#BELIEVE WHEN I SAY

[etoiile]

#ami's chit chats 🤍 #BARK BARK WOOF WOOF #HOLYYYY #OMGOMGOGMOGMGOMGOMGOMG #YOU ARE MY FIRE #THE ONE DESIRE #BELIEVE WHEN I SAY #I WANT IT (U) THAT WAY

[boldrakles]

Sandman

Episode 5

Remus Lupin and the Horny Sex Crystal

Because when I'm honest with myself all I want is ...

#you are my fire #the one desire #believe when i say #i want ... #a weekly game of dungeons and dragons #sandman #dream of the endless

[stromblessed]

Mizu, femininity, and fallen sparrows

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back to Mizu and collateral damage, remember that sparrow?

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

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

You see where I'm going with this.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And, uh

Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kind of like another bird in this show:

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

[shadowtraveled]

"mithrun is the only real monsterfucker in dungeon meshi" is objectively the funniest bit you can get out of his everything, but in all seriousness i think his attraction to his love interest is deliberately overstated—and that makes sense, because romantic jealousy is a classic and digestible motive, which is explicitly what kabru was aiming for in condensing mithrun's backstory, and also because until chapter 94, mithrun wasn't willing to admit to the true nature of his desires.

but because romantic envy is both classic and digestible, it probably isn’t a unique enough or complicated enough desire to tempt a demon’s appetite. mithrun’s wish, as far as we can figure from kabru’s reduced retelling, was to have a life in which he had never become one of the canaries, and that carries like 3857 implications and desires within it. that’s delicious. his love interest acts as sort of a red herring to his motivation for making it, though. (side note: i'm saying "love interest" here because, keeping in mind that i barely speak japanese on a good day anymore, "想い人" is something i'd usually take as just kind of an old-fashioned and romantic way to refer to a lover, but in context i wonder if both the connotation of yearning and the vagueness are intentional, and i think this phrasing gets those aspects of it more effectively. anyway.)

mithrun considered his love interest to be untrustworthy. there was a minute where i thought that comment might be about a similar-looking elf (yugin, one of his squad members), but comparing the two…

the "sketchy" arrow is definitely referring to the elf we know as his love interest—the bangs go toward her right, she only has the one forehead ornament, and, most notably, her ears aren't notched.

every time she’s given a full-body depiction in his dungeon, she’s drawn as a chimera, with the body of a snake from the waist down. (side note: the “what if a dungeon has chimeras before reaching level 4?”/“then the dungeon lord is unstable” exchange just being mithrun grilling his past self alive is so funny. he’s so. but anyway) there are a couple things about this.

first, the snake part of the chimera appears to be modeled after some species of coral snake mimic

which, in the biology-for-fun manga, i… doubt is a coincidence, especially with the added context of the “untrustworthy” comment. the dungeon’s conjured illusion of mithrun’s love interest was a harmless copycat of a venomous original. for whatever reason, he felt this person was a threat and made up a "safe" version of her to be in a relationship with, and while it’s definitely possible to be attracted to or even love someone you find to be toxic and/or intimidating, when you take that into consideration alongside the configuration of her body, you get some interesting implications.

which brings us to our second point: if we assume that mithrun was not in fact fucking a snake, then sexual attraction, at least, was so far removed from his idea of a relationship with this person that he did not even bother to keep her dungeon copy human enough to maintain the illusion of the option of a sexual relationship. this is somewhat echoed in the depictions of their interactions, which also imply a frankly unexpected romantic distance. she kisses his cheek and he doesn't seem to react; she's at the edge of a narrow bed with only one set of pillows, on top of his blankets while he's underneath them.

the kiss is particularly interesting because it seems to contrast the text. kabru's narration tells us this was everything mithrun could have asked for, but mithrun is there looking unreadable to pensive, likely because this is right before the panel that makes it clear things in the dungeon are beginning to go wrong.

walking through this backwards for a minute, we have the physical barrier of his bedding and the spatial separation inherent in a bed made for one person, the emotional barrier of his mounting anxiety getting in the way of his ability to enjoy the affection he sought, and... the snake, which historically carries the connotation of temptation, yes, but also mistrust, barring physical intimacy. okay. ok. if a dungeon reflects the mentality of its lord, all of this might suggest that mithrun was not able to have any real desire for a relationship with this person. his unwillingness to be vulnerable or let another person in was insurmountable. but in that case, why was she such a focal point that she remained to the end, after his dungeon had stopped creating iterations of his friends to come and visit him? why would he get so upset over her meeting with his brother that he became lord of a dungeon about it?

well. mithrun's brother was also interested in her, probably genuinely. and mithrun had to win.

you have an older brother who your parents completely ignore, probably in part because he is chronically ill/disabled and almost definitely in part because he received a ton of recessive traits that resulted in rumors that he was an illegitimate child. you are aware, most likely because those same parents fucking told you, that you actually are an illegitimate child. but they keep you around because you had the good fortune of looking just like your mother. what can that possibly teach you but that you, like your brother, are disposable?

it's utterly unsurprising that mithrun, under these circumstances, developed a pathological need to be better than everyone around him. people don't keep you otherwise. i'd argue this is also why he says he looked down on everyone he knew while milsiril claims his dungeon reeked of feelings of inferiority—he sought out people's worst traits and prioritized them in his mind to protect his already extremely fragile sense of self-worth, and all the while he tried to be as likable and high-performing as he possibly could be. his parents disposed of him anyway, but even then he tried to keep up the performance. he was kind to everyone. he never once lost to a dungeon.

when he saw his "love interest" meeting up with his brother, what he saw was himself being replaced by a person his parents had always treated as worthless, and if that was what they thought of the child they'd kept, what value could anyone possibly see in the bastard they'd given away to die? mithrun and kabru tell the story like he wanted to win this unnamed elf's heart, but it was never about being with her. it was about cementing his worth, proving that he didn't deserve to be thrown away.

and so it's particularly cruel that his demon discarded him, too. but maybe it's also particularly gentle that, in the end, there was someone who refused to even consider giving up on him.

kui laid it out in three panels better than i could hope to.

yeah. it's love. you wanted to be loved, even when the only way you were able to understand it was through the desire to be wanted, and you wanted that so badly that the idea of being consumed felt like the promise of finally mattering to someone.

#dungeon meshi spoilers #mithrun #dungeon meshi #this has been rotating for a while but i wanted to check my evidence before getting into it thanks user angelspenance for posting that meme #half of this is just the text and the other half i'm sure has been said before but it's making my brain [radio static] so here this is #someone did for sure mention this but i do find it very cute that in his fucked up conjured world meant to portray his ideal reality #his teammates came to visit him. like part of the fantasy was then explicitly that they cared about him and were his friends. even though #he says he tried to see the worst in them. #hm it does feel important to note that i do also believe 100% in mithrun suicidality--his desire to be eaten does seem to focus a lot on #wanting it to be Over. wanting not to be left incomplete and empty anymore. #but that loops back around a bit to the hole in your heart that appears when you feel unloved. it's many things and the same thing at once #snakes #long post #severe problems #meshy

[bloom161]

This might be a hot take but can Mrs.Flood just be Mrs.Flood who knows what a TARDIS is cause she lived in London all her life, where alien shit is happening at least once a year and is always accompanied by the doctor and a strange police box.

Yk the doc aren’t as subtle as they think they are, word gets around as to what the box actually is.

#believe me when i say id love nothing more for the Rani to come back #but i also love the idea that regular ppl have finally cought on to the fact that theres an alien running around with a police box #also we need fresh characters #not everything needs to be a niche call back #i do reserve the right to take back this statement if it is the rani though #doctor who #the doctor #this is my life now huh #the rani #dw spoilers #church on ruby road #dw season 1 #dw #fifteenth doctor

[bookshelfdreams]

yk when you see someone share a finished handmade item that they clearly spent a lot of time and money on and it's just. The absolute tackiest thing you have seen in your life. And then you ask yourself why someone would waste all those resources on such an eyesore.

(no, of course you can't relate to that because you're a much nicer person than me)

In any case.

BEHOLD!

A wool coat!

The top fabric is handwoven and handspun, the whole thing is sewn by hand, too.

Leftovers. Barely anything, all things considered, which is very satisfying.

This thing took me well over 3 years to make, on and off. And now I'm done.

Thank you for your attention.

#carry on XD #i hope y'all realize that when I say tacky it's with nothing but love in my heart #yes it's ugly. that's the whole point. #everyone should have an item in their wardrobe that will get Looks and raised eyebrows #it's good for you #anyway can't believe I'm done! this is a huge boost to my crafting hubris I CAN DO ANYTHING #wizard bathrobe adventures #handweaving #handspinning #hand sewing #look what i made #crafts #overall I'm happy with it even though there's. things that aren't ideal #the pockets are set a bit too low #and i should have made it a tiny bit longer not much but maybe like 5cm #anyway #overall it's a nice coat i think #Now That's What I Call Slow Fashion

[moon-pepper]

Good time for a periodic reminder that "butch" does not mean "has muscles" and it does not mean "sidebuzz haircut" and if you look at a cartoon girl who wears makeup and skirts and high heels and decide she's butch purely on the virtue of "she's kind of buff" or "she's got short hair" or "she's rude to men" or "she knows how to fight" then you need to delete futchscale.png off your hard drive and talk to an actual butch for once in your life

EDIT: This post is somehow still dominating my activity feed after two months so I feel like I should add a couple of disclaimers:

No, I don't hate She-Ra. I like it quite a bit, in fact. I don't know why some people seem to think being annoyed by the fandom response to a character means I hate the show...?

Also, this post isn't really "about" Scorpia. She just came to mind first when I wrote the tag

(imagine I'm standing up on a big box with a megaphone for this one) THIS POST WAS MADE BY A GLEEFUL TRANSSEXUAL AND IF YOU HAVE AN ISSUE WITH THAT THEN MY WORDS ARE NOT FOR YOU. TRANS-EXCLUSIONARY FEMINISM IS A BOLD-FACED LIE AND SERVES ONLY TO REDIRECT SUFFERING AWAY FROM YOURSELF AND TOWARD THE LESS-PRIVILEGED. COWARD

#pepperpost #listen. listen. I Get It. i've been there. i used to think sully from fire emblem qualified as butch-coded #believe me when i say you are embarrassing yourself every time you reply to a post about butch lesbians with ''like scorpia from she-ra :D'

[tooquirkytolose]

Everyone loves my moms mexican rice and proclaim it the best they've ever had and I see a lot of recipes out there that are either too fussy or too bland so I'll just list the things my mom does that she says make it good

-you really truly do not need chicken bouillon/chicken broth. Plain water is fine, my mom started omitting the bouillon when I became vegetarian so I could eat it and literally no one knows the difference its fine

- you don't need cumin or cilantro you just need onion, garlic, salt and tomato sauce (or jarred tomatoes)

-FRY YOUR RICE!!! in oil!!! Fry until golden brown and nutty, DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP it adds flavor and deepens the color of the end product if you don't fry your rice in oil it looks pale and unappetizing

-blend your water, chopped onion, garlic cloves, and tomato sauce (or jarred tomatoes) add this liquid to the fried rice after you've drained the excess oil, cook like regular rice

You will now be the envy of all mexican mothers and taquerias 👍

#i mean if you WANT chicken broth thats fine #but believe me when i say most people are flabbergasted its not included in her recipe #i...dont know exact measurements shes one of those eyeballing it type of gals

[ohposhers]

creek when hes been stuck at the Brozone Bunker morning coffee get together for 3 hours and has to resort to making his own entertainment

#me when im forced to hang out with those trolls i hate #remember when i said creek is not a good guy? that does not disclude flirting with floyds brothers #nothing matters to him he knows if jd says anything floyd wont believe him #floyd trolls #creek trolls #john dory trolls #fleek #fleek trolls #my art #trolls #trolls band together #fleekedup #this ones for you anon who requested creek x jd lmfaooo

[egophiliac]

Serious question.

Do you think we’ll see the parents/family of each of the guys???

Like, We’ve been TEASED with Ace’s brother, that I’m starting to think it’s just a reference to that Alice in Wonderland park character in Japan and nothing else….

Jack’s family, Ruggie’s grandma, Falena, Maleficia, Ms.Rosehearts, Just now Vil’s dad is in the picture which I am really happy but now I’m wondering about his mom, and so Deuce’s mom.

I mean, some HAVE a silhouette!! It could mean they do have a design in the making/ready to show. They could’ve shown us Falena in the Tamashina (hope I said that correctly) event, but didn’t (prolly to make Leona not so σ(▼□▼メ) and it’s understandable)

Anyhow, any idea/headcannon about this? Who do you want to see first?

I'm wondering if everyone might eventually get a travel event? like they've now introduced with Vil's that it doesn't have to be specifically hometowns, so that opens things up a lot! (especially if they have to figure out how to do three separate Coral Sea visits) (how would that even work otherwise)

but yeah, I hope everyone gets a chance! there's a lot of backstory characters I would LOVE to meet. :D :D :D though I do think some of them don't really suit the more light-hearted tone of the events (pretty sure you're right about that being why Falena wasn't in Tamashina-Mina, that would've just been. too much for Leona.) so like...we're probably not ever going to meet the Rosehearts. or Maleficia (although I maintain that this would be THE funniest possible way to introduce her outside of the main story, and actually I would love this a lot, can we please Twst) (I need to see her to put Malleus in a froofy little outfit and tell him what a handsome boy he is). but they've sprung surprises like Kifaji on us, and honestly anyone who shows up and tells embarrassing stories about characters' childhoods is good in my book!

characters off the top of my head who I most want to meet: literally any of the Zigvolts, Azul's mom, Ace's brother, Che'nya's grandfather (<- I think he would be a good one for Riddle) (please just any non-terrible adult in his life), any member of Rook's family because I need to see how they managed to produce him, and...really just whoever they can come up with for Silver.

#art #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland spoilers #tapis rouge #tamashina mina #i think it's just those two #(i am very very sorry about how long it took to reply to this) #but yeah i don't know if everyone is actually doable! i just want to ~believe~ #though silver would also have one of the zigvolts honestly #(they are the only reason lilia managed to actually raise him without silver like. falling through a manhole looney tunes style.) #so let's say he gets sebek's mom and sebek gets his dad. just because it would make sebek VERY annoyed. #god i want to meet azul's mom though. everything we know about her makes her sound AMAZING #i want her to feed me lunch and teach me how to take no shit #ANYWAY i do also wonder about vil's mom... #i had been thinking we might learn something about her during tapis rouge. but nope! not a mention. #i guess we did establish that vil either went with eric or was cared for by the house staff when he was traveling #so i dunno! it doesn't necessarily mean anything she might just be a busy lady doing busy things #i just wonder!

[crowleylesbian]

“crowleys gonna reject aziraphale in s3🥺‼️” crowley would walk on his hands and knees 1000 miles through a desert of broken glass for just the chance to hang out with aziraphale. be serious.

#me on twitter; wow this is some hot garbage… but i can’t stop scrolling #and now that people have found this post: believe me when i say that i sam crowleylesbian do understand all too well that it feels unfair to #crowley. i just think it’s unrealistic to paint him as the ‘scorched earth’ breakup archetype #when he’s clearly the divorcee who will never truly move on and maybe grows his hair out a little [for the love of god please this part<-]

[simplenefelibata]

as much as i love sam knowing about destiel before dean does, there's something about "i mean yeah my brother and his angel best friend are really weird about each other, live together, co-parent a kid, nearly kill themselves every time the other is gone, stand too close and stare at the other's mouth while they talk, but i mean to each their own i guess??" that's so special to me

#it's just so funny #and when it finally clics he's like #OH #that... explains a lot actually #he's so committed to believe dean's heterosexual act #and you know what i respect sam for it #if the dude says he's straight then it doesn't matter he stares at men lusting! he's STRAIGHT. #i'm sam btw #i had a friend who told me for 6 months he was straights while he performed in my face Telephone by Lady Gaga #and also knew the entire loona lore #but he said he was STRAIGHT okay #i had the audacity (or the politeness ig) to act surprised when he came out #i'm rambling #sorry #destiel #dean winchester #castiel #supernatural #spn #casdean #sam winchester

[omrarchive]

#guys i cant believe this is real this is everything ive ever wanted #WILLE ABDICATION??? WILMON ENDGAME??? wille is free he's free they're both free #look at simon's face oh my GOD #ive never seen him this happy euphoric and liberated #that's CINEMA! #i have so many things to say about this ending #“are you sure you're over me” “what the hell do you think” #when wille says “can you open the door?” as he leaves the car and leaves the cage that is the monarchy #the door is open!!!! there is sunshine on his skin!!!! he is free oh my god #i know i havent been making gifs im sorry i promise they are coming #good god that is Television to me #young royals #yr season 3 #yr s3 spoilers #young royals s3 #young royals season 3 #wilmon #prince wilhelm #simon eriksson #omar rudberg #edvin ryding #wilhelm x simon #wille x simon

[anne-is-confused]

Captain Francis Crozier, at Furthest North.

#the terror amc #francis crozier #my art #can't believe it took me 2 rewatches AND getting refs for this to realize it's the hungarian state opera house. girl i was there last month #anyway yeah i was looking at gifsets of the last shot of the show and feeling nauseous with emptiness etc etc when #the thought struck me that it looks an awful lot like the tableau vivants from the ep1 flashbacks in its stillness #i have no idea whether that was an intentional reference (a sort of twisted mockery of how that scrubbed and polished portrayal of history #contrasted with the deeply sad and inglorious reality #or some sort of meta about storytelling itself. i'm not really smart enough to say lol) but i made this anyways. enjoy #pattern recognition go brrrrrrrrrrrrrr #i bent over backwards trying to make this symmetric and harmonious. it isn't but if i don't post it now i never will

[thebeloathed]

They all could be switched around and it'd still be true

#I love them sm #they live rent free in my head #alphonse elric #edward elric #ling yao #fmab #fma #fanart #digital art #first ever time drawing Alphonse #he looks so polite but Ed knows he's just as much of a little shit as he is #no one just believes him when he says that #fullmetal alchemis brotherhood

[p4nishers]

god. GOD. the underlying anger in everything terry writes really IS apparent in hogfather bc fuck u mean this is how things should be? no the fuck it shouldn't. poor people shouldn't have to be satisfied with what they get, that's just fucking capitalism. i REALLY like that terry decided to use death as projection for what he thinks bc death doesn't know anything and it has to be explained to him and by it being explained to him it shows how fucking stupid those things are. bc ok here's this world where an equivalent of santa ACTUALLY exists and, because it mirrors our world, it's still unjust. santa actually fucking exists in this world and he could give ANYONE ANYTHING bc he's essentially a god and people gave him that power by making him up, BUT because ppl imagined him in a way that poor people don't get shit (like they usually do) and rich people get EVERYTHING they want, he exists like that. whereas death has seen the absolutely WORST of humanity and he STILL thinks that's bullshit and it's not how it should be, it's just how it goes. bc capitalism is always capitalism where there's money and the world will always be fucked up as long as there are oppressor to hold it up. like i just.

#IT IS HOGSWATCH said Death AND PEOPLE DIE ON THE STREETS. PEOPLE FEAST BEHIND LIGHTED WINDOWS AND OTHER PEOPLE HAVE NO HOMES. IS THIS FAIR? #“Well of course that’s the big issue—” Albert began. THE PEASANT HAD A HANDFUL OF BEANS AND THE KING HAD SO MUCH HE WOULD NOT EVEN NOTICE #THAT WHICH HE GAVE AWAY. IS THIS FAIR? “Yeah but if you gave it all to the peasant then in a year or two he’d be just as snooty as the king #NAUGHTY AND NICE? said Death. BUT IT’S EASY TO BE NICE IF YOU’RE RICH. IS THIS FAIR? #“You did say we just had to do this so’s people’d believe—” he began and then stopped and started again. #“When it comes to fair master you yourself—”I AM EVENHANDED TO RICH AND POOR ALIKE snapped Death. #i love him i love him #discworld #gnu terry pratchett #discworld death #hogfather