a hc i've held for a long time is that, since kuusuke values his intelligence above pretty much all else, the idea of his memory, his ability to focus, his ability to multitask, etc. declining as a regular result of growing older + the possibility of losing his faculties due to a neurodegenerative disease like alzheimer's or parkinson's would be deeply terrifying, and perhaps repulsive to him, not least because he thinks it would """"lower"""" him further than the """"monkeys"""" he's surrounded by. and since these diseases are correlated with old age, that leads to a neurosis regarding aging. now, you might think that kuusuke would seek to abandon the biological body entirely due to how weak and prone to error it is, but the alternative would be to try and simulate his consciousness using electronics. and tbh for all that kuusuke brags about AI like kusuomega being "perfect," he doesn't actually believe any artificial intelligence could rival the perfection of his true mind. (Also, depending on how canon you consider psi-battle to be, he already tried making an AI of himself and it goes completely bonkers so. LOL.) Which is partially why we see his area of concentration skew to bioengineering, and why you end up with inventions like the vegeta tank; it's more of a happy (or unhappy?) coincidence that his grandmother is also obsessed with youth, albeit for different reasons. Kuusuke's perfect solution really is to set back the clock on himself indefinitely.
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idk if this is still the case but when i was really In It in animorphs feelings a couple years ago because i was unemployed for the first time in my adult life / temporarily living alone in the last house my family lived in / freaking out about climate change / generally Going Through It, and like poking around the animorphs scene on tumblr, there was this notion commonly expressed that rachel and tobias were "toxic," the major piece of evidence for which was the scene in 33 where she "tries to trap him in human morph." which like first of all i'm SOOOOOO SORRRY that the fucking fifteen-year-olds secretly fighting a guerrilla war in which their greatest threat is the mind-controlling slugs they're trying to save humanity from but their second greatest threat is the diminishing hourglass of their collective sanity as they all have to work steadily harder and more desperately to not just completely lose their shit entirely from all the violence and literal 24/7 constant threat and murder that is happening, like i'm sorry two literal children who have managed in this ongoing horror show to forge a bond of loyalty and affection and care and attraction and understanding that can act as a kind of solace neither of them have any other way to access, sorry those actual murder babies sometimes have some communication problems. lmao. but also it's insane to me that people read that scene (in which they're dancing to, i'm not making this up, iris by the goo goo dolls - i mean they don't tell us the song but it's a slow goo goo dolls number that even tobias knows, so - they're dancing to iris by the goo goo dolls at a school dance that is not going well because they are both awkward about the newfound public Officialness of their relationship and rachel who is the only one of them who has ever been capable of socializing like a normal person is in a particularly bad mood because of the emotional hangover of her starfish adventure [great concept executed terribly in the previous book], and then like after two entire minutes of letting himself feel some nice emotions tobias spots the clock and starts leaving to go demorph and then rachel runs after to him to awkwardly attempt to share that she is very fucked up about how insane she has become and she wants to hold on to things like school dances and also this is all happening in a hallway by a student poster on red tailed hawks that states their lifespan of a handful of years in the wild, it's so good) as rachel trying to trap tobias in morph, when like, first of all, "good thing happening -> time to punish myself for feeling nice for 5 whole seconds " is like THEE tobias thought pattern because he's the number one kidlit trauma baby of all time, like truly the first time i dove back into the series i was struck by how well his narrative voice captures Child Of Insane Family Dysfunctionality, he is NOT a reliable narrator on this, but also second, and more saliently, like, believing this scene is rachel attempting to trap tobias in morph requires that you believe rachel, all by herself, made a plan in advance and then attempted to execute it, which is a skill we literally never see her demonstrate even one fucking time outside of the comfortingly familiar hunting ground of the mall
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what's interesting to me about legolas leaving his homeland behind and searching for a ranger on the north is something that actually fully explained their whole dynamic to me at this early morning hour.
big post ahead, brace yourselves.
legolas leaves the battle of the five armies, and essentially, mirkwood being a soldier. half of his life at least he spent training and fighting in a way that soldiers do, that means he knows discipline — he must follow orders, he must control what he is doing and he must control his emotions, he must asses the situation and he must give orders, he must plan, he must care for those under his command, he must make right decisions, he must, must, must...
that's a hard life to live but, given the situation mirkwood had, he made a decision to be a soldier and he served enough to rise in ranks. he had alot of responsibilities that started weighting him down for a reason.
see, he is young (and many headcanon him being one of the youngest among elves) but he didn't have different life and he wants to, he wants to know what's out there besides constant fighting with the same creatures every single day. he wants to learn more about the bigger world he is a part of — and maybe before the end to his little part of the world will eventually come.
he explored his little world enough without restrictions when he was a child, so he justifiably thinks it's time for him to explore what's beyond it. he just didn't have enough of a reason before the battle of the five armies and tauriel thing where he realized he doesn't want to come back to his previous life and wants to learn who he is besides a prince and a soldier.
legolas is conflicted and the only thing thranduil can do in this situation (obviously not being the one who denies his son) is to give him direction (for legolas to have a sense of knowing and for thranduil himself to at least know where in the world his son is). why he knows about aragorn is none of my concern but what is is thranduil knowing about a son of a great man that will probably become even a greater one and thinking that his own son will find a better company by his side.
and legolas does. we can assume that legolas finds strider and his rangers and joines them for a while. he learns how to live in a wild, and even though legolas lived in a woods before that — he lived in a controlled environment. with aragorn there is no control over him. there is companionship. no oaths and pledges, no allegiance. legolas learns to make decisions for his own self and he learns to chose whom he gives his trust. this made the same tasks, say, fighting and going on missions (same things he did as a soldier), appear under different light because they were done with and for different person and cause.
legolas follows aragorn because he develops a sense of trust. and it becomes only stronger over the years they spend on adventures together. aragorn doesn't make him do things, eventually, aragorn doesn't even need to ask. legolas does because he wants to. that's a rare thing among those in the army. you can't just do or not do.
in the wild — legolas has a choice. and he has time to learn.
he learns that aragorn indeed is a great man, the one whom he can rely on and whom he can trust.
he learns that he himself is enough for someone to trust him, that he is good enough, that he did enough. he learns that feelings can be mutual and he has this overflowing desire to be by the side of the person who opened his eyes to those things. he feels inspired.
that's how we get legolas that appeared in the lord of the rings. less stiff, less angsty, less angry, even. through travels with aragorn he finds joy for his soul to feed on, and even though he is still a soldier — he is his own (and maybe aragorn's, shall he ask). and that brings me to my main point that i'll quote myself on:
«...in the 'council of elrond' scene it already felt present. it being the familiarity between aragorn and legolas. the way legolas jumps eagerly to defend an honor of aragorn doesn't really seem to be just he's a king!, but more like he's a fucking king, you moron, how dare you disrespect my friend like that?!!. along with plain respect legolas clearly shows towards aragorn, there's also this genuine reverence/veneration (i'm not sure which word to choose as i'm not native to english language) that legolas has — such reverence that warriors have towards their trusted king whom they're ready to follow, protect and fight for as well as along side with because he trained and went through hardships with them. you don't just develop such an attitude towards a person who doesn't even adresses himself by his given name much. legolas knows who aragorn is and he will stick to it — even if aragorn himself doesn't want to accept the fact.
and from that, the decision legolas makes to follow aragorn on the quest and not much frodo makes sense. he trusts aragorn. he follows aragorn's emotional courage — the way he swears to protect frodo with his life and sword — and does the same.»
i have seen enough to think that legolas has all sorts of adoration towards aragorn. he's ready to follow him like a religiously-in-love general his king, he has a deep respect towards him as a comrade and he definitely trusts him as a friend/soul mate/any other form of intimate relations.
but legolas is still a soldier. he can't fully erase it and, something tell me, doesn't really want to — he is a proud warrior after all. and that only ensures me, that serving aragorn as a warrior is one of the ways for legolas to showcase his love and gratitude to him. that's his acts of service, as in love language, thing taken quite literally because that's what legolas knows best and he's going to utilize it to the fullest.
because he knows that aragorn relies on him, trusts him and not only just in battle. he knows that there's a big future ahead for aragorn and he doesn't urge him forward but walks side by side, waiting patiently when aragorn will be ready.
legolas, basically, found a mutual, meaningful connection and committed to it with a heart of a striving for love being and a soul of a warrior. and i think it's beautiful.
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