#i argued about it anyway didn't i? ;)

[yume127]

I find it interesting how Roxas is often described as the “angry one” or “short-tempered one” when compared to Sora or Ventus, mostly because I always felt Sora and Ven have a shorter fuse than Roxas.

The association between Roxas and anger is understandable, because many of Roxas’ most poignant moments in the series happen when he is very (and understandably) angry, but I also feel like it’s a disservice to his character to only reduce him to his anger, especially when it’s far from who he is in normal circumstances.

For example, during Days, many Organization members treat him poorly and insult him to his face and, for the most part, Roxas doesn’t react at all. In Halloween Town, Lock, Shock, and Barrel throw bombs in his face multiple times before Roxas finally snaps at them. He senses that many people around him are keeping things from him, but it takes him months before he confronts someone about it. That’s far from someone I’d consider short-tempered or easy to anger.

The only situation I can think of when we see him get upset quickly is if anyone does or says something bad to Xion and, even then, the most of his reaction is verbally snapping at Saix to make him stop disrespecting her. In Axel’s case (when Roxas is upset with him for attacking Xion), Roxas doesn’t confront him at all, he just avoids him altogether. Also, I think it’s important to note that every moment in which Roxas is very angry happens when his entire life is falling apart, which is a situation in which, I believe, everyone would be upset.

Roxas seems the kind of person who bottles everything up without much reaction until it becomes too much and he explodes, and that’s when he has a hard time controlling his anger/emotions. Having spent most of his life in the organization probably plays a part in it as, every time he brings up any emotion, his feelings are invalidated and suppressed. That’s not an environment that gave him the tools to process strong emotions in a healthy way.

Let’s compare that to Ventus. Ven is the definition of short-tempered in BBS. He’s ready to throw hands with Vanitas the moment he says something remotely bad about Terra, which was minutes after he met him for the first time. He fought the dwarves without a second thought just because they refused to talk with him. His first reaction when he becomes small and is trapped in a mousetrap is to shout. These are just some examples from the top of my head, but it’s clear Ven has a shorter fuse than Roxas.

Ventus usually expresses how he feels in any given situation and has a short fuse. On the flip side, he doesn’t seem to hold on to these feelings at all. He externalises them the moment he feels them, but then he lets it go and it doesn’t bother him anymore. Out of the three of them, Ventus seems the most open about his emotions and, from what I remember, when he opens up about feeling a certain way with his friends, his feelings are usually not invalidated nor brushed aside. In UX, Ventus seems calmer and doesn’t have much anger in him, but he’s still open to expressing his feelings of low self-worth and sadness with the other union leaders.

Sora, I think he falls in the middle? He seems to have a shorter temper compared to Roxas, which was especially clear in KH2, where he snaps at the Organization multiple times, but he also bottles up his emotions more than Ven, especially around his friends. This happens mostly with his sadness, which he always tries to hide or brush aside, but in KH3 we can also see, for example, how much he’s bothered by everyone constantly bringing up him not passing the Mark of Mastery, even if he tries not to show it.

I think Sora feels like he should always be happy for his friends’ sake, and even during the rare moments when he tries to express his sadness, his feelings are not truly welcomed (“No frowning. No sad faces. This boat runs on happy faces”), so he just tries to brush it off as a joke. He’s loud in expressing any kind of positive emotion, and he openly expresses his anger against his enemies (and to his friends too, sometimes), but he also doesn’t hold on to that anger and is pretty forgiving. However, he usually bottles up his sadness, low self-esteem and other negative feelings, and then explodes when he can’t hold it together any longer (like it happened at the Keyblade Graveyard when he thought all his friends were gone forever).

#roxas #ventus #sora #kingdom hearts #kh #i wonder if this misconception about roxas happens because most of his personality is shown in days #like in the actual game not in the movie #and maybe people who didn't play days don't know his characterization during the game #even if i would argue sora and especially ventus suffer from the same problem but opposite #where they're often described as always happy and sunshine when there's much more to their characterization #anyway i just wanted to talk about them #sorry for any mistakes #long post

[destinywillowleaf]

one of a kind living in a world gone plastic

baby you're so classic

@most-tragic-character-tournament

(all my thoughts in the tags)

#anyway i found their theme song and lost my mind #tragedyshipping #lloyd garmadon #ninjago #antigone #tagamemnon #pollshipping #i'm gonna be thinking about this for the next hour before i go to sleep #i just wanted to make a playlist for them i didn't think i would find a perfect fit #they have taken over many of my braincells and i can't even complain this is the enrichment i needed #all i'm saying is the idea of a movie trailer for these two is taking shape more and more and this should 100% be the accompanying song #not even a full trailer because that would take forever but like. a 30 second TV spot. family drama. them not really getting along at first #(e.g. glaring at each other while being forced to dance or something) #but then warming up to each other on the road because road trips have my soul when it comes to movies ok #i want them to stargaze in the bed of a hotwired pickup truck while on the run from people who demand bloodshed (a poll winner) #the slow(?) burn of not wanting to be in this mess to actually enjoying spending time together to something more #(trailer/commercial ends on or just after “baby you're so classic” with the cut to the title and in theaters date) #maybe most of the tv spot is them arguing and making life hell for one another but it's hard to deny there's something more brewing #(one of the reviews is just ''A modern classic'' because i think i'm funny) #i really want the title to be a play off of them meeting through the tragic tournament but it's completely different from the tone i want #''tragedy: null and void'' is a fun one #i've never been the greatest at titles if they don't hit me like a truck #anyway hi folks i'm sorry if you have no idea what's happening and see this in your tags

[transfemyoungblood]

they are both trans girls. you agree.

#rswr roman #rswr youngblood #roleslaying with roman #i could go more into depth about this #i mean. i am tumblr user transfem youngblood so of course i'm going to go more into depth abt this #but youngblood seems like a newly out trans girl who was extremely repressed during her bard college years. #i just know it. argue with the wall #plus it is canon that she was forced to be someone she wasn't during her time at the college #and she ran away when she realized that she didn't want to be the person she was expected to become #narratively and thematically it makes so much sense. cmon now #also roman is an egg. once again just trust me on this one bro #being scared of disappointing the people you care about with who you are #may not be a universal trans girl experience #but it is one i relate to heavily #anyways. hitting them both with the tgirl beam :3

[winepresswrath]

Darla/Angelus is also great because the show has a competing designated OTP and they exist to serve as contrast and hateful competition to THE ship. they are soulless monsters even by the standards of soulless monsters, they literally make the other soulless monsters go "yikes... your relationship seems not good maybe." but they love each other so fucking much. the writers can't help it. they are constantly trying to find their way back to each other. the way she hits him over a head with a shovel and leaves him to an angry mob while he tries to say he doesn't mind dying if it's with her AND the way they coo about it to each other afterwards. the way she takes him back against her better judgement because she missed him so so much but then kicks him out again later because he still can't be who she needs him to be. that's just how they say i love you.

#press says btvs #the thing i appreciate about buffy/angel the shows and the ship #is that it really does set up a designated otp. and like i would argue that for a time at least it succeeds!! who isn't #being sent to hell right alongside angel at the end of season two? #but everyone is having too much fun even in early seasons to just pick a ship and stick to it. they really say you're going to love so many #people in so many ways. sometimes you'll be in denial about it or the way you loved them will feel gross or demeaning or small in hindsight #but like. you're gonna love a lot of people. you're going to have a community. you will also have sex with a lot of people #probably. #the overlap between these two categories will be a source of much conversation on the internet #incidentally thank u to the comic strip goofus and gallant for perfectly exemplifying a particular kind of morality play and having a fun #little name. your contributions to online discourse should never be discounted #da is not the goofus to ba's gallant but you kind of expect it to be going in #anyway i'm so glad they decided to expand their family/polycule #even if the mixed metaphors got my tumblr temporarily suspended like i cannot stress how much they mixed those metaphors IN THE TEXT #I DIDN'T DO THAT. drusilla did that. Darla also did that a little

[recurring-polynya]

what is the best attack in bleach and why is it la muerte

#chad yasutora #king shit #iconic #if anyone tries to fight with me i will block you #nothing is cooler than punching someone so hard a skull appears in the wall behind them. nothing. #ngl i think the karakura kids busting up these hollows is my fave fight of the tybw anime #remember when little p didn't like chad when she first met him because she didn't like his cheekbones? #anyway she's been a chad stan for about 140 episodes now #but last night (the debut of la muerte) she rated him a '30 out of 10' #'10 for the right arm. 10 for the left arm. 10 for being CHAD' #she also insists he has never lost a fight ever and will shush you if you try to argue with her (i would never) #imagine being nine years old and having such correct anime opinions #she was not happy about nnoitra showing up at the end we are not talking about nnoitra #ichigo 🤝my daughter 🤝chad could never lose

[everysongineverykey]

i dunno it kinda bothers me sometimes to see characters who are referred to with they/them pronouns in games described as "ambiguously gendered" or "gender left unclear" or "gender unstated" by fans and stuff like. yeah absolutely they are sometimes that. sometimes the creator had a gender in mind for them while creating them and just didn't think to talk about it in the game. but also, like. sometimes characters can just be nonbinary? and it makes me kinda sad that everyone's first reaction to they/them pronouns in games is "oh, they have a binary gender, it's just up to the player/not stated in-game".

#this is just something i was thinking about #after reading the ut localization book and seeing monster kid and onionsan described this way specifically #like. onionsan isn't really a big deal to me. they're just never talked about in the game. #i'm not treating them as Important Canon Nonbinary Rep because even though i use they/them for them #they're not canonically Anything. #monster kid is sort of the same deal? undyne uses they/them for them #and while it could be argued that she doesn't know them you could also argue they sneak out to follow her a lot #she could've met them before. #eh. it's a non-issue in this case really. at least they didn't describe napstablook that way #but honestly why are they so scared of saying 'nonbinary'. it's clear that that's what napstablook is #with the 'theirself' and all that #which. singular themself/theirself is not a word you see often in media at all! #it certainly wasn't when undertale came out! that was a pretty uncommon word in games! #so props to toby for featuring the first singular themself i ever saw in media and making me go 'woah' #but anyway. if you're curious. the lol book simply says #'the game refers to napstablook as 'them' not 'him' or 'her'' #which. yeah! they're a them! but why do you act like this is some sort of narration quirk #and not just. a character being nonbinary. #i think that became pretty clear when the first few rounds of the undertale art book #came out and used he/him for them #but then someone asked toby about the pronoun difference #and he called them all back and changed their pronouns to they/them in the book once again. #honestly i. only vaguely remember hearing that so if someone has sources i'd love to see them #but like. why can't characters be nonbinary. why can't people just say nonbinary. it's not a scary word.

[kwillow]

what kinds of gestures would theo appreciate the most? it seems like he's generally uncomfortable by expressions of affection (physically especially) and it would be neat to know what would actually make him feel happy. perhaps little gifts and such? would he keep said gifts? so many thoughts about this Strange man

I thought of some other common ways people demonstrate affection and make friends besides physical touch: kind words, gift-giving, acts of service… all to try to show that Theo is a dire prick.

Theo is an intractable misanthrope - miserable, spiteful and prone to seemingly random acts of aggression. He is deeply uncomfortable with other people, and if he can't keep them at arm's length, he goes for the throat (or, at least, snaps at their ankles with petty jabs and demeaning remarks).

I think I have erred in mostly drawing his Amaranthine self with his mother or Hyden, two people he greatly admires and devotes himself to. Frankly, Theo does not appreciate affectionate gestures (or any interaction) from anyone besides his chosen person(s). He doesn't trust such gestures, he doesn't really want them, and he feels a certain bitter satisfaction in throwing kindness back in people's faces.

Being kind to him might keep him from being as hostile as he would be to someone unkind, but that's not a guarantee. He often sees kindness as manipulative, condescending, self-righteous or just plain stupid. He may be increasingly cruel to someone of a gentle disposition just to see how much they can take before they snap back and show their "true colors", vindicating his initial dislike of them. Trying to bond with him is almost as likely to earn his ire as antagonizing him. All that to say... I wouldn't waste gifts on him if I were you.

(Now, obviously, he is capable of bonding with people, but it takes some very rare and particular qualities and circumstances. If someone is one of his chosen few, he does appreciate gifts - and keeps them forever - and he may be grateful for flattering words, and maybe he will even tolerate being touched, but he doesn't demand or expect much in the way of affection. Being trusted and relied upon is often enough for him to feel fulfilled in companionship. BUT I've prattled on enough for now, don't you think?)

#theo #my draws #amaranthine #asks #sorry for the long post I just have endless thoughts about Theo #I have almost as many thoughts about him as he has insults for other people #truly; he is an insufferable jerk 99% of the time #the kind of guy who would wear an 'allergic to stupid people' shirt if he didn't think wearing t-shirts was a sign of low-class barbarism #the kind of guy who would argue with you on a forum for 12 hours straight #the kind of guy who kills and eats people in at least one AU - and that's the version of him with the MOST friends #anyway... sorry if this is not what you wanted I just cannot stop making characters who are unlikeable asshats

[brittlebutch]

actually it's kind of funny how people will say Alex's fatal flaw is that he 'doesn't ask for help' and that it's his determination to handle things on his own that leads to his deterioration and eventual death when his whole introduction to the present-day timeline was a very literal cry for help that simply went ignored

#N posts stuff #like even if you think alex was lying throughout the entirety of season 2 and he was waiting from the Moment jay showed up #JUST to kill him (Which again i don't think makes much sense when he could have killed Tim & Jay immediately instead of #breaking Tim's leg. anyway) EVEN IF alex spent that whole time lying it doesn't actually change the fact that he would have at least #been Pretending to Ask For Help and if he wasn't lying then he was Literally Asking For Help and it doesn't Actually matter #what intention Alex had because the text is Ambiguous about Alex's honesty during season two; what isn't ambiguous is the way #other characters (specifically Jay) respond to him; like yeah - S2 Brian/Tim were never in one million years going to help Alex with shit #so sort of any argument that brings up Tim as someone who asks for/offers help is borderline meaningless in this era of the series #Jay had the 'opportunity' to help Alex (and i'll get back to that in a sec) but DIDN'T - Jay wasn't Interested in actually offering Alex #'help' bc Jay is ultimately curious about Answers and 'Offering Help' and 'Getting Answers' are two Wildly conflicting goals #Jay thinks Alex has answers and when Alex doesn't Offer these 'Answers' to Jay on a silver platter Jay gets pissed off and paranoid #and starts Stalking Alex bc he thinks it's 'Suspicious' that Alex won't give him the Answers (that Alex probably doesn't Actually have) #ANYWAY. ultimately this post is about how it's absurd when people argue #that individual character choices could have made a difference in the way this series played out - specifically wrt Alex #because EVERYONE in this WHOLE series are being affected by influences outside of their control ; including Brian Tim and Jay #so it's silly when people are like 'if ALEX had just made a different choice For Himself this could have all been avoided' WRONG. #bc Ultimately there's not really a way to 'help' someone else out of this situation - Tim tried and failed Repeatedly #the comics proved he even failed with Jessica - like MH isn't a horror situation where you can kill the big bad #'getting help' is a meaningless argument - what would successfully helping or getting help even look like? anyway. #the sub argument of this post is that Alex's biggest 'sin' is that he doesn't perform emotions the way other people want him to #like Alex is a character with a kind of flat affect - instead of LOOKING scared or grieved he LOOKS bored or angry #and everyone judges him based on that - so Alex is 'Suspicious' he's 'Lying' he's 'Guilty' but all of these deductions are predicated #on the belief that Alex isn't reacting to his circumstances the way a 'Normal' person would - so it MUST all be an act and so he's guilty #so everyone treats him like he's guilty until the end of season two when he's like 'Fuck it FINE i'll be guilty then' and so it goes #not a self-fulfilled prophecy but being Cornered Into a prophecy and then Blamed for it - SAD. anyway

[bumblingbabooshka]

Killer and Consort of a Legend - Averted.

#can't BELIEVE I've drawn STONN. /STONN/ more than I've drawn Spock - THE Star Trek character #anyway....what if the woman you loved was betrothed to some man she's never met but would be forced to marry despite loving you? #T'Pring haters can argue with the WALL btw - yeah even TOS T'Pring especially her #bea art tag #T'Pring/Stonn #I redrew the outfit he wears bc I /THINK/ it's supposed to be armor but it's like tinfoil??? #also I know I always draw Vulcan ears big - STONN has big ears...big earred boy #& you know what they say about men with big ears....they're great listeners <3 #what if I was willing to kill or be killed for you but you were unwilling to let me risk my own life when there was an alternative #even if that alternative left you trapped in a marriage you didn't want bc you were secure in the knowledge that if I lived I would #love you? T'Pring's plan literally hinges on the fact that no matter what - if Stonn lives then she and Stonn will be together #love them I wish them the best <3

[masterfuldoodler]

If half alive has 1000 fans I am one of them. If half alive has 1 fan, I am that fan

#text #august rambles #this is brought to you by seeing someone's review for them. and saying they didn't like the ep because it was standard #and that now not yet was better but had a bunch of poor songs. some of them bad #they even said still feel wasn't good because it was appealing too much to 'teen angst' #anyway i couldn't read the rest i had to leave #it was too painful i like the music too much we viewed it from different standpoints ack #i see a lot of people saying half alive is knock off twenty one pilots and like i see what they're saying. they are similar but #why does that mean its a knock off. what if they are just similar. half alive is clearly doing they're own thing. they're not copying them #maybe. that is just what that band is good at doing! the same as twenty one pilots. just cuz twenty one pilots came first doesn't mean #they own the scene. (you can argue they're better at they're music but if you're gonna do that make sure you're comparing the early stuff) #anyway rant about this because. i really like half alive and just dsbkncjnvb you don't need to be a fan #you don't need to think they're awesome. you can have an opinion outside of mine #but please be nice. and remember. it's Your opinion it's not Truth. if you don't like the song. you don't like it #if you think the repetition is boring. its not for you. if the 'angst' is stupid. its not for you. if the song doesn't hold weight. #it's not for you. the artist wrote this. and worked with other people to publish it #clearly they cared and other people saw worth in it. and like!! the fact that they're not big name also means they Can't get away with like #stupid filler stuff. they don't have enough of a name they gotta impress #idk i care too much. i see things like this and im just. ugh. it feels pretentious #half alive

[hoardlikegoldenirises]

tonal whiplash—a scene out of context.

Trying to draw 616 Scarlet Spider Kaine is so hard for me 😂 I think my problem was the cheekbones, which I tried to fix, so I think he turned out alright here. I'm just so used to drawing him smashed up. Obviously. Also. It's really hard to draw windowverse Kaine's nose in profile. I need to find some reference photos or something.

It's smeared off to the side lol (different WIP/sketch, making a scar reference lol—it actually came in handy for this pic a little bit)

Anyway, here are the lines without any colors—

beef

I did not necessarily originally intend to blanket everything in solid black, so there are lines that aren't visible lmao — but in the dream sequence thing this is part of there is a lot of pure darkness and voids of negative space so i was like, you know, i should probably invoke that here. I GUESS I could have colored 616 Kaine's pants dark gray or something but I decided to leave it all invisible so I could keep the palette simple and focus more on the... copious quantities of blood lol

tfw your hair is just soaked with blood. I was just about to say "in the nature of dreams, this isn't realistic, and his hair isn't actually soaked in blood irl" but then I thought about it for a sec and... no, it definitely is soaked all the way up to the back of his head because of the fact that he ends up lying in a pool of his own blood for like... at least fifteen minutes. if not longer. maybe thirty minutes?

it gets chopped to chin-length after this (when he gets ✨hospitalized✨ because he's ✨dying✨) on account of the blood being a radioactive biohazard and also a hazard in general (tripping hazard, tangling hazard, etc.)—the buzzcut in some other sketches I've posted is not until a week or two later and is something he does because of some complex emotions.

they go to a renfair like three weeks after this 😂

Anywho~

he is m— he is my poor little meow meow,,,

#This is AU!Kaine and 616 Kaine but it could also be read as like. 90s Kaine and 2010s Kaine I guess #ftr there isn't actually any multiversal stuff in windowverse it's just an extension of kaine's visions and prophetic dreams and stuff #though i suppose you could argue that this might still be the crossing of a threshold into another universe possibly. #nadiart #kaine parker #came in through the window last night #rough art #sort... of... #Man these semi-cleaned up sketches are really throwing a wrench in my extremely black and white tagging system XD #i like doing them though #fanadiart #blood #using kaine's hair to censor gore—actually i didn't think this through entirely when i was sketching it and had forgotten about the blood #and then i was like #wait #are his wounds still wounds in the dream or is he just covered in blood with scars—i still don't know #but i think the intent is that it would be so dark you wouldn't really be able to tell anyway? so this works #anyway it's important to get a little bit homoerotic with a dreamscape alternate universe version of yourself #as a treat

[youssefguedira]

have a little more fencing world champion joe. because it's worlds again and olympics soonish. enjoy

The clock on the nightstand changes from 01:36 to 01:37, and Joe sighs, rolling over to stare up at the ceiling. Nicky, beside him, shifts in his sleep but doesn't wake.

Joe, however, has been awake since at least 12:08, and feels far too restless to sleep. It's almost certainly jet lag: they're in Chicago for a little while, visiting Nile and her family, and largely trying to enjoy the last little bit of free time they have left until training begins again in earnest. Of course, Joe's kit bag is lying open at the foot of the bed, and Nicky's beside it: just because they're not formally training doesn't mean they won't need it at all.

Still, Joe can't sleep. He sighs again, and gives up on trying to do so entirely. Maybe he'll be able to find some time to rest tomorrow, though he doubts it. Nile's got a lot of things she wants to show them, and Joe would ordinarily be thrilled, if he wasn't so tired.

It'll pass, Andy told him, though she doesn't seem to have been affected by it at all. He's almost certain they'll meet her in the morning for breakfast and she'll be exactly as normal, as if they haven't just crossed multiple time zones. Even Nicky, who hadn't struggled nearly as much as Joe had, had begun to slow down some time around midday, but Andy had been fine.

He gets out of bed, careful not to wake Nicky, who's rolled onto his side facing the door. With nothing else to do, Joe makes his way to the little balcony attached to their room, picking up his phone from the nightstand on the way. The sliding door squeals a little when he opens it, but when he looks over at Nicky he hasn't even moved.

While it's certainly quieter than it had been before, the city is nowhere near silent. It's beautiful, though, and Joe takes a picture to send to his sister.

She texts him back immediately. Pretty, but isn't it like the middle of the night for you?

1 am, Joe responds. Jet lag.

His phone lights up with a call then, but not from Amira. He reads the contact name and answers, heart in his throat.

Oof, is Amira's response.

He almost drops his phone when he realises what they're calling him for.

By the time they hang up, his hands are shaking: he stays like that, phone still pressed to his ear even after the call has ended, for at least a few minutes.

Finally, at a loss for what else to do, he lowers his phone and goes back inside. Sits down on the edge of the bed.

The movement is just enough to wake Nicky, who blinks a few times before sliding into awareness all at once, the way he always does. He sits up, leaning against the headboard, pushing his hair out of his eyes. "Joe?" he asks, voice still slightly hoarse from sleep. He frowns when Joe doesn't answer straight away. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Joe says. Fidgets with his phone, screen now dark, still in his hands. "Uh. They want me for the Olympic team."

Nicky is silent for all of a split second before his expression breaks into a wide smile. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Joe can't keep himself from smiling now, either, as Nicky cups the back of Joe's neck with one hand, leans in to press their foreheads together. Joe closes his eyes.

"Of course they do, Joe," Nicky says then. "You're the best in the world right now. You're going to be incredible."

There are times when that doesn't quite feel real, even if it's been a while.

"You'll come with me?" Joe asks.

"Always," Nicky says. Then he pulls back and kisses Joe's cheek, his forehead, the space between his eyes, until Joe laughs.

"I love you," Nicky tells him.

They'd met fencing épée, of all things. Andy had invited the seven of them – they hadn't quite been friends yet, but Joe had known Quynh for a couple years by then, and Andy too, while Nicky had already known Nile – to train with her and Quynh for a while, and Joe couldn't possibly refuse, because Andy was both his friend and one of the best coaches in the world back then. She'd made them all switch to a weapon they didn't usually use, and Joe and Nicky had picked épée: Joe because he figured it would be easier than restricting his target area to the torso only, and Nicky because épée was far closer to foil than sabre. They'd been about evenly matched, and it had been – well, it had been fun.

Joe had left a week later with Nicky's number in his phone and a small, fluttering hope in his chest. And even if they hadn't kept in touch very well those first few months, when the World Championships came around, and Joe had qualified for the second time, Nicky had joined Andy to meet him at the airport, grinning widely when he caught sight of him.

The rest, as they say, is history.

"I love you too," Joe says.

"You want to tell the others?" Nicky asks.

Joe looks at him for a moment. Looks at the clock. "It's 1 am, Nicky. Andy will kill us both."

Nicky snorts. "In the morning, then?"

"In the morning," Joe agrees.

Neither of them end up going back to sleep until 4 am, and they're both exhausted at breakfast the next morning, but. It's worth it.

#neon writes #fencing au #(but like. professional) #the old guard #kaysanova #userlyde #userlinax #do i know what this is? nah. but i was thinking about then #*them #nicky also goes to the olympics btw. he finds out the night after #nile (who is lucky enough to be in the right timezone) also qualifies etc etc. my backstory for her is winning us collegiate and then #she also wins gold for women's individual and silver in team foil in the 2022 worlds. assuming this takes place in the real world #i think nicky has already been to one olympics (his backstory is basically the same as his regular fencing au backstory except he actually #goes to the olympics fairly young as opposed to dropping out for injury. #i think andy coaches for paris. this is also like her regular fencing au backstory #somewhere between cairo (2022) and paris (2024) she gets bored of competition and just coaches full time (for nile i think) #she and quynh ARE married but she doesn't coach quynh because otherwise they argue abt it. famously. work life balance and all that #anyway. that's your Infodump for today. i Do however think about them constantly so #gritting my teeth. maybe épée is ok and valid and has a purpose SOMETIMEZ #*sometimes. didn't mean to spell that with a z but oh well

[atlantic-riona]

full offense but if you write a book about Neverland or Peter Pan and have there be a romance between Wendy and Hook I am sending you outside to consider your crimes. don't bother coming back inside until you repent

#'ooooooh captain hook is so sexy let's do a love triangle—' #do you hear yourself? why are you sexualizing a story meant for children #really think about that for a second #because you could go and write an original story about a woman who travels to a magic land and meets a sexy pirate or whatever #so why do you want to take a character who is a child and hook her up with a character who's an adult #and is also directly thematically tied to her father #(if you consider that in stage productions and movies hook is always played by the same actor for mr. darling) #(AND FURTHERMORE) #(one might argue that Peter Pan Hook and Mr. Darling represent the boy who won't grow up #the man who didn't grow up and the man who did grow up) #so if we're going down that road why are you simplifying those themes to 'hook sexy peter immature #literally do not talk to me until you have reread the original and considered the actual themes and takeaways from it #I rank this as a worse crime than taking a beloved magic land like Wonderland Oz or Neverland and going #'ooooh what if it was DARK and EDGY and ACTUALLY EVIL' #just stop #go make your own edgy original world #leave the beloved classics that you clearly do not understand alone #but anyway back to my original point: do not do this #if you think to yourself that children's classics need more sex or edginess they don't!! that's the devil speaking #hope this helps #peter pan

[annemarieyeretzian]

imogen saying “I mean, this whole thing is about trust, right? I think if we go up – how would y’all feel if I gave in? …every time I make a connection with ruidus, it feels like it’s asking me to connect. and I push it away. I always have. but what if I don’t.” and orym asking “what does your gut tell you will happen?” and imogen saying “I don’t know. but I have the right motive. and I trust y’all to bring me back.” (bonus: ashton saying “jump into that fucking lava.”)

#I'm keeping this in the tags because I'm not trying to argue or start anything #and imogen is obviously being more open with what she wants than ashton was #but 'I have the right motive' #ashton's motive was protecting the hells #it wasn't greed or a power grab #it was 'I need to be stronger so I can protect them' #they went about it the wrong way #but they had the right motive too #anyway #people won't be mad at imogen because she's chosen to confide in everyone else #but ashton wasn't inherently wrong for not confiding in anyone other than fearne #they thought it was right #they didn't think it was going to put everyone else in danger #plenty of people think they have the right motive #that's all I'm saying #annemarie watches critical role #critical role #imogen temult #imogen #orym of the air ashari #orym #ashton greymoore #ashton #bell's hells #a test of trust #c3e80

[pb-dot]

Film Friday: Bullet Train

I've been missing a few Film Fridays lately, partially because mental health has just kinda been like that and partially because I've been struggling with a slightly more meaty analysis that my brain just won't let me figure out properly. As such, I'm going to get into the swing of things again with a movie that is pretty stupid, and I say that with all possible love and admiration.

Ladybug isn't really comfortable with the title of hitman anymore, he's trying out a more harmonic life, but even so he does find it in himself to undertake what should by all accounts be a simple last-minute job. Board the eponymous train, grab a suitcase, and get off at the next station. Oh, were it only so easy. Turns out said bullet train is flush with kooky assassins and hitmen who are either out for the suitcase, the lives of one or more of each other, or have larger and more ominous designs.

There's Ladybug, of course, the quirky pair of British wetworks men Lemon and Tangerine out to escort a drugged-out VIP and a suitcase full of money, notorious and sneaky The Hornet who's skulking about somewhere, the megalomaniacal but brilliant Prince playing a larger game with the life of desperate father Kimura's child as ante, as well as the hot-headed Wolf who is out for vengeance and a paycheck, but mostly the vengeance thing. It's quite the web of coincidences, interferences, and merry chaos as these murderers navigate the crowded train.

It's chaotic, but one throughline that honestly makes the constant shifting priorities and allegiances of Ladybug and the other hitmen work is that it's all a job to them, a very messy job that may or may not be arranged by a Russian usurper of the Yakuza crime syndicate known as White Death, but still a job. Whenever it's expedient for our heroes and antiheroes to not kill each other, they'll show professional courtesy to each other, bantering in that "a little bit too cool" stylized way that's second nature to Hollywood assassins.

What sets the banter apart, though, is a distinct sense of humor. Lemon, much to Tangerine's annoyance, has a theory of human personalities and moral character based on Thomas The Tank Engine. Ladybug has luck that fluctuates wildly between being impossibly good and impossibly bad, and he has a problem with remembering faces which makes some of the networking with his fellow killers challenging. Wolf's role in the movie is short in a way that feels darkly comedic yet apt, and I was surprised to learn this was, in fact, a cameo from musician Bad Bunny (listen, I'm old, ok?)

It's all breezy fun. The movie takes itself about as seriously as any movie that features a Japanese-language cover of "Holding Out For A Hero" in a moment of high drama, but that's fine, the movie expects you to chuckle along, knowing full well it has your heart in a vise by the third cover of "I'm forever blowing bubbles." Not a joke by the way, the few moments that Bullet Train allows itself to express emotion more complex than "holy shit" and/or laughter, it's acted well enough and with enough genuine skill that it actually gets to me a fair bit.

It'd be an act of overstatement to call Bullet Train all that deep, but it adds up to more than the sum of its parts. It ends up saying some fun things about fate. I wouldn't exactly cite it in a philosophy paper or anything of the sort, it is fun to sit at the end of the "Michael Shannon plays Russian roulette in an oni mask to look badass" movie and go "You're right movie, maybe human misery DOES come from the hubris of believing ourselves to be masters over fate." I don't know, it's just nice for a crowd-pleasing action movie to go out on a note of what seems like a genuinely held belief and not "welp that happened" glibness. It reminds me a bit of Mr. and Mrs. Smith like that, a movie I'll probably end up talking about here one of these days.

#film friday #bullet train 2022 #I also didn't really have time to get into it #but there are some parallels between Ladybug and Nagito Komeda of Dangen Ronpa #in that “very intense luck that could be argued to be very good or very bad but whatever it is it is a lot” sense #No idea if it reflects a Japanese cultural idea about luck or not #would love to dig into that a little deeper one day if the opportunity should present itself #anyway Bullet Train is fun go watch it

[wonder-worker]

I've been thinking about the tragedy of Elizabeth Woodville living to see the death of her family name.

I don't mean her family with her husband, which lived on through her daughter and grandson. I mean her own.

Her sisters died, one by one, many of them after 1485. When Elizabeth died, only Katherine was left, and she would die before the turn of the century as well.

All her brothers died, too. Lewis died in childhood. John was executed. Anthony was murdered. Lionel died suddenly in the peak of Richard's reign, unable to see his niece become queen. Edward perished at war. Richard died in grieving peace. For all the violence and judgement the family endured, it was "an accident of biology" that ended their line: none of the brothers left heirs, and the Woodville name was extinguished. We know the family was aware of this. We know they mourned it, too:

“Buy a bell to be a tenor at Grafton to the bells now there, for a remembrance of the last of my blood.”

Elizabeth lived through the deposition and death of her young sons, and lived to see the end of her own family name. It must have been such a haunting loss, on both sides.

#(the quote is by Richard Woodville in his deathbed will; he was the last of the Woodville brothers to die) #elizabeth woodville #woodvilles #my post #to be clear I am not arguing that the death of an English gentry family name is some kind of giant tragedy (it absolutely the fuck is not) #I'm trying to put it into perspective with regards to what Elizabeth may have felt because we know her family DID feel this way #writing this kinda reminded me of how I am just not fond at all about the way Elizabeth's experiences in 1483-85 are written about #and the way lots so many of the unprecedentedly horrifying aspects are overlooked or treated so casually: #the seizure and murder of two MINOR sons and the illegal execution of another; #her sheer vulnerability in every way compared to all her queenly predecessors; how she was harassed by 'dire threats' for months; #how she had 5 very young daughters with her to look after at the time (Bridget and Katherine were literally 3 and 4 years old); #how unprecedented Richard's treatment of her was: EW was the first queen of england to be officially declared an adulteress; #and the first and ONLY queen to be officially accused of witchcraft #(Joan of Navarre was accused of her treason; she was never explicitly accused of witchcraft on an official level like EW was) #the first crowned queen of england to have her marriage annulled; and the first queen to have her children officially bastardized #what former queens endured through rumors* were turned into horrifying realities for her. #(I'm not trying to downplay the nightmare of that but this was fundamentally on a different level altogether) #nor did Elizabeth get a trial or appeal to the church. like I cannot emphasize this enough: this was not normal for queens #and not normal for depositions. ultimately what Richard did *was* unprecedented #and of course let's not forget that Elizabeth had literally just been unexpectedly widowed like 20 days before everything happened #I really don't feel like any of this is emphasized as much as it should be? #apart from the horrifying death of her sons - but most modern books never call it murder they just write that they 'disappeared' #and emphasize that ACTUALLY we don't know what happened to them (this includes Arlene Okerlund) #rather than allowing her to have that grief (at the very least) #more time is spent dealing with accusations that she was a heartless bitch or inconsistent intriguer for making a deal with Richard instead #it also feels like a waste because there's a lot that can be analyzed about queenship and R3's usurpation if this is ever explored properly #anyway - it's kinda sad that even after Henry won and her daughter became queen EW didn't really get a break #her family kept dying one by one and the Woodville name was extinguished. and she lived to see it #it's kinda heartbreaking - it was such a dramatic rise and such a slow haunting fall #makes for a great story tho