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comradekatara · 4 months

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ooh the bolin ask got me thinking and i’m curious as to how you’d rewrite/edit asami’s character and specifically korra and asami’s relationship if you had full creative autonomy. obviously we would have to retread some familiar points here (like, lok’s entire unfortunate politic and the often shoddy secondary character work) but i’m always interested in hearing what you think on the korrasami front!

this is such a good question to ask me specifically (the ghost of tumblr user bloodbenderz pointed out in my bolin post that i was the wrong person to ask abt his character bc he’s been the bolin champion since day one whereas i. do not care for him, but i have been asami’s champion since day one so YES HELLO) i have thought extensively about asami like truly so much, especially post finale wherein i reevaluated my entire weltanschauung because korrasami simply broke my brain. asami’s position within the narrative is almost paradoxical in the sense that she is established as a primary player but her inner life itself is afforded very little room for exploration. atla does such a great job of fleshing out characters and giving them these truly human dimensions, which is probably why it’s had such a chokehold on me for well over a decade, but lok fails abysmally at this with pretty much every character except korra herself (my baby my angel light of my life etc etc).

but asami is interesting, at least conceptually. obviously id give her more narrative space to figure out her shit, but also it’s a matter of understand what kind of narrative space is the right space to afford her. as ive gestured to in other recent posts, the most interesting facets of asami’s character are her relationship to her father (ie patriarchy, the nuclear family structure, systems of interpersonal abuse), her wealth (ie the guilt that stems from possessing capital built on exploitation and violence and how she reconciles with that as a deeply principled & ethical person), and her latent feelings for korra (ie actually going further into the implications of homoeroticism in a way that doesn’t veer straight into the mawkish heavyhandedness of the comics but also doesn’t leave it entirely subtextual until the last minute).

I think korra and asami’s relationship is actually one of the strongest aspects of the show, and i like that it’s largely lowkey instead of employing the shallow trappings of heteronormative romantic troping that turned me off other relationships in avatar (eg aang and katara, korra and mako, mai and zuko). there’s a poignant subtlety to their development that i appreciate, even as i also recognize that it was largely due to network restraints. i think that korra and asami kinda have a utenanthy thing going on but like. obviously not as profound. (also korra is utena and asami is anthy dont be racist.) so a lot of what rgu does with their largely unspoken, hidden feelings that are nonetheless evident to any viewer with a brain is what i would also employ to make korrasami more powerful. obviously lok (and atla, yes i voted rgu in those polls) pale in comparison to the masterpiece that is utena, but you get it.

that said, if i really wanted to improve asami’s character, i would focalize her relationship to her father. at no point in the show does lok ever state that hiroshi was abusive, despite concrete evidence that he tried to kill his own daughter. asami loves him unconditionally despite his role in funding a terrorist movement (let’s not get into that rn ok) and attempting filicide. we’re told that asami and hiroshi fostered a sort of codependent relationship after yasuko’s death. hiroshi retreated into his grief, and asami, an isolated heiress further isolated from her peers by her staggering genius (again, her being a genius is largely only implied but like. heavily), was left to depend on him financially, physically, and emotionally, while also sort of playing his pseudowife/caretaker as he failed to take care of her and himself (and of course it’s no coincidence that she’s the spitting image of yasuko). so in some ways, asami has been very independent from a young age, and in other ways, she is completely dependent on her father in every way. the subtext simultaneously goes unaddressed and is also thoroughly evident to anyone who bothers to tease it out. asami was, in some ambiguous configuration, abused by her father, and it culminates in him trying to kill her once she asserts her independence. her taking him down with the glove is literally a direct parallel to zuko redirecting ozai’s lightning, it’s not even subtle! it’s just. ignored!!!

moreover, asami’s struggle as she inherits the company in book 2 is handled so poorly it’s almost crazy. i have a post where i compare asami to azula and shiv roy (love seeing tags on these posts that are like “who the hell is shiv roy?” shiv my best friend shiv) and talk about each of their relationships to their fathers and how it informs their relationships to power. obviously lok refuses to acknowledge that asami was abused and operates on a psychological platform of paternal abuse in any real way, but it’s honestly one of the more logical readings of her character considering her actions. so again, if i had the power to write her well this time, i’d tease that out more, exacerbate those implications in a similar way to how azula, zuko, or even toph and sokka operate psychologically. and of course, that also would inform her relationship to her wealth and position as ceo, as both a great burden and a responsibility she feels she must adopt (it’s her biological destiny lol). and of course doing a better job to illustrate how that crisis of identity parallels korra’s, because, you know, it’s like the whole point? also (and this is tangential) but asami needed to hire zhu li and then they should’ve both killed varrick with hammers. but in general asami’s character needed to better serve as a critique of capitalism and patriarchy through her unique role in the system. like, it was really so close to achieving that anyway, but they continually dropped the ball so that the implications of her character were always fascinating, but her character itself was simply. there.

in summary, if mako’s character should function as an interrogation of intertwined structures of family and class within the society lok establishes, asami should have a similar function through different means. mako implicates the role of the impoverished orphan in a neoliberal patriarchy (and bolin, ideally, further complicates the dynamic by being more visibly earth kingdom than fire nation), whereas asami implicates the role of the abused yet wealthy girl in the same neoliberal patriarchy. in a good show, each character supplements the broader critiques being made by the narrative. but while mako, bolin, and asami all have the right pieces set in place to do so, they never quite stick the landing. because liberalism, or nickelodeon, or obama, or girlboss feminism, or whatever.

#unreachedgalaxy #asks #lok crit #analysis #asami #asamixkorra #synthesis #i love you asami sato i am free on tuesday if you would like to hang out on tuesday when i am free #she’s literally soooo important to me im not even kidding .

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9w1ft · 2 months

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wow your gaylor anon does sound well-meaning, but very lost on this blog from their usual side of the internet I’d guess!

I’m particularly bamboozled by those three songs being used as kaylor breakup evidence. well, less so exile, I can see how they got there even if I have a different interpretation of it (mourning the called-off coming out, and having to go deeper into the love blackout, ruminating on the fans view of her closet). but mtr!? clearly about scott b! the stolen lullabies, the jewels she gave him as his main cash cow? the pain of that betrayal by a father figure!! also the funeral procession choreo - ties nicely into your point about taylor wearing black for the stolen masters. there’s also a long history of writing romantic-coded ‘break up songs’ for your label, think dolly parton etc. and mad woman?! the obvious scooter and yael diss track where taylor outs his cheating (which potentially contributed to their divorce not long after). does anon completely miss the feminist angle of ‘this man gaslights me by calling me mad and overreactive, so I’ll show him a real mad woman’ ???? (+ karlie as the taylor-faced neighbour who secretly mouths ‘fuck you’ at him)

I know we’re all known for reaching in the gaylor-sphere, but by occam’s razor, I feel like you have to do some real twisting to believe those ones aren’t about those men.

(I actually wrote out my personal interpretation of each song in more depth but it’s wayy too long, and probably just a repeat of opinions anon could find on this blog and others in this ecosystem. anon has given me far too many thoughts to write on my lunch break rn lol)

yeah i didn’t address the song choices but mtr is a wild one for sure. and mad woman i’ve talked about a lot but really i think that song is actually proof in favor of the idea that they didn’t break up in 2019. plus the thing about the i can and i will necklace.

exile too, especially when you couple it with the other bon iver duet (evermore) and think about the context of the election in 2016 (upon which karlie got exiled in a way) and again in 2020 (taylor connected evermore to the feeling of knowing biden would win over trump, and knowing the pain wouldn’t be for evermore), and idk it just makes so much sense in the context of how their relationship would have had to adapt and change over the years, without having to be about breaking up.

i’m not saying anon thinks any one certain way but i do think that gaylors in general have, of their own volition and they’re happy to tell you, positioned gaylorism as something focused on the exploration of the gayness of taylor’s lyrics and of it being ‘museless’ and i would suggest that while there is value to this sort of think in a vacuum, by refuting other analysis unfortunately this ‘lens’ often makes for a contextless interpretation of so many of taylor’s songs. like if you think about the political angle and the times taylor was in or karlie was in throughout this specific span of time, a lot of these sad song just make so much sense! maathp makes sense! maroon makes sense! exile makes sense, hoax makes sense, mad woman makes sense, vigilante shit makes sense, any number of songs make a whole lot of sense. i don’t think that this is something offensive to taylor like… in essence kaylor is an attempt to understand the impetus behind the artist, her motivations, and what inspired her to create so much of this art. idk, im babbling a bit again it’s just. ahh… there’s just so much meaning that gets lost in the gaylor process i feel.

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thatoneluckybee · 25 days

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Bee im so sorry to terrorize you with this crackpot theory but what if Ryoko is the mastermind?

She has canon sprites, is mentioned on Kai’s laptop as being someone to keep an eye on and despite that has not once shown up in the death game and easily could have gotten close to Sara and Joe as preparation for the death game.

I’m sorry but IT MAKES SENSE

CHAOS

THIS IS THE LAST THING I SAW BEFORE PHONE AWAY FOR CLASS I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DOING CHEMICAL EQUATIONS BUT NO I WAS HERE THINKING ABOUT RYOKO MASTERMIND THEORY I SWEAR YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO MEEEEE. (It's alright I was able to focus okay on the work kinda so :P)

ANYWAYS

This is likely a joke but you know me :3 I'm taking this too seriously (art block for like a week in an art c l a s s so I'm doing nothing but scrolling Pinterest for literally any decent ideas rn anyways)

Inhale

This would be strange to say the least. I can't remember Kai's laptop mentioning little miss Hirose at all but if so it's likely because Ryoko, being a close friend, could be seen as a threat (Sara and Joe harder to kidnap when with a friend, could fight back, etc etc.) However I will note I've found it a bit strange that she never really gets brought up.

There's a lot of obvious reasons why this probably ain't true. I highly doubt the Hirose family has any ties to Asunaro. Even if they DID, Ryoko herself probably isn't at all aware or involved considering Sara went this whole 17 years without realizing she was literally being trained to be a lethal weapon. It would be possibly underwhelming as Ryoko hasn't been teased at all, unless Nankidai pulled off a tremendous Rube Goldberg and showed how ACTUALLY she's been here this whole time wow. I'm not spending time on the reasons why not. This is funny to me though so I'll list potential "evidence" for a maybe crack not so crack theory.

I doubt it, BUT there was a Reddit post a while ago comparing Megumi Sasahara and Ryoko's sprites. Megumi's sprites are interesting as she is REMARKABLY similar to Sara in appearance! Both have their three quarter view arms on hips look, similar body figures, etc etc. Even their personalities are similar. I've seen some speculation that Megumi's tie to Asunaro (she may have one or at the least knew more than she was supposed to) was that she was a sort of Beta attempt at recreating the Memorrandum (HOW IN TF IS THAT SPELLED) Girl, if one busy the theory that Sara was raised specifically to recreate the Hades incident's Memorrandum Girl. That theory claims that the survivor of the first death game, overcome by his affection for the teen girl, is the mastermind or at least an instigator for the current Asunaro Death Game, hoping to rewrite the story where the girl survives. Regardless, Megumi's likely connected. The Reddit post has less of a foundation to stand on, simply saying Megumi and Ryoko look similar (pose and black hair) and could be potentially related. This is unlikely, BUT for the sake of this crack theory we'll assume there's a possibility the Sasahara and Hirose families are acquainted or related somehow. This would give Ryoko a connection to Asunaro.

But what if Ryoko, though likely not the mastermind, was somehow AWARE of Asunaro? We see that Ryoko and Sara interact as children in Sara's minisode. They've been within one another's vicinity for a WHILE. We know all the YTTD Cast have been! Kai worked for Mr. Chidouin, Sara fought Ursheen and Shin at a card game, Joe probably was the boy who tried to cheer up Kanna in a flashback and got probably beat up by Kugie, Shin and Kanna are siblings, so are Alice and Reko, some think Miley could be Gin's mother, Mr. Policeman who Keiji shot is probably Joe's late dad. There's a LOT of connections! Asunaro has been pulling puppet strings for a while though they hide it well. If the Hirose family was in cahoots with Asunaro, there's a chance Ryoko found out. I highly doubt Ryoko is malicious as she is literally a child. However, she could, in this wild goose chase theory, be helping behind scenes unwillingly. Maybe her family or Asunaro pressured her to gather information, who knows! The only scene I can think of to back this is at the end of Ryoko and Joe's date in I believe it was Sara's minisode. Ryoko says "I'll see you tomorrow!... Right...?" Or something like that and looks almost sad. Or maybe that was guilt. Even if she didn't know what Asunaro was, she could've sensed that something was wrong, or had a feeling that something bad would happen, and felt guilty knowing that she didn't or couldn't help. Or maybe she was feeling guilty for "playing" with Joe and Sara's feelings if she was gathering intel.

All in all I don't really buy it but with a LOT OF HEAVY SPECULATION and some maybe huge plot twists on Nankidai's part, as well as blind faith in a lot of popular and more underground theories, it's still very implausible but NOT IMPOSSIBLE I GUESS.

#Spent too long typing my hands #Asks #a-being-of-chaossss #Yttd #fambles #Your turn to die #ryoko hirose

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mikesbasementbeets · 1 year

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I disagree that bi mike wouldn’t make sense within the show’s canon. I strongly believe it would make MORE sense within the show’s canon for many different reasons, and that 99% of the evidence gay mike truthers try to twist to say explicitly confirms gay mike can coexist and be used to support bi mike without much adjusting. I think when you carefully analyze seasons 1 through 4 it’s pretty clear that mike had genuine romantic feelings for El at the beginning of the story. And there’s a lot of subtle things that support a bi mike reading. I think a significant portion of aggressive anti-bi mike theories are rooted in either biphobia, a misunderstanding of the nuances of what it means to be bi, or a desire to avoid having to accept mike’s early canon romantic feelings for El (enshrined into the scripts) cause that would mean accepting that it’s a love triangle. I think gay mike makes sense but it is in no way the only sound theory. And I’m not talking about headcanons, I’m talking about the text of the show

ok i know i said earlier i would respond to this in full but honestly there is WAY too much i could get into and this topic has been discussed to death at this point and i’m not interested in starting discourse again, so i’m really gonna try to be brief (spoiler alert, i failed). first of all, here’s my own gay mike analysis from months ago, back when i personally hadn’t seen any actual analysis about it yet and decided to just go through and analyze the show myself. many others have written much more thorough and articulate analyses, so i encourage anyone to seek those out if you’re really interested in developing an informed opinion about it. but if you’re already convinced one way or another, i’m probably not going to change any minds here, because this has all been said before.

the one thing i’m actually going to try to address here is the claim that mike was at some point genuinely romantically attracted to el, because as far as i can tell, that is the ONLY actual argument FOR bi mike. i haven’t seen anyone ever give evidence or try to argue that mike has shown attraction to any other specific woman or to women generally. if i’m wrong about that, please point me to that analysis (don’t tell me about bi flag colors around him though bc those three colors show up together everywhere in the show and are not specific to mike in any way, i don’t think that’s relevant “evidence”). also, i’m not looking at the scripts here, because i’m really only interested in ACTUAL CANON and the literal content of the show itself overrides any partial, text drafts of it, which is what scripts are. they are written for the specific purpose of filming the show and do not provide full and complete context (and what we are TOLD in this show does not always line up with what we are SHOWN).

just to be absolutely clear, i think that (disregarding the mountains of both textual and subtextual evidence of his LACK of attraction to women) mike having shown genuine romantic attraction to even one woman would be enough for him to be legitimately canonized as bisexual, but in all my understanding and analysis of the show, he has not.

from what i understand, bi mike truthers believe that mike had genuine romantic feelings for el in the earlier seasons that either faded over time or just never evolved past the initial childhood crush stage. i’ve addressed the latter idea before (in a post i can't find rn), but to sum up, crushes on people of a different gender, especially in youth, and during times when one is unsure of or figuring out one’s sexuality are COMMON among gay people. having a childhood crush is not the same thing as having genuine romantic feelings, and therefore is not valid evidence toward any particular sexuality. the insistence that it is concrete evidence of bisexuality is rooted in homophobia and a fundamental misunderstanding of the nuance of gay identity.

the first claim though, that he did have genuine romantic feelings in the beginning, but they faded over time, is what i’m going to focus on. i touched on this in my analysis linked above, but i’m going to try to explain again here. mike’s feelings for el have always been demonstrated with extreme consistency throughout the seasons. after their initial meeting and once mike learns to trust her, each time mike has been in a position to tell el how he feels about her, from season one all the way through to season four, he has behaved in the exact same way: he has struggled to put his feelings into words, refusing to outright claim romantic feeling or intent, and ultimately failed to communicate with el in a way she understands.

similarly, when faced with expressing romantic affection toward or about her, he has behaved with confusion, discomfort, and outright rejection of others’ assumptions of his romantic feelings. (read the analysis for more specifics on this)

each of these times is also rife with familial coding and parallels that subtextually explain WHY he is struggling to either voice or demonstrate romantic attraction. for just one specific example, in the first season, right before their first kiss, mike begins to excitedly describe the relationship that the two of them are about the have with each other (in not so many words) as one of a brother and sister. when el correctly infers this implication from his words, he grows confused, because he had been told previously by lucas, dustin, and even nancy, that his feelings for el were romantic. but he relents, and agrees that that is what his description meant. immediately after their first kiss, during which el is dressed in his sister's clothes, and which mike initiates when he can't find the words to express romantic attraction to her, his first word is.... "nancy." and later, when el is weak from killing the lab people who've been chasing them, mike repeats his earlier promise: that when all this is over, his family will become hers.

this is one thing that i genuinely can’t understand when it comes to the idea that mike ever truly liked el romantically. almost (if not) ALL of their interactions, especially in season one, have some sort of parallel to a familial relationship for one or both of them, on top of many of their interactions blatantly referencing the concept of the two of them being like family to one another. the absolute volume of these instances and the unyielding consistency of this pattern, again, beginning from the very first episode of season one and continuing all the way through season four, means that it is undoubtedly intentional. with that in mind, i cannot see any reading of their relationship that leaves room for genuine romantic feelings, when ALL of the subtext, FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, overwhelmingly presents them as family.

i’m not going to get way into the subject of compulsory heterosexuality because i could go on forever and i don’t want to, but the timeline of events in el and mike’s relationship arc makes it very clear that that's what’s happening. for el, her arc of independence is (not solely, but still) intrinsically tied to her relationship with mike. for mike, his struggle with his sexuality, specifically his lack of attraction to girls concurrent with his present attraction to boys (MOST presently Will), coincides directly with his relationship arc with el. i’m just going to link a couple of my screenshot posts where i've attempted to demonstrate this, bc i can't find it in me to explain all the nuances of comphet and the complex way these three characters' narratives have been intertwined (i'm bad at tagging so i can't find many, but here, here, here)

you might want to argue against my above points with scenes like the snowball dance, where he calls her beautiful and kisses her, or the make out scene in season three. but both the familial coding/parallels and the overarching themes of forced conformity (aka compulsory heterosexuality) associated with the snowball in my view completely changes the context behind the surface narrative of a “sweet romantic moment,” especially when you consider the coinciding narrative of mike’s relationship with will and the subtext of what that dance means for both of them. similarly, that make out scene, which can also be read as further evidence of mike’s discomfort with physical affection with el, as well as the overall arc of their entire season 3 relationship, is presented to be directly relevant to (specifically, in direct contrast with) mike’s evolving relationship with will, which IS genuinely romantic.

when i say that bi mike would be bad representation, this is what i mean. his “attraction” to el is consistently directly related to and contrasted with his relationship with will, coding his feelings for girls (most specifically the one girl for whom he has ever shown potential for romantic attraction) as lesser than his feelings for boys (specifically will, but ALSO OTHER MEN). bi rep that prioritizes and values attraction for one gender AT THE EXPENSE of attraction for another feels like an extremely problematic representation of bisexuality, if that's really what they are trying to portray. and this is not even getting into the countless subtextual clues that mike specifically DOES NOT LIKE GIRLS. (our son with a girl?, it’s not my fault you don’t like girls, el? sorry not interested, disgusted face next to “women in science,” blatant lack positive of response to “phoebe cates only hotter,” women’s room GET OUT, boys only, blatant and continued confusion over lucas and dustin’s attraction to max, "trying to solve the mystery of the female species" *LOUD BELCH* etc etc these are just off the dome and these are things that DO NOT WORK as queer coding if mike IS attracted to girls but VERY MUCH DO if he is gay. and there are SO MANY of them. more than that, if he is attracted to girls, then they are examples of the show consistently belittling that attraction, which again feels like a pretty shitty way to do bi representation)

god there’s so much more to this, but i can’t get into every little thing because it would take forever. literally there is SO MUCH evidence against it that i genuinely feel that the narrative would not make sense anymore if mike were revealed to be bi in season 5.

just to address a couple other things you said: i think the reason anti bi mike theory might sometimes come off as aggressive is because when one actually analyzes the entire content of the show, the evidence for specifically gay mike is OVERWHELMING and the claim that there is just as much evidence for bi mike remains unsupported, unsubstantiated, and at a certain point comes off as just willfully ignoring canon and even, at times, homophobic. i always see claims that some gay mike analysis is biphobic, and yet i have never seen any evidence of this. the claim that mike is not attracted to women, despite having been in a relationship with one, IS NOT biphobic. the claim that he is not bisexual, despite many people believing he is and wanting that representation, is NOT biphobic. the claim that his feelings for el have always been platonic and not romantic is NOT biphobic. it is an analytical conclusion based on the content of the show itself. i don’t doubt that some gay mike truthers have been biphobic, but i have not seen any actual gay mike ANALYSIS that is specifically biphobic (if you can provide concrete evidence, i will recant this, but i know that i and others have been careful not to resort to any sort of stereotyping or attempts at “analysis” that are rooted in biphobia). conversely, the claim that mike being in a romantic relationship with a woman and behaving romantically with her is PROOF that he is bisexual IS inherently rooted in homophobia and again, a misunderstanding of the nuance of what it means to be gay. i know (or assume, i guess) that most bi mike truthers aren’t outright thinking this way, and really believe mike’s romantic feelings to have been genuine, but as i and many others have tried to explain, when you do what the show is constantly telling you to do and look deeper than the surface level narrative, all of the canonical evidence from mike’s relationship with el actually explicitly and unambiguously points to the fact that his romantic interactions with her were NOT a result of genuine attraction, but rather a result of compulsory heterosexuality and a part of the natural process of figuring out his sexuality.

you also claim gay mike theorizing could come from "a desire to avoid having to accept mike’s early canon romantic feelings for El" but the fact is that it's not a desire for mike not to have had feelings for el (that assumption playing into the idea that gay mike truthers simply don't want him to be bi, hence the claims of biphobia) but what's actually happening is analysis that leads to the conclusion that he canonically did not have romantic feelings for el. the misconception is that gay mike truthers are simply projecting their own desires onto the text instead of what they're actually doing: critically analyzing it. i'd argue that bi mike truthers are the ones who want to avoid having to accept mike's lack of attraction to women, despite all of the evidence for it.

i've read a lot of analysis on here, from a lot of different perspectives, and i can truly say that every single comprehensive, good faith analysis of mike’s character i've ever seen has come to the same conclusion. he’s gay.

#not tagging this w anything bc again i don't want to start discourse and i'm done talking about this for now #i was gonna add a bunch of screenshots but i'm tired and this is enough i'll make some ss posts later and maybe link them #i have a couple in mind i've been meaning to make #mikesbasementasks

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another-dr-another · 2 months

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ok otori time!! we NEED to get an opposing viewpoint to the coffee theory rn, and i wanna see what he’s doing w his e-handbook -iris

Maeda, narrating - Ōtori seems… strongly against the coffee theory-

Maeda - Which is really weird, actually? He was so helpful when I got burned…

Maeda - I definitely need to ask him about his thoughts on everything we’ve found out so far.

~*~

Maeda - Ōtori~

Ōtori - Yes?

Maeda - How are you?

Ōtori - …Bad?

Maeda - …I meant to ask you about what you think happened, but I chose my question, and I’ll stick with it-

Ōtori - Sorry.

Ōtori - …Sorry, really- I’m just adjusting, that’s all…

Maeda - …

Maeda - I’m sorry I didn’t come back here sooner… I can’t imagine it was easy trying to keep Hatano from accidentally destroying evidence-

Maeda - God, there really isn’t a good way to phrase that.

Maeda - …It really messed me up to see Hatano’s reaction to Iranami’s death. Before this, no one was uniquely close with the victim- Hatano’s reaction made things feel really real, and really frightening.

Maeda - I didn’t know what to do, and you had to step in a lot to take care of things, but I don’t think you were ready or prepared for that.

Maeda - I feel… so stupid right now.

Ōtori - …I’m really fine. Just in shock, that’s all.

Maeda - Yeah, and what I said probably just threw you off-

Ōtori - If anything, I should be apologizing to her.

Maeda - …?

Ōtori - How I’m doing doesn’t really matter in comparison. She’s the one who lost her best friend.

Maeda - …Have you said anything to her?

Ōtori - What’s there to say?

Ōtori - She’s… even if I was… eloquent enough, I don’t think there’s anything we could say that she’d benefit from hearing.

Maeda - Yeah…

Maeda - …I hope she ends up eating some of her food-

Maeda - It’d be a good sign if she ate breakfast now, right? I’m worried she won’t feel up to eating, or doing anything to keep herself going…

Ōtori - Mm…

Maeda - Maybe when we get to the trial, work out who killed Iranami, it’ll be healing for her.

Ōtori - …

Maeda - …

Maeda - Oh- you were up before me, right? Is there anyone you think could’ve done it?

Ōtori - …Because I was up?-

Ōtori - Nevermind, you’re going based off the theory that the culprit snuck back into Tsurugi’s room shortly before we all woke up, right?

Maeda - Mhm…

Ōtori - No, no one caught my eye- it seemed like everyone was asleep.

Maeda - Did you happen to see Higa before we left?

Ōtori - No- Tsurugi was still asleep, he and the mattress together were significantly higher up than Higa was.

Maeda - Makes sense…

Maeda - …

Maeda - Speaking of what’s happened… what do you think happened to Iranami?

Ōtori - …

Ōtori - I don’t know. I don’t think we have enough evidence.

Maeda - Hm…

Maeda - You just seemed really firmly against the coffee theory… I figured maybe that was because you had a different guess.

Ōtori - …

Ōtori - …Did I?

Ōtori - Ah, well… I just think the evidence we have right now isn’t too strong. It’s important that we avoid making assumptions-

Ōtori - Every question I raise is one you’ll need to find an answer for, right?

Maeda - That’s fair-

Ōtori - Really, I don’t want to come across as dismissive! I just think it’s important we consider all the angles- wouldn’t it be a shame if we latched onto one theory, and missed the truth, right?

Maeda - …Yeah.

Maki - …

Maki - Investigating must be really important to you, Ōtori.

Ōtori - …Why me in particular?

Maki - …Well.

Maki - Of course, we all want to work out what happened to Iranami…

//Her voice lowers.

Maki - And everyone is worried about Hatano- but you were in the room when it all went down. It’d make sense if you were especially empathetic.

Ōtori - …

Maki - Not to mention, you accidentally destroyed evidence, right after you had to restrain Hatano, while she was in shock, to try and keep her from doing the same-

Maki - All the more reason you’d want to do your best to find Iranami’s killer…

Maki - I get it, Ōtori.

Ōtori - …

Maeda - I’ll do my best to investigate everything-

Maeda - …It’s everyone’s life on the line- well, everyone except for Iranami’s killer.

Maeda - Either us, or the person who was willing to sacrifice us all for escape… we owe it to Iranami to keep that person from getting what they wanted.

Maeda - …Wait, fuck- does that sound self-centered? To point out that we’ll die if we get things wrong?

Maki - I mean, it’s true-

Ōtori - …

Ōtori - I wonder what’ll happen regarding the fact that two people died.

Maeda - Oh! Do you think they were killed by two separate people?

Ōtori - …I did like the idea that two people might have worked together to kill Higa and Iranami- maybe they asked Monokuma how he’d handle it, and that’s why he specified his rules on killing two people now?

Ōtori - What I mean is- maybe they each killed one person, maybe one of them killed both, while the other assisted…

Ōtori - And whatever their reasoning was, it was interesting enough that Monokuma allowed it?

Maeda - …Do you think Monokuma is just gunning for whatever he thinks would be entertaining?

Ōtori - If I think for too long about why we could be here, I start to feel nauseous.

Maeda - Fair!

~*~

Maeda, narrating - I guess it’s early to be making any real calls about what happened-

Maeda - No! No, fuck that. I’m not saying I know precisely what happened, but I got burned! I got treated in a few minutes, and it hurt like hell!

Maeda - Ōtori may be right in saying we should be open to possibilities… but something just feels weird about his reaction to the poison.

Maeda - Maki might be right about it being guilt though…

Iranami is still on the table, same as when Maeda first saw her, same as she’s been in the corner of his eye, and same as she’ll be when he leaves for the trial. Up close, the [positioning of her body] sticks out to him a bit more than it did initially. Additionally, he can already tell that there’s [more blood] than he’d expected. [Maki] and [Ōtori] have both made their way over, but neither seems quite sure what to do. Maki is simply looking at Iranami, while Ōtori keeps glancing between her, and his E-Handbook. Lastly, {Hatano} is sitting alone a few tables away… but Maeda isn’t sure he wants to approach. Maeda isn’t sure he needs to investigate any of what remains, and he’s considering {going to Tsurugi’s Dormitory} now.

#dra #yuki maeda #kiyoka maki #teruya ōtori #chapter 3 #deadly life #deadly life 3

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kamiversee · 21 days

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omg i wanna give you a smooch ty for taking the time to breakdown my 4 am ramble 😘 it’s so ironic you mentioned that this is how you are with the MCU because i was the anon that said these last few chapters are my Avengers Endgame 🥲 but holy shit you were right, this is more like my Infinity War because the feeling of the cliffhanger and devestation is the same. I LUV U KAMI it’s 6 am rn and i realize i left a lot of my notes out of that “mini” TFL analysis so once i’m fully awake i might go sniffin’ for more hints 🤍 i’m sure someone else has found the Sukuna detail by now with your hints so i’m excited to apply those two hints into refining more theories!!

the fan theories are so much fun to read, but way more fun to find evidence for. i have a few excerpts from diff chapters to support theories like Choso being involved with the list generation, Sukuna and Gojo “working” together, etc. even if i’m not fully onboard with some of them. i feel like you can relate to enjoying the process of going back and gathering details, so you totally know where i’m coming from with all of this lmao

i’m so excited for your blue lock fic to be uploaded!! shidou and sae are too fine for their own good i need these men so fucking BAAAAD!!! considering that i only found you once you posted on Tumblr, it would be really cool to see how your writing progressed to the point that it’s at in TFL 🤍

💋

-☃️

That…That was a MINI analysis? HELLO?😭

Anywho, yes, to me, TFL is my Infinity War & the next fic is Endgame. I think the cliffhanger was inspired by my love for marvel too & l the things in it that connect & how they branch out…

Yeah yk how one marvel movie or show will reference another? Just wait til’ I get more fics on here & trust me I’ll be cross-referencing shit like crazy😭

Anywho, the Sukuna detail was how he texted the reader first despite him giving her his number— they never exchanged numbers, he just gave her his so, how did he text first? ><

The other detail issss, actually I think someone else found it so I’ll respond to tht ask & confirm in a bit💀

Anywho, I love how you can find something to support all sorts of theories bc it really gives me a chance to see how creative I could be going forth 😉

LASTLY, my Sae & Shidou fic was my first masterpiece imo, the angst, the fluff, the smut (I’ll probably rewrite some bits), EVERYTHING. It’s a great story & was one of my favs before I made TFL my focus ^.^

#kamiversee!answers #k!ans: ☃️

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cq-studios · 3 months

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20, 15 and 3 please :3

3. a character that fandom has helped you appreciate

The fandom has helped me appreciate so many characters way more than I did initially but I’ll have to say the most drastic is Kairi. 100% Kairi.

Like when I got into KH I kinda just branded her as bland anime girl love interest with nothing going for her (which is a mindset I’ve been working hard to get out of and I’m confident I’ve made progress in) but the fandom actually helped me see there was more to her than that. And I know in a lot of situations it ends up being the opposite but learning about the evidence for and shipping Soriku (specifically Violet Howler and Tennelle’s videos) actually helped me understand and like her more. Taking her out and away from this ‘fated’ romance with Sora for a bit actually helped me see the traits that I otherwise would have dismissed. Because her not wanting Sora to leave her behind (because she’s in love with him) became her not wanting Sora to leave her behind (because she’s afraid of change, because she’s scared he’s going to drift away like Riku did, because she doesn’t want to become an afterthought) and other stuff that I could probably write more about if I wasn’t half asleep rn lol

I think part of the issue is that I have a sort of negative knee jerk to straight romantics relationships because they’re so often poorly written or I just don’t connect to them because I’m Ace/Aro and I already have a hard time connecting to any romance in general (queer stuff is easier for me to connect to because it’s representation and it feels like a victory when it happens) and that leads me to just sort of write off both characters who are involved as boring to me (for a long time I wasn’t really a huge fan of Sora either, which feels insane to say now lol).

Sora was saved a bit faster just because of his sheer amount of screen time and focus. I hope Kairi will get a chance to shine in a future game, and that opinion is mostly because the fandom helped shine a light on the things I missed that make her a character.

15. the character that always makes you smile

See it’d be cheating to say all of the NULs (like, man, I love those guys so much, but y’all know, you’re here) so I’ll switch it up today and say Xion. I love her so much. And I mean, I think literally in my last post I was gushing about her, but you know sometimes I just have to talk about Xion. I feel like I don’t talk about Xion enough. Like, she always makes me so happy (except when everything goes wrong at the end of Days then she makes me sad, so very sad but in a good way lol).

She and Roxas were my favourites before KHUX came in with the steel chair, and while I still like Roxas, Xion was the one who’s still up there with the NULs despite it all as a comfort character. Love her, wish I had smart things to say about her lol

20. your very first fandom!

Littlest Pet Shop and/or Pokémon. I honestly do not remember… I was like 3 or 4, I think.

I used to watch so many LPS YouTube skits and series and just scroll on Google for hours looking at Pokémon fanart. I avidly collected (and still collect) both things. I probably shouldn’t have been able to just have free rein watching/looking at all that at that age, but my parents didn’t really know how to parent yet (I’m their oldest kid lol).

Probably watched some Elsa-gate level stuff at some point because I remember my mom telling me not to watch any LPS skits that were made by men???

Also y’all remember Pikachu X Ketchup? I think about Pikachu X Ketchup every day…

#man I’m so tired I should go to bed lol #I hope this all made sense I probably ended up rambling… I do that lol #I don’t even think I’m gonna tag this one with any real fandom tags because I talk about Kairi and while I feel I’m being pretty positive #I don’t wanna get hate mail again and I feel like even mentioning any ships will get me immediately taken out lol #anywhoozles thanks for the ask ^^#sometimes I think about the rest of KH

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brzatto · 9 months

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I have some questions I wanted to ask :3c

I really love your Carmy drawing! You drew his sad puppy eyes and messy hair perfectly. Are you going to post any more art? 👀

I just started watching season 2 of The Bear and I was wondering how your rewatch was going. Any new thoughts after rewatching?

You're a Pacific Rim fan? 🥳 If Carmy and Richie were partners in that I feel like the Jaeger would immediately explode as soon as they were both plugged into it 😂 What are your AU thoughts?

helloooo <3

1. thank you!!!! ;_; as for posting any more art idk i doubt it >_< if i’m being honest i rarely ever draw at all and that doodle was just a one off but if i ever just so happen to do any more in the future then maybe! i’d like to get back into drawing more but the bear has pretty evidently manifested itself more in the writing side of my brain so

2. if i’m being honest i’m still on ep2 of my rewatch LMFAO every time i try and sit myself down and tell myself to watch it i end up finding an excuse to pull myself away. idk why i’m so mentally averse to it… what’s that thing called where people keep putting off things they genuinely want to do because that’s basically what’s happening rn. i do have a lot of thoughts and half formed posts in my drafts rn just from my first watch alone though i just feel like i should complete my rewatch before sharing them and then i keep… not doing that

3. i loooove pacrim it’s one of my favorite movies/universes ever. if i like a character or a pairing regardless of what the og media source is trust that i will be imagining them in a pacrim au… i’ve been toying with the idea for carmy and richie on and off in the back of my head since way back last year but i actually think it works pretty 1:1 with canon! mikey and richie being lifelong best friends and going into the pilot program together, finding out they’re drift compatible and becoming jaeger pilots together, mikey being kia, carmy always having this pipe dream of becoming a pilot and spending his childhood looking up to mikey and richie and wanting to be just like them but being deterred by something or another. maybe going through the program but because he’s naturally reserved and introverted he thinks he doesn’t have what it takes to be an actual pilot or that he’ll never be drift compatible with someone because he can’t really imagine connecting with anyone in that way. when mikey dies richie’s left in need of a partner but richie is richie so he’s not really compatible with anyone else until they offer to test carmy and lo and behold.. richie balks from it at first obviously because carmy’s just a rookie without any real experience in the field and he and mikey were pretty well established for years (if not just a little unorthodox) and internally half of him is unable to accept the idea of carmy being mikey’s replacement due to his grief and the other half of him is unable to accept carmy being mikey’s replacement due to his protectiveness of carmy (but he doesn’t mention or bring that up ever. i think their dynamics and history in pacrimverse would mirror their histories together in canon, but any genuine good intentions richie has is also probably overshadowed by his anger/resentment and he ends up lashing out a lot at the higher ups and keeping carmy at arm’s length the whole time this is happening. he’s just like.. not coping well. or at all for that matter) cue some very slow burn and mutually tentative bonding and richie always berating carmy for being “just a kid” throughout it and objecting about having him out in the field (not to his face or anything, probably not even with malicious intent or with the purpose of hurting carmy but carmy probably overhears or finds out anyways and resents him for it + feels all that self loathing and ineptitude because he knows he couldn’t live up to mikey either) and richie being given the ultimatum of either having carmy as his partner or being forced to retire but when they’re put in a tight spot they DO go out in the field together. something very dramatic and tragic happens because something dramatic and tragic is always happening in a pacrim au and it seems unlikely that they’ll both make it out and richie is adamant about carmy being the one who lives, still struggles with all that survivor’s guilt over mikey and wouldn’t be able to take going through it again, especially not with carmy. carmy of course is like… kicking and screaming and very much NOT willing to leave him behind and at the same time he’s ANGRY because all this time richie still doesn’t think of him as being capable nor does he trust carmy enough to be able to let him help and for them to go through this together. i don’t think carmy is as concerned as much about whether he lives or dies, or even really if richie lives or dies, i think whatever happens he just wants to see it through alongside richie. he wants richie to trust him, he wants them to be a team, and regardless of what happens to them he wants them to do it together meanwhile richie’s only priority is to ensure carmy walks away from this alive. at all costs.

since this isn’t necessarily a fic plot or anything just how i imagine a pacrim au for them would be like, the endings vary—richie deceives carmy/saves him against his will and has to deal with knowing he’s automatically lost all and whatever tentative trust carmy had in him leading up to this, either richie lives and he and carmy have to start again from the ground up bond wise (maybe they realize they can’t be partners after all and richie would rather retire than have to be put in a position like that again) (lawful evil end) OR carmy eventually forgives him and they work it out and continue being partners (lawful neutral end) OR richie dies and carmy’s left to deal with the survivor’s guilt instead. (neutral evil end)

alternate endings: carmy stays and saves richie instead—also up to you whether he lives or dies but in the event that carmy dies richie has to go through all that mess with mikey all over again and idk if he could like. mentally/emotionally/physically survive that (chaotic evil end) or carmy finally finally convinces richie to trust in him just this once and they combat the evil together and come out of it stronger and closer than ever (lawful good end). also if i’m being honest when i think of this au playing out in my head i surprisingly don’t think of them ever being explicitly romantic but they still have that air of weird unspoken homoerotic tension that they do in s1: richie still devastated and grieving and fighting a battle of internal conflict, carmy still rash and impulsive and oblivious, richie wanting nothing to do with carmy but still unable to stomach the mere notion of putting him at risk, carmy thinking richie is a washed up asshole but still desperately wanting his trust and approval. sometimes the pining is better ngl

#thank you SO much for asking me about my pacrim au…. it was nice to finally put these thoughts down somewhere since it’s basically #exclusively lived in the crevices at the back of my mind up until now #but yeah i think about it a lot. i fucking love pacrim and the whole concept and universe and lore… i actually DO think sydney would be #drift compatible with carmy too #it also makes me happy to know you liked my art you’re so sweet >_<#ask #carmrich #carmy x richie

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alittlepudge-neverhurtnobody · 1 year

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Ohhh I'm curious what kind of "might be the end times" N/J are living in? And how did that relationship weight happen/when did they individually notice it happening?

they are living in the “we’re nearing the final prediction of an apocalypse theory that has accurately predicted a bunch of other stuff so far” kind of end times! it’s alt-2016 and there are weird signals coming in from space and nobody really knows what’s going on but given the apocalypse theory … it probably isn’t good! N is kind of resigned to it, like, whatever happens happens. if the world ends he’s off the hook for student loans. J is having a much more difficult time with it. he is very much in the camp of “how am I supposed to keep doing my silly little job and my silly little tasks when the WORLD might be ENDING?” he is also learning that he has an anxiety disorder but that’s a different story.

(not that it’s abnormal to be anxious when all manner of apocalyptic bullshit is going on! I myself am anxious All The Time! but he’s realizing as all this stuff is happening that perhaps his massive uncontrollable spirals about it are not … normal?? I honestly think he might eat about that too but rn we are focusing on the happy stuff!!)

but anyway, N and J have been together for 2-3 years at this point. J was a little chubby when they got together, but he also wasn’t much for cooking so a lot of times in the pre-N era he would just make himself a packet of ramen and call it a day. but once he and N move in together, there is So Much Food all the time. N isn’t just making something for dinner, he’s making an entree and sides and bread and dessert and he’s making a little cheese plate for J to snack on while he finishes up work or watches N cook. N also buys a lot of snacks and J is the kind of person who will just eat if there’s food around whether he’s hungry or not, so it, uh, doesn’t take long.

putting the rest under a cut as it got … long … but pls feel free to ask more oc questions!!

J is a very empirical evidence kind of guy so when his pants start getting harder to button and his waistbands start folding under his belly and his shirts start getting tight around his upper arms, he starts paying attention. it’s not a huge shock given how much he’s been eating, but he’s still kind of surprised by how fast his jeans go from “a little snug but wearable” to “I have to unbutton these if I want to sit comfortably at my desk.” (never mind the always-surprising “even my sweats are getting tight now?”) so he finally takes stock and is like, “welp, time to size up!” bc there is no way he’s giving up or cutting back on N’s cooking. could he exercise? sure. is he realistically gonna get up at 5am to accompany N on his morning run? absolutely not. he’ll just buy new clothes.

N notices that J is putting on weight first though. he’s been on the lookout since the first time he cooked dinner for J and J ate three helpings and was like, “oh man, I’m going to get so fat if you cook like this all the time.” to which N was like, “... that’s … fine!” while internally combusting. he enjoys cooking and baking for the actual activity, but he also likes having an excuse to shower people with food for … reasons. when they first started dating he was very “oh no 😇 I accidentally 😇 made 4 dozen cookies 😇 whatever will i do with them 😇?” he notices first that J’s belly is starting to press against his t-shirt and that he can see a couple stretch marks beginning to bloom down his sides. N is taller so he doesn’t have many excuses to ask J to get stuff off high shelves but J likes to do big stretches after a long day of hunching over in his desk chair, so N gets some good looks at how his stomach is starting to shelf over his waistbands. little by little he watches J’s belly button indent emerge beneath his t-shirts. J gains enough in his hips and thighs that N can tell he’s filling out their kitchen chairs a little more. the backs of his thighs are starting to dimple and his upper arms are getting so perfectly, squeezably chubby and it’s taking everything he’s got not to get too handsy and give himself away. he wants to FEEL IT! he wants to EXPLORE! especially since the bulk of J’s gain is from food HE COOKED. he wants the hands-on experience of how much he’s helped J overindulge!

he grinds his teeth and tries to be normal about it until J brings it up, which sort of backfires but also sort of works out because J has his own theories that N likes it and starts making offhanded comments about his gut getting bigger and “maybe I should start hitting the gym” to smoke him out. (J is a queer computer nerd who almost certainly had a traumatic time in middle school PE, he is not going to the gym.) N comes clean and J is very chill with it. he’s gonna keep enjoying N’s food anyway, he might as well have fun teasing him while he does it! he gets a lot of mileage out of it. ate too much at a work function? he can tease N by telling him how much he ate while getting a belly rub and “forgetting” to stifle his burps. got weighed at a doctor’s appointment? he’s gonna whisper that number into N’s ear while they’re making out later. out of breath bc the work elevator is broken and he had to take the stairs? might as well leave N a voicemail so he can hear how out of shape he is. tipsy after drinks with his coworkers? the only cure is cuddling with N and asking him to feed him the pizza J impulse-ordered on his way home. had a big meal and now all of his pants are a little too tight on his belly? time to sprawl on the couch and let his belly hang out unencumbered while he groans and whines about how he knew he was overdoing it, but it was too good to stop. helping N in the kitchen? his belly’s so heavy, guess he’ll have to just rest it on the countertop. none of it is kinky for him but he’s having a GREAT time nonetheless. turning N on is the real reward. (N is in feedist hell but also feedist heaven. never in his wildest dreams could he have hoped for a boyfriend who’s not only cool about his kinks, but is also so enthusiastic about indulging them.)

J puts on 60-70 pounds over the course of their first year together — the first half go on pretty quickly and the second half more gradually — and retires his outgrown t-shirts to wear around the house for N to appreciate. he plateaus around there for the most part but slowly gains a little more as their relationship progresses, and he always gets a little heavier around the holidays while N tests out recipes and bakes a metric fuckload of cookies for everyone they know. at family gatherings J tells everyone who makes a comment about his weight or aims a pointed look at his belly that N is such a great cook and is keeping him so well-fed and gives his belly a little pat or a jiggle. it gives N the vapors. (later J shows him some pictures from college and casually drops that he’s gained almost a hundred pounds since then. N is going to think about that for a LONG time.)

he grinds his teeth and tries to be normal about it until J brings it up, which sort of backfires but also sort of works out because J has his own theories that N likes it and starts making offhanded comments about his gut getting bigger and “maybe I should start hitting the gym” to smoke him out. (J is a queer computer nerd who almost certainly had a traumatic time in middle school PE, he is not going to the gym.) N comes clean and J is very chill with it. he’s gonna keep enjoying N’s food anyway, he might as well have fun teasing him while he does it! he gets a lot of mileage out of it. ate too much at a work function? he can tease N by telling him how much he ate while getting a belly rub and “forgetting” to stifle his burps. got weighed at a doctor’s appointment? he’s gonna whisper that number into N’s ear while they’re making out later. out of breath bc the work elevator is broken and he had to take the stairs? might as well leave N a voicemail so he can hear how out of shape he is. tipsy after drinks with his coworkers? the only cure is cuddling with N and asking him to feed him the pizza J impulse-ordered on his way home. had a big meal and now all of his pants are a little too tight on his belly? time to sprawl on the couch and let his belly hang out unencumbered while he groans and whines about how he knew he was overdoing it, but it was too good to stop. helping N in the kitchen? his belly’s so heavy, guess he’ll have to just rest it on the countertop. it isn’t kinky for him but he’s having a GREAT time nonetheless. turning N on is the real reward. (N is in feedist hell but also feedist heaven. never in his wildest dreams could he have hoped for a boyfriend who’s not only cool about his kinks, but is also so enthusiastic about indulging them.)

#ocs #n/j

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annebrontesrequiem · 4 months

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history mental break request: what's the weirdest thing you can tell us about the Salem witch trials?

(I currently don’t have all my books with me so sorry if the citations aren’t v specific for this post)

Tw: Animal death

Unfortunately the Salem Witch Trials have been so so talked about the shock factor of a lot of stuff has prolly gone out of popular culture. To me the weirdest thing is probably that they killed some dogs over it.

The exact amount is hard to pin down - which is also kind of funny. I first read about this in Rosalyn Schanzer’s Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem, which said three dogs were killed:

(p. 6) Alas the index on this book is terrible (it’s really a middle grade book), and I cannot remember if she said anything else on the matter.

I wish I had Stacy Schiff’s book (The Witches: Salem, 1692) on me rn, but unfortunately I don’t so instead I went to the internet. And I was semi-successful.

In Erin Blakemoor’s article for History, “Women Weren’t the Only Victim of Salem’s Witch Trials,” Blakemoor claims the number is only two saying:

Men weren’t the only unexpected victims of the Salem Witch Trials: So were dogs, two of which were killed during the scare. One was shot to death when a girl who suffered from convulsions accused it of bewitching her. Another, supposedly a victim of accused men who fled from Salem before they could be tried and arrested, was put to death.

Blakemoor cites Schiff for the second case, but the link pulls up a Google Books search which doesn’t seem to work. However, if Schiff does indeed mention only two, I’d believe her.

Blakemoor also cites Marilynne K. Roach’s The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege, which claims:

After a Salem Village dog began acting strangely, the bewitched girls said that Mr. John Bradstreet’s spirit rose and tormented the beast. The dog, though considered a victim, was killed. (p. 307)

Though this link is in the wrong spot on Blakemoor’s article, it’s a valid source and explains at least one of the incidents. Poor dog.

The other sources I saw from a quick skim through said two, so that seems to be the general consensus. Though I’m sure if I went back and looked through the books I’ve read I’d have more to say about it.

Whatever the number, I think this is really interesting. Though the Devil was associated with a black dog, the dog itself was usually considered ‘spectral evidence.’ That being, only the afflicted could see it. The Devil didn’t posses a dog, he became a dog. And the Devil was not a part of the mere physical world, but the world beyond that. The same applies with other animal ‘familiars,’ (again associated with being the Devil) such as yellow birds. Shifting the blame to real dogs is a deviation from the usual lore that at this point was widely accepted throughout Europe (though there were of course regional differences always). If I had time I’d also go to James VI’s Daemonologie, but I’m sorry I’m not reading that rn (maybe later). Suffice to say, weird. But the Salem Witch Trials deviated a good amount from European Witch Trials - even as the colonies were still, just that a colony.

So, I think that’s the weirdest fact. Though, I gotta say what is really weird is actually reading the court records. You can read it online and it’s both heartbreaking and bizarre. I think now it’s impossible to truly understand the mindset of the villagers - partly because the amount of belief varied and vacillated wildly - but if the accusers did not believe, they did at least do a very good job pretending.

So… yeah. Hope this was weird enough.

(And to my fellow history nerds, if I fucked smthing up feel free to tell me I love to learn. Same if you have a weirder fact. Chime in!)

#salem witch trials #history #17th century #history mental break #(for finding purposes)#asks #anon #animal death

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atopvisenyashill · 5 months

Note

omg pls pls post one bran meta 💔

i’ll give a rant for also loving my boy while i polish some stuff up but-

I am very much a “bran will be king” truther, i think there’s a lot of evidence for that that people kinda looked past bc they don’t find him interesting, bc they got into this series for the politics and not like, the fantasy aspects lol, but I do have like several ~scenarios~ for him, it’s just that “king of what’s left of westeros” is my favorite bc of the bittersweet aspect of it.

but part of why i think bran’s ending is kind of hard for everyone to grasp, is bc the show just didn’t give a shit about him (like, STATED they didn’t care about the fantasy aspects & i love to shittalk miguel & ryan & sara but at least they are Aware And Excited about the magic aspects of Terros). book readers tend to overlook him in favor of dany (the other big magical character) because george finds writing bran difficult and writing dany easier so we have like 50 dany chapters for every one of bran’s. but whereas there’s several dany chapters dedicated to world building, character introspection, magic, and politics EACH, bran gets all those themes kinda rolled up into these fleeting, monster chapters that are dense as fuck to read. EYE don’t mind that, but giving him like a third the amount of chapters as dany (or jon or tyrion or arya) is just REALLY setting that kid up to fail. but george has really explicitly stated he struggles with characters that are young, and he’s clearly talking about bran (probably sansa, sometimes arya as well) so it’s kinda. i get his struggle!! but he also clearly loves bran as a character bc the chapters we get are real rich!

but d&d don’t even give us what’s on the page bc they do not care!!! so it’s so hard to really pin down what the fuck is going on with bran, bc i truly think they cut most of the notes george gave them about bran, possibly even gave parts of his story to others bc “it would be cooler”, and then used him almost exclusively for exposition & shock value. like, for all we know, the long night is also very short in the books bc of something bran did while in the north, but those two thought it would be cooler if it was just one battle.

[sidebar but like i mean, also jon is a big magical character, but rn jon is less “a magical character” and more “a character that has magic happen to him” bc he’s still a bit uncomfortable about being a warg, bc the logistics & morality of it freak him out. honestly that’s a good thing for jon, bc look at what “do magic first ask questions later” has gotten dany and bran (and theoretically robb). being inside ghost is certainly going to change his outlook on magic & cause another identity crisis, but i don’t think the magical side is where jon is going to struggle morally]

[also i do think the long night is likely to be a little longer, because i think they’re getting to the trident, but potentially they only fuck the north and riverlands and not anywhere else because of something bran does. idk man. for all he goes on about aragorn’s tax policies, he has done with the wights & others exactly what’s done with the orcs. makes me wonder if there’s some plot about the others that involves bran befriending & humanizing a section of them & d&d went “that’s weird and boring” and cut it, like the way the director for i am legend changed the ending to that suicide grenade scene even tho the book ending is so objectively better that will smith said he’s gonna do a second movie but with the cut ending aksjjd. my evidence so far for that is like, negative evidence, which doesn’t make for good meta, so i’m excited to get to adwd so i can reread bran’s chapters in like, ya know, a year 😭]

#asks #hope u like my word vomit

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stormyoceans · 2 years

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Thoughts on talay's character arc? Thoughts on Puen's character arc? Thoughts on the development of their relationship? Thoughts on any part of this wonderful gift of a show??

ANON YOU'RE PLAYING A VERY DANGEROUS GAME HERE I COULD LITERALLY WRITE A WHOLE DISSERTION ABOUT VICE VERSA YOU GOTTA GIVE ME SOME LIMITATION IF WE BOTH WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS WITH OUR SANITY INTACT. it's probably a good thing that it's been a constant 48 hours goat screaming up in my head since the show ended and that im still nowhere near coherent enough to articulate my thoughts properly........

talay's character journey is actually one of my favorite things about the show (and this says quite a lot, considering i adore pretty much everything about it) and i think it's also one of the best i've ever seen depicted in a BL. i do feel like im lacking the right english words to explain myself rn, but there's been something so.. charming and heartening about watching this boy who didn't believe in love, who has always prioritized his dream career to the point he never allowed himself to even consider a romantic relationship, slowly opening up to the possibility of it

the way they handled it was also incredibly refreshing to me, because talay’s choice of putting work before love is never shown in a negative light, it’s simply a part of his character that helps the viewers build a sense of who talay is: someone driven, meticulous, logical…. but talay is also warm and caring and kind. he doesn’t need to change or put his dream aside to love and be loved, he just needs to leave some space for it and let himself feel. if in the end puen is asked to choose between work and love (and in his case that choice feels like a blessing, because he never had an option before), talay’s journey is all about learning that he doesn’t necessarily have to pick one or the other, but that the two can coexist

another thing i really appreciated is that the writers never rushed talay into realizing and accepting his feelings for puen, but they made him experience all these new and different emotions (both good and bad) and then actually gave him have the time to figure out what they meant. it was a slow process, but it felt incredibly natural, and drawing a parallel with the color pink was such a clever way to show the progress in talay's feelings

puen’s character journey is probably less evident, compared to talay’s, but it’s honestly just as good. i feel like we focus a lot on how the alternate universe gave puen the chance to learn about all the different kinds of love and affection he never got to experience in his life (not only romance, but friendship and family too), however i think a big part of his journey is also rediscovering himself and letting himself be puen

it probably sounds a bit of a contradiction, since he spent most of the series going by ‘tun’, but i’ve rewatched some scenes from the first few episodes and it’s really startling how much more contrived puen feels compared to the second half of the show. this isn’t to say he was being fake or insincere, but you can see he used to hide a lot behind the cool actor persona he had to build for himself, and it made me realize that i didn’t fully understand just how true puen’s words are when he tells talay “not many people see this side of me. you’re one of them” and “i’m like this with you only. when i’m with you i don’t act.” being with talay and travelling to the alternate universe helped puen reconnect with who he is, and it’s beautiful to see his real self coming out more and more throughout the episodes and have him realize that maybe being puen is not that bad

i think im gonna stop here because this is already too long and if i start on all the reasons why puentalay is the best couple with the best development ever i will be on my deathbed and still not done with it, but i said it before and im gonna say it again: puen and talay's journey of going from strangers to friends to lovers felt believable and realistic in a way few others ever did, not only in BLs but in other shows too. it was about two very different people who didn't know what love was helping each other grow and choosing each other over and over again. they fell in love, and it felt real

#i forgot half of the english i've ever learned while writing this which was probably for the best actually #im surprised no one has sniped me out of existence yet #but thank you so much for giving me the chance to talk about this show anon!!!!!#im literally so in love with it i really don't know what to do with myself now that it's over #vice versa #vice versa the series #puentalay #m: ask

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coexistentialism · 10 months

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hi! can I get your input and resources if u have any? how exactly would u differentiate a normal non dissociative related facet(?) of one’s self vs alters/parts in osdd/did/pdid? can singlets have selves that are of completely differing aesthetics, species, age/maturity, and such not put on by choice? I’ll give an made up example… an identity that is composed of being a fairy into “cottagecore” who acts older/mature vs another id that is composed of being a silly childish dog. That create conflict in how to look and how to come off. like where’s the line between someone that has multiple aesthetics and sometimes acts childish vs parts/alters. throwing dissociation trauma and amnesia out the window rn bc the singlet in my example could even have trauma and dissociation and amnesia yet still are a singlet.. I’m more so focusing on the parts themselves if that makes sense. can I also ask what do u think of the term monoconscious and polycon what could it mean for someone w that experience? thank you.

I ended up apparently having more to say about this than I expected. I don't think I really answered your question, but this gave me an opportunity to just ramble my feelings and thoughts, so.

"How exactly would you differentiate a normal non dissociative related facet(?) of one’s self vs alters/parts in osdd/did/pdid? Can singlets have selves that are of completely differing aesthetics, species, age/maturity, and such not put on by choice? I’ll give a made up example… An identity that is composed of being a fairy into “cottagecore”, who acts older/mature, vs another identity that is composed of being a silly, childish dog. That creates conflict in how to look and how to come off. Like where’s the line between someone that has multiple aesthetics and sometimes acts childish vs parts/alters. Throwing dissociation, trauma, and amnesia out the window right now because the singlet, in my example, could even have trauma and dissociation and amnesia, yet still are a singlet.. I’m more so focusing on the parts themselves if that makes sense."

I... Honestly have no idea because I have been very sheltered my whole life and don't really know what it's like for a singlet to experience those things. I also don't feel confident in my ability to even attempt to come up with an answer either. To be honest, I don't quite think there IS an answer!

How do you know if your facets of self are not related to any kind of dissociation? Easy! If you don't experience dissociation, and/or if you don't experience any kind of dissociation from the facet of yourself, then you are experiencing a non-dissociative facet of yourself.

Okay, but my real answer is... You never really know for certain. Not if you don't get strapped up to like a brain scan or something and see the physical, real, biological changes. And even then, I'm sure that somebody who has gotten that "biological evidence" of the real changes in their brain, I'm sure that they would still experience denial.

The truth is that alters can oftentimes just look like somebody is having an "off day." Or maybe they're more cheerful today than usual. Or maybe they seem to be making a lot of slip-ups today than usual. Maybe they're a bit forgetful - they come in late to work sometimes and they forget about things here and there, but they're always a good worker, they do their job and they're a cool person. Maybe they are a person who has DID and those "off days" and "being more happy than usual" are different alters, or maybe that is a singlet person who just.. Can be different sometimes.

I made a really long post about "identity alteration" in DID and how it differs from people who might not have DID (or OSDD) here. I'm not sure if you've already come across that post and read it, but I figured I would link it just in case.

I'll also refer to Felis' post here because their post is better and probably better answers your questions than I could. I'm sure other systems on Tumblr have also made posts regarding this topic as well, and I encourage other people to add their own input on this post.

I will say that what you described is very relatable as somebody with DID, and whose alters do very much, like. "Manifest" (??? lmao) in the way you described.

I always thought of my experiences as "hyperfixating on identities." I thought that I was just latching onto specific things that I liked and found cool - like the thought of being a vampire or even a song lyric that I really "vibed" with - and "creating a fake identity surrounding that (thing or things)."

For example, I might find a song lyric I really like and really resonate with, for whatever reason, and I'll end up basically... "Making" my online persona to match this "identity" I thought up in my head.

A certain username I vibed with, an icon to match, and that was my "identity."

To this day, this is still how we, like.. "Work." We resonate more with a username than a name.

Not sure if any of that makes sense, but yeah what you described is relatable, and that's a big way my alters kinda "manifest" even still to this day.

"Can I also ask what do you think of the term monoconscious and polycon what could it mean for someone w that experience?"

I had to search up these terms. I assume polycon means polyconscious?

I don't know. People can use these labels and terms if they want, if they feel they are helpful. I personally don't like it, and wouldn't like it for myself, and wouldn't want people to treat these terms like they are scientific fact. For example, if I tell people about my experiences, I wouldn't want people to start calling me a "monoconscious system" or "polyconscious system" or anything.

I think it's understandable and makes sense why people would want to come up with terms like these. And I don't know if it's hurting anyone, I don't think it is lol? They are just words, just labels/terms people are using. Like they are just words and if somebody sees a term like these that they really like, that they resonate with and feel really describes them, that's really cool for them. I just don't know if I personally like it. And that's fine, I don't have to like it.

I will just say that, as far as I know and someone please correct if I'm wrong, all alters are "separate consciousnesses." There is no "all alters have one, collective consciousness" - the idea of "one consciousness" is a false one. There was specifically a book that talked about this better and I thought that it was "The Stranger in the Mirror", but I couldn't find the section where it discusses this concept, that actually nobody has one, singular, continuous consciousness and our consciousness is always shifting. Again, somebody do please correct me on this if I'm wrong.

Anyways I encourage other people's input on this post if anybody wanted to add anything and/or correct me.

#actuallyosdd #actuallydid #osdd system #did system #my posts #inbox

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allhallowstiel · 2 years

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so, i’m gonna try to provide an explanation as to why people are upset about will rn, because there seems to be some misinterpretation going on. if you read through what i have to say and you still don’t agree, cool. i just think it’s understandable why people are hurt and wanted to explain that a bit more.

(explanation under the cut bc this post is long):

first and foremost, we know that the show itself did not queerbait with byler. although the show heavily implied that will had feelings for mike, they never strongly suggested that mike felt the same. most of the “evidence” that byler had was mostly just theories put together based on crumbs- and i say this as a byler shipper.

the reason people are saying they were queerbaited is mostly because of netflixgeeked.

egging fans on on twitter:

using the byler tag on their tiktoks:

being unhinged on instagram:

“but netflixgeeked is just a glorified fan account” true! but they have that checkmark and they’re affiliated with netflix

but rest assured, the official netflix accounts also got in on the action!

(i borrowed some of these screenshots from hypnct1c2.0 on tiktok)

for those of you who witnessed the voltron mess, you might notice that this all seems rather familiar. netflix has a bit of a history of baiting fans.

now there’s a bit of a debate on whether noah is also to blame considering what he’s said about byler- and while for the most part i think actors are just people who read a script, i do think it was kind of odd that he would tell people to ship byler knowing that it only ends in heartbreak for will. i also don’t know why he would say that they’re building up byler when the only thing volume 2 did was break it down. i’d like to think it was just poor wording on his part- he’s a kid and probably doesn’t even know what queerbaiting really is, but i do wish he had chosen his words better because i think they gave a lot of people hope.

THAT is where the queerbaiting accusations are coming from. people are for the most part pissed off at netflix.

will’s sexuality

people are also upset because they didn’t feel that will’s sexuality was addressed properly. i think the van scene was clear as day to people who can read subtext, but the fact that i still see people insisting that will has been acting weird because he’s secretly in love with eleven and upset that mike is with her is... frustrating. at this point, the general audience should get it, and they don’t.

i mean, look at this screenshot i took from an article today talking about unanswered questions in volume 2.

“it’s unclear”. we have people who are writing about stranger things and covering it in their articles that were left feeling like it wasn’t clear. personally im flabbergasted since, again- that van scene was incredibly loud to me, but then i remember that not everyone automatically reads into byler shit. like i mentioned before- there are people who still think will is in love with el, even after david harbour shot that idea down.

but the general audience doesn’t typically watch or read interviews, or read into things with a byler lens. but- aside from a few idiots that desperately want to ship robin with steve for some reason- most people in the ga do know and understand that robin is a lesbian. she never explicitly said the word lesbian, she didn’t get up and wave a pride flag around- but we all got it. for some reason, the message that will is gay isn’t getting to people. we still have people insisting that he’s in love with el, or that he just “doesn’t wanna grow up”.

now it’s important to note here that will isn’t any less valid just because he’s not out, but there is more than one way to indicate that a character is gay. no one is asking for will to start waving a pride flag around in indiana in the 80′s. but i think that this is the main reason people wanted will to get vecna’d- we would likely see vecna taunting will over his feelings for mike, which would confirm his sexuality without having him come out to anyone. i think what fans wanted was more of something along those lines- no one wants will to put his safety at risk and no one thinks will is any less valid for not being out. the anger all comes out of love for the character- it’s just that sometimes that anger ends up being misdirected because people don’t know who to be angry at.

there are some fans that feel represented by will, since having a crush on your straight best friend is a relatable and common experience for closeted kids. there are others who are frustrated with the ambiguity. both of these feelings are valid and i believe they can coexist.

what i think is going on with this is that the duffers assumed the van scene and that hug with jonathan would be enough to clue the general audience in. it wasn’t, and now will fans are frustrated at having to defend will being gay for another two or three years while we wait for season 5.

but i will say that anyone saying “we got the van scene, what more do you want” needs to just Not, because despite how loud that scene was, his struggle with his sexuality is far from over, and there are some things that i think season 5 needs to deliver on. it just fucking sucks that it turns out we have to wait again- and we have to hope that what we get is worth the wait.

the painting

now this is the biggest thing that most people are angry about. people are angry that will’s feelings for mike were essentially used to push mike and el back together.

yes, will made the choice to lie about the painting. but i honestly don’t think mike would’ve put it together even if will hadn’t lied. he clearly doesn’t remember the letter, because if he did, he would’ve seen through will’s lie right away. if he can’t remember what el said in the letter, then i don’t think he would read into the painting if im being honest.

but even putting the painting aside- which is beyond frustrating since it was hyped up as this important thing between mike and will, not mike and el- all of mike and will’s scenes this season were just them talking about el. will spent the entire season trying to fix mike and el’s relationship despite how much it’s absolutely breaking him- and he doesn’t get jack fucking shit for it. no closure, no self-acceptance, no character growth- just angst for the sake of angst.

and the worst part is that he’s always going to be exposed to their relationship because el is now his sister. he’s trapped. he’s always going to see them together and wish it could be him in el’s place. it feels like they’ve made him miserable and they’re never gonna let him move on.

queer characters should never be used to strengthen or push a straight relationship. mike did not need to be involved in will’s coming out storyline. that’s why i feel like they only did it for the drama. will could’ve easily started having feelings for a guy at his new school. but honestly, at the rate they’re going, i feel like the most we’ll get is a five second shot in the last episode of him and his boyfriend.

it’s disgusting that will’s feelings were used for mlvn. his feelings were not treated with any sort of respect or decency. we deserved at least one fucking scene of them this season that wasn’t will pushing mike to be with el.

so, yeah. hopefully this post gives you some insight on the real reasons people are upset, because a lot of things are being wildly misinterpreted rn and i wanted to set the record straight.

#stranger things #will byers #byler #just trying to clear some things up #bc some of yall..... wow. you are not getting it at all #also people's hurt feelings are incredibly valid so... maybe stop trying to tell people they don't have the right to feel sad??#ultimately we all just want the best for will #and we don't feel like he's gonna get it at this rate

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