapproved of like crying. tho Schlatt would often brush off Quackity’s reactions towards this cruel behavior, it's very clear that Schlatt’s treatment of him has stuck with Quackity in many ways

Quackity is very sensitive about his appearance and it seems to be because of how badly Schlatt hurt his self esteem during their time together. Schlatt tied Quackity’s worth to his appearance and then would claim he wasn't meeting his standards of attractiveness. we can tell that this has stuck with Quackity because of his sensitivity towards people bringing up the scar on his face (something that greatly alters his physical appearance) and he still reacts very badly when Schlatt calls him the mocking nickname flatty patty

speaking of flatty patty- that stupid insult shockingly has a lot of weight in Quackity’s relationship with Schlatt. tho its something the audience is meant to laugh at, the nickname also shows just how little Schlatt respects Quackity because he's constantly throwing it around just to make Quackity upset. Schlatt’s last words are flatty patty all because he wanted to get in one last dig at his ex and ruin Quackity’s day even further

Schlatt tends to do a lot of things that are intended to make Quackity upset. tearing down the room Quackity made for him in the white house is the biggest example of this- especially since Schlatt mentions how it will upset Quackity while he does it. you can see this moment at around 19:10 of this video

and now let's get into the elephant in the room when it comes to these two: Quackity was scared of Schlatt. tho we never really see Schlatt hit or attack Quackity physically outside of their confrontation at the white house or their confrontation in the caravan, these clips imply that Quackity was at the very least scared of Schlatt physically harming him in some way

as for actually physically harming him, Schlatt hits Quackity multiple times with a pickaxe and with his fists during their white house fight. Quackity hits Schlatt a couple times too, tho these are all primarily defensive blows since he is trying to protect himself and his property. he also chases after Quackity with a bow after Quackity’s plan to trick him into signing Manburg over to the Pogtopians fails and hits him multiple times during the caravan confrontation

all of this evidence shows that Schlatt was an abusive (or at least toxic) partner towards Quackity and someone who greatly affected him in many ways

tho Quackity did a few questionable things throughout his relationship with Schlatt (such as trying to get Schlatt to have sex with him despite Schlatt not being interested as shown in the later half of this video) and did some downright morally wrong things during his time as vice president of Manburg, no one deserves the pain of an abusive relationship- even a person who has done bad things

as a brief side note before we move on because i know people will bring it up if i skip over it, Quackity did- and most likely still does- want to literally possess Glatt. he brought up reviving Schlatt and using him as a political pawn after Schlatt’s funeral and during their conversation at the Big Man Gym Quackity talked about owning Glatt and having him work at Las Nevadas with no pay

this is unsettling behavior to say the least but this essay isnt about the aftermath of their relationship so much as it is about their relationship when it was actually happening. maybe i will make another post talking more about how Quackity’s relationship with Schlatt affected him even after Schlatt’s death and/or about Quackity’s relationship with Glatt

part 4: final thoughts

i’m not exactly sure why the nuances in Schlatt and Quackity’s relationship get lost when it comes to the fandom, but it’s pretty disappointing to see. hopefully this essay can help people take a closer look at canon and maybe even help them find something interesting that they’d want to explore!

tho the point of this essay is to clear up any misconceptions and hopefully add some nuance to the conversations surrounding Schlatt and Quackity’s relationship, i also wrote it in hopes of showing people how fascinating these two partners in crime were back in the Manburg days. i didn’t cover everything but i think i did a pretty good job for my first analysis post in the dsmp fandom

also since you read to the end, i must say thank you! it really does means a lot to me that you did. i hope you enjoyed and maybe even learned something. this post can be used as a resource if anyone wants to use it as such

here’s a tiny devil Quackity for your troubles <3

#quackity #jschlatt #manburg #dream smp analysis #dsmp analysis #posts by me #this was really fun to make!! i worry it wont show up in tags tho bc of how many links there are in it #so pls reblog!! if you read it and liked it that is haha #meta by me

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becomingbts · 3 years

Text

Time heals (sometimes) - 1

Summary: 6 years ago, (Y/N) thought that she was finally taking her life into her hands, leaving behind a toxic and abusive relationship with a man who taught her she’d never be worthy of love. However, it became hard to ignore his words when she met her seven soulmates who rejected her without even giving her a chance to prove herself. It took (Y/N) 3 years to realize that it wouldn’t be her end. She would live on to prove them all wrong; she would become what they all thought she wasn’t: someone worthy of love. And as she stands proudly on the stage, under the burning spotlights and the applause and the cries of the delirious crowd, she feels alive. Alive, just like the bond she believed to be broken.

Pairings: Y/N x OT7

GENRE: Soulmate AU!, Idol Y/NAU!, semi social-media AU!, ANGST (mainly), fluff, romance, maybe smut in the series.

Ask or comment to be tagged!

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Warnings: The series is going to be heavy with a lot of personal experiences mixed into the fiction, so this is going to be kind of therapeutic for me. Please, consider not reading the series if you are not comfortable with: abandonment issues, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, self-harm (not descriptive and only part of MC’s past), suicide thoughts (in the past), toxic behavior, toxic and abusive relationship (in the past), depreciating self-talk and low self-esteem, a lot of curse, physical and mental pain, near death experience situation (in the past), and maybe smut scenes (happy ending though, but it will probably be quite the ride).

NOTE: So hello everyone, welcome to Time Heals (sometimes). Thank you so, so much for the warm welcoming, it has been my first time getting so many asks, I was honestly overjoyed. I still don’t really know what to call this part; is it a teaser? A note? A full chapter? I believe we’ll get some snapshot of memories like this one throughout the series because there is going to be a lot to unpack on both sides. I think it will be a chapter nevertheless because I have to establish some kind of order as to which parts should be read first, and I think this one is extremely important.

Thank you for reading,

-Dolly

Profiles #2 - here - part 2

Her scream pierced through the air while cries broke in the frenzied arena while a single blond-haired man froze, emptily staring at the stage. It felt like his senses heightened; his skin was shuddering, his eyes were frantically searching for one specific figure while his voice was lost in his throat. The screams resonating in the stadium would have been too loud for his voice to be heard anyway.

Jimin knew he shouldn’t be there.

Namjoon had told them more than once that none of them should try to go to one of (Y/N)’s events. It could be dangerous and they could be overwhelmed; anything could happen to them and they would still remain a nobody who fainted in the howling crowd. Would they want to take this risk? No.

So, Jimin would have had to admit that going to her very first concert in Seoul since the pandemic sounded like a very, very, very bad idea. And to be honest, it still didn’t seem to be a bright idea now that he was actually there.

But he still went because he needed to see her for himself; to see how she was. He had so many things he dreamed about asking her. Are you okay? Are you sleeping well? Did you eat before coming to the arena? Are you nervous? Do you... remember me?

Maybe he was torturing himself. He kept on watching her lives, following her on all social media, always made sure to leave a sweet comment, and never miss any of her new updates... Maybe he even had a folder of pictures of her on his phone but he’d never admit it to any of his mates. Taehyung would probably take his phone away from him and delete everything and Jimin couldn’t let that happen.

He felt like it was cheating. Don’t take him wrong though. When he thought that, he was not really thinking about the boys. They did collectively agree not to follow her activities as an artist but it was getting harder and harder with how popular she got anyway. Moon was everywhere. In commercials, on the radio, her songs were on the TV… Even if she was known for refusing most of the promotional contracts that were offered to her, her image was still constantly in the media despite her avoidance of it. Ironic, but the media were trying their best to find anything about her, be it positive or negative. One day she was seen on her bike, the next, she was in a coffee shop, and it kept on going on, overstepping on her privacy as if it was just a meaningless word.

The lockdown had admittedly played a major part in Jimin’s obsession. Being in their apartment meant quickly running out of activities, and his job as a dance teacher was not really filling his free time (a lot of his classes were also canceled). It was also during that time that (Y/N) truly blew up as an independent artist. Advertisement on YouTube started being around her channel and her music, the recommendations he kept on seeing were about also her… Jimin’s resolve honestly broke easily. It was hard not to be curious about his lost soulmate even though he didn’t feel like he had the right to be hurting.

Anyway, to come back to his main point, if Jimin felt like he was cheating; it was mostly for her. After all, (Y/N) had no means of letting the curiosity get the best of her, to know what they were doing; to simply see or contact them. He had, at first, not really thought about that. Watching her content seemed a very innocent thing to do in his opinion; billions of people were watching her content, why should he prevent himself from doing so? Yet, Jimin could still remember one of her live she did soon after that interview she had given on this damned radio show where she had revealed who her title track ‘TIME’ was about… She had gone live the next day-Jimin had jumped on his phone because of the notification-and one fan had asked her what would she do if she knew that her ‘ex-soulmates’ (and those words left a very sour taste in Jimin’s mind) were watching her. The question had silenced a previously restless Jimin, replacing his initial excitation with dread while a lump formed itself in his throat. He had not even noticed it; he was so focused on her live and her upcoming answer that Jimin had completely missed the sound of a glass breaking in the apartment. Jimin had been home alone, so even if had indeed heard it, he probably wouldn’t have bothered to check what had happened, thinking that the wind knocked it over or something. Jimin had been so absorbed by what he had been watching that he even got surprised a few hours later when Seokjin came home and yelled at him for breaking something when he had been clearly innocent, engrossed in (Y/N)’s live (not that he could tell his soulmates about that part, but yeah). (Y/N)’s live would always be more important than some random glass breaking again in their apartment. Every object was doomed with Namjoon living here anyway.

On her side of the screen though, (Y/N) had seemed taken aback as she had read the question and had gritted her teeth gently. She had seemed to be pondering about her answer even though a lot of people in her chat were telling her to forget about the question if it made her uncomfortable (a lot were even scolding the person who asked). Yet, sighing softly, she had looked up at the screen:

“I’d appreciate it if you could refrain from asking questions on this topic. It’s not taboo but I’d rather not remember everything that comes with it. However, to answer this-hopefully-last question about it, I’d ask them to turn off my stream and to stop watching any of my content. It would only be fair after all. I’ve been denied access to their lives six years ago, why would they get a free pass into mine now?” She had not smiled nor had she seemed hurt by her own comment, yet Jimin’s heart had shattered in pieces, unable to press the cancel button.

Her voice had slowly faded into background noise while her words had been stuck in his head.

I’d ask them to turn off my stream and to stop watching any of my content.

How could Jimin ever do that? He realized that he truly should. Namjoon would even agree with you, as ironic as it sounded for Jimin. Namjoon had been one of the most adamant ones about rejecting your bond, after all. Jimin was shaking with bitterness while ‘Moon’ continued her stream peacefully with music. Jimin could only try to gulp his anger down as he remembered her crumbling features on that fateful day.

“You’re not our soulmates. This name on our arms means nothing to us. You are nothing to us if not a hindrance. Leave us alone.”

If Jimin could go back in time, he’d prevent Taehyung from spatting those words at her. Yet, he couldn’t do anything. Playing the scene over and over in his mind wouldn’t change anything. It wouldn’t change that she probably hated them. It wouldn’t change the song she made about them.

And worst of all, it wouldn’t change the fact that Jimin had let himself believe that their choice had been for the best, trying to console and reassure himself, even if he had already known that it was wrong. Tears were pooling up in his eyes even if none escaped as he finally caught a glimpse of her on the stage. Suddenly brought back to reality after his subconscious memory trip, Jimin finally connected back to the world, looking around while he was still frozen on his spot. People were still screaming around him and he wondered if he looked like an intruder. Because, after all, wasn’t that what he exactly was? She said it herself that she didn’t wish for them to watch her; so what was he doing here?

Jimin couldn’t help but stare; she looked ethereal, dressed like a queen in the middle of a sold-out arena. People were screaming her name as she yelled her infamous ‘hi people’. It was an opening sentence that Jimin heard way too many times in her vlogs and suddenly hearing it in real life seemed surreal.

Jimin could only watch in awe, entranced with her everything.

Screw the boys and what they would think once he’d be back from her concert.

He had been the one to find her six years ago anyway. He had been the one to bring her to their home six years ago, hoping for the boys to change their mind once they’d meet her.

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Uploaded : 09/04/2021

Taglist: @sweetmoonlight9, @mickmoon, @dreamer95, @loveyoongles, @spicetouched , @jikooksgirl19, @summerevelyn , @springjade , @clevercoley, @prooteus, @sehun096rainbow, @ainsle-e, @ifyouareme, @sunshinee0-0, @fangirl125reader, @sea-nevermind-enthusiast, @atlantis-atlas, @thequeen-kat, @naajix, @skyys-universe , @sichajeon , @yukiehyukie, @amxranthinesworld , @bunzom, @potate-oh, @mawwnsterr, @ celaenaelentiyavox, @dvoz-writes , @honeybaby-94 ,

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firelxdykatara · 3 years

Text

there’s this trend in the atla fandom of ppl complaining about how the fandom mischaracterizes zuko and then.......mischaracterizing zuko.....in the same breath.......and i JUST

-insert that one gif of hades here-

look. i’m sorry. i know you love your weird headcanon that zuko is just an absolute dick, an asshole for no reason and that this should somehow remain a cornerstone of his personality no matter where in his life he’s being depicted, but that’s????? not remotely accurate to his character in the show lmao

he’s not ‘a dick’, he’s a traumatized teenage boy with emotional regulation issues and unhealthy coping mechanisms. these are not cornerstones of his foundation as a person, they are the result of--you guessed it!--the trauma he suffered as a thirteen-year-old boy. and while i’m not gonna pretend that he will ever be 100% perfectly well-adjusted (he’s probably always gonna have issues with his temper, ingrained trauma responses that will become far less commonplace but still crop up, particularly if anything happens to trigger a regression), but to pretend that people who focus more on ‘awkward turtleduck Zuko’ post canon are treating him like some ‘uwu soft boi who never did anything wrong’ is weirdly reductive.

and it’s so strange to me, because we see who zuko is before the trauma that quite literally changed the entire direction of his life. he was a kind, compassionate boy, who felt badly when he realized he’d hurt that baby turtleduck and that was why the mama had attacked him, and who stood up and spoke out in a war meeting because the general was planning to just throw away the lives of an entire squad and he couldn’t understand why anyone would treat their own people that way!

he wasn’t an asshole or a dick, and his rude and abrasive responses to stimuli came as a direct result of his trauma and the following three years of desperately searching for something he, on some level, had to eventually recognize he would never be able to find.

(iroh knew from the start that ozai had sent zuko on a meaningless mission that he would never actually be able to complete. i don’t think zuko ever fully realized this, but i do think he was beginning to subconsciously, and it’s why he was getting increasingly agitated and frustrated prior to discovering that the avatar was still alive. then, everything kicked into overdrive and he was desperate to actually capture the avatar and prove himself, so he never had to fully grapple with the realization that his father wanted him to fail.)

zuko with the gaang in the back half of book 3 is already much better at managing his emotions than at any point in the series prior (except possibly that one shining moment in ba sing se, moments before Disaster), and with his friends and uncle around him as a support network after the war, he would only continue to grow and become healthier and happier. (this is part of why i reject the comics out of hand, incidentally. bc i don’t for a moment believe that everyone would literally abandon him to the point where he had no one to turn to for help but his abuser.)

allowing zuko to be happy and healthy isn’t ignoring who he is at his core, it’s giving him the time he needed to heal and expanding on that. zuko was never just ‘a dick’, he was a traumatized teenage boy who needed to learn healthy coping mechanisms and emotional responses to things, but that was never a permanent state of being for him. zuko, pre-banishment, is a much more likely template for how a happy and healthy zuko would act, imo, and i don’t understand why so many ppl insist otherwise.

#atla #zuko #zuko meta #seen one too many 'zuko is an asshole stop erasing that' posts lately #no he isn't and that's a huge part of the point of his character arc stop it

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