#seems like an oversight tbh | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

notedchampagne · 5 months

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Bro the 6th familial relationships fuck me up so much like the weird Juno and Pal more of a mentor than a mother vibes? And it seems like from Dr Sex that her and Pal's dad are either divorced or just straight up had nothing to do with each other until the genomics department decided they should have a child together?? Like imagine you're a ruthless academic career-woman and one day you get an email from the government like 'congrats! You're a mother!' And they hand you a fresh vat baby that is half you and half your co-worker that you talked to one time at the Christmas party like??? I don't think I would have the most healthy relationship with that child either tbh

And Cam! Earlier in Nona when Pal and Pyrrha are talking about going to the park it is only Kiki that he mentions she might want to save, no mention that apparently both her parents are there too? Her entire family is on the line here. Then she doesn't want her dads to see the Paul transformation because they "wouldn't understand"? You just know there's some long running disagreement there with how far she's yoking herself in with Pal. Do you think they secretly resent him? Did this cause a rift in their family? And what did the conversation look like before or after the transformation? Did Cam tell them she was about to die? Or did they turn away for five seconds and she finally killed herself for her obsessions behind their back? Who broke the news to them? (Who is going to break the news to Pal's dad?) The whole thing just makes me insane!!!!

Also apparently there is some incredible nepotism going on in the 6th oversight body here (or maybe everything is nepotism on the 6th lol)

YOU GET ME i love the 6th house so so much the way the house functions both as a united family w their genetics & a university with the academic quibbling is so fun to me- the sixths weakness was described as "A sprawling organization of erratic loners, the Sixth are chaotic by nature and terrible at collective action." which is 1) hilarious. palamedes is the peoples marxist princess 2) just generally fascinating as a whole. if we take that at face value and consider the 6th house as populated by genius loner nerds, it actually makes sense that they prioritize sending out attractive people to diversify the gene pool - with reference to your statement: dr sex provided a nice handful of evidence that while palamedes and juno have a formal dynamic, theyre affectionate enough that they seem close (at most, to the extent of some gay kid and their favorite english teacher) but seeing juno like a distant mentor is most likely right

taking on more quotes from dr sex, i think its most likely that the Sixth house encourages child bearing / raising through subsidies and an extended work leave of sorts:

Palamedes said, “Enjoying parenting. Enjoying the parenting buyout, I should say. He’s only doing dissertation supervision—and half a year of Immediate History, of course—but he’s got his own projects on the go.”

alexandrites and nireids might be required to go offworld to flirt and have children (i think i came across another post floating somewhere noticing kiki and cam were half-sisters, implying their parent was one of the mentioned) but for residents staying in the sixth house, they probably have about 3-7 other people they could possibly produce children with outside of consanguinity. although forcing them to have children by way of vat birth etc etc is entirely possible in Hell Empire a lot of them probably gave in just for a few years of parental & academic benefits.

one last point - sixth house children canonically live in a dormitory! so if you consider a professor going on paid leave to raise children while doing their own projects for about 7-9 years, then going back to work while their children are sent to a dorm to do nothing but study and train with other peers their age, it falls together so perfectly bro. it makes so much sense. of course pal and cam are nice to their parents but rarely ever close - they were most likely raised and taught communally! god i love worldbuilding

#as for nepotism well. who doesnt indulge in nepotism lmao #talking back #tlt meta #the locked tomb #palamedes sextus #camilla hect #the mysterious study of dr sex

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eastgaysian · 1 year

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Sincere question: I don't understand your reaction here: "also the fact i had to look up lottie's actress to be like wait is she mixed. it's just a bit silly to me tbh" . Are you saying the show should have explicitly discussed her ethnic background? Is it because you think her possible powers are related to her being Maori, or like in general it should have been more obvious?

this is a complicated one to answer because i feel like i have to go macro -> micro to get all my thoughts out sensibly. but we'll get there i promise

the genre of survivalist fiction, more specifically the deserted island/stranded in the wilderness narrative, is racially loaded. sometimes this is patently obvious, ie robinson crusoe and the character of friday, but even with a cast of entirely white characters the concept of uninhabited and untamed wilderness (which the white characters either tame or are degraded by) is tied to colonialism*, as is the tension between what is viewed as civilized or uncivilized behavior, good christian morality vs primitive/barbaric 'savagery', etc.

(* this isn't necessarily constant throughout history/a global context but is absolutely a part of this genre and the american context of yellowjackets)

yellowjackets seems to promise a deconstruction of the genre by focusing on the psychological horror angle with a diverse cast of teenage girls, as well as reflecting on how the trauma of that event would carry on into life after rescue. and like, i like it! i think it's fun to watch, it succeeds at entertaining me. but i really think it drops the ball when it comes to examining the racial implications of this kind of story.

it's clear that there's some degree of thought and significance put into taissa as a Black female character: her conversation with van about Black characters dying first in horror movies, the conversation with that potential donor who feels entitled to her trauma because of All She's Done For You People, her being the first Black female senator of new jersey.

...so what exactly are we supposed to make of the fact that she has an Evil Personality that first emerged after the crash, who eats dirt and bites people and makes shrines with broken dolls and dog heads, just lurking under the surface waiting until she loses control? the other characters are definitely psychologically disturbed, but the regression to this 'wild' state is extreme and reserved for taissa. why? it doesn't critically examine or deconstruct the ways in which the behavior we view as 'feral' is racialized. at best it's thoughtless, at worst it's actively engaging in racist tropes.

on the other hand you have lottie, whose racial identity isn't brought up in the text, but is at least a consistent casting decision for teen/adult lottie and her parents. the role she fills of being converted (to a point?) and baptized by a devoted white christian girl and then becoming an occult mystic who communes with the wilderness and wears deer antlers to try and lead a ritual human sacrifice is extremely racially loaded. i wouldn't have been irked by the lack of acknowledgment if this wasn't her role. but because it hasn't been brought up and it's not critically examined, i'm not sure whether the show wants me to think her possible powers are related to her being māori, and either way the implications are really troubling to me.

i'm not #cancelling the show i'm just disappointed by what feels like a huge oversight with regards to the racialized aspects of the genre. narratively i also think the build up of the maybe-supernatural elements was kind of all over the place which doesn't help but that's not really here nor there. it just doesn't sit well with me!

#mingbox #yellowjackets

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dimiclaudeblaigan · 7 months

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still wanna know where claude got his isolationism argument from.

like i genuinely don't get where he got that from (this not being the only case against it, but being one of the more heavy ones). he refers to it when talking about fodlan as a whole, so he's completely ignorant of literally anything ever from faerghus but just assumes what he thinks is true?? despite not actually knowing anything about a chunk of fodlan??

i mean was it a writer oversight or did they intentionally make claude like that? bc i know he's supposed to be different than in vw where it's like, in vw he has a similar view/doesn't know about faerghus but he's more positive about opening fodlan to a better worldview, versus in hopes where he's much more cynical about it and seems to have a more negative view.

in houses he thinks people will be able to mature and accept others. in hopes he seems to think the only way to get that to happen is to wipe out the central church, who clearly has not stopped faerghus from foreign relations, thus proving his argument false. it just feels like, because the people of fodlan are wary of foreigners (and considering they've been attacked by at least four foreign nations depsite not being the aggressors, that being almyra, brigid, dagda, and sreng), that he just assumes all nations are against foreign mingling (including with nations that haven't attacked them)?

but like... he doesn't know jack shit about faerghus, so he's just assuming he knows about them and... never makes an effort to find out.

tbh it feels really uncharacteristic of him, at least in vw (and in houses in general). based on how he acts in white clouds, i would think he'd be more interested in learning about that stuff from each area in fodlan. hopes pretty much put that knowledge seeking aspect of him well into the dirt, but that just makes his argument come off as much more arrogant on top of being ignorant.

#DCB Three Hopes Run #i mean did they purposely make it a character flaw? but then like why didn't they have ppl properly dispute it?#it just feels very specifically directed to say Church BaD and intentionally not mention faerghus #bc they can't let claude know abt that stuff or his argument completely falls apart #and then they can't use the church scapegoat idea for claude anymore #bc if they do he comes across even worse in the sense of not caring at all what the truth is

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fannishcodex · 5 months

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see, now i can't stop wondering if ascended!astarion's bat form being black instead of white is intended and not an oversight. if he has black fur instead of white fur because he hijacked cazador's deal with the devil. if it's another indicator that he started going down the **"becoming cazador" path instead of completely destroying him, and so his bat form's fur is black like cazador's hair, instead of white like his own hair.

while with him rejecting ascension. in a hypothetical situation, if tadpole-less spawn!astarion happened to find a way to *transform into a bat, can't help wondering if his fur would be white like his hair because he's still literally+truly himself.

and now i've got some more feels.

*(i marked one intriguing post to read later that suggested that apparently vampire spawn in dnd/faerun have more abilities that their vampiric creators intentionally hide from them out of their desire for control/paranoia about another vampiric competitor/cruelty...so i'm really curious if within that system, if spawn!astarion without a tadpole could transform into a bat form without marking it as an AU)

**(i've heard some stuff that seems to indicate ascended!astarion is more depressed and lonely in the epilogue, which makes me think he might even regret ascension, and may try to turn away from becoming cazador, which gives me some hope, and also sounds a bit more interesting...but i just find the ascended route too depressing overall, even for me. it's not for me to actually ever go through in a playthrough. i also still don't find it as interesting as spawn!astarion rejecting ascension and going with stabbing cazador a million times, etc.)

ETA: man do i have to do this disclaimer? okay will do. i just wanted to share my thoughts, and share them with anyone who's interested. i don't mean to literally cause any squabbles between spawn and ascended routes, but i do want to express opinions about them on my own tumblr, and that can include how i can prefer one over the other among other analytical thoughts. and tbh this is the kind of meta i like to do.

#astarion #bg3 #astarion ancunin #baldurs gate 3 #bg3 epilogue spoilers #not a reblog

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yesterdayiwrote · 8 months

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I really want the thesis on George mirroring people if you’re so inclined 👀

So I also got this anon and the two things are kind of tied together...

i would absolutely read your essay about how george doesn't know how to be himself because i also have so many thoughts about his personality that i'm too scared to voice for a fear of people saying that i'm making assumptions😶😶😶

I will try my best, but I am absolutely dreadful at putting my rambly observations/overanalysis/bug under a microscope theories into coherent prose sometime so apologies in advance this tails off or gets a bit muddled!

I think it's quite obvious that George it's a bit... socially awkward? He's confident in an oratory way, he seems quite chatty and social, he's not shy about his body and showing it off, and yet there's just an undeniable 'awkwardness' to him that it’s hard to put into words?

It’s always said by people that George is too ‘PR’ and I think he really does try hard? Possibly too hard sometimes because it seems so noticeable that he’s trying, but I don’t think it’s because of any nefarious reason, I feel like he’s just really kind of… self conscious?

I think there’s a tendency for people to view self consciousness through a lens of vanity and pre-occupation with perfection but actually a lot of the time it’s a confidence issue too and I’ve just always got a feeling that despite appearances, George isn’t always the most confident in himself and doesn’t know how (or perhaps want to) let down his walls completely and just be his full unguarded self in public.

I think we see flashes of it at times, and I think all of them are wary of being fully open in public, and yet George always feels the one to me who is perhaps most worried about being ‘silly’?

Which is where the mirroring thing comes in. Sometimes I feel that in his quest to present a ‘version’ of himself, he almost strays into emulating other people at times? (This is where it gets all deep and if you’re not into the bug under a microscope stuff you may want to jump off here)

I feel sometimes (and I may be way off here) that George still isn’t quite sure who he is yet or how he wants to be seen. No criticism because I think that’s totally normal. He’s still young, there’s more pressure to be a character of some kind of substance in the public eye, and I think plenty of people much older than him still don’t entirely know who they are, who they want to be or how they want the world to perceive them.

So, I think sometimes he kind of emulates people around him, which again isn’t unusual, I think we all do it. I think it’s part of how most of us find ourselves, and I’m totally willing to admit it may be me drawing parallels where they weren’t necessarily intended. It may be that he does these things completely subconsciously but idk I still just find it all fascinating?

He went through a brief streamer phase just after lockdown which felt like it was kind of leaning in to what Lando was doing. It gets picked up that Daniel bops along to the National Anthems and now George bops along to them too. Lewis posts a thirst trap… George posts a thirst trap. He hangs out with Jack Grealish once and within two months he’s got his hair style (sans chunky highlights which is an OVERSIGHT tbh)…. - okay that one may be a reach but I’m struggling to think of more examples off the off the top of my head 😂.

As I say, I don’t say it as anything bad and actually I think it is subconsciously part of human nature but it just makes me giggle because it feels like he has such… hero worship of people around him and idk… it’s cute?!

#george russell #bug under a microscope #idek if this makes sense #apologies for the in-depth psychoanalysis #if you don’t like that stuff then avoid…

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bioethicists · 1 year

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Your blog has gotten me interested in antipsychiatry as an extention of bodily autonomy - however, at least some disorders do seem to be clustered in a way that makes sense for troubleshooting if someone needs treatment. Like, reading the definition of depression as a teenager made me realize that it's not normal to want to die 24/7, and that I should probably talk to a therapist. I don't know exactly where I'm going with this tbh, but I guess I think that some (at least my own) psychiatric disorders make sense and are pretty common ways that people can suffer?

yeah, i think it's pretty important to distinguish between diagnostics as a form of loose categorization (for example, i find ocd + anorexia both to be useful shorthand for experiences i have + share w/ many others) and diagnostics as a prescriptive form of Assigning Illness (such as the DSM). the experiences of ppl with depression are real + often similar to one another + it's extremely useful to have a culturally recognized term that summarizes a lot of painful experiences.

it's when those shorthand descriptions become prescriptive rather than descriptive (e.h you feel x way BECAUSE you have depression, not that you have depression BECAUSE you feel x way), medicalized (e.g this is because you are Sick, this must be Cured, this has a definitive biomedical cause), or alienated (e.g this experience sets you distinctly apart from Normal people, who have Healthy thoughts + brains).

even when you say thinking those things is not 'normal'- sure, most ppl probably don't- but is the concern that it's 'abnormal' or that it's making you miserable? what if everyone else DID feel the same way- would that mean you don't deserve relief from it? one of the biggest flaws in psych diagnostics is that it relies on the assumption that these experiences need to be stopped (and Stopped is usually their ideal goal, though they will settle for mitigated or reduced) not because they are painful but because they are 'abnormal' or 'disruptive' (often to functioning within systems which are inherently unjust like school, work, maintaining housing, etc). the concern is not suffering, but abnormality (with the assumption that there is even such a thing as a Normal Person).

take, for example, my dx of anorexia- when i experience torturous thoughts of hating my body, obsessing over what i eat, obsessing over if other ppl are judging me for what i eat, obsessing over my weight, etc, it is diagnosed as pathology. when a fat person experiences this, they are very, very often validated in these emotions because they are Supposed To feel that way according to fatphobic medicine + cultural norms. while tides are shifting in this regard, this was not just a silly little oversight of the anorexia dx but built in, because the assumption built in to psychiatric diagnostics is that extreme body hatred is only pathological if it's 'irrational'- if you are supposed to hate your body, as determined by norms, then you are 'normal' + there is no 'dysmorphia' present, therefore no care or concern.

in general, i think most systems of categorizing ppl fall apart + become harmful when they fail to recognize themselves as roughly constructed shorthand ways of describing deeply complex experiences- gender, sex, race, diagnosis (this gets foggier in certain medical diagnoses but still stands for the majority of them), identity in general rlly. but if we can see them for what they are- (fallible + limited) things we created to describe ourselves, not objects within us which control our behavior + thoughts, they are immensely useful for many.

#anti psychiatry #fatphobia /

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inkstainedhandswithrings · 2 days

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TBB s3 ep 14

Only one more to go after this, we ready!? (no, pls help)

Yes Hunter, how IS Echo gonna get off the ship?

Oh I see we’re just gonna let him wing it and do it on his own?

Like don’t get me wrong I have full faith in Echo I just don’t like how Hunter is so focused on Omega he doesn’t even try to find a way to help out Echo

He also doesn’t listen to Crosshair’s remark about the Jungle being dangerous

Love how Omega is like “oh base on high security alert? Multiple explosions? it’s my brothers!!”

I swear Rampart and is constant bitching is so tiring

HAHAHAHAHHAH THE BITCH SCREAMS LIKE A CHILD

Gaaaahh Cross talking about his first time on Tantiss

His hand tremor acting up

Poor baby I love him give him a hug

“…but Omega didn’t leave me behind when she could have. I owe her.”

Bro just say you love your baby sisters like it’s not that big a deal we already knew

The utter fucking relief I felt when Echo made it off that ship unharmed

Jesus, I am so scared that we might,,,

Okay I don’t wanna jinx it so I’m just gonna say “scared that the writers pull another Tech”

Aaaaaaand Rampart’s bitchiness got them a) attacked by a giant beast and b) discovered by imperial troops

I hate him so much

Emerie not only recognising Echo but immediately volunteering to help?

She’s growing on me tbh

Is Omega gonna free the Zillo? To get out? Like as a distraction?

Idk that seems kinda dangerous girly

wait wtf that’s it???

That was already 20mins?

I wasn’t ready for the end there I though we were gonna get more😪

Tbh, I think it felt so short because they had to fit three storylines into twenty minutes. I really wish they were allowed 40 minute episodes, then they could’ve really done a deep dive into all three moving parts of this episode. Like at this point it’s not the writers or show runners fault, it’s just that they probably didn’t get the budget to make their episodes that long, which rlly sucks but like,,, ya can’t be mad.

But! I honestly still don’t understand how ALL OF THIS is gonna get wrapped up in 1 more episode. Like how? Genuinely, how?

On the one hand, that makes me worry that the last episode is gonna be super rushed and feel unfinished or whatever but on the other hand it gives me hope that we’re gonna get another show. Because we still don’t know how Gregor, Rex and Wolffe ended up on Silos (?) alone, what happened to their rebellion, where the entirety of the batch went, what the hell Echo Base on Hoth is all about, who tf CX-2 is and Hemlock and Rampart are still alive also?? Which seems like an oversight.

AND all the clones still need to be busted out of Tantiss and relocated and why am I getting the feeling that Tantiss is just gonna blow up with everyone still there and that’s the reason why Rex gives up SHIT FUCK DAMNNIT

Anyway, point being!! This can’t end well any way you slice it. Lovely.

I will say that all in all I did like this episode!! Rampart getting panic attack after panic attack was rlly fun, we got a heart to heart between Wrecker and Crosshair (brief as it was), Echo again proofed why he is an ARC Trooper and why, after the apocalypse and the explosion of the galaxy he will still be standing, and Omega showed us once again that she is a far cry from that scared kid in season 1 and has instead turned into a sharp, competent, mini soldier (lets not talk about the fact that she’s essentially been turned into a child soldier out of pure necessity)

Anyway!! Good stuff, I am terrified of the finale!! Hope y’all enjoyed!! Thanks for reading!! See you next week when I try not to have a breakdown!!

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solitaireships · 7 months

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❓️ for the prompt meme (one of my favorite emojis tbh) - effiesaude

Emoji prompts: ❓ - “is this what you want?”

This prompt is now officially the longest thing I've written for on here, so thank you for the suggestion @orlz! I ended up going with Alexander for this, tho I did consider using Bruce for a bit bcs I associate that emoji with him a lot lol

Rating: G

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 2033 words

Content warning: Mentions of plagues/epidemics

Divider by newlips (who apparently deactivated, but I have the link to the post with the dividers)

The sound of a bell ringing draw’s Xenia’s attention away from the monotony of reviewing shipping details at the counter of her bookshop. The work day is drawing to an end, and with that there always seems to be fewer people stopping by the bookshop. She doesn’t mind the break— there are always plenty of customers around lunch. But as her shift draws closer and closer to ending, a final push to keep herself from getting too tired is appreciated.

And it’s even more appreciated when she sees none other than Alexander walking in.

“General,” Xenia greets with a nod.

“Detective,” he replies.

“Give me just ten more minutes.”

“Take all the time you need.”

He says that, but Xenia knows that time is a precious commodity. For the two of them, she would argue that it’s even more precious.

Xenia had thought that Alexander and his troops would leave after the Polyhedron fell. They had only come here to help deal with the Sand Pest. She had expected that they would leave after it had been dealt with, going off towards another military campaign. Especially with the commander at their head— everyone knows about Alexander Block, how he rose through the ranks to become a general younger than anyone had before. Big things were supposed to be ahead of him.

And yet he got sent to a dying town. He was sent to a village ravaged by a plague, with no medical team sent along with him to lend a hand. Sent with troops who planned a mutiny against him, left to solve a problem with no clear solution. It feels like too much of an oversight to have been an actual mistake, but as much as Xenia loves to pull at the threads of a mystery, trying to prove some grand conspiracy is beyond the scope of her amateur detective work.

Regardless, Alexander’s time in the Town-on-Gorkhon is far from what anyone could have expected it to be. With it already being outside of what’s expected, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that the general decided to stay in town after the Polyhedron came down.

He’s kinder than Xenia would have expected from a man nicknamed General Ashes. He didn’t want to leave the town to heal on its own, left to pick up the pieces after an unimaginable tragedy. Not all of his troops were happy about the decision to stay in town, and neither were all of the town’s citizens.

But at the end of the day, Xenia thinks that this will be for the best. When someone’s recovering from a sickness, others can help with the healing process. She doesn’t see a reason why things should be different for a town recovering from an illness.

Though she might be biased in wanting Alexander to stay here. That was another surprising thing that came from him staying in town these past couple of months.

Xenia had expected a lot of things from Alexander, but the last thing that she had expected was that she would start dating him. And for once not being able to predict things isn’t terrifying. Caring for him is one surprise she doesn’t dislike.

Xenia finishes putting the store’s earnings away for the day, locking it up in a vault built into the floor behind her counter. When she gets back up, Alexander is standing by the shop’s door like he’s keeping guard, making sure that no one can come in to interrupt the closing process.

He’s affectionate in his own way. Xenia can appreciate that. She knows she doesn’t show she cares in the most traditional ways either.

“I should be ready to go when you are,” Xenia says.

“You’re getting faster at that,” Alexander notes as she makes her way over to join him by the door.

“I’m trying to make the best of my time,” she says.

After all, her time with Alexander is limited. The Powers That Be will always demand more of him, and the Capital will always find a way to keep him busy. He can’t be the town’s guardian forever.

Xenia and Alexander have about a month left together. Twenty-seven days including today— Xenia has been keeping track. She has to make sure she savors every moment she has with him.

Xenia has never had much experience with relationships. She’s not the best with people in general. She’s good at studying them— figuring out how they work from a distance. But when it comes to getting close to them, she’s always struggled.

And yet she managed to grow close to Alexander over the course of these last few months. Closer than she has been with anyone, really. She’s dated people twice before, but it wasn’t like this. She’s never fallen this hard or fast before.

Xenia hates that she finally found someone she could see herself spending the rest of her life with, and things between them could end so soon. Maybe they can try to make things work even while he’s away. She’s always been a problem solver first and foremost, and she’s come up with a couple of ideas for how they could keep their relationship alive while they’re apart.

But she’ll make the time she has left with Alexander last.

Xenia will miss getting to go on walks with him like this though. Usually they talk, but today they’re quiet. Still they match steps with each other, the cold winter air from the steppe making Xenia wish she still had a face mask on her. But without that to provide any warmth she inches closer to Alexander so their arms brush against each other.

Neither of them usually like public displays of affection. It feels awkward to know people could see them being close like this. The town knowing that they’re in a relationship is different from being able to see it, so they try not to do any more than hold hands in public.

But Alexander doesn’t shy away from Xenia now. He wraps his arm around her shoulder, keeping her close. It’s sweet, something that’s usually reserved for private moments between the two of them.

“You’re warm,” Xenia compliments.

“Thank you,” Alexander says.

They keep going in silence for a while. The streets of the town are confusing to most, but Xenia’s memorized the flow of them. They’re curving and uneven, cutting odd paths more like something you’d see in biology than city planning. But there’s something about them that helps Xenia to think.

Mainly she tends to think about the future. The things she thinks of now aren’t as bleak as they used to be. But she keeps having thoughts of Alexander being there with her— maybe one day moving in, staying with her and being there for her like no one has before. Through birthdays and holidays and all of the unpleasant things that inevitably come with the passage of time.

Things won’t work out that well. They don’t usually for her. But Xenia can’t stop thinking about staying with Alexander, about him staying a part of her life for as long as possible.

They need to talk about things. Xenia hates doing that. But they need to.

“You leave at the end of the month,” Xenia says. It sounds too sudden, but it’s a good enough start to the conversation.

Alexander nods. “I do.”

“We should talk about that.”

Xenia doesn’t like the thought of looking at Alexander right now, so she focuses on the streets ahead of her. They’re winding with uneven cobblestones, and along the path she sees some twyre growing, somehow persisting despite it being out of season.

“What do you want to do?” she asks.

“What I’d like would be to continue dating you. But the distance makes things complicated. I don’t want to subject you to that,” Alexander says.

“Right.”

At least it’s nice to know that he wishes they could stay together too. It doesn’t stop the ache in Xenia’s chest at the thought that this conversation may lead to them breaking up.

Maybe she should give up. But she’s never been good at doing that. She’s always been desperate to find a way to make things work with everything.

“But maybe first we could see how things go while you’re away,” Xenia says, glancing towards Alexander out of the corner of her eyes.

“As in?” he questions.

“As in we don’t break things off and try to make things work from a long distance,” she says.

Alexander frowns. It’s hard to tell if he thinks the idea is bad or if he’s worried that Xenia’s just saying that because it’s what he’d want to hear. She’s pretty sure it’s the latter.

“Is this what you want?” Alexander asks after a moment. “I’ll be away for months.”

“I know.”

And that’s a thought that Xenia hates. She wishes that she could keep him here with her. The town is safer than any battlefield would be, and she’d be able to see his pretty face everyday.

Alexander has responsibilities. Xenia knows that. She can’t be selfish and demand he stay. But she wishes she didn’t have to lose him. Not when she’s finally found a relationship that she thinks could last.

“But I still want to be with you,” Xenia says. “We can write letters until you’re able to visit on leave. If you want to come here anyway.”

“I would like that. Though I’m not sure that I’m as gifted as you are with letter writing,” Alexander says.

“You can’t be that bad. And either way, I’ll like hearing from you.”

And, most importantly, getting letters from him will reassure her that he’s safe and alive.

“I’ll like hearing from you too,” Alexander says. “I like you a lot, angel.”

It takes Xenia a second to process that he said the last part in English. His words are a little awkward and stilted— he’s clearly still getting the hang of the language.

“You— that was English,” Xenia manages to force out when she remembers she should speak.

“It needs some work,” Alexander admits. “But you’ve always spoken to me in my native tongue. I thought you’d appreciate it if someone learned yours.”

Xenia struggles to find her words more now than she did when she thought they were going to break up. This might be the kindest thing someone has ever done for her, and she doesn’t think that Alexander even realizes how important this is. They haven’t said I love you to each other yet, but this conveys the idea just with different words. It feels like a commitment, like he’s saying he’s here for the long haul. Like maybe the thoughts Xenia had of settling down together in the future might be possible.

“Thank you,” Xenia says. “I— how much have you learned?”

“Not much. I’ve been practicing for a week. Mostly more, ah, romantic phrases. I hoped to surprise you,” Alexander says.

Xenia rests her hand on his back. “It was a really good surprise. Would you understand me if I said, you’re the handsomest man I’ve ever met?”

“I… understood the end.”

Xenia supposes she should have guessed he was more focused on learning ways to compliment her than to respond to her own flirtations.

“How about you’re very pretty?” she tries.

Alexander’s cheeks redden and Xenia’s pretty sure it’s not just from the cold. “Thank you.”

“You have a cute accent,” Xenia says with a laugh, leaning closer into him.

“Your accent speaking Russian is very cute,” he replies, quick as ever to try to turn the compliment back on to her.

“Thank you. I could help teach you more English if you wanted. Maybe I can give you some lessons in our letters.”

“I would appreciate it,” Alexander says. He holds her even closer with his arm as they turn down a narrower street, like he's trying to keep her fused to his side. “I really do like you a lot.”

“I like you a lot too,” Xenia promises. It’s not quite an I love you, but it’s close enough. And for once it’s easy to think that she could stay like this, feeling happy and loved, forever.

#my writing #asks #safeship #selfship fic #orlz #thank you for the prompt!#🔎 Xenia #🎖️#🎖️ doomed by the narrative

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hunter-sylvester · 3 months

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I honestly feel bad for Hunter. Having neglectful parents suck, I can see why he’s so attached to Kevin. Especially considering they’ve been friends since third grade (I think). I’d be scared if my friend started running off with some chick too tbh. Because now it’s not just us anymore.

[although Hunter still has Robbie, I love Robbie]

You and me both, Anon 💔 [prev ask for context]

And you’re preaching to the choir about neglectful parents lmao there’s a reason I relate to him so heavily. More like about a million reasons but that’s beside the point.

I agree and I definitely think it plays a very large part. Even the band’s name changing is symbolic of that loss of the illusion of them that Hunter was living under. I didn’t touch on it much in the previous analysis because I was trying to stay focused on his parental issues. But when discussing his attachment to Kevin in any way it’d be an oversight to ignore the fact that Hunter is in love with him. Dare I say canonically.

“When I first got the script, the first thing which popped out to me was that Hunter seemed like he was in love with Kevin.” – Adrian Greensmith

It's how Adrian played Hunter. It's as close to canon as it can be without it being in the script.

Although I do not think that it's entirely necessary to accept him being in love with Kevin for the following to make sense, it does enrich it imo.

So in my mind he subconsciously believes that Kevin and he are something. Something more than simply best friends. Not that he’s able to realize that. He automatically pushes everything down the second he feels it. Unless it's anger, of course. [emotional regulation issues | father]

You can see him repress his emotions so clearly here.

And yeah, the bandname. In the same scene, we get a quote I always read entirely too much into love to analyze deeply. Watch how he says it. It means way more to him than it should.

Skullfucker is them. It's Kevin & Hunter. It's his idea of them and their future. Of touring and performing together. Of striding into adulthood together.

His preceding "You can't. You can't-" is him practically begging Kevin not to abandon him. [abandonment issues | mother]

"You can't leave me because we are Skullfucker. Skullfucker is us. You can't break us. You can't throw me away, you were supposed to be the one that doesn't throw me away because we're us. You can't break Skullfucker."

It makes sense that Skullfucker is quite a 'strong' and over-the-top, even violent name. It's everything Hunter wants to project outward to protect himself and what he has with Kevin. Aside: it changing to Skullflower, which has a softer connotation while still befitting a metal band, can easily be read as symbolic of Hunter being forced to learn it's okay to be vulnerable as well. But that'd be a tangent and a half.

Kevin is shattering his entire world in the scene. He's taking a fucking sledgehammer to it.

"You need me a lot more than I need you. Without me all of your dumb fantasies disappear. But without you I might actually live a real life." - Kevin Schlieb

"Dumb fantasies" can be read as the more obvious. Namely, their band making it big while Hunter has to make zero compromises to his vision. Or there is the arguably more painful version. Hunter's dumb fantasy is them. Them together. Them being anything. Which certainly all falls apart without Kevin.

Aside: I wish to note that while I think Kevin makes a good number of painfully accurate points during this fight, I don't think he means all of it at his core. It's said in the heat of the moment and should thus be taken with a grain of salt. "You need me a lot more than I need you. Without me all of your dumb fantasies disappear." These lines I view as painfully accurate. "But without you I might actually live a real life." This one I think is not to be taken entirely at face value. It is said in anger with the intention to hurt in my opinion. And it works. But it's not what Kevin actually thinks.

He lashes out after this. As it's the only way he knows how to deal with anything and it beats having to examine why this is shattering his very being. [emotional regulation issues | father]

Aside: let it not be thought that I in any way condone his actions leading up to this scene. While the speech class scene is my favorite scene in the movie, Hunter's actions in it towards Emily are inexcusable. And the consequences that follow are something he brought upon himself.

There is also a case to be made for this being an example of or affected by Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, as I view all the members of Skullflower as being AuDHD (ADHD + Autistic).

But to circle back to Kevin running off with Emily...yeah. Of course that shatters him. Kevin is the only person that he feels safe around and on top of that he's in love with him.

His bubble of safety and his presumption that Kevin is his are turned to dust before his eyes and he doesn't even know why it's hitting him as hard as it is.

Also yes, they have indeed been best friends since third grade.

"Hunter's been my best friend ever since he stopped Molly Levine from pulling out my hair in third grade" - Kevin Schlieb

And yes, Robbie rules. We love Robbie in this household. I love that he's someone Hunter can also lean on. Even if it does have to be through very heavy projection.

And a hug. You can't fault a good hug.

I will emphasize tho, he never actually loses Kevin.

He couldn't. The way in which he thought he lost Kevin was a way he never had him to begin with. Kevin is still his best friend, still his bandmate and still someone who is safe and who is there for him. Kevin was just angry at him (and for good reason, let's be real). But he wasn't actually abandoning him. Hunter only felt like he did. [abandonment issues | mother]

Look no further than the fact he broke him out of Rehab. He came back for him because that is what Kevin does. Even if he gets mad, even if they fight, even if Hunter acts entirely out of line, Kevin is never gone. Never lost.

There will be consequences, absolutely. But he'd have to do a lot worse to actually lose Kevin for real. Tune in next time, where I will explain why Hunter and Kevin's relationship fits a BDSM bratting dynamic /j ANYWAY-

I do think their relationship is special. Just not necessarily in a way that involves kissing, unfortunately for Hunter.

Thank you so much for asking, Anon 🤘 If you are the same Anon from last time, then thank you again. I enjoy going on these incomprehensible rants and I'm massively thankful for being asked about my special interest like this. It's very nice ^-^

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lillotte17 · 8 months

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I woke up to this thought, which tells you how bad the brainrot is tbh, but like... It's not just "they don't say things out loud bc of repression and trauma", and "Oh wow, neither of them listen to each other ever, yikes!"

Neither of them are used to working with someone else as an actual TEAM, let alone as a couple. I know it seems like they've been "working together" for a long time because of "the arrangement", and because all of the flashbacks (naturally) show the times when they were together, but think about the long stretches of time between those events! Especially back towards the beginning of things when they hadn't quite decided they were friends yet. The vast majority of their time on earth has been spent alone, and not only that, but when Heaven and Hell passes them an assignment, how they handle that assignment is left largely in their own hands to figure out, because "head office doesn't care how things get done, they just want to know they can cross it off the list."

They are used to orders, and they are used to doing things their own way by themselves. Even when they are helping each other out with blessings and temptations, what we are shown is that they more or less just tell the other one what the job is, and then let them handle it without any oversight. The only exceptions seems to be when they're both suddenly in A Situation, and then they have to play off of one another on the fly. That's really not the same as sitting down and having a discussion, finding compromises, or jointly coming up with a plan about how to handle something.

The first time they even really attempt to really work together is when they agree to jointly influence Warlock's upbringing, and even then they really just get together and compare notes, they don't ask or offer insight about how things should be done. Most of their fights in season one stem from the fact that instead of actually trying to plan something together, they both just keep passing the buck back and forth about "well, you should come up with a plan to fix this."

And I'm not saying that it's an excuse exactly, but it makes sense! When you live for eternity, a four year adjustment period is practically nothing. I myself am such a creature of habit, who likes to do things my own way in my own time, and I like having my own space to do it in. Getting into the mindset of A Relationship, where you are expected to at least check in with someone else for most major decisions, and even quite a few of the smaller ones...it's a big change. It's an effort. And it's an effort that I don't know that either of them have figured out that they really needed to be making.

#good omens #good omens 2 #crowley #aziraphale #crowley x aziraphale #idk this had something to do with the dream i had last night #but i don't remember it anymore

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swordsmans · 10 months

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Hello, wild theory person here with another wild theory from tiktok. This time we have “Luffy is the Demon King and the Straw Hats all represent different demons/spirits from different cultures”. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8Jm9pgy/

thank you DEEPLY for this, oh beautiful wild theory anon. youre really taking me magical places this week. now... steeples my fingers... i have some notes.

that's literally fucking sogeking not usopp wtf is he on about??? debunked right there tbh

if usopp were included, i actually could see the tengu comparison working! yes, usopp's nose is a reference pinocchio's nose (growing when he lies, etc. etc. etc), but apparently tengus are the "reincarnated spirit of one who was proud and arrogant in life" [x], which does fit with usopp! however, i cannot stress enough that the video creator showed sogeking, which seems like a huge oversight

i can't find it anywhere, but i've actually always kind of assumed franky's name is a play on frankenstein, especially since he renamed himself after his cyborg modifications. he is both frankenstien and frankenstien's monster (by his own hand), something doubly applicable post-ts with his stitch scars and unnatural body proportions (like most iterations of frankenstein's monster in popular media)

robin's demonio fleur is a reference to her being called devil child/demon child and embracing her government-assigned epithet (same as chopper embracing his "monster" identity) for the sake of her crew! it was derogatory navy propaganda and her whole arc is about how the government lied about her true nature (she did not sink those ships! the marines themselves did!) so her being an actual demon/demon-adjacent thing kinda invalidates that

i have many thoughts about the chopper = wendigo thing, none of them good. so i'll just stick to the obvious: chopper literally calls himself a monster and has monster point. there was no need to pull smth out of thin air for this lol. the theory might have actually been more credible without the reach!

sanji's got fuckin. germa bones. dude just slipped in a lunarian sanji theory to make this work (everyone else got a real-world folklore comparison and sanji gets an in-universe myth!!!). im losing it

i love that the creator is just like "idk, look at brook". whatever it takes, man

NO NAMI! NO JINBEI!

actually yeah zoro's a demon for sure--i take it back. this theory holds water

#answers #SKLDHFLHKJSDFHLJKS I LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE JUST SAY STUFF SOMETIMES

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twisting-roads · 1 year

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I AM VERY NORMAL AND SANE ABOUT JELLY AIB. HERE'S AN ESSAY ABOUT HIM.

I’d like to preface this by saying I’ve already added like 3 paragraphs of text to Jelly’s personality page on the wiki, but I’m not quite done yet with him either. Please hear me out on this.

Jelly as a character may seem very self centered at the surface. Some might even say he’s using Popsicle Stick’s affection for him as an ego booster, but I doubt he ever had any malicious intentions. Only a few times did he act self centered, and I believe there's more a reason behind this than just him wanting attention. In this very long character analysis, I hope to explain Jelly’s motivations, what's wrong with him, and his relationship with PStick and the rest of team 2.

In the 2nd episode during the team 2 icebreakers, Jelly starts introducing himself as Can becomes upset with how this is all going. He brags about being a social butterfly, and drops the iconic line “And before anyone asks… Yes.” This is usually just interpreted as Jelly wanting attention on him, but I think he’s just doing an elaborate bit (he does enjoy attention though I will not lie about that). He notices how poorly this all has been going for Can, and wants to add something silly to lighten the mood a bit, even if that means being a little obnoxious about it. He knows he has the charisma to pull it off. He might’ve dragged on the bit too far though if Bouncy Ball didn’t fly in the last second.

Later on in ep 2 after Sock kicks Jelly in the head, possibly being the reason Jelly went stupid mode instead of it being BB’s fault. During this, I believe he's showing a bit of his “true side”. of course that's debatable, since he’s just received major brain damage, but either way, he becomes less filtered and sillier, just hanging out on the sidelines up until ep 3. PStick seems to be his self-employed caretaker for the time being.

Speaking of PStick, we should address the elephant in the room here. Jelly does seem to genuinely care for her, even if it's hard to tell in his tone in ep 1, he does show many other instances where he likes spending time with her. Unlike her, he’s able to exist alone and work alongside other people, and knows he can still be friends with her and hang out during off hours. When she joined Team 2 and Hailstone pestered her and Jelly about this, he wasn’t hesitant to ask Oodle if it was ok to switch teams. He clearly likes PStick being there, but doesn’t want to upset Hailstone or break the rules either, meaning he’s not completely biased.

Later on, esp in ep 5, Jelly seems a bit startled or worried about PStick being on the team or so attached to him. He’s starting to become uncomfortable, but instead of saying this to her, he hides that fact. He doesn’t want to hurt her, and is especially afraid of conflict. When Hailstone is upset at the fact PStick is on team 2 now, Jelly tries to console her, and understands where she's coming from, but he doesn’t want to directly tell PStick to just leave. At the start of ep 5, Jelly tries to ask Hailstone if she can go ask Oodle to do something about the heat, calling her a “good negotiator” in reference to the conversation they had in ep 4, and also not wanting to confront Oodle himself. He’s possibly afraid of confrontation or upsetting others, always being the guy who gets caught up in conflicts and tries to reach a compromise where both parties are the least unhappy. Him also trusting Hailstone shows he still respects her as his teammate, even if she isn’t a fan of PStick.

I haven’t talked much about his character in ep 3, but there's still some important things to note. He still remains silly in this ep (bababooey). When team 5 ends up disqualifying themselves and Safe is pulled out of the machine, he’s the one to go up to her and tell her it wasn’t her fault they almost lost. TBH the whole team thinks this too, with Can blaming Oodle’s oversights for why they were unable to get Safe out, but that’s not the point here. He does somewhat motivate her to go join them in their little victory party as well.

Point is, Jelly is a charismatic guy who wants to be a bit silly. He understands and respects others and just wants everyone to get along and be happy, typically being the one to comfort others. He dislikes confrontation, however, even to the point where he starts getting uncomfortable but doesn’t say anything about it in fear of hurting his closest friend.

#aib #essay #animated inanimate battle

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youwearlavenderwell · 6 months

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same anon! again!

we are just having a full on conversation at this point

WAIT RIGHT I FORGOT HE LITERALLY DECLARED HIS LOVE how do you go from that to father figure???? i am even more confused now as to what the logic was

tbh i think you're right on that one. I wouldn't call it bury your gays as a lot of people seem to think bc pretty much ever important character is queer anyways, but tbh i don't think killing off anyone who wasn't an antagonist would have worked

it's just not that type of show. or at least it wasn't, and i feel like some core part of the show from then on changed the second the toe scene/lucius being thrown overboard happened (although i don't think those scenes were bad). it was just a shift that re-established what can and cannot happen

ofmd felt like a safe show and the rules in season 1 were that people get hurt, things go wrong, but everyone gets their happy ending

and the promise of a happy ending and queer story that was about hope and healing meant a lot to queer audiences and i don't think DJ realized quite how much trust people had placed in that because again THAT'S WHAT THE SHOW LOGIC HAS TOLD US SO FAR :(

sorry for the (very) long ask <3

lmao i love it, keep it coming

and yeah idk i saw someone say that izzy reminds ed of his abusive father or something?? seems like a reach :/

that's beautifully said. i couldn't agree more. i really think it was just an oversight on DJ's part, because i believe he does have good intentions, he just completely misread the room. i'm mostly just confused, because as you said, the show's logic is a promise of hope, healing and second chances.

and the thing is, most of us grew up watching SuperWhoLock or shows with actual queer characters who get killed and so we're used to looking for the subtext in things and rooting for the repressed, self-hating guy with the internalized homophobia. it's been the norm, at least in my experience, to latch onto characters like that because they can be fun to play with and the inner turmoil and trauma is super relatable. and it's been so lovely seeing all openly gay, mostly happy, queer characters in ofmd but so many of us still gravitate towards the angst-filled repressed character and since this show has been so kind to us in so many ways, i think we all imagined we would get to see this tortured queer outcast break out of his toxic ways, get better, heal and in a more groundbreaking way, actually get to be contextually queer on screen. seeing that representation would have been the most healing experience of all because of all the times and all the other shows where they chose character death over growth.

i think this is so painful for so many of us because it rips open this old wound that many of us have as a queer audience. and it might not be the definition of bury your gays, but it does feel like bury the gays that took too long to come around/come out.

and never apologize for sending long messages <3 i (obviously) could talk about this for hours lol

#asks #izzy hands #david jenkins

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