#and bc of that she just has this innate ability to understand

[chryblossomjjk]

…

[riddlemearose]

hello i have come to ask more about wild with magic he cant controll

i love that hc so much and it fits him so well! like no one taught him bc hyrule was mostly empty, and he wouldnt even know he had it himself because why would he! its genius!

Sure, I’m happy to info-dump lmao.

I know other people have already come up with the "Wild has magic" headcanon about botw before, but for me it honestly started as a series of jokes with a friend. Basically it made sense to me since all the other Champions’ abilities are either outwardly shown to be magic like with Mipha and Urbosa, or at least implied to be, as in the case of Daruk’s magic being hereditary, and Revali’s being something no other Rito has managed to achieve.

So we were both like “oh yeah, he’s got to have magic” *cue shitposts and memes*

There’s minor evidence to support its existence in botw; Teba says to Wild “it was as if time stopped with every arrow you let fly”, and Daruk’s Training Journal mentions that Link once told him that it feels like time slows down when he focuses. Some people take this to mean Wild has really good reflexes and others went with magic. I’m in the ‘Wild has magic’ camp bc someone did the math and worked out he’s like… almost moving at super-sonic speeds when he closes the distance to start a flurry rush.

The reason I say he can’t really control it is bc the only time he’s ever shown being able to do so is to enter and exit bullet time. That’s literally it. If you dodge at the right moment, even if you don’t want to flurry rush, it’ll still trigger and give you the opening to perform one (which ends after like 1-2 seconds of inaction). Wild also doesn’t have a magic meter like some other Links do; he uses his stamina. He’s literally brute-forcing his way through his magic (which, side note, Urbosa must’ve hated watching). And, to build off that last sentence, this means that Wild probably doesn’t have a lot of magic, but he does recover it incredibly fast – especially compared to the others who have to use potions. More on this last part in a moment.

It’s true that no one was there to teach him per se, but I think it’s a tad more complicated than that bc botw has an odd thing where it shows a lot of magic users (at least as far as I understand when compared to other games) but doesn't go into detail, which is fair given the Calamity. This means we don't really have a concept of how prevalent magic usage is in the grand scheme of things.

Looking at the series in a whole, for hylians/humans magic is largely limited to the Royal Family (specifically the women of the Royal Family), and they seem to mostly wield light and divine magic, very different from time magic. (The Ocarina of Time is there, but that’s an heirloom and not severely limited with its function based on whether its user has royal blood or not.)

And given how the Sheikah have been treated in botw's Hyrule's history, as they are the only other hylians aside from Flora and Wild who are shown using magic, I'm guessing it's not a skill you want to encourage, and innate magic users, even if they weren't Sheikah, were probably affected by the roll-on effect of the genocide for a very long time. This would create a long, deep-set history of missing knowledge that eventually affects the present.

If you ignore the potential loss of magic teaching, honestly I would assume it’s still hard to teach someone magic when you don’t share that particular type bc it probably requires knowledge that you don't have in regards to how it flows and can be controlled in order to be used. I do very genuinely believe Wild knew that he had magic before he died tho, bc I think Urbosa would’ve told him. It was the only time she ever heard him speak and the convo went something like Urbosa: you have magic. You just did magic. Link: nuh-uh Urbosa: FYM NUH-UH

This lack of training and general knowledge of how magic works is what I partially attribute to his weapons breaking as fast as they do. Attunement doesn’t actually exist obviously, but in fantasy worlds where it’s a part of the magic system, it’s a conscious step. It’s only seems to become an involuntary one when the person attuning the item has a lot of experience with the field that item is used in.

What I mean by that is Wild’s obviously never learnt actual theory (and it might be too late to fix the groundwork he's already laid), so he’s only ever been able to make his magic work in conjunction with the one thing he’s already being trained to do: weapon-fighting.

This is why he has flurry rushes, bullet time, and his fast recharge time. His magic manifests alongside his physical capabilities (so it will recover just as fast as his stamina does) and is attuned to flow through physical objects that simply aren't designed to withstand prolonged exposure to it (so his weapons, bows and shields will degrade and break faster).

I do believe his magic is something he has the ability to train (take the change to how bullet time uses stamina between botw and totk for example), and I personally like to write him getting a one-hit-swing second of slowed down time whenever he parries, but I think these ‘upgrades’ would honestly just come from fighting more and pushing himself in those situations, not from learning basic magic principles lmao.

And honestly, Wild’s magic is just really funny to me bc it has shenanigan potential that’s really only limited by your own creativity and his stamina wheel.

I say that because part of this magic headcanon actually grew from a post-totk headcanon where I whole-heartedly believe that Wild and Flora end up sharing the Sage of Time title, since there’s one extra Secret Stone floating around and they both specialise in different types of time magic. The joke w/ my friend has now become “well, if Wild can’t even willingly activate his magic unless highly specific circumstances are met, wtf is going to happen when it's amplified?"

Answer: he has literally no idea what he’s doing. He has accidentally slowed time on several pots/ladles/plates/etc that got knocked over, mistakenly frozen a yiga sword which yanked it straight out of the yiga’s hand – he meant to freeze the yiga whoops – and intentionally managed to slow time on one (1) bokoblin (and has not managed to replicate that result since). … he’s getting there. Maybe.

(Additional follow up lore can be found in this reblog. Also adding this to prevent future confusion at my accidental vagueness on this: yes Wild knows he has magic.)

[wordy-little-witch]

Silly Buggy ideas, but Buggy have oversensitive observation Haki but also Buggy having a strange ability not unlike the voice of all things, specifically being able to hear the echoes of energy from others. He can hear, see and sense the dead, the dying, the things beyond this world.

It's both INCREDIBLE useful and fairly useless. Buggy is constantly getting a lot of Input, because echoes exist everywhere and he's semi desensitized to it all. Sometimes they give him useful info, like a heads up about am attack from behind or little reminders. Sometimes they just wanna cause Mischief and Buggy, being the only "fleshy" who can see them, is their target. He gives as good as he gets though.

He forgets sometimes that others can't detect the other's, so he'll overhear a recruit in a heated discussion with another about ghosts existing, will drop a serious "Oh yeah they're definitely real. There's a bunch here, too" and then leaves, never to explain or expand on that again, his underlings now SWEATING bc Chairman Buggy What Do You Mean-??

Add in that certain blades in One Piece are given specific titles and specifications because they meet certain criteria. Yoru is one of the highest ranked blades in existence. She is imbued with Mihawk's Haki, but she's also spirited and has a soul - one imbued into her by the death of other handlers/smiths. Mihawk, as her Current Wielder, is able to feel and hear her, but Buggy can see her. He's.... a little intimidated by her, all things considered, but he's also got some survival instincts AND sense, so he's always polite. Yoru actually quite likes him. He isn't sure if he likes being favored by the patchwork persona of a giant and deadly weapon.

Crocodile meanwhile can never understand why Buggy has such a fixation on cleaning his hook. It's clean enough, but he will admit that it does often feel better when he gets it back from the clown. He'll allow it.

Buggy just has full on conversations with dead people when he's alone, not bothering to hide it at all, and because of the close proximity his main crew has had with him for so long, they also begin to find themselves Noticing things. None of them really have the same innate ability as their captain, but Buggy's Haki has braided into theirs just enough to give them glimpses, usually of the more powerful beings present.

Crocodile and Mihawk only really notice it when they are both tired, stressed, worried over a feverish, unconscious jester, and between one look and the next there is suddenly a fourth man in the room. They both jolt upwards, defensive, protective, until the man turns enough to flash them a familiar grin, and they both gape.

Gol D Roger cackles soundlessly at their expressions before turning back to Buggy. His smile softens, his eyes fall lidded, and sweat slick curls are brushed back from a burning forehead with a tenderness most would think the King of Pirates incapable of. The pinch in Buggy's brow twitches, a soft whine of discontent rising hoarsely from his throat. He turns his head, a mumble of what may have been nonsense or may have been a horribly slurred attempt at "cap'n-".

There is no sound from Roger, at least not that the dark haired men could hear, but they see the man move his lips, see Buggy's head turn towards him, like a flower to the sun. They smell the sudden wave of sea salt and rum and laughter, a scent without compare. They can't do much else but watch as a dead man takes up vigil at the side of a man he had once called son.

Buggy's fever breaks early the next morning.

[dykekarkat]

your nuanced take on nicky is SO real especially the part where you pointed out that neil literally feels 1000x more violated by getting drugged (by his literally future life partner so clearly people grow and change !!!) than he does by getting kissed nonconsentually. obviously it makes him uncomfortable but he moves on because it’s like that wasn’t triggering for him it was just a bit gross. as long as that doesn’t happen we keep it pushing. on the other hand being forced into losing control and being unaware of his surroundings (the very thing that has kept him alive all these years) is a million times more triggering to someone like neil but everyone likes the sweep the harm from that under the rug. just because neil eventually understands why (disturbingly understanding guy tbh) doesn’t mean it didn’t affect him at the time. i think people kind of latch on to the fact that andrew drugged him but didn’t like do anything to him while he was vulnerable but that’s only bc neil got himself out of there. sure we know andrew would never sexually assault someone but who knows what he might have done if he had his way that night. i read this fic once where it’s neil’s 3rd or 4th year so his life is well established and then he gets in an accident and gets retrograde amnesia back to the night of the drugging and the fallout is crazy. bc all of the sudden he’s right back in that headspace of like if he distrusts one mf in the entire world it’s andrew. and for good reason! and also this is not andrew hate at all he’s my fucked up little guy but we do have to get real here ppl

okay responding under the cut yayyy i love talking about columbia its my favorite chapter in the first book. sorry for writing you a whole essay btw. also obligatory disclaimer that im not saying u have to like nicky / cant be uncomfortable with him and his actions / that sexual assault is okay / etc

i am once again. bringing up academic work. bcus i am in a crit sexualities class rn and its rlly interesting #mynerdinterests. i've actually already brought up gayle rubin's thinking sex when talking about andrew and jean's treatment in the fandom. and i WILL be doing it again bcus even tho the article is super controversial (and i definitely do not agree with everything rubin says) she gives us some really good vocab surrounding the innate beliefs / values that get drilled into us by american society. she brings up this idea called "the fallacy of the misplaced scale" which is basically that we give sex and sex acts an excess of significance, and that any sort of sexual sin is especially heinous or morally reprehensible.

this general idea is why i think people tend to feel fine with physical violations within media (for example neil getting drugged by andrew) but react more aggressively to any kind of sexual transgression (like nicky assaulting neil). both of these actions are Bad. andrew is taking away neil's ability to protect himself, drugging him against his will, and forcing him into an extremely vulnerable state. nicky is also giving neil drugs (on andrew's orders) with the addition of nonconsensually kissing him to do it. but people focus more heavily on that rather than andrew's actions bcus as you said "he didnt actually do anything" and bcus sexual acts are always elevated above others. i would argue this is also why you see people treat jean's trauma more seriously than kevin's. or why people will write neil getting sexually assaulted in the nest rather than just tortured for the extra angst. it adds an extra level of "seriousness" or "importance" to the violation that's occurred.

i also think one of the reasons people ignore the consequences around andrew drugging neil (or even nix it all together in their rewrites) is because andrew IS the love interest so we obviously get much closer and a much deeper look into his character and motivations than nicky. we also get neil's reactions to them which most people would probably consider abnormal, since he doesn't really care about the kissing and remains friendly with nicky p much immediately after (tho he DOES get rlly uncomfortable about the bed sharing. which i personally think is worse than the kissing by nicky) but he does hate andrew and heavily distrust him post drugging ("dont sleep ill kill you", checking the glass when he goes to eden's next). like even when he's like "wow andrew could hold my truth without flinching yada yada" he's still lowkey hating him for it, before it becomes water under the bridge due to neil's ability to let things go (this is a hashtag certified mary hatfordism. its definitely bcus of his time on the run). anyway wow i just wrote you a bonafide essay. sorry this got off track but i love complex relationships and emotions and sexual situations. and also i love andrew nicky and neil literally my top 3 aftg characters. anyway im saying all this in good faith hope you enjoy anon.

[vasito-de-leche]

I saw your post regarding the Self-Aware R1999!AU and it was good and mind-blowing! Now I'm wondering how will it go with 6 or 37 regaining consciousness, considering that they're always seeking for the "truth", and maybe the Reader's existence would heighten the quest for the truth more!

;R1999 37 - Self Aware AU

Headcanons about how 37 would act upon becoming self-aware. Related to this Self-Aware AU post.

I RECENTLY FINISHED 6'S ANECDOTE, SO NOW I HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS THIS ASK IS A GREAT EXERCISE TO GET THE BRAIN GOING o7

this post only contains 37, since it got a little long and I didn't know how to format it the usual way because I LOVE rambling and rambling. I think there's another ask somewhere about 6 in the self-aware AU, so I'll get to that one soon!

also I think this post is impossible to read if you haven't read chapter 5 at least, bc I use a lot of the terms used in Apeiron!

37 is such an interesting character. Okay okay, bear with me for a bit while I get all of my 37 thoughts out of my brain!

I feel like people downplay how cruel or detached she can be. Because of her innate ability to see numbers in everyone and everything, essentially seeing "the truth" and being able to provide Proof to support her claims, 37 lives disconnected from her entire community while also being upheld as a genius and beacon of progress. She's the "Star of Hermes," after all.

A lot of her character focuses on this alienation and "othering," how her mindset and beliefs set her apart from others as she cannot understand the importance of soul numbers from an emotional standpoint--like she says in the main story, she's always known she's 37. Everyone's known this. And she does not understand the importance of knowing WHY she's 37. She doesn't care about the traits assigned to each number, that is meaningless rhetoric to her, what matters is the final result. She's 37, and that's it. She upholds the purity of numbers, practically worships this pure aspect of the world of Forms. She's at her happiest when she talks about how numbers will always be numbers, no matter who tries to figure them out, or when or how.

And we also see the cruel aspect of her that I believe people overlook--37 admits that she enjoys revealing people's numbers because she wants to be the first to prove this truth. It's only near the end of Chapter 05 that she wonders, if only briefly, whether being the first to prove someone's number means that she knew the truth better. Other than that, she has absolutely NO trouble revealing Vertin's number, nor attempting to tell Sophia her own number as kids--and 37, while she does not care for the rhetoric of numbers and their assigned virtues, knows how much the journey of self-discovery means to her entire community. And she still chose to do this, because she does not see the value in the process.

This isn't to say that she's exclusively a cruel character nor a misguided little baby, I would say that she's cruel the same way a child can be--37 is a very lovely and complex character! I just think people take her cute appearance at face value and forget the extent of her abilities and her perception of the world.

In the context of a Self-Aware AU, I believe that this self-awareness would be recontextualized as yet another eternal truth for her. Her curiosity wouldn't be applied to this, because there is nothing to figure out--the world has always been a game, that's it. Instead of focusing on the emotional or existential aspects, 37 would focus instead on the "guidelines" that rule this fake world.

It would revolve around the mechanical aspects: she understands that every fight follows a set pattern, as this is a turn based combat game. She wants to know why some people stand out, why they're assigned as 6 or 5 or 4 or 3 or 2 stars. Why not a 1 star? Why not 10? Why this system in particular? Why doesn't Sophia have any stars? Is it because she hasn't figured out her number yet? No, that can't be, because 210 also lacks stars. And so on and so forth.

The focus will still be numbers, so she would be the perfect assistant for Players who care a lot about meta!

I'm also willing to say that 37 would be one of the very few characters who has no trouble at all coping with the fact that she's a character in a videogame. To know that she's a bunch of "code" wouldn't change a thing for her, because she was already 37 in the first place!

There is also the aspect of finding out that her mother's death (as well as Sophia's father) was scripted. I'm going on a long tangent here, so bear with me for a second.

I feel like... 37 would see that as a positive thing? First of all, we know that the death of everyone in that boat was caused because of a miscalculation from Sophia and 37's part, which is the catalyst for 37's Emanation research. I do believe that, even though 37 shows little to no (conventional) emotion in that specific moment, she still grieves and mourns in her own way--and the way she does that is by clinging onto the one thing that is left of her mother: her pneuma analysis and research, the computer that stopped working, the pattern of the "Storm". We are told that 37 became a recluse, isolating herself even more from her community, when her and her mother's research was proven to be wrong, that she only came out of her lab when Vertin and her team arrived. We see her muttering while unconscious in the cave with Vertin, calling out for her own mother and telling her that their research wasn't wrong, that they were right all along (because they were missing one vital piece of information that only an outsider like Vertin could deliver).

Second of all, we know that 37 does not understand nor care about fate, she does not care for wordplay that muddies the true essence of numbers. So she would not think that the death of all those people can be attributed to something as vague and nonsensical as "fate."

Third and final point of this tangent, 37 does not like to be proven wrong. Or rather, 6's character event shows us that, no matter what she's told or how she behaves, 37 will always believe that she's in the right.

With all of this in mind, I think that finding out that this accident was something scripted--that is to say, part of the "truth" (or canon, from our perspective) of this world--would reinforce 37's beliefs. This miscalculation was a mistake born from her former self, the 37 that did not truly understand the world, before she achieved self-awareness. And now that she's wide awake, there's no way that she could ever make a mistake like that ever again. If else, I can see her being mildly irritated that it took her this long to open her eyes, struggling with the fact that she's not the first person to become self-aware. And just like she casually reveals other people's numbers, she would dangle the knowledge of self-awareness in front of others instead of keeping it secret.

On the subject of finding out about the Player, I'm not quite sure how 37 would react. Sure, 37's life is ruled by the same dogma that rules everyone else within Apeiron, but her approach is devoid of that same spiritual and religious devotion that others like 210 carry. Like we see in 6's character event, 37 does not care about the importance of the number 6 nor whoever holds the title, because the "truth" is that everyone within that bloodline is going to inherit the title at some point or another. Compare this to 210, who treats the previous 6 (Atticus' aunt, Alma) with such reverence.

So perhaps that's how 37 would act, then? This "divine" figure is yet another 6 for her, someone who has all relevant knowledge, nothing more and nothing less.

I like to think that 37 is able to see the Player very clearly right away, the same way she can see people's numbers, whereas 6 is the one who can hear them clearly, the same way he inherits the Revelation from his ancestors.

And unless you're another super math genius like her, I can absolutely see 37 pouting about it. How come someone like you gets to be "outside" in the world of Forms? Maybe she becomes curious about finding "proof" of your world, to confirm whether you live in the world of Forms or something else entirely, perhaps yet another world of Matters, full of Fragments. Realizing that the world the Player lives in is practically identical to her own--minus the existence of integers and fractions, just a world full of imaginary numbers--would be a curious experience for 37.

I can also see 37 telling Vertin the Player's own soul number the moment she figures it out, perhaps as a way to repay the favour for the events of Chapter 05. Assuming she survives that bomb, I actually don't know what happens in Chapter 06 LMFAO....

Long story short, not many would realize that 37 has become self-aware, since her behaviour remains largely the same. And it wouldn't affect her as deeply as it affects other characters.

[rozaceous]

<3 love that your jason todd tag is bbygirl btw. just finished going thru tcba again, hope you’re doing well !! <3<3<3 love that ur critical of the village and love how mariko affects her criticisms. I think it’s interesting that she considers herself weak, but nonetheless is very capable at fulcrums, for lack of a better term? applying pressure where effective, as appropriate? that’s a power all its own. <3333 love mariko thx for sharing :)))

Jason Todd is my beloved and has done nothing wrong, ever, in his life.

and you're not the first to bring up that mariko doesn't have very accurate self-perception! so now I'm gonna ramble!

part of this depiction is (my) innate imposter syndrome and fear of failure, but kicked to the max. for mariko, failure has Consequences. perhaps even CONSEQUENCES. she got placed on team7 and from then on, if things got fucked up, it wasn't just that the people she cared abt could get hurt or die. it's that she knows there's the potential for calamitous, world-ending type bs if things go too sideways. so she can't afford anything even smacking of arrogance ever.

and the imposter syndrome... part of this is that she's placing herself on a scale w shounen protags lol. scale is fucked. and she has to keep up, while knowing that she's going to get squashed like a bug if she's not vigilant.

the other part is that she's not sakura. she's filling sakura's role in canon, but sees herself as inferior to sakura in terms of ability/potential. she's kind of literally an imposter.

so on the one hand, this all leads to a fairly accurate understanding of how she measures up against certain opponents, bc not having that evaluative ability is the same as being dead lol. but it also means that she's by turns dismissive of lower-level persons/people she can easily out-maneuver (like the confrontation w danzo, she wasn't worried abt her fighting ability against him, and same against sai, even sasori to an extent), and very negative about her skills bc she always knows someone who is better and she's not wrong. those ppl really do exist!! and she's probably going to have to fight them!!

but this also means she's dismissive of how she is herself skilled and formidable. she's always using that scale against herself right? either they were small fry and not worth worrying abt and that's why she could win, or she's the small fry.

idk, I feel like my readers really want mariko to be the best at stuff, but I only gave her one superlative ability - her chakra control. the rest is mariko scrambling to be enough. not the strongest, but strong enough, smart enough, etc. and part of that is, as you note, learning how to apply leverage, bc that's how you topple someone when you're otherwise outclassed. (same thing goes for physical fights - you don't have to be bigger or stronger for something like a joint lock to work, bc those are all abt leverage.)

I personally think it's funny that what mariko admires konan for - keeping up - is the same thing she refuses to recognize as admirable when she does it.

[tree-fence]

kristen multi classing as a paladin? no. kristen multiclassing as a barbarian, RIZ multiclassing as a paladin. i know riz don't TECHNICALLY qualify, and maybe it "doesn't make sense" for kristen, but HEAR ME OUT!!!!

for kristen's whole life, all she was allowed to be was "the chosen one" or "that helioc girl", religion was the crux of her identity. her being a cleric AND a paladin (both religion based classes) is shoving her back into that same box that she's only very recently escaped. her being a barbarian, however, is a healthy outlet for her pent up rage. i really just want her to have a martial based class (bc butch kristen is IMPORTANT TO ME!!!), and i feel like being a barbarian could work so well for her character arc. barbarians are typically stereotyped as stupid (despite that being proven otherwise a lot (gorgug and ragh)) and destructive, and kristen, not only being a healer but also getting dumbed down A LOT despite being very smart fits well with the narrative.

riz gukgak, on the other hand, has always had a very innate love of mystery. he seems to treat his cases almost reverently, even tattooing his clues on his body (even though he was coked out of his gourd). he said he felt like he couldn't feel connected to his friends without a case to crack. you know what brings people together? GOD. let him be a paladin for the mystery goddexx and let him never feel lonely again. it also works with him being an undercover angel, because not only would he better understand what it means to work with heaven but he'd also have cool paladin abilities, which if you look into what they are, are really fucking rad, and could help him with his detective work. not to mention riz's unique connection to cassandra through kalina, who has been with him SINCE BIRTH. name a character better suited for the job.

also more rizten shenanigans (they are my favorite duo). they even eachother out completely, it's beautiful. riz is one of the most uptight serious bad kids, who's main thing is being dexterous, and brian murphy is a comically bad roller. kristen is the silliest goober of the bad kids, who is so laughably undexterous, and she has ally beardsley, the dice god, as a player. kristen brings out the best in riz, and vice versa.

they are best friends. they are perfect. kristen should get to rage.

[saintkaylaa]

hey just a question, but what are all of JJK’s y/n’s cursed techniques? like I know toge’s is a form of cursed speech and suguru’s can use reverse ct on other like shoko but you also mentioned somewhere that she has two? i’m curious about all of their cursed techniques!

SHUT UP IVE BEEN DYING FOR SOMONE TO ASK🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

I never did it without a request bc I didn’t want to make them oc-ish and AGAIN nothing I say thats ocish matters or changes the smaus I post!!

I’d also like to disclaim that I don’t FULLY understand the curse techniques and curse energy stuff. So if something is wrong or contradictory I’m sorry 😭

Gojo, Yuta, & Yuji’s are curse weapon users. They don’t have techniques! They are standard strong sorcerers like miwa kinda.

Gojo’s Reader’s uses blickies (guns)☺️ /̵͇̿̿/’̿’̿ ̿ ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿̿

Yuta’s Reader’s weapon of choice is a bow and arrow 🏹

Yuji’s is just katanas, swords and simple domains ⚔️

Choso’s Reader I’ve actually already gotten this ask and it’s here. It’s an innate and inherited technique that’s extremely rare in her bloodline.

Inumaki’s Reader is a branch of cursed speech they call sirens. Only the women in her family get this inherited technique! They use their voices in a melodic way to control the target for periods of time. Longer the more tenured the “siren” is and shorter with the inexperienced ones. If you’ve ever watched HP it like the imperio curse.

Suguru/Nanami’s Reader does NOT have 2 techniques. She has 1 innate and inherited technique with a strong ability for reverse like Shoko, but she’s not as good as Shoko. From what I understand reverse technique is something all sorcerers CAN do but most never fully learn to “master” like Shoko or do at all. Her technique is innate on her mother’s side and inherited on her father’s side. If you’re really curious it’s been hinted before in the hidden inventory gc smaus and in the tea time smaus, and this getting so long so I can make a separate post about it like I did with Choso’s Reader if I get the ask for it.

Same goes for Megumi’s😊

Out of all of them though, 1 is special grade and 1 is a special grade 1 (and later questioned to be special grade).

Tysm for this, it’s super fun sharing my brain🤍

© saintkaylaa 2023-2024 do not copy, repost, or translate any of my work without permission. reserved rights to any original ideas. I do not own any established characters. All rights reserved.

[felltyscrap]

talked to my friend who's constantly doing things a bit about my blues and she's dragging me out of the house to do something (a suprise!) (likely a hike and some outdoor drawing which sounds very fun). i wanted to be a slug and get very high all day so I'm excited for the opportunity to do something healthier.

realizing also that being obsessed with getting good with no other drive can make you a bit uh, empty? i don't know how to describe it but it's not a great lens to approach art with. a bit devastating as i feel a bit empty lately, so grinding skills feels comfortable rather than looking to find what i'm full of. It's self defeating in certain ways because in mindlessly grinding my skills i sort of forget that drawing is communication and so all that comes out is like....eloquence with nothing to say. it's uh, the home decor section at your big box store.

it's like a real cart before the horse situation bc i think ideas are what carry you through getting good. i have a pretty intense ability to see in my mind, a collage of up close and far away images of apples firework through my brain along with recall on how the texture looks and feels inside the apple, sketches of apples, an apple i saw painted at a restaurant but also no strong recollection of what it looked like, a rough estimation of how big the apple should be if you could pull your hand through the apple no-clip style, and then several years of watching other people paint apples. I can see this in my head with such vividness that I prefer doing that to actually making a drawing of one. something to contend with for sure, but i have no clue on how to uh....use that library of information. it's like when i'm doing everything but drawing it's there, but when i'm drawing i get shut out from it?

i still don't fully understand the issue, I just know that I struggle to think and draw at the same time, and I know that I prefer to think over drawing, because how I think looks vastly better than how I can draw. in a way it feels like i'm delivering to you an abortion rather than a baby. the idea of refusing to give birth to keep my baby closer to me Forever is so so fucked and funny to me though. birth is painful I guess. sucking air through my teeth about it.

i think i need to draw more slowly, my motor skills holding a pencil are not so sharp that speed helps. if i draw too fast i can't think. this has been lauded as a good thing, but i think some people have different thinking than I do? more automatic and innate thinking, where their thinking isn't as intertwined with their ability to deliver skill. if i can't think i start drawing very poorly, i regress. most of my skill is in my recall, not in my automatic habits. thinking about it further, all of my favorite pieces are ones where i really, really take my time. i don't benchmark myself against my peers ability to deliver a superb drawing in 2 minutes, i am too focused on the detail of the situation. it's supremely frustrating to be "slow", people love to bandy that word around autistic people like authorities love to bandy around steel batons.

one thing that i was taught from like, 6, was to "feel the inside of things with energy" which....i have no idea what to make of now that i have left that spirituality. it's given me pretty intense spacial awareness though, kinda like a dolphins echolocation. i can't see the details but i can feel through and past the form. a super tedious way to draw, but, i think it may be worth exploring.

at a base i guess i am just. letting it all go. i want to draw how i think. i can't adopt other peoples thinking without knowing how i think. horse before the cart.

[dunadaan]

So how did you end up shipping Aragorn and Créa? What's the story with them? I'm curious :)

This ask made me realize I hadn't actually talked about that before here?? At least, not in detail I think? I honest to god can't remember. But uh, it's a bit of a long story with a lot of explanation, as the ship is 8 years old and has had a lot of development!

Originally it came about as a ship between a friend who roleplayed Aragorn. We were joking around with some things, thought about it, and decided we liked it, and fleshed it out from there. After some time she no longer wrote him, so I took what we had come up with and built upon it and made it my own!

Of course, as we know, in canon Aragorn is rejected by Arwen (the first time, anyhow). By the time he meets Créa, he had balmed that wound and the infatuation with her had faded, and they had remained good friends instead.

When they first met, Aragorn is quite new to being a ranger- he's 23, and Créa is 20. Her home was in a small village in the Wilderland, and one night when the weather is particularly poor, he happens to be passing by and she offers him shelter; they get to know one another (as much as a Ranger would let someone get to know them :P), and when it comes time to leave, she refuses his payment- a kind gesture, and one he doesn't forget.

He comes back and stays a little longer each time and they talk a lot, and she asks lots of questions and is very curious. Eventually after a handful of months he reveals who he is and his heritage and she’s like okay! No idea who Isildur is but glad to know your name isn’t really Strider :)

Aragorn had a big crush on her first because she always asked him questions, was interested in him, and she always made him smile and reminded him that there were good things in the world, and good people. In turn, she found him really intriguing, somewhat mysterious, and noble, and he always seemed to know so much of the world she longed to see. He brought her things (pressed flowers, etc) from his travels as small gifts, as she had always longed to explore the greater world outside her small settlement.

Their “first kiss” was when, one night, she admitted to him when they were stargazing that she had never kissed anyone and it would probably stay that way, and he offered to be her first kiss just to say that she had one (toootally just to be noble, no other reason whatsoever....). She hesitated for a moment then agreed, and she was super shy and he had to guide her hands and they kissed. It basically blew her mind LOL and she was super flustered and joked that she’d have to practice more with him, then because she was worried she would ruin their friendship and also oblivious to his feelings (like Créa, he wouldn't offer if he didn't have feelings...) she was like “still friends?” and they agreed...but she couldn’t get that kiss out of her head and he couldn’t help but keep flirting with her. She absolutely caught feelings and It takes nearly a year of them to actually kiss again (bc Crea is OBLIVIOUS and was worried he wouldn’t be receptive) and officially become a couple.

Their time spent together was often domestic, and she loved to hear his stories of his people and history, of far off lands and ruins. For some reason, though, however faintly, it seemed familiar. She could never place why. There were some hints with Créa that not all was as it seemed- she had an innate ability to understand creatures, and was tall, dark haired, and she had pale eyes...all characteristics that pointed towards a certain heritage, unbeknownst to her.

This portion of her backstory I've never fully settled on, but Créa had lost her father, Baranhir, when she was about 10. He traveled very often and would leave but come back, often bringing her small tokens of the outside world to her and her mother, but said he helped protect traders traveling over the mountain pass- but she had never seen him come and go with any caravan; always by himself, and his stories seemed limited in what he could tell. Her uncle on her father's side would often stay with her, training her and helping out her and her mother when her father could not be there. But Baranhir was killed in an orc ambush on the other side of the Misty Mountains, and his body was never brought home, and no one could, or would, tell her why. (This is a different story, and will make this ask too long to go into here).

Her mother wants to leave the settlement in her grief, unable to stay in the house she and her husband built, but young Créa refuses- she doesn't think her father is actually dead, she never saw the body, and held out a deperate hope that he would one day return- none could convince her otherwise. From here, it's a toss up on how she's raised bc i've been rethining this portion of her bg- her mother might stay for a while and return back to her parent's village, her uncle might take over instead, etc. I've had Créa for 10 years and you'd think I'd have had it concrete by now!

During the events of The Hobbit, goblins and wargs come down from the Misty Mountains and attack villages and kill and take people back into their tunnels. One by one each village is plundered, and it's Créa's village that gets attacked next, nearly decimated. In the aftermath, in the husk of her stable, she finds a box hidden beneath broken floorboards, buried what seems long ago.

Inside is a seven pointed star brooch, old and weathered, a few of his things, and at the very bottom was a leatherbound journal. With that, she finally discovers the truth; that her father was a Dúnedain Ranger, which in turn made her Dúnedain as well.

The revelation, of course, is huge- much that did not make sense to her, the secretiveness of her father, the reluctance of her mother to ever tell her much of her and her father's heritage, now finally became clear. Her father wrote of all the lands he visited, what he did, how he had missed his family- and most shockingly of all, that he had been very good friends with Arathorn, and had even looked after toddler Aragorn from time to time, noting that "Arathorn's son and my daughter would've gotten along splendidly."

He was more than right, of course, but Créa had been robbed of the knowledge of her heritage, and she is shocked, to say the least. When Aragorn returns, they have a very, very long talk, and she shows him the journal. He investigates on her behalf, wanting to know if its true, but even just from reading Aragorn knows that it's true, and his research only confirms it. In the end, Créa is disillusioned, feeling that although her settlement had been saved, it was not saved for her, and wishes become a Ranger of the North, following in the footsteps of her father, as well as travel with Aragorn. She wants to defend people who can’t defend themselves, and he warns her of the lifestyle, but she’s determined, and not long after she says goodbye to her home and they travel together to the west.

And it’s a huge change to her life, and she struggles a lot. She discovers new lands and plants and people, she’s in an entirely new culture and lost heritage that she tries to navigate, feeling outcast and struggles with worthiness and trying to find where she belongs among them. She was robbed of being raised among her people, of knowing her father for who he was, as he had clearly wanted to tell her of their kin and their past. And there are probably some Dúnedain who don't want her there, even if her father was Dúnedain, so she fears not being good enough and has to work twice as hard, if not harder, to prove herself to both everyone and herself!

It's an interesting dichotomy between the two of them- Aragorn's past was hidden for reasons of safety, and for her, technically, it was the same- her mother did not wish for her to follow in her father's footsteps, and refused to have her heritage revealed until she came of age- and when her father died, in order to protect her, decided not to tell her at all. Créa feels desperately behind in everything, and feels overwhelmed and lonely. Even her name, from her mothers culture, makes her stand out more than she'd like.

Aragorn helps her navigate this, but a lot of it Créa does on her own- this'll grow into a long tangent so I'll try and steer back on course. They often travel together, him as her guide, and she also travels with others who help her gain the skills she lacks in order to become a Ranger. When Aragorn feels she is ready, she travels alone, and eventually becomes sworn in as a Ranger. There's a lot more to their story, but this is the beginning of it.

I think, personally, what makes this dynamic really interesting is that it's not quite fate. I'm always nervous to talk about the ship in the sense that I'm aware that it breaks a lot of canon! I'm aware of the parallels and the impact on the stories and the meanings and what is taken away by it.

But with that friend and later by myself, I've worked quite hard to make it canon compliant in a way that's not terribly jarring, and while I think Tolkien relies a lot on fated love and things just working out, I love the gnitty gritty human aspect of it all. Créa is no elf princess, and I think that's what makes it so interesting to explore a different dynamic. Also I love Arwen so it's not abt that either (I love her and Tauriel <3), it's just fascinating to explore other possibilities!

I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility for Aragorn to love a Dúnedain woman- his mother would be very pleased, as it's canon that she prefers Aragorn not marry an elf, and it would be a great relief to Elrond as well, for obvious reasons, and like I said before, I think Aragorn's infatuation would eventually fade. Their romance blooms in the spring of their youth, and through hardships and turmoil their relationship grows stronger, forged like steel. To be able to come from a similar heritage, to understand one's struggles as a Ranger, to know their duties come first but knowing that they can rely on one another. It's not fate, but hard work and determination. It's interesting to see them grow as characters, but also see their relationship mature and change- they're together when they're young and unhardened by the world, and spend 60 years together- having been through so much, but still by each other's side in the end.

They're both characters who exist outside of each other, who have their own stories and arcs, but they also have a lot of parallels and are interesting foils for one another- one example being Aragorn's heritage and knowing it, and the weight behind it- and Créa struggling with having next to no heritage- much of the information of her family has been lost, and leads to an interesting dichotomy- what weighs more? Knowing your heritage and the expectations of it, or potentially never knowing at all, having been lost forever? How does that effect one as a person and their view of themself?

There's a lot of hurdles they go through and it's so complex and fascinating for me. I could write a few more examples (their hurdles in trying to get married, their duties that keep them apart, the expectation of Aragorn being king and the post war future they struggle with) but this is already realllyyy long and I don't think anyone's read this far haha. But you're more than welcome to send in any asks if you want to know more <3 I appreciate the question and the chance to talk about them in depth! I really can't remember the last time I got to do so and this made me happy.

[beanghostprincess]

Heeeeeyyyyyyy boooooooooo~

Have you read anything by Stereden? I am OBSESSED and INSPIRED okay it is AMAZING I love

So yeah.

Those works I spired me into making my own lil AU - Haki is a matter of will. It's an innate thing in all living beings, everyone has Haki, but you have to train to be able to control or sharpen it, and some are born with a special ability to IMPOSE IT ON OTHERS. Roger was among those.

Haki could be boiled down to soul energy.

((Shamelessly dropping another special interest with my one piece ideas mwahahah so evil))

Some of the theories regarding ghosts or repetitive cycles of hauntings is due to the amount of emotional energy affixed to a person or place, OR by the will of the person remaining. If one who died had a strong enough Will to Continue Existing, then it's theorized that they could either remain or pass between the veil.

Roger had v strong Conquerors Haki. He had the Voice of All Things, too.

He was sick and dying and so he chose what he thought was best to act as the end of his time. But I do NOT doubt for a single second that when he was up there on that platform that he could tell Shanks and Buggy were exhausted, scared, hurt, grief stricken and alone.

Where was the rest of his crew? Why wasn't Rayleigh with them? Why hadn't Crocus treated those wounds on theirs? Why was Buggy so worn thin, like a live wire, and why did his little Red feel so hollow and empty? What in the seven Seas happened to his kids?!

He's too weak to break out. The best he can do with misdirect attention from them as best he can. The best he can do is send his haki out to wrap around them, a blanket, armor, whatever they needed bc he'd do it, he'd do it all for them, thise are his kids and he loves them and he pours ever single bit of that love into it.

Roger dies on that platform, but he's still there.

He bears witness to the way the crew meets back up not even an hour after his head hit the cobblestone ground, and he is seething as he watches Rayleigh officially disband the crew. He is frothing when Buggy, voice shaking and thin and pale and everything Roger refused to let the child be ever again, asks through tears, "what do we do now?"

And Rayleigh, face blank, just responds with, "go back to what you were doing, kid. You survived this long."

And Roger is furious, is livid, is terrified and angry and hurt and-

One of the nearby lanterns explodes.

The crew shoots looks that direction, and Roger thinks they might just see him, but nobody reacts beyond his kids blinking hard a few times before looking away. And Oh. Oh, That Is Odd.

Roger is a pirate, a Captain, is deadDeadDeadDeadOhFuckHeIsDead- but he's a selfish man at his core. He has made peace with that.

He watches over Shanks and Buggy, sometimes goes to check on Rouge and her growing little bump. He winds up baring witness to the events of Baterilla, and he is furious beyond reason by the Marines. But he is there to see Rouge's last breath and Ace's first, and hebwatches Garp take his child, just as requested, and he holds his wife in his arms as she joins him in this odd limbo.

They both bare witness, hand in hand, as Shanks and Buggy fight tears, panic attacks, and unfiltered rage as they help dig graves and mourn the losses of innocent lives, and Roger aches when they keep a meticulous count. Rouge cries with every friend and family member she sees lowered into the earth, but she is still trying, futile as it is, to wipe away Buggy's and Shanks' tears, hands gently on their backs and heads and cheeks. She has never met them, not personally, but Roger had told her so much, and these boys are hers as well, hers to love and protect and adore.

The pirate king and his wife, his queen, keep watch over their children, trying to give comfort where they could, protection in any way they can manage.

Roger aches with Ace's hatred. He understands, he'd never blame him for it, but it hurts and he may hate Garp's choices a little more with each glimpse into the situation.

For a long while, things are fine, are normal, make a routine. Three years in, there is a change.

A pulse ripples along the world, jarring and sudden, like a cacophonous drum beat. As quickly as it comes, it goes. Roger and Rouge exchange glances. None of the living have reacted.

They meet Luffy not long after.

His tiny body thrums with energy, heart an odd but not harmful pace and Roger Knows.

He never thought he'd get to see this.

Luffy is still so small, so tiny, but he is loved, so much so.

And, the couple learns, he is the epicenter of so much by way of Fate.

He goes on to become so much to so many, a friend/son to Shanks, a person of interest to Buggy, a brother to Ace, and Roger is cackling over having five whole sons as soon as the cups clink together, much to Rouge's amusement.

Just. Roger ((and Rouge)) watching over their children.

Occasionally even being VISIBLE to others in times of high energy.

Alvida seeing Roger sitting on the edge of Buggy's bed when he spikes dangerous fevers.

Benn seeing Rouge brush Shanks' hair back when he gets blackout drunk after a particularly hard time.

Dadan seeing both parents soothe a sobbing little baby when she was still so new to this parenting thing, and never breathing a word of it.

Chopper occassionally getting glimpses of a giant of a man and a powerful looking woman whe Luffy is badly injured, both gently offering him comfort or standing guard.

Koala occasionally sees strangers in the base when Sabo is sick or hurt or has nightmares.

Whitebeard nearly chokes when he sees Roger sitting next to his son on his deck, smiling fondly at the newly snoring young man and patting his head gently.

Nobody breathes a word of any of this, not for a good long while because stranger things have happened. And besides...

It's good to know the kids are being looked out for.

Oh damn. Okay. I've never really been into ghost stuff and things like this, but this is so cool??? Honestly, turning it into soul energy makes it so interesting. They're there to look out for them and keep an eye on them and it's such a beautiful concept!!! <3

[chopper-witch]

Alright just bc I am v annoyed at the “but the lore and/or intention!” Takes rn:

In the original trilogy, aptitude for the force is implied to be strongly influenced by an individual’s genes and even suggests that people are born with a natural ability to harness/wield it, but at no point claims it is exclusive to those who have the natural talent. It is even implied Han sometimes makes use of the Force, despite having no real inclination or natural ability towards it.

The prequel trilogy adds in the component that makes the force, the force. An identifiable cell that is in every living thing and binds the galaxy together. The more someone or something has, the more that person/thing can manipulate and use the flow of the Force.

The sequel trilogy unfortunately distills it heavily into the “you need blood to be good at the force” when that is the exact opposite of what the Force is meant to be.

The whole idea is that the Force is something that lives within every single person, and that theoretically anyone can wield it, Jedi (and Sith) just have a physical component that puts them at an advantage. It is a living thing within all of us - regardless of natural aptitude towards it. The idea that anyone can be a Jedi is not novel or breaking lore or even intent at all.

Thusfar, Sabine being trained and Ahsoka pushing her to try and be more Jedi like breaks no lore at all. It only breaks tradition - that people with the natural ability to wield it thus go through training. Ahsoka, who both respects and resents the Jedi Order and all it stood for, training someone without the natural ability to wield what everyone in-universe has is a fresh look at the idea that “anyone can use the Force”. It fits her character perfectly too - someone like Grogu frightens her too much because she has seen what attachment can do to people who can just use the Force. Someone like Sabine is attached, yes, but without the innate abilities like other Jedi she has to work harder and truly understand who she is and why she wants to use the Force before just whipping it out in anger (cause she can’t).

Plan on writing something a little more comphrensive since this was slapped together before bed, but this is a start. I understand why people don’t like the choice and I do have some conflicting feelings about it, but there is nothing in lore or about the intent of the world in general to suggest the choice to train Sabine is retconning and changing lore. I do want to know the WHY behind it though. That piece is missing and I really want it.

[nectaric]

little artemis headcanons bc i'm thinking about her a lot

artemis is fully feral. she cares very little about social rules and will cause a scene in public spaces when she deems it necessary. i’m talking twigs in her hair and blood under her fingernails, barking at men in public who annoy her, dragging animal carcasses through the streets of olympus, stabbing first and asking questions later when someone does something inappropriate or mildly inconvenient to her. and she never apologizes for any of it, unless she genuinely feels remorse, which is rare. 

she also tends to blatantly ignore those who don’t make an effort to be heard or understood by her.  if they won’t sign, or make it easy for her to lip read, or even just talk loudly, she has no qualms about completely walking away from the conversation. just - “sorry, i didn’t think you were talking to ME.” she’s caught more than a few people off guard walking away mid question, and that’s iconic of her.

artemis’ skill with hunting is also unparalleled.  she has an incredibly innate ability to track animals and monsters alike, can almost smell them like a hound, can see the faintest signs of life, can even track based on emotion.  many assume that because she is deaf, hunting is harder for her - but she is so skilled and so powerful in this regard that it has never made a difference.  she will track her prey, and she will kill it. full stop.

artemis is very ace and pretty sex-repulsed. she is, even to this day, a virgin and fully intends to keep it that way. but she is not opposed to romantic relationships with women or non-binary folks, and has had a few over the years, so long as people understand that her commitment to the hunt and her girls is always going to come first. because of this, relationships don’t tend to last very long.

she is a girls girl and even though her opinion on marriage and men and sex is pretty intense, she also doesn't look down on women who don't agree with her. she is also a protector of women in childbirth, so she understands that not everyone is going to live her lifestyle and that's okay. she respects them. she cherishes them. she's just never going to be them.

[kaleidoscopic-quiddity]

what's the deal with dan everett and the Pirahã? I know very little about linguistics but I saw the documentary and q&a on internet archive a few weeks ago. the missionary part is already very fucked ofc but I'm curious if there's other context

im neither a syntactician nor cognitive scienctist so take my explanations with a big ole grain of salt, but essentially;

in linguistics theres this concept of 'language universals', that is, features that are found in all languages (spoken and signed), how many universals there may or may not be, and what phenomenomena is actually universal as opposed to just common in the languages that have been studied by linguists is the source of a lot of debate and research

operating off of this idea that there are some things inherent to all languages, linguist noam chomsky devised his theory of 'universal grammar', one of the most influential and widely held theories in linguistics, which is super complicated and honestly not smthn im able to fully explain bc i dont fully understand all the technical aspects but essentially; UG is the idea that humans are innately born with syntactic principles which is why there are syntactic language universals, or rather; humans are not cognitive 'blank slates' when it comes to language, our neurological structure/capacity dictates how our language functions

chomsky and other proponents of UG claim that recursion is a language universal, and thus evidence in favour of UG; recursion, in the simplest of terms, is the ability to embed a grammatical structure within itself, e.g; "he said they said she said the cat was sick" or "the table in the house on the street on the city on the coast", in theory these kinds of sentences could go on forever (altho obviously they dont) and whilst it can look very different across languages or be subject to different constraints, recursion seems pretty dang universal

then dan everett comes along and says, actually, pirahã (the language) doesnt have recursion, he makes a bunch of claims as to why this is the case, citing different aspects of pirahã culture that would negate the need for embedded grammatical structures (and, whilst i want to say unintentionally, nevertheless painting the pirahã as primitive and unintelligent) and says that hes disproven UG, and that his theory of language, that it is a tool devised by humanity like knives or wheels, rather than a biologically innate capacity, is correct

this leads to loads of debate and outrage, people, including everett himself, re-examine everett's intitial works on pirahã as well as conduct their own, newer, research and the issue of whether or not pirahã has recursion or not is still unclear (depending on who you ask), nevertheless everett maintains that UG is bullshit, chomsky maintains that everett is a 'charlatan' who doesnt know what he's talking about (yes chomsky called everett a charlatan, i love academic beef) never mind that he tweaks the definition of UG every time it gets challenged, and this is currently one of the biggest and longest ongoing debates in linguistics

UG and everett's theory are only two of many that aim to explain why humans have language and where it came from, and tbh you could dedicate your whole life just to studying that question

overall i personaly do align more with everett's ideas, and have my own beef with UG, but everett is certainly A Character to say the least (as is chomsky) and i dont take everything he suggests a granted

that being said, i do highly reccomend his book 'how language began: the story of humanity's greatest invention', its accessible to non-linguists (i read in high school before i started studying linguistics) and is a good introduction into the debate and theories behind language orgins, obviously biased towards everett's ideas of course, but you can judge the conclusions he makes for yourself, i personally find a decent few of them pretty dang convincing

i would also say you should go read chomsky's work on UG, but honestly thats like telling someone to read the mf bible, idk theres probably good youtube videos explaining it in a way thats understandable to people who've never had to suffer through drawing syntax trees to pass a class

[a-name-or-three]

i’m think about speech patterns! take these for all your fic writing needs! not all of them are done bc i was taking requests for who to do next on the discord lol

Jon: He tends to speak like he'd type, a veneer of professionalism and Oxford education, but one which slips the second he's shocked out of his facade by worms, or Martin. He's one for run on sentences; he has a lot of thoughts and he wants to get them all out the second they come into his head, no matter if they actually make sense to the listener or not. If he's shocked! or upset! He gets snippier! His phrases are cut off, or bitchy.

Martin: He, well, he hedges a lot. He lets people come to their conclusions before he, uh, before he finished speaking. It's easier that way, y'know? They hear what they want to hear. But when he's angry, or annoyed, or tired, he lets slip what he's really feeling. He stops biting back his words and he gives up on being sweet. You know what he thinks? Maybe people better listen to him now and then!

Tim: Tim is a consummate professional, but also? A Lad. A lot of people forget, but he started in publishing! He's good with his words, and a nerd. These are two Very Important Things about Tim Stoker that he will ensure that you know by the end of a conversation with him. Tim does his best to make you comfortable, talking casually but without restricting what he knows. He's not about to back down from a point if he disagrees with you, though. He's always up for a bit of a Scene, be that imitating his movie of the month, or creating some imagined moment about the people around him. He cares, so deeply, and he wears his heart on his sleeve. His emotions ride high; he can be the class clown if he wants to, but he can just as easily be hurt very badly. Oh, yeah, another thing to mention! He's a little forgetful in conversation! He needs to wheel back to things when he remembers them! He also has a habit of asking questions without asking them? He's more curious than he wants to let on...

Elias: Well, Elias is very similar to Jon. He's a little more restrained in terms of run-on sentences, though. He's spent a long time crafting his language to provide authority in equal measure with a non-threatening presence. He speaks slowly, as if he's thinking over every word, rolling them in his mouth like a sweet. When he realises he needs to intimidate, though, a thrill laces everything he says. He *enjoys* the ability to put those below him into their places. He likes using his words to mould and crush people, and he isn't above doing so. Do I make myself clear, Jon?

Annabelle: Well, Annabelle is similar to Elias, actually. She chooses her words very carefully. She knows how much affect a single choice can have, even down the stress she chooses to put on a phrase. There's a smile in her voice, like she knows everything that this conversation is going to include. Though, I suppose, it's important to remember how young she is. When she died, she was just a poor university student... She's not sure she's grown up since then, and it's much easier to weave a web when people think you're innocent...

Nikola: Nikola talks Exactly how you'd expect a ringmaster puppet to talk! Grand gestures, bright smiles, all with a plastic coating! Isn't everything she says just wonderful?! She knows people hate her, and she also knows how funny it is to pretend like they adore her! She's less self-aware, than some of the others, but she's there to have fun, not manipulate people! She understands her atrocities, and *delights* in them. She doesn’t have a face, so she has to put all her emotions into her voice!

Peter: Peter is just... Tired. Growing up as he did has him split between an innate human desire to share, and the exhaustion of other people. He settles by picking a confidant, and markedly rejecting everyone else through a professional, bland exterior. He knows, he knows better than you, but he's not going to stress himself proving it. He's got better things to do.

Michael: Michael... What an interesting boy... He... I...? Was... Is...? Michael is something else. He knows he doesn't talk in a way that others understand instinctively... And yet it's always very clear what he means. He is deceit, but he will never lie to you. It's easy to understand a lie. Much harder to unravel a half-truth. I suppose that's what Michael is... A half-truth. There's amusement in his nonsensical nature, even as he bites back resent. Some remnant of that anxious little boy long to make a joke, to titter anxiously at the things his friends say... Michael is confusion, confusing, confused. And he knows exactly what's happening.

[jj-lives]

I've mostly seen a bunch of analysis from everyone about Blake's part of the confession, but I think I'm more enamored with yang' part because we rarely see her so open about her own raw ROMANTIC feelings about blake to Blake's face, every other time its mostly been her trying to give words of encouragement, reassuring her things will be okay between them. But she was always so scared to scare blake away if she were ever honest about how she actually about her, partly bc abandonedment issues partly she didnt want to remind blake of adam. And the way Blake looks softly at her as yang gives these compliments and confession just speaks to the volumes screentime we've seen where Blake just feels utterly safe with Yang, "kinda scary but isn't" and you can see that here. Yang, the big bad beast who will tear you a part if you touch the people she loves (get fucked adam), but every single time she's with blake she's always so gentle with her, with her words with her hands, the way she still silently asks blake for permission to kiss her when looking at her lips and then back at her eyes, or how she continously gently pulls her in closer by the waist. You can tell Yang has been wanting to do that for ages, to hold and kiss Blake in the safety of her arms for 2 years now.

Oh for sure. I have seen some analysis on Yang's side of it. I'm pretty sure I mentioned a small blurb on it after the episode aired. I think a lot of people gravitated to what Blake said because of Yang's reaction to it. the surprise that was so evident on Yang's face at her words, and the fact that Blake was the quiet one that didn't really talk about anything. She doesn't give up her secrets so easily, so when she could have taken a cop out and said "I think your hair/eyes is/are beautiful," to slightly mirror Yang's "I think your cat ears are cute," comment and she doesn't, it was a big deal. She took the initiative, she was the one running headfirst into this where that's usually Yang's MO. (I'm not saying Yang's comment is a cop out, it had more weight to it than a simple physical compliment, and could write a whole thing on this as well, just that Blake making a comment on Yang's physical beauty wouldn't have had the same impact)

As for Yang's part of it... yes, I agree with you there anon. There is so much to unpack in this one episode, I could write 5 full on essays about it. The points Yang mentioned are so, so important.

The first thing she says is she likes how Blake has never been intimidated by her. When Blake had every right to be. When Yang did in some ways remind her of Adam. And I think Yang only came to appreciate Blake's trust in her after meeting Adam and standing with Blake against him. She realized how intimidating Adam was, how strong Blake had to be to run from him, stand up to him, and trust anyone after what he put her through, especially humans who she innately mistrusted, especially a human who's charisma and power/semblance reminded her of Adam. But Blake isn't intimidated by Yang, even in the ways others tend to be.

Then the "you never give up on them, even when they hurt you. You never give up. You know what matters to you." This is a whole pile of emotions to unpack.

Where the first confession was a comment on Blake's ability to trust Yang, this has more depth emotionally for Yang. "You never give up on them." It's both a reassurance that even though others have left and given up on Yang, Blake hasn't. She might have left after Beacon... but she came back and even though things were awkward and rocky between them, she stayed. She worked on it. She didn't give up. Because Blake knows what things matter to her enough to not give up on, and Yang is one of those things. And it means the world to Yang to understand that.

But it's also a reflection of who Yang is as well. It's a similarity they both share. Being there for those that matter to you. Not giving up just because things are difficult. Those are some of Yang's own core beliefs. They may have developed them in differing world views, but at their core, they are the same. And for someone like Yang, who gives her all, gives up everything for everyone else, finding someone that would do the same for the ones they both love, and for her...

Blake is someone she can share that burden with now, and Yang's never felt she could trust anyone else with that before.

So yeah, definitely there is so much to unpack in their confessions and I literally could write so much more on this because these characters are so complex at this point that I don't think any of us could fully do them justice at this point. I could expand on what you said about Yang being so gentle with Blake or how she always gives Blake a voice where Adam never allowed that from her... but I think you said it well. :)