#Reflections Within Reflections

[reverserenders]

Kakania : Reflections Within Reflections ⭒

[pokimoko]

I can't keep being fundamentally changed as a person by animated movies, it's just not sustainable.

[sunnyxjarrus]

headcannon that Stan is actually naturally smart and stuff but he gave up on applying himself to studies because no matter how well he did ford did better and he decided that if it wasn’t good enough why should he try to be good enough

[waitineedaname]

putting aside being sad about binghe for now, I was looking for the first time sqq directly compares binghe to a maiden, and as far as I can tell, the first time he calls him a maiden is this part:

To push him away during this moment would be like giving a young maiden -- one who'd finally worked up the courage to call and brokenheartedly weep to an older sister for comfort and encouragement -- a face-turning slap. It was really a bit cruel. (Chapter 11 in vol. 2 of the English translation)

this stands out to me because this is shortly after he finally realized binghe is attracted to him, while he's still grappling with the fact that he's "turned binghe gay." it's yet another example of sqq equating being gay with femininity -- he knows binghe is into men now, and thus begins him repeatedly referring to binghe's behavior as that of a maiden's

but the other thing that stands out to me about this quote is that sqq is also making himself a girl in this metaphor. I know the translation is probably lacking here and he's probably using jiejie to mean generic older female friend as opposed to jiejie meaning older sister, but still. shen qingqiu, why are both of you girls in this mental metaphor. hello. shen qingqiu are you aware that making both of you girls does not make it any less gay. shen qingqiu are you listening to me. shen qingqiu yes it's still gay when you're both girls

[shrimpricebowl]

before we were born, was the sky this shade of blue?

[outromoony]

Lmao not the official Harry Potter Instagram having to capitalize "friendship" 😭

[shakingparadigm]

NOBODY is allowed to be happy and EVERYONE is doomed

[eddiebloombug]

your honor, the prosecution is once again trying to moralize the actions of the comic blorbo using ideas only relevant to the real-world reader and failing to consider the implications that the narrative supposing the existence of good billionaires, normalized vigilante justice, incarceration as punishment moreso than rehabilitation being the reasonable answer but also never working, and non-corrupt cops has on justice, ethics, and morality in the blorbo’s environment.

[poliodeuces]

dottore doodles

[notbxnny]

ngl benson probably wouldnta done all that if randy just let him grab a tit in the walk-in

[bxriles]

I’m sure that this is not a hot take and that a lot of people feel the same way but like…

The question “does it have spice?!🌶️🔥” makes me want to jump off a cliff. I’m out here looking for gothic book recommendations on Reddit, tumblr, and goodreads and WHY is this the first question so many people ask 😭

Look, I love erotica as much as the next person but come on. There have got to be other things that matter when recommending books or choosing to pick one up, my GOD.

[vintage-tigre]

M.C Escher

"So let us then try to climb the mountain, not by stepping on what is below us, but to pull us up at what is above us, for my part at the stars;”

[rigginsstreet]

The thing about billy is that he was marked for death the second his mom left him with neil.

He was either gonna die by Neil’s hands or, as we saw on the show, he was gonna go down such a self destructive path it would send him into an early grave of his own making.

So him dying at 18 isn’t really shocking. The part of it that was never written in the stars for him previously is that in his final moments he got to take some of his power back. He made the choice to stand against his abuser (the mindflayer) in the name of saving someone else. He got to fight back against the thing controlling him and contribute to its demise. Something he likely would’ve never gotten a chance to do with neil.

The tragedy is that he dies anyway, and no one can even give him the courtesy of acknowledging what that tragedy is. Not the writers, not the fandom, not the characters within the show.

His death becomes Max’s tragedy, it can’t even be his own. Nobody cares what billys death means in the context of billys life. Just like how nobody cared about billy when his mom left or when his dad was getting physical with him or when he started lashing out because of the abuse.

Nobody ever cared for billy, so why was he expected to care about anyone else?

He was never treated as a person, just a presence. And an inconvenient one at that. So of course he was never gonna make it to a long fulfilling life. And nobody ever thought to step in and intervene because well, Billys a problem, right? So what does it matter if he’s gone?

And you start to realize how inherently cruel the entire stranger things narrative is because there’s a clear line of people “worth” saving and those who aren’t. And if someone’s too much trouble then well, they’re expendable.

Billy was too much trouble for his mom to make her clean escape. He was too much trouble for not fitting in to Neil’s ideals of the perfect son. He was too much trouble for max as a brother. Too much trouble with all the rage and hate he had built up for the world around him for not protecting him.

So in the end, really, what was left for him to do?

[babylon38ad]

Dark Reflections - Demon Within

[trisshawkeye]

The illustrations in the Hollow Knight Piano Collection book are SO CUTE my gosh

[valiant-typhoon]

Writing Tsunade and Orochimaru is really fun actually. *clenches fist* The conflict, the history, the angst Also might be giving myself OroTsu feels? Hm.

Progress for "Both Feel the Same When Your Eyes Are Closed"

Tsunade examining Orochimaru's arms and he brings up the Edo-Tensei

“That jutsu requires a sacrifice,” she said quietly, unable to bring herself to meet Orochumaru’s eye. Afraid she’d see kindness there more than she feared to see victory.

He did not ask how she knew this, because he knew her. Knew that in her darkest moments she’d considered using the jutsu herself. It was why Tsunade never allowed herself to ever learn it, she knew she would not be strong enough to resist its temptation.

“How many lives have we taken for no cause at all?” Orochimaru asked her, almost gentle. “No reason except that our hokage demanded it of us?”

He chuckled and Tsunade understood why. How many lives had they both taken? To pretend to flinch away from the idea of killing now was almost an insult to the lives she’d ended.

“That jutsu was created with the most vile of intentions,” Tsunade heard herself say, repeating what her grandmother had once told her. “To force the dead to continue to fight even after they had already fallen at the cost of one still living.” She swallowed around the knot in her throat, clinging to the memory of her grandmother’s steadfastness. “You should never have used it. Just as sensei never should have used the Reaper Death Seal.”

“Had Konoha respected your wishes or the wishes of Mito Uzumaki then sensei and I never would have been able to learn them at all. Yet that wretched village did not even consider such a thing, did it? It was too important for them to cling to knowledge they’d taken from the Senju and Uzumaki clans, absorbed with their own quest for power all in the name of the Will of Fire. Even you, the daughter of both great clans, were ignored.”

He was right about the village. “And how are you different?” Tsunade dared ask, meeting his eyes. “You want to learn every jutsu in the world and to gain immortality. You don’t care about cruelty nor do you care for the sanctity of life or death.”

“I am honest about my intentions, I do not hide behind ideas of camaraderie and claim I act for some greater good. I act only for myself, for my own goals.” His head tilted to the side, dark hair falling to the side. “You know I dislike falsehoods, Tsuna.”

“And what would destroying the village do for you now? Sensei is dead, you have the young Uchiha in your grasp.”

“Maybe I want to clear out the rot from this world. There are still many others that are deserving of both our blades.” He smiled, a sharpened tooth peeking out, reminding her of their childhood. “Heal my arms and I will return your loved ones to you and destroy the village that took them in the first place. You and your people would be welcome in my village. Together we could discover not only how to undue death but how to defeat it entirely.”

“Jiraiya would come for us.”

“He would not succeed, not against the two of us together.”

“My apprentice would never agree.” Even to her own ears it sounded like an excuse. "Especially after you've taken her hostage."

“Perhaps you’re underestimating her loyalty to you,” he suggested. “She was always such a bright girl, in truth my own apprentice reminds me of her. I’m confident that with time and your guidance she would come to see the truth of our world. That death does not need to be permanent, that it doesn’t need to happen at all. She is a healer is she not? She staves off death just as you do, what greater victory for a healer could there be? After reuniting with her beloved uncle I’m sure she’d reconsider.””

Shizune would follow her to the ends of the earth, but Tsunade knew she would never follow her into the sweet darkness Orochimaru promised. If Tsunade accepted such an offer she would lose Shizune. She couldn’t imagine Dan or Nawaki accepting such a thing either.

But they would be alive, part of her whispered.

Even if Dan and Nawaki hated her, even if Shizune swore to end her life for betraying every ideal she’d ever taught her they would be alive and together.

She imagined their faces twisted in confused betrayal. Shizune would spit curses and poison, Nawaki would look at her like the stranger pain had made her, Dan would realize that her heart had died with him.

She could see it now. Could see Dan’s blue-green eyes staring at her in horror as he asked, “what have you done?”

Tsunade had made a poor replacement for Shizune’s true family, Dan would be there for her, would comfort her. And there was no one in the world she would trust more with her little brother than Dan and Shizune, she knew in her heart they would take care of him. The three people she loved most in the world would take care of each other.

Gods, was she really considering this?

Song for this scene is Love and War by Fleurie "You and I, always in disguises/Lover, hunter, friend and enemy, you will always be every one of these/Nothing's fair in love and war"

@moldy-flowers