#which is not quite how it actually is

[imaginepostingonsideblogs]

i did actually rewrite the bottom one quite a few times bc i couldn't get it quite right shdjf i know chat i promise i know she isn't "her own" "person" i promise

don't cancel me abt this guys 😤

#GDSGDYD #I MEANT IT MORE. sorry. sorry folks #i meant it more like. that cas. focuses so hard on ownership #like either scarab is His #or shes bountys In The Way he evisions her being His #which is not quite how it actually is #ofc #the point was more that he reduces her entirely to that facet of her being #to the point what identity she does have #is entirely reduced in the face of it #she is either scarab or she is b0untys wife #there is no inbetween and there is certainly no 'both' #which is why 'scarab your wife scarab' is SO emotionally fascinating to me #because for context. hes a) pissed at b0unty b) actively mocking/impersonating b0untys own words and c) #well. you know. #clears my throat #so i know the fact he does that is important #but as always with cas the exact how or why or actual specific explanation of the implications of that series of titles #escapes me x') hes my own fucking oc but ugh you know how it be #itll come to me at midnight or smth im sure

[ruporas]

kisses of affirmation (ID in alt)

#vashwood #vash the stampede #nicholas d wolfwood #trigun #trigun maximum #ruporas art #oughrhhhh finally posting this here..... Very Romancey very Cutesy Very what do you call it... Indulging #for the longest time i debated on whether to post this comic at all on my socials - for some reason this was almost the limit to how far i #could push a romantic alternative that cusps ooc-ness for vw but then i ultimately decided its Fine. i couldv made it much more unbearable. #someone on twit qrt this with “vash is such a loser” which means i havent lost my way completely yet so its ok #(sidenote) script is a bit old !! bc this was meant to be a part two to an old comic..! the first kiss comic from feb #it branched off quite a bit that listing this as an actual part two would be kind of awkward now - but that was the initial intention #anyway. please enjoy! #long post

[turtleblogatlast]

Leo’s natural intuition and perceptiveness are so good and subtle but seen throughout the whole show many, many times. And it’s interesting to see how these natural characteristics of his give way to other traits of his as well.

Like, him loving twists and betrayals and surprises goes hand in hand with him being so naturally intuitive.

Canonically, he knows his fam so well he can predict how they’re going to react (knowing what state his fam would be in during the base Shredder fight, being able to trick everyone in Lair Games, knowing Splinter would fall asleep after milk and cake, etc etc etc etc), and he also knows how to predict and manipulate his enemies as well (the “salami paper”, everything with Big Mama, etc etc etc etc).

This intuition comes off as very natural, so it makes so much sense that anything that throws that off would be fun for him to encounter! Provided that the “surprise” isn’t, y’know, world ending.

Moreover, this intuition and perceptiveness also goes hand in hand with how he’s secretly more responsible than he lets on, having to remind his brothers to be aware of how they appear or what may be too much for them or who they may hurt if they’re not careful.

Lastly, and this one is obvious, but these traits are also what fuel Leo’s sense of strategy, which is displayed not only with his actions on the battlefield, but every conversation he has outside of it. After all, it’s a long game to play, to appear a certain way. The Face Man is just another strategy.

So yeah, he knows people. He knows people very, very well.

And he tries very hard to make sure no one knows him.

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt leo #rottmnt headcanons #rise leo #which in turn makes Casey Junior so offputting to Leo #because he DOESNT know Junior but Junior knows HIM #or at least #he knows a different mask #one that Leo isn’t finished making quite yet #but that’s fine he finishes it by the end #also side note but there’s actually a tonnnn of times in the series where Leo just sorta??? knows what’s up??? #imagine someone asking a question like I wonder what [insert anyone here] is doing right now #and Donnie goes to answer since he’s (totally ethically) recording everything ever but Leo just answers nonchalantly #when asked how tf he knows he just gives a punchable grin and says lol I guessed

[meatlessmcmuffin]

stop thinking so hard about it dude ur gnna get a headache

#breath of the wild #loz #tloz #link #zelda #in general i dont think of botws story so much as others but i also have this idea in my head of link regaining his memories but never #never quite being able to remember her face or even who exactly she was to him . like he sees how they interact in his memory but #he cant remember his own feelings. and maybe he remembers at the end when he sees her but maybe its more complicated than that #like in botw you can make the most of a wartorn world and have all kind of adventures and sidequests and build a home and a town and meet #new people and you cant do all of that on top of the 100 year sleep without coming out of it a different person. #which isnt bad. but i just imagine some things could get harder and harder to remember #' i dont think of botw's story as much as others ' maybe i do actually #meat art

[katabay]

original thief series basso & garrett :)

ngl, it's about quality over quantity for me. an npc can have a total of three minutes of screen time, but if they have a cool name, they can live rent free in my head and I'll spend several hours trying to decipher drawable features from a blurry screenshot of pixels

there is a vague hint of a story here, and that's because every time I try to play thi4f, I get incredibly frustrated with how Not Fun the game play is. like, is the story good? well. but it has a PLAGUE. that should've given it instant 'I'll replay this once a year' status in my heart, but the game play sucks so bad that I've never finished it. I can't believe Not Fun gameplay beat out my obsession with narrative plagues.

anyway, the idea is basically if the original era had a game with a plague centric narrative and some other stuff I liked out of thi4f thrown into a narrative blender, with a heavy dash of horror thrown in because some parts of the thief games were scarier to me than entire dedicated horror genre games.

⭐ places I’m at! bsky / pixiv / pillowfort /cohost / cara.app

#if i had a laptop and the skillset i would attempt a story mod because the thief modders who create whole mission stories #are GENIUS and also somewhat terrifying. love them! xoxox #anyway im actually kind of obsessed with parts of thi4f but its also like. not at that sweet spot of almost good enough to be fun #to talk about. which. for the record. has not stopped me from talking about it at length to people #the city itself actually fucking fascinates me. its almost alive and im SO mad that not a single part of that game is actually terrifying #it should be gnarlier and instead it feels a bit like it doesn't quite want to be trapped in the story it has to tell? #but between the level that has the bodies on the meathooks #and the scene with the bodies hanging from the rafters or whatever that was and garrett living in a clock tower #because the game is very much ALMOST about changing times and authoritarian violence and capitalism #(like. by virtue of how the story sort of spins out i think it misses it's mark on a lot of stuff here #in the sense that i dont feel like it actually wants to tell that story. it wants to. go in a different direction. or at least walk on top #of those themes instead of through it) #ANYWAY between all of those things. it does kind of live in my head rent free. they did create a compelling setting #SHAME THEY DIDNT WANT TO ACTUALLY EAT ANY OF IT #unrelated but i would've given thi4f a 10/10 if they kept garrett's fucking nail polish from the concept art. cowards. unforgivable #thief the dark project #i still have no idea how to tag the game series as a whole RIP #sorry for the dedicated dark project fans. if you know what the general series tag is. please let me know #garrett thief #basso thief

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

When discussing or analyzing Dazai, one thing I hope you will keep in mind when reading anything I write about him is that from my perspective, he is always, always both.

What do I mean by this? Well, I find there tends to be a general split among people who hold the opinion that "he's a manipulator and will always be manipulative" and "he's doing his best to be good and helpful and live up to Oda's last wishes for him", of which, neither is completely right - because he is both. But even among the people who hold to this dual-nature interpretation, I find that his individual actions and motivations still tend to be thought of in a dichotomous manner - is it manipulative, or genuine?

Again, I think it's always both.

Dazai has a very pragmatic view on a lot of things - he is always looking for the usefulness of things and people so that the situation turns out in his favour. He's incredibly adept at this, and his prediction and placement and careful reveals are all manipulation tactics to get his allies and enemies doing exactly what he needs them to. I don't think anyone can contest this since we see it over and over in the series.

But that's not all there is to it. He's not solely manipulative and he does, to some extent, sympathize with others - I think there are several instances of this in the series, but I want to stress that this has been apparent since Chapter 1!

For context, Dazai is recalling what Atsushi said to him a few minutes earlier, but it's very interesting that it should be this specific part of the conversation. He could've flashed back to the part where Atsushi said he had nowhere to go; no money, no food - he is about to trick him into joining, after all, and this is the key piece he uses to basically force Atsushi into the Agency. But instead it's Atsushi's self-deprecation that catches his attention, and it really does, because even during the conversation, he turns to look at him after he says this with an odd expression.

You could say that this makes Atsushi easier to manipulate, if that's your angle, but that can't be solely it, because in the later conversation with Hirotsu, we know Dazai was planning to bring Atsushi into the Agency and set him up as one half of the new Double Black the moment he met him. The panel shown there is the riverbank, set much earlier in the day than this scene. He was already planning to pair him with Akutagawa since he figured out he was the tiger, so what's with this reaction?

Well. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best.

He manipulated Atsushi into joining with the intention of utilizing him in his future plans. He also helped him and gave him a place to belong, and importantly, he likes this kid! It's both.

I think much of it might be that his brain just kinda works way too fast - he's such a natural at crafting these elaborate plots and seeing how things connect and gathering useful people like resources that it's practically automatic - though this is not a great means when you're trying to be a kinder person. There's an omake, I believe, that has him saying "I like using my head for justice", i.e. using these underhanded means to act for the better. Not great, but those are the kind of gifts he has. He's way more suited to exploitation, but is choosing to use these tactics to save people now, which is quite reminiscent of what he tells Kyouka. Kyouka's talents lie in killing people - when what you're good at isn't who you want to be, what do you do? Well, I expect you use what you have, even if it's not ideal.

Now, about the current situation with Sigma - I think he definitely likes him, and is intrigued by him and his situation. We did get a little thought bubble where the guy amusedly compares him to Atsushi, and you can't tell me he doesn't care about Atsushi (listen to the onsen drama cd, or read 55 Minutes if you somehow don't believe me). But also, it's undeniable that Sigma is in a very vulnerable position of being homeless and having had no one be genuinely kind to him before. His trust is very easy to earn, and with the latest chapter, Dazai has now saved his life multiple times. There is, as always, a practical purpose he needs him for. And I have to be somewhat amused because Dazai is quite literally telling Sigma everything he ever wanted and needed to hear. It's a brilliant means of quickly endearing himself to Sigma - but I don't think that's all it is.

Look. The most honest moments we get in this series from Dazai are, interestingly for an expert manipulator, when people are at their most vulnerable. In spite of every pointlessly cruel act he inflicted on Akutagawa, his first meeting with him was open and transparent; much like the orphanage director, it seems he thought this treatment would make him strong and adaptable (he's wrong but that's not the point of this). He cuts Kyouka off in irritation and says "don't give me that" when she implies that she would fail the entrance exam. He tells Atsushi it's normal to cry after losing a father figure and to feel however you feel, even if that person caused you nothing but incredible pain and cannot be forgiven. He refuses to entertain Sigma's assumptions that Dazai sees himself as a superior being to him.

Selective honesty can also be utilized to great effect; Mori does this, and undoubtedly it serves this purpose for Dazai too. But I want to stress that I do sincerely believe this is all still honesty from him. Manipulation, or genuine?

Both. It's both.

#or to summarize: Dazai is a gemini (derogatory) #<- said as a fellow gemini (also derogatory) #the few exceptions to the always both rule are basically any of his interactions with odasaku #and the bit in sb where he tells chuuya about what activating corruption will entail #most everything else appears to have a dual reason. #to be clear: there's lots of ways to interpret dazai - but this is the approach i personally use in my analyses #so i'd love it if you guys would read my dazai analyses keeping this standpoint in mind :) #i think instead of debating 'is dazai bad' which is seriously kind of irrelevant to me #i'd love to talk a bit more about how dazai is actually quite helpful but also equally presumptuous about what will help people #we could also talk about the fine line between protectiveness and possessiveness with him too. #or about how drawn he is to kind people who value life likely because he's hoping to find answers or a vicarious experience #anything except the 'is he good or bad' debate. i don't like it. :/ #bsd #bsd meta #bsd analysis #bsd dazai #storyrambles #oof i never know how things like this are going to go over.

[wingheadshellhead]

Steve Rogers & Tony Stark in Avengers Assemble 1.25 "The Final Showdown"

#marveledit #steverogersedit #captainamericaedit #tonystarkedit #ironmanedit #stevetonyedit #stevetony #superhusbands #stony #steve rogers #captain america #tony stark #iron man #marvel #avengers assemble #type: gifs #universe: aa #episode: 1.25 the final showdown pt. 1 #& #original: gifs #original: aa #it's actually super interesting how much the aa (and emh) writers believe in tony as a character #like the absolute blatant difference when a writer genuinely understands and sees his value #vs comic writers who just get handed iron man runs on a silver platter #tony carries the burden of being The Leader of the avengers in aa more than he does in most universes #where even steve frequently defers to him which i think is quite unique to aa #and it's wholesome Because steve also believes in him so much #every time tony wants to give up or back down or take himself out of the equation steve is standing there going “no WE NEED YOU i NEED YOU” #the BACKBONE of the avengers and also tony's ability to grow and flourish as a team leader

[mokutone]

i wanted to see what a piece would look like if i finished it in my three main mediums, pencil, ink, and watercolor (+colored pencils) >:*)

#my art #naruto #yamato #yamato tenzo #tenzō #kakashi #kakayama #image desc in alt text #okay now to talk shop. SO. i did these in the order theyre presented #which means that the pencil was done first #and by the time i got to the watercolor id drawn this same picture quite a few times #so if the quality seems to improve thats more than likely a matter of repetition and the benefit of past foresight or whatever #like yamatos shin is too small in the first picture. #and i noticeably lengthened it in following pictures. i also shortened kakashis thigh a little bit #yamatos torso looks really long but thats partially because he's slid back a little bit—his flack jacket is up high and you can see #it gapping at his shoulder #but ultimately that doesnt make the anatomical weirdness completely forgiveable so if i drew this again id do it differently probably #THAT SAID IM STILL SOOOO HAPPY WITH HOW THESE TURNED OUT #drawing the same picture over and over and over again? kind of great actually. i recommend it. #if you want to try doing this and you dont have a lightbox (u dont rlly need one) just like. take one drawing you like #and a blank sheet of paper #and tape it to a window thats getting a LOT of light #and then trace ur old drawing's bare bones (the forms. u know) #and then once you have that down. draw on top of it. or use new materials #it allows you to preserve ur previous drawing also which is great #once i was doing a commission and i realized i got the room i was drawing the characters in backwards #so i just. turned the paper around. put it against the morning window. and traced the now-mirrored image onto a new sheet of paper. #saved SO MUCH TIME LMFAO #the paper on the last picture is different and more yellow in tone so thats why the color is weird there ajxjskhfjahx #anyway happy testostone tuesday to all who celebrate 💚 love you

[xx-just-a-demon-xx]

in celebration of Jim Carrey being confirmed for the third sonic movie i thought id post these robotniks i did not too long ago

#really hitting both ends of the style spectrum here #on the one hand we have me wanting to try adding more detail into my line art + cell shading bc i never cell shade #and then we have lineless which i also never do #im actually quite happy with how they both turned out tho #sonic the hedgehog #sonic movie #ivo robotnik #justa's art

[crocodilenjoyer]

here’s the thing. about zolu. puts myhand on your shoulder Here’s the thing. luffy? aromantic. zero interest in romance. zoro? gay. very low interest in romance. has two braincells and they’re both devoted to thinking about swords. they are not dating. it is not romantic. it’s not sexual either because luffy, much like his views on romance, could not give less of a shit about sex. maybe if they both feel up to it at the same time, but that’s rare and when it does happen it’s more of a physicality and, to a lesser extent, affection thing than anything else. occasionally it’s a “hey wouldn’t it be weird/funny/fucked up if we [insert some david cronenberg-type shit]” thing and the other one goes “haha yeah do you wanna try.” but i digress.

however. HOWEVER. they Have A Thing. what that Thing entails is a mystery. luffy is both incredibly straightforward and frustratingly cryptic whenever he’s asked about it and zoro just kinda shrugs. they’re just luffyandzoro and zoroandluffy. the king and his lionheart. drift compatible. partners. captain and first mate. the sailor and the north star. sun and moon. they simply Are. what does that entail? well brother. they hang out

#welcome to riko’s ship opinions in which everything boils down to ‘well they chill’ and i find new ways to say queerplatonic #the inherent intimacy of being on the same page. yknow #zolu #riko.txt #they both approach it with characteristic irreverence but zoro’s flavor of it is also predictably Super Intense #not that luffy’s isn’t! they’re obsessed with each other. but also zoro is zoro and he’s got Complexes to the moon and back #but i think it’s something about how they work that luffy takes them and goes hmm i actually find it quite simple #someday i’m going to sit myself down and examine how some of my favorite parts of certain duos is the unspoken simplicity #but it won’t be today! teehee #anyway. i just think it’s easy for them. they met and something slid into place #and not in the cosmic meant-to-be sense. they just Are. they make the rules and they said ohh he’s coming home w me #someone asks how does that work. and zoro shrugs and says it just does. luffy was not paying attention to the question #they love each other very much. #this only makes sense in my head but you know. You Know

[wickedcriminal]

Some age-old "HTTYD 3" Doods featuring Outcast Younger and Prison Darkheart Elder

"HTTYD 3" is books 9-12. Younger took Big Tooth with him in exile on Elder's request, to keep each other safe. They'd meet the Light Fury while on the run (who is Furious's right hand and is trying to kill them, mind you), and Grimmel would be one of the bounty hunters tracking down Minicup through Big Toothless. Unfortunate side effects of traveling with a night fury!

Elder takes Stoick's place in the books getting taken to Prison Darkheart along with the other Dragon Riders 😔

Bonus: Younger finding Elder in Prison Darkheart

#ELDER IS VERY SIMILAR TO HICCUP 1 AND WODENSFANG IS LOWKEY EMOTIONAL ABOUT THAT #half brothers au #wodensfang #hbau #put this in the discord a while back but i never posted them here!!! #httyd #hiccup horrendous haddock iii #back when i drew this i gave elder longer hair to signal how long he's been a slave #but upon a recent reread of book 10 i noticed that wouldn't be quite right #alvin had actually cut off most if not all the warriors' beards and plaits as a humiliation tactic #so elder and the riders would likely have short hair #not unlike ruffnut's hair in the scauldron episode #which means no braids for elder

[foursidecity]

Thinking about them... designs... silly..

#tbb #the bad batch #ispy.png #ive seen some posts about albino crosshair which is cool and awesome but i also feel like alot of people forget that blindness and nystagmu #are super common with albinism #ans as someone with blurry shakey eyes that did archery. hitting a bright red target is completly doffrent from #sniping something 100s of yards away in bad lighting conditions #anyways i gave him vitiligo. i like 2 imagine it got alot worse after being on tantiss (since stress can cause more loss of pigment) #the bad batch art #fanart #crosshair #echo #tbb fanart #tbb season 3 #i love my disabillity allegory clones #actually since vitilligo is genetic itd be fun to see if quite a few clones actually have it to varrying degrees #incherestibg 2 me #guy with genetic disorder: gee i wonder how clone genetics work who gets what. ehay about dormant genes?? #anyways crosshair dyes hisbhair still because i think its silly that clones do that #he probably hates how patchy it looks so #he either dyes it or shaves it enough that you cant notice as much #star wars #starwars fanart

[alexisntedgy]

thomas is such an interesting character because everything he does is so affected by his trauma. and even though there’s layers to that trauma, all of those layers stem from or ultimately come back to one event (his death). his trauma is complex, but at the same time it happened in a millisecond.

we don’t see other characters react the way he does to sudden loud noises (save for the captain at times, but that’s just him I think) or have the obviously deeply flawed thought processes he has. he’s stuck in a cycle of almost recreating the build-up to the traumatic event or searching for the same thing over and over again (women who look like Isabelle did, frankly). obsessing over things, but especially women, to the point where at times he is actively trying to convince himself he’s in love.

we see this very clearly in season 3 with his rapid switching of love interests between two women who happen to look alike, and he even twists Mary’s words so it affirms to him that what he is experiencing is infatuation and not a very, very long lived and deeply ingrained trauma response.

his lack of boundaries is not okay by any means, but ultimately I’ve met so many people with complex trauma (which I also have) who have shockingly similar thought patterns. his understanding of love is both immature/underdeveloped and tainted by the pain his mind associates with it by default.

final note for this rant: the fact thomas touches his wound when romance or death are brought up is such a clever detail regarding all of this.

#I mock thomas so much but he deserved a chance to develop as a character #I really think somebody could’ve broken those walls of flawed and intense thinking down #it does make sense that he never quite reached that point though #because he didn’t even find out how he actually died until season 2 #which probably made everything even worse lmao #like even the captain was entirely himself by the end of the show #thomas was still locked behind those Trauma Doors ya know #bbc ghosts #ghosts #six idiots #thomas thorne #thomas ghosts

[generalsmemories]

every time i see someone shit on the xianzhou story quest on twitter i die a little bit inside.

#narus' corner #SO LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW EVERYONE HATED XIANZHOU BECAUSE EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHERS AND ANCESTORS HAD PULLED UP THEORY AFTER THEORY #AND WHEN SAID THEORY DID NOT FCKING GO ALONG WITH WHAT THE ACTUAL WRITERS HAD IN STORE HELL BROKE LOOSE #ion think u understand #maybe im biased. i probably am but the way hoyoverse tackled immortality with xianzhou is quite bittersweet honestly #YA'LL WANTED UR DOOMED YAOI AND YURI AND TBH ME TOO BUT THEY ARE STILL FCKING DOOMED EVEN IF SOME THEORIES DID NOT GO AS MOST SHIPPERS WANT #THEY STILL DOOMED MILADYS AND GENTS AND NONBINARY PEEPS DAN HENG IS SUFFERING FROM PTSD AS WE SPEAK. #u look at xianzhou and see predecessors suffering the consequences of what their ancestors wanted because of immortality and vow to stop it #because they been fighting people against GALAXIES who wants a taste of that immortality who also don't KNOW THE CONSEQUENCES OF IT WHICH I #LITERALLY GETTING MARA-STRUCK WHENEVER UR MEMORIES OVERLOAD FROM LIVING TOO LONG AND GO: damn this was shit writing cause i didn't understa #IMMA AAAH #eternal wars where when u find peace after winning you DON'T BECAUSE YOU TURN MARA-STRUCK FROM THE AMOUNT OF TRAUMA U HAVE #when immorality isn't immortality in a sense u can't be killed but long lifespan but then u can't even live said long lifespan #because u get mara-struck from participating in wars to protect AND YA'LL COME OVER HERE AND SAY BAD WRITING?! #and don't come with what the fuck is phantylia doing #ion think u understand how fucked we would've been if phantylia managed to actually absorb that ambrosial arbor AS A GODDAMN EMANATOR #OF DESTRUCTION OF ALL THINGS?! YA'LL WANT INFINITE HEALING WHILE GETTING BLASED OR SMTH!?! #and the aftermath which was probs the most hated on #imma just. #imma shut up LMFAO

[rosaaeles]

something about her is soooo annie cresta coded

#HEAR ME OUT #and i was thinking about my headcanon that annie wears shells in her hair #and THAT made me think about a specific scene in the little mermaid (2023) in which you can see tiny shells in ariel’s hair #i saw it in my minds eye (which was quite easy actually considering how many times i’ve seen the movie) #havana is always going to be my no.1 annie cresta face claim #but i know a lot of people like annie as a redhead because of the movies and that got my thinking about halle #if i ever write annie as a redhead - know that i am imagining halle 🙏🏽 #annie cresta #odesta

[novelconcepts]

Do you ever just lay awake at night, turning over in your head the stark difference in delivery between Hewson's Van saying--steadily, unshakably--"it's just something that's happening to you...happening to us" and Cypress' Taissa saying--imploringly, whiningly--"this was not just my dream, this was our dream"?

Do you ever just turn it over and over, how often Tai tried to scare Van away, and how it only made Van set her feet more firmly? How Taissa's first love was this person who saw a problem fall into Taissa's lap, a problem that was quite literally trapped inside Taissa's body, and decided unflinchingly: No, that's an us problem now? How she refused point-blank to walk away even with blood in her mouth, how she flatly informed Tai "I'm never gonna be scared of you", and promptly turned a moment of pain into a declaration of love? And how this would etch itself into Taissa for the rest of her life? How she'd take these things that worked with Van--with the person Van was, with the bond they shared--and try so hard to run through an identical script with Simone?

Except Simone is her own person. A completely different kind of person. A person who hasn't been offered any of the context, any of the realities going on inside Taissa. So: naturally she doesn't respond the way Van did at eighteen--and will go on to do all over again in her forties. Naturally, she hears our dream as the excuse it is, not as a plea for connection. Naturally, she is scared away when Taissa pushes, and shouts, and begs. Because there isn't blood in her mouth, not yet, but there will be. And they have a son to worry about. And she isn't eighteen and a special kind of immortal, a special kind of romanticized. She's a grown woman with responsibilities, with priorities, with an understanding that you can't fix someone just because you love them. And Tai can't just perform a revival of the play she and Van had memorized twenty-five years later with a whole new performer in the works, and expect it to shake out the same.

Of course it doesn't work. But look at Taissa trying it. Look at Taissa trying to reframe her first love through a new lens. Trying to recast it. Trying to play it through again. Van taught her love was sticking out the blood, shaking off the pain, making a you problem into an us problem. Does it ever just eat at you, how tragic it is, watching Taissa try to shape her marriage around a woman who isn't even wearing a ring?

#yellowjackets #yj meta #taivan #sorry i'm just fucking obsessed with cypress' delivery choice in that scene #it is the most immature we EVER hear tai sound #and it's not teenage taissa. it's adult wife-mother-almost senator tai flat out whining in desperation #it is SUCH a choice #and then after the S2 opener to hear van sound so adult offering a glimpse as to WHY tai would #so pleadingly seek turning a Tai Thing into an Us Thing #yeah. yeah of course she would. because van shared the worst of her #van shared it without allowing tai to dissaude her. van quite literally tethered herself to tai's problems #and tai learned: that is what love is #and tai thought: this is what love is #it's sharing. and giving up on sharing is surrendering the whole thing #and she's lying! is the thing! she's lying to simone and to herself #she's making excuses for doing what she wants to do even though she shouldn't be doing it #but the core of it is Team. the core of it is Us. the core of it is #'if you love me you will be on my side. for better or worse.' #because that's what van did. for better. and for so much worse. #which isn't true. isn't actually how love works. love is sometimes putting your foot down and saying 'nah dude that ain't it.' #love is communication. but that was never taivan's game and it isn't tai's now and so she's just trying old plays #and it is NOT a play that can ever work the same with simone in the leading role. nor should it. #but god everything about them makes me so sad because simone deserves better and taissa needs what she won't admit to #anyway. will be absolutely gnawing at the walls until S3.