#we just need to talk about this more like both parts of that phrase connect to byler and it makes lose me lose my mind constantly

[mikewheelerlikesboys]

Okay so I’m rewatching season 1 and I have to bring something up, so obviously the line “only love makes you that crazy sweetheart” is super important to us as bylers because of the crazy together scene. But, I think we need to talk more about the line right after that

“And that damn stupid”

This line is clearly directed at Jonathan beating up Steve, she’s calling it stupid and saying love makes that happen. Now let’s think back to just 2 episodes before.

Mikes response to Troy making fun of Will.

And then to add onto that, the scene where Troy and James track them down in the woods, in retaliation to when Mike shoved him, happens directly after the “and that damn stupid”

#idk guys my brain won’t stop #byler is taking over my life please help #we just need to talk about this more like both parts of that phrase connect to byler and it makes lose me lose my mind constantly #byler #will byers #mike wheeler #byler tumblr #stranger things #byler endgame #byler is real #byler evidence #byler is requited #mike wheeler is gay

[depression-napping]

Topics of Vincent

(Your resident translator was on a plane and had plenty of time to do some work so here we go with the second page of his profile ❤️)

This is long so content is under the cut

1) 身体に秘めたる魔獣の因子

The factor of the magical beasts hidden in his body

ヴィンセントはその体内に魔獣の因子を宿しており、ガリアンビーストに変身する能力を持つ。変身後は、俊敏さと力強さを兼ね備えた、文字どおり人間離れした動きが可能となる一方で、理性を失って暴走するため、肉体にはかなりの負荷がかかってしまう模様。ヴィンセントが睡眠に多くの時間を割くのは、特殊な体質のせいなのかもしれない。

Because of the factor that Vincent houses magical beasts within his body, he has the ability to transform into Galian Beast. After transforming, he gains the ability to move with both speed and strength that is literally superhuman. At the same time, his rational mind gives way to wild rampaging, and it seems to take quite a toll on his body. The fact that Vincent spares a lot of time sleeping may be due to the peculiar nature of his physical make-up.

2) 新しめの機械には弱い？

Is he bad with new technology?

ヴィンセントは、電源が入っていないカードリーダーを故障していると思い込み、起動させられずに四苦八苦*するなど、機械のあつかいには不慣れな様子を見せる。とはいえ、機械全般にわけではなく、タイニーブロンコに搭載された旧式の無線機は難なく使いこなしており、どちらかといえば古めの機械のほうがなじみがあるようだ。

Vincent has the mistaken impression that the card reader doesn’t work as it’s lacking a power source, and the device not activating seems to cause him all manner of distress*. [Please see the footnote this phrase is amazing] It seems he is inexperienced with handling such devices. Even so, it doesn’t mean he is generally bad with all technology per se, as he was able to easily handle the wireless radio on the Tiny Bronco. That is to say, he seems to be more familiar with older machines.

(*I just want to talk about this phrase 四苦八苦. It almost sent me into hysterics. It’s pronounced “shikuhakku” and it means great distress, but literally translates to “four and eight kinds of suffering.” It’s another idiomatic expression with Buddhist roots that refers to “birth, old age, disease, death, parting from loved ones, meeting disliked ones, not getting what one seeks,” and so on. Basically a summary of his life so far, minus the old age. But the fact that they used this term specifically to talk about his distress at newfangled technology just sent me. Literally you can read this as “modern technology causes him four and eight kinds of suffering.” Like the rest of what he’s gone through isn’t 四苦八苦? But the card reader not working is. I’m dead ya’ll. Like. Vincent needs this on a shirt. I need this on a shirt.)

3) Original VII Playback (Vincent Summary)

仲間に加えるかどうかを任意で選べるキャラクターながら、セフィロスや宝条と深い因縁があり、物語の背景を知るうえでは重要な役どころだった。関連作品のひとつ「Dirge of Cerberus -FFVII-」では主人公を務める。

The player can choose whether to befriend Vincent as he is an optional character. Since he has a deep connection to Sephiroth and Hojo, viewed in the context of the game’s background story, the role he plays is essential. He takes on the role of the main character in the related game, Dirge of Cerberus.

「フ… 悪夢にうなされる長き眠りこそ

私に与えられたつぐないの時間」

“Hmph… my long, nightmare-laden sleep has given me time to atone…”

(Picture captions)

追い詰められると、咆哮とともに赤黒いオーラをまとい、凶暴性さらに増す。

When pushed to the wall, with a loud roar, clad in a dark red aura, his savage nature increases further.

壊れた思ったものを叩いたり振ったりして直そうとするあたりは、どことなく前世代的。

When he tries to fix something he thought was broken by hitting and shaking it, somehow it seems like he’s from another generation.

#vincent valentine #ffvii rebirth #ffvii rebirth spoilers #translations #ffvii rebirth ultimania #enjoy!!!

[ktempestbradford]

There is so much to talk about with this article. So much. In this post I want to focus on a specific part of it: the reactions of Lindelof and Cuse to what the writers and actors experienced. Here are several quotes [emphasis mine].

“What can I say? Other than it breaks my heart that that was Harold [Perrineau's] experience,” replied Lindelof, who said he did not recall “ever” saying that. “And I’ll just cede that the events that you’re describing happened 17 years ago, and I don’t know why anybody would make that up about me.”

Lindelof told me he didn’t remember any negative incident with an editor, adding that he seeks out input from collaborators and that he’s “never threatened anyone’s career.” Lindelof also said he had no recollection of anything Hsu Taylor said about events connected to “Ab Aeterno.” He said she was a “great writer who executed at a high level” and he’s “stricken” that she was made to feel the way she felt at that time.

Regarding the other allegations leveled at him and the show, Lindelof said he had no memory of the incidents and comments I related. He told me he was “shocked and appalled and surprised” by the incidents I described to him, and said more than once that he did not think anyone was making anything up. “I just can’t imagine that Carlton would’ve said something like that, or some of those attributions, some of those comments that you [shared]—I’m telling you, I swear, I have no recollection of those specific things. And that’s not me saying that they didn’t happen. I’m just saying that it’s literally baffling my brain—that they did happen and that I bore witness to them or that I said them. To think that they came out of my mouth or the mouths of people that I still consider friends is just not computing.”

I'm not going to quote Cuse's responses here because they all boil down to: "I don't remember doing/saying that" or "Nuh uh, that didn't happen!" which is... certainly a choice.

You're going to see a bunch of people siding with and empathizing with Lindelof and praising him for saying that what happened was wrong, etc., and I will push back every time I see it because of all those instances of him saying he doesn't recall and doesn't remember. I don't think he's lying. I do think it's indicative of an ongoing problem with him as a writer and showrunner and it needs to be called out.

I'm going to tell you a story that explains my point. Also putting it and my conclusions under a cut as this is long. Please do read.

Many years ago I became friends with a white woman writer in the SFF community who lived in NYC during some of the time I did. She knew many of the writers and editors in our community who also lived in NYC or nearby. At the time, the majority of these editors were white and most were men. She became particularly friendly with some of them.

A couple of years into our relationship we were at ReaderCon together. One day at the hotel bar I was sitting with this woman (we'll call her Karen for the purposes of this story) and two other BIPOC male authors who had both published multiple books at this point and were people that Karen felt were impressive and important. During the conversation someone (probably me?) brought up the online conversations/debates/fights currently happening about representation in the SFF genre and the way certain editors were part of the problem. I want to say this was even before RaceFail happened.

Karen revealed that she'd been talking to important people like Gordon van Gelder about the things I'd been saying online and how, well... the things I was saying were just crazy. Crazy things! I was acting so crazy.

I don't remember the exact phrasing, but I remember the repeated categorizing of me/my words as Crazy.

I also don't remember exactly what I said in response. I do remember how I felt in my body at that moment. I was suddenly flooded with, I think, adrenaline or something and I wanted to run away because otherwise I was going to start throwing things. I couldn't believe this person, who claimed to be my friend, was saying this to me.

I also remember that I felt trapped because I was in a booth and the two other writers were on either side of me so I couldn't just get up and leave. It turned out I didn't need to do that. Because immediately both of them were like: Hold up. Hold the EFF up.

They both pointed out to Karen that the things I brought up in those online discussions were real issues that did need addressing and that I wasn't crazy and the only reason she thought so was because I was a Black woman and when white people or even people perceived as being white said the same thigs I did, people in the community listened, so what the heck was even wrong with her.

I just sat there, pretty quiet, still trying to calm myself down while this all happened and also felt so very grateful for how these two guys (also friends) stood up for me without hesitating, without equivocating, without giving Karen an inch to continue to talk about me in such a way. I don't even know how that conversation ended or if I even talked to Karen again at the con. I did decide right then that I was going to pull back from our friendship because of it.

A year or so later I ended up having to have a conversation with Karen because of some nonsense she pulled at WisCon. In that conversation I mentioned the discussion we had at ReaderCon and how that truly affected my view of her, a person who was supposedly my friend and who constantly tried to say she was an ally to BIPOC. And that's when she said: What discussion?

At first I wasn't sure if she was feigning ignorance or not. The more we talked, the more I realized she wasn't. She didn't remember the incident. And in that talk I realized why: It didn't have that big of an impact on her.

Even with her being essentially told off by the other two, for her, having conversations where she casually parroted some white, male editor's racist and misogynistic view of me was of little note because she and the other people she spent a majority of time with were doing it all the time. It was just a Tuesday for her. And so after ReaderCon when she continually asked if I wanted to hang out or go on writing dates, she did so as if she had not said some absolutely egregious stuff to me weeks before. Again, to her: a Tuesday.

Having had more experience in life with certain kinds of racists, sexists, ableists, and bigots in general, I can say that this phenomenon was not specific to Karen. It is endemic with a certain kind of person who is devoted to the status quo/dominant paradigm.

So when Lindelof says that he doesn't remember doing and saying these things, he's probably not lying. Because for him, it was business as usual, a Tuesday. Normalized on a number of levels. He was a fish in water and the water was composed of racist, sexist a-holes doing whatever they wanted because no one above them put a stop to it. And that is a problem even 20ish years later.

That Lindelof had to be told he did these things and that he, in all this time, has not reflected on them, not realized on his own that what he did was terrible, apologized, and worked his butt off to not only ensure the shows he runs do not have this atmosphere but to also throw every bit of work that he can to those writers (not necessarily on his shows, but others) is proof that it continues to be a problem. And that he has a lot of work to do to atone for all these things he can't remember--starting by doing a real deep dive into why he can't.

Cuse can't be saved. I suggest we introduce him to a nice oubliette.

#I'll note that the author of the piece called him out on his passive language and I very much appreciate that #Her whole book looks to be amazing and a wake up call and I hope everyone reads it #LOST #Damon Lindelof #Carlton Cuse #Carlton Cuse For Oubliette President #I feel justified in all of my critiques of LOST

[chezgender]

Cha cha cha / It's crazy it's party comparison

@tmrwds post and @izpira-se-zlato addition gave me brainworms. @kylla-kylla also saw the connection between ICIP and CCC and I saw their post after I started writing this. So I'm definitely not alone in being insane. Thus here is my own rant about It's Crazy it's Party.

Notes:

ICIP lyrics transcript taken from @koppitules on twt, translation taken from a Käärijä discord

CCC lyrics and translation from lyricstranslate.com

Disclaimer: This analysis is purposefully exaggerated/dramatic in order to highlight contrast. I do think Jere loves his job and career, ICIP is definitely a fun song in which you can find (or not) a deeper meaning, it's up to your interpretation. I just love angst lol please don't come at me I'm sensitive 🤡😭

(ps. sorry to all the people I tagged. You don't have to interact with this, I just wanted to give proper credit)

Let's start. Bear with me being cringe.

First verse

At the beginning of CCC, we see how partying is reserved for the weekend - it's something cathartic after a long week of responsibility and worries, it's an outlet for stress and negativity. The world can't scare him no more, as he mentions later in the song, now that he's having fun.

In ICIP, people have pointed out how the first verse reminds them of CCC, musically wise. This is definitely on purpose, the main difference lies in the lyrics. Here Jere reveals that partying now it's an everyday thing. It's an endless circus of traveling despite everything, he's the cog in a machine bigger than him. The world that seemed so tiny compared to the fun, is now scary - the party is now and tomorrow and 365 days a year, in Finland and even abroad. As if there was no safe place. He can't escape it and it's overwhelming to the point "you'll feel it in your hair and your ass" (honestly, weird phrasing, but it gets the point across I guess?). Either way, this party is almost ineluctable.

Chorus

In the CCC chorus he says he wants to forget about the pains of daily life by getting wasted and drinking with both hands on as many drinks as he can hold, until he won't even be able to get up. Honestly, although this doesn't seem like a healthy coping mechanism (but I'm none to judge), it does look willing and deliberate - he makes the choice of getting drunk on the weekend. He's in control of when the party happens.

In ICIP instead the chorus is shorter, and quite tautological: crazy is crazy, party is party, and life is life, you know? (see @tmrwds for a cultural insight on the "elämä on laiffi" phrase). There's a different feeling in this chorus, the singing is soft and maybe even a bit sexy but the lyrics hold a touch of resignation in between. This party is not a deliberate choice anymore, Jere doesn't get to choose when his life is crazy/party and when he gets to rest.

CCC 2nd verse / ICIP Tommy's verse

Without need for lyrics, also because most people have a hard time understanding what Tommy was singing live, I'll talk about this in brief. I chose to include it because Jere himself sang some parts of it during the live - mostly echoing, but still.

In CCC, Jere parties almost alone. Well, it's implied that there's more people to that party but the song is about him, his own liberation from stress and whatever thing was keeping him bound and off the dancefloor. There are no explicit references to other people.

In ICIP instead, Tommy sings about a club in which they enter and people go crazy. They talk about sex in a rather crass way, probably for kicks, but as mentioned in @tmrwds post, it could definitely hint at the wrong kind of attention Jere is receiving. People in his DMs and probably even in person are making more or less explicit advances on him, surely unsolicited, but it's part of the party.

And Tommy invites Jere to party with him (that modulated voice parodically reminds me of the beginning of Barbie Girl by Aqua). Jere says yes, of course he wants to party with him, right here right now (no matter the day, or his condition, does he really have a say in it?)

Another thing I'd like to point out:

Jere in CCC mentions "it's hard to talk when this different side of me does its part" / Tommy in ICIP mentions how the alcohol makes it hard to think (obviously, but I'm clinically insane and I see intertextuality everywhere) - so, basically, the "side of him" Jere talks about in CCC renders him carefree, maybe happy, definitely free of burdens. In ICIP, this "part of him" seems to have taken complete control to the point Jere can't tell himself from it.

Last part of ICIP

"Let's go party" leads to a countdown - inexorable and short, leaving everyone little time to get ready. The song explodes like a bomb, reminds me of a breakdown in a Korn song. The bass hammers hard and everyone is jumping, hearts bursting, everything is out of control. To quote @izpira-se-zlato , there's an apocalyptic feeling to it. Jere can't do anything but let himself be engrossed without a chance to escape. Which he can't, lest he gives everything up.

Where CCC was party metal with a touch of eurodance, ICIP definitely belongs to an insane rave. It reminds me of Dutch hardstyle, dubstep and a touch of eurodance until the end, which screams industrial/nu metal to me, only adding to the concept of hammering and exhausting work/lifestyle.

We could say that It's Crazy it's Party is the Välikuolema to Cha Cha Cha's Viuliunkieli, in a way.

Jere is a storyteller in most of his songs, and it's clear he likes such narratives to carry on between different tracks (i.e: I think the Viulunkieli/Välikuolema narrative carries on to Morgan), so it's only fair to assume the two songs combined tell a whole story.

Further speculation: Jere has often said he's really tired in this precise moment - the relentless touring throughout summer is obviously taking a toll on him, no matter how much he can love what he does. It would be exhausting for anyone. Plus, the "ghost" of ESC follows him everywhere: sometimes I get the feeling many people perceive him as the CCC-guy rather than the complete artist he is, so maybe he's trying to change this.

As many people already said, the story Mikke posted with the grave being dug could hint at the burial of green-bolero-Käärijä. I don't believe Jere is denying the fame and good things it has brought, but he's probably willing to turn the page and carry on with something new (and probably take a long, well deserved break). Or maybe the MV will just be homoerotic softp-rn featuring a grave, WHO KNOWS. I just know I can't wait to see what's next. I love ESC-Käärija (without CCC I wouldn't even be aware of his existence, so I'm forever grateful) and that love will forever be a part of me, but I also welcome this change with open arms in hopes to see him grow more and more.

Conclusion: the speculation is very real and material and I am very very cringe <33

#käärijä #jere pöyhönen #kaarija #cha cha cha #it's crazy it's party #ccc #icip #meta #song analysis #music #eurovision #tommy cash

[olderthannetfic]

"Friendships are a lot more like romance than people admit" anon here. So I gave zero detail whatsoever, and it's been kind of interesting to see what people came up with in response. That said, I actually meant it a lot more in terms of specifics and mechanics?

Friendships have an "infatuation" phase where getting to know the person and spending time with them is effortless and fun and you feel like you'll never get bored of each other. Friendships often involve an expectation of emotional connection and telling each other things, making the other a part of your life to some extent. It's possible to have feelings of jealousy for a friend, especially if you suddenly become a lot less important to them in favor of a new person in their life (which in an exclusive romantic relationship might be considered a kind of "emotional cheating"). It's possible for a friendship to fail or peter out for the exact same reasons where, if it were a romantic couple getting couples therapy, their therapist would tell them "You need to reconnect by doing things together again, you need to make an effort and work at restoring your connection". Which sometimes romantic couples do, and then they stay together, but in friendships it seems to be kinda seen as normal and not imbued with the same sense of almost-tragedy? Even though it's a very comparable time and energy commitment essentially going down the drain. Finally, it's quite possible to be heartbroken that a friendship ended, and a toxic friendship can be every bit as damaging as a toxic romance. To put it in a phrase, you could take any number of posts asking for relationship advice where, if you removed monikers like "friend" or "SO/gf/bf", it would be very difficult to tell if the relationship is romantic or not.

"Romantic relationships are like friendships" is equally controversial in the sense that a lot of people don't really seem to know what to do when the infatuation wears off, partly because media and culture seem deeply uninterested in exploring this stage of romantic relationships? Or they interpret the inevitable fade of hormone-fueled excitement as falling out of love, break off the relationship, and rinse and repeat this a few times before they wisen up and learn to form long-lasting friendships with the people they fall in love with.

To wit, close friendships and romance both involve love and attachment and (some amount of) commitment. And yet we barely ever seem to talk about friendships using the language of love, even though love is unquestionably what's going on there. (Again, I'm talking about close, long-lasting friendships.)

..Or maybe my experiences are not universal and I'm just a weirdo who gets overly attached. Idk.

--

I refer to "friend breakups" and "friend dumping" all the time.

I think if you put it in those terms, most people agree: they've had some devastating end to a friendship that hurt them more than half their romantic breakups. It's just not how movies tend to describe it... at least not in words. Buddy movies are all about the idea that a friend breakup is the literal worst thing in the universe though.

I guess I roll my eyes a tad because I've witnessed decades of finger-wagging books about how we don't care enough about friendships and those are what really predict adult mental health in the long term, blah blah blah. Things like friend crushes (that honeymoon period) and devastating friend breakups are well known to psychologists and self help book writers.

Anyway, you aren't weird, and people who want to keep their long-term friends need to make time for some friend dates if they want to keep the magic going.

[otakuworks]

❛ 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐀𝐍, 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈𝐈. crossover

feat. Kayden x Fem!Dazai!Reader | wc. 1.9k

sum. Kayden's meeting with a certain suicidal maniac took 10 years of his life

note. this is shorter because i still yet to know about duke's background, if you still haven't been updated to the webtoon then you definitely should, there's a lot plot twists waiting for you y'all.

main m.list eleceed m.list

PART 1 < PART 2

as FRIENDS (frenemies?)

There was once a saying in the Port Mafia that made everyone tremble in fear that is equivalent of the Awakeners hearing Kayden's name

'The greatest misfortune of being Dazai's enemy is the fact you are her enemy.'

Whether Kayden is aware of who you really are or not, it was wise of him to keep you on your good side.

But is that really the case? Were you still the same person you were back in the Port Mafia? Do people still need to heed the warnings about you?

You had asked Kartein about it once during your unexpected stay in Jiwoo's abode. He was silent for a few minutes and you thought he also doesn't have the answer you were looking for.

Actually, it didn't need to be a wise answer, you only need his opinion and outlook regarding to your change. Kartein knows you way back in the PM, not on a personal level but enough to trust his opinions on you.

"A stranger won't be able to tell the difference. If I'm being honest, I can't also tell what change are you referring to."

You theatrically gasped, "After all we've been through, you're still treating me as a stranger? How could you, Kartein!"

Admittedly, you weren't expecting much out of his answer. Both of you haven't been in contact in years, it'll be difficult for him to pin point what actually changed to you.

You were still the same suicidal maniac, that's a definite answer.

Thinking back to it, if you could only talk to Odasaku, would he have a different answer?

For the first time in your life as a detective at ADA, you were in deep thought. Gone with the rambunctious proclamations of your sudden undying love then proceeding to find an equipment for your demise.

"Dazai-san is unusually quiet. . . I don't like it." A mop of grey hair popped its head on the doorway of your office, "Should I ask Ranpo-san if he knows what's going on?" He pondered, particularly no one but to himself.

"Maskhhhh mweee whatm?"

"If there's something wrong with Dazai-san that we should be—" He abruptly paused and glanced behind him to see an over bloated mouth munching, "ACKK! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Eh? Aren't you a weretiger who's supposed to have heightened senses?" The said guy continued to eat, unfazed.

"I'm still partially human, Ranpo-san." He pouted, hurt, before turning back to the door in which Dazai is leaning over with an enigmatic smile.

"My, my, Atsushi-kun. Were you spying on me?"

Deep hues of red painted his cheeks as he tries his best to come up with an excuse, "It wasn't anything like that!"

On his behalf, Ranpo spoke, "The President has a mission for you."

Your eyebrows perched, "Oh? I wish it has something to do with—"

"No suicide is required to accomplish this mission." The greatest detective just knows how to deflate your mood, truly worthy of his title at ADA. While you are now deflated from hearing this.

"This might get difficult. Apparently, one of the Top 10 Awakeners is planning an ambush in the World Academy."

You snorted, "And you're expecting me to diffuse the situation?" Atsushi was more confused than comprehensive.

"Awakeners? I thought Ability users don't meddle in with their business?"

Awakeners and Ability users are basically the epitome of the phrase 'two sides of a coin' and no one can be categorized as a hero nor a villain.

"Correct, however, this is a special request from someone with strong connection on both parties." Ranpo supplied as he keeps chowing down his sweets.

"Like who?"

"You read my mind, Atsushi-kun." You made your way out of your office, not that you were doing something productive anyway.

"Ranpo-san, why did the President accept such request?"

"Who knows what thoughts running in his head, but I do know he wouldn't have done it without any benefits."

". . .But why would he send Dazai-san?"

"Why wouldn't he? She may be a nuthead, but she's one of our best."

Your investigation led you back in South Korea, more precisely, in the Academy of Awakeners where the retired strongest in Korea resides as a principal.

Jiyoung and Inhyuk were the first ones who got informed of your arrival and immediately greeted you at the airport.

And Jiwoo certainly wasn't far behind the news as he begged Kayden to give him an off day to see you.

Even Subin went with Jiyoung to see you. Kartein is only excited to brag about his new attained skill of turning into a cat. Wooin, ever the sweetest big boi, bought extra food to treat you for your return. Now that you're back, Jisuk and Kayden's sixth senses of protecting their precious cinnamon roll are on high alert.

Their mixed reactions caused mayhem on the way to Jiwoo's home, while the lad is certainly delighted to have you back, others have different opinions.

You had forgotten why you were actually in Korea and hang out with them for the rest of the day. It's an oddity how easily you lose yourself to the fun whenever you're with them, especially to Jiwoo who's easy to have fun with.

"I'm so glad you came back! You never got to say farewell to us when you left last time." The blonde boy pouted.

Wooin wordlessly nodded at the back as the your group walk to Jiwoo's house to drop the shopping bags they bought, "You just disappeared out of nowhere then came back without a notice."

"Though I don't think it's great timing since we're going to attend in Awakened Academy next week, we won't be spending time with you as much as we are now." Subin said.

You halted your steps, ". . .Right."

The mission. Dang it!

Jisuk snorts, "I'd be glad if she won't waste our time by tomorrow."

That earned him a kick from the cryo user.

Fortunately for you, Jiyoung is affiliated with the principal and took charge to make it easy for you. Meeting with the retired Awakener was. . . anticlimactic to say the least.

It doesn't seem like he's involved in any shady business, and he does his job to protect young Awakeners diligently.

Oddly enough, he informed you about the upcoming visit of the World Awakened Academy students.

You went home to Jiwoo's with troubled thoughts. He let you stay in his house if you don't have anywhere else to stay and you're broke so you really have no choice ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Kayden seemed to pick up your unusual furrowed eyebrows and had doubts to question you or just let you be. He finds it highly suspicious you went back to Korea just to have fun with his apprentice. You must have some business going on.

But his pride won't let him inquire what's boggling your mind, he simply watches you struggle to come up with a solution to your own problem. You're a grown woman anyway.

By the time Jiwoo and his friends are gearing up for their return in the Academy, you disappeared, again. Unlike last time, they were more concerned about your whereabouts as you have left a note that says "I'll be back with a surprise.''

Either your dead body hanging is on the way to surprise them or you got murdered.

That's all the options Kayden could think of, and no, he doesn't take constructive criticism.

"A new instructor? Who is it?" Jiwoo overheard from the students there was a new teacher who taught them. . . questionable things.

Thinking his friends might know who it is, he asked them, but it seems as though they're clueless as who it is.

"Moshi Moshi!" Jisuk fell over his chair and nearly threw the culprit over the window, "WHO THE HEL— Huh?! It's you again?! What are you doing here?"

In contrary to his reaction, Jiwoo welcomed you with open arms, "Y/N, I'm so glad you're here!"

You chuckled at this and patted his head, "Are you now? Don't worry, you won't get rid of me that soon."

"Why's that?" Subin looked particularly surprised but refrained herself from embracing you out of relief that you survived another day with your suicide tendencies.

You grinned like a chesire cat, "I'll be your mentor from now on!"

©OTAKUWORKS | 2023

#anime #webtoon #kayden #kayden break #jiwoo #eleceed #eleceed x reader #bsd #bungou stray dogs #female dazai #dazai #dazai osamu #kayden x reader #kayden break x reader #crossover

[wishcamper]

All in the Family: ACOTAR PART II

Welcome back to our multi-part lesson on ACOTAR and Family Systems! Today’s topic is family roles, the interplay between them, and their combination’s influence on the nuclear family emotional process in the Inner Circle.

Pre-requisites: Part I

Creds: license and mf master's degree in counseling babyyy. and unhinged enough to write it all down.

No content warnings, just garden variety family dysfunction.

oh my god what the fuck does that mean

Let's back up and start with the structure of the IC pre-Archeron invasion. We have Rhysand, Cassian, Azriel, Morrigan, and Amren in a found family. This is where we have to suspend our disbelief a bit, because you’ll notice there are no parents in this family. However that doesn’t mean no one functions as a parent, because in any system there is a hierarchy, at least in an emotional sense, and the power vacuum will always get filled.

When a parent is missing from a nuclear family, very often one of the children will step in to fill the role and rebalance the system. Older siblings caring for younger ones, female children picking up housework, even phrases like calling someone the “man of the house” confer symbolic authority and responsibility to someone theoretically on the same level as the others. The dark end of this road is emotional incest, when parents rely on a child emotionally in the same way they would a spouse, a dynamic that is deeply inappropriate and incredibly damaging for a child.

Okay, so let’s talk about sibling position to see who is most likely to step up. This is a found family, so obviously none of these are based in biology, but if we look at the core four, they have a pretty clear birth order layout in terms of both power and personality. 

Rhys: A textbook oldest child - responsibility-seeking, serious, tending toward leadership roles. Oldest children often feel the burden of setting a good example for others. Prone to relieving anxiety via control.

Az and Cas: Classic ends of the middle child spectrum (invisible to hyper-visible). Middle children are flexible, adaptable, and competitive, and often struggle with questions identity. They may seek to meet needs for connection and validation in unhealthy ways.

Mor: Baby of the family energy through and through. Youngest children are more likely to be outgoing, creative, and rebellious, and struggle with inferiority and self-centeredness. Interestingly, they’re also more likely to abuse alcohol and are overrepresented in psychiatric populations.

Amren, hilariously, comes across as an only child - they tend to be wise, independent, and private, struggling with social skills and receiving criticism. (1)

So who’s filling our parental roles here in the IC? Who has power over the others? Rhysand is an obvious choice - he regularly makes decisions for the group as well as individual members on the basis of his feelings and his political position. I think you could even argue Rhys sees the people of Velaris as his children, too, though he definitely plays favorites lol. Amren also emerges as a person with power, given everyone is afraid of her and she has influence over Rhys. Amren has some authority over the others, though she is less invested in their personal lives and so functions differently in the system than Daddy Rhys.

So Rhys is one parent, and Amren is like a weird aunt. It’s very normal in systems with a parentified child (PC) that the other children feel resentful - they’re all supposed to be on the same level, and yet one of them has been exalted above the rest. The PC can respond to this so many ways - force, charm, control, bribes, threats, ignoring them - it’ll depend on the person and the individual system. But the PC will also feel that counter-resentment and leverage the power position to create balance in the family (Cassian, Azriel, stop trying to kiss your sisters). The irony is that, in this system, no one asked Rhys to be in power over his friends - he decided he wanted them in his court and blurred those lines himself. I suspect this was intentional, though likely unconscious, because it gives him a nuclear option if he ever needs to reestablish order and control in his family. We see him pull rank in tense personal moments that have literally nothing to do with politics despite his excuse they do.

(I do think, though, that there’s an argument to be made here that, for people in certain positions of prominence and influence, all your choices are political. Your image is part of your power and so, by extension, the parts of your personal life that become public have an effect on your ability to rule. Rhys and Feyre use this rationale with Nesta in ACOSF, though my babe isn’t exactly a Hunter Biden. More of a Claudia Conway, I’d say.)

Let's go back to our scary image from the beginning.

Bowen believed in the importance of visualizing this structure, so he advocates for family mapping or construction of a genogram (2). Given what we’ve unpacked so far, we can roughly plot the individual connections and hierachy. I’ve created this one to show the basics of the relationships and power structure in the IC, and we’ll get more specific from here.

Solid lines=connectedness

Dashed lines=conflict

Arrow=direction of energy

Squiggles=ambivalence/fluctuation

Line thickness=emotional closeness

Amren’s special line to Rhys=whatever ulterior motive she has

If you remember from my last post, one of the most important forces in a family is the triangle. Take another look at the triangles above, and see which ones seem unstable to you. The one that immediately stands out to me, even just visually, is the Cas/Az/Mor triangle. Each individual relationship has a different tenor, which creates a lot of instability. You can see how Mor needs that closeness with Cas to balance the tension with Az, but in order to keep their relationship stable, Cas and Az have Rhys as a moderating presence. Because what is the one thing they all have in common? A close relationship with Rhys. And Rhys has Amren to reinforce his power and responsibility, keeping the whole system in balance.

In this way, the IC’s system, while dysfunctional, is relatively stable pre-Archerons.

To understand how that’s possible, we have to talk about anxiety. Anxiety is the main energy that moves conflict through the family and sets off the nuclear family emotional process (NFEP). Anxiety must go somewhere. In enmeshed systems like this one (members’ emotions and security are highly dependent on one another), members relieve their anxiety through the system instead of resolving it individually or in dyads. In cut off, emotionally distant systems, anxiety gets internalized or displaced outside the family.

Given the sheer variety of relationships in the system, the most likely source of anxiety is Morrigan. She has a different relationship to every person in the system. She’s in the middle of the power hierarchy between the “parents” and the “kids”, and floats around inside the relatively stable triangle of the bat boys, with individual connections to each one . She also has a pattern of internal conflict that she moderates externally via alcohol and relationships. Despite not having the most power externally, Mor’s actions and reactions often cause the rest of the system to shuffle around her, giving her a great deal of power.

But don’t just take my word for it - let’s look at this in action.

Say Mor, Cas, and Az go out together bc apparently that is something they do regularly. Mor feels Azriel getting too close, which triggers her anxiety because she does not want to talk about whatever is between them. In response, she communicates her displeasure by leveraging the triangle and focusing her intimate attention on Cassian. But this creates conflict for Cassian, who wants to moderate Mor’s anxiety without rupturing his relationship with Azriel. Hence, we get the weird overfamiliar platonic besties routine, threading the needling of giving Mor the protection she’s asking for without out-and-out antagonizing his brother. Azriel buries his hurt feelings and retracts emotionally, despite wanting to be connected, and they go back to how they were.

So we can see how Mor has generated the anxiety, and it follows down the chain: she passes it off to the boys, who deal with it through emotional cutoff (Az) and enmeshment (Cas). Cassian steps in between the conflict at Mor’s unconscious request and takes inappropriate responsibility for Azriel’s feelings of rejection and Mor’s anxiety, while Az puts his feelings away and reestablishes emotional distance. This is the NFEP in action.

And yet Cassian and Azriel are still shown to be close, so where do these feelings go? I mean, they do physically fight each other all the time lol. Azriel banks a lot of repressed resentment he has to discharge elsewhere. Cassian feels the burden of peacemaking and internalizes the unresolved conflict as his own fault, doubling down on his commitment to making it better. Mor avoids contending with her own feelings because everyone else is doing it for her.

And here’s where Rhys becomes a moderating presence for all of them. Rhys has ultimate decision-making power over who is in and who’s out of the family, and sets the rules of engagement. He decides who gets respect, who’s allowed to initiate conflict. Rhys hold’s the power in the bat boys triangle, the strongest alliance in the system, incentivizing Cas and Az to get along with each other. He also incentivizes Mor/Cas/Az to keep their shit together because Amren has influence over him, and they need their alliance to leverage power against her. Rhys doesn’t have a problem with the buffer, so they rest of them “don’t” either.

The best question to ask when it comes to dysfunction is this: who benefits? We can see this in larger systems, too: who benefits for housing disparity, patriarchy, systemic racism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia? People in power. If a system is balanced via dysfunction, it’s because whoever is in power wants it that way. With families, this is often more unconscious - perhaps Rhys is just as afraid of family disintegration as Mor, and believes addressing their issues will cause them to split. Perhaps there is a more generational pattern at play. I think it’s worth considering not just how this family functions, but what conscious and unconscious choices are being made given their individual families of origin.

And then the Archeron’s come, and all these cracks will be exposed and the system will get blown to shit. See you next time, class dismissed!

Sources: 

Eckstein, D., & Kaufman, J. A. (2012). The role of birth order in personality: An enduring intellectual legacy of Alfred Adler. The Journal of Individual Psychology, 68(1), 60–61.

Brown, J. (1999). Bowen family systems theory and practice: Illustration and critique. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 20(2), 94-103.

Genogram made with Canva, art by @artworks_by_rokii, rosalynnart on deviant art, @sallteas

#prythian university #acotar #morrigan #cassian #rhysand #azriel #amren #family dysfunction #family systems #the buffer #sjm critical

[carlyraejepsans]

since sans is of another world, is papyrus from another world too? are they from different worlds but just so happened to end up in the same one, or does papyrus belong to the world of undertale while sans doesn't?

things we know about sans in deltarune:

he has a younger brother, presumably kris' age or not much older considering he's very protective of him and acts like leaving them to hang out alone "in his house" would be irresponsible

that or he's just weird about his adult brother for no discernible reason. which I sincerely hope isn't the case because come on

ironically, while the skelebros house sprite in undertale is named sans' house, the one in deltarune is named "paphouse".

the game value that checks whether you've already talked to sans about his brother in ch1 when you see him again in ch2 is called "paptalk". it's not his full name, but i believe it's safe to assume that sans' as of yet unnamed brother in deltarune is still papyrus.

naming yourself or the vessel after papyrus in the goner maker sequence will get the prompt "an interesting coincidence" and the steam page (i think?) for deltarune says he's "busy" so it's highly lilely he'll play a role in the story.

still, like you said, part of the evidence that sans comes from deltarune is that he dies in a way that's different from every other character in undertale. papyrus included.

something else weird about his death: he's the only character who has color (red blood) in his sprite in the battle screen, which is strictly black and white. this is very obscure and likely means nothing, but there's a weird comment in the undertale crosstitch book about how you can color the battle sprites if you want to diversify things but they "won't be canon". what an interesting thing to say, why would they feel the need to specify that...

thing is, papyrus' death remains much more similar to ye average undertale monster death. so... what's up with that?

papyrus and sans showed up to snowdin one day out of the blue, though it's not explicitly stated, they most definitely got there together.

"where do skeletons come from" is a question posed more than one time, if jokingly, such as by the baby bunny in deltarune

the snowdin residents had never seen them around before. which can also mean absolutely nothing, because they didn't even recognize us as humans lmao

undertale papyrus appears to have never seen the sun before

there's always the "forgettable" check description in the genocide run that haunts my every waking hour.

which is a theme that recurs both in deltarune (the song "don't forget") and in undertale through sans' workshop and the hidden drawing with "don't forget" scribbled on it.

sans has an attack called "gaster blaster". in one of undertale's patches, a bit of dialogue was added when checking the box of attacks in his room if you abort your geno run with his fight about how with his special attack "you surely would've been BLASTED to..." with blasted highlighted in yellow. yeah. safe to assume he has those too.

his paper with Toby's original concept art/details about him had a bit about him having a [REDACTED] named [REDACTED], right under another line that read "has a brother named comic sans". if we take this mysterious presumed relative to be gaster, then his connection to him becomes even stronger

papyrus has a negative reaction to the CORE specifically (he gets inexplicably sad when we call him and he can see it in the distance) but also hotland in general.

Gaster created the CORE and "fell into his own creation". from the way it's phrased, it's highly likely it WAS in fact the CORE, even if it's just vague enough i have my doubts

i really have no idea! I'm heavily inclined to think that the papyrus we meet in undertale is NOT from deltarune/the papyrus we'll meet there, while sans is the same person. this opens some pretty complicated questions to answer, especially from lack of evidence as we're still in chapter 2 out of 7 and we haven't met papyrus yet.

what happens to deltarune papyrus by the end of the game?

if papyrus is from undertale, what happened to UNDERTALE'S sans when deltarune's version got isekaid

exactly how long ago did all of this go down?

sans likely worked with gaster at some point after arriving in undertale, where they found out about the anomaly "our analysis" (which is mostly flowey's work after being resuscitated ie: not in deltarune. the "our" also couldn't have been alphys instead because she gives no indication of being aware of the SAVE powers, the anomaly or time manipulation—though she DID study alternate universes! and she knows sans! interesting coincidence). if so, how is gaster involved with the fate of deltarune NOW, when sans is still there? sure, he was shattered through TIME and space, but wouldn't that constitute a paradox? of course, unless we take "another Him" literally and this isn't the same gaster as the one from undertale

if we go "papyrus is gaster" instead, why does he respond to "papyrus" in deltarune too, why isn't he just gaster (and why does the name "gaster" still crash the game)?

all in all, i DON'T think we have enough material to work with, especially with papyrus. sans had his arc, his lore you could find and piece together with a satisfying conclusion ingame (think of the narrative payback that's finally reaching the workshop behind their house) while papyrus', while still being as much if not even More befuddling, was... all over the place. unexplained. incomplete. you can't piece back much of anything about his past. which is why i have SUPER high expectations for him in deltarune. he's clearly being built up for SomeThing,and i think it's going to be a lore arc just like sans had in undertale, all to himself, while his brother is off having his hotgirl customer service summer with the local goats and... presumably getting sucked into another universe. whoops!

here's a link to the crosstitch page comment, courtesy of @undertale-encyclopedia (you're a godsend to theorists everywhere, thank you so much)

if you're interested in the otherworld/deltarune sans theory, then i cannot recommend @megaderping 's two videos enough, which showcase both its proof AND the contradictions and issues it brings up (HERE'S the original, and HERE's an addendum after some discussion on the previous video). she gathers and mentions pretty much EVERYTHING that made me believe in it in the first place, AND the bits that make me doubt my interpretation of it, though surprisingly i DON'T think they touch on the blood business, which is curious because it's such a big controversy even now. i also owe them and their discord friends credit for the "papvalues" discoveries in deltarune's code, as my hacking and cracking skills are non-existent.

#WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM. AAAA #answered asks #undertale #sans #papyrus #deltarune #otherworld theory #entry log #w.d. gaster #Psst. since you're here. go check out dorked's comic inverted fate. and her latest video on alphys. she's amazing

[ateez-himari]

[Archive] 'Tunnel' by Mingi - The Story

...

"It was tough for me to see a single letter so I sent it all away, I guess I can't get used to being left alone..."

It had been weeks since every single one of their interactions was inevitably cut short by the man's cold responses, the widening void in their friendship slowly tearing at the young woman's already fragile heart. To the audience it was undoubtedly a result of dating rumors circulating through social platforms yet she knew better than to fall under this belief, than to dumb down her friend's suddenly dismissive behavior to not wishing to be mistaken for her romantic interest.

'Mingi can I come in...' She asked sheepishly, a trembling hand giving her bandmate's door a light knock. 'We need to t-'

Without giving the anxiety riddled maknae a chance to explain the reason behind such a sudden intrusion the door swung open to reveal the man's annoyed expression, silently motioning for her to come in with a singular nod of his head. They had spent around two years building a close connection to one another yet now she stood awkwardly in front of his bed where he took a seat, fidgeting with the edges of a sweater he had let her borrow and was now long forgotten.

'So what do you want ?' He asked plainly, looking off to the side of the room. 'Can you make this quick...I was planning on going out soon.'

'Why have you been acting like a complete asshole lately ?' She blurted out, the honesty behind her question taking both parties aback. 'I mean...all of a sudden you just start ignoring me, not even talking to me unless you really have to...did I do something ?'

From sunrise to sunset, this moment... Why is my heart so void ?

With a clench of his jaw the man ran a ringed hand across his pursed lips, a heavy silence settling across the room whilst he looked for a way to phrase his answer though still not making an effort to meet her saddened eyes. The young woman however did not seem to have the same control over the emotions screaming inside her mind, all competing for dominance over one another, as she kept blinking to keep warm tears at bay.

'You're just too clingy.' Mingi finally spoke up. 'This is exactly why people start dating rumors...because you can't seem to stay away from me for a single second. I mean come on there's seven other members, can't you go bother one of them ?'

Everything I said was a lie... Everything right at this moment.

Deep down he wished to take the group's youngest into his arms, beg for her forgiveness regarding all the times he had made that beautiful smile falter, yet pushing her away seemed to be the only way to protect them both. Despite acting like he held not a singular regard towards how she felt, he could tell that the influx of negativity was slowly wearing her down and he could not let rumors about their alleged relationship contribute to this weight - no matter how much he wished for them to be true.

I gotta get outta fucking love...

'I just...' Too choked up to form more than a few words, Himari simply lowered her head. 'I'm sorry, this is my fault.'

The man's resolve was rapidly growing thin, the more rational parts of his conscience pleading for him to just explain everything, fully aware that she would understand, yet his tongue seemed to find harsher words by the moment. It had been months now since the realization that it was no longer simply friendship but love that he felt for the vocalist dawned on him, months since he had promised himself to do whatever was necessary to never let his heart feel this way.

'I knew adding a girl to this group was a mistake.' He spat out, a lump forming in his throat. 'If you got nothing else to say then get out, my hiatus is soon and I have to pack.'

I let you go like nothing happened... But then at the end of it all a piece of you still lingers.

Not willing to let tears fall in front of him no matter how deeply every single one of his coldly spoken statements cut, the young woman hurried out of the room and into the one she shared with the two oldest members. Within a moment of shutting the door her body slid down against the wooden surface, knees curling up to her chest as poorly silenced sobs echoed through the empty dorm.

Now left completely alone with the guilt of what he had just done, the rapper angrily hurled a nearby book at the wall as tears of his own stained the hand he had brought over his face. Everything aspect of his head was in complete disarray and nothing made sense anymore, not the reason behind his rash decisions, not the harshness of his words, not even his feelings towards someone he had sworn to their manager would never be anything more than a bandmate.

It will be empty, hopefully Then it will be filled again, even if it hurts. I'll eventually have to face reality I'm sure that it was just a dream deep inside my heart.

Himari would never find out that most of his hiatus was filled with days drowned in alcohol to forget everything that had taken place between them, to forget how much he wished to kiss her delicate lips and apologize a hundred times over.

Mingi would never be told the amount of days during which she had been woken up by anxiety induced nightmares believing that his mental struggles were her own fault, nor would anyone dare to mention the psychological diagnosis sitting on her desk where 'major depressive episode' was permanently engraved in ink.

At first the rapper's phone would light up with messages from the maknae every few days about the smallest things, though the fear of saying something stupidly hurtful stopped him from ever replying. In the midst of the hiatus' timeline however her name no longer appeared at the top of his screen in the morning and neither were aware of how often the other's finger hovered over their contact.

A/N: Please note that this in no way depicts the real reasons behind Mingi's hiatus (or his personality) nor is it the song's true meaning! It is simply a work of fiction and should be read as such. Thank you! ♡

#ateez au #ateez imagines #ateez 9th member #ateez extra member #ateez female member #kpop oc #HimariStory♡ #ateez angst

[unicorncornflakes]

Abit random lol! Can I please ask if you can give us your version of Aemond (in Dark Desire) nsfw details? 😜😈🤭🤭.

If there are any filthy headcanons about him jerking off or what he likes in bed (what he likes, how he likes it, when he does it, both in general and as far as Dark Desire is concerned). Any insights would be greatly welcomed as he alittle horny for him!! Even though he doesn’t like the Dornish - what does he like about the reader that turns him on? 🤔😈🙈💕🥵

Dear Anon, I know it took me a long time to reply to you. Sorry, I've been wanting to think about it for quite some time to give you a good answer, so here's an NSFW Headcanons from Aemond's version in Dark Desire (Sorry if it's not very good. I don't think I'm very good at writing this type of things).

First of all, when I write Dark Desire's Aemond, I only have one song to define him, or at least parts of a song: 'Heartless' of The Weeknd. It's mainly the music that I always use to write and this song in particular defines him. How do you define it in a NSFW way? The phrase "Never need a bitch, I'm what a bitch need" defines it very well. He likes himself, he thinks highly of himself after a long time in shit. Therefore even on a more sexual level he is always superior to his partner.

But, all this has to do with the same thing that he says in the song "All this money and this pain got me heartless, Low life for life 'cause I'm heartless". It's how he feels so he doesn't get romantically involved with anyone, in a more sexual context it means that he barely feels much for the person he's fucking with, he doesn't make love, he fucks and it's over. When I say that he is bored with everything it is because he really is bored with everything. He has enough money and connections to have done all the things he wanted to do when he was young. It has already reached a point, that he has done everything he wanted, he doesn't care about his partner in bed and few things excite him.

With that said, I'll move on to the Headcanons:

- Aftercare; not at all. He is not in love, so he is not going to care for no one. Maybe if he is truly, truly, truly in love, he cares. But normally, every encounter is just sex, so no, he is not into Aftercare. With Reader, perhaps he is a little bit different, he can be some  care, but not normally. He fucks, that’s all. He is not there to talk with someone and he just thinks in smoking after a good shag.

- Cum; he has a bit of a breeding kink, unconsciously. Normallly, he enjoys to mark as his the women who is with him and how he marks her? With his cum, inside of her, like a wild animal, “if I cum inside of her, other suitors will levae her alone…” Poor soul, definitively, this only works in his mind, but it works to turn him on, so for him, it´s okay. He also loves to pull out and bust all over your back, because…

- His favorite position is doggy style… this is a general headcanon that I have to all versions that I can think of Aemond, doesn´t matter the story or time. He really loves doggy style. Why? He doesn't have to look your date that night in the eye. He does feel inferior due to the lack of his eye, he just gives pleasure and receives it in this position, without having to establish any kind of emotional connection. We return to the theme that Aemond in Dark Desire doesn't make love, he just fucks. If he looked into someone´s eyes, maybe he could establish a bond, and I think there is nothing that scares him more than anything, because that would make him feel vulnerable, and he just wants to appear strong in front of others, even in a moment as intimate as the sex. Maybe with Reader it's the only one who could really do it in another position, looking into your eyes, because he's in love. That is the difference.

- Jack off; only when is extremely necessary and nothing more. I think he is too much serious to spend his time touching himself, also he feels guilty after it (Too much faith of the seven when he was young). In all Dark Desire, he only touches himself once, and it was after a long time without meeting Reader, so, no. He doesn´t jack off often.

- Kink; a woman who really needs his protection, his money, his power… he doesn´t care, but something who really excites him is to be with someone who really needs him… plus if she always try to look like a strong woman and she has a vulnerable moment. He sees himself in that moment as his savior, so that´s perfect for him. He would never accept it but ‘the blood question’ really turns him on. Reader really makes Aemond Horny because she is a Targaryen, just like him, it is how it must be (Like Rhaenyra and Daemon. He would never accept it, but he always has wanted the same). He thinks that it will be easy to control her, she has those beautiful purples eyes (he really turns on thinking on that eyes fixed on his while she is sucking his cock), and she is a mixture between a Dornish and Valyrian women. He can say that he hates Dornish, but that´s not true. Dornish women really excited him, but he tries to avoid so hard, just looking really correct. All repressed desire turns in a mixture between hate and desire. Other of his kink, he is the one on charge, always. That phrase of “everything is sex except sex which is power” suits him very well. Oh, and his pace is always fast and rough, he has to be too much in love to be slow and sensual to get his climax ;).

- Finally, If he has to decide between giving or receiving oral, he is going to choose receiving. He is the one in charge, by the gods! He has to receive it, he deserves it, he is not going to reduce himself to give pleasure, he always receives. Only, if he is truly in love he can give it, for that reason is so wonderful that moment in the last chapter of Dark Desire. :D

#aemond targaryen x you #aemond x y/n #aemond smut #aemond targaryen smut #aemond targaryen modern au #aemond targaryen x y/n #aemond modern au #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen imagine #aemond targaryen x fem!reader

[graceful-not]

Uhh a response to @ccbcrazy 's video on Conya except it got too long and I put too much effort into it to just make it a reblog. So uh. VERY LONG rambling about why my feelings on Conya are complicated that somehow managed to have way too much Jay in it. why does he keep sneaking in here goddamnit.

OKAY SO FIRST OF ALL YEAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!! THE SILLIES EVER!!!! I love the way you organized the bullet points! Made everything very easy to follow (other than all the times the audio cut out RIP 💀) but. yeah . yeah them. they are sooooo. SO! UAUAUUA.

I agree with most of your points (and relate very very much w/ that bit about being ace and the Love At First Sight trope, though I'm aro and not ace), and ESPECIALLY with how Skybound handled everything (I could say so much about how much I hate despise the way they resolved Jaya in Skybound it's so icky I hate it I hate it I hate it I HATE IT), but I don't really have much to add to them, so I'll here are my random disjointed thoughts that sometimes and sometimes do not align with yours:

at some points, the emphasis on how it's something guilty and forbidden and how she "wants him but she can't have him", to quote that one Cole fangirl. It.. sat weirdly with me? As well as the phrasing of "the narrative wants him to be self-sacrificing", when talking about Cole on one of the slides. It feels weird to phrase it like that, as if the narrative is pushing him into that role rather than it being part of who he is, y'know? And the reason that the "yearning for what you know you can't have" aspect felt strange to me was that Cole putting friendship over his romantic relationships is a VERY significant thing about him for me. He values his friendships and family over any kind of romance, and would rather forfeit a potential romance than lose a friend, even if that friend hurt him. Which felt weird when the rest of the slideshow made it clear that you, like me, enjoy Conya because above all else, Cole loves Nya as a comrade and an equal. As a friend, before and even IF he loves her as anything else, which as you point out, isn't something we can definitively say about the other relationships (especially Jaya. I like it, I really do, and I'd say I think I like it more than Conya? but it's. it's VERY complicated and messy and they aren't really stable like. At All. for a while.)

And that part of Cole resonated with me a lot; the part that's perfectly fine not pursuing Nya because he doesn't NEED that connection like Jay does, because he's satisfied and content with where he is in their relationship now, after they both calm down and he realizes it isn't worth it, because it isn't even something he wants all THAT much. (The larger issue is that Jay was against him spending time with her at ALL, even as friends, because he was being possessive and insecure which is a whole host of other things-)

And actually? Y'know what? I'm gonna talk about Jay for a bit bc I feel like, though you did have a few slides on it and touch on it, you didn't really talk about how Jay is a very fundamental aspect of Conya's dynamic in-canon, as Nya's Yang and Cole's best friend (A title which he bestowes upon himself, I might add.) Jay is... Not Very Secure In His Relationships for the first few seasons. It stems from feeling inferior and weak compared to everyone else, which grows into clinginess and possessiveness for the ones that DO choose him, because he's afraid they'll leave, which in turn pushes them away because he's being Weird About It. He has this habit of... sorting those closest to him into neat little boxes that reassure him (Nya as his girlfriend who loves him and finds him funny and won't leave him and Cole as his best friend who's loyal and supportive and also won't ever leave him, and, as you'll note, he's the one that starts both of these, with asking Nya out and proclaiming Cole as his bestie during Skybound.) And when those people step out of those boxes, the change unsettles him, and he panics and doubles down on his tactics, sometimes even resorting to violence (which makes things worse and pushes them away more and... you get it. it's a whole cycle.) So.. Nya and Cole and their interactions are very defined by What Jay Will Let Them Do, for the first few seasons. What won't set him off, what is Good and Innocent and won't make him insecure. S1-7 Jay would NOT have let the hand nuzzle happen. But I believe S8-15 Jay WOULD. Because he's actually secure in his relationship with Nya and they trust each other, and he trusts Cole, etc. etc.

And I feel like them having an undercurrent of romantic tension kind of spits in the face of that?? I dunno. It makes the intention a little wobbly. I like the idea that it comes from a place of camaraderie, where platonic love can also be deep and intimate and layered, and not just repressed romantic feelings. Because the thought that either of them are just pining and never having that resolved makes me sad for all three of them :(.

But I DO like to think that Cole is a little bit madly in love with all of his friends in different ways (just like me fr..) and Nya's the one he latched onto back in S3 because she's a girl and heteronormativity. Cole has a lot of love in his heart ok and he cares about them very very much 🥹. And he loves and supports them and maybe he wants to kiss some or all of them but he can't do that so he's fine where he is. really he is. he's fine. HES FINE!!! he's okay when she puts a hand on his shoulder and he doesn't know how to express that he loves her so so so much and he missed her but not in the way that Jay loves her, in a different way, but he feels like it's just as important but Jay obviously didn't see it that way and he doesn't know if he does now, and how he loves them all different but so so strongly and how can she and Jay even make it so simple it's so EASY for them to wear the Yin/Yang relationship label it just FITS even though none of those relationships are alike how can the same label work when the love is obviously so different and he doesn't know if Nya even could understand that, understand how much his heart bursts with affection and fondness for her and the others, but she DOES she DOES get how you can love someone so much that there maybe aren't correct words for it, that's why Jay was the one to propose because she was just happy the way they were, and she's happy the way they are now and she's happy the way she and Cole are now except she can't be because they keep getting TORN APART and they can't ever really be happy because they're all always in danger ALL THE TIMe- sorry got carried away aha.

but yeah. And then Jay is there. and i can't let myself think Abt Conya too long because I get really sad about him. bc he's not LIKE THAT. He doesn't Get It like they (and I haha was it clear I am maybe projecting) do. The labels are comforting to him, rather than unneeded or even restricting in the way they could never encompass the full force of the feelings. They're like signifiers that the love is real, is there, is Official, which isn't something the others need because they already take the loving as a fact and a given, and Jay doesn't! He doubts his relationships and needs the reassurance of the labels, to be able to say, definitively, "This is my Yang, which means we love eachother romantically and complete eachother and are missing a piece without eachother and" (do you see where the problem is. The proposal scene was so cute but I think about his little rambly speech a little too much BUDDY WITH ANY OTHER PERSON ITD BE CUTE BUT WITH YOU AND YOUR TRACK RECORD ITS CONCERNING) But that also means that when the "rules" are broken he thinks it means the love is also broken because now the label has been dismantled and that's! NOT TRUE!!! AHH!!!!!!!! I truly think he would be cured if he made out with someone other than Nya (w/ her permission obv) for like ten seconds but he would literally never do that. but it would fix him I know this in my heart if Nya told him to go out and get some bitches he would be cured of All of His Complexes he would experience Enlightenment through the knowledge that he could do that and his relationship with Nya would still be valid and their feelings wouldn't change just because he did it and he would ALSO get to kiss someone about it. Literally win-win. Maybe it could even be Cole. this is how mudshock shippers stay winning.

And THATS always been my biggest issue with Conya. They never know what to do with Jay. Because if he found out Nya doesn't love him and is IN LOVE WITH HIS BEST FRIEND he would literally never recover all of his self worth issues that he overcame down the fucking drain bitch!! because everything bad he thought about himself has been proven true! AND THE REASON HE ACTS LIKE THAT IN THE FIRST FEW SEASONS IS BC THATS EXACTLY WHAT HES TERRIFIED OF HAPPENING!! And because he's so insecure and also has so much amatonormativity entrenched within him because the rules and restrictions reassure him, he's diametrically opposed to Conya! so I can't let myself have a Conya AU without Jay unpacking all of that and being Okay with people experiencing love differently, and then maybe realizing he doesn't have to love so restrictively anymore either, and THEN Conya can be whatever the fuck is going on with them in peace. Or he finds out Nya is in love with Cole and almost loses his shit before they both tell him they are also still in love with him. And he's like "oh thank God wait Cole ur in love with me" and that would fix him. Imagine thinking you're literally the worst and then you pull both Nya AND Cole while actively being kind of a jerk to them. how do you have the self worth issues after that shdbsjdb.

anyway go watch the video 👍

#ninjago #conya #jaya #mudshock #cole brookstone #nya jiang #nya smith #jay walker #the reason i dont talk a lot about Nya's POV is because it would be mostly about Skybound and that wasnt really relevant to anything else I #was talking about here. but i have sooo many thoughts about Nya and skybound and how she views relationships and commitment so. #if people want a part 2 to this weird rambly post?? #bruiseshipping #←technically #tldr of this entire post is uhh. Aro Cole real??? Conya QPR real???? idk man #mudshockshipping

[littlerosetrove]

I feel like I just got knocked around by a hurricane. I have a lot to say, too. 

My initial Spoiler Thoughts for 7x5, this time by character, because it makes sense for me. 

⭐️

HEN AND KAREN

Oh my goodness I loved all of the Hen and Karen stuff we got. Denny is such an understanding and sweet older brother already, bless him. Really the only, um, weird spot to say the least was…… Did the show make an analogy between a young black girl and a dog???? I’m not black, I’m very white, so……………. Stepping aside from that, if I may. I still loved Hen and Karen being amazing people and parents, trying to figure out how to help Mara. Oh I can’t wait to see more of this little family. <3

BUCK

Buck was soooo cringe during the date, but Tommy was so patient, charming, and lovely. Tommy later said he left things off as he did because he didn’t want to pressure Buck. 🥺 I did like that - after talking to Maddie and Eddie - Buck plucked up the courage to call and meet up with Tommy. Yes!!! Don’t give up so quickly my guy, especially if you can’t stop thinking about Tommy. Mmmm I get it. 🩷💜💙

I appreciated Buck apologizing for his weird behavior at the restaurant too. And don’t think I didn’t clock Tommy hearing that Buck has already told his sister about Tommy and she wants to meet him! Please, I know Tommy and Buck aren’t a long term thing, but damn do I want them to last a little longer. For me? 🥺🥺👉👈 I’ve truly never been more excited about Bucks love interest as I am now. 

Maddie was a gem during the scene where Buck came out to her. You could see her mentally pivoting a few times, just trying to understand what was going on and of course being there for her silly bisexual disaster of a brother. 

EDDIE

I can’t separate Marisol from her actress, so that after sex scene gave me the ick. And I now know more about Eddie and Marisol’s sex life than their actual relationship. Thanks, I hate it.

Marisol was almost a nun? …..Idk idk, I’m not Latina or Catholic, but it all kinda feels like it’s being played for laughs, and mixing in stereotypes there. 

Bobby and his kiss of death relationship talk. It seems Eddie asking Marisol to move in surprised even him. And he said something about Eddie having issues committing to things/people, except Shannon. I need more time to think about that, but I feel mixed about the Shannon of it all.  ….Like yes she was a big part of his life obviously, they were messy, Eddie loved her, I get all of that. I really do. But idk, why does so much tie back to her? Like okay. Okay… I just hope that the show is working towards Eddie actually starting to work through and heal *gestures* from the Shannon of it all. Because so far the ghost of Shannon still hangs over him, and idk how to phrase it, but… I’d like a story for Eddie that isn’t always connected to her, you know? Please let this man go back to therapy and heal, not just from his PTSD in the army, which was the focus in season 5. And I get that Eddie’s general weirdness about Marisol comes back to the Shannon of it all. Speaking of.

Eddie admits that he goes with his gut, then lets his head catch up later, and it doesn’t usually work out. So then. Wait. He asked her to move in, and I guess we’re supposed to assume because Eddie just wasn’t thinking??? Clearly. Seriously wtf Eddie. And now he’s like, “let's start over and really get to know each other.” Sure! Cause it seems you guys don’t know anything after a few months of dating, just like us! And HI. YEAH, what the fuck does Chris even think about all of this? Does he even know Marisol’s last name? Does Eddie????

Y’all this is so messy. So, what. Eddie asked Marisol to move in with him, and I’d HOPE Chris knows this. But then at the end of the episode, they’re both like “teehee sure, lets not move in together. yet!!” What the hell is Chris going to think about this when he comes back? One minute this random woman, a glorified babysitter, is moving in, and now she’s not. @andavs made a kinda devastating and enlightening post about this. Basically, is Eddie rushing (but taking back??) things with Marisol because he’s trying to prove to Chris that people/women don’t always leave???? 

Like, hell, I know Eddie was joking (but only kind of) with Buck about maybe he needs to break up with Marisol because of the whole nun thing. It’s kinda giving, in it’s own unique way, Buck and Taylor vibes, in the sense of Buck cheating on Taylor and then panic asking her to move in. Although in this case, we have NO IDEA why Eddie asked Marisol to move in beyond his gut feeling I guess??????? 

Ugh, I’m kinda feeling frustrated because I’m just honestly confused by Eddie’s decisions this episode. Because before this episode, we knew fuck all about the relationship, and now he’s asking Marisol to move in, AND THEN, saying nevermind? For now??????????

I know we have to wait for more episodes to get a better understanding and all that, but yeah. Frustrated. And I know Marisol and Eddie aren’t end game. One thing though I want to note, if Eddie and Marisol are in any way parallelling Buck and Taylor, it’s entirely possible Marisol will stick around until the end of this season, just like Taylor did all of season 5. Idk, just prepare yourself.  

BUCK & EDDIE

It’s been 84 years but we finally got a Buddie hug!!!!!!!! THANK GOD.

Eddie is surprised Tommy is gay, but doesn’t seem surprised that Buck isn’t straight? Huh........

Eddie can’t even say the word sex. My dude.  

There were soooo many fruity things being said between these two all episode. A very large fruit basket. Buck saying he wishes he could help Eddie?? Like yeah, he didn’t actually mean help Eddie with his pent up sex drive or whatever, but COME ON. 

Eddie affectionately calling Buck an idiot. Guess what Eddie, you’re both idiots and you’re perfect for each other. (a bit later. let me keep buck and tommy just a tiny bit longer. and then you two probably have some shit to work through and figure out before you get together anyway.) 

Is the show doing some kinda “Hangovers” pseudo episode?? What with the clearly crazy bachelor party gone wrong???

⭐️

PHEW. Yeah uh. This was quite the episode. A lot of good things, but some weird and questionable things too. I’ll probably have more to say later, but I’ve said a lot for now. And frankly I think we all need the two week break before the wedding episode.

EDIT: OH. I am bummed we didn't get an on screen scene, even brief, of Buck apologizing to Eddie for hurting him. Was it even brought up??? Meh.

#911 spoilers #9-1-1 #Evan Buckley #Eddie Diaz #Hen Wilson #Karen Wilson #my thoughts #long post

[rainbowsky]

Final thoughts on the Wuji candy

Thanks to everyone who wrote in with asks, and also those who shared their thoughts in the comments of my post about the Wuji recording comic.

Rather than answer a bunch of asks about this and make this topic the dominant thing on my blog for the next few days, I'm just going to respond to everything in one post. Sorry to anyone who is disappointed they didn't get a direct reply.

Fake, fan fiction, CPN.

I understand people on both sides of the fence - those who are really excited about the candy and believe it was shared in good faith, and those who have concerns about it. I personally think this candy is probably totally fine, and maybe even a positive thing given how it's changed the conversation in the fandom and cheered a lot of people up, but I do have some mixed feelings and I think it's legitimate to have reservations about the whole thing.

Everyone gets to form their own opinions. Hopefully we can all respect each other and not get too argumentative over it.

There are valid perspectives on both sides:

Negative

The thing that bothered me the most about this candy is that it violates the central turtle precept that 'everything is fake'. She did handle things somewhat carefully, but I found it jarring and a bit scandalous to have someone connected to them do something so brazen without couching it in 'fake'.

She didn't just confirm they were holding hands, she heavily implied a romantic connection between the two of them. She talked about love and romance and cast herself as a turtle. While it's not directly outing them or a direct threat, I can totally understand why some people are concerned about a real-life connection of theirs talking like that so openly (for reasons I explained in the first point above).

The NDA comment had me raising my eyebrows, and I can see I wasn't alone in that. A lot of people expressed that as the main issue they had with it. And it raises so many questions. The NDA for The Untamed expired long ago - is this a personal NDA that has expired, enabling her to share? Was the NDA the only thing holding her back from sharing this type of thing? She promised more candy in the future. Should we be worried about what else she might share? Should we be worried about other associates whose NDAs expire (and might perhaps be less well-intended toward them)? Are other associates of theirs going to start speaking openly about their relationship? All of these questions are totally understandable. I personally lean toward thinking she was probably just trying to deflect any potential criticism about privacy, but I definitely felt weird about the way she phrased it.

Posting it openly on her social media made her a central part of the story, when the focus of candy like this should be on GG and DD. This was also a major concern for some people. I think this one can be argued both ways. I mean, it can be said that by making it focused around her she prevented it from being too broadly connected to GG and DD.

We didn't need any conformation. The emoji was enough. Several people expressed this feeling, and I tend to agree.

A lot of people have stated they feel she's attention-seeking, and that the posts were exploitative. I think she opens herself up to those accusations/concerns by making these public posts/comments, but so does anyone who is connected with them who discusses them in any way. Even someone wishing them a birthday greeting or something gets those accusations. Unfortunately being massively famous makes people assume bad motives. The covid heart candy post had similar accusations against it. This is just the way these things go.

Positive

It is a sweet candy.

At least at face value, she appears to really care about GG and DD and to be someone who is excited about them as a couple. She has something of a track record of this from way back in 2018/19, so this isn't a put-on thing just for this moment. She has consistently expressed interest in and excitement about them.

Whether coincidentally or not, it was well-timed to reassure and energize turtles at a time when people were feeling low about the whole anti video from last week. We were expecting a candy after that, and it looks like we got one - even if it was from an unexpected source. It has successfully changed the conversation and turned things around quite a bit, and that might be intentional.

The characteristics of this video/situation appear to be strikingly effective at downplaying the credibility of the anti video from last week. The anti video was filmed surreptitiously, while this one was openly and legally taken with GG and DD's full knowledge. No legitimate witness has corroborated the malicious impression that there was anything special going on between GG and the other subject in the anti video, meanwhile a known public figure has gone on the record with this video to say that GG and DD were on good terms and held hands.

Cheng Yi and the whole handholding thing went to the top of the entertainment hot search, in the top two positions. Those hot searches were left up, yet the one about the anti video was pushed down (aka GG and his team likely paid to have the anti video hot search suppressed, yet allowed these Wuji ones to remain). While neither of the hot searches would necessarily be associated with GG and DD in most people's minds (they don't mention their names or fandom names), it's hard to imagine that similar searches connected to that anti video would have been left up.

As I said in the previous discussion, there is a lot of plausible deniability baked into this situation. GG and DD were singing a song for the soundtrack of a series they shot together. It was years ago. Even if video footage of them holding hands during recording was released, I'm not sure that it would have much impact outside the circles who already care about this type of thing. Most people would likely dismiss it as fan service or two guys joking around. The whole thing strikes me as pretty harmless.

It's not like GG and DD have really been hiding their relationship anyway.

GG and DD are under more scrutiny than ever (as are all prominent people in China), and with projects set to come out they are at less liberty to take risks. I think that it's possible we will see more candy from people in their entertainment circle, rather than directly from GG and DD themselves.

I am not saying this candy was something GG and DD personally sanctioned (it's possible, of course, but we'll never know), I'm saying that given the climate, there are likely people closer to them who understand the limitations GG and DD are under right now and who will want to reassure turtles when they are upset.

I believe that GG and DD care about - and need - turtles. I've talked about that a lot in the past, here's just one example. I don't think GG and DD, nor the people who care about them, will stand by and let turtles be attacked or heartbroken in ways that could threaten the fandom. Look at OOL airing, which ended up being a huge candy dump from GG.

They're looking out for us just as we're looking out for them. That is how I see it. Others might disagree, but that's my perspective on it.

Anyway, thanks again for being so engaged with this topic. The discussions and perspectives have been interesting. For now I'm going to not take any more asks about this unless there is new information or a perspective that substantially adds to or shifts the conversation in some way.

Edit: More on fan perceptions here.

#the mysteries of yizhan #ggdd in the public eye #ggdd entertainment circle

[bendingthelaws]

8

Abby had just come up behind Dimitri as he and Colt were discussing her pay.  She really had thought Colt had docked her, but he’d never said he would except when he had every right to.  She would have never complained if he had, and she now hoped that her mentioning it wasn’t going to be a problem with Colt and Dimitri.  They were like a little family in the office, even if the two men barked at each other a lot.  Professional hazard from working with lawyers from what she’d ascertained.  

“I, uh, I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to cause a problem.”  She stood slightly behind Dimitri since he was still blocking the door into Colt’s office.

Dimitri’s teeth ground, the glare he was shooting at Colt was murderous, and he wanted to beat some sense into Colt; but the fact the babe was in the office would keep Dimitri from it.  In his old life, he wouldn’t have given two shits, but he’d left that life behind..mostly.  

He trusted few, even fewer trusted him, and he damned well liked it that way.  For those who he did trust and have his loyalty, he would rip the city apart for them.  He had the connections still to do it, and those who hired Colt often knew that.  It’s why they’d never had a problem with any clients; they knew better than to fuck with him.

If Dimitri ever figured out how to kill someone without touching them, Colt was sure that he would be the first victim.  “You didn’t cause any problems, sweetheart.  It’s just a discussion.”  He looked over at Dimitri with a “happy now” look and gestured for him to get out of the doorway.  They really needed to have this discussion because he needed both their help with what was going on.

After they’d both made it into the room, Colt leaned against the front of his desk, his hands grabbing the front edge on either side of his thighs.  “My brother called earlier.”  He caught  Dimitri’s eye roll and glared.  “We knew he was getting ready to indict Constantin Rakeovich.  We’re still his attorney of record.  Just after the intent to indict was filed, one of Colin’s interns disappeared.”  Now he had Dimitri’s attention and Abby paled.

“Sweetheart, sit down, you look a little pale.”  Colin motioned to the chairs in front of him or the couch off to the side, then waited for her to sit.  “A few days ago they received a,” he considered how to phrase this.  So far he’d been sucking at doing that well.  “An indication that she was not being treated well.”  He looked at Dimitri, it was clear that the Russian understood the meaning.  “Another was received two days ago.  This morning a package was sitting on his desk.  It contained a human eye.”  

Abby couldn’t contain it, she gasped and started to shake.  One of their clients was doing this?  Her stomach rolled and she felt light headed.  She wasn’t sure whether she was going to pass out or throw up, or both.  Constantin Rakeovich had been in their office.  He’d leaned up against her side board and talked to her.  He was charming and friendly.  Now she knew he had cut out some poor woman’s eye.  Her chest felt tight and she couldn’t think straight, panic was setting in. 

One look at Abby and he knew that she should not have been part of this conversation.  What the fuck had Colt been thinking including her.  His starched white shirt had more color than Abby did at the moment.  Colt was lucky he was out of arm’s reach.

“Darling, look at me.”  Dimitri gently took Abby’s face in his hands as he knelt down in front of her.  The girl was more like a little sister to him than an assistant and he was worried about her.  “Abby.”  He was fighting to keep his voice calm.  Thankfully her name got her attention. 

“You’re safe and we’re going to keep you that way.  Understand?”  Her head shook in his hands.  “Good, now you’re going to lie down on Colt’s couch till you have more color in your face.”  Again she nodded. 

Letting go of her head, Dimitri helped her to lay down and draping his suit jacket over her, before he stood up and walked over to Colt.  His voice dropped and his expression became hard.  “You ever pull that shit in front of her again, I will hurt you in ways you cannot imagine, Masterson.  Learn some damned tact and manners.  You seem to have forgotten both of those lately.”

#bending the law #my writing #my ocs #writeblr #original writing #new writing #original fiction #original story #new chapter #writers of tumblr #crime fiction #crime drama #crime story #tw crime #lawyers #chicago #fiction #writing #mob drama #mob fiction #mob story #mafia #mafia story #mafia drama #illinois #urban fiction #modern fiction

[robby-bobby-tommy]

Guys, guys, I just watched Martyn's episode and it was a banger. But the last bit with rhymes really caught me off guard so I want to talk about it.

Firstly I'm glad watchers returned! Their lore is super interesting and I'm looking forward to more of it. But all it is left for me to do now is overanalyze the rhymes they've left.

Secondly I know nothing about the original meaning, it's just mine interpretation. There's a high possibility that awaits you below is just mine undiagnosed apophenia (the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things)/j. So buckle up, and enjoy the ride.

"Every grain that passes comes to rest"

Hm, there's nothing special about this line. Implied passage of time mb.

"A pillar built another test"

I'm very dumb so I'm a bit confused about this pillar part. Which pillar are they talking about? My guess is Skynet, but I'm not sure.

The test is probably the test of trust. How much Scott trusted Martyn with his life and vice versa? Will TIES go on each other? Will Bad Boys betray each other? Will Bdubs kill Scar as he promised to Etho? The list goes on and on. The trust was always a big theme in Traffic SMP, but now it's very important. Like the amount of trust you need to have to let your buddy kill you in a survival game is just enormous.

"These fickle unguided hand"

Well.... Yknow..... Hand. Martyn's nickname from wayyy back in the third life, given by the red king Ren diggity dog himself. And, as we all can see Ren isn't in this season (this explains the word "unguided"), but in some clip from Martyn's stream I've seen he wanted to collaborate with Ren. So what if he'll appear as a watcher? Watchers made it clear that they like Ren very much, so why can't he speak through/be a part of watchers? In the Watchers Lore video ( https://youtu.be/UlMVxRNSPhQ ) Martyn said he'd like to link himself to Ren so in every season they'll be together at some point. And the Hand kept his promise cuz him and his king were in the same team in both Last Life and even Double life. Maybe they'll be able to connect through Watchers?

" Forever moulding in the sands "

This is probably represents this survival games in general. This people will always "mould" back in these servers, kill each other, suffer and ect just to please Watchers' desires. They have no choice nor way to escape from this eternal battle.

The sands might represent either the sand in watches or the desert from the third life, who knows.

" The thrill to kill The fleeting gill "

Now this is pretty obvious. It's just a description of the events from episode.

" All washed ashore To settle still"

Now this line probably resembles the end of the hunt for greens and the start of yellow mellow peace.

" A single day and then it's gone "

Now this is a bit confusing. I don't actually know what it means. It may refer to the end of the season, that is the last day. Or maybe something else..

" Doomed to repeat: Our will be done. "

Now this goes back to my take on eternal, inescapable cage of this survival game. They all are doomed to repeat this circle of death, unable to ever stop.

"Our will be done" Is the most interesting Watcher phrase.

Honestly, the phrasing is very important in this poem so maybe I misinterpreted some of it, but it's all I can think of rn.

#limited life smp #limited life #third life smp #third life #last life #last life smp #double life #double life smp #traffic smp #trafficblr #inthelittlewood #martyn inthelittlewood #rendog #watchers lore is back whooohoo #can't wait for more i adore watchers

[hephaestuscrew]

Hi! im relistening to Wolf359 again and upon listening to Pan-Pan(ep29) ive come to notice a bit of a parallel (?) to Need to Know (ep35). Minkowshi not telling the crew about the cracks on the fixtures and how in less than 100 DAYS that the whole station could go down no matter how many repairs they make due to not wanting to add more weight and hopelessness to an already high stressed situation vs Kepler not telling anyone shit bc he doesn't see that as none of their business (I may be overlooking something tho, i have to relisten to that ep once i get off work)

I'm trying to see if there's an actual connection there or am i on my tin foil hat biases again.

Thanks for the ask! I ended up writing far more than I expected about this, so I'll put my response below a cut.

TLDR: Minkowski and Kepler make a similar choice to withhold information, but for very different reasons. Minkowski is motivated by her responsibility to protect her crew. Kepler is motivated by his desire to maintain his own power. This relates to their different ideas about leadership.

I think there's an interesting comparison to the extent that these are both cases in which people in authority positions have to make decisions about who to share critical information with. Minkowski and Kepler both withhold information from their respective crews that is very relevant to their future survival. They both use the phrase "need to know" in their justification for doing this. When Hilbert asks why Minkowski hasn't told them about the cracks, Minkowski's first response is "Because… you didn't need to know." Kepler talks about the idea of 'need to know' quite a bit, but perhaps the most notable instance for this comparison is when he tells Jacobi "That mission parameter [about the potential for alien duplicates] was marked for black archive clearance. Need to know. And you didn't need to know."

But I think the similarities between Minkowski and Kepler's approaches to withholding information pretty much end there. I believe that Minkowski is telling the truth when she says she didn't tell Hilbert and Lovelace about the cracks because they'd "suffered enough". She doesn't tell them because she doesn't want them to lose hope. She doesn't tell them even though, as Hera says, doing so might make wrangling them easier.

For Minkowski, knowing something that she doesn't tell the rest of the crew is something that weighs on her. I think you can hear it in her voice when she tells Hera that she won't tell Hilbert and Lovelace about the cracks "not today". I think you can hear it when she breaks down towards the end of Pan-pan ("Just like the cracks, and the station just keeps falling apart. And there's nothing I can do, and I am sorry.")

In contrast, I don't think we are given any reason to believe that Kepler feels a sense of regret or conflict about the knowledge he doesn't share with the rest of the crew. Of course, he regrets the consequences of losing Jacobi's loyalty and his control of the station. But Kepler's reaction to Jacobi challenging him on his secrecy is focused on standing by his decision and justifying it. Unlike Minkowski, Kepler refers to Goddard rules when defending his decision not to share information. He didn't tell his crew that Lovelace was probably an alien duplicate because he believed that doing so wouldn't have supported his objectives. That's sufficient reason for him.

I think this is actually a good illustration of a key difference between Minkowski and Kepler's attitudes towards leadership. For Minkowski, leadership is first and foremost about responsibility - the responsibility to be a good Commander and keep her crew safe. (Other leadership priorities are more prominent for her early on, but by season 2 I believe that's her primary motivation and I think it's always been a key part of her concept of leadership.) In contrast, for Kepler, leadership is first and foremost about power - the power to push mission progress forward, the power to order and manipulate and threaten in service of the bigger picture. And information is power, so why would he share it if he doesn't have to?

Those contrasting ideas of leadership underlie their choices when they withhold information from their crews. Minkowski doesn't tell her crew everything because she wants to protect them from losing hope. Kepler doesn't tell his crew everything because he wants to be the one holding all the cards - he'll only reveal information to others when doing so supports his aims.

To come back to your original question, I think there's a connection here, but it's less that the writers are deliberately encouraging these comparisons, and more that Minkowski and Kepler are both people in leadership positions in a life-threatening environment, and that inevitably necessitates decisions about who to share information with. And very different leadership priorities can motivate similar choices in not telling people things they would want to know.

#Wolf 359 #w359 #thanks again for the ask #I'm not completely sure I interpreted your question correctly but this was interesting to talk about! #I find the exploration of leadership in w359 so interesting... #I have less of an understanding of Kepler than of Minkowski #because I'm less interested in him #but I stand by this even if some Kepler fans may disagree #Renée Minkowski #Warren Kepler #Renee Minkowski #wolf 359 spoilers #w359 spoilers #the empty man posteth